#i want to be clear that the conversations about biology and weird adventures are part of the attraction | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

edasnest · 3 years

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Fair enough my friend. In any case it probably won't be canon, (to me) because its too good to be true. Though at least its clear the Good Witch Azura is no mere book series and has a role to play. Anyway, allow me one headcanon ask!: How would Camila react to Willow and Amity and specially to know they are in a relationship with her Luz? And how would Amity and Willow feel about meeting Camila for the first time?

(This took me forever and I’m so sorry)

This one’s a lot lmao

Camila:

I think after Luz introduces them as her girlfriends Camila had to have a Conversation with Luz after the girls have gone home for the night. Like, she watches them interact in the time that she meets them but her Mom Alarms are ringing in her head. Two girlfriends???? 🤔 they all seem to get along fairly well (which is actually almost a little jarring to Camila; she’s used to kids Luz’s age thinking her “too weird” to hang out with unless they had no other choice) and she sees these girls....actually look at Luz without judgement. In fact, they look at her with adoration, even when Luz starts acting “weird” in the way that would make other kids uncomfortable. These girls laugh at Luz’s antics, but in a kind way, a way that says they love the way she is.

Camila, as a nurse, didn’t exactly have “the Talk” with Luz so much as she just answered Luz’s questions as she grew up. When Luz was about four or five and asked where babies came from, Camila left out some details, but explained the scientific process to her on their drive home from kindergarten. Luz yelled about how yucky it was because “boys have cooties!!!” And didn’t bring it up again until she was maybe 10 and got her first period. It was then Camila went into more depth about the whole “baby making” process and the concept of intercourse in a strictly medical sense that made Luz super uncomfortable and hate everything about human biology. She wished so desperately to live in the world of her Azura books where Azura never got a period, she was too busy adventuring and saving the day.

So when Luz goes missing and then comes back with not just one, but two girlfriends?? That’s another layer of The Talk that Camila hasn’t gotten to yet. So after the girls go home, Camila sits Luz down at the kitchen table and starts asking her questions about Amity and Willow, just trying to get to know them from Luz’s perspective a little more and get a gauge on how their relationship started. Camila is relieved beyond all else that Luz goes on one of her patented Exciteable Babbling Sessions; absolutely cooing over how adorable her girlfriends are, how smart and brave and talented they are, how they were the first real friends (besides Gus) that she made on the Boiling Isles, the adventures they’ve gone through together, the wacky antics they got caught up in, etc.

Camila’s genuinely happy for Luz at this point, but she still has Mom Responsibilities. So she asks Luz if they done anything more...intimate. And Luz flushes bright red before vehemently denying the accusation and hiding in her hoodie out of embarrassment. Which is exactly the reaction Camila was hoping for, so she finally relaxes and laughs and coaxes Luz out of her hoodie to give her a hug, letting her know that as long those girls make Luz happy, Camila will be happy for her. AND as long as they make smart decisions and don’t do anything crossing that line until they’re older to which Luz just groans and buries her face in her mom’s shoulder, begging her to stop.

After all the introductions and reassurances are out of the way though, Camila finds that she loves Luz’s girlfriends. Luz was absolutely right; they’re both smart and talented and extremely bright young ladies that are both eager and exciteable like Luz, but have a grounding element in each of them that helps tether Luz and brings her back to earth when she starts getting carried away. Camila is amused at how curious they are about human devices too; Amity is especially taken with Camila’s meal prep without the use of any magic at all. Willow is in awe of the computer mostly; she’s certain it works similarly to a crystal ball, but she can’t figure out how it’s supposed to work without magic.

Willow and Amity:

Willow and Amity are scared shitless the first time they meet Camila.

Luz being able to go home to her mom has been a primary goal of hers ever since the portal was first destroyed. Ever since then, there have been countless times Luz has sought comfort from her friends and eventually her girlfriends. So when they were able to access a new portal, they were so scared about what that meant for the three of them. Luz insisted that she go back to the Human Realm; not forever, she’d never just abandon the life she made on the Boiling Isles, not unless she didn’t have a choice. But she needed to go back to her mother and see what she could do to convince her to let her come back to them. She promised it wasn’t a goodbye, it wasn’t a breakup, and it wasn’t the last time she’d see them. So Willow and Amity held Luz and cried and eventually let her go and they slept over at the Owl House that night (with Gus too, he was part of that See Ya Later party and made sure the girls stayed hydrated what with all their crying).

When Luz returned a few weeks later, in her school uniform and scaring her girlfriends half to death by sneaking up on them, they tackled her to the ground, hugging and crying and laughing in relief. She explained the deal she had with her mom and that she wanted to bring them all to the Human Realm to meet her (Camila had actually already been to the Demon Realm in this time; Luz gave her a grand tour of everything she knew about while also keeping their heads low so as to not draw attention. It’s in this time that Camila came to understand what the boiling isles meant to Luz, reaching an understanding with Eda, and telling Luz she needed to finish Human School too, but she could do so online. So now that Camila knows about and has accepted Luz’s life in the Boiling Isles, Luz wants her to meet all the amazing people she’s met).

So the following weekend, they planned a trip over to the Human Realm (Willow, Gus and Amity with Eda as the chaperone) where they all finally got to meet Camila for the first time.

To everyone’s relief, Luz opens the door first to welcome them inside. She leads them to the couch to sit down and her mom enters with a (probably overeager; she’s very nervous) hello and a tray with several glasses and a pitcher of batida de lechosa. She sets down the tray on the coffee table and introduces herself to the kids one by one and Amity has to summon her inner Blight Poise to make her voice not shake. Willow has to pretend this isn’t her girlfriend’s mom she’s introducing herself to. (Camila is secretly just as nervous as they are; she wants to make a good first impression on Luz’s friends.)

Once they start talking though, everyone manages to relax. The kids are all extremely enthusiastic about the batida de lechosa (and tell Camila as much) and Gus can barely contain his excitement and at some point just starts shooting rapidfire questions about human life.

Overall their visit goes well, although Willow and Amity are on edge the entire time, doing their best to be polite and gracious and answer Mrs. Noceda’s questions. They really want to make a good impression on Mrs. Noceda, but Luz’s constant flattery and talking up their accomplishments (*cough*bragging*cough*) leaves them both flustered and blushing.

When they return to the Demon Realm after that visit, they’re both lamenting about how nervous they were, how they must’ve fucked up since Mrs. Noceda seemed so reserved and on guard during their visit. Eda has to remind them that the existence of the Demon Realm is still p new to Camila which does ease some of their fears, but certainly not all of them.

Luz texts them later about the MORTIFYING conversation she’d just had with her mom about “intimacy” and “waiting til we’re older” and “consent is no laughing matter, Luz” and as embarrassed as Willow and Amity are at the implications, they’re both relieved that that is what made Mrs. Noceda act so stiff during their visit. Nothing to do with them being Witches or from another world, just a mom protecting her baby.

From that point on tho, they totally hit it off with Camila; Camila loves sharing Luz’s most embarrassing baby pictures (which Luz complains about but takes it in stride). The girls love discussing more of the nuanced aspects of Human Culture and are extremely interested in Camila’s job as a Healer Nurse. Camila loves watching the girls perform magic like it’s second nature to them and absolutely delights in the flowers Willow grows in pots that she never had the time or energy to take care of herself.

#180 degree head tilt (ask tag)#wam-hope #the owl house #Camila Noceda #luz noceda #amity blight #willow park #willumity #willumity au #thank you for your patience lmao it’s been like a month and a half since you sent this

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drtenebrisxii · 3 years

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Lost Traveler - Chapter 8 - Prudence

(more chapters here: deviantart.com/arcadian123/art/Lost-Traveler-8-Story-Prudence-863333735 )

The meditation chambers were empty rooms that were completely white. they were also possessed by an empathetic spirit. This meant that the room would take different forms, show different images and provide different sounds and other items to help the one inside to focus and meditate. For Flare, it became an exact replica of her bedroom at her palace, with a sunset visible through her window and the sound of the mutterings of the many conversations that took place in there… nostalgia immediately hit her and she cried silently for a few minutes before she could regain control of her feelings and could start to meditate.

She alway knew that being a heroine would not be easy, but she expected that she’d always knew what the right course of action was: Go and beat the bad guys as quickly as possible, the longer one takes, the more damage they can make. Now she has like 4 guys telling her that that’s not the right thing to do, two are powerful wizards, the other two are scientific “geniuses”. And all of them say the same thing: let’s get the help of bigger and slower authorities to minimize chances of failure. Prudence. Her Mother wouldn’t like that very much, but then again, she was the highest authority of the Sky Kingdom, so she could do whatever she wanted. Her Father would have told her… probably, something similar to what those 4 said. Her father was the one that requested her to forget her dreams and do her duties as a princess since sacrificing her dreams of adventuring for the betterment of the kingdom would be the really heroic thing to do and was the most prudent course of action.

-Why is Prudence needed in this situation, though?- she wondered out loud- All I need to do is go there and destroy the evil clone… undoing all the stuff she’d done in my place. Is not that hard!-. Why were they all doing this? Why were they trying so hard to stop her from solving things directly? Were they so confident in her failure without their help? That annoyed her. How dare them. And especially Nyepu! He had seen first hand what she could do! yeah, he had to help her a little but she could slaughter an army of savage Daemons all by herself! How is he not confident that she could just defeat a damn copy of herself?!

She huffed in annoyance at her thoughts, that damn Celio making her promise stupid things. She shouldn’t have allowed that guy to intimidate her… well, ok, she is not disrespecting a venerable Necromancer, he is the kind of guy that can just go and put her soul out of her body if he so wishes… which means that he can help her solve things quickly!

-He talked about a shadow coming, though… well, maybe we could just beat that shadow to it instead of waiting...- She sighed in frustration. She already gave them her word. -I’ll wait… I just… need to focus and then put things in perspective to those four idiots… I don’t know why they all think I’ll fail, I don’t know why they are being so careful about this, but they need to know that we all do things differently- she sighed again, trying to relax and control her feelings. Her thoughts had led her to the truth: the guys didn’t trust in her skills, they were being very prudent with her for this, obviously… wait, that meant that her fathers were like that with her mother because they didn’t trust her skills?! No… that couldn’t be, The Queen would never allow anyone question her capabilities, not even her lovers, but, on the other side, they were her helpers, so of course she had to hear them out. Still, she was the Queen, so she could ignore their advice and suggestions to go on with her own choices… yeah, no one questions the Queen, she, in her great majesty and wisdom, can hear others out but would always be the one taking the choices... -I’ll put those four in their place- she would do that after getting a better hold of her emotions, indignation and frustration were still high in her being.

Nyepu was not a happy dragon.

Just as Giorgio had anticipated, the Admin was very annoyed with this whole ordeal. The equipment Nyepu required for the tests was expensive, therefore, there were not many devices available and bringing them to the Temple of the Holy Darkness meant that a lot of projects would be delayed. The Dragon researcher had to weather a lot of angry looks and annoyed glares, he also had to give many an explanation and apology. And of course, traverse the damn dessert. Again. Twice.

-Meow… you guys really needed a lot of stuff…- would comment Amcel as the researchers and some extra helpers they brought with them put all the stuff together. Amcel and a few of his students would look from a distance, almost as if...

-Just so you know, scientific equipment rarely explodes… and we are all professionals here, don’t worry about anything- comments the dragon as he was testing one of his biological devices. They had taken a fraction of the Temple’s Hall to install their equipment.

-I can’t believe we are doing this here… this is stupid- comments Giorgio, while checking the computer they just finished installing- we could have started with the tests sooner but nooooo, we had to worry about some random shadow…- many of the students shudered or flinched at the mention of the shadow.

-Look on the bright side, with so many wizards, at least one should be able to help us quicken things…- comments the dragon.

-if you need to accelerate a process, we can do it, but you’d need to give us precise indications- comments the felyxin Adeptus, sounding very civil. - Master Celio wants us to collaborate for the wellbeing of Lady Flare, the sooner we help her the least time for her to develop crazy ideas- Nyepu would sigh at that as he went to help with the installation of another device that looked like a shower.

-I doubt so, she is a heroine and a good girl… Celio made her promise something and she will keep her word- comments him. Giorgio would approach to the same device and help as well with some connections.

-Wow… now I’m feeling jellous… since when do you have such a high image of her?- asks him with a blush and an annoyed look. Nyepu and Amcel chuckled and Giorgio pouts.

-I do have you in high regards as well, Giorgio, you are just annoying- says the dragon with a grin before focusing on making some other connections in the device.

-I-idiot…- says Giorgio, crossing his arms and blushing more.

-I agree with Nyepu, you don’t need to know her for long to know she is someone with strong values- says Ancelm as his students begin to leave to do their own things.-Why are you helping her, though? Still under the influence of the blood magic?- the feline grins and Giorgio gives the Adeptus a look before looking at Nyepu. The dragon was still working, close to finish with his part of the work and finally start the tests when he says:

-This is Giorgio’s fault- said him simply.

-NO IT IS NOT!- yelled Giorgio and Ancelm laughed. - I didn’t brought that stupid bird with me! and who was the PSYCHO who decided to pursue her despite the FUCKING SAVAGE DAEMONS!?- Ancelm laughed even more, Nyepu chuckled a little as well.

-I’d say someone lost his fear to those monsters after his little adventure in the ocean…- says Ancelm and Nyepu rolls his eyes.

-I should have brought you with me, wizard…- the dragon finishes checking the device and sighs - Well, I think that we are ready to go…-

-You hadn’t answered my question: why are you doing this? what do you gain?- presses Ancelm.

-A little reputation and probably a nice business partner in the Sky Kingdom- says Giorgio.- and well, Nyepu’s heart finally warmed up for someone so I’m protecting that- said him, giving a sly look to Nyepu, the dragon just huffed with a slight blush in his white face, Ancelm snickered.

-Shut up...-he said before clearing his throat -but yes, that’s why we are helping her, she doesn’t deserve to be sent to the Sky Kingdom to die without knowing what’s going on, and since we can get some extra benefits in the process, all the better- he shrugs, he then remembers something, a strange and warm thought he had yesterday, right after he discovered the incredibly crazy aspect of Flare’s lack of love life. Every female estirge, at certain age, gets this impulse of getting boyfriends for love, affection, support and sexual intercourse… it was in her blood, and yet, she had managed to fight this impulse to pursue her dream of heroism… not unlike how he constantly fights the call of the sea, or has this lack of heroic or altruistic blood his kin seems to have and be renowned for… “I thought we were unique” but he hadn’t reflected much on that at all recently, mainly because of other urgencies. “Maybe I just thought that under her influence” that idea, though, saddened him and that ultimately bothered the draconic researcher. -Just bring her and let’s get done with this- said him and Ancelm raised a brow before nodding.

-You want some tea and cookies as well, sir?- asked Ancelm jokingly, starting to wander towards the meditation rooms.

-I know you are joking, but… if you do have tea, it would be appreciated- said the dragon,as he, Giorgio and the others took their stations in their improvised scientific cell.

Flare was having a rather unusual experience. Seeing her blood out of her body felt weird for some reason, maybe because she’d seldom seen it? Also, it definitely was making her hungry as well. Her hunger was only aimed at Nyepu, though. For some reason, the taste of the dragon scientist’s blood was the only thing she was craving right now. “Must be that… bullshit of the blood magic… or my damn biology...” thought her, annoyed at how just seeing at his blue eyes was making her feel flustered. Also, being pierced by a needle was also a funny experience, as in, it didn’t hurt, on the contrary, it felt strangely nice. Yep, all these new experiences made her forget that she was going to “put those four in their place”.

-We have all the blood we needed to run our tests… now, with the help of the wizards, we should have the results in a few hours- announced Nyepu before taking a sip from a cup of tea, seemingly ignoring the way she kept looking at him. “I can control it, I don’t need his damn blood… also… he’d most probably deny it, no matter what” -If you are feeling hungry, you may take some of my blood- he offered looking at her and Flare almost falls in surprise, quickly regaining her flying, Giorgio made a face and Ancelm grinned.

-I… I’m ok! - declared her trying to sound offended by the offering and Nyepu shrugged.

-I recommend you at least have some fruit to recover your energies- said him -tha…ngh!- She couldn’t help herself and pierced his arm with her beak “What am I doing?” thought her as she drank his blood.

-s-sorry…- she said quietly, the gem in her neck sending the message to the dragon as she sucked his delicious blood - I… was hungrier than I expected- Nyepu shook his head.

-I understand- the princess noticed him looking at Amcel, who immediately nodded.

-Fascinating- she felt the aura of the feline, that feel of quietness- It is happening…-

-What is happening? - asked her confused after forcing herself to stop… if it were for her, she’d drink even more, but she didn’t want to abuse.

-The Blood magic- said the felixin and she frowned - Your aura is enveloping his, is fascinating since, as you say, I don’t feel emotions from you making it happen, it just happens automatically… that’s impressive and something I’ve hadn’t seen before- Seems that the scientists weren’t the only ones making experiments, she gave an accusing look to Nyepu who just smiled and said:

-I was going to offer you just fruits to recover, but he came up with the idea of making a little experiment… since I’m conscious of what’s going on now, this will help me to train in fighting external influences- said him and she huffed annoyed.

-So I’m just an experiment to you two?!-

-No one said that, lady Flare, we are just… getting as much done with as possible- explains Ancelm - not to mention that this is a great time for you to train on your blood magic-

-NO!- declared her angrily, but Ancelm raised his hands placatingly as the scientists began to work.

-I mean, in getting a hold of it, madame! I won’t insist on you learning to influence others but, maybe you could learn how to… not to?- he offered quickly and this did grab her attention- As I told you, your Aura quickly enveloped Nyepu’s the instant you drank his blood… maybe you can… learn how to dispel it?-

-I’d appreciate that if you did- commented Nyepu, working on injecting some stuff into her blood samples- and I’m sure you’d feel better knowing you can control your own power better-

-You can’t tell how I’d feel over anything- declared her and he shrugged. She couldn’t deny he had a point, though. Considering how delicious was the dragon’s blood, the idea of never sucking blood to not influence others magically sounded… depressing. She sighed and looked at Ancelm - I guess you are right, Adeptus- Ancelm seemed to relax and smiled.

-I’m glad you agree, lady Flare! Let’s begin, then!-

-Look it on the brighter side, miss Flare, now you and Nyepu have something in common: both are test subjects!- would comment Giorgio giving the dragon and bird a toothy grin, both returned him an annoyed glare.

It was clear that while Flare was a master in combat magic, she just sucked at controlling her aura. She knew the basics and knew them very well, that’s why she could start a clash of wills with Ancelm back in the day they met, but that was, actually, the limit of her control of Aura. After a few broken vials, one harmed estirge adjudant and more than a few uncomfortable pictures, Ancelm had to stop with his tests with Flare so Nyepu could get a hold of his emotions and continue working on the tests… and on convincing Giorgio to erase the pictures. The dragon had never thought that having his emotions being influenced, would be so nasty, or how little he’d be able to control himself even knowing he was being controlled… In the short span of Ancelm’s experiments, Flare, in her attempts to NOT influence him, managed to make the dragon feel sad for her, angry at the idea of her being made fun of, then sad for failing her, then happier and eager to do anything she asked, then so angry he just had to punch one of his workers. Giorgio would take lot’s of pictures with his Aux and laugh so hard at the last one that he ruined one of their experiments. Yeah, the two of them were the epitome of professionalism. He did managed to control himself enough to not murder everyone in the room with his bio-canon so he considered that a win, though.

-I’m very sorry- would say Flare, looking tired, slightly dizzy and very embarrassed as she sat on Nyepu’s shoulder, drinking more of his blood, they had taken more of her own to replace the lost samples.

-Is ok… experiments rarely go well in the first try- he replies still evening his breath, using the tentacles of his back to keep working.

-This day ended up being more interesting than I expected, hehe!- said Giorgi in a very good mood.

-Shut up- would say Flare and Nyepu at the same time.

-And now you are doing that?! Oh by the Gods! Just marry already- said Giorgio annoyed. They just glared at him. Ancelm on the other hand had a thoughtful look in his eyes. After Flare was done drinking she just stood on Nyrpus shoulder for a little longer, staring at nothingness with a blank expression in her face, she must be tired. Nyepu decided to work as soon as possible, all while thinking that he’d need more anti influence training.

After that, time went on. Ancelm would lead a small team of wizards to help accelerate things, Flare would end up falling asleep on him and then be gently laid on a working table. Apparently, se was more tired than even her expected. The researching team would begin to get their first results. And the more results they get, the more worried Nyepu and Giorgio felt. Ancelm would notice this right away but didn’t comment since he really didn’t know what they were seeing in the results. Three hours later, Flare awakens, yawning quietly and chirping a little, and just in time for the scientists to finish their last analysis on the last result.

-Rise and shine, Lady Flare- would say Ancelm with a smile - I hope your little nap had been reinvigorating. Nyepu was beginning to think that the guy was being a little too gentlemanly.

-Greetings…- she said yawning again, her eyes were still closed, then she shook her body, puffing up her red feathers before seemingly waking up entirely, opening her pretty sky blue eyes. Nyepu felt a slight blush in his face at that thought, she did have pretty eyes. -Are you guys done with your tests?- right to business, as expected of the impatient princess.

-We have very weird news - said Nyepu, giving now a look to Giorgio who nodded at him, then back to Flare and Ancelm, both of whom looked intrigue, her even tilting her head in curiosity:

-Weird news?- asks her.

-yes… we hadn’t found any trace of the known cloning and aging methods in you… but… your body’s age is… illogical…-This grabbed the complete attention of the two magicians.

-Please elaborate- said Ancelm. Nyepu sighed.

-Flare’s body seems to be missing a year- he says. Silence.

-Missing a year? how…- she was saying but Giorgio interrupted her:

-Considering your birth date, your body should have a specific age… and yet, it does not, your body’s age is one year younger than it should-

-And while usually that would mean that you are the clone, here comes the really weird part… there is no doubt that you were born in the date of your birth, but it’s like… the last year didn’t affected your body in the slightest…- says Nyepu looking bewildered.

-This usually means that we messed up, but, I can assure you we didn’t… since, we checked everything like thrice- explains Giorgio, looking as bewildered as the dragon.

-What could that mean?- asks Ancelm, but Nyepu and Flare looked at each other’s eyes. She had basically been gone for a whole year, that’s what they discovered after checking the news yesterday, at least, that had been their suspicion, back then. Was this the confirmation they needed?

-That means, that someone had kept princess Flare in a stasis of sorts, keeping her even from aging, for a whole year- explains Giorgio- that or she rejuvenated herself somehow-

An hour later, they were having a very late lunch at the Temple’s food court. Nyepu and Giorgio finished their report and sent it to Argenta. Ancelm and Flare stood with them, mainly to keep company. The little princess had forgotten completely what she wanted to say to the guys in face of the news: so it was true, she had been gone for a whole year but… how? where? by whom?! Neither Nyepu nor Giorgio could think of a technology capable of rejuvenating someone’s body like that, at least, not without leaving some trace, and stasis technology capable of stopping age like that was non-existant, at most, it would make processes slow a lot but not outright stop it. Ancelm thought that it was very hard and impractical for a wizard, or a team of them, to cast a stasis spell for a whole year. Had they needed to learn aspects of her personality, there were easier ways to do so. And while the guys tried to think in how could this be possible, Flare was more worried about other things.

“A whole year. That usurper had been with my family for a whole year, and had married a lot of people that she’d never even consider marrying… What else had the clone been doing in all that time? How is it possible that no one had noticed that the clone was not the real Flare in such a long time?!” thought her in increasing despair.

Intent on what have been the clone up to for so long, she started to investigate old news, Ancelm quickly joined her and the researchers helped her after finishing their report… so there they were, eating while facing the maddening reality of what the news had for them:

-None of this makes sense- comments Ancelm.- If what the scientists say is true, someone had taken the incredibly hard effort of keeping you away for a whole year for a copy of you to replace you and do… nothing- said the felixin Adeptus, checking old news regarding the sky Kingdom while idly eating some synth-beef.

-She got married and in general had only been behaving like a normal princess... - comments Giorgio, also reading old news while eating mashed potatoes with fried fish.

-You can sort of see some political strategies but… well… that’s it… - comments Nyepu, eating fried rice with a mix of fried seafood and algae.

Flare couldn’t deny that she was impressed with how quickly these guys processed information. Of course, she was a trained princess, she could see political ploys, and would understand easily how the imposter’s weddings had strengthened the influence of her mother on the city-states of the Sky Kingdom, all while making their governors feel like they were the ones gaining power. Also, a whole rebellion was avoided by one of said marriages. “Is like… everything was just fine, but… but why?” Wasn’t it supposed to all be a huge and hellish chaos? isn’t that the point of making evil clones? Why was everything sounding so… ok?

Suddenly her urgency to go ‘save’ her kingdom seemed a lot more silly. Her copy not only was doing a lot of good, she was following her mother’s wishes perfectly and everything seemed to be fine in general… Of course, this was what she gathered with a quick research of less than an hour, but it was undeniable that all the news had to say about her usurper seemed to be good things. She agreed with Ancelm: this made no sense.

-The only thing I can think…- said her suddenly, stopping from sucking juices from fruits, as the trio of males looked at her- is that I’m not the only one being replaced… maybe… maybe they are replacing everyone slowly? get the power of my kingdom for… for some… for evil generic reasons...- even her felt stupid saying that.

-Is… a possibility- says Nyepu, shrugging, he didn’t had the heart to tell her his own theory- honestly, at this point, anything could be happening there- says the dragon.

-But… a whole year of that? sounds unlikely, absurd, even- says Ancelm, then shakes his head -I think we really did good in take this with caution-

-I agree- Giorgio nods - this is very definitely a very weird situation, with the help of Argenta and, what the Church of Darkness can provide, we should be able to uncover whatever is going on-

-I wanted… to suggest to go and face this quickly- says her suddenly, remembering what she had thought in the meditation chamber - go beat the shadow of the prophecy before they could come to bother us but… but this is… this doesn’t make sense…- had she gone to her kingdom right now, and challenge her copy, she’d probably just been thrown to jail or executed in place… a whole year of memories that she doesn’t have, a whole year of working together and doing good for the kingdom… no one would dare to doubt that the usurper was the real deal, and most probably, a very loved one at that. It wouldn’t matter if she was the real princess… the usurper had a year of advantage over her. -if it weren’t for the tests... would my parents have recognized me? would have seen in me their real daughter when they had one for a whole year that was so… so... perfect?- There was a deep silence after she said that. Nyepu immediately understood what she meant, since she’d told him about her conflicts with her mother. Ancelm was a very clever wizard and figured something along those lines. Giorgio didn’t understand, but noticed the mood and decided to keep going towards a more posstive note.

-The clone needs to be tested as well- comments the goat researcher, grabbing the attention of Flare- no matter what, every clone leaves some trail, the most common being the age or some chemical agents in their blood… it has to be a clone created by technological methods since a magical one would require an aetheric flux that your family would have detected immediately… as soon as she takes the same tests and she is proven to be younger than you, your parents won’t have a choice but to accept you as their daughter- the goat researcher smiles at her softly. Flare nods at him with a little smile.

-That’s true… I guess… you guys were right on this of… making tests…- says her feeling like it wasn’t very easy to say that. Thankfully for her, the geneticists only nodded and smiled.- but how long will it take before Argenta decides to help us?- Suddenly, Nyepu received a message in his Aux and checked it, his eyes opened widely at what was

-Apparently, only a few minutes… Argenta wants to hold a meeting with us and the Adeptus Primus- explains him and Flare opens her beak in surprise “That… that was fast!”.

-I’ll get him right away- said Ancelm, closing his eyes for a moment. It wouldn’t take much before the Lich descents to them, passing through the ceiling and floating at the side of Ancelm.

-Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you are feeling better and your meditation had been mind opening, lady Flare- says Celio.

-Good afternoon, Adeptus Primos Celio, it… was- she did get ideas, but the recent discoveries changed things. Suddenly, Nyepu’s Aux projected a very silly and big image of an emote face.

-Heeeeello, everyone!! how are my dear citizen and one wanted criminal today? () - greeted the Goddess of Science, Technology, Truth and the Day with a synthetic female voice. “Argenta had always had a terrible sense of humor… and her face is disappointing” words of Flare’s master that rang in her head as she flinched at being called a wanted criminal, she had to agree with the comment on her face, though… seriously? just an emote?!.

-Greetings, Argenta- said Nyepu drily- We need you to convince the other princess to go through the tests… is the only way to determine that the Flare with us is the real one and the other is a clone created for unknown reasons… unless, you can tell us something we don’t know about what had been going on in the Sky Kingdom-

-You guys are forgetting to thank me for being so fast, giving you lot part of my time and for having been keeping in secret the location of the Flare with you (¬u¬) - Nyepu and Giorgio rolled their eyes.

-Thanks- said suddenly Flare, grabbing everyone’s attention- thanks for your time, and quick response, and for keeping my location a secret, Lady Argenta- said her, bowing to the technological goddess.

-AWWW!!! (^^) you are such a cute little birb! unlike my scientists... (¬_¬) you guys could learn to be a lot more grateful and sweet like miss Flare (uwu) - the felixin mages chuckled while Giorgio and Nyepu just huffed in annoyance, even Flare couldn’t help but crack a smile. -anyway! (owo) you guys had certainly discovered an anomaly ( >:T) the results of your tests tell me so: no traces of known cloning methods and a very strange age test result… there is no technology or magic capable of doing that: a WHOLE year of rejuvenation is just absurd… (:/) And, well, I’ve noticed slight changes in the court of the Royal Kingdom (u_u) -

-What do you mean?- asks Flare, suddenly having a horrible feeling.

-Nothing very particular, but, honestly, they seem a little too perfect, if you ask me…() I’m good at making psychological profiles of people uwu the royal family was perfect in its imperfection... (:3) but… (o_o) they began to be a little too perfect… (>_>) while that’s usually a good thing (._.) they were not the only ones (DX) The Sky Kingdom has grown in power considerably, the people from the court becoming a little more efficient and capable in general, of course, is not a big improvement, but is noticeable since, to me, seems a little too sudden and focalized (u_u) I’ve been proud of them, but the test results, and the attitude of Queen Mistana to try and solve this in secret had worried me (>:T) I’ll demand her daughter to take the tests… but I need you two to go do it (:3) - says her looking at the geneticists.

-Ahm… why don’t you ask that from members of the Machine Cult of the Sky Kingdom?- asks Giorgio- we have work here, going to there would be problematic-

-I have the suspicion that the Queen has a strong influence even between my own clergy in that city, so is a possibility the tests results will be compromised (=_= ) … I want to minimize risks… (X_X) take your equipment there and make the tests… (uwu) and just to be sure, I’ll send two other groups of my geneticists with Guard escorts from other cities to run the same tests… (ouo) if everyone has the same results, than it would be a given that there were no mistakes (uwu) and we’d be closer to uncover the truth… (>_>) - Giorgio and Nyepu exchanged an intrigued look.

-Maybe the other teams can meet here first so they can run their tests- suggest Celio - unless you expect the Queen to suspect a complot of sorts-

-She definitely will (-_-) -

-I agree with her there… my mother can be very distrustful, especially from things that are too convenient or too inconvenient- adds Flare.

-That’s why I’m suggesting to do everything in front of her, with different teams of experts, so there are no suspicions, she can bring any scientific team of her choice to verify the proceedings, as well (uwu) i’d also require the assistance of your wizards, Adeptus Primus (x3)-

-I’d be more than happy to offer my assistance in running the tests and providing magical support in case things turn out… problematic- says the felixin lich.

-Perfect! prepare yourselves!! () I should have an answer from Queen Mistana by tomorrow, so be ready to depart to the Sky Kingdom’s capital city! (X3) - Nyepu and Giorgio would sigh while Ancelm and Celio nod, Flare couldn’t believe it: she finally was going home. And with the support of Argenta and the Church of the Holy Darkness! She looked at the guys “their prudence… made this happen...”.

Later that day, night was falling. Ancelm and Celio went to the meditation chambers to try and enter in contact with the Dark God to seek guidance and make sure if Flare was the one in their prophecies. Nyepu and Giorgio had been busy packing up and talking with the Administrator of their research facility, there was a lot of yelling involved and Argenta had to interfere. And Flare? She had been exploring the Temple to take her mind off things. She had gotten what she wanted: she was going home to finally unravel this mystery and saved her people… but, the clone hadn’t done anything but good for her people. She probably did a way better job than her as a princess… so… was it worth it? “Truth is good on its own… that’s what a heroine would say… but a princess would admit that sometimes, is necessary to keep a few secrets and hold a few lies… for the greater good… and that’s also… heroic?” Flare would sigh. She had transformed into her Battle Form: she was way bigger than usual, her wings had become arms, and her figure was more anthropomorthic and slender… she did so because she always trains in this form at least a once a day but, she couldn’t bear herself to train when there was so much in her head, as such, she was in the training room, looking blankly at nothing in particular.

-You don’t look very happy- said a familiar voice, Flare almost jumped as she quickly turned to face the big white dragon who was entering to the training room, levitating.

-Nyepu… what are you doing here?-

-I came to check on you- he said simply, she felt a little disappointed he wasn’t walking on his legs… she shook her head to bury those silly thoughts - We are done with packaging our devices, so is happening, we are going to your kingdom- he says, smiling a bit, apparently, trying to sound nice. His pretty voice was still slightly cool but there was the sincere intention there, and there was an honesty in his smile she really liked and made her feel… something, she wasn’t sure what it was but she liked it and felt herself smiling a little as well.

-Yeah...soon, we’ll solve this mystery… is just…well...- she began to say looking thoughtful again.

Nyepu couldn’t believe he was here. While working on putting everything on crates and arranging for transportation of his devices, he couldn’t stop thinking in her: she had look shaken after discovering the clone had basically been being a “perfect princess” and just felt that she’d need some company, even if it was his. “Is this… blood magic influencing me? well, even if it is, I don’t care...”.

He was a bit surprised when he saw her transformed in her combat form again and the memories of their rather hectic encounter came back to his mind: she had been strong, bold, confident, energetic… she looked the most alive back he’d seen her then: fighting head-on abominations that made him empty his bowels in fear. He hadn’t gotten a great look at her in the frenzy of fighting and running for his life, but, now that he got a better look at her? She is…

-I don’t know…- she says finally, snapping him out of his thoughts, he immediately scratched his muzzle so she didn’t notice he was blushing. -None of this makes sense and I’m worried… I’m worried me going there will only cause more harm than good-

-How so?- he asks.

-I’ve been thinking: my clone apparently… is the Flare my mother had always wanted… so… if I go… I… I may ruin everything- her face looked more haunted now -all those marriages would be nulled and impose on me… and I won’t… I’m not sure I’m up to take for husbands…not to mention that, for a whole year, the people of my kingdom had developed an idea of how is ‘Princess Flare’ and… will I have to act like she did? Would I have to be the fake one? Will I...- but she stopped as Nyepu put a hand on her shoulder, well, more like half his hand since even in her bigger form he was still way bigger. She looked at him and he returned her a soft expression.

-Is going to be ok- he’d say -It will take a while but people will accept you for who you are… and I’m sure that some arrangement can be made so you don’t have to...you know, deal with four unknown guys at the same time… also, I’ll help you, somehow… I know you are a capable and strong girl- he smiles at her leaning closer to her- The princess that can murder hordes of Savage daemons can take a marriage… especially with some help- he adds trying to smile more. She looks at his eyes with her pretty sky blue ones, her golden beak slightly opened and stays like that for what seem ages. For a moment there, Nyepu felt he spoke out place but then she suddenly hugs him and he feels his face getting hotter before hug her awkwardly… not only because she was smaller, but also because he wasn’t sure if he should… and yet…

-You helped me today as you promised… we are going to my homeland… as you said… I… I can trust that you will be with me… thanks…- said her.

-Y-you are welcomed- he said, not sure what else to say.

He still wasn’t sure how much of this was the blood magic and how much was himself, but he felt that this was the best thing to do for the princess. For another unique soul.

She wasn’t sure if he was acting on his own or under the influence of her powers, but a part of her felt he was being genuine and she couldn’t feel happier. She wasn’t alone in this mess.

And while they were like this, hugging each other. The entrance to the Training Room suddenly disappeared...

#onirica #fantasy #scifi #dragon #avian #bird #literature #story #chapter 8

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ausieworld · 5 years

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I'm done being Broken

I'm in so much pain and yet it feels like I can't feel anything at all.

Time to put up my walls again. I'm not joking but if I put up my walls I'll be able to work on me. The sign reads: Do Not Enter. Work Zone. It'll keep me from socializing with many people.

I learned a lot. I'm thankful for everything I learned. I now know how possible things can be.

I learned what I've always wanted to: how to build things and electrical work.

I'm going to overcome my fears and learn how to rock climb so I can go climbing with my best friend and get over my damn fears. I also want to go to that rock climbing wall with the swimming pool below. I want to go on that giant swing and swing over that cliff. No clue when that cliff thing is going to happen but the rock wall with the swimming pool is going to happen as soon as I get good enough.

I'm going to find myself. I'm going to create myself. I was always told who I had to be and I thought that was me. Some of it was and some of it was not.

Want to know who I am? I'll tell you the beginning:

I believe in being loyal and having an open mind. I believe in being honest. I believe in doing the good for the more amount of people. I believe in adventures and helping people. I believe in respect and I believe in being optimistic. I believe in keeping promises and always telling the truth. I believe in love.

I love hiking, roller skating, long boarding, and asking questions about things I don't know/understand so that I can better myself. I want to know how things work and why so I can make them too. I want to travel the world and go places so I can see as much as I can see. I want to see the universe.

I love the moon and the stars and the clouds. I love camping and backpacking. I like to write and learn about anything and everything I can. I like playing video games and watching YouTube. I browse Tumblr and iFunny way more than I should and read a lot of posts about texts and funny things with BuzzFeed. Again way more than I should.

I keep my promises and never break them. I don't believe in breaking promises because for me that's a crime and one of the worst things you can ever do.

I don't believe in God. I'm probably more agnostic but I go between athiest as well. I believe in being happy and making yourself happy than depending on others because one way or another they leave or they can't help you.

I believe in asking questions. I believe in challenging yourself. I believe in throwing yourself out there and learning things for yourself. I believe in keeping yourself true to yourself but being ok with changing (goes with challenging yourself).

I identify a lot with Foxes, Emily the Strange, Wednesday Addams and Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch). I believe in letting small simple things make you happy. I believe in being silly and playful but also know when to be serious. I believe in communication no matter what so everyone is clear if there's any problems. I believe in talking things out and working on correcting your mistakes. I can be a bit rude because I believe in honesty and I speak my mind. That's a bit of a fault considering I don't always know what is on my mind. I'm working on not being as rude and once again keeping my mouth shut. Even the one I identified with the most who said it was ok and they thought that way too... I did it too much. That's me and that's who I am but if it makes someone so uncomfortable then it's not worth it showing that part of me.

I want to own my own house in a neighborhood I feel comfortable in. I want to learn how to do a lot of things and I will. I want to work in a research lab and get my PhD in Neuroscience so that I can learn a lot about the brain and have a degree in Biology. I want to be independent. I want to be independent but in love with the person I'm meant to be with (whoever that may be). I want to come home after a long day of work, doing what I love, to see the love of my life and give him a hug and a kiss as we eat dinner and get ready for bed.

I want to lower my stubbornness for certain things and make sure I'm not unintentionally hurting those I love. I'm going to be strong. I'm going to be more positive than negative and stop complaining. I'm not going to let anyone control me or my feelings. I'm not going to make excuses but I believe in explaining myself so that everything is understood. I'm going to improve myself and correct the wrong I've done.

I'll be better for myself before anyone else. I won't be insecure anymore. That's why I'm going to be dependent. I do not like to curse and the only time I do is when I've been hurt or I'm massively angry. Do not ever make me curse just because you think it's funny I don't curse. Cursing makes me very negative if I do it. Feel free to curse yourself, but if it's a lot of cursing more than what's appropriate, I will tell you how uncomfortable I am.

I do not like being lied to. If you lie to me, you lose my trust. I do not trust easily. If you have a problem, tell me. It will not start an argument and I'll do everything I can to correct things. However, I ask the same in return. Relationships of any kind take both sides and I believe that there is no such thing as 50/50 in a relationship. It's 100/100 or nothing.

I believe in second chances. However, if you hurt me, like abuse me, you'll be gone. There's more to it but I can't put it into words yet. I'll let things go unless I believe it's very damaging to me as a person and to my well being. If I'm mad, believe me, you'll know. I won't yell anymore. I won't scream anymore. I won't hurt myself (hit myself) anymore. I never used to yell or scream after I worked on it and then I went back to it. I'm leaving it again and for good this time. Things can be talked about in a calm and logical manner. As I said above, I'll tell you what's bothering me if I feel it is damaging to my personality and our relationship. I am going to be emotionally stable and work on letting things go. As I said, I'll no longer be insecure.

I pay intense attention on the things that interest me and the world just disappears. When I'm focused, no one exists. I have my weird OCD moments, I have my anxiety, and I am high functioning Autistic. I love music from 93.3 but I have a huge taste in music except for rap and degrading songs. Thinking about it, I'm a happy person, but I'm actually fairly dark. Or I can be... Hard to explain but I can have certain kinds of conversations and not bat an eye.

If you made it this far, this is who I am, this is what I believe, this is what I want and this is what I'm striving for.

I'm not going to depend on anyone but myself from now on. Welcome new Gabby. It's time to put up your walls and begin your work. That doesn't mean I won't let my now friends in and the people I do trust to keep me in check. But I'll make sure to do my best and keep my head on straight myself.

#a new me #life #love #self improvement #i'll always love you #i'll always care #i'll always be here #i'll be better #strong #this is me #goals #january 20th 2019 #i promise

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stupidfanfics · 6 years

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Til’ Death Do Us Part; A Barry Allen Fan Fiction

Chapter 1: Pinch Me

Summary: In the first chapter Monica Bell moves to Central City and (despite being the new girl) quickly becomes friends with Barry Allen.

Word Count: 2097

Warnings: None

(A/N): Yay! It’s finally here the first chapter of my series. Thank you to darlingpetao3 for editing my story. Just as an FYI I’m new to this so if you have any advice please let me know. Also, I’d really appreciate it if you shared this with your friends. Also for anyone new to fanfiction (trust me we’ve all been there) here’s a little key for you: y/n is your name, y/f/n is your full name, y/e/c is your eye color, and y/h/c is your hair color. Ok, I think I’m done rambling. Enjoy!

Love has always been one of those things that has consumed all of my attention and energy. For as long as I can remember I’ve always ‘liked’ someone. Ranging from that stupid crush I had in the third grade to the boy I’ve liked for so long now. I’m pretty sure I’m in love with him. I mean how could you not love him? He is adorable, hilarious, super smart, and not to mention 6’1, with hypnotizing green orbs for eyes.

Barry Allen.

The name that has made my heart either flutter or skip a beat every time I hear it, since the tenth grade. You see, my life was very different before I met Barry. For the first eleven years of my life, my mother and I lived in National City. My mom worked as a journalist for Cat-Co while somehow still managing to raise me as a single parent. My life was great in National City; my classmates loved me, my teachers loved me, and during summer, I spent my days on the pier and my nights sitting by a bonfire making s’mores and staying up past midnight with my good friends; nothing was stopping me from living a perfect life. That was until, as my mom puts it, “Duty Called,” and she just had to follow.

So that June, us two packed all of our stuff up and moved to Central City so that my mom could start her job at CCPN. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was on the brink of tears the whole trip there. Although I had the whole summer to settle into my new city and meet new friends, most of my first summer there was spent reading biology books I had checked out from the library.

The first day of school came sooner than I had expected, which caused me to only get about three hours of sleep the night before. Earlier that night, I had settled on wearing a plain blue top and jeans. I didn’t feel like drawing too much attention to myself. Meeting new people has never been my thing.

Central City Junior High was only a ten-minute walk from my new house, but my mom, being the person that she is, insisted on driving me there on my first day. I don’t really remember the five-minute car ride there, mainly because I was lost in my own thoughts 99% of the time. The other 1% was spent twiddling my fingers or bobbing my knee up and down at lightning speed.

Once my mom finally pulled up to my new school, I quickly pecked her cheek goodbye and started my long journey to first period. It was weird being an “Outsider.” I finally experienced what it was like to be ignored, or bumped int-

“Shit,” I mumbled under my breath as all of my new journals fell to the floor (along with an unhealthy amount of colorful gel pens). All I could hear was the evil snickering of a few students behind me as I dropped to the floor with teary eyes to pick up the mess that was just made. I swiftly grabbed a handful of pens before a set of hands appeared on one of the journals. I followed the new set of hands with my blue eyes, up their arms to the face that owned them. Suddenly they were met with two green eyes staring right back into mine.

“Don’t worry about them, they always pick on their prey. I mean not that you’re at a lower rank than them, but you were alone and-” His rambling was instantly cut off by a voice above the two of you.

“Come on Barry, if I’m late to first period Dad’s gonna kill me.”

As soon as all of my things were back in a neat pile the stranger in front of me stood up and apologized to the voice that just spoke. I slowly began to stand back upright when the two of them started strolling down the halls.

“I-I’m sorry for what happened to you... whatever your name is. Wait, I don’t know your name. What’s your-” I couldn’t help but smile at his rambling.

“Barry Allen, I swear, if you don’t start picking up your feet I will drag you through these hallways for the rest of your life if I have to.” And with that, the two strangers, the green-eyed boy, and dark-skinned girl were out of sight.

As I walked into my first-period class you kept I head down low, avoiding any attention. I hastily took the last seat available (a seat in the dreaded front row) and gently placed my backpack on the back of my chair. Chatter could be heard throughout the classroom until- BIIIING- the bell went off and everyone suddenly fell silent.

“Hello class, I’m Ms. Martin and I will be your science teacher this year. Now before I start my class, I’ll be taking attendance, so please just say ‘HERE’ loud and clear when I call your name.” Ms. Martin went through about eight names, and I zoned out until a name caught my attention.

“Bartholomew Allen.” A hand shot up at the desk to my right.

“Here ma’am, and I go by Barry- Barry Allen.” I heard a few giggles in the back of the classroom as Barry slowly put his hand down.

“Well, okay then, Mr. Barry Allen.” The teacher checked off yet another name on her list. “Next would be, Monica Lucille Bell.”

It felt like all of the air had been sucked out of the room. My lungs began to burn and my heart was running 100 miles a minute. Slowly, I raised my hand only reaching the point where the tip of my middle finger reached the top of my blonde dressed head. Unfortunately, even though I was in the front row where the teacher could easily see me, she still stared me down until I meekly uddered out a ‘Here’. Suddenly all of the tension in my body was released and I was finally able to breathe again.

That was until I felt a finger gently poke my shoulder.

I turned my head towards the source of the finger. The stranger held out his hand until I nervously took his hand into mine and shook it, looking into his face.

“H-hi I’m Barry-” he whispered.

“You do know she just said your name like fifteen seconds ago, right Barry?” I questioned, rolling my blue eyes.

“Well, I just wanted to ‘formally’ introduce myself, Monica.”

And that’s how it all began. Little did I know that day was the start of my long adventure with Barry Allen.

After that day, Barry and I slowly grew closer and closer together. About a month into the school year the two of us were inseparable. Barry and I would spend as much time as possible together. Whenever the two of us were around it was impossible not to hear laughter.

Of course, Iris and I were also good friends. After awhile Barry had told me about his mother’s death and how after his dad went to prison he had to move in with Iris and her dad, Detective Joe West. The Wests always welcomed me with open arms, and soon my mom and I began celebrating birthdays, Christmas, and Thanksgiving with them. One of my favorite memories with Barry is actually the first Christmas the two of us spent together...

Central City was colder than usual that year, and the weather forecasters were predicting a 75% chance of snow on Christmas Day. My mom and I decided to stay the night at the West's’ house, seeing that it would be too cold to walk home and there was bound to be a dangerous amount of ice on the roads that night. All five of us had decided to spend our night by watching a few Christmas movies while drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies. I’ve never been too keen on nostalgic or cliche traditions, except for this one. That night was full of laughter, smiles, and hundreds of happy memories.

One being the frosting incident.

After dinner, that night, Iris, Barry, and I crowded into the small kitchen to decorate gingerbread cookies. The house was filled with the warm scent of cinnamon and sugar, and Christmas music from the local radio station played faintly in the background.

“Well, I’m pretty sure my cookies are going to be the best,” boasted Barry, standing in front of his work of art with his hands on his hips in triumph.

“And how do you know that, Barry?” Iris challenged him, carefully piping a snowflake made of white icing onto a golden brown cookie.

“I’ve got mad frosting skills, Iris, that’s why.”

I just stood there, listening to their conversation as I covered my cookie in little white dots of sugary frosting. Until I came up with a mischievous idea. Interrupting the debate going on between Barry and Iris, I gently tapped Iris on the shoulder and quietly whispered something inaudible about Barry in her ear. A smile slowly crept onto her face as she nodded her head.

“What are you talking about, Monica? Anything important?” Barry interrogated me, taking two steps closer.

“Oh nothing,” I said with a bag of frosting in my hand.

“Just that… I’ve got mad frosting skills too...” I screamed as I began to squeeze icing all over Barry’s face. Behind me, Iris was dying of laughter before Barry’s facial expressions went from shock to pure rage.

“Oh Monica,” he breathed, taking a step forward with his hands behind his back. “Two can play this game.”

Instantaneously, he took a bag of frosting into his hands, haphazardly squeezing all of its contents like a water gun, hitting both me and Iris. The laughter and screaming coming from the three of us was so loud we didn’t hear the footsteps hurriedly walking towards the kitchen.

“Guys… What’s going on in-?” A huge glob of frosting was flung into Joe’s face and once all of us realized what had just happened, the whole house fell quiet.

“J-Joe...I-I can explain,” stammered Barry. Joe wiped the frosting off his face and onto the now filthy floor.

“There’s no need to explain Barry. Just make sure all of this is cleaned up in thirty minutes.” As Joe began to turn around, I couldn't help but point it out.

“Oh…um… Mr. West?” Joe stared into my face.

“Yes, Monica?”

I pointed to his face “Y-you…. you’ve got a little frosting in your eyebrow.” Barry started to giggle as Joe slowly turned away, wiping the frosting from his eyebrow with his index finger.

The next morning I was woken up by someone shaking me back and forth

“Mon…Monica.”

I slowly rolled over and swatted Barry’s arm away.

“What do you want, Bartholomew?” I asked, followed by a long yawn.

“First of all, you know I go by Barry. Second of all, you’ve got to go outside!” he exclaimed, grabbing onto my forearm and pulling me off of the sofa. I was half asleep, so I allowed him to continue dragging me to the front door until a cold blast of air sent shivers down my spine. I finally opened my eyes the rest of the way to find an enchanting white blanket of snow covering the neighborhood.

Briskly, Barry let go of my arm and awkwardly ran over to the snow. His face was beaming with joy and I couldn’t help but join him in his sappy bliss. Instantly I ran over to him and both of us dropped to the floor, moving our arms and legs, attempting to make snow angels. For a while, the two of us just stayed there giggling and staring at the cloudy sky above.

“Monica?” I flopped my head to the side to meet Barry’s green eyes.

“Yes, Barry?” I answered.

“Will you please pinch me-?”

I rolled my eyes. “Come on Barry, you of all people should know that doesn’t-”

“Monica, just shut up and pinch me!” he yelled. Quickly, I sat up and took his plump little cheeks in between my thumbs and index fingers, pinching them as hard as I possibly could. Barry squealed and I fell back down into my original position as my body shook with laughter.

“Merry Christmas, Monica…” he whispered.

“Merry Christmas, Barry,” I said with a huge smile on my face.

#barry allen fanfiction #barry allen #barry allen x you #barry allen x reader #fanfiction #fanfic #the flash #the flash fanfiction #grant gustin fanfic #grant gustin #iris west #joe west #grant gustin fanfiction #childhood #fandom #my writing #writing #writers on tumblr

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pack-the-pack · 6 years

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But Why Omegaverse of All Things??!

Okay so, recently some minor conversation sparked because of one of my posts regarding omegaverse, and why is it a thing and why it’s so popular. I even talked briefly with one of the people curious about it. Therefore, I decided to give some insight and explanations(?) to maybe why this is the case, once and for all. Obviously, I can’t speak for anyone but myself, however I’ll take the liberty to make suppositions about what might have brought people to like it. So if you feel like you don’t agree with something or the reason behind why you’re into this flaming pile of trash with us is not explained here, feel free to add on to it. After all this is just my humble perspective.

{Where and When it started?}

Well Wikipedia says it all started around 2010 with the one, the only, the massive: Supernatural Fandom. But really this is kind of a trick question, cause Omegaverse didn’t “start” anywhere. Those who have been in the Star Trek fandom might recognise terms like “Pon Farr” and “mating bond”, and those have been around longer than the 2010′s. And these have a striking similarity (if not the same stuff) you might find in ABO works. There are ABO fics dated even before said dates, do it’s not a exactly a precise date we’re looking at here. So yeah, it doesn’t have a clear starting point, and with good reason. We can’t pinpoint it’s origins because ABO it’s a collective of various different aspects drawn from many different places at the same time. We don’t have any set rules to what is and what’s not Omegaverse. You have elements of lycanthropism, sex pollen, vampirism, wolf pack dynamics, mpreg, scenting, soul mating, knotting, etc. The whole shabam! But really no one agrees in anything. We all just have this abstract universal understanding of what Omegaverse is and what is not. The elements present can be tossed in and out without harming the concept in the slightest. It can have all or just a few elements mentioned above and it would be just as valid.

Granted, the “modern version” we know today become more popular and well stablished around 2014/2015 ‘til the current year. And why did this happen?

{Projection}

We are living in very turbulent times recently. Be it in the realm of politics or… yeah politics. But regardless it’s undeniable that some things are changing, be it for the worse or for the better on your perspective one thing is true and will always be: Once shit starts to hit the fan we like to sit in the corner for a while and project our feelings into something. Usually this outlet is fantasy and imagination, which leads to ABO… somehow. “Okay but why daheck Omegaverse of all things?” as the title of this post inquires. Cause let’s be honest, Omegaverse sure is weird. I think (and again this is just my OPINION) it’s because Omegaverse can get you out of the “normally perceived” human world and toss you into something that is different from your reality but still similar enough that you can project your thoughts into. And things don’t “change” in this world, is all kinda the same every time. Omegas are Omegas, Betas are Betas, and Alphas are Alphas. Regardless of gender, of class, of economics, of society, of anything. These things don’t change. And it might give us a false sense of security to look at a society and an entire world where things have a sense of certainty. Yah know… unlike real life.

{Simulation}

Trying to understand how the world works and why B is B and not C is what humans do best and what we have been doing for as long as we can remember. So when you say “Alphas are X, Y and Z” it stimulates your brain to go “but why daheckity heck is that?”, opening a whole new plethora of thoughts about how this fantastical world and the people in it works. This kinda intertwines with the projection part, cause ABO has the “animalistic” side of people presented way more forefront and highlighted than irl. But just like in ABO humans might be capable of rational thought but at the end of the day we’re just glorified animals with a big ol’ brain inside our bone-made-thought-cage known as a skull. Once you start to look at ABO in a “biological sense” some thoughts start to occur to you, such as: “Is this somehow applicable in my life?”, “do humans have similar biological drives like that?”, “Is this nurture or nature?”, “are we really more than animals?”, “how far does our biology interfere with society”, “is society molded around our biological needs or do our biological needs mold themselves around society?”, “how far can our brains interfere with our bodies and vice-versa”, etc.

Just like any other trope and fantastical concept Omegaverse can indeed offer you a valid platform to project and simulate things you might not understand about real life or even about yourself. It proves itself to be a really fun and entertaining process and it also has a plus for getting some biases that might interfere with your judgment out of the way thanks to its huge flexibility. Yes, I am indeed declaring that Omegaverse for all it’s quirkiness and weirdness is capable of provoking thought. You’re welcome, I regret nothing.

{World Building and The Whole DIY Aspect of It}

I think this one is the one that resonates with me the most out of all the reasons. For those who are into world building but aren’t very kin into having to start from the ground up or just aren’t very good at it… BOY Omegaverse has your back, son. Since everyone else kinda already did half the work for you all you gotta do is take the abstract core concept and go full Picasso on it. The liberty omegaverse gives you is unbelievable and the worlds you can build around it can range from small island to a whole galaxy system. Which is very rare for a fanfic/fanart trope. Cause the other most popular AUs are crowded in way more rules and stuff you gotta follow or else people start to poop their pants cause “the wands are made of dragon-heart-strings not scales YOU HEATHEN!”, But all joking and exaggerations aside ABO is really unique in this aspect. You can focus on the biology, fashion, architecture, culture, religion, history, art, music, entertainment, etc. All revolving around ABO. The ammount of things you can explore is simply insane. Crafting a society based around these three dynamics is beyond fun (and I know there are people who make more dynamics aside from these but I’ll stick with the basic ones). And having every person bring something new and crafted completely differently from what you have but having just the same core focus every time you click in a ABO work is really something special on it’s on.

I think D&D players might know this feeling all too well, cause although there are general concepts and stuff that don’t change, you’ll never have the same experience twice and everytime it’s a new different and exciting adventure in a whole new world to explore. ABO is kinda like that but with weird ass human-wolf people instead of classes :v

{RPying and Making New Friends}

This one is not exactly my cup of tea but I’m aware that a lot of people stay in the ABO community for this reason. Since ABO has a lot of material to works with it can be a goldmine for people that are into RPying. Be it with friends or to meet new people, the ABO community is rarely judgemental and is open to pretty much everyone, so it can be lots of fun to incorporate all the aspects you love about ABO into some good time with nice people. I know that @omegaverse-seeker is one person’s blog you can go just to find other people willing to RP with you using Omegaverse. So if you’re interested go check it out.

{Social Commentary}

If you follow me long enough you’ll know that BOY HOWDY do I hold some grudges against this one. But since it happens a lot I feel like it would be unfair for me to not comment on it. Many people use the whole ABO genre to build narratives and push some sort of agenda or just make a social commentary about the real world. And god knows how this drives me NUTS most part of the time, because Jesus is it done poorly 9 times out of 10. Even if it comes as totally annoying and breaks the immersion of things for most part, there are times in which is done well and results into some really interesting and thought provoking stories. Like I said before projection and simulation is a big part of this. So when someone manages to take something as broad as ABO and transform into something that will make you lay down your phone for a while to actually think about some aspects of your life and the lives around you it really is something. Obviously it ain’t gonna be A Clockwork Orange lvl kind of thought provoking. Let’s get real people we’re all just amateur students on the internet no need to overestimate things. But the potential is totally there. The genre allows for this kind of potential to exist. And given the talent, the time and the faith required Omegaverse can bring up some real intriguing questions about our lives and the society we live in.

{Coping Mechanisms}

This one might come off a little risky, cause god knows this site and the word “sensitive” go hand in hand with one another. But even if it sounds a little pretentious (like everything else in this list) I’ll say it either way. Some people might use ABO to cope with some things they are not entirely comfortable with (I’ll not enter into the whole transgender “issue” that is brought up every time someone wants to talk about how terrible Omegaverse is, Okay? That’s a whole can of worms I’m just not willing to open here, and not today… or maybe ever. But I digress. Back to other forms of copying) Some people might use Omegaverse to cope with some aspects of themselves they are still trying to come into terms with. Since within Omegaverse there are three dynamics, each with two genders, and every single one of them with exceptions within exceptions this can be a good outlet for people who might not “fit in” with what they belive they should be. For example a boy who’s more feminine and not as physically strong as his peers might look at ABO and see all the Omegas and Betas and go like “Oh I’m not defective or not as good I’m just different”. Or a girl who’s too masculine and physically strong dispite being a girl (like myself) might look at ABO and go “Oh, I’m not out of place, I’m just more ‘Alpha’-like”. Or “I’m not average. I’m a Beta”, lol @betasverse is gonna kill me for this one.

Generally I don’t encourage this form of coping mechanism, or any form of coping mechanisms by that matter. I personally think that you should face reality as it is and try not to run away from it using short cuts and made up explanations. But if this is what gave you the initial kick or what’s helping you in the process of coming into yourself all the power to you my dude. Just try not to get too lost in it okay?

{Kinks}

And last but not least, you might just be into this sort of stuff. A lot of ABO is not plot related AT ALL. It’s just pure porn without plot and the bliss of dirty-dirty kinks. And Hey what’s wrong with that? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We all got something that turns us on. If yours is people in heat and the whole submissive-dominant, Mpreg or any other things going on in ABO, go ahead children. Have all the fun. And if someone tells you it’s wrong to “fetishize” this or that, just tell them to shove it up their butt. Cause this is a stupid word anyways and what you do in the privacy of your home with yourself or any other consenting person is nobody’s fucking business but your own.

There’s also other things like family Dyncamics you’d like to see incorporated to your ship. Or you think some tropes within Omegaverse are cute and think it would suit your OTP very nicely, etc. But I think I tackled all the main ones already, and if we are to analyse every fucking reason we’ll be here forever. So there you go people. The answer for “but why Omegaverse of all things?”.

If you’re curious about any of the things I said here and want to see them be put in practice I suggest looking up mine and all the other ABO content creators here on tumblr and on ao3. Here’s a master list you can use for the tumblr ones. And here some good ABO fics with interesting concepts as a starting point if you’re new to the whole thing (a fair warning tho, most of them are incomplete and in permanent hiatus).

#omegaverse #abo #alpha beta omega #explaining the whole trope #and fascination with the subject #the why for abo #ptp originals #pack-the-pack answers #pack-the-pack explains

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searching-for-mercury · 6 years

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Voltron -- Klance -- Fake BF

All I Want for Christmas is a (Fake) Boyfriend

Summary: A while ago, in a fit of anger, Keith told his mom he had a boyfriend. Did he actually have a boyfriend? No. Did he care? Also no. At least, not until his mom, months later, tells him to bring his supposed boyfriend over for the holidays. Not wanting to admit he didn’t have one, Keith asks around for someone to play the role and who agrees to play the part? The annoying guy from his Lit class.

(ao3)

Chapter 5

Hanging out on his sofa doing nothing of any great importance wasn't Keith's idea of time well spent. Whenever someone asked, he'd take their shift at the Call Center. It wasn't a job he loved, but it was a job and work meant money. It also meant time he wasn't thinking about stupid things he didn't want to think about anymore.

He didn't consider himself a coward when it came to confrontation in heated situations, like calling someone out on their bullshit. He spoke up when he had to or when it felt necessary. Heck, he even spoke up when his anger took the wheel.

What he didn't want to do, however, was pursue something he didn't know the outcome of.

Did he really even like Lance? Or was it something casual, void of any deeper feelings? Had he just been pulled along during the holidays? Gone with the natural romantic flow of things. And did he really want to put any effort in something he was so unsure of?

All those feelings followed him when school started and then the first Wednesday of the semester arrived, along with the source of all those thoughts creating a slushie of confusion in Keith's mind.

He slid into the booth at Taco Bell with a couple burritos and a head full of worry.

Lance slid in on the other side with a bunch of tacos, burritos, a drink, and his energetic personality. If Keith was any other person, he'd have said the cheer emitting from him was contagious.

"This is amazing," Lance said and fished out his phone from his large, brown jacket. Snow was still piled up outside from a full weekend of just that, but the roads and sidewalks had been cleared.

"You're taking a picture," Keith said. "Of Taco Bell."

"It's okay, you don't need to understand," Lance said, angling his phone a little different. It made a little shutter noise every time he took a picture. "Just let me enjoy this."

He definitely had an Instagram. There was no way he didn't. And Keith would bet real money on Lance uploading his weird Taco Bell pictures with filters slapped on, like he'd just gone to a fancy restaurant and was marveling at what had been delivered to the table.

When Lance looked up at him, Keith felt himself almost jump at the sudden eye contact; he'd been staring.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Lance asked.

"Could say the same to you," Keith replied, but he started to unwrap one of his burritos. He focused on the window as he bit into it. Winter meant shorter periods of daylight, so even though it was only five in the afternoon, the sun had already disappeared and everything outside was settled in a monochromatic sort of glow.

"How's the semester been for you?" Lance asked after swallowing the biggest mouthful Keith had ever seen anyone take in his entire existence on planet Earth. "Taking anymore literature classes?"

"No, it's just some biology and math," Keith replied. "Been pretty normal. You?"

Lance rolled his eyes. Keith hadn't noticed how dark of a blue they were until right that moment and he wished he still hadn't. "What do you mean, normal? Normal could mean anything," he said.

Keith shrugged. "Going over the syllabus, being gradually introduced to the various topics, getting homework due later this week. Normal."

Lance nodded and took a long drink from his cup. "Same here. But oh man, wait until I tell you what kind of teacher I have for my oceanography class. Total nut. Came to class wearing full on scuba gear and showed us pictures of his adventures during break. He seems like an okay guy, but not the kind you'd know on a personal level. Just like, oh yeah I know him. We talk. He comes to parties sometimes but do we hang? Nah."

Keith just nodded like he knew exactly what Lance meant.

"He seems kind of unpredictable, but I'm hoping his grading is consistent," Lance continued. "Or maybe he knows he's totally bonkers so he lets his TA grade stuff."

"If only more teachers did that," Keith said and grabbed his soda, wishing it were maybe something a little stronger than Pepsi. Just maybe.

When he returned to his quiet apartment, the first thing he did was find his calendar. Had they agreed to every Wednesday? They had. They most definitely had. And there were so many of them. Wow. He was seriously kicking his past self in the ass.

The next Wednesday came with a flurry of new snow and new conversation topics.

"We are going to talk after I finish this," Lance said, mouth full of what was probably fake beef and suspicious lettuce. The lighting overhead threw shadows on his face whenever he dipped down to take another bite. It also made his hair and skin look almost the same shade of brown.

"Did you not eat lunch?" Keith asked.

Lance only shook his head -- his cheeks were too full.

As the weeks tumbled on by, their conversations got steadily less awkward, for which Keith was thankful. Thrilling discussions about weather, traffic, and class faded away with more personal things taking their place. Keith learned Lance's family came from Cuba, for instance, a couple generations ago. He didn't talk much about them and when he did, it was always about the past.

And then one day, Keith must have asked the right questions and Lance must have been in the right kind of mood, because he told him something that felt entirely unlike him.

"I don't actually know my parents," Lance said with a shrug. He picked at the paper wrapper from his meal. "They, uh, died. When I was small."

Keith stopped eating.

"My grandma took care of me for a short while, I guess, but it wasn't enough," Lance said. His voice was soft and low and Keith couldn't see his eyes for they were turned down, towards his food.

It was such a quiet sort of shift, but Keith wasn't sure he was supposed to be hearing what Lance was telling him. More importantly, it didn't feel right to have it there in a Taco Bell, under cheap florescent lighting with pop music playing quietly in the background. There weren't many people in the booths around them, but there never were.

It took Keith a moment longer than he felt was right and he wasn't sure if what he was about to ask was right either, but he said, "Enough for what?" His tone was careful, gentle maybe. He hoped.

Lance cleared his throat and pushed himself up; Keith hadn't even noticed how he'd sort of curled up into himself, sunk down into the plastic seat. "Wasn't enough to take care of me," he said. "Services came, picked me up." Lance was looking straight at him, then, and Keith felt like his breath had been taken away, too.

Foster care. Lance had been through the foster care system. Keith didn't know much about it, but he'd heard horror stories, about abuse and the shuffling from one home to another. Maybe he flinched or maybe his eyes conveyed an understanding, somewhat, but Lance smiled at him. It wasn't a very bright smile, not all full of warm feelings that would seep out and into others, but it also wasn't bitter.

"Don't feel sorry, or whatever, I didn't tell you to get sympathy," Lance said with a firm voice. There was a lot more strength in it than before, when it was full of faraway recollections. "I just felt like you should probably know. I mean, I know so much about you now."

Keith shrugged before he thought things over too much. "I don't really know what to say," Keith said. He had a habit of plowing into sensitive topics like a dog running through piles of snow for the first time. "I mean, are you okay with talking about it? Can I ask questions? Because if not, that's cool. Just say the word and I won't ask a thing. But if you -- why are you laughing?"

It had started with his shoulders shaking and his mouth twisting up and then back down in an effort to not laugh, but then it bubbled up and out and Keith was left feeling more confused than he wanted, truth be told.

"Sorry, it's just. You're taking this very seriously," Lance said between near-silent bouts of laughter. "And it's serious! It is. But. I don't know, it's really funny right now." He leaned forward until his forehead touched the table. His shoulder still shook.

Keith frowned at first. "I don't understand you," he said. "I really don't."

It only made Lance laugh harder.

And then Keith felt his own mouth start to turn and even though he had absolutely no reason as to why, he started to laugh as well. Maybe the why didn't really matter.

In the midst of all that laughter came a sudden realization: Keith's wavering crush became a very solid 'like,' and it hit him in the chest much harder than he thought possible. Whereas before his feelings of attachment had been drifting around, like a loose balloon low on helium, somewhere it had become tethered to the ground and in need of some serious re-evaluation.

"Okay," Lance said, breathing a little heavier. "I don't, just so you know, I don't usually laugh when I tell people unhappy things."

This only made Keith look at him more confused, which made Lance laugh a little more.

"I'm serious! It just felt too heavy, man. And I dunno, I feel pretty comfortable around you," Lance said, giving a one-shoulder shrug.

Keith felt way more happy than he felt he should have, in that moment. A spark of glee. Warmth filling his chest. A small pang of uncertainty. He didn't know what to say or how to react to those feelings. If he spoke, would he blurt out something he'd regret?

He walked away from that exchange with a heavy feeling in his stomach that wasn't due to three burritos and a medium-sized Mountain Dew. What was he supposed to do? Tell him that he liked him? How does one even do that? And wouldn't it be weird, after everything that happened at his mom's house?

Keith didn't have an answer to any of those questions. He flopped down on his couch and stared at the ceiling as if it held all the answers. He kind of wished it did, that it were that easy.

And then something occurred to him: did he really have to say anything? He was kind of a pro at pining in secret. He'd had a crush on Shiro for years and never said anything ever and he'd gotten over him! For the most part. Where there once had been a strong sort of longing there was now just an ache. And he could deal with the ache.

Yes, he was going to do what he did best: not saying a goddamn thing.

~*~

School picked up real fast, as did work, and Keith was left wondering where all those weeks had gone. It was getting dangerously close to midterms and he felt like the semester had just begun. How dare the midterms sneak up on him like that.

There was still snow everywhere -- in fact, it usually stayed up until April, which probably had to do with them being so close to the mountains. Once in a while, they'd get a freak blizzard in May and it was all anyone would talk about. May was also the end of the semester and, ultimately, his dates with Lance.

They weren't dates. They were just casual meet-ups in Taco Bell where Keith paid. Yes. Right.

Keith shook his head. Not exactly where he wanted his mind to be. Instead, he focused on the squat, brown buildings around him. Campus usually looked much nicer in the summer. Everything would burst out blooming and there'd be so much more color in everything, not only the plants. Even the people would glow, wearing their brightly colored shorts and tank-tops, big plastic sunglasses. He bet Lance would outshine everyone, his face radiating warmth, exposing more of that smooth brown skin to soak up all that sun and --

Goddammit.

He tried focusing on the buildings again. He just needed to focus on the horizon, on the building he needed to get to. Then he would sit in class, where his mind couldn't wander as much, and he'd be fine. Really.

But then Keith saw him a little ways away and his heart stuttered.

Lance hadn't noticed him -- he wasn't turned his way. He was smiling or laughing at something someone had said, maybe one of the girls, and they were all walking like they had nowhere else to be at that moment. Keith often got mad at groups like that because they created a jam -- like when those commercials on the TV showed cholesterol build-up in the body. Just because they didn't have to be in class didn't mean others didn't.

Keith took an immediate right turn, even so he was nowhere near the building he had to get to. The action didn't even require any kind of thought process, it was like his body knew exactly what to do. He felt stupid immediately after -- why did he need to take a longer route to his class just because he saw Lance?

It didn't make any sense.

It also made him feel weird the next time they ate Taco Bell together. Had Lance noticed him running away? Was that was he was calling it now?

"Hey, just a heads up," Lance said. They were close to finishing their meal and Lance was pretty much just picking at the remains. "I won't be able to come next week."

Keith stopped chewing.

"I promised one of my friends I would go to an art exhibit. One of her pieces is in there," Lance continued. "I don't know if she's got an award or anything, but she asked me a while ago and wasn't sure of the date when she did."

Keith nodded. Yeah, of course. He cleared his throat, realizing he hadn't actually said it out loud. "Sure," he said. "I mean, it's you who will be missing out."

"I know," Lance said and Keith could almost see hearts in his eyes with the way he looked at the menu above the counter.

Lance's friend -- who he kept calling Plax, though Keith wasn't sure if it was her real name or just an affectionate nickname -- had always invited him to her art exhibits ever since they became friends. In return, he would bring her to movies in Spanish hosted by the school every month.

"They've got subtitles," Lance assured him, as if that's what Keith was really worried about.

~*~

Keith didn't know what to do. He usually did, or it came to him along the way and he didn't often need to think so damn much. The not knowing was what was really getting to him, the not knowing how to proceed, to make his brain just turn off maybe, for a moment, so he could just relax into a feeling of who cares.

He'd gotten over a crush before, he could do it again. Except Lance was everywhere, even when he wasn't. His name popped up in conversations, stupid things reminded Keith of him (seriously? The color blue?) -- he even surprised him once on campus.

Despite what movies portrayed, libraries were not actually quiet. No stern older woman glared at people through her cat-eye glasses or shushed them when things became a little rowdy. People collaborated on projects in the library, they studied together at tables and tested each other on terms. It was exactly for this reason why Keith was wearing headphones. How else was he supposed to concentrate?

He'd managed to work out the chapter he needed to read in order to complete his homework and had just started said homework when someone grabbed him by the shoulders and he shot up in the air.

Lance was laughing as Keith yanked his headphones out.

"What the hell?!" Keith snapped.

He was still laughing. The nerve.

"Seriously!"

And then Lance, who was still struggling with a case of the giggles, plopped down in the seat next to him. "You should have seen yourself," he said. "You jumped like, a foot."

Keith would have sworn that the urge to smile wasn't because whenever Lance did, it was always kind of like the feeling one got after watching a fantastic movie where a rag-tag group of people came together to form a sort of makeshift family in the end. But no, it wasn't because of that. It was because it was a funny thing, right? Him springing in the air. And irritating. He hated when people snuck up on him.

"What're you doing?" Lance asked, nodding to the book. An amused smile still tugged at his lips.

"Homework," Keith replied. "For a biology class."

"Interesting," Lance said, but he said it in a funny voice and then pulled the book closer to him.

"Kind of," Keith replied. "Mostly boring, though. Dry writing."

Lance lit up like he'd seen a puppy. "Yeah!" he said. "The actual content is pretty cool, usually, but the way they describe it! So boring! I wish they could make it sound more, I dunno--" He gestured with his hands.

"Like a book," Keith said and then realized just what he'd said. "I mean, like a novel. Something you read for fun."

"Yeah! If it were written in a style that was a little more casual, I think everyone would understand this stuff better," he said. "Maybe then the scientific community would boom and we'd finally get our flying cars."

"Flying cars."

"Haven't you ever seen The Jetsons? Flying cars. I want to live in space, like they do," Lance said and grinned. "Don't you?"

Keith shrugged. He could have made an argument about how that might clutter the sky or maybe corporations would want to stake claims to space, divvying it up like they did land, but he didn't have the heart. There was an ache in his chest, sort of like when he caught a cold sometimes and every time he coughed, it hurt.

Lance nudged him a little, as if to say "Hey, what's up?" with an expression so soft, it just made everything worse.

Keith didn't remember what he'd said or how the conversation flowed after that, but eventually Lance left him to do his homework in relative peace. Had to go meet up with some friends. He was always doing that, meeting with friends and having plans. Lance was the most social person Keith knew, after Hunk. It was admirable, really, even so Keith knew he would have hated to have so many acquaintances to keep track of.

It was when he was with Hunk that he did something incredibly stupid.

After class, he spotted Hunk strolling towards the parking lot so he jogged a little to catch up.

"You finished for today?" Keith asked.

"Yeah, you?" Hunk replied.

Keith nodded. "But I've got work in a couple hours."

"Ha! I've got off," Hunk teased, hitting him gently in the shoulder. "But I'm gonna meet up with Shay later tonight."

They'd reached the parking lot. Hunk owned a mustard-colored Jeep Renegade. It used to be a Wrangler, because he liked going camping a lot with friends, but he'd traded it in after finding out it was prone to roll in accidents.

Keith immediately started looking for it. "Got a big date?" he asked, trying to push the teasing attitude back at him.

"Yeah," Hunk said and he stopped walking. "I mean no, I don't know."

An idea floated around in Keith's head, taking root as suspicion. "Hey, are you going to..." It wasn't even him and the words felt embarrassing.

"Maybe?" Hunk said, looking up with panic and worry painted all over his face. "Should I? I thought about it for a while and my parents have already been teasing me about it."

Keith shrugged. He was literally the last person anyone should ever ask about relationship advice.

"I've got a ring."

"What."

Hunk looked a little sheepish and glanced around. "Not here, I haven't picked it up yet. It's still at the store. But I was planning on heading over there before picking her up," he said.

Keith's heart was pounding and he had no idea how to respond. Did he offer congratulations? But he hadn't yet popped the question and neither had Shay given her answer yet. She would, though. She would most definitely say yes. There was no way she wouldn't, they were both so very much in love and had been for years.

"Do you want to come with me?" Hunk asked. "To pick it up."

The nod Keith gave was all that he felt he could really give at the moment. Marriage. And there'd be a great big wedding because that was Hunk's family -- they did everything big and heartfelt. A glowy, fuzzy, warm happiness.

The trip didn't take very long and they each took their own cars, on account of Keith having work and Hunk having his obvious plans, but Keith was still jittery with nerves. He was too young to have married friends. Sure, it had been several years since high school, but it didn't feel like it.

And the ring was, well, a ring. It looked expensive, but he didn't ask how much it had been. Hunk hadn't picked the traditional diamond. Instead, there was a yellow sapphire in the middle, with green jasper chips dotted along the sides. It matched a necklace Shay wore, Hunk had told him. She'd gotten it from her grandmother and, well, there was a whole story behind it that Hunk didn't really want to get into.

"And it's black silver because," Hunk shrugged, "it's cool looking, I guess. And if she says yes, then I'll get a wedding band in the same silver."

It took a moment for Keith to respond. "She'll say yes," he said. He was sure of it.

Hunk looked giddy for one moment, worried the next. He stared down at the ring for a moment, thumb swiping over the sapphire. "I sure hope so," he murmured.

With the ring secured in a little bag Hunk had asked the sales woman to staple shut -- he didn't want it falling out on accident and had listed off several circumstances where it could all go terribly, terribly wrong -- they walked out of the store in silence. It felt heavy, significant. Something life-changing was going to take place.

Their cars weren't very far away, but it felt like an eternity before they reached them. Keith's eyes wandered up out of habit, to scan the area, and then back down to his car door. Then up again. Even when he was in the most unlikely of places, Lance was there. Sure, he was across the street, walking out of a candy store, but he was there.

Keith immediately grabbed onto Hunk's jacket and tugged him down with him. There was no thinking, just grab, pull, and drop.

As he sat there, heart pounding, his reasoning caught up with him. Had Lance seen that? He sure hoped not. What could he give as an answer? That he wanted to avoid talking to him because whenever he did, his chest felt tight and he was overcome with a crushing wave of hopelessness? No, because that was dramatic and he swore he wasn't.

"Uh," said Hunk, who was still crouched next to him on the pavement. "I feel like I should comment on this. So I'm commenting. What are we doing, Keith?"

#klance #keith kogane #lance mcclain #voltron #vld #hunk garrett #he features in this one lots #sorry if this one reads kinda wonky #ive been super stressed about stuff lately #and writing hasn't been easy #but the next one should go better!#it's also prob gonna be the last :)#i gave lance my weird laughing at serious situations #so im sorry if that also feels weird -- keith doesnt get it either #anyways #i hope you like it :)#at least like the direction it's going in

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