I... kinda need to see #11 for Xicheng, if you could?
11. “Don’t you dare throw that snowba-, goddammit!”
Jiang Cheng isn’t a stranger to snow. He has seen it before, experienced it more than once in the Cloud Recesses, and he can’t say he’s a big fan of it.
It’s beautiful, right until people step all into it and make it muddy, and when it melts it’s just uncomfortable.
Jiang Cheng truly can’t say he’s a fan.
He would never say that to Lan Xichen’s face though, because the man adores the snow, even though he has seen it every year of his life.
“Isn’t it beautiful,” Lan Xichen mutters, standing in the door of the hanshi, hands clasped together and breath fogging in front of his face.
“Yes, it is,” Jiang Cheng gives back, though he can’t tear his eyes off Lan Xichen as he says it. “But you’re going to freeze,” he tacks on, embarrassed by his own thoughts and dumps his own scarf on Lan Xichen’s head.
“I won’t,” Lan Xichen softly gives back, though he does sling the scarf around his neck, tugs it up until it’s covering his mouth, too.
Jiang Cheng can still tell that he’s smiling. It’s clear in the creases around Lan Xichen’s eyes.
“Go for a walk with me?” Lan Xichen asks, after a few moments where they both just stare at the silent white landscape in front of the hanshi, and while Jiang Cheng really isn’t a fan of getting his feet all wet and cold, he can’t say no to Lan Xichen.
“Fine,” he huffs out, and goes back inside to retrieve his and Lan Xichen’s coat.
Lan Xichen isn’t quite reckless, but he loves the snow enough to go out without thinking about the cold.
“Thank you,” Lan Xichen says as he slips into the coat and then he starts undoing the scarf.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Jiang Cheng demands to know as he stops Lan Xichen from unwinding the scarf further.
“Giving you back your scarf? You must be freezing.”
“And you’re not?” Jiang Cheng wants to know in return. “Just tell me where yours is and I’ll wear that,” Jiang Cheng says, without thinking and then flushes bright red when the implications of his words hit him.
The tips of Lan Xichen’s ears go suspiciously red, too, but he points towards his own scarf in the hanshi.
Jiang Cheng brusquely turns around to get it, and then goes all weak-kneed when he realizes that it smells like Lan Xichen.
Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea after all.
Before he can voice his doubts though, Lan Xichen steps outside, and Jiang Cheng rushes to follow him.
He is somewhat familiar with the Cloud Recesses by now, but the snow turns it into a completely different landscape, and Jiang Cheng might be a bit afraid of getting lost.
“I love this season the most,” Lan Xichen tells him, as if that wasn’t apparent in the way his whole face lights up every time it snows, but Jiang Cheng simply nods, encouraging Lan Xichen to go on if he wants to.
“It’s so silent and peaceful,” Lan Xichen says, his voice awed as he looks around the garden, and this, Jiang Cheng can agree with.
Though he would much prefer to see it from the inside of the hanshi, a fire in the background and a hot tea in his hands.
They make their way through the garden, and it’s not long before they hear the screeching and excited yelling of children. When they round the corner they see a bunch of Lan disciples running around and throwing snowballs at each other.
Jiang Cheng sends a worried look at Lan Xichen, already feeling bad for the kids who no doubt will be told to behave now, but he’s entirely unprepared for the smile on Lan Xichen’s face.
“You’re not going to remind them of the rules?” Jiang Cheng wants to know when Lan Xichen just looks at them playing, and he curses himself when it wipes the smile off Lan Xichen’s face.
“Of course not,” he says, almost defensively. “Do you think I would deny them their fun?”
Jiang Cheng helplessly shrugs.
“Lan Qiren--,”
“Knows when to enforce the rules and when not to. We’re not a bunch of funless, rule abiding boring people.”
“I never said that!” Jiang Cheng tries, but he still very much remembers how Lan Qiren always yelled after Wei Wuxian and demanded he be quiet.
“They are allowed to play in the snow until it gets dark,” Lan Xichen tells him and waves excitedly at the disciples when they finally spot them.
They all bow towards Jiang Cheng, but they beckon Lan Xichen closer.
“Zewu-Jun, join us!” they call, and Jiang Cheng can barely believe his eyes when Lan Xichen pushes his sleeves up and joins them.
“What the fuck?” Jiang Cheng mutters under his breath as he watches Lan Xichen form a snowball and hit the first disciple in reach with it.
From then on it’s pure and utter chaos. The disciples gather together to attack Lan Xichen who smiles as he pelts each and every single one of them with snowballs.
They don’t have a chance at all.
Jiang Cheng is content to just watch them, until Lan Xichen turns towards him, a wicked smile on his lips.
There’s a snowball in his hands, and he’s weighing it as if he’s trying to make a decision.
Jiang Cheng is immediately on edge.
“Don’t you dare throw that snowb--, goddamit,” he yells, when the snowball hits him neatly in the face, and the snow drops in his collar.
A shiver goes down Jiang Cheng’s spine and he’s already lamenting the fact that he’ll be damp and cold later, but this calls for vengeance.
He leans down to pick up snow and quickly forms a ball. The disciples have all gone suspiciously quiet around them, but Jiang Cheng pays them no mind.
Lan Xichen is looking at him with a clear challenge in his gaze and Jiang Cheng will not disappoint.
After he throws his snowball at Lan Xichen chaos breaks out. There are no longer any fractions; everyone is just hitting the closest person, though Jiang Cheng is sure that Lan Xichen does aim for him more often than for the disciples.
Jiang Cheng can’t deny that he’s doing the same.
It isn’t until it’s getting too dark to see properly that the attacks die down.
“I think you should all get dry and warm,” Lan Xichen mildly suggests when a snowball flies by him, missing its goal, and the disciples quickly agree.
Jiang Cheng is dripping wet, and unlike the disciples he doesn’t have a change of clothes just lying around.
“You can have some of my clothes,” Lan Xichen tells him and Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes at him.
“Is this payback for me giving you my scarf?” he wants to know as he wrings out his sleeves, which are soaked.
“More of a desire to see you wear more blue,” Lan Xichen gives back, his gaze dropped to the light blue scarf still wrapped around Jiang Cheng’s throat.
“Oh,” Jiang Cheng mutters and jerks slightly when Lan Xichen steps close, closer than he has ever dared to come before.
“I’m sure we can find some guest disciple robes for you, if you would prefer that,” Lan Xichen offers, and Jiang Cheng is surprised to find just how much he would mind that.
He wants to be dressed in Lan Xichen’s robes.
“I would not,” he courtly gives back and tugs Lan Xichen closer by the end of the violet scarf Lan Xichen is still wearing.
“Good,” Lan Xichen replies with a smile and when he leans in to press their lips together, Jiang Cheng forgets that he’s uncomfortably cold and wet.
When they finally part, Jiang Cheng is in fact feeling quite hot under his clothes.
“We should get changed and heated up,” Lan Xichen mutters, though Jiang Cheng can hear regret in those words as the prospect of having to part.
“Or we could not,” Jiang Cheng says and tugs Lan Xichen right back in.
They can get changed later. There’s no rush after all.
[Prompt taken from this list, but please don’t send in more]
Dice subs: Look around. The number of legs on the next animal you see (including insects/arachnids) is what you rolled.
I feel you will get a Lot of Twos. But perhaps that is your aim. Or perhaps you play with a menagerie of different animals you have stolen from the local zoo and now keep in your board game cupboard. I try not to assume.
Can I ask for Steve/Bucky, Steve has a bad day (like, stubbed my toe, burnt the food, broke the lamp, just little crap adds up kinda bad day) and Bucky makes it all better?
(Set in the Off The Record ‘verse - hope you don’t mind :D)
Pre-production on every film was a challenge, but some days were worse than others. And Steve’s day had been filled with one fire after another – a budget fight with his producers over a location, design changes that weren’t quite there, a key actor pulling out due to scheduling conflicts, which meant more auditions – but it was thankfully over, and tomorrow he could start fresh. Right now, he was just happy to be home, even if it was hours later than he’d planned. Which meant Bucky was probably asleep already, which added yet another black mark to the wretchedness of his day –
Or, maybe not, he thought, as he stepped into the living room, hanging his jacket up on the coat rack. There were candles merrily burning on the mantle and coffee table, their soft glow welcoming and cheerful, Etta James’ voice crooned softly through the speakers, and when Steve inhaled, he caught the heady aroma of Bucky’s homemade tomato sauce, the competing scents of oregano and garlic and basil reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
He headed into the dining room, and found Bucky, bare feet peeking from under the hem of black sleep pants, the thin cotton of his white t-shirt practically transparent, lighting the last of the candles on the table.
“Uh, so what’s all this?” he asked, bemused. The scene looked like something out of a movie – utterly romantic and gorgeously perfect.
Bucky smiled in welcome and walked over to give him a soft kiss. "Hey you. I had your PA text me to let me know when you were on the way home,“ he said, brushing Steve’s bangs from his forehead, the touch light. "So kudos on the perfect timing.”
“What’s the occasion?” Had he missed something? Had Bucky sold another book? Won another journalism prize?
“A very special day,” Bucky told him and pulled him close.
“Special day?” Panicked, Steve tried to remember the exact date, but it wasn’t his or Bucky’s birthday, and it wasn’t their wedding anniversary (they’d gotten married on the same day as their Ten Pound reunion to make things easier) and…
Bucky silenced the question on the tip of his tongue with another light brush of his lips against Steve’s. "You didn’t forget it, so stop frowning like that.“
Steve smoothed his face into something resembling calm. It helped that Bucky was still holding onto his hips. "How could we have an anniversary I don’t know about?”
Bucky gave him another kiss, this one slower one, deeper. Steve melted into it, the way he’d always done, ever since the night they’d reconnected. The night that had changed his life. "How long did we know each other as kids?“ Bucky asked, instead, when they parted.
Steve mentally did the math. "Uh, we met first day of kindergarten and I moved the summer after eighth grade just before my birthday, so…almost nine years?”
“Eight years, eight months, eighteen days,” Bucky supplied. "I had to ask my mom the exact date of our first day of kindergarten.“
"Okay?” Steve said, lost.
“And how long were we separated before we got back together?
That number, Steve knew by heart. "Seventeen years, ten days.”
Bucky smiled at him, small and fond and beautiful. "And how long’s it been since that day?“
"Since we got back together? Uh…little over eight years?” he guessed. It was September now, so, yeah, that…sounded right. "I’d have to think about that one.“
"Why don’t you let me tell you. Eight years, three months, and nineteen days,” Bucky said, and beamed. “Which means today is officially the day that we’ve been together longer than we’ve been apart, if you add it all up.”
Steve’s throat closed as understanding dawned. Between their years growing up together as best friends, and their years reunited, they’d finally put together enough days that outlasted their separation.
“Buck…” he got out, as the tension he hadn’t even been aware he’d been holding was suddenly, blissfully released. Suddenly, the sucktasticness of his day ceased to matter. In fact, he couldn’t even remember any part of it.
“Yeah.” Bucky’s eyes were bright with unshed tears. "We made it, Stevie. We made it.“
Light, brilliant and all-encompassing, washed over him, left him buoyant in its wake. "I love you so much,” he breathed, tugging Bucky to him until he could feel that familiar heart beating against his own, felt those strong arms wrap around his back, and Bucky’s hot, moist breath against his neck.
“I love you too, always,” Bucky murmured, pulling back just far enough to kiss each of Steve’s eyelids, then the tears from his cheeks. When their lips met again, Bucky’s lips were salty-slick.
“i can’t believe you did all of this,” Steve said, awed. "That you went through so much trouble…“
"We were apart for a long time,” Bucky replied, with a soft smile. "Far too long, if you ask me. But from now on, we get to say that we’ve been together longer. And I think that means something.“
"It means a lot. You know it does.” It meant everything. The entire goddamn world, in fact.
“I do. Which is why we’re celebrating.” The smile widened, crooked and imperfect and all the more beloved because of it. "So…you ready for dinner, then some hot, celebratory sex?“
"All sex with you is celebratory,” Steve said, heart so full it was near bursting.
Bucky’s eyes flashed with heat. "See, and that’s exactly the sort of talk that makes me want to say fuck it to eating and drag you upstairs right now.“
Steve smoothed his hands along Bucky’s back, lingering along every rib and knob of his spine. They had all night – the rest of their lives, in fact – and every time Steve thought about it, that he and Bucky were together after so much time and distance and heartache, he wanted to go to his knees in thanks. What they had was a miracle he would never take for granted, every moment precious.
"Seems a shame not to at least eat,” he said, with a wicked grin. He was content to take his time, let the evening play out. “Besides, you’ll need your strength for what I have in mind.”
Bucky ducked in for another soft kiss. "Sounds promising,“ he replied, his tone making it clear that Steve’s day was going to end a helluva lot better than how it had started.
I have always been very much more into the stories that touch on Steve's issues as well. He very clearly has depression and PTSD, and I'd almost bet on some social anxiety as well. (he doesn't KNOW how to talk to these people, other than tactical decisions, other than work. How is he supposed to interact? He'll just make a fool of himself. It's why he's hanging with the WWII vets at Tony's party.)
And then like, my big thing with depression isn't the sad days, or the exhausted days. It's the numb days. The days where I struggle to feel anything at all, and can't you just imagine Steve dealing with that? Like you're almost grateful because, hey! I'm not sad! but then you aren't happy or hungry or anything at all, you feel like you don't actually exist. Just a shell wandering, blank like the pages of the sketchbook. And then what? Is it worth it to keep going? When does this stop? (1/?)
Does it stop? When? And what comes after? More sadness? And no one even notices because you don't LOOK like you're in distress, you're doing all the normal stuff, you even smile and interact when prompted, so you're okay, right? But that makes it even worse because obviously then you're just not important enough to matter, no one actually cares and it's probably better that you just stay like this because hey, the empty shell does everything you're expected to anyway! (2/?)
Without all those messy emotions and stuff getting in the way. So then numb becomes normal, even while part of you is doing everything it can to elicit a response, like poking at a sore tooth it keeps nudging at your amygdala, watching sad movies and listening to music to try and like, jump start it somehow. Anyway. Yeah. Have some sads based on my own sads. Because depression sucks, and Steve definitely has it. (3/3)
Oh my god, Steve’s numb days. Imagine Bucky trying to get him to eat, or even get out of bed. Imagine Bucky being so scared because it reminds him of the days where Steve was literally so sick he just couldn’t get out of bed.
Think of all the guilt and self-resentment that would pile on Steve because how dare he make Bucky worry. He’s fine. He’s totally fine! (he’s not fine, not at all)
Or Steve not even caring that Bucky’s worried because “this is just what it is now Buck.” being so numb that you don’t even care how other people see you anymore. You’re just done. You’ve hit the limit.
And then springing back from the numb? to the sad? And then there’s all that angst and sadness and guilt because fuck you didn’t care what your best friend/lover was going through
Oh dear gods. Okay, is it just me or does it really seem like Wang Yibo got used to the long hair while playing Lan Wangji and now he misses it so he's growing his out?
LETS HOPE HE MISSES IT BECAUSE IT SURE AS FUCK IS A LOOK!!!!!
Hey Brenda! Looking forward to seeing you this weekend! I'll be Black Widow on Saturday and a USO girl on Sunday!
Exciting!!!!! If you see me, please come say hi!!!
And this goes for everyone else, too!!! If any of you are going to be at Ace Comic Con this weekend and you see me, come on up and say hi or give me a hug!!!! :DDD
...I'm thinking of doing the thing too. I'm scared to, though. It would be my first time meeting them.
Oh, babe, if you can afford it, you should absolutely do it. Chris and Seb (and Mackie and Hayley) are TOTAL sweethearts. I’ve only ever had the best experience in meeting all of them, so you’ll be in good hands.
And hey, if I do break down & do it (which is looking likely, God help me), then you can meet me! And I love meeting new people!!! :D
feathasthekitten replied to your post: okay so this is totally inappropriate but a person...
Ugh. No. Eggnog is thick, but it’s creamy. Semen is SLIMY, it’s a totally different texture. I can drink eggnog just fine, I literally gag on semen and cannot swallow no matter how hard I try.
I think it’s ‘cause I never let it sit in my mouth long enough to be grossed out? Spit or swallow is entirely based on my mood, but if you’re gonna swallow, you don’t have to make a big deal about it and let it sit on your tongue like some hentai girl in a bukkake. You do it like a shot and keep mouthwash/water by the bed.
...Is that just me?
I can’t do eggnog, but coquito is to be savored, it’s not the same thing at all.
