last night, i james bond burgered your sister — trade for @some-wizard-named-h
summary: matteo was sent an anonymous message that someone just james bond burgered his sister and he needed to find out who it was.
word count: 951 words
warnings: author is on so much crack, suggestiveness(????)
a/n: i'm fucking dyine. went extra hard on that crack i snorted. if you don't know, this is heavily inspired off of this post, but i also took a lot of references to a bunch of other stuff. hey, if you're curious about trading with/commissioning me for a fic, read this post!
credits: @some-wizard-named-h for the stupid (/aff) and funny thumbnail art of matteo and two of his gang @/strangergraphics for the ao3 dividers
"WHO THE FUCK JAMES BOND BURGERED MARIA?!"
All four heads turned in Matteo's direction, staring at what he was holding up in front of him. Rivera snorted their drink, Reggie blinked rapidly, Angus was just making a ':3' face like always, and the Jamie was sipping his coffee with one corner of his mouth.
It was a really good drawing of James Bond also known as Agent 007 from the James Bond movies and a half-assed drawing of a burger that a stickman may as well be superior to sandwiched in the middle of a sliced-off sentence that read:
Last night I
your sister
"Is that how you read it, Matt?" Reggie was the first to speak up out of the silent squad (with the exception of Rivera trying to hold back their laughter). "I thought it meant 'Last night I bonded with and gave burger to your sister'."
Rivera couldn't hold it in anymore and was practically howling as soon as they opened their mouth.
"That's a real tame interpretation, Reg," Jamie mentioned and started sipping on his coffee once more with his pupils slowly turning to the side.
"YOU." Matteo got up in Rivera's face with a scowl and pressed his finger to the paper insistently. "WAS IT YOU?!"
"BWAHAHAHAH- MERCI, MERCI-!"
"AND WHAT ABOUT YOU, CIP?!"
":3." Angus remained perfectly still with his hands clasped on the table, face permanently settled on that ':3' expression of his. There was no telling what was going on through his head when he gets like that and looking at it filled Matteo with unbridled determination even though it was pretty obvious it wasn't him. After all, he wasn't really the type to sleep with his folks' sisters, was he? His gay ass didn't look the part if he was.
"Calm down, Matt. Maria's an amazing girl, but I don't think she'd…" Reggie swallowed the laugh caught in his larynx (yeah, we're doing anatomy now) and cleared his throat. "ahem Get James Bond burgered by any of us."
"Well, I've only introduced her to you four! It can't be anyone else-" Heads turned towards Rivera as they were having a coughing fit and started shaking on the spot, but Matteo nonchalantly ignored his dying friend and continued on, "-that isn't from this group and I'm going to find out who the fucker is!"
"Do we hold a vote?" Reggie asked the table.
After a moment of silence, a floating interface with their faces in cute chibi form on it next to their names popped up on the table horizontally.
Rivera's entire name and the chibi was crossed out, leaving Reggie, Angus, Jamie, and, of course, Matteo, on there.
"Voting session? Didn't know you had magic powers, Reggie." Jamie snorted, having finally settled his cup of infinite coffee down on the table.
Just then, the realization hit Matteo like a Dewoitine D.520 that the bastard with the face prosthetic's actually the most suspicious one here. He hadn't been making any proper commentary at all, had been averting his eyes from meeting Matteo's gaze, and above all --- was the most recent of the four idiots to have met Maria. And not only that, he remembered being suspicious because both of them were getting so familiar with each other in such a short time with blushing faces like they were a bunch of lovesick teenagers.
Matteo made a face at Jamie and silently pressed to vote for Jamie. Angus, being the silly man that he is, followed suit. Reggie didn't even hesitate before pressing to vote for Jamie as well.
The vote ended with a three-to-one: Jamie (3) and Matteo (1).
"What the hell," Matteo's eye twitched at that single vote on his profile that came from Jamie. "Why the fuck would I James Bond burger my sister?!"
Jamie smirked and shrugged. "Mh, I've been had."
"So you admit it, you puny asshat-"
"That I James Bond burgered your sister? I wouldn't say that. More like I bonded with her, gave her a burger, and then I James Bond burgered her."
"So I was right," Reggie said, amused.
Matteo's face turned red as a tomato from anger and he was huffing like one (?). "You damn bastard, look me in the socket properly while you tell me that crap!"
At that, he lifted his closed socket with his finger.
"They usually tell ya' to look 'em in the eye, but socket-to-socket works too." At that, Jamie took off his prosthetic and they both stared into each other's sockets (ayo, romantic shit).
…
":3"
…
When it was clear no one was losing the socket staring contest, Matteo groaned and finally let his socket close up once again. Jamie grinned, having won the totally important challenge that just decided whatever the fuck they were deciding on.
"…So."
Matteo looked up at Jamie, who was looking as composed as ever. "What."
"Was my drawing good?"
"…The burger was shit, but the James Bond looked fine."
"Mh, I got lazy with the burger."
"Did Matt finally figure it out?" Rivera asked all of a sudden, having come back to life after deducting another one from their nine lives.
"Mhm."
"Go suck a bullet hole, you two."
"Ew, I'm into girls," Rivera replied.
Jamie sipped on his never-ending coffee once more. "Gladly."
":3." Said the :3'ing Angus.
Reggie shook his head with a small grin on his face.
Matteo groaned, "I hate you all."
"Love you too, soon-to-be brother-in-law."
"And who the fuck decided that?!"
The rest of the afternoon was filled with fun, more of their socket staring contest, and someone getting held up by the collar before someone else made a joke about burgers and gave Matteo a near-heart attack.
a buncha headshot portraits! three out of five portraits, i'm finishing up the last two c: the sketches here are from way back in august/september, and i fiddled with them for some weeks on end trying to make Something out of them, then proceeded to frustratedly shelf the lot of them away. so it's nice to see at least these three all finished up now :') and they were really nice to work on too ;v;
but ohoho okay, this is a lot of announcements in one single post, so bear with me a moment :3c
here's a tl;dr first:
1) headshot portraits as a new commission option maybe? :0ccc
2) commissions are opening again on monday, jan. 23rd!
3) separate commission info webpage for reading convenience (particularly for folks on mobile)
4) commission rules changes: payment in full & upfront, rather than half-and-half
5) two-slots-per-person rule will be no more and folks are free to send as many orders as they want, but any ones after the second will go into the queue instead
6) also a small change with unoccupied queue slots
the rest is under the readmore :')
so, i've been thinking about adding this sort of portrait as a commission option!! fairly simple compositions but fully rendered (because i darn love painting so much; cellshading is nice and all, but coloring it all in one layer is just... heart-eyes), on the big 2600px to 3800px canvases as well c: and i'm thinking of pricing commissions like these at 28 USD (feels like a good price but i'm accepting feedback on that — the point was to add something that's just straight up fully-rendered, but for the lower end of the pricetable, and the limitations of a headshot portrait feel fitting enough on both sides ;v; )
also portraits like these are fairly quick to draw, so the turnaround time would be fairly short! add to it that 1) these are fun, 2) i could use focusing on just the face and expressions rather than elaborate poses and all, 3) portraiture lighting my beloved, and 4) these are painted, and don't take forever to figure out or paint. :D
but yeah, let me know what you think of the headshot portrait option!! would you folks be interested in something like this? :0c
and now hold on a moment, i have more things to say!! xD
commissions are reopening monday, jan. 23rd, at the usual 5pm BRT (UTC -3:00)!
6 active slots (previously known as regular slots; can't believe it's taken me years to figure out a better way of calling these orz), as well as another 24 slots on queue. these will remain open until further notice; money's tight right now, hence the lack of closing date :')
there should be plenty of slots either way tho, so no rush at all! but i apologize for the super short notice orz
also, i went and got all the commission info on a separate webpage on wix instead. here you go!
should be easier to access and read through stuff, particularly on mobile — or at least i sincerely hope it is, please leave me feedback if you can!!! let me know if you encounter Problems, i've looked and combed through every bit of these four (4) pages but i might have missed stuff still, pretty please let me know if you run into any Issues! ;-;
but yeah, the website has all the rules and info and all the different options as well, with extra examples and all. on monday, you'll also be able place orders directly through there, i made a little form and all c': technically the form is already there but pls don't send requests yet, i can't reserve slots ahead of time!
also also, and these are the last things i've got to say, i promise (and thank you if you've read this far!),
a couple commission rules are changing!
1) from this new batch onwards, i'll be charging commissions in full & upfront instead of the half-half system i'd been doing up until this point. the exception is if an order exceeds $80 USD; for those ones we'll return to the half-before-sketch + half-once-finished situation instead!
but how's that? :0c i hope this is alright, but please let me know if this would make commissions just... unaffordable ;o; i do really like the half-half system, and i'd rather keep it, but it's either this or raising prices, and i don't think i can do that yet :T either way, please let me know your thoughts on the matter!!
2) the only-two-slots-per-person rule will no longer be in effect, so go ham with multiple orders if you wish on monday — the caveat is that i'll still be working only on two orders at a time per person, so if you order three things, the third one will be placed at the end of the queue c:
looking back i could've... done this from the beginning. orz it should be more convenient to send multiple orders if you have 'em!
and finally, 3) if the queue list hits its closing date with slots still available, folks who have already ordered and would like to get in the queue again can go on and grab those empty queue slots if they want, instead of being limited to two slots per person per batch, and then having to wait for an entire new batch.
i opened this exception for the last round of commissions (thank you once again to the folks who wanted repeats ;-; ) so i thought i should just make it into a proper thing instead, since it does make sense to do it anyway — the queue list is purposefully filled with a ton of slots, then left open for weeks on end to make sure everyone interested can get their orders in, so letting folks claim those remaining slots after the deadline sounds fine ;v;
that being said, there won't be a deadline for this monday's batch, so this bit technically doesn't change anything xD but i thought i should mention the New Thing #6!
and that's it! that's all!
while i'm pretty set on most of these (specially the full-upfront-payment bit — again, money's tight orz), i'm still definitely open to feedback, and to change things if something doesn't work for you folks!! please do share your thoughts on it, or send a note if you'd rather!! and let me know if you have any questions too ;v;
i apologize for the super short notice again (and for cramming all of this into a single post) orz i'll be sorting things out until 5pm on monday, and getting these last commissions posted as well c:
thank you again for reading all of this orz and please don't feel obligated to reply to all the points if you have thoughts on only a specific one, i'd rather hear a little feedback than none at all ;o;
all in all, hope at least these portraits look nice, they were fun to work on :') Oliver, Owen and Steffan (previously known as the Swordsman/the Warlock — yup he's got a name now!); i'll get the other two of Matthew and Coriander done and posted!
A/N: this man needs some luv. Long post, there is a whole iceberg under the “read more”. Also, I tried to keep a Gender Neutral reader so pls DM me if there are any mistakes!!
TW: DESCRIPTION OF AN ANXIETY ATTACK, SPOILERS FOR THE REX LAPIS QUEST AND CHILDE’S PAST, a little bit of angst
🐋 Let’s bust some myths first: contrary to popular belief, Childe has no experience at relationships or intimacy at all. Non. Cero. The Venn diagram of romantic/intimate stuff and things Childe has done is a void. But it’s not that he doesn’t want to, it’s just that he hasn’t had the time to experience any of these things because he is a busy man: between fighting, training and being a Harbinger, there is not a minute left for him to indulge in other things.
🐋 The problem with this is that Tartaglia is a people’s person. He WANTS to be able to have someone that he can do these things with. At the end of the day, when he comes home tired after a mission, all he wants is someone to be waiting for him with cuddles, hugs, kisses, reassurance, caresses, or just a simple “how did your day go?” Because of this, he has a lot of pent-up love that he has not been able to give.
🐋 In that note, he is also incredibly touch-starved: not only does he want someone to give that love to, but Childe also craves to receive it. When was the last time he was touched by someone in a context that was not a fight? He loves fighting, obviously: he has trained for a big part of his life to be able to defeat everything and everyone. But he is also just a human, and there are limits to how long a person can go without a loving touch.
🐋 So when he finally falls victim to the first signs of infatuation, this poor whale man will have an internal battle: do I reach for them? Would they be better off if they never meet me? Will they accept me? Has my reputation already ruined this for me before it even began? How do I approach them? Do I look presentable? Am I going to scare them away? Childe will be torn between wanting to protect you from himself (as the Fatui business is not an easy pill to swallow for everyone) and protect himself from you (his heart would not handle rejection/disgust very well), and wanting to KISS YOU AND HUG YOU AND KNOW MORE ABOUT YOU BECAUSE ARGH WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO ADORABLE.
🐋 So he finally decides to compromise between these two stances, and let YOU decide whether you want him as a friend, a lover or a stranger. He starts greeting you whenever he sees you in the streets, subtly asking if you would like him to join you in your commissions, inviting you for lunch/dinner after a mission so you can recharge your energy, asking if you want to go and share drinks with him and Zhongli. You know, friendly stuff friends do. And he doesn’t even try to hide the happy smile that escapes him whenever you say yes to him: when it comes to you, there is nothing he needs to hide. Well, except for that one thing.
🐋 He knows that you know he is somehow associated with the Fatui, if his constant trips to the Northland Bank aren’t enough to tell. Usually, Childe dislikes going around things as he much rather hit straight to the point (being the point a fight, a deal or just a simple conversation). But he has grown so addicted to the sensations you make him feel that he can’t help but to try to postpone that tiny little detail about himself for later. He has never had anyone who genuinely wants to spend time with him and that can keep up with him. Childe knows he can be quite intense and that rumors about him aren’t really rumors but WARNINGS, and to finally have someone, even if you’re just friends, that is actively trying to get to know the real him means so much, and he doesn’t want to let that go as selfish as he knows it is because there’s a chance you could get hurt (emotionally and physically).
🐋 Unfortunately for him, everything that goes up must go down, and that fateful day comes when his plans to take Rex Lapis’ Gnosis blows back to him. After that brief, tense conversation with La Signora and Zhongli, Childe’s ego can’t be any lower: it’s not often that he loses, and much less often that he loses while feeling like a fool. He wants to scream, fight, punch, kick. Anything to take out the impotence and anger he is feeling right now.
🐋 You found him in this state while you were looking for him to see if he was alright because a WHOLE ASS PALACE JUST FELL FROM THE SKY and you’re very concerned for him as you haven’t had any news directly from him and all you know is that apparently Childe was the cause of it?
🐋 As soon as he sees you, his blood-lust disappears and he no longer wants to fight something: he wants to cry from shame. Shame at being found in this state. Shame at failing. Shame at what you would think of him now that the cat’s out of the bag because from the look in your face is EVIDENT that now you know how far his relationship with the Fatui goes.
🐋 He falls to the ground, tears finally coming out and he is crying ugly sobs while hiccuping nonsense about how he is a weak, pathetic, disgusting failure and it’s not fair it’s not FAIR IT’S NOT FAIR IT’S NOT-
🐋 “Look at me” you softly call to him, but he is panicking and hyperventilating and not responding to anything that’s outside of his head, so you decide to sit on your knees in front of him, gently cupping his face with your hands, caressing his tears away with your thumbs.
🐋 “Childe, look at me. Please?” You try again, carefulness in your tone as to not startle him. And when he finally reacts and looks up, you don’t see Tartaglia the 11th Harbinger, nor Childe the fatui flirt. All you see is a broken man that carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, exhausted from constantly fighting against everything the world has thrown at him, and your heart aches for him and wonders how long this man has suffered alone, how long has he suffered in silence.
🐋 “It’s okay, Childe. You’re okay. Can you breathe for me?” You position yourself behind him and put your hands on his shoulders, rubbing circles with your fingers to further calm him. “Breath with me, yeah just like that. Now hold it for a bit and then release it. Keep going, I’ll do it with you. I’m here”
🐋 Childe finds himself finding it easier to breathe with each inhale and exhale, and when he is finally going down from his high, catharsis hits him HARD. Is this what he has been missing all of his life? Is releasing all that pent-up frustration supposed to feel this good? And he feels a little selfish, because he knows he doesn’t deserve your comfort after the stunt he pulled, but Childe can’t help but become putty under your tender touches and your soft words, and he wishes for a different context, for a different past in which he never fell into the abyss, never joined the Fatui, never felt that the only way to survive was to fight. Instead, he wishes for a past in which he is traveling because he wants to, and he meets you, and he courts you and makes your cheeks heat up at something he said. And you are not touching him because he had a panic crisis that he himself caused. No, he imagines the both of you after a dinner date in Liyue. The sky is dark and the stars are shining but the streets are still full of people laughing and talking and the light from the lamps are reflecting beautifully in your hair. You are walking near the harbor, and you are holding his hand and he is giving you a kiss on your forehead because he can’t help himself. In another life, he would have found you and loved you the way you deserve and the way he needs.
🐋 But he knows that now is too late, and all he has left is a mind full of regret because he did, in fact, hurt you. How could you trust him after this? How could you WANT him after this? So imagine his surprise when the first thing that comes out of your mouth is a soft “Are you ok now, Childe?”
🐋 “I- how- what?” He mutters in disbelief. Why are YOU asking HIM that? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
🐋 “You had me very worried back there. I thought you would stop breathing at any moment. You are not hurt, are you?”
🐋 And he laughs. A high-pitched, almost maniac laugh. “You know I was the cause of all of…” he says, moving his arms to signal, well, everywhere “...this, right? I believe you now must know what my real business in Liyue was, and that I’m not just some random Fatui officer”
🐋 “Well… I kind of suspected it? How many ‘random Fatui officers’ are carrying a Vision, huge amounts of Mora and have so many ‘meetings’ at the Northland Bank with the Qixing themselves? I mean, I didn’t know you were a Harbinger, but I did know that you were a higher up in the organization. I’m not dumb, you know?” you answer light-heartedly.
🐋 “Then why would you keep hanging out with me? If you knew all of that, then you for sure must have known that people tend to keep me in a ‘do not trust’ list. People are wary around me, and they should! If you knew of the things I’ve seen, the things I’ve DONE. The reputation surrounding the Fatui, especially the Harbingers, wasn’t built on nothing, you know?”
🐋 “Don’t get me wrong. I do have somewhat of an idea of the things you do for a living. And let me be clear: I certainly do not condone it. And to be honest, I know that things between us would be easier if you weren’t a Fatui and I actually wish you weren’t one” you can feel how his whole body deflated at that, and even if you are sitting behind him, you just know he has a pout on his face, so you resolve for hugging him from behind and rest the side of your face between his shoulder blades, and continue.
🐋 “But in the past weeks, I also had the opportunity to get to know you. Not Fatui you. But human you. I know that you have a family that you love very much and you do everything in your power to protect them. I know that you haven’t had it easy, and that some scars you have still hurt. I know that you absolutely can’t eat with chopsticks, but your pride refuses to give up and you try anyway. I know that you’re a passionate man that holds his dearest people close to his heart. I know that you hate when I’m sad so you’re willing to make a fool of yourself if that means I’ll end up laughing. I know how you wait outside of my building until my window lights up after you get me home so you are sure nothing happened to me. I know by the way you sometimes disassociate from the world around you that you are thinking of home and returning to your family” as you speak, you feel something wet falling on your upper arms, and realize that Childe is silently crying. You have half a mind to stop, but you also know that he needs to hear this, so you tighten your hug a little in reassurance.
🐋 “I also know that whenever I see you with a new wound, I can’t help but worry for you and my first instinct is to check if you are okay. I’m now familiar with the way my heart skips a beat whenever I get to see one of your genuine smiles, especially when the reason behind them is that you get to spend some time with me. I know my eyes soften when I see you talking about something you’re passionate about. The truth is, I care for you, Childe. I really do, Fatui or not. Harbinger or not. And yes, while I would rather you not be one, I still can’t help but long for your company because you make me happy. Because I love you. So don’t underestimate me. I’m strong and so are my feelings. You being a Fatui is not gonna change that”. After this, you two sit in silence for a few minutes, but it’s not an awkward one despite your confession. You know he is gathering his thoughts so you move one of your arms that is wrapped around Childe’s torso to card your fingers through his hair, mindful of the knots that had appeared after the battle. If he doesn’t believe your words, then you sure hope he trusts your actions.
🐋 Childe is the one who breaks the silence when he asks “How could you possibly love someone like me?”. If you weren’t sitting that close to him, you wouldn’t have heard it. He says this so softly, so gently, almost as if he was trying to convince himself and not you.
🐋 “Silly boy” you laugh warmly. “Did you hear anything I just said?” You ruffle his hair, and finally, FINALLY, you can hear him giggle a little. “You don’t get to decide who I love. That’s my choice, and I choose to love you”
🐋 No kisses were shared that day. No grand, magnificent romantic gestures were made. Only the silent promise of two young lovers to love and cherish each other as they were. And maybe, just maybe, you could work things out, together, to build yourselves a brighter future.
🐋 So after all has been said and done: congrats! You are now the proud s/o of Teyvat’s biggest simp.
🐋 Childe is your number one fan. Everything you do is carefully recorded in his mind for later use. He has to go on a mission away from you? Be prepared to be pampered and being taken on several dates the previous week so this clingy man has something to hold on to.
🐋 Also: he is shameless. He will not be afraid of making out with you in plain daylight on a busy street. But fear not! If you happen to not be a fan of PDA, he will try to be low-profile. You are, afterall, a person he treasures and can’t live without, so your comfort comes before his needs. Now, I say “try” because he will still demand to hold your hand and give you the random kiss on your cheek.
🐋 HUGS. FROM. BEHIND. Watch him giving you hugs like Oprah. You are buying something? Cooking? Chilling? Expect to feel a pair of long limbs wrapping from behind you in a tight hug like a koala. It’s his hourly vibe check.
🐋 Very jealous and protective of you. He is very afraid that one day you’ll realize there are plenty of people better than him and you’ll leave him, so please remind this simp that he is more than enough for you.
🐋 He also has nightmares from the time he spent in the abyss and will take sometime for him to realize that he is no longer there, so give him a few minutes for him to come to his senses and then please for the love of the Tsaritsa cuddle the life out of him. Also on this note, I have the headcanon that he prefers being the little spoon. That, or facing each other and he rests his face in the crook of your neck while leaving little pecks there.
🐋 Also you discover, to your surprise and as stated at the beginning , that this man has absolutely no idea how to do relationships. To compensate for this and to give you only the best of the best (as you deserve), he spends time in his travels to read romantic novels to have an idea of what to do, so don’t be surprised if he says or does something corny or cringey.
🐋 The most chaotic “meet the family” you’ll ever have. As soon as he takes you to Snezhnaya, you will have all of his siblings running and tackling you into a bear hug (he sends A LOT of letters to his family about you and if you read them you would not be sure if he is talking about you or a deity).
🐋 He also tries to keep you out of anything regarding the Fatui. It’s a relief that you finally know about how deep his person runs in the organization, but he also wants to spare you from the details of what he does unless something is really bothering him.
🐋 All in all, this golden retriever is your biggest hype man and the most loyal boyfriend. You will never get bored with Childe, as everyday is an adventure with him and he will make sure you to make you as happy and loved as you make him feel.
a bit sillay rambling about non submas / megaten undercut cuz I do not wanna spam …
I’m begging pple to play persona 1 because it’s got the best dynamics between the characters of the whole series and overall just a very good plot and such about facing your true self / different masks people wear. Also it’s canon that you straight up murder the bad guy (based) and raid the police station for guns. I’m an old school megaten fan. I just love kaneko era megaten so much. Reiji is my fav persona character. He’s the tough scary delinquent guy who secretly has soft spots & genuinely cares he just struggles with trauma and the fact he made friends and they let him grow and helped with his trust issues… uwah.
I luv him a lot anyways big tall tough guy who’s used to being intimidating & scary to others (even intimidating to his friends) suddenly getting zapped teeny tiny… rubs my lil fly hands together eagerly. I love it. In SMT world no matter what timeline (mainline / persona / etc) bc of demons existing literally anything can happen maybe he flunked interacting with one and got cursed. Curses are fun esp since Eriko (another p1 cast member) is a huge occult fanatic and would totally try and find out which demon did it based off Reiji’s spotty memory. Mark also being so gentle and considerate of Reiji while he’s tiny cuz tbh I think Mark and Reiji have the best affinity canon wise they’re the closest to each other. Others would tease him or be a lil too rough with him cuz they’re expecting he can take it and usually he can but Reiji is 2 inches tall now and even if he’s a tough guy that is Not Tough Enough.
I also have this game I play sometimes called Grounded it’s on steam but it’s fun cute good GT survival game (you will need some beef to run it though) and I always imagine a scenario with Reiji as the pov during it. And sometimes Raidou. Raidou Kuzunoha is my fav fictional character ever and he is actually the inspiration for Ingo (and Emmet) how could he not be. Similar outfits. Almost similar personality (Ingo and Raidou), and the sideburns?,??? Plus Pokémon trainers are devil summoners in a sense. Yeah totally. Anyway I’ve even commissioned a lot of tiny Raidous before by friends hehe I’ll post some
This is by my friend Miles aka 8xenon8 on tumblr. They usually don’t do this kinda stuff but I’m the exception cuz we’re friends.
the rest of these are by my friend E2 (Ferretwanted) on twitter and they also put up a my autism GT moments so thank the stars
Even If You Stumble A Step, You’re Still Moving Forward
Summary: TK and Carlos move into their new home post-finale and TK doesn't exactly make the best first impression on their new neighbors...
Notes: this was like a fever dream i had a few months ago and then i stopped writing but decided to revive it last night so... here we are. also title creds (and emotional support creds) to jillian @marjansmarwani because this fic wouldn’t exist without her. and also s/o to brit @moviegeek03 for being extra supportive of yet another fic where [spoiler] tk falls down the stairs again :/
read on ao3
TK shuffles through the maze of boxes stacked several feet high throughout their new home. The scene shouldn’t surprise him considering it was only a few months ago he was moving his own boxes into their old home. However it feels different knowing that most of this stuff isn’t actually theirs.
Well, it is theirs now he figures. But the fact remains that most of the stuff filling the space was either given to them by various members of the extended 126 family, or was recently purchased by TK or Carlos on one of their many trips to Bed Bath and Beyond.
They had taken their time searching for a new place to live. Owen had made it clear that they were both welcome to stay with him (and Mateo) for as long as they needed, but TK had known it was time.
So when a townhome popped up on Zillow that met all their criteria, they wasted no time booking an appointment with the realtor. They both had instantly fallen in love with the open floor plan and deck out back. Plus they knew the extra bedrooms upstairs may come in handy someday.
While they knew the vertical layout of the home itself wasn’t the best, having more stairs than either of them were used to, it checked every other box and was right in their price range so they had wasted no time signing the lease.
A few days had passed since settlement and now most of their days were spent trying to unpack and make this new house into a home. It would never replace the one they had lost, but it had been exciting to build this new home together.
Though on this particular day, TK found himself alone in trying to get settled in since Carlos had a shift. With the 126 still out of commission, possibly forever, and the department not having any openings for paramedics, most of the unpacking was left for TK.
After getting a good chunk of the living room done, he checks the time and decides to go out and see if the mail has come yet. Not that he’s expecting anything with their address still being so new, and not getting much physical mail anyway to begin with. But it still provided a good excuse to take a break.
TK opens the front door and starts to make his way down the set of stairs leading down.
He makes it about halfway before his attention is caught by one of his new next door neighbors, Mr. Martin- if he remembers correctly, exiting at the same time. Mr. Martin gives a friendly wave and TK goes to return the gesture.
Except, he’s not paying attention when he takes the next step, and he misses, his heel just barely hitting the edge of the step before he starts to go down. He tumbles until he comes to a hard stop at the bottom, with most of his weight coming down on his right knee, sending shooting pains up and down his leg.
The rest of his body is sore, and by the time his ears stop ringing, he can just barely make out a new female voice asking “Sir, are you okay?”
He opens his eyes, which he had not even realized he had squeezed shut at some point, to see his neighbor, Mrs. Bailey- his brain supplies, from across the street making her way over to check on him, worried lines painting across her forehead.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m fine,” he grimaces while pushing himself up to a seated position. He tries to hide the blush forming on his cheeks. Not the best way to make a good first impression on his neighbors.
“Are you sure, son? We can call for help if you need it. Someone you know, or 9-1-1?” Mr. Martin joins in the conversation.
“No!” TK interjects too quickly, startling both neighbors. He panics for a moment when the weight of the predicament settles in. He meets the gaze of both figures still staring at him, clearly concerned and waiting for him to say something. “I mean, I’m a paramedic. I’m fine. Or I will be fine. Thank you,” he flashes them both a quick smile before pushing himself up off the ground, ignoring the sharp pains that radiate from his knee when he tries to put any weight on it.
Getting back up the stairs is no easy feat, and he doesn’t have to turn around to know that both Mr. Martin and Mrs. Bailey are still watching him, concerned. Fortunately, they don’t know him well enough to try and follow or help. He’s not sure he would feel comfortable enough receiving help from some strangers. Half the time he doesn’t even feel comfortable receiving help from the people he does know.
He leans heavily on the railing, refusing to turn around out of fear of further mortification. Once he’s inside the home, he collapses right inside the hall, unable to go any further since his knee decided to stop cooperating.
A few tears pool in his eyes, and he’s unsure if that’s due to the pain or embarrassment. Not knowing what else to do, he takes out his phone and shoots a quick text to Carlos.
TK: we have to move
It doesn’t take more than a few seconds for the three dots to pop up before being replaced by Carlos’ response.
Carlos: ???
TK sighs and rubs his face, trying to figure out the best way to explain the situation.
TK: i feel down the stairs out front and all the neighbors saw
Carlos: Holy shit, are you okay??
He lets out a puff of air at that.
TK: you mean besides my bruised ego?
TK: no, i hurt my knee but i’m fine. that’s not the issue here.
Carlos: Okay, I’ll be home in an hour and you can let me be the judge of that. If I see any swelling, we’re going to the doctor.”
He rolls his eyes at Carlos’ worry. At worst, it’s a bad sprain, nothing that can’t be fixed with some icing and wrapping. But there are other things they need to worry about.
TK: you’re missing the point, carlos. the entire neighborhood thinks i’m an idiot. we can’t live here anymore.
TK knows he’s being dramatic, but the more he thinks about it, the more embarrassed he gets. The idea that these are people he’s going to have to continue to face everyday for the foreseeable future. And that now all they’ll be able to think about when they do see him. Now he’ll just be known as the guy who can’t walk down stairs.
Carlos: Relax, TK. I’ll be home soon.
TK: you mean our temporary place of residence which we will soon be moving out of
He doesn’t get a response after that.
His mind continues to spiral while he waits for Carlos to arrive. He knows the other man is likely climbing the walls trying to leave his shift early but it would still be awhile before he could be allowed to leave.
Left alone with his thoughts, his mind keeps playing out the series of events that happened minutes ago. He can't help but beat himself up over embarrassing himself like that. Ironically enough, it’s not even the first time he’s fallen down stairs, having taken a tumble down the stairs in Carlos’ place a few months back. And of course he would manage to injure himself that time, and this time as well.
He should at least try to get up so he can find an ice pack to lessen the swelling. Sitting on the floor up against the wall can’t be doing his knee any favors. Yet he can’t bring himself to move, instead resting his head back against the wall and sighing.
TK pulls out his phone again, cycling through the apps until he hears the tell-tale keys jingling in the already unlocked door.
As soon as Carlos steps through the door, he nearly trips over TK in the doorway. “Woah, hey! TK, are you okay?” he crouches down to TK’s level.
TK shrugs. Now that he’s face to face with Carlos, he can’t help but feel suffocated by another person judging him, even if Carlos’ worry comes from a place of concern.
“Can I take a look at your knee?”
TK nods, allowing Carlos to gently inspect his swollen joint. He winces as Carlos traces his hand around his kneecap.
“This doesn’t look good, babe. I think we need to go to the hospital.”
“No, it’s fine,” he quickly shakes his head. The worried look in Carlos’ eyes only makes his heart ache, and he can only try to find ways to make it go away. “Just help me up and we can ice it. It will look better once the swelling goes down a bit.”
Carlos gives him a look that screams I don’t believe you but sighs. “Fine, but if it doesn’t…”
“I know, I know. You’ll drag my ass to the emergency room,” TK gives him a reassuring smile.
Carlos returns the smile, and extends a hand to help TK up. TK accepts, and allows Carlos to take on most of his weight once he’s standing. They slowly make their way over to the living room, with Carlos softly depositing TK onto the sofa. He then disappears into the kitchen before returning with an ice pack in hand.
“Thanks,” TK smiles, trying to mask the wince as Carlos places the pack onto his knee.
“Do you want to watch an episode of The Office?” Carlos asks, picking up the remote and settling in the spot next to TK.
TK shrugs, knowing that Carlos is just trying to appeal to him by offering to put on his favorite show. The other man doesn’t even like the show that much, often finding the humor dry and tasteless, but TK thinks he just doesn’t get it.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?”
There it is.
“I just can’t believe I did that in front of our new neighbors. They probably think I’m an idiot.”
“I’m sure no one thinks you’re an idiot, TK,” Carlos gently reassures him.
“Yeah all the neighbors saw me make an idiot of myself,” TK sighs exasperatedly. “God, how am I supposed to face these people everyday now?”
“Hate to break it to you babe, but this is not a valid reason for us to move.”
“I know,” he sighs again.
“Besides,” Carlos continues. “If your track record has proven anything, it’s that this won’t be the last medical emergency at our new home. It’s good that the neighbors are getting used to it now.”
TK gives him a pointed look.
“I’m pretty sure this is the second time you’ve fallen down the stairs since we’ve started dating,” Carlos says with a light chuckle.
“Whatever,” TK scoffs. “At least the other time it wasn’t in front of total strangers.”
Carlos softens. “That’s true. But I’m sure the neighbors just care about you. I don’t think this is that big of a deal, TK.”
“You weren’t there though. It was mortifying.”
“What did they say, exactly?”
TK nervously looks down. “They asked if I was okay. And if I needed any help.”
Carlos raises his eyebrow, waiting to see if TK continues.
“They offered to call for help but I said no and went back inside.”
“See? They just care about you TK. I haven’t really talked to anyone yet but they seem like nice people.”
“I guess,” TK shrugs.
“I know, you’re still embarrassed. But if nothing else, they’ll probably forget about it by the next time we see them.”
“You don’t think I’ll be known as the ‘clumsy neighbor who can’t walk down stairs’?”
“Maybe the ‘cute clumsy neighbor that can’t walk down stairs,’” Carlos says with a smirk. “But we could always change that.”
TK cocks his head to the side.
“You think our new neighbors might enjoy some peach scones when we go over and have a proper introduction?”
“You really plan to charm our new neighbors with your baking?”
“You think it will work?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then yes, I do,” Carlos grins proudly. He then leans over and gently removes the ice pack from TK’s knee, grimacing at what he sees. “This still looks pretty swollen, babe. I think we need to go to the hospital.”
TK gives him a pained smile. “You sure I can’t talk my way out of this?”
“Nope,” Carlos says, popping the p. He stands up before extending his hand to help TK do the same.
TK accepts, shifting his weight and leaning into Carlos once he’s fully upright.
“You know, I think you may have a paramedic blindspot when it comes to your own health.”
TK lets out a light laugh. “Yeah, I’ve been told.”
A week later, Carlos softly knocks on the door of Mrs. Bailey’s home across the street with one hand and a plate of peach scones in the other. TK had offered to hold the scones but when they went over to Mr. Martin's home earlier in the day, it was quickly discovered it was too difficult for him to manage getting up the stairs and holding the plate.
So he settles for letting Carlos do most of the work while he awkwardly limps up the stairs, leaning heavily on the railing to keep some pressure off his knee.
After their quick trip to the emergency room, it had been determined that TK’s initial assessment was right and it was just a bad sprain. He was given a brace to help reduce the pain and a pair of crutches, which (much to Carlos’ dismay) he abandoned after only two days, citing that they only made it harder to get around their home which he can now say for certain has too many damn stairs.
A problem which seems to follow him as he also has to get up the stairs to greet his neighbors.
“Maybe we should have moved to a neighborhood of single level homes,” he states with a wince as he joins Carlos at the front door.
Carlos snorts. “We can take it into consideration if we ever have to move again.”
“God, please don’t say that. I don’t want to think about moving ever again.”
“Good,” Carlos gives him a soft smile. “Because I’m planning on staying here for the long run.”
“Me too,” TK returns the smile just as Mrs. Bailey opens the door.
“What a lovely surprise!” she exclaims taking in the sight of the two men.
“Hello ma’am,” Carlos says with a polite smile.
“We brought you some scones,” TK adds, gesturing to the plate in Carlos’ hands.
“Oh how thoughtful of you. Please come in. How are you doing?” she asks, turning to TK. “I’ve been worried.”
He exchanges a look with Carlos, the other man's face clearly saying I told you she cares, before turning back to Mrs. Bailey.
“I’m fine, ma’am. Thank you for asking. It’s just a bad sprain. But I do appreciate your concern, especially the other week.”
“Oh, of course dear,” she says with a warm smile. “Now, you boys aren’t going to make me eat these scones all by myself are you?”
They both let out a light chuckle and exchange another glance before following their new neighbor, and friend inside.
hello all! here’s a throwback oneshot from C2E3 (crazy!) featuring a little moment between jester and beau before they all head off to their first major showdown.
♡ art by @/anklebit! find crit role art on their redbubble shop here and their ko-fi here!
♡ my writing commissions are open! message me for details or visit this post!
------
“I’m, like, really good at braiding,” Jester volunteers as she settles herself behind Beau. “Like really good. You’re going to be very happy with my work.”
Beau holds back a smile, pushing the hair off her shoulders. “Yeah?”
“Look at Caleb!” Jester points at Caleb, whose hair has indeed been filled with small braids. “I’m really good! I’m not lying!”
“Alright, alright! I believe you!”
As she feels Jester’s deft hands begin to part her hair, Beau leans back, glancing at the others in various states of battle preparation and general time-killing around the room. She’s suddenly aware of the way they’ve all... come together. Within just a few weeks, her path has been forcibly merged with these people - not all at once, but quickly nonetheless. They’ve gone from strangers to investigated persons to battle partners. And now, here they all are - jammed into Fjord’s room waiting around for dusk, possibly the last faces they’ll all see before a gruesome, zombified death. It’s… strange, but not totally unwelcome. Except maybe the zombie death part.
“Your thoughts are very loud,” Jester comments as she works, leaning over Beau’s shoulder to get a better look at her face.
“Are they?” Beau shrugs a little, earning her a sharp tug from the Tiefling.
“Stay still!” Jester’s tone remains firm only for a moment before brightening again. She doesn’t seem to be able to stay angry very long. “Are you worried that we’re going to die?”
“No…” Beau exhales a little, only slightly bending the truth. “I’ve faced… shitty stuff before. I like our odds.”
“You like the odds of the small group of strangers who are generally inexperienced fighters sneaking out in the night to a haunted island facing a Devil Toad when only, like, two of us can see in the dark?” Jester sounds less than impressed.
“Well, when you put it like that -”
“And,” Jester continues, “the big scary woman isn’t even coming!”
“Yasha?” Beau pauses at the mention of the muscular woman, remembering the way she had just… disappeared into the night. “I hope she’s okay. Molly said he hasn’t seen her since she left the tent.”
“She was pretty cool.” Jester grabs another strand of hair, weaving it through the braid. “It would be a shame if she were dead. Hey, do you still think I should copy that little line down her chin?”
Beau cranes her head to squint at Jester, trying to imagine her face with Yasha’s facial decorations. “Uh, yeah, I say go for it. You’d look hot.”
“Really?” Jester’s face lights up. “Do you think… Yasha would kill me for stealing her look if she’s somehow not dead or in jail? Cause, I feel like it’ll hurt less if the Devil Toad turns me into a zombie than if she steps on my neck or something.”
“Mmm…” Beau grins. “Yasha… stepping on my neck…”
Jester wiggles her eyebrows and laughs. “And Caleb says I have a dirty mind.” She sounds almost gleeful about it.
“You carve dicks into tables.”
Jester’s smile gets even bigger. “Yeah, I know! They’re really cool dicks!”
As the Tiefling continues with her braiding, Beau lets herself get comfortable. She trusts these people - most of them, at least, which is rather new. Camaraderie is an unfamiliar feeling to her these days.
“It’s getting darker,” Jester comments, looking past Beau and out the window.
“That’s good.” Beau is definitely a fan of leaving with some cover, even if she won’t be able to see quite as well. The last thing she wants is to get dragged back to that prison again. “We need the shadows.”
“We’re going to be okay,” Jester assures her at last. “I have a good feeling.”
Beau feels a smile spread across her face, tipping her head back again. “Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah. We’re gonna go out there and save everyone and somehow get lots and lots of gold.” Jester gives her a little pat on the shoulder. “All done!”
Beau reaches up to feel the braid, nodding her approval. “Shit, this is pretty good!”
“I told you!” Jester motions to the others. “Now go show it off! Make them wanna get braids, too! Tell Fjord!”
As Beau rises to her feet, a swell of… something rises up inside her. Affection, maybe, for everyone here. It’s surely just the adrenaline, her body preparing for battle and hyper-aware of shared danger among near-strangers, but she welcomes it - at least for a few moments.
Marinette had seen a lot of things. Marinette had done a lot of things. None of those things could have prepared her for this.
"Mama?" Marinette asked as she looked at her birth certificate, her real one. It has the names her mama's, her papa's, and a third persons "You were in danger. we all were. There was a war. It ended just this year. It is up too you but he wants to meet you." Sabine struggle to figure out how to explain. "How is this even possible? Is papa actually my dad or is this person" Marinette says still looking at the paper. "Both are. This is going to sound crazy. It was magic. There is a long process for the heir to find their mate or mates. We are not exactly sure what that is. Only the heir knows. We were not natives eather so we really couldn't know that family secret." Sabine explains.
Marinette was at least relieved that her parents were infact her parents. Magic was involved though. She is going to have a talk with the kwamis. "So I have a third parent that happens to be from a very important family in a foreign land. Said parent wants to meet me and left a present for my 17 birthday should I not get too meet them before then. And my 17 birthday is in three weeks" Marinette would normally have a panic attack now but honestly the current need to absorb as much information as possible was preventing that.
Sabine hesitated "Yes. Your papa is meeting with him right now since he had to come to Paris for a last minute meeting. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I understand why before ladybug and Chat that would sound pretty unbelievable and it was to protect me. Just overwhelmed" Marinette saying looking at her mama.
"I'll give you some space. Just call if you need me" Sabine is worried. She greatly missed him but any contact would have put Marinette in danger. Marinette came first before anything else they all agree to that. She really hopes Marinette will take everything well.
Marinette sighed "Tikki do you know anything about this?" The tiny god comes out of her hiding spot "Yes. I do. I did not realize you are the heir. It has to do with before the Miraculouses were created. A mortal who kept up our temples was rewarded and the reward was passed down from generation to generation." Tikki explained "the gift is to find our mate or mates?" Marinette responds. "Yes but not all mates have to be romantic. There are some platonic and some enemies. Some people don't have any." Tikki explains hesitantly "you would have gained the ability to see it as guardian eventually. It may help with your training."
The next day Marinette goes to school as usual. That day Miss. Bustier gives a presentation on how a 17 year war had just ended between two very important nations. She also explains how many children were sent away for protection including the princess of the winning nation. An old and powerful nation. It did explain some of the stuff her mama didn't have time too. Lila imminently took to telling stories about actually being on of the children and how she secretly visited her father. Marinette simply rolls her eyes. Her classmates pushed her away little by little. Sure she was sad but it gave her the chance to reevaluate her choices in heros and get more commissions done.
Sure enough by lunch the Ladyblog had a story about Ladybug's best friend being of of the children sent away for protection. Lila made sure she was the center of attention as always.
Marinette was pretty good at ignoring Lila by this point. And she did just fine for two weeks but it's pretty hard to miss people whispering princesse and pointing at Lila. Apparently the Kings refused to tell anyone who the princess is deciding a normal childhood was best for her. So Lila decided to claim it.
People in the class were treating Lila like a princess while glaring at anyone who didn't. The rest of the school seemed to ignore it much like Marinette wanted too. Today was the day she is meeting her father so she couldn't let this get too her.
Anything Lila claimed they believed so now they believed Marinette bullied Lila, soon to be Queen. Them ignoring her turned to them defending the princesse. Some like Juleka and Nino were ignoring the situation or unaware of it. The class would randomly mention something Marinette "did" to their princess. A few times she was tripped. Marinette could see Lila's smirk too bad the rest of the class didn't.
When it was finally time to leave Marinette was confronted by Lila and her sheep just beside the stairs. Marinette tried to show know emotion but when people are yelling false accusations and yelling about how they wish they were never your friends it hurts. Then suddenly Alya said "hey Lila didn't she push you down the stairs yesterday." Lila came closer as Alya said "an eye for an eye" Marinette processed the fact both of them had pushed her. Marinette also processed the screams of horror from other students. She faintly remembers Alya proclaiming protection of Lila. But Marinette never processed the pain.
The next day Marinette wakes up in a hospital. "Think God. Sabine! Tom! She's awake" an unfamiliar woman in a suit yells. Her parents rush in to hug her. "We just went out to talk to the doctors." Sabine explains and moves to give the girl a box of pastries. A doctor comes in "Miss. Marinette Dupain-Cheng what's the past thing you remember?"
Marinette sits up. "I was pushed. I remember screams." The doctor nods "You were knocked out from the fall but seem to have only some heavy bruising. You will have to give a statement given the severity of the action taken against you."
After the doctors left and she had given her statement and prevented everyone in the room from being akumatized, Marinette is left a lone to rest. Except the women in the suit. Marinette begins to panic because she needs to check on Tikki. "Miss? I am your bodyguard. My name is Wellstone. Your kwami is alright. She is resting with an energy Stone in your purse. No your parents do not know. I only know because she needed the stone and I had it." The woman explains to the now panicking teen "I am also partly magical. Your father hired me because of that. He sent me here as soon as he realized there was a threat. He didn't know if you would be comfortable seeing him yet."
Marinette took a minute to calm down. She remembers Tikki explaining energy stones. They were used to worship gods away from temples and kwamis can use them to regain energy if they are charged. "Was she hurt?" Marinette could forgive herself if Tikki was hurt because of her. "No she did heal you some though." Miss Wellstone explains. "You are magical?" Marinette asks. "Yes I can sense energy stones and identify if something is magical."
This could be useful in finding hawkmoth. Tikki choose to come out at that moment to hand the stone back and then check over Marinette.
*the day before not long after the confrontation*
Alya and Lila were both arrested. They are allowed visitors but not allowed to leave witch they are both having a fit about. Everyone had given statements and the police were stressed enough with one girl claiming to be the daughter of a imbasiter and a King. It most definitely did not help when it was revealed to them that the girl they attacked was actually the princesses and this was definitely an international issue. The parents had yet to make it to see their daughters given that they had to have the situation explained to them and it did not look good. Apparently the Lila girl had lied a lot and convinced the other girl, Alya too post everything she lied about on her formerly highly credible blog. Now Miss. Rossi, Marlena Césaire, and Otis Césaire are being warned of possible defamation cases against their daughters. A team is going over the security footage of the school to see if any of the claims against one Marinette Dupain-Cheng is true. Though all that has been found is Lila threading Marinette and trying to frame her for things. Only one person came in other than the families. A boy Named Nino came to see or rather end things with Alya Césaire.
"ALYA SHUT UP" the boy bellowed. "How the hell could Lila have walked away without a scratch from being pushed down the stairs?"
Alya simply said "good luck from ladybug duh"
"Even if that was possible. It wouldn't have been an eye for an eye. Marinette could die. That is attempted murder." The boy us trying to get her to understand
"She did it first."
"No Alya she didn't. I'm done. Alya did you even look at Marinette? You never talked to me about these outlandish claims. Lila never made or said any of these things around me. Don't you think that's suspicious? You can not just play with someone's life. Even if she did what Lila said. You should have turned her in not took revenge that could kill her."
"But Lila is a princess-"
"No she isn't and if she was she would have just caused an international problem. I'm done Alya goodbye"
The girl was unstoped by this. Loudly proclaming he would be back when she was proven right.
Eventually the parents got to see their kids. Miss. Rossi looked down at her child. "Why did you go after her?" Lila started to cry "she was so horrible mom-" Miss Rossi slammed her hands on the table "cut the crap. WHY DID YOU GO AFTER HER" Lila shrunk back "she didn't believe you did she? That's it. You attacked her because she wouldn't let you live this fantasy life created through lies. In pretending to be a princess and connected to all these celebrities you attacked an actual princesses whose actually connected to celebrities you lied about. You caused an international problem and have had your diplomatic immunity revoked. And more and more just keeps coming to light. I brought you here to get away from your father not become him." Miss Rossi left the room a minutes later. Lila continuously mutters they were harmless lies.
Alya's parents try to explain the situation but she won't listen to them. Anything they say Alya says not to listen to Marinette's lies. Alyas mom finally snaps "we haven't see Marinette. We haven't heard anything other than she was knocked out from the fall. For all we know she could be dead. Everything we are telling you came from Lila's mom, the police, or the Kings personal lawyer. Marinette is the princesses. You did not protect a princesses you nearly if not killed on." They left but Alya still looked unconvinced.
*back to present*
"Your father said he could meet for lunch if you would like." Miss Wellstone states guiding the girl to the car with her parents. "Yes that would be nice After everything I would like something other than hospital food." Marinette say. Wellstone giggles.
Marinette wasn't surprised by the expensive restaurant. She was surprised by the extra security. "Hi" she she said nervously. "It's a pleasure to finally get to see you. I'm sorry about everything." He states sitting across from her. "It was for my safety so I understand" kwami knows the amount of things she did for others safety.
"Yes but I should have sent a body hard at the very least. You are royalty and you could have died" He explains. "I'm what now?" Marinette explains before even realizing it. He shifts uncomfortably "I thought someone would have told you since you were attacked. I'm the king. You are the princess."
Marinette nods in the I know what you are saying and I understand but it will be a while before reality hits way. "The gift from the kwamis?" Marinette eventually asks. "Yes. Just pit the necklace on on your birthday and you'll be able to see your soulmate color. It's different for each of us."
Unknown to them someone had gotten a picture of them. As the day went on several questions were answered. Like Marinette is not required to take the thrown.
Marinette returns to school the next week with a necklace with a key on it. She is also accompanied by Miss. Wellstone. Many people in her class try to apologize but are blocked by Miss Wellstone. Marinette is not ready to talk to anyone she says repeatedly. Nino walls up and Miss Wellstone is about to enterup "chill not here to talk. Just gonna had you this and be on my way." He hands her two boxes and a card. Birthday presents from him and Juleka. Before opening then she takes a look at the two. Both Nino and Juleka are family. Miss Wellstone looks at Marinette who simply nods. Opening the boxes she finds new sketchbooks and other drawing supplies. The card is an apology, a happy birthday and their new numbers. They changed them while she was out. Adrian does end up talking to her at lunch. He tries to get her to have her father drop the charges. "Adrien I could have died." Marinette snaps. "But you didn't so there's no reason to ruin their lives" Adrien said. "Adrien even if I was to drop the charges. It is still international. They are still facing decimation lawsuits." Marinette tried to explain. "Couldn't you-" Adrien starts. "What? Beg people not to sue? Do you honestly still not see the damage she caused?" Marinette tries to hold her voice even. Adrien just looks at her "Fine I'll show you."
Marinette stood up and shouts "Adrien knew she was lieing the entire time because ladybug called her out when she tried to lie to him about being a hero. He just tried to guilt me into dropping the charges. He also kept telling me while she was bullying me to take the high road." Adrien looks at her helplessly as classmates begin talking loudly and she walks away leaving him to face the music.
Marinette looks down suddenly realizing she has gained a peace of jewelry. She ducks into an empty classroom. "Hello plag. Do you have someone you would like to go too?" Marinette asks. "Kagami seems good" Marinette nods before suiting up to give Kagami the ring. As it turns out Kagami is family as will. Chloe is family. Luka has the potential to be a mate. Apparently mates aren't set in stone soulmate bounds can change over time. Jagged and Penny are family. Lila is an enemy and shockingly Gabriel Agrest is an enemy.
🎁🎄❄️What the Lupin Gang would do for Christmas!❄️🎄🎁
Helloooooooo Lupin fans! You may or may not remember me as that one chick who made that Halloween headcanon post a few months back, as well as the Jigen’s bangs post. I’m back with a Christmas post!!!
Please note: Personally, I really only celebrate Christmas in a non-Jesus-y way. (Which is how I’m also writing this post, because let’s be honest, do you really think Lupin is going to confession and shit? Absolutely not.) It’s purely out of habit because I was raised Catholic, but I practice witchcraft now. My family doesn’t know that though. Because of this, I considered also making posts for other winter holidays, so I could include Lupin fans that don’t celebrate Christmas. But I didn’t want to accidentally mess it up, or write something inaccurate about a holiday that I don’t celebrate. It felt disingenuous to make a Hanukkah post because I’m not Jewish and it doesn’t seem like my place, and I didn’t want to do a Yule one either, because no two people celebrate it the same way. So, I strongly encourage others to add their respective winter festivities to this post if they want to! We’re all about inclusivity here.
Without further ado:
🎁LUPIN:
I don’t feel like it needs saying, but this man goes bonkers for Christmas.
He flip-flops his choice of red or green jacket by the year. But it always comes with an equally garish Christmas-themed tie, just to make explicitly clear that this is The Christmas Jacket for the year, as opposed to the standard red/green jacket.
The hideout(s) are always decorated to the GILLS inside. It’s an odd mix of older classy decorations he’s inherited from his family, and absolutely horrendously tacky ones he’s bought himself.
Picture real branch garlands, wrapped tastefully around gilded candelabras that have been passed down through several generations. And then one of those singing, dancing stuffed animals from Walmart that plays “Jingle Bell Rock” when you squeeze its paw, right next to it.
Christmas-themed heists? You know it, baby. But he won’t steal anything on Christmas Eve or Christmas. It just isn’t in the spirit of the season, in his opinion. But he’ll leave a little something-something with his calling cards during the rest of December. A candy cane, a sprig of mistletoe, a bough of holly, etc.
Lupin despises eggnog. He loves any other Christmas drink, just not eggnog. He’s too grossed out by the idea of drinking eggs with alcohol- some things just shouldn’t be mixed.
Will not allow anyone to mention the truth about Santa Claus in his presence. Yeah, he knows, but that’s not the point. It just feels like bad luck to say it out loud. The harder Jigen tries to debate with him that Santa isn’t real, the harder he digs in his heels that “of course he is you absolute Scrooge, how dare you! If you don’t believe, you don’t receive.”
Favorite Christmas Songs: Anything peppy!
Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney
Step Into Christmas by Elton John
Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee
We Need a Little Christmas by Percy Faith and his Orchestra
Favorite Christmas Foods: Anything obscenely sugary. Especially gingerbread men and other decorated pastries.
Favorite Christmas Activities: Loves to ice skate and make gingerbread houses! But his houses usually look fairly pathetic, no matter how hard he tries.
Favorite Christmas Movie(s):
The Grinch (Jim Carrey version)
Home Alone
Scrooged
Christmas Gifts: The king of gag gifts, but he also gives surprisingly thoughtful presents too. He’s the kind of guy that would get a person something they mentioned once offhandedly that they really liked, and he’d go back and get it for them.
🎅JIGEN:
Lupin always wants to decorate the hideout(s) the second Halloween ends, but it never happens. With Jigen being the only American in the gang, he always puts a stop to it in order to preserve the quickly-disappearing border between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
What can I say, dude loves his Thanksgiving excuse to eat like shit and do nothing for a day. Even if it is a fucked-up holiday, historically speaking.
But once the Thanksgiving meal is over, he gives Lupin the okay to go crazy. He’s pretty stoked about Christmas too, but too full of turkey to contribute, so he just watches Lupin hang up Christmas lights everywhere while he lays on the couch and digests.
Jigen likes Christmas a lot, but like, in a normal person kind of way. Nowhere near Lupin’s insane level. He’s surprisingly open about his enthusiasm too. The average person would think he doesn’t really care about Christmas much (or anything else really), but to the gang, Christmastime is the most openly excited they’ve ever seen him.
One year’s Christmas-themed heist involved Jigen dressing up as a mall Santa as a part of the plan. The gang powdered his beard, gave him a pillow for his stomach, and sent him on his way. Everything went surprisingly smoothly, and he actually did pretty well with the kids. At first they were a little intimidated, and Jigen was kind of nervous- but he gave them all candy canes and they changed their minds pretty quickly.
Jigen enjoyed it a lot, actually... to the point that he may have potentially started volunteering to be the local mall Santa. Every year during December, he leaves for a day or two on “business.” Nobody in the gang can prove it though, and trust me, they’ve tried.
Favorite Christmas Songs: The classics and the chill ones, with a few rock ones thrown in for a little kick.
Mele Kalikimaka by Bing Crosby
Sleigh Bells by Gene Autry
(There’s No Place Like) Home For The Holidays by Perry Como
Jingle Bells by Frank Sinatra
Caroling, Caroling by Nat King Cole
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow by Dean Martin
Silver Bells by Dean Martin
Happy Holiday by Bing Crosby
Run Rudolph Run by Chuck Berry
Merry Christmas Baby by Bruce Springsteen (Sang this once after too much eggnog and will never live it down)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by the Barenaked Ladies (He’s not into all the Jesus-y stuff, but it’s pretty catchy.)
Favorite Christmas Drinks: Jigen is ALL. ABOUT. THAT. NOG. He’ll make his cup a little stronger than everyone else’s.
Favorite Christmas Foods: He really likes candy canes, especially the mini ones. He’ll keep a few in his pocket with his cigs, and switch between them depending on his mood. Out of habit, it’ll usually dangle out of his mouth like a cigarette would.
Favorite Christmas Activities: Watching Christmas movies and laughing at Lupin’s shitty gingerbread houses.
Favorite Christmas Movies:
Anything that’s on at the moment, really. He likes to lounge by the TV, and he’s not picky.
He has a soft spot for A Charlie Brown Christmas though.
A Christmas Story, solely because of the BB gun.
Scrooged, because Bill Murray’s hilarious.
Christmas Gifts: Something practical and useful that the person never realized they needed until they opened the box.
☃️GOEMON:
Goemon wasn’t originally a huge fan of Christmas. Shocking, I know.
He now enjoys some aspects of it, and tolerates others. He likes the idea of giving heartfelt gifts and spending time with loved ones as a tradition, but dislikes the cheesy commercial aspect of Christmas.
He already enjoys the snow and walking through the forest, so the gang usually commissions him to pick a tree for them and cut it down with Zantetsuken. (If they’re somewhere where that’s an option.)
Unbeknownst to the rest of the gang, he will always replant the tree he cut down, and he will wrap something cozy around the bottom of the sapling to keep it safe. Yes, this was directly inspired by A Charlie Brown Christmas. No, he will not admit to this.
Favorite Christmas Songs: The instrumentals, and a few he’d rather die than admit to liking.
The Nutcracker March from The Nutcracker
Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker
Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental) by the Vince Guaraldi Trio
Greensleeves by the Vince Guaraldi Trio
Last Christmas by Wham! (He likes the storyline and the romantic aspect of it.)
Do They Know It’s Christmas? by Band Aid (He likes that it was for a good cause, even if it has its flaws.)
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by John Lennon and Yoko Ono (Again, flawed, but he enjoys the intended message of peace. Also, represents Japan on the side with Yoko Ono.)
White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes
Favorite Christmas Drinks: Surprisingly fond of hot cocoa. Heavy on the whipped cream and marshmallows.
Favorite Christmas Foods: Doesn’t really like eating gingerbread men, but enjoys decorating them. They’re always pristine, like something you’d get in a bakery.
Favorite Christmas Activities: See above. Also enjoys going out in the snow, and making ice sculptures with Zantetsuken.
Favorite Christmas Movies: Refuses to admit he likes any of these.
Any of the classic Rankin Bass claymation specials.
Any other animated ones for kids. Has a soft spot for A Charlie Brown Christmas and The Polar Express.
A few of those cheesy Hallmark ones.
Christmas Gifts: Something small and sentimental he saw while walking by a store that reminded him of the person he’s giving it to. Nothing extravagant, but thoughtful nonetheless.
⛸FUJIKO:
Fujiko decorates the tree. Period. Lupin cannot be trusted to do this on his own. Goemon picks the tree, Lupin and Jigen put it in the stand, and from there, it’s all Fujiko. The ornaments, lights, and tree skirt are all perfectly color/theme coordinated, and arranged like a pristine store display.
She also has a few ornaments that she bought for each specific member of the gang. Lupin’s is a monkey (he was not pleased, but he’s whipped for her, so he let her keep it). Jigen’s is a carved wooden pistol. Goemon’s is porcelain, with hand-painted sakura blossoms on it. She bought one for Zenigata too as a joke one year- a tiny bowl of ramen noodles.
Her ornament? The star on top of the tree, because she’s the star of the show, baby. It’s actually a snowflake, made of the finest crystal she could steal.
Favorite Christmas Songs: Pop music and Motown’s finest.
Underneath The Tree by Kelly Clarkson
All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey
Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande
This Christmas by Donny Hathaway
What Christmas Means To Me by Stevie Wonder
Sleigh Ride by The Ronettes
Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Darlene Love
A Marshmallow World by Darlene Love
I Like A Sleighride (Jingle Bells) by Peggy Lee
Favorite Christmas Drinks: Hot chocolate and mulled wine.
Favorite Christmas Foods: Loves baking and eating gingerbread men. She lets Goemon decorate them with her. Hers have lots of candy and sprinkles on them, while his are just icing.
Favorite Christmas Activities: Along with baking, ice skating! She’s the best at it out of the whole group. None of the guys are particularly good at it, but she makes them go with her at least once regardless.
Favorite Christmas Movies:
Hallmark ones, solely to make fun of them.
Babes In Toyland, but only the 1986 one, because it has Keanu Reeves in it, and “I don’t care if I’m your girlfriend, Lupin. In this house, we support Keanu Reeves.”
Christmas Gifts: Something expensive/extravagant that will make the person think of her every time they use it.
🎄ZENIGATA:
Zenigata is the second biggest Christmas enthusiast, just behind Lupin.
He doesn’t get to settle down and decorate anything really, since he’s always running after the gang, but he does lots of other little things to celebrate instead. Like getting hot chocolate instead of coffee, tuning the squad car radio to the Christmas station, getting an air freshener that smells like gingerbread, and wearing a festive scarf and gloves with his trench coat to keep out the cold.
In years past, Zenigata still had to work on Christmas Eve/Christmas, even if Lupin wasn’t out stealing anything. Lupin found out and thought that was a little harsh of ICPO, so he came up with a plan.
Each year he sends a calling card to the station with the conditions that only Zenigata can come to investigate. Zenigata does some research, shows up to the location on Christmas Eve, and every year, nothing’s there except for a neatly wrapped present from Lupin.
Zenigata keeps the present as “evidence,” goes back to the station, and they give him Christmas off to go investigate on his own, in case Lupin tries anything else. Lupin never does, but the station doesn’t know that. Bada bing, bada boom, Lupin just got Zenigata a vacation.
Zenigata never catches on, bless his heart.
Favorite Christmas Songs: Ones he can sing/hum along to in the squad car.
The Man With All The Toys by The Beach Boys
Celebrate Me Home by Kenny Loggins
Feliz Navidad by José Feliciano (Does Zenigata understand Spanish? Absolutely not. Does he get the point and think it’s festive? Darn right.)
A Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer by Dean Martin
Winter Wonderland by the Eurythmics
Silver Bells by Dean Martin
Happy Holiday/The Holiday Season by Andy Williams
Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town by Gene Autry
December by Earth, Wind, and Fire (Let him have this okay, it’s a good song and he gets made fun of for liking it by the rest of ICPO)
Skating by the Vince Guaraldi Trio
Favorite Christmas Drinks: Hot cocoa and eggnog, but not strong eggnog like Jigen’s.
Favorite Christmas Foods: Anything, really. It’s something besides cup noodles, so he’s grateful. Lupin’s gift always includes lots of various Christmas goodies because of this.
Favorite Christmas Activities: Zenigata enjoys the snow in theory, but doesn’t handle the cold well. So he likes to watch the snow from his window while he listens to Christmas music in his squad car and sips his hot cocoa.
Favorite Christmas Movies: He doesn’t really have a lot of time to sit down a watch a movie, with how hard he works. But he remembers a few from when he was younger, and he really likes those. His favorite is Frosty the Snowman.
Christmas Gifts: Something inexpensive because ICPO vastly underpays this poor man, and he’s always embarrassed because of that, but it’s always something super sweet and heartfelt.
MERRY CHRISTMAS! And for those who don’t celebrate it, HAPPY HOLIDAYS! <3
