#like 3 years of my flirting with her and being stupid but managing to save myself and I get found out for that

[neon-junkie]

Why can’t this be Love? - Chpt.2

Summary: You've never really fit in, despite trying, despite being on the cheerleading team, despite awkwardly socialising with the  popular crowd. It's not for you - these people aren't for you. Yet, you don't know how to escape! Do you continue following a dead end? Or finally break away?

The answer is made for you after your 'date,' a boy on the basketball team, bails on you, and uninvites you from some stupid basketball after party. Whatever, that's fine. But what's not fine is the agonisingly long walk home. Oh, in the dark, late at night!

However, your saviour finds you, and not only does he save you from walking home alone, but the conflicting feelings that you've spent the last few years with.

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Female Cheerleader Reader

Reader Description: Reader is female and uses she/her pronouns. Not much detail is given about her appearance, other than she wears heavy eyeliner, and is clearly an outcast that is trying to fit in.

Word count: 3.7k

Tags: Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Slow burn, Awkward flirting, Drinking, Angst, Comfort, Generic High School Bullying, Denial of feelings, Feelings realisation.

[Chapter 1]  [Read on AO3]  [Chapter 3]

(see end of Chapter for notes.)

Chapter 2 - The Quest

One cider down, and half a mile closer to home. Another pair of ciders have been cracked open, by Eddie, of course, who is currently listening to you rant. Eddie had asked what your weekend plans are, making small talk, and you began grumbling about how you're having to see some estranged family members, people that you haven't seen for a few years.

"-and they always ask questions that... I don't know, make me feel uncomfortable? Shit like 'do you have a boyfriend yet? how is he?' and 'how are your grades? your parents tell us that you're quite the cheerleader!'"

Your tone is comically mocking, and Eddie has a grin on his face as he watches your tangent. Who would have known that cheerleaders were this weird, huh?

Eddie continues nodding as you take a deep breath, and let out a baffled sigh, your shoulders slouching as you exhale. Ugh.

"Shit, no wonder you're drinking tonight," Eddie says with a soft laugh, attempting to lighten the situation.

"Yeah," you sigh again. "Shame that this is my last drink, though."

Eddie goes to shove his open cider in your hand, to which you playfully swat him away. "This is your cider, you're more than welcome to take it back-"

"-No, no!" you huff. "It's yours. My way of thanking you," you urge, and watch as Eddie shrugs before taking another swig, easily accepting your gift.

"Thanking me for what?" Eddie questions after barely swallowing his drink.

"For walking me home," you instantly reply, certain on the matter. You briefly pause before continuing your list of reasons, "and for letting me rant..."

"Does your boyfriend not let you rant?" Eddie asks with a raised brow, and a slightly disgusted expression.

"He's not my boyfriend!" you repeat with a frustrated laugh, for what must be the hundredth time tonight. Eddie laughs with you, and winks as he meets your gaze. He's teasing you, and you're taking the bait, not that you mind.

"Yeah, he's not my boyfriend either," Eddie chuckles. Your cheek muscles start aching as you laugh once more, and that lonesome feeling in your chest slowly begins to heal over. You must look like a goof ball, because you can feel Eddie's gaze on you as you calm yourself down, wiping a warm tear from the corner of your eye.

"Didn't mean to make you cry, Princess," Eddie says with a playful nudge to your arm. Looking up at him, Eddie has a goofy smile on his lips, and he almost looks amazed that he's managed to make you laugh so hard that you're practically in tears. "But... yeah, does your 'not boyfriend' not let you rant?" Eddie repeats, his tone shifting to seriousness, despite the silly hand expression he makes when mentioning your ex, or whatever he is.

"Nah," you grumble. "Thinking about it, we were only really paired up because that's what cheerleaders do. They date basket ballers, and vice versa."

"Ugh," Eddie groans. "What's the point of dating if there's no real connection there?"

A smile forms on your lips as you look up at Eddie, "I didn't know you were a romantic," you smirk.

Eddie sarcastically rolls his eyes before taking a gulp of his cider. "I'm not, but I know that you shouldn't get caught up in that mess without a genuine connection."

"Yeah, you're telling me," you half-laugh, half-sigh. One final swig, and your cider is finished, then discarded in a passing bin. Eddie joins you, and theatrically tilts his head back as he chugs the remainder of his drink, letting out an "ah!" once it's finished.

You go to continue your walk home, but Eddie doesn't follow. Instead, he calls out your name, urging you to stop. As you turn around to ask him what's up, he gestures to something across the street - a convenience store.

"Oh, are you hungry?" you mindlessly ask.

Eddie smirks, "a bit, but I was thinking we could grab some more booze. That is, if you want?"

As good as that sounds, you're both ever so slightly underage, and the law has recently been cracking down on underage drinking. "I don't know if you've noticed, Eddie, but we're both underage," you sarcastically reply.

Eddie rolls his eyes as his hands come to rest on his hips, looking like he's about to give you a playful telling off. "We are, but I know the cashier. He's a friend of my uncles!"

"And this friend of your uncles is... okay with you drinking?" you ask, quirking a brow.

"Only if I butter him up!"

Well, it's worth a shot, even if you are expecting to be shooed away and told to never come back. You gesture for Eddie to take the lead, and he flashes you a cheeky smile before bouncing across the road, his curls dancing due to his energetic walk.

The second that you two enter the store, or the Quick Stop, as it's called, Eddie heads straight to the cashier. He greets him by name, Dante, who looks rather frustrated that he has to look up from his newspaper, and tolerate the presence of freak Munson.

You decide to let Eddie get on with his 'buttering up,' and search the aisles for some snacks. A few things are picked out, and on your way back to Eddie, you spot the item of your dreams.

A slushie machine.

Your mouth waters as you watch the frozen treat twist and turn through the glass windows, ready to poured into a non-biodegradable plastic cup, and gulped down through a shitty plastic straw.

Fuck, why not treat yourself? It's what you deserve after tonight's weird turn of events.

You cast a glance at Eddie, who is still nattering away to the cashier. The poor man looks like Eddie has just woken him up from a deep slumber, only to be pestered by a child that isn't even his.

Your expression shifts into thinking mode as you analyse Eddie, deciding what kind of person he is. Hmmm. He has to be the blue raspberry kind, right? Eddie definitely takes pleasure in the way his tongue turns blue. He's weird like that...

You pour Eddie a blue raspberry slushie, and get yourself one too, then make your way over to the counter.

"Oh!" Eddie exclaims as you place the slushies down on the counter, along with your bag of snacks. "Thirsty, aren't we?" he laughs.

"I'll pay," you reply with a nod, to which Eddie begins huffing. He goes to open his mouth, and offer the chivalrous act of paying for the meal, but you refuse to let him. "No, I'm paying for these," you urge, and swat his hand away from his pocket, refusing to let him grab his wallet.

"Fine, fine," Eddie pouts as he raises his hands innocently. "However, I will pay for uh- that small bottle over there," Eddie says with a cheesy smile, and sheepishly points to the small bottle of vodka sitting on the liquor shelf.

Dante lets out a frustrated sigh. "Do you know how often the cops come to this shop, all because I sell alcohol to you specifically?"

"One last time?" Eddie bats his lashes, and continues attempting to hold his cheeky smile.

Dante lets out another frustrated sigh, far longer than the last one. He ponders his decision, and grumbles before turning around, and taking the small bottle of vodka off the shelf.

Eddie lets out a, "yesssss!" as he clasps his hands together. "And... uh, maybe a six-pack?" Eddie suggests, pushing his luck as far as it'll go.

Dante looks like he's about to strangle this kid, but caves in once more, although this will definitely be the last time.

"Grab it. Quick. Before I change my mind."

Eddie practically sprints around the corner, straight to the booze aisle, where he grabs a six-pack of cider. No, not beer. Cider, seeing as you chose that earlier for yourself, and Eddie doesn't even know if you like beer! Play it safe.

Items are purchased, and disappointed glances are sent Eddie's way. Well, a glance from Dante. You stand there awkwardly, and thank him many times whilst packing your items, soon shuffling out the Quick Stop with a slushie in hand.

Once out of sight from the store, Eddie pulls you to the side, and takes a seat on the curb, his lanky legs stretching out into the road. You're positioned directly under a street light, ensuring that the few cars that pass will see you. Although, now you think of it, you've only seen about three cars on the road since your walk home. Everybody must have gone the other way, towards the after party.

Taking a seat next to Eddie, you watch as he pulls the bottle of vodka from his pocket, and pours a decent amount into his slushie. "You want some?" Eddie suggests as he offers you the bottle.

"Is it any good?" you question, and take the bottle from him, despite being uncertain if you'll do the same thing.

Eddie smiles as he begins stirring the vodka into his slushie using the straw, and once it's well-mixed, he holds his slushie up and positions the straw near your lips. "Try it," he suggests, and you know that from his tone alone, if you turn down his offer, he won't pressure you into it.

Without hesitation, you wrap your lips around the straw and take a sip. Despite the large amount that Eddie has poured in, all you can taste is the slushie - artificial raspberry, smothered with sugar, bound to leave your teeth with a million cavities.

You lick your lips as you move away, and your eyes flicker up to meet Eddies, who has a strange expression on his face. His lips are ever so slightly parted, as if he's about to say something, but is holding back. His pupils are blown, and his cheeks are rosy, barely hidden beneath his wild curls. Eddie briefly smiles at you before looking away, and stares at his slushie as he asks, "any good?"

"Yeah," you softly laugh. Holding onto your slushie, you pour roughly the same amount of vodka in, and screw the lid back on the vodka before passing it back to Eddie.

Eddie watches as you stir the vodka in, and when you bring your drink up to your lips, he smiles. It's not a casual smile, nor a forced one; it's the type of smile that you cast when you look up and see the vibrant stars on a dark night, or the sky changing colour as the sun rises in the morning. There's something behind his smile - admiration? Or perhaps it's just the alcohol?

Either way, you smile back as you playfully ask, "what?!"

Eddie chuckles to himself whilst he shakes his head, and replies, "nothing, nothing."

"Come on, tell me," you urge with a teasing nudge. "What are you smiling at?"

After sarcastically rolling his eyes, and taking a big swig from his drink, Eddie licks his lips as he thinks of the right words to say. "I never thought I'd be drinking vodka slushies on a Friday night with a cheerleader, but here we are!"

You can't help but laugh, and Eddie laughs with you - two giggling idiots, sitting on the side of the road, their tongues turning blue as they gulp down vodka slushies.

"Ex-cheerleader," you correct him.

"What?"

"I... I've been thinking of quitting for months now, and... I don't know, maybe I'll do it," you confess. Your eyes meet the floor before trailing up and focusing on the hemline of your skirt. Green and orange are two colours that you've grown to despise, all because of that shitty sport, and the shitty people that you have to work with whilst 'cheering' the guys on.

"Is that really what you want?" Eddie questions.

You look at him, and you must have a sour expression on your face, as Eddie innocently raises his hand, and begins back-pedalling. "I mean, is it what you want? You shouldn't have to give it up if you enjoy it-"

"-I don't enjoy it," you cut him off. "I enjoyed it back when I was... I don't know, twelve? But now? Ugh."

Eddie chuckles at your dramatic expression, before asking the most important question, "why?"

You pause, a million thoughts running through your head at once. Fuck, where do you even begin? After taking another swig from your drink, you decide to begin listing them off.

"I have a diary, and the other week, I drew a line down the middle of a page, and began writing the 'pros' and 'cons' to my hobby, or parent's hobby, seeing as they kinda push it on me."

"Okay. Well, what was on the 'pros' side?" Eddie asks as he shifts his sitting position, turning his body to face you, in an attempt to show that his full attention is on you.

"Cheerleading is alright. I mean, I hate it now, but the sport itself is fine. I like the uniform, but I think that's only because... people give me attention when I'm wearing it."

"Oh, I see," Eddie nods. "Some guys give you attention because you can fill in their silly little 'cheerleader fantasies,' right?" Eddie questions, and groans in disbelief when you nod in agreement. His shoulder slouch, and a deep breath slips from his lips. "And I'm meant to be the weird one," he grumbles.

"Yeah, it's creepy!" you nod. However, your words seem to have wandered in the wrong direction, as Eddie gives you a funny look. "I mean.. I didn't mean 'yeah' to you being weird. I meant yeah in agreement, like-"

"-It's okay, Princess. I'm only messin' with you," Eddie grins. His free hand moves up to begin fiddling with the ends of his hair, and you smile at the minor movement. "What's on the 'cons' side?" Eddie asks.

"Ugh," you groan. "Where do I begin? Well, the other girls that I cheer with are so... yuck. I mean, not all of them, but the vast majority are horrible, nasty bitches!"

"Woah!" Eddie exhales. "Bitches?" he repeats in a mocking tone, although you know he means it playfully. You laugh as you nod, and repeat the word, "bitches."

"Seriously, they're horrible! Generic, nasty, high school bullies that take sadistic pleasure in picking on the outcasts," you continue.

Eddie nods in agreement as he comments, "I know exactly which girls you're on about." He takes another sip from his slushie, and asks, "I'm guessing they pick on you?"

A defeated smile appears on your lips as you nod in agreement. Whilst gesturing to your entire body, you reply, "look at me, Eddie. Of course they pick on me!"

Eddie makes a point of looking you up and down, his movements being theatrical, as always. "The way I see it, you're an outcast who's been shoved in a cheerleaders uniform."

Shit.

Something in your mind clicks - an answer that you've always been looking for. That feeling! That strange, lonesome feeling has been with you ever since you started high school, ever since those girls started picking on you, ever since you started straying towards 'darker' things.

Eddie is right, that's what you are - an outcast!!

Whilst you may have been raised by 'normal' and preppy parents, you aren't that. You aren't normal. You've always had that quirk to you, something deeply rooted that makes you different from the rest. And as you've grown, that quirk has continued to grow, so much so that it's leaking into your forced, preppy lifestyle.

High ponytails and pom-poms aren't for you. Fuck, no! Fishnets and leather skirts are more your style, heavy eyeliner and heavier metal. Shit, that's who you're meant to be!

Eddie calls out your name as he waves his hand in front of your face. "Fuck," you exhale, and Eddie awkwardly laughs.

"You alright, Princess?" he questions.

"Eddie, you're so right!" you yelp, startling the poor boy. "I'm not meant to be a part of their social circle, I never have been!!"

A bewildered and confused expression wanders onto Eddies face; there's happiness in his heart, in awe at your sudden change of expression, but he's yet to understand what's caused this sudden shift. Moments ago, you were slumped on the curb, venting about generic High School bullies; now, you're perked up with joy, and a twinkle in your eyes!

"And you've only realised this now?" Eddie questions with a nervous laugh. Your expression drops as you cast him a scowl, and he shrugs. "I mean, I'm pretty sure heavy eyeliner isn't a part of the cheerleaders uniform..."

"I know, I know," you grumble. "I guess... I dunno, that I've been trying to cover up who I truly am?"

"Yeah, that's how it looks to me," Eddie nervously laughs again. "You've been hanging out with the wrong crowd, Princess."

Whilst you're pleased to come to the realisation that you are, in fact, a freak, you don't fancy spending your time at School alone. The cheer squad has their decent moments, and there's a handful of them that are genuinely kind and welcoming. However, the nasty few outweigh the many, and sadly, you're more than happy to wave goodbye to those kind members, if it means getting away from those bitches.

"But... who else would I hang out with?" you question, and bring your straw to your lips as you gaze at the road. "I mean, Misty is a good friend of mine, but she has her arts and crafts friends, who don't seem too keen on me."

Eddie chuckles at your social situation. Nobody wants to spend their breaks alone in the library, or eating their lunch on the toilet - but hey, it happens to the best of us!

"If you're looking for outcasts..." Eddie begins smirking, and swiftly gestures to himself, "...then you've come to the right guy!"

A goofy smile appears on his lips as you giggle at his excitement. "You know, I've always thought your D&D squad is kinda... cute?" you confess, and chuckle at the strange expression that Eddie pulls.

"Cute?" he repeats. "I'm not sure how the club is going to react when I tell them that."

Eddie raises his hand as he pretends to wave at someone, imitating the imaginary scenario. "Hey, fellas! So, something funny happened recently. I walked this cheerleader home, shared a few drinks with her, and she confessed that she thinks our team is cute!"

Once again, your cheek muscles begin aching as you burst out into laughter. Seeing as your eyes are glossed over with happy tears, you're unable to see the warm reaction on Eddie's face. He rests his elbow on his knee, and props his cheek on his hand, admiring you and your reaction. Only the second you calm your laughter, Eddie moves his hand away, and puts his focus on his slushie instead, masking that small burst of admiration.

"I mean it," you state, coming to the end of your giggles. "You and your group are cute! You're lucky to have a bunch like that."

"Yeah," Eddie nods in agreement. "Us outcasts have got to stick together, huh?" he suggests with a playful nudge to your arm.

"Stick together," you repeat his words before bringing your straw up to your lips, and take a sip. "I suppose that's why you're walking me home."

Eddie nods in agreement, his eyes squinting happily, whilst his curls bounce wildly. "Speaking of walking you home..." Eddie begins, and lets out a sigh before forcefully pulling himself up. He stretches, his knees clicking as he does so, but he doesn't seem phased by the sensation.

Eddie turns, and looks down at you. With his slushie in one hand, he offers you the other. "...I suppose we should continue our journey?"

Is it physically possible for someone to reject his offer? Especially with that sappy smile, and the nervous laugh he lets out as you slide your hand into his. Eddie pulls you up with ease, and once you're up, he begrudgingly moves his hand from yours, only to slurp on his slushie instead.

"It's more of a quest, isn't it?" you point out.

Eddie tilts his head in confusion, and silently asks for you to explain.

"I mean, walking me home is more of a quest, rather than a journey. Right?" you explain.

A soft sigh slips from Eddie's lips as he smiles once more, shaking his head in amazement. He playfully facepalms, and you assume it's due to your cheesy joke - little do you know, it's because of the sickly feeling growing in his stomach, twisting and turning every time you break away from your cheerleader mould, and embrace the person that you're meant to be.

A freak.

"Yeah, you're right," Eddie beams. "It seems I've found myself on a quest to safely deliver this Princess home! And so far, I've been distracted with minor side quests, such as retrieving this delicious treat," Eddie lightly shakes his slushie.

Straightening your back, you bat your lashes as you continue the newfound role-play. "Well, perhaps we should continue your quest?"

"Of course, my Lady," Eddie agrees with a soft bow. To your surprise, he offers you his arm, and you gracefully accept, resting your hand in the curve of his elbow. His leather jacket is cool against your hand, soon to warm up as your quest continues, a contrasting style to your cheerleader uniform.

Eddie takes the lead before casting a cheeky side-smile at you. His strides are usually large, but he's calmed his pace, ensuring that you're comfortable whilst being accompanied by him.

Shit. If anybody sees you two now, then you're both done for! However, you don't care - truly, you don't. Why would you care about what others think? It's not like they'd do the same thing for you. Where are they now? At some after party, rather than ensuring that you get home safe.

But Eddie is the person to ensure that your walk home goes smoothly. The young man barely knows you, yet he's thrown everything aside to accompany you home.

Eddie must be right. Your place isn't within the cheer squad, it's here, with him.

Notes: lmaoo not me adding Jay & Silent Bob easter eggs, even tho theyre set like, 10 years after ST.

Misty is mentioned again here. She's your best friend, not a canon character, but I might flesh out her character more as the story goes on? I honestly had no idea who to pick as your best friend, and the first person that came to mind was Misty from Cyberpunk (cause I fancy her,) so just pretend this story has an 80's version of her lol.

I will also be adding more made up characters, including these bitchy cheerleaders that have been bullying you :< Some other canon characters will make an appearance, too!!

Taglist:  @bubblegumcat229​ @buckys2thicc​ @livthelonleyfish​

If you would like to be added to the taglist, then please drop me a message!!

#strangerwriting #stranger things #stranger things 4 #stranger things s4 #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #why cant this be love #female reader #f!reader #fem reader #ST

[my-shields-are-down]

Heyyy

Did you enjoy the Valentines episode of The Rookie yesterday? Did you like the chenford content we got?

Hello -

Popular question! I have thoughts.

Generally speaking, I liked the episode. I thought the story lines were great, I loved the "found family" vibe, I am very interested in Celina's murdered sister story, I laughed at all the couples having fights on Valentines Day, and I loved the Chenford content we got.

My big complaints/issues. I'll address these first and then move onto what I loved.

one - I want more smooches between Tim and Lucy. Even a quick kiss here or there would be great. I don't need tons of sex scenes - there are a couple of fan fic writers who have that shit locked down. I can get any variety of smut on AO3.

two - while the main action stories were good and interesting, they weren't great. There was a lack of urgency and excitement (a/k/a "oomph") in both the Ebola and the sarin gas story lines. The episode could have been better in that regard. I felt like these stories were "scratching the surface" of the topics.

three - as usual they were cramming 4+ stories into a single episode instead of focusing on just 2-3. Trying to include everything left a lot of unanswered questions and dangling storylines. Whether or not they are addressed in future episodes remains to be seen, but we don't have that many episodes left this season.

Now for what I really enjoyed about the episode.

+ I totally get why Bailey was mad at John. Him swooping in to save the day was annoying. That said, I want to hire him for the next time I have to call my mail-order-prescription delivery service. 9 times out of 10 I end up yelling at the imbecile who is not taking notes during our conversation and not expediting the order. I would love for him to just handle that for me.

+ I loved the Chenford content we got. I've basically wiped out all of my expectations for these two fictional characters, so I am always grateful and surprised at what new tidbits we get in an episode. We now know that Tim sometimes sleeps in a shirt - why god why! - and that he defers to let Lucy sleep on HIS side of the bed. Tim's a romantic that somehow found time between his new demanding job and Lucy to go jewelry shopping!!! He's a bigtime softie - especially for Lucy. He basically let her off the hook for keeping him in the dark by accepting her non-apology. they have an active, active sex life requiring fuel for extended sessions, they go out to eat as much as they eat in, Tim notices her outfits. Tin got them a reservation out on the busiest restaurant day of the year. Lucy flirted with other men at UC School. Lucy was first in her class at UC School. I'd bet $$ that Noah hit on Lucy and she turned him down - not because of Chris, but because of Tim. Lucy openly touches Tim now. And many more juicy tidbits.

+ I liked that all the couples were fighting. I personally am not a Valentine's Day fan. I think it's a stupid event to generate sales for multiple industries. but whatever. One of the writers is an Alias fan with the Charlie Bristow character. Another secret sister to Sidney. Hello! + I am very interested to see where things go with Celina's sister's murder. I thought it was a little pompous of Nolan to pre-screen the file for her. But as she is his trainee, I guess it makes some kind of sense.

I loved the found family random conversation generator event on open mic.

I loved that grumpy Tim, and slightly jealous confused Tim was back.

I am glad they found a way for Tim to ride with Lucy - they have such a great rapport.

But there are some issues lurking in the darkness and which likely will pop up again before the end of the season:

Tim stressing about not being able to handle multiple calls. How does he manage that? Metro still has the potential as a stressor on this relationship. We need more information about what Tim heard and what people are saying about Lucy's maneuvers.

If Lucy was #1 in her UC Academy Class - you can bet she was recruited as an UC officer right out of the gate. Why didn't she go that way, why did she go back to patrol? She and Chris were still together at that point.

The whole UC career thing will be a stressor - what happens when Lucy is offered or asked to go on a long term assignment. We know Dm/Jake comes back. Will Juicy? Will she have to stay under for longer time without him? What will that do to their relationship? Won't be as hard now as later when kids are involved but could cause some stress for Tim.

Chris Sanford comes back next episode - I'm guessing because he's the only DA left who can prosecute Elijah. I'm also guessing there won't be any Chenford angst there. too much action other places to focus on that.

But generally speaking, I'm happy. and if I wasn't? I'd either rewatch one of the earlier episodes, or read through the 2500+ fan fic stories on AO3. Plenty of stories abound to make me happy, not all of them visual, on tv, or on Tuesday nights.

#chenford #tim bradford #lucy chen #tim x lucy #ask andrea #episode review

[atsvmi-x]

my personal characterization of eren bc i’ve been thinking about him a lot🥰 this is all modern!au bc canon literally never happened.

these aren’t x reader headcanons but i have more than enough thoughts about eren in a relationship to provide those soon!

General

Loud, brash, and loyal to a fault - you either love him or hate him (or if you’re Jean, you both love and hate him)

Those that he allows into his inner circle are friends for life. He’s easy to piss off but he’s quick to forgive when it comes to friends and family. If that doesn’t apply to you, or you cross those closest to him, he’ll hold a grudge long after the issue is resolved. You’re on his shit list for life.

He wears his heart on his sleeve. It’s literally impossible for him to conceal his emotions. If he’s angry, sad, annoyed, happy, literally anything his feeling you will be sure to know.

The same goes for his opinions. Blunt beyond belief. If he thinks something is stupid he won’t hesitate to say so. He’ll backtrack to soften his delivery if he notices that it offends other parties though.

All of these factors can lead to awkward moments. 99% of the time he’s confident enough in his stance to ignore how others might receive him but the other 1% of the time you might catch the rare sight of his cheeks heating up.

Contrary to popular belief, Eren is actually smart. Not to the same caliber of Armin, Erwin or Hange when it comes to critical thinking and analysis, but it is still above average. That being said, he doesn’t necessarily apply himself to subjects that don’t immediately interest him. However, he has impeccable game sense, making him quite the accomplished athlete.

Anger issues. Clearly. It made him a difficult child... for most of his life (and probably the reason he’s an only child) but as he’s gotten older he’s learned to manage his temper. It’s still easy to rile him up though, and it’ll be a cold day in hell before he backs down from a challenge. But for the most part his attitude is a running joke between those he’s closest with.

He has a strong moral compass and sense of justice. Not in the sense that he’s conservative, far from it. His personal ideology is: as long as it’s not hurting anyone people should do what they want. and anyone that messes with that is wrong. He’s a simple guy

Bad at flirting. He can be super oblivious and when he does catch on, he’s not smooth at all. But he’s tall and pretty so it comes off as endearing 99% of the time. It’s his boy-ish charms that save him every time.

Childhood

Cute as a button as a baby. Poor Carla and Grisha were blindsided when he hit his terrible twos.

Had no friends besides Armin until middle school when his parents adopted Mikasa.

Before Mikasa, he and Armin were the black sheep of the neighborhood kids. Eren easily alienated himself from the neighborhood kids and his schoolmates due to his brash nature. Looking back on it, he still stands with his decision since it meant he found his first friend.

(Armin didn’t fit in for his old soul thanks to being raised by his grandparents)

Super curious and didn’t realize how small he was in such a big world. On several occasions he wandered off because of his curious nature. Would have been a leash kid if leash kids were a thing when he was growing up.

Could technically be considered a school bully for talking down to kids on the playground. HOWEVER, he was smaller than other kids for a while, meaning his haughty attitude resulted in petty school yard fights that he lost most of the time. Still, he never cried and never learned his lesson.

Since we was never against a fight, he made it his mission to take up for Armin. When Mikasa joined his family he did the same for her when their peers made comments about her different looks. As we know, those roles soon reversed with Mikasa taking on a protector roll

To try and find a suitable outlet for his excess...energy...Carla and Grisha signed him up for every sport under the sun. Was pretty good too but excelled at football and track and field.

Teen

Was on a first name basis with administration during his school years for getting too invested in classroom debates. His fired up nature easily boiled over outside the classroom resulting in several fist fights

Got suspended once for said fights, but more often than not Mikasa saved him before he could get into more trouble.

So angsty. Literally a textbook case of teen angst from the loud music, dark clothes, to butting his heads with his parents he was truly a nightmare. (He recognizes this and is forever apologetic to his parents for being so difficult during this time)

Started to grow out of his rebellious phase by his junior year. There was no real explanation for it he just...did. That’s not to say that he was any less combative, he just knew what battles to pick. Good job Eren.

By the time he graduates he’s such a mama’s boy. He’s always loved him mom but now his eyes have been opened to how much of a handful he was growing up. He’s embarrassed anytime she brings up old stories but he knows it’s all in good fun.

He’s also had a major growth spurt by the time he graduates and his years of playing sports have definitely paid off. He’s a total heartthrob by his senior year and unintentionally a heartbreaker. Again, it’s hard to break into his circle, nothing personal.

Young Adult (College/Post Grad)

Commits to playing football exclusively. Not out of hopes of going pro but he just really likes the sport. He’s well known around campus between sports and his personality.

Still, he can be found with any one member of his crew at any given time. It’s rare to find him by himself unless he’s in his dorm room. He’s a total extrovert and gets bored easily when left to his own devices.

BUT he’s not a total party animal. Definitely prefers kickbacks to partying. But he will show his face if someone personally asks him to come.

Smokes and drinks the normal amount. Knows his limits and isn’t a lightweight for either. But under the right conditions (i.e. drinking games, bets, etc.) he’ll over indulge. Far too touchy when he’s under the influence.

Struggled to find his “calling” in school. Most of his friends fell into majors that they clicked with but it wasn’t that easy for him. He probably ends up with a fifth year under his belt. since he didn’t officially declare a major until maybe junior year.

Graduates with a political science degree! 1) He fooled his parents into thinking he’d go to law school which satisfied his doctor dad. 2) While he doesn’t exactly know how, he wants to improve daily life for the less fortunate and he thought this was a good step to do that. 3) He loved being able to argue for a grade during in-class debates

I know we all love streamer!Eren but I really do think he’d end up going down a creative/independent route where he’s not tied to a desk 9-to-5. It really stressed him out to think about doing thing for 50 years and then being able to enjoy life after retirement.

Other

Like previously mentioned, his music tastes were pretty narrow. But as his social circle grew and he was exposed to new genres his musical pallet has expanded. His go to genres are still heavy, but he’s not against asking what song just played if he liked it (unless you’re Jean, he’ll never give him the satisfaction).

I feel like his celebrity crush is Doja Cat. I have no evidence I just feel like he’d be into her.

Baby can NOT dance. if he tries hard he can bust a two step but usually he doesn’t usually put forth the effort though. It just gets worse if he drinks.

Very much a night owl but surprisingly, he doesn’t like to sleep in either. Feels like there’s too much stuff to do in a day to just waste it in bed. He contradicts himself though bc he can spend all morning in bed playing around on his phone (he’s addicted)

#could you tell that i love him? #eren #eren jeager #eren yeager #eren x reader #eren jeager scenarios #eren jeager headcanons #eren yeager scenarios #eren yeager headcanons #aot x reader #aot scenarios #aot headcanons #my writing

[tendercoretroglodyke]

... I’m interested in legitimately gay Reese (I assume one piece of evidence is “look at what they’re doing and tell me you’re not gay”)

okay this is like 2 days late but this is why reese malcolminthemiddle is legitimately gay:

(side note: did anyone need a queer media thesis paper or something... I am willing to share lmao)

so none of this is like... rock solid evidence or anything but I need to believe at least one main character of a show is gay and/or trans to maintain interest and reese is the most plausible gay character. also it’s early 2000′s so he just gets a lot of vaguely homophobic jokes lmao

first of all, yes, the biggest piece of evidence he’s gay is those lines from that episode I quoted the other day--thinking malcolm is gay, he tries to show his support by giving him a gay porno: “’Naught Pool Boys 3!’ I watched 10 or 12 of these, and this one seems to have the most stuff you guys like.” and when malcolm says he isn’t gay, reese responds “Malcolm. Check out what those guys are doing in that movie, and THEN tell me you’re not gay.”-- so, 1) reese sat down and watched like a dozen gay porn movies to ““find a good one for his gay brother”” and 2) he thinks malcolm would reconsider his heterosexuality if he watched what was in that movie, implying that HE reconsidered his sexuality after watching that movie, or at the very least found it hot

in the same episode, the character tricking malcolm into thinking reese is gay lists the following as evidence: he obsesses over his hair and his looks, loves his gourmet cooking, has a bunch of magazines covered in comically muscular men, and that he’s angry and acts like a jerk because he’s “dealing with something weird and confusing.” now obviously, the obsession with hair/looks can be chalked up to the fact that he’s a teenage boy, and there’s nothing inherently gay about enjoying cooking. the dozen magazines of muscle-bound men could certainly be taken as gay evidence, though, and it IS established in the show that his entire bully persona is his way of masking his inner feelings and insecurities. there’s literally a whole episode where he & malcolm realize they have no friends because they act like little shits to push people away because they’re afraid of rejection and/or abandonment from their peers. they ostracize themselves before they can be ostracized by the other students at school. I could probably write a whole other essay on reese’s psyche tbqh lmao there’s a shocking amount there!!

of the brothers who are actually old enough to be attracted to girls (reese, malcolm, and francis), he shows the least interest. now bear with me here. you might be thinking, “well, yeah, it’s malcolm’s show, we’re not gonna see things from other people’s perspective!” but that is actually surprisingly untrue, the show is very much equally shown from each family members’ perspectives. starting about s2, when malcolm is in early middle school, he starts getting crushes on girls and pursuing them. francis goes after a few women in the first couple seasons and then marries a woman we see a lot throughout the show. 

in the roughly... 130?? episodes I have watched so far, nearly all of reese’s “interest” in girls involve either: competition with malcolm, genuinely just liking her as a friend, or some completely ulterior motive. the only exception to this I can think of is in the early seasons where he has a crush on a cheerleader and tries to get on her good side by joining the cheerleading squad, which the writers clearly set up as a way to make gay jokes about reese. let me give you a few examples of his relationships with girls

the first relationship we see him in is with a “stupid girl” that malcolm tried (and failed) to date, and the main reason they get together is that they think on the same wavelength and genuinely seem to enjoy hanging out. they take breaks from their bro chats to make out every once in a while. eventually he gets her to break up with him because he doesn’t want to go to the school dance with her (he doesn’t want to go at all). years later, he’s dating some girl we meet for like 5 minutes, before he goes to confess to her that she’s the first girl he’s ever loved. she then breaks up with him. he’s sad, but taking it fairly well. he’s about to leave when he sees malcolm hiding under the bed, and learns that he stole his girlfriend. he then runs away to join the army. he was clearly MUCH more upset that his brother stole his girlfriend than he was that his girlfriend broke up with him. there are many more instances of him and malcolm competing for a girl’s affections, and he seems mostly motivated by the competition itself.

in addition to “stupid girl,” he also manufactures an “attraction” to his female army buddy in the last season. the premise of this episode is that his old army buddy (a girl he play-wrestles with and insults like he would his own brothers) comes to visit him, and malcolm convinces reese that she’s attracted to him, and that reese’s nervousness at learning that fact is proof he’s in love with her. there’s a misunderstanding where reese asks her if she has certain “feelings” and she says she does, but what she ACTUALLY means is that she has a crush on reese’s MOM. she’s a lesbian. reese later propositions her (saying he’s saved his virginity for this--he’s probably about 18 here), and when she says omg no im gay, he is HUGELY relieved they can go back to being friends. CLASSIC mlm/wlw friendship moment. 

there’s an episode where these cute girls pick up reese (& nerds) to kiss in front of their boyfriends to make them jealous. reese is all for it, and when malcolm argues that it’s not worth his dignity and the beating he’ll get from the girl’s boyfriend, reese counters that that’s WHY he wants to do this--he’s completely invisible at school, and thinks getting beaten up for kissing some guy’s girlfriend will at least make him known around school. at no point does he indicate he’s actually attracted to this girl, and when it comes time to kiss her, he finds the weakest excuse to run away at the last minute. 

im not gonna list all of these but there’s more lmao

the following is a random assortment of one-off gay jokes and out-of-context lines with gay reese implications, often homophobically bc its early 2000′s writing:

says “I’m gay” to a girl to give malcolm a better shot at her

(again in competition with malcolm) tries to flirt with a girl by spraying milk in her face as the punchline to a joke, which is. well. hm. self-sabotaging, to say the least!!

Reese: “Do you think it’s right to totally change who you are and turn your back on EVERYTHING you believe in, just to impress a hot guy??” [his dad gives a long, blank stare, before asking:] “...Burt Reynolds hot, or Sting hot?”

“YEAH I like clouds! I call them sky kittens :)” (I just think that one’s sweet!)

“Look, Christie, here’s the thing. When I first met you, I was just messing around. But we’ve gotten so close that, now... I really like you! I can’t keep this up anymore. I’m not the person you think I am. I’ve been pretending since the day I met you. It’s so hard having to constantly cover my tracks to keep my story straight... and I don’t WANT to anymore! I’m tired of living this lie! I’m done with it. I’m sorry.”

he catfishes some guy to blackmail him, but is implied to continue the flirtation even after the catfishing/blackmail is revealed

reese is, technically, married to a man. this particular plot point is played as a joke and manages to be both racist and homophobic, so I won’t go into it. but I believe he is still married to that man. technically.

reese takes care of a huge box full of caterpillars until they pupate and become beautiful butterflies. I feel like there’s some kind of gay coming out metaphor here somewhere.

I think there are a couple other times where he comments on a guy’s attractiveness but I couldn’t find specific instances.

In conclusion: Reese is a deeply repressed gay kid who was socialized SO thoroughly as an early 2000′s straight boy that, despite his attraction for men and his obvious compulsory heterosexuality, he still cannot admit to himself that he is gay even as he enters adulthood. Furthermore, his subconscious frustration about this fact is turned outward to form the “schoolyard bully” costume he uses to mask his insecurities and keep others from getting too close to him. 

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. I could be convinced to come back for another talk about how Dewey is trans or about how each and every member of that family is neurodivergent in entirely different ways. Assuming anyone has read this far in the first place!!

#sorry this was so long lmao I legit spent 2 hours on this #I have 2 modes: not doing the thing and overdoing the thing #hey anon if you actually see this I'd appreciate a quick message saying so lmao I'd hate to write all this only for you to miss it #I'll probably rb sometime tomorrow at least #also liz if you're reading this i was GONNA add a bit about francis' gay potential like you mentioned but I ran out of steam so remind me t #i think reese has the most gay potential tho #mitm #malcolm in the middle #anonymous #Anonymous

[coffeecakefanfics]

Song Bird Peter Parker x Fem!Reader

A/n: Hi this is angst, that’s it that’s the tweet

Being a child of Tony is rough, always.  But being a child of Tony while being an avenger? Worse! It wasn’t like he intended his kid to end up being able to scream at a deafening pitch, but I mean you sleep with someone with powers you get a kid with powers.  They dubbed her Song Bird. As much as he didn’t want her to go on missions or even be an actual Avenger the rest of the team fought for it.  She was strong and level headed.  She helped lead a lot of missions but since she was so young she didn’t get to fight much. 

“Come on man I can squat more than that,” she stood next to Steve as he was benching, making fun of him, the usual.

“You’re lucky you’re a kid,” he huffed and struggled with the weight a little.

“Okay grandpa,” she rolled her eyes and helped him rack the weights back up. 

“Hey there’s our song bird, sing for us baby,” Sam called carrying in a box of glasses.

“Come on this again?” she made a face and set the tarp out. 

“Gotta keep that voice in check, punk,” Bucky nudged her and set a window pane up.

“No you guys use me for entertainment,” she huffed and set her stance.

“And this is the trainging roo- what the fuck are you doing with my daughter?” Tony asked.  Peter was by his side, getting an official tour of the compound. 

“keeping her throat in check,” Sam shrugged, “wait no- I mean like her power not that your child is, i’m gonna shut up”

“way to make it weird,” the girl laughed. She took her stance and everyone covered their ears.

“Hey kid hands over ears,” tony nudged Peter. 

With a deep breath she let her scream ring, shattering the window in under 3 second, the glasses in the box joined in the breaking soon after.  She stopped with a huff. Everyone uncovered their ears and clapped. 

“Still got it,” Tony beamed proudly.  His daughter took a bow, the same over confidence that her dad has.

“Dad can I steal my boyfriend for a bit? I want lunch,” she grinned and took Peter by his arm. 

“Fine but I need you two both back here in an hour you have new suits to try on,” he slipped a 20 in her hand and shood them away. 

“She’s a good kid Tony,” Steve perked up.

“Yeah, she is,” Tony beamed with pride at his daughter. 

“Okay so I was thinking of doing a Veridian green dress for prom,” she spoke and took a bite of pizza. 

“Do you have your dress yet?” Peter beamed at her words. 

“Duh,” She laughed, “But you can’t see it till prom night, got it,” she winked.

“Come on, I love seeing you in pretty dresses, and it’s prom.  The anticipation is killing me,” he complained and sipped his soda.

“Hey don’t complain to me, You’re the one that said you wanted a surprise, Bucky and Nat helped me get it and your tie so we’re all set,” she grinned and took another bite.

“And shoes?” he followed her in taking a bite. 

“Wanda and I are shopping for the shoes and jewelry this weekend, and we’re going to get our nails done too,” she kind of laughed. She let her eyes scan Peter, the kid she’d been in love with for two years, the kid she loves, and it dating, the kid she wants to marry.

“I can’t wait to see how you look, May wants pictures,” he covered his mouth.

“Duh, of course we’re taking pictures with her. Which are we still doing dinner friday?”

“Yeah, she’s making your favorite”

“How sweet,” she smiled.

“I swear she loves you more than me,” he rolled his eyes playfully.

“Of course she does, look at me,” she joked and they laughed. 

The two kids sat in front of their new suits.  Peters was stunning to say the least but hers? hers was perfect.  

“Okay so Peter try yours on and Bruce will give you the instructions on yours,” Tony sent peter away.  “Now you my song bird, your suit is special.  It’s lightweight and flexible and it’s secret? it amplifies your sound and gives everyone else suit a warning when you use your power, theirs all have noise cancelation built in so they wont have to cover their ears anymore,” she grins at his daughter. Her eyes were welled up with tears as she stroked the black and silver fabric on her body. 

“Thanks dad,” she throws herself around him.  “You’re the best,” she squeezes him.  He holds his breath a second and engulfs his daughter in a hug. 

Missions usually went smoothly with what everyone called “The Triple Threat” recently missions had been, Tony, Peter, and Y/n.  The three worked together so smoothly, like the team was made to work together.  Currently Triple Threat was working a mission, Y/n was supposed to run recon and scope out the building but he she stood on the edge of a roof. 

“No where to run little girl,” one of the men sneered. Y/n peeked down and looked back at the men and saluted before dropping backwards. Arms wrapped tightly around her.

“You’re crazy” Peter shakes his head.

“I knew you’d catch me”

“Hey, care to stop flirting and help,” Tony buts in.

“Sorry dad,” she laughs and lets the wings out of her suit.

“Y/N” It was Pepper. 

“Coming,” she took a deep breath and started down the stairs.  She smiled brightly when the faces of the avengers came to view at the bottom of the stairs.  Her dad held Pepper tightly as she held a baby Morgan in her arms.  Standing in front of the group was Peter, Holding a corsage in a little case with a dumb smile on his face.  The green dress fit her like a glove and held her in the right places.  She was stunning, and song bird was all his. 

“You look. . . wow” he smiled, breathless.

“Thank you peter, you look handsome,” she smiled back.  She took the boutonniere and pinned it to his suit jack and he slipped the corsage onto her wrist. Tony looked at Pepper then back to his daughter and smiled, proud.

“Alright you two, Be home at 11, and don’t get pregnant,” Tony clapped his hands.

“Dad!” Y/n shot him a shocked look.

“I’m teasing, but seriously have fun and be home at 11″

“yes, and Peter, I left some money in your wallet,” May smiled and straightened his tie.

“Bye Mr. Stark”

“Bye Dad, Bye Mom, Love you all”

Tony watched the door close with tears in his eyes. Pepper set her hand on his shoulder.  He smiled and held Morgan.

“Ready to do it all over again?” she joked

“No, never” he kissed his baby girls forehead.

“Peter?!” she called scanning through the ruble of the building. 

“Y/N!” Tony’s voice caught her attention.

“Dad!” she ran and helped him up. He engulfed her in a hug. 

“Oh my sweet girl,” he kissed her forehead,” Where’s Peter?”

“We got seperated when the building collapsed, I haven’t found him yet,” tears streamed down her face. 

“Easy, We’ll find him, take the east wing i’ll take west”

They split off and Y/n continued to call for him. 

“Y/n?” he was trapped under one of the cars from the parking garage. 

“Peter, hold on we’ll get you out,” you scanned the room before getting on the radio. 

“Recon, come in,”

static. no answer. 

“Okay Peter, baby listen to me closely.  I’m going to use my power, and you push okay?” he nodded and started to push the car.  She let out a scream and the car started to budge.

“It’s working please,” he begged and she screamed louder. The car shifted and Peter pulled himself free. Cracking surrounded them. Y/n peeked at the remaining walls.  Cracks in the concrete were rapidly spreading, threatening to collapse. 

“Peter go!” She grabbed him and did her best to help carry him out. He shot his webs and managed to get them out, with a couple scrapes and bumps, but safe. 

“There you two are” Tony hugged the kids.

Y/n sat next to Tony on the Jet, scrolling on her phone. 

“Y/n?” her dad looked down at her.

“Yeah dad?” she peeked up at him.

“Promise you won’t leave me, won’t do something stupid to take your life” She locked her phone and leaned into him.

“I promise dad” she closed her eyes and felt like drifting off.  He wrapped his arm around his baby, his daughter, his first. 

Thanos had taken everything from them.  The fight was brutal, everyone was covered in wounds, sweat, and dirt. Y/n was caught in the middle, of it all.  Peter had ahold of the gauntlet when he landed but blast after blast forced him to cover his head. 

“Pete” she called and raced to his aid, but a blast sent her flying. She crawled her way to him.

“Are you okay?” he asked

“Are you?” she scanned his face.

“yeah yeah, I’m fine,” he held her face.

“Peter, I love you,” she leaned in and kissed him. She turned to a bright light.  Her face lit up. “Took her long enough”

Carol landed in front of the young couple.  Peter sat clutching the gauntlet.

“Hi I’m peter parker”

“Hey peter parker, got something for me?”

“I don’t know how you’re gonna get through all of that” he looked at the battle ahead. 

“Don’t worry she’s got help” 

The heading back in.  

The gauntlet sat on the ground as Thanos knocked back fighter after fighter.  Tony stepped up to grab the gauntlet. 

“Dad!” Y/n tried to get to her dad.  Thanos shoved Tony back and Y/n caught him. 

“I, am inevitable,” Thanos said and snapped.  Everyone stood by as nothing happened. 

“And I, am Song Bird,” Y/n struggled and snapped herself.  Fighters began disappearing. One by one. Tony watched as Thanos finally turned to dust before turning back to his daughter. 

“You stupid fucking kid!,” he scooped her up in his arms “It was supposed to be me, I lived my life!” he yelled at her. 

She shook her head weakly. “Morgan, and everyone here. . .  need you” she was struggling to breath. 

“Y/n?”  Peter dropped beside her 

“You promised!” A hot tear fell on her face. She smiled up at her dad. 

“But I saved you, you deserve, so much more from this life dad” she choked

“Y/n” peter held her face.

“Hi baby,” she smiled at him.

“You’re gonna be okay? hear me, you’re gonna be fine”

“Baby listen,” she reached up to him. “You are the Amazing Spiderman you hear, you are going to do great things in this life and i’m. . .  so proud of you,” she choked again “I love you, forver,” she felt her eyes drifting closed. 

“Tell morgan, that I love her, and that the third drawer is something for her,” she smiled one last time. Her body went slack. 

“Y/n?, come on baby talk to me,” peter begged and screamed, Tony wasn’t holding back any tears anymore.

Tony dusted the picture of Y/n in her suit posed with him.  He smiled solemnly. 

“Do you miss her?”

“everyday, but I have to remember to live for her,” Tony turned and hugged Peter who started crying.  Even after a month it still felt so fresh, to everyone.  Windows got covered, glasses were replaced with plastic, but the biggest reminder of Song Bird is her suit, sat in the living room in a case, on proud display.  

‘Song Bird, The loudest heart’ 

#peter parker x reader #spiderman x reader #the avengers x reader

[koushisatori]

All you have to do is ask

It’s me again! This isn’t beta-read yet, but I’ll do so tomorrow after lunch!! But i need to get this out of my drafts asap and...well, here you go!!  Edit: 16.11.,13:10: I beta’ed it now and weeded out dumb mistakes (and made new ones, probably ) !  ♡ ～('▽^人)  

oikawa x f!reader

genre: small bit of angst, fluff

warnings: someone kinda trying to force themselves onto you??

word count: 3.4k

note: this was supposed to be a drabble, now look at what it turned out to be </3</blockquote>

____________________________________________________

Tooru was sure that he had saved at least thousands of people in his last life to deserve you liking him back

you didn’t play ‘’unreachable’’ but he had to out in some work for you

especially with his fan club being all over him all the damn time, 

but you never gave him any reason to doubt your intentions with him which is why he took wooing you very seriously

both of you actually spend a lot of time by just talking and getting to know each other due to that

for example: he liked taking you on cute little and spontaneous dates on volleyball-free afternoons and would then walk you home after

or on lunch breaks that you (at first) spend with him alone 

(sometimes he waits at your classroom door to pick you up if it’s manageable for him - aka if he’s not swarmed by people with confession letters)

later you both are consequently joined by Iwa, Mattsun, and Makki 

the last two loved teasing him with their ‘fun facts for lunch’

’’(Y/N)?’’ you hear Makki sing even before you can see any of the other three. next to you, Tooru groans in advance 

’’Did you know that ‘Kawa can reach a g’’ as soon as he’s eye to eye with an insect larger than your pinky finger?’’ the strawberry haired boy says, mattsun next to him wagging his eyebrows 

the professional that you are easily suppresses a grin, you merely chuckle amused 

’’Who isn’t afraid of bugs larger than that? There are way smaller things that could kill you!’’ you exclaim with wide eyes ‘’...and I’ll gladly channel all my bravery and…’’ you look around before leaning forward, the two boys following your example, intrigued by the secretive expression on your face ‘’…annihilate everything and everyone that might scare Tooru or make fun of hi’’ – ‘’WOAH, (Y/N)-‘’

they had tried to flirt with you just to fuck with Oikawa (so with no real intention) but they had to realize rather quickly that this was a hopeless task – you couldn’t tell that people were flirting with you unless they spelled it out

(literally that one meme;   you: ’’were you flirting with me, Tooru?’’ Tooru: did for the past half-year, thanks for noticing tho <3’’)

Don’t worry you know the setter well enough by now to be able to tell when he does, and really - only Tooru’s flirting matters to you

it also makes you blush furiously, now that you truly get it, but we’re not talking about that

Iwaizumi took you to the side one day while you were waiting for Oikawa to finish his training

he asked you sternly if you were sure that you would be able to handle days, weekends, and sometimes weeks in which Tooru would unintentionally prioritize Volleyball over you

said, that you had to find a balance on the fine line that was leaving him be with his training and stopping him from overexertion (and really ruining his knee)

after assuring that yeah, you would because you genuinely liked him, volleyball obsession and all, and that wanted to be with him, Iwa let go of any rest reservations he had had against you and joined the general teasing

Okay, moving on

as soon as his and your interest in each other became clear, you kept a clear distance from other males (and females, ‘yer that desired, as you should btw)

if they pushed it, you unmistakable stated that you’re not interested in other advances because you liked someone

Like??? Oikawa really just had to say the magic words at this point, you'd say yes in an instant

for god's sake tf is he waiting for?!!

despite you being obvious with your interest in the setter and disinterest in everyone else regarding this you constantly get approached by admirers

some people need it spelled out that you mean what you say, honestly

A thing Tooru liked so much about you was your kindness, but it also was the reason that - as already said - some people still thought they might have a chance

it’s not your fault, your natural charm is like...the 8th wonder of the world!!

due to your impeccable behavior and perfect grades, you obviously were the teachers’ favorite student to pick to help out other students

cue to: oh, look!! you're chosen again *sigh*

up until now, the tutoring never bugged Tooru too much, it was more like an itch he couldn’t scratch

but usually, they weren’t after school (giving up your lunch break, you’re a hero) and never awoke any rumors

your latest ’student’ seemed to think that he was close to ’’winning you over’’, though, that you were secretly but undeniably head over heels for him by now

’’I’ve heard that he plans on asking (Y/N) out today!’’ - ‘’No way! Even with Oikawa-Senpai obviously being interested in her?’’ - ‘’Yes!’’ - ‘’Death wish~’’

Tooru had to hear it in between classes and while he trusted you (and the last comment made him chuckle a bit), this was not the case for that guy

You: go home after class, Tooru, I need to give another tutoring session :(

of course, he wanted to hear none of that, especially with the hushed words fresh in his mind

meanwhile, you vividly imagined his annoyed expression reading it and the cute little huffing sound; you couldn’t help but smile softly to yourself </3

Tooru Σ>―(〃°ω°〃)♡→: I’ll wait for you, (Y/N)-chan, Iwa-chan and me wanted to try out something anyway (^.~)☆

Tooru Σ>―(〃°ω°〃)♡→: also, I waited to try out the sweets at the patisserie for too long to not eat my weight in cake twice today, so you better hurry if you want me to share with you

His answer clearly stating: I will wait for you, don’t take too long

Okay, maybe he was a bit jealous 

that this guy gets a reward – another hour with you alone - for being stupid ?? it obviously fed into a crazy fantasy and it was unfair

Oikawa reminded himself that he had no reason to be jealous, especially since he had yet to ask you out and make it official

(it had to be perfect and cute just like you, okay? no rom-com was able to prepare him for the real thing!!)

training – for the first time in years – dragged on endlessly

his mind kept wandering, and after the first 5 volleyballs to the head, courtesy of a very annoyed Iwaizumi, said one took matters into his own hands dragging his sulking best friend out of the gym

‘’If you’re jealous, Shittykawa, then fucking confess already.’’ Iwaizumi says with his no-bullshit voice, letting go of Tooru's jacket. 

While it was obvious that Oikawa is, in fact, super fucking jealous, he chuckles and puts on an easy smile. ‘’Silly Iwa-chan! I’m not- OUCH!’’ The brunet yelps, holding the back of his head and looking at his childhood friend with a pout. 

‘’First of all, fuck you, Shittykawa, for thinking I’m falling for your dumb act.’’ The ace growls, narrowing his eyes. ’’(Y/N) is a beautiful girl. Of course, Extras try to get close to and confess to her, you morron.’’ The spiky-haired let’s out a tsk-sound, seeing Tooru’s wide eyes. ‘’I at least hope you are aware that she is waiting for you to ask her out officially, right? It’s literally on you to put your foot over the line between a girl friend and your girlfriend. But if you take too long, she’ll eventually be fed up with waiting…so why in hell are you stalling?’’ Iwaizumi huffs, crossing his buff arms over his chest.

With a shrug, Oikawa looks up to the sky before his gaze travels down to settle on his feet, shuffling from side to side. ‘’I’m scared that making it official will do more harm than good, Hajime. She never said something else but…is she really fine with me forgetting basic things over Volleyball? Or will she leave me after a while like my last girlfriend? Because she realized Damn, he’s really into volleyball. I also don’t want to hurt (Y/N) by asking her to be mine and then…being me and screw everything up again.’’ Tooru whispers quietly, trying to hide the vulnerability while intentionally avoiding his best friends eyes. 

‘’You’re dumb, Tooru.’’ 

Well…that’s not what he was expecting Iwaizumi to do or say. A punch against his upper arm or chest maybe, or a kick to the shin – always with love but still painful enough to get the message across. But not a soft-voiced statement paired with a sigh. 

‘’I hate...’’ Iwaizumi says, waving his hand up and down. ‘’...why do I have to do...the emotionally charged pep talk.’’ He grumbles, pulling his hand over his face before he looks up directly into Oikawa’s insecure but also curious eyes.

’’You might not be aware of it, but things already are different compared to last time. (Y/N) does not just accept your passion, but supports you fully. With the amount of time she spends on the bench doing her homework and cheering for everyone when we do training's matches, while remembering our schedules and matches, she’s practically an inofficial second manager. By any means, she’s a perfect match to your madness, it’s scary.’’ he jokes, thinking of all the small things you do for his best friend that - in the end - make him trust you even more.

‘’But…what might be more important to you right now is that you’re not behaving like last time as well. You still are so freaking stupid and overexert yourself…but you check up on her whenever you take a water break. If it's asking in person or sending her a message. You make sure to have at least two free afternoons where you spend time with each other, which is two days more than you did last time by the way. You have that stupidly dopey smile on your face when you see Y/N. I mean…nothing ever breaks your focus after you set foot on the field and yet here we are, standing outside because all you do is mope around instead of playing!’’ The spiky-haired player huffs.

After a moment of silence, Tooru cries out an ‘’Iwa-chan, you do love me!’’ while draping himself over his best friend. ‘’Oi, Trashykawa!’’ the other protests with a fake angry voice, yet hugging the other back for a second before he pushes him off nonetheless. 

‘’Okay, now move your ass, the pinning you two are doing is a pain to witness.’’ Iwa says accusatory before going back into the gym, leaving Oikawa to make a decision. 

Hurrying through the gym to the changing rooms, Tooru nearly makes it out unseen until Yahaba is half asking, half yelling from the other side of the hall. ‘’Oikawa-san, where are you going?’’ 

With a wide grin and his signature peace sign (it’s for his own emotional support here, okay, his nerves are killing him), the Captain turns around to announce ‘’I’m finally getting myself a girlfriend!’’ before he quickly leaves his hollering teammates. 

(Oikawa was quite sure to hear Mattsun yell something like ‘All of you! Pay up!’ and Kyoutani muttering an ‘I’m leaving.’ somewhere in his vicinity.)

5 Minutes later, the brunet looks through all the classrooms in the hallway you should be in, teaching a good for nothing that was adamant about trying to steal you away from him. Tsk. 

Right after turning around the corner, Tooru hears a dull thud, followed up by a soft gasp that made his insides churn uncomfortably. That it’s immediately followed by a low, deep voice doesn’t help at all with calming Oikawas heart beat. He slowly creeps closer to the slightly ajar door to the room with the treacherous sounds. The soft whimper following was unmistakably you, and his heart suddenly felt like it was on the verge of breaking for a second.

Should he turn around and leave? Perhaps Iwaizumi was right with you being tired of waiting for him. Maybe you were tired and accepted someone else? 

Luckily, a gruff inner voice growls – surprisingly sounding like his best friend – and mentally slaps him. You never gave him a reason to doubt your affection! And if he had to fight for your affection then so it be! Also, you wouldn’t engage in something inappropriate out in public. There was a 99,9% chance of him misinterpreting everything due to his own insecurities, and you being uncomfrotable right now. Unacceptable. 

With his resolve strengthened again, the setter finally takes the last steps over to the door. Standing there, he finally could understand the words being spoken. Oikawa suddenly had a presentiment of what was happening inside.

Meanwhile, you were struggling unceasingly. ’’It…it is flattering that you…that you like me, honestly!! And…there are surely many other girls that would feel honored to be confessed to by you, but I like someone else, I’m sorry. Please, accept my choice!’’ you say, damming your voice for shaking and underminding your own statement.

’’Ah, ah, pretty girl, it’s not nice to lie.’’ the guy in front of you chuckles. The usage of such a pet name makes you cringe in disgust. There’s only one person allowed to give you tese kind of names. ‘’I know you like me, too. You with your cute little blush when you talk to me and lingering soft touches-‘’ 

A scandalized sound of protest leaves your lips. You were just short of stomping your foot. ’’I did no such thing! I-’’ But as before, your words meet a seemingly deaf ear. 

’’I will be the best boyfriend a pretty girl like you could ever wish for.’’ Moving closer, the guy slowly backs you up until you meet the chalkboard behind you. ’’Come on, give in.’’ He murmurs, hitting his hand against the board next to your head, which forces a scared whimper out of you. ‘’I’m all you need.’’

Stepping into the room, Tooru couldn’t believe his eyes and ears,. The blood in his veins slowly but surely starts to boil. 

’’Please, let me leave! I told you, I am not interested. I am with-’’ You plea softly, one hand pressed against the guys’ chest to stop him from coming any closer, – did he really try to kabedon you against the chalkboard? - while your other was hidden from his view. Even though you were trying your best, the distance between the two of you was insultingly sparse, the guy making up for the lack bodily closeness in general by leaning forward enough for your faces to be separated by only a few inches. You could probably feel his breath on your face. Tooru really felt like punching the guy.

’’What’s so special about the pretty boy anyway? He has many girls running after him to choose from, let me have you. I’ll treat you better! I have so much free time and I would spend all of it on you. Let me take you out for a coffee, pretty girl, or dinner. Hm? I’ll prove my words directly. I mean…he hasn’t even asked you out! It’s unfair how he is keeping you on the back burner, stringing you along. To you…’’ suddenly the boy moves closer, lowering his voice to a sultry murmur ‘’…and to m-‘’ 

’’That’s enough.’’ Oikawa says, his tone icy, sending shivers down the other male's spine. You on the other hand… 

’’Tooru…’’ you whisper, relief evident, as you watch him move closer to you as fast as humanly possible. Yet you still aren’t able to reach out. ’’Please, Tooru…’’ 

Upon hearing your soft whimper, his brown eyes follow yours to your other hand, realizing that said one is still in the firm grip of the guys' right. At that a clearly dangerous growl leaves the usually sweet brunet. ‘’If you don’t let go of her in the next two seconds and leave her be for good in 5, I can and will break your arm.’’ Oikawa threatens with an overly sweet, yet terrifying smile, wrapping his own hands around the guy's wrist, blunt nails pressing painfully into the sensitive flesh on the inside.

With a hiss, the guy finally pulls back his hand. It allows you to seek shelter behind the tall setters back. Your fingers tightly hold onto his shirt while you peek at the other from behind him. ’’Aww, come on, pretty boy,…’’ he says, voice provoking, the words clearly meant to degrade Oikawa. ’’…let me have some fun with sweets over there, and when I’m done you can have her all to yourself.’’ To top of his words, he winks at you. 

With the way he had tensed up the first moment, you half expect Tooru to suit the action to the word, and really break his arm...instead, Oikawa looks the other dead in the eye, while saying ’’Hey, (Y/N)-chan,? There’s that really sickening wretched smell in here, it’s kind of painful. I’d like to take you somewhere nice, will you get your things?’’

You hastily nod and do as you are told while Tooru continues to stare the other down, keeping his attention away from you and using the slighty height difference to his advantage. The moment you reach him, Oikawa finally lets go of the others wrist, grabbing yours instead. You tug him to the door as quick as possible, when suddenly life found its way back into the other. 

‘’Hey, what did you mean?’’ he asks, half angry, half clueless. Unable to accept his loss. 

Oikawa turns back one last time, a smirk settling on his lips while his eyes twinkle with amusement. ‘’I said, that a mouth breather as pitiful as you are is a disgrace to be in the vicinity of someone as amazing as her.’’ And with that, you both finally leave.

(Y/N)-chan…are you alright?’’ Tooru asks once you left the school grounds. His thumb drawing little circles on the back of your hand. 

You nod before you eventually look up, worrying your lip. ’’Thank you. I…I was really scared. Even though I'm sure that he would have done something…something…’’ you swallow down the nasty words, shuddering slightly. ’’I’m glad you came to save me, Tooru.’’ You finally settle on, pink coloring your cheeks. Beckoning him to lean down a bit by waggling your finger, you softly craddle his face and press a kiss to his cheek. The blush becoming more intense now with every passing moment.

Before you can pull back your hands, though, his had already found purchase on yours, keeping them - and you - in place. Everything about this moment felt right to him. Maybe now was the right time. ’’Pretty girl...’’ he murmurs, assessing your reaction. (He notes, pleased, that your blush intensifies, and your smile turns all giddy. He needs you to forget about that douchebag calling you that. He would repeat it until all you remembered was his voice using it.) ‘’I kind of really, really, really want to kiss you right now…’’ He whispers, the warmth of his cheeks telling him that he was most likely sporting a blush similar to yours. ’’…Will you be mine? Will you allow me to hold your hand? To kiss you silly? To steal bites of your food and make up for it with compliments and as many cuddles as you wish? Will you allow me to brag about you being my girlfriend and force you to wear my jersey to all my matches now and in the future?’’ His eyes didn’t leave yours for a second. He enjoyed watching yours light up as if he had just hung the stars in the night sky, or as if he had made you the best present a girl could wish for. 

’’Tooru…I thought you’d never ask…’’ you say with a smile so affectionate that it makes him feel mushy and warm all over. And then he finally closes the gap. 

The moment your lips meet for their first kiss is better than anything he had ever imagined. It isn’t a firework exploding, nor an unbalanced fight of passion and dominance. Instead, it’s gentle. A loving flow and exchange, wrapping you both in a blanket of warmth. A bubble just for the two of you. He understood what Iwaizumi meant with different, because – even though this relationship just started – he knows, that with you he had found a completely new world of comfort and love. Being with you already felt like coming home.

#nearly wrote kidney instead of kindness #oh (y/n) baby your kidneys turn me on so bad #wtf tooru!? #sfdhdjk sorry #anyway #Haikyuu imagines #haikyu headcanons #haikyuu x reader #aoba josai x reader #oikawa x reader #oikawa x you #haikyuu #haikyuu!! #did i use the word kabedon a verb? yep i did #is this correct? idk idc #i think this is to be categorized as dialogue heavy <3 #realized i made a grammatical mistake in the tags #ultimate certificate for dumbness <3333 #haikyuu scenarios

[its-miichan]

xie lian is poorly written (TGCF criticism)

I’ve said that I’ll be making a rant on why I dislike XL, so I’m here to keep that promise because everyone is so looking forward to my next hate post. I honestly found XL and HC to be the worst parts of TGCF, while I think most other parts of the story are actually pretty good, so I don’t hate TGCF like most of you believe I do, I just dislike Hualian. I don’t mean any offense to those of you who liked XL or TGCF in general, and definitely no offense to MXTX. Although I felt like her writing got worse in TGCF, she is still an immensely talented author and I respect her for all that she does, and all of this is just my personal opinion, and probably as far away from true as it can get.Now, just like HC, I have tried very hard to like XL, but I just can’t manage to like him. He is by far the worst MXTX MC in my opinion, and pales in comparison to SQQ and WWX. Now, without further ado, let’s get into why I don’t like Xie Lian.Why XL is a poorly written character in 5 long points;

He is bland and barely has a discernible personality

Inconsistencies ahoy!

His character arc is flat and he doesn’t develop as a character and doesn’t learn from his mistakes

Is wildly unlikable in the flashbacks and a lot of bad things that happen is actually his fault

Is overpowered and again, a Mary Sue.

Point one is that he is bland and barely has a discernible personality. He is supposedly “kind, sincere, generous” and other positive traits you would expect a children’s book protagonist to have. But does he really have a personality though? Yes, he does have personality traits, but a lot of those traits are just so, so vanilla. He doesn’t have a personality that can make him easy to tell apart from other characters other than being the “boring one”. 

He isn’t funny or outgoing like Shi QingXuan, and he isn’t sarcastic and sassy like Mu Qing. Heck, he has even less of a unique personality than Hua Cheng. Yes, HC’s personality is annoying, but even he has more of a personality than XL does. XL has no motive, goal, or any purpose in the story. He just tags along on missions that have nothing to do with him and just flirts with HC the entire way.He has no standout traits that make him a “unique” protagonist. SQQ is unique because he isn’t there to be heroic, but rather a panicked person forced to commit heroic acts to survive in the twisted world of a bad webnovel. WWX is unique because he is mischievous and laid back to the point of being annoying at first glance, but will actually throw his own life on the line to protect others. I can’t give Xie Lian a specific description of his character because his character is so uninteresting that it really can’t be described. When I think of XL, my brain just comes up with a bundle of words (nice, really dense, doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry) rather than a character as a whole. It felt like MXTX slapped a bunch of traits together and called it a day. 

I guess XL is savage sometimes, but that feels so weird and out of character for someone that’s usually supposed to be quite outspoken.

You could argue that he’s been worn down by 800 years of torture and suffering so that he doesn’t really care anymore, and while that does make sense in a literal way, it makes the story less...exiting. I want to see his reactions to new situations, or how he thinks about the amoral or upright acts of the gods and demons, but instead of actually getting to see his thought process and his inner conflict, he’s just like “meh” and lets it pass. This is probably what ruined my investment in the story as XL just feels so bland and we don’t even get to see his personality through his reactions, therefore we’re just told his personality.

Point two is that his character is so inconsistent. For example, as said above, he is usually “nice, sincere, and kind” but then at times he is savage and sarcastic (like when he tells LQQ that he will die if they duel in book 1). It felt like MXTX couldn’t make up her mind and so she just made XL both outspoken and also savage. Another inconsistency is with his intelligence. At times he is extremely smart and can figure things out that other characters can’t, but at other times, he is blatantly dumb. Like with HC. He is so dense that it just doesn’t make sense! He’s an old, 800 year old god that should be good at reading people and can see through a person. But then when it comes to HC, his deliberate obtuseness isn’t really a coherent part of his character, but rather an excuse to put the confession at the end because none of the scenes before were “romantic enough.” And XL never picks up on any of the hints that HC drops, even when they’re blatantly obvious.

Yet another inconsistency is with his so-called “insecurity”. He supposedly doesn’t think he is good enough and thinks that he is a bad god, but then he goes up to LQQ and claims that he’s going to die if they duel with the arrogance of HC? Whenever he makes a decision with it he is stubborn to a fault, which someone who is insecure wouldn’t usually do (I would know). And then besides it being a reason for HC to comfort and baby XL, the insecurity never comes up again? Additionally, some things that someone in his position would think more deeply about, he doesn’t think about at all. For example, when he is told that HC burned down the temple of 33 gods, someone who cares about the common people would think something like “That’s terrible! The time and effort and money of these people all gone to waste, and civilians may have been injured in the fire.” Instead he is just mildly confused and that’s it. Again, you could argue that it’s because of 800 years of suffering, but it just makes the story so much less interesting and...coherent.

One last inconsistency is that how come nobody, absolutely nobody, has been his friend for 800 years. He is supposedly a nice person, but despite his niceness, he has not even TRIED to make friends and nobody has tried to make friends with him? It is shown at the end of book 4 that most people don’t know that he is the trash god, so shouldn’t they be more willing to make friends with him then?

Point three is that his character arc, just like HC's, is so flat. The entire point of the flashbacks was so readers could throw a pity party for XL and feel bad for him, and so it’s just sad for the sake of being sad. XL doesn’t grow as a character, and what tiny bit of character development we do get is just...not great.

Just like HC, throughout the entire story, XL hasn’t changed a single bit in the present timeline. I don’t find this to be terrible, but as the protagonist, he should at least have some development. However, unlike HC, who’s jump from past to present is far too drastic, XL’s jump from past to present is far too small. He is no different in book 2 than he is in book 1, 3, and 5. You could say that in book 4 he comes to terms with the world and accepts it, but at the same time, in book 4 really all he did was angst, brood, and then suddenly become all sunshine and rainbows again. I do not consider brooding to be character development. This is because at the beginning of book 4, when he lets the other street performer go on and continue performing while he himself goes off and finds a new place shows that he is at least somewhat accepting of his current fate. He does fully accept it by the end of book 4, but going from partly accepting you are a beggar to fully accepting you are a beggar is not enough character development for 800 years. He also repeatedly emphasizes how unlucky he is and how he’s already used to suffering, and honestly at some point it stops being funny and instead just becomes like MXTX wants the reader to feel bad for him so hard.

Point four is that he is wildly unlikable in the flashbacks and he’s barely helped the common people at all. Yes, I find present XL to be bland, but at least he’s nice and likable, but him in the past is stubborn, stupid, and so overly righteous. If he had just listened to people, he would’ve avoided major disasters, and if he could just ask people before doing something stupid, he wouldn’t have been in the place he is today. This would make an extremely interesting plot point and place of conflict, but then the book just never addresses it? Like I don’t think the book registers that a lot of the stuff that happens is XL’s fault more than it is BWX’s. Additionally, XL is so overly righteous. His head is so full of “the common people” that he doesn’t give a second thought to the people around him.

For example, if he had just told the people of Xian Le to kill the people of Yong’an, he would’ve saved his kingdom, his people, his family, and his friends. But no, he had to think about “the common people” and let the people of his kingdom die, resulting in his downfall. Additionally, when he let the other street performers perform and he would leave, yes, that is a nice thing, but to FX, MQ, and his parents, it is just the worst decision. Rather than caring about the people near him and his ill dad, he had to be the white knight and leave.

And then a lot of the stuff in book 4 is his fault, but the book never addresses this. If XL wasn’t so overly righteous, MQ wouldn’t have left. If MQ didn’t leave, they would have one more person to make end’s meet. If they made end’s meet, then XL wouldn’t have to resort to robbery. Even if they didn’t make end’s meet, if he just listened to FX, he would still be fine. If he hadn’t committed robbery, he wouldn’t have been humiliated as hard in front of the 33 gods. If he wasn’t humiliated, then he wouldn’t be stabbed 100 times and he wouldn’t burn the Yong’an capital and have FX leave him and his parents wouldn’t have committed suicide.

And he says he wants to help the common people, but he hasn’t done that at all. In book 2, he hurt his kingdom and the tons of people that died from the curse, and didn’t lessen the casualties caused in the war at all. In book 4, the people that stabbed him all got burned to death by HC (why does XL in the present not consider this?), he burned the Yong’an palace and likely killed people, and yes, he did stop the human face disease this time, but because he was the one that unleashed it in the first place. When he was general Hua, he had tried to save the common people, but his actions really barely did anything in the future. As the Guoshi of Yong’an, he did more harm than good. So how has he helped the common people?And the book never addresses this? Like after he came back to his senses in book 4, Jun Wu doesn’t punish him and the people don’t hate him or anything. He hates himself instead, which feels like it’s just something that MXTX put in so that the readers and HC could go like “no baby, you’ve done your best, you’re amazing.” He is presented as an underprivileged angel and deserves all the love in the world because he’s such a nice person, but at the same time….no? He isn't as great as the book makes him out to be and the fact that the book insists on him being a selfless martyr annoys me to no end.

And point five is that he is also an overpowered Mary Sue. Yes, just like HC, he has flaws, but these flaws never actually get addressed in the book and also are never used against him, and so the book treats him like he’s perfect. WWX has a very similar build to him, where they are both people that try to save people, but WWX has very obvious flaws that lead to his downfall and people call him out for such as his arrogance. But XL never gets called out for being stupid or stubborn, except for by HC to be “cute” (like as in “you’re so stupid because you never consider yourself.”) 

He is much less a Mary Sue than HC because he isn’t “rich” or “renowned” like HC is, but in most other aspects he is just as bad as HC.First of all, he is basically just as powerful as Jun Wu even thought JW trained just as hard as him but for 800 years. Why? (Besides his plot armor and protagonist’s golden halo). He ends the book respected, loved, and super powerful and is also smarter than everyone else and is able to figure things out super fast, but is for some reason still collecting trash? Even though he has basically destroyed the entire status quo of the heavens just because he has suffered while nobody else actually suffered under the rule of Jun Wu, everyone still loves him. However, he is much better than HC in terms of being a Mary Sue because at least he isn’t crazy good at carving statues and can't figure out dead languages, but he is still overpowered as heck and is either hated for no reason or unconditionally loved.

About the hated for no reason, why? Why is it that after the fall of Xian Le, everyone hates him? Like the logic that the people have for hating him is so convoluted and so weird that I just don't understand. Just because the human face disease appeared during the civil war does not make it "his fault". It's correlation, not causation! Look, I don't like XL, but having people hate on him for such a stupid reason feels so forced to me. I mean, I guess it kind of makes sense, but at the same time, it's so exaggerated that I stopped caring. It feels like MXTX first thought that XL needed to go through literally everything bad for angst and so that when HC takes care of him it's fluffier, but it felt like she wrote the angst first and rushed the reasoning.

Again, I respect MXTX for her hard work that she put into TGCF and by no means do I want to disrespect her for that. I don't mean any offense to anyone who likes XL as well. Don't worry, I'm not biased, SVSSS and MDZS will have their turn on the chopping block as well. As always, feel free to attack me in the comments, but be sure to stay respectful to each other and MXTX.

#tian guan ci fu #tgcf #tgcf quotes #heaven official's blessing #mxtx critical #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #xie lian #hua cheng #tgcf donghua #tgcf headers #tgcf criticism #hatereading #not mdzs

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi Steph! How you’re doing? First of all, I wanna say that I love your lists. So, I was wondering, do you have some long Johnlock fics? Like, with a bunch of chapters and all that. Thank you!

Hey Nonny!! 

I absolutely do! And you know what?? I’m gonna be selfish: No one has ever EVER asked me for my shorter long fics, so I’m going to take this opportunity to finally release this list, because it’s been sitting in my drafts for YEARS lol. BUT you can check the list below for the links to all my longer-fics lists! Happy reading!!

NOVELLA LENGTH FICS: 20-25K

See also:

Novella Length Fics: 25 to 50K (Aug. 2019)

Novel Length Fics: 50 to 100K (Nov. 2018)

Novel Length Fics: 50 to 100K Pt 2 (May 2020)

Novel Length Fics: 100K+ w. (May 2019)

Novel Length Fics: 100K+ w. Pt 2 (Aug 2020)

Through the Clouds by Mazarin221b (E, 20,004 w., 6 Ch. || Retirement, Home Improvement, First Time, Romance) – Sherlock takes a remarkably early retirement at 47, and convinces John that a change of pace would do them both good. They buy an old cottage on the South Downs, and exchange their nonstop life in Baker Street for quiet contemplation, bee studies, and book writing. They might go completely insane, but sometimes it takes stepping outside of the life you're living to find the life you want. Part 1 of Through The Clouds

A Life Well-Lived by Kate_Lear (E, 20,121 w., 1 Ch. || Original Male Character, Sherlock Woos John, Jealous Sherlock, Reluctant Bi-John, Past Abuse, Insecure John, Reassuring / Caring Sherlock, Protective Sherlock, Understanding Sherlock) – John got scared off men by an abusive past relationship. Sherlock has to try and woo him while not scaring him off with protective possessive rage.

The White Lotuses by SilentAuror (E, 20,340 w., 1 Ch. || Slow Burn, Domestic, Romance) – One day John realises that he just isn't where he belongs, which is back at Baker Street with Sherlock. So he goes back and Sherlock, in his own way, courts him. Romance.

Out of the Woods by SilentAuror (E, 20,471 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, Romance, Slow Burn, Flirting, Drunk Sex, Practical Jokes, POV Sherlock, Bottomlock, Possessive John, Pining Sherlock, Frustrated Wanking, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, First Kiss/Time, Virgin Sherlock, Love Confessions, Soft Sherlock, Dancing, Bum Appreciation, Hanging out with the Yard) – Sherlock is fairly certain that John has taken to flirting with him of late, but can't be entirely certain of it. At least, not until a case takes them into a forest, along with Lestrade's team and something happens that will change everything about their lives...

You're On the Air by prettysailorsoldier (M, 20,616 w., 1 Ch. || Unilock, Matchmaking, Radio, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Sherlock POV, Pining Sherlock, Flirting, Bisexual John) – The Consulting Detective and The Woman dominate the airwaves of their university radio station, doling out advice on everything from meeting the parents to sexual positions. When their ratings start to dip before the holidays, however, manager Mike thinks it's time for some fresh blood, and who better to fill in the gaps than rugby captain--and notorious flirt--John Watson? Part 1 of 25 Days of Johnlock

whiskies neat by Ellipsical (E, 20,660 w., 15 Ch. || Alternate First Meeting, POV Second Person Sherlock, Slow Burn, One Night Stand, Rimming, Blow Jobs, Anal, Soldier John, Crying, Emotional Lovemaking, Switchlock) – Home and hearth and whiskies neat, or, alternatively, Sherlock Holmes falls in love.

Achieving the Together-Coloured Instant by teahigh (E, 20,776 w., 1 Ch. || Est. Rel, PTSD, Codependency, Fluff & Angst, H/C, Smut, Demisexual Sherlock, Experiments) – John wonders if this is how it’s going to be: A life speaking in code, because they’re both too stupid to figure out how to say, “I love you.”

Winter's Delights by Kate_Lear (E, 21,173 w., 1 Ch. || Holmes Family, Christmas, Fake Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Bed Sharing, Domestics) – Sherlock takes John home for Christmas to meet the extended Holmes family. Part 1 of Winter's Delights

Once More, With Feeling by cellard00rs (T, 21,178 w., 7 Ch. || John’s Family, Fake Relationship, Romance, Fluff, Humour) – To put off his meddlesome, matchmaking mother, John convinces Sherlock to play the role of his significant other. Unparalleled awkwardness ensues.

Love Is by SilentAuror (E, 21,508 w., 1 Ch. || Angst, UST / URT, Post HLV, Romance) – At Mrs Hudson's urging, Sherlock finally decides to tell John how he feels about him. Part 1 of Love Is

echoes through time by chellefic (E, 21,619 w. || First Time, Romance, ACD & BBC, Epistolary) – Mummy sends a trunk from the Holmes cottage in Sussex to 221B. Its contents alter the way John and Sherlock see themselves and one another.

The Real Meaning of Idioms by feverishsea (T, 21,691 w., 1 Ch. || Texting, Humour, Post S2) - After two weeks away, John finally texts Sherlock. He doesn’t expect Sherlock to respond. He doesn’t expect Sherlock to keep texting him. And he really doesn’t expect things to spiral out of control so rapidly.

5 Times John Got the Girl (and lost her) and 1 Time John Got the Guy (and kept him) by LiviKate (M, 21,695 w., 6 Ch. || 5 and Ones, Kissing, Oblivious / Awkward Sherlock, BAMF / Sexy / Stud John, Embarassed John, John’s Scar, Hurt/Comfort, Jealous Sherlock) – John has always had good luck with the ladies. He's charming, friendly and funny, not to mention great in bed. However, his usual skill with the opposite sex is constantly being thwarted by Sherlock and his outbursts. How will John ever get a leg over when Sherlock is always cockblocking him?

Brief Conversations with the Woman by May_Shepard (E, 21,906 w., 20 Ch. || Pining, Love Fairy Irene, Filler Fic, UST/URT, Drug Use, Clueless Sherlock, Relationship Advice, Angst w/ Happy Ending) – Sherlock has a puzzle to solve, and his name is John Watson.

When to Let Go by KendylGirl (M, 22,109 w., 8 Ch. || Friends to Lovers, Reverse Reichenbach, Sacrifice, Forgiveness, Angst, Love, Implied Drug Use) – What if it were John who had to die to thwart Moriarty's plans? John's supposed death shatters Sherlock, and when he returns, it will challenge the pair to forge a path of forgiveness, to peace, and to find a way back to each other. Part 1 of When to Let Go

A Shipless Ocean by myswordfishmind (M, 22,135 w. 4 Ch. || Post-TRF, John has a Kid) – Ten years after the fall Sherlock goes back to London to find that John no longer lives there. Instead, he resides in a seaside town, a widower, and the father of a seven year old son. Now, Sherlock must struggle with the fact that there may no longer be a place for him in this new world.

Ghost Stories by SwissMiss (M, 22,256 w., 1 Ch. || Pining, Holmes Family, Christmas, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, First Time) – Sherlock's parents think he and John are a couple. They might be onto something.

The One With the Proposal by kim47 (E, 22,375 w., 3 Ch. || Fluff, Romance, Marriage Proposal) – Proposing shouldn't be this difficult.

Sonatina in G Minor by SilentAuror (E, 22,574 w., 1 Ch. || Case Fic, POV Sherlock, Angst, UST, Sherlock’s Violin, Post-S3, Romance) – John has come back to Baker Street, but Sherlock doesn't understand the strange tension between them, even after he begins teaching John to play the violin at John's request.

Dear John by wendymarlowe (E, 23,031 w., 64 Ch. || Post-TRF, Online Dating, Pining, Epistolary, Cybersex, Long Distance Romance) – With Sherlock dead, John eventually (under duress) makes a profile on an online dating site. And falls into a long-distance relationship with an enigmatic partner who reminds him of Sherlock in all the right ways. (Hint: it turns out to be Sherlock.) Part 1 of Dear John

Knotted by naughtyspirit (E, 23,166 w., 4 Ch. || UST/URT, Cuddling, Sharing Body Heat, Confessions, Kissing, Mastrubation, Frustration, BAMF!John) – John has to cancel a date because of Sherlock's case, which leads them to be tied up in a basement from which they have to escape. They get wet, get tied up close and John has to step up and save them. Because he's pretty. And hot. And just a little bit of a BAMF.

You Can Imagine the Christmas Dinners by ardenteurophile (T, 23,584 w., 9 Ch. || Pre-Slash, Drama, Fluff & Angst, Humour, Romance) – Sherlock takes John along for Christmas dinner with Mycroft and Mummy (And "Anthea", too). Over the course of the evening, John realises that everyone in the room - apart from him - seems to think that he and Sherlock are a couple. Part 2 of Xmas Dinners Verse

Once Upon a Beast Becoming by antietamfalls (T, 24,042 w., 6 Ch. || Beauty and the Beast AU || Magical Realism, Folklore, Celtic Mythology) – An act of pride, a druid’s curse, an enchanted leaf; Sherlock’s torment has lasted an age. Hope arrives in the form of one John Watson, a man uniquely suited to break the spell. But with a single night to win his affections, Sherlock finds his carefully laid plans disrupted by a monstrous killer whose sights are set on the only thing he has left to lose: John.

The Kepler Problem by kinklock (E, 24,270 w., 1 Ch. || Sci-Fi AU, Alien Sherlock, Space Repairman John, Alien Biology, Horny John) – Working in uncharted space exploration was not as exciting as John had hoped, especially when it turned out to be mostly bot maintenance on uninhabited planets. However, the mystery of the repeated, unexplained malfunctions on planet BAK 2212 might turn out to be exactly the kind of adventure he'd been craving.

Maintaining A Personal Life by Gingerhermit (E, 24,284 w., 6 Ch. || Alternating POV’s, Bisexuality, BAMF!John, Jealous Sherlock, Romance / Drama, Sort-of Case Fic, Peril & Angst, Love Confessions, Toplock, Soft Idiots in Love, Post S3) – Sherlock and John discover some interesting revelations about each other’s sexuality, which lead them both to question the assumptions they've made about one another for years. In the midst of their mutual discoveries, a dangerous psychopath looms on the side-lines who threatens to destroy their new beginning.

The Sexual Awakening of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson by suitesamba (M, 24,579 w., 10 Ch. || Post-TRF, Case Fic, H/C, First Kiss/Time) – Sherlock owes Mycroft a favor. Mycroft calls in that favor by offering Sherlock's consulting services in a charity auction. Sherlock and John soon find themselves at the country manor of Mrs. Ives-Patton Smarmington III - not very coincidentally a long-time friend of Sherlock's mother - where they are reluctant participants in her Murder Mystery Weekend. It's a play within a play for Sherlock and John, and their roles for the weekend event bleed over into their real lives, waking the sleeping dragons within.

Tomorrow's Song by agirlsname (M, 24,645 w., 5 Ch. || Post-TRF, POV Sherlock, Angst with a Happy Ending, Virgin / Repressed Sherlock, Love Confessions, Slow Burn, Pining, Jealous Sherlock) – How can he think a relationship with me would be a good idea? I am the sort of person to take a break from my life and when I come back after two years, I expect to find it exactly as I left it. In reality I find it shattered to pieces. (I actually equate you with my life. When did I start doing that?)

State of Flux by Atiki (E, 24,655 w., 4 Ch. || Sherlock POV, Slow Burn, First Kiss/Time, Friends to Lovers, Frottage, Cuddles and Snuggles, Awkwardness, Insecure/Virgin Sherlock, Romance) – John’s marriage is over and he is finally back home (i.e. at Baker Street, where he belongs). Sherlock is awfully insecure and John is awfully hesitant, and they're both awkward idiots, of course, but they figure it out. Many First Times happen.

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #my fic recs #20 to 25k #long fics #Anonymous

[botwstoriesandsuch]

Melting Ice and Warmth and Words

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Teba x Saki, 8505 Words

I made this fic for @zzariyo for my server’s gift exchange event! Hope you enjoy, I had a lot of fun with it :3

In which Harth is the gay best friend(TM), Teba is a god damn fool, and I become a lesbian for Saki. Also this was slightly based on a post about how Saki threatens Teba with a sword.

This is the tumblr version but check it out on AO3 if you prefer

- - - - - - - - - -

"Historians probably hate you," Harth mumbled, as he tested the weight of his bow. "This is, what, the third time you've stolen priceless artifacts?"

Teba continued flipping through the pages. The sound of rustling parchment melded with the crackling fire behind him. A soothing mix of leather and pine aromas filled the Flight Range.

"It's not stealing if no one knows it exists," Teba countered, not bothering to look up.

"Yet."

He shrugged. "Yet."

Another sigh filled the air, and the two of them went back to their respective preparations. Harth set down his Swallow Bow and went to fill up two sets of quivers, while Teba continued poring through the personal history of a dead Champion.

It had been a day or two since he had found yet another artifact from a century ago. The depths of the Flight Range, and the expanse of the not-so-well-kept records in the library hid all too many secrets, to which Teba had taken full advantage.

This journal was worn, cracked smoky leather showing its fragile age. Although in comparison to its two predecessors—Revali's Diary and The Great Revali's Diary respectively—this journal was in much better condition. Other than by the contents of the pages itself, Teba had discovered you could decipher the chronological order of the diaries based on how sophisticated the titles were. The more extravagant ones being more recent, that is.

The warrior let out a huff after perusing through another paragraph of dark, cursive writing. He continued digging through the pages with an aura of frustration. Harth, ever one to press his buttons, glanced back.

"So if you don't plan to inform everyone else about your latest finding, yet, what exactly are you doing with it now?"

Another turn of the page. "The same thing I've done before. Searching for clues."

A smirk formed on Harth's face. "Hm. You know these days it's hard for you to read a cookbook properly without help."

"Shut up will you, I'm trying to focus."

A shrug, and then a beat of silence; the two of them basked for a moment in the piercing wind that cut through the Flight Range.  The flickering shadows cast by the fire only served to add to the almost haunting beauty that tonight brought. The chilling midnight moon was a barely distinguishable sliver, white against white in the brewing storm. Teba could only long for the soft hammock of his home. Although, it's not like he would be relaxing anyway.

Nearly all hours of the day, if he wasn't practicing with his bow, he was poring through a damn book. It definitely wasn't out of a passion for reading, but more of a desire to spite his superiors.

Elder Kaneli had yakked his beak off about how the "bow of Champion Revali is our last physical connection to our valuable history" and thus was not to be taken out of its chest, ever. So there went Teba's dreams of dissecting it and constructing a masterful bow of his own.

Kaneli had said that a "young Rito like yourself shouldn't spend so much time out in the cold." So there went Teba's desire to devote himself to archery, shackled by the Flight Range's new "curfew," which was essentially a bedtime.

And, years ago, after a teenage Teba had found the very first diary of the Rito Champion, showing it off to the respected elder as quick as he could, Kaneli had beamed in his rocking chair and said, "Oh hoo! We shall get to storing it immediately!" So there went Teba's achievement, gathering dust in a box for a good three weeks before he had just decided to start sneaking into the records at night to pore through it. "Preserve the paper's integrity" his ass, he knew the librarian just hated him for that time his makeshift bomb arrow had caused her tail feathers to smell burnt for a month.

At nearly every turn, there was always something that hindered Teba's progress towards getting clues about how to master Revali's Gale. If that wasn't enough, Kaneli had been nagging him more and more lately about settling down and relaxing. Just a few years ago, Kaneli had been all about training him to be a mighty warrior, but nowadays the elder just couldn't seem to shut up about "exploring new pastimes!"

So here he was, with his new pastime. Reading, like the thrilling warrior he was.

Teba rolled his eyes after skimming through another paragraph. He hurriedly turned through a few more pages, the rustling parchment catching Harth's eye once again.

"So how's the research going? Is it just brimming with inspiring details about how to command the wind?"

Teba chuckled, although there was clear bitterness in the tone. He held up and flipped the journal around, so that Harth could read the contents written within.

"You tell me..."

~The Eighth of Nayru's Moon~

Once again, that little knight has failed to so much as acknowledge my presence. He probably wouldn't know charisma and impeccable skill if it was shoved right into his perfect face— and goddess believe me, I have tried as such.

Just today, I was— formerly assumed alone— at the Flight Range, practicing my Gale, when from the corner of my eye I saw him watching me. His face, an unfortunate yet predictable bland block of carving wood. Even after witnessing my masterful abilities? HA! His dead gaze borders on blindness.

To think, the King is looking to appoint him as the princess' personal guard. I should think someone as unperceptive as he would do better as a cleaning maid. Forget the quick instincts of battle, I'm sure he'd be dead in an instant. He just blankly looks and looks, and stares and stares. All he ever does is stare at me, unassuming... with those striking blue eyes of his.

Too striking. Distracting even. If he dares show his stupid, atrociously awful face at my Flight Range again, I might just have to nip his poorly drawn bowstring myself. Followed by a legendary duel to the death, of course.

Then again, if he for some reason stops by tomorrow, I wouldn't mind that much.

Harth leaned back and gave Teba a smirk. "So, that's a no on the Gale research then?"

Teba let out another huff, snapping the book closed and getting on his feet. "Nothing but boy troubles in this one. He has to have kept more entries out there that could actually be useful to me."

Fiddling with an arrow shaft in one wing, Harth went back to filling the quivers. He let out a laugh. "Ah, I'm sure it's not all useless! At least now you know you're not the only Rito in history who's terrible at flirting."

A scoff. "The hell is that supposed to mean?"

"That was literally about as straightforward as I could have been with this topic."

"Well do me straighter."

Harth proceeded to have a coughing fit for five minutes.

The sounds of wheezing laughter and less than polite comments from Teba echoed through the Flight Range.

"Hylia, I may not be looking for a wife, but I hope one day I adopt or something just so I can tell my grandkids how much of an idiot you are," Harth finally said, at the end of their colorful banter. "But yes, thank you for proving my point. A Boko skull has a better grasp on charisma than you."

The warrior crossed his wings over his chest, looking away. "Well sorry that I've been focusing on my strengths rather than dabbling in immaturities."

"Remember when you were in the infirmary and you tried to tell that nurse, Saki," he snorted, "You tried to tell her she had nice posture–"

"Shut it. Shut it and quit your grinning before I shove you into the fire and use the arrows as kindling."

Another laugh echoes, and the most Teba can do is narrow his eyes. But after a beat, he perks up and looks back in his direction. "How do you know her name?"

Harth raised an eyebrow. "Saki? Well I don't know, she treated me during that Ice Talus accident a month back. I probably just asked for her name at some point, you know, like a normal person." He shook his head. "Spirits above, Teba, you've probably been in that infirmary more than I have. Have you really not gained the social skills to ask for someone's name?"

He stared at the very interesting and engaging wooden floor, shifting his weight between his legs. "I don't have to answer that."

"Oh, woe is you. Kaneli never gave you a pep talk about how to make friends?"

"HA! I think our conversational topics peaked in the days where he actually encouraged my archery training. Less 'pep talk,' more 'lecture,' nowadays."

"Alright, alright, save your daddy problems for breakfast, Teba."

Teba glowered much in the way a Lynel would to its soon-to-be-dead prey, feeding Harth's amusement.

"Anyhow, you needn't go so hard on the guy, he just doesn't want you to kill yourself, which is especially relevant tonight." He turned around and picked up the now fully stocked quivers. "Now that you've finally managed to tug your beak out of that book," he tossed one to the huffy bird, "Let's go slay some monsters."

Teba's earlier expression morphed into stern concentration, emotion dripping away in favour of a practiced warrior's focus. He grasped one of the arrows and inspected the tip. "Fire arrows? Wouldn't bomb arrows be more effective on monsters?" The night seemed to turn colder to match his more serious tone.

The charcoal feathered Rito slung his bow and quiver onto his back, speaking quickly as he worked. "Not necessarily. We want as much vision as we can, can't risk getting blind-sided by even one of its attacks. Explosions would give even more cover to an already invisible foe." He also mumbled something about how he barely had the income to afford them.

There was a moment of silence as Teba calculated and turned over Harth's words, before putting the pieces together. He gave a confident nod as confirmation.

"So… have you ever slain a Wizzrobe before?" Harth asked.

The warrior smirked to himself, turning towards the exit with bow and quiver. White against white as he stood on the snow covered landing.

"Not yet."

- - - - -

Thunderous sounds in a frozen tundra; it came after the ripple of footsteps.

Jaded peaks weathered grey, the sky couldn’t be distinguished from the land. The snow had pounded harder and harder as they flew, flurries coating the feathered fletchings on their arrows.

Harth landed first, walking around on the open, frigid expanse. Teba did a sweep of the surroundings from the air. Nothing.

The base of the Hebra Mountain Trail— just under the shadow of the South Summit— this was where the last attack was. Hopefully it was where the final one was too.

There had been three travelers total; two Rito, one Hylian merchant. Minor injuries. Most all ran away at the first sign of frostbite. It was normal for the occasional monster attack to come up every now and again, and it just wouldn’t be worth the resources to hunt down every Lizalfos and Bokoblin that happened upon some unfortunate soul. By the time anyone lives to tell the tale, the beast has probably already moved miles from where it was last seen. The Hebra wasn’t exactly the most accommodating of places to enjoy long term.

And so that was the excuse. Save the supplies for bigger threats. An Ice Talus, Hinox… Hylia forbid a Lynel. A Wizzrobe would probably be off dancing in the sunset by now, and thus, no warriors should waste supplies looking for an “unnecessary fight."

Teba remembered scoffing when he heard the news— a scoff apparently so spiteful, that it had earned him a rare glare from Kaneli.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Teba. You won’t be recklessly going off alone to find it, understand? I mean it!”

Teba perched on one of the cliffs, getting a clear view of Harth below, surrounded by white on white on white. Harth turned his head and gave a thumbs up in his direction.

Well, that was one half of the instructions followed. The “stupid” part is still up in the air, though.

Teba unslung his Falcon Bow from his back, resting a fire arrow on the bowstring’s serving. If someone were to look up at where he crouched, they would be greeted by a piercing golden gaze; a pair of cold suns that sent you shivering.

That was the intent, anyhow. A warrior with a gaze like fire. Like lightning, like metal, like suns, like steel. That’s what he’d been told in the past, so he might as well use it to his advantage.

Still… he remembered once how someone had compared them to honey.

“What?” He had been taken aback by the sudden observation.

“Or like butterscotch… I use it a lot when baking. Oh! I’ve seen gorgeous dandelions like it too.” The nurse—“Saki?” Did Harth say?—tended to the wound just below his eye. “You should be thankful the color is so pleasant, the sight is probably what caused that Moblin to miss its mark!” Saki smiled and for the first time, Teba understood what it meant to call something “the sun.”

“Make sure you don’t use those eyes of yours to go looking for more trouble. Or else…” She had narrowed her eyes playfully. Noticing him just staring at her in silence, she cocked her head to the side, curious.

“Sorry, was there something you wanted to say to me?”

Yeah, but I’m not sure what. All he could really notice at that moment was how relaxed her posture was around him. Usually, he was surrounded by his fellow rigid warriors, or the stance of someone that looked in his eyes and saw fire. So…she was a nice change of pace.

Too bad his communication skills could be trumped by a deflated octoballon. Teba's sigh manifested into a small white puff in the cold air. Nevermind that now.

He had to stay focused. Teba would cut no corners when it came to using Harth as bait. However, he couldn’t deny the somewhat pissy mood he was in. No Gale, no practice, no clues, no fights. Sooner or later the village might just strap him into a rocking chair and say it was for the best. What a joke… At least killing off a dangerous creature would help let off some steam— ice? Magic ice…water…arrows… fuck.

Teba rolled his eyes at his own incompetence. Can’t even be a decent wordsmith in my own head. Harth was right.

A sudden flash of movement and his mind immediately crashed back to reality. Eyes instantly trained back to the ash colored Rito on the ground, who had now turned and aimed his bow at the horizon. Not even a second after the movement was made, Teba had an arrow nocked and aimed in one practiced, fluid motion.

Harth had two arrows nocked, aiming towards an unseen target obscured in the haze of snow.

Black against the pale of midnight’s frigid sheet of snow. If Harth could see something, it would no doubt also see him. He stepped forward, Swallow Bow unwavering in the wind

Teba adjusted the draw of his bow, training its angle to match Harth’s movements and ready to release at a moments notice.

The crunch of talons on snow. A small patch of dead bushes just a few paces in front of Harth.

One step.

Two…

Suddenly, an arctic fox dashed to the right and disappeared into the snow.

A draining silence. Steady, freezing breaths condense into puffs of clouds out of Teba’s beak. There was still a knot of tension in his chest, but he could start to feel it ripple out, like a patter of footsteps as a mix of closed off fear and anxiety walked out the door. Still, he didn’t falter his draw. After a moment, he saw Harth put down his bow and sigh. The Rito turned towards Teba’s direction to give him a smile and a shrug.

Harth met his gaze.

Then, the expression on his face suddenly morphed into shock.

Teba didn’t think twice.

He snapped around and let gravity take him, loosing the already nocked flame. The hiss of fire flew and connected with its target with a satisfying crack! Midfall, he could hear Harth shout a much too late “Behind you!”

The fire arrow hit rock, crumbling stones clash against snow. The burst of flame roared like thunder on the cliffside. Although the creature wasn’t hit, the area of effect was still large enough to singe at the tips of cloth.

A pearly white robe that faded deathly blue. The glow of ice and dark silhouette. A shrill cry escaped from the Wizzrobe that had stood, wand in hand, behind Teba’s perch just seconds ago. Even in distress, it wore a chilling grin.

Bastard. You won’t get another chance.

Another flame nocked and loosed with lightning speed.

The creature laughed, as if in pity, and twirled in its step.

Gone.

Teba gave a flap of his wings to stop his momentum. His talons safely connected with the ground, and Harth was at his side at once.

“Are you alright!? Are you hit?!” Harth started to inspect his wing, but Teba continued staring at the sky, “S-Say something, dammit! Teba we need to—”

He held up a wing, the gesture with an unspoken tone of “shut it.” Teba readied another fire arrow and pointed into the air. He whispered.

“Listen…”

His eyes narrowed in concentration, trying to discern sounds from the muffle of wind. Harth pressed back and covered Teba’s blind spot, nocking an arrow of his own.

The wind was unaccompanied. The dead bushes shuddered a tempo.

And then the midnight sang.

Like the pleasant echo of a music box…a lullaby that seemed to twinkle against the brink of night and day. A ripple of footsteps. A sparkle to his left, skipping like stones, as if the wind was water. There was a faint laugh, but Teba was the one to smile.

Gotcha.

The Wizzrobe had barely manifested before the fire arrow flew. A burst of orange connected with its frail arm, and the creature shrieked. Harth quickly turned and fired his own shot, the arrow nearly lodging into its face, but arching low and hitting its torso instead. The Wizzrobe panicked while the two Rito went to reload.

“Go for the face!” Harth shouted as he went to grab two arrows from his quiver. “It’s the only part that’s not protected by that stupid magic robe!”

As if on cue, the Wizzrobe had started laughing to itself, its arms flailing wildly as the flames that engulfed its person suddenly disappeared. It gripped its Blizzard Rod in both hands, starting to twirl with a sickening grin.

Teba aimed for the sky. “Move!”

Harth shuffled back in obedience as fire soared. The arrow crashed into a giant sphere of ice that hurtled from the heavens, shattering into pieces just a few feet above their head.

The impact caused them both to fly backwards, the bow knocked out of Teba’s grip.

Hmm… fuck.

Teba crashed hard, tasting dirt and snow. Luckily Harth was able to get in position to fire an arrow.

Its arc through the air was cut short by multiple more icy spheres hurtling down around the Wizzrobe.

Harth cursed under his breath. While they were far enough away to avoid the barrage of ice magic that would no doubt freeze them with a single touch, it would be nearly impossible to get close enough for a kill. Teba picked himself up and crouched beside Harth.

“How much fire total?”

Harth shook his head and stared at the ground. “I was so concerned with not arousing suspicion…sneaking out to fight was one thing, but—”

“This is no time for regrets. How many fire arrows, dammit?”

Harth let out a huff. “I bought a bundle of five and split them between us. The last fifteen in each quiver are regular ones. Although at this angle I doubt they would be of any use.”

Teba’s eyes sat calculating for a moment. “So I’ve used two. One hit, one miss. And you—”

“I landed the third just earlier on its torso. The forth…” He turned in the direction of the shower of ice. He could see it smash against the wooden remnants of an arrow. “I used just now.”

Hylia forgive the less than polite words towards the spirits that Teba spoke.

Harth gave a nod towards Teba’s quiver, while handing him his Swallow Bow. “Here. I gave the extra to the best shot around. I’ll distract it while you make the last shot count.”

Teba scoffed. “You and I both know you can’t just adjust to a new bow on the fly and expect to be accur—”

“Well if you’ve got a better plan, I’m more than happy to hear it!”

Teba grimaced. Always life and its impossible instructions.

The warrior slung his quiver in front of him, indeed confirming the last fire arrow nestled between the regular ones. He took the Swallow Bow in hand and gave another glance towards the Wizzrobe.

Its earlier spell had stopped now, and it was now skipping all too happily towards them. The ripples of its chiming steps seemed to glow brighter and brighter as it approached.

Tsk. What a gloat. It’s not even bothering to sneak up on us anymore.

Harth gave a flap of his wings and hovered. “I’ll lure it near the base of the mountain trail, and you flank. Do what you must, it’s all you.” He took to the air and began taunting the Wizzrobe, attracting its attention.

Teba cursed. He harshly slung the quiver back around him while taking up the bow. In the motion, a journal dropped into the snow.

“Crap, the…” He trailed off, observing it for a moment. The words on the page it had opened up on caught his eye.

~The Twentieth of Starset Moon~

I hope a Wizzrobe carries me off before I see him again. I envy their magical ability to disappear from sight at a moment’s notice. Maybe then I wouldn’t embarrass myself so in front of Link.

I've always  called my eyes a mere jade. A simple enough descriptive hue, and on occasion it would serve as a masterful segue into a pun about how the best warriors have a gaze that can pierce like stone. But no, he just had to call it, “grass.”

“Actually, I’m fairly certain that the hues of Hyrule’s earthly flora are much lighter than the color of my eyes.” I had said. “Like I previously stated. Jade, or emerald works. Jagged jade if you are akin to alliteration.”

Curse my arrogance as my response only caused him to elaborate. “It’s not just the color” he had said. “It’s like a sensation. I like just looking at fields. To lie in them, and smell, and be in comfort in the grass and outside.” He shrugged like nothing was wrong. “Your eyes give me that comfort.”

Hylia is a cruel goddess to curse us Rito to become round puffballs whenever emotions get the better of us. THANKFULLY, he didn’t notice as he then started to ramble on and on about his—slightly concerning—knowledge about the flammability of plants. How flaming weapons and flint produced different embers. How any fire arrow can become a bomb arrow with enough kindling. How you could tell the flammability of certain flora based on the shade of green. He noted how my own eyes were not the most flammable, so… there’s that compliment, I suppose.

There was a roar in the distance as ice crashed onto the earth. Teba snapped the journal shut again.

The Wizzrobe had cast another spell, a blur of charcoal feathers could be seen dodging the attacks.

Teba stood sifting through his thoughts as quickly as he could. Whatever power above had caused him to stumble upon this entry…he’d have to thank them later when he had the time and the faith.

The idea was obvious in hindsight. If he couldn’t guarantee a shot at a small target, then make the target bigger.

The warrior took the fire arrow in one wing, and the journal in the other. The diary was old and dry, and obviously it had a much bigger surface area than an arrow tip.

So he quickly took the very last fire arrow and pierced it through.

It burst into flames in an instant. It certainly wouldn’t pierce anything, but with the bigger area of impact…combined with a new reckless plan, there wouldn’t be any need to.

He smiled and took towards the air.

“Uhh, Teba???” Harth yelled as he saw his friend approach, flying closer with a flaming book arrow in his beak. “What are you— fuck! Ay! Over here, princess!” Harth tugged at the Wizzrobe’s robe, luring its face towards Teba.

He couldn’t talk with the arrow and piece of flaming historical documentation in his beak, but he cocked his head in such a way to signal to Harth to turn.

“But?! Its face!” A fierce shake of his head in response. “Dammit Teba!”

Harth soared around the creature in a semicircle, avoiding its bursts of ice that make the feathers on his neck puff. The Wizzrobe turned to wave its wand, it’s backside now exposed to Teba.

The warrior quickly unslung his quiver and threw the leather strap around its neck, the weight of the arrows falling on the other side towards its chin.

“TEBA WHAT THE FUCK!?”

The Wizzrobe halted its midair dance, turning in the direction that the new weight had come from. The Blizzard Rod was already starting to glow.

“That’s right!” Teba shouted, as he took the flaming book arrow out of his beak. “Show me that ugly grin of yours!”

He gave one last flap of his wings before letting gravity take him, nocking the arrow on the Swallow Bow. As predicted, he couldn’t fully compensate for the difference in the bow.

Its weight was all different, the string strength was all wrong, the grip was much more loose than he’d have preferred—

Through the haze of snow, and paper, and his own pale feathers, the Wizzrobe’s shining grin greeted Teba in full.

White on white.

He narrowed his eyes.

“Catch!”

The arrow loosed.

The flaming book seemed to soar in slow motion, or perhaps that was just on account of its weight. It arched high, nearly on path to connect with the creatures gleaming teeth, but the strength just wasn’t there and it bowed lower still to the Wizzrobe’s neck.

FWOOSH!

The journal was destroyed on impact, paper glowing and fluttering. The creatures’ attire was set alight, but all it did was laugh like it was an inconvenience. Like a party trick it had already gotten tired off. It started to try and pat itself down, but…

“Let’s see you laugh now, bastard.”

The quiver’s leather wouldn’t catch on its own given its natural resistance. But with the flutter of dried parchment…

All it took was one fiery page, and the arrows caught. The Wizzrobe suddenly suddenly shrieked, but the sound was muffled and cut off by sputtering and the sound of what Teba could only assume was suffocation. The bundle of arrows glowed like a campfire, the flames engulfing the creature's neck and already licking at its face. It attempted to remove the quiver wrapped around it with both arms, tossing the Blizzard Rod into the air in panic, but it was already too late.

The giant necklace of kindling roared in the Wizzrobe’s face, and in seconds, the icy beast was reduced to mist. The wind its grave, as the last of its magical robe rippled in the night.

Teba landed on the ground, eyes bright with unexpected happiness as he cheered.

“WOOOOO! Did you see that!?! I can’t believe that worked holy fucking shit, take THAT asshole.” He shouted into the air with a rare show of relief. THANK YOU Champion Revali and that Hylian knight arsonist! Gods, who knew reading would be so—”

“ROD!”

“Wh—” Teba turned in time to see Harth flapping towards him. But closer still, Teba saw the blur of the Blizzard Rod falling through the air, just seconds away from impacting the ground.

Hmm…

Gravity surely wouldn’t simulate the effects of waving a magic ice wand around, right?

SHING!

Fuck.

A burst of ice exploded from the rod’s impact, Harth slammed into Teba just as he could feel the cold travel to the tips of his wings.

The two Rito crashed into the snow, and Teba was able to taste the delicious flavours of snow, stone, and dirt for the second time. He propped himself up with a wing that was now faintly aching. He had a bit of a coughing fit, as Harth got up.

“Teba…” he trailed off, still in a bit of shock. “Wh…Where the hell’d you get a crazy idea like that from?”

The warrior had the strength to shrug with one shoulder. “New hobby?”

Harth playfully shoved Teba back into the snow as they both laughed.

Teba stared up at the frozen sky. It was already fading blue, the brink of night and day tipping towards a yet unseen sun.

That wasn’t so bad. Just a few arrows, a quiver, a book, and we’ve got justice for our village. If we hurry we can make it back before breakfast and Kaneli’s none the wiser.

Harth stood over him and offered a wing. “Alright, let’s go grab your bow and get out of here. I think I can feel my tail feathers freezing off.”

Teba shivered, reaching out to get up. “Yeah, no kidding. It’s almost like it—GUH!” He crumpled to his knees.

“Teba!” Harth propped up his back as he went to inspect him. He gasped when he saw his wing.

The black feather accents were laced with ice, the very tips of his wing were already starting to become glassy and stiff. Teba held back a yelp as he felt the ice grow further up his wing.

“Oh shitshitshit, that Blizzard Rod still got you.” Harth frantically went to remove a piece of cloth from his armour to wrap it around the ice. “Try to keep that warm. Uh. The mountain lodge is nearby, maybe we can get a blanket? Oh shitshitshit….”

Teba mumbled something incoherent as he felt the ice grow further.

“Guh… We can just keep this incident between us like planned, yeah? Kaneli is gonna be pissed that I blew up his quiver.’”

“Idiot! Get on my back, you could lose a wing!”

“It’s not as bad as it looks. I could probably still fly.”

“Your feathers are snapping off, fuckface!”

Harth tried to get Teba to stand, but stopped when he started to hiss in pain. The cold on his left wing was starting to course through his whole body, and he shivered.

“Ok, ok. Maybe it’ll warm up when I get in the air. I’ll just start flapping a lot to keep the blood flowing. That’s how that works, right?”

“At that rate, you’ll not only be brainless, but wingless too.” A sudden voice echoed.

The boys looked up to see a set of pink feathers descend from the air. Harth’s eyes glowed with both immense relief and confusion.

“Thank Hylia, Saki….wait, what are you doing here, I—”

“Shhhhh…” Saki took out a sword, causing further confusion and shock to come to the boys. “All you need to know for now is that I was by the Hebra Trailhead Lodge when I heard a commotion that I can only assume you two fools caused.” She tried to press the blade against the ice on Teba’s wing.

Teba’s eyes darted between Harth and Saki. The feathers nearly everywhere on him but his left wing started to puff up given how close she was. He could smell a mix of nutmeg and warm safflina from her.

“I…uh…” Teba was rapped in the head with the broad side of Saki’s sword. “Ah! Hey—”

“Don’t move, before I decide on amputation.” Both of the warrior’s eyes widened. “Just joking! Ahaha… for now anyway.” Her cute little chuckle echoed in the air.

Saki finally put down the blade. She shook her head, the curls of her hair bouncing above her shoulders. “It’s already too strong to scrape off.” Harth’s head was turning left and right above them, like a child trying to get a peak of the action. Digging through the satchel on her shoulder, Saki took out a few heads of sunshrooms.

“Hold these, we don’t want that ice magic seeping in any further. It can spread to the blood faster than you think.” Teba’s beak was still agape when he obliged.

The pink colored Rito gave him a soft smile as she tucked a wing under his neck. She expertly flipped the Feathered Edge in her wing, so that it’s blunt side was aimed at Teba,

“Now, if your muscles move and contract any more, it’s just gonna cause any of the ice inside there to snap, effectively paralyzing you. We need to make sure there's no chance of that happening.”

Saki leaned down and pressed her head against Teba’s for a moment, planting the Rito equivalent of a peck on the cheek. “Take that as my premature apology.” Saki said. And that was the last thing he heard before he saw the swing of the blade’s hilt and everything went black.

- - - - -

Teba awoke with the sun in his eyes. He blinked, adjusting his gaze before identifying a blur of pink feathers in front of him.

“—and no doubt they’ve discovered you’re missing by now if she hasn’t said anything already. I’d fly back myself to inform the elders, but…” She trailed off, fiddling with the bandage.

“I could do it. You’ve probably already got your plate full with—gah!” A broad side of a Feathered Edge whacked Harth’s head.

“No. You need to keep that cut warm and toasty and uninfected. This bind won’t hold in those strong winds, and we can’t have the Tabantha skies blowing dust and grime into it.” Saki used her blade to cut the excess bandage on Harth’s neck, to which he slightly gulped.

Teba tried to sit up from where he lay. The Hylian style bed creaked under his shifting, and he muttered something about missing hammocks.

Saki suddenly stood, eyes lighting up to see Teba. “Oh good! You’re awake, let’s see how you’re doing.” She rushed to hold his wing, to which his heart immediately jumped into his throat.

“Saki, I—” Teba attempted to be articulate, but was distracted by the tenderness of her touch, and the sudden sweet smell of nutmeg and vanilla in the air.

“Stop moving your wing, Teba.” Saki examined all sides of his wing with a practiced eye. “I made the elixir in time to counter any frostbite, but you should still rest for at least another hour to make sure all the ice inside is truly melted.”

He couldn’t hide the surprise on his face. “You…remember my name?” It had been a few weeks since he had last seen her in the village infirmary. Usually he only saw the older doctors tending to patients.

“Well of course.” Saki cocked her head and gave him a warm smile. “I remember all my stupid patients.”

“Am I included?”

“Yes, Harth.”

“Nice.”

Teba’s eyes widened when she unsheathed her blade again. So much was happening so fast that surely if he wasn’t coddled in bed right now, he’d be snapping bones from the whiplash.

Saki held the metal near his wing. “The ice on your coat has softened by now, so I’ll just scrape it off,” Her blade gleamed with her bright smile. “Stay still!”

The warrior’s eyes continued to flicker between his wing, the blade, Saki, and Harth. Looking out the window, he saw the crisp blue sky glowing above a now serene and pleasant white snowfield.

“I don’t understand. Where…how long have….” He trailed off, but looked back at Saki. “What are you doing here?”

Saki stopped for a moment. “I…” Her shoulders sagged a bit as she paused. “Well…I know the elders said not to engage with the Wizzrobe incident. But…” She fixed her eyes on his wing.

“I’m a part of this village, and I care about its people. Those who are hurt, were hurt, or could be. I don’t like standing by when I could be helping.”

She looked back up and met his gaze. A pleasant blue that greeted the sun. “You understand, right? ‘We risk our lives everyday, might as well use it for something worthwhile.’ That’s the excuse you told me when I first met you.” She brushed a feather under one of his eyes. “Although, you were half unconscious, so I don’t blame you if you forgot. So anyhow! I stayed here in case any travelers came by with wounds or injuries. Keeps my heart at ease rather than just cooping up at home.”

Saki went back to removing the thin bits of ice on his wing, humming to herself. Teba savored the moment for what felt like a century, heart fluttering every time she glanced up to check on him.

Harth finally quipped in, tone playful. “Guess you’ve pretty much got the same mindset as us “fools,” eh, Ms. Saki?” He kicked back in his chair and crossed a leg over his knee. “Birds of a feather….heh.”

Saki snapped her head around to glare at Harth. “Actually,” the tone could cut steel, “The difference here, is that I had the common sense to not go out looking for a fight. I had the basic logic to understand that fighting a monster on its own turf would be reckless and idiotic. I had the brains to gather further supplies than a mere five fire arrows. And I actually had the decency to inform someone of my whereabouts should anything unexpected happen, rather than having the arrogance to think things would always go according to my own plans.”

She sighed again. “I hate to make Amali worry, but I’d rather stay here to look after you two while she informs someone to come pick you both up.”

Harth shut his trap real quick after that, to which Teba would have probably laughed if he wasn’t also scared of the possibility of getting the same treatment from her.

After a few more minutes, Saki finally finished up and patted his wing. Teba mustered enough courage to speak.

“Thank you…for everything.” He tried to prop himself up in the bed. “I can probably fly back in this condition. Kaneli’s probably gonna kill me twice over if I don’t get back soon.”

“Yeah, wouldn’t want to piss daddy off,” Harth snickered.

“Fuck off, Harth.” Teba and Saki quipped simultaneously. Teba however, was a bit taken aback by how calmly and sweetly she had spoken. The thoughts were knocked out of his brain when Saki rapped his skull with her blade again. “Ow! Would you—”

Saki pointed the blade at his throat. She was so close he was sure she could hear his heartbeat fast…and it wasn’t just from fear.

“Firstly, no. Neither of you boys will be leaving anytime soon so long as I’m here. You will be staying in bed,” she glared at Harth, but kept the blade on Teba, “And you will be keeping your tail feathers glued in that chair.” Saki turned back to Teba with a sweet smile.

“You will be staying here for the next eight hours, not so much as scratching the tiniest itch on that wing. Then, when someone comes here to pick you both up like I discussed, you will keep seeing me for at least another two weeks so I can monitor your injury. And perhaps when that’s all done, I will think about baking you a pie in celebration of your heroic feat tonight.”

She pressed the Feathered Edge a bit closer to his throat. “However, if this turn of events does not come into fruition…let’s say, if for some completely silly reason either of you decided to leave this cabin and fly home, well. I will just have to make sure to give you a reason to stay bedridden for another month. Do I make myself clear, warriors?”

The boys nodded as quickly as they could.

“Wonderful! I’m so glad we’re on the same page!” Saki's smile and tone was so quiet and sweet as she sheathed her blade once more.

Teba could still feel his heart thumping against his chest. There was a pleasant silence as the lodge was filled with the crackling of fire, and the occasional chirp of a morning bird. He stared at the way Saki’s eyes dazzled like a delicate sky.

Saki clicked her tongue. “Oh you poor thing. You’re still freezing aren’t you? Your feathers are all ruffled up.”

On instinct, the feathers on his neck—and pretty much everywhere else over—puffed up. “UH. Oh! Yeah. Cold. Very cold…yes.” He looked away and started coughing. Saki got up to get something by the fireplace, while Harth did his best to hide his snickering. Teba silently mouthed “help me” to Harth, which only further hindered his attempts to hide a laugh.

The pink Rito flashed one last pleasant smile at the two of them as she made her back towards the door. “Alright, I’m just gonna grab the firewood outside so I’ll be back in a moment. You’ll be alright, right? Nothing’s still aching or anything?”

Even muscle in Teba’s body seemed to melt at the way she curiously cocked her head to the side with a smile. The best he could do was mumbled out his thoughts before he had the chance to think them through.

“With you looking at—after me, I think I’ll be fine.”

Saki chuckled and Teba felt a combined feeling of pride and embarrassment. As she closed the door, Harth looked back at him.

“Very smooth. Quite the wordsmith.”

“Shut it, fuckface.”

- - - - -

TWO WEEKS LATER.

“What do you want?”

The doctor grumbled rudely as Teba did his best to not seem like a complete idiot. “Uh…Saki?”

“You want Saki?”

His mind shifted to a daydream. “Yeah…” Whenever her name was mentioned he couldn’t help but smile, but that fell away when he snapped back to reality. “WAIT, I mean— no. I don’t want— I mean not no, I just didn’t mean it like— I just.” Teba grumbled some more. “Where she is. I want where she is, or… need. I don’t want. I’ve never wanted— I just need the location. Her location, currently. Which is not here. Where is she. Please…”

Teba put on his best smile despite the fact that he felt like his body was suddenly on fire. Perhaps that was a habit learned from the Wizzrobe incident.

The doctor shook her head. “Kids and their incoherent rambling— She's coming back from Slippery Falcon last I checked. Baking another Get-Well-Soon fish pie, I assume.”

“Ah, great! That’s fantastic. Yes. Yeah! Great. Thank you so much, Una—”

“Get out already, Teba. This place is for the sick and injured. Not the…” she glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, “awkward, and alive. Both of which are actually quite surprising to see from you…”

He managed to give a weak mix of a scoff and a nervous laugh before promptly leaving.

Descending the many steps of Rito village, Teba’s mind raced with thoughts.

Just gotta not fuck up one conversation. Just a simple question! Just...quick little hang out...thing. Yeah. Yep. I can do that. She’s seen me blabber worse when I’m unconscious, so what’s one sober conversation. I’ve killed things! Why am I even stumbling over a few words? Tsk. Yeah. I’ve seen monsters and beasts and blood and blades, I've got this. This is doable, I can do this.

He suddenly bumped into a pink colored Rito at one of the turns, and she laughed as she fumbled with the honeycomb and butter held in her arms.

“Oh my! Well, good morning, Teba.”

I can’t do this.

“And where are you off to this lovely morning?” Saki tilted her head curiously, to which Teba’s eyes immediately dilated.

“…uh…I…” Was it just him or were her feathers slightly fluffier than usual? “I just wanted to…say hi.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Well.” She gave him a cheerful wave with a free wing, clutching her ingredients close to her chest. “Hi!”

“Y-Yeah. Hi…” Teba just stood there as Saki continued walking up the stairs behind him.

Fuckfuckfuckfuck do something, idiot I don’t have—

“Actually Teba…” Saki suddenly turned back around to face him. He quickly leaned a wing against the railing to seem casual. “If you’re not doing anything right now…do you mind helping me with something?”

Teba felt like he responded just a bit too quick. “Yes! Definitely. I can do that.” He coughed, and held out a wing. “You want me to hold something for you?”

She beamed. “Yes! Come on.” She shifted her baking ingredients in one wing, and used her free wing to hold his. Saki dragged him along as their feathers intertwined. Teba’s soul immediately left the mortal realm and his physical body was left stumbling and sputtering.

“WAIT! I—I DIDN’T MEAN! UH—I MEAN SURE— IF YOU’RE OK—BUT THIS ISN’T—”

“I have something heating up upstairs, so hurry along now.” She spoke quickly, not really having the extra confidence to look him in the eyes. But at this point they could both feel each other’s feathers poof as they held wings.

Carrying a mix of honey, Tabantha wheat, and butter, they both eventually made their way to the public kitchen where a fire was roaring.

Teba started grumbling apologies, but Saki cut him off by shoving a wood spoon and a bowl into his chest.

“Your rebellious nature won’t apply to cookbooks, yes?”

And with that, they got to it. Teba’s mind was still processing the events of fifteen minutes ago so while he stared blankly at Saki, he struggled to do the basic task of mixing.

“Here,” she held his wing and adjusted his grip on the spoon. If she wasn’t a pink Rito she might have blushed. “Try not to fling the batter out the window.”

They both started to gain just a bit more confidence as they continued working. Teba started to tease Saki a bit as he held the bowl with the salmon filling above her.

“What’s one little taste? It’s all gonna be eaten at the end, isn’t it?”

“Don’t you dare, it’s still raw!”

“Just one little dip.”

“If you stick one dirty little feather in that bowl I swear I’ll—”

Teba continued trying to dance around her, but she eventually got it back after a quick whack in the head with a spoon.

The morning flew above them, and the shades of a blue day were laced with clouds of white. The shadows of the hut spun across the floor like a spell. Eventually, the aroma of savoury fish with hints of butter filled the air. Teba grabbed a fork.

“This Get-Well pie was for me, yeah? So let me just—” Saki slapped his wing.

“Not yet, gosh.” She stole his utensil. “You forgot the most important part!”

Saki pressed the edge of the fork on the plain face of the fish pie, giving the little fishy a simple, honest grin.

“There!”

“That’s a bit creepy.”

“What?! No…it’s cute! A joyful little fish!”

“You know that this is just gonna be decapitated by me, yeah?”

“It’s about the sentiment, Teba. Hush.”

True to his word, Teba used a knife to take the first bite, decapitating the little creature. Stuffing his beak, his eyes immediately lit up. The flaky crust paired perfectly with the soft meat, the taste and texture beyond amazing.

Saki tilted her head, curious. “Well? How is it?”

“Mmmbfhbgm. Myeah. Yum.”

She clapped. “Oh I’m glad! I actually ignored the ratio a bit and put a bit more butter, so it’s good that that worked out.”

“What happened to following the instructions and rules?”

She narrowed her eyes and crossed her wings over her chest, playfully. “I don’t know… What happened to that priceless journal from Master Revali that was found to be missing from records a few days ago?”

“Damn. Fair enough, then.”

Saki suddenly gasped. “Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry I completely forgot about the time. You usually sneak off to practice Master Revali’s techniques by now, don’t you?” She went to grab a napkin. “Here, you can wrap this up and take it to the Flight Range, I didn’t mean to keep you for so—”

Teba went to grab one of her wings. “Hey hey! It’s ok. I’m still supposed to keep off the wing anyway, right?”

Saki scoffed, but didn’t pull away. “Oh, like you’ve been following that…”

“Better late than never?”

“Mhmm…”

Teba finally let go, and they stood in front of each other for a bit. Saki played with the curls of her hair, avoiding his gaze. Teba felt his feathers fluff up again, as he mumbled something.

“Hmm?” She looked up.

“Oh. I…didn’t say anything.”

“Ah, Right.” She looked away.

Fuck.

The warrior struggled to find the right words. In an effort to do anything but stay silent, he went to hold her wing again. Both of their feathers immediately floofed in response.

“S-Sorry. I should have—”

“No, it’s alright.” She kept his grip. “It’s alright.”

They both looked in opposite directions, Teba coughed again while Saki fiddled with her hair. The warrior continued screaming in his own mind, begging for some form of suitable and understandable words to come out of his beak. When he turned to speak, Saki cut him off with a soft smile.

“You know, Teba. You don’t have to say anything.”

His beak opened and closed for a few moments, confused. Finally he settled on his thoughts. “Can I try?”

She nodded. “If you really want to.”

Saki wrapped her wings around his shoulders, looking up at him expectantly. When he looked into her eyes, all he could feel was the embrace of a summer’s wind. It was blue. Cerulean. Perhaps teal, or a comparison of sapphire. There was a romantic simile in the world somewhere that he didn’t bother to find.

This close, he could see her eyes dilate, and count small imperfections on her beak. Teba stood as still as ice, before breathing out a bit in relief. He allowed himself to smile, and held her hips and swayed to some unknown rippling melody. Perhaps for just this moment, he accepted it. His words didn’t matter as his gaze lit up sweet and gold and honey. Finally, as they swayed and danced in warmth, the sun to the sky said,

“You look nice.”

#reblogs appreciated! #Teba: I'm gonna go get justice for my village so that no one else gets hurt! #Also Teba: *nearly dies on multiple occasions* #Teba is just the 'this is fine' meme and i love him for it #botw #breath of the wild #legend of zelda botw #loz botw #botw fanfiction #teba x saki #tebasaki #yes the fried chicken couple #teba #saki #saki botw #harth #harth botw #teba botw #botw gift exchange

[cali-holland]

Pictures of You- Harry Holland One Shot

Pairing: Harry Holland X Reader

Requested by anon: Can I have a Harry request where the reader finds a folder of all these pictures of her that Harry took without her knowing and that's how he tells her he likes her? Thank you ahead of time!

Prompt:You always thought Harry hated you… but that changes when you stumble across some pictures.

Word Count: 2600

Masterlist   Harry Holland Masterlist

*Not my pic*

Warnings: swearing

~~~

“Y/N, you made it!” Sam smiled, hopping up from his seat at the table to tackle you in a hug.

“Did you think I’d bail?” You stepped out of your best friend’s hug with a laugh, before sitting beside him at the table. The rest of your friends around the table, including Sam’s girlfriend El, greeted you kindly. You smiled happily, purely content with being back home again since your latest journey abroad. You noticed one open seat beside you at the pub, and you unfortunately knew just who would occupy it.

“God, it’s a good thing I got the drinks.” Harry scoffed as he walked up to the table, setting down a round of drinks for everyone. Surprisingly, he had gotten you a drink, too.

“Yes, I definitely need to be drunk to sit next to you all night.” You rolled your eyes, taking a quick drink of your beer, and Harry begrudgingly sat in the empty chair beside you, seating you between the two twins.

“Hey now, play nice tonight, yeah?” Sam teased, but you knew there was an underlying seriousness in his voice.

You’d been best friends with Sam for the past few years after having met at a cooking class one day when you burned the poor meal and Sam, the star of the class, had to help you- he still did all of the cooking in your friendship. Because you were so close with Sam, that meant you spent a lot of time around Harry.

Somehow, it still surprised you that, even though they were completely their own individual beings, one twin could get along with you so well and the other one seemed to despise your existence. Maybe it stemmed from that one time Harry needed a model for his shoot, and Sam suggested you, but you couldn’t be more repulsed by the idea of modeling- and Harry took it offensively. Maybe it was the time that you found out that Harry had told the guy you were talking to that you were actually into Harry instead, so the other guy completely erased himself from your life. Either way, you two hated each other.

At least, that’s the front you put up. You thought Harry was cute, and you loved his stupid jokes and how passionate he was about everything in life. You didn’t like that he seemed to hate you, so you just met his hatred with your own. You hadn’t told Sam about your miniscule, tiny, minute, barely-in-existence crush on his brother, too scared that somehow Harry would find out. Sam was just caught in between you two, trying to ease the tension as he balanced his best friend and his brother. It also didn’t help that now you, Harry, and Sam had formed the same friend group.

“So how’s your first night back in town?” Sam asked you with a smile.

“My roommate’s sexiled me already. Either I need to stay out until 3 am or I need to find a hotel already.” You sighed, with a small laugh, “She had weeks and still managed to line that up poorly.”

“You can stay at my place, if you’d like?” He offered.

“Excuse me, what?” Harry questioned his twin’s words. The twins shared a house together, so Sam inviting you to stay the night meant you’d have to deal with Harry, too.

“Sam, I don’t want to encroach. I’ll just get a-“ You started, but Harry cut you off.

“No shit, you’d be encroaching.” He stated, drinking down his beer.

“You know what?” You eyed him angrily, before turning back to your friend, “I’ll take you up on that offer, just to spite a certain someone.”

“As long as I don’t wake up tomorrow to find that one of you murdered the other, it’s fine.” Sam chuckled before taking a drink of his own beer.

You got pulled into a conversation with your other friends, ignoring Harry’s presence beside you as he did the same. Or so you thought. You were so caught up in your own world that you didn’t notice Harry’s lingering gaze on you when you’d throw your head back in laughter, your eyes crinkling in happiness; you didn’t notice how his hand closest to you seemed to itch like it was resisting the urge to reach up and move the loose strand of hair out of your face. You didn’t notice any of it.

“I’ll get the next round.” You stated, standing up after a couple hours to get everyone refills. The bar was busy, and you were unsuccessful at trying to get the bartender’s attention.

“Good luck with that. I’ve been here for almost ten minutes already.” A voice laughed from beside you. You let out a small sigh with a smile as you looked at the stranger. God, he was so pretty with perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfect eyes, perfect everything.

“Well, then I guess you’ll be my entertainment until he comes by?” You joked.

“I’m Tyler.” He introduced himself. “And what’s your name, gorgeous?”

“Y/N.” You replied. You weren’t the type to flirt with a stranger at the bar, but you had a few drinks in you and you knew you’d be waiting alone for a little bit and he was totally your type, so might as well.

After a few minutes of talking to Tyler, you finally managed to place your order of another round with the bartender. While he gathered the drinks behind the counter, Tyler turned back to you with his freshly made drink.

“Am I coming on too strong if I say you’re beautiful?” He asked with a little laugh, making you blush. Before you could respond, you two were interrupted by quite possibly the most inconvenient person in your life.

“No she’s not.” Harry said, coming to stand a little too close to you. You looked at him with wide eyes, silently questioning what the hell was wrong with him.

“I- I’m sorry, who are you?” Tyler spoke up, questioningly.

“Run along, mate. She’s not interested.” He replied with a scoff.

“What? No,“ You started but Tyler had already backed up in surrender, leaving you alone with Harry at the bar. “What the fuck was that?”

“I was saving you. You’re welcome. Did you get our drinks yet?” He asked, making you roll your eyes at him.

“Saving me? What kind of-“

“He was looking for a quick fuck, you’re not into that. Done.” Harry said as if it was simple.

“Who are you to say what I’m into?” You questioned.

“Oh come on, you weren’t seriously into him, were you?”

“That’s not up to you to decide.” You scoffed, “I don’t need your help, Harry, and I certainly don’t need your shitty insults.” You left the bar without another word, leaving the pub entirely. Harry warily turned back to see Sam, who sighed in frustration from his seat across the bar. Before Sam could get up to go find you, Harry trailed after you.

“Y/N! Y/N, wait!” Harry called out to you, jogging to catch up to you down the street as you had started to make your way home. Surprisingly, you had managed to make it a ways away from the pub, much closer to his house though than yours.

“Go away, Harry.” You grumbled, arms crossed and refusing to stop for him.

“Please, I’m sorry.” He reached out to grab your elbow to stop your angry walk back to your place. You unintentionally jumped at the sudden contact, your ankle rolling a little in the process and you heard your heeled shoe crack.

“Shit, Harry!” You exclaimed, grabbing onto him to keep from falling over completely.

“It got you to stop.” He said, not realizing you’d broken a heel from his attempts.

“You broke my fucking shoe. Thanks, dickhead, now leave me alone.” You took off your shoes, holding them in your hands and started to walk further, biting back the urge to limp from the pain in your ankle. You didn’t hear Harry follow you, and you thought he was finally leaving you alone, until he showed up at your side, holding out his sneakers for you.

“Come on, put them on.” In one hand, Harry took your heels from your hands, replacing them with your sneakers.

“I’m not wearing your shoes.” You scoffed.

“Put them on.” He insisted. He paused as he noticed you wince a little as you walked, ���Did you roll your ankle?” God, he was stuck to you like glue right now; you’d never seen him so interested in actually talking to you.

“Yes, what about it?” You replied, trying to act like it was nothing but the searing pain from your ankle didn’t really help.

“Here.” Harry stopped in front of you, bending down a little.

“What are you doing? Leapfrog?” You questioned in disbelief.

“Get on my back. I’m not letting you walk home on a bad ankle.” He stated. When you were silent for a moment, he continued, “I’m giving you a goddamn piggy back ride or I’m throwing you over my shoulder and carrying you home.”

“How chivalrous of you.” You rolled your eyes, but climbed onto his back anyway. With your arms wrapped around his shoulders and neck, you held his shoes and your heels that you’d gotten back from him. Harry kept you steady as he stood to his full height, hands holding onto you under your thighs.

“Harry, my house is that way.” You pointed out as you noticed he took a wrong turn.

“My place is closer.” He assured you. You were happy your face was hidden from his view, not wanting him to see your apparent blush at his kindness. His actions and comments back at the bar were annoying and hurtful, but this was a different side of Harry, this was the sweet side you found yourself falling for.

The rest of your short journey was quiet. Harry set you down so he could get out his keys once he reached his front door, and you leaned on one leg, trying to keep your weight off your bum ankle. You knew it wasn’t broken or anything serious, just in pain. Your shoe was more damaged than your foot. Harry helped you inside to his living room, sitting you down on his couch.

“I’ll get you some ice and clothes to change into.” He told you, leaving you alone in the room.

As you shifted on the couch to get comfortable, you realized his laptop was precariously placed on the edge of the other couch. You got up to move it, your fingers just barely brushing the touchpad and it flicked on. It was open to an editing all; he had obviously been working on pictures before he went out with Sam earlier.

Curious, you flicked through the nature pictures he had pulled up, smiling at the ones of Tessa and his family. He must have had a millions folders on his laptop of his pictures, you couldn’t believe it. You noticed how most of them didn’t have very descriptive names, just brief titles such as ‘Cherry’ and ‘family’, but then you saw one of your own name. You knew it was wrong to snoop, but you were curious about what could be in that folder. Clicking on the folder titled ‘Y/N’, the laptop opened a long list of pictures of you.

The first one had to have been around the time you first met Harry through Sam. You were just casually talking to Sam in his backyard, but the camera was focused on you, almost like Sam wasn’t even in the shot. You clicked onto the next one, displaying a picture of you laughing at something Sam had said to you- again, it was like he wasn’t there. Going through a few more pictures, you found a theme to them. They were all taken when you didn’t realize it; the camera- Harry, had been focusing on you and no one else in every single shot, and there were dozens of pictures. Somehow, you didn’t find it creepy that he had a whole collection of pictures of you- it was rather endearing. Here you had believed Harry didn’t like you, but maybe you just weren’t looking, you were never looking.

His laptop dinged, and a message came across the top of it.

From Sam: ‘Did you kill Y/N or did you kiss her... please tell me you at least told her you liked her finally’. A couple seconds later, another one came through ‘don’t fuck my best friend on our couch’.

Your heart started racing and you quickly closed the laptop, placing it on the coffee table. You had definitely snooped too much, but how were you supposed to know that Harry had a folder of pictures of you- but not like creepy pictures? How were you supposed to know that his phone was connected to his laptop so every single text he got went through to his laptop as well? And what the hell was Sam talking about? Did that mean Harry actually liked you too? Well, that’d explain his odd overprotectiveness and why he was so concerned tonight about your ankle.

“Here you go.” Harry’s voice pulled you from your thoughts as he came into the room with an ice pack wrapped in a towel, a pair of sweats, and a t-shirt for you.

“Thank you.” You replied quietly, taking the items from him.

“Do you want to stay in my bed tonight? I’ll take the couch.” He shifted awkwardly between his feet, like he was trying to figure out what to say.

“I’ll take the couch. I’m fine.” You said as you put the icepack on your ankle, hoping that would prevent it from swelling.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind.” He stated, sitting beside you on the sofa, and you let out a small sigh.

“Harry, do you like me?” You asked. You watched as his cheeks heated up a little at your words.

“Wh- what? Why would you say that?” Harry replied, trying to brush it off.

“I, um, I saw the pictures on your laptop.” You nodded towards the closed laptop that had obviously moved places since Harry had last been in the room, “And I saw the text from Sam.”

Before you could continue, he cut you off, rambling nervously as he did so, “It’s not what you think. You’re just a really easy subject to photograph because, well, you just always look… beautiful, and you’re really photogenic, too. And Sam- he was just being a prick. I wouldn’t try to- not here with you, and that’s not to say I wouldn’t want-”

“Harry,” You cut him off, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, “I’ll be disappointed if it’s not what I think because I like you, and I’d like to think you feel the same about me.”

“You do?” He was at a loss for words, attempting to decipher if you were serious or just playing him. The soft smile on your face told him it was the former. “I always thought you had a thing for Sam.”

“Oh God no.” You laughed, shaking your head, “It’s always been you.”

“In that case,” Harry shifted closer to you, bringing a hand to rest on your cheek, leaning in a little, “Is this okay?”

You nodded with a smile, and he leaned in to capture your lips with his own. The kiss was soft yet passionate, and his free hand cupped the back of your neck delicately. You tentatively shifted into his lap and your hands found their way to his hair, his trailing down to (respectfully) rest on your waist. The intimate moment was broken by the sound of the front door opening and the loud, somewhat drunken voice of Sam following it.

“For fuck’s sake, not on the couch!”

~~~

Tag List: @viagracex​ @theamazingtomholland​ @hellomoveonby​ @heyitsshrez

#Harry Holland #harry holland x you #harry holland x y/n #harry holland one shot #harry holland imagine #harry holland x reader #harry holland fic

[magicrowiswritingstuff]

“Flirting” - Gabriel x female!reader

Summary: Gabriel likes to flirt with the reader who unfortunately is easily flustered in general but especially because of her feelings for him. The Problem? The reader can’t tell if he is sincere or only teasing and making fun of her reactions.

Warnings: suggestive themes, mild swearing (because Dean)

Category: mostly fluff (maybe a little sad at one point)

Words: about 12.000 (wow, I always get carried away… would you like long pieces spilt in two?)

Note: I just recently finished season 8 (so please no spoilers, I already managed to avoid them for so long) so I know that the timelines don’t really match but I didn’t want them to still be moving from motel to motel for this. Also, I know the bunker doesn’t really have a living room area but I decided to add one in the library anyway… Note 2: I miss this archangel way too much for only seeing him in like … four episodes? (I cried twice in the episode … I might have been drunk too though) Note 3: I wanted to focus on my final exams but I had this idea floating around in my head and ‘to get rid of it’ I just decided to write it down... so here my very first piece about a character from supernatural.

_________________________________

“Flirting” - Gabriel x fem!reader

You had never been good with flirting, neither with starting it nor with responding to it. Sometimes you just didn't realize it was sincere flirting and not just teasing or you got too flustered to properly respond and avoided the situation of answering altogether. Or sometimes you just got angry because of it. How could people stay calm and then playfully respond when someone was flirting with them? Whenever someone tried his luck on you he would definitely not get lucky that night. Your responses would either be blubbering like an idiot or not speaking up at all. To be fair these reactions were far more pleasant for the one starting the flirty banter than for the first guy to ever try his luck on you. When that boy tried to hit on you, you hit him back… literally. Well, what did he expect when he used that horrendous pickup line on you. You couldn't remember the concrete context anymore, only that it happened on school grounds and that it was definitely not his time and place to use that line on you.

"How are you not cold? You’ve been naked in my mind this whole time."

You had been fifteen, maybe sixteen years old at that time and at first you had just blankly starred at the boy your age who looked pleased and proud of himself. However, he only had that expression on his face for a second before you had punched him in the nose in anger and embarrassment. You would have liked the story to end there but of course you had gotten in trouble for it. The boy's nose had started bleeding immediately and a teacher had intervened not a second later. You got escorted to the principal and the boy to the school nurse. Your mother was notified, you were forced to apologize and you even got suspended for a few days. But at the end it had been definitely worth it because after you told your mother why you had punched the boy she laughed heartily and bought ice-cream on the way home. "Some people just have it coming."

 Nowadays you don't react as violent to flirting but you still can't handle it normally and often resolve to running away. You just got flustered far too easily which embarrassed you greatly. The problem? You now were a skilled hunter with two hunter best friends who happened to know an archangel who couldn't stop flirting with you. Whatever situation you were in or regardless of the time you weren't able to escape his more often than not very dirty comments. It seemed like he declared it his mission to make you flustered at least once per day, often more than once. The problem? You really, sincerely and without a doubt liked him. Why? You had no clue since he enjoyed tormenting you so much but there was something about him that lured you in every time.

 Maybe it was his eyes. His brown eyes that weren't dark yet warm and with so much depth they dared you to look further and search for answers to questions you didn't even know. An enigma that didn't want to be resolved but egged you on to search for a resolution you would never find anyway. And even though they were brown it wasn't a solid color. Sometimes, when they caught the light just right, you swore you could see specks of green in them like the renewable leaves growing on the branches of an oak tree after a cold, unforgiving winter. But you often couldn’t look at them long enough to find those small specks. Their brown color itself was like a pot of golden honey illuminated by the beams of the rising spring sun that tricked your mind into a false sense of calmness. Because whenever you would look at them for a moment too long, when you would almost lose yourself in them he would notice and his calm demeanor would instantly change into a teasing glare with a smirk to match.

 Maybe it was the way he carried himself in such a carefree and confident way that made you jealous sometimes. Even though being reserved and careful weren't bad traits for a hunter you found it fascinating how easy-going Gabriel's attitude could be and you wished you could let lose more often too or just be surer of yourself like he was. Just a tiny bit. However, that confidence more often than not evolved into smugness that most of the time made you roll your eyes in annoyance. The smile that would form afterwards was always suppressed by you tightly pressing your lips together. His ego was big enough as it was.

 Maybe it was him supporting you and the Winchesters on hunts sometimes. He was quite skilled even without relying on his angle powers because wiping away a whole vampire nest with one finger clicking wasn't entertaining enough for him. No one complained because one set of hands more was always welcomed. (Okay, Dean sometimes complained.) Of course, if something wasn't going according to plan or someone was about to get hurt he would step in immediately. Or well, almost immediately because it seemed like it always took him a second longer to save Dean and Sam than when saving you.

 Maybe it was his sense of humor that made you snicker and laugh heartily when it wasn't dirty or suggestive. You liked his pranks he pulled on Dean and Sam. Mostly because of their reactions though. Whenever you heard Dean yell through the bunker in anger and frustration you could already guess who had crossed his path. Though sometimes you also became a victim of one of Gabriel's pranks but you rarely got mad because of them. If anything you had waited for the opportunity to have a reason to strike back at him for all the times he had made you flustered. However, your pranks weren't anything compared to what he could and would pull off.

 Maybe it was how approachable he could be sometimes. When you felt stressed or upset he would start a conversation with you to distract you and to set your mind at ease. He was surprisingly easy to talk to or at least whenever he wasn't in a flirty mood which unfortunately he was in often since the last couple of days. You would almost say he got more aggressive with his flirting, not even bothered when Dean or Sam would be present which made you even more flustered. You hated getting flustered over it. You were a hunter for crying out loud. You faced monsters no one would dare to even imagine but you couldn't handle a guy flirting with you? That was your pathetic weakness? But what was equally as embarrassing was whenever Sam tried to talk with you about it and how you should tell him about your feelings. At first you denied it, obviously, but Sam wouldn't butch and you gave in after a few awkward conversations.

 "Are you my mom or something? Asking me that question again and again until I finally answer?" Sam gave you a sour look but continued to stare at you with his arms crossed. "Uh, fine" you gave in and rolled your eyes. "You were right all along. Are you happy now?" "It is a first step" he replied and let his arms fall down to his sides. You shook your head and your arms before your chest immediately. "Nope, not happening." "You have to tell him eventually so why continuing to wait? You are a fierce hunter you can tell someone how you feel about them." You rolled your eyes and laid your head in your hands. Why couldn't Sam just let you be? You knew Gabriel's flirting wasn't well liked with the Winchesters but you were the one he targeted so it was your problem and not theirs. You looked up again with a warning glare. "Yeah right, Sam. I'll just walk up to him and have a serious conversation for once. You witnessed how aggressively flirty he is currently. I can't talk to him about it. He won't listen and I will only feel more stupid because of it. I'll just hope it goes away" you explained but let the last sentence be open for interpretation if you meant Gabriel's flirting or your feelings. It was a disaster. Why did you even feel that way about him? He makes you feel so confused and embarrassed all the time and you didn't like that at all. You furrowed your eyebrows, shrugged your shoulders and sighed in defeat.

 "Why the sour face, sugar?" a familiar voice asked that made you tense up immediately. You turned your head to the left and saw Gabriel leaning against the doorframe. Shit! Had he heard you? Your eyes darted back to Sam in question but he shook his head almost unnoticeable. So Gabriel wasn't standing there for long. A wave of relief washed over you. At least something good was happening to you. Glaring at Gabriel again you huffed. "It is none of your business" you replied defensively and crossed your arms before your chest. "Oh, come on. Now I'm really curious" he said and licked his lips which already made your cheeks slightly heat up. 'Traitor' you thought to yourself. "Just a rough day" you gave in with a small, polite smile, knowing that he wouldn't let you be if you didn't answer. By the sight of your smile his eyes seemed to lighten up before his grin grew almost sinister.

"I didn't think you'd like it rough." Your eyes widened in shock and if your face wasn’t red before it definitely was now. "That's not... wha- I didn't!" you began to stammer. Why would he even say that? Did it even make sense? With your nails digging into the flesh of your arms and wide eyes you stared at the smug archangel. Sam gave out an artificial cough of discomfort which made you look at him with one raised eyebrow. "That's what I was telling you about!" you tried to express over your eyes. He only stared right back at you, seemingly as caught off guard as you. You looked back at Gabriel who didn't even bit back his teasing smirk. "I have to go!" you choked out and squeezed through the door and by Gabriel without hesitation. You didn't care that he probably would be pleased by it, you just had to leave right now and he was standing in the only way out of the room. You needed a break from this. You needed some distance before your face would heat up enough to cook a three course meal on it. Luckily he didn't hold you back just followed your movement with his eyes and let you run away. When Sam coughed again his eyes snapped back to the taller Winchester with one eyebrow raised in question. "Really, Gabriel?" Sam asked annoyed. The archangel only shrugged with a grin and buried his hands in the pockets of his jacket before teleporting away.

 In the past you had handled Gabriel's flirty comments far better than nowadays. Maybe the reasons for that were that he didn't do it that often back than and maybe because you hadn't yet realized how much you really liked him. Now it felt like mockery to you. Was he teasing you so much because of it? Did he know? The problem you always had with flirting was that you could never tell if it was sincere or just a way to express friendly banter. Or in Gabriel's case: teasing you just for fun. Did he do it just for fun? Everything would be so much easier if you just knew what his deal was. You would know if you were making yourself false hopes or if you really had a change. But with the current situation you weren't ready to test the waters.

 _________________________________ 

  You groaned and let your head fall on the opened book on the table. Sam and Dean had gone out on a hunt a few days ago and you were left behind with research duty. You didn't hate researching for them or research in general but after a few hours of reading an old and complicated worded book while sitting in the same position the lines just got blurry and your body sore. Even with some sweets as "nerve food" you weren't able to get back to your concentrated state. With your arms draped over your head and your nose buried in the book you closed your eyes for a moment. You swore that next time you wouldn't let them leave you behind again. Especially since it was difficult enough to avoid Gabriel with them around to shield you if necessary but when they were gone you were an even easier target.

 "What's the problem, sweetcheeks? Can't concentrate?" You stifled the surprised yelp and after that the annoyed groan that threatened to spill over your lips. Speaking of the devil ... or well archangel. Now you really wouldn't be able to concentrate anymore.

 You looked up slightly to see Gabriel standing next to you, leaning his head down to take a close look at you. His face was so close to you that you could feel the faintest ghost of his breath on your lips. You tensed up immediately, not able to move away or break off the eye contact. His golden eyes held you captive. But there was something else then golden-brown too. Where those the green specks you sometimes thought you saw? You gulped, biting your lip as you saw his eyes wander down to them. You felt a push, a desire to- but you can’t. Not this way. Straightening up you were finally able to escape his eyes and looked to the other side, not wanting to be so close to his face anymore. He didn't even really do anything and you could feel your face heat up already. What were you? Twelve? Why couldn't you just for once control your body around him?

 "It's just painful sitting on this chair for hours" you said trying to have a normal conversation with him again but you should have known better. "Need a pillow to sit on? I can be yours if you want" he said without missing a beat. Your head whipped around to meet his gaze again. You wanted to be mad and lecture him but the moment you locked eyes with him you were unable to speak up properly. He still was only inches away from you and grinned wickedly, a mischievous glint in his light brown eyes. You wanted to look away, hide your eyes but you were unable to free yourself from his hypnotic gaze. These golden honey pots just lured you in every time. You wished you could drop threw a Scooby-Doo like trap in the floor right now just to escape this situation. Or maybe a monster could waltz in and threaten your life? At least that would be something you could handle. Instead you stammered something not even you could decipher, with your heart beating violently against your rips. How did he even know so many suggestive sayings? Clenching your fists, and digging your nails into the palms of your hands in the process, you leaned back to try and increase the distance between him and you. You had noticed that personal space wasn't necessarily something angels understood by being around Castiel a lot too. However, Gabriel sometimes took it to the extreme. Or maybe it just felt that way because every time he got close to you, your body burned up without him needing to say anything.

 You blinked rapidly while you could feel the blush creeping up your neck and face. The smirk on Gabriel's features only seemed to grow as you drove yourself further into embarrassment. Then he suddenly decided you were tortured enough and took a step back before sitting down on the opposite side of the table, still eyeing you to not miss the slightest bit of your reaction. "What was- don't you ever shut up?" you angrily spit, finally able to form a coherent sentence again. The archangel leaned back in the chair with his arms crossed behind his head. Clicking his tongue the smile vanished from his face as he seemed to think about it for a moment, looking up at the ceiling before directing his piercing glance back at you. His smirk already back on his features. "Only when my mouth is preoccupied with something sweet" he said and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Your face grew even hotter and before he could add anything else to it you grabbed one of the chocolate bars you had brought with you for your research session and threw it at him. He caught it with ease. "Here and now shut up!" you bellowed and shifted your focus back to the book. You swore that you wouldn't look up at him again and instead just ignore his antics. "Not what I meant but also not bad" Gabriel said pleased and unwrapped the candy. You of course knew what he had meant but you wouldn't let it happen. Not in that way.

 _________________________________ 

  The next morning you got a call from Dean, telling you that the hunt has been successful and that they would return now. Though that meant you would still be alone till the evening because the hunt had been far away. You sighed and clamped the phone between your head and shoulder so you could climb the kitchen counter to get a mug from one of the cupboards. It was far too early. Okay it was ten in the morning but you had been up almost all night, ready for any phone calls so you could help if needed. But then you had fallen asleep and Dean's phone call had startled you awake. You had jumped up, ready for any sort of bad news or him yelling a question about the monster through the speaker only to hear that the hunt was successful and finished. So know you needed some well-earned coffee.

 "Are you okay?" Dean asked but you mentally translated it to 'Is he bothering you?'. "No, everything's alright, don't worry" you answered after you stood safe on your feet again with the mug in your hand. You poured the hot, dark liquid into it and sat down at the table. "Does that mean he stopped?" the older Winchester questioned further. You bit back a laugh. "No, of course not. But yesterday wasn't as bad" you lied. Every single day seemed to get worse or at least Gabriel seemed to get even straighter forward with his dirty comments as the days went by. If that was even possible. "If you need an archangel blade just tell us" Dean joked but you could hear the slightest hint of sincerity in his tone too. "Will do, Deano" you laughed back and shook your head. "I'd say drive carefully but I know I would only waste my breath" you grinned and took a sip of your coffee. You could almost see Dean rolling his eyes at you through the phone. "We will be back in a few hours." After that the line went silent and you put your phone back into your pocket.

 You were able to drink about half of your coffee in peace when Gabriel decided to show up. He didn't say anything and if you wouldn't know it any better you would have said that he looked tired. Or hungover. He sat down in front of you, buried his head in his hands and closed his eyes, not speaking a single word. That was unusual. You raised one eyebrow at him. Something was up. You downed the rest of your coffee and stood up to refill your mug. Should you say something? You debated about it in your head but as always your friendly side won. Screw it.

 "Hey Gabriel, do you want some coffee too?" you asked, your back facing him because you were too afraid of seeing his smirk again. You were begging for a normal answer. "That would be great" he only said which made you breathe out in relief. "Coming right up." Knowing Gabriel's sweet tooth habits you poured in a not so healthy amount of sugar into his mug and stirred it before walking back to the table. You set the cup down in front of him and returned to your place, drinking your coffee in silence and avoiding his eyes. "Thanks, sugar" he said and for the first time you blushed but not because of you feeling overly embarrassed or being angry at him. "No problem."

 Then everything was quiet again but you were still debating on talking to him. He seemed really down which was not only unusual for the archangel but also quite alarming. It was also the longest time you two had spent together without him instantly using a flirty comment in a while. You thought about what Dean had said on the phone earlier. Did he stop? Maybe he didn't feel like annoying you anymore. Even more suspicious. Glancing up you observed him for a few moments. He didn't meet your eyes just stared into his coffee mug, his shoulders hanging low. Now that made all your alarm clocks inside your head ring and yell in worry. He would never let an opportunity pass to challenge you with his eyes. Normally he always felt your eyes on him and would meet your gaze almost instantly. You sat up straight. This wasn't normal.

 "Hey, Gabe?" you spoke up to get his attention which he gave you immediately. "Yeah, sugar?" he slightly grinned at you and you hesitated. Maybe he was only playing with you again. It wouldn't be too farfetched. You shook your worries away, your friendly side winning once again. "I just wanted to ask … is something wrong? You seem down" you said. Now a little unsure of yourself because of his grin you began to fidget with the cup between your hands. Maybe this has been a mistake. Maybe you should have just enjoyed the silence for once. "I'm just feeling a little off today" he answered, his smile vanished and he looked back down at his coffee. So your suspensions had been right. You took a sip of your coffee, ready to relax again and breathe out in relief when you caught the smallest glint of roguishness in his eyes. And before you knew it his typical smirk had returned as he looked up at you. "Would you like to turn me on?" Instantly you choked on the small sip of coffee and coughed it back into the mug as it burned your mouth. Now your face really grew hot out of embarrassment. Cursing yourself you tapped against your chest to stop the coughs from fighting their way up. You had to get out of here. "Forget that I said something" you wheezed and stood up with your cup in one hand and the other one pressed against your chest. You had to leave this room right now. "Oh, come on" Gabriel called after you with laughter in his voice. "That one was a real banger." You only groaned audibly and continued your way to your room.

 _________________________________ 

  You had barricaded yourself in your room for the next few hours. Luckily you had made it angel-prove after an incident that had involved Gabriel a few weeks ago.

 After a tiring hunt you had just wanted to bury your head in your pillows and sleep for 24 hours straight. But you couldn't even get as far as sitting down on your bed. You were only able to take one step inside your room before it happened. You saw Gabriel presenting himself on your bed, grinning at you and one second before it happened you realize what was about to go down. But at that point it was already too late for you to react and you were soaked in some kind of strange, gooey liquid. You couldn't force back the yell of surprise and disgust as the cold substance clung to your clothes and hair. "Gabriel!" you growled and wanted to jump forward, ready to strangle him. Normally you wouldn't get to mad at his pranks but your nerves had been on edge all day and this was the last straw. However, you weren't even able to take one step forward. It seemed like you were glued to the ground. Confused you looked down and tugged on one of your legs with all your might but it wouldn't really butch much. "What is this?" you grumbled and wiped off some of the slime that sticked to your face and hair. Only that it stretched a little but other than that it stayed tangled in your hair. You could hear the archangel snicker which made you look at him again.

 "Gum here often?" he asked with a smirk, holding his head up with one hand while lazily lying on his side. It would have been the perfect pose for a magazine cover wouldn't it be for- wait. What did he just say? "Gum?!" you yelled with your eyes wide in horror which only made him laugh even more. He poured liquid gum on you?! "Gabriel, get me out of here" you demanded while continuing to struggle against the gum. "What do you offer in return?" he talked back still in his model position. You groaned and stopped struggling because you only tangled yourself more in it anyway. Rolling your eyes you shrugged your shoulders in defeat, letting your arms fall down to your sides. "What do you want?" you asked annoyed. Gabriel shifted, now lying on his stomach to face you directly with his head in his hands.

 "What about a kiss?"

 You bit back an angry remark and instead thought of a loophole in his proposition. You needed to get out of here and maybe even get some revenge. But at first you needed some more time to think. "Really? Pulling of this dirty trick on me to get a kiss?" you asked with one raised eyebrow. "I know some more where that one was coming from" he responded with a wink. You rolled your eyes and crossed your arms before your chest as far as possible. The familiar heat was already tinting your face red again while you grumbled to yourself. "Snap the gum away and you can get what you want" you grumbled and turned your head away from him. He jumped up immediately like a little kid who had heard Santa Claus leave the presents downstairs. "Your wish is my command" he said theatrically and snapped his fingers. The gum you were stuck in disappeared in an instant. Relieved you let the tension in your shoulders out and prepared yourself for what was about to happen. Gabriel walked a few steps towards you with a smug grin on his lips and his arms stretched out. "I'm waiting."

 Your eyes widened. He wanted you to do it? To start the kiss? You groaned internally and bit your lip so it wouldn't threaten to spill over them. "Fine" you growled and walked up to him. You had to make this quick without him noticing what you were planning to do. You stood before him and hesitated for a moment. You felt his eyed looking down on you but you were unable to meet his gaze just yet. Wasn't this something you had wanted? Yes, but not under these circumstances. And you refused to play under his rules. You had to concentrate now so you breathed in deeply before grabbing him by the collar of his jacket and bringing him down to you. You saw the confident glint in his eyes, the sureness of victory, as you pulled him down. He didn't even saw it coming. You took one last deep breath and mustered as much strength as you could in your tired state to headbutt him across the face. He let out a surprised yelp and groaned. You didn't think you would actually be able to hurt him with it you had just wanted to get back at him and his surprised face was all you wanted. After the headbutt you let go of him immediately and pushed him towards the door. "That wasn't a kiss" he complained as you tried to shove him out of your room. "Yes, it was" you hissed and pushed him over the ledge of the doorway and grabbed the door, ready to close it but you paused and looked up at him with a grin. "I hope you enjoyed my Liverpool Kiss!" you sing-songed in a sickly sweet manner before shooting him an angry glare and throwing the door in his face.

 After that you had decided to secure your room because even though you mostly enjoyed his pranks you didn't want them to happen in your room. Also, you didn't need him snooping around there. So if Gabriel really wanted to enter the room you would have to destroy the sigils you drew on your door and walls first. But he would have to give you a good reason to do so.

 Now it was almost four pm so you had spent a good six hours in your room. Dean and Sam still hadn't returned tough, probably because of a stopover at a diner. Your stomach growled at the thought of something to eat. However, that meant you had to leave the room and probably face Gabriel again. But you couldn't stay hungry in your room either. You groaned and stood up from your bed. When you remembered correctly there should be leftover pizza in the fridge. The thought of something to eat spurred you on so you tiptoed to the kitchen as fast as possible.

 It only took a few moments to heat the pizza pieces up again but it felt like an eternity to you. But now you sat at the table again and to ate your favorite pizza with your mouth watering. It was perfect. Only that it wasn't. "You've got a piece for me too?" You flinched and looked up from your plate to see Gabriel sitting in front of you. How did he get there without you noticing? "Ehm" you stammered and leaned back to increase your distance to him. You wanted to be cold and say 'No' but your good, friendly side won once more. "Of course." You shoved the plate in the middle of the table so you both could reach it. You two ate in silence which you appreciated greatly because you wouldn't have been able to handle his flirting right now. And even more surprisingly was that he was the one to put away the empty plate after you two finished the rest of the pizza. He didn't snap his fingers and made the plate disappear, no he stood up and grabbed it before you could and put it in the dishwasher. "What is happening?" you wondered but stayed quiet. Better not addressing it and provoking him to any sort of dirty comments again. You just raised one eyebrow at him as he came to a halt in front of you, looking down at you with a special glint in his eyes you couldn't quite sort into any category. You eyed him skeptically.

 "Want to join me in the library?" he asked and reached out a hand for you to take. Now you raised both eyebrows in confusion. What was he scheming? Tilting your head you glanced suspiciously at his hand and back up to his eyes but you couldn't find anything to support your worries which was the only evidence you needed to know that he really had something planned. "Why? What do you want to do?" you asked too curious for your own good. Even though your instincts told you not to trust his seemingly sincere demeanor you decided to grab his hand anyway. He clasped your hand and the glint in his eyes immediately shifted to something mischievous. But before you could speak up or withdraw your hand he pulled you up on your feet and against his chest, his other arm wrapped around your waist so you weren't able to escape. Your eyes widened as you unsuccessfully tried to push yourself away from him with your free hand. With your hand pressed against his chest and your whole body tense you looked up to meet his smug gaze. You wanted to narrow your eyes, hiss something, be mad or do anything but the moment you locked eyes with him you froze once again. Why was this always happening? But surprising you the most was that the tension in your shoulders released almost instantly. Under the warmth of his eyes you felt like melting, like ice-cream in the heat of the summer sun, with your cheeks growing hot too. His lips were dangerously close again, his breath tickling them in the most challenging way and the only thing you wanted was to accept it, to go along. But you couldn’t and you won’t. Not this way. Not under his rules. Shaking your head you broke the eye contact once again with great difficulties and cursed yourself for ignoring your instincts. You were a hunter! You were supposed to rely on instincts if everything else failed. Angry at yourself you bit your tongue to stifle any unholy outbreaks. Refusing to meet his eyes again you continued to stare at his chest with your free hand clenching into a tight fist and pressed against his jacket. Your emotions shifted in an instant and you suddenly felt the powerful urge to run away and hide but unfortunately for you, you couldn't. Gabriel leaned down to your ear, only slightly before he spoke up again.

 "Preferably you."

 Your body tensed up immediately and you were sure the archangel was well aware of that though he didn't react to it. Your eyes snapped up to meet his in fiery anger you used to conceal how flustered you really were and the familiar heat had already established itself on your cheeks again. You were able to feel his body pressed against yours before too but now after those two words you seemed to be painfully aware of everything. Oh, how you hated the way he had made you flustered with his comments right now. And you hated the fact that you sincerely liked him in that moment too. Your nostrils flared as you huffed, unable to speak up. Or rather you didn't trust your voice not to break right now. "But watching a movie would do it too" he added with a toothy grin and let go of you. Quickly you took a few steps back and tried to regain control over your body. You were so hot you probably could replace the heating system of the bunker. "So" he dragged the word and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "Care to join me?"

 After the stunt he had pulled on you, you would have normally taken the first change to run back to your room as quick as possible. You were furious and embarrassed and furiously embarrassed. Still you decided to accompany him into the living room area. Why exactly were you doing this? You weren't able to answer yourself. Maybe because you missed hanging out with Gabriel without having to hear these comments all the time, wondering off they were sincere or not. So you sat down on the couch but as far away from the archangel as possible. You didn't want to fall even further into your pit of shame. Luckily he didn't make a single move to get any closer to you so you were able to enjoy most of the movie. However, after a while you got hungry again and decided to grab some snacks from your secret candy hideout in the kitchen. When you sat down again you thought Gabriel had moved a little closer to your spot. But by the way he lazily laid there you doubted that. Maybe your mind was only playing tricks on you. Though something you did notice, were the glances he threw your way. Eyeing him from the corner of your eyes you realized that he wasn't only looking at you but at the sweets on your lab too. You shoved another gummy bear in your mouth and thought for a moment. Should you offer him some? You mentally groaned. Why were you always so nice? Why couldn't you just ignore him? Battling with yourself you finally gave in, rolling your eyes at yourself and muttering curses under your breath. You were so going to regret this.

 "Hey" you said and turned towards him. His honey eyes immediately focused on you again. You groaned once more before you made your offer: "Do you want some sweets too?" What had you told yourself earlier? Ah, right: You would regret this. And by the tight-lipped smile on his face you now knew you definitely were about to. "You're the only candy I need." You stayed dead quiet, the bag of sweets still hold out for him. Narrowing your eyes at him you scowled. Even though you felt agitated you were far too tired to let it show except through the blush that crept up your neck. Actually pretty convenient or at least better than stammering like an idiot. You pursed your lips, a slight furrow between your brows as you stared pointedly at the archangel who seemed to grow uncomfortable with every second ticking by in which you didn't say anything. His smug grin turned into an unsure facade.

 "But I would take some of the gummy bears too."

 _________________________________ 

  "So how was the hunt?" you asked Dean and Sam when they finally arrived back at the bunker. It was around six or seven pm and you were still seated on the couch with Gabriel spread out on the other side. After your unresponsiveness about his latest comment he hadn't dared to speak up again. You didn't really care. In fact you were even a little proud at yourself for not ending up a totally blushing mess and stammering incoherent sentences but staying silent and stoic instead. Why couldn't you react that way every time he did that to you?

 "Fine" Dean mumbled and directed his attention away from you and to the small fridge to get his hard-earned bottle of beer. You only snickered and directed your eyes to Sam, crossing your arms on the back of the couch and placing your head on them while kneeling on the cushions. "Next time I want to join you two again" you said and made it sound slightly demanding. Sam chuckled and glanced at Gabriel who hadn't turned around, his eyes fixated on the TV screen. The taller Winchester nodded: "Alright." However, you shook your head at him and reached out your hand for him to grab. "Promise me." Sam eyed you confused with a small smile on his lips. His gaze darted back to the archangel and he let out a slight snicker when Dean joined them, handing his brother a bottle of beer. "So bad?" Sam asked while still looking at the archangel for a few seconds more before directing his gaze back to you. You huffed and pushed one strand of hair out of your face before reaching out your hand again which the younger brother finally accepted. "You have no idea."

 _________________________________ 

  Almost two weeks later and you still haven't found another hunt which meant that either the world was uncharacteristically peaceful or the monsters got better at disguising themselves. Anyway, that also meant that you had been trapped inside the bunker with Gabriel for two more weeks. And it slowly but surely got to a point where you weren't sure if you could go on like this. Neither did Gabriel's comments stop nor your feelings for him. Damn that honey-eyed archangel luring you into his trap every time. But at least he had been away for a few days now, giving you some peace at last. He said he had to sort something out and left immediately afterwards. You had to admit that you kind of missed him but at least he wasn't bugging you right now. Or not in person anyway because him leaving didn't make your thoughts stop circling around him. You needed a distraction. Your fingertips and mind ached for a new hunt.

 With a sigh you let yourself fall onto the couch in the library and closed your eyes. The bunker hadn't been this peaceful in a long time. It should have been pleasant so why did it irritate you instead? Did you really miss Gabriel's dirty comments? Did you really miss the feeling of embarrassment all day long? With a huff you draped your arms over your face. No, you missed seeing Gabriel's eyes sparkle with these refreshing specks of green. You missed having a normal conversation with him about a random topic one of you picked. You missed hanging out with him before he decided to flirt with you all the time. You missed him. You shook your head. Damn, you really were hopeless.

 "(Y/N)?" echoed Sam's voice through the bunker and to your ears, interrupting your thoughts. Groaning you opened your eyes and removed your arms from your face. "Yeah?" you yelled back and waited because you could already hear his and Dean's footsteps coming closer. You only sat up to face them when you could hear them enter the library. "Please tell me you found a hunt" you begged and leaned forward against the back of the couch. The two brothers shook their heads in unison. "No, we need your help" Sam started but got interrupted by Dean. "Or rather we need Gabriel's help" the older brother said. You raised one eyebrow in question. Why would they need Gabriel's help? You mustered their faces and noticed discomfort flashing over them for a split second. What were they plotting now? "For what?" you asked and tried to sound casual. You put your head in your hands to keep it upright and to not miss any signs that would tell you what they had planned. "That's not so important" Dean started which only made you even more suspicious. Why didn't they just tell you? Were they thinking about pranking Gabriel back? Or ask him about something for a hunt? But they told you they didn't have one. So what exactly were they up to? "The problem is that that son of a bitch won't answer our prayers" Dean finished and cursed angrily. You rolled your eyes. Typical for the archangel. It kind of became a prank in itself to ignore the Winchesters. "So we need you to try it" Sam added and looked at you with an apologetic smile on his lips. You groaned and leaned your head back. That couldn't be real right now, could it? Hadn't you just thought that you missed him? Well, yeah. But if you called him through a prayer he would tease you about it one-hundred percent. Because it is what he always did. "Do I have to?" you asked with a pleading look in your eyes and pouty lips. 'Oh please, just for once be on my side!' you thought not really directed to anyone specific. "Yeah, sorry. But he usually answers yours no matter what" Sam excused and rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort. When he really felt so apologetic about you calling for Gabriel they probably had something serious to discuss with him. You really didn't want to do it, Gabriel would never let you live it down but apparently you had no choice. You groaned again. "Fine" you stretched the word before closing your eyes. They definitely owed you for that and whatever was about to happen.

 "Hey, Gabriel. I need you so could you please send your feathery ass over here? Thanks."

 You purposely didn't say that it wasn't you but the Winchesters who needed him because you had realized fairly quickly that he wouldn't come if you made it clear you were praying to him on behalf of Dean and Sam when he was ignoring them. Would he catch onto that then he wouldn't even answer your prayers. You breathed in deeply to prepare yourself for what was going to happen and then slowly opened your eyes again to meet the golden ones of a curtain archangel. Gabriel stood only a few inches in front of you with his typical grin on his lips. "Couldn’t live without me, sweetcheeks?" he asked and tilted his head to one side. Rolling your eyes you pointed behind him to Sam and Dean. "They need you, feather brain" you explained. You could see his demeanor change the moment he laid eyes on the two Winchesters. His carefree attitude vanished and was replaced by an annoyed glare he directed at the two brothers. You wondered how often they had tried to call him before coming to you to make him so displeased. "I know" he snarled which took you by surprise. Out of instinct you put your hand on his shoulder which made him turn to you again. The mischievous glint in his eyes and the smirk on his lips returned in an instant. "So you had been purposefully ignoring them?" you asked with your eyebrows narrowed. "Yep" he answered unmindful and shrugged his shoulders. His hand sneaked towards your face and before you knew it he had already cupped your cheek. Your body froze instantly and your mind exploded into uncontrollable chaos. What. Was. He. Doing? Your eyes widened and your breath got caught in your throat. Stifling the cough you turned away so his hand would leave your skin. Breathing in deeply you tried to control yourself again but when you heard Gabriel's chuckle you spun back around. Rolling your eyes at him you pushed him into the direction of Sam and Dean. "Be decent" you tried to say warningly but it came out more as a whisper. He groaned and rolled his head back dramatically but didn't say anything else, just walked to the Winchesters who gave you a thankful look. You glared at them, making sure they knew that they owed you one now. Then they turned around to leave the library with the archangel in tow. However, you still had one question to ask.

 "I have one question before you three leave" you said which made them stop and turn around to face you again. Straightened up a little and collecting yourself, you directed your gaze at Gabriel who instantly challenged your eyes. You huffed and tried to withstand his golden ones. You couldn't back down now. "Why do you only answer my prayers?" you asked genuinely confused and narrowed your eyes in question. Gabriel smirked at you and shoved his hands in his pockets while slightly leaning back. He let his gaze wander over your face while casually standing next to the Winchesters who threw warning glances at him. But he decided to ignore them. "Because, sugar" he started as his grin grew even more. You gulped, already knowing that this wouldn't end well for you.

 "You're prayers are the only ones I want to hear, though not necessarily with an audience" he finished with his head held proud and high.

 You choked on your spit and your face grew hot not a second later. Did he really just say that in front of Sam and Dean? You couldn't believe it. You turned your head away, not able to hold his piercing eyes. Your body immediately sunk into itself and you just wanted to hide in the darkest corner of the earth where no one would be able to find you. You just wanted to disappear right now because you felt utterly humiliated which was only worsened by your body's reactions. Your mouth was dry and your nails dug themselves into the flesh of your legs as your eyes darted back to Gabriel's. "What the, what the hell is your-" you stammered, not even sure what you were trying to say and achieve. Luckily the Winchester collected themselves fairly quickly and dragged Gabriel out of the room before you could embarrassed yourself in front of him even more or get even more embarrassed by him. You couldn't believe that you really had thought you missed the archangel. Unfortunately, you still did. You huffed and let yourself fall back onto the couch though you couldn't suppress the small smile from forming on your lips. You were a mess. Why did you like him again? But regardless of how often you would continue to ask yourself this it wouldn't change the fact that you had the biggest crush on him. And maybe, only maybe did you start to enjoy his attention even though you didn't like the type of attention and the way it made you flustered.

 You grumbled and pressed the palms of your hands against your closed eyes. You had to do something about it. Sam's lecture sprung back into your memories. Maybe you should tell him? But would he take it seriously? You turned to lie on your side and furrowed your eyebrows on wonder. Where you considering believing his flirting was sincere? Was it? Or did he do it because he liked to torture you and see your embarrassing reactions? You groaned, your thoughts torn. You couldn't tell him about your feelings as long as you weren't sure if he was sincere with his flirting or not. It was just oh so wonderful that you were incapable of noticing the difference.

 _________________________________ 

  After you had summoned him through your prayers and the Winchesters had a talk with him, even though you had no idea about what, Gabriel seemed to stick around again. At least he had stayed in the bunker for a few days now. However, you had ignored and avoided him as far as possible ever since. You had decided that when you couldn't tell if he was sincere with his flirty comments you had only one other option to stop all this: your feelings had to go away. And maybe it was childish thinking but if you didn't talk to him maybe they would magically disappear? You could wish right? The only problem was that avoiding an archangel wasn't that easy. And since the only angel-prove room was yours you had stayed in there for most of the week so far.

 At the moment you laid on your bed and stared up at the ceiling in a half asleep state when your stomach started to rumble. With a groan you straightened up, debating whether you should risk going to the kitchen to eat something or not. But obviously you couldn't just stay in your room forever which was why you tiptoed to your door and listened for anything unusual before opening it. On your way to the kitchen you noticed how uncharacteristically quiet the bunker was and you began to wonder where everyone was. So you took a detour to the library first. But surprisingly the room was empty. Narrowing your eyes in suspicion and confusion you turned around to continue your search in the other rooms only to yelp in surprise as you run into someone. Taking a step bad you cursed mentally. Of course it had to be him. "Who're you looking for, sweetcheeks?" Gabriel asked with his signature smirk on his lips. He leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed before his chest and his golden eyes looking down at you. You felt your cheeks heat up again but didn't let your body have the time to shut down in an embarrassing panic again. "Where are Dean and Sam?" you asked him. "You weren't looking for me? That hurts" he said and put his hand over his heart with a pained look you knew was only for show. Rolling your eyes you crossed your arms before your chest and glared at him with one raised eyebrow. The archangel only chuckled. "They went out on a hunt." Your eyes widened. "They what!?"

 Not wasting one second you pushed past him and ran to your room to get your phone. This had to be one of Gabriel's many pranks, right? After their last hunt they went on without you and after you had called Gabriel for them the owed you! They had sworn to take you with them again. They couldn't just have left you behind, right? Why would they leave you behind with Gabriel? They knew the reason for your little self-quarantine! Biting your lips you suppressed an angry yell of frustration. Did that mean you were trapped in the bunker with Gabriel again? You couldn't believe that. This had to be another prank. In your rush you didn't even notice the archangel following you only after you had grabbed the phone from your nightstand and turned around. He stood before your opened door, unable to come any closer which seemed to annoy him greatly by the look on his face. You couldn't suppress the grin from forming on your lips. Making your room angel-prove had to be one of your best decisions so far. Then you turned your attention back to the phone in your hands and dialed Dean's number.

 "(Y/N)? What's the matter?" he asked after a few seconds of the phone ringing. You huffed, instantly angry again. "What's the matter?" you bluffed and felt your eyes twitch. "You left for a hunt. Without me!" Dean winced at your outburst but you weren't done yet. The owed you, they had promised to take you with them again. You felt betrayed but also panicked. You had to stay alone in the bunker with Gabriel and his comments again? "You two had sworn to take me with you!" you yelled while pacing around in your room, very aware of Gabriel's eyes following you. "Well" Dean started but paused for a moment. "Things sometimes go differently than planned?" he tried to soothe your nerves. Unfortunate for him it didn't change anything. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? You could have just told me that you had found another hunt and not just leave without a word" you continued. So they really had left you behind on purpose and it wasn't one of Gabriel's many pranks. You gritted your teeth. Now you really felt betrayed. "You two will turn around and take me with you" you demand, well aware that they probably wouldn't do so. "Sorry, (Y/N) but we are already a few hours away from the bunker. Next time we will take you with us again" Dean promised and even though he sounded sincere you couldn't bring yourself to believe him. "Yeah, right" you wanted to say more but got interrupted by another voice.

 "(Y/N)?" chimed Sam's voice out of the receiver now. He had probably snatched the phone from Dean's hand after hearing your angry outburst. "Sam" you growled warningly. Especially he knew why you wanted to leave the bunker so desperately and still he had decided to go without you. "Let me explain" the younger brother started. "Yes, Sam. Please enlighten me" you demanded and sat down on your bed, glancing at Gabriel from the corner of your eye. He hadn't moved an inch, mustering you. You couldn't read the expression on his face. "Talk to him" Sam said. Confused you furrowed your eyebrows and stared at the floor in front of you again. "What do you mean?" you asked slowly. Something was up. "You heard me" Sam only talked back. "This has to stop. Tell him." "I'm not the one who started this!" you spat. The reality slowly sat in. You were alone with Gabriel again. You couldn't escape those feelings no matter what you tried to do against it. "I don't care. This dancing around has to stop" Sam only said. "Are you serious? Sam, I swear-" you started but then only heard the peeping sounds of a disconnect call. Did he really just hang up on you? You looked down at the phone in your hands with wide eyes. You couldn't believe this. Perplexed you shook your head.

 "What did they say?" Gabriel asked and interrupted your thoughts in the process. Turning around to look at him you raised one eyebrow. "You couldn't tell?" you asked back sarcastically with the hint of a smile on your lips. "They left without me." You gulped, thinking about Sam's ultimatum. Gabriel only shrugged his shoulders which made you huff in annoyance. "You'd really rather be on a hunt right now?" he questioned. You huffed out a yes, still angry at the two brothers and then put the phone back on the nightstand with a little more force than needed. They better hoped that when they returned to the bunker that your mood had improved by then. "Oh, someone’s panties are in a twist. Want a hand untangling them?" the archangel smirked. You spun around to face him with an angry glare. The only problem was that your body once again betrayed you. Your cheeks and ears were getting hot and you crossed your arms to dig your nails in their flesh again. Your eyes grew wide again, not believing what you just heard. The archangel in front of you seemed very pleased by your reaction which led to you avoiding his gaze. Damn it, you were just too easily caught off guard and flustered. Since you couldn't come up with anything to say to that you grabbed the door and threw it shut. Gabriel's laugh was very audible through the wood as you walked back to your bed and sat down, hiding your face in your hands. You couldn't do this anymore. Your feelings wouldn't just magically disappear, what were you thinking? He needed to stop with the comments or...

 "I have to talk to him" you whispered. Groaning in defeat you let yourself fall backwards on the bed.

 _________________________________ 

  You decided that the only plausible solution was to talk to Gabriel, just like Sam had told you. Though that didn't have to be right now, right? So you waited. You had grabbed something to eat from the kitchen later that day and had sprinted back to your room immediately. Luckily you hadn't run into the archangel again. After that you had spent the rest of the day and the next one in your room, alone. When the third day arrived you couldn't avoid the topic no more. This had to end. You were just being difficult and stupid right now. You couldn't spend the rest of your life in this room, hoping to never run into the archangel again. You had to start talking. Pacing around in your room you told that yourself over and over again. But every time you had hyped yourself up enough to walk to the door you hesitated with grabbing the handle. You backed away every time. "This is ridiculous" you grumbled. You were behaving like a nervous teenager. You could hunt and kill monsters so you should be able to talk to people as well. But Gabriel wasn't an ordinary person. Groaning you hid your face in your hands and sat down at the edge of your bed. This had to stop. You knew you couldn't avoid it. But why was this so difficult? Why were you so difficult? There were only silly comments. He only wanted to toy with you a little, he had been the trickster after all. So why was this affecting you so much? Because you liked him. Grumbling at your own thoughts you had to agree with them.

 "This has to stop today" you mumbled to yourself and stood up again. "I know what to say, now I only have to walk up to him and-" your monolog got interrupted by a knock at your door. For a split second you caught yourself considering hiding somewhere. You knew who was standing in front of the door, unable to open it himself. But then you cleared your throat and walked to the door, your hand on the handle. "You can do this" you thought and opened the wooden door. Looking up you wanted to open your mouth to say the things you had practiced in your mind all day only to freeze on the spot. The moment you locked eyes with him all your thoughts seemed to take the emergency exit, leaving you empty without a clue what to do. Gabriel was standing in front of you, not leaning against the wall like usual. His hands were buried in the pockets of his jacket, a frown on his face that was normally decorated by a grin. What was the matter?

 "Gabriel?" you heard yourself ask before you registered that you had opened your mouth to speak. Biting your tongue you waited for an answer. Was he toying with you again? The archangel turned his gaze away from you for a second, looking at the floor before bringing his eyes back up. The gold in them seemed dull and you were unable to find any specks of green. It seemed like the green leaves had fallen from the branches. "Can we talk?" he asked. You narrowed your eyes in suspicion. The last time he had seemed down he just wanted to catch you off guard with one of his comments. And now you were unsure if you could trust the look on his face. But wasn't talking exactly what you had wanted to do? With a sigh you nodded but stayed on the safe side of the door. Just out of precaution. "Ehm, oka-" you wanted to agree but he interrupted you. "Well they say that kissing is a language of love, so want to start a conversation with me?" Your face grew hot the second he had finished the sentence. He had tricked you again. Your gaze fell to the ground as you just wanted to disappear right now. Grabbing the door to stable yourself you tried to think of something, anything to do or say. But if your head had been completely empty before, then it was crowed now. Your thoughts were running wild while you tried to process if he had really said what you thought you heard. Clenching your free hand into a fist you looked up again, meeting his golden eyes that still seemed rather dull even with the smirk on his lips. "Can't you just stop?" you had wanted to yell, sound annoyed and throw the door in his face but instead you stayed frozen in place and only a drained whisper left your lips. His grin didn't falter though you thought that you saw something shift in his eyes. Was that concern?

 "I'm not in the mood for your remarks" you continued. Why were you still standing there? You wanted to close the door so badly so why couldn't you move? "I could get you in the mood" Gabriel talked back, not missing a beat while your face turned even redder, you could feel it. You gasped and stared at him with your mouth wide open. Did he really just say that? Your embarrassment got mixed with rage as you squinted, furrowing your brows.

 "What's the matter with you?" you asked after you had finally found your voice again. Out of instinct you took one step forward, out of the safety of your room, with one finger accusingly pointed at him though he didn't back away. "Why are you doing this?" Your other hand let go of the door as you took another step forward. "Doing what, sugar? You have to be more specific" he said with a grin, challenging your eyes with a piercing glance. But you wouldn't back down, not today. "Why are you always dropping suggestive comments around me?" you asked more clearly. The archangel opened his mouth to answer: "They're only suggestive if you think they are." Your face fell, eyebrows raised in shock and with the heat returning to your cheeks you took one step back. You stammered something incoherent while positioning yourself in a defensive stance. No. Shaking your head you tried to compose yourself again. Not today. "That's exactly what I mean. Just stop it!" you growled. "And if I don't want to?" Gabriel challenged you further. You felt the unsureness creeping up your back. Maybe you should stop now before you embarrass yourself more. Your mind yelled at you to run, to flee but you couldn't. Your feet were glued to the floor just like during the prank that had driven you to make your room angel-prove. "Then at least tell me why you are doing this" you demanded with your voice slightly breaking. This hasn't evolved how you had wanted it to.

 Gabriel took one step forward and you wanted to counter with one backwards but before you could force your feet of the floor he had cupped one of your cheeks while grabbing your hand that was still pointed at him in an accusing manner. You were trapped and unable to move. Not that you could anyway. The archangel grinned down at you but the grin didn't reflect in his eyes. They were still dull and up close they even seemed tired to you. He pushed one stand of hair behind your ear in such a soft and caring manner that it left you breathless. What was happening? With your mouth slightly agape you tried to find words even though you weren't really sure what you wanted to say. "Maybe because I like to tease you" the archangel started. He slowly moved your hand closer to him until it was pressed against his chest. You could feel his heart beating beneath your fingers. Your eyes darted to your interlocked hands and then back to his golden eyes. "Maybe because I like to see you get flustered so easily" he continued and caressed the side of your face. A tingling feeling began to fight its way through your stomach and up to your chest, to your violently beating heart. What was happening? Why were you letting this happen? "Maybe because I like the way you blush. Maybe-"

 "Stop it" you said, pulled away from him and stepped back into your room. Your gaze was directed to the floor, you were unable to meet his eyes. You felt your heart beat against your rips, you felt your short breaths stutter over your lips. Your eyes were wide and pleading. They were pleading him to stop as you looked up again. "Just stop with your comments I can't continue like this" you couldn’t stop the words from flowing over your lips now. Looking up again you saw that expression in his eyes again, a expression you couldn't read. Maybe it really was concern. "I can't continue wondering if all this is a game to you or if you are sincere..."

  "You can't tell if I'm sincere?" he interrupted you. Was that hurt in his voice? You must have imagined that. You shook your head and choked out a "No". "So Dean and Sam had been right" he muttered more directed to himself than to you. Right? Right about what? You squinted in confusion. Gabriel on the other hand wanted to take one step forward but was stopped by the invisible barrier of the sigils. Cursing under his breath he took one step back and instead reached out a hand to you. Even more confused your eyes wandered between his golden ones and the outstretched hand. He didn't say anything, didn't request you to take his hand with words because what he didn't say out loud, what his eyes said in silence was enough for you to understand what he meant. With the slightest hint of hesitation you grabbed his hand and let him pull you out of the room again. Why were you doing this?

 The archangel looked down at you with questioning eyes, his free hand hesitating to move. You almost unnoticeably nodded. He cupped your cheek again, like before but it felt different though you couldn't put your finger on it. Almost intuitively you placed your free hand on top of his, tilting your head slightly to the side. Your thoughts were running wild again but it didn't feel as chaotic as before. A strange sense of calmness draped over you, let your loud thoughts disappear into the background. Was this a dream? Gabriel led your interlocked hand back to his chest, placed yours over his heart again that seemed to spike by your touch. Were you imagining things? Your own heart skipped a beat when he stepped closer, decreasing the distance between you two. Normally you would have stepped back, tried to escape but surprisingly you wanted to do the opposite. You wanted to get closer. The desire you had locked away for so long pulled you to him. He stroke over the skin of your cheek, let his hand wander through your hair and to the back of your head. This wasn't a game anymore. Has it ever been one? You let out a shaky breath as you found the confidence to get even closer, to press yourself against him as you watched his golden eyes. The dullness you had noticed before was long gone and the greens of the leaves have returned to their full, former glory. You only then realized how close you have gotten to him. So close that you could see the greens in his eyes clearly for the first time and feel the ghost of his breath on your lips. Your heart decided to skip a beat, the smell of him hypnotized you. You always thought that he would smell like candy. His lips parted only slightly, a small grin still present on them. However, it wasn't a teasing one, the grin was sweet, almost shy. The slight push of his hand behind your head was left unnoticed as you gave into your desire, closed your eyes and the space between your lips. You never felt so helpless and full of courage at the same time. So simultaneously out of control and powerful. But these feelings quickly washed away into nothingness. Only the kiss, only Gabriel mattered. Your hand that was pressed against his heart clung to the fabric of his shirt, keeping him close while the other one slowly found its place in his soft hair. It's nothing like you every experienced and nothing like how you imagined it. It was so much better, sweeter, more passionate. The taste of sweets on his lips lulled you in even more, driving you forward to deepen the kiss. The hand behind your head stroke through your hair, leaving behind a tingling sensation that made you gasp. His other hand slowly moved to your waist, caressing your side and pulling you even closer. You never felt so complete, so at peace. The kiss felt like cotton candy clouds, like him wrapping his wings protectively around you even though you had never seen them. You felt safe and protected and like every part of your body dissolved into his. You had wanted this for far too long.

 You parted, pulled away only slightly. Out of breath and with your face flushed, you opened your eyes in an instant. You haven't moved away from him, your knees far too weak to even hold you up on your own so you hold onto him instead. Short, choppy breaths left your lips, your chest heaving heavily. You let the hand behind his head fall down and he caught it immediately in his, interlocking your fingers while the other one was still placed on your waist. You didn't know what to think. You felt overwhelmed and at peace, confused and complete all at once. And without you wanting to you suddenly felt your eyes filling themselves with water and before you could stop it or do anything to prevent it the first tears were already trickling down your cheeks. Pressing your eyes closed you turned your head away and let out the sobs that had waited behind your lips all this time. "You were sincere."

 You freed yourself from his hands and instead clung to him, face pressed against his chest as the battle of your confusion and relief raged. You didn't care that your cheeks were hot and red in embarrassment or how you cried into the fabric of his shirt. He had wrapped his arms around you, pulling you close as you felt the muscles of your chin tremble and the tears shaking your body. And then it was over, and you hiccupped against his shirt as you tried to catch your breath. Pushing away slightly you glanced up at his eyes that shined done at you like the summer sun with a small grin on his lips which you returned. "I hate you." Gabriel's eyes widened in shock as you looked at him with a mischievous twinkle in your eyes. "Now hol- now hold on one second" he laughed out loud. "Not what you expected?" you asked with your smirk growing to the ends of your cheeks. The archangel shook his head, still chuckling slightly. "Now you know how I felt, you feathered dick!" He glanced down at you again, challenged the roguish glint in your eyes. "I guess I deserved that" he admitted and leaned back down to you. You only nodded, still smiling. Gabriel's lips ghosted over yours again, making your breath hitch and your body freeze in anticipation. But he smirked and moved to your ear instead. Your heart skipped a beat as you waited, wondering what he was up to. And then with a husky whisper he asked: "Want to move on to pound town now?"

 You pushed away from him and shot him an angry glare while he only looked down at you with a chuckle. "Moment ruined."

#supernatural #supernatural gabriel #supernatural gabriel x reader #gabriel x reader #gabriel imagine #supernatural image #supernatural dean #dean winchester #supernatural sam #sam winchester #image #x reader #supernatural characters

[i-bring-crack]

P1 here v

Okay but like...

What if Urokodaki had saved Shinobu and Kanae instead of Himejima?

(Yes this in the same world as the other AU so Makomo and Sabito ain't here.)

So technically this could be far more sad or far more happy. But for the sake of my heart I will just make this happy.

-It starts with Kanae and Shinobu being saved first, possibly at 12 and 9 years old. Urokodaki comes to take them in since they want to be demon hunters and so they start training with him.

-Urokodaki is worried though since 1)Kanae is too kind, 2) Shinobu is shorter and weaker than normal(though he doesn't think much of it since she's only 9) and 3) The looming fear that they could get killed in the final selection.

-Another kid joins in one day, Giyuu :v.

-Who proceeds to be cared for by the siblings after hearing of Tsutako's death, and well since Giyuu and the sisters have a lot in common they start to get along.

-By 13 Giyuu was able to cut the ruck but Kanae not so much, so they stay for another year as to not worry Urokodaki.

(They actually start making plans as to what they can do after and set an idea of a hospital after they become demon slayers.)

-During those years Kanae keeps training, making her own breath style while Giyuu starts to learn about medicine.

-Giyuu doesn't develop a crush for the sisters, he just sees Tsutako and himself in them, which is why he gets more protective over them, especially Shinobu since he doesn't want her to go through the same.

-Shinobu slapped some sense into him that he is also worth protecting so when the final selection was around the corner he had to promise coming back alive.

-Giyuu and Kanae entered at 14, almost 15. And instead of killing demons, they focused more on saving people.

-Giyuu and Kanae did manage to track down the hand demon though they couldn't kill it. Both managed to survive against him until sunrise, and as they woke up on the last day in a recovery room, both of them passed but couldn't go out and hunt the hand demon again.

-This worried them a lot because: Shinobu. So they did their best to persuade her and Urokodaki to not let her join.

-This would only fuel her more to train far more and even create her own breath.

-But Shinobu couldn't cut the rock, no matter how many years it went by.

-At 13, Shinobu was just assisting in the Butterfly residence as a nurse, and to be true she was fine with it, but at the same time the tought of one of her siblings dying was growing on her.

-Just at the same time Giyuu had found Aoi, who started to train as a medic with Shinobu.

-During that year they had also taken Kanao and the three butterfly nurses Kiyo, Sumi and Naho.

-At 17 Kanae had encountered Douma.

-Giyuu had actually gotten there on time to save her and fight Douma.

-Both of them came back to the butterfly state and laid unconscious for six months.

-During those six months everything began to change.

-Shinobu went to the final selection with her fox mask but without Urokodaki's permition.

-She managed to kill the hand demon due to her quick speed and thinking, as well as the poison she had made. A surprise for the hand demon.

-Shinobu then stepped up in both of their places as the Insect Hashira.

-Aoi and Kanao didn't stand by too and instead began to train in secret.

-After they both woke up, Shinobu recieved a scolding but she was still treated as a slayer and a Hashira nonetheless, (she had surprisingly taken up that role quite well).

-Anyways Kanae due to her injuries, was sent to be paired up with Shinobu as the two held the spot of Hashira.

-Giyuu actually found about Kanao and Aoi training. He didn't punish them for it, instead took them to Urokodaki to train.

-Urokodaki managed to help Aoi deal with her trauma for a while. Becoming a different person while wearing her fox mask, and doing her best to not waver.

-Kanao and Aoi were actually a good team, as Kanao took the lead in killing the demons, while Aoi did have a hard time with all of the hesitation but still managed to help by coming up with plans on the fly.

-Since Aoi had Giyuu on most missions, the fear of dying gradually faded little by little, though she still spent most of the time in the hospital, healing and training others than fighting in the front lines.

-Giyuu was more than happy to support her doing that. (The boy didn't have survivors guilt, so he was happy being the Water Hashira.)

-Kanae's ideologies rubbed on Giyuu, which is why he approved of Nezuko living.

-Shinobu's attitude also rubbed off on him, so he was better at teasing (and flirting).

Bonus:

-Happy Giyuu!

-Shinobu has not grown out of her teasing state, though she is more willing to put on a smile once in a while.

-Urokodaki was actually given a butterfly pin, but since he can't wear it on his head, he made it a broche on his haori.

-Giyuu's designed was the one to change the most, he has short hair, wearing the blue and white butterfly pin on his left side. His haori is the same one as Urokodaki but Tsutako's is sown onto it from the inside, so it's extra comfty.

-Shinobu uses a haori that looks like that of a monarch butterfly, it was a joke gift but she still wears it. She also wears a fox mask with two butterflies each side of the eyes.

-Kanae wears a happy fox mask with a decorative crown flower.

-Giyuu and Shinobu are the closest to sibling dynamics irl.

-Kanae gets treated more like a mom than a sister.

-Aoi is given Urokodaki's uniform too.

-Kanae and Giyuu hold the ranks of the most likeable and easy to approach Hashiras.

-The three are still stupid af when it comes to the matters of love however.

-A lot of chocolates are given to the Water and Flower Hashiras on valentines day, even from the other Hashiras.

- Happy Giyuu. The other Hashiras don't hate him cuz he's too pure to be hated.

#kimetsu manga #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #what if au #What if Shinobu and Kanae were taken in by Urokodaki #Tomioka Giyuu #Kanzaki Aoi #Koucho Kanae #shinobu kouchou #tsuyuri kanao

[lesbianlotties]

the only touchstone of truth

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: I Care A Lot (2020) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fran/Marla Grayson Characters: Marla Grayson, Fran (I Care A Lot) Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Origin Story, Canon Backstory, First Meetings, First Kiss, First Dates, Getting Together, Morally Ambiguous Character, Illegal Activities, Eventual Smut, Flirting, Partners in Crime, crime wives

Chapter 3:

“Nice place,” Fran said, following Marla inside the restaurant.

It was the first time they saw each other outside the perimeters of the moribund vape shop. For a change, Fran was comfortably and even gloriously, in Marla’s inner monologue, wearing her casual clothes, which included wearing her hair down, tight dark jeans, and a sleeveless t-shirt. The blonde still dressed with impeccable style, but at least she had left the heels at home.

Once they were sitting at a table for two she couldn’t help but ask, “Can you afford this?”

Marla sent a very particular look her way. The blonde had to point out that, in most circumstances, that would be far from a polite thing to say to someone. But she couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t charmed by the brunette’s blunt manner of handling the truth. So, finally, she settled for speaking her own version of the truth. “I will be,” Marla nodded.

“I could get used to this,” Fran mumbled, perusing the menu and doing an almost inhumane effort to remain strong and not yield to the impulse of looking up to meet the magnetic blue eyes that were staring at her.

“Help me win the case,” Marla replied in a soft and slow tone that was entirely too casual for her next words, “and I will take you to even more pleasurable places.”

Emboldened by having an appropriate comeback at the right time, Fran leaned forward in her seat, dared to meet Marla’s hunter-like gaze, and said, “If I help you win, then I expect my part of the money will be enough so I can afford these luxuries by myself.”

The two women were just one small step away from Marla blatantly saying out loud how restaurants weren’t what she had in mind when she talked about pleasure and Fran knew that. But, not yet. Marla relaxed into the chair. “Where’s the fun in that?” she laughed. She had to make an effort to keep her expression in check, because actually, that laughter carried with it a bit of a surprise to Marla. She was sort of lying, as usual. She was decidedly not the kind that believed a person needed any sort of company to enjoy the good things about life. She had never included seconds or thirds in her plans of success, and she certainly wouldn’t recommend, even less advertize, doing that. She was only mildly surprised about the sudden but most likely manageable urge to share dinner again with the particular woman currently sitting in front of her.

Fran, on the other hand, after the blonde leaned back on her chair, realized they both had been strongly leaning into the table, subconsciously being close to throwing it aside to get closer to one another. Slowly, Fran mimicked Marla’s actions and, without avoiding the feeling of getting caught, also leaned back on her chair. “So, we should probably start talking now, right? About the reason we’re here, and maybe set some rules,” Fran suggested.

“Rules,” Marla rolled her eyes while a waiter served them each a glass of wine, “Makes it sound like we’re playing a game.”

“Fine,” Fran agreed, without giving up the firm belief that they were absolutely playing a game. “What are the terms of our deal, then?”

“You help me win this case, teach me every trick you can. I’ll give you five percent of the money I make.”

Despite the recognition that nothing in Marla’s tone suggested she was asking instead of ordering, Fran found it impossible not to negotiate, partially just for the fun of it. “I make you win the case,” she said, “teach you the tricks, introduce you to my favorite gullible judge… And you give me twenty percent.”

Again, Marla laughed. She trained her smile to look simply amused instead of thoroughly pleased at having someone boldly fighting back to her. “Make me win, give me the dirty tricks, and the judge. I might give you ten percent.”

Slowly, Fran shook her head. “The tricks, the judge, training, and preparation. I’ll make you win twice as much as whatever number you have in your head. You’ll give me twenty percent.”

“You were supposed to say fifteen, you know? Terrible negotiator.”

“I’m not negotiating, I’m telling you my price.”

For the first time, Marla looked away. She was prepared for giving ten percent to Fran, she wasn’t prepared for Fran actually disconcerting her. Exciting, sure. But, instinctually, Marla’s defenses flared up, her emotional walls threatened to rise up and push Fran out and away from this sweet and previously unexplored territory of Marla’s comfort zone. Mostly, Marla was analytical rather than impulsive, and dealt with her problems effectively and methodically after thoroughly thinking them through. However, if there was ever a moment for some fight or flight response to activate in her, it was the moment Fran started looking at her like she was worth more than the money they were discussing.

“We’ll discuss your ten percent later,” Marla grinned, “why don’t you tell me about that infamous training and preparation you mentioned before.”

Temporarily, Fran relented. Perhaps she could tell they’d reached a wall, but she’d certainly continue to push, and eventually, Marla would have to give in on the money. “To win your case, you’ll have to put in a lot of work,” Fran explained, “you have to study previous cases, your adversary, the law, the judge… the whole system.”

“And you know those things?”

“I can teach you everything I know.”

Again, they were both leaning on the table toward each other. “Where, exactly, would this teaching take place?”

“I can do outstanding work anywhere you want,” Fran smiled.

It was at that moment, with that one smile, that Marla was forced to face the reality of the situation of her game: Fran knew how to play. And Fran wasn’t going to play by the rules. In fact, if Marla’s shark-like grin was her weapon of choice that dazzled innocent prey into her lap, then Fran utilized that discreet smirk of hers in pretty much the same way. Marla was almost angry at the fact that she had battled so much to win Fran’s smile just to have her own sword pointed back at her. She was almost angry, save for the growing desire to leap into that trap. But… there was the money, the court, the case…

“After we win, we’ll celebrate,” Marla finally stated. She was thoughtful, and her fingers were mindlessly playing with the bottle of wine they were quickly consuming.

Fran nodded, catching the complicated but promising agreement they were making. “We will,” she said, raising her glass for a toast.

--

In her car, the only thing Marla was thinking about was the image of a judge ruling that the absurdly large vape company that put her out of business had to pay her an unnecessarily large sum of money to pay for the damages that they technically didn’t do. Marla would give a small but still undecided percentage of the money to Fran, they’d celebrate and say goodbye, then she’d finally sell her hopeless shop and start all over again. She wasn’t looking forward to starting a business from the ground up again, but it was the only thing she could do now. 

Fran was waiting for her at the public library.

“I didn’t take you for a bookworm, Fran,” Marla greeted her.

“You’d be surprised,” Fran threw a dazzling smile over her shoulder as she led them to a table. “Get comfortable,” she said with a smirk, pulling a chair out for Marla, “I’ll be back in a minute with your homework.”

Taking a seat, Marla chuckled. In that brief moment of solitude, she studied the layers of Fran’s playfulness. Mocking chivalry by pulling out a chair for her, for example. Laughing at the traditionally manly attitude but still carrying out the gesture. It exposed and ridiculed the expectations, but Fran’s nonchalance, the innate part of it and the most likely carefully prepared part, it left no room for anything but dangerous sincerity. Does that mean these little acts were just kindness, just flirting, just part of Fran as a person? Most importantly, why did Marla care so much about little details as these?

“Alright,” Fran said as she returned and placed a heavy book on the table, “Previous cases,” she added, taking a seat beside Marla.

“This explains why a police officer gave me a business card that said ‘private investigator’, right?” Marla guessed, taking a look at Fran and how comfortable and excited the woman looked to be doing this kind of job.

“Right,” Fran nodded, and wearing a slightly proud grin she added, “occasional work with bounty hunters too.” Upon seeing the cautiously impressed look on the blonde’s face, she continued, “I use the police’s resources and get jobs that are far more exciting and lucrative. Sounds fair to me.”

“How dishonest,” Marla commented with an appreciative tone, “you’ve never got caught in trouble for it?”

The amused look Fran sent her way was answer enough. She had a talent for this. “The worst that’s happened is ruining a relationship or two,” she shrugged, “things tend to go south if your partner is incapable of matching your ambition.”

“I see,” Marla mumbled. Part of her wanted to be upset about finding a woman beyond intriguing and attractive in every possible way only years after she had personally decided she would never be able to accept a relationship. Marla couldn’t fathom being the kind of stupid person to break herself and her life into pieces to fit someone else that would take so much time and effort and money and dignity…

“Are you ready?” Fran asked, interrupting Marla’s thoughts.

Marla nodded, confident enough that her expression wouldn’t reveal how simply staring at Fran made her feel more like that kind of stupid person than she’d felt in years.

---

The days Marla and Fran spent at the library were surprisingly exciting. Since they first met, Marla was under the impression that the brunette’s presence could make any time and place interesting enough. However, the businesswoman found herself unexpectedly captivated by the work they were doing.

Law had never attracted Marla beyond the necessary procedures to legally exist in a society. She was only now starting to see how far and how thin it was possible to stretch that concept. And people did it, every day, often without any repercussions. It was only a matter of having the guts and intelligence to go for it, plus a convenient amount of knowledge and connections on the right side of the law didn’t hurt. Whenever Marla and Fran exchanged a look over the books they were studying, they couldn’t deny that together they both had everything they could need to succeed at this endeavor.

Inevitably, as it happens naturally when two people spend a lot of time together, they got to know more about each other. It wasn’t easy, considering the kind of people they both were. It was a little like walking through a dark maze together, each one armed with a flashlight, and only occasionally their beams of light met in one spot to reveal breadcrumbs of their past lives. Within a week it was discovered that Fran was born in Mexico, Marla had attended and dropped out of college, Fran drank too much coffee, and Marla, somehow, was coaxed into confessing the real nature of her relationship with Curtis.

“No, we never dated,” Marla scoffed loud enough to hide the delight she felt about Fran feeling like she had to inquire about that, “I suppose you could say he was my stepbrother. Eldest son of my mother’s third husband, I think. We get along well, he’s hardworking, doesn’t ask questions, we all need a loyal ally in life, don’t we?”

Fran tilted her head. “That’s sweet,” she cooed, getting a kick out of getting Marla to roll her eyes at her. “I’ll be back in a moment, we’re almost done here,” she added then, getting out of her seat to go look for one last book for the day.

She didn’t expect to feel Marla follow her into the long and quiet alley of the library. Fran stood close to the shelves, reading the books, looking for a specific title. A moment later, Marla was standing close behind her, so close, and reaching out with a hand to leisurely run her finger over the spine of the books, more or less trapping Fran right there and there with Marla’s breath on the back of her head. 

“Why are you doing this?” Marla asked, her voice low and serious, leaving behind the amiable tone they had gotten used to back at the table.

Fran thought about it for an extra moment. This was unexpected and unprompted, she thought they’d already had this conversation before. Why was Marla suddenly asking questions? What out of character spark of insecurity had inspired her to demand an answer from Fran? What worry was she trying to soothe? And why was Fran hoping the blonde felt troubled by the exact same feeling she was experiencing? They were both in it just for the money, but…

The thing is, Fran could tell neither of them was the kind of person to ask for more from someone. Conveniently, they also weren’t the type that would ever give away more than the strictly necessary for free. If they wouldn’t yield, if they refused to give, if they wouldn’t admit they wanted more… why were they even standing there so close together without touching at all? Their only hope was the other one was experiencing that unexpected and inarticulate feeling of, for the first time, wanting just a little more from someone else.

“Me?” Fran whispered, as her hand moved confidently and slowly toward Marla’s, “I’m here for my twenty percent of the money,” she said, shoving down whatever additional desires were thrumming on her insides. Her hand found Marla’s hand, and her fingers curled over the other’s, delicately urging that courageous hand that had set out to trap her there to move. Fran guided Marla’s hand, still skimming over the spine of the books, until they reached the one she needed. Coincidentally, the journey required for Marla’s arm to move lower, to curl closer around Fran, their arms touching, so close she almost lost her balance.

When Fran finally let go of Marla’s hand and pulled out the book she wanted, she felt beyond satisfied to hear the sharp intake of breath from the woman behind her. Then, Fran turned around, at the same moment Marla was pulling back her arm, resulting in Marla’s fingers briefly brushing Fran’s hips. Her fingers didn’t grip and pull closer as she wished they would, but that fleeting touch had to be enough, for now, Marla told herself. And, “Ten percent,” she told Fran.

The brunette sighed. Now that their tortuous little dance was over and they were looking each other in the eyes again, she could face Marla’s question. “I told you, Marla, I need the money,” Fran stated confidently, leaning her back on the bookshelf behind her.

“Why me though,” Marla wondered, her eyes and voice here icy enough to fool almost everyone into thinking there was no vulnerability in her question and only curiosity, “why my money?”

So, Fran was right. Maybe Marla wanted, as much Fran, some kind of confirmation that the other one just might be wanting a little more than money. The problem now was about who would have to admit it first.

“The amount of money I want,” Fran explained, her hand discreetly moving up to toy with the hem of the jacket Marla was wearing that day, only lightly pulling on it, “it’s impossible to earn in rightful ways, Marla. And you are… honestly?”

“Honestly,” Marla echoed the terrifying word.

Fran smiled and, with the bare amount of honesty necessary, replied, “You’re the only devil I’ve come across genuinely willing to do whatever it takes to get what you want… and do it in style.”

That earned her a beautiful and genuine laugh from Marla. The first laugh of unbridled joy of many more to come. It wasn’t completely erased by the deeply thoughtful look on Marla’s face as she continued to stare at Fran after the two of them finished laughing. 

“You look worried,” Fran commented, and failed to sound teasing, it was closer to sincere worry. Plus, she was struggling hard not to tuck an unruly strand of soft blond hair behind Marla’s ear. But that tender gesture might be too much for them at the moment. Their chemistry was a delicate but dangerous thing. The wrong move might send the other one flying away in an instant. They were pulled close like magnets, but to actually touch each other, that had to be a much careful and deliberate thing.

Luckily, Marla wasn’t good at denying herself going for the things she wanted. Without breaking eye contact with Fran, her hand found the one that had been maddeningly playing with her jacket. Holding hands with Fran for the first time, Marla was shocked to feel in equal measures complete contentment, and a desperate need to touch even more.

“I have one goal, Fran,” the blonde said, “The one thing I want right now is to win that case and take the money. But, well,” she playfully shrugged, “I might have been accused, once or twice, of being susceptible to greed, so… What if I suddenly want to take more than just the money?”

Slowly, Fran nodded, absorbing this information. It was worth noticing just how Marla still avoided being completely explicit in her desires, but she was still a woman unafraid of taking what she wanted. And those words, well, they highly suggested she wanted Fran.

“Are you asking me if I have plans after your scandalous case is over?” Fran smiled.

Marla chuckled. She was torn between maybe… and what about today? and in the meantime she was leaning in closer and closer… until a cough, a stranger coughing interrupted them.

“I hate the library,” Marla groaned, immediately dropping Fran’s hand and walking with her head held high back to their table.

Fran chuckled, and looked down at her hands, somewhat surprised to discover that with Marla standing so close she had managed to hold on to the book. “Really?” she asked out loud, “I’m loving it more than ever.”

---

“Oh my God, Fran, this is the most tedious thing in the world.”

“Marla, we’ve barely been here an hour.”

“An hour!” Marla exhaled, dramatically letting her head hit the headrest of Fran’s car.

As it turned out, Marla wasn’t cut out for stake-out jobs. Fran had insisted that it was important to study the enemy, to find out every detail, no matter how small, that they could possibly use in court to support the idea that they were responsible for the attack on Marla’s shop.

“How do you do it?” Marla asked. She no longer sounded like she was going out of her mind. Now her voice was a combination of sincere curiosity and a desperate attempt at finding a distraction.

“Patience,” Fran replied, her eyes still fixed on the window of the offices they had marked as a target.

Scoffing, Marla continued to protest, “This is madness. I could just as easily go in, pretend to be somebody else, and get the information we need.”

“Of course you would do something like that,” Fran laughed, not displeased at finding out they had different strategies that could perfectly complement each other, “Maybe next time.” She didn’t have to turn her head around to know Marla was staring at her with that specific look of delicate surprise she got when Fran said something unexpected. In fact, “You’re staring,” Fran added, enjoying calling her out for it. Her face was still turned to the window, but she raised her right hand between them to point at Marla, who scoffed and pushed the accusatory finger away. But, additionally, she continued to hold on to Fran’s hand now in the space between them.

“Well, forgive me for being bored out of my mind,” Marla replied, still putting on a playfully exaggerated tone of annoyance, even if her hand was sweetly holding Fran’s, and not letting go.

“I told you,” Fran finally turned around to look at Marla, not reacting to their joined hands, not pulling away either, “I could have done this part by myself.”

“Maybe next time,” Marla threw Fran’s words back at her with a smirk that left the brunette speechless for a moment.”

This part of the job, besides the exasperating boredom caused to Marla, proved to be fascinating. Not exactly for what they learned about the company they were trying to incriminate. But for what they learned about each other. The way Fran worked, the way Marla got easily bored. The silence between them that was more comfortable than it had any right to be yet. The conversations happened even easier, Marla talking about the mother she despised, Fran talking about a dozen awful jobs, things they loved, things they were hated for, a little bit everything. And, at the end of the day, after Fran dropped Marla at her apartment, neither of them could really think of a good teasing comment for the other, and settled for Goodnight and See you soon that sounded a little too hopeful. That moment they had to admit to themselves that it was too late to ask, or even hope for a night spent together. They were already far deeper than they could have realized. It was only a matter of how much longer could they hold back before falling, knowing it was unlikely that they would be able to get back up without the other one. No, just one night wouldn’t do. It was only a matter of time.

---

Finally, Fran took Marla to court. Not for Marla’s big day against her sworn enemy, no. This was just part of the plan, part of their deal. 

“Listen, I’m actually not that good with, you know, people,” Fran said as they walked up the steps of the building, “but, well, one way or another, I know enough people to just introduce you to everyone you need to know here, okay?”

“Okay,” Marla nodded easily keeping up with the brunette’s pace, “also, you can just admit you have an ex-girlfriend in every significant office of this city, Fran.”

With a chuckle, Fran turned to look at her, sunglasses in place and her smile nearly blinding. “People owe me favors, that’s all,” she shrugged.

From the moment they stepped into the building, it was almost as if Fran became a different person. For someone that benefited from going unnoticed as part of her job, Fran surely had important contacts all around. And she wasn’t only Fran. She was Frances, Frankie, Miss Masters, Mrs. Masters even, and she only shook her head whenever Marla tried to inquire about the names. 

“You have to meet my friend, Miss Grayson”, “She’s the most hardworking woman I know”, “Have you two met?”, “Oh, you’re going to love Marla”, “Is it okay if I leave you two alone for a second?”, “I knew you two would get along!”, “Isn’t Marla so charming?”

One sentence and a convenient excuse and then Fran left Marla alone with secretaries, judges, and everyone in between that had some influence in the way things worked around there. Then it was Marla’s turn, and Marla was good with people. She was great with people. Did she like them? Far from it. But did she know every trick to steal their trust in a matter of seconds? She absolutely did. By the time they said goodbye to a judge that had greeted Fran with the kindness of a close relative that even asked about her mother, Marla had a feeling she wouldn’t mind visiting that place again soon, maybe even often if it proved to be lucrative enough.

“I’m actually impressed right now,” Marla whispered as the two of them hurried down a nearly deserted hallway, filled with adrenaline after knowing she successfully fooled about a dozen people in one afternoon. Her hand now instinctively moved towards Fran, this time her fingers curled around the other woman’s wrist, tugged her closer.

“You are incredible,” Fran whispered right back, “people just fall to their knees for you.”

“I wonder why it doesn’t work with the one person I want though.”

Having Marla whisper those words so close to her ear was almost enough to quite literally bring Fran to her knees. “Fuck,” she sighed, “Come here.” She firmly took Marla’s hand in hers and quickly guided her to a small hallway that she knew well and was confident could be private enough for a stolen moment. “You said,'' Fran said, her voice breathy as if she’d been running all the way there, “that we would wait until after we win your case.”

“What do I know?” Marla didn’t miss a beat to reply, her eyes going crazy between Fran’s lips and eyes, “You’ve made me stupid, Fran, I don’t trust what I said before I just,” she couldn’t say more, she didn’t have to.

In a single motion, Marla’s hands on Fran’s hips pushed her against her wall behind her, and Fran’s hands on the lapels of Marla’s jacket pushed her closer. Then it was just the two of them, breaths ragged and hearts wild, blue and brown eyes going darker, suspended in a moment when time stood still. Their hands were unstoppable, grazing, pulling, tugging. At Marla’s neck. Fran’s back. Marla’s wait. Fran’s jaw. When Fran tilted her chin up, Marla pulled away, and when Marla turned her head the right way, Fran avoided her. It was maddening, to hold back this way, but they’d become addicted to the push and pull they’d started, and couldn’t let go. Not even with their bodies pressed together, their breaths mingling, their noses brushing, just a feather-light touch of their lips, in contrast to the death grip of their hands on each other’s clothes. A moment longer and they could have fainted right there in each other’s arms. Until finally, the games were over, the dance came to an end, their barriers crashed and burned with the first feverish kiss they shared. Burning and desperate to kiss each other since the first night they met. Sighs and moans that shouldn’t have been allowed in such a place, but couldn’t be restrained. Their teeth came out to play too quickly, biting and tugging at each other’s lips. Tongues that didn’t know a thing beyond a desperate need to explore, to taste the other’s mouths.

One last bite, one last kiss, and they simply had to pull away, before risking the chance of someone finding them.

“No,” Marla said, her voice still half a moan and her lips still stealing kisses. “Not like this,” she mumbled.

“Okay,” Fran followed Marla to steal a final kiss, but then she too had to pull away. “After we win,” she added, her words curling into a question at the end.

“After we win,” Marla agreed more convinced than ever before of the fact that they would conquer this challenge. They were both trying to slow down their breathing before moving away from their hiding place. Marla took the opportunity to further break the spell of caution they had held over each other. She gently brushed Fran’s hair off her face, her hand then resting softly on the other woman’s cheek, while her thumb just brushed the gloriously swollen lips. “You deserve better,” Marla whispered, her voice was so soft then that the brunette didn’t think she’d ever heard her speak like that. It brought chills all over her body.

“That’s arguable,” Fran smiled. It wasn’t a moment of humility, even less so a matter of self-recrimination. She was simply stating the fact. She was aware of the kind of things she’d done in her life, and the kind of things they were both willing to do to get what they wanted. But did they deserve it? The good things they wanted out of life? 

“Wouldn’t you say,” Marla matched her smile, “that just because we’re brave enough to want it, we deserve everything we desire?”

#it's not slow burn they're literally on fire the entire time theyre just too proud to go have sex already #i care a lot #marla x fran #marla grayson #fran #fran x marla #my fic

[accidentallyadramablog]

Review: Down With Love (2010)

I felt a little nostalgic this week and decided to rewatch Down With Love, a romcom out of Taiwan featuring Ella Chen (from Hana Kimi) and Jerry Yan (Meteor Garden).

This is more of a brain dump as opposed to a real review. More below the cut.

Let me just start with the fact I love dramas with tomboys, gender benders, and gender non-conforming women and girls in general. I'm a 40 yr old gnc bi-woman, so some of these storylines really resonate with me - despite the trend of making those female characters glaringly stupid and pitiable.

Tags: Nanny, Love Square, Tomboy, Male Chases Female First, Sismance, Rich Man/Poor Woman, Pretends To Be Gay, Single Parent, Sisterhood, Boss/Employee Relationship

Our girl Ella Chen plays tomboy Yang Guo. Yang Guo works, has friends, and a shitty boyfriend of 5 years. She acts naïve, but she actually has a lot of life experience due to a *tragic backstory*. After her mother died, her father ruined the family business. Their family plunged from riches to rags and their father abandoned them. Yang Guo is 6 when this happens and it falls on her older sister Yang Duo to raise them both while homeless, starving, and navigating the homeless camps in the parks of Taipei.

Yang Duo (Kelly Huang) has raised her little sister by herself, beginning from poverty and homelessness to having a house and making a life for themselves. They bicker good-naturedly, but Yang Duo is very protective and supportive of her sister. She's managed to earn a job at a prestigious law firm as an admin assistant with strong accounting skills. She is seen as frugal, clever, and competent. Several characters make comments throughout the series about how it was a shame that she didn't go into certain careers because she's so accomplished despite not having a formal education. It's obvious that Yang Duo has put her own dreams and happiness on hold to make sure that she and Guo have financial security. Yang Duo is my favorite character btw. She is a supporting character that is multi-faceted and has her own character arc. I really like seeing her growth in this drama, and she gets some cute side couple action later in the series. Skip the last episode.

Due to growing up in poverty and scrabbling to lower-middle-class, the two girls work nonstop. After Guo is fired from her job waiting tables, Duo gets Guo a job as a nanny for her boss Xiang Yu Ping by lying and saying Guo is a lesbian.

Xiang Yu Ping (Jerry Yan) owns his own law firm and is seen as cold and overbearing. He is raising his dead brother's kids and none of the nannies he's hired have lasted either due to being chased off by the kids (a la the Sound of Music) or by trying to seduce him because he's a rich handsome lawyer. Relieved to have found a nanny who definitely wouldn't seduce him (because he thinks she's a lesbian), he just pays an unreasonably huge salary to keep her there with the kids despite their abuse.

Supporting characters: Amanda Chu as the best friend Yan Ling with the messy dating life is also delightful, but I've enjoyed all her roles. I may rewatch Lion Pride for her, now that I'm walking down memory lane. The office of 'just some lawyer dudes being dudes' are funny. I love when they gather around to watch drama and place bets on what's happening. They're also slackers. I would love/hate to work with them.

So that's the setup.

Honestly, I hate the 'pretends to be gay' plots. It's typically really offensive and this was no exception in a lot of places. (It's not at the same level as Personal Taste, but it's bad.) One of the cases Yu Ping takes on is unlawful termination and blackmail of a gay teacher and he asks for Yang Guo's advice to help the man. Taiwan was trying in 2010, but it wasn't exactly good representation to have a fake lesbian help an actual gay man faced with employment discrimination and blackmail over his orientation. When I compare this with Love is Science (2021 twdrama) that has two out lgbt characters employed in their office with significant roles, I'm just so happy that lgbtq media representation is still progressing.

I don't care about Yu Ping's best friend Qi Ke Zhong or Yu Ping's ex-girlfriend Ding Hui Fan because they're both terrible people that don't deserve forgiveness and their only purpose was to drag out our leads getting together. Since this was a rewatch, I knew how much I hated their scenes and skipped them as much as I could. You're not missing anything. Someone on YT needs to just make a Yang Duo/Xiang Yu Ping cut, tbh. Also? Go ahead and skip the deadbeat father.

The nanny bit only lasts three episodes (the kids are adorable), but it's long enough for Yu Ping to catch feelings and think his lesbian nanny is cute. He actually is not cold and overbearing as episode 1 makes him out to be. Yu Ping is supportive and tries to be a good friend to Guo. When he thinks her 'girlfriend' is cheating on her, he absolutely flips out because he feels she deserves to be respected and loved in her relationship. He learns about her family. He learns about her friends. He knows where to look for her when she's upset. He knows how to cheer her up and later, he knows how to make the perfect date. When he finds out she lied about being a lesbian, he's not even mad. He admits it was his fault for making certain demands in the employment contract. He's just upset that he's lost chances to flirt and court her.

Listen. It's a dumb premise in this drama and the misunderstandings suck. But it's so refreshing to see male leads be decent to women that are romantically and sexually unavailable to them. The bar is so low, in RL and in dramas, that Yu Ping belongs in the top tier of male drama leads. This dude was just going to continue in a supportive friendship for an undetermined time, both when he thought she was a lesbian and later when his shitty weasel of a best friend dated her under false pretenses. He didn't burden her with a confession until her relationship was over. And whenever she asked for space, he gave it to her. And when she confronted him on instances of jealously, he apologized and gave her space.

Yu Ping never tries to change Guo. He doesn't give her a makeover. She has a makeover scene that is instigated by another character and all he does is try to make her comfortable when she's so obviously uncomfortable. Then he cheers inwardly when he sees her overcome her awkwardness and have confidence. But by the end of the drama, she is still dressing and acting the same as in act 1. It honestly reminded me a little of Coffee Prince in that the fancy male lead is still just as enamored with his gnc woman by the end and the way she presents herself doesn't have an effect on their romantic relationship. Again, this is content catered to me as a bi & gnc woman in a relationship with a cis-het man. I often am mistaken for a man when I go out with my spouse and he's still super into me so let's normalize gnc people with gc people already it's 2021.

Anyway, if you watch romances for kisses, there's really only a couple of pecks and one nice passionate kiss and they're all in basically the last 3 eps of the series.

The last episode sucks. Stop at episode 15. Seriously. Don't watch episode 16. Why oh why do you let terrible people back in your life? Qi Ke Zhong and Ding Hui Fan are toxic and should but cut out of their lives. The end of ep 15 had a happy ending with a family-style breakfast for our two sisters with their boyfriends. Ep 16 threw in some more misunderstanding, jealousy, and separations followed by a time skip for no reason and brought back my two least favorite characters.

Anyway, I will live in my little world with Yang Duo and her sweet lawyer boyfriend Liang Zhi Hao (Ian Yim/Cyran Yan/Yan Yi En yeah, this actor has three stage names) that supports her interests and self-determination while they save money on mass transit by using his motorbike. And they build her dream home that she designs. Perhaps they put aside funds for her to pursue a degree in what she's passionate about.

#down with love #twdrama #drama critical #ella chen #jerry yan #kelly huang #yang guo #xiang yu ping #yang duo

[talesofphantombandits]

Zero to Six ~ An Unexpected Visitor - Edited version. Part 2.

Characters: Four X Zero (OC)  Summary: Zero was the first person to be ‘saved’ by One, she was his first honorary Ghost. Her knowledge in tech meant she got the role of ‘Hacker’ she recruited new team members, looked for missions and locations and made sure every security measure was looked at. You know normal hacker spy stuff. But her tough up bringing meant that if needs be she could fight, she was maybe even better than some people on the team knew. But due to One’s protectiveness over her she had to stay hidden, she was more of an actual ghost than the rest of the team was. This didn’t mean she couldn’t have her fun though, over the months of being with the full team she had formed quite a passionate love/ hate relationship with the handsome Four. Who knows what sparks would fly if they were ever to meet.  Warnings: Slight swearing, some suggestive flirting in later chapters.

Tagg list: (I know this is a edit of my original story but if anyone wants to be tagged let me know.) @raylan-c​​

Zero to Six ~ Part 1. Edited Version Zero to Six ~ Part 3. Edited Version. Masterlist.  

“Hey, anyone there?” 

To say Zero was a mess would have been a big understatement. After she had shut off the coms she must have sobbed for a good thirty minutes before she picked herself up from the floor and decided that a glass of rum would help calm her nerves.  She knew that One would take his sweet time reaching out to her again, and wouldn’t let the others contact her either. So she waited, he mind was reeling but she knew technically Six’s death wasn’t her fault. She still felt to a degree that if she hadn’t of picked him he would still be breathing somewhere, maybe with the love of his life on a nice sandy beach.  But then again if she hadn’t of picked him she would have had to pick someone else, and that someone else would have been in that car dead instead of Six. 

So when Fours voice travelled through her speakers she immediately shot up from the floor, leaving her half filled glass where it sat and tripped her way over to the laptop.  Picking up her headset she tried not to sound so distraught. “Four, never thought i’d be so happy to hear your whinny little voice.” She tried to sound lighthearted but failed miserably. 

She could tell that he was also trying to mask how much he was hurting. “How are you Zero?” She was shocked, out of all the team Four and Six seemed to have bonded the most, probably due to their similar ages and interests. 

“How- how am I? Four, how are you doing? Out of us all you were the closest to Six.” She wanted to do nothing more than hug this man right now. 

“One just threw him into the sea, like he meant nothing. I really don’t want to talk about it right now Zero or I might just go out there and strangle One. But I wanted to at least make sure that you were okay.” Her heart started to beat so fast she thought it would beat right out of chest. He was worried about her in a time when he should have been worrying about himself. 

“I’m sure that’s not how it was, One cares about us deeply. But I’ll respect your wishes and we won’t speak about it, but I’ll be here when you’re ready to so. As for me, I’m fine. Shaken up but fine, You don’t have to worry about me Four.” 

“I know sometimes it doesn’t seem like it, but I do really care for you Zero. So do the rest of the team, but you tell any of them I said that and I’ll find out where One keeps you and murder you in your sleep.” 

She chuckled at the empty threat. “Yeah, good luck with that one. One would never give up my location willing or not. Plus what makes you think I’d succumb so easily with out a fight.” 

She heard the deep chuckle and knew some smart ass comment would follow it. “Believe me darling, from the moment I step through your door you’d be falling at my feet.” 

“OKAY as much as I’m glad to have the old cocky Four back, I’m cutting you off now. Get some sleep you idiot.” 

“Okay mummy.” He said in a mocking tone. 

She couldn’t help it and decided she would have the last laugh. “Is that one of your kinks Four?” 

“Wouldn’t you like to know? Maybe we can carry on this conversation when we meet.” She knew he was smirking. “Night Zero, dream of me. I know I’ll be dreaming of you.” 

She couldn’t say another word so she just shut down coms and slammed her laptop shut. “Stupid little shit,” Why did he make her feel like this, especially when he wasn’t here to do anything about it. 

She leaned back on her chair, stretching out her arms over her head her back clicked in several places which made it feel so much better. She needed to put a reminder on her fridge to do a work out tomorrow, she was starting to become so stiff sat at her computer all the time.  There were parts of her that really yearned to be out in the field with the rest of the team, even if it was only a one time experience, who knows she might hate it and want to come back to her stuffy flat life. Who was she kidding, she wanted adventure and a little bit of risk here and there and she wanted her family.  She would however have to have a little conversation with One about the safety of the team and about treating them better. Her heart had broken hearing how fragile Four could be. They might have been ghosts but underneath they were still human beings with feelings, and if One was going to crush that then she had a problem with it.  

Maybe that was why she was so interested in Four? 2 years with only One as her only physical human contact and it was starting to take a toll on her, Four challenged her every time they spoke. And she loved a good challenge. She sat at her desk for two more hours, despite scolding herself for sitting too long that her bones began to ache. But she had research to do which consisted of finding a new team member and the faster she got it done the faster she could send it off to One and she could stop beating herself up about potentially bringing in a new person just for them to die like Six did. After a while she decided that she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. She sent the research to One, saved all the documents then shut her laptop down and proceeded to walk to the bathroom to take a nice long hot shower. 

The warm water calmed her immensely, when she stepped out and put on her silk pyjamas she felt even more sleepy then she did when she was in front of the laptop. As soon as her head hit the pillow she drifted off to sleep. 

.........

She shot up in bed, heart racing.

The loud banging coming from the front door was real, she hadn’t just dreamt it. She suddenly thought of Four’s threat from earlier but quickly shook it from her head. Don’t be stupid, It can’t be Four. Her eyes snapped to her bedside table to see 3am blaring on the digital clock. “What the actual hell, who decides to go bang on someone’s door at stupid o’clock in the morning?!” 

She grabbed her gun from under her pillow, pointing it out in front of her, she was in full on attack mode. She exited her room and headed down the hall and towards the front door, all the while sticking to the walls.  She waited a while, gun pointing towards the centre of the door maybe whoever had knocked got the wrong flat and moved on. But then just as she started to lower the gun the door rattled and the knocking began again, only louder this time.

“Zero! open up its One.” 

Zero cocked her head to the side, was he actually serious?  She carefully walked towards the door, gun still raised. Peeking through the peephole she confirmed that it was in fact One at her door. She sighed rubbing her tired eyes but opened the door just wide enough so he could slip in. 

“Hey!” He made himself at home straightaway, walking past her to go sit on her couch.

She shut the door making sure it was locked, she then made her way to stand in front of him but not before setting down the gun on the coffee table. “Don’t ‘Hey!’ me you dumb ass, what the hell are you doing here?!” 

“Nice gun! is that new?” He leaned forward and inspected the weapon. 

Was he being serious right now? “ONE!” He’d woke her up just to come and annoy her? “I asked you a question.” 

“I came to give you your plane ticket.” He stood up slightly and pulled a ticket out of his back pocket, he extended his arm out to Zero. 

She took it off of him and examined it, it was a ticket back home. Home was also where their base camp was.  “You never come to give me my plane ticket in person, what’s really going on? Is this about Six?” 

He just rubbed his face in frustration, the first real emotion she’d seen from him since he’d entered her living space. “Can you at least get me a drink before we discuss this?” 

She just sighed and looked towards her kitchen. “I only have rum.” 

“Then we shall have rum!” She just rolled her eyes but continued through to the little kitchen. If she was going to stay awake through this she might as well poor herself a small glass as well. 

She handed him the glass and then settled herself in the seat across from him. “So, talk.” 

She took a sip of her drink but very nearly spit it out when he spoke. “I want you in the field for the next mission.” 

A thousand thoughts crashed through her mind all at once, that she found it hard to focus on One as he continued to speak. She was going to get her adventure, she was going to get to show the whole team that she wasn’t just some computer nerd, she was going to be able to breath the same air as Four, she was going to be meeting her family. 

“Zero! Did you hear me?” She looked to One who had leaned forward in his chair. 

“What?” 

“God I hope you weren’t dreaming up the perfect scenario of finally meeting Four.” 

She was still in shock but managed to ask. “Did you just say that I’m finally going out in the field?” 

“Just the once, with Six gone we need all the help we can get in the next mission and you are my best eyes and ears.” He looked so calm just sat there sipping from his glass when she was sat opposite him freaking out. “You will keep your identity a secret though, none of the team is to know that you’re there.” 

Just like that One had given her, her deepest wish and then crushed it right in front of her. “How will that work? They will know the sound of my voice anywhere.” 

“Not if you put on a accent.” This was cruel, even by One’s standards. “Listen it’s for the best that you don’t interact with any of them. You’re lucky that you have full anonymity.” 

“What if I don’t want that? What if I actually want to meet the only family I’ve ever had? I don’t get why you lock me away from them.”  

“It’s for your own safety, you’ll thank me one day. Look at what happened to Six, do you want to end up like that?” 

She was seething now. “You really hurt them today you know, Four got in touch with me. He wanted to see if I was okay after what happened to Six.” She had to pause to stop herself before her voice broke.

“I know you want us all to work as a team but some how distance ourselves from one another. We all maybe faked our deaths but were still human One, it’s human nature to care deeply for those that are closest to us.” The tears were welling up in her eyes now. “You just tossed him off the side of that boat like he was nothing. Is that what you’re going to do to the rest of us?” 

He just stared at her for a long second then necked his drink and slammed the glass down on the table next to where the gun still laid. She didn’t even flinch, instead she stared him down. 

“I think it’s time for me to go.” She just scoffed and looked down at her hands that were placed in her lap, she couldn’t look him in the eyes anymore. “I looked through your research before I came here.” 

He got up from the couch but didn’t make any move to the door. “I think Blaine is the perfect fit for number Seven. As soon as I land on home turf I’m going to recruit him and introduce him to the team. In a months time I’ll contact you with a meeting place to discuss your field work.” 

“Great, another person I picked for you that you’re going to rip from their family and make their life hell.” He didn’t say another word and she didn’t look up from her lap. 

All she heard was his footsteps walking towards the door, it swinging open and then slamming shut again. Once she was completely certain he had gone her head fell in her hands.  She rubbed her face and felt a sweeping wave of sleepiness draw over her, she stood up and picked up the gun that was still on the coffee table. She made her way to the door to lock it properly, she then made her way back to bed and placed the gun back under her pillow. She hoped that just as before the tiredness would over take her and she would fall into an effortless slumber, but as she laid her head gently on the pillow and closed her eyes all she could see was Six’s lifeless body and all she could think about was how she’d put him there. 

No way was she getting back to sleep.  

#6 underground #6 underground fanfiction #6 underground four #6 underground fanfic #6 underground billy #four #four fanfic #four fanfiction #billy fanfiction #billy #billy x reader #billy x oc #four x reader #four x oc #four x zero #billy x scout

[hockeysweetheart]

I was thinking about Katniss saying she never wanted to have children. I noticed most of the time she said she never wanted kids Gale was involved. Yes there are points fear yes if her and Peeta had kids with Snow in power. Her children would have a one way ticket to the games.  But after the Peeta’s baby bomb she was like okay didn’t expect then then very shortly after she’s like well the damage is done thank god I had no say in this. and Then a few chapters later she was like it’s not my plan to have kids with Gale your crazy. 2 seconds later oh I dream of a world Peeta’s child is safe. 

Okay Katniss who knew Gale better but Peeta longer. She is totally like me Marry Gale ahahaha your so Funny Me Have his children pfft not a freaking Chance. But when it comes to Peeta she could of denied it but she didn’t. sure she said “it’s for an act” but she knows she was fooling herself saying that because of the sheer fact that she was like well he’s not that bad... blushes...  plus  she never worked up any excuse for Hey Peeta   we over. Because I truely beileve she  had feeling for him the whole damn time.  and when it came to Gale she’s like were friends. Peeta it’s like oh my god you saved my life I can’t live without you. ( without admitting shes in love with him).  becuase lord knows how long that took.  anyways I got off track a bit.  

I’ll say this again  she wanted to be with Gale because it would be the biggest slap in the face to the Capitol but she couldn’t let go of Peeta.  without Fail every single  time she had sparks with Gale  her Feelings for Peeta were not far behind.  Plus she totally burned that bridge when Gale came out as a player.  but It’s Gale confusing Katniss when they kissed. Because not once before the games did he say btw I like you any sign of it that Katniss caught on.  Whereas Peeta is flirting with Katniss the whole freaking time. and yes Katniss is a little slow to catch on so slow in fact it took Peeta  to tell the whole  world that he’s madly in love with the world before she realized that he was just a boy in love with me. ( in fact it took her longer to realize that).  

Okay Katniss is a bit slow to show it. But some kisses were for I couldn’t do this without you. That beach kiss was all love sweetheart ( at that point we all knew that Peeta won Katniss’s heart.)  But like Gale literally almost got whipped to death and her reaction was like was like just give him the meds to knock him out let him slip away. and for Peeta when he hit that force field it’s like  oh my god I cannot live without you. Don’t ever do that again. and like later without Peeta I’ll never be truely happy again. I do I need you. I’ll be damaged beyond repare with you gone.

Below are some refences I pulled up of The whole “ not having kids or marrying to doing both”  subject... 

chapter 1  the hunger games 

"We could do it, you know," Gale says quietly. "What?" I ask. "Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods. You and I, we could make it," says Gale. I don't know how to respond. The idea is so preposterous. "If we didn't have so many kids," he adds quickly. They're not our kids, of course. But they might as well be. Gale's two little brothers and a sister. Prim. And you may as well throw in our mothers, too, because how would they live without us? Who would fill those mouths that are always asking for more? With both of us hunting daily, there are still nights when game has to be swapped for lard or shoelaces or wool, still nights when we go to bed with our stomachs growling. "I never want to have kids," I say. "I might. If I didn't live here," says Gale. "But you do," I say, irritated. "Forget it," he snaps back. The conversation feels all wrong. Leave? How could I leave Prim, who is the only person in the world I'm certain I love? And Gale is devoted to his family. We can't leave, so why bother talking about it? And even if we did. even if we did. where did this stuff about having kids come from? There's never been anything romantic between Gale and me. When we met, I was a skinny twelve-year-old, and although he was only two years older, he already looked like a man. It took a long time for us to even become friends, to stop haggling over every trade and begin helping each other out. Besides, if he wants kids, Gale won't have any trouble finding a wife. He's good-looking, he's strong enough to handle the work in the mines, and he can hunt. You can tell by the way the girls whisper about him when he walks by in school that they want him. It makes me jealous but not for the reason people would think. Good hunting partners are hard to find.

the hunger games chapter 3 

Finally, Gale is here and maybe there is nothing romantic between us, but when he opens his arms I don't hesitate to go into them. His body is familiar to me  -  the way it moves, the smell of wood smoke, even the sound of his heart beating I know from quiet moments on a hunt  -  but this is the first time I really feel it, lean and hard-muscled against my own.

the hunger games chapter 10

I don't know what to think. "I should have been told, so I didn't look so stupid." "No, your reaction was perfect. If you'd known, it wouldn't have read as real," says Portia. "She's just worried about her boyfriend," says Peeta gruffly, tossing away a bloody piece of the urn. My cheeks burn again at the thought of Gale. "I don't have a boyfriend." "Whatever," says Peeta. "But I bet he's smart enough to know a bluff when he sees it. Besides you didn't say you loved me. So what does it matter?" The words are sinking in. My anger fading. I'm torn now between thinking I've been used and thinking I've been given an edge. Haymitch is right. I survived my interview, but what was I really? A silly girl spinning in a sparkling, dress. Giggling. The only moment of any substance I hail was when I talked about Prim. Compare that with Thresh, his silent, deadly power, and I'm forgettable. Silly and sparkly and forgettable. No, not entirely forgettable, I have my eleven in training.

the hunger games chapter 23 

Four of us left.

For the first time, I allow myself to truly think about the possibility that I might make it home. To fame. To wealth. To my own house in the Victor's Village. My mother and Prim would live there with me. No more fear of hunger. A new kind of freedom. But then. what? What would my life be like on a daily basis? Most of it has been consumed with the acquisition of food. Take that away and I'm not really sure who I am, what my identity is. The idea scares me some. I think of Haymitch, with all his money. What did his life become? He lives alone, no wife or children, most of his waking hours drunk. I don't want to end up like that.

"But you won't be alone," I whisper to myself. I have my mother and Prim. Well, for the time being. And then. I don't want to think about then, when Prim has grown up, my mother passed away. I know I'll never marry, never risk bringing a child into the world. Because if there's one thing being a victor doesn't guarantee, it's your children's safety. My kids' names would go right into the reaping balls with everyone else's. And I swear I'll never let that happen.

catching fire chapter 2 ( this was what katniss was gonna say to gale after he kissed her)

That week I managed the snares and dropped off the meat with Hazelle. But I didn't see Gale until Sunday. I had this whole speech worked out, about how I didn't want a boyfriend and never planned on marrying, but I didn't end up using it. Gale acted as if the kiss had never happened.

Maybe he was waiting for me to say something. Or kiss him back. Instead I just pretended it had never happened, either. But it had. Gale had shattered some invisible barrier between us and, with it, any hope I had of resuming our old, uncomplicated friendship. Whatever I pretended, I could never look at his lips in quite the same way.

catching fire chapter 4 

In my room, I remove my sodden slippers, my wet robe and pajamas. There are more in the drawers but I just crawl between the covers of my bed in my underclothes. I stare into the darkness, thinking about my conversation with Haymitch. Everything he said was true about the Capitol's expectations, my future with Peeta, even his last comment. Of course, I could do a lot worse than Peeta. That isn't really the point, though, is it? One of the few freedoms we have in District 12 is the right to marry who we want or not marry at all. And now even that has been taken away from me. I wonder if President Snow will insist we have children. If we do, they'll have to face the reaping each year. And wouldn't it be something to see the child of not one but two victors chosen for the arena? Victors' children have been in the ring before. It always causes a lot of excitement and generates talk about how the odds are not in that family's favor. But it happens too frequently to just be about odds. Gale's convinced the Capitol does it on purpose, rigs the drawings to add extra drama. Given all the trouble I've caused, I've probably guaranteed any child of mine a spot in the Games.

catching fire chapter 18 

There. He's done it again. Dropped a bomb that wipes out the efforts of every tribute who came before him. Well, maybe not. Maybe this year he has only lit the fuse on a bomb that the victors themselves have been building. Hoping someone would be able to detonate it. Perhaps thinking it would be me in my bridal gown. Not knowing how much I rely on Cinna's talents, whereas Peeta needs nothing more than his wits. As the bomb explodes, it sends accusations of injustice and barbarism and cruelty flying out in every direction. Even the most Capitol-loving, Games-hungry, bloodthirsty person out there can't ignore, at least for a moment, how horrific the whole thing is. I am pregnant. The audience can't absorb the news right away. It has to strike them and sink in and be confirmed by other voices before they begin to sound like a herd of wounded animals, moaning, shrieking, calling for help. And me? I know my face is projected in a tight close-up on the screen, but I don't make any effort to hide it. Because for a moment, even I am working through what Peeta has said. Isn't it the thing I dreaded most about the wedding, about the future - the loss of my children to the Games? And it could be true now, couldn't it? If I hadn't spent my life building up layers of defenses until I recoil at even the suggestion of marriage or a family?

The moment we step off the elevator, Peeta grips my shoulders. "There isn't much time, so tell me. Is there anything I have to apologize for?"

"Nothing," I say. It was a big leap to take without my okay, but I'm just as glad I didn't know, didn't have time to second-guess him, to let any guilt over Gale detract from how I really feel about what Peeta did. Which is empowered.

catching fire chapter 24

Peeta won't let him, though. "It's too dangerous," he says. "I'm not tired. You lie down, Katniss." I don't object because I do need to sleep if I'm to be of any use keeping him alive. I let him lead me over to where the others are. He puts the chain with the locket around my neck, then rests his hand over the spot where our baby would be. "You're going to make a great mother, you know," he says. He kisses me one last time and goes back to Finnick. His reference to the baby signals that our time-out from the Games is over. That he knows the audience will be wondering why he hasn't used the most persuasive argument in his arsenal. That sponsors must be manipulated. But as I stretch out on the sand I wonder, could it be more? Like a reminder to me that I could still one day have kids with Gale? Well, if that was it, it was a mistake. Because for one thing, that's never been part of my plan. And for another, if only one of us can be a parent, anyone can see it should be Peeta. As I drift off, I try to imagine that world, somewhere in the future, with no Games, no Capitol. A place like the meadow in the song I sang to Rue as she died. Where Peeta's child could be safe.

mockingjay chapter 3 

I skim my list. "Gale. I'll need him with me to do this." "With you how? Off camera? By your side at all times? Do you want him presented as your new lover?" Coin asks. She hasn't said this with any particular malice - quite the contrary, her words are very matter-of-fact. But my mouth still drops open in shock. "What?" "I think we should continue the current romance. A quick defection from Peeta could cause the audience to lose sympathy for her," says Plutarch. "Especially since they think she's pregnant with his child." "Agreed. So, on-screen, Gale can simply be portrayed as a fellow rebel. Is that all right?" says Coin. I just stare at her. She repeats herself impatiently. "For Gale. Will that be sufficient?" "We can always work him in as your cousin," says Fulvia.

"We're not cousins," Gale and I say together.

"Right, but we should probably keep that up for appearances' sake on camera," says Plutarch. "Off camera, he's all yours. Anything else?"

I'm rattled by the turn in the conversation. The implications that I could so readily dispose of Peeta, that I'm in love with Gale, that the whole thing has been an act. My cheeks begin to burn. The very notion that I'm devoting any thought to who I want presented as my lover, given our current circumstances, is demeaning. I let my anger propel me into my greatest demand. "When the war is over, if we've won, Peeta will be pardoned."

Dead silence. I feel Gale's body tense. I guess I should have told him before, but I wasn't sure how he'd respond. Not when it involved Peeta.

mockingjay

They play in the Meadow. The dancing girl with the dark hair and blue eyes. The boy with blond curls and gray eyes, struggling to keep up with her on his chubby toddler legs. It took five, ten, fifteen years for me to agree. But Peeta wanted them so badly. When I first felt her stirring inside of me, I was consumed with a terror that felt as old as life itself. Only the joy of holding her in my arms could tame it. Carrying him was a little easier, but not much.

The questions are just beginning. The arenas have been completely destroyed, the memorials built, there are no more Hunger Games. But they teach about them at school, and the girl knows we played a role in them. The boy will know in a few years. How can I tell them about that world without frightening them to death? My children, who take the words of the song for granted:

My children, who don't know they play on a graveyard. Peeta says it will be okay. We have each other. And the book. We can make them understand in a way that will make them braver. But one day I'll have to explain about my nightmares. Why they came. Why they won't ever really go away. I'll tell them how I survive it. I'll tell them that on bad mornings, it feels impossible to take pleasure in anything because I'm afraid it could be taken away. That's when I make a list in my head of every act of goodness I've seen someone do. It's like a game. Repetitive. Even a little tedious after more than twenty years. But there are much worse games to play.

#thg #Katniss #katniss everdeen #Peeta #Peeta Mellark #gale hawthorne #gale #Hunger Games #The Hunger Games #CatchingFire #catching fire #mockingjay #katniss and peeta #everlark