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littlemissnoname13 · 4 years ago

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Wisps of Smoke (Draco Malfoy x Slytherin!Reader) - Part four

Summary: Y/n and Draco find themselves drawn to an abandoned classroom every night

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Slytherin!Reader ft. Pansy Parkinson, Theo Nott, Blaise Zabini

Warnings: Excessive smoking, Drinking, mature language and themes, sex, masturbation, 18+ content, reader discretion is highly advised

A/n: as always, thank you for reading WOS. This story has gotten so close to my heart over the last few weeks of writing it and I am grateful for every one that read part 1,2,3. And to everyone who guessed the Astoria plot line, Damn ya’ll are too good!

I’d like to stress that smoking is injurious to health.

Word count: almost 4000

Part One, two & three if you haven’t caught up already

Thursday (Continued)

With his palms resting flat on the shower wall and his grey eyes fixed on the floor below, Draco allowed the lukewarm water to trail down his body and calm his nerves.

Between the restlessness he’d felt after his father’s visit and the stinging feeling of remembering just what was expected of him, he’d barely managed to sleep a wink for three consecutive nights.

And how could he have gone to sleep when he knew you were in that classroom—waiting for him in your silky little dress.

Oh..wait a minute.

He smirked to himself when he remembered that he had destroyed the top half of your dress in an attempt to tug it off your shoulders.

You looked absolutely stunning with the bottom half of your dress pushed back as you spread your legs wide open on top of a classroom desk—he had fucked you so fucking hard that day.

Draco wrapped his hand around his length and began to pump slowly as he recalled the way you wrapped your legs around his torso as he moved in and out of you.

Your moans.

He wondered if you were even aware of the effect your moans had on him.

The way his name slipped out of your cherry lips and the way your tits bounced with every thrust only made him want to drive deeper into you.

He let out a sharp grunt as he started to pump harder, fantasising about all the places he’d fuck you in.

He’d press you up against the shower wall and push himself deep into your cunt from behind, he’d lay you down on his desk and eat you out till you were a quivering mess before driving in and out of you, he would bend you over one of the common room sofas and fuck you so hard and fast if he ever got the chance to.

He’d make you cum time and again till you were sore and dripping with his release—fuck.

Draco let his high take all over him for a brief moment before opening his eyes when he heard his dresser drawer creak.

He dismissed the strange sound and washed the remaining soap from his body before stepping out and towel drying his hair.

“Draco! Y/n is here to see you.”

Astoria? What on earth is she doing here? This can’t be good.

He frantically wrapped the towel around his torso and stepped outside the bathroom.

“Y/n what are you doing here?” He asked, observing the eye bags under your eyes. You were wearing a loose fitted white shirt with the sleeves pushed back and the top two buttons undone.

If Astoria wasn’t gaping at the exchange between the two of you, he would have had you pinned against the wall already.

“I—I Just—” you began but before you could reach the end of your sentence, Theo jogged up to his door and stood right next to you, panting.

“Oh, you’re all here.Good.” He said with excitement saturated into his voice. “Apparently, there’s a party this Saturday night in the room of requirement and we are going—I am not taking no for an answer.”

“That sounds like so much fun.” Astoria grinned and looked at Draco expectantly,making your stomach twist.

“It’s not like we have a choice.” Draco muttered still looking at you while Astoria beamed at him.

“So, Y/n you were saying something?” Astoria politely turning the conversation back to you.

“I actually just came in here to talk about the party too.” You lied looking Draco directly in the eye.

Friday

Even though you were walking to class while bumping into a sea of students, your head was somewhere else.

But of course Malfoy was sleeping around with other girls!

How could you have forgotten?! Maybe he was shagging Astoria outside that classroom the other nig—

“Going somewhere?” Draco asked as soon as he grabbed you by the wrist and pulled you into a gap in the corridor.

“Yes, Away from you!” You spat angrily. “And I don’t appreciate you lurking around, pushing me into a wall every chance you get.”

“I just needed to talk to you y/l/n.”

“About what? Your girlfriend?” You blurted, instantly regretting your decision.

“She is not my girlfriend.”

“Oh yeah? Then what is she?!”

What you heard next made the ground crumble from beneath you and you couldn’t help but wish you had paid more attention to your mother’s letters—especially the one about the announcement at the New year’s ball.

~~~~~~~⚜️~~~~~~

Dear Y/n,

Your father and I are looking forward to having you back home for Christmas.

It will give us some quiet family time before the New Year’s Ball hosted by the Malfoys. I’ve heard it through the grapevine that young Malfoy is getting betrothed to one of the Greengrass sisters and they will officially be announcing the betrothal that night.

Isn’t that absolutely fantastic?

Let me know what sort of dress robe you’d like to wear to the Ball this year. I will make necessary arrangements.

Send my regards to Adrian.

Love,

Mum

~~~~~~~⚜️~~~~~~~

Saturday

Vodka always tasted unpleasant to say the least. In fact, it burned.

But it burned a lot less than the burn you felt watching Astoria reclining against Draco across the room.

Vodka always gave the worst type of hangover and with every gulp, you knew you were on a steady path to a regretful morning after.

But the morning after drowning yourself in unadulterated vodka shots was better than watching the soon to be Fiancé of the boy you were slowly harbouring feelings for wear his blazer on top of her silver sequinned dress.

What kind of a deranged person gets jealous over someone that was never theirs to begin with?

You forced yourself to tear your eyes away from the ridiculously attractive blonde boy dressed in all back, knocked back a few shots and happily accepted Pansy’s hand as she pulled you to the dance floor.

One minute you were jumping around with Pansy, Blaise and Theo and the next minute, you were seeing nothing but pitch black darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Firm arms gripped your waist as you staggered back to your room after blacking out at the party. In all honesty, the person walking you wasn’t much help either with his bloodshot eyes and unsteady footsteps.

“You— you shouldn’t have walked me to my room.”

“I know.” Draco said simply as he watched you walk shakily up to your door.

“Go back to the party Draco.” You said with your voice wavering as he slowly inched closer and closer to you till you were firmly pressed against the door. “You know you shouldn’t be here right now.”

“I know.” He said once again before pressing his own Firewhisky laced lips with yours. “I know.”

Maybe it was the intoxication, maybe it was the way he held firmly onto your waist as his tongue collided with your own but you used your wand to unlock your door with your mouth still attached to his.

Both of you entered the room bumping into furniture, leaving a trail of clothes all the way to your bed.

Sunday

“What is happening to this world again? Can someone please walk me through?— I am simply too hungover right now.” Pansy groaned, scratching her head as he opened the door to your shared dorm with Theo and Blaise right behind her.

Having partied all night long, all three of them were too tired to make sense of the scene in front of them.

“Yeah, I thought Malfoy was with Astoria now.” Theo scratched his chin at the sight of your head on Draco’s chest as you both slept.

Pansy’s eyes widened when she heard Astoria’s name as she quickly ran inside the room.

“Wake the fuck up you idiots.” She yelled using her wand to draw away the curtains making Draco groan as the morning light hit his eyes.

“What’s all this ruckus about.” You mumbled snuggling closer to Draco as your eyes slowly opened to see a glaring pansy accompanied by Theo and Blaise.

“I have invited Astoria up here to hang out with us, so both of you have a lot of explaining to do before she gets here.”

Monday

“So let me get this straight.” Theo began, as he took a long drag from one of Draco’s cigarettes. “Both of you have been fucking around—traumatising poor Blaise for the last two weeks, correct?”

Draco rolled his eyes, scoffing as he lit up another cigarette while you shrugged.

The four of you were at the astronomy tower, reclining against the railings as the day faded away into a chilly winter evening.

“And you two claim that you are not together, correct?”

At this, both you and Draco turned to look at each other—as if questioning each other about the status of your relationship.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” You finally said, slowly breaking eye contact with Draco. “He is getting betrothed to Astoria anyway.”

“And you’re okay with this?” Pansy asked, her face barely visible from all the smoke she was exhaling.

“Never been better.” You lied, reaching for a cigarette for yourself. You placed the filter end in between your lips and lit it up, inhaling quickly.

The second you did, tears automatically started to stream from your eyes as you started to cough.

Draco shook his head and turned to you.

“Here.” He muttered taking a step towards you, before taking a deep drag from the cancer stick in between his fingers.

With his free hand raked inside your hair, he pulled your face closer to his until his lips were barely touching yours.

“Inhale y/n.” He murmured, as wisps of smoke left his lips and entered yours.

You were too preoccupied by his proximity to notice the gagging sounds your friends were making beside you.

Tuesday

On your way to the library after class, you heard the voice of Lucius Malfoy right outside the dungeons.

He was going on and on about a ring and how irresponsible Draco was for not getting one made already. Christmas holidays were nearing and Lucius was sure Draco would tarnish the Malfoy family name by not having a ring made on time.

You simply didn’t understand why the Malfoy’s couldn't just use an old family heirloom but you decided to not question it as you walked past them—watching the tired and defeated expression on Draco’s face.

Wednesday

Draco lay on his bed, fiddling with an oval cut emerald ring with the letter “M” engraved on the back of it. The ring had been with the Malfoy women for generations and he simply could not picture the ring on Astoria’s fingers.

And even though he had no say on his betrothal, he wanted to have a say on the ring and so he had insisted on getting something else made for Astoria.

But the last two weeks had gone by in a matter of seconds so he did not find the time to, and could not even be bothered to go and have another ring made.

He had known about his impending engagement since the beginning of the year. He’d taken Astoria out several times but he knew there was nothing to that relationship besides sex and chaste kisses on the cheeks exchanged during family dinners.

He didn’t really mind at first, everything felt fine and he simply craved the validation of his father.

Draco was doing just fine before you came along.

Sure, life was a little lacklustre. The sky wasn’t as azure, his morning coffee wasn’t as aromatic, and cigarettes were simply means of deteriorating his lungs.

But now, things had shifted a little.

He felt happier than he had felt in a really long time.

Just as he was opening up his drawer to put away the family heirloom, you knocked on his door—looking breathless.

“I’m sorry but I overheard your conversation with your father and I think I might be able to help.”

“Huh?” Draco asked, tilting his head,watching you as you grabbed his left hand and dropped a shiny Amethyst ring in the palm of his hands.

“I had it made for my birthday last month.” You shrugged, it’ll help you keep your father off your back till you get another made.”

If he hadn't fallen in love with you already, he surely did in that particular moment, as he pulled you into his arms, desperately crashing his lips on top of yours.

Fuck validation.

Fuck everything.

Fuck everyone.

Thursday

Your back firmly pressed against his bare chest—his heart beat calm and steady.

Draco had his arms wrapped tightly around your waist as he possessively pulled you closer to him the way he always did.

That is how you had woken up.

Cuddled up with him in his incredibly snug and comfortable bed within four walls enclosed with the smell of bourbon, mixed with the smell of soap, sex and his absurdly expensive cigarettes.

Even with your eyes still shut, your lips couldn’t help but curve upwards when you felt his breathing gently tickle the back of your neck.

That is how you had woken up that morning and you honestly wouldn’t mind waking up like that for the mornings to come.

“Morning Y/l/n.”

His raspy and deep morning voice sent shivers down your spine as his soft lips came in contact with the spot right below your ears.

“Morning.”

He continued to sensually suckle and nibble that particular spot and you suddenly found yourself wanting to be suckled and nibbled on other places.

“Draco.” You hummed pushing yourself further into his embrace. There was something so fulfilling and satisfying about the way you fit into each other's embraces. Entangled arms, limbs and all.

The hands that were wrapped securely around your waist now trailed upwards until they found your breasts.

The feel of his hands taking their own sweet time—softly kneading your sensitive flesh was enough to have you writhing against him

He made sure to take his time and give equal attention to both your breasts, using his slender fingers to pinch and tug at your hardened buds till you were pushing your hips further back towards him—craving friction, any type of friction really.

“Easy now.” He lazily whispered into your ear as you started to grind your hips urgently against his erection aching to feel him inside of you again.

You were empty and missed the feeling of being full but he was nowhere near done with worshiping your breasts—making you restless and impatient with each squeeze.

“Draco.” You tilted your head backwards and sighed into his neck.“I—I need you to fuck me. Please—I just want to feel you inside me.”

Draco let out a small chuckle at the directness of your words.

If someone had told him that the same girl that tried to hex him so many times in the past would be saying that to him, he would have told them to get themselves checked at st. Mungos.

“Relax Darling. I’ll take take of you.” He murmured before trailing his lips down your neck and towards your shoulder placing mellow and relaxed kisses all the way.

“Draco please.” You whined, grinding your hips harder—desperate tears threatening to leak out of your eyes when you felt his hand on your hip, slowing you down.

“That’s it. Such a good girl.” He whispered encouragingly into your ear as you let his hands guide you—moving your hips in excruciatingly slow circles against him while he resumed kissing your neck and bare shoulders.

“Atta girl. Yes that’s it. Keep doing that.”

His kisses were a stark contrast to his lustful, ravenous and angry kisses from the previous night and the kisses only left you craving even more.

“Please Draco—Fuck me. Please just fuck me.”

“Look at you, begging for it.” He said in a hoarse whisper as the tip of his cock made contact with your already soaking wet folds and all you could do was let out a muffled moan into your pillow.

The tip of his cock only slipped halfway inside of you before he pulled out again, teasing.

“You’re dripping wet.”

“Draco..” you whined.

“Tell me darling, who made your pussy this wet?”

“You did. Draco Lucius Malfoy—Only you.”

He loved hearing you beg, he loved it only second to the way you said moaned his name and so he finally entered you allowing his cock to completely stretch you out and fill you up.

With his perfect teeth bared, Draco peppered kisses onto your shoulders, nibbling gently as he rocked his hips at a slow but steady pace—all the while mumbling sweet nothings into your skin about how well you took him, and how good he felt being inside of you.

The way his skilled hands tugged, twisted and pinched your nipples made you feel an other worldly sort of pleasure—causing you to whimper and moan his name,moving your own hips, trying to feel him deeper inside your walls.

“Shhhh—easy there.” He whispered against your neck. “Just let go.. Focus on feeling every inch of me buried deep inside your pretty little cunt. Can you do that for me?”

You nodded and stopped moving your hips and used one of your arms to hold onto his neck as you relaxed into him.

“That’s it y/n, Just like that.” He coaxed, running his hand up and down your body before firmly resting on your hip as he fucked you nice and slow.

There was something different and unexpected about his thrusts, something strange and foreign about the way he used his thumb to rub slow and sensual circles on your clit.

“You feel so good y/n. Your pussy feels so amazing.”

Your moans muddled into one and his movements rocked the bed as he made love to you, pushing you closer and closer towards your orgasm.

“Fuck—Im so close.” You moaned, burying your head deep into the pillow as Draco picked up his pace pushing his cock in harder and deeper with each thrust.

“Oh fuck. yes Draco..yes.” You moaned as he dug his nails onto your hips forming crescent shaped indentations as he pushed himself deeper, hitting just the right spot over and over again, making your walls clench up.

“Draco…”

“Cum for me, Angel. Cum with me.” He groaned,making both of you ride out our highs till his warm seed spurted deep inside of you.

When he pulled out of you, some of the warm liquid had already managed to seep out of you and trickle down your inner thigh.

After taking a brief second to catch his breath, Draco shifted lower into the bed till he was in just in between your legs.

“I could get used to waking up like this.” He smirked looking up at you. His platinum blonde hair was slightly wavy and kind of fluffy, falling on his forehead but not yet covering his stormy greys.

“Like what?” You teased.

“Don't play with me y/l.n.” He warned with a wicked gleam making the grey hues in his eyes brighten into a brilliant. It felt like his eyes changed colors from blue to grey according to his moods.

“I could get used to waking up like this too.” You said softly as he tried to push back everything that had managed to trickle out.

Right before Draco could even reply, his door creaked open.

“Malfoy, Astoria is waiting for you in the common roo—fuck not this again.” Blaise groaned as you pulled the sheets over your body.

Friday

On your last evening at school before Christmas break, you found yourself perched on the windosill, nestled in between Draco’s arms and limbs in the classroom that started it all.

The pad of his right thumb traced slow, almost lazy circles on your hand while he held his cigarette in his left hand.

The lit tip of his cigarette was the same shade as the sunset in the tangerine sky and you took deep breaths to try and soak him and the smoke rings that escaped his lips up because you weren't sure if you’d get to be with him again.

“What are you doing y/l/n?” He asked when he noticed you breathing in and out.

“Nothing.”

“Please.” Draco chuckled, taking a long drag from his cigarette. “You have that look on your face.”

“What look?” you asked, turning your head to look at him—the way the last rays of the setting sun caught up on his eyelashes only making you fall harder than you already had.

“This look y/n.” He kinked his eyebrows and tried to mimic your expression. “This is the look you have on your face wherever you are up to something—like when you try and fix your failed potion in Potions class. Actually, you even make this face when you mix sugar into your tea.”

“Im just—” You clicked your tongue in frustration. “I’m just going to miss this, I guess.”

Your words made his expressions soften because he understood.

How could he have not?

He had spent the whole of last night watching you sleep—the way your chest was rising and falling, the way your heart was beating against his.

He had spent the last hour trying to store the scent of your fruity shampoo deep inside his memory banks because he wasn’t sure if there would be a next time.

“Let’s stay back at Hogwarts” He mumbled, pulling you closer to him. “It’ll just be us, it will be good.”

“If only.” You sighed as you rested the back of your head at the crook of his neck. “But I have to go back home and explain the whole situation with Adrian and you…”

Both of you went silent for a bit.

“Give me your hand y/n.” He finally broke the silence as you turned around and looked at him quizzically. “I want to give you something.”

You turned your body around so you could face him better. The strong winter breeze blew his hair towards his eyes, making you want to reach up and push those stray hairs away. Instead, you simply placed your hand on his.

“Close your eyes.”

You rolled my eyes at him before squeezing your eyes shut.

“Are they closed?”

You nodded and you felt him slip something onto your finger and you quickly opened one eye to take a peek and It didn't even take you a second to realize he had slipped an emerald ring from onto your finger.

“Draco. I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

“I thought I told you to keep your eyes shut.” He snapped.

“But I can’t take this.”

“I owed you a ring y/n.” He said holding your hand in his to look at the ring on your finger making a type of warmth spread over your entire body. “Keep it till I get the other ring made.”

You simply stared at the ring unable to form words with your mouth until you felt him shift beside you as he got back up to his feet.

“Don’t overthink it y/n—I’ll see you at the ball.”

You hummed as you quietly watched him walk away from you, ignoring the stab your felt in your heart with every step he took. But before you could process your emotions fully, Draco turned on his heel and walked towards you— instantly cupping your face in his hands.

“Draco what are-”

His lips ardently crushed yours before you could even finish your sentence

There was an abrupt kind of finality in the way he moved his lips against yours. It was like he was kissing you for the last time .

“I’ll be thinking of you y/l/n.”

To be continued..

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

Part 5 teaser:

Draco’s features softened as he slowly shifted and got up from the reading nook in his bedroom to fully open his window.

You shielded yourself as cold drops of rain started to hit your face. “What in the actual fuck?”

“Shut up and follow me.” He said as he climbed out of the window and onto the ledge.

“Are you mental?”

“Just do as I say.” He said helping you onto the ledge.

Both of you laughed hysterically as the rain seeped through our clothes as you sat on the ledge with you bare feet dangling in the air.

One wrong move and both of you could fall to your respective deaths. But there came an adrenaline rush with the risk of it all.

___________________________

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Love,

#harry potter #draco malfoy imagine #draco malfoy x reader #draco x reader #slytherin #draco fanfiction #draco malfoy #draco smut #draco x reader smut #draco x y/n #draco x slytherin!reader #draco malfoy smut

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sunflowerstache · 4 years ago

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Did You Order a Pizza?

Halloween 2020 is filled with lots of surprises for the Styles family

A/N: Hi lovelies! I hope you had. great Halloween and you're feeling alright these days! This is a one shot following the family from my pic Another World, which you can find here! I hope you enjoy it and I cannot wait to hear all your thoughts!! I love y'all!

Word Count: 7.6k

~~~

“And you’re sure he’s back?”

“You heard him on the phone. He’ll be waiting for Jeff so you’ve got plenty of time while he waits for the man to not show up.” Glenne smiled at you from her spot in the driver’s seat. “Although, I think he’ll like who does show up instead.”

Harry had left for Los Angeles so that he could begin filming a new Olivia Wilde film, leaving you and Bella in London. And as much as you’d have loved to join him on such a monumental step in his career from the start, you were unable to travel with him. Not only were you unable because your daughter was still in school at the time, but because of the pandemic that was still going on throughout the world. It prevented for most of the year’s plans to take place, which absolutely crushed Harry. He was looking forward to Love on Tour and showing his fans how much fun this new era was for him, more than you’d seen from him in a long time, but he would always put the safety of his fans before entertainment, so it was an easy choice to postpone. However, no tour meant that he could gladly accept a leading role in a film alongside some of the most well known actors in the industry.

But it only took you a few days after his departure to find out you couldn’t be so far from him. As fate would have it, Bella’s class was turning into online learning once the half term break ended, which meant one of the most important reasons you were still in London had vanished. So, after spending two weeks quarantining and making sure you took all the necessary precautions, both you and Bella got tested and flew to the states with your negative results. From the start, you had told Jeff of your plan and he and Glenne gladly welcomed you into their home once you arrived, wanting to spend time with Bella for a few days after going so long not seeing the toddler. And finally, once you got the negative results of yet another test, you and your daughter were off to stay with Harry.

Jeff had spoken with your boyfriend over FaceTime earlier that morning, feeding Harry some story about needing to solidify some merch designs, and making sure that Harry would be patiently waiting for his manager after he finished filming for the day. But the plan was to have Glenn drive Jeff’s car so he suspected nothing seeing it pull up, and surprise him when it was you and Bella getting out the car instead of the oldest Azoff son.

“I can’t wait.” you groaned out through the grin taking over your face. You bounced in your seat slightly, pressing both hands to your cheeks just thinking about seeing his shocked face when he opened the door expecting Jeff, but seeing you and Bella instead.

“What?” The question was brought up after a soft chuckle was heard from Glenne’s side of the car as soon as you were halted at a stoplight.

��Nothing. It’s just cute how excited you are to see him after being apart for what, a month?”

“27 days.” you whispered, urging yourself to force down a smile. “But who’s counting?”

“You guys have been together nearly a decade, and you still get all flustered when you talk about him.”

The way you and Harry acted around one another was something that was always commented on by people in your inner circle, for that exact reason. Without a doubt, your relationship had gone through some of the toughest times, but that was bound to happen when you’ve been with someone since you were sixteen… and even more likely when every moment of your life was documented to the public. But those tough times never seemed to last, because at the end of the day, Harry was everything you ever wanted and vise versa. He was what you daydreamed about in a partner while growing up. And being with him was like being with the sun. He made you feel loved and cared for, you had more fun with him than anyone else on the planet, and every single day with him felt like a new adventure. As a kid, you’d thought the way people described the love of their life was corny, nothing but a thing of fairy tales, yet that feeling that bloomed inside your chest and tummy every time you thought about Harry told you that it was very real.

“Dunno.” you shrugged, “He’s my person. Even seven and half years later, he still makes me feel like he did on our first date.”

“That what’s got you looking extra glowy or is that just another secret to staying in the honeymoon phase forever?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” you replied quickly, finding it hard to keep the giddy feeling that was now bubbling in your lower stomach under control when you turned your head to meet her gaze. She was squinting at you with suspicious eyes, her lips pursed as she bit the inside of her cheek, which forced a laugh to fall from you. “What? I don’t! Just miss him, that’s all. Isn’t that right baby? We just missed daddy loads, huh?” making sure to quickly take the attention away from yourself, you turned as much as you could in your seat to look at Bella in the back.

“Yes! I miss daddy so much!” her little legs kicked against the carseat and her arms lifted high above her head, a huge smile plastered on her face. “I have so many drawings and stickers to show him and Mr. Jeff got new socks!”

“I know, we got them all tucked away nice and safe so you can show him. Do you remember what the plan is when we get there?” you asked her, your breath getting caught in your throat for a moment when the sun shined just right through the rear window. It was a perfect day in LA, sunny and warm and just as the car pulled onto the street you knew was where Harry was staying, the sunlight danced across Bella’s perfect complexion. She was a spitting image of her father, down to the freckles dotting her face, the deep set dimples that never seemed to disappear, and the curls constantly falling in front of her face no matter how hard you tried to keep them tamed. Every now and again you caught a glimpse, sometimes through the kitchen window while she was playing in the backyard and other times while her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks as she slept on your chest, of just how breathtaking Bella is. What angelic beauty the love between you and Harry had managed to create.

“Yeah mumma!” she smiled, giving you two thumbs up, very clearly excited about getting to see her dad again. “You ‘member my costume, right mumma?”

“Of course I did. Put it in the bag right next to mine.”

“Good. ‘Cause ‘m really ‘cited about it.”

“I know baby. It’s a good one, isn’t it?” you knew Harry would get a kick out of what Bella decided to be for Halloween. She had come to you months ago, actually sat you down in the kitchen and explained what she wanted to do like she was in a little business meeting. And of course as soon as she told you, you had to laugh because it was perfect.

“Yeah.”

Her whisper was the last thing said within the confines of the car before the three of you pulled up in front of a beautiful white house nestled deep in the Hollywood Hills. It was much smaller than the house the pair of you had just sold just blocks away, but everything about it was so much homier. A brick walkway sandwiched between a line of shrubbery and a white stone wall led up to the house, which itself was an odd shape. The very front of the house came up to an asymmetrical point instead of a typical flat roof, and the rest of the house was pushed back slightly, so that none of the face was level, and the house almost seemed cut in half horizontally from the distinct line between white stone bottom and black paneling on the upper level of the home. Finally, a brick downhill driveway, made of the same brick as the walkway, led to an all black garage that sat just below the rest of the home. The small details is what made the building give off such a cozy vibe; a vibrant green front door, plant boxes hanging off a few of the upper windows, a black wooden archway and lanterns surrounding the front door, a few potted plants on the side of the walkway, and the faint golden hues peaking through the closed blinds.

“Cute, huh?” Glenne laughed, putting the car in park and turning fully in her seat to look at you.

“Yeah, it actually really is. Reminds me a bit of our old place.”

“Place in London, right? That’s what I told Jeff.” she said at the same time, looking behind her at Bella while you got out of the car. “You ready to go, tulip?”

“Yes please!”

Her hands were already fumbling with the seat belt by the time you opened her door, the excitement itching at her in preparation for what was to come, but she graciously waited for you to sort her out.

“Thank you mumma.” she muttered casually once you had her unbuckled and lifted into your arms.

“You’re welcome, baby.” the way Bella was the most polite little girl you had ever known never failed to make your heart soar. You and Harry were so proud of the person she was becoming, whether she was that way because she saw how everyone in her life acted or because she was born with the kindest little soul, it didn’t matter. She always made sure the people around her were happy and having fun, constantly reminding people how much she loves them, and trying her hardest to make everyone laugh. It was yet another way she reminded you of Harry; they both could instantly light up a room without even trying. “Just gotta ring the bell, right? Say your line?”

“You got it, mumma!” she smiled brightly, leaning in to give you a quick kiss.

Nearly the instant you put her down, she darted up the brick steps, taking a full pause at each step to be her funny self and jump, with both feet together, up to the next one. As she made her way towards the front door, you took your place leaning against the passenger door of Glenne’s car, nearly doubling over in laughter watching Bella look hysterical lifting up on her very tiptoes in order to reach the unusually high doorbell.

Your breath caught in your throat as you waited for Harry to open the front door. For a minute, you were sure that he had ignored Jeff’s instructions to stay home, but to your relief, the green door finally opened, revealing a very comfortable looking Harry. He was very obviously post shower, his hair visibly wet and sparkling when the porch lights lit up his form, clad in a pair of black basketball shorts and one of his grey Treat People With Kindness hoodies, and nothing else but a tall pair of Nike socks. It was like a scene from a movie, because when he didn’t immediately see Jeff in front of him, Harry looked over towards the driveway quickly like he was being pranked. But within a second, his attention was brought down to Bella, who tugged on the hem of his shorts, her sweet voice barely audible from the distance.

“Did you get a pizza?”

It was comical to watch him just stare at her like she had three heads. You couldn’t blame him, last he knew, both you and Bella were five thousand miles away, so it made sense that his brain was not comprehending the scene in front of him.

“He’s so confused.” Glenne giggled behind you, but her voice seemed like it was muted with how fully your focus was on your boyfriend.

“Hmm.”

Not even a second after your hum of agreement, and as if it was in slow motion, you watched as realization glossed over his features, his green eyes widening and mouth hanging open, and he sank to his knees. It didn’t take him even a second to pull Bella into his chest, winding his arms completely around her tiny frame and cradling her head in his surprisingly ring free hands.

Seeing the two of them together was like looking at two halves of the same soul reconnect. The moment they were in one another’s arms, it was like everything got brighter. Their smiles widened, chuckles more audible - even from such a far distance, and the warmth that typically lived in your chest recently, burned even warmer. You always knew Harry was meant to be a dad, just from how much he talked about it. You knew that he would do his very best to go above and beyond for his child, to make sure they felt loved and secure and treasured. But hearing about it and seeing it are completely different. Seeing nothing but total adoration on his face whenever he looked at your daughter made you fall in love with him all over again.

“Mumma!” Bella’s shouted, snapping you out of the daze you had slipped into while watching the moment before you. Both Harry and Bella were now looking at you from the doorway, her head resting on her father’s shoulder as he held her in one arm, their faces totally engulfed with smiles. “C’mere Mumma!”

“Yeah mumma.” Harry finally spoke up, his voice carrying down the pathway right to where you were standing.”C’mere.” Just seeing him standing there, smiling so brightly and holding his free arm out telling you he was waiting for a hug, was enough to make you break out in a smile and push off the car, dashing up the steps.

His chest was firm when you crashed into it, much firmer than when you hugged him goodbye in the airport a few weeks ago, and you felt as if you head placement on his chest was different - like he’d grown since you last saw him. Or maybe he hadn’t changed at all but your mind was finally coming out of a month long fog that it slipped in without him, getting readjusted to being in his arms.

“Hi sweetheart.” he whispered in your ear, peppering kisses all along your hairline and temple like he physically couldn’t leave an inch of the side of your face untouched.

“Hi baby.”

“What’re you doing here?” he asked, pure wonder in his tone as he nudged the side of your face with his chin, making you lift your head from his chest and look at him. “I just talked to you this morning, said you were going to see your parents before everything got locked down again.”

“Yeah, well. I lied.” you smiled, leaning in to press kiss after kiss to his lips, trying your best to control the insane happiness rushing through your veins. Your response seemed to be enough for him, because he didn’t ask another question wondering why you were in LA. Which was good for you because your plan wasn’t to explain everything on the front porch.

The three of you stayed frozen in that same position, Harry’s arm so tight around you that your face was completely buried in his hoodie, and the other arm holding Bella, forming a makeshift group hug, not bothering to worry about anyone seeing you or anything going on past the wooden archway. Because nothing else mattered. Not when you were with the two people who made your world spin.

“Daddy.” Bella’s timid voice finally broke you apart, both you and Harry leaning back a bit so that you could put your full attention on the little girl in his arms.

“Yes lovie?”

“I lied too.”

“What did you lie about?”

She lifted her head from his shoulder in order to look at him with a very concerned expression, like she felt deeply sorry for whatever she was about to say to him. “I don’t have a pizza. ‘M sorry. Mumma told me it was funny.”

“Oh did she now?” Harry mocked in offence, looking back at you and raising his eyebrows.

“Mhm. But it wasn’t, ‘cause we don’t have any.”

“That’s right. But sometimes it’s okay to say something silly like that and not feel bad as long as it’s not something to hurt anyone, right? And daddy isn’t mad. How about you mumma?” Harry looked to you, trying not to smile at how adorable Bella was about the little fib. You shook your head.

“Not at all.”

“And what about you, B.B? Are you sad you told daddy there was pizza?”

She contemplated it for a bit, scrunching her nose up - again, just like her father - and looking around like the answer would be hanging in the air somewhere. “Yeah.” she said matter of factly. “But ‘cause I want pizza. And we don’t have any.”

Both you and Harry couldn’t help the laughs that fell from your lips, wasting no time before leaning forward to press a kiss to Bella’s forehead. “How about we get some then?” he asked against her skin, glancing at you when saying his next bit. “We’ll get your bags from the car and order one?”

“Oh god!” you yelled, turning around to face the car from which you’d just ran from. “Completely forgot Glenne was sitting in there! She’s probably been texting Jeff about how annoying we are.”

“Annoyingly adorable, yeah.”

“Think she’d fight you on that one. Nearly made her sick on the drive here with how excited I was to see you.” your laugh was muffled as Harry wrapped his arm back around your neck, dragging you in a headlock down the first step towards the car. Bella, knowing that it was time to bring in the bags, wiggled out of Harry’s grasp and sprinted down the steps ahead of you, right into the arms of a now out and about Glenne.

“Everything’s alright?” Harry’s voice was laced with concern now that your little one was out of ear shot. You both tried your hardest to never have any sort of talk about negative things around her, whether that be an argument or things going on in life, because she should never have to be put through the stress of that. Most of the time you just waited until she was asleep to talk about those things, but sometimes it meant going into different rooms and closing the doors.

“Hmm?”

“Everything’s alright, right? You didn’t come all the way out here because something’s wrong, did you?” quickly forgotten was your position in a headlock, and instead, Harry kept his arm around your neck, your body fitting perfectly tucked into his side. You walked step by step to meet your friend and daughter, who already started pulling suitcases out of the boot.

You took a peek up to him, noticing he was already glancing down at you, his eyes roaming all over your face to look for any sign of distress that he may have missed when he first saw you. But you had none to offer him. “Yeah baby, everything’s okay. Just needed to be with you.”

“Swear? You’d tell me if there was something?”

“Of course I would. Always.”

“Alright, professor. But if I find out you were hiding something, I’ll have to write a diss track.”

“Oh will you now?”

“Mhm. Thems the rules.”

Glenne spent a bit of time with the three of you before heading off, telling you to enjoy your time together and even throwing in a little joke about maybe even making a new baby since she missed how little Bella used to be. The comment made your ears warm and a weird feeling flutter through your stomach, but she gave you no time to respond before she shuffled out the door.

Since arriving at Harry’s, Bella practically refused to leave his arms, wanting to be as close to him as possible until she really realized that no one was going anywhere for quite a bit. And her thoughts must have quieted enough because not even twenty minutes after Glenne walked out the front door, Bella was running through the house towards one of the extra rooms she’d be sleeping in.

“Mumma! Come help me! We gotta show daddy!” her already soft voice was even soft as she yelled from the second floor, her request forcing you to get up from the sofa.

“What are we showing me?”

“She’s really proud of her Halloween costume this year. Spent weeks planning it out, you know?”

“I know. She wouldn’t budge anytime I asked her. Very secretive that one.”

“Hmm, wonder where she gets that from?” you sang while walking up the stairs, letting out a snort when you saw him lift a middle finger to you from his position still on the sofa, not even bothering to turn around to look at you as you continued towards your daughter.

“Alright baby, I’m here! Where do you want me?” you clapped, entering Bella’s room in a way that mimicked that of Harry Lambert, something that you knew she’d recognize right away from the amount of times she’s seen her parents being helped by the stylist.

“Over here, mumma. Gotta help me button!” she had already rid herself of the clothes she’d been wearing on the drive to Harry’s, the green long sleeve shirt and jeans laid in a crumpled mess at the foot of the bed while she stood in just her knickers, searching through the small suitcase on her bed for all the pieces to her costume.

You took a seat on the floor next to where she was standing, watching her every move as she finally found everything she was looking for. Her tongue stuck out while she took the fabric between her fingers and gently held it in her hands - taking a moment to look at it in awe - before turning and holding it out to you, expectantly.

“Gotta be careful with it, mumma.”

“Oh I know. They’re really delicate, aren’t they?”

“Mhm. Reedy told me to be gentle with ‘em ‘cause they were made with extra love so they’re extra soft.”

“Oh that’s perfect! They’ll be on for quite a while so it’s good that it’s all comfortable.”

“Yep.”

You look notice of how long her hair had grown while zipping up the back of her shirt, the curls continuously falling against your fingers despite being held over her shoulder by Bella. You knew well enough even before she was born that she was going to have gorgeous hair, all it took was one look at the locks cascading from her father to tell you that, but it seemed to grow even more mesmerizing by the day. It fell loose past her shoulders every day, always managing to fall in front of her eyes while she was sprawled out on the floor playing. Even though you did enjoy how cute she looked pushing the crazy curls out of her face while her little tongue stuck out, you knew it was time for a trim soon.

“Are you wanting a haircut soon?” you asked while zipping her pants as well.

“Hmm, I don’t think so. I like it long.”

“How about we see if we can get rid of some of these dry bits at least?”

Bella thought about it for a bit, picking at her nails while mulling over the idea of going back to the salon. “Yeah, I think that’s fine.”

“Alright, we’ll see about making an appointment when we get back home. Gives you some time to think it over.”

“Okay! Y’almost done mumma? ‘M excited.” she bounced in place, trying her best not to move so that you could finish getting her ready as fast as possible.

“All set!” you checked, reaching up to grab her hair out of her grasp and let it fall down her back. “Just put the jacket on and you’re all set to show daddy.”

“He’s gonna be so happy I know it!” she squealed, carefully picking up and putting on the final part to her costume and turning to look in the floor length mirror. Bella didn’t say anything for a minute, taking the time to examine herself in the mirror. She smoothed the fabric covering her torso, lifted her feet in order to see the little pair of boots, and had one of the largest smiles you’d ever seen on her. “I look so good!”

“You do, lovie! Award winning I’d say.”

“Thank you for helping! Lets go!!” she yelled, darting towards the door and only stopping at the top of the stairs when you called for her, reminding her to be careful by the steps. The two of you quickly discussed your plan before departing ways, leaving Bella a bouncing mess just above you as you walked down to the light switch at the bottom of the steps.

Flicking all the lights off, you cleared your throat and waited for Harry, who had gotten up off the sofa upon hearing your descending footsteps and was now leaning against the back of the furniture, his bum resting just on top of the back, to give you his full attention. Although the lights were off, it was still early enough in the evening that light showed through the windows, allowing you to see his face and make sure Bella got down the stairs safely.

“You all know him as 2013’s Teen Choice Male Hottie -”

“Also 2016.” Harry cut in, trying and failing to stifle his chuckle

“Also 2016’s” you added, “and lead roles in Award Winning pictures such as This Is Us and iCarly.” at this point, it was obvious what was happening and you could tell Harry was fully on board with what was about to walk down the stairs. But he was also so excited. He no longer was leaning against the sofa, but now standing upright and his hands were pressed together in a praying position in front of his mouth. “Introducing, the incredibly talented, musically gifted, style icon of the decade, Mr. Harry Edward Styles!”

The second you saw that Bella made it safely to the ground next to you, you flicked on the dim lights that just illuminated the staircase, showering your daughter in the closest thing you could get to a spotlight. She was standing in Harry’s signature position; bent forward slightly with one hand held in a peace sign while the other dangled loosely by her side and mouth open wide. Harris Reed had taken the time to make Bella a nearly exact replica of the white and black floral suit Harry had worn to the 2015 AMA’s - the suit that really started it all when it came to Styles’ fashion. Her curls were hanging past her shoulders just like Harry’s were at the time, and for good measure, she even lifted her hand to push some out of her face exactly like he used to.

She was a spitting image of Harry. And he loved it.

“Oh my god! You’re kidding! You look fantastic! Gonna put me out of a job! I won’t even need to go on stage anymore. This is amazing!” he screeched, rushing forwards and couching down in front of his daughter. He took in every last detail of the outfit; how the under shirt had buttons but did not open from the front (something Harris thought would be easier for Bella to get in and out of), how the floral detail was exactly the same as the one he had hanging in his closet back home (Reed had asked Alessandro for the fabric), and how even the shoes were a near replica.

“Mhm. I can sing next time. I’ll go up and sing to your friends and you can sit and watch and talk to Mitchy.” she nodded, taking a step back and belting out ‘You’re so Golden!’ “See? Like that!”

Harry beamed. “Absolutely! Give me a nice break every now and again, very thoughtful. We’ll just have to change your bedtime and it’s all set!”

“You like it, daddy?” she asked, her eyes wide as she moved right in front of Harry, her hands grasping the hood of his hoodie and she looked directly into his eyes.

“I love it - and you - more than there are stars in the sky!” Harry responded without hesitation, grabbing her and lifting her into his arms, swinging Bella around quickly enough to let a few giggles. “Thank you very much, beautiful, it makes me very happy.”

“Can’t believe you wanted to be your smelly old dad.” he joked when she pushed against his chest to look at him, “See me everyday, why’d you wanna dress up like me too?

“‘Cause you dress the best, daddy!”

“Ohhhh hear that, love?” he turned to look directly at you, Bella now hiding her face in her hands in embarrassment on saying her dad dressed better than her mum. “I’m the best dressed.” Harry stuck his tongue out at you.

The reaction from Harry was everything Bella was expecting and more. So much so that she could no longer fight the exhaustion of the hectic day any longer. She barely made it five minutes in Harry’s arms before finally passing out. In the coming December, she’d be turning five and you were trying to start and wean her off of taking long naps, but after such an energetic day you welcomed the time for her to rest. She put up a fight getting out of Harry’s arms, the arm she had shoved into Harry’s hood in order to thread her fingers through the short hair at the nape of his neck, tightened each time he tried to pull her away to lay her in bed. Like even in her unconscious state she wanted to know that seeing Harry again wasn’t a figment of her imagination.

It was heavenly to be back with Harry. Even though you had only been apart for such a short amount of time, there was so much to catch up on, and you would never get tired of hearing about everything going on in his life.

“And they used this stuff called Dermacol, and I swear, she swiped over it once and the anchor was gone. Bloody insane seeing it all bare. Hasn’t been that year in years.” Harry laughed, finishing his story of how his first few days on set had gone, the two of you laying in his bed while you waited for the pizza you ordered while he put Bella down for a nap.

“Don’t wash it off tomorrow. I want to see.” you tilted your head back so that it was resting on Harry’s shoulder, in order to look at him. He was sitting behind you, his back pressed against the headboard while you were nestled between his legs, enjoying the feeling of being so close to him again. “Forget what you look like without any ink.”

“Like them though, right?”

“Of course I do. Think they’re very hot.”

He didn’t say anything for a bit, just let his fingers dance up and down your arms, clearly lost in thought. “I wish you could come to set. See everything and everyone.” he finally spoke.

“I know. I just don’t want to chance anything you know? We just traveled and I know we got tested, but I don’t want to unknowingly bring anything to anyone. Maybe soon, once we’ve been here for a bit. But for now, I’d rather just hear all your stories and FaceTime than anything happen to anyone.”

“What time is your call time tomorrow?” you added when he only hummed in response.

“6:45. Car will probably come by around 6 and I should be back near 2. Have a bit of a short day tomorrow.”

“No rush.”

“Yes rush. I wanna be with you both. Missed you loads, ya know? Only gone for a few weeks but I was going mad. Don’t think we should separate for a while.” his voice was soft as his neck strained forward in order to press loving kisses to the soft skin where your neck met your shoulder.

Since the moment you met Harry a decade ago, it was obvious he always knew what to say. He had a knack for spewing out the words you most needed to hear exactly when you needed to hear them. Whether it was comforting your stage fright, in an argument about tv or film characters, helping you pick out outfits, discussing your relationship, or talking about the future, you both seemed to be on the same wavelength. It made life with him so much easier, because you knew that he understood you. You knew that no matter what happened, he would support you and love you. And that’s all you needed.

So you decided finally, after the pit of anxiety in your stomach grew and grew all day, that it was finally time.

“Pretty good you feel that way. ‘Cause I wasn’t exactly sure how to tell you that you’re kind of stuck with me. At least for another fourteen years.”

“Hmm. Want more than that.”

Taking a deep breath, hands shaking and mind running a mile a minute, you asked; “How about another eighteen after that?”

But your nerves were all for nothing because the comment flew right over Harry’s head. Completely missed the point of why you used that specific amount of time and was more focused on giving your middle a tight squeeze - his arms moving from their place at your side to around your stomach.

“Mhm. Even longer than that.”

The words brought an image to mind, one you found yourself thinking about a lot the last couple weeks. One of you and Harry sitting in the living room in your home, talking to your grown children while your grandchildren ran around you happily, doing their best to animatedly explain ways of the world you just couldn’t comprehend. And the pure glee you felt being surrounded by such a beautiful family, one that you created with Harry. But you knew it wasn’t just some fantasy you would dream about. It was something that you would one day get to experience, and that excitement pushed you over the edge.

“You’re stuck with me forever, baby.” you hummed, sinking further into his hold. “But for five seconds, I need you to leave me so you can grab me a Tums.” the anxiety nerves reared their head yet again, knowing there was no missing the punchline this time.

Concern instantly flooded his voice, taking you by the shoulders and moving you away from his chest and to the right so he could look at your face. “Why? You feeling alright? What’s wrong?”

You couldn’t help but simple sweetly at his concern, lifting a hand to rest it on his smoothly clean shaven cheek. “Yeah. You know how I get after flying. Do you mind just grabbing the Tums from my bag?” you asked again, hoping he couldn’t hear or feel the uptick in your breathing.

“You mean one of the nine hundred bags you brought?” Harry joked but still carefully slid out from behind you in order to get whatever you needed.

“Hey, we’re gonna be here a while. I need options.” Because of Covid, the UK was heading into yet another lockdown at the start of November, lasting until the first week of December so for now, so for now, you knew you and Bella would be spending at least a month with Harry in Los Angeles.

“Can take any of my clothes.” he grinned, turning around to face the bed again and bent down to kiss the tip of your nose. “Y’know I love when you wear my clothes.”

“Oi! Say that again but let me record it! If that’s the case, I never want to hear you complain about missing clothes ever again!”

“I said I like you wearing them, not keeping them hidden away for me to find three years later.” he laughed at the memory of his favorite blue hawaiian shirt going missing after getting back from Jamaica, only for it to be found in the back of your closet when moving a few months ago. His voice got quieter the farther he walked from the bed, the confines of the walk in closet filled with his clothes muffling the words towards the end of his sentence.

“Alright, but remember how excited you were to find it after so long? Like Christmas in the summer!”

“‘S’that what’s gonna start happening? You just stealing things I haven’t looked at in years and regifting them?”

“Lord knows you don’t need any more things laying around. Probably wouldn’t even notice anything being gone.” it was true. Over the years, Harry had gathered a very large collection of… things. Everything from clothes to lockets to key cards from hotels, and being in the career he is, he can afford to have it all. But even you had to say he had more than he knew what to do with most of the time, to which he always had some sort of rebuttal for.

But this time, it never came.

This time, you were met with silence from inside the closet, and you had no control over the way your hands began shaking. There were so many different kinds of silence; one of anger, of shock, nervousness, confusion, but any of those were a rarity when it came to Harry. He was someone who always had something to say, despite the emotions running through him. Silence was never really his thing, hell he even said so in a song, so the ideas of what could be running through his head started to eat you alive.

After waiting a few minutes and still receiving no sound of life from the smaller room, you began to get worried. Obviously nothing had happened to him while you were sitting feet away, but what was happening in there? Did he have a heart attack as soon as saw what you had laid out on top of your suitcase when he was ordering food? Did he fall and hit his head? Was he trying to find a good way to break up with you? No, he wouldn’t do that, you knew he wouldn’t do that. But before you could fully get off of the bed to check on him, he slowly sauntered out of the room, staring down at the piece of black fabric gripped tightly in his hands, and you halted in your spot - sitting up right on the side of his bed with your feet dangling off the side.

“Wha - what is this?” his whisper was so unbelievably low, you were surprised you could make out any of the words.

“What do you think it is?” you replied, your voice equally as loud so not to spook him while he was in such a clear state of shock.

“I - I don’t know.”

He still had taken his eyes off of the material in his hands, looking at it like it held every secret unknown to man somewhere within its seams.

“I think you do know.”

Finally, Harry lifted his head in order to look at you. And you felt your eyes water as soon as he did. The rims of his eyes and nose were a deep red, the kind of red you get when trying desperately to hold in sobs. His eyes were a brighter shade of green as more and more tears obstructed his vision, and now that you looked at him properly, his entire body seemed to be shaking.

“If this is a joke, it’s really fucking mean.” he choked out, putting all of his effort into holding back his cries. “Please don’t joke about this.”

As hard as he was trying not to let his tears flow, you were beyond the point of no return. Your cheeks were stained with tears, old dried ones leaving tracks for the new ones to flow freely down, and the lump in your throat prevented you from speaking as loud and confidently as you would have liked.

“It’s not a joke, Harry.” you shook your head, wiping your cheeks with the backs of your hands.

“No?”

“No.”

Harry went back to not saying anything, glancing between you and the black in his hand, not knowing which held more important information. You could see the inner struggle he was having trying to comprehend what was happening, and you wanted to get up and yell it to him. But he needed to go through whatever emotions he needed to, at his own pace.

So you waited for him to do just that.

“So you - you’re pregnant?” he finally sighed, the question making the corners of his lips lift ever so slightly that you would have missed it if you weren’t watching every inch of his face like a hawk. Holding back his tears was long gone as they now flowed down his cleanly shaven cheeks.

“I’m pregnant.” you smiled, the words coming out in one whoosh of air.

So fast that you didn’t understand how he did it, the black shirt - that at first glance was a replica of the logo for the film The Godfather, but when taking a double take, could be found to read The Twinfather instead - was laying in a pile on the floor in front of the closet door and Harry was laying on top of you. Now on your back with Harry hovering above you, both of his forearms on either side of your head, you could fully see the overwhelming joy swimming in his eyes. The last time you had seen this exact look was the day Bella was born. Like within his mind, he was watching the entire world unfold with endless possibilities and unfathomable love.

Harry didn’t let you say anything before he was pressing kisses to your lips, both of your tears making the experience feel a bit slippery as they blended together on your skin. But nothing could make the moment anything less than perfect. Harry’s warmth covered you like a blanket, completely consuming you within the personal bubble that had formed around you on the bed. His lips moved against your with determination, but also care and gratitude, the vaguely strawberry flavored lip balm he was wearing smeared against your own lips, letting the memory of this moment linger for hours to come.

“You’re really pregnant?” Harry asked, his excitement taking over once he pulled back from the kiss.

“Yeah baby,’m pregnant.”

“And is it? It’s - it’s twins? Are you sure? How do you know?” although you knew he would always be there with and for you during all of this, it was reassuring to see him be so ecstatic about the new addition to your family.

“When B and I went to get our Covid tests, the lady asked me if there was a chance I could be pregnant, and - and I couldn’t give her a confident no. So I called Dr. Kelter to see if I could get an appointment before we left and she took me the same day.” your smile grew as you watched him hold on to your every word, wanting to know every single detail you had to give him.

“And she told you it was twins?”

“Yeah. Said she could see them both right away since they can see twins so early. Said ‘m about eleven weeks.” the tears returned to your eyes when you thought about being pregnant again, how much your life was going to change and the excitement that was about to be brought into your lives.

Obviously Harry was feeling the same before he let out another sob, this time his upper half falling onto your chest and burying his face in your neck, his lower body seeming to unconsciously stay away from crushing your belly.

“I love you so fucking much.” he whispered, and you could feel the ever so gentle peck of his lips against your skin. “So fucking much.”

“I love you, Harry.” you whispered back.

“Who knows?” he asked, undoubtedly thinking back to when you were pregnant with Bella and everyone in your lives seemed to know before he did. Something you regretted, but was necessary at the time.

“No one. Just you and me. Want to do everything with you this time.” not wanting to ruin the moment, but also wanting to be realistic for a moment in your clouded minds, you took a second to figure out how to say the concerns that were rushing through your mind at a mile a minute. “I know things are crazy right now and the world is scary and we’re both so busy, but we said if it happened, it happened.”

Harry was pushed up on his forearm in an instant, his other hand cupping your cheek in order to drag your attention to him. He was positively glowing. How only a second ago he was standing pale faced in the closet doorway was beyond you, because now, it was like the sun shined behind his irises.

“I have never been happier in my entire life. We’ll figure it all out together. Like we always do.”

#harry styles imagine #harry styles one shot #harry styles x reader #harry styles blurb #another world imagine #aw-inspo #harry styles fanfiction #1dff

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memzhay · 3 years ago

Note

I believe Rhett now has a collection of enchanted items around the castle? And Link keeps stumbling upon them just trying to clean up. He lives in a castle right? He thought it be a good idea to enchant blankie but turned out it wasn't.

Greetings, you magical sweetie!

Hark, ye! There be 1200ish words magically hidden below. Dare ye venture into realms of magic and whimsy featuring @theredquilt? Click below and all shall be revealed.

Drunk Wizard Rhett does indeed live in a castle, though he has been thinking of doing some major renovations. He looked in on a universe recently where there was this delightful little cottage surrounded by flower gardens on the greenest of emerald green hills in the midst of lush farmland. So tranquil! So serene! He was betting Link would absolutely flip out if he came home from grocery shopping and their place was now the cutest most picturesque farm ever.

Conversely, he once saw a movie where someone had a high-tech base of operations inside the caldera of an active volcano. Now that was bad ass! Had panache in spades, but when he thought of the air-conditioning bills, he wasn’t sure it would be worth the hassle. You know home projects. Always so much more involved and expensive than planned, and the logistics of forming an active volcano via magic were… well, ambitious. Ambitious enough that Rhett decided, “You know what’s bad ass? Castles. Castles are bad ass!”

That blanket is actually very interesting. It is the only object in the entire castle that Rhett has no idea where it came from. I mean there are loads of things he doesn’t exactly remember acquiring, things from all kinds of universes, some enchanted some not. But the red quilt is different. It’s not that he doesn’t remember where he picked it up, It has just always been there. Rhett suspects it somehow predates him, but that doesn’t make any kind of sense.

He has considered trying all manner of enchantments on it. However, one must be cautious when bespelling an object that has already been bespelled or has a magic of its own. Especially if you don’t know exactly what that magic is. It’s like putting too many mixers in a Long Island Iced Tea. Next thing you know instead of a tasty beverage engineered to get you sloshed in a hurry, you now have a sloppy frat party accident that tastes like old Halloween candy and regret. He would never do that to his precious blankie!

One afternoon, Link was in the library playing Yahtzee with Tiki and Bav Neva. Well, they started out playing Yahtzee, but now they were really just shaking the dice around in Tiki, turning him upside down on the table, and seeing if Bav Neva could prophesy the results of the roll. She was extremely good at it, of course. One does not become Oracle of the Sacred Grove of Improbability for shits and giggles after all. They rolled again and again, and she never once started shouting about blood and fire. Probably because Tiki kept fawning over her in amazement anytime she guessed the dice correctly.

Rhett came up behind them and quickly bundled Link up in the red quilt, wrapping him up tightly and squeezing him in a ferocious bear hug from behind.

“Empty your mind and tell me what you feel!” Rhett commanded urgently.

Link giggled. “Um startled… Amused… Not gonna lie, a little turned on?” he confessed at the feeling of Rhett’s powerful arms squeezing him from outside his blanket cocoon. “Origins of your blanket bothering you again?”

“It does greatly vex me,” Rhett admitted. “It feels like something from that one universe, you know the one with the great hipster donut place, and that version of me that thinks he is so much more ‘real’ than the rest of us?”

“Oh yeah,” Link agreed. “You’re really funny in that universe.”

“Hmmph,” Rhett harumphed. “He thinks he is,” he muttered under his breath. He released Link and pulled the blanket from his body, slinging it over his shoulder. “In any case, Link, I require your assistance with some most urgent magical business.”

“Of course,” Link readily agreed. “Anything to help.”

“Excellent,” Rhett said pleased. “I have devised a series of magical trials so that we can determine once and for all what is so magical about my favorite blanket.”

“Well, that is certainly some urgent magical business,” Link said with a chuckle.

“Firstly,” Rhett carried on, “We will drape the blanket over the backs of some chairs from the dining hall and crawl underneath it, turning it into a secret magical fort. If the blanket thinks of us as secret confidants, it may reveal it’s mysteries unto us.”

“Next, should that prove unfruitful,” Rhett continued ambling over to the cauldron of enchanted ale, drawing a fresh goblet, and giving it a meditative slurp, “We shall take the blanket out onto the grounds of the castle, lay it upon the earth, and have a picnic on it. Perhaps the combination of the elements, the earth, the air, the sunshine, the merriment of revelry upon it, shall make it let it’s guard down enough that we might discover it’s secrets.”

“Finally, should it become absolutely necessary, we will lay it down flat upon the bed. We will both lay at the foot of the bed and roll ourselves up in the blanket. Rolling over and over each other in a maneuver that shall from now on be known as ‘wizard sushi’. I’ve given it a great deal of thought, and I firmly believe we should be naked for this stage of the trials,” he said seriously. “Except for my velvet slippers because I don’t like my feet to be cold,” he quickly amended.

“It only makes sense,” Link answered seductively. These magical trials were starting to sound like a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

“If the blanket does not become adequately disoriented by the repeated rolling about and reveal itself to us, we might have no choice but to have sexy times while so encased within it. It’s a bit of a Hail Mary at that point, but could work,” Rhett concluded.

“Worth a shot,” Link agreed. “It’s important to be thorough.”

“Then grab some pillows and let us away to the dining hall,” Rhett proclaimed, exiting the library with the red quilt draped majestically over his shoulder.

“Hey Link,” Tiki called. “Before you head off on your magical blanket mission, could you maybe put me and Bav Neva on that shelf in your room next to the window so we can watch the waves for a while? Maybe put down some of those nice cloth napkins so Bavs doesn’t get chilly?”

If it were possible for a prophesying skull chalice to smile demurely, she was managing it very nicely.

“Sure thing, Tiki,” Link agreed with a wink. Not dreaming of standing in the way of some drinkware romance.

#drunk wizard rhett #rhink fic #rhink #ask memzhay

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missmooncakes · 5 years ago

Text

Seasick.

[Kimetsu no Yaiba]

[One-shot]

[warning: crack]

[Demon slayers/Hashiras x Reader]

On order of Ubayashiki, all of the Hashiras, besides some, were required to travel to a specific destination; fastest way was through the ocean. However, they were accompanied by kakashi and a few younger demon slayers, including a demonic sister.

Their transpiration was a large wooden ship; filled with more than necessary essentials for the journey.

“Uwah!” Tanjirou stared, excitedly as the waves would thrash violently amongst one another,”I’ve never gotten the chance to see the ocean before! It’s so pretty!” Tanjirou was more use to just seeing mountains and trees so it was a delight to finally see what he thought would only be in the books.

He glanced over to see Zenitsu prodding at the box that strapped snug against his back and saw Inosuke bending over the ledge of the ship, yelling.

“I am the God of the Forest! I will conquer you, God of the Waters!” He was attempting to chop at the waves.

Tanjirou frowned,”God of the Forest, huh..” His attention was pulled from the screeching boar from a tug on his green kimono. The mist pillar stood next to him with a lazed expression.

“Where is [Name]?” Muichiro asked,”She told me that if I helped load supplies to the ship, she would play with my hair. I can’t find her anywhere.”

“Ah, [Name]—“ Tanjirou took a quick scan of the boat. Most of the Hashiras were either wondering around or in their designated cabins,” Maybe she’s in her room?”

Muichiro shook his head,”Her room was empty.”

Tanjirou rubbed the back of his head,”I can help you go look for her.” He set his crate down near Zenitsu,”Zenitsu, watch Nezuko for me.”

“I would love too, Tanjirou! I’ll protect this crate with my life!—“

Muichiro and Tanjirou already began to explore the deck. They’ve knocked on other Hashiras’ rooms, asking if they have seen the Moon Hashira.

They’ve first attempted to ask Genya. He was at the front of the ship, lounging and basking in the sunlight.

“Ha? I don’t know where she went. Last time I saw her she was talking to my brother. I think they might be in the sparing room. I’ll let you know if I find her though.”

Muichiro and Tanjirou arrived to the sparring room which was at the back of the ship.

“Coming in,” Tanjirou announced as he slid the door aside, only to see a wooden staff fly forwards him,”ACK—“ he yelled in pain as the mist pillar grabbed his hair and yanked him towards the floor. The wooden staff embedded the wall behind them.

Muichiro stood up to stare at the pole,”Master will get mad about that...”

“Sorry.” Giyuu apologized, unfazed. He looked over to his sparing partner,”Sanemi got too heated up and tried to impale me with a stick.”

“WHY YOU!—“ Before Sanemi could attempt to turn Giyuu inside out, Tanjirou slid between the two and asked,

“Have you seen [Name]? We’re trying to look for her.”

“[Last Name]? Last time I saw her, she was in the kitchen. It’s her turn to cook tonight. She’s probably preparing something right now. NOW SCRAM.” Sanemi hissed before shoving the two younger demon slayers out and shutting the door,”Okay, you piece of shit. I’m going to use this stick to beat you so hard that your ass goes up your—“

Tanjirou quickly went downstairs with Muichiro to head towards the kitchen. He placed hand on Muichiro’s shoulder,

“Don’t worry, we’ll find [Name].”

Muichiro was in a moment of a daze as he stared down the hallway with a dozed off expression,”I wonder if [Name] can make me some of those cookies I like.”

When they entered the kitchen, the only residing Hashiras were Mitsuri and Kyoujurou. Mitsuri was digging through a few crates to possibly look for any sweets as the Kyoujurou stuffed his face with rice, loudly exclaiming how tasty it was. He noticed them when they walked them.

“Tanjirou, my boy! Do you want a snack? It’s really tasty!” The Flame Hashira exclaimed, setting down his plate to look at the Kamado.

Tanjirou shook his head,”No, we were wondering where [Name] is.”

“[Name]?” Mitsuri’s voice was muffled as a big bun was shoved into her mouth. She headed towards them before swallowing the entire thing,”She was here earlier but she said she had to see Shinobu real quick. But she’s been gone for a long while.”

“Should we go look for her, then?” Kyojurou asked as he stood up. Mitsuri nodded,”We can check with Shinobu! She’s probably in her room right now. Why don’t you two asked Obanai?”

Tanijrou frowned a bit, recalling that Obanai wasn’t a big fan of him nor the moon pillar,”I suppose we can... but I rather check on Shinobu myself.”

“Let’s all go together!” Kyojurou said before dragging them all back up the stairs to all the rooms.

••••••••••••

“[Name] isn’t here!” Shinobu exclaimed. Everyone sulked.

They literally searched the entire ship. Along the way, they dragged Inosuke and Zenitsu along but still no sign of the [hair color] haired Hashira.

They didn’t dare bother Obanai since he was asleep in his cabin nor Uzui since he was taking a very long ‘flamboyant’ bath.

“Where is she?”

•••••••••••••

At this point, everyone was looking for [Name], aside from the sound Hashira who was still doing his own thing. Obanai was woken up so... enthusiastically by the Flame Pillar. Kyojurou had to get his cheek bandages due to the snake biting him in the face when he kicked the door down.

“[Name]!”

“[Last Name]!”

“Wait, what if she’s in the water?” Zenitsu suggested.

All of a sudden, there was dead silence.

It was so quiet, one could hear a needle drop if it wasn’t for the loud, violent crashing of the waves.

Then, havoc broke out.

Nearly all of the Hashiras had scrambled to all edges of the boat in desperate attempt to find [Name].

Tanjirou nearly went into panic as he watched all of them draw out their swords. Everyone was now yelling or aggressively scanning the waters as desperate attempts to spot the Moon Hashira.

“I can evaporate the entire ocean! Maybe we can find her quicker!” Kyoujirou quickly stood on the ledge of the ship, hand at side, ready to whip out his sword.

“No, that’s not realistic!” Zenitsu yelled, trying to pull the man down before he could fall off the ship.

In the background, Genya was trying to drag his brother away from the edge; he was elbowed in the face and now on the ground, holding his face in pain.

Shinobu and Mitsuri were on the other side of the ship, leaning over the edges, calling out [Name]’s name. Obanai had left to find Uzui to get him to help find the loved Hashira.

Tanjirou was too occupied with Inosuke who had straight up dove into the water. The poor Kamado was throwing a rope into the water to try and fish his friend out. He was only pulled in to the waters, too which lead Muichiro into panic to jump in as well.

The door which lead to the main deck had slammed open. “What the hell is going on?” Uzui was not in a good mood. Obanai trailed behind him.

Tanjirou heaved in exhaustion as he managed to pull both Inosuke and Muichiro out of the waters,”Uzui! We— We are trying to find [Name]!”

Uzui’s angered expression slowly melted into a ‘done’ expression,”You.. You are all idiots.”

“HAH- What did you say?” Sanemi hissed, marching towards the taller man, leaving Genya to be dragged across the floor. Kyojurou walked over to them,”Uzui! Do you know where [Name] is? We believe she’s in the water since we looked all over the boat.”

The sound pillar pinched the bridge of his nose and heaved a sigh. “Have you ever bothered to look up?”

They took a moment to glance up.

“Can [Name] fly or something—“ Zenitsu was knocked out by Uzui punching him in the stomach.

“No, you fucking idiot!” Uzui was ready to throw everyone off the boat. He walked over to the large wooden pole that had the large, white sails strapped to them. About half way up the pole was the crow’s nest. It was hardly noticeable. He climbed the ladder that was attached to the pole to get into the crow’s nest.

When he poked his head into the entrance, the first thing he noticed was a light blue haori decorated of blue petals placed over the head of the missed demon slayer.

It was [Name]. She was curled and pressed against the side of the wall on the floor.

“Oi, [Name]!” Uzui said as he gently pulled her haori off of her head. He recoiled back in surprise to see how sick she looked. Her face was green and definitely looked dizzy.

The sound pillar felt worried. He climbed further to sit on the surface next to her,”Oi, [Name], you alright?”

Her only response was a soft groan. He couldn’t help but just stare in awe. She looked cute when she was sleeping.

He gently brushed his hand against her face, brushing the sweated strands of hair away from her forehead,”Well, it’s not at all flamboyant for you to be up here and not looked at.” He stood up, slipping his arms under her legs and head. He lifted her up and looked down at the other demon slayers who waited below him.

Most of their jaws were dropped.

How did no one check that area?

As Uzui was ready to carefully make his way down the mast of the ship, a large wave slammed into the side of the boat, jolting him.

“Oh shit—“

He tripped and fell against the side of the crow’s nest, fumbling the Moon Hashira, then she fell from his grip. [Name]’s eyes snapped open as she squealed. When she braved herself for impact, she felt herself fall into another pair of arms along with a soft grunt.

Everything around her spun. She absolutely hated the ocean. She knew the moment she stepped onto this boat, she was in for a hell ride. Thus, she had camped in the crow nest of the mast for nearly the entire day. When she opened her eyes, she met eye contact with darken blue eyes.

Giyuu had caught her.

[Name] felt herself grow warm just from the close contact,”Thank you, Gi—“ Her hand flew towards her mouth. She quickly squirmed out of Giyuu’s grasp much to his dismay. She threw half her body over the edge, gagging.

However, she didn’t throw up since she didn’t eat all day. She couldn’t bring herself to go to the kitchen. She was way too sick too. She felt a couple of hands rub her back in some sort of comfort. From the corner of her eye, she could see Kyojurou next to her and Shinobu on the other side.

“We should take you to my room, [Name]. It’s where you won’t feel the ship move as much.” Shinobu suggested,”And I can probably make you some tea to help calm down the nausea.”

“I think we should take her to my room instead, it has a large window and the fresh air is nice.” Muichiro said as he came up behind her.

“My bed is the softest! She needs to comfortable, so she should recover in my room!” Kyojurou declared.

All the hashira began to argue where [Name] should sleep. Tanjirou watched from the sides, befuddled why the Moon Hashira couldn’t just sleep in her own room.

“She doesn’t need the sun, it gives her a headache, my room would be better.” Obanai argued,”And I have Kaburamaru to watch over her too.”

“I have a softest chest she can cuddle into!” Mitsuri declared. All the Hashira went silent for a moment and stared at her.

“[Name] should just sleep in my room! She doesn’t need to deal with you dumb asses!” Sanemi yelled.

“Why would she be in a room so shitty and not flamboyant-“ Sanemi proceeded to punch Uzui in the face. It was now an all out brawl between the two.

Well, until one of them had slammed into [Name].

She gasped was sent over the ledge and into the raging waters with a loud splash. Now was a time time for everyone to freak out.

Giyuu immediately went over the ledge after her. The last thing she saw was Giyuu’s outstretched hand trying to grab her before she submerged into the sea.

Giyuu landed into the area near where she fell, however, he didn’t see her head go back up. He felt the anxiety as he desperately called out her name. He heard someone plummet into the waters next to him. Sanemi gasped as he lifted his head back above the waters,”Damnit, where did she go?! [Name]!”

The Wind Hashira felt another body slam onto the top of his head,”S-sorry, aniki!” Genya apologized as he literally landed on top of his brother.

“Genya, you little shit—!”

As Sanemi proceeded to try and attempt to drown his brother, Giyuu continued to try and look for [Name]. It didn’t take long to notice strands of [Hair]-colored floating up at the surface just a few feet away from him.

He paddles towards the direction and manage to pull [Name]’s upper body up and out of the surface.

[Name] gasped and sputtered. She grasped onto Giyuu’s mismatched haori. She felt his arms wound around her and pull her upwards so she would rest a bit against his chest. She felt Giyuu gently brush the wet strands of hair from her face. [Name]’s posture stiffened as she felt herself go flustered. Before Giyuu could hear anything, more yelling was heard from above.

Giyuu and [Name] looked up.

Rengoku had launched himself from the ledge and into the air; Tanjirou was latched onto his leg, screaming as Rengoku boasted about joining the fun.

“FIGHT ME, GODS OF THE OCEAN.” Inosuke screeched, being the next demon slayer to throw himself overboard.

“You stupid boar! Come here!” Zenitsu tried to grab the beast before falling himself.

“Iguro, Iguro! Let’s join too! This looks like a fun swim!” Kanjiro grabbed the Snake Hashira’s arm and jumped into the ocean, holding the poor man like a rag doll.

Everyone was basically yelling in the waters.

“This is quite a show.” Shinobu laughed as she walked up next to Uzui as he was shaking his head. Then, the commotion stopped.

It was silent.

“Did everyone just die?” Uzui silently muttered as he peered over the ledge. The scene below made him choke.

[Name]’s back was pressed against Rengoku and still squished against Giyuu, rendering her movements. Obanai was nearly on top of Giyuu, his weight slamming Giyuu downwards.

Giyuu’s face would have been in the water, however, it was pressed against [Name]’s farce.

An accidental kiss.

The two hashira fell silent, wide eyed and staring at one another.

Everyone was staring. The atmosphere went cold.

Slowly, Giyuu pulled away from the moon hashira. He stared at her, the look of shock still residing on his face.

“[Name], I—“

“YOU SLY PIECE OF SHIT!” Sanemi yelled as he slammed his elbow on top of Giyuu’s head, shoving Obanai into the water during the process.

“Sanemi, Sanemi! You’re going to drown him!” Tanjirou panicked only to get punched in the face as well.

“If we have to see who is the best in these waters, I will show you!” Kyoujirou shouted as he managed to throw himself over all three men.

[Name] felt Genya gently take her into his arms since he was smart enough to not get involved with the whole fiasco.

[Name] could see Inosuke punching at the waters, hitting Zenitsu in the process.

“Does this mean I won’t get my hair brushed?” Muichirou muttered as he stared at the bundle of demon slayers having an all out brawl in the ocean.

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tulipsandcorgis · 4 years ago

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Hii , hope you're well

Since you're open to crazy prompts i would like to contribute one!

What if Kate goes to duel someone who tries to take advantage of Edwina? And Edwina obviously panics and goes to the Bridgerton for help and she gathers all the Bridgerton brothers to go and stop Kate. Anthony's obviously furious because she's willing to kill herself (hypocrite) and drags them all back to his lodgings.

I'm sorry if its such a long prompt i simply had to share the idea! Thank you for all your fics!!

unsurprisingly, a long (and very interesting) prompt results in a long(-ish) answer! so here’s 1.5k words of anthony not realizing he’s afraid to lose kate, colin contributing very little to the conversation, and benedict and edwina just going along for the ride, i suppose. also featuring brief appearances by daphne and lady danbury, and mentions of an original(-ish) character. not sure if this 100% works with the canon timeline, since this is set before anything happens between kate and anthony (aka no kiss in the study has happened yet).

anyway, thank you so much for trusting me with your idea! without further ado, here it is:

“She did what?” Anthony exclaimed, staring at Edwina with a wide-eyed expression on his face. The crease between his eyebrows had deepened significantly, and it almost looked as if he were about to pop a vein in his forehead.

“Well, we were just preparing to leave Lady Trowbridge’s ball tonight — you were there, too. As were you, and you.” Edwina said hurriedly, glancing at Benedict and Colin. “And Kate saw Lord Mountbatten approach me, and before I knew it, she’d challenged him to a duel.”

“Why?” Benedict questioned, having clearly not witnessed the encounter, and Anthony gritted his teeth.

“Edwina, forgive my language, but you sister is a bloody fool.” He spat, clenching his jaw and massaging his temples with his thumb and forefinger.

Edwina paid no attention to his comment, and turned to Benedict. “He gripped my waist quite hard, you see, and made some comment about how lovely our children would be, and then Kate appeared. I’ve never seen her so furious. And then, well, she said something along the lines of wanting to demand satisfaction.”

She shuddered at the memory of Mountbatten’s mouth near her ear during a dance, his calloused palms gripping her waist with much more force than was strictly necessary. But then, much to her relief, Kate had showed up.

Benedict’s face contorted into a look of genuine disgust, and Colin’s eyebrows raised.

“Well, where is she?” He asked, almost conversationally, as if absolutely nothing was wrong. Anthony pondered fratricide for a brief moment. “I could always be her second.”

“You will do no such thing,” Anthony interrupted, glaring at his brother before turning back to the group. “This is madness. Mountbatten is a skilled marksman. With his finger on the trigger, Kate would die before the ten paces are even up!”

Edwina gasped. “We need to find her, quickly.”

Benedict patted her shoulder softly. “We will, don’t worry.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, brother.” Anthony snapped, before grabbing Edwina’s hand and leading her out of the study. “Now, I suppose we should find your sister before she gets herself killed.”

“Daphne told me that she and Kate were heading over to Lady Danbury’s after the ball,” Colin supplied. “Given these… unforeseen circumstances, we don’t know if she’s still there, but it wouldn’t hurt to check.”

Much to everyone’s relief. Anthony agreed, and the group quickly made their way to Lady Danbury’s residence, with Colin still offering advice, probably to ease Edwina’s anxiety.

“You know, I could still be her second,” He offered, turning to Edwina. “After all, I do know where Anthony keeps the pistols.”

The girl’s eyes widened in surprised, and Anthony frowned. “If anyone is to be her second, it will be me.” He said firmly. “Seeing as Benedict and I are the only two people here who actually know the rules of dueling.”

Colin rolled his eyes. “If you’re talking about the incident with Hastings, I was also there,” He reminded his brother, but Anthony was having none of it.

He picked up his pace, relieved to see that Danbury’s house was in view. Benedict, Colin, and Edwina struggled to keep up as Anthony practically raced across the cobblestones, bounded up the steps, and pounded on the front door.

“Christ, you’re going to give Lady Danbury a heart attack,” Colin muttered, and Anthony shot him a look.

A footman opened the door, and Anthony practically pushed past him, leading Edwina through the house, with the other two brothers hot on their heels.

In the dimly lit drawing room, the only light coming from a roaring fire in the fireplace, sat Lady Danbury, Daphne, and Kate.

“Ah, Bridgertons!” Lady Danbury grinned, nodding at Edwina. “And a Sharma, as well. Come to collect your sisters, I presume?”

Benedict muttered a quick, “Something of that sort,” as Anthony said, with the last shred of politeness left in his body, “I’m afraid we don’t have time for small talk tonight, Lady Danbury.”

He shot the older woman a strained smile, then turned his attention to Kate, who sat on the sofa with Daphne at her side. He shooed his sister away, and ushered her and everyone else, except for Kate and Edwina, from the room. Now it was just him, the Sharma sisters, and Anthony’s rage — which burst from him as soon as the drawing room door clicked shut.

“What on earth do you think you’re playing at?” He hissed, his eyes burning with a fire that was similar to the very one roaring on the coals in the fireplace. “Your sister—“ He pointed at Edwina. “She arrives at Bridgerton House and tells me you’ve demanded to duel with Lord Mountbatten!”

Kate rolled her eyes and stood. “He—“

“He made a comment to your sister, yes, but that is hardly something to duel over, Miss Sharma. Do you know Lord Mountbatten is one of the best marksmen in the ton?”

“No,” She said, eyeing him closely. “But—“

“He can kill you, Kate.” Anthony told her, his voice deathly serious, and her eyes widened. “Kill. You.” He repeated, either to get the words through her silly skull, or, perhaps, his.

Anthony stepped closer, his manners being swallowed up by the anger and fear growing in his chest. “He would aim that tiny bullet right here—“ He pointed to a spot just below her collarbone. “And you’d be gone before the doctor on site could get to you.”

She swallowed thickly, lowering her eyes to where his finger hovered in the air, just several inches from her skin. The air crackled with something electric and unsaid, and Anthony felt his jaw unclench as he lowered his hand.

“That won’t happen.” Kate said finally, looking past him, at her sister.

“You don’t know that.” He barked out a twisted sort of laugh, the sound almost getting caught in his throat. “If you did, you wouldn’t have demanded satisfaction in the first place. Seriously, what were you thinking?”

He turned away, his eyes burning from something that must have been the smoke from the fireplace - nothing else could’ve caused it, he was convinced - and looked at Edwina. Whatever words he intended on saying were forgotten once he heard Kate’s unforgettably calm voice reach his ears.

“Lord Bridgerton—“

“Miss Sharma, you must know that there is a person in this room who is very intent on not losing you!” He cried out angrily, interrupting her and effectively silencing both sisters. The only sounds in the room were the crackling of the fire, his pocket watch ticking, and his heavy breathing. He sighed.

“I know that your sister would rather you not die because of your protective and impulsive nature. My sister felt the same about me just a year ago.” Anthony admitted, looking down at his boots.

“And I realize that.” Kate responded quietly. “Which is why I rescinded my demand for satisfaction as the ball came to a close. Lord Mountbatten was… strangely understanding, and admitted that his comment was made impulsively, as well. Everything is more than alright now.”

“Oh.” Anthony said aloud, and Edwina breathed a sigh of relief, rushing forward to hug her sister.

“Well, Mountbatten’s foot isn’t,” Kate mumbled as she hugged Edwina, a devilish sort of smile spreading across her face as she caught his eye.

Anthony bit his lip to keep a laugh from escaping him. Good God, how many toes had she stepped on?

Soon after that, as he led the sisters to the drawing room door, Kate nudged his arm with her elbow.

“Why’d you do that?” She asked. “You know, come here to save me from death and whatnot?”

Anthony paused. He didn’t know how to respond. He really didn’t know why he was so set on stopping Kate from dueling. Was it because he knew how quickly one’s life could change due to a single moment, how a family could be irreparably altered by death? Or, perhaps, it was because he was so desperate for her to stop objecting to his suit of Edwina.

“Well,” He said, stalling slightly. “I suppose it’s because I care.”

“Oh.” She sounded genuinely surprised.

“About your sister.” Anthony finished, trying to ignore the way her face hardened. “Losing someone can be terribly difficult, and I would never want my future wife to known that kind of pain so soon.”

Edwina would have to accept his death in nine years, at most, but it wouldn’t matter all that much, since they weren’t likely to get very attached to one another.

“So you wanted to be a hero?” Kate muttered, walking through the doorway and joining Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Edwina, and Lady Danbury.

“I suppose.” He shrugged, and she rolled her eyes.

“Well, you’re not one yet. Keep trying, I suppose,” She replied, before taking Edwina’s arm and heading to the front door, with Daphne in tow. For a brief moment, Anthony wished that he could accompany the sisters home, instead of his sister.

And as he bid Lady Danbury goodbye, prepared to walk back to Bridgerton House to drop off Benedict and Colin, and finally head to his own lodgings, he was struck by the oddest feeling that when he became a hero, Kate would be there to see it.

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ace-oreos · 4 years ago

Note

I know its impossible for it to have happened but I would like to see some Alpha vs Darth Maul. Like Maul would be like 'oh your one of kenobi's' and Alpha would be like 'i just work for the man but i will absolutely fight you'

I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it one last time here: anon, you were so very patient and I can’t thank you enough for waiting all these months for me to finish this.

I can safely say the funniest part of writing this was trying to figure out how to put together Maul’s Drama™ and... Alpha’s penchant for avoiding drama by any means necessary. It made writing the dialogue VERY fun XD

Taglist (lmk if you want to be added!): @dudewhynotthis @merspots @the-mandalorian-clone-lover @delta-the-mando @or-te-ka-ra @huitzilinthebudgie3 @a-lil-perspective

By all accounts, the Sith isn’t supposed to be here.

Just my luck, Alpha thinks, and sighs when he remembers Fordo offered to take this one off his hands. It wasn’t worth committing the full strength of Fordo’s squad to this assignment - or so he initially thought. They hadn’t gotten word of hostile Force-users until Alpha reported his findings.

He’d been unpleasantly surprised, to say the least.

Maul and Kenobi have history, if he remembers correctly. Kenobi hasn’t told him the half of it and Alpha really doesn’t care one way or another. He wouldn’t, if he had already devised his own method for killing someone who can very likely predict his every movement.

Really, the only way to get one over on Maul would be to cut off his connection to the Force. There’s no way of doing that, as far as Alpha knows, so this op will require a fair share of ingenuity and a healthy disregard for conventional means of warfare. Some more time wouldn’t go amiss either, but Alpha will have to work with what he has.

So he lets Maul find him. Draws him out now rather than exert energy that could very well be the deciding factor later. He can’t say for sure that Maul is surprised, exactly, but whatever flickers across his face doesn’t look like anger just yet.

“I wasn’t expecting you,” the Sith says slowly, all acid sibilants.

“I suppose you were hoping for Kenobi,” Alpha dismisses. “Tough luck.”

Alpha can put up just as much of a fight as any Jetii, but letting Maul underestimate him could work to his advantage if he plays his cards right. If Kenobi’s teachings are true, the Sith use their anger to guide them. Alpha intends to use that against him.

“So he sent you in his place, is that it?”

“The general couldn’t be bothered with the likes of you,” Alpha is more than happy to inform him. “He’s beaten you once already. Why waste energy proving it again?”

That strikes a nerve. The Force might not be part of Alpha’s arsenal, but he can read the rage in Maul’s expression all the same. Better to tread cautiously now; provoke Maul too soon, and the force of his anger will be too much for Alpha to redirect.

The Sith is examining him closely. “You must be one of Kenobi’s, then.”

Alpha shrugs. “Not exactly, but for our purposes - you could say so.”

“You feel no loyalty to him?” Maul asks slyly like that will get under Alpha’s skin.

“Depends on the day.” Alpha lets his hand drift casually to his blaster. “If you’re looking for a fight, I’d be happy to fill in. Like I said, Kenobi couldn’t care less about - ”

True to his intuition, Maul’s first attack isn’t based in the Force. He’s faster than Alpha anticipated, but he manages to dodge the headlong strike. Maul pivots, and a double-bladed lightsaber appears in his hands.

Maul is fast - Alpha just has to be faster.

Evasion isn’t Alpha’s usual style, but he recognizes the necessity given the threat he’s facing. It’s no use trying to get a round past Maul’s saber; it would likely be deflected back at him anyways.

And there’s no way Alpha can pull this off if he and the Sith are on equal footing. But if he can make the environment work to his advantage - if he can force Maul onto the wrong foot and seize that opportunity when it arises - he just might have a chance.

Still, Maul isn’t sloppy enough that an opening will appear without some coaxing on Alpha’s end. It’ll mean sacrificing discipline for whatever works in the moment, but he decides it’s justifiable given the payoff.

Even as he stays in motion he’s careful not to expend more energy than is strictly necessary. It’s just as well Jango was never one for fancy footwork; Alpha doesn’t get caught up in anything of the sort now. Eventually, however, Maul catches on and pulls back, eyeing him.

“Kenobi’s lessons weren’t lost on you, I see.”

Alpha lets him talk, mind racing all the while. The compound’s labyrinthine layout could give him an edge - he’ll just have to do what he can to avoid getting crossed up along the way. But there’ll be risks no matter what; it’s just a matter of choosing the approach that will leave him the most room to adapt.

Just as Maul begins another pass with his saber, Alpha sends a few well-placed shots towards the Sith's feet and makes a break for a doorway just off Maul’s left shoulder.

Something collides with the wall dangerously close to his head, aided by the Force. Alpha ducks away instinctively but doesn’t look back. The first corridor is narrow; the second opens up to a catwalk that overlooks a wide hangar several meters below.

He doesn’t have time to plant charges around the doorframe. It’s a shame, really - even the Force wouldn’t reveal detonators. But no use lamenting what he can’t have; Maul isn’t far behind.

Alpha doesn’t much like the thought of getting caught on the catwalk, either, but there’s no other route out of this section of the compound. At least it’s stable; he doesn’t like to think what could happen if he didn’t have secure footing.

He’s nearly halfway across, just starting to think he might’ve pulled this off when something slams into him from behind and he’s plunging towards the hangar floor in an uncontrolled fall, fighting blind panic.

It’s sheer dumb luck that his rappel line catches something solid. He clutches at the taut line, muscles shaking with exertion and a fresh wave of adrenaline. Regaining a clearheaded state of mind is a conscious effort made all the more difficult by the realization that for all the Sith underestimated him, it’s painfully clear that Alpha badly underestimated Maul.

With the catwalk no longer an option - he’ll only be walking straight into the onslaught - Alpha draws a steadying breath and lets himself fall. The breath is knocked from his lungs when he hits the ground, but he manages to roll with the impact.

One glance towards the catwalk confirms Maul intends to follow him. Before the Sith’s feet hit the floor, Alpha fires. Maul is nowhere near defenseless, but splitting his concentration between fending off Alpha’s attack and manipulating the Force is the closest he’ll get.

The first shot clips Maul’s shoulder; the second hits home center mass. Knocked back by the force of impact, Maul’s landing is graceless and uncoordinated. Alpha presses his advantage, aiming for vulnerable joints.

Another round sears Maul’s arm. He snarls and switches his blade to his other hand. Despite Alpha’s best efforts, a few more steps and he’ll be too close for comfort.

Alpha risks a glance at the catwalk. After Maul’s attack, it’s unlikely it’ll hold up under additional strain. He still has a few detonators on hand, and given their positioning…

The explosion rocks the hangar. Shards of metal pepper the hangar floor, and the catwalk begins to buckle. Sheets of metal tear away and plummet to the ground.

Alpha throws himself aside, narrowly avoiding being crushed. Maul isn’t so lucky. Another section of the catwalk crashes down, and the Sith disappears beneath the metal.

The hangar is oddly silent now; the ragged gasps seizing Alpha’s chest are suddenly deafening. He half expects Maul to explode out of the wreckage, enraged, but there’s no sign of movement.

Time to pull out.

Traveling to the nearest Republic outpost will take the better part of a day, but they’ve got reinforcements and his ride out of here. And if the rumors are to be believed, Fordo and his squad are just a star system away. Navigating through Separatist-infested territory will no doubt be slow going, but if he has to he can hold out until -

And suddenly a vice tightens around his throat and he claws at his neck instinctively, his free hand scrabbling for a hold on his knife, lungs aching as he struggles to breathe, and Maul proves to be very much alive, looming over Alpha, lightsaber in hand once again.

Even as Alpha’s vision threatens to fade - he can’t breathe - it registers distantly that Maul is within arm’s length. There’s a knife sheathed on Alpha’s belt - there’s a slim chance he can - if he could just -

Maul steps closer.

Alpha drives his knife up and in and doesn’t let go until it sinks to the hilt. Maul is howling, the hangar echoing with the animalistic scream, and the blur of red at the edge of Alpha’s vision streaks closer -

And then the pressure on his neck abruptly loosens. He curls into himself instinctively, coughing as he struggles to draw air into his lungs. The telltale hum of lightsabers drowns out Maul’s snarling; Alpha can’t help thinking that at least if he dies here, he’ll die on his feet. Not the death he’d have preferred, but -

“Easy, Captain.” A gentle pressure on his shoulder accompanies the familiar voice, and Kenobi’s face comes into view. He’s smiling, somehow, as though he couldn’t be bothered with the ongoing duel behind him. Of course Skywalker is here too; where his Master goes, he goes.

There’s a story behind that, no doubt, but Alpha has a feeling everything will be divulged in due time.

_____________

“Well, you certainly took your time, General,” Alpha grumbles with a halfhearted attempt at exasperation after Kenobi is done detailing exactly how he and his Padawan ended up here when they were expected at the Temple.

“We made a few detours along the way,” Kenobi answers, flashing his Padawan a wry look that suggests those detours were likely not by their design.

Skywalker decidedly ignores his Master’s remark and instead says, “So now what?”

Alpha sighs. “Maul escaped, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“And?”

“And you’re not going after him,” Kenobi declares, correctly interpreting the look on Skywalker’s face and the set of his shoulders.

“We don’t know what kind of reinforcements he might have,” Alpha points out. “Or where he is now, for that matter.”

“And some of us need medical attention,” Kenobi adds with a pointed look at Alpha.

“It’s nothing serious,” Alpha says, more out of habit than anything as he knows full well his protests fall on deaf ears.

“Alpha...”

“I’ve had worse,” he insists. “Sir.”

“Humor me,” Kenobi says with enough of an edge to his voice that Alpha understands the words are not open for interpretation. “I’m sure this won’t be the last we see of him.”

“Do me a favor, then, General.”

“Oh?”

“Next time you run into him, knock his shebs to haran and back.”

Kenobi smiles. “I’ll see what I can do, Captain.”

#alpha-17 #alpha 17 #darth maul #obi-wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #the clone wars #star wars #thanks for the prompt!#i know it took me way too long to write this #but I'm open to more!

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talkfastromance4 · 4 years ago

Text

/clementine/part 3: Ashton Irwin

Thank you all so so much for giving this new series a chance!🧡It will probably be structured like my Luke&Lily series where I’ll have open discussions about this family with little blurbs and then some one shots like these. Catch up below and please tell me what you think! Much love🧡

Part 1 // Part 2

Word count: 3.5k

Warnings: sweet moments, mentions of pregnancy

Masterlist

•••••

Preparation for the baby began minutes after Y/N and Ashton celebrated the happy news in their garden and after many photos that Ashton took. He had her pose in the swing then sit on the edge of the pond so the vases could be seen behind her. She thought his excitement was so wholesome it wasn’t hard for her to have a genuine smile as he had her hold one of the vases. When he stuck a small orange flower in her hair she used that opportunity to give him a quick kiss.

“I’m so happy you’re happy,” she whispers.

“I’m over the moon,” he grins, eyes twinkling like stars. “Can I ask why you chose the colors orange and green?”

“Uhh…well. I really love your album and it’s like…” she touches her belly lightly, “this baby is our own superbloom.”

More kissing ensued then Ashton was rattling off paint ideas and how the room next to theirs would be the perfect nursery once he finally cleaned out the leftover packing boxes and some of his things he shifted there to make room for her stuff.

He began sketching the nursery right away but kept his drawings away from her until he could color them in, so she’d have the perfect visual of what he saw in his mind’s eye.

Later that night while they were getting ready for bed, after he checked the locks and security cameras he found her in their bathroom with her shirt yanked up to her breasts and her shorts pulled down a little staring at her reflection. She twisted every which way, a glowing smile present. He’s only known for a few hours and she’s already glowing.

It’s not until he shifts his focus from her face to what she was looking at, a small round bump. Ashton becomes transfixed as he admires her and the life that is very apparent growing within her.

“Do you see this?!” she squeals finally turning around to face him.

“I do see, and it’s incredible, angel,” he smiles moving behind her. He places his own hands over the small roundness of her belly then turns them towards the mirror. “You’re so beautiful.”

He rubs her stomach, fingers tickling her skin until she’s sighing against him. “You’re sure you’re happy?”

“I’m beyond happy, angel.” Then he frowns spinning her around so she’s facing him. He turns her chin up. “Why do you keep asking if I’m happy?”

“Because this wasn’t planned, and I don’t want you to feel stuck with me or something…” she shrugs, eyes lowering in shame.

“You can get that out of your head right now,” he cups her cheeks forcing her to look at him. “Remember when I told you there’s no downside to us not using protection? I meant it. Yes, we absolutely should have used protection, but this isn’t a bad thing, yeah? I’m so happy we’re having a baby.”

He kisses her forehead then her lips once, twice, three times. His hazel eyes search her face for more signs of doubt, but he sees the resolve appear.

“Okay, you’re right,” she sighs. “I’m overthinking it. I’m happy too.”

***

As months go on and Ashton continues to clean out the soon-to-be nursery, Y/N’s showing more and more. Their friends and family were ecstatic about the news of their bundle of joy that would be making their arrival in the middle of June.

Ashton has been more than happy being her support as her body continued to change. He made sure she had plenty of fluids, taking all the necessary prenatal vitamins, gave her the best herbal teas and didn’t mind running to the store for her odd cravings. For a straight week all she wanted was an apple and chicken sandwich.

The holidays went by and Y/N had a constant glow about her that radiated to everyone in proximity. Even through her migraines, nausea, back pain and heartburn, she was still extremely happy to be pregnant.

Mornings are spent by Ashton speaking to the baby while he rubs her belly. He and the boys have started working on the nursery and at nighttime Ashton has set up a little woodshop in the garage where he’s making the crib. He wants it to be circular and painted a light green.

She enjoys watching him work, loving the way his muscles ripple and flex, his sweat making his tattoos shine. Her raging hormones were also very apparent and fired at all times. Once, when Ashton came home he saw her crying on the couch because she had a really good sex dream and was very upset when she woke up. As of late, their best position is from behind while laying on their sides, fingers interlocked and Ashton’s lips on her neck. Because of her heightened arousal, her orgasms happened very quickly.

She’s eight months along now, both her and baby are extremely healthy. Her baby shower (that Ashton insisted on attending) is this weekend in their backyard, but the girls wouldn’t let them lift a finger.

They’re sitting out in the garden now watching the fish swim around lazily as dragonflies kiss the top of the sparkling water. The garden has expanded even more with overflowing green ferned plants and a small bird bath.

“I was thinking of having pork chops for dinner tomorrow and don’t forget we have a doctor appointment on Friday,” she tells him while playing with his fingers. They have more callouses now from all of his woodshop making, the crib is finished and drying in the garage. She looks over at him to see he’s staring off into the distance. “Ash?”

“Hm?”

“What are you thinking about so hard?” she taps her fingers delicately on his temple.

“I’m thinking about the night we met,” he sighs bringing his other hand to cradle her belly. “Do you remember?”

“Of course, I remember. Why are you thinking about that?”

“I had a thought that night and it popped in my head just now,” his fingers create soothing circles on her stomach.

“What thought?”

Ashton ignores the question and starts telling the story of the night they met fifteen months ago.

They were strangers then, both of them agreeing to a speed dating night but there was a twist, it was held in the dark. The waiters wore night vision glasses and walked the daters to their tables, fate had Ashton and Y/N be at the same table.

“They really took ‘blind dating’ literally, huh?” she laughed nervously trying to break the tension. She’s only been on less than a handful of blind dates but this one takes the cake.

“Yeah, I get the concept, but I wish I could see you,” he complimented. Her teasing piqued his interest immediately, she sounded feisty but also clever. “You sound pretty.”

“Yeah? How does pretty sound?” she giggled.

“Just like that,” he pointed then placed his finger down since she couldn’t see it. “Your personality is in your voice. You’re funny and witty and your giggle is just adorable.”

“Well, thank you,” she said feeling her face warm up. “You have a nice voice too.”

“I’m Ashton.”

“Nice to meet you, Ashton, I’m Y/N.”

The evening continued with more laughter as they tried to eat their food in the dark. It took them forever to find their forks and couldn’t stop laughing as they patted the table trying to find a knife.

“Maybe we don’t need one?” he asked.

“But it’s chicken! I don’t want to pick it up with my fingers, we aren’t in the stone ages.”

“Maybe it’s already cut?”

“You test it first.”

She listened as his fork stabbed onto the plate, then it clattered while he yelped in surprise.

“Did it bite you?” she laughed.

“No, it’s just very hot! Be careful.”

When the date has ended with a chocolate mint, the host of the blind dating soirée thanked everyone for participating and said if you’d like to meet your date face to face then take the door on the left, if not then come out the way you came. Ashton and Y/N’s nerves heightened, would the other walk through the left door or leave?

She followed the waiter to the left, hoping Ashton did the same. They had nametags on so it would be easy to find your date if you chose to meet them afterwards. She blinked a few times when the light from the streetlamps met her eyes and standing below a hanging flower basket filled with orange flowers was Ashton.

He smiled at her as she approached, her arms crossed over her chest as a slight breeze drifted through the street.

“Nice to put a face to the name,” he said.

Attraction was immediate and after a few minutes of chatting he asked if she’d like to get a coffee down the block. She accepted and told her friend she’d see her later. Her friend was going to a movie with the girl she had dinner with, and they were already holding hands. Y/N smiled that they hit it off right away.

Ashton and Y/N stayed at the coffee shop until it closed, neither of them wanted the night to end so he invited her back to his place. Normally she would never do that on a first date, but the way she and Ashton connected was unlike any other first date.

He gave her a tour of his house then turned on some music that floated outside onto the patio where he flicked on the small bulbed lights. He noticed she kept shivering and made a fire in his small pit, thankfully it was gas so it would warm up quickly.

“Thank you,” she smiled leaning closer to the flames.

Conversation was so easy between them, they discussed the universe, books, music, everything under the sun that helped define a person. When Lord Huron’s song ‘The Night we Met’ started she gasped.

“I love this song! I know the lyrics are sad, but it makes me feel like it’s a happy nostalgic song, you know?” she said.

Ashton stood up holding out his hand. “Care to dance?”

She stared up at him in shock, excitement and nervousness flowed through her, but a small burst of confidence had her hand fitting into his. He pulled her from her chair then held her close as he shifted from side to side. As the song continued the electricity between them accelerated.

The song stopped and crickets filled the silence.

“Can you keep playing that song?” she asked quietly.

Ashton nodded taking his phone from his pocket and clicked on the song again, making sure that it would be on repeat. He pocketed his phone then took her hand back in his picking up where they left off on their dance. They inch closer, their interlocked hands cradled between their chests. The yearning song mirrored their actions as his forehead pressed to hers.

On the third round of the song he found his own courage by pressing his lips to hers, soft, warm, and perfect. He felt her nerves slip away with his as the first kiss delved into a kiss that felt like a lifetime. It was new but felt so familiar that transcended time.

In that moment he decided that this was the girl he’s going to marry, start a family with, and dance to music under twinkling lights when they’re seventy-five years old. This blind date opened his eyes to a world of possibilities with her and he wanted them all.

The next day the state of California issued a statewide lockdown and their journey began.

“When we were dancing on the patio and we kissed for the first time,” Ashton says coming back to the present, “I knew then that I was going to marry you.” He leans down and kisses the highest point of her belly before taking her hand.

“Y-you did?”

“I know we haven’t talked about marriage, but…with this little one on the way soon I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

“We can talk about it,” she nods.

“What are your thoughts on it, angel? I’m feeling some hesitation,” he smiles but it doesn’t meet his eyes. He concentrates on their hands folded together over their baby.

“No, no! Hey,” she turns his head, so he looks at her. “I want to marry you; I’d go right now and waddle down the aisle, but I just don’t think it’s the best time right now. With the baby coming soon we’re going to be really crazy getting a schedule down and we’re going to be extremely tired…”

“You’re right. I don’t want to rush things. But you do want to marry me?” his hazel eyes widen a little.

“Of course, I want to marry you,” she smiles pecking his lips quickly. “I probably would have married you the night we met to be honest.”

“Yeah?” he grins.

“Yes, crazy boy.”

“Come on, why won’t you tell us what you’re having!” Luke whines adjusting his pacifier necklace. It’s their baby shower and one of the games includes wearing a necklace of pacifiers, if you hear someone say the name ‘baby’ you got to take their pacifier. The one with the most won a prize.

Ashton and Y/N had the envelope of the sex of their baby at her four-month ultrasound. Neither of them were really desperate to know so the envelope stayed on their nightstand. Each night they bounced back names and settled on two for either a boy or a girl which they also haven’t shared with friends or family. It’s not that they were scared someone would steal their names, but they liked having it just be known to them.

On the morning of their baby shower she found Ashton eyeing up the envelope after his shower.

“I’ve been thinking about opening it, too,” she smiled picking up the white envelope. Scrawled on the front were the words ‘Baby Irwin’.

“Do you want to?”

They opened it together, tears filling their eyes as they read the one syllable word underneath ‘you’re having a…’ they hugged and kissed in excitement then Ashton kissed her belly.

“Hello baby love,” he murmurs. “We’re having a party for you today, where you’ll be getting lots of clothes and toys. You’re already such a joy, your mama and I love you so much.”

“We’ll tell you,” she nods.

“As soon as Y/N gives birth we’ll let you all know,” Ashton finishes.

Luke was the only one affronted by not knowing, he wants to know the name and everything.

“But that won’t be until the middle of June!”

“Luke, relax. We promise you’ll be the first to know,” Ashton rolls his eyes as he hands Y/N another gift.

They’re all sat by the flower oasis; the fish splash every now and then almost is if they want to know what the gender of the baby is as well. She’s been spending a lot more time in the flower garden, talking to the baby and imagining sitting out here on the swing watching the fish swim.

The nursery is finished, one wall is painted in orange flowers growing up to the ceiling. A green plant sits in the corner next to the teal armchair. Ashton’s circular crib is all set up along with the other furniture in the room and some toys are scattered around. The room is absolutely perfect.

Y/N’s become a bit more emotional now as her due date draws closer. When opening presents are finished and they’re all eating cake (Luke was disappointed there wasn’t blue or pink frosting hiding inside) she teared up.

“Hey, are you all right? Does something hurt?” Ashton asks swiping away a tear from her cheek.

“No, I’m just so happy,” she cries dabbing at her eyes with the peach napkin. “All of our friends and family are here because they already love our baby so much.”

“Oh, angel,” he smiles as she hides her face in his chest. He rubs her back affectionately and kisses the top of her head. “They love you, too.”

As the party dwindled down, she went upstairs to lay down, her feet swell a lot more these days. Ashton helps clean up and brings the gifts inside the nursery. When the last guest leaves he’s exhausted as well and heads upstairs.

She’s sprawled across the bed her pregnancy pillow enveloped around her. That thing was a God send; it was the only way she could sleep through the night without any pain. Ashton was glad it helped her sleep; the only downside was that it was much harder for him to cuddle her close.

He removes his blue silk pants and tugs off his light pink shirt (an outfit choice he wore to mess with Luke) and joins her on the bed. He kisses her forehead, brushing his fingers through her hair then holds his hand on her belly. He feels a slight kick from the baby, and he smiles.

“Don’t wake mama up, baby love,” he smiles, “she’s had a long day on her feet. Take a nap with us.”

Ashton rests his head on the pillow then begins to hum a song until the baby’s kicking ceases and the family of three snooze together until dinner time.

Ashton is about to pull his hair out. It’s been two weeks past Y/N’s due date and she’s miserable. They’ve been trying everything their doctor has recommended to induce labor, spicy foods (after it made her cry she tossed that idea out the window), eating bananas, using the exercise ball and walking. But to no avail, their little baby was as stubborn as Y/N and Ashton.

She’s not sleeping well; she gets nearly six headaches a day and can’t stand for longer than ten minutes without her back hurting. Ashton has suggested trying to have sex as that’s the number one trial to induce labor, but she shot that down quick too.

“Ash, listen, I love you and you know I think you’re sexy, but sex is the furthest thing on my mind right now. I feel like a whale and I’m so hot and uncomfortable…”

When tears sprung in her eyes he never brought it up again but still, he wants their baby to arrive now so she’s not in this state anymore. She’s sitting on the couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table, a fan blasting on high directed right at her.

“Do you want anything to eat or drink?” he asks leaning over the back of the couch.

“No,” she grumbles rubbing her stomach. “Can we try walking again?”

“Around the block?”

“No, just the backyard,” she sighs trying to sit up. Ashton helps her stand then holds her elbow with one hand resting on her back. “My womb can’t be that comfortable.”

Ashton smiles but doesn’t say anything. He learned two weeks ago that any form of compliment towards her womb accommodations made her angry. She sighs when her feet touch the warm patio then into the soft grass.

They start from the opposite end of the flower oasis where now a small well resides with vines growing up. Ashton holds her hand as they walk through the garden, each section resembling a chapter in this part of their life. It’s filled with color and vibrance and was made from love. When they reach the koi pond, Felix, Oscar and Patricia are gathered together near the edge.

“Can you hand me the food?” she asks.

Ashton removes his hand to grab the fish food and hands it to her. She pops it open then sprinkles the food into the water.

“Do you think they know I’m pregnant?” she asks.

“Maybe…are they like dogs in how they can sense it?” Ashton asks.

“I don’t know. I like to think they know. All right,” she sighs heavily, “lets’ head back inside.”

As soon as she crosses the threshold, she hears a small pop then something trickling down her legs. She gasps and looks down at her feet to see water covering her orange colored toes (courtesy of Ashton painting them since she can’t see her feet). Her water broke. It’s time.

“Um, Ash?” she reaches towards a chair and holds onto it.

“What’s up, angel?”

“My water just broke.”

“In the pond? How? Wait—what?!” he spins from the fridge and stands in front of her. His eyes widen. “Okay, stay right here, let me get you some new pants and we’ll go to the center.”

After twelve hours of labor, their baby girl was born on July 1. They both cried tears of joy at the sight of her, her face was a perfect circle with long lashes and an already apparent pair of dimples on her round cheeks. Ashton couldn’t stop staring at her as Y/N held her in her arms, he strokes his finger over her forehead gently. The peach fuzz of her skin is warm and already familiar.

“Here’s our superbloom,” she smiles to Ashton.

He meets her gaze, eyes filled with love and admiration that she carried their baby girl for this amount of time. He kisses her and rests his forehead against hers.

“Our darling Clementine.”

•••••

Taglist: @galcalirwin @cashtonasff5sos @thecurlsofgod @myloverboyash @rotten-kandy @tea4sykes @jannimoeller3 @loveroflrh @iovehemmings @cxddlyash @princesslrh @here-for-the-uproars @katiaw2 @g-l-pierce @fairyintheglass @gosh-im-short @banditocth @dezzym17 @koalacal @lukeisbaby @spicycal @mysticalhood @notinthesameguey @wastedheartcth @atlcalm @itjustkindahappenedreally @calumance @babylon-corgis @thew0rldneedsmcreycghurt @lanternlover2 @istaywithmyjonas @calteahood @sarcastically-defensive17 @another-lonely-heart @devilatmydoor @frontmanash @philthepegacorn @mantlereid @lukedorkyhemmings @addietagglikesbands @kikixfandoms @sanrioluke @mayve-hems @morguelth @haikucal @thatscooibaby @meghanrose05 @idontneedanyone @dinosaursandsocks @haveufoundwhaturlooking4 @suchalonelysunflower @burstintocolor @zhangyixingxing1 @dead-and-golden @mymindwide @everyscarisahealingplace @stardust-galaxies @blackbutterfliescal @redrattlers @lovelybonesetc @karajaynetoday @quasighost @i-like-5sos @creampiecashton

#ashton irwin one shot #dad!ash #ashton irwin fluff #ashton irwin writing #ashton 5sos #dad!sos #clementine #ai writing #ashton one shot #ashton fluff

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sanstropfremir · 4 years ago

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ok alright alright alright kingdom episode two

kinda disappointed that they only showed half the stages, but that's just an editing thing to draw out the content so you can air for longer, i'm not super surprised about that. i would have liked to evaluate them all at the same time, but at least this gives me time to go more in depth for all of them since they're full stages this time and I wrote 3000 words for last episode when they only had 100 secs. so this format will probably keep me sane for longer, i think.

solid stages all round for them, none had especially glaring flaws on the whole. i'm not gonna do a full ranking for this episode since we haven't seen them all, but i will say that btob’s was my favourite from this set and both ikon’s and tbz’s stages were about equal; they both had things i liked and disliked in equal measure so i'm tentatively giving them the same ranking. full opinions and analysis on each stage below the cut, plus another section of general notes because hey what the fuck did you do to that stage mnet???

and for anyone that’s wondering yes i do have the qualifications. also seriously grab a drink or something because this is LONG.

some general notes

and here i thought this section wouldn't be as big as it was last time because mnet was going to get their shit together about the stage design, but noooooooooooo they had to go and make it worse! thanks mnet i hate it! remember how i said you shot yourself in the foot last time? well ya fuckin kneecapped yourself AND all your idols with this one ya dumb fuckin idiots. alright folks welcome back to stage design 101, my recurring segment where i explain the different types of stage layouts and their effectiveness for kpop idol survival shows, i guess.

ok so last week i covered the basics on theatre in the round and traverse staging, which i’ll link here if there’s anyone new or just wants a refresher. i mentioned that its likely that mnet will switch to an in the round style staging because it offers a lot more freedom for camera movement and also for directional blocking. well, i was wrong. so i'm gonna give you a quick rundown of prosceniums. a proscenium, proscenium arch, or just prosc, is an architectural feature that sits around the front ‘opening’ of the stage that delineates the stage from the audience. if you've ever been in or seen any pictures of old european style theatres it can be quite ornately decorated with scrolling, but it's almost always there in most western theatres. it basically provides your ‘wings,’ which are where you exit off into to get offstage, they provide cover from the audience sitelines. pretty much any theatre where the audience is directly opposing the stage across the 180 degree line is a proscenium stage, even if it doesn't physically have the arch. hell, movie theatres are prosc stages. now, there's a secondary architectural feature/device called a false proscenium, where you set a second, smaller archway inside the first prosc, usually done for a specific effect. think of it like a literal framing device; it's often used to visually signify that ‘this is a play, we are telling a story, please be aware that this is a play thank you.’ but sometimes, it can be a semi-permanent structure that’s set in place to narrow the prosc opening. we had this at my university, there was a false prosc set just inside the actual prosc because the stage had a hilariously big prosc opening for a university that never had casts larger than 24 people. so they set false prosc in to make the stage slightly narrower and to widen the wings, because it doesn't matter what size theatre you're in, you always need more wingspace. makes sense? ok, now here’s a very quick drawing of what i'm pretty sure the kingdom stage looks like:

before you get lost: stage directions are oriented to a person standing on the stage, hence SL and SR being reversed. a quick tip for remembering which way is upstage and which is downstage: if you go too far downstage you fall down (most stages are raised between 2-4’ from the floor, so if you step off the end you will actually fall.) the arrows on here signify the entrances i observed during the performances, which is not necessary in this explanation but i just thought it was interesting to note. still not entirely sure what the surrounding architecture is but it appears that the stage is a raised platform inside a room, and not actually built as part of the building. the ‘house’ is just a technical term for where the audience is, and in this case it's where it looks like most of the film crew and the producers/staff are. there’s pretty clearly a platform upstage centre, and i think there may be some others but i don't care about those right now. what i want to talk about is this dumbass false prosc they set IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STAGE. now i suspect that they did this to solve some problems that they could have had that i don't know about, since i don't know who the stage designer was and what the actual limitations of the space are. but basically they've built two stages and stacked them on top of each other to create one very deep stage, and then separated it off with a false prosc in order to control the size of the space a little better, and possibly to add some visual interest. this stage is functional for its purpose, absolutely, and i think, if mnet actually gave a shit about point of view and camerawork, it could produce some really interesting performances. however, because this stage is so deep, it kind of has the same properties as the traverse stage from before, but just with some big led screens in the middle for reasons. you extra have to pay attention to the directionality because you have all the staff and cameras concentrated in one specific cardinal point, so you have to get creative if you want to crossover between the two sides frequently. again, this is not necessarily bad; restrictions often produce some of the most creative decisions. but! we have not seen a lot of consideration for camera and sightlines and audience pov, hence why i think this setup is dumb: it’s not facilitating the best performances it could.

ok now to the actual performances

btob

this is my favourite of the group because it's very clean lined and utilizes a few simple devices to pretty good effect. i realize these reviews are making me sound like i only like simple performances but i promise this is not at all true i'm just very critical and very picky. let’s start with the costumes, because why not.

costumes

i like these very much, i love modernized traditional clothing in all forms, and these are very well tailored and well coordinated. they do the bulk of the work establishing the theme for the performance, along with the costumes on the backup dancers. personally i would have liked them to be a bit more colourful, à la the teal detailing that was on minhyuk’s final look. i'm getting a bit tired of the whole trend of having groups only wear all dark or all white, or maybe sometimes red if they're feeling spicy. obviously uniform colour is the easiest way to tie a group together visually, but on a show like this i think the groups would actually benefit more from looking distinct from each other internally rather than establishing the group as whole.

i liked that minhyuk had a costume change but i didn't really care for how it was how it was broken down. this is a very personal quibble because i literally have spent years prepping quickchanges but the method it broke down wasn’t the most visually compatible with the garment and felt kinda clunky. please ignore this anecdote it's just me being picky.

set

i loved the forest! a very excellent way to divide the stage area and obscure the weird stage lines/architecture that mnet has made. plus the snow, flowers, and fog? makes a really sharp and immediately indicative atmosphere, a very good use of visual shorthand to establish place.

i didnt love the screens, they reminded me a bit too much of rolling whiteboards from grade school, but they are thematically relevant. also, i feel like we didnt actually get to see about half the choreo for them? fuckin mnet and idiocy again. fun use of rear projection with the dancers’ shadows, and also good use of them to direct traffic, if you will.

personally i think that the sheet gimmick from tbz’s performance would have been a better fit here instead of the screens, especially since the fabric motif was already established at the very beginning of the performance. plus you can do some really fun shadow work with a stretch fabric screen.

personally i think there could have been a little bit more integration between the forest area and the screen area, or they could have done the whole thing in the forest space, but that would require a bit more consideration of camera and choreo maneuverability

sound

really liked this arrangement, obviously the song is iconic but they added a more traditional instrument sound. has good structure for the loose narrative that they had and they were well to label this as ‘theatre’ version because this did follow very closely to a traditional musical theatre sound and style

lighting

no complaints. the overall theme for this episode is apparently blue and red? again with them i like their dedication to a limited colour palette and i especially like the blossoms at the climax

staging

there was pretty clear camera choreo and a minimum of nausea inducing moves. i think some of the effectiveness of the staging got chopped by the editing but that’s not really btob’s fault.

i was just saying i wanted them to give minhyuk some time to shine, i was not expecting to get it so soon! this is a very smart choreo that proves you can be interesting without doing a lot of tricking. minhyuk obviously did a lot of practice and work with that sword, his movements are very fluid and he knows how to handle it. and it looks like its either a blunted proper blade or a correctly weighted replica. a lot of the times when sword choreo looks fake it's because the person either hasn't had enough practice or the weapon is not weighted/weighted incorrectly. only complaints are that you would never hold your fingers/palm that close and un-anchored over the edge of the blade, which is just a safety thing. also you would never scrape your blade on the ground like that, nor toss the thing like dead fish but that's a respect thing with a live blade and this is clearly done for dramatic effect so i’ll forgive it. please ignore this anecdote also it’s just my third dan getting uppity.

ikon

costume/set

smart thematically to go with the sort of miscellaneous 30s-40s (western) aesthetic because it's the fastest way to make it look like you built a theme with mnet’s weird pseudo art deco nonsense they've inexplicably got going on in the set dec. however, they should have stuck the theme all the way through, it would have been more visually cohesive and more interesting. we expect more hiphop/electronic sounding songs to come with these kinds of 4th gen costumes, it would have been anachronistic in a fun way to have them do that second half in 40s style suits. here’s a performance from sdc3 that uses that kind of anachronistic play (this was a combo stage with two ballroom dancers and it has a 20s aesthetic but close enough.) also here’s another routine from sdc3 that does a similar effect on a much more abstract scale, and also it’s a fucking incredible performance and it got slept on by the captains. also yes i know these are incredibly experienced career dancers but they way they construct narrative within their routines and their stage presence is SO GOOD.

do not speak to me about the backup dancers costumes, holy shit i hate them. i hate them so much. how do you manage to hit too shapeless AND too fitted in the same fell swoop? i'm so mad at these. i'm neutral on bodycon dresses on the best of days but these were absolutely the wrong choice for this stage. generally kpop has abysmal costuming for female backup dancers on the whole but this is just like.....especially lazy. the point of the costume are to help give an indication of where and when you set your performance. they started off with a vaguely 40s theme and then jumped abruptly modern. why? also skirts like that are the literal worst choice for dancing in, hello?? the men’s looks are just sloppy, when you have a garment that big you want it to serve a purpose within the choreo, whereas with this it's just hiding the dancers’ movements.

as for ikon themselves, see everything ive said about black on black on black styling in the previous two reviews.

the actual set is minimal and that's tragic. i mentioned mnet’s weird art deco theme and it was smart of them to try and play off that with a lack of stuff. definitely a mismatch of stuff pulled from yg’s prop storage, but they made it work as well as they could. no other meaningful comments i’m just kinda sad about it.

sound

the arrangement is fine, no complaints from me. they keyed up the old hollywood style musical theatre sound in the beginning which i really liked. i didn't mind the song/tone switch, i think they pulled it off.

staging

same as btob they learned more towards a theatrical style, which is smart for this particular format of show. i think this was the smartest staging of these three, and also i think the only ones to not get the crew in shot.

despite seemingly leaning into a more old hollywood style the narrative was a bit too loose for my taste. i'm not sure what i would have done to make it clearer at this moment since they had so little to work with, but i did get by on my previous knowledge of the songs. that shouldn’t be the only indication of narrative though! all elements need to support it!!

also like btob they had a pretty intentional point of direction and there weren't a crazy amount of spins. they also used the camera cuts the most effectively that i've seen so far. the first half is actually all in one take!!! incredible!!! thank you!!!! this is how you do it!!

the lighter flick gimmick was well pulled off and a good example of how to use a couple of simple tricks to good effect.

ikon as a whole has really great stage chemistry with each other, and they're extremely cohesive performers. this is a really strong physical performance from them, the dance was very solid and clean. good use of levels without verging into acrobatics. this might be the best group choreo i've seen so far, but we’re not very far so that's not a very high bar to clear.

it's a shame they had the budget of 1 banana.

tbz

i liked this stage better than their intro stage, but i still think they have a long way to go and they're still over ambitious. personally i find stages based on specific pop culture properties to be kind of twee and ineffectual, because it requires a specific knowledge of that pop culture property to work. sometimes the specificity can help with a narrative but you're at risk of alienating a larger portion of your audience out of sheer non-knowledge than anything else.

costumes

again, interesting garments physically, but not much clarity of relation to the theme other than the colour. also the backup dancers???? another case of backup dancers being from an entirely different stage, what is up with those coats/dresses? looked more like they belonged in either sweeney todd or a vampire movie.

hands in front of the camera again, but these were used much more effectively. i'm not the biggest fan of mixing metals and i’m partial to silver on the whole so i didn't love the jewelry, but at least it was vague and stereotypical enough to denote ‘fire magic’ even if it does rely on a derivative middle eastern shorthand.

set

the stage set itself is fine, although definitely feels a bit haphazard to me. doric columns and frozen rocks and whatever that cover for the pyrotechnics was at the front, combined with the candles and the chaise lounge? like ikon, it felt a bit like they were pulling out of the props/set storage. not that all these things do not work together, it's just that you need a thread to tie them together, and this didn't have that for me.

sound

it's a crime they have a song called ‘no air’ and its not a jordin sparks cover. just saying.

i didnt really like this arrangement, again like their intro stage it didn't have a strong structure that suited the narrative, because they were pretty clearly trying a narrative on this one. also were most of the adlibs playback? they were singing live but there were so few shots of anyone specific singing.

lighting

probably the weakest of the three. the projection design was a bit too tacky for me, and although i appreciated the small amount of variety in colour, it felt way too concert-lighting for me.

staging

the editing on this stage is wack and did no one any good. the hands leading/pov was a really smart device and they should have stuck out the one takes like ikon did, it would have made the whole stage feel a bit more cohesive. a lot better directional camerawork from them this time around, well done. again with the hands in front of the camera gimmick which i actually preferred this time, since they were a part of the narrative. the stretch/silhouette fabric i think they pulled off quite well, even if it didn't really fit thematically with the piece. i actually worked on a show a very long time ago that used this exact same effect with dancers and also rear shadow projection, and it requires a lot of rehearsal and trust to pull off well, so props to them. i think it was the wrong choice because there isn't an established motif for the fabric, so it kind of appears out of nowhere for one specific visual moment and then disappears, and i think that time could have been better served for something else narratively relevant.

again, these 4th gen groups are overly focussed on gimmicks as a way to make up for the lack of experience. personally i think this will be detrimental in the long run, and a reliance on gimmicks means that you don't trust your performers. tbz have the manpower to be doing some pretty cool collective dance work and i dont think its being trained or utilized correctly. they are suffering from a lack of cohesive stage presence right now and that can be fixed with training and time.

this might be because the group sizes are so different between these three but this choreo is very directionless. mnet is also providing to be absolute garbage at editing and i feel like i can't see the choreo at all.

this is a thing i've noticed with kpop camerawork in general, there’s very little regard for actually viewing the choreo as a singular work. and for some reason the camera always needs to be moving???? people do actually want to see what’s happening on the stage. the choreographer can only see from one spot, so from that spot is how they are intending it to look. you wouldn't need to upload full cams of every music stage if you just filmed the choreo properly in the first place. if you watch the two sdc3 clips i linked you can see a clear difference in maintaining the integrity of the choreo, even though both shows use several cameras and a lot of cuts. obviously for kpop you want the money shots of idols’ faces but i definitely think there’s a healthier middle ground than what we have now.

ill wait for full subs but i want to know where in the fuck in sk you can rent a tank thas clearly been custom made for underwater photography, because that’s extremely cool even if it was absolutely unnecessary to the actual stage itself. i can think of several ways off the top of my head that would have achieved that same freezing effect without any of that wasted time and effort.

mnet decided to drop full cams while i was writing this and despite watching those my opinions are the same.

in conclusion, some more general thoughts:

i think ikon and btob got it right by leaning more into the theatrical than the cinematic, if that makes sense. i might be talking up my own ass here but these are theatre performances, and they should be treated as such. trying to do things that you can do on film isn't going to do you any favours in the long run, and it makes it harder to make a cohesive performance. i’m harping a lot about narrative but it is so important to performance. although it is not technically necessary, when doing big theatrical performance stages like this it does help with clarity of intent and general success. humans have brains structured around storytelling, it is literally the way our history has been passed down for tens of thousands of years. the atlantic published an article recently on narrative and memory, and it's a really excellent read for maybe after you've taken a break from this behemoth, oh dear god.

tldr: the stages were good but disappointing in their own ways. mnet continues to sabotage via weird stage design decisions and bad editing. see you next week! (or in my ask box if you have questions)

#kingdom review #kpop analysis #kingdom #oh dear lord this is almost 4k #to anybody that actually reads this thank you and im sorry #text

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keeponshouting · 4 years ago

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After Infection

Chapter 2 of my original character massive multiverse mash-up. ...only like four people are reading this but whatever.

After Infection: Chopping Mall

“My name’s Shannon,” she says as they all sprawl about in the middle of a department store’s ransacked home furnishings section. “I’m a daycare worker and lifeguard. I—I saw one of those things run straight into the pool. He just…tackled the other lifeguard and—and dove right in. God, it was—it was terrible! Everything was—I—I just got in my car and started driving and my boyfriend… My boyfriend worked here so I came looking for him. He—he wasn’t here but the parking lot was a mad house! Someone hit my car and drove off and I was just—” She takes a deep breath and forces a shaky smile back into place. “Eric saw me stranded and let me in.”

“I’m Eric.” One of the security guards takes the mention of his name as a good segue into his own introduction. “Me and Jamie were on duty when everything just…went nuts.” The other guard raises his hand in a wave but says nothing. “There, um, used to be four of us but… Well, some of those things got in before we locked down.” His grimace says it all. “We’ve run into a few since then but only on the first floor so we mainly stay up here unless we need to make supply runs and no one goes down there alone.” He laughs, though it comes out hollow. “I was supposed to be going off shift, y’know? Then people started attacking each other in the parking lot and…” He shrugs.

The other girl who had been waiting inside clears her throat, anxiously tugging at the photo ID around her neck. “I, uh, I’m—” She clears her throat again and sits up straight. “Jo. I’m Jo. I was on a manager shift at—Well, I guess it doesn’t matter where I worked anymore, huh? Um. We were supposed to have a meeting last night – new stock and all that – but everybody’s always tired of eating at the food court so I just let them all go out and get dinner from this place across the street and then they’re supposed to come back and…” Her hand closes into a fist around her lanyard. “N-nobody came back. I had my headphones on when I heard a gun go off somewhere and Scott – he was one of the other guards – he came in and told me to get upstairs. There was—there was blood fucking—it was everywhere! Blood and—”

Shannon places a hand on Jo’s shoulder.

Someone else clears their throat and a low, slightly uncertain voice pipes up. “Uh, hi. My name’s Dennis and I’m a zombie survivor?” There is a small ripple of laughter and that seems to bolster his confidence a bit as he stretches out his absurdly long legs for a moment, then folds them loosely in front of himself as he leans back against his boyfriend’s knees and smiles. “So, yeah, I’m Dennis and this is Nate. We, uh… We were in town to, uh…” That seems to be where his confidence wavers again, though, and he leans his head back to look up at Nate.

Nate sighs and gives a small wave, taking stock of the group of people around him. His smile looks far more preoccupied than the one Dennis had to offer. “We were visiting some friends in the area. Planned on going out to do some hunting.” He points to the shotgun leaned up against the arm of his chair as evidence. “That went about how you might expect.”

The next speaker looks almost as nervous as Dennis at first but a deep breath seems to change his demeanor entirely, leaving him with an easy smile and a new air of confidence. “I’m Alex.” That confidence is put to the test as he glances down at the flakes of dried blood and god alone knows what else left on his palms. It leaves his face a little paler when he looks back up again and he distracts himself by introducing his friends instead of delving into their situation. “This is Val…Macy…Sasha…Nick. The dog’s Parker. We’re—”

“5 Year Mentality!” Her anxiety forgotten, Jo sits forward, eyes wide and excited. “Oh my god! I knew you looked familiar. Alex Niccols. Holy shit. I was supposed to go to your concert tomorrow.”

Val grunts, lip turning upward in a not at all subtle scowl. “Great. End of the world and we’re still stuck with a fucking fangirl.”

Jo’s face goes red and Alex sighs, confidence dissolving nearly as quickly as it had appeared. “Uh, yeah. We’re on tour. Well, we were anyway. Our driver stopped to help somebody on the side of the road and…yeah.”

“So, uh,” Dennis seems to have either regained his own courage or decided that helping Alex regain his is just more important and leans forward with a faint grin. “You usually tour with a vintage T-bird in tow?”

Alex actually laughs and grins right back. “Figured the guy who bought it wasn’t gonna be using it any time soon. If I’m gonna die anyway—” He shrugs. “—might as well drive to hell in style, right?”

Most of their circle laughs as well, taking any chance they can to relax for however short a time, and as soon as they go quiet again there is a little squeak and “I’m Amanda! I’m five!” Which gets all those who laughed before to do so again and finally draws attention to the last unwitting member of their little village.

Nate is the one who finally leans forward, perfectly nonchalant as he drapes his arms down over Dennis’s chest and yet… “Your turn, draugs.”

The man now holding everyone’s attention leans back into his chair, eyebrows raised as he takes a lazy drag off of his cigarette, ignoring everyone else in favor of studying the young man who seems to be so intent upon studying him. “Viktor.”

There is an uneasy shift among the others and Nate narrows his eyes for a moment before nodding. “Pleasure to meet you, Viktor. Just out of curiosity, since I couldn’t help but notice that you’re packing pretty heavy and you’ve got – what? – a sniper set up somewhere out there?” Around them, everyone else shares a few wary glances. Dennis sighs and mutters something in Nate’s ear but his words are ignored. “So, what exactly is it that you do for a living?”

Viktor takes another drag and leans forward, blowing a long stream of smoke out of the corner of his mouth as he plasters on a perfectly placid smile. “Former FBI, current investigative specialist. Federal reserve.” He shrugs. “My partner just happens to be manning the military surplus shop across the lot. Hell of a shot, ne?”

It is silent for a full minute, everyone just watching the two men stare at one another before Shannon sits up, her voice cracking just slightly as she suggests that they start making plans for the best way to make sure everyone is comfortable for the night.

---

“Any bright ideas, bossman?”

Viktor scowls and knocks cigarette ash over the sea of undead below as he looks toward the distant rooftop where he knows his partner to have set up camp. “Aside from shooting the perky daycare woman who won’t let me smoke in peace? Ne.”

There is a snort on the other end of the line. “Patience, ’mano. Not your strong suit with people, I know, but a good thing to have. Necessary even.”

“Sklapni. I’m not threatening to shoot the five year old. What more do you want?”

Everything goes quiet for a moment aside from the groaning and howling of the jostling horde and then, “Five year old?”

With a grunt, Viktor takes a seat on the edge of the roof and flicks the smoldering butt of his cigarette into the crowd. “Ano. Yes. My army consists of a daycare worker, a store manager, two security guards, a couple of hunters, a bunch of rockstars, and a five year old.” He pauses for a moment before adding, “And a dog.”

Miguel sounds distracted as he laughs in his ear. “And the only one you get along with es el perro.”

“Pretty much.”

“How did I know?”

“Hn.”

Another cigarette flashes into life on either side of the plaza and there is another quiet moment.

“Just try to play nice over there, sí?”

“Define nice.”

Viktor can almost hear the roll of the other man’s eyes and that, at least, puts a genuine smile on his face.

---

“So, uh, we got a plan yet?”

Nate frowns, glancing up toward Dennis’s place at the door to the main store before returning to rummaging through the rear of the hatchback. When the group as a whole had decided that they might as well just hold tight in the mall for a while, what with how many undead currently had them surrounded, Dennis had suggested that the two of them should probably head back down and see what sort of useful supplies they could believably scrounge up while maintaining the cover of a plain old hunting trip. Eric and that band kid, Alex, had come down with them but they had since headed back upstairs with a bunch of luggage that had been left in the T-bird upon first arrival. It is painfully quiet, aside from the muffled groans emanating from the zombie horde outside and the intermittent noises of the ventilation system kicking in and out and that obviously has Dennis on edge. To be fair, it has Nate pretty twitchy, too. Occasionally the garage door rattles but whatever Alex had done to the gears earlier is thus far doing an extremely impressive job of keeping any creeping fingers from wiggling their way underneath. Unless the zombies managed to full-out bust their way through, that door is going absolutely nowhere.

“The way I see it,” Nate says, “we don’t actually have a lot of options. In fact, all we’ve got right now is the knowledge that we’re relatively well-armed and stocked on food. Twelve people and a dog could probably live in here for a month or two without any trouble.”

There is a pause before Dennis takes a deep breath and blurts out, “What about Viktor’s partner?”

That makes Nate stop and he slowly raises his head to peer over at Dennis again, finding his eyes met and locked. “What about him?”

Dennis furrows his brow. “We’re supposed to help people, right? Protect them from—I mean, this kind of thing would—Zombies are in the bestiary so…”

“Yes.” With a sigh, Nate moves out from behind the car and leans his shoulder into passenger side instead, arms crossed over his chest. “Yes, zombies are in the bestiary and yes, we are supposed to help people and okay, fine, that includes the secretive asshole and his sniper, despite the fact that I am absolutely certain that both of them can pretty obviously take care of themselves and—” He holds up a hand to hush whatever is about to come out of Dennis’s mouth next. “—yes, I am aware that we should be grateful for his sniper’s help. We’d have had a hell of a time getting in here without him. Satisfied?”

There is a pause, Dennis pressing his lips together in thought, then he offers a sheepish smile and shrugs. “Yeah. I guess so.”

“Any other questions? Things you want to tell me off for?”

“Actually, yeah, question. Am I allowed to play with Amanda or would that be considered befriending your enemy by association?”

Nate throws his hands up and just goes right back around to finish resorting their supplies for easy transport. “He’s not my enemy, you dope, he’s just keeping secrets and I don’t like it. Besides, I know what everyone else is thinking and I’m not convinced that Amanda’s actually his but…”

Dennis grins and comes over to join him, bending his knees and stooping to bridge the height gap between them as he kisses Nate on the cheek. “She sure does seem attached to him, though, huh?”

“Stop trying to throw your back out, you fucking giant.” Nate gives him a proper kiss, then shoves a bag of camping gear into his chest to hide his own smile. “Now let’s get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps.”

---

“So here’s the deal,” Eric had said the moment that they were all gathered again. “This is the best furniture department in the mall so I’m making the executive decision that we stay put. We’ve only got three storefronts between here and the nearest restrooms but I’d still rather we didn’t let anybody go alone or unarmed just in case. We’ll take turns keeping watch overnight because I don’t know about the rest of you but that’ll definitely help me sleep easier. Anybody needs PJs or just some clean clothes—” He makes a point of looking toward Alex with only a quick glance toward Viktor. “—I can open up pretty much any store you want. Not like anybody’s asset management is going to come yelling at me any time soon. Just stick to the second floor. Agreed?”

Half an hour later, they are all down to the varying levels of undress in which they intend to sleep and are discussing the logistics of who is going to sleep where. Well, most of them are, anyway. Some people have simply taken up residence in their own selected spots and silently informed everyone else to fuck off. Luckily, Viktor’s selected spot happens to be on the furthest sofa away from pretty much everyone else. Meanwhile, the band kids have pulled a futon off of its display and tucked it in behind the nearby help desk with an assortment of pillows and blankets piled up around it like an extremely compact sleepover and Shannon and Jo have moved a few curtain display units to create their own little room. Nate and Dennis find things a little more difficult and have to hunt for a display mattress that isn’t going to completely kill Dennis’s back, a task which no one else seems to have realized would be such a feat until the giant finally stood at his full 7-foot height in front of everyone to help retrieve some bedding from a higher shelf. Even Viktor had looked a bit shocked by that.

By the time the main lights cut out, everything seems to be just about settled, and Eric does one last lap of the group before dropping a couple of blankets into the recliners that he and Jamie had selected. “We all good? I can dim the security lights a little if they’re bugging anybody too much. Want make sure everybody gets some sleep.” His words, however, draw very little attention as there is a much more pressing matter in need of attending just beyond the next display.

“Amanda, honey?” Shannon is crouched down by the little girl who is currently curled up on the floor, clinging to Parker and using the dog’s broad back as a pillow. Not far away, Dennis and Nate share a quick glance, one worried and the other significantly more frustrated.

“Amanda,” Shannon says again, still receiving no response. “Do you want to come sleep with me, maybe? Jo and I have our own little space. It can be just us girls. What do you say?”

The five year old just bites her lip and curls up a little bit tighter.

“She can keep Parker out there if she wants,” Alex quietly offers. “He’d get too hot over here anyway.”

After another moment, Macy gets up and pads out with one of their blankets and an extra pillow for the little girl even as Shannon keeps trying. “Amanda. Come on, baby. You can have your own bed and everything. We’ll make it up nice and soft and—”

The exasperated grunt that finally makes her stop causes everyone to jump and though most of them are unable to really see him from where they sit, Viktor’s one arm rises just barely into everyone’s view. “Jdeš sem, holčička.” His hand motions her over somewhat roughly. “Come here.”

Still biting her lip, Amanda slowly sits up but only hesitates until he finally opens one eye and turns his head to face her, brow arched with an irritable, “Well?” Then she hops to her feet and scurries over to curl up on the man’s chest. He simply ignores their audience, tosses part of his blanket over her, and closes his eyes once again.

---

The first morning comes and goes in a general whirl of coffee and the occasional cigarette, breakfast provided courtesy of Shannon and the nearest break room, until they all hear a whole lot of noise coming from somewhere downstairs and everything immediately goes quiet amongst them. It only takes a few minutes of hushed discussion for them to decide that the security guards and hunters will run recon and see if they can find the source. They return almost as quickly with the news that some of animals have escaped from the pet store and are now wandering freely about the first floor. This, of course, begs the question of how that might have happened and leads to the subsequent decision that they are going to have to do another sweep of the lower level in the very near future.

“So…” Alex watches as Macy and Amanda play with a box of kittens that Dennis had collected from the shop’s window, the little furballs happily climbing all over the ever patient Parker. “In all likelihood, there’s at least one more of those things still down there.”

“That’s all we can figure,” Eric agrees with a shrug. “By the time we got to the pet shop, it wasn’t there anymore but I can’t really think of any other explanation.”

Nate nods. “Half of the cages were on the floor. Even if the animals just got spooked by something, there’s the matter of what could have scared them.”

Val is the one who finally gets tired of the ensuing silence and leans forward to place her elbows on the table with a pointed thunk. “So, boys and girls, are we hunting this bitch down or what?”

---

The mall is basically shaped like an X and it only makes sense that they divide up into four hunting parties. Eric and Jamie stick together to cover the wing with the food court so they can be sure to check all of the nooks and crannies but the rest of the teams are divided with weapons proficiency in mind. Nate and Val take one hall, Dennis and Jo take another, and Alex finds himself headed down the last one with Viktor. It takes a great deal of arguing with a very panicked little girl to get that last one to fly, though.

“We don’t know which way it would’ve gone,” Eric had told them, “so watch your back.”

Val had checked her gun and flashed Viktor a glare at that, adding a simple, “And your partner’s.”

Aside from the occasional shop still playing its music mix through the in-store speakers, however, and a video place with ads still looping on their front display, their slow walk down hall four is proving to be surprisingly quiet. Watching some random anime character run across an absurdly oversized tv screen, Alex figures that the silence is really what creeps him out the most. He feels pretty safe assuming that the others are at least talking to their partners enough to strategize but his companion? Yeah, not so much. At least he can be sure that Viktor, of all people, is going to completely ignore the sight of the four-by-six-foot poster of his face plastered to the inside of some alt shop’s front window, signs around it displaying a countdown to a concert that will never happen. Anyone else and there might have been some sort of comment but no. With Viktor, he gets absolutely nothing. Just keep on walking and get the job done. For that much, Alex is pretty damn grateful.

Contrast to the eerie silence, the crash of a sign falling somewhere down an exit corridor is nearly enough to make him piss himself. “Fuck.” His voice cracks in a tremendously unflattering fashion. “Please just be a puppy or something.”

Viktor actually snorts at that as he returns from checking the entrance space to the nearest restrooms. He still says nothing, just brings his gun to the ready and starts toward the source of the sound. Alex takes a deep breath before following close behind, then has to literally bite his tongue to stop himself from swearing when he jumps at the sound of something running into the doors on the other side of a massive fountain and welcome sign. It is definitely not a puppy.

“I take left,” Viktor instructs, voice low and eyes focused on whatever lie ahead.

Well, shit. Alex takes a deep, steadying breath, and carefully creeps off to the right. He barely has to round his side of the fountain to see it.

What looks like it was once a janitor is there at the locked door, smearing blood all over the class as it claws at its own reflection. On the left, Viktor whistles to get the thing’s attention. To the right, Alex’s heart just about stops when it turns toward him instead. Luckily, it hits the ground with a hole in its head before it even gets close enough for him to properly smell.

“Well,” Viktor mutters, “that was a bit too—Duck.”

“Huh?”

The shriek behind him is more than enough to help Alex process the order, though, and he dives out of the way at almost the exact same time as a bullet whizzes past, not nearly far enough from where his head had just been for his liking. It leaves the second janitor sprawled in a double-dead bloody mess on top of him and he finally lets the curses he had been holding back burst right out.

Like some sort of terrible chain reaction, you shoot one and the sound draws the attention of another. A good dozen or so are banging on the outside doors now with another wave coming up behind them and when he looks back—“Behind you!”

A few trips to the shooting range with his grandfather had shown Alex early on that his aim was shit under pressure which is just another reason why he appreciates being paired up with the big, mean, Federal agent. All that Alex has to manage is a single shot that does enough to slow the attack and then it feels kind of like watching a high-end action film in real life. Viktor spins with the warning barely out of Alex’s mouth and has his hand perfectly positioned to catch the creature by the throat as it loses its balance mid-lunge. The weight and momentum are enough to knock Viktor’s feet out from under him, sure, but he keeps his hold, hand locked tight under the joint of the jaw, even as they both crash into the fountain’s pool. Not two seconds later, his pistol is still pointed at where the monster’s right eye had once been and the entrance hall is splattered with… Well, Alex would really rather not think about it.

That silence comes in again, everything gone deathly still aside from the splashing of the water and the rattling of the undead at the doors, and then Alex’s voice cracks again. “What the fuck do you pack, man?”

Viktor tosses the corpse aside and spits a wad of red and grey as he climbs back out onto dry land. “Glock 20C. 10 mm Auto. Good for hunting deer.”

“Fuck.”

“Hm.” There is a pause as the man looks himself over and grimaces before spitting again and mutter more to himself than to current company, “Well, here’s hoping the infection requires them to swallow bits of you.”

Alex simply stares up at him, slack-jawed, from his place on the floor until Viktor arches a brow. “Co?” “You—” Alex blinks, splutters. “Dude. You have a sense of humor.”

Viktor huffs and the sound very nearly sounds like a laugh. “Lose your new sweetheart and let’s finish this job.” Another blink, a look of confusion, and then Alex slowly turns his head to all but shriek as the dead janitor’s face falls a little closer to his own.

---

There is a low whistle over the line as Viktor pulls a chair up to the edge of the roof. “Mierda, ’mano. What happened to you?”

So begins an excellent afternoon, much as zombie hunting had begun such an excellent morning.

“We need a plan before I shoot something living,” Viktor states some time later as he levels his sights on another target. “The zatracený daycare girl is still trying my patience and at least one other person in here would be more than happy to see the store manager gone.” He fires. “If we don’t get out of here soon…”

“Just don’t forget me once you get out, sí?”

Viktor snorts. “What do you think I’m going to do, just leave you on the roof with your rifle and drive off into the sunset with a bunch of people I can’t even stand?”

“Watch the sarcasm, ’mano. I might be tempted.”

Looking up, Viktor smirks directly into the rifle’s sights. “Go ahead. Most people in here would likely be relieved.”

There’s a tsk-ing noise and he can see the weapon being lowered on the other rooftop. “No fun if you make it easy.”

#otto writes #writing: after infection #writing #original characters

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akaluan · 5 years ago

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Erich/Kisuke/Alexis: Soulmate AU + Character in Peril Part 14

The men are in a better state than he expected, Erich finds as he leads Urahara and Alexis through the camp, checking in with NCOs as he goes. They are exhausted and tired and disillusioned but… they’re also smiling at him as he and Urahara and Alexis pass, hopeful-happy-kind, like the fact that he has his soulmates next to him is enough, is case for celebration and…

Maybe he even understands where they’re coming from.

(If his soulmates being around are enough to boost morale…)

(Well, there are many things he’ll tolerate to keep his men from turning traitor.)

(Keeping a Reaper at his side is dangerous, but Urahara is hardly the most objectionable person he’s had to keep close to hand.)

News travels fast through the camp, racing ahead of them and drawing the curious; it doesn’t take long for everyone to realize that Urahara can’t speak Imperial, and even less time for everyone to realize that he’s doing his best to learn as he goes. Soon, it’s not just Alexis teaching Urahara while Erich is busy, it’s everyone, though at least they have the sense to not speak over one another.

Still, it’s more attention than Urahara seems to have expected, and Erich can sense surprise-awkwardness-uncertainty creeping through their connection.

“I can tell them to leave,” Erich murmurs as he turns away from one of his very amused sergeants and to Urahara. “They’ll go if I say.”

Urahara laughs and rubs at the back of his head, smile shading towards embarrassment as he says, “No, no, it’s fine. It’s probably not the best way to learn, but… their enthusiasm is good to see.”

Erich arches an eyebrow but concedes the point; he doesn’t actually know how closely Urahara had observed them before, but this current diversion is probably doing more for morale than anything has for months. Still, Urahara isn’t a trained performer and this isn’t a show; he has no qualms about chasing his men back to their duties the second it becomes too much. “Let me know when you want a break.”

“I will,” Urahara promises with a nod, then darts a glance towards the waiting sergeant and asks, “How is it going?”

“Not too bad. We’ll manage,” Erich settles on after a moment’s thought. He doesn’t have the words to explain the mingled relief and despair at the knowledge that they aren’t going to stand and fight, that they have a place to retreat, a place to hide and heal and survive that no one expects them to have.

It hurts what little pride they have left, but it’s also a relief to know that there’s an end in sight, even if only for them.

(The war may stretch on, may demand more blood be spilled, but this…)

(This is his declaration of surrender.)

(It makes him — makes all of them — traitors to the Empire, but…)

(He suspects there won’t be an Empire for much longer.)

Urahara steps close enough that their shoulders brush, hand ghosting against Erich’s, and murmurs, “If it comes to it, I will make sure that you and your wife and as many of your men as possible survive.”

Erich hesitates, remembering the sight of Urahara ruthlessly cutting down an entire platoon, then slowly nods. “Only if necessary,” he answers, even as something settles hard-sharp-cold in his heart.

(He hopes it never comes to it, hopes he never has to rely on the graces of a Reaper to survive, but…)

(He no longer has the energy to protest.)

(He wants to live.)

A breath, another, and he gathers the edges of his composure once more, nudging Urahara back towards Alexis and the crowd of soldiers watching them. “Go on, I have work to do still.”

Urahara moves back, swaying as if shoved instead of nudged, and laughs bright-cheerful-playful at the look Erich gives him for his dramatics. “I’m going, I’m going. Just don’t laugh too hard at the mangled vocabulary I learn from this!”

Erich snorts. “You’ll figure it out,” he tells Urahara dryly, then pointedly turns back to his sergeant. “My apologies for the interruption. Where were we?”

The man smirks and adjusts his cap, using the gesture to shield a pointed eyebrow waggle from the rest of his men. “Oh, don’t worry about it, General. Always good to see the brass enjoying themselves.” Before Erich can do more than narrow his eyes, the man sobers and tips his chin towards the cheerful, engaged group of soldiers merrily teaching Urahara some barely appropriate words. “That young man’s the sort of distraction they need right now, right alongside us getting the hell out of this situation. You’ve handed us both in quick succession, sir. A few moments of interruption in the safety of camp is frankly worth it.”

Erich’s lips thin as he ruthlessly quashes the tangle of emotions that try to rise at the sergeant’s words; he already knows everything the man is saying, so why does hearing it feel… different?

(It must be his exhaustion amplifying things.)

(He doesn’t need reassurance from his subordinates!)

“Regardless, we both have other duties to attend to,” Erich says once he’s certain he has himself under control, then allows himself a brief smirk and an arched eyebrow as he continues, “And I wouldn’t want to, ah… limit my soulmate’s vocabulary, now would I?”

The sergeant barks a laugh. “Well, I wouldn’t want to get in the way of that, sir. Here’s where we stand…”

***

The rest of the afternoon passes in a whirlwind of meetings and introductions that all go… fairly similarly. Erich checks in with his NCOs and makes sure everyone knows that Urahara is his, and the men get a chance to gawk at their General’s second soulmate.

(He just wishes there were a few less… admiring comments where he can hear.)

(He doesn’t need any help acknowledging that Urahara is easy on the eyes.)

The squads seem to have taken it upon themselves to see who can teach Urahara the most words, inappropriate or otherwise, and the man barely gets a moment to breathe as they move between platoons.

Still, he holds up well, playing along with the soldiers and clearly learning more from the interactions than just the haphazard collection of words he’s being taught. His accent is atrocious, but Erich can’t exactly throw stones either; so long as they can understand him, fluency can come later.

(It’s a scatter-shot education, but the best way to learn a language is to be surrounded by it.)

(This certainly counts as being surrounded by it.)

They retire to his tent as the sun begins to dip below the horizon, food in hand, and settle around his desk to eat. Silence descends, accented by the click of utensils on plates, and Erich… Erich doesn’t know how to break it.

He owes Urahara conversation, owes all of them a chance to get to know each other, but… exhaustion is dragging at his shoulders and he can barely force his food down even though his stomach doesn’t ache any longer.

He knows he has made the right decision, the only decision, but… it goes against all his training as an officer.

(He is committing treason.)

(He is committing treason and it’s the best option available to him.)

“You…” Urahara starts to say in Imperial, then fumbles for a moment, grimaces, and reverts to Akitsugo, “You’re worried. Is there anything I can help with?”

Erich gives up on finishing his food and sets it aside, ignoring the concerned looks his half eaten plate gains him from both Alexis and Urahara. He’ll eat something later. “‘You are worried’,” he says slowly, pointedly, trying to give Urahara the words the man is missing; emotions and actions were not things he heard his men teaching often throughout the day, so it makes sense that Urahara doesn’t have that many ways to speak sentences yet. From the way Urahara’s eyes light up and he mouths the sentence a few times, Erich figures the man understands what he’s doing. “I… am. This plan is…” he pauses, uncertain how to say ‘treason’ in Akitsugo, then sighs and settles on, “I could be killed for it.”

Urahara stills, concern-worry-determination rising through their bond. “I won’t let that happen.”

“I go against my country’s will,” Erich points out sharply, uncertain how to react to Urahara’s promise but absolutely certain that the small twist of relief is not how he should be reacting.

“I saw that map,” Urahara says as he nudges his own plate aside and leans forward over the desk. “Rerugen-san, the only other viable plan I could come up with is if I deal with all your enemies myself.”

“That won’t do any good!” Erich snaps, then sits back and turns his head away, pinching the bridge of his nose as he collects himself. Alexis leans into his side a bit, pressing comfort-trust-love down their bond, and it helps, it does, but not enough. “Sorry, love,” he murmurs once he’s certain he won’t snap at her. “We’re… discussing the implications of the plan to retreat, and he suggested allowing him to take out the platoons around us.”

Alexis hums and takes his free hand, lacing their fingers together. “The only thing that will do is breed more hatred,” she says softly, grimly, with all the confidence that came from learning the history of the Quincy. “And it won’t do anything for the other fronts. Or for the civilians who are starving.”

Urahara watches them with sharp eyes, and Erich is uncomfortably reminded that he doesn’t actually know how much of their words the man understands.

“The war is… larger than this small area,” Erich settles on, then tugs his hand free from Alexis grip and stands, absently gesturing for the other two to remain where they are as he moves to one of his packs and begins to dig. It doesn’t take long to pull out his map of the Empire, and Alexis swiftly clears their dishes away once she sees what he has in his hands.

“What’s this?” Urahara asks as he stands up to get a better look at the map that Erich unfolds across his desk. He scans the paper, understanding coming as he spots the small patch of border that their large planning map covered in more detail. “How much ground does this cover…?”

“My entire country plus a bit of nearby countries,” Erich explains, then reaches out and taps his fingers against the map in two spots. “Where we are now, and where we’ll be in about three days.” Seeing that Urahara understands, he sweeps his fingers down the Rhine front, then traces the other borders that have active combat happening on them. “The fighting is everywhere along these lines.”

Urahara stares at the map, eyes narrowed and lips thinning the more he grasps the situation they’re all part of them. Finally, he huffs and leans back, shaking his head and fidgeting with the hem of one sleeve as he says, “I had no idea… and everywhere is like this?”

Erich hesitates a moment and glances at Alexis, asking, “Have you heard anything from other fronts? Communication is neither reliable nor common these days.”

“Last I heard from… certain sources—” deserters, Erich is certain she means— “the northern front is in disarray, the eastern is practically dissolving, and we’ve lost almost all of our stormtroopers in the southern part of the Rhine Front.”

It’s… worse than he expected to hear, if he’s being honest; loss of life and being pushed back he can understand, but dissolving? Disarray? All of their assault units gone?

It’s unfathomable.

(A part of him isn’t surprised in the slightest.)

(Their strategy has begun to suffer more and more as the war goes on.)

“It is, then,” Urahara concludes before Erich can muster the energy to translate. He glances down at the map one last time, then slowly moves around the table to Erich’s free side. “We talk of other things,” he says, accent strong but understandable. “Better things?” he suggests with a tiny, tired grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

Erich grimaces at the wisps of hopelessness-uselessness-resignation that he catches from Urahara before the man manages to shove those emotions back under trust-care-loyalty. “This isn’t your problem to solve,” Erich reminds Urahara pointedly, even as he folds away the map and sets it to the side. “This is larger than one man can fix. My country made the problem, you didn’t.”

“I want to help,” Urahara says almost plaintively, hand reaching out to brush his fingers against Erich’s wrist again.

Erich wavers, his inherent mistrust of Shinigami warring with his growing desire to trust Urahara, then sighs and catches Urahara’s fingers in a brief grasp. “Help us escape, then,” he murmurs as he turns away and catches Alexis’ gaze. “Can I…” he trails off and simply gestures towards her hair, hoping that she’ll catch on.

(It’s been years since he’s had a chance to simply relax and braid his wife’s hair.)

(He doesn’t even know how to ask anymore…)

“Of course you can,” Alexis says immediately, reaching up to tease free the end of her braid. “Standing or sitting?”

Erich glances around at his tent for a good place for them to work, then gives up and just nods towards his cot. “If you sit down on that I should be able to work easily enough.”

Urahara follows them the couple of steps to Erich’s bed, curiosity sketched across his face as he awkwardly settles on the far corner and watches how Alexis pulls off her boots and sits cross-legged atop the cot with her back to Erich. “This is called…?”

“Braids,” Erich says as he taps a finger against one of Alexis’ braids, then unravels a few inches of it and holds it up so Urahara can see the way he crosses the strands of hair back over each other. “Braiding,” he says, doing a few more loose passes to demonstrate.

Urahara laughs, soft-awkward-wistful, and flashes him another bright mask of a smile. “Thank you. Do you… should I…?”

“Stay,” Alexis tells Urahara before Erich can answer. “You’re our third. We should act like it.”

Urahara flounders at her words, and Erich quickly translates before the man can feel any more out of place. “You should stay. We need to get to know each other.”

“I… thought you didn’t want to…”

Erich carefully breathes out as he focuses on unraveling Alexis’ braid for a moment. “You… frighten me,” he settles on, internally wincing at the level of honesty he’s giving to a potential threat. But Alexis is right, they need to start acting like the man is their third if they want it to work out, which means they need to be honest. “You… you’re a threat to me and mine, but… you’re also my soulmate. I want to… I want to trust that you aren’t a threat but…”

“Part of you doesn’t believe it,” Urahara finishes for him. “I should probably lea—ah!” He starts back, hand darting up to catch the little ‘pebble’ of hardened spiritual power that Erich had flicked at his forehead. He stares at it in wonder, thumb tracing over the smooth surface, and when he glances up at Erich his eyes are wide with delighted questions. “I knew Quincy could manifest their weapons, but this is—”

“A child’s trick,” Erich tells the man dryly, amused by Urahara fascination with such a basic ability. “I’ve been doing it forever.” He shakes his head and focuses for a moment on running his fingers through Alexis’ hair, carefully untangling any knots he finds as he finger-combs it out. “Leaving will just… prolong our fear,” he admits after a moment. “I… we need to get to know you. We have barely three days before we have to defend you to our people. We… we can’t be afraid if we want this to go well.”

Urahara opens his mouth, emotions rippling back towards the same pervasive defeat as earlier and—

Erich flicks another ‘pebble’ at the man’s head without taking his hands from Alexis’ hair. “Stop that,” he orders with a scowl. “I told you our answer.”

Urahara ducks his head, mouth curling up in a tiny, pleased smile, even as he examines the second ‘pebble’ next to the first. “They… same?” he tries, then holds up the ‘pebbles’ between his fingers in demonstration.

“They always are the same,” Alexis answers with amusement. “Erich found a pebble that skips perfectly when he was little and memorized how to duplicate it.”

“Lexi!” Erich yelps in protest, tugging lightly at her hair as he feels his cheeks heat; said so plainly, his reasoning for the choice is ridiculously childish. At Urahara’s questioning look, Erich wrinkles his nose and pointedly stares at the back of Alexis’ head as he mutters, “When I was young, I learned one form, because that one skips well on water.”

His words startle a laugh from Urahara, and Erich relaxes a bit at the sense of happiness radiating off of the man.

(Well, maybe it’s not so bad to tell the man such ridiculous things if it can get honest amusement from him…)

(It’s still embarrassing though!)

“We share… stories?” Urahara asks hesitantly, looking between the two of them almost warily. “Better things than now.”

Erich hesitates as he smooths Alexis’ hair down and begins to split it into bundles, thinking over Urahara’s offer. “Simple braid for tonight and a crown braid in the morning, love?” he asks softly, getting back a gentle sensation of agreement-contentment-peace from her which is good enough for him. He gets to work on the simple braid, taking his time instead of speeding through it like he usually does; sharing stories is a good idea, but he’s going to have to be the translator and he doesn’t know how well he can translate between them.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Alexis offers, one hand reaching up to touch his elbow, making his soulmark tingle at the proximity. “We can take turns, it’ll be fun,” she says, then flashes a smile at Urahara that makes him duck his head and fiddle with the two ‘pebbles’ again.

“Fun for someone not me,” Erich mumbles, then huffs and tickles the back of Alexis’ neck with her hair when she laughs at him. “I don’t know how well I can translate,” he tells her, then glances at Urahara and repeats himself in Akitsugo.

“Maa, you’ll do fine,” Urahara says with a small smile. “We’ll both get some practice in!”

“I suppose we will,” Erich agrees as he uses a thin piece of cord to tie Alexis’ braid off and then reaches out to drag a chair closer. “Alright,” he says as he positions himself so he can easily look at both of his soulmates. “Who wants to start?”

Alexis turns around to sit facing both of them, a wicked gleam in her eyes as she says, “I think I will!”

Erich groans and presses a hand to his face, already suspecting what she’s going to say. “Please don’t make them all about me!”

“How about mostly?” she asks with fake innocence so strong that Urahara starts to snicker.

He sighs and waves her on, unable to resist a smile at her bright-cheerful-happy laughter.

(Maybe this won’t be so bad…)

(But he’s definitely not letting her off the hook.)

(Alexis isn’t the only one with embarrassing stories to tell, after all!)

#soulmate au #i meant to have this posted yesterday and then i managed to bend my fingernail back #on my right index finger at that #ow #and then it didn't want to end #double ow #oh well i think it works pretty well

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ericsonclan · 5 years ago

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Trust No(One)

Summary: Louis and Clementine get into a fight regarding Louis' injury and his inherent willingness to trust the newcomer Sophie.

Clementine paced outside the door as Ruby patched Louis up inside. She’d wanted to be in there with him, but Ruby had shooed her outside, saying she didn’t need her help on this one and certainly didn’t want the pressure of her watching. Now Clementine was left alone to reprimand herself for how things had gone down. How could she have let Louis leave the boat with a complete stranger? She knew he trusted them thanks to her history with the street rats, but Minnie had that exact same history and the last time they’d seen her she had maimed two of the members on this ship. Her peg leg tapped against the wood floor as she paced, a constant reminder of the dangers this new member brought their way. Ruby exited the room quietly, meeting Clem’s gaze as she ran over to her. In her hands lay Louis’ bloody shirt, in need of a wash and repair. “He’s stable now. Should be waking up soon. You can go in if you like,”

Clementine clasped Ruby’s hands in her own as a silent gesture of thanks before hurrying into the room. Louis lay still on top of the bed, a new shirt over the bandages that covered his injury. Sunset was approaching and the light from the porthole cast a warm glow on his somewhat pale face. How much blood had he lost before being brought back to the ship? A pint? Two? There had been a puddle of blood in the bottom of the rowboat when Sophie got back. Clementine circled the bed, crawling up to lay beside him, absent-mindedly brushing a dreadlock back from his forehead. It had been over two years since she woke up from certain death to find this boy smiling as he crouched over her and A.J., his crew huddled around him with wide eyes. Now she was waiting for him to open his eyes, praying that he wouldn’t make her wait a moment longer. Her fingers brushed against his brow: warm, but not sweaty. Her mind told her he was safe, but she wouldn’t be able to believe that until he opened his eyes. The minutes dragged by as she watched him, trying to read meaning into every tick and twitch of his face. She took his hand in her own, their promise bands reflecting the waning light as they nestled together. She needed him to be OK. She had anchored her heart to him irrevocably. She couldn’t lose him.

Louis’ face twisted in a grimace as he woke with a groan. “I’m home? Sophie… is she OK? She must have dragged me back,”

“She’s on deck. Ruby went to look at her wound after she finished with yours,” Louis’ face fell. “She got hurt? I must not have blocked the attack fast enough. Damn it,” He tried to sit up, but quickly collapsed back on his bed, letting out a sharp hiss of pain. “Another shot to the ribs, huh?” “You were bleeding heavily,” Louis lifted up the corner of his shirt, examining the bandages. “Should make a pretty sick scar,” “Don’t joke about that,” His eyes went up to hers. Tears were forming in her eyes. “Clem,” he whispered, extending an arm. She pulled back. “No, don’t try to brush this off. What were you thinking, jumping in front of a blade like that?” Louis shrugged. “I was aiming to block the attack, but couldn’t get my weapon up in time. It happens,” “You could have been killed! And for what?” “For a friend,” “For a stranger you only just met! Louis…” Clementine rose from the bed, pacing the floor in anger. “You can’t keep doing this! You can’t adopt every stranger we come across with open arms!” “Well, that doesn’t seem fair coming from you, now does it? That’s how we got you and A.J. Prisha too. Besides, Sophie isn’t just anybody. She’s Tenn’s sister,” “Minerva was Tenn’s sister too,” Clementine’s voice was grim. “She isn’t anymore,” “Sophie isn’t Minnie,” Louis shook his head. “She’s different. You can see it in her eyes,” Clementine scoffed. “Is that so? Tell me, Louis, how close were you when you saw Minerva’s eyes? Because I sure got a close look at them when she cut through my leg,” They were both silent.

Louis sighed. “What do you want me to say, Clem? That I’m sorry I defended her? ‘Cause I’m not. I would do it again,” “I want you to think about yourself for once instead of jumping into danger at every turn! I want to know that when I take my eyes off of you, I can trust you to have the sense to stay safe, not get yourself dragged back bleeding and unconscious!” Clementine’s chest was heaving with emotion now, her heart racing as her anger swelled. “You shouldn’t have gone on that mission alone with Sophie! What if what you ‘saw in her eyes’ was wrong? What if she turned on you? What then? You would be dead!” “That’s not what happened!” “You can’t go putting your life in the hands of strangers you’ve just met!” “Strangers? Clem, she’s family!” “Not your family!” Clementine’s voice cracked with emotion. “Not everybody can be your family. A.J. and I, we’re your family, Louis. You made a promise to me that you’d stay by my side, forever. So don’t hold your own life so lightly,” “Clem…” “I-I need space, Louis,” She quickly exited the room. “Clem, please!” She ran up the stairs blindly. She had to be alone right now. She couldn’t contain all that she was feeling.

It had been a few hours now. Clementine stood in the crow’s nest, the wind blowing through her hair as she watched the empty sea. She shouldn’t be up here. She should be with Louis. But she couldn’t get herself to go back down. Part of her wanted to punish him, but for what? Being a good person? Having a sacrificial heart? Those were the same qualities that had endeared him to her so quickly. Yet they were the same traits that were driving her mad. Louis wasn’t built to be a pirate. He had slipped into the role accidentally, and he’d never truly fit the mold. The Ericson Pirates code, their constant willingness to take in whatever lost waif their boat came across, these weren’t the traits of a true pirate. Clementine was sure the moment she met Louis that if he were met with the murderous faces of those she’d been forced to walk amongst, he wouldn’t stand a chance. Yet instead of being disgusted by his apparent weakness, she’d sworn to protect him. Not just as her captain, nor simply as her friend. After she had sworn to herself that she had closed her life off from all purposes other than keeping A.J. safe, Louis broke through her walls with a warmly extended hand. He’d proven himself far stronger than she’d given him credit for. His body was littered with countless wounds, the worst of them received in the defense of others, just like this latest one. He seemed to shake them off, not holding any sort of malice toward those in whose stead he had been injured. Unlike most captains, he didn’t gain his crew’s obedience through a firm hand or a merciless demeanor. He held their respect because they knew how deeply he valued each and every one of their lives. He would die before he let any of them fall. She would kill before she lost him. Their code allowed for life to be taken if absolutely necessary. Louis hadn’t found that line yet. Clementine had crossed it several times before meeting him. She knew where the line of taking a life lay for her and that it was far closer than Louis’s would ever be. He must know this to be true. They had never spoken of it though. Were they simply tricking themselves by letting that conversation go unspoken, pretending that this difference would not test them to the point that it may someday tear them apart? Was she willing in loving Louis to take the risk each time he jumped into battle that she may lose a part of herself she could never fully regain?

Clementine looked down to the deck below. Sophie was sitting beside Tenn, drawing again. She knew this went far beyond Sophie. Yet Sophie was exactly the sort of enigma that proved how different she and Louis truly were. Louis couldn’t help but trust her. Clementine could never lower her guard. Time would tell which one of them was right. She hoped it would be Louis. She prayed it wasn’t her, that is, the part of her that looked in Sophie’s eyes and saw the murderous rage in Minerva’s eyes as she landed that blow, the one that took her leg. They had tried to reason with Minerva, to trust that she could change. Now Violet would never fully see again. Louis’ way didn’t always work, no matter how much they wanted it to. Eventually, she couldn’t stand it anymore. The pain of being away from Louis - of leaving things like that – was worse than whatever gain could be made in trying to prove her point. Perhaps believing that abandoning him proved any sort of point was a mistake in itself. Clementine descended from the crow’s nest, avoiding the eyes of her crew members. She wasn’t sure what she would see within them. Her mind was muddled enough as it was. When she opened the door to the captain’s quarters, she was surprised to find that Louis wasn’t alone. A.J. lay curled up beside him, his head resting on Louis’ shoulder as he softly snored. Louis raised a finger to his lips as she closed the door behind her. Clementine took a seat on the edge of the bed, careful not to shift her weight in a way that might cause the mattress to pull against his wound. They were silent as they looked at each other, trying to read each other’s hearts from what laid upon their faces.

Clementine spoke first. “I’m sorry I left like that,” “I’m glad you came back,” “Has A.J. been here long?” “A few hours. He fell asleep in the middle of my story about the Dread Pirate Ericson. I was very insulted,” Clementine chuckled. “You do realize the point of a bedtime story is to put a child to sleep?” “I wasn’t aware it was a bedtime story till it did just that!” A.J. shifted against Louis, mumbling something incoherent. The two of them stilled, waiting for him to settle down. After a minute, Louis continued. “Violet came by too. She mentioned that from the sounds of things Sophie would have just gotten nicked by that bandit’s blade if I hadn’t jumped in front. Guess I fucked things up,” “I’m sure she’s grateful for what you did,” “Still, you were right. I should be more careful before jumping into things,” “Louis,” Clementine took his hand in her own. “What I said back there, I was scared. I wasn’t choosing my words wisely,” “I’m the reason you were scared. Anything that was said, I deserved,” “No, Louis, no,” Clementine raised his hand to her face, cupping it against her cheek. “I’m sorry I ran off. That only made things worse. I should have been brave enough to face what I was feeling and to acknowledge that the reason I was so angry is because I was so afraid of losing you. I love you, Louis,” “I love you too,” Louis murmured, running his thumb along her jaw. “The truth is we won’t know what sort of person Sophie is until some time has passed and we’ve fought beside her. I want your trust to be the right call. I want her to be good,” “But until she’d proved that to us, I should probably take some others along with us on any adventures,” “Please. That would help,” Clementine looked over at A.J. “For the longest time, I had just one thing driving me, just one person who owned my heart. Now that number has grown, and I still don’t know how to handle that at times, how to live with the fear of losing all that I’ve gained,” She looked back at Louis. “But the answer isn’t to shut everyone else out. I know that much,” Louis smiled at her weakly. “It’s getting late. There should be room beside A.J. if you want to squeeze in,” Clementine nodded, coming around to the other side and taking a spot beside A.J. She heard Louis stifle a groan as he turned to wrap an arm across her and A.J. He smiled at her concerned expression. “Don’t worry. Ruby’d give me hell if I pulled out my stitches. I’m being careful,” The moon cast a faint light across his face, illuminating his eyes. “I promise you this Clem: from now on I’ll be more careful, for you and A.J.,” “For yourself too,” “Alright, for me too,” Clem crossed her arm over A.J., resting it tenderly on Louis’ side. “Thank you, for loving me,” Louis’ nose wrinkled in confusion. “How could I not? I adore you, Clem. Nothing will ever change that,” Clementine raised her hand, letting her ring catch the glow of the moonlight. “Forever,” Louis’ hand joined hers. “Forever,” An eternal promise. An unbreakable bond.

#clouis #louistine #louisentine #ninjafamily #teamfun #twdg #fanfic #twdgs4 #a pirate's life for me au

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thatfanficstuff · 5 years ago

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Strange Fates - 9

Pairing: Mikaelson brothers x reader

Warnings: nope

A/N: I didn’t feel like making a header so you get a kol gif instead. I’m still on vacay but wanted to post. enjoy.

***

Chapter Nine: Well, Hello There, Darling

Before the conversation could get much further, it was interrupted by the front door opening. Elijah sighed at the sound of arguing before giving you a tight smile. “It seems we are being graced with the presence of our younger siblings.”

The voices grew louder and you turned your attention to the doorway waiting for their owners to make their appearance. A tall blonde female with aristocratic features and a man with dark hair and eyes finally came into view. You ran your gaze over Rebekah first. There was no disputing her beauty though something about the way she carried herself told you that she was well aware of her appeal. She didn’t bare much resemblance to any of her brothers though you’d say she looked more like Niklaus than either of the other two if pressed.

Your attention shifted to Kol and you tilted your head as you took him in. He was as attractive as both his older brothers though there was something about him that screamed trouble. The sound of a clearing throat caught the attention of the bickering siblings and their conversation faded as they turned their attention to the rest of you. They seemed surprised to find the three of you sat at the table.

“I thought you were going to be gone for the afternoon,” Klaus said, irritation heavy in his voice.

Rebekah’s eyes ran over the length of you and her frown deepened. “My ability for tolerating Kol eroded much sooner than usual. Who is this?”

“Rebekah, Kol, this is Y/N Y/L/N. Our soulmate,” Elijah explained. Nothing in his tone even hinted at him being affected by the oddness of the situation.

Kol’s brows shot up and he shifted his attention solely to you. As soon as those dark eyes met yours a shiver shot up your spine. “Did you say our soulmate, brother?”

It was Klaus that answered him. “Yes. It would appear Elijah and I have been gifted with the same soulmate. Be nice.”

A smile covered the younger Mikaelson’s face. “As if I would be anything but.” He sauntered over, closing the distance between you and taking your hand in his own. You gasped as that by now familiar heat flared beneath your skin. Seriously?

Kol’s smile turned down right predatory as he placed a kiss on the back of your hand. “Well, hello there, darling.”

He moved to take the empty chair beside you, his eyes never moving from you.

“This is a private conversation, brother,” Klaus bit out.

Kol left his gaze on you though his smile widened. He rolled up his left sleeve to show the now completed soulmark that sat just below the bend of his elbow. A fist slammed into the table causing you to jump. You turned wide eyes on a furious hybrid.

“Calm yourself, Niklaus,” Elijah instructed.

“You cannot be any happier about this than I am.”

Your gaze shifted to Elijah who graced you with a soft smile. “Of course, I am not happy. I’d much rather have her to myself. But all things considered, if she must be shared, at least it is between the three of us.”

“And what a bloody comfort that is.”

Klaus’ tone made your stomach churn and you rested a hand against your abdomen as you swallowed past the lump in your throat. You didn’t like this situation any more than they did but you had no control over it. And it wasn’t as if you could just pick one and forget the others existed. That wouldn’t be fair to any of you and you were certain it would break your heart. Even Kol who you just met had a pull on you like nothing you’d ever felt before meeting the trio of brothers.

“Let me see if I am understanding this correctly,” Rebekah said from the doorway. You’d forgotten she was even there. She motioned around the table with her finger. “The three of you all have the same soulmate?”

“It would appear that way, yes,” Elijah responded.

The silence stretched until it was broken by the blonde’s laughter. “This is perfect. Absolutely perfect.” She turned and walked off before anyone could respond. Or perhaps no one wanted to. At least someone was happy about your predicament.

The weight of the stares of all three brothers was a heavy burden to bear and you focused your attention on the now cold food on your plate. You’d been trying to accept all of this as stoically as possible but there was only so much you could take. Your life had been completely turned upside down in a matter of months. And the times you’d allowed yourself to contemplate having more than one soulmate you’d always assumed they would be compatible personalities. An alpha with a beta or two whose strengths complimented each other.

Instead you’d ended up with three very alpha Original vampire brothers. And while their relationship may prevent them from killing one another, it wouldn’t keep them from arguing over you. Plus, you couldn’t help but wonder what made the fates think you were special enough to warrant three gorgeous soulmates.

A hand on your shoulder caused you to jump and you glanced over to find Kol with a small smile and a question in his eyes. “I do hope I’m not a disappointment, darling.”

You shook your head immediately to ease his worries and glanced between the three of them. “This is all just a little overwhelming and unexpected, to say the least.”

“Of course, it is,” Elijah rushed to assure you. The look he shot his brothers dared them to argue with him. “We have no intention of rushing you into anything, sweet Y/N. Take your time.”

The corner of your mouth kicked up. “See, that right there is one of the things I’m worried about.”

“You’re worried about us giving you time, love?” Klaus’ brow furrowed as he frowned at you.

“No, I’m concerned about the fact that Elijah is speaking for all of you when I know he couldn’t have possibly spoken to Kol to get his opinion.” You sighed. “What if he doesn’t want to give me time, Elijah? Were you going to beat him into submission?”

Kol snorted. “I’d like to see him bloody try.”

Unable to help yourself, you huffed a laugh. “That’s my point. I don’t want to be the cause of any disagreement between the three of you. I won’t be responsible for destroying your relationship.”

The silence stretched and your gaze darted between the brothers as they contemplated your words. Predictably, Elijah was the first to speak. “My relationship with my siblings has always been…complicated. Even before we became what we are it was colored and corrupted by our parents. When things changed it became both more and less twisted. Our new status brought heightened emotions but also a new strength to fight against our father.”

“And each other,” Kol couldn’t help but add.

“Kol.” Klaus’ voice was low, a warning heavy in the tone.

“Oh, don’t start, Niklaus. You are the one that keeps stabbing us and putting us in boxes for decades at a time.”

Klaus’ jaw set and he refused to meet your gaze. “It was for your own safety, Kol. Mikael was still on the loose and hunting us all. Your actions were drawing unwanted attention.”

“Don’t pretend your actions were some noble gesture on your part. You wanted control and obedience and achieved it by whatever means necessary.” Kol stood and leaned forward, his hands resting on the table as he stared down his brother.

Elijah cleared his throat. “I believe you two are doing nothing but proving her point.”

All three brothers turned their attention to you once more and you shifted on your chair. Kol graced you with a soft smile. “Actually, we’re proving Elijah’s point. I believe what he was trying to say earlier is that we have always had our issues and it was unlikely your presence would make them any worse than they already are.”

You tilted your head. “Oddly enough, that’s not very comforting.”

“Yes, well…” Elijah trailed off, leaving the fact you might as well get used to it unspoken.

“So, darling, how about you and I get to know each other a little better?” Kol asked as he pulled your chair away from the table.

“I think not,” Elijah answered for you. His jaw was tight as his gaze flicked between the two of you.

Kol chuckled. “I simply intended to take her for a drink, Elijah. Calm down.”

The elder brother hummed as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his seat. “Don’t act as if I have no reason to question your intentions, Kol. I know you too well.”

Tension stiffened Kol’s body indicating a fight was about to start any moment. You shot to your feet, hands held up to stave off whatever they’d been about to say each other. “That will be enough of that.” You ran your gaze over the three of them again. They simply stared back waiting to see what you’d do. Your nature didn’t lend itself to being the center of attention. To being in charge. You were used to staying in the background. It kept your step-mother and her daughter from harping at you. It also made it easier to maintain your glamor if no one knew you well enough to pick up any mistakes.

All that being said, you also didn’t wish to listen to the siblings bicker any longer. Kol was right. You needed to spend time with them and get to know them away from one another. “Let’s start with a date and go from there.”

One of Klaus’ brows shot up. “With all of us?”

“Not at the same time, no.” Even the thought had your stomach sinking. You could just imagine a meal spent in silence with them glaring at each other across the table. Well, fates forbid anything be easy. “I’ll start with Kol as I know the least about him. Then Klaus followed by Elijah. It only seems fair.”

The look the siblings exchanged said they weren’t entirely in agreement with your assessment but they were smart enough not to voice their thoughts. “If that’s what you want, love,” Klaus said.

“For the moment, yes.”

Kol grasped your hand in his and lifted it to his mouth as he’d done earlier. He paused with your hand inches from his lips. “This evening then?”

You nodded to confirm and he grinned. Instead of kissing the back of your hand as you’d expected, he turned his grip at the last moment and pressed his lips softly to your wrist. A wave of heat rolled through you as Kol studied you through hooded eyes. Finally, he released you and stepped back. “Wear whatever you like, darling. I shall see you soon.” With that, he disappeared before you could ask any questions.

Your attention returned to the other two to see them still staring at the doorway their brother disappeared through. You cleared your throat. “I should go.”

They got to their feet. Elijah gave you a nod. “Of course.”

The three of you walked to the door in silence and Elijah opened it for you. Giving into impulse, you turned and gave them each a kiss on the cheek before you left. You hurried to your car, not chancing a glance back. Your life was about to get very interesting.

#kol mikaelson x reader #elijah mikaelson x reader #klaus mikaelson x reader #mikaelson brothers x reader #soulmate au #the originals fanfiction #polyamorous #series #strange fates

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glow-worm · 5 years ago

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On the Ruins of Raven’s Roost

Desidirium (noun) : an ardent desire or longing, especially a feeling of loss or grief for something lost

Everything had been perfect. Magnus had been so happy. He had lived in absolute bliss—Lucretia couldn’t have dreamed of a better happily ever after for her dear friend.

But that was gone now.

She watched from afar as Magnus collapsed near the ruins of Raven’s Roost. Debris from the support column and the colony that had been atop it were piled in a broken mess where the Craftmen’s Corridor had once stood, pieces of cabins and chunks of stone were scattered below at the base of the cliff.

He was wailing.

Her heart panged with sympathy as she watched him keen with an unparalleled grief. Suffering that she had never seen from him in their hundred years together. Torment she had never seen in her entire life.

It was unbearable.

She had to fix it.

“Lucretia.”

A deep, chilling voice beckoned from behind her. She recognized it instantly, and was immediately filled with both joy and dread.

She turned around to see the dark phantasmal form of her friend and rival, Barry Bluejeans.

Any shred of hope that had sparked within her upon hearing his voice died out, as she felt the unmistakable sensation of someone prying into her thoughts. She tried to push him out of her mind, but his lich form was too powerful. But as quickly as he had come in, he relinquished. Barry held his skeletal arm outstretched threateningly and aimed point-blank at her. Crackles of red energy flashed around it, ready to fire.

“Barry,” Lucretia began. “I—”

“I won’t let you do this, Lucretia. This is where I draw the line. You’ve taken our family’s bonds. You’ve taken our Captain’s very soul. You have taken their memories and their pasts. I will not let you take his future, too.”

His words stuck in her like a knife.

“The relics would have destroyed this world,” Lucretia explained. “And they destroyed our chance of happiness. I’m giving us that chance back.”

“You can’t. I don’t want to fight you, Lucretia, but I will. Magnus found love. I won’t let you take that away from him. I won’t let you make him forget about his wife like you tried to make me forget about mine.”

As he spoke his last few words he struggled, his spectral form flickered as the red electricity of his lich power charged around him.

Lucretia desperately, angrily motioned back towards Magnus.

“Is this happiness, Barry?! Is this peace?!”

“No. But it is part of life. Grief is necessary. You have not erased their pain, Lucretia. You have only buried it. And by doing so, you have condemned them to suffering.”

“How can you say that?! Magnus was happy. Merle has a child. He’s on the beach where he always wanted to be. Taako is on tour, he’s far happier than I ever dreamed he could be without his sister. And Davenport…I know how it seems, but he’s okay—this is only temporary—I wouldn’t let him go on like that if he wasn’t at least at peace, I promise—I know it looks bad but as soon as I have the Relics and I’ve put everything right—”

“You are wrong, Lucretia.” Barry’s form quivered briefly. “You can’t possibly begin to understand how that constant sensation of presque-vu torments them. It is torture. It is why I cannot bear to be in my body.”

Lucretia swallowed her guilt. She held her tongue and let him speak.

“Merle grew listless with monotony and ruined his marriage,” Barry began. “He has abandoned his home, his child. And Taako—he knows something is missing. I see it. He is tormented. He pours two glasses of wine at a time and doesn’t understand why. He leaves space for her when he rests at night. He leaves space for her, and he doesn’t even know who she is. He doesn’t even know she ever existed.”

He floated closer, and Lucretia took a step back.

“I watched someone ask him about his childhood, and he said “we”. And he could not grasp why he had said that. Because he believes he’s been alone his whole life. Lucretia. To have a bond as strong as theirs, only to have that bond ripped away—torn from his memories and from very existence itself—it leaves an empty space. And that space has made him bitter and cold.”

He grew closer still, his spectral form popping and fizzling slightly, so Lucretia reached for her staff.

“And as for Magnus—he was plagued with nightmares he could not see or explain. He had Julia to comfort him, but now…”

“Barry, you’re losing yourself,” she warned. “Your voice, your manner of speech, you—you don’t sound like yourself. Work with me. Please. We can find the relics and end this. We can look for Lup together.”

“You know I can’t do that, Lucretia,” He replied sternly. “You need to stop this. Your shield will break all the bonds of this world. It will suffocate.”

“Surely that’s better than being completely consumed by the Hunger,” Lucretia insisted.

“We have had this argument often enough for me to know I cannot convince you to stop,” Barry said. “I came here for one reason only: to protect Magnus from you.”

Barry raised his arm again, red static energy building up around it.

“Do not take his love from him. He will be nothing but a shell. He will be consumed with grief from empty spaces he cannot make sense of. He is already suffering enough, I won’t let you augment that suffering with desiderium.”

Lucretia balled her hands into fists, clenching her teeth as she spat, “You really want me to just leave him like this?”

“It is not your decision to make, Lucretia. None of this has ever been your decision to make.”

“I did what I had to do, Barry. To keep this world safe. We promised Lup—”

“Don’t talk about Lup. Wherever she is, she never would have wanted this,” Barry shouted, his lich form sputtering again, much more so than the last time. Barry nearly lost control—Lucretia quickly threw up a Shield of Faith in front of herself as a bolt of red energy shot off of him and hit a nearby tree, scorching it.

Barry took a moment to collect himself, then quietly continued. “Promise me you won’t erase Raven’s Roost. Promise me you won’t erase Julia Burnsides.”

Lucretia dissolved her shield with a heavy exhale.

“Promise me.”

Her throat felt tight, and her voice trembled as she spoke: “If that’s what you want, Barry—fine. I am not giving up my quest to restore the Light of Creation, but I promise you. I won’t erase anything more from our family’s lives. No matter how bad things get for them.”

Hearing this, Barry vanished into thin air—but Lucretia continued to hear his voice as she turned and scanned the area for any sign of him.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Lucretia, but know this,” Barry’s voice echoed around her. “If you break that promise. I will kill you.”

She gripped her Bulwark Staff tighter, her heart heavy.

Before his voice faded out completely, he left her with one last quiet plea. This time, his speech sounded a little more like his own—it still was a harsh whisper of a lich, but it rang with the distinctive compassion and deep baritone voice of Barry Bluejeans.

“Please don’t make me do that. In spite of everything, I want to believe…I have to believe…we can all be together again someday.”

She could no longer feel his presence, the intense arcane power of his lich form gone.

She took a deep breath and looked back over her shoulder off into the distance, to see Magnus still doubled over on the ground near the ruins of Raven’s Roost, weeping loudly.

“I’m sorry, old friend,” she whispered.

Barry was right. She could not just erase any and every hardship that came to her family. A line had to be drawn somewhere. A life without pain was no life at all. They had worked so hard, and suffered for so long—they deserved normalcy. She simply could not prevent her loved ones from feeling pain forever.

No matter how much she wanted to.

----

Come read this on AO3!

#lucretia #barry bluejeans #taz #taz balance #the adventure zone #magnus burnsides #julia burnsides #taz fic #post-stolen century #pre-adventure #whump #angst

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inappropriatefangirlneeds · 5 years ago

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Gotham s5ep11 “They Did What?” Personal Review & Rambling

I DID IT .... I WATCHED THE GOTHAM FINALE

“We need to make it a bomb again.” Absolutely no warning cause that’s all no spoiler anymore for a long time

So I´m not sure if it´s good thing I´m watching this ages late, partly I guess I could be more emotional, partly not. It´s sweet to see how everyone and their aunt is teaming up for the city. “Well, this is gonna make one hell of a bedtime story some day.” With Nyssa al Ghul holding the baby I briefly totally forgot the plot and wondered where did that child come from again? And my brain went back to the (godawful) “Ra´s present for Barbara is a child” theory, and then I remembered oh no it was Jim ..and I was like .. eh, magic baby would have been the better plot. So that´s how we started this but at least Jim and Barbara were quite sweet, even with the child (I usually just cringe and crumble in sheer terror of what kind of responsibility a child is whenever one of those appears but they made it sweet) BARBARA KEAN & JIM GORDON were such a great team! Also Barbara just looks so damn fine, they really did good with that. And just bless the FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHERS of the Show , handcuffed Barbara taking out the guy with her legs > Jim later handcuffing Nyssa to keep her close to not get shot at < Good Stuff! * ~ 24:05 even up to the Steps of SELINA KYLE , Just the way she walked before fighting Bane was such a neat detail ”My father made his name destroying empires.” NYSSA AL GHUL I guess with more time she´s got potential but rushed like that her character is just boring.

“Can we really be so cavalier about the destruction of Gotham?” Oh OSWALD COBBLEPOT that´s part of why I fell in love with you. So he and EDWARD NYGMA go over the whole “listening to your heart never did you any good Oswald” spiel, and “I´ll miss you”, or “not so much”, Ed kind of is saying “don´t go” , but just not quite, the usual, you know, I can´t bring myself to care much but damn do I like watching their pretty selves talk through it. * Edward later follows Oswald, claiming it´s about the city, says the submarine can only operated by two people, and actual people, dog didn´t work. The usual. * Holy Shit, JIM GORDON ´s so gorgeous. It´s not like I had forgotten how pretty he is but damn that episode hit me hard again with Jim feels. Him over that map, going through their strategy. Daaaamn daaaaaaaaamn. * JIM GORDON & OSWALD COBBLEPOT in something that might as well be just fanfiction: “Oswald, come in.” / “Still have those eyes in the back of your head, Jim.” / “No. You just have a remarkably recognizable odor. Part dandy, part snake. After all these years, it hasn't changed. Drink?” / “No, thank you. Dulls the senses.” / “That's what I was going for. Surprised you're still here. Figured you'd be long gone by now. That storm you've warned me about for so long, it's finally here.” / “Sure, I could escape... with money, I might add... but then what? Stand on the shores of the mainland and watch the army burn it to the ground? Then watch tasteless industrialists and vapid politicians rebuild it? No. My life is etched on the walls of every alley and dirty warehouse here. My blood lives in its broken concrete. I'm staying to fight. For my legacy.” * LESLIE THOMPKINS caring about the people of the Narrows was great, I don´t know, if I like that she “abandoned” them in order to stand next to Jim but I can let it pass because of the way she did: She respected and trusted BARBARA KEAN to get them out. I can accept a plot that doesn´t pit those two women against each other (anymore). It was equally great that Lee just told Jim to “yes, go to your child”, and not to forget the scene where Barbara is thanking Lee for what she did, and “Barbara Lee Gordon” * Lucius is full on providing gadgets for Bruce, including that Bat Beacon that slowed down Bane. Nice but eh. Also they rehash Jeremiah´s plan to turn the city in a labyrinth to slow down the army. “We need to make it a bomb again.” Battery goes Bomb again, but eh, kind of fell flat for me

* HARVEY BULLOCK pointing out they are fighting SOLDIERS that are just following orders was a good touch. And it makes sense that JIM could brush that aside, he knows what they signed up for. That´s what you do, that´s what you accept. * Also I can stan a good story that rejects and is a slap in the face of the "NUREMBERG DEFENSE" so props to that! Just the execution fell so remarkably flat for me. I felt nothing then the people came back with Barbara, nothing when the soldiers pointed their guns at Bane. BRUCE WAYNE & SELINA KYLE Just Selina checking in with a “Bruce?” to make sure he actually wants to do that bomb thing was so precious. Also her recognizing that he is and accepting his choice. [Rant Below] Them later sitting on the stairs and talking was sweet too, except for what they talked about. SELINA KYLE MRs. & MR WAYNE So apparently they paralleled those in this episode 1. Selina´s shadow is just right under the painting of Mrs & Mr Wayne and Bruce just plants the bomb right in the middle of her shadow ~19:40) 2. Selina telling Bruce on the stairs she will be there whenever he needs her and Bruce replying that this is what his parents used to tell him. Which is a good setup for the kind of conclusion Bruce draws out of all of this but also I´m gonna rant about it below but first: 3. Bruce says his parents would have and did sacrifice everything for the city. He´s making the same choice but apparently can´t see that Selina has as much a choice to do so as he and Mrs & Mr Wayne have . So in the end I´m getting overly emotional, angry, hurt, let down to be precise: How dare BRUCE WAYNE leave SELINA KYLE behind like this?! Given the backstory that´s bound to be so much more painful than whatever Jeremiah or Bane ever could do. Selina has been through this after Jeremiah and she made a choice. She stayed, she thought and she was (not that that matters but let´s not forget it) damn good at it. I know Bruce thinks he´s making a “sacrifice” but how dare he take away this choice from her. How dare he hurt her like that.

* Most importantly though ALFRED PENNYWORTH in that COAT at the end looked so damn dashing. I´m in love. But I don´t like that they made a point of benching his character like that. He added plenty to the fight, he´s been in hospital before, he can add still contribute like he always did. Don´t let it end like this. Yeah I do need at least three seasons to magically happen before the 5th. OSWALY COBBLEPOT & EDWARD NYGMA Round #2 * Edward apologizes for freezing because of the grenade, Oswald understands. Edward gags when seeing Oswald´s hurt eye but claims it is just a scratch. * Back in a remarkable awesome looking place they lick their wounds: > Oswald feels not appreciated he wants “credit for our loyalty, our selfless bravery?” aka Love. > Edward however feels better than everyone else. He used to be “Shy awkward, pathetic Ed”. Not anymore. He´s better! “I don't want their thanks. Or their respect. You know what I felt, standing shoulder to shoulder with those people out there? Nothing. I... feel... absolutely nothing for those drab... boring people.” Never again. I've shown this city who I truly am once before, and I will do it again. They will bow to the Riddler, and they won't get up until I permit them to.” >> The notion of the “Thankless Job” is there too with Ed but Ed get his kicks out of separating himself from the people, he´s different and above them he doesn´t care about their opinion and has no real stakes in their well being. Oswald however obviously still want´s the recognition of said people, and he wants the good and nice kind, so it´s important that they aren´t miserable. However “Yes. You're right. Our accomplishments have been erased, our brilliant minds underrated. If they had let me run this city the way I wanted to, it would not be in ruins now. I had the men, the money, - the guns... “ 1. Oswald falls in line with Ed´s reasoning, appeals to his brilliance spleen but tweaks it for his need. Edward says he has to rule and they have to bow to him. Os says Ed is right, follows in line with Ed in reassuming a strife for leadership but adds his twist that this is necessary not so much because he (just as Ed thinks he is) is superior but because his leadership is “good” for the people. He´ll do good for them so they´ll like him. >>> Oswald wants to rule to not have the city in ruins and get praised for that >>> Edward wants to rule because he´s better and deserves so regardless of other imbeciles thoughts or needs. 2. Divide et Imperare Edward is quick to make sure to point a finger to an enemy and separate Oswald from Jim “Gordon took them.” Oswald just might as well try to go back to old methods and try build alliances with Jim and the law again, Edward recently saw Oswald and Jim kind of teaming up again and he just can´t have that. Just like Mr. Penn was in the way. Jim is a threat. One to be undermined at all costs: “Gordon took them. Why? Because he still sees you as Fish Mooney's umbrella boy, and he always will.”

3. One Ring to bind them. Edward starts with a selfish reason but is quick to put Oswald back into the plan. First there´s “I” suddenly he talks about a “We”: “I only came back to help him save this city so that I could take it for myself. We would be stronger together. No one could stop us.” 4. Do they believe each other?! Apparently they don´t because the both go in the hug with a drawn knife but are relieved when they don´t feel one in their own back. Which was really nice and fitting imagery. I can live with that “conclusion” but I have so much open questions. I really got to look for post that worked through all of this. > Oswald obviously must be weary of Edward because (I just have to believe) that he sees through the manipulating words of Edward. (as listed above) [[[ Especially the scene with Jim: They had a rather respectful, familiar interaction. I can´t quite believe that he follows Edward´s claim that JIM only thinks of him as that umbrella boy. I do think Oswald gets that Jim takes him serious, just well considers all his crime stuff to be wrong, and that´s quite a different thing than what Ed claims.]]] > What is Edward´s angle there? Yeah he might not have been able to operate the submarine alone but granted his speech it sounded like he would think that he is capable of taking the city for and by himself. Why is he appealing to Oswald to form a “we”? Just to get him in the hug situation and test him, asses a possible future threat to his claims? The only other proper motivation for that would be …. he likes Oswald. 5. “Brothers” Hahahah * Okay, but Oswald´s face when Edward and his mirror self do their thing …Damn …. * 8:26 Are the “Captain Jim Gordon” letters on his door window colour ??! * Jankey Piss Whiskey, what is Jim drinking? * Oh no, not the General

#gotham #gotham meta #mine Gotham full episode reviews #nygmobblepot #gotham s5ep11 They Did What?#bruce wayne

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