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wheresmymilliondollarman · 1 year ago

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aaron warner x ferrars! reader pt. 4

(continuation from part three)

who knew running a new country was so hard? spoiler alert: apparently everyone but you and your sister. your asylum days never looked so simple.

a/n: hi… i’m back 🔥🔥 i’d like to start by apologizing for the stupid long wait. it was unfair to my readers and i swear i had no intention to leave people waiting. i genuinely forget sometimes people really like my writing </3 and i truly am grateful to the people who read. let’s jus say i have been busy and yet so unmotivated for the littlest things. i won’t bore w the details i’m sure y’all are jus happy i finally posted part 4. again REALLY sorry for the wait and pls enjoy. also now adding borders to my fics (ill edit the old ones too)

word count: 9k

warnings: few plot changes, fights and feuds, violence and blood mention, castle slander, angst, buzzcut aaron 😣😣😣

things were finally looking up for the rebellion. you'd manage to overthrow the supreme commander and his army, the reestablishment no longer ruled over your part of the land - making it open to new possibilities of government.

you never wished you paid attention in your social studies classes until now.

there were so many regulations you had to learn, matters you had to discuss, and, of course, the never-ending paperwork. your least favorite part. it didn't help you were behind on learning the fancy terminology for topics. 'can't people ever just say what they mean?'

juliette's optimism for being a leader was diminishing every time she had to meet with castle on strategy. he poorly disguised his disapproval of leadership upon every encounter.

but you learned to ignore it along the way. it wasn't as if he was ever the perfect leader either, plus you'd get the gist of the whole leadership thing soon. you silently prayed.

in the midst of all the responsibilities, you had to keep aaron from killing kenji most of the time. they were originally getting on somewhat friendly enough terms, but that was before the incident occurred.

that day, kenji barged in with urgency into your room as you were looking over papers. he went on to say there was a 'serious' problem, and you worriedly assumed it had to do with the reestablishment. but it instead involved your boyfriend.

"seriously kenji? i thought we were under attack or someone died!"

"someone will die if you don't handle your boyfriend right now. hopefully better than you've been handling being supreme comm-" kenji was cut off by the click of a gun.

"i dare you to finish your sentence."

with the barrel to his head, kenji quickly defended his words with the barrel to his head. aaron and him bickered back and forth. kenji turned to you for help, but all you did was shrug and mouth 'karma.' then he hit kenji's head with said gun.

"okay, that's enough, can someone explain to me what the issue is here?"

"this is the issue." aaron then turned to reveal chunks of different sizes along the back of his head. you gasp at his ruined hair.

"oh my god, kenji what the hell did you do?"

"i gave him a trim just like he asked!"

this made another argument burst out between the two. kenji denying his mistake and aaron picking the gun back up and threatening to kill him.

"aaron put the gun down."

aaron reluctantly does so, but his glare at kenji doesn't drop.

"phew, thanks, princess."

"kenjii since you "trimmed" warner's hair, i think it's only fair that he does the same to yours." you proclaim.

kenji looks toward you in horror, "no way!"

aaron wastes no time in going to the bathroom and returning with a razor. he gives him a terrifying smile, "i'm only going to trim the edges."

kenji bolted out of the room a second later, complaining about favoritism on the way out.

aaron ended up having no choice but to shave the rest of his hair, leaving him with a military-style buzz cut. you would mourn the longer hair, but truthfully, it did nothing to tarnish his looks.

sector 45, after sending several invitations, finally received a rvsp for an international leadership conference held at your sector. from oceania, is what delalieu told you and juliette.

you started to come to the realization about the lack of history you knew about warner. sure, you knew him deeply now, but you knew so little about his past. castle made it evident when he mentioned to you and juliette his possible connection to oceania's leaders. castle, annoyingly, did not disclose anymore and insisted aaron needed to be the one to tell. yet, he judged how little you both knew about oceania.

warner being immersed into his work left little time for that. while aaron had been helpful in your learning some etiquettes, he'd been closing off his emotions since he father's death. even after many attempts of trying to get him to open up, he vowed he was okay. you had a slim to none chance of prying information about oceania from him.

you felt lost and angry. for being supreme commanders, you and juliette seemed to be almost always out of the loop. castle regarded you as experiments, seeing how two naive teenage girls could survive being leaders. the rest of the world wasn't any different.

you offered the idea of just reading castle's mind, but juliette thought it could lead to mistrust toward you. she believed you both needed to remain calm for the moment, which is what you have done so far. but you were getting a bit bitter playing nice for so long.

at times you felt juliette left you of the leadership issues. she insisted to be the one to tackle meetings and discussion with castle, she sometimes gave answers before even discussing it with you, and even delalieu seemed to report everything to her first before it got to you. you would never bring it up, and just wrote it off as her still getting the hang of everything. but in the back of your mind you worried it was only a foreshadow.

on the way to see the new headquarters, castle rushed to you. he begged you and juliette to reconsider taking warner with you to greet the guest downstairs. you had no clue what he was on about, but played along and told him warner wasn't needed. you quickly caught on to the situation.

you rushed back to your room, put on what you deemed appropriate clothing and freshened up your hair and face. you were still putting on your shoes when you left.

on the way, you thought about how odd it was juliette didn't even bother to inform you. even if you were busy, you both had pagers to contact one another for important events such as this one.

you hear sounds of greetings as you approach the reception. you luckily hadn't missed out on much.

you see kenji along side juliette and feel a pang of betrayal. juliette was subtly shocked and kenji was confused to see you. but you cover it up with a smile as you turn to see the guest.

"apologies for my delay, i was held up with some prior matters." you hold a hand out, "it's a pleasure to meet you, i'm y/n."

the guest introduces himself as haider, and you can't help but notice a glint of recognition as he looks you over.

but that was forgotten as you came to find out haider wasn't aware of the fact sector 45 had another supreme commander as it wasn't mentioned on the invitation. you told him it must've been a mistake, but you threw a questioning glance to juliette.

you felt yourself get lost as the meeting when on. haider didn’t make it discreet he knew warner very well. he made a brief comment on his relationship with the other supreme commander children.

“i’ve got to say, when i first heard about warner being involved with a girl — i had strong doubts. he has never been the relationship type. unless you count lena. oh, but i’m sure you know all about her by now. they were together for almost two-years after all.”

you had no idea who lena was, but you had a strong sense you wouldn’t like the answer. haider had obviously knew this, and faked ignorance with his comment.

“oh. he hasn’t mentioned his ex-girl friend?”

your heart dropped. you glanced at kenji and juliette from the side of your eyed and they held the same face of surprise. you did your best to remain unphased with a polite smile.

“must’ve just not been important enough to discuss. like right now. i’d prefer if we got back on track of the topic instead of digging into my personal relations.”

if haider was impressed or offended he didn’t show and shifted subjects. you tried your best to listen in as juliette spoke with him about dinner, but the thought of warner having an ex-girlfriend floated around in your mind for the rest of the meeting.

the second haider left the room, and you all burst into a discussion for the next step. dinner would be in less than an hour, and you were still filled in with little to no information about haider and his intentions. you knew the next step would be for you to talk to aaron about it, but you weren’t sure you could be alone with him with this newfound information about his past. you got juliette and kenji to come along with you to question him under the excuse that it would be easier than relaying whatever he told you.

before you three could do that, you didn’t forget their actions before this meeting. you knew it would be the worst time to discuss especially with how limited time was, but you spoke without thinking when you saw juliette heading towards the door.

“why didn’t you tell me about this meeting?”

she sighs and brushes you off saying it wasn’t the most important subject right now. but you already begin, so you thought you might as well get some answers, and pushed her for an explanation.

“we’re suppose to be in this together, how could you leave me in the dark—”

“because i didn’t think you could handle it, and quite frankly, castle agreed with me.”

“what?” you were dumfounded by her response.

“you’ve been so unruly lately, and i get it doing this whole supreme commander thing has been challenging — but i couldn’t afford anything with this meeting.”

“unruly? just because i don’t want to listen to every little thing castle says. news flash, he’s made it quite clear he doesn’t support us leading sector 45.”

“he knows far more than us, we should take what he says wisely.”

“j has a point y/n, castle has a lot of experience—” kenji intercepts.

“shut up! you’re just as guilty as juliette. i thought we were friends and then you help juliette hide this meeting from me!” you spit at kenji.

he stays silent, for once. but it says more than enough for you. you turn your bitterness back to your sister.

“was it his idea to only put down you as the supreme commander on the invitations, too?”

“yes.” she reluctantly admits. “castle wasn’t sure if the idea of two supreme commanders would go well over with orher sectors. i swear, y/n, i only found out once they were already sent.”

you didn’t care for reasoning. you were angry at it all. “i agreed to do this for you! it was you wanted us to do this together! ”

“and maybe i’m starting to regret that.”

your face dropped. juliette’s eyes widened as she realized the weight of her words. but it was too late to apologize.

you scoff, “alright. fine. go ahead and do it yourself. go and question warner about haider yourself and talk to castle and beg for his help for dinner. because i’m done being supreme commander. but it’s not like i ever was, right?”

you can’t help but leave a final comment before you stalk out the door, “you know what’s funny? i found out about the meeting because castle wanted me to tell you to not do it on your own, to bring warner, he said. guess you’re unruly to him too.”

with limited options of locations juliette, kenji, or warner wouldn’t be able to find you, you had to resort to being hiding in your old room you were once held captive in.

now less clouded by anger, you facepalmed yourself. perhaps just quitting being supreme commander had been a rash decision. you weren’t even quite sure if you could just quit like that. but you would rather be jobless than take back your words to juliette.

maybe she was right, you are quite unruly. but you had no plans to admit it to her.

you thought back to aaron. you wanted his comfort, but you still were upset about the ex-girlfriend situation. even if you said it was important, you had somewhat of a right to know when your boyfriend was in a past relationship.

you hated how castle was right about how much you lack knowledge about aaron’s history. and you know you should probably be there with kenji and juliette talking to aaron, but you were too prideful, and a little embarrassed to do so.

so you collected yourself as made your way back to your room (taking twists and turns to avoid anyone you didn’t want to see) to prepare yourself mentally and physically for the dinner to come.

unfortunately for you, aaron was sitting on your bed waiting for your return when you stepped into the room. you we’re unsure on how to greet him since he likely was informed about earlier events through juliette and kenji.

“oh my god, you scared me.”

“my apologies, amor. but i had to see you after you you didn’t arrive with kenji and juliette when they went to ask me about haider.”

you went into your closet as he spoke from your bed, picking out a nice dress for dinner. “got into a fight with them and it didn’t end well. then i dramatically quit being supreme commander.” you explained nonchantly.

he was taken aback, “you quit? just like that?”

“yeah.” you confirm walking out the closet with a lilac dress on arm, “you think this’ll be good enough, or it it too much?”

“you’ll look astonishing as always. but don’t change the topic, what happened to that headstrong nature of yours i admire? you can’t just give up after a silly fight.”

you groan, and toss the dress on tour bef next to him, “i really don’t want to talk about it right now. can’t you just tell me what shoes go with this dress?”

“amor.” aaron stands up and interwines his hands in yours, “please don’t shut me out.”

you bitterness rose back up at his words and you drop aaron’s hands. “that’s ironic coming from you.”

“amor, please don’t pick a fight with me.”

“castle once told me i didn’t know you as well as i thought. and he’s right, aaron. any mention of your past and you close right up.”

aaron sighs, “i’m not an open person, you know this. it’s harder for me to talk about my personal life than it is for you. but i mean it when i say i am trying for you.”

“really? then why didn’t you even bother to mention you knew haider. or how about the fact you have an ex-girlfriend! you know how embarrassing it was for someone from a different continent to tell you more than you knew about your boyfriend?”

“lena?” he asks furrowing his brows. “she was barely a girlfriend. haider likely only mentioned her to rile you up and it’s working, so please calm down.”

“oh my god. there you go again! you want to just sweep it under the rug, and i’m tired of it. all i want is a little more openness from you.”

“i have been open, there’s no one closer to my heart than you. please understand that just certain subject are—“

“hard to talk about, yeah i’ve got that.” you exasperated. “i just think it’s important to mention a two-year relationship.”

“it was purely physical.”

your heart stings. “so, physical relationships just mean nothing to you? everything physical we’ve shared hasn’t meant anything to you?”

“that’s not what i meant. i was different back then!”

you turn around, “just go warner. i’d like to be alone right now before dinner.”

aaron didn’t anything else, he knew your word was final. not because of his sense of your emotions, but by the fact you used his last name.

in less than an hour you managed to fight with every person close to you. and you had to see said people at dinner in less than ten minutes. somehow, you blamed castle for your luck.

delalieu knocked on your door to escort you to dinner. you weren’t sure of aaron had told him to or perhaps he had pity that you would be entering alone. either way you were happy to walk with someone you weren’t upset with.

luckily, you had arrived before the guests did. but unluckily, kenji, juliette, and aaron were already there. your usual spot was next to aaron and infront of juliette, kenji sometimes next to you or her. but juliette sat at the head of the table now, kenji to her right and aaron to her left. you had no choice but to awkwardly sit next to warner due to the limited seating. plus you’d rather not show haider theres issues amongst you four.

kenji and juliete silently conversed, your sister ignored you fully while kenji glimpsed at you with a small frown. you could feel aaron turn in your direction, but your gaze focused on the empty seat next to you.

haider arrived shortly, greeted aaron first with a hug, one aaron was visibly discomforted by. then discreetly spoke, both using arabic tongues. which none of you knew he had. ypu almost choke on nothing as he casually reveals aaron know seven languages. the rest of you greeted him curtly, and he took a seat in front of you.

haider wasn’t the only guest at the dinner, his sister nazeera showing up was a bit of a surprise to the rest of you.

nazeera is gorgeous, with her smooth carmel complexion, dark eyes and strong features. her face held diamonds percing; two on her eyebrow and one below her lip. she wore a wrap that covered her whole hair, and it did nothing to lessen her beauty — it enhanced it.

she stared at juliette before she turned to you. you were unsure of the expression she held, and part of you wanted to just find out yourself, but you knew better.

both you and juliette stood up to greet her, and she accepted politely. she gave aaron a mere nod then proceeded to sit down next to you, instead of her brother. but if anything it gave you more of a reason to not talk to the people beside you.

aaron started the conversation about her scraf, but kenji was the one who made an offhanded comment regarding her head scarf, which you learned was called a hijab, claiming it was banned to wear them since it was stabled with religion. nazeera didn’t shy away from answering, she stood her stance and didn’t care for reestablishment rules despite being a supreme commander’s daughter.

nazeera has a sharp tongue and kenji was not prepared for it. you tried to hide you smile as kenji got more flustered with his words. she was highly more likable than her brother.

“are all the other supreme commander kids like this?” you ask her.

“only the ones who aren’t insufferable.” she stands up from her seat, “so, no,” she tells you with a wink. nazeera then announces her departures and leaves the dining table.

you had a good feeling about her. and even though you and juliette were at odds, you knew she also admired nazeera already.

aaron and kenji bickered a bit before haider bid his goodbyes. aaron took the liberty of escorting him to his quarters. a job that likely should’ve been done by you or juliette, but frankly, you didn’t like the guy much to care.

now juliette, kenji, and you sat in an awkward silence. part of you wanted to mend things with your sister, but majority of you felt she should take the first step. kenji looked ready to say something, but held his tongue.

you figured it was the most you’ll get, so you mumbled a goodbye and headed off to your room.

half way there, you stopped. even if you felt you were the one in the right, you were ready to make the first move if it meant rehashing things with your sister and best friend. you rerouted back to the dining room.

before you could enter, you heard talking. you peeked through the slit of the open door and saw nazeera, juliette, and kenji talking.

suddenly, and ugly feeling boiled in your stomach. seeing them all conversing (mainly juliette and nazeera because kenji was mixing his words) made you realize how perfect the three looked together. almost natural. it made you think of how easy it would be to replace you. nazeera would be the one teasing and messing with kenji. nazeera would be the sister you imagined juliette wished she had instead — one who was confident, witted, and courageous. everything you lacked these days.

maybe they just didn’t need you nearly as much as you needed them.

you couldn’t even place your vexation on nazeera. you just met her today, and she was already someone you knew was amazing as she presented herself.

you never entered the dining room. you left before anyone could notice you dejectedly walking away.

the following morning wasn’t better. delalieu knocked on your just as the sun was starting to rise, your restless sleep did nothing to help wake you up. he informed you you’d been invited to accompany haider, and nazeera would likely be joininng. you nodded, thanked him, and sent him on his way.

as soon as the door closed, you grabbed the nearest pillow and screamed into it. haider was already being a pain, and it was his second day.

worst part was, delalieu failed to mention haider had also invited others.

you were unpleasantly surprised to see all three of the people you quarreled with arriving after you.

you weren’t sure who to walk aside. but on instinct you stood next to aaron before you could remember your vendetta. juliette was on one side of haider and you were on the other. nazeera and kenji followed closely behind.

it was unbearably silent the first few steps, there wasn’t a word uttered. the tension would’ve needed a axe to cut.

you couldn’t help but peek at aaron from the side of your eye. you quickly looked forward when you accidentally made eye contact. he sighed quietly after. you hated how badly you had to clench your fist to prevent yourself from latching it onto his.

haider broke the silence. he asked warner if he would be attending the continental symposium. you and juliette only knew briefly about it. no one ever mentioned the nature of the event to either of you.

but when juliette inferred haider about it, you both realized how big the event was.

“i wasn’t sure whether you’d both attend since the late supreme commander anderson has never attended public gathering.”

“we’ll both very much be there.” you add in quickly.

“of course, we aren’t hiding from the world,” juliette adds in, “when will it be?”

haider’s eye slightly widened as if she asked an incredulous question. but it made sense after he revealed it would be in two days. he innocently answered, but you knew he was satisfied having caught juliette off guard.

“it’s really my fault for that. juliette’s been so diligent with managing all other issues i thought it would be better if i took it off her shoulder’s and handled it. but silly me, i’d forgotten to keep her posted on the date.”

you jumped in with an excuse to defend your sister because even if you two weren’t on good terms, you wouldn’t let someone try to toy with her.

juliette looks to you grateful for the help, and you give her a small smile in return.

aaron added in, “she’s right, we’re finalizing the program with delalieu today, who is hard at work planning the details.”

you give his hand a tight squeeze as a ‘thank you’. but as you try to let go, aaron’s hand engulfs your tightly to stop you. you try to wiggle your hand a little, but eventually it it be.

you bite the inside of your cheek to keep you from smiling.

aaron asks haider for his plans during the remainder of his stay. he mentions catching up with old friends then goes on to say juliette and you must’ve received numerous invitations from the other kids of supreme commanders.

“we haven’t gotten the whole group together in far too long,” haider says.

you raise a brow, “whole group? just how many of you are there?”

suddenly everyone stops as haider’s demeanor goes from unauthentic sincerity to ice cold. it almost scares you.

he harshly grabs aaron’s arm,wretching your hands apart, and pulls him forward. haider asks angrily if he’s shared little to nothing about ‘them’ with you.

“you turn your back on us for this — this child? how stupid could you be? you have to know it won’t end well, i promise you that.”

“hey! let go.” you protest.

haider scoffs and ignores you. “i thought it couldn’t be true you’d fallen for a psychotic girl’s insignificant freak sister. i defended you, just to find out it all true. what the hell happened to you?”

you’d had enough shoved him away with your gift, hard enough to cause him to stumble back a little.

haider was stunned by the sudden force then notices the red aura from your hand.

“what did you just do?”

you shrug, “how could a child like me do something? but if you touch him like that again you’ll end up just like the last supreme commander. i promise you that.”

“is that a threat?”

“why don’t you find out?”

haider laughs, almost delighted by the fact you threatened to basically kill him. everyone else unintentionally lets out a breathe they didn’t know they were holding, especially juliette who had been ready to intervene.

haider requested to speak with aaron alone, promising to keep his hands to himself. you and aaron shared a look, and you knew he’d be alright. he gives you a smile that was made for you, and you return it.

the fight from the say before was long forgotten. you knew no matter how many fights you’d have, you’d do almost anything for him.

part of you still hoped for a grand apology, but this would be more than enough. now, you hoped to eventually make amends with the other two.

you walked off, not quite sure the destination. you figured you might as well go on a walk yourself since the planned one got disrupted. but a hand grabbed your arm to stop you.

“hey, uhm,” it’s juliette’s voice, “do you think we could talk? i mean..later because we’re all so busy and obviously you have stuff to do-“

“yeah.” you smile, “i’d like that.”

you both share heartfelt grins. you wave at kenji and nazeera from your spot and walk back toward the base. this time, with a happier kick in your step.

a good few steps in — you felt it, an abrupt change in the environment. it was almost too eerie, and you realized there was no one in sight, not even the guards who are meant to follow you from a generous distance.

you came to the conclusion it was no accident when the first shot punctured your shoulder. the second through your side.

you scream in agony to as you attempt to flee from the open, but more bullets ensue. you manage to block a few with your energy, but the pain was painful enough to leave some to hit your busy, such as your thigh. but the one that made you topple over was a bullet near the chest, in almost the same spot anderson once shot you.

you managed to block it before it was a fatal hit, but it hit you enough to be painful and draw blood.

you were half conscious, the world foggy and blurry in your eyes. you felt someone approach you and kneel down to tower over your defenseless body. a sudden pressure on your neck woke you up enough to understand this person was choking you to kill you.

you used whatever energy you had left to try and push the person off of you. the lack of oxygen and the increase of black spots made it hard for you to focus on pushing the person off.

your adrenaline kicked in to created enough power to get the man off of you. as soon as he groan in pain, you started to feebly crawl away from the perpetuator. your blood likely dragging on the concrete now. but they composed fast, and grabbed onto your ankle. you fid what you could and grabbed the nearest rock and hit them on the head with it. but ir wasn’t enough to stop them from grabbing you again.

at that point you were worn out, too tired to even move a muscle. the loss of blood was starting to make you woozy, and the bullets seemed far more painful than you remembered. you couldn’t register you were on the verge of death.

but the pressure on your neck never returned. instead came the noises of violent punches and broken bones. a new person crouched beside you, you knew they meant you no harm as they assessed your wounds and chanted assuring words.

in your deliriousness, you babbled on about how they looked like your friend kenji, one whom you fought with and missed so much.

“i’m sure your friend misses you too.” kenji responds, doing his best to keep you awake.

you blacked when another person, stronger than the first, carefully carried you and rushed toward the base.

in the medical bay, you were in and out of consciousness. you remember sara and sonya hurriedly tending you, kenji freaking out in the back, and aaron worriedly beside you. your first thought was, ‘where’s juliette?’

unbeknownst to you at the time, juliette was getting her wounds treated as well. she had been shot too, but not nearly as fatal as you. she was caught off guard alone as well, but her attacker only aimed to disable her. nazeera had been near by when she heard the commotion and saved her.

juliette was shot moments before you, and aaron believed it was worked as a distraction so your assailant could successfully kill you.

kenji was the one to find you. after juliette had been injured, he went to find you and arrived in the nick of time.

it took almost two days before you could wake up fully without passing out every minute. the first face you saw was aaron — who was already at your beside, holding your hand tightly — almost like he was praying.

when he noticed you’d woken up, his face became relaxed. he pecked you on the lips before badgering you with questions about your state. you assured him you were alright, and had to repeat it over and over.

your body still ached greatly due to the poison laced in the bullets sara and sonya explained to you. your wounds were healed, but there were still possibility of hallucinations from the poison.

after asking for your sister, sara had informed you of her situation, but quickly told you she was alright after seeing your worried eyes.

the culprits had been caught and sent to the holding cells, but they had refused to cooperate. meaning there was zero information on who was behind both your attacks.

aaron was monitoring you intently, when you sat up he rushed to help. he hadn’t stopped holding onto you since you woke up, as if you’d disappear if he let go. his eyes were red-rimmed, but you didn’t comment on it.

you felt bad for giving him a near-death scare again, and berated yourself for leaving yourself vulnerable. even worse, since your sister had also been hurt. aaron put the blame on himself for leaving you unattended.

no matter what you said, warner seemed distraught. his eyes told you there was more to the issue, he was holding back. as he remembered what the issue was, he grew distant. his grip on your hand loosened.

“is everything okay?”

“as long as you’re okay, amor.” he smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “i have to speak with you about something.”

“about what?”

“not here. let’s get you out of here and cleaned up before we talk.”

you nod. you were more than ready to get out the the med bay. your thoughts went to the coming symposium, with you and juliette being temporarily mia, there was likely a plethora of things still needed to get done.

you were happy to finally get a chance to shower. the grime and blood were now down the drain. once done, you changed and went back into your room where aaron was waiting.

before he could get a word in, you embraced him tightly, and he didn’t hesitate to hold you. after almost dying, you just wanted the comfort of aaron. kenji would call you crazy for putting ‘comfort’ and ‘aaron’ in the same sentence.

you kiss him, after what’s felt like forever. it’s not fiery or rushed, but deliberate and emotional. everything was gone from your surrounding for a moment, it was just the two of you. you felt safe. but then aaron pulled away from you, and held onto your hands.

“amor, i need to tell you something. it’s important.” his eyes are looking at everywhere but you.

“you can tell me anything.” you reassure.

he takes a deep breath, running a hand through his blonde hair. your nerves begin to spike, you’ve never seen aaron so hesitant to speak, he’s almost scared.

“i’ll start from the beginning.”

and he did. he told you the start of the reestablishment, their campaigns, ideals, and plans to take over. then, he shifts to the ‘unnatural’s’ and how after they were discovered, they were exploited by the reestablishment.

aaron tells you about two girls who were willingly given over to the reestablishment to be experimented and tested on. you were getting confused on where the conversation was going.

“aaron, why are you explaining all this?”

“because one of those girls is juliette.”

you didn’t know what to say, you were thrown into a loop you still weren’t fully comprehending.

“i don’t understand..”

“the parents you lived with weren’t your biological ones. y/n, you’re both adopted.”

your reality was warped in a matter of seconds. you never felt connected to your ‘parents’, but finding out you came from a different family?

“w-wait… so the people juliette and i lived with for almost our entire lives aren’t our parents?” aaron nods.

“so where are our biological parents? are they alive? wait… who’s the other girl you mentioned before?”

your head was jumbled up, you were trying to get so many answering at once while still trying to process.

aaron closes his eyes for a second before the green is visible again. “that other girl is juliette’s sister. but it’s not you, amor. you and juliette are not biologically related.”

you were frozen, as if time itself had stopped. you free from aaron’s hands and distance yourself. everything had change.

aaron keeps speaking, saying he only knew of juliette’s real sister and parents and sister until recently. castle was the one who told him the information to put the pieces together. castle was the one who urged him to tell you because the reestablishment was was coming, very soon.

“there was no record of you before you were adopted, i had always assumed it was only juliette adopted. it was only after you came here and i ran your dna, along with juliette’s, did i find yours different from your parents.”

juliette wasn’t actually your sister. the parents and girl you grew up with aren’t related to you at all. everytime you talked to aaron about were grateful for juliette as a sister, he knew the truth the whole time.

it took you five minute of speak again. you didn’t care for the rest at the moment, you still had to have another question of yours answered.

“if juliette’s biological parents work for the reestablishment, where are mine?”

“i swear, i had no idea-“

“please. just tell me.”

the more you heart, the more your heart shatters. to stay and watch over sector 45 while his father left to the capital, anderson had him prove himself. it started with emmaline, juliette’s real sister. he was in charge of her imprisonment and torture. but then his father sent him one more task before he was supreme commander.

anderson transported a man and woman to sector 45, aaron was commanded to get information, by any means, out of them. it went on for a year, until anderson saw no value in keeping them anymore.

his father ordered a public execution, and aaron did as he was told. only when finding a journal of his father just hours before you woke up did he get the identity of those people. your parents.

it was the final straw to send you spiraling. you don’t know if you got on the floor or started yelling first. aaron knelt down next to you, trying to soothe you, but it was only making it worse.

you don’t even feel the tears are running down your face. aaron apologizes over and over saying, no matter how many times you told him to stop. you could only keep saying ‘why?’ over and over.

‘why did you keep this from me?’

‘why didn’t you tell me sooner?’

when aaron tried holding you, you roughly shoved him away. his touch no longer felt loving. instead, it became poisonous.

“don’t touch me.”

“amor, please. i love you, so much.”

“you don’t know how to love anyone. you’re a fucking coward.”

the room was suffocating you. you felt trapped and had to get out of there. you got up and booked it out the door, not stopping when aaron called out your name.

you keeping running and let your legs guide you to your destination. the moment you spotted the white door, you came to a halt.

you barge in with no warning, startling the two people in the room. you take big step toward your target and, without hesitation, you slap castle.

“oh my god— what the hell, y/n!”

kenji’s presence does nothing to stop you, “did you have your kicks keeping secrets from us this entire time?”

castle sighs, now unphased by your violence, “i assume warner told you.”

“we trusted you! and all you did was keep us in the dark about our own fucking life!”

“what the hell is going on?”

“does juliette know?”

“i talked to her not long before warner went to you.”

‘oh god,’ you thought. you worried that was the reason juliette has lacked to see you since you’ve woken up.

“miss ferrars, it was not my intention to cause pain to your or your sis— juliette.”

his error struck a nerve, “no, but it was your intention to be a liar and snake, screw you.”

you stormed out in a rage, not before doing a 180 on castle’s desk. you hoped he’d have the worst time cleaning up.

you ran. out of his office and out of the compound. away from it all. you finally stopped after being knee-deep into a forest.

not caring for your surroundings, you sat down on the nearest large rock. it was then you realized how much energy you exhausted. you took in deep breaths to regain your breathing stability. the oxygen filled your lung helped to calm you down for the first time in the past hour.

with no one around, you finally had the time to think straight without anger and despair clouding your judgement. you weren’t even sure if you could exhaust anymore tears.

but it turned out you did. going through the events of the past hour, didn’t help with processing as you thought it would. it only made you relive the heart-ache.

took half an hour to calm down your sobbing. but it was oddly comforting doing it in a place no one would hear you.

you decided didn’t wanna focus on everything you learned. not on aaron. not on being adopted. not on juliette not being your sister. not on your parents being dead before you got the chance to meet them.

you focused on what you could control — the coming continental symposium. it would be in less than a day. you had nothing prepared, not even attire; much less a speech.

you had no idea how you could show up and presume your personality from before. how could you face the supreme commander kids in a state like this? your thoughts wondered to juliette on what her plan would be. but then it hit you; how was juliette handling it?

when you thought about it, you hadn’t seen her all day. she didn’t see you when you woke up, nor before you and aaron talked. she likely didn’t take this news lightly, especially regarding her sister.

thinking about juliette having a sister, that wasn’t you, was painful. your bond wouldn’t be the same. you weren’t blood, juliette no longer had a reason to stand by your side.

despite telling yourself not to, you thought back to warner. his betrayal hurt deeper than castle’s. how could you trust him again? you couldn’t. it was over.

time passed like nothing being amongst nature. the once light blue sky, turned orange with pink hues, signaling the end of the day. you knew you couldn’t hide forever. you had to find juliette.

if your theory was right then juliette was not in her room. you brainstormed possible locations when you bumped into kenji.

“y/n? thank god, everyone’s been worried about where you went, and juliette—“

“where juliette? i need to see her now.”

“y/n… warner told me everything. i know it must be hard for you both, but i think typu both need some spac—“

you snap, “just tell me where she is kenji!”

“she’s not in the best state.”

“take me to her. now.”

kenji reluctantly leads you to the door of anderson’s office. when you saw it was locked, you pounded on the wood relentlessly.

“c’mon, let’s just go.” kenji persists.

“juliette! open the door!”

“go away.”

“juliette, please let me in. i wanna talk.”

“i don’t wanna speak to you.”

“well, i do.”

“you’re not my real sister, so leave me alone!”

“fine,” you scoff, “hopefully you treat your new sister a lot better than your treating me right now.”

“fuck you.”

“fuck you too!” you throw back.

“…bad time to say i told you so?”

you rolled your eyes at kenji’s remark and walk away. your anger resurged, and you needed somewhere to blow off steam. training room had been unfortunate to be your victim.

when you saw no one in sight, you took it as a sign to proceed. in a matter of seconds, objects where tossed across the room through your levitation. weights were scattered, some broken, benches were bent out of shape, even a few treadmills weren’t so kindly spared. you’d feel bad about the damage later, but it felt so good in that moment to get angry.

it was dark outside when your adrenaline was closing to nothing. your only had energy to sit on a mat laid across the floor. you figured you’d take a quick power nap before going back to your room to sleep.

as soon as you closed you eyes, you were passed out. you’d hadn’t realized just how much of your energy you exerted.

aaron warner was getting back from his debriefing with delalieu, when the open door of the training room caught his eyes.

he was more than dismayed to see the damage done to what once was the training center. he was irritated that he’d have to replace basically all equipment. aaron assumed there was violent fight that happened, but then his eyes fell upon your form sleeping soundly on the floor.

now, he was more impressed than annoyed at the damage done. he would’ve been slightly proud of he wasn’t the reason for you to lash out so brutally.

aaron picked up your limp body in his arms, and carried you off to bed; taking advantage of holding you again. because he wasn’t sure the next time he’d be able to.

you were disoriented after waking up in your room, wondering how you ended up in your room when you’d fell asleep in the training room. you threw the possibly of sleeping walking to bed in, but then decides you didn’t care much for finding out.

it had been much later than you anticipated, and you were surprised no one woke you up. you dressed swiftly and headed out the door, despite a dreading feeling brewing in your gut.

first stop was to find delalieu, who actually found you first. he informed you the arrival of the newest guests and listened as he listed name. you stopped when he uttered the word ‘lena.’

“lena? as in warner’s ex-girlfriend?”

delalieu says nothing, but his eyes are looking at the ground. ‘so that’s a yes.’

great, you thought. you broke up less than twenty four hours ago and his ex already shows up.

then delalieu tells you juliette is already greeting guests, so your presence is not mandatory. he likely knows all of yesterday’s events, including your fight with her, so he’s likely trying to prevent conflict before the symposium.

a stronger person would’ve bitten the bullet and showed up anyway. but you weren’t that stronger person today. you would take to chance to avoid people you didn’t wanna see at any point.

perhaps it was a coward’s way, but you believed after everything, you were entitled to have at least one day.

you busied yourself in the office of your room; approving symposium plan and decor, looking through letters, and going through anderson’s old files — provided by delalieu.

kenji came to see you three hours before the symposium. you pretended to not here it the first couple times he knocked, but he was annoyingly persistent.

you weren’t mad at kenji, he didn’t know anything before you. but didn’t mean seeing him was easy, his presence always reminded you of juliette. you three had always hung out. now he was stuck in the middle.

kenji told you nazeera wanted to speak with you, so you granted her permission to enter. nazeera was quick to her point and told you the reestablishment’s plan; destroying sector 45. she advised you and juliette presented yourself strong at the event, to show everyone you’re a formidable enemy. plus, there was the possibility of sudden danger because of the plans the reestablishment had for juliette and you.

you found sudden danger was just always a given in your life.

you weren’t sure how you and juliette could show up united, you both were at odds and still processing everything you’ve been told. it would be nearly impossible to act as if nothing has changed.

were you even still supreme commander? you weren’t sure you ever ‘unquit’.

but, differences would have to be put aside. because everyone will be watching for your next move. and it may or may not lead to the demise of sector 45.

you missed just shooting and punching enemies.

kenji stuck around after nazeera left. you both discussed the danger to come. then, he filled you in on anything you missed, juliette’s buzzcut, warner sulking, the new guests, and, your favorite, lena being humbled by juliette.

apparently, she’d been ‘eager’ to meet you and asked juliette about your whereabouts. she referred to you as an ‘ex-girlfriend’ is what kenji told you. how she knew about the break up, you had no idea.

juliette looked her up and down before telling her you don’t waste your time with other insignificant to you.

you couldn’t help but laugh, maybe you were judging lena before knowing her, but based on that interaction; it told you enough.

once kenji left to get ready, you decided you’d do the same.

your nerves spiked the closer it got time for the big event. you spent a good hour deciding what would be best to wear. you hadn’t realized you relied on warner for fashion help until that moment.

you settled on a floor-length gown with beautiful embroidered and beaded details. you tried to avoid putting any accessories gifted to you by warner, but it was nearly impossible.

you attempted a makeup look, and you thought you did a pretty good job. and if not, kenji never frayed from being brutally honest to your face.

a guard knocked at your door to alert you that it was time. you cross your finger before exiting the room. time to face everyone you’d been avoiding.

everyone who was to go to the symposium was gathered outside the base, awaiting the vehicle to take them to the meeting location. as expected, everyone was dressed formally.

warner was quick to spot you and hurriedly walked to you. you power walked to get away from him, and hopefully find someone you liked at the moment. but, nonetheless, he caught up to you.

“i don’t wanna talk to you.”

“please, amor. hear me out.”

warner pulls you close to him, holding your hands hostage at his chest. you look into his eyes, and you can see how tired he looks. he’s hadn’t slept well, and it was obvious.

“what could you possibly have to say to me?”

“what could i possibly not have to say to you?”

“i’m sure you rather entertain you’re ex-girlfriend over day, glaring daggers to us.”

“you know that’s not true.”

“do i? i don’t know anything that’s true lately.”

“i love you. my hearts burns for you greatly, and a moment without you is one i can’t bare.”

“i don’t want to hear—“

“my heart has always been yours. i’ll never be able to take back everything i’ve done, but i refuse to lose you because of it.”

“aaron.”

“you can scream or yell at me all you want, if it means you’ll stay by my side.”

his forehead presses against yours. his eyes are focused on every feature of your face that hes already committed to memory.

“say you forgive me, amor.” he whispers so vulnerably.

you want to kiss him. you want everything to be magically better after. you want to believe this is another challenge you both can overcome.

but you can’t. at least no so soon.

you’re holding back tears, but aaron already has one going down his face.

“i can’t.” you distance yourself from warner. “every time i see you, i’m reminded of your betrayal. reminded how much heart-ache you’ve caused me. it can’t be so easily forgotten, aaron. not when i still love you so much.”

you were thankful to be distracted when the guards informed you the rides were here. but your thoughts switched as you noticed you’d have to be enclosed with aaron, juliette, and kenji for fifteen minutes, especially when you had to sit next to warner because juliette was just as mad at him as well.

you the were first out given the chance. you were overwhelmed by the amount of people who showed. thinking about juliette and you having to speak in-front of them all was intimidating. and likely all of them hoped for your demise. fun.

now, juliette took the podium, and you were next to her. you two have yet to discuss anything, so you’ll have to wing your speech to match the tone of hers.

but before she could start, the chaos begins. numerous people being protesting and berating both you & juliette and sector 45.

it was all getting jumbled, but there were various ‘traitors’, ‘you’re just children!’, and ‘freaks.’

to defend juliette, you move to the microphone and angrily demand everyone to quiet down, you do your best to yell over the voices rioting.

out of nowhere, the stage you’re standing on explodes. you’re both launched ten or more feet back. then chaos ensues.

theres a ringing in your ear, making it hard to hear anything; only you witness it all from the ground. people running left and right, the stage was now on fire, and men in uniform started invading the premises.

you see juliette lying on the ground not too far from you. you croak her name, then aaron’s and kenji’s, but you’re not sure if you’re even using your vocals.

you feel yourself being dragged away, you’re unmoving. you feel numb, not able to identify which parts of you are injured.

it’s all happening on slow motion in your vision.

you can see the same happening to juliette. with your head above the ground you see a new perspective. you finally see your friends, some are lying motionless, others are running.

you find kenji helping others escape and aaron with him taking down as many guards. then aaron spots you being dragged away, and his eyes widen. he’s on the move to reach for you, but his distraction leaves an opening for a soldier to take him down from behind.

it takes five soldiers to hold him down, he’s yelling your name, and you don’t react. they finally hand cuff him, not wasting a moment to inject him with something strong enough to incapacitate him.

kenji follow the same fate, not being able to get away invisible before nazeera knocks him out.

a man stands in front of you, blocking you from seeing the scene. you recognize the black expensive boots immediately.

“seems we both have a habit of not staying dead.”

anderson lunges the barrel of the pistol against your head — then it all went black.

you were so sick of seventeen.

taglist — @ravisinghs-wife @tom-pls-fuck-me @valeridarkness @fallonaurr @whatsupb18 @letspretendimnottrash @heart-an0n @mrsspector-grant @kikilarast10 @nina357 @lupinswolfsbanes (some aren’t tagging D: ) tysm for the support <3

#aaron warner x reader #aaron warner #aaron warner anderson #aaron warner imagine #aaron warner fanfic #aaron warner x female reader #x reader #reader insert #reader imagine #shatter me #x female reader #juliette ferrars #kenji kishimoto #shatter me fanfic

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horizon-verizon · 4 months ago

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Why are some people just so unwilling to admit that hotd's writing is BAD. Why do they jump through hoops trying to explain and "analyze" anything the writers make the characters do when at this point it should be impossible to ignore that the writers make the characters so whatever the hell they feel like? It's honestly frustrating because there are some people out there with some genuinely good analysis skills and knowledge about the patriarchy and "time period" but when they refuse to acknowledge bad writing at this level you see how hard they work to strrrrreeeettttch. Which would be one thing but they also tend to insist that they're more enlightened than the people pointing out the issues

I think it's bc people, generally, are not familiar, willing to become so, or deeply in tune with misogyny as it happens when it comes to framing an argument that eventually leads to a sexist or slanderous effect. The most recent example is Daemon (I am not saying we're being sexist against Daemon!) at Harrenhal with Alys. Because a lot of people hate Daemon and attribute lots of their biases against Targaryens more against him than Aemond or Aegon AND how they generalize medieval men into the same degree and persona of "sexist medieval man", they aren't very willing to think about how disengenuously Daemon AND Alys might be written. And they think that bc they understand misogyny as well as Daemon's simpleness of being a sexist, they think the writers' direction of him realizing he really isn't the shit is "complex". A modern regression of a sentimental Victorian play posing as a "deep" drama series. It may even manifest as them feeling that bc people think Daemon is less "evil" than they want to believe him to be, less intrinsically bad for Rhaenyra (themselves bc a lot self insert) both personally and politically, that the show is "making it obvious" that he is evil just for them and for the good of the "toxic ship loving" masses. And bc it is very true that some people will misapply discrimination where there is none and it's just criticism of a person with a marginalized identity (Hyuna of KPop and some people claiming it's sexist to hate her they way a lot of the world does right now), so people become even more defensive of keeping what they immediately perceived as simple misogyny finally getting its ass kicked.

Second, bc they underestimate Daenerys and magic (thus not know the diff b/t greenseeing, warging, Valyrian dragon bonds and blood magic, etc. or at least acknowledge they don't know shit) bc near-magicless Game of Thrones lulled them into an ignorant state where it's a lot easier to chalk up to the smoky, borderless force that is "magic". Daemon is dreaming? Alys is doing magic, she's a greenseer...meanwhile, they can't define or explain the limits and abilities of an actual greenseer when asked. And the lazy habit of attributing everything not properly explained or really explored in the show also goes for Helaena and her non-"dragon dreams". You don't know? Which itself comes from people used to coming up with unsubstantiated headcanons and theories to explain the plotholes the writers leave so they can excuse themselves continuing to enjoy the current show.

Third, they overestimate how GRRM creates and sets up that mystery vs this mystery. There are mysteries that are unlikely to ever be "solved", like what exactly is going on in the 4th continent--Ulthos-- of the world and knowledge of all the living creatures of Sothoryos. And then there are mysteries like the wyverns vs dragons and the blood magic of Valyrians that were made that will eventually be revealed bc it will give us specific clues as to explain how Dany is bonded w/her dragons. And people tend to lazily attribute any mystery like these as unworthy of speculation (thus they never find out any possible connections and weight them against each other for likelihood of truth); and all mysteries feel like they are the exact same kind.

Fourth, they are feening for a live representation--any live thing--for any ASoIaF story. So they underestimate the story GRRM is telling about the Dance and hot it relates to Daenerys like all the F&B stories inevitably do.

Fifth, there are "enough" genuinely well written scenes that "makes up" or misleads them into not really thinking about the implications.

Sixth, I think that people like the whole Gothic romance thing show!Rhaenyra and Daemon seem to be on...but the book likely wasn't like that, least not after they married. And they can't conceptualize that with all the incest and Daemon being so willing to have a moral value system that rests entirely on his family's existence and legacy and Rhaenyra being very proud of her standing, so they want to stick to the seemingly counter-Gothic writing. It's more digestable, people don't like gothic/gothic-inspired stories, therefore it's more "believable" that way.

Seventh, as this TikToker states, HotD loves to create character from parallel that is actually replicas rather than character from personal action. The constant contrasting and making characters when (most) of them [Helaena-Rhaena; Aegon-Jace; Rhaenyra-Alicent, but specifically that part of epi 5 where they faced men around them shutting them down] don't make sense as parallels-actually-replicas and already had foils set up in F&B. foils are different from what these writers are doing. These writers are making it such that, for example, Daemon is a negative presence in the Riverlands as well as incompetent; Aemond is also a second son and will seemingly do anything to get it, so that must mean that Daemon must have lingering feelings about the same and has the same desires....No, Daemon raised at least 2 armies for people when he didn't have to or when he easily could have used them himself and he mustered many Riverland houses without any real incidents--only the Tullys and Brackens were issues and they were taken care of. Aemond? He is the one who caused--and DIRECTLY!--many noble and peasant families' deaths when he chose to fire on them all after losing KL in Daemon's trick. Rhaena may have been something like the "odd one out" for not having a dragon, but she was hardly as on the fringes of her own family as show!Helaena was and likely kinda was in the orig story. She was actually very much an "It" girl and inherited her confidence from both Daemon and Rhaenyra, but used it in a different way from Baela. Specifically in a way that is perceived as inaccessible to men. Baela was fiery and a bit tempermental (so was Rhaena but she "reigned it in" better), down to fight, able to climb walls, not afraid of dragonfight, which are all attributed more to masculinity under a Western/Westerosi gender paradigm. Whereas Rhaena's schmoozing with lords and ladies while looking cute, Rhaenys the Conqueror-style, is seen as more "feminine" and undesirable, yet it can't be understated how her doing all this enabled her to keep important connections in the Vale and utilize Arryn/Corbray support for her brother later on so her and her family could continue to have some sort of backup against the rising Peakes. So either people never realized this, OR they saw this and resented how this brought more power in such a "unmasculine" way, a way men are not expected or cannot access or use for themselves, that they pretend/convince themselves it's not important. Which helps them to convince others totally ignorant has no value, and the writers, I fell, do not understand Rhaena's purpose at the Vale OR they have no plans to show how she and Baela work towards their family's survival and freedom away from the Hightowers 2.0. Meanwhile, book!Helaena is essentially a breeding machine for her side of the family who kills herself from her kid getting killed and being forced to essentially participate in destroying her own tiny nucleus of a family.

That bring me to the eighth thing. The bk!greens are pretty simple in terms of characterization. Now, I actually love what they did with Aegon for the most part. Have some gripes with Aemond's and many with Helaena and esp with Alicent and love Otto's. But because people have this idea of parallels the same way they thought of constant subverting in GoT, some believe that bc the greens have had rounder characters, the blacks must also...as if it were automatic without them actually thinking of how the show has actually shown that.

Ninth, people are very used to stories that do a lot of telling and not enough of showing, and underestimate how important and different that looks in high fantasy adult fiction vs virtually everything else.

Tenth, people love a female protagonist who is very simply bad vs good imbued with liberal anti-violent-no-matter-what sentiment (that was meant to protect the 1%ers interests), like Rhaenys-Hilary-Clinton, and they don't link anti-militance to privilege specifically in a modern, neoliberal capitalist world. Instead misapplying such a thing to feudal women. Even as they also like to say that Alicent and Rhaenys are like "ordinary" medieval noble women in terms of their internalized misogyny...which doesn't match their definition of "wise" and is both contradictory & reductive bc:

real medieval noblewomen frequently waged/plotted/initiated war and when they did peace calls it was either bc they didn't think they'd win/get out with the right sort of lives intact OR bc they were, they just aren't very much featured as fighters or political strategizers themselves unless it's in the name of a son, husband, etc., and then this works to make people ignore that these women directly participate at all----so Rhaenys and Alicent can't be nonnegotiably wary of violence while also being a "typical" medieval noblewoman

Alicent & Rhaenys frequently show how much they really care about smallfolk/vulnerable people like women, or keep them in their thoughts when they talk about "peace"....it's all ideological, not substantial, but it's played-framed as if they are being for real; the same tool of leveraging stability of male dominance that Gyldayn uses against BOTH Alicent and Rhaenyra, the show Alicent and Rhaenys but Rhaenys esp, uses against Rhaenyra as to why she should rule or have support while trying for her claim, and it's really just so false!

It's so weird, bc they say the nobles this, this, and that shouldn't be killing each other and in lieu the helpless smallfolk, but they refuse to recognize how both women still rely on violence against those ranked below them for their own ends, whether psychological or physical. And it really comes down to who is licensed to dole out and use violence and when and against who, which always turns out to be the nonconforming "instigator" of this particular ASoIaF story, Rhaenyra. And that esp comes from this bias against Targs and the belief that they somehow bring out the worst in nobles, when its actually that nobles fight for land, power, survival all the time and have since before the Targs. And there is this strange moral-victim heroine complex that people want to see in their female protagonist and mistake in as a meet replacement and worthy copy of Daenerys, the childbride/exiled princess turned self-made Queen and protector of the masses.

As for why they "insist that they're more enlightened than the people pointing out the issues", the first reason I pointed out.

#asoiaf asks to me #asoiaf fandom #hotd fandom #fandom critical #fandom commentary #hotd writing #hotd characterization #hotd comment #asoiaf #hotd

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fruit-of-infidelity · 2 years ago

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ok now that i stopped screaming let me try to form a coherent opinion 😫

ig it goes without saying that i really liked ryuuto's route♥ ik i've been screaming throughout it all BUT there's one particular thing that made me appreciate it so much more, simpery aside-

reaching the end specially, i liked the fact that ryuuto started to realize by himself that cordelia isn't what he's after, with little intervention from yui and the power of love (?) i mean, yes, there is some of that, but i feel like ryuuto's realization wasn't only due to yui's intervention when it comes to accept that as a fact, especially when she's literally not there 😭. but yui's kindness naturally got to him, he was just so focused on what he planned; if i were to dig deeper, it's like ryuuto realized that his wants were driven by his childhood/younger mentality only, which is why i'm so glad that he realized that it wasn't going to be any different now that he's grown up, after seeing the patterns and the pain he went through. i love that he realized by himself and undid things himself and killed and !!! yes !!! go off king!!!!! 🛐🛐🛐

i was wondering almost from the start if it was going to be that way or like kanato's vamp end levels of toxic instead (?? i would've enjoyed it regardless probably, i like how it was written so i would've believed it (?) dfhgdj but in all seriousness, i think you did a great job ava!! ♥♥ doing rejet's work better than them as usual 😤💕

also i LOVE the cgs so much 😭 !! my favs may be the kiss at the gazebo (love the lighting), the one of the train and the vampire end one is lovely too ♥♥ and the one w ryuuto going 🤺 @ richter DFGD i just love cordelia!yui being like >:) so much kfgjdfh and yui in general being so sassy tbh i love her 😭

side note; i admit richter is/can be a good father but my appreciation for him kinda ends there i'm sorry 🗿 djfslg

the only thing i'm still curious about is one thing about ryuuto's heartbeat? maybe i'm missing something from hdb bc it's been a while, but does he/sakamakis have a heartbeat or was cordie just messing around as usual? 😭

all in all, i loved it and i'm so ready to read the bad endings too now because i feed off angst and im hungry 👀🍽 Dkgjd AND ofc i'm patiently waiting for the heavens and after story and everything else 🛐🛐

ramble over STAN AVA 🥳🥳💕

// ILYYY ROX ♥️♥️♥️ im a huge slut for you throwing your analysis/thoughts at me, so don't mind me rereading your message fifty times over 🫂♥️♥️

Im really glad you noticed that! I didn't want it to too heavily focused on Yui "falling in love and fixing Ryuuto", especially not over one single route >< Instead, it works so much nicer for him imo if his character development comes from within moreso. The shift between being solely focused on Cordelia in his Dark, then his transition into getting to know Yui on a deeper level that really challenges all he knows with Cordelia in Maniac, and his internal decisions between whether he wants a repeat of his past where he feels comfortable, or a fresh albeit scary start with Yui in Ecstasy is HUGE 😩😭

Thank you so much, you're so so sweet!! 😭♥️♥️ and !!!!! Im so glad you liked the CGs too, they were ROUGH to figure out what i wanted to do and show off, but thank you for being so supportive always ><♥️♥️

also i see that richter slander. just wait until i (hopefully) post his route 🙄 im dragging you down to richter hell whether you like it or not sksk.

As for the heartbeat, omggg. I'm being consistent about rejet's inconsistency 🧍‍♀️ It's up to you to decide, really. Like, Cordie could def be just messing around but also?? I think the vamps have heartbeats in later drama cds/routes that are mentioned so 😤 whatever you'd like to believe, that's the canon sfjslh

BUT AAA !!! Yes yes yes im so excited to next post the other angsty endings (which are my favourite endings) and the afterstory and heaven. ofc, there is also the mini chapters that will be posted right after too which show ryuuto in the other boys' routes. Both more intensely and more of a passing by/background character 😩 BUT im getting ahead of myself because i have only halfway finished those mini chapters ><><

BUT AAA MWAH, BIG KISSES ILY ROX. You're so so sweet 🥺💕 and i cannot wait to read more of your girl's route, too. I am INVESTED !!

#kindan-no-kanojo #admin #route feedback

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thelovelybitten · 2 years ago

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vera’s first watch of south park — season three (part 1)

I’m on a roll rn, I’m also sick so it’s binge time.

EPISODE 1:

Jennifer ANISTON ??? Big slay on her part

Oh LORD KENNY IS WHIPPED FOR THIS CUTE BLONDE GIRL

CRAIG !!!! FINALLY HIS FIRST APPEARANCE!!

Craig: *flips people off* an icon fr

He’s a cute kid aw <3 ily Craig

Kenny: WOOOOOOO

KELLY she’s so cute

KENNY maybe u need to not muffle babe (but at the same time, it’s his staple)

Kenny lying to Kelly abt being poor NO

YO THIS FUCKING POPPED OFF

THE BOYS ATE THE CHOREO (maybe except Kyle lol)

Nah bc Kelly ate her solo

“AAH, SNAKE” nah dude, it’s just a branch

“AAH, SNAKE” no, that’s the same branch again

SO FUNNY I LOVE STYLE

Note: stan is scared of snakes

Kelly so true, but pls get with Kenny for comedic relief and happiness for him bc he gets brutally murdered every ep pls and thank u

KYLE RLY FUMBLED THE BAG WITH THIS CHOREO LOL

Kenny SAVING KELLY so cute of him

Kelly in her mixed emotions state of mind

Kenny being done with this shit

Are they rly gonna die

Kenny and Kelly are so cute what

Stan & Kyle say their iconic line and Kelly is like? ARE U PEOPLE STUPID ??? HELP HIM and resurrects him before the ep ends

ANYWAYS SO CUTE

EPISODE 2:

What the— Kenny is dead already ? Y’all weird

KENNY IS DATING KELLY HOW CUTE <3

Randy: :| I’m a geologist

Wait omg i now know what Kyle is looking for… ARE U FR

That’s so awks for him and for me

“Resurrection” KYLE UR BRAIN IS ON ONE BRAIN CELL

“Screw u guys, I’m going home.”

Wait cartman do be Jesus on the cross THEY ACTUALLY LEFT HIM THERE FNDNJSDJVJKSJ

“GET ME DOWN FROM NYAH” sjbjkdsbjgbk he’s got so many good lines

RANDY MARSH DAY kinda epic

Whoopi ???!??@@?@

Randy eating left and right very slay

Kyle… honey….

It’s hot out, and stan & Kyle are still in their winter wear

“Uhh… it sucks ass.” - Stan

Gerald: unbothered

^^ and flabbergasted

Pog champ randy marsh

CARTMAN LMAO he’s got that skinny bod babe

EPISODE 3:

OH LORD I WAS LITERALLY AT THE OPTOMETRIST LAST WEEK AND GOT MY EYS DILATED AND I LOOKED LIKE MY CAT WHEN THEY WANNA POUNCE ON SUMTH

All the homies hate that chef is gone

The core four: ?!?!?!?!? Not this bitch dating our councillor from the cafeteria LMAO

I have a stigmatism too cartman <3

The core four (again): >:OOOOO

“But MEEM”

Damn cartman’s eyes are fucked

“AAAA IT’S THE SUCCUBUS” — Eric

HOLY SHIT THAT SCARED THE FUCK OUTTA ME

*muffles explanation of how to kill a succubus*

Jesus CHRIST

CHEF IS BACK <3

EPISODE 4:

Harmonica ate

Okay not Kenny slander >:(

What the fresh hell is this

AYO why garrison sleeping w pigeons >:(

Eric…. LMAO

This ep is boring tbh

OH MY LORD WTF

That was v gross

Chaos

Kenny ate the costume

Yeah no this one was BORING

EPISODE 5:

Craig… unbothered king

KENNY ATE IN HOME EC

Wendy wanted shop class >:( the gender roles

Omg creek crumbs

Damn they wanna start beef with tweek and craig very devious of them

Everyone betting on who’s gonna win

Craig… i love you so

“Red racer is on.” “Craig, you can watch Red Racer any day of the week” “I DO WATCH RED RACER EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.” Get him Craig , ain’t no one getting between u and ur show babe

*slams door* so iconic of him

Oh but when IT’S ABOUT STRIPE THE GUINEA PIG, IT’S WAR

Stripe >>>>>>>>> anything else

Poor tweek omg :’( he’s having issues

LMAO EVERYONE IN CRAIG’S FAMILY FLIPS EACH OTHER OFF HAHAHAH

Core four fights each other aww they family fr <3

Are tweek and craig really gonna fight??

Wendy gaslighting and helping stan as she should

Tweek and Craig tapping each other :’) so cute

Tweek ate that boxing

CARTMAN LMAO

Craig… cartman ain’t SHIT

HEYO GET OFF KENNY HE’S DOING WELL :’(

Kenny’s got trauma :’( don’t force him to do that wtf

JESUS THIS FIGHT GONNA BE WHACK

LET’S GO THE BOYS ARE FIGHTING

Style gaslighting creek

I had my eyes closed for Kenny’s death i have trauma

Omg THEIR GASLIGHTING IS TOO MUCH LMAO

I loved this one, made up for the last ep

EPISODE 6:

AYE…ERIC

Wtf is this panda…

This one is a big trigger so bear with me, commentary might be short

Excuse me???

DON’T COME FOR MY SON STAN

FUCK OFF CARTMAN

EXFUCKING SCUSE ME??? This is BULLSHIT

I hate the stan slander

Note: stan has asthma

Victoria??? WHAT THE HELL

I HATE THIS PANDA.

Jesus

Clyde and Bebe wanting to sue someone… I’ll take my Clyde/Bebe crumbs

NO NOT THE BOARD SCRATCH YUCK

Omg Clyde and Bebe ate

Kyle’s dad is yassified purr

CRAIG I KNOW U AIN’T COMING FOR MY DAUGHTER— UR STAN CARD IS REVOKED FOR THE TIME BEING, DON’T TOUCH MY GIRL WENDY

EVERYONE side eyeing KYLE'S DAD

#faves: south park #so i wrote this reaction abt a month ago so i’m posting it now as my drafts are getting full…#i’m abt to start season 5 so i gotta post all my shit abt south park #viv watches #creek fight iktr #anyways gotta power post so sorz for spam

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wardenparker · 2 years ago

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Starting Over - Chapter 12

Marcus Pike x female reader Co-written with @absurdthirst

Recently arrived in Texas and only slightly removed from his divorce, Marcus finds himself smitten with the women at the housewares store that is helping him furnish his new Austin condo. It becomes a more complicated situation than he could have expected, but Marcus has never been one to shy away from a challenge when love is on the line. ✨This fic takes place *before* the events of The Mentalist.✨

Rating: Teen Word Count: 10.1k Warnings: *Blanket warnings for this fic will include divorce, past abusive relationships, deceased mothers, father issues/family trauma, unplanned pregnancy.* Cursing and food mentions, unplanned pregnancy, pregnant reader, Marcus being shamelessly flirted with, *Lisbon Alert*, fluff everywhere, Summary: Everything’s coming up roses in the wake of Amanda’s departure from your lives, and a trip to the farm comes with a sweet surprise. Notes: We’ve finally caught up with the plot of the Mentalist in the very last chapter! Marcus deserved better than the way Teresa Lisbon treated him, and hopefully the epilogue will show that he’s gotten it. 💗✨🥰

Ch 1 ~ Ch 2 ~ Ch 3 ~ Ch 4 ~ Ch 5 ~ Ch 6 ~ Ch 7 ~ Ch 8 ~ Ch 9 ~ Ch 10 ~ Ch 11

“Pike!” Section Chief Russell is a generally upbeat man, or at least relatively upbeat for a lifetime member of the law enforcement occupation, and when Special Agent Marcus Pike walks into his office on Monday morning his expression is downright jovial. “Sit down, son. I’m glad to see you.”

“Sir.” Marcus nods respectfully, nervous even though he knows he’s innocent. The accusations have been withdrawn but it could still leave a mark on his service record. Sometimes people were nicest before they delivered a crushing blow.

“I’m sure you’ve had a hell of a week, so I won’t poke the bear, but is everything all right at home now?” Russell’s own office is probably not far off from what Pike’s will look like in thirty years: photos of his family set in frames given to him by his wife and pieces of art by his grandkids displayed with honor. If he’s honest, that’s probably where his soft spot for Marcus Pike comes from. The younger agent is like a glimpse into his own past. Although Pike might have more good sense about him, which is one of the reasons that this whole domestic violence nonsense had seemed to come from so far out in left field.

There’s a small sigh of relief, shifting in the fore-mentioned chair to get comfortable. “Yes sir, fortunately, after retracting her slanderous allegations, my soon to be ex-wife signed the divorce papers and there will be no mistakes by the lawyers this time.”

“Good.” Russell picks up his coffee mug, draining the last of his second morning cup. “The new Mrs. Pike is well? Baby’s good?” The full explanation of everything that was going on at home was something Pike had given privately when news of the pregnancy came down the pipe, and Russell had been a little gobsmacked but shrugged his shoulders. To each their own, he always says. And Pike had plenty of his own.

“Very good.” Marcus nods, unable to stop himself from giving a soft smile. Even though Andrew had stayed until this morning, the spare room was officially starting to look like a nursery. No traces of Amanda were left anywhere in sight.

“Good.” Leaning back in his chair, Russell surveys his young agent with an appraising eye, seeming to take one last look before he decides to go ahead and say what he planned on saying this morning. “I’m sorry you were out of the office for a few days, but a few people wanted to nose through your business, and I wanted to make sure that there wasn’t a drop of ink out of place while they did.” The older man’s face betrays a wider smile, and an unmistakable expression of pride. “You’ve been on a short list in Washington for a few months now, and as of this morning, you’re at the top of it.”

He knows the shock on his face is clear, eyes widening, as he takes in the older man’s words. He’s looked up to him as a mentor over the short time he’s been here. “Sir— I, thank you for the consideration.” He gushes slightly. “It’s an honor.”

“Marcus,” Russell chuckles, a little charmed by the earnestness on Pike’s face. “I haven’t even told you what the short list is for. It could be Archives for all you know.” Not that it ever would be. Pike has an excellent arrest record and a high conviction rate. He’s as good in court as he is on the street.

He flushes slightly, aware that he might have jumped the gun. “I would take it if that was what was offered.” He tells him honestly. “My fiancée would love nothing more than to move back to D.C. She attended college there and it’s where we are planning to get married there.”

“You would hate the Archives.” Russell’s amusement turns into a full laugh, and he nods as he leans forward in his chair again. “There’s a task force being assembled to have our Art Crimes division collaborate with Interpol and Scotland Yard. It would be a lot of desk work and a lot of travel. But?” He waves one hand as though indicating a world of possibilities. “Do well and it becomes a promotional fast track.”

Marcus’s brows raise and he nods, aware that it’s essentially being groomed for a Director role. “I understand.” He tells him. “A task force could revitalize the close of Art Crimes cases.”

“I’ve already put in my recommendation.” And he stands by it, using the time that Pike was out of the office on the outlandish domestic charges to pull up the young agent’s record and make sure everything is spotless. “I don’t know what role you might be offered, or how soon, but I’ll let you know as soon as I hear something.”

Understanding that he’s being dismissed, Marcus stands and holds his hand out to his boss. “Thank you for your guidance and leadership.” He tells him. “I have learned a great deal about being an agent from you during this time.”

“It’s been my pleasure.” Russell isn’t looking forward to losing his best agent, but he is proud to see Pike doing well and stands to shake his hand. “One more thing,” he remembers, wondering how this was a thing he forgot. “They’re doing a little renovation on our bullpen for the next week or two, so we’re sharing office downstairs. We’ll be using the conference room for interviews, so you can set up in there.”

“Yes sir.” Marcus nods and turns to walk out of the office, nearly floating on air he’s so excited. The idea of going back to D.C. had been a distant dream and he’s thrilled he can possibly make it a reality sooner than he ever believed possible.

******

The kitchenette downstairs is full to bursting, four other agents all bustling around making coffee and grabbing muffins including another member of his team. Isabel Cortez is making small talk with three women Marcus barely recognizes when he walks in. “Pike!” She calls his name, relieved to see him after a couple of days of no word from Russell’s office. “You came back to us!”

“I’m back!” He grins at her, always happy to see the cheerful agent. “What’s been going on?”

“We’ve got the interview for the gallery shooting in a half hour.” That’s not the good news, but it’s the work news, so Cortez makes sure she mentions it first. “And we have lovely new floor mates.” This is the good news, and she introduces the other agents easily. “Fisher, Wylie, and Lisbon. They have accepted our peace offering of muffins this morning, so now we’re all friends.”

“Nice to meet you.” Marcus smiles at each one. “Marcus Pike.”

“Nice to meet you.” The agent named Fisher puts her hand out to shake Marcus’s, and Lisbon gives him an extremely unsubtle once over before stepping forward to shake his hand as well. “I don’t recall having run into you before.” She says, offering him a small, flirtatious smile.

“I’ve been out of the office on personal business.” He offers, not elaborating on things beyond that. “But I’m here now.”

“You certainly are.”

“Ladies,” Cortez laughs, barely managing not to roll her eyes. “He’s engaged with a baby on the way, let’s let the man get back to work, huh?”

Marcus bites his lip to keep from chuckling at the disappointed expressions on their faces while the agent called Wylie looks oblivious. You would find that funny, although you will also tell him that they have every reason to be disappointed. “Speaking of working….” He glances around. “Where are we setting up?”

“Grab your coffee,” Cortez nods to the counter behind agents Fisher and Lisbon. “And I’ll show you the conference room.”

“Ladies. Gentleman.” Marcus nods and skirts around them to get to the coffee pot. He’s stopped making coffee at the house out of consideration for you.

“That’s a damn shame.” Lisbon mutters to her colleague on their way down the hall to the bullpen a few minutes later. “I’d climb that tree in a heartbeat.”

Fisher chuckles, agreeing with her. “He’s attractive and he seems nice.”

“You’re so polite about it.” Teresa laughs it off as they walk down the hall together, putting Agent Pike on the unattainable but fun to look at shelf in her mind and moving on.

******

Greater Rochester International Airport is just big enough to feel busy, but as you and Marcus step out into the sunlight of the parking lot of the car rental company to get into the little Ford Focus that you’ll be using for the weekend, it is abundantly obvious that the folks around here move at about the third of the pace of Austin. The twenty-year old snapping her bubble gum at your hands the keys to Marcus with a smile even though the reservation was under your name, and you roll your eyes in amusement as he hands them directly over to you. “It’s not too far,” you tell him as you climb behind the wheel. “Twenty-five minutes of country roads and we’ll be right as rain.” The visit to see your father is fast on the heels of Amanda’s departure from your lives and you honestly can’t remember the last time you felt so relaxed. The only worry is how your father will react to you already being pregnant, but since the ring is already on your finger you figure even a traditionalist like him will have to concede.

Marcus nods and shuffles the bags in his hand. “Are you happy or nervous to see your dad?” Marcus has his own reservations about meeting the man who he had both asked to marry him without getting permission and knocked up. Your father might have some strong feelings about it. “Hopefully he likes the gifts we’ve brought.”

“He’ll love them.” The collection of barbecue dry rubs and packets of various pickling spices that you and Marcus had put together will be right up his alley. You just wish you could have brought him a bottle of Texas whiskey as well. “I have to admit, I’m happy to be home for a couple of days. I know but the time we’re ready to leave I’ll be more than happy to retire from farm life again, but this will be nice.”

Laughing, he opens the trunk of the car and starts loading bags in. The two of you hadn’t traveled heavy, but there was plenty between you. “I’m interested in seeing home.”

“The cute little farmhouse that begot your cute little fiancée?” You joke, once he’s situated in the passenger seat beside you. “The best part of the whole place is my mother’s garden.”

“I take it your father cares for it religiously?” Marcus had a house plant once. It died a pitiful death, and he’s never tried again so he has no clue how to care for a garden.

"He does his best, and I check in on it whenever I'm home." You nod, turning over the rental car's engine and heading for the highway. "I always...I put out a vase of flowers every morning while I'm there. Like Mom used to."

“That’s good.” Marcus smiles and reaches over to rest his hand on your thigh. “I can’t wait to see that.”

The drive is quick, passing easily as you point out various landmarks or the sites of old memories to him along the way. Twenty-five minutes later exactly, you're pulling up in front of an old-fashioned farmhouse at the end of a long gravel driveway. Its white paint is chipped and worn but the shutters are the same warm red as the roof and door making the whole place look picturesque and inviting. "Home sweet home," you grin at Marcus when you park the car.

Marcus frowns at the two trucks in the yard. “Eric?” He asks, nodding towards them. “You said he still works for your dad?”

"Yeah." The bumper sticker of an angry red-and-blue-striped cartoon bee emblazoned with an M on its chest is faded but proud in the back window beside a sticker for the Buffalo Bills and one that reads Support Your Local Farmer in bold white lettering. "James Monroe High Redjackets." You explain, pointing out the first sticker. "I don't know who made that up but it's the weirdest fuckin' mascot."

“I’ve heard of Yellowjackets, but never a Redjacket.” He jokes, feeling a little nervous about meeting the dad and the ex in one go, but he owes you after the shit you put up with from Amanda. “I love you.” He murmurs suddenly, reaching for your hand to squeeze. “Your dad is going to love me by the end of this visit. I promise.”

"I have absolutely no doubts about that." And you don't, really. Your father may be a little bristly with new people but the only people he actually actively dislikes are the rude and ignorant. Marcus is neither of those things. Slipping your hand into his, you bring his knuckles up to your lips and dust a few kisses across them. "You ready to do this?"

“Of course.” Scoffing, Marcus shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly. “I’ve been in a standoff with a murderer, how hard can meeting your dad be?” He asks and then widens his eyes dramatically. “Shit, but I had a gun then.” He jokes.

"Yeaaah," you pat Marcus's leg with your other hand, smirking until it turns into an all-out laugh. "This time Dad has a gun, but you have the ultimate shield. You're giving him grandbabies."

“Very true.” Marcus concedes. “Plus…maybe the fact that I’m rich will help?” He is still getting used to that fact, the idea of using the trust fund, but it doesn’t bother him like it used to. He will use it to make sure that he gives you the best life possible. “Maybe I’ll buy him a tractor. Farmers love tractors.”

"I have a feeling that that factoid might piss off Eric more than it would help with my Dad." The two of you climb out of the car and you huff slightly, soothing your belly automatically with one hand as you straight up. "Just be yourself, baby. That's all you need to do and I promise everything will be fine."

“I just don’t want your relationship with him to suffer.” That’s what Marcus worries about the most. If his father-in-law didn’t care for him, he could live with that. He’s a grown man and knows sometimes people just don’t like each other. But the last thing he wants is to affect your relationship.

"I think you're worrying more than you need to." You try to reach for your own bag but get a dirty look from Marcus for the brazen audacity of thinking he would ever let you handle your own carryon. "Come on," you laugh, shaking your head at him. "We should be just in time for lunch."

“Okay.” Marcus makes sure the only bag you are holding is the one containing the gifts. That is fine. “You should be hungry. You haven’t eaten in two whole hours.”

"Har har har." Rolling your eyes at him as you climb the two steps to the porch, you stick out your tongue like the very mature adult that you are. "Go ahead and tease the pregnant lady about her snacking habits and then see if you get any tonight. I dare you."

“Wait.” Marcus comes to a dead stop. “You mean that’s on the table here?” He asks in wide eyed wonder. He had expected to be told hands off under your dad’s roof.

"I mean we should probably keep the volume down to be respectful, but yeah. I don't see why not." It's not like you and Eric hadn't lived technically in sin in this house for almost an entire year. There isn't any reason you can think of why you shouldn't be able to indulge with your fiancé over the weekend.

“Shit.” Marcus shakes his head. “I’m sorry baby. I know I’m starving.” He shoots you a grin and a wink.

"Well I can't have you starving for affection." You pull him close for a quick kiss - alright, two - before knocking loudly on the front door and barging directly inside. "Dad! We're home!"

Marcus follows you inside, shuffling bags and setting them out of the way as he hears footsteps coming from the kitchen. Wanting this to go as well as he possibly can, he turns towards the sounds and watches as your father moves into view.

“Sunny?” You hear him before you see him, your father’s deep voice ringing through the house easily, and grin when he strides through the kitchen doorway. “Well I’ll be damned girl, look at you.” He huffs, and anyone who didn’t know him would think he was annoyed. But that’s just how he sounds. “You look happy, Sunshine. Give your old man a hug.” It’s about the easiest request you can think of, even if your father is a full foot taller than you and it still makes you feel like a little kid to have to reach up to him in tip toes. At least, for now, you chose loose enough clothes that your belly isn’t immediately on display. He would have said something. “Dad,” you pull back from your father and turn to smile at your fiancé. “This is Marcus.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.” Marcus offers his hand, immediately taken in a very firm grip. Part of him thinks that it might be a test of strength but another part of him thinks that it’s just your father’s handshake. “She has been looking forward to this trip.”

“She doesn’t get home often enough.” Your father contends, surveying Marcus carefully before letting his hand go. “I guess I have you to thank for getting her back. Come on in, kids, we were just making lunch.”

Deciding that leaving the luggage in the entryway is the best course of action, Marcus follows you as you follow your father through the hall. Glancing at pictures on the wall that he will want to study when he has the chance. It’s obvious that they are pictures from when you are younger and he can’t wait to see them.

“Look at what the cat dragged in.” There is a younger man standing in the kitchen, tan and blonde with bright blue eyes and broad shoulders, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel. There is a pot of soup on the stove and a cutting board laden with the ingredients for grilled cheese on the counter behind him, as he is obviously ensconced in everyday life here. “Hi Eric.” You’ll be civil, friendly even, because if what your ex means to your father in terms of the family farm - but any feelings you had for this man beyond passing cordiality have long since dried up. “Um— Eric, this is Marcus. My fiancé.”

Eric's eyes widen slightly in surprise. He hadn't actually expected the fiancé to be real if he was honest with himself. Your father had said something about a man, but he hadn't thought it was as serious as you had said. Recovering, he wipes his hand on his jeans and holds his hand out to Marcus. "Eric. Ex-fiancé." He chuckles.

"Except this time there's a date and a venue that doesn't involve milking cows between the ceremony and reception." You mumble, shaking your head. "So what is it that you do, son?" Your father has gone to retrieve a pitcher of iced tea from the refrigerator and two more glasses. "Sunny here didn't give out too many details. Was it...law enforcement?"

Marcus lets go of Eric's hand and nods, shuffling slightly. "Yes sir, I'm with the FBI." He explains, wondering if they will be uncomfortable at the mention of federal law enforcement. Sometimes people are wary of any of the alphabet agencies.

"FBI?" Handing off two glasses of tea to you and Marcus, your father raises an eyebrow at you. "You really couldn't stand small-time anything, could you, Sunny?" "It was a coincidence," you take the glass easily, nudging Marcus toward the kitchen table so you're not all just standing around awkwardly. "He came into my store to buy furniture after he moved to the city, and I helped him pick some things out."

"She was a lifesaver." Marcus corrects with a small laugh. "Everything in my condo she helped pick out, beyond a few paintings."

"I'm kinda wishing I had talked you out of the leather sectional now that I'm living there," you joke, poking at Marcus a little as you sit down at the table. "I end up sticking to it whenever I fall asleep in the living room."

"We will be glad we can just wipe it off." He reminds you, smiling slightly at the upcoming mess and destruction of furniture that all kids seem to bring with them.

"She's a fairly tidy girl, I think you'll be alright." Eric is back to the business of making sandwiches, adding then one by one to a large pan. "No...uh..." Shaking your head, you reach over to thread your fingers through Marcus's and sit back in your chair. You definitely hadn't planned on doing this in front of Eric, but maybe it's worth it to get around what would otherwise be a gossip storm. "We have, uh...we have one more thing we wanted to announce. And then you can resume the interrogation."

Marcus squeezes your hand in reassurance. He had told you that he would tell your father, but you had insisted you wanted to be the one. “We are really excited.” He adds, wanting him to know that he is happy for the baby.

“More announcement than that you’re getting married?” Your father raises an eyebrow as he sets bowls of soup down at the table. “You kids running off to Vegas for this wedding or something? You can’t be in any kind of trouble with an FBI fiancé, right?” “Nobody’s in trouble, Dad.” You hang on to Marcus’s hand to steady yourself, but the fact is you’re so happy about everything finally going well that you know you’re beaming. “I’m pregnant.”

Marcus watches at Eric’s interested face falls -obviously not happy with the the news - turning to watch the cogs in your father’s head turn as his frown furrows his brow. Not the most enthusiastic response, but he knows it’s a surprise to him.

“But you said that you got engaged two weeks ago, Sunshine.” Watching your father put the pieces together is making your stomach flip - and it’s not the baby moving around that making you green around the gills. His frown is fully formed as he eyes your oversized shirt, and his gaze is disapproving where you were so sure he would be excited. “H-how…how far along are you?” “Twenty-two weeks. I’m due in December.” Gently smoothing one hand over your loose clothing reveals your noticeable bump, and the smile on your face is watery with happy tears. “We—we just found out last week. We’re having a boy.”

"I am fully aware that this is a shock and seemingly sudden." Marcus adds. "But I want to assure you that we have been nothing but thrilled to be preparing for the baby and expanding our family." He levels a look at your father - man to man. "I understand that you might be upset at me, and I deserve it. But I love your daughter and I want nothing more than to provide for and spoil her and our coming children."

“Sudden’s sort of an understatement.” Rubbing at the back of his neck, your father leans forward in his chair and surveys the pair of you carefully. “You know you don’t have to marry this man just because he gave you a baby, Sunny,” he reminds you slowly. “You can come home and I’ll take care of you and my grandson myself. Things ain’t like they used to be.” “Daddy.” It’s your turn to frown, but you understand that it’s coming from a place of care and concern even though it might not sound like it. “I love Marcus so much. I would have said yes to marrying him even without the baby, and we’re excited to be parents. We’re going to have a big family and bring your grandbabies up to visit as much as we possibly can. This is a good thing. All of it. I promise.”

This isn't going so hot. Marcus squirms, only comforted by the fact that this is what you want. "If she had chosen to not be with me, I still would have made sure that both your daughter and my child never wanted for anything." He promises, knowing that it would have broken his heart, but he would have done it.

That seems to mollify the older man slightly, and your father looks back at you with a slightly softened expression. “You’re happy?”

“Yes.”

“Excited?”

“Yes.”

“You love this man and you trust him?”

“More than anything.”

“Well shit.” One fist pounds the kitchen table exuberantly as your father leans back on his chair with a wide smile on his face. “I guess we’re having a party then.”

Thank God. Marcus blows out a silent breath of relief. Eric is still frowning, and he knows the man had hopes that you would come to your senses and come back home - to him. Marcus had just ruined that plan for him. He hates it for him, but you weren't going to ever give him that fantasy anyway.

“Barn party?” You grin at your father, knowing exactly what he’s thinking and he nods. “Mom used to throw barn parties with her friends.” Squeezing Marcus’s hand, you can give him sort of a quick outline of the kind of thing your father is talking about. “It kind of became town tradition. Anytime somebody has some good news they want to share, they call around and invite everybody over to eat and drink all night in whoever’s barn is hosting. We play music and the kids bring games. Everybody brings food. They’re a very casual way to have a lot of fun.”

A potluck in a barn." His brow raises, but he's not judging it. "I think that would be fun." He offers, smiling at you. I'll help in whatever way you need me to."

“You want to show him around town, Sunny?” Now that you’re father has decided that he accepts the situation, he’s all in - only regretting the fact that your mother isn’t here to celebrate with you, too. “I’ll make you a list of things to pick up for tonight and you can spread the word?” Of course he’ll make some calls as well and start setting up, but he needs to be at the farm to do the work in between chatting. “Congratulations.” Eric murmurs, not meaning it for a second as he puts the plate of sandwiches down in the middle of the table. “Jim, I’m gonna go and check on that bit of fencing in the east end of the pasture. I’ll meet you for the afternoon milking.”

Marcus frowns slightly at the man quickly walks to the door and opens it. Turning to you and sighing softly. He wonders if he should go talk to the man, or if it would make things even more difficult.

“Let him adjust.” You squeeze Marcus’s hand gently before turning to the food in front of you. The baby is basically keeping you in a constant of hunger lately and you’re not going to lie - your dad’s vegetable soup is comfort food. “He’s had a bomb dropped on him…I’ll go and talk to him before the party tonight.”

"Okay." Marcus doesn't like it, but there is nothing he can do. You and Eric have history and he respects that. "Your soup smells wonderful." He compliments your father. "She's been looking forward to some comfort food. The baby's been giving her a bit of a time with foods that don't agree with her."

“Her mother had a world of trouble.” It had been a part of her decision to only have one child, ultimately. That your mother’s pregnancy had been so difficult. “I swear by the time she was six months along there were only about five things she could eat without having trouble.”

“Oh good, so this is hereditary.” Despite rolling your eyes, you shoot Marcus a grin. Any difficulties you might be having are well worth it as long as the baby is healthy.

“As hereditary as your hair and eyes and smile.” Your father nods. He always liked to point out how much like your mother you look and since her passing it’s made you feel just a little bit closer to her memory. “So Marcus,” he doles out sandwiches and takes a sip of his tea. “What sort of work do you do for the FBI?”

Marcus sets the sandwich down and gives his full attention to his future father-in-law. “I work in Art Crimes.” He explains. “Stolen, copied or plagiarized famous works. Mainly working with museums to recover works from the black market.”

“So no drug dealers or gun runners or anything that’s going to make my daughter a young widow.” Jim nods his head. “Good. Not that I don’t have respect for those people, but my concern is for Sunny.”

“I won’t lie and tell you that there is no danger with my job.” Marcus tells him honestly. “But I will do everything in my power to come home to her everyday.” He promises. “And, while it’s a small consolation, if something happens to me, she will not be a bereft widow.” Before his father had left, he had the attorney’s draw up a will that would be iron clad and provided for you and any and all future Pike-ettes. Everything he had would go to you and there was no way anyone could contest it. Not even his father.

“Planning for the future important.” Jim nods solemnly, face momentarily drawn. “Everyday I had with her mother was precious. Lizzie was barely ever sick a day in her life besides being pregnant and getting cancer. You just…you never know what can happen.”

“I am very sorry that I never got a chance to meet her.” Marcus murmurs softly. “My own mother died when I was 17 from cancer and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through in my life, I can’t imagine if it was the woman I love.” His hand grips yours tightly wanting to suddenly demand that you go to every doctor’s screening available without fail.

“And we’re not imagining that now.” Holding onto Marcus, you squeeze his hand back reassuringly. “I’m fine, the baby is fine, everybody is good and we’re not worried.” In fact, since Amanda left, the only dark spot in your days has really been work. Even your morning sickness is starting to let up a little.

He smiles, picking up your joined hands and kissing the back of it softly. “All I want.” He promises you, not worried about showing affection around your father. He won’t grope you in front of the man who had helped create you, but he wasn’t going to hide his feelings for you.

“So,” he smiles, glad to see a bit of natural affection between you. There should be, between spouses. “When’s the wedding?”

“October 11th.” You brighten at what is easily one of your two favourite topics of conversation. “It’s a Saturday, and a long weekend, and Marcus and I will make sure that you have your own room at the hotel for as long as you want to stay. I know you don’t like to be away from the farm for too long, but we’ll take care of everything. All you have to do is show up and walk me down the aisle.”

He knows you will be heartbroken if your father claims that he can’t leave. He hopes that he won’t, but he also wants to make sure it doesn’t happen. “If necessary, I’ll be happy to hire workers to make sure that everything is running smoothly while you are gone.” He offers.

“Eric can mind the place for a few days. He and Ginny can hold down the fort.” He looks to you with a tilt of his head. “Long as you don’t mind your cousin missing your wedding in favor of your old man being there?”

“Ginny? Seriously?” Though you sound incredulous, you do nod. “I didn’t think any of Aunt Corinne’s kids ever went in for the farm life. That’s great, though. I’m glad you have good hands to help out and not just the seasonal guys.” Soup spoon back in hand, you lend your bewildered fiancé a grin. “Aunt Corinne is my mom’s sister. She and Uncle Rob own a cheese shop in town, and I thought all of their kids worked there too, but I guess not.”

Marcus hums, intrigued by the idea of a cheese shop. “I can see not wanting to work for the family business.” He quips, thinking about himself.

Your father catches Marcus’s tone and looks over at him. “What business did you leave behind to fight crime, then?”

“My father runs a technology company.” He tells your dad nonchalantly, as if it’s not a big deal.

“Hmm.” Though he doesn’t know why, that wasn’t the answer Jim was expecting, so he just nods. “Not everybody’s cut out for the same things are their parents,” he acknowledges, pointing at you. “My girl did everything we asked of her, but she just wasn’t happy on the farm.”

“I completely understand.” Marcus nods, not going into why he didn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps. “Running HP wasn’t my idea of a future. So I made my own path.”

The company name doesn’t register in your father’s mind, and he nods as he pushes his clean plate away on the table. “And the two of you together?” He asks instead. “You have a path together?”

“I think we do.” Marcus smiles and kisses your hand again. “I have told your Sunny that I will fully support anything she wishes to do, even if she would like to be a stay-at-home mom. Or become a powerhouse in the hospitality business.”

“Good.” When Jim nods this time, he pushes back from the table and picks up a notebook and pen from the sideboard nearby. A few moments of silence gives him a chance to jot a few things down, and after briefly reviewing the items he hands it over to you. “You kids head into town and pick up some supplies,” he tells you, digging into his back pocket for his wallet to get you a credit card which you immediately refuse to take. “Invite whoever you want while you’re in town, I’ll make a few phone calls myself. Tell ‘em 6:30.”

Marcus watches as your father kisses your cheek and then heads out the same door that Eric had left through. “Well that went okay, I think this means that he approves?” He asks, gesturing to the list of items to get for the barn party.

“I thought he’d be thrilled immediately and even I didn’t expect a party.” You haul yourself up from the table and give Marcus a kiss before you start to gather empty plates and glasses from the table. “Want to help me load the dishwasher before we go? Downtown isn’t big but I’ll get to show you all my old haunts.”

“Baby, you sit down.” He huffs. “You can point to where things go.” He knows you can do things for yourself, but he also knows you might get a little sick after eating so he wants you to let your food settle.

With Marcus following your direction, the kitchen is quickly cleaned up and you’re grabbing your purse from the entryway where you left it before you head back out to the rental car. “So, is it as quaint as you were expecting, so far?”

“I think that it’s charming.” Marcus looks over at you and grins. “I can see our kids running around out here.”

“Soon enough.” One hand on your belly makes you hum and return his smile. “First stop is Aunt Corinne and Uncle Rob’s shop. She’ll riot if she’s not the first to know about the party.”

“I can understand that.” Marcus grins at you and reaches over to cover your hand with his. “Family needs to be told first. And I’m curious about this cheese shop.”

******

“You looked at me like I was crazy when I went off on cheese knives and graters the day we met, but I come by it honestly.” The drive into town isn’t too bad, just average country roads that you’ve seen a million times but Marcus can’t enough of. The hand-painted East Rochester Cheese Co. sign above the retro-looking shop front on the corner of Main and Elm is an East Rochester institution since Uncle Rob’s father opened the place in the early 60s. Now they proudly sell cheeses made on your family’s dairy farm from freshly milked cows that get pampered more than any pageant queen. Aunt Corinne works the front counter while Uncle Rob handles the deliveries and stock, and puts his accounting degree to work on the books, and their sons do every job in between. It’s a full family operation, right down to your cousin’s kids colouring at a table in the corner when you walk in.

“Wow.” Marcus whispers as he walks into what he can only describe as a cheese haven. Every kind of tool and cheese board is stocked on the shelves and there are cheeses he’s never even heard of written on a board as a specialty.

“Saying the cheese course of our wedding dinner will be the most important plate was not an exaggeration.” Being back in such a familiar space with Marcus by your side is so relaxing that you actually sigh happily, right before a screech of “Sunny!” goes up from the doorway behind the counter and the blur of a short woman all in blue and white bolts out from around the counter to squeeze you in a crushing hug. “Careful!” You laugh, prying your aunt off you. “You can’t squeeze as hard as you want to right now.” With a grin at Marcus, you add: “Baby on board.”

To say that Corinne’s mouth drops open would be an understatement. Pulling back quickly and glancing from your stomach to your face and then finally over at Marcus. “Oh my God, what did your father say?” She breathes out in shock.

“He said ‘party at 6:30’.” You grin, reaching for Marcus’s hand. “Aunty, this is my fiancé, Marcus.”

"Fiancé." She hums in approval, looking Marcus up and down and the small grin grows wider. "You landed yourself a good looking man, Sunny." She tells you with glee. "You look natural together, unlike the last one you were with." She's not certain if you've told Marcus who you were with and she won't try to rock the boat by speaking out of turn.

“Aunt Corinne was never a fan of Eric’s.” You explain, offering Marcus a shrug that barely contains an accompanying smirk. “Clearly.”

She huffs and rolls her eyes. "Yeah and I hope to hell he doesn't turn his eyes on Ginny."

“Just because he wasn’t right for me doesn’t mean he can’t be right for someone else.” Pulling your father’s list from your purse gives you a little bit of focus and you squeeze Marcus’s hand again reassuringly. “We wanted to tell dad about the baby in person, and it was a good excuse to show Marcus where I grew up.”

“Of course.” She smiles at Marcus. “He should know where you get your crazy from.” She winks with her joke and looks over the list. “I’ll bring the cheese board of course.” She insists. “No need to put in an order. We will make sure it’s spectacular. A welcome to the family thing.”

“Can I talk you into putting an extra block of dill Havarti in with whatever you bring over?” You’re practically salivating looking through the case and Marcus grins at your enthusiasm. “It’s Marcus’s favourite and the baby is very into herbs.”

“I was actually thinking about bringing a fondue fountain.” Corinne shoots you a grin. “I have a new model I want to test out. How does that in dill Havarti sound?”

You nearly groan, realizing you’re salivating at the thought only a second later. “You’re a genius, aunty,” you promise her, with all the sincerity you can possibly muster.

“Anything for my favorite niece.” She gives you another wink, not mentioning that you are her only niece, and her eyes slide down to your stomach again. “How far along are you, hun?”

“Twenty-two weeks. Due in December.” With Marcus beside you at the counter, you’re suddenly wishing you had blocked out an entire day of this trip just to sit and eat cheese and see your family. It’s so much nicer to visit when there’s something happy to celebrate and right now you have double the happiness. “I’m just hoping he’s not late, so he doesn’t lose his birthday to the holiday season, ya know?”

"I'm sure you would never let that happen, even if he was a holiday baby." She doesn't miss the reference to it being a boy and she's practically shaking in giddy happiness. "You let me know what you are doing for a baby shower and I'll either be there or we will throw you one here."

“We’re not planning on doing anything big.” Having talked it over, you and Marcus had decided that getting everyone together for the wedding was more important than trying to do an additional shower, especially with that being busy time for you at work and everything. “But the wedding is going to be in October, and that’s really what’s more important to us.”

“You’re going to be a beautiful bride.” Corinne suddenly gets a little watery eyed and leans in for another hug. “I wish your mother could have seen it. Happy looks good on you.”

“Thanks, aunty.” You squeeze her shoulders tight, appreciating how easy it is for your family to see that you truly are happy. The ease with which they’re accepting Marcus makes everything more exciting on a level you hadn’t anticipated. “I’m, um…I’m going to wear her jewelry in the day. There are a few things in my jewelry box that were hers and I thought it would be a nice way to have her there.”

“I have her veil.” Corinne announces. “She - it had a small rip in it, from when you used to play with it as a little girl. Then she got sick and it became unimportant.” Her sigh is heavy and laced with the sorrow of a sister who had lost her best friend. “But I did fix it and packed it away for you. If you want it.”

“Hmm.” Your lips twist and you raise an eyebrow at your aunt in amusement. “Weird how that offer never happened when I was engaged to Eric.” Even Marcus has to laugh at that, although he politely stifles his while you and Aunt Corinne have an all-out giggle. “I would love that, aunty. Thank you. Any way we can have our mothers with us, we want to. That is, um…Marcus lost his mother as well. Younger than I did. So we’re trying to find ways to carry them with us that day.”

“I’m so sorry.” Corinne turns to Marcus and reaches out to hug him fiercely. “I know that there is nothing I can say, but I am sorry.”

“Aunty, we should get going on this list.” More hugs all around, and you reach for Marcus’s hand again. “We’ll see you tonight?”

“Of course.” She laughs and shakes her head. “I don’t want an angry pregnant lady because I didn’t bring the fondue.”

******

Nothing is forgotten that night, and it seems like the entire town has turned up to meet the man who managed to tie down the wandering farmer’s daughter and see if the rumoured baby bump is for real. Gossip spreads fast in small towns and everybody on Main Street today caught at least a glimpse of you and Marcus walking hand in hand between stores. The barn has overflowed out into the nearest pasture and every table has been piled up with food and drink. A few people came with gifts or morsels of long-standing family advice, and your cousins even showed up with sound equipment to be able to play music that’s far better than what happens when Stuart and Eddie from the hardware store have one too many and decide to reminisce about their high school band. Citronella torches keep the bugs at bay and the kids have been playing games for hours while their parents and older siblings dance and eat. It’s…well, it’s the most perfect engagement party you could ever ask for.

“Wow.” Marcus can’t believe this is the same barn he had walked into hours ago. “They manage to put together a party quickly.”

“It helps when everybody is allowed to pitch in,” you tease, seeing as Marcus hadn’t wanted you to overdue anything and wanted you to take it easy during setup. You had compromised by staying just in the barn while he brought you everything that needed to be set up on the tables.

“This is what you wanted.” He realizes this now that he sees how much you love it. You hadn’t wanted to be married here, but you wanted this. Your community celebrating your happiness.

“I feel like we’ve been haunted for months.” It’s silly to admit, and probably sounds stupid to have it said out loud, but as you sway with Marcus on the makeshift dance floor it makes perfect sense. “We can finally breathe. Breathe and laugh and be excited about the future without having to look over our shoulders. And that is cause for celebration.”

“Yes it is.” Marcus decides that right now is the perfect moment to tell you. “The lawyers called while you were in the house peeing.” He grins at the fact that you go to the bathroom every twenty minutes like clockwork now and strokes your back to soothe you when you tense up at the mention of the lawyers. “The court date has been moved up to next week. So the divorce will be final sooner than we hoped.”

“Oh, thank god.” The sigh that escapes you is audible, like air leaving a balloon. “It’ll all be over…”

“I know.” His lips brush over your cheek and find your lips. “I can’t wait to marry you.” He promises.

"It feels like it's taken forever to get here even though it's only been a few months." You don't let him get far, stealing another kiss before he straightens his back again. "Bet you weren't expecting to be married again and be a father within a year of moving to Texas."

“Not at all.” He shakes his head and gives you a smile while reaching up to cup your cheek. “I came to Texas believing I was starting over.” He murmurs softly. “But what I really did was find the life I am supposed to have, the woman I’m to spend the rest of my life with.”

"I love you, Marcus Pike." Turning your head ever so slightly lets you kiss his palm, and you smile again the warmth of his skin. "And I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."

******

You may have gone a little overboard. A lot overboard. In the weeks since Amanda had invaded your workplace, even Marcus’s reinstatement, the trip to the farm, and the divorce and haven’t been able to smooth over the cracks in the rose-tinted glow of how you used to look at your job. Maybe it’s your second trimester talking, but long days standing on cement floors getting yelled at by entitled people who no sense of humanity or manners just isn’t something you can take anymore. It used to be something you took with a grain of salt, but the fact is – you never intended to be in retail for the rest of your life, and working for a corporation that gives you no room to accommodate or stand up to customers as the situation calls for it has finally run its toll on you.

Which is why, as you hustle around the kitchen at the end of Marcus’s workday, the entire place smells like Thanksgiving. It’s Marcus’s favourite meal in the whole world and since you’re basically going to tell him tonight that you want to quit your job, you thought he deserved his favourite foods. Hopefully you won’t be unemployed for long, but for now? For now, this is sort of your peace offering for telling him you might be a housewife for a while.

Marcus pulls up at the house, grinning to himself when he sees your car. Reaching over into the passenger seat to pick up the flower bouquet he had stopped to pick up on the way home from work. “Babe...” Marcus groans when he opens the door and smells the mouthwatering scent of dinner. “I’m home and it smells delicious in here.” He drops his keys on the table in the entry way and shuts the door behind him.

“Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cornbread and sausage stuffing, green bean casserole, and Brussels sprouts with bacon and pearl onions.” When you pop out from around the corner wearing an apron over your oversized t-shirt and leggings, you offer him a proud smile. “Everything is homemade except the apple pie. I suck at baking pies.”

“You didn’t have to do that.” Marcus protests because he feels like he should, not because he’s not appreciative. “But I am going to make sure that I rub your feet tonight longer than normal.” He walks over and drops a kiss on your lips before he offers you the flowers. “These are for you.”

“I wanted to. And they’re beautiful,” you hum, barely letting him pull away before you’re stealing another kiss. “What’s the occasion?” There are decorative vases in certain favourite spots in the house, but only recently have you actually been able to put flowers in them. You never did before for certainty that Amanda would destroy any buds outside your bedroom.

“Well, we closed our case today and I also have some other news that we need to celebrate.” Marcus murmurs, not wanting to give it away too quickly. “We can talk about it during dinner.”

“Everything’s pretty much ready, I just have to get the sprouts out of the pan.” Nodding toward the kitchen, Marcus followers you and – as you expected – immediately starts bringing things to the table. “We’re going to be eating leftovers for days, but I didn’t think you would mind.”

“My favorite kind of meal.” He loves when you can make enough to have leftovers for a few days. Some of them had made him extremely popular in the break room when he heats them up.

“There might be more of it to come soon.” There’s just no way to know, and you hope that he really meant those times when he assured you that he wouldn’t mind if you wanted to stay home with the kids.

“That sounds great, babe.” He murmurs, reaching into the fridges to grab the bottle of sparkling water so he can mix it with the raspberry lemonade. “But don’t overwork yourself.”

“I won’t.” That, you can promise him. In just a minute more you’ve fully loaded the dining room table with the traditional feast and you’re handing Marcus a plate to load up while you pour drinks. “So. Case closed?”

“Case closed.” Marcus shakes his head. “Jane was right, as much as I hate to admit it.” He hadn’t particularly cared for the consultant, even though everyone had sung his praises. He seemed like he would be a good con man - which he apparently was for years.

“Do you have to work with them again?” You don’t so much mind that apparently some of the female agents thought Marcus was attractive – because obviously you agree – but you know he didn’t care much for their consultant.

“I can tell you with certainty that I’ve worked my only case with them.” Marcus hums happily, a little pleased smirk on his face.

“Is your floor done already? That was fast.” It’s only been a bit over two weeks – you expected it to take a lot longer than that with how long he says the government contractors always take. “That’s exciting. You get your desk back.”

“Actually….” Reaching over, Marcus takes your hand. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“You look excited.” Carefully putting down your fork, you reach over and close your other hand over his. “Did you get something big? I mean I’m not hoping somebody got hurt or anything, but you’ve had a couple of long cases. Did you get a break in something?”

“I found out today that I’ve been selected to lead a task force that will work with Interpol and Scotland Yard on Art Crimes.” Marcus tells you. “In D.C.”

“No!!” Squeezing his hand in excitement, you’re practically propelled out of your chair and throwing your arms around him, babbling incessantly in between kisses to his cheeks and lips. “Baby, that’s— that’s amazing! That’s huge, and it’s so fast! I’m so, so so proud of you, Marcus. You work so hard, baby.”

He soaks up your affection like a sponge, happy that this has happened. Kissing you back and caressing the now very obvious baby belly that has grown over the past few months. “The only thing is…they need me there in a month. Five weeks at most.” He sighs and looks up at you. “If you want to take your time, I can go out there ahead of you.”

“No way in hell.” The proud tears in your eyes are threatening to spill over, and you sniffle them back with one more kiss before pulling back a little to look him in the eyes. “Work never got better even after the Wicked Witch left, honey. I’m still dreading every shift and coming home in tears, and it’s not because of the hormones. I— um, honestly? I was going to talk to you about wanting to give notice. I want to get back into hotels. So…this is actually perfect timing for a move.”

“Quit.” Marcus tells you immediately. “Give notice, walk out, whatever you need to do baby.” He reaches out to take your hand. “You know I will support whatever you want to do however I can.”

“I have the perfect excuse without needing to get into things now.” More than anything, you had dreaded knowing you would feel compelled to explain yourself. To give a reason why you no longer enjoyed your job. “But my amazing fiancé getting a huge promotion is all the reason in the world. I’m so proud of you, baby. Your own task force? That’s enormous.”

“I know.” He blows out a breath and looks nervous for the first time since he’s been given the news. “It will be a lot of work, especially at the beginning.”

“And you’re going to be incredible.” You have nothing but the utmost faith in him and you know it’s well founded. “I’ll tell them two weeks when I go in tomorrow and then we can be in DC as soon as you need.” The idea of that far-off, theoretical DC move suddenly being imminent is nothing but exciting for you.

“I’ll need to call my father so he can give the tenants notice.” Marcus tells you, before he gives a grin. “He showed me the house. You’re going to love it.”

“What’s it like?” So far all you knew was that it was a Victorian, but past that it could be absolutely anything.

“Dad sent me a link.” He pulls out his phone. “Apparently the trust has a page dedicated to the contents of the trust. They updated photos after doing some minor repairs.”

You scoot your chair closer to his at the table as Marcus punches in a password, so the two of you can look together. “Oh wow…” As soon as you look at the view from the front gate, it’s like it was built just for the two of you. The all-brick construction was probably intended to keep the house cooler in DC’s warm weather, but now it combines with the shoulder-height wrought iron gate surrounding the property to create an impressive historical facade. The garden seems to extend all the way around the sides, too, and includes a few fruit trees from the look of it. But it’s the dogwoods framing the entrance to the driveway that you really love. “I don’t even care what the inside looks like,” you joke as Marcus scrolls through the pictures. “It’s gorgeous.”

“I don’t think my father has ever owned an ugly house.” He admits, remembering how nice his house with his mom had been. He had wondered for years why he had obviously spent so much money, but had always written it off as guilt. “It will be modernized as much as design will allow too.”

“Holy crap, it has six bedrooms?” Glancing through the facts listed alongside the photos, you see a construction date of 1893, six beds, eight baths, and that central air was somehow installed in the historical home in the time since that became possible. “If it has a library I’m going to cry,” you tell him, starting in on your dinner with a laugh.

“Baby….” Marcus shakes his head and looks at you in delightful exasperation. “There’s a study – which is basically a library.” He flicks his thumb and takes the photos to the large study with build in bookshelves.

“If you ever can’t find me,” you look him in the eye very seriously. “I am either in the garden, or in my library. Goddamn, it’s sexy just saying it.”

“We will have to get very comfortable lounge chairs for you to curl up in.” Marcus muses with a grin. “And make sure we’ve got plenty of books to read on those rainy or snowy days.”

“I hope the fireplace is functional.” The ornate fireplace built into one wall of the study just cries out for a snowy day family cuddle pile featuring all four Pike-ettes. “Six bedrooms means each of the kids has their own room and we still have a guest room for when one of their grandfathers comes to visit.”

“That works even better than I ever could have imagined.” Marcus admits, knowing housing prices are outrageous for larger homes. He had anticipated children sharing a room at the least.

“We got lucky.” And you know exactly who to thank for it, considering Andrew explicitly put his childhood home aside for Marcus years ago. “I just hope the tenants that are there now are really okay with us moving in. I know Andrew said they had been looking for someplace smaller now that their kids are moved out, but this is short notice.”

“If they need longer, we can always stay in a hotel until they are ready.” Marcus smirks at you. “I don’t mind having you pampered for a little bit with room service and maybe spa treatments.”

“I guess we won’t have to worry about flying to DC for anything before the wedding.” Dinner is great, but now everything is great along with it and you feel like you’re buzzing in your seat. “But I think we should scale back the honeymoon. I doubt you’ll be able to get two whole weeks off with a brand-new task force.”

Marcus shakes his head. “I’ve already been assured that all my leave that already has been approved is rolling over.” He assures you. “I asked when I was told.”

“Well damn.” The smile on your face couldn’t possibly get any bigger, or it would just split you in two. “Got any other good news for me, while you’re at it? Did you go out and get a puppy on the way home and you’re just hiding it in your jacket?”

“No, I thought we would pick out a puppy when we get to D.C.” Marcus winks at you. “After the honeymoon so we don’t give the pup separation anxiety.”

“I’m never going to sleep again.” And yet? That doesn’t sound bad at all. Not when it comes on the heels of a happy family and a brand-new life that’s everything you ever wanted.

______

Master Tags: @pixiedurango @chattychell @winter-fox-queen @lady-himbo @artsymaddie @princess76179 @paintballkid711 @missminkylove @pedrosbrat @ew-erin @sarahjkl82-blog @sharkbait77 @justanotherblonde23 @lv7867 @recklesswit @mylittlesenaar @f0rever15elf @gallowsjoker @steeevienicks @athalien @sherala007 @skvatnavle @thatpinkshirt @jaime1110 @girlimjusttryingtoreadfanfics @goodgriefitsawildworld @greeneyedblondie44 @katheriner1999 @littlemousedroid @harriedandharassed @churchill356 @ajathegreats-blog @hardc0rehaylz @beardsanddetectives @kirsteng42 @ladykatakuri

Starting Over: @spideysimpossiblegirl @inspiringmelodrama @pedrilf @thevoiceinyourheadx @goodgriefitsawildworld @badassbaker @rebel-fanfare @canadianmaebe @amneris21 @kulicny @nagassia @bruxasolta @elfwriter1088 @mrsparknuts @graciexmarvel @maryfanson @what-iwish-you-knew @karlawithacapitalk

My Masterlist!

#Pedro Pascal #Pedro Pascal character fanfiction #Pedro Pascal fanfic #Marcus Pike #Marcus Pike x reader #Marcus Pike x you #Marcus Pike x female reader #The Mentalist #The Mentalist fanfic #tw divorce #tw unplanned pregnancy #pregnant reader

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teklarn · 3 years ago

Text

𝔂𝓸𝓾'𝓻𝓮 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓶𝔂 𝓫𝓸𝔂𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭 - 𝓴. 𝓫𝓪𝓴𝓾𝓰𝓸𝓾

character(s): katuski bakugou x gn!reader

a/n : y’all this was gonna be for kirishima bc i love possessive kiri but like it works so well with bakugou. first part will be from third pov, following parts will be from second pov (reblogs are greatly appreciated !! <3)

summary: bakugou x gn!reader. they have feelings for one another but have no idea how to express them, however y/n has someone pining for their attention.

genre: uhh idk a lil bit teeny-weeny dash of angst i guess

warnings: mild cursing, possessive bakugou, mutual pining, jealousy, aged-up to third year, possessive y/n, love triangle (square?), implied manga spoilers but not directly stated, tiny bitta tokage slander (sorry lol), slow burn romance (like SLOWWW SLOW BURN), lowkey enemies to lovers, like a lotta tension between bakugou and y/n

word count: 3k

UNEDITED w/ minimal or no typos. i shoved it into grammarly’s ass and prayed for the best okay

here’s pt 2 loves <3

- - -

y/n was used to picking and their skin, irritated at the girls fawning over bakugou. they were always on the sidelines, watching from afar, jealousy warping their heart. could these stupid girls not see that bakugou didn’t even care for their attention?

this time it was setsuna tokage who was begging for his eyes on her. y/n assumed it started in their first year when they’d been put against one another when the classes still had a clashing rivalry. (they still did, much more tame now, however.)

she leaned forwards, tugging on his short sleeve. bakugou’s uniform jacket was slung over one shoulder. he’d lost a lot of his angry demeanor from when he was younger, however it was easy to tell when he was pissed. it was inevitable he wasn’t going to lose his temper entirely.

it was easy to ignore the girls—most of the time, at least. what was ticking y/n off the most was the fact that bakugou didn’t seem pissed at all. his face was neutral, almost like the perfect mirror of todoroki on a daily basis. his eyes were not fired up in his usual ‘get the hell off of me’ manner. he was relaxed.

it didn’t seem like he reciprocated tokage’s feelings, however he wasn’t doing anything to get her off him and it was pissing y/n off to no end.

her sensuous lips were pushed into a slight pucker as she spoke, arching her back in a manner that made it appear much more provocative than she probably intended.

bakugou stood there, eyes flicking from her grasp on his sleeve and back up to her eyes. he didn’t say anything, didn’t move, only kept looking her up and down. not in a romantic way, of course. right?

y/n scoffed at themselves. they swallowed the lump in their throat, shoving down the pinging envy in their chest with it. why wasn’t he reacting?

heat rushed to y/n’s cheeks. why do i care?

tokage was nearing his face. she didn’t have any intent to press her lips to his, which y/n was more than glad for.

y/n had come to the conclusion they had feelings for the explosive boy weeks ago. perhaps they always had, but now that they were fully conscious of them... gosh, it was frustrating.

“you’re staring again.”

y/n turned to see kirishima, the only other person who knew about their feelings for bakugou. he’d lost the twinkle in his eyes after first year. he’d picked up a dominating sneer and a withering glare reserved for anyone who desired to cross his friends. everyone at UA had after what went down. it was a shock most of them survived anything.

“so?” y/n snapped, shoving their hands away and kicking a pebble before them. kirishima and y/n continued their walk through the courtyard.

“so it makes you look creepy.”

“no, it doesn’t. he didn’t even notice me.”

kirishima snapped his fingers. “partially my point here. that’s bakugou katsuki, you really think he’s going to notice you?”

“excuse me?”

kirishima pursed his lips, twiddling his thumbs. “i didn’t mean it like that, y/n. it’s just...well, he has so much to work for.”

y/n raised a brow, questioning his nervous antics.

he continued. “bakugou works hard. probably the hardest worker in UA aside from midoriya. and it’s bakugou. he doesn’t really see a point in relationships. you know that.”

“it’s not like i’m looking for anything with him, though. gosh, kirishima, you’re acting like this is some school girl crush.”

he tilted his head, giving y/n a look that screamed, are you really sure it’s not though?

y/n huffed out a breath, crossing their arms. they’d already vomited up their feelings, why all of a sudden call it a crush? sure, it was a tiny crush that was no larger than the brain of a dinosaur.

“i can swear that it isn’t, kirishima. you’re looking too deep into things,” y/n defended once again.

the red-head held his hands up in surrender, sucking his lips in to avoid another snarky comment slipping out.

the two looked up at the towering building that had been home to them for the past three years: Heights Alliance.

during their second year, the teachers had settled with having the dorms set up in a way that allowed the students’ rooms to be set up in a gender-neutral fashion. they’d been able to select new dorms beside whomever they wished. rooming next to kirishima was a blast, but the only person bakugou wanted to room next to was him.

mina had moved in next to you, and kaminari to her right, and sero right across from y/n.

y/n had no issue being squished between a group notorious for their goofiness and ability to never take anything seriously, however (especially on weekends) they were exceptionally loud to the point they were sure China could hear the blaring music.

friday was finally going to be over in a few hours. y/n felt a giddiness well up inside them, anticipating the weekend. it’d been a rough few days, for everyone, not just them.

class 1A had been bombarded with assignments and pop quizzes. y/n was lucky they finished it all in class. some of the homework was finished when they’d sacrificed their precious free time to get it done, but in the end, it was worth it all.

y/n let their bag sag down their arms as they entered Heights Alliance.

bakugou had just been asked out on a date. for the third time. first time, he’d denied. second time, he had to shove tokage off him. third time, he’d calmly accepted her offer, and she’d skipped away with more than a smile.

she’d squeezed his bicep, gave him a wink and an unnecessary peck on the cheek that bakugou had wiped off the moment she turned her back. he was now in his bathroom and, despite her not wearing any lipstick, he was scrubbing his cheek raw so that the skin was a blotchy red.

the date was tonight, and he found himself wanting to go, and questioning why he accepted in the first place.

bakugou forgot about tokage the second he won that match his first year and tossed her in the cage. he only noticed her when she and her group of friends giggled and passed by. (it was mostly her chortling, but whatever.)

he continued rubbing his cheek aggressively with a scratchy towel. he was repulsed by how he had stood there without bothering to snap at her to leave him alone for the third time.

instead, bakugou’s mind had buffered, and if he was in a video game, he had surely glitched. he should probably just tell tokage he didn’t want to go anymore. in fact, he never wanted to go in the first place and wants to jump out his window and escape.

it was almost comedic. the thought of him going out on a date? goodness, he wanted to throw up.

as he continued scrubbing the cloth along his cheek, bakugou found himself more than grateful for how much his quirk made him sweat. if it wasn’t for the nitroglycerin-like substance he produced, his skin would be scratched and dried up.

a knock sounded at his door. silence came, until the knock found its way to his ears. a set of three knocks, then five, then it was a needy banging.

whoever was on the other side heard his audible groan and shuffling feet dragging across the floor, because they knocked a lot harder.

he swung the door open, hinges crying out.

bakugou’s upper lip curled in disgust. tokage twirled her hair around a finger, eyelashes sticking together with mascara. “katsuki,’ she greeted.

his eyes narrowed on her. “don’t call me that.”

“what should I be calling you, then? baby? or honey?”

oh yes, bakugou wanted to vomit. what even was her name again? whatever, it didn’t matter. “lizard teeth, listen. i-”

“lizard teeth? why would you address me like that?”

“because i don’t know your damn name, alright? i don’t-”

“tokage. need me to spell it out for you?”

“no. shut up. i need to-”

“you should remember it, because i was one of the few who got in through recommendations, remember?”

“and yet here you are in class 1B. can you shut the hell up now?”

“well, you’re just being shitty.”

“why are you here, tokage.” more of a demand than a question, as bakugou’s questions always came across if he ever bothered to ask them.

“because, for our date tonight, I need to pick up some things and I really hope you’re up for coming with me.”

“no.”

“please?”

“no. stop pushing. and I don’t want to-”

“come on, grouchy.” tokage activated her quirk, one scale slipping into his dorm and pushing him towards her. she gripped the collar of his shirt and grinned. “come with me for a short bit, and I’ll count that as our date, m’kay?”

bakugou opened his mouth once more to protest, but tokage silenced him by pressing one slender finger to his lips.

“I’m fully aware you don’t want to go on this date with me.”

he relaxed, shoulders slumping. if bakugou was younger, if he was even just a little bit more stubborn as he had been before, perhaps he’d be out of this mess already, or never in it in the first place.

tokage let her hand fall back to her side—both of them. the scale returned to her lower calf; the jet-black leggings she wore now had a perfect hole in them.

“do you think i’m dense, bakugou?”

“then why ask me out?” bakugou felt himself leaning back.

“because if i can get under the skin of that stupid little...what do you like to call them? stupid little extras? yeah, that stupid extra who can’t stop fluttering googly-eyes at you every minute, then i’ll be perfectly content.”

“who the hell are you talking about?”

“alright, so you are oblivious.” tokage took a step back and crossed her arms. “are you both unaware of how you’ve both been pining for each other’s attention? y/n, that classmate of yours.”

“...y/n?”

“do you know their name or do i have to describe in excruciating detail what they look like?”

“no, no i know who you’re talking about. but you’ve got to be shitting me, alright? there’s nothing there.”

“i’m from 1B, and if there’s something going on in 1A, monoma is going to tell us.”

“shithead, get out of my face.”

“you still have to go out with me.”

“why the f-”

“because, bakugou. if you don’t, i’ll be sure to make sure y/n knows about your feelings, whether they’re real or not.”

“why would they care? more importantly, why would you care?”

y/n kicked their feet up and down, a lollipop in their left hand, phone in their other. kirishima was in his bathroom while y/n was playing a game on their phone. they’d stashed away a bunch of candy back in their dorm and had snatched a handful for the two of them to share while hanging out in kirishima’s.

he was currently combing a hand through his hair, and then proceeded to rummage through his cabinets.

kirishima emerged with his lips puckered. “want to come to the drug mart with me?” he stuck a thumb to his door.

“what for?” y/n didn’t take a glance away from their phone.

“this.” he chuckled softly. when y/n looked up, kirishima had two fingers parting his hair. the roots were a jet black, just growing long enough to become the slightest bit visible.

“you’re going to fry your hair.” they were already shoving their phone away and tossing their sucker into the trash bin.

“it’s a monthly tradition to do this, y/n. it would be fried by now if i was bad at it,” he joked, tapping his roots once more.

y/n laughed alongside him as they exited the room.

it was late, and the lights made everything feel like it was set in a world of backrooms. when the rest of the world is sleeping, it is more than quiet, and nothing feels real―possibly in the best ways.

kirishima scratched at his chin, staring intensely at the hair-dye boxes lined neatly on the shelf before them.

y/n tapped their foot, not out of impatience, but because of the creep staring at them through the aisle. yes, through.

between the boxes of hair dye and scattered makeup products, the beady eyes of setsuna tokage could be seen. she smirked when she tugged her hostage closer.

bakugou’s height had shot up to around six feet in the past two years, so all that was visible was his chest and the black sweatshirt loosely hanging off it, however his grumbling and stream of colorful language was unmistakable. it was him.

“you okay?”

y/n’s head snapped to their friend. “what?”

“you seem on edge. is something wrong?”

“nothing. nothing is wrong.”

“you sure? if you need to talk, i’m here.”

“yeah, yeah, i’m okay. don’t worry.”

“alright.” kirishima held up a box, wiggling it in one hand. “got it.” he gave y/n a toothy grin.

“good.” y/n snatched his arm up and dragged him along.

“woah,” kirishima released a breathy chuckle, tugging his arm back. “what’s got you in a hurry?”

“nothing,” y/n said, shrugging. “just wanna get home.”

gosh, kirishima knew them too well. his eyes squinted just a bit, and there was that playful grin lingering on his lips, just ghosting over his face, barely visible to anyone who didn’t know him. instead of pointing out the obvious, which was standing just a few aisles behind, kirishima decided to play around. “goodness, honey, the kids are going to be fine back home.”

heat raced to y/n’s face. “what?”

kirishima winked. “it’s nice that you care about them, but care about me a little, would’ya? i miss you, too,” he said a tad louder.

this caught bakugou’s attention. his eyes clashed with y/n’s, and he didn’t look away until y/n did. even a few seconds after, y/n still felt the blaring heat of his gaze upon them.

kirishima slung an arm around his friend, enjoying their flustered image. of course, he would never even think about pushing boundaries. the thought never crossed his mind, but he knew they’d let him know if they were uncomfortable.

when y/n looked back as kirishima led them away, bakugou’s jaw was clenched, and his eyes were alight with jealousy.

of course, y/n didn’t notice the emotion flaring.

tokage smirked, clutching his loose sleeve.

y/n looked back to their friend, and kirishima flashed them another knowing smile. bakugou was getting antsy with his best friends’ hands all over y/n. well, not all over, but a tap on the shoulder was enough.

despite the way kirishima’s face dropped, y/n swiped his arm away and wandered over to tokage a bit more angrily than intended. they glanced up to bakugou, who was reaching up to retrieve something for tokage.

“what brings you guys here? didn’t expect to see you.” inside, y/n was screaming. gosh, their heart was angry.

“just running errands together.”

bakugou? going for errands? with tokage?

“cool, cool,” y/n said, nodding. “i was doing the same with kirishima.” they paused, awkward silence filling the space.

impatient as ever, bakugou tossed the item into tokage’s basket and clicked his tongue.

y/n didn’t know why. why were they being so stubborn? despite their protesting thoughts and their entire body screaming to hold back, y/n wrapped their fingers around bakugou’s wrist.

“actually, bakugou, i have something to ask you. i need your opinion on it. you’re smart, right?” y/n’s voice lifted at the end. although they couldn’t see the, what the hell are you doing face kirishima was making behind them as subtly as possible, they could definitely feel the glare burning into their back.

“tch, of course i’m smart, shithead.”

“good.”

“we’re actually kind of in a rush,” tokage spat out, snappier than usual.

“do you think i fight okay? i need someone with a perspective like yours to know if i do.”

“what kind of question is that, dumbass? i don’t care if you can fight well or not, just so long as i can beat the shit outta ya.”

tokage let out a low growl.

y/n smirked, hand still around bakugou’s wrist. “i’d like to know if i can beat you, then, so you can tell me if i’m good or not.”

ohgoshohgoshohgosh where was this coming from?

bakugou squinted. he leaned in closer, like he didn’t hear them. “speak up.”

y/n knew he heard them correctly, but he got awfully close.

feeling a little sneaky themselves, y/n ghosted their fingers over his strong jaw, tilting his head closer so they could speak clearly into his ear. “let’s train together,” y/n said, staring tokage dead in the eyes.

it was a stupid rivalry, really. they’d both been accepted through recommendations. they’d been friends all throughout middle school, and yet when y/n made it into 1A, tokage felt it a necessity to excel at everything and rub it in their face. no way was y/n letting them get away with this.

“i want to see how strong i am.” y/n let their voice drop just a bit. “you’re strong, right?”

“are you taunting me?” bakugou said, voice nearly a whisper. he still hadn’t moved from leaning down and hadn’t bothered to move y/n’s fingertips from his jaw.

“absolutely not.” y/n sent a small grin in the direction of their rival. “let’s just see who can beat who. we’ve never been against one another like this.”

tokage huffed, tugging bakugou back. his eyes were softened when they met y/n’s, and there was simmering, small grin on his face.

tokage, however, looked less intrigued. “he’s not your boyfriend.”

y/n shrugged, already backing away. they spread their arms in a mockery of surrender. “he’s not yours, either.”

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kagesdumpsterfire · 3 years ago

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Not that anybody asked, but:

Anyone who is confused as to why they kept living together a "secret", consider this:

They both have bad experiences with doxxing. Especially Jensen. Crazies have sent rusty nails to his place for christ's sake!

The above reason is also why I, personally, tend give Jensen a pass sometimes when it comes to shippers. Shippers (namely J*2 tinhats) have stalked him, his wife and kids, his where abouts, tracked plane routes, made threats towards him his family and costars, cornered him and JP at charity events to give them (and their freaking mayor) J*2/ w🤮ncest fan art, claimed his wife is a beard (and Misha a meard to her beard for JP?) and his children are test tube babies, cornered him at cons, among a plethora of other nasty things. His experience with shippers isn't exactly the best. There are tons of positive happy little shippers, but the bad always tends to outweigh the good. Which brings me to my next point:

They know people ship them. They know. Misha has openly talked about the ship onstage as well as other cast members. They aren't entirely immune to goings on in The fandom. Out right saying it would fuel the fires and they know it. So it's eaiser for them to keep it hush hush so they don't have to deal with the uproar.

Now consider this, say there is something going on:

Image is important to actors. While being out and proud isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's still not as widely accepted in Hollywood as some would like to think. It's perfectly fine, but then you have to consider type casting. While that would be less of a problem for Misha, who's acting career is a means to an end, would it stunt Jensen's acting career as far as roles he could get.

Then there is the fact that they are both married. With kids. The mainstream media world view when it comes to poly relationships isn't exactly kind. Rumors would undoubtedly fly about affairs and such. "What about the children?!" Articles would be popping up left and right. Pop culture media thrives off of rumors and most likely would paint the whole situation in a bad light. Also, detrimental to their careers. Not to mention, that would also cast a shadow on Danneel Vicky and the children.

All of this could put serious strain on, not only their relationship, but their friendship and their families as well.

Then there's the show and it's fans to consider:

We all saw last week how insane some of the fans can be. JP stans lost their freaking minds because they learned that Jensen doesn't inform him of every single minuscule detail of his life. They were ready to slander Jensen, destroy his project before it even grew legs, and some have already sent messages to Misha's publisher about what they believe makes him an awful human. Can you imagine the panic attack of learning that Dean and Castiel's actors are living together, but not Sam's? "What about Sam? What about Jared? They're trying to exclude him! Waaaa!" They already use to freak out when Dean and Cas would have scenes together without Sam. Jen and Mish living together? They would raise absolute hell.

Jensen and JP had to(apparently still have to) keep up the " Brothers in real life and on TV" act for the brand and the GA. If Jensen would have outright told everyone that he and Misha were living together, but not Jared....it wouldn't look great. People would wonder why. Are they fighting? Are they not really friends? Blah blah blah and so forth.

If they would have openly said it 2-3...however many years ago, it could have damged the show.

These are also, likely, the reasons the In The Know part of the fandom kept quiet. Because they knew too. They knew exactly what kind of chaos it would cause. So they kept it to themselves.

So yeah, it was easier to stretch the truth about the clothes sharing and the "brief stays" and all that mess, because the truth could have very well been disastrous. Now that the show is over, however, it doesn't matter. I'm sure we can expect tons of open secrets to be revealed, maybe even some that are not so open, but also keep in mind that Jensen is still trying to keep the SPN brand going, so there might not be any groundbreaking ones coming anytime soon.

Also,also, remember they are still human beings who deserve at least a modicum of privacy. Speculation and tinhatting is all fun and games as long as it stays in a fandom space. No one should ever be forced to out themselves or tell their secrets.

Thank you. You may now resume your regularly scheduled freak out.

#cockles #destiel #omg they were roommates

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poguestvff · 3 years ago

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LIKE A BIG SISTER SHOULD — WHEEZIE CAMERON

in which wheezie cameron finds that blood doesn’t make you family, love and affection does.

taglist | masterlist | 2.5k words | @pogueslandia ,

warning(s): food, she/her pronouns, ward slander, a little sarah slander but that’d include reading between the lines. why’d this make me want to make a series of reader and Wheezie being best friends.

There's always been a heavy feeling of loneliness that rested upon the youngest cameron's shoulders, weighing her down as it seemed to pile over the years. Her siblings were always older, an age gap between them that even if it was shortened by a few years, their worlds would still be two different things. All three of them were in three different stages of life yet somehow it felt like Wheezie wasn't even there at times.

Throughout the entirety of her schooling career so far, everything had somehow been about Rafe and Sarah. Sarah was the perfect one; the paragon who could do no wrong. Even if Sarah tried to disobey, it'd be turned around to be made out as a minute mistake. She'd probably be able to get away with it a second time if she did it a different way. Maybe the same way.

Rafe was quite the opposite. The bastard child who needed a plentiful amount of attention in hopes he can be more like the paragon. With all this attention, his head only grew. It never gave him the space for growth. It minimized the space to stay exactly where he was for years on end.

This left Wheezie to be the ostracized sibling. She wasn't a social butterfly or a poster child like Sarah and she definitely wasn't a loner or the 'damaged goods' child like Rafe. She was just... average. With average grades and an average personality. Just average old Wheezie. She told herself this consistently, watching her father balance his attention between making sure Rafe stayed between the lines he'd drawn for him in a radius such as a dart board and allowing Sarah step out of them, even erasing some of the lines so she could walk on by them without a second thought.

But Wheezie was stuck in that tiny little circle in the middle, the bullseye as if scared to move out of those lines. The one place that was the hardest to pinpoint specifically by her father. But there was one thing Ward Cameron always said correct about his younger daughter. That he wouldn't be able to pin point his little dart of control into the middle of the board because she was misunderstood and misunderstood she was.

Though one person had been able to pick up on every single one of Wheezie's emotions.

Y/n Y/L/N was a pogue who had done tutoring on the side for a little extra money and when John B had recommended Y/n for help with Wheezie's homework, Ward was quick to say okay. He hardly even asked a thing about Y/n, just telling her to help Wheezie pass eighth grade and that was all. It was made very apparent to Y/n that was Wheezie was not as much of a priority to Ward as other things were.

Their first tutoring session, Wheezie was awfully dismissive. She didn't care for any of Y/n's efforts as they sat within the comfort of Wheezie's bedroom. She just wanted the entire hour to be over with the second she'd entered her room but Y/n was insistent, knowing that by the end of the school year she would have something instilled in Wheezie's brain. She just didn't know what that something was yet.

The second time they met, Y/n was more passive aggressive in hopes of breaking down the brick walls Wheezie had stored between her and everyone else in hopes of not disappointing them like the way she thought she'd disappointed her father. Y/n sat her down in her desk chair, swiveling her chair to her as she rested her hands on the younger girls shoulders. "You are going to have a really awkward couple of weeks if you and i don't become friends so no work today. We're playing 20 questions."

That night, Y/n learned a lot about Wheezie Cameron that she never thought she'd learned. Wheezie hated the color purple, she just painted her room that color because Sarah liked that color. Wheezie loved to paint and to draw, it was her favorite activity, she just rarely showed it bevause she hadn't believed in herself. Though, when she showed Y/n the canvas' that were shoved at the back of the closet, Y/n marveled at them. But Y/n's favorite fact, and the same one that almost made her hug Wheezie on the spot, was that she was never taught to swim and Y/n made her a promise that she would teach her.

As the weeks went by, Wheezie waiting anticipatingly for Y/n's beaten down, green ford bronco to pull up on the driveway and she'd leave the house with a giant smile on her face. It’d be early in the morning, a little less than an hour until school started, just like how Wheezie liked. She'd jump in the driver seat, embracing the smell of vanilla from the scented item hanging from the rear view mirror. She’d toss her bag to the back as Y/n would ruffle her hair, just like she had every morning. "And beloved was set in... late 1856!" Wheezie answered excitedly as Y/n drove down the final street towards her school after the two had gotten breakfast together.

"Perfect! You're gonna do so good on your test, Wheeze, I promise." Y/n told her ecstatically as she pulled into a parking space. Just before Wheezie could get out, Y/n held her upper arm just to gain her attention before she got out. "Tell Rose she doesn't have to get you after school. I'll leave school early and you and I are having a girls day. No studying, just me, you and a shit ton of sweets."

Wheezie smiled, she could feel the muscles in her jaw begin to hurt from how wide she had. She tilted her head to the side out of curiosity, eyeing the look of excitement on Y/n's face. "But why?"

Y/n shrugged, adjusting in her seat and fixing her rear view mirror. "Cause, you deserve it. I'm so proud of you, Little W." She told her, looking back towards the girl and seeing her smile slightly drop. "You okay?"

Wheezie couldn't remember a time where she was genuinely told that. Yeah, sure, Ward said it a few times but it'd be in a lousy tone before he'd wave her off, saying he was busy with whatever office work he had to attend to. Sarah may have said it a few times but it was rushed before she'd run after her friends with a quick goodbye to Wheeze, leaving her alone in the sand. It was never sincere. Not in the way Y/n had said it.

She rubbed her hands against her jean clad thighs with a sharp breath before nodding. “Yeah. I've just never really been told that before. Like—Like genuinely." She said, lowly, in hopes Y/n would understand and wouldn't push it.

Y/n had known Wheezie long enough to know her tells and avoiding eye contact was one of the biggest ones. So she didn't indulge further in the conversation, brushing it under the rug but knowing she'd have to go diving back in for that little tidbit later on. Instead she wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug from over the console. "I'll tell you i'm proud of you everyday if i have to." Y/n muttered before kissing the top of her head. "Now go, if you're late to first period, your dad will kill me." And Wheezie was able to leave the car with a smile on her face, already looking forward to the day planned later on.

Y/n was overall consistent, it was one thing Wheezie enjoyed knowing that when she made promises she tried to keep them as best as she could. Sometimes things slipped her mind but Wheezie could recognize that Y/n didn't forget a thing when it came to Wheezie. Like she made sure to engrave bits and pieces of her into her mind like a data chart. But it showed she cared and that was enough for Wheezie.

Y/n cared enough that when she entered her car after school, the smell of her favorite cinnabon's filled the car that made her look in the backseat, seeing a picnic basket. There wasn't a chance, right? You could only get them on the mainland. She turned her body swiftly towards the elder girl who sat with a smirk on her face. "You didn't?"

"I did. Second I left fourth period, got on a ferry just for you to have those overly sweet treats." Y/n said, tapping her nose with a 'boop'! "And I almost got stuck on the mainland because of it so you better enjoy the hell out of them."

"I will, I promise." Wheezie said dramatically as Y/n smiled, pulling out of the parking space to head down to the beach. Wheezie had said she didn't have a bathing suit, not prepared for the outing, though Y/n already said she had ransacked her room for clothes for after. Y/n was the only person allowed in Wheezie Cameron's room without Wheezie being there and the elder girl took pride in it.

As Y/n set up their small area for the few hours, she noticed Wheezie standing just where the water and the sand met. She kicked around the water with clear disinterest causing Y/n to huff, hands on her hips, before tossing off her hoodie to get in. The splash she'd made by pushing herself into the water made Wheezie jump, a laugh falling from the two's lips. "Come on." Y/n said, standing and holding her hands out to Wheezie.

"Y/n/n, I can't swim."

"Y/n/n I can't swim, well, obvi, i know that, little W. But, you have your amazing best friend to keep you afloat. I won't let you go, i swear." Y/n said, holding up her pinky.

"Swear?"

"On my life." She reassured with a trusting smile before Wheezie walked further in. When the water had gotten to her above her waist, it'd freaked her out a bit though Y/n talked her through it, coaxing her further in slowly. Wheezie was kept above the water as Y/n held her hands as the buoyancy was used to their advantage. "See, not as bad as you thought?"

Wheezie shook her head though still nervous. "Not as bad, not my thing though."

"Why don't we try actually swimming? I won't force you if you don't want to and we can get back to shore right now but maybe just try?" She asked as Wheezie had to think about it for a moment. She almost felt guilty, remembing just a few months ago when Sarah had asked her if she could teach her but she refused. Though maybe, just maybe, it was because of Y/n being a bit more trust worthy that Wheezie said yes this time.

It took a while, Wheezie was frightened by letting go even as Y/n would say she was okay. Wheezie would tighten her grip on her shoulders before trying again and again until she eventually got it. She finally was able to keep herself above the water without flailing, recognizing that she was okay. Y/n cheered as she watched, not caring for the stares of others around them. "See, dude? You just have to start applying yourself! You did it!"

"I did it!" Wheezie said as Y/n hugged her, the two laughing before Wheezie screamed making Y/n's laughter die fast. "Something touched me!"

"Wheeze, it was seaweed." Y/n said softly before turning and letting her place her hands on her shoulders. "Yeah let's get you out of here before a jellyfish gets you."

Wheezie widened her eyes. "Jellyfish?"

As the sun had began to set and people had packed up their things and left, Y/n and Wheezie stayed. Wheezie was on her fourth doughy treat, even though Y/n told her to slow down two treats ago. Towels were wrapped around each of their shoulders as they watched the pretty colors fade in to one another, a mixture of pink, blue and orange array of colors combining to make a cotton candy sky. Wheezie watched as Y/n got up, accepting a phone call from Ward, the only phone call she hadn't silenced since they'd left the car.

In the time she'd left, Wheezie took advantage of it to recognize how appreciative she was of all that Y/n was doing for her. She came in as a tutor and, to Wheezie, was to stay as a friend. As family. Wheezie was more then ecstatic to have someone who would be there to rant and rave about the other Cameron's, someone she could trust with her secrets and the contents of her always running brain. Someone who was just there.

"Hey, your father would like us back in thirty so we should leave in ten." She said coming back and sitting beside Wheezie as she caught sight of her face, the lack of the smile that was there previously concerning her. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing, really. Just... I really enjoyed today, Y/n. It really lets me know you're not just here for like... like the money or something."

Y/n let out a scoff. "Are you kidding? I enjoy nothing more than watching you freak out over the existence of jellyfish." She joked as Wheezie pushed her to the side with a laugh. Y/n recovered, letting out a content sigh as she tossed an arm over Wheezie's shoulders. "You're stuck with me now, Wheezes. Can't wait to record you falling at your next soccer game."

Wheezie couldn't help the laugh that slipped past her lips, leaning into Y/n's embrace as her head rested against her clavicle. "And I'll be looking for you in the stands, Y/n/n."

Y/n and Wheezie had both found out something about the other that night. Wheezie found that she didn't want to be like Sarah and she was glad she wasn't like Rafe. She was content with her own little circle on the dart board but maybe she could take a bit after her newest role model. And Y/n found that she was able to instill several things into the youngers mind including To Kill a Mockingbird, Inca Civilizations, and that she now had a true and present big sister to look up to.

#outer banks x reader #outer banks #outer banks imagine #jj maybank #wheezie cameron #wheezie cameron x reader #rafe cameron #sarah cameron

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