#there is.... a kitchen/bathroom/living area but the layout is a MESS so. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

son-of-rap-bear-art · 6 months

Text

So, do y'all remember the Adventure Time Mash-Up Pack for Minecraft back in like, 2017? Me and some friends have been messing around with that map lately and revamping some of the areas we consider a bit lacking with creative mode, and for me that was the Treehouse! I got ~100 reference pics from various episodes and tried to put it all together into the most autistically accurate Treehouse I could, and I wanna share it here cause I'm really proud of it!

Feel free to skip the text and just look at the pretty pictures. Cause when I say "autistically accurate" I MEAN IT. It's MY blog and I get to choose the special interest. :p

The exterior is mostly unchanged from the official map, but I added the orange tree from My Two Favorite People, and the pond. Also the log where Finn sits and thinks in Gotcha!

Yes, I will be mentioning specific episodes like this often.

I didn't make the Grotto, because I'm not THAT crazy, but I did make the pond really deep and filled it with the sort of things you see when Finn swims down there in Beyond the Grotto.

The first thing you see when you actually go inside is the treasure room, of course! The official map's treasure room is so small and sad, but I made it more accurate to how it looks in the show, with a ton of ladders and platforms going upwards until you get to the kitchen.

Speaking of, at this point I should show the layout I based the rooms' positions on...

I put this together myself and I THINK it's the most consistently accurate layout... of course, it's a cartoon, sometimes you'll get stuff like the bathroom in the left branch for the sake of a gag in Dentist, and characters will frequently run offscreen and then teleport to another room, BUT this is what I observed to be the most common layout seen when the camera will actually follow the characters through doors and ladders and etc.

Interestingly, the ladder in the trunk actually seems to connect to the kitchen, which is HIGHER than the living room, and then you have to go down a separate ladder to get to the living room. Confusing! But it checks out.

So yeah, climbing up past the treasure room takes you right to the kitchen! Some specific details to call out here are: - The picture of PB with the two spatulas is from Abstract, and I painted it myself in-game via a mod! Unfortunately I didn't get around to other paintings yet, they're a bit annoying to make. - The urn supposedly containing Margaret's ashes, from Conquest of Cuteness, is on one of the shelves. - There isn't a single torch in this whole build! It's carefully lit up with candles, just like the Treehouse should be! - There's actually this easily missable tiny room connected to the kitchen, seen in the last pic, that has another trapdoor and also the door to the bathroom. I believe that first shows up in Incendium and then stays around forever. - The cooler is entirely full of eggs, like how Finn exclusively buys pre-boiled eggs when grocery shopping without Jake, in Temple of Mars.

The bathroom! Funnily enough, the bathroom might be the least consistent room in the whole Treehouse. It's just made up of a toilet, bathtub, and sink, but these three things shuffle around the room entirely at random from episode to episode. In this sort of situation, I consider the most accurate way to handle it to be the same as the show: just put them wherever! So I did that.

That door in the kitchen leads to this room, connected by a bridge. I just called it the "bucket room" because it has a bucket that Finn and Jake ride in in Rainy Day Daydream, although that episode has a pretty wacky Treehouse in general.

I hooked up a hand crank with the Create mod, so you can use it like an elevator kinda.

Down the other ladder in the kitchen gets you to, the living room! This room's just a small round circle in some episodes, but others have it a bit bigger.

That bookshelf is there in Jake Suit, and has Dream Journal of a Boring Man, Vol 12 on it. Since one of the decor mods I'm using lets me place down books, I copied the 3 excerpts we get to see from it down into a written book, so it's even actually there!

A really inconsistent aspect of the living room is this weird platform with a door. I can only remember it appearing in In Your Footsteps and Three Buckets, but maybe I've just always missed it? I made it lead back into the trunk, so you can use it as a shortcut up to the kitchen.

Also over here is this workbench, which to my knowledge suddenly shows up in season 8 and becomes a REALLY REALLY consistent part of the living room?? Seriously, it's in Two Swords, Horse and Ball, Abstract... It's suddenly all over the place!! But I genuinely can't recall it existing before that. Am I crazy or is this an actual thing?

Anyway, connected by bridge to the living room is the den! Surprisingly, even though it barely even shows up in any episodes, the den is SUPER messy and lived in. I tried to reflect this by jamming as many decorative blocks as I could in there.

Also for some reason this fireplace doubles as a pizza oven in Abstract? Yeah, Abstract's got a really silly Treehouse. But it was easy enough to slot in there, so I did!

Way back to the kitchen and upwards: the bedroom! I always thought the bedroom was so tiny and cramped, but a good few episodes actually show it as pretty spacious! I tried to hit a good balance.

The pictures hung up around Finn's bed are a blurry, badly taken picture of Huntress Wizard, and a clearly old picture of Flame Princess. They're both cute choices for Finn's future, and are my girlfriends' respective favorite characters, so I included both :D

I also included the attic, which as far I know ONLY appears in Dad's Dungeon. I think it's neat, though, so I put it here. It'll be nice for survival mode storage.

If you exit through the attic, you can get to the cloud that Finn and Jake have tied down for its rainwater. The dripstone on the underside looks a bit ugly, but it makes it functional! If you scoop water out of any of the cauldrons with a bucket, it'll slowly refill with water from the cloud!

We're nearing the end! Here's a back shot of things. I added the power lines, Neptr's cave, and the farm. For some reason, Holly Jolly Secrets has a second, distinct set of powerlines, but those would be ugly so I didn't include them.

Lastly, the chicken coop, as seen in BMO Noire and mentioned in Three Buckets, featuring Lorraine. Who looks like Boobafina in this texture pack, which is silly.

I'm... honestly not very satisfied with the coop's placement, as BMO Noire shows it being out on a rarely-seen branch, but this is the best I could do without a major facelift on the tree itself.

So, yeah! That's the image limit. There's a good few extra details scattered around here and there, but I'll leave it at that. I hope this is as fun to read as it was for me to write :D

#adventure time #atimers #minecraft #mineblr #yall use that tag right? mineblr?#minecraft build

432 notes · View notes

hometoursandotherstuff · 2 months

Text

Weird DIY conversion. The owners of this former 1940 bank turned it into a home and now, the 3bd, 2ba house in Ross, North Dakota is on the market for $99K and it's a fixer upper. Firstly, it will need some landscaping b/c it's surrounded by mud. Let's venture inside. Is it a bargain or not?

The entrance foyer has some sort of a weird window, a few steps and a shelf.

The living room looks big, and there's a tile square. Maybe they had a wood stove. I wonder what's under the drop ceiling.

This is the bank vault. It looks like a regular room, not very secure.

The kitchen's large.

Are these plywood or laminate?

Could this be a dining room leading to a family room?

The bath is big, but has a very awkward layout.

According to the description, the bedrooms are in the basement.

First, a laundry room.

Looks like a kitchenette area.

One of the smaller bedrooms. It has a look.

This is an oddly shaped room.

Maybe this is the primary.

This room off the bedrooms is the only one that has a window. I think it's the rec room. There appears to be a shelf for a TV.

The bathroom down here is interesting, especially the tub.

They put an addition on the back, the room that I think is a family room.

The yard is a mess.

The 3,485 sq. ft. lot is located in a very industrial, depressing area. So, is it worth $99K as a fixer upper?

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/202-Main-St_Ross_ND_58776_M93275-70020

#converted bank #fixer upper #houses #house tours #home tour #homes under $100K

161 notes · View notes

andthorns · 7 months

Text

task 01 — living spaces

mari's apartment is a sacred space to her, one where she can write undisturbed and be alone with her thoughts. she lives alone for this very reason, needing her own space where she can bask in the creative process without anyone disturbing her by asking her to clean the kitchen or go out to pick up milk. with its somewhat eccentric and cluttered decor, the apartment reflects mari perfectly, and she has built it to become a place where she can draw both inspiration and comfort in equal measure.

BUILDING. mari lives in a top-floor apartment in a three storey building closer to the side of town where the local residents live rather than her fellow students. her landlady, an ancient italian woman who is perpetually in a terrible mood, lives on the ground floor. the building is an old one, complete with creaking stairs and groaning pipes, but mari loves its character and many strange residents.

LAYOUT. the relatively humble apartment consists of a hallway, one bathroom, a small kitchen, one bedroom, and the living area, which is where mari spends the majority of her time — mostly due to the fact that this is the room containing her desk. the living space leads onto a tiny, rickety balcony overlooking the street below, and she has managed to cram a table and two chairs onto it so she can sit there in the evenings and watch the world go by with a glass of wine.

DECOR. mari has lived in the same apartment since the beginning of her sophomore year, and it shows. the decor is, to put it generously, eclectic. much of the mismatched furniture was there when she moved in, but she has put her own touch on the space with several second-hand items, framed prints on the walls, and a plethora of trinkets (see below). the resulting effect is bohemian and slightly chaotic, not helped by the fact that it's more than a little disorganised. mugs, papers, and clothes are scattered across every available surface, and books are stacked precariously in towering piles on the floor. though she makes efforts to tidy it all up every once in a while, she actually quite enjoys the mess, as it makes her feel like a real writer.

TRINKETS. since her family was cut off from her grandparents, mari has become something of a kleptomaniac. she never steals anything too valuable (with one notable exception, of course), usually just small items that people might not notice are gone, but over the years she’s amassed quite a collection. pieces that were stolen years ago — a little china elephant, a green glass ashtray, an enamel box that she now keeps supplements in — are displayed around her apartment like trophies. more recent acquisitions — a gold bracelet belonging to aileen, an engraved silver lighter that was formerly fitz's, a fountain pen taken from one of her professors – are kept locked in a drawer of her desk.

DESK. her desk is, to her, the most important piece of furniture she owns. it's the place where she does most of her writing, and so it took mari a long time and several discarded pieces before she found the one that was right for her. the heavy wooden desk sits under her window, and is piled high with books or items that she's using as her current inspiration, though a vase of flowers and a few half-empty coffee cups are usually present as well. the drawers are mostly filled with stationery, with the exception of the bottom drawer, which is filled with the treasures she's collected. the marchesa diamond also lives here in a small velvet bag, pushed to the very back so she doesn't have to think about it.

GUESTS. though mari is an introvert and sees her apartment very much as a place both to create and recharge, her door remains figuratively open for anyone who might need refuge. the couch is always available as a place to crash in emergencies, and closer friends (namely aileen) are welcome to share her bed. she doesn't often have romantic visitors, but once in a blue moon there might be someone she stumbles back with after a party.

#praeditus.task #look... i haven't incorporated her kleptomania into a thread yet but i WILL #if anyone wants to have something stolen hmu #anyway enjoy xoxo

4 notes · View notes

tile-wynnum · 2 months

Text

Tile Moorooka: Choosing the Right Tiles for Every Room

Living in Moorooka means enjoying classic charm with a modern twist. This is reflected in many Moorooka homes, which combine timeless design elements with contemporary touches. Tile, a versatile and durable material, is an excellent example. While it adorns countless tile Moorooka bathroom walls, its potential goes far beyond these traditional applications.

When choosing the right tile for each room in your home, you must consider functionality, aesthetics, and traffic flow. Tile Moorooka companies provide a wide range of options, so understanding your needs will help you make the best choice.

Bathroom Bliss: Balancing Beauty and Functionality

The bathroom is an ideal place to start with tile. Prioritize water and slip resistance. Choose glazed ceramic or porcelain tiles that are easy to clean and maintain. Smaller mosaic tiles can add visual interest to shower floors, whereas larger format tiles provide a sleek and modern look on walls.

Kitchen Flair: Durability Meets Style

The kitchen requires tile that can withstand spills, splashes, and heavy foot traffic. Glazed ceramic or porcelain tiles remain popular, with a broad range of shades and designs matching your cabinetry and countertops. Consider textured tiles for spill-prone areas, as they provide more traction. Tile companies can advise on aesthetically pleasing and functional options for your kitchen.

Living Room Luxury: Beyond the Expected

Tile isn't only for wet areas! Elevate your living room with a touch of elegance. Porcelain or ceramic tiles that resemble wood provide warmth and Style without the maintenance requirements of real hardwood. Consider textured options for a distinct look or bold geometric patterns for a standout floor. Tile companies in Moorooka can help you choose options that complement your existing décor.

Entryway Elegance: A Lasting First Impression

The entryway is a high-traffic zone that endures constant wear and tear. Moorooka tile companies offer durable options like porcelain or ceramic tiles with a textured or patterned surface. These tiles trap dirt and debris, minimizing the need for frequent cleaning. Choose neutral colors for a timeless look, or add a pop of character with a brilliantly colored accent tile.

Bedroom Tranquility: Comfort Underfoot

While carpet is a traditional choice for bedrooms, consider the warmth and ease of maintenance offered by large-form porcelain tiles. Fairer colors develop a sense of consciousness, while textured tiles add a touch of visual interest.

Laundry Room Liberation: Easy Cleaning Made Easy

Laundry rooms are notorious for messes. Tile offers the perfect solution – a durable, easy-to-clean surface that handles spills and splatters. Choose glazed ceramic or porcelain tiles in a light color to brighten up the space. Tile companies can show you options that suit your laundry room's layout and functionality.

Finding Your Perfect Tile Match in Mooroka

With so many tile companies, choosing the right one is crucial. Look for companies with a well-stocked showroom, knowledgeable employees, and a standing for providing excellent customer service. Research and visit various showrooms to see the different types of tiles available. Consider your budget, preferred Style, and the specific requirements of each room.

Finally, A Home Uniquely Yours

Selecting the appropriate tile for each room in your Moorooka home can create a beautiful, functional, and personalized space. Tile provides limitless opportunities to express your style and enhance your living environment. So, start your tile journey confidently, knowing that the ideal option awaits you with tile Moorooka.

0 notes

martinezkitchens · 2 years

Text

How to Get the Results You've Always Wanted From a House Renovation

If you're looking for a Brisbane house renovation, you've come to the right place. If you're unsure about where to start, Oxford Contracting can provide you with a free no-obligation quote. Its team of professional renovators and tradespeople will work with you to design and implement a renovation plan that meets your needs and budget. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the difference a new design and layout can make.

After evicting their tenants, Michael and Vanessa seized the opportunity to move in and bring their Brisbane house renovation plans forward. They found the property to be a complete mess when they arrived, with beer bottles and broken tiles everywhere. Fortunately, the roof hadn't collapsed yet, so water had been getting inside. The renovation team took advantage of the state forest's natural views to enhance the house's interior and exterior.

While a Brisbane house renovation can be a daunting process, it can also be incredibly inspiring. You can imagine creating your dream home in the existing structure, or you can extend the footprint of your home to make it bigger. To get the job done right, you need the services of a highly skilled renovator and builder. The first step in getting the results you've always dreamed of is to hire a skilled Brisbane builder.

There are a number of Brisbane house renovation companies to choose from. Some offer all-inone home renovations, while others focus on specific areas like kitchens and bathrooms. Some specialize in larger renovation projects, but if you're after something a little more special, you should consider contacting a company that specializes in that particular area. If you're looking for a custom home in Brisbane, consider LEAP Construction. This company started as a carpentry operation and now manages over 200 custom home projects in Brisbane.

A Brisbane house renovation team can also offer a wide range of house extension options. From bespoke extensions to outdoor living areas, these specialists can make your dream home a reality. And Renovare offers complete house renovation services throughout Brisbane. They can take care of all the engineering, council approvals, and design details, while offering affordable house extensions for homeowners. It services all divisions and some surrounding suburbs. The team can also help you find a qualified builder for your house extension project.

Another great resource for finding a contractor is Houzz. This site contains photos of house renovation Brisbane from different cities and suburbs. You can check out past projects and read reviews about different renovators. Once you have narrowed down the list, request quotes. Then, make sure you choose the best contractor who can complete your project quickly and successfully.

Your budget and the quality of the work will be well worth the effort!

#brisbane house renovation

1 note · View note

syddsatyrn · 2 years

Text

Roses are Red, Violets are Pink (Vi/femreader)

☆Series Rated 18+ for smut, fluff, alcohol, service kink, angst, swearing

☆Summary:

"You moved to a brand new area to start over, everything seems to be going really well, you like your new job and new home. Things start to get exciting when a pink haired girl shows up and you just cant seem to say 'no' to her."

This is a series I'm starting. Chapter one is a really mild intro. There will be more mischief in the future chapters ;) There are a few Vi fics out there were the reader is a bartender and I totally dig the idea. I actually thought about this in a dream. Anyway, Enjoy!

☆Roses are Red, Violets are Pink MASTER LIST

Chapter 1: You're gonna go far, kid.

“Okay, okay just one more” you thought as you picked up the last heavy box to take up to your new apartment. You recently moved from a far east district and you're looking to start fresh. You had a job interview for a new hire position at a bar two weeks back. When you went in to interview, they mentioned they were also looking for a tenant for the studio upstairs. You just had to swipe up this opportunity. Life in your previous district was not ideal. You have some bad memories you just can't shake when you're there. Plus there's a few people you wouldn't mind never seeing again. You also thought living above your new job would make things really easy.

It's noon and the bar was closed and completely empty. You scope out the layout of the booths, tables and take in the atmosphere before your shift starts tonight at 6pm sharp. You head upstairs to unpack a few things. After deciding to slip your headphones on to jam out, you start with hanging up your clothes in the closet and making your bed. You hang up a variety of black tops for work and organize your skirts and pants. Next you pull out a few large blankets and a couple pillows wrapped up in plastic bags. With your bed made and your closet finished, you find the box with all of your bathroom supplies. You carefully put everything away in the cabinet and under the sink.

The layout of your place is small but it’s enough space for you and a guest. It contains a small kitchen in the far corner and a small bathroom on the opposite side. You already moved in all the bigger stuff so it made things a bit easier. You hummed the tunes in your ear, every once in a while softly singing the lyrics out loud. As you stand back to marvel at your hard work, you still feel like something is missing. “ Oh yeah!” You say out loud and snatch a box off the kitchen counter. You quickly opened it and pulled out a set of string lights. After grabbing your step stool, you hang them above your window. Perfect. you thought with a please look on your face.

5:30 pm rolls around and you start to get a little nervous. You are wearing a black long sleeve crop top, dark purple leggings, and black skirt. You lean on the bathroom sink applying eyeliner, praying to the beauty gods you don’t mess it up. You finally completed “The look” and threw on a pair of ankle high punk boots. You’ll be on your feet all night and heels are just impractical. You double check yourself and head down stairs.

When you get to the bottom of the stairs a voice calls out “Ah, y/n! Just the newbie I was looking for!” It’s your new boss, Zaire. He’s a big guy with tattoos down his arms and across his chest. He’s super nice though, unless you upset one of the female bartenders. It gave you a little reassurance that the creeps might leave you alone. “I'm not new at bartending, Zaire!” You retort with a short laugh. “I’ve been doing this for 3 years!” you announce proudly. “Alright, alright” Zaire snorted, “Show me what you got, kid.”

You begin by taking three glasses and gathering different liquor bottles. First you pour a variety of liquor into each glass, throw some ice in a shaker and then add mixers. You shake the glass and the tumbler together, then pour. You do the same with each drink, pouring different colors into each glass. You garnish the drinks, add straws and gesture to your works of art. “Wow, that was fast!” Zaire said very surprised “Alright, now for the taste test”. He takes each drink and sips them slowly, pausing after each one to clear his palette. “Wow, y/n, these are delicious! I think you're gonna go far here kid” Zaire gives you a big grin and walks off with one of the drinks for himself, throwing a towel over his shoulder. “If you need anything, just holler!” He calls out. “Thank you!” You reply loudly with enthusiasm. Tonight was going to be a breeze.

Customers started to pour in slowly until the place was packed. Zaire is busy slinging shots to practically everyone. You run to each of your tables and deliver drinks, take empty glasses and occasionally share words with the customers. They are definitely a rough bunch, but you felt okay here. Besides, you don't mess with the people who pour your drinks.

By 1:45 am almost everyone had stumbled out, just a few more stragglers left. You decided to clean up, taking a hot rag to the countertops. When you finished, you started washing shot glasses and placing them on a drying rack. Zaire deemed it was time for him to kick out the leftover strays and lock up. After he’s done he turns around on his heel and walks towards you “Hey! y/n, you did really well tonight! I knew I made the right choice when I picked you.” he chimes. “Did anyone else even apply?” you ask with a sneer. He lets out a big hearty laugh “I'm trying to be nice y/n, don’t push it!” he replies playfully “ Now get outta here before I change my mind and ask you to sweep the floors.”

You wave goodbye and head upstairs, today went so well. You had so many doubts in the back of your brain but you did it! You unlock your front door and slip inside, remembering to lock it behind you. Feeling pretty good about yourself, you take out a bottle of whiskey from your kitchen cabinets and pour yourself a shot. “New job, new life, new Y/n” You hold up your glass like you're making a toast with a group of people and down the liquor quickly.

It’s 12:00 pm and your cell phone starts blaring the most ungodly noise. It's your alarm, you groan into the pillows and reach for your phone. It took you a couple tries but you finally found it. You turn off the alarm and reluctantly roll out of bed. You make your way to the kitchen to make some coffee and instant oatmeal. Stirring your coffee you start thinking about what you want to do today. You definitely need to continue unpacking. You finish your breakfast and start putting away the rest of your cooking utensils, pots and pans, and other various kitchen gadgets.

After what seems like an unpacking montage, you feel satisfied for now. You decide to take a shower, you walk into your bathroom and turn on the water. Removing your clothes and checking the water temperature, you hop into the shower with a relaxing sigh. You washed up with a rose scented body wash paired with a rose shampoo and conditioner. Everything seems to be coming together and you seem to float around the apartment with a content feeling in your heart. You get out of the shower, dry off, and brush your teeth. You decide to lounge around for a bit and watch some TV.

Some silly reality show plays in the background as you paint your nails a bright blue. You blow on your finished manicure and stare at the ceiling. What time is it? You turn to face a clock on the wall in the kitchen. Oh wow! It's already 5pm! You start digging through your closet and pull out a black and white plaid skirt, long black stockings, and a black short sleeve crop top with a fishnet undershirt. You put on the same boots you wore yesterday and feel pretty badass. Same routine, you attempt to put on makeup and mess up a couple times but you eventually get it all evened out. You take one last look in the mirror and head down stairs.

Work is picking up slowly but surely! You are making multiple drinks and shots then running them out with a tray. Before your shift started, you met up with the third employee, her name is Tillie. She generally serves drinks and preps the bar. She’s actually super clean, helpful, and funny. You were excited to have another woman on the team and you both already got along. She chatted you up about her interests and her boyfriend that she’s totally head over heels for. Things are going really smoothly so far, a few small groups left early. When it slowed down a little you went back behind the bar to do some prep work. It’s almost halfway through your shift when the door bursts open.

(Chapter two will be posted shortly)

#arcane vi #vi arcane #vi fanfic #vi x reader #vi/reader #arcane #vi league of legends #league of lesbians #arcane league of legends #roses are red violets are pink

145 notes · View notes

ellana-ravenwood · 4 years

Text

“Mom got lost again” - Batfam x Fem!Reader

Synopsis : Little snippets about how “Batmom” (reader) will never find her way in the Mansion. But it’s fine, really, because she can always count on her husband and children to “save” her. //DRABBLE

So. I was watching one of those “Architect’s digest” video on YouTube where they visit houses that are millions and millions of dollars worth, and besides the fact that I was thinking “wow look at all those beautiful things I’ll never be able to afford”, I couldn’t shake another thought off…and that was that I would totally get lost in many of those houses. Like, the way some are designed, they’re literally Dedalus’ labyrinth my dudes. So anyway, here’s not-really-a-fic-nor-a-drabble for you, a sort of snippet kind of thing, about this. Hope you’ll like it :

My masterlist blog : @ella-ravenwood-archives

__________________________________________________

Before the kids

“Hey Alfred, where’s (Y/N) ?”

He asks, one early evening as he just got home from work and knows you were going to meet up with him at his place.

“Oh Lady (Y/L/N) wanted to go see the library, so I took her there.”

“Thank you.”

Bruce arrives in the library, but you’re nowhere to be found. Wondering where you went he calls you but it seems like your cell don’t have any battery anymore. He starts to walk around the West Wing, looking in every room and…Finally, he finds you.

You’re sitting down against a wall in the corridor, looking discouraged, staring at your dead phone. You spot him and jump to your feet, looking very relieved. You then rush in Bruce’s arms, he catches you in extremis and you exclaims :

“Oh my god ! Bruce ! I love you !”

Insert a lot of kisses on his cheeks a really huge hug, as if you haven’t seen him in ages. But I mean, getting lost any place is sort of distressing, and you looooove that man. So much.

A little confuse, although always happy to have your affection, he asks :

“What…is going on ?”

“I got lost…”

“You got lost ?”

"You have a very big house.”

Highly amused, Bruce responds : “I do.”

“So I got lost.”

“Ah. And what were you doing sitting there ?”

“Well…My parents always taught me to stay where I was, if I ever got lost somewhere, so when they’d came to look for me we’d be sure to see each others instead of passing right next to each others a thousand times…”

Bruce can’t help but burst out in laughter. Even more so that you genuinely looks like a kid that got separated from her parents. And oh, oh you love his laughter.

It’s always a feat, when you can hear it. Especially when it comes from the heart like right now, when he genuinely laughs this deep beautiful laugh, because he’s happy. Because you make him happy.

He’s not laughing at you, he just laughs because...You’re too much sometimes.

And exactly what he needs. Too much is good, for a man like him.

He takes your hand and shows you around one more time.

But he can see that even so, you can’t seem to remember the layout of the house, and you getting lost will happen again for sure.

And he’s right. He showed you around his manor so many times, yet it seems you just can’t remember certain places. Like you memorized the places you go the most, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, access to the Batcave...and most of the time you find your way around easily (albeit sometimes still a little lost).

But there’s entire areas of the house you try not to venture in or...it ends with Bruce coming to your rescue. Or Alfred. But he usually leaves Bruce to do it, as the man just...loves the way you two love each others.

It’s always rather cute. And it warms the butler’s heart.

Never in his wildest dream would he ever have thought that his Master Bruce would find someone like you. Someone accepting and understanding, and loving him unconditionally. And someone that Bruce loved fully in return, and whom he cherished above all.

Yes. Alfred often let Bruce go on the hunt for you across the Manor, simply because he shipped you both since the very first time he saw you together, and he thoroughly enjoyed when his Master Bruce was acting like a lovesick puppy around you. When he was acting like a “normal” man, just hopelessly in love with his wife.

And it was so pure, and beautiful.

So what if sometimes you’d wait a little long, lost in those endless corridors ? Alfred knew that Bruce would find you. Always. And that when he did, as usual, you would make Bruce’s heart melt, and he’d feel happy just by seeing you and...honestly it was all wort it.

Bruce sometimes suspect you do it on purpose. That you get lost just so he can find you. And honestly ? He really doesn’t mind...

Saved by the little bird

"Over a year of living here, I swear I still can’t...where...wait, didn’t I just pass this damn yet-again-another-living room ?! Aaaah what the fuck why is everything looking the same. Fucking shit. What a shitastrophy. Fucking cockburger son of a bitchtits little f-”

“Um...Are you ok, mom ?”

Oh sssshhhh...Alfred wouldn’t be happy with you for swearing around your young son. Dick was only eight, after all.

He had started to call you “mom” since very recently, and it always made your heart skip a beat. Made you feel utterly happy.

As the boy came in behind you from the corridor, you were about to kick a potted plant out of frustration (another thing that Alfred wouldn’t be very happy about). You turn around, slowly get your foot back on the floor, and say :

“Um. I got um...Lost...”

“Lost ?”

“Yes...I just...can’t get used to the size of this house. I wanted to get something that Alfred said was in the East wing, which is somewhere I never really go. And um...”

“You got lost.”

“Yes. Don’t make fun of me ok, your dad is already enough.”

“I wasn’t going to make fun of you !”

Your son says, a little virulently, as if offended you’d ever think such a thing ! You smile at him, because how sweet could this kid get really ?

“Alright little buddy, sorry I ever made such an assumption. So, if you’re not gonna mock me...maybe you can save me then ?”

“Save you ?”

“Well, I’m lost. And you don’t seem lost.”

“That’s because I’m not, I always found my way out of the labyrinths in fun fairs very easily !”

He tells you, smiling widely, excited at the prospect of helping you.

“Where do you need to go ?”

“Let’s try to get to the kitchen.”

“I know the way ! Come on !”

He takes your hand in his little one, and drags you behind him, leading you across corridors and rooms up until...

“Here !”

He tells you, smiling widely. And it’s so cute, because he’s missing a few teeth and his smile is just so pure...You just want to squish his little face and hug him to death.

“Ah my savior ! What can I ever repay you with ?”

You ask, taking an overdramatic tone of voice, knowing little Dickie always loved when you two played pretend and such. He takes the gruffest voice he can and says :

“Well, my lady can repay me with...um...Cookies, yes I think cookies will do !”

“Cookies ? Well this sounds fair, for this dashing saving you just did ! Macadamia or chocolate chip ?”

“Both ?”

“Both it is !”

It happened many times, that you paid your oldest son with cookies, after he saved you from getting lost in your own house...Even as an adult, he’d demand payment of fresh cookies, and then would go show them off to his siblings, refusing to share, as the “good” older brother he was haha.

Lost together

You find Jason in one of the many gaming room, while you were trying to get to the kitchen. You know for a fact that there are no gaming rooms on the way to the kitchen, but you can’t really figure out where you messed up...Was it when you went left after the third bathroom ? Or when you took the stairs down right before one of the mezzanine ? Wait, did that mezzanine have a piano ? Because if it did then it was the right way, if it didn’t, then you were on the other side of the damn house. Or maybe just right next to...Yeah ok. Lost again.

But you found Jason.

Maybe he could help ?

The boy was sitting in a huge comfortable leather armchair, reading a book. When he heard you come in the room, he snapped his head up and a huge smile illuminated his cute little face.

“Finally ! Mom !”

He jumps off the armchair, putting down his books, and goes to jump in your arms. Then he says :

“I was trying to go to the arcade room ! Because I wanted to beat your high score on Tekken, but I always only followed someone there, and I can’t find it anymore...”

Ah. The arcade. One of the only room you sort of knew where to find...If you started from the front door. Or your bedroom. Not from a random room god knew where in the mansion.

Why was this house so big ???

“I’m sorry to bother you with this, I know I should’ve paid more attention when Alfred showed me, but it’s just-”

Oh no. Oh no the little one was looking at you worryingly, probably because you weren’t responding, and he thought he was being a pain.

Little Buddy always thought he was bothering people...So hurriedly, you said :

“Oh no no Jason, you’re not bothering me at all ! It’s just um..I’m um...I’m sort of lost too.”

“You are ?”

“I am.”

“Really ?”

“Really.”

“Well damn.”

“Haha right ? Usually your father or Dick would save me. Or Alfred.”

“Yeah same.”

“I actually rarely walk around alone now that I think about it.”

“Yeah same !”

There’s a short pause, where you look at each others and smile at this little moment. And then, as you slowly both realize that you’re lost, IN YOUR OWN HOME, and the ridiculousness of the situation down on you, you explode in laughter.

You end up getting back to the armchair, and Jason settles comfortably in your lap as you continue to read the book he was reading, out loud, and he listens to you happily. Nobody ever really read him stories before you and Bruce...

Bruce finds the both of you later in the day, fast asleep in the armchair, Jason latched on your arm as you hug him to you.

He finds the sight so adorably charming. He sits down next to the two of you, enjoying this moment of quiet and peace. And then he picks up the book you were reading, reading it himself...Ah. It’s one of his favorite childhood book.

He reads it, waiting for you two to wake up, not wanting to disturb your sleep.

It’s rare, that he has some free time. And he really doesn’t mind spending it watching over his sleeping wife and son, waiting for them to wake up and guide their way back to the part of the house they know...

Damn. Damn he loves them so much.

"I memorized the blueprints”

“And see, here’s a secret passage !”

The boy says excitedly, as he shows you and Bruce a hidden door in one of the wall, behind a heavy tapestry.

“...Wait...I didn’t even know that was there...How did...What ?”

Your husband asks, half-confused, half-impressed, with maybe a little hint of hurt pride in there as well...it’s his house after all.

“I memorized the blueprints of the house that are in the library.”

The little one says, smiling widely at his new father. Bruce responds :

“I have those blueprints, I never saw this secret passage ever in my life.”

“You must have the “official” blueprints, the one Allan Wayne gave to others. The blueprints in the library, the ones I found, were tucked away inside one of the book and showed more than the “official” ones. Your great-great-great-great-great grandfather was a very paranoid man, I assume he pulled a Madame Winchester on the builders.”

“Madame Win...Huh ?”

“You know, famous Winchester mansion ? Super haunted ? She gave instructions to many different people to build certain things and there isn’t really blueprints that shows a correct layout of everything ?”

“Right...Sure...”

“I assume you were too busy building the bat cave to really pay attention to the house. But it’s quite a wonder ! There’s so many new secrets I haven’t discovered yet !”

A soft, tender smile spreads on your husband’s face as he looks down at Tim. Bruce says :

“That’s quite a discovery you found there my boy, and you say you memorized it already ?”

“It was easy, I just had to keep in mind the-”

And then Tim started to get lost in long complicated explanation that you didn’t understand, while your husband seemed very interested.

You couldn’t help but smile. How cute...

Today, you were sort of glad, that you got very lost in your own home again, and got saved by little Timmy. He hadn’t lived in the house for very long by that time, but already knew it even better than Bruce, apparently.

It was so nice, to have such a sweet little on in your life again...Dick hadn’t been by in a while, busy with the titans. And Jason...

You didn’t want to think about Jason.

Or at least, not in the way you would end up thinking about him. You wanted to remember his smiles, and how he always got lost too in this house. Not...Not...the broken body Bruce brought back...You...

You shooed the memory away, and focused on your son.

Tim was now going on and on about how he found really cool places that weren’t on the normal blueprints, and how he wanted to show Bruce and you.

And Bruce was smiling. For the first time in ages. Your husband was smiling, faced with such an excited little one.

So yes. Yes, today you were glad you got lost in your own home, and that your tiny son found you and showed you the way. That it lead you to ask him how the hell was he that fast in memorizing the house’s layout, and then him explaining things about the blueprints.

And consequently, how Bruce and him started to truly bond, started to talk about the house and about the Wayne legacy...

It was nice. To finally see your husband smile again. Propelled by a sudden surge of motherly love, you hugged Tim tight, and the boy, a bit confused at first, hugged you back without much questions.

And this sight.

His wife and his son hugging.

It warmed Bruce’s heart in a way his heart hadn’t been warmed since he lost Jason.

Yes. It was good, that sometimes you’d get lost in your own damn house.

This is a fun game

By the time Cassandra came into your life, this “mom got lost again” thing became sort of a game. It was about who would find you first, when they realized you were lost.

You’d be gone a little too long after saying : “I’m gonna go get the ice cream in the freezer”, and they knew. It was time to set a party to find you.

“3, 2, 1...GO !” And they’d run in each different direction, searching for you.

The winner gets cookies. Baked by you...

Cass liked that game.

Because even if she lost, she would’ve spend quality times with her family. Fun times. Looking for her beloved mother.

Mother.

The only mother she ever had.

Mom.

It’s a word that always easily rolled off her tongue.

Mom.

“Found, mom.”

You jumped a little in the air, as your only daughter suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She was looking at you upside down, and it took you a little bit to realize she was actually dangling off in a very spider-man way off of the floor just above. She must’ve heard your footsteps (or more likely, your growls about being lost again).

She jumped off, and you felt your heart stop, suddenly fearing she would fall down but..Not, she agilely jumps over the rail, and is in front of you, smiling.

Finding you was Cass’ favorite game. Because when she did, you’d always look at her fondly, give her a hug, and praise her for being the best.

And for someone like Cassandra, who grew up treated like an emotionless machine by a man who never viewed her as more than a weapon...it felt nice, to have such a loving person in her life.

When Cass thought of you, her mind filled with bright colors, and her heart with warmth. Because she grew up never learning how to speak, her thoughts didn’t quite work in words like most people, but in colors and temperatures.

And you, you were reassuring colors and soothing warmth.

Mom.

Such a simple word. Yet it took her a while to be able to even say it.

Now she could speak, in big thanks to you. And her father.

She loved you guys so much. So much.

She loved you.

“Mom.”

She says, reaching a hand for yours. And you take it, smiling once more, shaking your head and apologizing that you made her look for you...Oh.

Oh but she doesn’t mind. None of them do.

Because when they find you. When they “save you”, you always look at them with such unconditional love. No matter what.

Finding you is Cass’ favorite game.

It always leaves her feeling nice and warm, loved and safe.

Finding you is Cass’ favorite game.

And one day, she’ll be able to tell you all of that. One day, she’ll be able to tell you to never apologize, because she loves to look for you. She loves you.

One day. One day she’ll talk to you about all of this.

But for now, it was fine for both of you that her feelings translated in only smiles, affectionate touch, and one very important word...

“Mom”.

“I won’t let you get lost !”

Damian hated the mere idea of you being in any kind of distress.

ANY kind.

So when he learned that you would often get lost in the Manor, and even as everyone assured him it just sort of became an inside joke within the family, your youngest son took it upon himself to make sure you’d never get lost again.

He started to put up signs everywhere in the house, giving indications as to where you were and where was what. Detailed little maps, arrows and such. Drawn by himself. It took him WEEKS to finally cover the entire Manor.

It’s something no one ever thought of before because...Although you often got lost, it was always nice to try and find you, and well, you would still know your way around the part of the house you’d most go to.

In fact, when you got lost, it was often because you’d go in a wing you didn’t know much for whatever reason, and they’d know where to look for you.

So they never really saw a reason to make signs telling you the right way. Or yeah, they never really thought about it.

But Damian...Damian was set to make the house “lost proof”.

As a result, you definitely didn’t get lost as many times. Which was...nice ?

But once, at dinner, Dick was reminiscing of that one time you got lost in the attic for some reason, and couldn’t find your way out, and him and Jason had to get you, and how they laughed a lot and you praised them for saving you...

And Damian grew quiet. And upset. When you asked him why, he refused to answer, but the next day, you ventured in a part of the house you rarely went to so you could go fetch something and...

All the signs telling you which way to go were gone. Which didn’t worry you much, you knew you’d be found by one of your family member before long, or would just find your own way out after a while.

But it was odd nonetheless.

It’s only when Damian found you, and “saved” you that you understood why the signs weren’t on anymore.

Damian too, wanted to “save” you from getting lost. Wanted to laugh with you because it was silly that you got lost in your own house. Wanted you to bake him cookies as a reward for saving him. Wanted to share those bonding moments with you...

It was so cute, and showed how far Damian really went since Talia first dropped him on your door, that you couldn’t help but hug the hell out of your baby.

He was a little embarrassed, but hugged you back nonetheless.

Yes. Yes Damian had come along way, since he first came into your life. He learned how to love, how it felt to be loved, and how...how sometimes he would crave for your attention.

And so he took down the signs. So he could save you. So he could share this with you, just like you did share those moments with all his other siblings.

He took down the signs, because you getting lost was an important inside joke of this family...And because he was, now, part of this family.

What even is this place...

Duke thought he would never EVER find his way back in this new house.

His bedroom was in...east wing ? West wing ? ...SOMEWHERE.

The first few days of living there were overwhelming, and he constantly had to make sure he wasn’t far from one of the other family member because he was so afraid to get lost.

He couldn’t remember the right way to anywhere. This was all too big.

He grew up in a small two bedrooms apartment, in the heart of Gotham’s sludge. He could find his way in this gigantic city easily, knew the place like the back of his hand but...

The Manor ?

It was uncharted territory. In every sense of the term.

First it was on the outskirt of Gotham, in the hills, a place he never set foot in.

And then the house, but also the land around it was bigger than his neighborhood ! It was so foreign for him...

But he hid this well. He hid the fact he was overwhelmed well. And just made sure he’d always be with someone when walking around the manor.

He tried to remember the way they took, he really did. But every time he thought he got it, they’d use another way and he was totally lost again.

Alfred showed him around the first day, but it was too many informations at the same time. Him and his ADHD couldn’t process it.

What would you guys say, if he mentioned he was getting lost in the house ? Surely, you’d mock him. Or just feel sorry for him ?

He wasn’t sure, and he didn’t want to know. Acclimating to this new life was already hard enough, what with discovering his meta-powers, having to deal with what happened to his parents, and living in this all new environment.

You made it comfortable and easy for him. You were just so welcoming and loving. But it was still hard...he was only a boy.

And so he said nothing. And now...now, lost and walking through corridors that all looked the same, he dearly regretted it.

He turned a corner, and...there you were.

“Oh, hey Dukie”.

He smiled shyly, afraid you would know he was lost, and said :

“Hi.”

“What’s up ?”

“Nothing, I was going to- I was exploring the house.”

He was about to say he was trying to get to the movie theater, where Damian and Cass were surely waiting for him by that time, so they could watch a movie. But what if he was totally off ? Far from where the home cinema was supposed to be ?

“Exploring the house” sounded like a safe thing to say.

“Oh, careful not to get lost haha. Happens to me all the time...”

Wait...What ? Were you joking ? He wasn’t sure.

“Actually, I’m lost right now. I wanted to take a shortcut from the kitchen to the bat cave to see Bruce -I miss him- -Yeah I know only saw him couple of hours ago-, but I must’ve taken a wrong turn...Somewhere...”

You were holding your chin in your hand now, trying to remember where you could possibly have taken the wrong turn. And Duke realized you were serious.

“You’re lost ?”

“Yeaaaah. Go ahead, you can laugh. I know I’d laugh at myself too haha. I just could...never quite figure out how this house worked ? I grew up in a one bedroom apartment, sleeping in the living room with my brothers. And then when I moved in on my own I had an even smaller place. So. It’s a change. Even after all those years I’m still not quite used to it.”

“Ah me too ! I mean, I just can’t figure out the layout of this place !”

“Ah ? Hey, for you too, sometimes you think you definitely know where you’re going and then you find yourself outside in the garden and you just have no idea how you got there ?”

“Yes !!!! I was sure of my way so many times but then one wrong turn and...here I am.”

“Well Duke, believe me I get it. I get it haha.”

You then proceeded to tell him all the most embarrassing stories of you getting lost, including that one time at a charity event held in your house, someone asked you to take them to a certain place, and your asshole of a husband let you do it just because he knew you wouldn’t find the way, and because you getting lost with their guest was the only fun entertainment of the night.

And this.

This simple shared thing, of you two getting lost...

It was amongst the first time Duke really felt home. Really felt like he wasn’t alone.

Those past few days had been difficult for him. This was all so new.

And yet, with a few smiles, silly stories and support..You made him feel like he was truly home. And he didn’t even notice the hours you two passed, sat on the floor in that corridor, before Bruce found you and took you back to where you initially wanted to go...

Saved by the littlest bird

Thomas is about eight, and you’re about to have a heart pinching flashback as he’s going to remind you of your first baby...

Dick was going to be almost thirty, by then. He was married, and with a kid on the way (I’m not here for ship wars, you chose with who he is, wether it’s Babs or Kori, or whoever else). Oh, how long ago it was, that his little eight years old hand would hold yours to guide you across the manor...

Too bad. Because right now, you definitely needed some help navigating around. Lost again. Ugh. T’was getting old.

“Mommy...You’ve been living in this house for over 15 years now, how can you still get lost ?”

Your littlest baby. Thomas. Appearing from around the corner, and as he saw you, rolling his eyes like never before. Yet smirking, in a very “Bruce” way. Ah. Like father, like son.

“...”

Is your only answer.

You avoid his judging gaze, but did it in a way that was overdoing it, so he knew you were just pretending to be embarrassed haha. He rolled his eyes, and then takes out a walkie talkie and says :

“I found her Damdam, she’s in the West Wing near one of the drawing room. Over.”

“Ok, thanks little buddy, let’s meet up in the kitchen, over.”

“Ok cool, be right there, over.”

This little exchange made you smile, oh those two were very close. Well, all your children were close. But Damian and Thomas had a little something, because they were the youngest, and because Damian took to heart his big brother role. He was also the only one still living in the manor by that time, all your other children having their own place in Gotham, going to college or already working...a wave of nostalgia threatened to take over you, and you quickly thought of something else.

“Little buddy”, Damian called Thomas. Copying you for sure. How cute.

“Come on mommy, I’ll take you back to the kitchen. You can make us cookies then, yes ?”

“Of course my baby, any flavor you want.”

“Well Damian will surely want the white chocolate chip ones, so I’m good with those too.”

Thomas was such a sweet consilient boy. He didn’t really mind anything, and would follow you guys anywhere...as long as he could be with his family, and enjoy their presence, he just never minded.

He definitely had a stubborn and strong personality, but he was still oh so sweet. And nice. Even if he did mock you a lot for getting lost in your own home...

“Where did you get the walkies ?”

“Dick gave it to me last time he came, so we could cheat at hide and seek. Don’t tell Tim.”

You chuckle, imagining how nuts your kids would get because Dick always goddamn won...

Ah and of course Dick would give a talkie to his littlest brother. To be honest, Thomas reminded you of Dick in lots of ways.

They were both gentle, funny, sweet and nice...with outburst of anger and pride sometimes. Ah quite like Bruce too. You loved them all so damn much.

“Now come mom, I think dad will be home soon too ! We can watch a movie before the patrol ! With cookies !!”

You smile, and you take your son’s hand. Your youngest boy. Reminiscent of when Dick used to do this. All those years ago.

Reminiscent of a time you didn’t feel so weak...

(I’M SORRY I HAD TO ADD THIS LAST LINE FOR IT TO FIT IN THE WORLD I SORT OF MADE !! If you know you know).

And if you’re wondering who the hell Thomas is : Polichinelle, “Go away, you’re confusing my baby”, Shaky steps and bad teaching, Master of Diaper, How do you make babies ?, What it means to be a big brother - By Damian Wayne and After Batmom’s death)

Bonus : There’s a moment, in one of the video I watched, where the guy showing the house off is basically like : “You might think this is a beautiful dining room…but it’s not, it’s a breakfast room”, and I had random flashes of Alfred showing the manor to one of the kids, or even to Batmom as she first comes to the house, and him talking about the “breakfast room”, and the boys/Batmom just not being able to get over the fact there’s a room that exist just to eat breakfast in…(wait till they see the personal SPA floor uh). Only Damian would be like : “Tt. Only one breakfast room ?” XD. Anyway. I thought I shared, because it made me laugh to imagine how ridiculous Wayne Manor is. Wait worst, in one of the video the people living in it had a room bigger than my entire apartment that existed for the SOLE PURPOSE OF CUTTING BOUQUETS OF FRESH FLOWERS ??????? That I’m sure they wouldn’t have. I mean, a garden that Alfred would cherish, for sure. But...an entire room just to cut FRESH (the dude really put an emphasis on that) flowers...My guy...what...

_________________________________________________

Ok the end. Hope you liked whatever my thoughts were on this Saturday night. I didn't put as much effort in this as I usually do and wrote it rather fast, hope it’s still ok, I just wanted to share a little something that wouldn't leave my head up until I finally wrote about it :).

PS : Also it’s all sort of a joke I thought about, I know most people would probably find their way after living for ages in the same place, but ah you get what I meant haha. Also I get lost in my own basement sometimes because of how the layout is, so ya know...hahaha.

#Batmom #Batfam #Batfamily #Bruce Wayne x Reader #Bruce Wayne imagine #Damian Wayne x Reader #Batfam x Reader #Batmom x Batfam #Jason Todd x Reader #Cassandra Cain imagine #Richard Grayson x Reader #Tim Drake x reader #Damian Wayne imagine #Tim Drake imagine #Batfam imagine #Richard Grayson imagine #Wayne Manor is CRAZY #Fem!Reader

4K notes · View notes

kaijurakunsobs · 3 years

Text

You will feel joy, one day

master list for this series

sorry for the wait y'all, I had to torture myself into listening to the same song to get the inspo I needed for this next chapter which is READYMADE - Ado (it has English subtitles btw)

Hope you guys enjoy this!

Summary: It's been clear from the start that you won't go down without putting up a fight, the tone in your voice and stand are nothing but infuriating for Heisenberg, just like his mere presence fills you with annoyance. The factory is enormous and whatever he's doing here could get you killed, but even in this kingdom of oil and rusted metal, there's a bit of kindness.

Right now, you would accept the title of naive, because you were when you thought this man would share his secrets with you, instead...he's giving you a fucking tour of the entire place, wildly pointing and all the doors and doing sharp turns, taking you up and down flights of stairs "I hope you don't get lost, darlin', we don't want you ending in the wrong place, right?" there's mockery in his voice as he speaks over his shoulder, halting to a stop and making you trip and crash against him.

"This is the boiler room, you might want to familiarize yourself with this place in particular" a snarky smile appearing on his lips

Peeking inside makes you go pale and sigh in frustration, it's a mess, you can see cables, crudely fixed with tape, more flammable materials, and so many oil spills on the ground, "I can also familiarize with the rest of the fabric because this dump could explode any day"

His smile falls and that expression of annoyance, that just seems to be for you, comes back in no time. Releasing a cloud of smoke he turns around and starts walking faster, slowly regaining his showman's voice and the exuberance of his movements renew with the occasional laugh, is enough to make you tune him out again, looking at whatever you find more interesting, nose scrunching up with whenever there's something that unsettles or makes you question this man's leadership and care for this place. If you do take the role of helping him, you know you're gonna exploited day and night.

He's not blind or stupid, he knows you are doing everything but listening to him, every time he looks over his shoulder to make sure you are following and paying him some god damn attention, he will always see you eyeing everything, dissecting the place, and doing a face that just speaks volumes of how unimpressed you are by his life's work, but it's not like he will tell you about his plans, it's too soon for that, what if you are just a little spy under Miranda's orders?

It rubs him the wrong way how adamant she was on you being under his orders, super-sized bitch didn't raised too much hell, which also puts him on edge, it just doesn't feel normal for him. In any other situation where Miranda has favored him over Dimitrescu, and it wasn't because "mother" gave her that heartfelt speech Karl being all alone on his iron tower, Moreau is the forgotten child of the bunch and has to beg for almost everything, Miranda is already pissed with Donna and her botanical gig, let alone, the way she uses her cadou to just make dolls move.

That left him in the position akin to a middle child, he's just there, occasionally remembered and rarely to give him treats or surprises. He's used to scavenging for materials, do the occasional grave robbing or take the corpses the other Lords leave behind.

So, why did she left you with him?

"Lastly but no less important! the living quarters"

You have been so lost in thought, you didn't noticed that his "fantastical tour" is over, and you are back to the front of the complex...shit, you didn't even paid attention to where everything is, you're gonna get so lost if you try to navigate this place on your own.

After entering the brute closes the door behind you and goes to the left office, you can hear him mumbling under his breath and things being moved around, you don't know how long he's going to be in there, so you turn your attention to the rest of the room.

From everything you have seen, this place is the cleanest one and it makes you think of the layout in your family's factory. It looks like he repurposed what used to be the waiting area, there's a kitchen in the right corner, a couple of sofas that had seen better days, a lot of blueprints have been left on the coffee table. To the left, it's the main office, a lot bigger and the tinted glass on the door has the name Heisenberg hand-painted on it, classy, you suppose that that's his room? you don't care, opting for getting close to the blueprints, his handwriting is atrocious and there are notes everywhere, how interesting, one of the workers used to say that was a sign of a brilliant mind.

"You are not allowed to go there, a'right?" hearing him so close makes you jump, when did he come back? from the tone of his voice, you might be right, it's either his bedroom "This one, however! this one is just for you" he says oh so sweetly when pointing at the smaller office to the right opening the door rather unceremoniously.

Now you get why the rest of this area is so clean and clutter-free, motherfucker pushed all the trash and old furniture in there, it's dusty and the air, somehow, is stale only in this place, you can see cobwebs "Since I'm being kind enough to let you sleep on this side and not in the cellars, I think is fair that you take care of the mess, don't you think?"

"Can't I just sleep in one of the couches?"

"Of course not, we don't want my precious mechanic to get sick, right?" condescending asshole, he even smiles at you, showing you his teeth in what you identify as an act of intimidation

"Of course we don't want that, my Lord! but, I do must say, you have been ill-mannered, showing me around your domain yet...you haven't told me your name when introductions were supposed to be made long ago" it's your turn to give him teeth flashing smile, his going a bit forced

"Well you see sweetheart, I would have done it earlier, but I came encountered a disrespectful brat that decked me in the face as soon as we met"

"Really now? Perhaps, this brat was done with being manhandled and reacted accordingly to how they felt" the sardonic smile on your face grows and you can see how much it pisses him off, and that shouldn't make you proud.

The man is looking, more like attempting, to look down on you, clicking his tongue loudly and in a dissatisfied manner, with complete derision, he gives you, the closest thing to a respectful bow "My name is Karl Heisenberg and I'm one of the four Lords working under Miranda's orders"

In response, you give him a curtsy and use your best sarcastic tone, just for him "It's such an honor to meet you, my lord. I must say I'm no noble but I do HOPE you may remember the name of this pheasant girl, Y/N, L/N Y/N"

He doesn't appreciate the way you talk to him or how you don't even try to hide how little you respect or fear him, but he needs you alive to accelerate and optimize the factory's production, under other circumstances? he would have thrown you down to let the Sturm have some fun, but he won't, at least for now.

"So, Miss Y/N...let me give you a...welcoming gift" he's harsh when trusting a bundle of crumpled clothes and old boots into your arms, pushing you back hard enough that you almost lose your balance "I don't expect you to always wear my hand-me-downs, this is a momentary arrangement"

"Oh my! so generous of you, to clothe this poor village girl with your own garments, I am so thankful for this, however, if I may ask for a tiny favor...can I know where your bathroom is? I don't what to soil this fine fabric with my dirty body"

You don't like the way he smiles at you, with one hand he grabs your shoulder and with the other he opens the door, pushing you towards what used to be the employee's showers, there's mold and broken mirrors, a lot of the shower heads are gone and the only one that seems to be functioning is leaking.

"Serve yourself, princess, just know this...there's only cold water, the hot water stopped working years ago and I haven't felt like repairing it, I hope you enjoy your shower!"

And with that, he leaves you, finally alone but unnerved on how easily he could come back and just stare at you like a creep. But you need a shower, there's grime and dirt caked to your body and it's starting to get disgusting and itchy. So you swallow your pride and leave the borrowed clothes over the small wall separating the showers from the rest of the place and brace yourself to what might be the worst moment of the day so far.

Later you are cursing him as loud as you can, he didn't lie when he said that only the cold water worked, but you would say it was freezing, his clothes are uncomfortably big on you, and smell of faint sweat and like these were left tucked away for a long time, the boots are the best part, these have been broken in nicely and they fit you...who are you kidding? the damn things are falling apart and you feel like a clown with how big they are.

That has left you with the shining crown of the shit show that's been this whole day! the trash in your new room, you had to box so many useless papers, look everywhere to find one measly broom, and use the remains of the gown you came in with to keep your hair out of your face and as a bandana to cover your nose and mouth.

From all the old furniture in the room, the only useful stuff is the old desk, a sofa that somehow survived without being eating by termites but might be infested with cockroaches, and a lamp. It's not much, but it's something.

All this moving around now has brought a new problem.

You are starving.

You can't remember when Miranda took you, let alone when was your last meal or if you were fed during your time in the cell. But Heisenberg's fridge is empty, there's only a handful of onions and those have roots and sprouts coming out already. There's nothing substantial in the cupboards or anywhere for that matter.

You doubt there might anything to eat in this place, but, you better give it a try, better die trying than going to sleep with a grumbling stomach, right? But, you didn't learn jackshit from him and you can't remember anything from the directions Heisenberg gave you.

Fuck it.

Slowly you creep out of the small apartment and peek outside, looking around assures you that the coast is clear. This could be a great learning experience! no matter how much of a dick this man is, there's something of value in his words and maybe, just maybe, you should pay more attention when he talks...MAYBE.

The place is a labyrinth of stairs, broken walls turned into hallways and sealed doors, you do have half a mind to remember which doors and areas he pointed as "out of bounds" for you, which is a surprise, seeing how massive the place is.

Under the stench of grease and smoke, you notice, the tasty scent of stew...close, very close, your poor stomach twisting painfully and mouth rapidly filling with saliva, you start following the heavenly aroma until you reach an old cargo lift, a large man sits there and for a moment that makes you stop in your tracks.

The man is surrounded by bags and crates filled with stuff from fruits to what you guess are various pieces of machinery and other objects hard to identify in the low light "Aaaaah...a new customer perhaps? You must be Lord Heisenberg's new assistant, are you not?"

He smiles with true kindness and something similar to pity, meaty hands adorned with gold rings beacon you close "Come come, miss...?"

"Uuuuuuuh...I'm Y/N, nice to meet you..."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance miss Y/N, you may call me The Duke"

There's something infectious in him that makes you relax your shoulders and walk closer to him "So...what do you do here Duke?"

"What? well, I'm nothing but a humble merchant, occasionally I set up shop here in the factory, especially when I have a delivery or things that may spark Lord Heisenberg's interest, and now that you are here, I will make a note to bring stuff you could use too"

"I...I would appreciate the gesture, thanks" the small sincere smile in your face drops when your stomach decides to grumble loud enough to be heard by the Duke, the man laughing at the sound, making your embarrassment worst.

"Would like to accompany me with dinner, dear? I have made plenty and this could be a small...celebratory feast for you"

"Celebratory? no offense, but...there's nothing to celebrate"

"Aren't you alive and able to walk?" he's so careful when serving some stew in a bowl, making sure not to spill a drop "I think that surviving whatever happened to you, is worth celebrating"

The bowl is warm in your hands and the smell is just divine, you take a seat on the floor waiting for the Duke to serve his bowl and then you dig in, sighing in appreciation when the rich taste of the broth fills your mouth, the softness of the meat and the carrots. You can see the Duke smile with pride when you compliment his cooking, enjoying each spoonful to the fullest.

"It's getting quite late Y/N and Lord Heisenberg is one to rise early, I suggest you go to bed or you end up feeling too tired tomorrow"

"Yeah...thanks for the meal Duke, I really appreciate it"

"Don't mention it and remember, the Duke's Emporium is here to satisfy all your shopping needs!"

You bid the man farewell and do the trek back to your room, taking time to memorize the way to the lift and the living quarters, the man might be a merchant but you want to get to know more about him, he seems nice, he's been the nicest one so far.

The living area feels cold and so terribly empty, there's no sign of Heisenberg anywhere, which you are thankful for. Only after entering your room and laying on your "bed", waiting a bit to hear any sound that might belong to the Lord, when only the sounds of the factory echo back to you do you dare to cry.

It starts slowly, your eyes fixated on the ceiling, then the flood gates open and you start to sob and scream, tears running down the side of your face to get lost in your hair leaving wet patches in their wake. But your crying evolves into fear, panic, raged breathing, and asking hands, all the weight of what happened today swallows you whole.

You don't know where to start, the way you growled at Heisenberg in the church, HOW he was able to move heavy metal without touching it? and all those corpses suspended ton hooks...the howls and things banging against the doors, the cruelty in how Heisenberg tossed you around and screamed in your face. How do you even managed to put and kept that brave face on when you were so scared is beyond you, you did it and that's enough.

The rapid and irregular movement of your chest does nothing but make your side hurt, the pain shoots up and down your body, making you curl on your side to alleviate the pressure if only a bit.

You want to die...but not like this, not terrified for your existence, not at the hands of a volatile man that can crush you with his hammer any day.

You want to live, but to live with your life depending on how well you perform your role? that's not a life at all.

Exhaustion and fatigue eventually take you away into a dreamless sleep, your last thought is...what's going to happen tomorrow?

You don't know, but as the Duke said, you survived whatever Miranda did to you and you will survive this too, no matter what, you will live.

#karl heisenberg #resident evil village #karl heisenberg x reader #re8 #x reader #the duke

84 notes · View notes

bondsmagii · 3 years

Note

same person who asked about spelunking (sorry i binge your blog every now and then and keep finding things i wanna hear about this time!) But you mentioned one of your most terrifying experiences involved dolls, I'd love to hear about it if youre comfortable :>?

oh it's fine, don't worry! I can always appreciate a good old fashioned bit of curiosity. I suppose it's only fair that with all the creepy experiences I take from other people, I finally give a statement of my own. buckle up, though, because this one is a long one.

So, this all happened in 2011-2012, and it began in Belfast, Ireland. A friend of mine, Caoimhe, had started studying at Queen’s University, and she had moved in to student accommodation in the student district nearby. I was studying in Scotland at the time, but thankfully the summer and winter holidays provided me with three months off each, so I would frequently return back to Ireland and catch up with the people who’d stayed there. Caoimhe’s place, being situated in the city and in a university district, was obviously the place to hang out and party, but before I even arrived Caoimhe warned me that the place was… odd. Now, as anyone who’s ever met me knows, I absolutely love creepy stuff and I have a tendency to bring it out in places and in people; naturally I asked for details, but Caoimhe said she wanted to see what I thought when I got there. Considering I was going to be there that evening, I was able to have a modicum of patience.

I get there in the late afternoon. It’s summer and everything is still bright and lively, and the street looks normal. Parking is only on one side of the street; on the other side is a row of buildings, three floors high. Most of them are split into houses, but there are a few businesses there, too – a nursery school, a hairdresser’s, that kind of thing. I get out of the car and go and knock on Caoimhe’s door, which is between two businesses. She opens the door, and immediately tells me she cannot wait to hear what I think of the place. I have no idea what to expect, because Caoimhe was always the sceptical one and it takes a lot to get her even remotely excited about anything spooky, but I realised what she meant within about five minutes of being in the house.

It was the weirdest layout of any house I have ever seen.

Upon entering, I was in a small porch area. Going through the interior door brought me to the bottom of a set of stairs; to the right was a short hallway, containing a bedroom and, at the end of it, a spacious kitchen. Going up the stairs, I came to a small bathroom on the half-landing; turning and ascending the second flight brought me to a small landing area and, directly opposite, a colossal living room. Turning up yet another flight of stairs and there was a larger bathroom on the half-landing, practically industrial – like a large school changing room. There were about eight showers all lined up in cubicles, toilets lined up in other cubicles, and a row of old, almost Victorian-looking sinks. There was no door to the bathroom, either. Just an open archway leading to tiles that looked as though they should be on a factory floor in the early twentieth century. After this, there was another flight of stairs and then a small landing, this time with nothing ahead of it but, to my left, a long hallway. I mean, a long hallway. The longest hallway I’ve ever seen in any residential building, ever, in my life. It went on, and on, and on. From beginning to end, at a normal walking pace, it took about two minutes to walk. There were other doors, but they were few and far between. Only three people lived on that floor, and the hallway just stretched endlessly on. Caoimhe, of course, lived in the absolute furthest room from the stairs. We walked, passing the occasional door, under dim, flickering lightbulbs high up in the ceiling. We had long since walked past the original house we had entered. We were probably almost entirely down the street by this point. There were no windows at all.

Finally, we get to Caoimhe’s room. It’s practically at the end of the hall; in front of us is a dead end, and a fire escape that cannot exist. All of the buildings on this street are terraced, which means that joining on to this wall should be the next building. There were no alleyways separating any of the buildings at street level – they were all side by side, sharing a wall. I asked Caoimhe about it and she just shrugged, and then pointed to the wall opposite her door. There was another door there, cheaply made, not a fire door like the doors to the bedrooms. It also didn’t fit properly, leaving a small gap and a cool breeze drifting out from between the wood and the frame. I, of course, stuck my eye to the gap and peered in. I could make out nothing aside from swirling dust and the faint outline of the first few steps of another set of stairs. Upon my asking, Caoimhe told me she didn’t know where it went to, and that she and some of the others had tried to prise the door open but given up when it wouldn’t budge. They had even asked the university’s residential services about it, but were told that it didn’t belong to them as tenants and it was best to leave it alone.

As I mentioned before – Caoimhe is not really interested in messing around with this kind of stuff. Practically minded, she spent her time dealing in the tangible, and as a nursing student she had precious little free time. What free time she did have she enjoyed spending drinking, and annoying me by doing lines of cocaine off my books. I love her dearly, but you have to understand that mysteries like this do not interest her at all, but they drive me mad. From the moment I saw that door, I suppose my fate was sealed. In the old refrain of many sorry souls before me, I had to know.

The first few nights I was there was admittedly spent partying and catching up, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. I split my time between staying with Caoimhe and staying with an ex-boyfriend of mine, Brian, who lived about half a mile away in another part of the university district. I was at his place when I got a call from Caoimhe at about two in the morning, telling me that some weird shit was going down and I had to come see. I, of course, ran over there as quickly as possible, to find the house in uproar. Aside from one girl on the ground floor, everyone else lived in the Endless Hallway – all three of them – and they were all out of their rooms and standing in a strange section of the hall about two thirds up. Here, two rooms were located, the doors to which were set back in a little alcove. Opposite this alcove was another fire door that had to lead to nowhere, that I admittedly had not noticed before. I stared at it, confused, and then I was temporarily comforted when Gemma, once of Caoimhe’s housemates, asked me if I hadn’t noticed it before, either. I absolutely had not, and the general consensus was that nobody had noticed this fire escape. It was very difficult to miss, too – it was silver, with the green sign for a fire escape on it, but strangely there was no way to open it from this side. It was just a smooth door – no handle, no push bar, nothing. Being a fire escape door, it should have had a push bar and swung open into the stairwell or hallway beyond, to prevent it from being blocked from opening by a crowd of people trying to escape, but there was nothing. It was like looking at a fire escape door from the outside. Everyone agreed that it could not have been there before; Gemma and Ashley, the girl in the room next to her, were absolutely adamant they would have noticed it, considering it was right opposite their doors; Caoimhe admitted that she probably wouldn’t have noticed it because she wasn’t in the habit of noticing every door she walked by, but she did admit that the colour would have made it hard to miss. I, of course, amin the habit of looking out for such details, precisely for reasons like this, so I had definitely not noticed the door before.

I asked how they had noticed, and Gemma said that she had heard running footsteps in the hallway going back and forth for some time, and as she’d been trying to sleep she had opened her door to tell whoever it was to knock it off. She had found the hallway dark, and the door opposite hers. She had understandably been freaked out by this and banged on Ashley’s door, and the commotion had drawn Caoimhe into the mix whereupon she had said she knew a guy who absolutely had to see this shit and called me. She was correct, and I duly stayed the rest of the night to see if anything else happened. Nothing did, and aside from the extra door that had materialised in the hallway, things were calm for another week.

When it all kicked off again, I was staying over after another heavy night partying. Caoimhe and I were passed out in her room when we were both woken up by an incredibly loud crash. Before we could work out what had happened, lights went on in the hallway outside and we heard Gemma start screaming, and I mean reallyscreaming. Caoimhe and I jumped up and ran out into the hall, sprinting the distance between Caoimhe’s door and the alcove, and there we found Gemma hiding behind her own door and the fire door opposite wide open. It had been flung open so wide that it had crashed against and dented the wall it was on. Ashley was looking at it, dumfounded; Gemma could barely watch. Caoimhe was also not being much help, so – bound by insatiable curiosity and an extreme lack of self-preservation that for me is so often co-morbid with said curiosity – I went forward to investigate. I noticed that the door seemed old, like it had perhaps been rusted in place; beyond it there was nothing but darkness, and cold air moved out of the passage with enough speed that I felt a strong breeze. I had my phone, so I turned it on to use it as a light, seeing that beyond the door was a short landing and then a set of stairs. I went to the wooden railing at the top and shone the phone down, seeing that the stairs appeared to keep going in a half-flight, small landing, half-flight pattern. The stairs were all wooden, and in bad condition. With the girls still nervously watching, I descended the first flight and then turned to look at the next one. It smelled stale now, and slightly damp; I put the brightness of my screen up and saw, arranged neatly at the end of each step, there was an item of children’s belongings – a toy, or a teddy bear. They were all arranged very precisely, one on each stair, all the way down as far as I could see. Where the light gave out, the darkness was so black it seemed to have a solid weight. I decided I was not going down there without a proper light, and as I didn’t yet have one, I retreated back up the stairs. We closed the door over, but it would no longer fit in its frame; a chair was dutifully carried all the way up from the distant kitchen and put in front of it.

I quickly discovered something even odder about that staircase. Probably to the surprise of nobody, it shouldn’t exist. The floors directly below us should have been a hairdresser’s; there was no space for a stairwell and no way to exit on the ground floor. I went outside and checked both the front and the back of the building, and no doors opened anywhere near where the stairs should have come out. There was just no possible way for it to fit, and no point to it being there. It was a dead end in dead space.

Now we get to the truly terrifying part. For several weeks the place seemed to be fine, just the kind of regular haunting I was used to but that the others understandably found concerning. Cold spots, weird noises, strange atmospheres, feelings of being watched… that kind of thing. It made me increasingly uneasy in one particular spot of the house, though. There was one other mystery door that led to a mystery staircase, and that was the strange, out-of-place door opposite Caoimhe’s room. I figured that there was a chance that that door shouldn’t be there, either – like the fire escape, it was a different kind of door to the others, and also like the fire escape, it didn’t quite fit into its frame. I tried multiple times to get in to the staircase beyond, but the door would absolutely not shift and every time I tried, I would soon have to retreat because of an overwhelming sense of sadness and dread. I’ve always been highly sensitive to the paranormal, and anyone who has spent any amount of time with me has seen some inexplicable stuff go down; something I’m known for is knowing things I shouldn’t be able to know. I either just know them – they just arrive in my head full-formed and I know that it’s the truth – or they come to me in dreams. These dreams stand out from the other dreams because they’re incredibly realistic, and even in the dream I know that they’re something else entirely. I’m either myself in the dream, moving around and discovering things on my own, or I’m watching as somebody else does it, silently observing and, unusually for my dreams, with no amount of lucidity at all. I suppose, with all my banging around trying to get up those stairs, I must have finally tapped in to whatever it was that would allow me to know what was beyond it, because shortly afterwards I experienced the worst instance of this of my life.

By this point, I was back at university. I hadn’t thought too much about it all in any detail because classes had started again and I was still exhausted from driving all my stuff back over, getting the ferry, unpacking… moving every three months was a bit of a drag. Despite this, when the dream started, I immediately knew where I was. The building felt different, and all the lights were dimmed to the point they were barely worth being on, but I knew I was back in Caoimhe’s flat and I also knew that it was years before anybody moved in. I stood there and watched as a woman walked towards me down the long, endless hallway. She was young, probably in her mid-twenties, and her hair was a mess. Her face was blotchy and her eyes red; she was still crying as she walked past me. I knew that she was moving out, that this was the final walk-through; suddenly I was the person who was moving in, and I was being handed the keys, and the estate agent was saying that the place was mine and that the agreement still stood: I was allowed to do anything with the place and the price would stay low, so long as I obeyed the wishes of the previous owners and kept the top floor as it was and in good order. I agreed and then I was alone in the hallway.

I immediately walked to the end of the hallway, past the room that was Caoimhe’s when I had known the place, and to the door opposite. The wood looked newer now, and when I pushed it, it swung open noiselessly and without resistance. I walked up a neat set of wooden stairs and the light was warm, sunset-orange. I emerged from the staircase and found myself in a lovely attic room, the sun setting through a large dormer window opposite. The room was a beautifully decorated nursery, with a small bed under the window and a dresser, a toy box, a rug on the ground littered with toys. I looked around, touching the small hairbrush on the dresser, seeing the little blonde hairs entwined in it; on the nightstand next to the bed was a picture of the crying woman I had seen earlier, happy now, holding a smiling little girl of about two or three months in her arms. I stared at this picture for a long time, feeling a growing sense of sadness that deepened into dread. I felt paralysed, unable to turn and leave even as the dread grew and I wanted to more than anything; instead of running, a sudden urge to sleep came over me. I staggered to the small bed, curled up to fit, and immediately passed out.

When I woke, I was on my back and the room was dark. There was enough moonlight that I could see the glint of the picture frame beside me. Immediately I was gripped by terror – I was aware, even then, that I do not sleep in my dreams. I can do a lot of things that most people can’t – I die in my dreams, I read and write in my dreams, I see my reflection in mirrors in my dreams – but I do not sleep. I decided to sit up and see if any of my usual tricks for waking myself would work, but before I could move I felt something shifting in the bed beside me. It was solid and firm and cold; it pressed itself against me with plastic smoothness and then shifted, part of it bending. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something sitting up in the bed beside me. I told myself not to look at it, but of course I did. Sitting next to me in bed was a baby, but at the same time it was a doll. It had the plastic look to it, the strange texture of the hair, the glassy eyes – but at the same time its face moved, its limbs moved, and around the eyes and mouth there was a slight discrepancy, like the whole thing was a plastic mask forced into the flesh of the face. I stared at it, mute, too stunned to do anything, and then the baby doll opened its mouth, revealing sharp, pin-like teeth, far too many of them – and it began to cry.

I have never heard a sound like it and I never wish to again. It was a cry so piercing it was painful; it was a sound meant to terrify. It rose the same dread in me as I imagine people felt when they woke to hear air raid sirens in the dead of night; the distant thud of falling bombs. It was all I could hear and it was all I became. It inspired a blind terror in me that I have rarely known; I wasn’t human as I launched myself from that bed. I was a prey animal in flight, I was running for my life. I jumped from the bed and before I could hit the ground I awoke, miles away, in my dorm room in Scotland – but something was on the bed beside me. I sat up, turned, and the doll was there. It looked at me, grinned, and opened its mouth. Then it started screaming again.

I want to say that’s the moment I woke up for real, but I was awake. That thing was beside me in bed, still screaming, and I was awake enough to panic, to roll out of bed, to stand up, to stare in frozen horror for several seconds, and then to reach out blindly until I managed to turn the lamp on. The room filled with light and still the doll remained, for three or four seconds, still crying that horrible sound, and then it faded. The sound faded with it, gradually, until I could only see an outline on the air, and then it was gone. I did not sleep for the rest of that night. For the rest of the semester, I only slept in the daylight.

I never returned to Caoimhe’s house. I have my answers, which is something, but I do not exaggerate when I say that the cost was far more than I anticipated I would have to pay, and that something of that experience has forever stuck with me. Even now, a decade later, I go to bed every night with the fear that I might wake up in that hallway again, the door at the end of it – and the knowledge that I will go to it, step into the sunset-orange of the space beyond, and go back up those stairs.

#[slumps onto desk] statement... ends #seriously that made me feel some kind of way holy shit i need a cup of tea and a lie down #anyway enjoy one of the most fucked up paranormal experiences of my life i guess #my creepy shit #creeptastic #statements #long post #anon #asks

93 notes · View notes

writing-by-candlelight · 3 years

Text

Hargreeves Mansion Layout: Second Floor

Thank you for coming back for part 2! If you haven’t seen part 1 (the ground floor) you can find it here. And Part 3, the third floor, here!!!

The second floor is slightly more complex than the first floor and it has a lot more rooms.

If you haven’t seen my first post; yellow symbolizes doors or double doors, green are archways, the neon pink is the staircase coming up from the floor beneath (same goes for the light pink - its the main staircase coming up from the ground floor.), the blue is the long staircase from the stair race scene that goes through the entire house from the basement to the third floor. The orange and black will be explained later.

So overall the second floor has the most rooms out of all the floors and the most colors so here we go!

So for the ‘home’ section of the house lets start on the far right.

The empty square there is the balcony area above the living room. Its thicker on the bottom since that’s where the bar is and the bar is completely covered. There also seems to be a small sitting area above it.

I’ve realized now in hindsight that the other end of the walkway ends at the wall and does not have the same sort of walkway across the top. I may correct my drawing in the future.

Speaking of the top section, this is where I’ve put Hargreeves personal rooms. I’ve placed the surveillance room here - the room where Hargreeves watches the children’s brainwaves and where Allison watches the tape of Hargreeves death. I’ve also placed it at the beginning of the hall. We only know there’s a hall since Diego walks down one on the way to Hargreeves’ Bedroom.

I placed Hargreeves’ Study right next to it. I know its not L-shaped as I’ve drawn it but I didn’t want to make the surveillance room super big so I’m just going to run with it. We see a living room and another room through a second door in the study so I assumed that this was another way into his bedroom.

The dotted line through the main walkway is just how I separated the house into sections so it may be ignored.

Now the central section is simpler.

On the bottom we have the Academy oil paintings. The small tragic things taking place from their debut until there was only Luther, Everyone leaving or dying or disappearing.

A bit further, slightly around the corner, is Grace’s charging station with its portraits. I put a dotted line around it because there are no walls but I wanted to show where it was.

Ignoring the courtyard we now get to the most complicated part.

The Bedrooms.

So Luther and Allison are side by side with their doors angled like we see in the dance scene and a lot of other scenes as well.

Then to the side is the bathroom which we see in the show has its own small hallway lined with attack posters like the rest of the hall (horrifying, I know).

Now to the interesting part. Klaus and Vanya’s rooms.

In the flashback scene we see both of their rooms. They are next to each other and both about the size of a closet with Klaus’ being slightly bigger.

But in the scene where they are older and Vanya is destroying the mansion room by room, you can see that Klaus now has a bigger room and that the sort-of-brick wall that we only ever see in Vanya’s room is a part of it.

So at some point the wall was knocked down and both rooms were given to Klaus. It even seems to have both doors, as in one scene Five enters through one and leaves through the other. This results in this chaotic mess of the room:

See? Both doors!

Moving on.

Any black sections on my ‘map’ are just thick walls or areas filled up with dirt or cement (though that last bit is more likely for the basement.)

The rest of the layout is sort of only based in canon since I had to change things around for them to fit (this is what happens when you film in multiple locations and not one house)

Now Diego’s room is the one at the end of the hall as we see in the flashback of Grace walking along it. Now I know in this scene we also see a hallway veering off to the left but it doesn’t make sense with the layout of the house, since that’s where the house ends, so I’ve erased it.

Diego’s room is the smallest of the rooms (once Vanya’s wall is removed) and it doesn’t change much at all so I have little to say about it. But its canonical location is interesting. Originally Diego’s room is diagonal to the third floor staircase (which I’ve striped orange) and has a slight angle to the door. Thing is, for the bathroom to have its hallway and for said hallway to be within the constraints of physics, I had to switch the rooms around a bit.

From the hallway scene we know the bathroom is next to Allison’s room and Klaus’ room is next to Luther’s. But in order to fit the bathroom hallway I had to flip them so I could cut the bathroom into the walkway. That’s why there’s a dotted line through the bathroom since the walkway wall would be there.

The creators also just...forgot??? About the staircase coming up through the floor from the ground floor? so I put the pink stairs right next to the bathroom.

This meant though that I had to put Diego’s room next to Klaus though.

I’ve added a new room for Vanya since she needed one and we are never shown were it is. I’ve put it at the end of the hall, slightly closed off from her siblings since that seems to be where Reginald would have put it.

This is from the hallway flashback just before Reginald comes in frame from that side hallway that doesn’t make sense. The open door we see is Diego’s original (nonsensical) room, which is the room I’ve given Vanya. And the stairs there are from the orange staircase that goes up to the third story. That dark doorway you see is (now) Diego’s room.

Now imagine that the hall just ends with Vanya’s door and that the stairs are folded halfway down to face Vanya’s door.

That’s how I finally got everything to make sense. It took me hours!!! Now we can finally move on to the training section of the second floor.

The second floor is the main training floor. This floor houses the training and exercise room on the far right. This room is mainly for overall training. I’ve headcanoned that it has tan oval running track, weights, workout equipment, punching bags, a climbing wall, gymnastics equipment, and an obstacle course in the center.

The sparring and weapons room is exactly what it sounds like. I’ve put it here for a separate space without all the equipment, because there is no way Hargreeves didn’t pit his children against each other. I headcanon it as having a boxing ring style space at the top and empty weapons space at the bottom with targets secured to the wall (the targets can move with a remote). This space is separated from left to right 3/4 of the way by a large metal weapons case with almost every weapon imaginable. There are dozens of types of guns, swords, war hammers, battle axes, bow and arrows, spears, knives, flamethrowers, scythes, clubs, maces, batons, both dual and singular sticks & staffs, num-chuks, shuriken, and even ‘non traditional weapons’ like ropes and chains.

We know from the scene where Five reappears in Ep 1 that they were taught how to use anything as a weapon. I assume this was either tested in the kitchen itself, or he set up a replica of a household room here.

(This is really really sad, look at it!)

We can see the following:

Egg Beaters - Hair Pull

Stock Pot - Explosive Device

Toaster - Use Cord For Strangulation

Coffee Pot - Throw Coffee In Face

Blender - Hand Mangler

Then I added a row of personal training rooms for their individual powers. Each room has an observation room - with a two way mirror and its own entrance - beneath it. I made it like a prison interrogation room on purpose because Hargreeves goes for functionality and trauma over anything else, and he would not like to be in the same room as some of their powers.

As you can see, the seventh room, which had been Vanya’s, has had its wall knocked down (hence the dotted line) and observation door boarded up. Hargreeves changed it all and made himself a small office instead. This was because it was no longer in use and because he wouldn’t want anyone to suspect anything.

And that’s it for this second installment in the mansion layout!!! Thank you so much for reading, id love to hear any thoughts!!!! Stay tuned for parts 3 & 4.

#The Umbrella Academy #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #reginald hargreeves

52 notes · View notes

hometoursandotherstuff · 3 months

Text

WTH house. Somewhere, under all the decor and reno, is a 1952 mid-century modern home in Bremerton, Washington. 5bds, 3ba, $855K.

The entrance is long and narrow, with a coat closet, but it's not attractive. It leads to a larger foyer with double doors on one side, and a brick wall with a pony wall and Sputnik light leading to the lower level.

Farther down, the narrow foyer is used as a small sunny area for plants.

This is a somewhat odd layout for a MCM. The double doors open to a living room off to the side with a fireplace tucked into a corner and a door to the patio.

Then, there's an open concept sitting area, a pink frou-frou dinette, and a large kitchen. There's too much going on, here.

There's so much going on, it's confusing. The original kitchen is gone and has been totally renovated. I don't know if the Victorian stove conveys, but it looks out of place and you can't really appreciate it.

Gone is any hint of MCM.

The pantry has a fancy glass door and some new IKEA shelving.

There's an updated bath to match the kitchen. I doubt if I would've chosen these 2 tiles in combination.

The primary bedroom and en-suite are nothing to brag about. What is that mess of astro-turf and flowers on the counter? It looks like some fool sloppily painted the grout on the tile backsplash, pink.

These 2 secondary bedrooms are nothing special. I imagine that they will take that giant chalkboard with them and I hope they still have the doors to the closet somewhere.

The 3rd bath is a renovated shower room.

The family room has been turned into an extra bedroom.

It has a kitchenette and a fun coin operated merry-go-round, that probably doesn't convey.

Finally, the 5th bedroom has sliders to the patio.

Outside there's a small patio and a garden on the side of the home. We know that Washington state is expensive, but this home does need a lot of work.

The irregular lot extends back a bit and measures .69 acre.

#mid century modern homes #MCM architecture #houses #house tours #home tour #WTH house

62 notes · View notes

icarus-creates · 2 years

Text

Neighbors - Part 1

Word Count: 1,534

There was a knock at Roman’s front door. He paused before telling his Twitch chat to wait a moment; “I'm going to refill my water bottle.” As he walked to the front of his apartment, the thought that a fan had found his home was bouncing around in his head. While he had made every precaution to make sure that his identity remained a secret, he worried that something could've slipped accidentally. Pausing to take a breath to calm his nerves, he opened the front door.

Standing there was his neighbor from across the hall, looking nervous. Their long skirts swished around their legs as they rocked back and forth, fiddling with the ends of their sweater. Roman had seen them around in passing, usually when checking the mail or bringing in groceries, but had never exchanged conversation. They always looked cozy but well put together, with a variety of sweaters and long skirts making up a large portion of their wardrobe.

Roman felt his body relax at the familiar person and smiled. “Can I help you?” he asked, curiosity piqued as to why they were at his door.

“Does your oven work? Mine doesn’t right now and I need to finish baking some french bread.”

Roman blanked, taking some time to process the unusual request. “I think so? I don’t use it often.”

“Awesome! I’ll go grab the tray the bread’s on.” They took a couple of steps into the hallway before turning and asking, “Can you preheat the oven to 375 degrees while I do that? That might shave a couple of minutes off of me being over.”

“Sure, I’ll leave the door cracked.”

Roman walked over to his kitchen and preheated the oven before surveying the area. He felt a little guilty at the mess scattered around the living room and kitchen counters, but there wasn't much he could do about it now. His neighbor was awkwardly closing the door with their foot before picking their way carefully across the floor. They placed the tray of bread dough on the counter before turning to face Roman with a grateful clasp of their hands.

“So, any ground rules? I’m going to be here for about an hour or so, and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“I guess the main rule is don’t make a lot of noise.” Roman paused a moment to think. “That’s the only one that comes to mind, actually. I'll give you a quick tour of everything, like where the bathroom is and where I'm working.”

His neighbor nodded. “Sounds good!”

Gesturing around them, Roman began. "This is obviously the kitchen.” He pointed through the window cut into one of the walls. “That’s the dining and board game area.” He led them back to the front of the apartment next. “This is the living room. It’s a bit of a disaster right now, but I promise it’s normally a lot neater than this,” he rambled as he picked up a pillow from the floor and placed it back on the couch. He continued the tour around his apartment, his neighbor making a small comment about how theirs had a similar layout.

“Last stop!” Roman said, stopping at a door at the end of the hallway. “This is where I’ll be working. I don’t know how much longer it will take, hopefully not too long. Any questions before I let you get to bread-making?”

“Only one comes to mind: what are your name and pronouns?”

“My name is Roman and I use he/him pronouns, but I don’t mind they/them. What about you?”

“I’m Hestia, and I use she/they pronouns. I’ll let you get back to work now; I’ll try to be quiet.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you again when I finish.”

“Have fun!”

Roman opened the door and slipped into his office, leaving Hestia to get started on baking. Taking a survey of how his chat was doing after being gone for so long, Roman was grateful his mods put the chat in slow mode. Messages were flying across his screen in worried panic.

MythoSimp: how long has it been??

☆Palaxy☆: like half an hour, what do y’all think happened???

Darkness: maybe he’s taken a shit lmao

1Like0re0s: I hope he’s okay!

CliffBuildersBar: I think he is, he would’ve said something if something happened,,, right?

[Username]: I thought I heard a faint knock before he left…

MythoSimp: that’s so weird,,, hopefully it’s just a package!

Roman chuckled and then unmuted himself so chat could hear him. “I’m alright guys, my water bottle was a bit dirty so I washed it out before switching to a new one. I think I’m going to stream for another hour or so and then wrap it up. My eyes are starting to hurt after staring at my screen for so long.”

Darkness: Alright, make sure to eat something too!

CliffBuildersBar: Get some rest! Take care of yourself Mythos!

MythoSimp: I wish I could catch the rest of the stream, but I have to go now! Have a good rest of your stream, and take care, chat!

He settled himself in his chair before switching the stream to gameplay and continued working on his project in Terraria. As he built and gathered materials, he talked about his general plans for the next couple days of streaming.

“Just so I know what to brush up on tomorrow, what myths do you want me to cover? Any that I haven’t done already please, and I don’t care which cultures, either! A lot of people request Greek myths, so those get discussed more, but feel free to toss out suggestions.” The chat began to flood with ideas, making Roman laugh at their enthusiasm. “Alright, how about this: Mods, can you make a poll to see which ‘brand’ of mythology is most popular? Then we can narrow it down from there.” Roman loved researching different mythologies and sharing what he learned with his audience. After a myth had been chosen through rigorous polls, he recited his outro and ended the stream.

He jotted down the chosen myth on a sticky note and stuck it to one of his monitors before closing his water bottle and leaving his office. The smell of fresh bread filled the apartment and made Roman walk a tad bit faster as he went to the kitchen. The sight he was met with made him stop in the doorway with a smile.

Hestia had headphones on and was slow dancing around the kitchen as she gathered things to brush butter atop the bread. It wasn’t technically dancing, but her steps were graceful transitions into other tasks. The movements of their skirts helped with the fluidity of their movements. Hestia was completely in their own world as she worked. Roman was hit with a sense of nostalgia as he watched, reminded of the times he helped make dinner with his moms growing up. He looked around the kitchen and noticed that the surfaces were spotless. It looked like Hestia cleaned while she waited for the bread to bake; even the sink was empty.

Hestia dried their hands off and turned, jumping when she saw Roman in the doorway, a soft smile on his face. “How long have you been standing there?” she asked, sheepishly pulling her headphones to rest around her neck.

“Not long, I promise. I finished a couple minutes ago. I noticed you did my dishes for me. Thank you.”

“Oh it was no problem at all. Have you had dinner yet? I want to make you something as a thank you.”

“You don’t have to do that, I-” Roman’s stomach growled loudly, interrupting him. Hestia started giggling, a contagious sounding laughter that made Roman join in, leaning against the doorway in embarrassment. “Okay, maybe dinner should be made soon,” he admitted with a wide grin.

“I’ll make some pasta, that should be fast,” Hestia said, failing to hide her smile behind her sweater-covered hand. “Do you have any on hand or should I grab some from my apartment?” “You should probably get some from your apartment. Is there anything you want me to do here while you do?”

“Can you find a strainer and a large-ish pot? Mine are dirty.”

“Sure, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Hestia left for her apartment to grab ingredients and Roman grabbed the pots needed before starting to set the table for two. He was just finishing filling up the water pitcher when Hestia re-entered the dining room, arms filled.

“There was some ravioli in my freezer, does that sound good? I also have tomatoes, an onion, garlic–” they continued to list ingredients as she set them down on the counter.

Roman watched her carefully as she set up her station to prepare to cook before stepping beside her to help. They worked side by side as they cooked, Hesita’s music playing gently from a nearby bluetooth speaker. At one point, she raided his fridge in search of salad materials. Roman was surprised at the full salad that Hestia was able to conjure up. When everything was ready to be served, the pair set out hot pads and placed the food on the table.

#i-create #neighbors

2 notes · View notes

valkyrisffvii · 2 years

Text

Mithroth Headcanons: Apartment Life

Since there are many instances where Mithra and Sephiroth are just hanging out in their home, I decided to make some headcanons about the more general aspects of their living together. I may make more in the future as I come up with new ones.

Moving In

- Sephiroth moves in with Mithra only a few weeks after they start dating. It’s not as big of a deal as normal couples because they live relatively close to each other, so moving things around is fairly simple.

- After they spend their first night together, Sephiroth already makes plans to ask if he can live with Mithra full-time. Because of his high position both as an officer and a First, he’s met with little questioning when he makes the proposition. The Shinra execs allow him to abandon his 1st Class quarters and live with his girlfriend instead.

- Sephiroth is called away on a mission shortly after he makes the decision to live with Mithra, so she is put in charge of moving all of his personal belongings to her home. She recruits Zack, Cloud, and Kunsel to help her, and the hallways are full of chaos during the time they spend traveling back and forth between the two apartments.

- Mithra has way too much fun using the flatbed carts as skateboards while she’s on her way back to Sephiroth’s to load more things onto it. She almost runs Cloud over twice.

- Sephiroth’s old apartment is converted into a guest room, the same purpose Mithra’s apartment had before she enlisted in SOLDIER.

- Sephiroth was actually the only SOLDIER living on the executive floor, which is located two floors above the 1st and 2nd Class apartment floor, where Mithra lives. The 3rds live a floor below that along with the troopers.

- Even though Sephiroth’s old apartment is very luxurious, it’s very lonely. Mithra visits him a couple of times before he starts living with her, but she doesn’t feel comfortable there because it’s so opulent.

General Life

- The two take turns with chores. Chores include cleaning the bathroom, wiping down the kitchen, vacuuming, changing sheets, etc.

- The apartment has one writing desk, and that’s where Mithra keeps all her drawing supplies. Sephiroth does his work on the kitchen island, and the bar stools are actually pretty comfortable.

- Both partners are fine with guests coming over, as long as they clean up any messes. This is especially notable because they’ll both have friends over when the other is away for company.

- Mithra’s definitely the better cook, but she takes time to teach Sephiroth so he can make himself food when she’s not around. Angeal often comes over to use Mithra’s kitchen because it’s the most spacious out of all the apartments.

- Mithra’s favorite food is spicy ramen or curry, and Sephiroth loves spaghetti bolognese. Mithra does not drink alcohol, and her favorite drink is either fruit punch or chocolate milk. Sephiroth’s favorite alcohol is Merlot, and his favorite non-alcoholic drink is strawberry lemonade.

- The bathroom has a very interesting layout, and it sports very nice amenities that not even the luxurious executive suites have. There’s a common area with double sinks as well as a large mirror. The lighting mimics natural daylight. Mithra keeps her beauty and skincare products in a small vanity in here as well. Three doors separate into a toilet room that has noise-cancelling walls, a private shower room with a separate changing area, and a onsen-style tub room that emits steam. Mithra almost never uses the hot tub, but she has fallen asleep in it before.

- The living room area is the group’s party hangout, and the widescreen television sports a high-quality display where the friends often play video games and watch movies together.

- Video game time consists of a lot of screaming, Angeal getting a headache, and Sephiroth winning by doing almost nothing.

- There’s a weapon rack by the entryway for Kuroyumi and Masamune. Mithra always has a plentiful supply of arrows as well.

- Mithra and Sephiroth will talk together while cleaning/polishing their weapons. Mithra will sit on the couch running her bowstring through a block of wax while Seph kneels on the floor and polishes Masamune until it’s reflective.

- Both before and after Sephiroth moves into Mithra’s home, Zack and Cloud regularly hang out in her apartment. They enjoy using Mithra’s TV to play games when they’re off duty, and she appreciates their company when Sephiroth is away. Mithra even made Zack a jar of snacks, labeling it “Puppy Food”.

- The couch has a pullout mattress for any guests. The most notable instance where it was put to use occurred after Zack took Cloud to a bar for his 21st birthday, and Mithra found the two of them spooning on the bed the next morning.

- Mithra and Sephiroth always look forward to the other’s return home from missions. If either of them are at home when the other comes back, there’s always hugs and kisses to follow.

Self-Care and Hygiene

- Both Mithra and Sephiroth practice good hygiene and clean up after themselves. There aren’t many instances where they’ll tolerate a mess unless they’re too tired to care.

- Mithra always showers first because she can get in and out much quicker. Sephiroth takes at least 10 minutes to wash his hair alone, and Mithra often uses this time to do her skincare regimen.

- For as much hair as he has, Sephiroth’s hair actually dries within a reasonable amount of time due to how fine it is. He just has to wring it out well and it air dries pretty quickly.

- Mithra forbids Sephiroth from walking around the bathroom with dripping hair after she slips in one of the puddles he makes. Thankfully, he catches her.

- After he gets out of the shower, Sephiroth combs his hair out. He sometimes lets Mithra do it because he knows how much she loves his hair. He also lets her braid it, and he actually likes the feeling of his hair being pulled out of his face.

- Unlike her boyfriend, Mithra doesn’t really do anything to her hair besides shampooing and brushing. She deems any length past her shoulders as “too long” and cuts it. She doesn’t get tangles often, but when she does, Sephiroth usually helps her comb them out.

- Both of them have skincare routines. Sephiroth washes his face every morning and night, and he also moisturizes to keep his skin soft. Mithra does pretty much everything: cleansing, toning, moisturizing, exfoliating, the whole nine yards. They both like doing masks together, but Sephiroth is somewhat afraid of peeling masks. Mithra has an entire album on her phone dedicated to bathroom selfies.

- As for hair removal shenanigans, Mithra tries her best to keep her legs and armpits clean-shaven, but her hair grows somewhat quickly. She often forgets to shave and just allows herself to have hairy legs and pits, but she honestly doesn’t care about it that much. This doesn’t stop her from grooming when she remembers, though, as she loves the feeling of smooth, shaved legs.

- Sephiroth does not have any facial hair besides his eyebrows and lashes. He wears long pants most of the time, so he has no reason to deal with leg hair. His armpit hair is nearly undetectable because it’s very fine and light-colored. His chest and stomach are completely hairless, leaving the skin silky smooth, which Mithra enjoys very much.

- For their hair, er, “down there”, both Mithra and Sephiroth keep themselves fairly well groomed by shaving and trimming respectively.

- Mithra has a special cabinet in the toilet room for all her feminine hygiene products, and Sephiroth never bothered to ask her about them until she got her period for the first time after he moved in.

- Speaking of periods, Sephiroth had never learned about them in his youth, mainly because he was never around women. Zack had to teach him everything after Seph’s failed attempt to treat Mithra’s “injury”.

- Mithra’s significantly more impatient and emotional during her periods, so Sephiroth is sure to give her an extra wide berth. He also stocks up on toilet paper during these times.

Sleeping

- The bed is a king size with a deep red comforter. The sheets and pillowcases are usually a shade of red, as that’s the only color that Mithra likes.

- The far side of the room leads to a walk-in closet. Sharing the closet isn’t much of a problem because Mithra’s clothes aren’t bulky, leaving plenty of room for Sephiroth’s armor and such.

- The floor-to-ceiling window opposite the bed allows plenty of natural light into the room, but the mako reactors give the room a greenish glow at night. Red curtains provide privacy.

- For sleeping arrangements: from the perspective of the foot of the bed, Mithra sleeps on the left side, and Sephiroth on the right.

- Each side of the bed has a nightstand, but Mithra’s is the only one with a lamp, a salt lamp at that. Mithra confirms that it’s indeed made of salt because she licked it once out of curiosity.

- Mithra’s nightstand also has lip balm, hand lotion, eye drops, and she always keeps a cup of water on her bedside before she goes to sleep.

- Sephiroth doesn’t really have much on his nightstand besides his phone, with alarms set at dawn. Mithra also has alarms, but Sephiroth usually wakes up first on regular workdays, and he wakes her up.

- They are pretty good at sharing the covers, but Mithra does get colder easily, so she’s definitely more likely to unconsciously steal the blankets. However, her solution is normally just snuggling closer to her lover.

- For sleepwear, Mithra doesn’t wear much because she likes the feeling of the smooth sheets against her skin. She usually just wears a sports bra and pajama shorts, sometimes she’ll add a cropped tank top if she has friends sleeping over.

- Sephiroth never sleeps with a shirt on. For Gaia’s sake, he doesn’t wear a shirt under his coat, so why on the Planet would he be any different in the privacy of his home? He sports dark-colored sweats or pajama pants on his lower half, and the waistband usually rides low on his hips, leaving the entire upper half of his body exposed.

- Unsurprisingly, Mithra does not mind her boyfriend’s choice of sleepwear at all. She’s fully guilty of staring at his toned body when he’s asleep, and she can sometimes get away with caressing him without waking him up.

- Likewise, Sephiroth loves Mithra’s physical beauty just as much as he loves her personality. He’ll place kisses on her exposed skin, respectfully of course, and he’ll sometimes tickle her to get a laugh out of her. His soft touches are enough to make butterflies erupt in Mithra’s stomach.

- An example is whenever Mithra wears a top with looser straps to bed. If the strap slides off her shoulder, Sephiroth will press a loving kiss to her shoulder blade before pushing the strap back into its place. She’ll practically melt in his arms.

- Mithra enjoys doodling in bed, normally when she waits for Sephiroth to come in. Seph will often come sit next to her on the bed and peek at her artwork.

- Sephiroth is just a big fan of holding Mithra, no matter the occasion, but he’s the most free to do it in the privacy of their bedroom. He’ll wrap his arms around her waist and gently rub his fingers on her stomach, sometimes tickling her because he knows that she’s ticklish there. He’ll continue to caress her waist when they lie down together.

- Mithra can hug Sephiroth from behind, but if she wants to drape her arms around his shoulders, she has to kneel on the bed. If she sits regularly, her arms only come up to right underneath his pecs.

- When both of them are ready to sleep, Sephiroth usually pulls Mithra down with him and holds her close to him. Her favorite sleeping position is with her head laying on his bare chest, as the thumping of his heart relaxes her and lulls her to sleep. Seph wraps his arm around her snugly and their legs are tangled together.

- Sometimes, the two will spoon, and Seph is usually the big spoon because he can wrap his arms around her much more easily. If they fall asleep that way, he’s sure to press a sweet kiss to her cheek or jawline.

- Most of these points just prove how touch-starved he is and how much he’s needed a girlfriend.

#mithra valkyris #Sephiroth #mithroth #headcanons #final fantasy vii #couple goals #soldier life

3 notes · View notes

mikauzoran · 3 years

Text

Lukadrien: Zebras Can’t Change Their Stripes: Chapter Three

Read it on AO3: Zebras Can’t Change Their Stripes: Chapter Three

“It’s not too close to where you used to live, is it?” Luka inquired nervously as they climbed the stairs to the third floor of the apartment building in the fifteenth arrondissement, not far from the Eiffel Tower.

“No, it’s fine,” Adrien assured, taking in how clean and in good repair everything was despite the building being older. “They leveled the mansion and built new homes on the lot, so it’s not a problem. I don’t think I could take seeing that building, that wall of windows, ever again, but the area itself is fine.”

“Oh, good,” Luka breathed in relief. “The last thing I’d want is to take you somewhere full of painful reminders.”

“No, this is wonderful,” Adrien stressed. “This place is really nice, and I’m so grateful to you for taking me in. Seriously. Thank you.”

“Not at all,” Luka assured with an encouraging grin as they made their way down the hall to the eighth and last door on the left-hand side. “I cannot stress what a weight off my mind it is to have you close by so that I can see that you’re safe. I’m happy to have you.”

Adrien looked down at his scuffed-up shoes as Luka pulled out the key.

“I’m really sorry to have worried you,” Adrien mumbled, shame making the tips of his ears burn. “I guess I was so caught up in my own head that I didn’t stop to think about how what I was doing would affect anyone else. I didn’t think I really mattered to anyone.”

Luka tamped down the surge of anger he suddenly felt towards Gabriel Agreste for all the years of neglect Adrien had suffered that made him think that his existence had so little impact on others.

He reached out and ruffled Adrien’s hair. “It’s okay. Apology accepted. Just stop and think next time you’re considering dropping off the face of the earth without telling anyone.”

“Sorry,” Adrien repeated, leaning into Luka’s touch.

“No worries,” Luka reiterated, increasing the pressure. “I think we all get it. Your whole life got smashed to pieces, and there was a lot going on. No one’s mad at you. We all know you were trying your best just to survive, but we were worried and mad at our own inability to do anything. Nino is still a wreck, and that Wayem guy you were friends with was completely inconsolable. Alya, Kagami, Chloé…Marinette…”

Both Luka and Adrien flinched at the last name.

“…a lot of people care about you,” Luka sighed, moving his hand to scratch behind Adrien’s ear, slipping back into their old casual intimacies as if no time had passed.

“It’s good to know that,” Adrien replied in a weak voice, swallowing back a fresh round of tears.

Internally, he laughed at the fact that he’d cried more in that single day than he had in the preceding year.

“I’m going to need to reach out to them later tonight,” Luka tentatively informed.

Adrien’s head shot up, his eyes wide in alarm.

“I don’t have to tell them you’re staying with me or even that you’re back in Paris, but they need to know that you’re safe and well,” Luka insisted, not taking no for an answer. “You don’t have to talk to them until you’re ready, but I know what it feels like to wonder if you’re dead, Adrien. They deserve to know you’re safe.”

Reluctantly, Adrien nodded. “I see your point. …I was thinking about getting back in touch with Nino and Marinette, actually. I’m not ready right now, but…yeah. I don’t want to worry them any more than I already have.”

“Good,” Luka sighed, opening the apartment door. “That settles it, then.”

He was just about to step inside when he suddenly remembered the state his apartment was currently in after The Breakup.

Luka hurriedly closed the door and groaned.

“Problem?” Adrien inquired hesitantly, eyebrows scrunching together in concern.

Luka rested his forehead against the door and took a deep breath. “…Uh…yeah. I kind of forgot that the apartment is sort of a dump right now. I think Josie mentioned how I just broke up with the woman I had planned on spending my life with six days ago?”

Adrien winced. “Oh. That’s… Sorry.”

“Yeah.” Luka blew out a long breath, straightening up and looking at Adrien apologetically. “I’m so sorry. It’s not normally like this, I swear. I just haven’t been functioning this past week.”

“It’s okay,” Adrien assured with a look of utter sympathy and understanding on his face as he reached out and placed a comforting hand on Luka’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Sorry,” Luka repeated, voice raw as all the emotions he’d been pushing to the back of his mind resurfaced. “Sorry I’m kind of going to pieces on you out in the hallway when you’ve got so much on your own plate.”

“Shh,” Adrien soothed, coaxing Luka gently into his arms.

Luka was a little embarrassed at how quickly he melted into Adrien’s touch.

“It’s okay,” Adrien cooed, starting to rub soothing circles between Luka’s shoulder blades. “I’m really sorry that you’re having a rough time, but, honestly, the ugly part of me feels a lot better knowing that even you can be a mess sometimes.”

“I’m glad you’re able to take comfort in my suffering,” Luka laughed through tears, giving Adrien a squeeze.

“It’s just that you’re always so chill and mature and levelheaded,” Adrien teased. “You were always the one comforting me and giving advice and making me feel better about the crappy things in my life. It’s good to feel like maybe I have an opportunity to be there for you now.”

“That’s valid,” Luka agreed into Adrien’s shoulder. “…Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Adrien hummed happily, giving Luka a pat on the back.

With another sigh, Luka straightened up and opened the door. “I promise you I’m going to clean all this up starting tomorrow. Going forward, I won’t leave a mess in the common areas.”

Adrien clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. “Luka, it’s seriously not a big deal. I am literally homeless; I’m not going to judge your housekeeping lapses while you’re going through a major breakup. It’s fine.”

“It doesn’t feel fine,” Luka grumbled as Adrien stepped into the apartment and got his first look at the carnage. “And you’re not homeless anymore,” Luka chided, stepping inside and locking the door behind them. “You live here now, so welcome home.”

“Thank you,” Adrien chuckled, taking in the dirty laundry, soiled dishes, pizza boxes, Chinese takeaway cartons, and half-eaten junk food refuse.

“Oh my God,” Luka groaned. “Please don’t look at it. I swear I don’t live like this all the time. I’ll clean it all up tomorrow.”

Adrien turned to Luka and pulled him into a quick hug. “I’m sorry that you’re suffering. It’s okay not to be able to stay on top of everything all the time.”

Luka was stunned into silence, not sure how to feel.

Adrien pulled back and smiled, ignoring the mess and asking, “So, where do I sleep?”

“Here,” Luka replied gratefully as he stepped over the rubbish littering the living room floor to guide Adrien to the third door on the right wall. “Kitchen is there, obviously.” He pointed straight back through the apartment.

It was an open concept layout, so the living room seamlessly faded into what would have been a nice little kitchen area with an island in the middle as a workspace and a full stove, oven, refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, cabinets, pantry, and sink…if not for the fact that, like the rest of the apartment, it looked like a disaster zone at the moment.

“That first door is my bedroom, the middle one is the bathroom, and your room is here,” Luka oriented Adrien, motioning to the other two doors in turn before opening the one that led to Adrien’s new bedroom.

“It’s kind of spartan at the moment,” Luka informed apologetically as Adrien peeked in.

It was a more-than-reasonably-sized room with generous closet space. As far as furniture went, there was a desk, a desk chair, a bed, and a nightstand. The walls were bare of decoration, and the mattress didn’t have any sheets.

Still, it was a nice room, even in its sparseness. Natural light poured in through the large windows, making it feel warm and cheerful.

“This is really nice,” Adrien whispered, voice cracking.

Luka looked to him with a tentative smile. “You like it?”

Adrien nodded, not trusting his voice.

“Good.” Luka’s hesitant grin grew into a full-blown beam. “How much stuff do you have back at your room at the hostel where you were staying? I just want to know if we need to take the car or the motorcycle or what to go get it.”

Adrien shifted uncomfortably. “Um…nothing, actually.”

Luka blinked as he did a doubletake of the small satchel Adrien had with him.

He took a deep breath and decided, “We’re going shopping.”

Adrien’s eyes grew as big as marbles for the nth time that day. “Luka, I really don’t need anything. I already feel bad what with—”

“—Hush.” Luka pressed his fingers to Adrien’s lips. “At the very least, we need to go get you some bed linens because I don’t have clean sheets to give you to sleep on. You also need a phone so people can get ahold of you for band stuff. Those things are non-negotiable.”

Adrien bit his lip, looking more and more uncomfortable as he realized that there was no way to get himself out of placing himself further in debt to Luka.

“I’ll pay you back someday,” he promised, not sure how he would ever make good on his word.

Luka’s eyes softened, and he gave Adrien a warm smile and a pat on the head. “You don’t have to, but, if it makes you feel better, okay.”

Adrien nodded resolutely. “I will pay you back.”

The first stop was a little SFR phone boutique, and then Luka took them to a nearby Monoprix department store.

Adrien picked out an inexpensive, plain bed set, but Luka put it back and steered Adrien over to the pricier, better quality sets with fun designs.

“I don’t want you sleeping on scratchy sheets,” Luka chided affectionately. “I know you haven’t had much these past few years, but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve nice things. And while I’m aware that the options here aren’t that impressive, I want you to pick something comfortable in a colour or pattern that you like, okay?”

Adrien hesitated for a moment before going over to the more expensive sets and picking out a dark blue one with a white shooting star pattern. He looked to Luka for approval, and Luka smiled, nodding.

“Perfect. Now let’s get you some clothes,” Luka announced in satisfaction.

“I have clothes,” Adrien insisted, mortified.

Luka rolled his eyes. “When was the last time you got new clothes? I know they don’t have the best selection here, but you could probably use some new socks, underwear, pyjamas, shirts, am I right?”

Adrien pointedly didn’t look at Luka.

With a sad, sympathetic expression, Luka went over to Adrien and tugged gently on his sleeve. “Please let me buy you new clothes?” Luka pleaded softly, voice just above a whisper. “I haven’t been able to do anything for you this whole time, and I feel like, based on what you said, there were times when you really needed someone. Please let me try to make up for not being there for you. Can you do that for me?”

Adrien looked up at Luka, scrutinizing his face for a minute. “To be clear, I’m not asking you to do all this for me. Because I don’t need this. This is all your idea. I’m not making you spend all this money on me.”

Luka nodded, patiently confirming, “That’s right.”

“I’m letting you do this as a favour to you,” Adrien added uneasily.

Luka kept nodding. “Yes, and I would be extremely grateful if you’d let me.”

“And you’re doing this because you’re my friend and you care for me and you feel guilty?” Adrien verified. “Not because you pity me or you’re looking down on me or anything?”

Luka placed his hands on Adrien’s shoulders and stared him intently in the eye. “What I feel for you isn’t pity. It’s empathy and compassion, Adrien. You didn’t look down on or pity me when I was broke, did you?”

“No, of course not,” Adrien scoffed at the ridiculous notion.

“No,” Luka agreed. “You didn’t. You may have felt bad that you took for granted things that I went without, but you didn’t pity me. You were compassionate, and you shared what you had with me. You bought me gifts that I couldn’t afford for myself. I still treasure the things you gave me. They’re proof that you cared about me and wanted me to have nice things.”

“Oh,” Adrien whispered as realization dawned on him.

“Do you kind of get it now?” Luka chuckled, patting Adrien on the shoulder before stepping back.

Adrien pursed his lips, took a deep breath, and nodded. “Okay. I think…we’re probably going to have to have this conversation a couple times in the coming weeks until it really sinks in, but…I think I get it, so…let’s go shopping?” he replied uncertainly.

Luka smiled, taking Adrien by the hand and leading him to the men’s clothing section.

They picked up a week’s worth of new clothes for Adrien and then stopped by the personal care section for bath and grooming supplies.

When Adrien insisted that he didn’t strictly need an item, Luka took to saying, “I’m buying you this because I love you”.

Adrien may have protested more frequently than necessary just to get Luka to say it.

Even back when Adrien had a home and a family, he hadn’t really heard “I love you” that much. His friends (Nino especially) had often reminded Adrien that he was loved, but it had been years since he’d last been told that.

They walked past the toy section, and Adrien stopped when a bin of stuffed animals caught his eye.

He reached out to stroke a black cat plushie, and Luka saw the wistful look in Adrien’s eyes.

Luka picked up the stuffed animal and inspected it.

“I used to have one,” Adrien hastily explained, looking away. “Nathalie gave it to me for my eighth birthday to keep me company because my father had to go out of town on a business trip and my mother went with him, so I was alone for my birthday. I named him Chat Noir…. Seeing that just reminded me.”

“Do you want this?” Luka inquired, gazing at Adrien with bottomless affection.

Adrien’s eyes said “yes”, but Adrien shook his head, responding, “No, I don’t need it.”

“That’s not what I asked,” Luka chuckled, tucking the stuffed animal into the crook of Adrien’s arm. “I asked if you wanted it.”

Adrien opened his mouth to protest, but Luka cut him off.

“I’m buying you this so that every time you look at it, you’ll remember that you’re loved,” he informed, taking Adrien by the hand and tugging him along.

“Thank you,” Adrien whispered, hugging Chat Noir the Third to his chest and smiling to himself.

The next stop was the groceries section on the ground floor.

“I really need to do the shopping,” Luka groaned. “I’m pretty sure a sentient lifeform is growing in the fridge at this point, but I’m completely wiped today.”

He sent Adrien an apologetic look. “I kind of drank myself stupid last night, and I’m still feeling it a little. Let’s just get you some snacks to tide you over until I can go grocery shopping tomorrow morning. We can get takeaway tonight for dinner, if that’s okay.”

“I’m good,” Adrien assured. “I really don’t need anything. If you recall, I didn’t exactly get snacks much growing up either.”

“Well, take a look around and see if anything looks good,” Luka urged. “At the very least, we can pick up some mint tea and prepackaged salads.”

Adrien’s eyes grew large and misty. “You remembered.”

Luka burst out laughing, and he reached out to tussle Adrien’s hair. “Perfect Fifth, you have the most bizarre comfort foods ever. Of course I remember them. Come on.”

He motioned for Adrien to follow him to the corresponding sections of the store.

On the way, he watched Adrien closely, taking note of the things that seemed to catch his eye.

“We should have sushi sometime,” he remarked as he noticed Adrien eying the sushi bar longingly. “Would you like that?”

“I would love that,” Adrien sighed wistfully, his mouth already watering. “I haven’t had sushi in forever.”

“Maybe tomorrow for lunch before rehearsal,” Luka suggested. “We can pick some up while we’re here for groceries.”

“I’d like that,” Adrien repeated softly. “Thank you for being so considerate.”

Luka responded with a grin and playfully bumped Adrien’s shoulder with his own. “Sure thing.”

The next thing that grabbed Adrien’s attention was the cheese monger’s counter.

He looked at it sadly, his eyes growing damp once more.

“Oh my gosh,” Luka exclaimed as realization hit him. “We need to pick up some Camembert for Plagg, don’t we?”

Adrien’s hand flew out to grab Luka’s arm and stop him as he made to go over to the cheese section.

Luka frowned as the tears started to spill down Adrien’s cheeks.

“Adrien? What’s wrong?” Luka cooed.

Adrien shook his head and held up his ringless right hand.

Luka gasped. “What happened?”

Adrien kept shaking his head as he ruefully bit out the words with some difficulty. “I didn’t feel like I deserved him after everything that happened…so I gave him back to her before I left.”

Luka’s already pale skin lost its remaining colour as his stomach turned sour.

He cursed under his breath.

“And here, this whole time, I was making myself feel better by telling myself that at least you had Plagg to look after you, but…” Luka cursed again, shaking his head and getting his thoughts in order. “Do you want me to call her? I’ll call her and drive over there right now and get him back for you.”

Adrien looked up at Luka in surprise. “You…she told you?”

Luka averted his eyes and shrugged. “I figured it out. Do you want me to go get Plagg for you?”

Adrien bit his lip, looking like he was just about to say yes, but then his eyes darkened, and he shook his head. “I don’t think I can face him just yet either, but when you text Marinette later that I’m alive, could you please tell her to tell Plagg that I’m sorry and I miss him?”

“I can do that,” Luka promised, already knowing that he was going to go see Marinette the next day and get Plagg from her so that he’d be on hand the second Adrien was ready to be reunited with him.

Luka realized that the fact that he was so ready to face her again on Adrien’s behalf was rather telling.

He’d never exactly stopped loving Adrien, and he feared his feelings were just waiting in the wings to flare up at any moment.

They returned to the apartment and spent the rest of the day getting Adrien settled in. By the time Luka pushed the rubbish off of the couch so that they could sit down and eat their dinner that evening, they were both exhausted.

“After I eat, I’m going to my room and collapsing,” Luka informed, tucking into his carton of kung pao chicken.

“Sorry to have worn you out,” Adrien apologized sheepishly as he started on his vegetable lo mein. “I really appreciate everything you did for me today.”

“No worries,” Luka assured with a half-full mouth. “I wore myself out before you were even in the picture…and, honestly, today is the best day I’ve had in a long time.”

Adrien tipped his head in surprise. “Wait. Really?”

Luka nodded. “Even before The Breakup, I was getting pretty down…. She’s in love with someone else. She’s always been in love with someone else, but I’ve never held it against her. I thought it was okay because it wasn’t like she was actually cheating on me or anything. She couldn’t be with him, so she settled for me, and I thought that was okay because that was still her picking me, but…it’s been years, and she’s still pining after the ghost of him.”

He looked up at Adrien with a smile that had been beaten down but still gotten back up on its feet. “I thought it was okay, but it wasn’t, and it had really started to wear down on me. So, today was actually really good. Concentrating on you is helping me get my mind out of the dark place it’s been living for a while now.”

“I’m really glad I could help in some small way,” Adrien replied with a tentative smile. “I hope you have more good days going forward.”

Luka nodded, going back to his dinner. “I’m sure I will. There are still going to be days where I drink myself into a coma and can’t get out of bed, but there will be days when I’m a functioning human being too. Maybe having you around will give me the kick in the pants I need to shower regularly and keep the apartment clean and eat all the meals I’m supposed to. I always do better when I’m focused on someone else.”

“I’ve seen you focus on other people too much and completely neglect yourself,” Adrien hummed softly. “…But I’m going to be around for a while, so I guess if I see you doing that, I can nag you about it.”

“Please feel free to do so,” Luka snorted in laughter. “Goodness knows I need it.”

He scooted over on the couch, cautiously invading Adrien’s space.

Adrien surreptitiously inched closer.

Luka closed the gap until they were shoulder to shoulder, thigh to thigh. “Do you mind snuggling?” he asked even though Adrien was already leaning into Luka, resting his head against Luka’s shoulder.

“Snuggling is my favourite thing,” Adrien laughed. “You know that. How many times have I used you as a body pillow?”

“Things change. You never know,” Luka replied with a shrug. “I don’t ever want to do something that makes you uncomfortable. I know you’ve historically had a hard time telling people no and where your boundaries are.”

“Thanks,” Adrien whispered, voice full of gratitude. “But I think maybe you and I can just pick up where we left off, if that’s okay. You still feel like you, and you make me feel like a person I haven’t been in a long time.”

Luka tipped his head to the side, resting it against Adrien’s. “Is that a good thing?”

“Yeah,” Adrien hummed. “I think it is. I’ve grown a lot these past few years, but there are parts of myself that I feel like I’ve lost that I miss. There are a lot of things I want to lose and a lot of things I want to get back, so I think this is good.”

“Good,” Luka sighed, a small smile curling up the corners of his lips. “I’m feeling kind of needy lately. Snuggling sounds really good.”

“I’ve got you covered,” Adrien assured.

They ate their dinner in happy, warm silence and lingered for a while after they were through, just enjoying the company.

Finally, Luka persuaded himself to get up and take the empty containers over to the nearly overflowing rubbish bin in the kitchen.

He winced as embarrassment reared its head again. “I promise I’m going to clean all of this up tomorrow.”

“No worries,” Adrien chuckled, shaking his head. “It’s seriously fine, Luka.”

“It’s really not,” Luka grumbled. “I am not my mother. I do not go on drinking sprees and let trash pile up around me. I am a functional, responsible adult.”

Adrien got up and went over to Luka, resting a supportive hand on his arm. “You are a functional, responsible adult…and you need to cut yourself some slack. Be nice. You’re going through some stuff. That’s what you used to tell me, right?”

Adrien shot him a bolstering smile, and Luka’s lips twitched just a little in response.

“Thank you, Adrien. It’s just…this,” He waved his arms to encapsulate the entire mess of an apartment. “is not me.”

“I know,” Adrien replied matter-of-factly. “And you can fix it when you feel better. Now, off to bed with you.”

Luka pulled Adrien into a quick side-hug. “You’re the best.”

Adrien cracked up. “Please tell me that often. My self-esteem could use the boost.”

“Noted,” Luka assured, turning to head to his room.

He paused when he suddenly remembered and reached for his wallet.

“Before I forget: apartment key, credit card, cash,” he announced as he fished each item out of his wallet and set it down on one of the only clean spots on the kitchen island.

Adrien gawked. “What’s all this?”

Luka nodded to the apartment key. “I’ll have a duplicate made for you tomorrow, but if you need to go out before then, you’ll need the key. If you discover that you don’t have something you need, there’s money. I mean, I’m sure we forgot something. If you need me, just knock on my door, and if I don’t respond, come in and shake me because I’m probably stone cold passed out,” Luka concluded with a shrug.

Adrien kept staring, looking back and forth between Luka and the money in disbelief. “Aren’t you afraid of me just taking off with that?”

Luka burst out laughing. “Why would you do that?”

Adrien shrugged. “I don’t know. I told you earlier that I stole money from my aunt. You’d think you’d be a little more cautious.”

Luka rolled his eyes. “Have you ever stolen something you didn’t need? Have you ever stolen from someone who couldn’t take the loss?”

Slowly, Adrien began to shake his head.

“Okay then,” Luka declared as if that settled it. “Besides, is it stealing if I gave this stuff to you?”

Adrien pursed his lips and furrowed his brow. “…No?”

“No,” Luka agreed, reaching out to pat Adrien on the head. “You’re free to go whenever you want, Adrien. I would never keep you here against your will, but I think you do want to be here, and I want you here too, so I hope you’ll stay.”

Confusion slowly overtook Adrien’s expression and he found himself asking the question that had been in the back of his mind all day: “Is all of this for real?”

Luka’s eyebrow arched questioningly. “What do you mean?”

Adrien swallowed and motioned around them. “All of this. Is this really…free? No strings attached? You really don’t want anything from me? You’re not expecting me to do anything to pay you back?”

Luka shook his head, giving Adrien what he hoped was a calming smile. “Completely free,” he assured. “No strings.”

Adrien frowned harder. “Sorry. I just…I know you’re telling the truth. I know I can trust you. I do trust you. I just haven’t been able to trust anyone in a long time, so this is really hard for me to just accept all of your kindness.”

Luka nodded, trying to imagine what it must have been like for Adrien, not even able to trust his own family. “It’s okay. I’m not offended or anything. You’ve been through a lot, and even though I have no way of really understanding that, I respect it.”

Adrien swallowed, hesitating before confessing, “People have tricked me before. People have pretended to be nice, but they weren’t actually nice. I know you’re not like that, but…people who have been nice to me have always expected things I’m not interested in giving, so I’m just kind of anxious because people get mean when you tell them no after they’ve been nice to you.”

Luka’s jaw dropped, and fear surged up into his chest. “Adrien,” he gasped. “Are you okay? Did someone…?”

Adrien shook his head rapidly. “No. No. I mean…not successfully. I’m fine. Just…you know. Close calls. It’s made me painfully aware of how vulnerable I am, though.”

He winced. “It made me realize how dangerous it can be for someone whom no one cares about. If something happened to me, no one would come looking or ask questions. It’s scary once you realize no one’s looking out for you. It makes you hesitant to trust people.”

Luka stepped forward, pulling Adrien into a hug. “Well, it’s not like that anymore, so you don’t have to be scared. You have friends here. Old ones you just need to reconnect with and new ones like Josie and Jacob and Marc. You’re safe, Adrien.”

Luka pulled back to look Adrien in the eye to make sure he was hearing what Luka was saying. “And this is your home now, not just mine. That room is your room. I’m not going to barge in uninvited or mess with your things. That’s your space, and you have door-locking privileges. Same goes for the bathroom. I want you to feel safe here.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” Adrien assured, smiling peacefully as he rested his head on Luka’s shoulder and gave him a grateful squeeze. “Sorry I’m kind of busted up. The world is sort of mean.”

“I know. Don’t worry. Everyone is a little busted up in some way or another. It’s not just you,” Luka informed.

“Thanks,” Adrien sighed as he pulled away. “Now go get some rest. You look like you got hit by a truck.”

A peal of laughter took Luka by surprise. “That is exactly what I’ve always wanted you to say to me.”

“I’ll bet.” Adrien smirked. “Go sleep.”

“What are you going to do?” Luka had to wonder.

“Monopolize your bathtub for at least an hour and then watch anime on my phone,” Adrien answered without batting an eye.

“You like baths?” Luka snickered. “Why am I just now finding this out about you?”

Adrien shrugged, his smirk growing wider. “My bathtub was one of the few things I loved about my previous domicile, and I’ve been deprived of baths for nearly five years at this point. Please take this as notice that I’m annexing your bathtub.”

“Fair enough,” Luka conceded without a fight, amused at the simple things that could bring Adrien pleasure.

“Also, I take long, hot showers, so prepare for your water bill to skyrocket,” Adrien warned.

“Noted.” Luka relaxed as Adrien seemed to become more and more comfortable making himself at home by the minute.

“And I’m going to need your Netflix password,” Adrien added to the list of demands.

Luka winced. “I don’t have Netflix.”

Adrien stared, blinked, and then cocked his head to the side. “…What?”

Luka rolled his eyes and pointed to the credit card on the counter.

Adrien looked at the card and then back to Luka. “Really?”

“Go crazy,” Luka assured. “Anything else?”

Adrien thought for a moment. “Not at present.”

“Okay. Night, night, Perfect Fifth.” He gave Adrien’s hair a tussle for good measure and turned to go.

“Good night, Orpheus,” Adrien called after him, resurrecting his own old nickname for Luka. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow,” Luka echoed, savoring those words.

#Lukadrien #Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction #Adrien Agreste #Luka Couffaine #Fluff #Hurt/Comfort #Friendship #Friends to Lovers #Slow Burn #Pining #Mutual Pining #Roommates #Mikau's Writings #Zebras Can't Change Their Stripes

26 notes · View notes

missmentelle · 4 years

Note

Hello So i'm about to move from my parents house into an aprtment with my best friend and her friend as roomates. Do you've got any tips on how to make sure we won't get into huge fights, learning how to be responisble with the bugdet and getting to know her friend more? I am really stressed out about it but there's no going back now

It can definitely be nerve-wracking to live with people you aren’t related to for the first time, whether you are moving in with friends, your partner, or random roommates off the internet. I’ve lived with many, many people over the years - most of them strangers I found online - and the best advice I can give you to make the experience more pleasant is to set ground rules and boundaries early, and to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Even close friends can have very different expectations when it comes to sharing a living space, and the big things that you’ll probably want to figure out are:

Shared expenses. Are common staples like margarine, ketchup, salt, dish soap, toilet paper and cooking oil going to be shared by the entire household, or does everyone have to buy their own? If you are sharing stuff, can one person decide to just go buy stuff that’s running low and ask for reimbursement, or do you all need to agree in advance? My roommates and I used to keep a communal list on the fridge that one person would use to make our monthly Costco run, and we’d all just pay one-third of whatever the total ended up being. You might prefer a similar approach, or you might just take turns paying - ie “I bought the last pack of toilet paper, now you buy the next one”. It depends on your budget, and how good your housemates are about holding up their end of the bargain. If you are on a smaller budget than others, or if one roommate tends to use more than their fair share, it might be less of a headache if everyone just buys their own stuff. It’s also important to figure out how rent and bills will be paid - whose name are they in? Are you paying rent with three separate cheques, or is one person writing a cheque for the whole rent? If one person is writing a cheque, when do you need to give them your portion of the rent each month?

Shared household items and appliances. If everyone has brought some kitchen items - cups, mugs, plates, etc - into the household, is every item totally up for grabs, or are there any special items (like a favourite mug or expensive blender) that not everyone is allowed to use? How is fridge and pantry space going to be divided? Are everyone’s items just put into the cupboards together, or do you each get a cupboard for the things you individually own? Does anyone have any allergies or dietary restrictions - like Kosher or Halal requirements - that make it important for other people to not use their dishes? My roommates and I always put our kitchen stuff together in a jumble and just went with it, but I have friends with strict Kosher roommates who cannot share any kitchenware at all. Will you all chip in to buy shared items like a couch and coffee table, or will one person buy the item and own it by themselves?

Chore schedule. Different people have different standards of cleanliness, and it’s important to figure out how often cleaning should be done so that no one feels like they’re living in a hovel. How quickly should people be doing their dishes - as soon as they’ve finished cooking? Within 24 hours? Or will you eat together and take turns washing dishes? How often will non-daily chores - like mopping the floors, cleaning the shower stall, and cleaning the oven - be done, and who will do them? My roommates and I used to block out 2-3 hours every Sunday as “cleaning time” when we would all deep-clean the apartment together, but you might prefer to have assigned individual chores that you can do on your own time.

Guest policy. Overnight guests and partners are probably one of the biggest sources of tension in a roommate relationship. Namely, how long can you have a guest stay in the apartment with you before they need to start chipping in with the bills? Do you need to give the other roommates advance notice before a guest comes to stay for a while? How many days out of the month can someone’s partner stay over before they effectively become part of the household and need to pitch in with bills and chores? Is it even okay if someone’s partner is staying over constantly, or are you not cool with that at all? Are roommates allowed to give their partners a key to the apartment, or does everyone in the apartment need to be on board before that can happen? My roommates and I had a lot of long-term guests in our tiny Manhattan apartment, but that only went smoothly because everyone was 100% okay with having long-term guests, and we had a hard limit on how many days someone could stay out of the month before they needed to start putting money in our “toilet paper and dish soap” fund.

Shower schedule. If everyone in the apartment is working on a similar Monday-Friday, 9-5 schedule (which is less likely to be the case these days, but still), it’s important to work out a basic schedule for who gets to shower when in the mornings. There is nothing that will make you want to flip out on your roommate quite like being late for work because they took a 45-minute shower when you needed to get ready. If you don’t each have your own ensuite bathroom, figure out who gets the bathroom when in the mornings, or decide who is going to shower at night to avoid conflict.

Quiet hours. At what hours of the day is it inconsiderate for a roommate to be making noise or watching TV in common areas while people are trying to sleep? The answer may depend on the layout of the apartment, your individual work schedules, and how sensitive everyone is to noise. If you have roommates that work nights or are working from home during the day and need quiet for their conference calls, that’s something else to keep in mind.

Breaking the lease. What happens if something comes up, and one person needs to leave before the lease is over? How much notice do they need to give the other roommates? Is it the departing roommate’s responsibility to find someone to take over their bedroom, or would the remaining roommates rather choose who they are living with? If you all pitched in to make a big purchase together - like a couch or a kitchen table - how will that work if one person leaves the lease? And how will the damage deposit be handled? The majority of leases I’ve been on have not had all the original roommates stay until the end, and it was important to plan for that in advance so that no one felt like they’d been tricked into living with someone new that they never agreed to live with.

Above all, the secret to living with roommates is to communicate, and to try to be as considerate of others as you can. The way that you live and manage your finances directly affects your roommates’ quality of life, and everyone needs to put in some serious effort to make sure that everyone gets to enjoy the living space that they are paying for. The money stuff is especially important - talk to your roommates ahead of time about what costs you will be sharing and what costs you won’t, and make sure that you are setting aside the money you need for shared expenses each month so that no one is left holding the bag. And be sure to speak up if other roommates aren’t respecting your needs either - the occasional dirty coffee cup left in the sink or wine spilled on the rug is just a part of life and probably not worth fighting over, but if someone is consistently neglecting their chores, making huge messes, making lots of noise at night or failing to pay their fair share of household expenses, that’s a situation that you need to speak up about, so that you can all try to find a way to resolve the issue. Living with a friend, roommate or partner is all about finding a balance between accommodating other people and sticking up for yourself, and it’s a balance that will be become easier with time.

It’s also important to find time to just enjoy hanging out with your roommates. Yes, living with other people can be scary and stressful, and there may be times when you’re ready to scream because someone ate your ice cream without permission and no one remembered to buy more toilet paper, but there will also be good times, especially if you are living with someone you are already friends with. Some of the best memories of my early 20s were just from hanging out with my roommates - like the time that we got drunk on cheap wine and painted some silly paintings because we couldn’t afford to decorate the apartment properly, or the time we got a huge box of breakfast food from the local diner and stayed up all night watching Game of Thrones, or the time we had to spend all day taking all our IKEA furniture apart in the lobby and carrying it up to our walk-up piece by piece because none of us could lift the boxes, and we barely made it up the stairs because we were laughing so hard. Being young and kind of broke and living with your friends can be a very fun time in your life, and it’s important to enjoy it - hang out together, do silly things, enjoy making mistakes because none of you have any real idea what you’re doing. Just because you have financial responsibilities and a chore chart doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun. Best of luck to you! Miss Mentelle

#Anonymous

517 notes · View notes