Our ocean boy is turning 25 🥺️. Thank you for all the years of happiness, Cove James Holden. And that’s not even an exaggeration, haha. The first demo came out in 2019, over three years ago, and he still can make me and other people smile just by being around. It’s wonderful.
Getting to make Our Life changed my life, and it’s all ‘cause of Cove. I’m so glad the grumpy-sunshiny-summer man got to exist and that his story was a good experience for so many players. Even when Our Life: Beginnings & Always stops getting updates, he’ll still always be around in those old events and in the memories of reading them. And, if I am able to keep making games for a while to come, I’m sure he’ll be back again someday.
# — tags: fluff, brief angst, hurt/comfort(-ish), yes there's kisses involved who do you think i am
# — notes: here it is! a birthday fic for my special boy on his special day 🥺 i took a couple hours out of yesterday to churn this one out, and i want to thank @the-travelling-witch @catcze @kazeyu and @kazu-sun for reading this ahead of time to both give me advice and boost my confidence! i love you guys vvv much and i couldn't have posted this without your help 💕 like always, reblogs and reactions are greatly appreciated, and i hope you enjoy!
wanna join the tag list?
✦ — 🕷 + 🍁 — ✦
Silence is a privilege. You learned this very early on. To be silent, to bask in the stillness of a room, is a privilege not often awarded to people like you. You’re an energizer; a people chaser. You seek chaos and the wreckage that comes with it all so you can find something to fix within it. People flee from crime scenes and accidents, but you invite them. Of course you have to be careful when taking pride in a fact like that -- it’s not like you want people to get hurt, but how else would you be able to pursue your passion?
From the time you were young, you sought to help others in their greatest times of need. You were the first to help an injured kid to their parents when they got hurt on the playground and the first to dial the paramedics during a freak accident; you were the first to drop some sneaky medical facts on your teachers in your high school biology courses and the first to volunteer to dissect something for your lab courses. “The Good Samaritan”, your peers called you. “Our school’s very own guardian angel.” So it came as a surprise to no one that you got a full ride scholarship to the best university in the city with acceptance into their competitive medical program. You dove headfirst into your studies immediately after your high school graduation in hopes of getting ahead of the program when orientation started.
It’s hard for you to say anything bad about the whole thing, really. But if you had to conjure up a single complaint, it’s that your field is so noisy. The beeping of the pagers, the crackle of overhead intercoms, the rushed medical jargon falling from fellow doctor’s lips like waterfalls, the groans and cries of agonized patients and distressed families. There’s no time for peace. You regret it at times -- being as wound up as you are 24/7 is bound to take a toll on your health one day -- but the pros outweigh the cons most of the time. Besides, you tell yourself, you’re not a resident just yet; you can have peace and quiet at home at the end of the day, right? Right.
As of late, however, you’ve been wrong. Peace and quiet is nothing but a dream to you now and it’s all thanks to the city’s “beloved” vigilante.
Standing at the taller end of five feet (he’ll never give you an exact number), Spider-Man has become the sole reason why you can only hope and pray to the powers that be for a night of pure silence. He doesn’t swing by every night (thank the stars), but he’s in your apartment, lying half-dead on your carpet on most days which is enough to make you want to start pulling out your hair. You’d think that a man with enough flesh wounds to kill a normal person twice over would be silent as he gets treated, but no, he somehow manages to weave bizarre topics out of thin air whenever he’s with you. It doesn’t help that he’s incredibly smart, smarter than he likes to let on, and snarky, too. Sometimes, you want to take off the mask that he wears, ball it up, and shove it in his mouth.
..Oh, but who are you kidding? Annoying as he might be, you’ve got a thing for the man, even if you don’t know who he is. He’ll drop by during the daytime whenever he sees you alone and sometimes, he’ll even give you things that he picked up during his little patrols -- plushies from outside vendors, wildflowers from the park… Once, he gave you a freshly clipped rose from a florist that was doing handouts not too far from where you were seated. The truth is that you like him and sometimes, you wonder if he likes you, too. It’d be complicated thanks to your existing crush on the cute barista of the cafe that you frequent, but it’d be a nice change of pace.
(Ah, love. Yet another noisy thing that you’re not quite sure you want to actually let into your life.)
Speaking of a change of pace, tonight is a quiet one. You’re not quite sure if that’s a good thing yet. You’ve heard sirens in various spots around your apartment, but each one died down within twenty minutes. You took that as a sign that Spider-Man’s been swinging here and there, which means that he’s bound to drop by sometime soon. So, rather than let your guard down, you decided to stand on your balcony with a comfy sweater pulled over your head. The night air is crisp and cool, albeit a bit stuffy from all the cars zipping about. When you exhale, you can see your breath coming out in puffs of white smoke. It’s nice -- the chill keeps you alert.
You let your mind wander while you wait for your patient to arrive. Embarrassingly enough, the first thing your thoughts drift to is the barista that you saw this morning. Kazuha’s always so upbeat during the day, even more so when he sees you (a fact that does very little to quell the excited thrumming in your veins whenever you see his face). He looked a little more tired today than he does normally -- when asked if he was okay, he merely told you not to worry too much about him. You’d agreed so as to not overwhelm him, but that didn’t stop you from stealing glances the entire time you were there. He caught you at some point and gave you a wink -- just thinking about it sends your stomach aflutter. It would be terrible if something was wrong with him, you think. Would you be able to help him?
You don’t get to think about it much more as a figure sailing through the air catches your eye. Spider-Man is so easy to spot, even in the darkness above the streetlights. You tense, somewhat hoping he doesn’t spot you. If he doesn’t, you could maybe get around to fantasizing about Kazuha a little more. Unfortunately for you and your potential fantasies, he does; Spider-Man changes course right before your eyes and lands on your balcony railing. He doesn’t lose balance once, instead remaining in a steady crouching position with ease. He really is something to behold.
You stretch languidly, relishing in the way your bones pop. “Alright,” you say as you turn towards your balcony door, “where’s it hurt this time?”
To your surprise and immediate concern, Spider-Man doesn’t speak right away. He adjusts himself so that he’s sitting on your railing instead, with one leg pulled up to his chest and the other dangling towards the floor. “No injuries tonight, doc’.” He rests his cheek on his knee and turns his head to face you. “I just wanted to see you. Is that okay?”
If it were a few months prior, you would’ve said no. Now, the very thought of turning him away causes needles to press at your chest. You close your balcony door and head back over, resting your arms on the railing beside him. “Of course.”
Spider-Man must hear something in your voice that you don’t, because he shakes his head slightly. “You can say no, lovebug. I don’t want to bother you.”
“If you were bothering me, I would’ve told you to leave.” You frown at him. There’s negativity rolling off of him in waves. That’s not like him at all. “Are you okay?”
“I…” He reaches for the back of his neck before pausing. He lets his arm drop. Was he about to--? “I don’t know.”
You nudge him gently with your shoulder. Go on, you say silently. What’s up?
Spider-Man picks up on your invitation and sighs. “Do you… like your birthday, by any chance?”
“Me?” You tilt your head curiously. “I guess so. Why?”
“I guess I’m really not normal.” He turns his head, looking past you and into your apartment. “I don’t like mine at all.”
You connect the dots rather quickly. You’d feign excitement, but clearly, doing so would do nothing. If anything, it might make things awkward. “Is… today your birthday, Spider-Man?” When he nods, you make a small humming noise. “Would me saying ‘happy birthday’ cheer you up, or..?”
“If it’s you,” he says, his voice soft, “then yes, probably.” You don’t say it right away. You hesitate because of his tone, but he takes the opportunity to keep speaking. “I lost someone important to me a few years ago today.” He inhales sharply. “And a few more in the years prior. Today’s more of a day of mourning than anything else.”
Your heart shatters. You wonder if he knows how small he sounds. “I--”
“They say you shouldn’t spend your birthday alone,” he continues, “so I decided to stop by. You’re all I have left, lovebug.” You can hear the fake smile in his voice when he speaks again. “You’re going to have a hard time getting me off your back. Sorry.”
You don’t know what to say. The silence lingers and all that can be heard is the sound of cars rolling by on the street below. A car horn blares every so often at the light nearby, but you still remain quiet.
Is that why he always comes back? Because really and truly, he has no one else in his life? You can’t say the same for yourself -- you have Kazuha to keep your heart and mind occupied during your down time; you have Beidou, Hu Tao, and Chongyun to keep you busy at school; you have Barbara and Shinobu to keep you on your toes at work. You have friends, people to fall back on. But Spider-Man… doesn’t. And it’s not like you can just introduce him to your friends, either.
To think that you’ve been complaining about him when all he’s been doing is spending time with the only person who gives him the proper time of day.
The guilt that seizes you makes you hiss softly. What do you do now? You’ve had tender and serious moments with Spider-Man before, but this is too different. Do you apologize for being an asshole? What good would that even do? Do you make a gift for him on the spot? No; that might make him feel worse…
“I’m grateful for you.” Spider-Man’s voice cuts your thoughts short. “I really am. I’m sorry for dragging you into my mess. I hope you can forgive me.”
“If I… didn’t want to be involved,” you manage, “I would have told you to stay away a long time ago. Don’t apologize; I want to be by your side.”
Again, you hear a sharp intake of breath. “That’s--”
“Dangerous? Stupid? Yeah, I’m aware. But since I’ve never told you this out loud before, you’re my friend, Spider-Man.” You rest a hand on top of his without looking him in the eye. “Whether you knew that or not, we’re friends.” It feels weird to say, but you mean every word. Of course, friends don’t think about unmasking each other and kissing them every once in a while, but you’re not going to dwell on that. Your face starts to burn. “I wouldn’t want to be rid of you at all.” You say honestly.
Spider-Man moves his hand so that he’s holding yours. “...I appreciate it.” He says after a brief pause.
And once again, there is silence. It’s one that you can bask in, you find, especially when Spider-Man’s grip on your hand tightens. His presence is comforting, and only now do you realize that he thinks the same of you. The city marches on below your balcony, everyone encased in the same chilly autumn breeze that causes rigid goosebumps to rise on your skin. It’s nice, this silence. Is this the stillness that you’ve been missing out on because of Spider-Man? What are the odds that you’d finally be able to enjoy it with him?
You shudder and sneeze suddenly, shocking the both of you. Spider-Man jolts but eases into a laugh. “Are you cold?” He asks.
You sniff and tug the hood of your sweater up over your head. “No,” you grumble. “You’re cold. I’m just peachy.”
Spider-Man hops down and leads you inside, his fingers still intertwined with yours. “You’re a horrible liar,” he jokes. Once you’re inside, he stands in the threshold and laughs again. “You’re shaking.”
“Why couldn’t your birthday be during the summer or something?” You whine and make yourself small in your sweater. “It’s fucking cold outside.”
“What can I say, I like the fall more.”
“Whatever.” You ball your hands into fists inside your sweater pockets. “You’re not coming inside?”
Spider-Man shakes his head. “Something could still happen. I’m going to head back out.”
An idea comes to mind. It’s a stupid idea, a really, really, really stupid idea, but it's an idea nonetheless. You don't have much in the way of material goods to give him -- it'd be a cold day in hell before you coughed up one of your expensive medical supplies (as if he had any use for those with his speedy healing) -- and despite knowing him for as long as you have, he has yet to give any real hints as to what it is he likes. When you think about it, you realize that Spider-Man's been super careful as to not give you any kind of clues as to what kind of person he is without the mask. All of his likes and dislikes are a complete mystery to you, unfortunately.
Well, almost all of them. He's told you time and time again that he likes this one thing — one person.
“B-Before you do,” you stammer, “what’re your thoughts on birthday gifts?”
You can practically feel the confused look he gives you. “Why?”
Rather than let the embarrassment consume you, you let your body move on its own accord. You walk closer to him and place your hands on either side of his face. “Stay still.” You whisper. Without waiting for his question, you lean forward and place a kiss on his lips right over his mask. You can feel them just beneath the cloth and hear the noise of surprise that he makes, but you don’t let it stop you. You stay there for just a moment longer before pulling away. Your face heats up to an impossible degree and you keep your head turned away to avoid further humiliation. Spider-Man is completely quiet, likely with shock, and it makes you want to bury your head in a hole. He's told you before how much he likes you; even if he was joking, he's said it too many times for you to consider it as just a joke. A kiss should suffice as a gift, right? “Happy birthday," you mutter. “Now go--”
Before you finish speaking, a gloved hand comes over your eyes. You start to question what the hell he’s doing, but a pair of uncovered lips cover your own, silencing your protests. You melt into the kiss after a brief moment of shock and Spider-Man pulls you in closer with his free hand. Closer, closer, and closer still. He kisses you like you're something gentle, fragile, prone to break at any moment. And yet he tilts his head and nips at your bottom lip, kissing you deeply, like you mean something to him.
Friends don't kiss like this.
You can’t think. You can’t move. It’s just you and your masked vigilante and the sound of sirens outside.
The sound is what causes Spider-Man to pull away after a while. He doesn’t uncover your eyes right away and you hear fabric moving -- likely him fixing his mask. When he moves his hand, your vision feels hazy and your throat tight. You stand there in limbo, the two of you just staring at each other. You tug on the strings of your hoodie gently. “You should, um… you should get going.”
You wonder how he’s looking at you right now. Spider-Man clears his throat. “I… Yeah. You’re right.” He starts to reach for you, but he drops his hand and balls it into a fist by his side. “Will I… see you tomorrow?”
It’s a hesitant question -- a request, if not anything else. Am I allowed to see you tomorrow? You nod without hesitation. Who are you to refuse him? “Yeah.”
Spider-Man’s shoulders drop with relief. “Okay. Then…” He walks backwards onto your balcony and raises two fingers in his usual salute. “...Thank you for the birthday gift.” And with a push backwards, he tumbles off of your balcony and zips into the biting autumn night, leaving you in your living room.
You walk forward and close the door to your balcony. You turn your eyes to the clock on the wall. 12:00 AM, it reads. It’s October 30th. Your kiss was the last and only gift he'd received yesterday.
✦ happy happy happy birthday, kazuha.. i hope he enjoys his day with his new family 🥺💕💗
✦ i'll make an origins post about spidey!kazuha someday, hehe
synopsis: you and scaramouche are both drama majors and have been at each other’s throats vying for the same lead roles since high school. but when you’re both cast as each other’s love interest in your second year you’re forced to be civil with your academic rival and see him in a new light. are his feelings for you true or is he just playing the part?
Warnings: Scaramouche is a mess, Reader is honestly a mess too, implied not SFW.
Word count: 6k.
Note: originally, this story was going to be lot darker (haha), but after the 3.1 cutscene… i decided mr. mouche can have a break just this once. as a treat. please handle him with care. he really needs all of it he can get. anyway here’s my love letter to my fav genshin character.
i.
You are, without a doubt, the worst human in the world.
If Scaramouche was labeled an eccentric by his peers throughout the centuries, he wonders what that would make you. Whatever conventions you abide by are a complete mystery to him. Perhaps you damaged your head at some point in your life and are now living with the consequences. Or, your head has made it out mostly unscathed, and you really are just this foolish for no good reason. That miserable doctor might say there’s an explanation behind every phenomenon, but the charlatan surely would change his tune if he met you.
What else could possibly explain why you have the audacity to waltz into his office, entirely unannounced, scuttling about like you owned the place?
… And if that isn’t worse enough, why does he let you?
Cyno hums in contemplation, the cool water flowing over his fingers. He turns the faucet off just as he hears footsteps on tiles and takes a towel to his hair, counting the four seconds he knows it takes to get to the room.
“Cyno, I really don’t- oh,” you stop in your tracks, right on time. He doesn’t have to turn around to know you’re holding a familiar folder of papers with complaints outlined in red ink. “Sorry. I didn’t…”
“You should really learn to knock first.” He thinks it’s funny because the rooms here don’t actually have doors, just sweeping arches for the great big important spaces, and then tiny arches for less important rooms (like his apparently), and then medium-sized ones for… well other things. Kaveh was the Kshahrewar graduate, not him.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. And… and…” He can just hear you bristle. You even straighten up a little judging from the faint shuffling. “And I don’t know, maybe you should put up a sign or something.”
Cyno rubs the white towel over his head slowly, finally standing up from where he’d been kneeling. “Maybe I should.” He’s seriously considering it—you always bring up good points. “Though, I thought everyone knew only my room is in this wing. You’d have to go out of your way to get here.” That and he’s just come back from an expedition. No one bothers him after those.
Thick water droplets and remnants of the desert circle around the drain. You hadn’t walked in on much. He had been rinsing off the sand grains that stuck to his arms and shoulders and were especially annoyingly weaved in his hair, but he’d also removed his armor—he didn’t typically wear much anyway so to see him with even less was probably too cruel, even by your standards.
Also thinking of how sensitive the star on albedo's neck is 🤭🤭 pressing kisses to it or tracing it delicately to feel him shiver underneath you during one of your many make out sessions <33
a/n: bye thjs took forever to edit and tumblr wudnt let me post but here it is!! sorry if it’s incoherent i tried
✰ you started a youtube channel in your second year in university, you were having trouble making friends and didn’t want to attend the parties. so you made the internet your safe space.
✰ after you posted a compilation of your best attacks and scores your channel blew up and it became one of your main sources of income…college was expensive!
✰ through making a channel you made several friends who are also youtubers, but there was one you only admired from afar: xiao
✰ you often competed against him to be on the trending page, but more often than not got beaten. you were sure he wasn’t aware of your existence.
✰ that was until a certain video was posted
✰ in a video of xiao reacting to fanart someone had sent him one of you two in a romantic setting, people shipped you?!
✰ you were flustered at the art and at xiao’s reaction to it, he was blooming red as he stuttered his way through the clip
✰ the entire twitter timeline was in flames and you were drowning in the attention, not sure what to do with the increasing amount of subscribers you were receiving
✰ you were scrolling through the trending tag #XIAOYN, swallowing down your nerves as you saw more and more fanart of you two and edits of every time you mentioned xiao and vice versa you almost choked when you saw him in your dms
✰ you instantly tweeted in shock when he followed you back, and how could you not?! you were ecstatic at the thought of xiao wanting to collaborate with you
✰ you were a tad bit scared to talk to him in person though
✰ you both texted a time and date to meet up, making sure you were both free of classes and exams. what you didn’t expect was for him to make conversation with you up until the date for you two to meet up arrived
✰ it was a little flirty, but you just thought you were looking too deep into it. xiao was just being friendly!
✰[a collection of your texts the past week]
art: heehoocoffee twt
✰ when the day finally comes for you two to meet you’re a bundle of nerves, sweating through your shirt as you ring the bell on his door
✰ you were ashamed to admit you had to hype yourself up for five minutes before pushing the button.
✰ it doesn’t help that he’s looking as put together in his videos when he opens the door to greet you
✰ “it’s nice to finally meet you,” he drawls, gesturing you inside. you tried not to gawk as you followed him to his filming room, coming up with things to say once the conversation picked up again as you followed him like a lost puppy
✰ but you didn’t have to worry about awkward silence because once you both sat down and the cameras flicked on your personalities meshed together well
✰ xiao was on the quieter side, so you took it upon yourself to do most of the talking while xiao carried you throughout the game. you shared a laugh whenever either of you died or when you made a comment on some of the more unhinged dialogue
✰ it was some of the most fun you’ve had and after an hour you guys wrapped the video up, but continued to play together for a while. he joined your world and helped you finish some quests and you joined his to steal some of his plants. you even visited the heart island together <3
✰ and afterwards, just like xiao had promised, you both went out for dinner together. it felt an awful lot like a date, he offered to pay and pulled out your chair. he even called ahead for reservations. if that wasn’t enough even the waiter assumed you two were a couple from your matching outfits and asked for a photo after realizing who xiao was.
✰ even if it wasn’t an official date, you felt a coil in your stomach pull tautly whenever your name was said from his lips, it was addicting.
✰ the video was posted a few days later and it was instantly trending #1 and stirred commotion on twitter and tiktok, edits of you two laughing and looking at each other went viral and you couldn’t help but save all of them
✰ you two continued to text and he’d always request to join your world if you were both online at the same time, a facetime request appearing right after so you didn’t have to use the glitchy chat option
✰ constant nights of abandoning your homework to stay up gaming with him became a routine
✰ you two continued to do collabs consistently for a few months and you couldn’t fight back the crush you had, choosing to ignore it rather than pursue
✰ your feelings went unsaid, even if sometimes it seemed like they were reciprocated. but maybe that was just you seeing what you wanted to see.
✰ that was until a few months into your friendship something slipped out of your mouth as you went to end a stream with him
✰”this was fun but i have to go now,” you pouted at your camera as your chat spammed frowning emojis, you scheduled your fans to raid xiao’s stream before giving them a wave, “bye xiao, love you!” and by the time you ended the stream you’d realized what you’d done
✰ xiao’s stream was still going and he went frozen for a second, the chat was asking him if his connection was lost but he shook his head. you were this close to throwing your keyboard across the room when xiao picked up his phone, typing something in. your phone starting ringing…
✰ “are you honestly going to leave without letting me say goodbye?” xiao asked, looking at the camera as he talked to you over the phone. the chat went wild with emotes
✰ “sorry…” you weakly mumbled into the phone as you tried to not look at your screen. it was flustering.
✰ xiao turned off his microphone, making sure his stream couldn’t hear him before he continued, “i love you too, y/n.” he quietly spoke, almost as red as you, “didn’t think i’d have to confess that in front of millions of people for you to realize it.”
✰ he ended the stream soon after and you both stayed on call for an hour, circulating around the question before you both made it official. which ofc course means changing your twitter bio
a/n: hope you enjoyed! editing these photos was fun even tho i ran out of room lol
Derek’s DLC is launching on September 29th, 2022 🥳️. We’ve fixed up the beta bug reports, added final touches, and are finally ready to share Derek’s story with everybody. He is a great guy and I hope people will love getting to spend more time together, with Derek and his family. His story can be played as a romance or as a close friendship.
I’m not sure the exact hour it will go live, but it will be pretty early in the morning based on Pacific Standard Time.
[ !! ] — masterlist.
info: various x gn!reader, fluff + middle suggestive, scenario
notes: what can i say except you're welcome that i like the idea of being able to make tall, strong, buff dudes all shy and flustered
“This is bad.” he whispers, an audible gulp being heard as you lean in closer. A flushed hue is dusted across his face, reaching to the tip of his ears and down his neck. “So very bad.”
“And why exactly is that?” you say in a low manor, lips close to his and noses nearly touching. Eyes that you refuse to admit make you weak in the knees, stare back with excitement and hesitancy as his hands are lightly placed on your shoulders.
“Because, I-” He inhales deeply and finishes with a whisper, “I’m afraid we’ll get caught. We aren’t in the most private of areas.” He looks down the hallway, expecting someone to walk in this very moment.
“It’s a kiss,” you chuckle out, bringing his attention back to you, “not the end of the world. Besides,” taking his chin, you tilt his head towards you and murmur in his ear, “if we do get caught, that just means I get to show off a little.”
He buries his head in the crook of your neck, trying to hide how furious the red on his face has gotten. You chuckle and run a hand through his hair with a light coo as he whines and sinks into the touch.
“Isn’t that how it works? I’m yours.” you kiss the back of his head and lean away to get him to look at you again with a sigh “And you’re mine.”
“But aren’t I supposed to-”
“We both know you’re wrapped around my finger, sweetheart. Look at you, all giddy after only a few words, there’s no point in trying to deny it. It’s nothing to be ashamed about.” Only then does he realise you’ve become dangerously close to his face again. “It just means more fun for me.”
theartofmadeline
baratheonpilled
vaporwave
izzy806
titsay
snowghoul
discoholicmusic
