#i got Plans tho and even tho my chapters are short........ my heart is Strong | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

j-esbian · 7 years ago

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night terrors and sweet dreams - chp. 4

chp. 3

on ao3

Nino’s favorite spot in the library was on the second level, along the front wall, in the corner farthest from the door. There was a little nook, where the walls extended past the last of shelves, without leaving enough space for another set, and in that corner, someone had wedged a table and two chairs. The table was chronically wobbly and cramped, and the only space for the chairs was facing the wall; it didn't appeal to many, so he never had to fight for his seat.

The hidden treasure, though, was the three power outlets under the table. Elsewhere in the library, students had to fight and sweat over a chance to charge their phones. It made Nino feel like a king.

Adrien often had Chinese lessons during study hall, but when he was there, he co-opted the other chair and made the corner seem a little less lonely.

When Nino showed up, both seats were already full; Alya and Adrien were hunched over something, heads huddled together. Nino bounded over to them and, placing a casual elbow on each of their shoulders, asked, “What's up?”

“Watching porn,” Alya said without missing a beat.

Adrien sputtered. “What? Alya! No--This is the library!”

She snickered, elbowing Adrien playfully in the ribs. “Chill out, dude.” She turned to Nino. “Watching old videos of Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

“Oh. Lame. Why?”

“D’Argentcourt’s getting on my ass again,” Adrien groaned. “Apparently my form is ‘abysmal’ and I would ‘do well to observe a true master of fencing technique, like Chat Noir.” He sighed heavily and added under his breath, “Which is completely ridiculous, but whatever.”

“Oh, yeah, Adrien? Why is that ridiculous?” Alya asked. “Maybe because you’re Chat Noir and you can’t learn from yourself?”

Adrien stared blankly at her, and Nino giggled. “Al, come on, let it go.”

“I will not!”

“I meant because he doesn't even have a sword,” Adrien retorted.

She grinned. “I find it a little suspicious that you refuse to give me an actual answer. And, you know, not for nothing, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you and Chat Noir in the same room before.”

“You’re right,” Nino said, glaring pointedly at Adrien. “I haven’t, either.”

Adrien sank down in his chair; the tips of his ears turned red.

“Anyway,” Alya continued, oblivious. “I wanted to put together a video for the blog; kind of a ‘best hits’ thing, you know? And this totally counts as helping him study.”

“Alright,” Nino said. “I mean, it's better than what I had planned.” He spun his phone around between two fingers. “But dudes, we have a new trailer.”

“What?!” Alya screeched. She yanked her phone away from Adrien and typed “sparrow feather fall trailer” in the address bar.

“Two and a half minutes,” Adrien whispered reverentially. “This is a good day.”

“ Ahem.” A nasally voice from behind startled them. “You three are being disruptive.”

They whipped around to see Mr. Fournier glaring at them. Alya quickly set her phone facedown on the table.

“We were just studying,” she began.

But the librarian wasn't fooled. “Turn your phone over.”

Busted . As soon as he saw YouTube on the screen, he held out his hand. Alya opened her mouth to protest, but saw Adrien and Nino eyeing her warily, and decided against it. She placed her phone reluctantly in his outstretched hand, and he tucked it in his breast pocket.

“You can have it back after study hall is over,” he said. The effect was ruined somewhat by the fact that Alya’s phone barely fit into his pocket, and kept seeming in danger of toppling out.

Alya and Nino covered their faces, trying to hide their quiet laughter as surreptitiously as possible. Adrien managed to school his face into something resembling shame. “Yes, sir. Sorry.”

Mr. Fournier nodded sternly. “Quiet,” he reminded them, before slinking away.

As soon as he was out of sight, Alya and Adrien rounded on Nino.

“ No spoilers,” Adrien warned.

“Of course not,” Nino said. “It’s just, Melody and Mercury showed up for a few seconds. And we have an official release date.”

The others’ faces lit up. “Shiiiiit,” they breathed in unison.

“January 19th,” Nino added smugly.

Alya’s face fell. “Aw, man. Seriously?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s my parents’ anniversary.” She scowled. “I’m probably going to have to babysit. I won’t be able to go!”

Adrien shrugged. “That sucks. Guess it’s just going to be me and Nino.”

“Hell yeah, you and me.” Nino pumped his fist. “We can make a bro’s night out of it. Maybe you can convince your dad to let me spend the night, and we’ll go out for waffles in the morning--”

“Or,” Alya interrupted, “we could literally go the next day.”

“Hmm.” Adrien tapped his chin. “We could do that, except…” He pulled out his phone and quickly typed something in. “Oh, look at that, tickets are already on sale! And it looks like I’ve already bought two tickets. Sorry.”

Alya tried to scowl at him, but it slipped into an easygoing grin. “Assholes.”

Nino looked offended and laid a hand innocently across his chest. “Sometimes, Alya, a man just wants to go on a date with his best friend.”

It should have been a completely innocuous joke, but Adrien heard a high-pitched whining sound and realized, after a few seconds, that it was emanating from him . It petered out, slowly, after he noticed it, and his face flamed.

Alya smirked at him. “Dude, are you leaking?”

Nino snorted. “Yeah, the real Adrien couldn’t make it to school today, so I brought an inflatable one.” He patted Adrien randomly, on the head and chest and shoulder, and pushed his glasses up. “Hmm. I don’t see a rip anywhere…”

“No, Nino, what are you--” Adrien shrugged him off and smoothed down his shirt, avoiding their eyes.

“You feeling okay, Adrien?” Alya asked.

“Yeah, totally!” he replied. His phone buzzed, and he jumped, knocking it off the table. As he bent down, Alya and Nino traded glances.

“Oh, crap,” Adrien said, checking his phone as he straightened back up. He started to gather his things. “My tutor just texted me and said she’s here. 我得走了!”

“Sure, dude…” Nino said slowly.

“Uhh...sorry, I gotta go.” Adrien laughed uneasily. “Okay, see you guys later, bye!” He stumbled off, bag dangling precariously close to his tripping feet, and rushed out the door.

“When’s the last time he slept?” Alya asked.

Nino lowered himself into the newly vacated seat. “A couple days, maybe?”

“What does he even do that keeps him up that late?”

“Dunno. Dude’s busy.” Nino shrugged and started unpacking his bag. Alya put a hand on his arm and stopped him.

“Fournier didn’t take away your phone…” she began, batting her eyelashes.

Nino twisted his head around to check that the coast was clear, and pulled up the trailer.

Adrien was feeling restless, and when that was the case, he usually decided to hop out and stretch his legs. Unfortunately, there was a swarm of people below his window; his father was throwing a launch party for his new line, and Adrien was stuck.

He could probably have joined them if he wanted. But he really, really didn't want.

He wandered downstairs and found himself in the kitchen, suddenly overcome with the desire to bake something. He rifled around in the cabinets, trying to find a cookbook.

“Hey, Plagg?” he asked. “What’s something that’s easy to make.”

“Hmm...“ Plagg landed on the kitchen counter and sat down. “Fondue! It’s super easy. All you have to do is melt some cheese, and then you can stick things in it! Like your face.”

Adrien paused in his search to glare at the kwami.

“What am I, Siri?” Plagg asked, kicking his legs against the counter’s edge. Adrien scowled.

His hands scrabbled along the top shelf, out of his sight, but he felt his fingers brush against the spine of a book, and he grabbed it victoriously. “What’s this?” he asked, pulling it forward.

He didn’t realize how awkwardly angled the book was above his head, until it tipped forward off the shelf, headed straight for his face.

“Woah!”

Adrien stumbled backwards, but the corner still snagged his cheek on the way down. He managed to catch it with his chest, and wrapped his arms around it to hold it there. Panting, he threw the book down on the counter to flip it open and found, to his disappointment, that the title was in English. He vaguely recognized the cover as something his mother would pull out every time they had American visitors over for dinner.

“Come on, seriously?” he groaned. “Hey, Plagg, can you fly up there and point me to a cookbook that I can read ?”

Plagg laid down and flopped onto his belly. “I could.”

“ Will you?”

“Nope.”

Adrien sighed. “You’re the worst sometimes.”

“I’m extremely lazy,” Plagg corrected. “You know, in some cultures, that’s admired. It’s the mark of a king.”

“Actually, you’re the worst all the time,” Adrien continued.

Plagg grinned up at him. “Come on, kid, practice those language skills!”

“Whatever.” Adrien started flipping through the book, looking at the pictures, and stopped near the end. “This looks good. And there’s not that many ingredients, so it’s probably easy. Come on, Plagg, we’re making brownies.” He squinted down at the page. “What’s a table-spoon?”

“I think it’s those big spoons you use to serve stuff,” Plagg said.

Adrien dug around in the drawers until he found a big metal spoon. “Done.”

“And you need a teaspoon, too,” Plagg added. “I think those are just the normal-sized ones.”

“And a cup,” Adrien said. He grabbed a glass from the dishwasher. “All right, let’s get started.”

Half an hour later, Adrien came down to take the brownies out of the oven.

“It smells like vanilla in here,” Plagg whined.

Adrien took a deep breath and grinned. “Mhm. Isn’t it great?”

But when he opened the oven, he was confronted with a cloud of black smoke, and the smell of something horribly, disgustingly burnt . He dropped the pan on the counter and coughed. It was nearly empty, except for some charred crumbs in the corners.

Plagg covered his nose. “What did you do ?”

Adrien shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know! I followed the directions!” He hung his head. “I thought I did, at least.”

“Aren’t you friends with the baker girl?” Plagg asked.

“You’re right!” Adrien reached for his phone. “Marinette will be able to help.”

He dialed her number, and it rang and rang and rang.

“ Hi, you’ve reached Marinette! Leave a message!”

Frustrated, he hung up. At the same time, a notification popped up on his phone:

Alya Césaire is streaming live! Don’t miss it!

“Oh, yeah,” Adrien said. “Alya has her interview with Ladybug. Everyone’s probably watching that right now.”

He dropped the pan in the sink and ran some water in it, before bolting back upstairs to log onto his computer. He pulled up the Ladyblog on his central monitor and turned his volume up.

“So, Ladybug,” Alya was asking. “What exactly is your relationship with Chat Noir? I know we’re all wondering, especially after--”

Ladybug interrupted her. “I think I’ve made myself pretty clear about this already, Alya.” She laughed nervously. “Like I told Nadja Chamack, and you, and that guy Vincent something-or-other, and literally everyone else that’s ever asked--Chat is just a friend. He’s my partner, and my best friend, but we’re not dating.”

“No, of course!” Alya replied hastily. “I meant, like, do you keep in touch in your civilian lives? Or is it strictly work between you two?”

“Oh.” Ladybug’s cheeks flushed beneath her mask. “No, it’s just a work relationship. Nobody knows my secret identity, and, well, I can’t speak for Chat, but I hope it’s the same for him.”

Adrien rolled his eyes. She was always going on about that, it seemed.

Alya asked another question, but Adrien was already bored; this wasn’t anything new, really. It just felt like an excuse for Alya to hang out with Ladybug, and he didn’t see why she needed to stream that to the rest of the world. He muted his computer.

“Hey, I was listening to that!” Plagg protested.

Adrien stared at him flatly. “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s really nice white noise to fall asleep to,” Plagg said. “Besides, I thought you just had to listen to like, everything Ladybug ever says.”

Adrien scoffed. “I’m just not interested this time.”

Plagg looked at him skeptically; if he had eyebrows, one would have been raised at Adrien.

Adrien rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I’m going to play Overwatch. Leave me alone.”

“Whatever,” Plagg said, adding under his breath, “ fake fan .”

#miraculous ladybug #ml #adrino #adrinino #ninoir #chickenscratch #ughhhhhh sorry this one's kind of filler but i told myself i had to publish the next chap before my birthday #and i have #i got Plans tho and even tho my chapters are short........ my heart is Strong #shoutout to vee for helpin me with that one completely unnecessary line of mandarin

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mickules · 3 years ago

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Are you gonna do tumblr plus? Because you’re my favorite blog but I’m broke and have no money 😭

Oh. . .Oh nooooooooo

HA, yeah, no fear, I'm not signing up for tumbl's li'l scheme.

Art for me is a definitely a passion, but I've zero plans on monetising it at the moment since I'm lucky enough to make a decent wage driving trains. I don't even have ads enabled on my youtube cos making money from fanworks is a copyright nightmare that I don't want to navigate. That and navigating my tax return

(also tho, "favourite blog"!! AHH! you flatter me! :D)

[from this comic] @mortonmurphy Sorry for the so response there - I'm not so good at replying in a timely manner, but thank you so much for such a lovely, heartfelt ask! I totally sympathise with feeling intimidated; I've felt the same way sending asks before, it can be oddly daunting! I'm so happy to hear you liked that comic; It seems to have resonated with a lot of people and that's really so wonderful, just warms my heart! The Dangan cast have such good chemistry, there are infinite scenarios and dynamics to play with; Taka and Hina being supports for each other as survivors is a top tier hypothetical! DR + AA cross-overs are PEAK EXCELLENCE, they just fit so well together! Ace Attorney is an old, old friend to me, and I've had that [particular comic idea] sorta floating about the noggin, I'm really pleased with how it turned out :) Thanks so much! :D

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@a-lien-kai (!! Oh!! :-O high praise that it's my nonsense that got you liking Taka :D Glad you're liking this strange little AU I've been having fun with!) good news; I've drawn a little Gundham before in [this dump] ! but I'll post him here again; before and after putting on his face for the day:

[from these asks here] Oh my absolute sympathies; being born to a family of morning people is a terrible fate.

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from the [same ask dump] as the Gundham one ^ (:-) happy to hear you get smiles from my art!! thanks so much! :D) Resting Ishimaru Bitch face kills me XD, and Taka, Peko and Maki share such a similar intense energy, that I love the idea that it's a shared genetic family trait.

SORRY FOR THE DELAY THERE!! (might be a moot point, but I figure it's worth still answering!) Putting it on tumblr and tagging me should be a good way for me to find it, that's totally fine! I've also no problem with you mentioning my account name on AO3, that's A-OK by me ;) I appreciate you checking just in case. (also, gift fic!! I'm still like -> :-0!! so cool!)

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Yesssss! It's a good sign when multiple people wanna share the same fic! I love the enthusiasm! "Trinkets" by Sapphin3 has a very interesting idea; I do enjoy people exploring how those who died in the killing game might react to the consequences of their untimely deaths, (and "Touch starved" is a short but very sweet look at some Taka/Hiro step-bro interactions) A+!

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OH! I've read the first few chapters of "The Problem with Perfection" by DracotheDeathEatingCupcake, and I'm really digging the exploration of Taka as less self-assured, dealing with the anxiety caused by the constant pressure of the expectation he's under. It's got such a strong narrative voice, you really feel the stress and insecurities that Taka is fighting with, and the ending of ch.1 OOF what a GUT-PUNCH!

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I've not read Killer Killer, but as a concept; a serial killer targeting serial killers is sincerely REALLY COOL, kinda like the whole 'Sparkling Justice' background character from SDR2, and more Mukuro is always appreciated. . . Though I do feel it'd work perfectly well as a stand-alone concept, outside of the Dangan universe, I might check it out.

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I've also had some kind DMs along this vein and I'm very flattered by the interest, but I have to say that I'm not planning on doing requests or commissions, I do very much appreciate the enquiry however!

(I don't mean to single this particular asker out - especially since they don't have their own tumbl but thought it was a good opportunity to mention!)

@randomqueenkitcat1121 Absolutely Do! I hope you have a great time with it! You can get persona 4 golden on steam which is like a HD remake - the original came out on the PS2. I'll admit I've not managed to finish it yet cos I am capital B- BAD at video games, but it really explores some A+++ themes! (AHHH! what lovely compliments!! :D Glad you enjoy the dorks and their shenanigans! :D )

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I think Avatar is a good show! I watched it a lot when I was younger, as it had a ton of re-runs on terrestrial tv. The world concept and building is excellent, and it works so well with how the plot requires a world spanning journey. The characters all have real rapport, and genuine growth across the series, all wrapped up in gorgeous animation, trés bien. In general I tend to gravitate towards more 'sci fi' concepts than 'fantasy/swords and sorcery' ones, so avatar is certainly an outlier there.

[from this fanart!] These suggestions all have REAL cryptid energy, and honestly; the idea of a free-range Hooty equivalent? Nightmares

[this post] and its [re-draw]

@cicicookie12 I too live the curse of pale ass Irish skin; you have my many sympathies, and my factor 50+ suncream.

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@yaysof11037 I dunno why we're surprised - Taka's speedo is so in character it's ridiculous, how did we not all see this coming?

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OK LOOK, I DID NOT MEAN TO FLATTEN HIS ASS! There are only so many ways to draw someone FACE DOWN ASS UP in a SPEEDO and not make it the WRONG SIDE OF SPICY

Speedos leave nothing to the imagination

consider it an optical illusion.

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In general I'd have liked to have seen more one piece swimming costumes (like Komaru's from the promo image) for the sportier/shyer girls, and more abs on our strong women which is what they deserve damn it!

However, there does seem to be some thought put into matching the characters personalities which was a pleasant surprise to say the least. Sakura, Korekiyo, Chihiro and Kiibo's are PEAK; tho' I wish Sonia had kept her wetsuit, plus we were robbed of Kazuichi and Hajime's matching camo speedos, which would've upped our disappointing speedo count from 2 to a slightly better 4 It would've been hilarious if Celeste had remained fully clothed the whole time.

Fingers in his ass never left.

(next set of asks [about parent trap au]) (previous set of asks [mostly about takaaki/hiroko] )

#ask #anon #yaysof11037 #mortonmurphy #a-lien-kai #randomqueenkitcat1121 #spacepaprika #cicicookie12 #this one is mostly miscellaneous queries and I've popped 'em all together #long post #part 1 of like 7 big ol' ask posts #fanfic recs #fingers in his ass almost sunday #dangan-answer-ranpan #mick answer #mickules #so many words- I apologise

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ladywinterwitch · 3 years ago

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Run Away (Ten - Strangers)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Avenger! Reader

Summary: You and Steve complete each other. Your love is that strong and devoted kind of love that pushes people to things like marriage, making a family. You couldn't imagine that a baby would be something you really wished, until the possibility wasn't your choice anymore.

Warnings: pregnancy talk, fluff, A N G S T, I think that's it??

Words Count: 3739

A/n: Next chapter is longer and INTENSE

Series masterlist , main masterlist

(GIF not mine)

Y/n and Steve ended up falling asleep, which was a bit embarassing especially on his part. In the end tho they woke up around two in the afternoon and were starving. You also thought about the fact that Helen must've already set in by now. After cleaning up a bit and getting redressed the two actually went to separate directions, Steve to the gym because he had a bunch of new recruits to train by three sharp, while Y/n was heading to the kitchen.

-FRIDAY, would you call up ms Simon for me?- she found Tony, Vision and Thor in the common room so she quickly greeted them.

-Hey guys, taking a break?- she smiled when Thor got up to greet her properly. He was such a physical and affectionate person. He reminded her of a golden retriever; huge, with long hair and a heart of gold. Your smile widened when he bent down to press his ear to her belly.

-Well yes darling, do you forget that aside from kicking some ass every now and then we're basically jobless?- Tony joked. Both he and Vision were looking at you two.

-How is your pregnancy going, Y/n?- Vision asked in his posh and polite manner. She tilted her head to the side. Thor still touching the smooth and round surface. She didn't mind at all.

-It's going smoothly, thank you. Tho if I have to be honest I can't wait to at least give birth. I love my belly but it's so complicated to live with. I also miss actually moving around and exiting the tower. I don't think I've ever been so still and babyed in my life.-

-If it was an easy job, God wouldn't have gave it to women.- they all turn around when you hear an unfamiliar voice, which they soon found out to be Helen's. Thor stands straight in all his tallness and gets in front of her protectively.

-Who are you?- he asks suspiciously. She put a hand on his arm to calm him down.

-It's okay, Thor. This is Helen Simon, she's my new midwife. The one me and Steve hired this morning.- her head turns quickly to Tony then back to Helen. Tony stands up, fixing the invisible fold in his tracksuit pants and smugly walks to the older woman.

-Stark. Tony Stark. I actually hired you, but I'll let the happy couple have the glory.- he joked and you shook your head amused. They shook hands and then Vision introduced himself as well. Thor just acknowleged her with a nod. It's not like the God of Thunder had to introduce himself.

-Okay guys, see you later. I'm starving so.- you decided to cut it, but obviously Tony had to sneak in a joke. Had to.

-I'm sure cap worn you out.- Thor, which didn't know what timing was, bless his heart, decided to burst out laughing. You rolled your eyes not looking back.

-Jealousy doesn't match with your shoes Anthony.- you clapped back, still hearing Thor laugh and Tony calling him out.

A few feet down the corridor there was the kitchen, and when Y/n finally tought that her and Helen could have a minute alone, they found Wanda intently reading a book while she mover her finger around to spin the teaspoon in a mug. She looked up when they entered the room. Her finger stopped working and so did the spoon, the faint magenta colored aura disappearing.

-Hello?- she said, tentatively. Y/n ignored her cold stare and walked to the fridge taking out the leftover chicken and some salad to mix.

-She's Helen, the midwife me and Steve talked about.- there was a subtle warning in Y/n's voice. She thought 'Be nice' in her mind, and when Wanda sighed she knew she read her mind.

-Nice to meet you. If you'll excuse m- - Wanda was about to get up from the stool but the old woman's voice stopped her.

-You aren't eating that chicken cold are you? How old is it?- she walked closer, grabbing the plastic box from her hands. Both her and Wanda were a little taken aback by her bluntness, and shared a look.

-Uh..Yeah? I was actually going to put it in the salad. And it's..I'm not sure, a couple of days old? Still perfectly fresh and untouched.- she answered trying to reassure her, but she wasn't having it at all.

-This isn't eating healthy. If you want a healthy baby you need to eat properly. I'll take care of your meals from now on. - she stated, putting the box aside. - The non pregnant teammates can risk getting sick with that chicken. - Wanda's gaze darkened and her eyes took a light shade of red.

-What's that supposed to mean, old lady? - Y/n saw her fingers starting to move around with the corner of her eye and put her own hand on hers.

-Helen didn't mean anything, Wanda. She just meant that I have to be extra careful in comparison to the rest of you, ok? Don't you have to be somewhere right now?- she asked in the most calm way. The last hting she needed was Wanda yeeting Helen out of the tower on the first day. Wanda closed and picked up her book and mug, walking towards the exit of the kitchen.

-I mean, I'd like to go to the terrace to chill, but I can't.- Y/n frowned while sitting on a stool. Meanwhile Helen had already started to inspect their whole frige.

-I can feel Bucky and his girl going at it so yeah, I did not plan to watch a live performance.- she choked on water and the old lady turned around with a rather disgusted face. Wanda just shrugged and left them. The girl turned towards the older woman with an awkward smile.

-Welcome I guess.- the short fake laugh was over as soon as Helen sat in front of her, her hands conjoined in front of her.

-This isn't good.- the girl shifted uncomfortably, then uncosciously starting to rub her belly as a sign of comfort.

-What isn't?- the lady sighed. -First off, there are way too many people here. This place is chaotic, the people aren't giving you the peace that you need. This isn't a baby-space. At all. I just looked into your frigde and there isn't a single thing ready or 100% healthy probably except vegetables. Y/n if you want to be a good mother and be healthy for your baby you need to change a few things.- her words at first irritated her, setting off her protectiveness towards the people she called family, but then as she went on, she made her feel little. Like a little girl who wasn't good enough. She sighed silently.

-What would you have me do then?- she asked. Helen shrugged, still mantaining her perfect posture.

-I'm not gonna suggest you to buy a new place, because where you'll live after the baby is born is your business, but..- she paused, -I can offer you to come live at my place for these last two months or so. I have a nice, peaceful place a little outside New York. I already had eight of my patients do this, it's not so absurd.- she explained like it was the most normal thing in the world. Y/n was listening, but she wasn't convinced. She decided that she had to think about it first. She had to know for sure that she was professional and competent.

-I don't know, Helen. I'll admit that it isn't the most tranquil place to live, but...these people are my family. They have always been by my side, pregnant or not. And what about Steve? The father of my firstborn?- she marked the last phrase, tilting her head to the side. A little habit she probably took from Wanda.

-Because they care about you. But in truth, tell me, aren't you feeling like a burden? Like you get into their business?- she mirrored the young woman's expression. Y/n didn't answer at first.

-You're really not going soft on this are you?- Helen released a dry laugh. Shook her head and paused before talking.

-Yes. I began working as a nurse unofficially when I was 13 years old, during the Prague Spring reforms in '68. The hospital was in short of nurses so.- she explained, -That time wasn't easy. Not that the one before it and after it wasn't, that is. You either grow a thick skin or you don't survive.- Y/n felt for her, as she had a very similar destiny. First she doesn't know how she ended up in an orphanage, and then when she was fifteen and nobody took her, they kicked her out. She was homeless for a year until SHIELD recruited her, and the rest is history.

The older woman got up and took some vegetables, washed them and then placed them down to slice them. Y/n got up as well and started helping. She eyed the fresh eggs, so she guessed that Helen wanted to make a quick frittata.

-How did you end up in America? As midwife, nonetheless.- she asked.

-Why most foreign people come to America? Certainly not the food.- The woman responded with a slight hint of irony. The girl chuckled.

-Touché.-

-In any case, I've been here more than half of my live, moved many states mainly for my own choice. Being a private midwife pays decently.- she paused to dump the sliced vegetables into a pan with a little oil and salt.

-I became one because I was fascinated by the whole process that the woman's body goes through both before, during and after birth. I assisted two of my older sisters, and in the end ended up doing it as a job.- Y/n nodded, listening.

-That's actually amazing. But if I can ask, you do not have kids yourself?-

-No. Didn't have the possibility at first. Then decided that just it was my profession but not my future. No regrets.- she answered even tho the girl could sense that something was off. She decided not to intrude.

Silence fell between them while they were cooking, and the younger woman took the popularity to think about what she said. The woman was practical, a bit harsh maybe. But she also had a lot of experience. She didn't like the thought of leaving her family, but she had to admit that she often felt like a burden lately. More than once someone stayed behind to look after her, and even tho they didn't seem to mind at all, she did. She wasn't used to being so pampered and looked after, and sometimes she almost felt suffocated. Guess that spending many years of your life having to take care of yourself takes a toll on you.

She didn't want to decide anything without talking it out with Steve first. And it wouldn't be permanent, just for the last couple months or so, until she had the baby. If she really thought about it maybe she needed some time to reconnect with herself, to learn how to take care of her baby in the best way possible. Even the stupidest thing like cold chicken could potentially make her sick, and it was such a small thing. But that doesn't change the fact that she didn't knew. She wasn't one of those moms who surrounded herself with books teaching her every do's and don'ts, but at this point insecurity was kicking in. The last thing she would ever want was to be a bad mother even before actually becoming one.

Between a baby shop and another, and a whole new diet including an embarrassing amount of tea, Y/n finished her eight month of pregnancy. She was feeling as tired and as big as ever. Helen actually helped a lot both with the cooking, the health tips and with the shopping. She actually sobbed when they bought the crib. Both because she was emotional, a bit because hormones and also because Steve was again away on a mission. The whole team was actually. They had new leads in the Hungarian case and another completely different mission in South Korea, a tough one. So it required the whole team split up. That was the fist time Y/n was left alone since she knew she were pregnant. It all went smoothly, the tower actually felt quiet for once.

Y/n and Helen had found a nice dynamic, and most of the time spent time in a comfortable silence, each doing their thing. A downside that she wasn't realizing was the distance that was slowly creeping from her to the team. They didn't really like the midwife that much, Wanda, Thor and Bucky especially didn't like her at all. But Y/n felt for her, she felt like she knew her better than them so she often took her side, which hurt them back.

Steve on the other hand wasn't realizing it almost at all. All he cared about was his wife being healthy and that she got along with the midwife. They didn't sleep together often anymore, due to the fact that he was often away and she was constantly tired. Bruce did warn her at the beggining that this 'enhanced' baby would've probably tired her out, and it did at first but then she was feeling very well. She and Helen both blamed it on the tiredness of the pregnancy as a whole.

The last straw was when some of the guys, specifically Sam, Thor and Peter, whom didn't live at the tower and was rarely involved in missions because of Tony, went to see them and in some way, nobody actually know how, they made a whole ass hole in the floor above the library. Fate wanted that Y/n and Helen were reading just a few feet away. If they were just a bit closer to the door, they would've been hit by the pavement pieces.

Helen gasped and jumped out of her seat, book still in her hand by the corner. The younger woman on the other hand was more mad than anything.

She rose from the armchair, struggling a bit and marched towards the now destroyed door. The damage wasn't so bad, but it was still damage and it could've been way worse. She was fuming.

-Y/n! Shit are you okay? - Sam yelled from above. The three guys looking down from the hole they created.

-I'm so sorry it wasn't me! It was Thor! - Peter joined in and caused the God to respond, and from that a whole lot of mess arose.

The people who weren't on a mission, which were Wanda, Bucky and Tony, came running.

Y/n didn't know where to look and all of a sudden started felling a bit suffocated. She brought a hand to her forehead, distubed by the chaos arouns her.

-Stop! Fucking stop it! - she yelled, groaning from frustration. Everyone stopped talking while the girl started to feel her eyes prickle with tears of frustration.

-Why is never, ever a single day if peace in here? There's always someone around, making a mess, making noise, complaining- - she almost stumbled on a piece of ceiling that had fallen, but Bucky and Tony were right behind her and helped her stabilize herself, but she shoved them off.

-Leave me be!- she exclaimed frustrated. She huffed, trying to take a deep breath. -I'm moving out.- a chorus of 'What' arose. Bucky stepped forward and grabbed her wrist gently.

-What are you talking about?- his eyes showed confusion and panic.

-And when would have you decided this stupid thing?- Tony crossed his arms and went straight up 'Tony Stark' on her. Y/n rolled her eyes, ignoring both questions and walked out of the now damaged library. Helen followed suit.

-At least wait for Steve to return!- Wanda said. Thor jumped down, through the new hole in the ceiling and followed her like the others.

-Y/n, we're sorry! Look, I'm gonna fix the ceiling myself okay? Please don't go- Y/n's ached to see them upset, but she was tired. Too tired. She was afraid that if she had stayed more than she could withstand, their relationships could've been ruined. That was the last thing she wanted. She didn't knew exactly what was that overwhelmed her so much. She felt constantly tired and in pain, all the noise, number of people..it had become just too much. She needed to finish this pregnancy alone, or at least in a more quiet place.

She stopped in her tracks and exhaled silently. Her eyes passed through everyone in the room. Even in that moment, they were decimated because of the mission, yet there were still eight people in the room. When normally it would've been around 15. That's too many people.

-It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault, specifically. I just.. I feel overwhelmed. There's too much going on here at the tower. And for me it's like seeing life go on without being able to do anything. I need some space, okay? It won't be forever. Hell, if everything goes well it's gonna be a month, at best. But I really, really need a break. I am going to pack and leave by afternoon, when Steve returns, just send him to the address that I'll leave for him. Okay? I love you guys, you're my family and I wouldn't be where I am today without you. Its just temporary.- she smiled softly, trying not to get emotional. Wanda was visibly upset, on the verge of crying. The others just looked sad, maybe disappointed. But nobody said anything, so she turned her heels and went straight to her room.

By five pm she and Helen were already gone. The older woman called them a cab, the driver took care of their stuff and then they were gone. Y/n was silent during most of the trip, both because of the extreme tiredness and sadness. She never changed home since she moved to the tower. She also thought about what she would tell Steve. She knew she couldn't contact him, so she didn't. They had left two days prior, so it was a bit early to know when he'll be coming home. But she knew a hundred percent that he would've gotten to her even before going home.

The two women were headed to the older one's house, which was in Avalon, New Jersey. Helen had told her about her beach house, quite far from the city. Y/n did actually fall asleep after the first hour or so, they had around three in total so she didn't worry about not waking up. By her surprise though, she did sleep throughout the whole trip, and yet, she was still tired. In those days her head gave her particular discomfort, so any noise at all really disturbed her.

Helen woke her up gently when they arrived, the she helped her get out of the car. Meanwhile the driver, which was a quite young man, probably around her age, which was 27, with curly black hair, stubble and dark green eyes, took their luggage off of the trunk.

-That's all. Have a nice stay.- he smiled slightly. Y/n frowned, what about the money?

-How much do we owe you?- she asked sweetly. He waved his hand dismissively, going back in the driver's seat.

-The lady already paid me, I'm ok. Bye.- he waved goodbye and drove off. Y/n and Helen dragged the luggage insider her villa, by which the girl definitely was taken aback.

-You didn't tell me that you live in a Villa?-

-Maybe, but I did tell you that being a private midwife pays well. I also need space if I want to take people living with me.- she explained. The first thing that you could see was the huge open space which showed a not exaggeratedly large living room with a window door on the right, on the left there was the kitchen and in the middle a staircase.

It wasn't very decorated, but the light palette of the whole place defines had a calming effect. Y/n was so used to the high rise and high technology of the Avengers tower that she had almost forgot how nice and intimate a normal house could be.

Helen showed y/n around a little, then ended up in the spare room, which had a large bed, a balcony and some essential forniture pieces such as a wardrobe, a vanity, a full length mirror, an armchair.

-This is really nice, Helen.- she smiled tiredly, caressing her big belly while she walked around. But as she was walking towards the balcony, she had a slight attack of vertigo, and her knees buckle for a second. The woman was at her side in a few seconds, helping her onto the bed. Y/n huffed, the back of her hand on her eyes.

-Why am I so shitty? I was pretty good until a few months ago.- she whined, and Helen shook her head while she stroked her arm.

-Every pregnancy is different, Y/n. You're just tired, from the car and that chaotic place.- the disdain in her voice didn't really pleased Y/n, but she didn't say anything. She didn't have the strength and besides, it's not like she was particularly liked at the tower anyway.

-I'll get you a tea, be right back.- Y/n chuckled.

-I drank more of your Hungarian tea than water in the last months.- Helen pulled a tight smile.

-Well, it is a traditional recipe for pregnant women. Not that you seem to mind it either.- the girl relaxed her eyes and discarded her sneakers to the ground.

-No, it has a peculiar taste but not bad.-

-Good.- and with that she left the girl alone. Helen went down the stairs, and turned on the stove to warm some water. She then opened a drawer, forcing the wood layer to come up by using her fingernails, pulling out an old fashioned phone.

She went to the contacts and dialed the only one there was. She waited a few minutes, when someone picked up.

-Igen?-

-Közeledünk. Készülj fel.- she said, hanging up.

************

Translation from Hungarian: ‘Yes?’ ‘We’re close. Get ready.’

Hiii, this is quite a short chapter but I wanted to end it with ✨ suspense ✨ the next one tho is gonna be way longer. Lastly, friendly reminder that my taglist and my ask inbox are open!

***********

Taglist : @polarcrystall @a--1--1--3 @jessyballet

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kimnjss · 4 years ago

Text

(bonus) felt weird | kth + jjk

⤑ series: less of you

⤑ pairing: fratboy!taehyung + fuckboi!jeongguk

⤑ genre: smut.

⤑ rating: explicit

⤑ word count: 3.4K

⤑ warnings: cursing, slight dirty talk, mxm, anal fingering, handjob, blowjob, the quickest nipple play, dom!taehyung if you like squint, jeongguk is soft as hell tho. protected anal sex.

⤑ chapter song: strawberries & cigarettes // troy sivan

⤑ A/N: this was not planned but a looot of you have been asking for a peak into the sideships lives so i thought i’d treat you guys!! okay, im real nervous abt this bc it’s my first member x member thing ., so i really hope you guys like it! . this also can be read outside the plot , so if you skip this part you won’t miss anything ~

DECEMBER 13TH, 2019 | 23:49

Thighs pressed together, Jeongguk could feel the pounding of his heart in his ears. Body frozen beside Taehyung, unconsciously holding his breath as the pictures flashed on the TV screen in front of them. Half-eaten bowl of chips between them, he tried his best to concentrate on the words coming from the main character's lips and not the fact that Tae had shown up in a pair of loose-fitting basketball shorts that still seemed to tighten around his thighs.

'We don't have to do anything', had typed the words out to ease the mood a bit, but of course, Jeongguk couldn't deny how badly he wanted to do something... anything with Taehyung. How could he not?

Dark locks falling in dark curls on his propped pillow, his soft sweet scent tickling his nostrils. Nothing too strong where it was too much to bear, just a subtle hint of something sweet that had him wanting to lean in to get a better whiff. On the verge of doing just that, but stilling when Taehyung's body shifts beside him.

Jeongguk watches with stilled breaths as Tae turns onto his side, hands resting underneath his cheek. Pretty brown eyes catching the younger's wide ones, a soft chuckle slips past Tae's lips. “Are you even watching the movie?”

“Oh, course I am!” The answer comes a bit too quickly, but he can't help it with the fact that he had just been caught gawking. Like openly gawking, mouth agape, and everything. He'd check if there was drool dribbling from the corner of his mouth, yet he had a bit more self-respect than to make this situation more humiliating that it was.

It was so unlike Jeongguk to feel this nervous, this rigid around someone he wanted to fuck. That's what this was, right? He wanted to fuck Taehyung... or have Taehyung fuck him... and that's why he invited him over, that was the sole reason he was laid in his bed right now. So why did he feel so tongue-tied? What was with this weird strum of his heart? Why couldn't he just make a damn move!?

“I don't think you're really watching...” Taehyung trails off as he scoots a bit closer to the wide-eyed boy. A single hand lifting to trace over the u-shaped collar of his shirt. “Think you've got your eyes set on something else,” There's a hushed teasing tone to Taehyung's voice, one that has the breath catching in Jeongguk's throat – cheeks darkening at the reminder of being caught.

Eyes darting over the older male's sharp features. The lazy droop of his eyes housed by those thick tantalizing eyebrows. The strong line of his nose and the adorable beauty mark at the tip that Jeongguk can't believe he hasn't tried to kiss yet. And that strong jaw, the number of kisses he'd like to leave there too... not to mention those full lips of his that looked oh so inviting.

No idea where to start, so he laid frozen under the gentle strokes of Tae's fingers against his chest – trying to figure out if he had missed the words that came out of his mouth while he was lost in his admiration.

“You don't want to tell me?” A small pout shapes Tae's lips, eyes lifting to look at Jeongguk through his long eyelashes. The heat rises up the sides and back of his neck as his mouth opens and closes, desperately trying to form words – at the same time trying to remember when he felt this frazzled in front of a guy... or girl, coming up with none on both ends. This was the first time he was at a loss of words. Movements stunned by the mere presence of a person.

The television has become nothing but background noise as slender fingers crawl down the front of Jeongguk's shirt, curling around the hem of it. “Were you thinking about me wrecking you? Turning you to a whiny mess underneath me?”

It's cute, the way Jeongguk's lips shift into a defensive pout, gaining some of his fight back as he shifts his head so he can get a better look at Taehyung's face. “I'm not whiny.” He counters, ignoring the slight whine of his voice in the very protest. Taehyung laughs, nodding his head unconvinced.

“Wanna bet?” In one swift movement, Taehyung is draping one of his legs over Jeongguk's waist – lifting his body to straddling his hips, knocking over, and spilling chips all over the freshly washed bed sheets. Jeongguk doesn't even flinch at the greasy mess staining his sheets, wide eyes focused on the attractive man on top of him.

His hips brush over against Jeongguk's as he lowers his body until their faces are only inches apart – noses practically touching. “Is this okay?” Tae's large hand lifts to cup Jeongguk's cheek gently, taking a moment to search his eyes for any sign of protest. For any indication that he misread the shy behavior as a yield of dominance, but Jeongguk is quick to nod his head – hand landing on Tae's hip for good measure.

There's a faint smile that spreads across Taehyung's lips before he's leaning in the rest of the way, taking his time with pressing his lips against Jeongguk's. A soft sigh leaves the younger's lips at the first bit of contact, head instantly tilting up to steal more of soft lip feeling.

Warmth spreads throughout his limbs from the tingling touch of their lips moving each other, slowly. A hesitant introduction that has Jeongguk's free hand raising, tangling in the boy's messy locks – holding his head still in order to feel more of him. Taste more of him, with the swipe of his tongue over soft lips.

Taehyung is opening his mouth with a groan, electric shocks of pleasure cruising through his veins as the kiss grows deeper. Fogs his brain to the point he feels delirious, just from the simple lip contact. Jeongguk feels the same, panting and trying to regulate his heart rate when their lips detach.

“That felt weird,” The younger boy breaths out, his words causing a look of confusion to take over his elder's features. Tongue swiping over his lips, he can still taste the strawberry balm fro Jeongguk's lips.

He can't help the slight flash of worry from Jeongguk's words. Weird? Who describes a kiss... a kiss like that, as weird? Straightening his back slightly, Taehyung doesn't stand from his lap but attempts to put a bit of distance between their faces. “What do you mean weird? Have you never kissed a guy before?” Maybe that's what it was? That's why it was weird, because it was his first same sex kiss, right?

Jeongguk is quick to shake his head, a cocky laugh leaving his lips. He sits up slightly, so he's able to rest his back against the headboard of his bed and his face isn't so far from Taehyung's anymore. “No. I've kissed dudes before,” He doesn't hide the roll of his big doe eyes. “Just not like that...”

The smile is returning back on Taehyung's features, taking pride in the tiny confession. 'Not like that', it didn't take a genius to figure out what he meant by that, but of course, Taehyung was a big fan of words. So he's not stopping the next set of words from falling from his lips.

“Good weird, then?” Eyebrow quirked and a teasing smirk playing on his lips. Words laced with a playful undertone that Jeongguk is quickly catching on to. Their smirk matches as he reaches up to knit his fingers in the hair at the back of Taehyung's head, using the grip to pull his face down closer to his. “Hm, not sure. Let's do it again,”

There's roughness behind the kiss, a hunger that can only be sated with more. Tongues fighting against each other, the soft bites of Taehyung's teeth on his lips force breathy whimpers from his lips. A large hand travels between their bodies, grasping Jeongguk's length lightly through the fabric of his sweats, making his hips jerk up.

Laughter falls from Tae's lips, their lips parting as he flashes a smirk to the man below him. “Someone's sensitive,” He coos, large hand stroking Jeon's cock as he shifts and squirms with every stroke, trying to feel more than he's being given.

“Take that shirt off,” Taehyung speaks, waits for Jeongguk to reach for the bottom of his shirt before he's slipping his hand down the waistband of his sweats. Fishing through his boxers to grasp his cock and pull it from its confines. At the same time, Jeongguk is staring at his elder with lust-filled eyes, not being able to mask the moans falling from his lips from the new pressure on his cock.

There's a twist of Tae's wrist as his hand slides up and down Jeongguk's shaft, eyes lifting to find the already fucked out expression on his face. “You're getting so hard already,” He points out with a lick of his lips. “Do you like it when I play with your cock?” A teasing tone laces his words, but Jeongguk is so concentrated on getting more that he doesn't pause to chastise it.

Instead, he lets another moan fall from his lips, hips rising to hold evidence of the frantic nod of his head. Panted breaths leaving his lips that only grow breathy as Taehyung leans his body onto his, mouth latching onto the brown of his nipple – not hesitating to roll his tongue over the peaked nub.

Jeongguk is reacting instantly to the new contact, length twitching, and hand curling in the dark strands of her. “Are you sensitive here too?” Tae questions with one last teasing lick before he's lifting his head to look up at Jeongguk's face. “Bet you could come just like this, huh?”

The shake of Jeongguk's head comes instant, stilling the movement of Tae's hand on his erection which has a whimper falling from the younger's lips. But he doesn't want to come yet, doesn't want the night to end so soon and with the way Tae is talking to him, teasing him... and if the throb of his cock was any indication, he knows he won't last much longer.

All over a short little handjob, he must be wound real tight if he's getting like this from a simple stroke of the hand. “I want to suck you off,” Jeongguk's confessing what had been polluting his mind since the started their first movie. The tent formed at the front of Tae's pants only adding to his desire of wanting to feel the stretch in his jaw. Even if he's never done it before.

Taehyung doesn't waste a moment with getting off of Jeon's lap, a groaned 'Fuck yeah,' leaving his lips as he leans back beside him. Gukkie follows his movements until he's crouched between Tae's spread legs. Tattooed hand reaching up to tug the front of his shorts down just enough until his cock is springing free.

Much longer than he had expected, thicker too. Maybe his playful bragging about wrecking him did hold some merit. The tip an angry red, long veins wrapped around its entirety. A smirk plays on Tae's face as he watches the younger boy admiring his girth. “Sure you can handle me?”

Jeongguk is silencing his words with the quick way his hand wraps around the base, slowly dragging his hand up to the tip. A dribble of precum glides down the side of his length and Jeongguk has the urge to lick it up. So he does. Hot tongue swirled around his bulbous head, Taehyung had expected a bit more teasing so the shocked groan that leaves his lips is expected to Gukkie's ears.

Knowing what got himself off when he was getting head, Jeongguk is easily able to fall into the rhythm of things. Head lower inch by inch as his hand worked the portion he couldn't quite fit into his mouth. Cheeks hallowed as he bobbed his head up and down, using the sound of Tae's moans as encouragement to what he liked – what he wanted more of.

With his head tilted back just slightly and a hand buried in Jeongguk's hair, Tae can't help the warmth that washes over his body. Breath hitching as Jeongguk's eyes lifts to catch the hooded eyed stare of the man above him. He looked so good with his mouthful, big eyes glazed with lust – the sight alone has Taehyung's cock twitching against his hot tongue.

He's pulling off at the feeling, hand lazily working of his shaft. “Close already? Should I just make you cum now?” Jeongguk teases and Taehyung is coherent enough to roll his eyes. Able to lift his body until he can reach the waistband of Gukkie's shorts, tugging them down past his thighs. “You did such a good job sucking me off,” He compliments, not letting Jeongguk forget who exactly is in charge here. “Turn around for me,” The order comes directly after, words deep and demanding. Sending a shiver down Jeongguk's spine where he's turning quickly, settling on all fours and baring his ass to the younger man.

Not bothering with any banter or faked protest, done hiding the fact that he wouldn't mind – like at all – be wrecked by Taehyung. Especially now knowing how long and thick he was, the idea of him stretching him out the only thing on his mind since he first fit him into his mouth.

“Fuck, what a cute little ass,” Jeongguk's face is instantly flushing at the praise, hips moving back to show off more of his bottom. A chuckle falls from Taehyung's lips, both hands dropping onto his cheeks to spread them slightly, revealing the puckered hole. “You look so tight too,” Tae lets a glob of spit roll off of the tip of his tongue, it sliding down the crack of Jeongguk's ass and collecting at his hole.

Easily, Taehyung is fitting his cock between his cheeks, “Gonna let me fuck you open?” He wonders, grinning at the quick nod of Jeongguk's head. “Please,” He whimpers out, feeling himself grow harder just from the thought of it.

Hips rocking slowly, Tae sets a teasing pace of his cock dragging between Jeon's cheeks, the younger moving back against his thrusts – desperate for any type of friction. Tattooed hand wrapped around his shaft, shallow strokes on his member to add to the pleasure.

“Condoms and lube?” Taehyung breathes out, a groan chasing the words. Just the simple strokes against Jeongguk has him harder and more ready than he had been before. Not able to wait any longer before he's able to sink into him.

“Top drawer,” Words rushed and breathy, Jeongguk points in the direction of his nightstand. Leaning over him, Tae is able to reach the nightstand to fish through for what he needed. The position has his dick pressed firmly against Jeongguk's hole, which has him moaning back arching slightly.

Once he's retrieved what he needs, Tae is leaning back allowing a chuckle to fall from his lips at the desperate boy below him. “You're so eager,” He comments with a laugh, lip tucked between his teeth as he secures the rubber onto his length.

“Hurry, please.” There's whine in his voice, hands dropping from his throbbing cock to spread his cheeks apart. “Fuck, you're so hot,” Tae replies, squirting a generous amount of lube onto his hand before doing the same on Jeongguk.

He doesn't waste a second with sliding his fingers past the taut hole, able to push three in with an ease that has his eyebrows raising. Jeongguk must sense his curiosity, or he's growing impatient with the quick way he says, “I already prepped,”

A chuckle falls from Tae's lips as he pulls his fingers out, “Thought you said we didn't have to do anything?” He teases, hand wrapping around his own shaft and lifting it to line the head up with Jeongguk's hole.

“Yeah, but I hoped-” There's strain in his voice, words being cut off by the stretch of Taehyung's head entering him. He takes his time, watching as Jeongguk swallows his deeper inch by inch until his hips are pressed flush to his ass. “Ah, fuck.” Gukkie grunts, letting out the breath he had been holding since he first pushed in.

Hands gripping his hips, Taehyung pulls back with a long groan. “You're still so tight,” He points out. “It feels good, keep going.” Jeongguk urges him on and without any hesitation, Tae is pushing forward again.

It takes only a few thrusts for them to fall into rhythm, Jeongguk pushing back each time Tae is surging forward. That familiar warmth has begun to spread through Jeongguk's chest, the same feeling he had felt when they had first kissed. He can't help but wonder if Taehyung is feeling it too.

One large hand set on his waist, the other buried in his hair is all he can manage to ground himself. Buried deep inside of Jeongguk, yet the pressure around his cock is the... second thing on his mind. It's hard to ignore the swell of his heart from the sound of the younger male's moans, him panting and asking for more.

The simple booty call he had thought he came here for taking on a different meaning, so quickly and so strong that he didn't have it in him to fight it. The only thing heard around the room was the steady slap of skin, mixed with their breathy moans – but Jeongguk and Tae are sure the frantic pound in their chest drowns out that noise.

Reaching around his body, Taehyung is able to wrap his hand around Jeongguk's shaft. Could tell the boy was close with the way he was withering beneath him. And with just a few timed strokes of his shaft, he's spilling out with a grunted breath – body collapsing forward onto the mattress, a string of curse words leaving his lips.

Just from the sight of Jeongguk falling apart has Tae teetering over the edge. Carefully, he's sliding from inside of him. Fingers working to peel the damp condom from his shaft as Jeongguk turns his body to lay onto his back. As soon as the condom is whisked away, Jeongguk's hand is reaching to wrap around Taehyung's shaft.

Stroking him all the way to his release. Sweaty damp hair, flushed cheeks, and dazed eyes – both boys are sure they look a mess to the other right now. Little did they know, they're both in agreement with how handsome they look. “Oh, fuck!” Tae's calling out, legs stiffening as his arousal shoots from his shaft, landing in thick streaks on Gukkie's abdomen.

He works him all the way through his release, reaching for the blanket to wipe the arousal from his chest and stomach as Taehyung falls into the space beside him. There's a permanent smile on Jeongguk's face as he turns onto his side, admiring the post-orgasm face beside him.

“Did that feel weird too?” He can't help the words from falling from his lips after moments of just laying there in silence. Taehyung's eyes had fallen closed in the past time, but they were now peaked open, taking in Jeongguk's soft features.

He's nodding his head. “Yeah. But a good weird.”

Jeongguk is smiling wide in agreement, a lazy arm reaching up to tangle in Tae's messy hair. Pulling his head down so he's able to press a smiling kiss to his lips. Tae kisses him back slowly, hand reaching up to cup the side of his face.

“You want to go eat?” Tae's asking causally, and if Jeongguk wasn't taken by then he surely was now. Amazed with the way he lucked out with this guy that was so much like him, but so different at the same time. It all worked.

Yet, there was one problem.

A problem that has a pink tint dusting over Gukkie's cheeks. “Yes, I would like that a lot... I just, uh... my legs are still tingling.” The grin that spreads onto Taehyung's lips can't be described as anything but triumphant.

He's propping his body up slightly so he can get a better look at the male, grin growing by the second. “I told you I'd wreck you.” There's pride in his voice, it only growing heavier by the moment. “And don't think I didn't hear you whining, Mr. I don't whine,”

Jeongguk is rolling his eyes instantly, masking the smile that fights its way onto his lips. Not willing to deny that he's ready to become a whiny mess for this man whenever he wanted, but not willing to stroke his ego either.

So he takes for kissing him instead, quickly becoming addicted to the stutter in his chest from the feeling of soft lips pressed against his.

– girl code rule #1: never, ever, under any circumstances fall for your best friend’s crush. but what happens when your best friend’s crush checks all the boxes of your ideal guy… and to make matters worse… he’s crazy about you too.

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⇝ taglist: @randomkoalablog @hehehehahahohohuhu @smoljams @dee-ehn @jaiuneamesolitaiire @sw33tnight @butterflylion @moonlitmyg @withlovestudyblr @soulstaes @samros95 @korkanswers @houseofarmanto @marifujioka @tae165 @uxwi @trynavibewhileicry @jinhitwhore @preciouschimine @yeontanie21 @aa-ronpa @taefect94 @lee-karliah @codeinebelle @mochibabycakes @diminieshoe @fuddyize @soloikeadates @0xmysticx0 @bbyjoonies @amoreguk @diminieshoe @jayyayyy17 @softlyjins @bangtan-noona @fan-atic-blog @fuck-expectations-people @paradisetaemin @nyamjinnie @lilacdreams-00 @vsugakookie0104 @koostime @la-evforia @betysotelo18 @sunskook @pastelpinksunflower @kookiesjoonies @sopetv @tricethecharm @bangtansonyeondayyyum

⇝ taglist: @chocobetterknot @simplysanha @falsegodtae @kookieswithtaeq @diorhobii @illwritetomorrow @angjeon @okblve @riverdale-kpop @alpaca1612 @hajiraa06 @mingisbabie @flamboyant-louie @bangtansbun @princecalpal @parkjammys @notmontae97 @unicornnomore @jiminsreads @kookoo-kachoo @hersheyheyhey @ratking101 @mini-coop25 @beeeb05 @ashleyjoyx @girlwiththeglittereyeliner @yoongissugarmommy @ladyartemesia @flantasticpr @lustremyg @vantaescupid @elliemeetsevil @p-polaroid @yousaybieberisaybiersack @btsbed @soperiorthanyou @kim-ji-hyeons-world @thia-aep @moonchildaera @singular-itae @fanfics-for-fun @triviasjms @kuppyjiminie @bangtan-dreamland @cainami @hyunaphordite @potaetertot @mypurplelamp @isophie305 @theneighborhoodfangirl @subtlepjiminie @baby-jichu @boraength @faeriegukkie @masterpiecejoonie @ccmemoirs @to-infinitae @jiminssizzles @flowerbin131 @joonies-babyy @fakeluvrm @calling-dips-on-j-hope @btsheartu @silentlyimpractical @peachle @sungieshines @tryintolive33 @luvchim @ilillyshadow @elephantdoors @serpentiinequeen @jeonnation @jimilogy @tatajoonierecs @pjmcth @ephyra1230 @jungshookmeup @bigimpression @dontaskshhhhh @skamlover200 @ksjiminie @shootingstarsaretearsofheaven @azulamakesmeblank @pinkyhim @rjsmochii @leovaldezisfire @neinicc

A/N: timestamps make sense throughout the fic. to be added to the taglist, send me an ask !! feedback is highly !! appreciated, it’s the motivation i need to keep the fic going nd fun for you guys!!<33

#taekook smut #taehyung #jungkook #bts smut #less of you sm au #taekook fic #taekook #taekook imagine #taekook angst #taekook fluff #taehyung x jungkook #bts #bts imagine #bts sm au #member x member

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limitless-shadows · 4 years ago

Text

Picking up gofushi crumbs from the manga pt. 3

Disclaimer: Beware of anime/manga/fanbook/light novel spoilers. This is just me commenting on the manga with the lenses of a gofushi fan. So... it’s just my opinion.

This section runs from chapter 26 to 79.

About character developments, gofushi first meeting, “Oh, nothing <3″, and others.

[Chapter 26]

Bless Yuuji’s imagination creating gofushi material LOL

[Chapter 32]

Megumi’s disappointed and nonchalant face when others connect “that moron” to Gojou www :surprisedpikachu: it’s even more funny when it’s Megumi who says that.

[Chapter 33]

Megumi being sharp at noticing changes in Yuuji. If he’s that keen, would he have sensed anything different on Gojou after Getou’s death?

[Chapter 45]

“You really can tell even with that guy’s drawing” Dang it, now I have to add great artist to my list of type standards.

Well, Gojou can do almost anything as stated in the fanbook, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that he can communicate well with art as a medium. Ack, is that why Nobara said he had high standards.

I like how fast Megumi is able to dial Gojou’s number here www

[Chapter 55]

If Megumi never tells them anything, what do they think about the gofushi dynamic? Domestic feeling? lolol

Especially Yuuji, who can be perceptive (when he noticed that Junpei was being bothered by his teacher).

[Chapter 56]

Knowing Gojou’s schedule again.

[Chapter 58]

Aaah it implies that Megumi doesn’t usually ask Gojou to train him :(

"Is it that annoying? To ask me?"

...either doesnt want to ask him because he is annoying and/or because he doesn’t want to feel more indebted to him ;-;

I like the face that Gojou makes here haha like: eeeeh~ why is that? what’s wrong that you don’t want to ask me

Did Gojou realize Megumi’s self sacrificing tendencies from just the bunt? or did that already confirm previous suspicions? I liked the anime adaptation of it~

Of course Gojou would be so angry at that that his finger flick made Megumi's forehead bleed. Megumi who isn't growing up in the correct way to be strong enough as was asked from Gojou during their first meeting:

“You better get strong, don’t get left behind.”

And also Megumi throwing away his life in such a manner after Gojou protects him so much ;-; Gojou knows Megumi has plenty of potential but isn’t tapping on it effectively. Disappointment.

Then follows it up by asking him to be selfish so he can grow up strong (it's ok to ask your sensei for training! ;-;). Megumi freeing himself from the chains that bind him to a lesser self valuing is such an amazing character development.

Adding to it is that this flashback was used as the base for Megumi’s change aaaah

I also wanted to add that Ep23 was released 1-2 days before this post and it was such a great adaptation of this chapter with the sunset, the shadows and if that wasnt enough gofushi food, they went with the jujusanpo and and violinteacherhomewreckersformationbgaaah

what is formation a??? or c??? the gofushi interpretation of megumi’s gomeeeeeeeen?andsorrythatepisodewastoogoodImenjoyingthenewgofushiviolinarts

[Chapter 59]

A suspicious dude with white hair who is tactless.

Yaaay way to go with first impressions :D It's funny how Gojou hasn't changed and is still disrespectful in his speech XD

[Chapter 79]

Gojou guessing that Megumi already manifested his cursed technique...

While the fanbook said that he wanted to recruit a talented person, I also fancy believing that Gojou didn’t want Megumi to grow up under a harsh Zen’in training.

Ah. I like how Gojou kneeled down to talk to him about his father’s death. Imagine a 190+ cm tall stranger coming to you, a 6 year old, and telling you from that high up that he killed your father lololol

At this height, Gojou is near Megumi’s stature or at least close to seeing him eye to eye. That pose is also less threatening and even seems childish in Gojou manner lolol but that’s sometimes how Gojou approaches serious things: in a joking way.

Gojou has such a similar reaction where he doesn't say what he is thinking directly, but masks it. In the chapter where Todou says that they should continue with the exchange event, he questions Todou’s age XD and here he asks if he really is a first grader.

That right panel tho... what was going through his mind in that moment? Surprise? Pity? This kid is not normal.

Akutami-sensei Q&A mentioned that the one to tell Megumi about his father was going to be Gojou... and I wonder how it’s going to go? also, Gojou getting out of the box? aaa-

I wonder how it must have felt for Megumi... when the suspicious dude with white hair actually did take care of things. The fanbook with the following Q&A for Fushiguro:

Q: How did he become so insightful?

A: Maybe it's because he has negative thinking and doesn't just trust people.

Source: JJK Official Fanbook (fan translation)

Oof, his own upbringing made him like that. Especially with how he regards himself...

When it says that he “doesn’t just trust people”, Megumi then probably didn’t expect much from Gojou after their first meeting and is surprised when Gojou comes back :(

His father and mother leaving him, but Gojou coming back... although the situation doesn’t get better when later on Tsumiki goes into a coma and Gojou is sealed...

He will take care of things after a hehe~ ;-;

---

Oh, yeah and:

Q: Has he known Maki and Mai even before entering the school?

A: Yes. When Gojo was working on Megumi and the Zenin clan issue, he took him to the Zenin house, so I think that's when they first met.

source: JJK Official Fanbook (fan translation) (same as above)

Seems like the Zen’in house is in Kyoto? Because of Maki and Mai’s birthplace not to mention Naoya’s kansai dialect. So... did they go on a trip to Kyoto? :D

---

Then, Gojou counting on shotagumi to work extra hard.... so he can be strong ;-; and maybe become part of his nakama group to change Jujutsu's society huhuhu

On the topic about being granted a choice, I only came to realize it after reading this excellent work, Close Your Eyes (To See) it’s a lovely soulmate fanfic, please consider reading it if you haven’t ^^. Megumi usually goes on about unfairness randomly granted on people, so to be given a choice about going to the Zen’ins or not is quite big. Particularly when it comes to how the Zen’ins would have treated Tsumiki, a non sorcerer. It’s too good.

The look when he says that ;-; counting on Megumi to get strong enough to rival Gojou? Then Gojou wouldn’t be the only one going against the conservative higher ups.

When Gojou closes his eyes, it seems to convey regret/resolution where he sets in motion his plan to reform the Jujutsu society so that no more sorcerers go stray or overwhelmed by duties following a rigid doctrine ;-; as if preventing them becoming like Getou. And thats so aaah because while I knew what Gojou's wish was, I didn't know the why behind it, and that would be a great reason. Megumi has been with Gojou since the start (or near the beginning of it), so it’s even more beautiful.

That transition from closed to eyes to the present where the 1st year trio wakes him up. Was he recalling all those events during the nap?

I- I just love Megumi's pouty face here. But it's still not that angry looking, more like, he is used to it (as always). Then my gofushi brain telling me that there is a hint of concern in Megumi's look- its almost affectionate. Could it be concern because he is worried about how much sleep he gets.

About Gojou’s sleep:

Q: How many hours does he sleep?

A: Seems like only for a short while.

source: JJK Official Fanbook (fan translation)

And Megumi being aware of his tendency to eat sweet things:

“When he’s busy, Gojou-sensei tend to eat more sweets like these, after all…”

source: JJK First Light Novel - Chapter 1 (fan translation)

aaaaaaaaaaah

Gojou lifting his blindfold to look at Megumi with his left eye because Megumi is on his left side.

Wait... it’s the same left eye from the second opening of the first season.... is that a hint.

The legendary “Oh, nothing <3″ with the heart~

Is he being fond of Megumi because of dreaming about their first encounter or because Megumi did get strong, or, or, both of those. aaaah what if it was from recalling everything that happened in the 9 years they've known each other? Calm down! Probably because he got strong comrades now! ;-; i-it’s not just because of Megumi! ...but I like how he has his body turned to Megumi only...

It's a "Megumi has been with him all this time (9 years) while he is trying to achieve his dream and he became this strong"

They... they just look so good together ;-; my gofushi feelings... Chapter 79 is special grade.

[Part 4]

#gofushi #五伏 #self indulgent #re-reading jjk with gofushi lenses

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vaguely-concerned · 4 years ago

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The Mandalorian Chapter 11; the rewatch edition

I have found a bit more enthusiasm for this one on the rewatch, so here goes!

- din snapping ‘I’m trying my best here!’ in a vaguely annoyed tone as his entire ship is going up in flames around him because he mostly doesn’t get angry as much as sulky... the height of cinema

- I love frog husband’s clothes, because they’re in a very similar style and colour scheme to frog lady’s but also incorporate the knitwear we see on the people of trask, so it both underlines his belonging with her and implies that he’s been on this moon for quite a while, they may have been apart for some time

especially his scarf is a darling detail and there’s a bit of contrast in texture to it next to his wife’s, it’s nice. he’s wearing a similar kind of vest to what we see on the fishermen later, too

- I think my favourite part of this entire episode (well second after din cradling the baby against him after nearly drowning) is just the design and Vibe of the planet and especially this harbour

for one I LOVE that it’s shown that even in the middle of the day it’s dark enough that the electric lights are still on when it’s overcast (it reminds me a bit of norway during the winter, actually, when dawn just never quite breaks and then slinks off in embarrassment before it’s even noon). and there’s also the... sails? nets? hanging around looking almost like flags, which are very Aesthetic but god knows what they’re for. maybe for drying fish on in the summer?

I think the building in the distance behind frog husband’s back here is a lighthouse? or it could be one of those towers for loading you see when they scout out the empire ship too, I suppose!

and one for my strange obsession with Texture on this show: these fabric-covered crates!!! they look exactly as dingy and moldy as you’d expect them to be in this climate, I wonder what they’re for (& I vaguely want to touch them)

- from the sound of it din’s vibroknife is uh ‘on’ when he pokes the squid thing, and he also goes for the tentacle the furthest away from the baby <3

proof the calamari flan have been scratched up a bit during all that time in din’s pockets! (the attention to detail in this show sometimes istg)

- this is 100% me reading too much into things again, call the overthinking police I’ll do my time meekly lol, but the boat looks a little bit like the mudhorn signet from this angle:

again din keeps his hand on or sooo close to his blaster in this entire scene, he knows this is sketch as all hell

a) once again I want to praise the effects team for how GOOD the aliens look in this episode holy shit and b) the hell is this dude wearing on the straps of his overalls tho

- the dude mando (axe woves) uses his little... wrist launcher thing to shoot with to finish two off the fishermen, so my theory that they can be loaded with other things than the whistling birds for slightly less effective use (maybe without the level of honing we’ve seen din’s be able to do?) is looking good!

- din actually has quite good form when diving into the water, I’m guessing he can swim at least tolerably when not in full armour, being stabbed at from all directions, having just had his son eaten by a sea monster and also being trapped in with said sea monster (I’m a strong swimmer and I can tell you that there’s a reason they make you swim with clothes on from time to time to see how hard it is, it sucks. with metal plates strapped all over you as well? yeah good luck) people don’t tend to hit the water that gracefully without some kind of training in my experience lol. might be some of the training with the jet pack has carried over too, considering he throws himself off that cliff in chapter 12 with similar confidence?

it’s interesting that they’re once again showing us a threat where the armour doesn’t help and even hinders him. we’re so used to the ways it can make him near-invincible, but it can also drag him down (literally, in this case. aha ha ha. well if I’m not here for my own entertainment then what am I here for honestly)

- din’s voice sounding like he’s just on the verge of crying as he cradles the baby (and the sound he makes as he realizes the baby’s alive) is my kryptonite, turns out. fucking breaks my heart into tiny pieces every time, I would die for this man and he wouldn’t let me

- in support of din’s paranoia: so far this season we haven’t been able to go five minutes without someone talking about peeling the precious beskar off a mandalorian corpse, I can see why his mind was primed to move in one particular way there

- I think the fabric of din’s cape has been treated with something that makes it waterproof; the water seems to pearl on top of it rather than soak in! can you imagine how heavy it would get if it did absorb water tho christ

(a bit hard to see at this size but that’s what it looked like to me close up anyway! could also be that it’s wool and that’s why it looks that way but I prefer an elaborate sci-fi explanation here, because it doesn’t look particularly weighed down afterwards) might also explain why he doesn’t seem worried about it catching on fire when he uses the jetpack haha, maybe this is something the mandos do with fabric they’re going to use for a long time

I also enjoy part of the gambeson/undersuit thing poking up from under the shoulder pauldron and cape; I think this is about as disheveled as we’ve seen him since immediately post-mudhorn

- the sound mixing in this scene, where din’s breathing is layered a bit over everything else so you almost feel like you’re in the helmet with him listening to what the others are saying........ oh my GOD, it embeds you so deeply in his POV but so subtly

- not to be biased or anything... but din and the armorer’s armour design is so vastly superior to these guys it shouldn’t even be a competition lol

din looks like an honest to god knight in shining armour except also sci-fi western and the armorer looks like a fucking war goddess from a time beyond memory; the clone wars mandos look like high end cosplayers (eh maybe it’s just my dislike for the boobplates that has me so 😒 lol. also a lot of dudes were very shitty about that whole thing and I don’t say anything but the ‘vaguely-concerned will remember this’ telltale message pops up in the corner every time)

moment of saltiness over: I do like the differentiation between their individual character designs

the differences in body type and helmet design is nice! they look like a unified team, but with individuality. I suspect the ladies have those belts and their armour plates on the hips instead of the front of the thighs to emphasize the ‘female’ silhouette, which. okay fine whatever

- bo katan looks very pointedly down at the baby after saying ‘a group of religious zealots who want to return to the ancient ways’ which makes me VERY nervous for reasons I can’t quite articulate

- the mournful guitar version of the mando theme as din watches the sunset...... hmmmmngh (this might be some Symbolism happening to us folks strap in for the identity crisis he still hasn’t processed)

- I Cannot get over din being so unimpressed by and uninterested in bo katan’s ‘retake mandalore’ sales pitch from literally the first moment dfhasdkjfhsad sorry lady kryze this man just does not do main quest shit, he’s all side quests all the time and that’s why I love him

- as someone who after chapter 8 wrote a whole-ass fic that was wholly & exclusively about din telling the baby he’ll always come back for him... some of the shit he’s been saying this season does feel like it’s been written to mercilessly victimize me, personally and specifically

- guessing this structure in the background is the traffic control tower! doesn’t really matter, I just thought it was neat

- this part of the soundtrack is called ‘ship o hoj, mandalorians!’, which I found incredibly charming haha (it’s ‘ship ahoy’ except how you write it in swedish, good one herr göranson)

- bo katan is vague about who exactly the new mand’alor would be if they took back mandalore to begin with, she doesn’t specify she is planning to be the ruler until she’s already got din on the ship and in no position to refuse to help. gotta respect the grift at least lol

I do love her voice, though, it reminds me a bit of jennifer hale as shepard

- “I need to get back to my ship, with the foundling” your honor I uh love him so fucking much

- frog lady stroking the baby’s back a bit as she holds her hand behind him to make sure he doesn’t fall backwards while playing with the tadpole ;___________;

and also frog husband and frog lady reaching out to hold hands and frog smooching as din and yodito leave ;____________________________________________;

- when din says the exasperated “mon calamari. unbelievable” line, the baby makes that little blowing a raspberry sound he does as if to agree ‘uh-huh unbelu -- unbelly -- unbelievable dad smh’ and it is very very adorable

- there’s quite a bit of Stuff in the concept art that didn’t make it in this time around; I wonder if maybe they cut some stuff for pacing or whatever and that’s why this episode is so short? water leaking into the cockpit of the razor crest, something that looked a bit like whaling going on on the docks and more spaceships taking off (maybe there were originally meant to be some smaller ships defending the big empire one?), there’s quite a bit here

#star wars #the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #the mandalorian meta

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horansqueen · 5 years ago

Text

You & Me : chapter 17

A Niall Horan fanfiction ; rated MA

Sequel to AM CONVERSATIONS

CHAPTER 1 || CHAPTER 2 || CHAPTER 3 || CHAPTER 4 || CHAPTER 5 || CHAPTER 6 || CHAPTER 7 || CHAPTER 8 || CHAPTER 9 || CHAPTER 10 || CHAPTER 11 || CHAPTER 12 || CHAPTER 13 || CHAPTER 14 || CHAPTER 15 || CHAPTER 16

NOTES:

-one chapter is her pov, the next is his. -4.2k -im sorry, i never proofread, i hate it. -there WILL be smut. but not only smut. -this is a romance, comedy, smut story. -for the summary, check my MASTERLIST.

- notes: i know some of you were sort of waiting for that soooo here it is! PLEASE let me know what you think!

if you want to be on the list of blogs i notify when this is updated, just message me :)

requests! : i added a few but some im not posting the screenshots of because i didnt add everything in the ask so it felt weird to add them. it was tough to add requests tho because I sort of had something planned. i hope you enjoy it anyway :)

Chapter 17 : His chapter

NIALL

I hadn't heard from Olivia in days but I was not really surprised. Apparently, her fiance (and trust me when I said I hated that word) had came back for a few days and she had without a doubt spent all her time with him. I was so mad when Harry told me about it that I actually initiated sex with my girlfriend, which was something I hadn't done in a very long time. I hated to think about Olivia with him. In fact, I hated to think about Olivia with anyone that was not me, and it was driving me a bit insane. Who would have thought my best friend would give me all these feelings? I wouldn't have guessed that back then, when we were kids.

I was the first one to sit at the restaurant as I waited for everyone to be there. It was sunday morning and we all had decided to have brunch together. I was not really in the mood but at least, it made me get out of the house, if only for a few hours. Even Heidi, whom I almost broke up with about 5 times in the past 2 days, couldn't handle being around me too much. I was still pissed at her and I knew she could feel it but somehow, I felt like she held me responsible for everything that had happened, like me being mad at her for what she did gave her the right to be mad at me.

Of course, I was not completely innocent in all of this and the fact that Olivia and I had kissed and more should make me feel guilty but it didn't. We were supposed to be together so why were we still apart and dating other people?

Louis and Eleanor were the first ones to join me, followed by Julie and Liam. We started talking about what we would do for Harry's birthday when I felt her presence behind me. It was a mix of the connection we had, and the way she smelled like, that always made me know when she was around and I started wondering if she could sense when I was near, too. It's only when she took a seat that something stirred in my stomach. Her boyfriend was there too and he was doing everything he could not to look at me. It made me frown and suddenly, I realized that she probably told him everything. It shouldn't surprise me, she was not the kind to keep things from people or even worse, lie, but I thought it was something that only belonged to us and it bothered me to know that she shared it with someone else, even if that someone else was the boyfriend she was cheating on. He was also still there, with her, making me think he had forgiven her, which was some crazy level of bullshit.

I tried to have fun and chat with everyone but I couldn't help but keep glancing at Olivia. She didn't seem at ease and I was not even sure why she had decided to come. She didn't enjoy that kind of confrontation and awkward moments normally and once again, I guessed that Dylan was probably the one who had convinced her to come.

I knew everyone was having fun but I was not and when everyone was done eating and were just chatting and laughing, I got up and said my goodbyes. They were short and I had a hard time to fake a smile but I still sent one last glance to my ex girlfriend before leaving.

I was searching for the right key on my chain when I noticed someone from the corner of my eyes and immediately hoped it was Olivia. When I turned my head, however, I noticed Dylan walking towards me and I was wondering if he was just going to throw his fist in my face. I didn't know what kind of guy he was, and although I felt like my ex girlfriend couldn't pick a violent guy, I also didn't know what a man who was cheated on could do.

"Hey man," he started, standing in front of me with a small frown before sighing. "Look, i'm not sure how to tell you that but, I know there's something between you and my girlfriend."

I stood there in silence, not really knowing what he expected from me. Was I supposed to agree? Apologize? Try to explain myself?

"I love her, you know."

I kept a straight face but my heart jumped in my chest. I loved her too. I was in love with her, but I couldn't tell him that, even if I was dying to.

"I know."

"Just," he passed his hand nervously in his hair. "I don't know how to ask you not to ruin this."

I stared at him for a few seconds, trying to let his words sink in and I started feeling bad. Not because I felt guilty for trying to get my ex girlfriend back, but because It was not the first time someone was asking me not to ruin something. I knew I could lie to him but I was not going to.

"I don't intend to ruin your relationship." I just pointed out in a low tone. "But is that really what you want? You want to marry a girl who's not completely yours?"

He sighed and glanced down before looking up in my eyes.

"If you were me, wouldn't you try anyway?"

This time, I had to admit that I was speechless and I just sighed too. Of course I would. If I was in his shoes, I would probably try to keep her, too, which is something I should have done over a year ago instead. If I had, we wouldn't be stuck in this mess.

I ended up just nodding and he did the same before turning around and leaving. I waited until he was back inside to get in my car and closed my eyes, breathing in and out deeply. I couldn't get myself to give up about Olivia, even if I knew she would be happy with Dylan, even if I knew it would hurt him and probably Heidi in the process, even if it would make an even bigger mess in our lives. I hit my wheel once and then a few more times a bit harder, hitting also the honk by accident. It was getting ridiculous and I knew that whatever was going to be decided needed to happen very soon.

I drove home and waited. I didn't want to be the first one to reach out, I thought that time, she was the one who had to call me and I waited.

It was a random thursday afternoon when I got her text message. The truth was, I was sitting in front of the tv but I was not really watching it. I had picked a netflix show that I was not really interested in just because I knew I was not able to focus on anything but when I put it on pause, I realized it would now probably suggest me a bunch of boring tv shows and I sighed, grabbing my phone. I could pretend I was not happy to get a message from her but i'd be lying. I could even try to say I tossed my phone away and kept on watching my stupid show but in reality, my heart had skipped a beat and I had re-read her words about ten times.

'Can we talk? I miss you.'

I blinked a few times, a bit surprised and annoyed by her words, and pressed my lips together in anger. Did she really just message me as if I hadn't stormed out of her place the last time we talked to each other? As if she hadn't asked me not to break up with my girlfriend after pointing out she was still getting married despite everything that had happened between us? As if she hadn't ignored me at the restaurant? I wanted to text her back to remind her that I was pissed and let her know she needed to stop toying with me. Instead, I decided to do it face to face.

'Where?'

I was expecting her to choose between her place of mine but instead, she asked me to meet her in a park and it made me frown. I got up and grabbed my keys and wallet, but kept my sweatpants and t-shirt. I had been quite lazy in the past few days and I didn't even give a fuck.

The drive seemed long but it was probably just because I was impatient and when I saw her, waiting for me on a bench, I stopped walking and inhaled deeply before sighing again. She looked good and I had missed her. The anger I felt so strongly for her now seemed more like annoyance or pain and I didn't feel like being rude to her anymore. I pushed my hands in my pockets, my eyes never leaving her, as hers were traveling around her. She could have been on her phone like most people would but instead, she was looking at kids running, people having picnics and most of all, at dogs walking by. I noticed her lips curling slightly every time one was near and it made me smile a bit, too. It's only when her eyes moved on me that I smiled more and I noticed that she did too. Why was it always so strong when we were near each other? I walked to her and sat a bit farther on the bench, making sure we wouldn't touch. She turned slightly to face me as I leaned against the back of the bench. placing my arm on it too, my hand very close to her shoulder now.

"I'm here now." I just said, my smile faltering a bit. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I'm sorry for what I did, Niall. I'm sorry for what I said, too." she let out, surprising me a bit. "Of course what happened between us matters. It's... it's all that matters, or almost."

She sighed and I stared at her as she looked down at her hands. She started playing with her fingers nervously and licked her lips but I remained silent.

"I asked to meet here so we wouldn't be tempted to just throw ourselves at each other instead to talk. Because that's all we do, you know? We flirt and we kiss and we touch but we have no idea what to do with our feelings."

I moved slightly closer to her and bent down a bit as my hand gripped the back of the bench tightly. It caught her attention and she looked up, her traits softening immediately when our eyes met.

"I love you and you love me." I whispered firmly, my eyes dropping to her lips before moving back to her eyes. "You love me more than you love him. We're meant to be."

Those were not even questions, they were facts, and somehow, I could feel that she thought the same thing. Her lips parted and I realized that I was in her vital space and despite how rational and private I was, that made me want to kiss her. Whenever we were at very short distance of each other, we were attracted to each other like magnets.

I pressed my lips together but it took me all my strength to move back a bit, making sure I wouldn't just kiss her right there, in the middle of a discussion.

"I know you want me to break things with Dylan, I'm just... Niall I'm not sure I trust you." she looked up and I saw she was tearing up. "You used to be the only person I really trusted and now? I don't know, Niall.."

"I know I've hurt you, I know I've broken your trust, but we deserve an other chance don't you think?"

She closed her eyes and swallowed hard but when she looked at me again, a tear fell from her right eye and she quickly wiped it.

"What exactly do you want, Niall?" she asked, sniffing.

"You! I want you!" I expressed a bit louder. "It's your heart I want Olivia!"

"Why? So you can break it again? Shatter it in pieces? Stomp on it?" she let out, her face twisting in pain. "Because I won't survive this an other time, Niall!"

"I would nev-"

"You'd never do that?" she cut me quickly. "Because I used to believe you'd never break my heart and then you did. So I'm just supposed to let go of the only guy who's ready to drop everything for me, for a guy who broke me before?"

"Who says i'm not ready to give up everything for you?"

We stayed in silence for a long time, just looking at each other as people laughed, talked and ran around us. We were the only static alive things in the park. Even the trees moved due to the small breeze and I focused on her parted lips and how she looked wordless because of my question.

"I need time." her voice was so low it was almost inaudible and I just nodded, feeling my heart twist in my chest. "I'm sorry again for the other day. I should have ran after you."

"I should have called you back then. I should have tried to get in contact with you. I should have told you that I missed you, that I still wanted you in my life. I should have told you my album was about you." I let out before taking a short pause. "I shouldn't have broken up with you."

Her head tilted and the left corner of her lips moved up a bit.

"And I should kiss you right now."

"But you won't." I just let out low.

"I won't."

I nodded and sighed, finally looking away.

"I'll give you all the time you need." I gave in, knowing I was going to have to be very patient. "But even if I understand your reluctance, I love you, and I hope you can trust me again."

I felt her fingertips brush on the top of my hand that was still gripping the back of the bench and held my breath at the feeling of her skin against mine.

"Me too."

----

We decided to do the party at Louis and Olivia's and for some reason, I liked that idea. We had fooled Harry with the surprise by throwing colorful balloons at him and screaming 'Happy Birthday!" when he walked by the door and it was probably the cheesiest thing we ever did. Of course, Louis had proposed to play a prank on him where we would all ignore him all day but from what I had understood, Olivia had voted against it and apparently, she had a veto power or something.

"Who drank all the beer?" Louis asked in a loud voice after dinner. "I'm tired to drink your expensive wine, Livi, I want cheap beer and some nachos!"

"You are the most annoying person ever!" Olivia let out, rolling her eyes, before turning to Eleanor. "I don't know how you do it!"

El laughed as Louis glared at my ex girlfriend. "You're the one who lives with him!"

"Not for long again."

I frowned again and moved my chin in her direction. "Are you moving out?"

"No, Louis and I are going to move in together." Eleanor replied with a large smile as Olivia walked up to me.

She opened her lips to say something but Eleanor talked again and caught her attention.

"Did you drink? We could go buy beers maybe? Just so he shuts up!"

"Heyyy, I heard that!" Louis pointed out as El wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I can drive, no problem, I just had a glass of wine before dinner." Olivia shrugged, grabbing her hoodie and looking for her keys.

I wanted to propose to go with her but I knew it was a bad idea. Besides, Julie and Eleanor just grabbed their stuff and all the girls left, leaving me with Harry, Liam and a tipsy Louis. I don't know how the discussion turned from Harry being extra single at the moment to sexual encounters but I kept glancing by the window to see when they'd actually come back.

"I swear, that girl was crazy. She had me buy a whip and stuff." Harry rolled his eyes. "A real one too, like, it was insane."

"Don't even try, I bet you loved it. You're the kind of guy that makes us want to believe he's a dom but he's just really a sub." Louis laughed, raising his nose up with amusement. "The best kind of sex is just that first time you push yourself inside a girl that you've wanted for a long time. That my friend, is what bliss is all about."

"Or you know, a fucking good blowjob." Liam let out, making all of us laugh.

"I love when the girl lets me be a bit rough with her." Louis just added with a sly smile.

"Yea, Olivia loved a bit of a spank." Harry laughed, making me frown immediately.

I didn't like hearing about my ex girlfriend having sex with anyone, as hypocrite as it could sound. I also didn't want to be reminded that they fucked and dated, and most of all, it seemed extremely inappropriate to talk about one of our friends like that. Friend who could walk by the door at any moment.

"Oh yea, and a light choke, too."

This time, I frowned even more and turned to Louis who was laughing.

"And how exactly do you know that?" I asked a bit rudely, making him look at me.

"Relax, mate. She told me." he just explained with a shrug.

"So you never had sex with her?" I insisted just as meanly as the room fell silent. Everyone turned to Louis who remained motionless for a few seconds before clearing his throat and taking the cigarette he had placed behind his ear to light it up. I didn't really think they had but he knew so many things about her that it bothered me.

"Niall, come on."

His answer made my heart jump so high in my chest that I thought I was going to puke. If he hadn't had sex with her, he would have just said that, right?

"Did you fucking have sex with my girlfriend, Tomlinson?" I asked a bit louder, getting up quickly.

"EX girlfriend, Niall!" Louis frowned, getting up too, before pushing the smoke out of his lungs quickly. "You two were broken up."

I heard Harry curse but didn't send him a glance. All I could think about was Louis' hand wrapped around Olivia's neck as he fucked her and that made me feel even worse.

"You're a fucking hypocrite!" I almost yelled. "Telling how much of an asshole I was for sleeping around after breaking up with her while you were shagging her!"

"Oh I'M a hypocrite?" Louis frowned, tapping his chest a finger from the hand he was still holding his cigarette with before pointing at me. "Take a look at yourself! Being all mad that your ex girlfriend rode my cock while your dick dipped in so many vaginas you probably can't even remember half of them!"

I felt myself get so angry that I practically ran to him before being stopped by Liam, who acted like a shield between us. He placed his hands on my chest and tried to get my attention by moving his face in front of mine.

"Woa mate, no, don't."

I put my hands into two fists and squeezed them so hard I knew my knuckles had turned white and I felt them shaking. Why didn't anyone tell me that my ex girlfriend and one of my best friends had sex before?

"How many times?" I just asked in a low tone, waiting a few seconds to get an answer. Silence. "How many fucking times!?"

Louis didn't have time to answer. The door opened and the three girls walked in, laughing together. They all stopped when they saw us and Eleanor frowned, her eyes moving from me, to Louis and then Liam.

"Okay, what's wrong here."

My eyes found Olivia but she was looking at Louis with a questioning look. I turned to him as he shrugged a shoulder and his lips twisted in a small and guilty smile. Olivia sighed, rubbing her eyes, and that's when I realized there was one thing that bothered me more than them having sex. It was to realize that they were so close now that they could communicate without even talking.

I groaned slightly and stormed out of the room, trying to calm myself but I was pacing in the hall, pulling on my hair and letting out a few curse words under my breath.

"Nee."

I turned only to see Olivia stare at me with soft eyes but it didn't ease the anger inside me. I stopped walking and shut my eyes tight until I felt her hand take mine. My eyes fluttered open again as she stepped back slowly, bringing me to her room. I followed her, not really sure what she was doing, and she let go of my hand when we were inside.

"Please, close the door."

I sighed but finally did what she asked. We were standing together in the dark, very close to each other, but neither of us tried to touch the other or get closer.

"Can you turn the light on, please?"

Once again, I obeyed without a word and when her face appeared in front of me, I immediately imagined her naked on top of Louis. I looked away and closed my eyes, diving my hands in my pockets quickly and playing with the fabric inside of them, twisting it with my fingers.

"Louis told you, right? Is that why you're so mad?"

"Is that why i'm-" I repeated in a whisper. "Are you fucking serious?" I added louder.

"Niall, I was single, and he was single, and you were who knows where." she explained. Her words hurt me but her tone was soft. "I needed comfort, he needed comfort... You got comfort too, didn't you? With a few girls, I heard?"

"But not with any of your friends." I argued, shaking my head. "And I didn't have sex with as many girls as you seem to believe. Is that really what you think of me?"

Once again, the blame was turned towards me when in reality, i was the one who felt fucking betrayed by their behavior.

"Tell me, Olivia." I continued a bit roughly. "How many times did you let one of my best friends make you cum, uh? How many times did you allow him to fuck you so hard you'd forget about me?"

"That's the thing, Niall! I didn't forget about you! Not a fucking second!"

Her answer made my lips part and I stopped frowning. She took a step closer and once again, took my hand in hers, bringing it up to press her palm against mine before intertwining our fingers together.

"I love you, Niall." she whispered. "Having you so close to me all the time... it's making my body vibrate. I know it sounds stupid but it's true. I miss you. I miss everything we did."

My eyes roamed on her face and I licked my lips.

"You're trying to distract me from what I just learned, aren't you?" I asked low.

"No, I'm trying to tell you that it meant nothing. Not for him and not for me. He's the closest friend I have, and we shared that together in a few moments of desperation and intense sadness. I didn't make love with him, I only made love with you. In all my life."

"I only made love with you too." I admitted, squeezing her hand in mine as I watched her tear up.

"Really?" she asked in a whisper as I saw her break down.

"Yes of course, really." I repeated. "Did you doubt it?"

I watched her nod and sniff again. I couldn't wait for the day that the feelings I would bring inside her would only be good ones. I wanted to see her smile again, I wanted to make her happy. I had promised myself I would make her happiness my priority and once again, she was crying right in front of me.

"What can I do to make you smile, Olivia?"

She brought her free hand on my chest and let it slide gently over my shirt as she licked her lips.

"I know I said I needed time but, please, kiss me." she murmured, trying not to sob again. "Just kiss me."

#niall horan #niall horan fluff #niall horan smut #niall horan fanfic #niall horan fan fic #niall horan fanfiction #niall horan fan fiction #niall horan writing #niall horan story #my fanfics #yam

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coffeeandcalligraphy · 5 years ago

Note

Hey there! :) This is for the OC Ask Game, for Harrison: could you answer questions 1-6, 14 &15? Hope you're doing well!

Oh let’s just expose Harrison *cracks knuckles*

1: List five basic facts about your OC.

He’s turning 22 (just shy of his birthday in Moth Work)

He’s gay as fuuuuuh

He’s from Brooklyn, NY

He’s an only child

If you come for his jacket, he’ll come for your life (a very basic fact)

2: Post a line of dialogue from your OC.

This is dialogue from book 3 that I still can’t get over (for context, Reeve is criticizing Harrison’s choice of Walmart as a gourmet pie shop back when Walmart used to be a big thing in my books lmaooo):

Reeve: “So your gourmet pie shop is Walmart?”

Harrison: “Why yes, actually… Do you have a problem with saving money and living better?”

lmfaoooo

Also an iconic interaction from Moth Work:

Lonan: “You’re patronizing me.”

Harrison: “You’re patronizing yourself.”

3: Post a snippet from your writing that describes your OC.

So this is the first ever description of Harrison from book 1 (I had just turned thirteen when I wrote this):

There’s a faint click somewhere to my right and a soft glow soon illuminatesthe room, shattering the darkness into pieces. I shake off the fact that Ican’t see where the light is coming from, instead pointing the still loaded gunat the first thing I see, a boy who looks a bit older than me with what I makeout to be honey blond hair and the most pissed off expression on his face.

(fun fact I really wrestled with describing the colour of Harrison’s hair at the time and probably changed “honey blonde” from “honey brown” like 5000 times, 13-year-old me had BEEF with his hair colour)

4: Post a snippet from your writing in which another OC describes your OC.

This is a very old description I scavenged to find from book 6 where Reeve vaguely describes Harrison in the first paragraph which is one way to go about it:

Beside me is wood smoke and copper, leather and strong coffee, all strung around human flesh. He moves with precision, like a player focused on a riveting chess match…

And here’s the most recent paragraph (and the last paragraph in Lonan’s POV) of Lonan describing Harrison when they meet up for the first time after brief hiatus (I haven’t shared this yet, so for context, Suzanna is Harrison’s mother):

In the kitchen, Suzanna laughs at Eliza’s joke, something vaguely about Geminis, or maybe she says alibis. He doesn’t quite hear it. He doesn’t mean to drop the rose, but it falls with a muffled thump between them, a floral border. Lonan blinks many times. He breathes many times. He counts many times. But after all the tests—the blinking, the breathing, the counting, the person at the door doesn’t change. Sunshine hair. Concerned mouth. Semi-crooked nose. Butterfly lashes. Eyes the colour of a kingfisher.

5: Describe your OC’s physical appearance.

Harrison’s the cutest guy in town, so cute he managed to convince @sarahkelsiwrites to get me to write book one! Without Harrison’s cuteness, this 8 book series/monstrosity would not exist! As I’ve said, Harrison’s a cutie and should definitely be treated as such (the downfall of Moth Work loool). He’s shorter than Lonan by just a bit tho I really can’t think of how tall my characters are because I am apparently short and can’t imagine anyone a foot taller than me, so all you need to know is he’s tall but still shorter than Lonan lol. He looks a lot like his Portuguese mother and takes on both her “semi-crooked nose, the same mouth, straight and concerned, the same markabove the eyebrow he always thought came from some sort of accident. Eventhough her eyes are brown and his are clearish and teal, it’s like he has hereyes too—soft and rimmed with lashes like butterfly wings” according to Lonan lool. He wears Lonan’s fake mom’s earring which is a pretty dangly blue gem. Though Harrison could look like anything and all he’d need to be Harrison is his leather jacket. In the book cover I designed, Lonan’s wearing it (ROOD) as he unknowingly takes it in chapter 6, but besides that one time, his jacket never comes off! He also wears his mother’s guardian angel necklace which is a newer edition, though a well-liked one as I always pictured him wearing a chain of some sorts! It’s important to note that when I was thirteen, the only way I’d describe Harrison’s eyes were as “burning turquoise” loool.

Here’s how I drew him for the book cover (though I couldn’t really get his eyes right are they burning turquoise-y enough??):

6: Describe your OC’s love life.

Messy! Harrison’s gone through a lot as a hopeless romantic, and has been lead to much heartbreak because of it. If he loves someone, he really loves someone, and this is very much seen in his feelings toward Lonan. Since we’re spilling the tea on Harrison, here’s his relationship with Lonan throughout the books + as Nothing But Thieves songs (because we’re going THERE):

Book 2

When the boys actually meet! Lonan didn’t exist in book 1 and I think Harrison’s sanity benefitted from this but anyway

They’re coworkers (back when this book was a dystopia lmao, Harrison took an open job as a tech analyst in Lonan’s government squad which was his pride and joy and I have since of course axed it)

They don’t like each other but can’t get enough of being enemies if u know what I mean

NBT song: Last Orders

Book 3

This “love being your enemy” thing continues even when Lonan makes his redemption arc and he’s no longer an enemy lmaoo

We get to see their actual friendship develop toward the ¾ mark of the book

“Clearly these people care about each other” kind of vibe!

NBT song: Wake Up Call

Book 4

We see a new level of closeness develop between the boys, and though we’re in Reeve’s head, she def senses some tension mwahaha

NBT song: Afterlife

Book 5

Harrison really steps in as not only a friend for Lonan in this book, but a body of support while his mental health goes through it

NBT song: Reset Me

Book 6

They’re both mad at each other for almost this entire book but this gives us more of that tension we WANT

Reeve really notices this tea develop and she be sippin it the whole book

Toward the midpoint there’s definitely explicit suggestion of their relationship (Reeve can’t fully see this as she’s mostly concerned about herself but there’s definitely an ongoing relationship in this book that’s pretty turbulent):

NBT song: You Know Me Too Well

Moth Work

This relationship sees a lot of bad times

It ain’t a healthy relationship by any means and things start falling apart! Both boys have things they have to work out, that are currently causing lots of conflict!

The TEA I have not shared yet is that I *plan* for them to split up by the end of this book (though they never were really together in this book so it’s not really a breakup lol). Harrison moves to Brooklyn with his mom and Lonan stays in Vegas with Eliza (do with that what you will!!)

NBT song: Hostage (for Harrison) and Take This Lonely Heart (for Lonan)

14: What is one of your OC’s secrets?

That he likes waffles better than he like Lonan? Scandle! Harrison had an affinity for waffles in book one. Here are receipts:

A scene from book 3 (2015) that features a lot of iconic content (Harrison’s waffle kink, Foster being prime-time soft boi, grumpy Lonan, narrated by Reeve who manages to not inject her opinion once, my classic 2015 “witty” YA dialogue):

“Ah, well… your sister [the youngest, not Reeve lol] was talking about people, and how being mean is the only way that they listen… She may or may not have had a run-in with Harrison earlier, which is why the topic was brought up…” From next to him, Ris grunts over his steaming waffles, a full mouth when he turns his face toward Lonan who’s got the same laptop in front of his face, furiously tapping at the keyboard as he concentrates.

Harrison actually reaches over and slams the lid shut.

“Hey asshole,” he says around his mouthful of waffle. “Put the fucking technology away, and be a little social.” Lonan’s dead silent on the receiving end, and when I look closer at him, I realize it’s because his fists are tightly clenched and a vein in his forehead’s bulging.

“That was three full days of work that you might’ve completely ruined!” Lonan hisses, eyes wide and angry as he stares at Harrison who’s scowling around his breakfast.

“Anyway…” Foster continues awkwardly. “Basically, helping people is sometimes–” He’s cut off as a giant waffle is smothered up to his face, Harrison holding it out tauntingly. “What the hell are you doing?”

“You know you want the waffle… Waffles…”

Also to the waitress while he and Reeve bond at a diner:

“Thank you.” Harrison says with a wide smile, staring at the waffles like they’re the love of his life. “Oh my fucking god.” He mumbles, and I assume that I’m not meant to here that.

15: Your OC is given the chance to go back in time. Where do they go and what do they do?

I think there are a lot of things he’d like to change in his past, namely his relationship with his mother who he’s estranged from until the end of Moth Work. I think he would’ve liked to see her more in his teens (despite being a hard ass when she does show up in Moth Work). He’d go back to Brooklyn and like chill in a pizzeria with his mom lol. On a lighter note, I think he’d also like, join ABBA or something.

Thanks for asking!

#writing #amwriting #fostered #asks

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joanna-lannister · 5 years ago

Note

In your opinion what are the differences between Cersei and Jaime's relationship in the show versus the books? Which one do you prefer?

I'll be honest, and I know it's an upopular opinion (maybe even more in the JC fandom) but : I prefer the show version because... I don't care that much about the books. And it's not only for Jaime and Cersei but for almost everything and it's probably biased since I started the show first so it has a special place in my heart. It has flaws, for sure, but so does the books and they annoys me so damn much ngl 💀 I can barely finish them, I read from time to time a POV I'm interested in and that's all. I love some quotes tho, like:

" "Do you have a little wife, ser?"No, I have a sister." "

"[...] whilst Cersei dreamed a long sweet dream where Jaime was her husband and their son was still alive."

"I'm not ashamed of loving you, only of the things I've done to hide it."

and I would have loved to see when Ned catches Jaime tossing a kiss at Cersei disguised as a common woman in AGOT, or Jaime asking Cersei to marry him but other than that, I'm truly SATISFIED with what we got in the show.

As for the differences, their relationship in the books (and the books in general) is definitely darker, more violent even. Jaime is jealous to the point he wants to hurt Cersei physically.

"Last night he dreamed he’d found her fucking Moon Boy. He’d killed the fool and smashed his sister’s teeth to splinters with his golden hand, just as Gregor Clegane had done to poor Pia. In his dreams Jaime always had two hands; one was made of gold, but it worked just like the other."

While in the show, he is still jealous but not to that extreme, and he wouldn't hurt her that way. It's unclear if he knew about Lancel but I do believe he did -the walk of shame?- and also I think he knew why she had sex with him (aka getting rid of Robert before he learns the truth about them and their children) and never considered him as a threat. That's why it's not explicit, book!Jaime would never get it. But the men who "want" to marry her, to possess her, on the hand...We got glimpses, like when he threats to kill Robert (1x03 "I'll go to war with him if I have to.") or with Loras (4x02 "You'll never marry her."). Then, we have Euron. Jaime was jealous during the whole season 7, and when he learned Cersei plotted with him behind his back, he was mad and angry at her and it was one of the reasons he left imo - amongst her death threat and the fact he wanted to protect her and their child -. It's coming back as a full circle during the Jaime-Euron fight in 8x05.

Their love is more obsessive in the books, and they are also way more consumed by the idea to be each other mirror. In the show, we have like 0 reference to that? Their belief they will die together (I mean yes lol) is more explicit too. Though, GoT still keeps the pattern "together / us" a lot, but it means more "standing by each other sides". Speaking of that, they stayed together almost until the very end. I say almost since Jaime left for the North but he came back for her anyway and that was his plan at first: fighting the White Walkers and then coming back to her but he was angry about the lies. In the books, I'm not sure how that whole plot will unfold but I don't see them meeting each other again until they die together. They have a clear lack of communication and are more divided, even if they still think about the other.

I can mention the scene in the White Sword Tower too, I think it's maybe one of the best scene to compare their book to their show counterpart. I could maybe be more analytical but I'm gonna keep it short : first, Cersei never tells Tywin the rumors are true about her and Jaime in the books. When she finds Jaime, she says she doesn't care about who she is married to and that he is the only one who counts but Jaime still rejects her advances and she storms off. It's different in the show, the lines doesn't have the same meaning. Jaime is pissed off at first, yes, but when Cersei tells him she refuses to marry Loras, when she says she told the truth to their father and chooses him, they ended up fucking on that table.

If I had to use only one word to qualify their relationship in the books, I would use the word : raw. As book!Cersei said "Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same."

In the show, they are still passionate (hello 4x10 and 7x03 😌) and they argue too, of course, to the point of hurting the other, but there is also a layer of softness and tenderness that I think isn't present in the books. For example, in 6x01, when Cersei is crying, Jaime has his hand resting on her knee and when he starts the famous "Fuck everyone who isn't us.", he reaches swiftly for her neck, and then hugs her. While his words are vindicative and confident, his touches are strong and yet somehow more delicate as he tries to comfort her (does that make sense? lmao). Or in 8x05, when they find each other in the map room, they cling to each other with such emergency (I mean obviously since the world is falling apart around them but still), Cersei claws her hand in his back and Jaime squeezes his eyes shut, and then they part and look at each other with so much relief, all those micro expressions (seriously Jaime's little smile when he stares at her!), and Cersei's voice breaking when she says "You're bleeding."... It's intense, they are going through a literal storm of emotions, from anger to relief to love to worry and fear for the other, and I find it freaking amazing. That's something I love to see, and maybe that mix - that burning love they still have for each other after all those years, and yet that comfort they find - is probably what sold me for show!Jaime and Cersei.

Now, as I said, I don't really care about the books BUT, I'm still curious to read their final chapter. I kinda want to compare both ending because I'm wondering for some months now (long before the season 8 aired honestly) if the Valonqar prophecy isn't more of a metaphor and people takes it way too literally - some people CLEARLY forgets it wasn't in the show - so that's mostly why I'm curious. I will always love the end we got in the show. The only better ending would have been them finally being able to be together as they always wanted and happy with their baby but... it's Game of Thrones ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - still think it would have been such a good plot twist tho lol don't @ me -

I'm not sure if that's the answer you were looking for and I probably forget some stuffs from the books since it's not my principal element unlike the show but I hope it does help you at least!

And happy new year! 💕❤️

#and.... i wrote a novel again #sorryyyyy?!#i'm probably repetitive too but i'm tired rip #it's the end of the year lol #hope it makes at least sense #anon #answered #otp : a dynasty for us

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snkpolls · 6 years ago

Text

SnK Chapter 115 Poll Results

The chapter poll closed with 1,585 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,471 responses

Isayama’s winning streak continues. Overall chapter satisfaction was up almost 10% over last month with the majority of fans (57.2%) giving it a 5 rating. Less than 5% viewed the chapter unfavorably.

Isayama is ruthless, my god.

We got an amazing chapter this month which came out of the blue, in my opinion. So many answers were given as well as many more shocking questions. Definitely one of the best

It was definitely more eye opening and you could just feel the tension through the different scenes.

I loved this chapter, it was definitely one of the most compelling

This is a candidate for the greatest chapter of the manga, the last candidate was chapter 112 followed by 104 and there are a lot of them. Isayama-sensei is killing it. Every single chapter is either great, or a candidate for the greatest chapter.

Honestly, just incredible. Everything I could've possibly wanted. These kinds of chapters are why attack on titan will be my favorite for a long time.

It was an interesting chapter. We got to learn more about the PATHS and some parallels to older chapters were cool.

A bit of a rollercoster of emotions but, I’m putting my faith in Isayama he’ll do what’s best

Loved it, everything's insane and pulling at nerves. Eren is the best, hands down. He's got to have the best poker face. Neither side even knows what he's up to!

Masterpiece. Wanna know more about the girl who seems to be ymir, and Pieck’s intentions as well. Cuz idt she can even stand a chance against eren, imo.

THIS CHAPTER WAS LOADED WITH FLASHBACKS. WHICH WERE YOU MOST EXCITED TO SEE?

1,457 responses

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Yeagerbro conversation was the most desired flashback and nearly 60% of the fandom were excited to see it. In second comes Zeke’s reaction to learning his father survived and continued on. The third place spot goes to Reiner and Bertolt as fans of the warriors were happy to see them again, even if for only a couple panels.

I'm a simple stan, I see Reiner and Bert, and I cry. 10/10 scene its about time we got more uprising arc warriors scenes but Isayama pls give us Reiner outside of a flashback again thanks

Finally, Jaeger Bros talk.

While flashbacks are nice, I feel like a lot of it was filler-esque and had hopped for more progress on what happened to Levi and Zeke.

WHAT WAS THE MOST DISTURBING IMAGERY OF THE CHAPTER? 1,492 responses

Attack on Titan is known for its plethora of disturbing imagery, and this chapter was no exception. The majority of readers, at 32.3%, thought that a titan shoving Zeke into its stomach was rather unsettling. 16.5% were especially grossed out by Levi’s fingers being several yards from the rest of him. Coming in third, 15.4% were disturbed by Levi’s face.

It might be the most disturbing chapter of the manga to date.

Floch, his presence and face is rather disturbing.

Yelena rape face

Ymir's soulless voids for eyes

The titan that vored Zeke was made of Flex Tape

I dont think you know what mpreg means...

The behaviour of the yeagerists towards levi which was once considered the hero of humanity

As a big Levi fan, everything that just happened to him in general.

Is everything an option? Because I am going with All Of The Above.

All of the above, tbh

all of them

Yes

OF THE FOLLOWING, WHICH WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF THE CHAPTER? 1,495 responses

Zeke’s rebirth wins by a small margin with the mystery girl coming at a very close second. At an equally close third, people were happy to see Hange find Levi and protect him from the Yeagerists. Following these was Pieck’s sudden reappearance, and Hange taking Levi and diving into the water to escape.

i honestly can't choose one. everything in this chapter was A++, one of my favorite ones in a while.

that path thing that ymir seemed to be experiencing too

Eren looking at pieck blankly 0.1 seconds after being shocked by her pointing a gun at him

Zeke's grief when considering the pain his younger brother must have suffered.

Levi’s wrecked face

Titan putting zeke into its belly

For myself personally, I found most memorable two events. Firstly, was the revelation of paths as being a physical plane on which one can percieve and exist, as opposed to a merely transcendental metaphysical force. Secondly, most memorable alongside that for me was the whole scene of Hange protecting Levi from Floch's band of Jägerists, in no small part due to my lowkey shipping of Levi and Hange.

Zeke's flashbacks + Zeke's rebirth + Pieck appearance

P A T H S

WHO WAS THE LITTLE GIRL THAT … TURNED ZEKE INTO A SANDCASTLE? 1,456 responses

While most people (almost 90%) agree that the mysterious little girl Zeke encountered is somehow Ymir Fritz, there’s no shortage of other creative possibilities regarding her identity:

I wonder if this girl could be Maria Fritz, the hair and hairband are similar.

It’s P A T H S, whose power is even more immense than that of the Devil of All Earth and Ymir Fritz. Paths can take the form of anything. Paths just happened to take the form of a little girl during that moment.

A new important character

The titan that resurrected Zeke was originally that girl. Because the titan was closest to Zeke, Paths compelled that titan to save Zeke, whether it wanted to or not.

Original inheritor of the beast titan

An asspull

I'm not sure maybe but it can be the girl "Christa" from Frieda's & Historia's storybook too

It seems clear enough to me that this is at least outwardly Ymir Fritz. As for it being I wonder perhaps if this girl being Ymir Fritz and the Devil of the Earth isn't mutually exclusive. I have no evidence to substantiate such a claim, but recently acknowledged the possibility on part of the historical misinformation in regards to her origins.

HOW SATISFIED WERE YOU WITH THE NEWLY SCULPTED ZEKE BOD, FROM “THE SAND WAS MORE APPEALING”, TO “GET THAT CENSORSHIP STEAM OUT OF THE WAY” 1,455 responses

We got a pretty full view of Zeke’s new bod this chapter, and it garnered love, hate, and apathy; as only Zeke’s body could. Most of you wanted to get a full view of that Eldian ass at 34.7%. On the opposite end, 22.3% would rather get freaky with the sand that turned into the bod in question; and 25.1% don’t have a strong preference either way. 6.4% aren’t in love with either the sand or Zeke, and 11.5% enjoyed the view but would like that titan smoke to stay right where it’s at.

A complete chapter, with brand new information coming to us... and lots of monkey nudes. Zeke is the fanservice character of snk.

Thicc thighs won't make me forgive his sins

Everyone is seeing zeke’s dick but me

@ isayama: release zeke's n00ds.

No more naked Zeke plz.

I feel for him and but he's a seriously underwhelming antagonist. He's really nice to look at though.

I love him as a character; his motives, his history, his personality and his character design (not just because he is a sexy hunk of Edlian ass).

I know only three things

1. Levi is not dead. 2. Eren does not agree with Zeke. 3. Zeke is hot as hell.

I suddenly feel very sorry for the SC uniform - it’s being worn by absolute pricks. Please don’t let them cover Zeke’s ass with the cape.

my heart goes to THAT DUDE WHO CAN'T STOP STARING at Zeke's nekkid crotch. i feel ya man. that shit is weird.

Zeke has the big PP. Pieck has the biggest PP.

I don't like him because of sexualization and shipps.

Zeke's abs tho

So much Zeke nudes, we need more chad Eren (don't even need to be Eren nudes, just him shirtless is ok).

I wanted to see Zeke's beastly c-ck.

Zeke is pure. Pure SLUT

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS REGARDING ZEKE’S “REBIRTH” DO YOU THINK ARE TRUE? 1,441 responses

A slight majority of the fandom believes Zeke’s rebirth is evidence that Ymir Fritz needs Zeke alive. Close to 50% believe Zeke will see it as divine approval. While a quarter of the fandom thinks this experience has changed him, only 7% believe he’s changed for the better.

Zeke's reincarnation is bs but if Ymir does have more plans for him, I'd like to see how it all turns out for the best.

I hope Zeke learns that genocide is never the answer.

I just hope we get some specific answers soon regarding how Zeke was reincarnated like that. Felt pretty off seeing Zeke revived like that, but I can understand the theory that perhaps Ymir Fritz wants him to live to save the Eldians (and perhaps this is where the "To you, 2000 years in the future" comes into play).

WE’VE WAITED A LONG TIME FOR THE YEAGERBRO TALK. WAS IT WHAT YOU EXPECTED? 1,483 responses

The largest portion of replies indicate that the conversation between Eren and Zeke overall went as expected. But there were also many who didn’t care how it went and were simply glad to finally see their first talk together. Smaller portions were either more than happy with the conversation or found it a total disappointment. Certainly that couldn’t be all they talked about, right?

I knew they wouldn't be on the same side but didn't expect it to be so obvious Eren is lying to and manipulating Zeke. Zeke tearing up when Eren called him "brother" is the saddest shit, but also kinda hilarious considering how many people Zeke betrayed. Also, I wonder if we'll get more since Eren talked about how he learned a lot from Zeke.

Finally got confirmation that Eren played Zeke like a fiddle. Happy to see that lil bro backstab.

I expected something more grandiose tbh, when i saw the panel of zeke standing in front of eren, i thought that was a perfect tease to just end it there

It feels like Eren has Zeke eating out of the palm of his hand and it hurt more than expected

People who latch onto the belief that Eren's goal differs from Zeke are in for a disappointment

I am disappointed that zeke cares for eren and eren doesn't seem to reciprocate those feelings, and that he was trying to play the tough guy, it's annoying and i want wholesome jeagerbros!!!!

I didn't expect to be so short, and I assume we'll get more in the future, but this time from Eren's perspective.

I think it is too early to say one way or the other. We only truly got one side of the conversation.

It was good, but I hope it's not the only thing we see. I get the impression it was merely an appetizer. When I think about the brothers talking I always imagined it will be a full chapter. This was just their first conversation. Eren said Zeke told him many things, like the info about the Ackermans, so I am expecting a hell of a lot more dialogues between them.

it wasn't what I had expected. I also can't say yet if it is better or worse cause so much about Eren's true motives is still up in the air. Like originally I had expected Zeke to be the one to convince Eren of something, but clearly that is not what is happening here. Which, on the face of it, doesn't have to be a bad thing, I just need more info.

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT EREN TRULY AGREES WITH ZEKE’S PLAN? 1,490 responses

Over half of respondents agree that there’s no way in hell that Eren is on board with Zeke’s euthanasia plan. 23% believe that he is in partial agreement with Zeke’s plan, while 10% don’t want to say confidently either way whether Eren is on Zeke’s side. A small sliver of the fandom are certain that Eren is in favor of wiping out Eldia.

He just said what Zeke wanted to hear from 'his brother'. From the start of his speech Eren expressed clearly his purpose, bonus showing sympathy toward Zeke. The way that Eren said some of his points of view and plan fits to me in what he truly thinks about, but the way he said it was molded in orden to manipulate Zeke and get his confidence

Eren is getting influenced and this 'external influencer' is manipulating Zeke. Double manipulation.

He agreed with Zekes ideology at some point before Historia saved him

Zeke told him about his plan to euthanize eldians, Eren agreed that not being born into the world is salvation itself. We all know Eren thinks the EXACT opposite of that. he's manipulating zeke, only wanting his royal blood. Zeke might be the KEY to Eren's own secret plan.

I don't think eren is the kind of person to blatantly lie to someone, especially about the force that has driven him his entire life. There are some truth to his words, yes, but i think eren is going to use the fact that he thinks he shouldn't have been born to try and change the world into a safer place for his people, whereas zeke will use that same reason to eradicate his people, not giving them a chance to feel a sense of belonging in the world

He's using Zeke for some goal of his, but has gone way too far. Both of them are twisted, and perhaps share some points of their goals.

He understands and agrees with Zeke on a basic ideological level, insofar as the suffering that Eldia, and by extension Titans, bring to both the world and themselves by inherent virtue of being born. I believe, however, that this is where the agreement in actuality ends. What Eren disagrees with is the method to solve this problem. Whatever other solution Eren may have thought of, it entails the end of the titans and the elimination of paths, while sparing Eldian's lives and allowing them to continue on and have families. How this would be achieved, I do not know; this is merely my conjecture on where the story might go next.

I think he agrees with Zeke's goal of not having any Eldians born into the circumstances they are, but not his methodology of euthanasia. I think he has his own plan which will somehow stop/rewind/erase the Curse of Ymir/titanisation, possibly through altering Eldian DNA to make them unable to be turned into titans.

He's being brainwashed/manipulated by having so many memories that belong to other people, he's not being himself; not his true self

I don't believe he agrees, but I like to believe he isn't simply using his brother without any regard for him...though I can't really tell anymore with 'this' Eren :\

If Eren truly agreed with Zeke, all his development will be for nothing.

Maybe eren does actually agree that the best salvation is to never have been born, but when has eren ever wanted "salvation"?

WITH ALL THE RECENT FOCUS ON ZEKE, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HIM NOW? 1,487 responses

Zeke’s been getting a lot of focus lately, and this chapter was no exception. 45.7% of you enjoy his character but don’t support his schemes, and 21.9% don’t like the man but can sympathize with him at this point. Not all are as warm however, as 19% would like to see him burn. 8.9% love monkey boi and want to protect him with all you’ve got.

He's a perfect Grey character a villain and a hero depending on view point.

I’ve always loved him. Now I love him more

His plan is batshit and I don't really like him but I think he's an interesting character but he needs to burn

His plan is unethical & impractical, his methods consist of war crimes. I hope he's taken down *ideologically* & realizes he was wrong b4 he dies

I'm not for Zeke's plan but I want him to go out feeling like his life wasn't a complete waste.

I feel sorry for all kids who have shitty childhoods, but I don't then excuse them when they project their own hatred for life onto an entire race and try to take away their right to life. It doesn't matter how righteous or merciful he believes he's being, it's undeniable arrogance to decide you know whether another person's life is worth living or not.

I hate him as a character but his plan makes him more interesting/sympathetic

I like him but don't agree with him. I'm going to be depressed when he is inevitably stabbed in the back by his beloved little brother. I am also extremely hype for that to happen.

I like his recent character development, however I don’t really like him. Very interesting character though!

Interesting, complex character. I can understand his plan too. Overall a well crafted character.

I'm so so sad for Zeke, the way he genuinely cares for Eren and trusts him, how he tears up when he called him "brother"...It will be heartbreaking when he'll realize Eren's just using him (because there's no way Eren agree with his plan), this guy's been used and craved affection and understanding all his life.

I feel like I'm crazy one here but I'm actually on Zeke's side and not at all mad at what he did to Levi

He is cancelled to me since Erwin's death.

WAS GRISHA IN THE RIGHT TO SLAUGHTER THE REISS CHILDREN? 1,475 responses

Eren recalled back to a disturbing action is father took, and gave his thoughts on it, but does the fanbase agree? 44.7% feel Grisha made the right choice, as without it things would have gone as Eren laid out for Paradis. 37.8% were unsure, and only 14.4% agreed with Eren’s conclusion that it was wrong regardless.

I acknowledge it as a necessary evil. It goes against many of my moral principles, but it was a necessary evil in the face of the worst case scenario.

He could have found another way to keep the children alive. He was lazy and chose the most convenient option.

He was neither right nor wrong, as in he had little choice.

I don't think there's a right or wrong in this scenario. Grisha did what he thought was for the greater good. No matter what decision he made, though, people still would have died.

It was a necessary evil, both logically right and morally wrong at the same time

Immoral but beneficial in the long run

there are two sides to the moral scale! For the survival of his people, of course! Every threat needs to be eliminated, but it is quite painful to know that in reality, regardless of the bigger picture, he still killed children.

For me, this is a much too complex topic to be reduced to a categorical choice of right and wrong. I can't choose between this two options ("I'm not sure" neither because it's in the same line of though) because I can't think his action in that terms.

It was not nice

WAS HANGE BEING TRUTHFUL WHEN SHE INFORMED FLOCH OF LEVI’S DEATH? 1,497 responses

Nice try, Hange. 91% of us are pretty sure that Levi still lives, and that he was only pronounced dead in the hope that his life would be spared. Not even 2% of us think that he is actually dead.

Oh, please. It doesn't take a Levi fan to know that Hange would immediately let Floch feel Levi's pulse if he was indeed dead - it was only worth potentially upsetting her guards if she thought there was a chance of his survival. Hange is one of the smartest characters in this series - she wouldn't act that way for any other reason.

Well wouldn't be reasonable to jump on a river with a corpse so i guess is the second option

I think he's alive, but it feels like Levi is being milked for popularity at this point. If he truly did survive, then I hope Levi will somehow maybe fulfill his promise!

IF LEVI IS ALIVE, DO YOU THINK HIS INJURIES WILL PROVE TO BE FATAL? 1,491 responses

In contrast to the widely-held belief that Levi still lives for the time being, there is less agreement about whether that will continue to be true. Almost half of respondents think that he will survive his wounds. The remaining half is split between thinking Levi’s days are numbered (25.4%) and being completely unsure of his fate (25.9%).

Man, seeing Levi suffering really got me, but I hope hange manages to bring him to safety, cause I think his injuries aren't fatal and the only threat to his life now are the yeagerists

he's still barely alive, but he'll die in her hands once they're safe and have swam the river, the death was slightly delayed since this chapter was focused on other things, levi will give his last little speech to hange next chapter and die

I think Levi survived his injuries and Hange is lying about him being dead, but I don’t think he will survive. Part of me hopes (for his sake) that he doesn’t survive

probably but I'm in denial so i want to believe he's fine

Levi is on the edge of death, he will die next chapter after revealing Zeke's true intentions to Hange, which will ruin Eren's plan for the moment. At least, that's what I hope happens. Levi surviving and coming back to fight doesn't make sense and Levi surviving only to be out of commission for the next of the manga and to open a tea shop is disappointing, I would rather have him die now.

IF LEVI IS ALIVE, DO YOU THINK HE WILL BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN FUTURE BATTLES? 1,490 responses

41% of respondents believe that Levi is permanently on the sidelines due to his condition while 37% are feeling optimistic that he will find a way to keep fighting. ⅕ of the fandom don’t want to say confidently either way. Will Levi surprise us in upcoming chapters?

Dead my ass! I can't wait for Levi to appear again out of nowhere with a badass face scar and kick Zeke's ass AGAIN

I hope we still see Levi in action, even if just once, cause removing him leaves everything in the hands of ‘god-like’ characters who can control people. Now it’s just like humanity’s doomed cause the ‘gods’ decided so and I don’t like it. There is still Mikasa, but with Levi humanity had a better chance in this ever so uneven battle.

I think Levi is out of the fight (thanks to those godawful fingers on the ground ugh) BUT I think he'll have one last move, one last action in the final battle that will somehow deeply affect the plot, before dying (think Erwin cutting off Eren from Bertholdt after his arm was eaten). I want to be wrong because Levi has always deserved better, but I also want to be right because he needs to rest and the ignominy of humanity's strongest taken out of the fight like that is just. Too much.

Levi has to live and fight bc he needs to show off his new badass battle scar duh

I really love Levi, but I don't want him to be disabled so I prefer him to be dead. If Isayama can make him okay as before, I hope the story wont become weak.

I want Levi' s scarred face to be the last thing that Zeke ever sees.

I'm wondering what's worse, Levi dead or Levi hobbled and injured so badly that he can't fight anymore. Robbing him of his identity is perhaps even crueler than death. How awful, to linger and watch the rest of the battle unfold, knowing he can't even help because of his own careless actions.

WHETHER IT’S PLOT ARMOR OR A MEDICAL MIRACLE, WHICH CHARACTER’S ESCAPE FROM DEATH HAVE YOU FOUND LEAST BELIEVABLE? 1,551 responses

We heard from several sources that this was the most difficult question on the poll. Maybe that’s why it had dozens more responses than any other question. It turns out that Zeke getting shoved into a titan tummy and having a sandcastle body sculpted by a mystery child isn’t the most unrealistic save in this manga. “Reiner surviving everything” followed by “Armin surviving his fall and burns” were the top choices.

Zeke's resurrection is the most bullshit ass pull of all.

Erwin and Armin were the two less believable survivors. I can turn a blind eye on plot-armors when it involve Shifters or even Ackermans, but Armin and Erwin were simple humans.

Erwin surviving all the way through serumbowl with a partly missing abdomen while bleeding out is just as worthy of being there, no one mentions it because he eventually died but it's almost if not on the same level as Armin living long enough through serumbowl.

I feel tired of the whole plot armor some characters have. Reiner, Armin (even if he is one of my favorites), Levi and now Zeke. I just feel tired of seeing them dying and then being magically saved. Yes, some dots are connecting together, but the whole armor plot makes the story boring and unnatural. A lot of great and interesting characters died, but there are some blessed ones who will not die even if a large bomb will fall straight at their heads.

maybe Zeke transferred his consciousness to other parts of his body like Reiner did in the Return to Shingashina arc? That's the only other idea I can think of how Zeke survived in the end.

I can't believe Levi narrowly escaped death because the monkey dingdong was too shiny and hypnotizing

I can't believe it, but Isyama finally topped the plot armor Reiner had back in RTS. Holy shit. The first thought was no one could have more plot armor than Eren did back in Shiganshina, then it was when Rod Riese became that hideous nightmare enduing faceless titan and didn't try and eat Eren, then it was Reiner's plot armor in RTS that stole it with notable mention from Armin, then it was Levi as a notable mention. This resurrected bullshit that saved Zeke can't be outdone. There is just no way in hell. Like, you just can't out do it. No one does plot armor better than Zeke!!!

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YELENA INSTITUTING ARMBANDS ON PARADIS? 1,484 responses

The irony of Yelena immediately instituting armbands as a classification system wasn’t lost on it. 44% thought is was horrible and a wrong choice, 28% recognized it as gross but understood the need to organize, while 22% had no opinion

As a sociologist, it’s interesting. The reality is that society/social classes often create symbols to communicate their social status so if it’s not armbands it’d be something else.

As expected of Yeagerists they are true organized shits! Congrats!!

Isayama is very big on the 'history repeating itself' thing and without a doubt this is one of those things.

I feel as if he is being kept out of the loop by the Volunteers, due to his befriending and fraternising with Eldian's (Hange especially), in much the same way as Niccolo was. This makes me inclined to think that Onyankonpon would side with the established Survey Corps if/when he learns the full plan, and that Yelena knows this.

it's ironic and though it's wrong, i think it's also clever how no matter how hard the yelena is trying to break free from marley traditions, those traditions still come naturally to her them whether she realizes it or not

I have a problem with how she's using people, not how she's doing it

People make a mountain out of a molehill, it's not something bad, it's just practical. They need to know who drank the wine and who didn't. Their actions are bad, but not their way of organizing.

Regardless of anything, I'd let Yelena tie me up any way she likes and I think deep down Pixis totally agrees

You boors know nothing of fashion.

IS ONYANKOPON ON PARADIS’ SIDE OR IS HE IN CAHOOTS WITH YELENA? 1,480 responses

Only 12.4% of the fandom believe Onyankopon is fully aligned with Yelena, A percentage more (13.9%) believe he’s on the Survey Corps side. The remainder of the fandom is either undecided or think that he is.

boi is lookin mad confused every time he appears now tbh

He might be on Yellena's side but I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to play a different game.

His arms are crossed and he's literally side-eyeing Yelena. He is not all-in with Yelena.

He said that he dedicated himself for "Eldia". I don't know why, but I have that weird feeling that he would help Eren and his group (Floch etc.) to make the new Eldia empire great again

I think he will help Hanji, he was always showed with them more than with any other person

Maybe he is working for someone else entirely. We still don't know if we have all the chess pieces on the damned board.

I really want an insight into Onyakopon's motives at this point. You can see he's not as enthusiastic about the situation, and I thought he genuinely bonded with Hanji.

WHY DO YOU THINK EREN WANTS TO LURE IN THE WARRIORS? 1,473 responses

Nearly half of the fandom believes that Eren’s goal is to eat the remaining warriors and gain their powers. About ⅓ of respondents think his goal is to negotiate with them, while smaller portions of the fandom think he may just want to get them out of the way or fully ally with them. Hopefully his chat with Pieck enlightens us! Meanwhile here are some write-in thoughts:

That boy is an enigma wrapped in a riddle, i have no idea what he is doing

Either to unlock a new ability with the Founding Titan that might require all the other Titan Shifters to be present or to kill them for the eventual rumbling.

I dunno but he clearly needs them for something. I'm leaning towards him needing to collect all their titans to do some sort of Curse Reset.

I am not sure whether he wants to eat every single warrior, especially regarding the convo he had with Reiner in the Marley arc. He wanted to chomp Porco tho, so I am not sure.

he can only do so much by himself, he has gained reiner's sympathy so having him as an ally seems like an option

I'd like to believe that Eren is luring the warriors so he can ally with them but realistically, he's probably going to eat 'em all. It started with the warhammer titan and he was about to do the same to Porco back in Marley for his jaws (which he would need to crack Annie's crystal open) but I digress. It'll probably happen in that order. He'll get annie after eating porco and pieck. Fuck. That part's gonna suck

I'm not sure, but he definitely doesn't want them trying to stop him doing whatever he's planning to do.

Like he said, he'll keep moving forward until his enemies are destroyed.

He wants them to connect and give the 9 elements to original Ymir. Maybe this way eldians will be free.

I laughed at the negotiation option, because if Eren ever was capable of comunicate with anyone in Paradise this mess wouldn't be happening. Actually if any character comunicated this wouldn't be happening.

Eren playing 4d chess

WHAT DO YOU THINK PIECK’S INTENTIONS WITH EREN ARE? 1,477 responses

The big chapter cliffhanger this month was Pieck pulling a sneaky on Eren, as expected of her. About two thirds of you, at 65.9% are guessing she’s there to talk with him; while 31.2% think she has more aggressive options in mind with that gun.

Pieck is smart. If she wanted to kill or capture Eren, she would've shot him without a warning. Clearly she wants something out of Eren, probably information, before neutralizing him

For the moment she's probably more interested in rescuing Gabi than doing anything with Eren.

Get information from him then kill him

Pieck most likely would want to talk about the jaegerbros sudden "alliance" She wants to know why Zeke used and betrayed her and their comrades.

Idk for sure, but I'm 120% sure she has a plan. Everyone is underestimating Pikku.

No clue. I don't hate her, but she's still complicit in war crimes, so whatever she's up to, it can't be good

To talk, Pieck is smart and if she wanted to kill Eren she should know that she had to do so earlier.

Probably a battle of wits, since Pieck is always exactly right and 19 yo Eren became very manipulative

Something tells me she's going to want Eren to direct her to Annie first. I mean, it's the final arc, and they still haven't resolved the Annie situation. I feel like this how Annie's supposed return will kick in: One of the reasons Pieck is in Paradis on reconnaissance is because she want to retrieve Annie from Paradis and bring her back to Marley. Maybe, she wants to do it with minimal bloodshed without making a scene.

Have a baby with him to cuck Zeke

EREN & PIECK - WHO HAS THE UPPER HAND? 1,480 responses

About ¾ of the fanbase at 76.3% lean towards Eren and his three titans having the upper hand here, and 23.7% think Pieck’s planning will pay off exactly as planned.

Pieck isn't stupid and it's quite obvious to anyone that she CANNOT kill eren. She isn't very strong as a titan compared to him, nor in human form. She doesn't stand a chance.

She knows he is powerful, I doubt she'd be stupid to try to have a fight with a man who holds three titans.

Pieck will fix everything

Pieck knows Zeke best of the current batch of warriors- I HOPE TO GOD THAT SHE IS NEVER WRONG WITH PLANS.

Pieck certainty cannot beat Eren in her titan form without her men and big guns, and doesn't seem to be in great form physically, as she was on crutches until a short while ago.

Kinda want Eren to absolutely demolish Pieck, whether it be Titan-form or not, just so Gabi can freak out even more.

I want Pieck to beat the shit out of Eren, but I know it won’t happen

I fear for Pieck's life :( Eren's gonna Warhammer her ass against the ceiling before she can say 'Wuh'

WHO’S WITH PIECK? 1,443 responses

Is Pieck alone, or does she have support? The majority seem to think Reiner and Porco are accompanying her, with 64.9% and 63.5% respectively. 34% think Colt tagged along to help find his brother, and 18.7% think General Magath is there as well. 2.1% of you are holding out hope that our Ymir is still alive, and with the warriors in fact. Pieck might be by her lonesome though, with 18.5% of you choosing that option.

It's been a while since we've seen any of the Warriors besides Pieck and it is the perfect time for Eren and Reiner to meet again.

I presume Reiner and the others are close by, but I still cannot see how all of them would be able to subdue or beat Eren, as he beat them all almost single- handily before he consumed the War hammer titan.

I have a strong feeling that Reiner's going to be the one to find the 104th and the Braus family in the cell. It will make for an interesting meeting, especially with Armin.

Freckled Ymir keeps getting indirectly referenced while highlighting her absence.

OwO best waifu Pieck returns all is well.

I JUST WANT TO SEE REINER ALREADY!!!

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS AFTER THIS CHAPTER?

Hange’s heroics netted them a giant surge in popularity (1004↑) while Yelena (755↓) and Floch (898↓) each took a hit. Pieck’s confrontation with Eren was appreciated (737↑). Despite being unconscious, Levi’s approval was likewise up (701↑). The debut of Ymir Fritz had the majority holding off on judgment, although 514 respondents where inclined to view her favorably.

Hange is the best human in this manga

Hange, a real champ. Zeke is a dumbass. The more I see douchebag Eren, the more I want to kick him in the balls. Floch, Yelena & Co (exclude Oyankapon, he is a good boi) can go shove fucking thunderspears up their arses...the deeper their devotion, the deeper the penetration.

hange's great - zeke's wack - eren's angsty - press f for levi

AT THIS POINT, AROUND WHICH CHAPTER DO EXPECT THE MANGA WILL CONCLUDE? 1,396 responses

We have a lot of differing opinions regarding how much of this story remains to be told! The most popular option for the final chapter of the manga is chapter 130 with 35% of respondents selecting that option. More striking perhaps, is that 86% of respondents think that the manga will continue to at least chapter 130. 50% believe that 134 is the earliest possible chapter for the story’s conclusion.

WHY is 118 an option for the conclusion of the manga? No fucking way we've only got three more chapters, surely? Don't fucking do this to me y'all

WHO DO YOU MOST HOPE TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,493 responses

The majority of the fandom seem to have had their fill of Zeke and the Yeagerists and are ready to focus on other characters. Topping our wishlist is a continuation of Eren, Pieck and Gabi’s confrontation (70%), followed by the seeing more of Levi and Hange (60%). Armin Mikasa and the 104th (45%) and Historia (40.4%) are also on many minds.

Can't wait to hear what Pieck and Eren have to say. I think this chapter has allowed for some development between them.

I have been waiting years to learn all that was in this chapter and the end has me dying cause I’ve been wanting to know what it’d be like if Eren and Pieck met. So awesome chapter! Can’t wait for next month!

I really fucking miss Historia.

after having so much mikasa since 102 i’ve realised that i miss her presence a lot in the last three chapters... so i hope she’s in 116

I hope mikasa and armin are ok and Levi I feel so bad for 😢

Annie day now

I miss Reiner ;___;

WHERE DO YOU NORMALLY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,427 responses

Thank you Reddit 😘

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER?

Loved the realisation that we’ve already been shown a paths “dimension” preciously in the manga and anime.

Fucking crazy, on one hand is like Yams, please, slow down and on the other hand is like, yes, keep it going, you crazy bastard.

It had a lot of emotional impact. I hated it and loved it at the same time.

Needed more Floch, I live for Floch.

I hate sand. It's coarse, rough, irritating and gets everywhere

Some interesting parallels that relate very well to the chapter's title "Support": Ymir Fritz puts Zeke back together, Eren "appears" to support Zeke's plan, Hanji grabs Levi and saves him from the "traitors" (how dare they use Eren's surname, they're not worthy!), and Pieck arrives to save Gabi and Falco!

I love Eren more with every chapter. He's so fucking cool. He was startled for two seconds, then went back to apathy and is just standing there with his hands in his pockets while Pieck holds a gun to him. What a chad.

With how many weird turns this manga is taking, you really don't know what to expect next. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if in the next chapter, Eren asks Pieck to marry him, Zeke shoots himself to see if he'll get revived again (and doesn't), and Hange injects Levi with titan serum, but rather than helping him in any way, it just makes him 3 inches shorter.

Holy crap the art was on point 👌👌👌 plus I've been lowkey itching for some more supernatural elements so I'm pretty happy with this development

It made me more excited to see the conclusion and what everyone's true motives are.

I love the suspense each panel gives, I feeling of worry and excitement

Can Floch die? I mean seriously, can he just fall off a cliff and get impaled? Or get hit by a stray bullet? Because his superior attitude is grating on my nerves. I’m glad Hange escaped 👍🏿

Great to see how the different characters draw motivation for their different goals and I am hyped that the reader is not told what Eren is really planning.

I just want Armin to play a major role. He’s been put on the backburner for far too long and he actually needs to be using his brain to fix the situation that Eldia is in. Even now, I still have faith that Armin is going to be the one to save the people in the walls. I predict that Armin does have some hidden agenda up his sleeve that he hasn’t revealed yet that will change the game entirely. He’s as intelligent if not more so than Erwin is after all. I still believe that Armin is the true savior of Eldia and that he is someone that Marley and the world should fear.

Zeke's resurrection was probably one of the most bizarre moments I've ever witnessed in this manga and I've got so many questions now. The chapter as a whole, however, was still enjoyable and very thought-provoking. Seeing how close we are to the end, though, I hope we get all the important questions answered before it's over because I hate when things are left unanswered.

To me it's clear that Eren is playing Zeke, but I wonder how he knew exactly how to play him so well? This is basically their first face-to-face interaction, I don't think he took the idea from Yelena, because actually I doubt Yelena understands Zeke except through her own filter, and Grisha definitively didn't understand him, so he can't even have been relying on his memories. Not to mention Zeke is a notoriously closed off individual in general, so what gives, Eren?

I absolutely love the direction of the story even though so much is happening against the interests of the party I want to win. Exactly how Return to Shiganshina felt like. And similar to RtS, I feel we will have a lukewarm conclusion that'll make us feel all the emotions in existence all at once.

Can't believe there wasn't a question about Zeke's junk. Did he get his wish or not? I swear, the quality of this poll has gone down dramatically this month.

I honestly don't understand Eren in the Jeagerbro talk. He seems to be making contradictory statements - ""We'll keep moving forward... But only until we practically erase our race's existence in this world."" Zeke's plan isn't a move forward, isn't a step towards freedom the way we know Eren / Attack Titan crave freedom. It is tying and blindfolding the people of Ymir to metaphorical train tracks. Which is far from freeing them, and which is why I think Eren has his own agenda and is only pretending to go along with Zeke. Now I'm not saying Eren has some noble plan that will properly save all the Eldians, for all we know he still wants to go ahead with the rumbling. I'm just saying Zeke's plan does not seem to align with Eren or the Attack Titan's ideologies (and yes, I'm talking about post Ch 90 Eren).

I really love where this is going and in just 2 chapters he made Zeke become one of my favourite characters, - if not the No1. Poor boi, needs to be protected at all costs. Also it is so horrible to see that he was used by everyone around him, his father especially and now it looks like Eren is about to do the same. Poor fella just wants a family member who actually cares about him as a person and he never really got that. Also, showing a more human side to him when he worries about Eren and then tearing up when Eren calls him brother? Give me more please.

Floch is still my favorite character. Fucking fight me about it, try it, I've got a hairstylists' nightmare on my side who isn't afraid to shoot (don't worry he can't aim very well).

Floch you fuckin piece of shit. Such a good character but such a fucking bastard. I really love to hate him. Fuck you Floch, you magnificient bastard

Can we safely assume that Annie is actually in the paths realm?

Could Pieck be Kruger's daughter?

if Levi gets oofed I'll get oofed with him.

Thank you to everyone who participated. We’ll see you again next month!

#snk spoilers #snk polls #snk poll #poll results

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spacesmilodon · 5 years ago

Note

Ehi, sorry if you have already answered this but while scrolling your skyrim fan arts I've becomed super interested in your characters, so I was wondering what's the role of Hjordis in your canon? Since Sigrid is your dragonborn (and Ulfric wife/Hjordis mother??? I think??) Also Sigrid gives me a strong grizzly mom impression, it's unBEARable

Hi hi! Always happy to share when people are interested in what I do! :DUnfortunately I never got that far into working on my characters other than a hand full of backstories. I’ve been thinking of picking up the project again because it would be really fun to work on, though after a little riding accident about two years ago I’ve been struggling to do any kind of work related to any world building and even straight up writing... I had a story planned that took place after the events of Skyrim involving the war against the Thalmor, told under the perspective of a couple of different characters including Hjordis, but I didn’t get that far other than one mock up chapter. I did play around visual novel softwares lately and I am contemplating the idea of bringing it back in that format.Hjordis’ character was one of the most developed personality wise though I think? Long story short, she is rash and stubborn but courageous and loyal. She looked up to Galmar a lot (she liked to think of him as her uncle) and would follow her father to Oblivion and back, never really questioning him. She wasn’t a high ranked official yet due to her young age but she always took Galmar’s (and Ulfric’s) training to heart, vs her little brother who took more after their mother, being more inquisitive and preferring books to straight up fighting.And yes, Sigfrid is definitely a big mama bear. She probably overhears a lot of puns over it (especially being in Windhelm and all) and hates those jokes a lot (I don’t tho. They are hilarious LOL)

#that got LONG i'm so sorry #hjordis #sigfrid #brynjar #ask #my characters #nam-imperii

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fordarkisthesuede · 6 years ago

Text

At the Brink of Midnight - Chapter 9

*Arrives two days late with Starbucks* ‘Sup, guys! σ( ▼∀▼)σ These past 96 hours have somehow filled me with a weird chaotic energy, and I pumped out the longest roller-coaster of a chapter I’ve ever done in such a short amount of time!!! Thank you, whoever sent all the writing vibes my way!!!! ★>d(,,･ε´-,,)⌒☆ I’m sending out strong vibes to everybody in return! *May you get hit by the writing bug and have the opportunity and energy to completely translate your ideas to printed words!*

Buuut a big note before we get to the good stuff: I realized too late that the original events of S2 take place in Spring. Like…April. I was writing all of this with the thought that S2 took place in fall; I mean, the characters can wear a leather jacket or a couple of layers comfortably, so I thought “yeah that sounds like early autumn”. Nope! So that means that for this story’s timeline, everything gets shifted into where it should be. On the downside, that means I had to go through and edit all the bits where it said “it was totally spring, you guys”. On the upside… IT’S NOW OCTOBER!!!!! THE SPOOKY SEASON THAT COMPLETELY FITS WITH WHAT’S GOING ON!!! And coincidentally, it’s my favorite time of the year, so I love writing about it even more! I get to add in a thing here and there about the spookiest time of the year, so I’ll have a nice list of what those little changes are uploaded here soon if you don’t feel like re-reading the whole thing. A re-read isn't necessary though, just keep in mind that the humid air of rainy spring in the city is replaced with chilling fronts and even more cloud cover than usual. Why am I bothering with this? Because I’m a stickler for keeping with canon as much as possible and I feel like an absolute fool for not remembering what goddamn time of year it was to begin with. (I mean, I went so far as to download all of TeamFourStar’s play-through because I watched it so often, you think I'd remember to go back and watch the very beginning once in a while…)

Anywho, thank you all again for your continuously loving support!!!

♡~(ɔ ˘3˘)˘⌣˘ c)

Important Spoiler Tags: drugs (mentioned), swearing, canon-typical violence, electric shocks (mentioned), torture of flowers, flirting, almost an excessive use of emoji, crying, romantic dirty thoughts

Read on Ao3 or continue below:

Chapter 9: Grapevines

Bruce Wayne couldn’t remember the last time he’d conducted a meeting from his home office. It wasn’t as if he didn’t use it – the desk surface had hardly any dust settled on it and two empty coffee mugs he’d forgotten about on two different occasions just happened to be stacked behind the monitor – but it felt strange, like a lot of things did lately.

He knew part of the reason for that was watching houses down in the Batcave right now. Knowing he wasn’t alone in the house was comforting, but knowing there were two cops outside the Manor’s front door just waiting for a chance to grab his best friend-cum-houseguest was not, and knowing that they were both close to being thrown in hot water was even less so.

He figured the other reason he felt strange was because he was slipping back into his old habit as if it had never been shelved in the first place. He had time to kill before the video meeting started, so he’d been scouring for information on “Pam”, Jonathan Crane’s ‘old friend’.

There were a few Pamela’s in Gotham, but only one fit within Crane’s age-range and attended Gotham University at about the same time: Pamela Isley, a forty-four-year-old former botanist with a record that ran the length of his arm. Theft, assault, threats, and attempted poisonings all done in the name of extreme environmentalism and social activism were sprinkled in her history before and after her days as a researcher, and according to GCPD records, she was now suspected of running her own drug-ring under the moniker of ‘Poison Ivy’. (Bruce found several recorded instances of people claiming to be Poison Ivy, most of whom were already arrested.)

Bruce would’ve wondered why on Earth she hadn’t been thrown in prison when she made a bomb-threat at a wealthy businessman several states away nearly a decade ago if he hadn’t seen her mug-shot from back then. At thirty-five, she looked every bit as beautiful as a top-billed Hollywood star, with natural orange-red curls cascading over her pale shoulders and ample bust in chemically-tamed waves, flashing the camera a come-hither stare that made it look like she was trying for a part in a high-budget porn flick rather than standing in front of a height chart for her criminal record. Pamela’s charges were mysteriously swept under the rug.

The latest photo he found of her reminded him a bit of those ‘cougar’ dating ads he’d seen – the older Pamela was blowing a kiss to the camera with a mocking look in her dark green eyes. Bruce glared at it. There was little doubt she was using people to cover for her constantly, and when she was in trouble, she managed to wriggle out of it with her looks.

Not this time. She was friends with Dr. Jonathan Crane, and that meant she wasn’t going to get out of this unharmed. The second his virtual meeting was over, Bruce was heading towards Toxic Acres, and hopefully the wounded Crane would still be there to see Batman’s fist hit his –

Bruce snapped out of his thoughts at the buzz of his phone. A message from the BatComputer…?

I’m bored :/

Bruce blinked down at the screen. John had found the emergency messaging system. Of course he had. He was just grateful that the encryption software on his phone was still up to date. Just what else did John poke his nose into down there…? (There was the chance that John would see files he shouldn’t, but Bruce kept those under a thumbprint encryption. He shouldn’t even entertain the thought.)

Stake-outs are usually pretty boring.

It wouldn’t be so bad if you were down here tho! :)

Bruce hovered his thumb over the keyboard, unsure of what to say. The feeling was kind of mutual, if he was being honest; having another person around on a stakeout would at least keep his mind wandering into the worsts of what-ifs and double-checking every last security issue…

No movement on either houses btw. Been reading Crane’s docs in the meantime but it’s DREADFUL!!! I feel like I’m reading a sleeping pill… =_=

You finish your WE stuff yet?

Meeting’s not for another 20 minutes. Been looking up stuff on Crane’s “friend”.

Oh??? :o Do tell!!!!

Bruce couldn’t help but smile at the enthusiasm.

Pamela Isley, former botanist w/ criminal rec., mostly extreme protest kind of stuff. Good chance she’s the head of a drug-ring that moved here a couple months ago; their leader goes by “Poison Ivy��.

They went to college together, but Pamela moved back here recently.

hMmMmm…. That means no burning the place down if we’re stuck! Bad fumes everywhere xP

Bruce focused on the word “we’re”. He hadn’t been planning on bringing John along. He wanted him safe, at home, where no one had a chance of seeing him and he wasn’t put in harm’s way…

Oh!!! You’ve got a bunch of sticky electro-shockers around - do you mind if I tinker with them? :3c pleeeeaaasssee?

What are you thinking of doing with them?

Making one BIIIIIG shock-bomb, of course! ;D I can wire them together so the shock spreads evenly in the space while it’s discharging.

Bruce reconsidered bringing John. He was still learning to curb his impulses, so being outside in a fighting environment would be a serious gamble, but... Maybe that could be their advantage, too. Bruce made a mental note to go dig out the spare bullet-proof vest from his closet’s secret panel.

You can do that?

I played around with making something like it before, but……well, you know.

Time + supplies for that project were low att. I figured I could always go back to it later anyway.

Bruce felt like his heart had deflated and swelled in such a short time that it hurt.

I mean I’m fine with throwing knives around too but I figured that would be less discrete ¯\_(ツ )_/¯

He’d been thinking of different methods of entering the “house”. Most of them featured a silent slip-in and as little combat as possible, but he knew that there would likely be some muscle around to stop any would-be intruders, and getting a quieter jump on them would certainly be helpful. He would certainly be lying if he said he wasn’t impressed that John had thought that far ahead even back then.

If you think you can get it done within 1.5 hours, then yes.

Ha ha ha with these supplies I can get it done in like 40 mins! >:3 just you watch!!!

Btw have you seen the news?

Not yet. Why?

I was on the morning edition! At least they used a good pic ;D

But also saw a guy getting fished out of the harbor. Your handy-dandy invasion software said he’s a registered Ryde driver.

I told you not to fiddle with that.

Sorry, but I only used it the once! Promise!!!

Bruce sighed through his nostrils.

Besides I thought you’d want to know. Think Crane stole his ride and dumped him by the docks? :v

Probably. I can get the plate from up here to verify. DO NOT TOUCH THAT PROGRAM AGAIN.

Yes sir ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Bruce wasn’t sure if that message was supposed to be flirtatious or mocking.

The incoming call from Iman Avesta stopped him from responding. He figured it had to do with John’s escape and the extra security added at Wayne Tower this morning, but why was she calling him now, rather than several hours ago?

“Iman?”

“Hey, Bruce. Hold on a sec – there we go, now we can both -”

“Bruce, what the fuck?” Tiffany asked over the line. “Are you at home right now?”

Bruce almost sighed at the attitude. “Yes, Tiffany, I’m at home, in my office.”

“Uh-huh. I keep getting alerts that your basement’s messaging system is being used. Care to explain that?”

Oh. Of course. He’d forgotten Tiffany had linked her phone to that, too. It’d just…been too long, he supposed. (She couldn’t read them, though, could she? He was fairly sure it didn’t give out mass-texts unless prompted.) “…where are you right now?”

Iman responded instead. “We’re in your second office.”

“…the line’s secure?”

“Of course.” Iman paused, and Bruce knew his new CSO was choosing her words carefully. “I’m guessing you have John Doe in the Batcave?”

“Yes.”

“Bruce, did you fucking break him out?” Tiffany asked with no shortness of impatience.

“I rescued him,” Bruce said firmly. “I know what you’re thinking, and I have a pretty good idea of what you’re going to say, but listen: I had no choice but to take him with me. One of the doctors working at Arkham has gone rogue – he’d been doing experiments on patients, and I have a feeling he’s going to continue them on civilians. I need to find him before then, and John has been helping me.”

“Helping…? You’re not bringing him in the field with you?” Tiffany said disbelievingly. “After that psychopath almost killed us?”

Bruce could still see Joker running at Tiffany, knife in hand, his psychotic breakdown in full force. He could still see him being smacked against the railing, sheer madness played over his long, bloody face as he desperately fought to stab what was his hero.

But John and Joker were as much the same as Bruce and Batman were, and they were constantly changing.

The Joker in the Batcave wasn’t the same one from Ace Chemicals.

“I know what John did,” he answered, trying to breathe even as something wanted to hitch in his throat, “and I know how far he’s come since then. I know you both regret-”

“No, I’m not listening to this right now,” Tiffany scowled, her voice fading in the middle her sentence like she was leaving the room. “Talk some sense into him.”

Bruce heard Iman’s voice call after her, and then nothing for a beat.

Iman sighed. “I’ll talk to her. But Bruce,” she started seriously, “Tiffany isn’t the only one worrying about you. Six months can’t possibly cure everything wrong with a man whose spent his life in an asylum.” He could practically hear her chew over her phrasing. “I need to know… If John goes too far – if he shows signs of regressing…or just becoming more volatile – I need to know you’re going to put your foot down.”

“I’m more than capable of handling him, Iman.”

“Please, Bruce, I’d rather not have to pull you off another broken pipe lodged in your kidney.” She paused, and Bruce let her continue, feeling the scar in his side twinge at the painful memory. “I know you care a lot about him,” she resumed in a softer tone, “and I know you trust him. But if you doubt him at any time, you need you to step back and re-evaluate your choices. I don’t want him to regress back into the Joker.”

That was a different Joker, Bruce wanted to say. He knew that wouldn’t sound the way it should. “I promise I won’t let that happen.”

“Good to know,” Iman replied, sounding somewhat relieved. “This doctor you’re hunting – is there anything we can do to help?”

Bruce shot a look at the clock in the corner of his monitor. He didn’t have as much time left as he would’ve liked before his virtual meeting started. “Tiffany can fill you in a bit, I had her help searching Arkham’s records before. Can you run a plate for me? I think Dr. Crane is running with a stolen car; I’ll send you the details in a bit.”

“Sure. We can check traffic cams for it, too, if you’d like.”

“If you would. And the second I have anything concrete on Dr. Crane, I’m sending Tiffany the details – I need her pull as Oracle to get the word out to the GCPD before anything happens. They’ll listen to their number-one informant more than a vigilante coming out of retirement.”

“…you’re…?”

He could almost see the shock in her face. They’d had a short discussion about his alter-ego when he decided to quit the first time; she’d been incredibly understanding about the whole thing. It was almost as if she’d seen it coming.

“Are you sure?”

He was as sure. She didn’t know about the instincts broiling underneath his surface every day. She didn’t know he never really stopped being half of himself. She wouldn’t know or really understand that he just shoved it all down and aside like he did so much else just to get through things. “I don’t have any other options at this point.”

“…you know you can count on us if you need the help.”

“Of course I do.”

“Right. Well, in the meantime we’ll keep the fort over here running as smoothly as possible.”

“Thank you. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Good luck.”

The line went silent, and Bruce pulled his phone away, catching a glimpse of three unread messages.

Sorry, buddy, I was just kidding around, you know? Ha ha

Bruce???

Hello???????

Sorry, had a phone call and couldn’t reply. It’s fine.

Seconds ticked by, and Bruce began changing out of his black t-shirt and into his button-down. It wouldn’t do to appear as a CEO in anything less than a proper suit. He could leave the jeans on, at least.

“Oh! Uh…sorry, Bruce…”

He felt his heart stop for a second. That was definitely John’s voice, even though it crackled slightly from the speakers. The monitor didn’t show anything out of the ordinary. John must have been using the spy-camera feature on the Batcomputer; it was linked to most the devices in the house, and Bruce’s webcam was no exception. He’d almost forgotten it had a loudspeaker function, too.

“I didn’t realize you were…um, changing.”

Bruce glared at the webcam’s lens. “John, what did I tell you about fiddling with the Batcomputer?”

“…sorry. I was worried when you didn’t answer me.”

He sounded genuine, at least. Bruce could easily picture him running upstairs to find him, if there wasn’t a chance he would’ve been seen. “I answered you a minute ago. I was on a call with Iman,” he stated plainly, fixing the buttons on his sleeves.

“…oh, ha ha, there it is! Uh, I guess I’ll just…go, then…”

Bruce almost questioned why John was sounding nervous and distracted, but it wasn’t until he saw the webcam light wink off again that he realized his shirt was wide open, the scars littering his torso half on display from the waist up.

Thankfully, no one was around to see Bruce bury his face in the palm of his hand for a moment, feeling like his face was on fire from first and second-hand embarrassment.

It didn’t last long. Bruce took a few deep breaths as he fixed himself up, and dialed into the meeting with a fixed expression of calm, firmly ignoring the heat that had settled in his stomach that threatened to go lower at the thought that John was bound not to forget any of that.

Driving the Batmobile in full gear again was certainly something else. Bruce felt the weight of the Kevlar body armor press against his limbs as he sped down Gotham’s twisting alley streets, no one any the wiser that the Wayne’s red sports car was hiding Batman behind it. The city’s CCTV signal was scrambled with the flick of a switch as he came into driving distance of the alley’s camera, making him almost untraceable.

He’d given the Honda Accord a head-start; it couldn’t go nearly as fast as the Batmobile, and Bruce had to find a spot to safely change before going to go pick John up from his drop-off point, and the post-working-hours traffic had already gotten its usual early start. It was a slower drive than he’d like it to be, even with Bruce’s shortcuts.

The setting sun was completely obscured by a dark overcast. It made the orange streetlamps glowing over the decorations sitting here and there in windows and doors even more energetic, like every corner of Gotham was slowly growing with the energy of Halloween.

Bruce clicked the communicator in his cowl. “John, are you there yet?”

Silence for a few seconds, and then a rustling noise. “Sorry, I had to take this off for a bit. What?”

“Are you there yet?”

John giggled slightly. “Oh, yeah, I’m here. Just waiting on you, pal.”

He was already at the meeting point? How did he get there so fast? “You put everything back where it was supposed to be?”

“No, I stripped the seats and threw everything into the garbage,” John grumbled with dripping sarcasm. “Of course I did, it’d be rude not to put Jerry’s stuff back. What do you take me for?”

“…I’m just making sure you didn’t forget anything.”

“I didn’t.” There was a loud slurping noise, like the last of a liquid being sucked from a straw.

“John, where are you right now?”

“In the alley, waiting for you.”

“Did you make a stop?”

John giggled, a little louder, but not at all nervous. He was enjoying himself. “What can I say? Going out on the town with you like this makes me thirsty,” he said with a strange purr. “Besides, no one bats an eye at me when I look like this anyway.” He paused. “Well, no, I’ve gotten some eyes on me, but, uh, I think they’re more the appreciative type. I guess ZZ Top was kinda right about the sharp-dresser thing.”

Bruce felt his brows knit together. “You’ve always looked sharp,” he said truthfully, turning down a narrow alley.

“Yeah, but not thousand-dollar-suit sharp. There’s a difference! Plus I think this bullet-proof vest makes me look a little bulkier than I actually am.”

Bruce spotted him leaning against the graffiti-covered wall, a Burger Lord cup in one hand and a plastic orange bag in another. Just how much time did Bruce lose while he was changing?

John tossed the drink in the dumpster and practically jumped into the car, shoving the orange bag behind the driver seat and slamming the door shut as Bruce switched off the communicator. He took one look at Bruce’s questioning glower and gave a nervous sort of grin. “Hey, don’t look at me like that, there’s something in there for you, too.”

Bruce almost asked what, but decided that a lecture on keeping a low profile and not taking money from his house’s various hiding spots would have to wait. (Though he supposed whatever John got wasn’t expensive. He was quite frugal, and it wasn’t as if Bruce couldn’t afford to buy John whatever he wanted anyway.) He concentrated instead on heading down the twisting path towards Toxic Acres. At least the traffic over there was a hell of a lot lighter.

“Hey, when you drove me to the Batcave, did you go in fourth gear, or third?”

He wasn’t sure why he asked, but he honestly couldn’t remember. He just recalled putting his foot to the floor and keeping his eyes on the road, occasionally reaching over to check John’s pulse. “I wasn’t really paying attention to that; I concentrating more on driving as fast as possible.”

“Oh – so you didn’t know you could punch the shift down into third whenever you wanted? It was so fun! I can say I literally punched it out of the Batcave!” He laughed. “I’m guessing you can’t do that in this car?”

“…I’ve got paddle shifters.” They were starting to travel into the more deserted road leading into Toxic Acres. Bruce took a sharp turn onto the hill with the broken Do Not Enter sign, and checking that no one was behind him, flipped the switch to shift the car into armored plates and pressed the wheel-paddle for a lower gear.

They flew down the road with a whirring whine of the engine, John’s notorious excited laugh mixing with it, and Bruce allowed himself to smile a little at it, knowing his own little joyful thrill wouldn’t last very long.

John was soon tapping his fingers together in some kind of rhythm as they passed by more empty houses, Bruce moving a little slower to keep his eyes out for trouble. Sitting close to the river on the outskirts of the city, they were originally meant to be a long neighborhood for the middle and upper class to build their lives, but as the unemployment and crime rates rose, the place became abandoned. It didn’t help that the piping structure to carry water there had been faulty, making either lead poisoning or unfiltered dirty water a prominent problem and giving the section of Gotham its nickname.

“How do we know which place is the botanist’s?” John asked, his green eyes scouring the houses in front of them.

“I sent out another drone earlier for some aerial shots. There’s a place with camouflaged green-houses in the back on Aster Place.”

“Wow, you did that before I left? That was fast…”

“It was a quick job. I’m not picking up the other drone until later.”

They turned the corner onto Aster Place; the road would dead-end in a while, but Bruce knew the house wouldn’t be situated at the end.

“Oh, there’s the spot Jackie got shot at!” John pointed ahead. “I wonder if there’s a bloodstain left…!”

Bruce tightened his grip on the wheel. “We’re close.”

It was oddly quiet out there. There was no other sign of life in what was a hot-spot of criminal hide-outs. Bruce turned on the thermal vision in his cowl; a lot of the houses were actually empty for once.

Except for one. 1801 Aster Place. There were a group of people scattered around on the bottom floor and what appeared to be a lot of heat-lamps running on the top floor. If one of the people in the group wasn’t Pamela Isley, then she might have been holding up in the basement…

They left the Batmobile out of sight down the road, and Bruce and John moved swiftly behind the backs of the houses in the chilly night air, the taser bomb safely in John’s coat pocket; John was surprisingly quiet, only humming a familiar tune here and there. (Wasn’t it the theme from that old spy-thriller…?) Bruce managed to quiet him with a look, and John mimed locking his mouth shut and throwing the key away.

Two unknown people were standing in what used to be a kitchen; three more people were up in the front room of the house. There were no security cameras to be seen.

“Stick close to me,” Bruce whispered, the modifier in his cowl deepening his voice. “We go in through the back window, take out the two in the kitchen quietly and throw the bomb up front so we can cuff the lot. If none of them are Ms. Isley, we find the basement.”

John gave him a thumbs up, pulling out the riot baton he had hidden away. (Bruce had still not remembered when he or Alfred bought that, but vaguely remembered stashing it in the towel cupboard with some other emergency gear. He wasn’t surprised John found it.)

The bathroom window’s locks weren’t difficult to break. They looked like they had been broken several times already. Bruce slid the insect screen up and slipped in through the thin opening feet-first, twisting his limbs just right to softly land on the floor. He had to help pull John through the rest of the way after he smacked his head on the bottom of the window; thankfully he hadn’t made any noise, but he did give Bruce a strange look as brushed himself off where Bruce had gripped his sides.

Bruce didn’t have time to think about it.

The two people in the kitchen stood in semi-darkness, watching through the patio windows with rifles leaning against the wall. There wasn’t so much a bare bulb to give off light. Bruce figured their eyes might have adjusted to the dark, and signaled John to follow as he crept up behind the two goons.

“I dunno, with all the hype surrounding episode four, you just know those guys are going to mess up somewhere. Remember when they decided to let Celestyne drop to his death back in season one?” The one with dreadlocks asked.

“Oh, come on, that was just to test the game’s limits. Besides, Celestyne couldn’t die; I don’t think Jane can, either,” the second person responded in a higher voice with a casual shrug.

“Dude, you know the game’s gonna make her a villain in the end, though, right? She might die…”

Bruce was ready. John was gripping the baton with a widening grin…

“Are you kidding me? They have her affection meter up so high I’m surprised the game doesn’t have a dating opt-”

Bruce slammed dreadlocked goon’s head into the wall just as the baton crashed down on the other goon’s skull, little smears of blood marking the plaster and paint with a satisfying crack.

John clutched the collar of the goon he’d struck, gripping the slightly bloody baton a little harder in his other hand. He seemed to be thinking.

Bruce took a zip-tie out and cuffed the goon’s hands behind their back, and wondered just what John was staring at until he’d turned the person around and caught a glimpse of them in the light of the window.

They were both women with little tattoos of vines creeping along the back of their necks.

If Bruce guessed right, those were ivy leaves on the vine. Poison Ivy had a loyal gang.

John zip-tied the wrists of the woman he’d struck and patted the part of her head that wasn’t wounded. “Sorry,” he whispered as if she would hear it. “Lauren’s ex,” John mumbled, gesturing to the woman on the floor as if he knew Bruce had raised his eyebrow at him.

Bruce simply swept onward, spying the door for the basement. There was a light on in the front room, and three women who looked like they could be professional boxers of different weight categories were sitting in different areas. One was sharpening a knife at the table, and another was cleaning a semi-automatic rifle as the third kept watch over a monitor showing security camera footage; three looked to be by the greenhouses (Bruce recognized the Foxglove variety growing in one under an opening in the glass, sitting next to something that looked primeval), and two were watching over the plants upstairs (marijuana, by the looks of it) and in the basement.

There was a figure in the last screen, working over a row of potted plants with low lamps. A zoom-in with Bruce’s lenses showed long red hair.

Bruce felt a hand on his shoulder, and John crept ahead him, the taser-bomb in hand: it looked like a mass of the sticky-bombs grouped together, colorful wiring connecting them all like some kind of net, and before Bruce could do or say anything, John threw it into the living room, where it tumbled into the middle of the floor.

The group began to shoot out of their seats in a second, and in the next the ball seemed to expand like a geometric toy, the wired tasers being thrown in the air with a flash before smacking people and surfaces alike as they discharged. All three people fell to the floor in trembling heaps, and John dashed out and started to cuff them, Bruce close behind.

The electric bombs were safe to touch now that they had fully discharged, so Bruce had no qualm about stomping on the lightly-burning sections of carpet underneath some of them to prevent any spread of fire as he pushed them aside. The bulkiest goon wasn’t quite down for the count; she was still conscious.

She yanked John off her fallen comrade by his shoulder and threw him into the table’s edge. Bruce threw a Batarang at her arm just as she was about to punch, and John gave a swift knee to her stomach as she flinched.

She fell to the floor with a louder crash and a grunt, pulling the Batarang out from her arm and letting it drop to the floor. “You fucker…” She said, glaring up at John before looking over at Bruce, her eyes widening as he approached with more Batarangs at the ready. “B-Batman…?”

“Yup! He’s real,” John said playfully before smacking the side of her head with the baton. “And so am I,” he added with a growl. He decided to tie her wrists behind the nearest table leg. “I hate not being able to call myself Joker like this… Really sells it better.”

Bruce felt his heart twitch at the name. “You can call yourself that, if it helps,” Bruce said gently, tying the monitoring-station woman’s wrists together, “Just not to people’s faces.”

“Kinda defeats the point,” John grumbled.

Bruce shot a look at the security monitor – Pamela Isley didn’t seem to have heard anything. Still, precaution should be used. “Let’s go,” he said plainly, sweeping out of the room with a swish of his cape.

John tucked a hand into his pocket and followed.

The basement stairs were carpeted and quiet, but Bruce was careful to walk on the outsides rather than the middle. Spiders had clearly made themselves right at home in the damp corners of the walls, and he had to duck to avoid getting the tips of his cowl’s ears stuck in one of their webs. A soft sort of click was heard behind his back, and Bruce figured John had gotten out his grappling gun.

Pamela Isley was bent over a row of exotic-looking orchids posed under heat lamps, dabbing something into the center of a blue orchid’s petals. Bruce saw several troughs full of hallucinogenic mushrooms sitting on the other side of the wall.

“There you go, my darling,” she cooed in a honeyed voice, acting like she was carefully painting the center of the flower, “You’ll soon be the belle of the ball…”

Bruce eyed the electrical box on the other side of the room. It wouldn’t do to drown the place in darkness; he’d be able to see, but John wouldn’t. The best bet was to tackle and restrain her.

Or…

Bruce took out his own grappling gun, and aimed it at Isley’s collar. One click, and it snagged her shirt with practiced ease.

“What the-?!”

Pamela Isley was suddenly dragged yelping through the air at an angle, smacking hard into one of the tables and spilling several unusual potted flowers to the floor.

Bruce grabbed her and threw her to the concrete floor, standing over her with several Batarangs in his hand as John cackled beside him.

“Jonathan Crane,” Bruce growled out, “Where is he?”

Pamela Isley sat up, shock written all over her face as she processed exactly what happened – it quickly morphed to a steely stare. “Batman,” she said slowly in a sweet voice, “I thought you were an urban legend,” she continued, wiping the corner of her mouth where a dribble of blood leaked out. “Do you always treat a lady this way?”

Bruce dragged her up by her collar and threw her against the wall, keeping her at arm’s length. “I know he bought plants from you today. Tell me where he is.”

“Or what?” She taunted, smirking widely at him. “You think I haven’t been knocked around by men before? I’ve been in whole worlds of hurt, honey.”

There was the distinct sound of the grappling wire rushing through the air, and then an enormous crash – John had taken out one of the mushroom tables, the fungi now breaking and bouncing against the floor it the scattered in the dirt.

“Whoopsie,” John hummed, a wide unnerving grin on his face, “butter-fingers.”

Isley looked rather taken aback, but the expression quickly warped into a mocking glare. “You think destroying my inventory is going to intimidate me?”

John shrugged, leaning back against a table and knocking over a several small tropical plants with a slide of his hand, shattering the clay pots and sending the plants scattering to the hard floor.

That definitely got her attention; her face paled slightly and there was tremble in her. “Stop that!”

Bruce glared at her, mentally thanking John for his quick thinking. “Tell me where Crane is and I’ll consider stopping him from tearing this place apart.”

Her dark green eyes glared at him with a slow-boiling dislike. “Let me go first.”

Bruce did a very quick once-over; she didn’t seem to have a gun holster on her, and she was definitely a lighter build than the rest of her gang. Knives were still a possibility. He decided to let go, keeping a Batarang between his fingers just in case as he stepped just out of her reach.

Pamela dusted off her green turtleneck. “I don’t know where he is, and I don’t care. He bought a few of my flowers and left,” she said, crossing her arms.

John laughed, fingering the leaves of the blue orchid she’d been attending. “With a hole in his shoulder? You didn’t even offer a band-aid for that?”

Pamela was closely eyeing the plant in John’s hand. “What if I did?”

“I know he’s a friend of yours, Isley,” Bruce growled. “You’re the only one who could know what he’s planning.”

“I told you, I don’t know,” she stated, “and I don’t care. I’m not his mother.”

“I can see why you were paying such close attention to this one,” John hummed, fingering the petals with a gloved hand. “It’s so pretty. You put a lot of effort into keeping all these, huh?” He grinned at her, almost looking like his usual self. “It’s not just some financial scheme for you, is it?”

“Of course it is,” Pamela stared at him, trying to keep her voice level; Bruce noticed her eyes kept flicking slightly downward, like she was watching the plant. “I breed and sell rare plants to collectors on the side.”

“Oh good! So this won’t bother you!”

In a swift move, John cut the blossom off the stem with the bowie knife one of the group upstairs had been sharpening.

The blossom fell to the table, and Pamela Isley looked as if she’d seen a ghost.

John picked up the blossom. “Let’s see – she’s honest,” he said playfully, plucking a petal from the stem, “she’s not!” He pulled another.

“STOP IT!” Pamela shrieked, making to rush at him – Bruce pulled her back and pointed the tip of the Batarang at her face. She glanced at it fearfully, but then looked back at the flower being torn apart in John’s hand, and it looked like she was watching a child die before her eyes.

“Stop that,” Bruce instructed; John hummed and held it still. “Talk, or my partner and I crush every plant in this place.”

Isley stared at the flower in John’s hand. “I… I don’t know what he’s planning,” she said quietly, her voice cracking slightly. John only touched the tip of a petal before she spoke again – “But-! But I know… He’s building something. He didn’t say what, but he asked for some muscle - I hooked him up with some of Maroni’s old boys.” She shut her eyes and took a breath before glaring at John like he was a complete monster. “I hope the lot of them tears you limb from limb.”

Bruce forced Isley’s hands behind her back and zip-tied them. “Down on the ground,” he growled, pushing down on the top of her head. John pointed the grappling gun in her face with a smirk; a good insurance if she decided to try and elbow Bruce in the face.

Pamela shot them both a hateful glare as she knelt down, and it didn’t waver as her ankles were tied, too. “I won’t forget this,” she spat.

Bruce sent off a message to Tiffany regarding the coordinates of “Poison Ivy”’s headquarters from his gauntlet. He knew she’d get the word out before he could even get back in the car. “Tell it to the judge,” he taunted, leading the way out of the basement, not missing the sparkle in John’s eyes as he followed, the severed, torn orchid blossom having been carelessly thrown at Pamela Isley’s feet.

John gathered up the sticky bomb device before they hustled back to the Batmobile, and it wasn’t until the doors closed that he spoke, and when he did it was in a tone Bruce would almost call revered.

“So, what do we do now, partner?” He asked, a definite glow on his face.

“We go look at some of the Maroni gang’s old haunts and see if we can find anyone recently hired,” Bruce said, the voice modifier in his cowl now disabled. He glanced at his recent text messages: one from Tiffany giving the ok on Poison Ivy, and another from Iman with the last known location of the stolen Ryde car. “After we look into the motels in the red-light district. Crane might’ve stayed there.”

John laughed to himself, but for once he didn’t share the joke; instead, he pulled out a packet of jerky from the plastic bag he’d brought along. “I knew this would be a long night,” he said cheerfully, as if he was really looking forward to the whole thing.

It was well past one in the morning when Bruce arrived back home through the front gate, the Batsuit stowed away and the plates flipped back to red. The two patrol officers were only somewhat surprised to see him arrive back. Naturally, they reported nothing new, since John had been dropped off in the Batcave first.

Sore muscles were nothing new to Bruce. The old strained climb back up to his bed was just as annoying as ever. He honestly didn’t feel like he wanted to sleep, but after following several empty leads over the city and bruising a few heads alongside John, he did admit that he was physically exhausted. He knew lying down was better than nothing, and he still had to go to work in several hours like he didn’t have a double life. At least he wasn't starving, thanks to John thinking ahead and buying him protein-and-carb-filled snacks.

He forced himself to go through his usual nightly routine, despite the temptation to just flop into bed and lay there. He looked at the bruises on his back and ribs from where John had struggled against him under the influence of Crane’s drug, and decided not to bother putting the bruise-away cream on them, nor on the new ones forming on his shoulder from where one of the former mobsters had hit him.

When he did finally collapse onto the master bed in nothing but his boxer-briefs, his brain still decided to chat away at him.

There were no leads as to who exactly Isley had hired for Crane. Bruce cursed himself for not trying to work the specifics out of her. At least he knew she was arrested for drug possession and manufacturing, as well as smuggling illegal fauna.

There was no word on the whereabouts of Jackie Lant. Her car was missing, and she’d called into work sick. Her apartment hadn’t been visited in the entire time Bruce had his drone’s eye on it, and neither Tiffany nor Iman had seen anything when they looked into Jackie’s friends’ places, either. All Bruce knew was that she hadn’t called an ambulance to fetch her from Toxic Acres, that she hadn’t been admitted to a hospital, and that there was no sign of her body either in the Acres or in the Gotham River.

She was alive, somewhere, and Bruce didn’t know what she was going to do next. He hoped she was just going to lie low until he caught Crane.

Jonathan Crane was nowhere to be found. His house was still empty. He didn’t seem to be staying at any of the motels – or hotels – around the red-light district or its surrounding streets, and nothing had come of a quick credit-card check. The Ryde driver the GCPD fished out of the River that morning had been shot in the head, and his car was so common that if Crane could’ve switched the license plate with anything and been completely invisible. They’d done a quick search of the warehouse district and found no sign of him there, either.

Bruce had the nagging feeling that he wasn’t going to find Crane until the doctor reared his head.

The billionaire rolled onto his stomach, shoving the anxious thought away as he pressed his cheek further into the plush black jersey pillowcase. There were a couple more places he could check tomorrow…

The bedroom door creaked, and Bruce’s eyes shot open, a second away from grabbing the billy-club under his pillow – he could see John’s messy hair in his dark silhouette.

“Bruce? You awake?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled.

“…can I come in?”

“Sure.”

Bruce noticed he closed the door behind him. Like he was planning to stay there.

That definitely put a new light onto the situation. A tense thrill was building in his shoulders as John deigned to sit on the edge of the mattress, his back to Bruce.

John was only wearing his Arkham-regulated pants, and the pale white of his bare skin almost shone in the light streaming in from the window. Bruce saw several bruises forming, one of which was from where he’d gotten grabbed by the shoulder by a Poison Ivy goon, and several more where he’d gotten knocked into.

“…I don’t think I can sleep in that guest room,” John sighed. “I mean, I tried my usual methods of sleep induction, but… It’s too big…and empty. I’m really not used to that.” His voice came out quieter and more contemplative. “I know it’s weird, but do you mind if I sleep in here?” He asked, turning halfway to look right at Bruce.

He felt trapped. If he said no, at the worst John would sulk, and at the best John wouldn’t get any sleep, and that was definitely worse for his mental health. John had mentioned before about how regular sleep cycles were supposed to help with that.

If he said yes, though, he’d know he was sleeping next to John, and there was the tiny worry in the back of his head that John might…try something. Or at least roll over too much.

“I promise I’ll stay over on my side,” John muttered, not tearing his eyes away.

“Alright.”

A sweet smile stretched on his face. “Thanks, Bruce. You won’t regret this.”

“If you keep talking, I might.”

John giggled as he slid beneath the covers on the far side of the bed, flopping one of the extra pillows down between them. “There – a no-roll barrier,” he said as if he had to explain the concept to Bruce.

It did not escape Bruce’s attention that John had decided to lie facing him and rest his arm on top of the pillow. John had pulled the covers up to just underneath his armpits; Bruce could see John's sharp collarbone and the lean wiry muscle of his chest. (Bruce made sure not to look for more than a moment's curiosity would allow.)

God, John’s face was actually his for the first time that whole night. Bruce had gotten used to seeing it in the natural makeup, but it was almost a relief to see it in its normal borderline-luminescent white. He looked like the man Bruce knew.

Acid-green eyes stared at him, flicking slightly and growing soft. “I…did want to talk to you about something, though. If it’s okay.”

“I suppose I’m still awake,” Bruce said in an attempt to lighten the tension in his arms. “Sure.”

“Do you ever…look back on something, and think about the worst thing that could’ve happened in that situation?”

He didn’t like to admit it, but he had. Usually in his worst moods, he’d think about how everything could’ve gone wrong. He’d usually think about everything he could’ve done better, too. “I try not to, but…sometimes, yeah.”

“I’ve been thinking about our fight a lot, lately,” John confessed, “At Ace. I used to think about it a lot when I got recommitted, but… You started visiting me,” he said softly, a light smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “You remember when I told you I thought I’d messed things up for us?”

“Yeah.” It was Bruce’s first visit to John. He never forgot the sheer hopeful joy on John’s face upon seeing him. It was practically engraved in his memory.

“Ever since I started sessions with Crane, I kept going back to that night. He always tried to weasel my worst secrets out of me,” he said with a low scowl, “but when he started using that…toxin on me… I kept…thinking about what could have happened back there. I… I know I almost killed you.”

The sheer pain reading in John’s eyes was enough to make Bruce want to wrap his arms around him. It was beautiful and raw and honest, and Bruce found himself holding stock still, almost captivated by the expression.

“I kept seeing it. Over and over – it was like I could see myself throwing you over the railing or-or stabbing you, or...” Bruce saw tears welling up as John clenched the pillow between them. “I don’t want to come close to that again, Bruce,” he managed to say, his voice starting to hitch. “I don’t… I don’t want to kill you.”

Bruce threw his pride away and grabbed John’s hand in his. “You won’t.”

“You…you don’t know that,” John said with a light sob. “If…if I…go back to how I was… If I mess up...”

Bruce squeezed his hand, feeling the soft skin twitch under his fingertips. “I won’t pretend you’re perfect,” he said, honesty seeping through every word, “but I know you, John. I know you’re not going after Crane out of revenge, like you did with Waller. You reached out to me for help – but you were already trying to find a way to stop him without resorting to just stabbing him with the nearest shiv.”

John sniffed, a tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth like he was almost smiling. “Yeah…”

“So you’re not the same person you were then, are you?” He soothed with a supportive smile. “Even if you feel you are going backward, I know it won’t be to that same point.”

“Maybe…” he said with another sniff, looking more serious. “But Bruce, you know there are things I can’t ever really stop, right? The auditory psychosis is pretty much going to stay with me the rest of my life,” he started, clutching Bruce’s hand back, “and I’m not going to lie here and pretend my pulse wasn’t pounding a mile a minute when we were fighting those mobsters out there.” He sported a small knowing grin at him. “You know what that’s like, though, don’t you…”

(Yes, he did.)

“…you know what’s funny? I used to think one bad day could turn a person completely upside down.” John managed to stroke his thumb against Bruce’s knuckle, sending a little shiver over the skin, and Bruce wondered if John knew how incredibly intimate that gesture felt as he stared softly at him from the pillow. “Especially after Waller came to town… But…I never really thought things could go back up after it. I guess it just…takes a while.”

Bruce knew there was something right in John’s line of thinking. It only took one day to turn his life on its head, and he felt he knew, despite John having no memory of his life before Arkham, that something similar had happened to him. “Well…they say time heals all wounds.”

“How much passed before yours started to heal?”

He almost didn’t want to answer. The truth was that he wasn’t sure at all if he was ever going to fully heal, despite knowing what his parent’s really were. Maybe it was because he knew the terrible truth about them that they wouldn’t ever heal right. Maybe he’d always have that miserable note in the background of his life.

“…I’m still healing.”

“I didn’t say you stopped, buddy,” John chuckled with a knowing look. “Still…got good days and bad days, huh?”

“Feels like it, yeah.” Today…was definitely more of a mixed day. Looking at John across from him, though, all honest and open, and thinking back to how it felt to fight alongside him again, and investigate with him, with that warmth and instant familiar comfort between that never faded away, he almost felt like he wanted to call it a good day. “Today might have tilted things right-side up.”

John laughed, a genuine, humored one that was almost infectious. “Now I know I’m rubbing off on you; that sounds like something I’d say!”

John slipped his hand away and turned to lie on his back, still chuckling to himself. The warmth still burned in Bruce’s palm, and he found himself reluctant to pull his hand away at all.

John turned to him once more, an all-too-familiar affection shimmering brightly in the green depths. It pulled Bruce in and made him feel like he should inch close enough to feel the warmth and security it promised. “’Night, Bruce.”

“Goodnight, John.”

John turned over, leaving Bruce to stare at the bruises forming on his shoulders. There was the terrible temptation in his hands to shove the pillow between them aside and wrap his arm around the man’s middle so he could lean into that pale, battered back and bury his face in a head of soft, green hair.

There was a worse urge, one so vivid it almost made Bruce’s head spin – he could just reach out and touch the bruises, feather-light, and trail his fingertips down the curve of spine until it arched with a pleased shudder, and Bruce could follow that trail with his mouth as far as John would let him.

Bruce turned his head away, the memory of John’s lips on his coming to the front of his mind, and he shut out the mental image of repeating that kiss right then and there, telling himself that he really shouldn’t feel that way towards someone who desperately needed support, nor to his best friend who he’d left scarred in more ways than one, and certainly not someone who was both.

It had been a long time since Bruce shared a bed with someone, and far, far longer when he shared one with someone he didn’t have sex with.

He hoped that was all it was. Just the bed’s memory getting to him, and nothing else…

Notes: Super-sexy-plant-person-in-her-late-twenties Ivy is OUT. Cougar-aged-mobster-botanist Ivy is IN! >:)

I really wanted a different Ivy. I’m tired of the young, uber-sexy walking plant-human-hybrid that’s immune to all toxins and diseases; plants get diseases, too, and she’s so plant-like she should have some kind of physical humanizing weakness! It’s much more interesting to have a human who’s just built up an immunity and uses her babies for weapons and business; I kept her serious environmentalist trait, though, because while I dislike the anti-hero thing she’s got going on lately and would love to see her as a straight-up villain again, we do have to relate to her somehow, and her love of nature is always going to be a good part of her. Since Harley’s older, too, I figured it would be alright if they had a ten-year gap between them, so when Pam eventually goes to Black Gate one day, they’ll be pals. ;)

And Bruce you complete fool!!!! You should’ve kissed him!!! Why do you do this to yourseellllfff? D:

I'm sorry it took so long, but as you can tell, I had a lot to work on, and I’m doing my best to write the next chapter as quickly as I can while this nutty energy in my brain is still fresh. I’m trying to keep with my weekly schedule, but I hope you guys are okay with having a gap day, as appears to be the habit now. ( ._. ) I mean, no one yells at me or anything for being late, but I aim to please with my work, and part of that is being consistent.

I shall continue to try my hardest! (*｀へ´*) 彡3 See you next weekend!!!

#batjokes #telltale batjokes #juce #atbom #at the brink of midnight #fordarkisthesuede writes #I had a lot of fun coming up with a different ivy!#i like the idea that she heads her own gang despite being rather anti-people #like she doesn't even consider them when the JUCE force shows up #then again goons are rather expendable in the batman universes aren't they?#i can't believe i worked in a nod to TFS's playthroughs of TT bats #i still laugh when i rewatch the first season and they just let Selina drop #all because they were curious to see what would happen #so will ivy's info have an impact on future events?#only time will tell.........#also i'm serious about those writer vibes #i'm sending 'em all out #you'll all do great this week i can feel it #p.s. the ao3 chapters are already edited properly so i'll fix the tumblr ones asap

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anoutlandishfanfic · 7 years ago

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Jamie’s POV of Chapter Six: Tuesday’s Chid.

I posted Chapter Six on Mother’s Day and I just realized I finished Jamie’s POV right in time for Father’s Day! I totally planned that.

A QUICK SIDE NOTE BEFORE YOU READ The residents of Beauly, with a few token exceptions, don’t speak English. I’ve gone back and forth about how to write this chapter and how to portray that. Mrs Gordon, the midwife, speaks to Jamie in Gaelic. I didn’t write her dialog in a way that it sounds (looks?) like she has a Scottish accent because she isn’t speaking English. I thought about italicizing what would be in Gaelic, but that kind of conflicts with my formatting style and using bold just looks like she’s shouting all the time to me. This is something I’m sure I’ll develop more as we spend time in the 1540s with the Frasers… for right now, this is what we got.

You can catch up on previous chapters of this AU here.

Mid-day, November 22nd, 1543; Beauly, Scotland. Jamie.

“I made a nice broth for your wife, Jamie, lad.” Beauly’s cook and resident mother hen, as well as one of the midwives, handed me a tray brimming with food. “Any day now, aye?”

I accepted it and smiled warmly, thanking her. “Your spoil us, Mrs Gordon and, aye, the bairn could come any day. Sooner rather than later if his parents have any say in the matter.”

“You don’t,” she chortled, shooing me out of her kitchens.

My bringing meals to share in our rooms had become a necessity after a close call on one of the stone staircases last month. Fortunately, I had been there to steady Claire before she actually fell, but it was enough to scare us both into a change of routine. Mrs Gordon had heartily approved and leapt at the opportunity to dote on my heavily expectant wife.

Knocking soft enough as to not wake Claire should she be asleep, but loud enough to be heard should she be awake, I eased my way into our rooms.

I noticed bed held an occupant as I quietly set the tray on the table. Claire hadn’t been sleeping well of late and I had hoped she would be able to rest while I was away. I turned to see a mass of wild curls emerge from the bedclothes, telling me she was awake but possibly not fully alert.

“Oh good, I’m glad ye were able to sleep for a time, mo nighean donn. Mrs Gordon made ye a tasty broth an’ a fresh batch of bannocks to go wi’ it. She asked of ye, wonderin’ how ye fare wi’ the bairn so near. Lady Janet too, tho I dinna ken wha’ she was about. I didna like the gleam in her eye.” I shook my head, thinking of the Laird’s often devious wife.

I had witnessed Lady Janet stir up trouble on many occasions, with only a word or a single expression.The woman was not to be trusted.

A muffled response came from the bed, something that sounded like “good morning,” as Claire’s arms reached over her head in a slow stretch. She shifted in her burrow, making her look very much like bear coming out of hibernation. She stared at me, blinking slowly, her brows drawn together in confusion. “Are you within the castle today?”

The bairn made waking fully a cumbersome affair for Claire, as was the way with everything she did at present, and seeing my wife in such a state never ceased to make me smile. I had learned the hard way that she didn’t find the humor in her struggle to wake, so I turned from the bed and began to dish up our meal in order to enjoy the moment.

“Nae, back to the stables wi’ me as soon as we’re done eatin’.”

My conscience twinged.

What if she needed me and I didn’t get the message in time? I tried to shove the thought aside, calling to mind Claire’s words when I voiced the very question.

It’s not like foaling, Jamie, it usually takes a while.

Once again, I had assumed this part of human reproduction to be something similar to what I had experienced in the stables. Also, bairns, unlike foals, did not come feet first on principle, although Claire told me Jenny’s wee Maggie had.

A rustle from the bed brought me back to the present and I asked, “Shall I bring ye anything special from the kitchens for dinner?”

Claire responded with a deep sigh, then added, “I really wish you wouldn’t.”

This gave me pause.

“No’ hungry?” I turned and studied her more closely. Something was off, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. “Ye should eat somethin’, mo nighean donn, or the bairn will complain, aye?”

She didn’t look at me. Her eyes darted about the room, desperate to land on anything besides my face as she whispered, “I don’t think he’ll complain, he seems to be packing his bags at the moment.”

Packing his bags? He can’t exactly go anywhere.

A dhia, he isn’t going, he’s coming.

“Sh-should I fetch the midwife?” I asked around a quickly constricting throat.

Claire visibly flinched and slid deeper into the covers, shouting “No!”

I couldn’t stand being this far from her. Crossing the room in two bounds, I collapsed onto the floor beside the bed. Her eyes were scrunched shut, her brows bunched together in fear.

Please, my soul offered up in silent petition to my God, that she might be safe in the hours to come.

“Tha mi duilich,” I whispered as I tucked a stray curl behind her ear.

That they might be safe, she and the bairn.

Claire relaxed slightly at my touch, her hand catching mine. “I think I’m having contractions,” her eyes opened slightly, cloudy with self doubt, “but I’m not really sure.”

Leaning close, I asked “Wha’ can I do?”

“Will you hold me?” Her chin quivered with the request, tears threatening. .

I took the greatest care as I crawled into the bed beside her, easing myself beneath the covers. My arm slipped around her as I drew closer. I didn’t want to disturb the position she was in, knowing how difficult it was for her to find a comfortable one. Gently curving my body around hers, I placed a kiss just behind her ear.

I’m here, mo chridhe, my touch whispered.

I drew slow circles with my thumb on the back of her hand until her shoulders lost their rigidity. Slowly, I felt all of the tension leave her body as her breath evened out in sleep. My hands drifted to the swell of her abdomen.

Soon, I would hold my child in my arms.

What would he look like? Would he favor me or his mother?

The thought brought a smile to my face as one bairn looked much like another to me. I knew Claire held a much different opinion of the wee creatures and often commented on their unique features.

We had been referring to the bairn as a “him” since we knew he existed, and, while my heart hoped he would be a son to carry on my name and lineage, I knew without a doubt I would love a daughter just as much… maybe more.

A daughter who had her mother’s amber eyes, unruly hair, and untamable spirit.

Yes, I thought as I buried my face in Claire’s hair, maybe more.

…

Dusk.

It seemed like Claire’s pains were growing closer together, but she wouldn’t let me keep track with my father’s pocket watch. Not yet, she’d told me, it would drive her crazy. I felt completely useless just sitting here waiting for something to happen.

“You’re pacing, Jamie,” Claire’s voice interrupted my tumultuous thoughts.

I turned to find her laughing at me without actually laughing out loud. It was a great skill of hers. I tried to think of what I had done or said to set her off this time, but came up blank.

“I suppose tha’ I am,” a sheepish grin spread across my face. Whatever it was, I’d do it again, just to see her smile. “Am I botherin’ ye? Should I pace in the other room?”

Her eyes narrowed as the smile disappeared, “If you so much as touch that door handle, James Fraser…”

“I willna.” I raised my hands in mock surrender before I placed them reassuringly on her shoulders.

Claire’s focus faded away and her brows furrowed in an expression I was becoming to know well: another pain was starting. She seemed to need something different with each one. My gentle touch with the last, a massage with the one before, and I couldn’t even get close to her with the one before that.

I hadn’t the foggiest idea what it would be this time.

“Promise?” Her voice shook.

“Aye, I promise,” I slid my hands down her arms and entwined my fingers in hers. “I promise I willna leave until ye tell me to an the midwife will have to tear me awa’ from yer side even then.”

“No,” She tried to move away from me, but I held fast. “I need you to stay with me the whole time.”

She didn’t mean while the bairn was coming in earnest, right? I had heard tales from other husbands and from what they said, I would be the last person on earth Claire would want to see.

“Ye willna want me here when–” I tried to explain but she cut me off and practically shook me as she tried to make her point.

“I can’t do this alone, Jamie! Not again!” Her eyes were wide with fear, plunging a knife straight into my heart. Not again. I hadn’t been there for the birth of our first child and we had lost her, our precious Faith. “I can’t – I won’t – do this without you. Please don’t ask me to, Jamie!”

I kissed her, my lips stemming her flow of words with the assurance of my presence. “If that is what ye wish, mo chridhe,” I murmured, “nothing on this earth or hell below will move me.”

…

Around midnight.

Claire’s hands gripped the back of the room’s only chair, her knuckles turning white as she tried to breathe normally. The air came and went from her mouth in short puffs and I thought she might tip over if she didn’t take a deep breath soon.

“How long was that?” She asked thru gritted teeth.

The pains were noticeably closer together now, and I checked the pocket watch. Half past eleven. “Ten minutes since the last one.”

Claire groaned; whether it was out of pain or frustration, I didn’t know. I moved to stand behind her, running my thumbs over the taut muscles.

She melted into me, murmuring, “Right there.”

We stood this way, swaying together, for a good moment or two before she rounded on me, face contorted in pain. Claire buried her face on my chest and dug her fingers into my upper arms.

A dhia, she was strong.

“Jesus H Roosevelt Fucking Christ, this bloody hurts,” she spat.

Placing a kiss atop her head, I supported her as she leaned further into me. “I’m sending for the midwife after this one is done, mo nighean donn.”

Her head moved against me, telling me she agreed.

I let out a sigh of relief as I remembered that wee Michael MacNeil was sleeping in the passageway outside the door just for that purpose.

I would not have made it to Mrs Gordon’s rooms behind the kitchens and back in less than ten minutes, even in the daylight and her expecting me. Now that it was well after dark and she’d be asleep? No. I knew I wouldn’t want to leave Claire alone for that long and had assigned the task to my favorite stable lad.

My eyes slid shut, my nose still buried in her hair.

We swayed back and forth as the vice-grip of her contraction eased. The motion reminded me of our bairn’s cradle, which sat waiting in the corner. A lullaby my mother used to sing, one that Jenny had used with her own bairns, slowly came back to me. I sang it to Claire, to our unborn child, until her movements slowed and stopped all together.

“Jamie?” her voice was breathless, but regaining the strength that was truly Claire.

“Mhmm?”

“I love you,” She tilted her head up to look at me, a smile playing on her lips, “but you are a terrible singer.”

…

Claire was between pains and had wanted to rest for a bit on the bed. I silently rejoiced for the opportunity to lay down. I wasn’t about to say it, but I thought the whole ordeal was just about as hard on me as it was her. I couldn’t stand to see her in pain like this and not be able to do something.

My inability to spare her from this, something that I had caused, was slowly sucking the strength from me like a leech. If I could take her pain upon myself and fight this battle for her, I would do it without a moment’s hesitation. But I couldn’t. I lay beside her utterly powerless against the ebbing and flowing of her womb’s tides.

Claire was asleep now, in the shallow slumber that was all her body would allow in the minutes between contractions. Her face was utterly serene as I lay beside her, my nose inches from hers. I thought we must be near the end of all of this. Something had to happen soon or I wasn’t sure how Claire would manage.

She had started to contradict her wishes with the last pains, almost as if she didn’t know herself what she wanted. She’d ask me to be close, but when I tried to touch her she growled at me. She’d say didn’t want me near her, but when I gave her space she dissolved into a puddle of tears.

It seemed couldn’t do anything right in my wife’s eyes.

A knock sounded at the door, signalling the arrival of the midwife, and Claire jolted awake.

“Jamie, don’t leave me,” she said in complete panic. Her pupils were dilated wide in the dim room and it only added to her look of sheer terror.

“Shh, mo chridhe, I willna,” whispered in her ear, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze and trying to will her back into the peace she had just moments before, “but I do have to let her in, aye?”

She set her jaw firmly, “No, you don’t. I know how this works. We can do it. I don’t want that woman touching me or my baby.”

A shudder ran thru me as I realized she was completely serious. “I have nae doubt ye could do it, Sassenach, but dinna ken tha’ I can.”

My stomach dropped at the thought of delivering a bairn, let alone my bairn and by myself.

“You’ve delivered foals before. It’s not terribly different.” Claire pulled me closer, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck.

Giving minor assistance to a laboring horse and delivering my child solo were far from the same thing and I told her as much.

Before she could reply, another knock sounded and we could hear Mrs Gordon call out in Gaelic, “‘Tis me, Mrs Gordon, Jamie lad. May I come in?”

The fact that Claire could hold only the simplest of conversations in the language and Mrs Gordon couldn’t speak a word of English or French hit me like a bolt of lightning. How much of the midwife’s instructions would she understand when she was in considerable pain and scared out of her mind?

I could do something. I could help Claire.

I planted a kiss on Claire’s forehead and somehow got her to let go of me. There was a spring in my step as I crossed the room, for I now had something to do that would maybe ease Claire’s pain: I could translate.

A midwife’s job was to help women give birth, aye?

Then it stood to reason that by helping the midwife, I was helping Claire.

…

“This is all happening as it should, aye?” I asked Mrs Gordon a bit uneasily.

“Yes, lad.” She gave me a smile and a reassuring pat on the arm. “Things tend to take a while with the first bairn.” I flinched and she immediately apologized.

“I’m sorry, Jamie. We remember the ones we lost as we hold tight to the ones we have, aye?”

Claire’s anxious voice asked from behind me, “What did she say, Jamie?”

Covering Mrs Gordan’s weathered hand in mine, I patted it in understanding and turned to my wife, “She says all is well.”

“Maybe somewhere in there, but not the last part,” she responded with a cold look to the midwife, seeing right thru my attempt to smooth things over.

“She spoke wi’out thinking, mo nighean donn. Dinna hold it against her,” I said gently.

Her face fell as she whispered, “Faith.”

“Aye, ‘twas her we were speaking of,” I kissed Claire gently between her brows. “I gave ye my promise, and I still ken it to be true, this time will be different.”

…

About 4:00am

I wasn’t sure, but I thought we were wearing a pathway into the floor. We made the same loop again and again as Claire’s pains continued to grow closer and closer together. She clung fiercely to my right arm to steady herself as we slowly moved about the room

Without warning, she came to a sudden halt. A sort of breathless gasp escaped her lips as I heard something drip onto the floor. Claire pulled up the hem of her shift, muttering, “Damn, here we go.”

I looked down to see a small puddle growing between her feet. Quickly stepping out of the liquid’s path, I commented wryly, “Ye havena used tha’ one in a while, Sassenach.”

Fuck, as usual, had been her curse of choice in the last few hours.

Mrs Gordon shuffled over to us, commenting on the color and quantity of Claire’s waters. While this wasn’t exactly the same in foaling, I had a vague idea that this was a good sign and patted Claire reassuringly on the shoulder.

Another pain seemed to overtake Claire on the heels of the last and she pulled me towards her, groaning as she buried her face in my chest. Claire had two fistfuls of my sark that she was making good use of. Her forehead pressed against my sternum, almost as if she were headbutting me.

I wouldn’t blame her. I had gotten her into all of this, after all. It would only seem fitting that she use me in such a way

I ran my hands up and down her back, remembering how she had liked a gentle massage with some of her other pains. “I ken, a ghraidh, I’ve got ye,” I whispered soothingly in her ear.

She stiffened and before I realized what she was aiming for, she had a firm grasp of my clipeachd. I let out an undignified yelp and quickly pulled away from her.

“Smart lass.” Mrs Gordon cackled as she moved about the room, “She knows what she’s about. I’m surprised she’s waited this long to do that to you.”

I stared down at my wife in mute astonishment as the creases of pain started to smooth across her brow and a small smile began to form. Not risking another go at this, I held her away from me at arm’s length. She couldn’t reach me, but I could reach her.

“What was that?” She asked, slightly panting as she tried to catch her breath.

“She says she’s surprised ye havena done tha’ wi’ every pain,” I translated.

Mrs Gordon was still grinning as she arranged her necessary items for the fourth time on the table and I wondered how much trouble the two of them could get into if they spoke the same language.

Claire’s voice pulled me back to her, “You hadn’t said anything stupid enough to warrant it before now.”

All I had said was ‘I ken’ and ‘I’ve got ye!’ I’d reassured her many times with the second phrase, so I assumed she had taken offense to the first… I suppose I didn’t really know what she was going thru.

“You are the first husband I’ve ever had attend his bairn’s birth.” The midwife turned to me, hand on her hip as she looked me up and down. Her eyes were filled with amusement and satisfaction. “You must be quite the lover if she wants you here, being she knows well ‘tis your lovemaking that got her into this mess. I’m impressed, most men run for the heather at the first opportunity. A master ironmonger himself couldn’t have made a created a stronger set than yours.”

She winked at me and added, “Very impressed indeed, Jamie lad.”

I was still trying to decide whether I should ignore her comment or reply when Claire half laughed, half groaned. Looking down, I found the corners of her lips tugging upwards thru her pain.

“You have to tell me what she said to make you blush like a schoolgirl.”

Rubbing the back of my neck in embarrassment, I gave her the rough idea of what Mrs Gordon had said. A full smile broke out across Claire’s face as leaned into me. “She’s right about one thing,” she whispered, copying how I rolled my ‘r’s. “You are a verra good lover, indeed.”

I smiled ruefully, wrapping my arms around her. She loved to mimic my burr and I loved to hear her try it.

“But,” she paused, her eyes soft, “It’s your heart of gold that’s keeping you here.”

She pulled my lips to hers in a kiss warm with affection, one that spoke of the emotions and desires we weren’t able to put into words.

…

Around 6:00 am

I gently lifted Claire onto the bed, my heart breaking as I watched her desperately search for a comfortable position. Her brow was permanently furrowed now, the lines of pain never really relaxing between contractions. She became more and more agitated by the second, prompting me to perch beside her on the mattress.

“Please,” Claire looked to me as she grabbed hold of my arm, “Sit behind me.”

Carefully and slowly, I inched my way between her and the pillows. I backed up against the headboard to give me as much room behind her to adjust in as possible, then slid my arms about her. She melted into me immediately as her body touched mine.

“I’m here, mo chridhe.”

She nodded, her eyelids lowering as she concentrated on what her body was telling her.

I looked up as Mrs Gordon slid nimbly onto the bed. She lifted the hem of Claire’s shift up and placed a calm, reassuring hand on her thigh as she, presumably, checked how things were going. “You’re doing wonderful, lass.”

A small measure of relief washed thru me as I heard the words.

This woman had brought half of Beauly into the world. If she said things were going well, then I had no reason to doubt her. I gently placed my hand atop the swell of the bairn to tell Claire the woman’s words when another pain began to build. I felt the muscles of Claire’s abdomen contract, astonishing me with the strength and force of it.

Her eyes flew open and she pressed her shoulders into me. “I don’t want to do this, Jamie!” she cried.

I met Mrs Gordon’s gaze and she smiled, assuring me that all was well.

“Aye, a graidh, I ken ye dinna,” I crooned in her ear as I helped her shift into a more comfortable position, “but ye must. The bairn will be here soon.”

Her voice was unlike I had ever heard it, so completely overwhelmed in her pain and fear. “No!” she insisted.

I carefully turned her in my arms until she could see me. She looked past me, fixated on a spot behind my head on the wall. I lifted my hand to her cheek and gently brushed away her tears as I lowered my lips to hers. “We’ll do this together, aye?” I whispered, “I’ll be yer strength when ye need me.”

Her lips quivered as she replied, “I always need you.”

…

“I can’t push anymore, Jamie,” Claire whimpered in my arms, “I think he’s stuck.”

Claire had responded with the strength of ten men to her body’s urge to push again and again. The midwife praised her with every effort and so, in turn, had I, but she was quickly becoming discouraged.

“No, mo nighean donn, the bairn is big but the midwife says he is almost here.” I murmured, “All is well.”

“I want to be done. I just want to hold my baby, Jamie,” Claire begged as she lifted her hand to my cheek.

I took hold of it, kissing it gently, then moved it lower to show her the miracle that I could now begin to see. Brushing her fingertips against the small bulge that was starting to emerge, I whispered. “He will be here soon, mo chridhe.”

A low, guttural sound came from Claire as she started to bear down once more.

“That’s the way, lass,” Mrs Gordon encouraged as she took hold of Claire’s feet, eyes fixated between my wife’s legs. Claire dug her fingers into my thighs, tipping her head back as she let out a sound that made the very blood within me run cold.

I relayed the midwife’s instructions with half a brain, translating to the best of my abilities as I realized that was my child’s head exiting my wife’s body.

“Well done, verra well done!” I praised as slowly, but steadily, the bairn’s head was born. “Jest one more an’ he’ll be here, mo ghraidh.”

…

The midwife beamed as she announced “You have a beautiful daughter!”

“She’s a lass, Claire,” I whispered, finding it hard to breathe as Mrs Gordon placed the her in Claire’s outstretched arms.

The bairn out another lusty wail as she told us just what she thought of being born.

“Shh, love.” Claire crooned, “Mama’s here.”

I have a daughter.

My hand shook as stroked my bairn’s cheek for the very first time, “Oh God, Claire, she’s beautiful.”

#Outlander #outlander fanfic #pearls plaids and pistols au #chapter six #tuesday's child #jamie's pov #jamie pov #another pov

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lunosamentelunitoo · 8 years ago

Text

Gintama 628 translation

TITLE: When you are not able to open the lid of your jam. try to seize it with a gum glover”

RAWS: https://www.spoiler.net/spoiler/gz.1-gintama-chapter-628

Kagura: ...

Shinpachi: Whatching at this is still so amazing, every one fought together.

“Kabuki cho 4 devas”

Otose: So in short.. the liberation army will probaly come back in a day or two, this town has a little of peace for now.

“Shinsengumi”

Kondo: We got separetad by the bakufu’s army in space and lost every means of communications with them, but this happened with their army too, so rearrenging will be hard even for a big troupe.

Toshi: The rest of the bakufu’s army went after the ones that escaped and got scattered. But now we don’t know the situation of our army, and we don’t know how to do an offence attack.

Okita: While the situation here, it will be hard to guarantee an attack even against a lone army, maybe if we attack their supplies the enemy will crumble.

“Onibanwhashu”

Sacchan: We have to jump in? We could proceed making a massacre, but we thought our aim was t ostop all of that and make an armistice.

Zenzou; We still don’t know how many enemies we chased away but.. we still don’t have a confirmation, but it seems that there is still a mercanary army around.

“Yagyuu clan”

Binbokusai: We didn’t forget that, this victory is been a miracle, and we paid a big price for it, this is both like to wish fo sometihng, that lose something

“Yoshiwara guards Hyakka”

Tsukuyo: We didn’t won this fight. We just stopped this war for a while, would’t the liberation army go to seek for some aid too?

“Onmyoji clans Ketsuno, Shirino”

Seimei: This is like being captured, while riding a boat on a stream, it will seem easy to escape, but there will be still a change of another tree blocking us. Our job is done, but anyway our visit was not the last chance of victory

Ketsuno ana: Brother! but the war...

Seimei: If we consider it now, we only had useless lost and sacrificies.

Shinsengumi: But the risks are the same, bith if we stop or begin a war! A resolution is needed! We have to fight!

Onmyouji: No, we done.

Gedomaru: .... And what about you Yorozuya? Do you wantto ride this chance and atack the enemy? Or you want to come back to set things up? We need your opinion

“Yorozuya”

Kagura: SOme curry will be ok, thanks

Shinpachi: They weren’t talking about meals, Kagura chan... we don’t get a lot from this difficukt matters but.. If i have to be honest, even if we all fell donw somehow, there is nothing to be scared, but all of this is kinda inspirational... to see so much people fighting together for Edo, for the Earth, for the place they were born.. I’m so..sorry, maybe isn’t that you wanted to hear, I am so sorry.

Gintoki: It’s not like that, it’s more like all the humanity gathered for the same goal or something, and how we will fall, it’s only a trivial matter. So if you have so much time to spare, we could just decide playong Jaken. You bastards had hear what i said? It’s time to reibult things, the enemy is still around we are still in the middle of all. do you want get in in the EVA?

“All purpose demon model decisive battle weapon: EVANDOROGON”

Gintoki: What’s up guys? I made any sort of preparation to take the sync ration at its max, when will be ready to go?

Shinpachi: What I am looking at? This is far beyong the drama clichè, what the hell is a Eva? What the hell... what are you doing?

Gintoki: Yorozuya san you already gave your opinion.

Shinpachi : You ar part of the yorozuya too..

Gintoki: Eva, is this the right way to ride you? Do you prefer to be on stand by? What do you think? Do you like it?

Shinpachi: Before one knows, he is been elected as the chosen one for the Eva...

Gintoki: Eva what do you think? Oi Eva...

Hedoro: ....

Gintoki: Ehm... Hedoro san?

Hedoro: Eh? Me? I think i can go, but..

Shinpachi: EH??? He don’t know he is been turned into a EVA???

Toshi: Kondo san... what do we do? I think it’s to early tho...

Kondo: Yeah,,, me to

Sacchan: He said to go, butt I think it is still not the time.. isn’t Tsukki?

Tsukuyo: Yeah, same.

Jirocho: Entrust it to the youth my ass...

Otose: You don’t like the EVA?

Dudes: Eva or not.. or well, how did he said? Nova?

Dudes: He said EVA

Shinpachi: Everyone has no clues!! You kicked in too early!! I thought everyone but me already knew

Toshi: me too

Gintoki.You didn’t know? I thought you did...

Shinpachi: How we can if you don’t give us explanations??

Gintoki: There is nothing to explain, this is just a EVA, Hedoro was extraordinary enought to destroy the liberation army but he perished 7 times, so he is now becoming a Eva.

Shinpachi: Do we need an epser to understand??? We got nothing!! It is just getting even more complicated!!

Gintoki: The point is... inside Hedoro san there is a devil that wants to destroy the world, and Hedoro san wants to stop it and protect the world. But I that already seen the hell, came to rescue the world, and used this power to save the world from ruin. I will just use the power of Hedoro, and use it against the liberation army. Mankind’s greatest enemy will become its messiah. This is the essence of the All purpose demon model decisive battle weapon: EVANDOROGON

Shinpachii: Say what you want, but you just created a monster!!

Gintoki: It’s ok! Above all errors, I disocvered how to roperly use the poewrof this angel and demon. I have just manupulate at my will this 2 flowers. So now i will rty to do some tsukkomi, you just be the boke.

Shinpachi: That was so sudden!! And the tsukkomi is me!!

Hedora: What are you doing?’ I will destroy you mankind!

Shinpachi: Hahahahah!!

Gintoki: So this way.. if you move the right level, the demon of destruction Hedora will appear. Te main tsukkomi to do is that he can't even open the lid frm the jam’s jar.

Shinpachi: What kond of use of his power is that?? Are you doing tsukkomi to the mankind? he still didn’t gave up to destroy us! That’s too dangerous!!

Gintoki: While the left level is...

Hedoro: Shinpachi kun didn’t you get injutried? I am so sorry, hedora is so rude.

Shinpachi: He.. hedoro san

Hedoro: Pay more attention!! there is a poor bug here!!!

Shinpachi: It’s still the same!!

Gintoki: So depending on the situation, you can use both the power of the angel and the one of the devil. and this is the whole plan of how protect mankind.

Hedoro: Thank god he seems to be ok!

Shinpachi: he is still a devil, don’t matter how you look at him, but he seems to got it wrong and took out the perfect plan to protect bugs!

Hedora: What are you doing?’ Mankind I will destroy you!!

Shinpachi: I was tsukkomed by the tsukkomi!!

Gintoki: Tha’ts whyyou got it wrong and said something stupid, you just be a boke. you just don’t said stupid hings, you look like an idiot too, go, let’s tsukkomi!!

Shinpachi: That’s bad!! there is a devil riding a devil!!

Kondo: Wait Yorozuya! That’s too dangerous! That thing is nor a tsukkomi nor a boke. Let mankind be its own tsukkomi. At this rate this tsukkomi will not attack only the liberation army, but you too.

Gintoki: But yet.. yet.. we can’t go on being a tsukkomi. we can't laught to our downfall.. until this stupid heart will be stopped..

Kondo: So I will take the tsukkomi!!

Gintoki: But you are in my way..

Kondo Go!!

Gintoki: Move

Kondo ; Do it!!

Hedoro: You can’t tsukkomi, you are not even human, but just a troglodyte

Kondo; Go.. do it . give me some tsukkomi!!

Hedoro: py some attention!! there is cockroach here!!

All: He fell for the tsukkomi!!

Otae: You not a demon, but maybe you are a god, Ginsan would never go to rest if not for something like that, so go to rest for today, even th gods needs some rest. So don’t worry Hedoro. the one to be sorry should be this idiot that started to play robot with others.

Hedoro: I am so sorry, for me both Sakata san and cockroaches are important friends on this planet.

Gin: Otae chan, so my life have the same value of a cockraoch, this god is not cute at all.

Otae: Well. be strong! You can’t be less than that cockroach, right?

Hedora: What are you doing?’ Mankind I will destroy you!!

Gin: Ho w can i got stronger like that?? Leave those leaves alone!!

Shinpachi: But you really should rest Ginsan.

Gin: You should say that to your sister.

Shinpachi: The was will surely continue from tomorrow, if yu consider it, the only thing you did, since came back to Edo is being fighting. And that goes on since Rakuyou, and Kurosjyoushima.. you just barely fought. I just a sensation,but i feel like we kept running and now i just feel so tired.

Gin: Yes, you always been with me.YOu had be really usefull, and worked for free. You did a great job, This unworthy president, is really a useless adult and you two became so strong.

Otae: They took all the futon, and that was really a rere thing to heard from you.

Gin: There is still a lot to come, both for them and for me.

Okita: Hijikata san, why we are the only one to not rest, we could rest, and tomorrow work on some plan against the liberation army.

Toshi: I hate the idea of sleeping while the world is on the verge of destruction, so let’s enjoy this corrupt world by ourself

Otae: Don’t you know? you can enjoy this dark times even sleeping, usually birth rate rise when there are blackouts.

Gin: Even with Edo in ruins you want to rise birthrate??

Sacchan:buhaa

Toshi: this is what i was looking for

Okita: eh a girlfriend like that?

Toshi: No!! the man that caused this blackout stopping all the machines! Hiraga Genkai, In order to stop any comminication between the enemy’s fleets, he created a virus and spreaded it with this cannon, but now we are in the same situation and cant’t communicate with our allies in space!

“I gave you some nourishment while youare asleep, get well: Gedomarou”

Toshi: Genkai have probaly take some measures to fix it

Dude: The old Genkai? I didn’t saw him in a while. If I remember right, the mercenary army wanted to capture him, but I saw him running away , other than that i don’t know.

An other dude: He? Genkai san? I dunno I run away with the others. Prob he had some business to do and got separetad, he will surely be back.

Some other dude: Eh Genkai? Wasn’t he shouthing something like going under cover with paper.. I don’t know who , but I heard some faint voice near that wall, he said something like god* help me, but i was too afraid to get closer.

*God in japanese is kami, that has the same sounds as paper. so the dude heard kami, believing that Genkai were asking help to god, but he were just asking for some (toilet) paper

Toshi: I am sorry to interrupt you in a moment like this, but I have a request for you.. Genkai?

Yato: So the one that putted down the liberation army is this old fart, So genkai, why are you here? But it doesn’t matter anymore.

Genkai: Well, I just finished, at least make me cover my ass.

#gintama #gintama spoilers

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