#when it still had a white background it was genuinely hard to look at | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lxkeee · 3 months

Text

I'M IN THE WIND, YOU'RE IN THE WATER

PART ONE

—Angel! Lucifer Morningstar x Mermaid! Reader

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Genre: Fanfiction/Romance with slight angst

Synopsis: what if there are other supernatural beings that existed alongside angels?

Notes: If only I wasn't lazy in making my titles have ombre colors I would've had pretty colorful titles rn>:(

PART TWO | PART THREE

Long before humans, supernaturals have already existed. One of these are the angels.

Lucifer was a curious angel, one of the first angels that was created by God. One of the most beautiful angels to have ever existed and one of the few who has the purest of hearts and intentions. Three pairs of wings adorning his back.

Despite his good intentions, the elders do not agree to his way of thinking as they think his ideas are a threat to the order they tried so hard to maintain.

With this, he was often alone as the other angels tend to avoid him.

So most of his time, he often flies around the vast lands of the earth. Getting his mind away from spiraling into insanity.

Lucifer wonders about the other supernatural beings, he knows they exist but he hasn't met one though.

One of the kinds he wanted to meet were the mermaids, he read about them when he spent his time in the heaven library. He thinks they are fascinating and beautiful based on the descriptions written on the books.

Oftentimes, he made sure to fly nearby the ocean waters. Enough that his body barely touched the cold water.

Unfortunately, he hasn't made any progress in seeing one with his own two eyes.

He sighs as he twirls in the air, large majestic wings flapping to keep his body in the air. His reflection is mirrored by the sparkling sea water. The light blue skies as his background, white fluffy clouds passing by his body. Strong winds caressing his face. A gentle smile on his face. He loves flying so much, he's free.

Folding his wings back, allowing his body to dive down. Spreading it once more to stop himself from diving into the cold ocean water, the gust of wind made by his wings made small splashes in the water.

He maintained this distance, his body a few inches away from the water. Keeping his body stable as he glides through the air.

A laugh escaping his lips, the angel genuinely enjoying this pastime of his.

Somewhere in the distance, a splash was heard. Catching his attention, his eyes whipping in the direction of the sound. His eyes widened when he could see a light blue and dark blue ombre colored mermaid tail splashing through the water and disappearing once more down to the depths.

A mermaid!

The discovery was enough for him to lose his focus as his wings stuttered. Making him fall into the cold ocean water. Halo disappeared when he made contact with the water.

His eyes widened in panic, his wings would be soaked and that means he couldn't fly. He could feel his body getting heavier as his clothes got dense from the water. He struggled to keep himself afloat, his wings adding a weight for him to carry.

Water begins to fill his lungs as he struggles to breathe, his consciousness begins to slowly fade away. Before his world was enveloped with total darkness, he swore he could see a blurry figure swimming towards him.

[y/n] groaned in annoyance, she just went for a small swim. She didn't expect to see an angel and she surely didn't expect the dumbass to fall into the water.

Watching as the angel struggled to swim upwards, she sighs softly to herself as she began to swim towards the drowning male. Worry in her heart when she saw him close his eyes.

Catching him into her arms, his head on her shoulder. Keeping him steady as she swam upwards, her powerful light blue and dark blue ombre tail moving against the current.

Their heads are finally out to the surface, [y/n] turns her head around—left and right as she looks for a nearby land. Finally seeing one, an island a few distance away from them.

The angel is still unconscious in her arms, carrying both of them against the current. Making sure his head remained on the surface. To avoid more water getting into his lungs. Her gills open slightly as she breathes in the oxygen in the surface.

Finally arriving at the shore, she drags the heavy angel. Muttering something in her language, annoyance in her voice.

She finally managed to bring him to dry land, the angel was a mess, his light blond hair all over his face. Moving away his hair so she could perform CPR on the male, as she did so. She pauses.

He's... He's beautiful.

Red circles adorning his pale cheeks, highlighting his beautiful angelic face. Plump and soft lips.

[y/n] shakes her head to shake off the intrusive thoughts. Pressing her hands against his chest, pushing it so the water in his lungs would be pushed out.

Tucking her long hair behind her ear as she leans down, pressing her lips against his and breathing back oxygen back into his lungs.

Removing her lips from his, she returns to pumping his chest again to remove the water and then once more pressing her lips against his to give him air.

The taste of salty sea water fills his throat as he finally coughs, coughing out the water that filled his lungs. His ear finally registering different sensations around him—the familiar feeling of sand against his skin, the sound of the ocean waves hitting the shore.

He breathes heavily, trying to catch his breath as he opens his eyes to see.

A very gorgeous woman in front of him.

That surprises him, causing him to jolt upwards.

Accidentally headbutting her in the process.

“Ow!”

“Ouch!”

Both of them yelled in pain, their foreheads aching from the impact.

“Is that how angels treat their saviors?” the girl asked, eyebrows furrowed as she glared at him slightly. Her hand rubbing the painful area on her forehead.

Lucifer finally got a good look at her, she's beautiful. Like an out of this world beautiful.

His eyes landed on the gills and light blue scales on her neck, his eyes widened as he finally remembers why he drowned.

His eyes moved downwards to her body to see the large and majestic beautiful light blue and dark blue ombre mermaid tail on her body.

Though, heat filled his cheeks as he realized the girl was naked.

Avoiding her gaze, hand on his collar as it suddenly felt tight than usual.

“Sorry and thank you for saving me.” he says shyly and the girl just raised an eyebrow. Finding the angel cute, especially when she knows he got shy when he realizes she's topless.

“It is no problem, though, make sure not to drown yourself while flying.” she says with a deadpan making Lucifer cover his face with his hand in embarrassment.

“Sorry, you just caught me off guard that's all. Normally, I'm not that careless.” he explained shyly, [y/n] raising an eyebrow at him.

“So it's my fault you almost drowned then?” she asked with a small glare, Lucifer began to panic and [y/n] laughs softly.

“I am just teasing you.” she says with a smile, her laugh reminding him of the soft bells that often ring in heaven that were pleasant to listen to.

Lucifer's tensed shoulders relaxed as he calmed down.

“I am really sorry for being reckless.” he apologizes sincerely and the mermaid smiled softly at him.

“No worries, though, I have a favor to ask you.” she says and Lucifer raised an eyebrow, “What is it?”

“May I know the name of the angel I just saved?” she asked him, giving him a close eyed smile.

He blushed slightly and smiled, “Lucifer, Lucifer Morningstar.” he introduced himself.

“Lucifer Morningstar, what a beautiful name for someone as beautiful as you.” She says with a smile, the compliment making Lucifer's cheeks heat up more. How befitting for him, Morningstar. The star you can see during earliest dawn.

“Nice to meet you Lucifer, my name is [y/n], [y/n] Soleil.” she introduces herself.

Soleil, that means sun. How fitting for someone like her, she looks like she shines the brightest like the sun.

“Nice to meet you, [y/n].” he says, gently holding her hand and placing a kiss on her knuckle.

[y/n]'s cheeks heat up slightly. Heart beating erratically.

Both of their hearts are thumping so loudly against their ribcages.

They spent most of the day by the sandy shore, [y/n] keeping him company as he dried himself.

They have gotten to know each other, having a similar mindset and interests. Made them bond.

The sun was finally setting on the horizon, the shades of orange, pink, blue, yellow, and red adorned the ocean as the sun finally kissed the sea.

Lucifer has finally dried himself up, his wings now lightweight now that it's dry.

The day has finally come to an end. Standing up from where he was sitting.

Both of them know that they finally need to say their goodbyes.

“I... I need to go now...” Lucifer whispers hesitantly and [y/n] smiled, lacing her hand with his to give it an assuring squeeze.

“I know, it has been truly fun spending the day with you. If you want to hang out again, I'm just swimming around these areas. So you know where to find me.” she says with a wink at him making him smile.

“I'll keep that in mind, I'll see you around [y/n]. Farewell.” he says sadly, spreading his wings and finally took off. He looks back down to see her returning to the water.

Her tail disappearing back into the deep depths.

Her head popping back out into the surface, he could see her waving at him and he waved back.

Both of them left at the same time. Maybe they'll see each other soon.

TAGLIST:

@adaizel @xx-all-purpose-nerd-xx @thedarkkitten @selvyyr @froggybich @brithedemonspawn @kottenox @totallymitya @many-fandoms-lover @dou-dou @mezzyb0nb0n @n1chxyaaenthusiast @cherry-4200 @koirb @galaxyj3lly @crystalplays28 @luleck @scootinonyourmom @rory-cakes @mixplara @crescent-z @bitchyzombienacho @kalisha2004 @altervex

#lucifer morningstar x reader #lxkeee hazbin hotel masterlist #hazbin hotel #lucifer hazbin hotel #lucifer #lucifer magne #lxkeee answers #hazbin hotel x reader #lxkeee updates #lucifer morningstar

627 notes · View notes

ghostytoad · 6 months

Text

* Fun n' Games *

ROTTMNT Boys x GN! Leo-esque reader who enjoys drama, making jokes, and being overall awesome

Summary: The Hamato brothers unexpectedly fall for the smug, but genuine, fun-loving reader despite their egocentric habits

Headcanons for: Leo

GN! Reader; Romantic; Fluff, Mild Angst || Words: 2.3k

Raph | Donnie | Mikey | Bonus!!

Leo:

oho, hello good lookin'~ it's nonstop flirting and banter from the minute they met and it's not going to stop anytime soon

finally! someone who has a sense of humor and can appreciate a good one-liner or two! and they can dish it out as well as they can take it? be still, my beating heart!

leo genuinely finds it to be a gift from the gods that y/n shares his brand of comedy and will not let up on it when he's around them

the romantic tension between y/n and leo is so thick that he could probably slice through it with his odachi - it makes his brothers sick to have to listen to all the schmoozing but leo ADORES the flirting praise

the boy would bend over backwards for y/n; he'd sell his prized jupiter jim collectibles for them if they asked him to (maybe… he'd probably still keep one or two tho)

there's an unspoken and ongoing (very friendly) rivalry between them; leo and y/n are constantly looking to one up each other and it's getting to ridiculous levels of competitive; they won't stop until things hit "deadly" levels and one of them almost ends up getting hurt

even little everyday tasks become a competition for the two of them, there's just no end to their games

grocery shopping? betcha i can save more money than you! pizza night? i can stuff twice as many pizza slices in my mouth than you can. hanging out in donnie's lab? hoo boy, i guarantee i can make him snap first.

it's the bane of donnie's existence, considering he's the target of most of their shenanigans; if he has to endure another one of their "who can ruin donnie's day" games, he swears it'll be the start of his villain arc

mikey's the unofficial score-keeper and peacemaker when things get too heated between the two of them; although he's more likely to stoke the flames than intervene… he just happens to enjoy watching them get carried away (not that he'd say it to their face). definitely enables the chaos to a terrible degree

"no way, you know i totally had that game last night before you went on to blow up my spot with your little tackle! next time we portal our way onto the superbowl field mid-game, i'm leaving YOU on the sidelines and scoring that touchdown solo!" (concerned raph sounds in the background)

they've absolutely plotted to portal their way into "hard to access" places like the white house or splinter's secret lounge room, but raph and donnie made them promise not to do it for very different reasons (donnie doesn't want to have to bail them out if they get stuck and raph is just being raph)

leo and y/n's carefree attitudes combined has landed them into trouble with the law a few times, both in new york and the hidden city

together, they're banned from like 10 different places and they're legally not allowed within 100 feet of any magicians; leo's only explanation for that is "we couldn't tell if it was part of the costume or if the guy actually had a barber-stache and how were we supposed to know he was blind?!". to this day, no one knows what he's talking about.

leo would absolutely hide the evidence of a crime for y/n; he ain't no snitch either and he's not going to let his bestie take the fall for something that TOTALLY wasn't their fault! more than likely, he'd blame their antics on hypno or if it's something not so bad, splinter.

senor hueso has an entire wall dedicated to leo and y/n: The Wall of Failures and Stupid Mistakes That You Will Surely Learn Nothing From

it has photos of all the times leo and y/n went on a fun little adventure and ended up being taken hostage by a villain, thrown in jail, or overall just beat up (they're mostly selfies and yes, leo is smiling and posing in all of them)

he would never let y/n get into any major trouble and he has the common sense to remember that y/n is only human, so at the very least he knows not to do anything too dangerous when they're around; he's reckless but he doesn't have a death wish

"i'm all for a good espionage mission and all, but this is big mama we're talking about! i say we sit this one out and wait for another chance to come along so we can try on these rad bellhop uniforms."

the two of them have made it a point to announce their arrival anywhere by doing the team rocket motto; occasionally mikey or april will join in as meowth. they have the costumes to match and will inexplicably be wearing them every time they do it.

they truly enable the worst in each other; raph insists on tagging along as the unofficial babysitter to every little hangout because of their chaotic nature, meanwhile donnie has protocols for every possible "doomsday" scenario they could initiate with their little stunts. zombies or accidentally reviving the shredder is at the top of that list.

matching outfits are a big must for leo; someone as UH-MAZING as y/n is absolutely worthy of leo's impeccable fashion sense and there's no way he's gonna pass up a chance to twin with y/n. if they refuse to match with him for whatever reason, he will pout about it for days.

whenever leo is sad or feeling a little down, y/n is the first person he goes to for a little cheering up. they somehow know just what to say to make the boy feel like a champion. and no, he didn't give them a script to read off of! (he totally did)

even with all the flirting and pick-up lines, leo still dreads the thought of ever admitting his feelings to y/n; he's a confident turtle, sure, but that's just the face part of being the face man. he's secretly an insecure mess when it comes to them

will become a flustered mess if y/n genuinely compliments or praises him; he'll stutter for a good minute or two before finally snapping back to his suave cool guy persona (which doesn't fool anyone, he's OBVIOUSLY crushing hard)

after an unfortunate night of misadventure, leo's forced to confess to his feelings AND his crimes

Well, some adventure this was turning out to be.

"Get in there! Y'all got the right to keep yer traps shut!"

Yep. What a real swell time.

Being hauled away in a prison ball, headed to the Hidden City Police Headquaters, all the while Big Mama's men chasing close behind.

"So much for the adventure of a lifetime." Y/N hissed bitterly as they tugged and pulled from the tangle of limbs they found themselves in, trapped inside the small bubble with Leo tightly packed alongside them.

"Well, maybe if SOMEONE weren't such a slowpoke, we'd have made it back! And I'd like to say for the record, you are the WORST lookout. Maybe next time try to keep up, will ya?" the turtle spat back with a scathing glare.

Y/N could only muster a hearty scoff as they balled their fists, unable to throw a punch from how they were positioned. Their heel found a suitable landing in the direct center of Leonardo's plastron and dug in with a stomp, eliciting a pained groan from him and a satisfied smirk from Y/N.

"If you weren't so cocky, we might've ACTUALLY pulled off your little stunt! But nooo, Leo just HAS to get in the last word!"

"OHO, pot calling the kettle black now, eh?" Leo wore his signature smug expression and attempted to jab a digit into Y/N's forehead. Given the way his arm was caught between his bent thighs, he only managed a slight graze before opting for a flick instead.

The two bickered and took shots at each other throughout the trip, much to the chagrin of the arresting officials steering nearby. It was gonna be a long night for everyone.

At the station, Leonardo and Y/N were placed into holding together, both of them choosing to sulk in silence on opposite sides of the confined room. It wasn't until Y/N was being processed that the question of what to do with the human came up for the arresting officers. With Leo's odachi confiscated, it wasn't like they could just send Y/N home on their own, but they couldn't leave Y/N in the same cell as powerful, human-loathing yokai. Leaving the pair to stew in their anger, the officers left to deliberate on Y/N's fate.

Silence followed. Neither one wanting to give in to this bitter game of chicken, Leo instead let out a loud, exaggerated sigh.

Silence.

Irked by the lack of response, he threw his head back and gave a loud, guttural groan of frustration.

"Right. So you aren't talking to me." he rolled his eyes and forced his gaze back onto Y/N, who sat indignantly across from him on a cold cement bench, their knees held close to their chest.

Not even a glance back.

"Oh, come on! You can't actually believe this is my fault! If anything, you should be mad at the guard that threw us out and called the cops! He's the one who got us in this little mess!"

Nothing.

The silence tore at Leo's chest, his heart thumping heavily against his plastron as he dejectedly sat back against the cold wall. It was unlike Y/N to ignore him like this. With every second, the stillness became unbearable. This little adventure was truly a disaster, not just for the predicament the two found themselves in but also for the lengths Leonardo had gone to ensure Y/N would have a good time. So that HE would have a good time with them. It didn't matter to him that they could be facing time in prison. That whole deal was practically child's play to the mischeivious mutant. It didn't even matter that they faced a total ban from the mystic city itself. It was the fact that he might've dashed any chance he had of winning over Y/N's affections.

'You just HAD to fuck it up, didn't you? You had to go out and be an asshole!' a booming inner voice fed into his insecurity and the crushing weight was enough to curl the red-eared slider into a fetal position, his lower lip quivering as he fought back tears.

"I…" a sniffle broke Leo from the spiraling despair he'd been wallowing in, unsure if the sound came from him.

"Am I… holding you back, Leo?"

Another sniffle and this time, he was sure the sound came from across the room. Peering over at the source of the sound, he found Y/N curled in on themselves, little hiccups causing their small form to quake and shudder. They were crying.

"Y/N?" Shifting from the bench, Leo took a few hesitant steps towards them as his hand ghosted across their shoulder before pulling away. His face wrought with guilt and worry, he debated scooping them up in his arms and holding them tightly to him right then and there. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. The thought of rejection stopped him in his tracks.

"I don't know why I do it. Why I try so hard to prove that I deserve to be around you." Y/N continued, their voice muffled as they buried their face in their knees. "I'm- I'm just a human. I'm not as strong. I'm not as quick. I can't compete with you and your mystic skills. I can't even keep lookout for you!"

"What? Y/N, no, you got it all wrong! Yeah, you're a human but I-"

"Just stop it! Stop!" Forcing back a loud hiccup, their head shot up to meet Leo's concerned gaze with a fierce, stubborn glare.

"You DON'T have to feel sorry for me and you DON'T have to keep me around! So why? Why keep me around when all I do is drag you behind?"

Their narrow eyes locked themselves with his, desperately searching his expression for any hint of pity. All Leo could do was chuckle, his concern melting into fondness.

"I don't feel sorry for you. Sure, you've looked better but I was so afraid I was the one holding YOU back."

"H-Huh? Me?"

"Y/N." The turtle sighed as he plopped himself down beside them, allowing their back to rest against his side as they unfurled from their little ball of sadness. "You ARE a human, yeah. But do you get how cool that makes you? You can do so much more than I ever could! Look, I might have my good looks, my mad skills, and my amazing charm, but you have that and more in… whew, in spades and for you, it's practically effortless."

As Leo moved to wipe a tear from Y/N's eye, he cupped his other hand on their damp cheek and with a tender tap of his thumb, he parted their lips slightly and moved in to plant his lips softly against theirs. The ghosting of his lips left enough room for Y/N to pull away if they felt uncomfortable. Instead he was nearly knocked back with the full force of Y/N's lips crashing against his, their body leaning over him and practically trapping him underneath their warmth. Leo's hands held firmly onto Y/N's sides and he eased himself back against the cold of the bench, breaking the kiss to let out a soft chuckle.

"I love y-"

"Well, well, well~ Looks like someone owes me 3 months of chores." a familiar, taunting voice hummed not too far from the two.

A jingling of keys had them both whipping their heads towards the now-open cell door, spotting the unmistakable, cocky face of Donatello leaning against the bars with crossed arms.

"D-Donnie?!"

"Yeah, yeah, you two can get back to your little makeout session. But I thought you'd like to know I paid your bail, you're welcome." He waved them off as he began down the hall. Some adventure this turned out to be.

Bonus comic: Leo definitely used his one phone call to call Señor Hueso

715 notes · View notes

mr-spotatohead · 1 year

Text

-Inseparable.-

Welcome Home & Child!Reader Platonic.

Words: 3,470.

|Contains: Swearing. Slight Horror.|

Synopsis: You draw a lot, and you want attention from your mother, but she doesn't give you the attention you need. Until she puts on a show for you that caught your eye. And the main character gives you the attention you deserve.

You ran your hand across the white paper containing a green crayon. Your small, untrained hands made you pick up the crayon with your closed fist, scribbling on the paper with your grass-colored crayon. You were on your knees on the floor, with your toys and painting materials scattered around. You had your tongue out, concentrating hard on the work of art you were going to make.

"Uhum, yes, yes, I've checked that before." Your mother said in the background, her footsteps rushing, the sound of her shoes with a heel clicked against the floor. You continued drawing content to show the end result to your extremely busy mother. The cheap TV played in the background, it was something that didn't catch your attention.

You finished the drawing and got up awkwardly, happy to find your mother in the house, which was easy since she was right behind the couch. She was on the phone, her purse already in her arms, you approached her talking to her but she didn't hear you because she was already talking to someone else. She walked straight past you and made her way to the kitchen table, grabbing her car keys. You puffed out your cheeks. After being ignored, again. You walked back to the floor in front of the television. Your mother soon came close to you and bent down, placing a kiss on your head. "Sorry honey, mommy has to go out now. How about a cartoon for you to watch?" Your mother suggested already changing the channel, just watching the first thing that looked childish was enough. It was a cartoon. That was enough. You didn't even have time to show her your drawing because your mother already closed and locked the door. And left you alone again. Not that you cared, you're old enough to take care of yourself, and you are proud of it. But still, it was very disappointing not to have your mother's attention, all your drawings, all your work, your mother didn't have time, at least not anymore. You sulked now, you looked at your toys on the floor, you didn't feel like playing. Until an animated song started playing on the TV. Making you look at the screen. Your curious eyes observed how bad the quality of the show on your TV was. But that didn't matter to you. What caught your attention was the funny colors of the show. You watched the animation of the show go on like a normal day, showing a few houses in a colorful neighborhood, the camera moving closer to a greener place, focusing on a character. A man with blue hair. You kept looking at the screen, seeing that the character was concentrating on painting a picture, and when he finished, the character noticed the presence of the audience and commented. "Oh, hello, neighbor! You've finally arrived." The character smiled at the audience and that caught your attention. He moved to the side and put his equipment aside. Focusing on the audience. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it? How are you?" The character asked turning his head to the side. You, not taking your eyes off the screen, decided to sit on the floor. Curiosity on your face.

There was a silence after the question, and you wondered if the television had frozen as it sometimes does. But you could hear music in the background, so you decided to answer happily. "I'm fine! I just drew a picture, so I'm happy." "Oh, that's wonderful. When you're happy, I'm happy." The character smiled closing his eyes, with his hands together. You crossed your legs and let your hands rest in the space between them. A silly smile rose to your face. You genuinely liked that the character was paying attention to you. You, being a child with a creative mind, genuinely thought that the character was talking to you. Not noticing the generic lines that he responded to after you spoke. This character, that you just met, you don't know his name so far, but he asks you questions! He asks things of you. And that was exactly the kind of attention you wanted. And you were loving it!

"How many apples are in that tree?" "Four!" "Perfect! Four apples, one for Julie, one for Barnaby, one for me, and one for you, neighbor!" Wally was smiling and looking at you with such enthusiasm, you were jumping in place, even though you knew there was no way you could eat the apple. "Woah, time passes when you're having fun, doesn't it?" Wally said after the episode was coming to an end, at least you learned this character's name. "Well, we better get some rest, see you tomorrow, neighbor!" Wally said with a smile on his face, a little wave of the hand and then the credits rolled, you, still not satisfied, wanted more of that show. You just loved everything and everyone! Luckily, you saw the intro and the same song start playing again. You smiled contentedly, expecting more from the program. . . . This is the second day you've been watching Welcome Home, all afternoon you've been marathon watching the show, learning more about the characters, 'talking' to Wally and watching the comedy episodes. Today you were already in the living room waiting for the program to start, excited to watch them all again. Your mother noticed that you were absent in running around the house, she walked around the house, not being late this time. She noticed you in the living room, sitting on the floor watching TV. Your mother came over and when she went to ask you something, the show music started up and you excitedly hummed along. Seeing Wally already leaving his house, you smiled contently and spoke his name aloud. "Wally! Hi!!!" The puppet started with the identical opening line, which you didn't even realize was all from the show's script. But you were still happy to see the puppet answer you with the same "Oh, hello, neighbor! You've finally arrived."

You answered each question happily. Your mother looked at you with soft eyes. She saw how innocent you were to answer the TV. It was something simple and cute, that made you excited, so your mother let this channel play more often. . . .

This was the third day you were in the living room, waiting to watch your new favorite show. Your face was freshly wet, because what had happened earlier had made you very anxious. Your mother argued loudly on the phone, swearing, she even locked herself in another room so you couldn't hear, but it was difficult. So you tried to overcome this on your own, so you were lying on the floor drawing Wally, being soothed by drawing him. Your mother had to leave early today, but she would be back early too. So you were alone, waiting for the program to start. And when the music started, you excitedly sniffed and looked at the TV with sparkling eyes. Waiting for entertainment after waking up in an unpleasant way. Wally then appeared again, you were on the floor and quickly got up and sat down, grabbed your blankets and wrapped yourself up, since it was cold. Your favorite character came out of his house and started with his same normal question. "Oh, hello, neighbor! You've finally arrive-"

Suddenly, he stopped, in the middle of the sentence. You notice that the eyes of the puppet on the screen widened a little, as he noticed... something? Maybe. You curiously frowned slightly, wondering what had gotten into Wally? This is different. The pause that was taken left you confused, and then he continued, but his posture was different. "Uh- It's a beautiful day and…"

"How, uh. How are you?…" You watched the puppet in front of you with a more droopy posture, it didn't look like he was confident like all the other times. You shook your head, not thinking much. "I'm fine, how are you?" You asked just to ask, because you knew Wally would answer that anyway. But what you didn't expect was that the silence returned. The figure of Wally standing there, looking at you. Then you heard a low: "Are you sure?..."

You raised your eyebrows. Oh, he really answered you this time. You ran your hands over your face, feeling your hands get a little wet after wiping some of the liquid off your face. You looked down at your drawing and then looked into the puppet's eyes. "Hhm, I'm fine, Wally." You hummed affirming what you said earlier. But that didn't seem to have much effect, as the puppet in front of you stared at you with a silence in the background that seemed like forever before something happened.

And it wasn't what you expected. Because the image of Wally looking at you was soon replaced by the continuation of the episode. The view was of a clearing and a butterfly fluttered across the screen. You were surprised by Wally's strange behavior, but you ignored it.

The episode continued as usual, although Wally didn't appear for a few minutes. The characters are in a situation and need help, it was in this part that Wally would ask for your help in this situation. But he wasn't there. You questioned for a few seconds until the screen started to crash, the voices of some characters in the background still talking, but the screen was a mess, there were two scenes trying to appear on the screen, the colors were all mixed up and this made even the voices of the characters stop. Sitting in the dark with the screen all glitched made you a little worried, you remember that the last time the television was like this was on a rainy day. But it wasn't raining now. It made you get out of your blankets and look at the TV still frozen, occasionally making sounds. Suddenly an idea popped into your head. Your mother once hit the TV hard because she said it would fix it, you saw her do it, and it worked, maybe you could try it. Getting close to the TV you raised your small hand and slapped it lightly. Looking at the TV, it didn't work. Maybe you need more strength? You made your hand into a fist and when you went to lift it you were startled by the screen behaving more aggressively with colors and a loud, not pleasant, sound was made. "DO NOT" It was written illegibly on the screen, but you were able to read it despite the mess of glitches. "FIX IT." It appeared at the bottom of the screen, along with the other words. You stopped moving your hand and observed what was happening on the screen. Suddenly. Statics. The television became pure static, no music, no show, nothing. And then only two words appeared. The font was better, despite the random color streaks being made on the screen. "Let me." After a few seconds. The TV went black and a song started. You realized it was the intro of the show, without much doubt, the show started again, the animation of the houses in the neighborhood, the title 'Welcome Home', everything was normal again. You sighed, glad that it was working again, and then you saw him. Wally had his back to you, with a white canvas in front of him, he wasn't painting anything. And then he noticed you. He turned and smiled looking at you. "Oh, hello again neighbor." Wally said putting his brush aside. "Sorry about that, something happened. An... inconvenience." The man in blue said with a smile and his eyes closed, looking even a little forced. "But now! No interruptions. Let's talk, shall we?" Wally put his hands together and smiled broadly, looking at you again. You looked surprised at the screen. Talk? About what? You frowned and turned your head away. "Aren't we going to help your friends? Earlier they seemed to need help with who took their-"

Suddenly the screen changed and some characters from before appeared with a big smile on their faces. "Wowie! Thanks for finding my stuffed animal Wally and neighbor!" Sally said hugging the little toy. Julie nodded in agreement happy that they had found what was missing. And then the screen crashed and went back to the same greenish corner with Wally standing there smiling.

"See, they already found it, everyone is happy." Wally explained trying to convince you that there was no need to 'end the episode'. You frowned slightly, clearly not convinced. Wally quickly began.

"Although…" In a slightly lower voice, you looked at the screen curious by your favorite character's change of mood. "I'm out of ideas of what to paint." Wally let you look at the blank canvas with nothing on it. You happily jumped in place, taking interest. "Oh! I can help you!" You said enthusiastically, the puppet looked at you and a smile formed on his face, he put his hands on his own face, with the same kind of enthusiasm. "Perfect!"

Time passed and you two talked for hours. While Wally was painting what you suggested, you yourself decided to draw another picture, the atmosphere was fun and comfortable. You were loving this session of talking and painting.

"So, (Name)." Wally started, you hummed paying attention, not taking your eyes off your drawing. It was nice to hear Wally say your name instead of just neighbor, you told him at the beginning of your long conversation. "Why were you crying before? If it's okay to ask." Wally asked a bit monotonously, you scrabbled a bit at the colors abstractly and hummend thoughtfully. "Hmm, well…"

Wally is your friend, right? It's okay to tell him about you, he also tells you all about himself, so fair enough. "My mommy is very busy. She ignores all my drawings!" You said with your cheeks puffy. "Ah, but that's just not very nice of her, hm?" Wally commented, and you aggressively nodded several times. "But that has nothing to do with your crying, does it?"

You stopped swinging your legs and looked at the TV screen and just watched the back of Wally, who continued to paint the picture. You sighed and continued. "Yeah… Today my mom had an argument on the phone…. And she's very short-tempered, you know? She'll blow up at anything. She gets aggressive."

Your last line was probably what made Wally stop moving the brush across the canvas, as you were looking at the canvas, you saw Wally glance at you, his eyes were a tad sinister.

"With you?…"

You looked at Wally a little innocently and shook your head, "No, not with me, she locks herself in her room and breaks things right there. And I don't like it when she gets like that. That's why I was sad." As if your words were air, the puppet on the TV sighed, and turned his back again and continued painting.

"I'm done!" You smiled excitedly, the puppet looked back and watched you. "Already? That was quite fast." You laughed at Wally's comment and then got down on your knees, bringing your drawing to the screen, trying to show your drawing to the screen. "Look, look, what do you think?!" You smiled and looked at your drawing, expecting some kind of comment from Wally, but it was so quiet that you had to put your drawing down and look at him.

Wally was staring at you the whole time you got close to the screen, and the puppet raised one hand and coughed falsely. "I'm sorry, it's just that I can't see the drawing if you don't look into my eyes." Wally explained this and you were confused, the puppet explained to you how he can't see anything if someone doesn't look into his eyes. You thought that was strange but you held up the drawing while looking at Wally. And then he finally reacted, taking his eyes off you and looked at the drawing in your hands. He smiled big when he saw your little work of art, complimenting you in every way, watching your smile grow wider and wider with his company. You spent the whole afternoon talking and having fun, your mother came home a little exhausted. She greeted you from afar and went to make herself a cup of coffee. You didn't, however, do the usual thing of running after her after she arrived. You kept your conversation with Wally happy and content. Your mother noticed the change in your behavior. Like every day, you stopped interacting so much with her and started to stay more in front of the TV. Maybe this was a consequence of her actions in leaving you alone so much that now you didn't worry about bothering her. But one night. That's what changed things. You were so annoyed by your mother's neglect that you decided to turn on the TV on your own at night and talk to the only friend who made you feel good.

After the intro passed, you couldn't even keep your crying face long, after you knew that you would be happy with your friend's presence. You didn't even wait for Wally to arrive right on the scene and you quickly began to talk and talk, making the puppet in front of you look surprised by your state. You tried to wipe your full tears on your sleeves, along with your snot. "Shh, shh…" Wally tried to calm you down, you were so close to the screen, it was a bad feeling to see you in that state. The puppet managed to cheer you back up with sweet comments. Your face was red with a huge smile now. Although you started to cry in your room when you realized that your mother was ignoring you while she fiddled with her laptop, you ran into the living room in a loud, clearly sad voice. Your mother noticed her actions at that moment. And she tried to tidy things up a bit. She went into the living room, where she heard where you were talking.

What was strange, were you watching that program again? It looked like you were complaining about her to the TV. She walked silently into the living room and saw you standing near the TV, talking to it.

"Wally, can you be my best friend?" You asked, a few tears escaping and you wiped them away with your sleeves again. Your mother frowned at seeing you in this state, and just as she was about to step in to comfort you she noticed something that was probably not normal. "Of course, (Name). Best friends forever?" Wally asked smiling with half open eyes, he put his hand on the TV screen and you nodded aggressively with approval. "Forever!" Placing your hand on the TV screen where his was. Wally smiled contentedly, and since you were looking at him, he could see everything. He even managed to notice your mother in the back of the room, watching the interaction. The puppet's eyes widened a bit and he looked at you a little worried. Your mother then arrived frightened. And clearly with her heart in her hand. "(Name)." Your mother said firmly. You looked back and saw your mother's hand outstretched. "Come here." She said breathlessly. Staring at the puppet on the screen in fear. You denied it, however, and frowned. "No. I'm having fun with Wally." The nominee softened his gaze at looking at you, but soon intensified at looking at your mother. She approached you and pulled you up, quickly moving away from the TV. "(Name). Go to your room, it's not safe here." Suddenly the TV made a loud bang on the screen, two hands were there now, Wally's eyes fixed strongly on your mother, clearly not liking that you were being forced to leave him. "Stay the FUCK AWAY from them!" Your mother shouted at the TV, clearly frightened. You began to tear up again. Your mother was arguing with your best friend, that wasn't fair! "N-No, don't fight please…" You looked at Wally and he was looking at you, there was no emotion on his face except for that stare. But you still saw him as your friend. Your best friend! "Wally!" You held out your hand as if it would help you, and the TV once again made a loud bang. Your mother in panic quickly ran to her room and left you there, you still crying tried to open the door, but it was too late after you saw, your mother had unplugged the TV.

She still looked panicked and started to drag the TV away to throw it away. That night was the last time you saw your best friend.

. . . Was it?

-OO I was holding myself to not make a long one shot, I kinda see this as a rushed thing, but hey ho, I still liked writing this one :D-

#welcome home #welcome home arg #wally darling #wally darling welcome home #wally darling wh #welcome home wally #welcome home puppet show #welcome home fanfic #welcome home x you #welcome home x reader #wally darling x reader #wally darling x you

1K notes · View notes

writersblg · 7 months

Text

how the cod characters would react to their partner having a hyper-feminine bedroom

It was late at night when you brought your boyfriend/girlfriend back to your place for the first time. Still having a few lights on in your apartment you went around to turn them all off and check if you have closed all the curtains while you told your new partner to make themselves comfortable. So they looked around the rooms - all painted in white with some greenery with timeless emerald green furniture - until they got to your bedroom. Pink. Everything was covered in pink or white. White walls, pink bed sheets, white wardrobe, pink lamps and carpet. Tons of fluffy and big pillows laying across your bed in pink and you expected them to be normal about this?

Simon

Closest he’ll ever be to experience a stroke

Never slept worse in his life

Starts acting like he’s in a haunted house at first

Literally hyper aware suddenly

Genuinely has a hard time adjusting since he feels so out of place

Has to smoke before coming to your place to calm himself down just because of your bedroom

He’s going to end up as your phone background when he snored on your pink bed

Will slowly start to enjoy how soft and sweet the room actually is and how he maybe doesn’t need a gun on the bedside table

TeenLoose Ends!Simon (shameless self promo)

Best place on earth for him 💕

One of the pink pillows is his designated one

Thought it was just because you never cared to rearrange your room since early childhood

Would see if something is positioned differently right away

Would definitely make sure all photos will be deleted with him wrapped up in pink bed sheets

Soap

Giggles

Throws himself on the bed in an instant and is off - you can’t get him to wake up again

Definitely takes up the entire bed

Falls asleep with a plushie in his arms

Will buy a few pink items to drop at his home for you to feel more comfortable at his place

Gaz

Weirded out a little? But never slept better

Will address you with “Hi Barbie” from now on (Hi Ken 💕)

Mentally gets ready for weekly skincare routines together the second he sets foot in the bedroom

He almost once choked on a blanket in your bed in his sleep

He’s so unproblematic I’m gonna die 🫠

Price

Feels like he’s in Disney Land

The age gap just hit him in the face and is now convinced all of gen z has a room like that

Once had to answer a zoom call while being surrounded by pink plushies and he got bullied BADLY by his superiors

Will actually start to find your pink sleeping mask for him really useful and bring it with him when he’s travelling

Alex

“Awh that’s cute”

Doesn’t want to touch anything because it looks so nice to him

Also gets very giddy

Will show up with one of these pink cowboy hats with feathers on your door step

Farah

Stroke; call the ambulance

But will get used to it after some time and will kinda have the chance to rediscover girlhood in a way

Will trigger a Pavlovian reflex after some time and gets super sleepy at the sight of pink

Starts to get cuteness aggressions with you

Valeria

Will tell you that you’re too soft but secretly loves the bedroom; definitely her favourite room in your place

Steals little pink items she thinks you won’t be missing and places them in her place

Will choke someone if something she stole went missing or someone looks at it for too long

Alajandro

Will take a picture and send it to a group chat. Sorry

Will ask so many questions as to why this room looks like that. Not in a judgy way - more genuine curiosity

Will sleep on the edge of the bed because he feels so uncomfortable at first

I hc him regularly drooling on the bed sheets 😭

Rudy

Will actually act normal about it?

You’re waiting for a comment but there’s none

Will casually slip into his PJs and get under the pink covers and fall asleep

I think he has a thing for hyperfeminine partners in general so maybe that’s why 🎀

Keegan

“What the fuck?”

BUT he’ll literally fit in so well 🥹 and get used to it

Absolutely will start calling you “Princess”

Will start buying pink stuff because it reminds him of you; but don’t force him to wear anything pink - he won’t 🥲

I’m going insane over the picture in my head about his Siberian husky eyes and black hair in pink bed sheets

Really don’t want to bother you guys but if you have a few minutes maybe consider signing the petition for inquisitor ❤️ the link should be at the top of my blog

#simon ghost riley #keegan p russ #john soap mactavish #ghost x reader #soap x reader #Keegan x reader #Kyle gaz Garrick #gaz x reader #john price #price x reader #Alex x reader #farah karim #Farah x reader #valeria garza #Valeria x Reader #alejandro vargas #Alejandro x reader #rodolfo rudy parra #Rudy x reader

768 notes · View notes

samkerrworshipper · 7 months

Note

hi darling, can i request some soft and sweet aftercare with lucy bronze? just you two being cute together and her joking abt how your legs are shaking/you won’t be able to walk tmr

leg shakes and body aches

lucy bronze x reader

tooth rotting fluff, very light mentions of smut, 1500 words

part 1 (ab riding) <- for my horny bitches xoxo

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen somebody’s legs shake this much, making yourself look like a real pillow princess sweetheart.”

I rolled my eyes effortlessly from my spot tangled up in the bed sheets whilst Lucy walked around the hotel bed, starting to run a bath and finding the articles of clothing we’d discarded and throwing them in a pile in the corner of the room, removing them as a tripping hazard that she knew I was likely to somehow fall on.

“Maybe if you weren’t such a show off Bronze I wouldn’t be so shaky, I mean 7 orgasms is something but 8 is just showing off.”

Lucy smirked at me, toothily, her pearly whites peeking out of her lips.

“You told me that if I won the Euro’s I could have you however I wanted, didn’t you?”

There was so much faux innocence in her voice, like she hadn’t had me cumming six ways to sunday twenty minutes ago.

“Plus, I don’t remember you complaining, in fact I remember something along the lines of ‘Please, Please don’t stop, please Luce let me Cum,’ if I was hearing correctly.”

I gave Lucy a eye roll as she tried to impersonate my voice from when she’d hand me at her mercy, like putty in her hands.

“Keep talking Bronze, you’ll be the one hearing a mouthful of it tomorrow, if you heard it then so did anyone else on this floor.”

Just as I said it I could make out the very faint sound of someone moaning in the background, a few rooms down, but still very much so loud enough that I could hear it.

“You ready for a bath?”

There was sweet Lucy, standing at the foot of the bed waiting for me, waiting to coax me out of the hotel sheets that for some reason felt so much nicer than I knew they really were.

“Luce I genuinely don’t think I can walk.”

She snickered, I knew she was proud of her work, proud that she had me at her fucking mercy completely.

“I’ll carry you if you actually can’t.”

I rolled my eyes at her, pushing myself up in the bed, as hard as it was and swinging my legs over the side of it. We were both still completely naked, not that either of us minded, we’d been dating for four years, we were fairly familiar with each other's bodies.

I put my feet down on the carpet and stood myself up, for a total of three seconds before my knees gave out underneath me. Lucy was very quick to catch me, before even a part of my body could make contact with the hotel floor.

“Told you.”

Lucy rolled her eyes, picking me up bridal style and walking me into the bathroom, gently placing me down in the bathtub. I sighed gently as my body eased into the water, making the body aches and the shakes in my legs relax slightly. Lucy slipped in behind me fairly quickly, not leaving me alone for any longer than the time it took for her to fetch a bottle of water for each of us. My back relaxed against her front before accepting the bottle of water Lucy had handed me and taking a few sips before setting it down next to the tub.

I leant my head back into the crook of Lucy’s neck, tilting my head back and kissing her jaw gently a few times, it was so chiseled, so hardened, so fucking beautiful. Eventually she got the message and tilted her own head down to meet mine, pressing her lips ever so gently to my own and then moving her lips around my face, pressing chaste kisses to my cheeks and forehead.

“You are so fucking perfect.”

Lucy was looking at me with pure adoration, the look that made me fall in love with her in the first place, all those years ago.

“You’re not too bad yourself Miss European Champion.”

I could feel my bones and muscles fully relaxing against her, a fair sign that she’d completely exhausted me. It amazed me how even after a whole football game, hours of partying and then us going at it for a few hours she was still so energised, so upped on endorphins. I supposed that was what winning something so massive did for you, probably explained how Leah and Jill had still been dancing when we’d left, even after being on the dance floor already for hours.

“You do know how proud of you I am right, you were fucking incredible out there, so composed, so good my love.”

Lucy as a player didn’t receive a lot of commendation, she wasn’t kicking goals like Sam Kerr or Alessia, she wasn’t saving goals like Mary, she was moving the ball and keeping other players from scoring but often enough that didn’t get noticed. She also was her biggest enemy when it came to benign her biggest critic, always so fucking hard on herself.

“Thanks baby.”

I could hear the insecurity in the words, Lucy didn’t like being complimented individually, claimed that every game was a team game, and she was right and I loved her for that. But it didn’t hurt to tell her every once in a while that she was doing good herself.

Lucy’s hands migrated their way to my shoulders, ever so gently moving methodically across my skin and muscles, making me relax even further into her.

“You know you're my favourite right?”

Lucy looked at me, an eyebrow rose in slight perplexion.

“Favourite what?”

I smiled up at her, her eyes were so easy to get lost in, so easy to just stare into for hours.

“My favourite person.”

Lucy smiled at me, so genuinely that I could tell it was the kind of smile that made your cheeks hurt from being stretched.

“I love you.”

Lucy’s words were so sure, so positively sure that I couldn’t help but mess with her a little.

“I mean how could you not?”

Lucy rolled her eyes at me, slapping me lightly over the head.

“You’re a dork.”

“I love you too,”

Lucy smiled very faintly at my words,

“And I fall in love with you even more every single day.”

Lucy couldn’t even try to contain the shit eating grin that made its way across her face, her cheeks blushing bright pink and her eyes sparkling brightly, like there were stars in them.

“Now, as much as I love sitting here with you, I think that if we stay in much longer we're both going to turn into prunes and if we get out I can give you cuddles in bed.”

The last bit of her sentence was enough to convince me, I nodded eagerly at Lucy and watched joyfully as she hoisted herself out of the bath, wrapping herself up in a towel before grabbing a secondary one for me and picking me up out of the bath, draping the towel over my body, drying down my body before lifting me back up and carrying me back out to our room. She placed me very gently down on the bed before working at drying herself off and then following me into the sheets.

I was quick to throw myself into her arms, revelling in the warmth and comfort that her two arms provided, tangling myself up in Lucy’s body and just enjoying her laugh as I positioned her exactly how I wanted her.

“My love.”

My eyes darted up to meet hers, she’d flicked the lights off somewhere along the way, so it took me a few seconds to find her eyes in the darkness but once they did I felt a part of myself relax just a little bit more.

“It’s okay.”

Somehow her words were enough, I stopped my fussing, letting her very gently drape her arms around my hips and back, the subtlety of her touches being absolutely everything that I needed to assure me of her words. I could feel my heart pounding softly against my ribs, as I let myself fully relax against Lucy’s chest, I could feel her own heart beat, beating steadily against the skin of my back.

“I love you Luce.”

“I love you too y/n.”

#woso #woso community #lionesses #marry me rn #lucy bronze #lucy bronze x reader

521 notes · View notes

laurbiek · 1 month

Text

as promised... something!

....::::**•°✾°•**::::........::::**•°✾°•**::::.... ....::::**•°✾°•**::::....

She hears the distinctive sound of the WhatsApp video call. Its weird when they're in different countries, the mode of communication changes time and time again to avoid crazy roaming charges. She's used to being able to call him quick using the regular phone app, to see if he wanted her to pick up dinner or to ask him nicely if he would switch her laundry out for her.

It's weird to start over on another app, it almost feels like they're starting another relationship. It feels so different. The inside jokes and frequent questions about the HBO password are nowhere to be found, in it's place is an empty blank page, waiting hopefully to be filled with the same.

She picks up her phone from the edge of the bed and swipes to answer the call. She looks at the time when she does, 10:04, almost five minutes late for their scheduled call.

At least that has stayed the same.

The slight hum of the highway plays in the background, and there Andrew sits. He looks tired, but not over consumed. It's a good kind of tired, like the kind you get after a good, but long day. More of a content-tired. His hair is in the messiest bun possible, obvious that he needed it out of the way and had lost all ability to care. He's got his glasses on, and Y/N remembers when he Facetimed her from the eye doctor to see if they looked good before he ordered them.

She internally thinks that they still do.

"Hey love", he finally speaks between bites of a sandwich. She looks down at the table the phone is propped on, and sees the distinctive red and white wrappings.

"Are you kidding, you went to Wawa without me..."

"I'm sorry! The band voted before we left Philly! I told them you'd be mad but they don't seem to care about my marriage so... I had to"

"This is a betrayal, of the highest degree. I can't picture a world where I can forgive you"

"If I could ship one across the Atlantic to you, you know I would"

There is a few beats of silence, they both know that statement means more than just a sandwich.

She finally breaks,

"How are you holding up?"

"Eh, not bad. I've not been this tired in a while but I'll get used to it soon. I've done it before."

"It's quiet in the bus, where is everyone else?"

"Sleeping"

"So everyone else is sleeping and you stayed up to call me?

He takes another bite of his sandwich before answering simply,

"Yeah."

She stares at him through the phone as he keeps eating like he doesn't understand the niceness of his actions, it's just second nature to him.

"Thank you," she says, voice full of genuine earnestness.

He doesn't respond to that, instead, he switches to another topic. He doesn't feel like he needs thanks for his actions, he would rather thank her for being around to call him.

"How are you at home, everything good?"

"Yeah, there was a dead bird in the yard yesterday, Elwood found it while we were playing, he almost picked it up but I got to him before he did. That's honestly the most exciting thing that's happened here since you left."

"But that's the joy of the country isn't it, that nothing ever happens?"

"Yeah. But I would rather do nothing with you than do nothing alone"

There's a long stretch of silence between them before Andy notices a tear fall down Y/N's cheek. There are no other signs of her sadness, no shaking shoulders or audible sounds. Just a few gentle tears that he would've missed if he wasn't so utterly enraptured by her face on the five-inch screen. His heart breaks.

"Hey hey, it's ok love, it's just a bit longer. I'll be home for a break in a few weeks. "

"I know. It's just really hard."

He doesn't know what to say to that at first. He wants to hammer on about how she knew what she was getting into, and this was an inevitability. But he knew she knew that. Him repeating it isn't going to make either of them feel any better. The next part of him yearned to just get on a plane and be at home, but that wasn't fair to anyone. Not his bandmates, not the concertgoers, and not Andy who loved what he did more than anything.

All he could say was

"I know."

You imagine the separation being hard but no one really prepares you for it. You can't prepare for it. It's the pain of losing a routine and a lover all at once. It's the frustration of needing help, of needing someone to take something off your plate and having someone willing to, but that someone is 1000 miles away. Literally.

She's crying a little harder now, still silent, with the tears increasing in frequency and size. He says again,

"I know. I know how hard it is cause I feel it too. You know what I miss the most right now?"

"What?"

"I miss the things that you do that piss me off. The annoying stuff. I miss how you always steal bites of my food."

She can't help but laugh at that. He keeps talking,

"I miss how cold your feet are and how you're always trying to shove them under me to warm them. And how often you leave dirty clothes on the floor."

She joins in this time,

"I miss your hair clogging the shower drain. And how you use every possible dish when you cook."

"See, doesn't it hurt a little less knowing that you don't have to unclog the shower for a while?"

"Yeah, and I'm sure you sleep easier without my cold feet poking you."

Theres another small pause, but this one is not as sad as the rest of them. This one feels like two people comfortable with each other, just basking in the silence, feeling no pressure.

"It sucks love, it really does. But it gets easier. And there are less shitty days. And it's not for forever."

"Ok, it's shitty, but I've felt shittier. And it's not for forever."

"Yeah."

"OK," she says, wiping her eyes a bit to try to show a bit of a braver face, "this is getting kind of bummer-ish, talk to me a bit about tour stuff"

For the rest of the call, he prattled on about various events and hijinks at his shows, on the road, and in between. About halfway through the story, he realized that she had fallen asleep and for some reason, he finished the story before hanging up. Possibly hoping that she would wake back up, but mostly enjoying the domestic feeling of talking to her. He eventually hung up, settling with the fact that she was indeed asleep for real. A few hours and a timezone later after he woke up from his own nap, he noticed a WhatsApp message again,

I forgot the HBO password again...

#hozier #andrew hozier byrne #hozier fanfic #hozier imagine #hozier x reader

213 notes · View notes

muddyorbsblr · 2 months

Text

the warmest bed i've ever known

'one look and they'll know' collection masterlist See my full list of works here!

Placement: dating era; a few days after 'when the feeling sinks in'

Summary: Tom has convinced you to go back to London with him for a few weeks, and a photo of you two out and about together has opinions firing left and right.

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Word Count: 4k

Warnings (spoilers ahead): language; big hater behavior towards Reader; attempted breakup; angst; brief mentions of past bullying [let me know if i missed anything!]

Things to be aware of: Tomathy fully in his comforting precious bf era

Numb.

That was the only word that came to mind right now to describe what you felt, staring at your screen with all the hateful vile words that people who didn't even know you were flinging your way. And all because of the man you were dating. And how much you looked like a downgrade compared to his ex.

Then again it really shouldn't have surprised you, considering the turn your life had taken in the last few months. Hell, the last few days. There was really no other way for these nameless faceless spineless people to react when the man you'd started dating was none other than Tom Hiddleston.

And the figuratively ridiculously large shoes you had to fill considering the rising power of said ex…was Taylor Swift's.

You shouldn't have gone online. Checked Twitter. Checked anything, really. They rarely if ever had anything good to say, it was a special kind of stupid and naive for you to think that someway somehow you and your relationship were going to be the exception to the vitriolic rule.

Now here you were, screechy voices filling your mind, spitting out the words that your eyes scanned when you opened the cesspool of a sight.

Nothing special

Unremarkable

Fucking stab my eyes out with a rusty fork ugly

To be completely fair, you'd seen worse when you were still in school, every day inundated with the mocking words that sociopaths with hormones on overdrive wielded recklessly like a goddamn balisong without care that the person on the receiving end was actually a person. And if that was the shitshow you experienced from people brave enough to sign those sentiments with their name and say it to your face with chests fully puffed out, then the bravery of these people when they were all snuggled up under the protective cover of anonymity really shouldn't have shocked you.

Finding out who they were behind the screen and dealing out retribution on your own terms would have been a simple enough task. After all, you'd done it before, and even with the current advancements in technology and the tighter security protocols centered around protecting user data, you still managed to keep a few tricks in your bag that you could whip out if the need ever arose.

There was just one thing that stopped you from doing just that. A part of you agreed with the vicious comments. It was easy enough to ignore when people in school were just making hateful pages about how you sucked and how no one would ever genuinely like you. Or when they made pages pretending to be you so that they could dole out their paltry attempts at trying to ruin what little reputation you had at the time.

When you dealt with them on that comparatively smaller scale, it became easy to numb yourself to their words, drown them out until they were just white noise in the background, keeping you focused on the path you laid out for yourself rather than distracting you. It gave you a drive to work harder and better so that you could get as far away from them as possible.

On this scale, the background noise was so strong, so loud and overwhelming that every step you took to fight it seemed to take every ounce of your strength. It felt like there was no way out. You couldn't just hunker down and work hard so that you could get away from it all this time. And you couldn't exactly ignore them, either.

How could you? When they were voicing with pinpoint accuracy every insecurity that plagued you ever since you agreed to be his girlfriend a few days ago. Ever since your first night with him months ago.

So is this some sort of Make-A-Wish thing? That's it, right? She's on her last few months and she wanted to live them in delusion?

Fifty bucks says Tom's active on Raya right now. Quick someone send me an invite link I wanna shoot my shot. Tommy don't worry baby I'll save you from whatever the fuck mistake you got yourself into.

How the fuck do you go from Taylor Swift to that?

The most prevalent remarks in the last few hours had to do with a sighting of you sitting on a park bench, working on creating a wardrobe piece for an upcoming show that, if all went well, would start filming in a few years. The book author and the prospective showrunner got in contact with you after a glowing recommendation from Taika, and they talked about struggling to find the perfect scarf that would serve as one of the series' focal points.

After a few discussions and so many skeins of yarn that there was now an oversized tote bag in your hotel room overflowing with various shades of dark teal and peacock blue, you started crocheting a sample size of the pattern to show the author later on in the afternoon before you went to meet Tom for dinner. And that was how you were spotted this morning, sitting quietly on the bench, eyes on your project while your boyfriend was taking Bobby for a walk.

And for some reason the internet was up in arms over that,

Are you really fucking telling me this boring ass bitch that's giving old lady crocheting a goddamn scarf is fucking riding the God of Mischief every day? Nuh uh nope I don't believe that. Our Tommy deserves someone fun, and actually fucking pays attention to him and not a ball of yarn. Our baby deserves so much better than this.

You stared at the desk in front of you, your sample scarf to the left, and your laptop at the center, the screen now black from inactivity. You couldn't bother to move to check the time; your reminder would ring when your call would start. All you could bring yourself to do was remain exactly as you were, knees drawn to your chest with your arms around your legs, shaking and doing your damnedest not to break out into sobs over the knowledge of what you were about to do as soon as the door opened.

It was a good run, you told yourself. More than I deserved.

The sound of the front door opening jolted you back to reality, the voices finally dying down somewhat. Unfortunately, hearing Tom's voice started the voices right back up again.

"Y/N, darling, have you finished with your call? I was hoping we could go out tonight for dinner and--" His words stopped abruptly once he got to his study, seeing you in the position you'd been in for the last few hours, and immediately rushed to your side, crouching in front of you and taking your hands in his. "What's wrong, goddess?"

"I uhh…I have to go back to Los Angeles. I'm gonna see if I can make the next flight back." You didn't dare meet his eyes, still trying to hold back any tears.

He let out a breath, sounding almost relieved before he pressed a kiss to your hands. "That shouldn't be much of a problem, I can pack a bag and we can be on the next flight out--"

"No," you cut him off, wincing at your tone. "I'm going alone. There's no need for you to go with me, I'm sure you have some other things to do here. Better things."

There was a slight tremor in his hand as he cupped your face, gently turning your head to look at him. He took a shuddering breath seeing the tears swimming in your eyes. "What's happening right now, sweetheart? Please. I don't understand what could have brought this on, we had a lovely morning--"

"I thought I could do this," you choked out, finding it difficult to form coherent words without starting to blubber. "I thought I could drown the voices out, not let them get to me but…they're too loud. They're ruthless and vile and they have megaphones and they're right." You shook your head to turn away from him, burying your face between your knees, the all too familiar feeling of shame flooding your system, shrouding over you like an overly weighted blanket. "I'm not strong enough to do this with you. And you deserve someone better than me."

You took your laptop off of Standby, your screen illuminating and showing him the harsh words that had been haunting you since you stupidly decided to check the internet just minutes after he left the house. He began to visibly tense as his eyes scanned the pages seeing all the hateful things literal strangers had to say about your relationship.

"Look we gave it a shot," you tried to tell him, making a motion to get out of the chair which made him put his hands on the armrests, effectively keeping you in place. "But I think it's time to call it. I'm not good for you, and you deserve someone--"

"No." His tone was low and resolute, hands staying firmly on the chair, refusing to let you go anywhere. From a certain perspective, it was a smart enough move, considering that if he let you go right now, you'd probably sprint out the door in the name of doing what you thought would be best for him. Even if it meant ripping your own heart out in the process. "This can't be over already, we've only just begun. The time I've had with you has been extraordinary and I know that if we keep going, it'll get even better. You've made me so happy and--"

"You'll find someone that makes you happier," you dumbly shot back, the sentiment hitting you so hard that the tears finally began to fall. Even the thought of him potentially moving on so quickly after this already had you ready to sob. "Someone stronger. Someone that can handle all of this or hell someone they'll actually like--"

"Those people don't care for my happiness," he said in a rush, tears filling his eyes as well. "No matter what I do, there's always going to be someone hateful that has something to say, and they'll always think they're right. It's so clear that they don't give a damn about what actually makes me happy because if they did, they wouldn't be saying these disgusting lies about you, trying to get into your head."

There was a desperation in his tone that tore at your heart; no part of you wanted to do this. But seeing every single insecurity that you'd had ever since you said yes to being his girlfriend, yes to going to London with him for a few weeks, and generally just yes to spending the next few however months of your life with him, all laid out in print echoed by so many others? You knew he deserved better than this, better than someone that would ultimately have to be hidden away so that these people would stop coming for his throat for his 'poor choices'.

And when you knew that what would be best for the man you ached to give your heart to was to actually tuck your heart away and run, how selfish would it be for you to do the opposite?

The feel of his hands framing your face brought you back to your thoughts, the frantic pleading look on his face robbing you of your breath. "Do you want to leave, Y/N?" You wanted to scream No of course I don't, I want to stay with you. But you found yourself unable to form words. All you could do was shake your head as more tears fell from your eyes.

He pressed his lips to yours, pulling you into his arms the second you crossed your hands behind his neck and lifting you out of your seat. He didn't break the kiss until he'd carried you to his bedroom, setting you down on the edge of the bed. Then he pressed a tender kiss to your forehead before sinking to his knees in front of you, taking your hands in his.

"Then don't leave. Stay with me. We'll stay in and stay away from prying eyes so nobody gets to say anything about you, we'll--"

"You shouldn't have to make adjustments in your life for the sake of making me comfortable," you argued. "You should be with someone that can face all of this, not cower in a corner licking her wounds needing to be protected if she so much as gets seen stepping out of your house like some tiny helpless baby animal. You deserve to be with someone you can share everything with, without the worry of people shooting you down just because I'm not pretty enough or tall enough for them. You can have anything and everything you want with a snap of your fingers, I'm sure it won't be that hard to find someone that--"

Tom stopped you from letting out another word, holding you by the back of your head and pulling you to him for a desperate kiss. "I don't want anyone else, I want you. I don't give a fuck what anyone else wants to think about how I choose to spend my life and who I choose to share it with, because I know better. You're enough, you're more than enough. And if a few precautions and adjustments have to be made to make sure they can't get to you, then I'm more than happy to do all that and more.

"Our first night together I told you I just want you. As you are. That I want to make you happy." He rose from his knees, pressing a kiss to your cheek and working his way to your ear. "That I want to satisfy you. Do you remember?" You could only nod, trying and failing not to melt against him as he kissed below your ear. "I'm going to add that list of wants now. I want to make sure you feel safe, with every means I have at my disposal."

He guided you down until your back was flat on the mattress, kissing down your neck as he did so, his lips trailing a path down to just over your heart. You found it near impossible to breathe, finding yourself overwhelmed with how gentle and tender he was handling you.

"I want to love you," he said, meeting your eyes with a look that you could only describe as surrender. "I know you're not ready to hear it yet, but this can't wait anymore. You need to hear it. You need to know that the only way for me to actually have everything that I want is if I get to share everything I have with you. I need you to know that your leaving would rip my heart out." He made his way back up, stopping when your faces were mere inches apart. "I need you to know who you'd be leaving." He brushed his lips across yours in a featherlight kiss. "You would be leaving a man so completely, so desperately in love with you."

You tried to speak, but all you could manage was inaudibly mouthing his name, the sentiment you tried to stomp down just a little over a week ago fighting its way back up to the surface. Practically shouting from the back of your throat.

"I love you," he breathed out. "Please, sweetheart. Don't do this. Don't leave. Whatever you want, whatever you need so that we can make this work, we'll find our way through this together just please…I'm begging you don't tell me that what you want is to rid yourself of me--"

"That's the last thing I want," you managed to choke out, your eyes stinging with even more tears. You swallowed the lump in your throat, mustering every ounce of strength you had left to finally say the sentiment you prematurely blurted out when he first popped up at your house. "I love you, too."

You woke up the next morning the same way you'd been ever since you and Tom first got together, his arm wrapped around you, the butterflies fluttering violently in your stomach from how he held your body against his without a stitch of clothing between you two, along with the tender kisses he peppered along your shoulder. It was a routine you'd not only found yourself getting comfortable with, but you were looking forward to it whenever you felt yourself rousing from sleep.

And that part scared the living daylights out of you.

Relationships? Routines? Your mind wandering to that place that you said you never dared think about in the context of being in any kind of relationship again, because the last time you did, the rug got pulled out from under you and threw your life and the future you envisioned into a blender?

You swore to yourself that day all those years ago that you were never going to let yourself get this comfortable. That you would always have your safety measures in place so that you never had to worry about having to scramble your way back up to your feet without any sense of direction.

And you did. You had your measures. You had your walls up. You put your heart under lock and key and said you'd never give it to someone again. Yet here you were, basically opening the chest and telling Tom that it was right there for the taking.

A chest you couldn't close again even if you tried. Even if you wanted to.

The feel of his lips pressing a kiss between your neck and shoulder had you letting out a tiny whimper, making him smile and hum against your skin. "Good morning, goddess."

You were growing concerningly comfortable with that, too.

He moved you until you were lying with your back flat on the mattress, brushing his nose across yours as he gave you a contented smile. "I love you."

You couldn't help the smile that stretched across your own face hearing the words. "Hmm…careful, you keep talking like that I might get used to it."

He laid his lips on yours, giving you a tender kiss as he gently ran his hand down the side of your body before stopping at your hip, his thumb stroking your skin. "I want you to get used to it, because I'll be saying it a lot from now on." His lips traced a line down to the base of your throat. "I love you," he murmured against your skin repeatedly as he kissed along your collarbone.

"I love you, too," you whimpered as he kissed his way down to your stomach, his shaky exhale warming your skin even more. You placed your hand on his shoulder, leading him to refocus his attention to kissing his way up your arm. "I really stepped on the ledge yesterday…" you trailed off, struggling to take a deep breath as you tried to find the words, ultimately settling on the simplest ones. You weren't likely to find better words anyways. "Thank you for talking me off of it."

He took his time kissing his way back up to your lips, never breaking eye contact. "Always, my love." The new endearment, paired with the way he tenderly kissed your lips, had your head spinning. "I'm going out to get us some breakfast. I'll be back in an hour. Go back to sleep, sweetheart."

Those words had you stirring, making a motion to sit up on the bed. "What? No, you don't need to do that, you'll get papped. Gimme a few minutes to get dressed, I'll do it."

"If you go out, they'll photograph you, too," he argued. "Pictures of us are still fresh on their minds, which means these vultures are still very much on the lookout for you out and about, waiting to take pictures in hopes of selling them to the sleaziest gossip sites. Give it a week, maybe two, and they'll refocus their attention on someone else. Them and the internet."

You slumped back into the bed with a soft thud, surrendering to the fact that unfortunately, the logic made sense. You needed a good few days to let your face and those photos fade into relative irrelevancy. "You probably need your team to spin some story on why we were seen together, too," you sighed, the discomfort of having to let the wheels turn in your head before you've even had a bite of food or a sip of coffee starting to make you skittish. "I mean, the saying goes that we can't put the genie back in the bottle, but what if it isn't fully out yet? We still have a chance to…I don't know, mitigate the situation?"

Tom rested his forehead against yours, letting out a deep sigh as he laid back down on the bed as well, pulling you into his arms so that your head rested on his chest. "One day it won't be this toxic."

His words had you giggling, looking up at him and pressing a kiss to his chin. "It's adorable that you think that, but no. But one day maybe the voices of those who would genuinely just be happy for you would be louder than these snakes in the pit with their megaphones. And maybe one day I'll be strong enough to not give a fuck about any of it."

He tightened his hold on you, arms snaking around your body in an embrace that had you falling even more into that dangerous place of way too damn comfortable. "Until then I'm going to do what I can to keep you safe. It'll only be a few weeks at most. Maybe less if we're lucky and someone causes a scandal." He pressed numerous soft kisses to the tip of your nose, breaking out into a smile when his attentions caused you to let out a soft giggle. "For now, I get to keep you in the house. All to myself." His smile turned into a mischievous grin as he rolled you on to your back, rasping the next words, "Like my own beautiful brilliant little captive."

"A very willing captive," you shot back, once again going breathless when he started kissing you all over your neck and chest. "Be careful out there? Don't let them get a reaction out of you, no matter what they ask. Or what they say about me."

"I will," he mumbled, humming against your skin as he placed open-mouthed kisses along the side of your body, nipping at your waist before pulling away. He made his way to his closet, shooting a playful knowing glance at you when he saw how you propped yourself up on your elbows to enjoy the view. "Go back to sleep, sweetheart," he chuckled, throwing on his usual running gear of a black t-shirt with the Legendary logo and black shorts that were definitely a size too small with how the garment hugged and accentuated his hips and upper thighs. Not to mention how those shorts made it all too obvious that your boyfriend happily and proudly chooses neither when it came to the age-old debate of boxers or briefs.

He walked back toward the bed, sitting on the edge and leaning over you to capture your lips in a heated kiss, as if it had been weeks since he'd done it last rather than mere minutes. His hand freely roamed your side, lightly grasping at your hips while he slowly laid you back down flat on the bed. Once he had, he broke the kiss to press his lips to the tip of your nose, then to your forehead.

"I'll wake you when I'm back home. Promise me you won't check on those pages again. None of them deserve our time, or our emotions. I love you, goddess."

"I promise. I love you, too."

A/N: Welcome to the second part of the 'said it first' arc! This would probably be the angstiest moment in their entire relationship and precious bf meow meow really answered her "I'm leaving" with "No ur not I love u 🥺" and we love him for it your honor

Three more parts to this arc and hopefully I can pull myself out of playing my lil games long enough to actually get to writing any of the pieces in my rotation 😅🫡

Here's a gif for everyone who reads 'til the end of the post…this be what the blorbos were like in that last scene:

'everything' taglist: @simplyholl @loopsisloops @imalovernotahater @coldnique @loz-3 @huntress-artemiss @salempoe @vickie5446 @athalialaufeyson @lokiprompts @kats72 @kikster606 @asgards-princess-of-mischief @lokixryss @thomase1 @mischief2sarawr @lovingchoices14 @lunarnights95 @goblingirlsarah @iamlokisgloriouspurpose @creationsbyme @maple-seed @mjsthrillernp @ladyofthestayingpower @mygfloki @sititran @glitterylokislut @ozymdias @fictive-sl0th @lokidbadguy @mochie85 @silverfire475 @joyful-enchantress @elizabethmidnight2017 @holdmytesseract @smolvenger @gigglingtiggerv2 @lokidokieokie @lunarnights95 @superficialdomina @kmc1989 @november-rayne @goddessofwonderland @buttercupcookies-blog @peaky-marvel @lokiified @tom-hlover

#tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston x female reader #tom hiddleston fanfic #tom hiddleston fanfiction #tom hiddleston imagine #muddyorbs writes

193 notes · View notes

watermelonsugacry · 1 year

Note

How did H find out about YN and Matt?

LOVE YOUU

Hi hun! How did H find out about yn and Matt? Like how jealous and miserable did he get on a scale?

MOVE

A/N: SINCE 2010 ficmas day 2! had this one saved up for a bit 💚

SUMMARY: In 2013, YN is a feature on Little Mix's song Move which also means that she's going to dance and be part of its music video. What happens when Harry sees how close YN and her dance partner are getting? (7.7K)

GENRE: 1dbandmember!yn

SINCE 2010 masterlist // Ficmas 2022

YN drops the styrofoam smoothie cup that she just spilled her guts into down the trash bin outside the entrance of the dance studio. She quickly unwraps gum from the packet Harry left in her car and makes a mental note to both scold and thank him for leaving stuff in her car.

Today is the first day of a two week dance rehearsal for Little Mix’s new single Move. This was the first song YN was able to get a more hands-on experience behind song producing for other artists. It started off with very minimal work on some harmony stacking (an art form the girl group is exquisite at executing) that led to the girls encouraging her to get inside the recording booth. With permission from her management team, YN became an official feature for the song.

From then, her management team didn’t hesitate to take an opportunity for One Direction and Little Mix’s exposure and quickly invested in a music video and some live performances to debut their new single. The musicians from both bands were all undoubtedly excited at the news. Not only would it benefit both bands for its vast media exposure, but it was a chance to hang out with people their age other than their own band members.

YN has grown closer to these girls—it certainly helps that her bandmate was dating one of them—and she was more than happy for this kind of experience. Yet, what had her stomach drop to the bottom of her feet was the news about incorporating dancing to this single. Not just a simple eight count either but a full three minute dance routine.

YN has never done anything like this before. A massive weight was lifted off of her shoulders when the boys were against doing any kind of professional choreography when the band was first formed. None of them had any dancing background and everyone was perfectly okay with that; it honestly made the band that much more genuine and different from other music groups.

But she has to admit, a little piece inside of her is super excited for an opportunity like this. She had been curious about dancing within her singing career but never had a chance (or the courage) to speak out about it. That’s not to say that her anxiety hasn't spiked to 100 for her professional dancing debut being alongside the biggest girl group on the planet.

With another tug to readjust the backpack digging into her shoulder, she turns her back to the double doors to push it open with her shoulder and is quickly washed with the AC blasting from inside. Before she can even get two steps inside the building, she feels a hard surface bump right in front of her and a cold wash of blue liquid spills all over her oversized white t-shirt.

A harsh gasp runs through her lips and her mind is already blocking out the profanities threatening to come up and out of her throat as she remembers her media-training.

“Holy shit. M’so sorry! Y’alright, babe?”

“Yeah, I’m—” She looks up and sees an attractive man with a concerned look on his face, one hand holding onto her forearm while his other holds a now half empty bottle of Gatorade. His light brown eyes match his mocha skin and there is no other course of action but to melt into his arms and feed into the damsel in distress situation she finds herself in.

Wait, what? Since when is she the one to be at a loss for words?

“Yeah, yeah m’good thanks,” She straightens up but definitely takes notice of the way he’s still holding her arm. She looks down at her ruined shirt with a sigh, “Can’t really say the same for me shirt. Tie-dye isn’t really in the fashion trends at the moment I’m afraid.”

“Well, for what it’s worth,” He gives her a sincere smile. “You seem like you can pull off such a psychedelic wardrobe. Should I go grab an orange drink to pour around the blue?” The guy joins in her giggling with a chuckle.

YN shakes her head with a pained smile, “Please don’t.”

It’s like he remembers his hold on her and he goes to remove his hands until he catches the ink on her skin, “I like your tattoos. You seem a little young to be wearing ‘em though.”

“Well, I’ll be twenty in May. It’s not like I’m a child,” She straightens her back a bit at her response and sees his smile turn into a small smirk.

Oh wow.

The guy looks at her for a beat longer before he pipes up as if he just realized something. “Oh, here.”

He slips the strap of his duffle bag down and it drops with a thud to the ground. He quickly unzips one of the sides and hands her a hand towel, one she takes with a small ‘fanks as she goes to wipe at her shirt. Not like that’s going to help ruined shirts but at least she won’t have her clothes dripping before she gets the chance to change.

Normally, if this happened on stage with the boys (which it has) YN wouldn’t hesitate to pick up a water bottle of her own to attempt to soak her bandmates back. If she were fortunate enough, sometimes it would be at the end of the show so she can quickly change out of her drenched clothing and promptly jump into a nice shower.

“Did you have to pick such a stainful color? I would have been at least a little flattered if it were a flavorful one.”

“What do y’mean?”

“Your drink. Sorry mate,” YN tsks. “But blue Gatorade is a major red flag.”

Is...is she flirting with this guy? It’s certainly a different course of action than if Louis or Liam or even Zayn were to have drenched her in sugary-liquid.

“How so?” He muses with a playful furrow of his eyebrows.

“‘Cause it’s the worst one?”

“Huh, you seem like a green Gatorade type of lady.”

“S’red actually. Red flag number two.”

“Well how about this,” The guy licks his lips, tilting his head to the side as he looks down at her. “I take you to dinner where you can tell me all about yeh different colored flags. You can have yeh red drink while I have my blue one and who knows? Maybe by the end of the night, we can make our tongues purple.”

YN lets out a genuine scoff, the corners of her lips curling up in a smirk. This bloke is bold.

“It must be hard with your sense of direction, seeing as you’re unable to find your way to a decent pickup line.”

“Oh you wound me,” The guy puts a hand over his toned chest peeking out from his loose tank top and YN bites back a giggle. Who is she right now? “So much so as m’surely dead and in heaven right now since I see an angel right in front of me.”

“Your way of flirting is truly awful,” YN tucks her lips in to prevent the ever-growing smile threatening to tug on her lips.

“Yeah, but,” He leans down a bit more to say, “It is working, isn’t it?”

It is, and stupidly so.

“I guess we’ll never know,” YN pushes the small towel towards his chest. She gives him a small smirk as she chews her gum with her mouth closed and walks around him to head down the hallway.

It’s not like she’s ever going to see him again. She’s always busy with being on tour and it wasn’t anything new for her to be a bit flirty a bit with a stranger she knew she’d never see again.

No harm, no foul.

She heads towards the hall where there are multiple doors with numbers on them. Once she reaches the door with the number 3 on it, she gives three quick knocks before twisting the handle.

The scream of the girls echoes off the walls of the room at the sight of her and she can’t help but laugh in return. As she’s about to close the door behind her, she feels something block her from doing so. With a furrow of her eyebrows, she does a double take when she looks over her shoulder to see the guy from earlier with his hand spread out on the door.

Before she can form a question out of her fuzzy brain, she feels the girls’ hands wrapping around her arms to pull her further into the room.

“We are so excited you’re here!” Perrie says, holding her shoulders.

“Oh this is going to be so amazin’,”Leigh Anne giggles, clapping her hands together and jumping up and down.

It’s both odd and refreshing to be around girls her age. Being on tour with five boys 24/7 for three years straight should seem like a dream to most girls—and while the majority of the time it is—it would be nice to have some time away from all the testosterone.

“Well ‘fanks to you lot for having me in this. I’ve never done anything like this before,” Despite her nerves from earlier, she’s starting to feel ten times better.

“I see you met your dance partner,” Perrie nods her head to someone behind me.

She did?

YN hesitantly turns over her shoulder to see Door Guy laughing and talking with the other dancers. When he turns his head and locks eyes with her, his smile turns into a smirk.

“And our choreographer.”

YN snaps her head back to the girls but quickly tries to compose herself at the words that just left out of Jade’s mouth. She can feel the familiar turn in her stomach again and wonders if she suddenly ran out of the room would they think of her differently.

“C-choreographer?”

“Well, for this music video he is. But don’t worry babe, he’s an amazing dancer,” Jesy says, nodding in reassurance.

“I don’t think that’s the thing she’s worried about,” Jade says with a smile, giggling along with the other girls.

“What do yeh mean?” YN asks them, trying to seem confused while she’s currently dying on the inside. This really can’t be happening.

Perrie says in a whisper, “Babes, we’re girls. We can spot a crush when we see one.”

“Or a guy completely checking out a girl,” Leigh Anne says after seeing YN’s lips part in shock. YN didn’t grow up with a lot of girl friends and being put in a band with five other guys made her love her career even more. She’s so used to using her skills as a female to swerve her way past situations like not talking about her feelings or dismissing the idea of ever talking about guys she likes. What a reminder to brush up on said skills since these four were able to easily dodge her question with giddy smiles.

“And from the looks of it, he totally is,” Jade squeals quietly while glancing behind her.

The loud clap behind her echoes throughout the studio and it makes her shoulders flinch.

“Alright girls, let’s get this show on the road,” The Door Guy’s voice follows suit.

“Come on,” Perrie hooks her arm through hers. “You can set your bag over here. And what happened to yeh shirt?”

“It’s a long story,” YN lets out a sigh.

Kill me, please kill me now.

“Alright,” The guy who she has yet to know his name stands in front of the room, ready to give further instructions. He gives her a smile before turning his gaze to talk with the rest of the group. “Before we start, I’m sure everyone knows by now that we have a special guest for this project. Miss YN YLN will be joining us for the dance routine as she’s the feature for this single.”

YN raises her eyebrows at the fact that he knew her name but quickly slaps on a smile as everyone in the room claps. Perrie wraps her arms around her and pulls her in for a quick, side hug.

Wait, if he knew her name, then he must know who she is. She somehow knew it was too good to be true, but she just hopes that he wasn’t flirting with her because of her “fame.” Or was she just pushing it on him? Or was he just being nice to her and she was taking it as flirting—

“Alright, so it’s gonna start on a basic 8 count and we’re gonna start straight away with partner work. So let’s get on a diagonal line starting with Jade over here...”

She turns around on her heel to get in the spot he wants her and sees Perrie give her a smile that she's trying to hide. She gives her a playful eye roll before she feels two big hands on her shoulders.

“And you’ll stand over here,” He gently guides her where to stand and before he lets go, he gives her a wink before moving onto Jesy at her left. Her stomach suddenly does a weird flip.

These past few years, the playful flirting from fans has increased but she only sees them for a minute or two before being rushed off. Whether it be at meet and greets or on the street, she hasn’t had someone flirt with her knowing that they will be seeing each other for the next couple of weeks.

It’s been a while since she’s been around girls. Were they always this...jumpy?

She feels a tap on her hand and turns to her right to see Jade gives her an excited look, knowing she saw the small interaction between her and the door guy.

As he goes about teaching everyone the steps, YN feels like an idiot schoolgirl who’s getting touched for the first time. She mentally scolds her body when her skin tingles at his touch; whether it be as simple as a hand on her arm or how she can feel his toned body move with hers from behind.

“So you’re gonna extend your arm towards us, so you’re pointing at us,” Door Guy instructs and everyone follows along. “Good. Now your partner is gonna grab your hand and push it away like so,” He wraps his hand around YN’s to demonstrate before gently pushing it away all the while she keeps her gaze towards the mirror beside her to avoid his gaze. “Cool. Now we’ll each review it a bit with our partners and then we’ll take it from the top together.”

The pairs around the room begin to chat amongst themselves as they move back to get ready in their starting positions and begin to slowly review their steps.

He moves to stand next to her and she puts her hand on her hips, remembering her starting position, “Ready?” When she gives him a nod, he begins to count, “Five, six, seven, eight...”

On beat, she lifts her head up, then places her hand on his arm while moving her upper body to the right.

“So,” She says after two beats. “You knew who I was when we spoke at the door?” She moves to grab his extended forearm and leans down to a lunging position.

“Make sure you tilt your head back as you lower yourself,” Once she follows his instructions and she carries on through the steps, he continues. “And to answer your question: no, I didn’t. I knew someone named YN was coming in to dance with us but I didn’t know what you looked like. But when I saw you walk into the studio and the girls were screaming bloody murder, I put two and two together.”

He didn’t know what she looked like? She can’t tell if he’s lying or not. Not to sound big-headed but she’s pretty sure her band has become a household name by now.

“How have you not heard of One Direction?” She instantly squeezes her eyes shut and grits her teeth, immediately regretting her words the second they left her mouth. “Sorry, that sounded so—”

“Humble?” He raises an eyebrow at her as another smirk tugs itself on his lips.

“Try arrogant.”

“Narcissistic,” He retaliates.

“Semantics,” She just shrugs her shoulders as she walks her fingers up his toned arm and follows through on the next dance move. “Y’also never introduced yourself.”

“I haven’t, no,” He goes to lean in front of her so she can put her hands on his shoulders like he taught her and the rest of the girls earlier. After a beat goes by and he hasn’t said anything yet, she raises her eyebrows.

“Or do you reckon I keep calling you Door Guy?”

“So that’s what you’ve been calling me?” He peeks at her over his shoulder.

“Only in my head.”

“S’Mathew,” He informs her as he moves to stand behind her. For a moment, she’s impressed at how well he’s able to fluidly go through each dance move so effortlessly but then quickly remembers that it’s his occupation. “But everyone calls me Matt.”

“Well you already know I’m YN?”

“Is that a question?” He muses.

“It’s a name actually,” She sarcastically says, rolling her lips into her mouth to try to hide the smile threatening to grow on her face. In turn, he gives her an opened mouth smirk, his tongue pressed to the side of his cheek and his jawline looks so sharp it could cut diamonds.

“You’ve got a smart mouth on you, don’t you?” He locks eye contact with her through the mirror in front of them. “But it’s a pleasure to officially meet you, YN.”

“You too, Matthew,” She says before she’s raising her arm up, snapping it back down to a turn of her head, remembering the steps he taught her.

“Quite like that shirt on yeh. Designer?”

YN doesn’t fall for anyone so easily but she knows she’s tripping head first when she can’t seem to come up with a witty reply as quickly as she usually does. Instead, her cheeks hurt from holding back her smile and mutters a quiet, “Shut up.”

Butterflies flow around her tummy when he huffs out a chuckle and shakes his head at her through the mirror. As he quietly counts out loud and they shift their hips together in unison, she’s left with a scary realization that the last time she felt that familiar flutter was with...Harry.

...

YN looks at herself in the small full body mirror and takes in a deep breath. She runs her hands down the curves of her full hips that are flushed tightly against a latex black skirt. She doesn’t normally wear stuff like this. The only times she wears skirts are the flowy ones her management forces her to wear to maintain her “good girl” image.

But this...this was something she never really had the confidence to wear on her own, let alone a music video. She’d rather stick to the black jeans she wears on tour.

She closes her eyes and takes another deep breath before she pulls back the curtain to the makeshift dressing room. She just needs to get out of the small space before her breathing gets iregulated and she makes a fool of herself by being found here unconscious.

YN sees the other girls talking amongst themselves as they finish getting their last minute touches on their wardrobes. They all look so amazing in their first outfits, so skinny and toned that they could be supermodels if they wanted. She looks down at her skirt once again and runs her hands over her plushy hips.

Looking at the mirrored white box set intimidates her more than anything she’s ever done before. She doesn’t know how to be sexy or flirty. These girls are practically the definition of such and it's only going to be that much more apparent when she stands next to them. At least she's had plenty of practice walking in heels so the white heels she has on shouldn't cause her that much trouble.

Before she starts to get in her head again, she quite literally gets knocked out of her running thoughts when someone bumps into her shoulder.

Even though it wasn’t her fault, she still finds an apology pushing quickly past her lips, “Oh! M’so sor-”

“We have to stop meeting like this,” Matthew smirks down at her. He’s dressed in all black from head to toe with a backward black leather cap on his head.

“Well you should look where you’re going,” She counters back, smiling with her head tilted back in order to look into his eyes.

“If not looking where I'm going means bumping into you all the time, then I don't think I will.”

“Ugh, could you be any more corny?” She teases. “I reckon you haven’t been practicing your pick-up lines these past couple of weeks?”

“Aw come on. I thought that one way was at least halfway decent.”

“YN!”

“Hush!”

Their heads immediately turn over to where the girls are huddled together. Perrie quickly turns her head towards them with a smile after hushing a guilty-looking Leigh Anne for calling YN’s name.

YN turns back to Matthew, throwing a nod toward the girls before saying, “I should get going.”

He nods in agreement. “Yeah, for sure. I gotta head over to my section, too.”

YN nods back and bites back a smile when neither of them makes a move to actually leave, “I’ll see you later then.”

“Later.”

She playfully rolls her eyes at him and turns on her heel towards the direction of the girls.

“Hey, YN?” She turns back towards him with raised eyebrows. Matthew’s eyes trail down her figure before his eyes land on hers again. With the stupid, beautiful smirk on his face, what he says next makes the blood rush to her cheeks. “You look good in that shirt by the way.”

With that familiar warm, fluttery, gooey feeling that would have scared her if Harry didn’t make her feel it first a couple years ago.

“Thanks,” And with that, she lets herself smile at him again before walking towards the girls with a new sense of confidence. She even swings her hips a little bit as she walks away, feeling giddy.

She hasn’t ever felt a confidence like this before.

Going behind the monitor, the girls all watch in excitement of how good the shots came out to be. And YN...well, she’s speechless. She looks beautiful and natural. It surprises not only the director and the girl group, but herself as she manages to move so effortlessly with each shot. She looks absolutely gorgeous showing off her best angles, moving rhythmically with the music blasting, and strutting down the middle of the mirrored white box, sassily high-fiving Perrie as they pass each other.

Already dressed in their blue and white coordinated outfits for the next scene for the video, the girls all stand behind an array of monitors as they look over some of the shots from earlier.

YN stands with her hands on her hips as her eyes bounce around the different screens. In no way, shape or form was she going to get used to seeing herself in this way—looking as sexy and sophisticated as she does. Even now in her white, high-waisted shorts and one shoulder blue top as she’s about to head into the choreographed dance sections of the video, it’s an exciting experience she can’t quite place an emotion on.

For a quick moment, it has her entertaining the idea of what would have happened if she was never taken out of the potential girl group she was placed in after almost being eliminated off of the XFactor. It sends an icky shiver down her spine at the thought of not being with her boys. As much as she loves these girls, no one can ever replace the love she has for her band.

She can hear clapping behind her but what has her spinning around so fast it makes her dizzy is the sound of a familiar, obnoxiously loud whistle that Harry taught her.

“Hey!” YN beams at the sight of her boys walking further into the huge warehouse. She wastes no time quickly making her way over them and throwing her arms around Louis and Niall. “Yeh lads came? For me?”

“We did,” Liam says as he gives his bandmate a quick hug. “Zayn just tagged along to see his lady,” He teases only to get a shove in the arm.

“Tha’s not true,” Zayn defends, his furrowed eyebrows turning into a smile when YN walks into his open arms, “Well, it’s partly true.”

“None taken,” YN laughs over his shoulder. “Li is just bummed because he doesn’t have a woman.”

As Louis and Niall begin to tease and pick on Liam, she can’t help the fond smile that comes across her lips at the sight of Perrie beaming up at her boyfriend before their lips interlock.

“Do I not get a hug then?” Harry teasingly asks behind her.

When she turns around to face him, he looks handsome in his black skinny jeans and worn out band t-shirt. It’s a crime how good he pulls off such basic clothing.

YN scrunches up her nose and looks up at the ceiling, humming in contemplation, “Mmm, nah. M’good.”

His dimples dig into his cheeks at the sound of her surprised laughter when he suddenly tugs her to his chest. The tips of his blunt fingers dig into her exposed shoulder blades and he almost sighs out in relief when he feels her warm hands along the expansion of his back. The guilty feeling of his embarrassing thoughts diminishes when he hears her hum into his collarbones.

“Sorry, know yeh don’t like to be held for too long,” Harry chuckles as he reluctantly pulls away from her warm embrace.

“S’alright,” YN gives him the smile he’s been missing since she’s been away more for this project. “Long hugs don’t bother me as much anymore if they’re with you—you all, the boys, I mean.” She huffs out a nervous chuckle that ends up being her clearing her throat. “Speakin’ of which, a big thanks to you by the way.”

“For what?” He asks with a tilt of his head, stuffing his hands into the tight pockets of his skinny jeans.

“Helping me with all the—” She moves her hands vaguely around her upper body. “—getting used to touchin’ other people type stuff. If it wasn’t for yeh, don’t think I would have been able to do this music video. Dancin’ with me partner and all.”

Aside from Louis, Harry knew more than anyone how much YN wasn’t fond of a little hand-holding, a comforting hand on the back, or even a quick hug. Three years into being in the band with Harry and she internally questions whenever he hasn’t given her a good morning side hug or a squeeze of her hand before heading out on stage. Not to mention how eagerly susceptible he’s made her to a late-night secret cuddle session if either one had some trouble falling asleep.

It should then come to no surprise by how inflated his ego gets at her gratitude for helping her with something that comes easy to him. Especially since it's helping her have fun, feeling confident and comfortable.

“S’no problem, lovie,” Harry reassures with a smile.

“Woah, is that you, love?” Louis leans over to get a better look at one of the monitors. It’s a shot of her walking towards the camera in the white boxed room, her hips swaying from side to side as she sassily throws her hair over her shoulder. “Almost didn’t recognize yeh.”

“Yeah, you actually look like a girl,” Niall teases, throwing his imaginary hair behind his shoulder with a sassy roll of his eyes.

As the boys continue to point out how she looks, Harry’s eyes catch one of the screens that’s playing her solo shot behind a purple background, the shot only showing her from the shoulders up. The music can be faintly heard from all the commotion going around them as the crew members continue to make some last minute touches for the neon lights section. A small smile stays on his lips as he watches her sing along to the chorus, smiling ever so brightly as she seductively moves her upper body to the beat.

He sees a guy come into the shot as he dances around her and doesn’t think of it. He’s there to make YN look even better, giving her the spotlight.

As the song progresses, Harry notices how when her part comes up, she leans her forearm on the guy’s shoulder and continues to sing along with the bridge. He can��t seem to take his eyes off of the screen but his heart begins to sink to his stomach.

“Move it baby, Oh—” YN brings a hand up to the bloke’s chin and with her index finger, she slowly turns his head to face her own. “You know that I've been waiting for you.” The guy breaks out into a cheeky smirk and she continues to sing along, their faces are so close their noses almost touch.

Is that what she was referring to? Is this what she was thanking him for? For indirectly getting her closer to her dance partner of all people? Seems a little unprofessional from his perspective, getting touchy and smiley with a person she’s supposed to be working with.

Before he can have the chance to unclench his jaw, YN is being called over to set.

“See yeh lads in a bit,” YN smiles as she walks backwards towards the set. “Behave yourselves while m’gone.”

She quickly makes her way over to the rest of the girls and the back-up dancers in the small, neon-lighted hallway. It doesn’t take long to spot the bloke he saw getting up close and personal with his...bandmate. She’s his bandmate, someone who he can practically see as a little sister if he squinted long and hard enough. He’s harshly reminded of this reality every day and yet again today as he sees this guy—her dance partner who she’s been supposedly getting up close and physical with—smile at his best friend.

Is it necessary for the guy need to put his bloody hands on YN’s shoulders to guide her to where she needs to stand next to Jesy? Or move a strand of her curly hair away from her face? Wasn’t that the hair and make-up teams’ jobs?

As they end their partner section, she and Matthew raise their hands in a high five before skipping over the right to get out of view from the main hall. The adrenaline that’s running through her veins feels amazing. The total rush of dancing with her whole heart, hitting beats with her body like no one is watching is so exhilarating. She might even go as far as to say that she loves this as much as singing.

“Let’s go, Jade!” YN cheers from the side as the next duo comes into the neon-lighted hallway.

YN smiles out of breath as she watches them dance, one by one they dance with their partners. In the midst of her excitement, she failed to realize that she never let go of Matthew’s hand after they high-fived.

When he looks down at her, she whispers a small, “Sorry,” before beginning to remove her hand from his. Before she can untangle their fingers, Matthew’s grip on her hand tightens. She looks up in surprise and he just smiles back down at her.

“S’alright,” He leans over to her, his sight still on the dancers in front of them. “Just don’t do it again,” Matthew playfully scolds with a smile, continuing to rub his thumb over hers. This time, she doesn't even attempt to hold back her smile at his actions.

Harry is utterly split in two. The sight of her in her outfits as she moves so effortlessly with the music. The way her hips move, her smile, and the energy she brings is unreal.

Even as they move onto the last section of the music video—the full dance routine—she dances with grace and passion and so much umph. She looks amazing in her holster-type top and high-waisted cargo pants. He’s seeing a new side of her come out and he’s happy to see her so carefree.

But on the other hand, his chest tightens watching her get up close and personal with this guy who looks at her with the same eyes he gives her; it is undoubtedly unsettling. He can do nothing but just stand back behind the cameras, arms crossed, and stare with a crease in between his eyebrows as the guy puts his hands on her.

And the worst part is that she looks like she’s genuinely enjoying having this guy all over her. He honestly can’t tell if her smiles are real or merely for the camera—and that kills him. He’s so used to being able to read her so well, but she’s a book in a completely different language as she’s gone all googly-eyed to some other bloke she just met.

...

“Where is she?”

“S’not like her to be this late.”

“She was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago,” Liam checks his phone one more time. “You know, if any one of us were late, she’d be pulling us by the ear and dragging us backstage.”

The boys were all dressed in their small changing area backstage and just about ready to head out on stage to do another show on the band’s third world tour. All the boys were able to sympathize with YN in the beginning as she was doing twice as much work with having to do press interviews and live performances with Little Mix to promote their new single. They saw her for a short amount of time before she had to be whisked away to another plane ride and back again to do a show with her own band.

But that all began to die down about a month ago so she was back with the rest of the boys full time again. With that being said, YN was coming back into her groove of things with being back on tour and performing for thousands of fans every night. Which means that fifteen minutes ago, she should have been backstage with the boys, dressed up and doing her small vocal warm ups and somehow scolding the boys for either being late or for smelling bad—it varied on the day.

It began with her being five minutes late, quickly walking up to her band members with a giddy smile and a compliment saying they all looked nice. She then began to grow ten minutes late, jogging over to her boys with her heels in hand and her cheeks pink, probably due to rushing to get on stage in time. It’s a new record as the band has less than ten minutes before they officially have to get into the positions on stage.

It began to worry Harry to no end, thinking that their management team was pushing her too hard and not allowing her enough time to ease back into their routine.

“Ricard is gonna have a field day when he sees she’s not here,” Niall shakes his head, wringing out his microphone at the thought of their management representative having yet another excuse to scold her on top of her posture, her vulgar language and refusing to wear heels for a show.

Harry bounces slighting on the ball of his feet, taking a final glance at the entrance of the small changing room as if that was gonna make her suddenly appear.

“Alright, m’gonna go check up on her,” Harry hands his microphone over to Zayn.

“What if Dick comes in and he sees both of you lads not here?” Louis points out, already knowing how much his two bandmates get in trouble for the slightest glances.

“Cover for us!” Harry yells over his shoulder before taking off down the venue hallways, ignoring the stares and double takes of the pop star having to be on stage in less than six minutes.

After rounding a few corners, he finally reaches the door with her name beside the door. He gives a quick three knocks before calling out her name.

“YN? Lovie, you in there?” He can faintly hear her voice inside, a shush followed by her giggling. Without a second thought he presses the code on the keypad. She let him in on the password out on a whim when he wanted to grab his jacket he let her borrow. A piece of information he’s now ungrateful for because as soon as the little light blinks green and pushes open the door, he’s frozen in place.

At least YN is already dressed in her black sparkly dress for the night, but some of it is bunched up by her hips as she sits on top of the vanity. The sound of lips breaking apart rings through his ears as he sees none other than her dance partner pressed up against her, grabbing onto her hips as if he was ready to pull her dress the rest of the way up.

Her bubbly laugh and breath-taking smile is instantly shut down when her gaze meets Harry. The two band mates are deers in headlights and if she wasn’t gripping onto the man’s biceps, she would have thought she was dreaming. No not dreaming, in a nightmare. She’s instantly pushing the man off of her and adjusting her dress.

“Harry...I...” Her words get caught in her throat. She watches as Harry's eyes bounce back and forth between her and Matthew and she couldn’t be more mortified. The bloke that had his mouth over hers merely seconds ago doesn’t even say a word, only covering his mouth with his head tilted down at the fact they were caught.

Finally having the words to speak, Harry utters out, “We’re on in three.”

Without another word, unglues his feet from the floor and hurriedly walks back down the hallway. His mind is going at a million miles a minute. He’s hurt and angry and confused. Ever since the filming for the music video has been wrapped, she’s never mentioned this bloke once. She’s never led onto having feelings for her dance partner whether she’s performing with him or talking in interviews with the other girls; nothing!

It shouldn’t come to that much of a surprise as it is, she’s trained for this sort of stuff, they both are. They’ve been doing it for years and it somehow feels like a betrayal when she uses her media training against him.

“Harry! Harry, please wait up!” YN looks frantic as she finally catches up to her band mate, a state he’s not used to seeing her in, although she’s practically jogging next to him with the rate in which his long legs take their strides. “It’s uh, it’s not what you think. See I—”

“You don’t need to explain yourself to me,” Harry interrupts her. When he takes a glance at her he sees how she’s holding her heels in her hand while trying to tame her hair with the other. He only allows himself since he can’t stand to see her cheeks pink and lips swollen.

“But I, Harry I can’t,” YN stumbles over her words and it scares them both to not hear her be so composed. “Harry,” She stops them by placing a hand on his arm. She searches his eyes and as troubled as he is, he can’t look away. “Harry, I need yeh to do me a favor. The biggest favor anyone can ask,” When she’s met with his silence, she takes in a shaky breath. “Can...can you keep what you just saw between us? I can’t have anyone know about me and Matthew. Everything’s been so good so far and, and I really like this guy, H. If everyone were to find out about it, the media, the fans, Richard, it’d be ruined in an instant. Just, please. Please don't tell anyone.”

As much as he wishes she would have said that what happened with this Matthew guy was a mistake, that it was fling that all the other guys she’s had, he’s met with an inevitable reality. She’s found someone, she’s found someone else to indulge her feelings towards. To act out her new found liking for physical touch and be flustered by minutes before having to go out on stage.

How long? How long has this been going on? Is this why their late night cuddle sessions stopped? Is this why her cheeks get pink and why her attitude has been giddy even behind the spotlight? How and when did this guy come in and out of the venues undetected? How many times has she come out on stage after having her mouth all over this bloke only to touch Harry’s arm as if he was the only guy in the world?

Before he can come up with a proper way around to let her down with her doe eyes looking up at him, a voice breaks the silence.

“There better be a bloody good reason why the two of you aren’t backstage right now,” Richard’s voice booms throughout the hallway. He’s dressed in his usually cream colored, three piece suit that never fails to make a witty comment fall out of YN’s mouth every time he pays a visit.

There are many reasons why Harry wants to protect YN, but the one that has him instantly stepping up in response is when her eyes stay wide as if she might cry at any given moment and her mouth moving like a fish out of water.

“YN’s aunt is sick,” Harry easily lies. Another helpful aspect of his media training. “She was on the phone with the doctors right now and it doesn’t look so good. I called my mum to help make sure she was available to keep a watch eye on her until we’re in England again. It looks like she might need a miracle to recover.”

If looks could speak, YN would be granting Harry with a long list of gratitude.

“Oh,” Richard straightens up, clearing his throat and tugging sharply at his blazer. “M’sorry to hear that. Now let's get a move on before we have to pay these backstage technicians overtime.”

If her mind wasn’t somewhere else, she would have rolled her eyes at how easy it was for their strict management representative to quickly accept Harry’s excuse (no matter how good it was) while he would have dismissed hers in a heartbeat. Without another word, the pop stars are quickly escorted backstage. While YN’s hair and make-up team walk with her to touch up her look, the scowl never leaves Harry’s face as he walks further ahead of them and snatches his microphone from Zayn’s hand.

“Where did you find her?” Zayn asks, surprised by his band mate’s actions. “You guys alright?”

“Her aunt’s sick,” Harry mutters before pushing past the boys to get to his section of the stage. They all share a questioning look among themselves as they glance back and forth between Harry and YN.

“I wonder which one it is. Never met any of her aunts before,” Niall ponders with concern only to get a slap on the shoulder.

“She doesn’t have any aunts, you twit,” Louis points out as the confusion only rises. Yet there’s no time to question any of them as YN walks over to her position behind the lifting screens and doesn’t say another word and the opening music begins to play.

There’s no doubt that the fans notice the lack of interaction between their most favored shipped duo. Despite their bubbly and excited stage presence, the awkward tension between the two band members could have cut with a knife.

taglist:

@wobblymug @be-with-me-so-happily @ashtongivesmebutterflies @kiwiskiwiskiwi @darlingdesire @obsesseddd @hopefulwastelandcreation @cacapeepee @breezie-b00 @harrysfolklore @theekyliepage @sunshinemoonsposts @nervousspiderling @tbslonelyhes @tenaciousperfectionunknown @harrystylesrecs @certified-nalayak @itsjustsel @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof @gviosca @behindmygreyeyes @twobluejeans @allisonxmcu @theemeraldbutterfly @jean-love @marvellover-sam @b-reads-things @reveriehs @rach2602 @thurhomish @perrypughstyles @luvonstyles @mxltifxnd0m @teamspideyman @c00chiemonster @juiceboxrry @s8tellite @folklorehrry @illicithallways @claramllera @eunoiaax @hoya122 @nichmedder @sleutherclaw @gloriousmoneyrascalbiscuit @harianaswhore @teawithcyb0rgs @vrittivsanghavi @vc55bughead @futuristiccroissantlampsludge @onecrazydirectioner @valluvsu @itsgabbysblog @awkwardbisexuall @rosehel @sucker4angstt @isalove @diorchives @mrshiddlestyles02 @fdl305

408 notes · View notes

woodchipp · 3 months

Text

Currently replaying OMORI because I'm a masochist with my best friends @beevean and @the-crow-binary providing emotional support lmfao. Even despite how soul-crushingly boring it is, I think we're still having some sort of fun with this clusterfuck of a game

Highlights (and the misc. problems we've managed to spot) so far include:

I already knew that this game's length was detrimental to it during my first solo playthrough, but this playthrough is helping me put into perspective just how bloated OMORI is, even when it comes to an aspect like dialogue. For example, a single conversation between Space Boyfriend and the main cast took us approximately 5 minutes to get through, and it's not like the writing is gripping enough to make us give a shit about the characters or anything they're saying

Speaking of the dialogue, you can just see how hard it tries to be witty and Quirky™ the way Earthbound and indie RPGs like Undertale were. Needless to say, it fails horribly, and the end result of that was me having to fast-track some conversations because they were unfunny and weren't relevant at all

I got unintentionally (!) stuck in White Space for 15-20 minutes because I couldn't find the map the game needed me to find to let me open the door. Beev came to hate the repetitive 8-bit BGM the area had by the time I finally found the map lol. game_design.exe

Headspace's music is so ear-gratingly abysmal oh my god. I can only call it "dollar-store Kirby music" because that's the most appropriate description that comes to mind and I'm pretty sure Lost at a Sleepover gave Beev severe PTSD. Of course, the music of Faraway Town isn't any better: the "track" that plays in the first fight with Aubrey is less music than it is the result of an .exe file being put through an audio player. Sonic Chronicles might have some serious competition in the "worst video game soundtrack" category asdfghjkl

The plot of the Faraway Town segments is so cookie-cutter that it genuinely hurts to sit through. Character writing (or the lack thereof) aside, Sunny and Kel spend half a day loitering around the town and asking Aubrey's cronies where she is even though Kel could've easily gotten that information from Mikhael had he just indulged the latter's delusions of grandeur a little bit

Faraway Town's daytime sky is literally a scrolling JPEG of a cloudy sky. The battle backgrounds of the real world segments are edited JPEGs as well. Everyone's houses look exactly the same on the outside save for some of them being a different color. The developers spent six years and more than $200,000 on this game.

Sunny's fights against his fears are boring. You just need to wait until a particular turn when the game grants you a special skill you use to end the fight immediately. What was the point of designing these hallucinatory monsters if the player doesn't get to fight them at any point during the main route?

Aubrey (ostensibly) swinging a nail bat at Sunny is not treated with the same degree of realism as Sunny slashing her with a knife. Additionally, Aubrey rides away on her scooter just fine even though she's supposed to be bleeding

Mari's picnic baskets are inexplicably scattered all across the town and fulfill the exact same function as they do in Headspace. So much for realism!

I won two of the fights against Aubrey's goons even though I was trying to lose. gameplay.exe

Sunny is even more unpleasant than I remember. He doesn't respond to Basil - who is supposedly his best friend - when the latter talks to him, stays silent while (and after) Kel vents to him about Hero yelling at him and barges into the church despite Kel advising him to wait until the sermon ends. Why should I feel bad for him again?

Kel generally seems to treat Sunny like an actual baby, spelling out incredibly obvious things to the latter (e.g. that Sunny shouldn't be carrying a knife or walking in the road because it's dangerous) and making all of Sunny's decisions for him, to the point of not allowing Sunny to return into his own house until nighttime under the pretense of "there's so much to do! it's a brand new day!"

Finally, the "fight" against Sunny's fear of spiders comes completely out of nowhere since nothing triggered said fear during Sunny's adventures outside

Peak game, everyone.

And it's going to get way worse down the line!

#omori #omori game #wood et al play omori #ig that's a tag now lol

37 notes · View notes

akariamai · 1 year

Text

Agony

You don’t particularly remember how your symbiote, Agony, managed to find itself lodged and bonded to your body. The details of that night were nothing but a blurry memory and Agony changes the subject whenever you decide to voice out your questions and concerns. You’ve only received bits and pieces from the alien’s past. Brief mentions of previous hosts and having spawned from a father figure of sorts. The details of the past are somewhat convoluted that Agony feels like it is unimportant to discuss. They mention the past is filled with plenty of misjudgements and miscalculations that they are forced to endure. It only brings up more questions you’d rather ask as they relish in the delightful taste of chocolate.

Agony warned you of the white Martian that paraded herself within the team. Her caring and sweet appearance masked the potential danger she was to others. Especially with her shown carelessness of manipulating the minds of others, often shattering their minds, without an ounce of guilt for her actions. It worried Agony of the possible knowledge she held of the symbiote and the challenge she potentially would be in the near future. You took this warning with stride. Ensuring to keep a reasonable distance from the Martian. Granted distance did not matter however, it made Agony a bit less restless.

The members of the team were still wary about you. You and your intentions were nevertheless a mystery. All they knew was that a member of the Justice League thought you would benefit from socializing with other young heroes and would prove to be a valuable ally for the team. That member also provided the necessary amounts of phenethylamine in a variety of foods to help salivate Agony’s hunger and prevent them from potentially going on a murder spree.

Conversations with Agony had to be inconspicuous as they did not want to startle her news teammates with the news of her well-hidden companion. But there are times where you would speak out loud and someone manages to hear. Luckily they brush it off, believing you are merely speaking to yourself, most likely due to your other teammate Jaime Reyes. Jaime was the holder of the Scarab. to which Agony had a lot to say about its capabilities, and is thought to be a bit odd as he talks and argues with the scarab audibly. He’s one of the only members that actively attempts to spark conversation. One that genuinely wants to learn more about you and not searching for more background on your person.

“How were you mustered onto this team?” You asked one uneventful day, “I find it hard to believe the scarab would trust any hero here.”

Jaime rubbed the back of his neck and nervously chuckled, “Um… Cassandra and Nightwing kinda sprung the team on me. Insisting I should join due to certain reasons.” They used Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle before him, as a talking point. “And you’re right the scarab was not fond of trusting them as they were mere strangers to us. Luckily everything worked out for us in the end even if Scarab still does feel annoyed about the entire situation and how I handled myself.”

You laughed at the thought of strangers walking up to you and proposing a spot on the team. It’s an unbelievable story that if anyone else tried to sell it as truth would be scoffed at. “That’s fair. I wouldn’t have trusted them in that situation.”

“I would have bit their heads off.” Agony exclaimed and you felt relieved that you were not presented with this predicament. Two dead heroes will not look good for your and Agony’s record. It would also be disgusting to watch as Agony chews on their decapitated heads. You learned from experience how playful Agony can be with their food and chills run down your spin every time your mind wanders to those times.

You thought of telling Jaime that you, too, harbored an alien. His loneliness was considerably prevalent when he spent most of his days, when not on missions and participating in his civilian life, observing the holograms of the deceased Blue Beetle. Agony rejected this idea as they believed the scarab would find them as a threat and a fight would ensue. “Jaime does not have the self-control necessary to hold back the scarab in the presence of a potential threat. Any sign of elevated hormones will unnerve it.”

“Do you…” You started to rethink your decision but the words have already incited out of your mouth, “Do you want to see my powers and meet someone who is important to me?”

He knew that you have not shown anyone your capabilities as you’ve been barred from participating in any team missions and have yet to spar anyone of the team during training. He was elated that you trusted him enough to open up even if it is minimal. “Um… okay.” As hard as he tried, the enthusiasm could be heard through the elevation of his voice though he did try to appear nonchalant about the entire situation.

“Jaime met Agony.” Smooth oily liquid appeared out of your skin and clothing and a set of dangerously sharp teeth captivated Jaime. Whether it was due to fear or not was only known by the scarab and his host. It’s white uncanny eyes, which reminded him of a killer whale, pierced through what was remaining of his soul. There was no semblance of the person he was just speaking to. They’d disappeared somewhere within this frightening monster.

“Hello.” His voice was deeper than Jaime had imagined when it graced him with its presence. The abnormal teeth filled grin ostentatiously intimidated the poor boy. “We are Agony.”

Masterlist

#jaime reyes #blue beetle #symbiote #symbiote!reader #agony #symbiote agony #young justice #scarab beetle #scarab #jaime reyes x reader #jaime reyes x you #blue beetle x you #blue beetle x reader

294 notes · View notes

talesfromthebacklog · 30 days

Text

Tales From The Frontlog: Princess Peach Showtime.

7/10

Princess Peach Showtime is good. It’s a game I’m willing to bet will be overlooked in the sea of Mario titles that exist on the Switch. It’ll probably be even a bit pricey down the line. The smaller weird titles like this tend to do that.

The best way to describe this game is that it’s a game about a being magical girl who uses various transformations to help people. When you look hard enough almost all the tropes are there and that alone makes this worth a pickup. Because games that are so blatantly like that are rare.

But you really feel like it’s missing something that could’ve made it truly special. Which is weird because it does offer a very complete experience. I guess the best way to put it is it has trouble feeling like a “Mario” world title. And not because Mario is missing. Give me some credit.

I had a fantastic time playing, but we’re about the dissect what I think Princess Peach Showtime is missing.

Firstly I want to get aesthetic out of the way. Partially because there were a lot arguments online if Peach was “fem” enough. Which was peak stupidity. Peach is the fem of fems. It was insane this was even an argument. Also these outfits rocked.

But more importantly her game really lacked that Mario pop. Peach is fun, the premise is great, but you really could swap out Peach for a different magical girl and the premise/world still work. Peach just sells better. And she’s cute. Just look at her.

And I’m not complaining about the absence of most of the Mario cast. Characters as individuals should be able to shine on their own. Peach being the only main cast member used was a great decision. But you don’t feel like you’re in that high fantasy Mario environment. Even when away from the Mushroom Kingdom mario still has a very specific look to it.

Mario is high fantasy in its own way. I wanted to see that better reflected in Princess Peach Showtime. Every once in a while you do see glimpses, specifically in a Paper Mario way. Where the backgrounds are obviously set dressing, the horses have strings, some thorns were cardboard cut out, etc.

I think they needed to lean into this more. In a way I think the environment needed to be less immersive. I get that “there’s evil magic” but I think it should’ve looked a bit more hokey like real plays. Also put some people in the audience watching Peach rescue people. Have curtains close at the end of levels instead of it fading to white and then closing. You’re closing the curtain. You don’t need the fade to white. They’re small details that would’ve gone a long way to really increase the look. Maybe even bring some of the lighting in as part of the platforming where you’re running on the equipment and then reenter on a stage over.

It might be a useless complaint. I think this might’ve been more of a quick budget title for Nintendo at the end of a console life cycle, but don’t quote me on that.

There’s small aesthetic nitpicks I have too.

Like what the fuck is this? And they do this with the green and blue dresses too where they add this clashing purple. I’m not going to sit here and tell you she looks hideous. She doesn’t, but let us have a dress that is completely blue! And they don’t match the shoe color to any of the dresses fyi. Those stay her traditional red. I know that’s a nitpick, like a really small one, but it still… bothers me. I understand why they put it there. I just don’t care. Purple and yellow? And so lazily executed? Hmpf.

And she obviously looks better when everything matches to some degree. Look at that! Why did they restrict the color palette on the dress options so much. I get that pink is her color but… come on. The costumes are allowed to break the mold but the dresses aren’t?

Also just missed opportunity for some simple easter egg dresses. Especially since some of those challenges are tedious as all get out. I did all that to earn this ⬇️ and not something genuinely cool. Fucking ick. It’s not bad looking but not worth doing a frustrating to control challenge for. I’m not even asking for new dress models. But let us put her in a Daisy dress or something. I don’t know.

And the levels… are always fun on a first play through. But if you’re playing without a guide as a completionist you’ll need to run through them more than once because it is easy to miss stuff. And it can be more time consuming than it’s worth. And when you’re on a fourth attempt that shit gets old quick.

Don’t get it twisted though: this game is short, sweet, and regularly mixes up the gameplay to keep gamer’s on their toes. There are no costumes or game mechanics that overstay their welcome. Whenever I walked into a new stage I was uncertain what I would be walking into and the costumes are all equally fun in different ways. They do a good job balancing out the adventure and recreation costumes too. So you get a break from faster paced action by baking instead. Smart. My favorite is you get a magical girl transformation for each new costume you get and only for the first time you get it.

The transformations are fun. Plain and simple.

From a gameplay perspective I don’t actually have that many complaints. It’s not complicated by any means, nor is it hard. But it’s not meant to be those things. Princess Peach Showtime is just a fun cozy game getaway. Maybe even something you play in between other games.

Then there’s Madame Grape. I get what they were going for. They wanted a fruit villain because they have a “fruit” protagonist. (I think there is an homage to Dionysus as well.) But it’s just very eh. I don’t know how to fix that to make it less eh. I think it’s a core design problem. Additionally Madame Grape, despite being mentioned throughout the entire story, isn’t very important. She is a vessel for the plot to exist. Which isn’t inherently a bad thing, a lot of Nintendo villains fill this role, but she also has no iconic qualities to her either. She’s just kind’ve this purple blob that shows up from time to time. I do like that Nintendo didn’t use Bowser though. It keeps the game female centric. So that’s cool.

I can’t get over how she needs to look more grape themed. I know Peach doesn’t necessarily have Peach themes but like… you could’ve told me she was the fucking plum queen and I would’ve believed you. But I’m nitpicking again.

Stella the helper is… nothing. She exists as the vessel to make Peach a magical girl. Stella is the magical girl pet/wand/narrator for the adventure. She’s not bad. She’s just nothing.

The other NPCs (both friend and foe) fall into that Nintendo hole of being the same cardboard cutout person in different costumes over and over too. (At least they had different costumes…) Which is to be expected at this point, they’re just “not Toads”. And I know not every game can have a Mario Odyssey budget but I feel like we needed more visual variety within the NPC cast. Though this is an old ass complaint folks have had about Mario titles for a while so I’m not going to dwell on it too much.

Also while “stars” make sense the little “not toads” should’ve been fruit themed too. That way you could at least swap out multiple colors and call them different “fruits” if you wanted to be lazy about it.

I guess that’s the issue with the game in general. The only real character that has any semblance of personality is Peach. Everything and everyone else is just set dressing so Peach can perform for the player. it makes sense but it leaves the world feeling empty. And I’m not asking for lore. This is not that kind of game. I think I just want more substance. Which is hard to do when you’re boiling down tropes into a 3 act structure for each costume.

And I have a lot of nitpicks here. Almost like I dislike the game. Which was not the case at all. I had a grand time. The costumes are fun, it’s fun to play all the way through, and the levels in the game itself also doesn’t overstay its welcome. At max you’re looking at a 12 hour experience if you’re a completionist.

Under ten if you just want to play it.

Visually the game is beautiful. The music was nothing to write home about.

But. I think because it’s a short experience I’m disappointed it didn’t push itself harder to be high aesthetic. Games that are both genuinely good and girly are hard to find. Often “feminine focused” games like this just fucking suck. You can tell Nintendo cared about this project.

But I think to be an 8 or 9 experience it needed to push its visuals a bit harder.

#princess peach #peach #princess toadstool #mario #mario bros #super mario bros #super mario #princess peach showtime #peach showtime #nintendo switch #nintendo #tales from the frontlog #magical girl #magical girls #video game review #game review #game reviews

17 notes · View notes

inkdemonapologist · 8 months

Note

How do you feel about the upcoming DCTL graphic novel?

Cautiously optimistic!

When I first heard the rumours, before Adrienne’s announcement, I had pretty mixed feelings. My background is in comics, like that’s what I went to school for and worked on semi-professionally for years, and I love it as a storytelling medium, so I’m really intrigued to see how they handle the adaptation…and I also really, really don’t envy whoever has to make decisions on how to depict these characters.

But the announcement is encouraging! I haven’t kept up with Chris Hastings’ more recent work, but I remember enjoying Dr. McNinja back in the day, so I have to admit there’s something exciting about seeing a name I recognise and can be hopeful about to do a good job with the adaptation. Checking out the artist’s work, I’m gonna put a lot of my poker chips on “Sammy will look really normal actually,” but I don’t think that’s a dealbreaker – like, Dober’s Sammy is a big fav as far as Sammy designs go, and I think he’s a good example of how you can still get great Sammy vibes in a more conventionally attractive face. (though i also think there’s a chance of “the artist will lean fully into his unhinged vibes and make Sammy look like a batman villain” so wE’LL SEE!!) Genuinely, the artist’s portfolio seems well-suited to this. I would’ve pictured DCTL with a rougher, more indie look if you asked me to pick a fitting style, but I think this artist's slick Western-Comic-Book style with its strong spot blacks could be a REAL good fit for the inky vibes this story demands, and they don’t have the level of “sameface” that I’d usually be concerned about with these kinds of styles; there’s enough solid variation in their character art that I believe they can handle all the characters needed, and also do a cool ink demon.

DCTL does have some design questions that are genuinely pretty fraught, in that there's no perfect way to handle it (Norman’s a great example; do you take someone that 80% of the fandom has been drawing as a black man for years and make him canonically white, or do you present the Weirdo Creeping Around In The Shadows Who Mysteriously Gives The Protags Supernatural Info And Then Dies At The End And Nobody Misses Him as canonically a person of colour??? ROUGH CHOICE I DO NOT ENVY), but I'm still so curious to see designs for these guys, and my big hope is that the fandom will be understanding of the huge task the creators have been given and that this won't be regarded with the pressure of getting “The Official Canon Design That I'll Be Mad If It Josses My Interpretation” – like, getting an official Henry & non-old-man Joey in BatDR just felt like, y’know, seeing anyone in the fandom make a new set of designs. It feels like drawing fanart of the BatDR AU; it doesn’t mean my henry and joey designs are Obsolete. And I hope these designs are enjoyed from that perspective, as a new DCTL Comic AU, and that the fandom takes whatever we get as less THIS HAS TO MATCH MY PERCEPTION OF SAMMY B/C ITS THE OFFICIAL REAL SAMMY and more just, a take on a design for Sammy Lawrence.

Though of course I can’t help but be a little more anxious about Sammy specifically, haha. He is my big fav after all, and as embarrassing as he is in DCTL it has become a part of his story I’m quite attached to. A lot of humanity could be added to him or taken away depending on how he’s drawn… I don’t want to get my hopes up, but it’s hard not to hope that he’ll have Good Sammy Vibes that Resonate With Me Specifically.

And in general, my expectations are still tempered – the comic could certainly turn out to be very mediocre, especially depending on how well the artist is paid and how much time the creators can afford to put into it – but tbh I’m super interested in how this turns out. I can’t wait to see Joey in this style and it’ll be SURREAL to see a comic of like……. BatIM humans…… I’ve wanted sincere visual content about the humans for a long time and I’m stunned we’re actually getting it, so I’m feeling kinda cautiously eager!! I’m also curious if the comic will make an effort to preserve Buddy’s “voice” from the original novel, and how that will be handled – like, the whole book is really strongly framed as being written by Buddy, and that’s not just an incidental detail; it fleshes out his feelings about Dot, ambiguously gives us info on Boris without directly revealing the ending, and shapes the way he presents some moments as unreliable and time jumping strangely – he even talks about the frustration of not being able to just draw these things and having to describe them! (RELATABLE) – but at the same time, just filling a whole comic with tons of narration boxes is not usually a great artistic choice. It’s a really interesting challenge for the adaptation, and I’m curious if they’ll shift away from the framing device altogether or look for a balance to keep it.

Anyway TL;DR I’m keeping my expectations low but I’m really intrigued!! I don’t know if I’ll, like, actually acquire it; I usually don’t buy JDS Inc. stuff, but I feel more wibbly about the books in general b/c of how strongly I appreciate Adrienne Kress specifically, so we’ll see how I’m feeling when it comes out, haha.

#i know you have questions you always do #dctl graphic novel

49 notes · View notes

spacesurfing · 2 years

Text

Definition of Cal Kestis

Cal Kestis x Reader

Chapter One of Definition

Summary: Definition of Cal Kestis: a kind soul with ginger hair and weird freckles; a strange man; allergic to boglings? (not confirmed!).

Warnings: not really any fluff, just the first chapter of a series, mentions of shitty living environments

GIF NOT MINE!!

(--)

"TeeZee? TeeZee?!" you called out. You were starting to panic, a feeling you hadn't felt many times. Was it normal for your heart to feel like it was beating out of your chest? "TZ-09! Where are you?!"

The ship hurled, sending you off of your feet and onto your ass. An alarm sounded in your ears, a constant reminder that the ship was using up all it's emergency power to get you away. The old hunk of metal had met it's demise. If your droid wasn't responding, you were sure that the power in the back of the ship had also been cut. You jumped to your feet, breathing like a bantha as you ran to an escape pod. The droids that raised you never taught you how to deal with whatever this was, this feeling.

As you pressed the pod release, you watched its emergency power light the console up with white and blue, highlighting your unquestioned destination. What was this planet? It didn't even have a name listed in the system, a blank space that made your head reel. The Hysteria's database couldn't be incomplete. You had been on that ship since you were little, eating up the emergency rations that last you years and years. Lucky you, they never went bad, but you hadn't had a real meal in years. Once you had to sneak off, on a distant planet. You knew that stealing wasn't something moral, but what was dying when you have the chance to fight for your survival? Restoration of your rations supply was your only option.

Your mother promised return, that you'd come home safe one day. You only remembered the color of her hair, flowing thick locks that resembled the color of your own. Being raised by droids wasn't entirely a harsh alternative though. When H6-2H shut down you had wondered if the other droid outliving you would have any affect. TZ-09 reminded you that it would not. What was it like to be raised by people? Something with a heart?

Those thoughts were background noise in this flurry of confusion. You never felt disappointment from your lack of knowledge of loving something. It is hard to love a droid, protocol droids had personality chips usually, but when they didn't, they were only an encyclopedia of knowledge. And your curiosity stemmed from only being able to speak to them.

Bleeding through the atmosphere from the open wound of space, your destination came into view. The planet below was a mass of green, and almost nothing but endless, floating plains. And underneath those plains was an abyss, it was clear, as if you could fall into the sky. You'd surely never heard of something so.. surreal?

"TeeZee - definition of s-" you looked behind you so be greeted with the seal of the escape pod. TeeZee was still in the Hysteria, with the power off and the silence of a million stars. Yet you still heard the ringing in your head.

"Definition of surreal: Having the qualities of surrealism; bizarre."

You turned back to the viewport, soon preparing for a rocky landing. You had strapped yourself in a chair on command, staring at the ground closing in on your face. You couldn't help but shudder and close your eyes at the keening noise of the pod hitting stone. You hadn't realized your hands were shooting to the straps across your shoulders, knees knocking together as it slid to a stop. You opened up your eyes to see the planet in its beauty; especially the towering building that lay in the distance.

Eyes glancing down at the mini-holomap that projected a blue vision of the planet, you read the word breathable. Unbuckling the straps that kept you from being flung through the viewport, you stood up. Looking down, you genuinely saw what you were wearing. The baggy pants that consisted of sewn together clothes, different patterns and colors sewn together into clothes that fit you. Jean material patched next to a strip of your older leather skirt, black cotton following next. Your shirt was the same, patchy and different colors and materials. TeeZee said it was better than wearing clothes too small.

You probably smelled odd, though the droids never minded since they, well they didn't know what smelled good or bad. Your shoes were barely shoes, just wraps around your foot to provide more comfort. That's what shoes were for, you'd been told. But there was no point in risking your life to steal again in the name of comfort.

Stepping out, you inhaled air. Actual air. It filled your lungs with an aroma of plant life, actual living organisms. They might not speak or genuinely feel, but they were real. You got down on your knees, toes digging into the soil as you stroked a blade of green grass. The ground was hard, but filled you with a feeling you couldn't describe. Was this what life on-world was like? Peaceful?

"Definition of Peaceful: free from disturbance; tranquil."

You lifted your head, it felt heavy against the gravity, but it would take a while to get used to. Your eyes peered at a ship, a luxury yacht. That wasn't a fighter, nothing fast or nimble about ships such as that one. Humans. Two humans. A male and a female. From a distance you couldn't see them well, talking for a split moment.

And the male hopped over one of the plains, one that led its way towards you. The soles of your feet returned to balance as you slinked up, watching the male near closer. He stopped though, little ways ahead of you, lifting his arms and waving them in case you hadn't already picked up on him. Was this a cultural greeting? H6 taught you about different cultures from different planets and moons, but she had never told you that certain cultures waved their arms around like they were swatting flies.

"Hey! Do you need help?!" the man yelled. Help? You didn't exactly need help. You needed food, but there surely had to be food on this planet for there to be inhabitants. Were there inhabitants?

You called back, "It is possible."

The man's arms fell to his side, only staring at you. He didn't look like he had much else to say to your response, so you simply leaped over to the next grassy stone platform. You landed with a breath of air releasing from your nose. That did pain your feet without much padding. Maybe sentients were smarter than they seemed.

You leapt again, landing on the same platform of the man. He was truly nothing like you had ever studied with your droids. He was scarred, and he was pale, and he had dots covering his face. Did you have those dots?

"Definition of Freckles: a small patch of light brown color on the skin, often becoming more pronounced through exposure to the sun."

The red hair on his head was tamed, yet messy at the same time. It was more orange than red. Ginger, he was a ginger. That's what the word was. He was also taller than you, looking down with green eyes. You wondered what you looked like to him, if you still looked the same as the last time you glanced at a mirror. You were too small then to look similar, but you never felt any changes.

"I'm Cal Kestis. Do you have a name?" he asked, voice all around you. Or at least it felt like it wrapped around you like it was a blanket. Not like the emergency blankets made of foil you used, but the ones you remembered from being a small child.

You nodded. Only nodded.

He lowered his eyebrows. They were also the same ginger color as his hair. Thick and cleaned up. He had a scar through one, from your perspective, his left. "What is it?"

"My name is Y/n. I do not know if I have a last name," you spoke, hands folding in front of you. Your eyes caught the woman behind him, hands rested on her hips as she watched you interact with the man. Her expression was out of your view, but her posture was impatient. It wasn't exactly easy to read her body language, that was never in your field of study.

Your attention returned to the male, bottom teeth showing as he breathed out of his mouth. "Do you wanna go to my ship? I can get you cleaned up and give you real clothes?"

Were sentients always this...

"Definition of Nice: (of a person) pleasant in manner; good-natured; kind."

"How can I be sure you won't kill me in cold blood?" you asked, lips straight and eyes in line with his. He didn't look like he could hurt a fly, though the scars littering his face told your consciousness otherwise.

He held a blaster out, the weapon resting in his calloused palm. He was offering you his blaster. You took it from his hand and checked the side. The safety was on. You held it loosely, arm at your side and the barrel pointed down at the ground. Your gaze met his once more.

"What choice do you have? Bogano isn't on any holomaps but the Mantis'. I promise you safety," he said. His voice was softer in the moment than it had been before. He was telling the truth.

You let your eyes wander the planet. What other option did you truly have? These plains went forever and ever, starting a family here would be of risk, there was barely any vegetation other than the grass between your toes, and there looked to be no wild-life. Where would you find anything to cook said wild-life anyways? This planet was truly hopeless for you.

"I have no other option. I accept your offer, Cal Kestis," you replied. His lips turned to a smile, beckoning you to follow him with a hand-gesture. And you did, you jumped and followed, climbed and rolled and copied whatever he did, maybe not as well but enough to get to where you needed to be.

As you neared the ship, Cal stopped checking if you were following as much. He started to approach the woman that stood near the gangplank of the ship that he had called the Mantis. She had short cut curly hair, wide eyes that looked at Cal more than you. Was she as trusting as the ginger? She wore clothes that reminded you of your mother, ones that were suited for comfort over fashion, though if you knew anything about fashion it was that you definitely wouldn't mind wearing that over the mess on you.

You definitely caught the attention of both of them as you walked from behind Cal into the view of the woman. She stared at you with the same sweet eyes that Cal had given you, nothing in them looking unnerving to you. Of course she would be as sweet as Cal Kestis was.

"It's never a regular occurrence that someone finds Bogano. Nobody's ever coincidentally crashed here either," she spoke with a breathy laugh. Finally taking in what you were wearing, she looked at you with softened eyes, "Would you like a shower and some new clothes?"

You nodded, "That would be preferable. Do you have a name?"

The woman offered out a hand to you, and something pulled you to take it. A handshake is what TeeZee called it, it was to connect people by knowing each other. Mostly in a formal fashion but could be an informal thing.

"I'm Cere, I'm sure you've met Cal, and you're about to meet Greez. Greez might be a bit irritated right now, but he'll get used to you," she shook your hand before pulling it to drag you into the ship, taking you to a small refresher. You followed; like Cal said, what option did you have?

You hadn't met Greez yet, at least he didn't interfere when Cere guided you to the shower in their small 'fresher, showing you to the body wash and shampoo, giving you a towel and wash rag as she left you to undress and clean yourself off. You had given her the blaster that Cal had given you, as a return of that trust.

(--)

Actually stepping under the water felt like heaven, or what you could only imagine to be the most blissful feeling ever. You'd felt grimy a lot in the time on the Hysteria, and this was something luxurious to you. Feeling everything wash off of you, being clean was a feeling you wanted to stay forever. The pouring of lukewarm water against metal was a noise that put you in a sense of security, surrounding you in this environment that you never realized you wished to be in.

After guiding shampoo through your hair and soap across your body, you stepped out and dried yourself off with a towel. You dried your hair till it was just damp and peeked out of the refresher, finding a clean pair of clothes before you. You quickly slipped back inside and changed, slipping into a sports bra and underwear. It felt.. good.

As you put on pants, you realized they probably weren't hers; these were Cal's. You were still grateful, having clean clothes, slipping on a tight turtleneck that must've been Cere's before picking up a pink colored poncho. It had frayed edges and looked like it had been through a small battle, but you still slipped it over your head, letting it take place hanging off your shoulders.

Fog blinded the mirror when you had first stepped out of the shower, but now with the ventilation running, it cleared and you saw yourself. Reaching up, you pressed your hand over your nose and lips, over your closed eyelids, eyebrows, running nimble fingers through locks of hair untangling strands. You didn't look like women you had seen before. Pressing your hands against your cheeks, you smooshed them together, scrunching your lips too. You looked unique, staring at the girl in the mirror. But that was you. You were staring at yourself.

You looked away, feeling overwhelmed, slipping on socks which were the last article of clothing. They were warm, definitely an upgrade from your feet wraps. There was so much comfort in being here already that you had no choice but to trust them - they have shown you care in which you never felt.

Stepping out of the refresher, you looked to your left from where you were dragged, seeing a latero dressed in a flight suit talking to the pair and - a droid? That was a BD unit, an explorer class droid. It whirred at your presence. It was smaller than any droid you'd ever seen.

You walked out into the open, catching the attention of everyone simultaneously. Cal only looked at you with an expression you didn't know, his lips parted and his eyes scanning your clothes, widened. Cere had a smile on her face and the latero... his eyebrows were slanted as he glanced over you.

Cere was the first to speak, "Pink is definitely your color." As Cal stared at you he only offered a quiet "yeah" to Cere's statement.

"Is this the girl that crash-landed that you felt so obligated to pick up?" the latero moved all his hands while he spoke, looking at Cere.

Cere rolled her eyes at the last part of his sentence, "This is Y/n, and get used to being helpful you grump," turning to you, Cere motioned her hand to the pilot, "This is Greez, he's just a bit introverted when it comes to strangers."

He mumbled a, "Yeah yeah, whatever." Stumbling off to the cockpit of the ship, you took it upon yourself to walk down the small stairs and looked between the two humans that you found to be the only companions you'd only had, even if for a few days.

Cal had fixed his face and only looked down at you now blankly. His arms were at his side and he stood relaxed mostly, except for his fingers which thrummed against the side of his thigh.

"Where will you take me?" you asked Cere. You hear the BD unit moving around, soon hopping up Cal's leg and onto his shoulder. You listened to a bogling squeal outside before, what you assumed was them hopping back into one of their tunnels. All whilst your throat tightened at the pause before her response.

Cere stepped forward and laid her hands on your arms, rubbing them up and down slowly, "If you want to stay, we thought about it and," she looked over to Cal for a moment. His face was tinted pink - why was it pink? Was he having an allergic reaction to the boglings outside of the ship? Cere turned back to you, "If you wanna stay with us, you can join our crew."

You don't know what came over you, but when you were looking into Cere's eyes, hearing her offer you a comfortable home even if you'd most likely have to help provide in some way she hadn't discussed, you felt a sensation tug at your lips for the first ever time. You were shocked, at the way your lips wanted to curl. You'd never felt like this, you'd never felt like you wanted to smile. You nodded, offering up the slight curve you let show. To be honest; you were scared to smile.

(--)

Masterlist

#star wars x reader #cal kestis x reader #cal kestis #jedi fallen order #jfo #cal kestis fluff #cal kestis x reader fluff #cal x reader #cal fluff #cal x reader fluff

172 notes · View notes

a-la-campanella · 3 months

Text

So... White Night goes hard. Here's a music video dissection!

Way too much to say, I'm doing bullet points again. Comparing CN lines and EN translation of those lines (NOT THE ENGLISH LYRICS) here, but if they say basically the same thing, I won't bother mentioning any differences. I'll look at the English lyrics in another post. For the record, like fuck did I bother to learn what the different zones of Penacony are named.

The transition out of the Hoyoverse logo with Aventurine's hand? That was smooth. Holy shit. I've tried doing a transition like that for a school assignment, and that sort of thing goes hard.

The word branded on Aventurine's neck spells out "slave". That's... concerning. I guess he'd have history with crime (assuming he was a slave and that slavery is illegal under the IPC - but who knows about that last point?) and given Penacony's history, he might hold some more personal sentiments about being there.

Showing off his rings, his watch, his fit... dude is bling-bling-bling. Coin flip sound effect! Love the whistling too.

Those dance moves, synced to the beat of the music. The camera angles. Wooooow. The first time I watched this was breathtaking. I give a fuck about Aventurine now. That's so wild. I had go check if this was official, for a few seconds genuinely thought I was watched a fan-made MMD.

Male Trailblazer! Checks out, last video had the Female Trailblazer. We get a fancy hat to dance with!

Background Robin poster, by the way.

Robin and Sunday in a shiny vehicle, with Robin holding a drink in her hand. They're driving somewhere. They look so pretty!

Something crashes into Misha? In the Reverie Hotel??? Is that a hat?

Out of all the luggage that gets knocked over, the blue, circular case stands out the most.

From "Don't forget, shut your eyes, embrace the light", the "embrace the light" part is "才算醒来" in CN (it's time to wake up). Do Misha and Gallagher have something to do with the dreams, besides the whole, Reviere Hotel thing?

Gallagher's lighter, and then the background change plus light turning off (plus sound effect!) when the lighter is closed? He's not the type of guy I'd really care about, but. That smile. Shit.

Sparkle followed by a bunch of koi fish out of water, skipping forward. She winks and sends us off with a koi fish transition.

It's fitting that the line here is "you act in this huge play, a change of attitude" (from CN line; 你参演这场戏变换姿态)... the EN line uses "postures interweave" to convey acting I suppose? Makes sense, she's a Masked Fool, acting would align.

Black Swan picking from one of ten cards... she eventually picks a card, revealing a white swan in the front. I wonder who that represents? I wanted to say one of the factions, but there are only nine we know of; the Family and the invited eight. Maybe an uninvited guest?

The CN line says "谜底结局我该怎么猜" (The truth/mystery of the ending, how should I conjecture?), where 结局 can refer to the last act of a play. It's says the same as the EN line, this is just a more linguistic fun-fact.

For the last bit of that line, we see a hand with yellow claws, and at the center of the palm seems to be a red eye. New enemy?

Flrefly holding sparklers! She's smiling! It's a "prelude of dreams supplied by memories". This line definitely does not spark fear, because dreams are built on memories, and Firefly is definitely real. (I speculate that she isn't/only exists in dreams, but I sure hope not.)

Trailblazer tries to take a photo of her! It's synced so it sounds like you can hear the shutter go off, almost.

Transition to the Trailblazer running (in the form of a bunch of still Trailblazers gradually turning back/away from the camera) alongside a light in a very... uh. Absurd environment. Up a bunch of spiral stairs, and near the end of the sequence, seems to be chasing the light. Is the light meant to symbolize Firefly? Fuck me.

"Covered scars still linger yesterday" wherein the past remains, even when swept away... genuinely, what happened to Firefly.

Trailblazer in a room with a bunch of Clockies, standing on Clockie's shoe. We challenging the dream here? Is Clockie a representation of the Watchmaker? They might be holding a sparkler in their hand, hard to tell. They certainly don't look happy.

"Your wakefulness, time foresees" = time is waiting for you to wake up.

Blink, transition by zoom to a falling light, which turns out to be (probably!) Firefly. Throughout the descend, her eyes are closed. Sigh. I hope not. Based on the transition, it's definitely her, and I'm pretty sure she'll die, if she hasn't already died.

IS THAT AVENTURINE? Similar enough hair and outfit, but his chest opening is larger and glowing green. Wearing a mask too. Do we fight him? Is that who we fight with? Questions, questions.

Close-up of Aventurine with his earring and eye catching the light. Insert "take me away" line. Yessir, whatever you say ma'am, anything for you babygirl.

Someone else noticed this first, but his earring looks like a dream catcher! They're protective charms, so Aventurine might be safe from the horrors of an eternal Penacony dream.

I want to point out: the instrumental here goes silent, before a sound that reminds me of a rewinding watch hand plays where Aventurine says "take me away". Interpret that how you will.

We get a view of Clockie and some background or whatever, into the spotlight on the Trailblazer presumably tossing their hat. On the left side, the Clockies are smiling! On the right side... not so much? Either way, they're coming down the steps, and one of them is about to jump the Trailblazer.

Also, ad of a pizza pie with slices of money(?). Or it might just be pepperoni and mushrooms or something. The pepperoni is numbered, so I'm assuming it has something to do with a game of sorts.

Zoom out to get a better look at Penacony. We can see the whales in the sky looming over sll the buildings, ads everywhere (cartoony-looking Times Square), and massive bubble gum machines roaming the streets. At the heart of the city is... I'm guessing that's the Stellaron? Whatever the blue light is.

Flashes of whales, some kind of circular thing, a fan(?), and a very hard to make out sequence of numbers. The last three digits are 183. I've edited the screenshot I took to try and make the numbers more clear. (You might have to open the image to see what I mean.)

The whales are very reminiscent of the abyssal whale from Genshin Impact. We know that Genshin and the Honkai games are all connected in the same multiverse, though seeing these whales after fighting the All-Devouring Narwhal is raising flags...

A slot machine, falling gems, monsters on the street, oh my.

The line here is "Cease the shattering, let withering subside" or more literally, "Don't break again, don't wither again" (别再破碎别再枯萎). I guess this has to do with the dreams? Don't let dreams shatter and wither; they must be good dreams, and Penacony must stay a land of dreams.

Transitions into an angry Clockie, though the face flickers back to a smile. Camera flips back up to a whale!

The clock ticks, passage of time, all that... sheesh, that synced well.

A bunch of tiny whales and monsters headed in the same direction. Clockie in the streets too, next to a monster holding SoulGlad.

Wacky flash transition to whales. Then zoom out of a TV screen (Clockie's face?) to see the monsters broke into the hotel, I think? That's not good. I guess that's where they were heading!

"Indulge anew, in the self's meandering stride"... I'm going to guess this is a reference to the dreams, the winding detours they lead you on, trippy experiences, stuff like that.

The rest of the Astral Express gang now! These are their dreams, I guess. Dan Heng is in the Reverie, I think, with a bunch of whales and wacky lamps. Maybe he's investigating, or he escaped his dream?

Himeko floats, eyes closed, one arm reaching outward. She's surrounded by semi-circular tables and chairs floating. Seems like it could've been a banquet, had there been more people.

The line for both of them here was "Savor at last, the taste that's ever true", and might be referring to SoulGlad. It's the only big thing I expect we'd literally be tasting in Penacony.

A huge March 7th is taking a selfie. Typical March.

Welt is surrounded by some toppled buildings, holding the Star of Eden in his hand as he looks out at the city. Maybe he knows what's up here?

Black Swan seems to be picking from one of ten circulating cards again, this time floating above the city. There's something inside the cards though—seems like a catalyst weapon. She holds it instead of a card.

"In the dreams of that night, we'll meet anew"... the first part is said with March and Welt, and the last bit is with Black Swan. Have we met Black Swan before? Or maybe this is us meeting her again/a second time on Penacony. Or it could be about someone else...

A white void with black cubes surrounds Sam, who gains these green wings (propellers?) to fly out of the void space into a fight with Acheron. I doubt the Stellaron Hunters would go out of their way into a fight with her, and they've had a record of staying in line with Elio's scripts (case in point: Kafka on the Xianzhou Luofu, Sam's "You should really stop playing with your food" line). This fight didn't seem to happen by choice.

Acheron swings her sword at Sam. We don't know a lot about her, but we do know that she doesn't pull out her sword that easily. Her eye glows, and red petals appear, followed by a swing of red lightning. All the other strikes had purple lightning instead.

"The more deceptive, the more pristine", where Sam is deceptive and Acheron is pristine... these adjectives might apply to both characters, to be honest. The word used in place of pristine also means perfect/ideal (完美).

Not sure about Sam, but the fact Acheron doesn't pull out her sword often is easily grounds for underestimating her.

Sam doesn't dodge the red lightning; instead, he's trying to block it with his arms.

A huge explosion follows, either from the backlash of contact with the lightning, or it could be entirely unrelated. Annihilation Gang, is that you...?

The translation says "Dreams in slumber, despair's endless spin", though the exact term used where endless spin is was 轮回. It's more so used to mean reincarnation, or the cycle of life and death... so dreams and despair go hand in hand, in a cycle like sleeping and waking.

Sam is down on one knee with electricity flickering around his body. Did he lose? He's not completely down yet.

The Trailblazer jumps with a running start, with Belabog in the background.

"With each blink, a retreat in time's cruel cue" is... hard to decipher for me. Where are you going back from? I doubt we're going back in time, it's a little to early to be traveling alongside Terminus... If Firefly is dead and was a real person, then it could traveling back in time to save her.

The Trailblazer throws pure light??? In the black and white for a few frames, you can see Stelle/the Female Trailblazer.

I don't think there are any major implications from this. The way I see it, Stelle is Caelus and Caelus is Stelle, in that both of them are the Trailblazer, and there was only ever one Trailblazer like them in this story (the choice we made/Kafka picked at the beginning doesn't matter when the end result is the same).

A big Sampo and big trashcan duke it out with Belabog in the background. This should all be be the trailblazer's dream, since dreams are made from your memories, and using the trailblazer's memories would make sense to generate the scene within Belabog.

"In the dream of that night, we'll meet anew" should be pointing to the Trailblazer meeting Firefly again.

The Trailblazer is on a rooftop with Firefly. When the Trailblazer looks back, Firefly has disappeared...

Acheron in front of a black hole(?). She's crying?

We get a few frames of Sam that fade into a faint red light.

The video ends with Clockie and the Trailblazer dancing together! Clockie either gave us the hat or returns it to us.

Characters who we don't see in the video: Duke Inferno (or anymore from the Annihilation Gang, for that matter), any of the other Stellaron Hunters (did they ditch Sam, or did only Sam arrive at Penacony...), and Dr. Ratio (where did he go...). Genuinely, where is the doctor.

I think the song is overall from the Trailblazer's perspective, and about their relationship with Firefly, trying to save her. I'm 100% convinced something sinister happened, or will be happening, to her.

#honkai: star rail #hsr #recall and retrieve #penacony #trailblazer #firefly #it's mostly abt them tbh #if you compare the lyrics from all the languages #the lines are different!#so the songs might all be from diff povs

8 notes · View notes