#meant to post this yesterday but i fell asleep <3

[welcometogrouchland]

if you're asking for drawing requests, maybe Willow in her timeskip look or Luz with the Collector??

[ID: a digital illustration of Luz (in her titan form from watching and dreaming) and The Collector. Luz stands on a small hill of red grass, waving at The Collector, who's off-screen but depicted to the audience as a closeup inside a star shaped panel. Luz is waving at the off-screen Collector with a smile, while The Collector smiles tearfully at her. Small uncoloured doodles of Eda and King are depicted waving at the collector in the background. End ID]

This was meant to be a doodle anon but unfortunately I went off the shits. Anyway, collector sees Luz post-resurrection and cries big gross happy tears bc he's so happy she's alive

#the owl house #toh #luz noceda #the collector #watching and dreaming #titan luz #titan!luz #god i love titan!luzs design SO MUCH it's so good. #something so personal abt the cringiest depressed bisexual teen in the world saving the world in cosmic furry cosplay of the devil #i don't really have tag rambles for this? #i did the sketch and fully expected this to be like. just a regular ''lines colour and maybe some shading'' deal #but there was too much negative space? so i added the little eda and king waving in the distance #but this implied like. a surrounding and a sense of space that looked Wrong without more detail #so uh. i did a background. then i coloured the lineart. then i did the shading and it just. kinda. spiraled #meant to post this yesterday but i fell asleep <3 #uhh anyway hope you enjoy anon! #i promise I'm gonna post that third request i just also wanna finish this animatic some time soon #IT'S CLOSE TO BEING DONE I JUST GOT BURNT OUT!!! GRRRRR #i need incentive i need motivation. i need a tiny elf with a hammer to beat my brain everytime i think ''no I won't work today <3''

[starg1rlie]

𐋃 return address : what kind of a student are they? [masterlist]

𐋃 sent from : various

𐋃 addressed to : @angryhope, @ajaxstar, @kiryoutann, @messyserver, @mobiussdarling, @samarill, @dinolvrrr, @xxfrostiee, @ehddsnys, @maaarshieee, @cesarsbeloved, @scaralvr, @nejibot, @dazaiscum, @shinobuko, @iiyumii. [if your user is in bold, that means i can't tag you properly. please message me, or send in an ask w/your user, or if you'd like to be removed from the taglist. to myst and cesar; my apologies if you did not want to be tagged ;-; link to taglist form ]

𐋃 post script : fluff and lil' bit of crack, i put characters in multiple parts, because i can see them as being both of them, gender-neutral reader, modern high-school! au (non-genshinverse), use of "childe's" real name (ajax), use of scaramouche's real name (kunikuzushi), alcohol mentions, anddd that's about it <3

always turns in his assignments late, doesn't give a shit

━━ arataki itto, tartaglia, and dottore

why should he care about some stupid assignment? he has better things to do, like talk to his friends, hang out with you, eat some good food, and just relax with his feet up on the couch. he does what, about half the work before he just tosses it into his backpack to turn in when he remembers (which probably wouldn't happen if the teacher didn't phone his parents). he just, doesn't care. if it's late, it's late, what does it matter to him?

finishes the whole damn thing the day before it's due

━━ arataki itto, bennett, razor, kaveh, pantalone, and thoma

he didn't necessarily forgot the assignment, he just, didn't have any time to do it earlier. in other words, he procastinated or got distracted by something else. typical of him, wasn't it? even though you'd sent him multiple text reminders, and even left a sticky post-it note on his textbook, he still managed to forget about it. he had to pull an all-nighter the day before the assignment was due just to finish it, and promptly fell asleep right after the teacher collected all of their submissions.

assignment? what assignment? legit forgot there was something due today lmfao-

━━ razor, bennett, tartaglia, kaveh, scaramouche, kazuha, and gorou

wait what? there's an assignment due today? he had no idea; the very thought seemed to have slipped his mind. frantically, he looked through his planner, just to double check if the date was right. he promptly let out a groan, seeing the big red circle that marked the due date for this assignment. better get cracking... hopefully you'd be kind enough to offer a bit of assistance to him, even if it meant having to hear a lecture.

diligently finishes all of his work before it's even due

━━ xiao, scaramouche, tighnari, al-haitham, albedo, ayato, xingqiu, baizhu, and zhongli

it felt good to have finished all of the work so early. now he didn't have to worry about the deadline, which...was about a week from now. the teacher had barely assigned it to the students yesterday, and he was already finished. it made his chest swell with a bit of pride. of course, he'd get the highest grade on the assignment than anyone. and then he'd get to show his grade off to you, which you'd probably be proud off and give him a kiss as a reward. ah yes, the reward. perhaps that was why he managed to finish the assignment in such a short amount of time.

is the class clown / party-goer, so he doesn't have time to do homework

━━ venti and heizou

there's nothing quite like karaoke night and a good ol' can of beer. so what if he's still a minor; so many other kids have started drinking at even younger ages, and no one's stopping them. guzzling down a fresh new can of beer, he stuffed a hand through his backpack to look for his phone, instead, pulling out a sheet of paper that stated an assignment was due by the end of the week. shrugging, he shoved it right back in there and pulled out his phone, cranking the music's volume louder. if anything happened, well, he could just phone you and drop the assignment on you to do for him; he had much more important and better things to do, and it wasn't like he had any time, right? these beer cans weren't going to drink themselves, now were they?

starts fights

━━ arataki itto, tartaglia, kaeya, and cyno

the words "fight, fight, fight!" were chanted like a mantra as he quickly dodged a blow that would have most definitely dislocated his jaw if he hadn't ducked. wiping a trail of sweat from the side of his forehead, he jumped back at the person who dared start shit with him, raising a fist, and promptly punching them in the face. he held his fists up in victory, grinning like a complete idiot while everyone else just cheers and drags the downed fighter away. of course, the lecture that he gets from you is totally worth it in his opinion, even as you yank him by his ear all the way to the nurse's office.

ends fights

━━ diluc, tighnari, albedo, and zhongli

this was the third time this week that his friend had started another fight. as exciting as some may find it, it was also quite the hindrance. he shooed all the speculators away, helping up his friend from the ground and lead him away to get his wounds fixed up. after that, said friend gets an earful from him, which ends up going in through one ear, and out the other...but he does have you to back him up; fighting and violence are never an option, especially in an environment such as this. doing such a feat was asking for unwanted attention from the school principal. wait, did he just recite that all from memory? huh, perhaps you were starting to rub off on him.

cheers on the fighters / speculates

━━ xingqiu, scaramouche, ayato, dottore, al-haitham, and heizou

nothing quite as thrilling as a class fight, now was there? he clapped his hands together in amusement, eyeing the two battling students, who were clearly trying to flaunt for the crowd to see. if he had to compare them to an animal, he'd probably do so with a peacock; they're as proud as they were arrogant. he winced slightly as one of them took a hard hit, landing on the ground in a defeated heap as the victor shouted triumphantly. time for another class, he thought before walking down the opposite end of the hallway. he'd provide a whole play-by-play for you, in case you missed it or were preoccupied with something else at that time. the way he narrates the whole thing sounds as if he were wishing he'd been the one who won the fight.

asks you to do the assignment for them

━━ heizou, arataki itto, tartaglia, kaeya, and venti

"pleaseeeeeee, i promise this is the last time i'll ask you for a favor." you could practically hear how desperate he was through the other side of the phone. letting out a heavy sigh, you agreed. "fine, but you better buy me a caramal frappe tomorrow before school starts or i'll shred your assignment!" he was quick to agree, promising to get you two caramel frappes, if that insured that you wouldn't ruin his precious assignment. turns out, blackmailing is actually more useful than you thought it would be.

#childe x reader #childe x you #childe x y/n #childe genshin impact #zhongli x reader #zhongli x you #zhongli x y/n #al haitham x reader #al haitham x you #al haitham x y/n #itto x reader #itto x you #itto x y/n #kaeya x reader #kaeya x you #kaeya x y/n #venti x reader #venti x you #venti x y/n #xingqiu genshin impact #xingqiu x reader #razor x reader #bennett x reader #scaramouche x reader #scaramouche x you #scaramouche x y/n #xingqiu x you #xingqiu x y/n #bennett x you #bennett x y/n

[olivers-cocoapuffs]

HI can i just say. i think you’re so cool & i love your blog sm. i keep seeing posts & going “haha that’s brilliant” & i feel like half the time when i go to look at the url it’s oliver with the cocoa puffs. so i hope you have a lovely day :)

I actually saw this after you sent it and meant to reply but then I fell asleep 😭

I had a really bad day yesterday and this made me feel a lot better, so thank you <3

This sounds weird but I was thinking about you the other day (I recognise your url from both here and ao3). Whenever I post moonwater stuff I’m like “hm how long till they find it” cause you always do

I think you’re wonderful as well 🫶🏼

[riaki]

omg i forgot to ask how did u celebrate gojo’s bday!

HI GENIE SORRY I GOT TO THIS LATE… actually thags related. i fell asleep after dinner bc yesterday was my close friend’s birthday so i sacrificed sleep to stay up n play games w him :’3 which naturally meant going to bed late, at like 1:30 or 2am…. and i had two tests today + practice after school so i was EXHAUSTED

so basically all i did 4 him was post the christmas fic, put him on my disc status for like a min and repost some stuff for him. i was planning to draw him but everything i planned to do after i got back from school went down the drain as soon as i fell asleep 😞😞

#srry king 🫡 #i write him way more than anyone i actually view as a favorite so i think that’s good enough #i sent him to my friends and let evry1 know it was his bday that can be my contribution #otherwise i’m tired as hell n i’ve got a concert this weekend so i don’t have time to be doing much else :’l #actually maybe i make a quick smau before i eep for him #wbu?? honestly i cant think of anything to do so if u did smth i’m interested to hear 😭😭 #precious moots! #inbox 💌 #genie!

[not-a-space-alien]

All Creatures Great and Small Chapter 3: Bring Your Fairy to Work Day (Part 1)

As always thanks to my collaborator @static-stars and my beta/sensitivity reader @appelsiinilight! <3 And special thanks to @ratcatcher0325 for some beta reading as well!!

Story masterpost

AO3 link

Content warning: this chapter contains descriptions of hate speech, especially misogynistic and homophobic/lesbophobic hate speech.

Thistle felt a lot better after the conversation with Sierra, but he still felt ill at ease.  The humans who cared about him did a lot to assuage his nerves, but as soon as Marcy fell back asleep, Thistle lay there awake and shivering, still feeling quite alone.  He grimly thought that he was just going to have to get used to feeling this way, if the presence of humans didn’t abate it.

He hadn’t even told Sierra anything meaningful.  He’d told her he was upset because “It’s hard being so small,” but she had just agreed knowingly, as though he’d been talking about being symbolically or emotionally small.  He hadn’t had the courage to press that he’d meant it literally, in a way she would never be able to relate to.

She’d said she’d come meet him in person sometime.  Wouldn’t that be nice?  She could fly out there.  They could go to the museum, and the zoo, and get ice cream.  He’d had to stifle the panicked whines.  The idea fucking terrified him.  She would be nervous about this potential encounter the way everyone was nervous to meet their pen pals.  He would be nervous about it because he was sticking his neck out to trust that Sierra wouldn’t just crush him.

He repeated Marcy’s words to himself, curling up against her and desperately trying to fall asleep.  I promise you will never have to go through that awful experience again.  You have me to help you.  You can do anything you want to.  You have me to help you.  You have me to help you.  You have me to help you.

Marcy would help.  Marcy will help.  Be selfish.  Be selfish.  Let Marcy help.

He shivered, snuggling closer into her hand.

He did manage to fall asleep, better than when he’d had the nightmare, but not deep enough anymore to have dreams.

***

The two of them awoke the next morning when Teddy sat on the edge of Marcy’s bed.  Marcy sat upright, flailing in the sheets, eyes puffy with sleep.  “Hm?” she said, voice thick.

“Good morning,” said Teddy.

Marcy briefly looked around her bed like a child searching for the stuffed animal that had fallen off the bed during the night, then found Thistle tangled in the sheets next to her knee.  She got a handful of him and dragged him out, putting him on her lap.  He had the same squinty-eyed, bedhead ridden look of tiredness on his face that Marcy did.

“Bad news,” said Teddy.  She held her phone up.  Marcy looked down at the video Teddy was showing her, trying to force her muddled brain to comprehend.

It was YouTube guy again.  The video this time was of her, of the incident on the porch yesterday.  

That jolted her awake.  “Fuck!” said Marcy, grabbing Teddy’s phone with both hands.  “What is this?  He posted this?”

“Last night,” said Teddy.  “There’s only about two minutes of actual footage of us, but the whole video is 14 minutes long.  He’s talking about how you’re working for the government and hiding things to protect the power of the ‘elites.’”

Marcy rubbed her face.  God, she looked stupid, trying to gently shoo away this asshole from her porch without offending him, like waving away a fly.  Colin came crashing into frame a moment later, all confrontation and aggression.

The video was appended with a note at the end, promoting his newest drop of NFTs, which of course you could purchase with any number of cryptocurrencies, including his own.  He was also promoting a new eBook he’d just published about laws useful for sovereign citizens.

Marcy sighed and put her face in her hand, scrolling down.  “Well, surely nobody has seen it yet, right?”

“Wro~ong,” said Teddy in a singsong voice.  “The comments are already full of completely unhinged people eating it up.”

Marcy’s heart sank as she skimmed through the comments.  Robert had apparently previously given his followers some framing about “little people who live in the walls,” and hypothesizing how such creatures could be a vital part of the shadowy network that secretly controlled the government and were therefore a sinister threat to American liberties.  The comments were full of people saying he was onto something and how he needed to investigate further.

This crowd was purely interested in the wellbeing and prosperity of the American people, in an objective way, and only interested in the cold, hard, unbiased truth, half the comments said.  The other half could only comment on how ugly Marcy was, with zero of them showing any self-awareness of that ironic clash.

Marcy typically had thick skin when it came to these sorts of things, but the sheer vitriol and hatred that poured out, conflating her appearance with her sinister motives, her agenda to hurt people–it was almost too much.  One commenter called her a fat slut, another jumped in that it would be a good hatefuck, another added that she was definitely a lesbian when someone hypothesized that she was just angry that no man would ever fuck her–and Marcy had to doublecheck the colorful phrasing on this one–dusty, cobweb pussy.  They were merciless, commenting on everything, her haircut, her acne, her stomach, her arms, her breasts, her legs, her clothes.

The bits of the video where Teddy was visible made it even worse–despite being completely silent in every frame and standing barely visible in the background, a flood of comments with racial slurs were visible.  A few comments had been removed by a moderator, citing violating the TOS–if these were the ones that had remained, what could have possibly crossed the line and merited removal?  Teddy was also much skinnier than Marcy, and yet they still called her fat–being fat seemed to be one of the worst offenses a woman was capable of to this crowd, almost as bad as being part of a conspiracy to manipulate the populace.

With the power of crowd-sourcing, they even managed to find slurs to hurl at Colin, a cisgender white man who even on his most rebellious days never managed to look more countercultural than the average saltine cracker.  If the fire hose of boiling malice hadn’t been so scary, it might almost be impressive.

Marcy’s attention was jerked from the screen down to her lap by Thistle’s featherlight touch on her hand.  “Marcy…You’re crying.”

Marcy paused the video, swallowing and realizing that he was right.  “Ah…” she said, wiping her eye.  “It’s–This is–worrying.”

Marcy put the phone down.  Thistle swarmed onto it, scrolling it with his tiny fingers, to take a closer look at what had upset Marcy.

This is when Thistle realized that Robert, as a person, was the fundamental opposite of the principles Marcy strived to uphold.  Marcy sat and observed, watched, and listened, and then tried to draw conclusions on what the truth was.  This man, this horrid group of people, had already decided what the truth was, and was violently trying to manipulate reality into giving them the evidence they needed to convince other people to agree with them.

He looked back up at Marcy.  She was blubbering to Teddy trying to come up with a plan, her voice wobbly–he could see the tears threatening to leak over and out.

He looked back down at the virtual conversation–all these cruel things people who had never even met her were saying about her.  He stood, quivering, and waved his hands.  Marcy stopped, and she and Teddy both looked down at him.

Thistle was entering a new era.  The anxiety of not knowing was gone, but it'd been replaced with knowing exactly where he stood, and having friendship…..now he had something to lose if he fucked up, and it was very easy to fuck up when you didn't know what you were doing….even more dangerous to have a little familiarity and have a false sense of security and confidence.  He knew enough to make mistakes, but not enough to fix them.  It felt…bad.

“I put everyone in danger,” said Thistle.  “This is my fault.  I can’t be selfish.  I just can’t.  I can’t do this to you all.  Please let me fix it somehow.”

Marcy sniffled and wiped her eye.  “That’s sweet of you, but…”

“You can’t un-dox yourself,” said Teddy.

Thistle crossed his arms darkly.  “I…I don’t know.  But surely there must be something I can do.”

“There….kind of isn’t,” said Teddy.  “By necessity.  Because you’re the one at risk here.”

“But you’re also in danger!  I dragged you into it!”

“Teddy is right,” said Marcy sadly.  “You can just hunker down and let us take care of this.  I’m sure we can deal with it.”

“No!”  Thistle hopped up onto her knee.  “No, no, no!  That isn’t how it’s supposed to work!  I’m the one who messed up, I’m the one who has to fix it!”

“Look,” said Teddy, rubbing her temples.  “If you think of something really clever, I’m all ears, but I think this is beyond your capability to fix.”

“Then–then I’m supposed to be the one to suffer!  Not you three!”  The look on Marcy’s face, the suffering at the hands of ephemeral concepts he had no idea how to parry, was too much for him to bear.

Teddy and Marcy looked at each other, then down at him.  “You’re already suffering,” said Teddy.  “Suffering more isn’t going to help anything.”

“But–But,” said Thistle.

“What do you want to happen?” said Marcy.  “You think we should hand you over to him to get him to leave?  Is that what you think?”

“Yes!” said Thistle.  “If–If that’s what it takes.”  

Marcy and Teddy stared at him as tiny tears sprung up in his eyes.  “That’s ridiculous,” said Marcy.  “Who knows what that guy would do to you if he got his hands on you.  If me and Teddy and Colin just handle this carefully, we’ll all come out the other side okay.”

“You can’t sacrifice yourself for me!  I’m supposed to help my family, not make everything harder for them!”

He stopped, breaking eye contact, eyes wide, staring down at Marcy’s knee, realizing what he’d just said with a fierce tremble.

Marcy’s hands came around him.  He still refused to look up.

“Thistle, look at me please.”

He did so, rocking his weight onto his back foot and leaning into her hand at his back.

“Stop.  I don’t know what things were like with your family, but we solve our problems together.”

“That’s what we–”

“I’m sure, I’m sure that–”

“You make–”

“Just let me finish.”

He shut his mouth.

“We already talked about this.  I thought it was closed.  Your instinct to just throw yourself into a meat grinder to stop us from suffering any temporary harm is concerning.  If your family really loved you like you say they did, I’m sure that’s not what they wanted from you, even if you’re right about isolating yourself to keep them safe.”

Thistle sunk down, shoulders at his ears, face red.

“And if we’re your family now, then you need to start acting like it.  Let us keep you safe.  We defend the nest together.  I don’t care what you did.  It doesn’t matter.  I love you unconditionally.  I will only ever want what’s best for you.  I would throw every electronic device I own into the ocean and move away forever if that’s what it took to keep you safe.  You are precious to me.  The idea that you’d throw yourself away because you think I need you to would hurt me more than anything this asshole with a braindead YouTube following could ever say.  Understand?”

He swallowed and nodded.

“The only reason you’re here struggling with things you’re not equipped to deal with is because of my fuck up, because I snatched you up from where you belong.  I’m the one who messed up, not you, so I’m the one who has to fix it.  I’ll keep saying this as many times as it takes for you to believe it.”

Thistle turned around and buried his face in her palm.  She felt a small wet spot where his tears pricked at her.  “Thank you, Marcy.  Thank you.”

“And do you remember when I made a careless, thoughtless decision that made everything harder for you?  All it took was picking you up in the field.”

He refused eye contact.

“Now you know how easy it is to make mistakes.  You get excited by the whole big wide world, you don’t know everything about it, you get so curious to know more and forget to imagine all the consequences.  I’ve done it, and I’m still here.  You did it, and you’re still here, and that’s not changing, okay?”

Colin’s feet could be heard stomping up the stairs.  Marcy had a sinking feeling hearing that.  She gently wrapped her fingers around Thistle’s torso, under his arms, and lifted him up to give him a kiss.  He was blushing fiercely, tear tracks streaked down his cheeks.  “Thank you, Marcy.  Teddy.”

Teddy let out a sigh and extended her hand.  Marcy set him in her hand, and she nervously gave him a quick peck as well.  Thistle was frozen, sprawled out in her palm.

Colin was finally in the doorway.  “Guess who’s back.”

“No,” gasped Marcy.  “Again?  He didn’t get enough?”

“I guess not.  He’s parked just shy of the mailbox.  It’s like he knows where the property line is.”

“Should we call the police?” said Marcy.  “Surely this constitutes harassment.”

“Nope,” said Teddy.  “No thanks.  Not interested in being the next Twitter hashtag.  We call the police only when we’re prepared for someone to get shot when they show up.”

Marcy wrung her hands.

“Not to mention,” said Colin, “do you really want a bunch of people who might be interested in searching the house over here?  That would only increase the chances that someone spots Thistle.  Not to mention if the police get involved, it’s a whole thing that will bring even more attention to his stupid internet show.”

Thistle pinned his ears back on his head.

“Okay,” said Marcy miserably.  “But then what do we do?”

“Okay,” said Teddy.  “Everyone listen to me.  We have to do one thing.”

All eyes were on her.

“Stonewall him.  Give him the cold shoulder.  The silent treatment.  Whatever you want to call it.  We say not one damn word more to him, pretend he isn’t there.  He’ll get bored eventually and leave.  We’re not feeding the trolls any more.”

“Okay,” said Marcy.  “That sounds easy enough.  It’d just be a matter of not talking to him as I walk to my car for me.  I work every day this week, and the building is only accessible to people with student or staff IDs.”

“Me too,” said Teddy.  “I work Wednesday-Thursday-Friday.  He’d have to come in through the hospital entrance, since the back doors are all staff only, and they’d turn him away for sure.”

“Me too,” said Colin.  “I work all three days since my shift last week was canceled.  I’m outside, but I’m also moving around a lot.”

All three humans stared at each other awkwardly.

“Shit,” said Teddy.  “We can’t leave him home alone, can we?  Not with that maniac parked outside.”

“Surely he won’t break in,” said Marcy.

“Sure,” said Colin.  “Just like how the guy at the electronic store surely won’t give your home address out.”

Marcy mentally made a note that she might be able to press a lawsuit once this had blown over.  At the very least, she would be switching service providers.

Thistle wrung his hands.  “I–I think I’ll be okay.  I can hide.”

“Nope,” said Teddy.  “When we first met, I found you and I wasn’t even looking for you.  I’d rather not risk that.”

Thistle glowered, but swallowed his protest that he could have hidden fine if Mochi hadn’t been loose in the house.

“I don’t suppose you can just work from home?” said Colin hopefully to Marcy.

She bit her lip and shook her head.  “I–Well, if I really needed to, if it’s an emergency of course I would but…I have so many dissections I need to get done this week.  I can’t stay home for three whole days.”

“I don’t have any sick time left to call out,” Teddy said grimly.

“I’ll–I’ll go with you to work,” said Thistle, standing up ramrod straight and putting on his bravest face.  “One of you can take me with you, surely.”

The three humans looked at each other.  Marcy muttered, “I guess that might work…”

“If you come with me, you’ll have to stay in my purse the whole time,” said Teddy.  “Four people sit in my office.  You’d have to be quiet the whole day.”

“I hesitate to bring you to work with me,” said Marcy.  “Considering the, uh…nature of the work I do.  Buuuut…if I can do doubletime today and tomorrow, the lab should be empty on Friday if I can convince the undergrads not to come in.”

“Yeah!!” Colin roared.  “Then today he can come with me!”  He picked Thistle up and held him aloft.  “Boy’s night!!”

Thistle steadied himself in Colin’s hand.  “Right…”

“Come on, T, it’ll be OK.  I can keep you safe.  Everyone is always a zillion miles away from me during the day, and there’s not usually anyone home.”

“Oooh, wait!” Thistle cried.  “Will the fish tank be okay if he tries to get in and we’re not home?”

They all looked at him.  He drew his arms in towards himself, blushing fiercely.

“Why would he do anything to the fishtank if he broke in?” said Colin.

Jewel had his disguise magic.  He would be fine.  Right?  Thistle hadn’t had much opportunity to check in with him since this all started.  He was sure Jewel would just say he’d be fine, though; he would refuse any help, surely.

“I–I–I don’t know,” said Thistle, shuffling his feet.  “I don’t know why he’d mess with the fish tank.  I was just worried he might.”

Colin ruffled his hair.  “I think the fish will be okay, and your silkworms will be, too.”

“So that’s it, then,” said Teddy.  “We just hunker down and wait him out.  Right?”

They all looked at each other, nodding.

“Well then,” said Marcy.  “Shall we?”

***

Robert was sitting in his van outside their house, technically on public property, talking to the camera on his phone, when the front door opened and all three of them spilled out at once.

“Oh, excuse me!” said Robert, throwing his door open and waving.  “I know you couldn’t talk yesterday but I was wondering if–”

Marcy hustled past him to get to her own car, sitting down and locking the doors as soon as she was in without a word.  Colin had reached his truck and was starting the engine by the time Teddy finished double checking that the front door was locked.

“You’re acquaintances with Marcella, right?” he said, hounding Teddy as she hopped and skipped across the stones on the walkway.

“I’m not at liberty to say,” said Teddy, clambering into the passenger’s side door.  She shut it right in his disappointed face, and Colin had pulled the truck out and swung around before he could even decide where to point the camera.

***

The cold, metallic darkness keeping him trapped–something that would have once sent Thistle into spirals of anxiety–parted, and a wave of heat came in.

Thistle squinted at the bright light entering as Colin opened his lunchbox.  He shuffled away from the freezie packs that were keeping all his food cold.

“Hey!” said Colin.  “You ate the cheese out of my sandwich!”

Thistle sheepishly turned to the aforementioned sandwich, where little bite marks and evidence of tiny handfuls being removed were evident.  “It smelled really good.”

“Well, it’s whatever.”  He held out his hand for Thistle to step into.  “We’re doing a really fancy house today.  Get a load of this.”

The world went up and Thistle saw out the truck window: a positively enormous house, three floors at least, with several add-ons, a spacious lawn with a pool and a hot tub, surrounded by hedges boxing it in.  It was positively luxurious.

Thistle sniffed at it.  “What makes it so nice?”

Colin blinked.  “Well, it–it’s big.”

“And…?”

“And expensive!”

Thistle looked at the bare lawn disapprovingly.  “It doesn’t even have fruit trees or anything.”

“Well–Well I think you just have a different idea of what makes a house fancy.  That’s OK.  I mean of course you wouldn’t be impressed by a house just because it was big, I guess.”

Colin took him out of the car and set him on top of the mailbox overlooking the lawn Colin was about to cut.  “Mark might be showing up later, but I told him I could do the lawn and hedges by myself no problem.”

Thistle nodded and sat down.  “I still don’t understand exactly what you do for your job.”

“Landscaping.”

Thistle kicked his feet.  “Right, but…You come and cut down the plants?”

“I don’t cut them down.  Just back a little.”

“Because they’re growing too tall?”

“Yeah.”

“But you’re not harvesting them or anything?  You don’t use it for anything?”

Colin scratched his head.  “Well, no.”

“Then why are these plants here?”

“Well, because they look nice.”

Thistle looked scornfully at the lawn.  “We do have different ideas about what makes a house fancy.”

“Well–Well that’s OK,” Colin said, caught off guard.  “You don’t have to like it.  I’m just gonna go attack it for a bit with the trimmers.”

Thistle watched as Colin took out what appeared to be an enormous pair of scissors from the back of his truck and started cutting the hedges.  He hunched over, suddenly wishing he’d brought some paper and pencils so he could draw or something.  He’d been so focused on getting past the guy in the van on the way out he hadn’t even considered what he would actually do all day watching Colin…

…attack plants.

After watching him painstakingly trim the bushes into a neat and artificial shape–which Thistle honestly thought looked quite dreadful–Colin brought out the lawnmower.  He warned Thistle that it was loud, to which Thistle responded all sounds were loud to him.  Colin then shrugged and turned the machine on, after which Thistle desperately shouted about how loud it was.  Colin offered to put him back in the car and shut the door to muffle the noise, but Thistle complained that the car would get to be like a hundred degrees.

“All right then, smart guy,” said Colin.  “What do you want me to do then, because I have a pair of earmuffs but they…uh…the size….”  He trailed off, looking at something over Thistle’s shoulder in the distance.  “Shit!” he suddenly yelped, then grabbed Thistle with an overeager hand, slapped the mailbox open, and ungracefully tossed him inside, slamming it shut behind him.  A familiar white van was pulling into the driveway.

Colin hustled back over to the lawn mower and acted like he hadn’t been doing anything.  The van rumbled to a stop behind his truck, and Robert got out.  “Hi there!”

Colin glared at him, pulling the mower and bending down to pull the ripcord to start it.

“I was hoping you might have some time to answer a few questions–”

His remaining words were drowned out by the sound of the lawnmower as Colin started to push it over the lawn, spitting grass everywhere.  Robert shuffled to the side to avoid his feet being buried.

Colin made a lap around the yard, coming back to find that Robert was standing directly in his path.  Colin made a waving motion to signal to him to move, but he didn’t budge.

Colin sighed and stopped the lawnmower.  He looked tiredly into the camera Robert was already using to film him.  “This is private property.”

“I’m legally allowed to film anything I can see from public property.”

Colin seethed, not knowing enough about law to know if that was right or not.  “Well–Well it doesn’t matter!  You’re on private property!”

“I’m just asking questions, sir, that’s all I’m doing.  You’re being filmed right now, I’m getting this all on camera.”

“Look,” said Colin.  “This isn’t even my private property this time, it’s someone else’s, and they barely want me on it to mow their lawn, let alone you doing…”  He waved his hands to Robert’s whole body.  “...your thing.”

Robert leaned on the mailbox.  Thistle’s eye peeked out of a microscopic crack, getting a good eyeful of the interloper’s hairy forearm. 

Colin walked over and made like he was going to smack Robert’s arm off the mailbox.  “Don’t touch that.”

“You see that folks, he’s already threatening me,” said Robert.  He had the tone of voice of someone absolutely convinced they were in the right, but he still took a few steps back, as though he’d anticipated Colin would be an easier target.  “The left preaches tolerance, but as soon as you start asking questions–”

“You need to leave.”

“This is public property.”

“It’s not, it’s really explicitly not.”

“I’m just asking questions, sir, that’s all I’m doing.”

“You followed me to work to harass me.”

Robert turned the camera around to address it directly.  “He went so far as to lug this equipment to someone else’s lawn, to make it look like he actually works in landscaping.  Maybe this goes deeper than I thought.”

Looking on the verge of apoplexy, Colin walked over the mailbox and opened it.  Robert was standing behind it, so he couldn’t see the shocked expression on the face of the fairy crouching among the mail.

“I thought you said you didn’t live here, but you’re getting the mail. Curious.  I’m getting this all on camera, you seeing this?”

“I’m removing the mail because I’m about to turn the sprinklers on,” said Colin.  “And I don't want it to get wet.”

He curled up the junk mail and flyers in the mailbox up around Thistle, squishing him out of sight.  He slammed the mailbox shut with the mail bundled against his chest. 

Dragging the hedge trimmers behind him with his other hand, Colin approached the truck.  Robert followed, continuing to press him to answer questions.  Colin opened the truck and tossed the mail in, then slammed the door shut and locked it before circling around back and throwing the hedge trimmers into the bed.

Robert leaned over to examine the tools in the truck bed.  “Interesting assortment of equipment you got there.”

“They’re for work.”

Thistle stayed huddled underneath the seat next to the mail where he’d been tossed down.  The two men’s voices started to get fainter as they apparently moved away from the truck.  He cautiously crept out, looking up between the seats.  All was quiet, the voices faint.

Thistle crawled under the seat, under the armrest, staying hidden as long as possible until he could stand on the door handle and peek up out the window.

Colin and Robert were a ways away.  Colin had a garden hose and was using it to water some bushes nearby.  Robert hovered behind him, apparently unfazed.  Their voices were muffled and too far away to make out the words, but after a few moments, Colin turned around and drenched Robert with the hose, a very "oops, did I do that?" look on his face.

***

Some other human eventually came and chased Robert away–Thistle couldn't tell who it was from this distance, but Colin seemed supremely irritated either way when he came back.  He found Thistle still hiding under the seat, and let him crouch there as he drove them both home.

The incident did make Colin say that Mark would probably be sticking more closely to him the next day, and this next house had a smaller lawn anyway.  Marcy still hadn't finished all the preparations to make sure she was the only one in the lab for a day, so for day two, into Teddy's purse he went.

He didn't come out until lunch. Teddy set her bags on the table and unzipped the top.

Thistle burst out, covered in graphite smears, because this time he'd thought to bring something to occupy himself with.  "Teddy!  I have something new for the Etsy shop!"

"Oh yeah? Let's see it."

Thistle proudly held up a rumpled piece of paper smudged with incomprehensible shapes.  After a moment, he turned it around, examining it critically.  "Hmm…it looked a lot better when it was too dark to see and I was just imagining what it looked like."

Teddy took the slip of paper between her fingers, holding it up to the light.  “I think I see what you were going for, though.  I’m sure you can recreate it later.”

Thistle beamed, wings vibrating.

“Anyway,” said Teddy.  “This is my spot a zillion miles away from everyone else.  I usually eat lunch under this tree here.”

Thistle craned his neck to look at the tree far above, face delighted.  “It’s a wonderful tree, Teddy.  You picked a wonderful tree.”

“Uh, thanks.  And if anybody starts walking over here, we’ll have plenty of time for you to hop back inside.”

Thistle scaled up the bark, flickering his wings to assist.  “It’s been so long since I’ve been in a good tree.”

“What makes a tree good?  In your opinion.”

Thistle rustled some leaves up in the branches.

“Don’t go too far.  Marcy will kill me if I lose you.”

He peeked his head back out.  He’d put a little acorn cap on top of his head.  “A really good tree is…Too hard for things on the ground to climb, but easy for us to climb.  And it has long, thick branches good for climbing and anchoring a nest.  Er…”

“Oh, you meant a good tree for, like, nesting.”

“Not that you’ll be doing that, I mean…”

She shrugged.  “Who knows, maybe someday.”

“Teddy, if you nest, I’m sure you won’t use a tree for it.”

“Why not?  Apparently I’m really good at picking out trees for it.”

His face flushed.  “You’re too big, that’s why!  A tree isn’t what you need!”

She smiled.  “I’m just teasing you.  Come on down so we can eat.”

Thistle leapt, drifting down like a parachute, and landed on her knee.  “So what exactly do you do at work?  I kept peeking out of your bag and it looked like you were writing on papers and typing on a computer all day.”

“Do you know what a doctor is?”

Thistle nodded vigorously.

“I work in an office where people can come to see a doctor.  I help people as they come in, and fill out paperwork and stuff.”

Thistle looked down at his ankles as Teddy got out her lunchbox.  “You…You guys all seem to have very specific jobs.”

Teddy’s hands paused.  “Huh?”

“Colin cuts plants.  You help people walk into a specific building.  Marcy looks at very, very specific chemicals.  I…don’t really get it.”

“You guys never did stuff like that?”

“No, not really…  With my family, I helped with foraging, and making clothes and building things.”

“You’re right, that does sound pretty vague.  Were you like a handyman?”

He shrugged.  “It was never really worth it to learn how to use magic when we had others who were better at it, and I was good at working with my hands.  We all just did what we were good at.”

“You can’t do magic?”

He dipped his head, ears drooping, blushing.  “No.”

“You don’t have to be embarrassed about it.  I can’t either.”  She unzipped her lunchbox.  “But like, could you learn?”

“Hm?  I mean, I guess.  It’d be hard with no one to teach me.”  He flushed again, biting his lip.  The prey instincts crept back up whenever he talked about this.  The humans could probably force him to try magic if they wanted to, to take advantage of him…but no, he knew by now they wouldn’t do that.  He just had to make himself feel it.

It helped that Teddy brushed right past it…Maybe she saw the flickering discomfort on his face.  “Well, I guess we can have such hyper-specialized jobs because there’s so many of us, so we can focus on one really narrow thing.”  Teddy took out a sandwich, a bag of chips, a bag of baby carrots, and a tupperware container that had been taped shut. 

“Right.”  Thistle suddenly wished that Pixies formed big societies the way humans did.  It sounded nice.  He’d barely ever talked to anyone outside his own family before he’d met Marcy.  He’d never been to one, but a big city sounded wonderful.  A big swarm of humans, all working together to help each other?  They must get so much done!  It was basically a super-hive!

“Well, enough about that, let’s eat.”  Teddy untaped the container and opened it to reveal a ziploc bag, which she opened and from which she removed a second, smaller bag, which was also taped shut.  Inside that bag was a wad of paper towels, which Teddy unwrapped to reveal a small plastic container with a few mealworms inside.  She slid it over to Thistle, who clapped with excitement.

Teddy gave him one baby carrot and a potato chip, then unwrapped her sandwich.  She took a bite, sighing.  “This is kind of nice.  I usually eat lunch by myself.”

“Oh no!” said Thistle.  “That sounds horrible.  I hate eating alone.”   He had already eviscerated a mealworm, which he suddenly became conscious of and turned to hide it from Teddy. 

“Yeah.”  She gently bumped him with her pinky finger.  “Even if your food can be kind of gross, your company is nice.”

Thistle crossed his arms.  “You’re one to talk.”

Teddy looked down at her lunch, baffled.  “What, my sandwich?”

Thistle crinkled his nose and pointed.  “It smells like dead meat.”

Teddy lifted the bun slightly.  “What, cuz it has ham on it?”

“Yeah.”  Thistle crunched on a bit of exoskeleton.  “Imagine if I suddenly up and drank the bottle of nail polish remover.  That’s what it smells like.”

“I’m sure it doesn’t smell like that.”  Nevertheless, she gave it a sniff.  “Have you even tried it?”

Thistle tapped his fingers together.  “I don’t really eat red meat.  Anything that’s a vertebrate, really.  And even then, I really only eat stuff that’s freshly killed.  I’m a forager, not a scavenger.”

“Being freshly killed makes it better?”

“It makes it safer.”  He wrinkled his face.  “Since I know it hasn’t been sitting around rotting in the sun for hours.”

Teddy slid a slice of ham off her sandwich.  “I mean…I know that about this, because that’s how we process meat.”

Thistle shrugged.  “Well, whatever.  I mean, I’m not saying you can’t eat it.  That’s just not really what I eat.”

“Well, can you not eat it, or do you just not want to?”

He held up a worm.  “Same question for you about this worm.”

Teddy and Thistle looked at each other with morbid curiosity.

“I’ll try yours if you try mine,” said Thistle.

“Deal,” said Teddy.

Teddy ripped a shred of meat off and held it out, and Thistle swapped her for a wriggling worm–he’d picked what in his opinion was the best one.

Teddy held the worm up between her long, painted nails.  “I’m suddenly second-guessing myself.”

Thistle held the meat with both hands, looking like he was going to gag.  “Me too.”

“On three.”

They counted to three and bit down.  Thistle immediately spat it back out, letting out a few curses in his native language.  Teddy handled hers slightly better, chewing slowly and flickering her tongue out with an exaggerated smacking.  “Mmm…Hmmm it’s…”

“What did you put in this?  It tastes salty.”

“That’s the salt!  It keeps it fresh.”

Thistle dropped the sliver of meat into the grass.  Teddy gracefully turned and spat out the contents of her mouth.  Wiping her mouth on a napkin, Teddy suddenly sat bolt upright at the sight of a white van in the hospital parking lot.  “Ah…fuck!  Really?  Really?”

Thistle spotted the source of her ire and darted back into her purse.  Teddy instantly piled the contents of her lunchbox back in, zipping it up and slinging it over her shoulder, taking her purse in the other, lunch over in an instant.

Robert could be seen stepping out of the van, shutting the door and crossing the lawn to where Teddy had been sitting.  Teddy started walking back towards the building, arcing around awkwardly to avoid him.

Robert picked up his pace, “Excuse me!”

Teddy pretended not to hear him, also picking up her pace a bit.

“Can I ask you something?”

“The information desk is that way,” Teddy said, pointing at the hospital main entrance.

“No, I-”

Teddy sped up into a power walk to cross the last few yards to the employee entrance.  She swiped her card, stepped in, and shut the glass door behind her.

Robert reached it a few seconds later, trying the handle, knowing it was locked but trying anyway.  He gave up after a moment and tapped the glass where Teddy was still standing, looking at him.  “Excuse me!” he said, voice muffled.  “Can’t you talk for just a minute?”

“Sure!” said Teddy.  “Just a sec.”

Without breaking eye contact with him, Teddy reached over and picked up the phone on the wall next to her, punching in a number and holding the handpiece to her face, finger in the cord.  “Hello, security?”

———————————–

Tag list

@cloudwatchingtoday   @theepiccreatorofmagic-blog-blog  @waitisthatgt @itssmoltime @ratcatcher0325  @alarcomet  @borrowerbecca @crazytinygirl @bittykimmy13 @cheeseybeans8 @whumpsday @theroyaleemily @kitn-underfoot @lucentbliss

@cheeseybeans8

#g/t #gt #gianttiny #giant/tiny #fairy #size difference #fluff #fearplay #angst #hurt/comfort #angst with a happy ending #my writing #my original writing #watch your step

[ghosts-and-blue-sweaters]

3, 7, 11, 17, 22, 27, 28, 49

What was the last song you listened to?

Warsaw by Lovejoy! I actually listened to that as I took a picture outside :D

Goshhhh that bit in Warsaw where the guy is talking about how nothing will get better and dirt and apathy… and there’s music… oughhhh yes.

What’s your ideal number of blankets to sleep with?

Uhhh *counts*

At least five lol

I’m not a very neat sleeper, so I like to have a bunch of blankets messily thrown over me.

What color are your eyes?

Greeeeeen-ish? They used to be blue but they’ve turned kinda green now.

Want any piercings? Where?

Maybe! I don’t have any at the moment but I’ve thought about getting my ears pierced one day—not in any kind of rush though.

How much sleep did you get last night?

A good bit! I fell asleep at probably 1:30am and woke up at 9:30am.

What’s your favorite book? Or just one you’ve read a few times?

OOOOOOH GOOD QUESTION!!!

The One and Only Ivan is CHEFS HEKKIN KISS

And really recently, What Beauty There Is by Cory Anderson (I kinda think you’d like it, Deathy!)

How are you, really?

Awww thanks for asking :)

I’m doing very well! A bunch of life stuff has happened the past… dang, past few months, really, but rather than it being stressful it’s actually been going pretty smoothly. Moving, for example!

OH! My family’s house got put on the market the day before yesterday, and it’s already been sold! XD It was crazy!

Writing has been going like, weirdly well the past few days. I’m staying at my nana’s house for the next couple months, and there isn’t good signal here, so I wasn’t able to use my computer for a bit. That meant that in order to write, I had to do it on my phone, which I wasn’t really looking forward to…

And then. It went really well. Like, really well. I wrote over 1,000 words in one sitting. ???

AND THAT PATTERN HAS CONTINUED EVER SINCE!!! ARE PHONES REALLY THAT POWERFUL?! GOSHDANG!!!

I’ve eaten lots of good food this past week, so that’s been fun :)

Oh, I learned a new song on my uke yesterday! I also tried to play my uke along with an actual song playing from my phone (I wanted to make sure I was timing it right) and that went… badly lol. I kept going too fast or too slow and it was a whole mess. It sounded quite bad XD

Come to think of it, I want to post more videos of me playing the ukulele…

So yeah, I’ve been doing pretty good! I can’t remember the last time I consistently felt this good, and I know it’s not gonna last but… enjoying it while I can :)

What does your last text say?

“How old are they?”

I was asking about my friend’s grandparent’s puppies!

#thanks for the ask Deathy!! #ask #ask game answers

[faszaakisshobbi]

soo here's how our first rehearsal as a combined orchestra went (meant to post yesterday but I kinda forgot bc I fell asleep)!!

okay so I was first chair and this girl that i've known since I was nine was my stand partner and i'm just a tiny itty bit scared of her because she's really good and also with Б and I think she's like 2x better than me and she's been with Б for 4 years and ive hardly known Б for 1 year. but I always forget how much I like being her stand partner frfr like she's just so cool and such an amazing person to play with.

the rehearsal its self was... fine I guess. it was good totally yeah amazing (we sounded like dog shit). and П also has WAY too much faith in us, but its okay. the violas, cellos, and bass sounded very good but the violins were off a lot especially in the Mussorgsky, but its okay. and we had to set up the stage to rehearse too so that was fun. it was also just really weird seeing the school so empty (we had orch rehearsal but school was on holiday) and like?? not even the dancers were there it was so odd. but that's why the stage wasn't already set up for us.

we have 2 more (INSTEAD OF 3) practice after this together, and then its the competition. yayyy im so excited! hahaha :/

#non tc rant #hehe its abt orchestra stuff again

[canceramorem]

THANKSGIVING 2022-

So I am guilty of being vindictive. I Posted pictures prior to this post of some woman in an attempt to hurt the love of my life's feelings. Whether or not she sees, it really doesn't matter. Because folks, Zytiga is real and bone metastatic cancer hurts. I actually had a better time in st Lawrence county jail, than I did when this " Marie " chick is at the wheel , driving the car of life . Especially when it would come to my life. Which I don't feel as though she held mine in high regards. I mean think about it. Wouldn't it be nice to have a personal crash test fun dummy , that would do whatever you told him . That's the thing I've noticed about certain white chicks that are from above the Mason Dixon line. Even if you're diagnosed with late stage prostate cancer , they are still gonna let you crash. And if they are not too bright, then their bad decisions will become yours before you can blink your eyes.

I remember Thanksgiving four years ago. Just like it was yesterday. I took the bus out of Syracuse, and pulled into Corpus Christi Texas with my trusty kit ( I had made some medicine in Syracuse and I kept a kit, it just comes with the turf, if you know how to make it, then you gonna party/eat/survive and stay awake). I had become quite fearless with the fucking kit. After all, getting caught would mean at least 3- 5 years in prison. Fuck it. I don't do It any more, but" if you don't have the kit then you ain't making shit" . Stashing the whole kit in a palm tree, a Washingtonia Robusta palm tree to be exact or more commonly known as " Mexican fan palm". With the kit safely hidden I started to walk to the place I would be staying at. It was late and I was tired , the first thing I did the next morning was go down to the Selena statue that's a 'must' have to do , a personal tradition I do every time I return to Corpus . Selena is a god down there. I am a huge fan of her, and the story of her rise to fame and untimely death is so tragic. Fuck Yolanda, I hope she burns in hell for murdering Selena.

So within 2 weeks , not only did i have a job, but it was at the mission where I stayed as well , I was driving for them, going out to pick up laborers up from the labor pool the Good Samaritan ran. It was a job site out on the island , renovating hurricane damaged homes. 30% of the homes on the island and in Corpus Christi area had damage from the hurricane the year before , which I had left to go to North Carolina. You see , I would go to North Carolina in the summer when it gets hot in Corpus Christi and then I go to Corpus Christi in the winter when it gets cold and winter in Asheville. I had learned how to make the stuff and it changed my whole world , I could go anywhere, the sky was the limit.

So I worked at the mission for a few weeks picking up their laborers up for the labor pool ,till one day I went out on a pickup and I stopped to get a Whataburger. ( very delicious burgers by the way ), and I fell asleep after I ate the burger , I slept for 2 hours. I woke up to my phone ringing and it was the office calling. Shit had hit the fan in the Good Samaritan office. So needless to say , they drug test me the next day and I failed, for yeah, speeding . That got me fired me, and that meant I had to move out . Because if you work there and you have a drug test that's positive , then chances are they're not going to let you stay there.

No problem, not a problem , so I called up my buddy Jimbo who had been staying in Corpus for many years , I knew Jimbo from a few years before and I stayed with him . He liked to do the medicine and he had another roommate that stayed there , JD . JD was from Oklahoma, so one day, me and Jimbo were making stuff . The first time I ever met him, JD pops up and he saw the kit and everything used and he says , You know how to do that ? He was looking at me like only people that know how to do that would . ' I do' , I said. We kind of developed the friendship from there , it turns out that he was an expert at the whole process , and from Oklahoma , he knew the old Indian way they do it , or whatever down there . So we started doing that . It is very cost effective, and because we needed money, we could get ahead . We needed cigarettes , we need to get out of the house, these guys are just old men and negative and grumpy and fighting all the time. They created a tense environment, and their hustle game was mediocre at best. And here I show up, with more motivation and drive than both of them put together.

So , I remembered the guy from the island that needed help . So I called him up , I had saved his number and his name is Joe and next thing you know , the three of us all had jobs out there and we had to go out to the island which was 40 minutes from Jimbo's apartment. This was early December , Christmas time. I'll never forget because it was Christmas time in South Texas and so much fun. I hadn't heard anything from Marie up to this point, then it had been almost a month . My birthday is December 28th. J D's birthday is a week before and Jimbo's is a week after , all three of us are Capricorns and imagine what that would be like , we were bumping heads every second of the day, everyone knew everything and it sucked . JD was being a dickhead because he thought I was teaming up against him with Jim. Jimbo, he's just a miserable fuck, and he'd gotten worse . So I decided I was going to stay at the house that we worked at because Joe lived in Dallas , so he was 5 hours away . He called us up , we'd give him our hours and he'd send the money , wire it. It was perfect for all involved. I helped out four people , just using my marketing skills and logistically speaking, it benefited everyone involved.( Texas is huge, people lived hours and hours away. I saved the owner tons of money. I felt awesome, I got a good job right after I left Syracuse New York. I was happy but I was heartbroken at the same time. It's a fucked-up curse that love is. And even though I was 2,000 miles away , I felt close when we Facetimed , talked and messaged. She's like a super powerful human magnet, she attracts me from a great distance , constantly drawing me to her.

December 28th -my birthday , we had been partying and celebrating life and holidays and everything . It was awesome , I really was happy but at the same time, sad , missing her . Well wouldn't you know, I had let JD use one of my phones, I always try to have at least two phones , helps me to make money and get jobs and stuff. Anyways, JD looks and it had a New York area code . Before he answered he passed it to me. There you go , a New York number, you know who it is, and sure enough, it was her on my birthday. For the second year in a row she definitely made my birthdays so much better. The year before in 2017, was my best birthday EVER ! Definitely the best birthday in my life. It was probably because of the big candy cane sex and the first time I had ever injected medicine intravenously , (in my penis). Hands down the best. I could die tomorrow, and at least I know I lived a full life. Thank you Marie for that. It's definitely one for the history books of coolness. Jey Pizzle is one thing, if not anything else, Jey Pizzle is a cool mother fucker, ( no pun intended).

So I did have my machete at all times , because that's what I dId, I cut stuff with my machete like landscaping and stuff. It's protection, and it is nice to have. It was a gift from Walmart, it cost about $30 or $25 it was a nice one, it went with me everywhere. I had gotten so used to having it, pretty much for two years straight. That fucking machete, I wish I would have gave it to Jimbo, because he stole one from the house we were working on that he found in the garage. I was so used to having it when I lived in the mountains. I had it to protect Marie from anything that might come our way, I also used it to clear bushes etc. when we were homeless. Well, we weren't homeless anymore, I should have gotten rid of it...

#pizzlelovedope #marieclaracamp #jasonleeplaster #ashevillelovedope

[thebeautyoffanfics]

I saw your post about requests please something with zukka massaging the other (not sexually just like after some hard training or smth, you know when your body hurts or you pulled some muscles, are sore) please please let it be fluffy

sokka x zuko

a/n : thanks for requesting !!! i’m sorry it’s short , but i hope this turned out alright <3!! i hope it was fluffy enough btwww, i made them playfully bicker a lot but it’s one of my love languages so i hope it’s good orz warnings : none word count : 600

“I told you jumping right back into training after a break was a bad idea,” Zuko teased, staring down at his miserable Water Tribe boyfriend sprawled out across his bed. Well, no matter if he was given a guest room, Sokka being around meant it wasn’t really “the Fire Lord’s bed” anymore. It was “Sokka’s bed (plus Zuko).” 

“Don’t scold me,” Sokka groaned, pouting slightly, “can’t you see I’m dying? Horribly? And you’re just gonna make fun of me while my arms fall off.”

“I’d never make fun of you… if your arms actually fell off.”

Sokka groaned again, loudly and dramatically (as his entire personality was), moving his leg to kick Zuko, who dodged it swiftly. “Your kicking is almost as bad as your swordsmanship.”

“Hey, don’t say that! I’ll kick your ass after I get another warmup.”

“Like you kicked my ass yesterday?” Zuko questioned, reminding Sokka of the training session that has left his arms and shoulders immobile. When no response, other than a very pointed glare, came, an idea formed in Zuko’s mind. Honestly, he didn’t like seeing Sokka hurt, but he was no stranger to sore muscles, lotion on his bedside table a reminder of that.

“Here, sit up,” Zuko ordered, grabbing the bottle of lotion, and taking a spot on the bed. Sokka raised an eyebrow, sitting up, and watching as Zuko dumped a bit of the lotion onto his palm. 

“Tell me if it hurts too badly,” Zuko stated, before smoothing the lotion across Sokka’s left arm. Zuko’s hands, somehow both refined and masculine, massaged Sokka’s aching muscles, causing the boy to furrow his eyebrows and heave a sigh. He worked the muscles with a firm love, making sure to take glances at Sokka’s expressions in case the massaging was doing more harm than good. Much to his content, Sokka’s expression never turned to one of too much pain--instead, Sokka made sure to tell Zuko that he appreciated the actions. Zuko didn’t mind, of course, he’d take any excuse to have his hands on Sokka’s muscled arms.

“Gaahh, you’re the best, the best ever,” Sokka spoke, as Zuko’s hands moved from Sokka’s other arm to his shoulders. “I love you so much.”

Zuko’s heart fluttered, a smile spreading on his face. “I love you too,” He responded, a slight chuckle in his voice, “I’m glad to be the best. Especially since I’m also the best swordfighter.”

“Get your hands off of me, mister Fire Lord. I want nothing to do with your monarch-iness.”

Chuckling again, Zuko wrapped his arms around Sokka’s sides, placing his head on his shoulder. “I guess I’ll never help you after practices again,” He sighed, biting back his smile and puckering his lips into a pout. Instead of responding, Sokka leaned back, causing the two of them to lay back on the bed.

“You don’t mean that,” Sokka said, copying Zuko’s pout, and looking up at him with his big, blue eyes. 

“Hm… yeah. You’re right.”

Sokka grinned, adjusting himself to lay on his stomach, moving to be halfway on Zuko. “Really, thank you though. My arms feel better,” Sokka praised, stretching out an arm, then draping it over Zuko’s chest. 

“I’m glad… are you going to get up?”

“Whaaaatt? No, I’m asleep. Don’t you know rest is so important in healing? You want your boyfriend to get worse?”

Zuko blinked, not bothering with a response. He moved a hand to play with Sokka’s hair, another resting on his upper arm, rubbing his thumb lightly against the skin. Sokka hummed happily, closing his eyes and nuzzling further into Zuko.

#anon #atla #zukka #sokka x zuko #zukka fic

[nightinghoul]

Things I posted in my narcolepsy group recently:

Post 1 (Night before last):

I had an "episode" tonight. I was sitting in front of my chromebook, and then I was just out. I vaguely understood that my husband was talking to me, and moving things away from me/taking off my glasses, because sometimes I seize. I woke up about fifteen minutes later, but then I was so tired and heavy, I went straight to bed. And now it's the middle of the night and I'm wide awake. 🤦

Post 2 (Yesterday/April Fools Day):

Post 3 (Tonight - Under a cut to prevent me annoying people):

So tonight I went for a walk and wound up... not where I meant to be walking. And then I was all wonky and unsure of what to do, because it was dark, and I was lost. I finally followed a big glowing cross to a church (not a hallucination - They have a huge glowing cross). Lucky for me, they were just wrapping up after a night service. I get tongue-tied in public spaces, and I was disoriented, so I just stood there for a while being spacey and weird, and staring at people (who stared right back at me). Finally I approached a woman and introduced myself and told her, "I'm narcoleptic and I've wandered away from home." She let me use her phone to call my husband, and he picked me up. He said I had been gone for an hour and a half, and he had driven around looking for me, and was just about to call the police. When he asked how I got there, I said, "I don't know, it's kind of hazy." So... that was an experience. 🥴

And that's what it's like. The End.

P.S. I like Stardew Valley because you have almost birds eye view, which makes it much easier to get un-lost than in real life. Also, a couple of weeks ago, I accidentally fell asleep for four years, and when I woke up, everything was business as usual. My husband, Harvey, loved me two hearts less because I hadn't been giving him kisses, but that was quickly remedied. My real husband would never love me two hearts less, though.

#narcolepsy #actually narcoleptic #lost #good spouse #narcoleptics of tumblr #zzzzzzz #tbi #stardew valley

[biblicallyaccuratechicken]

i decided that today deserved a post of its own, so here, i'll start with a narrative and progress to reflection:

yesterday, after dance class, we gathered at the instructor("Z")'s place to make tamales, so that we could sell them this morning and make some money to buy a new set or two of dancing flags. most of us had never made tamales before, so Z and her husband taught us. as we got the hang of it, falling into an assembly line of sorts, we sang along to christmas music and talked about our lives. we finished ~300 tamales in just over 3 hours, and i fell asleep on the couch as soon as i got home due to a lack of sleep the night before.

come ~11 pm, i woke up on my own and waited for my housemates to go to sleep so that i could put some final touches on the theory test project due today, as well as decide which of the dance sequences i would choose to do for the practical test. each of them was accompanied by a quote which inspired it, and which we were expected to memorize and recite during the practical test. ~1 am, i made a teapot of coffee-rice-and-orangepeel tea for myself so that i could finish my work with confidence. once i was adequately satisfied with it, i played stardew valley with a friend, and truly relaxed and enjoyed myself for the first time in a long while.

at about 6, one of my housemates, J, had awoken and begun to make her own pot of coffee, so we had some good conversation. i took out the trash, and saw the crescent moon facing the morning star(?), with the green beginnings of the sunrise beneath it. it was beautiful. when i got back inside, J had started making gingerbread cookies in the shapes of various ninja poses. she was worried that they might not turn out well, since she was using her sourdough starter for the first time making them, so i tasted some; i tasted again, bigger this time, and left to do a fresh listen to my theory project and then get ready to go to church.

after i arrived and settled in, i found that Z was already setting up the tamale stand, so i helped her finish and wrap preorders. other members of the class showed up over time, so when i was no longer needed, i left the stand and stepped outside to people-watch. when the time came, i went to the kids' sanctuary to help anywhere i was needed. i did some lighting stuff, danced with the kids, subbed for an absent teacher's aide, and overall felt pretty decent about the day ahead of me.

when church was over, the dance class ate some tamales and drank warm punch together while the test judges got ready in the other room. we found out that one of our number has type-1 diabetes, and that two of us prefer green tamales over red.

i was first up for testing. they played my theory project on the speakers, and had me explain my thought process (in my studying of the assigned texts, i felt the huge burden of what it really means to be holy, how beautiful and unattainable that is, and how great it is that my god wants to be with us no matter what state we happen to be in, so i did my best to express that feeling). then was the practical exam, wherein i danced the sequence i'd chosen and recanted the quote it was meant to convey. i froze up a bit, despite having been 100% confident before entering the room, but i got everything right. then Z gave me a different sequence to perform, and i did so without hesitation or error.

as one-by-one my classmates presented their projects and took their practical exams, exhibiting their souls and hard-earned skill with care and purpose, i soon forgot all my anxieties for myself, offering instead the joy and support they had first given me.

and when, with glistening tears in their eyes, Z and the theory instructor, C, congratulated us, their first class, and expressed their pride in our efforts and progress in just a few weeks, i think all of us had seldom felt more loved. when they called our names in order, and one by one we all lined up holding our graduation certificates, there was not a dry eye or straight face amongst us. even my own smile stuck around like the stubbornest cat, though i tried my very best to send it away.

I don't know how best to describe my experience this semester. i wasn't even able to make it to most class sessions, but i still feel like my time learning this skill, with these people, has been invaluable to me. all the time we've spent looking to each other when we'd forgotten the next movement, learning and re-learning new languages in order to better understand each other, making tamales, and sharing what was on our hearts after praying and meditating together has all been such a unique experience. as we learned together how to express ourselves through dance, we just organically shared ourselves with each other in the purest way. i doubt any other discipline could surpass this kind of community, and i'm so happy to have been part of it, to have reached and been reached through words and music, and to have now a physical reminder that my efforts mean something more permanent than time.

 🥔

#seraphposting

[chelleztjs18]

Hello you mrs. used to be a party goer lefty eyebag 😅

Well, make sure you don't pull it out or you'll get twice as much gray hair! Besides, if you look good now with your hair color, you'll probably look good when you get more gray.

I was just teasing about you not spoiling anything 😅 I like that you gave us readers a chance to explore the possibilities of what could've happened to Yelena. Same with the Natasha and R portions where you just skipped over the months, leaving it to our imagination and making it sort of free for all to think how they want to.

I kind of feel bad when I do that though, cause it was your story to tell and then me imagining different scenarios for the characters makes me feel like I'm cheating on the author's thought process... does that make sense? Lol

My favorite part with the whole fic is finding out R's past. It gave insight on how they became what they are now. And I like that in stories, cause if that wasn't in the story, I'd keep wondering the whys. I also enjoyed the detail when R was showing Natasha how to get rid of the body.

So with your husband, did you guys stay together for a bit before getting married?

Hey now, I could have asked for more songs but then you'd be writing all night and might have to make 2 to 3 days to post the response...like your stories..hahaha just kidding 🤣 but 600 songs is not that much to be honest.. how many genres of music do you like?

Wild old times huh 😏sounds like a crazy fun summer. But you never got into the pool at all? And you didn't mingle with any pretty girls back then? Cause you know, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas anyways lol

Hm, I'd have to do a rain check on my list. Summer for me was always about bbq on the grill and working lol

Okay next, top 3 songs that was your favorite from your childhood.

-CuriousGeorge

Hello hello old head who cant stay up late righty eyebag!😅

Sorry i fell asleep last night..(the irony after i call u old head who cant stay up late 😅🤣)

How r u today? Whats ur plan for today? I woke up with worse allergy than yesterday..i cant wait to get rid of that tree, i swear.. 😅🤣 i got headache all day yesterday n today i feel shitty.

Haha yeah i hv been pulling those greay hairs n it keeps grow back n i found more. Some of them even look like a silver-ish color of grey so i looks a little shinny when the light hits it.😅😅

Aw thank youuu.. i hope so too but burgundy red n grey r total different color though, so it could have a total oposite look.😁

Yeah sometimes i like to do that, leaving some space or part for people to imagine the possibilities (not pasta-bilities though 🤣)

Yeah i got what u meant with feeling bad about imagining other different possibilites that u have in mind.

Ohhh so u told me the good dark possibility that happen to yelena last night, so it means u hv cheated on my thought's process about the story??🤨 how could u!! I cant believe u do that! *soap opera dramatic scene* 🤣🤣🤣 just kidding just kidding.

Haha true, u can ask for more songs but u only asked 3 but u know what? Im gonna rebel a bit n i will give u another more of the songs that reminds me of summer (on the next answer because i need time to find it.😅)

Also it's not fair, u didnt tell me 3 songs that remind u of summer.. so give me the answer! 😅😆

I like any genres my ears found it good n enjoyable.. except the heavy metal or underground or other type of screaming rock type of genre. It drives me crazy. What about u? Have i asked u what kind of music u like?

Yep it was a pretty fun summer in Vegas. N nope, i didnt go in to the pool besides i think it's gross, i wasnt wearing swimsuit or bikini (dear god, no. 😅). I was wearing short tank top n a thin oversized shirt to kinda cover my body a bit, flipflop n a baseball cap 😅 n i was happy enough to stay at the bar have my drinks n enjoy the view of women 🤭 (in respectful way of course)

I didnt mingle with the pretty women because i was with my friends but i remember a few women smiled at me. But i'm pretty oblivious n i dont know how to flirt or if i flirt. one of my friends, he sometimes noticed n one time he said "how come everytime we r at the club, girls hit on u?"

I was like "what? They did? I dont know" 😅🤣

Well, i made out with a girl in the corner of the club there once.. but not too long because my friends were looking for me n kept calling me. 😅 what happened in Vegas, stayed in Vegas. Lol

3 songs that reminds me of my childhood, like when i was a kid? Or teenagers? Or how young? Haha. I didnt really remember my childhood to be honest. U gotta be more specific on this.😆😅

Next question?

Cheerio! (Not the cereal one)

[comradekatara]

smash that reblog if u believe aang can save the world 

#aang #atla #avatar the last airbender #art #mart #10/10 kataras agree #meant to post these yesterday but then i fell asleep #oops #anyway i love him so much.... #i want to kiss his little blue forehead #a perfect boy <3

[arcadejohn127-9]

Hello,, may i request headcanons of the brothers who got a love letter from mc but it turned out to be a prank from some lesser demons,,thank you :))

This was meant to be posted on yesterday for April fools but ended up getting caught up with things irl and didn't get to finish it in time - aaaaaaaand I fell asleep before midnight and now it's 3 am, fell asleep mid way through writing, well done me 😭😂

Rip the lesser demons for always having the balls to cause mischief but always end up getting hurt, when will they learn - what happens at the end is up to you

The lesser demon snickered towards his friend, shushing their friend as they slipped the pink letter into the higher demons locker. Another demon was with them, more timid than the other two.

"what if we get in trouble?! They'll find out it wasn't actually the human and we'll end up dog food-!"

"we planned this whole thing, it'll be fun - we just gotta stay at a distance!"

It was long before footsteps grew closer, the timid demon squeaking in fear. The other lesser demons took it as a sign to start running, grabbing each other and bolted away from the scene of the crime.

The owner of the locker arrived, just noticing the lesser demons run off in the distance. He opened his locker and almost stumbled back when a letter fluttered out. The demon grew curious he noticed there was a heart seal on the back. He opened it to read it to himself.

To my dearest friend,

I think it's about time I come clean about my feelings, I've been holding these in for a very long time and I refuse to keep them a secret anymore!

I'm in love with you! I can't explain it but you've won my heart, everytime you smile at me I just can't help but feel my heart skip. Is it wrong to feel this way? I'm only a human and you are a demon...we're so different and I don't know how long we'll be able to have this time we have together. All I know is that I want to be with you for as long as I can!

Will you accept my feelings? I'm not sure if I can face just yet so meet me at the end of day! I'll be waiting for you at the back of the school - I really hope you come. Even if it's decline my feelings....I just want to be able to face you and how you make me feel.

Love, (Y/N)

Lucifer:

Oh his ego is SO stroked

He could just imagine the human blushing as they wrote and nervously putting it in his locker

He did see you later that day and decided to tease you a little but while you were flustered, you also seemed confused

That was his first suspicion

When the time finally came he was patient but you weren't early

His second suspicious

You both knew each other very well, he liked things being in a timely Matter and you tried your best to not be late

He stiffened when he heard a snicker from a few trees away, he looked over there to see three demons all hiding

"I know you're hiding, it's best you come out now."

One by one they all showed themselves, growing nervous

"Come here, don't be shy, I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for this, after all you seemed to be desperate to have me out here."

"you- you knew it wasn't the human?!"

his pride wouldn't let him tell the truth, he refused to show his disappointment

"of course, you clearly don't understand the human as much as you think you do - now, who's the leader? I think we should have a nice talk."

Mammon:

YOU GAVE HIM A LOVE LETTER??!!!

He's internally screaming, his face was bright red

Watch this boy struggle against his locker as he tries to hide his excitement

Though, when his high died down he did find it strange you were being shy

You could have your shy moments but to confess through a letter was odd

He wasn't the brightest guy around but he can sense when he's getting scammed - even if he ignores that instinct when it comes to money

He's always around you so it wasn't strange for him to see you after class and he was surprised how... relaxed you were

Something was up but in the end, he went to the back of the school

When he texted you, asking you where you were and you said going home - that was the final straw

HE WAS TRICKED!

"Oi! Are you out there?! I know you tricked me!"

The lesser demons started to panic, not thinking mammon would catch on

But when mammon started marching around looking for them they decided it was best to reveal themselves

"There ya are, now let's get to talking - what made you three wanna do something like this? You think it's funny to pretend to be the human?"

The leader snickered, agreeing that it was funny to pretend but their friends understood right now - their doom was coming

Mammon cracked his knuckles, stalking closest to them

"I like a good joke, let me show you my favourite one."

Levithan:

Love Letter in his locker??? Heart seal!!!??HE WAS THE LOVE INTEREST??!!

He's torn between dying inside and excitement, he's absolutely losing it

He had to fan himself with the letter due to how hot his face was getting

He wasn't sure how he was going to face you! Let alone you having to face him

But- there was no way you were interested in him! You wouldn't do this

He didn't believe it, it HAD to be a prank

When levi saw you for the rest of the day it only strengthen his suspicions

He did go to the back of the school and when he saw you were no where to he seen

He was absolutely embarassed and ashamed by even hoping it was real

"YOU CAN COME OUT NOW! just- just stop hiding, it isn't funny."

the demons came out, disappointed with the lack of dramatics

"so you three did it, you really think it's funny to do something like this?! To mess with someone's feelings and pretend to be the human is just - IT'S PATHETIC-!"

The demons started to feel uncomfortable, the higher demon had tears in his eyes and obviously worked up

Even the one who wanted to see this kind of reaction was uncomfortable

His demon form started to shift outwards and raised his hand, the ground beneath them rumbling

"it seems you just think I'm some sort of pushover! But I'm not!"

Satan:

Hm, how interesting

It isn't too odd that you're using a letter to confess, you know he appreciate writing

But you were more verbal or atleast text - this was new

But to say he wasn't absolutely ecstatic was an understatement, he was beyond the moon

When he saw you later he tried to not bring up the letter as his brothers were around

Though, he was thrown off when you got confused when he teased about seeing you after school

He decided he'll investigate things, going up to demons who have lockers near his and ask if he saw the human put anything in it

After awhile of searching he finally found out it was three demons who did it - he didn't want to spoil their fun and so he still went

He leaned against the nearest tree, waiting for the demons to arrive

"Ah you're here, I'm so glad you finally came."

the demons were surprised when he moved towards them, they left their hiding spot with nervous smiles

"You write well, you got their energy almost perfectly into the letter - I'm impressed."

They didn't expect that....not one bit

"you're not....mad???"

Satan chuckled, flexing his clenched fists

His smile grew more strained and dangerous as he leaned over them

"oh no, no I'm not mad - im LIVID."

Asmodeus:

He was surprised to get a love letter, he gets piles worth everyday

He didn't expect it to be from YOU though

You were so open with him and you two were already overly affectionate to each other he was sure you were already low-key dating

So to get confirmation his feelings were returned - he was overjoyed!

As soon as he saw you he's hugging you, telling you how he loved your letter and that he'll still meet you after school if you need to

You were utterly confused and unsure what he was talking about

When you told him you didn't give him that letter he felt his heart break

You didn't love him?? That wasn't your letter??

To think someone would play a prank on him like that! It was rude!

When it was time, he went to the back of the school and pretended as if he didn't sense the other demons

That was until he grew impatient

"are you shy, dear? It's okay - I know it wasn't the human~"

The lesser demons came out, confused

One of them blushed just being near him

"I'm sorry for my friend! They wanted to play the prank but- but I love you asmo!"

He gave them a pity smile

"aww~ of course you love me! But you really hurt my feelings making me believe the human did, I almost cried!"

The demons immediately all felt bad

The idea of their gorgeous asmo crying made them guilty

"I know exactly what will make me feel better, making sure you three can never write again~! Can't have you keep tricking me, can I?"

Beezlebub:

A Love letter from you?! He's a happy boy

But now that he actually thinks about it - it's odd you're not being upfront

You two usually sit alone together when you wanna get something off your chest, holding hands and you don't even have to face each other

Why the sudden change? Perhaps you just wanted to be like one of Levi's anime characters

Regardless, he was happy and wanted you to be happy

Hes was going to make you happy!

Beel was quick to find you and act like he didn't find your letter, you said you'll face him after school and he respected that

Whilst you couldn't exactly avoid each other before then, he did try to give you space

As soon as school ended he Went to the back, waiting for you to arrive

Each second went by and he grew more hungry

He smelt something close by and found three demons hiding, it was odd but he didn't want to be hungry whilst you confessed - he wanted to give you his full focus

"ah-! How did you know we were here?!"

"I smelt the sandwich in your bag, I want it."

It didn't take much convincing to hand it over

He's a scary demon afterall

"it's best you leave, my friend is coming."

One of the demons started laughing, questioning if he actually believed it was you who gave him the letter

Beel got confused before it all clicked together, he frowned, glaring at the demons

He wasn't happy

"I'm still hungry, three demons will do just fine."

Belphegor:

Happy cow man, demon tail go SWISH

On the inside hes like an excited dog, outside he's just standing there

Meanwhile he wants to be like his twin, respectful that you want to do later

He isn't that patient and wants to make it official with you NOW

so as soon as he sees you, he's draping himself on you and telling you how impatient he is

You're confused on why and he shows you the love letter

You tell him that it isn't from you and that's not even your hand writing - it's a good mimic but not yours

He is SHOCKED then he's mad

He still goes to the back of the school but it's to fight whoever pranked him

He wasn't going to wait around

"Get out now or I'll search this entire space for you - it won't be pretty if I find out."

It didn't take the demons twice to show themselves

Belphegor was feared amongst others due to his brutality when push comes to shove

Just because he's always sleeping doesn't mean he isn't scary

"Good~ so which one of you wrote the letter? If you wanted to confess you should of just done it."

The demons looked at each other, unsure on what to do

But after a few moments the youngest brother got impatient, moving towards them with a clenched hand

The leader of the lesser demons finally admitted to doing the prank

"see? It wasn't so hard, let's have a long chat about this~"

#obey me #obey me shall we date #gamingclubpresident #aracadejohn217 9 #obey me mammon #obey me mc #obey me asmodeus #obey me satan #obey me belphegor #obey me beezlebub #obey me leviathan #obey me luficer #obey me imagine #obey me headcanon #obey me headcanons #obey me x mc #obey me x you #obey me x reader

[jincherie]

sunshine riptide | ot7

—  COMMISSION  —

⊙  — pairing: ot7 x reader ⊙  — genre: hybrid au, fluff, comfort, found family, ac inspired ⊙  — wc: 13.8k+ ⊙  — warnings: oc has an almost/light anxiety attack towards the end. there is no explicitly mentioned trigger and it isn’t dwelled on for long, but better to let u guys know! ⊙  — notes: here it is! it’s soft, and warm, and I hope that it can be something to cheer up a little bit those who aren’t having such a good day. i love u all,  and I hope you like this piece :) to the commissioner, thank you for allowing me to write this and I truly hope it helps you feel even just a little bit better! <3

Moving to this island whose inhabitants are mostly hybrids was a bit of an impulse decision, something you did with empty pockets barely a cent to your name. Thanks to the kindness of the island’s ‘mayor’ you have a place to stay, the last spare room in a sharehouse with seven hybrids, and for three months he will pay your rent in exchange for you to work in his shop until you are back on your feet. It’s a sweet deal, but when you begin to get along better than expected with your housemates and the deadline for your departure looms ever closer, you’re not sure you’re going to be able to make yourself leave when the time comes. 

— posted; 06.09.2020 | masterlist

“So in exchange for three months paid stay on the island while you get back on your feet, you will work part-time at the Rabbits Den three days a week, and man the desk in the Resident Services Building on Sundays. Is that okay to you?”

You nod eagerly, the ordeal seeming too good to be true and something you’re afraid will be retracted if you don’t act with haste. Mr Bang returns your motion with a little less fervour, the same kind look never leaving his face.

“Perfect, it’s settled then! We’re glad to have you with us, y/n.”

Something lifts from your chest in that moment, as though you’d been walking beneath the cover of a lead blanket and it has finally slipped from your shoulders. You feel a little breathless, and you know the grin that slips onto your face is stupidly wide. Embarrassingly, you feel salty pricks at the corner of your eyes.

“Thank you so much,” you say, and you mean it. It hadn’t exactly been a well thought out plan, moving here with nothing to your name but your most basic possessions, but you’d just needed to escape and start anew and this… this had been the first opportunity you’d seen. The best opportunity you’d seen. “Really, thank you.”

“You’re more than welcome, young lady.” Mr Bang’s expression grows even softer, if possible. “This is a place people come to find refuge, and happiness. You’re welcome here.”

You clear your throat, turning your head to the side and pretending that you need to cough so he doesn’t see the tear that slips out. You have a feeling he knows, though, as you turn back and find him smiling at you, floppy rabbit ears framing his round face. He reaches out, patting you on the shoulder.

“Now, lets find you a room for the night. I’ll send word to the house I have in mind and make sure they have it nice and tidy before your arrival tomorrow. Sound good?”

It hits you only now how tired you are, more emotionally exhausted than anything, and nod while allowing him to lead you down the hall. That does sound good, actually. That sounds amazing.

O – O – O

You’d arrived on this island in the early hours of the morning yesterday, the late-night ferry the only one that runs to this island on the outskirts of the archipelago. It’s likely due to the fact that the captain is a nocturnal hybrid, and hence prefers to run his business under the cover of night. You hadn’t been able to sleep on the trip over, so when Mr Bang had shown you to the room he was happy to lend you for the night, despite it being barely ten o’clock in the morning you’d passed out the second your head hit the pillow. It was more of a nap than anything, but you suspect that the events of the past few months all caught up to you at once because you woke only for dinner and then fell asleep once more. Mr Bang offered no judgement, and simply left a note instructing you where the bathroom is and where you could find towels so that you could freshen up once you awoke. He also left you a coffee bun in a container, since you’d missed the afternoon tea he held the day before.

You hadn’t even been on this island a day and already the kindness of one of the residents was almost bringing you to tears.

Due to the fact that you’d slept far too early, you end up waking up at an ungodly hour the next day, the day you are meant to be moving in to the sharehouse that Mr Bang told you about. Laying in the bed, nestled in the warmth of the covers and watching as the suns rays slowly begin to stain the ceiling and the curtains in rich marigold, you do your best to get yourself together. You can breathe easy now, any anxiety you’d felt previous now nothing more than an echo in your chest. You feel refreshed, and not just from the ridiculous amount of sleep you’ve had in the past twenty-four hours. There are of course some nerves pertaining to meeting your new housemates, but it’s manageable. You have faith that everything will turn out well. It’s a good feeling.

Mr Bang is kind enough to offer you breakfast, and likely would have pushed you to stay for lunch had you not shown up down the stairs with your baggage already in tow. So begrudgingly, he allows you to head on your way, informing you that your new housemates knew of your arrival and had endeavoured to tidy up as much as possible. You thought it was a little funny he was telling you that—just how messy is the house usually?—but he simply shook his head with a smile that told you the answer would come soon enough.

The island isn’t big, but it most definitely isn’t small. The sun is warm and the air cool with a tinge of salt and sea trailing along the breeze, and the path you walk along that skirts the beach is peppered with sand and the odd shell. It makes you happier than anticipated, because just being out here makes you feel so free. Mr Bang told you that the house where you will be staying is on the other side of the island, past the little cluster of shops and small businesses and perched at the edge of the sand, backing onto a river that flows into the ocean and skirted on one side by a small cliff.

“It’s their own little alcove,” Mr Bang had snorted, a mixture of fondness and amusement evident on his features. “They get up to more trouble than I can keep track of over there, but they’re good boys.”

Ah, that’s right. You’d almost forgotten; your new housemates are a bunch of boys. You hope that Mr Bang is right about their character and you won’t be living in discomfort for the next three months.

The path wound and curved a bit, following the edge of the island, and before long you were walking through a section of light forestry. You suspected the house would be on the other side, and were in the midst of thinking just what it would look like when a small squeak! catches your attention and you halt, almost dropping your bag.

It’s silent, save for the way the breeze caresses the leaves around you. You peer around, eyes unable to spot anything in the foliage. Did you imagine it? It’s a little early in your stay to be going crazy. Hesitantly, you adjust your grip on your bag and resume your trek.

Squeak! S-squeeeak!

No, you definitely heard that. You freeze, having gotten a better sense of where the sound is coming from now and turning towards a large tree smothered in vines of varying thickness and clinginess. For a moment, you don’t see anything, eyes squinting hard—it’s like one of those I spy books you used to rave about as a kid— and just when you think you might be looking in the wrong place, you catch movement.

There, in a cluster of the vines dangling from one of the tree’s thicker limbs, is a tiny creature, all tangled up and squeaking in distress.

“Oh my goodness,” you drop your bag, immediately moving closer.  “Poor thing—hold on just a second, bub. I’ll get you out. Promise not to bite me?”

The creature offers a squeak and logically you know it isn’t answering your request, but you pretend it is anyway. Carefully stepping over plants and twigs, thanking past you for wearing more practical boots, you reach where the creature is stuck, dangling just below eye level.

The vines it has managed to get all tangled up in aren’t particularly thick, but there are a lot of them, and it has managed to get a few of its limbs stuck in place. Carefully, you snap a few of the more central ones and ease the tiny thing out, getting a better view of it the more you pull from its body. It’s squeaking all the while, though with much less distress and more of an energy that simply feels chatty. It makes you smile.

“There you go,” you murmur, cradling the tiny baby in your palms and cooing, trying to calm the heartbeat and hurried breaths you can feel racing against your skin. You stroke along its back as lightly as you can manage. “Oh, you’re a little sugar glider! You’re so pretty, such a cutie. Look at your markings, wow… so pretty.”

Almost as though it can understand your praise and is basking in it, it flicks its bushy tail and rolls in your palm, like a cat rubbing against something with its cheek except this little glider is doing it with its whole body. It’s awfully friendly, you note. Perhaps much of the wildlife here is more peacefully accustomed to human and hybrid activity.

“Okay, you’re free now. I’ll stop ogling at you and let you go,” you say, holding your hands up to a part of the tree that isn’t covered in vines lest there be a repeat of the earlier situation. The sugar glider merely blinks, eyes still on you, and doesn’t move. Brows drawn in confusion, you move your hands closer to the tree, “Well, aren’t you going to—oh!”

Faster than you can react, the little thing darts from your hands, leaping to your bicep and scurrying up with tiny claws in your shirt to your shoulder. Once at its apparent destination, it rushes to the crook of your neck and makes itself at home, nestling against you and securing itself with its tail partway around the back of your neck and its little paws clutching your shirt edge. You giggle, still in shock and trying not to jostle it off as you fight the ticklish sensation.

“Okay. I guess you can come with me. I’m not sure if you can stay the whole while, but I’m sure it will be okay while I walk.”

So off you go, bending and retrieving your bag carefully so you don’t dislodge your tiny new companion. You’ve seen a bit of sugar gliders, but the way this one is acting is quite peculiar. If it sticks around until you arrive at the house, you’d love to snap a quick picture because it really is so pretty, so cute.

The trip is faster than anticipated, now there is something else to occupy your thoughts. Before you know it you’re out of the forestry and approaching a large, modern three storey building that is probably just a few yards short of a mansion, nestled between the ocean, the river, and a short cliff-face just barely higher than the roof. This is the place for sure.

The little glider seems to perk up, the closer you get, something that surprises you since it was so quiet you thought it was asleep. With a soft noise, it grabs onto your hair with tiny paws and scurries to the top of your head, likely making a mess of it in the process but it’s so cute you can’t bring yourself to mind. At least it will be an interesting first impression.

As you approach the front door, you think you see movement in one of the windows on the ground floor. You almost dismiss it as you reach the eve, until you catch the hurried patter of feet against hardwood from beyond the door.

You barely manage to blink before the door is flying open, a man with raven curls and two fluffy russet ears peeking between the locks presenting you with the biggest grin you have ever seen on anyone’s face. It’s boyish and cute, a direct contrast to the mature, sculpted features of his face.

“Hello!” he says, and you catch sight of a long, fluffy russet tail whipping behind him and betraying his excitement—not that he was doing much to hide it. “You must be the new roomie! It’s nice to meet you! We’ve been waiting all morning, and one of us actually went to pick you up but… I’m not sure where he is.”

You’re a little overwhelmed but easily recover when he simply keeps looking at you so happily, returning the man’s bright smile. There’s rustling in your hair at the back of your head but you ignore it, adjusting your grasp on your bag. “Ah, thank you. I’m y/n, it’s nice to meet you…?”

The man pulls back, a sheepish look on his face that accompanies a light flush in his cheeks. “Oh, right. I’m Taehyung. Sorry. My hyungs tell me I tend to get a bit ahead of myself sometimes.”

You keep the smile on your face. “That’s okay, we got there in the end. It’s nice to meet you, Taehyung.”

Taehyung brightens, tail curling happily behind him. He opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted from a voice to the side.

“Are you going to make our poor new housemate wait outside all day, Tae?”

The light blush colouring Taehyung’s cheeks deepens, a sheepish laugh escaping. “No. I was just about to invite her in!”

He steps back and reveals the person behind him who had spoken, a tall man with dimples and silvery hair that did little to conceal the large, rounded grey ears atop his head. He seems a little awkward in his stance, like he has more body than he knows what to do with, but still extends an arm in greeting with a kind smile. “y/n, is it? Welcome, please come in. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay here with us, however brief. We’re happy to have you.”

Don’t cry, don’t cry! If you cry now you can never show your face here again. You clear your throat, returning his smile as you step inside and out of the sun, the difference in temperature against your skin immediate. “Thank you, I really appreciate your generosity in letting me stay here.”

“Nonsense,” Taehyung snorts, “Namjoon-hyung has been saying for months we should find someone to fill the spare room, and now you show up on our doorstep! It’s perfect.”

The taller, who Taehyung had referenced as Namjoon, seems a little bashful, his cheeks heating. Does everyone in this house blush so easily? You hope it’s not contagious.

There is movement in your hair again, the glider apparently needing to breathe, and you have your mouth open ready to explain when Namjoon beats you to it.

“Oh, I see you’ve met Jimin already!”

What?

The glider leaps from your head and onto Taehyung’s outstretched arm, climbing to his head before leaping from that too and gliding through the air, all the way around the corner. There is a small clutter, the sound of a light swearword entering the air, and then the ever-familiar patter of feet against hardwood. Another boy rounds the corner, ashy-blond hair tousled and parted by two small grey ears, bushy tail curling behind him.

He skids to a stop in front of you, dipping in a brief bow before rising and shooting you a bright smile. “Hello! Thank you for helping me! I’m Jimin, welcome home!”

It takes all of your willpower to keep the happy tears at bay as you tilt your head back and laugh, already feeling lighter than you ever remember feeling before.

O – O – O

Your next introductions to the hybrids you will be sharing your home with for the next three months go much smoother and without as many surprises as the last ones. Jimin, who seems to have warmed up to you quickly, was more than happy to take you on a tour of the house and to go through introductions while he was at it. He happily told you who was what hybrid as well, without you asking. You figured that he realised your underperforming human nose wouldn’t be able to tell, so he took the initiative and you’re thankful for it, because you were curious.

The oldest resident of the house is Seokjin, a red-panda hybrid who goes on a spree of stress-baking every time exam season rolls around. Most of the hybrids study online, as you learnt from Jimin’s excited chattering. The second you met Jin, as he preferred to be called, you were stunned at how handsome he was. Of course, any awe that rooted you to the spot quickly dissipated as he said a joke so painfully funny it left you with whiplash between the urge to roll your eyes and guffaw. You like him, though. He’s nice.

You quickly discover that all the inhabitants of this house are, though. Yoongi is the second oldest and a squirrel glider hybrid—something Jimin said he found funny since he was closest to Jimin, a sugar glider, and Hoseok, the third oldest and a sunny squirrel hybrid. He giggled as he told you, and you couldn’t hide your own smile even as Yoongi’s ear had flicked and he’d shot the two of you a suspicious look. The little fun fact Jimin had told you about Yoongi had taken you by surprise; he remotely operates the island’s radio, many of the tunes ones he has created himself. Often, if there is a festival, he will volunteer his time to work the music jobs there, too. Apparently Namjoon also pitches in, and Hoseok when he has free time outside of the classes he teaches on the other side of the island.

Hoseok is a dancer, Jimin had gushed, and while he teaches at the school part time, he also volunteers time outside of that to hold dance classes for the kids. Jimin told you that he joins occasionally, but less often lately since his workload for university has increased. He did tell you, though, that the youngest of the house had all but taken his place, his youthful heart at home mucking around with kids and helping them learn.

Jungkook is his name, and Jimin informed you with a very fond and very amused look that he is rather shy, so you might not see him for a few days. Apparently it had been uttered just loud enough for the hybrid in question to catch it though, because there was a tumbling sound from the floor above and a series of stomping footsteps. A head of long, wavy inky hair had popped over the railing, grey ears pinned back as a baby-faced boy delivered a glare to the blonde to your side.

“Hyung! That’s not true! I’m not too shy to even introduce myself!” he had defended himself avidly, red-faced and huffy. When his eyes turned to you, mouth open to follow through on his words, he abruptly shrank and all that escaped was a squeak. It took him a moment to conjure speech once more, and this time he was noticeably less bold. “I’m—I’m Jungkook! It’s nice to meet you! I have to go now! Goodbye!”

And then he was gone, and so concluded your final introduction to the residents you had yet to meet. You thought you had a good feeling when you first arrived, but now that you’ve met everyone and everything feels that bit more real, you find yourself thinking…

It’s a really good feeling.

O – O – O

“It’s not what it looks like!”

You raise a brow, book in hand as you stand at the edge of the sand bank where green bleeds into gold. Against your heels is cool grass, and your toes are dipped in the gentle warmth of the sand. Namjoon sits in front of you, beneath a tree protruding from the dune, with a bundle of leaves in his hand and a guilty look in his face.

“Isn’t eucalyptus toxic to humans and hybrids?”

“I’m not eating it!” Namjoon waves his hands in a frantic bid to assure you, eyes wide, and almost drops the leaves in question. His large, grey ears flick in his distress. “I was just… I know I can’t eat it but it smells so good… I was just sniffing it. It calms me.”

You let out a light laugh, walking closer and plopping down on the sand beside him, beneath the generous shade the tree offers. The sea breeze is kind and cools your skin where it smarts from the sun, tickling your neck and manipulating your hair into a tumbleweed. Namjoon snorts, helping you get it back in order.

“No judgement,” you say, crossing your legs and placing your book in your lap for the meantime. “Just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t have to take you to a hospital, because I do not know where to find one on this island.”

Namjoon grins, rosy cheeks complimenting his skin the way it glows gold in the sun’s glare. “You’d drag little ol’ me all the way to the hospital if you knew where it was?”

“Well, yeah,” you laugh, sifting sand through your fingers as you relish the sound of waves crashing barely a yard away. It’s so peaceful, you feel so at peace. “Since none of you seem to know what a car is.”

“We had a car,” Namjoon admits, face flushing violently as he averts his gaze, turning his head. “There was just, um, an unfortunate incident… that may have involved a tree, or two…”

You decide not to probe further, lest your current good impression of Namjoon come under threat. A beat of silence passes, before Namjoon shuffles, placing the bundle of leaves back on the grass. He angles his body a little more towards you, sniffing subtly.

“So… how is your stay so far? Is everything going okay?”

You can’t hide the expression of surprise that makes its way to your face as you turn to him, blinking. You don’t know what you were expecting, but for some reason it hadn’t been that. It’s awfully nice of him.

You’ve been on the island almost a week now. The interactions you’ve had with your housemates so far, though not too bountiful, have all been pleasant, and you genuinely have nothing to complain about. You haven’t seen much of Jungkook, Hoseok, or Yoongi—but that mostly comes down to incompatible work hours and commitments. Mr Bang’s nephews run the Rabbit’s Den, the local convenience store that occasionally hosts a few exotic goods, and they have been nothing short of helpful, polite, and friendly while you worked there. You have worked a single shift at the Resident Services Building too, and it was pretty chill. A few residents came in, happily introduced themselves to you, and then you helped them with whatever had warranted their visit. All in all, your stay has been amazing so far.

“It’s been good,” you say, and it feels so nice to have the words escaping your mouth be true to the warmth in your chest. “Everyone here is super nice. It does feel a bit odd though, sometimes I feel like I’m the only human here.”

“Oh, yeah. You are,” Namjoon huffs an amused laugh. “You’re the first human Mr Bang has allowed on this island.”

Your surprise is evident, and it makes him smile when he turns his head to give you a sly look. “He must have had a good feeling about you. Rabbit hybrids tend to rely a lot on their gut feelings and intuition.”

“Oh,” you say, cheeks warming. Well, you’re glad he had decided to let you in. You say as much to Namjoon, and he smiles brightly at you.

“We’re glad he decided to let you in, too.”

You’re not sure what to say to that, a little embarrassed from the unexpectedness of it—was he really telling the truth? You’d hardly spent any time with some of your other housemates…

A calm silence begins to settle between you, and you take the time to open your book and resume where you left off. You get so carried away reading that when you finally look up some time later, the sight to your side almost makes you gasp.

Namjoon had, at some point, fallen asleep in a little patch of sunlight that manage to pierce through the foliage—in the place of the large, long-limbed man you had been talking to is now a considerably smaller fluffy koala, sitting upright and snoozing lightly. You suspect this isn’t the most ideal position for him to be sleeping in, though, because every few moments he will sway on the spot, almost tipping but not quite going far enough to have an abrupt meeting with the sand.

You coo, unable to help it, but the sound quickly grows alarmed when he leans too far—before you can think your arms shoot out to hold him up, but it seems there is something true to what is said about koalas being clingy because the second he feels something touch him, koala Namjoon clings.

You squeak, a fully-grown koala now wrapped around your forearm. Slowly, you bring it closer to you (feeling your bicep burn all the while because damn is he heavier than he looks!), planning to use your other hand to ease him off, but it seems that the second you’re close enough he can sense your warmth and he wants in. You sit, exasperated and amused, with a koala now latched to your midriff, arm forgotten. Both your hands are now free, but at what cost?

You figure that he’ll probably let go when he wakes up, or he might fall back into the sand in his sleep, but until then you resign yourself to unexpected but definitely not unwelcome koala cuddles. You just hope he won’t be too embarrassed when he wakes up; you can already see him stuttering and going red in your mind’s eye. It brings a chuckle to your lips, and with a smile on your face you return to your book once more, a little more content than before.

O – O – O

 It’s been a while since you’ve had to deal with the dreams.

Usually, once they start you can wake yourself up, or you can manage to turn them around if they’re one you’ve had before. But some nights, when the dreams come, you’re helpless but to see them play out. Sometimes they’re not that bad, but even the milder ones leave you with a nauseous ball of anxiety beneath your lungs and a feeling of discomfort that digs claws deep in your bones.

About three weeks into your stay, you wake up after one such dream, a cursory glance to your phone and the painful glare of its screen revealing it to be the early hours of the morning. For a moment you simply lay, blinking, with your gaze rooted on the ceiling. You had strung up some fairy lights around your dresser, and on the plaster above you the soft colourful rainbow of their hue meshes and blends with the cool pools of moonlight slipping through your curtains.

Absently, and with a sense of resignation that you feel in your bones, you strip the cover back and climb out of bed, deciding you may as well grab some water since you’re likely not going to be able to fall asleep very easily anytime soon.

As you make your way through the levels to the ground floor where the kitchen resides, you’re careful to be as quiet as possible—you’re not sure how successful your effort is but you do know that quite a few of your housemates have been inundated with coursework lately and you don’t want to disturb any of the valuable rest they need so badly. Jimin had looked so wiped out yesterday that you’d literally had to pull him away from the dishes and send him to bed. He complained on the way, but as soon as his head hit his pillow he was out, leaving you in a mixture of awe and concern. He explained as soon as he woke the next morning that he had been up all night completing an assignment, and it made you realise just how exhausted a lot of your roommates seem lately. You hope this period passes soon for them; you may not have been here long but you have grown to care for them and you don’t like seeing them so unwell.

You’re just pondering this when you reach the ground floor and venture into the kitchen, thoughts and feet coming to an abrupt stop as you take in the sight that greets you there.

Seokjin is standing by the bench, hands moving slowly as he puts something together just out of your view. A quick survey of the rest of the countertop tells you that he’s making lunches, and while ordinarily this would touch your heart (as it does every time you see how each of the hybrids in this house cares for each other), this time you’re overcome with a strong wave of concern.

Delicately put, Seokjin looks dead on his feet.

Every few moments his head bobs down, chin almost hitting his chest before he jerks awake just long enough to lift his head, before the cycle repeats once more. He looks so exhausted you’re impressed he managed to make as many lunches as he did. Though, from the looks of it he’s only about halfway through.

“Hey, Seokjin… are you okay?”

The hybrid jumps, the startle you gave him probably rendering him more awake than he has been in a few hours.

“Wh—what are you doing awake?” he sputters, having to lean against the bench so that he doesn’t fall over. “It’s almost midnight!”

You can’t help the look you give him, a mixture between amusement and concern. “Um… it’s a little past midnight actually… probably closer to two… are you alright?”

Seokjin blinks at you for a second while your words sink in, before he sags with a light groan, bringing a hand up to scrub at his eyes.

“Yeah,” he mumbles, voice thick with sleepiness. His bushy, striped tail sways behind him before curling around his thigh. “I’m just… kind of wiped out. I was up finishing a part of a really big assessment piece and it took longer than I thought… I was going to go to bed but then I remembered that I hadn’t prepared the boys’ lunches, and I always do that, so I came down here and…”

He makes a great, sweeping gesture over the mess on the bench, a result of his patchy attention. A huff of laughter escapes him. “Yeah.”

“I’m glad you finished your piece, but… do you really have to make their lunches? I think you should probably get some sleep…”

You were a little worried he might take your words the wrong way, but you can tell from the serene expression on his face that he doesn’t. “I always do it. If I don’t, then they might worry about me, and I don’t want them to worry about me when they should spend that energy worrying about themselves. Plus, I don’t know if I’d be able to sleep if I knew they weren’t done.”

You return his amused smile, taking a step closer and willing yourself to speak the idea that had come to mind.

“Well, considering I found you almost sleeping on the spot when I came down, I think you should probably call it a night and get some rest. I’d be happy to finish up and make sure the lunches are done, if you’d like?”

You can see the resistance immediately, the tall man opening his mouth to refuse—but he halts, and for a moment slips into his own thoughts. Sensing that he just needs a little push, you continue, “If you tell me what you usually make, I should be able to finish the rest of them without too much trouble.”

He blinks, and in that moment you see the rest of his exhaustion flood to the surface. He sniffles, unable to fight the yawn that rises. “… Okay. If that’s really alright with you…?”

You laugh, reaching to bump Seokjin’s side. “Of course it is. I don’t mind at all, especially if it means you’ll go to sleep in your bed and not on the kitchen floor. Now, what do you normally make…?”

Letting out a soft laugh, Seokjin does his best to stay awake long enough to instruct you on what he makes and how he makes it for the remaining members of the household. You can’t help but notice throughout his explanation that he doesn’t seem to make lunch for himself despite making it for everyone else, and as he finally plods off to bed and passes out, you make the decision that you’re going to make some lunch for him too. It takes you a brief google search on the diet of red pandas and their hybrid counterparts, as well and recalling what you know of Seokjin’s taste in food, but it doesn’t take you too long to decide on what to make. You work through the lunches one by one, grateful for the distraction, and complete the task fully when Seokjin’s sits primly next to the rest. You pile them all into the fridge, washing your hands again before grabbing the water you originally came down for, and then you’re making the trip back upstairs to your own bed, a soft smile on your face and a warm satisfaction curling around your lungs. You fall asleep easier than expected for a night where you had one of those dreams, but there most definitely aren’t any complaints to be found as you drift off with a faint smile on your lips.

--

The next day, it’s only a little before midday when Seokjin finally rises from his slumber and makes his way downstairs. Blearily, he reaches the kitchen and heads straight to the fridge, attempting to think through his sleep-addled brain what he should make for lunch. Those thoughts are interrupted as he catches sight of a box he hasn’t seen outside of the little tupperware cupboard by the stove in ages sitting on the middle shelf, a little paper tag with ‘for Seokjin’ scribbled onto it perched on top.

He pulls it out and places it on the bench, staring in confusion. It takes him an embarrassingly long time to kick his limbs into gear and open it, but from that point on the realisation comes quickly with the memory of last night.

You’d gone and made lunch for him, too. And from the looks of it, you’d paid great attention to what to include.

His stomach rumbles violently as he takes in the sight of berries and the bamboo shoots he usually stores in the fridge that you must have taken the time to boil and season. There is a sandwich in there as well but he doesn’t need to check whether he will like it because he can already smell the salmon.

He doesn’t know what to think, or really what to say. He knows he’s just lucky you’ve already gone to work at the Rabbit’s Den because otherwise you would probably be here and risk seeing his eyes tear up a little.

A side effect from being sleepy and stressed is the dramatics, he knows, but still… he can’t help but notice the warm feeling that lingers in his stomach when he thinks of how nice you are to do such a thing.

O—O—O

“You’re gonna love it when we get there, y/n! It’s so pretty, and there’s so much fruit… I’m going to feast.”

You can’t help but let out a laugh, thoroughly enjoying the company of your two housemates and the combination of cool breeze and warm sunlight the air offers as they kiss your skin. It’s earlier in the morning than you tend to wake up, but you’ve been invited out on an exclusive adventure and you aren’t in any position to say no. For the past few weeks you’ve noticed that on a Saturday and Sunday morning, Taehyung tends to disappear. You don’t know where, and each time you saw him again you forgot to ask, but finally the opportunity had arisen for you to sate your curiosity. Happily, the lemur hybrid had informed you that there is a small section of the island towards the north that is absolutely packed with trees, bushes and otherwise, all peppered with ripe fruit. Some days he goes to tend to them, but on the weekends he confessed to you that he normally goes to harvest the literal fruits of his labour.

“Just don’t eat all of the tamarind again, Jiminie, or I will have to kill you myself.”

Jimin lets out a loud laugh, stumbling in his gait for a moment from the force of it. “Yessir! Understood, sir!”

Taehyung’s lips quirk into a smile, and he returns his gaze to the front to continue marching ahead and leading the two of you to his secret spot. You adjust your hold on the woven bag over your shoulder, brushing away some of the more unruly strands of hair that have made their way across your face by riding on the breeze.

“Thanks again for inviting me, Tae,” you say, unable to hide the skip in your step as you plod along after them, smiling brightly. “I’ve been wanting to explore more—it feels wrong that I’ve been here for a month and barely seen everything there is to see.”

Taehyung spins to flash you a beaming grin over his shoulder, ears flicking and tail curling happily. “Of course, it’s no problem! I did wonder if you’d like to come some time, so I’m glad you mentioned it the other day.”

Jimin gasps, the sound somewhere between playful and affronted. “You asked her yourself to come?! I had to beg for weeks! Weeks!”

“I told you, the fruit weren’t done when you first asked!” Taehyung whines, reaching back and pausing in his steps just long enough to whack Jimin on the shoulder. “You just didn’t listen!”

“I’m baby,” Jimin says, whether in affirmation or explanation you’re not sure. It manages to tear a laugh from Taehyung either way, and you’re no different.

You’re not left stewing in anticipation for long; before you know it you’re broaching the place that Taehyung and Jimin speak so highly of. Rounding a corner, you come across a large grove that ends beyond what your eyes can see—some trees curl and wind, others stand straight and proud with their roots covered modestly with smaller shrubbery. Vines cling and string around some trunks, but the one thing all of the flora in front of you has in common is that they’re all ripe with fruit, ready to be picked.

“Oh wow,” you remark, barely aware you’ve even said anything. A deep laugh sounds from beside you and you turn to see Taehyung grinning brightly, tail curling happily behind him and his little ears flicking with glee.

“Pretty, right? Some of these were already growing here when I found it, like the apples, but the rest of it I planted over time. I’m proud of how it’s turned out.”

“You should be!” you exclaim, pointing to the fruit displayed in the very image of temptation before you all. “Dude, they look delicious.”

“They are!” Jimin chimes in, flitting past you and snagging his finger in your sleeve as he goes to drag you along. “Come on, there’s a mulberry tree up the back and it has the juiciest berries. We have to pick them now before all the birds and fruit bats get them.”

Laughing, you allow the sugar glider hybrid to lead you into the grove of greenery, the man ducking and weaving around branches with ease as his feet follow a path well-worn into the dirt and grass. The splotches of sunlight that filter through the foliage are pleasant where they warm your skin, breeze ensuring you don’t get too hot beneath the kiss of a star. In the shadows of the trees, it is actually much cooler than you expected, but you can’t help but feel that the temperature, the air, the sights—everything feels perfect.

The mulberry tree, fondly called Ol’ Bessy as Jimin had eagerly informed you, is a large, looming monster of a tree with a plethora of winding trunks and subordinate thin branches that dangle and sway in the breeze in the image of a weeping willow. When you comment on the sheer size of it, Taehyung simply shrugs and tells you with a smile that it’s been here a long time, before anyone was on the island.

The three of you don't have much desire to waste any more time standing and dawdling, and so you begin your activity for the day, woven bags and baskets prepared and at the ready. You inspect the mulberries that are hanging lowest, spying the occasional green one but becoming easily appeased when you find bunches of ripe ones, plump and fit to burst as they weigh the thinner branches down.

Gathering them is harder than anticipated, because you hadn't accounted for the fact they they're, well, berries. It takes a few attempts and more than a few instances of stained hands before you figure out the best way to pluck them from the tree without bursting them. Taehyung saw the first one you popped and the way it went all up your arm, and hasn't stopped laughing since.

The three of you bounce between fruits and trees, filling your containers with whichever you prefer. After a while though you all seem to have the same idea to congregate at the mulberry tree. Admittedly, you hadn't been able to stop yourself from munching on some of the fruits as you picked them, but as you look at them and see berry stains around their mouths and apple leaves in their hair, you feel a little less guilty about it. Taehyung places his basket down, leaning it securely against the base of the tree trunk, before dusting his hands with a sharp clap and then resting them on his hips.

"Right," he says, eyes alight. "There's just one more tree to visit. I think you're gonna love it."

You tilt your head, wondering just what other kind of fruit he has up his sleeve when already you've picked so many. Surely he's constrained even a little bit by the climate? Or does he have magically green thumbs? Jimin giggles at your confused expression.

"How good are you at climbing trees?"

The question gives you pause. "Uh... decent? I suppose?"

"Great!" Taehyung exclaims, picking his basket back up and closing the lid to help secure it on his back. "Let's go!"

Once more you're lead in between and through the trees and shrubs, following the gleeful lemur hybrid and his grinning companion back to the middle of the grove. Before long you're stumbling to a halt, having reached the location and wondering how on earth you managed to miss this tree before.

It's bigger than Ol' Bessy by a decent margin, but confusion filters through you when you can't seem to spot any fruit hanging from its branches. You turn to Taehyung, about to question him, but he simply grins and darts over to the massive trunk (really, you don't think two of you could hug it from either side and have your fingers touch, it's so big). It's only after he begins scaling it with alarming ease that you take note of the grooves and footholds curled into the trunk, making it a naturally perfect tree for climbing. Jimin darts up after his friend, apparently also well-versed in the art of climbing this tree, and breaks you from your awed reverie with a shout over his shoulder.

"Come on, y/n! Or Tae is gonna take the good spot!"

Unsure what he means and unsure if you're willing to find out via Taehyung following through on that, you scramble to follow after them and do your best to climb.

It's easier than anticipated, actually, and dare you say it... relaxing. Though you're going higher and higher with each branch you clear, and see less of the ground and more of the canopy with each step, you can't say you're all that scared, or worried. If anything, it's as though a moment of peace has been captured in a bubble, and now settles like cool mist on a spring morning at the bottom of your chest.

In sharp contrast to the cool breeze that brushes your face as you emerge from the thickest part of the foliage, the sun is quick to kiss warmth back into your cheeks. For a moment, you have to pause in your climb, because the view around you is simply so beautiful you're at an absolute loss for words.

From here, the highest point in the grove, you can see a vast majority of the island, a sweeping panorama of lush greens and soft sands that blend into the crystalline waters of the ocean, sunlight turning the surface to a sea of diamonds. Along the stretch of beach, in the distance, you can just barely glimpse the sharehouse, and on the other side of the island the little market square where all the stores and restaurants are appears as smudges and blobs of dark colours.

"It's so beautiful, right?"

You're so immersed in your observation that for a second you almost don't even register that someone is talking to you. Mouth open in awe, you simply turn your expression to Taehyung; the lemur laughs, almost tumbling back from the force of it, and you're shocked back into the moment with worry until you see what stopped him from falling.

Here, at the very top of the tallest tree in Taehyung's secret grove, he has built a small little fixture, a deck with enough space for four people to squeeze onto it at most. It hugs the trunk of the tree and is braced on the few thick branches that split from the tree beneath it. A lot of it is untouched, natural wood, but the bottom is made of processed planks and some of the short balcony ledge has been painted with acrylics, little scenes spanning the length of the strips. You didn't know Taehyung painted, but figure you'll bring it up at another time when you aren't precariously clinging to the top of a massive tree.

Taking the hand that both men offer you, you haul yourself carefully up and onto the deck, marvelling as you get an even clearer view of the island from your new position.

"It really is," you answer him, somewhat belatedly. When the two of them settle down, tree swaying much like you imagine a ship would on the vast expanse of the ocean, you follow suit, with your back pressed securely to the trunk.

Jimin is already flinging open his container, smacking it onto the wood in front of him, and Taehyung laughs once more, the sound so freeing and light that it makes that little bubble of peace in your abdomen expand ever so slightly.

"And now, we feast!" The lemur says, eagerly opening his own basket and setting it in front of him, besides Jimin's. They're both set to overflow from the amount of fresh, ripe fruit piled in.

They shamelessly and unabashedly dig in, eliciting a laugh from you as you move your own bag before you to do the same. It's nice, the perfect lunch in more ways than one; the small amount of foliage above you offers just enough shade that you want for nothing more in the moment besides maybe a pillow or two, everything else accounted for in excess.

You're not sure how long you spend there, but you do know that the sun has made a decent amount of headway in its journey across the sky by the time the three of you are done stuffing your stomachs full, laying across the deck and squinting until the clouds swimming leisurely across the sky begin to resemble something you can put a name to. It's fun, and light, and for what is alarmingly far from the first time, you find yourself so thankful for the choices you made and the path that led you here, to be staying on this beautiful island with these lovely boys.

By time you finish and the three of you are heading back, you’ve eaten through half of the fruit and the boys are so full and sleepy from the big day that they’ve shifted into their animal forms and are now clinging to you, Taehyung with his long limbs around your neck and Jimin with his tiny paws clinging to the hair at the top of your head. You suspect he’s made himself another little nest up there, but can’t find it in yourself to be upset with him for it especially when the soft sounds and chitters he makes to communicate with Taehyung are so damn cute.

The trip back is shorter than you recall, and before you know it you’re approaching the sharehouse once more, it’s looming sides graced with the warm gleam of afternoon sun. Jimin and Taehyung are asleep as you reach the front door, and you’re saved from having to move all the bags and baskets in your hold to open the door when it opens for you. Hoseok is standing there, a startled look gracing his features that quickly blends into one of fondness as he sees his friends, something that makes your cheeks warm ever so slightly.

“Good day?” he asks, stepping back to let you in. You nod, unable to help the wide grin touching your lips.

“Yeah, it was.”

O – O – O

‘…They should be setting up a tower soon, so hopefully it won’t be long before I can call you again. But until then, I look forward to every letter you send, bubbles.

Write back soon! I miss you.

Love, Dad’

You sniffle, trying not to let out the tears that are so close to slipping from your eyes. You’re not all that upset, you love receiving letters from your father, but it’s just… a little bittersweet. You’d moved here to escape your family, following a certain incident that you’re not keen to revisit, and your father had always been and will always be supportive of you— but it’s hard, when he’s halfway across the globe on one expedition or another.

It was only in the past ten years that your father managed to snag the job of his dreams and follow the passion he’s harboured since he was a child, graduating from his career as an accountant through attention garnered from numerous big research papers to become a well-respected biologist. From the second he accepted the offer, he’d started down a path that led him spending a majority of his life outside of the home and always on the move, hopping from one destination to another.

Whenever he could, he’d take you with him, but he wasn’t always able to. This expedition, which has landed him in the Antarctic, is an example of that. While he can’t be with you physically, he writes often and calls every chance he gets—and though it saddens you sometimes when it highlights the dismal state of the rest of your family, more than anything you’re happy for him and overjoyed that after years of slaving in an office, he finally gets to do what he wants.

You inhale, closing your eyes and trying to let the breath escape in a long, level manner. It’s night, not when you normally go about reading letters from your father but this letter had come late and you’d almost completely forgotten on your way to bed. Taking the opportunity to get some fresh air, you’d taken the letter and made yourself comfortable on the balcony, using the ample moonlight as a makeshift reading lamp.

Placing the letter carefully on the table, mindful not to place it in anything dirty or unsavoury, you settle back in your chair and tilt your gaze to the skies, allowing your eyes to become unfocused and simply stare. It's a pretty sight, as you expected-- the stars are much more outgoing here, with no haze or pollution masking their display like in the city on the mainland.

You let out a breath, but even to your ears it sounds more like a sigh. You miss your dad, and you know he misses you too but despite the fact you know it's selfish of you, you kind of wish he had been here with you when you made the decision to move. Of course, you've told him all about it, and he's supported you wholly in every choice you've made, but it's not the same. You don't blame him, and you love him dearly, but still... you're allowed to be sad, just a little. Just for tonight.

Well, that had been your plan-- apparently the universe has other ideas that don't include sulking in the moonlight on your balcony. A scuffling sound disturbs your reverie from the side of your balcony, and you look over in time to see a decent blob of shadow scaling up the side of the balcony next to yours and flinging onto the railing. Once there, it halts, and your eyes adjust just in time to meet those of the creature-- the raccoon, you realise quickly. It tilts its head up, sniffling the air once, before pinning you with an unreadable look. For a moment the two of you sit in silence, locked in place by the other's gaze, before the raccoon lets out a soft noise and then it's little claws are clacking against the hollow metal railing, and it disappears beyond the wall.

Whose room is that... Jungkook's? You muse to yourself for a moment before you remember what kind of hybrid Jungkook is, and in the next second there is the sound of a door sliding shut and Jungkook's bright-eyed face pops around the side of the wall.

"Uh... are you okay?"

You blink, brain taking a moment to catch up and then decipher how he could have possibly known you were even a little bit upset. You recall suddenly that animals can pick up cues, like chemoreceptors, and tilt your head at him with a small smile.

"Yeah... no... I'm alright." You angle yourself more towards him in your chair, cheering internally when you see him stop hiding behind the wall and come to lean against the railing. "Was that you? Where were you off to, this time of night?"

Jungkook looks like he wishes to address the first thing you said, but your follow-up has thrown him a bit for a loop. You can't be sure your eyes aren't deceiving you, but you could almost swear he's blushing.

"Oh, yeah... sorry." He reaches a hand up to rub the back of his neck, hair mussed and eyes averted. "I know my animal form isn't that nice... sorry if you thought it was gross."

"What?!"

At the sheer suddenness and volume of your almost-shriek, Jungkook jumps about a foot in the air. His wide eyes swing back to you, chest heaving as he rests his hand in the centre of it. You clear your throat, shrinking a bit in embarrassment.

"Sorry," you wince, before going to elaborate on your earlier squawk. "But please don't ever apologise for something like that! I don't know who told you that your animal form is gross, but they can't be all that bright... it was cute."

He looks more like a deer in headlights than the animal he's spliced with right now, eyes wide and staring right at you. You can't help but laugh and tease him, just a little. "Cutest raccoon I ever did see, anyway."

He suddenly comes back to earth, slamming his face into his hands and letting out a long groan. It's from embarrassment, you can tell from the flashes of reddened skin that peek through his fingers. You don't say anything for a moment, letting him return to the conversation on his own terms. Jungkook might be one of the housemates you've interacted with least, but you've heard plenty from the rest of the hybrids in the house.

More often than not, it's about how shy he is and how cute it is when he gets embarrassed. You'd simply nodded and laughed at the time, but now you realise there truly is merit to everything they said.

It takes a few moments of Jungkook muttering into his hands before he pulls his face away, averting his eyes and mumbling softly, "... Thanks. That's really nice of you to say."

"You're welcome," you shrug, smiling when he risks a glance your way to gauge your reaction. Upon seeing nothing that will make him turn tail and flee back into the safety of his room, he eases up, returning his body to it's previous angle towards you.

"So... why were you upset?"

Surprisingly, his question doesn't bother you as you thought it might. You hum, watching as his gaze follows yours to the table, where the letter and the envelope it came in, addressed to you, lay discarded.

"Letter from my dad," you offer in explanation, watching his eyes light in realisation. "Nothing bad, I just miss him so it's... bittersweet."

Jungkook hums, nodding and resting his chin in his hand as he leans forward. "I understand. It's like that with my parents. I know they love me, and I love them, but they're pretty far away and I just... miss them. They're always working."

You're a little surprised that he can relate, although you suppose you really shouldn't be. You don't know very much about Jungkook at all, so it's not fair of you to assume anything about him, even in relation to your own experiences.

"Yeah," you sigh, looking to the sky for a moment as you try and organise your thoughts. "I'm happy he is where he is, doing what he's doing, but I think it's okay to be sad, just for tonight."

Jungkook hums, but doesn't say anything further. It surprises you when he speaks next, the two of you having fallen into a lull.

"Well, you could keep being sad for the night if you want, or... would you maybe wanna see the film I've been working on?"

Your head whips to face him faster than the speed of light, startling him into another jump on the spot.

"Really?" you ask, hurried as though the offer will be rescinded at any moment. "You mean it? I can see it?"

"Yes...?" Jungkook answers, somewhat bewildered. You launch from your chair immediately, rubbing your hands together-- you've heard really good things from the others about his talents in photography and editing, so you've been trying to figure out a way to slip it into conversation for weeks. You've wanted to see them for yourself so badly.

"I'm coming over," you announce, gathering the letter and envelope and already beginning to move towards your room. "I hope your room is clean, Jungkook, or else I'm gonna tease you!"

You'd just meant it as a joke, but the scrambling and hurried footsteps you hear after you say it make you think he took you seriously.

Well, you dad would probably want you to spend the night happy, anyway. You can save being sad for another night.

O -- O -- O

Your time at the house has gone by much faster than you anticipated, and while initially you'd thought that you wouldn't be able to wait to get out, now you find yourself feeling quite the opposite.

You kind of don't want to leave.

At this point, about two months into your stay, you've settled into such a comfortable, stable routine that you struggle to imagine going through the motions in any other way. Often after your early shifts you'll return to the house and catch someone lounging in the sun, and you will no doubt be roped into a short, sweet afternoon nap. On the weekends is group breakfast, and you make sure that you go to bed as early as possible the nights before so that you don't miss it. Taehyung drags you with him of a weekend to fetch fruit and Jimin drags you around the town in general. Some evenings, you find yourself accompanying Namjoon on a walk along the beach, both of you feeling more at peace than ever before when you're standing with feet buried in the sand, watching dusk bleed into twilight and the colours around you stain violet and periwrinkle in the absence of the sun's kiss.

Jungkook knocks on your door at late hours, grinning and eagerly summoning you to his room to watch his latest creation. Seokjin no longer resists your help every other night to make lunches, and has started including you in the schedule as well.

Yoongi and Hoseok are among the busier residents of the house, but you've still spent bits of time with each of them, probably moreso with Hoseok. It's not that you avoid Yoongi or anything like that, it's just that he happens to be the most busy and more often than not is holed up in his room. You don't always see him throughout the week, but he always attends house breakfast on weekends and you're thankful that you get to see him then.

Today, you're spending a little more time with Hoseok. Your shift ended early and you couldn't have thanked your lucky stars any harder, because today the squirrel hybrid had invited you to his dance class. Usually Jungkook or Jimin went with him, both of them enjoying dance as much as their older housemate, but they had both been unavailable today. You'd seen the way Hoseok's face had fallen when they'd told him, and had immediately asked about the class-- you didn't even talk for more than a few minutes before Hoseok was happily inviting you to attend.

It made you a little more pleased than you're going to admit.

You're on your way there now, actually, a skip in your step and a swing in your gait. You've got the tote bag you hold your work things in, and you can hear the rustling of the nuts you'd shoved in there last minute earlier in the day. You'd noticed that Hoseok had forgotten them, so you'd grabbed them to give to him when you saw him. Hopefully he hasn't stuffed himself too full of other foods in the meantime, though from what you've heard apparently he's such a workaholic that he probably hasn't even had lunch yet despite the fact it's currently three in the afternoon.

A majority of Hoseok's classes take place at the school where he teaches, in a room at the end of the drama block that often doubles as a dance classroom when the school gets the funding for it. When you arrive, the door is slightly ajar and upbeat pop is leaking through the gap, Hoseok's sunny voice piercing through the music like a pendulum.

"--and one, two, three, one, two, three-- that's it! That's fantastic! Really good job, guys!"

A smile is already on your face as you push the door open enough to let yourself in, gaze immediately falling upon a group of grinning children that are looking up at Hoseok like they're a tiny field of sunflowers facing their namesake. Hoseok stands before them in a borderline comical pose that only primary school teachers can really pull off, hands on his hips and a proud, beaming smile on his face. You can’t help but blink because for a moment it really was as blinding as looking directly at the sun. He spots you before you can recover fully, and greets you with a wave.

“Ah, perfect! Everyone, this is Miss y/n! She’s going to be sitting in today—I told her how good you all were and she couldn’t wait to see for herself. Let’s all say hello!”

A chorus of greetings is immediately thrown at you, the attention of the little sunflowers now completely on you. Some gasp and run over, grinning brightly at the novelty of a new character, and others watch from afar but seem pleased nonetheless by your presence and alleged eagerness to see them perform.

Before they can launch into conversation with you like you can so clearly see they want to, the ears of some kids ramrod straight and alert and others’ tails flicking in excitement, Hoseok calls them back to where he stands and to your surprise they obey immediately.

“Alright, let’s let Miss y/n get settled down and we can show her what we’ve been practicing, hm? Sound good?”

There is a chorus of ‘yes!’ that pulls a laugh from you as you make your way to the side of the room with the best view and plop down, cross-legged. Eagerly and very self-consciously, now that they have an audience, the small army of children runs to take their place in the formation, and Hoseok pulls his phone from his pocket to pause the song currently playing and pull up the one that matches their routine.

The opening notes filter into the air and Hoseok nods, foot tapping to the beat, before he counts them in and off they go.

Put simply, you’re so incredibly impressed. These kids can dance! You don’t have a doubt that they can dance better than you, not that you ever claimed to have much talent in that department. By the time they finish running through their little routine, you’re clapping and cheering loudly, relishing in the laughter that you’re exaggerated reaction elicits. Hoseok, too, is smiling as he sees how you interact with his students, wandering over after he takes them through it a few more times before giving them a small break.

"So, what do you think?" he asks as he approaches your side of the room, slightly out of breath from doing the routine with them the last few times. "They're so good, aren't they? They've only been working on this for a few weeks and already they have it almost perfectly down-pat. I'm so proud of them."

He slides down the wall next to you, reaching for the bag he'd dropped there presumably before class began; across the room all the students are reaching into their class backpacks for their afternoon snack, and it seems Hoseok has the same idea. You don't even remember the nuts in your bag until he rifles through his for a few minutes, brows furrowed when he comes up empty. His bushy tail flicks dejectedly, ears twitching back on his head, and he pouts.

"Damn, I think I forgot my lunch this morning," he says, and it's enough to jog your memory. You jump in place from the startle of it.

"Oh, I saw that! Here," you quickly reach into your own bag and pull out the nuts and dried fruits, passing it over to him. "I brought it for you, since I figured you'd probably want it at some point."

The way Hoseok's eyes light up when they see the little plastic bag in your hand is almost enough to make you laugh and/or coo out loud. By the skin of your teeth you barely manage to hold that reaction back, but you do smile as he cheers with a short, happy scream and eagerly takes it from your grip.

"My nuts!" Hoseok wastes no time ripping the bag open and grabbing a handful, setting about munching immediately. "You have saved my life today, Miss y/n. I was soooo hungry."

"Didn't get lunch?" you guess, already knowing the answer and having it confirmed when Hoseok nods, completely unfazed by the fact he'd skipped a meal or two.

"I was helping one of the students," he explains, munching happily. His bushy tails curls in content behind him, a sight that makes something happy and warm settle in your chest. "I don't mind missing lunch if it means they get the help they need. I do feel it afterwards, though. Sometimes when I get home I feel so hungry I could eat the whole cupboard out."

A laugh tears from you at his words, the image even funnier because he didn't specify whether he would be doing it in his human form or his animal form. The image of a squirrel wreaking havoc in the house pantry is funnier than you care to admit, but Hoseok just seems happy to have elicited a laugh no matter the magnitude.

It's just a small thing, spending the afternoon with Hoseok and his students, but you find afterwards that it was almost... healing. On the way home, walking besides Hoseok and discussing which dried fruit were the superior dried fruit (he's wrong, and you'll take that opinion with you to the grave), you can't help but feel so light and happy. Like everything is in place, in motion and flowing smoothly. A river without debris and jagged rocks; life right now feels like that moment in nature when water runs over smooth pebbles in a creek, tumbling and pouring but doing so without chaos, and without mess or fallout. Just one continuous, fluid motion.

It feels nice.

You don't even realise until you're laying in bed that night that for a while now, that's how you've been referring to this place.

As home.

O -- O -- O

Aside from the occasional uncomfortable dream, these past few months have been remarkably incident-free, where it concerns the unfortunate topic of your extended family. You'd changed a lot of things when you'd made the decision to move to this island; your phone number, your email addresses and all your passwords, your social media... all of it had been combed through and either switched out or slimmed down. This place is an escape, a place of refuge for you, and that's how you want it to stay.

Unfortunately, the universe isn't always on your side.

It's a rainy afternoon when you receive the call, and you're so fixated on watching the way the rain falls in thin sheets over the ocean that at first from the first floor patio, that you miss it. They don't call again, but a message sets your phone off a minute or so later, and that catches your attention.

Of course, the second you read it and see who it's from, it does more than just catch your attention.

You're not someone prone to many episodes, and you've become adept at self-soothing. But as your eyes begin to stare unfocused at the message and you feel your chest constrict, diaphragm pushing against your lungs, you realise distantly that this is more than you just being momentarily overwhelmed.

You get a bit lost in the moment, lost in the sensation of light-headedness that suddenly washes over you, so much so that when a voice sounds distantly, muffled as though you're listening to someone speak to you from the depths of a pool, you barely even register it at first.

"Hey, y/n, have you seen--"

Still, your eyes are stuck on the message; you don't even notice the way your fingers had begun to tremble while holding the phone until a hand brushes your arm, a figure in front of you blocking the light from beyond the porch.

"y/n, hey, are you.... look at me. y/n, look at me."

Oh, that's a voice, and you do as it says without even a single thought flitting through your head. Looking up, you're barely even as surprised as you should be to see Yoongi standing there, a look of concern spread across his features, brows drawn together as he regards you. You feel a warm touch against your hand, phone tugged from your grip to be replaced with his own. Both your hands are now in his hold and he uses it to ground you, even if just for a moment.

"Can you do me a favour?" Yoongi says, and his voice is so soft and soothing that you find yourself listening as attentively as you can right now. "I need you to breathe with me. I'm gonna count ten breaths, okay? Let's do the first one-- in..."

He inhales deeply, his whole chest moving from the magnitude of it, and you feel as though you're floating in your own head in the moment as you follow suit. Slowly, patiently, he takes you through each breath one at a time, making sure you inhale as big as he does and exhale as long as he does. By the time you reach ten, the light-headed feeling has faded and the constriction in your chest has eased, ever so slightly. As soon as you finish your tenth breath you sag slightly, letting out a gush of air.

"Sorry," you say, slipping one of your hands from his grip to cover your face. "Sorry, I just--"

To your complete and utter surprise, Yoongi's hand lets your other one go and in the next moment you feel arms slipping around your shoulders, bringing you close to his chest and letting your face rest on his shoulder. You see his fluffy tail from where your face is squished, catching glimpses over his shoulder of the way it curls calmly.

Once the moment of shock passes, you're unable to help yourself but to return the embrace, surprised by how much you needed this without even knowing so.

"It's okay, don't apologise," Yoongi says, voice still soft and calm. You sag against him, and your eyes burn not from the message that triggered your almost anxiety-attack, but from the sheer kindness you feel emanating from this man. "Happens to the best of us. Are you feeling a little better?"

You nod, because oddly enough you are, and he slowly releases his hold on you, easing back with an assessing look. Another apology rests on the tip of your tongue but you bite it back, knowing he would refuse it if it ever entered the air.

“I am. Thanks,” you say, eyes looking for your phone as you realise suddenly that it is no longer in your hand where you’d left it. Yoongi holds it up, handing it back easily; his gaze passes over the screen as he does so, and the look he gives you is one of empathy and knowing.

“Shitty family?” he inquires, and you nod, choosing not to look at your phone and to slip it straight into your pocket instead. You go to sit against the wall, facing the edge of the patio, and he joins you.

“I get it,” he says, lifting a hand to fluff up his grey-tinted hair before shifting his gaze out to the rain and its reunion with the ocean. “’Part from my parents, the rest of my… relatives… they’re, uh… they’re not so nice. Didn’t treat me all that well, or even my parents for that matter. So… I get it. You don’t have to elaborate if you don’t wanna, but I get it.”

You don’t really know what to say to that; not that you’re speechless, per se, but moreso that there is simply so much going through your head at once that you can’t seem to settle on anything to voice.

“Thank you,” you say again, sniffling as subtly as you can as you focus on evening your breaths and calming your heart. You feel something on your hand and look over to see Yoongi has placed his palm over your own, his face soft and comforting.

“It’s no problem.”

A different kind of ache, the sort that is tinged around the edges with bittersweet warmth, begins to make itself known amongst the turmoil in your abdomen, and in this moment you can’t quite decipher whether it’s a good feeling or a bad one. What you do know, though, is that you’ve never been more thankful to have had the fortune of meeting these boys and having them make room in their hearts for you, even just a little, than you are right now.

O – O – O

You can’t believe that all the time you’ve spent here has gone so fast, and that currently there is no more than a week before your three month deadline is up and your contracted stay at this house is to come to an end.

If you’re being honest with yourself… you don’t want to go.

When you’d first come to this house, you’d expected that you would have a nice time, but also that you would be eager to move out by the end of the three month period. You had no way of knowing how well you’d fall into routine here, how attached you would become not only to the residents but to the home, the place and the feeling it offers and the way it allows you to feel happier than you have in years.

You know that you have to leave, they’d only agreed to house you for the three months after all, and you also know that they seem to have realised your time here is coming to an end as well. You’ve caught them talking amongst themselves a few times, not quite whispering but definitely conversing about something that halts as soon as they catch wind of you anywhere nearby. You get the sense that they’re unsure how to approach the topic, and you understand since it’s a bit tough for you yourself. You decide to bite the bullet and do it for them, though.

You ask them to meet you in the living area, a week before you leave, to talk. You wanted to just… officially thank them, you suppose. They’ve done a lot for you, in the time you’ve been here, whether they realise it or not. They’ve helped you settle, they’ve shown you that there really is more to life outside the misery your relatives tended to create, and they’ve ensured every second you’ve been with them that you have felt welcomed, and included.

Truthfully, it means more to you than you know how to put into words.

Which is why it’s especially difficult for you to accept that you have to leave.

The expressions on their faces as they gather are a mixture between curious and somewhat apprehensive, with Namjoon, Jungkook and Hoseok bordering on nervous. You wonder why before realising they might not know why you called them here.

“Hey, thanks for gathering,” you say, attempting to keep it light and ensure the smile stays on your face. Of course, they all return is as they take seats across the room, some on the couch and others on the coffee table or the floor. Taehyung’s head tilts, tail curling lightly behind him.

“Um, I just wanted to say something to you—to all of you, while I could. I didn’t think I’d be able to catch everyone in the one room any time but on the weekend,” you muse, smile widening at the round of light laughter your joke elicits. You shift, taking a breath and grounding yourself through the motion of meeting their gazes, one by one.

“I wanted to say thank you,” you begin, voice softer than intended but not so soft that you’re worried their senses won’t pick it up. “Because when I moved here it was to get away, and start anew, and you guys… really gave me that. You’ve made these three months the best and happiest months I’ve had in a long time. I’m so thankful that you let me in, and welcomed me into your home and even into your lives. I don’t think I can word this the way I want to but… really. Thank you, so much. I know I have to leave in a week, but—”

“Oh!”

You halt mid-spiel, wide eyes moving to Taehyung as he suddenly sits up, holding his hands out. “So that’s what you wanted to talk to us about—we actually wanted to talk to you about something, too.”

Freezing, you simply blink, mind coming up blank as to what they could possibly want to talk to you about. Namjoon clears his throat when no one else follows up after Taehyung, averting his eyes before he gathers himself and meeting your confused look. “Well, you probably noticed we’ve been talking amongst ourselves a lot lately—I mean, I know you’ve noticed because you’ve walked in on us a few times, and we’re not very good at being subtle, but—”

“We want to know if you’d like to stay here—permanently.” Taehyung cuts his friend off before he can finish, apparently no longer able to hold the question at bay. There is an expression of pure, unguarded sincerity on his face, excitement lighting in his eyes. “We all talked it out and found that we want you to stay—all of us.”

“You fit,” Yoongi says suddenly, voice still soft but loud enough for you to catch easily. He offers you a gentle smile when you look his way. “We know that if you left, the house wouldn’t be the same after… it would be missing something. You haven’t been here long, but you’re kind of already part of our family so… please don’t go, if you don’t want to.”

Some of the others are pinning Yoongi with a surprised look that you suspect is not directed at what he said, but rather the fact that he said it. You’re too busy biting your lip and trying not to cry like a baby to notice all that much.

“Is that really okay?” you ask, déjà vu washing over you as you think to yourself that again, this sounds too good to be true. “Do you guys really want me to stay?”

Immediately, there is a mixture of nods and loud ‘Yes!’s and ‘Of course!’. You really can’t hold it back, you find, because the sudden flood of warmth and affection washing over your insides is more than you know how to handle. You sniff, unable to reach the tears fast enough to prevent their fall down your face.

“Will you stay?” Yoongi asks, head tilted. Regrettably, his tenderness makes more tears fall.

“Yeah,” you manage, wiping your face furiously, “Yeah, I will. Thank you.”

And that’s all the confirmation you need before your new family is tackling you one by one, replacing your sobs with laughter and making sure you know that from now on, you don’t have to cry alone, you don’t have to be sad alone. They’re here for you.

And it feels so, so nice.

a/n: thank you so much for reading! please let me know what you think and how it made u feel, and let me know u enjoyed it by liking and reblogging! feel free to even just send me an ask screaming! thank u! i love u !

#btsghostie #bts x reader #bts hybrid au #hybrid bts #bts oneshot #bts fic #bts fanfic #ot7 x reader #bts ot7 x reader #seokjin x reader #yoongi x reader #hoseok x reader #namjoon x reader #jimin x reader #taehyung x reader #jungkook x reader #bts fluff #hybrid seokjin #hybrid yoongi #hybrid hoseok #hybrid namjoon #hybrid jimin #hybrid taehyung #hybrid jungkook #hybrid au #my work #sunshine riptide

[so-writing]

Sugar, Honey, Ice and Tea - Matthew Tkachuk (5)

all parts in the master list

Note: ‘Someday We’ll Know’ by New Radicals is the song for this part so I recommend listening it while you read, and also regularly because it is a beautiful song - also editing is trash once again because I just write and post like a maniac would

++

The pounding headache you’d woken up with hours ago had now reduced itself to a dull ache behind your eyebrows. It was enough to distract you from the arm wrapped around your waist but not enough to ignore the hard member pressed against the small of your back. 

You knew who was laying behind you and while you knew it was a perfectly natural thing, you felt shock due to the fact the Matthew Tkachuk was sporting wood while cuddled up with your body. 

His breathing was irregular and his heart was beating fast. You could tell because his face was crushed into your neck and his chest was pressed against your back. 

He was awake. 

You had to unwrap yourself from his body without giving him any indication that you knew about his ‘situation.’

*

“Fuck, I really need to pee!” 

She hurried out of the bed and booked it to the bathroom at such a breakneck speed that Matthew was sure he’d gotten away with it. 

He rolled onto his stomach and willed his boner away. This was not the time or place for anything sexual.

Matthew heard the sound of the shower turn on, sighing in relief that she was beginning her day and was probably completely unaware of what had just taken place. 

He sighed heavily and, remembering that there was no game and an evening practice, went back to sleep.

*

“Nope,” you muttered to yourself as the hot water ran down your chest, “this is not a thing I should be feeling. Absolutely fucking not.”

You couldn’t get the feeling of Matthew’s body pressed against yours out of your head and it was annoying because you knew better. 

The civility between the two of you was just blossoming and the last thing you needed was to think about his naked body while the two of you tiptoed around each other masquerading as friends for everyone else’s sake. 

No, it wasn’t a thing. You wouldn’t let it be. You weren’t attracted to him, there was no way you could be. Up until a day or two ago, he wasn’t even nice to you. You weren’t into assholes, and there was no doubt in your mind that Matthew was an asshole. 

While you were on it, what the fuck was with the shit he’d said last night? He wanted to cuddle with you, when twenty-four hours prior he had you sleeping alone on the floor?

Sure, he’d been drunk but still, it didn’t make any fucking sense. As far as you knew, you were not Matthew’s type and didn’t think even drunk him would have any interest in touching you. 

You chalked it up to just another reason you could say he was an asshole decided to read anything into it. 

The once hot water was now barely room temperature by the time you’d worked through your thoughts and you almost finished your shower until another thing, not from the night before, came to mind.

‘You ought to get dressed though, you’ve got goosebumps like all over your body.’

‘All over your body.’

Why was he looking so closely in the first place? 

*

Matthew knocked on the bathroom door to make sure he was completely alone, though hours had gone by and there was no way she was still in the shower.

The lack of response from the other side of the door made had him smiling as he entered to brush his teeth and take his own shower. 

He noted the few products that weren’t his sitting on the shower shelf. Picking up one of the bottles and rolling it in his hand he wondered out loud, “Lord of Misrule? What the fuck is Lush?”

Matthew was a 3-in-1 type of guy. Fancy bath products didn’t do it for him, what was the point? That didn’t stop him from using it anyway. 

Thinking about the previous night, the earliest thing he could clearly recall was taking his first round of shots. Everything else was a mess of fragmented memories but he knew that he wouldn’t have initiated such closeness between the two of them. He barely liked her, hell, he barely even knew her (not like that had stopped him before) but he wouldn’t mess around with somebody on staff, even he had his limits.

He didn’t think she liked him either but he knew he didn’t pull her into him, so that meant she was the one that started it. 

“Maybe she’s been cold to me because she’s into me and she can’t do anything about it,” he mused and squirted more shower gel into his hand, “that’s got to be it.”

*

You went about your day as normally as you could, opting not to watch practice because you weren’t ready to see Matthew after this morning’s debacle. 

It wasn’t until about 10 in the evening that you decided it was time to leave the arena and head back to the hotel. You’d been working slow, forcing the time to pass but you were tired and knew you’d have to face him eventually. 

Only tonight and tomorrow were left until the Flames would be heading back home and you could resume sleeping alone in the comfort of your own home. 

You hoped Matthew would be sleeping when you got back, but much to your disappointment, he was sitting up in bed with his face in his phone and AirPods in his ears. 

“Where have you been? It’s really late.”

“Had work to do,” you mumbled as you grabbed your pajamas and headed into the bathroom to change. 

You changed, brushed your teeth and washed your face at a glacial pace. Twenty-five minutes had to have passed when you exited the bathroom and sat down on your side of the bed. 

“There’s something I want to talk to you about and I think it might be a kind of touchy subject, but we should address it.”

Oh god, what was he talking about?

“Uh, ok, what’s up?”

“Look, I know it’s probably hard for you to be around me, feeling the way you do and all, but it doesn’t have to be weird.”

Feeling the way you feel? What the fuck did that mean?

“What are you talking about?”

“I figured out why last night happened and why you’ve been so cold to me all this time. You like me.”

The fuck?!

The little smirk resting on his lips was begging to be slapped off. You had never given him any indication that you were interested in him at all. Until this morning, you thought nothing positive about Matthew Tkachuk and those few positive thoughts were strictly physical. Yeah, he was definitely an asshole.

“I, the opposite of like you, Matthew. When have I ever given you the green light that I might be interested? We don’t even fucking look at each other most of the time. This roadie is the most we’ve ever even talked to each other. What makes you think I would want someone like you?”

“You clearly cuddled with me all night, that’s what makes me think you would ‘want someone like me!’ I would never be the one to pull the trigger when it came to getting close to someone like you.” 

“You don’t remember last night, do you?”

“Most of it is a blur, yes, but that-“

“You came in hammered drunk and told me you wanted to hold me and then we went to sleep,” you cut him off. “Don’t think I didn’t feel your fucking dick shoved into my back this morning. You started this, Matthew. I don’t feel any ounce of attraction, physically or emotionally, to you at all.” 

It wasn’t entirely the truth but you were pissed. How fucking arrogant was he that he thought you had feelings for him when he was the one making the first move by coming back for a drunk cuddle?

His face was beat red, “that can’t be true, I wouldn’t do that.”

“Well, you did and I stupidly let you for whatever fucking reason. I should’ve forced you to go to sleep and spent another night on the floor.” 

He didn’t respond, instead focusing all his attention on the corner of the blanket he was kneading between his fingers.

“This is hopeless, Matthew. You and I are just two people who will never get along. Our personalities don’t mesh at all and that’s fine. We need to go to sleep though, two games two days in a row is going to be a bitch.” 

Flicking off the light, neither of you bothered to say goodnight as you both stayed on your respective edges of the bed, putting as much space between you as possible. 

---

Your respective alarms went off within fifteen minutes of each other, and like robots, you both got prepared for the day ahead without a word to one another. You both left for team breakfast at the same time, you heading in the direction of the staff and Matthew going off to join the players.

“So how’s it going with Tkachuk?”

“I mean, it could obviously be better. He’s making it pretty fucking hard for me to continue liking this job.” 

“I have tea,” one of the newer assistants spoke up, “if you’re interested.”

“About me?” 

“Yep, about you and concerning Tkachuk. Only if you’re interested though,” I smile played at her lips and you could tell she was dying to spill whatever secrets she was keeping.

“Hit me with it.”

“I was asked to go out with the group of guys the other night to make sure no one got in too much trouble, so I was there for everything that happened and while I know that he was very drunk when he shouted it across the bar,” she leaned in and the rest of you mimicked her action, “he doesn’t hate you at all. He’s actually pretty fucking interested in getting to know you in a much more intimate setting.”

“Bullshit.”

“He said it, I swear!”

“I believe he said it, but he was drunk and when he came back to the hotel room and insisted on cuddling until we fell asleep, he was drunk then too.”

“Wait, what?!” 

Several people started talking at once, asking you questions and making assumptions. 

“Nothing happened,” you raised your voice a little to silence them, “honestly. I’d never, especially not with him. I had also been drinking wine too so my guard was down but it was stupid and he acted even more idiotic about it the next morning.” 

You recounted what you could remember of the other night and yesterday morning when he claimed you were the one to make the first move because you ‘liked’ him. It was probably something that should’ve stayed private, but if Matthew was going to say what he did at the bar, drunk or not, and blame everything on you, you figured you’d share your side of the story.

*

“One more night with your best friend and then you’re home free, Chuky.”

“I absolutely cannot wait, and the next time there’s an issue with the rooms and she ends up as my bedmate, one of you will be fucking trading with me.”

“I don’t know, man,” Gio clapped him on the shoulder, “I love a good, slow burning love story and this one has been incredibly entertaining.”

“The fuck are you talking about?” 

“You’re kind of into her, I can tell.”

“I am not into her. Not even a tiny fucking bit, man. Don’t spread that shit around.”

“Why? You don’t want her to find out?”

“There’s nothing to find out. I’m not into her.”

“Ok, man, don’t get so defensive. You’re not into her.”

“Yeah, you definitely can’t stand her,” Noah Hanifin piped up, “that’s why you told the whole bar you’d fuck her into the shitty hotel mattress if she’d give you the chance!”

“Don’t fucking lie man, I didn’t say that.” 

“You did, but I’ll let you pretend like it was a drunken moment and not repressed pining.”

“Shut up, all of you, if you want me to get my shit together on the ice, you should stop bringing her up.”

It was petty and every one of them knew it but they didn’t want to frazzle Matt even more than he already was, so the subject was quickly dropped. 

*

The Flames won in a 4-0 shutout.

Game Two was a complete success and instead of the players going out on their own, a bar was rented out and everyone was in attendance. 

Ignoring Matthew was pretty easy at first. He scored one of the goals so plenty of the other guys were on him but as the night went on and the booze continued to flow, he found you. 

“Hey,” he slurred slightly, “sorry about this morning and last night. I was wrong to assume, you know what they say when you assume.”

You were pleasantly tipsy and not entirely bothered by his presence at the current moment, so you humored him.

“No, what do they say?” 

“When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.”

“You mean when you assume, because I made no assumptions but you certainly did.” 

“Yeah, I did. I’m sorry.”

There was something about the way he was looking at you at that moment, coupled with the song playing over the speakers at the bar that had you feeling some sort of way. 

‘Someday we’ll know if love can move mountain. 

Someday we’ll know  why the sky is blue. 

Someday we’ll know  why I wasn’t meant for you.’

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t do this tomorrow,” you placed your hands on his shoulders and leaned up on your toes to press your lips against his. 

#Matthew Tkachuk #Matthew Tkachuk imagine #nhl imagine