#utterly smooth or total dork

[wearerandomlyyours]

Maverick flirting with Iceman:

#icemav #top gun #top gun maverick #pete maverick mitchell #tom iceman kazansky #utterly smooth or total dork #there is no inbetween

[burnedbyshoto]

aphrodite

“Aphrodite is just a stage name, but the persona is still you. You might be a total dork, but the person you think you present has always been apart of you.”

— Or, in which Pro Hero Shouto falls in love with a dominatrix cam girl, only to find out that she’s quite a weirdo in real life. — 

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pairing: todoroki shouto x fem!reader

warnings: 18+, smut, fluff, stalking fan, cursing, unexperienced shouto, camgirl!reader, dom!reader, marking, blowjobs, praise kink

word count: 8,834

a/n: honestly, I did love this fic but mind is BUZZING at the thought of finally getting to write my todoroki family gangbang because I have that shit fucking outlined and I never outline anYTHING!!! but this was fun!!! i did a lot of extensive research into camming to only realize that if I wrote it realistically I wouldn’t be able to write this the way I intended... so camgirl is sorta really inaccurate and im sorry ;-;

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Being a Pro Hero was one of the most rewarding things Todoroki Shouto had ever done. With his day consumed with being in an element where he saved and protected people, there was nothing he could ever hope to improve. Well, as long as you only considered things in a job aspect.

As a Pro Hero, his job was his life.

Day in and day out, he was working. 

From the first chime of his alarm at six in the morning until he was crashing on his bed at eleven at night, he wasn’t just anyone, he was Shouto, the Pro Hero.

But Heroes were overworked, with the recent downfall of the League of Villains and the aftershocks that came from defeating a group that changed the world, there was a lot to do. He was twenty years old, two years free from Yuuei, and was a Pro Hero, not a sidekick.

After graduating from school, most individuals had assumed that he was going to work with his father as a sidekick for a few number of years, but that wasn’t right. Bakugou and Midoriya had created an agency together, so with them, the creators, Shouto made up one of the many founding members of this new agency. An agency that was constructed of only graduates of Yuuei,  it was strong, promising, and already one that had him and his friends well within the publics’ favorite heroes.

As goes any new Hero Agency, they had to prove themselves, after all, their alma mater was not enough to carry them through everything. Experience was valued higher than name-value after all. So Shouto, along with the thirty members of the agency, worked hard every day to swallow the fear of the reemerging Japan, fulfilling every and all tedious and significant need.

But for all his hard work, Shouto had been neglecting his own needs.

Two years of hard work for a man without a sexual relationship translated to two years without any sort of lover — romantic and sexual.

At first, it was easy to ignore. He made do with sloppy jerk offs in the shower, the warm water soaking into his skin while he came in loads against his fingers, but eventually, it grew tiresome, lonesome, and tedious. 

That is until something happened one day.

A single link had been sent his way by Kaminari, the blond man unknowingly sending this to Shouto and not the intended Sero. Shouto had just gotten home, his tired eyes looking at the highlighted hyperlink on his phone. Sighing, he had thrown it up on his laptop, wanting to figure out just what he was sending him of all people, he hoped maybe it was an article on his major rescue today. Kaminari was much better at tracking those articles than he was.

But what he got was not an article on his heroic deed today. No, there was no cold day in hell that this was a news article.

His eyes widened, the texts furiously coming in on his phone, apologizing for the mistake, but Shouto wasn’t paying attention. No, he was transfixed on the video before him and fire, unlike any heat he had ever known burned through his veins. Simmering heat rolling from his skin while he watched on, and just like that, Shouto found a way to feel anew.

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“Thanks for all your hard work!” Midoriya yelled after Shouto, who was three strides out the door once they traded places. 

It was Tuesday night, one of three nights that Shouto ever really looked forward to. For the past year, he had always made sure that he was never scheduled on these nights, and well, no one had objected, so he was still taking them. The travel back home was a five-minute commute via train, but always, as Shouto sat there, he felt as if the train was barely inching along.

But as soon as the train docked, there was no time to waste. Shouto was out of the crowded train and practically racing to his house. 

The door was slammed and locked behind him, and while practically stripping in his hallway — he didn’t need to care about a trail of clothes as he lived alone — he made it into his bedroom.

7:59, his clock read, and he cursed, moving even faster to set himself up.

Shouto couldn’t help but feel the burning embers of shame igniting in his chest, his heart rate soaring to the sky, when he clicked the join button. This was utterly shameful… twenty-one years old and he was in love… he was infatuated with someone he couldn’t have.

The screen darkened for the room he was looking into was dark, nothing but fuzzy pixels where you sat on the bed, legs crossed, and a sly grin on your face.

“Hi, love,” you coo. Shouto couldn’t make you out exactly right now, but on god, he already knows your lips were painted a deep red that always captivated him, your eyes insanely large with the thick and long strand of eyelashes you wore.

He wants to say good, he wants nothing more than to respond to your greeting, but he’s speechless. Besides, he knows you wouldn’t be able to hear him anyway.

“Now, now, don’t be shy,” you pout, standing up and nearing the camera, your strides were slow, smooth, terribly seductive and Shouto was taking you all in.

However, Shouto’s heart stops when your figure becomes more distinct. Red leather lingerie and toys strapped to the iconic utility belt you don. Even in the alluring lighting of your room, Shouto can see that your eyes are dark with amusement, glee, and lust. He groans lightly, the fabric of his boxer briefs tightening when you lean in close.

“I want to hear you cry my name…”

Shouto splutters at the whisper, feeling submerged into your show despite his brain telling him you didn’t know him. Regardless, his finger trails the trackpad and clicks the blue ‘donation’ button, the amount put at the full maximum the site would allow.

“Aw, thank you for the donation icy-hot,” you purr, your eyes fluttering on the camera, almost as if you were looking right at him. And Shouto delights at the sound of his username dripping like honey from your tongue. “I knew your slutty needy cock wouldn’t disappoint me. I wonder if you’re already touching yourself at the thought of me…” he watches your pretty red lips stretch from a pout into a Cheshire grin, and a pleasurable wave encases his body, his cock twitching against his restraint. “I hope you’re not, after all, I haven’t given you permission yet, have I?”

Shouto exhales shakily, the sultry confidence in your face, tone, and stature overwhelming him.

He watches your eyes fall to where he knows the chat is located on your screen, and the bell-like giggle swims in his mind while you amuse the many different viewers on this chat.

Aphrodite, that’s what you went by. 

The goddess of love, beauty, procreation, and pleasure.

With the way your eyes pierced the camera, legs spread open to reveal your cunt for your viewers, Shouto hissed in need for him to grab his cock, he knew better by now.

“Don’t you wish you were here so I could ride your small cocks instead of my fingers,” you sigh, and Shouto wets his lips, fingers that ached to give attention to his pulsing cock digging into his thighs. “If you want me to let you touch yourself,” you sigh, tossing your head back, your eyes glinted with power and coercion in this position. “Throw in a little donation for your goddess, whores~!”

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It pained Shouto to admit it, but he had a sincere and deep attraction for the girl behind Aphrodite. He didn’t need to check his bank account to know that outside of his daily things, the thing that he was freely spending money on was your shows. The more people donate, the more you would do, the more dominating, demeaning, and almost sadistic you would get. Most nights, like last night, Shouto would collapse on his bed. His cock a flush red from the aggressive fisting he had done, a desperate attempt to make himself pretend it was your tight and sopping cunt around his cock and not his heated hands. The room was always foggy, steam pouring from his skin because his control still went up to smoke whenever he watched you on the screen.

There was nothing more to say except that he would do everything in his power to make sure you were gaining enough money from these shows, and that his screen name would drip past your lips every show. Even if you would never do private shows, he would make sure you knew who he was.

But this wasn’t the time to think about you.

“Todoroki!” Bakugou yelled from a distance, and Shouto looked up to see Bakugou staring at him, his face set in annoyance. “Ponytail has a job for you.”

Shouto had just walked in through the door to the agency, but his lips pulled into a slight smile. His head nodding, “Okay.”

In the agency Momo, Iida, and Midoriya were the ones who were best suited at handing out missions and assignments. With Iida on temporary leave as he was on vacation with his family and Midoriya, who was on a week assignment with Bakugou, there was only Momo to hand intensive things out right now. 

Saying his good mornings to the people he passed, he eventually made it into the back room with the door closing behind him. He made eye contact immediately with Momo, who seemed to be jabbering with the client, but he knew her well enough to see that under the cheerful personality, there was something worried in her gaze.

“You wanted to see me?” Shouto asked the second he stepped in.

“Ah, yes, Todoroki-san!” Momo nodded her head, the smile on her face remaining keen on her face while she gestured to the person before her. “This is y/l/n y/n!”

Nodding, he looked down at the client and stiffened only slightly when you turned around.

Y/l/n… y/n… you were Aphrodite.

Shouto’s mouth went dry but also began salivating at an extremely high rate the second your lips pulled into a greeting smile. Was this real?

Would you be dominating in public? Your dominatrix bleeding into your personality outside of the screen? Would you rise to his eye level when you finally stood? He always imagined you would. Were you wearing something flirty, cute, or alluring underneath that jacket you had on your body? Your make up was done in the same matter as the shows, but the red lipstick he loved was substituted with a natural lip color, brightening the shimmer in your eyes. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” you greeted, and Shouto nodded dumbly, words failing him entirely at this moment.

Was that what he expected you to say as a greeting? Well, he guessed you saying something along the lines of ‘welcome you dirty fucking slut’ was a bit out of the picture considering they were in public and you didn’t know him. But still, a part of him craved to have heard that utter from your lips, because there would have been no stopping the way that he would have sank to his knees for you.

“Y/l/n-san is here with us because she’s been a victim of a past B&E’s,” Momo’s voice pierces through Shouto’s thoughts, and he breaks his stare on your — sweetly? — smiling face to look at his friend. “We also have reason to believe that such offenses are because she also has a stalker.”

“A stalker?” Shouto repeated Momo’s words.

“That is correct, and said stalker seems to be in possession of a strong quirk,” Momo nodded her head, her face still kind for you, but her eyes calculating and sharp. “I’m assigning you on her case for a few reasons, firstly because you are capable of handling the perpetrator, and two, you live a block from her apartment, so defending her will be accessible to you.”

Shouto’s stomach jumped at those words, all this time you had been a mere block away from him?! 

“Isn’t that a bit too much?” you laugh, rubbing the back of your neck. Shouto blinks, that was a move most people made when they weren’t confident… you were always confident. “I mean, yeah, I don’t want to be like… hurt by this man, but there’s no way he’d do anything bad, right?”

“Are you serious?” Shouto asked, his voice leaking with his evident discontent to your answer.

Momo, however, redirected your attention back to her by grabbing your hands in hers, “There’s a possibility that there’s nothing bad that he’ll do, but that’s not something we wish to risk.”

“I have pepper spray, a stun gun, and a strong uppercut; I think I can handle this,” you say, pulling your keys up, showcasing the arrange of weapons you carried casually around you. 

“The pepper spray looks like you haven’t used it in ages,” Shouto immediately pointed out. “You need to use it about once a month to ensure it works.”

“Wait, really?!”

Momo giggled, watching in the way that Shouto looked down at you with a raised eyebrow, and how you looked up at him with wide eyes. “I can understand that you believe that you’re confident in your ability to take care of yourself! We aren’t trying to imply that you couldn’t, but your cousin brought you here or a reason! It’s easier to let us do our job, to make sure that you don’t ever have to put into a trying situation.”

Your bottom lip juts out into a small pout, but ultimately you sighed, nodding. “Okay… how long would this take, do you think? It’s just that I can’t have Shouto by my side at every instance of the day.”

Momo’s eyebrows quirked into a questioning stare, and Shouto could feel his body temperature rising at those words.

“Oh? How come?”

You still, as if you hadn’t expected Momo to further question why you didn’t want to be watched at all hours of the day. Loudly you splutter, unable to come up with an excuse through your panicked and while Shouto watched and listened with crumbling hope that your dominatrix personality was something that you held in every aspect in life. Your cries that you were an up and coming YouTuber — which explained the stalker — and needed to film your muckbang videos in peace made Shouto realize that you were not some sexy, confident woman at every instance of the day. No, you were awkward, weird, and dorky, but it still did nothing to calm his hammering heart when you stood up at the end of the meeting, clad in something that had to be pulled from the Lisa Frank collection and you hurried out.

“If I analyzed all of her police reports correctly, the stalker should be back by next week, falling on either Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday night,” Momo informed Shouto, passing the case folder his way. “Take care of y/l/n-san, and be safe.”

Shouto nodded; that was something he didn’t need to be told twice, “Of course.”

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You were a camgirl.

For most of your life, you had been someone who was overlooked by most. Being quirkless in a world where having a quirk, even the most useless quirks, was needed to gain success in your peer’s eyes truly sucked. It hadn’t stopped you from being successful, of course, you had worked hard in every aspect of your life, but it kept you from attaining your dream job because having a quirk was essential for it — even though you didn’t need one.

So with a minimum wage job to cover the costs of living and your long journey to prove your worth to get your dream job, you were quick to realize that you needed more money.

And one day, after a long day at failing to find a second job, you were in bed, reading over fanfics to distract yourself from a failed day when a particular story caught your eye. 

A story about a camgirl, and then it hit you.

You could be a camgirl!

It took a month of planning, nights spent on creating a persona, a person for you to become when the camera went on. 

You would turn into Aphrodite.

With such a stage name, you knew that you had to become the goddess of love herself. Your personality was quirky and dorky in real life when you only had to be you, but Aphrodite was all leather, lacy, skimpy hotness. She was daunting, commanding, dominating. It was almost as if the second you turned on your Livestream, the goddess herself possessed your body, turning you into someone that you could only dream to be.

You performed three times a week, precisely at nine and end sometimes even at two in the morning. Within a matter of ten streams, you had exploded in viewers and donors. You had been making around five hundred thousand yen a month, that is until your most special viewer icy-hot had made his first appearance. 

Icy-hot was someone who seemed to have a deep interest in you, and even deeper pockets because he alone doubled the price of your average income from camming. You were obsessed with him.

There was also another reason why you were obsessed, and it might have a little bit to do with the tall man walking behind you, just far away to make you comfortable, but close enough to keep you from harm’s way. Oh yes, in a world of celebrity crushes, you were in love with Pro Hero Shouto. 

It was stupid really, but as a fifteen-year-old girl watching Yuuei students who were your age beating the shit out of each other left an imprint of his then fifteen-year-old abs in your brain and you were hooked. Your crush was always shallow, of course it was, you didn’t know him, but he still provided you with a sense of comfort. The fact that he had lived so close to you for so long sent embarrassing flames to your face, how would he ever react to knowing that you needed time away from him so that you could control people into fucking themselves online? Or about how your stalker was a possessive man who watched your streams?

You had been fine with just informing the police, but apparently, the man had been apprehended before and had his quirk registered. He was dangerous, and with you being quirkless and the cops being unable to use their own quirks, your cousin dragged you to the local hero agency, proclaimed you needed help, and left.

Little did you remember that this was the hero agency that a lot of recent Yuuei alumni were at, and of course, the one that Shouto worked at. Heroes latched at your side, worried for you while taking you to the back to talk to the Everything Hero: Creati. With the police files on her computer, the two of you discussed everything that was happening with ease and sharp detail, and then Ground Zero barged through the door, yelling about something Deku was doing.

Creati talked with him, both of them coming to some understanding and a simple line from her mouth, effectively ending your entire life.

“Will you call in Todoroki-san when he gets here?”

It wasn’t that you were dressed ugly or wrong, but you were definitely dressed up in bright colors because you were trying a Lisa Frank aesthetic before your cousin dragged you off. Tugging at the ends of your hair, you looked back at Shouto, who was silent, his eyes looking at you.

“Are you okay?” he asks, his buttery voice soothes down your spine, and you threw a large thump up in his direction with a nod.

“Never been better!” you lie. This was bad this was so very bad, you wanted to push him into an alleyway and run away, why must the world curse you into looking like you were related to booboo the fool on the day you finally crossed paths with Shouto. Not to mention should he find out about your career? Would he think you deserved everything coming your way?

“It’s okay to be not okay,” he spoke up, his head tilting to the side, trying to figure out where your thoughts are. “You know that, right? You’re going through a lot right now.”

You blow a raspberry, your ears burning when you look back in front of you, your head shaking. “I’m perfectly fine, I wasn’t even in immediate danger! Besides, I have you here now, don’t I?”

They were familiar words heroes heard every day, maybe not those words exactly but similar enough that they weren’t unusual. But still, to Shouto, those words curled warmly in his chest, vibrating deep within his sternum while he nodded.

“You do.”

“See!”

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To say the least, Shouto was genuinely shocked to figure out who you were as a person. 

The biggest thing he could put together about you, the most essential detail he saw was the fact that you were stupidly a dork. You had just about one hundred colorful mugs with weirdly dumb inspirational quotes on them. Whenever he showed up at your apartment in the morning — the nights you insisted he couldn’t sleep on your couch because of your recordings, which worked out because he would just go home and watch your stream with only the slightest guilty conscious.

You had a colorful arrange of sweaters and shirts, none of which were anything that he would have assumed initially you would wear, to begin with. Leggings and sweaters, joggers and tank tops, that seemed to be your style in the warming days of spring, and he was all for it.

With nothing more to do with this assignment, then stay close to you because the police where in charge of trying to find the man, the two of you grew close. Shouto often amused himself by asking you about the videos you were making for ‘YouTube,’ each time you came out with a poorly failed excuse of a lie for him, and every time you believed that he believed you.

It was a month into the assignment, and nothing had happened so far, nothing but late-night conversations and late-night cam sessions. Still, Shouto was a devoted watcher, and with each passing day, his ears no longer blushed scarlet at the sight of you the following mornings. 

The two of you were proper fans, and the crushes you had for each other still held true, only now reenforced with the appropriate images of each other.

“You have to go now!” you complain, trying to shove the much larger man out of your apartment’s front door. It was Thursday evening, and with only an hour until you were to stream — an accident on both of your parts because you had been distracted with watching an anime with him — you needed to get ready quickly. “Shouto, oh my god, I swear if you don’t leave, I’m going to pepper spray you!”

Shouto was pretending to be lost in thought, his body stable and unshifting while you attempted your hardest to get him to move. “I don’t remember you ever cleaning your pepper spray… it’ll end up hurting you more than me in the end anyway.”

“You don’t know that!” you grunt, your hands pressing against his spine, your feet slipping against the wood while you push with all your strength. “Even if it hits me, it’ll hit you too!”

“I’ve been pepper-sprayed before, apart of hero training, I can handle it, y/n,” Shouto points, and he finally takes a step forward, your body stumbling into his side where he graciously steadied you. There’s a silence between the two of you when he realizes just how he caught you, and you feel the temperature fluctuate around you when he pushes you to your feet, throwing on his shoes and leaving with a stiff wave.

“See you t-tomorrow!” he rushes out, leaving you with a burning face in your doorway. 

But as you closed the door, rushing yourself to get ready for tonight, you didn’t get to see the way that Shouto stopped at the staircase, his eyebrows scrunching when an uneasy feeling filled his gut. Could it be that the perp was finally going to make their move tonight?

In thirty minutes you had managed to get your makeup done, the sharp black eyeliner paired with large full eyelashes, your skin perfect from foundation and contour, and of course, the painted red lip. With only ten minutes to spare, you threw your camera set together, connecting it at eight minutes to spare. You sweat in nerves while you hastily threw on your lingerie. Black lacy panties that sculpted your ass, and a bra that left your breasts looking delectable. Then the leather garter belt hung around your waist, attaching to your thigh high stockings with a cute red bow. 

With the countdown on the screen, you flopped on the bed, cameras rolling as soon as your clock read 9:00.

“Hi, love,” you began as you usually do, confidence flooding your person while you sat up from your mattress, your hands smoothly gliding against the soft fabric of the comforter. 

Your show went as it normally did, harmless flirting with your viewers who craved more, thanking donator after donator, your smile growing into a smirk with each passing minute. You noticed that icy-hot was on, his avatar always pinned to your screen when he joined, but he was silent. Not a single donation.

Normally this would scare you, drilling ice-cold anxiety through your veins, but you weren’t you right now; you were Aphrodite. 

“Icy-hot,” you drawled, your voice husky and low, a subtle show to your dominance while you leaned forward, your cleavage only accentuating between your pressing arms. “What are you doing?”

But before you could continue on, before you could utter more phrases to get some sort of response from your favorite viewer, there was a rustle in your apartment. You froze immediately, was Shouto in your place? No, that couldn’t make sense.

Then in an almost slow-motion horror, you watched your bedroom door slam open, and a man you didn’t recognize appeared before you. His transfixed on you as if you were a true goddess, his muscles taut, lips perked into a lusting smirk.

“I finally found you, Aphrodite,” he whispered like a prayer, his feet taking several fast strides in your direction, and as the chat exploded in their confusion, your jaw dropped in an ear-splitting scream.

>> ‘Is this for real?’

>> ‘Is aphrodite finally fucking a man for us? I’m jealous it’s not me!’

>> ‘Holy shit, I think this is real?!’

The facade of Aphrodite was gone on you, no longer possessing you, but instead the meek and weird you. There was no stopping his conquering pace when his hand outstretched for you until he was frozen in place.

“Shouto?!” you squeak, looking to see your hero standing at the door, his cheeks flushed from most likely rushing over, his eyes deadly and severe. His eyes glanced you over, and embarrassment shrouded you when he eyed over your lingerie, but he said nothing of your state of appearance thankfully.

“Go into your bathroom, and don’t come out until I tell you it’s over,” Shouto commanded, and breathlessly you nodded, stumbling over into the bathroom as the perpetrator broke free from the ice. One lustful eye turning sinister and dark, and with an animalistic bellow, he charged Shouto when you closed the door.

You weren’t sure how long you lasted in the bathroom; the only thing you knew is that for ten seconds, it was loud with the clear sounds of battle before quieting. There had been no crash, nothing to tell you that the action had been taken elsewhere, only that you had heard the familiar sound of Shoutos singing ice and then silence. You pulled on your fluffy white bathrobe that hung by the door on your bathroom, your pacing unstoppable in your inability to calm down.

Was Shouto alright? They didn’t both die out there, right? No, Shouto was more durable than that, you reasoned, your hands aching with your nerves.

The pulsing beat of your heart sat heavy in your throat, your fingers trembling with shot nerves and fearful thoughts until a soft knock on your door alerted you that someone was there.

“H-Hello?” you stammer, unable to keep yourself from speaking.

“It’s me,” you hear Shouto’s voice tiredly stated, and without so much as wondering if it really was him, you threw open the door.

Shouto stood there, a bruise on his jaw, a visible injury he had sustained from this fight. 

There was no stopping you throwing yourself into his arms, your own arms throwing around his neck in your dopamine surge. He had saved you, he had finished this.

“Sorry that took so long,” Shouto murmured into your ear, his head burying into the crook of your neck, sending intensive static down your spine. “Bastard took us seven blocks away; apparently, he has a pretty shitty teleportation quirk.”

“That’s okay, I’m just glad you’re okay,” you sigh, not wanting to let go of him anytime soon. “Was it just the bruise?”

“Mhm,” Shouto informs you, his fingers running against the thick fluffiness of the robe. “Quirk side effect is that it makes you stupidly dizzy after using it, and that includes everyone he takes with him. So I nearly was throwing up when he landed one on me. The police will take you in for questioning tomorrow morning if that’s alright? I figured it was too late, and you went through too much to be questioned tonight.”

“That’s perfect,” you agree, not at all caring when the interview would be, just as long as he was with you. 

Shouto eventually pulled away, his hands remaining on your waist while his eyes looked at you warmly, “Okay, well let’s get you on your bed, I want to make sure you’re okay.”

You nodded dumbly, following after Shouto when he guided you back into the room that was liberated from his ice but had obviously been fought in on account of your fallen books. You sighed when you sat up on your bed watching Shouto stand in front of you, observing you in your fluffy white robe.

“Shouto?” you asked while Shouto observed your face in the better lighting of your room, his finger soothing tear streaks you had long ago cried while he made sure you were okay.

“Mm?”

“How did you get here so quickly?”

“I thought something was going to happen tonight. I had this feeling when I was leaving and decided to stay until it happened.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like I had screamed until after he was in my room,” you accuse, your eyes narrowing. 

Honestly, you had no idea how he knew… unless…

“I’m icy-hot,” Shouto states simply, but you couldn’t ignore the way that your body literally rejected this claim, how it sizzled to life because he knew what you did on these nights, and how you sparked at the thought of how he’d been supporting you for a year.

“You’re — ?”

“Yeah,” Shouto smiled, pulling away from you with a soft sigh, his arms folding across his chest. “A friend of mine accidentally sent me a link to your cam sessions when you first started, and I was hooked.”

“You’re telling me all this time, you knew?!”

Shouto nodded, unsure as to what you weren’t quite understanding.

“Why didn’t you say anything?!” your voice raised dangerously, your spine shot straight while your world both crashed and built around you.

“I didn’t think it was appropriate to tell my client that I watched her strip and fuck herself on my leisure time,” Shouto sighs, his eyebrow-raising in amusement.

“You’re a dick!” you exclaim, but your words were one of wonder, your eyes brightening in this new knowledge. “I can’t believe you, honestly!”

“Well then, I guess I can tell you a string of truths, and you can do nothing about it,” he challenges, his face nearing yours, dangerously close. His warm and mint breath fanning across your face. “I have feelings for you — deep and honest feelings for you, I think this piece you’re wearing under the rob is by far one of the best pieces you’ve ever worn, and I’m hard right now.”

“You know that Aphrodite is a facade,” you disclosed, your eyelids feeling like weights while you stared up at him, unmoving, unchallenging.

“I don’t think it is,” Shouto challenged his hands, tugging at the fabric that held your robe closed. “Aphrodite is just a stage name, but the persona is still you. You might be a total dork, but the person you think you present has always been apart of you.”

Your tongue is dry, but still, you wet your lips, confidence, and fear meeting in the middle of your chest in an all-out war to see which would win. It was to no one’s surprise that you wanted Shouto, but for it to be reciprocated was a bit beyond you, and finally, you inhaled a bit sharply through your nose, “If you want me to fuck you, you better ask properly. Like a good boy.”

His eyes glint in an unreserved way that sends fire through your spine and a heat flashing in your core. It had been a while since you’ve fucked anyone, and here was Shouto implying that you fuck him. He also seemed to want to be dommed, and if there was something you weren’t expecting from him, was that.

Shouto licks his lips, his hands moving from your waist and pressing onto the mattress so that he’s forcing you to lean backward, trapped in his hold. 

“I want you to fuck me,” he breathes, and in a similar exhilarating thrill of Aphrodite possessing you before a show, that electrifying courage courses through your veins and grabbing onto the thick fabric of his costume and bring him into a simmering kiss.

Your fingers wound in his hair, the intensive heat and passion exchanging between your lips were insane. It was mind-boggling as it was breathtaking. Your head tilted, and you pressed in more, feeling the weight of the bed dipping as Shouto climbed onto the bed with you. Shouto was bigger than you, in just about every way of the word, but still, with your stocking covered leg, you wound it around his waist and spun in your place.

Straddling his torso, you pressed incessant kisses to his mouth, his desperate return sending confidence to your head, a warm pulse in your body. 

“I wouldn’t have pegged you as a bottom,” you murmur against Shouto’s throat, your hands pressing flat against his chest, moving to unravel the restraints holding it together. You get the top of his jumpsuit undone, watching has his pale and toned chest slowly peeking through the growing opening. Your fingers move against the plains of his abs, nails moving against his hardened nipples while you sigh against his throat. “Such a good boy.”

Shouto heaves, his breathing uneven, unsteady, and unsure. For someone so confident thirty seconds earlier, he seemed to be crashing from that stream of confidence quickly, almost dangerously. Skirting around this knowledge, you removed your robe, discarding it onto the dirty floor with a content smirk. 

“I, um,” Shouto swallowed hard, his eyes fluttering at the sight of the lacy black undergarments and, for the first time, genuinely getting to appreciate them in real life. His fingers grab onto your waist, his hot as fire hands tracing your smooth skin, tracing against the hem of your panties until he got to the cleavage of your ass, stopping where your body met his. “I’ve never done this.”

“That’s alright,” you say, hands pushing the blue fabric of his costume off his shoulder, making quick work of it, and finally, your get to press your hands against his broad and naked shoulders. Your lips move unhurriedly against his neck, moving down until you reach his collarbone, taking a long swipe of your tongue against the protruding bone.

“Fuuck.”

The words that had meant to come from Shouto’s lips drifted towards the ceiling, no longer viable with the way that he folded against your touch. With your lips back against his chin, your right hand stretched behind you and pressed firmly against Shouto’s hard buldge palming against the clothed erection. His eyes close immediately, the touch of another on his growing cock was foreign to him, but it was igniting something within him while you continued your ministrations. A strangled moan vibrating at the back of his throat, his hips rising to buck and grind against your cupping hand, only hindered by your teasing retreats and bell-like giggles.

“So desperate already, baby?” you whisper against his ear, your mouth coming back to his, meeting his trembling lips into a passionate kiss. When you pull away, he makes a noise similar to an animal in heat but is quickly silenced by your teeth biting gently against his lower lip. “Let’s get you out of this uniform.”

Shouto helps you make little work of removing his costume, the dark navy blue material joining your robe on the floor, and you straddle him one again. Only this time, it’s your cunt rolling against his clothed cock. 

“Do you want me to suck you off?” you ask, your lips pressing painted marks against his chest. The red of your lips shining like rubies against his pale skin, but it does nothing but stirs you on. It wasn’t a mark like a bite, but it was an acknowledgment that as of now, for this very moment, he was yours. The red lip print proof of this bond. “Do you want my mouth around your pretty cock?”

Shouto shudders at your words, his hips involuntarily bucking at your ask, and he nods his head. His cheeks dusted red, and his heart hammering in his throat, “Y-Yes, please suck me off.”

“Aww,” you coo, your fingers hooking around the waistband of his underwear, your cunt grinding against him. “You said, please!”

The underwear joins the rest of Shouto’s outfit on the floor, and you stare at Shouto’s cock in its full glory. The long thick length bouncing against his stomach, precum dripping slowly from its tip. The knowledge that he was already leaking from your gentlest attempts of domination sent power through you once again, and you smirked leaning down so that you were level with his cock.

“Such a pretty cock,” you sigh, wrapping your hand against his length, your mouth watering at the fact that you couldn’t encompass it in your hand. “So beautiful… now, I want you to stare at me the entire time I’m doing this icy-hot. I’m putting on a private show for you, and I expect my favorite viewer to watch the entire time.”

There was no need to wait because Shouto was ready for your mouth, and with one final roll of his pink head with your fingers, you began.

You brought your mouth to Shouto’s cock and licked a clean line from balls to crown, the back of your tongue swirling around the head.

Shouto’s moan was nothing short of pornographic, and near animalistic in the way that it sent shivers down your back. Most definitely caught in the feel of things, Shouto arched his ass from the bed to thrust right into your waiting mouth. With the confidence of who you tried to be as Aphrodite, you decided to be the best at what you were doing for Shouto, hopeful this would be something he would ever forget. Adjusting to his lifted hips, you gripped and pumped the lower half of Shouto’s cock while slathering and sucking attention at what you could fit into your mouth – he was a lot bigger than the dildos you used for your show.

Your mouth was heated sin to Shouto, unafraid to choke a little, gagging ever so often to send incredulous vibrations through his sensitive sex. You were also a bit sloppy, saliva and drool leaking with his precum down his length, dribbling from the corner of your mouth while he pressed further into you. You then pulled from his length, oxygen burning your lungs to take each of Shouto’s balls into your mouth and delicately roll them with your tongue as your fist capriciously switched between fast and slow over his throbbing cock.

Mouth hanging wide and silent, Shouto stared intensely at your slowly blinking form. You nuzzled your nose against the trimmed fuzz at the base of his hot dick, your lips creating a wet pop noise against his balls. The soft touches of your nose against the vein on his cock ignited a broken and almost needy rasp against Shouto’s chest. And when a thumb, wet with your spit and his precum, trailed a line down the backside of his cock, Shouto’s heavy tongue caught up.

“That feels so good!” Shouto moaned, his voice gruff and near unrecognizable by its tenor. “More, y/n, please, more.”

And who were you if you didn’t comply? 

You groaned at the lewd position you were in, his intense duel eyes focused on every move you made while his cock twitches in front of you, your tongue flicking out of your mouth licking the bead of pre-cum on his tip making your cunt throb in anticipation. 

“Look at you, so needy, so innocent,” you giggle, using the hands that had been sensually traveling up and down his cock to angle it better for your await mouth. Brushing his head against your tongue, his pre-cum gathered on the slick surface, you delighted when his stomach contorted with his tightened breathing. You wouldn’t close your mouth to taste him, so saliva dribbling down your tongue against his length. Your hands rubbed it against his cock, using it as natural lubrication as you continue, “desperate for my mouth, aren’t you?”

Shouto tried to nod his head, which made you giggle, grinning down at him as you once more push his cock inside your heated cavern. Pulling it out slowly when you notice that his eyelids close for a little longer than a soft moan. 

“Keep your hands on me, icy-hot,” you coax, tangling his fingers onto your scalp. Keeping your left hand against the back of his thigh to land a slap against his skin to keep him focused. It was something that he found to be shocking, but the hair tugging that followed the surprising hit sent a proper shiver down your spine. You pushed his cock forward again, pushing inside you deeper this time, so his length hit further than the back of your throat. 

The motion once more sending Shouto to some other dimension as he hissed your name. The tightness of your throat, the muscle contracting against his thick cock, and the cold drool the dribbled from your lips sent his mind spinning. He only wanted more, and he craved more. With ragged breathing and the sight of his contracting stomach, his hips began to thrust into your mouth, pressing his cock further into your throat. Each desperate thrust had him hitting the back of your throat, drool slipping out of your mouth as you tried to breathe through your nose, groaning against his length, sending vibrations along Shouto’s cock. 

Your eyes began to water at the slightly suffocating sensation. Still, you were excellent despite the tears slipped down your cheeks, his hips thrusting into you roughly, the sign of an inexperienced man. Moving your hands to his upper thighs, you tried to slow his forceful thrusts, trying to allocate for time to adjust to his size in your throat. Instead, Shouto’s thrusting hips only stammered more, the sinful noises in your throat, sending only better feeling through his body. His eyes can read your eyes that told him this was okay.

“Fuck, you’re so good,” Shouto babbles, his hands clutching your hair, fingers digging into your scalp using it as leverage to move you against his length. “I never thought, shit, I never thought it would feel like this, yes, yes do that!”

Your moans vibrated around his length as you let the larger man manipulate your wet cavern. Your tongue now rolling along his length, tracing the sensitive protruding veins on his cock, and with the speed in which he was thrusting into your mouth, it only heightened the desperate noises pouring from his mouth. So much so that he almost stopped shifting his powerful hips all together.

You felt Shouto’s thrusts stagger as he came closer to his release, his hips speeding up, your head bobbing with his final desperation as he gave a final hard push into your mouth. His tip hitting the far back in your throat, and he came inside you with a snarl. His hands held your head down on his length as you grunted, trying to take in all fast release in one swallow, but some spilled out of your mouth. His hot sticky seed dribbling down your chin. 

When you moved pulled to remove his length from your mouth, you immediately closed your mouth, tongue lapping at the cum that escaped your lips. 

Crawling back up to Shouto’s face, you gave a tight-lipped smile when his clammy hands rested against your waist, and with fluttering eyes, you connected your lips again. The minority of his cum still sits in your mouth and is pushed into his mouth with your tongue.

You sat up, your lips still connected to his with a string of entangled saliva and cum, his hands coming around to cup your ass, and with the sexiness, only one could achieve through countless times of stripping, you were finally free from your own lingerie.

“What’re you—”

A gust of air ricocheted from Shout’s lungs as his back slammed into the mattress once again, your hands planted against his shoulders, your head cocked to the side with a mischievous smirk. Shouto doesn’t know how to react, for someone who couldn’t shove him out of the doorway was suddenly handling him just fine in bed. But the thought of that stirred his cock back to life, something you noticed the second it rested against your ass. Shouto groaned in embarrassment, but it didn’t matter to you, who arched down to nuzzle his nose. Then you were licking searing stripes along his neck, teeth nibbling and pulling at his ear, digging at the joint of throat and shoulder, Shouto’s tilted chin and swollen wet lips.

Knees dug into the sides of Shouto’s chest, your nails cutting crescents into the slick shining mountains of his shoulders, Shouto hands grasped onto your naked form for dear life, coercing the storm of your shared desire. The impatient and growing unignorable weight of Shouto’s cock slotted between your slick and sopping cunt. Sloppy wet with your untouched arousal, a ticking timebomb of pleasure each time you thrust back against his rehardened cock.

“Y/n, please—” Shouto choked on his words, a lusting cry when he cracked his head back against the soft mattress at the moment you carted his hot cock against your dripping, aching cunt with one firm and delicate palm and your other pressing your weight against his chest. “Oh shit, yes, fuck – yes, more. Please, put it in, y/n. I want, shit, I want you to fuck me properly, y/n—”

“So fuckin’ needy,” your breathlessly giddy reply came, your words soaked the ear and filled Shouto’s head completely. Tightening his grip on your waist to accommodate a stronger hold on you in a desperate thought to sane himself, you began a more frantic rhythm of work-roughened humping. “Is this how you responded back to me when I stream? Do you listen to my instructions the entire time, Shou-to?”

The squelch and wet noises of your hips dragging staccato against Shouto’s throbbing skin was maddening, dumbing him down to strangled huffs and squeaks against your swollen lips. The pulse against Shouto’s own lips raged, a frantic desire for him that both weakened and empowered him to the bone.

Shouto’s finger dug into your skin, leaving imprinted bruises where he touched, his hips slamming up into yours. Wanting more, craving more, and with nothing more to hold from him, you complied and with a wet noise, sunk all the way down against him.

“Shit, shit, wait,” Shouto hoarsely whispered, his nails ripping moons into your skin while he panted against your skin. “You’re too tight, Imma cum, fuck, wait…”

You laughed against his mouth, but you didn’t move, allowing him the time to adjust his brow slick with sweat, eyes closed in concentration. Regardless, your walls fluttered around him while you adjusted, and he shivered with every involuntary move. “You good?” you murmur against his mouth, tongue lapping at his pressed white lips.

He nods once, and you grin, taking that as means to push as far up as you could, and with your entire weight and clench of your muscles, sunk back down against him.

A savage snarl ripped from Shouto’s throat, more animal than man as he tore at your lips, his mouth open with a hot tongue and teeth that tugged at your lips. You had no choice but to open up, letting his tongue meet yours while you felt his cock throbbing against your clenching walls. You met him in full innocent need, your kisses were uncoordinated attack from all angles, his hand working their way to your ass, once again gripping and pulling that the soft and warm flesh.

Your hips rolled against his, lifting up and falling with growing forces, 

The small of Shouto’s waist burned raw from how it kept curling into the mattress, his shoulders singing with sharp pain from your fingernails. Your breaths puff against Shouto’s lips as if you had never taken a single deep breath in your life like you’d flung yourself into the open flames just to fuck Shouto. The fill of his cock, the maddening way that his cock filled you out, it made your head spin and your knees tremble. With each twitch of his cock, his protruding veins pushing against your spongey walls, increasing the sensation, sending fire to your curling toes. Your weight pushing heavy on Shouto now, sandwiching him hard against the gentle mattress when he couldn’t meet you in an upwards thrust, too lost in the sensation of your smoldering cunt around his cock. 

Shouto’s thighs and stomach quivered in your conquest, his words an unclear babble in his prayer to you. The air was filled with the scent of sex, sweat, cum, and something else. Something you couldn’t put your tongue on, but it stirred you on more with the wet slapping noises of your meeting hips.

It was too much, too much, yet nowhere near enough.

“Y/n, I’m gonna—” Shouto searched for his words a short raspy cry, his cock swelling up and pulsing in your clenching walls, his fingers clenching around the nape of your neck. Bringing you in for another hot kiss. “Gonna—”

“Cum for me,” was the only thing you rasped in his mouth, your lips a deceivingly soft push against Shouto’s bruised lips.

Shouto shot off inside of you like an exploding fire, his eyes squeezed shut so tightly he could only see white and feel you. His grip tightened around your body, pressing you slick against him. But the increased angle is what sends you over the edge, your eyes rolling when your body tenses, pleasure, and relief swallowing you whole when your orgasm overcomes you.

“Shouto,” you mewl in a cracked croak of a voice, your face buried in Shouto’s shoulder as he feels your walls spasm against his cock in almost insane ways. 

“That… shit,” he breathes, unable to think.

“Yeah, same,” you mumble, moving to press a kiss onto his lips.

His body rolls off warmth from his skin, and together, the two of you fall asleep on the bed, entangled in sweat and cum and only elation in your blood.

bonus!

“TODOROKI-KUN!” Iida’s voice pierces through his phone when Shouto wakes up the next morning.

“Iida,” he greets, watching while you brush your teeth, studying the various marks on your body from the night before.

“WHY DID YOU RELEASE A SEX TAPE?!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Iida?”

“CHECK THE NEWS RIGHT AWAY!”

BREAKING NEWS: PRO HERO SHOUTO CAUGHT IN BED WITH CAMGIRL UNDER THE NAME APHRODITE

It was then that the two of you realized you had never turned off your session.

#todoroki x reader #todoroki shouto x reader #todoroki smut #bnha x reader #bnha

[gwenbrightly]

The Gingerbread Caper

Cross-posted from ffnet.

The quiet atmosphere of the monastery was broken by the sound of screaming originating from Kai’s bedroom, waking anyone who still happened to be asleep. Nya groaned in annoyance and covered her face with a pillow. Wu was letting them slack off from Sunrise Exercises and she really didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to take advantage of that.

“GET IT OFF ME!!!” Her brother screamed again, forming coherent words this time. That was it. Obviously, the master of water wasn’t going to be sleeping in today. She threw her pillow aside and climbed out of bed, eyeing her clock resentfully. It was far too early for this. Not that 10 am was particularly early (but still!). She trudged from her room still wrapped in one of her blankets.

“What the heck, Kai?” Nya demanded when she reached Kai’s bedroom just down the hall. The master of fire sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He tossed something at her in disgust. She caught it with minimal effort. A gingerbread man. Or, at least, what was left of one. The poor cookie didn’t have any head.

“This better not have been you, sis.” he stated. Nya rolled her eyes, tempted to return to the comfort of her bed rather than deal with her over dramatic brother.

“Like I’d ever stoop so low. Seriously, you didn’t need to scream like that. It’s just a cookie.”

Kai gaped at her indignantly.

“Would you wanna wake up with some creepy soulless human wannabe in your bed?”

“Now there’s a quote I should send to your lovely girlfriend right away.” Nya laughed. He glared at her for a moment before suddenly shooting up from his bed.

“Skylor!”

“What?” she asked, confused, “I swear I wasn’t actually planning on sending this to her.”

“No, she’s supposed to be coming over today to decorate cookies with us!” he reminded her. Nya face-palmed.

“I can’t believe I forgot about that…”

“Actually, this is perfect. She’ll be totally unbiased about this whole gingerbread man fiasco.” Kai mused, already deep in thought. His sister frowned at him. It was obvious he had something up his sleeve.

“What are you planning?”

“Don’t look so worried, Nya. This is just like one of Ninja Noir’s mysteries! I just gotta follow the trail of evidence and eventually, I’ll be able to eliminate the impossible and find the truth!” Kai told her, quoting his favorite detective series.

“Kai, no.” she said, attempting to prevent the situation from getting totally out of hand. He ignored her, instead opting to head over to his closet to grab something. When he turned to face Nya again, he was wearing a fedora.

“Since when do you own a fedora?” the master of water questioned. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.

“Shhhh,” he cut her off with a wave of his hand, “Just go with it.”

Nya sighed, but followed him to go wait for Skylor to appear.

_________________________________________________________________

“Do I even wanna know what I just walked into?” Skylor wondered when she caught site of the scene playing out in the living room. Her boyfriend stared suspiciously at Lloyd and Jay, who were playing what appeared to be a rather intense game of Fist to Face (Ninja Edition!). It took him a second to register her presence. Nya waved her over, smiling apologetically.

“Someone,” Kai began to explain, holding up the cookie, which he’d gotten back from his sister, “thought it would be funny to put this in my bed and I wanna know who.”

Skylor resigned herself to another of Kai’s chaotic schemes. She already knew he had a problem with gingerbread people (and Christmas elves, and those little expanding bath toys they sold at the dollar store for that matter), though he wouldn’t tell her what it was about the holiday treats that bothered him so much.

“Eh okay. How can I help?”

“Are you sure you wanna do that?” Nya asked at the same time as Kai said, “You can be, like, the insanely hot mystery woman who helps the dashing detective (me) solve the mystery.”

“Real smooth, dork. But sure, why not.” the redhead decided, punching the master of fire’s shoulder lightly to distract from how rosy her cheeks were all of a sudden. He grinned in delight.

“Cool! Oh, and I guess Nya can help too.” Kai added as an afterthought. Nya raised an eyebrow.

“Well, you’re obviously not a suspect, sis! The gingerbread man couldn’t have been in my bed long or it would have crumbled, and you value sleep way too much to have gotten up early enough to orchestrate this.” he stated confidently. She didn’t look like she was taking this as a compliment.

“So, detective Smith, where do we start our investigation?” Skylor prompted. She had no desire to see the siblings get into a debate over their sleeping habits.

“Oh. Uh… We have to interview our suspects!” announced Kai, dragging Skylor and Nya over to the two video game playing ninja.

“Oh, hey guys. You wanna join our next round?” Jay offered, not taking his eyes off of the screen. He rapidly pressed several buttons on his controller at once.

“Yeah, it’ll be way more fun with more players!” agreed Lloyd. He gave a smirk of triumph as his avatar landed a final hit on his opponent. The master of lightning groaned, disappointed.

“Actually, I think Kai had something he wanted to ask you.” Skylor informed them. Jay and Lloyd set aside their controllers, curious. The sight of Kai in a fedora was unexpected; Lloyd was usually the only one who found them fashionable enough to wear.

“Oh, okay. What’s up?” the green ninja asked, wondering what on earth could be so pressing that Kai had gotten Nya and Skylor involved.

“I was wondering if you knew anything about this?” answered Kai he shoved the cookie under his brother’s nose. Taking note of the gingerbread man, Jay demanded, “Hey – how’d you convince Zane to let you have one of his cookies?”

He’d tried to snag one earlier that morning, only to be thwarted by the master of ice, who insisted they must save the gingerbread cookies for Skylor’s arrival. This was rather unfortunate, as they smelled utterly delicious.

“No, I- you’re telling me that you, the two biggest pranksters around, have no idea how this got in my bed?” Kai stated, skeptical. The two ninja shook their heads. It appeared he was going to have to use a different interrogation method to get answers. He judged his sister. She glared at him. He nodded pointedly at Lloyd and Jay. Not wanting to give in so easily, Nya stared at Kai silently for several minutes before finally relenting.

“If that’s true, then you won’t mind telling us what you’ve been doing all morning.” she said in her best police officer voice (and secretly wishing she had a fake mustache on her).

“Oh, that’s easy. We’ve been having a Fist to Face (Ninja Edition!) tournament for the past couple of hours. Just look at the scoreboard,” Jay told them with a shrug, “I mean, it is kinda embarrassing to see how many times Lloyd’s hooped me already today, but if it gets you to stop looking at me like that…”

Lloyd nodded, the picture of innocence. They took a closer look at the screen. Sure enough, the scores for the past thirty or so rounds, along with the times they were completed scrolled across the pause screen.

“Huh. Well, I guess you’re off the hook. For now, at least.” Kai decided, wondering who he should use his detective skills on next if the most obvious suspects had been ruled out.

“Maybe Zane knows who it was. He’s been in the kitchen all morning.” suggested Lloyd as he set up another round of the video game. Skylor grabbed Kai’s elbow and drug him towards the door, saying, “Good idea. I need to give him the extra sprinkles I brought anyway.”

Nya mouthed I’ll be back later to her boyfriend before following them. Instead of heading directly to the kitchen, Kai insisted on examining every nook and cranny of the hallway. He held a magnifying glass he’d somehow ended up with, though no one could say for sure where it had come from, and was doing his best to mutter what he thought sounded like very professional and insightful comments.

“Ahah! A trail of crumbs. Collect that for evidence, Sky.”

The redhead pretended like she hadn’t heard him, sharing a grossed out look with Nya.

“Oh, hey! Weren’t you missing an earring, Nya?”

Kai held out something sparkly and blue.

“Uh…thanks.” Nya accepted it, a look of utter surprise on her face. She’d been searching for this earring for weeks. Could it be possible that Kai was actually… good at this detective stuff?

“The detective and his sidekicks arrived at the kitchen at approximately 11:05 am., wondering what clues they would uncover inside…” Kai loudly announced, interrupting Nya’s thoughts.

“Hello!” Zane greeted them. Bowls of frosting in an impressively wide range of colors lined the counters along with several different kinds of sprinkles. Pixal was currently adding a few drops of vibrant red food dye to one of the few bowls that remained uncolored.

“Yes, welcome! Did you bring the sprinkles?” she asked. Skylor pulled a jar from her purse.

“Yep, here you go.”

“Thank goodness,” exclaimed Zane, taking them from her, “Dyeing sugar crystals by hand just isn’t effective.”

“Tell me about it. We tried it at the restaurant one time when we were in a pinch and… it didn’t work well.” the redhead recalled. Having grown bored with the conversation the others were having about epic fails with sprinkles, Kai examined the trays of cookies stacked next to the oven. Just as he’d predicted, one row of cookies was missing a gingerbread man.

“Hey, Zane, Pixal? You guys have been in here all morning, right?” he asked, casually. The two nindroids glanced at each other. Zane was the first to reply.

“Well, I stepped out for a few moments to bring Master Wu some oolong tea – he claims to be feeling a bit under the weather today – but, other than that, yes. Why?”

“I’m trying to figure out where this cookie came from. You didn’t happen to, say, give one of these to someone, did you?” Kai showed them the gingerbread man, curious to see their reaction. He was a little disappointed when neither of them did anything incriminating.

“I suppose it’s possible that Cole took it when I wasn’t looking. He came in here while Zane was gone to grab some extra tape.” Pixal said thoughtfully. Ahah! Kai’s eyes lit up.

“So he’s wrapping presents, huh,” he mused, “I wonder if he’s gotten to mine yet…”

“Kai! I thought you were being a detective, not some nosy kid!” his sister hissed disapprovingly. He huffed indignantly.

“I’m just curious, Nya. And besides, all the best detectives can multi-task.” Kai defended.

“Suuure.”

“Anyway, thank you for the info. We may be back later.” the master of fire stated in a more professional tone, heading out into the hall once more. Zane and Pixal waved as the others left, not sure how else to respond.

En route to Cole’s bedroom, Kai immediately reverted back to carefully examining every small space, carpet snag, and leafy garland in sight. Nothing escaped the lens of his magnifying glass. Not even his sister’s tennis shoes, which kept blocking his view. If he could just find something, anything, that would prove once and for all who was guilty of this delectable crime… Wait. Kai caught a whiff of something cinnamony wafting off of a wreath hung across the hall from the master of earth’s door. He sniffed the gingerbread man. It was the same smell. Reaching into the wreath, he plucked something small and round from inside. Victory! Skylor stared at him in confusion for a few minutes before realizing what he was holding.

“Is that what I think it is?”

Kai held the two pieces of the gingerbread man together.

“Yep. Looks like we might just have an official suspect.”

“You’re so weird…” Nya muttered under her breath. She was pretty sure nothing would possess her to behave like this.

“Hey, it worked pretty well, didn’t it?” Kai pointed out, slinging an arm around her shoulders. She sidestepped quickly, shrugging it off as she went.

“Well…” she started reluctantly, “I guess we’d better get in there and get some answers.” She swung the door open. They could hear the pleasant tune of the Nutcracker soundtrack playing on Cole’s phone as they entered. The ninja in question sat at his desk, surrounded by wrapping paper. He turned around and blocked their view of whatever else was on the desk before quickly asking, “Do… you need something, or are you just here to enjoy the total masterpiece that is the Nutcracker?”

“Uh, yeah. Though, it is definitely a classic.” Nya told him appreciatively. They would have to pull out the recording of Cole’s 6th grade performance of the ballet that Lou had given them one day soon.

“Let’s cut to the chase. We know why you were really in the kitchen, Cole.” Kai cut in impatiently. Cole’s face flushed with embarrassment.

“Aw, man! You’re not gonna tell Zane, are you?” he stammered.

“…What?” the master of fire attempted to ask.

“This is a one-time thing, I swear! His frosting is just too delicious to resist.” Cole continued sheepishly, oblivious to Kai’s question. Kai, Skylor, and Nya froze. This wasn’t at all what they had been expecting him to say.

“Zane’s…. Frosting?” Skylor repeated, wanting to make sure they had heard him right.

“Well yeah. I’ve been snacking in it all morning,” the master of earth admitted, showing them a mostly empty bowl, “It’s so good! Wait - what did you think I was talking about?”

No one replied at first; they were still processing the unexpected turn of events.

“We… may have thought you put a headless gingerbread man in Kai’s bed to mess with him.” Nya ultimately explained. Cole couldn’t help himself. He burst into laughter at this admission.

“Wow, I guess that explains the looks on your faces right about now. But as totally brilliant of an idea as that prank is, I had nothing to do with it. Sorry.”

“Eh, it’s okay. We probably shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions when Pixal told us you’d been in the kitchen. Or when I found the gingerbread man’s head in that wreath. In hindsight it was a pretty weird hiding place.” Kai said apologetically.

“Yeah.” his sister agreed.

“Almost…. Like someone wanted us to find it…” he continued.

“You think whoever did this tried to frame Cole?” Skylor questioned, finishing his thought. It was all coming together now.

“I guess I do…. Oolong tea not licorice…. Hang on a sec, I think I solved this thing!”

Nya gave him a look, as if questioning his sanity. His ramblings made little sense to her.

“No offense, Kai, but you lost me at tea.” she told him with a frown.

“Me too, honestly.” Cole nodded, equally lost, especially since he had missed a majority of the investigative process. Kai rolled his eyes in exasperation and said, “Just make sure everyone meets me in the living room in five minutes, and I’ll explain then, okay?”

“Even Master Wu?” Cole clarified, not wanting to disturb the old man without a good reason.

“Especially Master Wu.” Kai confirmed before dashing out of the room and leaving everyone else to wonder whether or not the master of fire was going to crash and burn.

He paced back and forth across the living room, earning the occasional odd look from Lloyd and Jay, who had moved on to arguing over the existence of a plot hole in the latest Starfarers movie.

“I’m telling you, Jay. They left that part vague so that it can be expanded on in the sequel!” Lloyd insisted. Jay didn’t look like he agreed with this statement, still stuck on his accusations of lazy writing. He was rescued from having to formulate a convincing comeback by the arrival of the rest of the residents of the monastery. Nya and Skylor had returned to the kitchen for the pair of nindroids, leaving Cole to retrieve Master Wu. The room was suddenly filled with noisy conversations as everyone claimed a seat.

“Okay. Let’s get down to business.” Kai practically shouted over the din. One by one, the others stopped talking and looked at him.

“Alright, let’s get this hare-brained scheme of yours over with so we can have lunch, then.” Cole encouraged, speaking for everyone. While they were curious to see if Kai had actually figured out who had pranked him, they had also gotten more than a little tired of being on the receiving end of his investigative tactics.

“Right. As you all know, I woke up this morning to find a decapitated gingerbread man in my bed,” the master of fire began dramatically, making sure everyone could see the cookie, “at first, it seemed like our resident pranksters, Lloyd and Jay, were the obvious suspects. However, they both had a strong alibi… It couldn’t have been them – they were right here in this room playing video games when the crime was committed.” he crossed over to Zane and Pixal, “next, my lovely assistants and I headed to the source of the cookie – the kitchen, in the hopes that someone there would know what had happened. Our ever-watchful ice ninja hadn’t seen anything suspicious. He stepped out for what, 15 minutes tops?”

“That is correct,” Zane nodded.

“He was getting Master Wu some tea because he was sick,” Kai explained, “more on that later. Pixal told us that Cole had come looking for tape while Zane was gone. We figured maybe he could give us some answers, so we headed for his room, and you know what we found in the wreath across the hall from his door?”

“That’s right,” Nya jumped in, though she still wasn’t sure how relevant it was, “The missing head!”

“Exactly. So obviously that must mean that Cole’s the culprit, right?” Jay and Lloyd looked at each other. Were they supposed to agree?

“Wrong! If he’d taken the cookie, he would’ve eaten the head right away, not hidden it. The only thing Cole was guilty of was stealing a bowl of frosting for a mid-morning snack. And that’s when it hit me. What kind of tea does Master Wu always drink when he’s sick?”

“Licorice?” Lloyd offered. Kai smiled triumphantly.

“Bingo. But when he asked Zane to bring him some tea, he asked for Oolong tea, which he never drinks when he’s sick because it tastes nasty with honey in it. Master Wu, you’re not really sick, are you?”

The elderly spinjitzu master smiled weakly at him, but did not deny the accusation.

“Here’s what happened: Master Wu asked Zane to bring him some tea because he knew it would distract him long enough for the real gingerbread prankster to put their plan into action. Knowing she only had a short amount of time, Pixal grabbed a cookie and snuck into my bedroom to plant it on me. She also hid the gingerbread man’s head in that wreath in case someone came looking for it later. She only barely made it back to the kitchen before Cole arrived.”

Skylor snapped her fingers, excitedly jumping in.

“I get it! When we showed up in the kitchen to ask Zane about the cookies, she told us about Cole because she knew we’d find the head and think it was him.”

“Exactly! And it would’ve worked, too, if the tea hadn’t made me suspicious. The only thing I haven’t figured out is why….” Kai paused, staring at them, “Why did you do this, guys?”

Wu stood and walked over to him.

“To put it simply, we wanted to help you overcome your phobia of gingerbread people. It gets in the way of you spending time with your family and friends every year. I know it wasn’t a very kind thing to do, but I honestly felt it would be worth it in the end to see you enjoy the holidays a bit more.” he admitted, placing a hand on Kai’s shoulder.

“And I do believe it worked!” Pixal added, “although you were certainly annoyed, you didn’t seem frightened at any point this morning.”

Kai made a funny face as he thought about everything that had happened. However misguided Pixal and Wu’s plan had been… he didn’t feel the disgust and terror he was used to when he looked at the gingerbread man in his hand anymore.

“You know, I think you’re right… don’t get me wrong, I’m still kinda irritated that you thought this was a good idea. But… thanks.” he told them. Out of all the holiday adventures Kai had had, he was pretty sure this was the strangest. Later that day, after they had finally eaten lunch (much to Cole’s relief), he had to smile when Zane didn’t hesitate to hand him a gingerbread man to decorate. He set to work carefully frosting it so they it resembled a detective with a trench coat and fedora, proudly displaying it with the rest when he was finished. It was nice to see that gingerbread people weren’t so bad after all. Ninja Noir would be proud.

Hopefully this ridiculous story made someone smile today :) it was literally so fun to come up with hehe

#Ninjago #Ninjago fanfiction #my fics #ninjago Christmas #Kai loves detective novels #Who put a decapitated gingerbread man in his bed? #Yall are gonna have to read to find out #Pixal and wu just wanna help but are really bad at it #Cole eats frosting by the bowlful but can we blame him? No #You guys I am seriously so proud of this

[komorebirei]

Fantaisie (Music AU Drabble) - Umbrella

(Read on AO3)

In which Gabriel is a jerk and Adrien tries to make up for it. Featuring an umbrella, and bad jokes.

This happens a few days after the previous chapter, It’s Official.

—

“I still don’t hear any emotion. You're just running through the notes, but there's no movement. Try again.”

That makes the fifth false start. Marinette grits her teeth, setting her bow to the strings, and tries again.

Before the end of the second phrase, Gabriel holds out a hand, gesturing for Marinette to stop playing. The thin line of his mouth is pulled down at the corners in a grimace of distaste.

“Sit down, Miss Dupain-Cheng.”

The words feel like ice dropping into her belly. This is it—the opportunity is over.

Marinette takes her seat in the first row of the intimate performance hall where the master class is taking place. She tries to keep her dignity—posture straight, face neutral—but she can feel the prickle of eyes following her, and minds judging her.

“I can’t fault you on your technique, but I wouldn’t pay a cent to hear you play when you don’t have a story to tell.”

Gabriel’s words strike home. Expressing through her music is a battle she fights every day, but hearing it from him, her role model, hurts more than her self-flagellation. She wants to scream with frustration, but she forces herself to smile demurely and nod in acceptance of his critique.

She wishes he could have heard her play more, at least. But if she can’t capture the audience within the first measure, what’s the point? What is technique for, what is all the hard work for, if she can’t make music?

She’s still not good enough… a harsh fact that sinks in when Gabriel lets the other selected students finish their pieces, at least, and gives them decent advice instead of a slapdown. Hardening her resolve, Marinette mentally prepares for longer hours in the practice room.

—

When the master class ends, Marinette shoulders her case and trudges out of the performance hall, only to be greeted by the encouraging sight of rain streaking down the exterior windows. Great. She didn’t check the weather that morning, as usual, and is without an umbrella.

As the other students open their umbrellas one by one, exiting the building, Marinette pauses at the door, bracing herself to be soaked. At least she knows from past experience that her white hard-shell violin case is watertight, though she’d prefer not to test her luck with such precious cargo at stake.

No choice, though, unless she wants to be holed up in this building for an indefinite amount of time instead of using her time to whip her Bach Sonata No. 1 into shape.

Time for the NASA countdown. Five. Four. Three. Two…

“Oh! Fancy meeting you here, Macaron Girl.”

Marinette instantly recognizes the student in front of her, who’s caught sight of her while pausing to open his umbrella. What a coincidence to run into him again so soon.

“Hey, Adrien,” Marinette replies glumly, not in the mood to talk to anyone. Nonetheless, she feels obligated to be nice to him. He’s been generous enough with his time to run pieces with her before chamber orchestra rehearsal, and he’s even given her his number along with free advice. He’s been nothing but pleasant, and he doesn’t deserve her cranky treatment.

He must sense her mood, because he asks, “What happened?”

Marinette shrugs noncommittally, giving him a half-smile. “Not happy to see that it’s raining, but that’s the least of my problems.”

“Come on.” He motions for Marinette to join him under the umbrella. “I’ll walk you to wherever you need to go. If you want, you can tell me about it on the way.”

Marinette hesitates before accepting his invitation and stepping out under the umbrella. “Thanks… if you really don’t mind.”

“Why would I offer if I minded?” Adrien gives her a gentle smile accompanied by a wink. “So, where are you going?”

“The practice wing,” Marinette answers. “Is it on your way?”

“It wouldn’t matter, but yeah.”

“You’re way too nice… what’s the catch?” Marinette teases, a bit of snark seeping in due to her mood.

“No catch. Anything for a friend.”

Marinette does a double-take. She shouldn’t be surprised at his choice of words—he did announce their friend status when they exchanged numbers. But from what she’s seen, he seems popular. When he’s not at a piano, he’s always talking to someone. She’s spotted him at the cafeteria with different girls. She figures he’s generous with his kind words and they should be taken with a grain of salt… but is she special enough to count as a real friend, or… ?

“What? Did I say something wrong?” Adrien runs his free hand through his hair self-consciously.

“Nothing, just—yeah. We’re friends.” … Real smooth, Marinette.

“Of course we are,” Adrien confirms, like it’s an unshakeable truth.

Marinette starts to understand why people seem to gravitate to Adrien. Sometimes, making friends can feel like a game of give and take, but with Adrien, it doesn’t feel like she has to work for his favor. He gives it easily, freely. She relaxes a bit, finding comfort in the walk under the umbrella with him.

“So, what happened to get you so upset?” he ventures to ask.

“I had a master class with Gabriel Agreste,” Marinette sighs bitterly. She misses the way Adrien tenses and his eyes spark with surprise. “And I got to play four measures, tops? He made me start over five times. He said I didn’t have a story to tell… that there was no emotion.” The words haven’t lost their potency yet. Tears prick her eyes.

“What did you play?”

“Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G Minor.”

Adrien blows out a puff of air dismissively, knowing exactly how Gabriel expects the piece to be played. “Baroque isn’t meant to be emotional and heavy. He’s judging based on his own preferred interpretation… it’s probably not even what Bach wanted.”

“Still, I don’t want to sound boring.” This time, the dam breaks, and angry tears start streaming down Marinette’s cheeks. She isn’t angry with Gabriel Agreste—she’s frustrated and disgusted with herself. She feels dry and utterly unremarkable. “I just don’t know what to do anymore. Sometimes I feel like I should just give up. Why make all the effort if what I play isn’t… inspiring, or touching, or… anything special? It’s always the same feedback. I’m sick of feeling like a robot.”

“Hey, hey.” Adrien stops walking and turns to face her squarely, looking deep into her eyes. “Don’t say that. I know how you play. You have a clean, pure sound that most violinists would envy. It’s a beautiful sound, and I’m one hundred percent sure Gabriel was just being a condescending prick when he said all that. I’m sure there was nothing wrong with the way you played the piece.”

“It could’ve been better,” Marinette acknowledges.

“Well, okay, so you’re still growing as a musician. But that’s totally fine! I already know your technique is great, but learning how to speak through your instrument? That’s the hard part. That’s a process, and you’re still in the middle of it. Don’t be so hard on yourself!”

Marinette nods. She knows this already, she just doesn’t know how to go about that process. It feels like she’s treading water and getting nowhere. Stagnant.

Almost as if he’s reading her thoughts, Adrien continues, “There’s no set formula to master expression. It’s not like there’s a set of études you can practice and magically be able to do it. You already know the language, now it’s all about letting loose and figuring out what you want to say. The how will come naturally.”

“Okay… I guess you’re right,” Marinette mumbles, swiping at her eyes, embarrassed about letting her defenses down. She’s usually not one to cry so easily, but something about Adrien being so sincerely focused on making her feel better has unlocked the side of her she normally wouldn’t show. “I know I just need to work harder. I don’t intend to give up—I’m just frustrated. Sorry for being a baby.”

Adrien’s face softens into a smile, and he moves the umbrella to his other hand to give Marinette’s shoulder an encouraging squeeze. Her shoulder keeps tingling even after he lets go. “Hey, you know why your violin has a chin rest?”

“Why?” Marinette asks tentatively, feeling a bad joke coming around the corner.

“So you can keep your chin up.”

Marinette smashes her face into her palm. “You’re lucky your piano playing is better than your sense of humor.”

Adrien snickers and shoots again. “You know, I respect you violinists. Piano is easy keysey in comparison. You know why?”

This, too, is clearly a setup for a lame punchline. Marinette gives him a deadpan look and a flat, “Why?”

“You guys have to deal with intonation… but for us, the pitches are all black and white.” Adrien grins, basking in Marinette’s exasperation.

“..... I misjudged you,” Marinette finally utters. “I thought you were a cool guy, but turns out you’re a huge dork with a lame sense of humor.” She flashes him a cheeky smile to show she‘s only teasing.

“Well, thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment.” Adrien nudges her shoulder with his. She feels warm despite the chilly weather.

He puts the banter behind them, continuing in a serious tone, “Anyway, Gabriel’s just a man who likes to intimidate people, okay? Prove him wrong. You do have a story to tell, and there’s nothing wrong with needing some time to find it first.”

“Thanks, Adrien,” Marinette answers, suddenly aware of her heart beating faster than usual. They’ve stopped in front of the building that houses the practice wing. “And thank you for walking with me. I’d be soaked otherwise.”

“Anything for a friend, Marinette,” Adrien repeats with a wink, bringing a full-blown flush to Marinette’s cheeks.

“See you around.” With a wave, she spins on her heel and walks into the building, feeling significantly lighter than she did when she first left the performance hall.

By the time she finds an empty practice room and gets settled in, there are two text messages waiting for her.

Adrien: hey new friend, just realized i could’ve been texting you all along. add “slow” to my list of shortcomings.

The second message is a gif of a cartoon cat playing the violin, with the words “CHIN UP! YOU’RE AWESOME!” inserted meme-style across the bottom.

Marinette giggles and texts him back.

Marinette: You really are a sweetie pie-anist.

It’s the worst pun she’s ever made, but she bets it’ll make him smile.

Adrien: XD see, i knew you loved my jokes, admit it. your sense of humor is just as lame as mine.

Marinette: Maybe I’m just lowering myself to your level to get a laugh out of you. ;)

Adrien: well, it worked. ^_^ i’m glad we’re friends.

Marinette grins a goofy grin at her phone. It’s fun talking to him, teasing him. And he has made her feel loads better.

Marinette: The fact that you found that funny just goes to show how much of a dork you are.

She hesitates before sending a follow-up text.

Marinette : Me too, by the way. Marinette: … I’m glad we’re friends, that is.

#Broken Fugue #Miraculous Music AU #ML AU #Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction #Adrienette #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Fantaisie #Reveries Passions

[haloud]

take a chance and don’t ever look back: chapter 2

ao3

Senior year is everything and nothing like it was supposed to be. Maybe if Michael had more chance to watch television as a kid, he would have had a clearer expectation of what was to come; or maybe he just would have had a false hope to rail against.

Whatever the case, in real life he flew blind.

But it’s almost over now. He photocopies his scholarship letter from UNM and sticks it to the roof of his truck so he can look at it when it rains and the stars aren’t out. Final exams are a few weeks out, but for the first time in his life they don’t feel like the end of his world knocking down the door. He did it. He’s in. Everything else is just the credits rolling.

Only one more hurdle to jump.

Michael and Alex still don’t really know each other. Their circles brush a little more these days than they used to—Michael goes where his siblings go, Isobel goes where Max goes, so all three of them go to the Crashdown every day ending in Y. It’s not such a big deal, though, not yet. Prom has always been Michael’s endgame. A big gesture. Something deserving of Alex Manes and his smile and the nose piercing he got over the summer. Max keeps talking about how he and Liz are running out of time, but Michael doesn’t see why things have to end the second he hits the highway. People say long distance relationships never work out, but people also seem to think they’re alone in the universe. Clearly, people need to start using their imaginations.

Now, Michael never skips class, and he’s never really had to put up with bullies despite the rumors he’s homeless because everyone’s too scared of Isobel. But it’s a matter of course that he’d have a handful of hiding places across campus. Last time he grew he ended up too tall to fit in his old spot under the east stairs, but the new spot is even better: a little-used janitor’s closet sandwiched between two auditorium access doors. Spring is his new favorite season, because sometimes when he posts up in there during lunch or after class, he can hear the orchestra practicing for their upcoming concert.

It’s there where he gets the idea to kick off his master plan with a little bit of petty theft. Not the best idea, but Alex hasn’t gotten any easier to talk to, not when Michael’s heart still starts to tap dance whenever they’re in the same room. At least this gets his attention.

Smoothing his hands over Alex’s guitar feels all at once both sacred and utterly profane. He feels it under his palms for hours after giving it back.

And then…Michael always knew Alex was kind, but he doesn’t even have words for what it is that Alex offers him in a steady voice. Nothing to say but thank you, each word like the sound of a gonging bell between them. He doesn’t even get to ask what he was going to ask, too overwhelmed and grateful and awed and small inside.

On prom night, it seems like the whole school’s gone stag this year. There’s Liz and Valenti, of course, but everyone else Michael knows is only coming to party. Even Isobel doesn’t even play at wanting a trophy on her arm this year. When Michael asks her who she’s taking, she goes wan and tense the way she spends too much time going these days and snaps that of course she’s taking him, why, does he not want her to? Some college girl from Albuquerque already making the drive for him?

It stings a little—or, okay, a lot, but Michael gets it better than anyone else possibly could. Sometimes it feels like he knows people best by the way their backs look shrinking in the distance. He doesn’t want that for Is; she deserves to know that she’s always gonna be his best girl. So he spends half the night showing her a good time, making her laugh on the dance floor, keeping her company even when Max drifts away to follow Liz at a distance. It’s a bit of a dent on his plans, but nothing’s more important to him than Is knowing she’s gonna be loved.

The party’s in full swing when she turns to him, eyes sparkling, cheeks pinker than her dress, and says, “Isn’t there anyone else you’d rather dance with? Not that I’m not flattered, of course!”

Michael turns pink too. He feels like he’s been hearing Alex’s name whispered all night, but he can’t be sure because that’s just kind of normal for him. Isobel smiles—not her teasing grin, but a resigned twist of her lips.

“Go,” she says, punching his shoulder lightly.

“Are you sure? I don’t have to—”

“Go, Michael. You’ve done enough. I mean it.” Isobel leans in and kisses him on the cheek. As if to prove her point, she then turns sharply on her heel and stalks like a lioness to some random guy on the dance floor. Michael laughs, shaking his head. Oh, Isobel.

Oh, Alex.

It’s now or never. Michael has to find him in the crush of bodies somehow, has to seize the moment before it’s gone for good. He’s sweating a little too much, though, he’s a little too disheveled, a little too emotional. He just needs to catch his breath, maybe splash some water on his face. Slipping out the side door—really, it shouldn’t be this easy, aren’t these things chaperoned?—Michael sucks in a breath that chills his lungs, the building’s AC cranked up high to compensate for all the grinding, grasping bodies packed into one room. He heads straight for the bathroom, his secondhand dress shoes bouncing eerily off the walls of the deserted school. He rounds the corner, only to slam straight into the sharp shoulder of someone waiting on the other side. It clips him right in the center of his chest and he sprawls back, arms windmilling, until his back hits the lockers with a bang.

“Guerin?” The person almost-shouts. Michael jerks his arms up to cover his face before the voice registers to his brain.

“Oh god, oh god, Guerin, I’m so sorry, I thought you were someone else—” Alex babbles, and Michael jerks his arms down as quickly as they came up. Alex grabs his shoulders and pulls him forward, presses at a few places on his back to feel for bruising. Michael feels himself ragdoll with a combination of adrenaline leaving his body and the sheer sweet relief of Alex touching him with care, but he manages to coordinate his mouth muscles enough to speak.

“It’s okay, Manes, it’s okay. I’m fine.” He straightens up, holding his arms out to demonstrate. Alex relents slightly; the last thing he does is tug the lapels of Michael’s jacket so it settles neat back over his shoulders.

(He really hopes Alex doesn’t look down.)

The silence rattles around the cavernous hallway. Nothing but linoleum and concrete and emptiness in every direction, but Michael and Alex stand occupying the same foot of space, breathing in each other’s air.

Clearing his throat, Michael says, “Uh, I was just—got a little hot in there. What are you doing out here?”

Alex’s eyes dart off to the side, and he chews on his lower lip. Michael is about to say he doesn’t have to answer if he doesn’t want to when the door Michael came through bursts open and spills out four or five loud voices. The color drains from Alex’s face, and Michael doesn’t think, just says:

“I know a place. Come on.”

The two of them take off, cutting through all the shortcuts Michael knows until they reach the narrow auditorium accessway. Even this late at night, the door to the janitor’s closet remains blessedly unlocked.

One thing he didn’t plan for though: it’s a little cramped for two people. Michael’s “don’t look down” problem is going to become a different problem entirely if Alex gets too fidgety. Luckily, it’s at least too dark for Alex to see how he’s lighting up pink.

Potential for embarrassment aside, Michael doesn’t like the angry hunch of Alex’s shoulders, the ducked head, the clenched jaw. He wants to reach out and, and hug him, but he doesn’t know if he’s allowed. Doesn’t know if comforting him like that would be okay.  So he stumbles out, “Hey, a-are you okay? I know it’s probably a stupid question since it’s prom and we’re standing in a janitor’s closet, but—"

“I’m just pissed. It’s Valenti. He keeps popping up, and he hasn’t said anything yet, but I know he’s going to. And everywhere I look there’s a football player staring back. I shouldn’t let Valenti get to me. I kept telling myself this year would be different after last year was so boring and crappy but I’ve spent all night avoiding his stupid cronies instead of having any fun. And then I almost decapitated a perfectly innocent guitar-stealing weirdo.” At that last sentence, his eyes flick to Michael’s and he makes an attempt at a smile, at lessening the tension.

Michael’s shoulders drop in relief, and heart skipping a beat at Alex’s mention of last year, he licks his lips. Last year wasn’t boring for Michael. He’s kind of been measuring time in terms of before last year and after he started waking up with Alex’s name on his lips.

“Night’s not over yet. Pretty much everyone’s still out there. But hey, as Roswell’s resident guitar-stealing weirdo, I totally get it if that’s more your idea of a good time.”

Alex laughs an actual laugh, and Michael has to glance down to make sure he’s just being a sappy dork and hasn’t actually floated off the floor. Then Alex gets serious again and shakes his head.

“Going out and dancing by myself would just encourage them. ‘Get a load of Manes, he’s a loser and a—”

“Who says you’d be alone?” Michael’s voice comes out embarrassingly high-pitched, and he jams a knuckle against his lips. Alex glances at him, one eyebrow cocked, sharp dark eyes flicking left to right like Michael is a puzzle he’s been trying to solve for days.

Maybe even longer.

Outside their little sanctuary and a hallway over, a locker door crashes and the voices from before whoop loudly. The two boys flinch together, and without thinking Michael grabs Alex’s elbow and tugs him slightly behind him, putting himself between Alex and the door. They stay like that for a long moment, as the bangs and shouts move away and go silent. Michael’s head is tilted so he can still look Alex in the eye. Alex’s pupils are dilated in the dim light, but the effect is the same as if—Michael feels a little devoured, just then, a little eaten up. He’s never felt like this before. He wants to bury himself in Alex’s chest and trust Alex to hold him tight. Those long, dark eyelashes flutter every time Alex blinks, and Michael wants to feel them against his cheeks.

Alone again, the outside world feels so far away. Michael turns fully and rocks up onto his toes to bring their mouths closer together, just because he can. “Whaddya say, Manes?” he asks, jerking his thumb in the direction of the faint, faint music.

Alex draws himself up so tall and close it makes Michael’s heart beat faster. His heart falls again, though, when Alex shakes his head.

Then Alex says, “Nah. Not here. If you really want to, you can take me out some other time, where we don’t have to put up with those assholes. Deal?”

He skims his fingertips over the back of Michael’s hand. It restarts Michael’s heart in double-time, makes goosebumps erupt all down that arm. His curls bounce up and down as he nods his head. It’s scary—god, how is he going to come up with something for them to do?—but also Michael can’t stop smiling.

“Maybe I kind of wanted to dance with you, though,” he says.

Alex chuffs a little laugh. “Then maybe I’ll just have to go to dances more often.”

“We-eelllll…” Michael can’t help the spread of his grin, even though all the smiling makes his cheeks hurt. “When you do, maybe you’ll save a spot on your schedule for me?” He knocks his scuffed-up shoe against Alex’s. He’s so warm in this little space they’ve made together. He always picks his hiding places because they feel safe, but he had no idea he could feel like this.

“Yeah.” Alex swallows twice, Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. “I will. I’ll save a spot for you right at the end.”

“The end? That gonna give us enough time?”

“Last song’s as long as you want it to be. Sometimes it even keeps going once you get home.”

Just like that, Michael’s uncomfortable problem is back. His heels hit the floor again flat, and he splutters all undignified as the closet lights up white with Alex’s feral grin.

“I think they’re gone. Shall we?” Alex says while Michael tries to collect himself.

“U-uh, yeah. After you.”

They climb out of the closet into the now-deserted hallway. Alex reaches out and steadies Michael when he stumbles over the lip of the doorframe, but the weight and sensation of his hands just makes Michael feel like Jell-O. At the intersection of the hallway—one side leading back to the dance, one side leading outdoors—Alex stops, grabbing Michael’s wrist to jerk him to a halt too.

“Alex?”

He doesn’t get a response, just intense, calculating eyes boring into him, staring him down. It’s been Michael’s greatest lifelong fear, being dissected, but he lets it happen now. Alex’s eyes pin him down spread-eagle on a steel table, but standing so close to him, leashed by that hand around his wrist, he only feels drifting and docile like a beehive smoked out. He wants to ask what’s wrong but can’t make his brain connect to his mouth to make words.

Slowly, oh-so slowly, Alex reaches out and, with just two fingers, smooths that loose curl back behind Michael’s ear. Michael’s mouth pops open on a breathy little sound as Alex follows that path again, stoking his forehead, combing through his hair. Then Alex nods, just once, like he’s come to some decision. Michael doesn’t know what it might be, but it’s okay, he’s cool with Alex calling the shots from now on as long as they can stay close like this.

“I’m going to the bathroom to freshen up a bit,” Alex says. “Meet me outside by the trellis? We can get food or something before everywhere closes.”

“Y-yeah, sounds good. I’m here with Isobel, but I’ll—I’ll let her or Max know.”

Alex gives him a little smile before he walks away. Michael sways in his direction just a little bit before he collects himself and goes the other way.

Standing under the latticework and the fairy lights, Michael closes his eyes and lets the night feel magical. He lets the whole, vast night wrap around him like the scent of Alex’s cologne pressed up against him in a tiny janitor’s closet. His mind whirls and crashes but for once the noise just sounds like singing.

What if Alex kisses him? Michael’s lower lip tingles, and he bites at it to make it stop. He’s not some blushing virgin; just because Alex is tall and his dark eyeliner makes his eyes look even darker, doesn’t mean Michael should be acting like a princess.

Alex has never had a boyfriend, at least not that Michael knows about. Maybe Alex is a virgin. Maybe Michael could be his first—

The thought makes Michael’s heart skip a beat, and he almost slaps himself before remembering that he is, technically, in public. You’re getting way ahead of yourself, he thinks. Who says Alex wants to be anything more than friends? Maybe Alex doesn’t even want him just because he’s offering. Besides, Michael’s never been with a guy either, so maybe he’d be crap at it…

Great, now he’s just depressed.

“Dude, are you okay? You just went on one hell of a face journey.”

Michael startles bad for the second time tonight, but this time when he whirls around it’s just Max.

“Dude, you know not to sneak up on me.” He smacks Max lightly on the shoulder, and Max rolls with it, nodding.

“You’re right, I know. Seriously, though, you okay? Where have you been all night?”

“Spent most of it with Is, why?”

“Well, she was alone a little while ago when she drove off.”

“She left?”

“Yeah. Said she wasn’t feeling it or something.”

“She was fine when I left her. Hell, she was the one who told me to go.”

They face each other under the fairy lights. Max won’t stop staring. Michael’s skin feels too small for his body.

Finally, Max says, “I’m sure she’s fine. There are a hundred Isobel reasons why she’d want to leave early.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re probably right,” Michael replies, weak with relief. “How’re you going to get home? I’ve,” he runs his hand through the curls at the back of his neck, “made plans, but, uh, what about you?”

“I’ll figure something out.” Max’s voice trails off, his attention already wandering. “I don’t want to leave until Liz does, in case…”

Michael lets out a little bubble of laughter. Shine on you crazy diamond.

“Why don’t you go find her? I’m sure Valenti will stop pissing on her leg long enough for you to get in one dance. Also I’m meeting someone here, so like, would kind of love to not have my dork-ass brother hanging around.”

Max scoffs and shoves at Michael’s head. “Shut up. I’m the cool brother and you know that.”

“Uh huh, says who? Tolstoy? Dostoyevsky?”

“Sholokhov, plebian.”

“Ugh, you disgust me.”

Max laughs again. Then he glances up at the building, brow furrowed. Michael follows his line of sight, heart leaping when he sees Alex hurrying down the stairs, then plummeting into his stomach as Valenti and the rest of the starting line spill out in pursuit.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The night ends sudden after that. The football players disperse, and Max does too, either home or wherever Liz Ortecho went, Michael doesn’t really care. There’s a cold little grain of disappointment in his chest, but the skin of his shoulder still burns where Alex squeezed him as he left.

Michael trails his path out to the parking lot, in no particular hurry, now, for the night to end. Alex is long gone. Michael hopes Liz managed to give him some comfort before he drove away, left angry to a house that hates him, and—

He decides then and there that he’s going to the toolshed that night. He hadn’t been sure if he would before, not sure how taking Alex’s charity would affect things between them. But all he care about now is being there, being close enough that maybe it brings Alex a little peace, as if he can feel him, even if he doesn’t know he’s there.

Something rustles under his foot as he steps off the sidewalk, and he moves his foot aside to reveal a champagne-colored rose, delicate and tightly-furled. The same one that had been threaded through Alex’s buttonhole when they stood so close their chests nearly brushed.

Michael cups it in his hands like it might fly away. That night, he fills one of his cupholders full of water and floats it there for want of a vase.

And there it stays.

#malex #michael guerin #alex manes #roswell new mexico

[wandernic]

My SPOILERY Be More Chill review

In honor of tonight’s opening, I wanted to put together my impressions of the show, brought to you by five off-Broadway and four Broadway preview viewings. I will divide things up by scene/song to better order my thoughts. Please DO NOT read if you haven’t seen or don’t know the story well already. 

(In that case, here’s a mini-review for you: GOOOOO SEE THIS! Okay now do yourself a favor and close this window.)

More Than Survive:

I like the change to Mr. Heere just eating cereal in his underwear, and unable to drive Jeremy to school. This better conveys Jeremy's real frustration with his dad being mentally checked out than the (admittedly funnier) off-Broadway scene, which just made Jeremy seem grossed out by him.

I miss the Chloe-Jake breakup scene a bit, but it didn't really add much to the narrative other than seeing them as a couple for a brief moment. The next mini-scene where Jenna addresses the breakup with Chloe accomplishes what's needed, plus adds to Jenna's narrative as the girl everyone goes to for the dirt and nothing else.

I Love Play Rehearsal:

I would shower Stephanie Hsu with multiple Tonys for this scene alone. Her Christine is equal parts adorable and batshit, and we can easily see why Jeremy finds her so much more fascinating than the conventionally attractive popular girls at school.

Minor gripe: BRING BACK JAKE'S DAB. That shit was hilarious, and in a simple move showed how Jake, while trying to live up to the cool jock everyone knows him to be, has the same amount of dork inside that everyone does.  

The Squip Song:

Ugh I get they're trying to clean this up for a staid Broadway audience, but Rich drawing the penis on the wall and brazenly peeing in front of Jeremy are both missed. Not just for the humor, but because without it Rich just seems like his Squip made him merely mean, instead of confident. That confidence would presumably be what Rich was seeking with a Squip, not to become a garden variety bully, so it loses something in the translation when Rich isn't displaying that through his inappropriate jokes.

I do appreciate Rich's bullying of Jeremy being stepped up, because it's important we get a fuller idea of Jeremy's suffering. Off-Broadway, it just came across as "I can't get the girl I dig and a boy at school sometimes says shitty things." Though certainly emotional bullying is awful, its pervasiveness over a long period of time is hard to convey in a few short scenes. Having Rich also physically intimidate Jeremy makes you feel Jeremy's fear in a palpable way, which leads you to sympathize more with him.

Also can we give Gerard Canonico a Tony merely for the "It's from Japan!" scream? I think, yes. Seriously, his performance in this role is so iconic, it's hard to imagine another actor playing Rich.

Two-Player Game:

The perfect scene for conveying the true dynamic of Jeremy and Michael's friendship. That dynamic being, Michael is a much better friend to Jeremy than Jeremy is to Michael. This is one of the challenges for Will Roland in portraying Jeremy: he is not an easily likeable character. Yes, Jeremy is bullied at school, but he also makes everything about him, his needs, his pain, etc. There isn't a moment in which Jeremy checks to see how Michael's doing (lest we forget Michael is also bullied - the backpack prank was pulled on him, too.) So this song works as both a fun bop, and as a display of the unequal nature of this friendship.

Also, on the whole I *love* Chase Brock's choreography. Especially in "Halloween" and the utterly phenomenal "The Pitiful Children." The one exception is when Jeremy and Michael get up from the bed to finish this song; these moves are clunky and not sharp. It's hard to tell if executed more crisply, they would work better for me, or if the actors are intentionally sort of keeping it loose to demonstrate that these dudes are not as cool as their peers.

Be More Chill:

Jeremy's Squip being activated and the ultimate dramatic appearance of that Squip is one of my favorite moments in the show. My God, the evolution of the Squip from last summer has me floored. It was always good, but what Jason Tam is doing with this character now is must-see. This Squip is like an emotionally abusive partner. He coldy points out what he sees as your flaws, then smooth talks you about your amazing potential, and you forget that you were ever hurt or mad to begin with. Rinse, repeat. He also reminds me of the current administration, in that he'll say something totally out of bounds, then quickly walk it back to where he really wanted you, and you're temporarily swayed by the dial-down that he's not so bad after all. Fucking masterful.

If this man isn't nominated, seriously fuck the Tonys.

Do You Wanna Ride?

What I love most about this besides its hilarity is that it shows a bit of quid pro quo in the seemingly one-sided Chloe/Brooke friendship. While Chloe pretty openly treats Brooke poorly on multiple occasions, when Brooke wants an assist in trying to get Jeremy to say yes, Chloe immediately jumps to her cue and joins in. This is actually more than Jeremy ever helps Michael with anything in the entirety of the show, which is pretty fucking sad when you think about it.

Katlyn Carlson and Lauren Marcus have perfect chemistry as the best frenemies we'd love to hate if only we didn't kind of totally love them so damn much.

Be More Chill Part 2:

I liked the staging for this better at Signature. It serviced the choreography much better when they didn't throw a mall fountain mid-stage that forces them to redirect the dance moves in a less visually striking manner. I especially miss the hoveround rolling down center stage with the mall shoppers trailing behind it. We've already been to Payless and the food court; we know it's a mall. The fountain is unnecessary. Also, can we give Troy a better alter-ego when he goes on? The Starbucks get-up just looks like Michael went to work at his mall job and for some unknown reason put a wig on.

Sync Up:

I love the expansion of the supporting roles in the show, something this song supports to great effect. I don't have a lot more to say on this scene since it's new to Broadway, and I don't remember as much as the other scenes.  Also I believe before this song is when Jeremy ditches his glasses, and I like the change from first preview in how that was accomplished (though I did laugh at the Spiderman rip-off that first night).

A Guy That I'd Kinda Be Into:

I MISS THE PART WHERE BROOKE NODS HER HEAD ALONG WITH CHLOE WHILE LECTURING CHRISTINE. This is in all caps because that shit was comic gold; why take it out? It also demonstrated how in tune with Chloe's whims and emotions Brooke is, which is to say, too much. If I can't have this back, I'm going to at least need someone to explain why it was taken out.

I believe this scene is where the Squip puzzles over the person Christine is, and I love both that she's entirely confounded him, and that post-song, she ultimately defeats his carefully constructed plotting just by being the unpredictable person she is.

As for the song, this has been unchanged that I can see, and that's because it does exactly what it needs to do well.

Upgrade:

One of the best changed scenes from Signature. It was fine there, but is much more fleshed out now, and gives more insight into many of the characters that is needed and appreciated. I especially appreicated the added dialogue between Jeremy and Brooke, in which we get Brooke's insight into her self-doubt, and how Jeremy's seeming interest moved her.  

I did prefer how the Squip insinuated himself more in this scene at the first preview. When he was trying to get Jeremy to get with Brooke, he pretty much physically climbed on him to push him into her on the bleachers. In a future preview, the Squip stood completely away from them onstage, directing Jeremy with hand motions, and I didn't think that worked at. All. Last Sunday, he stood near them and physically pushed Jeremy with just his hand to kiss Brooke; while an improvement, it still wasn't as effective as the first preview for two reasons.

One, the complete disregard for personal space is just much funnier. Two and more importantly, when the Squip was literally pushing Jeremy's body into Brooke's with his own (imaginary) body, it demonstrated an important aspect of the Squip's control of Jeremy. What looks like the Squip being physically seductive is really a demonstration of his seduction of Jeremy's mind. This is significant, because Jeremy ends up doing a lot of things he doesn't particularly want to do, but the Squip seduces him into thinking he does. I found that incredibly effective.

Loser, Geek, Whatever:

My gripe with this otherwise effective scene is the singing of the song itself. Every time it starts to build steam melodically, it's cut off by Jeremy saying/shouting so many of the lyrics. The build-up then has to start again, leaving the song to finish up not as impactful as it could be. This could be a barn-burner Act 1 closer, and instead it's just pretty good. Also I don't know how Will Roland takes that loooooong end note up and down and back again, and still belt as powerfully at the end of it as the start. The show must be using some new can't-even-look-it-up-on-the-internet technology to pump air into his lungs from backstage. This actor has taken on a very difficult character and pitched it just on the line of where it needs to be to work. So impressive.

Halloween:

Love the song. LOVE the choreo (lookin' at you, Chase Brock.) Love LOVE the addition of the Squip front and center. This makes so much sense, because by manipulating Jeremy he's really manipulating all of them, and his inclusion in the midst of the party instead of on its periphery demonstrates this incredibly well.

I don't love the substitution of a pumpkin candle for a gas can. What even was that thought process? That sucks up the drama of that moment almost entirely. What level of foreboding does one accomplish with a pumpkin?

This scene contains my only major problem with the show, and that is Jake's sudden and unexplained loss of interest in Christine. Are we to infer that they slept together once and that's all Jake was after? And that all of his character development in Act 1 was bullshit? In which case what was the point of developing his character at all? This whole thing could be easily fixed by a line or two where Jake realizes he still has feelings for Chloe, but that never happens. I haven't seen the show since last Sunday (when multiple people told me it was locked in), so I hope since that time they've unlocked it to fix the one glaring flaw, either clarifying Jake is a dick, or Jake misunderstood his own feelings. In any event, Britton is absolutely CRUSHING IT with the nuances of Jake, and I can't wait to hear him on the Broadway cast album.

Do You Wanna Hang?:

Katlyn Carlson is a comic genius. All the little touches she throws into this hilariously awful attempt at seduction are amazing. The only part of this I liked better at Signature is when Jeremy asks her if she's jealous, and in this version she's crying while saying "obviously not." (Or at least she was on Sunday). I think this works better if she immediately *stops* crying at that point, playing it like it's the most absurd possible question Jeremy could ask.

Michael in the Bathroom:

Alternate title: George Salazar at the Tonys

Michael is quite simply the beating heart of this show, an odd role for a supporting character. As played by George, he is that quirky, too weird to be popular but too sweet to not love friend that if we were very lucky, we had growing up. Michael is so important because to be frank, Jeremy is kind of a self-involved dick. That would make the show entirely dependent on Will Roland's ability to make us relate to Jeremy through those trials he faces that we've all experienced - and he does an amazing job. But he also gets a Herculean assist from George, who so convincingly relates how steadfast and loyal to Jeremy Michael is, it makes us believe there's something special in Jeremy that warranted this devotion.

A Guy That I'd Kinda Be Into (Reprise):

During the couch scene between Jeremy and Christine, they've cut out Christine's very valid explanation as to why she can't date Jeremy (it involved getting to know herself better first). This is a problem, because it doesn't make sense at the end of the show when she likes him - we never see why she made that leap, so we're meant to assume she likes him for doing the bare minimum of correcting his own mistake. The way it was at Signature, we find out at least that she just isn't in a head space to date someone on the heels of her breakup with Jake, which shows she could be interested in Jeremy once she gets past that.

The Smartphone Hour:

Easily one of my favorite scenes. Tiffany Mann as Jenna is a delight from start to finish, and this is her moment to shine. Her comic sensibility is perfection. Lauren and Katlyn chime in with equally hilarious support.

My only complaint in this number is the slight lyric change to "Jake's house." For pity's sake, we just spent three or four songs at Jake's party; I promise you, we grasp who's house it is. And the change ruins the flow of the song a bit.

The Pants Song:

Okay yes this song is sweetly funny and does exactly what is needed to advance the plot here. But I just want to talk about Jason SweetTooth Williams overall right now. HOW IS HE A REAL PERSON THAT CAN SO EFFORTLESSLY JUMP FROM ROLE TO ROLE WITHIN SECONDS WITHOUT MISSING A BEAT. Mr. Reyes and his delusions of grandeur is my favorite, but Williams brings equal skill to all his roles, including Jeremy's dad. What a talent.

The Pitiful Children/The Play:

This may be my favorite song. Especially with the song, choreography, and performances here, this show is firing simultaneously on all cylinders. I also love that Jeremy and Jenna have an extended conversation that lets us know her a little more. Tiffany Mann gives a heartfelt authenticity to this that is lovely.

I think this is the scene where these critiques go (apologies if not). I wish Jeremy didn't tell his Squip "you were supposed to make Christine like me!" One thing I love about Jeremy is that he is not really into the popular girls, but the most interesting girl. He digs Christine because of all that she is.

When he says this line, he is upset because the Squip didn't make Christine do what he wanted, meaning he now wants her to change to like him. I think this would work better and make Jeremy come across as less of an incel if the line were more like, "you were supposed to make me someone Christine would like!" It was, after all, himself that Jeremy was looking to change - not Christine, who he loves as she is. That is this character's saving grace, and this diminishes it a bit.

That said, I do think there was an overcorrection in trying to make Jeremy more likeable. In the three previews I saw before Sunday, Jeremy tricks Jenna into drinking the Squip-spiked drink. In the last version I saw, he actually tells her what it is, and she immediately drinks it. It's pretty unrealistic that she would do that. Worse, it conflicts with Jeremy's "you were supposed to make Christine like me!" outburst. If we must allow for the fact the Squip has gained so much control of Jeremy he no longer cares that Christine likes him of her own choosing, he's certainly not going to care about respecting Jenna's need to consent to taking the Squip. Given the choice, I would either change Jeremy's line about making Christine like him, or his choice to tell Jenna what's in the drink. Back-to-back, they don't give us a good sense of how much control the Squip has of Jeremy at that point.

After Jeremy and Michael battle everyone and Jeremy makes his final choice, as the result becomes clear, Michael bizarrely explains what is happening on the spot. This makes little sense, especially in light of the fact that at the hospital, he asks Jeremy how he knew what would result from what he did. Um, he didn't know, you literally explained it to him in the middle of the last scene, bro. I would omit Michael's inexplicably instantaneous explanation from the Play scene and let the audience sit with the aftermath a moment, before having it clarified in the hospital scene.

Voices in my Head:

Not a fan of the lyric changes here, which seem to water down the edge of the teens ("she probably thinks that acne is hot") to morph them into Stepford children ("we got your back 'cause we are your squad" - vomit). Otherwise, this scene wraps everything up well and leaves you satisfield with the weird, wild journey you just went on.

What a score (my #1 favorite in all of musical theater history), what a cast, what a show! If there are not multiple Tonys thrown at this masterpiece, any significance the Tonys have is null and void.

In short, GET THERE or you’re missing the show of the year!

#Be More Chill #Joe Iconis #Will Roland #George Salazar #Stephanie Hsu #Gerard Canonico #Jason SweetTooth Williams #Tiffany Mann #Britton Smith #Lauren Marcus #Katlyn Carlson

[faunusrights]

OFFAL HUNT REMASTER LIVEBLOG // CHAPTER 9

oh goody!

well this is it. the Date Chapter. the chapter, in which, the Date happens. lowkey im so fucking hype for this stupid goddamn chapter AAAAAAAAAAAA this is when the sexy got kicked up about seven notches and i know its gonna be a fucking twenty from here on out so LETS GO LESBIANS LETS GO

“Is this your date, Ms. Fall?” he asked.

Cinder didn’t look away from Glynda. “Mhm.”

STRAIGHT OUT OF THE GODDAMN GATE WE DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A SECOND TO EVEN GATHER OURSELVES JUST STRAIGHT UP HUH!!!!!!!!! ‘is this your date’ im legally dead

What the fuck.

already im fucking THRIVING im so glad this chapter’s mood got encapsulated within the first ten seconds and im definitely gonna have to re-read this chapter for the full unannotated experience OOOOOOOOOH MY GOD IM SO READY

Glynda’s thoughts ricocheted inside her head like coins left in a dryer. A part of her couldn’t understand what was happening and disengaged. The rest of her, grasping for purchase in all this, reasoned that going with Cinder was better than staying here confused, alone, and utterly displaced.

glynda ‘i aint ever had a gf before’ goodwitch at her PEAK right here. like GOD shes gone from ‘cinder’s trying to murder me’ to ‘cinder just plopped me right into a date’ like CINDER. CINDER YR CHANGING GEARS SO FAST. YOU DIDNT EVEN SEND FLOWERS OR ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

is it because shes a u-haul lesbian or

Higher, Glynda realized the dress itself was backless, revealing the black tattoo she’d seen so often before, perfectly centered between sharp shoulder blades.

this gay energy is BONKERS, quite frankly??????? where did cinder get her dress from? why does she have it? did she buy it just for this fuckery? or will she pull the ‘i just had a this lil number laying around’ line????????? does she wanna seduce glynda to death?????? was this PLANNED OR DID SHE JUST DECIDE SHE WANTED A DATE AND WTH LIFE REALLY IS SHORT ON REMNANT THESE DAYS?????????? cinder fall please explain your workings to the class

maybe Glynda wasn’t the only one who’d become adept at reading her opponent.

👏 when 👏 will 👏 they 👏 kiss 👏 already 👏👏👏👏

me: this is a slowburn also me: if u assholes dont give me this in the next ten seconds-

“Unarmed? As if you could be so helpless.”

cinder’s style of flirting is just. commentating on a person’s deadliness. that’s IT it’s the only TRICK SHE HAS and its working, is the thing,

im reading the description of the table and remembering the shitpost and oh my god i have to draw this???? hell IS real!!!!!! COULDNT YALL JUST TOSS EM IN A PLAIN BOX,

Cinder eyed her from her bastion of dark cushions,

cinder, ass-deep in cushions: this is peak cuddle territory come and join me

Cinder, for her part, seemed delighted Glynda had noticed. Touching the pendant more gently than Glynda might have ever thought her capable of, Cinder said,  “Yours? You didn’t seem to mind parting with it.”

im still deeply enjoying this powermove the novelty NEVER wears off (and at risk of light spoilers i do enjoy its place in this story 👀)

Cinder let the necklace drop, settling against the swell of her bust once more,

/lightly coughs 👀👀👀

im losing my MIND at how gay this bit is i physically cannot HANDLE IT and if they even describe the meal once im gonna pop off cause i am. SO HUNGRY RN. AAAAAAAAAAAA

Cinder indicated a dish of lamb and vegetables, served on a bed of rice and drizzled in some sort of sauce.

SRY THIS ISNT GAY BUT OH MY GOD IM SO HUNGRY I WANNA E A T I T THAT SOUNDS SO GOOD UGHGHGHGHGHGH WHY DID THIS CHAPTER HAVE TO BE TODAY OF ALL THE DAYS,

Glynda cleared her throat, working out: “The Grimm.”

like. GOD WE KNOW GLYNDA IS JUST SO FUNCTIONALLY BAD AT CONVERSATION BUT OF ALL THE THINGS glynda please just. just. stop thinking abt her sexy tattoos for a fifth of a second,

“You can control them.” A sedate blink. For all the world, Glynda might have just commented on the weather.

which is a faux pas for a date!!!!!!!!!!! at least tell her the DRESS IS SEXY WE ALL KNO WHATS WHAT YR THINKIN ABT

Glancing down as though it were being pointed out to her for the first time, Cinder shrugged and adjusted the end of the glove a little higher on her bicep. “And?” 

a quick aside im enjoying how like... visually expressive cinder is in this remaster! i can see her facial expressions and her motions really clearly in my mind’s eye which is a fun little boon if only because i have to redraw this nonsense hjsgdfjhfksgd but cinder’s got a Good Face this time around! A QUALITY FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You should know by now, there’s something about you that’s simply irresistible to Grimm.”

HERE COMES THE PLOT (and a single surviving line so far... this one sentence has survived all the world could throw at it... we stan)

Cinder straightened, and Glynda saw that this was what she’d been waiting for.

“It isn’t every day the great Glynda Goodwitch kneels before her adversary, is it?”

HELLO??????????????????????????? WHATS THIS WORDING????????? honestly tho for a second i thought she meant like. quite literally and i thought id missed some PROPER SHIT RIGHT THERE BUT YEAH WTH!!!!!!! C I N D E R

“You cheated. You can’t beat me on your own.”

yes glynda we gathered that yr a top

“Really, Glynda? Poison?” she sneered, something like offense simmering in her expression. “After all this?”

looks at the camera

anyway,

god im literally losing grasp of words to say because theres such a charged mood in this scene............. theyre brushing fingers............ trading jabs.......... im slurpin it up babey!!!!!!!! this rly is the BEST remaster of this whole scene it DESERVES this wordcount!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Beat you,” Cinder corrected. “And call it a point of pride.”

yes cinder we gathered yr a brat,

this dynamic is why this fic is so fuckign good when will winter have a swift return to add even more fuckery to this wild ride

Then, with a heavy-lidded look, Cinder found Glynda’s hand between them, the touch so sudden and daring that Glynda flinched. The fabric of those gloves was smooth against Glynda’s flesh, and for all that cruelty had marked every other instance of contact between them, Cinder was surprisingly gentle.

whomp there go my nuts

WHAT IS THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHO MADE THE EXECUTIVE CHOICE TO ADD THIS LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELLO???????????? im losing my BRAINCELLS

What she wasn’t ready for was for Cinder to guide her hand to her own throat and hold it there.

THERE IS IT THERE’S THE KINK IT’S BEEN SPOTTED

oh my GOD what even IS THIS WHO ADDED THIS SECTION WHO ALLOWED THIS TO COME TO P A S S WHAT THE FUCK EVEN IS RN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELLO????????? HEWWO??????????

Now… Now Cinder interested her.

tbh how can i liveblog this? what commentary can i POSSIBLY add that we arent already all THINKING. we just launched into a level of hell so deep that lucifers gonna have to pull some goddamn tricks to follow us down here!!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS THIS SCENE! THIS MOMENT! IM SCREAMING

Glynda mirrored the expression back at him, and finally, he coughed, not making strong eye contact with either of them. He set their plate before them and hurried out without so much as a check-in.

i just KNEW that was gonna happen JHGDSFGJHKSDF he was gonna walk in on SMTHNG but i didnt think itd be CINDER’S CHOKING KINK,

okay i took a break and ate my weight in roast chicken and we’re back babey

Almost nervously, her fingers carded through her own dark hair, and there, among the locks, Glynda spotted a glimpse of something white, structured and ridged.

AND I AM INSTANTLY KNOCKED BACK UPON MY ASS 👈W👈H😨A👈T👈

It was easier to ignore the rest of it—whatever it was.

glynda you are a fool and a moron im withering into DUST

On no level had she expected those to be Glynda’s words.

then what... did she expect... well probably -- and rightly so -- ‘bitch WHAT ARE THOSE’ TBH

wait sorry i have to jump back because i forgot customary fingerguns on the most brazen bit of Shit yet:

Cinder was occupying herself with something else: the head of a dragon, perched over the door and staring down at the two of them with red, glossy eyes.

👈👈👈😎👈👈👈

okay BACK TO THE FIC

Fangs snapped together around the word.

aka back to me horni

/chanting TEETH! TEETH! TE

okay but the reason i doubled back to catch that fingergun is because we’re getting ass-deep into plot now!!!!!!!!!!! WITCHES AND DRAGONS BABEY......... HERE’S WHAT OFFAL HUNT IS ALL ABT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant rly drop more fingerguns than that because any astute reader will start realising the dots im shouting abt and honestly half the fun of this fic is the ride so >:3c

“Funny. I was sure he would have told you.”

that blow was so low i think cinder hit the concrete with that one

oh god theyre gonna get to the bit and i-

“Is that what all of this has been about? You called me here to remind me that I'm autistic?”

/SCREAMS

The words were delivered firmly, calmly, but Cinder’s response was the opposite, sudden upheaval seizing her. Her expression opened in something akin to panic. “Wh—no? What? No! That's not what I—”

/SCREAMS

oh my GOD CINDER YOU HAVE FUCKED UP LEGENDARILY!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD SHE WAS FELL ASS-FIRST ONTO A LANDMINE OH MY GOD

offal hunt v1 cinder: im totally in control and im playing glynda every step of the way

offal hunt v2 cinder: OH JESUS OH FUCK OH NO THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT-

Cinder seemed genuinely stressed now, speaking quicker as though trying to bury the last sixty seconds.

i knew this remaster would have sections that would blow me away but this bit really took the fcuking cake DGHSJFSJHFDG holy SHIT this is AMAZING

It was difficult to tell in the low light, but if Glynda wasn't mistaken, there was a bright flush of embarrassment coloring Cinder’s cheeks.

this is SUCH prime content hey remember in one of the early liveblogs that cinder would descend into full dork? WELL THE DESCENT CAME EARLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! /pops bottles

“Cinder.” There was a very real line of threat in Glynda’s tone. “Don’t.”

oh this whole scene just keeps getting better i am LOVING this dynamic now!!!!!!! before it was all pretty one-sided so having the conversation rock back and forth is 👌👌👌

That Witch soul of yours—it was designed to void out everything but the prey before you. To be numb to all human emotion. To focus on the hunt and nothing else.

finally the fruit of 50% of my fingerguns COMES TO LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!! PLOT PLOT PLOT

“This is bullshit.” Jabbing an accusing finger at Cinder, Glynda said, “You’re a liar. You’re a criminal!”

i LOVE glyndas pottymouth in this its such a good like... change from her being strict and formal and teachery and now shes full on gremlin huntress hell YES BABY!!!!!!!!!! GO OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“There’s all kinds of things I bet he never told you.” Cinder continued. “Did you know he was close to your predecessor? The Witch who came before you—they were inseparable.”

SRY IM LIKE STRUGGLIN TO COMMENTATE because so much of this like. speaking as an Old-Ass Reader this is like. a LOT! A LOT HAS CHANGED and yet,,,, stayed the same,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, yall kids WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL CHAPTER LIKE................ 15 FOR THIS SHIT (but like. chapter 15 was different because this chapter used to be like chapter 7? so now everythings moved along so chapter 15 doesnt sound that impressive but trust me it was a different fic back then)

When they fell away, burnt and ruined, she could see Cinder’s bare arms for the first time. The red lines drawn across her skin sloped down the entire length of her arms, circling her elbows, carved into her wrists. They ended right at her hands, ensuring any long-sleeved garment would hide them. Every covered inch of her was filled like a canvas, like abstract art.

lets pause the fight scene for glynda to be gay!!!!! god im. okay look i said this earlier but im so glad we have more cinder like this tbh. the first version was rly lacking w/ cinder content until late-game when the plot sorta. got itself going? but now we’re eye-deep in this content i LOVE cinder i love this WEIRDO who is a HUGE LOSER and IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Glynda could not dispel the fear that she had been telling the truth.

and after committing Some Amount In Damages, we’re at the end of the chapter!

okay so i really enjoyed this version SO MUCH MORE. everything abt it was polished and worked together so much better and it really needed the space to breathe in its own chapter. its been horny, gay, intense, hilarious, and way more in one chapter and its SO good this really is PEAK offal hunt!!!!!!!!!!!! good job diesel and kc but im still going to murder you both,

#rwby #offal hunt #liveblog

[stopforamoment]

Part Nine: Don’t Leave Me  (Series 12, Part 9 of 16)

Series Twelve: Putting the Children First (16 Parts) Part Nine: Don’t Leave Me  (Series 12, Part 9 of 16)

Masterlist

Book: The Royal Romance (After Book Three)

Pairing: Bastien Lykel x OC Rinda Parks Word Count: 2,043 Rating: R for Language, a Child’s Violent Reaction while Dealing with Grief, and Mention of an Unwanted Sexual Advance TRIGGERS: The next few chapters will have discussions about the loss of a parent, a child acting out violently because of grief and fear, and some physical violence. There’s also a description of an unwelcome sexual advance and fallout that comes from rape culture (specifically, blaming a woman for a man coming on to her).

A/N: I know this kind of resolution between a child and the parent’s new partner doesn’t come this easily. My personal experience is that I made my stepdad’s life a living hell for years because I had a chip on my shoulder. Please know that Bastien, Drake, and Rinda continue to work with Henry to put his needs first. It isn’t always smooth sailing, but he does have people in his life who always support him.

Author’s Note: Obligatory disclaimer that Pixelberry Studios owns the TRR characters and my pocketbook with those darn diamond scenes. OFC with all of her quirks is all mine. My apologies if Tumblr or I do something stupid when I try to post this. The keep reading link shows up on my laptop but not my phone. Ugh.

Thank you @asherella-is-a-dork-3​ for always being my sounding board! Thank you @liam-rhys-deactivated20180927​ @silviasutton1989 @bobasheebaby for still being a part of the journey!

Series Summary: We’re wrapping up week six and moving into week seven, the week of October 21st. Putting children first is the priority in this series. Rinda and Laura advocate for more social workers and psychologists in Cordonian schools, and the Cordonian Safety Response Program keeps moving forward. Vivian Trakas still isn’t prioritizing her own children, and Henry deals with his own struggles with losing his dad.  

Chapter Summary: Henry takes out all of his anger on Bastien, and Rinda tries to mediate. Henry also brings up something from their past, something that Rinda thought he was unaware of.

Don’t Leave Me

Rinda looked at her son. “Henry, are you upset because we aren’t friends with the Robinsons anymore?” He nodded. Rinda shook her head and looked at Bastien. “The Robinsons were friends of our family. Mr. Robinson and Henry’s dad worked together. His wife and I became really good friends. I think we were best friends. And our families had it worked out that if anything happened to any of us, the other family would be there to help if . . .” Rinda shook her head.  “When. When Jameson died, Mr. Robinson was the one to find Henry in the secured area and tell him that I was fine, but I couldn’t come out yet. His wife was the one who picked Henry up from school that day and stayed with him until I could pull myself together and come home. We spent the first few nights at their house, just so we wouldn’t be alone. That’s how close to us they were.” “Henry, I know it hurt you when we stopped seeing the Robinsons, but it was just too hard for them to see us after Dadders died. It’s different with Bastien because he got to know us after your dad died.” “Mom, stop lying to me. You’re always protecting me. Stop. Fucking. Lying. I know it’s my fault.” Rinda gave Henry a tight hug. “Doodle Bug, what do you think is your fault?” “I heard you yelling at Mr. Robinson, mom. I know.” “When was I yelling at him? When was that, and what do you know?” “I was asleep, but I woke up when I heard you screaming at Mr. Robinson and throwing things. I’ve never heard you so mad before. You were screaming that he was dad’s best friend and Mrs. Robinson was your best friend, and he had to leave because I was in the house. And when he left, he never came back.” Rinda started shaking, but she kept reassuring Henry that it was okay. It wasn’t his fault. And she was so, so sorry he heard that. She didn’t know. Henry saw how sad his mom was, and Bastien the only other person in the room. He was the one to receive Henry’s wrath. “Why does everyone keep hurting her? Stay. Away. From. My. Mom!” Rinda had enough. She didn’t shout, but it was obvious from her tone that she was done. “Henry Jameson Parks, genug! Enough! He’s not hurting me. Bastien, please don’t leave. Henry, give yourself some time and then we’ll talk about this.” But Henry suddenly lunged at Bastien and punched him in the stomach. Then again. And again. He was screaming at Bastien, pounding him with his fists, telling him to go back to Stephan. Bastien just calmly stood there and let Henry punch him, and scream at him, and accuse him. Rinda was terrified. She could barely handle raised voices when her family members were upset, but this level of physical violence was too much for her. “Henry! Stop it! Now! Please! We don’t hit people. We don’t hurt the people we love . . .” Bastien shook his head at Rinda, letting her know it was okay. But she covered her face with her hands and started to cry. She couldn’t bear to see what was happening between the two people she loved the most. How did things get so fucked up so quickly? But suddenly Henry began screaming different words. “Don’t go back to Stephan. Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me.” Henry was finally done punching, and Bastien wrapped his arms around Henry as he continued to scream, and then sob, that he didn’t want Bastien to leave him. “I won’t, Henry. I won’t leave you. I promise I won’t.” Bastien knelt down to Henry and wiped his face. “Why do you stay with me and my mom? We’re totally opposite of them. Stephan is a good football player and I’m not. Ms. Trakas is ready for a new dad and my mom makes it clear that no one will replace my dad, but we have room in our hearts to love other people, like you. Why do you stay?” “Because I love you. And I love your mom. Henry, your mom and I know that your dad can never be replaced. And I knew that your mom wasn’t ready to date anyone right away because she wanted to be sure you’re ready, and she wanted to be sure you like the person she’s dating. And it was so worth it to wait, because I love both of you so much. It’s good that your mom is the opposite of Ms. Trakas and that she took her time to get to know me. That we still take our time so no one feels rushed. That you don’t feel rushed either.” Bastien rubbed his forehead and looked at Rinda, then Henry. “Henry, my parents divorced when my sister and I were little, and my mom remarried too soon. My sister and I hated him, but my mom just thought it was because we didn’t want a new dad. That was part of it. We wished that she would have cared more about our feelings, because no one would replace our dad. But it was more than that. My stepdad wasn’t very nice to us, especially when my mom wasn’t around. I know my mom was lonely, but she should have gotten to know him better before marrying him. “I have so much respect for your mom because she puts you first and because she protects you like that. Henry, you can’t tell anyone else this please, and I know that I can trust you. I don’t respect Ms. Trakas. I don’t even like her. Because she doesn’t care about her children the way your mom cares about you. And I know Ms. Trakas would never be able to love me the way your mom does. And I could never care about Stephan the way I love you.

Bastien looked over at Rinda to see her reaction. Her head was still buried in hands and Bastien wasn’t even sure if she heard what he said. Henry saw that Bastien had set a glass of water on his dresser. “Mom, Mr. Lykel has a glass of water for you. Do you want me to get you a towel?” Rinda nodded. She took a drink of water and wiped her face with the towel Henry handed her.

Rinda looked like shit. She looked utterly defeated, and Bastien’s heart went out to her. He looked at Henry. “Henry. I know you’re mad at me, but please. Let me sit on the couch with you until your mom can come back out. I promise I will never leave you or your mom like that, but I need you to come with me right now.” Henry nodded, too afraid to disobey or do anything to further upset his mom.

Bastien wanted more than anything to comfort Rinda, but he knew Henry needed to come first. So he got Henry’s favorite blanket and wrapped it around him, and leaned Henry against him. And he started rubbing soft circles on his back, softly whistling the first soothing tune that came to his head.

“Debussy.”

“What, Henry?”

“That’s Debussy. That’s one of my favorites. ‘The Girl with the Flaxen Hair.’” He snuggled back into Bastien’s side. “I know it’s short, but mom plays it over and over on our piano or her violin back home when I can’t sleep. And ‘Rêverie.’”

Queen Évelyne.

That’s where Bastien knew the tune. She would play it for Liam and Leo when they had trouble sleeping. And Rinda played it for Henry.

Bastien kept rubbing gentle circles on Henry’s back as he whistled the tune over and over, then hummed it over and over, again and again, as many times as it took for Rinda to pull herself together.

When Rinda came out of the bedroom she sat on the couch so she could face Bastien and Henry. She leaned her head on the back of the couch and smiled. “Debussy is one of our favorites. Did Henry tell you?”

“No, mom. He guessed. He started whistling ‘Girl with the Flaxen Hair’ and I didn’t even ask.” Rinda nodded. She was too emotionally drained to be surprised or to over-analyze the serendipity.

Bastien had stopped humming, but Henry didn’t move away from him. He just shifted so he could see his mom better.

“Henry, Mr. Robinson did leave that night because you were there, but that was a good thing. You being home helped me. And I do miss being friends with Mrs. Robinson very, very much. But that was her husband’s fault. Not mine, and definitely not yours. Everything was his fault.”

“Why?”

Rinda sighed. She looked at Bastien and smiled. “Because he isn’t a good man like Bastien is. After your dad died the Robinsons did a lot to help us, and I don’t know what we would have done without them in the beginning. But that night when you were asleep Mr. Robinson came over and he offered to give me help that I didn’t want, and he was mad when I said no thank you.”

“Like I told Mr. Lykel that we didn’t need his help?”

“Shit, no.” Rinda took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. That was a good question and I’m glad you asked. It wasn’t like that at all. Mr. Robinson knew I was lonely and missed Dadders, but he thought that meant he could kiss me. And he couldn’t, because I didn’t want him to. He couldn’t because I loved your dad too much and I only missed his kisses. He couldn’t because he was dad’s best friend, and that was betraying him. And he couldn’t because he was married, and because Mrs. Robinson was my best friend. That was betraying her too. So that’s the stuff I was screaming at him. And he didn’t leave until I started throwing things at him and screaming that you were in the house. I didn’t know that I woke you up, and I didn’t know you’ve been worried about that for all this time. I’m so sorry.”

“Mom, did you tell Mrs. Robinson what happened?”

Rinda shook her head. “Remember how you didn’t want to tell me or Bastien about what Stephan said? Why didn’t you want to tell us?”

Henry blushed. “I don’t know. It was embarrassing, and I didn’t want to say it. And I didn’t want to embarrass both of you or hurt you.”

“That’s exactly why I didn’t want to tell Mrs. Robinson. I was so shocked at what happened, and I didn’t want to say anything at all. I just wanted to pretend it didn’t happen. But she was my friend, and that would have been a hard secret to keep. Not telling her would have betrayed her too. So I went to sleep that night and I was going to figure it out the next day. But Mr. Robinson told his wife, and that’s why we don’t talk anymore, and that’s why some of the other families don’t talk to me anymore.”

“So she was mad at you because Mr. Robinson tried to kiss you?”

“Well, Mr. Robinson lied and said I tried to kiss him.” Rinda could see Henry starting to get worked up. “Henry, hold on. I know. I was mad too. But I was still so hurt from Dadders dying, and so embarrassed by what Mr. Robinson did. I couldn’t have faced him or his wife anyways or kept pretending everything was fine, because nothing was fine anymore. And Mrs. Robinson was such a good friend that I’d rather have her hate me for that lie, rather than for her to know the truth, because that would hurt her more. So I made that choice for all of us, Henry. Because it’s better that they aren’t in our lives anymore. But you can’t compare Bastien to them. Bastien would never, ever hurt or betray me like that. And he’d never do anything to hurt or betray you like that, either. We all screw up and make mistakes that sometimes hurt each other. But not like that.”

#bastien lykel #rinda parks ofc #choices trr #long post

[ourbooksuniverse]

Meeting Azriel and Cassian

Summary: What if Azriel and Cassian had decided to go say hi to Feyre during her second week at the Hewn City. Set during chapter 11 of ACOMAF.

Special thanks to @howtotameyourillyrian​ for proofreading and giving me feedback and just for being an amazing person!!!

My other writing AO3 « Formerly Evil Queen (Nessian) « Meeting Azriel and Cassian « Tamlin and Ilante in the mud « Part 1 « Part 2 

Feyre POV:

Feyre hadn’t seen Rhysand all week, neither had she seen Morrigan. What was fine by her, she didn’t feel like having people around anyways. She had taken to reading in one of the little lounges overlooking the mountains, and had almost finished her first book when she heard something. No, not something, but someone; multiple someones it seemed. And they were coming her way.

“I’m never helping Rhys pick out his clothes again,” murmerd a male - his voice like shadows given form, dark and smooth.

“Me neither,” said a second deep male voice. “Isn’t that Nuala and Cerridwen’s job?! How the hell should I know what color he should wear, I wear armor most of the time, not fancy suits,” the male continued.

Feyre felt utterly confused. Were these people seriously talking about Rhysand and his clothes?  

“Did you know he gave a hour long speech yesterday about how onyx and jet black are two completely different shades of black?” the first male asked the second. Then he went on in a high whiny voice imitating Rhysand. “No Azriel, this one is totally different from that one. Don’t you see that? No I don’t see the difference between two identical black suits Rhys!” it was clear that the male was smiling when he talked about his High Lord.

“No!” the second male laughed and Feyre couldn’t help but snort in amusement at the ridiculous story. But that amusement faded quickly she had been to distracted by the story to notice how close the two males where to her little lounge. But now they were in front of her: both of them were tall, their wings tucked in tight to powerful muscled bodies covered in plated, dark leather that reminded her of the worn scales of some serpente beast. Identical long swords were each strapped down the column of their spines - the blades beautiful in their simplicity. Like their High Lord, the males - warriors- were dark-haired, tan-skinned. But unlike Rhysand, their eyes were hazel and fixed on her.

Azriel POV:

The shadows that always accompanied him had told him she had heard every word of their little story.  They had also told him she found it funny.  It seemed like their plan was working. The plan to go say hi to the girl they had heard so much about. Cassian and he had come up with it last week when they “accidentally” overheard Rhys and Mor arguing about Feyre, how he was sure that Feyre hated him, how she only saw him as the High Lord of Nightmares, as a villain. So the two of them had decided that they should show Feyre that Rhys is the High Lord of Dreams. They also decided to make Rhys seem like the Dork of Darkness he truly is.

Now, standing in front of the girl, something in his heart broke. She was so skinny, like grief was eating her alive, the dark circles under her eyes stark against her pale skin. Gods, had the girl slept at all after what happened after UTM? Why was no one at the Spring Court helping her? Azriel decided then and there that he would sent spies to Spring, even in Rhysand had told him not to. He realized he was staring at the girl, and tried to come up with something to say. Lucky for him - or not - Cassian was now talking to her.

Cassian POV:

Now that Cassian saw the girl Rhys and Mor had been talking about, saw that she looked more dead than alive. He decided that Spring Court was a court of numbered days. And after he was done ripping that court into small pieces, he was going to talk to Rhys. Hell, he was going to kick his ass across Velaris for not getting the girl out of the Spring Court months ago. Why the hell was Rhys sending her back to that shit eating horrible excuse of a High Lord. Cassian noticed that Azriel had gone rigid next to him. Shit they had to say something. So he opened his mouth and started talking.

“Hello, you must be Feyre” Cassian purred at the female in front of him.

In a quiet but surprisingly demanding voice she said, “Hello, who are you?”

“This is Azriel,” Cassian said his hand clapping Azriel’s back, “the lack of emotion on his face is because smiling gives you wrinkles, so his resting bitch face is to keep him pretty,” Cassian said, introducing his brother, who’s “pretty” face was currently wrinkled, but not because he was smiling. No, his brother was giving him a look that told him he should check his next meal for laxatives and his clothes for itching powder.

“And this is Cassian,” Azriel said with a wicked smile on his face “And he is the reason they have to put instructions on shampoo bottles.”

“Well that’s just mean.” Cassian said grinning.

“You bring out the best insults in me” Azriel responded eyes full of happiness and love for his brother. They both turned to look at Feyre, who was looking at them with her mouth hanging slightly open.

“And why are you here?” she asked them.

“We were looking for Rhysand.” Azriel lied. They both knew Rhys was currently somewhere in the library in Velaris. They had tried to go talk to him earlier this morning, but the bastard was hiding from them. Something he had been doing often this last couple of months since he returned from UTM. Whenever one of them had tried to find him - and the few times they had found him - it had taken them 4 or 5 hours to do it. The only time Cassian had actually found Rhys in the library was when he was almost being eaten alive by the monster that lived in the lowest levels of the library AGAIN!

“Have you seen him? He is about this high” Cassian went on, holding his hand in the air indicating Rhys’s hight. Ooh they would be in trouble if Rhys found out about what they where doing. But his brother needed all the help he could get with this female and who were they to not help their brother? So he continued, “he is smart and funny, but sometimes he can be a bit cranky,” Cassian said as Azriel rolled his eyes, trying his best not to laugh.

“I know who he is and he is not here. He hasn’t been here all week” Feyre said.

“Oh well then, would you like some company?” Cassian said, trying to look as friendly and non.threatening as possible, so they wouldn’t spook the girl more than they already had.

“Eum” she stammered, cleary doubting their mental stability.

“What are you reading?” he ask her quickly, lest she decided that they were indeed crazy.

Feyre POV:

The winged males in front of her seemed to be nervous, like they were scared she would sent them away.  They also seemed crazy, funny, yet bat shit crazy. Maybe they were trying to intimidate her into keeping her mouth closed about what they said about their High Lord earlier? Although it might be the weirdest intimidation she’d ever seen. Maybe it was a way to get her to lower her guard so they could hurt her? Then again, Rhysand had assured her that she was safe, that no one would harm her. Feyre suddenly realized, she hadn’t given them an answer and looked up at them. They were looking at her with something like hope in their eyes. So, hesitantly, she showed them the book she was reading.

The pretty one, Azriel, smiled when she showed it to them. “I read that one” he said.

“Me too,” Cassian said. “What do you think of the main character?”

Did they really just asked her her opinion about the book? “I like her,” Feyre answered nervously. Which appeared to be the right answer if the look on their faces was any indication.

Cassian POV:

This was not going well, Cassian though, Feyre looked uncomfortable, but her eyes lit up for just a second when she answered his question. So he decided that if they were going to get in trouble with Rhys for talking to Feyre, he was going to make it worth the trouble they would get. Azriel seemed to think the same thing. So he sat down in one of the chairs in front of her.  

“Where are you in the book? So we don’t spoil anything for you,” he asked.

“I only have two more chapters left,” Feyre answered in a small voice.

“What do you think of the love interest?” Azriel asked.

“I like her, she seems a good match for her,” Feyre said, this time her voice was a little steadier.

Cassian nodded enthusiastically. “ I love their relationship, love how they didn’t force her to be with the hyper masculine privileged male. Like it is so obvious she’s gay.”

Azriel smiles softly “ I agree with Cassian.”

Feyre POV:

The three of them talked about the book for a long time. At some point, Cassian disappeared for a couple of minutes, only to show up again with cookies and milk.

“Here have a cookie, I stole them from Mor’s room, so they are probably expensive and stolen from Rhys,” Cassian said chipper as he handed her and Azriel one.

Hesitantly, Feyre took one of the cookies and the glass of milk he offered her. She took a little bite and moaned when she tasted what had to be the best cookies in the whole damn world. The two males, now both with a cookie in their hands, were smiling at her.  Feyre wondered how these males, who were now talking about how cute the puppies were, were the same males Lucien and Tamlin had told her were horrible. They seemed nice. Not once did they ask her about the Spring Court or what happened UTM.

She hadn’t realized she was staring at them until Azriel asked her another question.  

“How are you enjoying your stay here?” he asked, the shadows that seemed part of him curling around his ear.

“I kind of like it here” she told him honestly.

A kind smile spread on his lips, which turn into a full smile when Cassian asked her how big of a pain in the ass Rhysand was being.

Something in her heart felt lighter now after the hours she’d spent talking to Cassian and Azriel, so she told them about the shoe she threw at Rhys the first day she was here. Which - to her delight - made Cassian fall of his chair as he laughed.

Azriel POV:

They had been talking to Feyre for the most of the afternoon, carefully avoiding certain topics. Azriel had to admit, she was smart and had some interesting insights on the characters in the book. He understood now why Rhysand liked her; she would fit in with their little family perfectly. If only she didn’t have to go back to Spring. He was about to ask her, if she wanted to read the next book in the series, when he felt Rhysand’s presence. The look on Cassian’s face told him, he had noticed it too. Feyre seemed the only one who didn’t know who now came their way. They needed to get out! Cassian stood up and Feyre looked confused at the sudden change.

“It seems like we have to go,” he said to Feyre, who still didn’t seem to notice Rhysand making his way to them.

“It was nice meeting you.” Cassian blurted out.

“It was really nice meeting you” Azriel agreed.

“We should talk again, once you finish the book.” Cassian said, nervously looking around.

“Goodbye Feyre” Azriel said, grabbing Cassian’s arm and starting to drag him in away from Feyre.

“Bye Feyre,” Cassian said with a wink, stumbling after Azriel.

They just rounded the corner when they heard Rhys’s purr “Hello Feyre darling”. It seemed that they had gotten away with it, but they were wrong. Because not moments later, they heard Rhys’s angry voice in their mind “You idiots are in trouble!” It was quiet for a few moments before Rhys’s voice sounded in their minds again, softer this time. “Thank you for keeping her company.”

Note: I wrote the scene where Cassian is looking for Rhysand in the library and finds Bryaxis instead.  -->  Part 1: Looking for Rhysand

#acotar #acomaf #acowar #cassian #cassian pov #azriel #azriel pov #feyre #feyre archeron #feyre darling #feysand #rhysand #fluff #ourbooksuniverse #court of dreams #hewn city #velaris #sarah j maas #feyre pov

[ffxvthingies]

how the chocobros dance

ignis

NEVER dances in public!

the only exception is citadel events

and even then that’s only if he MUST

It’s to no ones surprise that he’s really good at waltzing and slow dancing

move smooth and percise

but that’s the only time people have ever seen him dance

until Noct came home early and saw Ignis dancing while he was cleaning

to say surprising would be an understatement

Noct just stood there, jaw to the floor, watching silently

iggy was doing a ballet routine with some hip hop mixed in.

the music was some Kpop type group (they’re actually his guilty pleasure)

He looked beautiful dancing!

all flowy and elegent

Noct couldn’t get enough of it (was quickly getting a hard-on due to the beauty)

Then the song ends, Iggy does his final pose

Noct is clapping

Ignis shrieks and leaps back

he crashes into a book case

comics and games are crashing onto him

“what are you doing here, highness!!”

“uhh, i live here? Why did you never tell me you could dance like an actual angle????”

iggy his tomato red with embarrassment

Noct feels bad and helps him up

cleans up the mess while iggy is just standing there too horrified to move

“apologize Noctis, I did not mean for you to see me doing such... things.”

“you’re shitting me right?? Specs you were so good!!”

Noctis demands iggy dance for him more now

it gives him an excuse to go home on time quicker in the hopes of seeing iggy dance

Noctis learns that iggy is the best at both ballet AND hip hop!

which is totally unfair because he looks so good doing both!

Iggy has begun to dance for/with noctis when he knows he had a hard day

he puts on some toons  (which is how Noct learned that iggy not only loves classical music but also rap??? iggy stop having so many interests!!”

depending on the song he’ll dance accordingly to cheer noct up

classical? twirl around and leap while putting stuff away

rap? do some sick fuckin moves while cooking and raps along with the music

kpop? Those are special occasions, where he’ll do a routine from the song

he does it as a birthday present for noct every year

it may be Nocts favorite present ever!

Noct appreciates it always

prompto and gladio are finally allowed to see iggy dance while they’re on the road

each one has their jaw dropped to the floor getting boners

iggy learns to open up around them and becomes comfortable sharing his interests!

Noct

Like iggy, he’s not a big fan of dancing in public

but him being the prince means he got all the lessons in ballroom dancing and waltzing

not as good as iggy

but is still up there in talent

it’s a bit hard for him to do it with his leg

but with Gladio’s PT and Iggy’s magical hands

he’s able to dance for a couple of songs before his leg starts to give out

whoever he’s dancing with is always surprised by his talent

he’s graceful and strong when he dances, strict in his movements due to years of training

When Iris came to her first Gala, gladio made noct dance with her

outstretch his hand and ask her like a prince

it was the damned cutest thing!

she was giggling and dancing (poorly) with the prince who was smiling because he’s happy for her!

They dance every gala now

it’s not the best dancing

it’s two kids doing some slow dance at an adults party

but they make the best of it

Noct will expertly spin her around and she’ll giggle

they’ll pretend they’re some long lost lovers and run away hand in hand to the gardens (as an excuse to get away from everybody)

then they hang out and eat fancy foods

Noct likes it when he dances with Iris

but that’s gross boring people dancing

when he’s out with Prom (at the arcade, at home) he turns into a goofy dancer

he moves with the music

bouncing up and down and pumping his fists

hair flapping

its kinda funny to see the prince do this

he also totally dances like an old man

doing some dumb ass dance moves thinking he looks cool

he doesn’t

doing the sparkler and lawn mower

he looks so stupid but they love him all the same

he’s more reserved when he’s around people who are not prompto, gladio, or iggy

claims its because he’s the Prince and it would be a bad image to see the prince dance such a way

it’s because he’s emberassed

but the bros always find a way to bring noctis close and dance with him

Gladio

People assume he’s not the best dancer due to his size

and they’re right

this boy is too big for most dances

his leggys are too longg and they can’t get the movements right with fast pace music (hip hop, ballet, you name it)

but that doesn’t mean he  has two left feet per say

this boy can waltz like a mofo

he made a deal with lil noct to learn along with him after Noct refused to learn

Clarus and Regis were proud of him and told him as much

that it was good that he was willing to learn and stay with his Prince

but he just REALLY wanted to learn how to waltz!

He’s seen the princess movies

and goddamn did he want to dance with a princess when he was little

he still does

the dork

but he didn’t let anyone know that

they just thought he learned so that his Prince would agree to learn

but that didn’t mean he had to dance well!

he does

he’s incredible

while Iggy is fluid and light on his feet

gladdy is strong and percise

the women who dance with him are amazed!

He’s lifting them and twirling them around like they’re nothing

ALL of the women (some of the men too tbh) are begging to dance with him!

but he can’t share the same enthusiasm

“they don’t even know the basic travel movements! Let alone know what to do to make a lift look GOOD and not just me lifting up a person while the cling to me!!1″

if he’s gonna dance, he’s gonna make it good!

No half assing it!

it makes him not want to dance anymore

they just don’t appreciate the art!

When Iris starts coming to the events, gladio dances with her because he knows its been her dream to dance like a princess

and he does

he spins her around and they dance around the room with her on his feet

everyone’s getting pics because its SO C U T E

Clarus is getting a picture

it  hangs up in his office now

Gladio holding Iris up on his hip, one hand on her back like a gentlmen

the other holding her hand out as he dances around, their smiles bright and carefree

but then he realizes that she’s the perfect excuse to not dance with anyone else!

“Lord Amicitia, would you care for a dance?”

“Apologize, but I already promised my little sister this next dance”

take THAT unappreciative dancers!

Then noct makes him and iggy dance together at a gala

and it’s straight up like in the movies when a circle forms around the main character and love interest

they’re like the perfect match

they’re taking turns leading

the transition is seemless

when gladio lifts iggy continues to dance and its honestly mesmorizing

they get a huge applause when they’re done (gladio is dipping iggy who has a leg wrapped around him, head tilted back and arched beautifully)

but that’s all dancing within gladdy’s element

outside of that

it’s... not the best

again he can’t like do some sick moves because of his size

so he sticks to bouncing on his feet and letting the music guide him

Prompto

D E S T R O I E S at Dance Dance Revolution

don’t event try

you will lose to this man

no one is sure how he does it

Noct is a close second to his talent

but he just can’t compete with Proms quick reflexes

it is a sight to see him on that thing

he always gets a crowd

always gets money too??? but not like he’s complaining

the most open w/in the group with is dancing

will gladly bounce around to a beat and do some goofy dance move

he’s not very good at just dancing

if there’s no strict dance moves or arrows showing him where to put his feet

he just looks a bit like a drunk college student dancing at all times

but it’s still cute

out of the four he’s the worst at waltzing

he just can’t get the movements down

he goes to quick, mixes his feet up, just not a graceful dancer when it comes to it

“buddy you fucking crush it at the arcade! Why can’t you do a simple box waltz?”

“Because I wasn’t born doing a stupid 1 2 3 box movement noct D:”

he’s not really upset

he knows he’s the best dancer out of them all (at least he likes to think so)

the amount of times both him, noct, AND gladio have tried to convince iggy to do a dance competition with prompto is like... so many

he finally agrees when they’re on the road

it’s at a Haven

away from all signs of civilazation

even then iggy’s bright pink as he’s dancing

Prompto’s just having a great time

but it is a close call

they do a number from the Kpop group (for while iggy is shy about his appreciation for their music, prom absolutely LOVES it!)

it really is a close call

they’re both so concise and fluid

Gladdy and noct call it a tie

until gladdy sends the video he managed to take to Iris

she declares Iggy the winner

amongst ignis being utterly BETRAYED that his bf would do such a thing!

he’s a smug little shit

Prompto just shrugs and congratulates him

but now he tries to make iggy dance whenever he can

he’ll put on some music and challenge iggy

“c’mon iggy! you gotta defend you title as best dancer of the group!!”

slowly iggy starts to open up about dancing

he does a lil jig when driving (safely of course!!1!)

He’ll dance almost always now when he’s cooking dinner

prompto will always dance with him!

#final fantasy xv #ffxv #my writing #how the chocobros dance #i needed to crank something out so here #it have like 3 things in my draft #rip #the struggle is real #Noctis Lucis Caelum #ignis scientia #prompto argentum #gladiolus amicitia #dancing

[spideychelleforever]

Spideychelle Headcanon: In Which MJ Helps Her Beloved Peter Through an Emotionally Taxing Halloween

So Halloween is closing in

And even though it's hardly Valentine's Day or Christmas, MJ is feeling some magic in the air especially around Peter

So she decides to be bold and ask Peter to join her for a Halloween movie night

And they can bake those sugar cookies with printed designs on them

And watch either great or terrible scary movies

So MJ comes up to Peter and shuts his locker, trying hard to keep her cool bc she's not actually asking him out but she is asking him to spend some private time with her

"Hey loser"

"Hey MJ!" Peter flashes her one of his usual sweet AF smiles and even gets her to let out a small smile because ughhhh

"So Halloween is Friday."

"Uh-huh?" Peter looks to her expectantly, smiling as always

"You doing anything then?"

Peter's eyes bulge a little and she wants to squeal he looks so adorable

"Actually I'm not! I was gonna hang with Ned but he's kinda coming down with something, so he said not to worry about him. Did you wanna do something?"

Oh yes MJ wants to do something to Peter involving their lips but focus

"That's too bad about Leeds." And she means it, she didn't know he was getting sick but she's also a little glad bc it means she has Peter to herself? Ugh she's a terrible person but she's a lovesick person ughhhh

"But yeah. Wanna come over and watch Halloween movies?"

Peter's eyes widen again

"Oh-um-yeah! Yeah, MJ, it sounds great!!" And he's beaming and ugh

And then he gives her a firm hug which has her SHOOK

"Text you details later?" MJ manages to whimper out as he lets go of her

"Yeah! Awesome!!" Peter is shining and MJ is trying as hard AF to keep it together

Well Friday comes and Peter arrives with a small stack of DVD's. It's just them, her parents took her little sister trick or treating and got an early start to get some dinner

MJ answers the door with what's hopefully registering as a smooth AF smile and this boy looks so cute in a comfy looking gray sweater and he looks so nervous

They decide to bake the cookies first and since the dough is pre-made and all it's not too hard even for someone who's never baked before like Peter

She whacks his hand with a spatula when he tries to sneak some cookie dough

But then she sneaks some while he's not looking

Sue her

Soon they have a plate stacked with the little sugar cookies and are sharing them over two glasses of milk

"These are so good Emfjay!!" Peter says through a mouthful of cookies

She agrees, they're warm and sweet and tiny and she laughs at her dork's table manners

"Well it's too bad I forgot my 'Kiss the Cook' apron, then!" MJ laughs

Then she realizes what she said

And Peter is staring at her, his mouth still stuffed with cookies as he slowly swallows them

MJ is panicking bc yes she wants Peter to kiss her but is also like "MAYDAY MAYDAY"

MJ is able to regain her composure and gets up to clean up the kitchen

"Anyway loser, mind if I pick the first movie?"

Totally natural

Totally

"Oh yeah! I trust you!" Peter says as he comes up next to her to work on the kitchen counter and man it got hot real quick

Well eventually MJ puts on Alien which Peter has only seen bits and pieces of

Peter enjoys it, flinching a little at the chestburster scene, and comes extremely close to grabbing her hand when Dallas is being stalked by the Xenomorph in the air shaft

He seems to be on edge though, MJ notices, but it's probably because he's sharing a couch with a girl and they're alone on Halloween so eh

She's on edge because she wants to eat this sweet boy alive

Cue a quick daydream where poor, adorable Peter is a tiny, delicious gingerbread cookie at MJ's mercy

Well then MJ chooses the next movie, noticing Peter doesn't try to pick it despite having brought his own stack of DVD's

It's a little B-movie about a crocodile that eats people in the city that's a guilty pleasure for MJ

But it stars some cops and Peter seems antsy when the characters mention shootings

Then they get to the first major victim of the crocodile, a middle aged man who's in the process of being mugged

The crocodile eats his attackers but then turns on him

And the poor sap is completely helpless and gets eaten

And MJ is stifling some giggles at how cheesy the effects look

When she notices Peter is trembling

And just like that something shuts down in her brain as she takes a better look at him

There are some tears oh my god tears running from Peter's face

And he is shaking

"Peter" MJ says urgently, hitting the pause button

"Peter"

But Peter doesn't respond

"What's wrong? What's wrong, Peter?"

He still won't respond, but now he's sniffling, staring blankly at the TV

She puts one hand on his shoulder and one on his hands and she doesn't even feel the usual sparks when they touch bc he's in distress and that's what's important, helping him

"Peter, please. What's wrong?"

Finally, Peter turns to her, wide eyed and crying

And he's ashamed that he broke down in front of her, the girl he likes

He's ashamed that for all his therapy, a stupid movie tore him apart

He's ashamed that the man in the movie just looking like Uncle Ben did it

So he breaks eye contact with her and looks down, trembling

And MJ stops trying to get it out of him and says softly "come here" and maybe it's not the best way to deal with a panic attack but she's in a panic bc her sweet cinnamon roll is hurting and it breaks her damn heart

When she pulls him in with her long arms, he doesn't object and then his head is resting around her stomach and he's crying into her as his arms wrap around her

And they stay like that for a while. She strokes his soft hair and holds his little head

Finally, the sniffling stops and she asks him "can I do anything for you?"

He slowly pulls up to look her directly in the eyes and gives her a tearful, sad smile and oh my god she's overwhelmed by the love and genuine emotion she sees in his eyes

"Thank you," he mumbles softly. And she wants so bad to kiss him RN but it's not the time so she just gives him a sweet, sad smile and projects as much love as possible through her eyes

"Anytime, dork."

They sit there holding each other and utterly lost in each other's eyes and oh god it's crazy for both of them and MJ asks him to pick the movie

Peter gets up - oh man please come back - and picks up his stack of DVD's. "You sure you won't hate me for what I pick?"

And she could never hate him. Despite wanting to. "Never," she simply replies.

And he beams at her so much she wants to melt. Then he picks none other than "Boo To You Too Winnie the Pooh" bc it was one of his childhood favorites and she groans obnoxiously but she doesn't mind at all

And they spend the rest of the night cuddling and watching Halloween cartoons, including Mickey's House of Villains

And it's so nice, MJ thinks, to be cuddling into Peter's rock hard chest and watching escapist Disney cartoons that make Peter feel better

And the silly doofus eventually dozes off in her arms and she just strokes his hair, beaming lovingly at him now that he can't see her do so.

"I've got you, Peter" she murmurs as she watches him, hoping he was getting some sweet dreams because this sweet boy is her sweet dream come true

#spideychelle #tomdaya #tom holland #zendaya #mj #michelle x peter #peter x michelle #michelle jones #Peter/Michelle #Michelle/Peter #spider man: homecoming

[prehistoricalcats]

Rexy's Cats OCs Part 6: Deuteronomy's Family

Deut has a huge effing family, and I'll only be discussing the most story significant members in any sort of detail here. Even so this will probably be my longest OC bio post yet. Skip to the end for a list of Deut's siblings and a list of Deut's children

Beware: Long Post

Sandalphia

(sand-al-FEE-a) Tugger's mother, and Mac and Munk's stepmother. I can't tell you much about her without spoiling an entire story arc, but I'll try to lay out what I can

Very sweet, loving, attentive mother to both Tugger and and her stepson Munk (who is 3 when Tugger is born btw)

Doesn't get on with Mac (13 when Tugger is born) for some reason

Possibly just isn't good with teenagers??

Joined the tribe as a young adult and promptly fell for Deut

Didn't end up getting together with him until over a year after Griz left (when Munk was 3 months old)

Isn't still around, but I'm not telling why

Ummm okay yeah I think that's all I can really say atm. On to the stats!

About Jenny's age or so

Average build and just a little bit short

Smooth, very short fur

Honey-colored with black/brown rosettes and marble patterns

Hazel eyes

Nickname: Sandy

Matethon

(MAT-e-thahn) Sandy's brother. Other than basic appearance I can't tell you much more than that he exists and he comes to live with her and the family for a while

Tallish and heavy

Short fur

Cream with light brown rosettes and stripes

Blue eyes

Nickname: Mat

Meganterea

(meg-an-TARE-ree-a) Macavity's mother. Again can't tell you much without spoilers

Kind of a rebel in her own way

Not really like anti-authority just does her own thing and doesn't give a damn

Has some mental health issues, including depression, that she has difficulty dealing with

Got kicked out by her parents as a teen and was taken in by Griz's family (Griz was a young girl at the time)

The relationship with Deut didn't work out but they stayed amicable

Didn't stay with the tribe after Mac was born, but visited for the Jellicle Ball, and Deut visited them at their new home often

Eventually Mac was brought back to be raised by Deut in the tribe when he was five, but I'm not telling why

At least a decade or more older than than the older queens of the current tribe (Jenny, Jelly)

Tall and thin

Short, wiry fur

White with blotches of red and gold tabby patterns

Dark green eyes

Nickname: Meg

Balthazar

(BAL-tha-zar) One of Deut's younger brothers, his best friend, and his right hand tom once he became leader of the tribe. Died in the same event that killed Arbutus and Cety's family (see Part 2)

Kind, friendly, and jovial

Was Chief Protector until his age started effecting his performance, at which point he handed the position down to Panphagia (Taro's grandmother) who eventually handed it down to Taro (see Part 3)

Takes his job very seriously, and continued to participate in Protector business after stepping down as chief

For everything else though he's a big sweetheart

Will laugh just because

He, Deut, and Diddy (see below) used to get up to all kinds of mischief as kits and young adults

Something happened (not telling what) in their young adulthood that woke them up to the harsh realities of the world, prompting Deut to start taking his position as heir, shaman, and caretaker of the tribe more seriously, and Balth started taking his own role as a deputy Protector (at the time) more seriously

But they still had fun together whenever they could ^^

A little younger than Deut

Tall and burly

Mid-length shaggy fur

Brown with grey spots

Warm brown eyes

Nickname: Balth or Bal

Methuzelah

(meth-OO-za-lah) Deut's father. A young shaman that fell in love with the heir of the tribe (Deut's mother) when she returned home from traveling the world. He and Deut's mother had four sons together, Deuteronomy, Didymus, Balthazar, and Nimravod, and he also had an older son named Nebuchadnezzar.

Stoic and aloof

At first glance...

Actually a silly billy when you get to know him

He's just shy

Total sweetheart

Adorkable

Will pose dramatically and make funny noises just to make you laugh

Bonus points if he's doing his serious business important shaman face and the silliness just comes out of nowhere

Loves both Deut's mum and Siri (see below) with all his heart

Loves all of his children dearly

That includes his stepson, who he considers his own son he does not except constructive criticism.

Ganzo (the stepson) has always called Thuzah his father and was a little disturbed to find out he was actually his stepfather. Thuzah explained to him that it didn't matter to him what tom helped make him, Ganzo is his son no matter what

"I'm your father. I'll always be your father. We may not share the same blood, but you are my son, and I am your father. Don't let anyone tell you different"

This silly shy dork was also quite wise

Deut got it from somewhere ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Really freaking old

Like mid twenties when Deut was born, so more than two decades older than Deut, who is already really freaking old

Big and tall

Like... large

Short, scruffy fur

Silver tabby

Basically he looked rather like Munk, except he was a very big boi

Big scruffy silly shy silvery boi

Dark golden brown eyes

Nickname: Thuzah (THOO-zah)

Sirindhorna

(sih-rin-DHOR-nuh) Deut's mother's lover whom she met while traveling. When Deut's mum returned to the tribe, Siri came with her, where they both ended up falling for Thuzah as well. She had two kits with Thuzah, Sasithorn and Artaxerxes.

Strong, fierce, and determined

Was a mercenary for most of her youth

Joined the tribe's Protectors after she came home with Deut's mum

Eventually became Chief Protector

Major mama bear vibes

Will utterly destroy anyone that threatens her children or her mates

And she'll make it as unpleasant as she can get away with

Loves her stepkits every bit as much as her bio kits

And Deut and the other stepkits love her like a second mother

Trained (and was particularly close to) her stepson Balth and eventually passed the position of Chief Protector to him

Actually really chill and sweet with her family

But still feisty

Has a mischievous streak

Used to love getting into trouble with Deut's mum

Also really freaking old in the current timeline (if she's even still alive)

Slightly older than Thuzah (who may also not still be alive)

Tall and lean

Soft, short fur

Colorpoint, as in creamy white with chocolate brown face, ears, tail, feet, and hands

Yeah I know she's a dessert leave me alone I was hungry when I wrote this

Deep, ocean blue eyes

Oh btw she's not just a Siamese patterned Cat, she's from actual Thailand (formerly known as Siam)

Nickname: Siri

Siblings

Deuteronomy had one older sister named Sasithorn (SASS-ih-thorn or sehs-ee-TAWN, she'll respond to either) aka "Sassy"

He also had six brothers including:

Two older brothers named Nebuchadnezzar (neb-uh-kuh-NEH-zer) aka "Neb" and Ganzorig (GAN-zor-ig) aka "Ganzo"

A twin brother named Didymus (DIH-dih-mus) aka "Diddy"

And three younger brothers named Balthazar, Artaxerxes (ahr-tak-ZERK-zees) aka "Artax" and Nimravod (NIM-rav-odd) aka "Nimra"

Neb is Thuzah's oldest son from another queen. Ganzo is oldest son of Deut's mother from another tom. Sassy is the daughter of Siri and Thuzah, and Artax is their son. Nimra is the youngest of the eight siblings, younger than Artax by several years. Neb is the oldest, followed closely by Ganzo, then Sassy. Deut and Diddy are in the middle, and then Balth came right after them.

Children

Mac, Munk, and Tugger are actually the youngest of Deut's children (that he's aware of). He's had eight children (again, that he knows of), who are in order of birth:

Jublepurria (Joo-bul-purr-ee-ah) "Juble" a daughter that left the tribe as an adult to join a tribe her lover belonged to (Deut was sorry to see her go but was thrilled to see her so happy)

A set of twins, one girl, Scansoroura (skan-sor-ROAR-ah) "Sora" or "Aurora",

and one boy, Oryctonyx (or-rick-TAW-nicks) "Rycto" whose mother raised them away from the tribe because she didn't want them to bear the burden of being the leader's heirs

Silvacola (sil-vah-KOH-lah) "Silva" a daughter who also is no longer with the tribe

Lestobrady (les-toh-bray-dee) "Lesto" a son who was one of the victims of the same event that killed Arbutus, Cety's family, and Balth

Macavity

Munkustrap

Rum Tum Tugger.

Except for the twins, they all have different mothers. After all, it is canon that Deut got around...

---

Hnm? What's that?

…Why aren't I talking about Deut's mother? Hmm, well…

I'm not telling (:

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

#oc bios #i should perhaps clarify Munk was 3 months old when Griz left #Sandy got together with Deut when Munk was about a year and a half old