#'the bagel was to kill myself' okay. Feeling normal. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

all-hail-draculaura · 2 years

Text

Wishes Come True?

First of all, thank you for reading the first chapter. I wasn’t expecting it to get likes that fast. Here’s chapter two, hope y’all like it. If you want to be added to the taglist, just make a comment.

Summary : The realization of entering the Dreaming and meeting Dream hits you like pile bricks. Doesn’t help when the Dream King is dissecting your brain of what you know. Going to his brother’s realm for a family meeting.

Word Count : 4,691

Warnings : bad language, major spoilers for season two/second book, low-key a crackfic

previous next

So here we are, sitting at the kitchen table, across from the Dream King’s raven, Matthew, who is just eating a toasted bagel I made for him. The silence is so loud, staring at him, my coffee going cold in my hands. “So you’re real?” I asked him, but mainly, so I can have some confirmation if my sanity is still intact. “Well yeah, but when you say it like that it makes it sound that we are just some characters in a book or something.” he said. I snort at his comment. “More like a comic book, but hey who cares, right. So since you are here, why?” I inquired, taking a sip of my coffee. Matthew cocked his head, almost like he was trying to convey confusion. “Uh, the boss sent me, you know, to watch you and stuff. Make sure you aren’t like a witch or something. Although I do have to be honest, it was difficult for me to be able to travel here and find you.” he explained himself. ‘I’m not the witch that Dream is going to have to be concerned about, and of course you would have trouble getting to me, I’m real, you’re not.’ I jokingly thought.

Getting up to dump out the rest of my coffee, my head still hurting from last night's events. I open up one of my cabinets to take a painkiller in hopes of getting rid of my hangover. Reminds me to text Delia to see if she is doing okay. “So you are just going to monitor my whole day then. You don’t mind if I invite my friend over or do you think Lord Morpheus would want me to be isolating myself until he and Lucienne are able to find an answer as to the whole situation?” asking Matthew. “I think it's best if you just live your normal schedule, since clearly you know how we work.” he replied, absolutely tearing up the last piece of bagel. I hummed in confirmation. Again silence.

Then it dawns on me something important, where are we on the storyline? I don’t want to fuck something up. “So what was the last conflict or battle did you guys have to deal with?”

“Um, I guess it was when the boss saved his ex-wife from this crazy author, why do you ask?” he answered.

“It is for me to know and for you guys to stay safe. Trust me, it's for the best.” I replied. Matthew croaked. “So, would it be okay if I invited my friend over, or is that too much interaction with another person?” asking as I get ready to call Delia. “I wouldn’t, I feel like the boss would think that you are conspiring with another person,” he said. I nodded. “Well, I’m just going to call her to make sure that she’s okay.” I informed Matthew.

Dialing up Delia’s number on my phone, waiting, only ringing twice before she answered me. “Hello.” Delia spoke groggily. “Hey Delia, just calling to make sure that you are okay.” I said to her. ‘Her hangover must be worse than mine, lightweight head ass.’ I thought. “Yeah, I’m doing fine, my head is just killing me.” she whimpered out in pain. “Make sure to drink water and eat something, please. Also, I have a question.” Feeling nervous to ask her if anything happened to her last night, like mine, I can’t be the only one with this problem right now. “Shoot away.” she replied. “Did anything happen to you last night, like sleeping wise?” hesitant saying the last statement. Matthew was watching carefully. “If you’re asking if I pissed the bed, I didn’t.” she joked. “Ew gross, I wasn’t talking about that,” thinking of another way to word it without being conspicuous, “Did any of your New Year’s Eve wishes come true this morning?”

It was silent for a minute. “No sadly, I think it's because I didn't wear the underwear and manifest hard enough. Why did your wishes come true? Oh my Gods, you have to tell me everything!” excitement in her voice. “Haha, you’re so funny, as if I’m going to tell you my wishes, what if they don’t end up working huh.” I joked, trying to cover my tracks. “Boo you whore, anyway I got to go, I need to take a shower. Feeling crusty from sleep. Goodbye bestie and good luck with your wishes coming true.” she hung up on me before I could say goodbye to her. I sighed. Groaning as I contemplated what is the next move for me to make now. Putting my head down against the cold tile of the kitchen counter to help relieve the anxiety that was building up in my chest.

“So, you guys had an eventful New Year’s Eve, and what do you mean by wishes?” Matthew chirped. “It’s um, something dumb my friend convinced me into doing. Basically, on TikTok, people are like eating 12 grapes and each one you have to make a wish for each one and sit under the table before it hits the new year, and wear different colored underwear to help you do different things in your life. I just guess that's when you guys came into my life last night, but why me, though. I have enough stress from life in general, I don’t need this.” I confessed.

“I know, I really have to talk to Lord Morpheus about this whole situation, maybe it's connected somehow.” saying in a deflating tone. Matthew croaked again, “Um, that’s a lot, but are you really sure you want to talk to him? The boss doesn’t like to be pulled around.” I responded with, “Yeah, I know what I need to say, but I am just nervous, you know his majesty is so ugh. I’m already causing a problem and don’t want to be in debt to him of all beings.”

Matthew squawked. “I can see what you mean.” Trying to figure out what to do next is always so tricky. Thinking back to what Matthew said earlier, about what their last conflict was. I quickly checked and googled if anything happened in The Sandman universe. Scrolling through the different sites from their wiki, blogs hyping up for season two, nothing has seemed to change for the storyline. My next move was to open up Tumblr to see if Neil Gaiman had updated anything. The tempting feeling of just sending him a response about this situation, but pushing it behind me in fear of being called crazy on the internet. At least I know once this problem is over, they won’t come to any harm.

Still coming to terms with everything, I looked towards Matthew, knowing what my next move was not wanting to do but needs to be done. I need to talk to Morpheus. “The only idea I have is that we both go back to the Dreaming to explain to the best of my abilities. What do you think Matthew, you think he would be fine with my intrusion right now?” asking in desperation. “I guess it’s worth a shot,” he replied. “Let me just clean up, I guess, and feed my baby.” I mumbled.

“Baby?”

“My cat.” I said. I opened up her food container, hearing little feet starting to run towards the kitchen. Scooped some kibble into her food bowl, enough for the day, not sure when I was coming back. Refilling her water bowl and cleaning her litter box, making sure that her day is safe. Cleaned up after Matthew's plate and my mug. I mentally prepared myself as I walked towards my room, to sleep and meet the Dream King again, Matthew following close behind. Getting comfortable in bed once again, closing my eyes and enter the Dreaming.

Matthew was just coming back from checking up on Rose Walker and her little brother, Jed. Morpheus wanted to make sure nothing had become of the descendants of an Endless. As he was making his way to the palace, he saw a girl enter through the gates into the Dreaming. This confuses him, he wasn’t made aware that there was going to be a guest today. ‘Boss did say that something felt off in the Dreaming, just thought it was him having a crisis again over something small. Maybe this is the reason as to why.’ Matthew thought to himself. Keeping a mental note to inform the boss after giving the update.

Entering the palace and landing before Dream, who was sitting on his throne, reading a book. “Matthew you have returned, what do you have to report back?” the king spoke. “Rose and Jed are doing well, nothing to worry about for them.” Matthew reported. “Very well, you may go now.” Dream announced. “Uh boss, I don’t know if you know, but when I was heading towards the palace, there was a girl entering the gates and into the Dreaming. She entered like she knew what she was doing. Did you have a guest coming over or letting dreamers enter the realm again?” Matthew informed Dream. Dream looked to be as uncertain as the bird of the thought of an intruder. Just when he thought that he could have peace in the realm, another problem arises. “No guests or dreamers, I have made sure of that while I’m still repairing the Dreaming,” Dream admitted, “Since you mentioned this intruder, you are to keep an eye on them. Tell me when you have-” Dream was cut off by the sound of the palace door opening.

There standing was the girl that Matthew was just discussing. From where Dream sat, he couldn’t tell anything different about her, only that she was a plain human. Although taking a quick analysis of her appearance, something did feel off about her. It was the same feeling that was resonating with Dream this night in the Dreaming. ‘Could she be the cause?’ he thought.

“See, boss, I told you someone entered the realm through the gate.” Matthew defended himself. “Silence, now human, how did you enter through the gate, more importantly my realm?” Dream said, his voice boomed with authority.

“I entered through the Gate of Horn, the gate of which that only lets in those who of truth and how I entered in your realm is what I myself are still trying to figure out, Lord Morpheus” her voice tensed with fear? Her statement matches Matthew’s. “You know who I am?” Dream interrogated. “Lord Morpheus I know of all your titles, Dream of the Endless, the King of Nightmares and Dreams, Prince of Stories, Ruler of the Dreaming, and many more, sir. I know of your raven, Matthew, and your librarian Lucienne who helped keep order while you were away when you were captured. There are many things that I know of, but know this my Lord, I come to you with no harm, just curiosity.” This time she spoke with a bit more confidence, but how bold of her to bring up his capture in his presence. Anger grew within Dream, ‘How can this mortal speak so freely in my realm, in my palace.’

“How could you know of such things, you are just a plain mortal.” spite dripping from Dream’s voice.

Deciding to test this mortal by appearing in front of her. This gave him the opportunity to properly examine this human, and why she was affecting the Dreaming. All he could sense was that she was just as normal as any other human, but something was gnawing in him about this situation. It seems that she was also observing him, but more with curiosity. It did not go unnoticed how she quickly bowed her head down to avoid eye contact.

“I swear to you, I truly do not mean any harm. If you wish to ban me from the Dreaming, I will not put up a fuss. I am willing to tell you anything and everything I know if you let me stay.” she was nervous again, as she should. No lies were spoken, though, Dream had no choice but to accept her plea.“You may stay,” was all he could say. She smiled in relief in front of him. “I promise you, my lord, anything you wish to know, I will speak all that I know of, should you just ask.” There is silence once again. “My first question for you, mortal, what is your name?” he asked.

“My name is (Y/n) (L/n), my lord.” answering his question without hesitation. Before he could continue speaking, he felt that she was starting to wake up, without saying goodbye first to the king.

I open my eyes to be in Dream King’s castle once again. Just as beautiful as last time, but this time there was no time to sight see, business needed to be done. Matthew landed on my shoulder, scaring the shit out of me. “Geez, you need a bell.” I exasperated. Matthew said a simple “sorry”. “So, where is Lord Morpheus?” I asked. “I would assume the library, probably overworking Lucienne and himself with searching for answers.” Matthew responded. “Where would that be?”

“Just follow me.”

We walked through various halls, taking mental photos of the amazing architecture, anxiety rising with each step taken. Our trip comes to a stop in front of a pair of doors. The library of which has ever held every book written, not written, to be written, and knowledge of everything and everyone. Opening the walnut colored doors revealed the vast library. Trying not to be awestruck, I faced forward to meet Lucienne and Morpheus staring up from their own conversations.

“Hi.” shyly saying, closing the doors behind me. ‘Oh my lord, I’m going to vomit.’ I thought, the anxiety is high right now. Morpheus made his way over to me. “Explain yourself at once, why is it we could not find any documentation of your existence? What are you?” he demanded. “I am just a plain human I swear, and to answer your first question, it is because I do not belong to your world. In all honesty, I don't even know Matthew was able to access or travel to my universe.” I tried explaining. The Endless’ face contorted to one of confusion and frustration. “Another universe you speak of?” he probed. “Yes, where you only live within pages of comic books and a TV series. This world that you live in is purely fiction, created for entertainment for the millions, but it seems that of late I have come to the realization that I have had my wishes answered. You can even ask Matthew, he was there when I had pieced it together.”

“It's true boss.” Matthew crowed in agreement. “All this was caused by a wish, a selfish wish at that.” his eyes narrowed down on me. “Yes sir, if I could take it back, I would, but now that I am here I do wish to help in figuring out how to undo this. I only want peace for this world and its inhabitants.” I start to pick at my fingers to calm my nerves. “My lord, if I may, shall I find you books on wishes, manifestations, and the such?” Lucienne asked. “Yes, it seems that we now have a direction to go in now.” Dream accepted. He turned away from me, and headed towards a table that already had a couple books on it already. I looked towards Lucienne, “Do let me help Lucienne, it is my fault that we are in this mess.” She sighed and looked towards Dream to accept the help, him being him simply refused, already feeling the stress from Morpheus she just walked away with a cart and off to work. I gave her a sympathetic look. “Come, we have much to discuss.” Dream demanded.

I walked over to the other side of the table, and took a seat across from Dream. “So what would you like to know, your majesty?” responding to him. “How did you come to when you made your wish?” he inquired. “Um, I guess it all started when my friend was at my house, she was trying to convince me to do some New Year’s Eve traditions. The first tradition goes that if you eat twelve grapes, make a wish on each one under a table, that they will come true into the new year, which I am thinking is the one that caused all this. The other tradition is sillier, I believe, if you wear certain colored underwear, it will help in your personal life, like for instance I wore red first to help me in my love life, white for peace, blue for health, and lastly yellow for wealth to come to me.” explaining the traditions again, but in little more in depth to the king. His eyebrow cocked up at my last statement. ‘Why did I tell him what colors I wore, he didn’t need to know that? That’s so embarrassing.’ I thought, my face burning.

“So through eating grapes and making wishes you are able to come here? What exactly did you wish-” he was cut off by Mervyn. “My lord, your brother, Destiny, is calling for you in the Room of Sigils.” Mervyn informed him. “I’ll be right there.” Dream said. He looked towards me in thought before speaking, “I have no choice, since I can’t trust you yet, you will come with me to my brother’s realm.” “Really, I always wanted to know what Destiny’s Garden looks like in person.” I perked up. “That is another question for another time, but now we have to change our garb to prepare us for entering the realm,” he affirmed. He pulled out his pouch of sand and poured some into his hand. Making a ring around me with sand, it started swirling around me, making immediate changes to clothes into a deep red gown. He also changed into what I deemed Edwardian/Victorian clothes. More swirled around us, as Dream transported us to the room where it held all his siblings’ sigils.

“So through eating grapes and making wishes you are able to come here? What exactly did you wish-” he was cut off by Mervyn. “My lord, your brother, Destiny, is calling for you in the Room of Sigils.” Mervyn informed him. “I’ll be right there.” Dream said. He looked towards me in thought before speaking, “I have no choice, since I can’t trust you yet, you will come with me to my brother’s realm.” “Really, I always wanted to know what Destiny’s Garden looks like in person.” I perked up. “That is another question for another time, but now we have to change our garb to prepare us for entering the realm,” he affirmed. He pulled out his pouch of sand and poured some into his hand. Making a ring around me with sand, it started swirling around me, making immediate changes to clothes into a deep red gown. He also changed into what I deemed Edwardian/Victorian clothes. More sand swirled around us, as Dream transported us to the room where it held all his siblings’ sigils. It was like the room had speakers when Destiny announced for Dream to enter his realm, “Brother Dream. It is I, Destiny of the Endless who calls you. The family must meet. Come to me.”

Dream grabbed a hold of my hand, blushing a tiny bit at the action, as we transported through the sigil, and came out what seems like a portrait of Dream himself in Destiny’s home. “Hmm. Well met, my brother. So a family meeting…the first since the prodigal announced his intention to leave us. Well, well. It will be interesting to find out why you called us here.” Dream conversed with his brother. Me being nervous, just stood quietly behind the Dream King. ‘They are going to have their unwanted family meeting. At least I don’t have to wait for season two I guess.’ I thought to myself, giving a small chuckle. While they talked I took it upon myself to look around, making sure not to stray too far.

Wandering around, I was able to bump into Death. The feeling of excitement runs through my veins. “Oh my gods, I am finally meeting Death of the Endless, literally the best sibling of the endless. You're way more beautiful in person.” I babbled in awestruck again. She had a look of confusion, but smiled. “Thank you, and who might you be?” she asked. “Well met sister. Her name is Y/n, and she is a problem I am currently dealing with. Couldn’t risk leaving her alone in the Dreaming. You have dressed formally also, I see. My compliments.” Dream praised, appearing out behind me, making me jump. “Well then, hello (Y/n), I’m Death, Dream’s older sister, but it appears you already knew that.” acknowledging the fact I knew about her. I nervously laughed. She turned to face her brother to stick her tongue at him playfully.

“A family meeting, eh Destiny? You haven’t redecorated in the last three hundred years, I see. Oh, well. And still wearing basic gray… So what’s the occasion?” Desire says coming out of their portrait. “Destiny will tell us that in his own time, Desire. He won’t be rushed… Only two of us are left to go then.” Despair spoke, following suit of her twin, Desire. I follow behind Dream as he and his sister walk over to catch up to their other siblings.

“Only one of us who will be attending this gathering, Despair. Wherever the other is, he has made his wishes on the matter perfectly clear.” Destiny voiced.

“Yeah, but I had kinda hoped he’d changed his mind. I miss him.” Death expressed her sadness. “We all miss him.” Despair added. “I don’t.” Desire disdained. They were talking about their brother, Destruction, of course.

Following Destiny until we stopped in front of the youngest sibling’s portrait, Delirium. “Sister. Youngest of the Endless. I stand in my gallery, and I call you. Your family awaits you. Come.” Destiny requested upon the painting. Slowly, but surely she came out.

“Um, hi. It’s, uh, me…Isn’t it nICE…all of us…togETHER like thIs…it’s so…NicE…” Delirium spoke shyly. Her voice reminded me of Luna Lovegood, a distant and kind tone. “Hush, little sister. Now we are all assembled, we will walk down to the Refectory. There are things to discuss. There is something I must say” Destiny announced to the whole group. Death went up to Delirium to comfort her. “Hi, sis. How are you doing?” Her voice was kind to her. Holding her sibling by the shoulder to show support. “Uh. YesterDay I did somE reAlly BAD StuFF. I mean real bad. yoU knOw…bUt TODAY I did some gOod ThingS. I doN’t kNoW.” Delirium said, almost like she hesitates with choosing each word. Seeing their family dynamics at play was interesting to say the least.

This whole situation felt really personal, whole family meeting and all. Thankfully the walk was painfully quiet as we reached the Refectory. Everyone took their seats at the heptagonal table, leaving me feeling awkward whether I should continue standing or take their brother, Destruction, old spot. Almost like they could read my mind, Desire spoke up, “Go ahead, take a seat, it's not like our brother is going to show up anyways.” I hesitantly took the seat that was in between Dream and Desire. “So brother, you have brought a guest, what’s the occasion? Finally got a play thing?” Desire teased, purely to get under Dream’s skin. I blushed at the accusation. Dream was about to clear up our situation when Destiny spoke before him, “Silence. I have sent for refreshments. In the meantime, please, make yourself comfortable.”

“Well…here we all are.” Death said, breaking the ice. “Yes, here we all are.” Desire continued. “Uhh, yes, here we…umm…soMetimES I forGEt wHAt I was goING to say. SometiMEs I RemeMBer thinGS eveRYonE Else hAs forGOTTen foRever aNd alwaYS. Does THat ever haPPEn tO yOu?” Delirium rambled on.

“I suppose you must be wondering why I called you all here.” Destiny’s voice bellowed. Everyone was now paying attention to the eldest sibling. Dream let slip a simple “Yes.”

“The three sisters visited my garden earlier this day. In one aspect. The Grey Women.” Destiny explained. “The Fates? Here? That is indeed bizarre. I mean…this place is fate. It seems like the last place they would choose to manifest.” Despair pondered at the notion. ‘The Fates, why do they feel familiar differently?’ I thought, my brain racking with ideas trying to connect this feeling. I block out most of the sibling conversations to figure it out. This overwhelming feeling of déjà vu fills my body. My eyes widened when I remembered what happened to me, and why everything is happening. My heart starts to pound through my chest, I quickly look towards Dream in a panic. He was already standing, looking like he was about to leave. Maybe I should have been paying attention.

“This has no point. What have we to discuss?” Dream speaks up. “What have we to discuss? Well, what about you, my brother?” Desire pried. “Me?” Dream replied. “Indeed, tell me– how’s your love life? Killed any girlfriends recently? Or sentenced any more of them to hell? Maybe this mortal that you have brought is your latest victim of your affections?” Desire deride. ‘Oh no, we are at that part of the comic. What did I have to be included in this argument? Desire is just as bad as I thought.’ I thought to myself, anger building up in Dream’s defense. “... What did you say?” Dream said lowly.

“Well, you don’t exactly have trouble-free relationships, do you? Let’s see…there was that little one in Greece, what was her name? Carousel? Something like that.” Desire poked at Dream, “And that female on– what’s that pretty plane with all the twinkly lights? You know where I mean. But what you put her through wasn’t pretty at all. Oh– and I nearly forgot. Do you remember Nada?” Dream looks pissed, his anger was just radiating. “You dare…” Dream face twisted into irritation. I got up from my chair and backed away from them, not wanting to be caught in their crossfire. “Such a sweet child. She really loved you–I know. I could taste her heart. And what did you do? Because she wouldn’t stay with you until you tired of her, you sentenced her to Lucifer’s Domain. Because she hurt your petty pride, you’ve had her hurt and tortured for ten thousand years…”

Dream slammed the table with his fist, “ENOUGH. YOU have said ENOUGH, and MORE than ENOUGH. Why I should-” Dream was cut off by Destiny, “You will do nothing in this place, my brother.” Dream still heated, backed off, “I believe I will go outside…my…brother. I do not… care for the…company here.” Dream said in defeat. Death and I look towards him in hopes of if he needs comfort. Dream walks out of the room, and towards the balcony for some peace. “Well! What’s the matter with him? Do you think it could have been something I said?” Desire still instigating. “Shut up, Desire. If you ever want to speak again…shut up.” Death put them into their place. Desire held their head down.

Looking to Death as she got up and walking over to her. “I know you are about to go talk to him, and it’s best I’m not there, but can you make sure he is okay. I know he has been through a lot and want to make sure he is okay.” I requested from the Endless. She gave me a smile and rubbed my shoulder. “I will do my best, but my brother can be stubborn.” She comforted me. She started to leave to go support her brother, and I was left standing, watching the two talk.

“(Y/n) was it, may I have a word with you in private.” Destiny requested from across the room. “Um, sure.” Agreeing, feeling nervous. He led me into his garden, The Garden of Forking Ways, to speak with me. “So what is it you needed to talk to me about?” I asked. “My brother explained to me that you were simply a problem he was currently with, but that is just part of the truth, isn't it? Care to tell me the rest and why aren’t you in my Book of Destiny?” he questioned. I sighed, and told him everything that I knew and what I recently learned from getting déjà vu from hearing about The Fates.

“But I can assure you, I will not be in Dream’s path. We both know that Dream is planning on going to Hell to retrieve Nada. I will be on the sidelines, trying to find out answers to separate our worlds once more.” affirming my actions. I tried reading Destiny’s face, but I got nothing. All he did was hum in what I assume was acknowledgement.

Sand started to swirl around me, before disappearing I left Destiny one statement, “We both know what we know.”

Taglist: @emarich7 @chantzmar

#The Sandman #the sandman x reader #dream of the endless x reader #dream of the endless #morpheus #lord morpheus #morpheus x reader #morpheus x you #sandman x reader #sandman x you #sandman x y/n #wishes come true?

103 notes · View notes

winderlylandchime · 11 months

Note

1/2 and we are at 4x06. He came back and sat down and went ‘okay so i am now fully relaxed and chill. I talked to myself in the mirror. And we both agreed that going forward, i will be now more calm.’ ‘What is this? Ohhhh Kinnetik launch party! awww he gave the check back. I knew it was killing him to accept the help…quick question, why didn’t he remove the showers? JUSTIN! Are we back to normal? Oh shit, Deb and Em are roommates!! BLONDIE IS BACK! MY BLONDIE IS BACK! Aww Brian, is gonna make a speec- why the fuck is Lindsay following him up there? Girl get the fuck out, you have nothing to do with any of this. AWW FEMALE BLONDIE IS UP THERE. See! SHE makes sense. Linds doesnt. AND JUSTIN! Now he makes sense because HE NAMED IT! Shoo lindsay, this isnt your moment. LOOK AT THEM KISSING! I LOVE THIS! This was nice! Finally my blondie is back!’ ‘Now why the fuck is Debbie ignoring Vic? Right, she’s angry but still. RAGE? A MOVIE?! HOLY FUCKING SHIT! She needs to stop being a bitch to Vic. I get shes angry but still’ ‘awwww he immediately went to Brian to tell him the news! Of course he did. MY BLONDIE IS BACK! That’s right Brian, go back to school Justin! Look at him making time to celebrate Justin. AWWWW’ ‘TED! AND EM! oh shit, this is gonna be tough, isn’t it? Yeah, i was right, this is tough. Fuck. I feel ripped in half. Im happy for Ted, i understand Em, but i want them to be friends again. Fuck’ ‘oh ben is miserable. And jealous and a bitch. Bro, he is your partner, you’re supposed to be supportive no matter what. Fuck you man’ ‘okay, i get Ted but dude! Come on. Hasn’t Blakey been through enough? Let that man live, he can’t catch a fucking break’ ‘FINALLY VIC AND DEBBIE MADE UP! We have a lot of catching up to do so let’s get to it babies! *waves to deb and vic* this is us when we grow up. Why is she bringing up what all she did for him because of aids? That’s wrong. I take it back, this isn’t us when we grow up. OH FUCK YOU DEBBIE! TOTALLY NOT US! NOT US! NEVER US!’ *he forced me to pinky promise that that wont be us* ‘did they change babylon? I dont remember this bench thing, because i know for a fact that they wouldve fucked on it by season 2. Ohhh Justin being sassy to Brian. Ohhh ibiza *says it like justin and then brian corrects justin* okay, my bad. He could have anything he wanted and he is betting school? HE REALLY CARES ABOUT HIS EDUCATION AND FUTURE. Fellas, how about this, you both fuck him. That way, you go to ibiza AND back to school? Win win’ ‘no Ben, the only piece of shit here is you. What a jealous prick. Who does that? Mike literally told him that he shouldnt judge his book cause he’s not smart enough since he didnt go to community college, which was fucked up b-t-w just to make up for hurting his feelings and this fucker cant even pretend to be happy for a moment? Fuck you. YEAH, GO OFF MIKE’ ‘aw Blake and Emmett. I need them to be friends. Oh god, i just had a realization. I sound like that chick in mean girls who wanted to bake cupcakes and make everyone friends. Blake, deserves the world!’ And now we are at the Britin/gym scene ‘it took 4 seasons for Justin to go with him to the gym? Bullshit, this man was stalking Brian like crazy in season 1. He would’ve had gym membership AND his personal trainer by episode 3. Ohhh its that guy! Damn, Brian really wants him to go back to school. What is he doing? Justin, what did you do? CRABS? What a little shit. I missed this. I missed them’ ‘Lindsay, what the fuck are we doing here again? Bagel? Hair and outfit, looking like that? Babe, what is going on? This is weird AND creepy. DUDE HANDS OFF HER ASS! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON. YOU SHOULD’VE PUNCHED HIM HARDER AND LET HIM FALL! PIG’

Brother shouting about Lindsay being up on the stage at the launch party is so correct. WHY IS SHE THERE?

Your brother getting all worried and upset about Vic and Debbie's fight. I'm going to cry.

BRIAN DOES CARE ABOUT JUSTIN'S EDUCATION! I am so soft about that.

it took 4 seasons for Justin to go with him to the gym? Bullshit, this man was stalking Brian like crazy in season 1. He would’ve had gym membership AND his personal trainer by episode 3 OKAY I snorted at that. So accurate.

UGH the start of Lindsay and that guy. UGH

#ask winderlylandchime #dear sweet anon #queer as folk #a straight man watches qaf us 2000 in the year of our lord 2023

4 notes · View notes

shatterthefragments · 7 days

Text

I SWEAR TO FUCK IF IM STRESSING MYSELF INTO BEING SICK AGAIN 😭

Like wouldn’t it be fucking funny (Murphys law and all) if after spending August sick and not testing positive for Covid once over several weeks I tested positive now? (If I don’t sleep enough I wake up with a cough and sore throat. This is normal for me. Food and hot water help though and I’m relatively fine now just tired and anxious. I’m a bit sneezy though (I was outdoors around pollen though) anyway I will be testing before my shower but fuuuuuck (most likely I just need to stick something in my mouth. But shit)

(I’m. As much as I want to be here and see what my friends have shared. Alas I should. Do the things I need to. Because I have to actually be prepared Prepared or else I might fucking kill someone actually. Driving myself to and from work on a familiar route is far different than hours away in The Big City Area and I feel like shit rn tbh)

(…at least part of this is that I need to eat again. But!!! Made it home SUPER QUICK bc the express bus and my connecting buses all lined up PERFECTLY)

Had a dirty pumpkin chai latte possibly decaf (I asked for it to be and I think it was they just ended up calling oat pumpkin chai latte when giving it to me is all so idk for sure for sure bc my thoughts were already racing bc there’s so much for me to do :() and bagel breakfast sandwich this morning (and a donut from another place) and they were really good (I enjoyed the pistachio coconut cream one better last week though) (also I always kinda almost choke on the cinnamon/nutmeg on top of some drinks :()

Ah AND the show I am supposed to see next week is postponed to an unknown date and it’s just. 😔 idk if I’ll still be able to go to whatever date it’ll get rescheduled for.

Really,, I should say that I can in fact work the day I booked off (EXCEPT that I might be able to get to see one of my friends that day!!!) and most likely the schedule is already written (unless they just fucking ignored my day I need off notice bc manager is sick rn and who knows if the asst mgr can actually write schedules bc last time he just copy pasted basically 😬) and. Regardless. I could go in anyway bc I want to go see the aquarium.

And also my favourite pants in one pocket has mystery threads so I’m hoping they’re still okay bc I don’t even know where to begin trying to see if/where the problem is let alone how to fix them

#food #food pics #shattered fragments #whining #anyway. I’ll go eat something now.#(I’ll probably pop in here and there but won’t have the wherewithal in me to queue anything I see tbh)

0 notes

scentofgenocide · 1 year

Text

At the end of March I faced a department full of people who knew my name and face, my nuanced research about the dead and the remembered, panicking that I sounded frazzled , worried about D and his daughter, as he creeped up the stairs and went missing for most of the panels until mine. He came to mine though, and he said some very kind things. That meant a lot to me.

But that’s not why we’re here.

At the end of March, notes clutched in my hand, dressed in boots and a blazer I had dug out from my closet, I creeped out of my shitty house on Long Island that i hated, a too-large loft bedroom with no sun but a dirty skylight, my Chinese landlady hovering. I hated it there, uncomfortably large upstairs and cramped and gross in the downstairs, but I tried to make my best of it, I tried to do my walks and explorations, and it all felt like dull, lifeless nothing, like grey and muddy waters. I put on my nice boots and my blazer, went to the unreliable bus stop, and the bus passed me by. That in itself wasn’t rare, but the day, the day of my talk, the day when Long Island turned on me, showed me it’s MAGA fangs and when wearing army sweaters and Austrian caps became not so funny anymore, I walked to school in the looming rain, click clacking worn boots and light blazer.

I had had enough. No more would the MAGA protestors threaten my bagel stop on Saturday mornings, no unreliable bus with an app that made you watch ads before you bought the tickets, no more mile walk in the rain while cars jeered and tried to run me over. I was done, done, done, done with the suburbs and everything they represented. I made up my mind: I was moving to “the city,” where I could ride the subway and see my friends and where people wouldn’t say anything about my hair and stares. In “the city,” everyone had their own lives that didn’t involve me (which can be lonely sometimes but more on that later,) where I didn’t have to have a car, where I could just be trans without being a spectacle, where I could live with some semblance of what I wanted normality to be.

Two months later, I had found an apartment in the city. I’m here now - my room is cramped, but there’s so much Sun that the whole room heats up in the morning, making me sweat and dream. The floors are wooden and my roommates are good people who want to make money, but I had money and I gave that up. Now I have some regrets but not about anything I can fix or could have fixed at the time.

I’m writing this here now, to remind myself that I changed my entire reality within the span of two months. I sat in a marriage for so long, unable to move or breathe and I made myself small, and after one cross country move whats a little two hour jaunt? I still feel sorry for my movers and I hope they’re okay. But I’m here now, two months later, two months after sobbing under my desk, red faced and snotty when Rob offered to give me a hug and that was the most positive and loving male attention I’d gotten in months. He’s a good guy and I hope he’s okay.

But I did this, I did this in two months. I said, no, im unsafe, im unhealthy, this is killing me. I didn’t wait six months or ten years. I waited two. I put my money down, I took my pride and I took my things - some I haven’t seen in so long - I stacked them up and I arranged a room that overlooks a busy street and the neighbors play their music and their kids scream. Rainy days are nice because it’s quiet so I like rainy days now.

Ultimately I write this to remind myself that I am capable, perhaps more capable than anyone I know, I have uprooted my entire life and I will continue to do that until I feel at home. I will weed and tend and sow my own goddamn garden until someone listens and flowers sprout. I don’t have anyone to obsess over right now which leaves me weak and sullen, but they will come, they will come. They always do.

0 notes

h0tch-r0cket · 3 years

Text

Infatuation (18+) {a.h.} : chapter 12

summary: you needed a job. aaron hotchner needed a babysitter. the rest was inevitable.

word count: 5.8K

warnings: minor explicit language

table of contents

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As much as you tried to, you couldn't stop replaying the scenes from outside your apartment when you finally took things into your own hands, or lips rather, and finally moved things along with Aaron.

Everything about the kiss was everything you had wished for and more. And as you tossed and turned in bed that night with a stupid grin on your face from the excitement, you drifted off to sleep thinking about what as to come.

Aaron felt the same way. He couldn't believe that the kiss actually happened. As he drove home from your apartment, as much as it killed him that he had to go, he found himself still thinking about you and how your lips melded perfectly to his. The way you played around with his hair, which he never even expected to enjoy as much as he did.

He tried to profess his every feeling for you in his every touch and kiss. Every fiber of his being was completely and entirely yours. He wanted no one else but you.

Which was why he decided to wake up early the next day before he had to go to work, before the sun even peeked over the horizon and was already going along with the plan that he had come up with for the morning.

Besides, who wasn't a fan of breakfast and sunrises?

Even though you wanted to sleep the morning away, the ringing of your phone on the nightstand pulled you out of your deep slumber. Languidly, you threw your arm over the side of the bed and grabbed onto your phone, accepting the call.

"Hello?" you said into your phone, still fighting with your body's desire to still be curled up underneath your comforter, fast asleep.

Aaron smiled at the sleep that was evident in your voice as he pressed his phone up to his ear. "Well good morning, Y/N," he said softly into the phone.

You furrowed your brows and propped yourself up in bed glancing at the time. "Aaron, it's 5:30 in the morning. Is everything okay?"

"Just perfect. Look outside your window," he urged.

You threw your comforter off of you and walked over to the window. As you peered down into the street, you saw Aaron leaning against his car holding a brown paper bag up in your direction once he realized you could see where he was standing.

"Hungry?" he asked with a light laugh.

"You're lucky I like you, Hotchner. I'm not a morning person at all," you laughed, feeling your chest swell with admiration that he went out of his way for you yet again.

"Trust me, I know how lucky I am. C'mon. Food isn't going to stay warm forever," he told you.

"Alright, alright. I have to get dressed. Come up here with me." You watched as Aaron opened up his car door and placed the bag inside before turning quickly on his heels to head up to your apartment.

"See you in a minute," he said quickly before hanging up.

You tossed your phone onto your bed and tore off your pajama shirt, throwing on your bra and a light zip up sweatshirt. That was as far as you got before you heard Aaron's distinct knocks on your door.

You went to answer your door, putting your hair up in the process as you walked.

As soon as the door opened, Aaron took a swift step forward, placing his hands on your hips as he captured his lips with yours. "Good morning, beautiful," he murmured against your lips as he walked the two of you forward in the entrance of your apartment before shutting the door with his foot.

"Good morning to you too," you laughed, smiling into the kiss.

He pecked your lips one more time before letting go of you, rubbing his thumbs in circles along your bare hips. "Almost ready to go?"

"Pretty much. Just give me a few minutes," you told him as you shimmied your way out of his grasp to finish getting ready.

When you came back out into the living room, now donning your completed outfit with jean capris to go with the sweatshirt, you saw Aaron sitting on the couch, petting Artemis gently on her head as she slept in a ball next to him.

"She's a gentle little thing isn't she?" he asked as he continued to pet the bulldog.

"She's got a good sense of character," you said as you smiled at the sight of Aaron with the little bulldog.

He stood up from the couch, giving Artemis one last pat on the head before heading in your direction. He grabbed your hand in his and walked you out of your apartment, only letting go of your hand when you had to lock the door.

You yawned lightly as you got settled into his car, holding the bag of food on your lap. "I hope we're going someplace good being that you woke me up at the crack of dawn," you teased as Aaron started to pull away from your apartment building.

"Trust me. It's worth it," he assured as he rested his hand on your thigh, holding it somewhat tightly in his grasp.

The ride was pretty silent, the hums of the radio filling the air as you watched the buildings pass you by. It was still a bit dark out, the sun just starting to peak around in the sky.

Aaron pulled into the parking lot of the small park not too far away from your house. "Come on, let's go," he said excitedly as he glanced at his watch. "We only have a few more minutes left."

He got out of the car quickly and rummaged through his back seat, pulling out a blanket for the two of you to sit on. You followed his lead and exited the car with the food in your hand.

Aaron grabbed onto your hand again and started to walk into the park. The park was pretty much empty, only a few people running around the track that lined the perimeter of the park. Aaron guided you towards the middle of the park, settling the blanket down under a big oak tree.

He kicked off his shoes and placed them on the corners of the blanket so it wouldn't fly up as the two of you sat. He sat down on the blanket and leaned back on his hands as he glanced up at the sky. He smiled at you, patting the blanket next to him for you to sit there.

You, too, took off your shoes and sat down next to him, scooching close to him. He grabbed the bag of food from your hands and started to open it and place the food out in front of you.

"I got bagels, some fresh fruit, and orange juice," he told you as he took a grape out of the fruit container and popped it into his mouth.

You kissed his cheek before helping yourself to the breakfast array that he had gotten for the two of you.

"Maybe this was worth being woken up early for," you laughed as you took a bite of your bagel.

Aaron glanced at his watch again, pointing up towards the sky. "I think it's about to become even more worth your while."

Within a few minutes, the sky was painted wonderful hues of yellow and orange as the Sun's rays poked through the clouds. You sat there in awe, watching as the sky changed colors right before your eyes.

Aaron watched you, as he saw the way the Sun lit up your face more than normal, highlighting every beautiful feature of your face. He smiled to himself, realizing how lucky he was to be where he was with you. For what at first seemed unreasonable and never likely to happen, he found himself grasping onto this new reality that revolved around you and how he was completely infatuated with you.

"Aaron, this is gorgeous," you said in awe as you watched the sky light up even more, causing the city around you to start bursting with life.

"I know," he said softly as he pulled your body flush against his. He sat up more on the blanket, leaning over to kiss your temple.

You turned to look at him, the sunrise making his face look even more warm than it normally was. "I'm glad we did this."

A faint smile grew across his lips as he looked at you. He reached forward, grabbing one of the fresh strawberries from the plate. He brought the bright red berry up to your mouth and waited a moment. "Open," he said gently.

You opened your mouth and Aaron placed the strawberry into it about halfway. He kept his eyes on you, waiting for you to make the next move. You bit down gently into it, the sweet flavor of the fruit invading your mouth as you continued to hold Aaron's gaze.

He proceeded to bring the rest of the strawberry up to his mouth and finished what was left, all the while keeping his intense look on you. "Good, huh?" he asked through his small bites.

You nodded in agreement, feeling the desire for Aaron travel straight down to your core. "Very," you muttered quietly.

After you finished eating your breakfast, you moved to sit in between Aaron's legs as you both continued to watch the sunrise. He wrapped one of his arms around your stomach as he used the other to prop himself up as he leaned back on it.

"You ever wonder what it would be like if you could talk to your past self? If you could give them any advice at all?" Aaron asked abruptly, breaking the comfortable silence that fell between the two of your over time.

"Sometimes. I don't even know where I would begin with the things that I'd want to tell my past self," you admitted as you watched the sky continue to change color.

"I know at least one thing I would tell my past self."

You tilted your head to look at him, waiting for him to continue with his thoughts.

"I would tell my past self that things get better and that it takes time to heal. And that it's all a work in progress but I'm trying my damndest to do it. I never thought that I would but things change and I've come to realize that."

"What's changed?"

"I opened myself up, I'm not scared to be vulnerable around those I care about. I took down my walls and finally let someone in. I never thought that after-" He paused for a moment, clearing his throat as if he was taking the moment to collect himself. "I never thought that after Haley there was ever going to be someone that I would be willing to do anything and everything for."

He brushed his fingers down your arm and leaned forward, pressing a kiss underneath your earlobe. "But here I am, willing to find a way to give you the sun, moon, and stars if you asked me to."

You leaned back against him, feeling full of admiration and absolute devotion for the man sitting with you.

"What would you tell yourself?" he asked, interlocking his hand with yours.

"I'd tell myself not to be so stubborn with everything. And to learn to trust people more because there's times where you need to rely on people when you need help and it's better to have those people help you than to struggle with yourself internally. That's something that I know for a fact younger me had problems with. I always bottled things up and if I learned to deal with my emotions better, maybe certain situations wouldn't have turned out the way they did." You let out a light sigh, looking down at your hand holding onto Aaron's. You turned your head towards him, planting a quick kiss on his lips. "And most importantly, good things come to those who wait."

Aaron gave your hand a small squeeze, nodding his head as he listened to what you had just told him. "I don't think you realize how important of a person you've become to me. You're a quintessential part of my life and Jack's as well."

You were overwhelmed with emotion at his words, feeling a moment where you were almost positive strings of tears of joy would have streamed down your face. You weren't sure if any words could properly explain the way you felt about Aaron, so you only hoped that he picked up on it by the way you kissed him so delicately before falling into a kiss with more fervor.

Aaron pulled away, pressing his forehead against yours as your hand was gripping onto his shirt to pull him closer. "Promise me something, Y/N."

"Anything."

"Promise me that no matter what happens, no matter when it happens, that if you have a bad day or are going through a tough time that you'll come talk to me. I don't care if it's at 3 o'clock in the morning and you just need someone to talk to. I just want you to know that I'm here for you and I don't want you to have to feel like you have to bottle things up from me or face things alone."

You nodded, your forehead rubbing against his slightly. "I promise."

------

After your breakfast date, Aaron brought you back home before he had to leave for work. But not before telling you just how eager he was to see you after he got home to you and Jack after his lectures.

"And then Ms. Kingston told us that pretty soon all of the tadpoles are going to finish growing to be frogs. They all have most of their legs coming in and everything," Jack explained to you and Aaron as you all ate dinner together. Something that you found yourself doing pretty much every day that you watched the young Hotchner.

"That's cool buddy. Anything else happen in school today?" Aaron asked.

"We got to play guitars in music today," he continued as he took a bite of his burger.

"That's something I always wanted to get into but never had the time or the patience to actually learn songs," you told Jack. "Maybe you could teach me."

"I'm not that good," he said with a small pout. "But Mr. Weaver, the music teacher, said that it all gets easier with practice. He showed us how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

"That's more than what I know how to play," you laughed. "I'll tell you what. You get some more practice in and then you can show me how to play whatever song is your favorite that you know how to play. How does that sound?"

"Okay, deal," the young Hotchner said excitedly.

As much as he tried to hide it, Aaron smiled widely at the way you interacted with his son. It was something that made him feel like when he was to tell Jack about the way things were going between the two of you, that everything was going to be fine.

A small part of Aaron always feared about how Jack would handle it if he had moved on with someone else. He would never pursue something with someone that Jack didn't like or vice versa.

But with you, all of his worries disappeared when he saw the way the two of you interact. You always showed Jack the utmost care and took his interests into consideration; granted this was something that was a part of the babysitter job, however, the fact that you always seemed to go above and beyond is what made Aaron solidify his thoughts that he wanted more with you.

You caught Aaron smiling at you, a bit longer than normal and you shot him a quick smirk as you poked around the salad on your plate. "Everything alright over there, Aaron?"

"Absolutely fantastic," he assured as he continued to look at you. He turned his attention to Jack, gathering his utensils from his now finished meal. "Want to watch a movie tonight, buddy?"

"Yeah but I want to pick it out. You picked it out last time," Jack said as he mimicked his fathers actions as they brought their dishes to the sink.

"That's only fair," Aaron teased as he stood next to you holding out his hand. "Finished?"

"Mhm. Thank you," you said as you passed him your plate. You got up from the chair and headed over to the sink, rolling up your sleeves as you turned on the water. Aaron placed the empty plates in the sink in front of you and looked at you as if to say What are you doing? "You cooked. Least I could do is clean up a bit."

"Y/N, you don't have to-" he started to say. Jack grabbed onto his hand and started pulling him into the living room.

"Come on, Dad. Help me set up the TV," Jack urged him.

Aaron trudged off into the living room, giving you one last glance. Leave them he mouthed to you as Jack started rambling off different movie titles to watch.

You started to wash off the dishes anyway, figuring like you had told Aaron, that it was the least you could do since he cooked pretty much every day. You all were falling into a routine relatively quickly and it was something that when you thought about it, you were not anticipating at all when you first took the job.

But now, the Hotchner boys were becoming a big part of your life just as much as you were becoming a big part of theirs.

As you washed off another plate, Aaron came up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist, placing his head on your shoulder.

"I thought I told you to leave those," he whispered into your ear as you scrubbed the last parts of the plate that you were washing.

"You did."

"Then why are you doing them?" he asked, pressing a kiss on your shoulder.

"Because I want to," you whispered back to him.

He reached his arms forward and took the plate from your hands and placed it back in the sink. "Just leave it." He grabbed onto your hips and spun you around, caging you in in front of the sink. He brushed his fingers through the loose strands of hair that framed your face, his eyes searching yours. "God, you're gorgeous," he breathed.

You felt your cheeks blush, his words sending sparks to your core. He leaned forward and kissed you slowly, bringing his hand up onto the side of your face.

"Dad, are you guys coming yet?" Jack hollered from the living room, pulling the two of you out of the moment.

"Not yet," Aaron muttered under his breath, smirking devilishly at you. He turned his head away from you and called back out to Jack. "Yeah, buddy. Be there in a second. Just trying to find the popcorn."

Your knees went weak from the very clear message that Aaron insinuated. It was times like this you wished you two were alone more often to allow you more intimate moments.

Still blocking you from moving away from him, Aaron pressed another kiss on your lips before stepping away from you and searching the cabinets for the popcorn.

"I'll be in in a second if you want to head in there with him," Aaron told you as he grabbed some of the microwaveable bags from the cabinet.

You couldn't think straight after your little interaction. You only were able to nod and head into the living room, plopping down onto the couch behind Jack who set up his bean bag chair in the middle of the room.

"Y/N, do you like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? That's what I picked out for tonight," Jack told you as he shifted around in his bean bag.

"The original version. Not the remake," you explained as you settled onto the couch, waiting for Aaron to join the two of you.

"There's two? Dad only ever showed me this one to watch," he said as he handed you the DVD case.

"The remake doesn't exist in this house," Aaron joked as he came into the living room holding two bowls of popcorn. He gave the smaller of the two to Jack and handed you the larger one as he sat down on the couch, relatively close to you.

"Good," you laughed, moving over a little closer to Aaron on the couch.

"Everyone's got everything they need? All good to start the movie," Aaron asked as he grabbed onto the remote.

"Just start it," Jack practically whined.

"Relax, buddy," Aaron chuckled. He started the movie and settled into the couch, resting his feet on the coffee table. "It's not like we haven't seen this before."

Jack shoved a small handful of the popcorn into his mouth as he glued his attention to the TV. "Yeah but it's the first time we're watching it with Y/N."

Aaron turned his attention to you, sending you a small smile. "He's got a point," he said quietly.

"Just watch the movie, you softie," you teased, tossing a piece of popcorn in his direction.

As the three of you watched the movie, you and Aaron had shifted closer to each other on the couch to the point your shoulders were touching. You wanted to sit closer and maybe rest your head on Aaron, but you weren't sure how he would feel with Jack being in the room with you both so you decided against it.

That didn't stop him from holding your hand in between the small space between the two of you on the couch, giving your hand the occasional squeeze every now and then as the movie progressed.

As the movie drew to a close, you heard the small yawns coming from the little Hotchner, who was fighting to keep his eyes awake. Aaron stood up from the couch and went over to him, taking the popcorn bowl out of his grasp and placing it on the coffee table. He scooped Jack up in his arms, resting his head on his shoulder.

"Come on, buddy. Let me tuck you in for the night," Aaron said quietly as he ran his hand along Jack's back. "Say goodnight to Y/N."

"Night," he murmured sleepily as he pressed his cheek closer down to Aaron.

"I'll be down in a bit," Aaron told you as he turned to take Jack upstairs to his room.

You placed the popcorn bowl that you and Aaron had been sharing on the coffee table as you scrolled through your phone aimlessly, waiting for Aaron to come back.

After a short period of time, you heard Aaron coming back downstairs and he sat back down on the couch, smiling lightly at you. "He's asleep. I only got through half of the next chapter of James and the Giant Peach before he passed out for the night."

You reached your hand up and caressed his cheek softly, moving closer to him on the couch. "You're such a great father, Aaron."

"I try to be," he said softly, shrugging his shoulders.

"You are. You take such good care of him," you praised.

His face softened at your words, feeling as though he didn't deserve to be hearing you tell him that. "Thank you," he murmured as he leaned forward, closing the gap between the two of you and kissed you softly.

"Anytime," you said in between kisses.

Aaron's hands gripped onto your hips as he pulled you onto his lap, your legs straddling over him as he rested his head lazily on the back of the couch.

"You know, I was thinking about something earlier," he said softly as you rested your head down on his chest.

"What's that?"

"How would you feel about getting a weekend away from everything? Just me and you." He rubbed his hand along your back as he waited for you to respond.

You picked your head up to look at him, trying to gauge how serious he was about what he had just proposed to you. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Jack and how we all spend so much time together," he laughed lightly, his smile lighting up his face. "But I think me and you need to have some more time to ourselves."

"Where would you even want to go?" you asked, raising your eyebrow curiously at him.

"I didn't think that far ahead," he chuckled. "I don't really care as long as it's with you."

You wrapped your arms around his neck, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. "I think I would love that."

The rest of the night, you and Aaron talked about possible plans for your little getaway, and even some of the plans that Aaron had for his upcoming lectures because he knew how much you enjoyed mythology.

At some point, Aaron felt your breathing steady along his chest as your words changed into simple little hums of agreement when your tiredness caught up to you.

"Y/N?" he said softly. When there was no response, he glanced down to see your eyes shut, sleeping soundly. He took a moment to take in your appearance and how peaceful you looked. And just how breathtaking you looked.

He would never get over just taking the time to look at you.

As carefully as he could, he shifted the two of you on the couch. He wrapped his arms tightly around your waist as he laid down with you, holding you close to his body to ensure that you wouldn't fall off the couch.

He pressed you as close to him as he could, feeling your body meld into his as you continued your peaceful sleep. He reached his arm up onto the back of the couch to grab the blanket that he had resting there and draped it over the two of you, making sure that you were at least covered fully even if it meant that he only had a small part of the blanket covering his own body.

He took off his glasses and placed them on the end table next to the couch before feeling his own need to sleep creep up on him. He pressed a kiss onto your forehead as he laid there thinking about how perfect you were. How he couldn't imagine being with anyone else in his life.

"Goodnight, sweet girl," he murmured against your forehead before adjusting himself to rest his chin on top of your head.

Aaron drifted off to sleep soon after, clutching you close to him as the living room grew silent as your steady breaths filled the air.

-----

Warmth was all you felt as your eyes fluttered open slowly. You pulled the blanket that was on top of you closer underneath your chin, clinging on to the last little bits of heat that was engulfing you. Being that you just woke up and not fully aware of your surroundings, you thought that the steady breathing that you heard from behind you was just your mind playing tricks on you.

That was until you heard the gentle snores from behind you along with it.

As you became more aware of where you were, you realized you weren't home.

You had fallen asleep at Aaron's house.

Your eyes widened as you felt yourself beginning to panic slightly because that wasn't your intention after you had been talking to Aaron after Jack went off to bed.

You tried to sit up on the couch to only be held tighter by the arm wrapped around your stomach that you had just become aware of.

"Where are you going?" Aaron's voice, gravelly and rough from sleep, spoke out.

You sat up, finally breaking free of his grasp around you. You checked your phone quickly that was on the coffee table in front of the couch and almost gasped at the time. "Shit, shit, shit, shit," you mumbled as you started to throw your shoes back on.

Aaron shifted on the couch behind you to lay on his back, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he watched you. You turned to look at him for a brief moment, mentally taking in the way his hair was jostled around from sleeping on the couch, before going back to putting on your shoes. "I wasn't supposed to stay here last night," you said quickly.

"Okay and? The problem is what exactly?" Aaron asked as he grabbed his glasses from off the end table next to the couch. "So we fell asleep. I don't see what the big deal is."

"The problem is that I'm still wearing the same clothes from yesterday and Jack is going to be up soon and I don't want him to see me here and wonder what the hell is going on," you explained.

"Y/N, relax." He held up his wrist to look at the time and he scoffed playfully. "Jack won't be up for another 45 minutes or so, if we're lucky." He opened up his arms and patted his chest, urging you to lay back down. "Just come back and lay down for a bit longer."

"Aaron," you said softly.

"Y/N," he replied, raising his brows. "Give me ten more minutes and then if you still want to go, you can."

Realizing he wasn't going to let you get away with leaving him just yet, you laid back down on the couch as he adjusted himself to give you some room. He wrapped his arm around your shoulder as you snaked your arm around his torso.

He pressed a kiss onto the top of your head as you rested against his chest, trailing his fingertips of his unoccupied hand down the arm that you had around him. "Ten minutes and then I have to go," you told him.

"You kick in your sleep a bit, did you ever realize that?" he asked with seriousness in his quiet voice, completely disregarding your comment about how you were getting ready to leave in a few minutes.

You playfully hit his chest as he pulled you closer to him. He laughed softly, the kind of laugh where you could see his adorable dimples showing on his face. One of his laughs that only showed up once in a blue moon where you couldn't help but laugh along with him.

"Shut up," you laughed.

"It's cute. You snore a little, too," he teased, still running his fingers along your arm.

"Well you do too," you retorted.

"Absolutely not. Don't be a liar."

You propped yourself up on the couch and looked down at him, your mouth hanging open in shock. "How would you know? You're sleeping. I heard you when I woke up before."

Aaron squinted his eyes and was staring up at the ceiling as if he was trying to think really hard before he clicked his tongue and shook his head. "I think you're hearing things, Y/N."

"That would definitely be you hearing things, old man," you teased.

Aaron lifted his hand and brought it down to his chest, pretending like you had just put a knife through his heart. "That was a low blow," he laughed, as he twisted his hand on top of his chest.

"Maybe." You smiled down at him, wanting to commit every line of his face to memory when he smiles. His wonderful smile that you would never get enough of.

He reached his hand up, placing it on your cheek as he ran his thumb across it. He pulled your head down to him, kissing you gently. You felt him smile against your lips as he deepened the kiss, moving against your lips more passionately as he placed his other arm around your waist.

You pulled away, feeling breathless from the way he kissed you. You pecked his lips one more time before placing your hand on top of his on your cheek. "See you when you get home from work?"

Aaron nodded his head slowly, a small smile curling up at the end of his lips. "Of course."

You gave his hand a small squeeze before getting up off the couch and gathering your things to head back to your apartment.

When you walked past the couch, Aaron grabbed onto your hand, pressing a kiss onto the back of it. "Have a good day, okay?"

You ran your fingers through his hair briefly, earning a small satisfied hum from Aaron as he laid on his back on the couch. "You too. Have fun at your lecture."

"My lecture full of kids who aren't even really interested in the subject matter? Yeah, it'll be a blast," he said sarcastically.

"Well, I like your lectures. Tell me about what you talked about later."

Aaron looked at you, his eyes full of admiration. "Yeah?"

"Sure. You know I love that stuff." You ran your hand through his hair one more time before stepping towards the door. "Besides, I can't wait to pick your brains about some of the different interpretations that we both have about the myths."

Aaron laughed lightly before poking his head up from the couch to watch you head to the door. "Let me know when you're home, okay?"

You nodded and smiled widely, relishing in how thoughtful he was. "Promise."

Aaron watched the door close behind you before laying back down on the couch again. He pulled the blanket closer to him, the scent of your perfume lingering on the fabric. He smiled to himself thinking about you.

He felt that everything was going so well. Everything was almost picturesque in a sense and he was still surprised that you wanted to be with him as much as he did with you.

And seeing you that morning and the events of the prior night, only made his feelings for you grow stronger.

Waking up with you still in his arms was the most unexpected surprise that he had experienced in a while.

He was damn sure that he was going to get used to it rather quickly.

And although he was partially denying it for the time being because of how new everything was between the two of you, he found his heart fluttering more and more each time the two of you had your little moments.

Those three words that seemed like it was too soon to say were taunting him to be said, but for now, knowing that he had you, he would bite his tongue until the time felt right and that he was positive that you would return the sentiment.

------

author's notes:

hello hello!

SOFT HOTCH RIGHTS! ugh ik this man is a fucking teddy bear

as always, thank you for reading!

see you next chapter!

-jordyn

#aaronhotchner #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner x you #hotch #hotchner #hotch x y/n #hotch x you #criminal minds #cm #bau

56 notes · View notes

wienerbarnes · 4 years

Text

Witch Bitch

Pairing: Bucky x Witch!Reader

Word Count: 3,943

Warnings: witch stuff, burning at the stake 😳

A/N: this is heavily inspired by american horror story: coven bc i recently watched and ive been binging all of it lately but its not necessary to know anything about ahs lol i kinda just used their fancy magical terminology and concepts bc they were cool🤪

MAIN MASTERLIST

The best time of the day was breakfast. It was the time when Bucky, Sam, and Sharon were most often together. Sometimes training overlapped and they missed lunch. Sometimes missions ran long or friends were in town and they missed dinner. But the morning? They were all early birds, all awake by seven. They took that shared characteristic and shared breakfast together whenever they could. Bucky usually took care of the coffee, Sam usually took care of the eggs and bacon, and Sharon usually took care of the bagels, toasting them to perfection before slathering on a layer of cream cheese.

It was a moment of peace in their day. Quiet before the noise of the gym or the conference room or the jets or the private trainings or the interviews with prospective agents or anything else they do on a daily basis. It was a time for three friends to just sit and eat and enjoy each other's company as though they are just that: three friends. Not super soldiers or captains or special agents. Just people being normal. Normal doesn’t last long, though. It never does for them.

Bucky’s on dish washing duty this morning while Sam and Sharon chat idly behind him, waiting for him to finish so they can all leave together. A soft voice interrupts them, though, making the three of them stop what they’re doing because no one has access to this floor except for the people that live here - meaning them three.

“Who’s in charge here?” You ask.

“Who the hell are you?! How did you get up here?!” Sharon asks, ignoring your question.

You were in a long, flowy black skirt, slit cut in the left side exposing your leg, and a long-sleeve black shirt, tucked beneath the waistband. Think black boots cover your feet and a black hat sits on your head to complete your look. Bucky almost doesn’t notice the folded black umbrella underneath your arm as his eyes trail down the multiple chains and necklaces around your neck, falling between your breasts.

“I’ve been trying to find someone to help me but the people in this building are not very helpful. I figured I’d find who’s in charge myself, something that you all don’t seem to want to help me with, either.” You explain.

“The only way to even enter this building is through strict appointment and background checks, and no one’s even allowed past the nineteenth floor.” Sam explains.

“Why are you entertaining this? I’m getting her out of here.” Sharon says, moving to walk towards you to take you out of the building herself.

As she nears closer and closer, you wave your hand lazily, without taking your eyes off Bucky, the only one who hasn’t said anything this whole time, and Sharon collapses on the floor soundlessly.

“Jesus!”

“What did you do!”

Both Bucky and Sam panic as they rush to Sharon’s body on the floor. They frantically run their hands over her body, looking for the point of injury that made her collapse the way she did, but they find nothing. No holes, no blood; she didn’t even make a sound.

“She’s not breathing and she doesn’t have a pulse, what the fuck did you do to her?!” Sam yells at you.

You roll your eyes, “Okay, you got me. I don’t need help finding who’s in charge, I already know it’s you. I still do need your help, though.”

You’re ignored as the two men hover over their friend, unsure of what to do or what even happened to her.

“Oh, alright, move.” You order them, stepping over Sharon’s body.

You stand before her, lifting your hands to hover over her body before closing your eyes and letting out a deep and long exhale. Bucky and Sam watch as it takes only about seven seconds for their friend to suddenly gasp for air, jumping back to life. The boys crowd her once more, checking her eyes, her pulse, everything to convince themselves that she’s actually alive like that, and if she was even dead in the first place.

Sam finally looks back up at you from the ground, as though he just remembered that you’re there, “What are you?”

You smirk in response, ready to finally get what you came here for.

…

“So, you’re a witch?” Sam asks, the four of them now occupying a private conference room for some privacy.

“A witch who killed me.” Sharon adds.

“And a witch that brought you right back.” You reply, leaning back on your chair, leg crossed over your knee, slit exposing your thigh. Bucky’s eye twitch to look at your bare skin for a second before returning to meet your eyes.

“So… what do you do?” Bucky asks.

You smile at his innocent curiosity, “All witches don’t have one universal power. Some are clairvoyant, some do voodoo, some dabble in pyrokinesis, divination, transmutation, descendum,” You glance over to Sharon, who’s still pouting at you, “Resurrection.”

“And can you do all of those?” Bucky asks.

“Almost all of them, but I’m not here to talk about me.”

“Why are you here?” Sharon asks.

“You guys hunt the Nazi’s, right?” You ask, aiming your question towards Sam, knowing he’s the Captain in charge.

“Hydra, yes.” He confirms.

“Well, your Nazi’s somehow got a hold of my magic. And they are playing with very dangerous fire,” You begin.

Bucky interrupts, “We’re all for taking down Hydra, but, don’t you think you’re a little more… powerful than us?” He asks.

“Bucky!” Sharon slaps his arm, as though she’s shocked that he would ever admit such a thing.

“I am. But I’m not that powerful, either. Not anymore, at least. A group of those Hydra invaded the coven my sisters and I were at. I was the only one that escaped.” You tell them.

“Did Hydra take them?” Sam asks.

“No, they killed them.” You respond, growing irritated as the subject grows touchier and touchier.

“Can’t you just bring them back like you did me?” Sharon inquires.

“No! I can’t. Like I said, I’m not that powerful anymore. Maybe I’d be able to bring back a house full of dead girls when it was me and twelve others but it’s just me now. I wouldn’t come all the way over here if I had other options.”

Silence grows over the group as they process what you’ve gone through. Surviving through the massacre of your fellow witches and not being powerful enough to find the people that did it on your own. You’re vulnerable.

“So what can we do?” Sam asks, ready to join forces with you.

“Help me locate the men who did this so I can handle the magic part.” You tell him.

“What magic do they have?”

“Although witches control most of the magic, sometimes it can be taken on in… physical forms. Specifically blood. The blood they retrieved was from a witch that was skilled in Vitali Vitalis.”

“The alive within the living.” Bucky translates.

“There are two worlds: the living and the dead,” You begin to explain, “Vitali Vitalis keeps the balance between these two things and it’s one of the most difficult powers for a witch to master. Oftentimes it’s used to give parts of your own life, health, and energy to someone who needs it. But it can also allow you to take life from someone and give it to yourself.”

“Like immortality?” Sam questions.

“Not quite. Any witch can be killed with a knife or bullet. This kind of magic keeps you from dying of age. I’ve only ever known one witch who mastered it.”

“What happened to her?”

“She used it for evil, like this. Took the souls of hundreds in order to allow herself to live for almost three centuries. Until she was killed, of course.” You finish, a small smile on your lips knowing that she got what she deserved.

“What, you burn her at the stake?” Sharon jokes.

“Yes, actually. We did.” You tell her matter-of-factly, becoming more and more irritated at the fact that she doesn’t seem to take this is as seriously as you are.

Bucky interrupts, sensing the rising tension between the two girls, “So when we find these guys, you’re going to burn them at the stake, too?” He asks.

“Yes,” You say, as though it’s the most obvious thing in the world, “The consequence of using magic like this for evil is death by fire. I hope you all don’t think the rules will change on account of these men being Nazi’s?”

“Well, we just have a different way of doing things -” Sam begin to defend

“Yes, I’m aware. The countless destruction caused by you and other militaries, the millions of innocent lives lost yearly, not only in the constant war and irresponsible handling of your nuclear and alien weaponry, but by incorrect prosecution. Not to mention the billions of dollars spent on your ridiculous prison systems that don’t work when actual bad people escape and the death penalty practices in certain states. I just figured my way was easier. And cheaper.” You reply.

Silence crowds over the four of them once more as they think over all their options.

“I’m in.” Bucky speaks first.

“Me, too. Even if I don’t like you.” Sharon follows.

“Feeling’s mutual, dear.” You smile at her.

The three of them look to Sam, waiting for his commitment as well.

“Alright. Let’s get to work.”

Plans were made, theories of location were thought of, and plans to execute the mission were put into place, all of which included you. A temporary room was given to you when the information of your lack of a place to stay was brought to light. Only for the duration of this mission, is what Sam told you, but you can spot the amount of love and light in his heart from miles away.

It was later that night, and you’ve since cleansed the room, going as far as to place a protective spell on the entire floor. You’ve lost too much already, and you’re not about to risk anything.

A knock at the door sounds and the visitor you’d been expecting has finally arrived. You walk towards the door, still in your clothes from earlier but now you’ve removed your shoes, and open the door to reveal Bucky.

“I was waiting for you.” You tell him.

“How’d you know I’d come?” He asks, stepping through the door when you step aside, silently gesturing to him to enter.

“I can hear your thoughts. You've been debating whether or not to come see me for the past thirty minutes. Your mind is very loud.”

“Tell me about it.” He mumbles to himself, thinking about the countless nightmares, voices, and all the other reminders of just how loud his mind was.

“You can ask all your questions, you know. I won’t take any offence. You’re just curious.” You tell him, settling on your bed, hoping he’ll join you and stop hovering near the door.

Luckily he takes the hint and takes a seat across from you.

“I’ve never met a witch before. A real one, I mean. Like, someone born a witch. Like Salem witches -”

“I understand.” You chuckle lightly.

“You don’t seem… afraid of me. Or, hesitant, rather.” You tell him, thinking about how he’s received your presence here compared to his colleagues.

“I was wary when you killed my friend, but… you just need some help, is all. I’m sorry, by the way, I’m not sure if I said it before, but, I’m sorry for what happened to your friends.” He tells you.

He’s very polite. But you supposed that’s not abnormal considering he got his manners from the 1920’s. You like it, though. You give him an appreciative smile before giving him the okay to ask you whatever he wanted.

“So you said that witches can master multiple powers but have one specialty; is yours resurrection?”

“Yes; it was the first power I ever exhibited when I was a teenager. I was about fourteen or fifteen. My next mastered skill is descendum and then clairvoyance, where I was in my twenties, or so.” You tell him as he looks at you with pure fascination in his eyes.

“What is - what is descendum?”

You pause, “The power to descend your soul down into the afterlife - to hell. And return alive.”

His eyes widened, not even knowing that was something someone can do; not even knowing that hell existed in the first place, “So, you’ve been to hell?”

“Yes. I’ve also been able to retrieve people from hell, their soul. A variation of my power of resurrection, I suppose.” You explain, not being too fond of that power; descending to hell.

Bucky sits in silence for a few minutes, and you let him. You can hear the question lingering around in his head; what he’s thinking. But you let him build up his own courage to ask it. You know he’s only scared of the answer; the answer you know he’s not going to like.

“What is hell like?” He whispers.

“It doesn’t matter what my hell is like. Everyone has their own personal hell they experience when they die.” You tell him.

Confusion clouds his features as he registers your answer.

“Is there… Is there no heaven?”

You smirk, “It’s nice that you’ve remained religious after all this time.”

“Yes, there's heaven. But only for the purest and most innocent of souls. And rarely do people escape life without sin. Everyone has evil in them.” You tell him, knowing it’s a harsh truth that no one wants to hear.

The people Bucky’s killed, the crime he’s committed, the families he’s hurt; it all passes through his mind. Everyone has evil in them.

“What was your hell like?”

“I’m not telling you that.” You tell him quickly.

Bucky ponders what his own hell will be like, after seeing the way you’re clearly shaken up about your own. The fall from the train. The man in a lab coat sawing off the rest of his arm. The needles poking through his skin in the middle of some facility. The chair.

He doesn’t realize that he’s looked away from you until he snaps his thoughts back to the present and sees he’s looking down into his lap. He glances up to see your face, your soft features and kind eyes staring at him. He glances from your eyes to your lips and back up again before clearing his throat, not realizing how close he got to you during his time here sitting on your bed.

“You know, I, uh, I should go. Thank you for, uh, answering my questions, but we head out pretty - pretty early tomorrow, so,” He trails off, standing and patting down his shirt to smooth out the nonexistent wrinkles in a nervous habit.

He makes his way towards the door and his hand touches the knob when he hears your voice, “Hey, Bucky?” He turns slightly to face you again, a hum to indicate for you to continue.

“Thank you for coming to see me. And thank you for all the kindness you’ve shown me. You’re a very good person.” You tell him sincerely.

He gives you a nod of you’re welcome before exiting.

He’s not sure if you told him that because you truly mean it, or if it’s because of the state of anxiety and existential crises you’ve put him in now that he’s going to be thinking about his personal hell, but he appreciates it, nonetheless.

He thinks you’re a pretty good person, yourself.

…

The mission goes off without a hitch. The combined skill of the Avengers’ stealth, spyware, and experience along with your magic and witchery makes for an easy capture of the men who killed your witch sisters and stole your magic.

It’s not long before the facility they were at was shut down and cleared out, arresting any officers and rescuing any prisoners or hostages, and the five men specifically responsible for the destruction of your coven are in separate custody. What’s left of the blood is returned to you, as well.

That’s where the group of you stand now, a decision to be made about the criminals you’ve captured. To be put in the maximum security prison floating in the ocean, or to be put to death by fire.

“I don’t believe in being the executioner of people.” Sam tries to convince.

You can’t help but let a laugh escape you, “Do you know who you work for?! Do you know who you are?!” You remind him.

“Those guys can’t escape the Raft.” He tries, referring to prison in the middle of the ocean you’ve heard about.

“You did.” You respond, knowing about when Steve Rogers took him out of that prison, along with other superheros.

You see Bucky and Sharon look between the two of you, torn between how these Hydra criminals should receive their fate. Staring into the hot depths of flames or rotting alone in a cell? Both seem to be too merciful, in Bucky’s opinion.

“This isn’t just running the facility or experiments, Sam. This is different. They were using dark magic to commit crimes. Maybe they should face the consequences of a dark-magic-punishment.” Sharon offers.

You don’t have time to be shocked at Sharon agreeing with you and picking your side before Bucky agrees and Sam is outnumbered. He stares at you and gives a single nod, allowing you to do this your way.

You smile, a silent thank you for giving you the closure and opportunity to serve justice to those who did you harm. “Off to Massachusetts, then.” You tell them, and Sam takes his seat in the pilot's chair, Bucky accompanying him in the front of the jet.

You take a seat, making yourself comfortable for the flight to Salem and you feel a body take the seat next to you. You glance up to see Sharon looking at you, but you notice she has something in her hand, offering it to you.

You look down to see a small plastic bag of fruit gummies. But not just any fruit gummies, you realize. Halloween themed fruit gummies. The pictures on the outside show the various options inside: witch’s hat, a broom stick, a melting pot, a vial, and a magic wand. Hilarious.

You take the gummies, though, accepting her attempt at a truce.

It’s not long before you and your temporary teammates find themselves standing before a large, empty field, multiple wooden stakes standing about fifteen feet tall scattered about with plenty of space in between.

You lead the walk to a group of them standing tall in line, so the men can be burned at the same time, as opposed to one by one. A group of large, burly agents lug the Hydra operatives along, behind you and the rest of the team.

Bucky hangs around your left, as to not be in the way of the black umbrella held in your right hand, and Sam and Sharon trail behind you. You can sense their uneasiness and tune out their worried thoughts. Everyone’s first burning is always an experience; they’ll get over it.

Bucky doesn’t seem worried, though. In fact, you can’t hear his thoughts this time around. But he still stands tall and straight, walking with confidence, so you make a safe assumption that he’s okay.

None of the men’s cuffs or shackles are removed, but thick rope is tied on top of it, around the wrist and looped around the waist, tying them to the stake. The cuffs are special grade - high tech Avengers vibranium - and they can be retrieved later once the fire burns out.

“Any last words?” You ask, more for tradition than whether or not you actually care.

They look scared, obviously not expecting their fate to look anything like this. You remember seeing Bucky tackle one of them in the facility, prying his mouth open to rip out a tooth, or what looked like a tooth, like a dog caught eating something it wasn’t supposed to. A cyanide pill.

Silence comes from them, except for one of them, “Hail Hydra!” He yells, as if that cowardly and pathetic phrase would change anything.

With a raise of your hand, seemingly with no effort, you wave it and the stakes all begin to rise up in flames. There’s nothing to spark, no twigs, no gasoline, nothing, and Bucky watches as the flames rise, growing stronger as they engulf the five men. They begin to scream, and Bucky looks over at you, as if to confirm you didn’t bring gasoline or something with you, and he sees a smile slowly grow on your lips.

They haven’t stopped screaming; they’re still alive when you turn and begin to walk back the way everyone came. Bucky follows, and eventually Sam and Sharon do, too, the other agents staying behind until the end to retrieve the cuffs and shackles that will survive the fire.

“So, now what?” Sharon asks, the air quieter as the screams have slowly stopped in the distance.

I can’t imagine what kind of paperwork follows this, “Back to the tower.” Sam responds.

“The coven’s only a short walk from here.” You say, not needing to elaborate much more. The men have been caught and brought to justice, but you still have a broken, battered, and beaten down coven to fix.

A friend of yours was meant to go by and retrieve the… bodies. Which you’re grateful for. But magic won’t help you fix the walls, the floors, mop the blood, or find other witches in need of an escape and a place to improve and master their powers. You have a lot of work to do.

As the view of the jet gets closer, you prepare to bid your goodbyes to the Avengers, your thank you’s as well. Regardless of your attitude towards them before, you couldn’t have done this without them.

A metal hand engulfs yours, pulling you back a bit as Sam and Sharon continue on.

“Do you need any help?” Bucky’s warm and gentle voice floods your ears, hand still in yours.

“You guys have been more than enough help, now, really.” You try to tell him, but he has none of it.

“You may be tough, but you can’t fix up that house by yourself,” He tells you, “I can be pretty handy, fixed up a few things back in my day.” A soft smile grows on his face.

You glance over his shoulder as Sam and Sharon wait by the entrance of the jet, “Don’t you have to go back?”

“They won’t miss me.” He tells you, not even looking back to confirm with his teammates, hand dropping to run it through his hair.

You giggle at him, before giving him a shy nod in answer to his offer to help you fix up your big house.

“I’m going to hang out here for a few days.” He yells over his shoulder.

“We figured.” Sam calls out, and Sharon throws you a wave as they board the jet, the opening close after them.

“Lead the way?” Bucky offers you, taking your hand once more, interlocking the fingers this time.

And so the two of you are off, one of your hands still clutching the umbrella, holding it above your head, and the other hand interlaced with the one of a handsome and kind super soldier. This wasn’t the way Bucky expected the last two days to transpire, but he’s glad they led to holding the hand of a very pretty witch.

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x witch!reader #marvel #bucky oneshot #love me some magic #also if anyone watches ahs... hmu i love it #ive watched all of them except cult and im currently rewatching freak show rn

197 notes · View notes

schrijverr · 3 years

Text

'Till Death Do Us Part

Part 4 out of 13

When Alex has to bring Philip to work, he and Thomas discover that they both have something in common: they lost their love. They form an unexpected bond and connection about this that grows into something more.

A medium burn with parental feelings about Philip and flowers.

On AO3.

Ships: Jamilton

Warnings: brief mentions of death

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 4: Cornflowers Means ‘Delicacy’

Thomas felt as if he’d gotten Martha’s blessing to pursue Alex. He had wanted to before, but he’d felt guilty towards her, so instead he had riled the other up and argued with him.

But now…

With their tentative friendship evolving every day, the sudden email reminding him to keep living seemed like a sign. Maybe that was stupid, but Thomas was going to cling to it. Though he had to figure out how to work up the courage to flirt first.

He was absolutely hopeless at the whole thing. He’d started bribing Alex with food, making sure the other ate lunch everyday as a way in.

It was a slow process, but yesterday Alex had shown up at his office with a bag with two bagels in it when Thomas had gotten lost in his work and forgotten the time. He’d shrugged: “Seemed only fair to chip in myself for a change.”

Instead of using it as a way to thank him or something, Thomas had made a joke about Alex finally stopping with mooching off him, which had only earned him a small shove, before they had started an argument about the usefulness of the hole in the middle of a bagel.

Thomas was close to ripping his hair out in frustration.

Martha had flirted with him, he had never done this. He had no clue what he should be doing and James was absolutely no help. When he had asked him the man had simply said: “Too aroace, Tom.”

So now he was going to the one other person who could help him with this, but by God did he dread it.

“Hi, Thomas, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Hello, Angie,” he replied, holding up a bottle of red wine, “Can I embarrass myself again and have you tell me I’m stupid before helping me?”

Angelica grinned: “With love. Here, come in.”

Thomas came in and dropped the wine on the kitchen counter of her apartment, before throwing himself on the couch with a groan. That earned him an eyeroll from Angelica, who poured them both a glass of wine, before pushing his legs of the couch and sitting down.

“Pizza and a romcom?” she asked, phone already in hand.

“Yeah, let’s be fully trashy,” Thomas agreed.

“You love trashy.”

“I truly do.”

Angelica ordered the pizza and waited for Thomas to leave behind the shelter of a pillow. He finally did and took a large gulp of his wine, before he said: “I don’t know how to flirt.”

“What?” out of all the things, Angelica had not seen that coming, but the realization hit her: “Oh my God are you trying to shoot your shot with Alex?”

“Maybe?” his voice was unsure and small and Angelica was living.

“Are you for real?” she exclaimed, “Tell me everything! Leave out no details. Holy fuck, this is great.”

“Glad you’re enjoying yourself,” he said miserably.

“You can’t just ask me about advise to flirt with a guy, whom you’ve been crushing on for years while claiming you were never going to go after it and expect me to not get excited about it, Thomas. I mean come on, what changed?”

“I mean, me and Alex are kind of friends now and then-” he hesitated, unsure if he wanted to tell Angelica about the email from Martha, “then I got a reminder- it’s a long story.”

“Tell me,” Angelica demanded.

“You remember Alex brought Philip with him to work?” Thomas began.

“Yeah, that was four months ago, though.”

“Well, me and Alex talked and I told him about Martha, because Philip had told me about John, remember that?” he asked.

Angelica nodded.

“He called me,” Thomas went on, “It was John’s birthday and he was struggling and I had told him he could always talk to me and stuff, so he did. We bought Philip a Halloween costume and then we went to John’s grave so that he could show it to him.”

“Oh shit,” Angelica took a big gulp of her wine, “That’s a lot heavier than I was expecting, sorry. I didn’t know that part, he told us he handled John’s birthday well.”

“I mean, he did, sort off,” Thomas said, “Don’t let him know you know, I don’t know if he wanted me to tell you. But in the end it was a good day.”

“John loved Halloween.”

“Thought so, Alex mentioned Philip getting excited about his costume,” Thomas told her.

Angelica cringed in sympathy.

“Anyway, we spend John’s birthday together and after that it was different in the office and stuff and I brought him lunch-”

“You brought him lunch!”

“He had forgotten, what was I supposed to do? Was that weird?” Thomas sounded scared, Alex hadn’t seem to mind and he did it after. WouldAlex be mad at him?

“No, no, not bad,” Angelica quickly assured him, “Just sweet.”

“Then why did you react like that?” Thomas hissed, stress outing itself.

“Because I haven’t seen Alex eat in break room since forever,” Angelica replied, “He deflects every time I asked, we were already planning an intervention or something.”

“Oh,” Thomas didn’t know what to say to that, “Well, you don’t, he’s been eating fine.”

“Thank God for that, Eliza can be scary.”

Thomas huffed out a laugh at that, before proceeding: “So, I brought him lunch and he thanked me and said that I could call him if needed too.”

“How precious.”

“So I did,” Thomas decided that after sharing about John’s birthday to Angelica it would only be fair to tell her about himself as well, “Because Martha had send me an email – it was a site thing, send emails to the future and stuff – and, well, that was an unexpected punch to the gut.”

“Are you okay, Tommy?” Angelica’s brows were concerned, “I didn’t hear you about it.”

“It’s fine, Angie,” he assured her, “Me and Alex watched movies all day and just reminisced about her, it was nice. But in the email, Martha told me to move on from her.”

“She knows you too well,” Angelica smiled softly, she had known Martha herself and had seen first hand how devastated Thomas was after her death.

“Yeah, so that’s what I’ve been trying to do for the past few months, but I. Can’t. Flirt,” he fell back dramatically once more.

“God, you’re hopeless,” Angelica said, “Luckily I am here to save you, I am the best wingwoman known to man.”

“I hope you’re right, because being friends with Alex is killing me. Do you know how cute that motherfucker can be?” Thomas told her, “He has these big ass smiles and these little giggles and they are designed to kill me.”

Angelica smiled fondly, slight hurt in her eyes as a different person with the same complaints flashed in front of her eyes.

The bell rang and Angelica quickly got their pizzas before she sat down to form a game plan, which she privately named ‘Plan Jamilton’.

“Okay, so first up, what is a regular day with Alex like? So an office day, but then I don’t have to hear about your boring meetings unless Alex is involved,” she asked.

“I get in, he’s usually in the break room getting coffee, we talk – well, argue, but not mean – about whatever, we work, we eat lunch, then work some more, then I tell him to home if it’s not Tuesday or Friday, because he goes home earlier on those day, because he has to get Philip from school,” Thomas listed, then shrugged: “Meetings are still the same.”

“Huh, is that why I couldn't find him last Tuesday?”

“Yeah, normally Philip gets picked up by one of his Aunts or Un- you know that, sorry,” Thomas cut himself off.

“I know the others pick Philip up from time to time and that Alex hires a babysitter, I didn’t know there was a pattern,” Angelica confessed, “I’m more the fun Aunt that shows up from time to time with presents, Eliza is more the overly involved Aunt, but that’s fair since Philip was in her for nine months.”

“Touche.”

“Anyways, you and Alex seem to talk a few times during the day. Morning and lunch and before he goes home, all good opportunities,” she suggested.

“I’m aware, but then I’d have to know what to say, don’t I, Angie,” Thomas pointed out.

“Alex is a natural flirter, give him a push and he’ll do most of the work.”

“But then what do I do? How do I react to him flirting? That’ll be bad for my soul,” Thomas whined.

“Think of it like banter, you two do it all the time,” Angelica rolled her eyes, “Just maybe make it a bit more suggestive here and there, add innuendos. I think you can manage that.”

“And what if Alex thinks it’s weird or if he’s just doing it because he’s flirty?” Thomas worried, “I mean, you said it yourself that he’s naturally flirty, what if he doesn’t think anything of it and then I am the weird one and he hates me.”

“He’s not going to hate you, you idiot,” Angelica rolled her eyes, “He likes you.”

“What? How do you know that?” Thomas needed answers and he needed them now.

“Technically, I don’t, but-”

“Then you have no ground to stand on and I shouldn’t risk it.”

“Let me talk, Thomas Jefferson,” the full name shut him up, “As I wanted to say: Technically, I don’t know for sure if he likes you, but he has stopped complaining about you and last week he said you might have shit ideas on company policy, but you had great taste in classical writers. He loves classical writers. That’s huge for him.”

“That’s hardly anything, Angie.”

“And Laf asked me what was up between you two,” Angelica played her ace.

“Laf thinks there is something up between us two?” Thomas took the bait as predicted, hopeful puppy eyes that shouldn’t be adorable on a 6’3, grown man.

“Yeah, he said – and I quote – Hm, did you notice anything off between mon petit lionand our dear Thomas, those two seems to be getting closer,non?”

“Your French accent is horrible.”

“Not the focus, Tommy. The focus is that he wiggled his brows about it.”

“He wiggled his brows?”

“Yes, he only does that if he is super certain of his observations or if he knows something. I’m still figuring out which one it is,” Angelica informed him.

“So maybe Alex said something to him?” Thomas suggested.

“Maybe, but you’d have to ask him.”

“I’m not going to ask him.”

“Why not?”

“Because he is a nosy Frenchman, who doesn’t know when to stop meddling and he’ll embarrass me in front of Alex, I’m sure of it,” Thomas whined.

“He’s not that bad, Thomas. Get over yourself,” Angelica told him, taking a bite out of her pizza slice.

“No, one time I told him I was considering celebrating my birthday and he threw me a huge surprise party – granted, it was sweet of him, but also no, not for me – with like a live band and stuff. It was way too much.”

“Okay, so maybe not ask Laf directly,” Angelica conceded.

Thomas eyes suddenly lit up with inspiration and he exclaimed: “You could ask him!”

“No!” Angelica protested immediately.

“Why not?” Thomas was pleading now, “For me.”

“Because then he’ll know for suresomething is up and talk to either you or Alex and then your whole plan will still be ruined,” Angelica explained, “You just need to trust me and flirt with Alex. I swear it will be fine.”

“But what if it isn’t?”

“Then I’ll get you ice cream and chew out Alex,” she promised.

“I hate it when you make a point,” Thomas complained.

“And I hate eating without playing a movie, we both make sacrifices,” Angelica rolled her eyes, completely unimpressed as she took another bite of her pizza, almost as if to make a point.

In the end they did watch a movie. It was a shitty romcom, as promised, and every time someone flirted Angelica rated it and advised for or against the method. Thomas wasn’t sure if he wanted to strangle or hug her.

He still didn’t say anything for almost a week and a half, until he found himself in the printer room with Alex.

“Honestly, Thomas, you can’t possibly think that saying a cloud and rain are the same makes any sense,” Alex rolled his eyes, pushing some buttons on the printer.

“No, just think about it, okay? Clouds are water, rain is also water, correct?” Alex grudgingly agreed, “A cloud is basically water floating around until it gets cold and falls, so therefore rain is basically just a cloud falling.”

Alex paused, processing his words, before he said: “Oh my God, shut up.”

“Make me,” Thomas had been so caught up about winning their argument that he hadn’t even thought before letting the slightly suggestive words slip out.

Now they both paused. Thomas looked shocked at his own words and Alex studied him curiously, his eyes scanning him up and down, before he smirked and asked: “Is that a threat or a promise, Tommy? Because you really shouldn’t say things you can’t deliver on.”

Then he grabbed his papers and left Thomas gaping like a fish on dry land as he tried to process the entire interaction.

Alex was internally panicking as he hightailed out of the room, hoping to leave Thomas before the man had gathered his wits again. Sure, Thomas might have started it, but Alex had taken it a level further.

He’d wanted to flirt with Thomas, but they only just started to be friendly. Well, maybe not just, but it wasn’t as if they had stopped being rivals that long ago.

It was just…

It was just that Philip had really liked Thomas, he was still sometimes asking about how Mr. Thomas was doing. And the man had done so much for him on John’s birthday. And he had looked so vulnerable with the email and Alex had never seen that side of him and his stupid crush was developing at an alarming rate. And he didn’t want to acknowledge it or make it real, but…

Butnow he might have made it weird.

Fuck, what was he going to do? Oh, wait, Eliza was picking up Philip today – normally he would do it, but school ended early that day so Eliza had offered – and it was after lunch, so he wouldn’t see Thomas today and he could talk to her and have a plan tomorrow.

With that in mind, he tried to forget about the whole incident and work till the end of the day, losing himself in his work and hoping he wouldn’t run into Thomas.

He left at five on the dot and at half past five he was knocking on Eliza’s door. She opened, but before she could say anything he blurted out: “I flirted with Thomas today. I think he started it, but now I’m thinking it might have been me.”

She blinked, then blinked again, before she pulled him into the house: “Tell me everything. Is this the great Mr. Thomas Philip was telling me about? The one you’ve been crushing on and didn’t tell me and I had to hear about from Herc?”

“Maybe?” he squeaked.

He and Philip ended up eating dinner with her and Maria and afterwards Maria watched a movie with Philip, sending them a knowing look that made Alex blush.

Alex had known Eliza since Freshman year in college. He and her had hit it off right away, even dated for a while, but then John had taken a break from the army to study and- well, they just found they were only dating to prove something to themselves.

The point was Alex told Eliza everything. She’d been the first to know he fancied John, had helped him pick an outfit for their first date, had been there for ring shopping and wedding planning. She had carried Philip for nine months for Pete’s sake.

Yet he had hesitated with telling her about Thomas.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, but if he told her it would be real, because telling her made it real and he was scared of this being real.

But now it was going to be real.

It was going to be real because Thomas had said something slightly suggestive and Alex had taken that as a sign to blatantly flirt with the man. It was going to be real, because he was going to tell Eliza.

Fuck.

He started up slowly, hesitating about certain parts, what to say and what not, but in the end the words started to flow out of him like they always did.

Alex told Eliza about how he’d thought Thomas was attractive, but had pushed that down with the personality, but then he’d been nice to Philip and that had stirred something inside him again. He told her about John’s birthday, the endless jokey lunch discussions, Martha’s email, how he the feelings had been building up until he had blurted out his comment that day.

All throughout Eliza just listened and nodded along until his word vomit session was over and he just sat there and breathed.

“It sounds to me,” she began carefully, “like you really like Thomas and that he is a good influence on you. And if I understood correctly, he has proven himself to be willingly involved with Pip. He sounds like a catch, ‘Lexi.”

“He is,” Alex sighed with a smile, then slightly sadder he added, “I just don’t know what to do. I might have scared him off today.”

“Come on, don’t be so deprecating. I knew you in college, you can woo him,” Eliza encouraged him teasingly.

“Wow, thanks, ‘Liza,” he huffed.

“I’m serious, ‘Lexi. You can flirt and you know it, you’re a charmer if you want to be, when you’re not, you know, forcing people to have opinions they need to defend,” she said, “Though, Thomas already knows that, since-” she gestured vaguely, “since you two do that.”

Alex laughed at that, before he turned more serious: “What if I fuck this up, Betsy? What if I do something wrong? What if Pip gets hurt by this? I don’t know how I’d live with myself if this hurts him.”

He only called her Betsy if he was really worried about something.

“Hey, Alexander, look at me,” if he was calling her Betsy, she was pulling out full names, “You’re not going to fuck this up, you just need to be patient for a moment.”

“Have you been hanging around Burr?” Alex groaned.

Eliza rolled her eyes at him: “No and just because you don’t agree with someone doesn’t mean they can’t have a point.”

“He should have points, ‘Liza, that’s the entire point,” Alex told her.

“I am not having this discussion with you right now, we were focusing on something else,” she knew deflection when she saw it, “We were talking about Thomas and you wooing him.”

“What? Do you have a battle plan or something?”

“Of course I have.”

“Have I ever told you that you’re the best?”

“You could stand to mention it more,” she smiled, “Now, you are flirty, which is great everyone will say that you are. He knows Laf, he’ll ask if he’s curious and Laf is how we keep tabs on him. Trust me, he will come talking if Thomas ever asks him anything like that.”

Alex laughed: “Remember when Herc said he had a date and Laf showed up at the restaurant in a disguise to check on her, because she had ‘weird vibes’?”

Eliza snorted and nodded at the memory, before moving on: “So we have a route of communication, sort of, to tell how the flirting is received. If it’s good, you can ask him out. If not, well, I have ice cream and a shoulder to cry on.”

“Betsy, you are the best of women, honestly. If you weren’t so gay, I’d marry you,” he told her with a grin.

“Like I said, you’re a charmer,” she ruffled his hair, before ushering him and Philip – who had been elated about the later bedtime – out the door while reminding him to tell her everything from now on.

He left with that promise to her and a lighter heart.

The next day started like any other, with Thomas finding Alex in the break room like nothing had happened. For a moment Thomas worried the other was going to pretend that nothing had been said, crumbling his resolve to start flirting today.

“Hi, Alex,” he decided on his normal greeting, just to test the room.

Alex turned and smiled – it was that stupid bright smile that did things to Thomas – then said: “Hi, you’re looking good today? New pants?”

They weren’t new and Thomas knew that Alex knew that, because it was an outfit he’d worn many times. The comment eased some of his anxiety about this as he replied: “No, but glad you’re finally appreciating my impeccable sense of style.”

The eyeroll Alex gave him couldn't have been stopped even if he tried, so he just winked: “Nah, you still dress overly colored. Maybe I can help you find a better sense of style. Those pants would have to come off for that, though.”

Then he sashayed away like he hadn’t left Thomas blushing, pouring coffee over his hand because he wasn’t paying attention to the coffeepot.

And for the next few daysit continued like this. Their arguments that had turned into banter had now turned into flirting.

They were dancing around each other like teenagers afraid to be rejected for prom and the whole office had probably caught onto it. Alex was sure of that with all the looks knowing they were getting.

This was confirmed when Washington made him stay after a meeting in which some flirty comments had slipped into their debate, he raised a brow at Alex and asked: “What happened to the ‘nothing like that, sir’?”

Alex blushed heavily and squeaked: “Back then it wasn’t.”

“So it is like that now?”

“Sir,” it was a whine and Alex would deny it later.

“Alex,” Washington just replied, completely nonplussed.

“Ugh,” Alex groaned, this softly said: “Maybe? Not yet. I don’t know.”

“Well, Thomas is a good man, be kind to him,” Washington told him, a slight warning in his tone, before he got protective, “And be careful with yourself too, son.”

“I’m not-” Alex cut off the standard reply, because it was really not true at this point, so instead he nodded: “I will, thank you, sir.”

Washington send him away with some paperwork and an order not to stay late again and Alex promised he wouldn’t, because he was picking up Philip today and he had promised the kid they could go to a park after school.

Philip was so excited to see him and Alex pushed him on a swing and caught him when he wanted to jump off.

During dinner Philip asked: “How is Mr. Thomas? He was nice, why doesn’t he come around again? He came that one time and you are friends now, right? Why doesn’t he come around like Uncle Herc and Uncle Laf do?”

“It’s a bit complicated, Pip,” Alex said after a moment, “Me and Thomas are friends, but it just never flowed like that.”

“You always says I can change my own path, why can’t you?” God, sometimes Pip was too smart for his own good.

“I’ll see if he wants to come to movie night with your Uncles and Aunties. Does that sound fun?” he might regret this, but the look on Pip’s face was worth it.

He didn’t approach Thomas directly, with all the flirting he didn’t want it to come across as asking for a date. If he was going to ask Thomas, he was going to ask it better than that. Instead he approached Angelica: “Hey, Angie, can I ask you something?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“For movie night, I, uhm, well, I wanted to ask Thomas to come, but that’s weird, because it would be me asking, so I wanted to ask if you could invite him to come along?” Alex hoped she would say yes.

Angelica smiled pleasantly and Alex dreaded her answer: “Why is it weird when you do it?”

“Come on, Angie,” Alex whined, “I’m sure you and Eliza gossip about me. You know what this is about. If I ask him out, I’ll do it differently than a group movie night, because Pip wanted to see him again.”

“You’re gonna ask him out?” Angelica asked excitedly.

Alex cursed his stupid mouth and said: “Maybe. It’s still new and stuff, but eventually, yeah, it’s the plan at least. Don’t tell him though, please.”

Angelica cooed: “You are too cute. I won’t tell, don’t worry.”

“Will you ask him?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” maybe there was a bit too much force in the words, but Alex didn’t care.

That Friday Alex was more anxious about movie night than he had any right to be. It was usually hosted at his house so that he could put Pip to bed on time, before they watched non-kid movies, though everyone had a soft spot for the animated movies.

He had checked everything over multiple times and the only thing distracting him was Philip’s latest car parkour.

Herc arrived first, sweeping his nephew into his arms and being a calming enough presence that Alex had relaxed by the time Eliza and Maria along with Peggy showed up.

Then Angelica arrived with Thomas in tow. He greeted Alex awkwardly: “Sorry, is this okay? Angie said it was, but I don’t want to intrude.”

Luckily Alex didn’t have to answer, because Philip came running: “Mr. Thomas! Mr. Thomas, I have started keeping my drawings in this book and it’s already pretty full, do you want to see? We’re going to watch Mulantonight? Have you seen Mulanbefore? Did you like it?”

Thomas smiled: “Hey, kiddo, how about one question at a time? I’d love to see your drawings.”

Philip cheered and dragged Thomas away, who send Alex an apologetic look, though Alex didn’t mind having the pressure of him. He was distracted by Angelica: “That went well.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you dork, it’s going fine,” Angelica assured him, “Now, I want something to drink. Do you have popcorn?”

Lafayette arrived last. By the time he came knocking they had all the snacks set out and the movie was waiting. He bustled in: “Bonjour, Bonjour, sorry I’m late. There was traffic and I was sleeping.”

“Uncle Laf!” Philip was off the couch and at Laf’s side in seconds, these nights would always make him excited enough that he dropped off early.

“Ah, mon petit neveu, how are you?” Laf hugged him tightly.

Philip babbled excitedly: “I’m going to become an artist. I showed Mr. Thomas my drawing book and he says they’re really good and my teacher says so as well.”

“Mr. Thomas?” Laf asked, he hadn’t been around often lately with his job keeping him busy and traveling. He had seen something was up, but he hadn’t gotten the note that the two were doing something about it and he hadn’t heard Philip about it yet either.

From the couch Thomas spoke up: “Hi, Lafayette. How was your week? Heard they needed you back in Paris?”

“Thomas! What une surprise!” Laf said and they had a conversation, which was more an interrogation how he’d ended up here. Alex saved Thomas by telling the nosy Frenchman that they were worked together on his financial plan and Thomas was not so bad ‘yes, Laf just like you said, I know.’

Movie night went great, they watched Mulan first and Philip kept asking Thomas questions throughout the entire movie, which Thomas answered dutifully. This amused the other adults greatly.

By the end the excitement had died down and Philip was nodding off. Alex left Eliza in charge of refilling the snacks, while he got Pip ready for bed.

When he got back the only spot left was right next to Thomas, he suppressed an eyeroll at his friends antics and sat down, knowing Laf would be all over this when the night was over. But for now he didn’t care.

He and Thomas had watched movies together before, albeit under different circumstances, but it was nothing new. Though he had forgotten how warm Thomas was and – now that he thought about it – he was kind of tired.

Slowly he slid sidewards throughout their viewing of The Patriotuntil he was leaning on Thomas’s shoulder, fighting to keep his eyes open. In the distance he felt something shift and the he slid further, a warm arm resting over him before he drifted off completely.

When he awoke it was dark and he was tucked in on the couch, cold and alone.

He sat up in confusion until his eye fell on a note in a familiar cursive handwriting that was too pretty to belong to someone in this century. It read: You fell asleep. We thought it better to let you be. Thanks for inviting me, I had fun. Sleep tight. x, T.

And honestly that little ‘x’ shouldn’t have made Alex blush. He looked up to a picture of John and whispered: “My dear Laurens, I think I’ve fallen in too deep already.”

The picture didn’t reply, instead John’s smiling face stayed static, but Alex still found it comforting to have John looking at him with something akin to encouragement. John would want him to be happy, he had always tried to do what he thought to be best for Alex, for Pip.

“You’re right, Jacky, I shouldn’t be dancing around this,” he said, “It’s just hard. And I’m scared,” he huffed a laugh, “Isn’t that ironic? After everything I’ve been through the great Alexander Hamilton is scared of asking someone on a date.”

He paused for a moment then said: “Don’t look at me like that, you asked me on our first date, you rash motherfucker. Don’t think I’ve forgotten you springing it on me when I was almost collapsing after finishing a paper. I got you with marriage, though, so even-Steven.”

It was comforting to talk to a picture of John, it was different when talking to his grave, less heavy when not surrounded by stones. Was it probably slightly strange? Yes. But Alex had been strange his entire life.

“Maybe I should be a bit rash for once, pick up your slack,” he told John, ignoring that his friends always said that they were both too rash and it was bad for their health that the two of them got along so well, “I think I’m doing it.”

That weekend he made a plan, had to double check something with Philip and worry-rant at Eliza, she was a great listener, he truly loved her.

Then Monday morning it was time, God he was nervous as he waited at Thomas’s office, where the man usually dropped his stuff before starting his day.

“Hey, uhm, this might be weird, but Pip told me about the vase in your office and if I remember correctly it was empty Friday, so I got you these,” Alex held up a bouquet of purple flowers, “It’s- they’re cornflowers, I hope I remembered correctly.”

Thomas took them, a bit stunned, his eyes slightly sparkling.

“I looked up their meaning. They mean ‘delicacy’, but also ‘be gentle with me’ and I thought that very fitting, because you’re – this is sound weird – but you’re very cute in an ‘I want to protect you’-way,” Alex was stumbling over his words, “But it’s also a request – the ‘be gentle with me’-part, I mean –because-” he swallowed and hesitated, “Well, you see, I- I was wondering if you- you would like to go on a- uhm, on a date. With me. This Friday. If you want. You don’t have to of course, maybe I’ve read this whole thing wrong and that’s fine, but if you do want to then I’ll be happy- more than happy, actually-”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“I’d love to go on a date with you this Friday,” Thomas told him, blush coloring his cheeks and a bashful smile tugging on his lips.

Alex grinned the grin that did things to Thomas as he replied: “That’s- Yeah, great, I- uhm, I’ll text you details?”

“Yeah, okay. Then I’ll go put these in water. Thank you, Alex, they’re beautiful,” Thomas walked away, flowers in hand, planning to yell at Angelica through the phone.

Bit of a more lighthearted chapter after all the grief and angst lmao

Also, always lovely when I get to the part of ‘and now they flirt’ only to realize that I do not know how to flirt and I have no clue how to write it. Ooof. So shout out to time skips xp

Side note: this → “well, they just found they were only dating to prove something to themselves.” is not invalidating the fact that Alex is bi, just that Eliza wanted to prove to herself that she wasn’t a raging homosexual while Alex wanted to prove to himself that he wasn’t in love with John.

Also I thought it was very funny that they thought to use Laf to keep track of the other, only for both to tell him absolutely nothing

#RR writing #tw: grief mention #Alexander Hamilton #Hamilton #Hamilton AU #Jamilton #thomas jefferson #angelica schuyler #eliza schuyler #Philip Hamilton #Lafayette #marquis de lafayette #george washington #'Till Death Do Us Part #'Till Death Do Us Part Part 4 #'Till Death Do Us Part AU

9 notes · View notes

loth-creatures · 4 years

Text

Pain That Binds

TRIGGER WARNING: self-harm, blood, cutting, Big self-esteem issues, vaguely suicidal thoughts

TMA hurt/comfort day 1!

Jon’s hands were shaking as he tried to cut into a slightly stale bagel he’d scavenged from the breakroom. He was weak with hunger, though not the right kind. Not for food that didn’t taste like anything anymore and didn’t satisfy anyway. But Basira insisted he at least try to keep some fat on his ribs through normal human means, and it was not a good idea to argue with her. He had to prove that he still wanted to be human.

He flinched when the knife inevitably slipped and sliced his knuckles instead. Pain raced through his nerves and blood welled up and dripped onto his desk. Only for a moment. The cut sealed itself in seconds and Jon was once again left without distraction from the gnawing emptiness inside him. And a reminder that this pretending wasn’t working. Nothing was working, and well...what was the point anyway? Jon did want to stay human, but who was he even being human for anymore? Basira had made it clear that she would give him the chance, but if he couldn’t manage it, he wasn’t worth it. Maybe she was right. It seemed he’d managed to drive everyone away already, and they’d had the right to leave him. Georgie was right to distance herself. Tim had been right to hate him. Martin? Jon knew he had no right to miss Martin as much as he did.

And yet. If he let his humanity shrivel away, however flawed it was, he would only be making himself even more pliable to Elias. He still didn’t understand why, but if he let himself fall completely under the Eye’s control, the people he wanted to care about would suffer even more. If Jon was worth something to only one person, then it sure as hell wasn’t going to be Elias.

Jon surrendered the bagel and paper plate to the trash and slumped back in his chair, closing his eyes and trying to center himself. A pile of old statements lay on the desk but his gaze wouldn’t focus on them. None of them stood out the way they used to, as if now that he’d gotten a taste of real prey, the Eye would disdain anything less. The world tilted and his head ached with restless, seeking static. God, if only it would shut up. At least for a moment. He ran his fingers over the burn scars on his right hand. Jude Perry’s mark still twinged slightly if he pressed in the right places.The maze of welts was now too familiar to be much distraction, but the pain dulled the static just a little. Just enough.

Suddenly knowledge erupted in his mind, just before he heard Elias’s deliberate footsteps in the hallway outside his office. A tiny burst of fear fluttered in Jon’s chest. He knew better than to be afraid, but what if Elias knew? Knew everything that Jon was thinking and feeling. Jon tensed and dug his nails deep into the scars, sparking tingling pain, breaking the skin, trying to stop himself from shaking so damn much. Elias stopped in front of his door, mockingly, with no intention of coming in. He didn’t need to, to see how Jon was doing.

Eventually he left, but Jon’s anxiety didn’t abate and he found himself continuing to dig at the small scrapes he’d manage to draw a tiny bit of blood from. They... weren’t healing. Jon opened his hand and forced his eyes to focus. Now that he’d stopped digging at them, they did start to close. Jon frantically scratched at them again. A burst of hope that his body might still be capable of working normally seized all his concentration. The static died. He ripped at the skin of his palm, desperately trying to keep the scratches open, as if they were his life line slipping away, but they were healing faster now. Anger built inside him, simmering with fear. Without thinking he snatched the knife off his desk and dragged it over his palm. Pain snapped his mind into focus and then the wound disappeared, mocking him. Jon glared at the scars that lined his palm and dotted his arms. All these scars. Like brands. Yet his body refused to bleed.

The static built in his head again, even more insistent than before. Well, if it wouldn’t shut up and leave him alone...With white hot determination, Jon seized upon the will of the Beholding and slashed again at the Desolation’s brand.

It burned. It bled. And it didn’t stop. Tears streamed down Jon’s face but instead of his own triumph, he felt only the Eye. It was enjoying this. He’d marked himself with his own power, and the action was only making its hold stronger, as it drank up the fear that swam under his brief rebellion.

Jon sat there, defeated, pinned under the Watcher’s sight, sucking in erratic breaths as the pain only grew worse and worse. He wondered if he’d just done himself in. He’d refused to feed his patron and now it seemed he’d offered himself up instead. Perhaps it would be better if he just let it consume him. But just as Jon remembered that despite everything, he really didn’t want to die, something changed. The Eye’s gaze shifted towards something else. Jon saw it too; the beginning of a small tragic scene within a longer story. Jon’s mind prickled. It was the enticing glimpse of prey. But beneath the Eye’s hunger, his own instincts resurfaced and he knew that something was wrong. Someone he cared about was hurting.

“D-Daisy.” The whisper left his lips before he realized he knew who needed him. He pushed himself out of his chair, the effort taking every ounce of strength he had left. Blood rushed away from his head, vision blackening, and he pitched forward. He caught himself on his desk, and cried out as his lacerated hand slid against the wood. Stupid, stupid, stupid thing to do. Jon belatedly noticed that his other hand was still clutching the bread knife. Cursing it and himself, he hurled it away. Perhaps Martin had been right to be worried all those years ago, about letting Jon near knives. Even if that scar had actually been Micheal’s doing.

He had to brace himself on the desk for several moments, waiting for the dizziness to ebb enough to walk. The Eye was still nagging, telling him to seek out the pain and fear of his next victim. He told it to fuck off. Taking a deep breath he dug for the strength to leave the office, tucking his injured hand against his chest and using the other to steady himself against the wall as he cautiously followed his Sight down the gray corridors of the Institute. For once he was grateful for their emptiness. He was pretty sure Martin would have a heart attack if he saw him like this. At least, the Martin he remembered and longed for.

Daisy’s room wasn’t far away,luckily. Jon nearly fell through the door, but managed to keep his feet as he fumbled for the light switch.

“Daisy?”

He’d heard her startle as soon as he’d entered, Knew she was sitting on the corner of her cot, against the wall, knees drawn to her chest, blood weeping down her arms.

“J-Jon? Go away. Please.”

“I, um. No.”

////

Daisy buried her face into her knees, determined not to look at Jon. Why did he have to be so damn stubborn? She could smell his blood, hear his labored breathing, feel his exhaustion. Whatever had happened, he’d made himself excellent prey. He needed to leave. Daisy dug her nails deep into the scratches she’d made, trying to focus on her own pain and blood, keeping the Hunt’s attention away from Jon.

“Jon, you’re bleeding, the blood--I’m going to hurt you if you don’t get out. Please.”

“No.” Daisy didn’t notice that he’d approached until he tentatively touched her wrists. She snarled and flinched away. Jon retracted his hands for a moment.

“You’re not going to hurt me. Because I’m not afraid of you. I am not afraid of you, Daisy.”

Daisy considered that. He was...right. She knew it. She could still kill him. The Hunt still wanted her to. But...Daisy realized she didn’t need to.

“Huh.” She grunted. This time when Jon gently guided her hands away from her arms, she let him. She could feel him trembling, and as concern began to replace the urge to tear into something, she let herself unfold and look up at Jon.

“God, Jon. You look like shit.”

Daisy stood, lending some support by taking Jon’s hands. He winced, and Daisy pulled her palm away, now slick with red. The scent wafted into her nose, her throat. The urge to spill the rest of his blood was almost unbearable. She choked it down.

“Jon--”

“Y-yeah, I know. You’re not much better off, you know.”

“What happened--”

“I--I, I hurt myself. I hurt myself like you’re doing now. It didn’t help. I fucked up. P-please stop.”

Daisy nearly buckled under his slight weight as his legs gave out. She cursed herself for still being so weak.

“Fuck! Jon, I can’t--wait, there we go.” Muscles burning, Daisy sat Jon down on the cot as gently as she could. She knelt in front of him, brushed his long hair away from his face.

“You are such an idiot. Hey, look at me. Can you see me okay?” His eyes locked on hers for long enough that she could hope he wasn’t going to pass out. He nodded.

“Right.” She dug the box that contained her medicine out from under the cot, rummaging for the gauze and antibiotic she knew was stored in there as well. She took Jon’s hand in hers and had it cleaned and wrapped with practiced efficiency.

“Okay. I guess I should get you some water or tea or something. Wait here--”

With strength he shouldn’t have had, Jon grabbed her wrist and pulled her down beside him.

“You too.” He said, fumbling the cap off the antibiotic cream and smearing some onto the welts in her forearms. Daisy was confused until they started to sting as Jon’s fingers made clumsy, uncoordinated contact. It wasn’t until then that she actually remembered they were there.

“Oh. Right.”

She was used to them now, apparently. She’d reopened them so many times now that they were well on their way to scarring, the seams of skin raw and tired of trying to heal. Looking down at them as Jon began to cover them with bandaging, she realized that she didn’t want them there forever. She’d promised Basira that she would try to come back from all this. If that miracle came around, she knew she wouldn’t want to look down at those scars in the future, though she was sure she deserved to. She didn’t see how she could stop at this point though. The Hunt was still there, still hungry. If she had to hurt someone, it was going to have to be herself from now on.

“No, it doesn’t,” Jon snapped. Daisy jolted, startled by the force in his voice, at the same time feeling the static prickle of being Known.

“Hey!”

“Sorry,” Jon mumbled. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Hmph.”

A couple awkward seconds passed, then Jon continued wrapping Daisy’s arm. “I’m serious though. You can’t keep doing this. It’s helping no one but the Hunt. Trust me, I’ve...tried too many times.”

“Hmm. We’re both real wreckage, aren’t we?” Daisy said.

“Yes. Real dumpster-fire people.”

Daisy snorted. “Me, maybe. Not you though.”

“What? Daisy, I’m--”

“A mess, a complete idiot sometimes, and also a right bastard once in a while. But that didn’t stop you from mutilating yourself to save someone who wanted to kill you.” She poked him in the side where his ribs were missing, eliciting a scandalized yelp.

“All I’ve ever done is hurt people. Kill people.”

Jon considered that. Maybe it was a tad awkward that one of his only friends was a murderer. There was no denying that Daisy had been a terrible person. Yet looking at her now, Jon couldn’t help but be a little proud. He squeezed her hand. “Well. For what it’s worth, I think you...are capable of being better. But you can’t start by hurting yourself.”

“Hmm. We’ll see. The pain, it--it helps me focus on not wanting to kill. It’s exhilarating...In a twisted way, I guess. Doesn’t replace the chase, but it's something.”

“Well, find a different outlet. Buy a shit load of steak or...something.” Jon said in his pretentious I’m-right-and-you’re-not voice.

Daisy turned to look at Jon. There was a haunted look in his face. Daisy realized that he had scared himself by doing what he’d just done. He’d done a lot of reckless things in the past, she knew. Reckless acts that had gotten him badly hurt. But this was the first time time he’d deliberately and directly hurt himself for the sake of hurting himself. Unlike her, he was not used to it, and he didn’t want to be. And he was scared for Daisy too. Although, Daisy was pretty sure he was too late to start worrying about her bad coping methods. Of course he was still going to try, and probably be a pain in the ass about it if she didn’t try as well.

“Heh, you’re a good friend, you know? So that goes for you too, Jon. You’re gonna be better, yeah? And take care of yourself to do it.”

Jon’s eyes dropped. “I...Don’t know if I can. The Eye has a stronger hold on me than the Hunt does on you. It’s pretty determined to keep me.”

“Pfft. Doesn’t matter. You’re too bloody stubborn. And I’m pretty determined to keep you too. And so is Martin.”

“M-Martin? He’s--got other things to worth about now. I didn’t give him any reason to keep caring about me.”

“But he still does, Jon. He’s just as stubborn as you, you know? You’re worth it to him. So be better for him. And I’ll be better for Basira. And for you. Okay?”

“Ah--okay, yes! Yeah. We’ll be monsters together, and then, uh, not monsters for everyone we care about?”

“Not monsters. Just very fucked up people.”

“Right.”

Daisy looked at Jon’s brightening expression and had to laugh. “You know you’re blushing, right?”

“What?”

“So when did you realize you loved him back?”

Jon spluttered, his cheeks darkening further. “Uhh, erm, I--”

Daisy laughed again. “Nevermind. Hey, you know what we need right now?”

“Um.”

“Let’s try food. I mean good food. When’s the last time you ate something other than trauma?”

Jon huffed. “Well, I tried to eat a bagel today. It didn’t go very well.”

“You mean the shit that’s in the breakroom? No wonder you’re collapsing everywhere. I know you’re probably never hungry anymore, but seriously. Let’s get takeout at that fancy Indian place down the block. Shock the system back into liking food. I’ll pay.”

Jon had to smile. He doubted he would be able to keep much down, but supposed he should start making up for all the times he’d declined dinner with his coworkers--his friends. He’d missed chances with them. He wouldn’t miss anymore.

“Alright. Th-that sounds good. Thanks Daisy.”

“Yeah. You too.”

TRIGGER WARNING: self-harm, blood, cutting, Big self-esteem issues, vaguely suicidal thoughts

I speedwrotethis I speedwrotethis I speedwrotethis, BUT I did have a beta reader!

@themagnuswriters

#TMAHCweek #TMA podcast #tma #jonathan simms #jon sims #jon #daisy tonner #tma daisy #the eye #the beholding #the magnus archives #tma season 4 #jon and daisy #self-harm #hurt/comfort #tma fanfic #The Hunt #tma the hunt #tma the eye

73 notes · View notes

inventedbyawriter · 4 years

Text

OC Interview

Was tagged by stunning @mimabeann to do this little interview thing-y. And since Aishatei now on heart-stealing rampage, I assume people would like to hear from her. So she was invited on our talk-show.

► Name ➔ “Aishatei Amesha. Or should I say Aishatei Kan, since I can’t go by my familial name anymore?” She crack a bit of a smile and shrugs “Not sure I want to use my husband’s last name right now. For several reasons.”

► Are you single ➔ “No. I’m taken.” ► Are you happy? ➔ “I’m content. But ‘tis just a beginning of this lovely interview, so let’s see how happy or unhappy I would be by the end of it.” ► Are you angry? ➔ “Most of the times.” Aishatei gazes right into the eyes of the interviewer. “My power grows from it. I am called a Wroth after all. But I do not feel angry right now, no reason or need for it.” ► Are your parents still married? ➔ “As in fairytales, they died on the same day.” Aishatei doesn’t seem to be pertrubed a bit by answering. “Not sure if Force spirits technically remain in marriage, but perhaps they haunt our ancestor tomb together. If they chose this existence anyway.”

NINE FACTS

► Birth place ➔ “Lovely Dromund Kaas, near Kaas City itself, in Amesha estate.” ► Hair color ➔ “Black, but I think it became a bit greyish recently.” Aishatei took one strand of her hair and inspected it. ► Eye color ➔ “Glowing gold, heritage of my ancestors.” She open her eyes a bit wider which gave her somewhat surprised or amused look. She then revert to the neutral expression and add solemnly. “Or a-bit-unhealthy-piss colour, as Aiventillu always says.” ► Birthday ➔ “Seventeenth day of third month, 3666 BBY.” She then add after a pause, raising her brow-ridge. “Wasn’t it supposed to be asked right after or before question about my birthplace?... Your cheeks have lovely shade of red on them right now by the by.” ► Mood ➔ “Rather talkative, I dare say. That’s why we continue to have this interview, frankly.” ► Gender ➔ “Female.” ► Summer or winter ➔ “Summer. I like it hot.” ► Morning or afternoon ➔ “There’s something wonderful about early morn.”

EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE

► Are you in love? ➔ “Oh yes, yes I am. Wouldn’t be married otherwise.” ► Do you believe in love at first sight? ➔ “No, dear. But I believe in love at the first Force-push.” ► Who ended your last relationship? ➔ “I did. My previous husband did not share my sentiment to stay with son and possible allying with Republic by doing so. He still believes I’ll come around someday. Maybe I will. But not for him, I fear.” ► Have you ever broken someone’s heart? ➔ “My previous husband’s, perhaps? Oh and accidentally my recent one too, when we were only partners and he wrongfully believed I chose one of my Sith-kin over him.” ► Are you afraid of commitments? ➔ “No. I committed to various causes and people right now. And I don’t second-guess myself over it.” Aishatei then look right in the eyes of the interviewer again and smile a bit. “Didn’t you know that fear leads to the Dark Side eventually?” ► Have you hugged someone within the last week? ➔ “My youngest son. He needs an encouragement since he became a padawan.” ► Have you ever had a secret admirer? ➔ “I have no doubt. I don’t know who and how many, but I certainly had.” ► Have you ever broken your own heart? ➔ “Mmm, perhaps. I was young and betrayed. Looking back, it was nothing to cry over anyway.” She hesitate as if she had something to add to this pool but doesn’t say anything else and just look at the distance while rubbing her left earlobe and earring on it.

SIX CHOICES

► Love or lust ➔ “Love. Love is a minefield, a boundary breakthrough. It always pushes you, sometimes to hazards, yes, but also to something beautiful.” Aishatei’s eyes glimmer with delight. “And lust... lust is one-dimensional and unfulfilling.” ► Lemonade or iced tea ➔ “Iced tea, please.” ► Cats or dogs ➔ “I want to say cats, but they are not compatible with my allergy. So I would choose dogs. Ar’santia always mentioned how I am loyal as one... well, mockingly.” ► A few best friends or many regular friends? ➔ “A few, of course. I would count myself lucky to trust at least few.” ► Wild night out or romantic night in? ➔ “Romantic, I would say. Even if it turns out to be very wild later on.” ► Day or night ➔ “As early morn is captivating, so is night.”

FIVE HAVE YOU EVERS

► Been caught sneaking out ➔ “No. I admit I grow up listening to my parents, so no rebelling from me.” She when chuckle and add. “No good at sneaking too. I would’ve made a lot of noise.” ► Fallen down/up the stairs ➔ “Of course not! Unless now I remember how my prankster cousin Force-pushed down the flight of stairs once. My father barely catched me mid-air. Come to think of it, my cousin wanted to kill me, but I was a bit naive back then.” ► Wanted something/someone so badly it hurt? ➔ “Hurt them, you mean? Yes, it happened once or twice.” ► Wanted to disappear? ➔ “An intersting question.” Aishatei frowns a little. “There would be a time, when my hand would be no longer needed. When it would be a time for me to leave this scene. But not before.”

FOUR PREFERENCES

► Smile or eyes ➔ “I hope it’s not the things I would want to collect... Eyes, I think. After all, it was the first thing I saw in my current husband. He was covering his face, I mean.” ► Shorter or taller ➔ “Everyone in my life was taller than me. So shorter.” ► Intelligence or attraction ➔ “Intelligence, of course. I rarely go by looks. Appearances are rather irrelevant. They fade over time.” She when raise one brow-ridge. “As intelligence sometimes, if you unfortunate enough to have a dementia... Hm, analogy was not prepared as well as I think it would be. Anyway, always go for brains.” ► Hook-up or relationship ➔ “I strive for solid relationship. If it isn’t serious, why even pursue this?”

FAMILY

► Do you and your family get along ➔ “I’m the reason why my House is only the shade of its former self. And all people who were decent enough died before this. So no we really don’t.” She add. “If we counting my current adoptive clan, my son graciously induct me in, so it also no. It was hard just to introduce me, let alone to get along with them.” ► Would you say you have a ‘messed up life’? ➔ She start to “I have been constantly betrayed, committed various unpleasant deeds, divorced once and brought ruin to my whole House. No, I have rather normal Sith life.” ► Have you ever ran away from home? ➔ “No, never. Unless we count my unvoluntary wandering over the Galaxy since Coruscant Sacking. And then I returned from my peculiar journey, they were all a bit upset.” ► Have you ever gotten kicked out? ➔ “Well, remnants of my House disowned me, so I assume they kicked me for good as of now”

FRIENDS

► Do you secretly hate one of your friends? ➔ “If I hate somebody, I’m quite open about it. Surely it would make any friendship impossible.” ► Do you consider all your friends good friends? ➔ “If my friend would turn out bad, I’m sure we would part our ways at once. So yes, I do.” ► Who is your best friend? ➔ She hesitates. “My husband? I don’t know if spouses counts as friends. Oh, and my eldest son.” ► Who knows everything about you ➔ “Possibly, Ar’santia. She knows everything about everyone, no doubt. She conducted my dossier, that I know for sure. I bet it is quite thorough. But tsss, it is a secret. Even for me.”

TAGGING

Oh, this section is hard to fill. I can’t remember who’ve already done this, and I’m late for party, so I just threw a bunch of names and if you’ve done this already (which is almost a certainty at this point), you can disregard that, or maybe do another round. As you wish.

@swtorpadawan, @darth-bagel, @moonlitalien

Okay, that’s done. On the bright side of things, I tagged someone for a first time

#swtor #star wars the old republic #oc #aishatei #sith #sith warrior #oc interview #I hope it's written correctly #oh my god I've tagged people!

31 notes · View notes

captainillogical · 4 years

Text

Distant Lands Ch.19

Stranded on a planet with toxic conditions and nothing but the clothes on your back, your only means of survival lies within the gem that got you here in the first place.

Spinel/Reader

collab with my lovely wife @firstofficertightpants

Strangely enough, you wake up in your bed.

You don’t remember coming into your room to sleep, but here you are. It’s light out - the blinds are closed, but the window is glowing with sunlight. You rub at your eyes, trying to get the rest of the lingering feeling of sleep out of them. You wonder what time it is, and you look over to see your phone left on your small bedside dresser. Without moving from your lying position, you reach over to grab it off the flat surface.

You pull out the charging cable, and open your lock screen. It’s a bit past two in the afternoon. Ugh. You see a couple texts from Steven, and some from an unknown number. You open his messages first.

[10:23] Steven: I woke up fairly early and saw you asleep on the couch with Spinel. Color my face surprised. Wasn't expecting you two to be so chummy considering how you met, initially.

[10:23] Steven: I told you to get some sleep but you really don’t want to listen to me, huh? She helped me put you to bed. Was a little surprised at how careful she was with you.

[10:23] Steven: Anyway, you looked like you needed quite a bit of rest so Pearl, myself and Spinel are going to Little Homeworld ourselves to introduce her to some of the others and show her around a bit.

[10:24] Steven: Take it easy today, and don’t fret about the small stuff. I’ll take care of it, as well as giving some of the others a quick run-down of what happened so you’re not bombarded with the same questions multiple times.

[10:24] Steven: I gave Spinel one of my old cell phones that Peridot ‘upgraded’, the one with the heart stickers you put on the back (I thought it was funny), and gave her your number. Watching her try to navigate human technology was hilarious, btw.

[10:24] Steven: Also we still have that tub of blueberry yogurt in the fridge that I didn’t really like, so if you’re hungry please eat that first. Pearl won’t let me buy more yogurt until I finish that one. :(

You stare at the texts for a moment, brain working a little slow still. Lord.. you can't believe Steven saw you like that, and with Spinel. He could've reacted way worse, but you're glad that it wasn't the case. You kinda have a feeling he might ask you a couple personal questions regarding that.. ugh. You’re also trying to not be disappointed that you’re not there with them and Spinel, and getting to see her interactions with the others.

Oh well, nothing you can do about it now. You text him back before opening the other messages.

[02:09] Y/N: Pssh, I’ll sleep when I want to sleep. Plus, I couldn’t really pass out before talking to her about shit on my mind. It’s fine. And thanks for making sure I didn’t wake up with a stiff neck.

[02:09] Y/N: Keep an eye on her for me, yeah? She’s anxious about all of this.

[02:09] Y/N: And.. thank you, Steven. You know you're my favorite, right?

After sending the texts, you go over and open the unsaved number’s messages from a couple hours ago. They’re clearly from Spinel, so you save the number to your contacts before reading them all.

[10:42] Spinel: did it send

[10:42] Spinel: i think it did this time, phewwww no error message

[10:42] Spinel: this tech is old and weird but i can deal with it for now

[10:42] Spinel: i hope you got okay sleep

[10:42] Spinel: i’m out with steven and pearl as i’m sure he’s told you already

[10:42] Spinel: she’s kinda annoying sometimes, is that normal for her? i don’t know how to feel about her, especially knowing pink as much as i did

[10:43] Spinel: and i know you told me to be nice to steven, but he’s already laughed at me for being confused at your human tech. never listening to you again

[10:43] Spinel: little homeworld is not what i was expecting, but i think i like this a little better than whatever i had thought, anyway

[10:43] Spinel: bismuth is fun. i like her. she says she’ll put me to work for it, but she has a small place for me in this new housing block that’ll be ready for me later today

[10:43] Spinel: it feels kinda like too much at once and it’s a little overwhelming

[10:43] Spinel: but steven has helped a ton, and i’m starting to understand why you defended him as much as you did.

[12:16] Spinel: [attachment received]

You open the file, and it’s a very blurry image of the sidewalk and what you think is Spinel’s shoes. Did she mean to send that? You feel your face smiling, despite the weird feelings starting to blossom in your stomach. You’re glad she’s getting along with the others. You had been.. wary, really, and for good reason. But if the others can get over other gems trying to kill Steven fairly quickly, then you’re not surprised they can get over this, this soon. It was always you technically that held a grudge against the other gems that tried causing him harm. And well, you did hold a bit of a grudge against Spinel for a while..

You sigh out loud, and sit up before texting her back. It feels weird to be texting her, when you were so used to face-to-face communication.

[02:12] Y/N: I slept fine. Thanks for putting me to bed, Steven said some nice things about you :P

[02:12] Y/N: I’m glad you got used to cellphones pretty quickly, I’m a little impressed. And give Pearl some time, you just gotta brush off half her nagging for the most part.

[02:12] Y/N: What were you expecting little homeworld to be like? And how sweet of Bismuth, you should take a pic of the place when you get into it, I wanna see what it looks like inside.

[02:13] Y/N: Yeah.. it will feel like too much, Spinel. Think of what your life was like before this. I did say there was going to be a lot to adjust to.

[02:13] Y/N: Also did you mean to send that last image because I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be looking at exactly, there.

You check your social media for a second as you try not to let all of your thoughts linger on Spinel, and then roll your eyes at yourself when you realize ah right, a month didn’t actually pass here. There’s nothing new. You stand up, stretching your arms way over your head.

It feels good, not sleeping on the ground for once.

You make quick work of changing into an oversized sweater and some shorts from your current sleepwear, wanting to wear something loose and different. Phone in hand, you meander out of your room hungry, and into the kitchen. You see Amethyst in the living room, chilling on the couch and reading some magazine. Except you know she’s not reading it, she’s just looking for weird images to cut out and prank Pearl with in weird places.

“‘Sup.” She says without looking up from her browsing as you open the fridge, looking for anything but that yogurt. A month of only bullshit weird, plain fruit to eat and he thinks you’ll finish off his yogurt for him?

“Hey.” You reply back to her, and ugh.. unless you want to go through the effort of making eggs, toast and yogurt are really your only option since they haven’t gone food shopping. You make a face at the fridge, grabbing for the yogurt and closing the door.

“How ya’ feelin’?” She asks casually, flipping a page. An eye drifts over the page to land on you, and she lifts an eyebrow in interest. “You look better than you did yesterday.”

“...Thanks,” It comes out slightly insulted, but, well, it’s Amethyst. She doesn’t mince her words. “I got some decent sleep for once. Is Garnet home?”

“Nah, she’s got one of her lessons going on.”

“And you don’t?” You grab the bread out of the cupboard, and squint at it for a second. There’s.. a bit of fucking mold on the edge. Ugh. Your luck. You toss the bread onto the counter for Amethyst to eat later, and spot a single bagel left in the cupboard behind a bag of flour. Oh hell yeah.

“Not today, we pushed mine til tomorrow because Onion couldn’t participate for some reason.” She blows a lock of hair out of her face, turning a page.

“All for Onion, and he’s not even a gem. He can sit out one lesson.” You put the bagel in the toaster - getting crumbs everywhere and not caring, and grabbing a spoon for your yogurt.

“C’mon, you know the others love him, it was basically all their decision anyway.” She flips another page, and you can see her giving you a pointed look that you’re going to ignore. “Besides, I wanted to relax today anyway, considering all the stress you just put me under.”

“Cause it was totally by choice.” You retort with a roll of your eyes, opening the lid of the yogurt disdainfully and giving it a sniff. It smells fine but.. Ugh. You’re not much of a fan of yogurt. You take a bite, and it’s okay you guess.

“What are you planning on doing with the rest of your afternoon, anyway?” She asks as soon as you take another bite of yogurt.

“I uh,” You swallow. “I don’t know, actually. I was thinking I’d be with Steven and Pearl, showing Spinel around, but it seems they’re all doing that without me.” You say, half a frown forming on your face. You kind of realize that you’re way more disappointed by that fact than you had previously figured, but that train of thought is interrupted by the bagel popping out of the toaster. You jump slightly, almost launching your yogurt out of your hands. Amethyst notices but doesn’t make a comment about it.

“Y/N, I know you’re really caring and wanna help, but don’t you think you should take a couple days just for you?” She gives you a look.

“A couple days to what?” You match her look, popping an eyebrow for extra emphasis. “Relax? Like the weeks I just spent doing absolutely nothing on a forgotten planet in the middle of nowhere? I’m good.”

She looks at you, deadpan, and sighs. You notice a bunch of bananas on the top of the fridge that you had missed earlier, and get an idea that’s better than just eating yogurt.

“You’re kind of impossible. I’m telling Steven to not let you help him with any more of his current projects.” She sets the magazine down and cracks her knuckles obnoxiously. “Maybe it will force you to go out and do something for yourself for once.”

“Don’t you dare.” You say in annoyance, grabbing the bananas and blender from the top of the fridge, setting them on the counter. You grab the milk from the fridge and pour a little inside, and dump some of the yogurt in as well. You don’t care for proper proportions, you measure smoothies with your soul.

“I’m literally texting him right now and you can’t stop me.” She grabs for her phone, typing on it quickly.

“You can’t make me relax, Amethyst.” You say, peeling two bananas and tearing them into small enough chunks to blend, putting those in as well with a couple cubes of ice for good measure. “If I want to help out, I’m helping out.”

“Not if I can help it.” You hear her say as you put on the lid of the blender and plug it into the outlet next to it.

You grab your phone to text Steven to dissuade him from whatever Amethyst is saying to him, and press the liquify button on the blender.

A terribly familiar whirring noise fills the room, and your blood runs cold. You freeze on the spot.

You rip the plug from the outlet near violently, silence filling the immediate space. A beat or two passes.

“Uh.” You hear Amethyst say from fifteen feet behind you. “Y/N? You okay?”

You’re staring at the blender, and you can’t get your mouth to move. The chunks of ice shift, light from the afternoon sun hitting it and causing it to sparkle.

“Y/N?” She asks again, and you hear slight shuffling.

There’s this indescribable feeling of fear and dread swirling at the pit of your stomach, and then you feel an arm pulling at your elbow.

“Y/N.” Amethyst reiterates from beside you, and suddenly, you can turn your head to face her.

“Yeah?” You answer, facing her and blinking. She looks at you for a second before answering.

“What was that?” Her brows furrow in concern.

“I, um.” You realize you aren’t hungry anymore. “That was nothing.”

“Bullshit.” She looks offended at your response. “I’ve never seen you react that way before, to like, anything.”

“Uhhhhh, you know what?” You say, feeling like your mouth is working on autopilot at this point. “I’m gonna go out actually.”

You spin around, walking around Amethyst entirely despite her protests, and leave out the front door. You hear it slam shut behind you.

By the time you check the time, it’s nearly five in the afternoon, and you’re in front of the new bakery, Spacestries. You uh.. you didn’t realize you had walked all the way over here. You think you wandered the beach for a while, trying to definitely not think about what happened in the kitchen, with Amethyst as a fucking witness. Embarrassing. Could’ve been worse, you guess - it could have been Pearl there. It’s probably best if you don’t use the blender for a while.

You’re completely annoyed with yourself about all of that, really, and by pushing all of that away you’re trying to not let the rest of your thoughts linger on the other thing you shouldn’t put any more thought into, which are your obvious feelings for Spinel. That area is a whole ass disaster that you’d rather ignore right now. You have a few notifications that you swipe away as soon as they come; your heart pathetically skipping a beat when it sees her name there for a split second - you’re not in the right mood to reply to the messages at the moment. Later.

You sigh, pocketing your phone. You look at the shiny new sign above, squinting at the sun in your eyes, and someone nearly walks into you on the sidewalk. Ugh. You stand there for a second, letting the hot air of summer waft by. You smell fries from somewhere nearby, and your stomach growls. A car honks off in the distance.

It’s not even a busy day out. It’s just another lazy afternoon, something you’ve experienced many, many times in your life. But you find yourself listening to the muted sounds of Beach City, thankful that you’re standing here on a paved sidewalk that was made by humans. Your hair tickles your nose, and you blow air to get it out of your face.

A minute or so passes. You figure you should just go in and buy yourself a cheese roll or something. You don’t know why you’re just standing outside.

You take in a deep breath, and open the door. It chimes as you come in.

It’s cool inside from the air conditioning, and there’s no one behind the counter. You walk in slowly, hearing your footsteps tapping on the floor. There’s a small FM radio off to the side playing the top 40’s that you can barely make out due to all the static. It’s been a while since you’ve heard music.

There’s a lot of pastries on display, and they look good. You wonder if he’s working today. You walk up to the counter leisurely, looking at the glazed fruit tarts on the top display shelf.

“I’LL BE UP FRONT IN A SECOND!” You hear a familiar muffled voice coming from the back room.

“Take your time, Lars. It’s just me.” You reply, hearing your voice not carry very far. You hope he heard you despite the white noise of the AC. There’s a couple more shuffling sounds, as it sounds like he’s rounding the corner.

You see the tray of cream puffs in one hand before Lars walks out, and he’s got another in the other hand, balanced on his hip.

“Y/N? Is that you out ther-” He stops abruptly as soon as he sees your face; and one of the trays slips out of his hand, clattering on the floor loudly.

He opens and closes his mouth. Twice.

“What in the actual fuck happened to you!?” He nearly shouts, eyes wide. He rushes to set the remaining tray on the counter, and completely ignores what is on the floor to get over to where you’re standing.

“Uh..” You pull your sweater sleeves down, AC giving your arms goosebumps. “A lot. Can I have one of your fresh cheese rolls?”

He gives you an incredulous look. “Yeah, as soon as you tell me how you fucking died!? What the hell have I missed in the last fews days while I was out of town!?”

“Cheese roll first, buddy.” You say, and cross your arms.

“Ugh, FINE!” He tosses his hands into the air, and makes quick work of grabbing his freshest roll for you, placing it into your hands with a napkin. He gives you another look.

You take a bite out of it, and it tastes so good that you feel tears prickling the corners of your eyes, and you cannot stop them from forming. Lars seems to take notice.

“Spill. You’re being weird and I’m actually concerned right now.” He puts his hands on his hips. You finish chewing before answering, but he holds up a finger instead. “Wait. Sit down and finish that, I’ll go grab some coffee for the both of us, I just made fresh pot that should be done brewing by now.”

He leaves momentarily to grab the coffee, and you sit down at the little two person table in the corner of the shop. You feel your phone vibrate a few times in your pocket, but you opt to ignore it instead. They can wait; you told Amethyst you were just going out, and your brain can really only deal with so much right now. Namely food, and hyping yourself up to talk to Lars about this.

A few cars pass out on the street outside, and your eyes are glued to the bright blue sky and those giant fluffy clouds that are floating idly by. You take another bite out of the roll, savoring the way the buttery crust melts on your tongue. The song changes to one particular pop number that you hate, and you aren’t even irritated about it. You find yourself having missed the small things.

You hear footsteps approaching from behind you, and Lars sets down two cups of black coffee with a cream puff in front of you. Eh. You’ll deal with the coffee being black with no sweetner for it.

“So,” He sits down, taking a sip of coffee. “I’m gonna need you to elaborate. Was there some kind of freak accident or something?”

You take a sip of coffee before answering, staring at the new plugs in his ears. They’re filled with stars, and it’s kind of cute. Looks nice on him.

“You want a short version, or the whole thing? Because there’s a lot.” You say, exhaling out a long breath. The coffee is good, despite the bitterness.

He looks around his shop for a second, shrugging when his eyes fall back on you. “Business has been extremely slow all day, I’ve got plenty of time.”

“Okay. Well.. technically this was yesterday? Ish? It’s been a blur. Anyway..”

You find yourself opening up to him more than you did with the others, and you think it’s because he might be the only person who maybe understands how you feel in this moment. Human, thrown into too much space bullshit just to try to survive.

“..and yeah. That’s about all of it.” You finish, taking a small sip of your coffee.

Lars puts his face in his hands, sighing exaggeratedly. He’s been patiently listening this entire time, which is surprising for him.

“I need more coffee for this.” He says, getting up immediately to do so. It takes him a minute, but he comes back with a fresh cup for you both, and you’re thankful for it.

“Thanks.” You take a sip, and it’s nearly hot enough to burn your tongue.

“You know, I wouldn’t believe half the shit you just said if I didn’t actually know you. That’s nuts and utterly awful, even for it having to do with more gem bullshit.” He takes a drink, eyes roaming your face and hair.

“Yeah. I know.” You reply. “But what is life around Steven if not life-threatening and ridiculous? You know how it goes.”

“Yeahhh.. you’re telling me. Oh, has Amethyst texted you since your ‘incident’ earlier?” He asks, lifting his hands to do the air quotations with his index fingers.

“I’m not gonna lie, I’ve ignored every notification that has popped up on my phone since leaving the house earlier.” You feel another buzz ironically inside your pocket. Ugh.

“You can’t ignore all your problems forever you know, you should probably text them back sooner rather than later. I’m sure they’re worried about you.”

“I’ll get to it in a bit.” You say with a huff.

“Hm.. it’s kind of funny how I’ve also been stranded against my will somewhere away from civilization, now that I think about it. It just wasn’t with an alien.. and it was at least on Earth.”

“Yeah that’s a weird coincidence, I didn’t even realize.” You feel half your face perk in a wry smile. “You’re lucky you had Sadie instead of Spinel though, Sadie’s.. so much nicer.” He rolls his eyes at that. “Can I ask you something Lars? If you don’t mind.”

“Yeah? Of course.” He replies, perking an eyebrow in question.

“How did you deal with dying? Or uh, anything of what happened to you in space?” You avoid his eyes for a moment, looking out the window. You can see the heat rising off the pavement from here.

“Oh, god.” You hear him take another drink of his coffee. “Not well, at first. The off-colors helped me tremendously in dealing with my problems. I’m pretty whatever about the whole thing now, honestly. I take it day by day, and keeping busy doing what I love at this shop is helping. Also, I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, as thankful as I am to be alive.” He points to his pink hair and face with his index finger, raising an eyebrow. “I hate the looks I get when I leave Beach City.”

“I’ll get used to it in time, probably. Still surprised when I look in the mirror." You sigh. You fix your eyes on the cup in front of you. “I also don’t want the gems to worry about me, and about what happened.”

“It’s something that took me quite a while to get used to. You’re wayyy more adaptable than I am, though, so I’m sure you’ll be a little quicker with it.” He says, running a hand through his hair and taking another drink of his coffee. “I’m sure they’ll worry about you regardless, and there isn’t really anything you can do about it. Kinda happens when they consider you family. Also, you’ve been through a lot. This isn’t just, like, breaking a leg or something.”

“I made the best of a shitty situation, and I’m alive and okay, it really isn’t a huge deal. I don’t want them walking on eggshells around me, or coddling me. I hate that. I’m not seventeen and stupid anymore.”

Lars stares at you like you’re definitely seventeen and stupid, expression that says ‘I cannot believe you right now.’

“You’re literally traumatized, you fucking idiot.” He says, completely exasperated. “Stop acting like what you’ve been through is as common as the cold. It isn’t. It’s going to take you time, and them some time. Talk to them if you’re that bothered with it.”

You shrug at him, affronted. “It’s whatever. I just want a normal life again.” Is what you hear coming out of your mouth.

“Your life stopped being normal the moment you accepted that babysitting job with the gems.” He rolls his eyes at you again, and you wanna kick him under the table. Just a little. “How are the gems dealing with Spinel by the way? I bet they thought they’d never have to fight another gem again, sheesh.”

“I was a little worried, but I think they’ll be fine honestly. They’ve dealt with worse. It probably helped that I was there to defend and vouch for her, really.” Someone passes the shop window, distracting your eyes for a second. A beat or two goes by, another car speeds down the street, and you wonder how Spinel’s doing right now. You hope Steven works his friendship magic on her, and you hope they become quick friends. They’re kind of like, two of the most important people to you. Oh, fuck. You think to yourself. Quick question, self? When the fuck did Spinel become that important to you? What the hell? Was it somewhere between hating her and dying for her?! You get the feeling you’re being watched all of a sudden so you look back over to Lars, and he’s studying your face with enough concentration to make you nervous.

“I feel like you’re still sitting on something that you want to talk about, but you’re too chickenshit to say it.” He says, full seriousness. You break eye contact, looking at your cup of coffee instead and sigh.

You and Lars have never been what you’d call good friends. Recently he’s been a lot better and you can actually talk to him like he’s a peer since he came back from space, but he used to be such a dick to Steven that you basically hated him, and you never hid that. You have no idea how he can see through you so well.

“How can you even tell?”

“Your posture isn’t relaxed whatsoever. You’ve been sitting like someone strapped a yard stick to your spine.” He answers bluntly. “You’re normally a sloucher.”

“Don’t read me like that ever again.” You scowl. “I’m sitting on it because I’m not sure I want to verbalize it out loud, okay? And I haven’t talked to anyone about it..” You say, ignoring his pointed look at you.

“Y/N, unless you’re going to say that you want to move back in with your shitty parents, or that all of a sudden you believe in the existence of saint nicholas, it can’t be that strange to say considering everything else you’ve said.” He leans his chin on his hand, nudging his coffee cup slightly with his fingers. You think, maybe.. maybe you can trust him with this too. Another shadow passes by the window, but you ignore it in favor of the swirling thoughts in your head.

“I have feelings for Spinel,” You blurt out with about as much grace as ripping off a band-aid; just as he takes another drink of his coffee. He chokes on it, sputtering everywhere - the entry door swings open with a chime and a customer walks in. He stands up suddenly, coughing into his hand.

“Give me just a second,” He says, turning to the customer, and rushes away from the table to go cough violently into the sink behind the counter.

The customer stares at him.

“Are you open?” They ask, even though they just came through the open, unlocked bakery door. You know, with the clearly printed hours on the glass.

He gives a thumbs up, coughing into the sink again and wiping his face.

“Yeah, just come up to the counter and I’ll help you out.” He says, a few coughs coming out here and there. He gives you a particular look from across the shop, and you’re not sure how to interpret it.

Your heart is beating wildly out of nervousness, and you kind of regret your honesty a little. Having feelings for a gem can’t be.. that weird. Right? Today is taking its toll on you already, and you’ve only been awake for a few short hours. You tune out Lars and the customer’s interactions, and pull out your phone instead. You should answer your messages.

You can kind of see the customer glancing at you in the corner, and you try ignoring it. You answer Amethyst messages first to let her know that you’re fine.

[02:48] Amethyst: dude, dont just leave

[02:48] Amethyst: esp after something like that [02:48] Amethyst: im worried about you, you know you can talk to me about stuff if you want

[02:48] Amethyst: or if u want a lounge buddy for distractions ig

[02:48] Amethyst: im here.

You feel bad that you rushed out like that on her, but you couldn’t stand in that kitchen anymore and you needed to be anywhere else but right there.

[05:32] Y/N: I’m fine, Amethyst.. I just needed some air.

[05:32] Y/N: Your concern is appreciated. Really.

[05:32] Y/N: Just needed to run away for a bit.

[05:32] Y/N: And I know. Thank you.

The customer talking to Lars is asking way too many questions about the gluten in the fruit fritters, and you can feel Lars’ annoyance from here. You see replies from Steven, and read those next.

[03:10] Steven: Of course I’m your favorite, who else has this Universe charm? ;)

[03:10] Steven: I’m gonna pick up pizza for us later, you deserve some good food after all of this, lol.

[03:10] Steven: And what’s Amethyst saying about not letting you help me out?

[03:10] Steven: Are you not resting like I told you to? I said to take it easy. I know we were planning on adding in a bunch of new classes and recruiting more people to teach them, but I can have Pearl help me out with that. Maybe Buck. He owes me a big favor anyway.

[03:10] Steven: It doesn’t matter, I was gonna tell you to take the next week for yourself anyway, because you need to chill.

[03:11] Steven: I’ll be home in a couple hours, and if you wanted to cancel wednesday movie night, I understand. :(

You stare at your phone, trying to not be irritated like you want to. You don’t want to be replaced, responsibility-wise. You like helping Steven out. It makes you feel useful, and if you aren’t being useful, what’s the point. You feel like no matter what you say to him, he won’t care though. He’s really stubborn like that. You’ll take the next few days off for yourself regardless.

[05:35] Y/N: I’m just out rn okay, didn’t want to be cooped up at home. I went out for a walk because of how much I missed the sand.

[05:35] Y/N: And no, I think I need movie night now more than ever lol. Kinda just don’t want to lay around in bed.

Mere seconds pass of you replying to his texts, and he’s answered you back.

[05:35] Steven: Want it to just be the two of us, or would you be okay with me inviting Spinel and the others?

[05:36] Steven: I might’ve hyped up Princess Diaries to her earlier, and well, this may be an easy way for her to be more.. at ease with everyone.

Oh thank god he asked. You didn’t want to seem desperate for her presence enough to suggest it. Also, he’s not wrong. You smile slightly to yourself as you reply to him.

[05:36] Y/N: Please do. :) That sounds fun.

Lars and the customer are now going back and forth about prices. You know he can handle himself, clearly, but you keep an ear perked in case this person goes full on karen-mode. You open Spinel’s messages last.

[02:52] Spinel: oops that wasnt what i was trying to send

[02:52] Spinel: [attachment received]

It’s another blurry picture, but it’s a candid shot of Pearl making a funny face while criticizing Steven about something. It’s actually fucking hilarious. You kinda want to send it to Amethyst.

[02:52] Spinel: shes been like this the last five minutes

[02:52] Spinel: its fun to watch

[02:52] Spinel: earth’s organisms are fun though so far

[02:53] Spinel: steven threw some food at the birds and i almost caught one

[02:53] Spinel: it pecked me

You try not to laugh out loud at the mental image, wishing desperately that you could’ve seen this.

[05:36] Y/N: I was going to ask why, except I know the answer to that already. You deserved being pecked, stop heckling local wildlife you fucking birdbrain

Before you can type up another message, you hear the door jingle again as the customer leaves - drawing you out of looking directly at only your phone. You must’ve tuned out the last of their interactions, because Lars is standing in front of the table with crossed arms.

He’s staring at you, half an eyebrow perked; like he’s trying to read your mind. You can hear his foot tapping on the cold tile floor. You are not going to lie to yourself - if you could get up and abscond, you’d do exactly just that. He suddenly whips his arm out, placing it upon the back of your chair.

“Don’t even think about running away from this conversation, Y/N.” He says, the radio crackling a bit in the background.

“Why would you think I want to run, Lars?” You avoid his eyes out of nervousness.

“Because I can see it in your eyes.” He plops back down in his seat, and sighs. His eyes haven’t moved from his gaze on you. “So. What the actual fuck?”

“Look. I didn’t even realize that I had these feelings until a couple days ago.. technically. Days on Golgotha. Not here, I mean.”

He brings his hand up to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose in disbelief and scrunching his eyes. “You’re telling me.. that you have feelings for a gem that tried to kill Steven and yourself, after being stuck on a different planet with her for weeks?”

You’re staring at him, unmoving. A second or three passes.

“Don’t put it so plainly out there like that..” You groan. “I already feel stupid about this.”

“I’ve known you for years now, and you’ve refused any kind of prospect of romance. I watched you turn down several people, including fucking JENNY of all people. Where the hell is this coming from!?” God he’s so worked up about this that he’s half talking with his hands.

“Yeah because I was busy with Steven! Also I just wasn’t ..interested in anyone.” You level him with a look, slightly miffed about all of this.

“What made her different?!”

“I DON’T KNOW!” You hear your voice raise, heart beating wildly in your chest. You can feel the adrenaline running through you. “At first I thought it was because she didn’t treat me like a fragile meatbag! Or maybe because she took my shit and threw it back at me!! AND THEN SHE STARTED TO GET ALL CARING, LIKE, SHE ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT MY WELL-BEING? GENUINELY? And she wanted to be my friend EVEN after I treated her like shit!”

“Oh, my god. You DO have feelings for her!!!” He shouts accusingly, pointing his finger directly at you.

“I WASN’T LYING YOU IDIOT.”

“Well?! What are you going to do about it?!” He implores, leaning into the table - practically knocking off his half cup of coffee.

“Nothing, probably,” You say, avoiding his eyes again.

“You’re joking.”

“What if I’ve been reading signals all weird, and she thinks humans are super gross?”

He levels you with a Look, one you deem The Judgemental Gaze of Judgement. He sighs for like the fifth time this conversation.

“Ugh! Give me your phone.”

“NO.”

“Let me talk to her!”

“DEFINITELY NO.” You hear your own voice echo throughout the room.

“Okay, so, you’re just going to steep in your own feelings and pretend you don’t have them? Really, Y/N?”

“Well.. no. Maybe. I don't know.”

“You’re being stupid.” He says with a roll of his eyes. “What are you actually afraid of?”

“...what if she can only see me as a friend?” You reply, a bit nervously.

“It’s not the worst thing ever, honestly. At least she’d still be your friend, take it from me..” He glances at his phone on the table for a moment, a notification popping up. “But I don’t know. I haven’t met her yet, but if she’s everything you’ve said to me so far.. I think you might be a little dumb about this.”

“I’m not saying you’re right, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

“If I happen to see her in the next week, I’m telling her if you haven’t by then.” He says with a perk of his eyebrow, tone half mocking.

“If I catch wind of that happening I’ll set your shop on fire.” You reply, deadpan. His eyes get large.

“No arson!” He points to the center of your torso, like this would be a thing you’d actually do. “Anyway, I gotta get back to making a new batch of what I dropped earlier before the delivery I’m supposed to receive in an hour gets here. You’re welcome to stay if you wanna help me out. I had 3 part timers quit in the last month.”

“Bet they left because you suck at being a manager.” You say, pocketing your cell phone and standing up. “And as much as I’d like to keep busy right now, it’s best I be getting back soon anyway.”

“I’m a great manager, for the record! Just unlucky. Thankfully the off-colors help out plenty, even if most of them are preoccupied doing things for themselves now. Let me know if you know anyone that wants any part time hours? I’m flexible.” He also stands up, pushing his chair in and grabbing both cups of coffee - now empty. He gives you a look before smiling a little. “I’m glad you’re alive and well, Y/N. And really. Talk to Spinel. Even if it doesn’t go anywhere, you’ll feel a lot better getting it off your chest.”

“Yeah, yeahhhhhh. We’ll see.” You reply with an eye roll, and head out the door.

On your way home you stop by the boardwalk by Funland. The sun is beating down on you, but you don’t really mind this heat. It isn’t nearly as humid as on the surface of that awful place. It’s almost lovely compared to it. You sit on one of the nearby benches to zone out for a couple minutes, watching people and their dogs pass by as you internally fight yourself.

You should talk to Spinel. You think briefly that you should just text her about it, and then immediately swat that thought away. That’s the cowards route. Get it the fuck together. You’ve been through so much shit already, and you’re this hung up on your feelings. Also, Spinel deserves a lot more than just a stupid text.

Oh my godddd, you do not want to put too much thought into this shit, it will just make you even more anxious around her. Ugh. Seriously, you've been through waaay more anxiety inducing scenarios than this, what's your deal? You feel your phone vibrate with a notification, and you pull it up to see that it’s a message from Steven saying that they’ll be home soon. It’s a bit after six by now, and you send him a reply saying that you’ll see him there.

The distant sounds of the crashing waves of the ocean put you at ease. You pocket your phone, and you notice Mr. Smiley talking to a couple kids with cotton candy forty feet away or so. He sees you, and you can see his eyebrows raise in confusion all the way over from here.

Ugh. You’re kind of tired of explaining what’s happened to you. You get up and leave to avoid any kind of conversation about it, opting to just go straight home instead.

You take your flip flops off as you walk through the sand up to Steven’s house. It’s warm, and the salty sea breeze tickles your skin. It’s making you a little reluctant to go up the stairs. You’re halfway up when you hear muffled voices coming from inside, quite a few actually. The rest of them must have got here before you did, oops. You hope they don’t implore too much about where you’ve been and why it’s taken so long.

Once you open the front door you feel a couple eyes turn to you, and you swallow the weird anxiety in your gut.

“Y/N!” Peridot shouts from across the room, and you set your flip flops down on the ground near the door. “Jeez, took you long enough to get home.”

“Sorry, I took the long way home.” You reply, seeing her with Bismuth, Lapis and Pearl all chatting animatedly about something on the couch with each other.

“You guys only got here a couple minutes ago anyway.” Amethyst snorts, walking into the kitchen after she gives you a discreet look-over to make sure you’re visibly okay.

“Yeah but she’s the last one here, and that means she gets cleanup duty!” She retorts, giving you a pointed smirk from across the room.

“I feel like I should be exempt from cleaning duty for the next couple of weeks.” You walk over to the kitchen where Steven and Spinel are talking to Garnet about something, and your heart does this stupid, stupid little flip when you see her with the others. Her eyes gravitate over to you as she’s talking, something sparkling in them when she sees that it’s you - and tears her eyes away back to the others quickly.

What the hell. That was kinda weird. Steven looks over to you, and then to Peridot after he hears you.

“I’ve volunteered to take over her responsibilities this week, anyway, so suck it Peridot.” He says, sticking his tongue out at her childishly.

“You mean it?” You reply, feeling immense amounts of affection bubbling up inside for him.

“Yeah, well, you’re not wrong about being exempt for now. Also I just love you.” He grins, shrugging at you. You walk over to his side, ruffling his thick brown curls.

“Steeeeven, what would I do without you?” You say, and you see Spinel watching you out of the corner of her eye as Garnet talks to her. “I miss when you were shorter than me, who am I supposed to use as a chinrest now? Amethyst? She’s too short.”

“Hey!” Amethyst huffs, flipping some of her hair over her shoulder. “Being this short is one of my best qualities.”

“I thought it was your obnoxious personality?” You raise an eyebrow in mockery at her.

“I thought that was yours.” You hear Spinel say as your heart jumps into your throat, and you whip your face to hers.

“You of all people cannot say that to me!” You hiss out at her automatically without missing a beat, and the others burst out laughing. Even Garnet. You feel your face heat up as Spinel grins, and whatever thoughts you had about her acting weird earlier vanish. When the laughter dies down, Steven looks over to her.

“I’ve gotta say, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that talks to Y/N that way and gets away with it.” He says, still smiling and shaking his head.

“Really?” Her eyes light up at that, and she gives you a particular look that makes you want to smack her. “I guess I must be kinda special or somethin’.”

“No, you’re just too stupid to realize when I’m telling you off.” You reply, and she splutters with a glare while the others laugh boisterously again.

It’s good to be in this kind of company again, you think.

Steven grabs the three boxes of pizza on the counter that you just noticed were there. The smell is very enticing. “Since we’re all here, I’m gonna go set up the movie so I can finally eat because I am starrrrrving.” He says, dragging it on a bit dramatically as he walks up the stairs over to his loft bed. “You guys can join whenever!”

You follow him immediately, mainly because you want food. Also, Spinel’s looking at you in a way that makes you hyper aware of literally every single thing you’re doing, and you need to sit down and calm yourself before you have some kind of self-induced heart attack.

“You wanna sit on the bed? You get first pick since.. y’know.” He looks at you, setting the pizza boxes down on the floor by the foot of his bed.

“Nah, I want the beanbag.” You say as the others make their way up here, and you grab said seat from the corner of his room, dragging it to the spot you want on the far left opposite of the stairs and next to Steven’s bed. Peridot likes to throw things during dramatic moments and you’d prefer to not be placed in the crossfire again.

“Suuuit yourself.” He says, popping the dvd case open and inserting the disk into the system below the tv. Amethyst plops on his bed with a satisfied sigh, rolling over to the edge to grab a slice from the boxes on the floor.

The rest of them come in, finding places to sit and lounge - all of them as loud as ever. You see Spinel off to the side by Pearl, and she looks like she doesn’t know where to sit. Eventually her eyes land on you - your heart doing a little flip, and you make a point to pat the ground next to you. Her eyes light up instantly. Not like you saved a seat for her or anything.

She gets over to you - having to stretch her leg waaay over to the side of the multiple gems in the center of the room making a commotion loudly over who gets to sit in front of the tv. She sits down next to you; wrapping her arms around her knees, her body language a little more at ease beside you than she was earlier.

You ignore your brain screaming about the implications. Just act normal, fucking idiot.

“You have fun today?” You turn your face to ask her, Bismuth bellowing out a laugh at something behind you.

“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting them to be so.. welcoming.” She says a bit quietly so the others don’t hear, pulling her gloved hand up to scratch at her cheek sheepishly. “I still don’t feel like I deserve this.”

“Well, you do.” You lean forward, grabbing a slice of pizza and a napkin. “So you better get used to it.” Before you even take a bite, you notice her staring at you. Steven’s cursing out the dvd player for giving him issues, and Pearl’s tutting him for his language. “What? You wanna try?”

“No. It just looks weird.” She replies, scrunching her face.

“Spinel.” You look at her, deadpan. “Unless you try it, you don’t get to judge pizza. Even Amethyst likes it.” You take a bite, melty cheese easily pulling off the slice. Her eyes go kinda wide, watching you - and then her face gets suspiciously smug.

“Wow, what is that? Kinda similar to how much I can stretch-” You give her a kick with your bare foot, and she chokes out a laugh. You roll your eyes, taking another bite. Her constant teasing makes your heart grow fonder, and that fact irritates you.

“Finally!” Steven says, pressing the play button on the menu. Guess he finally got it to work. He sits on his bed where his pillows are, Amethyst up at the front. The others are lounging around the rest of the room as the volume dies down.

The movie starts to play, and you settle comfortably in your beanbag. Once you’re done adjusting yourself, Spinel leans half her side and props her elbow up on your chair, resting her chin on her hand. She’s close enough to where you can feel the heat emanating off her slightly. She’s most comfortable around you, clearly.

You’ve seen the princess diaries many, many times as it’s one of Steven’s favorite movies - he starts singing ‘stupid cupid’ and you join along, earning a wink from him. Spinel makes comments here and there about the absurdities of royalty here, and several human traditions that the other gems laugh and nod in agreement. She seems to like it though, as she laughs pretty hard at a couple scenes.

You're content, you feel. You didn't think you'd get to experience this like, ever, with her.

Two thirds through the movie and several slices of pizza later, you notice Spinel watching you more than the movie out of the corner of your eye. You try not to be self-conscious about it, but you wish you could ask her if you have something on your face without alerting the others around you. She lays her arm down on your beanbag, parallel to yours resting against your thigh; and you have a quiet moment of panic because your immediate thought is to grab her hand and hold it.

Okay. You need to calm the fuck down, first of all. You’re getting way ahead of yourself. Also, the thought of anyone of them seeing that makes you want to run outside into the ocean to never return. You spend the rest of this movie consumed with so many thoughts about Spinel beside you that you don’t realize that the movie has already ended with the credits rolling, and the others are chatting and stretching their limbs from their stationary positions on the floor.

“Okay, do we want to watch another movie, or call it a night guys?” Steven asks, and a few of the others immediately all say they want to watch another movie.

“Okay but what exactly are we watching?” You turn your face to look at him. “Because I don’t want to watch the sequel.”

“But I loooooooooove the sequel!!!” He cries out, putting a hand on his chest in mock offense. “It has Chris Pine’s dreamy eyes!”

“There’s another one?” Spinel interjects, raising an eyebrow. “But they didn’t really leave room for continuation.”

“Exactly my point.” You reply. “It’s a bad sequel.”

“It’s not! You just hate good fun!” Steven whines.

“I kinda wanna watch it. I like the part when she pushes him into the fountain.” Amethyst chuckles, stuffing a room-temperature slice of pizza into her mouth in a single bite.

“Sweet! Then we’re watching it.” He says smugly, getting up to change the dvd out.

“You’re so biased it’s not even funny.” You groan, flopping your head back on the beanbag dramatically. “Next time I get to pick.”

“No! You always pick horror movies!” You see Steven whip his head towards you from the corner of your eye.

“Alien is a classic though. And besides, you always pick fucking romantic comedies my guy.” You retort.

“Yeah, how can you not get enough of them?” He sighs happily. “They always end good.”

“Alien ends good..” You pout, and hear him snort a little. “The cat lives.”

The movie starts, and you try to not zone out after the first ten minutes. Spinel makes several comments about ‘who the fuck is this guy? Where’s that guy she kissed in the last movie?’ and you get the joy of being the one to explain to her that sometimes, sequels are just Like That.

An hour or so in of you only half paying attention to the movie, and you think you see Spinel’s eyes droop.

Is she.. is she tired?

Another twenty minutes pass, and yeah, she’s definitely tired. She’s leaning against her hand on your beanbag again, a mere foot or so from yourself. You catch her drifting off a little - hand slipping - quietly startling herself awake. It’s so cute. You’ve never seen her this sleepy before. It’s strange, gems don’t get tired.. You think, briefly, of what that might imply. When was the last time she slept, you wonder? You worry a little about it - clearly she needs some rest if she’s nodding off right here.

By the time the movie is done and the credits are rolling, she’s got half her head curled into her arm that’s digging into your side, completely asleep. It makes your heart swell to see her like this. Steven turns his bedside lamp on, illuminating most of the room in a warm glow.

“Well! I’m beat.” He says, grinning and turning his face to you. “Did Spinel like the movies?”

“I’d ask her, but..” You look at him, shrugging and pointing to her.

“Is she asleep?” He whispers, some of the others looking over in your direction and away from their quiet conversations. For some reason your heart rate speeds up.

“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting her to pass out. It isn’t really like her to be this tired.” You reply. Your legs are numb from lack of circulation, and you stretch them out in front of you.

“Spinel.. sleeps?” An eyebrow shoots up into his hairline that has you feeling strange about what you had just said.

“I mean, yeah? It’s not that weird, Amethyst does it sometimes.”

“Yeah, that’s because I’m just lazy. But you don’t see me sleeping on you.” Amethyst chuckles lowly, a slow grin spreading on her face.

“What the hell are you implying?” You ask, feeling your face start to heat up.

“Nothing! She must trust you a lot is all, sleeping like that.” She laughs a little. “She looks kind of like a lapdog.”

“Don’t call her a dog, jeez.” You roll your eyes, pushing down the blush on your face.

“Look at you, defending her even when she can’t defend herself, when earlier you were so easy to insult her.” Pearl says from across the room, putting a finger to her lip and looking smug. “You know…”

“Alright, enough picking on Y/N. I wanna go to bed.” Steven says with a yawn, and the others file out of his loft down the stairs without much of a fight.

“Does she have a bed in her new place?” You watch her shoulders rise and fall with her breathing.

“No, er, she has a bedroom though. Wasn’t expecting her to be the sleeping type, honestly. I’ll get with Bismuth tomorrow about it. Shouldn’t take long, though. She can sleep on the couch tonight if anything.” He says, taking his socks off and flinging them across the other side of his room into the pile of laundry he has there.

"Alright." You say, thinking about several things at once. Hm. She looks so soft right now, and it's taking like, all of your self control to not stroke her head. It sucks that you've got to wake her.

Steven gets up to go to the bathroom and brush his teeth before sleeping, and makes a comment about his floor better not ‘be occupied’ when he comes back. You roll your eyes, smiling at him fondly. You love his teen attitude.

Very gently, you shake Spinel's shoulders a little. You're actually surprised when she lifts her head a little, slow blinking and confusion all over her face. She's got lines pressed into her face where she slept a little too hard against her arm. It's extremely endearing.

"Did I pass out?" She asks, rubbing her eyes but still looking very drowsy.

"Yeah. We finished the other movie. The others went off on their own, and Steven's going to sleep."

You lead the gem down the stairs, careful to not let her sleep-heavy self trip. You sit her on the couch, and walk away to grab the spare blankets from the cupboard for her. You pass Steven coming out of the bathroom on your way back over, him giving the both of you a peace sign and telling you to get decent sleep. He also apologises to Spinel in case she hears any snoring coming from him.

Once he’s out of sight, you place the spare blankets and pillow next to her on the couch.

“Are you gonna be okay out here? Let me know if you need anything.” Leaning your hands on your hips, you give her a quick look-over. She’s tired, clearly, but a little more awake than before.

She looks at you hesitantly, like she wants to say something, but is unsure how.

"What?" You whisper at her. "Is there something wrong?"

"Um.." She looks away momentarily, like she's nervous to admit something. It's making you anxious.

"Spit it out, Spinel." You say, and it comes out a little harsher than intended.

"I don't know if I can sleep. I've had.. really bad nightmares every time I've tried, so I stopped trying. It's been weeks.." She trails off, avoiding your eyes. "That nap earlier was the most solid sleep I've had in a while."

Oh. You.. you weren't expecting her to say that. You feel horrible about it, actually..

"Do you want to sleep with me?" You hear the words coming out of your mouth, horrified at what it kind of implied. "I-I mean, um, maybe having another person next to you might help you sleep?" You quickly correct yourself, feeling your face heat up in mortification. Yeah yeah idiot, ask the gem to sleep with you god what the hell is wrong with you.

Thankfully, you think she’s too tired to really catch on to that, as she kind of looks a little.. sheepish when her eyes lock on to yours.

“You’re not just sayin’ that, right? To be nice?” You think you see her wring her hands nervously in her lap, and you’re confused by it. Why the hell is she nervous?

"You think I'm purposefully nice?"

"Well.." She gives you a look.

"Come on." You say with a sigh. "My bed is big enough for the both of us, and it's comfier than this couch."

She follows you to your bedroom, and your heartbeats pick up pace. Calm down. Sure, this is like, completely new territory for the both of you. She's seen where you live, what you're like around other people, and now she's about to see your room. It almost feels.. strangely intimate. You have no idea why this particular thought puts you on edge. Like you're.. waiting on something.

You open your bedroom door, the both of you shuffling inside and closing the door behind you with a solid click. She looks around at the walls, intrigued by many of the things you've put up as decoration. You watch her for a moment, your brain repeating the words 'Spinel is in my bedroom' like a mantra.

"Hmmm." Is all she says, and you feel a little insulted for some reason.

"Why do I feel like you're making fun of me by saying that?"

"I like it. Reminds me of you." She gives you a cheeky smile, and you don't know if you'd rather slap her or kiss her.

All of a sudden you realize you're alone with her, like actually alone, without anyone having the ability to hear you. Not that there is anything to hear..

You shake your skull, dismissing the thoughts in your head. You're not going there today, brain. It's time to sleep.

"Before I lay down, I'm gonna change into better clothes. Make yourself comfortable." You say as you walk over to your closet, and immediately grab a tank top because you know you'll be warm. You also grab another pair of shorts. You make quick work of going out to the bathroom to change and to brush your teeth, and by the time you get back to your bedroom, she's looking at all the photostrips you have with Steven.

You pull back your blankets, sitting down on the surface of your bed and setting your phone on your nightstand.

"Aren't you tired?" You say with a yawn, and she turns to you.

"Very." She's halfway to the bed when you stop her before she gets in, and she gives you a perplexed look.

"This is gonna sound weird, but I don't want you in my bed wearing those."

"My.. clothes?" She gives you a look, half a grin forming on her face - her canines shining a little in the dim light of your bedroom. "Are 'ya saying you want me in there naked?"

"No, stupid! It's just, you wear those clothes everywhere, and it feels unsanitary to-"

"Yeah, yeah, calm down you brat. I get it.” She gets this kind of.. excited look on her face, eyes brightening. “Am I gonna get to steal your clothes then?”

“Pick whatever you want from my closet I guess.” You say, and watch her rifle through your clothes.

“You have a lot of sweaters in here.”

“Sweaters are comfy. They’re my favorite thing to wear.” You state, the feeling of being on edge still fully not going away.

It’s strange, being this casual with her. Like you didn’t meet her under the circumstances you did, and didn’t go through all of that with her either. You haven’t really had many close friends in your life, but you like to think that if you had met her differently, you’d still eventually form some kind of tentative.. friendship, or whatever you call this, with her. Halfway friends, halfway something else. See now you’re just being too hopeful, because technically she hasn’t brought up feelings at all. Or that kiss. Or whatever the fuck she was going to say before she left you on the hill.

“-were you wanting to watch me change, or should I go to the bathroom?” You’re torn out of your thoughts by the sound of her voice, and you feel your face heat up as you tear your eyes away. How embarrassing. It's not like she can read your thoughts though, right?

“Was spacing, sorry. I’ll look away.” You keep your face turned towards your phone, checking the time and thinking momentarily about setting an alarm. You hear the shuffling sounds of moving fabric and boots hitting the ground, and forego the alarm altogether. Who’re you kidding yourself, you’re not waking up early.

Before you realize it, she’s pulling the covers away on the other side of you and you feel a weight dipping into the mattress beside you. You're getting jitters in your stomach as you turn to catch her eye, because she's got one of your oversized Sadie Killer band tees on that's large enough that the top half of her gem is peeking out, and her hair isn't up in twintails anymore and now you're just staring at this point. The fact that you can see the entirety of her neck as well as the area around her collarbones has you feeling some way that you just know is absolutely showing on your face. You've never seen her show this much skin.

"What.." She gets this sort of stubbornly shy look when she realizes you're staring at her, her cheeks coloring faintly. She looks so different like this.. vulnerable, mostly. She doesn't have her gloves on, and you're pretty sure she's wearing a pair of your shorts as well because you can see her bare legs. "Is there something on my face? Don't give me that look."

"No, I just wasn't expecting to see you with your hair down."

"It doesn't look weird does it? I wasn't-"

"Shut up, you look cute.. and very non-threatening." You say, throwing in the jab with a bit of a smirk.

She rolls her eyes, scowling a bit. You think you see her cheeks darken ever so slightly, but it could also be a trick of the dim light in your room and the lines on her cheeks. You'd love to see just how far you can push those buttons of hers sometime. The look on her face when she's frustrated is probably one of your favorites, but you'd only ever admit that to yourself.

"Oh, I'll show you threatening.." She replies with a glint in her eye, the corner of her lips twitching.

"Pfft, go to sleep. You're about as threatening as a chihuahua." You retort, feeling that smirk grow a little wider, but also seeing her reach for her cell phone. "Spinel, I forbid you from looking that up until the morning."

"Uggggggghhhh, you can't tell me what to do!" She flops down onto the bed next to you, magenta hair messily all around her head. She fixes it with a huff, giving you a dirty look that you find amusing as you lower yourself into the blankets you're sharing with her. "If I wasn't so tired I'd fight you."

"Oh, I'm sure." You reply with a chuckle, turning to the center of the bed to face her.

She turns her head to look at you, face drawn in a glare and yet her eyes are so very warm. Your eyes are caught here with hers for a moment, and you feel your breath catch in your throat. Two.. three seconds pass, and you're pretty sure she's looking at your mouth. She looks like she's about to say something, her lips parting ever so slightly.

And then she flops over to her other side, and you're left laying there wondering what in the fuck was that.

Ugh. You hate girls. And aliens.

"Don't let me sleep forever." She mumbles, and you lean over to your lamp to switch it off.

"No promises." The room is blanketed in darkness in a single click, and you switch on your salt lamp before leaning your head down on your pillow, back flat against the bed. There's still a tiny bit of light coming from the glow of the moon through the blinds, and you pull your blanket up to your chest. You try getting comfortable, and it's.. fairly difficult when you're hyper aware of the person next to you.

"Would it be too much to ask if you could.. y'know.." You hear her say, almost too quiet for you to hear. You think your heart does a little backflip inside your chest.

"Are you asking me to cuddle you?!" You reply, barely being able to hold the mirth in your voice back.

You hear her sigh aggravatingly, and you roll over to put an arm around her waist before she can protest.

"You are so annoying." She spits out.

"Whatever. I knew you liked being the little spoon." You grin smugly behind her back, siphoning all the warmth from her as you can. Your knees are almost hitting the back of hers, and because of how squishy your bed is, this is the closest you think you've ever been to her as you're basically flush with her body. It's comfortable, and intimate, and you're trying to not think about how easy it'd be to just.. confess your feelings to her.

"Shut it." You hear her say; and you just know she's rolling her eyes even if you can't see her, and smiling regardless.

Silence envelops the both of you, and you're feeling sleep start to catch up with you when all of a sudden you feel her arm move, and then her soft fingers are tentatively being entwined with yours.

Your heart speeds up tremendously and all you can hear is the blood pounding in your ears. Your face is on fucking fire, and you can feel it. She has to know that you're having an internal fucking panic right now, you're like a hundred percent sure your hand is shaking. What the fuck do you do? Are you gonna talk about this? Is this what's happening?

A mere minute passes that feels like a lifetime of you fighting with yourself. As soon as you open your mouth to say something, you hear steady sounds of breathing coming from her.

Oh.

She's fallen asleep holding your hand.

You blow out the breath you didn't realize you were holding, and stifle the laugh that wants to come out of your mouth.

You think, maybe, that you love her.

You watch the back of her head until you get tired, and fall asleep fairly easily, her hand warm in yours.

#spinel x reader #su #spinel #steven universe #distant lands #my fic #part one of end lol #its long as FUCK

114 notes · View notes

tw-anchor · 4 years

Text

39. Trust Your Abilities

Anchor

Stiles Stilinski x Original Character

Episode: 3x15: Galvanize

Word Count: 6,559

Warning(s): Mature language, canon violence + gore, dramatic Stiles, Peter’s severed finger

Author’s Note: Y’all I have had the worst luck these past couple of months. I must have broken a mirror or something without knowing. Please enjoy! Make sure you reblog, like, and tell me what you think!

Masterlink in Pinned Post!

Peter was lucky to have Olivia and Derek. Most people wouldn't help someone who had murdered and injured more than one of their family members. In fact, if Peter wasn't her father, Olivia wouldn't even be in the same vicinity as him, let alone help Derek sew his finger back on.

But, that's where she found herself. She hovered behind Derek as he and Peter sat at the table in Derek's loft; Derek had taken upon himself to sew Peter's finger back on after the Calaveras' head honcho cut it off. Thankfully, Peter put the finger on ice once Braeden got the two of them out of the hunters' grasp.

Olivia wasn't afraid of blood, but even the sight of her cousin sewing on her father's finger caused some nausea. Thankfully, it was over soon; Derek worked quickly, ignoring Peter's complaints in a way that Olivia couldn't. If she hadn't known the year Peter was born, she would have thought he was six years old. Peter Hale could dish out the pain without a problem, but he certainly couldn't take it.

"Ow," Peter hissed as Derek finished up his almost-perfect sutures. "Don't you have any anesthetic?"

Derek gave him a blank look, setting the small pair of medical scissors on the table next to him. "Yep."

Olivia snickered. "You know, I really thought you'd have a higher pain tolerance,"

Peter rolled his eyes at her. "Shut up," he turned back to Derek and with a whine to his voice, asked, "Are you at least going to tell me what I risked life and digit for?"

"Yeah, actually, I'd like to know that, too," Olivia added, crossing her arms over her chest. "And, you know, why I had to hire a mercenary to get you guys out of there..."

"I'm going to show you," Derek got up from his seat and took only a minute or so while he went up to his room and came back down. He carried a cylinder box made out of some sort of wood, with a triskele carved into the lid; he opened it and carefully slid out its contents. "After the fire, that's all that was left of her."

Talia Hale's claws clattered onto the table and Olivia almost flinched. Even though Talia was long dead, she could still feel power radiating off the claws. And that power? It felt like her Aunt Talia. It wasn't necessarily a tether like her pack members, but there was a slight glow to them on her mental map that caused her pause.

That's why Derek went, she realized privately.

Peter's eyes narrowed in recognition as he looked at his sister's claws. "Talia. I can't decide if that's touching or morbid," he raised an eyebrow at Derek. "I guess the real question is, what are you planning on doing with them?"

Derek hesitated before answering. "I have to ask her something," he finally revealed. "and from what I've heard, this is the only way possible."

Realization dawned on Peter's face. "You gotta be kidding me."

"Why do you think I sewed your finger back on?" Derek's lips turned up slightly into a smirk.

Olivia wrinkled her nose. She hadn't known what Derek was going to do with Talia's claws, but from context clues, she figured it out. Peter would connect to Talia's claws and then do the alpha ritual on Derek, where he peaked into Derek's subconsciousness through his spinal cord. It was a painful procedure and each time Olivia witnessed it, some part of her heart ached.

Even though she did want to know what Derek spoke to Talia about, she couldn't watch him go through with the ritual. It honestly didn't matter much, either way, because she had to get going in order to fetch Stiles from his house so they could get to school on time.

"That's my cue," she patted Derek on the shoulder before heading to the door. "I'll call you later, Der."

"Have fun at school," he mumbled in reply.

Much to her surprise, when she got to her car, Isaac was waiting for her in the passenger seat.

"What are you doing here?" she wasn't upset about his presence, but merely curious.

She slid into her seat and buckled her seatbelt, starting her car. She pulled away from Derek's building and took a left, heading into town so she could pick them up some breakfast. It would butter Stiles up to Isaac's attendance.

Isaac shrugged. "Scott took his bike, so I thought I'd get a ride with you."

"You walked all the way to Derek's loft from Scott's house to get a ride to school?" Olivia laughed.

"Well, any opportunity to annoy Stiles, and I'm there," Isaac chuckled with her.

Olivia shook her head in amusement. Only Isaac...

After a quick stop at the McDonald's drive-through, Olivia was pulling to a stop at the curb in front of Stiles' house. Isaac clambered into the backseat, almost hitting her in the face two separate times with his long legs, as Stiles bounced out of the front door and made his way down the sidewalk.

"Good morning, beautiful!" he was very cheerful today and Olivia knew it wasn't because it was from his lack of nightmares—because he certainly had one. No, he was happy because today was Mischief Day, the day before Halloween. "Mwah!"

The placement of his lips against her cheek with a noisy kiss made Olivia grin. "Morning, sweetcheeks."

"Good morning!"

As soon as Stiles heard Isaac's voice, he deflated. He whipped around and faced the backseat, a scowl on his face. "Ugh, what are you doing here?" he complained; as he reached for the handle of his door, Olivia locked the doors and pulled away from the curb. "Livvy, let me out. I'll drive myself."

"No, you won't," she said firmly. "Wednesdays are my days to drive."

"Well, why'd you bring Isaac?"

"I brought myself," Isaac told him smugly. He reached into the McDonald's bag and pulled out Stiles' breakfast sandwich amongst the wrappers from his biscuit and Olivia's bagel, tossing it at him. "Breakfast."

"Thank you," Stiles grumbled at Olivia as he turned to face the front once again. He unwrapped his sandwich with a grouchy look on his face. "Now Mischief Day is ruined."

"No, it isn't, Mr. Mischief," Olivia rolled her eyes. "If anything, Isaac riding with us is mischief..."

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

"Oh, get over yourself," Isaac rolled his eyes; Olivia caught the action through her rear-view mirror and tried to hide her grin.

"You get over yourself."

"No, you get over your—"

"Okay, both of you, shut it," Olivia interrupted their ridiculous argument. "I don't want to hear another word from either of you until we get to school."

"But—"

"Shush."

"Yes, Mom."

"Isaac Lahey."

Olivia wasn't as annoyed as she portrayed herself. It was actually kind of amusing to see Isaac and Stiles fully chastised for their little spat. Nevertheless, the only noise throughout the rest of the drive to the school was some alternative song that Stiles had turned on

"Look," Isaac spoke as Olivia was parking. "the twins are here."

Olivia and Stiles followed his gaze and saw that he was right. Ethan and Aiden's bikes were parked neatly in the two spaces next to Scott's. Scott had already abandoned his bike and was talking to them, looking affronted.

Stiles' face hardened and in that moment, he and Isaac had something to agree on; they both could not stand Ethan and Aiden.

Stiles and Isaac rushed out of the car and Olivia briskly followed them, making sure that her car was locked securely.

"You're back in school?" they heard Scott ask the twins.

"No, just to talk," Ethan answered him.

"Oh, that's kind of a change of pace for you guys," Stiles snarked as he came to a stop on Scott's right; Isaac joined the alpha's other side. "Usually you're just hurting, maiming, and killing."

Aiden chose to ignore Stiles, keeping his eyes on Scott. "You need a pack, we need an alpha."

"Yeah, absolutely not," Stiles answered for Scott. "That's hilarious, though."

Aiden narrowed his eyes at Stiles while reminding Scott, "You came to use for help. We helped."

"You beat him up, two to one," Olivia spoke up, her voice hardening. "And then when he was down, you had to be stopped by your brother."

"Yeah, in my opinion, that was actually counter-productive," Stiles added as he took her hand, intertwining their fingers.

"Why would I say yes?" Scott asked, though he looked to be humoring the twins, more than actually considering them as pack members.

"We add strength, we'd make you more powerful," Aiden pitched. "There's no reason to say no."

Stiles rolled his eyes, Olivia scoffed, and Isaac sneered at them, "I can think of one. Like the two of your holding Derek's claws while Kali impaled Boyd." Olivia nodded in agreement with Isaac, her heart aching at the thought of her dead pack mate. "In fact, I don't know why we're not impaling them right now."

Aiden growled at them, his eyes glowing ice-blue. "You wanna try?"

Olivia couldn't believe his audacity. She held out a firm hand, sending her own purple-tinted glare at him. "You need to back up," she ordered firmly, allowing her voice to shift and take control of him.

Aiden's eyes dimed back to their normal brown, but his glare stayed.

"Sorry, but they don't trust you," Scott glanced between Ethan and Aiden, his gaze lingering on the latter and his wicked temper. "And neither do I."

The four of them walked past the twins without another word—though, Isaac did send them a triumphant smirk as he passed.

As soon as they walked into the school, Stiles was decked in the face with a roll of toilet paper.

"All right, that's my fucking face!" he growled as he whipped the roll back at Greenberg. He patted Scott on the chest as they continued on to his locker. "Hey, dude, good decision, buddy. Good alpha decision."

Scott winced sheepishly. "I hope so."

"No, you know so," Olivia loved Scott, but he wished that he would see people the way they were, not the way he hoped them to be. Ethan and Aiden had a large part in Boyd's death, like Isaac had just mentioned, and they were also part of the pack who killed Erica. Sometimes, people couldn't be redeemed.

"Exactly," Isaac pointed at her in agreement.

Stiles, who had successfully closed the door to his mind after Malia's transformation back to a human girl, easily dialed his combination and unlocked his locker. He started unpacking his very full backpack, unloading his various Mischief Day pranks.

Scott nudged Olivia while Stiles was focused on his bag. "Hey, what did you say her name was again?" he nodded down the hall and Olivia saw that he was looking at Kira, who was at her own locker.

"Kira Yukimura," she informed him. "She's really sweet. Why?"

Scott shrugged. "Just wondering."

Isaac and Olivia exchanged an amused look. "Right, okay."

Stiles glanced at them. "What are you guys looking at?" he followed their gaze, saw Kira, and then looked back at Scott, "You looking at her?"

Scott immediately looked away from Kira, flustered. "Her? Who her?"

"Her-her," Stiles rolled his eyes. "Kira. You like her?"

"I thought you were into Lydia now," Isaac mentioned idly; Olivia smirked when Scott's eyes widened in shock.

"What? No!" he shook his head quickly. "I mean, may—no! She's okay, they're both okay...Kira's new."

Stiles shook his head and carefully placed a carton of eggs into his locker. "Yeah, that made a lot of sense, buddy. Just ask her out."

"Who, Lydia?"

Olivia rolled her eyes. "He meant Kira, Scott."

"Now?"

"Yes, now," Isaac encouraged him.

"Right now?"

"Right now," Stiles slammed his locker shut after grabbing his econ textbook and turned to face Scott head on. "Scott, I don't think you get it yet. You're an alpha. You're the apex predator—"

"Please don't call him a predator while trying to convince him to ask Kira out," Olivia interjected with a gentle shudder.

"Makes sense," Stiles nodded at her before going back to Scott. "My point is, everyone wants you. You're like the hot girl that every guy wants."

Scott raised his eyebrows, confused. "The hot girl?"

"You are the hottest girl," Stiles poked him in the chest with a wink.

His words must have finally gotten through to Scott, because the alpha nodded with a small, but cute smile on his face. He looked up at Isaac and announced, "I'm the hot girl."

Isaac nodded seriously. "Yes, you are."

Scott giggled cutely before walking away.

Olivia watched him go, shaking her head. "You three are the oddest people I've ever met."

Isaac laughed at her and followed Scott while Stiles scoffed, "Says you," he grabbed her hand as they walked down the hallway to her locker. "Aren't you the teenager whose favorite ice cream is vanilla?"

"You know I don't like ice cream that much," they reached her locker and she swiftly unlocked it. "Now, should I be jealous that you called Scott the hottest girl while I was standing right next to you, or...?"

"No," Stiles leaned against her neighbor's locker, smiling down at her. "Want to know why?"

"Why, Stiles?"

"Because hot doesn't even begin to describe you, Livvy," he cooed sweetly, making her giggle.

"You're lucky I love you," she poked his cheek. "otherwise, you'd be too cheesy for me."

"You like cheese."

"On my pizza," Olivia shut her locker with a laugh, cradling her econ textbook in the crook of her right arm. "Now, did you want to catch the show are you gonna sit around all day and miss it?"

Stiles' eyes lit up at the reminder. Last night, or early this morning, Stiles and Scott had come to the school to prank Coach. It was his birthday and apparently the best friend duo had been pranking him on Mischief Day since they entered high school. It was a sort of tradition for them and Stiles said it was always good fun, but Olivia had never witnessed one of these pranks herself.

She would never tell Stiles, but she was kind of excited about it.

"Yes!" he grabbed her free hand and started pulling her down the hall.

When they entered Coach's classroom, Stiles had insisted on sitting in the front row, so he had a good seat for all the chaos that he and Scott had reined upon Coach. Olivia sat behind him and when Lydia and Scott came into the classroom together, a moment or so later, they sat next to them. The bell rang and there was still no sign of Coach—but then, they heard what was going on next door.

What sounded like furniture collapsing to the floor came from Coach's office. Not a second later, they heard him shout, "Son of a bitch!"

Stiles broke out into a round of snickers, his whole body shaking, and Scott grinned in amusement. Olivia let a smile appear on her lips as she glanced at Lydia, who shook her head, an expression that somehow held both annoyance and amusement painted on her face.

The door that connected Coach's office and the classroom was forced open and then slammed quickly as Coach entered the room. "Mischief Night, Devil's Night," he grumbled, glaring at the students as most of them laughed. "I don't care what you call it. You little punks are evil. You think it's funny that every Halloween my house gets egged?"

The general consensus was yes, everyone thought that Coach's house getting egged was funny.

"A man's house is supposed to be his castle! Mine's a freakin' omelet..." Coach turned to his desk and spotted the wrapped gift that Greenberg had deposited before he took his seat. "Oh, this? We're gonna do this again? I don't think so!"

Coach whipped the present onto the ground and stomped on it. A surprised look flashed onto his face when he heard glass breaking; Stiles' laughter increased into a small roar.

Coach picked up the present, a mug with his picture on it, which was now broken, and glanced at the card. "Happy birthday," he read. "Love, Greenberg."

The slightly chastised look on Coach's face made Olivia laugh. Her giggles died down when Lydia's tether pulsed. She turned to her cousin and saw her on her phone, swatting the air around her head.

"Lyds, what are you doing?" she leaned over to her desk and whispered.

"There's a fly," Lydia mumbled in response.

Olivia narrowed her eyes and looked around; she didn't see any flies.

When Stiles had gone to get his wallet out of his backpack so he could buy his lunch, he definitely didn't expect the police to walk into the school. Many of the deputies were led by his dad, while some of the suited agents walking around were brought by Agent McCall. Even more shocking than the force's appearance was the reason for their visit.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Stiles rushed after Noah after being given a distracted response about why they were at the school. "The William Barrow? The shrapnel bomber? He was spotted nearby?"

Noah turned and stopped, giving the students who were on their lunch break and surrounded the hallways a nervous look. "A little closer than nearby, actually," he corrected Stiles, lowering his voice.

Agent McCall walked by them, the vice-principal at his side. "How do we get down to the basement? I need to know where every entrance is. I don't want anybody coming in or out of the school."

This was more serious than Stiles thought.

"Dad," he looked at his dad with wide eyes. "what's really going on here?"

It didn't take long to discover what was happening. Noah quickly explained that William Barrow had come into the hospital for surgery but had instead escaped. They followed him to the school and they were trying to find him before he ended up killing more people. The scariest part about William Barrow was the fact that he went after kids with glowing eyes.

That meant that Olivia, Scott, and Isaac were in trouble.

He quickly found his friends at the table in the cafeteria where he left them and ushed them out of the overcrowded room. Scott wasn't with them, but he told Olivia, Lydia, Isaac, and Allison what was going on and what—or who—William Barrow was after.

"Barrow went after kids with glowing eyes?" Isaac repeated in disbelief as the five of them wandered along an empty hallway on the second floor of the school. "He said those exact words?"

"Yeah," Stiles squeezed Olivia's hand, assuring himself that she was safe next to him. "and no one knows how he woke up from anesthesia. Just that when they opened him up, they found a tumor full of live flies—which, in any other circumstance, would be all kinds of awesome."

"Maggots coming from the body is a thing, but I've never heard of flies in the stomach," Olivia muttered thoughtfully.

Lydia stopped walking abruptly. "Did you say flies?"

The rest of them stopped with her.

"Lydia?" Allison prompted an explanation from the redhead.

"All day I have been hearing this sound," Lydia explained, pressing her lips together in frustration. "It's like this...buzzing..."

Olivia frowned in realization while Allison asked, "Like the sound of flies?"

That's why Lydia's tether lit up in econ, Olivia realized in dismay, her banshee powers were picking up Barrow at the school.

Lydia nodded grimly. "Exactly like the sound of flies."

It was quickly decided that they needed to split up and find Scott, since he was missing in action. With three floors to search, Allison and Isaac took the top, Lydia and Olivia took the second, and Stiles took the floor level. While they were trying to find Scott, they also had to avoid the police, who were doing their own search for Barrow.

Five minutes before the lunch period was over, Stiles found Scott outside of Mr. Yukimura's classroom. "Hey, dude, where the fuck have you been?"

Scott opened his mouth, but didn't get to answer, as Olivia and Lydia came storming up to them.

"The police are leaving," Lydia told them. "Why are they leaving?"

Scott winced in surprise. "The police?"

"They must have cleared the building and grounds, which means he's not here," Stiles told her.

Olivia shook her head in disagreement. "No, he has to be here," she insisted, her eyes traveling to her cousin. "Tell him, Lydia."

Stiles gave the redhead an expectant look.

"The sound, the buzzing I've been hearing? It's getting louder."

Stiles heart sank. "How loud?"

Olivia's eyes flashed purple. "Loud enough that I can hear it."

Yeah, okay, Stiles glanced between them, that's pretty loud.

Within minutes, Stiles found himself chasing his dad and Agent McCall—along with other deputies and FBI agents—to the parking lot. "Dad, Dad, you can't leave yet!"

"We got an eyewitness that puts Barrow by the train station," he dad explained.

"Let's go, Stilinski!"

Noah went to follow McCall, but Stiles stopped him.

"Dad, please...Lydia said that he's still here."

Noah's eyes widened slightly. "Did she see him?"

"Not exactly, no," Stiles grimaced; he hadn't exactly told him what Lydia was yet. "Well, not at all, actually. But she has a feeling. A supernatural feeling."

Noah turned his eyes away from Stiles in order to look at Olivia and Lydia, who had followed Stiles out of the school. While Lydia looked away, acting like she wasn't listening to their conversation, Olivia slapped on a sweet smile and waved at him.

He waved back at her and then looked back at Stiles. "Lydia wasn't on the chess board."

"She is now."

"Kanima?"

Why did his dad think everyone was a kanima? "Banshee."

"Oh, God."

"I know how it sounds, but basically, it means that she can sense when someone's close to death," Stiles explained rapidly. "And you know what Livvy is, okay, and she's got a bad feeling, too."

"Do these feelings tell them that I'm about to kill you?" Noah retorted, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know," Stiles looked back at Olivia and Lydia, and this time, it was Lydia who waved at Noah.

"All right, look," Noah leveled him with a calm, yet stern, stare. "I'm not saying I don't believe, but right now, I'm going with eyewitness over banshee and anchoram. We're leaving the deputies here. The school's on lockdown till three o'clock. Nobody come in, nobody comes out. Buddy, that's the best I've got right now. That's the best I can give you."

"You're leaving me here," Stiles objected as Noah turned and ran away from him, joining McCall and his agents. "That is not—that is the worst!"

Betrayal, in its purest form. That's what he was feeling at the moment. How dare his dad just leave him here, ignoring his warning about Barrow? Why didn't he just drop him off at the firehouse when he was an infant? It was the same type of abandonment!

Okay, he was being dramatic, but still...

Well, finding William Barrow was up to them, now.

Olivia, Stiles, and Lydia met with Allison in an empty classroom. While Scott and Isaac, along with Ethan and Aiden, would search the basement and floor level, and Olivia, Lydia, and Stiles would search the upper levels, Allison would be sneaking out of school in order to go home and search through the Argent's bestiary for some kind of explanation on Barrow's stomach flies and ability to wake up from full-blown anesthesia.

"The bestiary is literally a thousand pages long," Allison stated as she opened one of the windows leading to outside. "if I'm going to find anything about flies coming out of people's bodies, it could take me all night."

"If you go to the find button in the word document, you should be able to search for flies," Olivia pointed out.

Lydia nodded in agreement. "And remember, the word in archaic Latin for fly is musca."

"Got it," Allison climbed out the window.

Lydia turned to Olivia and Stiles. "Where do we start?"

"Upstairs," Stiles answered. "Let's go."

An hour later, after searching the second floor for any sign of Barrow, they moved onto the third floor. The drawing room was the second room they searched on the floor, right after the room that was reserved for painting.

Olivia soon received a text message from Isaac, informing her that he and Scott were moving onto the floor level while Aiden and Ethan finished up the basement.

"Are they still in the basement?" Lydia asked her.

"Scott and Isaac moved on, but Ethan and Aiden are," Olivia answered, slipping her phone back into her bag. "The twins had to search the boiler room and then they're meeting up with Scott and Isaac."

"Fuck!" Stiles' sudden curse caught Olivia and Lydia's attention. "All the wolves, the majority of the students with glowing eyes are either in the basement or the first floor. An engineer could use a boiler room to blow up the whole fucking school."

Olivia cocked her head and disappeared into her mental map. There were no whispers warning her about her or her pack mates, no names floating through her head. Every tether on her map was safe, other than the slight pulsing from Peter and Derek's—which she assumed was because they were either still doing the alpha ritual or they were recovering from it. So, they were safe from Barrow, right?

But Lydia was still hearing that buzzing. She could hear it, too, if she dived into her cousin's tether. Barrow was still in the school, somewhere, but her powers weren't warning her about anything...

Why aren't there any warnings? She thought, almost frantically. William Barrow is here.

While lost in her head, Olivia missed the significant look that Lydia and Stiles shared. "We have to get them out," Stiles proclaimed. "We have to get everyone out."

"How do we do that?"

Like any other problem in their very problematic lives, Stiles had an answer. Within the next few minutes, he had pulled the fire alarm and was caught by Coach, who claimed that if he was younger, he would have punched him. He had also earned himself a week full of detention.

School ended while students piled out of the building for the drill, which meant that the lockdown was over. Olivia, Stiles, and Lydia joined Scott, Isaac, Ethan, and Aiden near the parking lot to see if they found any sign of Barrow.

"We didn't find anything," Aiden reported.

Scott nodded in agreement. "Not even a scent."

"It's three o'clock, so school's over," Stiles sighed. "If there was a bomb, wouldn't he have set it off by now?"

"I've got nothing," Olivia clenched her jaw, wishing that her abilities were giving her something to work with. "I'm not getting any warnings..."

Ethan raised his eyebrows. "Does that mean everybody's safe?"

"That's what she means," Isaac snapped at him in Olivia's defense. He then glanced at Lydia, thoughtfully. "but if you are hearing the flies..."

Lydia shook her head, just as lost as everyone else. "I don't know," she said sadly. "I just don't know."

Sirius knew that something was wrong with his girls. Lydia was hiding in her room and Olivia's face was snuggled into his fur as the two of them laid on her bed. The way her dog squirmed underneath her ear gave Olivia the hint that her anxiety was rubbing off on him. It made her feel bad; she rolled away from Sirius and onto her stomach, resting her chin on her forearms as her eyes landed on her boyfriend's figure across the room.

Stiles had opted to come over to her house instead of his, even though he would have been more comfortable in his house, with his own walls made up like a crime board. Even though Olivia had objected at first, it hadn't taken much coaxing for Stiles to convince her to allow him to set up a brand-new crime board on the large corkboard of her wall, which usually held pictures of her friends and family. She just couldn't resist the weirdo, especially when he pulled out four different balls of colored string—blue, yellow, green, and red—out of his backpack.

"Do you always keep those in there?" she had asked him. He had blinked back at her, almost innocently, and answered, "Yeah, why?"

So, now she watched the love of her life in his element; solving cases was what he was best at. Like her own personal, sexy Sherlock Holmes—she much preferred him to Benedict Cumberbatch.

"Okay, so green is solved, yellow is to-be-determined, and red is unsolved," Olivia hummed as Stiles pinned yet another piece of red string to connect a picture of William Barrow and one of the Eichen House. "What does blue mean?"

There were about three pieces of blue string that hadn't made much sense to her. The rest, she could somewhat follow.

"Blue is pretty," Stiles turned and winked at her. Her heart warmed, remembering the last time he told her that—his favorite color was blue, like her eyes.

"Well, yeah," she smiled as he sauntered over to her, plopping down onto the bed beside her. Sirius scurried off the bed, unnerved by the bounciness of the mattress. "but what does it mean in term of the investigation?"

"Nothing really," Stiles admitted. He leaned closer to her and brushed his lips on her forehead, just above her right eyebrow; her heart started racing. "It's different for each crime board. Today, it's the same as red."

Olivia pressed her lips against his, pulling back quickly. "You only have red on the board."

"Yes," Stiles rolled his eyes and laid on his back with a sigh. "I'm aware of that, thanks, baby."

Olivia shuffled closer to him and shifted so half of her body leaned against his. "I don't get it," she admitted, resting her chin on his chest as she studied his face. "Lydia felt Barrow at the school. And I did, too, it's just...I feel like my powers weren't working."

Stiles frowned and brushed his thumbs over her flushed cheeks. "What do you mean?"

"The tethers, none of them were giving any hint of trouble. When I looked at them, I knew that everyone in the pack was safe. Yet, when I dived into Lydia's, I could hear the flies buzzing. Just like her," she sighed in frustration. "It's so contradicting, it's maddening. And we didn't even find any physical proof of Barrow being there."

"Livvy, you've been right about this kind of stuff before. So has Lydia," Stiles comforted her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer against him. "and maybe the fact that you weren't feeling anything and Lydia was is a hint."

"What do you mean?"

"You know if your pack members are in trouble...What if someone who's not in the pack is who Barrow was after?"

Olivia cocked her head thoughtfully. "That makes sense," she mused. "but still, if he was at the school, the wolves didn't scent him."

"What if he didn't smell like himself? What if he changed his scent somehow?" Stiles bounced another idea off of her. "I mean, you said yourself that Lydia was right. Barrow was there. What if he, fuck, what if he changed into someone's gym clothes. Or he used some girl's perfume...What if he—"

Olivia sat up, her eyes widening in realization. "The chemistry lab. He could use chemicals to completely hide his scent. If they were strong enough, it'd be like he never stepped foot into the school."

Stiles grinned widely at her. "We are geniuses," he pecked her on the lips and then patted her butt. "Get Lydia. We need to go to the school."

Since Mr. Harris' tragic death, there hadn't been a science department head. If he was still alive, getting into the large closet of the school's chemicals would be infinitely harder because Harris was known to stay late after school. Now, though, with Stiles' lock-picking skills, it was easy to break into the senior chemistry lab where the closet was located.

Now, Mr. Harris was a dick, but he was the only science teacher who knew what he was doing at Beacon Hills High School. With science being Olivia's favorite subject, he had been her favorite teacher, of sorts—she purely respected him for his knowledge, not his attitude. For the first time since his death, Olivia didn't mind that he was gone.

Yeah, she knew how horrible that sounded. Ultimately, though, Mr. Harris had helped Kate Argent set the Hale house on fire—who went around telling random women ways to get away with arson? —and the fire led to most of the things that had gone wrong in her life.

"So, what are we looking for?" Lydia asked as they entered the room. Though Stiles and Olivia had brought her up to speed on why they were going to the school, some of the details were still kind of lost on her. She watched as Olivia frowned at the chemical closet and opened it, the key already in the doorknob. "That's supposed to be locked."

"Yeah, exactly," Stiles muttered, walking into the closet. "Notice anything else?"

Lydia inhaled and studied the closet. "It smells like chemicals," she realized. "You guys were right, they wouldn't have been able to catch his scent."

Olivia hummed and pulled out her phone, turning on its flashlight and pointing it at the floor. The three of them flinched when they saw the small puddle of blood on the floor; Stiles even got a little green around the gills, which wasn't surprising due to his slight fear of blood.

"Gross," he groaned quietly. "He was here, preforming very minor surgery on himself."

"Lydia, you were right," Olivia reached for her cousin's hand, squeezing it lightly. "Your instincts were right."

"Then why don't I feel good about this?"

"Probably because he was here to kill somebody."

"Kids with glowing eyes," Olivia mused. "but they're not part of the pack. Which narrows it down it down to..."

Lydia shrugged. "I have no idea."

"We gotta figure it out," Stiles decided. "Spread out, start looking for anything."

The girls did as he said, leaving the chemical closet. While Stiles started on one side of the classroom, looking through some of the lab tables, Lydia walked toward the teacher's desk, and Olivia searched some of the cabinets that held the lab equipment.

"Lydia," Stiles noticed that Lydia drifted toward the chalk board absentmindedly and saw that she was staring at a set of three numbers. "what are those?"

19. 53. 88.

"Atomic numbers," Lydia answered as he and Olivia moved to her side.

"Is it a formula?"

"No," it was Olivia who spoke this time. "Nineteen's Potassium. Fifty-three is Iodine. Eighty-eight is Radium. The first two make Potassium Iodide."

Olivia picked up a piece of chalk and started writing the atomic symbols next to their corresponding numbers.

19—K

"Potassium is K?" Stiles interrupted her writing.

Olivia nodded. "From Kalium, the scientific neo-Latin name."

53—I

"What's Radium?"

88—RA

"RA."

KIRA.

"Kira," Olivia breathed, her heart starting to race. "That's why none of the tethers were giving me anything."

"Guys," Lydia spoke up, giving them a horrified look. "Scott went to Kira's house for dinner."

When they got to Kira's house, Scott was knocked out, laying on the street next to his bike. Kira was no where to be found and when Stiles was finally able to wake Scott, he confirmed their suspicions.

"Barrow, he took Kira!" he exclaimed breathlessly as Stiles and Lydia helped him to his feet.

"We know. He was after her the whole time," Stiles patted him on the back. He glanced at Olivia, who had been talking to Isaac on the phone to see if he and Allison found anything in the bestiary. "What'd he say?"

"They didn't find anything," she reported, ending the call. "Just some stuff about flies and the dead. Nothing else."

"Well, we have to think of something," Scott said nervously. "He's going to kill her."

"I knew he was there," Lydia's voice deepened when it shook from the anxiety she was feeling. "How did I know that?"

"You heard the flies," Stiles said. "What do you hear now?"

Lydia was silent for a moment, listening, before she shook her head. "Nothing," she scoffed, disappointed in herself. "I feel like I can do this. But I don't know what to do. It's like it's on the tip of my tongue, and I don't know how to trigger it. I just—I sweat to God, it literally makes me want to scream."

Screaming, the most known way of communication from a banshee. "Then scream, Lydia," Olivia urged her. "Scream."

The scream that burst from Lydia's lips was the loudest any of them had been yet. While Olivia covered her ears and flinched back, she mused that it might have been because it was the first time Lydia was actually cooperating with her abilities. Despite the pain that being a banshee could bring her cousin, she was proud of Lydia for using her powers for good.

Lydia's tether flared and shook, but it held strong. Lydia was strong.

A full minute later, Lydia's screamed died down. The redhead didn't move, still turned away from Olivia, Stiles, and Scott. A noise caught her attention, the buzzing noise. She followed it, looking up at the streetlight hanging above her. She quickly turned around, causing Stiles to flinch.

"It's not flies," she told them. "it's electricity."

As Scott looked up at the light, Stiles twisted his lips. "Wait a second," he thought aloud. "Barrow was an electrical engineer. He worked at a power substation."

"What substation?"

He squinted, trying to remember the information from some of the papers he pinned to the crime board in Olivia's room. "The one by the Iron Works."

Scott drove ahead of them on his bike, arriving at the power substation in the Iron works couple minutes before Olivia pulled up with Stiles and Lydia in her car. Scott had already run into the building and Stiles was jumping out of his seat the second Olivia shifted into park.

"Okay, wait here," he told Olivia and Lydia. "Just wait for the cops to come."

"Stiles, I'm coming with you—"

Stiles cut Olivia off before she could protest more. "I have only one bat, Livvy. Please, please just wait."

Olivia felt her heart starting to ache from the panic pumping through her. "Stiles, if you die, I'll kill you."

Stiles only winked at her before running off into the building. Lydia climbed into the passenger seat while they waited, tightly squeezing her hand. It wasn't long before Scott's red tether was pulsing painfully and seconds later, Stiles' and Isaac's started up, too.

Scott, Stiles, Isaac...Scott, Scott, Scott...Isaac, Isaac, Isaac...Stiles, Stiles, Stiles...

There was an explosion; bright lights came from the inside of the substation and then everything went black.

"SCOTT? ISAAC? STILES?"

(Gif is not mine)

#teen wolf rewrite #stiles stilinski x oc #stiles stilinksi x reader #teen wolf #stiles stilinski #stiles stilinski fanfiction #teen wolf fanfiction #stiles stilinski x original character

22 notes · View notes

savysavannah · 4 years

Text

Practice Challenge one: Part One

Beginnings:

“Fuck!” I yelled and slammed my hands against the steering wheel. This wasn’t the first time I’d had a total mental breakdown in the dim lighting of the courthouse parking lot, and it sure wasn’t gonna be the last. This case was rigged from the get-go, Mr. Dean esquire was always there against me, swaying the jury with his charismatic personality and his masculine gender. Not to mention it was a jury which he decided to leave fully as white men, his fellow groupies against my defendant, a woman of color who defended herself against her abuser who came at her with a gun.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Opening them I saw Dean sashaying to his car. I considered putting my own in reverse and waiting until he just walked by, then bye bye Dean. Deciding that it wouldn’t be worth the cost of defending myself I waited until after he’d passed to pull out and start to drive to Illean Private University. I was an attorney coach for a Mock Trial team and of course, had to encourage these kiddos that law was the best career and it would really be fulfilling to help people. Driving past the Greek life houses I couldn’t help but smile thinking of happier times. Chugging shitty beer, dressed like a total slut and not giving one single fuck.

After an hour or two of bullshitting some kids and reminding them to object when someone playing a witness says “well I heard the defendant say he was mad at the victim so he must have killed her.” I drove on my way home.

“Incoming call from Uncle Dipshit'' said my car, continuing the never ending day that is my life.

“What?”

“Hey little Savy-Hannah, I’m in a bit of a bind and need some help.”

“What was it? Cocaine? Meth? Or did you finally snap and get caught with heroin.”

“Come on, Savannah, why would you just assume that, can’t I call my one and only niece because I wanna talk to her?”

“At 11pm? Friday night? Bullshit.”

“.......fine Sav-”

“Fuck you, I’m not doing probono work for you anymore. Get your shit together or get the fuck out of our lives.”

Taking a turn away from my apartment I started to head for Lux, my old usual club. I hadn’t gone in awhile but right now I needed to get absolutely shitfaced. 8 shots and 2 waters later I was grinding up against some strangers to Kesha’s “Die Young”, a classic. Suddenly I heard an all too familiar voice, “Savannah!”

My brother. Specifically, my oldest brother, Dan. He danced his way over to me of course being in this scene and grabbed my wrist. “Wha-u wan dan?” I slurred and kept jumping to the song.

“I was worried about you, Ricky called and said you were acting weird.”

“Weird!" I laughed throwing my head back "Because I wouldn’t clean up his shit for once!” I screamed over the music before he pulled me out of the club by the wrist. As soon as the cool air hit my cheeks I leaned my head back and looked up at the sky.

“I wish I was a star." I mumbled seeing the shimmering lights above us before suddenly leaning forward and hurling all over the cement. Probably a usual occurrence for Lux but I still felt bad. Dan rolled down the windows of my car as he drove me home, I stuck my head out of it for the breeze to feel the air in my lungs.

“How’d you find me?” I mumbled, still not fully back to myself.

“We all have eachothers phone locations, remember? You insisted on it like a year ago after you interned on that kidnapping case.” He sighed as we drove up the familiar road home.

“You’re really a mess you know that?” He asked. It's not like he was much better….well, he was but it's not like I'm our brother Danny. At least I made something of myself. Didn't get handed my career and a wife on a silver platter. Or like Daniel who was still so far back into the closet that we really aren't sure if he'll ever come out, even though our family would be more than accepting of him.

I was tempted to defend myself but stopped, “I know, I just need a win."

The next morning Dan was sleeping on my couch and I was on the living room floor. “You couldn’t have carried me to bed?” I mumbled through a yawn.

“You’re the dumbass who got white girl wasted and said you were too tired to walk to your room.”

“What time is it?” I mumbled and went to find my phone despite the world swaying as I crawled to my purse.

He lifted his arm up to look at his watch, “Like 8:00am chill out.” He groaned.

“HOLY FUCK 8?” I flinched at the loudness of my own voice. I was normally up at six, two hours slept in, what’s today it’s a wednesday. ‘What was I supposed to do today? No clients in court today, so that’s good. Okay so I suppose I have to? Paperwork?’

I sighed, “You’re fucking lucky I didn’t have court today.” Stumbling up I ran to my room to change out of yesterday's clothes, splash some water on my face and get on the move.

"Lucky? I'm the one who got your ass home at all!" He yelled back from the living room as I slipped into a different skirt. Shirt could stay the same, just a plain white shell no one would notice. But skirt absolutely not. I grabbed a pair of earrings and a bag of makeup wipes and rushed past Dan.

"Fine sorry love ya. Family dinner on saturday right?" I hurried as I slung a purse over my shoulder.

"You got it." He replied.

"Uh, stay awhile have breakfast if you want. I've got bagels and eggs. Just lock up when you leave." I remembered finally to be polite as he stretched getting up from the sofa.

The office was busy and loud as usual. I tried to smile and act like I wasn't hungover as holy hell while I walked to my desk.

There was someone new taking a desk near me too. Lanky guy probably straight out of law school too. I sized him up for a moment before nearly catching his eye but going back to my work.

It wasn't till lunch that I had to actually deal with another human when I ran into Mr. Asshole-dean.

"Ms. Mars?" He said as he tapped my shoulder in line at the starbucks near the courthouse.

I turned but knew his voice right away, "Mr. Dean?" I replied wondering why he was bothering me. He seemed to catch my cold tone.

"What, rough night? Does suck the night you lose the case but don't worry. You'll get better at losing, can't win em all."

I would like to get an extra extra hot- you know what make it just a cup of fucking lava to poor on this jackass. I smiled, "Thanks! I'm sure it didn't take you long to get used to it." I gave a passive aggressive smile and looked down to my watch.

"Listen, Mars, I know we're opposing counsel but I don't mean any harm by it. I think we could be great friends if you'd give it a shot. I mean I'm sure we both hate our jo-"

"Hi I'd like a venti mocha!" I ordered cutting him off the scurried back to my car.

I had a few hours before I actually had a meeting. It was just to speak with a judge over a custody case between a homophobic mother and two "really good friends" one of who was the father of the child in question. There was a chance it could turn into a serious case, the mom was wealthy and if she got too displeased she could probably turn it into a civil suit on the grounds of the father being gay. But it wasn't likely she'd take the time. She was only really fighting for custody to use their kid as a weapon in the divorce.

I drove home with my coffee deciding I wanted to Pad Thai leftovers I had as comfort/hangover/please-god-dont-make-me-live-another-day food.

Daniel was sitting on my couch when I walked in. "Can you not just walk into my house? Dan may have forgotten to lock it but that's no reason for you to just waltz in here!" I yelled as I dropped my purse and walked up to him.

"Is that my mail?" I huffed and snatched my letters from him. It was just junk mail but he still had no right to be so intrusive.

He looked up at me with a slight glare, "I know what you did and I'm gonna get you back for it." And as quickly as he came he scurried out.

Ringing up Dan I tapped my foot on the ground, "You forgot to lock the door!" I yelled into the phone.

"Oh shit my bad. You okay?" He asked.

"Yes, but Daniel was just here. All pissed over something." I grumbled and walked to the fridge to get out my leftovers.

"Any idea of what?" He asked.

"No clue." I answered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“No, don’t call anyone. Listen, they record everything but our conversations for confidentiality, if you call someone it’s possible that they might somehow be involved and we don’t want prosecution to get that- understand?” I hated explaining the basics to my clients, but those dumbassses would sign their own sentences if they didn’t know any better.

I walked up to the courthouse, in one hand I had my phone, the other a black coffee from the starbucks across the street, my work back slung over my shoulder and threatened to slide lower onto my arm. As I turned the corner I was suddenly burning with hot coffee against my chest and a stranger staring down at me as I had run right into him,

“FUCK!” I yelled as I stepped back. My heel slipped in a crack on the sidewalk, the top of it snapping it too causing me to fall back, my head hitting the hard concrete.

When I opened my eyes again he was standing over me. It was the new guy who sat across from me. "Don't worry I called an ambulance." He assured. I was going to sit up but as I pieced the situation together I realized I was no longer wearing a shirt. Instead I had his blazer placed over my top. I assume because of the burning coffee which would have been sitting on my torso had he not.

He rode in the ambulance to the hospital. We sat in awkward silence as I tried to figure out his angle. Was he afraid I'd sue. I was the one who bumped into him. Did he wanna ask me questions about our workplace. It'd been a month or so since he'd arrived though so that wouldn't make sense.

He sat next to me at the hospital and was still there when the doctor told me it was a light concussion and a small burn. He sighed, finally not seeming like a stiff board for a moment. Maybe he was scared I'd sue. I turned to him in the hospital bed when we had a moment alone.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

He blushed and looked down mumbling a bit as he said "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I wouldn't be able to work anyways till I knew." My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Why? I'm the one that bumped into you?" I asked.

He was about to respond when the brigade of brothers came in. He seemed startled at all the sudden male energy in the room. "Ah, these are my brothers Dan, Danny, and Daniel. Daniel is a family name." I added the common addition when introducing them to anyone.

He stood up and shook Dan's hand firmly "Nicholas Lamia." He said. I realized then that I also didn't know his name. Danny started to get suspicious as he looked at him with antagonizing eyes.

"How do you know our sister?" He asked. Nicholas flushed again and tried to find words for a moment.

"We work together. He's the one who called the ambulance." Daniel set a balloon down next to me that he'd gotten at the gift shop.

We hadn't really spoken since his home break in. I still don't know what that was about. But he's been suspicious since. Once they released me Nicholas went on his way and the Mars siblings stood on the sidewalk and considered where to go.

"Should we get sushi? It's been a moment since we hung out without mom and dad." Dan suggested leading the conversation.

"Hmm, works for me. Samantha's out of town for work." Danny chimed in.

I sighed thinking about all the work I still had to do. But it had been a minute since we hung out for fun, and cucumber rolls wouldn't be too bad right about now. "Sure I'm in." I replied.

"You?" Danny asked Daniel.

He mumbled for a moment with the same guilty look, "no, I don't th-"

Suddenly Danny got him in a headlock, "come on even Savy agreed and she'd rather eat shit than waste time." He joked. I rolled my eyes and we all piled into Dan's car.

The waitress led us up to a small booth towards the back. At first I was going to sit next to Daniel but the blaring TV would send me down a spiral. There was a government program on and as soon as that shit for an heir came on I'd be fuming about how we're leaving the lives of multiple disadvantaged people to a boy who did body shots off a Delta Nu on a thursday night. I wasn’t exactly sure if that story was true, but it wouldn’t surprise me based off of what I’d seen from more credible sources than Lucy in the room down that hall at the sorority house who was gushing about how she wished it could be her. Prince Eaton went to the University of Labrador with us and she was hopeful that he would do it but sadly, no.

Dan saw my eyes lingering on the TV and switched sides of the booth with me. We were just about finished and considering desert when I began to notice the glances and smirks. I wiped with a napkin thinking maybe I had some rice on my face, but they continued nonetheless. It wasn’t like creepy guys smirking either, it was everyone. The air felt different and Daniel looked like he was going to be sick. “What?” I asked as he opened his mouth.

It looked like he was about to say something but couldn’t find the words. Dan opened to speak too, “Savannah, we didn’t think you’d ge-”

“Oh my gosh congratulations on being selected! Would you like a desert? Everything is on the house of course!” The waitress smiled.

I looked up at her as if she were speaking German. “Congratulations on what?” I asked.

“On being selected! They were just announced, are you so excited? Could I also get a photo by any chance! The next queen of Illea could be sitting at my booth!” She cheered.

The world slowed as my mind raced selected? Like The selection selected? I didn’t apply? I didn’t want to apply? How did I even get entered? What did Daniel want to tell me? Did Daniel do this? Was this his revenge for what?

I snapped out of it as Dan called my name. “I’m sorry. I have to step out for a moment.” I said and grabbed my purse running out of the restaurant, feeling everyone watching me. I walked to the side of the building and pressed my back against the cold brick panting. I crumbled inwards as my brothers ran over to me. I took a deep breath in,

“I don’t”

another breath

“understand.”

Suddenly a man with a long lens camera appeared. How did that happen so fast? How did he know what she looked like? Stupid your Savannah Mars it’s not like you’re a nobody your grandpa runs the largest candy company in the world.

“Can you back off?” I heard Dan ask him.

He kept ignoring Dan entirely, that is till Dan pushed his camera out of focus. “What the fuck man? Chill.” The creep said and went to shove Dan. Level headed Dan of course responded by punching him in the face.

We all piled into his car and drove to my house. I sat in the car ride silent and waited for someone to speak. No one did but Daniel still looked like he was going to throw up. We all sat on the sofa in continued silence. Only Dan spoke to offer everyone water.

No one said yes to it but a cup appeared in front of each of us anyways, always the responsible older brother.

I inhaled then finally said, “I��m not mad. I just want to know why?” and looked at Daniel. It was clear by now that he was the culprit.

He sat there in silence, his lip whimpering like he wanted to cry. Like he wanted to cry? If anyone’s going to cry it should be me. Suddenly I lunged at him to get in a hit. Only Danny’s arm stopped mine from smashing into his face.

“Why?” I yelled.

“I thought you made a gay dating profile for me.” He whimpered.

“What?” I asked, even more confused than before.

Dan spoke up, “Danny made a gay dating profile for him to try and give him a little push. When he got mad he said it was you who did it.”

“I just saw the letter sitting there and it seemed like the perfect way to get back at you for meddling in my love life. I was just gonna taunt you with submitting it, then Dan told me it was Danny but he said you wouldn’t get in and you’d just never know.” Daniel explained.

“Well, statistically speaking you shouldn’t have.” He defended. My anger shifted to the brother holding me back. If Danny had teased Daniel about his sexuality none of this would have happened. But I couldn’t do anything with him still holding my wrist.

I stood from the sofa and the brothers stood as well. “I’m going to go get changed.” The second they relaxed I turned and charged at Danny. “You fucking bitch!” I yelled and started to pull at his hair. He didn’t fight back but Daniel panicked and Dan rushed over. I was yanked off of him before I could make any real damage but he did look hurt enough.

“How could you! Just minding your own fucking business could have avoided this whole thing! And Daniel!” I yelled and turned. “Don’t fucking get vengeance especially not without communicating!”

The phone started to ring. It was probably about the selection. I huffed over ready to say, “Hi, yes this is Savannah Mars. No, I would not like to participate, please pull someone else.” But as I picked up the phone I realized something. Daniel would have had to forge my signature. In order to apply for me he had to sign a contract. If I say I want out I would have to prove I didn’t agree to begin with. That would mean proving the false signature. Which is by the way, illegal.

I sighed, held the phone to my ear. “Yes this is she. I’m so excited to be selected and am more than happy to discuss a time for you to send your people over.”

4 notes · View notes

13-reasons-ideas · 5 years

Text

It was Just A Project Part 1

A/N this idea has been bouncing around in my head for a while and I've finally been able to finish the first part. I hope you guys like it!

My morning started off as it usually did now that the boys had moved out to the garage. I woke up early and had a wonderfully hot shower before Clay and Justin woke up. After I finished my shower and got ready, I went downstairs to have breakfast. Dad was in the kitchen making lunch for us, as was tradition on Fridays, “Morning Dad. Is there coffee left?”

“Morning pumpkin. Fresh off the filter. Your bagels are in the toaster oven.”

“Thank you. Don’t worry about lunch for me. I’m having lunch with Zach and Alex today, so I’ll just grab something at school.”

“Sure thing.”

As I sat down to enjoy my breakfast, Justin came stumbling in the kitchen to shower. He grunted at us before making his way upstairs. Clay came trudging in not long after and took a bite of my bagel. “Hey, I was eating that.” I complained. Clay simply shrugged at me. “Daaaadddd, Clay ate my bagel.”

“Clay, stop bothering your sister.” Dad chided, not looking up from his paper. I stuck my tongue out at him teasingly. He rolled his eyes and went to the cupboard for some cereal. Justin came downstairs a couple of minutes later and poured himself a cup of coffee, “morning guys. Shower’s yours Clay.” Clay scarfed down his cereal- the boy is going to make himself sick one of these days…- before running upstairs.

It was quiet while we ate for a moment until we heard a girlish scream and Clay shout “Rachel!”. Justin and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.

I looked at the microwave and my eyes widened in shock “oh shit. I totally forgot I’m meeting Scott this morning to study for our biology test. Justin, you want to ride with me or Clay?”

He gulped down the last of his coffee and jumped up, “sure, I’ll just grab my bag.” I nodded and went to the stairs.

“Clay, Justin is getting a ride with me today. We’re leaving now.” I called upstairs.

“Okay.” Clay called back. Justin met me at the car, and I sent Scott a quick text. Hey, running a little late today sorry. I’ll be there in 15. He responded with a thumbs up and Justin and I were off.

When we arrived at school the parking lot was mostly empty. I ran off to meet Scott and Justin went to go find Jess. I saw Scott hanging out with some guys from the baseball team, with his back turned to me. I put my finger up to my mouth and quietly walked up behind him. When I reached him, I jumped up on his back, “Guess who?”

Scott immediately put his hands around my thighs so he was hanging on to me, “is it a certain less annoying twin who’s running late?”

“Maybe. Though it depends who you ask which of us is less annoying.” I jumped down and adjusted my top, “you ready to get fucked by the bio test too?”

“But of course. Mrs. Jackson is the worst.”

“Oh please, you’ll get like 95% and still argue that your grade should be higher.” Zach teased.

“I’d love to agree with you, but this woman is the devil incarnate with tests. We teach ourselves this class because she reads off slides and then she tests us on stuff that’s not even in the slides or the book. I’m probably going to fail. And since I need this class to get into USC, I actually need to pass. You coming Scott?” He nodded and we bid his friends goodbye.

After studying with Scott until the bell, we walked to biology together and took our seats. I was right, the test was ridiculous. Scott finished first and waited for me outside the room. “Could have at least bought me a coffee first.” I joked as I left the God forsaken classroom. He laughed and shook his head.

“I would have requested a four-course steak dinner. I feel dirty. I opened the book and wanted to walk out. We didn’t learn half of that material.”

“At least you can shower before lunch. You have a free period. I have to go do history.”

“Could skip and go shower with me….” he teased.

“Yeah. I’d rather take that test again.”

I sighed as I walked into history. The class wasn’t full yet thankfully. I groaned as I lowered myself into my seat in the back, next to Monty.

“Rough morning?” he asked.

“You have no idea.” I grumbled. “We had a bio test today. I feel dirty.”

He chuckled. “That bad?”

“Two people walked out in five minutes.”

He whistled but before he could say anything more, Mr. Smith walked in. He was a younger teacher, so he was generally well liked by students.

“Good morning. We will be starting work on term projects today.” The class groaned in unison. “You will be split into pairs of my choosing.” The class groaned even louder and I put my head down on my desk.

“Fucking kill me now.” I grumbled. Monty must have heard me because he started having a coughing fit.

Mr. Smith began listing off pairs, some of which were met with groans and some with quiet ‘yes’es. “Rachel Jensen and… Montgomery De La Cruz.”

It could be worse. At least he’s not a total idiot. He’s nice enough to me. I turned my head to look at him and he smiled at me.

After all of us were paired up, he gave us a few minutes to make plans for starting the project. “Did you want to come to my place after school and we can get started?” I asked.

“Sure.”

We didn’t have time to iron out anything but we traded numbers and agreed that we would both pull our weights.

As he handed out topic sheets he explained the assignment, “we will be doing this paper a little differently than you may be used to. You will need to write a paper with proper formatting and supporting diagrams and graphs where applicable. We will go over citation in a later class. Most of you are graduating this year and will need to use proper citation come September, lest you risk expulsion from your chosen school. Think of this paper as a trial run of what you will be expected to do in university. It is something I wish my teachers in high school had done to prepare us a little better. We will discuss the paper in more detail over the next few classes, after everyone has a chance to choose a topic. I urge you to pick different topics as I don’t want to read thirty papers on the same idea. If you are unsure about what to choose, please see or email me after class.” With that, he began our discussion for the day.

When class was dismissed, I went to meet Alex and Zach for lunch.

“Rachel.” Justin called after me. He ran to catch up to me.

“Hey bro, what’s up?”

“I picked up a shift tonight. Can I get the keys?”

“What about Clay’s keys?”

“He has an appointment after school.”

“Fine. If I must.” I joked, as though it was a hassle, as I dug around my bag for the keys. I chucked my keys to him and he ran off.

Alex was waiting for me at the cafeteria. “Hey. How was your test?”

“Ugh. You don’t want to know.”

“This is why I switched to chemistry, no Mrs. Jackson.”

“Hmmmm.” I muttered as I grabbed my phone. I texted Monty as we walked to our table. Hey, is it okay if I get a ride home? Justin needed my car and Clay is busy after school. He replied quickly, sure thing. I parked by the gym.

“Who you texting Rach?” Zach asked as Alex and I sat down.

“Monty. We got paired up for a paper in history.”

“Ew. He’ll probably make you do the whole thing yourself.” Alex commented.

“I don’t think so. We made plans after school to work on it. And he’s not dumb enough to think I wouldn’t go straight to Mr. Smith and stick him with a zero.”

“You say that now….” Alex trailed off as I glared at him.

The subject was dropped after that and the rest of lunch went on as normal.

I met Monty at his Jeep after school and we drove in a slightly awkward silence for a time, the only discussion being the odd direction to my house. He broke the tension first, “You know this is probably going to be a nightmare right? Your brother hates me. Justin barely puts up with me at football practice.”

“It will be fine. My dad works at home so he will be home and keep the annoying duo in line.”

“Alright. You’re wrong but alright.”

I shook my head at him, smirking, “so, I feel like I know nothing about you. We’ve gone to school together since we were little.”

“What can I say? I’m a man of mystery.”

“You can tell me what your favourite ice cream flavour is?”

“Mint chip. Yours?”

“Chocolate chocolate chip. It’ll be a left here.” I directed. We went on like that, asking each other menial questions for the remainder of the drive.

“It’s the one in the middle here. You can park in the drive or on the street, up to you.”

He pulled up to the curb and sat for a minute, quiet again as he cut the engine. He sat for a minute before undoing his seatbelt. I got out of the car and waited for him. When he didn’t make a move to get out, I walked around to his door, “we don’t bite you know. Unless you’re into that.” I joked. If it works on Scott, maybe it’ll work on his best friend.

Monty laughed and joked back, “Depends who’s doing the biting. Being bitten by strangers doesn’t rank very high up on the list though.” With that, he got out of the car.

His nerves must have returned “You know I’m right. They don’t like me. And since Justin is basically your brother now, his opinion actually matters. How well do you think this is going to go?”

I rolled my eyes at him playfully as I unlocked the front door. “Monty chill. It’s a project for school. Besides, the boys live in the shed and they showered this morning. You probably won’t even see them.” I said as I took off my coat and hung it up. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and dad cleared his throat.

“Hey pumpkin. How was sch- oh. Hello there. Rachel, I didn’t realize you were having a friend over.”

“Hey dad. School was fine. This is Monty, we got assigned to work on a history assignment together. Monty, this is my dad Matt.” I gestured between them briefly.

Monty waved politely, though it was rather awkward. “Hello Mr. Jensen.”

Dad merely nodded at him.

“Anyway, we have a lot of work to do so we’ll be upstairs. Come on Monty.”

“Not so fast Rachel. You know the rules. No boys in your room without permission.”

I stopped in my tracks abruptly, causing Monty to bump into me. He looked uncomfortable when I turned to look at my dad.

“Oh. The rules. Right. Okay, let me see if I have this straight… Clay and Justin get the garage converted into a bachelor pad minus a shower with no supervision at all. I don’t even get my own bathroom out of the deal. The boys can do whatever they want in there and they can have whoever they want over whenever they want -boys or girls at any time of the day- without discussing it. But I, a girl, can’t have a boy in my room to work on a homework assignment. How is that fair? Because… Why exactly? Even if I wanted to, which I don’t, it’s not like I would do anything with you in the house. That’s just… I don’t even have words to describe how uncomfortable that is. And even if we were going to do what I assume you think we would do, I’ve been on birth control since I was fourteen Dad.” Dad was at a loss for words at my outburst. I raised my brow at him.

“You make a good argument….” Dad muttered.

“I learned from the best. Speaking of the best, when is Mom getting home?”

“She should be home around six. We will discuss dinner when she gets home.” I nodded, accepting his answer and began walking back up the stairs. When Dad made no further objections, Monty followed behind me.

After a few hours of studying and back and forth to decide a topic, my mom got home. “hey, did you want to stay for dinner? I can see what Dad is cooking.” I asked Monty. He checked his phone quickly.

“Uh, yeah sure. If they don’t mind. I don’t want to intrude or anything.” He replied.

“It’ll be no big. Come on, let’s go see what’s on the menu.” I stood and offered my hand to him. We made our way downstairs together. Dinner smelled delicious. I hadn’t realized I was so hungry. “Hey Mom. Is it okay if Monty stays for dinner tonight?” I asked casually.

“Sure thing kiddo. We are making Cajun Chicken Pasta if that’s alright with you?” Dad responded, while he chopped the chicken into pieces. Monty nodded and made no objection.

Mom took a sip from her water and introduced herself to Monty, “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Lainie. It’s nice to meet you Monty.” Ever the professional, she made sure to shake his hand. Judging his grip, no doubt. She smiled to herself, obviously impressed. She then began asking Monty questions. Not third degree questions by any means, just questions. He answered all of them easily enough and they were able to make some conversation. I had somehow been roped to helping dad cook dinner in while Monty and my mom were becoming friends.

The back-door opening pulled us out of our peaceful quiet. Justin walked in with a box of pastries from Monet’s and placed it on the counter. “Hey Mom. Hey dad. Rachel, Monty.” He greeted us absently. He took an apple from the bowl on the island and began making his way out to the boys room.

“Dinner is in like 15 minutes bud.” Dad said passively. They were still wary of scolding Justin about food close to meals.

Suddenly, he realized just what he was witnessing because he stopped at the door and turned around. Justin scanned the room as though doing a headcount. He blinked a few times when his eyes landed on Monty. “Mom. What’s this here?”

“He is your sister’s dinner guest Justin.” Mom explained.

“Uh-huh. Hey Rachel? Can I talk to you?”

“Sure Justin.”

“Outside please?” I rolled my eyes at him but followed him anyway.

#It was just a project #13 reasons why #13 rw #monty de la cruz #montgomery de la cruz #monty de la Cruz fanfic #montgomery de la cruz x reader #monty x oc #clay jensen #justin foley jensen #clustin #scott reed

42 notes · View notes