#I did at at least 3 songs more and they're (IN MY MIND) supposed to be chapter 2 and 3 of this story and there is supposed to be plot but-
Text
my heart calls your name
Pairing: Roronoa Zoro x reader
Genre: modern life mutual pining, friends to lovers, there's spice, smut, fluff, Zoro is a normal being with feelings and reader has personality
Word count: 20.1k+ (new recount)
Part 1
A/N: This is the sequel to New Year, New Me :) Firstly, I would suggest reading Part 1 before this one. Secondly, I started working on this as soon as I finished the first part and it has been a wip for 3 months. It was supposed to be a Valentine's gift but my writing went into a slump. But, I pushed through and wrote it. It went through so much editing, simply because I wanted to get Zoro as right as possible. He's everything to me so I wanted to give you an almost perfect piece of him.
Lastly, prepare for a long rollercoaster of everything. Literally everything.
Now playing: Did It Again - Shakira, we can't be friends - ariana grande, Sometimes - MUNA, Eres Mia - Romeo Santos, Only Love Can Hurt Like This - Paloma Faith, All Night - Beyonce, La La Lost You - NIKI, pretty boy - M2M
(because I couldn't pick just one song :') )
Early morning of January 1st
Heels and green-haired man on your arm, you walked around looking for a place to eat at. The sand between your toes felt warm, welcoming the first glimmering rays of sun, the sea just as excited to wash away the old and bring new tides afloat. Though early, the air buzzed with the atmosphere of the previous night, faint music still playing from the houses nearby.
You passed by multiple cafes and diners but they all closed early in the morning to go on holiday. Every knock on the door was met with an apologetic smile, sending you out to venture further down the beach in hopes of at least finding a vendor that was still selling food.
Just when you thought all hope was lost, you spotted a restaurant that was still open. Today's menu was plastered out on a board outside with the schedule that said they're still serving for a bit. Just enough to grab a bite.
Picking out a table overlooking the azure sea, you went to pull out a chair when Zoro stopped you to do it for you. Shaking your head with a smile at his gentlemanly mannerisms, you sat down as he pushed it closer to the table before sitting down on the opposite side.
You scoured the menu, stomach twisting in hunger at all the food combinations. Salmon on a bed of baked wedges, mussels boiled in white wine, even your usual chicken tenders - this place had everything. It was hard to pick just one thing, but you had to make up your mind before your insides started digesting themselves.
Zoro didn't have it any easier than you. He perched the menu in one hand while the other sat on his chin as he contemplated what looked awfully like the drinks page. From the way he bit his lip in thinking and the way his sleeves were messily made up to his elbow, he himself looked appetizing enough for you.
"Something tells me you're not that hungry," he flashed you a knowing smirk under the pretense that he was looking at beverages.
"I am," you stated, sheepishly diverting your eyes back to your own menu.
"Then why are you browsing me instead of today's special?"
At that you closed your menu and sat back, folding your arms over your chest. So, audacity is indeed a manly thing.
"You are scrumptious, I'll give you that," you admitted, narrowing your eyes at him.
"Only that?" he wiggled his eyebrows from behind his menu and you couldn't help but break into a giggle at his playful behaviour.
Is this the same man I drank a whole bottle of champagne with last night? I'm pretty sure he slept less than I did but he seems more energetic than anyone could ever be this early. Interesting.
"We'll see," you said, pulling your lips into a thin line to prevent a grin that would give away most of your thoughts about him that were, let's say, more than scrumptious could entail.
The waiter came over and took your order with a little flirting around you. Though sweet in his remarks, you had to admit he had nothing on the man sitting in front of you. But, you engaged in it simply because you wanted to gauge an innocent reaction. And you did.
Seeing Zoro's hand tighten on the tissue box like it was one of his mortal enemies, you smiled internally. So, he's territorial too. Poor paper crunched under the strength of his fist, knuckles white from making sure no corner escaped its crumpling demise. Once the waiter was gone with your orders, he let go and leaned back in his seat looking out at the sea.
Your eyes landed on him accidentally, being met with a different side of him. One so different from the man you were used to seeing so rough and isolated in his corner at the club. Because right now, he looked so at peace, like this was his natural habitat - close to the sea dancing in the glimmer of the sun with the golden sands in the background.
The soft morning breeze caressed through his green locks, moving them in waves mirroring the calm ones out on the shore. His golden earrings jingled around each other like they were singing their own tune cradled in the arms of the wind. His shirt was now fully dry from your late night splashing game, a few more buttons let loose giving you a peak of his chest. Palm curled around his chin, there was not a thought harbored behind those deep brown eyes.
A heavenly dream walking planet Earth.
The small twinkle reflecting in the corner of his eye made you look out to the water too, curious as to what was so fascinating out there. Though this time, it was his turn to sneak a peek at you while you weren't looking.
His jacket was still snugly wrapped around you, long sleeves neatly rolled up to the cusp of your forearms. Your hair was thrown in a messy bun with a few loose curls falling over your collar bones. Though tired circles rimmed your eyes from staying up with him the night before, talking about everything and nothing at all, your lips were pulled into a soft smile. As if you had the most restful sleep. In his arms of all places.
And that made something bloom in his chest. Something so unknown yet so familiar, almost like the anticipation of what could be if he let his walls down. Only god knew that he was ready to let them all fall down if this was the beginning of something good. Something that he's been waiting for a long time.
It wasn't long until your food arrived. After a long debate, you settled on a creamy shrimp pasta because who doesn't like pasta? You could eat pasta at any time of the day and your stomach would thank you. Although, Zoro's fried chicken wings looked so much more inviting for some reason. Maybe it was the way his eyes closed in delight at the taste on barely his first bite or how he gobbled on them with all the sauce streaming down his lips like they were the very essence of immortality. But those wings looked divine.
He saw you ogling his plate as you mindlessly poked a shrimp around and was about to ask if you wanted one when you just reached out and stole one. You dipped it quickly in the sauce and stuffed the whole thing in your mouth, sighing in the same delightful manner he did. Those were some amazing chicken wings.
"I was just about to offer you one."
"Food tastes so much better when you steal it away," you said, licking your fingers off the leftover sauce. They were just your regular chicken wings but something about them being placed neatly on his plate made them taste so much better than they would have if you ordered them yourself.
You turned back to your pasta and forked a shrimp. Before it could reach your mouth, a firm hand wrapped around your wrist and your fork was redirected to Zoro's lips instead. He bit the shrimp off of it, imitating the sound of delight you previously let out after stealing his chicken wing.
"Hey! That was the shrimp I kept for last."
"That's too bad," he said with his mouth full. "It looked too good to be left for last."
"Then I will have this one," you stole another chicken wing. "And this one and that one and-"
"Then these little shrimps are mine!" he took your whole plate of pasta away leaving you with the stolen wings hanging in the air.
That's how you ended up sitting next to each other to share your dishes together. You kept poking at his as he did with yours, thing that became a custom for you in the coming month.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between, they were all consumed together in each other's presence.
Among a few other things.
Grocery runs whenever your fridge was empty, since he liked crashing at your place more often than you could count.
Movie nights spent debating all the romcoms you could find where he would give you a piece of his mind on how much of a douchebag the main lead was and yelling at the tv 'stop being an idiot and go get the girl' on the usual. The neighbors ended up at your door sometimes, asking you to have mercy on their ears and keep it down.
Whenever romantic scenes came on screen, your fingers would always find each other on top of your couch, tangling together just slightly. But he would never admit that he was a romantic at heart, even when his hazy eyes, soft hands and raising heartbeat gave that away. Even when your own beat wildly, inviting him in.
You even went to the gym together a few times, though that endeavor ended as quickly as it started.
"Come on, push it. Bend your knee more. One more time!"
"I'm really trying to, but this is heavy as fuck!" you pushed the leg press feeling the weight thrash your ham strings apart.
"Your body will thank you tomorrow."
"Not if I die today," you gritted out.
"Tell you what. You do three more and you can flip me off all you want."
"I can do that without breaking my knees. What's in it for you?"
"You grant me a wish when I ask for it."
"What kind of wish?" you perked an eyebrow up in suspicion.
"You'll find out when the time comes."
Determined to get your rights of the bet fair and square, you pushed with all your might and completed one. With some struggle and curses, you managed one more push before you felt your knees give in, accepting defeat. That was probably your last leg press forever since you deemed it the demon's machine.
Your legs dropped like dead weight on the floor, heaving breaths as if you ran a full marathon. Disappointment hit you that you lost while the man beside you broke into the biggest grin you've ever seen on his face. It felt almost magnetic to see him like that, a nudge pulling at your own lips that you tried to hide. What loser is happy when his opponent wins?
"You owe me now."
If he was a girl he would've squealed. He was literally beaming with joy.
"Spare me the pride bullshit and give me water."
He handed you his own bottle as he crouched down next to you, patting the sweat on the side of your face with a towel making sure to swipe dry even your baby hairs that were sticking up on all sides.
When you told him you wanted to try working out with him, though you weren't big on physical exercise, he was over the moon. Studying you as you laid on the bench, drenched in sweat and with your cheeks filled with water, you were a sight to see. He knew you wouldn't believe him if he told you, but you were glowing brighter than the bright sun outside.
"I'm proud of you,"
You turned to look at him. He wore his gear but did not make a move from beside you the whole time you were at the gym. He trained you on his usual routine, toned down to your own pace, but it turned out to be way harder than he made it look.
Even so, he was there coaching you through it all the way. When you felt like you couldn't do more, he helped you put a little bit more into it with little encouragements like these.
"You're gonna have to carry me home," you breathed out, stretching your aching limbs. "You know that, right?"
"I know," he accepted his demise. "That will be my exercise."
"Are you saying I'm as heavy as the dumbbells you're lifting?"
"You said it not me."
"You little shit."
You were the biggest homebody that's ever homebodied but somehow he managed to do the impossible and get you out of the house. But as romantic as the outings seemed sometimes, he acted like it was just two good friends hanging out.
Nothing more, nothing less.
And that bugged you. Because this wasn't friendly behaviour.
Friends don't take you out on a walk at 2 am when you can't find sleep, twirling you around to let loose in the dead of night, with a lone streetlight lighting your way. Friends don't hold your hand as jazz music plays in some edgy café you wanted to try, playing with your fingers that always end up caged between their longer, bulkier ones as you talk over steaming coffee.
Friends don't look at you like that.
Like you could be more, mean more, feel more.
Maybe you were being selfish, but the more time you spent with him the harder it became to part ways. Even if you saw each other the next day, it just wasn't enough for you. You wanted him to stay a little more. Hold your hand a little more.
As slow January turned into warm February, your feelings evolved and you craved to have him around in more than just one way.
Slowly but surely and a little against your will, you found yourself falling for the green-haired guy you kissed on new year's.
And boy, you fell hard.
Present Day
It's Valentine's Day. Oh, how you dreaded this one too. Maybe even more than New Year's.
It was the over-exaggerated displays of affection from strangers on the street, plastering kisses on each other's swollen lips like they would die without getting into a heated make-out session every five minutes. Or the way the florists had heart-shaped balloons tied to bouquets mixed in pinks, whites and reds in every single window. Or the fact that most chocolate was on the best sale price you could get it just because it was a special occasion.
All of it was just a ploy to say love exists and that the world will stop at nothing to capitalize the living hell out of it.
But that was just part of the reason you carried an anti-romantic persona around today. This time you had a reason. There was a love interest on your horizon and you were annoyed that he was too lost drifting in his own world to notice how enamored you were with him.
It was crazy how quickly you fell for him. You promised yourself that fast love wouldn't be the norm anymore. That you would take your time to keep it steady, consistent and cautious. Until he crash landed into your life ripping the safety net that you've threaded for so long at the seams so skillfully, little by little, until you were free-falling.
You needed him. As simple as that. The flirting, the sweet-talking, the teasing. It was all just Cupid's stash of poison arrows aimed and shot deeply into your heart every time you saw him. To make you fall in deeper into an unfamiliar ocean where you couldn't see the top of the water.
You needed him. Before you would go and make a fool of yourself and ruin the great bond you already had for some feelings. Before he would sew his existence onto your soul, your conscience, your very being completely and it would become too much to bear.
You needed him. To see how loving him could feel like.
The digital clock on your bedside table read 2:30 pm. You sat in bed most of the day, whizzing through tv channels faster and faster with every romance movie playing, every news channel talking about this wretched day and how lovers planned to spend it, every love song playing on the radio.
Romance was everywhere and you couldn't do anything to escape it.
Sick of the world and the pure existence of love, you shut the tv off throwing the remote to the other end of the bed and watched the seconds on the clock trickle away, wishing for this day to finally end.
You flipped on your back, letting out a long sigh as the empty ceiling gave way to thoughts of him again. Sighing, you closed your eyes trying to think of something else. But all roads led back to him.
You kind of expected him to make some plans with you even if it was something small like going to get coffee and walk around, though you knew he wasn't one to do things like that.
It wasn't even a minute that he crossed your mind and your phone screen lit up with his name. Cursing telepathy thinking and the universe for loving to bask in your misery, you picked it up finding a surprisingly nervous Zoro on the other line.
"What's up-"
"You, me, tonight. Pick you up at 5?" he rambled quickly and out of breath.
"What?" you asked, trying to make sense of his words.
"I want to take you out tonight," he repeated, a bit more composed than the first time.
"That sounded a little better," you smiled, turning around on your belly.
"Can I take you out tonight?" he asked again, voice way softer and determined than the usual playfulness you grew accustomed to.
What happened to overly cocky Zoro?
"I don't know," you drew out, playing with the hem of the duvet to smoothen the material out, pointer finger spelling the outline of his name absentmindedly on top of it. "Can you?"
You heard him sigh exasperatedly on the other side as you took your sweet time replying. A little payback for waiting so long would hurt no one.
"Jesus, woman. I really want to take you out someplace nice tonight so get dressed as comfortable as you'd like and answer the door at 5. That sound better?"
"It sounded great. I'll be waiting."
"Okay." You could hear his smile through the phone. "See you at 5."
"See you at 5."
The call ended and you stared blankly at the ceiling again, hugging the phone to your chest. His words started seeping into your brain and the realization that he finally asked you out on what was possibly an official date made you grab a pillow to scream into.
"OH MY GOD I'M GOING ON A DATE," you yelled. "Okay, play it cool. Play it cool," you took deep breaths to calm down before something else threw you into panic. "What the fuck am I gonna wear?"
You ran to your closet, throwing it open. Racking through it in a haste since you didn't have the luxury of time, you threw whatever you could find that looked somewhat put together on the bed. Clothes came flying on and off your body as you did a whole catwalk show in front of the mirror. Huffing out in desperation at the mess around your room, you came to the conclusion that none of the outfits looked fit for the occasion.
You needed something to make his eyes pop out of his sockets. Something that would make him see what he's missing and to take that extra step to you. Something...
Tapping your cheek in thinking, you spun around to your closet with a gasp. You ran back to it and sorted out through more hangers, digging all the way into the back until you finally found it. A dress you bought specifically in case you ever got a date that was worth putting in the effort for.
The heart stealer, you called it.
A flowy deep-red satin dress falling just below your knees. It had a sweetheart neckline and straps to hold your jewels better than a bra ever could, the bodice hugging your middle perfectly. Elegant, sexy and comfy, all in one. Plus, the ends twirled around so nicely every time you spun around, imitating a petticoat effect, and the length complimented your height.
She's the one, you smiled.
The time on your phone read 4:57 pm, three minutes before your agreed pick-up time. You've been struggling to put your earrings on for a while now and were growing slightly nervous, thing that wasn't really helping as your hands shook with a burst of impatience. Putting the earrings down before you accidentally pierced your ear, you let out a breath and looked in the mirror. Which made it all worse.
Your eyes jumped around to analyze the way your hair was down and curled unevenly, if you squinted, to how your eyeliner on the right looked slightly more winged than the one on the left. Even the dress straps sat on your shoulders a little too uncomfortably. Suddenly, your confidence faltered and you questioned everything about your outfit.
Is the dress too comfortable?
I'm underdressed, aren't I?
Where is he even taking me?
I look like a walking cherry. Why do I have so much red on me-
A soft knock echoed through your apartment. Your date was here. Taking a deep breath for reassurance and fixing yourself in the wall mirror one more time, you let it be and moved to open the door.
At the door, you were met with the man that plagued your every waking thought. He wore a loose shirt that looked vintage with a few buttons left open and casual dark navy blue tailored pants, falling loosely from his waist. They gave the impression he was taller than he actually was. The way he dressed without as much as batting an eye, you would raid his wardrobe any day.
He leaned forwards to place a courting kiss on your cheek, the closeness engulfing you in his musky vanilla scent you grew so fond of. You could scent him in a crowd of people like a wolf looking for his lost mate. His lips lingered enough to have blood rush to your cheek, feeling it singe as soon as he pulled away the slightest. It surprisingly made you feel calm, forgetting what you were even stressing about in the first place.
Shaking yourself out of the daze, you stepped aside and invited him inside. Something in his hands completely stole your eyes away from him before he even got the chance to offer it to you.
"ARE THOSE MILKA HEARTS?!" you shrieked as he meekly handed you the chocolates. Your heart raced at the gesture, cradling the box closer.
"I have never seen anyone be so loyal to just one brand of chocolate. It's literally all you eat."
"Because they are amazing and they're not too sweet or too expensive. They have so many flavors, even biscuits, ice cream, hot chocolate. Anything you could ever dream of that could be made out of chocolate, they have it. They're just right and perfect," you smiled as you spun around with the box held closely to your chest like it was your most prized possession, the ends of your dress slightly swirling around you.
"Oh, I know," he chuckled at your obsession with the chocolates. "You literally lick the hot chocolate mug clean after you drink it."
"Can't blame me for having a sweet tooth. Thank you for these." You placed them on the counter, deciding against opening the box just yet.
"Do I get something in return for delivering them to you?"
You saw his plan from a mile away - he was chasing a kiss, this time coming from your own initiative. Before you thought it through, your lips were on their way to connect with his cheek in a short but sweet peck.
"How does this do?"
Before you let go, he tensed and you felt it, grinning mischievously on the inside. If he thought you would shy away, especially tonight, he had another thing coming. Two can play this tango.
"Your sweetness is rubbing off on me."
He's saying that as if you didn't catch the slight twitch of his lips and the faintest tint of pink on the tip of his ears before he turned back to being his serious self.
"Is that such a bad thing now?" you countered.
"To be assessed," he piped up, leaning against the counter as he watched you pace around the apartment to finish getting ready.
"Tease."
"You love it."
"I actually hate it."
"You're such a bad liar."
"Maybe, maybe not" you giggled to yourself.
Truth be told, you enjoyed his teasing a lot even if it was overwhelming sometimes. On most days, it made you forget your worries and he managed to pull a smile so genuine out of you that you didn't even know you had.
"You, uh... look nice by the way," he rubbed the back of his neck, taking in your attire from top to bottom properly this time.
Nice wasn't even the word he wanted to use. Beautiful, gorgeous, sexy, those sounded more like what he had in mind. The more he looked at you in that red dress, the more he had the urge to close the distance between you, press you against the mirror you paced in front of and smudge that cherry tint off your lips with his own, all the while his hands tangled in your curls.
That... that felt like more than what nice could ever encompass.
"Thank you," you said, the surprise present in your voice cracking him out of his thoughts. "So, what's the itinerary for tonight?"
"It's a secret."
"Is it now?"
"I want you to have a nice time and not overthink it too much. So, you'll just have to wait and see."
"Okay, mister Kinder Surprise. I'll just follow your lead on this one."
Normally, he would come up with an idea and you would plan out the itinerary down to the smallest detail. You weren't sure what he had in mind for today, but at least your outfits matched in comfy and classy levels.
Going back to the mirror, you took another look at yourself and realized he was right. You did look nice. You were just overthinking it. Funny how he already knows what sets you off from enjoying yourself.
Grabbing the earrings again, you tried putting one hoop in only to have it slide to the other side. The closing was just too narrow for your small ears and it annoyed you greatly. You were ready to just leave without them when Zoro stepped in the mirror frame next to you. He held his palm out to you looking at the earrings and you obliged with a sigh.
Placing your hair behind your ear, he wiggled the golden hoop around your ear lobe as you watched through the mirror. The proximity sent your heart thundering. You willed it to stop and take to a regular rhythm before he took note and teased you even more.
Looking for something else to focus on, you found his reflection in the mirror, holding the earring with utmost care and attention. Your eyes flew to his and the tug at his lower lip, the concentration on his face making you blush. He was determined to get those earrings on your ears no matter what.
"My ears are just too small for girly shit," you said, looking down to avoid his intense gaze.
"They're not. You're just a really impatient being when it comes to doing things properly for yourself," he said, successfully clipping the earring in. "There. See?" he tilted his head to look at you with that twinkling glint in his eye. "Pretty."
I could kiss your lips right now. And your eyes and your nose and your lips again. I don't think I could stop.
"Dork," you pushed him away, conscious that you were running behind on time. "Come on, I can't go out with only one earring in."
"Give me a second, Speedy Gonzales."
He put the other one in for you as well and rolled them around so they were both facing the same way.
"Look at you," he checked you out from head to your unheeled toes. "You look like you came out of a shop window."
"Oh, yeah? Which shop window?"
"The supermarket."
"I can change into my pajamas sooooo fast and you can just go out by yourself," you patted his chest grinning wickedly. "How does that sound?"
"Okay, okay. I'm just messing with you," he handed you your bag and held out his arm to you as a peace offering. You rolled your eyes at him and put your heels on using the sturdiness of his arm for balance and fixed yourself up one more time. "Ready to go?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
He walked you out front to his car, opening the door for you as he held his arm to his chest like a butler while you did a little curtsy before you got in. A little running joke between you since you always ended up being the passenger princess. His passenger princess.
Everything about his car was so Zoro. He drove a dark green jeep, convertible when needed but currently patched up since the rainy weather of early spring was more frequent now. A raspberry Charmander air freshener dangled from the rearview mirror, where you put it on your last grocery run. He constantly argued with you over the fact that its too cute for his car.
"My car is a military tank. Not the Kids' Express," he would say.
"If anything, it's giving the Fun Express now."
But you knew he silently loved it. He had a habit of poking it with his finger each time he got in the car so it would spin around, spreading the fresh smell of berries around.
He got in the car placing the key in ignition and poked it. You smiled turning to look out the window. Kid.
As he drove, the scenery changed from the chaotic city jungle of cars evading rush hour to the more peaceful part of the coastline. The sun was just starting to set, bright orange and yellow painting the sky in lively hues. Some pop song played on the radio making the whole scene look even more tropical.
Zoro rolled the windows down, letting the air flow through and put the song a little louder. You caught up on this habit of his pretty early on - if he heard a song he liked he would make sure you knew it too. Even when you were sitting in heavy traffic and everybody looked at you weirdly. If he knew the song, he might even mumble a few lines with a grin. That made your little crush on him even stronger.
Hope that you will wait for me
You'll see that you're the only one for me ~
The lyrics blared over the speakers, emotional yet comforting about falling in love. He leaned back in his seat and snuck a few glances at you. Your hair was blowing in the wind, falling on the back of your seat. Arm laid flat on top of the window frame tapping along to the beat, you looked at the view of the seaside with a smile on your lips. Your other hand sat on your knee, a little too lonely for his liking.
All I really want is to hold you tight
Treat you right, be with you day and night
Baby all I need is time ~
Adjusting a hand on the wheel, his other one stretched to get a hold of yours, intertwining them together to the beat of the song. Your heart skipped a beat at the sudden contact turning warm atop your thigh. Looking down at your entwined hands, you noticed how his thumb covered yours in guarding, a routine you grew familiar with every time they met in the same space. His eyes were trained on the road but the small smile tugging at the corners of his lips was solely directed at you.
You will be the death of me, Roronoa Zoro.
Parking the car turned difficult considering everyone was out and about tonight. You barely found a spot somewhere next to the beach. Once parked, Zoro got off and came to your side extending a hand to help you down, heels landing safely on the sidewalk.
You were getting a little impatient and you hoped your nerves wouldn't get the best out of you when the air was still so clear between you. But the questions itched on the back of your tongue until you couldn't hold them back anymore.
"So, what's the plan? How much longer are you gonna keep me in the dark?"
He turned to you with a mysterious grin, debating on whether he should tell you or not.
Someone seems to be enjoying themselves at the expense of my sanity.
"The plan for tonight is just fun."
Well that explains everything I needed to know.
"The amusement park up ahead kind of gave that part away," you pointed out to the Ferris wheel bathed in strobe lights, standing tall ahead in the middle of dozens of games and food stands.
Walking side by side, you followed the crowds of couples into the mayhem still suspicious of what the plan actually entailed. Your gaze wandered down to the ground where you found another thing that calmed you. Unknowingly, your steps matched each other's in a balanced rhythm as you followed his lead. Your lips pursed to hide another small smile.
"That's not the only thing I have planned out for tonight," he informed you, checking his watch. "First, let's go loosen up a little."
Your first stop on tonight's itinerary was the club where you first met. It's been a few months since you both laid eyes on the other, circling the dance floor for nights on end to make your mutual interest known.
Months since your little crush born out of seeking real love took off and made space for feelings. Feelings that nowadays chased you to the brink of madness. You could only hope a trip down memory lane would settle them and give you confirmation that your heart isn't tangled in yet another unrequited love story.
It was Latino beats night. The extended terrace was cleared for an outdoor dance floor, stretching all the way to the end of the beach touching the overlapping waves. Fairy lights hung above from tree to tree, warming up the atmosphere in a golden glow. The drinks at the bar had mini red umbrellas to match the theme.
A bartender came to serve you as soon as you sat down at the bar, pointing you to all the Valentine's recommendations. The cheesy names on the cocktails made a shiver run down your spine in repulse so you turned to the normal range instead since you already knew that one inside out.
"What would you like to order?"
Some sweet liquid courage would do me well tonight.
"A piña colada for me," you ordered.
"A mocktail of that for me," asked Zoro, almost as quickly as your own order rolled off your lips.
Mocktail? That sounds unlike Zoro.
Lifting a curious eyebrow at his request, your eyes narrowed on him for a quick mood scan. You barely saw it but it was definitely there. Tension. He was on edge, rapping his fingers on the wooden bar restlessly, foot tapping to the tempo of the current song playing. Impatient sounds more like it.
"Not drinking today?"
"I will. Just not yet," he smirked, as if he had more opportunities to drink lined up later. Well, frankly, you didn't know what followed later, so you asked for more glasses of alcohol.
The song changed to a slow, sensual bachata as the crowd took to the dance floor. Some pairs looked experienced, busting moves in perfect sync with the strings like this was their regular night out to serve some class. They must be fun at parties.
Others could barely get their feet coordinated, unable to decide who would be the one to lead. The changing rhythm, slow at first then rising faster, had them spinning out of control, gripping onto each other for dear life as they laughed it off and tried again together.
Your relationship with Zoro was kind of like that - uncoordinated in your dance to reach each other's heart with normal steps. Every time one got way too close to the other you took detours, going back to square one. But you kept trying. Together.
Zoro saw you looking at the couples with a longing he's seen before, during your first nights at the club. He wasn't an idiot. He knew that longing himself though he didn't know how to express it. But a tight-lipped curl of your lips at the ground had him pulling on your hand in an instant, eyes motioning to the dance floor. Confused at first, you slowly got a rough idea of what he was suggesting and shook your head.
"I'm not drunk enough to dance yet," you lied, trying to get him off your case. You were too sober to trust your heart that close around him just yet.
"Isn't that the beauty of it?"
The tension washing off of him just moments ago wore off into mischief and playfulness. There he was. Your Zoro.
"Are you sure that was a mocktail?" you quipped, suspicious at his sudden change in mood.
"Yes, it was a mocktail." The look he gave you, full of intensity and certainty was enough to tell you he was dead serious. "I just really want to dance with you."
"Okay, fine."
His hand grasped yours as you hopped off the bar stool, pulling you deeper into the moving crowd. Once he found a spot, he tugged you to him in a twirl. Your back landed against his chest, his deep, steady breaths falling right at the tip of your ear. Swaying from side to side, his palms wandered down to your own, lacing your fingers together, squeezing lightly. His touch turned your insides sticky with something akin to desire. His familiar scent overpowered your senses, musky vanilla turning tropic from that mocktail he had, lingering to the depths of your soul. His presence behind you, assertive, dominating and reassuring at the same time, lit up your whole body with fiery tingles.
He lifted your arms up, getting impossibly closer to you as the pads of his fingers reached up to yours, dancing down to your shoulders in a flow of their own where they fell with the rise of the chorus, briskly spinning you to face him. He placed your hands on his shoulders as you stepped back and forth, bouncing up and down to the music, eyes solely trained on you and no one else, nothing else.
In the synergy of the moment, he finally saw you.
It took him a while to understand but you were his rhythm. He couldn't lose you after he finally found it - the frequency of your heart beating to guide his own. If he lost track of you now, he would lose himself again. Among all the other hearts beating in hundreds of other tempos next to yours, he only wanted to move with yours.
You swayed right a little too hard, leg flying next to his hip. His arm shot out to catch it as the on on the small of your back pulled you close, breaths mingling in a flutter harmonious to the one in your stomach, multiplying it tenfold.
Upon releasing your leg, his hand trailed over the thin material of your dress, from your thigh all the way to your waist, where it got a better grip. One that wouldn't let you sway that hard again. Goosebumps burned on the path he carved into your skin and you found yourself closing your eyes on a shaky exhale.
You were shuddering in his hold and he barely did anything but hold you. When you opened them, he was still eye to eye with you, unmoving, patient, waiting for you.
He drowned out everyone else. The chatter, the music, the alcohol pumping through your veins. You couldn't take your eyes off him even if you tried and frankly, you didn't want to.
No words needed to be said as you let your bodies do the talking. The smaller the space grew between you, the simpler things seemed. It was clear as day your heart kept calling for him in a million ways and you denied it enough.
You wanted to have his eyes on you at all times. To have his lips all to yourself. To get the confirmation that he felt exactly what you felt. That he wanted all these things you wanted too.
He spun you out, reeling you back in against his chest. He looked down at you. You looked up at him.
They were close - those damned lips of his. Pink and soft laying on pink and even softer. Just a breath away. Until he broke your gaze.
Whatever bubble you were in popped and all too suddenly, the reality hit you again. They weren't yours to kiss. They were no ones. Forbidden.
The music filtered in your ears way too loud. People bumped into you from all sides. It was too much in too little of a moment to drown in your insecurities again, when his warm touch asked for your attention and his eyes met yours again.
"Wanna get out of here?" he rasped in your ear.
"You read my mind."
The sky announced the coming of night, faint purple clouds flying above the blue. You headed to your next destination, the amusement park. Looking at all the attractions, you had your first pick on the bumpy cars. They were childish, but they were fun enough to pull you out of your misery. At least for a while.
Hopping into the rink, you were barely strapped into your bumper when he rammed into your back at full speed, rattling your seat hard. He really is a child. But you were a bigger child. You didn't hold back either, chasing and cornering him, only to crash straight into the front of his bumpy car, cackling like a maniac.
At one point he disappeared into the crowd of cars as the lights grew dimmer. Keeping your guard up for a sneak attack, you rounded the sidelines cautiously, trying to avoid being caught in the middle of other people's warfare. Just when you stopped to turn and search the rink again, he marched up to hit you from the side only for you to dodge it like a pro. His car rammed into the edge of the rink, jaw dropped in shock as you bellowed with laughter at him.
His driving pride got shaken a little from your bumpy car skills, but you were smiling again. That's all that mattered to him.
Once your time was up, you were pulled to another ride, this time of Zoro's pick. Knowing him, it would be something too adventurous and risky to ride. You realized where he was taking you way too late - the highest roller coaster in the area. Instantly, you shook his hand off, backtracking behind him. That thing looked like what nightmares are made of.
"Hell nah, I am not getting on that."
Thinking you had a choice was a mistake since he pulled a wildcard on you. A wildcard you wished you never agreed to in the first place if you knew it would come back to bite you in the ass.
"Remember that bet we had at the gym that you lost?" Motherfucker. "I think it's time you make that wish come true."
And to think he gave you the impression it would be an innocent wish back then. All men do is lie.
"That's not fair," you argued, trying to think of a way to convince him to use his wish on something else. Something that didn't involve your stomach switching places with your other organs. Coming empty handed, you slumped your shoulders like a child being denied their favourite toy and got in the line with him.
Your leg bounced up anxiously with each pair admitted for a ride in front of you. The screams of the people on the rollercoaster screeched in your ears. You took a gulp of air to calm your nerves just as Zoro's lips brushed to your ear out of nowhere, almost giving you a heart attack.
"Nothing's going to happen to you. I'll be there to hold your hand."
Is he taking the piss? Hold my hand? How about you hold your balls secure before I kick them to the fucking sky-
Your thoughts were interrupted when something clicked fixed around you. The straps to the ride seat. You squirmed around uncomfortably to find a better position that felt safer, but being in that seat itself was not safe in any way. The straps were safe and secure but not safe enough.
"Zoro, I'm getting off."
To your disappointment, the megaphone called out that the next cart was going up and the ride started moving. Despite having multiple piña coladas at the club to calm your nerves, you still felt the panic grip you a little and grabbed a tight hold of the security holds keeping you in place, shutting your eyes and praying that this torture would end sooner.
"Hey, hey, hey." His voice called out to you softer than you've ever heard it before, willing you to focus on him. "Look at me."
"No, thank you," you chuckled uneasily. "If I open my eyes I will see my impending doom," you continued, feeling your heart thrumming in your chest as the ascent began quicker than you expected it to.
"Then give me your hand."
"I want to smack you over the head with it." Tremors took over your hands slightly, aware of how high you were going. "Why did I agree to this?"
"Because you like keeping to your word and it's something I admire about you."
He does? Oh, that's sweet- Wait I'm still mad at him.
"Please don't give me the compliment bullshit right now," you groaned through deep breaths.
"It's true though," he said, keeping his calm composure.
You cracked one eye open at him to see him looking only at you, anchored to your eyes like you were his view of the safe harbor in the tempest, the eye of the storm far away from reaching you.
Suddenly, everything was fine. All was good. It was just you and him on the same boat going in the same direction. Nothing could rock your boat.
Until you felt the ride stop and the urge to look around grew and despite all efforts, you gave into it. You were standing on the highest point, overlooking the whole park. You stopped breathing just looking around at the point ahead on the horizon where the sky met the sea, surprised to see the moon and the twinkling stars peak through the cover of clouds. The view would've been spectacular if it wasn't a few seconds till the train would drop.
"No no no, don't look-" he tried to warn you before you did the opposite.
"WE'RE GONNA FUCKING DIE!" you screeched.
"-down."
"If we don't die now, I will kill you myself when we're back on the ground for choosing to make such a stupid wish. I swear to GOD-" you were cut off as the train fell down into the drop.
Against your wishes, you grabbed onto his hand and held on for dear life, screaming as loud as your lungs could let you. You let out everything you've been holding inside for the past month in one strong yell. Zoro let out a few surprising yelps too, holding tighter onto your hand. The whole thing was over and done with before you knew it and you found yourself actually enjoying it. Not one hundred percent but a good amount of you did.
All that work to curl your hair only to get a blow out when you got back to the ground. It stuck up all sides, curls dismantled from the sheer force of the drop but still standing. Your hands patted it down with a pout, making Zoro take the matter into his own hands, brushing through your hair to fix it. His hands felt so soothing on your scalp, taming your earlier rage at being dragged to that death trap.
"You acted all cool only to yelp like a school girl during the drop," you giggled, his yelps still fresh in your mind.
"No, I didn't," he argued.
"I think the people that sat behind us would beg to disagree. At least own up to the fact that you were a teeny tiny bit scared."
"I don't fear anything."
"Oh yeah? Look behind you."
"What could possibly be so scary behind me- WHAT THE FUCK!" he yelled as he came face to face with a person dressed as a clown, carrying around balloons. He almost punched them on impulse.
"I don't fear anything my ass," you looked at him as he put down his fist and apologized. Once he was certain they left, he straightened his posture and cleared his throat.
"I was just startled," he said, trying to assure you that the statement he made was true. But you got used to seeing through his bullshit.
"Sure you were. Wanna try the haunted house over there then?" you pointed to the shack where a few people just ran out from, some full on sobbing. A scream came from inside, his eyes going wide and that was all you needed to know. Roronoa Zoro did have fears.
"Absolutely not."
"You sure? Nothing's gonna happen to you. I can hold your hand," you teased him like he teased you before the rollercoaster ride.
"Did you say you want popcorn? I'm gonna go get us some popcorn," he laughed, looking for an excuse.
"Okay. Meet you by the benches?"
"Sure."
Walking around, you stumbled upon a long queue of couples lined up to go on the Ferris wheel clogging most of the circulation around the park. If you were being honest, the rollercoaster was much more fun than waiting for hours to see an overpriced five minutes coast view could ever be. Besides, you could drive up the road and see that for free too.
You walked around some more when one of the stands stopped you in your tracks - throwing darts. It wasn't the darts game itself that piqued your interest, but the fluffy beige bear smiling brightly, hanging above the targets. His brown eyes matched those of your green-haired man, warm chocolate infused with honey, too sweet not to stop and stare.
For some reason you found it really lonely sitting by itself up there. All the smaller prizes were won and replaced on the daily, but by the looks of it he's been there for a while, waiting for someone. No one seemed sharp enough to play the game to the end and take him home.
You wanted to take him home with you.
If only you had the darts talent running in your veins. The price for just a set of three darts was way too much and it took seven perfect shots in the bullseye of the targets to win the bear. Perks of having an amusement park next to one of the most popular beaches on the coast meant complicated games that no normal human could aspire to win.
Sparing it one last look that made your heart ache, you turned and went to sit on a bench, waiting for your date that just so happened to see you stop by the darts booth. More precisely, he saw that pout on your face as you looked at the bear hung up high above the targets when it clicked. You wanted that bear.
Zoro knew you wouldn't ask him to get it for you. You didn't like asking for things and he knew that you might not even accept it if he offered it. But the way your shoulders slumped as you walked away told him how much you wanted it.
Darts wasn't his best sport, but he was good with his aim and had a patience that could kneel most at his feet. So, he marched to the booth, placing the popcorn tubs to the side and started tracing his targets to see just what he was dealing with.
"Feeling lucky tonight?" asked the manager of the booth, a sly smile on his face at finding another victim.
Little shit. If only he knew Zoro had the power to send his little business into bankruptcy right at his fingertips. A grin of his own graced his features making the man's smile quiver at the seams.
"Oh, I'm feeling more than lucky."
He rolled up his sleeves showing he meant business and placed a wad of cash on the dirty table, picking up his first set of darts. He was dead set on getting you that bear no matter how much money he had to blow on throwing tiny arrows around.
Anything to not see that pout on your face ever again.
Shuffling your heels over the dust and rocks on the ground, you drew random patterns to busy yourself. A lot of things were weighing on your mind. You were questioning why you went out in the first place. To give this a chance, your brain told you.
To feel something, said your heart. Well, with Zoro, you felt the whole damn universe in one sitting.
There was no telling how this night would end anyways. But you were slowly starting to think Zoro ditched you there since it's been a while he left to look for popcorn. You sighed again, feeling your world tilt, when a pair of shoes stopped in front of you. You knew those shoes.
"I thought you left to get popcorn not to shake hands with the mayor-," you lifted your head up only to stop mid-sentence. Staring at him like he grew a third eye, you took in the way he balanced two tubs of popcorn under his arm and a big plushie in the other.
The fluffy bear.
"I did. They were out so I went to find another stand. And this is for you," he offered you the bear with a smile that made his dimple pop out.
That small indentation in his cheek that showed up when he puffed them on the inside, usually at times when he did something he was proud of. A pit you could hide in whenever you wanted to without him knowing.
"Buddy looked a little lonely up there," he added, tilting his head back to the booth behind him.
Looking into those plastic brown eyes, you took the bear and hugged it close to you. It was even fluffier than you thought a plushie could be. You snuggled into it noticing that it lightly caught his scent, besides the sugary theme park smell.
You teared up a little. Not out of sadness or anything, but because you were touched by the gesture. Because he noticed, which was a rare thing to come by nowadays. Zoro cared and he showed you time and time again, never once falling short to notice. To make you feel seen.
Sensing a change, he placed the popcorn down on the bench you were sitting on just moments ago, grabbing a gentle hold of your arms.
"Hey," he spoke softly, trying to reassure whatever storm pried onto you out of nowhere. His palms stroked your forearms up and down, earlier glee in his voice morphing into worry. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," you shook your head looking away. It was stupid to have a crying session right now of all times.
"You look like you're about to cry. Did I do something wrong?"
"No, no! Gods, no. You didn't. You're amazing," you smiled. In an instant, your arms reached out to wrap around his waist hugging him as tight as you hugged the fluffy bear.
"Thank you, Zoro," you nuzzled your head into his chest in deep appreciation for more than the bear, hands holding tight onto the back of his shirt.
Your sudden display of affection made his ears grow pink. He silently hoped you couldn't hear the way his heart was beating from how your head was pressed to it. He wasn't sure how to respond at first but hesitantly, his arms wrapped around you too, squeezing you closer for a moment. His chin sat on top of your head as he let out a deep sigh at the comfort it brought him. If only he could hold you like this all the time.
There weren't enough words in the world to express your gratitude to him. For how well he treated you. For everything he did to make you feel happy. You just wanted to do the same for him. At least even for a little bit if this wasn't going to last.
"You're welcome," he smiled softly at you as you pulled apart from the hug. "Now, what are we naming this little guy?"
"Well, he definitely isn't little," you barked a laugh holding the bear up next to your hip. Now that you were seeing him closer, he was half your size. "I'll name him Lovey and I will be his Dovey."
"Does that mean I have competition?" his arms crossed on his chest, playing jealous. "He does seem like a worthy opponent."
"I didn't realise you were a runner-up, tough guy," you patted his chest to calm his coyness down a notch.
"Did I not make it clear enough?"
I think you and me have very different definitions of clear.
"I don't know," you teased. "Did you?"
"Guess I have to go for Plan B," he said, checking his watch again.
He checked that watch of his hundreds of times tonight. Was he in a rush? Is his prince charming cover going to dissipate like Cinderella at midnight or something?
"What's Plan B?" you asked confused, hoping he would let some information slip.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" he smirked tauntingly.
This man is an ore of surprises.
You've been waiting for Zoro in front of the park for a little over half an hour. He left to look for his car a while ago and there was no sign of him yet.
Huh, funny how I keep waiting for him. Both physically and emotionally. When does it end?
The sky turned darker and grey clouds rolled over. You felt uneasiness creep up on you, especially since he mentioned a Plan B. If the club and the amusement park were Plan A, what did Plan B look like in his book?
Five more minutes passed and Zoro returned, surprisingly by walking instead of driving, car keys swinging around in his hand.
"Zoro, where's the car?"
"So, uh, bad news. I lost the car," he smiled apologetically, pressing his hands together.
"What do you mean you lost the car? It's a huge jeep. How hard can it be to find a huge... jeep," you motioned around only to stop as you realized most of the cars around looked exactly like his. "Oh."
"Yeah, charm of living on the coast. But good news is that we are in walking distance from my place which was final destination. Though that surprise is kinda ruined now."
"I don't know what exactly you have planned at your place though," you stated, fishing for details.
"You have a point. Well, I can just come and look for it tomorrow."
He says that as if it's a daily occurrence for him to lose a jeep to the hands of sense. Though that made you think. Just how many times did he lose his car around here? But you'd rather not ask. So you asked something else.
"Won't you get a ticket?"
"Most parking around here is free."
"That's fine then," you shrugged, getting up with Lovey under your arm. "What about Plan B?"
Come on, dude. Give me a clue. Just one hint.
"It's on the way," was all he said as he extended his arm to you.
Okay, then no clue.
"Shall we?"
"We shall."
Of all the places you expected to make a pit stop at, Home Depot was the last thing on your list. Zoro had to pick up a bulb for his kitchen light that has been in his shopping notes for the past two months. Two. months. This is exactly why you make the lists on your grocery runs. He always forgets something.
In one hand you held your new fluffy companion close, while Zoro held onto your free one while you padded through the departments to reach the light section. Like any self-respecting humans, you stopped by the furniture section to look at a few sofas and test their softness together. They were so comfortable to sit on but you already had one in your apartment and from what Zoro let on he had one too many. Now, you wanted to reach final destination sooner.
A bit more waddling around floorings and hardware and you finally reached it - the beauty that was the light section. Bulbs of all kinds for all purposes, orientally decorated lamps and simple to more lavish strings of lights hung around each rack, one calling out more than the other.
The section extended into an extra part that seemed to have been arranged more recently. It called to you so you left Zoro looking for his bulb as you went to explore it more.
Following the multicolor trail bouncing off the racks, you came to a makeshift panel widening into the middle of the department. It was built to look like an arch of some sort. Like the kind you would see in extravagant wedding settings.
Fairy lights and crystal chandeliers of all shapes dripped down to paint the grey floors in a myriad of colours. You ventured under it, looking at all the ambient and decorative designs on display. A few lamps were so beautiful you seriously considered redecorating. Although, the warm golden light of a chandelier in the middle of the ensemble drew you in, its intricate framework sending rays of light reflecting from all lamps everywhere.
Zoro found the bulb he needed and turned around to find you gone from his side. He had to put a tracker on you at this point.
Following his instinct, he took just a few steps down the lights wing and found you right away. His breath hitched. There you were, revelling in the warmth of the light of a crystal chandelier. Its main frame made out of goldenrod supported dozens of glass flowers cascading from each side to create a bigger rozette above. The other lights reflected into the glass, shining a warm gold tone all over you, romanticising your features.
You looked like you stepped out of heaven. A fallen angel. His fallen angel.
You were curiously tracing the details of a crystal flower when he stepped closer to you, musky vanilla invading your senses. Turning to him you ended up nose to nose once again tonight, foreheads almost touching in that confined space. He was so close yet so far again. What was he waiting for?
Kiss me, you wanted to scream.
Kiss my lips dry.
Kiss me like I'm yours Zoro.
You were ready to beg. To have him close the distance faster and end this yearning.
He leaned in, breath ghosting your lips almost painfully.
In your daze, too focused on him finally showing a response, you backed up into a lamp that nearly knocked out everything else behind you. You turned around just in time to catch it, steadying it back to its place, saving dozens of installations from being crushed to bits and pieces. When you turned back around, his eyes closed in denial, letting out an exasperated breath.
And he pulled away. Just like that. He initiated the moment and he ended it too.
Now what the fuck.
"Did you get the bulb?" you exhaled, still in shock that the moment was gone as quick as it came.
"I have," he inhaled, straightening his posture, cocky smirk flying back to his lips.
Like he didn't just have me begging for a fucking kiss in the Home Depot lights section.
"Do you need anything else?"
"Nope," he got a hold of your hand pulling it between you, thumb softly guarding yours. "I have everything I need right here."
You're such an anomaly, Roronoa Zoro.
All you could think about was his place. Which was unexplored land to you. Your visit there wasn't too early of a feat in your relationship considering how much he loved your place. You just pondered on what was waiting for you there.
An open invitation to become more? A private tour of his home? A one night only limited edition Zoro? The possibilities with this man were endless.
A small stinging sensation brought your attention to your leg. Your ankles. Not having worn heels in a while, you didn't think it would be this bad if you left them uncovered and just slid into the heels for the night. Until it was that bad and trying to walk in a way that didn't give your discomfort away was hard. Every step down the concrete sidewalk had your the shoe brush like a bristle comb against your ankle.
You stopped to lean your weight on a fence, lifting your leg to be met with the new blood crescents forming on the ridges of your heels. Ouch. Rubbing your ankles to soothe the ache proved to be only temporary relief. You tried putting it back in the shoe only to scrunch your nose at the new wave of pain.
You've been walking for quite a while already. Who knew how much longer you had until you reached his place?
Before you could even register what was happening, Zoro dropped to his knees in front of you with a grunt. You blinked, bewildered at his behaviour. His wide back stretched, laid out for you. You didn't notice until now that his shirt was slightly see-through, the glory of his lean, strong shoulders fully in your view. No view of the coastline could compare to the one you had in front of you. Kneeling at your feet of all things.
You just stared for a while still confused but digging it, until his voice echoed like a wake up call in your ears.
"Get on."
"I can walk."
He turned his head around, pining you with an are you serious right now look. He was trying to be a gentleman but your hugely independent persona wasn't having any of that. Well, that and you were still mad about the home depot thing.
The kiss that never happened. The pulling away after railing you up all night, with a desperate sigh on his part, as if he felt the same. If he felt the same he would've said or done something to cement it. To make you stop feeling like a damn fool.
"I know you can," he added, voice turning so mellifluous to sweeten the mood that your knees almost turned to jelly. "I just don't want those red demons to scar you more than they already have."
He was sweet-talking you again.
He turned back around and made grabby hands over his shoulder for you to hurry up. You bit your lip annoyed that he was right. The heels would only scar your ankles more.
"Fine," you sighed and got on, closing an arm around his neck as the other wrapped the bear's arms around your own.
Certain that you got comfortable, Zoro got a hold of the back of your thighs to lift you up. The spot he touched behind your thigh tickled and you tried your hardest to keep stable and not move around too much. You did kick forwards in instinct once, earning a disgruntled huff from your humble transport.
"Is there a place you aren't ticklish in?"
"I'm sorry, I just can't help it."
You took a strand of your hair and tickled his cheek on purpose as he tried to blow it away.
"I will drop both of you if you don't stop that," he warned.
You leaned closer to the side of his head, the rim of your lips brushing just the tip of his ear, voice playing sweet whispering in the same way he did to you all night.
"Stop what?"
He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, jaw clenched, tensing under your hold before slowly reconfiguring his pace. You hit a chord. You grinned in victory that it affected him when your smile fell as you caught sight of the corner of his lip twisting upwards. He welcomed your teasing only to reply with a remark of his own.
"Are you testing me, angel?"
Angel. That was new. So new that your heart fluttered.
You kept your composure unsure of how to respond. This was one of those times his teasing got too deep inside of you and tickled a chord you didn't even know was there. So you just deflected from it, securing your hold on him better.
"Drop me and I will end your entire bloodline."
A deep rumble of a chuckle that he tried to keep inside but failed, boomed under you. The heaviness between you dissipated little by little, unserious, and you giggled along with him.
"You're precious cargo. But I just might," he teased again, readjusting his hold on you.
Yet, the truth was he wouldn't. In fact, he would do anything in his power for you to be comfortable. Even if that meant carrying you and a midsized bear all the way to his place sprawled on his back like a sack of potatoes, with your red feet killers swinging in his hand as your warm giggles filled the night.
Though it was a far reach, the possibility of nights like these becoming a regular thing made his heart soar. Maybe there was a chance for more.
Entering the lush part of the coastline, palm-hidden domains morphed into villas upon villas of the rich and the elite in all kinds of styles running along the lap of a hill. Halfway up the steep hill, your humble transport climbed a set of stairs and stopped in front of a villa.
Your mouth hung open. There's no way this was his.
Your eyebrows reached the heavens when he fished around his pocket for the keys and jingled them in the hole, pushing the door open. This was his.
Once inside, he bent down for you to get off, placing your heels down, putting his own shoes next to yours. You hopped off taking in the place. Each way your head turned you were instantly hit with his scent.
"You're telling me your house was this close to the club and we spent new year's sleeping on the beach?" you asked, twirling around the place.
Walking in further, you came to a dip in the ground going into a spacious living room. Two medium couches and an armchair in a deep forest green laid around facing each other. He does have a couch too many.
"Well, I didn't want to hit third base that early," he said, walking into the kitchen area. "You did take me for a psychopath just for taking you to the beach."
Taken aback at his words, you turned around trying to recall when that happened.
"Pffft, I did not."
Stopping his ascent on a small ladder to change the broken bulb, he placed his hands on his hips and looked back at you then proceeded to utter the exact words you said to him on your first night together.
"Is this the part where you kill me or something?"
He even had the tone right. You laughed remembering his first impression. Oh, how wrong you were. He turned out to be way more than that.
"Fair enough."
Fixing fluffy Lovey on a couch, you walked around some more. The huge space was used so well, beige and green motives spreading all around, combining in neutrals with the dark grey oak wooden floors. Beyond the modern aesthetic and messily discarded trinkets it was so cozy. Compared to your apartment, this place was an oasis.
"You have a really nice house."
"Thank you. It's not much really."
Not much? He's not being real.
He fiddled some more with the lightbulb, lean forearms working to click it into place. Extending his hand to you, he motioned you to the flip switch to test if it works. You obliged and turned it on. The bulb glowed, turning the beige kitchen golden, just like the chandelier you saw.
Moving into the cooking area you realised even his kitchen was something out of the paradise of architectural design.
You leaned your elbows on the marble top, head resting on top of your knuckles, waiting for him to finish. Once he was satisfied with his work, he stored the ladder away and came to sit next to you, mirroring your position. Feeling his prying eyes on you, you turned to find him a few inches away, hip brushing yours, looking at you with a smile.
"Hi," you said softly, smiling back at him.
"Hi," he replied, the crescents around his eyes deepening.
You could sit there looking at each other until time would end. If it wasn't for your stomachs singing in unison demanding some attention.
"I thought that instead of going to spend loads of money on a restaurant, we could cook something ourselves," he suggested.
"You went grocery shopping without me?"
"Yep," he popped the p at the end looking really proud of himself.
You had to give him credit for planning the whole day out ahead of time. It's the most anyone has ever done for you.
"So, what are we cooking?"
"Well," he threw a towel over his shoulder, "your wish is my command tonight."
You loved his determination. Zoro could cook. Just enough to save his life if need be but nothing too grandiose - if that included omelets and fried rice with some creativity to reinvent the dish for every day of the week. Thing that required talent.
So, you thought of one simple thing no one could screw up. Something that would be easy, fun and quick to make that would fill you both. You settled on the pinnacle of good food.
"Then pizza it is."
"Had a feeling you'd say that."
He walked to the fridge and pulled out some of your favorite toppings and a jar of the tomato sauce you swore by. You gasped, holding a hand over your heart in fake excitement.
"You know me so well."
"I try my best," he said, making a bow.
You got to making the dough, mixing the ingredients while he connected his phone to a speaker. Jazzy, romantic music played and you craned your neck at him to see that playful smirk. He wasn't acting like the Zoro you knew.
"Dean Martin? Seriously?"
"What's wrong with it? It's-"
"Romantic."
You never saw anyone cut the music so fast. It gave you whiplash.
"Then what about this?"
The track changed to ABBA's Dancing Queen. You threw your head back with a laugh, shaking it at his questioning music choices.
"Friday night and the lights are low ~," he sang off key, sending you into another fit of giggles. He continued singing as laughter rolled out of you to the point you were holding your stomach in pain.
Cruising around some more, he finally let a pop playlist run in the background as you worked on the dough and he got busy with chopping stuff up. You snuck a few glances at him and stilled - that golden light bounced on his tan complexion, making his focused posture appear so snug and cozy, almost husband material. The amused twinkle was back in his brown orbs, resembling irresistible pralines.
He looked like home.
Feeling your cheeks heat up, you turned back to the dough, sprinkling flour on the table top and rolling it out to spread it as wide as you could eat it. Too focused on it, you didn't notice a floured finger coming to paint your face until the white powder was already smeared across your cheeks.
"You're such a child," you let out before you painted his nose with flour too.
"I think that makes two of us."
He cupped the side of your face, brushing his thumb over the flour covered bits. Though that only smudged the flour more, your heart beat accelerated to an uneven rate. He was too close again. Too close to let go again.
"You made me beg for this date so much," he spoke lowly, brushing your cheek in circles. "I don't do begging."
"Can't blame a girl for wanting to torment the guy she's interested in."
Before he could reply, your stomach grumbled again, annoyed that there was still no food present in it. His hand fell from your cheek, though his touch still lingered. Warm, singed, stamped on your cheek.
You finished decorating the pizza with everything you both liked and once it was in the oven, you crouched down to see it cook. Zoro followed on your side, knee touching yours.
"You know, it's not gonna cook faster if you stare at it," he mused.
"I know," you turned to look at him. The gleam from the oven light coupled with the kitchen light above played tricks on you because you could've sworn that hard, playful gaze of his turned softer. "I'm just surprised you can cook something other than basic military canned food."
"Oh, shut up," he laughed, playfully shoving his shoulder into yours.
You made small talk until the oven dinged that your pizza was ready. Letting Zoro deal with it, you ventured more into his living room like a cat looking for her next napping spot.
You walked all the way to the glass windows acting like an outer wall. Finding a handle, you pulled on it expecting it to be just for décor only to see that the glass slid open to give you access to a private beach front. Your jaw would crack if this man shocked you more tonight.
He has a private beach. Who the hell just has a private beach? And he said it's not much. Dude, I can move here if you don't like it.
Pushing the door open all the way, you took a seat on an extended wooden ledge overlooking the stretch of water you started liking so much. The sky was still cloudy, covering up the moon, yet some stars still sparkled through the white glare. A few birds played around in the trees, chirping as brightly as they would in the early morning. Waves lapped calmly at the shore, smaller than the naked eye could see, crashing into each other before they could make a sound on the sand.
You closed your eyes and took a deep breath of the salty air, letting it sink deep into your lungs. Calm enveloped you like a warm blanket comfortingly there for you. It was more than an oasis. It was how Zoro made you feel. Though most times it was accompanied by chaos, you would always find yourself waiting for this serene peace.
"I see you've found your favorite spot already."
Zoro was quickly at your side with the pizza sliced, a bottle of wine under his arm and some glasses. He sat down next to you working on the bottle before anything else.
"Favorite doesn't even begin to describe it."
Hungry from all the dancing and walking, you dove into the pizza first. The dough melted on your tongue, nodding to yourself as the good tomato sauce hit your taste buds, among with all the other toppings.
"Is it edible enough?"
"It turned out way better than I expected."
"Hand me one," he opened his mouth, waiting for you to feed him a slice.
You picked up a smaller one. Careful not to smudge any of the toppings on his shirt, you held it out for him to take a bite. He stopped fiddling with the cork to take in the taste.
"You're right, this is heavenly. I didn't know my oven could cook like this."
You choked, slapping his arm.
"That's what ovens are for, dummy."
Red wine, darker than your dress, danced in the glasses as you clinked them together. Taking a sip, the sweetness hit you before it lulled into bitter cherries, spilling on your lips like the promise of love on this chilly February night.
"Look out," he pointed out towards the sea.
You looked everywhere. All you could see was a few boats out on the water, the sky clearing some more and the sea. You even squinted, thinking you weren't looking properly.
"I don't see anything."
He checked his watch to see he was too early. For someone who was always late in making decisions, he still had time. Huh, how the tables have turned.
He counted the leftover seconds in his head, leaning back to look at you the way he did on new year's on the beach. Your back was in his full view, covered by your dress and your hair that grew a bit longer. He still has that impulse to trace your spine with the pads of his fingers.
"Look now."
Right as your eyes fixed on the boats, fireworks lit up the night sky from far out on the water. Pink and red spun around in different shaped hearts.
Seems like the surprises keep on coming.
Too engrossed in the light show decorating the sky in cute and heartwarming messages, you didn't notice Zoro slipped from beside you until you heard slow music playing from the speakers. He sat behind you, hand extended your way.
"Can I have this dance?"
"Another one?"
"You can't blame me for wanting another dance with you when you look this beautiful tonight."
"Only tonight?" you questioned, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
"All the time," he corrected himself as he pulled you closer.
You stepped left and right under the warmth of the lights and the fireworks, holding the man you've always wanted in your life. Suddenly, you were taken back to that night where you let it all go to have fun with a stranger. A stranger that became something more so fast.
Who knew you'd end up mending each other's solitude and fill up the cracking pieces in your hearts. You were both aware that you meant more to each other than you let on, but the words just didn't seem to find their way out to communicate that. That was your only fatal flaw.
The need to know where you stand was more powerful than anything right now.
Somehow, everything was perfect.
Maybe too perfect.
"This is so fucking cheesy," you quipped.
"What's cheesy?"
"Everything. This night, the food, the wine, the fireworks... you."
You've kept the uneasiness at bay all night but something made it explode everywhere in your body and it definitely wasn't the wine. Or the way he was looking at you with those deep brown eyes like he could tell what you were feeling. If that were true he wouldn't waste any more time than you already did.
"What is this really about?" he asked, hands falling from your waist to rub comforting circles on the inside of your wrists.
If it wasn't crystal clear until now, he knew what made you tick. And something pushed a nerve by the looks of it and the way you were avoiding his eyes.
You wanted the ground to swallow you up for letting your mouth run wild without any basis besides that nervousness. But you might as well just bite the bullet and tell him everything and be honest with each other at least for once. You avoided talking about it way too long.
"It all feels a little too perfect to be real."
Thinking that voicing your thoughts out would give you some semblance of balance was a wrong assumption. As soon as those words left your mouth, he let go of your arms, taking a step back. Once again, you let your inhibitions take over and reel you away from a great thing.
You got lucky by meeting him. But you still couldn't help but think his heart wasn't yours for the taking. Because he wouldn't let you take it. That you couldn't be more than friends with him because more would destroy the already amazing thing you had going on.
By the way his face fell, brown orbs more preoccupied with the wooden floors, you realized you probably fucked up even more.
Frankly, he did all this tonight for you. He was never the type to go out of his way for people, even the ones he had an interest in because he wasn't one to play the feelings game. To chase and court and shower in affection.
But he knew where you were coming from and why.
He didn't make it clear that you've been the sole object of his attention ever since he saw you that first night you came to the club. For him, that was just another night lost to endless glasses of alcohol to numb himself even more from the world.
Until you showed up.
Hair thrown into the same messy bun you always sported, uncomfortably shifting in your clothes as you nursed a different array of alcohol yourself, trying to do exactly the same thing he was doing. Numbing the feelings away. Keeping them at bay. Fighting them with everything you had in opposite corners of the club when you could've embraced them together from that first look that connected you.
The more time he spent with you the more he let those suppressed feelings in and realised that they didn't bring him any pain this time, but solace, comfort, hope.
The hope that he might just have a great thing in front of him worth changing his ways for.
While Zoro was having a revelation, you were having a war with yourself.
There was this monstrous fire harbored inside of you for so long. Zoro woke that fire and there was no telling of the destruction it could cause this time, especially with so many unsaid things lingering in the air. So many unshared feelings. Because he stood still like the sea washing on the beach instead of doing something. Anything.
Please, Zoro, your eyes begged but he wouldn't look at you.
He was danger, screamed your mind. The danger that you got too comfortable. That this was wrong and you put up the 'no vacancy' sign on the doors to your heart way too soon.
Let me in, your heart screamed, blood in your veins trembling in anger.
One rapid thump of your heartbeat drowned in the silence.
Two more passed and he stood still, gaze set on the ground.
On the third one, you made your mind up.
Before tears could well up in your eyes, you turned around with the intention of bolting out through the same door he carried you through not that long ago.
Sensing movement, he caught sight of you shaking your head, that pout he hated back on your lips. He hurt you. Because he was a fucking idiot who couldn't do words.
But he could do actions. He was willing to do even more to prove to you that this was right and it wasn't all just in your head. That he felt it too.
It only took you taking two fast strides in the direction of the door for him to make up his mind too.
"Then let me make it real," he caught your hand and pulled you to him, crashing his lips onto yours for the first time since that night at the club, kissing you like his life depended on your very own lips moulding to his own.
You felt the desperation, the anguish, the need. All of it to have you close and to feel you in more ways than one. Everything you've been feeling for the past month, hope, passion, the beginning of love, spilling from his lips onto yours. He was telling you everything he kept to himself with each desperate tug at your lip and you received every word.
The last time he kissed you was over a month ago, pressured by the new year's kiss tradition. Back then, he tasted like alcohol and his cologne. But now, he tasted like everything you've been waiting for. And you had a hunch he waited just as long for it.
Once you were past the shock of it, you kissed him back even harder, lips finally moving in sync with his. He got a rough hold of your waist and pulled you even closer to deepen the kiss. One of his hands tangled in your curls exactly the way he wanted to since he saw you at your apartment.
He wanted to be selfish. Let that monstrosity of his heart pour out all of those feelings to you. But he reminded himself he had to take it slow with you. So he let go with a small tug at your lower lip, spurring the eagerness inside of your tummy for more.
You pulled apart but remained close, foreheads touching in bliss. Though short, this kiss was sweeter and more meaningful than any chocolate box you could ever get. It was everything you needed to know what his heart held inside and how much more of him you still had to see.
He let you in.
"I wanted to do this for so long," he breathed haggardly, like you stole away all the air in his lungs with just one kiss. A kiss that was so long overdue.
"Why didn't you?" you voiced the question that's been hanging by a thread all night.
"I didn't know how you felt about me."
"You're such an idiot. But you're my idiot."
Shaking your head against his, you pulled him closer by the collar of his shirt and kissed him again, this time with more fervour. You wanted to make sure he understood where your feelings stood, where you wanted this to go and that you let him be in total control of it. Because losing control with Zoro was surrendering to a higher power. One that your heart loved being handled by.
You carved your own feelings into the way you held onto his cheeks and nibbled on his lips in unsated hunger, trying to put the torment, want and devotion you felt for him over the past month and a half into a language that he could understand.
And he understood.
Tapping your thigh, you got the message and jumped up into his strong arms that wrapped around you like a curtain of safety.
Your safety net.
He ripped yours apart to become it.
He held you to him so easily as he navigated through the furniture maze in his living room, taking off into a long corridor, all the while his lips discovered new grounds with yours. He didn't want to waste any more time if it involved you.
Zoro didn't care if this would end up being a fucked up disaster on his part, but he held back enough from showing you how he really feels. It was time he made things right with you.
You.
It was only you.
There didn't need to be anyone else for him.
Just you.
His hold tightened around you as he rounded a corner, not for security but to brand the feel of your being in his hands, to realize that he was finally holding you, feeling you where you were supposed to be all along.
Heavens, how much he longed for this. Your presence wouldn't dare to leave his thoughts just like he never left yours. Oh, he knew of the ardor your eyes held inside and was well aware of what ran around in your head because he let those same movies play in his own around the clock, early day into late night. Maybe he didn't let it be known, not like you did in wistful glances or pink tinted cheeks, but there were signs.
In the way his jaw ticked in disgust at every man who set their eyes on you every time you went out shopping, to the point he was ready to have an MME match if they stared too long. Or how his hand twitched to grab yours whenever you sat too close, the need to lace them together and press you flat against the couch in your apartment overriding his senses. And his mouth. Oh, his mouth. It wanted nothing but to taste every inch of you, everywhere you touched him and riled him up, every time your eyes drifted down to his lips, until there was nothing left to taste.
Hell would freeze over before that happened.
Kicking the door to his room open, he shut it just as swiftly, maneuvering your back to the nearest wall, moonlight the only thing illuminating the room. The cold wall cooled your burning skin, a breathy gasp leaving your throat right into his mouth with a kiss. He let go of your back, hands searching for your palms, pushing them against the wall beside your head. His mouth never left yours, exploring every depth, rise and sigh escaping you.
He hooked you higher up the wall with every kiss, atoning for every missed opportunity over the past month. Your legs tangled harsher around his torso, tugging him even closer as he pressed against you with all his might, feeling all of him and none of him at the same time.
Close just wasn't enough for any of you.
You needed closer. Attached. Intimate.
Soul on soul.
Patience wasn't your virtue at all tonight. You clawed at his hands, needy unlike anyone has ever made you. Except Zoro. Your head was filled with him. You were breathing him in and it still wasn't enough.
In one breath you were unglued from the cold wall and put down on the comfy edge of his bed, separated from his lips and from him. You whined at the loss of feeling him against you, ready to argue that having him kiss you mattered more than whatever had him lose the tempo. Although that need turned into anticipation just as fast once your eyes focused on his kneeling form before you.
Roronoa Zoro, on his knees, for you, eyes darker than the blackness of the night. That vulnerability looked lethal.
Those eyes. You could drown in them for a lifetime if they asked you to.
"Zoro," you sighed, chest rising up and down, expectant of his next move.
Oh, how he loved the sound of his name rolling off your lips. Usually so contained in the form of a sarcastic remark or to warn him to watch it.
Now, it was tuned to demand for his attention. And he wanted to make sure you got all of it.
One of his hands extended to your leg, calloused fingers trailing up the arch, circling mindfully around your wounded heel to hold it up to his lips. He pressed them to the inside of your ankle, slow and steady, eyes fixed on yours as you took in a sharp breath. The intensity of his unwavering gaze alone made heat pool between your legs.
Flutters rose in crescendos inside your belly at each kiss and there was no stopping them from roaming free. Not when he was watching your every response like your body was the eighth wonder of the world.
Your hands fell beside you, feeling the softness of his duvet to ground you as you closed your eyes to relish in the moment. Focusing on how plush his mouth felt on your skin on two different extremities. Wondering how they would feel on the rest of your body.
Unspoken but present in the air, that wish was his command.
His fingers trailed higher, past your calf, under your knee, roughly tugging you closer to the edge. Your dress bunched up your thighs as his fingers continued their perusal to reach the small of your back. Slowing his pace, he traced the dip in your spine all the way between your shoulder blades, your back arching involuntarily. Still on his knees, he moved closer between your legs as those fingers circled on your nape, pulling you down to meet his mouth halfway in another kiss, more fiery than the last.
This one sputtered with flames of passion. So much that you couldn't contain yourself anymore.
Your hands shot out to undo the buttons of his shirt. Frustrated with the top ones you just dug your fingers in the holes and pulled it open, poor buttons flying to the floor with a pang, interrupting your fast breaths. He broke apart from your lips to assess the damage only to find his chest half-exposed to your itching hands.
"That was vintage."
"I'll get you another one but I want it off, now," you muttered in a breath, grabbing his face to devour him. You couldn't get enough of how he tasted and every breath for air asked for another taste.
Hooking one hand around your back, he lifted you up and hauled you to the middle of the bed. His lips connected with the side of your mouth, dragging the bottom lip you liked biting so much between his teeth. He was just as annoyed at your dress, desperately looking for ways to feel more of you as he fisted the ends until they creased.
"I want this off too," he groaned, pulling on the skirt impatiently.
Said and done.
You sat up, letting the straps fall off your shoulders, pulling the material over your head to leave you in your undergarments. He licked his lips taking you in. The ferocity of his stare alone drinking you in like his normal glass of whiskey made tremors dance on your skin.
And he didn't even properly touch you yet. You weren't even sure you would survive his touch. The good thing was, you were about to find out.
"What now, loverboy?"
The nickname came out way more playful than you intended it to. It was enough to provoke him in ways that will damage you for anyone else. Ways that will tie his existence to your very own, unable to ever untie it.
"I'm gonna have you like no one has ever dared to before and no one will," he spoke, so deep that your buds prickled against the air at the gravel in his voice. "By the time I'm done with you, you're gonna wish you didn't test my patience for so long."
That turned you on even more. At the need present in him matching the same level of want flowing in your body.
He kicked the rest of his clothes off. Your eyes stopped at the huge package that laid under his clothes, a Greek god in the flesh and balls. They then lingered from the sculpted thighs you were so envious of, to his defined middle where you lost count of his packs and chest, going up to the arched bow of his collar bones, stopping at the plump lips that rushed to capture your own again. This time, he bit your lower lip for access to explore the rest of your mouth, tongues tangling in a dance of their own on the same rapid rhythm your hearts were beating in.
A hand sneaked under your back to lift you higher, pressing your chest flush to his, feeling all the shapes of his muscles against your own. His lungs breathed with yours. Your hearts came alive.
His lips left your mouth, moving down your jaw, prodding under it, heading to your collar bones in hungry fire. They left a burning trail in their wake, stretching tingles even to the edge of your shoulders where he pressed softer ones.
Kiss, lick and bite was his mantra that he repeated against your skin. He wanted to claim you tonight, more viciously than a wolf in heat would claim his mate.
Trailing down, he laid small and large kisses on your sternum, between your mounds. His palms sat on either side of your waist, rubbing circles to tease you more. Damn his teasing.
Feeling his lips, his hands and his torso pressed to you all at once turned your breathing erratic, saprking electric shocks inside of you. He was everywhere, taking your control away. Your eyes darted closed to find some kind of anchor besides fisting his sheets.
"Eyes on me, angel," he commanded and in a second your eyes snapped back to his.
He stopped just above your navel, waiting for you to catch your breath. That was a luxury. Once he was sure you were following, he continued all the way down to your lower stomach where the band of your panties stuck to you uncomfortably. Your breath hitched when he stopped there, blowing above where you needed him most, only to move down to your inner thighs, nipping on the softer skin with that amused smirk of his gracing the outline of his mouth.
He was trying to push you over the edge on purpose.
Fuck that.
One swift push and he fell backwards on the bed. You climbed on top to take the reigns and gain some control back. Little did you know that having you straddling him like that bid the beast inside of him alive.
You moved butterfly kisses from the crook of his neck, down his toned pecs. His hand latched in your hair, grabbing a tight hold around your curls, destroying them like he wanted to do all night. The pressure on your scalp pulled a moan from you just as you bit into his abdomen heaving a groan from him, his other hand digging into your waist as he raised up to meet your neck. He bit and pulled on it too, turning your insides to mush.
Sitting up with you on your kness, he hooked a finger on each side of your panties and ripped them apart down the middle with that shit-eating grin. You choked on every remnant of sanity as he threw the shreds to the side leaving you naked, fully naked, exactly like he wanted you.
Grabbing onto his shoulders, you moved to his lap, legs parted to cage him into your space. One look of confirmation that this was still what you both wanted had you sink down on him at once.
He was big. Collosal almost. He felt bigger than you thought you could take. Eyes closed, it took you a moment to get your bearings back but once you did, you felt him everywhere. His upper thighs supported the rest of your weight. His hands circled around you, both grabbing and holding you upright. His cherry wine-infused breath fanned the side of your neck.
And his eyes? Waiting for you as you opened yours. One look at them and your hips started rolling on autopilot. Every swing buried him deeper, further, closer to where your being called for him. And he let you have it. Letting you ravish his gear the way you liked it, feeling him stretch you sore.
His mouth went back to his mantra. Kissing the crook of your neck, licking it right in the middle and biting it hard enough to leave a bruise. To mark you as his. His and his only.
You gripped his shoulders, shifting to get a better position as your hips started getting tired. Silently, you cursed yourself for ditching gym with him because you didn't know how much stamina riding him would take out of you.
You were close and from how he gripped your waist to help your rhythm, pulling them faster front and back, he was too. He stopped nibbling on your neck, moving to your lips to swallow your quiet moans. He had to make them louder.
You rolled your hips until you couldn't find the energy to push into him anymore. He took that as his chance to take over again.
He pulled out, turning you around as he spread you on all fours. Your hands landed on the bedpost to support you as he climbed behind you. He laid kisses from your lower back all the way to your left shoulder where his lips brushed your ear just as his tip lightly caressed your opening. His warm breaths foreshadowed sin on your skin, making you wetter by the second.
And he entered you. One, two, three pumps and he got accustomed to your tightness just as you did with his size stretching you out. He bit the side of your neck with every thrust, sending your conscious into oblivion, chasing that high together.
Every moan you withheld from him earned you a deeper thrust. He wanted to hear you in all your glory. Wanted to know how badly you wanted him, not just like this but in every way.
In your lost haze, you ended up on your back closer to release. Entering you roughly, he pounded in you so fast you were seeing stars, head rolling to the side in complete ecstasy. His hand grabbed your jaw, tilting your field of vision back to him.
His free hand grabbed your hand for the millionth time tonight, placing it on the messy sheet beside your head, fingers smoothly sliding through yours as he kissed away all of your sighs. Your other hand climbed from deep down his waist to his upper back, hard rock muscles rippling under your touch like a stone thrown on the surface of a still river, disturbing its peace, turning it turbulent and wild. Waking up every primal urge in him as he groaned in your neck.
He accelerated, twitching inside of you and you came, letting your insides explode into a mess as he continued chasing his own high. He wasn't done with you yet, thumb rushing to rub another climax out of you as he was close to his own. His mouth bit into your breasts, grazing your buds one at a time, pulling on them in a way that added to your pleasure way more than the last one.
You gripped him again, tighter, and in no time you both came furiously, spilling everything you held back out onto that mattress. He pulled out, letting his seed fly onto your stomach.
You tried to catch your breath. It was gone somewhere between ecstasy and what laid beyond euphoria. He left to clean himself up, returning with a token of aftercare for you. He wiped his mess off of you, gentle and attentive to get everything off. Once he was done, he got in next to you, pulling you close.
You both just sat there for a while, reflecting on everything that happened. You still felt him inside of you, on you, above you, behind you. He managed to ruin you.
His voice cleared the quiet, making you focus back on the real world for a bit.
"You okay?"
"I just got fucked to oblivion. I would say fantastic but I can't feel my legs."
He chuckled. He would never fail to love your sarcasm. Even in moments like these.
"Did I go too hard?" he asked, not sarcastically but wanting to know if it was too much. If he went harder than he should have.
Looking at the vines of love bites he left on the entirety of your neck, the smudged makeup that looked almost natural, and your tousled messy hair, hard couldn't encapsulate it better. You would've said "you could've gone harder" but that meant urging him on another round and you were spent for tonight. So, you laid your head in the crook of his neck and closed your eyes, releasing a content breath, a silent confirmation that you were okay.
A single thought passed through your head - this was all kinds of right. Your once in a lifetime right time right place, as cheesy as it sounded. Maybe cheesy was good.
He was in his head thinking everything through in his own way, breaking down the once intense feelings into little flurries of emotion buzzing inside of him. That passion masked itself as denial for way too long. But tonight, you held his face and took that mask off, giving him clarity and he was able to feel something else.
Something close to love, he thought, chuckling to himself.
You cracked one eye open, taken aback at his sudden cheerfulness. One look at his face bathed in the glow of the moon and you saw him beaming.
"What are you so smiley about?"
He just shook his head, smile widening like a Cheshire cat that's been caught up to no good.
"Nothing."
Taking it upon yourself, you got up from his side with slow moves and straddled his waist, getting his attention back on you.
"Tell meeeee," you stretched, poking your fingers through every dent in his abs until he told you.
"What are you gonna do for it?"
Not this again.
Actually, this time, you knew what he wanted. A kiss. So, you just leaned over and caught his lips sweetly, smiling into it. His hand came to cup your face, smiling back. He pulled away, soft praline orbs gazing at you warmly.
"What if I still don't want to tell you?"
"Zoro, stop playing with me," you complained, slapping his chest.
"Okay. Okay," he held his hands up in surrender.
He sat up to lean on the headboard and get a better look at you - his ruined shirt hugged your smaller form, running all the way to your thighs. The marks of his feelings that he still couldn't utter decorated you everywhere. You sat back on his lap, arms crossed on your chest, waiting for him to speak.
"I'm not one to do feelings," he started, eyes darting down in thinking. "But you changed that."
Your eyes stayed focused on him, softening at his words.
You knew that he was a reserved person, keeping to his corner rather than reaching out into other people's. Until he found something worth thrusting his hand out at full speed to get it. Something worth hanging onto with his teeth.
As he connected his eyes with yours, brown blazing fire burning as bright and consuming as yours, it dawned upon you that something was you.
He was trying. For you.
"You were right. I am an idiot," he paused, fiddling with the ends of his shirt beside your calf. "It took me so long to figure it out but now I know."
Your heart started running when his hand held yours and brought it to sit on top of his own, running just as fast in his chest. Though the rate of yours spiraled out of control at the honesty of his incoming confession.
"I think I'm in love with you."
Your head spun, blinking in confusion at him.
"Am I hallucinating or did you just say the L word?"
"Yes. I did just say the L word," he nodded, confirming that he felt the same for you.
Before you could breathe it through, you leaned in for another kiss. He deepened the kiss trying to reach every corner of you. Wanting to both take his time and rushing to taste every part of you.
Breathless. Serene. And everything in between.
"I take it you love me back?" he asked, needing you to say those words back to him.
Your heart did flips at the way the word sounded coming from him. It dripped with honey and warmth.
"A little more than love," you grinned. "You do realise that I won't be able to stop it, right?"
"I don't want you to."
"Great," you clapped your hands together. "Because I will become so annoying."
He howled a laugh, throwing his head back, the sound you loved so much making you laugh too.
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
You leaned down connecting your lips for the millionth time tonight. But you still couldn't get used to them or to the fact that your heart called out his name and his answered back calling out just as loud.
Falling forward into his arms, you sank like a ship happily waiting to meet its end in the depths of the ocean that was him. Because no ocean was deeper and so familiar to swim through than your Zoro.
He kissed the crown of your head, pulling you closer. Happy felt like an impossible destination until he held you to him like this, safe and warm in his embrace. He felt a tinge of it and he wanted more.
"Are you tired-"
Before the question even left his mouth properly, his eyes drifted to the steady rise and fall of your chest, drained body curled into him tightly, head tucked into the crook of his neck, chest pressed to his.
She's drooling again, he chuckled to himself, moving some hair away from your face so you wouldn't inhale it. You sat like a baby coddled in its mother's arms, but your position looked a little uncomfortable.
He pulled your feet from under you to get you in a better posture. Moving his arms around you, he got more cozy, drawing the covers over the both of you and let the night come to an end.
Birds chirped announcing a new day, with the sea singing the same tune as its waves crashed in a swirl outside. The morning sun peaked through the curtains, its soft rays caressing the top of your head, willing you to wake up.
The first thing you felt was your cheek pressed against something plush. A pillow. The pillows I fell asleep on last night were way better.
You rolled around the bed trying to find some more sleep when the thought of last night sparked your brain like the tip of a vinyl record player, making memories play faster than your sleepy mind could catch up to.
Lips kissing on every part of your skin available to sight, carving themselves on the hidden ones. Hands caressing your body like a holy prayer, thought but never uttered. Eyes making secret promises with yours in the darkened moonlight.
You turned on your back and opened your eyes, letting them adjust to the light in the room. The fluffy duvet fell to your lap as you sat up, stretching your sore limbs with a groan. Everything ached but in a good way.
Pulling the covers away, you folded them neatly on the bed and took in the space in the light of day. The beige and green from downstairs broke off into a two-tone sandy beige and a cotton white on the floor and the walls. It truly felt like home. And smelt like it too. That musky vanilla you liked so much enveloping you, mostly from his shirt.
After a steamy shower that your skin welcomed fully, you stopped in front of the mirror to see just what he drew on you last night. You traced the red marks down your body, feeling the ghost of his lips like he was kissing and biting those places again and again. He didn't need any words after all.
Rummaging through his wardrobe, you stole a t-shirt, fitting like a dress on you, and a pair of pants that barely wanted to stay on your waist. You had to roll them up and double tie the strings for them to sit still.
Taking to the long corridor, you followed the sunlit path and looked for your partner in crime. You found him in the kitchen, handling an egg carton, preparing for what looked like the Zoro Special - omelete with a bunch of side dishes and orange juice - or Champions' Breakfast as he called it.
He had his back turned to you, busy chopping up some tomatoes. You sneaked behind him, trying to be quick and silent on your feet, planning to jump him. You rounded the marble top of the island, grinning that stealth was on your side, only to get caught between his arms. He already sensed you from when you entered the kitchen so your surprise attack was doomed from the start.
Unpredictable like a breeze of the wind, he picked you up, placing you on the island as strong arms planted on each side, caging you in his space. He took one look at you, recognizing his clothes draped loosely on you, messy bun on top of your head and his heart did flips again.
"Fancy seeing you here," you said, shying away from his gaze. It looked hungry and not for any damn food.
"I could say the same," he spoke, raspy voice sending tingles down your spine. He studied you some more, lips perking up in amusement. "Trying to sneak up on me?"
"Maybeeeee," you played with the hem of his shirt. "What are you making?"
"My special-"
His words got caught in his throat as you laid your chin on the crown of his chest and looked up at him with the softest eyes he's ever seen, all his resolve crumbling to the depths of the fucking universe.
It was truly a wonder to him - how you could go from one extreme to the other, being both adorable and sexy at the same time.
"Can I be your special?" you asked, voice sweeter than candy.
"I wouldn't mind that," he smirked, leaning down to capture your lips in a slow morning peck quicker than you would've liked it to be.
As if on cue, your stomach made a noise of complaint that the pizza you made together last night got digested.
"Let's get some food in you," he said, patting it tenderly.
"Do I get to assist on the special?"
"You get to watch the special," he rubbed his hands together and got started.
Pre-heating a pan on the hob, he held a knife in one hand and an egg in the other. Your eyebrow lifted up in curiosity as he held the knife horizontally to put the egg on top of it, balancing it side to side. With a confident grin your way, he flicked the handle and launched the egg in the air swiftly turning the knife sharp-edge upwards, just in time to catch the egg right in the middle, separating its contents from the cracked shell successfully. The egg sizzled in the pan while your mouth sat agape, shook at the skills he was pulling.
"You really are the gift that keeps on giving."
"So I've been told," he said cockily, flicking imaginary dust off his shoulder. You hopped off the island and elbowed him playfully, settling beside him to watch the magic omelet take shape.
Once enough eggs were cooked, he arranged the plates. He cleaned up his working space and leaned in for a kiss you dodged on purpose. That brought an ambush of kisses on your face, from your forehead to your cheeks, your eyes, your nose, your jaw and your lips. Everywhere he wanted to leave his affection on you.
You managed to shimmy out of his grip and bolted out in the living room, through the open glass door on the beach. The wind blew cold, waking you up like coffee, making your heart thunder. He followed right behind you just like the night you met, leaving your footprints in the sand. Though this time he caught up to you way quicker, whisking you up in the air and spinning you until your stomach hurt from laughing.
The sound of your laugh filled his ears in the most beautiful way possible. And something else clicked in his head. He wanted that to be the first thing he heard every morning, every day, until you got sick of him.
He placed your feet back on the sand and brought you closer, waves crashing next to you like the beat of his heart. He had to give it a shot no matter what. So, without letting any other thoughts cloud his decision, he just asked.
"Do you want to move in with me?"
OH, boy.
Thank you for reading :)
#my heart calls your name#roronoa zoro#roronoa zoro x you#roronoa zoro x reader#opla zoro#opla zoro x reader#i need a roronoa zoro#one piece x reader
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I solved a mystery that only I care about lol
ok so I have no clue what I'm doing and social media terrifies me. I will probably never touch this account again. why did I have to follow 3 algorithm-selected accounts to get into this website? I can actually name 3 people I'd want to follow on here and it's none of the people your fucking robot told me to follow. but hey, I feel like I have to post it here rather than my blogspot since nobody in the world actually uses blogspot and I want people to see this!
so anyway, there's this band out of the city of Milwaukee called Hero of a Hundred Fights. they dropped a couple CDs in the early 2000s and seem to have broken up, though all their members have been in bands since. that'll be important a little later. for now, Hero of a Hundred Fights are important to me on 2 levels:
I'm a Wisconsinite who has a tiny bit of an obsession with local history and art and really fuck with their weird mathy little corner of the 2000s hardcore scene
I'm a Faction Paradox fan and their 2001 EP The Remote, The Cold contains numerous references to the series! if you've heard of this EP before, it was probably in the context of some "music that references Faction Paradox" list or another
about #2... see, everyone already knows that track 2 is called Faction Paradox and track 3 is called The Celestis. we've all long since put together that the title is a reference to Lawrence Miles' Interference. but what about the lyrics? unfortunately, we don't know. they're not online, and the vocals are good, mind, but rather incoherent.
well, we didn't know. until I ordered a CD copy for like $8 lol. that's all it took! so here you go, the lyrics booklet plus some of the other artwork featured on the CD. artist Nick Slough did a great job on this art and it's a shame only the cover is widely available online (though that's hardly a problem unique to the physical version of this one album). turns out, this is some kinda concept album based on the Miles novel Interference. cool! really love the lyrics on Rope especially. "I need your blood to get this vessel running" and "my life was in your hands, I cut them off and now they're mine" are both raw as hell.
the cover art is pretty interesting. this album was recorded in 2000, released in 2001. the entire creative process occurred before the first standalone Faction Paradox release, The Book of the War. this means the album is entirely Doctor Who-based, not based on the FP series itself. it also means, if we assume the humanoid characters on the art are supposed to be the Remote, that this is the first-ever professional art depicting them!
disclaimer: the booklet lyrics don't 100% match up with what's said in the songs! it's mostly accurate but unfortunately there are some sections missing, some repeated bits that are only written once et al. that's all par for the course but I figured I'd mention it - especially in the case anybody wants to use this to transcribe the lyrics on Genius or some other site like that.
and while we're here, Hero 100 member William Zientara has been in a billion different bands, and I think he's probably the most responsible for the Doctor Who theme on this album. See, he was also in a short-lived band called Managara - named after a Doctor Who tie-in novel so obscure even I, owner of a complete set of Virgin New Adventures who spends my work breaks combing through digital copies of old fanzines, have only ever heard it discussed a handful of times. one of their songs is called Happiness Patrol. more recently, in 2021, he was in the band Fuiguirnet, who have a song called What Grows From the Seeds of Doom! which means Zientara has been randomly tossing Doctor Who references into songs from at least three different bands for twenty years!
so uhh without any further rambling here's the lyrics and art:
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Why does everybody hate Cassandra’s arc in season 3?
Well, not literally everyone hates it. Lots of people think it's really good. I don't like to generalize and say that "everyone" feels a certain way about anything.
But what a lot of people don't like comes from a few different directions, often coming together in the center into a hot mess. I'll do my best to recall all the biggest complaints. (Under a readmore, because it's kind of long and I don't want to subject people to it if they don't want to see it.)
It's incredibly out of character for her to blindly trust a stranger who won't reveal their name to her. She mentions several times during the course of the series that she doesn't trust people (especially people she's only just met), but Zhan Tiri wouldn't even tell her who she was, and Cassandra just decided that what this strange ghost child in a weird and dangerous house had to say was more important that a friendship built over the course of a few years, even if that friendship was currently strained.
Her rancor was poorly sourced. There were legitimately several things Cassandra could have been mad about, even directed at Rapunzel. But being mad at Rapunzel for Gothel choosing to kidnap her and abandon Cassandra was an unsympathetic way to go. She sang a whole song about not wanting to be second best anymore, about always waiting for her time to shine. But that entire story beat was thrown out the window in the face of "I am Gothel's biological daughter". She had one (1) glorious line of, "I'm not taking orders from you anymore!" and then all of that was put to rest in favor of, "My mom abandoned me, so I'm going to blame the abuse victim that she kidnapped."
She kept talking about her destiny, but didn't seem to have any goals beyond "be first over Rapunzel." She never even said what it was her "destiny" to do or be. She wanted to take over Corona? And then what? It's not like this was some long-standing desire of hers. Which leads me to
Cassandra spend the majority of her life defining herself as strong-willed, distrustful, and thinking for herself. But they decided that Zhan Tiri could get into her head as easy as that and start full-on manipulating her from the word "go," and that we'd all just handwave it away and accept that Cassandra was doing villainous things because she was being manipulated. Well, nay, I say. Cassandra was an adult with her own mind, and manipulation isn't as instantaneous as that. They didn't even try to portray it like they did with Rapunzel and Sugracha as complete magical mind control. No, it was Cassandra being given choices and choosing the things that would benefit her and/or hurt other people over and over and over again. But we're supposed to be sympathetic towards her.
She assaulted and kidnapped people, attempting to kill Rapunzel or at very least leave her for dead multiple times, then was surprised to find out she was the villain. And honestly, that surprise does a lot to make me dislike her villain arc. I love me a villain who thrives off their villainy, who revels in it, like she did at the beginning of "Cassandra's Revenge." And even villains like that can be redeemed. But people who choose violence and revenge and hate and are then surprised that they're the villain don't impress me.
Her redemption was rushed, crammed into the last twenty minutes of the series - her realization and apology was literally given about a minute of time - and she only realized she was wrong when she lost. Up until the moment Zhan Tiri wrestled the Moonstone away from her, Cassandra was convinced that she was going to win the day. As soon as she was powerless, she was sorry. And then, she was forgiven by everyone because she was forgiven by Rapunzel.
And things that don't go on the list because enough people disagree with them, or because they don't exactly line up with "why we dislike her villain arc" but are still things that bug me, personally:
That Gothel was her mother at all. I hate that plot point. It's stupid, lazy, and makes no sense.
That her arm getting burned and disfigured was just... dropped as a plot point. We don't know if having the Moonstone was supposed to heal it, or if she'd sufficiently rehabilitated it on the road enough for it not really to bother her anymore, but the showrunner literally said that they decided it wasn't important anymore, so dropped it.
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WIP Questionnare (tag game)
Tagged by @buffythevampirelover ^^ using A Chant for Blood to answer these! Answering them all out of boredom, but you can answer as many as you like ^^
What was the first part of your wip that you created?
...the first chapter 😅 but tbf the very first scene has changed drastically since then! it was a bit of a 'main character wakes up' cliche so I decided like right after writing chapter 3 it would be changed after the first draft was done.
If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?
oo! Possibly Nothing Else Matters by Apocalyptica. Prob my fave one out of the story's playlist.
Who are your favorite characters you've made? Why?
Probably the makoth characters, like Gunilde and Oddvar. and idk 🤷 ive had a soft spot for orcish characters lately, makoth included. Can't forget Karliah, too! She's been with me since middle school.
What other pieces of media do you think would share a fanbase for your story?
oooh. i dont know. possibly game of thrones? or any gothic fantasy novel. I actually don't read that much victorian fantasy, so I don't know many. However, Snow White and the Huntsman did influence me a lot, so if that movie has a fanbase I suppose it counts.
What has been your biggest struggle while writing?
Creating the magic systems. It's like chemistry for me; my brain just can't work it out. the main magic system, which i have just called Spellwork, feels so underdeveloped, but the other magic system for the Makoth, Skvæla, is a little bit more fleshed out. At some point I have to sit down one day and work the whole Spellwork thing out before I lose my mind 🥲
Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!
There is! Maugr are native to Reyoarfell, and only used by the Makoth. Wolf-like beasts the size of polar bears, with thick fur and short legs to combat the cold climate of Reyoarfell. The makoth only use them for travel or to carry/pull heavy things, they are not suited for combat or racing. These animals are important to them, and are not allowed to be owned by anybody outside of the country.
How do your characters get around?(ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)
Mostly by horseback or carriage, as trains haven't been invented yet. But also, the first book is contained in one city so they don't need anything else to travel long distance. However! Portals to travel between countries do exist, but they're rare and expensive to use.
What part of your wip are you working on?
I'm currently editing the early chapters, getting it ready to look for beta readers. Adding more scenery and sensory descriptions, changing a few things about the characters, trying to find a way to make the plot twists less obvious before they're revealed 😅
What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?
Hmm. victorian fantasy, knight lady, eldritch being, vampiric lizard man, body horror, corruption arc, and monster hunting are the ones I can thing of off the top of my head 😅
What are your hopes for your wip?
That there's people out there that would at least enjoy reading my novel, and love the characters as much as I do :)
Open tag to whoever wants to join! No pressure ^^
#A Chant for Blood#writing#writeblr#writers on tumblr#my writing#fantasy#victorian#my ocs#ask game#writers
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Hey guess who's still thinking about the David MV.
I'm here to talk to you about these symbols from around 3:39, after "I remain undefeated by the rain". I tried researching myself, though the best I can do is draw them in symbol recognizer websites which isn't great. Keep in mind they're not necessarily supposed to make sense, as yellow is literally just the letter w.
(Best image I could get for the blue ones :p)
Below the cut is what I've found about what these symbols could be. I only checked for Japanese (because that's the original language of the song) and Chinese (because footnote 13 is a Chinese character so at least there is a connection).
The blue symbol might be 䀫 flipped upside down, I think it looks quite similar. It's a Chinese character which, from what I could find, means something like... narrow and dim eyes, or having one eye smaller than the other? Or "one-eyed", which I guess could be connected to Xander. It may also be "wink of the eyelashes" or movement of eyelashes, whatever that means. But I think the most interesting one could be "sleepy, drowsy, dim, vage and hazy". You can connect it to the dead as being "sleepy" or David since he appears to have some trouble getting out of bed, probably due to depression.
EDIT: Actually it may be 哈 which is the equivalent of a “jaja” laugh in Mandarin, so that’s probably it. As accirax pointed out in the comments, they actually may all be laughs :v
As for the green one, to me, that just looks like the n-ary product symbol, which is ∏ (longer legs than pi, 𝝅, though it is just the capital letter pi). If you don't know, that's the symbol used when you have to multiply a sequence of things. But what does math have to do with this.
I guess you could say if green is related to Hu ("substance of the arts" line stays winning) then maybe it makes sense, since her profile states she dislikes math? But that ranks a solid 10 in the Literature Girl Insanity scale, so.
Wait, no! It could actually be the uppercase letter pi, because it's the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet, and Hu has numeral 16! Yeah, sure, that works. Honestly the best I have for it.
The other option could be 丌, which I think is Chinese but I'm not sure. I didn't find anything conclusive about its meaning, and I didn't feel like researching too much because... it just doesn't really look like that. The MV's version doesn't have a little curl on the left leg.
I also tried flipping around the symbol a bit like I did with the blue one, but I didn't find anything in Japanese/Chinese symbol recognizers. Could be another language, or just a different non-language related symbol, but I don't care enough to research more.
Uppercase pi it is! Though that would mean green is actually Hu, unless I'm seeing wrong and that's mint, but I'm already kinda suspecting green is Hu anyways so.
Anyways, I'm open to different interpretations, if anyone has better ideas. Or if anyone actually knows Chinese and can properly tell me what the hell 䀫 means, because as you can see, there's quite a few things I found on the internet. Or, hell, maybe I'm stupid and that's not even Chinese, my language skill issues aren't exactly uncommon. Take care!
EDIT: Nope! It’s ㅋ which is jaja in Korean! Throw away the post everyone, they’re all laughs!
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Secret Life Tarot Reading no. 6!
It's Scott's turn!
Quick reminder that as of reading number 5 with Tango these are done after episode 3s have come out. Also! You don't really to know anything about Tarot Cards to enjoy this post. Just understand that I'm using them to predict how our lovely ccs are gonna do in Secret Life.
First Card - Start
So to describe the (now passed) start of Secret Life for Scott I drew The Hanged Man. This card feels like it's more so saying he did well in terms of avoiding rash descions. How? My thoughts are on how while everyone else was taking silly bits of damage, from falling off of things for example, Scott didn't really do that. He did very well in thinking through his situations to avoid losing hearts.
Second Card - Individual
This card is meant to describe how Scott plays this season. I drew The Lovers. This card talks about positive collaboration and how trust in your team provides strength. I'm thinking this is saying Scott plays with a strong bond with his team or at least intends to. He wants to be able to work with his team and trust in them.
Third Card - Social
This card is supposed to describe how things go for Scott on the social aspect. I've drawn Justice in Reverse which discusses dishonesty and one-sidedness. It's funny because at first I was just looking at this card and the one before it and wondering how the heck that could make any sense. They're kind of difficult for someone to have at the same time here ya know? But then I changed perspectives a bit and it makes more sense.
There's a few ways we can take this. Usually when I'm drawing this card when someone's I'm got a team assuming that it's going to refer to their team first and the rest of the server second. Since we're looking for the more major kinda baseline stuff it just makes sense. So I suppose the first idea here is that this card is referencing Scott's social experience outside of his team. I'm not really feeling that theory but it felt best to mention it anyway. The next idea is that the dishonesty is coming from either Gem or Impulse. I'm also not going to completely shoot down the idea that Scott is the perpetrator in either of these. I just think the cards are saying he gets deceived- maybe marinated if we don't mind using Among Us terminology lmao. Someone pulls the wool over his eyes and keeps it there.
Fourth Card - Big Impact
This card is meant to tell us about what has the biggest impact on Scott's season. I drew The Chariot for this. This sounds like he survives something by the skin of his teeth. That or it's describing something like what usually happens to the last green (which Scott has plenty of experience with). If that's the case I'd reckon he sees it coming from a mile away and narrowly avoids it.
Fifth Card - End
I drew The Emperor in Reverse. This card talks about being blind to others needs as well as hiding one's true intentions. This sounds like it could be a callback to our 3rd card. Someone, whether that be a teammate or someone else, decieves him.
Final Thoughts and Theories:
I somehow drew all Major Arcana cards for this reading? Also as I was interpreting this the song Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine by The Killers popped into my head which was ironic with some of these cards. (I always have a song stuck in my head at this point I swear.)
Is he gonna win a second time? This reading certainly doesn't sound like it's giving a definite 'no' but I'm not sure it's a 'yes' either. If I had to make a guess as to how it unfolds I'd say he trusts someone he gets deceived by (cards 3&5) and it does him in. Could he pull a gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss? Sure but thats not the vibe I'm getting. Maybe he gets decieved and it results in him being unable to help his teammates. That would leave him alone after he builds his game around working strong together. If we wanna go back to my previous reading with Impulse, I said there's a chance he betrays or just overall messes things up with Gem & The Scotts. Maybe Impulse stabs him in the back for a task? The task would be the need Scott is blind to here (card 5). There's also the whole thing with how Scott is usually one of the last alive. Those who will be around towards the end of his season are likely to all be red. Yeah we'll see I suppose!
'Til next time! :D
#secret life#traffic light smp#life series predictions#traffic life series#life series smp#scott smajor#tarot practice#traffic smp#life series#life series scott#secret life tarot prediction
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which ahl team would you most like to relocate to california? 2. what is your favorite live music experience you've ever had? 3. what is your go-to style of shoe?
these are so juicy omg thank you.
oh god. here's the thing, california has too many ahl teams and they're all better than my team so i want them all to get lost in the san joaquin valley forever. HOWEVER i think it is a true shame the wranglers moved up to calgary and i want them back here!! reasons: 1) the stockton heat were san jose's main rivalry. now we have the tucson roadrunners. i am tired of losing to the roadrunners after a third of my team goes down in consecutive 10 minute majors. at least with the stockton heat it was like, even if we lose, we're still morally superior, bc we are not in stockton. like how am i supposed to feel superior to tucson. tucson fucken rules. MORE IMPORTANTLY 2) it really makes me mad when minor league hockey teams fuck off to canada bc i feel like it does SO much for the game in america to have cheap local hockey where the players are accessible and often very enmeshed with the fanbase and the city! canada already has so many hockey teams! mind your business canada!!! one time i was talking to a guy at a cuda game and he was telling me like, yeah, my daughter's favorite player was [some random 3rd liner that predates me] and she was devastated when he got traded to the heat and cried, so i took her up to stockton to see him and he was so happy to see her. (she was 8 years old when i was talking to the man, so i think she was pretty significantly younger.) like...i'm sorry but that's so nice, man. you don't get that kind of fan connection with major league teams. california having an assload of minor league hockey teams presents a real opportunity for growing the game in this state! and the thing about having so many ahl teams in california is you can go on little roadtrips if you so wish! if your 6 year old daughter's favorite 4th liner gets traded, you can take a day trip up to stockton and see him and make her day AND make his day! god. no more hockey teams for canada!! you guys need to get into baseball!!!
oh man...this sucks so much bc it involves ryan adams. but one of my favorite concert experiences was going alone to a ryan adams & the cardinals concert in san francisco. they played so many of my favorite songs, the crowd was so friendly and welcoming to me (demographics of a cards concert at the time: 35-65yo white male. me at the time: 21yo mixed race girl), the band laughed at me for singing and dancing along to "easy plateau", and the concert was something like...god maybe 3-4 hours long and i just really sank into the music and the experience. my sister and i were living with our dad at the time and he was never home, and i got a call from her around 12am like, did you die. and i had to call her back after the concert at 1am like no, sorry, this band just has a deep back catalog. anyway it sucks to have lost the shine of that wonderful concert experience bc ryan adams is such a piece of shit, but it does stand out as a particularly special concert experience. it was one of the last shows i went to where i just truly felt like every part of it was for me.
i recently discovered vans slip-ons. why was i wasting so much time with converse when i could be wear vans. my favorite vans slip-ons have flowers on them but i also have a pair of blue and a pair of green. i have recently become a monster who doesn't always wear socks, so it's a true dirtbag california look. beryl gave me a pair of their docs and a pair of their red wings boots so i look like a real badass in the winter, but honestly for 7 months of the year at this point i'm just rocking vans.
thank you for asking my friend!!
#every day i get closer and closer to starting that california hockey podcast that is just celebrating california ahl hockey#the only thing stopping me at this point is that i simply do not think the world needs more men talking about hockey on podcasts#even if my male hockey podcast would be better than all the other's men's hockey podcasts#bc it would a) have a hard 15 min limit and b) be JOYFUL and full of LOVE and RESPECTING OTHER PEOPLE'S JOURNEYS#but again: i do not wish to add my voice to the hockey podcasting scene. the last thing we need is more MEN. TALKING.#cage replies#hopetorun#shout out to men i love y'all but we need to stop starting podcasts :/
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What do you think is the actual deal between Harry and Taylor? Because they seem to be each other's muses- and with the lyrical back and forth that's been going on, EVEN AFTER A DECADE- it can't be nothing. They give off major soulmates vibes (musical-wise) and even relationship-wise (although they could also be star-crossed lovers) with such shitty timing everytime 😂 i've supported joe and taylor for years, but I've got this inkling in my mind like someway and somehow, H and T might still find their way back to each other. Joe just seems meh :/ tbh.
i almost feel like i shouldn't answer this because it's a bit loaded, but it's 3:30 am so why not 😅💕
i'm going to first defer to my friend @cowboylikedean who said:
"they can be soulmates, but not romantically. Consider: their whole relationship has been leading to a friendship which was always destined, but needed a contextual foundation that only an ill defined on again off again/only communicating through sex then song could create. Consider that. Joe is Taylor's forever person. doesn't mean Harry has to be nobody."
we don't know if they've forged a friendship behind closed doors or not, and whether we ever know anything about that is up to them. their interaction at the grammys was warm and familiar, which at the very least speaks to their feelings of respect and kindness towards one another as artists and people. taylor's support for him was clearly genuine (though you could say that of her support for basically everyone in that room). i think it's really important and meaningful to acknowledge that there are a vast array of dynamics that can be considered a soul connection - not only romantic, but familial, platonic/friendship, artistic, those can all be transcendent and vibrant relationships too. i personally feel there's a soul element and connection within their music that needed to exist as a spark to get them where they are today. (had they not been what they were to each other, what would their careers even look like? what would 1989 be? what would hs1 be? etc) and they were also, in many ways, peers when they were together, and in unique positions of fame at a young age that most other people couldn't understand. their timing was consistently wrong/off, but that connection in their hearts and art still came through clearly. to me, it's part of the invisible string - they had to meet and have that complicated on/off thing and have love for one another to be on the paths where they were supposed to go, in different ways, and to be able to stand in a room together where they're both succeeding and both feeling gratitude for what all of that meant.
i think it's a disservice to joe to...not pay attention to what taylor has explicitly said about him, and why that relationship is so different and profound for her. i've seen a LOT of commentary lately about him being boring and not "getting" their connection, and it strikes me as somewhat unfair because we don't see it, we're not privy to it, and we shouldn't be, that is very much by their design. (she did say romance isn't dead if you keep it just yours!) but because someone like h is sparkly and charismatic and a musician, and joe is somewhat more reserved and less obviously visible and an actor, there's this sense that we "know" him less, which can easily seem less interesting, but keep in mind that how any fan sees him and how taylor herself sees and describes him are totally different. he's home to her, he's that gorgeous dream to her, he's the daylight to her, and that's what matters. he's who she's built her life with and found her peace with for many years now, and vice versa. h hasn't found that yet, but i hope he does. but that doesn't necessarily mean harry has to be nothing to her. whether that's fondness and recognition of their influences on one another and gentle nods to the past, or whether that comes in actual friendship, i think it's really important and valuable to acknowledge that the soul connection can happen and NOT be romantic, or initially be romantic/sexual and then transform into something else later, and it's no less of a cosmic pull. in one way or another, they'll always be connected, even if it remains in lyric and melody - and that's also always going to keep having a life of its own.
#i hope this makes sense#anonymous#letterbox#haylor#(platonic; artistic)#thrown out speeches#joe is (to borrow her words) the guy on the screen coming straight home to her and her one and only her lifeline#other people can still have value and unique places in someone's life even when they've found their love though!#i'd love to see them be friends for personal reasons of course <3
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20 Questions For Fic Writers
Tagged by my good friend @zeldaelmo. TY! You know I love to play these silly games 🤣 and yet, one more thing to help me procrastinate from working on my current WIP 😅
__
1. How many works do you have on AO3?
a measley 10
2. What's your total AO3 word count?
219,706 - hey that's not too shabby for only 10 works!
3. What fandoms do you write for?
Legend of Zelda - BotW/TotK mostly, some SS, one OOT, and an upcoming mishmash of SS/WW
I previously wrote some HP stuff (before all the awfulness with JKR aka She Who Shall Now Not Be Named) One I posted on AO3 because it was the best one of those
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
Love in the Age of Calamity
I Belong to You
Enjoy the Silence
Can't Do This Again
Looking Through the Eyes of a Killer - the HP one!
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
Most, yes. I want the readers to know how much I appreciate them and the time they took to leave me a message. There's actually one in my inbox I need to reply to!
6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
I tend to wrap up my stories with a positive ending, but I suppose the angstiest ending goes to
Love in the Age of Calamity
There's no way it couldn't, although I personally love the ending (even thought it did make me cry when I wrote it) and hope to write a spin-off (maybe next year) about Aryll and the court poet, who I named Carik (but Link thought his name was Carrot)
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
My Hylink story Adore I wrote for Zelink Week 2023. It's 5 chapters of angst and 2 of marital bliss (I do wish it had gotten a bit more traction on AO3. I was pretty proud of it when I wrote it) many thanks to my beta @fioreofthemarch!
8. Do you get hate on fics?
Not yet! I only have 14 dedicated readers and they're all so lovely, and leave positive comments. TYSM!
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
Um, not until recently 😂🤣 I wanted to try my hand at smut with I Belong to You (which was supposed to be a one-shot)
So it does have some smut in it, but honestly, it's story driven and the steamy scenes add to the story, characterizations, and motivation. I actually am very proud of this story and think it's the best thing I've written to date. And many thanks to my fantastic betas @hyylia and @zeldaelmo
10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?
No. Although I do think you could easily write a cross-over with Legend of Zelda and Adventure Time.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
No. My stuff isn't that good 😂
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
No
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
No, but I would like to with someone who is good at transitions, etc. Sometimes it will take me days to wrap up chapters because my mind goes completely blank when it comes time to write sequels to a scene 😭
14. What's your all-time favorite ship?
Zelink. It's the ship that brought me back to writing.
15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?
Well...my current WIP Captain Link Araki and the Harbinger of Destiny is giving me a WORLD of trouble, but I do love the character of Link I've created for it, so I'm going to try my hardest to complete it by the new year!
I have a HP WIP I started, and will probably never complete. It was an expansion of a short story I wrote called Aphrodite's Destiny (which I still absolutely love, even though the writing is probably not polished)
16. What are your writing strengths?
Dialogue and characterization (at least, that is what I think my strengths are! My readers may disagree!)
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Descriptive writing (like the setting, lighting, what the characters are wearing, etc) that isn't boring or like reading a list! I worked on it in I Belong to You and hope I can continue to incorporate what I learned in my future stories.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
Hmmm, I haven't thought much about that. I did include some song lyrics in I Belong to You that were in French and were supposed to represent the Rito language, but I included Zelda's thoughts about what those words meant.
I suppose if I were to write dialogue in another language, I would write the dialogue in italicized English but reference that they're actually speaking in another language.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
HP
20. Favorite fic you've ever written?
My favorite story is my current one - I Belong to You I'm not going to lie, I love my Link and Zelda in this story so much!
My second is my short story for HP - Aphrodite's Destiny
I think I'm supposed to tag some ppl?!! I tag @fioreofthemarch @cooking-with-hailstones @aurathian and @hyylia I know you all are busy and probably don't have the time! 😅
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JUST FOUND YOUR BLOG AND I LOVE YOUR ART!!!!
Your line art is so smooth and the colors too! How are u underrated
Thanks :]]
Actually I remember doing thick linearts before to make it look like y2k bubbly styled and I was thinking of going back again since I wanted to make logos or icons like this one:
These ig were just a lil practice if someday I'll be making one (or more of these). Also this is just an example btw, these are artist-made game icons. Imo, if it were me to be commissioned to design one or if I was assigned by a game dev, then most likely its gonna look like something that y'all won't know who did that thing lol.
Besides, I'm pretty sure a lot of people were inspired by my artstyle. 😭 Also in case you guys don't know what these are, I'll show you guys mine. (NOTE: You can still check on archive, I don't mind though-)
Examples of my artworks with thick lineart:
The first one was Hatsune Miku fanart
I kinda remember drawing this back in the day since 2023, the sketch version (on my other sketchpad) was discontinued. Supposed to finish it but, sadly I gave up because the hair was something that reminded me of an Inkling from Splatoon (rarely I noticed the first miku fanart also reminded me too lmao).
I wish I'd do this again hopefully if I could use my artstyle, then yeah.
Watch here if you want to see the speedpaint :3 : https://youtu.be/sRE3-snDGkM?si=op3tISbGFTjLCcdB
Next one is Bomb Rush Cyberfunk fanart
Okay LISTEN, I may not be good at anatomy but might as well tried especially RED's head. For the BG, I only duplicated the character + added a screenshot/fakescreenshot/whatever, to make it look related to both y2k & frutiger aero (same applies to Hatsune Miku).
Nothing to say much but I've been thinking of making more character concept arts in the future & maybe work on shoes since they look a bit too complicated much.
Overall, I'd say it isn't bad. I'll just leave as it is for now (until some BRC fan shows up and sees this).
Last but not the least, my very first artist-made album cover
I remembered drawing this for future use if I ever find a music composer either if they can do DnB, game soundtrack or whatever but it slightly depends on them. Also shout out to Lxchee Music! They're the ones who compose music like these. They even commented on my speedpaint video!!! (after using their songs lol).
Such a shame that I am limited to drawing only however, I wish I also was a composer of this whooooooole album then everyone's gonna listen to my bangers. One time I used to make music in Beepbox.co (a website where you can compose there).
There are some music-composing softwares that most people use for their game making & also songs. I wish I'd even use FL studio or other music-composing. Reminds me, I also have one friend who makes music (unrelated to dnb or any genre) using accordian & any other instruments that he uses. I swear, he is so good in composing Nintendo Orchestra-music related I can tell.
Conclusion
No worries though, I didn't say I hate using thick lineart but its sometimes too much for the anatomy still and might not fit pretty well. I can still do another one hopefully just to focus on more y2k aesthetic. But if it were me to learn anatomy, might as well use thin lineart and just increase to make it look like there is perspective on it.
Anyways, ig this might be a long one but I do hope you understand what I mean-
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☀️ "it's always sunny in Stockholm" ☀️
aka a concert report from Fryshuset Klubben, Stockholm, 1.3.2023
Travelling to our final destination (Stockholm city centre) did not go without hassle (wrong gate at the airport, delays with the commuter train to the city centre, trouble figuring out the venue etc., BC would've been proud!) but everything did work out eventually and we were in good spirits! 🥰
Speaking of the venue, I think none of us would've foreseen that listening to that one song in 2021 would lead us to hang out in the backyard of some random school in Stockholm, but that's where we were, and had good laughs there too :') <3
The venue was small intimate and not full, which to us in the audience was great (it wasn't cramped nor too hot), although for BC's sake I would've hoped there would've been a little bigger turn-up (especially considering at least half of the audience were Finnish fans 😂). They didn't seem to mind though; the show was as 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 as their shows always are
But before I talk about the show, I must once more advertise the support act! Not gonna lie, I had a minor heart attack when hours before the gig, BC posted an IG story starting with the words "due to an illness...", because them cancelling the gig would've been just the cherry on the top of the day we had had already, but it thankfully was Eyes Wide Open that had had to cancel at last minute. A band called Those Without was asked to fill in and boy am I thankful for the universe for this!! 😭🙏 They were so damn good!! I remember listening to their first song and going "huh! this ain't that bad actually" and wondering if it's just that one song, but no, all the other ones they played were great as well, which made me so happy 💖 It was a little funny when the band came on though; they just walked to the stage very unceremoniously and we weren't quite sure whether they were still doing the preperations until they started playing 😂 The singer was cute af, the bassist sang a bit, they were so chill and SO GRATEFUL to be there and just kept thanking BC for this opportunity and us the audience for being so nice to them, and all I wanted to scream was "no, thank YOU!!" because they really made my little punk pop/rock heart burst with love 🥺 If you're into early Mayday Parade / The Maine / Yellowcard -esque stuff, definitely check them out!
Blind Channel was Blind Channel, meaning they were wonderful amazing brilliant and it was great seeing them again 💞 We were ~4th row, there were a few tall people directly in front of us but at least I ended up having a great view to the stage in the end. The stage was high enough and close enough to the audience for me to be able to see their tattoos in detail and I remember admiring Joel's heart tattoo and Olli's three swords (god bless the inventor of sleeveless shirts eh? 🥵)
Random moments I remember include Olli falling asleep/zoning out during Autopsy (he didn't look up at the "HEY!!" part, or maybe he just forgot 😂 (I have video proof lol)) and Joel doing the tiniest snake dance during Snake (it looked like he wasn't going to do it, but then he couldn't help himself, I hope someone captured this 🥺🙏) + the moments in the videos I've posted
They're all so gorgeous but Olli 😩😩😩😩😩 he's so fucking beautiful I have a scheduled meltdown about it on a normal day, but during the show it's just 💦💦💦💦💦💦 all the time 💀 he trousers he was wearing were so tight cool and the sleeveless shirt had me by the pussy swooning 🫠
Flatline is awesome live, including the silly dance, even if in the audience you can't do it as "big" as you're supposed to. No bruise on my left tiddy though, I guess it takes more than one concert for one to appear, so BC should maybe consider wearing some padding on their chests for that 😆👀
After the gig we had an "after party" in a rock bar somewhere in Stockholm (not sure which district). I think here it's relevant to mention that in the queue there was this nice Swedish metal dude standing behind us and probably unwillingly listening to us as we were speaking a merry mix of English and Finnish, and eventually he started chatting with us and ended up joining us inside the venue and even showing us the way to one of his favourite bars when we asked for recs and he also came in for a few drinks with us despite having work the next day (he had also been at the venue the day before to see Sleeping With Sirens and was still wearing the same makeup from that gig 😂👌)
At the same bar there was also Henrik from Amaranthe (who none of us would've recognized if the Swedish metal dude hadn't started fangirling about him 😂)
All in all I had such a fun time on this 24-hour trip and I'm so happy I decided to go. Some of you know how stressed out I was about it; I'm so thankful to anyone who had to listen to me rant my heart out about it. I'm happy to tell you that the experience I had was totally worth it <3
Thank you so incerdibly much to all you guys who were with me at any point of this trip, it wouldn't have been the same without you (you all know who you are <3). Sorry if I was obnoxious or laughed too loudly, but I had such a shit weekend behind me and I was just so happy to get to see my favourite band and to hang out with all of you lovely people that I couldn't contain my excitement. Being there really meant so much to me, because this band and the community we have built around it truly is one of the few lights at the end of the never-ending tunnel I often get lost in. I know this sounds silly and I'm probably being selfish but it made me so sad when BC said they won't be doing that many shows in Finland this summer. Yes, I completely understand that they're aiming for an international career and I'm fully supporting their plans to take over the world (I'm not one of those Finnish fans), and yes, I am aware that as a Finnish fan I'm immensely priviledged as it is and that I've had many more opportunities to see them than most fans living elsewhere have had. This may sound pathetic (or at least I feel pathetic about it), but I really don't have much else going on for me other than BC and everything related to it (nothing that gives me as much serotonin, that is), and if I don't get to see them next summer... I don't know what I'll do. Summers are a bit difficult for me for a variety of reasons, and last summer with all the BC shows was such a blessing, a wonderful distraction from my sad life and the fact that I'm nowhere near where I want to be, and I'm not sure if I can handle another lonely, grey summer and feeling like a failure every waking moment after having experienced all the fun last summer 💔
...so I guess I'm going on a road-trip around Europe next summer 🤔 Who's with me? 😌
#blind channel#the quote in the title © thisisntaparty 💛😌#please keep your eyes on niko on that video 😘#gifs coming up later maybe?#sorry not sorry for adding concert videos to my emotinal ramblings lol this is how i roll#ok to reblog though! 💗#gig reports by theflyingfeeling#my concert
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My thoughts on episode 7
SPOILERS for season 3, episode 7 of the Animaniacs reboot
The emotions of the past two days took my mind off of the isolated hell of my own creation, but now I'm starting to get antsy again. I'm also starting to feel the dread setting in that Animaniacs is about to end for me. I only have two new episodes that I haven't seen, and that's probably it forever. I have rarely in my life had a week with such deeply mixed emotions.
This episode was good. We finally got a third Warner song, and it only took 7 episodes. I still can't wrap my head around how it took so long, but at least the song was good.
I just thought they looked cute here at the very beginning, dying in the heat.
I liked Wakko comforting his sister.
I liked how BOTH little sibs got it wrong instead of Wakko being portrayed as the dumb one.
This very brief shot was also cute to me, the Warners staying entertained on the trip by playing a little game together.
I like how often I've seen their tails and fur get fluffed up in shock/fear this season. Makes them feel more alive. And it's cute, of course.
Now we get into the song. I like how, despite how cynical they usually are, the Warners seem to genuinely care about this issue and got a little shocked at the depth of Josh Polar's callousness towards it.
Gotta at least mention Yakko's dancing here.
While it did get me a little to see the genuine concern of Wakko's siblings here, it would hit much harder if I didn't know they were resuscitating him just to immediately celebrate his supposed death in the next episode. What happened, writers?
The song really kicked into another gear at the end, which is what took it from good to great in my mind.
Nice to see the sibs pulling out their Bugs Bunny antics. I would call him their mentor, but most people don't realize that the Warners are canonically older than Bugs Bunny, so technically they set the example for him, in-universe.
I didn't really need the warning to know this was preachy, but I didn't mind it.
Wakko saw his brother pull out a whole turkey, but his mind instead saw the energy efficient lightbulb to be a tastier snack. What a cute little enigma.
The exchange about leftovers was genuinely great and totally in-character.
And it's nice to see Yakko accepting Wakko's ignorance instead of beating him over the head with it like earlier in the reboot.
Forget the impending and currently ongoing environmental catastrophes, forget the anarchic oncoming societal change, forget the impending doom of humanity, we need to pass green legislation to SAVE THE WARNERS!!!
LOOK AT HOW THEY HOLD ONTO HIM! Dot sitting on his leg... babies.
This segment was good and the song was pretty great. Definitely slots in as my second favorite song of the season so far, after Do It Yourself.
Lawn in 60 Seconds reminded me of The Flame from the original series. Anthropomorphizing a small background object you'd never think to anthropomorphize.
I already feel bad when I mow the lawn, and this segment didn't help. The grass and bugs who live there never asked to be savagely cut down by the lawn mower's blade, just for the purpose of humanity holding onto their perfectly manicured lawns!
All's Fair in Love and Door was interesting.
I liked that Pinky genuinely tried to listen to Brain and not go in the door, but he confused himself into doing it anyway.
I thought the alternate reality concept was kind of creepy until I learned it wasn't the real Julia he had trapped in there. It's still pretty creepy, though, considering this Julia proved herself to be just as sentient as the real one... Can't Brain just leave it alone? Now you've messed up two different versions of the same person you created in the first place to serve your selfish emotional needs.
I liked that Julia found out the truth on her own instead of Pinky spilling the beans.
It was pretty cute how Brain tried to silently protect Pinky in the trashcan.
Gay.
At this point, though, I'm not sure they're going to go all the way with it. This would have been the perfect segment to do it in.
I'm not sure if this will ever amount to anything.
It was an interesting segment that posed some deep moral questions on the nature of love and marriage. I think it could have been better if it went farther with things.
Cute Things That Can Kill You was a decent PSA, I guess. I'm pretty sure everyone was aware that pufferfish are deadly. That's like the whole reason they're a famous animal.
The episode was pretty good. I would have liked it better if I didn't know what was coming next. Even though I've already seen it, it still fills me with a sense of dread just to see the thumbnail next on the docket. I'll probably post the official review of it tonight to get it over with, and then move onto episode 9 tomorrow and finish it up with episode 10 on Saturday. Then I'll be free and depressed simultaneously, just as you're supposed to be on social media.
This episode isn't as hard to rate as the other ones I've seen recently. It wasn't as good as my two favorites this season. It's about on par with episode 4, which is currently in third place. It's a hard call between them. I liked the Warner antics in episode 4, but this episode had a killer song and a more intriguing PATB segment. I probably have to give this one the nod.
My current ranking of season 3 episodes:
Episode 6
Episode 3
Episode 7
Episode 4
Episode 2
Episode 1
Episode 5
The list is splitting itself into clear parts. The top 2 are my absolute favorites, some of the best Animaniacs I've seen. The top 4 are all the episodes I'd consider legitimately good. The bottom 3 aren't bad, but had parts that made me go "meh." You might think it'll be an easy call on where to put episode 8, but I'm not sure. Most of that episode was actually good. It's just a few small parts that soured the entire episode, season, and show for me. Remove those parts and it'd definitely be up along with the top 4 in the "genuinely good" category. It's just that those parts also happened to have an indescribably huge negative emotional impact on me in general... I'll tackle that dilemma when I get there.
Feel free to add to the discussion of this episode if you want, but don't say anything about the episodes that come after. Thanks.
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.
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(I couldn't decide between the two)
#animaniacs#animaniacs season 3#animaniacs reboot#animaniacs 2020#animaniacs screenshots#animaniacs analysis#animaniacs spoilers#animaniacs episode 7#cfposts
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ok so I have managed to lose the original fic ask game post that @wishthefish tagged me in a couple of weeks ago bUT I did save this screenshot so I will just randomly talk about these fics for a bit (I am always happy to talk about my fics for a bit, this is an open invitation) SO
I know I've been through the wars
This is part of the greater Xuyao (yes Wen Xu and Meng Yao, no I'm not sorry, they're immensely shippable if you're not a coward) 'choose your own adventure' verse where I basically lose my mind and create diverging timelines in almost all of which Meng Yao suffers terribly bc Meng Yao whump is weirdly easy to write
The cyoa thread for this is 'Wen Xu dies as in canon and Wen Chao decides he wants Meng Yao for himself' -> 'Wen Chao dies as in canon, WRH continues to let everyone else abuse MY' -> 'NMJ conceals the way MY has been treated so no one knows'
All the titles from the greater Xuyao cyao fic come from the The Amazing Devil song "Battle Cries", which I chose mostly because there was a cool lyric for the first fic back when it was supposed to be a one-shot, but also loads of the lyrics from the song work really well
I picked "I know I've been through the wars" for this chapter because unlike in the alternate branch of this fic where everyone finds out, only MY (and NMJ, to a certain extent) have any idea of what exactly MY has been through. Which is good because his trauma isn't being gossiped about! But is also Bad because people who him to be happy (people = LXC) keep accidentally making things worse :3
which then my few beloved commenters were like 'this is so evil!' and i was like 'it's not even that bad' and they were like 'YES it IS', but angst is my default at this point for some reason so I didn't notice oops
At the end MY runs away from the banquet to hide. There's currently one sequel branch for this (NMJ goes to find him and is actually helpful for once (this is largely NHS' fault)). I have some plans for another branch (LXC goes to find him and continues to try to help without knowing the problem) but the way my brain was taking it was almost Too Dark for me so I haven't written it (yet). I might. Or I might be nice to MY for once and have LXC go and actually find out the problem. But then I'd be being nice so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If it takes fighting a war for us to meet, it will have been worth it
This is. Nie Mingjue/Jin Zixun. I am sorry about this one
So when I wrote the first Xuyao installment I really wanted to write but my brain wasn't clicking so I put the sunshot generation into a random name picker, spun it a bunch of times, and decided Meng Yao and Wen Xu would be interesting (it was going to just be a creepy dark fic and then I wrote like three sentences and went oh. it's a love story. oops)
ANYWAY a few months later when I was bored I spun the wheel a bunch more times so now I have a Selection of rare pairs for whenever I feel like it
Mingxun was Not the one I was going to write first but here we are
Basically my initial thoughts were "jin zixun gets bullied into going to war by his cousin and then gets his gay awakening when he gets shouted at my nie mingjue" and yeah I guess that Happened
The title is a lyric from "Helpless" from Hamilton and was @nemainofthewater's fault/idea, which I thank her sincerely for because I hate titling things. I also think it's really funny
This was SUPPOSED to be a short crack one-shot but then wishthefish bullied/persuaded/encouraged to write more and it's annoyingly fun so now there are at least three chapters with the potential of more
Takes place within a mixture of show and book canons, whichever is funnier at any given moment
Really, if Jin Zixun is too busy being distracted by da-ge then no one is causing problems at the hunt and no one is getting murdered by out of control Wen Ning so like. This could very much solve all the problems
#my writing#fic asks#there's no xuyao update this week because I'm visiting my family but I hope you will accept this humble alternative#this is an open invitation for anyone to send me asks/messages/tags asking about fics/ships/fandom stuff!
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decided i'm going to start posting my thoughts on baldur's gate 3 every so often as i make my way through the game, because it'd be nice to have some of this stuff about first playthrough written down somewhere! my tav is a half-high elf bard named elenion (he/they) who's neutral good-aligned, and despite being a bard he's very reserved and is always feigning self-confidence. also, he's a college of lore bard who honestly would've fit the sage background pretty well but i went ahead and gave him entertainer instead lol. i guess that actually gives me the opportunity to see more of the inspiration goals by not having the same background as gale! anyway though, here's a few thoughts about what i've done while still being very early in act 1:
at the point i'm at in the story right now, i was supposed to go look for halsin, but instead i decided to finally find karlach. i feel like i probably should've gotten her sooner, but once i got to the grove i didn't wanna venture too far from the main objectives--and the grove is where you recruit wyll and learn about karlach in the first place.
however, halsin sounds very wise and capable so i guess he can handle himself while he waits, and the mindflayer tadpole symptoms aren't progressing like they're supposed to, so why not just go off and act like we've got all the time in the world! maybe elenion is just easily distracted. they did waste quite a bit of time earlier when they found alfira and felt compelled to help her finish her song. and speaking of, i was not expecting such a beautiful cutscene for that?! or for the squirrels we talked to using speak with animals to be so mean and hate her song 😭 but i hope we get to see alfira again and that nothing bad happens to her, and i hope i don't eventually regret saying that!
also, wyll did say karlach is a danger to the entire sword coast, which makes hunting her down sound pretty important... and elenion has an interest in history so they recognized the phrase "advocatus diaboli" and were able to mention the blood war when wyll first talked about her. so maybe they're also interested in seeing if they can get a devil who fought in the blood war and is now wandering the material plane to answer a few questions before taking her down. anywway, point is we're leaving the druids and our quest for a cure hanging to go hunt a devil.
took me a bit to find her despite wyll's quest leading you to her, though. i have a horrible sense of direction, which i guess is okay because my horrible sense of direction did lead me to accidentally find scratch and now we have a dog!
eventually i did get to karlach, and elenion's mind connected to hers and gave him a much closer look at who karlach is and what she's doing here than he expected. naturally he convinced wyll to stand down because karlach does not seem evil. and then he tried to ask karlach some of the questions he had in mind back at camp, but she won't reveal anything until we hunt down the paladins that are still hunting her. understandable, i guess. i like her though! i should try and make sure to get her earlier on my next playthrough.
encountered mizora for the first time when i rested at camp, and i'm very intrigued by what's going on with wyll and i actually have been since way before i played the game and found out he was a fabled hero who was also a warlock. which is why i think it's a huge shame that from what i've heard at least, he was given a lot less content for his quest and his romance than the other origin companions were.
i also wandered around the world a bit more and ended up freeing a poor guy who was being spun around on a windmill by goblins. then i got the scene with gale where he teaches you how to channel the weave, and it not only had bard-specific dialogue options but also had an option that specifically reflected my character's proficiency in history, which was all really neat to see. god, there must be an insane amount of different dialogue branches in this game. love that there was also an option to be like "yeah that was neat, but i could've done it myself lol" since a bard is already a spellcaster.
the range of these particular dialogue options is killing me LMAO
i had high enough approval with gale to trigger a very obviously romantic scene and then the game is literally like "okay, so do you want to kiss him or do you want his severed head on a spike" 😭 like wtf do you THINK?! i can't even imagine how i'd roleplay a character who would be cruel enough to get this far and lead gale on so much before picking to project an image of his head on a spike directly into his mind. and yet i am so curious about what happens if you do--but not curious enough to reload and try to find out.
anyway, i picked the romantic walk option. i thought elenion would consider the kiss thing to be a bit too forward. but that was such a sweet scene and i love flustered gale gets when he realizes how you feel about him. going into this game i really thought i'd wanna try for astarion or shadowheart's romances first, and i do like them a lot and want to keep learning more about both of them, but gale surprised me with how much i already liked him from his introduction. he's just really charming and funny and also fits well with the character i made, so i will definitely keep progressing his romance.
i've been progressing a bit slowly because of irl stuff but everything about this game is so good that i wish i'd picked it up sooner. i've been spoiled on quite a bit of things about the story already, but there's also a lot that i haven't been spoiled on and i can't wait to experience all of it anyway.
#star plays bg3#<- i guess. idk how often i'll make these posts or how detailed i'll make them in the future#baldur's gate 3
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This Jimin album brought me so much happiness but the fandom/members/solos/kpop stans really made it a bad experience. Face will be a month old on friday and instead of celebrating another member is going to drop 10 fucking songs so Face will be forgotten😔😔😔
You are complainging about jk only but suga is clearly going to get more support than Jimin. He has a radio show on apple music like what?
I can see him woth 4 remixes. We already know he will have like 3 music videos. What a joke
Not forgotten by me.
It's been a month and I still listen to it at least twice a day because I actually want to.
It was a good experience for me until the sales thing happened. I don't care too much about what antis say, and I would've still not cared if it wasn't for the blatant hypocrisy shown after the Jungkook photos with scooter and BangPd. I complain because I don't think those events: Scooter and Jimin's drop from top5 were a coincidence.
I expected Yoongi's album to drop before his tour, I knew it would be like that since the moment the tour was announced. There was just no way he'd go on tour without a new album, so I was expecting the blow. I also think pjms complaining about the radio show on Apple is... dumb... because Jimin would not do a radio show anyways. That's what Yoongi wanted to do because he likes that stuff or whatever. I'm also sure Jimin will tour too eventually, as he said, he doesn't have enough songs just yet. But he will have more. The only injustice I see is them not letting Jimin film more music videos. And the timing of the album release.
The timing is not fair. I already said this when On the Street was announced and I didn't take it well that Hoseok was announcing his enlistment and single at the same time because we all know what that looked like -as much as I like Hoseok. Someone posted some companies prediction and said that there are 4 BTS solo albums planned for this year. FOUR. In 12 months. That should be around 3 months for each album. They had to squeeze Jimin's and Yoongi's in one month for some reason. A reason that I think will make sense when taekook get second half of the year all to themselves.
That, or hybe just really wanted yoonmin to do promo together since they've been pairing them together for a while even before the hiatus started. Hybe trying to make it look like they're still a family that goes to sleep together every night is really fucking hilarious, if not sad.
Honestly, it makes 100 times more sense for Yoongi to have released his album first, and then leave for tour and have Jimin release now in April. But I'm telling you, and I've said before, they did this on purpose T_T I'm not changing my mind unless Jimin himself says "I chose to release this day."
I don't really mind if the fandom will focus on yoongi... they're fans for a reason. It seems useless to complain about army focusing on BTS members because that's what they're supposed to do. I guess they feel they already did everything they could for Jimin, and everyone seriously did a lot; and now they'll try to get same or similar results for the other members. Jimin really paved the way. And again, it's not the fandom's fault, it's the company's fault.
The one thing I'm mad about is that he should be in the military already. He's been dodging that like... It should be him going, not Hoseok.
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I mean relevant to the story so far! It’s nice reading something without knowing what’s coming up :)
Mini-Essay it is lol! I'll restrict myself here to songs relevant to the story so far, and if anyone has specific questions about other songs on the playlist they're welcome to ask and I'll answer separately (and more vaguely without dropping major plot spoilers)--so that anyone else looking to avoid any risk of mild vibe spoilers can do so.
Some songs on the playlist honestly fit multiple portions of the story, especially some songs that I associate with Mia and Ethan, but I'll honor my song order here and speak specifically about the chronological portion of the playlist we're in so far.
Under a read-more for people's sanity lmao.
1) Go Tell Aunt Rhody, RE7 Soundtrack.
This is like...the quintessential song to include in any RE7 playlist right? Like. It's canon and it just...is so good. It's an obvious inclusion.
That said, this song is super close to my heart and super important to me for this fic. It speaks to my feelings on Eveline and why she's a tragic figure because the lyrics fucking know how fucked up her story is. To me it's never read as the song of a villain...it's the song of an unbelievable tragedy that started in evil--not Eveline's actions, but her creation.
This song defines how I view Eveline, and how I viewed RE7. Period. Like...I literally heard it before I played the game. It's what got me to play the game. I heard this song online and fell so fucking in love with it that it (re-)introduced me to Resident Evil and kick-started my obsession with it (I knew of the franchise before then but primarily through watching older cousins play when I was a kid). TtVtL could not exist without this song lol.
2) Woke Up Dead, Blood on the Harp.
This is another one of those songs that's both about the fic and about the game itself for me. It's the perfect "Ethan in the Baker House" song for me. This journey of slowly feeling like you're losing your sanity and your humanity as you descend into the darkness because you're dead, everyone's dead, nothing will ever be the same again. It's a song for a descent into madness (and if you think RE7 didn't drive Ethan at least a lil crazy idk what to tell you...it absolutely did), as you're surrounded by even further, deeper, darker madness. You are literally seeing through the eyes of the dead. And the sound is...perfect. It's country as fuck and gothic as fuck and dark as fuck and I love it.
It's a song for the launch of TtVtL for me as we arrive in a familiar story and then take that initial turn from canon. Ethan having dragged himself through all this insanity and clawing his way to survival and then being confronted with that request--kill the girl, free everyone. And then the darkness reaches out and he reaches back and... well, you know what happens lol.
3) Prayer Factory, Florence + The Machine.
This is the song of the void, the stumbling and running and fleeing, and then...the decision. Ethan's absolute fear of his past and his own self, his true self, and of the truths he's been confronted with. How trapped in his own mind is as he flees the bunker and oscillates between what he's supposed to do and his own instinctive knowledge it's not right. And how that instinct wins out, in the end, despite all that repression--"all the the things that I ran from I bring as close to me as I can." Ethan realizes he can't keep running from who he is, and what it means for him. He kills monsters, not people. He cannot kill Eveline, and to save her he must begin to embrace who and what he really is.
4) Build Momma a Coffin, Blood on the Harp.
God, I love this song so much. It's one of the Big TtVtL songs for me, to the point where I think I even mentioned it in one of my author's notes on the fic itself.
This is the first Ethan & Eveline song for me--their running away song. The song for saying "fuck it. and fuck dying here" and running and packing themselves into Lucas's car and driving the fuck out of the Baker estate. It's the song for burying their dead things, abandoning the thing they found safety in for so long. Eveline leaving the Baker Estate behind--her sanctuary, her tomb. Ethan leaving behind...Ethan Winters, in a sense. He's abandoning Mia (abandoning the whole reason he came here), and the life he lived until now where he played pretend at who he is and where he came from. He's giving up something safe and comfortable to do the right thing. They're burying Mia, burying the Bakers--building that coffin--and swearing off the lives they had previously.
5) Evelyn, Tim Killman & Silent Films.
This is, probably predictably, an Eveline song lol. It's a tricky one to find the lyrics to so I'll just link them. I got recommended this song by an Anon and I fell in love with it. It's a great early!TtVtL Eveline song. Especially the imagery about decay--the lines "I've seen decay// Give way to growth // And make the most // Of nearly nothing" are gorgeous and very fitting.
It's important to remember Eveline is still in a really dark place in the fic right now. She's only just left the Baker Estate, and still has a lot of work to do to begin to fully understand both her own humanity and the humanity of others. Her empathy is stunted and shattered in favor of self-preservation, and there will still be a lot of work left to Ethan to teach her that there's a difference between protecting herself and killing/hurting others when there's other options.
But, this Eveline is already starting to trust Ethan. She's going to start that process of reflection, of questioning, of growth. She can become more, and she will become "preoccupied by what [she] could be."
6) Little Lies, Fleetwood Mac.
Lmao the start of what is a very big Fleetwood Mac fixation with this fic. Fleetwood is Ethan's band. His favorite. Some of the Fleetwood songs in this playlist will definitely literally be referenced to in the fic itself. Because Ethan copes through music and will definitely be introducing that to Eveline.
Little Lies is the song for Ethan & Mia's relationship history. That little thing inside both of them that knew the other was hiding something that they smothered out because they loved each other so much. And then the realization of the secrets, the lies, as it all spills over--first for Ethan, and then Mia when she realizes he's left her behind. There's still so much love there, and denial. A wish to go back to how they were and hide away, but the knowledge they can't.
7) Go Insane, Fleetwood Mac.
This is kind of an...Ethan & Mia & Eveline song? It's about Ethan & Mia's relationship, but also Eveline's initial suspicion of Ethan and her knowledge that Mia lies and always has (and the realization that Lucas was also a liar). It's about that suspicion and lack of trust compounded by trauma and secrets and realizations. You're alone and you can't trust anyone and you go insane under the pressure of it and the lies you've been fed because insane is better than dead.
It's like...the encompassing song for RE7 and the first four chapters of the fic through to Mia's breakdown. Ethan knows Mia is a liar and it broke him (but also saved him long term?), Mia knows Ethan is a liar and is shattered and grieving, Eveline knows Mia lies, and Lucas lied, and Everyone lies--is Ethan lying too? She doesn't know. She doesn't know. But she'll destory him if he is.
8) Savages, Marina and the Diamonds.
This is the song for the last chapter of TvTtL, the current one I'm writing, and a little onwards. It's a song for Chris, Ethan, Lucas, and Eveline. "Underneath it all, we're just savages. Hidden behind shirts, ties, and marriages." It's something they all believe deep down--just in completely different ways.
These are all characters who have seen the worst humanity has to offer and has come to expect it from almost everyone. Chris is this resigned, exhausted, bitter character--two steps from drawing his gun at all times because fuck if everyone else isn't as well, in his mind and in his world. Eveline's almost the most similar to him...she trusts no one, deep down, and she's full kill or be killed, still. Ethan has seen so much himself and is in some ways just as grimly Aware of the truths of what people can and will do to each other...but he's not resigned in the way Chris is, he still wants to try. Meanwhile Lucas...he knows and has seen all the same types of shit. The difference is that he revels in it.
You've got four characters who inherently believe on some level everyone is capable of animalistic violence and have come to expect it from others when confronted--combine them and put them in conflict with each other, and it's gonna get messy.
#perhaps some hints in there as to what you can expect next chapter but don't worry it's all good it's all fun you'll enjoy#asks#Through the Valley to Life
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