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#this art is SO cute SO fun SO stylish I SEE IT WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES AT NIGHT.... LOOK AT EM
makeyoumine69 · 1 year
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Patrick despises when other people touch him.
However he has a girlfriend whose love language is touch.
Hugging him when he gets home from work
Holding one of his arms when they're out
Holding hands during a date
Resting her head on his shoulder when they're sitting on the couch together.
Based on Patrick's facial expressions, you'd think he'd hate it, but he doesn't actually mind.
It confuses him to no end as to why he likes it, considering he thinks he's nothing on the inside.
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Okay, now I'm melting, beware of Fluff ahead! 💗✌
Imagine Central Park covered in snow. It was a beautiful evening, you and Patrick were walking and talking about various things.
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"Are you cold, (Y/N)?" Bateman asked suddenly, examining you from head to toe.
"No, why would I be?" With a cute smile you narrowed the distance between the two of you, your hands were close enough to make contact.
"This coat doesn't look warm enough," as soon as your fingers met, Patrick pulled his hand away and acted as if nothing had happened. "If you catch a cold, you will be punished for this."
"Oh, Patrick … you are such a meanie," you chuckled, feeling your feet slip a little as the walkway beneath you was covered in ice. "We should go ice-skating someday, you know."
Bateman's face almost dropped, but then he slowed down and watched you glide across the ice as if you were on the rink. You laughed like a child, raising your arms for balance. Skeptically, Patrick kept looking over at you, staying close because he had a bad feeling about your innocent fun.
"Hey Patrick, look!" You shouted, turning to face him as you pointed to the large Christmas tree on the opposite side of the park.
"(Y/N), watch your step!"
Just after he warned you, one of your feet slipped on the thick layer of ice and you were about to fall, but Bateman caught you from behind and cradled you in his arms like a warm blanket.
"Jesus, what did I tell you?" Patrick instinctively held you closer, inspecting you as if you were a picture in an art gallery. "What a reckless woman you are."
To be fair, you didn't really have time to be afraid, because everything happened too fast. "Sorry, sorry… I can be so clumsy sometimes," you cast your most innocent glance at him, and his face softened. "Thanks for saving me, tough guy."
In addition to your words, you grab his bicep and rub it through his stylish coat, making him almost growl with pleasure. Fascinated, Bateman just pulled you into a gentle kiss that soon turned into something more lustful, his brawny hands wrapped tightly around you like a vine.
Patrick was the first to break the kiss as a loud sound of fireworks echoed around you and you looked up to see the beautiful ornaments painted on the dark sky.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" your arms were still around his neck. "I always love Christmas Eve. There's something magical about it."
"It's beautiful, but nothing compared to you," Bateman mused, suddenly taking your small palm into his large one. "I think it's better to keep you close, since you love to act like a child."
You were a little shocked by his gesture, but you only squeezed his palm tighter, letting your fingers intertwine.
When the fireworks ended, the two of you resumed your walk, holding hands, and somehow it seemed so natural and yet so unbelievable, but you would think about it later because now you wanted this moment to last forever.
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boymeetsweevil · 3 years
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Call me maybe
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Grouping: Reader x Namjoon
Word Count: ~6.59k
Warnings/Themes: Club meet-cute AU, 1% angst +99% suggestive fluff, (legal!) alcohol consumption, language, flirting anxiety(?)
Summary: It all started with a stupid drinking game...
A/N: this is the One Direction wattpad-style fanfic that's been haunting me for so long. beware of that and the fact that this is unedited hahaha...
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“You know the rules, girls. Whoever wins this round of rock-paper-scissors is It.”
You and your three friends, warm and bubbly from 2 rounds of shots at this point in the evening, assume your battle stances and stick your hands into the center of your table. Four hands make a square over the scattered layer of empty decorative shot glasses from the bar in the club.
There’s an air of electric excitement that comes with this game, lovingly nicknamed Hunter-Gathering. Whoever is It gets a target and has to pursue that target in hopes of bringing ‘home’ free drinks for everyone the rest of the night. But no matter how attractive the target is, you can't ever bring them home.
“Wait, wait!” Lia chimes in. “I can’t be It this time. I did it twice already and my ass still hurts from the last time.”
Dani nods seriously. “Fair enough. That means the odds are upped for the rest of you.”
“So, we’re just gonna ignore that ass thing,” another friend, Alexa, looks around the table with confused eyes.
“Do you actually want me to give you the details?” Lia smiles slowly at her from across the table.
Alexa’s face brightens with her own smile, worry evaporated. “You know what? I don’t! Never mind.”
The game begins and somehow you find yourself the lone rock amongst two pairs of scissors. Alexa and Dani laugh with relief because they don’t have to put in any work tonight. You roll your eyes to the heavens and silently question your karma.
“Are you ready to pick your target?”
“I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
“Nope!” Dani grins.
She steps forward and grabs a clean face mask out of her clutch bag and wraps it around your eyes, careful not to muss your makeup or hair. Three pairs of hands rest on your shoulders and you let them spin you lightly around a few times. Not enough to get you dizzy but just enough to make sure you don’t know what direction you’re facing anymore.
“Alright,” Dani’s voice sounds out over the music of the club. “Take your pick!”
You stick your hand out blindly and someone unties the makeshift blindfold. Everyone follows the line your hand makes all the way to a tall figure standing by the side of the bar.
He’s probably the most handsome man any of you have seen in a while. There's an intimidating aura emanating from him. You figure it's the understated all-black outfit complete with the heinously expensive watch he's wearing and the sheer height of him as he towers over people near him at the bar.
“Oh my god,” Dani whispers as you all take in the stranger’s face.
“We can finally get top shelf vodka,” Alexa pretends to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye.
“Not bad,” Lia hums in appreciation.
“Okay, why is everyone acting like I bagged him already?” Your voice grows high with nerves. “I'm pretty sure I have, like, a 2% chance of interesting him."
“What are you so worried about?” Dani crosses her arms at you. “Just do whatever you did to get those history nerds to help you out that one time."
"This is not the same thing. Those guys parted their hair 90/10 unironically and thought Diva Cups are for when you don't want to hold your pee when you stand in line for roller coasters."
"You're kidding," Lia gasps. You wish you were.
"Well, just pretend he's one of them anyway." Dani suggests, "Every guy is the same."
You can't argue with that logic.
“I mean, I can try flirting with him, but he’s probably so used to people throwing themselves at him. I don’t think anything I do would, like, make a dent, you know?”
“Babe, no. No—listen to me, okay?” Alexa takes you by the shoulders and forces you around so you can see how serious she is.
“Tonight is the last free night of vacation. After tonight, we have less than a day to get over our hangovers, pack up the Airbnb, and then catch our 6am flight back home to start the spring term. Our last night of freedom lies in your hands.”
“But, what if—”
“No ‘but’s. Do you see yourself? Do you see your skin in this fresh white two piece? Have you seen how your tits look in this off the shoulder top? That poor man doesn’t stand a chance!”
Lia murmurs her agreement in the background and Dani mentions something about fearing for the guy's soul. You think about the freakishly good pictures you all took in the stylish club bathroom when you first arrived.
“I see your point.”
You turn back toward the bar to review your target. He sips from a dark green bottle as he looks around at the people on the dance floor between your table and the bar. As he continues to scan the room, he locks eyes with you. You hold his gaze even though your instincts are screaming at you to duck for cover. Surprisingly, he gives a small smile and raises his bottle in salute.
"See, you got the hardest part down already. Just fake the rest until you make it."
You chance a look back in his direction only to catch him staring in the direction of the table. When he catches your gaze again, he whips his head away, cheeks tinging pink under the soft yellow lighting at the bar.
Alexa cackles and starts detailing all the drinks she wants made with the top shelf vodka. Lia and Dani discuss leaving early to go back and clean up the apartment so it’s clean in case you break the rules and bring this guy back for the night.
“Uh, aren’t you guys moving a little fast?”
“Aren’t you moving a little slow,” Alexa counters.
“Hold on, Lex.” Dani turns to you. “You know you don’t actually have to do this if you don’t want to, right? Hunter-Gathering is just a game, there's no pressure.”
For all their poking and teasing, you're reminded right then and there that your friends would never put you in a situation where they thought you were actually at any risk. The weight you felt on your shoulders lightens somewhat.
“No, no, I definitely still want to play, I just don’t want you guys to get your hopes up.”
“I believe in you.”
Lia bumps shoulders with you quietly. She’s not the most affectionate, so you know she really means it.
“I’ll do my best.”
You let them tweak you a little bit, fixing stray hairs and wiping away smeared lip gloss and hiking up your skirt, giving you their drink orders, before you grab your purse and phone and push in your stool.
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When you finally make it to the bar, he’s in the same spot as you first found him in. He spots you once you get close enough and naturally makes room for you. You set your bag on the bar countertop before hopping up on the empty stool immediately in front of him. The movement causes your skirt to ride up even more and you’re glad you only let Lia hike it up one inch instead of three.
Dani's advice about treating this guy like any other scrub from school reverbs in the back of your head right as the nerves start to set in. With the guys in your art history class, your grade was on the line. There was no room for hesitation when you could barely draw a stick figure, much less write an essay analyzing what an old painting style could tell you about the dairy economy in a certain town like some of your classmates were doing. It was because you were desperate that you were suddenly able to transform into a femme fatale. It also helped that these guys quivered at any interaction with an adult woman.
Tonight's drinks are on the line, you tell yourself. As best you can, you try to trick yourself into entering the same mindset you were in when you would lay on the charm extra thick for the art history guys.
You let the corner of your mouth lift up in a coy smile while you survey the bar. The bartender is moving back and forth quickly to handle the high demand. A second later the girl next to you leaves her spot with a tray of 8 bright pink drinks, practically glowing in the dark. You wonder briefly if you should try to get a round of those for the table.
“—one of those before?”
His voice is deep and pleasant. When you give him a look over your shoulder, you have to suppress a gasp. Up close he's even more handsome. You really have your work cut out for you.
“What?"
"That neon pink drink," he nods back in the direction of the girl who'd taken the cotton candy pink drinks with her. "I was wondering if you'd tried them before."
“No, I haven’t,” you smile, letting your lips part slowly. His eyes dart from your painted eyes to the colored stretch of your mouth and then quickly back up. “Have you?”
“No. But I like to try new things.”
You purse your lips as if in thought, something you've seen other girls do while flirting with guys at school. “You must be pretty unpredictable, then.”
“Huh? Well, I wouldn’t say that.” He stammers a bit and nearly drops his beer bottle trying and failing to put it down. All the intimidation you felt coming from him earlier seems to have disappeared.
“I was just kidding.”
Like it has a mind of its own, your hand reaches out to rest on his arm reassuringly while you continue to laugh at him. His features clear up then and a relieved smile blooms on his face, bringing out an adorable dimple with it.
“You’re teasing me,” he realizes with a good natured huff and steps into your touch.
“You seem kinda fun to tease.” You let your hand linger a little longer before finally pulling it back.
“It’s kinda fun. You're pretty good at it.”
Oddly enough, this isn't as difficult for you as you thought it was going to be. In fact, you find yourself naturally tilting your head and fixing him with an intrigued look from under your lashes. He takes the opportunity to look you over as well, a small smile on his lips.
The personal attention does make you a little nervous despite the fact that it’s positive. So you dig in your purse to avoid looking directly at him for too long and to give your hands something to do. You brush up against a tube of lip gloss, pull it out, and reapply some to your lips.
You look back at him when you realize he’s grown quiet, only to find him following the movements of the gloss brush tracing the curve of your lips, cheeks dusted pink and eyes half-closed like he's in some sort of trance.
Experimentally you press your lips together and then purse them to make sure the gloss is distributed evenly. The man doesn't blink once. Suddenly, all his expensive apparel and large stature aren’t so intimidating.
"Is there something on my face," you smirk.
He slow blinks down at your mouth twice before realizing you're speaking again. His eyes grow wide and he raises a ringed hand to rub at the back of his neck. The movement rustles the hair covering his ears, revealing their pink tips. Cute.
"Just looking."
You laugh a little at him again. He marvels at the way the club lighting dances around in your glossy smile.
"So, how come I've never seen you here before?"
"Well...it's the first time me and my friends have come here."
"I see." He pivots to face you and leans his closest elbow on the counter of the bar. "Are you guys new to the area?"
"You could say that, yeah."
He raises an eyebrow when you don’t elaborate. Without looking away, he raises his hand to signal to the bartender that he wants another drink. When the bartender runs right over, you realize this guy actually might be a big deal. Silently you pull your card out of your wallet as the bartender makes their way over. You figure you’ll have to spend some money before you can really ask someone like him to buy drinks for your table.
"What'll it be,” the bartender asks.
"Two of those pink drinks please," he says and before you can place any order the bartender zooms away.
While the bartender starts preparing the drinks, you turn toward him.
"Who said I wanted the pink drink?"
He grins down at you, a dimple now popping up in each cheek. "Who said it's for you?"
"I'm pretty sure it's for me."
"And what makes you so sure?" He takes a step closer to you.
"Just a hunch," you hum before crossing your legs.
The white fabric of your skirt hikes up your thighs again with the movement. You smooth your palms over the soft material.
"Nice skirt."
"Yeah? You like it?"
"I like it," he admits quietly.
"And the top?" You gesture toward the pair of straps on the matching tube top, manicured nails gliding over your décolletage. He wets his lips.
"The top too."
He reaches out one large hand to one of the straps that have fallen over your shoulder. The drag of his fingers against your bare arm as he fixes it makes you shiver. You lament the loss of contact when pulls his hand back.
The bartender arrives with your drinks then, startling the both of you out of the little staring competition that had spontaneously started. The pink drink seems to glow from within, topped with whipped cream and full of little round ice cubes made from some sort of darker rose syrup floating in the liquid like lava in a lava lamp. The color barely prepares you for the thick sweetness that floods your mouth on the first sip.
"Oh, that's kinda..."
He huffs a laugh around his own first swallow and nods in agreement.
"Not what you wanted?"
"It's just really sweet. You like it?”
He shrugs. “It’s alright. But—"
The way he cuts himself off has you confused for a moment before he's reaching towards you cautiously. You're not too sure what's going on until you feel the pad of his thumb swipe over the corner of your lips carrying away some of the whipped topping from the drink. Your eyes widen when instead of wiping the cream on one of the cocktail napkins available on the counter he brings his thumb to his own lips. In a fraction of a second the cream is gone, but you're left feeling a rush of fluttering warmth on the side of your mouth and in the center of your chest.
"You think your friends would like these?” He slides his drink to the side so he can lean on his elbow and turn to you again. Now's your chance.
“Um, I don’t think this is really their style.”
“What is their style?”
You rattle off their drinks of choice, making sure to mention their favorite brands with a sigh. Of course, whenever you play this game, the brands can change depending on the budget of whoever’s buying. This time, you make sure to name drop as much as possible, per Alexa's request.
“Sounds like your friends really know what they like.”
“Yeah, they have really…unique tastes.” You falter a little under his amused stare. “But we don’t always drink that way. I mean, not every bar even carries all those to begin with.”
“That’s true.” He nods. “This bar has every single of them, though. Pretty lucky, huh?”
“Yep,” you chirp. You’re not sure if you’re in trouble or not because he’s still smiling. He seems to be onto the game, but doesn’t seem bothered by it.
“Well, it would be a shame not to welcome you all to the city. Get whatever you want. My treat.”
“Are you sure?”
You place your hand on his arm again and squeeze for good measure. You don’t miss the way his large bicep flexes under your touch. After a beat, he brings his hand up to grasp yours and holds it while signaling to the bartender again. You give him a blindingly bright smile and he strokes his thumb over your knuckles.
He asks the bartender to ‘take care’ of your table tonight on him, and you realize then that you’ve won the game. The victory isn't nearly as sweet as the pink drinks from earlier. The rules prohibit you from bringing him home or going over to his place. And even if it wasn't prohibited, your vacation is basically over.
“Where are you and your friends from?
You take his hand between yours and play with some of the rings on his fingers. They’re beautiful together in an eclectic way and you wonder if someone chose them for him.
“It’s a kind of small city, not like this one. It’s really just our university and then a few surrounding towns.”
“What made you guys move here then?"
"Oh, Right." You feel guilty. "Me and my friends are just here for vacation."
He blinks at you but takes the news in stride. "Well, if you want—I know the city pretty well since I have a place here—maybe I can give you a tour of the town later this week."
"I'd love that, I really would. But we're actually leaving tomorrow."
"For real?” His eyes grow wide and he looks down at your linked hands before looking over your face. You're shocked to see his features fall.
"Yeah, it sucks."
“Damn,” he smiles bittersweet at the floor. “I wish we’d bumped into each other sooner.”
“I absolutely agree," the sound of Alexa's voice rings loud in your ear.
“Uh, hello. Did you need me for something?" Your voice is high and tight as you fix her with an accusatory stare. You're not 100% positive, but it seemed like you and he were having a moment.
"No, babe, I just wanted to come over and show you my beautiful drink. I wanted to come show my gratitude to you both for making sure we have a good last night. The girls will appreciate that. Thank you, kind sir."
“Name’s Namjoon. And no need to thank me,” he smiles at the exchange between you two and sticks out his hand. Alexa daintily lays her hand in his and he lets out an incredulous laugh before playing along and raising it to his lips.
"What a gentleman," she coos before pinching lightly at the skin of your exposed back. It's a clear message just for you, telling you that there's about to be a change in plans. "What were you guys discussing?"
"I was actually about to offer up our booth. There's more than enough room for your table if you wanted to move. Me and my team—friends definitely wouldn't mind the company."
“You don’t have to do that!” You pipe up, suddenly shy. But it's quickly dashed away as Alexa pulls out her phone and opens up the groupchat.
"Let me just ask our friends if they’d like that."
You already know the answer, so you sigh quietly and gather up your card, phone, and purse. You can’t say you won’t miss the privacy from when it was just you and Namjoon, but you’re glad to be with your friends again as well.
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The move from your little table to the VIP booth is lightning fast. By the time you get your own drink, Lia and Dani are already clutching their things and vibrating with excitement near the ropes leading to the VIP booth. A few of Namjoon’s friends are chatting with them from the other side of the ropes.
Once your group trickles in, you don't miss how they all arrange themselves in the booth so you're forced to sit on the end next to Namjoon with barely any space. The only options are to let one of your legs hang off the edge of the booth the whole time or sit practically half in his lap. Alexa winks at you over the first sip of her next very expensive drink.
Namjoon's friends are occupied by your friends re-telling some of the more exciting parts of the beginning of your vacation. Some story about how 'someone' lost their top while trying to jet ski. You send a weak glare to Lia as she tries to get them to guess just whose top it was. That's what you get for experimenting with spaghetti strings, you suppose.
"Do you guys like to dance," one of his friends says after a while of vibing to the music once the chatter cools down. Hoseok, you think his name was.
"Yes, definitely." Dani remarks while re-applying lip gloss. "You know who's a great dancer?"
"Who?" Hoseok looks around excitedly.
"She's gonna say me," you groan. "Which is not even true but let’s just all move down there already, no more 20 questions."
"Just one more," she pouts. "Namjoon, do you like to dance?"
He looks down at you once he's also out the booth, that little amused smile back on his lips.
"Well, it's not really part of my day job, but I don't mind it too much."
"What's your day job," you blurt out.
"I'm a...musician."
"A musician!" Alexa rushes over to you to link arms. "Did you hear that? Namjoon’s a musician."
"I don't recognize you," Lia says and Hoseok and another one of his friends burst into quiet laughter behind her.
"You definitely won't find Joon’s pics anywhere, that's for sure," one of his friends says. The rest of them dissolve into another fit of giggles.
The club lights hide the muted pink tinge his cheeks take on, and Namjoon leads the way to the dance-floor with a chagrined roll of his eyes.
"You think he's really a musician?” You whisper to Alexa and Lia. Dani is somewhere up ahead, already dancing.
"Maybe technically. Going off the way his friends keep laughing, he's probably, like, a failed SoundCloud rapper or something."
"No failed SoundCloud rapper wears Gucci like that," Lia motions with her chin to some piece of Namjoon’s outfit.
"That's true," you hum.
"Rich parents," Alexa says simply.
You and Lia consider it and then nod.
As you settle on the dance floor, you feel the rest of your nerves drift away. Lia comes over to take a selfie with you, and the two of you flirt with the camera until she's satisfied with the photos you've taken. She grabs your hand and makes a show of spinning you around and you figure that this is how the night will go before you stumble out around 2 or 3am and drunk pack for the flight home the next morning. You let her lead you back, further into the crowd before you bump into someone.
Namjoon's large hand comes to stabilize you at your waist and Lia acts like nothing happened before dancing away, phone light illuminating her sneaky smile.
"You good?" Namjoon's voice is soft in your ear.
"Y-yeah."
"You wanna dance, or should I let you go?"
Your friends shamelessly all look at the way he curves himself around you, all with their thumbs up in encouragement. You're reminded of the way you did the same a few nights prior when Dani was getting hit on by some cute guy at a different club.
At that time it felt fun hyping her up and watching her make a move, seeing how enamored this random guy was with your friend. Of course he is, you thought at the time, she's amazing. And you remember that this is probably what's driving them tonight as well with you and Namjoon.
You chance a look at him and realize that he's come to rest his cheek lightly near your temple, a soft look in his gaze as he awaits your answer.
"Sure, let's dance."
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Namjoon was telling the truth when he said he wasn't all that into dancing. But he put in enough work to be able to follow you and meet you halfway while you were grinding on him to the music.
Even when you shyly stepped away after the first few dances to return to your squealing friends, you loosened up over time with more music and drinks and found yourself naturally ending up on him again. The first few songs turned into more and more and soon you were face-to-face, with his thigh wedged between yours and a heavy palm on your lower back guiding you to the beat.
You're not sure when you decided to abandon your friends and his, but at some point you did return to the booth under the guise of checking your phones. And you did check your phone first. But soon he was crowding you toward the wall by the booth and leaving you with no air of your own.
"You're really leaving tomorrow," he sighed into a bruise he was trying to leave near the hollow of your throat. "Or did you just say that because I was some creep at a bar."
"I never thought you were a creep."
He looks down at you with disbelief before getting distracted by your kiss-swollen lips.
"I mean it. I'm just a little shy sometimes."
"What do you have to be shy about when you look like this, huh?"
"Stop," you laugh lightly and look away from him.
He'd made a comment earlier about how much he liked the pristine white two piece you wore, but you'd been inching his hand up your skirt then. Now, one of his thumbs rubs an idle pattern just below the curve of your breast.
"No, but seriously. Are you actually leaving tomorrow?"
"Yeah. The new term starts for us all in a few days."
"So, leave in a few days," Namjoon whines.
"That's not enough time to get ready for the term."
"But I'll be so alone without you."
He gives you an exaggerated pout that splits into a real smile when you snort at his stupid expression. He pulls you to him just a smidgen tighter then.
"Does this usually work with other girls?"
"I don't know. Never tried it with other girls," he frowns a little at you.
"Sure."
"You know me and the team almost went to Club BigHit last Saturday?"
"Oh, really? That's kinda funny." You try to imagine what might have happened if he'd come to the same club you went to earlier.
"Yeah," Namjoon's voice grows quiet. "If I hadn't gotten sick then we would have met last week."
"Yeah, maybe."
"You sure you can't miss a few days of the term?"
"Yes, I'm sure." You let out an exasperated laugh. "You can't really be this upset that an actual stranger is just passing through your life."
"No, I know. I just—," he lets his head fall forward until he's touching his forehead to yours. "It was like something clicked when I saw you. I feel like I need more time with you."
"Oh," your voice comes out a little breathier than you expected.
The same look that had flashed across his face when you first came up to him finally gets to rest on his features. You want to let him down gently because you really can't play catch up during the first week of school.
"Tell you what. I can't miss the beginning of the term but if you make a song with my name in it and it gets...say, 50,000 listens, I'll buy a ticket that same day and come meet you. Wherever you are."
He pins you with a look then, inquisitive and dark. His eyes scan your open expression for something, before whatever he finds passes the test. He stands up tall.
"And it just needs to have 50,000 listens?"
In your mind you were thinking it would be too lofty for a failed SoundCloud rapper, but something in his tone sounds like he's rising to the challenge and it makes you nervous. You spent a lot on this vacation, you can't afford to actually fly out so soon if he somehow managed to get the listens and call your bluff. Besides, targets are off limits.
"Um, actually make that 150,000. And it has to have my area code in it too." You rattle off the three digits to him and he quickly types your conditions into the notes app on his phone.
"Is that it?"
"That's it, I guess."
"Deal."
Namjoon pockets his phone and leans back into your space. Any worries you had clawing to the forefront of your mind vanish when he presses soft lips to yours once more.
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A month passes.
You don't end up having a one-night-stand with Namjoon because it wouldn't be fair to your friends when they'd clicked with a target but didn't take them home. That and because Dani got sick on the dance floor from mixing strawberry daiquiri with one too many pink drinks. But you do pass on your full number after he very nearly begs you to give it to him while packing into a cab.
And then he never used it.
It's not that you were expecting much, but when a month passes with not so much as word from him, you figure he forgot about you and your little bet.
Then 2 months pass.
Even though you know that you only spent a fraction of a day with him, you can't help thinking about Namjoon. Namjoon and his pretty eyes and pretty words that made you think there was some sort of connection there. You realize after the first two weeks back that you don't have his number but by the time 2 months pass, you realize that was definitely on purpose.
4 months pass.
You're over it, swamped with end of term work like finals and grading and putting in hours at work. But every time your friends suggest a little fun and hooking you up with someone, every time someone asked for your number at a coffee shop, you said no. Because you're over it and you're busy and not at all disappointed for how hard you fell for the lies some failed SoundCloud rapper fed you on a vacation one time.
19 weeks pass.
You're all in Lia's apartment, basking in the first few days of the end of classes even if it means finals are a few days later. Alexa is playing her favorite playlist on the speakers and you're taking a break to get some coffee going in the small kitchenette.
While the coffee machine starts up you wander back to the main room. Alexa is leaning over to turn the music up, one of her favorite songs just now coming up.
"Who's this again," Dani pipes up from her spot on the couch. "It's that one guy's collab with the Bulletproof Girlscouts, right?"
"Yep," Alexa checks the song title before sighing. "This song is so old now."
"True, but it's my favorite one on the whole album."
"I guess it really has been two years since his last album, huh." Dani muses and then goes back to her practice problem set.
You try not to laugh at how cute Alexa looks sulking because her favorite artist hasn't put out any music in so long.
"Why don't you just play his new stuff," Lia says.
"He's on indefinite hiatus. This is as new as it gets."
Lia picks up her own phone, showing it to the group.
"He released a new single this morning."
"What!"
Alexa scrambles from her seat to grab her headphones and jam them into her phone. You all know how she gets about her music and let her have a moment to soak up the new song while you get up to check on the coffee.
It takes a few minutes to get cups out and put everything together since everyone has different tastes, so you're in the middle of pouring creamer when you hear a chorus of screams.
"Why are we screaming?"
You rush into the main room again only to be bombarded with music from the speaker, this time turned up as high as it can go. What must be the new song comes through the speaker, the bass vibrating on the ground as the speaker pumps.
"Okay, yes, new song. It's good but I don't get—"
"Just listen to the fucking bridge," Dani's voice comes out incredibly shrill as she cuts you off.
The beat surges for the bridge and suddenly the lyrics turn into the artist growling about some girl he met at the club with the prettiest little white outfit he'd ever seen. Saying something that sounds oddly like your name, although you figure that can't be right. But then the next verse has your name in it too, and the next one, and the next one.
Your feet take you to where Alexa's phone is plugged in and you pick up the phone to look at the song. It's indeed a song by her favorite artist, a prolific and mysterious rapper who's never shown his face and who'd been on hiatus from making music. The song title is simple, a small string of numbers that look suspiciously like your area code.
When you let out a tiny gasp, your friends let out more excited shrieks. You ignore them in favor of thumbing through the music app to the artist's page where the new single lies at the top of his discography. To the right of all his songs are the stream counts. Most of his older songs have a few dozen million or so. This brand new one sits at a modest 4 million, but the numbers trickle up as the app updates them in real time.
"What the hell?"
"I know!" Alexa cries, tears shining in her eyes. "I can't believe we sat in a VIP booth with him and I didn't even recognize his stupid voice!"
"What are you gonna do," Dani smiles widely at your stunned face. "Are you gonna call him?"
"I don't have his number," you say simply. Your voice comes out monotone with shock.
"You didn't get his number?" Alexa starts crying for real.
"People are blowing my phone up about this," Lia says once the song ends and begins again on a loop. "You might want to turn off your phone. It's just a matter of time until people start snooping around."
"Right."
You grab your phone from your pocket. On instinct you scan through your socials one last time before turning it off. There's a startling number of texts, calls, emails, and notifications on your social media apps. Curiosity gets the best of you and you open up one of them only to find your name trending as the top hashtag. Clicking on it brings up a bunch of tweets both from fans raving about the new song and wondering who the muse is, to random accounts with identical names in the handle all claiming to be said muse.
"Oh my god, he tweeted!" Dani shoves her phone into your hands.
As of right now [2:38pm] we're at 5.76 million streams. That's more than 150,000...
"What does that mean," she asks you.
"It means...he wants me to fly out to see him. Today."
"Oh my god."
Alexa screams again and at this point you've lost count of how many that is. Lia gets out of her chair and tucks her chin over your shoulder to read the post herself.
"You need to go," Alexa shouts. "I'll help you pack, let's go."
"What about finals?"
"Are you—are you actually thinking of not going because of finals?"
"I mean—"
"If you want me die, just say that," she does something with her mouth that looks like a manic smile.
"What Lex means to say is that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm sure even the profs would understand."
You're not sure what to say. First of all, you still don't have his number. Second of all, you're not sure how to fight through all the other accounts claiming to be you to let him know you saw the song. Third, you don't even know where to fly to. Fourth—
A Twitter notification chimes from your phone and a deadly hush falls over everyone. You go to your DM inbox with shaking fingers only to find a message request from an unknown sender. When you open the request, it's from Namjoon's agency.
Good afternoon,
You are being contacted today because one of our artists wishes to meet you. If you consent to the meeting, please review the flight information and tentative itinerary below and respond with your address and contact information. Please also note that the travel plans are for today [MM/DD/YYYY], so your response at your earliest convenience would be much appreciated. If you would like to go but cannot make it today—
"Do you think they'll send a car or should I book her a ride to the airport now?" Dani turns to Alexa.
"They'll probably send one to make sure the schedule is followed."
"That's true but what about—"
Lia taps you on the shoulder, startling you out of your stupor.
"There's a convenience store two doors down. Whatever you buy we can put in one of my suitcases and you can just take that. There's probably not enough time to go all the way back to your place."
"I—yeah, okay."
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7 hours later finds Alexa, Dani and Lia finished with studying for the night. The entertainment channel is playing on the TV and the three of them have their heads bent over their phones and laptops, refreshing all the major gossip sites for updates.
"Maybe she's not even there yet," Dani sighs when the page she just refreshed shows no new posts.
"Yeah, I mean we still don't even know where she is," Lia says while putting her laptop to sleep. "What if they made her sign an NDA?"
"Even if they did, she'd probably still tell us once she got there. She's probably just busy killing time on the plane."
"She's sleeping!" Alexa screams a second later.
"Huh? How do you know that?"
"Check his instagram," is all she says before frantically typing a message to you about souvenirs.
Lia looks over at Dani's phone as she pulls up Namjoon's page. The rest of the layout is bare given his up until recent hiatus and the fact that he never posted any type of selfie. The video uploaded a mere 20 seconds ago undoes all the previous minimalism of the entire account.
The post isn't even of Namjoon. It's a black and white 5 second video of the top half of your naked back and shoulders, the rest of your body covered by the sheets. One of your arms is raised to cover your head with a pillow. The only sign of Namjoon is the arm that reaches out from the bottom of the frame, making it clear that he took the video himself. His hand reaches out to trace a heart over the skin of your shoulder blade. The caption reads:
Thanks for keeping your promise
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176 notes · View notes
oh-boy-me · 4 years
Text
Demon Outfits Discussed
The wait is over :) thank you for your patience and all the lovely comments on the casual discussion!!
I feel like it got longer this time, so I hope it’s all an enjoyable read!  Also, I apologize for the ugly pictures--it was the easiest and fastest way to both have all the design in one image and also prevent it from stretching so far.
Like last time, please don’t take this too seriously; we love these boys and Justin doesn’t know them but has no grudges against them.  We’re just harping on their fashion sense.  Absolutely no hate is intended towards the boys or the design team!
Participants in the discussion were
Jo ( @jodaneko ), our art major with storyboarding/character design experience, who finds they have more in common with Satan each passing day.
Justin ( @justinlester0629 ), our fashion expert, who dressed up and filled a wine glass with water for the occasion.
Noodle (Me), our untrained eye who owns the Barbie as the Island Princess video game on three different platforms.  It’s not even that good.
Featuring emergency guest star Megan ( @maggo77​ ), my sister who is physically near me as we look at the backs of their designs for the first time.
Edit: Distracted by the pretty jacket, we made a mistake when putting in Levi’s silhouette rating.  It’s the worst.  2/10, not 6.
Lucifer:
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“Boy looks like he’s about to swing open the doors of an expensive mansion during a debutante party and give some SCATHING NEWS.” —Justin
“Short shoulder cape and a long split butt cape lol” —Jo
Jo has realized that based on both outfits, Lucifer doesn’t want people looking at his butt.  Possible reasons are: he doesn’t have one, or Diavolo someone was getting distracted.
His shoes match his outfit.  After last time that’s all I care about.
A triple popped color, and how many layers is the middle one?  Is that a book?  Dude has like 27 collars.
The forehead diamond is very important and it’s great that there are diamond buttons to match it.  But uh.  How about those red diamonds on his sleeves.  They.  They sure are there.  (I actually like the red accents and that they match his gloves; I just can’t take the diamonds seriously.)
  Lucifer 🤝 Some Horses Diamond on the Forehead
The peacock motif is HERE and we’re all living for it.  HOWEVER, the feathers on the cape and coattails should have matched, OR there should have been more lime green because there’s so little of that color.
The pants have a pleat in the front, which Justin says means he responsibly irons his clothes, and Jo says only heightens the fact that under the capes this is a marching uniform.
Can he fly?  Jo says these are baby wings that can’t support his weight, and his cape has a hole for the top pair but blocks the bottom pair?  Can’t believe Lucifer handicapped himself for the sake of fashion.
The red makes it regal and the wide flowy design makes it imposing.  Good job, Lucifer!  I might actually be intimidated if I saw you.
Definitely the classiest outfit.  You can tell they put care into it.
Mammon:
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“BITCH MY BODY CANNOT TAKE THIS KIND OF SEXY, I THINK I AM OVERHEATING!  NO MORE FURTHER COMMENTS, YOUR HONOR.  HAUTE AND HOT.” —Justin
The whole thing does amazing with only three colors.  We’ve noticed the trend of black and white + one color, but I mean hey.  It’s working so far.
Damn those pants sit low.  No wonder literally all of you wear belts.
The leather jacket?  The studs and harness?  Bless.  Justin calls it “the perfect blend of stylish and ‘I’ll see you tonight *wink*’”.
Kind of don’t like how the belts connect to the pants, though.  It looks better in the back.
“He found a really cool jacket, but it didn’t pair with anything so he just didn’t wear anything.” —Jo
Honestly though?  We’ve all made fun of Mammon for having big hoe energy in his outfits, but like, he knew he had wings and planned his outfit to accommodate for that.  He’s the only one who didn’t cut holes in his outfit.  Maybe Mammon was the smallest hoe after all.
Also if there’s a motif it repeats elsewhere, like the studs and diamonds on his jacket and pants.  Did he and Lucifer have a “tastefully putting diamonds on my outfit” battle?  Because Mammon definitely won.
One of the charms broke off the belt loop and he never bothered to replace it, and honestly thank god there isn’t two of those anymore.
Torn between wishing the boots were tighter to match the rest of the outfit and saying “yoooo they’re open in the back!!!”
Ok so so far we’ve said generally only good things, but there is one major issue with the design: Its gravity.  Everything points down, his tattoos, the diamonds, even his wings.  The center of gravity in the image is his shoes.  Bitch loved his shoes so much he made his whole outfit point to them.
Either way this was universally considered the best and I mourn Justin who doesn’t know how far Mammon’s standards are gonna fall from here.
Leviathan:
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Diagonal zipper
“Levi what the fuck.” —Megan
He looks like an e-boy.
Honestly it looks like he borrowed something from Justin’s wardrobe for Pride but he didn’t know how to put it on.
APPARENTLY the biggest hoe.  Abs that he shouldn’t have coming through a mesh t-shirt.  I thought Mammon’s pants were low, but Levi’s whole-ass ass is out.  Ok Levi, I see you.
The shirt pattern is good but he probably leaves it partially unzipped because it’d look really dumb fully closed.
Justin loves the funky pants pattern and Jo likes the pants but not with the outfit.  It’s because the devs were too coward to give him a thick tail base so his pants had to fill that role by sharing the pattern.
The shoes are good, and not just because they incited Justin’s deep-set hatred for Christian Louboutin and his uncomfortable red-bottom shoes.
Justin is offended that he’s hiding his suspenders; either show them completely or not at all, no in between.  Jo’s not fully convinced it isn’t just one suspender.  What are his suspenders doing?  What are they attached to?  Are they holding anything up?  Apparently not.
Jo pointed out that if you squint the belt on his waist looks like fangs and the orange dots on his sleeves looks like eyes so it’s like theres a snake head on his outfit.  Cute!
The gloves are throwing us off though.  Why is Levi of all other brothers need gloves?  I bet he has sweaty hands.
Ok really, does his sweater unzip all the way into two pieces?  Or does it hang by that tiny thread underneath the tail hole?  There’s even a button, just in case.
Can’t believe this antler-sporting, suspender-wasting nerd went diagonal zipper on us because we beat him at a trivia game.  Should have just zipped his hood.
Satan:
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HONEY.
“I hate everything about this.” —Megan
First of all, he’s straight up wearing Lucifer’s casual shirt.  Does it only button down the back?  Can he take it off?
Then he spilled bleach on his pants.  Like I get what they were going for but with the white on black that is literally just bleach stains.
Incredibly differing opinions on the belt.  He got it in the cowboy department.  Justin adores it.  Jo despises it.
And are those… athletic slip ons?
And now the elephant in the room.  The ribcage made of ribbons.  The ribboncage.  The idea is great!  I love that they gave him a skeletal theme without throwing him into a Hot Topic.
But if you take the ribboncage and feather boa off he’s literally just wearing a dress shirt and some nice jeans.  And that’s the problem with Satan’s demon form.  Not that it looks goofy.  It’s that they took risks but then hid all the risks behind business casual.
Also Megan said that the back of the ribbons look like a rock climbing harness.  Someone (probably Justin) said the front reminds them of the underbelly of a green cockroach.  Ew.
The feather boa would look better if it was over something you wouldn’t literally wear at the office.  (And also didn’t look so much like worm on a string.)
“He is going to Dragcon 2020 and is definitely going to take a picture and ask to lip sync, but accidentally start beef with Acid Betty.” —Justin
On a good note, loving how the tail fades to highly radioactive green.  Feels dangerous.  Megan pointed out that it’s a pretty wimpy tail, though.  Jo enjoys the self-conscious posture it expresses.
That’s basically the only good thing we have to say, though.
I just????
Merry Christmas.
Asmodeus:
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The kanji on the picture is just saying that the coattail is the same on both sides.
Ok now with that out of the way, HONEY.
I’m sure he says that to others but I hope he says it to himself too when he looks in the mirror.
Starting with the good.  The wings?  Adorable.  The heart-shaped hole to accommodate them?  Adorable.  One of the only good adjustments.
And I love that the tips of his horns look venomous, like a scorpion tail!
We love a good floral design and a good twin tailcoat.
But once again, the shirt just has too much going on.  The flowers.  The buttons.  The brick-pattern stitching.  The brooch.  The long collar.  The fact that if he closed the last button it’d end in a diamond covering his crotch.  Sometimes less is more, Asmo.
That scorpion brooch is the best thing to ever grace my computer screen and it shouldn’t have to share the spotlight with the rest of his shirt.  It should have wrapped around his arm and been paired with some more jewelry.  Then he could have ditched those giant cuffs.
The bleeding heart tattoos are a really good idea!  But they should have been angled better and not like someone else put them on at the roller rink.  And maybe they shouldn’t have been outlined in pink.  Those aren’t tattoos, those are gaping holes in his arm.  Is he ok.
I’ve been avoiding the pants, but.  The pants.
“Oh dear god. Oh no that’s… I thought you were a designer…” —Jo
One side is buckled the ENTIRE way down, and then the other side is COMPLETELY plain.  It’s too extreme on both ends.  It should have been only half a leg of buckles.  Not whatever this is.  I still don’t think he can bend that leg.
The shoes are ok but they COULD have been a stiletto so.
Jo is DONE with these demons’ inability to wear socks.
We expected better from you, Asmo.  I hope you have to fasten all those buckles every morning as retribution.
Beelzebub:
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He said “how many belts can I wear on one outfit.”
Justin said it’s like Barry B. Benson and Post Malone had a beautiful baby boy, and Obey Me! is cancelled for creating a sequence of events that could lead to me hearing that with my own two ears.
The jacket?  Stunning.  “It’s steampunk mixed with Jack Sparrow, mixed with Billie Joe Armstrong,” says Justin.  It’s got puffy sleeves!  And there’s objectively too much going on with the jacket, but since it’s a leather jacket I can forgive it.  Justin and Jo can’t.
I’m not sure why they keep giving him weird jacket collars but I prefer belt number 9 to fur.
“Why is it bucked in the back?  Couldn’t it have just been a jacket?” —Megan
Good that the black tank isn’t only black, but he has so little color on his outfit that it would have been nice for it and the matching pattern on his boots to have been a color besides gray.
I don’t mind the belts down the leg because they’re not too in your face.  Jo wants the white belt to be thinner.  Justin wants him to just pick one and go with it.
Poor Beel, he can’t do his lil thigh pat pose without his right hand being assaulted by studs and that bear trap-shaped buckle.
Justin feels like the cowboy boots are too wide up top and it’s probably because they’re FAKE cowboy boots.  I don’t know why he didn’t just get cowboy boots instead of putting fake coverings over his dress shoes.
Can’t fault the twin belt, though.  And the wing hole isn’t terrible.
Idk I guess.  They knew what they wanted to do at least.  
That seems to be the pattern with Beel: they know what they want to do, but something weird happens in the middle of it.
Belphegor:
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“I don’t know which Teletubby let their son go through the it’s just a phase mom phase, but they should be ashamed.” —Justin
A toddler who just learned how to cut holes in paper got a hold of his hoodie.
Is it a hoodie?  A jacket?  A poncho?  The cow print actually isn’t terrible.  At least it had the decency to be unique in its spotting.  And the actual presence of blue is very appreciated.
On the topic of colors, Jo is calling the devs out on their apparent fear of color.  “Put the pink elsewhere, cowards,” they say.
We actually don’t hate the horseshoe, and using it for the belt buckles is actually really clever.  Even if 75% of them are doing literally nothing.  Feel like he didn’t need that many.  Could do without the bottom one, maybe even bottom two.
There’s a teeeeny tiny cowbell on the back?  Megan apparently finds that VERY important.  Why do they go to such great lengths to remind us that Belphie’s a cow?  Beel doesn’t rub his hands together 24/7.  Mammon doesn’t even get bird wings.
Just like Satan spilled bleach, Belphie has tar pants.
It’s nice to see a change in pant style, but.  Am I biased because I hate harem pants?  Maybe.  Are these harem pants too short on him?  Yes.  Maybe they were supposed to be parachute capris?  But it just looks he outgrew them too fast and Lucifer won’t buy him new pants yet.  At least they look comfy.
If he puts his keys in those pockets will his pants fall down?  Probably.  That’s a problem considering his are the only pants that look like they could hold any keys.
The shoes are fine.  I can enjoy a high topped sneaker.  …Is that a security tag?  Did he steal his shoes.  Belphie stole his shoes.
On the tiny tail hole, I appreciate that Belphie went for modesty.  But I hope it’s impossible to wear these outfits outside of demon form because I don’t want him walking around with a tiny hole right above his ass.
Honestly he doesn’t even look like a demon?  He just looks like… a cow.
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There’s one more aspect of their demon forms that I didn’t feel comfortable forcing into a smaller space than it deserved: Silhouettes.  Jo puts a lot of weight on silhouettes and their role in character design.  Is it dynamic?  Is it recognizable?  Jo ranked them as such:
1. Lucifer: 9/10.  Care and effort were put into this design and it shows. 2. Mammon: 7/10.  Points deducted for most of it being form fitting but otherwise still manages to get a passing grade. 3 (tied). Beelzebub: 5/10.  His wings have actual mass but his horns being mostly hidden by his head reduce his score. 3 (tied). Belphegor: 5/10.  Evens out since his clothes aren’t as form fitting as the others but they also kind of turn him into a blob. 5. Asmodeus: 4/10, and only because he’s got multiple wings and that his tailcoat breaks up the bottom half. 6. Satan: 3/10, for the fact HIS BOA carries most of the work in altering his silhouette. 7. Leviathan: 2/10.  The tail and horns prevent this from being a total flop.
Our (surprisingly unanimous!) ranking of their outfits (not counting Megan her opinions deviated) were:
Mammon
Lucifer
Leviathan
Belphegor
Beelzebub
Asmodeus
Satan
In conclusion, any M-rated fic that doesn’t have it take demon Satan 20 minutes to take off his shirt is too unrealistic.
582 notes · View notes
honyakuninakunaru · 3 years
Text
A Whimsical Snowdome // Mithra SSR Card Story
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CHAPTER 1
(Snow Market)
Akira: "Alrighty... And with that, we've gotten presents for everyone back at the manor. It was hard to decide since there are a lot of unique things here at the Snow Market."
Chloe: "Right? I completely lost track of time while looking for this many souvenirs. By the way, are you hungry, Master Sage? Just now, I saw a stand that looked like they have some delicious meat. It's clo—"
Mithra: "They have meat, you say?"
Chloe: "Ah!"
Akira: "Oh, hi, Mithra. Are you perhaps hungry as well?"
Mithra: "Yes. So, where is that stand?"
Chloe: "Ah, um... It's the one right there, with the blue sign..."
(Sounds of footsteps)
As Chloe modestly pointed in the booth's direction, Mithra languidly made his way towards it. When he did, Chloe breathed out in relief.
Chloe: "Sigh..."
Akira: "Something the matter, Chloe?"
Chloe: "Well, Mithra's a northern wizard, and he's quite strong, so I'm a little scared, you see... Of course, I'd like to get along with him better, but..."
Akira: "I see... He does have the presence of someone with power, or rather, a unique aura."
I looked at the stands and saw Mithra, who was just sinking his teeth into the freshly obtained goods. The gesture of licking his long, sticky with overflowing sauce finger held sex appeal capable of overwhelming others, even those of a coarser nature.
Chloe: "....."
Mithra: "What? Do you two want some? I'm not sharing, you know."
Chloe: "Ah, no, no! I was thinking of giving you my handkerchief if you'd like to use it... But, uhm, my luggage's too much, I can't take it out."
Mithra: "Is that so. You are carrying a lot of bags, though."
Chloe: "These are the presents Master Sage and I chose for the others."
Akira: "I'm indebted to everyone for always taking care of me, so I have to get them something. Aren't you going to give anyone a gift too, Mithra?"
Mithra: "No. While it's true that occasionally, humans would give us tributes, the opposite isn't a thing. Is there even a difference between a tribute and a present?"
Chloe: "Eh!? A difference, huh... W-well, a present could be something that's filled with your feelings of gratitude? ...Ah, I found the handkerchief! Here you are."
Mithra: "Thank you."
Akira: "Psst, Chloe, Chloe!"
Chloe: "Hm? Why are you whispering, Master Sage...?"
Akira: "Looks like you were able to talk with Mithra very naturally just now. Isn't this your chance at getting a little closer?"
Chloe: "N-now that you mention it, I wasn't as nervous as before. The way things are, we should try and invite him to go around the market together..."
Mithra: "What are you two whispering over there? Oh well, not like I care much."
(Sound of footsteps)
Chloe: "Ah! Mithra, wait up!"
CHAPTER 2
Mithra continued to walk past the lively stalls without paying them any attention. His stop was a shop with a stylish feel and a line up of brightly coloured candy.
Bunny Bartender: "Welcome! What kind of candy would you like?"
Mithra: "Those blue ones."
Chloe: "Waah, they're so pretty...!"
Mithra: "Oh, you followed me. Did you two get thirsty as well?"
Akira: "No, not exactly... Never mind that, isn't this a candy store?"
Bunny Bartender: "Our shop’s service is to make cocktails using the candy picked by the customers. You can choose alcohol ones, too."
Akira: ("Cocktails from...candy? I can't imagine that at all...")
Akira: "Um, can I order as well?"
Mithra: "Go on. It's not like I'm the one making them."
Chloe: "I-I'd like one, too! There are so many to choose from, though..."
Akira: "I get you... All of them are so pretty. Which are the non-alcoholic ones..."
Mithra: "Chloe should go with the red one, and you with the purple one."
Akira and Chloe: "Huh?"
Mithra: "My drink is never going to come if you two keep on choosing forever, you know."
———
Bunny Bartender: "Pardon the delay."
A mysterious looking liquid was poured inside a tall glass. Its purple jewels were sparkling and shining as if being melted, making it look like a real piece of art.
Akira: "It's so tasty...! It tastes mild and grape-y!"
Chloe: "And this one is apple-flavoured! It has just the right amount of sweetness and sourness! I'm really liking this! Thank you for choosing them for us, Mithra."
Mithra: "Good thing that I was here, truly."
Akira: "I never noticed this shop because it's so far at the back. I want to bring the others here too... Right! Should I get them these as a present as well?"
Mithra: "More presents? Really? Well, even if you wanted to, you can't make a cocktail with them if you don't have the magic recipe. You'll be bringing back normal candy."
Akira: "That's fine too. I can tell them about this store over some candy-eating."
Chloe: "I think I'll do the same! Shylock might get happy if I get some for him."
Mithra: "..... Can anything be a present? Like a skull or a even poisonous plant?"
Chloe: "W-well... If it's going to make the other person happy...?"
Mithra: "I see."
Akira: "Speaking of, this store has a more intimate feel to it, unlike the other stalls that are rather public. There must be some unusual stuff here... Ah, this...!"
CHAPTER 3
What caught my eye was an array of snow globes. The snow inside them was swirling while a charming, cat-shaped dolls in the middle spun in a dance.
Mithra: "Have you taken a liking to this?"
Akira: "Yes, it's so pretty! There are so many to choose from... Ah, doesn't the cat inside this one look like you, Mithra?"
Chloe: "You're right! Its fur is the same dark red colour as your hair."
Mithra: "How rude can the two of you be. I'm nothing like this hairy ball. And if it's all because of the red hair, then you're the same, no?"
Chloe: "Ah! G-guess you're right! But my hair's a bit curlier compared to yours..."
Mithra: "On the other hand, doesn’t this black one remind you of Oz?"
Akira: "Of Oz...? When you say it like that..."
Mithra: "Here, look closer. It has a sore expression and isn't cute at all, just like that man."
Akira and Chloe: ("Um, not that I agree...")
Mithra: "Oh, right. Why don't we trap Oz inside this? We can just leave him there to dance with his cat look-alike. I can cast a spell on it and offer it to him as a gift. You said that a present can be anything, as long as it makes the other party happy, right?"
Chloe: "W-wait just a minute! I'm not sure Master Oz would be happy to receive something like this..."
——— (In front of the Christmas tree)
Chloe: "Wah, time flies so fast when you're enjoying yourself... The Snow Market is so fun."
Akira: "I'm glad I was able to go around it with you two. We've made some good memories."
Mithra: "...Right. Master Sage, give me your hand."
Mithra plopped something in my hand with a troubled expression.
Akira: "Ah, this is the snow globe we saw earlier...!"
Chloe: "D-don't tell me you really plan on cursing Master Oz with this..."
Mithra: "Excuse me? Look closely. It's me who's inside."
Akira and Chloe: "Eh...?"
Peering into the snow globe that rested on the palm of my hand, I saw the dark red-furred cat we compared to Mithra, dancing amidst the falling snow.
Mithra: "I'm giving it to you since you looked like you wanted it."
Akira and Chloe: ".....S...co..."
Mithra: "Huh? What mosquito...?"
Akira and Chloe: "So~ co~ol!"
Mithra: "So~ noisy... Please don't yell all of a sudden."
Akira: "Thank you so much, Mithra...! I'm so happy! I will take good care of it!"
Chloe: "Your present was a success, how good is that, Mithra!"
Mithra: "I guess you're right. Well, anything given to you by me is of the highest value. Feel free to thank me to your heart's content."
Big thanks to @/_Zeotrope_ on Twitter for providing the raws for this story!
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absoluteindulgence · 3 years
Text
Paradise (BNHA POC!CUTIES COLLAB)
Happy Black History, Honeys!!! I’ve spent the last 12 hours working on this and I’m still unsure of the finished product, please if you like what read don’t be shy to comment (or if you didn’t DM me, constructive criticism. I haven’t written a story in a while so have mercy lol) Characters are Aged Up🆙 but it’s fluff? I tried my hand at Ludus but can’t say I executed it right lol. Thanks in advance to everyone that reads it! I’m gonna go pass out now, respectfully.
The time you spent together always resorted to some kind of new fun. Always smiles and laughter, learning something new about each other. You didn't spend a lot of time together during your days of being highschool kids, but after some time apart and rekindling something most may call "Puppy Love," you've been finding more reasons to get out of bed.
Kirishima was strong and kind-hearted when you knew him back at U.A., Giving off the proper sentiment that would make you believe in yourself. It's kind of embarrassing how hooked you were to each other's personality, painstakingly apparent to your other classmates wishing for you two to just date but never doing so. Resulting in the classic 'Will They, Won't They' trope annoying everyone; Only to continue like that in your young adult years. Pushing your childlike fun on each other, date after date.
You woke up early, just to get a sense of the mid-winter weather. Still wearing your pajamas, you opened the window near your bed; the brisk air immediately greeted your room with little atonement to your mildly groggy body. You shivered right away, knowing that even though the sun was high in the sky, the wind would be unforgiving until the afternoon. Promptly doing your beauty routine, you dressed warmly and threw your hair under a cute beanie Kirishima had bought you for Christmas. Eager to meet at the station with your Red-haired date. It would be the first date you would've had in weeks, and ironically enough, on Valentines' Day.
As you reached the meetup station, he was already there, fifteen minutes earlier than when you two were supposed to meet. This was typical for him, and many times you had tried to beat him to the punch, but he was always one step ahead. As you got closer, he raised his head from staring at his phone screen, reciprocating the smile plastered on your face as you hugged him.
"Hey, Little Miss Cozy, you look great!" His sharky grin made your heart pulse.
"Aw, thank you, you don't look bad yourself, Kiri" You glanced at his outfit; he looked so stylish! His PR team has really helped him with his image since he graduated, and now he looks like he belongs in a sophisticated J-pop group. "I'm so glad we're hanging out today!" 
"Yeah, me too. Too much work and not enough play are bad for the body!" He dramatically sighed as you playfully pursed your lips in agreeance, and in return, he held your hand through your winter knitted mittens, "Plus, I missed my partner in crime."
Your face heated up from the sweet confession just to retort with, "I feel the same way, Handsome."
His raspy chuckle coming right after as he casually brushed his red hair back with his fingers. Kirishima had promised to make it the best day you could ever have on the holiday. Planning something you didn't even expect; an indoor Ice Skating rink. It would be your first time engaging in the sport, and you were anxious. Unsure about your own elegance and precision to be the best on ice. But he reassured that it would be a fun experience nonetheless, and you believed it would.
"Don't worry, Cutie, if at any point you think you're gonna fall, just hold me tighter." With his graciously, flirtatious wink, you were blushing, with a demure grin.
After traveling to the venue, Kirishima greeted the clerk who would be taking your admission tickets. Right after, you two went to the counter where you get sized up for the Ice Skates. After getting them, you were slightly frantic on how to tie them, bewildered by the laces and hooks. Kirishima saw how confused you were, lightly chuckling at your frantic fingers working so hard to figure it out on your own.
"Hey, don't stress yourself out before you get on the ice, let me help.'' He squatted close to your feet just to help settle your feet into the rented skates. They were a perfect fit, and as he helped, he looked up to beam at you. "You know I feel like the Prince of your story, ready to whisk you away after knowing that the shoe fits you so perfectly."
How smooth, you thought to yourself. Physically flustered and speechless, you had no cheeky rebuttal. Which only made the buff redhead break out into laughter. So many times, did his bold flirts silence you and make your heart flutter. But it was one of your favorite traits that he had. After getting your shoes on, you held his hand the whole way to the rink, continually repeating, "Don't let me fall, okay?"
"Of course, My Princess" He nodded kindly, taking on his role of 'Prince' too seriously. Bringing you to almost trip as you tried to hide your face. "Hey, at least wait till we get on the ice."
Another carefree chuckle leaving his toned body, making you happy to enjoy this experience with him. Getting to the rink may have been a battle, but now you were finally getting onto the ice, working your legs slowly to steady under the frozen ice. Not wanting to move too fast and create an inconvenience for anyone enjoying the rink. Gradually, you took a breath, calming down, as you held Kirishima's hand tighter. He smiled so warmly the whole time you focused on getting comfortable on the ice. The patience he carried just to keep you feeling safe and secure made its way into your heart, knowing that there was no malice energy.
"Are you ready, Princess?" Finally finding your footing, you nod. "Okay, then I'll teach you the basics."
His skating directions are so thorough and straightforward that you're able to follow them and feel like you can execute each move flawlessly. He politely assists you with your stances, placing his big, callous hands onto your waist gently just to help you find the proper posture to keep you from falling. It's fun learning how to do it, but now you're eager to start, and Kirishima can tell.
"Okay, Princess, that's all I have to share. Let's have some fun!" He holds your hand firmly as you slowly glide around the skating rink, feeling your legs space out naturally to create the best gliding and position one leg in front of the other. "See, you know what you're doing!"
Your childlike smile shoots Kirishima straight in the heart as you make the first steps to skating like a pro. He knew you were a fast learner and always admired that. Your persistence to learn something new was fascinating to him. You would start off anxiously and felt as if you didn't know what you were doing. But once you had the chance to shine, you left no skill invalidated.
"Hey Kiri, you think we can go a little faster? I wanna get some more momentum and see if we can do a trick!"
"W-what, you sure you want to try that on your first time at a skating rink? Certain moves require being a professional figure skater… Which we aren’t."
"You have a point, but we should still try anyway," You smile with reassurance, "We didn't graduate from U.A. not to be durable in various conditions!"
You raise your other arm showing off the muscle you gained from being a student at the number one school. Kirishima looked a little bewildered, thinking that your ideology doesn't equate to ice skating whatsoever, but he agreed that you weren't wrong. U.A. definitely had their trials, and you were put through many of them as a first-year.
"I mean, just look at that couple; they're so graceful, and I think we can do that!"
You pointed to a couple of what looked like professional ice skaters making a move you had never seen before. Your eyes sparkled as their chemistry was unmatched by everyone else in the rink. They spun so gently and romantically that you felt like you had to try to do something just as beautiful as that. Kirishima took a couple of Ice skating lessons on the side only to gain more flexibility and agility to become a better defense hero during his agency apprenticeship. It worked well, and he learned many things that he didn't expect to use in his daily life.
Looking at the skilled ice skaters, he felt like that could be him and you, and so he looked back into your eyes, reciprocating your glittery gaze. With a pure and toothy grin, he said, "Okay, let's give it a try."
Excited by his answer, you almost jumped for joy, forgetting where you were, and almost slipped and tumbled into the Red-haired hero. You laughed off the blunder, and you both kept trying to reach the speed it would take to get into any ice move. Having the fundamentals of chemistry be explained had made you even more pumped. Learning the basics of a spin and how to get the most out of sticking your leg out and balance. Kirishima praised you every time you got further into the rotation. You felt good knowing that you were trying and learning something different, respecting the art of figure skating.
Surprised that you were doing so well, you lost focus for a second and accidentally bump into Kirishima, resulting in him falling to the ice-cold floor. Horrified that he's injured, you kneel close to him to inspect, but instead, he laughs, looking at your worried face.
"I'm okay, Princess; this isn't my first time falling on the ice."
"Are you sure? I mean, it looked like you fell kinda har-"
To avoid a freakout and reassure you, he stole a kiss from your lips, lasting more than three seconds as you didn't want it to stop, but he pulls away with a light chuckle, "This floor is cold as hell, though."
"I-I'm sorry," You slightly pout, not knowing what else to say.
"But hey, I'm here with the hottest girl, so this makes up for everything."
Your goofiest smile was starting to form as you reached out to help him up. "Okay, Mr. Flirt, you got me there."
His laugh was highly pleasing to your ears, and you laughed with him. As he stood up, he patted himself down and checked his skates, making sure everything felt the way it did before the fall. After the check, he wanted to leave the rink, it made you anxious, thinking that something else was wrong with him, but he laughed again, "I know you wanted to try a pro move today, but I actually have something else planned."
"Something else?" You tilted your head to the side, confused as to what he could be mentioning.
"Yeah, but it's a surprise, so I'm not gonna say anything until we get there." His shark-like grin came back, making you grin in return.
"Okay, but can I have a hint?" You imitated puppy dog eyes but couldn't keep your face straight, laughing at your own face.
"Hmmm, I'll think about it" He smiled. "Maybe when we're closer, but let's return these skates and go."
And with that, you returned the skates getting your cute and comfortable platform sneakers back. You had even forgotten what shoes you wore since you were in the rink skating for a long time, Feeling like you had sweat enough from the body-induced activity. You were excited to figure out where you might be going. You tried your best to make guesses as you rode the bus to get there and passed by each stop. Still not able to put the finger on where you might be going.
"Here's your hint, Princess," You turn from looking out the window to look back at him. "It's as sweet as you."
Even with such a cute but corny remark, you still didn't have a clue. But you were getting off at the next stop. No dots connected as Kirishima grabbed your hand, guiding you off the bus with him. He smiled the whole way, eager to see your expression on the date's secondary location. The walk may have lasted for five minutes until he stopped, turning to look at you, "We're here."
The building looked a little shabby but still had a colorful banner saying 'Welcome.' A little creeped out, you wondered what was being welcomed. Ghosts maybe? Not humans, maybe clowns, though. You were reluctant to step further, but you looked into Kirishima's eyes, and his expression looked pure and unaltered by the outer appearance of the building. You feigned a light smile, unsure what to expect inside the establishment but prepared for what's to come.
Intertwining your hands, your date tightened the grip, caressing your hand. As if doing his best to comfort you as you walked closer to the entrance, his toothy grin never leaving. As he opened the door for you, you entered the building, the floor looking just as bland as the outside, but you had to be admitted in to get to the specific base, and as you got to your final destination, Kirishima let you walk in first to scope out the scene.
In an instant, you're blinded by beautifully bright colors, pleasingly happy music that didn't sound creepy and candy-like decor from wall-to-wall. Shocked by what you're seeing, candy hung from the ceiling while numerous candy stations were on the floor. Your eyes became huge, looking at what could only be considered a candy paradise. Kirishima stood next to you, nodding at the beauty of the atmosphere filled with gleefulness and sweets all over.
"Well, Princess, welcome to Sugar Sanctuary."
He presented the place so nonchalantly, and yet his energy about the place said otherwise. Your jaw had dropped, not even knowing a place like this had existed. Your eyes couldn't even focus on what was in front of you; you just wanted to explore the floor and eat as much candy as possible.
"We burned so many calories skating, I think we should reward ourselves. I remembered out of the blue that you used to have a sweet tooth, and I wanted to see if that still holds true now."
You turned to hug him tightly, almost jumping into his arms. His eyes widened as you held him, " Of course that's still true! Let's leave here with a dump truck worth of sweets!"
His chuckle reverberated through his body and onto yours as you held him; without protest, he nodded. "Let's do it!"
And with that, you venture into the venue, reading fun facts about the candy, playing the video games that gave out real prizes. Kirishima had a point to prove, his goal was to win you whatever you wanted, and he did it so well, surprising you at his gamer abilities. And his claw skills were something to see too! You never thought you would have this much fun on a date, and yet, here you were having the time of your life with the man who was your highschool sweetheart.
Although your relationships would continue to confuse your friends, you always looked at the bigger picture to smile and have fun. Avoiding all the complicated politics of your connection, taken at your own pace, and not listen to others' opinions as you enjoyed Kirishima's company and vice versa.
You spent every moment tasting different sweets and fresh pastries from the floor that you almost forgot to take photos of the unique location. You spotted a photo booth, and with no hesitation, You lightly tugged your redheaded date to follow along. The booth itself was spacious when inside and looked like it had enough room to fit half a dozen people. But because there was so much space, you tried to create a wonderland of candy surrounding you, bringing you closer to your date.
Kirishima happily obliged to set up what seemed to take a while but eventually, ready to pose for the flix. Unironically, you two looked gorgeous, making quirky faces as the camera flashed, focusing in on the memory. However, the moment was just perfect enough to steal a kiss from him and to thank him for all that he’s done to help you celebrate a holiday that you usually overlook. After caressing your lips onto his, you say, “You know what, Kiri, you truly delivered. And I want you to know that I appreciate you.”
He goes in for another kiss, just to rest his forehead on top of yours, “No, thank you, I’m happy to rescue my Princess from a boring any time of the year.”
With a couple more photos taken in the booth, you leave heading to their lounge area to share a complimentary cake with a candle to grant a special wish together, hoping to have endless moments and to keep smiling together.
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lesbianlotties · 3 years
Link
would you have it any other way? | Andy x Quynh
The Old Guard Mini Bang 2020 | @theoldguardevents |  Art created by @elenorasweet​ can be found here
Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Andy | Andromache the Scythian/Quynh | Noriko Words:  6773 Summary: If you put together the age of all the other immortals, it still wouldn't match the number of years that Andy and Quynh have loved each other. Their love, the oldest, the strongest, and the truest thing they both have ever known in their endless lives, might be about to go through the most challenging test yet. The entire team, the entire family, is going through one of its most difficult times so far, including the appearance of a new immortal. Meanwhile, Andy and Quynh have a secret within themselves that they also have to deal with, but, at least, they're happy to be dealing with all of it together, as they were always supposed to do.
aka basically just the exact same plot of the movie, but Quynh is there the entire time because canon is too cruel and i said no thank you
Golden light filled the streets of Morocco and two women walked there as confident as if they could command the very sunlight to their will.
Andy wore black from head to toe and nobody dared stare at her long enough to notice the details. The gun on the waist of her pants, the knife on the heel of her boots, the thin thread from which an ancient pendant hung from, the backpack filled with gifts for her family, and the dark dragon printed on her t-shirt. She looked ready to kill, but so heavily charged with emotional specifics that nothing she did could possibly be taken as meaningless. In conclusion, she looked like she had plenty of reasons, several people in fact, that she was more than ready to kill for. One of them, and pretty obviously judging by the way her otherwise stone-cold face lighted up with a smile every time their hands so much as brushed, was the woman right beside her.
The lightness of Quynh’s outfit, much more fashionable than Andy’s, didn’t exactly make her look any more approachable. She wore a fresh white shirt and stylish, cream-colored pants, but she knew how to hide a dagger in any kind of attire, and if her purse carried nothing but a gun, that was still a deliberate fashion choice. Both women wore dark sunglasses but, where Andy’s frown warned people she wouldn’t hesitate to begin or end any kind of trouble by whatever means necessary, Quynh’s little smile was more of a promise there would be trouble following her.
Still, when the annoying sounds of a bike got impossibly close and a man finally caught up with the women, stopping his bike right ahead of them, Andy and Quynh grinned with genuine affection.
“Booker,” they greeted him in unison.
“Ladies,” the frenchman playfully bowed his head, parked his bike, and then with easy familiarity wrapped his arms around both women, “You guys good? Did you travel?”
Andy fondly patted him in the back and when they all pulled back from the hug she answered, “We did. And I brought you something.” 
While Booker admired his first edition copy of “A Hundred Years of Solitude,” Quynh chuckled and led them forward.
“Don’t be fooled, Sebastien, I got the gift for you, Andromache only carried it on her cute little bag,” Quynh looked back once, smirking at Andy, and reached out to brush her fingers to the other woman’s wrist, teasing.
--
When the doors of the hotel room opened, for an instant, time stopped. Time crashed, time got all tangled up on itself, turned over on its own head. Time was meaningless. Because, how many times had this exact scene played itself in the past thousand years? Andy embraced Nicky with all solemnity and all-encompassing care they felt for one another and the people around them. Quynh pretty much jumped into Joe’s arms, almost, but never completely, catching him off guard. He spun her around once and when he put her down she kissed his cheek with all the unmeasurable love that to this day still made him happily blush. The hugs continued, of course. Joe lifted Andy up in a bear hug that got a laugh from her unlike any other in the world. Then Quynh hugged Nicky, allowing herself a second of safety and warmth surrounded by his arms before playfully doing her best to lift him up. He laughed like only the people in that room had ever heard him.
Greetings, jokes, and gifts exchanged, Quynh let herself fall on one of the couches beside Andy. She had a feeling this moment of bliss wouldn’t last too long and that was the only reason she didn’t allow herself to truly get comfortable at least resting her legs on top of Andy’s. But, she was content for the time being, watching the love of her life get absolutely, almost inappropriately lost in a sweet piece of baklava.
It’s been centuries and this never gets old, Quynh thought, shaking her head fondly as she broke her own gifted baklava in imperfect halves. As always, she ate the smaller half. As always, she saved the rest of Andy.
All too soon the conversation shifted to the reason behind their reunion. It’s a job, we can do some good, this is what we do, we’re not helping, they said. Andy sighed and stood up, walked to the window, and addressed Quynh. “What do you think?” Andy asked her, even though she probably knew, even though it was always the same.
Quynh, who, at that point had twisted herself on the couch into a more comfortable, most probably improper position, thought about it for a second. All around her, her family had felt compelled at one point or another to aid humanity for all possible reasons. Duty, sheer goodness of the heart, guilt, nothing better to do. Personally, she was a restless person. She couldn’t stand being still in a place for long, let alone be useless for longer than to catch her breath and have some fun, her mind wouldn’t let her, her heart wouldn’t allow it. But she didn’t let the struggles of the world plague her every thought, not like Andy did.
“Let’s hear him out,” she said finally, unsurprisingly. If they had had to vote at the moment she wouldn’t have said yes. She would have agreed with Andy, it was too risky, and probably useless. But, every time, as soon as she heard the details of whatever horror humanity was currently inflicting on itself, she’d be the first one out of her seat, ready to right all the wrongs of the world.
Carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders for thousands of years, Andy got used to the feeling. But that didn’t mean it ever stopped being so fucking heavy. It got heavier each passing day and, just lately, Quynh was finding it increasingly difficult to soothe that burden on her lover’s back, to get her to share a little of the strain. She could see, like she didn’t ever remember seeing, Andy truly struggling with the weight of it all or, more specifically, with the conviction it was any worth it to keep holding on. Handling her part of the weight, plus her determination to help the love of her life, it was its own kind of burden on Quynh’s shoulders, but she wasn’t focusing on her own pain, physical, psychological, or of any kind, she didn’t want to.
Almost without Andy noticing, Quynh walked up behind her. The shorter woman wrapped her arms around Andy and kissed her shoulder. They stared out the window for a moment longer before Quynh stated, “This one’s special,” she murmured, fearless as always to put into words what the other woman felt to her core, “I am going with you.”
Usually, Andy would meet with their contacts alone or with Booker, they made a good team. And it was always useful to have a plan B, to make it seem like they had a trick under their sleeves, like they were more in numbers than anyone would ever know, to hold back laughter when poor devils that thought they could play smart with them had to face a meeting with Quynh and Nicky. So, that day, Andy, Quynh, and Booker, met with James Copley.
They accepted the job.
--
Even if Andy didn’t secretly hold the belief that her own heart continued to beat after countless deaths partially out of sheer desire to beat along with Quynh’s heart. Even if she wasn’t forever, eternally in love with the other woman. Even still, Andy would have been thankful to have her on her team, to travel with her, to fight alongside Quynh.
Nobody would question Quynh’s professionalism. She hadn’t selfishly or accidentally endangered her team or their missions too many times more than any of the others had throughout the centuries. She just had the strange little talent of knowing exactly when and where and how much she could push the boundaries of their professionalism in order to make the most out of their time on Earth.
In helicopters, she playfully disregarded security measures. In deserts, she walked with a spring on her step. Wearing a picture-perfect ponytail, dark sunglasses, and all-black clothes that somehow she had forced to fit into a greater fashion sense than any mercenary had ever been known for, she did every little thing only she could get away with. Starting with genuinely trying to distract Nicky when he was about to shoot two guards at once, as she had dared him to do, but just because she trusted him, because she’d taught him that move herself. Then, being the only one quick enough to shoot just once before the five of them died on that kill floor. Lastly, winking at Andy as they came back to life, with holes on their clothes and wounds still healing and just seconds away from tearing down a small army of men.
Quynh was a synonym for life, Andy thought, she is life, I am alive because she is life, and I will live as long as she is with me. Quynh lived her endless life in bold, bright strokes of a brush. And things, the best and worst of them would have probably been so much easier, simpler, if Quynh had been just that, excitement, energy, a mischievous smile. But of course, she was so much more
Quynh was gentleness in places that knew only hostility. She was capable of conjuring patience and calm in the blink of an eye. She was endless conversations and fantastic stories. She carried little kids when they saved them, she found ways to make women feel safe and men believe in peace. She washed Andy’s hair with all the care in the world, and she made sure none of the boys had any blood left in their beards after a battle. She held Andy’s hands because she could tell Andy needed her, but she held so tightly because she needed Andy. At times she was quiet. She was thoughtful. With really big events she took her time to process them instead of any relatively usual impulsiveness. A trait of hers that pained Andy because she knew, the longer Quynh thought about something, the longer she was hurting.
Quynh believed in revenge. She always had. Her heart could fit millions of good, selfless, benevolent feelings, but she still believed in revenge. If the stars aligned for her, she’d kill James Copley herself. But it was never so easy, was it? They had made mistakes too, that day. Could she get revenge on herself? Self-recrimination was one excruciating characteristic she shared with the love of her life. There was no use in pondering about it, if it was a coincidence or if they had picked it up after the other one. At least, one thing more powerful than that was the fierceness with which they’d protect the ones they loved, resulting in them perfectly protecting each other, even from themselves.
--
They were on a train somewhere away from their latest mistake. Booker had started to snore and Joe and Nicky had been perfectly still in each other’s arms for a while now. Andy’s thoughts were too loud to let her sleep, and Quynh’s thoughts too dangerous to keep herself awake for them. She was laying down, with her head comfortably resting on Andy’s lap, even if the rest of her body was unusually uncomfortable in the rough surface where they lay.
“Sleep,” Andy would tell her every few minutes, mindlessly slipping into the old habit of a dead language that only they could remember.
“I can’t, not without you. Sleep with me, my heart. Sleep,” Quynh replied, again and again, the ancient words coming out almost easier than modern English ever did.
“Sleep,” Andy insisted, soothingly running her fingers through her lover’s hair, even after Quynh fell asleep, just until she slept too.
It didn’t last long though… there was Nile.
“She’s beautiful,” Quynh said, somewhat sadly, a minute later as they all discussed what they saw of the new immortal in their dreams, “and smarter and braver than she knows what to do with.” 
She exchanged a look with Andy, silent understanding of what it all meant. It wasn’t the most convenient of moments, but it had never been convenient at all, right? Together they had welcomed four other immortals, and it never got easier. Not when Lykon died. Not when having to explain to Joe and Nicky why they’d never win the war one of them had started. Not when watching Booker lose himself when he lost his family. And it certainly wouldn’t be easy to explain to the new kid how an endless life would mean the ending of the life she already had.
But Nile Freeman was beautiful, smart, and brave. Quynh could tell. Just as she once said Lykon was a hero unlike anybody else, and Joe and Nicky were naturally kind, and Booker was, well, he had been mostly just tired. Her favorite judgment, however, remained that one of a day thousands of years ago when she woke up from a dream, firmly convinced that she had just dreamt of the love of her life.
--
“Good. You’re awake,” Quynh smiled down at Nile.
While Andy was driving the car, Quynh had insisted on sitting in the back to keep company to the new kid. Nevermind the young woman was unconscious after Quynh had allowed Andy to go pick her up by herself.
“Who- What’s going on?” Nile mumbled. Her head hurt and she could barely make sense of the scene around her beyond being in a strange vehicle with an unknown woman gently smiling at her.
“I know you probably have a lot of questions- Ugh, fuck!” Quynh’s explanation was cut short when Nile’s knife pierced through her chest.
An instant later, the young woman had kicked open the trunk of the car and fallen off it.
“What the fuck?! Quynh are you okay?” Andy slammed the brakes of the car and quickly got out. She had been trying to be nonchalant about this whole thing, but a line had been crossed. “Did you just stab my wife?!” she yelled at the retreating figure of Nile, and pulled out her gun.
“Andromache, don’t!” Quynh reached her just in time to make it so that Andy shot only at the ground near Nile. The surprise made her stumble and fall, but it could’ve been worse.
“She stabbed you!” Andy protested, frowning and the blood that was tragically staining Quynh’s otherwise perfectly white t-shirt.
“And we kidnapped her,” Quynh gave her wife a pointed look and with a hand on her arm prompted her to walk forward to properly introduce themselves to the newcomer.
“Who are you?” Nile asked when they were close enough to talk. She was still on the ground, breathing heavily and trying to think of a way to get out of this situation. In front of her were standing two women, one with short brown hair, a black tank top, and a look in her eyes incredibly threatening. Beside her was another woman of long black hair, wearing a now blood-stained white t-shirt with rolled sleeves and looking a little too put together for the desert they were in, she was smiling, but she somehow didn’t seem much more friendly than the other one.
Before replying, Andy shared a look with Quynh, as if finding all necessary answers there. “Don’t worry,” she said at last, “You’re safe, you’re not in any danger. We are… we are people like you. I know you just figured out you can’t die, we can’t either. I know it might not look like it at the moment, but we are saving you from much worse situations. We don’t have all the answers, kid. But you don’t have to figure it out alone, okay?” There was a pause then where Andy and Quynh exchanged another look. It might have been reassuring or encouraging, teasing, or amused. It could have been an entire silent conversation in the span of a second. But the point was that Andy looked at Nile once more and with more relaxed features added, “Now, could you please get back in the car?”
Andy offered Nile her hand, and helped the young woman stand back up. When Andy started walking away, Quynh turned to look at Nile. “Her name is Andromache, you should probably call her Andy. And my name’s Quynh,” She offered her hand to Nile, smiled when she heard her name, and then immediately tightened her hold until it almost hurt. “If you stab me again, you’re going to regret it,” she winked, and she was smiling, and Nile was fascinated by the perfect balance of menacing and welcoming in that gesture. “Welcome to the team!” Quynh added in a sing-song, turning around and following Andy back to the car.
--
Throughout history, Quynh had to sleep in the strangest of places. It was just a part of their lives, warriors couldn’t be picky about a place to rest their heads for a few hours. Besides, with one of Andy’s arms draped over her waist, Quynh felt safe enough to fall asleep even in the sketchy plane of an even sketchier… businessman, of sorts. However, her sleep was interrupted after a while when, in a matter of seconds, she made a move to turn around, found herself restrained, her struggle woke up Andy, they realized they had their wrists chained to the seats of the plane, and the new kid was pointing a gun at the pilot of the plane.
“Oh, this will be fun,” Quynh mumbled through a yawn, getting comfortable in her place.
She smiled when the pilot played dead as instructed by Andy. “Yeah, I do not recommend it,” she said when Nile swore she wouldn’t jump off a plane. “Not me?” she playfully pouted when Nile freed Any first. And she grinned expectantly as she watched the two other women engage in a fight that she knew was necessary and more meaningful than any outsider would have guessed. She teased Andy, cheered Nile on, and threw her head back laughing when the young woman got two hits at Andy’s face.
After the fight was over, Andy took the keys from Nile and got Quynh out of her restraints. The newest immortal was still standing, looking a little lost and teary-eyed in the middle of the plane, when Quynh stood up and faced her. “My turn?” she playfully asked, and felt her heart swell with affection at the sight of the confusion and hint of irritation in the young woman’s face. “I’m kidding,” Quynh said softly and smiled genuinely this time. Then she opened her arms, a silent offer that she wouldn’t push and wouldn’t be offended if rejected but-
Nile stepped forward and lightly wrapped her arms around Quynh’s shoulders, accepting the hug. It was strange, it was completely unfamiliar, but so much had happened in the past day or so. She had died, for fucks sake, she deserved a hug. “I’m sorry for stabbing you,” Nile grumbled.
In response, Quynh chuckled, “It probably won’t be the last time. And you can thank me for the clothes, Andromache alone would have kept you in your bloody uniform.”
--
“You two are the oldest,” Nile stared seriously at the two women at the other side of the table.
Andy and Quynh exchanged a look. “Andromache is a little bit older,” Quynh said with a smile.
“How old?” Nile asked.
“It’s not our first millennium I can tell you that,” Quynh took a sip of wine and leaned back on her chair.
“How old?” Nile insisted.
“Too old,” Andy said with finality.
--
The night wasn’t quiet, it never was in that place though. They were all accustomed to the sounds of the planes, and Nile had been exhausted enough to fall asleep despite the noise. Still, Quynh was so in tune with her lover’s mind, that she felt Andy’s thoughts to be even louder than the planes above their heads. When everyone else had gone to sleep, she had stayed in one of the armchairs, talking with Andy about everything, and nothing, and their upcoming mission. At least, they had been talking about that, until Andy’s worries got the best of her and she was rendered silent, staring at her own hand as if it was the first time she saw it.
From her place curled up in the other chair, Quynh stared at her. She wouldn’t be surprised if she had figured it out before Andy herself. She could say with certainty she knew Andy’s body better than she knew her own. Their way of living had made it so that at times they went years without facing an actual mirror. In all her years Quynh had stared at Andy way more than at herself. Had loved her intensely, tenderly, carefully, hurriedly, in every way they had possibly thought of. She had held her in her arms as she died and came back to life more times than she could count. There was no language, in all languages humanity had ever come up with, for Quynh describe the intimate connection she shared with Andy. It would have been a deadly offense to her for anyone to think that she hadn’t noticed a change, in Andy’s eyes, in her hands, in her skin, in the very way she was breathing.
Andy had been lost in her thoughts until she noticed Quynh perching herself on the arm of the chair she was in.
“I’m sorry, my love, what were you saying?” Andy looked up at her, just realizing she had stopped listening and talking a while ago.
Quynh sighed and met Andy’s eyes, kicking through any and all walls the other woman could attempt to put up to hide her real thoughts. Andy’s eyes widened a little when she realized Quynh was already caught up with her train of thought, but she didn’t have anything to say, not yet.
“I was saying…” Quynh started to say, picking up Andy’s hand to kiss her knuckles and then hold on tightly, “That you look beautiful tonight, my heart,” She felt a knot on her throat and it only worsened when Andy smiled at her. It was a unique smile, amused, genuine, she was thankful, she wasn’t afraid, but there was an apology in there somewhere. “As beautiful as the first day I saw you,” Quynh added with all the conviction she could muster without breaking down.
Both women were still silent, staring at their intertwined hands when Nile woke up from a nightmare, gasping for air.
--
“His name was Lykon,” Andy said, trying to explain to Nile why she’d just had a nightmare of a warrior dying from a wound on his stomach. “He was the third immortal. Only Quynh and I got to know him. He died before the rest of you were born, way before.”
“He was dying,” Nile whispered, “He was… he was bleeding so much, and there was no way to stop it. He was calm, he felt… ready but, it hurt. It hurt too much, and I don’t think he wanted to die.”
Andy didn’t need to turn around to know that, behind her, Quynh was standing by the dining table, holding to its edge until her knuckles were white, and her eyes were burning a hole on the ground. Lykon’s death would never stop hurting them, not really. He was Quynh’s best friend in a way that nobody could ever match again. He was far from the first soldier Andy lost, but definitely the one loss that hurt her the most. Plus, only with his death, and after thousands of years of life, the two women had to face the reality that they weren’t completely immortal, and losing each other would forever be a possibility.
“He was the best warrior, and man, I’ve ever met,” Andy stated, her voice steady, unwavering, honoring him, even thousands of years later, “He was all full of courage, light, skill and… smiles.” She made a quick pause, allowing herself to remember one of the most painful days of her entire existence on this Earth. “We were fighting a small battle, nothing we hadn’t done a hundred times before. Everything was going according to plan, seamlessly. We got hurt, we stood back up. Until… he didn’t. He got hurt, and his wounds didn’t heal. Just like that. His time had come. Nothing we can do about it.”
Nile closed her eyes for a second. She still had an arm holding on to her own abdomen. “Why am I dreaming of him?” she asked, opening her eyes to glare at Andy.
“The dreams stop when we meet. Then they restart, when one of us dies. Those dreams, memories of them, they aren’t constant, but they don’t stop,” Andy explained, taking a quick look at the rest of her team, the three men that had dreamed of Lykon their entire lives without ever meeting him. “They won’t always be of his death, I promise,” Andy tried to explain, but a second later Nile was standing up and hurrying out the door.
After another meaningful look to the other half of her family, Andy grabbed a gun out of habit, and followed the young woman outside.
“I’m going with you,” Quynh said, as Andy passed beside her, “I need some air.” And the group was split in half, for longer than any of them could have expected. 
--
“Wait for my signal,” Andy said to Nile before turning around, accepting the sword Quynh was holding out for her. Then the two of them confidently moved toward the abandoned church, to wait for a group of soldiers that during their last seconds of life would deeply regret ever taking that job.
“I could have done this by myself, you know?” Andy smiled at Quynh from their hiding place among the shadows.
“You could, doesn’t mean you have to,” Quynh replied, making an effort to not even hint at the fact that for the first time ever Andy’s mortality wasn’t as certain as it had always been. Instead, Quynh put on the playful smile that she knew Andy needed to see in her. “My heart, it’s been an eternity already, please accept that for as long as I’m here, you’ll never have to do anything alone.”
Quynh kissed Andy’s cheek and a second later she urged her lover to get out and dive, almost literally, into the fight waiting for them. Quynh let her go first, Andy always went first, and usually, Quynh didn’t complain. She loved looking at her wife conquer a battle fearlessly, almost effortlessly, it was a sight worth all the treasures in the world. But then, of course, as soon as one of the men showed even the remote intention of pulling a knife from behind Andy, Quynh was already there, making sure he didn’t live enough to even picture Andy hurt because of him. 
It went on and on, almost too easily. Andy and Quynh fighting side by side, picking up guns and swinging their swords and not letting their enemies even a chance to think about the goddesses of war that had stepped in their paths. It was over as quickly as it started. The whole place catching fire, Joe and Nicky already too far away, Nile and Booker in the backseat of the car.
Quynh had been there to guard Andy’s back, and keep her from any serious injury, and maybe she was the only one looking for confirmation of her greatest fears, but the fact remained that she could hardly tear her eyes away from Andy’s bruised knuckles holding the steering wheel. Insignificant little bruises, but they were there, not healing as they should. 
--
Quynh had to take a step back when Nile explained to Andy why she couldn’t go along with them. That experience was hurting Quynh more than anyone realized. She felt physical pain in a way she couldn’t explain. She had accepted Nile as a member of their family, she already felt protective, and charmed by the young woman. It hurt to watch her go, it hurt to watch her pick a different side when they needed her.
Andy seemed to understand though, of course she did. Andy had been a leader for pretty much as long as she had been alive, which was… a lot. Andy could make sense of why everybody did what they did, in and out of battle it seemed, and she always explained it to Quynh in a way that was too forgiving of the others. It hurt Quynh to watch Andy understand what was the right thing to do, it hurt because there was no one and there would never be anyone like Andy. It hurt Quynh because she could never do what Andy does, be like Andy, and she didn’t ever want to take over that role, didn’t even want to picture it, and now she might have to.
So, it was only Andy, Quynh, and Booker stepping into Copley’s office. It felt wrong, Quynh couldn’t explain why but it did. What kind of man is so calm when three immortal warriors are pointing at him with guns?
Well, the explanation lies with the third immortal, Booker, who wasn’t aiming at Copley at all. He was shaking, making the most difficult decision of his life, even if it was just a small part of the worst decision that he had already taken a while ago. He was thinking about how long they take to heal. He was thinking about who would react the quickest, and who wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him in the head for shooting her wife. So, he shot Quynh in the heart, killing her instantly, and buying himself enough time to shoot Andy near the stomach. Andy had enough time to shoot him in the leg, but her gun fell off her grip, and she fell to her knees.
By the time Quynh came back to her senses, there were tears streaming down Andy’s face, and there was a wound on her stomach that wouldn’t stop bleeding. Quynh gritted her teeth and accepted the pain, forced herself to accept Andy’s mortality, Booker’s betrayal, her own rage, and her even greater heartache. She wanted to reach out to Andy, she wanted to kill Booker a thousand times over this, she wanted to just lie there and hope for it all to be a nightmare. She didn’t have a chance to do any of that before she was restrained by a group of strange men taking her and her broken family away.
--
“Fuck! Let me go,” Quynh groaned as she was being securely tied down to one of the beds in Merrick’s lab. She was the only one fighting it. “Let me kill him just once and I’ll gladly settle down after. Fucking-”
Andy was staring at her while the doctor sedated Quynh for the third time already. If she had had the strength, maybe Andy would have smiled. It was the natural reaction, to smile when she watched Quynh fight, smile when Quynh was bold, when she was playful, when she loved Andy in every way possible, and beyond. It didn’t feel right then, to look at the love of her life and feel only the need to start crying. From her point of view, this was the end for Andy. The weight of the world had finally become too much for her to bear. The world had finally crumbled down around her, taking her family down with it, turning Booker against her, rendering Joe and Nicky helpless, and Quynh… Quynh would lose her any moment now. Was this where all their promises would break?
--
Their time in Merrick’s lab was anything but boring. Quynh had been angry enough, had been quick enough, to knock out one of the doctors and free one of her hands on one occasion. That was as far as she got. She was sedated two times more. Each time she woke up was more frightening for her than the last. Andy’s name was the first thing coming out of her lips, and the first thing she heard was her lover’s reassuring “I’m here. Still here, Quynh, still here.” But it could only be so reassuring when “here” was one of the worst places they had ever been.
Two memories had made its way to the forefront of Quynh’s mind. One, the first time Andy and her died after Lykon’s definitive death. She had never felt as scared as she was during the seconds it took Andy to come back, and she had never been as desperate to come back to life, back to Andy, as she did that time. The second memory, the witches’ trials, the iron coffin, the feeling of being trapped, entirely hopeless. Andy had escaped just in time to follow in a different ship, but she couldn’t stop them from throwing Quynh to the ocean. She jumped right after her, but it still took hours to free Quynh from her prison. Some nights she still had nightmares where they didn’t manage it at all. This couldn’t be it. Not again. Quynh knew she had to fight with everything she had but, what if it wasn’t enough?
Andy wasn’t putting up a fight. Her hopelessness pained Quynh more than she could put into words, but it also inspired her to fight harder, to get all of them out of there. But it was difficult. It couldn’t be impossible, but it was difficult. She couldn’t even hear herself think. There was Joe fighting Booker, and Quynh related to that anger, but she had new priorities. There was Nicky trying to calm Joe down, and Quynh understood his silent rage, but she didn’t have time to listen to all their words. Least of all, she couldn’t stand the noise of Booker trying to defend himself. Loudest of all, however, was Andy’s silence, and Quynh’s own heart, breaking in her chest.
--
Nile’s arrival had been the closest thing to a miracle the four immortals had seen in their long, long lives. Quynh grinned as soon as she saw her, because it wasn’t a miracle, it was the most, if not only reasonable thing she’d seen in days. She had known, maybe since the moment that Nile had stabbed her, that the young woman had the potential to be everything the world needed, and more. At least, at the moment, she was everything the group needed, and that much was clear. Nile was hope, and just the sight of her was enough to send the five warriors up to their feet and ready to fight. 
Andy convinced Booker to stand up, and convinced Joe to postpone the arguing. However, nobody, except for Booker, flinched at all at the moment Quynh confidently and calmly walked up to him just to punch him in the face strong enough for him to require a few seconds to recover. It was enough, for the moment. They had bigger problems waiting for them on the other side of the doors.
The fight was equal parts exciting and terrifying. It wasn’t the most difficult thing they’d done, but it was the first time they did it while one of them was mortal. It wasn’t easy, trusting their backs to Booker during the fight, but it came naturally enough. It was their priority, but it was undeniably difficult, to think of protecting Andy. Andy, who always moved first, Andy who regularly died for them, Andy who barely adjusted her fighting to be a little more defensive than usual, but not enough. Quynh and Nile found a common ground there, fighting anything and everyone, including Andy herself, to make sure the newly-mortal woman remained safe enough. If Andy slipped away from them at one moment, well, that much was inevitable.
--
There was one moment, right before the worst of the fight.
“Are you going to let her do this?!” Nile asked Quynh, talking about Andy refusing to wear any protection and insisting on entering the fight first.
Quynh was resting her back against the wall, eyes closed and breathing heavily. She had never felt this exhausted for as long as she could remember. Her body was screaming, her mind was beyond overwhelmed, and her heart couldn’t exactly handle the emotional stakes of the situation. There would be pain in seeing Andy risk her life, the only life she had. There would be pain in seeing Andy be careful, in seeing the love of her life, who Quynh had associated with invincibility for all of her life, act anything but unbreakable. Quynh could ask, she could very seriously ask and she could probably get Andy to take a step back for once in her life.
“I can’t stop her,” Quynh replied finally. But not in the way Nile thought right then. She couldn’t stop her, because Quynh knew and understood her wife and so she knew that to ask this of Andy at that moment, it would be an offense she wouldn’t be able to take back. Andy needed this moment, even if it was the last one, especially if it was the last one. They would walk into this battle as they always had and if it was up to them, they would also walk away from it as they always had.
--
Finally, it was all over. The boys were chasing the elevator down to catch Merrick, Andy and Nile were standing by the window, talking. Quynh was just rounding a corner, walking toward them with a smile, when something hit her in the head hard enough to knock her down to the ground. 
Quynh fought with everything she had to stay conscious. She opened her eyes, and Merrick was pointing his gun at Andy. She closed her eyes and heard gunshots. She opened her eyes, and only Andy was standing there, looking proud as ever.
“Is it over?” Quynh asked Andy with a smile while the taller woman offered her a hand to get her up to her feet.
“Which part?” Andy laughed.
They were both a little unsteady on their feet but, holding on to each other, they walked over to the elevator and started their descent. It was the first quiet moment they had to themselves in days. They could finally breathe, they could finally take a good look at each other and let the reality of their situation settle in around them.
“How do you feel?” Quynh asked.
“How do you feel?” Andy turned the question around on her. She smiled when she noticed the confusion on Quynh’s face. “You’re bleeding, my love,” she explained, her voice breaking just slightly. Andy moved a hand to Quynh’s face and one of her fingers just lightly grazed the small wound where Merrick had hit her with the handle of Andy’s labrys. Quynh hissed in pain. She had felt it for a short while already, and the confirmation wasn’t as startling as it should have been. She wasn’t healing either. “But you were out there, risking yourself for me,” it was just a statement on Andy’s part, not really a question, but not completely a reprimand either.
“Well, obviously,” Quynh replied, smiling as genuinely as ever, smiling in that particular way that Andy loved more than ever, brighter than any star, more meaningful than any combination of words could dream of being.
“We will figure this out together,” Andy said, taking Quynh’s bruised hand and interlocking their blood-stained fingers with all the tenderness they had accumulated through three thousand years of love for each other and the world around them. “Just you and me,” she promised.
Quynh looked at her, her best friend, the love of her life, the person she admired the most, the person she’d die a thousand times and come back for, her favorite endless source of happiness and passion, purpose and strength. They had first made this promise back when they didn’t know an “end” was even possible for them. This time would be the most difficult occasion when Quynh would have to say the words, but also the most important. “Until the end,” she swore, meaning the words more than ever before.
The doors of the elevator opened, and Andy and Quynh walked out, hand in hand, facing the beginning of their end bravely, happily, ready, as long as they were together.
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paintedvanilla · 4 years
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paintedvanilla’s good omens fic recommendations
here we have something I’ve been too shy to make for a while because. to be straight with you. more than half of these are explicit. and well. yeah.
works listed in escalating rating order (general -> teen -> mature -> explicit)
everything is completed unless otherwise noted.
Title: Bowties
Author: dvldegg ( @caerdroia )
Rating: General
Word Count: 776
Summary: “Newt needs help tying his bowtie. Crowley makes fun of Aziraphale. It's just a typical weekend.”
My Notes: This fic caused me to overdose on domestic cuteness.
Title: anywhere i go you go, my dear
Author: chamaenerion
Rating: General
Word Count: 1,533
Summary: “After the Apocalypse-that-wasn't, Crowley is reluctant to leave Aziraphale's side.”
My Notes: I will literally die i swear to god this has nervous and protective crowley and he’s clingy and overall I just wanted to scream I love him I love my boy and they’re so in love and they should always be allowed to be together
Title: Getting a Wiggle On
Author: Kedreeva
Rating: General
Word Count: 7,293
Summary: “Crowley's prank to leave Aziraphale with fake eggs to babysit does not go remotely as planned.”
My Notes: You’ve probably seen this concept floating around tumblr but this fic made me GENTLE because i have daddy issues and whenever people are like “crowley and aziraphale as parents” i have a fucking heart attack
Title: Adopt Don’t Shop - A Good Meowmans Fanfic
Author: lucky_spike
Rating: General
Word Count: 12,434
Summary: “Inspired by Chekhov's cat AU comics 'Good Meowmens', here is a fanfic in which Anathema and Newt are humans, and Aziraphale and Crowley are cats. Not disguised as cats, not trapped in cat bodies, just actual elderly cats that are inseparable.”
My Notes: I know some people think au’s like this are kinda weird but this one is so fucking charming to me idk??? I literally ate this shit up I love being gentle and reading about cats who are in love.
Title: Not Alone
Author: superqueerdanvers
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 937
Summary: “Crowley and Anathema are supposed to meet Aziraphale at the movies, but they can't find a parking place, and they have a heart-to-heart about disability.”
My Notes: I experienced feelings and also emotions while reading this and now i’m a different person
Title: bastard child of water
Author: smallredboy ( @smallredb0y )
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 15,622
Summary: “After a grave mistake, Crowley, a merman, is transformed into a human and exiled out of the sea. Issues crop up as he grows used to his new body, to his new friends and to his new job. But when a merman he's seen in passing pokes his head out of the water one afternoon, Crowley will fall for him and look for a way to regain his body.”
My Notes: THIS FIC MAKES ME LOSE MY SHIT i bribed dave with real life money to finish it and every day i’m thankful i made that decision because this fic is SO. FUCKING. GOOD. IT’S TENDER!! IT’S GENTLE!! IT MAKES ME LOSE MY GODDAMN MIND!!!!!
Title: Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma: An Integrative Approach 
Author: Nnm
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 99,423
Summary: “As soon as Aubrey Thyme, psychotherapist, had opened her office door and seen her new client, Anthony J. Crowley, sitting in her waiting area, she was observing and assessing him. At first glance, she paid attention to the following:
His clothing was expensive and stylish;
He wore very strange but noticeable cologne;
His relationship to the seat he occupied could only, very loosely, be described as “sitting;”
He looked angry;
He was wearing sunglasses.”
My Notes: OH!!!!!!!! MY GOD!!!!!!!!! THIS FIC DESTROYED ME EMOTIONALLY!!!!!!! IT RIPPED MY FUCKING HEART OUT AND FORCED ME TO DEAL WITH #ISSUES AND JUST OVERALL TURNED ME INTO A DISASTER!!!! I READ THIS SHIT IN ONE SITTING!!! I WAS HOOKED!!!! EVEN NOW JUST THINKING ABOUT IT IS DEALING PSYCHIC DAMAGE!!!!!! PLEASE READ THIS!!!
Title: The Odd One Out
Author: RainyDayDecaf
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 2,948
Summary: “It takes being thrown into another universe and meeting other versions of himself to make Aziraphale realize there is something wrong with the way his Crowley treats him.”
My Notes: A product of the shit-script, literally had me feeling emotions but also giggling because movie!Aziraphale deserves to be LOVED.
Title: A Single Feather
Author: qwanderer
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 2,521
Summary: “Here's the thing. Demons must be good at improv, at hiding reactions, at carrying on no matter what. They can’t show a moment of vulnerability, not to each other, and certainly not to angels. They were supposed to be tough, untrusting, paranoid bastards, or else.
So Crowley had developed a highly honed skill of automatically bullshitting, boasting, and mocking while covering up his true emotions, and it was in full force now.”
My Notes: I’m a simple woman. I see a nesting fic, I click on it. And it makes me emotional and afterwards I have to lay face down on the floor.
Title: Untouched
Author: Etaleah
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 3,531
Summary: “A demon's life is a lonely one. What Crowley wants is so simple, yet he can never have it.”
My Notes: I will literally fly into the sun if I see the tag “touch starved crowley” i will scream at the top of my lungs. Somebody please hold this demon.
Title: Penance
Author: Blissymbolics
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 5,910
Summary: “And for a while, it’s enough.
It’ll happen, Crowley tells himself. This time, it’ll finally happen.”
My Notes: Listen. This fic destroyed me, it made me tender horny and just overall ruined my night in the best way possible. I’m having a crisis over it as we speak. 
Title: Starved
Author: Fyre
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 6,351
Summary: “The first time the angel touches him, it’s as they descend from the walls of Eden.
It’s nothing, only a hand put out to steady him. A kindness. And yet a thousand memories from life below make Crawly flinch instinctively at the contact. It’s stupid, really, and he’s sure the angel doesn’t notice. He doesn’t stop to consider the fact that the angel’s hand was soft and for a moment, his skin tingled where it touched. Not right away, anyway.”
My Notes: AHH!! Crowley really said “I am touch starved please love me” like!! Imagine craving someone’s touch for SIX THOUSAND YEARS!! I’D GO BONKERS!! THIS FIC MADE ME GO BONKERS!!
Title: can you keep me close (can you love me most)
Author: taizi
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 3,268
Summary: “When his angel stretches out a hand, cupid’s bow mouth curved into a familiar smile, Crowley knows better. When he’s led to his own bedroom, pushed down amidst the silk sheets and hastily miracled pillows and a sinful duvet, when Aziraphale leans over him and the whole world seems to hang right there in his eyes, Crowley knows that this is not his to keep. It’s not for him to have this.”
My Notes: I can will and must LITERALLY EXPLODE the tension in this one is palatable and I snort hurt/comfort like cocaine.
Title: please, could you be tender?
Author: deadgreeks
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 6,262
Summary: “The first kiss is only the beginning of a relationship. Crowley and Aziraphale need to talk about things. That is not their strong suit.”
My Notes: I ache and I yearn for this type of content they are literally. They are LITERALLY… I’m going to burst into flames.
Title: The Quiet, Persistent, Gnawing Unease
Author: LillipopCop
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 20,850
Summary: “An exploration of the serious toll Hell's physical and psychological grip has taken on Crowley since his Fall.”
My Notes: Fics where Crowley experiences emotional distress own my ass.
Title: Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul
Author: Zolac_no_Miko
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 10,573
Summary: “It was a compulsion that he couldn’t quite define. A burning in his blood, a tingle on the palms of his hands. A restlessness that drove him to art galleries, antique stores, and street markets, seeking some object that would please Aziraphale. Something beautiful, or something useful—something he would want to keep. It started with little things, small tokens that didn’t require a special occasion: an embroidered silk bookmark; a rare and delicate tea from the highlands of China; a steel pen and inkwell to replace Aziraphale’s quill pen, and then a fountain pen to replace that. And then things started to get out of hand.”
My Notes: Another nesting fic that almost wiped me the fuck out.
Title: Crown of Thorns [The Walls, the Wainscot, and the Mouse] 'Verse
Author: irisbleufic ( @irisbleufic )
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 275,000
Summary: ““D’you realize,” [Crowley] said, “that we never tire of things humans get bored with on the regular?” Aziraphale shrugged, lazily basking. “I’ve always assumed it’s that we don’t tire of each other.””
My Notes: Please for the love of god and all that is holy if you have not read this fic, read it. I consider it canon.
Title: fires of the flesh, both literal and figurative
Author: mercuryhatter
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 2,726
Summary: “Pretty standard "there's a sex curse and Crowley has to have way too many orgasms or be discorporated" stuff.”
My Notes: Yeah this is. Where I’m gonna start to get shy about my notes. It’s funny and it’s hot. Yeah.
Title: The Understanding
Author: Zetared
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 37,918
Summary: “Crowley is untethered. Aziraphale knows how to secure a knot. (He’s read many books on the subject, after all).”
My Notes: In which the underlying plot is a little strange but the overlying porn is very good.
Title: Come Fuck Me Hips
Author: AgentStannerShipper
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 3,471
Summary: “Crowley has had a fantasy about Aziraphale for centuries now. Too bad the angel would never take him up on it. Except, as it turns out, he absolutely would.”
My Notes: Everybody has read this and if you haven’t then you better because it’s. It’s good.
Title: If I Regard Iniquity
Author: elektratios
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 1,912
Summary: ““Aziraphale…” Crowley’s mouth worked a bit but no more words would come out. He cleared his throat. “Aziraphale, there’s no,” he gestured vaguely, “iniquity here.” He winced at his choice of words. “No-one is watching, no-one is judging. It’s just us.””
My Notes: I will literally dunk myself in the trash holy shit. It’s. It’s good.
Title: that pulse of my nights and days
Author: Ark
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 1,694
Summary: “Aziraphale laughs, the delighted, breathy giggle he gives after his second bottle of champagne. “Such a shame we didn’t come to this sooner,” he says, pulling back and—oh, naughty angel!—increasing the length and girth of his cock when he pushes back in. Crowley gasps, and Aziraphale—greedy, too!—tilts in to swallow the sound from his lips, flicks his tongue against Crowley’s as though chasing after the flavor of this elongated pleasure.”
My Notes: This one is uh. This is a dirty one. It’s good but it sure is filthy.
Title: A Home at the Beginning of the World
Author: stereobone
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 5,867
Summary: “"Oh," Aziraphale says. "I think Crowley might have moved in with me."”
My Notes: Everyone has read this one too but for good reason because it’s fucking amazing and makes me wanna scream.
Title: The One In Which Crowley Discovers Wanking
Author: for_autumn_i_am
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 5,784
Summary: “It began, like most memorable events in Crowley’s life did, with a bad decision; like most bad decisions, it involved poor impulse control and copious amounts of alcohol. The Antichrist had been born, and he put on lipstick and kitten heels to deal with it, but knew that the clock was ticking, and at times when time was slipping away, it helped to hold onto a bottle of gin.”
My Notes: It’s what the title says and it’s hot.
Title: Love Hath Made Thee A Tame Snake
Author: thehoyden
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 3,484
Summary: “He was the bloody Serpent of Eden, and he wasn’t going to stand for this kind of flagrant trespassing.”
My Notes: It’s uhhhhhhh… it’s hot!
Title: A Bolt From The Heavens
Author: coloursflyaway
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 11,235
Summary: “Aziraphale is going to show Crowley just how much he is loved. Through touch.”
My Notes: I will LITERALLY collapse on the floor… it’s too much for me
Title: Say Amen
Author: SinningPlumpPrincess
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 1,967
Summary: “Despite being in a relationship, they still long and yearn for each other.
Despite being in a relationship, Crowley can't get over that Aziraphale loves touching him.”
My Notes: I’m a very simple woman. I see a fic tagged “dry humping” and I click on it.
Title: Praise Be to Crowley
Author: FishingforCrows
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 2,306
Summary: “A simple comment from Aziraphale gets an unexpected reaction from Crowley. Aziraphale is curious to see what happens if he repeats the same comment in the bedroom.”
My Notes: It has praise kink crowley how am I not supposed to find it hot.
Title: Tea for One
Author: Kaesa
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 3,072
Summary: “Crowley doesn't have a lot of complaints about sex with Aziraphale, but he can't help being miffed when Aziraphale stops just to have another sip of tea.”
My Notes: A two for one: funny and sexy
Title: rest yourself with me
Author: sabinelagrande
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 3,380
Summary: “Crowley has a wonderful invention that he's just dying to try.”
My Notes: It’s funny and it’s hot what more could you ask for?
Title: let the rivers fill
Author: focusfixated
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 4,996
Summary: ““Darling,” Aziraphale answered. “I’m here.” His hand stroked through Crowley’s hair, teasing out the snarls of red that tangled around his fingers, matted with sweat and knotted where Crowley had thrashed his head against the pillows. “Can you turn over for me, love?” Weakly, Crowley’s eyes flickered down, and he saw the angel blushing, as if now, suddenly, of all things, he had succumbed to reticence. He was sat back on his knees, and the soft accordion folds of him were dewy with sweat and moonlight. His heart constricting somewhere in his useless chest, Crowley turned over, and spread his legs.”
My Notes: I see overstimulation and I fucking floor it. Please never stop writing fics where they have limitless stamina.
Title: sweet just like frustration
Author: teatales
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 7,174
Summary: “Crowley danced on the line between self-serving and selfless when it came to Aziraphale. He would do anything, anything for the angel. Anything he asked, anything he suggested, anything he needed but didn’t say aloud. But Crowley was also a terribly, desperately greedy thing. And oh, how he wanted. Wanted Aziraphale with every damned fibre of his infernal being. Wanted to be good for him; so, so good that he would never want to leave. Crowley wanted to be the best, his only, his everything. As much as he wished to lie there in exquisite rapture - he was nothing if not lazy - he needed to at least attempt to communicate all that he felt. To make Aziraphale feel even a quarter of what he experienced. He had to try.”
My Notes: Just LOOK at that summary. How can I read that summary without being expected to fucking faint. Jesus christ!!
Title: The Human Way
Author: battle_cat
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 2,780
Summary: “They're finally about to fuck on the bookshop couch and Aziraphale wants to know what Crowley wants.”
My Notes: I SEE A FIC WHERE CROWLEY DOESN’T KNOW WHAT HE WANTS AND IS JUST TRYING TO MAKE AZIRAPHALE HAPPY AND I BURST INTO FLAMES
Title: We Waited Long Enough
Author: syrupfactory
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 4,170
Summary: “After a few months of (finally) officially dating, Aziraphale is a little hurt when Crowley seems amused by his eagerness for sex. Why? Because Aziraphale actually wants way, way more. Fortunately, that's a fun problem to solve.”
My Notes: THEY EACH THINK THE OTHER ISN’T AS INTERESTED IN HAVING SEX AS THEY ARE AND THEN THEY HAVE MARATHON SEX AND I’M SWEATING.
Title: As Advertised on TV
Author: Mr_Customs_Man
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 1,045
Summary: “Everything that Crowley knew about sex, he learned from watching movies. As fun as movies are, they don't provide a comprehensive sex education. Needless to say, he has some misconceptions in regards to the act.”
My Notes: This is NOT a sexy fic!! It is sad and it wrenches my heart and I WORRY. Crowley please communicate your NEEDS.
Title: until you say it out loud
Author: attheborder
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 6,293
Summary: “And Aziraphale is realizing now, to its fullest, something he’s suspected for nearly as long as he’s known Crowley: the demon is no silver-tongued devil. He is no weaver of words, no smooth talker. It would fit in with his image, certainly— shouldn’t a man-shaped being dressed like an oilslick have speech just as dark and slippery— but there’s very little of either of them that’s as it ought to be, really.”
My Notes: This fic ignited me and I burst into flames. You’re probably starting to see a trend in what I like to read.
Title: Coitus Interruptus with Paperwork
Author: mountagrue
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 3,780
Summary: “The one where Azira Fell (directly onto Crowley's dick, did not pass go, did not fill out the appropriate forms).”
My Notes: Scream this is funny and horny Aziraphale falls and immediately gets to dicking down his demon while Gabriel suffers the aftermath. 
Title: What Crowley Wants
Author: crookedashes
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 7,022
Summary: “Aziraphale wants to give Crowley what he wants most. It goes a bit sideways.”
My Notes: I die for this content can they communicate like normal people for FIVE MINUTES? Ft. Crowley feeling inadequate and me flying into the sun.
Title: All The Rest
Author: darlingred1
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 11,416
Summary: “If it weren’t for Aziraphale’s persistence, they wouldn’t have had a sex life at all, and Crowley was a demon, for goodness sake! Aziraphale didn’t understand it. (Aziraphale has the communication skills of a doorknob. Crowley isn't any better.)”
My Notes: Aziraphale and Crowley are like *has horny communication issues* and i’m like *nuts*
Title: and in this way their love rewrites the universe
Author: leaveanote
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 9,503
Summary: “They've been desperately in love for a year since the world didn't end, and they've been making little miracles happen for each other. Crowley's latest? A date outside of London, at a drive-in movie theatre in the South Downs. Yes, they have sex in the Bentley.”
My Notes: IT’S SAPPY IT’S TENDER IT’S HORNY IT’S ROMANTIC THEY INVENTED LOVE!!!
Title: sanctuary
Author: leaveanote
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 6,779
Summary: “It's about making a home together. It takes some getting used to, to take all this longing and transmute it into love, into something shared, but Aziraphale is here to help him get used to it. Especially on a stormy day in the cottage.
What better way to spend it than making love over and over and over?”
My Notes: I am literally a mess I read fics where they’re madly in love and want to stay close and I explode
Title: The Skin And Bones Of You
Author: entangelednow
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 4,001
Summary: “In which Crowley has spent six thousand years wanting something he doesn't think he deserves. It's only natural to assume he won't get to keep it.”
My Notes: I swear to god i will SCREAM!! IT’S TOO MUCH!! PLEASE NEVER STOP WRITING CROWLEY AS INSECURE.
Title: love like the dawn
Author: leaveanote
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 3,755
Summary: “This is sleepy, romantic, domestic morning sex in the South Downs Cottage. Crowley's still getting used to a love this good, the way it remakes him, the way it remakes the world.”
My Notes: I can’t with this like they’re just so in love I’ve lost the ability to breathe this fic stole my lungs and left me for dead
Title: to sleep, perchance to dream
Author: starkhasheart
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 3,023
Summary: “Crowley has a kink. Of course Aziraphale is going to indulge him.”
My Notes: Uhhhhhh it’s. Uhhh. Consensual somnophilia is uh… yeah.
Title: on the same page
Author: Chekhov
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: ~85,746
Summary: “Aziraphale Z. Fell is a rising star of the spiritual literary genre - the next Eat Pray Love guy - and his version of Chicken Soup For the Christian Soul is flying off the shelves. It's not that he's not grateful, but it's one thing to enjoy a career in writing and another completely to be pigeonholed into a specific genre, so much so that you are almost forbidden from writing anything else. So yes, maybe he has a bit of a secret. An outlet for his less... appropriate urges. And yes, if his typical readership got word of the sort of paragraphs he could put out on a particularly inspired night, they might suffer some form of heart attack typical for their age. But all of that is well hidden, and there is absolutely no way anyone would ever find out about his Arrangement with A.J. Crowley - the most debaucherous romantic fiction author of the decade. That is... until they have to pretend to be married to each other.”
My Notes: THIS ONE ISN’T FINISHED YET BUT IT’S A HUMAN AU AND EVERY UPDATE MAKES ME FOAM AT THE MOUTH
Title: be mine
Author: leaveanote
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 4,994
Summary: “It's their first Valentine's Day together, and Crowley is trying to pick out the right present.”
My Notes: I SCREAM I actually did not realize how many of this authors works I had bookmarked and HOLY SHIT!! THEY ARE JUST SO IN LOVE!! AHHHHH!!
Title: do we get what we deserve
Author: Smalls
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 11,064
Summary: “Crowley had not been a particularly good angel.
Unfortunately, Crowley had never been a particularly good demon either.”
My Notes: Cannot lie this had me openly sobbing on a Friday morning and left me emotionally raw
Title: Renting Crowley
Author: Amorous_Flammetta
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 8,018
Summary: “Crowley acts out Aziraphale's Victorian-era fantasy of taking a rent boy home for the night. Their little game includes costumes, champagne, dirty talk and explicit sex!”
My Notes: ITS A RENT BOY FANTASY BUT IT’S ALSO TENDER AND LOVING AND IT HAD ME SWEATING AND MADE ME EMOTIONAL
Title: do me right and do me wrong (give it up, give it up)
Author: seashadows
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 10,828
Summary: “Crowley copes with attention starvation, tries out some new hobbies, and discovers that asking for what you need is better than the alternative.”
My Notes: I’M GOING TO FUCKING EXPLODE THIS ONE MADE ME SCREAM LIKE I JUST CANNOT HANDLE IT ATTENTION STARVATION WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME
Title: For The Longest Time
Author: darlingred1
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 20,370
Summary: “Crowley kind of misses the pining when it's gone. Aziraphale comes up with a solution.”
My Notes: It was hot and funny and lasted just long enough to really make me antsy for the conclusion.
Title: Clementine
Author: Mussimm
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 49,073
Summary: “The seaside neighbours AU exactly one person asked for.”
My Notes: HUMAN AU WHERE THEY LIVE BY THE BEACH AND FALL IN LOVE AKA BE STILL MY BEATING HEART
Title: Gentle but Intoxicating, Nervous but Tender 
Author: ShortInsomniac98 ( @devilsss-dyke )
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 2,868
Summary: “Crowley x vulva-having reader. // It wasn’t what you’d expected when you agreed to come home with him. What you’d expected was a maybe a quick, clumsy fuck, then out the door. Not some nervous but tender man who stammered out an, 'Is this okay then?' This was much nicer, much sweeter.”
My Notes: No comment besides uhhhhhh [sweats]
123 notes · View notes
hongssami · 4 years
Text
college au -k.sm
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a/n: this is technically a repost of the one i accidentally but i decided that it would be best to revise it a little too, i still think i could have done better but here it is nonetheless
word count: 5.2k+
major: polsci (pre-law)
minor: ab literature
sports: wanted to join the baseball varsity but the tryouts clashed with one of his classes at the time,,, he occasionally bikes with some of the campus' ’00 liners on weekends instead
clubs: part of the on-campus radio show as one of the tech crew, sometimes he makes mixes or covers for the show itself, former debate club member but had to drop it bc jisung joined and he couldn’t. he just couldn’t anymore
seungmin is a very stressed™ pre-law student
like any college student,,, except for the pre-law student part lol
you will never see it at first glance tho
actually, you probably won’t ever see it
he just looks so laid back??? and so,,, not stressed??? the fact that he’s on a pre-law track is barely visible to onlookers (even his close friends sometimes forget he is one until they see his workload rip)
the entirety of the art major’s population stare at him in awe as he walks across the quad with his seemingly flawless complexion, comfy yet stylish clothes, and a hella cute knapsack containing heaps and heaps of paperwork and at least one heavy ass textbook but nobody knows that shhhh
skz takes pride of him for being so calm, composed, and orderly and smart,,,, and by “take pride”,,,,,,, i mean make fun
but it’s harmless tho bc they love him and would probably fight anyone who messes with their second youngest
yo bc this boy basically liVEd in his dorm room his entire freshman year
and if he wasn’t there, he would probably be in some lecture room or the library
it would only be on weekends when he’d actually do some physical activity like baseball (they kind of made him a honorary member of the varsity team lmao) or bike with the ’00 liners when someone would invite
but sometimes he just has those rare lazy days that come around once or twice a semester where he eats ice cream or cup ramen while making covers of some of his favorite songs for fun; or just catching up on precious sleep, most likely while facing an unfinished rerun episode of some ancient anime chan recommended him to watch
in short, his college life was pretty bland,,,,,,,, and tight on schedule
someone from skz (read: felix) would barge into his dorm room now and then just to take him out to eat, or party, or Live™ for once and they would almost always find him on his desk or on the floor (he isn’t fond of working on his bed zzz) copying/rewriting notes or maybe writing on his journal
bc you see, seungmin has a system
he has been following a tight schedule that he makes every new school year since junior high and basically, the schedules he makes have become his system
skz knew about his system very well
that’s why they have this bet between themselves as to who’d be the first one to break it bc cmon it’s college, everyone is bound to change (the highest bidder would have been felix, with a year’s worth of privilege for free coke from every skz member)
felix was the one who pushed seungmin to join the frat life,,,, well, not really push just a little nudge y’know? bc when he found out that chan, who was seungmin’s upperclassman in high school, was in it he was like,,,, why not?? ???
lmao methinks: seungmin, being the most sober in the room, in changbin’s frat house nursing a solo cup hyunjin forcefully let him have to at least make him fit in the crowd but it’s no use bc he’s just on the staircase, observing the drunk mess that is college party life
anyway
it was towards the end of his freshman year when he realized that
damn, ab lit was getting really frustrating, interesting yeah but frustrating (tbh just mostly frustrating, he’s thinking of dropping it),,,,,, with the course’s requirements and all and polsci was fun but super time and energy-draining as well
plus he has,,,, ahem,,,,, a secret talent for singing and has gotten into the habit of recording his singing to try to incorporate it in some of his mixes sometimes,,,,, ahem,,,, which he was super tempted to develop but he knew he couldn’t with his current condition rip he just wants to sing pls
the poor boy nearly had a breakdown at the corner of the library one time and it was at that time when you sort of become acquainted to each other via his godly notes
well, you were majoring ab lit,,, and english elective was the only class you shared (or so you thought) with seungmin as of that freshman semester
and all you cared about was your failing marks in that class
until one fateful wednesday morning, when you were running late yet again for english (it was the cursed 7am monday and wednesday scheduled class) and sat right behind him when
poof! all your worries on failing this elective was solved (i mean you could ditch the class but you didn’t want to)
your friend, who has sitting beside you at that time gave you the look™  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
and you were like,,.., waht
she leaned in and nudged you, “so you into seungmin, huh??” and you’re like no, i’m into his notes lmao and she’s like mmmmhmmmm his notes ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)  i’ve heard that one before
but she wouldn’t listen and proceeded to lecture you about kim seungmin’s life story
who apparently got in on some scholarship and was on the pre-law track, one other minor, and had a radio show to manage
and who was part of some frat called Stray Kids (skz) who where known throughout campus to be the male equivalents of the nine muses
so at the end of the period, you literally only had the date written on your supposed notes and half the life story of kim seungmin unwillingly embedded in your head and you didn’t hear anything from your prof bc tbh english was a snoozefest
so you were lowkey happy to be listening to your friend talk about the guy who literally sat in front of you that period rather than listening to your prof talk about why you should use schwa when pronouncing “adept”
but then again, you were still failing this class big time rip
while you were busy collecting your things to leave, your friend had somehow called seungmin over
you turned to leave but your friend pulled you back telling seungmin that you were interested in his notes and he brightens up at the mention of his notes and before you know it he’s offering not only his notes to you but also his award-winning smile
you were sort of taken aback but you grabbed the opportunity and felt for your phone in your pockets
which you discover was not in your pockets,,,,or your bag,,,,or anywhere near you at that
it was in your flat – you left it in your rush
so as desperation got the best of you, you grabbed your dslr (which was the only camera you had on you at the moment) and attempted to focus the inappropriate lenses on his notes
to which your friend saw as blackmail-worthy and began discreetly snapping pics of you on her phone (which, may I add, she could have let you borrow)
so that was your first encounter with seungmin out of many, many more to come
he was pretty chill, you concluded as he left the lecture hall with a slight skip in his step,,,, (and pretty cute, you guess)
you also guessed that you’d be remembered by him as some weird girl with her dslr
but that was fine, you could live with that
the next encounter was actually the very day after that, when you were supposed to meet felix, your “model” and friend from the weekly photography club you joined and discovered a few months back (more like forced to join,,,, bc felix found out you had a camera on you and basically he just dragged you there)
he had promised to tutor you a bit on english
you seriously doubted him at first, but seeing that he was stupidly confident, you decided it wouldn’t hurt to try
so when he doesn’t show up on your agreed time of meeting, you called him
he picked up on the second ring and seemed to be in a rush
you asked him if he was coming or if he finally realized that he actually really wasn’t that good at english and decided to ditch you
he apologized about twenty-five times, trying to explain to you how he also promised chan to meet up for shawarma or something that day as well in his rush
you told him to slow down and that it was okay, at least you had seungmin’s notes with you to go through
to which he practically gloats about bc seungmin undoubtedly has the best notes he’s ever seen in his entire life and the next thing you know, he’s telling you that seungmin was on his way there to fill up for him and of course you tried to tell him that he shouldn’t, that you’re fine and he really didn’t have to call him for your sake
but apparently, he’d already gave him your number and was heading to the library that very moment so you had no choice but to go with it
well, you could stand him up and leave him hanging but that’s just rude,,, plus you were the one who needed help in the first place
so you decide to wait and scan seungmin’s notes once again
before you know it you get a text from an unknown number saying, “i’m here, where are you?”
assuming it was seungmin, you replied with a simple “i’m at back.”
and as if right on cue, he showed up by the bookshelf in front of you and waved hello
looking cute as fuck in his baby pink hoodie and slightly messy hair,,,, but you didn’t hear that from me
so yeah
that session proved to be actually quite productive,,, for the both of you
in a sense that you actually understood something about that class for once
and he clarified some things about lit with you
it turns out that you also have traditional lit with him so after you got finally understood when to use a schwa, you both put your heads together to go through both your notes for your upcoming midterms rip
but neither of you really got the chance to get to know each other with all your workload
the both of you stayed there for a couple of hours until you noticed seungmin lightly dozing off
you woke him up after a few minutes of self-debating and he woke up with a jolt, apologizing profusely for sleeping
after that was just awkward silence,,, then he realized the time
that’s the time he nearly had a breakdown
you could see his obvious panic over something and you just couldn’t bother asking him what was wrong bc the next thing you knew, he was out of his seat hurriedly explaining that he had somewhere to go
and you were left there, with his notes
and everything else he had brought along with him
including his phone
you figured that returning his stuff for him was the least you could do to repay him as of that moment
so that’s exactly what you did
but not until after you asked felix for his address lol
he actually had to run back there to collect his things, only to find out that you’d already took them to his dorm oof
help him please he’s barely getting any sleep these days
the next day, you learned that he actually ran all the way to the broadcasting room bc he thought it was a friday – a schedule for the broadcasting thing he signed up for
you were with felix that afternoon, looking for probable places for a shooting,, so you went here and there
and you come by a particular place that somehow reminded felix of his friend
“oh, right! how’d your little study date with seungmin go?” he asked, meaning for it to sound teasing
instead, you lightly laughed at that and told him you could hardly call it a date when he slept on you on the last hour
he began laughing, saying that this was the reason seungmin would never get a significant other
you: that’s a mean thing to say to someone so sweet. well, compared to you.
felix: you like him, then?
you: he’s cute, nice, and smart. what’s not to like?
and from then on, felix has been giving you the Look™ every time you mentioned or encountered seungmin
seungmin, on the other hand, was practically dying of embarrassment
how did he manage to doze and dash off like that in front of his crush?
he had been debating with himself whether he would find and approach you to thank you for returning his stuff or just wait for you to talk to him,,, he opted for the latter tbh but his mindset changed when he saw you with felix
so he started walking to you two
but then you started laughing,,, and it looked like you two were really close so he backed out last minute and began his way to the broadcasting room (it was legit this time)
you two didn’t see each other over that weekend but it wasn’t like you minded it a lot, you were just – let’s say – expecting him to go out or something
okay, maybe you did mind it a bit more than you’d expected
you caught yourself staring at the back of his head the next monday morning at english while he tried his best to avoid your gaze by taking notes and you thought it was weird how he seemed to walk faster when you called after him in the quad
you found that he was actually avoiding you when you caught his eye and headed for the other direction the next day when in fact, you two had lit then
you tried asking felix if seungmin was mad at you or something but all he did was smirk at you and say, “go find out for yourself”
the next time you found seungmin was in the library, yet again
he was checking out five thick ass books so you approached him and you didn’t give him the chance to leave, insisting him to have lunch with you and asking him about his major and it was amusing to see him shy away from your gaze, flustered to his cheekbones but you were too busy trying to help him carry two of his books to notice that
you did end up having lunch together
if you consider cup ramen as lunch then yeah, you had lunch together
he actually mustered enough courage to thank you for dropping off his things and helping him carry his books and promised he would pay you back some time after finals
and then he looked you in the eye and smiled like y’know his smile where his from the cutest crescents and mouth slightly parted as if he’s preparing to laugh
and he looks so cute like that and you can’t help but flush and turn your head bc holy crap he’s actually an angel??? how can someone look so beautiful and cute like that hOW
and he’s like, um i should- i have to go,,,,, thanks again-
but you stop him and instead of asking if he was mad at you or if you had done anything wrong, you asked him out on a date
you didn’t know what came over you, but you did,,, and it took some time for you to process what you had said before you tried to cover up
“i-i mean like a treat! yeah, to thank you for tutoring me”
and before he could reply, made a run for it bc you were sure he’d say no to such a direct question, it’d be better to scram before it would become more awkward
felix hears both sides of the story and he’s just //facepalm at both of you but separately and is like,,, shouldn’t you just go and see them if you’re that concerned
and seungmin’s like okay,,, i guess but you’re like nope, i embarrassed myself enough to never talk to him again i might as well die than face him again just to humiliate myself even more (felix: wow, and i thought i was the drama queen geez)
and it’s a mess bc now he’s the one being avoided by you and you purposely come in your shared english and calc classes late so that you could sit at back and avoid him and evacuate the room as fast as you can as soon as the lecture’s done
but he somehow caught on to your pattern by the fourth time and came in a little after you did so he could sit beside you
needless to say, you were in quite a pickle
he didn’t say anything while the lecture was going on but as soon as the prof dismissed you, he reached out to grab your wrist to stop you from leaving and okay, this is another face of kim seungmin but you couldn’t read his expression at all and it didn’t help that you were too shy to look at him when he’s practically staring a hole into your head
you really couldn’t think of any escape for that so you braced yourself for whatever he might just say to you but you still mcflipped and almost fell over after he asked you if that date was still available
hesitantly, you looked at him once more to see if he was joking or something and he reassured you that he was serious
and you’re like shit i said that out loud, sorry,,, I mean uh- yeah, i guess. if you want it to??
seungmin: cool. are you free friday?
you: y-yeah, but don’t you have that broadcasting thing you do on friday?
seungmin: oh, right. saturday then?
you: i can’t saturday. thursday sound good? at the library still?
and seungmin is all heart eyes bc yes he wants it to be somewhere he’s comfortable at and the library is perfect for him you are an angel bless
come thursday and your hands are sweating and your heart is skyrocketing and your mind is all mush now just thinking about being on an actual date with seungmin
when you do get there, seungmin is laying his head on the same table where you met the other thursday
and you’re just at awe at how he just looks so peaceful but wait,,, was he? crying? ??
you found yourself nudging him again but this time he opens his eyes slowly and raise his head only for you to see that his eyes are red and he is definitely not okay
it took a while for him to adjust his eyes and make out your features but once he did, he smiled but not the smile you swooned over the other day,,, it was a sad kind of smile and you decided that you didn’t really like this smile
“ahh how embarrassing, to be seen by the person i like in this situation” he mumbled, looking down
and you didn’t know what to do exactly but you found yourself sitting next to him and asking him if he wanted to talk about it and when he heard the question he just,,,, loses it
you look over to his side and see that he’d been studying and he had his phone out with like 7 missed calls and even more unread messages and his notes that were usually so organized are a mess now and then you look back over him and realize that he’s wearing the same hoodie he had on the previous day and your mind just
oh no
and you panic a little bc you really don’t know how to deal with the situation so you just hesitantly wait for his crying to stop while you attempt to comfort him by patting his back
when he does finish crying, he apologizes through hiccups, ‘i’m sorry you had to see me go through all that. and this was supposed to be a date. i ruined everything’ and you’re like ‘nono no i understand! !! it’s okay, college sucks and we all have a point where we just want to cry it all out bc everything’s just so frustrating. you don’t have to apologize, the date hasn’t even started yet’
and for a second he looks at you as if you’re crazy but then he timidly smiles a little and looks down, ‘but that doesn’t change the fact that you saw me crying and wiping my snot like some child’ and you go ‘well, if it helps, i just realized that I could have borrowed your notes to recopy them and avoid looking like an idiot in front of you trying to focus my inappropriate camera lenses on them’
he looks like he’s trying to stifle his laughter and you just laugh bc hey, it’s not like i’ll stop liking you bc you’re showing natural human emotion that’s just dumb and he’s kind of taken aback bc did you just say you liked him???? ?
and you just realize what you said and are like uhmmm uhh i mean but he’s taking your hand in his and he has tear stains on his cheeks that you do your best to wipe off but he still looks so goddamn beautiful even up close and your heart’s malfunctioning when he tells you that he likes you too
but he gets all shy afterwards and it’s just silent for a while bc you two have to calm yourselves down after confessing but you both don’t really mind it,,,, not until you realize that he’s still holding your hand
that’s when you go ‘aH RIGht thE DATe’ but he still doesn’t let go of your hand and just says ‘can we stay here? i don’t really know where else to go on a first date’ and you enthusiastically nod sure why not? and you offer to help him organize his notes
he still feels responsible for not giving you a proper date so by the time you where almost done arranging his stuff he excused himself for a while and came back with some snacks from the vending machine outside the library
and it really wasn’t the date you were expecting but it was cute – him sitting so close to you that your shoulders touched and you feeding him while he was writing
you finally get to know a little about each other
like how he kept a journal to keep track of his progress (in life in general) and how he ended up taking pre-law bc he wanted to be an attorney and how he failed to join the baseball team and the photography club bc of his workload
and you get to know that behind his calm demeanor, he’s actually a cute kid who wants to do his best and have fun at the same time but just has a tendency to overdo the ‘doing his best’ part
there was a point where he was in the middle of talking about how law just drains the life out of him when you both shifted in your seats together and your faces are inches apart and you made the mistake of looking into his eyes and you can see that he’s leaning in and your brain is like !!! do it!! but before he could reach you, you quickly covered his mouth with your hand and kissed your hand instead
he whines a little but when he sees that your ears are super red he’s like oH
he walks you to your dorm afterwards of course but before you could say goodnight he swiftly pecks your cheek and says a quick goodnight and dashed away
when felix learns about how your date went the next day he’s just
‘i knew this would happen but why am i disappointed *blowing nose emoji*’
deciding to go out with seungmin was the best thing you did in college tbh
the first week was awkward solely bc you both still felt so giddy about the fact that you’re actually going out wow
but after he took you on another date – a proper one – you guys were noticeably more comfortable around each other
you two bonded a lot that week in the library bc it just so happened that finals were fast approaching rip
that’s where felix found you sitting almost halfway into seungmin’s lap
felix: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
you:
seungmin:
felix: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
seungmin: shouldn’t you be studying for finals?
felix: i think  i’ve earned myself a year-worth of coke from all of you ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
and you’re just ??? after felix left and seungmin explains that they had this bet where whoever is the first to break his system would be treated to anything they wish and you’re like,,,, but aren’t i they person who did that? in that case, i want you to take all my english notes for the rest of the next sem ily :^)))))
you were obviously joking but he would 100% do it in a heartbeat
skz is shocked when they found out seungmin is going out with you but they are more shocked at how corny he gets when he’s with you
minho, wiping a tear: they grow up so fast
jeongin, eyeing felix who’s trying to make seungmin’s markers stand: i’m not so sure about that
you figure out at the start of your third year that seungmin isn’t actually on a scholarship when he decides to take up some part-time job near the campus which you tried to convince him not to bc he’d Suffer™ more,,,, to which he replied with ‘then, you should do your best to energize me’
he got punched for that but he quickly reassured that he was joking while you were mumbling something about how felix was rubbing off him
you two develop a sort-of-habit-sort-of-inside-joke where one of you run off when the other says or does something too corny and people are ??? when they witness this but you two find it adorable awee
you eventually discover seungmin actually has a Great Singing Voice one afternoon in his dorm when he thought you were asleep on your unfinished thesis,,,, he got so flustered when you started to compliment him and asked him to sing for you
with a little bit of coaxing, he begrudgingly agreed and sang as you took out your phone to record and save as his ringtone :^)
he ends up showing you all his recordings and you almost pass out bc you had no idea that he’d be so talented and perfect ugh
seungmin: i’m not perfect, but yes, keep those compliments coming in lol
you and seungmin give each other small speeches of encouragements and it’s cute bc you two go to lengths just to prove how amazing the other is,,,,, like that one time when you’d begged your friend in culinary arts to let you use the oven so you could bake him a whole batch of cupcakes spelled out ‘seungminie the great’ and as embarrassing it ended up to be, it gave him the reassurance and confidence to face a mock trial
or that time when he bribed the baseball team with food just to help him celebrate your birthday (he still isn’t part of the team :c ),,,, but that’s another story
he admitted at some point that the reason he was crying on your first date was apparently bc he thought that he could never be enough, that he was just wasting time,,, you didn’t let him finish bc before you knew it, your lips were on his and that was the first official kiss you two had in your relationship and you couldn’t care less bc you hated hearing him put himself down
you almost damn near had a cardiac arrest when he kissed back and parted just to rest his forehead on yours and say ‘that was before you came and ruin my system’ oof corny
there was a time when seungmin received a text from your friend saying ‘how did you end up dating this loser lol’ and the picture of you trying to take a photo of seungmin’s english notes,,,,,, he replied with ‘yeah, they’re the best that’s ever happened to me’
your friend showed you his reply and you made sure he got at least 1036 heart emojis by the end of the day
he ended up printing that picture to your horror and to his amusement lol
you two take loads of pictures of each other doing absolutely anything with your dslr,,,, and ngl they’re amazing, like you could make a photo gallery out of them wow art
seungmin is a very stressed™ pre-law student but thanks to you, he’s been doing great
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andimlonely · 4 years
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The Best Kind of Gift
BNHA; Momo Yaoyorozu x f!reader | Feeling guilty after she buys you an expensive new backpack, you confront Momo about her frequently spending money on you. 
✿ Fluff
A/N: This is the first BNHA piece I’m publishing and I really like how it turned out! I might write something similar for Todoroki because the concept suits him, hehe. Anyway, I hope you like it! (art by me)
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It started with a simple remark.
“Wow, (f/n), I like your new backpack,” Mina smiles as she stands over you while you loop the laces of your shoe together. 
You return your friend’s smile. “Thanks, Mina.”
“It’s so stylish,” she chirps, “How’d you afford it? That brand is pretty expensive, isn’t it?”
“Oh, um, it was a gift,” you admit, the lavishness of the item really dawning on you like it did when you first received it, “From Momo.”
Her mouth falls open, dark eyes like saucers full of ink, “Really?? Wish she’d buy me something cute like that. Still, that was super nice of her!”
“Y-yeah, I know, right?” 
It wasn’t that you hadn’t noticed your best friend’s generosity towards you before then; in fact, you were well aware of Momo’s very.. different spending habits the moment you two started becoming close and spending more time together.
Maybe you had become a little too used to her frequently buying things for you, or paying for most of the things you do together regardless of if you asked her to or not, but Mina’s innocent comments brought you back to reality. Since that exchange this morning, all you can think about is how guilty you feel for letting her, well, spoil you. 
But it isn’t as if you had never brought it up before! Every time it was the same,
“Nonsense, (y/n). Sometimes it’s worth paying more to ensure quality,” she would assure you with a conviction that convinced you only sometimes.
If it wasn’t that, she told you, with a more lighthearted tone, “Don’t worry about it. It’s no trouble at all.”
You had never known someone who so frequently treated you to things before, which is partially to blame for why you’ve come to accept this habit of hers. Of course it feels nice to receive so much, but it’s more to you than the temporary joy of getting something you wanted. Every time she offers you something, whether it’s as small as a simple ramen lunch or as expensive as a new backpack from that cute boutique a few blocks away, you feel kind of.. special. 
Despite her wealth, Momo isn’t very frivolous at all. She certainly spends more than the average student in your class, but she’s far from careless with her money and only rarely splurges on clothes or accessories, or anything she doesn’t need. Of course, she’s used to finer things, so there are foods or miscellaneous necessities she buys that could easily be replaced by a more cost-effective version or brand, but even then she’s still budgeting herself - she just has a lot more wiggle room than you, and most of the other people in your class.
The only times she seems to forget her financial responsibility is when she’s out with you, and you inevitably point out how cute some plushy is, or how much you like that skirt, with no motive but to acknowledge the things that catch your eye. Sometimes all it takes is a prolonged look at an item and she’s offering to get it for you. And while most times you’re able to refuse with no problem, there are times when your raven-haired best friend won’t hear of it.  Admittedly, you’re guilty of not even protesting sometimes too. 
So despite your appreciation, your talk with Mina this morning erased all the normalcy of Momo’s excessive generosity, and since then, you’ve been working up the nerve to talk to her about it. Only this time, you won’t let her take no for an answer; you’re done being selfish.
Luckily for you, the final exam paper has been handed in and Aizawa has officially dismissed your class for the day. While you pack up your pencils and eraser, Momo appears at your side, a bright smile painted on her lips.
“So (y/n), how are you feeling? Do you think our study session paid off?”
“I do, there was really only one question I struggled with,” you reply contentedly, slinging your bag - this cursed new backpack that you feel guilty just looking at - over your shoulder. 
Your taller friend clasps her hands, “That’s wonderful! See, I told you it would be worth reviewing our notes.” 
The two of you exit the classroom together after bidding your classmates a quick bye and see you later, discussing the questions you were most confident about your answers to as you make your way off campus and into the busy streets.
Friday afternoons are almost always reserved for strolling through town with your friends for awhile, usually with Mina or Jirou, but Momo often tags along too when she isn’t too busy. Today neither of the other girls were available, and usually that wouldn’t have bothered you because you always have fun alone with Momo, but today it gives you no excuse not to confront her spending habit. 
“Oh, (y/n), didn’t you mention yesterday that you could go for a smoothie? We should go buy one.”
“Ah, did I?,” you chuckle nervously, “I don’t remember, but I’m okay! I had a big lunch, so..”
She chuckles, “You’re so forgetful. But alright, if you say so. If you don’t mind, there was somewhere specific I wanted to visit today.”
“Oh? Where to?”
“It’s a secret,” she smiles, a delicate finger to her lips.
Your head tilted, you quirk a brow. “You have secrets, Momo? I wouldn’t have guessed.”
“Of course, (y/n). There’s always more than what meets the eye.”
You continue to pass through the lively streets, lined with the shops you tend to visit from time to time, eyes shining as you listen to your friend animatedly recount a story about her somewhat chaotic recent family function. At first you were following it completely, but somewhere along the way her words started to fade away, her face the only thing you register. She doesn't seem to notice though. 
“Oh, it’s that store you really like,” she points, “Would you like to go take a look inside?”
The word flies from your lips faster, and more loudly, than you intended. “No!”
Momo blinks, to which you continue sheepishly, “I mean.. I went there with Mina the other day, so there’s not much to see.”
“Then maybe you’d like to visit the Sanrio store?,” she suggests.
“Mm, not today.”
The taller female’s expression dims, but she recovers slightly. “Is there anywhere you do want to go?”
Now is the perfect time to slip in your confrontation. But you just aren’t sure how to work it in so that it sounds casual. After all, you don’t want to come off as ungrateful, or anything, and you don’t want to hurt her feelings. 
“Not in particular. I just wanted to take a walk mostly.”
She had noticed you seemed distracted today, so much so that she worried your concentration during the exam would be hindered. And now, with you not seeming very interested in going places you enjoy frequenting, it’s certain there’s something on your mind. 
A minute of silence passes, the only words in the air from the people you pass by, before Momo speaks up. “(y/n), is something wrong? Are you not feeling well?”
It’s no use being indirect or dismissing it now. You might not have another chance as opportune as this one to say it. 
“No.. It’s just, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
She stops walking, prompting you to do the same and stand with her at the corner of a gift shop, shaded by the awning that hangs from its facade. It felt less personal to keep walking along while you shared your concerns; she wants to speak face to face.
“What is it?” 
“Well.. I’ve been thinking about.. how you always buy me things,” you state awkwardly.
Momo seems completely puzzled by your vague statement. “Yes?”
You had hoped that alone would somehow be enough for her to guess what you were hinting at, but you have to accept that there’s no way around explicitly telling her. ‘How can I put this?…’
“Momo, you buy me things too often and I feel bad and guilty, and I should have refused you more but I’m selfish sometimes,” you blurt, the words fleeing from your lips like they’re afraid to be spoken any later. For all the time your mind was consumed with expressing this to her today, it came out a lot more tactlessly than you wanted it to.
Your eyes are glued to the ground. You can’t bring yourself to look up, partially because of how poorly you expressed yourself and partially because you’re afraid of her reaction.
“I think I understand.”
Your head shoots up, “You do?”
Her eyebrows tugged upwards, she nods, “You feel offended by me constantly buying gifts for you. I didn’t mean to insinuate you couldn’t afford them yourself, although realistically you couldn’t afford to factor some of them in due to your budget, but I digress. I’m sorry I offended you, (y/n).”
Offended?!
A groan resounds in your mind as she misunderstands you. You were never offended by her offers, and you’re not even offended by her pretty directly calling you broke, because it’s just the objective truth, sadly. At least she said it politely.
“No, Momo, it’s not that.. I meant that I can’t accept you buying me things anymore. You spend too much on me, and the things we do together, and I feel really guilty for being so selfish, especially since I can only afford to do the same every now and then. It isn’t your fault I feel guilty, of course - it’s mine. I just want you to know that you don’t need to buy me anything anymore.”
Finally confessing this washes a wave of relief over you, until her lips falter and your chest is wracked with guilt. Maybe you should have put it more gently?
“I’m sorry,” she murmurs, her head bowed slightly. Silky strands of her black fringe hang over her right eye as she smiles bittersweetly. “To be honest, I hadn’t even realized I did that until not too long ago. It always felt natural to me. To me, getting gifts for people you care about is just something you do, to express affection, and I don't really need to think about it, because I know it makes others happy." 
She smiles, almost sadly, "I never felt like you expected anything from me. So I didn't mind buying things for you. I know that you truly like me, and I.. wanted to express the same to you,  just differently." 
Momo speaks from the remembrance of painful memories, being no stranger to being taken advantage of or lied to only to find out she was wanted only for her family’s money. For every genuine friendship she had, there were about 5 that were short-lived and one-sided instead. People crafting smiles and lacing their words with bold admiration that unraveled the moment she was away from them. 
"Momo.." 
Her words send your heart fluttering. You can fully understand where she's coming from, not that you didn’t have any idea before. 
"But, (y/n), I should be honest with you.. I’ve been withholding my true feelings for you, ones I couldn’t work up the confidence to just tell you. So I used those gifts instead, because it was less intimidating to me.”
“True feelings?,” you murmur, your heart pounding violently against your chest. Does she mean --? Is she really saying..?
The moment of truth. Pink tinges her face as she braces herself to finally confess to you. With a tilt of her head, onyx irises shining and sincere, the words flutter from her lips like newborn butterflies, lovely and nervous as they dance through the air.
“(y/n), I love you.”
You press your trembling hands to your chest as it bursts with an almost painful joy,  only pulled from the daze by the realization that she could have meant it platonically. But you hope she didn’t, you pray she didn’t. “You mean, as more than a friend?”
Everyone else seems to fade away, her heartbeat the only thing that reminds her that time is only passing slowly in her mind. “Yes.” 
“Momo,” you breathe, “I love you, too.”
Like magnets, your mutual confession draws you together in a tight embrace, a giggle bubbling up from your chest. You stay locked in her arms a little longer, until she pulls away, smiling sheepishly.
“I guess this isn’t the best timing, but I actually have something for you.”
You give her a pout, eyes incredulous as she produces a long and thin black box from her messenger bag. “Momo!”
Just because you’re aware of each other’s feelings now doesn’t mean your point from before is nullified. If anything, she should feel less inclined to give you presents because you know she loves you without them. 
“Don’t worry, this didn’t cost me anything. I made it myself.”
You open the box to reveal a delicate silver chain and locket, engraved beautifully with intricate swirls and flowers. Every moment spent researching its composition is worth it as she watches you marvel at the necklace.   
“It’s so beautiful.. How long did it take you to figure this out?” 
The girl waves her hand dismissively. It may have taken her hours, but you didn’t need to fret over that. “It wasn’t nearly as difficult as it seems. It was supposed to be a Valentine present, but I didn’t finish in time. Do you like it?”
“Of course I do! I can’t believe you made this yourself,” you say, pressing a kiss timidly to her cheek that has Momo adorably flustered, “Thank you. I love it.”
“I love you,” she murmurs, pulling you softly against her again, leaning her head against yours and exhaling.
“Should we get lunch to celebrate?”
“Momo!,” you scold, lifting your head to give her a stern frown, that soon fades into one of contemplation as you realize you are kind of hungry, “..maybe something small. But I’m paying for myself!”
An endeared laugh escapes your friend - girlfriend’s lips, “Deal.”
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Chapter 5. Truth or Dare
‘TRUE BEAUTY is not of the body or of the face, no, it is a thing of the soul - of fire and air, breath and spirit, something brave and unafraid.’ Segovia Amil
The door opened without a knock; I saw through the reflection in the mirror Cadie stop herself from walking straight in, instead fixing her posture and looking solemnly at us.
“Excuse me, Ma’am.” She said, formally.
“Don’t bother with formalities on my account, Cade.” Louis told her, grinning. “We’re all friends here. I won’t tell Auguste you usually call my sister by her name.”
The secretary grinned, but didn’t move. “There’s a delivery for you.”
“For me?” She replied with a nod. 
“I think it’s a dress.”
“Oh!” Louis exclaimed, jumping up from his seat in the two-seat sofa in front of my bed. 
I raised a hand in pause to Cass, who was just about finished doing my hair, and turned around to eye my brother suspiciously.
“What is it? And why is it in my name?”
“It’s for you.” He said, walking to the door and speaking to someone outside. “In here, please!”
The Prince of Wales’ butler walked in, solemnly carrying a garment bag over both his arms, which he laid over the couch where Louis had been sitting, before turning around to bow to the both of us, and leave as swiftly as he had come.
“If it’s for me how come I don’t know anything about it?!”
“It’s a surprise.” He shrugged, smiley. “Cass, are you done over there?”
Cass, who had been discreetly spraying my hair as we talked, pulled another couple of strands leading into my bun and took a step back.
“Look at me, please, ma’am? Oh, yes, I’m done. Beautiful!”
I looked in the mirror. My hair was pulled loosely to the back in a bun, with strands falling artfully to the sides of my face. Atop my head, sat Empress Eugénie's 1853 pearl and diamonds tiara, commissioned by Napoleon III to celebrate their marriage. It was adorned with 212 pearls and 1998 diamonds. After Napoleon III’s 1870 defeat, the tiara was surrendered to the Savoyen Royal Family and now it laid on my hair. It was one of my favorites from the Savoyen Crown jewels vault, and Maman had sent me with Georgian pearl earrings to match, which I picked up as Louis rushed Cass and Cadie out of the room.
“I already have a dress, Lou.” I told him, approaching the garment bag.
“How would you know it’s a dress?” He asked, teasingly, to which I only gave him a suspicious look with one raised brow. “Okay, fine, it’s a dress…”
He pat a chair next to the bag and I sat down, just as he sat in the coffee table in front and held both my hands in his.
He cleared his throat. “As I have expressed, I am sorry for the things I said when we were fighting.”
I watched him, silently, then nodded slowly. “Okay?”
“However, there is something I have been meaning to talk to you about, which may have transpired during our, uhm, bagarre.”
“...yes?”
“Maggie, you have to stop letting mom and dad walk all over you.”
“I do not-”
“You have worn at least three outfits this tour I know for a fact that you wouldn't even have purchased if it weren’t to make sure Maman wouldn’t have something to criticize.”
“Excuse you, I think my outfits were very cute!”
“I didn’t say they weren’t!” He clarified, pointing a finger at me. “All I said was… they weren’t you.”
I sighed, resting my back against the chair.
I couldn’t say I hadn’t noticed before that every time I had to do something regal there was a tiny voice in the back of my head wondering, what will mom approve of? before I chose an outfit. Her style had more of a conservative, 50s debutant vibe, while I tended to be more romantic yet modern. It was a fine line that separated both styles, and the advantage usually fell to my mother.
“She’s a very stylish woman.” I countered, and he nodded enthusiastically.
“She sure is. And you are twenty-five years-old! You should be allowed to wear things that are… out there, daring, iconic!”
I laughed. “I’m not exactly a fashion icon!”
“My point exactly. You could be.”
“Louis-”
“I know you have style! I have seen it! You just hold it back because you think you have to!”
“I do have to.”
“It’s the twenty-first century! The Swede Princesses show a lot more skin than you do!”
“They don’t have our mom breathing down their necks.”
“Maggie, fashion is supposed to be fun! But you need a little bit of courage to really shine in it.”
I sighed. “What exactly are you suggesting?”
He leaned back and crossed his legs, confidently. “Let me guess, the dress maman chose for you for tonight's of a light shade, probably blue to match your angelic eyes, with a simple silhouette that covers everything God gave you, am I right?”
I didn’t have to answer; he knew he was right, so instead he merely walked over to his delivery as he spoke.
“I have made some very good contacts since I moved to Britain, in part thanks to religiously attending London Fashion Week. So I made a call.”
He dramatically opened the bag, to reveal a strong, smooth red fabric. 
“Red?!”
“I looked it up, the Duchess of Cambridge herself has worn red to a previous state dinner.”
I bit my lip. It did look quite pretty. And much more interesting than the very conservative choice my mother had made.
“Okay, I’ll try it on.” He squealed as I got to my feet. “But just because I’m curious! If I feel it’s too much cleavage, or too out there, I’m putting on the blue dress.”
“Yes!” He threw the garment bag at me and ran to the door. “I’ll go get dressed as you do that, and send Cadie in to help you.”
As I rummaged through the bag, I saw another thing inside.
“Spanx, Louis?!”
He closed the door with a thud.
I needed Cadie’s help to get everything on without damaging my makeup, hair or losing the tiara in the mess, but at last, I was ready. 
Cadie approved it. “It’s perfect!” She breathed, amazed.
I walked out of the bathroom to the full body mirror in the room, finding Louis sitting in the sofa again. His eyes widened as he saw me. “Woah.”
“Strapless?!” I asked him, unfazed. “Lou, you know I can’t show cleavage on a state dinner!”
“Oh, no, mustn't let the British know you have arms!” He rolled his eyes, getting to his feet. “What will they tell the church?!”
“Lou!”
“Relax, look, it’s an upper neckline, you’ll be fine! Again, the Swedes wear strapless all the time”
“We’re not Swedish!”
“To be fair, the draping does cover much of your chest.” Cadie added, to Louis’ joy.
“Thank you, Cadie. Why don’t you go wait outside?” I told her, with an eye roll. She left, grinning.
The shape of the dress was almost a mermaid-cut, but the draping made it a lot loser in the lower-body, and added a very interesting detail to the hips; in my case, making it look like I had some.
I sighed. “It’s… beautiful.”
“But?”
“There’s a lot that goes into choosing a dress for an event like this, I can’t just change it last minute.”
“Your tiara matches, I made sure of it. The dress is tighter on your body, but not that much that Maman will have any right to criticize, the dress is red, which is new for you but not against the rules, and most importantly, out of your comfort zone! With the added bonus of the sexy factor!”
“This is the gayest you’ve sounded in your life.”
He put a hand to his heart. “Thank you!”
“I shouldn’t be looking sexy in a state dinner, anyway.”
Through the mirror, I watched him give the windows a look he seemed to be hoping I would see. 
“What?!”
“Well, you know, that is true… unless there’s a very handsome man in the state dinner who’s been shamelessly flirting with you for three days straight.”
I rolled my eyes, but smiled despite myself. “I was wondering if that had any influence over this intervention.”
“No!” He replied, quickly. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Although you gotta admit, it’s perfect timing!”
“Harry’s just being…”
“Nice?” He asked, sarcastically, before walking over to adjust the drape. “What’s wrong with nice? You deserve nice.”
He placed a hand over my arm and looked at me in the mirror.
“Chris didn’t deserve you. You know that, right?”
I wanted to roll my eyes at him for bringing him up again, but instead I just nodded, trying to allow the words to take root in my heart.
“But Harry might.” He shrugged. “He seems to at least know you’re way out of his league, that is more than Chris already.” We chuckled. “So wear the dress. Feel as powerful as I know you are and let him know it too.”
So I held his hand, took a deep breath, and said, “Okay.”
---- ---- ---- ---- 
Once you’ve seen one palace, you’ve seen them all: high ceilings, golden fixtures, red carpets. The one thing that changes is the art in the walls, the people in the paintings, the era of the vases. Buckingham Palace was not different, which is why I wasn't taking too much notice of it as we walked in that night; I had spent our first day in the country admiring Buckingham, tonight was about more.
Tonight was the ultimate opportunity we had to show the world how friendly our countries' relation was, so that the people might pressure their politicians into putting work into fixing the immigrant crisis. In a more direct way, the star of the night were the speeches by the Queen and King. In an indirect way, I had been informed by Cadie on the way over that the pictures of Louis and me with the Cambridges and Harry had become very popular online, and that it wouldn't hurt to look as friendly as possible.
That would be harder, though, because on state dinners the seating chart was made very carefully so that the main visiting royals can mingle with the hosts, and the spare royals can give their attention to the other guests, so they feel heard.
As we walked in, I suddenly felt absolutely wrong in the dress. Though there was limited photographers in State Dinners, they were definitely there. Particularly at our arrival. The flashes were so blinding I could only focus on walking without tripping over my train, but in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but wish I was wearing my comfortable, old blue. Louis had prepared me for it, though.
Back in Clarence House, as we descended the staircase, the last ones to be ready, he reminded me that everything new felt wrong until it didn’t. That was easier to say when all he had to wear was a boring tuxedo he had worn at least twenty times prior. 
When we walked into the living room, the conversation stopped. My father and our five person staff stared at me, head to toe, mouths opened, as my brother offered them a cocky look. 
“Well,” I said, “I’m ready. Shall we go?”
Though Auguste said nothing, he looked as though he wanted to, but reconsidered when my father merely smiled, offering me his arm, and we made our way out.
Now, walking into the palace, I was reconsidering the choice myself. The dress was beautiful, my hair and makeup were perfectly in place thanks to Arnie’s flawless work, the tiara was a dream come alive; it was me. I was a pile of nerves. 
As Louis offered me his hand to climb up the steps, he looked at me, confused. 
“Why are you shaking?” 
I shrugged, and he grinned.
“Just you wait.” He replied when I questioned this.
Dad led the way, greeting Her Majesty with a kiss on each cheek, before taking one step to say hello to the Prince of Wales and his wife, just down the line. As the heir, Louis was next, so he stepped forward and bowed his head before kissing her as well.
“Your Majesty, is it 1956? Because you look barely a day over 30.”
The Queen let out a naughty giggle, caressing the diamonds in her bracelet shyly. 
He was going to make a fantastic King.
“Your Majesty.” I said, bowing down in a curtsey when it was my turn. 
“Princess Margueritte.” She greeted as I, too, kissed her cheeks. “You’ve been making quite a ruckus these last couple of days.”
I looked at her, feeling my head tilt sideways. “Have I?”
“I hope my grandson hasn’t bothered you too much.”
“Oh. No! Harry? No. He is… No!” I assured her, feeling my myself blush. “Uhm. He, he is-”
“He's always been a bit like a shark like that. If they stop swimming, they die. Well, he does if he stops flirting.”
I laughed, aware we were being filmed, hoping the press wasn't close enough to pick audio, trying to look as unbothered as possible.
"He's been very friendly and... Welcoming."
"I'm sure."
"What is it?" asked the Prince of Wales, drawing the attention of my father, brother and the Duchess. I shook my head, but the Queen told him merely, "Harry".
It seemed to be enough, though, as the whole group nodded, grinning.
"Oh, yes. It seems my son is a bit taken with your daughter." The prince told my father.
Though his mouth said "oh" in an amused way, I could tell it wasn't the first time he heard of this. 
“It doesn’t help she’s exactly his type.“ The duchess commented, making the group laugh again, so I‌ attempted to hold a steady, polite smile on my face.
We moved on to mingle and get in our positions to enter the dining hall; as the guest of honor, since Dad was here, there wasn’t anyone else to wait for. The rest of the guests were already in the dining hall, probably being told to find their seats now. The royal families - hosts and guests - were to enter later, so for now we could be ourselves and enjoy some privacy.
“Breathe.” Louis told me again, as we followed dad around the room. “You look about to pass out.”
“What did she mean by ‘his type’, you think?” I asked him, in a whisper.
“He’s probably dated someone who looks like you.” He replied, grinning.
“More than one... but ‘his type’, though. You think he just likes me because I’m blonde? He just likes my looks?”
“Great relationships have started with looks.” He said, turning around to face me, stopping me in my tracks. “How do you know he’s dated more than one person who looks like you? Have you stalked him online?”
I rolled my eyes, turning to look around the room. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You have a tell, Maggie. When you’re lying you look away so people can’t see your eyes.” 
Instead of dignifying his - smart - insight with an answer, I merely hooked my arm in his and walked off, having just identified the people I’d been looking for, and trying to ignore the smile on Louis’ face when he realized where we were going.
“Good evening.”
Though Harry had his back to me, I could watch the reaction of his brother and sister-in-law. They looked at me as I approached, unsurprised I was coming; almost as though they had seen me already. When I got to them, instead of greeting us, their eyes went to Harry. 
His shoulders squared back in a long breath, and then he turned around and looked at me. I watched his mouth open and his eyes widen, both so slightly it made me question if I’d imagined it, but also so obvious I wanted to turn around and go back to Clarence House to get changed immediately. It didn’t help he looked me up and down quickly and then gulped, before averting his eyes.
“You both look very dapper tonight.” Catherine said, smiling awkwardly between her brother-in-law and us. She was wearing a dark blue gown and a diamond tiara, hair half up, half down.
“Thank you!” Louis said, returning her smile with none of the awkwardness, and a lot of amusement. 
“Yes, we’re very happy to have you.” William said, looking equally as amused. “I’m afraid you’re at the boring table today, Louis.”
Catherine gently edged her elbow to her husband’s arm. “Don’t say boring.” She whispered, making Louis laugh. 
“Trust me, I understand what you mean.” He replied; I tried to smile, as it felt like that was the tone the conversation required. But it was hard when Harry still hadn’t looked back at me. “What is the party table, though? Does Harry get a round of Bubbly Pong going?”
They laughed, I mimicked. Harry looked around the room very still. There was an uncomfortable silence as the laughter died down, and suddenly there was a British aide telling us it was time to get to our places in line to enter the dining room. 
I gladly took the excuse to move away, feeling sick to my stomach. Had I been excited before? I hardly remembered it anymore. 
“I’m in the boring table, too.” Catherine told me, walking quickly to catch up to me as we moved to the middle of the line as the heirs went forward. “It was terrifying on my first time at one of these, but I’ve come to find you can have some interesting conversations, don’t you think?”
I smiled, remembering her nerves from the car the day before. “No, you’re right, it’s not that bad, actually. Though, it’s not as interesting as it seems to outsiders, either, I suppose. My sister is convinced there’s dancing, like in a ball in a Disney movie.” 
She laughed, looked back, and then added, whispery, “You make him nervous.”
“What?”
“I’m over there, I’ll talk to you later, I hope.” 
We exchanged a smile, even if mine was a bit confused, and she moved to stand next to the Prime Minister.
“You know, in Britain only the married women attend these,” Harry started, standing next to me in line. “And you wouldn’t be allowed to wear one of those until married, either.” He said, staring at the tiara in my head with - I was happy to see - some reverence.
“In Savoy, unmarried women can wear tiaras as long as they’re over twenty-one. Good thing I’m not British.” I said, on a low tone, glad Auguste couldn’t hear such an undiplomatic sentiment. 
He grinned. “Yes. I’m very glad about that.” 
I looked around, seeing the line basically done. “Are you not going to find your place?”
“I think I’m right where I belong.” 
“With me?” I asked, surprised; he returned a flirty smile.
“Yes, Mary, with you.” I rolled my eyes, grinning.
“Do you get all your pickup lines from Taylor Swift songs?” He laughed a bit louder than the current volume level in the room, and more than one pair of eyes turned to look at us.
Usually they wouldn’t pair the ‘lower royals’ together like this. The high ranking ones, yes; queen and king, heir with heir. My father and Louis were both ahead, and would be sitting at the head of the table, with William and Catherine, I supposed. But Harry and I should have been paired with diplomats or dignitaries. 
As we walked into the room, to the sound of their national anthem, I noticed two important things. One, Harry looked very handsome in white tie and tails, with his military medals pinned to his chest. Two, as we walked, he gave a grateful smile to a nearby aide, and I wondered if he had arranged to be seated with me. I felt… strangely flattered. 
As we got to the table, and the anthem finished, a staffer pulled the chair for me, and we were all seated in silence as, at the center part of the table, they prepared for the speeches.
“I don’t think I can stress this enough, Mary.” He said, whispery, leaning closer to me than it was necessary.
“Marie.” I corrected, now more teasingly than anything else, making him smile as he looked into my eyes.
“You’re the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”
I didn’t have a teasing answer for that; I could barely think straight as he kept staring into my eyes from so close. 
Suddenly, however, his grandmother’s voice startled us both out of it and we stared ahead as she began to speak.
It felt as though the Queen and my father spoke for hours; I‌ kept my eyes focused ahead hoping to steady my breath and sweaty palms enough to be able to look back at Harry at some point in the night.
Luckily, by the time they started serving the entrees, I‌ had remembered that due to the dinner etiquette I was supposed to make conversation to the man by my other side before Harry. So I took in a deep breath, smiled politely, and asked him about his work.
By the time it was our turn to talk, he gave me a friendly smile and said,
“Dare.”
I sighed a short giggle. We had, now that I‌ thought about, left the truth and dare game unfinished the day before. I‌ had answered last, so I supposed it was his turn. I cracked my brain to think of something that was good, but not scandalous. 
“I dare you to,”‌ I‌ started, slowly, staring into his water glass, “tap you fork to your glass loudly to call the attention of the room to yourself, get up, and improvise a speech in honor of my father.”
He barked out a laughter that started louder than any of us thought was appropriate, and we quickly ducked our heads down to hide our playful grins and blushing cheeks; Harry was still laughing. Taking a deep breath, he looked around the room. 
“I can’t!”‌‌‌ He replied. “It’s not protocol, it’ll be too weird. It will make the news!”
I sighed, smiling. ‌“Alright, then. I‌ suppose you could… start coughing when the staffer comes back for our plates and then dramatically grab his sleeve and pretend to have an allergic reaction.”
This time his eyes widened as he laughed, leaning closer to me. “Are you trying to get me disowned?!” 
I‌ laughed.‌ “Too much? Okay. I dare you to…”‌ I looked around the room, thinking. 
The table was shaped like an upside-down U. The Queen and her guests were at the top, horizontal edge; Harry and I were at the start of one of the legs, close to the curve of the table, which was narrow and had no one sitting there. The person closest to the other gentleman on my side, was Catherine, and by her side, ‌my brother.
“I dare you to throw a pea on my brother’s wine glass.” 
He leaned closer to me in order to see around the tall centerpiece arrangement in the middle of the table. He smelled of… lime, possibly? And I‌ felt myself leaning back towards him to smell it better.
“Hm, how about Cath? She’s more in my line of vision.”
“No!” I‌ whispered, making one of his eyebrows raise slightly above the other. “She’s nice, I‌ don’t want to mess with her.”
“And your brother isn’t nice?”
I rolled my eyes. “My brother has been a royal since birth and is used to me. Your sister-in-law seems to still be trying very hard to… behave the way people expect her to. I‌ don’t want to make that harder.”
He smiled.‌ “How do you know that?”
I‌ shrugged.‌ “I’m observant. Stop stalling. If you won’t do that, then…”‌ I looked back, seeing the staffers come back around to collect our plates. “When they’re removing your plate, I‌ dare you to burp your thank you.”
“For such a pretty girl, you are… disgusting.”
“Ouch.”‌ I said, on a bored monotone, making him fight a smile. 
I‌ kept my eyes ahead as the poor staffer approached by his side to remove the plate, and then I‌ heard a loud and disgusting “thank you”, making me laugh.
We waited until they had left and broke down in a fit of giggles that made me feel very hot; I‌ took a long sip of my water, deciding I had had enough wine for the night.
Throughout the night, the game went on through each course; because I‌ didn’t want him to get any ideas about revenge, I‌ kept choosing truth, and as the first one traumatized him so much, so did he, and we ended up just having a regular conversation. Well, kind of. 
He asked how many people I had ever kissed; I did the quick math in my head and told him nine (Chris was my first everything, as he was a childhood friend, and other than one 7 minutes in heaven incident at 16, the rest were all casual dates during the one time when we broke up during University, and since the last break up). So I asked him the same, and he very quietly, blushing, justified his double digit as he stuttered through a lot of excuses, which I thought was cute. 
He asked what my pet peeve was, and I talked about wanting to scratch my eyes out when people chewed gum open-mouthed. I asked who was his favorite out of all the famous people he had ever met, and he told me about meeting Paul McCartney, which lead me to volunteer my experience in a Paul McCartney concert in New York a few years before, and soon we were exchanging our favorite Beatles songs, and what were our favorite bands as teenagers, which was particularly cringey for both of us (I had an insanely embarrassing obsession with Britney Spears, he had a gangster rap phase).
He asked how old I was when I stopped playing dolls (13), I asked how old he was the last time he peed himself (20, drunk). He asked what was the last text I sent, and I told him about confirming lunch plans with my coworker for the day after tomorrow. I asked him what was the last thing he searched on his phone, and he told me about googling how to tie a bow tie, which earned him a confused look.
“I know, I know. I ought to know it by now. But I told you about my terrible memory. I can never remember.”
“Okay, okay. Tell me one thing on your internet history you wouldn’t want me to know about.”
He stared at his plate, thoughtfully. 
“Well, in the name of our blossoming friendship, I feel I should come clean. After your brother mentioned it at polo, I did google you.”
I nodded. “Yeah, so did I.”
“You did?”‌ I‌ nodded. “Well, may I just say those pictures are low quality, and everything is actually much bigger-”
“I‌ meant I googled myself, you narcissistic piece of work.” I‌ laughed. 
“Oh, you googled yourself and‌ I’m narcissistic?!”
I‌ shrugged.‌ “I guess I wanted to see what you would see if you googled me.”‌
“Well, I‌ saw some adorable childhood pictures.‌ Bangs look cute on you.” I rolled my eyes.‌ 
“Shut up.”
“Found out you have three dogs, amazing. And Christopher looks like trash. You can do better.”
I laughed again, drinking more water just to have an excuse not to have to comment on it.
As we moved to the next course, we took some time to talk to the people on our other sides, so I did my best to focus on the questions the gentleman to my right was asking me.
In the back of my mind, however, something bugged me. I couldn’t stop thinking that he still didn’t know about the first time we met, and the longer I‌ took to tell him, the more uncomfortable it would be when I finally did.
“Truth or dare?”‌ He asked, without preamble, as soon as I turned to him again.
“Truth.”‌ I‌ smiled, hoping he would ask how we met so I could get it over with.
“Which of your siblings is your favorite?”
I‌ sighed; mostly because he had a very irritant, smug grin on his lips. 
“I can’t answer that. Also, it’s so unfair that you only have one so I can’t return this horrible question.”
“Yes, that’s why I asked. Go on, you can do it.”
“Fine. Louis. But I‌ have-”
“Oh, wow, Mary!” He said, mock-shock all over his face.
“You asked!” I‌ said, whispery.
“That is cold!”
“I have reasons!”
“Fine, what are the reasons?”
“I was eleven years-old when Lourdes was born! I love her, of course. But I‌ only had a couple years with her before going to boarding school. Louis is just a few years younger than me, we grew up together! We’re just… closer.”
He nodded. “You went to school abroad, right?”
“Well, I‌ had a year in Savoy, then I‌ transferred to Belgium.”
“One year?”
“Yes, and it was easier to see them then, I came home every weekend, spent as much time with them as I‌ possibly could. Even when I was living in Belgium, actually. I still did my best.”
“You came home often?”
“As often as I could.” I said. “Lourdes was three when our grandfather abdicated due to his age. She will never remember a time when she wasn’t the daughter of a king. I was already off at Belgium by then. I wanted to be… I don’t know, to be…”
“There.”
I sighed. “Well, yes.”
“You felt guilty you were away.”
I looked at him, but didn’t say anything for a while. 
“I don’t- I don’t know. It’s stupid. I know there was nothing I could do, I just… They were so busy, our parents. Busier than ever. And I just... ”
“You didn’t want them to feel alone.” I looked at him, surprised. He shrugged. “Will did the same for me.”
He reached over and took a sip of his wine. “When… everything happened. Not just the divorce, but everything that came after, I think he felt guilty leaving me.” 
I didn’t need to ask what was the ‘all’ that had happened. The entire world knew. For this reason, I think, I wanted to offer something vulnerable in return.
“I came over to Savoy every weekend.” I confessed. “I left school every Friday on a private plane, and went home to see my family as if I still was studying in Savoy. My father shielded me from it, but the press found out and he was under attack for the expense. They called me spoilt, and said my mother insisted I was educated in Belgium out of an unpatriotic whim.”
He gave me a sad look, but I shrugged.
“I just wanted to make sure Louis and Lourdes were alright. I didn’t want them to forget about me, or think I might have forgotten them.”
He nodded. “You want to know what I think?”
I smiled. “I know you’ll tell me.”
He chuckled, silently. “I think you sound like a girl who really liked her country, and her home, and her family, and really wanted to be there, but could not, for some reason, stay in school near them. I wonder why?”
I leaned back, sighing, a grin on my lips. “And what is your theory?”
“Don’t lawyer me, Mary.”
We laughed.
“Marie.”
“It must have been tough.” He added, seriously. 
He didn’t know; he seemed to just… understand.
The staff arrived to remove our plates, and we took some time to ourselves. When they left, I turned to him again.
“The girls didn’t like me.” I confessed, softly. “I see now where they were coming from. I was too… too much. Quiet, but I overcompensated a lot. I had… a lot of opinions, which I mostly shared with the teachers, in class, when forced. I was always called on and, of course, everyone knew, or thought they did, every detail about me, and my family. And they all seemed to think I needed to be… more.”
“More what?”
I shrugged. “Everything. Or maybe less of everything... I don’t know, I just wasn’t enough. I just wanted… for no one to know who I was.”
“So you moved to Belgium.”
I smiled, sadly. “No one cared who my father was there. They found out, eventually. But I already had a couple of nice friends by then. It was all I needed.”
He smiled. “I hated school.”
I rolled my eyes. “Everyone did-”
“No, I… I really did. I’ve never been smart.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m serious. I don’t mean it in self-pity, either. It’s just… I’ve never been good at it. I don’t have an affinity for academics. I never had… an affection for any subjects, at all. I always just liked… the outdoors. The conversations, the connections with others. The adventure. I hated being inside.”
I smiled. “People are different. The only problem is the system that convinces us there’s only one way to be.”
After dessert, as soon as the Queen and King stood up, we were allowed to, as well. We were then ushered to another saloon where drinks were going to be served, and guests could mingle with other guests other than the ones they had been seated with at dinner, and soon after say their official goodbyes to the Queen.
The gentleman that had sat to my right introduced me to his wife, and we talked about their children for a while before I felt the conversation die out and gave a secret signal (adjusting my earrings) for Cadie to rescue me. 
“Hello…” Louis grinned when I‌ joined him, where he was observing our father from a distance.‌ His tone alone got me to blush.
“Shut up.”
“Why? I was just going to say you and Prince Harry sure seemed to be having fun.”
I sighed, “We did.”
“That’s nice.”‌ The tone was different this time, more… honest. Less mocking. So I smiled in return.
“And I deserve nice.” I repeated his line back to him, making his smile grow.
“Auguste noticed it, too.”
I sighed again.‌‌ “Let me guess. Have I‌ behaved promiscuously?”
“He is not sure if anyone will have noticed, but he thinks it’s a bad match.”
“Ugh, what is this, the eighteenth century?”
He shrugged.‌ “He said something about both of you being spares, and none having a throne to inherit, it’s just not good politics.”
I gave him a flabbergasted look. “What?!”
“I’m obviously kidding!”‌ He laughed, but I‌ rolled my eyes. “Look, just don’t let him talk you out of it, okay? Harry is great. He’s funny, and polite, and according to Kate, seems to really like you.”
“What? What did she say?”
He grinned again. “She told me in confidence, I‌ can’t repeat it.”
“Louis!”
“He’s nice!‌ And you deserve nice!”
“I know…”
“…he’s also super hot, which doesn’t hurt.”
“Shut up.”‌ I replied, but with a grin of my own this time. 
“What, you’re telling me you don’t think he’s super hot?”
“That’s not- I‌ don’t- Shut up!”
I‌’d seen Harry approaching out of the corner of my eye, and was desperate for him to stop talking.
“Hello.”‌ He greeted.
“Hi, Harry…”‌ Louis greeted him with the same teasing tone he had used to greet me.
“…Hi.”‌ Harry’s smile grew a bit more, and he blushed looking at the floor, uncomfortably.
“Stop.” I‌ whispered to my brother.
“Oh, look. I’m getting a call.” He returned, dead-faced. showing us his dark, silent phone, which was most definitely not receiving a call. “Talk to you later.”
Harry laughed as I‌ sighed. “Sorry, he’s…”
“Hey, do you want get out of here?” I stared, intrigued. His smile dropped as regret took over his face. “No!‌ I‌ just mean… To walk around, in the palace. See some cool closed wings and stuff.”
I‌ laughed. “Sure.”
“Really?”‌ He seemed genuinely surprised, and my heart ached.
I looked around at the room, enough people looking at us just because we were who we were. Our brothers looking away from us in a way that made me sure they were very aware of our movements. Auguste was standing by my father, but keeping an eye on me from the corner of his eyes. Cadie gave me a discreet thumbs up from the corner.
I remembered we were meant to be leaving the country tomorrow morning, and thought of how he still didn’t realize when we met. I remembered just how much he annoyed me only three days ago, and realized I didn’t know when I might see him next. Sure, it was almost time to leave, but I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. I wanted to see this through.
And I deserved nice.
So as he watched me with expectant eyes, I felt my heart jump in my throat and smiled as I said, “…yes.‌ Lead the way.”
--- ---- ---
Margueritte’s State Dinner Outfit
[A//N: Thank you so much for reading!!!!!!! I’d love to know your thoughts, please drop me a message here or like this page? Again, it’s a privilege, thank you for reading! Next week: Harry and Margueritte go on a secret Buckingham palace adventure!]
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brideylee · 4 years
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Chateau Quarantine
                 Sophia Coppola smokes a cigarette while she waits for an omelette she has no intention of eating.  It’s a gloomy marine layered morning, you can barely see across Sunset. She’s been in lock down for three weeks and while she normally loves the moody, brooding decadence of the Chateau Marmont, its elite solitude is giving her a bit too much time to reflect. She thinks about the concept of crying as she watches a long torso-ed model skinny dip in the pool from the penthouse. There are no rules anymore, not that there were many in the first place. The hotel was shuttered to the public as of three weeks ago, and those who were already there could stay indefinitely. Sophia lives alone in the tower suite with the three bedrooms and the wrap around porch, known by some as “the Deniro”, but Robert himself couldn’t tell you why. Any legends or gossip about the Chateau were just bread crumbs to keep the public hungry and mystified. The real Chateau for the privileged few who used it, was an unceremonious respite for excessive loneliness, addiction, and often not great sex. The Chateau had a reputation: look but don’t fuck. Everyone’s genitals were rendered useless from anti-depressants.
               She thought she would be filming by now. Her cast is stranded too, with little guidance other than “we’ll wait it out.” The film she wanted to make stars Hugh Grant and Ewan McGregor as two estranged brothers coming together for their father’s funeral. Iman was set to the play the mysterious woman who shows up at the funeral who they then realize was their father’s mistress. It was going to be a slow movie about the brothers coming to terms with their father’s death and equally so falling in love with the woman he hid from them. All this would be suggested through intimate long takes, and funny, stylish, improvised montages. Always subtle and romantic without the sap, this was the tight rope Sophia liked to balance on.  At the end of the movie, both brothers are mildly changed, but not entirely. She has a sweet spot for the immovability of people’s psyches, particularly men. 
Sophia watches impartially, as the naked model floats on her back in the calm pool. It is so cold and early to swim, is she on drugs or is everyone at this place even more numb than they think? She wondered if her film was too male, too disembodied from her personally to mean anything.  Tapping into the male gaze, was an ability she was born with. Her father’s point of view was all she interacted with as a kid, and the underside of his specialties became her focus: the lost parts of men when they are too weak to hold up the heavy crown of their egos, who they were when they could let themselves feel outside of their work. But given the state of the world, and the molasses nature of time during lock down, Sophia started to question if what she always found to be her strength was just simply trauma. Was her whole profession a way to resolve some genetic creative stifling that took place in the shadow of her dad? Surely her body of work contains more than that. It’s not all a selfish attempt at repair. Is any art not selfish? "Maybe I should make a different movie, something that everyones gonna like for once.” She thinks to herself.  Thank God, her goat cheese omelette has arrived.
             Later on, the gothic lobby is empty besides the cast of her film and the elegant model behind the reception desk standing like a hollow sculpture, frightened by the chaos that lurks outside. Ewan McGregor, drunk off of five Marmont Mules, is showing Hugh Grant an app that maps the stars and constellations. Ewan has gone on and on about a camping trip he took around Scotland and how amazing the stars were, but when pressed for details about where exactly he was or what he saw or what year he did this, he can’t seem to remember anything at all.But that doesn’t dampen his excitement about the app. “See, that, there is Orion’s belt!” Ewan enthusiastically points out, his cute smirk displaying his bottom row of sweet corn kernel teeth. Ewan just recently learned about the stars. Until the age of 47, Ewan had been referring to them as “night freckles.” Many think this is why he didn’t have a fun time acting in  Star Wars, space simply befuddled him. Hugh and Ewan are dressed exactly the same: navy blue beanie, black jeans, a tight blue thermal, and desert boots- the actor man uniform they give you after you play opposite Nicole Kidman or Renee Zellweger.
“That’s brilliant,” says Hugh Grant completely perplexed by the app and confused at Ewan’s rambling. Hugh sticks a handkerchief up his nostril with his pointer finger and wiggles it around somewhat violently. Iman clocks this with a blink of disgust, her silk, gold blouse  glistens with god-like royalty in the amber glow.  “Can you turn your face away? That’s how the virus is spreading.” Her voice is deep and she rarely uses it because it changes the direction of the wind and messes with the tides.  “Aw, fuck me. That’s right, isn’t it?” Hugh Grant turns away and starting blowing his nose and coughing obnoxiously. Hugh is acting like a resentful brat because he knows he wont be able to have Iman. He decides he’s gonna pick a fight with Sandra Bullock via face time later to blow off steam. Iman is thinking she was right all along, she should never have agreed to this. She was already sick of the “beanie twins”. 
Hugh had been rattling on about how the movie needed a sex scene or at least a sexy scene and went on to say that Sophia had some sort of block. Iman felt that both Ewan and Hugh, however innocently, were exploiting their acting roles to gain real life experience, and there was no way in hell, she was going to kiss either of them.  Her kiss would make them immortal and Iman knew their souls needed more lifetimes to grow. Plus, she liked the script the way it was- underwritten and open for interpretation. Her character is symbolic of the side of their dad they didn’t get to meet-  spiritual, graceful, embodied. It was a soulful choice not to show any nudity or sex, one that could lead Americans to try to use whats left of their iPhone stolen imaginations.
                Meanwhile Michael Cain, who was supposed to play the dead father, is staring at the beautiful Victorian tapestry hanging behind her. “It’s like it’s right out of the Cloister’s.” Michael says under his breath. Michael is sweet, Iman thinks as she watches him stare at the tapestry with wonder, his mouth agape, and a lil warm milk spilling out of his left eye. Iman and him have known each other for years and he always reminded her of her husband: his fierce devotion to his craft, his rigorous intellectuality that does a bad job hiding an animalistic sexuality. Both men contained so much and no one can handle a man like that besides a mystical siren like Iman. 
Hugh and Ewan’s chatter dies as their drinks empty. “If I were to be honest with myself…” Hugh begins. “Better later than never…” Michael Cain interrupts without cracking a smile,  a dryness a la Maggie Smith. In fact, fuck, this was Maggie Smith. No one had realized. Hugh winks at Michael/ Maggie and continues. “ I don’t think were going to be filming any time soon, folks. I think we are being held hostage a bit by Miss Coppola.” Ewan stares off with a thinking face like no one has  ever had a deeper thought before. “That is interesting to think about. There is some kind of bratty assumption that all this will fade away soon enough. And we’ll be back on set. But what if it’s not for another year or so?”  Ewan is really getting worked up “What if we live here for the rest of our lives!!” His eyes are big and dazzling, it’s like he’s thinking of the most ideal outcome for the rest of his life.
               Suddenly, Sophia joins them at the table. “There they are, my little hunchbacks!” This is what Sophia affectionately calls her actors, the origin is unknown. Sophia has a strange new confidence around her. Usually, when she walked into places, she would feel like a Nat Sherman cigarette, like only some select tall New Yorkers in the back would still appreciate her. “Hello, love! Someone slept well.” Maggie Smith as Michael Caine chirped. Even when Maggie-Michael said something sweet, it still felt like someone was aggressively tickling your ribcage. 
          “I have news.” Sophia sits down, and smiled large and toothy, a stark contrast to her usual chic, despondent stare,  a look only afforded  to artists born with trust funds. “We’re not making the movie.” Hugh taps the table. “Well, I believe I won that bet.” Ewan’s jaw drops, destroyed. “You mean we cant live here together forever?” He runs his hands through his hair, petrified. Iman is quiet, which can mean many different things and all things at once, she is eternally the glory of God, a forgotten pyramid at the bottom of the ocean that if unearthed would explode us into 5D ascension. 
 “We are making a better movie! A super hero movie!!” Sophia exclaims. Sophia gets up close in the faces of her cast, pitching them on her new idea. “It’ll be a real heroes journey- good guys versus evil! Fun CGI! Sexy starlets and fun on trend jokes!” She turns to Michael Maggie, her mouth inches away from their milky eye, and says- “And much much more!” Sophia climbs up on the table now. “The adults will love it, as well as the little ones!” She does an Irish jig and starts spinning around and then poses with her arms up as though at the end of a musical.  It was not fun to watch.  Iman cuts her off-“I don’t trust what is happening.This is not reality. This is delusion. A karmic spell.” The power of Iman’s words blows the power out of the Chateau, pipes burst, the fire alarm goes off, and Joel Madden of Good Charlotte in room 304 stops jerking off for a second. Sophia is still catching her breath from her presentation, her sweating, arms stretched to the ceiling. She gulps as her eyes meet Iman’s. “Why don’t you just write from my character’s point of view?” Iman says as softly as she can without causing chaos.   Sophia freezes. Her whole body calcifies and turns to ice, then crumbles onto the table. Ewan and Hugh watch in absolute horror as Iman drops some of the ice into her water. She knows she shouldn’t have said yes to this project and looks on lovingly at Michael/ Maggie who has dozed off. 
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benisasoftboi · 3 years
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Unorganised thoughts on Trails From Zero:
So I had to experience this one via Let’s Play (shout-out to TheTwitGamer over on YouTube) due to computer limitations, which made the experience a little different. But not worse, because Zero is very, very good
I learnt that I have been pronouncing a lot of things wrong (most egregiously, I’d been saying Liberl as ‘liberal’ and Aidios as ‘eye-dios’)
Oh, also shout-out to GeoFront for their excellent patch work
I’ve also been playing Cold Steel 1 at the same time (nearly at the end), which has affected my views on a few things
First thing I’ve got to say is that I think Crossbell has the best art style I’ve seen from the series so far. I don’t dislike Sky’s, but it’s a little unpolished, and meanwhile Cold Steel is maybe too polished, to a point that it looks kind of generic. Crossbell and its characters have a really distinct, stylish look, and I love it. I actually prefer Renne in this style
(the exception is Joshua. What did they do to his eyes!?!?!)
So, overall plot - very good, well paced, picks up nicely from Sky while also introducing new elements. I cannot believe it got darker than Star Door 15
Like during that whole scene where Joachim is explaining all of the truly, truly evil things the cult did, I was just sitting there silently screaming ‘REMEMBER WHEN THIS SERIES WAS ABOUT A COUPLE OF TEENAGERS EXPLORING THE SEWERS UNDER THEIR HOMETOWN AND ESTELLE’S BIGGEST WORRY WAS HAVING TO TAKE A WRITTEN EXAM CAN WE GO BACK TO THAT PLEASE’
Am excited by all these mysterious bells in Crossbell. Can’t wait to find out what that’s all about
Never trust a mayor’s secretary or an eccentric professor is what I’m learning from this series
Now the characters! The main thing I really care about in any story!
So overall I think having a close knit group of four at the centre was a smart choice because it meant I really came to care for all of them in a way I sort of haven’t with all of Class VII so far
Lloyd: I like Lloyd. I wasn’t sure I would at first, he seemed a little generic, but the thing that swung it was the scene after he talks with Elie on the roof. The others start teasing them about being a thing and this stupid, stupid man starts going into Full Denial Mode, and he’s just such a moron in that scene. I found it extremely funny and now I love him (honestly, all a man really needs to do to get me to like him is be an idiot)
There’s also that scene later where the man has his hand on Elie’s cheek, they get interrupted, and then when she suggests they continue this later he has the AUDACITY to not know what she means. My LPer and I were equally exasperated at his sheer density. I love it
Elie: Elie might actually be favourite non-Estelle girl in this series so far. She’s well designed, smart, makes a good Team Mum... she’s Katara. She’s Katara from ATLA. Which I recently rewatched. Oh my god
Oh I really liked that her parents are divorced and not dead. Makes a nice change from all the other dead relatives in this series
And yes I think she and Lloyd are cute haha
Randy: Easily my least favourite of the four, but I like him well enough. I think it was a good thing that I was far enough ahead in Cold Steel to know about Red Constellation, it made that reveal more impactful. I’m looking forward to learning more about him. I like how he nicknames people, also
Tio: Might be my other favourite non-Estelle girl. Heartbreaking backstory, gets some really funny lines, her relationship with Jona was great - Tio’s just awesome
KeA: Adorable and loveable. Suspiciously adorable and loveable... Very excited to learn more about her origins
Noel: Don’t think I know enough about her yet, but I like her so far, she’s cool. So’s her sister, I loved the sidequest with Anton. The sound effects in that one, PEAK comedy
Dudley: He reminds me of Miles Edgeworth, one of my favourite characters in anything ever, so of course I like him
Arios: Again, don’t think I know enough to say...
Wazy: Oh, man, like I have a huge bias for long-haired pretty boys but I instantly loved Wazy. So excited for more of him :D 
Renne: So glad we got to see her story finally get a happy ending. She deserves it. And man she is just such a good Mysterious Character
I forgot to mention this before, but I think it’s hilarious that she has three PhDs. Who gave them to her!?
Estelle and Joshua: So of course I love them and was very happy to see them again... but also maybe they shouldn’t have been here? They ended up feeling a little superfluous to me, ngl, kinda like Falcom weren’t confident people would play the games with a whole new cast if they weren’t around. Was really fun to see them from an outsiders perspective, though
Joachim: So, I’d been thinking for ages now how interesting Aidios is. In most JRPGs you get to meet and/or fight God at some point, so it’s very, very clear that they exist. But since as early as FC I’ve kind of been wondering... is Aidios real? In universe. Like, the way we see worship work, it isn’t a Fire Emblem thing where God is right there and you can chat with her - instead, it’s very similar to our world. And from there, what I’ve been thinking is ‘it would be really cool to see an Aidios atheist’
‘Ai-theist’?
So this was very exciting for me. I would also now like to see an ai-theist who is not an evil, evil monster, but I’m pretty happy as is 
Oh, yeah, Joachim is obviously a horrible person, good villain
It kills me that they were all ‘oh no, he died, I wish we could have saved him’ at the end. Guys. The man set up multiple child torture facilities. You weren’t going to be able to Zuko him. This is for the best
What else
Crossbell City is a very cool location, big fan
I am now spoiled on the following - something about timelines, resetting and divergence, the grass comes back and is linked to septium veins, something Bad happens to Olivier (NO), and something Very Bad happens to Crossbell (but like, I knew that, because they keep mentioning how precarious their situation is and I have basic literary comprehension skills)
I hope Ziet is more relevant in Azure 
More of Wazy and Wald’s weird friendship please (are they a ship? they kind of feel like they would be, at least in Zero. Rhetorical question, btw)
I hope we see Rixia again, I liked her and her deal, I think I’m also spoiled on Yin returning in Cold Steel in some capacity? Exciting
Yeah this was a really, really good game, and I hope it gets an official release one day (honestly, whoever’s doing Falcom localisation these days - buy Geofront’s work. It’s damn good)
Super hyped for Azure and to keep playing Cold Steel!! 
No but seriously what did they do to Joshua 
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Like, this is after he stops being dead inside, right? Either way, I’m never sleeping again
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Profile Page...
So I finally got round to finishing little Kia’s profile page, I hope you like it ^^
Name: Kia 
Age: As a young child: 9 years     As a Young Adult: 18  (Resembles an 18 year old female)
DOB: 21st February 
Race/ Gender: Robot (with Kokoro)/ female
Height: Nine years old: “4’3” (133.3 cm)     Eighteen years old: “5’4” (162.5cm)
Eyes: Crystal blue
Family / Friends: Livian (mother), Daichi/Atlas (Father), Hoshi (Little brother) ToTo ( Pomeranian dog/ family pet), Dr.Okamoto (creator), Mrs. Shimohira (Nanna), Mr. Shimohira (Pop), Barbra Shimohira (great grandma), Mr. Tokugawa (Grandpa), Astro (Uncle like figure/ Close friend), Uran (Aunty like figure / Close friend), Epsilon (Aunty like figure / close family friend), Pluto (uncle like figure/ close family friend) and Tezwa (Uncle figure/close family friend). 
Personality/Traits: Fierce, kind, caring, loving, bold when she wants to be, Cheerful, fun, a bit bubbly, stylish, a bit cheeky at times, very outgoing, warm, funky, Courageous and tough. Very leader-like, will stick up for her little brother, very beautiful, pure sweet heart - (Just like her mother) and super duper adorable.
Abilities/Powers: Agile/ quick reflexes, long distance scanning mastered kung fu/ karate (after being upgraded) can sense danger pretty quickly, sensitive hearing (can hear things from miles away), super strength. 
Likes: Helping out her little brother with his shyness- (she likes to help him build up his confidence), making friends with humans and other robots, the colours lime green and melon pink, spending time with her family, drawing, painting, any type of art, hover biking- (taught by her papa Atlas when she was a child), protecting humans and robots, fashion, roller skating, roller blading- (something she was was taught by Mama Livian), parkour, getting up to mischief with her little brother and father, reading, exploring , karate/ kung fu, her badass self defence skills, having girl time with mama Livian and learning to ice skate. 
Dislikes: people picking on her little brother (she’ll stick up for him and protect him), when her father goes into battle form and scares/ torments every guy that dares go near or date his precious little girl (this happens after she’s upgraded-  Though after some time he eventually stops), those who want to harm humans and robots, being bored (she likes to be kept busy), rude/ vile and self centred people, cold weather, when her hair goes all poofy and people trying to be like her- ( Like her mother, Kia likes to encourage others to be themselves rather than being someone else).
Profile/ Backstory: Kia is the sweet, adorable kind-hearted daughter of Livian and Atlas, She was built as a gift.One day when Livian was helping out and assisting her creator Dr. Okamoto with her busy workload, during a conversation they were having, Livian mentions how much she really just adores children and that she could hopefully one day raise her own. Later that evening as she sit alone working in her laboratory, Dr. Okamoto out of kindness and generosity decides to surprise Livian and Atlas by making them their very own robotic child.
Many weeks later- when Okamoto surprises Livian with the young child, she is overwhelmed with joy. The robotic child had glossy strawberry red hair and sparkly crystal blue eyes. Livian was very grateful and thanked her creator dearly, Okamoto smiled and told Livian that she had named the young girl Kia. Livian loved her name, then out of excitement Kia ran up to Livian hugging her dearly and calling her “mummy” (Livian hugged her back dearly- her heart melted when Kia called her mummy). Later that evening when Atlas meets up with Livian, he meets his sweet little daughter Kia-  At first after finding out he was now a father, Atlas is very shocked and uncertain that he’d be a good enough father to this sweet innocent child.  Though after the minute Kia lovingly ran up to Atlas and lovingly hugged him, his heart melted and he hugged her back. Livian loved seeing how cute their newly formed father-daughter bond was and of course  joined in their hug. Smiling at Atlas sincerely as they hugged their beautiful little girl, Livian whispered into his ear- “Hey don’t worry ,you’re going to be a great father”. Atlas smiled back whispering, “I’ll do my best for Kia, I promise”. Overtime  She grew a strong bond with her parents and looked up to both of them admirably. When she first found out about her parents battle forms, her adorable little face lit up with joy- she couldn’t believe how cool and badass her parents were. 
Kia is a very energetic, bubbly and outgoing girl, she made friends with human children around her age very easily. They all enjoyed being her friend, they didn’t care that she was a robot- she was their friend and they all loved her- she loved them too.Eventually a few months later Kia became an older sister to a cute little brother called Hoshi- Kia is a very good big sister to Hoshi. Hoshi is a very pure sweet smol bean and is very shy, so Kia helps him out with his shyness by introducing him to her friends and children his age (of course after he warms up to them, Hoshi’s shyness fades away and he feels more comfortable to open up to them). Both Livian and Atlas are very proud of her leadership skills and how she helps her little brother out.
When Kia isn’t running about with her human friends, she spends a lot of time with her baby brother and her father, the three of them tend to do a lot of arts and crafts together and also end up covered in a lot of paint too.Kia tends to spend time with both her parents equally, when she has  father-daughter time with Atlas, he gives her lessons in drawing or occasionally teaching her how to ride a hover bike. Whereas Livian on the other hand Teaches Kia how to ice skate, roller skate/ blade and just having lots of girl time with her. In general Kia has a big family and loves her mother, father, little brother, Toto, her grandparents, Aunties and uncles very dearly- She’s very grateful that she has people that love her and care for her so much.
After many years Kia is upgraded and now resembles an eighteen year old girl, after being upgraded to an adolescent body- Kia is given her own unique battle form- she uses her powers and abilities to protect humans and robots from harm. Also Atlas soon becomes very protective of her- especially since she is very very beautiful like her mother and Atlas doesn’t want to see his precious little gem get hurt. When Atlas catches either cute boys or young adolescent men in general near or talking to his precious little gem, he has a tendency to transform into his battle form to then terrify the crap out of the boy- to the point the poor guy runs away. While Kia is just upset that her dad had to ruin every single moment of her trying to find comfort.  Most of the time Mama Livian has to come in (battle form) and drag Atlas away from the poor guy, so Kia can have some alone time with him. And of course Livian just scolding Atlas being all: "Please stop terrifying and scaring the crap out of the poor boy, you know better than that. If you do it again I'll sort you out myself"...
Eventually Atlas learns to stop terrifying these young men and let his daughter find love- he learns that she’s not a little girl anymore and that she needs to let live her own life. Kia after finally having her very first boyfriend knows that her father meant well and she is grateful that he raised her well to be a strong badass chick just like her mother. Though she may be adolescent- Kia loves her parents unconditionally no matter what.
To conclude, Kia is a sweet and pure hearted robot girl with kokoro- she’s very energetic, adventurous and will do whatever it takes to protect the people she loves.
Anyways, I hope you like Kia’s profile and yeah my bad that it took this long to finish.
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msayalailalim · 4 years
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“My Hero Academia” inspired Fashion Week
          Earlier this year even when I was just counting down the days till I file my resignation already, I was still so numb from everything but there's this Anime show that pulled me out of it: "My Hero Academia". I was so excited to go home every after my shift to watch it like how I was excited to go home from school to watch my favorite cartoon shows back when I was still in elementary. It felt pretty nostalgic. ☺ I fell in love with everything about it so here I am with my 2nd fashion week project dedicated to the series!
          This time I challenged myself by making 7 looks! That's 2 looks more than my first one! I took this opportunity to use new materials for the designs like cotton swab, candle wax, clay, and foil wrapper. I even used more sewing thread for her wig here with different colors! 🤩
          Presenting my BNHA Fashion Collection! 😎
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          “My first fashion week project was very fun and productive despite the challenges I encountered during the process. I certainly learned a lot, and now I'm headed to my next ball! 🤩 This week I'm challenging myself to create looks inspired by characters from this Anime series I love so much: "My Hero Academia"! 🥳 My goal is to incorporate the character's personality, design, and story with the looks I'll create this week as high fashion as I can. 😊 I'll be sharing what I'll come up with here from today until Sunday (October 4).
          Today is the first day, and I'm kickstarting this project by giving you nothing because there's literally nobody here! 😆 Only this vintage-looking ball gown with the letters "UA", the name of their academy, embellished on it (just like how their PE uniform is designed) with matching floppy hat! This whole look and also the absence of the one wearing it is inspired by the girl with the invisibility quirk/power named Toru Hagakure. 🙂 With this design I made sure that even if nobody can see her, you can still clearly see that she's fashionably plus ultra! 😊
          One thing I especially love about this Anime series is the fact that it features a diverse set of characters. They even have one who's literally invisible! I just really appreciate that they used different quirks as a symbol of their world's diversity because just like in our world, I believe we are all unique in our own ways and we should all celebrate that. 🥰 - Marv :)”
          When I was choosing the characters I'll take inspiration from, I knew I had to do Hagakure. Not because it seems easy but because it's fun and actually challenging! Taste the Fashion Plus Ultra realness! 🤗
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          “My Hero Academia Fashion Week, Day 2! 🤩 Serving you hot and cold realness sprinkled with introversion and some daddy issues, this is inspired by the undeniable fan favorite, Shoto Todoroki! 🥰
          It wasn't on my initial plan to put bangs on it but when I tried to, I realized that it perfectly captured Shoto's mysterious, quiet and calm nature. I know he wouldn't let his bangs grow that long, it was just me being extra thinking it looks so high fashion. 😆 I went for the robelike outfit that's two toned representing Shoto's two quirks, and I cut it in two showing her tummy which is so stylish for me. 👌 Overall, I think it's a simple look but I believe I was able to project that subtle elegance and charisma I see in Shoto with my interpretation. 🥰
          Todoroki is really one of my favorite characters from the series not just because of his character's aesthetic but also his depth in general due to his high-pressure and toxic upbringing. I'm just glad that in the recent season, there's already a development in his relationship with his father, Endeavor. I want nothing but the best for him. 🤩 - Marv :)”
          "Sia in the house!" is what it seems but it's just my doll challenging her Todoroki fantasy! It was supposed to be a robe but the material I used wasn't the most cooperative. Nonetheless, I believe this is still a serve! 😎
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          “My Hero Academia Fashion Week, Day 3! 😊 This look is inspired from the ultimate ship of the series, our boy Deku and hospitalization. ☺
          I know this project wouldn't be complete without our beloved hero, Izuku Midoriya so here it is! The look is based on his need to be healed after constantly using his much powerful quirk beyond his limit since he's still learning how to have full control of it. I wrapped my doll with bandages, and gave it a plunging neckline to make it look so chic. There's also a touch of sky blue in it since it's a common color used by hospital with their gowns. Then, I added the cane and shades to complete the posh just-got-home-from-the-hospital look! 😎 I didn't have a "Deku" shade of green for the hair though. Nonetheless I believe this "Billie Eilish - Grammys 2019" shade perfectly fit the look I was going for. ☺
          Deku is really that protagonist that you'll definitely root for. His character is so well written so I can't help but feel proud of him with all his heroic deeds! Indeed, anyone can reach their dreams as long as they believe, and go plus ultra! ❤ - Marv :)”
          Serving you fashionable hospital discharge fantasy! A little fashion won't hurt, baby! 🤣
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          “My Hero Academia Fashion Week, Day 4! 🥳 The fashion inspiration for this look is none other than the "Alien Queen", Mina Ashido! 😊 Her quirk is the ability to secrete Acid which she skillfully uses for offense and defense! 😍 Without a doubt, she's one of the most lovely characters from the series with her fun and upbeat energy as a student and hero! 🤩
          The concept I was going for with this look is to kind of reimagine her character, and this time as a fashionable member of the League of Villains! Anyone should already be warned by the flowing Acid from her hands to her dress that she's about to make ALL FOR ONE proud even with her eyes closed. *Evil Laugh* Just kidding. 😂 Anyway, I had so much fun doing that Acid effect using candle wax! I've been meaning to use it for one of Ayala's looks for a long time now so I didn't let this opportunity pass, and I'm very happy with the outcome! 😭
          For the record, this is one of my favorite looks I've done for my doll so far. Cheers! 😭🥳 - Marv :)”
          Make way for this diva! One of my favorite looks that I've done so far. I was just so stunned by it the whole time. Even now. Speechless. 🤤
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          “My Hero Academia Fashion Week, Day 5! 😊 If I were to create a look inspired by Class 1-A's incredible homeroom teacher: Shota Aizawa, I might as well do one that I know will get his approval which is none other than using his yellow sleeping bag! 😂
          This had certainly been done by many fan arts already but it didn't discourage me to not do one myself since it's indeed iconic, fun and relatable! I just had to put my own twist on it so it would fit this project I'm doing perfectly. I made it look like a fitted dress with a hoodie while still making it obvious that it's in the shape of a sleeping bag. I also styled her hair in a way that would cover half of her face to channel Aizawa's elusive nature just in case the attachment to sleeping bags isn't enough to do so. 😆 I even added a sleep mask with false eyelashes 'cause why not? HAHA. 😂
          I believe I could've done more with this look, but the clay wasn't super friendly to me at all. 😂 Regardless of that, I still think that this is a fun look, and it surely makes me squeal over how cute it is. It's so comfy that even my doll fell asleep during our photoshoot! 😂 - Marv :)”
          There was a silhouette I planned on doing with this one which is like the base of a wine glass but I don't think I achieved it. Anyway, still had fun with the clay. I'll shut up now, we wouldn't want to wake up a sleeping diva. 😆
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          “My Hero Academia Fashion Week, Day 6! ☺ The hero I'm channeling today is the funny and lovable Tetsutestsu Tetsutetsu! 🤩 Simply mentioning his name makes me giggle already. 😆 I find his steel quirk very cool so I knew I had to include him in this project! 😍
          The narrative I was going for with this look is a straight guy heading to the basketball court alone with his fashionable streetwear. No one wants to join him out of intimidation from his looks. First of all, he's got an awesome luminous skin tone. He's confidently rocking a crop top which makes their fragile masculinity even more fragile, and he'd rather play using his ball with pastel blue color because he can. They simply can't catch his drip! His daily mental reminder is: "Well, you can't blame them." 🤣
          I wasn't planning to do a menswear for this project, but when I thought of the idea, I couldn't let it go! Metallic skin tone, black and white combination plus crop tops for men plus oblong shaped shades and even that pastel colored ball, they're all so thrilling together! I believe that all the colors worked well with each other, and with that I'm sooooo satisfied! ☺ - Marv :)”
          Second time doing a male look! Catch all this drip, Mama! 😎 I don't play basketball but if you give me a pastel blue ball, I might. 😅
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          “My Hero Academia Fashion Week, Day 7! 🥳 For the final look of this week's fashion project, I have chosen to create one that's inspired by the current Number 2 Pro Hero, Hawks! 😊
          Obviously, I didn't stray away from the basic elements of his overall look, I just really took inspiration from each of it and tweaked some with the hooded trenchcoat with a horizontal V-cut in the middle (which isn't really obvious in the photo 😆), face shield that covers the entire face, and glittered wings! His look is just too good to be changed entirely so that left me no choice. ☺
          I'm so excited to see more from Hawks in the Anime! He wasn't really featured much in the recent season since he just got introduced, but he's definitely outstanding already with his personality, quirk and majestic wings! 👑
          I'm so happy that I got to finish my second fashion week project! It's been a fun and fulfilling week for me! I can't say this is the first and only tine I'll feature My Hero Academia because there really are a lot of inspiration I have from the series, the ones I featured this week are just some of my many favorites. For the meantime, the long wait for Season 5 continues. 😭😆😍 - Marv :)”
          Brace yourselves for the landing of my finale look! Again, I'm just in awe. Speechless. This time, I really felt fulfilled. I just finished my second fashion week project! 🥳
          By the end of it, I got this comment from a lovely fellow doll lover who's obviously a BNHA fan as well.
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          There really are a lot of characters from that show, and I do plan on making more soon but getting a request like this from a fellow doll lover for the first time means so much to me as someone who's a beginner at this craft. 😭
          I'll definitely use everything I learned this week to go beyond! Plus Ultra! 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️
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curewhimsy · 4 years
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I’m gonna start writing my fanfic about my Animal Crossing island 🤔
Here’s the summary I have
———
—PREMISE AND PLOT—
Moondrop Island is a tiny uncharted island somewhere in the northern Caribbean Sea, originally inhabited by only furries—two-legged talking animal creatures! Furries are not found anywhere else on Earth, aside from tiny uncharted islands. A long time ago, furries and humans coexisted. But furries eventually were mistreated. An elder furry with magical powers erased all humans’ memory of them, and they all fled to small uncharted islands, hidden by mystic forces. There were no humans who knew of the existence of these furries, or of these seemingly mystical islands, until a small boat sailing from an island in the Bahamas in got into a shipwreck during what was supposed to be a three-hour whale-watching tour. Everyone on the boat survived, and miraculously washed up on the gently moonlit shores of Moondrop Island 2:00 that morning. Tom Nook takes in the castaways, gives them homes on the island, and lets them pay with a spontaneous form of currency he comes up with—Nook Miles. He offers the Nook Miles as a reward for improving the island. In the meantime, he and everyone else are putting together all their knowledge and trying to build a GPS that can track the island’s location in the world to lead the castaways back home. However, since the furries cannot go back to the human world and show themselves to people, that would mean... they’d have to say goodbye forever...
—CHARACTERS—
Pastell Sugar (Original character (self-insert) Age- 22 Birthday- February 4 Favorite song- My Place Very naive and expressive, animated, eccentric. Can be quite moody. Some may say Pastell is annoying. Pastell’s moods can come in as many “colors” as the rainbow. Pastell is creative and likes to make the mundane things exciting. She also likes to exaggerate things. Pastell likes to create things such as art or decorations, and pretend she’s doing magic in the process. Pastell gets along well with Haku, and Pekoe. Rodeo is her snack buddy. Haku Yowane (Vocaloid) Age- 24 Birthday- November 21 Favorite song- Stale Cupcakes Haku is wistful and emotional, and at times dreary. A bit of a crybaby. Likes music, but is too shy to perform in front of others. She has a plush cat named Snowbell that she carries around everywhere. She gets along quite well with Pastell and Goldie. Haku is a very caring person who likes to help with her friends’ problems. However, she can be hard on herself a lot. She also likes writing stories and poems. Before ending up on Moondrop, Haku’s friends back at home were Miku, Neru, Luka, Kaito, Akaito, and her older brother Dell. Rhona Aequor (Original character) Age- 24 Birthday- March 10 Favorite song- K.K. Bossa Stoic and mysterious. Appears strict, but is misunderstood. Actually a very kind person. A lover of all things related to water and the ocean. A marine biologist. Loves fish and marine creatures. She is very fascinated with Flo and Sly, who are both marine creatures... but as furries. Rhona loves to swim, and is a free-diver. Rhona is calm and collected... usually. She can go nuts about fish and can spend hours at the museum, either looking at fish exhibits, or chattering with Blathers. Back at home, she has a girlfriend, Nagisa. Rhona often thinks and worries about Nagisa, longing to see her again and to let her know she’s safe. Nico Yazawa (Love Live!) Age- 22 Birthday- July 22 Favorite song- K.K. Bubblegum Nico is a dweeb. But she still thinks she’s better than you. Nico is quite self-centered and troublesome. She’s usually the one causing the most drama out of the group. She especially doesn’t get along with Luana... at first, anyway. Nico wants to be the biggest pop-star on the island! (Sorry, Audie.) And soon, the world! But Nico has very bad luck and things keep on getting in her way! Such as tarantulas! Nico actually gets along well with Vladimir, because they’re both too short to be taken seriously. She ends up keeping a talking pet tarantula in her house named Terry. Back at home, Nico’s friends are Maki, Eli, and Nozomi. Rin Hoshizora (Love Live!) Age- 20 Birthday- November 1 Favorite song- Rockin’ K.K. Rin is cheerful, energetic, and the life of the party. She is spontaneous and likes animals a lot. She even has her own catchphrase, much like a furry... it’s “nya!” When Rin discovers furries, and the fact humans mistreated them, she feels angry at humanity. Rin gets along great with Audie. Rin is usually the one throwing all the parties on the island, and organizing the fun sport and game events. She is usually filled with energy. But deep inside, she can be quite emotional. Back at home, Rin’s best friend is Hanayo. Her other friends are Kotori, Umi, and Honoka. Luana Kai (Original character) Age- 23 Birthday- July 7 Favorite song- K.K. Adventure Luana is a fearless, impulsive daredevil. She leaps before she looks, and she’s brave to a fault. She can be obnoxiously brash. She’s also the one who got everyone into this mess... Luana was the captain of the small boat, When the storm came, she refused to turn the boat back. Luana is a huge tomboy and has always dreamed of being a pirate. She likes the ocean as well, and has a intriguing fascination with geography and geology. She doesn’t know a thing about technology, but her knowledge goes to good use with making the GPS. Nico and Luana are rivals. Back at home, her friends she left behind are Umiko, and her older sister Oliana. Teto Kasane (Vocaloid) Age- 21 Birthday- April 1 Favorite song- K.K. Stroll Teto comes off as weird and hyperactive. She likes memes and uses them a lot in conversation. She is often called annoying. However, Teto is an awkward and modest girl who just isn’t that good at making friends. She is often cheerful and likes to help people. She can be clumsy and sometimes doesn’t know what to say and is awkward. Teto has a big appetite and likes to bake and cook, especially sweets. Teto gets along well with Bettina, who understands her well. Back at home, her friends were Gumi, Gakupo, Meiko, Rin, and Len. Octavia Scherzando (Original character) Age- 25 Birthday- October 30 Favorite song- K.K. Fusion Outgoing and charismatic, yet sentimental. The most mature one of the human group. Also the responsible one. The fun “mom friend.” Her hobby is music. She plays the electric bass and piano. She also dances. Rumor has it that she once was a school idol back in high school, but she won’t talk about it. Apparently she also used to sing. But something must have happened, because nobody has really heard her sing either. Can her mysterious past ever be revealed? Octavia gets along well with Shep. She keeps a talking black bass in her house. The fish, not the instrument. Back at home, she leaves behind her close friend Aria, and friends from high school, Hibiki, Ursula, Santana, and Ruya. Animal Residents Furries have the same lifespans as humans, meaning they age the same in years. 18 in human years is 18 in furry years, regardless of the species of the furry. Flo the penguin Age- 23 Birthday- September 2 Flo is a mostly laid-back penguin, though she can have quite a temper when it comes to people being unfair. Her hobby is music, and her style is mostly punk. Pekoe the cub Age- 19 Birthday- May 18 Pekoe is a very kind and sweet bear. She can be a bit timid, and sometimes worries she isn’t that interesting. She is a great listener and sometimes can be quirky. Audie the wolf Age- 26 Birthday- August 31 Audie is a very outgoing and expressive wolf. She can be excitable, and uses a lot of language like “fabulous.” She is unexpectedly very tough and can be a “mama bear,” fiercely protecting her friends in need. Shep the sheepdog Age- 24 Birthday- November 24 Shep is a fashionista, and a bit of a hipster. He’s always on top of what’s cool and unique. He talks in a way that’s almost hard to decipher for people who are unfamiliar to his “brand” of “lingo.” Portia the dalmatian Age- 25 Birthday- October 25 Portia is a glamorous and stylish young lady who loves fashion, and may seem a little self-absorbed at times. She doesn’t judge other people based on looks, however, Sly the alligator Age- 20 Birthday- November 15 Sly is an alligator who loves to play and work out. His favorite sport is football (the kind where you throw the ball and tackle.) He also likes to swim. He is always enthusiastic and raring to go, but is very patient and understanding towards those who can’t keep up with him. Vladimir the cub Age- 28 Birthday- August 2 Vladimir is a grumpy little bubblegum pink bear who is never taken seriously because he is small and cute. He is therefore always angry and annoyed with people. He gets along with Nico because of similar problems. He can be kind when not angered... just don’t call him adorable. Goldie the golden retriever Age- 21 Birthday- December 27 Goldie loves flowers and nature, and loves to be outdoors. She is calm, humble, and polite, but can be angered easily by people who think they’re better than others. She doesn’t really get along well with Shep... Rodeo the bull Age- 22 Birthday- October 29 Rodeo is a laid-back, gentle bull who loves things like flowers, snacks, watching the clouds drift by, and taking naps. He gets along well with Pastell for these reasons. He is very relaxed, but sometimes he likes to work out, at the prompt of Audie. Bettina the mouse Age- 20 Birthday- June 12 Bettina is a chipper, kind mouse who likes cooking. Her favorite foods are pasta dishes with cheese in them. She likes to read books, and her favorites are usually mystery novels or classic children’s literature.
—CHAPTERS AND SUMMARIES— (so far)
Pilot Episode- Luana, working part time as a resort in the Bahamas, was the captain of a small tour boat. Rhona was the assistant captain and tour guide for what was supposed to only be a three-hour whale-watching tour... When they headed for a storm out in the open sea, Luana was reckless and refused to turn back, even though Rhona warily advised her to retreat. All the passengers had a bad feeling about it. Pastell was sitting next to Haku, whom she had just met, and had been having a conversation with her. Nico and Rin had just met, and were sitting next to each other as well. Teto was meanwhile trying to make friends with Octavia, the “mysterious pretty lady” sitting in the shade. Her bouncy and hyper personality repelled most people, but Octavia found it endearing... Now everyone was panicking. The intense storm grew stronger, and eventually flipped over and wrecked the boat once it was out in the open sea. The strong current swept away the parts and passengers to a nearby mysterious island… Looking for Snowbell Shortly after everyone is conscious and brought to safety, there is relief that everyone on the boat had survived. However, thoughts in Haku’s mind are racing, and she’s too ashamed to tell the others why. Haku’s plush cat, Snowbell, which she took everywhere, is missing. When Haku came to, Snowbell was nowhere to be found. Snowbell is extremely precious to Haku, and she cannot be without her. Haku breaks down and tells everyone that she is missing her plush cat, and surprisingly, the she is responded to nicely and is offered help. However, Luana thinks Haku is being a crybaby. At one point Haku is about to give up, crying as she imagines Snowbell floating all alone in the ocean, lost forever. But Luana, who initially said Haku was overreacting, spots Snowbell behind some rocks on the beach. Just then, the tide begins to carry Snowbell away. Luana jumps straight into the rough tide and retrieves Snowbell for Haku, even getting scraped knees in the process. Haku concludes that Luana isn’t so harsh after all. Island Improvement and Nook Miles Tom Nook feels there is a predicament, there are 8 new members of the island ad they have nowhere to go, and they need housing, at least temporarily. They have no money to offer, so as leader of the island, he decides to make up a brand-new system of currency on the spot—Nook Miles. They will be rewarded for decorating and improving the island. In the meanwhile, Nook and everyone have to work hard building houses for the castaways. Meeting Everyone An episode where everyone interacts with each other, and everyone gets to know each other. The story of Furries An episode that tells the backstory of the furries, and lore of the furries. Pastell and Haku’s Mystery Island Tour Pastell and Haku win a Tour on a Mystery Island, and meet Audie, a stray wolf furry alone on an island. Pastell and Haku decide to invite Audie to Moondrop Island. Blathers and the Museum Blathers opens up his museum. Rhona’s marine life account of the island The chapter is told by Rhona’s point of view, as she converses with Blathers, dives in the ocean, fishes, is curious about Sly and Flo (an alligator and penguin furry respectively), and observes the rest of the characters going about their day. Luana’s chaotic account of the island Luana and Rhona decide to hang out. Rhona is down-to-earth and calm and collected. Luana is chaotic, wild, and a loose cannon. Luana always runs and scares the fish when Rhona is trying to catch it. Every. Single. Time. The Mysterious Mia Okuda Nico is a fan of Mia Okuda, the mysterious retired school idol with a frilly-gothic image, long black hair, and a deep, velvety voice. When Octavia first comes into Nico’s room, she sees a poster of Mia Okuda hanging on the wall. (Don’t ask why that was being sold in Nook’s Cranny. I know it makes no sense.) “This is one of my favorite idols.” Nico says. “She’s pretty obscure. You probably don’t know of her.” But what Nico doesn’t know that Mia Okuda is actually Octavia back in high school! Nico and drama Nico causes some drama. Teto thinks Octavia is a vampire Self-explanatory title. Bettina and Rodeo’s cooking show Bettina tries to put on a cooking show. Rodeo eats the ingredients. Shooting Stars There is a meteor shower one night. Everyone meets Celeste and watches shooting stars with her. The next morning, mysterious star fragments wash up on the beach. One fragment starts glowing and goes inside of Snowbell, Haku’s plush cat. Snowbell then comes to life, as a real cat. This is because Haku had wished that Snowbell could come alive. From then on, Snowbell is Haku’s pet. Teto’s birthday Teto celebrates her birthday on the island. The Tarantula Incident Nico is terrified of tarantulas. However, tarantulas unfortunately love her. Nico Yazawa has a huge cult following of tarantulas, as she is the most popular school idol in tarantula society... Nico and Luana also don’t get along at all at first. Nico is a total diva, and Luana is a total slob. Nico uses her Nook Mikes ticket at the same time as Luana, and they have to go to the same island. The island is infested with tarantulas everywhere. (Also, please don’t ask how they can do mystery island tours without a GPS, lol) Nico is terrified. The tarantulas however, adore Nico and want to get her autograph, so they climb on her. Nico screams for Luana to help her. Luana fearlessly pulls out her net and attempts to rescue Nico from the tarantulas by just catching all of them. However, the tarantulas see Luana as a threat and run up to her, biting her simultaneously and knocking her out with their poison. Nico faints from the shock (again), leaving her terrrifying tarantula fans to climb over her and steal her belongings as souvenirs. Nico and Luana are rescued and they go back home. Nico apologizes to Luana and thanks her for trying to save her, and they form a friendship from them on. However, Nico accidentally takes one tarantula back with her. She eventually ends up keeping him as a pet. His name is Terry and he can talk. He becomes like Nico’s sidekick and partner in crime. Nico looks to Terry for advice. Bunny Day Madness Zipper T. Bunny comes to the island and hides eggs everywhere. Madness ensues. Grumpy Vladimir Vladimir is grumpy because he’s small, cute, and pink, and nobody takes him seriously. Dreams of home Everyone becomes wistful and starts dreaming and reminiscing of home during a slow, rainy day. A somber, psychological episode to break the pace. Also we get to see Rhona cry. But not Luana, because she (allegedly) never cries. Octavia goes fishing Octavia is taken fishing by Rhona. Octavia only catches bass. (Gee, wonder why.) Wisp the ghost Everyone is doing a test of courage, when they stumble across a real ghost! However, the ghost is much more afraid of them than they are of it... The town tune panic Everyone fights over what the town tune should be. To compromise, everyone puts two notes of their favorite song and make a brand new song out of all their songs altogether. The end result song ends up sounding like a disaster. It gets stuck in the heads of everyone on the island and drives the population crazy. Bonus: Octavia’s backstory The first of the Bonus backstory chapters. We get to see Octavia in high school as Mia Okuda, and finally find out what event made her stop singing... (SPOILERS: It was because she was publically criticized and humiliated because “her voice was too deep for a teen idol’s.” Then she saw all the memes people made about her voice and became too ashamed to sing, or even listen to herself again for a long time.) Finding my voice again The black bass Octavia keeps in her house begins to talk one morning. It tells Octavia that it’s time. With a little help and guidance, the fish is determined to help Octavia find her voice and start singing again. Octavia is a mess at first, and at one point she becomes even more discouraged than before she started, convinced she lost the ability to sing forever, and now there’s even proof. She runs out of her house and sits on a bench, distraught. Flo comes up to her, in a good mood, offering half of her corn dog. Octavia can no longer hide her emotions and starts sobbing. When Flo asks what’s wrong, Octavia tells her everything. Flo ends up giving Octavia sage advice. “Each song is kinda like a journey. When you sing, just pretend you’re the heroine.” Octavia returns to her house, with a new determination inside her. She starts singing again, for the first time in eight years. Nico is walking outside. She’s feeling glum because her ice cream dropped in the pond, when she hears a powerful singing voice that’s undeniably the voice of one of her favorite idols... She runs straight into Octavia’s nearby house to tell her, “Oh my gosh! Mia Okuda is on the island! I hear her singing!” When Nico realizes Octavia was singing, the pieces finally click... Octavia was Mia Okuda all along! Nico faints dramatically and theatrically. Idol Madness With Nico realizing one of her favorite idols was on the island, she feels so tingly, but also overshadowed. Audie also wants to be an idol, so Nico already has competition. Not only that, but Haku is aiming to be some sort of musician of some kind. But she’s so shy that she doesn’t show her face much anyway. But with all the talent on the island, Tom Nook suggests everyone should share their talents in an upcoming talent show and dance party night! The Island’s Talent Show Dance Party Night! All day, everyone is getting ready and looking forward to the island’s big shiny event. Haku’s stage fright Haku has stage fright about performing her music. What is Pastell’s talent? Everyone on the island has such talent. Everyone has their music, Bettina can cook, and Sly can lift weights. Even Rodeo can eat five ice cream cones in under a minute... without getting brain freeze! It seems everyone on the island has some sort of talent... except for Pastell. Just what is Pastell’s hidden talent? Moondrop Fame With all the talent and recent development on Moondrop, word got out to K.K. Slider that the island was one to look out for... to the point where he called, scheduling an appearance! K.K. Slider’s Grand Appearance! K.K. Slider finally appears and gives a performance. Goodbye, Pekoe? Pekoe plans to move away from the island, back to her home with her old family...
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luanna801 · 5 years
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Rating the Fashion in D.N.Angel Art (Pt. 1)
(Because this meme is fun, and these looks deserve to be appreciated. Or in some cases mocked. :-P)
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A nice, comforting place to start off the list. This striped hoodie is adorable, and very much in-keeping with Daisuke’s canon sense of style. The blue at the neck of his shirt provides a little contrast while still keeping it simple. He looks cute, wholesome, approachable. Exactly how I like my Daisuke. His cuteness is apparently so intense that he radiates little stars. Valid.
10/10 Classic boy-next-door charm.
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This totally looks like a boyband album cover, but in a way that’s working for me, I’m not gonna lie. I like how they’re coordinated in their all-white outfits but the looks are still individual. Dark’s jacket is very cute, as is Daisuke’s in a more relaxed way. I like the little wing detail on the back of Satoshi’s shirt. Honestly my only criticism of this is why Satoshi looks like something splattered in his eye.
9/10 BACKSTREET’S BACK ALRIGGGGGHT
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I thought I should include at least one piece that gives you a good look at the school uniforms. They’re very cute! The red-and-white color scheme is nice. (It was thoughtful of the school to match their uniforms to the protagonist’s coloring.) Those little cropped jackets on the girls’ uniform are very cute, and I like the detailing on the collars too.
9/10 Stylishly preppy without being too much.
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I don’t actually think this look is objectively good. The arm-warmers look like random pieces of fabric that he tied in place with string. The shirt looks less “artfully ripped” and more like it’s being eaten away by acid. But none of that actually matters, because he is SELLING it. Look at the absolute confidence in those eyes. That look says “Maybe my shirt is disintegrating, because it JUST CAN’T HANDLE BEING THIS CLOSE TO MY BODY.” What he’s wearing is actually irrelevant. He looks absolutely badass.
10/10 FIERCE. Tyra Banks would approve.
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It’s hard to put my finger on what exactly isn’t working about this. Riku’s shirt feels like it would be more in-keeping with her style if it didn’t have the lacing up the front. Risa kinda looks like she’s wearing a lacy nightgown with gloves. Neither of these looks is terrible, but I’m just not really feeling it. I feel like Sugisaki was maybe still figuring out Riku and Risa’s styles when she drew this.
6.5/10 Room for improvement.
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A mixed bag! Daisuke might be wearing The Jacket(TM), although the coloring is different than when Sugisaki colored The Jacket(TM) later. In any case, he looks great. The combination of the black jacket with the red/white/black plaid trim looks very crisp and classic. Satoshi, on the other hand, looks low-key like a sleazy casino owner. The high collar/huge houndstooth print/necklace(?) combination is just too much. 
5/10 Even my love for Satoshi cannot make that look work.
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CUUUUTE. This is giving me very Bertie Wooster vibes, for some reason. He looks like the spoiled but good-natured heir to a fortune whose butler keeps needing to get him out of shenanigans. I would be down for this AU.
8.5/10 Fingers crossed for a Black Butler crossover.
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WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE. I’m not actually sure I have words to do justice to how bad this is. It just looks like random pieces of fabric thrown together haphazardly. The little metal thingies make no sense. The orange-and-gold color scheme is garish. Nothing about this looks good, but beyond that, nothing about it even makes sense. This is the nadir of D.N.Angel fashion. For my sanity I’m going to hope it’s referencing some series I’m not familiar with.
-10/10 WTF.
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An excellent palate-cleanser! I think the fact that they’re sharing a scarf is adorable. Riku’s whole look here is perfection to me - the way the red roses on her sleeves coordinate with her red gloves is VERY stylish, and those cute buttons at the wrists? Fantastic. Daisuke’s shirt seems nice, though I can’t for the life of me figure out what it says. Points for having a shared color scheme, although the fact that his shirt is white and hers is cream does clash a bit, arguably.
9.5/10 Overall, a great example of couple dressing done right.
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THE JACKET(TM)!!!!!!! You can’t actually see that much of what he’s wearing (although the art itself is gorgeous), but I am incapable of being objective about this. Seeing this just reminds me of how much I adore these scenes, and this arc as a whole. Also the word bubble here is literally Satoshi talking about how he’s dying, and that is not remotely okay. Someone hug him, please.
1000/10 FEELS.
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