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wordynerdygurl · 3 years

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Hello Everyone! I've been conspiring with @sammy-jo1977 to create a new series of sorts. We want to explore all those characters that started us on our journey into Fandoms, large and small.

This series will be a place for those ladies and gents who haven't had a lot of attention recently, are old favorites or the ones you can't seem to shake. If you would like to contribute a chapter to this guide, please send me a message! We want to have a full and accurate guide, so we are hoping you'll hop in with your character of expertise!

As an example, I'm posting our first story... I'd love to get your thoughts! With Love - Your WordyNerdyGurl

In The Stacks - A Rupert Giles Story

Author’s Note: This story is due, in large part, to my beta-bestie @sammy-jo1977 and it is part of the afore mentioned series. This character might be off television, but his fiery spirit lives on!! As always, reblogs/ shares are encouraged as are comments and love!

Pairing: Female Reader x Giles (Buffy The Vampire Slayer Series) Summary: You get up to mischief with the librarian, in the stacks. Warnings: SMUT ahead. General Buffy knowledge might help, but is not required. There’s a moment with a bit of blood, but hopefully nothing too triggering for anyone! I hope you enjoy!

“Mr. Giles?” “Just a moment!” You heard the clipped British voice answer before being drowned out by the heavy thumping of falling books and the rustling sound of shifting papers hitting the floor. As you stepped further into the Sunnydale High library, you weren’t surprised to see the familiar faces of Buffy, Willow, Xander and Cordelia huddled around a small table. The friends were practically inseparable and clearly close. You found their kinship adorable and couldn’t help smiling at the group as you drew closer. “Hello to some of my best students! And of course, to you Mr. Harris. How is everyone today?”

Willow, stalwart student and overachiever, smiled broadly, “Pretty good. I did ace my math quiz and got an A on my English paper… but, well, I only pulled a B on my Bio test and I just know that I could have done better.” Offering her friend a consoling pat to the shoulder, Buffy sighed, “It’s ok, Will. You’ll get those cells next time!” “Tune in next week as Willow passes her AP Biology test with flying colors, on ‘As Sunnydale Turns’!” Before anyone could counter, Giles came around the corner carrying a sturdy stack of texts which he dropped onto the table as gently as the large load allowed, “As always, you four are the best assistants a librarian could ask for.” “Come on Giles! You know I only hang out here for the beautiful ladies!” Pinching the bridge of his strong nose, Rupert Giles sighed, “I am well aware of where your interests lie, Xander.” “Please, he can hardly handle being with one beautiful girl.” That was from Cordelia who pouted prettily, her hand mirror open as she fixed her hair. “My girlfriend, ladies and gentlemen! Thanks for that, Cordy.” Snapping the case shut, staring down her beau, she smiled, “You’re welcome.” “Uh, Mr. Giles, if I may?” You hated to interrupt but you had come in with a purpose and you meant to see it through. “Yes, of course, how can I help?” Shuffling your feet, a bit nervous now with the asking, you smiled shyly, “I asked at the local library but they were absolutely no help. You see, I’m looking for a specific point of reference and I was led to believe that you could help me.” “Oh! Is it something for our Inner Vision collage boards? I love working on mine, only… It’s not my fault that I only see dark clouds and blood when I close my eyes.” “Well, Miss Summers, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And the best art challenges us to see that beauty.” “I hate to tell you what I see when I close my eyes.” Xander retorted. “Ah, Mr. Harris, your collage certainly showcases your, ahem, cultured world view.” “Hey! The Simpsons are fine art, ok? Just because they don’t live in a museum doesn’t mean they aren’t culture.” Giles, unable to stand by any longer griped, “Xander, I am almost positive that cartoons do not count as culture.” You started to answer but Buffy cut you short, adding, “Don’t mind Giles. If it doesn’t come out of some dirty, dusty old book it can’t be culture.” “It’s pop culture! The entertainment of my generation!” It was your turn to cut in, turning to the tweed clad gentleman, “Actually, Mr. Giles, Xander has a point. Cartoons and animation in general are all increasingly seen as valid forms of art. No matter what your tomes might tell you.” Smirking a little, he appraised your answer before replying, “Be that as it may, Mr. Harris, the amount of television you consume is corrosive.” Raising his hands in defense, Xander’s head swiveled between the two of you as Willow chimed in, “Give it up, Xander. You know you’ll never win and besides, I’m pretty sure that animation and art are different. Wait. They are, aren’t they?” “When I was in Rome last summer, the very attractive, very Italian tour guide told us that they’ve found painted graffiti on the Coliseum. It only goes to prove that times change but people don’t.” “Cordy’s right! About the art, not the dishy Italian. And they didn’t paint it, they carved it.” Bouncing her blonde hair decisively, Buffy made her declaration. “Wouldn’t paint be easier? I mean, who wants to carry a chisel in order to deface a wall?” “Oh! Oh! I know this! The kind of paint needed to last for centuries hadn’t been invented yet!” Willow, lifting out of her seat in the excitement of academic excellence, was giddy. “Yes, Willow, that is correct. In fact, a lot of the graffiti is simple and very crude. Mostly of the phallus, if memory serves. I’m sure I can find a documented case in Agrippa if you’ll all just-” And you watched as everyone rolled their eyes as Giles trailed off, lost now in the hunt for a specific volume which could be sited, should further proof be needed. “Ew. Pass.” “I’m with Buffy here, Giles. Keep your Grecian graffiti out of my brain.” “I’ll stick with the Simpsons, thank you very much.” “Yes, well. It’s not Grecian at all, is it? It’s Roman-” Smiling broadly, Buffy hopped off the table, “Giles is right. The Greeks were more into orgies!” “Buffy!” Willow’s shocked response made you cover a laugh with a fake cough. “-Of course, cites are rare. Very difficult to find documentation.” Giles, typically, hadn’t given up the search. Cutting through the chatter, louder than it ever needed to be, the period bell sounded. "Ugh. Gym class for me. Why is this even a thing?" "I don't know Buffy, I thought you liked showing off in your little shorts and beating the boys at basketball." "Cordy, that's enough. And while us boys do love looking at you, Buff... we don't love the beatings you regularly deliver." "Well, I have a free period Giles! Do you want me to stay and -" Snapping shut the leather book he was gripping, Giles caught your eye and turned to the peppy student, "Uh, no Willow, I don't think so. I believe I need to see what our Art Department is in need of at the moment." With a shrug, Willow began packing up her belongings as Xander slung his back back over his shoulder, "Will, you can come with me. I'm going to find a nice little corner, under a tree, and sleep away my study hall." “But, I… I could help find the Agrippa? Or… some other old Roman book?” Xander wrapped an arm around Willow and took Cordelia’s open hand, “But why do that when nothing calls?” "Another fine example of your scholastic aptitude, Mr. Harris", was your parting shot at the foursome as they walked out the door. "Well. Mr. Giles, now that we’re alone… Could I talk you into helping me out?" “Of course, of course.” Pushing his glasses further up his nose, fixing his light eyes on yours, “What are we looking for?” Sighing deeply, knowing the chances were slim, “I was hoping we would find some examples of Pre-Columbian deity carvings.” Pausing, his look serious, Giles peered at you, “Interesting. Anything in particular?” “Yes, actually.” Again you flushed, more than a little flustered at what you were really looking for, “I’m researching fertility icons.” Raising his eyebrows, Giles started, more than a little outside of his comfort zone, but you had to give him credit. He recovered from the shock rather quickly, “Oh… I… I see. Well yes, I’m sure we can find… something. If you’ll follow me, please.” “I’m right behind you.” Biting into your bottom lip, you smiled to yourself. Right behind Mr. Giles? What a place to be. Giles led the young art teacher through the deepest stacks of the library, pausing once or twice to confirm that she was keeping up with him. He was ashamed to admit that he had lost travelers a time or two as he stalked through his overstuffed shelves, knowing instinctively where to find the book he needed most. For her, watching the tweed covered bottom of Mr. Giles was no hardship. True, he was older and tad bit reserved in the best British way, yet she had the sneaking suspicion that underneath all the wool and starched cotton was the heart of a wild man poet. "Uh... just a bit further, I'm afraid. Books like this, well, I keep them at a greater remove." "It makes sense. Don't want the kiddos getting a hold of anything too tantalizing." "Of course not. As you well know, they don't need much help in the libidinous response department." You chuckled softly, nodding as the air around you grew stuffier, "Too true! You should see what some of them turn in and call art. It would make a blind man blush." And at the mention of blushing, you were shocked to see a rosy hue grow on Mr. Giles' cheeks. You liked it. It reminded you of the high color in a Vermeer painting. You couldn’t help the flutter in your belly at the thought, "Mr. Giles, have you ever seen a South American fertility statue?" "I can't say that I have... have... have you?" Something about the idea of you examining an ancient artifact directly connected to sexual congress made his body stir. "Hmm... Oh, yes. I was able to study in Mexico for a semester. Some of the art work is just incredible and the carvings, they're truly magnificent. Carefully made. Usually stone or..." swallowing hard, your throat suddenly dry, "hard wood." Breaking fast at the implication in your words, Giles froze in place which caused you to press directly against his broad, vest covered back. You had a second to register the soft scent of his aftershave; something spicy and masculine, which made your mouth water. Moaning quietly, you offered a weak apology, “Oh, I am so sorry, Mr. Giles.” Offering you his profile, the bookcases too cramped for him to turn around fully, you saw his sweet smile, “That’s… that’s quite alright. In fact, we’re here.” Stepping out of the way, you pushed back against the opposite wall, the shelves digging into your spine in the confined space. Giles bent over, giving you a great view of his backside, as he extracted a slim book from the bottommost ledge. When he stood up, directly in front of you, the narrow, book covered alcove caused him to stumble. Giles’ chest collided with your own, forcing the air out of your lungs. Instinctively, you lifted a leg, curling it over the swell of one trousered hip and lifting the hem of your knee length plaid kilt. Nose to nose in a compromising position, you exhaled a shaky breath as Mr. Giles inhaled, “Close quarters around here.” Shifting under his deceptively hard figure, it was difficult to ignore all the places that were firm to the touch, especially when you could feel so much through the thin barrier of your cotton panties. Bracing one arm on the obliging shelf biting into your shoulder, Giles pushed back a bit, lifting his weight off of you without making any other attempts to move away. He was so close now. Close enough to feel your fuzzy sweater and all the soft skin that trembled beneath it. Close enough to see the pound of your pulse in your throat. Close enough that when you licked over your bottom lip Giles could almost taste it too. And why shouldn’t he? “Giles?” Your voice was whisper soft, fanning hotly over the face of your colleague. “Uh… yes?” “I’m stuck.” Blinking behind his thick lenses, it took the normally quick witted Brit a second to process your words, “You’re stuck?” Nodding slowly, your hair curling over your cheek, “My… My skirt. It’s… uh, caught. Caught on something behind me.” “Good heavens! I’m so sorry, let me help you.” Slowly, Giles lowered your bare leg to the floor, his hand lingering for a second longer than absolutely necessary. He was still in your space. Still incredibly close to you. You arched away from the bookcase in an attempt to free yourself with a groan that sounded heady in the stuffy stacks. All you managed to do was force your sweater covered décolletage into Giles’ chest. Stammering, a wave of sweat breaking over his brow, “Allow me?” The way your skirt was caught pulled the bright plaid lower on your waist than you would normally consider decent. It meant that you had a fleshy strip of skin exposed along your tummy and Giles raised his eyebrows by means of asking permission to touch you. “Yea, yes. Please!” Tentatively, gently, you felt the strong fingers of Rupert Giles circle your waist and shivered at the unfamiliar familiarity of his touch. Your chin rested on his shoulder as he worked and you couldn’t help sighing when he opened his hands and pulled you closer. Under other circumstances you might have misunderstood the embrace but you were both professionals. Not that you hadn’t considered the handsome book guardian a time or two before. “I… I think we’re almost there. If you’ll just, maybe to the right?” “Um, sure.” Following his directions you twisted in his arms, trying hard not to tear your outfit or rub against Giles. All the close contact and talk of fertility gods had you feeling a little aroused and it wouldn’t do for your colleague to learn that fact. With a triumphant grunt, Giles set you free, only for gravity to kick back in. The momentum created by your falling took the gentleman and the entire Grollier’s Gothic Almanac collection with you. A cascade of papers, scrolls and dust rained down on you both. Coughing, aware that you were laying on something softer than the floor, you struggled into a sitting position, swatting away clouds of disintegrated pages, “Rupert? Are you alright?” From beneath you a rumbling grumble that sounded like, “Yes quite… you?” was heard. It was then that you realized exactly where you were. Straddling your friendly neighborhood librarian, surrounded by debris, but safe, all the same. “Oh my! I’m so-” “No, No. Please, don’t apologize. I’ve been meaning to reorganize this section and well, now it seems I’ve got no choice.” “You’ve got a bump. Right here…” Just over his right eye a small bruised egg, the color of lilacs, was starting to rise and you gingerly touched the swelling spot. “Then it will match the one on the back of my head perfectly.” “Poor Giles! All of this injury in the name of research!” “No one ever tells you the dangers one might encounter in the library.” His dry British wit sent you both into giggles and suddenly nothing could be funnier than the moment you were in with Mr. Giles. Looking up at you, his fingertip traced over your cheek, suddenly serious, “I’m not the only one with a war wound, it appears.” “Oh?” Your hand covered his as you realized that you had a small cut, bleeding just a little, over the apple of your jaw. Smoothing his thumb over your injury, Giles soothed you, saying, “Hush now, I think you’ll live.” And you watched as Giles sucked the drop of scarlet from the pad there, his green eyes on yours, daring you. Something about it was so… sinful. So dark. So alluring. Then his lips were on yours, suddenly and savagely. Hands, firm and capable, slid under the fluff of your sweater along your spine as you tangled your own in his dark hair. Giles, drawing you near, was satisfied only when you were splayed over him, writhing between the piles of text and stacks of piled paperbacks, as his tongue plundered your mouth. Trapped by his bent knees at your bottom, Giles helped center you over the firmness of his excitement, teasing you as you moaned, “Oh, oh Rupert!” “Call me Ripper.” Before the word had left your throat, Giles was sloppily kissing over your neck, sucking lightly on the skin revealed by the v-neck of your top. Sitting up quickly, you lifted the soft sweater over your head, tossing it away from you without concern. Like one of the teenagers you might chastise, you then hugged your lover tight, gasping when you felt the nip of teeth over your bra. “Giles… Uh, Ripper! Please, go easy?” With a hard grip on your upper thigh and one hand on the back of your neck, Giles held you still, smirking, “If you wanted easy you shouldn’t have come looking for fertility icons, my dear little art teacher. And if this particular article of clothing-” He paused long enough to pinch at your hardening nipple before continuing, “-is dear to you, take it off.” Clenching your abdominals at his crass language, more turned on that you could remember, you reached behind you. Unhooking the pretty scrap of lace and satin, you shyly covered yourself, biting into your bottom lip, “Fine… Ripper. Should I be worried for my virtue?” “Absolutely.” Without waiting for permission, Giles pulled your arms away, exposing your bare body to his blazing gaze, “You have nothing to hide, you know? You are-” “Just shut up and kiss me, Ripper.” And he did. Grinding your hips into his, it was impossible to ignore his hardening manhood, even through the fabric of his pressed trousers. Giles cupped your bottom, under your skirt but over your panties, bouncing you in place as if he was already inside of you. For your part, you tried to unbutton his pin striped shirt, but the force of his kisses was proving too distracting. “Oh, dear! Poor thing been kissed senseless?” He was teasing and cruel, but in the sexiest possible way. Red cheeked and huffing, you nodded, “Yes… let me touch you!” “Tsk… you didn’t say ‘please’.” “Please! Please, Ripper! Oh god, please let me!” Unseating you slightly, Giles leaned up on his elbows, cocking his head to one side as he took in the mess he had made of you, “Go ahead then. Unzip my pants.” “What?” Removing his glasses, eyeing you darkly, “You heard me, I think.” Swallowing hard, your hands shaking with excitement, you reached for Giles’ belt. Watching him, and only him, you slowly slide the leather from it’s buckle. When you popped the button of his pants and let your hand drag over his hardened length, Rupert groaned and tossed his head back, “Yes. Keep going.” Slowly, agonizingly so, you lowered the zipper as you were ordered to do, “What now, Ripper?” “Take me out. I want you to feel what you do to me.” “I can do that.” You played it cool, but the saucy words being said in that clipped British baritone did things to you. They made your thighs tighten, your belly flutter and your breath catch. Trailing a hand over Giles' barely exposed hip, you moved closer to the prize, your prize, as it pulsed with need. Wrapping your hand around the meaty girth of Rupert's member, you couldn't help stroking the silky hot skin, so vital in your palm. That it caused the man beneath you to moan your name only added fuel to the fire of your desire. Slick and sorely wanting, you licked your lips, ready to savor the flavor of your book stacking beau but he stopped you, saying, "Last chance to run back to the studio." "No way… Ripper." And you felt a rough jerk as your panties were removed by force, the air cool on your overheated core. Another kiss, full of needful things, distracted you as Giles parted your lower lips with his nimble fingers. Pumping into you, once, twice, just to ensure that you were ready, Rupert swiftly stretched your center. With your small hand guiding his shaft, you lowered yourself onto the engorged tower of his power, crying out a ragged, "Oh God!" You thought you were capable of handling any man, but the delicious spread Giles' fine form forced you to endure was more than you expected. Clutching at his bunched up sweater vest, your back arched tautly as Rupert dragged your hips down onto his unrelenting hardness over and over. In your head, a rhythmic, tribal tattoo that made you think of ancient fires and curved statues took hold and you rose and fell against Giles on the beats vibrating through your brain. He sensed it too, alternating his stroke, slowing down and speeding up in time with the thrumming pulse only the pair of you could hear. "I want you to cum for me. Do you understand? Tell me you understand." "Yes! Yes! I'm so close, Ripper! So close!" "Good. That's very good." Tingling now, your muscles tensed, ready for the release Rupert would provide. You flung yourself onto his swollen sex without thought or reason, merely searching for the pleasure he had promised. His thumb, so thick, so clever, pressed against your sensitive clit and your world imploded. Rupert felt it. The moment your body and his melded together was forceful. It tore his pleasure from his loins in grunting gasps as he experienced your ecstacy at his hands. Limp and listless, you draped your half nude body over his, dazed and drained. Who knew screwing the librarian would feel this good? In your post coital haze you started to laugh. Giles, his hands roaming over the sweat soaked skin of your back, heard your chuckles and joined in. It was another release, of sorts, and you found it almost as intimate as the act you had just committed. Folding your hands under your chin, flashing Rupert a wide smile, "Ripper, huh?" Sliding his glasses back into place and carding a hand through his hair, Giles grinned, "Oh, uh… yes. Ripper. My nickname in London." Toying with the collar of his shirt, "I'd love to hear about London sometime… Ripper." At the sound of that name in your voice, Rupert flexed inside of you, "Call me that again and you'll miss last period." Gasping against him, nodding weakly, "Hmm… promise?" That made him smile broadly as he handed you back your sweater, "We can't have a repeat of last week, can we?" "It wasn’t my fault you didn't hear the bell ring, Mr. Giles!" Sitting up, you fastened your bra and shrugged into your sweater before asking, "Did you have to destroy my undies?" "I'm afraid I did. Although I told you to remove anything dear, didn't I?" "What am I gonna do for the next hour, Giles?" Pushing his glasses up, "I would advise you not to bend over." Swatting at him playfully, you used one of the sturdier shelves to stand, adjusting your skirt and fluffing your hair. Looking around at the absolute mess created by falling books, embarrassed, you asked, "Can I help clean this up?" "No, I don't think that'll be necessary. After all, Willow will be in-" "Along with Buffy and Xander and Cordelia. Got it." Standing himself, Giles chuckled as he fastened his trousers and set himself to rights, "Precisely. Now-" he bent over to retrieve a slim volume, "- The book you asked about. Fertility iconography in Meso-American subcultures." "Thanks. Ya know, I always enjoy coming to the library. I'm surprised more people don't." Walking with you, his hand on your lower back, nuzzling into your neck, "I enjoy you cumming in the library." It was on the tip of your tongue to say something fresh when the overly loud bell clanged. Lifting up on tiptoes you pressed a kiss to the goose egg over Giles' eye, saying, "I hope that makes it feel better!" Snagging you into a tight hug, Giles stared into your eyes before kissing you deeply, "That. That makes it feel better." And then the library door swung wide on the four students who called the library a second home, "Um… are my eyes deceiving me or is Giles sporting a black eye? I was only gone for an hour, big guy, what happened?" "If you must know, Xander, a shelf collapsed in the back. We were fortunate enough not to be badly hurt but, there were some bumps and bruises." "A shelf! Oh no… which one?!" Giles turned to Willow solemnly, "I'm afraid all the Grollier’s… and most of Crentist." "On it. Come on Xander. You can help me sort!" "Aw, gee. That sounds like fun." As the pair trotted off, you turned to Giles, whispering low, "Dinner? My place? You can tell me about London, your childhood and why you love tweed." Eyeing Buffy, who was distracted and a distraught, Giles answered, "Tonight? Um…" "He'd love to! Say 9 o'clock? And, he'll bring the wine."

Spinning on your heel, surprised that Buffy was your champion, you grinned, "Great! Awesome! I will see you then."

As you left you heard the bubbly blonde doling out instructions, "No Giles. You can't wear that outfit to dinner! You need to look nice. Nicer than you do now. Also, why is there so much dust in your hair?" If Giles answered you didn’t hear it over your big yawn. You had a lot to do between now and 9 o’clock. Rupert Giles was coming over for dinner and you could hardly wait.

------ Fin ------- I’m tagging my minxes, even though this is specifically NOT a Loki story. I do want you guys to send me stories that might fall under the “Hot Characters” banner though! Minxes: @scrumptious-finicky-illusion @iamverity @mizfit2 @sammy-jo1977 @wolfsmom1 @jessiejunebug @iluvsumbucky @unadulteratedwizardlove @procrastinatinglikeabitch @shxdowofdarkness @nonsensicalobsessions @ahintofkiwistrawberry @alexakeyloveloki @rorybutnotgilmore @crystalizedcaramel @lokislittlecorner @capcapcapsicle @jamielea81 @caffiend-queen @otakumultimuse-hiddlewhore @jenjen8675309 @that-one-person @roguewraith @toomanystoriessolittletime @vodka-and-some-sass @just-random-obsessions @brokenthelovely @lots-of-loki @thefallenbibliophilequote

#giles #rupert giles #rupert giles x you #giles x you #hot characters you forgot about #rupert giles smut #giles smut #buffy fanfiction

148 notes · View notes

wholesome-lee-trash · 2 years

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I posted 32 times in 2021

30 posts created (94%)

2 posts reblogged (6%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.1 posts.

I added 94 tags in 2021

#sanders sides tickling - 18 posts

#sanders sides fanfiction - 18 posts

#sanders sides - 11 posts

#tickle fanfic - 9 posts

#tickles - 7 posts

#lee!virgil - 7 posts

#ticklish - 7 posts

#ler!roman - 6 posts

#lee!logan - 6 posts

#ler!remus - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 25 characters

#avatar the last airbender

My Top Posts in 2021

Patton x Remus (I’m not sure what the ship name is) a tickle monster fight? (Sorry I’m very bad at prompts (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)）

YESSS when I saw this I just went... That is perfect.

Word count: 526

Warnings: Remus, Deceit, murderers, and tickles.

Characters: Patton, Remus, Deceit, Logan

Fandom: Sanders Sides

I'm bored...

It was a pretty quiet day in the Mind Palace. Everyone was doing their own things in their rooms, when Patton got bored. He left his room, searching for someone to hang out with, when he found Remus watching TV.

"Hi Remus!" The moral side greeted.

"Hello! Don't you just find it so interesting, these shows?" Patton sits on the couch, and looks at the TV. He's watching a serial killer documentary.

"Uh... not really. Say, kiddo, why don't we watch something more... family friendly?"

"What? No!"

"But Remus!" Patton says.

"No! Jefferey Dahmer is so interesting! Did you know he was gay?"

"No...?"

"Yeah! And he-"

"I don't want to learn about murderers, Remus." Patton says, swaying from side to side to show he's bored.

"Then what DO you want to do?" Remus asks.

"I don't know. I'm bored." Patton says.

"Hm. What if you can fly, but only for a short period of time? Because jumping-"

"No. We're not jumping off the roof of a building to test your theory." The duke crosses his arms.

"But-"

"That's enough out of you, mister!" Patton says playfully and pounces on the Duke, sitting on his waist while he lay on the couch.

"Pat-" Remus gets cut off by his own laughter, when Patton starts using his thumbs to thoroughly massage his armpits. "Nohohoho!"

"Awe!" Patton says. "Adorable."

"Nohohoho! Ihihi'm nohohOHOHOT!" Remus's laughter significantly increases when Patton moves to his belly. "PAHAHATTON! NO!"

"Mm... Patton yes." He says, dipping his finger into the Duke's belly button, as his shirt had ridden up some from all the squirming.

"I think I found a giggle button Remus!" A snort, and Patton stopped immediately, hoping he wasn't going too far, and Remus was getting enough oxygen.

"Hehehehe." Remus allowed the residual giggles to leave his system. Then Remus looked at Patton with a glint of mischief in his eyes. Patton knew that look, so he tried to run for the door, but Remus tackled him to the floor before he could get away.

"Remus, can't we tahalk about thihis?" Patton asks, already giggling, knowing what's about to happen.

"No." Remus says, going straight for Patton's tummy, which is definitely one of his worst spots. He immediately erupted into happy laughter, pushing at the Duke's hands.

"Nahahaha! Rehehmus!" Patton protested. "Dohohon't!"

"Don't what?"

"Tickle mehehe!"

"Tickle you? Ok, because you asked." Remus shrugs, dipping his finger into Patton's 'giggle button'.

"NOHOHOHO!" Patton squealed, kicking the floor and pushing as hard as he could at the Duke's hands.

"Ahem." A voice said from the doorway. The world seemed to stop for a moment, besides Patton's giggling. Both Patton and Remus turned their heads to see who it was. Logan and Deceit were in the doorway. Remus slowly got off of Patton, who sat up and protected his middle. The four sides just stared at each other for what seemed like the longest minute in existence.

"Patton?" Logan asks. The side in question shook his head, anticipatory giggles taking over.

"Remus?" Deceit asks. The Duke slowly shuffles away.

Safe to say this was one of the biggest tickle fights in the Mind Palace.

34 notes • Posted 2021-03-12 00:41:27 GMT

Remus spooking logan with threats to- uh oh, tiggle him~

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Word Count: 969

Ship: None

Characters: Ler!Remus, Lee!Logan, Roman, Patton, Virgil, Janus

Warnings: Deceit, Remus, Tickles

A/N: You know, I think the whole "Nothing gets past the tickle monster" Thing is gonna become that thing that I just do and that's how you know it's me. Hope you like the story!

Talking is Easy

It had started out as playful banter one day. But his reaction to it, it was priceless. So, he did what anyone would do. Continue.

"I'll tickle you if you don't give me a jar of Crofters!"

"Stop working so we can DO something! Or else... I'll tickle you!"

"I'm gonna tickle you!" Remus says, having fun teasing the normally stoic side. The poor man's reaction was adorable. A bright pink flush crept into his face, while he tried so desperately to hide it without looking suspicious. Stuttering over his words, he usually just went to his room to cool down for a bit.

But today he was acting just a bit strangely.

Logan woke up in a good mood. He felt a desire, butterflies in his stomach. But what could he possibly desire? Remus' words ran through his heads.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle!"

Oh, no.

If Logan even saw Remus today, he knew the Lee mood would get so much worse. Not to mention the teasing that he's been doing for however long it's been. He groans. If he goes to breakfast, he might see Remus. If he doesn't, Patton will worry and force him to leave his bedroom, and probably see Remus.

The logical side gets up and goes to breakfast, which happened to be waffles.

Logan has sat down and started eating before he witnessed a very rambunctious dark side enter the room.

"Morning everyone! What are we having for breakfast today? Ooh! Pancakes with abs!" Logan then sees a very tired looking Deceit walk through the doorway. Been there before. The Duke gobbles down his waffles and runs out the room, like a child on Christmas morning running to see their presents.

"How does he have so much energy all. The. Time?" Deceit whines, laying his head on the table. Logan, feeling sympathy for him, took care of his dishes and went to find the Duke.

"Why, hello there, Lo-Lo!" Remus says.

"That... isn't how you sit on a couch." He had sat himself on the top of the sofa, leaning against the wall behind him, feet on the cushions.

"Sure it is! Sit with me Logan!"

"How do you have so much energy?"

"Oh, simple! You just steal Janus' energy drink, replace it with water, and boom, now you have energy! Why, are you in the mood to steal, Lo?"

"No, I'm not. Merely curious, was all." Logan starts to walk away.

"Looogan!" Remus whines. "Sit with me! Or I'll tickle you!" Logan's face started to burn.

"Talking is easy, but doing is harder." Remus practically jumped off the couch.

"C'mere, Logan!" He called as a chase ensued. Logan never acted like that normally. Normally, he'd stutter a little, and then just leave the room. Today, he didn't do that. Strange.

Logan made it back to the kitchen table before Remus could catch him and hid behind Patton.

"What's going on, kiddo?" Patton asks, not opposed to shielding Logan from Remus.

"Come here, Lo!" Remus taunts, moving closer.

"No." Logan moves away.

"Remus." Deceit says sternly, ready to put up with his tomfoolery for the day. "Stop chasing Logan."

"Oh come on, Jan. He wants it! Don't you, Lo-lo?"

"No." Logan couldn't help the blush that rose on his cheeks.

"I'm so confused." Virgil says quietly.

"What's going on here?" Roman asks.

"Oh, I'm just going to tickle him!" The Duke answers.

"Really? Is that what this is all about?" Patton asks, directed towards Logan and Remus.

"Of course-" Logan saw an opening while Remus was answering Patton, and ran towards his room. "LOGAN!" Remus following not too far behind.

"Well, now I'm interested." Virgil says.

"Come on then! Let's go watch!" Roman jogs to catch up with them, Virgil close behind. Janus followed them silently, Patton left to clean the kitchen and bake some cookies.

"NO!"

"Yes!" The Duke yelled after Logan. They ran into some room, without an exit. It took Logan only a few seconds to realize his mistake, the Duke guarding the only door, the one they came in through.

"Uh... Now Remus. I-I'm sure we can talk about this, yeah?"

"Logan, you challenged me."

"I did not! I merely said, talking is easy, doing is- Oh." Remus stalked closer and Logan extended his arms, keeping distance between them. "No!"

"Yes!" Before Logan could comprehend, Remus tackled him and had him pinned on the floor.

"Remus! Get off!"

"No! But, I will do this!" His hands turn into claws, absolutely wrecking Logan's sides.

"ACK! No! RemuS!" Logan fights the wobbly smile that's already on his face, the giggles bubbling up quickly. His hands fly to the Duke's wrists, trying to push him off, unsuccessful.

"Oh, did you want me to move down here?" He teases, massaging his hips. Logic's head falls backwards, giggles streaming out of him uncontrollably.

"Nahahahahaha! Dohohohon't!"

"Awe, why not, Lo?"

"Ihihihit!"

"Tickles? Yeah, that's kinda the point." Remus moves up to Logan's ribs, scratching the spaces in between the bones.

"Nohohohahahaha! Rehehehemuhuhus!" Logan laughs, kicking his legs. He was becoming weaker by the second, the tickling too much to bear. Remus continued to switch between different tickle spots, keeping Logan on his toes. All Logan could do was laugh, which eventually became silent.

"Alright, that's enough." Roman intruded, pulling Remus off and smacking his hands away.

"Noooo!" The Duke whined as he watched Logan curl into a ball.

"Well, if you're done, I totally don't think that Patton's made some cookies." Janus says, scaring everyone but Remus, who's used to him seemingly popping up out of nowhere. Virgil helped Logan up, still a little giggly, while Roman walked with Remus. They all entered the kitchen, seeing as the cookies were on the stove cooling down.

"Where did Patton go?" Roman asks.

"Nothing gets past the tickle monster."

35 notes • Posted 2021-08-15 04:20:45 GMT

Prompt: Analogical tummy tickles! Virgil wants to tickle the others and starts with Logan. But of course, Logan gets him back (once he knows he's ok with it)!

YES. JUST YES.

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Characters: Switch!Logan, Switch!Virgil

Word count: 427

Warnings: None, just tickles!

You're Up Early

"Hi Logan." Virgil greets, walking into the common room and sitting on the couch.

"Hello Virgil. What are you doing up so early?" Logan asks.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Again?" The logical trait sighs. "You need sleep. There's many negative side effects-"

"I know, Logan. I know." A few beats of silence. Due to the restless night, he got a major ler mood, one because he wanted control.

"What's on your mind?" Logan asks. Virgil looks up at him, and back down at his hands.

"Nothing." The anxious trait mutters. What if he doesn't like to be tickled? What if he doesn't want it? What if the laughter wakes the others?

"Virgil." Logan says firmly, making Virgil's head snap up to pay attention. "No one else is here. You can talk to me. I'll admit that I'm not the best at helping with feelings, but-"

"I just... I want to... tickle someone. And I know that you don't really-"

"Virgil! Stop. If it will make you feel better, then I will... consent."

"Really? I don't want to force you." Virgil says.

"Yes."

"Ok... um... lay down? I guess?" So Logan lays down on the couch, as Virgil moves to sit on his hips. "Comfy?"

"Go ahead." Logan says, doing his best to keep his voice from faltering. Virgil starts squeezing up and down his sides, scratching lightly at his ribs, drilling his thumbs into armpits. The laughter that came from these minimal effort actions was magical.

"Awe, Logic." Virgil smirked, a teasing smirk. He started dancing his fingers across his tummy.

"VIHIRGIHIL!" Logan laughed, blush rising.

"What's wrong? Am I teasing you?" Logan turned his head, closing his eyes, and nodded, all the while laughing. "Don't worry. Let's get right to the point, shall we?"

"NOHOAHAHA!" Logan protested, unable to stop himself from gripping Virgil's wrists. The anxious trait dipped his finger down into his belly button and wiggled it around.

Logan snorted.

This signified that he wasn't getting enough air, so Virgil let up immediately and got off of him. Logan went limp and let the residual giggles escape. After a few minutes, he sat up and looked at Virgil.

"Are you feeling better?" Logan asks, as if they meditated rather than had a tickle fight. Virgil nods, a small smile playing at his lips.

"Good." Logan tackles him down onto the couch. "Do I have permission to get my revenge?" A bashful nod, and another round of tickling.

Little did they know, Patton was down there the whole time, watching them.

"Nothing gets past the tickle monster."

38 notes • Posted 2021-04-01 22:00:52 GMT

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Word count: 4939

Ship: None

Warnings: Deceit, Remus, safeword usage, pretty intense tickles, alcohol

A/N: Oops I accidentally made this. I promise I'm working on requests but this was in my brain, it had to be written! Uh oh, Long fic needing multiple parts alert!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Janus had one too many drinks.

Well, maybe more than that.

He stumbled around, seemingly looking for something. He was laughing happily, something that doesn't happen often if it isn't forced out of him. As much as Patton would have loved to hear more of his precious laughing, he knew he should help.

"Jan? Whatcha doing?" Patton asks, going up to him.

"Remusss?" He asks, putting his hand on Patton's face. The bespectacled side pulled the hand off.

"No, it's Patton." Janus leans his head on Patton's shoulder, hat slipping off. A wave of giggles pursued. "Did you want Remus?" Janus shakes his head no into the shoulder. Patton wraps his arms around the snake, moving him over to sit on the couch. Patton sat against the arm of the couch and pulled Janus backwards into his lap.

"Dohoho the thihihing!" Janus giggled, almost tiredly.

"What thing?" Patton asks, confused.

"The thihing... I used to, Virgil, and he'd fall 'sssleep."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Janus." As if on cue, Virgil walked into the room and sat down on the other couch.

"Virgil?" The anxious side looked over, seeing a drunken Janus laying on Patton.

"Yeah?"

"What's he going on about?"

"Ihi lihike it! You gohotta do ihihit to me aaaaaall the time! Ohohor I be sahad! Please?" Janus babbled.

"Uh... I'm gonna need some context."

"He says he used to do it to you, and you'd fall asleep." Virgil thought for a moment, before being struck with realization.

"Uh... I-I don't know." Virgil got up and left the room, redness forming on his cheeks. Though, maybe it's not so bad. Now he can embarrass the snake.

"Jan, you gotta tell me what you want." Patton encourages.

"Plehehease?"

"Do you want me to... play with your hair?" Patton moves his hands to do just that.

"No..."

"I don't know what you want. Do you want a hug?"

"Noo!"

"Then what do you want?"

"Tired!"

"You're tired? Do you want to go to bed?" Patton asks.

"No, I wanna... Ughhhh!" He groans, putting his hands on his face.

"So dramatic." Patton giggles. "You should go to bed, kiddo."

"Nah!" He acts like a kid. Patton still drags him to his room, and as soon as his head hits the pillow, he's out like a light. The moral side turns out the light and shuts the door, going to bed himself.

"So. Just us now." The prince says from the dining table. The lights were only on in there and in the kitchen, where Virgil was.

"I guess so." Anxiety sits on the counter, looking at Roman.

"Why was Janus drunk?"

"Dunno. Dealing with your brother all day every day must be... difficult, to say the least."

"You're probably right. Why'd you go in there and come right back out?"

"Patton didn't want me turning on the TV."

"Mm. Well, I'm gonna head to bed." With that, the prince was off.

"Night."

In the morning, Janus woke up groggy, but was startled awake when he saw Virgil sitting at his desk. His arms were crossed, watching him.

"Why are you in my room?!"

"You were drunk last night."

"How does that give you the right to be in my room?"

"You told the others how you just had to be tickled all the time, otherwise you'd be sad."

"What. Why would I say that? I don't even like- Oh, you know what, I probably lie a lot more when I'm drunk." Deceit nods, though he couldn't deny the redness creeping up in his human cheek.

"Mm. Yeah. Indeed." Virgil's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Why would I even say such a thing?"

"You wanted to be tickled. You never said the word. But you did say 'that thing I used to get Virgil to go to sleep.'"

"Oh. I'm in trouble now, aren't I?"

"No, of course not! I just, didn't know you 'don't' like being tickled." He used air quotes.

"I don't." He hissed.

"Mm. Then explain the blush."

"I'm hot, is all."

"Oh, ok. Welp, I should get going. I just wanted you to know I have blackmail on you. Have a nice day!"

"I don't like you." Janus mutters.

"What was that?" Virgil asks, even though he heard the snake clearly.

"I said, you too!"

"That's what I thought." Virgil left the room and closed the door, leaving Deceit to get dressed and such.

"This is not only terrifying." Deceit thinks. "But fueling a major Lee mood." He breathes, checking the mirror to be sure he's presentable, and not blushing, and leaves his room.

"Hey Jan Jan!" Remus greets, with way too much energy for this early.

"Hello, Remus." He continues to walk to the dining room, where he finds Virgil talking to Roman.

Odd and terrifying.

"Good morning Janus! You feeling better?" Patton asks.

"No, not at all."

"Oh, I'm sorry-" Deceit sighs at Patton's gullibility.

"I was lying."

"Oh. Then that's good!"

"What are you cooking?"

"Pancakes! They'll be ready soon!" Janus nods, and goes to sit down. Virgil sits next to him and whispers.

"Today is going to be fuun!" Janus hisses, and Virgil just smirks. "So fun."

"Come now, don't fight, unless you're fighting the dragon witch!" Roman declares.

After breakfast, everyone splits to do their own activities. Logan goes to his room, Roman and Remus go to the creativity, Patton goes to his room, and Virgil and Deceit go to the living room to watch TV.

"Can we watch what I want to watch?" Virgil asks.

"But-"

"Oh, that's fine. I'll just go tell everyone that you're ticklish and want to be tickled." That word!

"Fine." Janus hands the remote to Virgil and crosses his arms.

Animaniacs?

A strange choice, but it wasn't like he could question it. Until the theme came on, and he figured out why Virgil had been so insistent on doing a children's show. Janus gave Virgil a death glare, but he ignored it.

He got into the show, but again and again he was reminded of why he was watching that show in the first place. Every 20 minutes or so, he'd see it again.

"You know, I'm thirsty." Janus finally said, reaching his limit on how many times he could see a tickle scene without spontaneously combusting. And so, Virgil followed him to the kitchen.

"Me too. Can you get me a cup of orange juice?"

"You can get it yourself!" Janus objects.

"Oh, then I guess I can tell everyone just how much you want to be tickled right now."

"No!" Janus grabs his arm before he can walk off. "I mean, I can get you a glass of orange juice." And so, he makes his own drink, before reaching for a cup for Virgil. In doing this, the anxious trait decided it'd be a good idea to poke the snake's side. He froze.

"I will slap you." He says, as he slowly brings the cup down.

"I'll get everyone to pin you down so you can have absolutely no wiggle room, and then you'll have me, Logan, Roman, Patton, and Remus tickling you all at once. Two of us will have both hands open, which means, 10, 20... 35 wiggling fingers on your ticklish little body, not to mention all the teasing that will consume you, making you that much more ticklish." Deceit hadn't noticed until now, but he'd set the cup on the counter and was backed into a corner, Virgil mere inches away from him. "Blushing? Already?"

"Virgil!" Deceit puts his hands in between himself and the mentioned. Butterflies swarmed in his stomach, so very ready to be tickled. "I don't want to be tickled!"

"Greatest lie of the century, Jan. Too bad I can see right through you."

"Stoooop!" He whines, but he'd never admit it. Footsteps come down the hallway, and they scrambled to just stand next to each other.

"What's going on here?"

"Ah, Roman! Just the prince I wanted to see. Can you go get-"

"Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up!" Janus repeated, until he just placed his hand on Virgil's mouth. Virgil tried to pry his hand off, Deceit clearly disconcerted about what he was going to say.

"Go get the-"

"SHHHHHHH!" Janus shushed him, being louder than Virgil.

"What is going on?" Roman asks.

"Others!" Virgil got out, before another hand was placed on his mouth.

"Ok, I'll go get the others."

"No!" Janus pleads.

"Haha-" Virgil mocks, but Janus hisses at him. Roman was already down the hallway. He couldn't stop him now. Janus uses his plan B.

Hide.

So, he runs to his room and locks the door, sitting against it.

Meanwhile, when Roman got back with the others, Deceit was gone.

"Guys. Today I learned that Janus likes being tickled. We have to go tickle him!"

"How'd you figure that out?" Logan asks.

"Long story."

"We have time. Where is he?" Roman asks.

"In his room. So, come on, we have to go get him! It'll be funny."

"Maybe he doesn't want it right now." Logan says.

"You're not listening to me. He's been wanting to be tickled all day. I'm giving everyone an opportunity to 'get him back' and to tickle him. Don't you like his laugh?" He asks Patton, who nods. "And don't you want to get back at him for pretending to be you?" He asks Logan.

"Indeed."

"And don't you want to get back at him for lying so much?" He asks Roman, who stands, confused.

"I mean, yes, but, how did you figure out he likes being tickled? Did he forget to cover his tracks, as they say?"

"He was drunk, that's how I know."

"Isn't that kinda mean, though? Virge, he has no control over what he does or says while under the influence."

"So? He still wants to be tickled, like, a lot. He admitted it to me this morning!"

"When?" Logan asks.

"I said, 'I didn't know you don't like to be tickled', and he said, 'I don't' That's a double negative, crosses out, and it means that, indeed, he likes being tickled." Everyone looked at Logan, and he nodded. "So, is everyone game?" One by one, everyone nodded. "Good. Here's the plan:"

Meanwhile, Deceit sat at his door, trying to calm his blush and his lee mood. Everyone is about to come after him, and he knew it. He was nervous, but excited at the same time. Anticipation filled his body, other than the butterflies taking shelter in his tummy. Did he want it? Yes, of course he did. But he couldn't admit it, he had a reputation to uphold. One of the most stoic sides, the mysterious dark side.

"Janus?" He heard Remus' voice. He stood up, ear pressed against the door.

"Yeah?"

"I have a question."

"What?"

"Can I come in?" He tried the door handle. Locked.

"You can ask through the door!" Janus says. He heard a mumble. Janus unlocked the door and slowly opened it. "I'm sorry?" The door was yanked the rest of the way opened by Roman.

"Are you ticklish, Jan?" Remus asks, advancing, the others following suit. Janus was backed into his bed, so he went around it, until he, once again, was cornered.

"No!" He lied.

"Now now, lying isn't good, kiddo." Patton says. Janus sinks to the floor, hands protecting him.

"Um... I need... to... I... um... I can't... right now because..." He stutters, trying to find a way out. However, given that there are 5 people trying to tickle him, the butterflies in his tummy, and that there is no way out except for the one door in his room, it's given that he'd be prioritizing the security of himself rather than find a lie to tell.

"I-I'm sure we can talk this out, w-we..."

"Oh, of course we can talk! But first..." Virgil yanked him away from his corner and pinned him down, Logan and Patton sitting on his arms, Remus and Roman sitting on his legs.

"Wait a minute. Both hands are open for 5 people! I think I did my math wrong earlier. That means 50 fingers, all tickling you. 50 fingers skittering across your helpless body. You couldn't move if you tried." A wobbly smile made it's way onto Janus' face. Patton leaned down to talk in his ear.

"Safe word?" Logan asks. "Or stoplight method?"

"Um... y-yeah. Stoplight."

"This is ok, right? We'd never do anything you didn't want to happen to you."

"If you truly don't want it, it's perfectly fine to say so right now." Roman says.

"I-It..." He huffed, knowing he'll either have to live with this Lee mood, or be absolutely and undeniably embarrassed. He thought for a few moments, as to not turn into a stuttering mess.

"I would absolutely not like for it to happen."

"Oh, then I guess we can't tickle you." Virgil says, and the group gets up. Deceit lays there, unmoving.

"I lied! Shouldn't you know this by now? You should- it's a lie!"

"What's a lie?" Virgil asks, and the group goes back to their positions. Janus breathes.

"I would not like to be tickled."

"Mm. Even if it is a lie, we do need some form of honest consent, which means no lies, no peer pressure, no anything, just you and your honest opinion."

"Fine."

"Fine... what?"

"You can... do it."

"Do what?" Oh, if looks could kill, Virgil would've been a goner.

"You're really milking this, aren't you?"

"Of course not! We just want your honest consent, make sure we're all on the same page here." Sarcasm drips from his voice. Deceit breathed, then sighs, laying his head back on the ground.

"Okyoucantickleme."

"I'm sorry? Was that just me or all of us?"

"All."

"So... say it again? Just so we're all understanding each other."

"I hate you."

"I'm sure."

"Youallcannot- er..." He sighs. "Youallcantickleme."

"Say a little louder, and a little clearer?"

"You know what I said, just do it!" Janus whines.

"I'm triple-checking."

"You don't need to triple check!" He whined, trying to move to see how easily he could escape. He found it near impossible to move at all.

"Yes I do!"

"Just do the thing already!"

"What thing?"

"You're doing a great job forcing me to say stuff."

"Fine then. We'll all tease you then." He kneels next to his side, putting his wiggling fingers dangerously close to his tummy. Everyone else picked up on it and added their fingers.

"Nope, not gonna work." He closes his eyes, tilting his head towards the ceiling.

"Wanna bet?"

"You're not gonna win this one, Virge."

"Look at how close my fingers are to tickling you! It'll put you in pure bliss, that giggly state. C'mon, kiddo, all you gotta do is say a few words." Patton says.

"The itsy-" Remus starts.

"NO!" Janus' eyes burst open, trying his best to get away. It didn't work.

"Bitsy spider~"

"Remus! Don't!"

"Went up the water-"

"REMUS!"

"Spout. Down came the-"

"Please!" Roman watched his brother do the motions without actually touching the snake, and how it was driving him insane.

"Rain and washed-"

"Remus!" His cheeks were flushed pink, embarrassed, or something, by this game.

"The spider out."

"NO!"

"Out came the sun-"

"Stop!"

"And dried up all the rain."

"Remus! Don't!"

"The itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again." Deceit relaxed once the song was finished.

"So... I'm confused?" Virgil says.

"He's weak for those tickles."

"No I'm NOT!" He blushes. "But I won!"

"X-" Remus smirks.

"I HATE YOU!"

"Marks the spot."

"STOPIT!"

"With a circle and a dot!"

"REMUS I BEG OF YOU!"

"Up come the pirates-"

"FINE I'LL SAY IT!" And so, Remus stops. "Haha tricked- NO I WAS JOKING! I was joking! Haha, funny! Right?" He breathed. "You. All. Can. Tick...le. Tickle. Me."

"So... green light?" Virgil asks.

"Really? I gave you-"

"Digging, di-"

"GREEN!"

"Ok, you need to teach me these songs." Virgil tells Remus. Deceit lays, realizing what he's done.

"For sure."

"What have I done." Deceit says.

"You got yourself into a position where I can teach everyone about those songs!"

"But first, let's tikki tikki tickle our little-" Patton says.

"You know what, I think I preferred the songs to this."

"And I think, you're full of BS." Remus says, squeezing his human side. He tries to squirm away.

"And I think, I'm confused as to why singing itsy bitsy spider and the... x marks the spot or whatever, gets to you." Virgil says.

"Oh, I just conditioned him so-"

"RemuS I SWEAR-"

"Whenever he hears those songs, it means the tickles he likes-"

"I DO NOT!"

"Are coming!"

"No! He's lying, I, for one, DO NOT LIKE CHILDISH-"

"YEAH YOU DO-" Logan sighed at the chaos and vibrated his fingers into poor Deceit's ribs. That shut him up real fast, and therefore quieting Remus.

"C'mon, guys. I think we need to stop teasing our ticklish kiddo and actually give him what he wants!" Patton says, dragging his finger ever so slowly down his ribs. Deceit inhales sharply. A few pokes to the sides and ribs and tummy. His eyes had closed again, focusing on not laughing. The pokes soon turned into strokes, very long strokes. He was struggling to keep his laughter in.

"It's ok Dee! You can laugh!" Patton says, wiggling his finger under his chin.

"No!" He said quickly, the floodgates of giggles soon to break.

And they did, once Roman and Remus joined in at the hip.

"NoOOO! Ihihhisn't fahahahair!" He bucks around, trying to get out.

Well, that was debatable, but, nonetheless bucking around. Roman giggled along with Deceit, not expecting him to have such happy laughter. Remus smiled at him, and walked his fingers upwards. "Nahahaha!"

Patton circles the snake's armpit, elicting a... definitely not a squeal. Virgil placed one hand on his tummy with wiggling fingers. He hadn't noticed it, he was too busy worrying about the other sensations, but Remus was teaching Roman how to do the itsy bitsy spider.

"GUYHYHYS!" Janus pleads.

"What is it, Jan? Did you want me to... do this?" Patton asks, digging right into his armpit. This caused a squeak.

"We're almost there!" Remus sing-songs.

"Almost where?" Virgil asks.

"You'll hear. Logan, side and armpit. Patton, armpit. Virgil, belly, me and you, hip." Remus instructs. And so, they go at each of their spots mercilessly.

"NAHAHAHAHA! R- RAHA! REHEHEMUHUHUS!" He'd never truly experienced all this at the same time. It was a bit much, until, he screamed, it fell silent, and snorts came. It felt like a wave of relief washed over him.

"Look! He turns into a puddle!" He let's up, and everyone follows suit, allowing the snake to ride out the giggles.

"Not a puddle." He mumbles. Patton strokes his snake side.

"It's ok, it's cute that you turn into a puddle when your tickled!" He strokes over the jaw, and Deceit jerks, then relaxes, soft purrs being dragged from his body.

"This... humiliating." Especially considering the part that he likes those kinds of tickles. But he'd never admit that.

"Why are you purring?" Patton asks.

"I think it has something to do with him being part snake and all." Remus shrugs.

"Can we see the songs now?" Roman asks. Remus nods.

"We have to flip him over though. It shouldn't be too hard, since he's a puddle." And so he was flipped over, and everyone sat back down.

"The itsy bitsy spiiiider went up the water spout~" He sung, spidering his fingers up his back to his shoulders. Tiny giggles escaped Deceit, not being able to stop it, but not wanting to either.

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out." Remus taps his fingers as if typing on a keyboard all the way down his back. They all noticed the sensitive lower back area.

"Out came the sun and dried up all the rain." He massaged the shoulder blades.

"Mhmhmhmhm!" Giggled Deceit, accidentally showing everyone his hissy giggles.

"Awe!" Patton cooed. Janus tried to bury his face in the floor, but it wasn't doing that good of a job.

"The itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again." He spidered his hands up his back.

47 notes • Posted 2021-08-22 03:28:14 GMT

Headcanon time!

Fandom: Sanders sides (Tickle HC)

Logan (Logic):

-Major Lee No opinion on the matter, there is always more important stuff to get done.

-Usually just stands-by and watches. He might linger in the room. He might hide his watchful eyes with a book or his phone.

-If caught, he's only watching for "Research Purposes." Sure you are, buddy. You definitely don't want to be in the lee's position.

-If he is dragged into a tickle fight, then he was DRAGGED into it. He would be way too flustered to just... join.

-He's not super ticklish ok that's a lie but his feet will be the death of him

-he never really learned how to tickle, it's unconventional Just wait until he hears a squeak while dragging Patton away from the cookie jar.

Patton (Morality)

-Ler leaning switch. I'm talking 90 percent ler.

-The tickle monster. He gets bored easily, what else is he gonna do?

-amazing 10/10 aftercare. Stays with you after he finishes tickling probably just to hear the person's laughter for as long as possible

-The one who drags Logan into the tickle fight and tickles him because N O T H I N G gets past the tickle monster.

-If a side is embarrassed that they are ticklish, he won't tell anyone. Ok, that might be a lie. He'll only tell if you break a deal or he's bored in front of the others

-Tells a pun while tickling the side and then be like "I know my pun was funny, but it wasn't THAT funny!"

-Loves to torment Logan. Logan hates loves it.

-Might be nice and wait until him and the lee are alone.

-but when he's tickled he has adorable giggles

-After he tickles someone he gets a Lee mood like clockwork

Roman (Creativity)

-Ler.

-CAN and WILL use the conjuring against the others

-This man will tease you into oblivion.

-Definitely will make Disney References while tickling. "What were those things called again?" A minute of tickling the feet. "Oh. Feet." (The Little Mermaid if you don't get it)

-When if this man gets tickled, he won't hold back. He has some logic. If Virgil was comfortable enough to tickle him, why hold back? If Logan was comfortable enough to tickle him, why hold back? And if Patton tickles him which usually doesn't happen they usually gang up on one or both of the other sides then he won't hold back because... it's Patton.

-Virgil is his favorite lee.

Virgil (Anxiety)

-Lee

-he might tickle them back, but he'll probably try to but then think "what if they're not in the mood?" And then just stand there awkwardly.

-really out of character childish, happy laugh.

-S T O M A C H

-Will not say stop unless he means it

-Will try to cover his mouth with his hands or his jacket.

-sometimes the sides stop early to make sure he's ok since he's still relatively new to this whole tickling thing.

-VERY ticklish. Dern fight-or-flight response.

Remus (Creativity Pt. 2)

-Major ler vibes

-doesn't talk to anyone enough to actually figure out this tickling concept.

-the kind of person who can't tease without flustering themselves

-Roman is his brother and they are both major lers. Guess the rest.

-Probably snorts when tickled

-will intrude in a tickle fight if he finds one.

-Will use his conjuring abilities to restrain, or create some very... underused tickle tools

Janus (Deceit)

-definitely a lee ler but he likes being tickled more than tickling others

-the scales are ticklish let me TELL YOU and no one can convince me otherwise

-adorable giggles!!!

-soft tickling works best

-if he finds a tickle fight, then he will stand there wondering whether or not to get involved like "I wanna... but my scales are too ticklish."

-if in a Lee mood, this man will NEVER and I mean NEVER say the word "tickle" not even "I have a tickle in my throat" no. Nothing.

-Remus knows whenever he's in a mood. And Remus will tickle him using some rather... unconventional methods

-never tickle him to wake him up. Or touch his scales while he's sleeping. It WILL backfire. Unless at least two sides are present to send him over the moon with laughter

86 notes • Posted 2021-02-27 21:47:09 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #sanders sides #tickle fanfic #sanders sides fanfiction #sanders sides tickling

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damthosefandoms · 3 years

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@haljordangreenjedi tagged me so….

1. why did you choose your url?

I THINK because I was using the username on another social media platform at the time and I got sick of seeing “julie-teh-fangirl” every time I opened up tumblr. also, having “fandom” in the name was very in back in 2013. I would change it, but I think it’s way too late now, lol. and I was and still am forever a pjo stan, hence the “dam.”

2. any sideblogs?

uh, yeah, but @fastestloseralive is the only one I really use. I have a green lantern one which is @wannabegreenjedi but it’s not worth following bc I basically just use the sideblogs to reblog some posts so I can look at them later lol. I have a couple others saved that I don’t really use and are just there to have the url saved

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

too long. I made it in May 2013 I think? But I didn’t really use it until like, the fall of 2014.

4. do you have a queue tag?

hahahahhahahahah NOPE. I don’t have a queue

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

I think originally it was to find the origin of all the tumblr posts I’d see on Instagram, mostly for pjo stuff but also one direction, mcu, etc. I know I had bad taste let’s move on thanks

6. why did you choose your icon?

because the one before this was fun!! I love Wally. but today I changed it to ace Bart for pride!!

7. why did you choose your header?

flashfam good makes me happy next question

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

I think it’s actually a pjo post from when they announced the tv show, and I’m sure there’s a few I’m not remembering. But I know that this one has a particularly high number of notes, so, you get that.

9. how many mutuals do you have?

I’m gonna explain why in a second, but I have, well, if you count just people I’m follow back, way too many. people I’ve talked to on here once or twice that I reblog shit from? maybe 20ish? idk. My close friends whom I love and speak to every day and cherish and are the people I really genuinely consider mutuals? four. and they know who they are.

10. how many followers do you have?

As of right now, 2935.

11. how many people are you following?

…okay. so for a few years until my follower count got up to like, 800-ish, I used to follow back everyone who followed me. I don’t do that anymore because I’m lazy and I turned off email notifications for new followers. Also, you gotta keep in mind that I’ve been on tumblr a LONG time, and have gone through a LOT of hyperfixations and phases since I got on here, and I never ever bothered to clear out who I was following. So I’m following about 2685 people right now. And I follow back like 800ish of them, so, that’s why mutuals means basically nothing to me. At least not by the definition of who I’m following back. If you’ve talked to me? If we’ve chatted in dm or sent asks or whatever? Then we’re mutuals. I guess. If we talk on discord a lot I consider us friends and if you’re in The Group Chat, well, you know I love you guys, you guys are my best friends. And then there’s Destiny who is literally the only person on earth allowed to call me bestie!!!! ok I’m done now

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

all my posts are shitposts

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

well according to what my phone tells me, in the last ten days I have spent about 18 hours added up on tumblr. So too much. I just get bored! Not my fault.

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

oh probably waaaaaay back in the day. do I remember it? no. I don’t see the point in it though. if you hate me just block me and move on. drama is unnecessary. I’m so tired. I’m here to look at pretty pictures and read about my favorite characters. I’m not here to start pointless arguments with people.

15. how do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

if it’s something funny like a cute picture of a dog? great. if it’s guilt tripping people? If it’s just being generally annoying? if I don’t feel like reading stuff that’s going to stress me out etc etc I won’t reblog it. Again, this is just a place for fun. To relax. Tumblr isn’t a newspaper, you know? Just cause I don’t reblog something doesn’t mean I don’t support it. You don’t know what I’m doing or not doing in real life about it. Tumblr isn’t real! You don’t have to reblog stuff if you don’t want to! Life still goes on! I’m sorry for the rant, again, I’m so tired.

16. do you like tag games?

Yes! Do I like tagging people? No!

17. do you like ask games?

Yes! Do they exhaust me sometimes? Also yes! I get stressed about linking back to the og post sometimes and also I never know if anyone will respond to I don’t do them very often but. You know. I love asks, even if I’m slow at answering them lol

18. which of your tumblr mutuals do you think is famous?

I’m gonna skip this one because we all know it’s Destiny. I’m sure there are others too

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

like a “I want to be your friend so bad crush?” sure. A crush-crush? ???? I’m aroace and why would I be in love with people I’ve never met I don’t get that

20. tags

I’m just tagging the last five people in my dms so if you already got tagged or don’t feel like doing it ignore this lol

@huilian @cinnamqn @bi-felicia-hardy @rainbow820 @yeolly-yeost

#I’m so tired is basically how I always am #anyway I kinda joked but really getting called bestie by random people I barely know makes me weirdly uncomfortable so I love you guys but #idk I really can’t explain it I don’t wanna sound like a bitch #it just… feels passive aggressive to me #and makes me feel weird. love you guys tho #tag game #my post #not fandom related

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pizzahutchan124 · 3 years

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Do you see this pic? I Took it on the 3rd of April to show that I've been saving money since last year. I only recently cashed that in two weeks from today. It came out to $106 subtotal.

I would've updated abour this earlier but.... truth be told I'm dipping my toes into plenty of lakes, rivers, ponds and oceans with seemingly little to show for it at the moment. I'm running an art blog now, and I'm building both a financial and artistic portfolio. I'm getting tons of leads on job opportunities in both social services and backstage tech work, which means I gotta revise my resume to fit the position titles as well as follow up with the respective hiring staff. My extended family is always checking up on me, making sure me and the folks I live with are ok (they're all sweet like that.) Ultimately I would like to craft and create more art, whether that be in writing, yarn crafting, sewing, woodworking or experimenting with traditional and digital drawing. Of course, that means I have to renovate my space so that it flows with a creative and productive atmosphere while maintaining a cozy yet friendly living environment for me and my loved ones.

You dunno what that means? Yea, neither do I. I'm figuring it out as I go, but it gets hard when the people closest to you want results NOW. NOW NOW NOW. Otherwise you're a fookin lazy good-fer-nothing, haha. I got so many irons on the fire right now it's not even funny....

On top of all of that, I dont know what to do with this blog. Ive been doing research here & there and the people in the big leagues say that you gotta stick with ONE topic and/or interest so that not only your blog remains consistent, but your followers know what to expect from you thus remaining engaged on your platform. That's some quality advice for growing a wider audience, but heres the thing- I can't be asked to just dwindle down my posts towards a single topic. Maybe that worked for my ancestors in the past but I'm lucky enough to live in a First world country that encourages free thinking provided that it doesnt limit anyone elses liberties. This is a space where I can explore multiple options, opinions, pathways and idealogies, even the shitty ones if I were as bold as I used to be. In short .....

I AM A MULTI-FACETED HUMAN BEEEEEEEAN.

I used to be a self proclaimed potato; however, things change with time. So do people- we become remixes of what we used to be. Sometimes we become better people for it. Sometimes we don't. And that's ok, so long as we're honest with ourselves about what we're doing to hinder our progress in this lifetime. I think I'm making strides in being more reflective and introspective in that aspect.

Im not sure what this means for the long term future of this blog. I originally made this during a time in my life when the internet was filled with opportunity and promises of a better life. Since then I've become more aware of how the world works and thereby more cynical to the beliefs I once held as a 16 y/o 𝓭𝓲𝓼𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓮 𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓱𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓪𝓼𝓽. I'll just continue to post things that are informative to my needs and likes and hope that it'll reach the people it's meant for. Unfortunately that means I gotta work on trimming the fat on this blog. I've made side blogs for this reason, but havent gotten around to utilizing them. That's gonna be a big project for me at some point down the line. Only God knows when I'll get around to it.

Here they are if you wanna browse through them-

a Blog filled with master posts, references and tutorials on stuff

another blog filled with fanart from some amazing folks

Based on the actions I'm currently taking, I can see myself absolutely vibing within the next 5 years.

You can expect me to reblog posts on my main fandoms (mainly yugioh, pokémon and hazbin hotel/helluva boss), commentary on our society at large (uh oh, OPINIONS 😱 so scary), theories and lore based on the fandom(s) I'm in. Ngl I also become enamored with 2d characters from time to time so perhaps I'll get around to making character analysis posts. That's a big MAYBE tho. I'll also post about Cooking, economics, Psychology, personality archetypes and certain spiritual concepts like feng shui, the different kinds of astrology, mythos from different religions (Buddhism, Catholicism, etc), productivity and/or life hacks. I'm also a slut for tropes, Hence the #Tropes tag I made 😁

And finally, I will be making more original content irregularly from when "the motivation strikes me" to "when I feel my ideas/drawing/writings/musings aren't complete hot dog water."

See you in the next post maybe

#Sundae Stories #creative problems #rant #vent #Portfolio #Investment #renovations #Fandom #tutorials #References #life #time management #Scheduling #Writing problems #Artist problems

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whatapunk · 3 years

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Chapter 3!!

I’m not sure how well I did it (as dialogue and I do NOT get along), but writing drunken Kanan/Rhia/Hera banter was a blast for me. I’d also like to point out that I mention the Gorse conflict several times in this chapter and I think most people in the kanera fandom are familiar with that story, but if you haven’t read A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller you should give it a go! Especially if your soul needs every scrap of kanera you can find. As always, thank you so much for any likes and reblogs! You guys are the freaking best.

Title: Endings

Fandom: Star Wars Rebels

Relationship: Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla; Kanan Jarrus/female OC

Rating: m for the profanity, possibly for non-explicit intimacy later

Word Count: 3217

Previous Chapters: Ch. 1 / Ch. 2

Chapter 3

“Force, Rhia, that was delicious.” Kanan placed his fork on his plate and pushed it away from him, feeling more full than he’d been in months. She smiled her thank you at his compliment.

Kanan swirled the contents of his drink around, examining them before taking a sip. He could already feel the alcohol, and he was only one and a half drinks in. He thought back to nights at the bar on Gorse and how many drinks he’d put away all while still being remarkably coherent. He also thought of all the nights he’d spent on the floor of that bar and decided he’d made a good trade-off in his adulthood.

Rhia stood and collected the plates and utensils, taking them over to the sink. Kanan watched her, his thoughts back on the lost memory of her cooking him breakfast that had suddenly made its home in his brain again. He smirked and let out a quick chuckle, realizing the image of her standing at the sink now matched the one in his memory like a mirror- just, with more clothing. She looked back at him.

“Something funny?”

“It doesn’t feel all that different,” he started. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Us, I mean,” he explained. “I had all these things I thought up to say to you but then you were just…” he trailed off, unsure of his next words.

“Just what?” she asked. He shrugged but smiled down into his glass as he drained it for the second time.

“I don’t know. Just you,” he said, his voice just beginning to be swallowed by alcohol-induced giddiness. “I kept thinking about what I should say to you earlier when I was meditating,” he said, ignoring or just not noticing the increase in the height of her already raised brow. “But then I got here and you were making dinner and suddenly we’re just shooting the shit like I’m 22 and you’re…” he paused, frowning. “How old are you again?” he asked, surprised he’d forgotten. He blamed it on the alcohol. She grimaced.

“I’m glad you’ve forgotten,” was all she offered up as an answer. He moved on.

“I’m just saying, you haven’t changed. At all,” he finished. He could hear his tone shifting, becoming lighter than it had been all day. Again, he gave credit to the alcohol. Rhia smirked but otherwise left the comment unacknowledged.

“Since when do you meditate?” she asked as she rinsed the dishes off.

“It’s new,” was all he added.

“Is that a jedi thing?” He looked at her, a little surprised. Rhia knew who Kanan was, but it was still somewhat new to him to hear people talk about it openly.

“It is. I’m sort of a jedi again,” he said and laughed at his own statement. He reached back and rubbed his neck. “It’s weird.”

Rhia finished washing the plates and walked back over to the table. On her way, she grabbed the glass bottle off the counter. She poured her own drink and didn’t bother to look at Kanan. She capped the bottle and set it near the center of the table.

“You know, I don’t really drink… at all anymore,” Kanan offered, eyeing the bottle.

“I’m not asking you to,” Rhia replied simply, quite relaxed. She’d meant it; she had no interest in trying to get Kanan drunk, especially if it was happening as quickly as it seemed to be. However, if he chose to get drunk, she certainly wasn’t going to stop him.

Kanan reached out slowly and grabbed the bottle, a peaceful look on his face. He poured another drink for himself and took a sip.

“You’ll never believe this, but-” and he laughed, caught off guard by how funny his next statement would sound to Rhia. “I have an apprentice- a padawan,” he said, slipping back into his chuckles. Rhia’s mouth all but fell open.

“You what?” she asked in disbelief. “You have a padawan?” Rhia was joking, but she was also very serious. Kanan finished laughing and looked up at her, nodding.

“Yep. And you know, I’m not a half bad teacher honestly,” he said, feeling prouder than he expected to. It was Rhia’s turn to laugh. “I’m serious!” he protested.

“Kanan,” she began. “Who put you in charge of their child?” she asked in the middle of another fit of laughter. Kanan’s face remained tranquil, but he did get a little more serious.

“Well… he doesn’t have parents- not anymore,” he said. Rhia stopped laughing and her expression softened.

“Well that’s… that’s good of you,” she said and took a drink. The more somber moment passing quickly, she looked back up at him with sudden realization. “Shit Kanan, you’re not just a master, you’re like a father aren’t you?” Kanan let out a short laugh that morphed into a sigh.

“Yeah I.... I kinda am. We’re kind of like parents,” he said, his grin turning huge.

“We?” Rhia asked, interested. Kanan looked quickly down at his drink for another sip.

“Yeah uh,” he began awkwardly. “Me and Hera we’re kind of… together.” Rhia smiled at him.

“She’s pretty impressive, Kanan,” she said and he smiled back at her, letting out a breath. “Way too good for you,” she added.

“You are not wrong.”

“Though, I assume she still fits your type,” she said and Kanan immediately rolled his eyes.

“Rhia, I don’t have a type,” he said adamantly, but she’d started giggling. “And if I did, it certainly wouldn’t be people with ‘daddy issues,’” he said, making air quotes. Rhia’s laughter filled the room.

Back on Gorse one drunken night, Rhia had begun taking a long oral history of Kanan’s ex-partners. After around a dozen stories that all pretty much began and ended the same way, Rhia surmised that Kanan seemed to be attracted to lovers who tended to have some either spoken or unspoken issues with their fathers. Kanan protested adamantly and continuously, and this had only worked to confirm Rhia’s suspicions. Upon inquiring about Rhia’s father, Rhia gladly told him that he’d passed away when she was a child. Kanan then accused her of lying to prove her point, much to Rhia’s amusement.

“So,” Rhia began, fighting down a burst of laughter, “you’re saying Hera has a really great relationship with her dad then, yes?” Kanan didn’t look up and tried desperately to hide the fact that he was holding back laughter. He took a drink, hoping to hide his creeping smile behind his glass. In the silence, they both eventually burst into laughter.

Kanan was definitely feeling it. His head felt like it was suspended in a bacta tank and there was a permanently peaceful look on his face. Having been so tense for weeks, this was undoubtedly a welcome disposition. There was something to be said as well for Rhia and the conversation they were having. Not only had it felt so nice to tell her about his family now, she’d made it feel so natural and ok. Not that he’d done anything wrong, but many exes could easily have turned bitter or offered fake support. Rhia, however, had been warm and normal. Telling her about Hera and Ezra felt just as natural as any of their conversations had been seven years ago. Still, there was no doubt- as much as the thought of Hera right now made his heart swell, his reverence toward Rhia in this regard had begun to sow seeds of conflict in him.

Their laughter subsided. Rhia met his eyes from across the table and the seeds began to grow. Kanan downed the last of his drink and gave all the signs of being about to leave. Just before he stood up, however, a very special voice spoke to him from the doorway.

“I wondered where you were,” Hera said, causing Kanan to go from surprised to smiling like an idiot in record time.

“Hera!” he said, and noted the volume in his voice had risen for no reason. He really couldn’t hold his alcohol anymore. Hera’s eyes widened knowingly, going from him to the bottle, and she smirked.

“Captain Syndulla,” Rhia stood up welcomingly and offered her a hand. “I didn’t really get to introduce myself earlier. I’m Rhia Denley,” she said, not seeming at all three drinks deep. She took Hera’s hand gently and the twi’lek returned a smile.

“Hera,” she replied. “It’s nice to meet you. I rarely get to meet a friend of Kanan’s,” she added. Rhia turned back to him and they both looked at him as he grinned drunkenly.

“That’s not surprising,” Rhia said. “He never had many of those,” and both women laughed at his expense. “Please, sit,” Rhia insisted, offering her a chair. She then went to the cabinet and pulled out another glass. Placing it in front of Hera, she began pouring. Hera held up a hand at a half.

“Oh that’s plenty, thank you,” and Rhia stopped obligingly.

“We were just talking about you,” Rhia began and Kanan shot her a look, concerned about exactly which part of their conversation Rhia was about to share. Rhia pretended not to notice. “I can’t believe Kanan has a padawan. You should have known this man on Gorse!”

Hera looked at him with pride, but she also took note of the fact that Rhia knew he was a jedi. She then realized Rhia had said “Gorse.”

“I did know him on Gorse,” Hera started. “Or, well, I met him on Gorse.”

Rhia looked at Kanan subtly and for the first time all night, the warmth in her face faltered slightly.

“It was after you… left,” Kanan offered, jumping in. “Maybe like a month after you left. I ran into Hera and swept her off her feet of course.” Hera snorted and Rhia followed.

“I know there is no kriffing way she followed you anywhere,” Rhia said, taking a drink. She turned to Hera, all but pretending Kanan wasn’t in front of her. “He was in trouble wasn’t he?” she asked flatly. Hera laughed.

“Something like that.” Kanan threw out his hands in dramatic disbelief.

“What? You were in trouble- we all were!” Kanan griped. Hera nodded, appeasing him.

“That’s true. Gorse was a mess,” she said and took a drink.

“What happened there?” Rhia asked. Kanan looked at her and closed his eyes, shaking his head.

“You remember that explosives guy, Skelly?” At the name, Rhia threw her head back in a resounding affirmative.

“Skelly! Man that guy was a fucking wack job,” she said and Hera laughed, clearly agreeing. “You met him?” Rhia asked.

“Oh yeah. I know I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but I have to agree. Skelly nearly got us killed a handful of times.” Rhia was definitely interested now.

Over the next hour or so (eventually none of them was really aware of the time), Hera and Kanan regaled Rhia with how they met on Gorse and the entirety of the disasters and successes of that highly unplanned mission. Eventually Hera emptied her glass and didn’t object to another, nor did Kanan.

Truthfully, the drunker Rhia got the more her insides were a battlefield of emotions. Here she was with two people whose company she was enjoying immensely. But she couldn’t deny that everything that had once attracted her to Kanan was still alive and well. In fact, he’d only seemed to change for the better since she’d last known him. Additionally, she was falling in love with Hera almost immediately. The twi’lek had come off as calm and quiet, and while she definitely embodied those traits to an extent, she was also assertive and commanded attention, even when she appeared meek. Rhia understood why Kanan was with her, and she could only imagine the luck he felt at having met her, let alone being her partner.

Rhia poured another glass, attempting to drown her thoughts, at least until she could be alone with them. She’d lost count of how many drinks they’d each had, but the bottle was approaching its final drops, a sign that the number was quite large. Kanan’s eyes were drooping and she wondered how long he’d last before he’d try to sleep on the floor. Hera was feeling it too, but she’d paced herself and remained relatively composed. Her speech gave her away though; each drink she took seemed to chip away at her filter. It just made Rhia like her more.

“Did you know him when he was Caleb Dume?” Hera asked abruptly, looking at Rhia with an interested expression. Rhia was a bit caught off guard and looked to Kanan for a hint at how to proceed. He met her eyes but said nothing.

“I did,” Rhia started, “or at least I think he was between ‘Caleb Dume’ and ‘Kanan Jarrus,’” she offered. Hera seemed to be contemplating this.

“I didn’t go by ‘Kanan’ yet, but she outed me,” Kanan said, pointing an accusatory finger at Rhia. Rhia rolled her eyes yet again.

“Hera,” she said, turning away from Kanan. “You should have seen this kid,” she started and a few drunken giggles made her pause. “You think he’s bad now? Everything annoying he does now, he did times a thousand when I met him,” and she slipped back into giggles with Hera. Kanan shook his head but smiled. Hera’s face lit up at a thought.

“You knew him when he was a kid?” Hera asked, excitedly.

“Well, not exactly. He was 17 but he was absolutely a kid that’s for sure,” she said grinning back at Kanan. “Though,” she went back to Hera, “if you told him he was a kid he’d get so offended,” she said and cackled with the twi’lek.

“He told me he hates that! Like, defensive much?” Hera said with a laugh. Kanan looked at both of them.

“I’m right here, guys,” he offered, but Rhia and Hera were still too busy laughing at the thought of young, defensive Kanan.

“Hera, do you know what this little teenager did nearly the moment he met me?” she asked. “Keep in mind, I’m quite a bit older than him and I was definitely too old for him when he was seventeen.” It was Hera’s turn to roll her eyes.

“Oh kriff, he tried to hit on you didn’t he?”

“Don’t tell me-” Rhia started, egging Hera on.

“He did the same thing to me!” Hera nearly shouted and the two women doubled over in laughter.

“Wow,” was all Kanan could say, returning to his glass. Eventually Rhia and Hera finished laughing and dabbed the tears from their eyes.

“So how did you figure out he was Caleb?” Hera asked.

“Well, at the time he was running with the smuggler Janus Kasmir,” Rhia started. Hera nodded.

“He’s told me about him.”

“So at the time I was part of a crew on a transport that he and Kasmir hired. Only,” she looked and spoke directly at Kanan, “they failed to tell us just how hot they were before we took off,” Rhia joked, as if she still held it against him. “I’d done some bounty hunter work before, so after even the slightest bit of research I found his goofy little face all over the holonet in an instant, and he hadn’t even bothered to disguise himself!” she all but yelled.

“I’d changed my look!” Kanan argued. “I’d started wearing a ponytail then,” he said with drunken confidence. Rhia and Hera shared a knowing look.

“He looked nearly identical,” Rhia continued. “So, I told our captain we needed to drop them, only-”

“He was a huge asshole,” Kanan cut her off. She snorted.

“Indeed. I didn’t tell him Kanan was a jedi, but he’d figured out that if I was so eager to get rid of them, he must be worth a lot. So, he intended to collect with the Empire. And do you know what this fucking maniac and Kasmir did to me?” she asked Hera, getting heated. Hera’s eyes were wide and she shook her head, invested.

“Look-” Kanan had started, but Rhia continued as if she hadn’t heard him.

“Those two idiots stunned me- even though I was going to help them! Next thing I know, I'm waking up on the floor of an escape pod with a crick in my neck!" she said, finishing her story with a drink. Hera frowned and looked at Kanan with goofy disapproval.

"Kanan!" she chastised him. He held his hands up in defense.

"We didn't know you were planning on helping us!" he spoke in a way that said this was not the first time he'd had to defend himself here. "The captain was your boyfriend. We assumed you'd just go along with him, so we took you hostage. And it worked!” he added. Rhia narrowed her eyes at him with a smirk.

“It did, but I hadn’t thought about turning either of you in until I woke up in that pod,” she said, laughing and lost in the memory for a moment. She drained her glass.

Hera watched the red-haired woman with great interest and warmth. She’d gleaned from their awkward meeting earlier that day that she and Kanan had some sort of history, and she’d felt the early pangs of jealousy when she’d found them here alone, drinking. But Rhia had a friendliness to her that seemed to quiet any other negative emotion in the room. There were still quiet thoughts in Hera’s mind relating to Rhia’s pleasing face and her tall, muscular frame that made her feel like competition. Not to mention, her vibrant hair, which seemed so deeply red at times and other times, when her movements caught the dim lighting just right, seemed almost reflective and chromatic. Regardless, Hera mostly felt like she’d formed a fast friend, and it was nice to be around another woman her own age. The alcohol didn’t hurt either.

“So what happened next?” Hera asked, interested in the end of the story.

“Well, we did a job or two together, just so I could get some cash now that I was crewless and shipless,” Rhia said, giving Kanan another quick look. “But it didn’t last much longer and I left him and Kasmir. Though, I did hear about some low-profile work on Gorse back then and I told him about it. I never thought he’d actually listen to me,” she finished, giving Kanan a small smile. There it was again, that competitive feeling inside of Hera.

“And then you ended up there at the same time, years later?” she asked, drawing Rhia’s attention back to her.

“Somehow, yes,” Kanan said, a little quieter than he’d been. A comfortable hush fell over the table. Three drunken adults sat, enveloped in warm intoxication and warmer memories. It hurt each one of them a bit to notice the emptiness of the bottle in front of them. The realization that the night was drawing to a close began descending on them, and Rhia, noticing the small bit left in each of their glasses, held up hers in a toast.

“To old and new friends,” she said, looking from Kanan to Hera. They both smiled back at Rhia and drained their glasses with her, adding the slightest bit of fog to their already foggy brains.

#i'm sorry this is so long #unless you like that #in which case you're welcome #star wars #star wars rebels #rebels #star wars fanfiction #rebels fanfiction #fanfiction #hera syndulla #kanan jarrus #endings

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johnismyreason · 4 years

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deal with her pt.2 // Alfie Solomons x ShelbySister!Reader

Hi ! So I saw that Deal with Her had a little success so on the request of a few of you, I’ve decided to write a part 2 ! I hope you will enjoy it as much as the first part. Again let me know if you liked it and/or if you’d like to read a third part. Also I tagged everyone one who liked or reblogged the first part, I’m sorry if it bothered you. Thank you again @fandom--0verdose for initiating this story with your request for the first part.

Words: 🤷‍♀️

Warnings: fluff, swear words (lightly), soft Alfie lmao.

PART 1 / PART 3 / MASTERLIST

FEED BACKS ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED :)

The next evening, you got yourself prepared. You didn’t really know if it was casual or fancy, so you split it in half and wear a nice dress but not the nicest that you have. You sit in front the dressing table in your room and do your hair and makeup. You keep it light and simple but with a slight touch of femme fatale. You’re still a blinder after all, right ? A blinder who is going to go on a date with your brother’s business partner, that he doesn’t really quite like… But gosh, Alfie was so gentle with you. The conversation was so easy and pleasant, you felt so comfortable with him, as if you knew him for years.

“Where you’re going ?” Tommy says in his low voice, a cigarette between his lips. You jump on your chair, surprised by him.

“Tommy, what the fuck ? God, you scared the hell out of me ! What are you doing in my house ?” you breath one hand on your chest. He lights his cigarette.

“Got your keys remember ?” he replies quickly. “So ?” he inhales “Where are you going ?” he exhales.

“That’s none of your business, Tommy” you sigh

“It is. Tell me.”

“No ! I’m not your daughter or your little soldier, so no, I won’t tell you.” you spit.

“So it’s man. Who is he ?”. You sigh annoyed.

“No one.”

“Then tell me. If it’s no one, just tell me.”

“It’s no one because it’s not a man, ok ? I’m going out with my girlfriends. Happy ?” you exclaim, rising from your dressing table chair. You walk to your dressing to grab a coat, and pass by him.

“Your girlfriends ? You don’t have any girlfriends.” he follows you downstairs.

“I do.”

“I never saw them.”

“Maybe because I don’t want them to meet you.”

“Why ?”

“Would you fucking stop asking questions ?” you turn to him. “I’m going out, with my girls, and that none of your business, is all you need to know. Goodnight, Tom.” you open the door for him. He stops in the doorstep.

“Be careful.” you roll your eyes. “I’m serious, Y/N” you look at him and see the protective big brother he is who just wants you to be safe.

“I will. I promise” you kissed him on the cheek and he leaves before climbing in his car.

You wait for the vehicule to be out of your sight, and then close the door. You check the time on the big clock in your entry. “Shit !” you’re almost late. You put your coat in a hurry, grab your purse and leave your house. You live in the city center so you walk to the restaurant where Alfie asked you to join him. You are so nervous and excited to meet him again. You haven’t been in a proper date for as long as you could remember, you don’t really know how it works. You actually don’t have time to think about, as you arrive to the address he gave you. You enter and discover a way nicer and fancier place than you pictured. Now you regret your dress choice.

“May I help you, miss ?” says the waiter.

“Uhm, yes, I’m here to see Mr Solomons, is he here ?”

“Yes, he’s waiting for you. Follow me please” the waiter passes before you and leads you to the table. You walk by the tables, watching everyone so well dressed makes you uncomfortable. Why did you have to pick that dress for god’s sake ? The spot Alfie chose was in a discreet and cozy corner, far away from everyone’s eyes. When he sees you, Alfie rises from his chair, almost knocking it backwards. He coughs trying to play it smooth.

“Y/N ! You are…” he examines you head to toe, suddenly speechless. “Here” he finally les out. “And looking angelic”. You feel your cheeks heating up.

“Thank you. You look handsome too” you return the compliment. For a few seconds no one talked before Alfie rushes to your chair.

“Oh, let me pull your chair, love.” he pushes back the chair for you to sit down as you thank him and he sits on his side of the table.

“ ‘Right. What do you wanna drink ?”

“Uhm, red wine ?”

“Red wine it is !” he orders your drink and his to the waiter, whom then leaves you two alone. You started a light conversation about what each of you have been doing since yesterday. You then explained that you have meetings tomorrow in the morning.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you love, you just… You look so lovely, I wasn’t paying attention to what you were sayin’, my bad. Would you start back ?”. His words catch you out of guard, you don’t even remember what you were saying 10 seconds ago.

“I, uhm… I-... I don’t know” you chuckle. “Thank you by the way. I wasn’t sure when I entered the restaurant, it was the right dress to wear. It looks way fancier than I imagined.”

“Where do you think I was gonna bring you at, uh ? You look perfect, don’t worry, love.” You blush again, that’s too much compliment for one night. “You blush a lot, don’t ya ?”. You rub your cheek hoping the redness goes away. “That’s alright, love.” he pushes away your hand. “You were talking about your meetings, I think.”

“Oh yeah, yeah !” you cough to come to your senses. “I have a meeting tomorrow morning with Thomas.”

“Ah, Thomas ! Does he know you’re here with me ?” he asks.

“No.” you shake your head “he doesn’t need to”.

“Is it a bad thing you’re spending time with me ?”

“Not for me” you smile and he smiles back. The waiter comes back with your drinks after a while. You grab your red wine and he takes his whiskey, rising it to you. “To bad things”. You breath a small laugh and tinkle your glass on his.

You and Alfie spent the evening and the beginning of the night talking about everything. You loved every single second of it, Alfie making you laugh every now and then. You made him laugh too. You love his laugh, it can be raucous as it is exploded. Everything was so easy and smooth, you forgot you barely know him. You were too caught in the conversation you didn’t notice the rest of the customers left, leaving you two in your isolated corner.

“Excuse me Sir, Miss…” the waiter said. You both look at him, offended to be bothered. “We are about to close.” That’s when you finally look around and see the place completely empty.

“Oh !” You and Alfie exclaimed. “Sorry, mate. We leave”. Alfie gets up as you follow him. He takes your coat and helps you to put it on.

“Thank you” you whisper

“You’re welcome, love”. You feel his fingers slid on your nape of neck as he lets go your coat, giving you a rush of goosebumps. He then offers you his arm and escorts you to the exit. You are about to tell him goodnight before walking back to your place alone, but it cuts you off. “Can I walk you home ?”

You smile sweetly, happy to spend a little more time with him “I would love that”. He smiles back and nods.

“Let’s go then” he puts one hand on your back as the other shows the way.

The wind was even cooler than when you got out of your house earlier this evening. Thank god, the alcohol you drank at the restaurant does its effect and warms you up a little. Actually the one who really warms you up is the man who’s been making you laugh since you met him. It was so pleasant to finally have a real date, but more importantly with a man who was treating you right and was making sure you were comfortable enough to have a good time. Usually men hit you up with an inappropriate remark like “your body does things to me and I haven’t talked to you yet” blowing their foul breath of alcohol in your face. The rare men who had talk to you in a nice way were quickly cooled down when they’ve learned you were a Shelby, more scared of your brothers than of you.

Alfie wasn’t scared, at all. Not of Thomas or any of your brothers. He was just a little scared of you, but only because you impressed him. He was so nervous around you, like a teenager. He would cough or shake his head when he realised what he just said was a little embarrassing. But your laugh always sweeps away his doubts. He only wants to make you laugh and happy, so if it means making a fool of himself, so be it.

Alfie and you arrive to your house, sad that it was the end of your date. He climbed the few steps of your front door with you but stops at the second last step, making you a little taller than him. You turn to him, sighing. “Well… That was an fantastic night, Alfie, thank you” you smile.

“Any time, love. Thank you for accepting my invitation.” you nod, looking at your feet. “When, can I see you again ? I mean without your family ” he chuckles.

“Whenever you want, I’m all yours” you realise wide eyes, what you just said. Alfie being as surprised as you are. Gosh, that sounded so desperate. “Oh my god, wait, that was not what I meant. I…” Alfie laughs at your clumsiness “I mean, yeah, whenever you want, but I’m not all yours…” you pause “yet”.

Alfie stops laughing and stares at you. Were at of your mind ? You’ve never done that before, being so flirtatious and confident. You are so confident tonight that you lean towards him, take his face in your small and cold hands, and kiss him. It feels naturally, like it was meant to happen. You and him, all of this. When you detach your lips from his, he climbs the last step to be closer to you. He places one hand on your rosy cheek and the other on your waist and kisses you back. Maybe it was the alcohol or the sudden heat rising in your body from the kiss, but you feel dizzy. When he breaks the kiss both of your chests are panting. You look at each other and giggle, none of you thought your first kiss would happen tonight.

“I should… go to bed now, I don’t want to be late tomorrow morning” you regret to say and break this magical moment.

“Yeah, yeah, go on, love” he lets you go and you already miss the warm of his embrace. You take your keys out of your purse and open your door. Before closing you turn to Alfie.

“Goodnight” you smile

“Goodnight” he responds softly, placing a gentle kiss on your lips. You step in your house and close the door, giving him one last look.

It will be a goodnight. Actually, you didn’t sleep that much. You were so excited, you couldn’t stop about him. You finally manage to fall asleep but your alarm clock decides otherwise. You drag yourself out of the bed and get ready for the meeting. You arrive before everyone else at the bet shop in Birmingham, at least that’s what you thought. Thomas was already here and walks to you, furious.

“Hi Tomm-” he grabs your arm and drags you to the small private room with the round table. “What the fuck ?” you shout debating from his grip.

“You and Alfie”. he spits in a low voice. Your heart drops and your eyes open wide. This meeting will take longer than you had plan.

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#Alfie Solomons #alfie solomons x reader #alfie solomons x reader!shelby sister #thomas shelby #thomas Shelby x alfie solomons #peaky blinders imagine #Peaky Blinders #peaky blinders fanfiction #fluff #alfie solomons fluff

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pappydaddy · 4 years

Text

Part Two: Mr. Brightside

A/N: Here’s Part Two! I don’t know when Part Three will be out, but I’m sure it’ll be out soon, I’m almost done the part and the songs for it! Check out the playlist!! If anyone wants to make an Apple Music version, just DM me!

PLEASE TAKE A SECOND TO LOOK AT MY PINNED POST, SIGN THE PETITION AND REBLOG IT IF YOU CAN!!

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Fem!Henderson!OC

Fandom: Stranger Things

Warnings: Guns, violence, life-threatening situation, aggressive talk about Russians (evil Russians, not all Russians), belittlement, feelings of inferiority, feelings of weakness, deprecation images of oneself, SPOILERS!!!

I Wanna Be Yours Playlist (Spotify)

Part One | Part Two | Part Three - Coming Soon

masterlist | taglist | wips | navigation

- not my gif -

Steve hid behind the plastic plant in the middle of the food court, the binoculars pressed around his eyes, surely leaving a noticeable red ring around his eyes. He was supposed to be looking for the evil Russians that the boy crouched beside him keeps rattling off about, but he couldn’t stop watching them. He really did try to pull his focus away from the two teens standing way too close, but his eyes just pulled towards them like a magnet. “See anything?” Dustin asked, poking his head up over the plant. The two stood out like sore thumbs, proving that they were shit at stake-outs.

“Uh, I guess I don’t totally know what I’m looking for.” Steve admitted, pulling his eyes away from the couple to scan over the other people occupying the mall. His mouth hung open, his eyes drifting back up to the second floor where Ophelia and Brett stood, leaning against the railing.

“Evil Russians.” Dustin told him as if it were simple.

“Yeah, exactly,” Steve exclaimed, not even trying to pull his eyes from Ophelia as she laughed. “I don’t know what an evil Russian looks like.” Steve muttered, his binoculars following Ophelia and Brett as they walked along the second floor.

“Tall? Blond? Not smiling,” Dustin listed off suggestively. Steve only hummed, squinting into the binoculars, watching as Ophelia bent down to grab a drink of water from the water fountain, paying attention to how Brett snuck a look at her butt, her dress riding up dangerously. His blood started to boil at the sight of him shamelessly eyeing her like a piece of meat. “Also, look for earpieces, camo, duffle bags, that sort of thing.” Dustin looked over at him as he hummed along, not paying attention.

“Right, okay, duffle bags,” Steve repeated, following the pair as they walked again. If looks could kill, Brett’s arm (which was wound around Ophelia’s waist) would have been killed brutally. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Steve muttered in disbelief when Brett leaned down to whisper something in Ophelia’s ear making her pull away, a blush darkening her cheeks as she giggled and hit his chest playfully. The smirk Brett wore made Steve want to knock his lights out. It was a smirk that told Steve his true intentions. He just wanted to get in her pants and he thinks he’s almost there.

“What?” Dustin asked, trying to follow the line of the binoculars to see what Steve saw, thinking he saw a Russian.

“Your sister,” Steve told him as if it was obvious. “I have no idea why she would even think about going out with a guy like Brett Morris. She can do so much better than that weasel, god-” He ranted, his top lip curling into a snarl at the sight of him pressing a kiss to her cheek, the blush coating her delicate cheeks deepening. “He’s a sleaze.” Steve grunted, looking at the tall hockey player in disgust. Dustin’s eyes snapped towards his sister, watching Brett interact with her.

“I don’t know, I don’t see anything wrong with it, they’re on a first date and he’s being nice?” Dustin shrugged, not seeing what Steve was all worked up about. Steve pulled his eyes from the binoculars, keeping them in place so he didn’t lose the couple.

“Nice? You see nothing wrong with it,” Steve asked, bewildered. “Dude! That’s your sister and he’s smirking like he’s about to bang her!” Steve nearly cried out. Dustin’s lips turned down in a disgusted frown as he fought back a gag before turning his attention back to his sister and her date who made their way down the escalators, still in each other’s arms.

��Dustin watched Brett smile down at Ophelia as she gazed at all the sights, seeing what was going on. He shrugged, looking back at Steve who watched the same scene with a snarl. “Dude, he’s smiling like he likes her,” He shook his head at the older boy. “Why do you care anyway? Do you like her?” Steve pulled away from the binoculars again, furrowing his brow at the younger Henderson. Dustin twitched an eyebrow at Steve, waiting for an answer.

“I don’t like her,” He denied, his voice filtering almost like it knew something he didn’t. Of course he didn’t like Ophelia. Those were old feelings. She’s his best friend’s sister. The girl who fought demogorgons, demodogs and Billy Hargrove alongside him. The girl who always comes in and brightens his day with her smile and laugh. The girl with bright eyes that seemed to swirl with stars. She was the girl who he felt a strong need to protect, to shield away from the world that was hell-bent to destroy such a beautiful creature. The girl who kissed him in grade nine during a game of spin the bottle. Steve certainly did not like Ophelia Henderson and her certainly didn’t find himself thinking back to that quick little peck of the lips at Hannah Hanson’s party. He scoffed, looking back through the binoculars and letting panic settle into him. “Shit! Where’d they go-” He was cut off by someone snatching the binoculars away.

Both Dustin and Steve jumped, looking up at a fuming Ophelia; the binoculars grasped in her hand. Her body nearly shook with the anger coursing through her. “What are you two mouthbreathers doing? Spying on my date?” She asked, her fingers wrapped around the binoculars turning white from her grasp. Steve’s lips parted, his brown eyes looking up at her. It wasn’t like he set off to spy on her date, it just kinda happened. Dustin grabbed the binoculars back from his sister, making the angry girl shift her eyes to him.

“No-” Dustin snapped, holding the binoculars to his chest. “We were looking for evil Russians, Steve is just a horrible spy.” He told her, bringing the binoculars up to his eyes. Steve whined at the younger boy’s comment, but otherwise remained silent.

“Evil Russians? Why would you be looking for evil Russians in the food court?” Ophelia turned her nose up, looking at her brother as if he were crazy. Dustin sighed, pulling the binoculars from his eyes to give her a look. Steve furrowed his brow at her until he remembered that she had left them last night before they discovered the Russian transmission came from the mall. Heat bubbled in his chest, remembering why she had left them. His jaw clenched, his brown eyes hardening on the wall across from him, hoping that his stare could make it crumble.

“The Russians aren’t in Russia, music from the Indiana Flyer was heard in the background of the recording, blah blah blah, there you’re all caught up-” Dustin grumbled, peering through the binoculars again, leaning forward as he looked at each person mulling around suspiciously. Ophelia opened her mouth to retort, but Dustin cut her off. “Now go back to your date so that I can actually spy - unlike somebody.” Dustin shot the last part towards the older boy who sat there, stewing in his anger.

With a groan and a roll of her eyes, Ophelia turned on her heels and strutted back towards Brett who now held a pretzel and a drink in his hands. Steve watched as he greeted her with a smile, handing her the drink. His now free hand slipped along the small of her back as he guided her towards one of the empty seats. “Ugh, he doesn’t need to be so handsy.” Steve grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest, his lips pouting.

“Oh my god, I don’t get why you can’t just see it, are you really that blind?” Dustin asked Steve, not taking his eyes from the binoculars. Steve looked over at the busy-haired pre-teen.

“See what?” Steve snapped, trying his hardest not to look over at Ophelia again, just knowing he would be greeted by the sickening sight of her giggling for another guy. Just the thought of another guy making her laugh like Steve does made his stomach churn. He felt like he was standing out in a field as the world around him turned cold, the blue skies swirling into a dark gray - just seconds before the cold rain poured down on top of him.

“See how you actually feel about Leah, you Dipshit,” Dustin exclaimed, growing tired of Steve’s blindness. “Everything you’re seeing with Brett being an ass is all in your thick head, fueled by your jealousy!” Dustin told him. Sure, Dustin hadn’t noticed the crush that his friend harboured for his sister, but the second that Ophelia told them about her date, Steve had changed. It had become obvious to Dustin. All the time Steve just suddenly dropped by the Henderson household with Ophelia’s favourite movies in his hands, the fact that Steve was always parked by their curb in the mornings to drive them to school.

“I feel like she’s a friend, you Dipshit,” Steve argued back, his top lip rolling up into a sneer at Dustin's suggestion. The fact that everything in his life had suddenly become a downcast blue since Brett had asked Ophelia on a date didn’t mean he liked her. Just because he felt like his heart had been struck with a hammer does not mean he liked her. “And I am not jealous, I am quite positive if I do say so myself.” Steve liked to view himself as Mr. Sunshine. Full of positive light and energy. Though, he couldn’t shake the images of them after their date. Brett’s fingers trailing along the curve of Ophelia’s side as their lips mashed together. The hockey player’s fingers slipping under her skirt, running along her thighs. The mental image hurt him so much he could have punched a wall.

“Come on Steve! You like her, why else would you be so obsessed over her going on a date with Brett?” Dustin pointed out. Steve scoffed, rolling his eyes. Why was he even fighting with Dustin on this? Dustin was a kid, he doesn’t understand the complicated world of love. He doesn’t know the arch of a heart, he doesn’t know the pining and the angst. He has no idea what he was talking about.

“Because Brett Morris is a dirty sleezeball and Ophelia shouldn’t be on a date with him!” Steve told him, his arms moving frantically even though he knew Dustin wasn’t going to pull his eyes away from the binoculars to watch him.

“Sure,” Dustin hummed, finally pulling away from the binoculars far enough to turn his head to look at Steve. “And the fact that you can only refer to Brett as Brett Morris has nothing to do with jealousy?” Dustin posed the question. Robin and Dustin all refer to him as just Brett in a nice, casual tone, but Steve always spat his first and last name as if it was venom he had just ingested, his face always screwing up as if he had just referenced his arch nemesis.

“I just don’t like him, I know his type.” Steve avoided, his head swirling from Dustin’s interrogation. Why did he not like Brett? Steve never really talked to him. Sure they were both popular, but Steve hung close to the basketball crowd while Brett spread out a little more within the high school groups. Brett and Ophelia ran in the same crowd, being involved with multiple organizations in school. Without an explanation, Steve had developed a hatred for the tall hockey player from the first time he saw him and Ophelia talking in the school hallway as they stood at her locker, why back when Nancy was in the picture.

“You like her and if you don’t figure that you soon, you’re going to have to figure out how to forget her because she’s not going to wait around for you.” Dustin shrugged, telling him how it is. Of course he knew how his sister felt, he figured out how to pick the lock on her journal two years ago. He knew everything about her, and some of it, he didn’t want to know.

“I don’t like your sister dude!” Steve gave up trying to make excuses, knowing that Dustin will just mess with his head someway, making him question if he actually did like Ophelia.

“Yes, you do.” Dustin stated pointblank.

“No.” Steve denied again. Dustin shook his head, peering through the binoculars once again.

“Yes-” Dustin sang back, pleased with knowing that he was right once again.

“No-”

“You do!” Dustin shot back. Steve glared at the younger boy.

“She’s not my type, okay? She’s too nice, too sweet, too pretty - too perfect.” Steve trailed off towards the end, not being able to find the correct reason why she wasn’t his type. When he was King Steve, he was positive that Carol and Tommy wouldn’t have any problem listing reasons why she wasn’t his type, but now he wasn’t sure. She was gorgeous, funny, insanely smart and caring. She was everyone’s type.

“What’s your type again? Girls who don’t like you?” Dustin perked an eyebrow at him when he pulled away from the binoculars once again. Steve shot him a sharp glare for the comment. Steve wasn’t sure what his type was in all honesty, but he was sure that Ophelia wasn’t it.

“Thank you,” Steve forced the corner of his lips up in a sarcastic smile before they dropped back down into a straight line. “For your information, Ophelia is still in school and that’ll be weird for me to date someone who is still in high school and she-she is nice to the weird-o’s like Robin. She’s on the prom committee and homecoming committee, and she likes hockey players apparently - hockey players are the bottom of the sports food chain.” Steve ranted, searching his mind for his next point.

Dustin looked at him once again, rolling his eyes at his reasons. “Now that you’re out of high school, which means that you’re technically an adult, don’t you think it’s time to move on from primitive constructs such as popularity - which Ophelia is popular.” Dustin suggested, trying to get Steve to see the world that’s outside of all the worrying about fitting in.

“Oh, primitive constructs? That some stupid shit you learned at Camp Know-” He paused, shaking his head, trying to come up with the name of the camp Dustin had went to this summer. “Nothing?” He settled for an insult, his defence mechanism starting up.

“Camp Know Where, actually. And no, it’s shit I learned from life,” Dustin told him. Nerds, with all that they have to put up with from the popular people, have learned things. They’ve learned that you shouldn’t focus on making other people see you as cool, instead you should focus on making yourself happy. Steve hummed, looking away from Dustin to scan over the people walking around. “Instead of dating somebody you think’s gonna make you cooler, why not date someone you actually enjoy being around,” Dustin suggested. Steve blinked, thinking about it. He did like being around Ophelia. She made his day brighter and just the thought of her made a smile stretch onto his face. “Like me and Suzie.”

“Oh, Suzie-” He mocked, bouncing his head. Dustin gave him a look, pulling the binoculars back to his eyes. “Yeah, you mean ‘hotter than Phoebe Cates”, yeah that Suzie, and, uh,” Steve paused. “Let’s actually think about it, how exactly did you score that beautiful girlfriend,” He posed the question, scratching the side of his face in faux question. “Oh yeah! With my advice,” He reminded him. “Because that’s how this works, Henderson. I give you advice and you follow through - not the other way around, all right, pea-brain?” Steve shot at him. Dustin gave him a look before resuming his search.

***

Ophelia walked towards Scoops, a dazed look on her face. The feeling of Brett’s lips on hers was still fresh. The odd feeling she felt in the bottom of her stomach returning at the memory. His lips felt odd on hers, they didn’t feel as pillowy as she imagined them to be, instead they were chapped against hers. His lips had touched her so gently, almost as if he was scared that she’d shattered under him any second. Normally, she would have found his gentleness romantic and endearing, but the kiss was almost just his lips hovering over hers, just barely brushing together like he didn’t even want to touch her. It was like that for the entire date, his fingertips just brushing against the small of her back or his arm barely touching her shoulders.

She found her mind wandering off to Steve and if he would have done the same thing. Would he have barely touched her, would his lips just skim over her’s in a short kiss? Would his fingertips ever so slightly touch her body? Maybe Brett just didn’t want to touch her? He hadn’t even mentioned a second date before he scampered off for his shift with blushing cheeks. She sighed, her heels scraping against the floor sluggishly. “Does he even like me?” She whispered to herself. She heard thudding feet running towards her, making her lift her head to see Steve and Dustin rushing out of Scoops in search of someone.

They ran towards her, Steve’s hand reaching out to grasp her small wrist in his, yanking her along with them. She let out a squeak of surprise as she was spun on her heel and pulled towards the center of the mall. She tried to ignore the tingling and the heat that crawled up her arm, spreading throughout her body at his grasp. Steve came to an abrupt stop when they arrived at Robin who stood on the bench wrapping around the center planter’s box that held an assortment of fake plants and a tree, a wide eyed look on her face as she looked down at the three of them. “Robin, what are you doing?” He asked, walking closer to the blonde, his hand still wrapped around Ophelia’s wrist.

“I cracked it.” She said, a hint of excitement in her usually monotone drawl. Ophelia furrowed her brows, glancing at Steve’s hand still on her wrist. His grip, it wasn’t just hovering over her like Brett’s was. His touch felt different from Brett’s. His touch was just something brushing against her body while Steve’s ignited warmth in her that spread throughout her body, like a fire burning under her skin.

“Cracked what?” Steve asked, prompting Robin to jump from the bench - Steve and Dustin’s eyes following her. The sound of her sneakers slapping the tiled floor made Ophelia look at her.

“I cracked the code,” She couldn’t help the smile that consumed her face. Ophelia smiled, proud of Robin for cracking the seemingly impossible code. Robin brushed past the group, glancing down at Steve’s hand encircling Ophelia’s wrist. “Oh, um, Steve?” She turned around, walking backwards with a smirk on her face.

“Yeah?” Steve asked, his eyebrows jumping up as he turned his body to look at Robin, waiting for her to ask him something. Her eyes jumped from between Ophelia and him with sparkles of amusement dancing in her vibrant blue eyes.

“I think you can let go of Ophelia’s hand now.” She beamed at the older boy. Instantly, Dustin and Steve’s eyes dropped down to see that Steve’s hand still held Ophelia’s wrist, making Dustin snort and slap his hand over his mouth to stop his chuckles while Steve nearly choked on his own spit - a blush covering his cheeks. His hand dropped Ophelia’s wrist, the warmth she felt from his fingers grasping her wrist still burning throughout her body.

“Thanks.” Ophelia smiled, walking towards Robin, leaving Steve and Dustin behind. Slipping his hand from his mouth, Dustin looked at Steve who stared at his hand, clenching it in a fist before stretching it out, feeling a weird tingling that felt like he just grabbed an electric fence. Steve’s brown eyes looked up at Ophelia who talked to Robin about how she managed to figure out the code. Her hair bounced behind her as she tried to keep up with the slightly taller girl, her heels clicking against the clean tile.

“Yeah, you definitely don’t like her.” Dustin mused, giving Steve a look as he shook his head. Steve looked over at him, still fisting and unfisting his hand.

“I don’t like her!” Steve denied making Dustin hum and walk away, joining Ophelia and Robin. Steve rolled his eyes, trudging after the group.

“So, Leah,” Dustin cut into the girl’s conversation, earning pointed glares from both of them. “How was the date, from what I saw, it went pretty good.” Dustin inquired, stealing a glance at Steve who glared at him as well. Ophelia glanced at her brother, before glancing at Steve who dropped the glare and gave her a smile instead.

“Yeah, Leah, how’d the big date with Brett go? You were so excited yesterday.” Robin easily changed the subject, knowing that she had the rest of the day to explain her thought process and the plan she was cooking up in her mind. Ophelia shrugged, glancing down at her feet.

“Uh, it was okay. We just kind of walked around after the movie, we shared a pretzel and sat by the fountain, that’s about it.” Ophelia waved them off, her tone less excited. The date was good, he made her laugh, paid for everything before Ophelia could even think about it, but she couldn’t help but let the kiss and lack of talk about a second date put her off. Steve sensed her downcast mood, his heart itching to cheer her up. He couldn’t stand to see her so down, but he also couldn’t help but to feel delighted at the thought that her date didn’t go well.

“Did he kiss you? Is there a second date?” Robin pressed, glancing at Steve from the corner of her eyes as he waited for her answer with baited breath. Ophelia shook her head, a heaving sigh leaving her lips.

“He did kiss me, but it was weird and I have no idea if there is a second date, he didn’t even talk about a second date,” Ophelia admitted, looking at Robin. Robin simply looked at her with wide, confused eyes. She was shocked, Brett seemed to actually like Ophelia. “I’m fine, really. Brett’s cute and nice, but I think we might just be better as friends.” She brushed off Robin’s sympathetic eyes.

“Still, that must suck, Leah. I know how important this date was for you.” Robin rested her hand on Ophelia’s shoulder softly, offering her support. In a private moment with Robin last night when Steve was scooping ice cream and Dustin had been in the bathroom, Robin had made Ophelia crack, admitting her feelings for Steve along with her hopes that this date would help her get over the goofy dingus. Hoping that Brett would be the antidote to the poison that was her crush flooding her veins.

“It’s no biggie, he has my number. Maybe he’ll call me, maybe he won’t - who knows,” She continued to deflect Robin’s support. They all walked into Scoops, seeing barely anyone in the store. Robin opened her mouth to talk to her, but she cut her off. “I’m just going to change into sneakers, I want out of these shoes.” The words were heavy with a lack of emotion, a huge contrast to her normally sweet voice and cheery disposition. Steve watched her as she walked sluggishly into the back room, his heart hurting. He didn’t want to see her so sad. He wanted to see her bright smile, to hear her laughter bouncing off the blue and white striped walls of the overly cheery parlor. He was snapped out of his trance by both Robin and Dustin whacking the back of his head.

“Ow! What the hell was that for?” Steve grumbled, looking at Robin and Dustin who glared back at him.

“For being an idiot.” Dustin retorted, walking around the counter, grabbing a sample spoon and skimming the top of one of the ice creams.

“I did it because I’m tired of this,” Robin threw her hands in the air, also walking behind the counter, closing the screen, but not before peeking in at Ophelia who sat at the table slowly putting her shoes on. “She is upset because she’s trying to move on.” She shook her head, speaking mostly to herself, but she wasn’t aware of Steve standing on the other side of the counter, hearing the words.

“Move on from what? She broke up with her last boyfriend back in September, she’s not still caught up on that asshole, is she?” Steve asked, making Robin whirl around in surprise, not wanting Steve to hear that. Dustin and Robin shared a look before glancing at Steve. A mix of emotions flurried around Steve’s mind like a blizzard, making him mad. Why would she still be hooked on the asshole who barely paid attention to her? Couldn’t she see that she deserved more.

“Why would that matter to you, Steve, you don’t like her.” Dustin sneered, reminding him. Steve jolted back at Dustin’s sudden aggression. Dustin felt protective over his sister. She was obviously crushed that her date didn’t go well and from what Robin just said, it wasn’t because she liked Brett.

“I care because she’s my friend. I don’t need to like her romantically to care for her,” Steve bit back making Robin groan, stomping her foot against the floor in frustration. Steve was just as thick as the layer of product in his precious hair. “What? I shouldn’t care about her?” Steve asked, his eyes wide as he tried to pinpoint their emotions based on their reactions.

“Let me ask you a question Steve,” Robin paused, placing her hands on the counter by the cash, her hard blue eyes looking up at him. “Were you upset about Ophelia going on a date with Brett?” Robin threw the question up in the air, already knowing the answer.

“I wouldn’t say upset-” Steve was cut off by Robin raising her hand at him.

“How did you feel about her going on a date with Brett?” Robin rephrased the question, her hand slapping back to the blue counter, waiting for Steve to answer. Steve blinked, thinking.

“I guess I was a little upset, I mean, Brett Morris is not good for her. She can do so much better than him.” Steve answered, growing upset at the thought of her not realizing how great she was and underestimating what she deserved.

“Okay, so what type of guy is good for her?” Robin bounced back instantly with another question, trying to get him to figure out that he liked her.

“I don’t know,” Steve muttered, thinking. With a sigh, he placed his hands on his hips. “I honestly can’t think of any guy who is good enough. They’re all shit,” Steve confessed. Robin raised her eyebrows, giving him a look. “Alright! I was upset that she was going on a date with Brett Morris, happy?” Steve exclaimed, admitting defeat.

“You hated it so much that you couldn’t stop spying on them, Steve. You were ready to kill the poor guy.” Dustin chimed in, trying to bring Robin’s point home.

“Yes, I spied on them and I might have made some comments about how much I don’t like the guy, what’s your point?” Steve asked them, kicking his leg out to the side, his tongue flicking over his bottom lip. Dustin groaned, his forehead hitting the top of the cooler.

“My point is you like her Steve and you have the power to make her feel better. I know it’s killing you to see her so upset so could you just take a second, try to let the realization penetrate that thick skull of yours and figure out that you are head over heels for her?” Robin pressed, gesturing towards the backroom where Ophelia still hid. Steve scoffed, shaking his head at their antics.

“I don’t like her, okay? I’m not even looking for a serious relationship - not after what happened with Nancy.” Steve denied. Robin and Dustin grew even more frustrated by his denial. Robin rested her elbows on the counter, leaning down as she clasped her hands together in front of her. She licked her lips, glancing down at the counter before back up at Steve.

“You’re just going to stand there and tell us that not even a tiny little part of you realizes that you like Ophelia?” Robin asked him point blank. Steve blinked at her. He thought about it. Did he really like Ophelia? The way Robin had phrased it and the way she said it made him question how he really felt. Had he been denying how he felt about Ophelia because he was scared of being hurt again? His heart did practically leap out of his chest at the sight of her. Seeing guys shamelessly flirt with her day in and day out made him feel like he was continuously running into a solid brick wall with his heart tapped to his face. Oftentimes, he would find himself imagining her smile to calm him down when he’s sad.

“I-I don’t really know,” Steve stuttered, unsure of himself. He shook his head, righting his posture. “Even if I did like her, she probably doesn’t like me. I am the furthest thing from what she deserves.” Steve argued back.

“You won’t know if she likes you if you don’t ask Steve, I know you know how you feel about her,” Robin’s tone was soft and comforting. “We know how she feels about you, but it’s not our place to tell you that. If you want to know how she feels before you realize your feelings, you’re going to miss her - she’s not going to wait around if she likes you.” She told him. Steve looked at her in confusion.

“What?” Steve blinked, not understanding what she was saying.

“I’m saying that if you don’t just figure out your feelings for her, you’re going to miss your chance with her,” Robin was handing him the answer of Ophelia’s feelings for him on a silver platter and it was up to him to figure it out. “And if you don’t figure them out fast, you’re going to mess up.” She warned.

***

Rain poured down on them as they laid on their stomachs, watching a storage room being loaded up. Ophelia rested her chin on her hands that laid on top of the concrete parapet in front of them. “Look for Imperial Panda and Kaufman Shoes!” Robin instructed Dustin from beside Ophelia. She pulled her hood up over her hair, her bare legs that her dress didn’t cover becoming cold as they got soaked with rain. She could hear one of the delivery guys whistling over the pounding rain, but because of the distance, she couldn’t see anything through the pouring rain.

“They’re with that whistling guy, ten O’Clock!” Dustin exclaimed from the other-side of Steve, his binoculars once again pressed to his face. Lazily, Ophelia let her eyes move towards the direction Dustin told them, seeing a man with a yellow raincoat pushing a trolley with three boxes on it into the storage unit. She also couldn’t help but notice the two large guys dressed in black, both holding rather large guns.

“What do you think’s in there?” Steve asked, his eyes squinting as rain fell on his head. He was the only one without a proper raincoat, but that didn’t surprise Ophelia, he wouldn’t be one to own a rain jacket.

“Guns, bombs.” Dustin suggested.

“Chemical Weapons.” Robin also suggested. Steve’s eyebrows jumped as he licked his lips. He wasn’t pleased to have Ophelia with them, not wanting her mixed up with this. It was starting to get dangerous.

“Whatever it is, they’re armed to the teeth.” Dustin announced, his eyes dropping to one of the stern faced guards. Thunder clapped overhead as Steve rubbed his eyes that were irritated from the rain.

“Great,” He commented, nodding his head as he pulled his hand away. His eyes were screwed shut in hopes not to get any more water in them. “That’s great.” He grumbled, opening his eyes. Ophelia reached up to his shoulder, patting it twice before letting it rest on the concrete once again. Her eyes squinted when one of the guards started to move, trying to see what he was doing. She was so focused on what the man was doing, she jolted back in fright when the storage room doors suddenly opened.

“Hey, what’s in there?” Robin perked up, also noticing the doors opening.

“It’s just more boxes.” Dustin told them. Ophelia nodded, watching as the delivery man pushed the trolley into the now open room.

“Let me check it out.” Steve told Dustin, reaching his arm up to grab the binoculars blindly. Dustin pulled the binoculars from his eyes, his grip tightening around them.

“No! I’m still looking!” Dustin pulled back on the binoculars, trying to get Steve to let go of them. Steve simply slapped his other hand on them, trying to wrestle them away from the younger boy.

“Lemme see it.” Steve pressed, pulling harder. Ophelia scooted closer to Robin, not wanting to be hit by Steve’s flailing elbow. A flash of lightning temporarily blinded them as Dustin and Steve continued to tug on the binoculars.

“Hold on!” Dustin argued, giving a sharp tug to the binoculars just as Steve let his hands go - making Dustin hit one of the metal pipes, a loud bang sounding over the pounding rain. Ophelia and Robin jumped at the sound, their eyes jumping from Dustin before looking down at the guards.

“Shit!” Ophelia cursed when she saw the guards glancing towards their direction, their hands reaching for their large semi-automatic guns. All four gasped, fear making their blood run cold in their veins. Ophelia was almost positive that her heart had stopped beating for a second.

“Duck!” Dustin cried as they all dropped to lay down. Ophelia flopped on her back, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Her head rested against the slope of the parapet uncomfortably, a dull ache already making itself present in her neck. She had barely noticed that Steve had grabbed her hand tightly in the middle of the mess until she felt the same heat crawling under her skin that she felt when he grabbed her wrist earlier. It was a welcomed contrast from the cold rain pelting her like bullets, but she couldn’t let the sensation distract her from the fact that they could very well die right then and there.

“We gotta go,” Steve whispered harshly. His mind raced, trying to figure out how they were going to get themselves out of this situation. “We can hide along that.” He pointed towards the larger structure attached to the roof entrance. He didn’t even wait for them to argue before he started to move, tugging Ophelia along with him. He hadn’t even noticed his hand in hers, he was too occupied with trying not to die. They all awkwardly ran, pressing themselves up against the tin siding of the structure.

“I hope this plan works because we don’t have a plan b.” Ophelia panted, letting her head fall back against the wall, her eyes closing. Her chest stung from the panic and running, her lungs burning as they continued to grow greedy for air. She could feel herself shaking, but she wasn’t sure if it was mostly from the cold or her pending death which was rapidly approaching.

Nobody said anything as they all tried to calm their wildly beating hearts in hopes to control their loud breathing. The faint but rapid clang of heavy boots hitting the stairs was muffled to their ears, but detectable none-the-less. The heavy door slammed against the tin making them jump. Ophelia pressed the palm of her free hand to her mouth, her heart rate picking right back up. She found herself trying to plead with every higher power there was to just let them make it out of this situation alive, even wishing on the stars she knew were hidden behind the thick black rain clouds. She hoped that the planets and stars were aligned just the right way so that they all could live another day.

Thunder clapped, overhead making Ophelia suddenly start praying to Zeus of all people, hoping her name was a good enough reason for the mythical god to help the four of them. Steve squeezed her hand tight, nearly cutting off the blood flow to her fingers, but she didn’t care, she just squeezed his hand back equally as hard. They listened carefully, trying to hear any sign of movement over the rain splattering against the concrete of the roof.

It felt like an eternity before they heard the door swing open and slam shut, followed by the sweet sound of heavy boots hitting the metal of the stairs. “We should wait here until we know for sure he’s gone.” Dustin whispered, anxiety filling him, making his mind race. For all he knew, the guard could be waiting to catch them at any second, successfully catching them in his masterplan.

“Good idea.” Steve nodded. Robin and Ophelia looked at them with hard eyes.

“Well then how do we know when to leave? It’s not like he’s standing out in the pouring rain, he can wait there for hours!” Ophelia pointed out a flaw in Dustin’s wait-it-out plan. Just as she said that, they heard the guards loudly talking to each other in Russian, their voices booming over the rain. Dustin smiled at his sister.

“That’s how we know.” He remarked, darting towards the door. She rolled her eyes as the rest of them moved after him, their hearts still racing a mile a minute. They filed into the stairwell, their panting breaths echoing off the wall along with the squishes and squeaks of their sneakers against the clean floors. They were all drenched from head to toe, their clothes a soaking mess that clung to their skin uncomfortably. Ophelia’s hair hung in clumps around her head, a few clumps sticking to the back of her neck and allowing water to trail down her dry back. For the most part, Ophelia, Dustin and Robin’s clothes were somewhat dry thanks to their raincoats protecting them; the protection of the rubber coats stopped the second the Russian guards discovered their presence, their hoods sliding off their heads, their unbuttoned jackets flopping open to expose them to the cold rain.

“Well, I think we found your Russians.” Robin declared the second they reached the back corridors that connected all the stores to the loading dock. She glanced between Steve and Dustin as they all rushed back to Scoops, wanting to be safe once again. Steve continued to hold Ophelia’s hand, tugging her along behind him as he sped walked to Scoops. Robin glanced at their intertwined hands, sharing a look with Dustin who also noticed.

***

Robin was long gone, having biked home so that she could sleep off the memory of nearly dying, something the other three had unfortunately faced twice before. Dustin retreated to Ophelia’s car, but forced her and Steve to get his Camp Know Where hat that he accidentally left behind in the backroom of Scoops. Ophelia and Steve walked in silence, Steve’s mind wrapped up in trying to figure out if he actually liked her. “So, that was kinda scary earlier, huh?” Steve asked, his voice coming out squeakier than he wanted, as he pulled the door to the outside open, the sound of raindrops hitting the wet pavement meeting their ears.

“Yeah, just a little,” Ophelia nodded. She had sensed his rigidity around her. It was like he was constantly on edge, overthinking everything he did. She felt fear settle into her chest at the thought that he had figured her feelings for her. He was probably trying to figure out how to let her down gently or how she could have possibly misread his signs of friendship for something more. “We’ve almost died a lot of times, but this is the first time we’ve almost died from guns.” She tried to carry on the conversation as if her heart wasn’t threatening to rip itself in half.

Stepping into the pouring rain, their barely dry clothes were instantly wet again, weighing down on them along with the crushing silence beating between them like a pulse. Even with the cold rain drops pelting them and thunder rolling over their heads, they still took their time walking to their respective cars. Despite the suffocating silence that bathed them, they still wanted to spend time together. “I don’t think this is a good idea - not after what happened on the roof.” Steve suddenly stopped, turning to face her. Ophelia dug her heels into the ground, whirling around to face him with furrowed brows. He didn’t know what prompted him to say that, the thought of not wanting her to get hurt pressing itself to the forefront of his brain - begging for attention.

They both ignored the raindrops rolling down their faces at high speeds and the rain beating at their faces, their eyes blinking rapidly. “What do you mean? You don’t want to figure out what they’re doing anymore?” She asked, confused. Steve was stubborn, he never gave up on anything. It wasn’t like him to back out of something.

Steve shook his head, water spraying from his hair at the action like a dog. “No, no,” He breathed out so softly Ophelia almost didn’t hear it over the rain. “No, I don’t want you to be involved in this anymore.” He told her, gesturing his hands in the small space between them. They stood so close, you could barely fit another person between them. Ophelia blinked at him, her mouth opening and closing as she processed what he had just said.

“Why not? If you haven’t noticed, I’ve dealt with things a lot scarier than Russians.” She shot back, her hands flying through the air. They had been through so much the past two years, they had been through hell and back and there was no way she was going to bow out at Russians. Last time she checked, they weren’t some unknown force from another dimension.

“Did you not see the giant semi-automatics they were holding Ophelia? That’s a lot harder to avoid than a monster,” Steve’s voice boomed, his blood pressure building. He didn’t want her to get hurt; he didn’t want her to end up with a bullet in her. He wanted her safe, far away from this. Monsters were one thing, but these monsters had guns and a ruthless urge to kill. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.” He admitted, his voice quieter, but scratchy - realization hitting him. He felt like he had been hit by a tonne of bricks. The world was spinning around him like he was standing on a spinning top that was spinning out of control. His stomach churned, making him want to throw up, but the dizziness made him feel like he was going to pass out. He liked her. Here he stood, in a deserted parking lot with rain pounding down on him, starting a fight with her because he liked her.

Steve watched her face, a mixture of sadness, hurt and anger perfectly blended to match the storm swirling overhead. She chuckled dryly, shaking her head as she folded her arms over her chest. Licking her lips, she set her watery, but hard eyes on Steve who seemed to be caught up in his own thoughts. “You don’t want me to get hurt,” She echoed like she couldn’t believe the words he spoke. “Do you not remember who saved you from being killed from demodogs and Billy Hargrove last year? Oh, yeah! That’s right,” Her tone picked up to fake enthusiasm. “It was me.” Her tone dropped dangerously.

“Billy was different and you ended up right next to me on that floor, Ophelia,” He reminded her, his voice raising as well, his voice strained. “I can’t do that again, I can’t see you laying there barely hanging on to consciousness again!” His body shook as he screamed into the night. He was screaming out silently, hoping that she could hear what he was trying to tell her.

“And you think I want to see you being beaten to a pulp again? No, but I’m not going to try and stop you from potentially saving the world again and you shouldn’t try to stop me!” She screamed back. She was trying to get him to hear her, to hear her true meaning in the words that she spoke.

“I can take care of myself, you-” He cut himself off, his mind stopping his mouth from talking before he put his foot in his mouth. “You-” He tried to come up with something else quickly, knowing that what he wanted to say was a complete lie. She could take care of herself. She had proven that multiple times. “You-” He tried again, but she cut him off with a stressed cry.

“I- What, Steve,” She asked, her eyes dancing with fire despite the water that pooled in them, trying desperately to smother the fire. “I can’t defend myself? I can’t take care of myself, huh,” She asked, choking back a little sob as her heart pulled itself apart slowly. She had always been undermined, nobody letting her do anything because she wasn’t strong enough, because she was just a little fragile thing that would break if the wind blew too hard. She listened to his silence, his eyes darting to the wet pavement guiltily. “God Steve! I thought that you of all people wouldn’t look at me like that, but I guess you’re just like everyone else.” She spat, tears finally breaking through the wall, sliding down her cheeks along with the rain.

Steve noticed instantly, his heart feeling like it was being held together by a single thin string that was seconds away from snapping at the sight of the tears. “No, Ophelia, that wasn’t what I wanted to say-” She cut him off once again.

“Then tell me,” She stated, sniffling slightly. “Tell me what you don’t think of me like a porcelain doll that will crack at the softest touch,” She prompted him. Silence banged like the thunder over their heads. Steve’s mouth hung open, wanting to say something, but he couldn’t, his mind blank. He really didn’t see why she couldn’t continue this with them other than the fact that he likes her and will go insane if something happened to her, but he couldn’t say that. Not yet at least. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” She muttered bitterly, wiping at her face. “Think what you want, Harrington-” She spat his name as if it were a bad taste in her mouth, sending a dagger into his heart - severing the string holding it together. “I’m doing this whether you like it or not.” She told him, turning on her heel and speed walking towards her car where Dustin sat.

Steve stood there, hair hanging in his face as he watched her. The warning Robin gave him earlier echoing through his head. “If you don’t figure them out fast, you’re going to mess up.” Steve sighed, kicking the ground and walking to his dark car. His thoughts were consumed by Ophelia, wondering how he was going to fix this and his new found feelings for her. He had always felt it, he just finally realized it. Ophelia Henderson could take anything she wanted from him, even his beating heart from his chest, and leave and Steve would just be happy to see her smile.

She was always there for him. She gave him shelter when his dad and him were fighting about College and he didn’t feel safe to be home for weeks. She held him, gave him food, cared for him when his parents wouldn’t. When he felt like he was losing everything, like he was drowning, she was the one keeping him afloat, keeping his head above water. She was the reason his head was still above the rising water levels of his life. She was the reason he was still hanging onto hope that his life will get better. It didn’t matter if she wasn’t able to protect herself (which he knew full well that she could), he’d still rather give his life for her because she’s saved his life more than once and he knows that she’d do it all over again, even if it meant giving her life for him. She was the reason he was still there, being able to be there for Dustin. She pulled him out of his darkest time, of the period of his life where he honestly couldn’t picture himself in five years because he thought he’d be dead. He didn’t understand how he couldn’t have realized his feelings sooner, how he so clearly liked her that even Dustin noticed it before him. He could have avoided doing the one thing he never wanted to do: hurt Ophelia.

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theliteraryvampire · 4 years

Text

Take Your Heart In Your Teeth (11/?)

Warnings: None really, except talk about non-con blood drinking, plus actual blood drinking

Fandom: BBC Dracula (Dracula x Reader)

Author’s Note: We’re getting into some drama, mawma. As always, comments/criticisms/feedback/reblogs/likes are appreciated!

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“You mean to tell me that you didn’t know?”

“Of course I didn’t know! Don’t you think I would have mentioned something if I did? I was hired to help you with this, technically! Wasn’t I?”

Dracula paused. I could tell that he was still uncomfortable with the fact that I knew he had lied to me, and I knew that he had, at first, wanted to kill me, a fact which I should have been uncomfortable with as well, but it was the truth, and I wasn’t going to shy away from it.

“I…” he got off the couch and walked over to me, gripping my hips in his hands almost possessively. “I don’t think you got that scar falling, (Y/N).”

“What are you saying?” My question came out hard, accusatory, but it was somehow hollow sounding, and I felt the pin prick of tears at the back of my eyes.

“I’m saying that I think Nik drank your blood.” He pushed his thumb into my hip bone, into the scar, his voice stern.

I didn’t know how to respond, so I didn’t. I pushed at his chest, pushed him away, needing my own space to breathe. I turned around and ran my hands through my hair, trying to calm myself down.

“Call Jack,” I finally said.

“...what?”

“This goes beyond us. I...I thought you,” I finally looked him in the eyes, and I sighed. “I thought you and Jack were the only...vampires...out there, and then you told me about Renfield, and now Nik...we very clearly don’t know how many vampires exist, and what that means, so, call Jack. Get him over here.”

“Fine.”

```

There was a knock at the door, but neither Dracula or I moved. He hadn’t said a word to me after he got off the phone, and I didn’t want to push him too far, not knowing what he could, or would, do. There was a knock again, but still, Dracula sat in his chair, brooding.

“Oh, no, let me,” I said sarcastically.

I walked into the foyer and in a huff I opened the door, not expecting—

“Sara?!”

“Hey!”

“Uh...hey. What are you…?”

“Um, hi, (Y/N),” Jack said, interrupting me. “I know I haven’t had a chance to...to say it but, I’m sorry for what happened.” Jack was sheepish and I could tell that he felt guilty.

“Thank you. I, um,” I held my hand up. “It’s healing so, you know...thanks.”

He didn’t say anything, but he shyly smiled. Walking into the apartment, he joined Dracula, leaving Sara and I alone. I turned to look at her fully, and I saw that her eyes were huge, taking in the place.

“You weren’t kidding when you said he was loaded,” she said slowly, stepping into the foyer. “And what are you wearing?” She tugged at the hem, studying the material, and then...

“You had sex!” She whispered it, but it still came out too loud.

I looked over my shoulder at Dracula. He had his head down and he didn’t look at me, but I could see that the corner of his mouth was pulled up into a smirk. I turned back to Sara and put my index finger up to my lips, then pointed to my ear, gesturing to her to be quiet.

“So what if we did?” I harshly whispered back.

She peeked around my shoulder to look at Dracula, before turning her full attention on me. “So? He’s hot, dude! And you’ve been pining for him since the day you started working here!” She still wasn’t as quiet as I needed her to be.

I turned back to Dracula and this time he was looking at me, eyes intensely dark.

“I’ll tell you all about it later,” I muttered, “but this is serious.”

I led her into the living room where Dracula and Jack were, and I took a deep breath, trying to ready myself for what I was about to say.

“Ok. Sara, I know you know this, but Jack, you don’t. In 2013, I was selected by a professor to go to Romania to study the ancient origins and modern day legends of vampires. We didn’t learn much, or, well, we didn’t learn anything that would have helped you and Dracula out but, there was this guy, our tour guide, Nik—”

“The hot one you slept with!” Sara chimed in. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Dracula had clenched his jaw. I gave her an agitated look.

“Yes, and—”

“(Y/N), you don’t...you don’t have to share that part with us.”

“Weirdly,” I sighed, “I do. I...slept with Nik, and I thought that, when I left his place, I fell, and, got this.” I lifted up the sweater to show my scar. “Except...I don’t think that’s what happened anymore. I brought over what I had of my research from that trip, hoping it would help Dracula and you, Jack, but, there’s this video, and...let me just get it.”

I held the laptop up to both Jack and Sara. There was immediate recognition in Jack’s eyes, and he looked at Dracula.

“Is he one of yours too?”

“No.”

Jack turned to me. “You think he drank your blood?”

“Almost positive. I have a gap in my memory that night, that I never even shared with you, Sara. I remember going to his place, and I remember...doing things...and then I remember him carrying me home, but everything else he just...told me what had happened. And I didn’t want to think about it, the possibilities, so...I didn’t.”

“You could have talked to me about it, though.” Sara’s voice was soft.

“Regardless, right now we have to focus on what this means. Dracula says he never turned Nik, and Jack, well, you were just turned two months ago, so, there’s other vampires in the world. Or, in Romania, at least.”

“Is that why Dracula couldn’t make you see things when he drank your blood, then?” Sara asked, and then, looking over to Dracula, she quickly added, “(Y/N) told me.”

“I...don’t know.” I felt dumbfounded, and I looked at Dracula myself, but it was obvious that he didn’t have an answer either. It wasn’t something we had even considered, but...

“Jack,” I said, turning to look at him, “I need you to drink my blood.”

“Excuse me?” This finally made Dracula speak up.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, (Y/N),” Jack admitted.

“It’s a great idea, actually,” I said, trying to psych myself into it. “It’s the only way we’ll find out.”

I took a step towards Jack and rolled up my sleeve, exposing my wrist. Jack looked down but didn’t budge.

“It’s ok, Jack. I…” I paused, before taking in a breath. “I trust you.”

He looked conflicted, glancing behind me at Dracula. Hesitantly, he took a step towards me, and then he grasped my arm. I felt Dracula against my back at once, very clearly not trusting Jack to be around my blood, and it was this possessiveness that both delighted and frustrated me.

“It’s ok,” I said again.

“What do you want, uh...what do you want to dream about?”

“Do you know those signs in midtown, with the New York Rangers? Near Penn Station?” Jack shook his head yes. “Ok. The goalie, Henrik Lundqvist, the one with the mask and glove, show me him winning the Stanley Cup.”

Jack smiled slightly, but once he looked down at my wrist, it turned into a grimace. He slowly brought my arm up, and with one last pause, he bit down. Just like before, I got flashes, but no full images. I saw Henrik Lundqvist in full gear, but then Jack was in front of me. I saw the Cup being hoisted in the air, so close to me that I could have touched it, but then Jack flickered back into view. Again I was back in the arena, though it didn’t look like it was supposed to, but before I could question it, there Jack was, grip tightening on my arm, becoming almost unbearable.

My first instinct was to yank my arm back, but Jack had a strong hold on me, and he wouldn’t let my arm go. I tried once more to no avail, but before I could start panicking, I was being physically pulled back, harshly, pulled back into a solid chest, and I became fully aware of my surroundings, of Dracula behind me, of Jack in front, eyes clouded over.

“Sorry,” he said, and his voice sounded hoarse. I could see that he was visibly turned away from Sara, not wanting her to see my blood running down his chin, and I distantly thought that was nice. Considerate.

“Did it...work?” Sara asked, taking a step towards me. Dracula didn’t let me move away from him, refusing to let up the grip he had on my upper arm.

“No, it was just the same as before. I saw flashes, but Jack kept coming into view, too.” I put pressure on my wrist and willed my heartbeat to slow down.

“So…” Sara said slowly, thinking things over. “It didn’t work for Jack, and it didn’t work for you,” she looked at Dracula, then at me, “but you think it worked fully for Nik? Why would it only work for him?”

“Perhaps he’s...mutated or something,” came Jack’s reply.

“Can that happen? I mean, well, I guess you probably wouldn’t know.” Sara took Jack’s hand in hers and rubbed her thumb over his knuckles.

“I suppose it could happen. Vampires exist, after all, so it would make sense that there could also be mutations based on who was turned, what condition they were in, if they had any diseases…” Jack kept on rambling but I tuned him out, flashing back suddenly to what happened the day after I had slept with Nik.

“What if...what if it’s a claim?” I blurted. Jack and Sara turned to look at me, and Dracula’s grip on my arm tightened so hard I thought I’d lose circulation.

“Is claiming a thing?” Sara asked. I looked at the floor, trying my best to remember.

“...yes…” I said, hesitantly, drawing out the word.

“How do you know?” Jack’s tone was gentle.

“Because…” I paused, thinking. “Because I think Nik told me, after he bit me.”

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telltaleclerk · 4 years

Note

Istg I'm just gonna send this to everyone in the fandom that reblogs that ask prompt, but, Mac and Jack!

Ok… I’m gonna do this one special… one for them together… and then one for each of them.

Mac and Jack

How I feel about these characters

I love them with my whole heart. Even without shippers glasses on, these two idiots are just such best friends, so in sync and perfect… and I love the way that Mac translates things into Jack speak all the time, but he never talks about it like he’s talking down to Jack… and they just compliment each other so well… Mac with his improvisation and Jack with his tactical skill… I just love them.

All the people I ship romantically with these characters

Ummmm each OTHER!… Naturally… But if we’re straying into OT3 territory… I obviously ship MacDaltonStokes… @orianess has me on a crackship that she has yet to launch involving these two… and I think I could see a Cage OT3 if I wasn’t 60% sold on her being Mac’s sister.

My non-romantic OTP for these characters

Bozer - Bozer is best friends to both of these two idiots and I love it. I love the relationship that Jack shared with Bozer even before he was in on the secret.

My unpopular opinion about these characters

Mac would never have let Jack go after Kovacs alone. Rules be damned. You go kaboom, I go kaboom… Wookie life debt… NO WAY. He didn’t even put up a fight. Nu uh.

Also: Mac treated Jack like absolute garbage during most of S3, and you cannot convince me otherwise.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I wish Jack would come back… and even if he doesn’t stay, I wish there would be some kind of reconcilliation between the two… because Mac didn’t treat Jack great during S3… and it felt unresolved when he left. Also: crying would be welcome… manly crying like when Jack lost Sarah. A few Jensen Ackles-style tears because they’re happy to see each other again… I could be in for that.

Mac

How I feel about this character

I love Mac. He’s such an interesting character. The way his brain works and the way he sees the world is so intriguing to me. And I love the way he’s still so down to earth despite being a genius… the people he collects around him… if he wanted he could be surrounded by other super genius people doing super genius things and instead he chooses this ragtag little family that all compliment each other… and I love him. (I also think Lucas Till is absolutely AWESOME as Mac)

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Jack (obviously)… ZOE!!! GAH ZOE!!! One day I will write that tragic “what if” fic is Zoe had lived. Honestly… S3/4 so far is making me not want to ship him with anyone… it seems like his entire personality for the last season and the beginning of this one is about who he’s getting it on with this week. NO THANK YOU. I like my Mac with a very small side of love interest because that’s not why I watch the show and not what it’s about. Oh, and Carlos… I TOTALLY have Carlos while in the military shipping things happening.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Riley - I SWEAR writers… if you go romance with Riley in S4 I may have to lose it. So far (other than Matty and Patty), Riley is the only girl who’s been on the show that Mac hasn’t gotten with or tried to get with. From the very beginning their relationship was very brotherly/sisterly… and their chemistry was that way too… so 100% DO NOT STICK THEM TOGETHER!!! NO! DON’T DO IT!!! Mac needs to stop trying to screw EVERYONE!!!… *deep breath* Sorry… I wouldn’t have been opposed to Mac/Riley before… but I want the boy to have one female relationship in his life that doesn’t become sexual. One girl that his safe from his raging libido… ok… now I’m done… sorry for the rant… but it’s kinda what I do.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Mac doesn’t need a romantic interest. Period. He needs to make cool shit out of other more regular shit… and save the day… and that’s what I want. I also hated MacDesi - it could have worked if it was a slower burn… but it was too rushed.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

The beginning of S3 could have been handled better. Mac in S3 in general could have been handled better… I HATED the way he acted… coming back from Nigeria… the way things went with Nasha… I just… No. Not my Mac… I wish they had found a way to write it where he still went to Nigeria… and then coming back didn’t feel so… forced and uncomfortable…

Jack

How I feel about this character

Jack Dalton is one of my all time favourite characters ever of all time ever. I love him SOO much. Everything about him. The badass Delta Force sniper that could kill you with his bare hands flips to karaoke champ in 4 states who likes nothing better than pizza and skeeball and has a painting of Telly Savalas on his wall. Quoting Star Wars and telling stories about stealing a dead body with his cousin George one Halloween and setting it up as a prop… I could go on and on about how much I love Jack Dalton.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Mac… Nick Stokes ( :D )… Jill oddly enough, I kinda love the idea of Jack/Jill (and not just for cute name reasons)… Jack/Cage… Jack/Matty… I love the idea of Jack/Steve McGarrett… like something happened when they were working together in the military…

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Riley - I love their father/daughter dynamic SOOO much... it’s my favourite dynamic in the show. They play SOOO well off each other... and I love them. the scene where he pulls her out of that trunk and tells her that he’s got her and calls her baby... just... MY HEART. every time.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Jack got too dumb in S3… the writers dumbed him down too much and made him look like a stupid strong armed ape instead of the super intelligent agent that he is.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I wish he had stayed. I have NO ill will toward George Eads and I totally respect the decision he made to step away… I just miss Jack a lot… and even if he didn’t stay… I wish they talked about him more… I wish Mac and Riley talked about missing him more often.. I wish they did more little fake calls with Mac where you can’t hear Jack but Mac’s having a conversation with him… or that Mac would reference talking to Jack… OR EVEN JUST SAY THAT HE MISSES HIM!!! Even in that episode where Riley broke down after Billy and she was all: I miss Jack, he was always the constant… Mac just goes: well, I’m here! He doesn’t talk at all about how he misses Jack too and that he’ll be back someday etc etc etc… he doesn’t even acknowledge that she said anything about Jack… and it HURT… I just wish they didn’t try to pretend he disappeared off the face of the earth.

#macgyver #mac and jack #angus macgyver #jack dalton #macdalton

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rosaguard · 4 years

Text

summer waxes poetically about her favorite aeris gainsborough ships:

i never reblogged that five ships meme because...well i don’t have five aeris ships i care about lol. however, i was challenged(tm) so here is something close to it. i do feel like it is fitting to make this post on here since aeris was actually the first muse i truly started writing a ship on after asking someone first ( and i had been writing on tumblr for like...5 years on and off before that for context. anything before that was just..maybe flirting - nothing i felt invested in ).

aeris & happiness.

the most important ship. the OTP. no other can compare. i think the biggest tragedy of aeris’ death is that so much was taken from her. she had so much to live for, so much to do, and her life was brutally and suddenly ripped away when she was finally getting the chance to figure herself out and rise to her full potential. i don’t want to aeris to die in the remake ( especially because everything about the whispers would’ve felt like a waste of time if nothing significant changes and aeris living is probably as significant as you can get ) but if it happens, it happens - i’ll just be really sad and disappointed by it lol. i’ve always been very clear that aeris’ death is not a bad one despite my blog canon essentially retconning it. there’s a reason she dies and it’s not to further cloud’s man pain ( he had enough of his own trauma already ); she dies because she’s a legitimate threat to sephiroth’s plans. she’s actually an example of a character death, especially a female one, done incredibly well, especially compared to SE’s recent output ( serah, luna, etc. ). also anyone who says she was created just to die is also wrong. barret was originally written to die first and they decided to change it.

anyway, the point of me bringing all of this up is that i didn’t decide to do away with her death because i think SE sucks and they hate women. i did away with it because a lot of aeris’ character development ( her learning about the cetra at cosmo canyon, figuring out what the white materia does, etc ) is implied / off-screen since we never know her point of view and then well...she dies. i wanted to explore what her feelings would be if she woke up alive after being attacked while meteor is slowly drawing closer to the planet. how would she handle that? how would she feel? would she feel like a failure? would she be angry? what would she do after meteor is destroyed? would she travel the world? join the w.r.o? tell everyone to fuck off and then move to a cottage in the middle of nowhere and live the rest of her life in peace? these are the questions i wanted answered when i thought about aeris living. i don’t care if she ends up with cloud, or zack, or whoever because they don’t matter: aeris matters. she’s her own person with goals, desires, wishes, and more. no one talks about what she would want and do if she had lived. all people care about is what ‘man’ she belongs to as if she’s a prize to be exchanged between them.

the second reason is simple that she fucking deserves it. she deserves it after living in a lab for 7 years and watching her mother die just trying to get her out. she deserves after having to deal with being stalked by the same company responsible for a lot of her suffering. she deserves to finally be around friends that make her feel loved, accepted, and cared for. she deserves to not feel alone, or like an outcast, or a freak because of her powers. she deserves to be able to go to icicle inn too and see footage of her father for the first time. she deserves to be able to go back to kalm and see her mom again. she deserves to live happily just like everyone else gets to do. her life has been filled with so much tragedy and pain yet she never lets it define her. she blooms in the face of adversity. she keeps smiling even up until the end of her life. she deserves happiness as her end-game and if i don’t get it in canon, i’m going to create it here myself.

aeris & cloud.

i disliked this ship for a long time. it actually wasn’t because of the ship itself but due to some of my experiences with the shippers. i won’t go into my fandom experiences but i ran an account dedicated to ti.fa for almost six years so i’ve seen how...unpretty both sides of the 'ship war’ can get and it turned me off. a lot. when i decided to write aeris, i immediately started a replay of the the original game with an ‘aeris-lens’ ( analyzing her character, her relationships, making sure i got her date, etc. ). it made me look at her relationship with cloud in a different light since i had never really paid attention to it as heavily before since i avoided the ship tbh. i ended up enjoying their dynamic a lot. they have a natural chemistry with each other but there’s also this unspoken distance between them which is fully intentional - she has her own walls up and he has his.

they have a very ‘tragic love’ since well...she dies before anything can fully go to the next level. their relationship in canon is a very ‘what if’ and as a result, i often see people who don’t like the ship claim that they wouldn’t work because aeris wouldn’t be able to ‘deal’ with cloud and would’ve left. to be blunt, this a bad take considering supporting one another is prevalent throughout their relationship:

aeris: i learned a lot. the elders taught me many things. about the cetra... and the promised land... i'm...... alone... i'm all alone now... cloud: but i'm...... we're here for you, right? aeris: i know. i know, but... i am the only...... cetra. cloud: does that mean we can't help?

cloud: ...i gave the black materia to sephiroth...? wha... what did I do... tell me, aeris. aeris: cloud... be strong, ok? He writhes and clutches his head. cloud urrrrrrgh... what have I done!? aeris: cloud... you haven't done anything. it's not your fault.

cloud: yeah, I hear you. sorry for what happened. aeris: don't worry about it. cloud: ...i can't help it... aeris: oh... then, why don't you REALLY worry about it? and let me handle sephiroth. and cloud, you take care of yourself. so you don't have a breakdown, okay?

the remake only reinforces everything i like about their relationship: their banter is great, aeris gently takes his hand during one of his ‘moments’ and supports him, she confides in him about talking to her flowers, and he never treats her differently ( which is a big deal when just two nights before, he told someone to ‘get help’ when they claimed they could hear the planet lol ). they have so much in common as well: they both have struggled with loneliness, being an outcast, and not having a lot of friends. i’ll always find it incredibly interesting how cloud is repeatedly not invited to be apart of group functions in the remake ( he wasn’t allowed to celebrate with avalanche and had to sit outside jessie’s house as the others ate pizza ) until he met aeris and she invited him to have dinner with her and her mom. despite the ‘bodyguard’ dynamic to their relationship, they always feel like equals to me.

aeris: today’s special!!! cloud: why? aeris: because i met you, you dumb binch!!!

aeris: *says cryptic stuff and tells him that they can’t fall in love* ( i’m saying they because apparently in japanese / other languages she says ‘we can’t fall in love’, not just ‘you can’t fall in love with me’. ) cloud: uh....how about i do anyway??? also i’m saving you so...see you tomorrow at 11. bye.

me: their relationship never gets to a serious level because the opportunity was taken away from them de to unfortunate circumstances.

also me: they’re just just...dumb and in love!!!! i’m sorry, that’s just the way it is!!!! she literally tells him that meeting him again was special to her and the silly boi doesn’t get it!!!! one of the composers of the game even said a tracks that plays with them is meant to have a romantic vibe!! when she pulls away from him, he reaches out for her because he doesn’t want her to let go!! the lyrics of hollow is literally ‘this time i’ll never LET YOU GO’ AAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!

anyway, i’ve also noticed this weird trend in the fandom where it feels like cloud is never allowed to just has his own dedicated feelings about aeris - and i’m not even talking about romantic feelings. i feel like whenever there is talk about cloud’s relationship with za.ck or ti.fa, no one inserts aeris into it. they’re allowed to have their individual relationships with him yet with aeris it feels like you cannot talk about how much she meant to him and vice versa without other characters being thrown in. i don’t know if it’s because of shipping and people don’t want to acknowledge that like...characters can have feelings for multiple people or what but the reality is that cloud did feel something for her. she did mean a lot to him; so much so that he slept in her church two years after she was dead and went to her burial place alone. he missed her. maybe it was just as a friend, maybe it was because of something more but i really dislike how their relationship and importance to each other, regardless of whether it’s platonic or romantic, is constantly invalidated.

aeris & gene.

when kas / @castershot first created channels for gene and aeris in our rp server last year, i honestly did not think these two would have a serious relationship at all. i figured maybe they would have a fling or something at best / aeris would be the equivalent of a filler character in a few episodes of the show and then they would go their separate ways. ...that didn’t happen but i’m glad it didn’t! i didn’t know a gosh diddly darn thing about outlaw star but i’m very good at researching and aggressively reading wikis so i was able to whip up a verse ( and someone who watched the show thought i had actually watched it after reading my verse so i guess i did a darn good job! ). anyway, i feel like when writing aeris it’s very easy to...hmm...fall into very certain dynamics and considering gene’s line of work ( doing odd jobs, being a bodyguard for hire, a general jack of all trades ), i didn’t want it to be the ‘he’s a bodyguard, she gets protected, blah blah blah’ dynamic but in space. so their relationship ( at least in my head - there’s a lot going on in there tbh!!! ) basically became somewhat of a deconstruction of cl.erith + ( bad ) stereotypes about aeris in general:

what if the helpless flower girl that needs saving from the big bad corporation is actually a liar who works for said corporation and was sent by them to retrieve something important(tm) and eliminate anyone that gets in her way? what if aeris, a secret member of the turks, has become so desensitized when interacting with other people since she is constantly wearing a mask and she can’t tell if she’s genuinely falling for someone or if her acting is just so good that even she can’t tell what’s real or fake anymore? what if i took all those bad takes about aeris knowing she would die, flip it, and actually make it so that she does know and still goes alone anyway because she wants to save lives for once instead of being the person who takes them away!!

me: imagine the drama!!! the angst!!! kas, casually: [redacted name b/c of spoilers] would just bring her back to life. me: WHAT?! >:(

apparently one character in the show is casually just GOD and can revive people so they can come back like:

my bubble was BURST. dreams DASHED. plans CRUSHED. dramatics aside, i still kept the idea of her dying because i do like the take of a more secretly jaded / not as ‘pure’ aeris that works for shinra and has to basically relearn how to trust / care about others again + i live to attack kas and all of her muses. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. anyway, the point is that i love them and they’re a dynamic i’m very invested in the more times passes. they’re both so stupid and passionate and loud ( the first in character thing i wrote when i remade this blog was them screaming at each other in an argument ) but they’re also sensitive, don’t open up to others easily, and have trauma!! oof x 100.

me: this ship won’t be serious lol the ship, months later: may or may not have a thread with them going on a date. may or may not have gone to ti.fa and cloud’s wedding together ( where kissafist’s tif.a may or may not threaten to smash his balls in if he doesn’t treat aeris right. *smash em, rip em plays in the distance as aeris aggressively laughs nervously* ), they may or may not get married and have twins that may or may not be named ren and rose. me: clown putting on make up.png

so yea, they’ve come a long way(tm).

the end.

#❀ . ━ ❛ take your time ❪ ooc ❫ .#god i cried a bit when writing the last bit in the first section #i love her so much

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starlightinhumanform · 5 years

Text

The Art of Love: Chapter 10

Fandom: She Ra (2018)

Ship: Glimadora

Summary: It’s chemistry again and Adora is missing, leaving Glimmer to wonder where she is. Glimmer has to face Weaver, Cat, and her feelings by herself.

Warnings (for this chapter): Some descriptions of mild emotional distress/anxiety, Mild language (please tell me if anything needs to be added)

Genre: High School AU, Angst with a Happy Ending, Rivals/Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Fluff

A/N: As always, all notes mean so much to me (especially reblogs). I always love getting feedback and questions so feel free to drop a comment, send an ask, or add something in the tags! Hope you enjoy my dears~ Love you all 🖤✨

Ao3 The Art of Love Masterpost Fic Masterpost Fic Request Info

Glimmer’s feet shuffled on the laminate tiles as she dragged herself to fourth period. She could tell by the quickly thinning crowd that the passing period was almost over. She couldn’t bring herself to move faster- or to actually care. She had fallen asleep in her last period and had been forced to scribble down the half an hour of notes she had missed in the last three minutes of class- and then a minute or two of passing after that.

Her mind was a fog and the only lamp that occasionally shone through the dense clouds was a grumble of frustration. Glimmer couldn’t decide if she should blame her sleep deprivation on Ms Weaver or if it was better to somehow twist the situation onto Adora. Her brain suggested the third option of it being her damn fault for being so distracted the whole night and spending so much time on being a drama queen instead of actually doing work.

Glimmer let out a huff as the bell screeched. She glared at the door down the hall, behind which Weaver was almost surely cackling out some Disney villain laugh as she marked Glimmer late.

A large part of her was highly tempted to turn around and spend the entire period lurking in a corner of the art studio. She had dropped off the model that morning (By some miracle, Weaver hadn’t been there) so Adora could still present it and get points for them.

She stopped walking and tapped her fingers against her thigh. It was only a ten foot walk to the class but, god, at what cost?

She was jarred into movement by a security guard speeding past her on a bicycle. He was shouting at the empty hallway- something about, “COME ON PEOPLE, KEEP MOVING,”- as if he were policing Times Square and not just Glimmer as she slouched her way past the empty row of monotonous doors.

Glimmer huffed and sludged forward, pausing to glare at the disappearing guard before wrenching the door open.

“Glimmer you’re-“

“Late, I know,” she grumbled the inevitable end of Weaver’s sentence.

Glimmer could feel Weaver’s raised eyebrow without even looking up.

“Keep doing this and you’ll get-“

“Detention. I know.”

The other students were watching the exchange like they were waiting for a bomb to go off- tick tock tick tock. Glimmer was sure that if it were just her and Weaver, the woman may have actually lost it and begun screaming at her.

She settled into her seat, resolved not to let Weaver bother her today. She was too tired to give a shit.

Weaver paused before conceding to simply shake her head and move towards the middle of the room.

Glimmer hazarded a glance upward only to see Weaver surveying the room with a wicked grin, hands pressed together like a praying mans’; as if she was showing off the wicked red claws of her nails. It made Glimmer sick.

“So class, I have a surprise for you,” Smug, purred, smooth with jagged edges; Weaver reminded Glimmer of obsidian as the woman soaked in the sounds of hopelessness coming from her students, “I’ll be checking your projects today to see what you have done!”

The class groaned in unison and the girl in front of Glimmer began whisper yelling at her partner across the room- as if that could do them any good now. Glimmer would have rolled her eyes if they didn’t feel so heavy.

“I know, it isn’t wonderful?!” Weaver’s shark-toothed grin widened as she acknowledged her doomed class.

Glimmer felt bad for the kids in the room who didn’t have a hyperactive, annoyingly insistent partner who had in on Weaver’s evil plans- so basically everyone else.

Now that Glimmer was thinking about it, she hadn’t seen said ball of energy when she had walked in. She turned and was surprised to see Adora’s seat glaringly empty. Glimmer fought back against the wave of disappointment that hit her. It’s not like this was a completely bad thing- it meant that Glimmer would actually be able to concentrate. And Weaver would be more likely to give Glimmer credit for her work instead of immediately assuming Adora had done all of it. So yeah, it was all good. Except... She said she’d see me at school...

Glimmer internally sighed at her own pathetic foolishness; she was getting way too soft.

She allowed herself another glance back, as if Adora would’ve suddenly appeared there in the three second break between her stares.

Another wave hit her, this time a cascade of apprehension. Adora was not the type to skip class and Glimmer’s mind was quick to fill the fog in her head with worries. What if something happened to her? What if she passed out? What if she passed out because I kept her up all night? What if she got hit by a car? What if I hit her my car?? Wait no... I don’t have a car. But what if she’s trying to avoid me?

Glimmer’s mind slapped its hand down on a proverbial bell- Yep! She’s try to avoid you!

Glimmer could feel the sensation of sickness growing in her stomach and rising to her chest. She wanted to bury her had in her hand as a stupid emotional groan began clawing its way up her vocal cords.

“Hey, Glimmer,” A snarky voice purred above her.

Glimmer growled as she looked up into Cat’s smirk, “What do you want?”

Cat gave an over the top pout, complete with big eyes and crinkled forehead, “Why, I just wanted to make sure you were ok.”

“I’m fine; leave me the hell alone,” Glimmer spat.

“All right, all right. You just looked a little,” Cat waggled her fingers, which only added to the insult of her airy, pretentious voice, “dazed-out there.”

Glimmer was suddenly aware of the movement around her- nearly everyone was already sat down with their partners or were at least taking a seat as she looked around.

“Also, I kinda need that seat,” Cat wrinkled her nose at Glimmer and pointed at the chair she was in.

Glimmer turned her head and to the side to see Cat’s partner Scylar beaming at her. Scy was a tall-ass wrestler with a loud punk style; if Glimmer’s brain was dazed enough to somehow skip over Scy throwing herself in the seat next to her (the girl never did anything without enthusiasm), then Glimmer had to be really out of it.

She stumbled out of her chair to move out of the way, “Oh right... I’ll just- move to the back then, I guess.”

Cat waggled her fingers in a wave as she slipped gracefully into Glimmer’s chair, “See ya later.”

Glimmer blinked at the girl for a second before realizing she had froze again. She took a step back, just trying to remember how to move. See ya later... see ya. See ya.

The words bounced around in her head like the little metal ball in a pinball machine- dink, dink, dink. Every time they hit the walls of her skull, I knew conspiracy dawned upon her. What if she knows that Adora was with me last night? Dink. What if she’s trying to get revenge? Dink. What if she told Adora not to come to class? Dink. What if Cat knows I, well that I, you know, abut, you know, Adora. The thought made a little ding! sound this time before ricocheting back even stronger.

“Uh, Glimmer?” The arch in Weaver’s eyebrow was sharp enough to cut a steak with.

She blinked again, bringing her eyes into focus. She had made her way to the back of the classroom but had failed to actually take a seat. Looking around, the seemingly the entire room had eyes on her. Her face burned and she lowered herself into the nearest seat. Adora’s seat.

Adora should have been there; Glimmer needed Adora to be there. Glimmer felt pathetic in every sense of the word. Only a few days ago, she had wanted to keep as much distance between her and Adora as possible. And now she was useless without her. It was strange and it was wrong and it shouldn’t have been happening but there she was, simmering within herself as the class moved forward without her. She needed the assurance that letting Adora in was the right thing to do, that she hadn’t scared Adora off. She needed the simple hope that Adora didn’t hate her. Why shouldn’t she? You hated her for months; you called her a lair and a fake. Why shouldn’t she hate you?

Glimmer resisted the urge to grumble at herself to shut up. Sometimes her brain really did deserve to be yelled at, though.

The class was moving again, sifting through the maze of chairs to grab their projects. Glimmer followed suit as best as she could to meld into the crowd this time after the embarrassing space-out that had happened only a couple minutes before.

Ok but consider this. Glimmer rolled her eyes internally as her mind began rambling again. What if she does hate you- so what? You thought that she hated you for a long-ass time; why does it matter so much if she actually does now? It honestly might be a good thing. It’ll help you get over that stupid crush.

She kept moving forward, trying to ignore the words floating around in her head but it was so much easier just to argue back. Was she just adding to the noise? Yes. Was it satisfying to tell the devil in her ear that it was an idiot? Oh definitely. Consider this- you’re the one that’s so obsessed with Adora and maybe if you stopped worrying about her for a second, I could find something else for you to yell at me about for no good reason.

It struck Glimmer just how much Adora had taken over her life; she had spent the whole day thinking and worrying about the girl. She was just a crush after all; it was ridiculous. Ok so Glimmer thought she was gorgeous and funny and smart and definitely the weirdest person she had ever met but in the best way possible? It was crazy to get this obsessed. Glimmer took a deep breath as she lifted her model off the counter, resolved to relax and go about this whole situation like a “normal” person. One problem. She had never crushed this hard on someone before. She had no idea how to act.

She settled back into her seat- Yes, it was her seat; Adora wasn’t here right now and that meant her seat rights were revoked. Glimmer snorted at her sleep-deprived mind as it continued to crack into smaller and increasingly hysterical pieces.

Glancing around, it was clear that the rest of the room was occupied. Weaver was stalking from partner to partner, leering over each of her victims with the sadistic joy that only a high school science teacher could possibly possess. The groups that weren’t being judged were either trying to throw together styrofoam balls or were praying. Glimmer was pretty sure that neither of those would help at that point.

Glimmer decided to take advantage of the surrounding chaos and grabbed her phone from the pocket of her backpack. She opened her conversation to Bow, ready to dump all her problems in her messages and hope she wasn’t blowing up his phone in middle of a test. Oh well, that’s a problem she could deal with later-

Hey hey hey. Ok so I’ve a problem

Well more like a question. But it’s questions about a problem

...hi? What’s going on lmao

You haven’t texted me since you sent me that weirdass text at like two in the morning

What were you even doing up then??

Oh good you are here ;)

What do you mean?? You were up too loser??

Oh my god just tell me what your ~problem~ is

Ok um sooooo

Yes?

SOOOOO

YES

WHAT

Glimmer moved a hand over her mouth to muffle the giggles that were escaping. Bow’s dramatics always made her laugh and she happened to be uncharacteristically bashful about this certain topic.

So I kinda have a big fat crush

The giggles disappeared very suddenly and Glimmer dug her teeth into her bottom lip as she watched the little blinking dots march in their message bubble, waiting for Bow’s response. Fortunately, he didn’t take long to reply. Unfortunately, Glimmer didn’t quite like his answer.

Is it Adora?

Dfydfgdgthkl how??

Look no one hates someone for no reason as much as you hated adora UNLESS you actually love them

Ok so Bow had a point and maybe he was right and she should have realized it earlier, but “love” was taking it several steps too far.

Also that text you sent last night was so lovestruck I could practically see the hearts in your eyes

I literally just said it turned out ok that you gave her my number?? Because YOU were freaking out??

Yes but you said it with love <3 <3 <3

I hate you

And it’s NOT love. I just like her

Sure...

Glimmer very nearly put her phone away with a huff before remembering that she accidentally had a reason for texting Bow to begin with.

Shut up, anyways do you know where Adora is?

Ooo you missing your girlfriend?

Glimmer’s face would burned red even if Bow hadn’t taken the low dig and called Adora her girlfriend. Because that was the dream, right? Because that’s exactly what she wanted but what she could never have. Because Bow didn’t know the ache in her chest, the pain he was causing. Because he was her best friend so he should know what was going on and how much everything had changed. Because she just wanted to tell him everything and ask him what the hell she should do, but there was something keeping her from telling him and maybe if she could just ask for help, she would know how to solve all her problems. And because yes, she missed Adora and the feeling was so much stronger than it should’ve been.

She glanced around herself, positive that someone had seen her face glowing as bright as a stop light. Everyone was preoccupied with their various crises, leaving Glimmer to her own in peace. Unfortunately Weaver was only two rows away and was drawing closer and closer to where Glimmer sat slumped. She would have to finish up her conversation quickly then.

I’m just wondering why she isn’t in class ok? Nothing more

If you don’t know then I’ll find someone else to ask

Jeez ok

Glim I’m sorry for teasing you

But no I don’t know where she is. Sorry :/

Yeah ok. Ttyl my dude

Glimmer let a puff of air escape slowly from her nose as she zipped her phone into its pocket. Her head felt like a bag of bricks tied to the end of her neck, her eyes just as heavy. She was slumped severely in the chair, so low that her shoulder blades were pressing into the middle of the seat and if she scooted forward a couple more inches, she’d probably slip off entirely; the idea of how much her mother would disapprove of her posture almost drew a laugh from Glimmer.

She debated whether or not it was worth it was worth it to fall asleep. Weaver would be standing over her, glaring with disgust in only two minutes or so, and she would therefore be risking whatever humiliation that would come with Weaver’s disgust. But, mmmm, two minutes of sleep? That might be worth it.

Glimmer was just shifting to plant her head on the desk when the classroom door exploded open. In the doorway stood a slightly sweaty Adora beaming, as always, as if she herself were the sun.

All eyes flickered over to her simultaneously, staring with confused and maybe amused expressions. Adora just grinned wider, apparently in response, “Hey everyone!”

Weaver stood up straight, freezing to look Adora up and down. She seemed confused as to what to do next. The girl continued to stand in the doorway for a moment, seemingly completely comfortable in the situation. The edges of her ponytail were frayed with baby hairs sticking up at odd angles that framed her reddened face. Her breathing was heavier than usual and the blades of glass plastered up her legs combined to give the impression that she had come directly from running.

Adora strode forward, “Sorry I was late! Soccer event with all the captains!”

So Cat did know where she was.

“Oh, I guess that’s ok then,” Weaver unfroze but still seemed somewhat unsure as she turned back to what she had been doing before Adora had burst in.

Adora made her way to the back, stopping only to give Cat a small wave, and sat down next to Glimmer. Her eyes were sparkling and the only signs of any sort of sleep deprivation were the dark circles that contrasted sharply with her pale skin tone. Her energy level was no reflection the amount of sleep Glimmer knew she hadn’t gotten

“Hi!”

“...hi?” Glimmer really wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say. That was usual. What was unusual was that Adora seemed to be expecting her to say something.

Adora was sitting next to her and just a minute ago, Glimmer would have sworn that’s exactly what she wanted but now she had doubts. Adora was just so loud. Her energy made white noise roar in Glimmer’s head and her voice thundered in the empty space between Glimmer’s thoughts. And her smile, god her smile, it was the brightest thing Glimmer had seen all day and it made her eye smart; it felt like a hand had gripped the bottom of her heart and was pulling it down, stretching out of shape and digging crescent nail marks into the flesh. That smile was all that she wanted and all that couldn’t live up to.

Adora cocked her head to the side and let the smile drop slightly, looking more like a puppy than ever, “Is something wrong?”

Glimmer shook her head and took the easy option, “Nah I’m just tired.”

“Oh ok,” Adora seemed to debate on something for a second before regaining her grin, “Me too honestly.”

It managed to draw a snort from Glimmer, “Really? I could not tell by the way you came bouncing in here.”

“I had like, way too much sugar. Anyways, what’s going on?” She turned her head from side to side to look around the room and causing her long ponytail to whip in either direction with the momentum.

Glimmer sat up from where she had ducked down to avoid Adora’s weaponized hair, “You were right. Weaver’s going around checking all our projects.”

Adora pumped her fist, moving her elbow towards her body and dramatically sweeping her head forward, eyes closed, as she did. It was undeniably dorky and it was undeniably cute.

“And our project is great,” Adora stared down at the pile of wire and clay that was beginning to look to Glimmer more and more like some strange “aesthetic” torture tool used by a Pinterest girl the 15th century. Of course, Adora was looking at it with the same starry-eyed expression that she always wore when looking at Glimmer’s art.

Glimmer shrugged, “It’s ok, I guess.”

Adora feigned offense, “Excuse me, I put my heart and soul into that clay.”

Glimmer couldn’t help but break down into giggles. She was so tired and Adora was so dumb and Glimmer couldn’t exactly explain why but every joke Adora cracked became the funniest thing she had ever heard.

Adora grinned back at her, “But really, you should give yourself more credit. It turned out great and I know that it’s not thanks to me.”

Ugh, of course she had to go and make it all “wholesome.” Glimmer debated if it was worth it to say something back. It would be so much easier just to brush it off; so much safer. She had already crossed too many lines last night, the only solution was to go back to normal today. But she couldn’t even remember what normal was.

Glimmer glanced down at her hands. She had been unconsciously worrying at her nails and now her cuticles were beginning to turn red. She looked back up at Adora, “Look though... I wouldn’t have been able to get it done without you and I’m actually really glad you insisted on coming over.”

Adora smiled with the brightness and warmth of the sun, “I am too.”

Glimmer was in the process of absolutely melting under Adora’s affections when Weaver stalked to a halt in front of them, effectively freezing her back together, “So, Adora how did it turn out?”

Glimmer turned to Adora, watching her eyebrows scrunch together as confusion slowly drew across her face, “Well Glimmer did most of the work...”

Glimmer was beginning to wonder if this ‘innocent curiosity’ was something Adora put on just for Weaver. She wasn’t stupid, she certainly didn’t actually like Weaver and she had to know that there was something going on between her and Glimmer.

“...so why don’t you talk to her about it?”

The end of Adora’s sentence snapped Glimmer sputtering out of her thoughts, “Wait what? No, sorry?”

Weaver pivoted on her heels to face Glimmer, “Well then, what do you have to say?”

Glimmer glanced at Adora with wide eyes trying to convey the message of What the hell? Why would you do this??

Adora gave an encouraging smile and nodded. Very helpful.

“Um well,” Glimmer dragged her eyes from Adora (who was still giving that somewhat infuriating smile) to Weaver, “It’s a model of bismuth. The particles or painted to look like a sample of bismuth. That’s about it.”

“Very well then,” Weaver sniffed and began leering over the mess of purples and grays.

Glimmer could have sworn Weaver hadn’t been that critically focused on other groups but, then again, she hadn’t really paid much attention to what Weaver had been doing until moments ago.

Weaver continued to glare over the project as Glimmer continued to hold her breath. After far too long, Weaver moved away with nothing more than a “humph.”

As the click click of Weaver’s heels moved to the other side of the room, Glimmer deflated into her normal slump, “I swear she hates me.”

Adora squinted in the direction of their teacher, “I still don’t see why she’s such a bitch to you.”

Glimmer’s eyebrows shot up without her consultation, “I was not expecting you to say anything that... strong.”

Adora shrugged without giving a response, still grimacing towards Weaver- whatever that meant. If it meant anything at all. Maybe it didn’t. Maybe Glimmer was just taking a simple stare to mean way too much. After all, Adora was sleep deprived and apparently coming down from a sugar high. It would make perfect sense for her to space out. So that settled it; Glimmer was reading into too much, that’s all-

“I swear one of these days she’s going to say something shitty to you, and I’m just going to lose it.”

Oh. Glimmer could feel her heart rate spike like it was trying to reach the sky. That sounded nice, that sounded like maybe- just maybe- Glimmer wasn’t reading into it too much. It sounded almost protective and normally that would make Glimmer gag, but somehow this wasn’t normal.

But of course her only reply was to let out a nervous wheeze, “Why on Earth would you do that??”

Adora shrugged again, “I don’t like the way she treats you.”

Glimmer didn’t like the strength in Adora’s eyes. It wasn’t the level of contempt that led to bloodshed, but it was certainly more emotion than Glimmer deserved or would ever ask for. It made her uncomfortable; she didn’t understand why Adora would be so angry about something which, in the long run, probably wouldn’t matter.

She gave another awkward giggle, “It really isn’t a big deal.”

Adora opened her mouth to respond and Glimmer was almost grateful when Weaver began speaking from in front of her desk. Something seemed to switch off in Adora, her expression relaxing as she turned to face the front of the room.

“I can’t say I’m surprised but a lot of you really need to get to work,” Weaver hissed out a tsk noise between her teeth, “You only have a few days left to get this project done. You have about fifteen minutes left in this period and I expect you all to be focused that entire time. All right get to work.”

The class dissolved into noise as chairs were scrapped across the floor and notebooks were grabbed with the fevered terror that can only be inspired by a looming due date.

Adora reached across the desk to open one of the class-set laptops. She brought up the presentation she had been working on yesterday, the same pastel rainbows and soft pink theme. It sparked a strange sort of déjà vu in Glimmer, the exact same situation as yesterday but with so much less hostility. The dissonance was enough to make her head spin, but she couldn’t help but enjoy the difference.

Adora turned her head, mirth poorly concealed in her smirk, “Can I help you?”

Glimmer blinked quickly, suddenly aware that she had spaced out staring at at Adora, “Oh, um, sorry, no. I was just- no I’m fine.”

“You sure?” Adora was very obviously struggling to keep her smirk from dissolving into a full smile. People talk a lot about feeling butterflies in their stomachs but to Glimmer it felt more like a hundred tiny grasshoppers jumping out of time with one another.

She swallowed but her mouth had gone dry and she wasn’t sure when that happened. She tried to piece together a sentence that a normal human would say, “Yeah, um, I’m good. But what about you? Ya know, do you need help with the project or, uh, something?”

Adora seemed to pause for a moment, once again having to switch to a different setting. She looked almost disappointed and Glimmer still didn’t have any idea what was going on.

Then Adora’s face did something else Glimmer was not at all expecting. Her expression lost all of the playful cockiness it had held only a second before, shifting into what Glimmer could only describe as timid- maybe even embarrassed, “Um, yeah, actually. Could you draw some more things for me to use in the presentation?”

Glimmer didn’t understand Adora’s apparent discomfort. She flipped open a sketch book and grabbed a pencil, “Sure; what do you need?”

“Just another a sketch of it unprocessed or something like that would be great!”

Glimmer was beginning to learn that Adora’s stupid sunshine smile was somehow even warmer when you knew you were the one that had caused it.

The next few minutes went by quickly. They sat mostly in silence, both content in their own work. Sometimes Glimmer would glance over, catching Adora staring at what she had been drawing. Every time she did, Adora would give her a tiny sheepish grin before ducking her head away. Every time she did, something unfamiliarly soft would fill her up from her toes to her cheeks that she could tell were turning pink.

When the bell rang, Glimmer argued that the main reason she didn’t want to move was because she was just too tired, but she could tell it was a flimsy excuse of a lie and she hardly even cared.

Adora stood up, looking down once she had grabbed her backpack, “See ya!”

Glimmer sighed as she watched Adora bounce away from her. See ya.

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