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phoenixyfriend · 4 years ago

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A Smattering of Ideas for a Neji Time-Travel Fic

[EDIT: okay so viewing the post on dash or sidebar blog completely ruins the bullet nesting for some reason. Please open it in a new tab.]

Okay so I actually wrote the first chapter or two of this like... almost a decade ago probably, but the concept was:

Neji, upon dying, gets sent back, and he's perfectly healthy again, pretty much exactly as he was just before getting mokuton-stabbed... except the seal damage wasn't reversed, so he's blind.

I think he ended up like riiiiiight before the Hyuuga Incident, so about of age with Kakashi & co.

But yeah like imagine telling Hiashi about it.

We have a new Jounin! It's a blind Hyuuga.

His seal is gone! He's technically your nephew.

He needs to be retrained for blindness! He needs to be protected for the information he carries.

He's a time-traveler!

Have fun.

The Hyuuga clan has like a million things going on but future Neji is just finding his younger self and Hinata to cuddle them.

He can't see shit but he Needs To Hug Baby Hinata

She's so small? She needs to be protected?

"Sir, you're blind now." "If Lee can be a ninja without chakra, I can be a ninja without eyes." "Sir. Sir that's--that's not the same thing, you can't--SIR." "I'll ask Hatake for advice." "He's still got half of his--SIR!"

Neji is a genius, if there's anyone who can pivot their entire fighting style from "I can see everything" to "I don't need to see anything" it's someone like him. Especially with the "I need to protect all these smols and be strong enough to force people to take my advice seriously if necessary" motivation

BUT But But for the first few days, it's just like. Sir. I understand you want to protect this small child, but you walked into three walls in the past hour. Please st--sir.

Fun option is "Neji spills all the beans... to Hiashi, not the Hokage."

Hiashi: Okay so like. Give me a few days to come up with a cover story for your existence. Neji: That's fair. Hiashi: Do. Do you want me to send in Hizashi or...? Neji: I'll tell him the truth if you do. Hiashi: That's, uh... that's fine. Neji: Then yes. Please. Hiashi, thoroughly unnerved for a variety of reasons: Right. I'll go do that.

Relevant: "Stop trying to convince me to put the Caged Bird Seal on a man who is already blind."

Since that's the ostensible reasoning of the seal, and like. You can't make that argument about keeping the eyes safe when the eyes don't... work.

Courtesy of @firebirdeternal, along with a bunch of other stuff but especially this:

ooooh feels moment: Neji starts his retraining to become Strong Enough without his eyesight, guess who sees him working his ass off to overcome a disadvantage and thinks "Oh, there's a person I should Be Friends With!"

Part of me just went "Gai gets injured on a mission and, while waiting out his medical leave, gets assigned to Neji as a guide/sparring partner"

Or, well, not assigned. He's just doing one-armed pushups in the training yard with a cast on half his limbs after breaking out of the hospital and zeros in on Neji like "Ah yes, medically inadvisable training, a Bonding Activity!"

Neji goes from "I can see everything" to "I can't see shit but if you're within arms reach you're fucked"

A lot of it comes down to Neji building up non-Byakugan sensing abilities, I think?

It won't help him read, but it'll sure help him avoid getting punched.

I think that's really the crux of his New Style, however he works it out, instead of having this Massive Range of perfect perception he just trains his other senses until he still has that perfect perception effectively, just in like a two foot radius around his person

and then he goes full Rock Lee and trains speed and reaction time until that two feet is enough

I want Daredevil-style bitchiness at some point, in the "Okay, I'm sure the contract is lovely, but do you have it in braille, perhaps?" sense

And Toph-style stuff

Genma, in the Jounin lounge: "Hey guys I think I've got a design finished for the new tattoo I'm gonna get, what do ya'll think?" 'holds up scroll' Kakashi: "Why would you get a tattoo of an ugly couch?" Genma: "It's not an ugly couch it's the Hokage Monument!" Neji: "It looks perfect to me" Genma: "Thank you! I worked really hard on-..... why do you feel the need to do these things."

Also I want Neji to have the same approach as Matt to a cane. He can make do without it, but it sure does make his life easier when he's off-duty.

Like, yes if he focuses his entire, highly trained person, on perceiving his surroundings, he can sense his way around. But that is very tiring

Like that is a lot of work to be doing, when you are just trying to get to the coffee shop for a bagel

Neji learns Sage Mode solely because he wants to be able to tree-hop again

Neji visits Kakashi like "I can't ask the Inuzuka for this because their dogs are clan-specific, but do you know where I can find a guide dog that can double as a ninken in the field?"

Neji asking Gai to help him pick out a feminine yukata because if ANYONE is going to not judge...

Listen I'm just really invested in what Naruto SD told us about how often Neji cross-dresses

Someone asked me which summons Neji learns Sage Mode from, and

I mean, Hashirama supposedly just. Learned it? Without summons?

So maybe Neji does that and just learns from Jiraiya or something

Though it's not... particularly safe.

Birdie had the best response

learning it Without a Summon is very much in the vein of Neji's past attitudes towards Special Secret Techniques, given that he learned the Kaiten with no help even though it was a Secret Technique of the Hyuuga.

"I know it's possible to do, so the hard part is already over, the rest is just figuring it out and doing it"

Neji: I'm here, I'm queer, I'm blind as fuck.

Neji hanging out with Gai and Kakashi is, admittedly, not that different from hanging out with Lee and TenTen

Kakashi is a bit more likely to join in on the shenanigans than Tenten was, but he's still just as available for "We're judging you" sessions

Neji, sipping tea as Gai yells: this is my comfort zone.

Neji with a white cane: This is my whacking stick. Hiashi: Don't you mean walking stick? Neji: No.

Because... what ninja wouldn't ensure that any normal part of their daily life was fit for battle.

Like if Karin can hide lockpicks in a photo and a knife in her glasses, Neji can ensure his white cane is suitable for battle.

(Going off the earlier Daredevil comparisons, I’d say this is similar to Matt turning his cane into billy clubs sometimes.)

Neji, assuming the role of Chief Babysitter for SmolNeji and Hinata, senses Lee and Tenten at the park. Nudges SmolNeji: "Go, be friends with them"

SmolNeji, watching Lee faceplant into the dirt while trying to jump off the swing while Tenten chases two boys around with a weird frog she found: ".... why"

Neji: "Just trust me"

Also consider older Neji giving baby Hinata shoulder rides

Baby Hinata is delighted by this whole affair.

More time with big brother, and a new even bigger brother? Best times.

Bigger brother needs help reading sometimes and Hinata is so excited to help. Hiashi even approves because helping older Neji read things like menus and the like is helping Hinata learn how to read, so it benefits everyone.

Consider also: Neji encouraging the smols to play with bby Naruto, a Hyuuga elder (or possibly Hiashi, but I want him to be a confused accomplice) complains exactly once and Neji exudes such a powerful "Do not test me" energy that he just kind of. Drops it.

Neji's attitude towards baby Naruto is somewhere between "They're good dogs Brent" and "I died for him once already, do you think I'd hesitate to kill?" and it depends entirely on how seriously he thinks you're talking shit about him

Neji plays with the smols, including smol Naruto, by just being the Perfect Straight Man. Just taking every nonsense thing Naruto says Completely Seriously and using deadpan reactions to chaos to make them giggle. This drifts into Feels for Naruto when he's the first adult who takes his "I'm gonna be the Hokage" completely seriously

"Of course, chibi-Hokage-sama"

Hiashi: "What.... are you.... doing?" Neji: "Ah, Hiashi-sama. Please exercise caution, the floor has mysteriously transformed into molten rock. I suspect enemy action, but have no further intelligence at this time" SmolNeji, Hinata, and Naruto: 'wild giggling as they dangle from rafters/stand balanced precariously on chairs'

Hiashi takes one step into the room and all the kids start screaming so loud he steps back out in shock

Neji out in Konoha just Causing Shit with plausible deniability

Listen. Neji is PETTY.

Someone describes Naruto as "the annoying blonde child with the whiskers, you know, the skin brat" and Neji says "I'm a sensor and have encountered no demonic chakra"

"okay just avoid the blonde kid with the whiskers"

"I don't know how to tell you this..."

"Sir, I know you're new in town, but that kid isn't really good news--" "A child can't be news unless they're recently born." "No, I mean, didn't anyone tell you to avoid the blonde kid with the whiskers?" "Naruto's blonde?"

Possibly "Hinata's blonde?"

He just, aggressively misunderstands that any insinuation about Naruto is about the Hyuuga heir instead

Birdie said they like the idea that he uses the aggressive deliberate misunderstanding to force people to either be embarrassed by how they're acting by having to spell it out or give up in quieter shame

Sometimes Neji gets tired of being obtuse and just lets Gai do it for him

Gai babysits on occasion, SmolNeji is aghast, Hinata mostly just confused, Naruto is delighted

Naruto is just Stars In Eyes about Gai

Kakashi: this is not the excuse I expected to have for visiting Naruto but I'm taking it

#Hyuuga Neji #Hyuuga Hiashi #Hyuuga Hinata #Uzumaki Naruto #Maito Gai #Hatake Kakashi #Naruto #mini fic #time travel #Hyuuga Clan #Blind Neji #Phoenix Babbles #Phoenix Posts

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bubbleweirdo · 3 years ago

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Alegría

Chapter: 5/?

Previous chapter | Next chapter

Summary: A wild night for Joy.

Words: 2.917

Main relationship: Javier Escuella/OC

Other relationships: Charles Smith/OC, Arthur Morgan/OC

Characters: Van der Linde gang

Author's note: Hi, I'm back... For now, at least lmao

While trying to write chapter 6 I realized I never posted chapter 5 and that... maybe... it was time to do it................. Anyways, hope y'all find it enjoyable!

The same day she and Javier returned from the stage robbery, Dutch arrived at night with a boy riding behind him. Joy was on duty when The Count appeared with the two men on top of him. After greeting her, Dutch took him to the entrance of the camp, where they both dismounted. She followed them with her eyes curiously, but immediately focused back on her task. However she could hear from where she was how Dutch presented him to the others: Leonard Summers -“But you can call me Lenny!”-.

The next day after lunch, Dutch called her to his tent, where the newcomer was too.

“Miss Joy, would you be so kind as to take Mr. Summers into town? And by the way help him choose a good mount, I know you have an eye for it.” He asked with a charismatic smile.

“Sure, why not?” She replied looking at the guy. “Let’s go?”

“Uh, sure, let’s go.” He said with a kind smile.

Joy walked over to where the horses were grazing looking for Berry, who was rubbing her head against the body of Old Belle, Karen's mare. Before guiding her to the beginning of the road, she walked over to the Nokota and patted her on the neck. Once there she mounted and held out her hand to Lenny, which helped him up.

They trotted through the grove that led to the main road and headed for the town.

“And what has Dutch seen in you, Mr. Summers?”

“He saw me running away from bounty hunters and helped me avoid them. After that we talked, and well, here I am I guess.”

“Sounds like Dutch.” She chuckled.

“I’m very grateful. Since I was fifteen I’ve been alone, running from one place to another.”

“How old are you now?”

“Eighteen.”

Joy turned her head and looked at him, incredulous. It had seemed to her that he was at least twenty, like Sean or Mary-Beth.

“What?! That young?! I thought you were older.”

Lenny laughed out loud.

“That flatters me.”

“Now I feel like I'm babysitting.” She said playfully.

“That’s rude Miss Joy!” She burst out laughing and kept teasing him along the way. He was complaining but seemed to be having fun too. They arrived at the town stable and asked the stable keeper to show them his horses for sale. After taking a look at each one, Joy selected two: a grey Kentucky Saddler and a palomino Mustang.

“These babies are in great shape and look pretty sweet.” She said, stroking the face of the first. “I think you could use a horse like that, affable.”

He watched them both thoughtfully.

“I think I will keep this one.” He decided, pointing to the Mustang. The man nodded and while he went to look for the mare's documents his assistant began to prepare her to saddle and bridle her. When he returned, she was ready and Joy paid the corresponding amount while Lenny kept the papers.

“What are you gonna call her?” She asked once they were out.

“Maggie, I think.”

“Suits her. As sweet as her.” She smiled.

“Will you accompany me to the general store? I want to buy chewing tobacco. Then we can have a drink. He said walking towards the establishment.

“Okay!” The two of them entered the store and while Lenny picked up the box, Joy peered through the products. A fishing rod caught her attention. It looked consistent and was definitely in a better condition than the one Tommy used. He didn't complain about it but many times when she accompanied him to fish she could see how the reel wasn’t working exactly as it should. She remembered that it would be his birthday soon, maybe she could give him one. She had enough money to afford some of the more expensive ones but she didn't have much idea of which one would fit her brother better so she decided that she would ask Javier to accompany her when she went to buy it, he had more idea about that.

Lenny paid and they both headed for the saloon. There were quite a few people and a man played a happy tune on the piano. They ordered their drinks and sat at a table to talk.

“So you like horses?” He asked her, drinking from his glass.

“Yeah. My family used to have quite a few, we would sell them at Valentine's and Strawberry's stables, but when my parents passed away I couldn't deal with so many anymore so we just kept Berry. What do you like?”

“Reading, I guess. A lot of things can be learned.” Joy rested her chin on her hand.

“I envy you. I know how to read but it’s so boring…”

“That's because you haven't found one that you like.”

“Maybe. My mother started buying me romance novels when I was twelve and let me tell you, they were tedious. At first they were fine but when I grew up I realized that they were just absurd fantasies.”

“I heard they’re quite corny.” He commented.

“They are.” She huffed. “I suppose I am resentful because they put an idea in your head about what love is that in the end doesn’t match reality...” She took a drink from her whiskey.

“Hadn’t thought of that. Not that I have read any.” Lenny said with a shrug.

They continued talking for another couple of hours, they had gotten along well. Then Joy realized that a girl who was leaning against the wall behind Lenny kept looking at him. She was young, perhaps of his age, and had her brown hair half tied. It was clear from her gaze that she wasn’t exclusively interested in the money she could get out of him. She probably hadn't tried anything because Joy was there. She leaned across the table to whisper to him.

“Pssst. Pretty girl interested in you behind you.” He looked at her confused.

“What?”

“Good luck.” She rose from her seat and raised her voice enough that the girl could hear her well. “Sorry boy, I'm not interested in you, you're too young for me.” She sighed theatrically and walked away to the bar under the stunned gaze of her new friend. Out of the corner of her eye she could see how the girl sat in the seat that she had just left and began to talk to Lenny. He was nervous but she seemed to like that. After a while they both got up and went upstairs. Joy smiled to herself.

A man stood beside her at the bar. He was tall, because of how his clothes adapted to his body, he didn't seem very muscular, but neither was he untrained. His short black hair was slicked back but some strands fell on his forehead.

“Hello Miss.” He greeted her, fixing his green eyes on hers. Joy raised an eyebrow, amused. He was handsome.

“Hello Mister.”

“Can I invite you to a drink?”

“Sure. A whiskey for both of us.” She asked the waiter.

“I see that you have good taste.”

“So it seems.” She said raising the glass to her mouth without breaking eye contact.

“What would you say if after this you and I go somewhere else?” He asked doing the same. Joy almost choked on the question. Trying not to laugh, she replied.

“You are very direct, aren’t you?”

“I don't have time for games.” He said winking at her and shortening the space between them.

Normally going so fast would have been a reason to reject him, but it had been a long time since she had relationships and honestly? That man was very attractive. She drained the glass in one gulp and set it on the bar.

“Alright.” She agreed, walking out the back door of the saloon. There was nobody there. She turned to look at the man but he put her against the wall and kissed her passionately. She gasped when their tongues began to play with each other. He continued to kiss her neck, as he unbuttoned the buttons of her shirt and lifted the chemise, revealing her freckled breasts. He grabbed one eagerly and twisted her nipple, causing a moan in her. He pulled down her pants and bloomers and brought his mouth to her crotch. Joy sighed, anticipating the contact, but what she felt was... discomfort. The stranger used his tongue at full speed at her entrance, causing more discomfort than pleasure. She cursed in her mind, she had to stop him but she didn't want the meeting to end.

“Didn't you say you didn't have time for games? Fuck me!” She said between mock gasps.

“How rude. What do you say?” he replied, continuing whatever he was doing down there.

“Please! Please…!” -Please stop.-

“Well then…” He got up, quickly pulled down his pants, lifted Joy by the legs, and inserted his member into her. She welcomed him willingly, clutching at his shoulders as he rammed her faster and faster. The man, between grunts, pulled out to come. When he caught his breath, he lowered her to the ground and began putting on his clothes.

Joy followed suit, somewhat disappointed but not entirely dissatisfied. She wished she had an orgasm, but she had missed the feeling of being full of someone and had enjoyed it.

“It was good.” He commented.

“Yeah. Lucky that no one was here.” He smiled.

“Well, I’m leaving. Miss…” He said goodbye with two fingers to his forehead. She replied the same, amused and went back inside the establishment.

After an hour chatting with the bartender, she checked that Lenny was still with the girl -she asked her coworkers and also put her ear to the door of the room they were in to make sure- and decided that she wasn’t going to wait any longer for him, who knew when they would finish. Before riding Berry and heading back to camp, she stroked Maggie's neck. She couldn't help it, if she had a horse nearby she needed to pet them.

When she arrived Javier was on duty.

“Who’s there?”

“The joy of the house.” She answered dismounting.

“How come you are so late? And hadn't you go out with the newbie?”

“Oh, don’t worry, we went drinking and then we parted to have our own fun. And it seems he was having a greeeeeeat time.” She giggled and winked at him. Javier cleared his throat, uncomfortable. Weird. Normally he would joke back. Maybe he didn't like Lenny? “Anyway I was wondering if these days you could come with me to choose a fishing rod for Tommy, his birthday will be soon.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Thank you!”

Once at camp Joy changed her clothes, putting on her nightgown and loosening her two braids to collect her hair back into one only. Going to her bedroll, she noticed that her brother was still awake.

“How come you're not asleep yet?” She asked lying down facing him.

“I was worried you weren't coming back.” Joy smiled bitterly.

“I'm sorry I worried you.”

“I know you can defend yourself but... I'm afraid something like what happened at home will happen again.” Tommy confessed, his eyes watered.

“Oh, Tommy, my boy…” She kissed his face and when she pulled away she started stroking his hair. “I love you, you know that, right?” He nodded.

“Me too.” Joy smiled.

“How about I sing you a lullaby to sleep?” He nodded again. She cleared her throat and started:

“Hush, little baby, don't say a word,

Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird.

And if that mockingbird don't sing,

Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring.

And if that diamond ring turns brass,

Mama's gonna buy you a looking glass.

And if that looking glass gets broke,

Mama's gonna buy you a billy goat,

And if that billy goat get cross,

Mama's gonna buy you a rocking horse.

And if that rocking horse turns over,

Mama's gonna buy you a dog named Rover.

And if that dog named Rover won't bark,

Mama's gonna buy you a horse and a cart.

And if that horse and cart fall down,

You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town…”

And they both fell asleep.

Four days had passed and on the last one it had rained. Far from being uncomfortable, Joy had appreciated it. It was a hot summer and as soon as the first drops hit the ground they were very well received. The next day had stopped raining, but the smell of damp earth was still there, the ground covered in puddles. That's where the game started for her. After finishing all her tasks Joy looked for Tommy. He was behind the camp with Jack, drawing strokes on the ground with a stick.

She sneaked up from behind making a silent gesture to Strauss, who was sitting on a log doing the math and could see Joy's intentions perfectly. He only looked at her for a moment with a polite smile and turned his attention back to his work, ignoring her.

When she was close enough she flexed her knees and jumped into a puddle without any regard, splashing at Tommy and Jack.

“Hey!” the older boy yelled, falling forward in shock. Jack started to laugh and plunged into the puddle, jumping over and over. Tommy pounced on her and they started a fight, splashing and pushing each other.

“Stop! What are you doing?” Abigail exclaimed, hurrying over to them. Tommy stopped dead in his tracks and jumped up, straightening up.

“I’m sorry Miss Roberts.” He apologized, embarrassed. Beside him Jack had stopped jumping.

“Oh, come on Abby, we’re just having fun.” Joy said pouting.

“Y’all are getting dirty and that’s just more work for later!”

“Come on Abby!”

Abigail looked at her impassively. She sighed.

“Okay, help me up.”

As soon as she held out her hand Joy pulled her and dragged her along, staining her with mud.

“Joy Collins, you are…!” She screeched before splashing her. Joy laughed and Abigail followed suit, never stopping her attacks. Realizing that his mother had joined the party, Jack allowed himself to keep jumping and Tommy joined him.

They had made quite a fuss, and an authoritative hawk took them out of the game.

“Miss Collins, Miss Roberts, set an example for your children and clean yourselves immediately! We are a gang of outlaws, not one of savages.”

They both nodded and Grimshaw walked away to speak to Pearson. Abigail tapped Joy on the shoulder in a friendly way and stood up.

“Come on, we have to clean us up.”

They took spare clothes and soap and approached the river, moving away from the camp a little to have privacy. They cleaned themselves thoroughly and helped the children to do it as well. When they were done, the boys ran out to grab a plate of stew.

"Be careful!" Abigail warned them. She turned to Joy. "I must admit that I had a good time."

She smiled.

"That was the plan! We all need a moment of fun sooner or later."

"You’re right. Being a mother is difficult and even more so if there isn't..." She stopped and sighed.

“I understand.” She put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. “If you need anything you know I’m here.” Abigail nodded and put her hand over hers before leaving.

“So mud fights, how mature.” Daniela said sarcastically.

“Yes, you should try, it's fun.” Joy replied with a smile, rolling her eyes.

“I pass. I prefer to see them. I liked how you fooled Abigail.”

Joy laughed. She picked up a plate of stew and sat next to her. Laughter drew her attention from the main fire. Javier was telling one of his adventures to Jenny. Since that conversation they had in the cabin, the two of them spent more time together. They had always been close but now they were almost inseparable. Joy supposed that he had decided to turn the page on his love from Mexico and start something with her. She was envious of how well they got along. She also wanted a relationship like that and she had long since given up hope with Mary-Beth, you could tell she only had eyes for men.

She sighed and Daniela giggled.

“What?”

“No, nothing…” She replied with a certain sarcasm. Joy eyed her suspiciously, but decided to let it go.

They continued talking quietly until Javier's voice caught their attention. He was still sitting by the main fire, Jenny was gone and he was singing in spanish.

“What do the lyrics say? Sounds sad.” Joy asked Daniela curiously.

“Oh, it is. He sings it once in a while. Talks about a man who feels betrayed by the woman he loves because she’s in love with another man.”

It wasn't difficult for Joy to understand why he sang that song. It wasn't so easy to get rid of those feelings even though he was now with someone else, she supposed.

“Sometimes I would like to know what his songs say.”

Daniela giggled again.

“Seriously, what's wrong with you?”

“Nothing, nothing... If you want to know what they say, I can teach you spanish.”

“Would you really do that?”

“Uhuh, why not?”

“Because right now you’re the most suspicious person I've ever seen.”

Daniela laughed out loud.

“Calm down bonita, I'm serious.” she held out her hand.

“Mm…” She looked into her eyes before shaking her hand. “Alright…”

“It’s settled then.”

#Javier Escuella/OC #Javier Escuella/Reader #Charles Smith/OC #Arthur Morgan/OC #Javier Escuella x OC #Javier Escuella x Reader #Red Dead Redemption 2 #Fanfic #My writing

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sophiexteresa · 4 years ago

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Thomas Sanders Instagram Q&A Transcript

From @thatsthat24’s Instagram story, 25/8/2020. Questions in bold. Text added to the story in (parenthesis/brackets), and descriptive info in *italics*. I tried uploading the video(s) too, but Tumblr is having issues, so here’s the transcript only!

Thomas: I had some time this evening so I figured, hey, why not? Another lil’ Q an’ A, so if you want to ask a question *posh French voice* be my guest!

When approximately will the next sanders sides be out? Very good question! Uh, we are aiming this for a late September release, that’s what we’re all working towards.

Favourite musical you have been in or just favourite musical in general? This is really tough, I can’t decide. I’m between Rent where I was in the ensemble, Peter Pan where I played Slightly Soiled, which was just one of the lost boyos — boyos? Boys — and, uh, Into The Woods where I played Cinderella’s prince and that’s where Roman’s first costume came from.

Are you ever gonna due your hair purple again? I loved it! Yes! I miss the purple hair too.

Do you love me? *laughing* Yes of course! I do love me.

What would each of the sides’ reaction be to seeing the Grand Canyon? *speaking very quickly* Roman would be revelling that we made the journey, Patton would be marvelling at the memories being made, Logan would be telling you to look at these fascinating signs for important information, Virgil would be telling you to ‘get back from those cliffs!’, Janus would be telling you to take pictures to make it look like you’re next to the cliff, ‘for clout’, and Remus would be like *Remus voice* ‘you could push somebody and get away with it’.

Also when will we get more Picani, I miss him? You and me both, Bri, and honestly with the amount of amazing cartoons that have come out recently *sighs while smiling* yeah, I am a-hankering (?) to get back to Emile!

How have you been doing, like really? Mental health is important as you teach us: I feel like everybody’s kinda struggling with mental health right now, especially people in the USA with COVID. Uhm *clears throat* for me I continuously struggle with the balance between work and leisure time, um, social media makes that difficult, blurs the lines, and I’m working on it.

Do you have any tattoos? Umm, I don’t, uh, I struggle with the permanence of tattoos. And like do I, can I, make a decision that I like? But! There are tattoos that I might like. Where I’d put them, I have no idea, umm, but I think like, maybe like, little stars!

What rank of “Gay” are you? Big gay? What rank? *speechless pause* uh... General. You know? I wanna do my duty. Come back a hero. An all-American Queero *gets an idea* *roughly quoting Hamilton* Queer comes the General!

Can you please make Logan day something Patton would say? *Logan’s voice* Something Patton would say? Umm... please, I request more baked goods from the kitchen so that I can fill Thomas’s body with more trans-fats at 3 am. I don’t know, I don’t like this game.

Have you ever dated a girl? *awkward silence* I have. It was pretty uneventful.

Do you miss your friends? *laughs* Oh... *face crumples as if he’s about to cry*

What are you voice acting in or are you now allowed to say? Not until tomorrow.

When did you know you were gay? I think I answered this one on the last Q&A, but it was early. I was like, 9 or 10 at least.

When will we see Gavin? Gavin has started school! He’s back in his hometown, so I don’t know when I’m gonna see him. He’s still getting taller — I can actually include a picture of him that his mom sent me after he got a new little hairdo *insert photo of an awesome Gavin here*

Do you miss vine? For like, sentimental reasons, yes. Uh, I mean, technically it had its issues and I don’t miss being restricted to 6 seconds anymore *laughs*

What has been your favourite part of the day? My favourite part of today was actually... I came up with this last minute short video, and I got it done and I sent it to some friends and they really liked it. I have to save it until Thursday thought, but it’s just nice to come up with stuff that makes your friends laugh.

Janus acting like Remus? *Remus’ voice* Remus here! Looks like the Dukey just dropped in! *Remus’ laugh* *Takes a breath and snaps into Janus’ character* I spend a lot of time with him so I’ve had a lot of practise.

Why do I feel like we’re gonna have another angsty Virgil moment? When is Virgil not being angsty...?

Please can you say trans rights? Uh, heck yah trans rights! I, uh, this one was very simple but I wanted to say it!

Do you think Virgil would be into anime? Actually, if you remember from, uh, Accepting Anxiety, uh, part 2, there’s actually a Death Note poster in his room, so he definitely likes some anime.

Hi! Can you say hola to the Hispanic fanders in el vecindario fander? Please? We love you! Oh my gosh, *a very naturally american pronunciation* hola! that’s very kind of you guys. I appreciate all of the support you guys give, and I love all of you guys.

STORYTIME! I love you: *upbeat voice* Storytime! I love you back.

How gay are you? Like, 15 gay! I rank General!

How did you end up meeting and babysitting Gavin? Gavin is actually Leo’s nephew, so he would come up here, uh, during the holidays or during the summer, and alternate being baby-sat between me and Leo’s mom - his grandma.

What was the inspo for Janus’ outfit? Ooh, that’s a really good question, uh... Joan had a vision in their mind for almost kind of like this early 20th century or late 19th century kinda Jack the Ripper vibe.

Any advice for gaybies to fit in with society? Don’t apologise for being yourself. If people have an issue, that’s their issue that they have to work through. Do not apologise for being yourself.

What type of gay are you? (Math gay, plant gay, caffine gay, etc): Wait, there’s such thing as a math gay? I am absolutely that, and I feel like I’m just gonna be naming traits about myself but I’m a trivia gay, a driving gay, apparently a math gay, a Disney gay *laughs* and a theatre gay.

Not a question but I’m glad to be alive at the same time as someone as great as you: Dude, this stuff is really sweet. *laughs* That’s really sweet, umm, trust me, I feel the same way about all of you. Honestly.

Why don’t you own a doggo yet? I... went to Petsmart today - I didn’t get an animal, but like... I’m thinking about it and this question is like... hmmm...

I’ve run out of cartoons to watch, any recommendations? Owl house! Owl house, owl house. I just tried it, and I immediately got hooked. Infinity train’s also a really good one, duck tales is amazing, and I’m getting ready to start Tangled: the animated series, so *shrugs*.

What is Patton’s opinion on rats? *adorable Patton voice, slowly zooming in on his face* They are tiny little squishy precious babies!!!

How do I ask people for their pronouns? I don’t know, I mean, I don’t think it’s like a big deal? I hope we could get to the point where we could just be like ‘what are your pronouns?’ and then they would tell you, and then you’d just, you know, carry on the rest of your conversation.

A circle has no bounds and it’s the same with your beauty: This is really precious, and it of course came from Nash (?) who is a poet, he published a lot of wonderful, wonderful poems on twitter, they are are amazing, and you are once again far too sweet, Nash.

Dream role? This is a pretty broad question, so maybe dream theatrical role would be Sweeny Todd, dream movie role would be anything in the marvel universe, uh, really just give me anything in any voice acting role, *smiling mischievously* egg rolls are also really good.

Can Remus please say ‘I am the sand guardian, guardian of the sand’? *Remus voice* I am the sand guardian, guardian of the sand! (love that vine)

Are there still plans for the Roman series? *nods* Oh, yeah, yeah, it was definitely hindered by COVID, uh, as was this Sanders Asides episode that’s coming up, which is why it’s taking longer in the editing stage, it is our, uh... strategy, for circumventing the obstacle, and we hope you like it.

Are we still getting an August playlist? Uh, heck yah you are! But honestly, actually, if you guys have any suggestions I should include in the playlist, lemme know! I’d be happy to get some suggestions - but yes. You will be definitely getting one.

May I please see your feet? *confused, slightly disgusted expression* *begins to move the camera away from his face* *holds up a tape measure, extended to 1 foot long* *grins*

Any shows on Netflix to recommend? Umbrella Academy is really good, Dragon Prince, uh, She-Ra, of course, umm The Hollow (?) is really cool, there’s a documentary about video games called High Score, that was really fun.

Roman, who would you say the gayest side is? *Roman’s voice* Oh, we’re all equally gay, okay? *chuckles* it’s a sexuality, not a personality trait. *takes a breath and speaks quickly* I’m just kidding it’s *sings* meeeeee!

If you were not a YouTuber, what would you see yourself doing and why? Uh, maybe putting my chemical engineering degree to some use. *laughs awkwardly* Uh, I went to school for 5 years for that one.

Like you literally make me so flipping happy: I’m glad! I don’t know what I’m doing to do that, but the feeling is absolutely mutual.

Can we have Virgil saying “Falsehood”? *hair already over one eye, in Virgil’s voice* Uh, c’mon, okay, sure. *very quietly and unenthusiastically* falsehood. Is that good? Is that? I don’t know, I don’t wanna steal his bit.

Which Sanders Side do you feel you embody most? Ah, I would probably say it’s either Patton or Roman because Patton can be definitely me, all the time, just really enthusiastic about things and finding things cute, but Roman... Roman’s sensitivity, oh. That’s me.

What was the first job you had? I actually worked as a page in a library! A- pages basically just kinda like, shelve books, check books out; it’s one of the chillest jobs I’ve ever had, one of my favourites, and my dad always had a lovely dad joke for it: ‘you’re working as a page, when do you get promoted to a book?’

How tall are you? I usually say 5ft 10, but I think I’m trying to be a little more realistic with myself. And I’m probably 5ft 9 and a half. *zooms in on his face, staring into the camera* I’m holding onto that half a foot for all dear life.

DROP THE SKIN ROUTINE PLEASE! This is very sweet, uh, I, *laughs nervously*, uh, I use Curology? They’re very nice. Umm, just... different kinds of lotion, I guess. (I suppose I should write down what I do lol)

Can we get a FALSEHOOD? *is standing* *clears throat* *points upwards from his eyeline* FALSEHOOD!

Do you have a boyfriend if not are you planning on dating soon? I do not, uh, dating is kinda difficult right now midst COVID, you know, kinda tough... love... in the time of Corona... umm, but, you know, option’s open.

When was your first kiss? I’m sure I’ve answered this somewhere, it was in high school, I might have been 15 or 16. It was with a girl. *Shakes head* And all I can remember is hitting teeth. A lot.

Can we get a super super vague hint about the new Asides episode? Alright, I’m getting ready to end the Q&A, so this, you know, if you’ve made it so far you deserve this super vague answer, umm... it includes a side that was not in the last episode. (This isn’t much, I apologise lol)

Thomas: And that is it for this evening! Thank you so much, you guys, for watching. I know some of you are still over in Europe watching and it’s like 4 in the morning, and I need to go to bed so thank you all so much for your questions - I gotta do this more often ‘cause I really enjoy it. Love you guys, gals, and non-binary pals. Peace out!

#edit: if you want to see the video(s) then please feel free to ask and i’ll try to send it to you! thanks so much #WOAH #This took me literaly hours to write up #probably 5 or so hours #i've been at it all day #anyhow tags!#thomas sanders #sanders sides #tss #tssides #ts roman #ts patton #ts logan #ts janus #ts remus #ts virgil #ts #if there's any corrections i need to make please tell me since i'm too tired to re-read

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natromanxoff · 4 years ago

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Queen live at Capital Centre in Landover, MD, USA - November 29, 1977

(x)

A fan filmed the first couple minutes of the show on a silent Super 8 camera, but he was caught by a security guard and the film was confiscated.

Another fan recalls the band took a 30 minute break in the middle of the show, and started the second half of the show with Tie Your Mother Down. He also says they performed both Spread Your Wings and It's Late.

Here is a review of the show from the next day's Washington Post. It reveals that the band have swapped Keep Yourself Alive with Now I'm Here. The former now follows Bohemian Rhapsody in the setlist, as it had earlier in the year.

There is a great story on Brian May's website by Tracy Chevalier, who attended the show as a youngster:

It started with a champagne toast and ended with a limo pulling away into the night. In between these two gestures symbolising glamour and sophistication, I lost my virginity. Not in the technical sense (that would take another few years), but in other ways. At my first ever rock concert — going with four friends to see Queen at the Capital Centre in November 1977 — I got an eye-opening peek at elements of the adult world, with its power and its limitations, its glittering artifice and dirty reality, and it demonstrated how little I knew and how much I had yet to learn about life.

I was ripe for it; overdue, really. I had turned 15 the month before the concert, and though people thought I looked older than I was, I was remarkably naive and unworldly at that age. Despite a few character-building events in my childhood — the death of my mother when I was almost 8, the experience of being a minority in DC public schools — I was so unsophisticated, so unaware of the world, that I didn’t even realise Queen was an English band until the lead singer Freddie Mercury appeared in a tight white catsuit on stage at the Capital Centre, raised a glass of champagne at 18,000 screaming fans, and toasted us with “Good evening, Washington” in a fruity English accent. I was stunned. Then I started screaming.

I had been a Queen fan for a couple of years by then. A Night at the Opera was the first LP I bought, and I could sing every word of every song. I don’t remember how I was introduced to Queen — though I do remember hearing their biggest hit, Bohemian Rhapsody, on the radio and being impressed by its audacity. It sure beat the hell out of the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, which had been my older sister’s staple music diet. By 14, I was writing Queen lyrics on the desk where I sat for algebra class, swapping them back and forth with a boy I had a crush on, and daydreaming of guitarist Brian May kissing me.

The concert was part of Queen’s News of the World tour. While not a great album, especially after the double whammy of A Night at the Opera and its follow-up, A Day at the Races, it did produce two of their best-known songs, We Will Rock You and We are the Champions, which drop-kicked them firmly into stadium anthem territory. Appropriately, the concert began with the lights going down and the primitive, effective, impossible-not-to-join-in-with BOOM- BOOM-CHI, BOOM-BOOM-CHI, BOOM-BOOM-CHI intro to We Will Rock You rolling over the audience. Everyone immediately jumped up out of their seats and began to stomp and clap along. I, too, stood and stomped and clapped, watching in awe as people began flicking their Bic lighters, a gesture I had never seen before. What, were they going to set light to something? I had tried not to act surprised earlier when people nearby started smoking grass in public, but now was there going to be a riot? What other illegal things would go on that night? Then a spotlight picked out Freddie Mercury, who began to sing, “Buddy you’re a boy, make a big noise, playin’ in the street, gonna be a big man someday . . .” and I thought, “Jesus H. Christ, that is the loudest noise I’ve ever heard! Is that legal?” The wall of sound terrified me, and I wanted to cover my ears, but I didn’t dare, as it would have been a very uncool thing to do. I think I looked around for the exit, wondering how many people I would have to climb over to escape the sound. It was just so goddamned loud — exhilarating, yes, but painful, too, dangerous and overwhelming. I wavered between loving it and hating it, but knew it would be uncool to hate it, so I’d better try to love it.

Towards the end of the song the single note of an electric guitar began to hum louder and louder under the chorus we were all singing and shouting, and Brian May stepped into the light to add his distinctive sound, ending We Will Rock You with low, long-sustain, three-part harmony chords, overlaid with a high melody he made fuzzy and metallic by using a coin as a guitar pick. I adored Brian May. He was the reserved, straight guy (literally) to Freddie Mercury’s camp high jinks — tall, dark, good-looking, with long curly hair and a melancholy pensiveness that made every teenage girl want to comfort him. At this concert he was wearing a silvery white jacket with long, pleated wing sleeves; that combined with his mop of curls should have made him look effeminate, but instead he was deeply sexy.

I loved Freddie, too, for his outrageous antics, his riskiness, his joy at performing and glorious indifference to how ridiculous he looked wearing glittery leotard jumpsuits, eyeliner and a mullet, prancing and strutting and posing, twitching his hips, smacking his lips and otherwise hamming it up. But even without being conscious of Freddie’s sexual preference — I hadn’t yet met anyone who was openly gay — I instinctively sensed he was not to be lusted after. For all his extrovert, welcoming stage presence, he was clearly playing a part, which served to hold us at arm’s length; whereas Brian May’s taciturn moodiness was clearly himself served up raw.

Thank God for Freddie, though. Without him, no one would have moved on stage: Brian May was not a dancer, John Deacon, in time-honoured bassist tradition, stood solidly in one place throughout, and Roger Taylor was trapped by his drum kit.

To set us at our ease, after We Will Rock You Freddie toasted us with a glass of champagne — “Moët et Chandon, of course,” after the reference in the hit Killer Queen. My friends and I heard this and screamed and clutched one another. He mentioned Moët et Chandon! That was our champagne! He was acknowledging us! I swear he made eye contact with me, 200 yards away and over the heads of thousands.

For we had done what we thought was the most original and extravagant gesture (for 15-year-olds) a fan could make: we had sent a bottle of champagne backstage. We’d pooled our money and gotten an older sister to buy it for us — the same sister who had been obliged to drive us all the way to the Capital Centre, smirking at our overexcited fandom. We’d even made our way to the stage door down a loading dock at the back of the arena and reluctantly handed over the precious bottle to a bored roadie, who said he would take it to the band. We’d had our doubts about his reliability, and his jadedness had dampened our enthusiasm a bit: had we really blown all that money — $20, which in those days meant 20 hours of babysitting — to have some unshaven jerk with a beer belly swill the precious liquid? But clearly the roadie had pulled through for us, for there was our champagne in Freddie Mercury’s hand, and he was referring to Moët et Chandon in his pretty cabinet, the lyrics we had so cleverly quoted in the note we sent along with the bottle. We were sure we — among the many thousands — had managed to get through to the band.

If we had bothered to look around rather than feast our eyes on Brian and Freddie (I’m afraid John Deacon and Roger Taylor never got a look-in from me), we probably would have seen other clusters of fans also screaming and clutching one another during Freddie’s toast. But we didn’t look around or harbour doubts, or we ignored them. It was only much later that I allowed myself to consider the veritable champagne lake that must have existed backstage at every Queen concert. Tip to rock stars: want a free truckload of champagne wherever you go? Sing a song that mentions some — preferably name-checking a more expensive brand to ensure better quality — and watch it pour in backstage every night from adoring fans. There must have been a hundred bottles from fans back there, not counting the stash the band may well have brought with them in case Portland or Houston or Detroit weren’t so generous. No wonder that roadie looked so bored — he’d probably been put on champagne duty that night.

Freddie’s toast worked its magic, though, giving me the connection I needed to negotiate a place within the strangeness of the concertgoing experience itself: the weird, scary power of a crowd; the mixture of exhilaration and embarrassment at collective participation; the physical discomfort of standing for two hours when there’s a perfectly comfortable seat behind you. It is one of those tricky, unresolved tensions at concerts: are we there to listen to the music or actively respond to it, participate as a group or answer our needs as individuals? It’s an issue I’ve never entirely resolved — from Queen onwards I have spent concerts going in and out of myself, losing myself to the music and spectacle one minute, the next minute overly conscious of myself clapping or singing or screaming, and wondering why concerts have to be such an uncomfortable physical ordeal.

I was taken aback by the sound of Queen’s music live: not just the volume, but the familiarity and also the strange rawness of the songs. Studio albums have all the mistakes airbrushed out, the layers added in, the balance between players carefully calibrated, like clever dialogue in a play without the awkward pauses and unfinished conversations you get in real life. Queen albums were highly produced, multi-layered affairs. Live, the music was necessarily stripped of a lot of the choral mixing, more raucous, simpler and much messier.

The band wisely didn’t dare attempt to reproduce in its entirety the long, baroque confection that is Bohemian Rhapsody. For the infamous operatic middle section, the band members left the stage as the studio recording played. Freddie and Brian then changed costume, and, at the word “Beelzebub”, all four men popped out of a door in the stage floor and joined live again for the heavy metal section, fireworks going off, dry ice pouring out, everyone going berserk, me in tears of excitement. It was one of the best live moments I’ve ever witnessed. Indeed, I was spoiled by seeing Queen play live before anyone else; for sheer exuberant theatricality, no one else has come close.

The concert ended with an instrumental version of God Save the Queen and once more the flicking of the Bics, which, no longer the virgin concertgoer, I understood now as a gesture of tribute. My friends and I weren’t finished, though. Emboldened by Freddie’s toast, we decided to go to the stage entrance again and say hello. I still choke with embarrassment when I think of it. When we got there, a black limousine was pulling away, our heroes and their entourage inside, and we were left with the detritus: older, dolled-up, hard-bitten groupies who had followed the band around and not made this night’s cut. I stared at one, at her long, bleach-blond hair, her miniskirt, her bright red lipstick. She glared at me briefly; then her face went slack as she dismissed the idea of me being any sort of competition. In fact, I had not really taken in that there was a competition, that the girls (and I?) were here to spread our wares and catch the attention of one of the men, and then . . . And then? I hadn’t thought it through at all. I wouldn’t have known what to do with such a man as Brian May if he even so much as looked at me. All I knew was that I was way, way out of my depth, that even if I had eluded the roadie minding the door, there was no way I was ever going to get past a woman like this.

The contrast between the sparkling theatricality of the concert and the gritty reality of the backstage, with its dirty concrete, anonymous faces and unfulfilled dreams turned my stomach, and almost ruined the night. I wished I hadn’t seen it, because it reminded me that the show was a fantasy, while it was my aching feet and the roadies’ boredom and the groupies’ hard desperation that constituted real life. As I stood watching the limo pull away and the unsexy women stand about, licking their wounds, looking for a ride to the next city and another chance, I felt as if a door had been kicked open a crack on to a world I knew nothing about: the seamy underbelly of the concertgoing experience, a mix of sex and power and exploitation, of cigarettes and poorly applied make-up and long, cold nights waiting to be noticed and defining yourself by someone else’s attention. If that was grown-up life, I didn’t want to know about it. I wanted the champagne toast, but not the limo. Not yet.

Fan Stories

“I had just turned 16 a few weeks earlier. I was absolutely 100% in love with Queen (since age 13 when first hearing Killer Queen on the radio) and therefore could hardly believe my sister's friend, who worked with her at the Roy Rogers restaurant at the mall, who said she knew Freddie Mercury's girlfriend, Mary, and that she was going to get a backstage pass and would try to get one for us as well. Well, just before the concert she met my sister at a pre-arranged point (inside the venue) and said that she was unable to get us the backstage passes. You can imagine my disappointment and my thinking at this point that this girl was not telling the truth about knowing Freddie's girlfriend (it seemed too good to be true to me to begin with). Then after the concert, which was great of course, we were depressed (my sister and I - but especially me) at not getting to meet them, so we decided to wait for their limo to come out of the underground parking area at the Capital Centre. When it emerged we got so excited we decided to sprint to our big blue station wagon and follow them. With my learner's permit only, I followed them at probably over 80 miles per hour - I remember it being the fastest I had ever driven but I was determined not to lose them - to a restaurant somewhere in DC. At that age, I didn't have my bearings around the city. We didn't want to freak them out so I think we just watched them go inside from our car. Then we ended up waiting outside in the cold air for I think around 2 hours - anyway - enough to turn my nose red and make my lips and toes numb. We weren't allowed in the restaurant - and there was a bouncer from Liverpool out front that prevented us from even going in the lobby to warm up. At one point Roger came down the stairs into the lobby and I smiled at him and he smiled back and started over to the door - but was stopped by another man who grabbed his arm. So then he just continued downstairs to the bathroom, and ignored us when he went back up the stairs. When they finally emerged from the restaurant, I was frozen in more ways than just the temp. Brian said, "It's a bit cold out here". One of them (I don't know who because I think I was in shock) said, "So, were you at the concert?" And we said yes. My friend who was hardly a Queen fan grabbed the attention for herself by shouting "That was the best concert I've ever seen!" or some such thing. I was so embarrassed not being able to think of anything to say in my stunned condition. Freddie looked at me briefly then looked over at my sister. He nodded at my sister but he never stopped walking to the limo. Brian walked over to me and said something like, "Did you enjoy the concert?" and I think I mumbled something like, "Yes. It was fantastic." Then all I could think to say was "Can I have your autograph?" He said "Sure" and ended up giving me the autograph and his pen. So I had to tap him on the arm to get his attention to give him his pen back. "Here's your pen." Can you imagine - here I am meeting my idols and all I can say is this? This all happened within about 20 or 30 seconds it seemed, and they all got into the limo quickly - they seemed pretty tired. I can't remember if they had one or two limos. All four of the members were there and I think a couple of other men - probably manager and driver(s). Freddie didn't say anything, just acknowledged us without a smile and got into the limo. John did the same. I remember thinking Brian was pretty tall. I stood very close to him. I am almost 5 foot 9 and he towered above me it seemed. Of course the hair probably added several inches! The best part of the story I guess is that my sister's friend, the one who knew Mary, said that when the band got back to the hotel they said there were some "nice working girls" waiting outside the restaurant. I guess they thought we were older - we were only 16 and 17 and still in high school of course. We were dressed very conservatively and with long coats.

My sister's co-worker said that she was good friends with Mary, because their families had been neighbors, and so was happy to get to visit with her. Also she said she thought that Freddie was the nicest member of the group, but very shy.” - Donna13

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #queen concerts

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sierraraeck · 4 years ago

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The Second Case (Pt.2)

BAU x OC Aundreya

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

(This is my gif so please give credit if used)

Summary: The second case with the team means revisiting Aundreya’s hometown of Chicago. It quickly becomes personal and requires her to use connections and skills she acquired on the streets. Story two.

Category: Just working a case with the team

Warnings: Normal CM gore. A case involving young teenage girls. Mentions of drugs. Cussing.

Word Count: 3.3k

A/N: Just a reminder that this is all 100% fiction and I don’t actually know how gangs work.

“Ben Brady, 30 years old, with a history of peeping and a restraining order from his ex-girlfriend,” Penelope informed us.

“He fits the description,” Aaron said, as we looked at him from behind the one way glass.

Derek stepped out of the interrogation room, the third to do so. “He’s not gonna talk.”

“We have to keep trying. He knows where they are,” Aaron said.

“I’m telling you, we have got to start looking for other leads, because I even offered him a deal, and he still wouldn’t budge,” Derek said with just an undertone of defeat.

“I could talk to him,” I suggested. If we had already broken the rules by having me out in the field, we might as well just break them all, right?

“No. I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Aaron told me.

“Have you even ever interrogated someone before?” Rossi asked.

“Sure.”

“Sure? What does that mean?” Rossi pressed.

“It means that while I might not have FBI regulated training, I have interrogated people before. Plus, I think he might be a bit more accustomed to my methods,” I put out there.

“What makes you say that?”

“Oh, come on. I can smell the hood rat from here,” I said, scrunching my nose. Despite the fact that he looked like a middle class man that could have accidentally gotten involved with the wrong person, I could tell that wasn’t the case. Rossi’s eyebrows shot up. “What? Isn’t that what you hired me for?”

“I guess,” he replied.

“Hotch, isn’t this against protocol?” Derek asked.

“Yes, but I’m pretty sure letting a young girl die because the person who could be most useful in a situation like this isn’t allowed to talk to the guy in her field of expertise, is also against protocol,” I answered for him. When I received no protests, I went to my bag and pulled out a notepad and pen and set it on the table right outside the door.

“What’s that for?” Rossi asked me.

“We’ll need it later.” I hope. I continued to shuffle around in my bag until I found what else I was looking for. I put on the 6 chain bracelets and the two rings made up of small beaded links on my left wrist and pinky.

“How about those?” Derek asked.

“A means of persuasion.”

“Wait you’re not going to-”

“Calm down. I’m not going to beat him up or whatever crazy thing you think I’m going to do. These are just a form of identification,” I interrupted.

“Okay, but what are they,” Derek asked.

I turned to look at him and saw Reid approaching the group, and decided to let him explain, “Why don’t you ask Doctor Reid.” I turned and entered the interrogation room before anyone could stop me. I didn’t even have a file or pictures to show him, but I didn’t need them. I sat down across from Ben.

He looked up at me, “You’re a little bit young to be working for the FBI.”

“You’re a little bit old to be hanging out with 14 year old girls,” I retorted. He looked back down. I knew that he was probably part of the Angels before the Cloaks took them over, and that he probably left to either fend for himself, or join a different gang. I was hoping for the latter.

“Gaela,” I said. He shot me a quick glance. Good. He was from the Angels if he recognized the leader’s last name. Now I just had to throw out others to figure out if he was in a new gang or not.

“Dimitrov, Carden, Dominic,” I listed. No reaction.

“Novak.” Still nothing.

“Hoeye,” I said. There it was. The slight eye shift in my direction. “Ooh. I don’t think he’d be very happy if he knew that you and your buddy were going rogue.”

“I’m not going to talk to you,” he stated. I stared him down for a few moments before lifting my left arm so that he could process the jewelry covering it. His eyes went wide.

“Are those-”

“Yep,” I cut him off.

“And you have-”

“Yep.”

“Which makes you-”

“Yep. In the flesh,” I said with a smirk. He immediately shifted in his seat, becoming exponentially more uncomfortable. “Now do you feel like talking?”

“Oh, uh. Um, no. What are you doing helping the FBI?” he said flustered, but trying to regain his ground.

“Does that sound like any of your business?” I hissed.

“No, but-”

“No. It’s not. And from where I’m sitting, you’ve got two options. Give me what I want, or maybe I’ll decide to pay your friend Hoeye a quick visit.”

“You can’t. The FBI’s probably got you under intense surveillance.”

“That could be true. But considering they’re probably going to spit me back out by the end of the week landing me back on the streets gives me all the flexibility I’d need,” I squinted my eyes at him. I could tell his confidence was starting to waver and he was beginning to give in to me. Just to fully sell it, I pushed my hair behind my left ear, turning my head to expose that part of my neck as I did. It revealed the tattoos that indicated I’d been to a supermax prison and that I’d escaped. “Your move.”

He swallowed hard and started shifting his eyes around as I moved my hair back to cover the tattoos. I couldn’t forget that there was a secondary audience. I leaned back in my chair. “So, Ben, if you’ve heard of me, you’ve probably heard of some of my pet-peeves, right? Do you remember what one of them was?” I asked rhetorically. “One of them, is that I absolutely cannot stand people who waste. My. Time. Does that ring a bell?”

He shifted in his chair and started rubbing his hands together. I was close. “Have you ever heard from one of those lucky people about the pleasant things that happen to them? Especially if they were to piss me off enough after, say, elaborately getting a young girl killed?”

Morgan was right, though. He was a tough one to crack. “She’s only 14,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, and you were only 14 when you landed here and you did fine for yourself,” he countered, but his voice was faltering.

“True. But one of us has a chance of getting out. Which one do you think that is?” I pointed out. He just sat there. I got up out of my chair and walked over to him. I placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned in so that he could practically feel each word falling from my lips. “Just remember this moment, when you had the choice of self preservation, the number one rule on the streets, and instead you chose blind loyalty. He’d turn you in in a heartbeat, and he’d be smart to do so. He’ll probably move up the ranks, and get the credit he deserves. I mean, that’s what I did. But you? You will just be added to the long list of disposable low-lives who died by my hand.”

I slowly started walking away, giving him the chance to stop me. I reached for the handle of the door when I got what I wanted. “Wait,” he said. I turned around and took my place across the table from him.

“Do you have paper and a pen?” he asked. I smirked at him and lifted my left hand up like I was a waitress at a restaurant. I hoped someone got the memo because it would only add to the power I held over Ben if it looked like I already had the FBI wrapped around my finger. Luckily, I heard the door click open and the pad and pen were placed in my hand. I could tell from the shoes in my peripheral and the scented cologne that it was Rossi who did so. He quickly vacated the room. Without breaking eye contact with Ben, I put the pad down on the table with a satisfying slap. I pushed it over to him with the pen.

“So you really earned all of these?” he asked, suddenly grabbing my wrist and turning it over to admire the number of beads. He was looking at them in wonder and it was disgusting. I yanked my wrist from his grasp.

“Just start writing,” I said, and he did. He wrote down the address and a full list of all the girls they had taken over the last few months. He shoved it toward me and, as expected, ‘Jayana Orion’ was scratched down at the bottom. It made me want to hit the guy in the face right there. I looked over the list but there was one thing he forgot to add.

“Do you think you’re smart or something? Don’t try to bullshit me!” I yelled, as I walked over to his side of the table.

“I honestly forgot-”

“No you didn’t. Not. Smart. Complete the list,” I demanded. He frantically wrote down the name of his accomplice. Accomplices? There were two of them? “There. That’s better.”

“What are you going to do now?” he asked, but the concern was obviously only for himself.

“I guess I’ll consider not telling Hoeye about our little chat. As long as this holds up,” I gestured to his list, quickly raising my eyebrows at him before exiting the room.

Everyone was staring at me. “What in the hell was that?” Derek asked, but he didn’t sound necessarily irritated. I answered by turning the notepad around so that they could all see the list of information scrawled across it. I took a few steps toward Derek and I pressed the pad against his chest, with just a little bit of added force. I looked up at him.

“That was me saving a little girl’s life.” I walked out of the hallway and back into the bullpen to sit down.

Everyone started rushing around me, getting their gear together and leaving to go off and save those girls. Everyone except for Emily.

“Hey,” she said, sitting down across from me.

“What are you still doing here? Don’t they need you in the field?”

“Usually. But they’ve got about a hundred officers and the rest of the team headed out there. I think they’ve got it.”

“Ah. I see. You got put on babysitting duty,” I said. “Do you guys draw names out of a hat or something?”

She gave a single laugh. “No, not this time. I volunteered.”

“Oh, wow. Didn’t realize you had a thing for S and M,” I teased.

She rolled her eyes at me. “Is that what you really think? That you are that unpleasant to be around?”

“Yeah, pretty much. That’s the general consensus.”

Not exactly knowing how to reply and not wanting to push me any farther, she changed the subject.

“So you really got all those links?”

I was confused for a moment until I remembered that I was still wearing my bracelets and rings. “Oh. Yeah. Did the Doctor tell you about them?”

“Yeah. He told us that it’s a way for guards and inmates to track each other kind of like a ranking system. The more you have, the worse you’ve been, and higher ranked you are. You receive one for each time you went to the infirmary, sent someone to the infirmary, and a certain number for each type of crime you’ve committed. He also told us that the most anyone had ever gotten was four bracelets and a ring. You have that beat by a lot,” she recited.

“I do. Lucky me,” I said, removing them and placing them back in my bag.

“How did you know that you were going to need a pen and paper before you even went in to interrogate?”

“It’s almost like an unspoken rule as far as gangs go. People could be wired, so you don’t want to have to say things out loud. If the place has surveillance, you can easily just shield the paper from the cameras and a lot of people can write in code much better than they can speak it. Plus, once he knew I was The Figure, he would know that I always ask for extensive lists.”

“How did you know Rossi would come in and deliver the stuff to you?” she asked, almost in wonder. Almost.

“To be honest, that was a shot in the dark. It would help me scare him if it looked like I had power even over the FBI and I was just hoping one of you back there would pick up on it.” We were silent for a while before she asked me her next question.

“Do I want to know what you whispered to him?”

“Probably not,” I stated matter-of-factly.

“Alright, then would you tell me about your tattoos?”

I looked up at her. No one had ever asked me that question before. I must have seemed so dumbfounded because she showed me a tattoo of her own. It was on her right hip bone and it was of Saturn. Just two simple circles but you could tell it was Saturn.

“When I was young, I was always traveling places with my mom. I never really felt like I had one home and things were changing constantly. Whenever I got nervous before a move or I just couldn’t handle the stress of constant change, she would always tell me wherever I was on planet Earth, no matter how much things were changing for me, all the planets were still orbiting the Sun. Things weren’t changing for them, and I could always count on them to be constant. It helped keep me grounded and I like the reminder every now and then.”

It was a sweet story, and I knew it was my turn. “Pretty much all of mine are just for street-related identification purposes. None that have quite as good of a backstory. This one,” I said, exposing my right collar bone, “is for the Cloaks. This one,” I showed the one on my left hip bone, “is for my underground ring. Then I’ve got these ones on my neck,” I said pulling my hair out of the way for the second time, “which shows that I’ve been to a supermax, and then escaped,” I concluded. I wasn’t willing to tell her about the others.

“What about the one on your pinky knuckle?” I was hoping she wouldn’t ask, having just removed the rings that covered it.

“That one…” I trailed off. I was saved by the bell when she got an incoming call. It was Aaron, letting her know that they’d got the guys and were bringing them in. They’d found Jayana Orion, three other girls, and many more photos of victims-to-be. The four of them were on their way to the hospital.

“Let’s go,” Prentiss said.

I was confused. “Go where?”

“The hospital. We are going to meet them there and give their families an update.” I wasn’t given time to protest as she grabbed my arm, practically yanking me to the car.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

At the hospital, Prentiss and the rest of the team went to the families of the other three girls to tell them what had happened, and were showered with hugs and words of gratitude. I sat in the farthest corner trying to make myself as inconspicuous as possible, (which wasn’t that hard given my talent for it) dreading when Todd would show up. Prentiss waved me over to where the happy reunited families were, but I shook my head. Clearly that wasn’t the response she was looking for, because soon she was dragging me over to the group. I stood there awkwardly while the rest of them soaked in the glory of four saved girls.

“Just so you know, the FBI isn’t going to spit you back out onto the streets,” she whispered.

“Yeah, sure. I just convinced their best team to break the only rules set in place for me within the first two weeks, and I’m sure I’ll manage to find some other ways to screw things up,” I responded.

“Don’t worry about the rules. You helped save four young girls. Now, just focus on not screwing things up,” she said with a sly smile. I rolled my eyes.

“Easier said than done, but, thanks. Best pep-talk ever,” returning the same sly smile.

That’s when Todd walked in.

“Where is she? Where is my daughter?” he asked no one in particular.

Jayana was unconscious in her hospital bed, JJ explained, but she should be fine and waking up within the next day or so. He thanked her and the rest of the team for finding Jayana when his gaze landed on me. His mood immediately shifted. Anyone with eyes could see the pure hatred radiating off of him. I swallowed and turned away.

“Aundreya,” he spat my name like it physically hurt him to say it. It probably did.

“Todd,” I responded, flicking my eyes over to him. He sauntered toward me until I could feel his hot breath in my face.

“Why are you here? You need to stay away from my daughter, you hear me?”

“Sir, she’s here because-” JJ started.

“I don’t give a damn why she’s here. She’s already done enough damage to my family. I don’t want her anywhere near Jayana. Ever again,” Todd said, enunciating each word carefully. He grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me towards him, so that he could whisper his next words in my ear. “If I ever see you again, or your existence causes any more problems for my family than it already has, I will hunt you down and kill you without hesitation.” He released my neck with force, practically throwing my head away from his. He opened the door leading to Jayana’s room, giving me one last fiery glance before shutting it behind him. I’d almost forgotten the rest of the team’s presence until I felt a hand on my back. I looked up into Emily’s eyes.

“See? I told you that was the general consensus.” I didn’t give her time to respond because I crossed my arms and forced myself to walk past JJ and Morgan and Hotch and Reid and Rossi to get to the exit. “I’ll meet you at the jet.”

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

I waited for about 20 minutes before the rest of the team arrived. I only had one bag of stuff that I kept with me at all times, so it wasn’t like I had to do any quick packing. They all arrived together.

“What the hell was that?” Derek asked as he quickly got out of the driver’s seat. That seemed to be the only thing he knew how to say to me.

“Back off,” Emily said.

“What? You're not the least bit curious as to why that guy hated her?”

“A lot of guys hate me,” I interjected.

Prentiss continued on like I hadn’t said anything. “Look, I just think that-”

“Both of you, stop it,” Rossi interrupted.

“All I’m saying is that I think we should get an answer,” Derek said, stubborn and persistent as always.

“You want an answer?” I offered, switching my focus to Prentiss. “The tattoo on my finger? It’s to symbolize that I’ve killed someone. Not only that, but I’ve killed high ranking, important people, and I’ve killed quite a few of them. I’ve caused plenty of trouble, and you’re profilers. You do the math,” I stated, somehow keeping control over my voice. I was shutting down and pushing them away like I did everyone else. It was easier that way. “So are we going to board the jet, or not?” They all looked at each other, mouths sewn shut, then slowly climbed the steps to the jet, closing the door behind them.

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midshipmank · 4 years ago

Text

i wanted LWJ with a motorcycle & somehow ended up with this librarian!LWJ & art student!WWX au

LWJ is a librarian at a public library

WWX met LWJ when he returned some books 3 months late

LWJ looked at him all judgy like “these are 3 months late,” & WWX promptly became obsessed

WWX is now a much more responsible library user, mostly because he’s there all the time

but listen he’s not great at focusing in the library, that’s why he doesn’t even use the one on campus. so now he’s his usual amount of restless + distracted by LWJ

trying to figure out how to make a move

meanwhile LWJ is just like “do not throw crumpled pieces of paper through the air”

some of those crumpled pieces of paper are failed sketches of LWJ

one day WWX stays all the way to closing because LWJ PRETTY OKAY? also he has an art theory paper due pls don’t talk to him about it

so anyway he’s there when the library is closing & LWJ is like “leave”

so he goes :((( but he’s so late LWJ practically follows him out

which

is when WWX discovers that that pretty white & blue motorcycle that’s always parked out front?

that’s Lan Wangji’s

he absolutely loses his mind

all of his friends know about his ridiculous librarian crush by now & they all make fun of him for it

but anyway, the poor boy has it bad

he’s like “A-Cheng, you don’t understand, he could step on me & i’d thank him. actually i think i need him to step on me.”

JC is like “i did Not want to know that”

meanwhile WWX is bemoaning the fact that he ever became a responsible library user

“how am i supposed to interact with him. i can’t return books late anymore bc i’m always there! what would my excuse be? & he’s already explained how to use their database to me 3 times, i can’t keep looking this dumb”

JYL is very gently like “maybe just ask him out?”

“but he doesn’t like me! i committed library crimes! i have to get him to like me first!”

then WWX sees a flyer in the lobby asking for volunteers. there’s gonna be an event in the kids section! for some special reading day! who tf knows, WWX doesn’t care, the point is, he’s good with kids. that would probably be appealing to LWJ. right? right? WWX really doesn’t know. LWJ is so hard to read. on the one hand, he’s the most tight-laced & responsible person WWX has ever met. on the other, he has a very sexy motorcycle. WWX doesn’t know what to do with that

but okay he has a plan

he calls up WQ & goes “can i borrow A-Yuan”

he already babysits A-Yuan every week, so it’s not that weird right?

WQ is like “i stg WWX if you are going to use A-Yuan to attract hot guys like in that movie with the people who love dogs....”

& WWX is like “i would never use A-Yuan like a dog! WQ do you even know me!”

he gets A-Yuan, barely

anyway, he gets to the library ready to read to a bunch of kids & gets side-eyed by a lot of parents, but he still has fun!!

LWJ is, unfortunately, not the librarian supervising the event, but he is reshelving when WWX is off reading duty & A-Yuan gets the zoomies

ie, zooms right into LWJ’s legs

LWJ is, surprisingly, good with kids. WWX may need to marry him. he somehow manages not to make a complete fool of himself after this revelation

in fact, after this interaction, WWX thinks he may actually have scored some points with LWJ. he’s elated

he’s building all these elaborate future schemes in his head when suddenly he gets a call from Auntie Yu

she wants to know why his grade in his art theory class has plummeted.

oh right. that class. that class that’s taught by that professor who hates him & that he honestly can’t understand a word of & honestly he hates art theory, he’s good at art, why does he have to take theory too?

Auntie Yu lets him know in no uncertain terms that if he doesn’t improve his grades by the end of the semester, she will stop supporting him—it’s bad enough that they let him go to art school after he flunked out of his business degree anyway

so—fuck. fuck.

WWX throws himself into the redo paper he manages to beg off LQR. he has 3 days & he’s gonna make them count

the first day goes well, if by well you mean that he raids the art section of the library & works himself until closing & tries desperately not to look like he’s dying in front of LWJ

day 2 goes........similarly, except he falls asleep at his desk & doesn’t wake up until LWJ tells him the library is closing, which? wtf? LWJ usually wakes him up when he falls asleep in the library. WWX has been asleep for hours.

& also he looks like a wreck, which is not cute

he flees from the library only to find that the bus is going..... going......... gone

fuck. he doesn’t have a car.

he’s staring down the road after the bus, trying to figure out which friend with a car is available for him to call when he hears someone say “Wei Ying?” behind him

it’s Lan Zhan.

how mortifying.

he tries to laugh off his situation, but LWJ gets this set expression on his face & says, “i will give you a ride home”

& WWX is like kinda definitely freaking out because this was not how his first ride on LWJ’s sexy motorcycle was supposed to go. WWX had a plan. he was supposed to be flirtatious & ask LWJ about his bike & then LWJ would offer to give WWX a ride & they’d go all around the scenic parts of the city & when they stopped WWX would be all flustered & breathless & he’d wobble getting off the bike & maybe fall into LWJ & maybe—

okay so his plan was more like a daydream, but at the very least, he wasn’t supposed to look like he’d spent the last 48hrs out of the sun, drinking unhealthy amounts of shitty coffee, wearing a ratty hoodie & art-grimed jeans. like, they’re not even grimey in a cute way

but LWJ is insistent & WWX is weak, so somehow he ends up on the back of the bike wearing LWJ’s helmet with LWJ telling him to hold on tight

he’s half-convinced he’s fallen asleep on the bus stop bench & is dreaming the whole thing

but soon enough, it’s over & they’re stopped outside of WWX’s shitty student accommodations

he gets off & is trying to awkwardly thank LWJ when LWJ says, “you’ve seemed upset these past 2 days”

“ahaha, yeah, i’m just writing a paper”

“for an art theory class?”

WWX is like ????? but then he remembers that LWJ knows what books he checks out

“yeah. it’s a redo actually. professor Lan hates me.” he forces a laugh. why did he say that. being hated by a professor is not cute, especially not to sexy librarian LWJ.

“my uncle has high expectations,” LWJ says.

WWX brain short circuits.

“your uncle???” shit shit shit Lan Qiren is LWJ’s uncle! LWJ’s uncle hates him! he has no chance now!

“mn.”

WWX wants to die

LWJ looks considering, then says, “it is my day off tomorrow. if you would like, i can help you with the paper.”

WWX is already the least cute, most pathetic version of himself he’s ever been in his life. he says yes.

so they meet up at the library the next day & WWX apologizes profusely for making LWJ come into work when it’s his day off. he promises LWJ endless free coffee from the coffeeshop he works at (even if he has to pay for it himself—he doesn’t tell LWJ that part).

LWJ is way too nice to him & also manages to explain this school of art theory in a way that?? sort of?? makes sense?? though not in a way that makes WWX like it. but LWJ seems neutral about it, so at least he’s not trying to get WWX to agree with it.

but anyway, WWX manages to pull a passable paper together & in the process LWJ reveals that he’s noticed WWX sketching in the library a lot more than WWX realized, and that he likes WWX’s art.

WWX is lightheaded

he stares at LWJ for a while & LWJ looks at him & says, “Wei Ying. you should be typing.”

WWX gets the paper done by 5pm somehow. somehow! he sends it off to LQR with a groan of relief. he’s so tired his bones are aching, but he looks over at LWJ, art theory & citation king, who of course always looks perfect & beautiful, & goes, “i could kiss you.”

instead of “i don’t know how i’m ever going to thank you for this,” which is what he thought he was gonna say

LWJ’s eyes widen slightly & his ears go red. WWX wants to smack himself in the face. he wants to eat his words. he wants to crawl into a cramped dark place like a disgusting little mole & never see the sun again.

then LWJ says, “have dinner with me first.”

WWX gapes at him. LWJ looks back, ears still red but eyes steady.

“okay,” WWX squeaks.

they go to dinner. WWX still feels like trash, but they end up having a rousing discussion about art & WWX learns all about when LWJ studied art history in undergrad & how he actually doesn’t like the kind of theory his uncle teaches (“but you’re too good to ever tell him that,” WWX teases. “....most of the time.” WWX laughs in delight.)

LWJ reveals that he brought an extra helmet today, in case WWX needed a ride again. WWX is embarrassed & pleased & wants to marry LWJ again. feeling foolish, he leans into LWJ flirtatiously & suggests they go for a ride—just for the view. LWJ looks at him so long his knees turn to jelly. then LWJ says, “mn.”

they make out on some scenic ridge somewhere

the end!

other things about this au:

WWX does digital painting mostly, his ideal job is illustration/comics; he has a instagram/patreon he uses for art commissions (some of which are pornographic—LWJ catches him sketching in the library one day, early in this tableau. it does not go well.)

his instagram/patreon is mostly anonymous. it’s not that he minds people knowing he draws explicit stuff sometimes, it’s that he doesn’t want Auntie Yu to find out

he draws LWJ a lot

not explicitly

(at least not until he’s got a life model and LWJ’s consent)

he’s not at the library 24/7. he has a coffeeshop job, classes, studio time for non-digital art, A-Yuan, and friends. but he’s at the library a lot.

this is undergrad for WWX, but he’s non-trad. he flunked out of a soul-sucking business degree in his first go at undergrad & was on pretty shaky ground with the Jiang family for a while. then he sold some of his art & Auntie Yu said they would support him through art school if it was the only thing he was good at. kinda stung, but at least he doesn’t have to pay tuition.

he’s desperate to prove he can make it as an artist

when anyone asks LWJ about his bike, he says he got it because it allows him to weave around traffic. yes, there’s more to it than that, but no he won’t go into it. (this entire au formed because i found out WYB rides motorcycles professionally & went, “wow that’s hot.” we have no thoughts here.)

WWX did not have to try to make LWJ like him. LWJ liked him. & while WWX might not have gotten his ideal first bike ride, you better believe LWJ got his. he daydreams about scooping WWX onto his bike & riding off into the sunset

#posting as a bullet point fic bc while i wanna write it as a real oneshot i have other things i need to do & i think it works like this too #mdzs fic #mdzs #cql #wangxian #The Untamed #fanfic #my writing #idk what to tag it's literally been 4yrs since i posted fanfic here #my fanfic #author assumes art theory works similarly to lit theory in that some is great and some is bs #author clearly grew up in the les mis fandom #also has anyone read juliet takes a breath?

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if-found-return-to-gusu · 4 years ago

Text

Finishing the Story

Sorry to leave it off there. It was Lan Zhan at my door. I didn’t even check if I’d missed any texts or something or if he just showed up.

Fair is fair I suppose. I did the same to him after all.

I think everyone is afraid to leave me alone.

Also fair considering my history.

Lan Zhan showed up at my apartment. We went to work together the next day and Nie Huaisang kidnapped me right away after work and I spent the night at his place. And the day after Wen Ning did the same thing.

They don’t want to leave me alone. But I can’t just keep depending on everyone. I don’t need to be a burden to them and I don’t need their pity either.

I’m home alone now. Haven’t had a spare moment to update since I’m always being monitored. I finally got out of it by telling everyone I had plans with someone else instead. Now I can just be here in the peace and quiet.

I need to learn how to be okay without having to drag everyone else into babysitting duty.

I’m determined.

I will be okay on my own.

I started to slip so I’m picking up the story again.

For what it’s worth, the rest of the story from where I left off wasn’t so bad.

Okay so let’s see where was I.

Ah yeah. Lan Xichen.

Lan Zhan had just tied my hair back in what was undoubtedly the cleanest half-pony that has ever graced my head when we were interrupted quite suddenly by Lan Xichen’s voice from down the hall.

Do Lans have a habit of just showing up places? Is that a family trait?

Well whatever. He was just kinda there all of a sudden.

Lan Zhan started to get up. To move away. To leave me alone again. I don’t really remember moving. Just I know that my hand was suddenly gripping his arm so tight to keep him close to me. As soon as I realized it, I let him go and tried to laugh it off with an apology.

That was ridiculous. I can’t keep Lan Zhan with me 24/7.

I have to learn to be okay on my own again.

He moved towards me when the devil appeared in the threshold.

I should stop calling Lan Xichen the devil. He’s nothing like a devil and it isn’t nice.

I don’t know. I’m being facetious but I shouldn’t do that at the expense of others.

I don’t mean anything by it. Lan Xichen is very nice.

As he felt compelled to demonstrate that day.

He apologized (without looking remotely sorry) for interrupting and then asked if I was okay.

I’d forgotten that he’d been witness to my spectacle. Doubtless he’ll have told Lan Zhan all the dirty details by now, though I’m sure he’ll be kinder on my part than I deserve.

I forced a smile and assured him I was doing just fine.

I need to do fine.

I need everyone to believe I’m fine.

He glanced at Lan Zhan, then smiled brightly at me and declared we were all going shopping….

For some reason…

Because that makes sense…

Sure why not.

He grabbed my arm and literally dragged me out of bed.

I was still miserable but at least he managed to pique my curiosity a bit. That’s something I guess.

I decided to go along with it. Not like I had anything better to do.

He drove us to the mall and dragged us into an electronic store. I lamented over an expensive drawing tablet that I’d been wanting for a while (which had decided to somehow become even MORE expensive. Aren’t electronics supposed to get LESS expensive?) while Lan Xichen went to a clerk to buy something or other. I wasn’t really paying too close attention. I’d pulled Lan Zhan with me because I still couldn’t bring myself to be alone even though we were at the mall and there were people everywhere.

He asked me about the tablet and then asked why I didn’t just buy it with the birthday money. Accidentally let slip that I was putting it all away for A-Yuan. He deserves it much more than I do. That kid will make something of himself one day and there really isn’t much else I can do for him. I’m not a good influence. I can’t teach him anything. But I can at least do that.

Even that is through others though.

Guess I’m pretty useless on my own.

I already knew that though.

Anyway. Thought I was gonna be able to get it soon. Ends up I was gonna have to spend it on a phone instead. Or something

Well that’s what i thought.

Until Lan Xichen shoved a new phone under my nose and all but forced me to take it.

Man I must really seem pathetic. Even Lan Xichen is taking pity on me.

He apparently added me to his plan. Unlimited data. Said it didn’t really cost anything and not to worry about it.

More red for my ledger.

But it’s how I’m able to post this now. Using my phone as a hotspot to have internet in my shitty ass apartment.

This phone is more than I deserve though. It’s too fancy.

Maybe I can trade it in for a less expensive model and pay him back the difference.

He told me I don’t owe him anything.

What nonsense.

No one gives people things for nothing. Especially people you barely know.

So I’m friends with his little brother? He should be chasing me off for being so bothersome, not giving me phones.

I’m sure I’m a bad influence.

I’m sure he’d be better without having to fuss over me all the time.

How many times have I inconvenienced him now?

How many more times will I inconvenience him?

How long before I inconvenience him one too many times?

………

I’m gonna text him. Tell him it’s okay if he’d rather not hang out tomorrow. He’s probably seen more than enough of me this week already and moping me isn’t the most fun to hang out with anyway.

Hold on.

……..

Okay I texted him.

Lan Xichen told me I was part of the family.

I’ve done nothing to earn that. They don’t have to force themselves to be nice to me. They don’t have to take it that far. I have nothing to give them. Nothing to offer. There’s no point for them to make me ‘part of the family.’

And I’m not going to let myself fall into that trap again.

I don’t need to have a family. It’s okay for me to be on my own. That way when people are tired of me they don’t have to feel bad. That way when I become too much they can just send me home.

That way it won’t hurt as bad.

Oh Lan Zhan texted back.

Hold on…

……….

Ugh. He’s pulling the ‘don’t you want to see me?’ card.

Of course I want to see you, Lan Zhan. But you don’t have to push yourself to see me just because I’m depressed.

I’m always depressed.

It’s fine.

Ugh. He’s not letting it go. Fine. He can be miserable with me. Hold on again. Gotta text him back.

I told him I’d come over but he has to promise to kick me out when he gets tired of me.

He won’t, of course, because he’s too nice.

Tells me I’m not a bother. Because he’s too nice.

He’ll get tired of me eventually. Maybe this’ll just speed everything up and we can rip off that bandage.

Maybe I should just rip off all the bandages.

I don’t have to worry about being a bother if there’s no one to bother.

Maybe I should just look for a new city. Start over again and just learn to keep to myself for once. Without hanging on people. Without annoying them or demanding their attention so selfishly.

Just find some job somewhere and work enough to pay for a new shitty apartment.

I’m sure everyone’d be better off.

Jiang Cheng wouldn’t have to worry about his reputation and his mother would finally be happy.

Shijie wouldn’t have to fuss over me and I wouldn’t be around to be a bad influence on her children.

The Wens wouldn’t have to fuss over me. Telling me to take care of myself.

Lan Zhan won’t have to waste his time and pity on someone so worthless. He can just go off and live his best life without me hanging all over him.

Maybe I should start looking. I think I will.

I’ll use this phone Lan Xichen gave me to help look at places and then I’ll give it back before I leave. I do still have some money saved up. I’ll give him some of that too to pay it back.

And then they won’t have to worry about me and I won’t owe anyone anything anymore

Because the best thing I can do to pay them all back is to just disappear.

I want to disappear.

I’m going to disappear.

Sorry… that was a tangent.

Don’t worry. I’ll still post here when I find somewhere new. You all can leave whenever you want to so we’re good there. And if you all decide to stop following all the more power to you. A diary is a diary even if no one reads it.

Yeah… so Xichen took us to a couple other places and then he dropped us back off at Lan Zhan’s.

Lan Zhan made food again and I played with the bunnies some. He held me more often than usual and kept kissing my cheek.

Guess he was worried.

That’s all I do. Make people worry. Annoy them. Bother them.

I’m gonna start looking for a new place as soon as I post this.

Lan Zhan had had to go to work at some point and left me alone in his apartment. I couldn’t stand it. I didn’t want him to keep fussing over me. He has other obligations in his life way more important than I am. So I left.

Sent him a text with this new phone so he at least knew where I was.

Should have lied and said something other than that I’d gone home. Because he ended up coming here and wasting another day on me.

And now he’s planning on wasting his Saturday on me too.

I’ve made people waste more than enough time on me already.

I’m tired of this.

I’m…. just tired.

#wei ying #wei wuxian #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #fanfic #mdzs #cql #Long Post #(Modern AU!)

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percywinchester27 · 5 years ago

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About a boy (Part-3)

Word count: 3.3K

Warning: Suspense, feels, mention of physical abuse and bullying

Characters: Dean, Cas, Gabriel, Benny, Michael, OCs and… Sam?

Summary: Dean Winchester has a secret. A secret that could really land him in trouble. He never expected to connect with anyone when he walked into the ‘Blue Stone Orphanage for Boys,’ but even then, the walls he has put up are slowly coming down. Now, a series of strange events are threatening to expose him. When everything starts falling apart around him, will he still be able to save the one person that matters the most?

A/N: Many thanks to @thing-you-do-with-that-thing and @deanssweetheart23 for beta reading this story. I love you guys <3

Part 1 Part 2

Cas prayed. Every day. He woke up each morning, sat on the bed with his feet folded Indian style and hands joined in a Namaste. Dean would just look up from his bunk and there he would be meditating on the top in his boxers and a loose tank, eyes closed, back ramrod straight. It was funny, Dean actually cracked a smile.

For the next few days he stuck to Cas. Going around with him to the school which was about a mile and a half away, and then back. Cas didn't seem to mind. In fact, he seemed to enjoy Dean's company. Dean would be lying if he said he had been used to something like that before.

On the outside, it looked like Cas was taking him around the place, showing him the ropes and such, but in the few minutes they managed to snatch away from the prying eye, they were always plotting.

Dean realized one thing. It was hard. Finding Sam was going to be hard as hell. Even harder than what he thought it was going to be.

Sam had been 6 months old when he was thrown into an orphanage, and as Cas pointed out, it might have been completely another orphanage. He might have been transferred here and it could be as recent as a couple of months ago or as old as a few years.

Dean was also curious about his fellow roommates. Cas said they were nice boys, but Dean had his reservations. Gabriel, or Gabe, as Cas called him, was loud and obnoxious, he had the cheesy behavior, but his whiskey colored eyes were always full of mischief, like he knew something about you that you didn't know yourself. His brown hair was on the longer side, and his smile dripped cunningness. Gabriel's bed was always littered with chocolate wrappers. Even though it was against the rules to get stuff like that from outside, no one seemed to rat Gabriel out. It was as Cas had said, he had one up on everyone. Gabriel didn't show any particular interest in wanting to get to know Dean, and Dean was thankful for that. Gabriel smelled trouble, and he didn't want any of it.

The other roommate was silent and kept to himself, but that made Dean even more wary of him. Benny wasn't in the face like Gabe, but he was just there, observing everything quietly. It was unsettling, like everything he did was being watched, was being noted. To add to that, he never seemed to sleep… like some sort of a vampire. It was disconcerting enough that he was now confiding everything in Cas when he had promised himself that this was going to be his own battle to fight. Now he had gone ahead and included Cas in it.

But, boy, it relieving.

Cas was just as excited to find Sam. He went over the whole management system with Dean. The place was owned by a Styne family. The head, Eldon, barely ever showed, about twice or thrice in a year. Andy was the one who managed everything. He knew that Michael and his little parade of goons were up to something, but as long as everyone remained scared of Michael, it maintained the place in order, so he turned a blind eye towards that, until something brought it to glaring attention, like Gabriel's little stunt the other day would have.

In the coming week, Dean learnt the hierarchy. Michael's two main supports were Gary and Raphael. Cas had warned him to not cross paths with them, because after what had happened, they wouldn't waste a second before ratting him out.

It was Cas' brilliant plan to sneak into the record room in the evening when everyone was out in the grounds playing and having fun. It would have worked well, but just as they were about to sneak into the record room, Andy called out to them.

"Winchester!"

Dean stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes, praying that he wouldn't get caught.

"What're you doing here?" Then Andy realised that Dean wasn't alone. "You're hanging out with Castiel?"

"Is that a bad thing?" Cas asked, voice feebly brave.

Andy smirked. "Not really. Didn't expect you to hang out is all. What're you doing inside at this time?"

"Thought I'd take Dean around the library," Cas managed, effortlessly.

The older man eyed them, especially Cas, then shrugged. "Fine, if you're gonna nerd out together. Just lock the door when you're done. I'm not waiting back till you two are done. I have a hot date."

That was too much information, but the moment Andy turned, Dean exchanged an excited look with his friend. They were alone now.

Ascertaining that Andy was truly gone, the two of them rushed to the record room and shut the door behind them, facing the rows and rows of filing.

"This is going to take ages, isn't it?" Dean mumbled.

A corner of Cas' mouth pulled down. "Guess so."

They set to work anyway, trying to figure out the system of filing. After half an hour of going through the pile, Dean finally said out loud what was on his mind. "Why did Andy sound like he wasn't expecting me to hang out with you?"

Cas wasn't visible to Dean, as he was working on the rack after his, but his hushed voice was still audible. "Let's just say I'm not the most sought out kid here."

"What does that mean?"

A sigh.

"This place is like the jungle. Survival of the fittest and all that… You look like you could fit right in with the predators."

What Cas meant was pretty clear. Dean gave off that vibe, what with the sullen looks and his dad's overlarge leather jacket, he would be expected to hang out with idiots like Michael and his gang. He would be expected to give in to their stupid initiation test, lick Michael's ass and raise to the ranks of the bullies instead of being bullied.

"I'm the nerd of sorts. I let people be," Cas added.

Something still didn't add up. From what Dean had seen, Cas wasn't a bully, but he wasn't bullied either.

"That first night," Dean said slowly, weighing his words, "Michael could have easily hurt you, or his guy Gary, instead they just restrained you and shoved you around. Why?"

Another sigh. Apparently Dean was asking all the questions that Cas didn't want to answer… but he did anyway.

"Michael and I… Well, we go back a long way. We come from the same orphanage. I've known him as long as I remember… He's the closest thing that I have to a…"

"Brother," Dean completed. The word hung awkwardly between them.

"He's not a bad person," Cas said, "Just angry and bitter. Life hasn't been fair to him."

Who had life been fair to? Dean thought. If that had been the case, none of the 712 boys would be rotting here at the home. He didn't say that out loud though.

"I figured it out!" Cas exclaimed, all of a sudden. "I figured out the filing system!"

He bent around the rack to see Dean, blue eyes wide with excitement. "These are stacked according to the year. That means the one who came first, the box would be at the very end."

"Great!" Dean groaned. "Now we have to find out when Sam got put into this one, too."

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

It took more than a couple of weeks.

Mostly because Andy didn't have a date everyday to abandon his post, but also because Dean had his share of duties, too. The cleaning, the washing, the babysitting duties for the little kids.

Sometimes, Gary and Raphael would cross him in the corridors, a few more of the older kids would give him looks, but for the most part everyone just ignored him. Who was he but another sheep added to an overly large flock? No one cared.

He quickly realised one thing though, if it hadn't been for Cas, it would have been a lonely existence. Gabriel, he learned, had been from the same orphanage as Cas, too. They had been transferred here about 8 years back. Benny was new, but Benny also didn't care. The place could go down in a tornado and he still wouldn't care.

Through the chores, the school and the scheming, Dean couldn't help but look around the kids bunking on the 4th floor, searching for eyes that looked like his, a gait like his or a crooked smile here and there. There were at least 100 of them aged 11 to 14. How was he ever going to find Sam.

"Tell me what you remember about him most clearly?" Cas asked one evening as he dumped the contents of pale brown box on the floor of the record room.

Dean thought for a second before replying. "I think it's the smile."

"Smile?" Cas asked pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah. I'd tell him that we could practice ball when he grew up and he'd recognize my voice and smile."

That wasn't a helpful detail. Cas knew all the kids, but that didn't help if Dean couldn't remember how to pinpoint it. There had to be something distinctive about him that Dean could remember. Something that would help.

"Tell you what? If you keep going at it, you'll remember something helpful I'm sure."

The comment was encouraging but Dean wasn't sure if he had it in him.

"So, what's your story?" Dean asked, more to distract Cas from the conversation.

"My story?"

"Yeah."

Cas scratched his black hair. "There is nothing to it. My memory begins in an orphanage. Seems like my folks weren't interested in me from the get go."

Must be hard, Dean thought, to know that you were never loved enough. Sure he had to deal with the searing pain of losing his mom and dad like that, but at least he knew it in his bones that they had loved him. Did that make losing them worse? Probably. But was the possibility of love better than never having been loved at all?

"So who gave you your name?"

Cas surprised Dean by grinning sheepishly. "Someone at the old orphanage was a bible freak. They named all the kids after angels. Michael, Rapahel, Gabriel, Castiel… see where this is going? Basically, if you find a biblical name around here, you know where the kid came from, yeah? Kind of makes the distinction easy. Right, Dean… Dean?"

Dean had gone shock still.

"Dean, you okay?"

"How old were you when you came here?" Dean asked, urgently, dread growing in his chest.

"4 months," Cas answered, "We found my file the other day, didn't we?"

"Yes! But we went through all the files from that year and we didn't find Gabriel's. He was put in the same year, too. That means-"

"There are missing records?" Cas completed, voice hollow.

Dean stumbled back into the cabinet, the file he was holding slipping out of his hand. If Sam's records were misplaced, they could go through these files their whole life and never find Sam.

"Don't give up, Dean," Cas whispered, but the words fell on deaf ears. He should have known that this was too good to be true, too easy. As if just by looking at all these folders he was supposed to find his brother.

As if after everything, things were just going to go back to normal.

Dean skipped dinner that night. Cas called him, but he just pretended to be asleep, till Cas had gone away. The darkness of the room wasn't enough to shroud the hopelessness that he felt within. What was he doing in this alien place. Dean didn't belong here. He missed the dry heat of the place that he thought of as home, now. Missed the stains of dark grease, the damn smell of a garage on rainy thundering nights.

It was thundering that night, too.

The sky cracked and lightening thundered in the dark sky. Dean held on to the crib tighter.

"Shhhh… Sammy," he said running his fingers over his brothers forehead. "It's gonna be alright."

"C'mon, let's say goodnight to your brother," his mom reminded him lovingly from behind as she turned the lights off.

Dean leaned over and kissed Sam on his forehead. "Night, Sam."

"Good night, love," his mom said, lightly brushing Sam's brown hair back, and following Dean's suit and kissing him, too. Dean pushed back into her. He loved the way his mom smelled. Tangy like apples.

"Hey, Dean."

Dean turned to see his dad standing in the doorway, a light smile playing on his lips. Dean immediately rushed over and threw himself at him. "Daddy!"

His dad scooped Dean up. "Hey buddy!" Then he raised his hand, which Dean high-fived.

"So what do you think? You think Sammy's ready to toss around a football yet?"

Dean turned back to look and his little brother, then shook his head, laughing. "No, Daddy."

Dad laughed. "I don't think so, either."

Just then mom passed them both, ruffling his hair. "You got him?" She asked dad.

"I got him," dad winked at Dean, then looked over at Sammy. "Sweet dreams, Sam."

He's asleep soon. Then awake. Too suddenly.

His mom screamed.

"No! Mary!" His dad yelled "No!"

Dean jumped out of bed and ran towards the noise. His mom and dad sounded scared. It was too warm… hot.

There was a fire in Sam's room, Dad was there… no mom.

"Dean!" His dad called.

"Daddy!"

His dad was scared, sweating and hurt. In his hand was a little bundle. Sammy.

He thrust Sam into Dean's hands, his back to the blazing fire. Dean's eyes were burning. He couldn't see mom.

"Take your brother outside as fast as you can and don't look back! Now, Dean, go!"

Dad pushed him hard, towards the stairs. He held Sam tightly and made a run for it, till he was outside the door and into the lawn.

"It's okay, Sammy," he whispered. "I gotcha."

Then the window blasted and the whole house exploded in fire.

Dean sat up bolt in his bed, sweating, heart trying to beat out of his chest. He blinked his eyes not just to be rid of the moisture there but also to figure out where the hell he was. It took a couple of seconds, but then it all came to him. He was at a boys' home. Cas was snoring lightly above him. Gabriel not so lightly next to him.

The tiny digital clock on the rickety table read 00:17.

Dean tried to breathe normally, but gave up after a couple of minutes. He wasn't going to get any peace with the rate at which his heart was going, or how clammy he suddenly felt. The very dread he had been trying to run away from all evening, had finally caught up with him and how.

Denial was a crappy coping mechanism. He knew that, he had always known that. But what else did he have?

Getting up, he made his way to the bathrooms at the very end of the corridor, and splashed water on his face. Dean immediately felt a little better. The cold water seemed to help with frayed nerves. So, he splashed his face once more, running the water over his hands too. Not knowing what else to do, he strolled along the long passageway and came to rest in front of the staircase grill that locked everyone on to the floor. The light breeze coming in from the window opposite to the grill was calming. Dean slid down along the length of the grill to the floor, staring up at the dark sky, barely illuminated by the crescent shaped moon.

"Can't fall asleep?" The quiet voice made him jump out of his skin.

"What the fuck!" Dean swore, his barely in control heartbeat accelerating again, as he tried to look for the person in the dark.

"Sorry," the voice apologized sincerely. "I didn't mean to scare you or anything."

Dean squinted in the darkness, finally spotting the person. On the other side of the grill, on the opposite end from him was another shadow, mirroring his exact pose, huddled with his back against the grill.

"I can't sleep, either," the kid said, not deterred by Dean's lack of response. "Still, sorry for creeping up on you."

"That's okay," Dean said, not wanting to give away that he actually had been frightened.

"You new?"

Dean shrugged, then remembered it was actually too dark to see anything. "Yeah."

"It can be hard," the boy said. "Lot of new admits find it tough to adjust."

Was the kid patronising him?

"Not much of a talker, I see," said the kid. "I'm gonna shut up now."

It made Dean smirk despite himself. "What're you doing up?"

The voice perked up at some response. "I got a math Olympiad, tomorrow. I suck at it."

"You're up because you're nervous about a silly test?"

It brought Dean up short. It shocked him that there were kids here with normal fears, like tests and exams. Not everyone was on a mission to find long lost brothers. How stupid of him to just overlook that? It made him feel out of place.

"Like you've never been worried about an exam before? And it’s not a silly test, It could be my one way ticket into a University." He'd offended the kid. Must be what? Around 11 or 12 years of age. Couldn't be less than that since he bunked on the 4th floor.

"You're just like the other big guys," the kid muttered.

"It's not like that," Dean said. "I'm just distracted." Why was he explaining this to the kid anyway?

"That's fine," came the reply, chirpy again, apparently satisfied with Dean's half-hearted explanation. "I know the sort of crap that goes on up on your floor."

"Know something about that, huh?"

"Everyone does."

Fair enough. "I'm not a favourite," Dean warned. "It'd be better for you to not be found chumming up with me."

"I don't care." The answer was firm. steely. "I hate bullies."

The word 'hate' somehow sounded harsh coming from a soft voice like that. Dean had to raise an eyebrow.

They sat in silence for a while. Dean let his mind wander through all that had happened today. Sam's smile kept invading his mind. His light eyes, his brown hair.

"Brown hair!" Dean yelped.

"What?"

"Nothing," Dean said, more to himself than the kid. "He had brown hair." Like their dad's… lighter, but still definitely brown.

Dean couldn't give up now. Not when he was already in here. He couldn't stop looking for Sam. If he didn't give it his best shot, he'd regret it all his life. He would go through every damn file, tear the place apart if it means that he could find his brother again.

"Are you alright?" The voice on the other side sounded vaguely concerned, as if not anxious about Dean per se, but doubting his mental health.

Dean didn't care. At last, he could actually breathe. Freely.

"Hey, kid, thanks!"

"For what?" Perplexed.

"Nothing," Dean almost grinned. "Good luck with your test… uh Olympiad tomorrow," he said, getting up and dusting his clothes.

"Thanks, I guess?" The voice trailed behind him as Dean walked back to his room. He fell on the bed fully clothed.

Tomorrow would be a new day, and he would try again… and again and again till he succeeded.

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

A/N 2: I really really hope y’all like this story!! Please let me know what you think… the feedback is what keeps me going :)

If you wanna be tagged, please send me an ask

About a Boy taglist:

@sdavid09 @deanssweetheart23 @blacktithe7 @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @cosicas-cuquis @chalicia @anathewierdo @mrswhozeewhatsis @protectteamfreewill @firefly124-writing @spnbaby-67 @hoboal87 @rizlow1 @donnaintx @starmission @gh0stgurl @tftumblin @emily-a-c11 @ericaprice2008 @jotink78 @charliebradbury1104 @ohgodwhybloggg @i-dont-get-cold @bobbie3939

#dean winchester fanfiction #spn fanfiction #dean fanfiction #supernatural fanfiction #dean winchester #Ana writes Dean #Ana writes aab #aab 3 #anawrites #anawritesspn #q

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generallynerdy · 6 years ago

Text

Babysitting (Carol Danvers & Sister!Reader)

first 10 minutes of endgame spoilers im warning u

Summary: When Carol goes to find Tony Stark and company on Titan, she regretfully has to leave behind her little sister, (Y/N). She isn’t pleased with the arrangement, at least until she discovers a raccoon and a particularly friendly cat in the compound.

Requested by & Anon: I'd love a Carol Danvers x little sister! Reader who loves animals! Like, she takes care of Goose and she loves Rocket, even though he insists he's not a raccoon

Key: (Y/N) - your name Warnings: nova calls the Decimation by the Snap bc that’s clearly what it should’ve been called, Cursing Probably, f l u f f, insinuations of death by plum-man Word Count: 2,202

Note: this focuses a lot on the avengers w/her sister sorry not sorry it’s cute and i needed to write rhodey tbh

“Woah!” The little girl gasped. “This place is so big!”

She was led along, hand in hand with a blonde woman in a sort of suit of red, blue, and gold. She skipped as she went, little stuffed dog wrapped tightly in her free arm. Her companion took her to a massive compound that looked relatively empty.

The blonde laughed. “Yeah, it’s pretty big, huh?”

“Carol,” the little girl whined as they got halfway across the building’s huge lobby. “Up.”

Carol leaned down, plucking her tiny partner from the ground and scooping her into her arms. “You are needy, you know that?” She teased, booping the child’s nose.

She giggled and shoved her hands away, using the stuffed puppy to cover her face from further attack. “Do you have to go?” She whined suddenly.

“(Y/N), I wouldn’t leave you if I didn’t have to,” Carol sighed.

Carol went to brush her little sister’s hair behind her ear, but her hand was shoved away spitefully. She didn’t want to leave her baby sister, but sometimes duty called. In this particular case, she was headed out to find a certain Tony Stark and company, who were hopefully on Titan.

“Ah, there you are--” Someone said before stopping.

Carol stopped as they approached the elevators and ran into a redhead, who stopped them there. “(Y/N),” Carol said to the girl in her arms, “This is Natasha.”

“Hi,” (Y/N) whispered, waving shyly at her and burying her face in her stuffed friend.

Her older sister smiled fondly. “She’s gonna help take care of you while I’m gone.”

“I don’t wanna go,” she whined again. “I wanna stay with you and go save people, Carol, please!”

Carol sighed and kissed her forehead. “I know, kiddo. But this one will be faster if I do it myself. They’re gonna take really good care of you and I’ll be back before you know it. Okay?”

“Okay,” she whispered, though reluctantly.

“Can you take her?” Carol asked Natasha. “They’re waiting for me in the hangar.”

Natasha nodded and was soon given the terrified child. Carol kissed her on the cheek once more and was gone, (Y/N) waving miserably after her.

“I know being left with strangers is horrible and scary,” Natasha said to the girl once her sister was gone. “But we’re gonna make the best of it.”

(Y/N) nodded slowly, but her expression didn’t change. She was scared out of her mind.

Natasha didn’t try to force her to talk, as she knew that would only make her more uncomfortable. So, she took her upstairs instead, hoping that the others would be able to make her more comfortable with things. After all, she could be stuck with them for days before Carol came back.

The pair walked into the meeting room, where part of what was left of the Avengers gathered. Thor had yet to show, rather preoccupied with setting his people up in a new place to live, but Steve was downstairs sending Carol off.

Bruce and Rhodey were the only ones in there, as well as Rocket, who was closest to the door. (Y/N) spotted him first.

“A raccoon!” She gasped.

The others looked up instantly at that, Bruce shooting Nat a confused expression. She just smiled a little and shook her head at (Y/N)’s reaction.

“Why do people keep saying that?” Rocket huffed, not quite realising that a child had said it. “I’m not a raccoon!”

“Guys, this is (Y/N),” Natasha said, kneeling to the ground to put the girl down. “Carol’s little sister.”

Rhodey raised an eyebrow. “Hi, (Y/N). I’m Rhodey. This is Bruce.”

“That’s Rocket,” Nat added, gesturing to the raccoon.

The girl nodded a little before wandering over to Rocket, who looked terrified at this action. She just kind of pet his ear, giggling a little.

“You’re so fluffy,” she said.

He couldn’t help smiling slightly. “Yeah, one of my best qualities.”

Meanwhile, Nat sat beside the other two men in the room, sighing as she did. She didn’t want to make them help her watch (Y/N), nor did she want them to do so at all. They were grieving, all of them. They didn’t need this. But, of course, they were heroes and they would offer to anyway.

“How long are we babysitting?” Rhodey asked.

“Who knows?” Nat sighed. “Until Carol gets back.”

Bruce moved from the table to kneel in front of (Y/N), who had moved away from Rocket to the computers on one side of the room. They displayed the faces of the missing and, frankly, he didn’t want her to ask about them, so he decided to distract her instead.

“Hey, (Y/N), what do you do for fun?”

(Y/N) put a hand to her chin thoughtfully. “Carol likes taking me to new planets! And sometimes we sing to old songs on the way there or play hide n’ seek in the ship!”

“Hide and seek, huh?” Bruce asked with a small smile. “Do you wanna play that?”

“Yeah!” She exclaimed, hopping up and down. “You seek and I’ll hide! But you hafta count to 200, ‘cause that’s how much we count in big places.”

Nat barely held in a laugh and Rhodey failed entirely. The kid was adorable. Maybe she was what they needed around here.

“Okay, 200. Got it,” Bruce said. “Ready?”

By the time he was at 5, (Y/N) had sprinted out of the room, tiny stuffed dog in hand.

Rhodey didn’t have much to do at the compound except worry about Tony. So, he took to pacing the halls, finding unexplored rooms that had been abandoned since the Snap. What he didn’t expect to find when he turned a corner was little (Y/N) tugging at a stuck door with all her might.

He laughed at the sight, glancing down the hall, but seeing no one. So, he approached the kid.

“Uh, hey,” he said suddenly. “What are you doing?”

“Tryna get in,” she answered bluntly.

Rhodey had a silly grin on his face. “Aren’t you supposed to be playing hide and seek with Bruce?”

She shrugged. “He’s bad at seeking. And Nicky’s office won’t open.”

“Nicky…?” Rhodey asked. He glanced at the name on the door and stopped cold. Nicholas J Fury. “You know Fury?”

“Uh huh!” (Y/N) said proudly, still pulling at the door handle. “Carol tells me stories about him for bedtime. Like when they saved the world from Kree! That’s my favourite.”

Rhodes shook his head a little. “Here, lemme help you with that.”

He managed to get the door unstuck and followed the girl inside, viewing the office with a sense of reminiscence. He was too busy looking around to realise that (Y/N) was looking for something-- or someone-- in particular.

“Goose!” She whisper-called. “Goosey, Goose, Goose. Where are you?”

When Rhodey did hear he, he tilted his head. “Goose? What are you--?”

He was interrupted by a meow and watched in awe as a ginger cat appeared from behind Fury’s desk. It greeted (Y/N) instantly with purrs, making her giggle and pet it lovingly.

“There you are!” She cooed.

“I didn’t know Fury had a cat…” He muttered.

(Y/N) picked up the cat and held it up, looking into its blank eyes. “You’re even cuter in real life! Carol’s gonna be so happy I found you!”

“Did your sister tell you stories about Goose, too?”

“Yeah!” (Y/N) exclaimed. “She’s like the coolest pet ever.”

Rhodey hummed. “Didn’t take Fury for a cat person. Or a pet person.”

“Goose isn’t a cat,” she huffed. “Goose is a Flerken. She’s way better than any cat. Isn’t that right, Goosey?”

“Mrrow?”

He simply paused, looking between the girl and the cat, the latter of whom stared back somewhat eerily. “Flerken. Right.” He furrowed his eyebrows, muttering to himself. “What the hell’s a Flerken?”

(Y/N) was at the compound a little longer than they had anticipated, but they quickly got into a routine with her. Natasha, Rhodey, and Steve were in charge of making sure she got food and everything else she needed, while Bruce and Rocket were in charge of fun. Thor wasn’t in the mood. Nobody else really was either, but they were willing to put aside some things so that (Y/N) was taken care of.

One night, as Steve was tucking her in, she asked him something.

“Steve?” She called before he could close the door. “Can you tell me a story?”

The captain stopped dead in his tracks and turned to her with a little smile. “A story?”

“Carol tells me stories,” (Y/N) whispered quietly.

So, he pulled up a chair beside her bed and settled in. The girl was just missing her big sister. He wanted to give her as much comfort as he could until she came back. Goose was pretty helpful when it came to that. In fact, she was curled up beside the little girl, looking like she was waiting for a bedtime story, too.

“What kind of story do you wanna hear?” Steve asked.

Her answer was instant. “Carol tells me stories about when she was in the air force. Or when she and Nicky saved the world.”

“Okay…” he paused, exhaling sharply. “I’ve got one.”

So, he told her about the time he and his best friend, Bucky, went to the Stark Expo. He also mentioned how he tried to illegally sign up to fight in the war, which she thought was funny. He didn’t go much further than that, but he did linger on Bucky a little.

“Carol has a Bucky,” (Y/N) yawned when he finished his story.

Steve raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah?”

“Uh huh. Her name’s Marie,” the girl said. “We go visit her an’ Monica-- that’s her daughter-- a lot. But we don’t tell Nicky when we come visit, ‘cause we visit a lot.”

“Is this the Marie that was a pilot, too?”

(Y/N) nodded drowsily, smiling before frowning. “I asked Carol if we could visit ‘em this time, but she said we can’t. D’you know why?”

Steve’s heart broke. He couldn’t be sure, but he had a pretty damn good hunch on why (Y/N) and Carol wouldn’t get to visit Marie and Monica. It took everything in him to lie to this kid, to tell her something that was so far from the truth.

“No, I don’t,” he lied through his teeth. “But maybe you’ll get to see them before you leave.”

“I hope so,” she muttered as he went to leave her room. “G’night.”

“Goodnight. Sleep well, kiddo.”

(Y/N) stumbled into the kitchen one morning, Goose following her as she carried her stuffed friend there. The cat followed her pretty much everywhere.

A gasp left the little girl’s lips at the sight of a familiar blonde head of hair.

“CAROL!”

She ran into her big sister’s arms, laughing excitedly.

“Oh, there’s my girl,” Carol groaned at the impact of the attack hug, kneeling down to her sister’s level. “I told you I’d be back before you knew it.”

“Lookie who I found!” (Y/N) said, rushing over to Goose.

She picked the cat up and showed her to Carol, who smiled instantly at the sight. It was a bittersweet smile as she remembered why Goose was all alone in the compound, but a smile nonetheless.

“Hi, Goose,” she greeted softly, grinning when the cat rubbed up against her fondly. “Remember me?”

(Y/N) giggled. “Of course she does!”

“You know what, kiddo?” Carol asked, not noticing the smiles on the faces of her fellow Avengers, who were scattered about the room. “I have a surprise for you, too.”

“You do?” (Y/N) gasped.

Carol nodded. “I made breakfast-- French Toast!”

“YAY!” The girl squealed, racing to find a chair at the table as her sister went to grab her food. “Can Goose have some, too?”

Goose climbed up on the chair beside her, almost on cue.

Carol laughed. “Yes, Goose can have some, too.”

She placed one plate in front of her sister and a smaller one in front of the Flerken, who was practically drooling in anticipation. (Y/N) dug in, but Goose had to hop up on the table to reach her food.

The other Avengers watched with small smiles as the Flerken nudged her food experimentally with her nose. Carol waited. It was gonna be perfect.

Goose’s mouth snapped open and tentacles cascaded from deep in her throat. She gobbled up the French Toast in seconds, doing it so quickly that (Y/N) barely saw it. The kid knew the stories about the Flerken, though. The Avengers did not.

“Jesus--” Bruce gasped out when the tentacles disappeared.

All of them were wide-eyed and fearful, some even backing up a little ways away.

(Y/N) giggled at Rhodey’s face particularly. “I told you she wasn’t a cat! Goose is a Flerken! Isn’t that right, Goosey?”

Goose rubbed her chin against the girl’s outstretched hand, purring up a storm. “Mrow!”

“Okay, that I get Fury having as a pet,” he whispered. “That’s freaky. That’s-- that’s terrifying is what that is.”

Masterlist

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pinkbubbles-and-bigtroubles · 5 years ago

Text

Evil Author Day

Hey everyone!! Sorry I’m late. I didn’t know this was a thing until I was already at work for a double today. I’m probably one of the slowest writers on here so I really only have two current WIPs.

This one is “Sky Made of Amethyst” about Luke and Izzy. This was inspired by my many mistakes in romance and esp the most recent one. This is also the fic I told @noshamenion about that features Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin

"We don't know many girls willing play against us," Tyler told Izzy and she snorted with laughter. Gemma racked the balls and Izzy took the break shot, sinking two immediately.

"Stripes," she declared smiling sweetly at Tyler.

"You boys are lucky we're not teamed up against you," Izzy told him and all the guys cracked up.

They were halfway through their game when Izzy felt her phone blowing up. Gemma heard it too and managed to swipe it from her before she could check it.

After Gemma made an impossible shot Jamie laughed and threw his hands up, "ok I gotta know how you two became pool sharks."

"Our first apartment was above the photography studio I worked for and there was this tiny bar down the street with dollar drafts, a jukebox and a couple pool tables. They never checked my ID so we hung out there quite a bit," Izzy told him before calling her shot.

"The owner's wife would often make some kind of meal for the day drinkers. It was usually carnitas, chicken tinga, something like that," Gemma picked up the story when Izzy stopped to get a drink. She paused, rolling her eyes when Tyler missed his shot. "Eyes on the prize ya fuckin bellend," she scolded him, "I'm not trying to lose because you're distracted by her tits, focus man.

"Anyways," Gemma continued "one of the regulars used to be a pro and he gave us more than a few tips." She called her shot lined up and just barely banked it in.

"Ooh you got lucky there," Izzy teased her.

"Last shot for the win," Gemma proclaimed before hitting it perfectly.

Izzy laughed, "You're always so competitive Gemma. Next round is guys vs girls though." She lowered her voice and she got closer, "I need my phone back."

"No you don't," Gemma told her. "Spend time with Jamie, you look so happy and relaxed."

"So it is Luke," Izzy sighed. "Just give it to me or I'm gonna tie myself in knots wondering."

Gemma sighed and rolled her eyes, "Fine, i think you're making a mistake."

Izzy stepped away from the group, and unlocked her phone by swiping an L. She instantly saw a flurry of texts from Luke.

Happy birthday baby, I can't believe I missed it. Where are you?

I wanna come see you, baby please. I don't like that you're hanging out with other dudes. I saw him hanging all over you

I saw Vy tagged you on Instagram. So I know you're out tonight. You're looking good tonight babe, let me show you Iz

I know I fucked up and you're trying to prove a point but don't be like this,

That's that hockey player from Texas isn't it? The one you said had a girlfriend? So who was lying about that you or him?

Izzy baby, I know you're probably mad but don't be childish and hook up with this guy just to get back at me. We should be past that petty bullshit, I thought we were doing better.

Come on Izzy Why are you ignoring me? Don't be like a bitch, talk to me baby.. You know how much I like you I don't want it to be like this

Vy tagged where you're at so I'm gonna come find my girl. Idk who I gotta deal with, you're not going home with anyone but me

Izzy felt the blood rushing to her face and pounding in her ears. Gemma's voice played in her head on repeat, "selfish, selfish, selfish," as Izzy realized Luke still hadn't apologized. He was, as always, worried he wouldn't get what he wanted rather than putting Izzy's feelings first. If he couldn't make her a priority on her birthday then he never would.

Don't you dare show up here. I'm not hooking up, I'm having fun, I know you might not understand that concept. We made plans Luke, and you stood me up. For our first "real date" even...ON…. MY….BIRTHDAY. Don't you dare turn around and make me seem like I'm the bad person for going out with my friends. You could've been here with us but you couldn't be bothered. Not only that you haven't even said you're sorry so GET FUCKED!!!

Izzy hit send and went to shove her phone into her dress pocket but almost dropped it because her hands were shaking. Gemma, who'd been watching her, was at her side in a flash, "you ok Izzy? Do you need to get some air? Take a minute?"

Izzy took a deep breath and looked over where Saul had teamed up with Tyler to take on the other two hockey players. Jamie was next to Vy, cheering from the sidelines while keeping a discreet eye on the two girls. Izzy couldn't help but stare at his strong legs, broad chest and easy smile.

"I think Luke might have done me a favor really," Izzy swooned and Gemma couldn't agree more, even if she knew her friend didn't entirely mean it. Izzy silenced her phone and handed her it to Gemma.

"I don't want to be that person tonight. I'm tired of this shit. Hang onto this for awhile, and I'll tell you when I need it back.," Izzy told her, pushing Luke out of her mind as best she could.

She walked back over to Jamie suddenly feeling very shy. Izzy stood off to the side a bit so he leaned down to talk to her, "Are you ok? Do you need to go? Do you want to sit down?"

"No I'm good," Izzy told him.

"Maybe we can talk later, let's see who wins this game then it's girls vs boys right?" Jamie stood behind her and pulled her back into him so she leaned her head against his chest and his arms wrapped around her shoulders. Izzy relaxed into him and he pressed a kiss onto the top of her head making her giggle.

Gemma took the opportunity to check her own phone.

Maybe we can talk later, let's see who wins this game then it's girls vs boys right?" Jamie stood behind her and pulled her back into him so she leaned her head against his chest and his arms wrapped around her shoulders. Izzy relaxed into him and he pressed a kiss onto the top of her head making her giggle.

Gemma took the opportunity to check her own phone.

Looks like we're both on babysitting duty tonight, you with Izzy and me with Luke. I hope Izzy is having more fun. Luke is an absolute mess.

Good! He fucking deserves this, I'm sorry your night is going to shit, but I've got no sympathy for him.

He wants me to bring him to Tia's so he can talk to Izzy, but those are some pretty big dudes hanging with you guys, even I feel a bit threatened.

Hahaha don't... I'm having fun and kicking ass at pool but I wish you were here. I'll definitely be by later so wait up

Oh trust me darling, I plan on fucking you until you forget how to spell hockey

Ooh you're so cute when you're jealous

Well you're cute all the time so I gotta keep my guard up. At least until everyone knows about us

Patience sweetheart, I gotta go play but please don't bring Luke here. I will personally beat his ass and then have sex with you next to the broken hull that was once his body.

"Whatcha doing," a voice behind her made her jump.

Gemma spun around to see Tyler with a smirk, "you gotta quit doing that," she scolded him.

"Not a chance," he laughed before his face went serious. "I don't want to be nosy, but what's the deal with Izzy? She's mad at her boyfriend and Jamie is revenge? I hope that's not what this is, she seems like a nice girl…"

"So why are you in their business?" Gemma snapped. "Jamie is a big boy, can't he handle himself?"

"Ok listen," Tyler hissed back. "He's very very recently single, in fact we're here in part for this charity event and partly because Lily's moving out of his house this week." Gemma was taken aback and he softened his tone. " He's still hurting and dealing with a lot of shit, but I think he likes Izzy. I'd hate for him to get led on if she's already got a man."

Gemma rubbed her temples, "she doesn't have a man, she has a Luke. A selfish prick who stood her up on her birthday after making a big deal out of making plans. Maybe both of them just need to be around someone who knows what they're dealing with."

@maluminspace @kiiiimberlyriiiicker1995 @sexgodashton @irwinkitten @angelbabylu @dammitbands @tea4sykes @sublimehood

#evil author day #sky made of amethyst #luke hemmings #luke hemmings snippet #5sos #luke 5sos #jamie benn #tyler seguin #calum hood imagine

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natashaashleymarvelromanoff · 5 years ago

Text

ISGYB - Oneshots

The Most Beautiful Sight

link to my masterlist for my original story and other one-shots --> Masterlist

Never in a million years did she think she would ever see this place again.

She thought herself privileged to even see this room in the first place 6 years ago. And she would have been grateful if it was just that one time. But yet, here she was, once again. On the 21st of April 2025.

Sitting in a hospital bed, holding her daughter. Her daughter.

The daughter she thought she'd never had. The daughter she was currently holding just because of steve. Steve, the man who came back to her. The man she loved. The man who gave her the best things in her world. Things she could only have ever dreamed of having years ago. Her son James and her daughter. Sarah

As she tiredly gazes down at the little one in her arms, Natasha can only focus on her little girls face. Sarah's mouth was slightly open and her tongue only just poking out. Her skin was so pink and new. Not to mention the full head of hair she already had. All of it red. Just as deep as hers. But her eyes. They were all steves, Not a single fleck of green.

It was quite amazing how both of her children were blessed with different features. Both of them the opposite of each other. But still, both perfect.

Steve had been by her side every second. Holding her hand, stroking the sweaty pieces of hair out of her face. Even sitting behind her and rubbing her back through each contraction. It didn't matter how much she had shouted at him or squeezed his hand. He never left her side. To be fair, this was the first time he had ever experienced this. He wanted to do everything right. The only time he had left her side was just about 10 minutes ago.

Some of their friends and family had come to the hospital to be there for the two of them, and some had stayed back. Two of which were looking after James for them whilst they were at the hospital.

After she had gone into labour, she and Steve had instantly called the dynamic duo, bucky and sam to ask if they would take James to the compound for a while until the baby was born. To which they both happily obliged. They'd also been tasked with babysitting duty by tony and pepper too, taking care of morgan also so they could come to the hospital. It wasn't long ago that the two avengers had made their way over with both kids, and Natasha guessed that right now, morgan had probably run over to her parents and was asking a million questions about her and the baby, and steve was excitedly trying to tell James about herself and the baby whilst also trying to break up whatever argument or bickering that sam and bucky had gotten themselves into again.

Which left her here. In her room, holding her baby girl.

But then the door started to open, Natasha's eyes snapped up, expecting to see her son and steve making their way in but to her utter surprise it was neither. The person who had walked into her room was an older woman. With a face that Natasha instantly recognised.

Elizabeth?

Surprise was shown on her Natasha's face instantly whereas the older lady's face showed happiness.

“Elizabeth?” Natasha whispered over her breath. The midwife heard and just waved a hand, coming closer into the room until she was at Natasha bedside.

“Oh, I'm surprised you remembered this old face of mine.” Natasha let herself smile at Elizabeth’s teasing, but her eyes remained soft with respect and adoration.

“Of course I would, you helped me a lot that day.” Elizabeth’s smile remained wide.

“It's so good to see you again. When the ladies told me that Natasha Romanoff was in this room I just had to come and see for myself.”

The redhead let out a small laugh at that, being careful not to move her body so she wouldn't disturb her baby. Sarah wasn't asleep but Natasha didn't want to cause her to cry by any sudden movements. The baby seemed quite content just sitting awake listening to the woman speak.

“I didn't realise all those years ago who you were. I'm getting old, I don’t keep up with superhero stuff as the kids do. But when everyone came back and the news told us all about what happened, who saved everyone. It clicked. Your little boy, his father was Captain America.”

Natasha nodded, deciding to listen to all the midwife had to say.

“You brought everyone back, including him. That little one your holding…”

“Yeah, she is,” Natasha answers her question before she can even ask. She knew the midwife was struggling to find the words to ask. A question of if her and steve reunited and if the baby she is holding is theirs.

At Natasha's answer, Elizabeth's smile gets even bigger. Over the moon that Natasha and steve had once again come back to each other and created a new life.

“Oh, that's amazing. I'm truly happy for you, both of you. How is your son? He must be so big now than when I saw him.”

“He's amazing. Just like his dad. Steves bringing him to see us soon. He just turned 6.”

“6? Oh, I am getting old.” Elizabeth laughs along with Natasha. Still amazed to realise that little James is now 6. But soon she remembers why she came up to see the redhead. Papers and documents. Just like last time. In her daze of laughter, Elizabeth leans over to pull the table out at Natasha's side, placing the papers on top. But before she can get a chance to sign them, the door opens once more.

Both women turn their heads, the sound of steps filling their ears as a tall man holding a child make their way into the room.

“Mommy!”

Natasha beams at her little boy in steves arms, glad to finally see him again. Steves reaction is just like hers, happy to finally be back with his family. In his entrance, he sees the midwife and offers her a smile. Steve just thought she was a nurse who came by to check on Natasha and the baby. Natasha had told him about the day James was born but she only vaguely mentioned this woman.

“I'm Elizabeth, I was just bringing some papers for you both to sign for the little one. I can leave you for a moment and come back, don't worry. And congratulations.” Natasha gave a nod to Elizabeth, thanking her for leaving them to have a moment.

“Oh thank you, and nice to meet you Elizabeth.” steve quickly returned her gesture. Feeling rude not too.

Elizabeth gives him a quick nod and also one to Natasha, leaving the room and closing the door, giving them all the privacy they needed.

Interrupting the little moment of silence is James. His face glowing brightly as he looked at his mother and the small blanket she had in her arms.

“Mommy is that her?” glancing down at her arms, Natasha checks the baby is still awake, only to be met with the clear blue that tells her she is.

“She sure is.” steve instantly walks over to Natasha, carrying James over so he can get a better look at his sister.

“James, this is your sister. Sarah.” steve proudly announces. Just like he had with pepper and tony. Natasha had never seen a sight like it. Both Steve and James looking at the baby she was holding with nothing but love in their eyes, James filled with more excitement at meeting her for the first time. then, carefully pushing the pull out table aside, steve gently moves James in his arms, getting him into a position so he'll be able to sit properly at his mother side. James is very careful once he's sat, for a moment he just sits there and stares at the baby. In awe at seeing her.

The paper finally returning to his mind, steve asks.

“Hey what are those papers for?”

“Oh, just Sarah's birth certificate and the other documents. I can fill it out later,” she explains as she carefully moves Sarah in her arms so James can see her better.

“Hey, I can do it, don't worry.” steve insists, but Natasha raises an eyebrow and smirks at him.

“You better not mess up her name steven.” steve gapes in the offence, his mouth giving her a slight smile at her teasing.

“I'm not gonna mess it up, I know how to spell it.”

“Mh hm” he knows she's only playing with him, her little humming pretending to second guess him. He lets out a small laugh and takes the papers from the pull-out table, taking them over to the guest table at the side of the room. After looking over the few documents and signing them, he finally gets to the birth certificate. Natasha had told him that she struggled to sign his name when she had James since he was gone. He knew she wouldn't have a problem this time around and neither did he. Writing in both the mother collum and the mother Collum he easily writes Natasha Romanoff and then steves rogers. As he does his face has the biggest smile he can muster.

It's official. Really official. His name is right there. Under father. He couldn't help but feel a massive amount of pride shine through him. That was his name, signed big and clear. After letting his excitement get the better of him, he finally gets to his daughters part. His daughter. It's still so incredible and stunning to think that not only does he have a son, but also a daughter. His little girl.

Speaking of which, as he goes to fill out her section and write out her name he looks up from the paper, his eyes instantly landing on the 3 most important people in his life. Natasha, James and Sarah. As he watched them he sees Natasha gently wrap her arm around James to pull him closer so he can see right up close and cuddle up to his mother. Shes also talking in hushed tones with him, explaining that he has to be very careful with her since she's so small and new. James sits staring up at his mother listening to her every word like gospel. Eventually, with Natasha encouragement, he slowly lets Sarah grab hold of his finger, letting her hold onto him as she curiously looks around.

It's the most beautiful sight he could ever see. Will ever see. And he's never felt so lucky. So blessed in his life.

Glancing back down to the birth certificate he readies his pen to finally write.

Sarah Anastasia Carol rogers.

A name they both agreed on, he had no quarrels at all with his daughter carrying his mother's name, Natasha had insisted on it actually, they also chose her Natasha's mother's name and also carols. Natasha had told him nearly everything about those 5 years, that carol was the first one to find out about her being pregnant with James and how comforting she had been. Natasha thought it was only right she gives her daughter the name of someone that helped her so much when she needed it. And steve more than respected the other captain. In fact, they had become great friends. Bonding over their similar experiences in life. It was only fitting.

So after finally finishing his daughter's papers, steve stands back up and walks around Natasha's other side, gently wrapping his right arm around her shoulders as he half sits on the bed.

As Steve looked down at his daughter, the soldier could only think about how beautiful his daughter was. And that she got it all from her mother. He knew one day, when she was older she would look exactly like Natasha. Her full head of bright red hair was already evidence of that. Taking his free arm, he moves his hand so that he can caress his daughters head, softly stroking her hair. Leaning forward, he gently places a kiss onto her head. To which she just squirms in her mother's arms and squeezes James's finger tighter.

“Shes really strong mommy” he giggles

Letting of a small huff of laughter Natasha leans over to kiss his forehead and answeres back

“You were the same when you were little too baby.”

As the mother and father sit in silence for a few seconds whilst James talks to his little sister, steve furrows his eyebrows in remembrance. The midwife.

“the midwife that was here, Elizabeth. did you know her?”

“Yeah, I did. She was the same midwife that brought me James's birth certificate back then too.” the smile on Natasha's face was bright as she explained who Elizabeth was.

“She was really kind, talking to her was what I needed, and she gave me some really good advice. I never forgot it.”

A bittersweet smile graces his face, he would forever regret not being there for Natasha, even if it was beyond his control. But Natasha was strong. She did it all by herself. She raised James to be such a good little boy with a pure heart. And he was here now. That's all that mattered in the end. He came back. And he was given the best things in life. Natasha could practically see his thoughts all over his face, so she just leaned in closer to him. Their noses gently touching as she captured his lips into a kiss. And as soon as she did, she could feel his tenseness melt away. Instead just sinking into the kiss. After a few seconds, they pulled away. Quickly focusing on James and Sarah, as she began to wriggle more and more stretching her legs and James giggling that she would keep pulling o his finger and making noises.

Soon enough the four were eventually joined by tony and pepper once again, with a ecstatic morgan and also by sam and bucky who were also excited to see their new niece. And not surprisingly it didn't take long for then to start arguing over who was going to be the best uncle. But what they didn't know what that, thor and the guardians were making their way back to earth to see them too, and no doubt thor would join in on the argument too, boasting that he was, in fact, James's favourite uncle so it would only make sense he shall be Sarah's too.

Natasha grimaced at the thought. She was never going to catch a break with these boys.

But she wouldn't have it any other way.

#romanogers #natasha romanoff #Steve Rogers #james rogers #Bucky Barnes #sam wilson #tony stark #pepper potts #morgan stark #Carol Danvers #anastasia #Black Widow #captain america #Captain Marvel #the winter soldier #the falcon #sarah rogers #im so glad you're back

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haledamage · 5 years ago

Text

Epiphany

Continuation of this prompt here. Can be found all together on AO3 here.

@queen-scribbles and @rannadylin this is your fault :P

Darling, Kai thought, for at least the hundredth time. What was I thinking? Am I flirting with Rekke? Have I always been flirting with Rekke? It would be a little dramatic to say she was panicking about the idea that she’d been flirting with him for months and hadn’t realized it, but to say that she was alarmed by the idea would perhaps be an understatement.

It wasn’t like she didn’t find him attractive, of course. She was reserved, but she wasn’t blind; it hadn’t escaped her notice that she always felt a little warmer when he smiled at her, or that she sought his company more often than might be considered proper. But there was a difference between finding someone attractive and being attracted to them. When had one become the other?

“Cap, all due respect,” Serafen grumbled from where he half-leaned, half-lay against a bench in the dimly-lit ship’s hold they found themselves in, “but if you don' find somethin' else t' think about, I'm liable t' mutiny.”

Kai glared in his direction, but since his eyes weren’t open it was lost on him. “If you don't like what I'm thinking about, stop listening.”

“Wish it were that easy.” He opened one eye just long enough to give her a sour look. “I wouldn' be confounded if the lad can hear you mooning over ‘im from ‘ere.”

“I’m not mooning.”

“Course y’ain’t,” he said. “An’ I’m the fuckin’ May Queen.”

“An honor to make your acquaintance, your majesty,” Kai said dryly.

Serafen didn’t take the hint and stop talking, unfortunately, but he never did. “There ain’t no shame in wantin’ to find a bit o' comfort in a pretty lad.” He smiled at her, all teeth. “And your lad be mighty pretty.”

“That's not… it isn't… we aren't…” She scowled as if it would somehow make her more eloquent. “I think you've got the wrong idea.”

“Protest all you want, Cap.” He chuckled and tapped his temple. “I can see what's in your head.”

“Well, stay out of it,” she snapped. Without another word, she turned to walk away. She didn’t get very far, the hold small enough to feel crowded even with only five people in it.

“What is all the yelling about, I say?” Tekēhu stood near the doorway, the tallest part of the hold. Even still he had to bend down awkwardly to keep from scraping his head on the rough wooden ceiling. The look he gave her told her plainly that he knew exactly what the yelling was about, but wanted her to answer anyway.

“Oh, you know,” Kai said, voice still a little sharp in annoyance. “I said something to Rekke before we left and now I'm rethinking every conversation I've ever had with him for clues to how I ended up here. As one does, I suppose.”

Tekēhu laughed, the sound seeming to echo in the small space. “Ekera, you are as bad as he is, Captain.”

She stared at him, startled and confused and intrigued in equal parts. “What do you mean by--” she cut herself off, shaking her head, “no. No. I don't want to know. I don't have time for this. Stop meddling.”

“As you say, Captain,” he said, still amused.

Kai stormed away from him too, toward the other end of the boat. It was a short walk. Can’t a woman have an epiphany in peace?

She sat on a bench next to Ydwin and the Devil of Caroc, who were both silently glaring at nothing in particular and basically ignoring each other. “Are either of you going to try to give me advice?”

“No.” Ydwin said, sounding mostly bored.

The Devil added in a hollow voice, “We don’t care.”

“Good.” Kai sat back, letting her head thunk onto the side of the boat. She couldn’t hear anything beyond it, not even the ocean. “Thank you for coming along, Devil.”

The Devil of Caroc made a motion that was probably supposed to be a shrug, metal shoulder jerking stiffly. “Got nowhere better to be. And I still owe you.”

“No you don’t.”

“Yes. I do.” Devil finally looked at her then. For all that her face couldn’t show emotion, she was obviously rolling her eyes. “It ain’t up to you what debts I do or don’t pay, Kiki.”

“Eyes up, Cap,” Serafen called suddenly. His eyes glowed a deep blue-violet. “Looks like them assassins took th’ bait after all.”

Kai closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing her ruminations about Rekke out of her thoughts and reaching out with her senses. She could feel the minds of her companions, each as different mentally as they were physically, and above them on the deck of their boat, eight unfamiliar figures with minds full of suspicion and violence.

When she opened her eyes again, they flickered with violet fire. Next to her, Ydwin’s eyes glowed as well, a cold lavender. “Tekēhu,” she said, both aloud and in their minds, “if you would be so kind as to get the door for our guests.”

-------

The hatch opened and Xoti stuck her head below deck of the Defiant. Her hood mostly obscured her face, but did nothing to hide the enthusiasm in her voice. “Hey, Rekke, you busy? Edér and I were just gonna get some shoppin’ done, you wanna come with us? Watcher said you were on babysitting duty.”

From somewhere behind her on the deck of the ship came Edér’s voice, tired and annoyed. “I’m gonna tell you what I told Kiki: I don’t need a damn babysitter.”

Xoti disappeared for a moment, but Rekke could still hear her easily enough. “It ain’t up to you. Unless you wanna be the one to tell Kai you got yourself killed because you were too stubborn to use the buddy system.” There was a quiet clank, like a tiny, bossy priestess had just poked an armored farmer in the chest. “And you can be damn sure I’d keep your soul in the lantern long enough for her to yell at you about it.” She reappeared in the open hatch, smiling once more. “So whaddya say?”

Rekke chuckled, already reaching for his sword and armor. “Ta. Yes. How can I say no, when you put it this way?”

“Alright, c’mon then. Daylight’s burnin’.”

It was a relatively quiet day in the marketplace, just busy enough to keep the three of them on guard but not quite enough that someone could sneak through the crowd to catch them unaware. Rekke took the opportunity to think back to his conversation with Kai before she left on her hunt, as he’d been doing for most of the day.

He should have probably been embarrassed by how much he dwelt on how it felt to have her in his arms for that brief moment, how her hair smelled like woodsmoke, how tiny she was. The Watcher was larger than life, hunter of gods and saver of worlds; it was easy to forget sometimes that the elf behind the grand title was so small, so delicate.

Mostly, he thought of the look she gave him right before she left. Surprise and then panic, as if he had said something wrong… or she had.

Xoti elbowed him in the arm, bringing him out of his reverie. “Somethin’ on your mind, darlin’?”

“That!” he said, too loudly. Xoti looked at him like he’d grown a second head. He ignored it. “That word. What does it mean?”

“Darlin’?”

“Ta! Kiki called me that before she left.” On Xoti’s other side, Rekke saw Edér turn and look their way, suddenly interested in the conversation. “She seemed… upset. Or confused. She left very quickly.”

“Oh.” A sly smile spread across the priestess’s face, like she knew something he didn’t; he suspected that was very likely true. “Well, it’s a term of endearment. Like a… a pet name, I guess. Like ‘honey’ or ‘sweetheart’ or…” she paused, but she couldn’t think of any others offhand. “It’s not one I hear her use much. She mostly just calls everyone ‘dear’ like she’s some sweet old lady or somethin’.”

“Yukag? So it is a good thing?”

“Yes, I’d say so. Dunno why she’d be confused by it, though.” She thought about it for a minute, then shrugged. “Might wanna talk to her about it when she gets back.”

“I agree,” Rekke said slowly, mind already wandering. Trying to figure Kai out was like trying to work a puzzle while blindfolded. He knew all the pieces were there, he just couldn’t see how they fit together yet. Lucky for him he enjoyed a challenge.

“You and Kiki’ve been spending a lot of time together lately, huh?” Edér said suddenly, dragging Rekke out of his thoughts once more. The soldier stared at him like he was trying to read his mind. Rekke didn’t think he actually had that ability, but he couldn’t be sure.

“I suppose that is true, ta,” he said carefully. He had a feeling that if he said the wrong thing here, it could mean bad things for him. Still, he couldn’t help adding, a small smile spreading over his face, “She says that I make her laugh. I like to make her laugh.”

“Uh-huh.” Edér didn’t look like he liked that answer. He sighed and scratched at his beard. “Just… be careful, alright? She’s been through a lot the last few years. I don’t want to see her get hurt.”

Rekke tilted his head curiously. He knew that Edér and Kai were as close as family; if he didn’t know better, this sounded a lot like the ‘break her heart and I’ll kill you’ speech - if perhaps a little less threatening than he’d heard it in the past. He liked the idea that he and Kiki were close enough to elicit such a warning. “I think you misunderstand. We are friends. She only sees me as a friend. That is all.”

“Is that all you see her as?” Edér waited for an answer, but Rekke didn’t say anything. He also made no effort to stop either the blush blooming across his cheeks or the besotted grin on his lips. Again, Edér said, “Uh-huh. Just remember what I said.”

“I will. Thank you, Edér.” He didn’t know why he thanked him, but it felt like the right thing to say.

“Hey,” Xoti called from a few steps ahead of them. She had her sickle in her hand. “Do y’all remember when you said you didn’t need a babysitter? Did you tell your assassins that?”

-------

“I suppose it was too much to ask that we’d lure their leader out here and be done with it all.” Kai sifted through the meager belongings they’d found on the assassins. There wasn’t much more than a handful of coins, a single sheet of paper, the writing on it smudged into illegibility, and eight crude, wooden human effigies, one found in each of the assassins pockets. Just what she’d been afraid of. She shoved all of it into her bag.

“Probably. At least they told you where to find him. Sort of.” The Devil of Caroc glanced warily over her shoulder at Serafen. She didn't like ciphers even on a good day, but the mindhunter's little show of power had clearly made her nervous. “Want me to take care of it?”

“Tempting, but no.” Kai always felt guilty sending Devil out to do her dirty work for her, though she’d never tell her that. Just because the construct said she wanted to do so didn’t mean she should keep taking advantage. “I’ll take care of it myself. I’ve got a few questions for him.” Quietly, she added, “But thank you.”

The Devil did that jerky, stiff shrug again. “Ain’t no brass off my back either way. Got to see the ocean and kill a bunch of people on it. You’ve sent me on worse jobs.”

“You could stay with us, you know.” Kai knew she shouldn’t say it, but she always did.

Devil shook her head. “Don’t ask. You know what my answer is.”

“I know. But the offer stands.”

“I know.” The Devil of Caroc started walking away. She stopped on the edge of the boat and lifted a hand in her version of a friendly wave. “See you around, Kiki. You know where to find me.” Without another word, she stepped off the side of the boat and sank below the waves.

Kai shook her head, chuckling to herself. The Devil did love her dramatic exits.

Serafen leaned over the edge, staring down into the depths as if he expected to see a bronze construct swim by. “Well, she was charmin', if you like ‘em cranky and rusted.”

“What’s her story?” Ydwin asked, something that almost resembled curiosity in her voice.

“Not mine to tell.” She tried not to feel too smug about the hint of annoyance on Ydwin’s face and turned to start setting the sails and getting the ship moving again. “Come on. Let’s go home. Looks like we’ll have to finish this hunt another day.”

The return trip was quiet and uneventful. The whole trip had been, really. As far as assassins go, these were barely professionals. The only problem was how many of them there were, but they'd take care of that next.

Kai hoped things were just as uneventful back with the Defiant. The idea that she'd gone hunting for the hunters only to have one sneak around while her back was turned made her uneasy. Better not to think about it, or else she'd drive herself mad before they made it back home.

She sighed. Was it too early to try to get some sleep? They'd travelled light, so she had nothing on board to keep herself entertained while they sailed; she wished she'd brought a book or something.

“He's a good lad, y'know,” Serafen said suddenly, because apparently the fight wasn’t enough to get his mind on a different subject. “Your stowaway. Weird, but which of us ain't.”

“Serafen, stay out of my head,” Kai snapped, sharper than intended. She knew his meddling was well-intentioned, but she had enough well-meaning would-be brothers trying to give her advice. She didn’t need another one.

He shrugged and laid back on his bench again, looking for all the world like he was sleeping. Kai knew better. “Weren't in your head, Cap. Don't take no mind reader to know you're thinkin’ ‘bout ‘im. Cipher as strong as you should know how t’ hide her thoughts better anyhow.”

“I can hide my thoughts just fine, thank you. Just not from you, for some reason.” She had very good mental shields, in fact; the problem was that, since Serafen had no formal cipher training, he had ways of seeing around them that she didn’t know how to compensate for. “And I wasn't thinking about him. I was thinking about sleeping.” She knew it would have happened sooner or later, though, as it had been with alarming frequency.

“Don't see what you're so bothered ‘bout,” Serafen said, answering her thoughts as if she’d said them aloud. “He obviously fancies you. Always has done. If you weren’ so fuckin’ uptight, ‘e might’ve already told y’ so.”

She thought about denying that she was uptight, but she was too self-aware for that. Instead, she just said, “Well, that's certainly news to me.”

“He's always flirtin’ with you.”

“So are you.” She shrugged. “Doesn't mean anything.”

“Heh. It could've.”

“You don't have a single romantic bone in your body.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them.

Serafen, predictably, grinned at her. “Just the one, aye.”

“Charming,” she said sourly, but she smiled in spite of herself. She looked away from him at the others, but Tekēhu was above deck and Ydwin could have been either sleeping or dead as still as she was. There was nowhere she could go to escape this conversation.

“Life be short, Cap,” he said, tone unexpectedly somber. “Even when you live as long as elves do. Ain't no point wastin’ time on 'someday'.”

Kai looked back at him, surprised, but he still looked like he wasn’t even paying attention, lazy and half-asleep. “That's… unexpectedly wise, coming from you.”

The seriousness in his voice was gone just like that, replaced with another sharp-toothed grin. “I be full of surprises. I'm willin’ t’ share a few others, if you ask real nice.”

She scoffed. “I ought to set you on fire.”

“You’re the one that has t’ live with the burnt fur smell,” Serafen said, chuckling when she scoffed again.

-------

“Captain on deck!”

Rekke quickly tried to look casual, like he hadn’t been waiting anxiously since the crew had first spotted the boat that Kai and her team had taken. He picked up a book from a nearby shelf and started thumbing through it. He recognized the sound of her boots on the deck above, steps measured and purposeful, and then a moment later she strode through the open hatch and down the stairs. She spared him a quick glance before turning to Edér and tossing something toward him. He scrambled to catch it before it hit him in the head.

“Skaenites,” Kai said, as if it explained everything. Maybe to her and Edér it did. “It’s your Skaenites again.”

“I guess I should have expected that,” Edér said, looking at whatever she’d thrown at him. He rubbed a hand over his chin in thought. “I’d hoped they wouldn’t follow me all the way out here.”

Kai smiled, but it didn’t look the least bit friendly. “Lucky for us they’re as ineffectual as they are stubborn.”

Edér sighed. He dropped the mysterious object onto his bunk. “God of resentment and covert plots. If they’d given up, they wouldn’t be good Skaenites, would they?”

“I guess…” Kai ran her fingers through her messy mane of curls, leaving them messier. “But assassins? I’d expect that more from Magranites. Or Galawain’s hunters, maybe.”

“Piss off a lot of Magranites, Kiki?”

“Just the one.” Her smile widened, triumphant, and Edér chuckled like she’d said something funny. “Right, well, we should have a couple days reprieve before they send more. Long enough to resupply.” She poked Edér in the chest. “You don’t go anywhere alone for a little while. Xoti told me about the market.”

“Of course she did,” Edér grumbled, but he didn’t argue.

“Oh please.” She poked him in the chest again, but less forcefully. Rekke was reminded abruptly of his sister. “Like you’ve ever been able to keep a secret from me.”

Edér put his hands on Kai’s shoulders and lowered his voice. “Kiki, you don’t need to do all this. It’s my mess, not yours.”

“No. That isn’t how this works, my dear.” Edér was going to have a bruise from being poked in the chest even with all that armor, if Kai and Xoti had anything to say about it. “You carried my empty husk halfway around the world to get my soul back, the least I can do is protect you from territorial Skaenites.”

Edér hugged her and she froze before hugging him back. Rekke looked back down at his book, trying not to intrude on what felt like a private moment. He heard a whispered exchange between the Watcher and the farmer, but tried not to pay attention to it.

“Your book is upside down.”

“Ta. I find them more interesting this way.” He looked up and there she was, smelling like fire and sunlight and the sea and looking at him a bit like he was a crazy person. “Hello, Kiki.”

“Hello, darling.” Her cheeks turned a lovely shade of pink. “Xoti tells me you had an interesting day at the market yesterday.”

“Did we? We bought some fruit, we fought some assassins, Edér found another cat. Another beautiful day in Neketaka.” He set the book down, presumably on a table or bunk but he didn’t look to see where it ended up. “I wish it rained less here. It makes my hair…” he paused, but he couldn’t think of the Aedyran word, “eshibiz.”

Kai laughed, bright and warm. “Indeed. That’s a good word for it.” She looked like she wanted to say something else but she didn’t, an unfamiliar hesitance in the set of her shoulders, the way she absentmindedly rubbed her palms together, nothing like the cool, confident woman he had come to know.

Shy. She looked shy. Rekke didn’t know she knew how.

He took a step forward and reached out to her, resting his hand on the curve of her shoulder, just wanting to stop the overthinking he could see behind her eyes. She looked up at him, surprised and momentarily unguarded, and in a rush, he said, “Take me with you next time.” He wasn’t sure if he’d said it in Aedyran or Seki. Maybe both.

Kai raised an eyebrow at him, amused at the demand in his voice, but she looked more like herself, less lost. “I intend to. I know better than to leave you to entertain yourself for too long. You’ll end up doing something… how was it you phrased it? Something noble or stupid.”

Rekke blushed at the way her eyes followed the scar across his face when she said that. She looked like she wanted to touch it. He wished she would, but she kept her hands firmly to herself, contained and controlled as she always was. “I am very good at noble and stupid. Mostly the second one. I am told it makes me charming.”

“That’s one word for it, I guess,” she said with a smirk.

“You do not find me charming, Kiki?” She blushed scarlet all the way to the tips of her ears and he grinned wickedly. “I will have to try harder then, ta?”

She stared at him, searching his face, though for what he didn’t know. He just kept smiling at her and slowly she started to smile back.

Above deck, someone called “Captain!” and Kai took two large steps back. She drew herself up to her full height, such as it was. It was like watching her put her armor back on; Rekke couldn’t recall when exactly she’d taken it off. “I should go,” she said quietly.

“Gigideb ke tahun. I did not mean to keep you from your work.”

Rekke watched her closely as she walked away, then listened until he couldn’t hear her footsteps anymore. Only then did he collapse back against the side of the ship, running his hands over his hair. He made no effort to stop the smitten smile he wore.

He became aware of eyes on him, and turned to find Serafen sitting at one of the tables in the mess hall, staring at him through the open door. He stared back for a moment, but the orlan didn’t so much as blink. He called out, “Ku? Is there a problem?”

“That remains to be seen, lad. You tell me.” Serafen didn’t wait for an answer, though, just walked away, leaving Rekke confused and feeling like he was being judged for something he hadn’t done. He shrugged the thought away and left to find something to occupy his time.

#pillars of eternity deadfire #kai cirdani #kai/rekke #otp: a nearly criminal amount of freckles #rekke #they're probably going to keep pining for a year after this #kiki's never met an emotion she couldn't suppress into submission #kai shows interest in a boy one (1) time and suddenly she has half a dozen protective older brothers #yes I know I didn't need to bring DoC along but I needed a reason for Kai to know where the assassins were #and DoC is her red right hand #I also wanted the ambush party to be all rogues and ciphers #except teke who's mostly just there for a good time and to make sure they don't die #writing rekke's pov was a fun challenge #I don't usually write about kai from an outside perspective #and I enjoy how smitten he is compared to kai's panic about it

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weeping-petals · 5 years ago

Text

Orchestrating the Downfall

Word Count - 1,817

An au where Spinel is a Crystal Gem. Takes place after “We Need to Talk” before Steven comes to be.

It startled Greg when the door opened and he was presented with Spinel, looking fed up and done with his mere presence.

“Do I... have the right house?” he began, scanning the threshold, as if he didn’t just stroll up the walk to a front door in the heart of Beach City. Honest, one couldn’t be too sure, with magical beings invested in showing him up at every turn.

“Depends,” sneered the Gem. “What’s your cut and facet?”

“Uhhh.....”

“Kidding.” Spinel swung away in her slinky like manner and strutted through the home, as if she were a natural element. “Vidalia! The boyfriends here!”

“BoYFRIenD?!! No-no, she and me are just good friends. It’s not like- “ He stuttered on, while Spinel snorted a laugh “ - I’m just giving her a lift -”Spinel’s shape looked on the verge of unraveling.

“Chill out. I meant you and Rose. You and Rose are a thing, right?”

They stopped in the living room. Spinel stretched in close and was giving him a very feline grin, as if relishing some private joke. He hated when she and Pearl did this. He sweated bullets, trying to come up with some winning quip.

“Is it that... obvious?”

That was not a winning quip.

Spinel lost it.

“What are you even doing here?” He brushed past the unraveling noodle, trying to hide how red his face felt. “I thought I had babysitting duty today.”

“Aw, you don’t want company? Rose and Garnet are out on Mission, so you won’t- “ A crash cut through the sentence. Spinel stiffened and bolted from the room. Greg was quick to follow, yelping,

“Sour Cream!” He took the stairs two at a time, huffing and scrambling, while Spinel scaled them in two bounds. He was in such a rush that he nearly plowed into her, when she halted cold turkey in the room the sound originated.

“If you break these, we won’t have someone able to fix them.”

Amethyst lay strewn over an upturned stool, a grin plastered on her face and hair disheveled.

“You’ll have to turn into a pole. And that’s where you’ll spend your remaining years, holding up cloth. Doing the... nuclear orb blotty... thing.” Spinel stepped over and plucked up the pole in question, with the drapes attached. The window where Amethyst tumbled from expelled the bright dawn light, the harsh rays caught and refracted through the Gem stones on both of the alien beings.

“Or we could use a broom handle,” Amethyst chirped.

Spinel cocked her head and stood back. “Or we could use a mop handle.”

“Or a tree branch.”

“Maybe a sword.”

“One of Pearl’s spears?”

“One of Pearl’s spears,” Spinel echoed, as if the concept appealed. “Ye. Or, y’know, we could not break the poles.”

“You were taking fooooreeeeveeerrrrr. Hey Greg!” Amethyst waved. Awkwardly, Greg returned the gesture.

It was always nice and very semi-human to see the two helping, though he wished they did this stuff more when he and Rose were out together. Probably the reason why they were here helping, because Rose was busy elsewhere and he was here sort of busy, so no saboteur work was planned. Geez, they could be so nice sometimes /sarcasm.

“I heard the distinct sound of someone wrecking my hovel. That’s the complete opposite of what you said you’d do. ” Vidalia came to the doorway and peered in, while fixing her shirt. “Could you give them a hand? I need five more seconds.” She fixed Greg with a glare.

“Oh, yeah. I’m not really good with handy-man stuff, though.”

“You’ll learn. They’re extenders, anyway. I’m sure you can’t complicate that business more than them.” Amethyst chuckled.

“Please hurry,” Greg called in the void Vidalia left. “Okay, so just pinning up blinds. Easy peasy”

“They’re like sideways flags.” Amethyst rolled over and snatched at the one Spinel held, missing when the taller Gem swept backwards.

“’Can’t complicate this.’” Spinel hissed, rolling up the cloth on the staff. “Oh, pssh-lease, this is so basic.”

“Where are the instructions?” Greg posed, dead-pan.

“There were no instructions.”

“I know. I would’ve eaten them.”

“She would’ve - “ Spinel did a double-take. “Did you eat them and not tell me?”

“No!” Amethyst made another move to grab for the pole. “You said I could help!”

“Helping involves two people.” Spinel inched sideways, this time flipping the pole over her shoulders, and twirling it over the upper area of her lithe arm. Greg took a step back while she continued, the staff a whirling blur above the Gems pigtails. “And when you don’t do like you’re told, you miss out on the fun stuff.” Amethyst looked utterly defiant, and on the brink of shoving Spinel, the way a toddler might glower up at a know-it-all uncle. Or aunt.

“Hey, c’mon, you’re gonna wind up breaking it,” Greg spat. He pressed himself against the edge of the doorway, convinced the staff would go rogue at any moment and spear him. “I’m just here to help!”

Spinel glanced his way, the helicopter of a staff halted braced across her lower back. “What can you do then?” She plucked Amethyst up and dropped the smaller Gem onto her shoulders. “Aside from steal hearts?” She tossed the pole to Greg, and he fumbled to catch it, not so gracefully. Spinel grinned.

Greg set his eyes on the corner, where more of the poles and unopened drapes slanted and waited. “I can... put up more of these curtains, than you both. Combined.”

“We’re not fusing,” Spinel snapped.

“We’re not! - ” Amethyst sprawled herself between Spinel’s pigtails. “⁻ ʷᵉ’ʳᵉ ⁿᵒᵗ ᶠᵘˢᶦⁿᵍ?”

“No, I mean - you two working together!” Greg choked. “I bet I can get ALL the blinds hung, before Vidalia - ”

“Okay, ready.” The so named human returned, casting an unimpressed eye from Greg to the yawning window, and her helpers. “Wow. You guys made progress. I’m impressed.”

Greg sputtered. The Gems snickered at his back.

“Look after my boy, you two! Or else.” Vidalia waved them off. Not the scorning, intimidating threat she’d given him, the first day he took on the babysitter role.

It was when he was downstairs, barely, that they erupted into a monstrous batch of giggles and unrestrained laughter. All at his expense.

“You shouldn’t let them get to you,” Vidalia spoke, at last. She sat with her arms crossed gazing through the windshield. Greg still felt some unseen stare, judging him and smiling at every shortcoming.

“They’re - “

“I JUST DON’T GET IT! What do they have against me? JUST’CAUSE I’M DATING THEIR FRIEND! Pearl especially, don’t get me started on that stuck up bird! GRRR!” He actually said GRR.

“Watch the road.” Technically, he didn’t take his eyes off the road, but he was very-very distracted. “The way Amy tells me, Rose is more than just a friend. The way they talk about each other, they’re all family.”

“Yeah, but - y’know. I really like Rose. I never felt this way about anyone, ever, and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. In a... emotional way. Actually,” He ran a hand through his hair. “The night we, she and I, we danced. I tried some stuff. I was worried she didn’t see me the same way I saw her. Pearl said something really messed up, and she kind of supported the idea - not intentionally. It’s hard to explain.”

“Don’t miss the turn. How so? Give it a try.”

Greg did his best to explain the night, the recording session. And about fusing. He still wasn’t over it. Yeah, he and Rose talked, but he still wasn’t sure about their relationship, though it had been months. Things came a part, and mended, but it wasn’t the same. He was getting better at the relationship thing, and so was Rose, he was convinced.

Maybe relationships for the Gems was as an alien concept, like the way relationships between human's was. Vidalia called them a family, but they didn’t always act like a family. It was more like a group of people coexisting, because they didn’t have an alternative. From what he gathered in conversations he picked up from, and from Rose directly, they were the only ones on this planet. They only had each other.

“And they’ve been together for ages,” Vidalia surmised, after some discussion. “Not a lot of change happens around them, but they see a lot of change. You come out of left field and sweep their friend, who they idolize, off her feet. The lot of them are going to be a little snippy.”

“A little?” Greg snickered.

“It’s a red light. You should slow down.”

“Huh?” What did she - Oh! A red light! He touched the break.

“They’re probably jealous, and resistant of some change. And let’s not forget, protective. Kids are the same way, and sometimes they’ll reject a new parent. It’s not the same if it’s a friend to their parent, or a loose acquaintance. Building a special bond with someone, in an intimate way, can rile up a family. Have you thought that you’re seeing this as a problem your’re having with them, and not a problem they’re having with you.”

Greg sighed and leaned a little on the steering wheel. “No, it’s kind of hard to be sympathetic with creatures orchestrating your downfall.” He paused. “At every turn.”

“Find some patience. Also, they’re not orchestrating your downfall.” Greg huffed and looked out the driver window, fogging the glass with his breath. “Actually, Spin’s pretty thrilled about you.”

“Oh, is she?” he grumped, voice flat. “Hard to hear that broadcast buried under all those jeers.”

“Yeah, she’s being hard on you. I’ll talk to her, if you want. Subtlety.”

“No. Thanks though. This is probably something I’ll have to get used to. Or deal with.” But man, if Pearl gets into the equation with the terrible two-o, he was done for. Was it really all worth it?

He recalled the night he and Rose danced, and the kiss.

“You’re smiling? What’re you thinking about?”

“Nothing! It’s nothing!”

“Green light, boyfriend. I’m gonna be late for work.”

Begrudgingly, Greg tried to put his focus back on the road. “Geez, Vidalia, when did you get so good at listening and talking?”

“The mom life.” She smiled, and it was warm, and she seemed approachable, understanding, and full of wisdom. Beyond her age. “You think about a lot of eventual things when you’re taking care of a kid. You wanna do it right the first time, because that’s the only chance you got.”

Greg was dazzled by the insight. Yeah, it kind of was the only chance she’d get, to make sure Sour Cream didn’t wind up like his father, or worse, soured by the ideas his father had left.

“Hey, have you... had much contact with Marty, since....” he trailed off.

“Not much.” Vidalia sighed. “And I prefer it that way.”

#su #steven universe #spinel fanfic #steven universe fanfiction #spinel fanfiction #greg universe #vidalia #amethyst fanfiction #spinel crystal gem au #steven universe au #greg universe fanfiction #spinel #amethyst #rose quartz #pearl #garnet #steven universe the movie

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dibs4ever · 6 years ago

Text

From his View

The first time Barbara spends time with Dick Grayson she’s 13 years old. He had come home after a particularly lengthy shift, it was one of the first times he allowed her to be home alone and she was getting ready to go to bed.

“Hey sweetie” he smiled

She shot him a grin “Hey dad, glad you made it home okay”

He nodded “I talked to Bruce Wayne this afternoon”

Barbara rose an eyebrow at his random conversation starter

“Ya know the boy you met at the gala last week? His new ward?” He continued

Barbara nodded

“Well Bruce was wondering if you’d go to the Manor after school, tutor the boy and spend some time with him maybe” he explained

Barbara shook her head “You didn’t tell him I would did you? Dick is 10 years old. The last thing I want to do is spend all my free time with a 5th grader”

Jim smiled picking up a cup she had left on the coffee table and set it on a coster “He’s actually in 6th grade, he tested a grade above”

Barbara sent him a glare

“It’s not babysitting, the kid knows nobody his parents just died and Wayne enterprises keep Bruce busy. Plus honestly, I’d feel better knowing you aren’t here alone for such long stretches” he sat beside Barbara on her bed

“So it’s babysitting for me? Dad, you just stopped making Mrs.Andrews watch me” she waved

Jim shook his head “He said he’d pay you for your ‘bus fee’” he used air quotes “Which means in Bruce Wayne code it may be worth your while” he nudged her

Barbara thought for a moment before letting out a sigh “Fine tell him I’ll be there tomorrow” she reluctantly agreed

It doesn’t take long for Barbara to grow fond of Dick. Two weeks later Jim is sitting across from Barbara having dinner listening as she goes on and on telling a story Dick had told her about how he had helped the elephant tamers birth a baby elephant that he even got to name.

She continued to spend time with Dick for another 6 months. Bruce pays her $200 a week but after 3 months Barbara finds herself enjoying spending time with the younger boy so much that she tells Bruce not to pay her to hang out with him, that she’ll do it for free. He thinks she’s slightly disappointed when Bruce tells her he doesn’t need her to come over anymore because Dick has joined an after-school club. Jim doesn’t have time to question her though because he has work issues to focus on. It seems that The Batman added to his crime-fighting in the form of a kid dressed in Red, Yellow, and Green.

He meets new sidekick “Robin” as Batman seems to be calling him one night on the rooftop. Unfortunately, this is also a night that Barbara comes to the station with her. She runs up to the roof startling both him and the spandex-clad youth I front of him. Barbara stops talking mid-sentence and just stares at the boy. Do his demise the boy stares back at her, both of them silent. Feeling uncomfortable with the “Staredown” Jim quickly rushes his daughter off but not before mumbling under his breath “Not on your life Boy Wonder”

A year later a new vigilant makes it on the scene, this one a female. Batgirl her name is. Or so hers heard. He hasn’t actually seen this one. He figures Batman thinks he’ll start questioning his motives, smart move on the Dark Knights part.

At the Wayne Christmas Benefit gala, he notices how Dick and Barbara seem closer. Their ages are still quite different, she’s 15 almost 16 and he’s 12 going on 13 in the spring. He’s in 8th grade she’s in 10th. He doesn’t understand what it possibly could be that has brought them closer as friends but he’s happy she at least has someone to pass time with during Galas. He chuckles to himself when he notices the secret glances Dick is sending to his daughter. A cute little childhood crush he thinks to himself “In your dreams boy, she’s far too old for you”

That same year Barbara gets her first boyfriend. Charlie a blonde haired boy in her pre-calculus class. It doesn’t last long. He breaks up with her when she won’t “Put out” at first Jim is outraged but then he smiles when Barbara tells him she gave him a black eye.

Not too much changes over the next year. Gotham is crazier than ever keeping Jim very busy and away from him most days. Which is why he’s startled when he comes by the apartment really quick to grab his back up glasses. He pauses when he hears voices coming from Barbara’s room. He knew Barbara was home but figured she’d be asleep by now. He listens in from the other side

“Would you relax?” He hears Barbara say with a giggle

Who is she talking to? He thinks to himself

“Are you sure your dads not home?” He asks—-he is the voice of Dick Grayson

What’s he doing here? He’s about to open the door when the conversation continues

Dick shakes his head “Your right I thought I head something. I just can’t believe you’ve kept this from him as long as you have.”

“Admitting I’m better at you at something”

“Never” Dick responds with a chuckle

“Why don’t you prove it” Barbara responded lightly

Dick chuckles “Oh believe me I will”

What is going on? Barbara is 17, Dick is 14. Yeah he knew they had gotten closer after he started high school and they began going to the same school but he didn’t think they were- he hears a squeaking and quickly flings the door open

But what he sees is not what he expects. He catches the tail end of a black and yellow cape. The curtain now flapping in the wind. He walks over and shuts the window causing the squeak to come again. Five minutes later an officer over the radio reports a possible Batgirl and Robin sighting

My daughter is Batgirl, Dick Grayson is Robin

Jim decides not to let on that he knows.

Barbara begins college the next year, Dick is 15 but a junior in high school. Robin, Batgirl and Batman are still going strong. They’re at the Manor for a private dinner Bruce is hosting. Dick doesn’t join them, something about not feeling well Alfred mentions.

He buys it until he overhears Barbara and Dick in the living room after dinner

“Hey Dick calm down,” she says softly

They’re both sitting on the couch

“I can’t Babs I don’t know how much more of this I can take. We fight constantly about everything” he says his face in his hands

Barbara shakes her head resting a hand on his back. He’s grown a lot over the last year but she is still taller than him. “Hey it’ll pass you two care about each other”

“I’m always going to be in his shadow” he stuffs his face further into his hands. “I feel myself turning into him and that’s not what I want to be”

“Hey” Barbara touches his cheek causing him to look up “You are not living in his shadow, and you aren’t turning into him. Dick, you are kind and sweet. You make me laugh. You might up the room when you walk in” she leaned forward pecking his cheek lightly

“I better go, my dads, gonna be looking for me” she stands

Dick nods “Yeah, thank Babs for everything”

She nods and walks out the living rooms other exits

6 months later Dick is gone. “Boarding School” is what Bruce tells Jim and the public. But Jim feels it probably has something to do with his Robin duties. Barbara doesn’t say much about it but Jim knows she has to be upset about her friend's sudden leave of absences

It doesn’t take Batman long to find a new protégé. Six months later a new Robin is on the scene. Batman doesn’t introduce him to this one.

It’s not for 2 years that Dick Grayson returns. He’s 18 now and grown quiet immensely in the past 2 years. He’s taller, broader and more masculine.

“Dicks taller then me now,” Barbara says with a smile. She’s sitting at the table across from him at the cafe they met at for lunch. With his job at the department and hers at the library, they don’t see each other much. Not to mention she lives in her own apartment now. She’s 21 and recently gotten out of a relationship with Jason Bard. Jason worked for the department, he was an alright guy but Jim wasn’t too devastated when they called it quits. Jim nods “Oh yeah?”

Barbara smiles “Yeah but only by an inch. He’s grown a lot don’t you think?”

Jim nods “Yes he has he’s not that scrawny boy anymore”

Barbara laughs “Dick was never scrawny, but I agree he’s grown into his features.”

Jim takes a swig of coffee “Where is he living? With Bruce again?”

Barbara almost chokes on her coffee cake “No he’s uh staying in Bludhaven. Actually, he is joining the police academy “ she explains

Jim nods “Wow well tell him if he needs any help I’d be more then willing to give my advice”

Barbara nods “I definitely will”

It’s a few months later that he is at a Gala. Everyone beautifully dressed. Dick and Barbara are attached at the hip. Just like old times. But now it’s different. They are laughing and giggling and there’s a gleam in both their eyes. They’re both exchanging glances. Barbra is touching Dick's bicep and occasionally running her hands through his hair, He catches Dick checking out his daughter more than once. He wants to be mad but he catches her doing it to him too. This isn’t cute like it was when Dick was a child. No, it worries him. His daughter now has feelings for Dick Grayson and he can’t do anything about it.

#Dickbabs #DickBabs fanfiction #dick grayson #barbara gordon

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