#this is late!

[dinitride-art]

Bylerween day 1: Ghosts and Hauntings !!

[electricea-arc]

@esoter1cz sent - ❛ you've never been ice skating before? ❜

"No, never..." Snow wasn't exactly common in Tokyo - and even growing up back in Hokkaido, he'd never had the chance to.

"Heh, I bet that must sound weird, huh...?" He gives a self deprecating chuckle, running a hand through his hair. "How about you...? You ever tried it...?"

[little-miss-sunny-daisy]

But no seriously thank you for this drabbles.

Anon, as promised, here is the next installment of the TA college AU! 

Full disclosure, I have no idea where this is going--your guess is as good as mine. We’re all flying by the seats of our pants here!

Caroline avoids the absolute holy hell out of Nik after that.

She sits in the back of class—though that’s mostly mandated by the stupid boot—and doesn’t look up as she enters and exits recitation. She gets another B on a paper, but doesn’t fight it. After their night at the Gym, her only goal out of this semester is to not get him fired. 

But there’s a note scribbled on her mid-term paper, right under the A-: see me during office hours.

-

She agonizes over it with Elena. 

“What if he’s fired,” she moans into her hands. “What if he’s fired, and it’s all my fault because I couldn’t keep my stupid hands to my stupid self—”

“It takes two to tango,” Elena reminds her gently. “He wasn’t exactly pushing you away in defense of his virtue. And besides, why would he ask you to come see him during office hours if he’s fired?”

And logically, Caroline knows Elena is right. Of course he isn’t fired, because how do fired TAs even have offices, much less office hours? But her anxiety eats away at her, gnawing at her gut, and she puts off going to see him to the very last second. 

She knocks lightly on the door, half hoping he won’t hear it, only to feel a strange mix of disappointment and excitement when his voice calls out, “Come in!” 

Caroline pokes her head in, holding out that maybe he’ll tell her to come back another time (or that maybe he’ll tell her to shut the door behind her and stay a while). “You...wanted to see me?” 

Nik is all business, gesturing for her to sit. His eyebrows raise. “No more boot,” he observes, and she can’t tell if he’s being too casual, or if he’s actually completely unaffected by what happened. 

“Um, yeah,” she says, looking down at both tennis shoe clad feet. It’s not her preferred style, but if it gets her back on mat-- “Not cleared to cheer or wear normal shoes yet, though.” She lowers herself into the office chair across from his desk. 

“I’m sure you’ll get there soon enough.”

It’s approximately three seconds away from getting seriously awkward in here, so Caroline reached into her bag and pulls out her paper, sliding it across his desk towards him. “What did you want to see me about?”

His face clouds. “Ah. Right.” He leans forward on his elbows; Caroline finds herself watching the cotton of his shirt pull at his arms. “I owe you an apology for what happened.” 

And there it is. Caroline doesn’t even notice that her knee starts to bounce slightly with nervous energy. She reaches forward to retrieve her paper, not meeting his eyes and not knowing why this whole thing stings so much.

“Totally understood,” she says, nodding quickly. “I--no, I get it. Consider it forgotten.”

And before he can say another word, she rushes out of his office. 

-

She berates herself the entire walk back to her dorm, because really, what had she been expecting? That her TA, basically one step below professor, would his career (not to mention his stipend) over a freshman? God, he probably has a work visa on the line too, and she really is the dumbest. 

“How’d it go?” Elena calls from behind the shower curtain that blocks off her tiny door-less closet. 

Caroline answers with a loud groan, flopping dramatically onto her bed. From her facedown position, she hears the shower curtain draw back. “That bad, huh?” Elena says sympathetically.

“Not great, Bob,” Caroline mumbles into her bedspread. 

The gentle squeeze of Elena’s hand on her shoulder nearly does her in. “Sorry, Care,” she says softly. “Probably for the best though? All things considered.”

Mustering all the dignity she can manage, Caroline sits up and brushes the hair out of her face. “You’re right,” she says, “I need to focus on cheer.” She shoots Elena (who raises an eyebrow and says, “or, you know, school,” under her breath) a too-bright smile. “I’ve missed a lot of practice, I’m gonna have to work twice as hard to make mat!”

Her friend half smiles, but Caroline has known Elena Gilbert since she was five years old. She recognizes Elena’s most micro of expressions, and she sees the worry that still lingers in her face. 

“’Lena,” Caroline says, tone gentling, “I’ll be fine. It was one lousy kiss, and I’m a big girl. I’ll get over it.”

It’s only a little bit a lie--she is a big girl and she will be fine, but the kiss wasn’t lousy in the least. And Elena doesn’t appear convinced. 

(Caroline isn’t so sure she is either.)

-

tbc 

[izukillme-moved]

i don’t care!

FTLGBTales Event: When We Take Different Paths

Week 2: MLM/Slash

Pairing: Natsu Dragneel/Gray Fullbuster (Gratsu)

Prompt: I Don’t Care What Others Think!

Gray leaned across the table to tuck a lock of pink hair behind Natsu’s ear, eliciting a cute blush from his boyfriend.

“Hey,” he stated, grabbing Natsu’s hand in his, a playful smirk crossing his face.

“Yeah?” Natsu replied, confused as to why exactly Gray was sporting such an evil grin.

“You reckon we should tell Erza and Juvia that everyone knows yet?” 

“Nah,” Natsu waved his hand. “Much as I’d like to, I overheard them deciding to come out today. You know, with the lifting of the ban and all. I think it’s pretty romantic,”

Gray ‘ahh’ed in understanding, and he leaned forward across the table to press a quick kiss to Natsu’s forehead.

The blanket ban on the LGBTQ+ community, installed by (excuse Gray’s language, but that arse) King Toma Fiore, had been lifted just today, at exactly twelve a.m., by his daughter, the new Queen Hisui, who herself was dating Lucy and had come out a few hours ago. 

Fairy Tail, being the accepting community it was, had known about Gray and Natsu from the very start, but then again, they had never hidden their relationship. The guild had set up protected dating sites for Gray and Natsu to enjoy small romantic moments together, but being out in the open, knowing no police would come beat them up, felt so freeing.

Natsu lifted his head so his lips were touching Gray’s. Gray twined his fingers in Natsu’s, and they began to kiss.

Gray jerked away from his boyfriend when he felt a tap on his shoulder. A burly guy who looked to be in his fifties stood there, his thin, sour-looking - wife? girlfriend? sister? - behind him.

“Yeah?” Gray asked. The man seemed irritated. “Anything wrong, dude?”

“Yeah, look, man, I know you guys are now legal and all that crap, but some people are trying to eat in here. So do you mind, like, taking it outside? My wife and I would like to have our food in peace, thanks. Name’s Kyle, by the way.” the man - Kyle - said, mouth twisted unpleasantly.

Gray felt his hackles rise.

“Excuse me?” he said, standing up. He towered easily a foot over ‘Kyle’.

“Did you just ask me and my boyfriend if we mind, and I quote ‘taking it outside‘? Then, yes, I very much mind.”

“Gray,“ Natsu tried, tugging on his wrist. “People are staring. We should just go.“

“No!“ Gray shouted. “I don’t care what they think. I don’t care. They can gossip about us all they like. It’s not going to halve our love. I’m not going to stop. Just because it wasn’t legal doesn’t mean it wasn’t right.” turning back to Kyle, “and you should know where to shove it. What do you mean by ‘in peace’? I could say the same when you were noisily trying to eat her face off and we just ignored you. Were we disturbing you in any way? No. DHD, door’s right there. If you don’t wanna leave, I have a pretty good high kick.“

The man sputtered, turning purple and whirling around. 

“Come, Lillian, let’s go.” he said to his wife, who nodded sourly. Both departed from the cafe, and Gray smirked in victory. 

The boys’ date went smoothly after that, with the one exception of Natsu asking as they ate their ice-cream, “What’s DHD?”

Gray smirked. 

“Dear Homophobic Dick.“ he said proudly.

Ice-cream sprayed all over Gray’s face not a second after that.

“NATSU, THAT’S DISGUSTING!“

[edling-week]

edling week day 5

the prompt for today is communication errors! the au prompts are roommates au and apocalypse au

[fortuiitcus-blog]

@android-13

He took the box back into his hands with a bead of sweat. Often times, he was a bit annoyed by how easily Ellis was able to see through his subtlety. “I was honestly just expectin’ ya to open it, and that was it.”

Keith laughed, scratched his jaw before he carefully opened up the small box, inside a simple, silver band that Keith knew his lover would enjoy. Ellis wasn't one for flashy jewelry, for himself anyways. “I thought I'd never been the one to ask this- or if I'd even be able to. How'd you feel about marryin’ me?”

[shroudkeeper]

Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging

To outsiders, INTJs may appear to project an aura of "definiteness", of self-confidence. This self-confidence, sometimes mistaken for simple arrogance by the less decisive, is actually of a very specific rather than a general nature; its source lies in the specialized knowledge systems that most INTJs start building at an early age. When it comes to their own areas of expertise -- and INTJs can have several -- they will be able to tell you almost immediately whether or not they can help you, and if so, how. INTJs know what they know, and perhaps still more importantly, they know what they don't know.

INTJs are perfectionists, with a seemingly endless capacity for improving upon anything that takes their interest. What prevents them from becoming chronically bogged down in this pursuit of perfection is the pragmatism so characteristic of the type: INTJs apply (often ruthlessly) the criterion "Does it work?" to everything from their own research efforts to the prevailing social norms. This in turn produces an unusual independence of mind, freeing the INTJ from the constraints of authority, convention, or sentiment for its own sake.

INTJs are known as the "Systems Builders" of the types, perhaps in part because they possess the unusual trait combination of imagination and reliability. Whatever system an INTJ happens to be working on is for them the equivalent of a moral cause to an INFJ; both perfectionism and disregard for authority may come into play, as INTJs can be unsparing of both themselves and the others on the project. Anyone considered to be "slacking," including superiors, will lose their respect -- and will generally be made aware of this; INTJs have also been known to take it upon themselves to implement critical decisions without consulting their supervisors or co-workers. On the other hand, they do tend to be scrupulous and even-handed about recognizing the individual contributions that have gone into a project, and have a gift for seizing opportunities which others might not even notice.

In the broadest terms, what INTJs "do" tends to be what they "know". Typical INTJ career choices are in the sciences and engineering, but they can be found wherever a combination of intellect and incisiveness are required (e.g., law, some areas of academia). INTJs can rise to management positions when they are willing to invest time in marketing their abilities as well as enhancing them, and (whether for the sake of ambition or the desire for privacy) many also find it useful to learn to simulate some degree of surface conformism in order to mask their inherent unconventionality.

Personal relationships, particularly romantic ones, can be the INTJ's Achilles heel. While they are capable of caring deeply for others (usually a select few), and are willing to spend a great deal of time and effort on a relationship, the knowledge and self-confidence that make them so successful in other areas can suddenly abandon or mislead them in interpersonal situations.

This happens in part because many INTJs do not readily grasp the social rituals; for instance, they tend to have little patience and less understanding of such things as small talk and flirtation (which most types consider half the fun of a relationship). To complicate matters, INTJs are usually extremely private people, and can often be naturally impassive as well, which makes them easy to misread and misunderstand. Perhaps the most fundamental problem, however, is that INTJs really want people to make sense. :-) This sometimes results in a peculiar naivete', paralleling that of many Fs -- only instead of expecting inexhaustible affection and empathy from a romantic relationship, the INTJ will expect inexhaustible reasonability and directness.

Probably the strongest INTJ assets in the interpersonal area are their intuitive abilities and their willingness to "work at" a relationship. Although as Ts they do not always have the kind of natural empathy that many Fs do, the Intuitive function can often act as a good substitute by synthesizing the probable meanings behind such things as tone of voice, turn of phrase, and facial expression. This ability can then be honed and directed by consistent, repeated efforts to understand and support those they care about, and those relationships which ultimately do become established with an INTJ tend to be characterized by their robustness, stability, and good communications.

Ooh interesting, thank you @xaruun