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whatanoof · 3 years

Text

A Push in the Right Direction

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Cal Kestis x Reader

Word Count: ~7.6k

Warnings: fluff, smut, swearing, sexual tension, rough sex, sex pollen so by default it's dubcon, pining

Summary: Healing injured patients? Psh, easy stuff. Force healing? A little more tricky. Confessing your crush to your very close friend? Damn near impossible until a flower bush shoves you in the right direction.

A/N: Happy birthday my friend @marvelassassin221b!! I hope you are staying safe, and that your birthday will bring happiness and wisdom to your life. It's been a blessing talking to you and laughing at memes together <3 Thank you for giving me the push to get this fic done and posted, I couldn't have done it without you. Enjoy some of our favorite redhead Jedi ;)

You’ve always been terrible with directions. Like, it’s a miracle you haven’t gotten lost in more dangerous settings, but even your Jedi Master used to shake their head when you had survival exercises in your Padawan years. Greez too, makes comments about how atrocious you are at navigation. You hadn’t been allowed back to the holomap since a disastrous set of directions landed the Mantis on the more unfriendly side of the Outer Rim.

But even with all of your shortcomings at mapping, you have a solid crisis mode. You need to have one as a medic. It’s not a good idea to freeze when a patient is bleeding out on the ground in front of you, there is only one way that is going to end, and it’s not going to be a happy ending. Under pressure, all of the unsureness that surfaces during your attempts at navigation vanishes, and your body is moving before your mind even consciously thinks to. It’s your zen mode, almost your place of meditation, where you give into the inner instinct and allow the Force to guide you through the process. Too bad you can’t reach that state in any situation other than emergencies, maybe you would be able to navigate your moves in confessing a crush.

You had met Cal Kestis on Bracca. He’d cut his hand open on a jagged edge of wall paneling, and Prauf brought him to you, one of the few healers among the scrappers. You couldn’t tell what exactly it was that gave him away to you, but the instant his eyes met yours, you knew where he had come from.

Of course, you waited until Prauf had gone back to work to reveal yourself. Healing through the Force decreases the chance of infection, is painless, and is essentially instantaneous. While your normal supplies would have done the trick, the drama queen in you realized this would be the perfect way to show Cal he wasn’t alone. Force healing is tricky, but you’d had a surprising knack for it ever since your youngling years. The Order had trained you up in the way of Force healing and given you the tools to take advantage of your aptitudes. Cal’s face had been priceless when you simply waved your hand over his, and the wound closed within seconds.

There was a certain comfort in knowing you weren’t alone. Admittedly, in the long years after the Purge, you’d toyed with the idea that you had been the only Jedi to escape. Those had been dark days, where you could barely scrape together the energy to forage for food and water, laughing that the Jedi Order would die with a single Padawan who had lost her lightsaber along with everything she had known.

But then Cal stumbled into your little cordoned off area. You’d become close friends from that moment to the day Prauf died and the Ninth Sister shoved you both off of the cliff and onto the freight train below. The Mantis crew was surprised, to say the least. They had gotten reports of a single Jedi wreaking havoc on Bracca. But they welcomed you aboard and you had become the team medic, patching up Cal when he got back from missions and finding time in between to try and recover the Force abilities you had lost to time.

---

“Hey.” You look up from your work. Medical supplies lie strewn across the floor of your part of the room, bandages unwound and your meager supply of medication stacked methodically in the corner.

Cal looks down at you from the doorway, a streak of something across his cheekbone. You want to wipe it off, but you just smile back, “Welcome back. Find anything cool?”

His happy grin only widens, “You’ll have to come and find out.”

“What?”

He beckons you towards the main hull, “Come on!”

Cere and Greez are already there and seated around the meal table, and BD is perched on the table, chirruping animatedly as if talking to Cere. You take your place with them, noting the empty chair to your right. Merrin is back on Dathomir, searching for ancient texts about Nightsister magic and rituals. She’s been gone for several days, but you still find yourself seeking out her snarky comments and cool confidence.

“Okay.” Cal stands at the head of the table, rubbing his hands together in a way that makes him seem as if he is playing the adult. “I’m willing to bet you're all wondering why I’ve called you here today…”

“Spit it out Cal, you woke me up from a nap for this.” Greez eyes the redhead grumpily, and you fight to hide a grin. Cere also looks mildly amused, if slightly impatient.

Cal rolls his eyes, but continues, “Cordova left a message, saying something very valuable to our quest is locked in a vault in the Zeffo caves. I found the vault today and it matches Cordova’s description, but we need two Force users to access it.” He nudges BD, and the little droid projects an image of the vault door. It’s massive, with gold decorations swirling across it, and two obvious indents in the ground on either side for said Force users.

Everyone’s gazes flit to Merrin’s empty chair. It’s without question she would have been the best fit for this mission. Her combat style complements Cal’s perfectly, and Cere is still hesitant to use the Force.

Realization strikes you, and you glance up to see everyone’s eyes are now trained on you. You begin to shake your head. “That’s a bad idea--”

“We’ll be fine. I’ll lead us directly to the vault. I have my saber, and you have your Force healing. Worst case scenario, you have to patch me up in the field.” That is definitely not the worst case scenario, but there are no other options. This mission is time-sensitive, and you can’t wait for Merrin to get back from Dathomir.

You fix him with a stern glare. “I will come. But--” You hold up a hand when Cal opens his mouth. “You have to stick with me. No disappearing and popping out to scare me, because I will get lost We go in, and we get out.“

“I wouldn--” Cal protests.

“You would.” You snap.

“Yeah, he would.” Cere agrees.

“Sounds like something you would do.” Greez nods.

BD beeps cheerily from its place in the center of the table, clearly in agreement with you.

Cal shuts his mouth with an audible pop, and you cross your arms while staring him down. Yes he would.

“I need BD back here on the ship. I’m running diagnostics on the navigation programming, and I can’t do it alone.” Cere speaks up.

Cal hesitates. You understand; he never goes on missions without BD. The two are a package deal, but everything needs to be running at peak efficiency before you go to the Fort Inquisitorius. And there’s no way you’re willing to deal with a navigation error en route.

You speak up, “Yeah, it will be fine.”

Cal looks at you, “We need BD to unlock a shortcut. What happened to in and out?”

You wave him off, “We’ll take the scenic route. Cere needs BD back here, and we can manage without. We’ll have our comm units, it will be fine.”

---

Do you know that saying, “Famous last words?”

Yeah. You hadn’t realized just how famous those last words could be. It started when Cal realized he’d left his comm unit on the ship in the charging port. But it was fine, because you had yours. Until you dropped it into a puddle after tripping over a tree root.

The scenic route involved passing through the outskirts of a forest, and the terrain was a little trickier than you had been prepared to handle, obviously. So, commless and armed with a single lightsaber and two shared brain cells, you travel towards the entrance to the Zeffo caves.

A flower bush catches your eye. Its leaves are a shocking shade of red, with gorgeous blue flowers that seem to call you over to them. Cal keeps walking even as you stop and reach for the bush. You pluck the flower in the fullest bloom and turn it over in your hand, admiring the veins of deeper azure spider webbing across the petals.

Cal says your name behind you, “We have to keep moving if we’re going to get back before dark.”

Turning to face your companion, you tuck the blossom behind his ear and step back to admire how the blue contrasts against his hair. The word slips out almost without you noticing. “Cute.”

It’s almost comical how quickly his face blooms red. “Guh--”

“It’s a good look.” You reassure him quickly. “Adorable. Pretty. Cute.”

“--Thanks!” He ducks past you to the bush. “I’m just going to grab a seedling for Greez. He’ll like this one.” Cal grabs one of the large pods and breaks it open, removing a seed and sticking it into the pouch on his harness. “Okay, ready.”

But you’re distracted by the red pollen that explodes in a cloud around his head, dusting him with a fine mist that leaves scarlet traces on his face and shoulders. “What’s that?” You step forward and run a finger across Cal’s poncho, collecting the dust and rubbing it between your fingertips. You hesitate, then raise your hand to your face to smell the substance. The sickly sweet scent and underlying current of spicy musk sticks in your lungs. The back of your throat tickles, and you sneeze.

An echoing sneeze draws your attention. Cal leans against the flowering bush, one arm clamped over his nose as he sneezes over and over again. He glances up at you, coughing with watery eyes, “Wha--”

A spike of dread pierces through you. ‘Stars, was it poison?’ He won’t stop coughing, a dry rattle as his body tries in vain to purge the intruding red dust. You fall to your knees beside him. Panic fills your mind, blotting out logic and reason and you place your hands on his body, intent on Force healing him even though you don’t know what is wrong with him. Then, just as suddenly as the coughing started, it stops and silence rings through the trees.

“Cal!”

You're shoving your hand underneath his poncho in an instant to feel for his heartbeat. You hold your breath. You can’t feel a pulse. You scramble to rip his poncho off completely, dragging it over his limp shoulders and head. You shove your fingers against his throat again. There!

His heartbeat flutters delicately, beating a rapid tattoo against your fingertips. You allow yourself to breath. He’s alive. But his pulse is fast, too fast. You rip open his tunic, though you’re not entirely certain what it is you’re searching for.

Just as your fingers brush over his skin, Cal bolts upright with a gasp. “Wh-- where...?”

You swear you almost pass out from the relief that slaps you across the face. “Stars, I thought you were dead. I’m so sorry about the flower bu-- mmm!”

Cal smashes his lips onto yours, pushing you onto your back with the sheer force of the kiss. His tongue dips into your mouth, searching and probing and damnit you can’t breathe when he’s this close to you, this desperate. His hips jerk against yours with an unpracticed, aborted motion, dragging a very prominent erection against your body that makes you jerk back in surprise.

You push him away from him for a second, propping yourself up on your elbows as you search his face for some indication of… you don’t know what. But this isn’t like him. “Cal, what--?”

“Need you.” He groans, his hands roaming over your body without fear or shame and inspiring a wave of pleasure as he squeezes your breasts. “Maker, you feel so good. Smell so good.” You bite back a moan. This really isn’t the time, not in the middle of an Imperial occupied forest. But to be completely honest, he feels really good too.

You’d imagined this before. Well, not these exact circumstances, but the idea of being under Cal. You’d imagined the feeling of his hands scraping over your skin and squeezing your body wherever he would like. You’d imagined his lips on yours, and other places for sure. But you’d really only ever been able to envision Cal as a gentle lover, all quiet moans and hesitant movements and unsure expressions. But this rougher side? You moan raggedly against Cal’s mouth as he shoves a thigh between your legs, rubbing up against your clothed sex. This is amazing.

Streaks of heat flash through your body, converging between your legs. Everything is amplified, the sounds around you, the grass beneath your knees, the blueness of the sky overhead. But it all seems to pale when your attention lands on Cal, who’s more flushed than earlier. You feel the heat beneath your skin too, but he’s got to have it worse right now, because you’re not the one sweating like you’re stranded on a desert planet. Maker, the pollen was some kind of--

His name escapes your lips in a tiny whisper that morphs into a moan halfway through. You allow your head to fall back, and it thunks against the spongy moss across the ground, knocking you back to the present. Cal’s lost in you, his nose buried in the crook of your neck as he ruts weakly against your thigh.

You shake off the haze clouding your mind, crisis mode kicking into full gear. You have no comms, one horny Jedi, and a completely hopeless sense of direction. “Cal. We have to move.”

He whines high in the back of his throat. “No.” It’s almost pleading, but there is an undercurrent of steel that makes you pause.

“Cal. We’re out in the open. Troopers co-- could--” Stars, you can feel the lust pumping under your skin, so close to the surface that it could burst out at any second. But fear hovers on the edge of your mind, pressing in and suppressing the need to jump Cal and reminding you of the certain torture and death that would occur if you were caught.

Cal doesn’t seem to have any of the same restraints as you. His fingers are carding through your hair, “Just wanna feel you. Maybe more.” His teeth latch into your neck, and the dull pain pierces through the haze more firmly.

He got dosed more heavily with the pollen. You resist the urge to curse as you gently detangle from Cal and sit up, biting back a sigh of relief as his teeth leave your skin. “We have to find shelter.” You begin to look around, but all you can see is the forest. You need something better, a place where you can figure out what exactly is wrong with Cal. You try to stand.

“Noooo…” This isn’t going to work. You actually do curse this time. How are you supposed to find effective shelter while dragging a full grown man around hostile territory without compromising stealth, all while your libido is cottoning to the edge of your mind, clouding your judgment?

“Come here…” Cal’s arm wraps around your neck, dragging you back down to the ground even as you try to stand. Okay that’s enough.

“You’ll forgive me later, Cal.” You press your thumb to his forehead and concentrate. His skin is dry and burning to your touch, and your brow scrunches. That’s going to be an issue. You reach to tap into the Force, but you pause. Your Force connection is… foggy. That’s the only way you can describe it in words, but it’s muted and dimmer than usual.

Your Jedi Master taught you a metaphor for using the Force: a barrier exists between you and access to the Force. It’s a wall, and your mind must become like a sharpened sword to pierce through and reach the Force. You can feel the barrier, just as always, but it’s like a second layer exists around it. If the normal barrier is made of thin glass, the new layer is crafted from paper; it’s strange, and thicker than usual, but still easily pierced with extra… force if you can say that without making yourself laugh at the pun. You summon the strength and press your mental sword forward through the barrier.

Rest. Cal’s eyes roll back in his head and he falls asleep with a gentle exhale. He relaxes against you, and you relax in turn when you see the pained lines smooth out of his forehead. Jedi healing includes your own personal anesthesia on demand. It will keep him under for a little bit, though you can’t tell what kind of effect the pollen will have on the Force sleep.

Through some feat of the stars themselves, you struggle to your feet. Cal’s arm is looped around your neck, and you want nothing more than to just sink down to the ground again and give into the weakness and lust pulling at your legs, coaxing you to collapse and take your pleasure. And stars, Cal’s heavier than you expected him to be.

But you shake yourself awake. Can’t get distracted. You glance at Cal’s drooping head. He’s been strong for you this entire time. The least you can do is be strong now and find some shelter. But where?

Voices filter through the trees, and your head jerks up towards the sources.

“Yeah, she told me to take the bucket off, or she would charge the full payment and…” Stormtroopers. Kriffing hell.

“Come on.” You hiss underneath your breath. You gather your legs underneath your body and push. Your muscles scream in pain, but they ultimately obey and you stumble to your feet and begin to move away from the approaching voices. Cal is dead weight over your shoulders, pulling and urging you to rest. It would be so easy to give in, to sink back to the ground and let Cal do what he wants.

The trees blur together as you move through the forest. The stormtroopers’ voices are getting louder and you grit your teeth. You don’t know their patrol route. How are you going to avoid them? All you can do is place one foot in front of the other. Then the mossy ground turns to stone underneath your feet, and you slow. Caves. Perfect.

You hurry inside, fatigued legs forgotten in your relief. There’s a bend directly beyond the mouth of the cave, and you gently lay Cal against the wall. You’re completely hidden from anyone looking from the entrance. You sit opposite him, your head falling forward to sag against your chest. Now what?

Your comm unit is busted, and Cal’s is sitting back on the Mantis, so you can’t contact the crew. You hold a hand to Cal’s forehead. His temperature is getting worse. You don’t know what infected him, so your Force healing is out of the question. The only bright spot is you’re pretty sure the stormtroopers won’t find you. They’re not exactly recruited for their brains, and you’ll be able to sense their muted Force signatures if they get close.

Speaking of…

You trail off, contemplating Cal’s unconscious face. His head sags against the rock wall and there’s a line of drool leaking out of the corner of his mouth. His brow is finally relaxed, his breathing deep and even and it strikes you that this is the most peaceful you’ve ever seen him.

You reach out through the Force. It has become a habit for you, Merrin, and Cal to find peace in each others’ Force signature. Whether nightmares or difficult missions, the others would be there as a silent comfort.

Merrin’s is a mixture of whites and creams swirling against a dark maroon background. When she uses her Force magic, there is an unmistakable green tinge through it. Hers is powerful, with a sense of underlying safety in her strength. True to form, Merrin has been a protector figure in the Mantis.

But Cal’s is more diverse, a blend of warm colors against a grey background with blue tinging the edge. But while the colors are chaotic, Cal keeps a firm hold on his Force presence at all times, never allowing it to surge violently from emotion. He does not suppress it completely anymore, but you know he has the ability to make it nearly disappear from the senses of another Force user. You should know, because you can do the same. Merrin grew up without fear of having to hide her Force sensitivity, but you and Cal survived the Purge. You both have firm grasps of your thoughts and emotions projected through the Force. So in Cal, you found a kindred spirit that understands you better than almost any other person in the galaxy could. You’ve become more familiar with his presence than even your Master’s before the Purge.

But now, your brow furrows as you search for his Force presence over and over, pushing into every crevice of the surrounding environment without violating his privacy. You’re not mistaken. It’s gone, almost as if he has been turned into a droid before your eyes. Every living thing has a Force presence, no matter how minute. But Cal’s comforting whirl of light is gone, vanished as though he is no longer connected to the--

Cal’s eyes fly open and he sits forward with a quiet gasp. You jump. It’s worn off then. You secure his body with the Force, holding him loosely so as not to cause any lasting damage. You would have to tackle the Force connection problems later.

“I need you to focus.” He pushes against the bonds with a whimper, and you bite your lip as you struggle to hold him still.

“Cal!” Your Force bind tightens, and he stills with a grunt. “Talk to me. Fight through it.”

He shakes his head, eyes screwed shut. “Hurts.”

“What hurts?”

“Every-- ah! Everything. Can’t-- can’t th-think. Only thing-- makes it better… you.”

What? Your concentration lapses and the bonds loose. He lunges forward and buries his nose into your neck again, inhaling you as his hands scrabble at your clothes. “Hurts less with you. Smell so good--soft. Please?”

Stars, you can’t think straight with him touching you like this. You bite back a moan as his hands roughly squeeze your breasts through your shirt. Surely, it wouldn’t hurt to give in. Just for a little. Indulge, and then you can figure out a way back to the Mantis. Then Cal raises your shirt and licks a long stripe up your neck, and that’s all the convincing you need.

You melt into his mouth, your hands running under his shirt and harness. His chest is just as feverishly hot as his forehead, but you can’t bring yourself to care when he swings a leg over yours so he’s hovering over you, knees planted on either side of your body. His hands shove your shirt over your head before setting to work on the button of your pants. You raise your hips to allow him to pull your pants under your butt. Your own hands yank at his clothes, silently begging him to strip with you.

But he doesn’t. He kneels between your legs and pulls your underwear to the side, exposing your wet folds.

“Cal--!” You’re cut off as he drags his tongue over your pussy, flicking against your clit at the end. Your stomach muscles contract, and it’s all you can do to keep quiet as he licks deep into your core.

---

The world is blurred. It’s like something crawled into his head and messed with his brain, dragging his focus away from more important issues… he can’t seem to remember right now. He can’t even feel the Force. His connection is compromised, the colors of the world are off, and there’s this bone deep ache within his body urging him closer to you. And as he’s drinking in your taste, the pain subsides and he can breathe again.

What is this? What’s happening to him? It has to be the pollen, it has to be its effect on his body, that’s why he’s lost all control over his mind and self. It’s why he can’t hold himself back from your body and you.

You’re all he can focus on; you’re so beautiful writhing under him as he tastes you. He’s never done this before. He can’t figure out why he hasn’t done this sooner, because you taste amazing right now and how you sound as he slides his tongue through your folds is doing things to him that he’s never experienced before.

His hips are dragging against the floor unintentionally. The friction of his dick against the rough material of his pants is a small slice of heaven, and he whimpers at the pure electricity spreading down his spine. He doesn’t want this to end so soon, but his body is shoving him towards the edge of release and the relief he knows is going to come with it.

---

A moan keens high in the back of your throat as Cal’s mouth presses against your soaked core. It’s sloppy and clumsy, but Maker if he doesn’t make up for it with enthusiasm. The only sounds coming from him are tiny moans and grunts and you shudder as his fingers dig into the pillowy flesh of your thighs, leveraging them apart and holding them there firmly. Of their own will, your hips roll up into his face, chasing after his touch.

You’re completely unprepared for Cal to growl when you do so. His grip tightens, and you squeak as your thighs are spread even farther apart and his mouth completely envelopes your clit.

Is this what heaven feels like? You can barely manage coherent thought when his tongue is devastating you like this, but thequestion rotates around your lust dumb brain as your toes curl and your back arches. Your release rushes up and sweeps you away, your core clenching as waves of pleasure wash over your body. You hear Cal whine as you cum, and you hear your own moans as you ride out your orgasm.

---

Stars, why hadn’t he done this sooner? The sounds that he’s pulling out of you right now could make him come in his pants on the spot, and the taste of your release has him rutting against the ground all the more insistently as he chases his own high.

But he doesn’t want to come in his pants, he wants to be inside of you. He wants you, your body squeezing tight around him, to feel the wetness seeping around his tongue rather than tasting it, even if it tastes divine.

He grabs your hips and yanks you down so your crotch is flush to his. He nearly loses his mind when your soaked core meets the bulge in his pants. Fuck, he thought he could wait, but he can’t.

But--something is still off with the world’s coloring. Where is the Force? The comforting pressure is gone from the back of his mind, the constant reminder of balance that keeps him in tune with his emotions and surroundings. Panic edges around the perimeter of his mind. In an act of desperation, he reaches for the Force, searching for the whispers of memories that accompany his world. They’re gone. Where did they go?

You whisper his name again, and this time his eyes meet yours.

---

You watch Cal carefully. He’s flushed, trembling as he hovers over your body, hands bare centimeters away from your skin. His eyes are desperate, and you can feel the pain in them as clearly as if it was your own. A bead of sweat tracks down his temple to soak into the collar of his harness, and he fumbles to rip the rest of his clothing off, discarding it on the floor as though it burned against his flesh.

“Cal.” He looks back at you. “Take what you need.”

It’s all the permission he needs. Relief and something else flashes through his eyes before he looks back down and fumbles with his pants fastening. His cock is flushed dark red, and his hands tremble as he pulls it out of his pants, jaw clenched as he lines up with your entrance. He slides into you with a bone-deep sigh of relief, and you cry out at the stretch. Every inch sparks pure electricity up your spine, and your eyes roll back in your head. He bottoms out, and for a heart stopping moment you feel a connection to him you couldn’t describe in words. Your hips roll against his, grinding the head of his cock up against something heavenly. Light explodes behind your eyes at the movement, arching your back and curling your toes.

Cal chokes, a beautiful sound you’ve only heard a few times before; the one that sounds like its been pulled from the deepest parts of his being, like he’s just ascended to another plane above the physical. It’s gorgeous and so insanely hot you’re completely unprepared for his sudden movement when he lunges forward.

Cal’s hand shoots out and presses against your neck, effectively pinning your upper body to the hard ground. You inhale shakily through your nose, but his grip does nothing more than hold you. You can still breathe, but the pressure on your throat sends a shock of heat between your legs with the reminder of the control you just relinquished.

“Stop that.” His other arm slams onto the stone beside your head, and your eyes lock. Cal’s pupils are blown, so dark you can almost see your reflection in the dim light of the cave as he glares down at you.

He doesn’t give you time to respond before he drags his hips away from yours, inch by painstaking inch and rocks back into your body with an easy roll of his hips. He exhales gently as he bottoms back out inside of you, a low moan rumbling out of his throat when he reaches that same depth within your heat.

It’s the eye of a storm; a hurricane you hadn’t known you’d entered. He rocks back and forth again, only there’s fractionally more force and speed to the motion this time. Again, and your body shakes with the force. Another, and you have to bite your lip to stifle the scream when he slams back into your body. It’s like the tide, coming in gradually, but more and more with each passing moment. The force swells, each thrust pushing into you a little harder and making your body shake a little more with each thrust.

A shuddering groan rumbles out of him as he finds the rhythm. The hand not pressed delicately around your throat slams down on the rock next to your head. When you look up towards the cave ceiling, Cal’s flushed skin and tousled hair fills your vision.

His hair, which is usually swept out of his eyes. Cal’s hair has always been so well cared for, usually brushed and slicked back so it doesn’t dangle in his eyes. Now, it’s soaked with sweat and falling into his face as he stares down at you like you’re the only star in the sky.

---

Take what you need? Holy stars, he can barely think enough to comprehend it, but some inner part of him aches at the sentence.

As soon as he realized his heart jumped every time you smiled at something, or that his brain short circuited at the sound of your laugh, he’d sworn he would keep it under wraps. He’d promised himself he would wait until after the galaxy finishes imploding and collapsing around your heads. The first time he’d jerked off to the idea of your body, he vowed to satisfy himself with his hand until it was safe. He’d wait until after the holocron is safe and there’s nothing to worry about, because relationships are messy and complicated and--

Fuck, he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about that promise, because how can he regret being balls deep in you while you’re whining and squirming underneath him, when you look at him with such trust even as he pins you to the floor by your throat? His eyes gravitate to the mark on your neck, red and irritated with the indent of his teeth, and he feels his cock twitch even as he continues to pound into you. He likes that.

The promise didn’t keep his eyes from wandering to your face at any opportunity. It didn’t prevent the pressure in his chest from growing over the weeks and months. It definitely didn’t keep Cere and Greez from noticing, and that was a conversation he would rather have scrubbed from his mind.

Take what you need. That one sentence is spinning his world on its metaphorical finger. Take what you need. As if he didn’t want it, but he needed to do it. In all honesty, it had really felt like he was going to die. The burning in his throat that caused the coughing fit, then the racing heart and the overheating; he thought he wasn’t going to make it unless he--

Well, unless he fucked you.

But even if he needs it, he wants it even more, had wanted it for too long. But everytime an opportunity presented itself, he pulled back. He remembers how he threw away the flowers he gathered on the mission instead of bringing them back to you on the Mantis. He remembers every time he denied spending time with you, because his emotions were too raw and close to the surface, and he couldn’t predict his control over his own tongue. Because he didn’t think he could have handled it if you didn’t want him back.

But you had offered to help. Maybe you’d wanted it too, because the whole galaxy could be shoving you in one direction and you would defy it. Nothing can make you do anything you didn’t want to, and that applies to Cal Kestis too.

---

Your orgasm swells up sharp and sudden, gripping you in its claws and shoving you into the attack of muscle spasms and searing pleasure that punches into your abdomen. Your body arches, accidentally hitting your head against the ground.

Cal’s rhythm stutters and his hips jerk forward. His hand leaves your throat as he drops to his forearms. His head drops down to press against yours gently, even as he whimpers and continues to grind forward into your soaking heat.

“Fuck.” Cal gasps, eyelids fluttering rapidly. “Fuck. ‘M gonna cum.”

There’s no time to respond before he’s drawing up and tensing against you. His hips piston in and out once, then he’s cumming and all you can do is lie there and take it. Fuck that’s hot.

You can feel him spilling into you, every warm spurt of cum and every twitch of his cock as he spends himself. Even better is the drawn out groan that trails into his upper register, ending in a tiny whimper. The tension drains out of his face and he sags down, sweaty skin pressed against yours. His arms wrap around your body and he hoists your limp body up as he rolls over. He sits against the wall of the cave, seating you on his lap, cock still firmly buried inside you.

You allow your head to sag back against his shoulder, relishing in the feeling of his body pressed so closely to yours. His hand paws weakly at the fabric of your shirt, and you raise your arms to slide it off. It’s better like this, skin to skin contact seems to calm him down. He buries his nose into your bare neck and mumbles something you can’t make out.

You nudge your head against his gently, “Hm?”

“Thank you.” His lips ghost over the delicate juncture between your neck and shoulder. “Thank you thank you thank you...” He continues to mutter the phrase into your skin, tickling your skin as he nuzzles closer to you.

You should say something. Confess, maybe, everything you’ve been hiding. “Cal, I--” You shift slightly, and something feels off. You furrow your brow and glance downwards at your joining point, “Cal are you still hard?”

He props his chin on your shoulder. “Uh--” He thrusts shallowly up into you, and you stifle a whimper. “Ye-yeah. Sorry?”

“N--” You gasp as his cock twitches. “No. Don’t be sorry. Do you need to go again?” Arousal stirs in your core again, burning a slow path through your nerves and reigniting the flames that had dulled to embers. Your breath catches in your chest and you grind your hips back into his.

“I--I think so.” His voice is strained and his breath comes in short gasps next to your ear. “Not-- not as-- as bad though.”

“That--ah!” Cal chooses that exact moment to pick a spot on your neck and latch on. He nips at the skin before soothing it with his tongue. His hands, roughened with callouses from his saber, climbing, and tinkering, scrape over your skin with just the right amount of friction. You bite your bottom lip. “That’s fine. Should I move?”

His hands find your hips and hold you firmly in place. That’s a no then. His hips rock up into yours gently, and you feel your cheeks warm at the wet sounds of your combined release. Cal grunts, “Let me.”

So you do. You lie back against his bare chest and just take what he gives you, whimpering whenever he brushes against that spot inside you that sends electricity up your spine. You’re gripping his arms so hard you’re sure he’s going to have bruises in the shape of your fingers.

---

Stars, you’re fucking perfect. Just lying here and giving yourself to him. He can feel the Force dimly, but it’s there. The pollen is leaving his system as he slowly fucks you on a cave floor in the middle of a dense forest while stormtroopers patrol outside.

You cry out with his next thrust, the head of his cock striking something inside of you that must feel good because you clench around him and--

Did you just come again?

The additional lubrication only increases the lewd squelch with every thrust, the mixture of his cum and yours only making sliding in and out of your channel easier. He can still feel the effects of the pollen at the back of his mind, and it keeps him hard and sensitive as he continues to fuck you.

He’s aware he should be at least a little worried about the implications, starting at the top with how he’s going to complete the mission and ending with what exactly fucking on a cave floor means for your relationship. Somewhere in the middle is the stormtroopers and the pollen, and the oath of the Jedi Order forbidding relationships. But he can’t grasp it.

Even if there are more pressing concerns, all he can do right now is continue pushing his hips up into your soaking core painstakingly slowly. He wants to enjoy this while he can, while he’s able to fool himself that you want him back. Unless…

---

The only solace you could find in the situation was that you could have Cal, even for these few short moments. Because as much as you may want to convince yourself, a tiny voice inside your head keeps whispering: it’s all the pollen. That’s the only reason why he wants you. And you force yourself to believe the voice, because it’s easier to block off any chance for pain and rejection.

But you know you’re in trouble the second Cal opens his mouth. The words are a harsh whisper, rasping out of his dry throat into your ear, “Beautiful. So gorgeous, giving me what I need, what I want.”

You arch against him and stifle the whimper rising in the back of your throat. His mouth is right next to your ear, so there isn’t anywhere for you to escape from the words that rumble into your brain; words you try to convince yourself are empty. You shove your hand against your mouth rather than allow any sound to escape.

He moans, “Want to do this again. Don’t want this to be just once.”

“Th--that--that’s the pollen talking.” You gasp when you feel his fingers graze over your clit, your own hand drifting back to latch into his hair.

Cal hisses when you tug with a little more strength than necessary, but he doesn’t tell you to stop. One hand supports your weight as he moves you up and down on his dick, the other rubbing little circles around your clit. His hips make up for the lost strength everytime they drive up into you at the lowest point of the rhythm, squelching with every thrust.

“Not--not the pollen. All you. All me.”

You blink, all temporarily forgotten when the words register in your hazy mind. “...What?”

“Wanted this. Wanted this for a while.” Cal finds your clit with his fingers, and you can’t prevent the way your legs jerk and your body seizes against his.

Fuck you’re going to cum. If the first orgasm was a flashfire, this one is a slowly simmering blaze. It creeps up slowly, burning a hole through your abdomen, curling around your ribs and inching down your legs. Your eyes roll back, and your head falls back against Cal’s shoulder.

“Cal. I--I thi--” You try to warn him, you really do. But words aren’t forming correctly right now, and it’s all you can do to hunker down and try to prepare yourself for this truly devastating crest that’s preparing to launch you over the edge.

If Cal gets your warning, he doesn’t show it. All he does is turn his head to the side, press a light kiss to your cheek, and groan, “I think I love you.”

Oh shit. Cal’s timing couldn’t have been more perfect if he planned it. Before you can respond, hell, before you can even begin to fucking process that last sentence, you’re coming hard. Maybe it’s the whiff of pollen you got earlier, or the fact that Cal is the one fucking you so sweetly and thoroughly, or the thrill of being mere steps away from discovery, or a combination of all of it, but this orgasm certainly feels like the most intense of your life.

Spasms ripple outward through your belly, curling you up in Cal’s lap as you ride out your high. Your legs straighten and your toes curl and you clamp down hard around Cal’s cock.

Cal shouts raggedly in your ear, pulling your body close. But even as you whimper and shake on the end of his cock, you remember that you can’t make too much sound.

As if he heard you, Cal burrows his face into your shoulder, his teeth once again finding a place in your skin to muffle his voice as he cums deep inside you once more. His body shakes as he spends himself again, the spasms slowly subsiding with every jerk of his hips into yours.

‘I did hear you.’ There’s a tinge of amusement to the nonexistent voice that echoes in your mind, and you relax back against Cal.

‘Feeling better?’ You nudge him back through the Force, revelling in the feeling of his colorful presence swirling around you once again. The pollen has worn off.

He doesn’t say anything in response, only pulls you close with his arms around you. His mind pushes at yours, and you let him in. You’ve done this a million times, usually on the tail end of nighttime panic attacks, but this time is different. This is the most loose he has ever been with his Force presence, and you allow it to fill the empty parts of your mind. Wait, he loves you?

He rushes over you in the same way the tide comes back to land, calming your fear at finally understanding the weight of his last confession. He’s relaxed, and the familiar energy has a new angle to it, a new emotion you hadn’t felt before in another’s Force signature. You grasp it gently, turning it over and admiring it in the eye of your mind. What is it?

The answer rushes to you just as Cal mutters against your skin, “Love.” The same thing you’d been feeling in the pit of your heart every time you looked at Cal, everytime he kept you safe from the nightmares in his arms and stayed with you until morning, every time you made him tea and did maintenance on his gear after a tough mission.

“I love you.”

You blink up at the ceiling of the rock cave, mouth open with the words just on the tip of your tongue. But they won’t come. The words are stuck in your throat, and try as you might, you can’t make yourself say them.

“Hey.” Cal whispers in your ear, and you shut your mouth. “You don’t have to say it back. But you know that I do, and I know a little of what’s going on up here.” His finger taps the side of your head lightly. "You don't have to figure out where to go from here. I'll navigate."

‘Thank you.’ You send the words through the Force, and he acknowledges them. Yeah, you're shit at knowing where to go when it comes to feelings. But at least with Cal, you won't have to worry about getting lost alone. You sit in peaceful silence for a few minutes, before a thought occurs to you.

“Cal.” His name is little more than a weak rasp off your tongue. You clear your throat and try again. “Cal.”

He grunts unintelligibly.

“Don’t bring that seed back to the Mantis.”

A/N: I will be the first to admit that this fic was hard, because I wanted to incorporate some previous feelings into this to make it less dubcon, and I didn't feel that all plot holes were filled. But that didn't make this any less enjoyable for me, and it was fun to explore a new facet of Cal's character.

Thanks for everyone who gave me inspiration and motivation to keep pushing this through the old brain up here. Smut isn't the easiest for me:)

Taglist: @alliterative-albatross

#cal kestis #cal kestis x reader #sex pollen #pining fools #pining #fluff #feelings #smut

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makeste · 3 years

Text

BnHA Chapter 311: Hand Gun

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “thinkin’ about dropping in some woke analogies of the very real and very presently relevant issue of racial profiling idk what do you guys think” and then shrugged and did it without waiting for an answer, and ngl it was a bit sudden, but I’m here for it. All Might was all “DEKU YOU NEED TO EAT” and Deku was all “OKAY” and took his hero bento and went to go stand dramatically on a tower in the rain whilst having some highly anticipated Vestige flashbacks. OFA II was all, “sup, I guess I’m not Kacchan... OR AM I,” and ngl I think he is?? Alternate universes anybody?? Hello??? But anyway, so OFA the First a.k.a. Yoichi was all “remember that time you guys rescued me from my evil brother and Two took my hand and we Had A Moment?”, and Two and Three were all “ahh yeah good times”, and it was very nice and very, very gay. The chapter ended with it being very unclear if Two and Three have actually lent their power to Deku yet or not lmao. Y’all need to get your shit together dudes.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “what if I gave a random bad guy a fucking tommy gun that shoots nails” and jesus christ calm down son. The Hawksquad, a.k.a. SQUAWK as per @hotchocolatier, are all “time to drive aimlessly around town acting like Deku has a restraining order on us because that’s literally the best plan to combat the League we could come up with,” and I have no further comment. Hawks is all “idk about you guys but I want to know more about AFO and Tomura’s whole deal” and I can’t remember the last time I identified so strongly with one of these characters. All Might is all, “[EXPLODES???]”, and the chapter ends with that mysterious hot girl from the Tartarus breakout being all “HELLO I CAN TURN INTO A GUN AND I LITERALLY DON’T GIVE A FUCK” and (1) WOW, and (2) IT’S TRUE, SHE CAN, AND SHE REALLY DOESN’T. GODDAMN.

(ETA: so this wholly escaped my notice on the first go, and also has nothing to do with the chapter itself, but I only just realized that this chapter was scanlated by a new group, TCB Scans. they actually did a very good job, and I’m curious if they’ve found a new RAW provider, because the quality this week is actually crazy good in comparison to what we’ve been dealing with for the past few months. I’m gonna have to get caught up on what exactly happened here lol.)

so what will it be this week? more Vestige antics? more of Sad Nomad Deku standing on buildings and pretending like he’s some cool aloof antihero, as if he could fool us when we all know his hero backpack is secretly stuffed full with his nerd diaries and the remnants of all the hero bentos that All Might keeps giving him?? or, just putting it out there, just a crazy thought, but you don’t suppose we might actually cut back to U.A.? mmm. side-eyes emoji

maaaaaan I’m starting to get tired of this trend of beginning chapters by dropping in on random power-tripping civilians and/or Shindou lol. just once can we get a chapter that opens with someone I actually give a fuck about

oh at least Endeavor is here

A WHAT SUPPORT ITEM!??! HOLY SHIT DDLKJSLFKJL

lol somehow that’s more terrifying than bullets for me?? like I’m fully aware that bullets will fuck you up way worse and that in real life nail guns probably don’t work like this AT ALL and only have a range of like... hold up let me just google... up to 100 to 150 m/s and distances of up to 500m wait WHAT

okay wait. hold up. like I was expecting google to tell me nail guns only shoot a few feet at most, and instead the first search result is some CDC blog article that’s “dispelling” the “””myth””” -- please note my repeated sarcastic quotation marks -- that nail guns can fire 1400 feet per second, by explaining that actually they can fire anywhere from 315 ft/sec to 1,295 ft/sec, and that “it is in the pneumatic nail gun user’s best interest to handle these tools as if they were a firearm despite having a lower velocity” dlkjdslkjflkl

SO THAT SCENE IN IRON MAN 3 WHERE TONY RAIDS A HOME DEPOT AND BUYS A BUNCH OF RANDOM TOOLS AND SHIT AND GOES ON TO STAGE A ONE-MAN INVASION OF AN INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST’S FLORIDA MANSION HQ IS ACTUALLY TRUE. YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT THE FILM “HOME ALONE” IS ACTUALLY A DOCUMENTARY. “the Discovery Channel television program “Mythbusters” compared the penetration capacity of an airborne projectile shot from a pneumatic framing nail gun to that of a 9mm hand gun” HELLO YES AND A MERRY “WHAT THE FUCK” TO YOU AS WELL

anyway, so. there’s apparently a reason why the Number One hero, who can burn people with the intensity of a sun going supernova, is hiding here behind this concrete support column making frowny faces. nope. nuh uh. he ain’t about that. I don’t blame you buddy

so now he’s barrel rolling out of his hiding place and setting this dude THE FUCK ON FIRE because HELL NO. BAD ENOUGH I HAD TO WATCH THAT FUCKING MUSHROOM EPISODE LAST WEEK! YOU TAKE THAT SHIT SOMEWHERE ELSE

LOL look at his face

I know the context is actually him being all “I know I’m responsible for basically everything that happened and so that’s why I’m so grim and serious about this mission to set things right piece by piece,” but in my mind this pissed-off face is 100% all because this dude tried to shoot his eye out with a nail gun. look at that. you made him go full flame face again. beard and all. protecting his face so that it can hopefully melt any stray nails that get too close. nope nope nope

good lord. so what’s up next. let me guess the guy fighting Best Jeanist has like an atomic chainsaw or some shit

lol nope we’re just cutting back to Hawks and Jeanist chilling in the Jesla after they’ve wrapped things up

Jeanist has got some serious Groot energy you guys jesus christ he’s like 12 feet tall

oh snap someone threw a pipe at him now

today is just the chapter of Endeavor being assaulted by random DIY tools I guess

I mean, I get why they’re pissed at him obviously; I would be too lol. but tbh I also don’t really understand the “get out of here we don’t want your help” attitude that all of these people suddenly seem to have?? like it if were me, I would be fucking DEMANDING for him and the other heroes to be working round the clock to fix their stupid mess. I mean who else is gonna do it?? it’s their mess, I sure don’t want to be the one to clean it up instead. anyways but whatever lol

oh shit?

so they haven’t dropped the whole “OFA secret potentially gets revealed to the world” thing yet after all. that makes sense I suppose, it did seem like that whole thing wound up playing out a bit too easily

anyway so yeah

the locals are definitely none too happy. well at least Dabi’s got something to be cheerful about I guess

so now we’re cutting to the interior of the Jesla and they’re chitchatting about the current investigation

oh wow this actually makes a bit of sense now. so there was a reason they were keeping their distance from Deku

please note that even in this abstract Endeavor’s-Mental-Image-Of-Him panel, Deku’s eyes still don’t have the light in them anymore :( my poor son

also ftr I still think using Deku as bait in this particular sense is the shittiest idea ever ngl. like sure, let’s let the sixteen-year-old run around battling miscellaneous escaped prison convicts while we stay several kilometers away ON PURPOSE despite the fact that you’re using him as bait to draw out the Big Bad, who just a reminder can destroy anything with a mere touch and who you were all basically helpless against. what exactly are you all planning to do if Tomura or one of the other League VIPs actually shows up to retrieve him?? are you even keeping tabs on him at all in real time?? jesus

(ETA: well that escalated quickly lol.)

Horikoshi is all of a sudden dropping whole pages of exposition here and I can’t be bothered to summarize this lol so just,

a big fat YES to what Jeanist said, though. that’s why imo they would have been better off laying a trap at U.A. rather than just wandering around out in the open. I assume they’re trying to cut their potential losses because U.A. is full of students (and civilians), but those students also happen to be more capable than pretty much anyone else in the manga at this point. and tbh they’re already in life-threatening danger regardless of how things play out from here on, so they might as well at least try to use the few advantages they have right now. U.A. is almost certainly going to come under siege at some point anyway, so they might as well prepare for it

lol I don’t think I’m explaining this very well because I don’t have the patience right now to break it down point by point like it really ought to be, so for now I’ll just say that imo “U.A. siege” stands a good chance of being the eventual endgame even now, and so this whole “Deku runs around being bait” arc is really just killing time until then lol. like and subscribe for more rambling nonsensical takes such as this. maybe next time I’ll even put it all into one single sentence for maximum meandering senior citizen rant value

well it’s nice that they’re finally talking about all of this I guess

we readers have known all of this for months now but this confirms the heroes are finally caught up. ALSO, Hawks is so fucking smart, as always. kinda wonder if things would have played out differently if All Might had let him in on the secret a bit earlier. probably that’s why Horikoshi made damn sure they didn’t find out until after the War arc lol

OH MY GOD YOOOOOO HAWKS OUT HERE ASKING THE REAL QUESTIONS

“anyone else wondering why AFO bothered to raise Tomura as his fake heir for fifteen years when he was secretly planning on taking over his body the whole time” YES, [raises hand] lmao Hawks where the hell were you when I was debating this “AFO is the final villain and Tomura is just his pawn” thing on multiple occasions over the past several years lol

lmao seeing them debate the metaphysics of OFA and all of its mystical bullshit is seriously surreal you guys

JEANIST HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT MY META TAG I HAVE WRITTEN SO MANY ESSAYS. I ACTUALLY WAS PLANNING ON WRITING ANOTHER ESSAY ABOUT THE THING THAT I’M PRETTY SURE HAWKS IS ABOUT TO BRING UP, BUT I NEVER GOT AROUND TO IT WHOOPS, BUT MAYBE I WILL NOW LOL LET’S SEE HOW IT GOES

yes!!

WHICH AFO FUCKING ENSURED HE WOULD BE BY LITERALLY PLANNING OUT EVERY LAST DETAIL OF HIS FAMILY TRAGEDY, FROM SECRETLY GIVING TENKO THE QUIRK TO MAKING SURE NO CIVILIANS OR HEROES WOULD HELP HIM UNTIL AFO FINALLY STEPPED IN. I’M 1000% CONVINCED THIS IS THE CASE YOU GUYS. NOT JUST BECAUSE I’M NOT A FAN OF “THE WORLD IS A FUNDAMENTALLY SHITTY PLACE, ACTUALLY” TAKES BECAUSE MISTER ROGERS TOLD ME TO ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE HELPERS, BUT ALSO BECAUSE IT LITERALLY JUST DOESN’T MAKE A LICK OF SENSE OTHERWISE. THEIR ENTIRE HOUSE CAVED IN FFS, YOU’RE TELLING ME NONE OF THE NEIGHBORS FUCKING OVERHEARD THAT SHIT AND WENT “UMMMMMMMMM” AND WENT TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON?? “DIDN’T THERE USED TO BE A HOUSE HERE, AND LIKE A WHOLE FAMILY, AND SHIT?”

LIKE I’M SORRY, BUT IT’S ONE THING TO SAY IT’S REALISTIC THAT NOT A SINGLE PERSON WOULD ATTEMPT TO HELP THE WANDERING TRAUMATIZED CHILD AFTERWARDS (WHICH I DISAGREE WITH AS WELL BUT AT LEAST THAT’S MORE SUBJECTIVE), AND IT’S A WHOLE OTHER THING TO ARGUE THAT IT’S REALISTIC THAT NO ONE WOULD BE FUCKING NOSY. LIKE THAT’S A WHOLE DIFFERENT LEVEL OF “THAT’S NOT HOW ANY OF THIS WORKS” ENTIRELY LOL. anyway tl;dr AFO is a piece of shit and Tomura’s entire worldview is based on a magnificently intricate and savagely cruel lie more at 11

anyway so after all that ranting it looks like that wasn’t even what Hawks was talking about after all lol. I just went off for absolutely no reason lol oh well. instead it seems that Hawks is suggesting that Tomura’s carefully cultivated hatred might not yet have actually reached “can defeat OFA” levels even after all of that trauma. interesting!

don’t mind me, I’m just sitting here while my brain furiously scrambles to put together all the parallels between Hawks and Tomura that it never noticed before until exactly this second. like I’m not even sure that was the intent here at all (I need to check out another translation or two lol), but regardless my mind decided that now would be the perfect time to make the connection between these two twenty-somethings who both had horrific childhoods and spent years being molded by their respective manipulative guardians, and developed eerily similar “laugh at everything because what else can you do” coping mechanisms to deal with it all hmmmmm

anyway so they were talking more about their strategy, but now all of a sudden Jeanist’s phone is beeping??

AND NOW WE’RE CUTTING AWAY TO ALL MIGHT AND HIS MIGHTMOBILE DAMMIT so that means the call to Jeanist was actually something important then!! WAS IT BAKUGOU OMG. DOES YOUR INTERN WANT A WORD FFFKLFSJK please it’s been so long I just need a little crumb or two to tide me over lmao have mercy

anyway so All Might’s following the GPS tracking device he’s apparently got planted on Deku (which in my conspiracy headcanons he’s actually had for a long time now, like since before DvK2 lol because HOW ELSE WOULD HAVE HAVE KNOWN THAT THEY WERE FIGHTING EACH OTHER IN GROUND BETA, PEOPLE) and thinking angsty thoughts about Deku’s sucky life

AND NOW ALL MIGHT’S PHONE IS RINGING TOO?? BAKUGOU HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE YOU CALLING. “WHERE ARE YOU HIDING THE NERD GODDAMMIT”

OMG

lol is he under attack or is he just finally giving All Might the slip like we all know he SECRETLY PLANNED TO ALL ALONG oh my poor dumb angstmuffin

OMG AHHHHHHH WHAT

DID ALL MIGHT JUST FUCKING DIE LMAO NO OF COURSE NOT, BUT WHAT

WHAT IS HAPPENING OMG

THE FUCK IS THAT. AT LEAST IT’S NOT A NAIL

OH IT’S A SPEAKER!! OMG DID THEY TAKE ALL MIGHT HOSTAGE

“THEY’RE HERE” WELP, TIME TO SEE JUST HOW SHITTY THIS SHITTY PLAN REALLY IS LOL

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

SHE!!!!

omg. AND OVERHAUL JUST CHILLING THERE IN THE BACKGROUND ALL “WHAT DO YOU EVEN WANT ME TO DO I’VE GOT NO FUCKING ARMS” YEAH GOOD RIDDANCE LOL

DOES THIS GIRL HAVE ONE GIANT LEG OR WHAT, LIKE WHAT’S THE DEAL HERE

-- HOLD UP WAIT, THE GUN IS HER ARM, HOLY SHIT SHE CAN TURN INTO A GUN -- OKAY HOLD UP BECAUSE I NEED TO SAY THAT IN BIGGER TEXT BECAUSE !!!!

YOU GUYS, THE COOL TARTARUS GIRL IS BACK AND HER QUIRK IS “CAN TURN INTO A FUCKING GUN.” THIS IS NOT A DRILL!! MY BEST GIRL MT. GUN IS FINALLY BACK ON THE SCENE WITH HER QUIRK “CAN DO ANYTHING A GUN CAN DO.” “I HEARD Y’ALL WENT AND NAMED ONE OF YOUR HEROES ‘GUNHEAD’ EVEN THOUGH HIS HEAD ISN’T EVEN A GUN, LIKE WTF IS UP WITH THAT LET ME SHOW YOU HOW IT’S DONE” DANG OKAY

lmao only fifteen pages this week, and STILL NO KACCHAN (THEN WHO WAS PHONE!!!), but man I don’t even care because finally we’ve got a cliffhanger that’s actually deserving of being a cliffhanger! hot dog. okay then

#bnha 311 #endeavor #hawks (bnha)#takami keigo #shigaraki tomura #best jeanist #all might #midoriya izuku #cool tartarus gun transforming girl #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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witches-and-cows · 4 years

Text

Kisses and Cocoa

pairing: aziracrow (or ineffable wives) / fem!child!reader

requested? no but i do have requests to do djsiggfb

synopsis: just a little down time in the snow with our favorite angel and demon, and their baby girl

warning(s): fem!reader, it’s the wives cuz honestly i love them and they deserve more, a little blood, reader is like, 5

a/n: i gotta do those requests jdishrv so know that i’ve got a peter parker x reader in the works, and a crowley x platonic!reader; school’s overwhelming so

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

Aziraphale was awoken by your childish excitement. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes, sitting up and subconsciously carding her fingers through her partner’s vibrant ginger hair.

“Mmm....five more minutes, Angel. It’s cold.”

Crowley snuggled further into her lover’s chest, kissing her collarbone. Aziraphale yawned, and started counting down, waiting for you to burst through the door.

“And 3, 2, 1--”

“Mum! Mummy, snow! There’s snow!” You climbed up on the bed, your chubby toddler hands grasping the blankets excitedly. Crowley kissed her teeth, sitting up. “Good morning, Giggles. How’d you sleep?” She pecked your forehead, and sat you in her lap. “Fine, mummy, but there’s snow!” You wiggled out of her grasp, and pressed your face up to the cold, foggy window, your eyes full of wonder.

Aziraphale set her feet on the floor, and gasped softly, the cold shocking her. “Good heavens, it’s freezing!” You barely registered your mummy’s voice, now drawing in the fog of the window and humming to yourself. Aziraphale felt the overwhelming love she had for you bubble up into her throat, and she quickly wiped at her eyes.

Crowley watched her with an amused smile gracing her lips. She’d never thought she’d get to have days like this with the angel, curled up in bed, watching their daughter grow up, and experience her first snow.

She loved Aziraphale, so damned much it nearly made her double over. And she loved you, with your wide [e/c] eyes and bubbly laughter (thus why they called you ‘Giggles’), and your love of cookies and Scooby Doo. She had her little family. She was, dare she say, grateful for you two everyday.

She was taken out of her little reverie by Aziraphale leaving a kiss on her cheek. “I’m going to brush my teeth, and help [Name] make up her bed and get ready for the day. Would you be so kind as to make breakfast?”

“Of course, Angel. Any requests?”

You turned and faced your moms, a wide smile gracing your features. “Can we have [pick a breakfast food]?” Crowley winked, saying, “Are angels real?”

“Yes! Thank you, mum!”

She chuckled, watching you tug on Aziraphale’s robe sleeve as you both walked out.

Aziraphale enjoyed helping you get ready; It was one of those domestic activities that she’d miss as you got older. She picked out a cream colored shirt with seafoam green accents, and a pair of black overalls, humming softly along to the children’s program on the television (some magical ‘girl power!’ type cartoon that she also enjoyed; it was called Lollipop? No, LoliRock. She found it quite entertaining.)

You flitted into the room, allowing Aziraphale to help you into the clothes, and talked about the dream you’d had (something about the Cars franchise and unicorns battling to the death over the Eiffel Tower), adding in little ‘oohs’ and ‘oh, dear!’s to indicate she was listening.

Once you were dressed and your hair was done, she had you wait downstairs in the living room of their cottage, letting Crowley entertain you with stories about mythical beings and the stars. Crowley was flipping a pancake when she sat next to you at the table, placing a napkin in your lap.

She set a plate of food in front of you, smiling as you stared out the window, singing about how you’d like to go outside and build a snowman. “Do you want to go outside, Giggles?”

You nodded excitedly, practically bouncing in your seat. “Can we? I really want to!” Aziraphale bobbed her head in agreement, putting the juice Crowley poured for you on your placemat, and taking her cup of Earl Gray out of her hands. “Yes, we can, but eat first.” You went to work, not noticing the small smiles and brief touches that your mothers shared across the table.

You finished your juice, and hopped out of your seat, impatiently waiting for one of your moms to finish. “C’mon, we’re busting daytime!” Crowley threw her head back, a raucous laugh leaving her mouth. “D’you mean burning daylight, [Name]?”

“Oh, yeah,” You responded, giggling.

Crowley stood, and watched you run ahead to your room, screaming, “SNOW SNOW SNOW!” as you went along. She turned to Aziraphale, wiping tears from her eyes. “Busting daytime, that’s funny.” Aziraphale looked at her partner lovingly. “Go on, then. She’ll need help getting into her snow gear.” She said, amusement laced in her words. Crowley sauntered down the hall, whistling the tune of Lazing On a Sunday Afternoon.

You were already mostly undressed when she got to you, hastily tugging on your thermal underwear. “Oh, you’re quick,” She quipped as she picked up the clothes you discarded and placing them on the bed. “You know Mummy doesn’t like you leaving your clothes everywhere.”

“I know, but you said once or twice it’s okay.”

Crowley, looked over at the toys lining your shelves, raising a brow at the Lightning McQueen car, before going to help you button up your snow pants. “Fair enough; You’ve got to have a smidge of demonic influence, don’t you, [Name]?”

You giggled, letting her pull a jumper over your head, and put on your bubble coat. “Damned zipper,” She muttered, eyes narrowed in concentration. She eventually got it and then moved on to put your hat on your head, and wrap a scarf around your neck. You stopped her as she picked up your gloves, saying, “I can do it, Mum! Look!”

She watched, pride glinting in her golden eyes as you successfully pulled the fingers of the gloves over your fingers. “That’s my girl, [Name]!” You let her put on the boots, though, saying, “I can’t do the boots, can you help?” She nodded, and did them for you, then letting you run off to find Aziraphale. Her attention then drifted to the toys again, and she fixed them to go in order of franchise then size. “Gosh, you really like Cars,” She mumbled.

Aziraphale had just gotten her own boots on, and was pulling on her hat as you hopped toward her. “Ready!” She picked you up, walking you to the front of the house, setting you in the snow. You fell back, making a snow angel and laughing. “Look, Mummy! It’s you!”

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

A while later, Crowley came up behind Aziraphale, examining the snow angel from earlier, and a smiley face you made by walking in circles. “Wow, kiddo, that’s really good!” She then held out a carrot, and the buttons she’d picked up, saying, “I thought we wanted to build a snowman, Giggles?” You got to work, rolling the base and dodging snowballs from Crowley. Aziraphale worked on the midsection, snapping her fingers discreetly.

You put the snowman’s head on, and Crowley lifted you so you could stick the nose in. Aziraphale stuck on the eyes, and put a bowtie on the divide between it’s head and middle. Crowley snapped a leather jacket on it, and you put some mittens on it’s “hands”. Then you all admired your handiwork.

“They’re perfect,” Crowley confirmed, nodding her head. Aziraphale hummed in agreement. “Now what?”

“I saw a tutorial on how to build snow forts. We can try it?”

Crowley looked around, before snapping her fingers and watching an igloo build itself. Aziraphale made sure you didn’t get hit by ice blocks as the structure formed.

You squealed, and went into the fort, laughing. Your laugh however, was cut off by a sneeze. Aziraphale perked up, brows furrowed. “Maybe we should head in,” She muttered, Crowley agreeing and gathering you up in her arms. “C’mon then, in we go.”

“But--”

“You’re freezing, kiddo. We can go make hot chocolate, watch a movie.”

That quietted your protest, and you burrowed your face in your Mum’s neck, your time outside wearing you out.

Aziraphale opened the door, making sure the heat was up, before shedding her winter gear. She took you out of Crowley’s arms, letting her take hers off, then the both of them got to work on you.

You let them strip you of the wet clothes, and put a towel on your shivering form. “C’mon, let’s get you into a warm bath, then we can watch [favorite kid movie].” Aziraphale cooed, as your head lolled. “Dearest you get the bath going, I’ll get the cocoa.”

Crowley nodded. “Alright, Angel.” She made her way to the bathroom, snapping her fingers so that the tub filled with warm water. “Step in for me, Giggles.” You did so, and Crowley quickly bathed you, humming Queen’s greatest hits, chuckling when you tried to join in with her.

You finished up, and she wrapped you in your fluffy Winnie the Pooh hooded towel. (it was Tigger; Since you happened to hop around like him often, when Aziraphale saw it, she immediately thought of you, so she bought it.)

She put you together, and carried you to the living room, where Aziraphale was putting a tray of cocoa and cookies on the coffee table. “Oh, dear, you look adorable, [Name]! I love your Stitch onesie.” You made grabby hands at your Mummy, and she smiled sweetly, taking you into her arms and kissing your cheek.

“My little [Name]. My dearest,” She muttered into your head, taking in the scent of your body wash and your natural scent. You reveled in the affection, mumbling, “I’m not little.” Crowley sat down, patting the seat next to her. “Of course not. You’re our big girl, [Name].” You bobbed your head, content with that.

Crowley put on your movie, putting an arm around the back of the couch. Aziraphale snuggled into her side. As you slowly drifted off, Crowley kissed Aziraphale’s lips softly, “I love you, Angel.”

“I love you more, my dear.”

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

please i love them sm we’re craving this domestic shit

#aziracrow #ineffable wives #ineffable wives x reader #ineffable wives x child!reader #crowley #fem!crowley #fem!aziraphale #ineffable partners x reader #x child!reader #x fem!reader #domestic ineffable spouses>>>>>>>>#good omens x reader #good omens x child!reader #aziraphale x reader #crowley x reader good omens #crowley x reader x aziraphale #aziraphale x crowley x reader #aziraphale x reader x crowley #good omens

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writefightandflightclub · 4 years

Text

You are my sunshine (Finn x GN reader)

What is this? This is 7/10 one-shots/blurbs for my “friends to lovers” event. (More deets in pinned post). The prompt is from @phoenixhalliwell and is Finn with “You think something is wrong but I simply have a huge crush on you and turn to jelly whenever you’re around.” Emma, thanks so much, and I hope that you like this! <3 I don’t write Finn often so I dearly hope I did him justice!

Author’s note: Finn! He’s precious. He deserves everything! Hope you enjoy this- there’s a little bit of angst but it’s followed by fluff. Everything ends well <3

Word count: 3k. You had all better be proud of me for writing something less than 5k :P

Warnings: lil bit of angst (reader thinks Finn is mad at them). Trapped in a cockpit but no danger / not claustrophobic or anything. Slight reader insecurity. It’s pretty light tbh :o)

You watch Finn leave with a sharp pang of pain. His excuses are becoming more and more elaborate, and it’s wearing thin.

“Sorry, I have to go and deal with a porg infestation on the Falcon.”

“I can’t hang around, Leia’s fuming mad at Poe - he made some crude Outer Rim innuendo during the briefing and she is pissed.”

“I can’t play sabacc anyway because... because I got dust in my eyes on the mission and everything is blurry.”

“I have to run and...” and then he, in fact, ran away from you.

Alright, the first two were feasible, but that last one, especially? Pretty kriffing flimsy.

It was beginning to sting a little. Alright, a lot. You and Finn usually hung out, whenever he was around on base. You always had, ever since Finn had taken control of his fate and been welcomed by the Resistance.

Since then, you had become his first real friend, and when everything was scary and new to him, you had held his hand. Literally- Finn was always reaching for you. For comfort. For reassurance. To demonstrate his fondness of you. Just because.

Of course, he’d settled into the Resistance like he’d always been a part of it, and had quickly formed a range of new friendships, including with Poe and Rey - all the cool kids on base. Of course he had. The man is likeable, courageous, and he has sunshine in his heart - despite being raised in the shadows. The strength of his light is so powerful that it blinds you sometimes. So, he’d made other friends, but you had always been his first, and his best.

At least, until now.

Recently, Finn’s touches and warm hugs and light had begun to retreat from your sky. You miss his bright brown eyes and his beaming smile desperately. You miss your movie nights and long chats. You miss laughing until your sides hurt. You miss the way he can turn anything into an adventure. The way he really listens when you talk, and his good, brave, generous heart.

This distance? It is more than a natural drift - it is more an intentional break. Intentional on his side, at least. Most definitely not on yours.

You don’t know why. You don’t know what you’ve done wrong…

…But you are determined to find out.

And, if Finn won’t talk to you off his own back, you’ll simply have to concoct some flimsy excuse of your own.

***

That’s exactly what you do, yourself and Finn now sealed together, alone, in the cockpit of some old cargo ship.

“You’ve trapped us in here?!” the man exclaims, voice loud and ringing with a rising panic.

“No,” you sigh, defeatedly. You don’t want to panic him - you just want to talk to him; without him running away. “You’re not trapped. Obviously, I’d never actually...” you trail off as you watch Finn urgently button-bashing on the control panel by the door, clearly pretty desperate to leave. “I just thought…” you explain, raising your voice a little to be heard over his rising and increasingly vocal frustration. “It was supposed to be a chance for us to talk.”

Finn turns towards you, all this energy coiling in his body, practically bouncing on his toes in his rush to get out of there. He looks as though the prospect of talking to you fills him with dread.

Your face drops. You should have realised this was a bad idea.

“We talked this morning,” Finn defends, weakly. Yeah, for all of two seconds. “Can’t you open this thing?” he pleads, throwing his thumb towards the door.

Fine. Whatever. If he’s that desperate to flee from you, so be it. Maybe you need to accept the fact that things aren’t the same between you anymore. Maybe never will be. Your heart aches in your chest.

Your shoulders slumping, you push the Jedi-in-training and all-round Resistance hero aside, punching the unlock code into the panel.

It beeps angrily in response.

A furrow in your brow, you try again.

“Oh, kriff.”

“What is it?” Finn asks from over your shoulder.

This is fine, actually. You have a back-up. Except, you pat your belt for your communicator, remembering at the same time exactly where you left it in the hangar.

“Okay,” you turn around to face him, your face locked in an apologetic grimace, hands raised in surrender. “So, we may actually be trapped now, but I would like to emphasise this was very much not The Plan.”

Finn purses his full, brown lips together, in entirely transparent irritation, an ire brewing in his eyes.

“I’m sorry!” you say defensively, though you note that your friend, Finn, would have found this funny -made the best of it- and the Finn is front of you now is someone else entirely.

“Being stuck here with you is the last thing I need right now,” Finn says into his hands, the words muffled, and yet their meaning perfectly -and painfully- clear.

Oh. Okay. That’s how it is?

You take a step back from him, wrapping your arms around yourself and rotating quickly away to face the transparisteel window. His harshness feels so alien to you, and bitter tears sting in your eyes, which you don’t want him to see.

“Kriff. That’s not what I meant. It came out wrong,” Finn says softly from behind you, and you finally hear the familiar kindness infusing his voice. The kindness you’ve been so desperate to enjoy again these past weeks. “What I meant was... was...”

Your back to him still, you raise your arm in the air. “Save it, Big Deal. You don’t want to talk to me? Let’s not talk,” you bite, your voice low and taut.

You’ve given Finn the benefit of the doubt for long enough now. Maybe this was a problem you shouldn’t try to fix. He obviously likes things precisely as they are.

Finn, for his part, hovers beside you, clearly apologetic, but you can’t even bring yourself to look at him. Instead, you focus all of your energies on popping open the console, pulling out the wire guts, and looking for a way to open this damn door.

He may have been running away from you, but now you’re the one who wants nothing more than to get out of there.

You had wanted to talk, but all of a sudden you don’t want to hear it. You can’t take one more flimsy excuse without breaking.

***

You’d tried everything. Banging on the door, waving out of the viewports. Trying to find a hatch to escape out of. There was nothing left to do but wait for your data patch to run. You’d linked-up some wires and an old data-pad to the controls, and it was simply a matter of time before your program loaded, overriding the door panel and thus letting you out of there.

Unfortunately, the small matter of time is proving problematic. It has already been about an hour, and the screen indicates your program is only about 75 per cent through -blasted old tech- and you’re not sure how much longer you can endure this fraught, awkward silence.

Save for your escape attempts, you and Finn still haven’t spoken, and, eventually admitting defeat, you have each sunk to the floor on opposite sides of the cockpit, your knees drawn-up to your chest and backs pressed against the walls of the cool metal chamber. Now, the increasingly cool metal chamber, as the afternoon draws on and the suns begin to sink below the horizon.

You sigh.

“Why are you avoiding me, Finn?” you finally ask, firmly, bringing your eyes to meet his. “And, I beg you. No more kriffing excuses.”

Finn’s knees are drawn-up too, and his elbows resting on top of them, fingers weaving and fiddling together somewhere in the middle as your question finds him.

He purses his lips together once more, his bright, expressive eyes brimming with trepidation, his hand coming up to self-consciously brush against the tip of his rounded nose.

Eventually, his head drops down, until you’re only looking at the top of it. He’s growing out his tightly-coiled, black hair on the top, sides closely cropped, and you idly note that the length suits him. There’s nothing else to note, as he still isn’t saying anything.

Still, when you take a step back from your anger and your boredom, you recognise all the signs of him being anxious, now that he can no longer run away from your questions.

“It’s not what you think,” he sighs, and you shake your head in continued frustration and look sharply away, up and out of the viewport.

And, in the continued absence of an answer from him, your insecurities begin to fill in the blanks. “You know, Big Deal, you don’t have to hang around me just because I’m the first person you met.” Out of the corner of your eye you see Finn’s head snap up to look at you, distress shining in his eyes. You ignore it. “If you’ve decided this friendship isn’t what you need anymore, I can take it. I just wish you’d stop bullshitting me. I deserve better than that.”

Then, you try to suppress it, but you shiver, wrapping your arms around yourself in an attempt to keep warm. You’ve felt chilly for a while now, but you have desperately been trying to conceal the fact.

Without missing a beat, Finn slips his -Poe’s- jacket off from his shoulders, shuffling closer to you, without rising from the floor. As he shrugs it off, he reveals nothing but a white, ribbed vest underneath, tight over his toned figure, and tucked into his belt at his waist. The vest sits in contrast with the deep brown of his skin, the bulge of his cultivated muscles evident in his strong, densely-packed shoulders and arms.

This? This is precisely what you’ve been trying to avoid. You feel warmer already.

Regardless, he moves to your side, kneeling next to you, and he pauses when he gets there. Hesitates. He lifts his finger, running it ever so slowly over the textured goosepimples on your forearm. “You’re cold,” he states, his voice so deep and rich, and his touch and his proximity sending a shiver through you in an entirely different way. You’d like to argue, you really would, but he weakens you, his sudden warmth melting you quickly after his long absence, and you let him guide you forward enough that he can drape his jacket around your shoulders. It is still warm from his body heat. It smells like him.

You wanted silence, but this is the kind that you don’t like; tense, albeit in a different way.

“Thank you,” you say thinly, expecting Finn to pull immediately away again. But he doesn’t.

Instead, his eyes go a little wide and afraid, even as he sets his jaw determinedly. He reaches his hand out, ghosting it slowly down the length of your arm, until he has scooped one of your hands up and flattened it in-between his own broad, warm palms.

Holding your hand.

You’ve missed that so much.

You watch Finn in gentle puzzlement, as his pink tongue nervously swipes out over his bottom-lip. And, with your eyes gently encouraging him to go on, he finally blurts it out. He finally says what he’s been keeping from you.

“I have a huge crush on you. I turn to kriffing jelly whenever you’re around me.”

Your hand suddenly becomes clammy, held in-between his. Your heart quickens.

Wait, what?

“I’m so sorry if I hurt you,” he says, his eyes soft like distant starlight. “It’s just, I panic. I know I like to pretend I’m all smooth...” he chuckles self-consciously, that laugh sounding from deep in his chest, and oh boy, you’ve missed that sound too. You’ve missed that gorgeous pearly smile, which blooms tentatively on his face.

“Smooth?! You do a terrible job of that, Finn, no-one’s buying it,” you tease, but it’s fond, your free hand settling on top of his, and your eyes crinkling with reciprocal joy as his beautiful broad smile widens, his face full of sparkle and light.

“Oh? Okay. That’s how it is?” he laughs.

You’ve missed this. Have missed him.

That’s it? That’s all it is? He has a crush?

After a few moments, the two of you apparently basking in relief -on your part that you haven’t done anything wrong, and on his, that his confession is finally through- his smile naturally falls from his lips; however, it lingers in his eyes, that gentle starlight back again.

“I’m sorry for avoiding you. I just… kept messing everything up around you. I didn’t want you to think I was the biggest dumbass on base.”

“Oh, Finn, honey-” you grin, and he completes the sentence with you, nodding, and a big chuckle falling out of him. “Poe is the biggest dumbass on base.”

Isn’t that the truth?

You simply look at each other for a moment, all this starlight swirling in the space between you.

“Come here,” you say softly, finally, unable to resist, and you shuffle on to your knees so you can lean forward and give him the biggest hug, your arms folding around his sturdy, muscled form. It feels so good to close this distance, especially after so long. Especially as no-one on base gives better hugs than Finn, you are reminded, as he holds you.

“Are we... cool?” he asks apprehensively, into your shoulder as he squeezes you tightly, and you pull back from him, your hands still resting on his shoulders and his weaving under, settled around your waist.

“We’ll always be cool, Finn. It’s going to take more than that.”

“Yeah?” he smiles happily. “Good, because I missed you so kriffing much. I have so much to tell you.”

“And I want to hear it, but first,” your mouth tips up into a smirk. “Can I kiss you now?”

Finn’s eyes widen in shock and he makes a bunch of noises – broken, flustered syllables and consonants, his eyelashes fluttering in disbelief. He’s sunk into his relief so readily, that he must have forgotten entirely to entertain the idea you might like him back.

Your hands trail all the way down his toned arms, until you slowly fold his hands into yours, giving him a reassuring squeeze. “Play it cool, Finn,” you tease, giving him a quick wink.

He schools himself, and even as you notice a hard swallow bob down his throat, and he lets out a long, slow exhale of breath through the circle of his lips, he makes use of his classic bravado. At least, for long enough to get some coherent strings of words out.

“Yes please. Y-yeah. Kiss me. You... should do that.”

Too many words.

So, you inch forward, and you press a fleeting, light, chaste kiss to his impossibly soft lips. Just enough to shut him up, before dipping your head back, giving him time to respond.

He looks at you sweetly, in shock for a moment, but, before you know it, his lips are chasing yours with a whole new confidence, and his mouth twitches-up in a smile as he meets you again. This time, the kiss is not fleeting. This time, it is drawn-out; a slow, sensual, gradually deepening thing. He hums against your mouth, the sound low and reverberating through you, and, as the kiss grows, his broad hands slowly and safely lower you down against the cockpit floor, arranging his jacket under you so that your skin needn’t touch the cold metal - only his warmth.

When you break for air, he settles himself over you, strong arms holding him up, his eyes shining with disbelief and adoration. He looks at you in a way that says – yes, you may have been his first friend, but that, maybe, you could be his first love as well.

As he gazes down at you, your hands wind up around the back of his head, skimming lovingly over his textured, raven hair, and readying to pull him back down to you, eager to drink more of him in. To feel more of his skin against yours. However; you are cruelly interrupted by a harsh sequence of beeps, indicating that the door is finally unlocked. Finn briefly twists his head over his shoulder, confirming with a look.

“Power’s back on- we can get out of here now,” you say breathily from under him.

“Nah,” he says, with a subtle smirk and a shake of his head, apparently not wanting to move anywhere that would shift his warm body from on top of yours. “I think we should stay here a little longer, how about you?”

“Fine by me, Finn,” you agree quickly, beaming back at him, like the moon reflecting sunlight, basking in his warm glow.

His eyes narrow for a moment, searching yours, and he rolls you both on to your sides, your thigh coming to land over him, and his warm hand begins to stroke you there, as his sweet, languid kisses continue to find you in succession, his breaths coming more quickly, his need unravelling. “Is this okay?” he asks, pausing momentarily to skim his thumb over your cheek and down under your chin. “How are you feeling?”

While Finn seems relatively calm and sure right now, you are suddenly feeling like jelly. “Shaking. Nervous,” you admit, your words trembling out of you.

He nods a little, like he could tell. Maybe he could feel you tremble against him, or maybe it’s deeper than that. Maybe it’s the Force. You certainly feel like something deep and powerful is eddying between you.

“It’s okay,” Finn promises softly, his voice breath, and planting a small kiss to the tip of your nose. “If you want to keep going, I’ll be here to hold you.”

Your eyes shine with happy tears, and this time, when you drag him enthusiastically to your lips, your legs wrapping more tightly around him, you know that you need not be nervous at all. It has always felt right whenever he reached for you, ever since the beginning; and now is no exception. It is so much more than him holding you physically – you feel safe in his arms in every way you could.

You had missed him so deeply, not only because you have a huge crush on him right back, but also because he is your friend. And while he may not have been your first? He is certainly your best.

Finn is your sunshine, and you are endlessly pleased to have him back; to see him shining.

#finn star wars #finn x reader #john boyega #finn (star wars) x reader #star wars imagine

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honeysorwell · 4 years

Text

(a very unprofessional) game changer

Pairing: Audrey Tidall x fem!Reader x Diane Sherman

Summary: Audrey Tidall ends up conquering the role of the protagonist in the expected film that marks the great director and screenwriter Diane Sherman return to the film market, Run, that the blonde one desired really much. The filmmaker has only managed to return now since she left her job almost twenty years ago to take care of her daughter. She has no real plans other than finishing the film that will mark her return, but her nonpeaceful coexistence with Audrey during the filming, along with the loneliness that consumes her personal life ends up instigating an unexpected affection - and that grows every day - for Y/N, the costume designer for Run.

What Diane did not expect, when giving Y/N anonymously flowers during the recording months, is that the costume designer has been in a secret relationship for more than months with Audrey. However, the feeling of indifference and disdain that the director feels for the actress gradually dies after a heated argument between the two, leaving an unnamed tension in the air, while Y/N searches for her secret admirer with her girlfriend.

[gif by @sapphiclesbian ]

[gif by @cherry-jimin]

A/N: I was extremely surprised when I posted You rush into my life, stay a little while (I know that we can have it all), and in less than a month I got +50likes (after all I barely know how to use tumblr and I discovered these days how and where to look at the followers that I have lol). And thanks to that, I will use (a very unprofessional) game changer as a social experiment, to see if you guys really like what I write, and if the answer is also positive, I will open requests to write things in my free time. And yes, my first language is not English so maybe something might sound strange.

I had this idea as soon as Run was released, thanks to Diane's passion for films... And since Audrey is an actress, I thought it would be good to combine these two...

I can say that this is a big AU because Diane is a lovely mother, and no one from Roanoke dies (because I don't have time to develop any of this shit).

Hope you all like it!

Synopsis of the story + Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 , Chapter 4 , Chapter 5 , Chapter 6 , Chapter 7 , Chapter 8 , Chapter 9 , Chapter 10 (final one)

Chapter 1

Chapter’s summary: Audrey and Y/N get to know each other thanks to Diane, and even though they are about to start recording Run, they decide that it is worthwhile to continue with their relationship. Even if secretly.

Warnings: In this chapter at least, none. Just implicit mentions of smut, it's not really something!

Word Count: 1,2k

In theory, when someone wins an award as important as The Saturn, their career between movies becomes more likely to invitations to productions. Films, miniseries, or even theatrical productions. But that didn't happen with Audrey.

There was a voice in her head that said it was thanks to her age. But since none of the actors in Roanoke's cast, especially women, were so different in this aspect, Audrey continued to ignore that voice.

Everything was relatively ready for the British woman to participate in Return to Roanoke: Three Days in Hell, however after her breakup with Rory, the blonde one preferred to focus on something new. She quickly fell in love with him, but when the red-haired man asked about marriage, everything was clear to Audrey. Their paths and thoughts were so different, even with the significant feeling between them, that it was better to break their love relationship before their friendship was affected. And this was what she did.

It was audacious. Refuse a proposal for the same program that gave her fame and awards, to audition for a new film that she barely knew would happen. Some people would call her crazy, but the email she received from her agent was enough to give her courage.

Or rather, four words from that email. Directed by Diane Sherman was what caught her attention and prompted her to try to venture out to take the test.

She can still remember. Years ago, while she was still fighting for a minor role in any theatrical production in England, Diane Sherman was already acclaimed worldwide for the grandiose films with unexpected endings that she produced, even at a young age.

All the films of the woman with a reddish tone between her brunette hair strands became hits. But in the midst of it all, Diane decided to take a break from her career, and less than five months later, a pregnancy was announced.

After that, twenty years passed and no film was released, no interview, no magazine cover. Such a gloriously famous woman disappeared from everyone's view with her baby. But only up to now.

That test was probably the one that tired Audrey the most in her entire career. To portray in a few minutes the pain of the life of a woman who is obsessed with her daughter to the point of making her sick was difficult. But she did, and so, while her former co-stars were locking themselves up in a seemingly haunted mansion, she was getting a call from her agent saying that she got the lead role.

Everything worked well when the blonde received her script and started working with Diane on how they would like this character to be seen by the audience, but as the conversations flowed, Audrey understood why all of the woman's films were such a success. She was a perfectionist and her authority was clear.

Everything needed to be perfect. Including the costume.

And so Audrey met Y/N. A beautiful costume designer with so much talent to spare to the world.

The first time they saw each other, Diane was not present, after all, it was just a date to take Audrey's body measurements. As the story was about a housewife, movable and comfortable clothes had to be designed, which did not force Audrey to strip naked to have her measurements known by Y/N, even if an unprofessional part of her wanted to.

Quick encounters followed, some with Diane briefly present, just to define new color palettes or to approve and disapprove something. The director never stayed more than twenty minutes with the two women, but thanks to Y/N's perseverance, in producing everything exactly as Diane wished, and Audrey's free time, due to her mind being ease in memorizing lines and just a few friendships outside England, the two woman became relatively close.

When the costumes were all designed and in the final process of being made, Diane decided that she would like Audrey's hair to be longer. Some wig tests took place, but a joint decision was made.

The film would be postponed in five months from there, so that the blonde's hair would grow.

It was frustrating, to say the least, and maybe that was the trigger for Audrey's disapproval with Diane, but one thing was good. The time now acquired has started to be spent on Y/N.

Always at discreet lunches or afternoon teas in their homes...

Y/N thinks it might be extremely inappropriate and absolutely unprofessional to get personally involved with a co-worker, even outside the set, and even though their work on Diane's film was relatively distant. But, after many glasses of wine and random conversations, nothing made more sense to Y/N than Audrey's lips against hers.

A one-night stand. That was what they thought they were born to be. But the skin on Audrey's stomach was so smooth that Y/N didn't know if she wanted to kiss her until she moaned or laughed, confused as she tried to understand which one of the sounds was the actual responsible for her heart beating faster.

A one-night stand. Because Audrey didn't feel ready to start a relationship after such a recent breakup. But there was nothing more beautiful than Y/N's face full of pleasure while she was being touched, or her face concentrated on redoing a crooked seam, even if she was the only one that noticed the defect in the piece.

A one-night stand. That turned into two, three, ten, thirty... and when they noticed, Audrey's hair was long enough for the film to start recording and their mind was unconsciously bought each other's favorite foods at the supermarket.

And on one of those nights, when they were both lying on Y/N's bed and Audrey was drawing imaginary flowers on the bare skin of her right hip, a whisper escaped the actresses lips:

"I don't want this to end because we are going to work together... Does that make me unprofessional?", The moment the question escapes her lips, she raises her face towards Y/N and looks deeply into her eyes.

"Well ...", the costume designer starts and stops, distracted by the beauty of Audrey's brown eyes and a lock of her hair - now longer - that is hindering the Y/N view of the blonde's cheeks, but that soon puts the hair strands behind her ear and continues - "Count me in because I don't want this to end either..."

It is a smile so beautiful that it takes hold of Audrey's lips, that the courage to take possession of Y / N's body and one more phrase escapes her lips.

"I think I'm in love with you."

The word think sounds so low, it's like it's not even there. Because Y/N's mind knows that she is sure, even scared and that is why Y/N's eyes focus on the whole room, except the face in front of her. Until delicate fingers touch her chin and direct her to see brown eyes bathed in tears, amid the same glorious smile of seconds ago.

"And I don't know how you didn't notice that I fell in love with you too."

And so they come to an agreement. Nothing will be explicit while they are on set. At work, they will be just friends, close friends if the distance wraps their stomachs, but still, just friends.

For the sake of their reputations, their jobs, and the Diane Sherman film they will be just friends.

#audrey tindall x reader #diane sherman x reader #audrey tindall x diane sherman #diane sherman imagine #audrey tindall imagine #audrey tindall #diane sherman #sarah paulson imagine #sarah paulson x reader #sarah paulson #audrey tindall x diane sherman x reader

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lokis-army-77 · 3 years

Text

If You Please

Chapter three

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 1994

I'm bad at writing descriptions, so this is basically a reader insert into The First Avenger and then we'll see how it goes from there.

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Masterlist

The afternoon passed quickly and soon it was almost time to go to bed. I was sitting in a chair, reading, in the living room. Steve was sitting in the chair to my left, drawing away in his sketchbook. For as long as I could remember growing up, Steve had wanted to become a comic illustrator. When we were younger he drew small comic strips about the adventures Bucky, himself, and I would go on. They were always fun to read, but then the US entered the war 3 years ago and Steve stopped drawing all the time and focused on trying to join the fighting. He even got Bucky to help train him at the local boxing gym in the afternoons. Now he only drew when he was anxious or if something was on his mind. I knew if I asked he would just deny it and put everything away.

“I’m off to bed Stevie. Don’t stay up too late,” I yawned. I placed my bookmark in between the pages and quietly pulled myself up from my chair. Steve followed and gave me a short hug.

“I won’t, I’ll probably head to bed here in a few minutes. Thank you for helping me pack today,” he said quietly.

“You’re welcome, I’ll see you off in the morning. Goodnight.” I headed out into the small hallway and into my bedroom. I got myself ready, turned off the bedside lamp, and then crawled into bed. The day had been fast but exhausting. I let my eyes close and my mind drifted to thoughts of Bucky on the ship headed to Europe. Was he okay, did he miss me yet, was he alone? I knew he would be fine, but I prayed anyway. I prayed that he would come back to me safe and sound. I also thought of Steve and how he would be going off to training. I knew Dr. Erskine had some plan involving Steve in Project Rebirth, but I just hoped that he knew what he was doing and that Steve would be safe.

Project Rebirth wasn't something to take lightly. We were creating stronger, faster, and better soldiers. Steve had no clue what he was getting himself into and even though I couldn’t tell him I was involved with this project yet, I would be by his side each step of the way.

Finally, tiredness overtook my worried thoughts and I drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The next morning started like any other, I woke up to the jarring sound of the alarm clock by my head. After stretching I got out of bed and walked to the bathroom to wash the sleep from my face. The warm water helps to wake me up. When I was through with that I made my way into the kitchen to start making breakfast for myself and Steve like always. I had just placed the bread in the toaster when Steve strolled groggily into the room. He went over to the counter where I had placed our bowls of cereal and grabbed one. Then he walked over to the table to take a seat. When the toast was ready I put the pieces on a plate and took them over to the table after grabbing my cereal bowl. Steve grabbed a piece of toast off the plate and slowly started to eat.

“You look like you’re about to pass out, did you even go to bed like I told you,” I questioned him and took a few bites of my cereal.

“Yes, I went straight to bed a few minutes after you did,” he replied while glancing up from his cereal and through his lashes.

“Well, the dark circles under your eyes prove otherwise. You won't be able to stay up late and sleep in after you move into the barracks.” He shook his head and kept eating. “Well,” I started with a sigh, “I’ve got to head off to work in a few, I can walk you as far as the subway.”

“Thanks, It would be nice if you could come with me but I know you can't take off on such short notice.” I smiled at him and we continued to eat our breakfast in peaceful silence. After we finished I went to grab the empty dishes but Steve grabbed them before I could. “Here, let me. You go get ready.” I thanked him and went on to get ready for the workday.

When walking to the subway Steve and I cut up and joked like we always did. It wasn’t until we were almost at the subway stop that we became quieter. I grabbed Steve and pulled him into a tight hug.

“I’ll see you later. Try not to get into too much trouble during training,” I joked before pulling away.

“I can’t guarantee that but I’ll try my best not to. Have a good day at work, and remember to lock the door when you get home, I know you forget to do that at times. I won't be there to lock it behind you if you forget.”

“That was one time, but I’ll remember to check it before I go to bed. Now go or you'll miss your ride.” I watched as he walked away, I waved to him when he turned around to me. I stood watching until he walked down the subway stairs. After he was gone I started on my way to the recruitment office, which was just about three blocks away.

It was a peaceful walk, the city was starting to come alive around me as I went. Women and men on their way to work and children on their way to school. The recruitment office was slowly coming into view, I could already see a line of young men standing from the door and down the sidewalk.

Once I made it to the building I maneuvered my way through the crowd of boys and headed to the back office where a short old woman sat at a desk sorting through some files. She looked up at me and smiled while she said, “Beautiful morning, do you have the time?”

I responded quickly with the other half of the code phrase, “Unfortunately my watch has stopped at 4:18.” She nodded and reached her hand under the desk to press a tiny button that would unlock a secret door that was hidden behind four large filing cabinets. I quickly headed in before anyone could come into the back room. The door closed softly behind me and locked back into place. I continued to walk down the dimly lit hallway until I found the women's locker room. Part of keeping the secret of working for the military was that I had to keep my uniform in the hidden base and change into it when I went into work.

After quickly changing into the uniform I left the locker room to go to the elevator that was directly at the end of the hall. I pressed the down button and the doors opened up. While inside I pressed the third level button and waited for the elevator to jerk to life.

As the doors slid open onto the third level basement floor I saw many people running around the yellow-lit hallways. I walked out into the hallway and was greeted by Agent Peggy Carter, who was walking towards me from the meeting room to my left. “Morning Carter, what's on the agenda today,” I questioned.

“Good morning Rogers, I believe today you and I will be going to Camp Lehigh to scout out the new recruits for Project Rebirth. We will be helping with their training starting before lunchtime today.” She kept walking as she explained the plans for today, I followed closely behind her.

“Then we should get to the car, it is almost nine,” I noted as we kept going through several corridors to the garage. “I have some things to tell you as soon as we leave.” Peggy nodded but kept quiet. After about a minute of walking, we made it to the large parking garage. It had been built under the secret base as a quick getaway escape or just a way to move discreetly in and out of the city. Some of the tunnels that were connected to the garage went on for several miles. The one we would be taking surfaced only a few miles away from Camp Lehigh.

As we reached the car, Peggy and I both opened our doors and slid into the back seat. A young army man was already in the driver's seat ready to drive us away. “What is it you wanted to tell me about earlier,” she asked.

“Do you remember me telling you about my older brother Steve?” I questioned while looking over at her.

“The one that keeps trying to enlist? I remember.” She nodded her head as she spoke.

“Yeah, that's the one. Well, yesterday he told me that he’s been recruited, and by Dr. Erskine. So that means that he is going to be one of the candidates for Project Rebirth. He has no clue what my job actually is, but with me being heavily involved in this project, will it be a problem? Are there any protocols that need to be followed?” She shook her head and let out a soft chuckle when mentioned Dr. Erskine. Then she looked out the window and seemed to think for a minute.

Turning back to me she said, “There isn’t any protocol that I can think of, other than that you have to treat him exactly like you would treat the other recruits. This is a sort of gray area because of your heavy involvement with this project over the last several years and the fact that Dr. Erskine himself chose your brother to be in this program.” I slowly nodded my head as she continued. “That being said, If we encounter him, I would give him a small explanation of why you are there without giving him any information about the project, and that while he is there in training, you are his superior, not his sister.”

“Okay, thanks. That's what I was thinking but I just wanted to ask you just in case. When I see him I’ll pull him over to the side and explain.” I paused for a second and lifted my hand up to grab at the necklace I had been wearing. Dangling from the small chain was a dainty art deco style ring, which once belonged to Bucky’s mother. I turned in between my fingers and watched as what little light there was, bounced off the small square diamond in the middle. I placed it back under my blouse. “James left yesterday with the 107th, I still haven’t said anything to Steve.”

“You’re going to have to tell him eventually, it will be better if it’s sooner than later. Since James is his friend he shouldn't be that mad. Trust me, I know from experience.” After saying this she looked out her window and for the briefest moment, I saw a look of sadness go across her face.

“I know I should tell him, but Steve has it in his head that James is someone who isn't going to settle down anytime soon.”

“That’s probably because neither of you has given Steve reason to not believe that James is that way. He’s your brother and he trusts your judgment, if it doesn't go over smoothly just give him time, he’ll come to realize that you and James love one another, and there really isn't anything he can do about it,” she stated matter-of-factly. “Here,” she handed me a small stack of manila folders, “look over these. They’re the files on all the project recruits.”

I opened the first folder and started to skim over the information and thought this was going to be a long drive.

#james buchanan barnes #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky x female reader #bucky fic #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x rogers!reader #winter solider x reader #marvel fic #marvel fanfiction

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totallysharkycomplete · 4 years

Text

Waiting For You Part Two (Ford Pines x Reader) Idea of It

She can’t seem to keep her eyes dry as she says goodbye to her friends as she awaits to board her bus for Roswell. Fids receives a big hug and a kiss on his cheek, which turns him red. Ford receives the longest hug ever and many kisses until the bus does a last call. Teary eyed she gets on the bus going to the window to wave goodbye, and wave until her friend’s are out of sight.

Ford sighs, a heavy weight in his chest. “A whole year,” he says to no one in particular.

“Better make the most of it.” Fids says.

And Ford does. Before he is even settled into Gravity Falls anomalies begin jumping out at him left and right. His expectations are not only met but exceeded by everything he manages to find or run into.

She and Ford had agreed to write and call as often as possible, however they were both swept into their research and a month passed. Ford is disturbed by his research when there is a knock on his door. He finds a mail carrier on his porch.

“Letter for Ford Pine?” They ask.

“Yes, that’s me.” He informs them and they pass over the letter.

Ford looks at the envelope, on the front is written:

FORD PINES RANDOM CABIN IN MIDDLE OF WOODS? GRAVITY FALLS, OREGON

The return address is from his girlfriend in Roswell, New Mexico. Ford eagle receded back into the house and tore open the letter, but took care to not tear the little ufo drawing she had scribbled onto the back. Inside the message reads:

Stanford! <3 <3 <3

I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to write but I assume we are both extremely busy with research. Also, I never received your address or phone number.

Most days spent here are almost like an archeology dig, we’ve found nothing alive but many fossils and bones. Drop me a line or write as soon as you can. I love and miss you so much!

The bottom was signed with her name and a little kiss mark. He immediately felt guilty for not contacting her sooner. The cabin didn’t even have a phone line hooked up to it yet.

Ford sat down right away to write a reply. He filled his letter with drawings and talked all about the amazing things he had seen, as well as apologize for the long radio silence. When he was done he went and mailed his letter, receiving many strange looks while in town. He also went and got signed up to have someone come and install a phone line.

She received her letter a few days later. As she read all about the wonderful things Ford was doing, she couldn't help but feel envious, and a little sad. While her boyfriend was galavanting around the woods talking to mythical creatures, she was stuck in a hot desert digging up fossils. Fossils were cool and all and she knows they are an important part of discovering the past, but she wanted real living and breathing creatures.

The letter continued back and forth until Ford got connected to a phone line. It had taken a while and snow had just begun to fall. He called her as soon as it was. Anxiously he waits while the phone rings.

“Hello?” A voice answers from the other side.

“Hello? Yes, this is Stanford Pines I’m trying to get ahold of-,” he's cut off by the person on the other end.

“Ford!” She squeals. “You got a phone line!”

He can’t help but to chuckle. “I did, I’m sorry it took so long.” He sighs, his heart feeling content at the sound of her voice. “I hadn’t realised how much I had missed your voice.”

She giggles. “I’ve missed your voice too. So tell me, is Gravity Falls everything you’d hoped it would be?”

“All that and more.” He tells her.

They talked for over an hour before she had to get off the phone.

“We have a meeting during dinner.” She pouts. “But I’ll call you soon.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” He smiles, but stops when he hears her sniffle. He calls her name in question. “Everything okay?”

She sniffs again. “I’m fine. I just really miss you.” Her voice is small and quiet. “This isn’t really turning out to be what I wanted, and I’m a little jealous of you.” She confessed.

Ford sighs, his heart breaks at fact his love isn’t happy. “Just six more months and you’ll be here with me. You just have to hold out a little bit longer.”

She sighs. “I know, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

To their surprise, she joined Ford sooner than either of them thought she would. That night at her diner meeting the lead researcher wasn’t there. Instead they were informed that he had been arrested due to fraudulent charges. The research he had used to get his grant was stolen and fake. The research program was ending and everyone needed to be out by the end of the week.

As soon as she was back in her dorm she tried to call Ford, the phone rang, and rang, and rang. He must not have an answering machine yet, she thinks.

She wished he would pick up because she was going through so many emotions at once. Happy to be seeing Ford, disappointed all the work she had done was for nothing. Worried Ford wouldn’t be excited to see her early, anxious he wouldn’t want her there yet.

Ford of course wanted her there now. To occupy himself he trudged through the snow trying to find some kind of snow beast he had heard about. He was elated when he found it, but unfortunately it wasn’t as excited to see him as he was excited to see it.

Ford was scribbling down notes in his journal when he took a step forward to try and get a better look. He stepped on a twig and it snapped. The beast turned around and came barreling towards him.

Ford tried to run, but the breast was much larger and faster. It reached up to him and swatted at him with one mighty arm. Ford flew across the forest and slammed into a tree, hitting his head and arm pretty bad. He slumped onto the ground vision blurred, a small stream of blood coming from a cut above his eyebrow.

The beast began walking towards him when a small whining sound, almost like the cry of a baby black bear stopped it. The last thing Ford saw before he passed out was the beast walking away to its baby. ---------- When Ford awoke he was surrounded by bright lights. His vision sorted itself out to see he was in a hospital bed, his arm in a sling and he could feel he had a bandage wrapped around his head. His free hand was being held by a much smaller hand.

Looking down, Ford saw her. She was sitting cross legged in a chair that was pulled up right next to the bed. Her arm was used as a makeshift pillow under her sleeping head on the bed, her soft warm hand held his.

His smile grew even though he was unsure as to how and why she was here. He brought his girlfriend's hand upto his mouth and gave it a small kiss. The gesture caused her to stir.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes with her free hand. “Ford?” She mewled. Her smile grew ear to ear before turning into a scowl. “Stanford Filbrick Pines.”

His smile fell as well and his face turned to shock.

“Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?” She begins. “I called you and called you and got no reply, then I showed up here to find you in the hospital! And the nurses tell me you sat unconscious in the snow for hours? What were you thinking?” Her lip quivered.

Ford thought of a bunch of excuses before deciding what to say. “I’m sorry,” he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “I had no idea the beast would see me, I’m sorry I caused you to worry.” He kisses her hand again. “But I’m so happy you are here.”

She quickly wipes away a tear, trying to still look mad but not doing a very good job at it. She stands quickly and leans over the bed to hug him. “I missed you so much.” She pulls back and he examines her face with a quizzical brow.

“But, why are you here?” He inquires.

She goes on to explain the situation. Then she explains how when she found the cabin empty she began to ask around, someone said one of the local lumberjacks had found “the scientist from the cabin in the woods” unconscious and bleeding in the middle of the forest, which led her to the hospital.

“You’ve been unconscious for almost two weeks.” She explains. “You’re mother is calling me everyday worried sick.

“You told my mother?” Ford looked mortified.

“Of course I did, Ford.” She gave him a soft smile. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Before Ford could voice his thoughts against worrying his mother, a nurse came in. “Mrs.Pines, pardon me but,” the nurse froze. “Mr.Pines, you’re awake! Let me go get the doctor.” They scurried out of the room.

Ford looks at his girlfriend to see her face bright red. “Mrs.Pines, huh?” He smirks.

“They were only letting family in to see you.” She looks away embarrassed. “And I thought it’s be weird to lie and say I was your sister. I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” He assures her. “I actually like the sound of that. Mrs.Pines.”

She makes a choked out noise, stumbling over her words before the doctor walks in, interrupting the conversation.

After taking his vital signs and making sure he had no memory loss, the doctor okayed for him to leave the hospital the next day, as long as his wife promised to keep him on bedrest the next five days.

Ford and her spent the next few hours talking. They ate dinner. They also called Ford’s mom who talked on and on about how relieved she was that he was okay, and about how happy she was he found a nice girl like her, and how he should stop “dragging his feet before someone else proposes to her.”

She yawned and laid her head on the bed.

“You don’t have to stay up for me. The armchair lays back if you'd like to sleep.” He smiles.

She murmurs something back, muffled by the sheets. He asks her to repeat herself. “I said,” she sits up red in the face, avoiding eye contact. “I don’t want to be that far from you.”

He chuckles and scoots as far to one side of the bed as he can. “Well then?”

She slowly makes her way onto the bed, avoiding all the wires he’s hooked up to, and his injured arm. Her head lays against his shoulder and she falls fast asleep, Ford not far behind her.

The next day Ford was discharged and instructed to keep on bedrest the next five days. They had taken a cab from the hospital back to the cabin.

Once inside Ford gave her a formal tour, since before she had only looked around for him before asking around town and finding him in the hospital.

“Ford this is all amazing, but you need to get to your bed now.” She begins ushering him towards his bedroom.

He frowns. “You’re not serious are you? I thought you just told the doctor that to get me out of there. We have too much work to do, I’m perfectly fine.” He stops his bickering when she lightly pushes his arm, he winces and pulls away.

“Doctors orders.” She sits him down on the bed. “If you don’t heal all the way and get hurt again it'll just take up more time.”

He sighed knowing she was right. She’s still standing so he places his hands on her hips and pulls her to him. He wraps his arms around her waist and hugs her. She reciprocates by wrapping her arms around his head. They stay there for a moment in time.

The wind begins to pick up and the window rattles. A shiver runs down Ford’s spine. She pulls back and plants a kiss to the top of his head. “Stay here and I’ll make us some lunch.”

Begrudgingly he lets go of her. She returns half an hour later to find him going over his notes by his bed. They share lunch and set the dishes aside. She snuggles close to his side one the bed as he takes out his journal marked one.

“Is there more than one?” She asks.

“Not currently, but who knows how much I could write about here. I can’t wait to show you.” He opens to the first page telling her exactly how he found each anomaly and his encounter with it. After flipping through a few pages he comes to a page and gets really excited. “This, I have a sample of in the lab! Let me get it and show you.” He begins to rise from the bed before her hand grabs his and pulls him back down.

“I don’t think so.” She teases.

He rolls his eyes. “It’s not that far I’d be fine. Plus what am I supposed to do in bed for five days?”

The way she smiles is very mischievous. “You could read over your notes, or read some books, or…” She takes this opportunity to straddle his lap and place her forehead on his. “I'm sure we could find something else to do.”

His hand comes up to cup her cheek and he sighs. “God, I’ve missed you.” He tilts his chin up to begin kissing her. The kisses start off lazy but grow more passionate. She feels him start to grow hard under him and she grinds into his lap, causing him to moan into the kiss.

He tries to flip her around onto the bed but winces when he pulls his injured arm wrong. She stops him by putting her hand on his shoulders. “Let me,” she begins to move down, and starts undoing his pants.

“You don’t have to, ah,” he moans out as she frees his erection.

“I know, but I want to.” She plants a kiss on the top of the pink head before licking up it.

Even though they had been together many times during college, she had never done this to him before.

Ford leaned his head back, looking down at her with eyes half lidded. His hand came to lightly hold her hair, not pulling her hair or pushing her down. He can’t help when a moan escapes his lips as she takes him all the way into her throat with a slight gag. She continues for a few more minutes, enjoying the sound she's getting him to make, before pulling away.

She stands and rids herself quickly of her clothes before crawling back over to him and straddling his lap.

“You don’t want me to return the favor?” He smirks against her lip.

She hums in thought. “We have plenty of time for you to do that.” Her hand reaches down to his member and begins to line herself up, before slowly sliding down onto him.

They both let out a groan of pleasure at the same time before giggling.

The next few days are spent in bed, cuddling, fooling around, and reading Ford’s journal.

As soon as the sixth day they were home came, Ford was up out of bed at the crack of dawn, pulling her up with him. “I have so much I want to show you.”

The next few days were filled with exploring and notes taking. Ford showed her all his favorite things he had discovered. The days turned to weeks, the weeks to months.

Before they knew it they had been together in Gravity Falls for almost five years, living in domestic bliss. She had gotten to live out her dream of experiencing the unusual almost everyday, happy to be by Ford’s side.

One day while she was sick Ford went into town to get some supplies to make soup. He walked past a jewelry store he did everytime he was in town but this time something caught his eye.

A ring with a small circular plate, with small blue emeralds around the middle. He laughed, it reminded him so much of a ufo. He went inside to inquire about it.

“That old thing? Nobody ever wants to buy it. I’ll give it to you for fifty bucks.” The store owner said.

Ford bit the side of his cheek in contemplation before agreeing on the price. He tucked the ring box into a safe pocket for a later day. ---------- She paced back and forth in the kitchen. Ford walked in and watched her in confusion before making his presence known.

“Darling, what seems to be the matter?” Ford’s voice causes her to jump and stop her pacing.

“Well I, uh,” she looks at her hand and moves them in a nervous gesture.

Ford makes his way to her and takes her hands in his much larger ones. “You can tell me. Whatever it is.” He assures her.

She sighs. “Well I, um, don’t know for sure, but…” She thinks about her words carefully. “I know we’ve never talked about this but,” she stops and thinks again. She continues at almost a whisper. “Ford, I might be pregnant.”

There’s a beat of silence before Ford picks her up and spins her around, bringing her in for a kiss. “That’s magnificent!” He beams.

She lets out a sigh of relief, resting her head against his chest. “That’s a relief, I didn’t know how you’d react, we’ve never talked about kids before. But like I said, I don’t know for sure.”

“I’d love to start a family with you.” He kisses the top of his head. “We’ll wait and see what happens.”

“You have no idea how happy that makes me hear you say that.” She smiles.

A few weeks later she finds out she wasn’t actually pregnant. However, this led to her and Ford sitting down to discuss the possibility of having children in the future, which they both loved the idea of, when they were less occupied with work. ---------- She had noticed Ford acting strange recently. He was becoming more distant, spending time alone to meditate, which he had never done before. She knew the stress of this project was heavy. Building a portal to other dimensions wouldn’t be easy of course, but she had no idea it would stress him out so bad.

She sighed loudly, wrapping her hands around a warm cup of tea at the kitchen table.

“What’s bothering you, darling?” Fiddleford made his way into the room and sat down across from her. He had been living with her and Ford since helping with this project.

“Ford,” she confesses. “He just hasn’t been himself recently. I guess maybe it’s just the stress of all this.”

Fids nods in understanding. “I’ve noticed it too. He’s definitely not the same man I knew in college, but that was almost six years ago.”

She shakes her head in disagreement. “I mean, he’s matured as a person, we both have, but,” her brows furrow in thought. “This change is recent. I just feel like there’s something he’s not telling me.”

The conversation was interrupted by Ford barreling into the room with a large smile on his face. “There you are!” He walks over to her and plants a kiss on the top of her head. “I’ve got something amazing to show you.”

She stands up and so does Fiddleford. Ford makes eye contact with him and shakes his head no, and points to his own ring finger, signaling to his friend what he had planned. She doesn’t see the interaction and is left confused when Fids excuses himself, making an excuse why he can’t come.

“It’s a little bit of a walk,” Ford explains as they make their way out the door. “But it will be worth it, promise.” He takes her hand in his and she gives him a weak smile. “Is everything alright?”

“Ford, I feel like you’re hiding something from me.” She confesses as they continue to walk.

Ford's face heats up. “I have.”

The emotion on her face is somewhere between confusion and hurt and her eyes search his face for an answer.

“I’ll explain, I promise.” He kisses the back of her hand.

Not much more is said on the long walk. The sun is beginning to set.

“Not that I’m not enjoying this walk with you, Fordise, but are we almost here?” She asks.

“Just a few more minutes.”

And he was right. A few minutes later they arrived on a hill that overlooks Gravity Falls. She sees there’s a small blanket set up with a basket. The sun had fallen just below the horizon. Her heart felt overjoyed yet anxious with what Ford had to say.

They sit together and look out over the town. He pulls her close to his side and begins to explain himself. He explains about Bill and how he’d been helping him, and how he had summoned him. She sits in silence and listens, her face unreadable to Ford. When he finishes he watches her for a reaction.

“Ford,” she says quietly before scowling. “That’s so incredibly stupid and risky!” She pushes his shoulder and not in a playful way before crossing her arms in front of herself. “And you didn’t stop to ask my opinion or tell me until now?” She's looking away but he can see the tears in her eyes.

“I know it was wrong of me to not be honest with you and I apologize.” He tried to take her hand but she pulled away.

“Did you even stop to think about what would happen if he wasn’t good? Ford, what if he had taken over your mind and I lost you? Did you think about how that would affect me, Ford? I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.” She wipes away a single tear.

“I was selfish. I didn’t take into account your feelings and I won’t be so foolish again.” This time she lets him take her hand. “I feel the same way about you. I couldn’t live without you. Can you ever forgive me?”

She looks at him with a pout on her face and lets out a heavy sigh. “I can’t stay mad at you for being sure a nerd.”

He chuckles. “You’re a nerd too.” He reminds her.

“I just forgave you and now you insult me?” Now she laughs.

He apologizes again before pulling the picnic basket over and pulling out a few items for them to enjoy.

When they were almost done eating Ford cleared his throat. “So I know you’re opposed to the idea of Bill, but he helped me unveil one of Gravity Falls biggest mysteries.”

Her eyes lit up at the idea. “Which one?”

He points out the horizon as the last bit of light begins to fade from the sky. “The most unnatural cliff formation. Doesn’t it look familiar to you?”

She examines it for a minute. “No way.” She takes another second to look at it, eyes growing wide. “Shut up!” She exclaimed and stood up in disbelief. “Is it really? A U.F.O., Ford?” Her eyes fixed on the cliffs not looking away.

Ford chuckles. “It is.”

“How, when, where?” She breathed out.

“I’m not sure about when and how, but where, you’re standing on it.” He smiles at her, her eyes locked on the cliff.

She whips her head around at him in disbelief but freezes when she sees him. He’s down on one knee, elbow on his knee with hand extended. He held a small black box in his hand. She brings her hand to her face and covers her mouth.

“I meant what I said earlier. I can’t live without you,” he gives a nervous chuckle. “I practiced what I was going to say a thousand time but can’t remember it now. But I love you and if you’d like, I’d love to always have you by my side.”

“Ford, I…” She breathes out.

“Please say yes,” he jokes. “Or I’ll look like a big idiot.”

She laughs before nodding yes. He takes the ring and places it on her finger, before she tackles him to the ground in a hug. They both laugh as she sits up to give him a loving kiss.

“Do you want to go inside and explore?” He smiles against her lips.

“More than anything.” --------- A few months later the gateway is almost complete when the accident happens. She is at the control panels when Fiddleford is accidentally pulled through the portal with the test dummy, before Ford pulls him back out.

She runs to their side just as Fids begins to speak in tongues. He gets up and begins to argue with Ford, announcing he’s done with the project before storming out.

She looks at Ford in disbelief.

Ford sighed. “We might need some outside help.” ---------- Ford had asked you to wait near the portal while he talked to his brother. She sat in the corner at a small desk while Ford explained everything to his brother. She was taken aback when Ford told his brother to take the journal and never come back. They began fighting and she yelled for them to stop, but her words fell on deaf ears, and the portal was accidentally switched on. All she could do was watch in horror as Ford’s brother pushed him, and he fell through.

She ran up to the portal right as it powered down and Ford’s brother began to yell.

She fell to her knees and stared at the portal in disbelief. “Ford, oh god.” She sobbed.

The twin looked over at her with a frown, he had noticed she was there from the start but didn’t ask who she was. “Can we, can we get him back?” He asks.

She looks up at him teary eyed. “Not without the other journals. He wouldn’t tell me where he hid them. He didn’t want me in danger, he,” she stops and swallows back tears, unwilling to cry anymore in front of this stranger.

“What’re you his wife or something?” He stupidly asks.

“I,” she looks up at the portal, “I was going to be.”

#ford pines x reader #part two #part 2 #standford pines x reader #up to part 5 is posted on my ao3 #gravity falls x reader #love to see reblogs xoxo

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charliesradiodemon · 4 years

Text

Corruption

Hello! This is a LATE birthday present for my dear friend @sesukytes ^.^

Happy late bday my dood <3

ENJOY

With Vaggie and Angel out of her life and the hotel still empty, Charlie’s fears became realized. She failed again. Even with a successful redemption program, nobody was interested.

At that point she didn’t know what to do anymore. She didn’t know what she could do anymore.

________________________________

Alastor resided to biding his time after witnessing Angel ascend to Heaven. It was a great shock that the naive little princess seemed to have finally made a breakthrough, but it seemed that it didn’t matter. He waited around to see if the rabble would bite and come running for a “better life”, but not a single desperate soul came even after two months.

Having been bored sick of his empty investment, Alastor decided to make his own move. A month had passed after he heard that Vaggie had ascended and Charlie refused to even leave the hotel. She’d been silent and wasn’t answering his calls nor calling him back.

“A shame, really...” he muttered while stiffly rapping his fingers on his pristine mahogany desk, not caring whether his sharp claws broke through the polish or not. He knew things couldn’t continue as they were. He was generous enough to give her time to recoup and continue on but his patience had finally reached its expiration date.

________________________________

When he walked up to her bedroom door, he already knew exactly what he needed to do. And in her state, leaving her would push her further down the spiral of despair. If he played it right, her broken expression could make up for the waste of time that he spent waiting on the hotel; not that he had many high hopes for it in the first place.

‘To see the broken look on her face...’

Alastor knocked before entering, a bit too eager see the final dregs of hope leave his partner.

What he found was truly pitiful.

She hadn’t been crying, but seemed as if she’d cried herself dry. Instead, she just stared at him blankly, looking broken and lifeless; not at all like her peppy self. Her eye sockets seemed to hollow in, her hair disheveled and somehow she seemed impossibly thinner than ever. When he looked into her eyes he found that the spark was nonexistent, leaving a blank gaze as if all that was left was an empty husk of a being.

Any fun he could have breaking her now was completely drained.

She was pitiful and it took him much effort to find a reason to stick around any longer. Without her life or her smile, Charlie was just a broken doll he couldn’t play with let alone break any further.

As she still said nothing to him, Alastor looked to her nightstand. There, an assortment of litter and tissues laid. In the center of it all: a small framed photo of her and her family sat. She looked to be younger than the portrait in the lobby, but still old enough to be considered a teen.

It was an unremarkable photo in all regards. He’d seen far too many of these family portraits around the hotel and the palace when he visited Lucifer. It seemed odd how family oriented the Magnes were considering how broken the relationship between Charlie and her parents were.

But unlike the ones Alastor had seen before, Charlie looked different. His eyes lingered on the visible horns protruding from her skull, standing tall and proud and unabashedly her’s. In the few family portraits Alastor had seen, Charlie seemed to purposefully hide her horns away even while her mother’s were displayed proudly.

He’d seen her horns and teases of her form in photos, paintings and on live television before, but Charlie had never looked so proud to show off her demonic features than in the photo on her nightstand. She was never ashamed of her demonic form, but rarely had she ever used her features. From what Alastor could remember from his time with her, he realized that she never utilized her demonic form or any powers.

He wasn’t even sure she even had any powers. He reckoned that she had to considering that she was a product of Lucifer, the most powerful being in Hell.

Alastor’s eyes fell back to the skeletal being before him and mulled over a thought that popped into his mind.

He could fix her- improve her even. She was practically a blank slate now, could he really pass up the opportunity? They could discover what exactly she was capable of together. Imagining the possibilities with the princess of Hell was just too enticing to let go.

Granted it wasn’t what he originally intended nor was he one to pick up fixer uppers, but he couldn’t just let the daughter of Lucifer waste away. It wasn’t like he had another venture lined up anyway.

________________________________

He continued to visit her daily, bringing her homemade food, clean clothes, linens and anything else she could need to cheer her up. He would talk to her, try to liven her up and keep her up-to-date on the latest news. Though she initially answered with single worded answers, it was clear his efforts were working as their conversations got longer as her state improved

Little by little, she opened up to him more and more. And in a short amount of time, she seemed to be back to a semblance of normal. And although she physically looked better and spoke more, Charlie was still missing the soul and spark that she’d lost.

Though Alastor didn’t mind. It was just all a part of the process.

Now, after a few weeks of nurturing her, it was time to get the ball rolling.

“All I’m trying to tell you sweetheart, is that you have been holding yourself back. You have so much potential for so much more! Aren’t you the slightest bit curious about what you can do?” Alastor sat on the edge of her bed, facing Charlie who had her legs drawn up to her chest.

Charlie held her knees tighter to her chest and frowned. “Not really...”

“What a shame! It could prove useful for your endeavors. Now that you know redemption is possible, you’ll need to attract more souls to your hotel!”

“I don’t know Al...”

He sat on the edge of her bed and reached over to place a hand on her cheek, drawing her attention to his softened gaze. “Trust me, my dear. I haven’t led you astray before haven’t I? You’ve already done all you could. Allow me to help this time.”

As much as she didn’t like the idea, she knew he was right. Now that she knew redemption was possible, she could help people get to Heaven. But did she have the energy or power to do that when everyone still doubted her? Nobody took her seriously and she doubted anybody would believe what she did at that point. Hesitant, but without many other options, Charlie nodded. “Okay, but I’m not making a deal with you.”

Alastor chuckled, smiling a bit brighter in response to the bit of spunk returning to her. “Not a problem sweetheart. I wouldn’t have expected it any other way.”

Another week passing meant another week gaining Charlie’s wholehearted trust.

Alastor had to admit, it was enjoyable watching her grow back into the person she was before. She even smiled on the rare occasion. But as pleasant he’d found that her company was, he needed to get her going.

Having known her father, Alastor knew that Lucifer had the ability to subjugate and pacify any demon at will. Any demon under his will would fall into a trance-like state and obey all orders, even if it meant permanent death for that demon. All he needed to do now was see if Charlie had inherited this ability from her father.

He brought it up to her, presented as an idea to bring in patients.

As expected, she seemed hesitant. “That doesn’t seem right Al.”

“Don’t you want to help your people? How else are they going to find salvation if they aren’t convinced?”

She paused, seemingly convinced yet careful. “They won’t...”

Alastor nodded, standing from her bed. “Exactly! And the longer you wait for them to come crawling to you, the more that will perish by the next cleanse! I know that you want to help your people, don’t you sweetheart?” He turned to her and extended a hand. “Now why don’t we try? It’s about time you’ve left your cave and let the world see your dazzling smile, so let’s kill two birds with one stone?”

Charlie looked between him and his hand several times while she deliberated her decision. If she did nothing, would things get any better? Alastor was so willing to help her in her time of need- even more so than Vaggie ever had.

What was wrong with trying?

She took his hand, earning her a wide grin and a strong tug from the man. With a yelp, she flew off her bed and into his waiting arms. In an unexpected turn of events, Alastor wrapped his arms around her.

Warmth filled her. When was the last time she’d gotten a hug from anyone? Months ago from Vaggie probably.

“A solid choice my dear! Might I say that I’m impressed with your resolve!” He bent away to find tears rolling down her cheeks. Bothered by their existence, he wiped them away with his index finger. “Why the tears, Charlie?”

“I... I just want to thank you for being here Alastor. I-I don’t want to th-think about where I’d be without you here...”

Alastor chuckled and gently placed his hand on top of her head. She was his now, there was no doubt about that anymore.

“Think nothing about it. I didn’t think I would ever find myself caring about another’s well being.” He said partially truthful.

Once she composed herself, Charlie left the hotel for the first time in nearly three months while holding Alastor’s hand for support. She’d almost forgotten what her home had looked like. The blood-red hue of the sky, the faint smell of rotting flesh; it was something she didn’t know she missed.

Still holding his hand tightly, Alastor led her out to the streets to get down to business. He’d waited far too long for this moment and he was all too eager to get started. “I believe your ability is innate, meaning if you just wanted it enough, anyone could be bent to your will,” he looked about the busy streets but quickly perked up. “Why not try it on that one there?” He said, pointing ahead of them.

When Charlie looked, there was a scraggly three-armed man sitting on the sidewalk holding a cardboard sign that simply read: “help” in crude lettering. He was a hulking purple giant of a man, taking up most of the walkway on the street. Had he not been so massive, the passerbys would have probably scowled at him for being so invasive. The purple demon also appeared to have a permanent frown on his face that made him even less approachable.

“I believe the man needs help, he’s practically asking for it dear,”

Charlie grimaced, suddenly feeling an awful twist of wrongness in her gut.

Alastor quickly sensed her hesitation by her tighter grip on his hand. “Charlie darling, I know you can do it. You can help that man. If you can do it, he’ll never have to beg in the streets again! You wouldn’t deprive him of that chance now would you? You know he certainly wouldn’t survive the next cleanse being so exposed like this,”

Again, he was right. Alastor was always right, and Charlie knew that well.

But still, it just didn’t sit right.

Alastor bent toward her, getting close so that she could only focus on him. Charlie stared into his ruby-red eyes, confusion in her eyes. “I will be here with you all the way.”

She hesitated a bit longer, biting down on her lips and looking down to the ground.

‘Alastor’s always right.’ She reminded herself in her head.

“Okay.”

They approached and Alastor let go of Charlie’s hand to watch her with anticipation from behind her.

Charlie forced a friendly smile on her face and waved up to the seated man. “Uh hi!”

The beggar man didn’t seem amused. “You got money?”

“I have something even better!”

“Meth?”

“Nope! I-I uh, I have a hotel! That redeems souls so that they can go to Heaven!”

The purple demon huffed a laugh. “Oh I know this scam! You want me to go with you to this hotel of yours and you’ll take my organs and use me for meat,” he crossed his two arms and let his third hand give Charlie the bird. “Yeah no thanks, bitch. Get lost.”

Before she could walk away dejectedly, Alastor held her shoulders to keep her in place and whispered in her ear. “Demand it. It will only work if you demand him with confidence. Try it again.”

She took a deep breath. ‘He’s always right.’ She subconsciously reminded herself once more.

“Hey didn’t I say get lost? The fuck you still-“

“You will come with me and stay at the hotel. You will work toward redemption to Heaven and stay there.” She stated firmly and devoid of emotion.

The man closed his mouth, removing the scowl on his face. Not even a moment later, he stood and looked to Charlie expectantly. “Sure thing.” He said with barely any emotion behind his own answer.

Charlie’s eyes widened and she gasped, feeling her heart race. Quickly she turned to Alastor and shot him an unsure look. “Al... I... I think I did it...”

Alastor chuckled and approached, studying the man for a moment. When Alastor leaned in close to the dirtier demon’s face, the other man did not react with any hostility, just with an innocently confused look on his face. Satisfied with the results, he turned back to Charlie and nodded “Yes you did, dear. Now, let’s check him in, hm?”

________________________________

Everything ran smoothly from the first patient in the hotel. Charlie began subjugating the homeless population quickly to beat the cleanse deadline. Every day she got into a normal routine that made bounds in her development. She quickly became much more confident, and most importantly: more reliant on Alastor and his opinions.

Alastor stood beside her wherever she went like he was a part of her being. Though he could be described as her shadow, Charlie seemed to be slowly melting into his.

She began doing everything he suggested. From subjugating whoever he pointed out, to smiling almost all the time, she was improving to his standards rapidly and eagerly.

He was her new constant in life, her lifeline and her only friend.

________________________________

With only days remaining until the next cleanse, the streets of Pentagram City were cleared of a large portion of its homeless population. She’d redeemed such a large amount of people that could have been lost to the cleanse and she was proud of it.

“Darling, the angels are coming this way.”

Charlie gasped, sprinting up to the window next to Alastor. What she found was a team of four angels making their way toward the hotel with deadly purpose. “What? Why?”

“They probably know where a large mass of demons are.” Alastor said calmly with a shrug.

It was time to awaken another power within her. He didn’t have a hand in this arrangement, but he wasn’t complaining. This was the perfect motivation to get Charlie going and he was giddy to figure out what was next.

Watching the figures get closer and closer, Charlie’s heart began to race with frustration and panic. “They can’t do that! I’m helping people!”

“They don’t seen to care.”

She laced her fingers in her hair, quickly losing her cool. “What do we do? We can’t relocate everyone! There’s too many of them!”

“I suppose we’ll have to fight.”

Charlie whipped her head around and stared her companion down in disbelief. “Al, that goes against what I’m trying to do here!”

“Then everyone perishes.”

‘He’s right, Alastor is always right.’

“...Okay. Let’s go then.”

________________________________

“Kill it.”

“W-what?”

“Kill it, or else it will keep coming.”

“B-but...”

Alastor bent, still looming over her and the writhing angel she’d caught in her grasp. He took her chin to look him in the eye. “You must, or else everyone will be in danger.”

Charlie’s head began to spin, her heart racing and the adrenaline rushed through her. ‘Everyone will die. All my hard work...’ She needed to do it. She needed to for her people’s sake.

Alastor let her go, allowing her to decide. If she truly put her full trust in him, he knew she’d do it. It was only a matter of time.

But he didn’t have to wait too long.

Charlie’s grip on the angel’s throat tightened, earning a gurgle from the struggling being. It couldn’t muster the strength to thrash nor could it dig its fingers in to try to pry the hand around its throat off.

She watched it struggle- watched the life slowly leave it. It was suffering. It was fighting so hard to live. It was a sad sight, yet Charlie’s pity for it quickly left as Alastor whispered in her ear. “That’s it, darling. Remember, they hold no remorse slaughtering your people. They even smile as they do so. So why don’t you smile as you return the favor?” He paused before chuckling.

He craned his head around to look at her face to find a smile forming on her face. “There you are. And what a lovely smile, Charlie. Truly a vision.”

Smile? Was she really smiling? How could she smile as she was killing something? Why did it feel so good?

The sudden squelch as well as the splattering of warm blood on Charlie’s face instantly removed her grin. The angel stopped squirming, but slid downward from her bloodied hand. Without a head atop its shoulders, there was nothing left for Charlie to grip. With two audible thuds, she watched as the body of the angel slumped over with the head rolling a bit away from its body.

‘Incredible strength, but I’m not surprised.’ Alastor thought, impressed by her feat. It took a great amount of strength to decapitate a being by just squeezing its neck.

He placed his hands on either side of her shoulders from behind to assure her. “No matter how many you kill, it’s not your patient’s sin. You cannot go to Heaven anyway dear so you’d might as well take the burden and protect them, right?”

She looked down at the angel’s headless body on the ground. “To protect them?”

He turned her slightly and stood in front of her. He gently placed a hand on her head, keeping her grounded. “Yes. I’m proud of you, Charlie.” It wasn’t a lie, he felt immense pride in the progress she’d made.

‘Proud of me?’ She questioned mentally. She pried her eyes off of the sin she’d just committed to whip her gaze to Alastor. “Alastor...” She whispered, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes.

“Yes dear?”

She didn’t say anything and instead jumped to wrap her arms around him, catching him off-guard.

He felt her trembling followed by an unmistakable moistness touching his bare chest. “My dear, don’t cry.”

His eyes narrowed as he wrapped his arms around her tightly. “I’m here. I won’t leave you.”

‘And all you need is me.’

#it's more of a quick fic #this could easily be broken up into multiple chapters #charlastor #charlastorfic #radiobelle #radiobellefic

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fulcrumqueenrebelfriend · 2 years

Text

Phase 8: Kit Marshall- chapter 8

Chapter 1 >>

'That was disgusting,' she made a face, 'no offence Sam.' Kit didn't particularly like physical contact.

"None taken."

Kit Marshall was now sitting on a chair on the far end of the room with her eyes shut. "Marsh? You going to get changed?" Sharon speculated.

Kit got undressed and began changing into the new clothes Sharon provided, glad that this outfit was a little more on the casual side. She stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror after she got dressed. She was wearing a plain bomber jacket with a green shirt and jeans. What an evening it was turning out to be. An undercover mission turned into a firefight and an escape with the help of an old ally. Fortunately, Zemo had been able to get a name out of Selby. The next step was finding Dr. Nagel.

She emerged from the room to see Bucky leaning against the wall, already changed. He looked up from the floor upon her approach.

'Hey,' she greeted. 'You okay?' Her fingers flicked.

“Yeah. You hurt at all?”

'Thanks to Sharon, I made it out without so much as a scratch.'

"Well I sell to some pretty connected people. Lay low, blend in, and enjoy the party. Try to stay outta trouble. I'll see what I can find."

"Trouble?"

Kit stood near Bucky and Sam the entire night. After all seeing Zemo stand there fist pumping into the air as if he were dancing, well that was definitely a sight.

"Hey guys I found him."

"Here we go."

They walked through the organised shipping yards of Madripoor.

"Madripoor could give New York a run for its money."

"They know how to party."

"With that bounty on your head, the longer you're in Madripoor, the less likely you're ever leaving." Sharon looked down at her phone. "All right he's in there. Container four-two-six-one."

"Thanks," Sam said taking an earpiece.

"Hurry we're on borrowed time."

'Want a hand?'

"Want a hand?" Sam translated for her.

"Nope."

Kit shrugged, wanting to see Nagel anyway. She opened the shipping container door and stepped inside. Analysing the empty container she pointed to the end, there was a hidden door. Zemo walked over and found the secret door, opening it with a click.

The song grew louder as they went inside the lab, "i'm comin home baby, im comin home baby now."

"Dr Nagel?" Sam said as the music stopped, it was a record player, how old was this guy?

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"We know you created the super-soldier serum."

"Get out of my lab." Did this guy know he was talking to 3 armed people.

"Hey, you know who he is, right? This is Baron Zemo. I know you've heard of him to, right?" He briefly wondered where Kit was. She was somewhere in the lab looking at his attempts to recreate the serum for the third time. "You seem like a pretty smart guy. So you better become conversational real quick."

"How about a counter proposal? Make me a better offer and I'll talk."

~"Guys we have company." Kit walked over to where Dr Nagel was drawing a knife from inside her jacket. Bucky sat him down roughly on a chair and she went over hovering just above his face.

~"Every bounty hunter in the city is here. We gotta go!"

When he stayed silent she quickly drew it down on him, just thin enough to sting and draw a trickle of blood.He winced, "Okay, Okay. I was brought into Hydra's winter solider program to pick up their work. After the five failed test subjects in Siberia." Kit glanced at Bucky. "When Hydra fell, I was recruited by the CIA. They had blood samples from an American test subject with semi-stable traces of serum in his system. After much labour, I was able to isolate the necessary compounds in his blood. I was a god. I did what no other scientist since Erskine was able to do. But mine was going to be different. No clunky machines or jacked up bodies." Kit moved to the table to examine the contents, sheathing her blade. "Mine was going to be subtle, optimized, perfect."

"How have we never heard about this?"

"Because I turned to dust."

Kit Marshall gasped, Bucky's gaze found hers, his eyebrow turned up in a questioning look.

'I'll tell you later.'

"The power broker was more than happy to fund the recreation of my work."

"How many viles did you make?"

"Twenty. Karli Morgenthau stole those, so I can only imagine what the power broker has planned for that poor girl."

"Where is Karli now."

"I don't know where she is, but a couple of days ago she called and asked if I could help someone called Donya Madani. Poor women has tuberculosis. Typical of overpopulation in displacement camps like that."

"What happened to her?"

He shrugged vilely, "not my pig, not my farm."

Kit was disgusted by this man.

"Is there any serum in this lab?"

He didn't answer and Bucky pressed the gun against his head.

"No."

"Now what?" Bucky speculated.

"Guys, we're seriously outta time here." Sharon entered the lab.

In the blink of an eye, Zemo raised a gun and shot Nagel.

"No!"

"What did you do?" They tackled him to a wall.

Then the lab exploded, there was fire and glass every where. The alarm was blaring in their ears. Kit was trapped under a shelf and couldn't move. She groaned, pain shooting up her freshly bruised body.

Chapter 9 >>

@misogirl828

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emrystranslates · 4 years

Text

[Haikyuu!! Light Novel Vol. 11 Unofficial English Translation] Michimiya's Lie

Translator's notes: Hello! It's finally here! The first story of volume 11 of Haikyuu's light novel. Just a few reminders I guess? These are unofficial translations and I can't guarantee 100% accuracy. I tried my best to stay as accurate as possible. Feel free to point our any mistakes or comments to help improve my translations <3 Other translation notes at the end of the story. PS. It's nice to read more about Michimiya. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did.

Where to buy the originals: Here

Masterlist

________________________________________________________ Even if you said it just turned 6 pm, the outside had become darker as night than it is as dusk. Lately, days are short and the wind that touches the face is cold. It was right to wear a coat when you left the house which you thought may be a little too early to wear.

By the rotary in front of the station, Michimiya Yui is finding stars in the open night sky.

“That one is Orion.” Then, where is the North Pole? Was it the one in the middle of the Big Dipper? No, that’s wrong. If she draws a line from a certain constellation, it should be there. But, what constellation was it? Ursa Major? Ursa Minor? She's sure she had memorized it back when she was in elementary.

After returning her raised head and immediately giving up on finding the North Pole, Michimiya Yui hurried back home.

Will she be able to come home before the 7 pm special program? Did she set-up the video recording in advance?

She was carelessly worrying about the television program while hurrying back home.

Then, her feet suddenly stopped.

“Eh, no way.”

Among the people who are similarly hurrying back home, Michimiya’s eyes are staring at the back of that person wearing a black jersey walking around a block ahead of her.

“What do I do? But what if, I’m wrong? No, I’m not wrong. What to do? Impossible, he is also not listening.”

Though for some reason Michimiya was muttering, she bit her lips like she'd made up her mind and looked down at the boots she’s wearing. From her boots, tights, skirt, and coat, she checked her attire from bottom to top.

“It’s okay. I’m not wearing anything weird.” As she nodded encouragingly, she fixed her bangs through the camera of her phone.

Yoshi!

Then, slapping her cheeks with her two hands, Michimiya kicked the pavement and started running on the night road. Like she was rushing towards the court as if there was a match starting.

“Sawamura!”

____________________________

“Ah, what the- So it’s you Michimiya.”

The man who turned back, wearing a black jersey and holding a sports bag was, of course, Karasuno High School’s volleyball team captain, Sawamura Daichi.

Hahaha, she was told, “what the…”

Though slightly hurt by that, Michimiya without being disheartened asked Sawamura, “Why are you around here? What about today’s practice?”

“Ah, since we ended early today, I went to buy some things like my phone charger. Here.”

After showing the plastic bag from the electronics store, Sawamura continued. “I think it’s because it’s worn out but the one I’m currently using is in really bad shape. I thought that since I can also use it in Tokyo, I should probably prepare a replacement in advance. I just don’t want to panic when it happens.”

“Preparation for Spring High, huh?”

“Yeah. How about you? Where are you going, Michimiya?”

Being asked back, Michimiya hesitated just for a moment.

“Eh? Ah, I just went to hang out with Mao for a little bit. Did you know that we really ate a lot? Recently I’ve been wasting so much that my pocket money is not enough, and I certainly gained weight after retiring!” she said and laughed.

Ah-- what is she saying? She didn’t need to specifically say that she gained weight. Michimiya felt disheartened. However, Sawamura replied.

“Heeeh, Ukai-san also said the same thing before. He gained weight after he retired.”

The matter about girls’ talk of gaining and losing weight was completely ignored.

“Haha, is that so!”

Though laughing with all her might, Michimiya is feeling down.

---- Somehow, she feels like she's the only one pointlessly going around.

Sawamura who is standing before her is completely and truly the same as always. He is a person who just blurts out things like “How about we run for a bit right now?” whenever he likes and who makes a face of a typical men’s volleyball team captain. Michimiya is somehow pressed for words. She doesn't know what she should say. Maybe, “Ukai-san and I are similar then?” She can only say trivial things.

Why is that?

During middle school, she wasn’t this nervous when she was speaking to Sawamura. They even usually talked about things like their club activities, family matters, and tv programs. No, sometime in middle school until recently, she feels like there was no feeling of not knowing what she should talk about. Since when has it been like this?

“Michimiya, that’s where your house is, isn’t it? Because mine is straight ahead.”

“Yes.”

When she lifted her face, Sawamura was pointing across the pedestrian crossing. That’s right. They will separate ways from here on. Sawamura goes straight ahead while Michimiya crosses the pedestrian crossing to the other side.

“Bye,” Sawamura said, and he quickly walked away.

“Ah, yeah bye.”

The moment she said that and waved her hand, a wave of sadness came over her.

Though it was one of the rare times they got to go home together, somehow the time passed indistinctly. At least, if the stoplight was red then he could have waited until it turned green, but it was already green. Rather, she could have called him out. No, isn’t it nice that until here they were able to walk together and talk a little? Like this, after a few months, it’ll be graduation.

That’s right. When this winter ends it’ll be graduation, and chance meetings like this will be gone. Ah-- but even if it’s like that, saying things like “bye,” he just went straight ahead like that as usual.

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

Watching the back of Sawamura as he started to walk away, her chest got tighter. It’s difficult. Painful. The pain pushes tightly starting from her chest coming all the way up to her throat. It’s a reproachful green light and yet why does it flicker as if it drives her forward if she won’t cross the street. Ah, she hates it. She really hates it.

What she hates is that she's the only one who isn’t straightforward. She's weak, huh. She hates being weak. She wants to become stronger.

Then once again, she slapped her cheeks and tried to motivate herself at that moment.

To find the way out, the pain, which had forcefully and continuously come up from her chest all the way up to her throat, had become words that popped out of her mouth.

“Sawamura!”

_______________________

“Yeah, what’s the matter?”

Sawamura who was called stopped just ahead and turned around.

“Eh? Ah, No…..Uhm, It’s…., E--- The, hahahaha…..”

What does she do? She's troubled. She didn’t have a purpose for stopping him.

Since the earlier “Sawamura!” was similar to a hiccup or a sneeze which selfishly came out of her mouth contrary to what she intended to do, she really didn’t have a purpose for calling him out. But, she can’t say that.

What to do? What to do? She should say something. It’s going to be weird if she doesn’t say something. Uhh….

Though Michimiya was in a hurry, when she found the bright street lamp by the road ahead, once again her hand moved before she could think. She pointed at the street lamp and said. “Ah! Uhh, Salt! Right, salt and soy sauce, then olive oil? Yup, that! Somehow it looks like they only have it at the big supermarket here. What’s that? Pickiness? My mom seems to have something like that? It’s troublesome, isn’t it?”

“Eh? Ah, is that so?”

Without noticing Michimiya’s slightly peculiar energy, Sawamura said, “Ukai-san also said something similar to that. Something about beer, I think?” He looked at the direction of the supermarket once again, “Then, we’re going in the same direction.” He ascertained. Michimiya, without knowing why, thought “Thank you, Ukai-san!” While thanking him from the bottom of her heart, she nodded.

“Yes!”

“Then, let’s go?”

Behind the two who started walking, the stoplight turned red.

__________________

She lied.

The fact that she easily blurted out a lie, perhaps, she is bad. What does she do?

Mom, I’m so sorry. Until now, I planned to live an honest life but from today, I have become a bad liar.

As she was apologizing to her mother, the pain Michimiya felt until a while ago was gone. Her heart, on the contrary, was refreshed, her footsteps light. Even the awkwardness when speaking to Sawamura disappeared.

“Even so, it’s finally Nationals huh? It’s really amazing. Because when you speak of Spring High, it’s just so amazing that you’ve come to not really know what it is,” Michimiya said.

“That thing is not true right? Gestalt Collapse, huh.”

“No. But Spring High is just so unreachable. Ah, I shouldn’t say that. We aimed for that after all. However, rather than 'We’ll go to Nationals' things like ‘We won against Seijou’ or ‘We won against Shiratoriza’ are more familiar. You can actually feel it ‘like woah, it’s amazing!’”

“Aah, if it’s like that, I think I can understand.”

“For me, I can’t go to Tokyo but I’ll definitely watch on tv and give my support!” Michimiya replied.

“Aah, yes please.”

“But you see, both you and Sugawara are not only doing club activities but also studying at the same time, men’s volleyball really is amazing, huh.” While they were talking about things like that, Michimiya noticed something.

If it’s something about volleyball, they could talk normally. Ah, that’s right. It’s probably after she retired from club activities that she had come to not know what to talk about. Maybe it’s because they’re not both volleyball team captains anymore. Maybe it’s wrong? She wonders what it is. No, well, she guess it’s okay since they can freely talk if it’s about volleyball. However, up to the point that she told a lie, how is it that they can only talk about volleyball?

Sawamura without noticing the complicated feelings of Michimiya who was walking beside him, like the way he is, said and laughed. “No, back in first year I did receive failing marks you see. I’m worried about how next year will be.”

Things like who will be fit to be the next captain? Or how Seijou's 2nd years would be? What kind of people will Dateko’s 1st year players be? Even here, stories of nothing but club activities continue. If Sugawara were here, he'd probably say “You’re slow!” then get angry or laugh, but luckily or unluckily, Sugawara is not here. It’s only the two of them.

Then while both of them continued talking about their club activities, the two, at last, arrived in front of the Supermarket.

“Then, I’ll go shopping now!”

After she pointed at the almost blinding bright inside of the store, Michimiya laughed and then waved her hand as if it was nothing. “Bye!”

Truthfully, they were supposed to separate by the crossing but even if it’s just around 5 minutes, it was nice that they were able to walk together a bit longer. Yes, that’s good. She shouldn’t think things like disappointment or sadness, or “It’s ends here huh.” She told herself. However, not knowing about Michimiya’s resignation, Sawamura instead of waving back said, “I’m hungry. I think I’ll also buy something.”

_________________________

The apple is red and colorful while the carrot is bright orange. The radish somehow reminds her of negative things so she’ll ignore it while the cauliflower is fluffy like a puppy which makes it cute. The tofu is tightly lined up and if she looks at the Japanese pickled vegetables, surprisingly it’s beautiful as it is of various colors. How come? Was the supermarket always this sparkling? Michimiya cheerfully walks around the crowded store while holding an empty basket.

Whenever she goes out to the supermarket for errands she does not really think of anything but today whatever she sees looks delicious and fun. “Meat!” “Steaming Hot Pot!” Even the senseless BGM is fun. The various fruits, ice cream, pasta sauce, toothbrush, flour mix. The candies which change colors, even the combinations of sorts of the small steamed buns by grandma’s house. Anyhow, to the extent that she wants to put anything inside her basket, even herself knows that her spirits are way too high.

Calm down, dear self. It’s impossible. I can’t calm down.

“Ah, this one. Someone frequently bought this for me when I was a child. So it was 20 yen.”

Sawamura said who was beside Michimiya who in turn was holding a yogurt-flavored candy.

“This is the same one as Nishinoya ate just recently.”

“Eh, for real? It probably suits him.”

“Does cheap sweets suit him? Or does it not? No, wait. It does suit him.”

“Right?”

Then, they looked at each other and laughed.

Crap. This is fun. Forever and ever doing it like this.

“This. My mom usually buys this but honestly, it’s bitter.”

“No way! I discovered chocomint soy milk,” Michimiya exclaimed.

“Natto snack? What do you mean?”

I wanted to exchange things like that while walking round and round but I can’t do that. The things I have to buy have been decided beforehand. Truthfully, it’s okay even if I don’t buy anything.

“Uhh, salt, where is it again? This is where flour-related products are. Uhh… ah. There it is.”

As she arrived before the shelves where the condiments are, Sawamura who followed her was shocked.

“Wow. There are a lot. Which one are you buying?”

“Eh? Ah.. uuh”

Then, what should I buy?

More than she thought there were a lot of salt, salt, salt in front of her. Michimiya is at a loss. To begin with, she doesn't know what they were using at home. For now, she will just pick the one slightly expensive and put it in the basket. Well, it doesn’t really matter whatever she gets.

Beside her, Sawamura took the same salt and muttered, “Deep-sea water salt, huh. How is the taste different from the usual salt?”

“It’s a little mild, I think? But I’m not sure. I don’t lick only salt anyways.”

“Mildness, huh? I think I understand the differences in salt. I think if it’s Shimada-san, he probably knows.”

Looking at Sawamura’s face who was looking at the package of salt so earnestly, Michimiya, without thinking, laughed.

“What is it?” Sawamura questioned.

“Eh? No, it’s nothing! I just thought that maybe I should buy another one and try to compare them.” While dodging the question, Michimiya put a bag of ordinary table salt.

“Not a master of sake but a master of salt huh.”

“Yeah.”

Then, at the next shelf, she chose the barrel-prepared natural soy sauce because it also has a slightly higher price. Continuing at the opposite shelf, she chose the organic extra virgin olive oil.

“With these, I’m done! Then, what are you buying Sawamura? Bread? Onigiri?”

“Eh? Aah, do they have yakisoba bread?”

“You like that right?”

“It’s not that I particularly like it...wait? Hmm, do I like it?”

Sawamura is thinking while making a serious face again. It’s interesting.

But, to prevent not being asked “What is it?” again, Michimiya controlled herself from laughing and walked to search for bread. Not really. There’s not one thing that is particularly interesting. We’re just shopping as usual. But, she can’t help break into a smile anyway.

Eventually, she saw that there was no yakisoba bread. Worrying about what to get between hamburger bread and chicken sandwich was also fun. Choosing the money inside her wallet which was just barely enough was also fun. Everything was fun. Everything.

She probably understood the feelings of the people in musicals who suddenly sing and dance, Michimiya thought. If she does not pay attention and consciously make a meek face, she would to an extent carelessly skip inside the store. She can’t help that it’s just a fun, fun shopping experience.

_________________________

After exiting the supermarket, Sawamura immediately started eating the hamburger bread. Based on the reasoning that the poor can’t afford manners, in front of a young high school man’s hunger, things like manners are too much.

“You’re really hungry huh.”

When Michimiya laughed, Sawamura inserted the straw into the packet of his milk coffee and strangely asked back, “Eh, there’s no need to lie right?”

Ah. My ears hurt.

It was when Michimiya looked down.

“Ah, it’s Karasuno’s volleyball team”

Suddenly, after the name of their school was called, Sawamura and Michimiya at the same time raised their heads. In front of their eyes were three men wearing blazers standing.

With a half-eaten hamburger bread in one hand, Sawamura opened his mouth.

“Ah. It’s Datekou’s Moniwa-kun and...”

That’s right. The ones who called out were Date Tech High School Volleyball team’s 3rd year students, Moniwa, Kamasaki and Sasaya.”

“Eh, people from Dateko?”

“Yeah.”

Though the two students from Karasuno were surprised with this sudden chance meeting, the students of Dateko, on the other hand do not at all express their surprise through words and instead are showing inexpressible discomposure.

If one thinks that the ex-captain Moniwa is retreating while unsteadily staggering, the former middle blocker Kamasaki stands dauntingly, with eyes open wide and barely moving. At their back, former wing spiker Sasaya calmly opened his eyes wide. Though for a short while the three were at a loss for words without even saying any greetings. Eventually they looked at each other’s dumbfounded faces and with trembling mouths, talked.

“Ha…. more than the fact that you're going to the Nationals, a man and woman walking side by side? What is this? What’s with that? Reality?”

“Wait, these two…shopping together?”

“Shopping...no way….perhaps, this is that rumored ‘Nabe-pa’?”

“Wait, Nabe-pa is an urban legend, right?”

“What urban legend? Do you understand what we’re saying?”

“Is it bad if I don’t understand?”

“Well, of course it's not good.”

He doesn’t understand what the conversation is about. He doesn’t understand, but looking at the people he knew suddenly start a useless quarrel in front of them, Sawamura cannot stand quietly.

“No, Uhh, Sasaya-kun? Here is the front of a store, so….” As he was trying to stop the scene, the other three, who were now looking teary-eyed, glared back at him. Without thinking, he winced. At that time, the three people from Dateko gave out something like those times when Sawamura, who unifies the 1st and 2nd year problem children of Karasuno, almost lost his nerves or probably some iron wall higher than the one they face during matches.

Watching the three fighting over nabe on the road, Sawamura said, “I think they’re the type best left as is.”

“I think so, too.” Michimiya firmly nodded.

Together, these two, as captains, have come to unify their team members. On one side they are not at all dull nor late bloomers, but they fundamentally excel in assessing the situation. These two decided that this is where they should draw back from the three.

“Let’s go."

“Yeah.”

Then, the two left the three players of Dateko and started walking away from the Supermarket.

“I wonder what that was?”

“Maa, there’s a lot of things.”

“Right.”

After laughing, they looked at each other.

“Well, since I go this way...”

“Aah”

“Bye”

Michimiya laughed. Today, they said several goodbyes. Yet, there was no sadness like the one she felt until a moment ago. If she said any complaints about having a fun time like this, surely she’ll be punished.

“See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

The two waved their hands and then, they walked onto their respective paths.

_____________________

After fixing her hold on the grocery bag, carrying it with two hands instead of one, she muttered to herself.

“So heavy--”

The bag contains 2 bags of 1kg salt, 1 liter of soy sauce, and 50 ml of olive oil packed in a glass bottle. There’s no way it’s light.

After all, these are not needed. It would have been good if she had chosen lighter ones. Something like pepper or wheat or fried tofu. Either way, how will she explain to her mom the salt, soy sauce and olive oil. She can’t say the truth. With that said, she also has to say another lie.

Be that as it may, she was paying for her sins, and her mind was cloudy. At that time, a voice behind her was heard.

“Michimiya!”

When she looks back, she is surprised. The person who was crossing the pedestrian is Sawamura whom she just parted with just now.

“Eh? Eh?!”

As she stood holding tightly the rustling heavy vinyl bag, Sawamura, who caught up, said,

“I forgot to say something.” His face changed to a serious one after he smiled.

When Michimiya straightened her back without thinking, Sawamura talked.

“Thank you for the protective charm you gave before.”

“Eh. Ah, yeah.”

“I’ll bring it to Spring High as well.”

After saying only that, Sawamura said, “Bye.”

Then again, he turned back and started walking.

“Ah, yeah!”

With his back facing her, replying only was the best she could do.

“.......................”

It’s the usual Karasuno Volleyball Team Jersey. The back of a black jersey which is more familiar than their uniform will immediately tell you it’s Sawamura. No matter how dark it is. No matter how far he is. There’s no mistaking it. Indeed, it’s a back that has the dependability of a captain.

------ Indeed a captain?

Michimiya thinks.

Was I able to show my friends and kouhai a back like that? Without being ashamed, was I able to perform and be devoted?

As soon as she thought of that, Michimiya shouted, “Wait!”

Sawamura stopped his feet and turned back. “What is it?”

Michimiya held out the heavy vinyl bag and said. “This! You see, this, today, the truth is we don’t really need it.”

“Eh? Ah, is that so?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry.”

Michimiya put her head down after saying that. Sawamura answered, as if he was slightly troubled.

“No, there’s no need to apologize, right.”

“No. It’s no good. Because….” Michimiya shakes her head.

Sawamura spoke. “It’s okay. Even if you don’t use it today, someday you’ll use it right?”

“Eh? Ah, yeah. That’s right but…”

That is true but the problem is---- As she was thinking that, Sawamura continued.

“Recently, Ukai-san said --”

“Eh? Ukai-san again?”

“Yeah. Somehow, when he went along to do his family’s shopping, he was asked to line up several times to buy this bread called “Only 1 Loaf of Bread” from one of the famous stores. They have to eat it before it goes bad so everyday, every meal he continues to buy the bread and with that, it was really tiring.”

Bread? What is he talking about? Michimiya was doubtful but Sawamura’s face was serious all throughout so in the meantime she’ll keep listening.

“If you compared that to the bread, the salt and the soy sauce isn’t so bad.”

“Ah, yeah. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t get moldy?”

“Right?”

“Yeaaah?”

So, that’s it. That’s what the story was about, huh. Will it get molds? Will it not get molds? Is it good to talk about mold? Salt certainly does not get molds but…

At that time, her head was full of things about mold.

Sawamura spoke again, “Then, tell me how the Deep-sea water salt tastes like.”

“Eh?”

“Hey, salt master. Earlier, you said that it might taste mild but on the contrary, without putting unnecessary things, there is a possibility that it’ll have a sharp taste, right?”

Being lured by Sawamura’s serious face all throughout, Michimiya forgot about molds and pondered.

“You’re right. Yeah, I’ll try it once I get home.”

“Well then, tomorrow, please let me know.”

After saying that and smiling, Sawamura said, “bye,” and once again turned on his heel.

“Yeah! Tomorrow!” She cheerfully called out and waved her hand.

She saw his back walk across the street and watched it grow smaller and smaller as he moved farther away. It was when he finally turned at the corner and disappeared from her sight that Michimiya released her breath.

“Tomorrow, huh.”

As she said that, she held her cheeks with her two hands.

Hot, I’m sure my face has become bright red. Good thing it is dark, she thought. Since I’m absolutely making a weird face.

As she breathed in the perfectly clear winter air with all her might, Michimiya looked up at the night sky.

“So Tomorrow!”

She breathes out all her feelings together with a frosty breath. Then she faced front and started walking. Holding the heavy and precious package, she embraced in heart her small, small promise with Sawamura.

Salt, it’s okay to just taste it as is but maybe she should try making an onigiri and compare? There's also the option of dipping boiled egg to it and eating it.

As she is thinking about things like that, she starts to run before she knows it.

Just by running, it feels like tomorrow will come faster.

-------END------

Some Translation Notes:

Gestalt Collapse: ゲシュタルト崩壊 (Gestalt Collapse) is a term in Japanese which describes the phenomenon of a complex character breaking down into its component parts in one's mind and losing its meaning if one stares at it for a short while. Source: http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t8706.htm (Will try to find a more reliable source)

"Not a master of sake but a master of salt huh.” The original line is 効き酒ならぬ、効き塩 (Kikisake naranu kikishio) An alternative translation is "It's tasting salt instead of tasting sake"

Nabe - Hot Pot

Kouhai - Lower classmen

Nabe-pa - Short-term for Nabe Party

Natto - Fermented Soybeans

Tsukemono - Japanese Pickled Vegetables

一斤限り Ikkinkagiri Is the Japanese name of the bread the Ukai-san bought. There's no official translation for the name yet so I did my best to translate in English. 一斤 ikkin means loaf of bread while 限り means limit/only/degree.

衣食足りて礼節を知る[ishoku tarite reisetsu wo shiru]：the poor can't afford manners can also be translated as only when basic needs for living are met can people spare the effort to be polite

#Haikyuu #Haikyuu!!#volume11 #translation #light novel

148 notes · View notes

iffeelscouldkill · 3 years

Text

TSCOSI Matrix AU

A/N: *offers up* Matrix AU?

Call trans opt: received. 3-6-91 13:24:18 REC:Log>

“Yeah?”

“Everything in place?”

“You weren’t meant to be relieving me.”

Trace program: running

“I felt like taking a shift.”

“I think you like it. Watching her.”

“Piss off, Ricky.”

“We’re going to kill her. You know that, right? It’s what we do.”

“We don’t kill people. Not if we can help it.”

“You really believe that?”

“Do you have a point here?”

“Just making polite small-talk.”

“…Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Are you sure this line is clean?”

“Yeah, of course I’m sure.”

“…I’m gonna go.”

---

They had the hotel room surrounded.

The door was made out of scratched-up chrome, identical to every other lining the long hallway. Only the number above it distinguished it from the rest: 303.

The squadron of officers assembled, guns at the ready. At a nod from the commanding officer, one of the men placed a small device on the lock that fried its internal circuitry. The lock gave a beep to signal that it was open, and the officers slammed into the room.

“Freeze! Police! Hands on your head!”

Inside, the room was empty except for a single occupant, sat on a chair with her back to the door. She was dressed head to toe in black leather, a pair of heavy combat boots on her feet. She made no move to comply with the command, or even acknowledge their presence.

The officers advanced slowly. This was a wanted terrorist, and despite how harmless she appeared on the outside, they’d been briefed to treat her with extreme caution.

“Do it! Do it now!” barked the commanding officer.

Slowly, the woman got to her feet and raised her hands in the air.

---

On the street outside the rundown hotel where the notorious fugitive “Arkady Patel” had been cornered, a dark car drew up and two identically suited figures got out.

“Lieutenant,” said one of them, severely. “Our division gave you some very specific orders.”

The lieutenant on duty immediately bristled. He hated being talked down to by these goons. No-one seemed to know exactly what it was that their ‘division’ did, but they walked around like they owned the place and they seemed to be everywhere. All of them looked the exact same. And if you criticised them too loudly within their hearing – which also seemed to be “everywhere” – you could get reassigned or even find yourself jobless without warning.

If it was going to happen to him, he would at least give them a piece of his mind first.

“Listen here. I don’t know what it is you Inter-Government Response thugs think you can do here, but this is my jurisdiction. I’m just doing my job.”

“The orders were for your protection,” Lead Goon said, with that creepy, deliberate enunciation.

“Protection? I sent two units,” the lieutenant, whose name was Johnson, scoffed. “They’re bringing her down now.”

“No, Lieutenant,” the IGR goon replied calmly. “Your men are already dead.”

---

This was an exaggeration. Despite what her reputation might have suggested, Arkady Patel wasn’t one for excessive violence or force. Of course, when she was being rushed by five heavily-armed cops she couldn’t guarantee that things weren’t going to get ugly, but half the time that wasn’t even her doing. People were just idiots.

As the first officer approached her she whirled around, quickly breaking his arm and then slamming her foot into his face, sending him staggering backwards into one of his colleagues. She took the opportunity to draw her gun and fired several quick shots, hitting each of the officers’ gun hands with precision and making them drop or fumble their weapons. One of them got a shot off, and she saw the bullet make its slow-motion approach. Arkady ducked it easily and then kicked upwards at the man’s chin, causing his head to snap back.

She moved among the remaining officers with what would seem to them like preternatural speed, delivering swift blows to their windpipes, incapacitating and disabling. She grabbed a chair that was sitting off to the side and swung it into one of the officers, then used it as the pivot for an upwards flip to avoid an attack. Soaring in a perfect arc downwards, Arkady landed with both booted feet on the chest of the man who had been behind her, then lashed out and pistol-whipped the final man across the face.

Silence reigned.

Looking around at the motionless bodies sprawled on the floor, Arkady uttered the first word she’d spoken since the door was kicked down.

“Shit.”

Bringing one hand up to her ear, Arkady activated her comm. “Sana, the line was traced. I don’t know how.”

“I know,” came Sana’s voice in her ear, grim. “They cut the hard line. There’s no time – you need to get to another exit.”

“Agents?”

“Three of them.”

“Goddamnit,” Arkady cursed.

“You can make it, Kady,” Sana said in her Captain voice, strong and sure. Arkady almost wished that voice didn’t work on her, but she felt her breathing ease a little in spite of herself. “There’s a store you can use; second cubicle from the end has an active connection. It’s at the intersection of Rosalind and Jemison Street, opposite the security consultancy.”

Arkady barked a laugh. She couldn’t help it. “Nice.”

“I’ll see you on the other side,” Sana said. “Go.”

Arkady was already moving. The quickest way to reach the intersection Sana had described would be across the rooftops. She strode to the window and, with no time for finesse, jammed a knife into the lock, severing its wiring. The lock emitted a high-pitched beeping that signalled an alarm was about to go off. But it wasn’t like they didn’t already know she was here. Arkady climbed onto the window ledge, bracing herself against the frame, ignoring the phantom tug of Matrix gravity with practiced ease.

Two grav tubes for emergency access to the various floors of the building ran alongside the window: one up, one down. There was a hatch that was supposed to only open to authorised personnel. It was more sophisticated than the window lock, so Arkady used precious seconds on a different approach: using her comm, she played a range of different frequencies until she found one that imitated the sonic key the hatch had been programmed to respond to.

She heard the clatter of boots in the corridor outside. Agents – and more cops. There wasn’t a way to prevent them from knowing her escape route, but she could at least get a head start. Arkady pried open the grav tube hatch, and risked a brief glance over her shoulder. Two identical IGR Agents, followed by about half a dozen cops, rounded the corner and saw her through the open hotel room door; she shoved off the window frame and into the grav tube as they raised their guns to fire.

Arkady twisted upwards in the grav tube, eyes on the patch of night sky she could see at the top of it. Suddenly she heard a crackle, followed by the smell of burning plastic, and cursed. The goddamn fucking Agents were using fucking lasers. And they’d burned a hole in the grav tube, disrupting the pull. Arkady could already feel the upward force weakening, but she ignored it, concentrating on the feeling of flying upwards.

None of it’s real, she reminded herself, thinking of her early experiments in the simulator, the way she’d learned to soar through the air in defiance of physics. It’s all just programming. You can hack it.

The tube slanted forwards and Arkady braced herself for her exit onto the rooftop, turning her forward momentum into a roll and then jumping up and sprinting towards the edge of the roof. She only had a few seconds’ head start on her pursuers, but without access to the grav tube, they would have to take the emergency stairs up. Sure enough, Arkady could hear the clanging of the metal stairs, the Agents no doubt leading the way with their enhanced speed. She fixed her eye on the building she needed to get to. It was a small jump from here to the next building, and from there – a bigger jump.

Arkady accelerated towards the edge of the rooftop and jumped just as the Agents’ boots sounded on the concrete. They were close, so close and her mind kept trying to dwell on it, to sink into panic and visions of what might happen if they caught her, but she refused to let it. She landed on the next roof over, knees bent, and ran for the other side. This roof had some kind of goddamn ornamental garden on it with shrubs and benches, forcing her to weave around the obstacles. There was another crackling sound, and Arkady dove behind a fake bush just in time; the laser bolt singed the leaves off the bush and travelled until it hit a satellite receiver, which burst into flames.

Laser gunfire was Arkady’s weakness; she could easily duck and avoid regular bullets, but laser bolts were so fast as to be almost instantaneous – faster than she could move, even in the Matrix. The Agents knew that. One of them was still coming, and Arkady fired a couple of shots from behind the bush before diving back into the open, deliberately picking the route most filled with obstacles to throw off the Agents, leaping over benches and pot plants. The edge of the roof was getting closer now, and beyond that, the void between it and the next building over. Further than a normal human bound by the laws of physics could jump. Arkady had cleared jumps like this easily dozens of times before, but in the back of her mind there was always that nagging voice, wondering if this was the time that gravity would reach out and claw her back down.

She shook it away, focused on the memory of Sana’s voice saying, “You can make it, Kady.” Arkady jumped.

There was a suspended one, two seconds of the wind rushing past her and then she was coming down hard on the rooftop, rolling forwards, then quickly throwing herself around the side of a protruding structure that might have been an observation point or the exit for a rooftop elevator access. She needed to get down to street level, but an elevator was not the way to do it. The odds of finding another grav tube were slim, but an outside stairwell – and not all buildings had them – would be too exposed. Every second here she wasted in indecision was another second the Agents had to catch up with her.

She heard the heavy thud of boots landing on the rooftop and knew she’d lost her lead. Arkady could hear the shouts of disbelief from the cops in the distance, no doubt from seeing the Agent fly over that gap. They wouldn’t bother chasing her any longer; but they’d never been the real threat. This showdown had always been between her and the Agents.

Arkady quieted her breathing and listened for the tell-tale sound of footsteps approaching. There’d been two Agents leading the pack of cops, but only one of them was on the rooftop with her. Had the other one peeled off to join its friend at street level? Were they staking out her possible avenues of approach, cutting off her escape route? But whatever was waiting for her on the ground, it couldn’t be worse than staying up here to be hunted and eventually fried with a laser bolt. And that was honestly the best-case scenario for what they might do to her.

Arkady’s foot nudged something that glinted – a piece of broken metal. She silently stooped to pick it up, and considered keeping it as a weapon before she alighted on a better usage. Would the Agent fall for that? Only one way to find out.

Arkady flung the piece of debris away from her with all her strength and saw a laser bolt leap out to incinerate it as she ran hard in the other direction, towards the edge of the building. She’d thought of a way down that they wouldn’t expect. But she’d never done anything like it before, even in the Matrix, and the odds were pretty good that it would end with her splattered on the concrete.

No time to second-guess. Putting one hand down on the rooftop, Arkady vaulted over the edge and into the open. She anchored her hand in place through sheer force of will – it’s not real; you can hack it – and used the momentum to swing herself down, arcing through the air and driving her feet through a windowpane in the building’s top floor. The window shattered; Arkady landed on the floor in a crouch, half-expecting the crackle of laser gunfire to follow her, but there was nothing

Did they see where she went? Were they setting a trap for her at the exit? She had no way of knowing. Part of her wanted to call Sana and ask if she had any intel, but – the Captain had other things to worry about. And she’d trusted that Arkady would be able to handle this.

Arkady moved quickly and quietly through the building, which was a deserted office block; all of the doors opened easily, no card access required if you were leaving. And there was no night security – only security cams, which would pick her up as a dark shape in the shadows. Come the morning, they’d never be able to trace her.

Arkady slipped out of a side exit and stood for a second in the shadow of the building, getting her bearings. The intersection of Jemison and Rosalind was just ahead; she could just make out the sign outside the security consultancy, which meant—

There was a movement in the shadows across the street, an Agent materialising from nowhere – Arkady bolted, and realised too late that she was reacting to a window reflection. She ducked as the Agent shot at her, feeling the heat from the laser wash over her – that was way too close – and firing blindly backwards at it as she careened towards the intersection. She could hear one set of footsteps, two, three – two more Agents were closing in on her from left and right. Breath searing in her throat, Arkady veered at the last minute through the door of the store she needed to get to, crashing through the entrance. She could barely stop to look at the signs, running blindly towards her target – there was a crackle, and Arkady ducked behind a counter, dived and rolled.

She’d landed weird. Her shoulder hurt. There was no time – Arkady staggered upright, and finally saw it – a sign for the dressing rooms. She flung herself towards the doorway and ran desperately down the row of cubicles, looking for the one that was lit up – where was it, it had to be here – there.

Arkady threw herself through the curtain and put a hand to the mirror just as the lasers incinerated the fabric behind her. She could feel the Matrix dissolving around her, giving way to hard reality. In that space between the two worlds, she had enough time for a single thought: How the hell did they trace us?

---

The Agents stepped into the wreckage of the dressing room cubicle, looking at the smoking hole in the mirror where their adversary had disappeared not a half second before.

“She got out,” said one, whose name was Agent Baumann.

“It doesn’t matter,” said another, whose name was Agent Goodman.

“The informant is real,” added the third Agent, whose name was Agent Cross.

“Yes,” agreed Agent Goodman.

“We have the name of their next target,” continued Agent Baumann.

“The name is Violet Liu.”

---

A/N: My abiding love for Starship Iris and cyberpunk continues xD Believe it or not, I started writing this a full year ago - I was on a Matrix kick, and as I watched the film I suddenly thought... a dashing crew of daring rogues fighting against The Man: who does that sound like? Honestly, the parallels are just too easy to draw. I decided that I wanted to write a version of the opening sequence with TSCOSI characters, but for some reason I never finished.

Coming back to the doc for the first time the day before yesterday, I saw that it was last edited 8th August 2020... it felt like a sign. (Also HOLY SHIT IT’S BEEN A YEAR, WTF). So happy anniversary, WIP doc: your present is publication!

#TSCOSI #The Strange Case of Starship Iris #cyberpunk AU #Matrix AU #Arkady Patel #Sana Tripathi #Ricky Q #Vikady #(implied anyway)#ficlet #fic

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