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slvt4felix · 3 months

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I Could Never Hate You (Part |||)

Pairing -> ninthmember!reader x Lee Minho WC -> ~2,700 words Includes -> Reader has anxiety, fluff, and maybe some angst due to the beef with Hyunjin Summary -> You prepare for the day trying not to let your nerves for the concert later take over. This should be easy with Minho by your side but the grudge is still being held strong between you and Hyunjin. They say time heals, but can time heal this? Author's note -> Hi everyone! Welcome to part three of this little mini series. I didn't expect for this to be even more than one part but now I'm thinking it's gonna be around 4 or 5 parts to completely finish it off. I was gonna try and make this the final part but I realized writing short chapters feels much less overwhelming to me so I decided to break it down a little bit. I hope you like it! Let me know your thoughts in the comments <3

♡ Masterlist // Previous // Next ♡

"You have got to be joking right now..." you mutter to yourself as you frantically look around the bathroom. You had completely forgot to bring clothes to get dressed in after you showered. Hyunjin left a while ago and after a few laughs with your new love, you had decided to actually get ready for the day, realizing you can't spend the whole morning alone with Minho, no matter how much you want to. There's too many things to do today.

So, you had left Minho to go take a shower without too much thought. Well obviously not much thought considering you forgot your clothes. You could easily slip your pajamas back on and go get your clothes, but they were dirty and you were clean. You hate having to wear dirty clothes after a morning shower. It was supposed to be the start to a fresh day. With a concert later tonight, you are already anxious enough as it is. The shower did help a little, but this situation, although a bit silly, is souring your mood a bit. On days like these, you just want everything to go right, so it can get frustrating when little things happen. You take a deep breath, not wanting to let your thoughts go any further.

'Hyunjin would understand' you think, saddened by the events of last night. Normally, he would be the first one you would go to when you got nervous

You sigh, annoyed with your thoughts, and grab the wrinkled sweatpants and t-shirt. It'll have to do. You guys just started dating the day before, you don't wanna scare the poor man away by immediately walking out nearly naked with just a towel to cover.

Just as you're about to slip the shirt back on, your nose wrinkled in disgust, you notice a piece of black cloth resting on the counter next to the sink. Your mood instantly shifts as an idea pops into your head.

You swiftly grab it from the sink, unfolding it so that it is no longer inside out, and just like you thought a familiar design appears on the front. It's one of Minho's favorite shirts. He must of left in here last night when he changed into his pajamas. You smile, admiring the stupid drawings on the front. They are just so fitting to Minho.

Without a second thought, you slip the shirt on, getting a whiff of Minho's cologne as it passes over your face. Looking in the mirror, you notice that it covers just enough to not be too scandalous, especially with your underwear on. Minho wasn't too much bigger than you, but the couple inch height difference and his wider frame made for the perfectly oversized shirt.

It was the perfect solution; you got to wear Minho's shirt, you didn't have to walk out in a towel, and you didn't have to put all your clothes back on from last night. And hopefully, Minho's reaction will be an added bonus.

You open the door and venture out into the room, immediately seeing Minho. He's now fully dressed since he took a shower the night before when you were busy having an argument. He's on his phone patiently waiting for you while sitting in the chair Hyunjin had vacated just about an hour earlier.

He looks up upon hearing the bathroom door open, and you make eye contact. As he does so, his soft brown hair falls in front of his eyes. He uses a hand to brush it away, lightly threading through his hair. You see his eyes widen a bit at your choice of outfit and you send him a shy smile back before walking softly over to your suitcase. You bend over, making sure everything is still covered, and grab the casual clothes you had planned for today. You always dressed as comfy as possible before you had to get into the extravagant outfits the stylists prepared for the concerts. They weren't too bothersome, but sometimes the tight clothes weren't your preferred choice for all the dancing that comes with going on stage. But hey, at least you looked hot.

You stand back up after gathering the soft cotton into your hands. You're a little surprised upon feeling arms wrap around your waist. You smile as the scent of Minho's cologne yet again fills your senses; It's one of the many things you love about him.

He pulls you closer so you’re pushed against his front, his head resting on your shoulder. Your heart starts to best faster and you realize just how comforting his hugs are. You could really get addicted to this fast.

"You look so beautiful," he says softly. His breath hits your neck, sending goosebumps down the rest of your body. He doesn't say anything, but you know he had to have noticed. You're glad he doesn't make a remark, but you know just how caring and observant Minho can be. You can't help but think he's already stored that bit of information away for another time.

"My hair's wet, and I'm not even dressed yet," you say with a giggle.

"I know, I just can't believe I missed out on this for so long," he says as his grip around you tightens slightly. You can practically feel him start to recall memories from the past few years, of the way he used to treat you. It's a wonder how this is the same man who was ignoring you just days ago. But you wouldn't trade it for the world, you would stay in his arms forever if you could. He's the same Minho you used to know all those years ago, before all the insecurities got between you two.

Suddenly, there's a knock on the door pulling the two of you out of your daydream.

"God, why can't they just leave us alone," he says, rolling his eyes. You just laugh at the remark, aware of just how much Minho really loves those guys. Sure, they can be annoying sometimes, but you grow to love it.

He brings his head off of your shoulder, pecking your cheek as he moves away. Heat floods your face, despite already having a more intimate kiss with Minho the night before. Your confident that no matter how long your relationship manages to last, his affect will never wear off. Minho is just the type of person you can't help but be in love with.

He shuffles away from you and you move to go back into the bathroom, excited to finally finish getting ready for the day. Minho opens the door, not thoroughly thinking through his actions, eager to get the conversation with whoever knocked over with.

You freeze in your spot halfway to the bathroom when you hear the hotel door open. You look up, seeing Chan on the other side just as you had expected. You're not too uncomfortable since practically all the boys have seen you in this state of dress before. After years of being in the same group, it's difficult not to walk in on each other. You don't mind too much anyway.

However, this may be one of the instances where a quick glance may be your downfall. Minho's shirt and no pants may be a bit too much for Chan to not question anything. Chan can be very scary when it comes to stuff that could affect the group as a whole, and a relationship could definitely do just that. Let's just say confessing to Chan was not one of your goals for the day.

"Hey Minho, we're having breakfast downstairs before we head out for the concert venue. So once you guys are ready just meet us down there," he tells your boyfriend. You can see a small smirk form on his lips as he says the last sentence. You know he's probably thinking about the plan the boys had formed last night to make you and Minho stay in the same room. If Chan was in on it, then everyone was in on it.

While waiting for Minho's response, Chan raises his head to see around him. You assume he's looking for you to ensure the other man will actually pass the news on. The two of you make eye contact, and it's unsurprising as you watch his eyes widen upon taking in your outfit. Your blush deepens, instantly ducking away into the bathroom, not wanting to be under his scrutiny any longer.

You finish getting ready, trying to block out the conversation from right outside the door. You honestly don't even want to know what Chan said after that whole fiasco.

When you go back into the main room, Chan is gone thankfully. He must of still had a few more of the boys to wake up.

Minho and you make your way downstairs to get breakfast together with the guys before it's time to head out for the busy day. Typically, hotel food isn't all that exciting for you. You much prefer to stop at a cafe or some other restaurant on the way, but today, waffles in the middle of a hotel lobby don't sound half bad.

On the way, you walk side by side, your heart skipping a beat whenever Minho looks your way. You glance down as he subtly touches his pinky to yours. You haven't had many relationships before, falling victim to the lack of romance related to the industry you’re in, so you can't help but wish to have the typical teenage romance you hear about in movies. You've dreamed of it for years and the fact that it's finally happening makes excitement bloom in your chest.

Minho takes the hint, clasping your hand in his, sending a smile your way. Emotion floods your body, making you feel as if you could take on the whole world with just his hand in yours.

When the two of you enter into the breakfast area, you subconsciously drop his hand, suddenly aware of how many people are around, fans and members alike. Felix looks up, noticing your presence and waves you over. There's two seats available, one at the end of the table next to Jeongin and the other next to Felix, which also happens to be directly across from Hyunjin, who all of a sudden looks a little too interested in his food.

Without a second thought you go to take a seat next to Jeongin, but Minho beats you to it. He flops down in the seat smiling cheekily.

'Asshole' you think, falling back into the habit of calling Minho names. He may not hate you anymore, but that doesn't diminish his love for annoying the absolute shit. However, instead of making you roll your eyes in annoyance, it makes your hands twitch by your side, nerves flooding your body head to toe. You know it was his plan, but it really is not helpful at all right now.

Felix smiles up at you, yet if you take all the tension into account it could arguably be a grimace. He pulls the chair out, and you take a seat; your back is a little too straight and fingers are still picking at your cuticles. You don’t want to raise any questions, but sometimes you really can’t help your nervous habits.

There had been plenty of chatter when walking up to the table but it had stopped suddenly upon Felix waving you over. It hasn’t resumed since, and the looks your members are giving each other are not subtle in the slightest. It’s obvious they know something.

Just like you had thought, word must have gotten around fast. It’s just a question of who spilled the beans and what it is they all think they know. Is it about the fight with Hyunjin? The fact that you and Minho had slept in the same bed? Or perhaps it was because you were seen wearing his shirt this morning?

But who knows? Before you even have time to fully ponder the questions or for anyone to break the uncomfortable silence, there’s a loud noise gathering everyone’s attention.

Hyunjin had sent one final look of panic to Felix before abruptly pushing his chair back and storming out. Everyone looked up in shock and suddenly it’s very clear that they were not aware of the fight. How are you gonna be able to explain this one? You don't even understand what happened. I mean sure, Hyunjin and you had fought and you didn't make up yet so it was uncomfortable, but you don't know why he would feel the need to make a scene like that. You guys had interacted just fine this morning. Maybe he was just uncomfortable with the idea of having to pretend everything was fine. You aren't exactly hiding the fact that you aren't happy with him right now. Due to basically being two peas in a pod, Hyunjin can usually read you like a book.

You glance over at Felix in hopes that he knows what that was all about. It's not much help when all he sends back is a shrug and an apologetic smile.

Unsurprisingly, there were few words spoken after this; the majority of the silence only being filled with concerned looks.

So breakfast was a bit awkward to say the least...

Unfortunately, that is extremely worrisome considering the schedule for the rest of the day. You guys don't have time for awkwardness and unsettled fights. Yet, you also don't have time to resolve anything. A never ending cycle of tension, how exciting. It's one of the not so fun parts of being an idol; the fakeness of everything. You just have to hope your groups acting is going to be on point enough today to not draw any attention. Fans were nitpicky and it was always best to avoid as many rumors as possible. With how close you and Hyunjin are, there's bound to be questions if you don't act all buddy buddy like you usually do.

The group takes two separate cars to the venue, and you can't help but notice the members are a little different than normal. More specifically, Minho has taken the seat next to you which is typically occupied by Hyunjin. In fact, Hyunjin isn't even in the car anymore.

This isn't the first time the cars were specifically divided out. Years ago, they had to switch which car Minho was in to keep the chaos under control. Previously, Minho had been in the same car as you, but once tensions started running high between the two of you, he had immediately been switched in hopes to keep the peace. It seems that was exactly the goal of today. God, you need to stop making so many issues within the group.

It seems that as the day progresses things are just getting more stressful. Hyunjin is avoiding you, and you can't help but feel as if you're messing up the group's dynamics. Suddenly, you're reminded of the awkward encounter with Chan this morning. If he figures out everything that has happened, is he going to be frustrated with you? Maybe you just never really fit in the group to begin with.

With every mile closer to the venue, you feel like you're approaching your doom. This is not the right mental state to go on stage, but that wasn't exactly an option, now was it?

So for now, you simply grip Minho's hand tighter, hoping to quell the growing anxiety inside you. You just have to make it through the concert and then you can resolve all the issues happening.

But it's never that easy is it?

Taglist: @armystay89 @thisisnotjacinta @silentreadersthings @seungminsapuppy @linos-kitten @hafrenstay @redstayrosie

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irradiatedsnakes · 2 months

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the Big TMA Furry List

this list with commentary/choice rationale below the cut :] i wrote a lot of thoughts down do please check it out.

jon: common raven

martin: tan jumping spider

sasha: southern flannel moth

not!sasha: red postman

tim: jackson's chameleon

melanie: eastern copperhead

georgie: triceratops horridus

basira: domestic cat (calico shorthair)

daisy: domestic dog (german shepherd)

elias: barn owl. jonah: eurasian eagle owl.

gerry: domestic dog (black doberman)

annabelle: white-booted racket-tail

jane: cabbage white

michael: spiny softshell turtle

helen: common hermit crab

oliver: black vulture

peter: risso's dolphin

mike: caelestiventus hanseni

jude: black kite

agnes: ???

nikola: stealing major's carousel horse

jared: american dog tick

breekon&hope: Hog and/or Bear. you get no more information

dekker: mouflon

gertrude: great tit

leitner: domestic cat (persian)

manuela: gray long-eared bat

rayner: olm

salesa: sea otter

simon: dodo

elaboration below !

jon: common raven

this was a choice i made before i even finished listening to the podcast back in 2020. jon's 1000% a bird to me, and the curious nature of corvids works well here. plus, i think a bird so universally ominous as a raven works perfectly as a horror protag :P i used to draw raven!jon with a couple troodon traits, mostly just cus it was fun, but i wanted to make my designs more grounded for this iteration. made them plantigrade, didn't get silly with body styles like i have with mp100 designs.

martin: tan jumping spider

if you've been here for a while you'll know that my furry martin has gone through about two million iterations. he started off as a european pine marten, to bold jumping spider, to chinese pangolin, to nine-banded armadillo, finally to nurse shark.

out of all of these the spider and the shark are my favorites. i wanted to go back to the jumping spider though- the design is really fun and i wasn't able to get the expressions right, but i'm more confident in my skills now and i'm having fun with the design. i may revisit nurse shark at some point. i switched from bold to tan jumper- i originally chose bold just cus they're my favorite jumper, but their stark black/white and iridescent aqua coloration just doens't work for martin. so, the tan jumper!

sasha: southern flannel moth

another old choice. species chosen because of a friend's fic, pharos by right (another i'm planning to reread now that i'm dipping my toes back into tma..)! southern flannel moths are poofy and orange, and their caterpillars are those super painful teddybear ones. i really like the design.

not!sasha: red postman

wanted to have her be another lepidopteran, and with all the many examples of mimicry among the group i thought red postman was a fun choice. doesn't look anything like a southern flannel moth, but that's sort of the point.

tim: jackson's chameleon

yet another choice from the oldtimes- most of the main characters are, i've mostly switched around the more secondary chars. first suggested, i believe, by @/ofdreamsanddoodles. i think there's something very fun about chameleons being basically a living mood ring & tim's Descent s1-3 showing physcially not just through the worm scars but through like, constant stress coloration during s3.

melanie: eastern copperhead

one of my favorite choices. i have a young copperhead specimen named after her. this one is quite vibes-based, but i do really like the copperhead as a viper that is not deadly. and i'm always a sucker for the "animal perceived as scary and violent that in actuality only strikes when under extreme stress" thing in furry assignments.

georgie: triceratops horridus

another favorite choice. visually, i really like how this works out, and trikes as a social and protective animal works well. she's literally got a shield on her face. horridus was chosen because i like the shape of the head and horns better than prorsus.

basira: domestic cat (calico shorthair)

got a little cat/dog thing going on for dasira. i like the inversion of the usual cat/dog dynamic with their unhealthy devotion instead, and visually it just works very well for them both.

daisy: domestic dog (german shepherd)

yeah i know this one's an exceedingly obvious choice.

elias: barn owl. jonah: eurasian eagle owl.

it's the institute logo! it's him! barn owl for elias specifically because of its very sleek look, designing him went fantastically. also, i can make the eagle owl's face disk work as a mimicry of ben meredith's muttonchops, which i think is a fun design bit to give to magnus.

gerry: domestic dog (black doberman)

certified gerryguy @/gerrydelano's choice. to quote a discord message from 3 years ago (sorry ron): "i feel like.........my INSTINCT is some kind of canine because like. the whole symbolism thing about being either an obedient or rabid dog. something something muzzled all your life. being a dangerous figure if people only see the silhouette but you just want scritches and nobody'll get close enough to you." black dog symbolism + breed which has ears cropped and tail docked, unecessarily molded for a Purpose which the dog has no say in

annabelle: white-booted racket-tail

sort of my original choice- she used to be part white-booted racket-tail, part anna's hummingbird. kept with the racket-tail cus it's fun and very cute. i've had a couple people express surprise that she wasn't a spider, but i think that's way too obvious. hummingbirds, though- they steal the webs of spiders to use as material to make their nests, but can sometimes become trapped in the webs and eaten by the spiders themselves. which is probably the metaphor-via-fursona-assignment i'm most proud of in this whole list

jane: cabbage white

the cabbage white is a butterfly whose caterpillars are routinely parasitized by the parasitoid wasp the white butterfly parasite. in case you're not familiar, parasitoid wasps lay their eggs on (usually) caterpillars, which hatch on the still-living caterpillar, devouring it from the inside before eventually emerging from the consumed husk of the host. also, i really liked the image of parasitoid wasp larvae emerging from an adult butterfly, rather than a caterpillar.

michael: spiny softshell turtle

for michael and helen, i wanted to choose animals which were, in some way, their own home. turtle is an obvious choice- and spiny softshells are a favorite of mine, and sufficiently strange-looking.

helen: common hermit crab

see previous entry. also please google "hermit crab without shell"

oliver: black vulture

bit of an obvious choice, but i adore vultures so i had to. black vulture chosen because i think the monochrome color scheme + straighter face work better than a turkey vulture for him

peter: risso's dolphin

i really like the idea of a cetacean for peter and the lukases as a whole, a famously social animal for the seemingly contradictory nature of this lonely-but-huge family, plus with so many cetaceans being endangered getting that lonely angle (risso's specifically are not, though, as peter is lonely through his own choice, not by circumstance).

mike: caelestiventus hanseni

it's a dimorphodont. he feels like a pterosaur to me, and i like the idea of a vast avatar as a usually short-flying arboreal species, for the unnaturality/contrast of it.

jude: black kite

black kites are one of the species of kites known to intentionally spread fires by picking up burning sticks to flush out prey.

agnes: ???

the only one i'm still undecided on. will update.

nikola: stealing major's carousel horse

i can't top that

jared: american dog tick

great choice from @/magnusarchivememes. Takes Your Blood And Gets So Big

breekon&hope: Hog and/or Bear. you get no more information

vaguely russian animals that are large and imposing but remain somewhat generic. which is the hog and which is the bear is not consistent.

dekker: mouflon

dekker has very much mammal vibes to me. the mouflon is a neat species of wild sheep. i think the noble, imposing but kind image of the ram works well for dekker as that sort of true-good hero figure, and mouflons in particular are very nice looking with good shapes. the statement giver in distant cousin describes dekker as "though he was slightly shorter than I was, it seemed like he towered over me." which i think this sheep works well with.

gertrude: great tit

i wanted all the main eye avatars as birds, just like how i give them all glasses. just a fun little treat for me. great tit was chosen for gertrude as a kind of classic british bird, and as tits in general are VERY fiesty despite their round and adorable appearance. i really like this image of a great tit posing with a dead mouse like it's a hunter with a trophy deer. the cheek markings also work really well to bring to mind the image of old person jowls.

leitner: domestic cat (persian)

vibes. also i like the idea of him as a spoiled domestic animal. if i remember correctly, this was also @/ofdreamsanddoodles' suggestion

manuela: gray long-eared bat

she's a bat. what's to say. WELL actually okay there's the perception of bats as blind but actually having quite good vision which i think meshes in a fun way with the dark, and the way manuela does her sciency stuff.

rayner: olm

i mean, yeah

salesa: sea otter

largely design-oriented, suitably scruffy. ocean animal with strong social bonds, it was a slam dunk soon as i thought of it.

simon: dodo

how couldn't i, come on.

#tma #furry tma #save

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kazvha · 1 year

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DOING YOUR NAILS

Notes: A few days ago, I painted my nails and also drew some lightning bolts on them (bc of Kayden's force control lol). That got me thinking:

How good would the Eleceed characters do if you asked them to paint your nails?

Including: Jiwoo, Jisuk, Wooin, Subin, Kayden, Kartein, Inhyuk, Jiyoung & Gangseok

⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ୨୧ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹

Jiwoo

• Helping you paint your nails? Of course! He can't say no to you!

• Before he starts, he asks you about the whole process

• "So first comes the base coat, then the actual color, and lastly the top coat? I think I got it. What about the designs?"

• He's painting kinda slowly, and gets some polish on your skin, but you can see his effort and the result doesn't look bad.

6/10

Jisuk

• Okay, so you literally have to beg this stubborn boy to paint your nails

• It takes a over an hour for him to paint your nails without messing them up

• In the end, it slips his mind that you have to wait till the polish is dry. He grabs your hand and smudges the polish. smh

1/10

Wooin

• Like Jiwoo, he's painting your nails very slowly and his hand is also kinda shaky

• When he finishes, he even cleans out the messy edges of your nails with nail polish remover

• He keeps it basic, Wooin doesn't have enough confidence to draw/put some designs on top

• It looks presentable in the end <3

5/10

Subin

• Since she is also painting her nails occasionally, she already knows the drill

• You just have to convince her to also apply the base coat and the top coat. She refuses to do it because it takes too long💀

• She's actually really good at doing designs. It could be something cute, glitter, actual drawings of things, etc. Just give her a reference.

• In the end you have super cute nails for others to be jealous of lol

8/10

Kayden

• "Huh, painting your nails? Why not do it yourself?"

• Like Jisuk you have to persuade this man to do your nails.

• "Blerghhh, what's this smell?", he frowns after opening a bottle of nail polish

• He tries to paint one nail, but he keeps spilling the color over the edge of your nail bed.

• When he finally finishes, he loses interest and gives up, leaving you with only 1 painted finger

-1/10

Kartein

• Very particular about which color you pick. It has to match with you, but he would like it if the color also matched with him

• Does a very good job, he applies the base coat, 1-2 coats of nail polish, and finally the top coat

• Usually he's too lazy to make designs, but your nails look amazing anyway

• He also caps your nails and oils them when they are dry😭

9.5/10

Inhyuk

• Alright, hear me out:

• You and Inhyuk have self-care Sundays, in which you also do manicures and pedicures together at home

• You clip his nails and paint his nails nicely with either matte or shiny clear polish. it depends on his mood

• After that, he clips/files your nails too and paints them exactly how you want them to be

• Honestly, he was bad at it in the beginning but practice made him do so much better!

8.5/10

Jiyoung

• She is too busy so she takes you to the nail salon. She's also paying for everything.

• 10?/10

• Nevermind, -4 points because she didn't do your nails herself.

So 6/10

Gangseok

• My guy has absolutely no experience in painting someone's nails, not even in painting or drawing on paper

• He's trying. After he's finished, you'd have to go over some areas again, since they were not colored evenly

4/10

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bonus: After they finish doing your nails you offer them to paint theirs for matching nails <3

#eleceed x reader #eleceed #eleceed x y/n #eleceed x you #kayden x reader #kayden break x reader #jiwoo x reader #jisuk x reader #subin x reader #inhyuk x reader #kartein x reader #wooin x reader #gangseok x reader #jiyoung x reader #jiwoo seo x reader #jisuk yoo x reader #webtoon x reader #manhwa x reader

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doudy · 5 months

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Helluva Boss - Fizzarozzie Bath

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ENGLISH (Français plus bas)

Here is finally the finished drawing that I started during the Helluva Fandub FR livestream! 😈

I remember that evening. I spent the week thinking of what to draw and telling myself "Quit overthinking for once, you'll see on the spot". As a result, the canvas stayed blank for almost half an hour in the public eye 😭

I knew that I was in a BlitzFizz or Fizzarozzie mood, so I asked the chat, and voilà. Then moment of panic, cuz I had to find a theme. Then I remembered that, as well as many others I think, when we got the episode 2x07 sneak peek, I imagined them taking a bath. It didn't happen, so I did it. (They need it, seriously. Btw, who else think they'll go on vacation, as Ozzie suggested?)

So I start drawing, it looks like nothing. I take pics of myself as refs. Sigh of relief, it gets better. A whole panic attack even tho I had less stress cuz I wasn't on the microphone, because I understood NOTHING about how to set it up lol.

Also, I figured Fizz's prosthetics are waterproof, right.

FRANÇAIS

Voilà enfin le dessin fini que j'ai commencé lors du live Helluva Fandub FR! 😈

J'me souviens de cette soirée. J'ai passé la semaine à réfléchir à quoi dessiner et à me dire "Arrête de trop réfléchir pour une fois, tu verras sur le moment". Résultat: la toile est restée vierge pendant presque 1/2 heure aux yeux du public 😭

Je savais que j'étais dans un mood BlitzFizz ou Fizzarozzie, alors j'ai demandé au chat et voilà. Ensuite moment de panique, parce qu'il fallait trouver un sujet. Puis j'me suis rappelée que comme beaucoup d'autres je pense, quand on a eu le sneak peek de l'épisode 2x07, je les avais imaginés prendre un bain. C'est pas arrivé, alors je l'ai fait. (Ils en ont besoin, sérieux. D'ailleurs, qui d'autre pense qu'ils vont les prendre, leurs fameuses vacances suggérées par Ozzie?)

Donc je commence à dessiner, ça ressemble à rien. Je me prends en photo pour avoir des refs. Soupir de soulagement, ça va mieux. Toute une crise d'angoisse alors que j'avais le stress d'être au micro en moins, parce que j'ai RIEN pigé de comment faire lol.

Sinon, je suis partie sur le principe que les protèses de Fizz sont waterproof, hein.

#helluva boss #fizzarolli #asmodeus #fizzarozzie #fizzmodeus #ozzie #doudy #my art

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russolover · 1 year

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Birthday Girl

short but sweet, enjoy it! and again happy bday to out Italian sunshine <3

Today was a pretty special day, it was your girlfriends 24th birthday and you were convinced in treating her the whole day. She wasn't in the mood to do anything fancy this year, so you two decided to stay in and go for dinner in the evening with her family. The blonde was still fast asleep with her head snuggled into your neck and her arm around your midsection. Usually, you'd prepare some breakfast but you also knew that she would get up as soon as she didn't feel your warmth anymore. You gently started drawing shapes on her back as you heard soft sighs coming from the Italian.

"Good morning birthday girl"

You whispered as you placed a sweet kiss on the top of her head.

"Morning baby"

She mumbled still half asleep as her arm around you tightened. You pulled her closer and started peppering her with kisses, trying to catch each freckle on her face.

"Y/n stop"

She giggled as she finally started opening her eyes.

"Happy Birthday amore"

You smiled brightly at her, Alessia now matching your smile. She wrapped her arms around your shoulders pulling you into a hug.

"Thank you my love"

She replied sweetly as she placed a kiss on your cheek. You watched the blonde on top of you as you drew circles on her thighs.

"What do you want for breakfast?"

"Hmm.. what about waffles?"

You smiled sweetly knowing it has become a tradition to make each other waffles for breakfast on every special occasion. Since today was a special day, it definitely included waffles.

"With strawberries?"

You asked. She nodded smiling brightly.

"Alright c'mon"

While you got started on the waffles, Alessia facetimed her family and made sure to show off your cooking skills which only made you blush.

"Love you luca"

Was the last thing you heard before the Italian sat down on the counter in front of you. She sneaked some strawberries in between while telling you about what she talked about with with her brother. As she ate up all the strawberries she took some more out of the fridge and started cutting them up while you handled the waffles.

The warm stack of waffles were waiting on the counter as you watched the blonde take her time to cut up the fruit. The silence being interrupted by the sound of your stomach.

"Less let me do it"

You chuckled as she looked at you offended.

"I can do it myself"

She huffed playfully as she turned her back on you to start cutting them again. You wrapped your hands softly around her hips and pulled yourself closer to her. The blonde immediately tensing up as she felt the distance between you close.

"Let me do it please"

You whispered into her ear while leaving soft kisses on her neck and jaw. The Italian closed her eyes enjoying the feeling as she melted into your touch.

"Is that a ye-"

You were cut off by Alessia turning around and pressing her lips on you. The softness of her lips and the strawberry taste took over your whole senses, making you pick your girlfriend up to place her on the counter. Standing in between her legs you continued to pepper soft kisses on her lips. Both of you got interrupted by your stomach grumbling again, indicating that it was indeed time for the waffles now.

After you finished eating you decided to give her your present. It took you some time to get the perfect present, but once you saw the necklace with the gold plated strawberry charm you were convinced that this was made for less.

"Here you go my love"

You handed her a small red box and watched as her eyes lit up. As she opened it the biggest smile took over her face making her eyes crinkle and nose scrunch up. She knew how much strawberries reminded you of her and how you always talked about the flavour of her chapstick, so this meant a lot to her.

"I love it"

She squealed as she threw herself into you arms.

"Can you help me put it on?"

"Of course, turn around"

She did as you told and once the necklace was on her she hugged you again placing another kiss on your cheek.

"Thank you Y/n I love it"

She smiled softly at you as you still held her close.

"Anything for you less"

You smiled back

#alessia russo #alessia russo x reader #woso fanfics #woso soccer #woso masterlist #fanfic #lionesses #engwnt #woso community #lgbtq #alessia russo imagine

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1000sunnygo · 4 months

Text

(1.6.2024) Mugiwara space vol. 17 feat. Kazuya Nakai and Kamiya Hiroshi highlights! I don't promise accuracy

Source (give it a listen if you have time! it has teasers to the new opening and ending)

Kazuya Nakai - Zoro || Kamiya Hiroshi - Law

-It's Kamiya's second time in Twitter Space, previously he was with Mayumi Tanaka (Luffy). He says that last time he babbled a lot thanks to Mayumi san's presence, even though he forgot most of it by now (hmm how convenient that you forgot this, kamiya san 🤨)

-Anytime One Piece (the 24/7 YouTube broadcast of the episodes) has 150M views and already in its 4th lap having completed broadcasting all episodes 3 times.

-The entire Space focused on the two voice actors reading out a heap of letters from the animation staffs about the Zoro vs King and Kid-Law vs Big Mom episodes.

-Kamiya jokes about being slightly younger than Nakai and calling him "Nakai-kun" instead of "Nakai san". Funny that Kamiya's career as a voice actor is actually longer than Nakai's.

-The Zoro vs King finale had 20000 frames in the episode which set a record. The movements were a lot more fluid and film-level. After all, often it's considered overwork if it crosses 5000 frames in a TV episode.

- The animators themselves tried out new things. It seems in one of the shots, Wado ichimonji's direction was reversed from the manga's direction as a realistic correction. Cue jokes about Zoro (and King's) long (long) attack names. Also, anticipation for legendary Mihawk vs Zoro to match the quality.

- Cutting to Kid-Law vs BM, Kamiya commented that it was scary that the fluidity of movements was so good that it made him wonder if that level of effort was necessary at all (he said it's like a Disney movie).

(in case you didn't know, this scene was indeed animated by an animator who worked in Disney.)

- Kamiya says it was both fortunate and unfortunate that Mami Koyama (Big Mom) wasn't there with them in the booth (she recorded her part separately). Both Kamiya and Nakai agreed that they'd give up immediately if they were to confront against Mami Koyama somehow.

- Kamiya also noted that Big Mom used "ore" to call herself in the final scene ("I am Big Mom") - exerting dominance 💪 her falling scene was intentionally animated beautifully.

- 1066 was animated by people all over the world, so the time adjustments and language barrier was a challenge. Episode director Henry thurlow balanced it well. In his letter, Henry credited the animation director for adjusting a variety of art styles from all participating animators. It was his first time directing a One piece episode, in fact it's the first time a foreigner has directed an anime episode. He thinks the episode was successful.

- Kamiya was calling Kidd "the extra budget man" for having his complicated-to-animate attacks costing extra budget 💸

-In the final scene vs Misery, Kamiya was asked to ad-lib breathing sound for Law. Kamiya immediately said "sure, got it". Regarding this, Kamiya said he loves doing ad-libs, it adds a little more life to the characters.

- Finally, announcement for the upcoming Egghead arc debut in anime (Nakai was exhausted of reading letters so Kamiya took over to read director Nagamine's final letter lol)

- The Egghead arc would appear in a new artstyle. Unlike the serious WCI and Wano, there's a more relaxed, "fun adventure" vibe for the future adventure island. And the animators are finally free from the torture of drawing Kaido's scales (and the kimono design patterns) so they're in a relaxed mood having escaped wano 🌞 and entering "the cool future where zoro has long legs and wears dove shoes" 👢✨

-(letter cont.) "..Also, about a certain change in Law! What will happen to his voice? It's an interesting future!"

Kamiya: Well, I just finished recording that. My voice is still cracking 😎 *nonchalantly continues reading*

Nakai: is it okay to spoil like that??

(fr Kamiya would not share Law's role with ANYONE even if he turns into a woman huh)

And that's it for the highlight!

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riewritten · 1 year

Note

Idk I love every scene you write, mostly Erwin physically touching the Mc, hugging her, comforting her etc. or you can draw one of your favorite scenes

this got nothing to do with what OP was originally talking about (they r talking about dusk in the brightest fanfic btw) but hey. the prompt is suddenly in line w/ my mood.

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐄?

ERWIN X GEN!NEUTRAL READER, ERWIN X YOU, NO Y/N

WORDS: 1.2k

idk what to tag aside from fluff & comfort bc the author is having an utterly terrible day again. i am scraping every bit of serotonin boost i could get because :( it’s just so :(

Heap of documents splattered across the table, to-dos that you weren't able to note hence long forgotten, the messages you intentionally leave unopened because it makes you sick, and all your utterances of "Okay, I'll get on to this one once I'm not burdened by the other task," which is, in hindsight, very counterintuitive because you can't even function anymore — because everything makes you sick. And there's this looming worry that, what if, what if this is all I could get?

"Hey,"

What if this is the farthest I could be for the rest of my life?

"Look at me,"

If I can't accomplish more—if I won't be able to finish this all, how dare I say I'll reach places farther than where I am?

What if—

Thoughts were cut off when a warm huge palm took a hold of your cheek.

"I told you to look at me."

"Oh, Erwin, regarding the deadline, I'm currently on it now. Have you seen the email I sent for your approval? A-and—" you panicky roamed at the papers in search of something you can't even mentally grasp as of the moment.

Only to halt in sheer terror when you hear Erwin sigh as he sat on the table.

Now you can't look at him in the eye, "I'm so sorry. I'll do better next time."

"There's something more important for you to do better right now."

You met his eyes in a hitch. But even before you could respond, Erwin took hold of your hand; his fingers then started massaging your palm.

He first pressed on your thenar—a point just below your thumb. It was an utterly gentle massage, perhaps aware that with wrong pressure, his broad and strong fingers could instead hurt you. "Does your head hurt?"

You think there are lots of questions that are more important to ask right now, but still, "Yes, a bit."

He hummed, then his hands moved a bit. Still below your thumb, but leaning towards its edge. He pressed on it—repeatedly, languidly, while looking at you with features tranquil—perhaps he's trying to pass the same mood to you.

"Erwin, I have lots to do that will become backlogs if—"

"Shh,"

You purse your lips out of instinct.

You could laugh—hell, you would, but that doesn't erase his gentle command. For long you've been with Erwin, you already know that the most serious favors (or orders) are the ones he delivered with sheer gentleness.

"How about your back? Does it hurt?"

"Uh huh. I've been seated all day."

After a last press, his fingers transferred to the point below your pinky. He silently did his work yet again, and now you feel the effects of it.

"Wow. Where did you learn this?"

"It's called acupressure. I actually already do this to you during the most random of times. Bet you thought I was just playing with your hands."

You chucked; yes, all this time you thought Erwin was just mindlessly fumbling your hands.

"And, for the last one…" He didn't ask a question this time around. His silly giant fingers just automatically shifted to the lower part of your palm, parallel to where your ring finger rests. "Here we go."

"What is this part for, Mr. Smart?"

The question was followed suit with a bell—the signal that the work shift is over.

Finally, Erwin clicked a warm smile, scooted his head lower and gave your lips a small peck. After all, when the work shift is over, he can go all lovely on you again.

"Thank you," you whispered as soon as he withdraw his lips on yours. "So, what does this part of my palm cure, hm?"

He pressed on that spot again, his smile—while not gone at all—toned down a bit. A slight squint of your eyes and you'd think he turned quite lamentful.

"This part eases anxiety."

Your smile faded, something Erwin already anticipated.

It's not because he confronted you so subtly, but he also didn't bother asking if you really are before pressing on that part. He saw it so well.

"I'm all fine now," you halted his fingers by squeezing your hand on it. "Let me get back to my work."

"Nuh-uh, shift's done now."

To establish the off-work mood, Erwin worked on removing his necktie. If you weren't so tired you'd gush at how hot the sight was, but then again, he didn't give you time to process everything. He slyly stood up and covered your eyes with the tie.

You are being blindfolded by your man. Why?

"Hey, the hell—"

"Shh," he landed a kiss on top of your head. You heard him roam his pocket, then a opening pop came. Not long after, a strong scent tingled your senses.

"What is that? It smells like lavender."

"Heh," Erwin proudly huffed. "Levi bought me one. It's an essential oil."

You laughed a bit loudly. Now, despite his eccentricities, you can't help but be endeared. Oh, what were your concerns again? What about staying in the same place for the rest of your life?

Not like the bother would subside just like that, but this is one of the things you'd be willing to stay in for the rest of your life.

"Old fart."

"Am I, now?" Erwin cooed as his finger damped the oil on the tip of your nose—just so you'd smell it more. "Such a handsome old man, am I not?"

You grinned softly. "And all mine."

Despite the constricted vision, you're sure as hell Erwin's smiling from behind too. He genuinely loves whenever you speak of owning him.

"See, your handsome old man wants you to sleep a bit but your mind is not being kind to you right now."

"And what does it have to do with getting my eyes blind?"

"It is so your brain momentarily shuts the fuck up. It would most likely start when it doesn't see anything anymore, no?"

"Watch your mouth, mister."

You felt his lips on yours, teasingly so, with fingers—pleasantly reeks of lavender—gliding over your cheeks. The sweet exchange, soft chapped lips, and little bit of tounge playing at the corner of your lips covered you in utter solace. This is all you could wish for, all you needed. Just the thought of your needs being met at its most tipping core renders you lightheaded.

That's why when Erwin withdrew from the kiss, you were already panting.

"Yeah? What's with watching my mouth, hm?"

"More."

"I'll give your demands once you grant mine."

"What's your demand? Fuck."

"Sleep."

"How can I sleep with this. Please."

Just as if he knew the answer. Erwin grabbed you to stand up, sat on the chair, and had you sit on his lap instead. He urged you to burry your head on the crook of his neck, engulfed your figure to his embrace, and uttered soothing hums.

Indeed, it was answered. Seconds away and you're already lulled to sleep.

What if this is the farthest I could be for the rest of my life?

Well, if you have this lovingly eccentric man on your side, the farthest could never be absolute.

What if this is all I could get?

What is more to get than a love this gentle?

🏷 @frenchdyer (slightly inspired by your OC office AU btw :')) @watyousayin | SUBSCRIBE TO STORIES

MORE OF SWEET SUBTLETIES: EPISODIC SERIES HERE

sorry. i know there are some series u want to be updated more than this, but im just too down and mind fucked to strategize. all i can do is a self-insert. yes, this is the first ever genuine self-insert ive made

bc today i emptied my bank acc due my mom's hospital emergency, spilled coffee on my work laptop, and almost cried with all the work i had to do bc it daunted to me that im not even keeping up with the schoolworks that i missed yet due to the weeklong out-of-town conference we had in work.

and it's seriously taxing questions of what if this the farthest i could get bc of how incapable i am? honestly, i'd rather die than stay in where i am rn.

DILLEMA ASIDE, erwin is the embodiment of my support system in my previous environment! yes, the acupressure and ointment is a habit my ex taught me (hope they’re in a good place rn. theyre such a kind person!!)

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annwhiskers · 16 hours

Text

Art school Portfolio project 1

Please, Go Home

Art school didn't end up happening for me (I'm going to do something completely different and more secure, and keep art and writing for myself for fun), so I thought I’d share my portfolio projects here.

Buckle up, this'll be long as fuck.

This is a story I’d been working on for years, since 2018. I’d rewritten it several times, until in 2023, I got the chance to come up with my own project at design school. Immediately, I knew this was what I wanted. I wanted to make this story into a real book. And I wanted to make it all by hand, cause bookbinding seemed cool to try.

I had to come up with 2 ideas to do.

Translation:

Subject 1

Book. Specifically a novel (written by me). I want to make illustrations of the characters, design the inside (text and design thingies and everything), design the cover. Print and bind it myself. Illustrations of the characters are in it, I’ll try to finish as many as possible, but I probably won’t be able to finish all of them. Then I’ll leave blank pages in and stick the remaining illustration in later. (I did finish them all, so I didn’t need to do this.)

Why? I love books. I read them a lot and I’ve been writing for years. Now I want to make a professional looking book myself. And of course I love to draw, I want to incorporate that too. I’d like to have completely handmade versions of the books I’ve written. I’d like to learn bookbinding.

Subject 2

Graphic novel. I want to learn to tell a story visually. And I want to experiment with color more.

Why? I like to read graphic novels. I want to tell and draw stories, and get better with color.

A mood board of what I wanted, I chose the book.

Translation:

Inside book

Physical book

Character illustrations

Little drawings

Dust jacket

Translation:

Little drawings

Inspiration

Finished product

Why? The main character writes and doodles in a journal. When he’s anxious or his head is full, he doodles a certain type of pattern to calm down. More of the design of the book is based on this. He also sometimes draws little things that he likes.

Translation:

Inside

Fonts

Novels always have a serif font as the standard. Standard book font: Adobe Garamond Pro.

Other than that, I want to use quite a lot of different fonts that resemble handwriting for the chapter titles. The titles are quotes from a character in the chapter, each has their own font as their voice or handwriting. Sometimes, the characters write too, that’s also in their own font.

[A list of fonts.]

Preparations

I made parent-pages for each type of spread that I needed. One with only text, one with an illustration and the start of a chapter, and 2 with only the start of a chapter on either side of the spread. And I made a bunch of paragraph-styles for all the types of text that I needed. I have 2 sections, 1 for the front matter, 1 for the rest.

Translation:

Final product

Here are a few spreads, I won’t show all of them, because that’s 308 of them.

Here I have a spread with an illustration, a basic page with a little drawing in it, and a regular chapter opening where I use one of the other fonts for the title. The titles are quotes, and the font shows who said it.

Translation:

Cover

Research

Adult Fantasy Romance. What’s already out there? (Put a bunch of YA there, but whatever)

I want illustrated, probably with characters. Detailed or silhouette.

Sketches

Colour

Translation:

Final product

Color choice. In the end, this is the illustration I went for. I showed the two bigger color choices from the last page to a friend, she said with the purple one, that the characters nicely sprung out of the image because of the orange. But the green one was more relaxed. I thought the green one fit better with the vibes of the book, but I really like the purple one too. I ended up switching the colours of the text and the characters, so the characters sprung out like the purple one.

Subject. The twigs are around it, because one of the main characters (the right one) often draws them in his journal. They’re also there in the rest of the book, in his journal entries. He’s writing in it on the cover. Left, he’s reading a book, because he does that often, and others in his family do so too. The two shadows are their grandfathers, who also knew each other, which the main two don’t know. Those two have quite a bit of history.

Title. The story is about them meeting each other, and they’ve both been away from home for various reasons. They push each other to go back to their families, that’s why it’s called ‘Please, go home’.

Font. It’s one of the characters fonts, orange left. I wanted to use one of the main characters’ fonts, and I liked this one better.

Translation:

Dust jacket

I put a description on the back, quotes on the front flap, and normally there’s an ‘about the author’ on the back flap, but I didn’t feel like doing that, so I put a short text there to give more context to the book itself.

Sorry about the shitty quality of the next few.

Translation:

Character illustrations

Inspiration

Sketches

I sketched some poses I could use. Other than that, I’m not planning to sketch a lot, I’ve drawn all these characters before and I already have a good idea of what I want them to look like.

Style experiment

I tried something painty first, didn’t like it. After that, I experimented with the background. I didn’t want the colour to go all the way to the edge, because I didn’t want to have to deal with bleed and trimming. In the end, I didn’t give the background any colour, except black and white lines, as you can see in the final result. I liked the effect of only the character having colour.

Translation:

Rune

Earlier drawings

Sketches

Final product

In the book, it’ll be greyscale.

(All the next few have the same text except the characters names, so I won’t translate again. Except if I did add some text somewhere.)

Translation:

And with this, all the illustrations are done. I'm not super happy with all of them, but I did my best to make them all unique and recognizable. And within 4 weeks. I'm happy with it.

Translation:

Physical book

Research

Binding. At first, I thought about doing a standard case-binding, a standard hardcover book. But after watching some tutorials, I realised that's quite complicated and requires supplies that I couldn't easily get. I continued searching and found crisscross-binding or secret Belgian binding. It resembles a standard hardcover book, but you barely have to glue, you need less supplies, and it's easier for beginners. It looks cool, it's sturdy, but also flexible.

Paper and size. A5 size, then I don't have to trim and printing is easy. A4 folded. A4 cream novel paper, I want it to look as professional as I can. It's not the best paper for illustrations, but it does work, I've seen it in other books.

Material. I bought everything I need at an art store in the city, except the paper. I ordered that online.

Practice. As a try-out, I made a small book of printer paper and used watercolour paper. It went well, except that i didn't sew the pages to the spine properly.

Translation:

Final product

Printing

I put my printer at home in my room. First, I tried on standard printer paper if the printer did what I wanted it to do. Which it didn't. It couldn't print double-sided. But with Acrobat, I printed booklets. First only the front, then the back. So I managed to do it.

After successfully printing one booklet on the standard paper(left), I started printing the whole book on the cream paper. Within 1,5 hours, I printed the whole book, 19 booklets. Together with the testing, it took me about 2 hours.

I pressed the pages underneath my cutting mat with two bricks. I left it there for about a day.

Translation:

Cover

I cut the front and back cover out of cardboard, then covered it with linen paper. I drew a twig on it with ink and a brush. Then I poked holes in it for the sewing.

Here, I made the spine 2cm wide, which I thought would be enough. It was not. I'll get back to that. I covered the spine in linen paper, too.

I sewed the cover together, I followed a tutorial on YouTube. Then i glued the end papers on.

Translation:

Binding & Dust jacket

I poked holes (in the booklets) for the sewing, then I started sewing the paper to the cover.

When I'd sewn 6 out of the 19 booklets onto the cover, I was already halfway along the spine and I realised this wasn't going to fit. I undid all the sewing and remade the spine. This time 3cm.

The new spine was still a bit too small, even though I thought I'd exaggerated it a bit. The book doesn't close properly. But I refused to redo everything again, so I just accepted it. It was better after pressing it for a day. I didn't trim the edges, that was very difficult with the pages already bound into the book. I quite like the untrimmed edges.

I folded the dust jacket around it and pressed it, so it'd keep it's shape. And now the book is done. The paper of it smudges very easily. A little bit of dust on it and it won't come off. That's a bit disappointing. (Now a year later, it also isn't lightfast whatsoever. It stood in a dark corner of my bookshelf nowhere near the sun and the spine turned yellow. I guess I now know why covers have protective coatings on them. Which I didn't have the option for.)

Translation:

FINAL final product

Reflection

This project was the most fun thing I did at this school. I've always wanted to do this and it's awesome I can now hold my own book in my hands. The binding was fun to learn, but also a challenge. Not everything went perfectly, like i said earlier. But now I've can learn from those mistakes. I'm quite impressed with myself that I managed to do this in this time. I wasn't sure I could do it. But i did dedicate every moment of free time I had to this.

(I did all of this in 5 weeks. All the teachers doubted me, that it was too much work, and just told me good luck. And I said "Watch me." Autistic hyperfocus activated.)

(The second paragraph isn't important, just a short description of the last discussion I'd had with my teacher about this.)

Awful picture, sorry.

This is the final presentation I had at school for this, and this is where it stops for the school projects side of this. But it continues.

After this, I didn't touch it for a few months. Then I let a friend read it (digitally) and processed her feedback into the book afterwards. Then I published it on Amazon.

This won't be the last time I do this. The whole process is really fun and fulfilling. And owning a real, published book that I wrote, illustrated and designed is awesome.

In case you're interested, click here to buy it.

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babyboyxiao · 2 years

Note

hi! could you do an aged up yatora yaguchi smut? i don’t have anything else specifically just stay true to his character. this is my first time requesting so sorry if i’m doing anything wrong!

thanks!!!

Yellow is the Colour of His Eyes | Yaguchi Yatora x Reader

AN: thank you so much for the request, i'm sorry this took so long! you're absolutely perfect and i'm so excited for my first Blue Period request! i really tried hard to write him in character but idek anymore, it's been a fat while since i last read bp tbh, and idek what that ending was i got hella tired at the end of writing this but i just hope you enjoy it,, i ended up really leaning into the idea of the reader being a fellow student so there's actually quite a bit of plot so i hope that's okay too,, i was also listening to soccer mommy's song of the same-ish name technically it's "her eyes" while writing this and, while the lyrics don't quite line up, i'd recommend listening to it while reading this bc idk it just fits for me :)

Summary: during a rough night pouring yourself into your final assignment of your second year at Geidai, Yatora finds you decrepit in your studio area. the weight of the mistakes in your work weighs heavy on your shoulders and you find yourself unable to hold back your feelings any longer.

CW: smut, nsfw (minors dni!), friends to lovers, angst with a bit of fluff, unprotected sex, gn! reader

As the end of the semester drew near, you found yourself gradually spending more and more time holed up in your studio working on your final assignment. Your hands stained with ink, paint caked underneath your chipped fingernails, and your eyes swelled with a lackluster enthusiasm as you stared at the canvas before you. It was completed, ready for submission and you were elated that you could finally call it a night... but then you spotted it, a dark smudge on the right edge of the canvas. No doubt it was made by your grimy hands as you'd absent-mindedly gripped the canvas while painting. It wasn't just there either, suddenly every imperfection stood out like a sore thumb and you groaned, tears threatening to spill over as you buried your face into your hands. You just sat there, shoulders slumped as you prepared yourself for another couple of hours of fixing all those blemishes. A gentle knock echoed from the door, platinum blonde wisps of hair peeking out between the frame and the door.

"Thought I'd find you here," Yatora huffed, "I've been calling you, y'know?" You didn't dare look at him, you didn't want one of your closest friends to see you in such a state.

"Oh, sorry... my phone's in my bag." You dejectedly reply. You heard the rustle of a plastic bag, then some rattling, and his footsteps drawing near. You furrowed your brows, you really weren't in the mood for this.

"It looks amazing, just a couple more touches here and there and you're almost done. I got you a couple of things to keep you going-" Yatora's rambling was cut short by the shrill screech of your stool. Keeping your head down, you marched over to him and began dragging him back towards the door.

"Yeah, thanks, really. Can you please leave now?" Your voice shook with every word, your fingers trembling as they gripped his biceps and legs wobbling with every step. The tremors in your voice sparking concern, Yatora spun around and clutched your shoulder, peering down to get a look at your face.

"Fuck, you don't look so good. Just- let's get some air, okay? I brought some snacks, you look like you're about to keel over." Yatora huffs, bringing an arm around your shoulder to lead your tired figure outside. You can't it back any longer, your frustration and exhaustion boiling over. You push his arm away, stumbling back towards your canvas. You know you're being dramatic but you can't waste any more time, and you know that if you went with him, you wouldn't want to leave.

"I can't! I have to finish this and, unlike you, I just- I can't work like you do! Constantly working, improving, like you know what you need to get better at a-and you just do it! It's like time doesn't slip away from you like it does for me, I just-" and then it hits you. You're knees crash into the vinyl beneath you, the air is abrasive in your lungs, probably from all the turpentine fumes, the dry skin of your hands absorbing your tears as they fall. The boy is stunned, his feet rigid but, in his stupor, he manages to walk towards you. Squatting beside you, he hesitantly places a hand on your head, ruffling your disheveled hair.

"Is that how you think of me?" he sighs, your outburst simultaneously empowered him yet pierced him. On one hand, the fact that someone like you saw how much he was improving made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside, even if it was via some eruption of bitter emotions, and it wasn't like you never praised him, quite the opposite. However, there was something different about how you had said it, that was what was nagging at him; the fact that you seemed to put him on a pedestal like some prodigy when, for him, he was the one lagging behind.

"You're just so onto it," you sobbed, "half the time, I'm just fucking around, but you're constantly growing and doing something. And then shit like this happens and it's last minute and I'm falling over myself trying to finish." Yatora just snorts in response; he recalls all the times you spent sketching out ideas for all kinds of projects, when you'd meet up with him with some new idea just to abandon it an hour later when something new catches your eye. Sure, maybe he had a more consistent work ethic but that gleam in your eye and the hyper-intense passion that you and everyone else got with art was something that didn't really come naturally to him. But that wasn't really it, was it? You both were just seeing each other in those moments, only noticing the shadow the other person cast over you. He brings his hand down to pull you into an embrace, plopping his chin where his hand previously was.

"You know that's all bullshit, right?" Yatora huffs, burying his face into your hair, "you all are way ahead of me, I'm the one who's catching up. Fuck, I still don't know if I even get art yet. I only started a couple years ago now, but you've all been doing this for way longer than I have, you have it all down now but I've only just gotten the hang of it, to be honest." You're shaking in his arms, and you know he's right. All of his improvements were the same as yours however many years ago, but seeing his growth as an artist compared to your stagnation made you forget all that. Of course, how could you have been so blind?

"Fuck," you choke out, "you're right, I'm sorry." You pull away from him, his hand falling limply from your shoulder to your knee, rubbing small circles into your skin. "I didn't mean to say all that, I-I know you're working hard just to pass, we-we all are... I let the stress get to me, I'm really sorry, Yatora." You laugh, rubbing the tears from your eyes as you try to collect yourself, the embarrassment from your little outburst beginning to sink in.

"It's fine, besides, I kinda like the smudges..." he chuckles, his hand reaching around to rub the back of his neck. At this moment, a slight blush begins to creep onto his cheeks, realizing just how intimate the scene had been. You glance up at him, eyes wide and puffy, and he feels all the air leave his chest. He drops his head to avoid eye contact, his hands bashfully trying to hide his blush but you knew better than to let the moment end. Out of curiosity, you slink up to remove his hands from his face, and he loses balance, falling back onto the vinyl. You hover over him for a moment, taking in his flushed appearance before giggling. It wasn't exactly rare to see Yatora like this but, after such an emotionally charged moment, it was exactly what you needed to feel better.

"You know, Yatora, I think I could get used to a view like this." You giggle as he rises, his hand running through his hair as he propels himself forward to sit up properly. He mutters for you to shut up but the smile on his face speaks otherwise. Slowly, Yatora brings a finger up to stroke your cheek, collecting some stray tears. There's a fondness in his eyes that you can't help but shuffle closer to get a better look at. "Thank you Yatora, for checking up on me and dealing with... well, that."

"Don't worry about it..." He trails off, leaning towards you, his single finger turning into a hand cupping your cheek. Planting a hand on each of his sides, you rise up to meet his lips in a small kiss. Your heart is beating a million kilometers an hour, the cool vinyl the only thing keeping you grounded in the heat of the moment. His lips are soft if not a little dry, the faint taste of tobacco offset by whatever he'd been snacking on earlier but you didn't mind. You reached around to tangle your fingers in his hair, while his hands settled on your waist, dipping under your shirt to rub at your skin. You settled on his lap, gasping as he began to trail kisses from your lips to your jaw and down your neck. You thanked every deity that the studio was empty tonight, no one around to witness you grinding against his clothed erection. You didn't want Yatora's ministrations on your body to cease even for a second but, as you desperately began to claw at his shirt, he pulled away for a moment. His face flushed and chest heaving, he asked, "Here? Now?"

"You said I needed a break, right?"

"I said you needed air."

"Same difference." You shrugged, reattaching your lips to his. Despite his complaints, one hand continued to snake up your back while another plunged beneath the waistline of your pants. Meanwhile, yours trailed down his chest to the hem of his shirt, following his movements as you sucked on the skin of his neck. You both paused, desperately removing your bottoms to cut straight to where you needed each other most. His fingers descended right to your heat, clumsily rubbing and prodding at your entrance but, at this point, any stimulation was enough. You let out a small whine, hastily reaching for his cock and rubbing it against your hole.

"W-wait, don't we need a condo-" Yatora's plea was cut off when you sunk down onto his length, a groan was ripped from his lungs before you silenced him with another kiss. Your tongues danced in rhythm with your hips, nimbly rocking back and forth in his lap while the tip of his cock hit your most sensitive spot. Pulling back for air, Yatora immediately reattached his lips to your neck, continuing where he left off by sucking dark purple marks on your collarbone. Your nails dug into his scalp as you bounced up and down in his lap, the muscles in your legs taut and you didn't know how much longer you could keep up the pace you had set for yourself. Sensing your exhaustion, Yatora leaned back, pulling you down with him as he began to thrust upward into you. With your arms planted on either side of his head for support, you pressed your forehead against his, the knot in your core tightening with every lunge of his hips.

"Yatora~" you whimpered, your body overcome by pleasure. Yatora rolled over, capturing you beneath him as he continued to thrust into you. His hands came up to cradle your head while you pulled him down to your lips, drowning yourselves in another lustful kiss. As your ears were assaulted by the wild slapping of skin, you became hyper-aware of your lewd conduct in the middle of the studio. If anyone were to walk in at any moment... The thought alone was enough to send you over the edge, your legs binding themselves around his waist as your back curved up off the floor. As your insides clenched around his cock, Yatora couldn't help but also come undone inside you, the orgasm enough to cloud his better judgment of pulling out. You both remained in that position for a while, the remainder of your clothes clinging to your bodies, your bodies aching and begging for respite. Yatora's senses returned first, panic setting in as he pulled out.

"I- uh... Y/N?" Yatora whispered, you merely hummed in response, still dazed from your intense orgasm. Yatora sighed, pulling you up to settle in his lap, your hands resting on his biceps and head nestling into the crook of his neck. He pulled at one of your hands, holding it delicately in his own, fiddling with your fingers, and examining the blue and yellow stains across your hand. He looked at your painting, and then back at you before smiling. "You're fucking beautiful"

A giggle bubbled out of you, "so are you."

"But seriously, you need air and food, all the paint and turpentine fumes are probably fucking with your head."

#blue period x reader #blue period smut #yaguchi yatora x reader #yaguchi yatora smut

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2af-afterdark · 2 years

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Jealousy Like You and Me

Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: F/M/M Fandom: Shall We Date?: Obey Me! Relationships: Lucifer/MC/Satan Characters: Main Character, Lucifer, Satan Additional Tags: afab!mc (you/your), Mc is a bit of a passive aggressive brat, they talk it out eventually, multiple partners, make-up sex, nipple play/sucking, pet names (kitten), mild smut, vaginal fingering Summary: After Lucifer and Satan had to flirt with someone else to occupy her time, you aren’t feeling so great. You’re upset but can’t tell them why, and they don’t fail to notice. It’s okay, because you’ll all make up in the end. A/N: Darling, be as selfish as your heart desires. You think I write all that Simeon smut out of pure altruism? Nah. I do it because I am down bad for that man and have thots. I would have loved to base this more off the Devilgram story, but I don’t actually know which one that would be? Gonna do my best anyway! Word Count: 1400

“Can I sit here?”

You looked over the rim of your book, locking eyes with Satan before curling up your legs and making yourself smaller on the library couch without giving a verbal response. Then, you went back to your book.

He sat next to you wordlessly, flipping open his own book and silently indulging in his story.

You and he hadn’t spoken all day. You weren’t ignoring him, per se, just not going out of your way to spend time with him. You couldn’t even really look at him for more than a few seconds before a torrent of emotions overtook you; rage, sadness, longing, confusion, admiration, and more. It was too much to try and parse through them, so you didn’t want to try. Silence was good enough as far as you were concerned.

Or, it would have been if not for the stomping you could hear approaching from down the hall toward your exact location. As Lucifer stormed through the door holding a bucket half full of what looked like thick, brown, bubbling… something that had a faint trail of steam wafting off the top.

Lucifer glared down at Satan, looking as disgruntled as he possibly could. Satan returned his expression with one of barely contained mischievous glee that quickly turned sour as he took in the sight of Lucifer.

"Can I help you?" Satan asked incredulously.

Lucifer held out the bucket toward Satan with an impassive face. "Beel found your trash. Unfortunately for you, it seems he already ate a good deal of it before I could ensure you got it back to dispose of it properly."

Ah, it seemed they were going to fight as always. Yeah, you weren't in the mood for that, especially given the bad mood you were already in because of these two in particular.

You shut your book with an audible thud, drawing their attention to you instead of their asinine argument. "If you two are going to bicker, at least let me leave first."

"We're not arguing," Lucifer said. "This is merely a reminder to Satan not to leave his trash lying around."

"Mhm," you hummed with mild annoyance as you stood up and began to head toward the exit. "You have fun with that. I'm going to my room, where it's quiet."

You didn't turn around as one of them called your name, choosing to separate yourself before they did something stupid. Instead, you went straight to your room and curled up on your bed to finish reading.

It wasn't until who-knows-how-much-later that you heard a knock at your door. With a sigh, you beckoned whoever it was inside.

Satan and Lucifer, of course. Great. Just who you didn't want to see right now.

"Yeah?" You try not to look at them, but damn if it isn't hard when they are both staring straight at you lounging back in your bed. If only you could crawl under your covers without making it a huge scene.

"Are you okay?" Satan finally asked.

"Peachy. Why?"

Lucifer answered that one, clearly upsetting Satan as he cut him off. "Because you've been distant lately."

You looked between the two of them. "Is this really the thing that gets you two to team up?" With a sigh, you closed your book. "I'm fine."

"Don't lie," Lucifer said.

"I'm not. It's petty and doesn't matter. I'll be fine."

Satan finally got a chance to speak. "Being fine eventually doesn't mean you are right now."

Your fingers clenched for a moment, knuckles flexing and loosening again as your eyes shifted to look away from their distressingly nonjudgmental gazes. Your throat felt dry as you opened and closed your mouth a few times while trying to find words that wouldn't come, eventually settling on simply saying whatever came to you.

"You love me, right?"

For the first time you can consciously remember, both of their faces twisted into clear confusion, shock, and befuddlement.

"Of course I do," Satan said on his behalf.

"We do," Lucifer corrected. "What would make you think otherwise?"

You bit the inside of your lip. "It… it sounds silly."

"It's not silly if it's bothering you." Satan stepped forward tentatively, watching to see how you would react. When you didn't show discomfort at his closeness, he came just a little bit closer still until he was next to you on your bed. "What is it?"

Why couldn't the ground just open up beneath you and swallow you whole so you didn't have to answer him? "The other day… you and Lucifer had to occupy Maddi and… I didn't like it. It felt awful to know you two were trying to sweep her off her feet."

Lucifer shook his head. "That didn't mean anything."

"I know," you replied. "I know you weren't serious and it was necessary but it hurt to watch my boyfriends be sweet with someone else. It felt like I was being rejected and replaced right in front of my eyes. I know you wouldn't do that, but it hurt all the same."

"Kitten," Satan leaned over and placed a gentle hand against your cheek, "we would never, could never, replace you. Especially not with Maddi of all people."

"I know." Your eyes were damp as you pressed your fingers against them to swipe the water away. "I told you it was silly."

"Yes, it is." You didn't know when Lucifer had gotten so close, but now he could touch you and pull your attention in his direction as Satan released you to him. "It's offensive that you'd think we could think of anyone but you. Do we have to prove that to you?"

Your face heated up and you couldn't look him in the eyes; neither of them. Even with that slight tinge of embarrassment, you slowly nodded. You wanted them – both of them – especially as you felt all that rage, sadness, longing, confusion, admiration, and more inside of you turning into unbridled love, comfort, and belonging.

Satan's hand dropped to slowly roam down your stomach, pulling up the hem of your top to brush his fingers against your skin and sneak them past the edge of your pants and underwear.

He leaned in close to you, lips burning against your ear as his low, breathy voice whispered to you, "I'll make sure you never feel that way again. I'll carve it deep inside of you. Right here." His cool fingers began to tease at your sex, stroking your pussy lips inside and out until he could feel your wetness starting to coat the tips of his fingers.

Your head rolled onto Satan's shoulder as you braced against him. Your legs started to spread wider apart and welcome him deeper inside, small gasps of eagerness and surprise tumbling out of your mouth as he began to gradually get faster.

It was easy to fall into the pace he was setting and let go, drowning in the haze of euphoria spinning around your mind as he built you up. It was so easy that it jolted you upright when you suddenly felt something warm and wet lapping at one of your nipples while the other was flicked and pinched.

Lucifer's lips wrapped around one bud, sucking and licking at it as his fingers lovingly caressed the other. His eyes only glanced up at you for a second to see your flustered face before gently biting down to hear you gasp for him.

"It's insulting to think you'd be threatened by any other person." Lucifer smirked against your skin. "Who could ever compete with you?"

"I'm sorry," you whimpered out between gasping moans as Satan dug two fingers deep inside of you. "I should know better."

"Yes, you should," Lucifer said as he switched to lap at your other nipple.

Satan kissed the side of your face. "Since you need us to prove our loyalty, do you know what comes next?"

You shook your head, them long at both of their ministrations.

Lucifer crawled higher up your body, laying a wet kiss against your lips. "We're going to make sure you can never question who we love again. Now," he grabbed your hand and dragged it over the tent clearly pitching itself in his pants, "choose how we should show you, or else we'll be deciding how the rest of the night will go."

And he did mean the entire night.

#2af writes #obey me smut #lucifer smut #satan smut #afab fic #cw multiple partners #cw vaginal penetration #cw nipple play

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wayward-wren · 29 days

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See Timeless Child as a concept I don't hate. I think it's got some fun implications to explore and fallout for the Doctor to deal with, identity crisis and all. (Also I've heard Chibnall was drawing from his experience of being adopted, which makes me like it even more). I think there's a lot of interesting things in there, though part of me loves the Doctor being normal, just a bit different, too much to fully embrace the idea that the Doctor is a Special Being. That one is gonna be a 'depending on my mood ill choose this canon' thing for me probably. But on the whole I think Timeless Child is a solid try at something new, and Doctor Who always needs that imo.

What I don't like about the concept, is claiming that there was 'the Doctor' before the First, William Hartnell. Because he starts going by the Doctor in the show, we saw it happen. And I think its more canon that he chose the name at the academy now, but I still love the slow acceptance of the Doctor identity you see early in the show, along side the slow progression of the Doctor embracing a role of protector and defender. So while I can accept the idea that maybe there were Timeless Children, and then that entity had their memories erased and became a child again, who grew up into Hartnell, I don't like the idea that the Doctor existed before Hartnell (and this includes regenerations the Doctor remembers before Hartnell I think).

Which is why I think Ruth!Doctor has to be between Two and Three; because she called herself the Doctor and her TARDIS was a police box (something else that happened for the first time in the show). The Doctor as the Doctor didn't exist before William Hartnell, and I think changing that canon almost does a disservice to the fact that he essentially created the character, and did so with so much love and care.

Anyway. I finally finished season 12 so that's my thoughts now that I've actually seen the timeless children episode.

#wren rambles #doctor who #classic doctor who #the timeless child #i might actually catch up before the new season wouldnt that be something #then i just gotta rush my siblings through the. 16. seasons of classic we have yet to work through #not sure THATS gonna happen before may lol #we can sure TRY though #would help if they actually WERENT BUSY #Three Doctors is the next story guys CMON itll be fun i PROMISE 😭#anyway this has nothing to do with the post #i like aspects of the timeless child #its been a journey

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trin-gvf · 1 year

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D.R.W - gaming

539 words minors DNI

WARNINGS: unprotected sex

i just wanted to post something since i havent for a while! luv u <3

"baby please?" you whined.

you'd been in a mood all night and you just wanted danny. any part of him you could possibly get.

"c'mon, darling. let me finish this game." he said in an understanding voice.

he'd been on his nintendo switch all. day. you'd usually leave him be and let him have fun with his friends but he hadn't paid you an ounce of attention since he woke up.

"you've said that five times, daniel." you pouted.

"i'm being serious this time! promise!" he said, drawing his attention back to the tv.

you groaned and flopped backwards onto the couch. you were laying there, your mind had come up with a brilliant idea.

"fine. i'll do it myself." you said in a determined voice. you flipped onto your stomach, pulling down his sweatpants.

"y/n what the fuck-" you didnt let him finish his sentence.

"shut up, daniel. let me do my job." you grunted, pulling his boxers down.

he went quiet when the tip of his cock was welcomed into your warm mouth.

his soft cock soon turned hard as you bobbed your head down onto it.

he tried his best to focus on the game he was playing, but fuck, it was hard having a pretty girl under him doing wonders on his dick.

he groaned when he lost the game and threw his switch off to the side of the couch.

"fuck, baby. made me lose my game." he said, throwing his head back, placing a hand into your hair. he softly guided your head, helping you find the perfect pace.

when started to buck his hips up into your face, you pulled away. an irritated moan left his lips when you did so.

"what the fuck?" he grunted.

"you wanted me so bad all day and you just- oh..oh shit" he started to complain before he got cut off with your pussy wrapping around cock.

"can't you be patient?" you smirked down at him.

you started to move your hips against him, feeling his hands wrap around your waist, traveling them down to your ass. he gave your ass a squeeze before giving it a couple soft smacks.

minutes went by and your legs were aching from moving back and forth but it was too good to stop.

danny must've taken your aching into account when he stopped you and did the work for you. he hit every spot that could be hit.

"see me right there? fucking you so good." he said, pressing his hand against the bottom of your stomach.

this added even more pleasure to your experience. you whined, letting him know you were close.

"cum for me baby. made you wait long enough, haven't i?" he breathed through his moans.

"yes oh god- yes!" you cried as you got closer and closer to your blissful release.

before you knew it, you were thrown into a bundle of bliss. you shook against danny's body as you fell into his chest.

his arms instinctively wrapped around you as you tried even your breathing.

danny finally shot his load into you, warming from the inside.

"sorry i made you wait, baby, didn't mean to." he commented, rubbing your back.

" 's okay"

#greta van fleet #gvf #josh kiszka #jake kiszka #greta van fleet smut #jake #sammy #danny #sammy kiszka smut #danny wagner smut #josh #jake kiszka smut #josh kiszka smut #josh gvf #jake gvf #danny gvf #sammy gvf #sammy kiszka #danny wagner

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thespectral-wolf · 1 year

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Junctions

Weeks after the space-time rift closed, Rei runs into Warden Ingo. It soon becomes apparent that despite sharing a similar fate, they don't know how to put themselves in the other's shoes.

Part 2

Finally finished writing a short story to accompany my previous drawing. Enjoy some angst! >:)

---

The first thing Rei noticed when he arrived at the camp was the hunched man in the tattered black coat, having a conversation with the stationed security corps guard. Rei was hoping he wouldn’t run into him, considering he wasn’t planning to enter the Highlands proper. Pressing his lips together, he kept walking. Warden Ingo noticed him soon enough, tipping his worn hat as a greeting.

“Ah, Rei! More survey work in the Highlands, I assume?”

Rei didn't look at the man, “No, just passing by. I'm actually headed to the Icelands.”

Ingo nodded and hummed.

“Are you staying at the camp?”

“Just for a bit. I want to get to the Snowfields camp before sunset,” Rei was really not in the mood to chat so he kept his replies brief.

“Ah,” Ingo adjusted his hat, “in that case, would you mind if I accompanied you for a length of the road? I was just about to head back to my abode.”

Rei frowned. He didn’t want company right now, and the sight of the warden made him… uncomfortable. But at the same time, he didn't want to be rude either. He mentally kicked himself. He really shouldn't get so worked up. After what went down on top of Mt. Coronet just a couple of weeks ago, a little awkward silence in someone else's company was nothing.

“Sure,” he answered.

After taking a little breather and eating his lunch alongside his team, Rei got ready to continue his journey. Warden Ingo packed up what looked like fresh supplies and joined him.

They walked in complete silence, sticking to the road. The only sound around them was the constant howl of the wind and the occasional wild pokémon. After several long minutes, the older man spoke:

“You came all the way here by yourself?”

Rei shrugged, “I don’t need an escort.”

“I see,” Ingo looked unsure. “What about Wyrdeer? Surely it would be easier to travel on his back?”

Rei raised his right hand, showing the thick bandaging covering it.

“I broke my hand pretty badly during the, uh…” he trailed off for a moment. ‘When I was fighting Palkia at the temple’ he would’ve said. He was knocked off balance and got hit by the falling debris. He was lucky, really, that only his hand was hurt and that the damage wasn’t so bad. But he did not want to mention any of that. “…during a battle. It's better now, but it still hurts. Can't really play the flute like this.”

The warden stroked his goatee. “Should I call for Sneasler to help you up the mountain?”

“No I… It’s fine. I’m keeping to the lower ground.”

Warden Ingo nodded, and thankfully didn’t press further.

And so they kept walking on the rocky path without a word. Minutes stretched on as they were getting closer to the point where the path branched off towards the steeper parts of the Highlands, while the other, more beaten way led to the Alabaster Icelands.

“You know,” Ingo suddenly broke the silence, “I have heard from Lady Irida of what happened atop Mt. Coronet. It is a great feat, taking on such powerful Legendaries. You're an exceptional trainer, Rei.”

Rei stopped completely in his tracks, the action taking the man by surprise.

Ingo looked around worried, before turning to him.

“Is something wrong?” he asked cautiously.

“It was no thanks to you,” Rei's voice was barely above a whisper.

“What?”

“Where were you?!” Rei spun around, pointing an accusing finger at Ingo. “You're a trainer yourself, right? Where were you through all that? Why didn't you help?”

The warden flinched, confused by the sudden outburst. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Rei continued his rant.

“I'm not an ‘exceptional trainer’, okay? I’m not a real trainer to begin with! I couldn't even finish the Gym Challenge back at home! I quit after getting the fourth badge! But everyone here expected me to solve the problem just because I know how to battle!” he kicked at the ground, sending several pebbles flying. He pointed at Ingo again, “But you are a true trainer! A tough one! You could’ve helped! Do you even know what I went through?! At the temple- oh god, I was almost murdered! Beni and the Commander- I had to fight them all alone!” Rei’s voice cracked, only noticing now that he was crying.

Ingo finally found his voice, “Listen Rei, I… I won’t deny that what you went through was difficult. But you must understand, I had duties-”

“Duties?” Rei cut in. “The world was practically ending! What would you have even done?”

“I had to attend to Sneasler, making sure she's-” Ingo stammered.

“What? Safe?” Rei almost felt like laughing. “Were it not for me, there wouldn't be any more Sneaslers! There wouldn't be Hisui!” he gestured at Mt. Coronet looming above them. Ingo swallowed as he glanced at the spot where the space-time rift once was. He seemed to be at loss for words once again.

Rei huffed with frustration.

“Even Warden Melli was trying to be more helpful than you were! No, Warden, the thing is, I know who was on my side! And you of all people, weren't one of them!”

“I- I just don't understand why you would have wanted me to be there…”

Was Ingo really blind to all of this? The man was also displaced, surely, he understands… surely, he knows…

Rei felt so desperate.

“I thought you know what it's like! I thought you're the same!”

“The same… what?” confusion was clear on the warden’s face.

“The same as me! An outsider!” Rei screamed, the mountains carrying the echo far, far away.

Ingo tensed at the last word. His frown deepened, and he pulled the brim of his hat down, averting his gaze from the boy.

“I am not…” he murmured.

A pang of guilt washed over Rei. He immediately recognised the look of hurt on the warden’s face. But at the same time… was he not hurting too? He stared at the man, who was still looking away. Neither of them said anything. The seconds stretched, the silence between them was getting unbearable. At last, Rei breathed out and turned his back to Ingo.

“Take care, Warden,” and with that, he left.

#pokemon #pokemon legends arceus #pla #pokemon rei #trainer rei #pokemon ingo #warden ingo #pokemon fanfiction #fanfic #my works

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deannagrey · 4 months

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A Mendell Christmas: Part Two

A/N: I meant to have this up so much sooner! The end of the year was far busier than I expected. And because I had to take care of some personal things, my writing became a low priority. Thankfully, I finally have time to sit down again.

This Christmas project became far longer than I expected (I still have one more part to post). When I finished this part, I hesitated to share it because it didn't feel exciting or interesting. It felt too cheesy. But then I remembered how much I used to write when I was younger. And how much I used to just want to have fun. So, I've decided that's what all my posts on this Tumblr will be: simple fun. The characters might be all over the place, the dialogue might sound weird, and there probably won't be any real plot. But I want a space to have fun again. Writing as a job has been a blessing but it's not my escape anymore. I miss it being my escape.

So, for the year ahead I want to post random writing on this blog! Stories, shorts, and snapshots of characters that may or may not be in my published books. This is my sandbox. My place for quiet moments with the characters I love. I hope you enjoy this quiet moment with Finn and Sam. I had so much fun being back in their heads and spending more time with them.

Happy New Year! I hope 2024 brings you everything you desire. I hope you enjoy these small moments too.

(Also apologies for any inaccuracies! I'm Florida-born & raised, I don't know how frozen lake fishing works and didn't want to do research for such a small piece of writing lol)

Finn

“We’re going on a road trip,” Sam said as he joined me in the kitchen.

“When?” I stirred sugar into Naomi’s morning tea.

“As soon as you get your shoes on,” he said.

I looked up, noting how he was already dressed. “Are we in a hurry?”

“Oh yeah.” Sam glanced at the time on his phone. “Should have left here an hour ago.”

“You’re not going to get everyone else ready on such a tight schedule. You know Henrik’s going to need at least an hour to make food to pack.”

“Well it’s a good thing they’re not invited, isn’t it?”

I raised my brow at Sam’s smile. It’s the first time I’ve seen his smile reach his eyes since Aderyn asked for space and time. There’s a lightness to his energy. An excitement I’ve been trying to draw out of him for weeks. I kept failing over and over until disappointment became an all too familiar feeling.

Being there for Naomi felt like putting on custom-made skates with the blades perfectly sharpened for a smoothed rink surface. When trying to comfort the guys, I was in secondhand skates, trying to stay upright on an uneven, frozen lake.

Maybe today could be different. Sam was already primed for a good time. All I had to do was lean in and try to summon a bit of old Finn energy. Some part of me must remember how to be a good friend to him. If not, I'd learn. I'd already learned how to talk to people again…kind of.

“What’s the destination?” I asked while topping off Naomi’s drink with oat milk.

“A trip down memory lane,” Sam said. “It’s my not-so-secret Santa gift.”

My stomach jumped, curiosity making me more alert. I’d been vehemently against learning about my past earlier this semester. But after finding my own rhythm and becoming more confident in the person I was now, I couldn’t help but harbor a bit of wonder about what I’d left behind. What memories I’d once shared now only belonged to one person.

“That cool with you?” Sam asked just in case. “It’s fine if not. I know you’ve been hesitant but figured—or maybe hoped—you were more comfortable with it now that things seem to be better for you. You're more settled.”

“Umm…” My mind was trying to catch up to everything.

“I got a far more traditional gift option as a plan B,” Sam offered.

“No, I mean, yeah, I’m cool with that. With the memory lane,” I said quickly. My curiosity evolved into nerves. What if I didn’t like it and that fucked up his mood again? I wasn’t good at faking happiness. Hell, I was barely good at expressing happiness even when it was genuine.

“Relax,” Sam said gently. “If you hate it we’ll come right back, no questions asked.”

The muscles in my shoulders loosened a bit.

“Sound good?” he asked.

“Sounds great,” I assured.

Sam

Whenever Finn was keeping something to himself, he became an excessive throat clearer. Even after his accident that hadn’t changed. On the ride out of town, I listened to his symphony of nerves. And let him go on until I decided to throw him a line.

“It’s a good memory,” I promised and smiled over at him. “If that does anything to help your anxiety.”

Finn grunted, pretending to be more interested in whatever he was doing on his phone.

“A memory that'll make you feel all fuzzy and warm,” I teased. "Like the teddy bear, you truly are thanks to Naomi."

He rolled his eyes. “That so?”

“Yup.” I put on my turning signal, pulling off of the busy highway.

Finn and I used to be inseparable when we were in middle school. As we got older we were far less codependent but still close. Close enough for it to sting like hell when I realized he wasn’t going to remember most of what we’d been through.

Sometimes, when I looked at Finn, I saw the guy who used to sneak me an extra Jello in the lunch room because he knew how rough the first half of my day was. Sometimes I saw the hothead who’d threaten anyone who hurt me even though most of the time he was far outnumbered. Sometimes I saw the guy who told me I’d be the best choice for captain despite my then doubts. Those parts of him were still there and alive. So even if the parts of him we shared were forever gone, I found comfort in those memories.

“It’s not my goal to try and spark something,” I said gently. “Today is just for fun. We really loved this place. I still do and I figured you should see it and maybe…I don’t know, you might find some joy here too. What was that thing you told me about muscle memory?”

“I can always count on it.”

“Exactly. I wanted you to feel that this year. Remember you can have something to count on and a place to go if you need.”

It was quiet for a minute as I made our final turn. Finn cleared his throat once more before saying, “Thanks…for letting me know you’re not trying to trigger a memory. I like the idea of just being here…with you.”

“Look at us, a couple of assholes with hearts. What have Naomi and Aderyn done to us…?” My mood shifted slightly at my mention of Aderyn. I chewed on my bottom lip, hoping Finn didn’t sense my brief dip in energy. Unfortunately, he’s getting better at reading between the lines.

“I don’t know how to get you to talk about it,” Finn confessed. “I’m sure there was a method I used before.”

“It’s fine,” I said quickly. “I usually mope around until one of you guys gets pissed enough to drag it out of me. You weren’t the only one to try and help.”

“I know but…I was your person, right? Your main person.”

My main person. That’d shifted over the years. I bounced between all the guys. And now, Aderyn was in that mix. She could have probably been at the center of it if things hadn’t gotten so twisted.

“You still are.” I pulled into a parking spot that faced the river.

“I just have to figure out how to make you talk,” he said.

“Don't stress about it too much. I'm good. Or, will be good eventually."

Finn followed my lead out of the car. He watched as I unloaded a gym bag and a couple of folding chairs from the trunk. He was quiet until he saw me check the bag for my ice pick.

“We’re not secretly murderers, are we?” he asked when he saw my stash.

I snorted. I'm sure he was joking but Finn’s deadpan delivery often left me with some uncertainty.

“Nope. Just two fishermen are about to waste their time while the sun comes up.”

Finn frowned when I tossed him the extra bag of supplies. “We’re going out there?”

His finger pointed toward the frozen lake. Snowfall had been sparse this morning. The lake would be picturesque once the sun leaked over the horizon. We were already getting a sneak peek of what the morning would have to offer, so I decided to hurry Finn up.

“Correct me if I’m wrong but we don’t feel like people who fish,” Finn called after me.

I laughed as I continued our trek forward. The snow crunched underneath my boots. “We weren’t until we met Mr. Meyers."

Finn paused for a second. "Mr. Meyers?"

I froze too, my stomach jumping with excitement. "You remember?"

"Not at all."

It was hard to mask my slight disappointment. Sometimes – when I least expected – it hurts to hold memories on my own.

"Meyers was an old guy who spent all his free time over there during the summer." I pointed to the boardwalk about a half mile away. "And around here in the winter."

I gestured to the middle of the lake. At our backs was the parking lot and to our front a dark, thick tree line that was covered in frost. It smelled like sixth grade out here, all pine needles and frozen earth.

"We met him out here when we decided we would become Boy Scouts." I unfolded the chairs and pulled out our Thermos. Henrik had enough time to force me into packing something warm to drink. I was grateful for his persistence now that the cold wind was biting at our skin. Finn let out an agreeing sigh when I offered him the Thermos.

"We were Boy Scouts?" Finn asked.

"No, not officially." I chuckled at his look of confusion. "We wanted to be but your folks couldn't afford the annual membership at the time and wouldn't accept the money from my dad."

He nodded. "I suppose I wouldn't have either. At least not now…it doesn't feel right."

"You're stubborn. Always have been, always will be," I agreed. "But I would have convinced you to take it if your parents didn't have the final say. But, anyway, we decided we'd be Boy Scouts on our own. And that meant earning badges on our own. Of course, our first attempt couldn't be something simple like learning to tie a knot. No, we wanted to fish in the dead of winter. Like someone in a post-apocalyptic Arctic landscape, as you put it – you were really into post-apocalyptic books back then."

"Was I?" Finn nodded and undoubtedly tucked that information away for later like he always did with tidbits I shared.

"Hardcore. So you had me out here hammering away at the ice with a screwdriver." I laughed at the memory of us on our hands and knees, trying to chip away the ice with runny noses and burning ears. "Mr. Meyers saw and got on us until he was blue in the face. When we finally got a word in, we let him know that we weren't trying to crack through the lake and drown. But we were trying to be resourceful members of society. He folded then and decided as a former boy scout himself, it was his job to teach us everything he knew."

Finn smiled and I motioned for him to come closer. I talked him through how Mr. Meyers showed us the way to create a clean circle in the ice. I explained how we were supposed to pick a spot where the ice was thickest and the cracks were little to non-existent.

"He made us badges," I said when we settled into our seats. "Whenever we learned something new and proved ourselves to him, he'd have these incredibly unique badges that'd he designed from scratch. The guys at school got so jealous that some of them quit the Boy Scouts and wanted to be taught under Meyers."

"Did they?"

I shook my head and pulled out our fishing rods. "Meyers wouldn't teach anyone but me and you. Said he only had enough time and energy for two pupils. And he only had enough extra cash for two sets of badges. For a moment, we were the cool kids…until people decided Boy Scouts were dorky and gaming was everything."

"Sounds like we had a lot of fun." Finn smiled. Maybe he was playing the spoken memory over in his head, trying to fill in details to construct something he'd be able to recall. Or maybe he was simply smiling because I hadn't stopped. I felt good today. Better than I had in a while and that's because I enjoyed being outside. I enjoyed the open sky, the chilled air, and being able to sit across from Finn. I loved my friends but these quiet moments with Finn were few and far between. After almost losing him, I cherished this.

"I'm sorry," I said, my smile fading when I realized what I'd done.

"Huh?" Finn frowned.

"I…I brought you here as a gift but just realized–" I sighed and ran my hand over my head. "This was more of a gift for me than you. I was being selfish bringing you here. I thought it'd be nice to get away and be like we used to but this doesn't mean much to you."

"Sam, this is good. This is fun," Finn said firmly. "I'm having fun."

The tightness in my chest loosened. "Really?"

"I'm not a good liar just yet," he reminded me with a smile.

"True." I laughed in agreement and leaned over to bait my hook. Finn did the same, listening to my instructions on how to do it. He watched me toss the line in before mimicking my motion.

"I have something else for you," I announced once our hooks had sunk. "You didn't get to earn your last badges because, like the other guys at school, you thought Boy Scouts were dorky."

"Really?" Finn's forehead furrowed as if he was disappointed in himself.

"Yeah, but I kept coming to hang out with Meyers," I said. "Got a couple more badges until he got sick."

"Is he…" Finn paused, not sure how to finish.

"He's fine," I quickly confirmed. "Lives in Florida now with his granddaughter."

Finn nodded, relieved for a man he didn't remember but would forever be tied to through me.

"I got him to send over the badges you didn't get to earn." I dug through my bag and pulled them out. I'd wrapped each one in green and red striped paper. They were misshaped and poorly taped up presents but Finn accepted them like they were precious pieces of gold.

"You can't open them yet," I reminded him. Lincoln wanted all of us to open them together. Since a fishing trip couldn't be wrapped, I figured it was best to do it before Christmas. But, the tangible gifts were to be kept for later.

"But you when do–" I shrugged and laughed, feeling silly all of a sudden. "--we could finish earning them together. Like, gradually, throughout the year when we have time. I already have mine so I could make sure to teach you how to do it. Teach you in a way I'm sure Meyers will be proud–at least, I hope. You could finally fill up your sash–even though it's probably collecting dust in your family's basement and you don't care like that. But lately, you've been really into renovating the house and you look like you used to when we were kids."

"That's why I like doing it," Finn said as he took a deep breath. "I think the muscle memory part of me liked figuring out the practical."

I smiled. "I think so too. It's a part of you."

"This was perfect, Sam. I…thank you." Finn looked back down at his badges, which now felt like pieces of himself he didn't know were missing. "I can't wait to earn these with you."

"Not too dorky anymore, is it?" I teased.

He shook his head. "Not in the slightest."

We were quiet for a moment, enjoying the sun's heat as it crawled up in the sky and the warm tea that I'd accidentally put too much sugar in. The fish never bit. Finn never remembered Meyers on his own. But none of that mattered. We were happy. We were once again on track to earn badges. Once again trying to figure shit out together.

#mendellhawksseries

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sleekervae · 5 months

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Yoü & I [2.6]

Masterlist

A/N: The finals season is wrapping up and I'm almost finished all my projects, but I still got lots of content I'll be banging out over the holiday break. Thanks as always for sticking around!

Warnings: none

Charlotte could draw many parallels between Toronto and New York: tall-ass skyscrapers, streets shrouded with people all with more important places to be, homeless who begged for money on every block and a niche of street food and culture to indulge in.

After the two hour flight into Canada, the bands took the day to decompress before their show the next day. The hotel they were staying at was beautiful, and a perk to staying in a gorgeous hotel in the dead of summer was the rooftop pool -- which Maria practically begged the girls to come with her for a 'pool day'.

A pool day sounded like just the thing Charlotte was due for. Her hands were cramped from clutching pens and her fingers were blistered from working on the guitar so much -- a break was overdo.

She stood in the illustriously well-lit bathroom, admiring her slim physique in the little black bikini she'd slipped on. It was a newer piece that Maria had picked out for her on a recent shopping trip, and while Charlotte wasn't so keen on how little it covered at first, the more she looked at it on her the more she liked it.

Tying her hair into a half-assed bun, Charlotte exited the bathroom to find Chloe still lying on the bed, texting and smiling like a mad man. She didn't pay much attention to her bandmate, but Charlotte didn't mind. She watched the galaxy-haired drummer with a coy smile as she slipped on a yellow sundress.

The last time Chloe looked this giddy was just before the band had taken off -- about three years ago, now. She hadn't had much luck in the way of romance since her career had skyrocketed, much like the other girls, she was always busy traveling, tracking, writing. And when she did meet a potential interest, it didn't forego more than a week when Chloe would either loose interest or she would be ghosted for no apparent reason.

"Who ya' talking to, Smiley?" Charlotte asked.

"Jeff the Killer," Chloe replied.

Charlotte nodded, "Well, maybe you can take two minutes away from Eva and go get your swim suit on? Before we get assaulted with Amber alerts?"

At the mention, Chloe set down her phone and glanced at the singer, "Do you think it's too early to be sending bathing suit pics?" she asked.

Charlotte simpered, "Um -- it's been about a week, so I'd say so. Does she follow your insta?"

"Yeah,"

"Then just post it there,"

Chloe smiled, "Ah ha! The subtle thirst trap! You're a genius!"

I'm not so sure 'subtle' is affiliated with any social media, Charlotte thought to herself.

"Thank you," she replied.

Chloe changed into her own electric red one-piece and shorts, and the girls quickly went to meet their friends at the pool. They caught a glimpse of the elevator just as it was beginning to close, growing cause for the girls to sprint.

"Hold the door!" Chloe called.

A hand extended out of the gap and held the doors open for the girls to rush in. And lo and behold, Luke and Michael were in the elevator as well.

"Hey, fancy meeting you guys here," Luke grinned.

"Funny how we just keep running into each other," Charlotte smirked, "As it by fate,"

Chloe meanwhile glared down at Michael's swim trunks, "Nice shorts, Mikey,"

Michael glanced down at his blue swimmers, printed with little silhouettes of fish and turtles -- sure, at first glance they may have been more suited for a child rather than a twenty-year-old man. But Michael liked them, so what?

He, as well as Luke and Charlotte, waited anxiously for another snarky remark from Chloe, but she just looked straight ahead. She said nothing.

"And?" he asked.

"And what?" Chloe turned to him.

"No follow up?"

Chloe smiled, "Oh, I have a follow up. I'm just in a good mood right now,"

"Oh,"

"... If I wasn't in a good mood, I'd ask why you were skimming through the children's section at Walmart for swim trunks," Chloe went on.

Luke snapped his fingers, "There it is,"

The pool wasn't the only highlight of the hotel's rooftop. Aside from umbrella seats, a canopy bar and a hot tub, the kids had a stunning view of downtown Toronto. Not as infinite as Tokyo and not as imperialistic as Vienna, the skyline of glass buildings reflected off of one another, creating a beautiful ripple of blues and teals that crashed against the cloudless sky above.

Maria and Kimberly were already laid out on deck chairs, soaked in sunscreen, rays and bikini clad. Across from them were Ashton and Calum, partaking in a game of ping pong. There were no other guests on the deck, meaning they had the pool to themselves for a while.

Kimberly pried her eyes open when she felt a shadow fall over her, scrunching her eyes and blocking the sun with her hand to find Charlotte and Chloe standing over her. The material of her own navy blue two-piece glinted in the rays.

"Yes?" she raised an eyebrow at them, prompting Maria to look over.

"You guys are no fun," Chloe chided.

"No fun? We were waiting for you," Maria said, her voice a little gravelly.

"Our bad, but somebody just couldn't stop texting another particular somebody," Charlotte winked at the girls. Kimberly awed up at Chloe.

"Aw, how's Eva?" she asked.

"Wishing she was here instead of Syracuse, I imagine," Chloe replied, taking the deck chair next to her. Charlotte took the one on the other side of Maria, both of them stripping back down to their bikinis.

"You guys have been talking for how long, now?" Maria asked.

"Just under a week," Chloe replied.

"And it's constant," Charlotte remarked, "I think we have reasons to be optimistic,"

"We can start getting optimistic after the three week mark. If you don't scare her away, I'll be so proud of you," Kimberly told her.

Chloe simpered back, "Your confidence in me is astounding,"

At the other end of the pool, Luke was just pulling off his t-shirt and unpacking his backpack. He had his iPhone with an audiobook he thought he would try out. He could hear his mom's voice in his head, reminding him to be sure he put on lots of sunscreen. It was ironic how he came from one of the hottest continents in the world, and yet he was as pasty as a soy bean.

When he turned back around, reaching as best he could to slather sunscreen on his back, his line of sight fell on Charlotte. Her yellow sundress had disappeared and she was clad in a black triangle bikini, contrasting against her natural olive skin that seemed to glow under the sun. Her shapely legs crossed one in front of the other as she hunched over to shake out her hair. He had to swallow the lump in his throat when she suddenly swung around in his direction, not realizing that he'd been caught staring when his eyes locked with hers. If he had a clear view of Charlotte than she had a clear view of him.

He smiled sheepishly and waved, a tint of blush covering his face. Charlotte shook her head at him with a little smirk and put up her middle finger. Though she wasn't exactly innocent in the staring department either, and how could she not be?

"Eyes to yourself!" Chloe suddenly shouted, having caught Luke staring, too. Her outburst drew the attention of everyone else.

Ashton giggled to himself, therefore missing Calum's backhand. The ping pong ball whizzed right by his face.

"I win!" Calum declared.

"You do not!" Ashton countered, "That went out of bounds,"

"We didn't set an out of bounds!" Calum argued.

Ashton pointed to one of the potted plants behind him, "Yes we did. We agreed if it landed after the tree on my side, or the towel rack on your side, then it's out. Besides, Chloe distracted me,"

"Oh, boo hoo," Calum chided back, "Sore loser,"

With the others distracted, Michael took the opportunity to take a running start and do a cannon ball into the pool -- effectively splashing everybody within a metre of him. Maria and Kimberly were violently ripped from their sun bath with icy cold water droplets, while Chloe hid behind her deck chair and Charlotte covered her head.

"Michael!" Kimberly scolded, sitting up in a huff. The guitarist remerged from the water, rubbing chlorine from his eyes and shaking out his drenched hair.

"The water's fine, guys! Come on in!" he replied.

Luke shook his head at his hyperactive friend, mouthing a 'sorry' at Charlotte before jumping in himself. Charlotte made good to stand back this time -- the other girls weren't so lucky.

"Oh, come on guys!" Maria whined, wiping cold water off her legs, "A little warning would suffice!"

Charlotte couldn't help but laugh at her friends. Sure, they were trying to have a relaxing afternoon in the sun, but hey, a pool was a pool. And since no one else was around...

Kimberly saw it coming this time, and she moved off the deck chair just in time as Charlotte jumped in after the boys. Maria grimaced when more water splattered across her face.

"Where's my --" Chloe then cannon-balled in, sending water everywhere once again, "... towel?"

There was an assortment of balls and blow up floats for the bands to fool around with -- though given the colours of the toys they were very well meant for little kids. Never the less, a game of volleyball ensued in the pool, with Charlotte and Chloe on one team and Luke and Michael on the other. Calum and Ashton's ping pong game was still in full swing, considering that Ashton demanded a rematch. Kimberly kept the score this time around and they set the boundary lines.

Luke pitched the rubber ball to Chloe, who bunted it over to Charlotte, who spiked it back at Michael. However, Michael miscalculated where the ball would land and ended up getting knocked in the face. He fell back into the water.

"Oh, shit!" but he emerged quickly, rubbing at his nose and eyes. All attention around the pool was directed at the sudden injury.

"You okay, mate?" Luke swam over to him.

"Mike, I'm so sorry!" Charlotte exclaimed, thinking the worst she'd done was bruise his eye or cheek. And God knows they'd have fun explaining a heinous mark to their managers.

Michael pushed the water off his face with his hands and pushed back his sopping hair, looking dazed as he glanced around the pool, "Where am I?" he then glanced at Luke, "My God, are you gorgeous," he then broke out into a smile. Luke rolled his eyes.

"He's fine," he assured the girls, grabbing the ball and handing it to him, "Your serve,"

Meanwhile, the ping pong game was getting heated. Kimberly's head was practically moving in sync with the little white ball as it bounced between Ashton and Calum. Ashton was determined to knocked the ball past Calum but he was a swift opponent. At the next pass, Calum batted the ball just a little too hard however.

The little white ball whizzed past Ashton's head this time, only instead of hitting the ground it flew over the deck and over the railing... over downtown. The boys were stunned, Kimberly was at a loss for how to call the game.

"So... who wins?"

They both stared down a stunned Kimberly, who only shrugged as she racked her logic, "Okay... the ball is technically... definitely out. Ashton wins by default," she decided.

"Yes!" Ashton rejoiced, throwing his hands up.

Calum just shook his head and threw his paddle down, going instead for the neon green floatie, "It's too hot for ping pong anyway," he slipped the floatie around his waist and took off in a little run.

"Go Calum!" Michael chanted. Calum reached the edge of the pool, but instead of a grandiose jump he simply chose to hop in. He didn't even get his head past the water thanks to the floatie. The boys broke into fits of giggles.

Maria just shook her head, "What? You afraid to get your hair wet?" she called.

Calum smirked at her, "Are you, Little Miss Sunshine?"

Maria rolled her eyes, opting to stand up and proudly show off her purple bikini set. Calum subconsciously licked his lips, which didn't go unnoticed by Luke. Maria stood at the deep end of the pool, did a little bow, and dived in gracefully. She emerged a few seconds later, shaking out her raven black hair.

"Beat that, Marty Mc-Floatie!" she smirked at Calum.

Ashton did some flexes and bending before he took his running start, ready to make another big splash. However, he didn't count on Michael. hucking the rubber ball at him as he jumped in. The ball nailed him square in the chest and instead of a pencil dive he just flailed in.

"Michael!" the girls scolded. Ashton made a quick recovery, glaring over at his bandmate.

"Fuck you!" he pretended to cry, clinging to Luke in pity. Luke held him tightly.

"It's okay, honey, he didn't mean it,"

Kimberly pushed some of her dreadlocks over her shoulder, nervous to get them wet. It wasn't so much getting them wet that was the problem, but the drying process could be pretty tedious depending on the day.

"Come on, Kim!" Chloe urged.

"Do you know how much of a bitch it is to do my hair when it gets wet?" she replied.

In his peripherals Luke spotted another large floatie: a raft, to be specific. He had a brilliant idea, then. He swam to the other edge of the pool and retrieved it, pushing it towards Kimberly.

"Here!" he called, "Use this!"

Kimberly smiled at him, "Thanks Luke," she quickly tied back her dreads and sat on the edge. Luke and Calum held the inflatable raft steady so she could wiggle on top, laying on her stomach and paddling over to meet her friends. Her hair was safe.

Much of the afternoon was spent splashing about. They played a couple round of volleyball and then tried to play a game of Marco Polo. Emphasis on tried to. Poor Calum was picked to 'Marco', but the others devised to slip out of the water quietly all while shouting 'Polo'.

"Marco!" he called tirelessly, his eyes squeezed shut as he hopped from spot to spot.

"Polo!" Chloe called back, helping Kimberly off of the raft.

"Marco!" Calum called again.

"Polo!" Ashton quietly sat back on a deck chair and threw his hands behind his head. Calum's patience was wearing thin. He should've at least tapped someone out by now. Calum waded through the pool for a good five minutes before he realized everyone was cheating.

"You wankers," he muttered, understandably miffed when his friends started laughing.

At some point, Charlotte took to clambering back to the edge of the deck for a dry spell. She sat on the ledge and let her feet dangle in the water. Just as soon as she slathered on some more sunscreen, Luke had come to sit beside her. He had with him a cold bottle of water that he offered to her.

"Thanks," she smiled at him, "You want some SPF 50?"

"I'll pass," he shook his head politely. Charlotte raised an eyebrow at him, having heard those words many a times before Luke would be complaining of sunburn hours later.

"Famous last words," she teased. Luke stuck out his tongue.

Chloe and Ashton were still in the pool, facing off against Maria and Calum in a fierce game of chicken. Kimberly just watched from her raft, sipping a bottle of orange juice while Michael played referee.

Luke kept his glance on Charlotte, she couldn't help but shiver as water droplets slid down her spine. She was a sight to behold under the sun, her golden skin ablaze against the sharp black fabric of her bikini, and she had some makeup that stained beneath her eyes but Luke didn't point it out. She looked really cool, actually.

"How're you doing?" he asked, not having much of a chance to talk to since they took off again. Really talk, the way they used to.

"I'm wet," Charlotte replied, unable to keep the smug smile off her face. Luke rolled his eyes.

"No shit," he grinned, "I mean really, though. What's going on with you?"

Charlotte shrugged, "Nothing. I'm stuck on the road with a bunch of crackheads for three whole months. Other than that... I guess I'm just -- existing,"

"Existing?"

"Yeah. I'm here, but lately I feel that I haven't been here," she pointed to her head.

Luke's smile fell a little, "Has Ben been bothering you again?"

"No," she shook her head, "No, I think he finally got the hint,"

Luke sighed and looked down at his hands, his face tinting red but not from the sun, "You know..." he spoke after a small moment of silence. Charlotte glanced at him and sipped from her water. He laughed nervously, "You're gonna think I'm a cheese puff or something but -- I'm really fucking grateful for you, Char,"

Charlotte broke into a flattered smile, "I'm really grateful for you, too,"

"But seriously," Luke said, "I feel like I don't thank you enough for everything you do for me. No one else would do the things you do for me, no one else tries me happy like you do and you have no idea how much you mean to me. And I know I dicked around on ya a couple weeks ago --"

"-- Water under the bridge," Charlotte said, her heart burning in her chest. She had no idea where this was coming from.

"But the fact is I don't know what I did to deserve you and I need you to know how fucking grateful I am for you... even when I don't deserve to have you in my life. And if you feel like you can't talk to me about shit 'cause I'll judge you, I won't. I'll always take care of you. You're my best friend and I don't know what I'd do without you,"

Charlotte bit the inside of her lip, willing away the stinging sensation in the back of her eyes, "Jesus Christ," she wrapped her arms around him. She never expected him to say anything like that to her, especially because it was the exact way she felt about him.

"Am I corny?" he chuckled, hugging her tightly. None of them cared that they were just skin-to-skin in midday. She smelled so sweetly of grapefruit intermingled with bitter chlorine.

"No, you're perfect," Charlotte laughed, "If anything, I'm the one that's grateful for you. No one puts up with my stupidity and shit like you do. I don't know how you do it, honestly,"

Luke snickered and shook his head, pushing some of her wet hair behind her ear, "You're not stupid. You're far from it, Shorty,"

Charlotte smiled and punched his arm, "If the others heard us they'd take the piss out of us so hard right now,"

Luke rolled his eyes, "Like I told you before, they're just jealous of us, "

"Always gotta' be a fucking optimist, don't ya?" Charlotte huffed.

"Always gotta throw in a fucking curse, don't ya?" Luke shrugged.

Charlotte glared back, and before Luke knew it he had been shoved into the pool. When he resurfaced Charlotte was in a fit of giggles while he sputtered and coughed up chlorine.

"And here we were having a moment!"

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