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sweeethinny · 4 years ago

Text

Grades

I love writing about James, and I've wanted to write this for a long time, and thanks to @startanewdream I had the idea of how to do it

thanks to @deadwoodpecker for helping me with this one shot and I'm sorry for any mistakes ahaha

tell me what you think!

AO3

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Summary: They are not at home when the bird arrives with James' OWL grades. or James Sirius is concerned about his future and the parents' reaction to his idea

read bellow the cut :)

They are not at home when the bird arrives with James' OWL grades.

On that vacation they decide to stay in England, but Harry and Ginny manage to take a short break so they can spend a day at their country house, enjoying the waterfall, fishing, relaxing in the silence far from the city and any other human besides them.

Teddy and Albus go out to study the birds that fly by, James and Ginny continue to do their morning training, but now, just running to the waterfall and coming back, and Lily and Harry are responsible for the meals - which has been pretty late almost every day, since everyone has taken the opportunity to sleep more than normal.

It’s been an amazing few days. Yesterday's fishing yielded a generous dinner, and today Harry thought he would risk having a barbecue; maybe Teddy would help him fetch firewood and they could chat about Teddy’s not-so-bright idea to move out of the apartment he shared with roommates and live alone.

Harry had all day planned in his head, but he wake up earlier than usual by some father's instinct and go to prepare breakfast for everyone, even baking a chocolate cake that Albus had asked him to make last night. Everything was normal, until the gray owl with a puffy chest, landed on top of his newspaper on the table.

It was the day, Harry thought, looking at the date on the newspaper and then at the owl again, watching that paper that was wrapped around her paw. That was why he was feeling worried and anxious, today the result of James' OWL was coming out. OWL’s that for the letters that Lily sent, James had dedicated himself entirely.

The boy was smart, much more than he let on, and neither he nor Ginny expected anything less from the boy, but James was still a 15-year-old who occasionally got involved with girls and spent his time trying to understand them. Harry felt a hint of concern deep in his heart. They never talked about the options that his son wanted to pursue as a career, but everyone always pointed out that he would always have the Ministry doors open for him; whether to be an Auror, or to work in another Department.

Harry didn't know if that thought pleased him, but if that was what James wanted, he could only accept it.

Facing the owl then, he gave her the finger to nip it a little before undoing the knot and taking the paper with shaking hands, anxious as if it were his notes. When free, the owl flew to the owlery that he and the boys had built, looking pleased to be able to rest and eat good food. Harry sighed.

Should he wake up James? Should he open and see it before everyone else? Should he expect everyone to be awake? Heavens, no one taught you about it.

Before he knew how to proceed, the oven beeped and the smell of baked cake made Harry wake up for now, dropping the paper along with the other letters that eventually reached them, and set the breakfast table up again

Everyone was still sleeping and outside the sky was still a little cloudy, but it didn't look like it would be cold or rain, which was great for today's plans, Harry thought, spilling the chocolate syrup over the cake and now and then looking at the letter. It was still sealed.

What if James had failed? He would not like to know that he failed in front of everyone, when the brothers looked at him with such expectation… Albus still looked at James as if he were a great superhero, even though the eldest did not realize how much his brother paid attention to what he said. And Lily was very attached to him, always wanting to be around, clamoring for his attention... No, if he failed, he would hate to know that in front of everyone.

But would James fail? Harry thought, dropping the dirty chocolate pot into the sink, returning to the fresh bread he and Lily had made yesterday afternoon, cutting the slices and preparing the toast. The boy was so smart, never having problems with his grades or because he messed up - too much - in class. Of course, he would not fail.

And even if he failed, Harry would still hug him and support him, because he was there regardless of the outcome.

Now if James got high marks they would have to celebrate in the best way. Maybe he would apparate in town and buy that ice cream that his son loved to eat.

‘’Cakes, pancake, bacon… any special reason for all this?’’ The arms covered in Harry’s gray robe encircled his waist, the long sleeves hiding Ginny’s delicate hands, the head resting on his back.

‘’I just sensed it was an important day.’’ He smiled, making the last toast and looking at her over his shoulder, meeting her with eyes closed. ‘‘James ’notes arrived.’’ And in the next instant, the woman was staring at him with big brown eyes.

''You opened? No, we shouldn't open... Or should we? We shouldn't.'’ Ginny denied, moving away from Harry and going over to where the mail was, taking the paper in her hand. ‘’Of course he did well, but do you think he’s nervous about the result?’’

‘’He doesn’t seem to be. In fact, I don't think he even remembers.’’ Harry admitted, also looking at the closed letter. ‘’Do you want to wake him up?’’ He sighed, anxious as he was, trying not to think too much about the future that James had ahead of him. He was great at Charms and Potions, in fact, even in Astronomy he was always keeping great grades and never seeming to have a hard time understanding. What the boy sometimes lacked was a little commitment, he preferred to spend hours flying and disappearing through the castle, rather than dedicating himself to his studies.

If he tried, he could work in the Department of Mysteries, or even in the Department of Magical Games and Sports.

‘’Yes, I think he’ll be less nervous if I go. You know how sometimes you end up scaring the kids.’’ Ginny laughed, dropping the letter and returning to her husband, who had just put everything under the table, and kissed him quickly.

‘’I was thinking,’’ He spoke in the middle of the kiss, then walked away and walked through the kitchen. ‘’Maybe I’ll give up the barbecue and we’ll have lunch at that restaurant he loves.’’

‘’Let the boy wake up first, love, and then we’ll see what to do.’’ She blinked and left the kitchen, leaving him alone there again.

Through the window, it was already possible to see the blue and almost cloudless sky, a good breeze swayed the trees surrounding the house, the song of the various birds echoing through the woods nearby, while Sir, their dog, chased a squirrel through the backyard, dirty with old leaves and mud, making Harry think that again the animal had tried to catch a fish in the river.

It was good that they were out of the house and away from everyone. Harry loved their family, the Weasleys were everything he ever wanted, but they were also too numerous and as much as James was a much more outgoing boy than he was at that age, Harry thought his son would want some privacy when the notes arrived, which he certainly wouldn't have, since Fred probably also received his notes, as did Dominique.

Everyone should have known that today was the delivery of the OWL results, and Harry thanked them that they had no way to call to see how James had done. At that time, all the children looked very much like him, reserved and preferring a moment alone first, before telling everyone how they had done.

While he waited, Harry sat at the table, looking at all that waiting food and all the cups and plates. How many times he made the Dursleys' breakfast and hated having to cook for three people he hated, and how he now happily cooked their meals, and waited anxiously for his children to praise him. It was kind of silly, but Harry thought the best part of the day was that, when everyone sat together to eat and talked about everything and nothing.

Last morning, Lily woke up with a series of questions about the most random things possible, and while she helped her father set the table, she made sure not to be quiet and ask everything; what were dreams? Could Sir be a human trapped in his animagus form? How were wizards born? Why weren't all humans doing magic? Was there an afterlife?

Harry did his best to answer each one, letting his daughter ask even more questions with each explanation, and then answer those questions as well. It was a unique moment, Lily was in her first year at Hogwarts, and Harry felt alone when he prepared coffee for only himself and Ginny for the rest of the months. He loved it when his children said everything that came to mind.

Albus also always had questions, but he preferred to just ask them and then answer with his own theories, and then digress about something he did that year. He didn't like to cook with his father, as Lily did, preferring to just sit next to him and talk nonstop, asking Harry about Auror's work, sometimes about his years at Hogwarts, and very rarely, about the War.

James, unlike the two, did not ask many crazy questions, just gossiped about the year, and about students in his class that Harry clearly did not know, but listened with the same pleasure as he do with Lily's questions and Albus's theories. James loved to know what everyone was doing, so now and then he would tell his father about some new couple that had formed that year, or something he had done with his friends. But as much as the older son looked a lot like Harry, less the eyes, the eyes belonged to Ginny, James got along much better with his mom.

Ginny knew how to read James like no one else. They had those hours where they trained together, and Harry suspected that James would tell her all his secrets, because it was not possible that she would always know what was going on with the boy.

Harry would never tell, but sometimes he envied that communication a little.

Albus always went to him to ask for help, Lily was very attached to he too, but as much as James always seemed to want Harry's opinion on things, he would always call his mother first, since he was little. If he had a nightmare, it was Mom who would help him. If he wanted the cookies that were hidden in the tallest cupboard, it was for mom he asked for. And sometimes Harry felt like a jerk for feeling jealous about it, and how they talked in silence several times, even at the table.

‘’Good morning,’’ James murmured, sighing as he followed his mother into the kitchen as if he were a ghost, and even with the early morning heat, the boy was hiding in a red sweatshirt. ‘’Hm, cake.’’ He smiled, going to sit in his usual place, but pausing when he realized that there was no one else there and that his parents looked at him with great expectation. ''What did I do? I barely woke up, it is not possible that I already got into trouble.’’ Ginny laughed, denying and taking off James' cap before standing next to Harry.

‘’You didn’t do anything, I promise.’’ The two smiled at each other, as they always did. ‘’Just something came for you.’’ She walked over to where the cards were, taking the one that would define a lot in that young man’s life, and handed it to him, then sat on the chair next to Harry. ''Your scores.''

''My... Oh, my.'' James's eyes widened, picking up the letter and seeming to shake slightly, before blinking and looking at his parents. ‘’I may have failed miserably.’’

‘’Or it may have gone very well.’’ Harry reminded him, smiling anxiously. ‘’You don’t know yet.’’

‘’I’ll only know when to open it ... But I may never open it, so we don’t have to deal with it.’’ James dropped the letter on the table, looking at his parents and shrugging. ‘’Let’s tell everyone that I took 12 OWL and no one will ever know.’’

‘’We’ll know.’’ Ginny warned, taking the letter and handing it back to him. ''Open it.''

‘’Why this pressure? Can't I do this later?’’

‘’James, aren’t you anxious? It's your future.’’ Harry smiled at his son, his eyes sparkling. ‘’You may have so many options depending on your grades... The ministry- ‘’

‘’ -The door is open for me, I know.’’ The boy looked down, his cheeks a little flushed as he shrugged. ‘’I know it’s important, I just thought I could eat a piece of cake before I thought if I’m going to be a successful man, or a failure.’’

‘’It’s not just what will define you,’’ Ginny said, calm down. ''You are much more than a grade, but now, that grade is important to help you know which way you want to go.'' They were silent, Harry almost starting to bite his nails with such anxiety, then, finally, James sighed and pick up the letter again.

‘’I don’t even know what I want to do.’’ He said.

‘’There’s a sea of options.’’

‘’A sea of options at the Ministry.’’ James countered Harry, still not looking at his parents, staring at the paper as if he wanted to burn it with the force of a look.

‘’Well.. yes.’’ Harry shrugged, not quite sure what his son was getting at with that. ‘’There are other places where you can work.’’

‘’You might want to be an auror,’’ Please don’t, Harry thought, his protective instinct burning in his chest just at the thought that his son would see half of what he had seen in all his career years. ‘’Working with alchemy, with spells, in the newspaper. There are many places to work, depending on your grades.’’

‘’Yeah… it might be.’’ James smiled, calmly opening the letter, as if he wanted to postpone it as long as he could.

‘’Jamie ... what’s wrong?’’ He asked, concerned as any parent would be to see his son so discouraged about his future.

‘’What if I don’t want to be any of this?’’

‘’Any of.. what?’’ Ginny raised her eyebrows, also looking concerned and curious.

‘’What if I don’t want to work at the Ministry? Or with spells, or... what if I don't want any of that?’’ He pointed to the semi-open letter, looking even a little desperate. His brown eyes were colder than Harry had ever seen them, almost as if James felt pain in admitting that. ‘’What if I don’t want to be anything that everyone says? Are you two going to be mad?’’ His eyes shone with tears that soon disappeared, making Harry’s heart break into a thousand pieces.

‘’What do you mean by that?’’ Ginny whispered, for the first time, also not seeming to understand James.

‘’Everyone always says that I should be an auror like dad, or work in some department, that the Ministry will always be open to me, but... what if I don’t want to? What if none of those notes are really important to what I want to do? ’’

‘’And what do you want to do?’’

''I want to... fly.'' James whispered, and this time a tear escaped his eyes. ‘’I don’t see myself in an office like you dad, sorry, I...’’ More tears came on and on, even when he tried to dry his eyes and seem to swallow his tears. ''I want to play, like mom, and I know that maybe it will disappoint you, but- '' Harry didn't hear the rest, his aching heart in his chest making him get up and go to James, hugging him tighter than he remembered to have done in the past few days.

‘’James, never say that again, please.’’ He murmured, holding the boy close to him, looking at Ginny who was sitting with wide eyes towards his son, before blinking and standing up to hug him too. James continued to cry in Harry's chest like a child who had fallen from the tree, squeezing his father's waist as if he was afraid he would disappear.

Harry wondered when he hinted that he would be disappointed if James wanted to pursue a Quidditch career or some other. He wondered where he went wrong to make his son think like that.

''I'm sorry if I made you think that, but it's not true James.'' Harry continued, stroking the boy's hair. '’Look at me.'' The son did, pulling his head away from his father's chest and staring at him, crying red brown eyes.

James was not a boy who hid feelings, Albus was, James was much more sentimental than Lily at times, but Harry hated to see him cry. He preferred to see the boy fighting with his siblings, or with them, and rolling his eyes, than to see him cry.

‘’I’m your mother’s fan number one, what made you think I wouldn’t be yours too?’’ The boy shrugged, lowering his gaze, then looking at his mother.

''I don't know... that time at the Ministry... that wizard said you should prefer to have two Albus, rather than a James, and so I thought... I thought you wouldn't want me to waste my intelligence.'' Harry was silent, the memory coming back to him like a punch in the stomach, remembering how Martin had joked and laughed, and how Harry just smiled politely and walked away from him, angry that anyone would think that. He didn't think James had paid attention, he had just returned from the cafeteria and was arguing with Albus about something they had seen there. Harry should have known that James would listen, should have paid better attention, than having been taken by the anger of someone daring to compare his children, even if only for fun. He should have defended James, but he was so tired of Martin that he just wanted to get out of there and take the two boys to buy Ginny's birthday gifts.

‘’James, Martin is a idiot who doesn’t deserve to be heard by us.’’ Harry took a deep breath, angry with himself. '’I'm sorry, I should have told him to fuck off, but I just couldn't take it anymore and I thought you guys hadn't heard. But I don’t believe what he said, even for a second.’’

‘’You don’t have to worry about that, Jamie,’’ Ginny finally spoke, her cheeks red as if she was trying very hard not to cry. ‘’Never, and I mean it, it will be true.’’ She blinked, her eyes suddenly moist. ‘’Martin knows nothing of what he talks about. Why do you think he is single?’’ The three laughed softly. ‘’You’re our boy, James, you always will be. We would not be happy with two Albus, two Teddy, two James or two Lily. We would not be happy without one of you existing.’’ She wiped the tears from her son’s cheeks, who continued to hug his father as if he were still a child.

‘’And it’s not a waste of intelligence.’’ Harry reminded him. ‘’Professional Quidditch is a lot more complicated than school, and you need to be smart to play. Look at your mom...She’s dumb?’’ James laughed, denying. ‘‘I’m sorry if we made you think that we wanted you to choose one career and that the others didn’t matter. We are kind of stupid sometimes too.’’ James nodded, laying his head on his father's chest again.

''Thank you I love you.''

‘’Hm... what? Can you speak louder? I didn't hear what my teenage son just said to me.’’ Harry smiled, feeling as silly as he heard James calling him dad the first time.

‘’I love you.’’ James said louder. ‘’Even if you’re an old grouch.’’

‘’Hey!’’ Ginny and James started laughing together, looking at Harry who kept his face serious. ‘’We’re going to have lunch, but I don’t think you want to go out with that old grouch.’’

‘’Nah, I don’t care.’’ He disengaged himself, drying his cheeks. ‘’At that restaurant near the mall?’’ James looked at his mom, which hugged him and kissed his cheek.

''Yea. But maybe we should stay at home ... you know how old people tend to get boring when they spend a lot of time outside.'' Harry teased, ruffling the hair of the boy who grimaced and ran his hands through the strands, trying in vain, tidy them up.

‘’I don’t care, I think I can handle the pain.’’ James shrugged, taking the letter again in his hands and finally finishing opening. ‘’If I fail, will we still go there?’’

‘’Yes.’’ Harry wanted to laugh, but he swallowed the laugh and looked at Ginny. ‘’Grades are important to teams, aren’t they?’’

''Yes. They don't like to hire dumb athletes.’’ She shrugged, looking at the letter. ‘’Open, let’s see how you did.’’ James took a deep breath, pulling the paper out of the envelope and they could read;

James Sirius Potter Arithmancy O Astronomy O Care for Magical Creatures O Charms O Defense Against Dark Arts O Divination A Herbology A History of Magic T Muggle Studies O Potions O Transfiguration O Study of Ancient Runes O

‘’You had 9 OWL.s.’’ Harry almost shouted, taking the letter from his son hand so he could read better. ‘’My son is a genius!’’ There was much happiness in his chest, as much as he knew James was smart, there was nothing that had prepared him for that. ‘’A genius!’’ Harry repeated, hugging James even tighter as if he were still a child.

‘’I knew you weren’t just getting into trouble,’’ Ginny hugged the boy too, almost seeming to jump in excitement. ‘’I know you very well, I know you love to do a scale of studies, just like Hermione.’’

‘’I ... I don’t expect that .. And I was getting into trouble, believe me. How is this possible? It's wrong. Dad, it's wrong, it's the wrong Potter.’’ James took the paper in his hands, his eyes big. ‘’Are you sure they didn’t exchange letters?’’

‘‘Of course not, James, you’re the smart one.’’ Ginny kissed her son on the cheek, a smile from ear to ear looking like she wanted to tear her face. ‘’Albus! Lily! Teddy!''

''My boy is a nerd.'' Dramatically, and very happy to be able to contain himself, Harry put his hand on his chest, remembering all the times he received letters from Lily saying that his brother seemed really committed to studying, and how he had thought that perhaps his daughter was being deceived and did not realize that her brother was preparing to do something else. ‘’Your godmother will be so proud.’’

‘’I’m not a nerd! Nerds are ugly.’’ James grimaced.

‘’There are exceptions. Besides, girls like smart guys.’’ Harry blinked, just to laugh at how his son had rolled his eyes and blushed. ''I'm proud of you.''

‘’Thank you.’’ His son smiled sincerely, looking very much like that boy who loved to jump in bed and escape bath time.

Harry realized then how James always seemed to look for his approval in small things, like grades and career, the owl he wanted to take to Hogwarts, among other details that he had never stopped to pay attention to. James was always wanting, in a way, for his father to say he was proud of what he did.

Suddenly, he felt his heart melt between his ribs, the same feeling as when he saw the boy for the first time, soiled with blood and all that white goo, crying loudly enough as if he was irritated that someone had ended his party inside Ginny's belly, so small that Harry even trembled for fear of knocking him over.

''I love you very much, James, very much.'' Harry took advantage of the fact that Ginny had gone to wake the other children, still jumping and talking that her son was a nerd, to be able to say that. ‘’And I’m very happy being your father, really, even when you’re a tough teenager who gets irritated by everything.’’ His son at least blushed in shame. ‘’I’m very proud to be your father, I’m sure you’ll be a great player.’’

‘’Better than mom?’’

‘’Hm... you don’t play in the same position to be a fair competition.’’

‘’Better than you, then?’’ Harry laughed, nodding.

''Without a doubt... But promise me that you will continue to study and dedicate yourself, and that you will at least try not to get into too much trouble.'' The two stared at each other, Ginny's brown eyes shining towards Harry, while James seemed to think about the proposal.

''I will try. Dedicate myself and not get into trouble. But you know how things are, problems find me.’’ The boy shrugged, that confident smile that made Harry get wrinkles and white hair, shining on the boy’s face.

‘’Always the wrong place and the wrong time, right?’’

‘’Yes, it’s impressive.’’ The two sat on the chairs opposite each other, and Harry cut a piece of the cake to serve James.

‘’I know how it is,’’ Harry smiled, remembering his teenage self.

‘‘It’s the Potter heritage.’’ James winked at his father, laughing softly as soon as Ginny entered the kitchen being followed by the other three. ‘’Teddy, you won’t believe... I’m smarter than you...’’

#hinny #hp next gen #harry potter next generation #next gen harry potter #next gen hp prompt #James Sirius Potter #Harry Potter #Harry and Ginny #harry x ginny #harry is just a good father

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mgsheadcanons · 4 years ago

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I'm sorry, I didn't see "ask" button for the first time, so I duplicate the request here (still sorry for bad english). Can you please write some imagine about what are the traits that kaz, bb and ocelot are looking for in their potential s/o?

(Hey! The firsr request, wooo! Thank you, sugar! I didn’t know what appearance you wanted, so I wrote both for MGS3\Peace Walker and The Phantom Pain timelines)

Traits that Kaz, Big Boss and Ocelot are looking for in their future S\O:

• Young Kaz is a lady’s man and tends to be superficial. He probably doesn’t really look for something serious yet, a fast and sensual romance will suit him fine. He’ll like your wide smile, how nice and cute you are with him. Bonus points if you are communicable and like to hang out. He’s a master of flirt and awkward pick-up lines, seeing you blush will only provoke him to move ahead. But there’s a chance of getting his earnest interest tho. He is serious about his ideals and bonds, so if you share his philosophy, he will mentally agree on you joining the "club". • Older Kaz is a completely different person. He is searching for a kind and loyal partner who he can count on. He secretly thinks low of himself sometimes, that he cannot be as helpful as he used to. So if you make him feel important by your non-garish actions, provide emotional support and believe in him, he will never forget that. Such an attitude is gonna win his heart. But make sure you’re not nursing with him – that will probably hurt his pride. Kaz is quite grumpy and gloomy now but he appreciates your sense of humor. It makes him relaxed, and his heart softens when he hears you laughing.

• Naked Snake is not a type to fall for someone easily. Even if he feels an interest in you, he will refuse this sort of feeling and pretend that nothing’s happening. As some time passes, he’ll give up and can’t help but be impressed with your courage, independence and enigmatic personality. He’ll appreciate your wish to make the world a better place and your vision of how that can be reached. He may discuss these ideas with you and even share his views. He is admired with the thought of how smart and cute at the same time you are. • Big Boss is like a more mature version of a mature man. His way of caring about things may be not obvious at all. As his younger self, he would hardly admit that he has any sort of romantic interest in someone. He carries a heavy weight on shoulders and his life is full of sorrow, dark human desires, cruel men ambitions and ruined dreams. Big Boss will be amazed with your pure soul and a kind heart, as he almost forgot these traits. He’ll like how you make him feel calm and steady being there for him. Your caring and understanding attitude helps him feel himself a better man and forget about all bad things he had ever done.

• Young Ocelot is kinda narcissistic and can hardly decide what he really wants. He’s like a capricious kid who is hunting for candy in a bright wrapper. He is avid for praise and your sincere admiration will totally win him over. Ocelot will pay attention if he sees something non-conformist in you. He will like it if you tend to show the world your strong will and purposefulness while being smoother on the inside. Once he feels like the two of you can walk at the top of the world or perform the greatest illusion of the century, it gives him adventurous Bonnie and Clyde vibes. He will be happy to the Moon and back. • Older Ocelot is much more reserved in his thoughts and actions. He would appreciate your erudition, thoughtfulness and calm temper. First of all he’s looking for a soulmate, a person he can fully trust and can talk about everything on earth. Ocelot is a naturally sensitive person and always can say if the person is a liar, so don't you dare play with his kind intentions. If you love spaghetti-westerns, he will be surprised and more than happy that you share his hobby. He’s an intel and interrogation specialist and he’ll be rather grateful if you won’t call his methods into question.

(pictures are not mine\found on Google)

#mgs #mgs headcanons #mgs3 #mgsvpp #kazuhira miller #bb #big boss #revolver ocelot #hc #x reader #mgs5 #mgstpp #self insert #mgsv #metal gear #mgs ocelot

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mostlycompetentwriter · 5 years ago

Text

“Chronosaurus” One-Shot

F/M Pairing: Y/N x Han Jisung (SKZ)

Genre: Science-Fiction, Back to the Future AU

Warnings: Lots of angst, fluff, and many life lessons

Word Count: 9K

Summary: Despite what everyone believes, Y/N enjoys spending time with Dr. Park, the town’s self-proclaimed mad scientist. She’s especially interested in his idea for building a time machine, an experiment Dr. Park has been researching for many years! One night, he attempts to test the machine, but is disappointed when nothing happens. Y/N tries to investigate for herself, but inadvertently succeeds in starting the machine, finding herself in the year 2035! She decides to take advantage of the rare opportunity, but is disappointed to discover that her future self is nothing more than a front desk receptionist at a hair salon. To make matters worse, she’s married to Han Jisung, the nerdy guy everyone always picked on in high school!

Thankfully, Y/N has a reliable time machine to help her rectify those terrible mistakes...

In a rare moment of unpredictability, I had decided to visit Dr. Park before enduring another day of mind-numbing lectures and the endless political debate between our Student Council representatives. You see, once upon a time, I tried to run for school President, but I lost to Bang Chan because everyone thought he had really cool hair (Jesus, he was unbelievably hot) and I was just Y/N, the girl who thought visiting the future was possible and spent way too much of her time around the town’s self-proclaimed mad scientist. Ultimately, I had decided that the outcome was rather favorable for my situation because I could spend less time trying to negotiate with our principal for new gym equipment and more time analyzing Quantum Mechanics.

Dr. Park lived on the opposite end of town, which meant that I was constantly gambling with the possibility of another late slip when I finally found my way to school. However, Dr. Park was on the verge of an imminent breakthrough and I didn’t want to miss a single moment of his genius at work. Thus, I found myself retrieving the spare key from under the mat before walking inside the messy living room, greeting his dog in the kitchen. Dr. Park spent most of his time in the basement since he claimed it was nice to have some kind of separation between his work and private life. Subsequently, I was also well-acquainted with the musty basement smell and the impressive equipment with names that I couldn’t remember.

“Dr. Park,” I said, finding the man in question hunched over his desk. “I’m here.”

“Y/N,” Dr. Park grinned. “Perfect timing!”

I paused next to an odd display of bullfrogs. “What’s going on?”

“I think I’ve figured it out!” Dr. Park exclaimed. “I need you to make sure that you can be here tonight because the invention of time travel is ours for the taking!”

“Tonight? What happens tonight?”

“We unveil my newest invention!” Dr. Park said, knocking aside a few boxes to properly introduce a rather large object obscured by a white bed sheet. “The culmination of my research!”

“That’s great, Dr. Park,” I said while checking my watch absentmindedly, but my eyes widened in horror when I realized the time. “I’m late for school!”

I was instantly sprinting up the stairs, stumbling against the door-frame, and Dr. Park was yelling at my retreating figure. “Did you hear me say midnight, Y/N? And remember to bring a hat!”

The industrial disaster known as my high school was nestled on the opposite end of town in the furniture district aptly named after our town’s founders who made their fortunes selling rocking chairs. It was perfect considering the interesting band of characters who came in after the founders, forming the upper-class suburbs for the eclectic combination of inventors who were once the envy of the scientific world. These days, all we had left of that great renaissance was Dr. Park and their great-great grandchildren, AKA, my darling classmates who proved to be more inept with each passing day.

Thankfully, for the most part, I could use that to my advantage when alluding the students who were supposed to hand out late tickets to the kids like me who waltzed in after the first bell. However, on this morning in particular, I had the misfortune of accidentally running into one the school’s hall monitor. Of course, upon second glance, I realized that it was just Han Jisung which meant that I could probably convince him to let me off the hook. “Hi, Y/N,” he said, shoving his ridiculous glasses further up his nose as he looked directly at the ground. “I like your shoes.”

I rolled my eyes. “Look, Jisung, just pretend you didn’t see me, okay?”

Jisung managed to make eye contact for a split second before he was nodding his head. “I know you were probably just with Dr. Park.”

I paused, studying him for a moment. “You won’t tell anyone?”

“I don’t want you to get into trouble,” Jisung said and that was all the confirmation I needed before I was sprinting down the hallway.

Subsequently, classes passed by like one of those lazy summer afternoons when my mind was occupied by my daydreams, thinking about my impending meeting with Dr. Park. You see, he had dedicated most of his life to the research known as time travel and he was determined to reign supreme over the explorations of the past, present, and future. Most of the town thought that he was crazy for believing such an idea, especially when most of his early inventions ended quite prematurely, resulting in property damage that once nearly gave our mayor a heart attack when he saw the total cost of repair.

Regardless, Dr. Park was still adamant about the possibility of time travel, forgetting about those early inventions and focusing all of his time on his crowning achievement. I was grateful to come along for the ride, even if most of my classmates often mocked me for my efforts. However, I really didn’t care about their opinions, with the exception of one student who had always held my attention...

When the afternoon bell rang, I trudged to my locker while ignoring the congregation of girls surrounding Lee Minho. I sighed, choosing to watch Minho from the safety of my locker. He was, without a single doubt, one of the most attractive men I had ever seen in my entire life. I often sang his praises to my friends, even if Changbin and Felix would roll their eyes at my behavior.

One of those aforementioned best friends stopped next to me at my locker, following my gaze with a tired sigh. “You’re drooling,” Felix scoffed, handing me a tissue which I gratefully accepted.

“Why is he so beautiful?”

“Lee Minho? Are you still crushing on him?”

“It’s more than a crush, Felix,” I sighed impatiently. “I think we have a real connection.”

“Yeah, it looks like it,” Felix grumbled.

“I’m asking him to the dance this Friday!”

Felix rolled his eyes. “You and the rest of the student population.”

I frowned. “Why shouldn’t I be any more likely than the rest of those girls! At least I don’t swarm him for an autograph!”

“That’s true,” Felix mused thoughtfully. “I guess we’ll have to wait and find out.”

Despite his cryptic words, I still held my high head in determination.

It was bitterly cold that evening, and I tried not to think too much about the ice forming on the sidewalks as I hurried to make my appointment with Dr. Park on time. He was quite meticulous about maintaining a tight schedule, and I knew he would be less likely to tolerate my tardiness as opposed to someone like Han Jisung, our school’s residential nerd. The same kid who I once saw attempting to save a slug trying to cross the street.

I snorted at the memory, finding Dr. Park’s spare key under his mat before letting myself in the front door. The heat inside was welcomed, and I followed the sound of a power drill into his basement. “Dr. Park!” I gasped, squinting my eyes against the unexpected light show emanating from what looked like a phone booth straight out of Dr. Who, but with far less CGI effects.

“Y/N!” Dr. Park exclaimed in return, beckoning me forward with his usual over-zealousness. “Isn’t it beautiful?

“It?” I repeated.

“My time machine!” he proclaimed, eyes wild and exhilarated. “You’re here to help me test it out.”

“Really?” I grinned, rushing down the remainder of the stairs to get a better view of the machine. “You figured it out!”

“Of course, I did!” Dr. Parked chirped, pulling back the blanket on his work station to reveal a pile of what looked like pure gold. “I found the fuel fairly easily.”

“Fuel? Dr. Park, is that real gold?”

“Of course,” he huffed. “Do you think it would run on fake party supplies?”

“The time machine runs on gold!”

“That’s what I said!” Dr. Park groaned while running his hands across the pristine glass of the machine. “It requires a substance of immense value.”

“But, Dr. Park, it’s actually real gold?!”

“Oh, come now, Y/N, since when does something as superficial as profound wealth bother you?”

“I guess you made your point,” I remarked, watching as he continued to tighten the bolts running along the top of the machine.

“Alright,” Dr. Park laughed, tossing the wrench onto the table before opening the door. “Go ahead!”

I carefully followed his direction, forcing myself into the unexpectedly small interior of the bright red phone booth. “It’s small.”

“The measurements are meant for one person,” Dr. Park explained. “Did you remember to bring a hat?”

“Sure,” I managed, pressing myself against the glass when Dr. Park joined me inside, turning around to make further adjustments. “Why do we need a hat?” I asked, trying to ignore my uncomfortable position.

“Well, we may encounter our future selves!” Dr. Park explained. “It’s best to try and disguise our faces before anyone can notice.”

“Right,” I said, nodding my head as he started typing something on the small computer screen drilled into the glass next to the door. “Let’s try...2035? I heard theories that flying cars will be widespread by then!”

“That’s what they keep saying,” I remarked, whining in pain when he accidentally stepped on my foot.

“Okay!” he said, clapping his hands together. “Hold on tight!”

I shivered in anticipation, closing my eyes because I was hoping to open them again and discover the city of the future. However, as more and more seconds continued to pass by with only the distinct sound of the machine’s buttons providing background noise, I began to wonder what was happening. “Dr. Park,” I whispered. “Is this supposed to take this long?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, typing something furiously. “After I press this button...” he trailed off and I held my breath, fully expecting for the machine to start moving, but I opened my eyes again to the same grim basement.

“Did it work?” I asked, realizing the question was really stupid only a moment later when Dr. Park turned around to glare at me.

“No, Y/N, it failed.”

“Well, maybe we can re-check the wires?”

“No, that’s not the problem,” Dr. Park sighed. “I’m a complete disgrace to the name of science.”

“I’m sure that’s not true, sir!” I said, cautiously squirming around the glorified phone booth. “Maybe you just miscalculated something?”

“I never miscalculate,” Dr. Park scoffed. “It’s more than that.”

His downcast features made me wonder if Dr. Park was actually considering the idea of giving up on his dream. “Sir, this is everything you’ve been working on for years!”

Dr. Park shook his head, opening the door and pushing us both out at the same time. “It’s just a piece of junk,” he glowered, already trudging for the steps. “Feel free to stay the night, Y/N,” he said. “I need to sleep.”

“Sir?” I tried again, pouting when he made no move to return.

However, despite Dr. Park’s suggestion, I decided to take matters into my own hands, comparing his meticulous hand-written notes lying on the work station to the machine itself as I slowly surveyed the outside. “It looks right,” I said, opening the door to step back inside. The diagrams were quite complicated, and they probably wouldn’t make much sense to the common eye, but I had been studying under Dr. Park for years and he demanded perfection. “Ah! The turbo muffler isn’t plugged in,” I noted, reaching down to rectify the problem.

I glanced at the computer screen, watching the loading screen analyze the solution before taking a spare tissue from my pocket to scrub away at the fingerprints alongside the glass. It was easy to lose myself in a rhythm, until I suddenly became aware of a strange vibration from underneath my feet. I froze in place, looking down and realizing that the intricate panel of lights were blinking rapidly, and a strange noise was emanating from every corner that faintly reminded me of an over-sized fan. The whirring sound grew louder and I realized that the edges of my vision were growing darker, watching the room spin around faster and faster before I completely lost consciousness.

2035

An unexpected bright light infiltrated my line of vision when I slowly opened my eyes. Everything was hurting, and I realized that it was because I was still cramped inside the time machine, legs curled uncomfortably beneath me. “Why would I do this to myself?” I groaned, gingerly rising to my feet before pushing open the door to allow myself to stumble into the basement.

I felt unusually dizzy, watching the ceiling rotate before settling back into place. I groaned at the feeling. “I guess I just overworked myself or something and passed out.”

There was a newspaper on the table that I hadn’t noticed from earlier and I reached for it without really thinking. The headline was blurry, but the topic of a general store theft wasn’t what caught my attention. I re-checked the newspaper over a dozen times before I was shaking from head to toe. “2035?!”

I quickly dropped the newspaper, reaching for my phone in my back pocket only to nearly lose my grip on the slim case when I realized what was displayed across the screen. “Impossible.”

However, like a sudden dam had been released, I remembered last night’s events, including starting the time machine without meaning to activate the switch. I quickly ran to the window, lifting the blinds only to gasp when something impossibly fast sped by the window. “Flying cars!”

It was like a dramatic transformation had taken place overnight and everything was suddenly monochromatic, bright and pristine as people walked along the sidewalks in strange clothes and talked to holograms projecting from their phone screens. “Dr. Park did it!” I squealed. “I’m in the future!”

For the first time since I discovered the concept, I was convinced that the future was actually going to be extraordinary. “Look at all this cool shit!” I exclaimed, skipping along the sidewalks with my hat tucked low over my face.

I paused at the corner of the street, admiring the traffic of the flying cars, before noticing someone on the opposing sidewalk. “She looks like me,” I noted before I felt my eyes fly open. “That is me!” I gasped, looking both ways before crossing the road, and I continued to follow Y/N, watching as she greeted several people along the sidewalk. “It’s good that we grew out of our social anxiety,” I nodded.

Eventually, Y/N halted outside of a salon, studying something on the phone screen in front of her. I waited cautiously, startling only when I realized that a familiar face was walking in our direction. “Is that Han Jisung?” I groaned, rolling my eyes because, of course, he would still be involved somehow with my future.

Of course, the even bigger surprise came only moments later when Jisung leaned in to press his lips against my unsuspecting person. “What is he doing?” I seethed, only to realize that Y/N was reciprocating his affection. “Why the fuck am I kissing Han Jisung?” I gasped, sprinting around the corner so that I could have my mental breakdown in privacy. “What the hell is going on?”

I took a few deep breaths because I’m sure that the incident was just some kind of futuristic greeting. Everyone must enjoy kissing other people in the future, and it was certainly a better alternative to the idea that older Y/N wanted to actually kiss Han Jisung. “It’s fine,” I reassured myself, bowing politely to a couple who passed by with suspicious frowns. When I looked around the building again, I watched as Y/N waved in Jisung’s direction before entering the salon. “Oh, is this something I do in my free time?” I questioned because I certainly hated going to the salon despite my mother’s best efforts.

I carefully made my way to the large glass panel at the front of the salon, peeking in through the clear display to find my older self standing behind the counter. “What are we doing?” I asked, especially when Y/N answered the phone, speaking into the other end with a bright smile that made me grimace at the exact moment of understanding. “I’m a receptionist?” I groaned, wondering if the universe had allowed me to visit the future only so that it could laugh at my disdain.

“It can’t get any worse!”

However, contrary to my expectations, when the salon finally closed, I decided to follow Y/N home to make sure that I wasn’t living somewhere ridiculous considering the measly salary I probably made at a hair salon. I huffed in irritation because my older self insisted on walking fast down the street as if she was eager for something that I didn’t understand. “Slow down,” I wheezed, seconds away from collapsing when I finally noticed us standing on the front porch of a fairly modest house.

I waited until Y/N was inside before rushing to the door quietly. It was locked, but I quickly found the spare key under the mat which made me roll my eyes considering that I had copied Dr. Park’s tendency to hide his house key in the same location. Regardless, once I was inside, I heard voices coming from the kitchen, so I decided to walk upstairs to avoid the possibility of someone finding me.

The hallway was cramped, and I checked several rooms before finding a larger offering at the end of the house with pictures of myself displayed across the dresser. “No way,” I said, snatching one of the photographs when I noticed Han Jisung standing next to me. “Ugh,” I groaned, returning the picture before looking around the room.

It was becoming clear to me that I had a more complicated relationship with Jisung that went beyond casual strangers meeting in the street outside the salon where I conveniently worked. Eventually, my answer came in the form of an incriminating wedding photo stationed directly next to the queen-sized bed on the nightstand. Jisung and I stood side-by-side in the picture, and I was holding out my hand where a bright silver wedding ring proclaimed my commitment to the entire world. “What the hell, Y/N?” I sighed. “We married Han Jisung?”

Of all the possible scenarios I had once envisioned for the future, Han Jisung was never involved with any of them. He was the class nerd who all the older boys picked on while the girls decisively ignored him. There was simply no explanation for why I was so heavily involved with him in the future!

I snatched the wedding picture from the nightstand, searching for the date in the lower corner. “November 5th, 2030.”

The date was from five years earlier, and a small light bulb suddenly went off in my head. “I know when I married him,” I grinned, taking a step back. “I can stop it from happening!”

I studied the picture one more time, gasping when I realized where we were both standing. “We got married at my parent’s house!”

I slammed the photograph down onto the nightstand because this was my chance to secure my future. Subsequently, I managed to leave my future home without disrupting Y/N who was busy in the kitchen, even though I couldn’t cook to save my life. I shook my head at the strange situation, finding myself back on the streets before retracing my steps to relocate Dr. Park’s house where it still remained after all these years.

The time machine was still waiting inside Dr. Park’s basement, and I only briefly wondered where the man in question was in this bizarre future before I was checking the necessary equipment. There was still some gold left in the fuel gauge, and I typed in the corresponding wedding date and watched as the computer started to process my request.

“I can fix this!” I said, wrenching aside the door of the phone booth. “I’ll just go back a little further in time and stop myself from marrying Jisung!”

I crowded myself into the corner when the machine started to vibrate and groan as the gears rotated in response to the ignition running. It all sounded good, and I stumbled backwards against the glass in anticipation. Suddenly, I was spinning rapidly through the air, unable to focus as I fell to the ground and closed my eyes to forget the unpleasant sensation.

2030

I gained consciousness once again in Dr. Park’s basement, checking the time on my phone. “We should be close,” I said because the picture had taken place during the early evening based on the setting sun in the background. “I need to hurry.”

Thankfully, I had grown up near Dr. Park’s house during my childhood and nothing much had changed regarding our living situations. Likewise, I found myself standing outside of my childhood home, frowning at the sight of guests gathered outside along neat and well-organized benches. I even saw Han Jisung himself standing at the altar while talking to the future versions of Changbin and Felix who certainly defied aging expectations. “Why couldn’t I marry one of them?” I whined because fantasies about my ridiculously attractive friends had been commonplace back when we first started high school.

Still, I was on a mission, and it seemed fate was on my side because the side door was unlocked and I rushed upstairs, determined to find Y/N before the wedding could officially begin. I checked several bedrooms, sighing irritably when each one was left empty. Finally, I paused at the entrance to the attic, wondering if it was possible that I decided to get ready in the same space that I once feared when I was a kid because my father jokingly told me that aliens lived in the rafters.

I shook my head at the memory, carefully opening the door to be greeted with the sight of an older Y/N studying her reflection in the vanity mirror. We wore a beautiful white gown, straight out of my imagination, and it was obvious that great effort had been put into our appearance despite the fact that I usually didn’t care for that sort of thing.

I cleared my throat, attracting Y/N’s attention who turned around only to gasp and drop the make-up brush she had been holding. “What the hell?”

“Hi,” I said, startling when Y/N jumped back from the mirror, eyes wide as she looked at me.

“What’s going on? Am I going crazy?” her shoulders dropped up and down with several deep breaths. “This can’t be happening!”

“Look, can you stop freaking out for one second? I came here to warn you! I’ve seen what our life is like in the future, and it’s nothing like what we dreamed!”

“W-What do you mean?” she stuttered. “How can this be possible?”

“Don’t think too hard,” I grumbled. “Look, I came here from the past. I used a time travel machine that Dr. Park invented.”

“How? The time machine never worked?”

“Sure it did,” I grinned. “I fixed it! Aren’t you proud of us?”

Y/N slowly sat back down in front of the mirror. “Okay, let’s say that I’m not going crazy for a moment.”

“What a good idea,” I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? You aren’t dreaming, so can we just admit that I came here from another time and move on?”

Y/N eventually nodded her head, regarding me warily despite the evidence of time travel success standing right in front of her. “Okay, like I said, I’m here to warn you. I’ve seen our future and it’s horrible, Y/N, and I think it’s because of this moment! You’re making a huge mistake by marrying Han Jisung!”

Y/N gasped, eyes widening as she quickly shot over to the window, looking down at the reception where a sweaty Han Jisung stood at the altar nervously, wringing his hands together while he waited for his future bride. “How is that possible? Jisung is so sweet to me!”

“Are you really not going to believe me?” I asked, taking a step back. “It’s me, er, I’m you! Shit, if you can’t believe yourself, then I must be more stubborn than I thought.”

Y/N frowned. “Why are you telling me this?”

“To stop you from making a mistake! You need to leave him!” I insisted. “Find Changbin or Felix and get the hell out of this shithole town!”

Y/N looked at me with eyes that were suddenly a lot less bright in comparison to when I first entered the room. “I just- I can’t believe that we don’t work out in the future.”

“Trust me,” I said again. “This is our last chance to make things right.”

“B-but what if you’re wrong? What if there’s something else I can do-”

“I’ve been there,” I interrupted her. “Ask me anything about the past. I can tell you things about us and that should prove that I’m you.”

Y/N was hesitant. “The name of our imaginary friend?”

“Cleopatra,” I said. “He looked like a dog, but he could also fly.”

Y/N covered her mouth as the truth finally processed. “Fine, if you are from the past, then I guess you wouldn’t lie to me.”

“Why would I sabotage my own future?” I asked, reaching out to take her hands. “I know it might be hard to believe, but I’ve seen everything with my own eyes. This is the moment that changes everything.”

“What happens?” she asked with sad eyes. “Why is it this moment?”

“It’s...complicated,” I managed. “We’re very unhappy, though. I mean, you remember the things we once imagined, right? What if they never came true?”

“And it’s because of Jisung?”

“Obviously,” I snorted. “Why else would I be here?”

“It’s just hard to accept,” she admitted. “We’ve been together for years.”

I wrinkled my nose at the unpleasant thought. “What? Did we get a concussion somewhere along the way?”

Y/N frowned. “You came from a time before Jisung.”

“It still doesn’t negate the fact that I’ve seen the future!” I said. “I was so happy when I saw it for the first time, there were flying cars and holograms and the streets were painted with silver! But, when I found our future self, I couldn’t reconcile that wonderful vision of the future with the life we were living.”

Y/N wiped away a single tear that had fallen during my explanation. “Okay,” she said, suddenly appearing a lot more confident than before. “I’ll leave through the garden.”

“Yes!” I nearly exclaimed, reaching back for the door to the attic. “You have to go now while everyone is still waiting!”

Y/N obeyed instantly, hurrying down the stairs while I followed from behind. I watched her from the living room, waiting until her white dress disappeared into a field of green before returning to the reception outside. I found a good hiding spot in the bushes, kneeling down while I waited for the inevitable discovery that future Y/N had somehow disappeared from the attic.

It didn’t take long as an older woman ran outside with a bouquet of flowers. “Y/N is gone!” she eventually announced to the gathered crowd of family and friends.

“Gone?” Jisung repeated, eyes widening as he froze in place next to the altar.

I watched from the bushes, smiling when everyone started to stand at once, murmuring among themselves and wondering where the bride-to-be had gone. Thankfully, she had taken my advice before it was too late and I resisted the urge to pat myself on the back for a job well-done.

2035

I waited until I was certain that everyone had abandoned their search for Y/N before returning to Dr. Park’s basement. The time machine was still waiting for me, and I shuffled inside for my return to the future with a satisfied smile. “Now, I can return to the future in peace,” I declared, tuning on the ignition before closing my eyes and dropping to the floor. “Maybe this will help,” I whispered, holding my breath until the sounds of the engine finally subsided.

It only felt like seconds later when I stepped out of the time machine and froze, realizing that an older Dr. Park was actually standing in the middle of the room wearing a similar expression of disbelief. “Impossible!” Dr. Park exclaimed. “You look like you did when you were still in high school!”

I rolled my eyes at his observation. “I’m from the past.”

“Well, that’s also impossible!” Dr. Park shouted. “I destroyed this thing years ago!”

“Yeah, but I came from a time when you had just invented the machine,” I reminded him. “Actually, why the hell would you destroy it?”

Dr. Park shook his head. “It ruined so many futures.”

“Really?

Dr. Park nodded sadly. “I learned my lesson about time travel, Y/N. It never amounts to anything good.”

“Oh,” I said, shifting nervously while he continued to look at me as if he were seeing a ghost. “I guess that makes sense.”

“What a minute!” he finally said. “That means you came from the past to interfere with the future.”

“Not necessarily,” I grumbled, but he could clearly see through my lies.

“What the hell did you do?”

“I just changed one little thing,” I assured him. “I was supposed to get married to this guy, but I made sure that it wouldn’t happen.”

“You did what!” he gasped. “Y/N, you shouldn’t mess with a timeline like that! You have no idea what effect you could have on the future!”

“Fine, but can you blame me? My future was terrible!”

“But it still doesn’t give you the right to interfere.”

“I couldn’t let it happen,” I insisted. “It wasn’t what I wanted, especially considering the fact that I was a stupid receptionist! Can you imagine? I’m meant to study Quantum Mechanics not shampoo bottles!”

“It doesn’t matter!” he sighed. “The future isn’t something that you can just mold and shape to whatever you want! Changing one thing will set off a chain reaction that might impact other people and their futures!”

“I didn’t know, okay?” I cried, suddenly anxious with the way he was talking to me.

He ran his hands through his untameable hair. “Well, I guess it’s done now. There’s nothing more to be said.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, suddenly feeling very small standing in the middle of the room.

“It’s only natural,” he sighed. “But let's see what you’ve done.”

Dr. Park held tight to my wrist as we navigated the busy streets. Thus far, I didn’t see any changes around me, but that didn’t necessarily mean that something wasn’t amiss. “I kept up with you through the years,” he explained. “I remember the wedding you visited, and I always wondered why you changed your mind.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I might’ve convinced myself.”

“Nevertheless,” Dr. Park said. “You live in an apartment now in the city.”

“Really?” I asked, feeling a faint glimmer of hope that Dr. Park had overreacted and everything was fine with my future.

“We can take my car,” he said, fetching the keys before pausing next to a sleek, silver sports machine.

“Wow!” I gasped, admiring the delicate paint job before joining Dr. Park inside. I immediately startled when the car suddenly left the ground, hovering above the street before joining the traffic. “When did flying cars get invented?”

“Oh, not too long after the time you just came back from,” Dr. Park said. “I invented them, you know.”

“You did?”

“What else was I supposed to do when I gave up on time travel?” he shrugged. “Besides, it runs mostly on solar power which is a big plus for the environment.”

I nodded my agreement. “What else has happened?”

Dr. Park smiled, glancing at me with a knowing look. “Oh, Y/N, the future is something to behold.”

Subsequently, for the remainder of our trip, I listened to Dr. Park talks about the inventions that defined the future, everything from flying cars to holograms and the small gadgets in between. My personal favorite was the automatic sock warmers that dispelled water and kept your toes safe during the winter months. However, above everything else, I was glad to hear that society was advancing with new technology and medical practices. It was nothing short of exciting, and it only made me want to return to my own time so that I could experience it happen as I started to explore the world around me.

“Here we are,” Dr. Park eventually said, dropping his car onto the street next to a fairly modest building. “These types are the current rage. Most complexes come equipped with doors that open after scanning your fingerprint.”

“Really?” I wondered, following him outside onto the sidewalk.

He opened the door to the lobby, allowing me inside first before he nodded towards the elevators. “10th floor.”

The building wasn’t very busy, and most of the residents ignored us while we stopped outside of the door to my future apartment. “Y/N,” Dr. Park said, rapping lightly against the frame. “It’s me.”

The door opened slowly and I found myself looking into a familiar pair of eyes that widened when they recognized me. “It’s you from the wedding.”

“Well,” I said hesitantly. “I am you.”

Y/N frowned, but opened the door wider to allow me and Dr. Park inside the small apartment. I took one glance around before feeling my stomach fall as I recognized the sad condition of the property. “What happened?”

Y/N sniffled, looking at me with sad eyes. “Our future is nothing.”

“Well, where is everyone else? What about Changbin or Felix?”

“They left years ago,” Y/N said. “Everyone left me after I ran away from the wedding.”

“What?” I gasped, falling back onto the ground. “Why would they do that?”

“Because I broke his heart,” Y/N groaned. “I’m so stupid!”

“Stupid?” I repeated, glancing at Dr. Park anxiously who could only shrug in response. “Tell me everything that happened after the wedding.”

“My mom found me,” Y/N explained. “She told me that Jisung was moving someplace in the city with Changbin and Felix. He told her that none of them wanted anything else to do with me after what happened at the wedding. I was so sad, and I decided to move back home, but I lost the passion to want to do anything. Jisung had always been my muse, and without him I stopped feeling inspired.”

“When did we move here?”

“A year ago,” Y/N said. “I have an office job in the city, but it gets really lonely out here with nobody around.”

“Oh,” I said, aware of Dr. Park’s stern gaze burning into the back of my head. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Actually, it was you who told me to leave because our future was so bad,” Y/N reminded me. “What happened? Did Jisung do something?”

“Well, not exactly...”

“It had to be something! You said the future was horrible, but I can’t imagine anything worse than this!”

“Okay, look,” I finally relented. “When I went to the future, I saw us with Han Jisung and I thought that it was unfair that we ended up with him. I decided to try and change that, but I didn’t understand what I was doing until it was too late.”

“You had no idea,” Y/N said with a frown. “I guess you came from a time in the past before we knew who he really was.”

“Well,” I sighed. “I mean, who is he?”

“Han Jisung is one of the best people in the world,” Y/N said with tears falling freely. “He was the best thing that ever happened to us.”

By the time we returned to the basement, I was traumatized from my meeting with Y/N, falling against the couch unceremoniously while Dr. Park examined the time machine with obvious scrutiny. “What have I done!” I groaned against the pillows.

“Well, you destroyed your future,” he replied, ignoring the glare I aimed in his direction.

“Dr. Park, I have to go back in time again! I need to undo the stupid shit I’ve done.”

“Is that so?” Dr. Park chuckled, wiping his hands clean as he stood next to me. “You think it’s that easy?”

“Why not?” I frowned. “I know the time and date when I got married.”

“That won’t matter anymore because you altered the timeline!” Dr. Park exclaimed. “At that precise moment in time, you created an alternate reality! It’s impossible to go back now and change everything.”

“Why? Can’t I just go back and stop myself from interfering with the wedding?”

“No! That’s not how time works!”

“Well! What the fuck? I don’t understand what I’m supposed to do! I can’t just stand aside and do nothing!

“Y/N, the delicate aspects of time are extremely convoluted! You should’ve never messed with the timeline in the first place.”

“Don’t you think I realize that now!” I cried. “I know that I ruined my future because I didn’t think it was important enough to understand everything that had happened before 2035. I just...I was surprised because it wasn’t like anything I had ever dreamed about. I mean, Dr. Park, I wanted to be a physicist, not a stupid receptionist! I thought I would marry Lee Minho and we would, like, completely takeover the world together or something.”

Dr. Park was silent for a moment, watching me as I completely broke down in front of him full of regrets for everything I had done. “Y/N,” he finally said. “Can I offer you some advice?”

“I guess,” I grumbled, ignoring the way his gaze grew sympathetic.

“The future is whatever you want to make of it,” he said. “If you want to make it a future that involves Jisung, then you need to make sure that he stays in your life.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know the original story,” Dr. Park continued. “But if you create a new narrative where you met Jisung even earlier and started dating him before that predetermined time...”

“Then I can fix it!” I gasped. “I can change the timeline!”

Dr. Park smiled. “Good girl! It’s all up to you now because you're responsible for the future you decide to make.”

His words were incredibly wise, and I could only hope to follow his advice and reclaim the future that I had so painstakingly changed without fully understanding the consequences.

2020

Hopefully, for the final time, I stepped outside the time machine after returning to the past where I belonged. However, this time I was determined not to interfere anymore, deciding that Dr. Park was right when he explained the fine semantics. After all, the future was whatever I wanted it to be, and I already knew that I was more determined than ever to succeed.

“I’m back!” I exclaimed, looking around the mostly vacant basement. I checked my phone with a gasp because school started in less than an hour. I would need to find Jisung as soon as possible because I had an idea of how I could fix everything that I had broken.

I quickly dialed a familiar number, holding it up to my ear as a tired voice answered from the other end. “Hello, Uber?”

Ten minutes later, I saw a car pull up to the sidewalk next to Dr. Park’s house. “Y/N?” the driver asked, looking at my from behind a dark pair of sunglasses.

“Park View High School,” I said, joining him in the backseat before the driver took off while I searched my pockets for any spare change.

I managed to make it to school on time, just five minutes before the first bell. Still, I knew the chances of finding Jisung before class were slim, so I needed to be patient. “Here,” I said, shoving the cash at the disgruntled Uber driver.

“Gee, thanks,” he grumbled because he was probably dissatisfied with the fact that I didn’t tip properly.

In any case, my perfect opportunity finally arose during lunch when I found Jisung lingering in the hallways as he exchanged textbooks. I took a deep breath to steel my nerves as I hesitantly walked in his direction. “Jisung,” I said, cautiously approaching him at his locker. “Can I ask you something?”

He wore his signature jeans with a loose t-shirt that was way too big for his narrow form. I frowned because my taste in men had apparently evolved at some point in the future. Of course, as I considered him more closely, I realized that there was also a charming aspect to his boyish features.

In the meantime, Jisung had froze in place, eyes wide as he turned around to face me. “Y-Y/N?”

I offered him a smile. “There’s a dance on Friday,” I started, searching his gaze imploringly. “Would you like to go with me?”

His eyes widened, breath hitching as he looked at me. “You want to go with me?”

I nodded. “I think it might be nice to go together. You can even come over this afternoon and we can make our plans!”

“Really?” he asked, appearing doubtful despite the way I had suddenly leaned in closer.

“Please?”

He finally nodded his head and I released a sigh of relief because my plan was starting to formulate right before my very eyes.

Later that afternoon, I opened the front door to my house to find Jisung ten minutes early wearing a much nicer pair of clothes. “Hi,” he said, nervously shuffling in place.

“You made it,” I grinned, reaching out for his hand to pull him inside. “We can go to my room.”

Jisung nodded. “Is this still okay?”

“Of course,” I said, grabbing onto his jacket sleeve to guide him up the staircase. “What do you want to do?”

Jisung didn’t respond, gazing around my room with a look of astonishment written across his expression. “Huh?”

“We can watch a movie,” I said, patting the space on my bed while turning on my laptop.

“Okay,” Jisung agreed, settling down next to me while finding it very difficult to tear his gaze away from me while I pulled up my Netflix account.

“Did you need something?” I teased, enjoying the way he blushed as a result.

“Sorry,” he grumbled, scrunching his nose when he noticed what movie I had picked. “Romance?”

“My favorite genre,” I said, leaning back to tilt the screen in our direction. “I think it’s good.”

Jisung still seemed reluctant, and I found it amusing that he was so willing to accept this unfortunate decision. Nevertheless, I relaxed next to him on the bed, watching the characters on-screen with far less attentiveness than I usually allowed for movie viewings. Because my eyes kept wandering over to Jisung, watching as his expression transformed from disgruntled acceptance to active fascination as he started reacting to the action on-screen.

Still, it only made it that more interesting to watch him blush during the more scandalous scenes, shifting uncomfortably from next to me. “What’s wrong?” I asked, enjoying the way he jumped in reaction.

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head aggressively in response.

“Are you sure?” I asked before turning around to properly face him.

Jisung paused and I decided to make the first move, leaning in closer to where I could smell his cologne on the collar of his jacket. “Y/N?” he questioned, but I pressed my lips to his before he could protest any further. And it didn’t take long for him to reciprocate the kiss with a feverish desire that made me realize that I had been overlooking Han Jisung for far too long.

It was almost midnight when I let myself into Dr. Park’s house. Despite the consequences of time travel, there was something inside of me that wouldn’t quite settle unless I determined whether or not I fixed my future relationship with Jisung. I knew the risks, but I needed reassurance that everything would happen the way it was supposed to before I had mistakenly intervened.

I jerked off the sheet hanging over the machine, wiping my hands on my jeans when the sudden flickering of the light overhead forced me to spin around. “I see that you fixed the machine,” Dr. Park said, watching me carefully from over his coffee cup.

“Oh, right,” I started awkwardly. “I guess I did.”

“Well,” he sighed. “Were there any visits involved with your tinkering?”

I knew that I couldn’t lie to Dr. Park, so I explained everything to him, including the advice from his future self and the revelation of the destruction of the time machine. “That’s really all that happened,” I assured him at the end.

“Then why are you going back?”

“Ah,” I pursed my lips. “I think it might be necessary to ensure that everything works out...”

“So you learned nothing from your mistakes?” Dr. Park said. “If you did, then you’ll help me destroy this thing instead of using it again.”

“But...Dr. Park!”

“We should believe me!” he protested. “I’m the smartest person that I know!”

“You don’t even know your future self, yet!”

“Yes, but you’ve met him and he sounds perfectly reasonable.”

“I need to make sure!” I insisted. “I promise, Dr. Park, this will really be the last time.”

He looked perfectly ready to protest, but he continued to study me with that close scrutiny that I had started to associate with him when he was discovering something particularly interesting. “I guess this means a lot to you,” he eventually conceded. “Despite all logic, I suppose that one more time wouldn’t hurt.”

“Really?” I grinned, glancing at the time machine from the corner of my eye. “Do you mean that?”

“But no more interference after this,” he grumbled. “You’ll get your answers and we’re leaving as soon as possible.”

“I agree with you,” I said. “100 %.”

“Well, I suppose it’s also a good time to try out my newest invention,” he said, holding up something that resembled a walkie-talkie. “It’s a tracking device. All it needs is a sample of DNA and it can help you locate your future self.”

“That’s awesome,” I gasped, clutching tightly to the device while Dr. Park started to prepare the machine.

“Are you ready?”

I nodded enthusiastically, waiting next to the machine while he loaded another gold bar inside the fuel tank. “Let’s do this right,” he said. “The way I intended: observation and nothing more.”

“Okay,” I agreed, closing my eyes when the door was firmly shut and the machine started to rotate rapidly as the very space-time continuum was warped to accommodate our travels to the future.

2035

“This is very dangerous,” Dr. Park remarked when the machine was silent once more and a very different version of his basement greeted our arrival. “Hopefully, we won’t run into my future self.”

“Maybe you could stay behind with the machine?” I suggested. “I’ll find myself and make sure everything is back to normal.”

“Fine, but please hurry,” he said, desperately looking around the silent basement like he expected an explosion at any moment. “I might also gamble a chance to look outside, but it’s only for scientific purposes!”

I rolled my eyes at his comment while I lowered the brim of my hat and left the house through the side door leading into the backyard. It was incredibly sunny outside, and I watched several flying cars soar past overhead before I was running along the hedges supporting the fence marking Dr. Park’s property. I pulled the tracking device from my back pocket, watching the screen load before rushing off in the direction of the bustling city scape.

It didn’t take long for the tracking device to lead me into a mostly-deserted park. There weren’t many people around, and I took a deep breath, following the increasing sounds of the beeping before pausing at the edge of a pond. Because sitting on one of the benches next to the water was a very familiar face.

“Y/N,” I said, but she didn’t look surprised to see me.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” Y/N said, smiling brightly while she patted the bench next to her.

You have?” I immediately questioned.

“Of course,” she said. “I’ve been expecting this moment.”

I tentatively sat down next to Y/N, shaking my head to try and clear the confusion. “But? How is that possible?”

“I’m you after the new timeline we created,” she explained. “I know everything that happened.”

“Ah,” I nodded. “Well, then I guess you know what I did.”

“I do,” she confirmed. “I can also tell you that our curiosity only gets worse instead of better.”

“Isn’t that what got us into trouble in the first place?”

“Yes, but we learn to make the best of it,” she replied. “Now, I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”

“I don’t think we have enough time to answer them all,” I joked. “Of course, there’s only one thing I’m really concerned about.”

“Our marriage to Jisung?”

I swallowed hard. “Well?”

“I won’t keep you in suspense,” she said. “We married him, and we’re very happy together.”

I sighed in relief. “I thought I ruined everything.”

“We came close,” Y/N admitted. “But I think that some things are destined to happen.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“Why wouldn’t I? After all, you should already know this, but isn’t Jisung great?” Y/N grinned. “Where did you come from in the past? I’m assuming that we’ve already met him for you to be at this point?”

“He’s still the hall monitor,” I said, wincing when Y/N squealed like it was the greatest thing she had ever heard.

“Wasn’t he so handsome?” Y/N asked.

“The best,” I offered, watching Y/N swoon like she had married a celebrity or something. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” Y/N smiled.

“Why did we marry Han Jisung? No offense, but he wasn’t exactly...normal?”

“Yeah? But what qualifies as normal?” Y/N asked. “I think a young girl who spends way too much time with Dr. Park trying to invent a time machine isn’t exactly normal either.”

“That’s...surprisingly a good point,” I conceded.

“Actually, I think I should tell you about him,” Y/N continued. “Han Jisung is the type of person who looks after other people before himself. He’s the thoughtful kind of person who once spent an entire paycheck just to buy me a new jacket after I accidentally left mine behind at the theater.”

“All of that happened?”

“He cares a lot about us,” Y/N said. “Jisung had a crush on us for a long time.”

“On us?” I repeated, eyes widening in disbelif.

"You might naive now, but I think you’ll find out for yourself just how wonderful he really is.”

“But...that still doesn’t explain why we never amounted to anything? I mean, a receptionist wasn’t high on my list of accomplishments.”

“That list was superficial. Our life with Jisung is anything but ordinary. I think you’ll come to realize that sometimes we never understand what we truly want until it actually happens.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I shrugged.

“By the way, the receptionist gig is only temporary,” Y/N smiled. “We’re waiting for a grant to start our research into Quantum Mechanics at the University.”

“No way!” I gasped. “If I had known-”

“Exactly,” Y/N interrupted. “We aren’t supposed to know because it takes the excitement out of life. Isn't it more interesting to think that the future is a blank canvas?”

“Okay, I get it,” I said. “But the temptation was hard to resist.”

“I understand,” Y/N nodded. “However, I’ll also be the first to tell you that even now your future could change. Because nothing is ever set in stone.”

“That’s something like what Dr. Park said,” I remarked, sharing an easy smile with the older and wiser version of myself.

“In any case, being a wife and a mother is my greatest adventure. Trust me, Y/N, our future is nothing short of extraordinary.”

I knew she was right, and I took her hand with a firm squeeze. “I’ll always remember that.”

“Good,” she smiled. “Because I don’t want you to mess this up, okay?”

I laughed. “I think I can manage to create a good future for us.”

“But you might want to hurry up before Dr. Park decides to leave you here.”

I took one more look around the park, admiring the gentle elegance of the calming water. For the first time ever, I was nothing short of ecstatic when I thought about living every second to its fullest. Because life was far too short to worry about what could’ve been when I had the rare opportunity to understand what my life will become.

2020

Upon my return to the present, Dr. Park decided to dismantle the time machine. “It seems necessary to avoid any further mistakes,” he nodded.

“But...what will you do now, sir?”

“Anything’s possible, Y/N,” he said. “We’ll just have to make the best of it.”

“Maybe you should think about cars,” I suggested, offering him a sly smile to which he rolled his eyes.

“What did you see?”

“My lips are sealed,” I chirped, ignoring the way he continued to call my name while I ran upstairs in a rush to finally arrive at school on time without the assistance of an Uber. Graciously, traffic wasn’t as chaotic, so I was able to waltz through most of the crosswalks with little difficulty, waving at the cars passing alongside the road. My adrenaline was pumping, and I had never been so enthused to see the familiar outline of my school building in the distance.

Fittingly, I was actually unable to report to my class on time, but I couldn’t be more satisfied to meet a familiar hall monitor stationed near my classroom. “Y/N!” Jisung exclaimed, eyes widening as he checked behind him. “You can go inside before Miss Adams arrives.”

“Thanks,” I said, but I still paused in front of him. “I want to talk to you about the dance.”

“You don’t want to go with me anymore,” Jisung frowned and I quickly shook my head.

“Why would you say that? I can’t wait for the dance.”

“Really?”

I smiled at Jisung who was blushing furiously. “I’m looking forward to our date,” I said, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “Thank you, Jisung.”

“Y-Y/N,” Jisung stuttered. “What are you doing?”

“I just want you to know that I think you’re pretty great,” I said, enjoying the flabbergasted expression on his face as I walked inside my first-period classroom, satisfied that my future was truly secured.

#stray kids fanfic #stray kids #skz fanfic #stray kids fluff #stray kids angst #skz imagines #skz scenarios #stray kids oneshot #han jisung #stray kids han #han jisung fanfic #han jisung fluff #han jisung oneshot #time travel au

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antiquecompass · 5 years ago

Text

Untamed Spring Fest Day 15: Growth

Wherein there is an art show and an ex.

It wasn’t often they got a weekend away together during the school year, but this time it was a special circumstance. The Rhode Island School of Design Craft Show had selected Xichen as one of its three jurors this year. It was an honor for him, and for Lan Academy, and so while Xichen didn’t like to leave the school for any amount of time, especially not right before the first quarter report cards went out, he couldn’t refuse this invitation.

“Is Xichen nervous?”

Jiang Cheng looked up from where he was giving Sugar her final hugs before setting out for the weekend. His sister had offered to watch all the pets, but Jiang Cheng loved her far too much to leave her with a dog and three cats on top of her children. Molly had agreed to take care of the cats back at Xichen’s home. Sugar needed a little more attention, and since Jin Ling had already shown a love for dogs, it would be a good test run for him in the future.

Even if the Peacock swore they’d never had a dog.

It was one of maybe three things Jiang Cheng and Meng Yao agreed on: if their nephew wanted a dog, he was getting a dog.

“I’d be nervous,” Yanli said. “I still get nervous judging cooking competitions. I hate when people don’t get rewarded for at least trying their hardest.”

His beloved, tender-hearted sister. He loved her so much.

“You know Xichen feels the same about art. He refuses to claim any one medium or style has more value than the other. To him, it’s always about being made with some sort of genuine emotion. The jurors for this show remain anonymous, so that won’t be a burden to him this weekend.” He stood, wiping off bits of Sugar’s fur from his pants and tried not to let his temper flare at the one very shitty part of this weekend. “His ex is presenting there this year though, and I think he’s more nervous about that than anything else. He’s avoided that jackass since he graduated.”

“Or maybe he’s more nervous about what you will do,” Yanli said. “Not that such a horrible person doesn’t deserve every verbal wound you’d give him. Or a physical one. Trip the bastard, make him knock out a tooth.”

“Yanli!”

She shrugged. “You could do worse. This way it’ll be a justifiable accident. How anyone could be that horrible to Xichen of all people.”

If Yanli knew everything that bastard had said to Xichen, the emotional manipulative shit he’d pulled over a year-long relationship, she’d probably invite herself along to give the fucker a piece of her mind.

“I don’t want to make it awkward or more difficult for Xichen this weekend,” Jiang Cheng said. “So I’ll be nice and professional; my normal asshole self to that piece of shit; and then I’ll set mom and Huaisang on the little rat’s trail once I get his business card.”

“Good,” Yanli said. Her cold tone faded as her bright smile returned. “If you see a peacock--”

“I’ll buy it for your family’s collection,” Jiang Cheng promised her.

***********

The Freeman Hotel was old by date, historic by design, and a little full of itself, but Jiang Cheng knew it would be a better fit for Xichen who had almost accepted the school’s offer of rooming at the Hilton. Not that the Hilton was a bad hotel, but Xichen was and remained a kind, but pampered, prince and they’d both be far more comfortable with their suite here. Xichen had fallen in love with the hotel the first time they’d stayed, and so now every time they came to Providence, they stayed in the same premier suite. It was one of their own traditions.

“You were right,” Xichen said as they exited the car. “The Hilton would’ve been fine, but it wouldn’t have felt right.”

Jiang Cheng nodded as he pulled their bags out of the trunk. “And I’m sure you’ll still meet some of your fellow alumni here, but we can still have a semblance of privacy.”

The staff here was very good and very respectful. They were also pet friendly which was one of the many reasons they stayed here.

“And escape,” Xichen agreed. He grinned as they headed towards the lobby. “We’ll both need it after this weekend.”

“Being polite is so exhausting,” Jiang Cheng agreed.

“As if you’d know,” Xichen teased.

“It’s a good thing I love you so much, or I’d leave you to fend for yourself with the alumni masses this weekend,” Jiang Cheng said.

Xichen dipped his head and kissed the tip of Jiang Cheng’s nose. They entered the lobby happy--laughing--both feeling lighter than they had during the past few weeks of work and stress.

“Mr. Lan! Mr. Jiang! It’s so good to see you again,” Santos greeted them from behind the counter. “No Sugar this time?”

“We left her with family this weekend,” Jiang Cheng said.

“We’ll miss her,” Santos said. He passed over their room keys and wished them well.

They both lingered in the lobby, studying the current art exhibit. There was always at least one art exhibit, no matter the time of year. This particular one also had various pieces from the School of Design’s student body and alumni. It was certainly going to be a weekend for it. They passed various little lounges and hidden corners full of books and art and all different types of comfortable chairs. They passed the main winding staircase that led up to the top floors of the original building, past the little door that led to a hidden garden path, and then finally headed towards the bank of elevators.

As they passed another little alcove, Xichen froze.

“Baby?” Jiang Cheng asked.

Xichen’s shoulders dropped, the joy from earlier seeming to disappear. Jiang Cheng’s protective instincts immediately went on alert, he stepped in front of Xichen, trying to find whatever could’ve caused such a sudden change in his mood. All he could hear was a nasally voice talking about the children’s paintings in the back alcove with that pretentious bullshit tone that only came from people who were too rich or too full of themselves or both.

“Some parents just shouldn’t encourage their students to pursue art. Just look at this?”

What in the actual fuck? Who in the hell criticized children’s art projects?

“Well, that’s a soulless asshole,” Jiang Cheng said.

Xichen nodded. Cleared his throat. And nodded again. “So, um...that’s my college boyfriend. Brantley.”

Jiang Cheng felt a mixture of rage, anger, and disbelief.

Really, disbelief more than anything.

“Brantley’s not a human name, it’s a horse’s name,” Jiang Cheng replied before he could form any other thoughts. He shook his head as he tried to drown out the nasally voice still droning on. “That?” he asked, pointing to where the voice came from. “Him?”

“Mistakes were made,” Xichen said, a twist of a smile back on his lips and a hint of sparkle in his eyes.

“A mistake is when you put a red shirt in with a load of whites,” Jiang Cheng said. “That is a fucking travesty.”

That asshole was the source of so many of Xichen’s firsts. That was the motherfucker who called Xichen boring. Who told him he wasn’t enough to keep anyone satisfied. Said he only got into RISD because of his family name. Called Xichen plain and hardly memorable. That motherfucker who was critiquing a kid’s drawing of Spongebob friggin’ Squarepants. No wonder Meng Yao, Satan Incarnate himself, seemed like a prince compared to that asshole. The man’s voice alone made Jiang Cheng want to break his face.

“Him?” Jiang Cheng asked again, ready to storm into the room. “Did he try to play art critic back then too? To children?”

“There were many reasons why I broke up with him,” Xichen said. He grabbed Jiang Cheng’s arm. “My love, don’t. Please. I just want to go up to our room.”

Jiang Cheng hesitated. “Just one little tiny rant?” he tried.

Xichen shook his head. “Please,” he said.

And how could Jiang Cheng deny him when he asked?

He couldn’t.

But he made sure to keep his deadliest glare on his face just in case the jackass appeared before their elevator arrived.

**********

Xichen knew Brantley (though the artworld knew him as ‘Ley’) was going to be here this weekend, but he never thought they’d be staying in the same hotel. This hotel was a place of class and calm and Brantley usually avoided anything ‘traditional’ so as not to seem boring. There was no reason for him to be staying in this hotel when far trendier ones that catered to people who cared more about their image than their comfort were closer to the city center.

Xichen refused to let it put a damper on their little holiday. He was proud to be a juror this year, was always eager to see the creations of RISD’s students and alumni, and was ecstatic Jiang Cheng had been able to clear his weekend and join him. This was their suite in their hotel in a city they came back to often. He refused to let one past mistake--one that was still so clearly a horrible human being--ruin it.

Back then, Xichen had been charmed and flustered and confused. He’d never dated before then, never had someone pursue him in the ruthless way Brantley had. He’d been bowled over by him; an attractive student, a year ahead of him, who was popular in Xichen’s department. Now he could look back and see that Brantley was smart, but not clever; handsome, but not breathtaking; talented, but not extraordinary. Still, there was a time Xichen had been in awe of him.

They didn’t start off bad, but then Brantley couldn’t stand not being the best, not being the center of attention, and as Xichen grew more comfortable so far removed from his family, found his own friends, his own talent, his own sort of fame, Brantley had become mean.

It didn’t help that during one of these Craft weekends, Xichen had won an award and Brantley hadn’t.

That’s when Brantley’s words turned vicious; taunting; what used to be praised in Xichen was now mocked; what used to be desired was now derided.

It had come to a head one weekend when Uncle had visited. He’d shook Brantley’s hand and then turned to Xichen, a frown on his face. Uncle did not approve.Uncle would not agree to let Brantley visit the Lan property like he’d been asking to for so long. And that disapproval was the freedom, the signal, the excuse Xichen needed to end it.

It was amazing how much had changed in the years since. Xichen had grown into his confidence, even if he, naturally, still had self-doubts. He still disliked confrontation and tried to please everyone, but he’d found his strength.

He’d found his strength in more ways than one, and in one person in particular.

“Ready for dinner?” Jiang Cheng asked.

He wore one of Xichen’s own Lan Academy swim team shirts, the cotton old, faded, and stretched, and a pair of khaki shirts in deference to the still warm days of early Fall and the amount of walking they’d do tonight. That was another tradition of theirs: to walk the streets of downtown after dinner, lingering in the parks, enjoying their time together, before stopping off at the local grocers to buy food to stock their little kitchen here for the weekend. Every time Xichen was reminded of his first show as Zewu-jun, of them both tired and punch-drunk on that park bench, eating a horrible McDonald’s breakfast.

He wished he could somehow tell the Xichen back then that one day he would spend almost every morning waking up to that face, that he would know that smile as well as his own; that he’d get to hear that laughter whenever he wished, since it was always either a room or a phone call away. That in that moment, hours after that breakfast, he would start something that would lead him here.

To a man who loved him for his faults as well as his virtues; who respected him, praised him, supported him. To his equal. To his heart.

Xichen knew there were tears in his eyes as he looked up at Jiang Cheng now; could feel the rattle of a sob in his chest.

Jiang Cheng immediately dropped down next to him and wrapped him in his arms, soft kisses spread across his brow, the tip of his nose, his hair.

“Say the word and I’ll get him kicked out of here. I’ll buy the entire fucking hotel to do it if I have to.”

Xichen shook his head and laughed, clinging tighter to Jiang Cheng.

“I love you,” he forced out. The words he meant to say before all of it had come crashing down on him. “And thank you for loving me.”

“Thank you for letting me,” Jiang Cheng said.

He could still feel the angry tension in Jiang Cheng’s body. He knew Jiang Cheng wanted to lash out; to avenge all Xichen’s past hurts. But those past hurts were nothing, just memories, and they were nothing compared to the joy he’d found and the happy memories he’d made with Jiang Cheng.

“Room service?” Jiang Cheng asked.

“Absolutely not,” Xichen said. He gently tugged Jiang Cheng’s arms off him and sat back. “We have a reservation with our favorite restaurant and then an appointment with our favorite park bench and I refuse to let one asshole who’s never grown out of his bitterness for not being as talented as he thinks he is ruin it.”

“I still want to kick his ass,” Jiang Cheng said.

“I believe you’d have to get in line,” Xichen said.

**********

It was after their lovely dinner, relaxing walk, and too many kisses while sitting on their bench, that the confortonation finally happened. Jiang Cheng’s arms were full of their groceries, and he was propped up against the wall as they waited for their elevator to descend. It was then that they both wrinkled their noses at the smell of someone who hadn’t sprayed cologne rather than doused themselves in it.

“Oh--you’re here.”

Xichen put on his best Headmaster Lan smile to nod at Brantley. “It is alumni weekend,” he said.

“I didn’t think school principals could afford to stay at a place like this,” Brantley said. “Of course, you have your family’s money.”

Ah, so they were continuing where they’d left off then. Even after nearly twenty years.

“My inheritance is my source of income,” Xichen agreed, “so that my salary can be donated to the school to fund various scholarships and programs.”

“Not that he even needs to pull from his inheritance, considering the money his art brings in on its own,” Jiang Cheng said.

Xichen grinned at Jiang Cheng, still so casually propped up against the wall, his smile and eyes ready to kill.

“You’re not an artist,” Brantley said as he looked at Jiang Cheng, judging him by his outfit alone. “Sold prices don’t equal skill.”

“Fair enough,” Jiang Cheng said. “I’m not an artist, just an appreciator and investor.”

Brantley gave a pitying smile. “Well, my work of course is more than just basic watercolors.”

“I love watercolors,” Jiang Cheng said. “And shouldn’t one collect and create art they enjoy? Wouldn’t it be too pretentious to imply one type of art is better than another? If it’s all up to interpretation? I mean, of course everything in life must be open to criticism, but it takes a special kind of asshole to try and douse other people’s joy just to feel better about their own failings.”

Brantley didn’t take the bait and didn’t seem to realize he was a little guppy batting at a shark. “You’re an investor, you say? What’s the jewel of your collection then? Comic strips?”

Xichen didn’t know how Jiang Cheng found the control to keep his hands where they were and not slap the smug smirk off Brantley’s face. He didn’t though, just shifted the groceries and gave Xichen a wink.

“The jewel of my collection? Xichen,” Jiang Cheng automatically said. “But if we’re talking assets, I suppose it’s the Jiang Theater. I mean, my family owns some more important pieces, but those remain on permanent loan to the Museum of Fine Arts. And the Gardner. And Harvard has a couple of our pieces too, and MoMA. Always forget about MoMA. But in terms of size, I suppose it must be the Jiang Theater.”

That caught Brantley’s attention. “Oh, are you a supporter of the theater?”

“Yes,” Jiang Cheng said. “And somehow some complicated way, the owner.”

Xichen finally intervened. As much fun as this was, their ice cream was melting. “Brantley, he’s the owner and CEO of Jiang Industries.”

“You may call me Mr. Jiang,” Jiang Cheng said as the elevator doors finally opened. He walked past Brantley, rolling his eyes as the man refused to move. “Seriously?” he asked, turning to Xichen as they settled inside the elevator and the doors started to close. “Him? Really?”

“I was young and I didn’t know any better,” Xichen said. “He was my first boyfriend.”

“We both started from the shit bottom,” Jiang Cheng said. “At least there was growth and improvement.”

“Are you complimenting Meng Yao?”

“Saying he’s better than that shit stain is hardly a compliment,” Jiang Cheng said. “But, yes, if we’re being technical about it, I am.” He made a face. “That’s disgusting. Come here and kiss me and take away the trauma of it all.”

“I’ll squish the bread,” Xichen said even as he crowded Jiang Cheng into the corner.

“Somehow, I think I’ll forgive you,” Jiang Cheng said.

#long post #xicheng #untamed spring fest #verse: lahl #fic: hold me like you want me #fandom: the untamed #my ridic writing

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with-pryde · 4 years ago

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spot the difference: excalibur kitty pryde v. evolution kitty pryde

𝙴𝚇𝙲𝙰𝙻𝙸𝙱𝚄𝚁:

academics. in junior high (so grades 7-9, approx. ages 12-14), she was enrolled in college courses and was so ahead of her peers that she barely had anything to do with them, and rarely ever saw them. like a lot of gifted kids, she sees herself as “better” than her peers and she can be quick to alienate kids her own age, and isn’t entirely sure how to socialise with them. she got off on the wrong foot with the new mutants even before getting put on their team by calling them babies, despite the fact that some of them were older than she was. problem was, she had more experience and was smarter, thus, age didn’t factor into her assessment.

the two exceptions to this rule are her two roommates, illyana and rachel, but it should be noted that, as roommates, both spent a lot of time with her to break these barriers. and both had such horrific childhoods, illyana in limbo and rachel as a hound in the future, that they were forced to grow up and mature faster than kids their age. and, thus, like kitty, they both also don’t really have much of a connection / fit in well with their peers (unless they work at it), so they’re more exception cases than the norm for kitty re: friends her age (though rachel IS maybe a few years older than her anyway).

aggression. as noted above, kitty had very little to do with her peers and, after joining the x-men at 13 (and a half), her main influences were those she served on the team with (namely ororo, colossus, kurt, logan and the professor, with scott and psylocke also featuring). of those, she forged strong bonds with kurt, logan and ororo, but she takes after wolverine a lot, even using his phrase bub when in a bad mood. she’s pretty quick to resort to violence, though she’s of course mindful of who she’s up against. the goal is to hurt, not kill (though when she’s mad she often thinks about how good it would be to kill them). granted, she doesn’t understand wolverine’s “berserker rages”, and isn’t much like that, until she joins excalibur and Sees Some ShitTM that makes her understand what whole consuming hate and rage feels like.

also worth noting during this time she’s dealing with a lot, including loss of those who were like family and chronic pain, but even so she has a pretty short fuse and will punch you in the face. or, in the case of a friend, will have something smart and sarcastic to say. also kitty is very much the type of person where, if she’s mad, she’s mad at the whole world and will unduly take her anger out on people who aren’t even remotely responsible for her misery. she gets better about not yelling when she lashes out (she mostly drops that by excalibur), but she still lashes out with mean / sour comments or gets very snappish and snarly.

authority. again, like logan, she doesn’t always take kindly to authority. granted, she does tend to like her teachers and likes to receive praise from them, but she will also yell at the authority figures in her life without batting an eye. she will also go against their wishes, too, like facing threats on her own to prove she belongs on the x-men main team instead of the new mutants.

colour palate. she loves colours, mostly jewel tones and saturated colours. blues and hot pinks and creams. when she wears her cream sweaters, however, she’ll accent it with colours like red elsewhere. while she used to wear the most eye-catching bedazzled outfits, she’s mainly toned it back to a bright splash of colour in her outfit, usually her shirt. her clothes also favour comfort over style and attraction, and the one time she tries skinny jeans she hates them.

computing. she’s a computing genius and sometimes jokingly calls herself the goddess of computers, with every right. she especially excels at hardware, and can make a stunning array of gadgets, including a handheld non-telepathic cerebro. she can also programme, however, one of her best friends, doug ramsey, a mutant gifted with an ability in language (including machine languages), he could often take her most mediocre efforts and make it work amazingly well and, often, handled a lot of the code and programming. they did work together and she learned a lot from him.... but she also relied on him a lot, too, and so when it comes to software and programming, she’s not as strong as her evo counterpart for it.

confidence. in the toilet. again, because she has little contact with kids her age and looks down on those her age, kitty pryde tends to crush on older people who are out of her league age-wise. they don’t really pay attention to her, at least, not in a romantic way (as it should be), but she tends to take this as rejection of who she is. her roommates, illyana and rachel, too, are very good looking and tend to get a lot of attention that she doesn’t, and so kitty goes through her younger years believing she’s not very attractive. she’s also incredibly self-critical and just. doesn’t have much self-confidence outside of her ability to beat people up.

cussing. she doesn’t outright cuss, but instead uses words like flamin’ and devil. it doesn’t sound bad nowadays, but i’d say it’s like the equivalent of crap, and she’s constantly reprimanded for her inappropriate language when she uses these terms.

demeanour. when she first arrives to the x-men, she’s bubbly and cheerful, if a little introverted. by the time excalibur rolls around, she’s travelled to space, across galaxies, faced gods and aliens and her worst fears ten times over. excalibur forms, in large part, because the x-men are dead. she also has no real way of dealing with and working through all the trauma. as such, she’s more serious when excalibur rolls around or, at least, knows when to get serious. she’s still quippy but more measured and, again, she has a short fuse, a problem that’s only exacerbated by sharing a small living space with the whole the excalibur team.

music taste. kitty absolutely had her boy-band phase, and loved dazzler (sidenote, it’s because of dazzler she wanted to wear the roller skates in her first costume) however, by excalibur, she’s refining her taste. she still likes music she can dance to, however, her favourite band, cat’s laughing, is one whose lead singer is also kitty’s favourite writer. it’s more refined, with good lyrics and writing. think kind of like hozier lyrics but with more of a danceable beat. she also likes big band music and jazz from her dancing days, music that’s old for her even then. the key is danceability, though.

personal style. while she absolutely detests “preppies”, kitty pryde dresses like one when she leaves the house, with collared shirts under sweaters and full on suits being things she wears out. often, she’ll pair her outfit with her black leather jacket, a prized possession, which often lends a bit of toughness to her otherwise preppy look.

at home, it’s usually it’s loose sweaters / shirts and leggings with her hair restrained in a ponytail, especially when she’s working on something. she also wears glasses when tinkering. as mentioned above, she always has a splash of colour somewhere, which applies to at home as equally as going out.

because this is the 80s-90s, when she dresses up (and even her costume), the outfit usually features poofy sleeves and/or very pointed and defined shoulder pads.

relationships. as colossus and pete wisdom are not canon here, she hasn’t had a canon relationship, which also feeds into her insecurities and low self-confidence. again, because she tends to have eyes for older guys and gals, relationships rarely pan out for her. occasionally, however, someone her age catches her interest (in canon, part of her loved doug ramsey, for instance, because although he was her age, he, no pun intended, spoke her language) but, usually, she needs to be forced to see people her age. like with larry, she was told by a teacher to dance with him at a school dance and only then did she find out he was pretty nice (that ended badly but the Concept applies).

teamwork. kitty tends to do her own thing. she can and does operate as part of a team, but she doesn’t always coordinate well with them. she definitely starts out as more of a team player because she’s not equipped to handle situations on her own, and because she’s scared, but as she receives more training and her confidence in her abilities increases, she often thinks she can handle it on her own and grows more self-reliant. it makes her more capable and better at devising plans, but sometimes it means she bites off more than she can chew. as well, if she thinks she has something to prove, she’ll try and tough it out alone.

training. she’s been possessed trained into a killer ninja by a master with a bone to pick with wolverine in a very traumatic milestone. she hates to think about it, but the training did remain even when the “demon” did not. she’s incredibly deadly, though she still hasn’t added the swords to her repertoire. also, during the events of excalibur, her default state is to be phased, making her extremely difficult to target (barring her powers malfunctioning for whatever reason).

𝙴𝚅𝙾𝙻𝚄𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽:

academics. kitty is taking advanced and college level classes and graduates a year early, however, unlike her excalibur counterpart, she’s not so far beyond her peers that she never sees or interacts with them. at most she’s a year or two younger than those in her class and, in this verse, all of the x-men are teenagers meaning she spends a lot more time with people her age and is generally more social and more sociable.

aggression. again, she’s got more social skills. this translates to an increased understanding of those around her and her first tactic is to try to mediate and preserve social cohesion. like her counterpart, she can and will stand up and say something if needed, and she will get into fights if needed, but it’s usually to protect a friend rather than herself and when there are no other routes for compromise (like when duncan takes away scott’s glasses and tries to get him kicked out of school, she shows up ready to brawl but, also, when duncan and his pals leave, she lets them, without pushing for a fight).

while sometimes sarcastic, she’s also less sharp with her sarcasm. for her, it’s less about hurting the other person and more about highlighting the situation whereas, in excalibur, her words hit much harder. part of this, i think, is her social cohesion with her team; she’s more mindful of how her words can hurt and, therefore, doesn’t throw them around as quick or to be mean. she also knows how to contain her anger better; she may be annoyed and grumbly, but she won’t be yelling at someone who isn’t responsible, only maybe venting if they’re willing to lend a listening ear.

authority. again, like her excalibur counterpart, she thrives on praise from her teachers and authority figures in her life. unlike her excalibur counterpart, she’s much less likely to go against them and usually only does when it’s a friend on the line.

colour palate. kitty also favours colours here, but she wears a lot of pastels that her excalibur counterpart doesn’t really. pastel pink, sherbert orange, pale lavender. she does also wear some jewel tones (green, burgundy and purple), but her go-tos are the pastels.

computing. she favours software to hardware, unlike her excalibur counterpart. she has no doug ramsey to help in this show, so she has to develop and write her software on her own. hardware-wise she’s not inept, training with the x-men gives her a strong base with it, but it’s not something she nurtures. because she grows up in a more typical school setting, she still wants to have a sort of normal life, and working on hardware just isn’t it. software is easier and, as she takes a computer class, she also meets people who are into it and she can connect to over the interest, namely in risty (mystique in disguise, but obviously she doesn’t know that) and arcade (yes, that arcade, though the show changed him considerably).

confidence. because kitty tends to like guys (yes, guys, i’ll get into the heteronormativity piece in the relationships section, but that’s deliberate wording here) her own age and they’ve liked her back and she doesn’t have the same superiority complex (resulting in looking to older people outside her league and facing their rejection), kitty in evo has way more confidence than her comic counterpart. of course, like any high school girl she has things she hates and she does find flaws in the mirror but, on the whole, she doesn’t feel ugly or less than compared to the other x-men the same way her comic counterpart does. (if she does feel inept next to them, it’s mainly due to her inexperience, though that inspires her to do better and eventually goes away as she gets more settled into the life of being an x-man).

cussing. no cussing. heckin is about as bad as she gets. granted, as she grows up she starts cursing more but, during her years in canon her language is pretty tame. because this is the 90s / early 00s, she does say lame a lot which, while not a cuss word, isn’t good to say, but for different reasons (ableist and rude), but that’s a different thing.

demeanour. she hasn’t quite had the same level of traumatic experiences as her excalibur counterpart and, moreover, they’re way more spaced out than they are in the comics so she’s pretty bubbly and upbeat throughout most of high school. this changes a bit with the emergence of mutants and when the world hates them, she’ll sometimes get down about it, but, on the whole, her world tends to look up. like her excalibur counterpart, things do eventually take a turn for the dark and in future verses she’s more measured and has lost some of this shine, but she definitely is upbeat for longer.

music taste. very, very pop heavy. boy bands, britney spears, taylor swift, katy perry etc. she’s not a jus.tin bie.ber fan but that’s about it in terms of restrictions. as she gets older she branches out more, including into electroswing, but she’s more of a pop girl at heart.

personal style. again, she tends to dress “preppier”, but 90s/00s style: so a collared shirt except it shows her midriff or capris and a cardigan but the shirt under her cardigan shows her midriff. lots of midriff outfits (even her school dance dress was two pieces and showed some stomach) and collars (her costume even has like that business shirt collar thing going on). she tends to favour comfort, too, but also pairs it with some style (like, platform sandals: comfy but also very in). also plastic jewellery, chokers, etc.

relationships. as she goes to school and has a lot of contact with her peers, she actually crushes on and dates people her own age in this show (and we love to see it). granted, she kind of lets a lot of things slide in her first relationship that aren’t cool, something which informs her relationships going forward (in that, she realises they weren’t okay and isn’t going to take it in future ones), and her first relationship is very, no pun intended, rocky, with break ups and get togethers galore but.....it’s with someone her own age which, have i said how much we love to see it? because kitty is in school in the 90s/00s, and felt the pressure to try and fit in for longer, she absolutely internalised some heteronormativity (in the comics, too, but she sheds that faster after leaving school so young and joining the x-men), and, while she looks at women, it’s very much in a “wow i love that outfit on her” or “wow how’d she get to look so pretty, i gotta ask for tips” way, and it takes her time to connect this to an interest in women, too so, generally, for her canon / high school years, she only really looks to guys/male presenting peers in a romantic way (or, that she connects to as romantic).

teamwork. finally, she’s better about working in a team here, too. partially because she doesn’t have the skills to be completely on her own (no ninja training til post canon) and partially because her team is all the same age and her friends both at school and at home, she’s more used to looking to them for support, especially scott. something happens and her first instinct is to go to him and get his take on it. sometimes she’ll still act on her own but, barring a time crunch or someone really instantly in danger, she favours waiting for the team.

#tbt .#long post /#thought i'd sit down & finally compare & contrast .#evo kitty is more happy go lucky & more of a kid for sure .#exc kitty grows up faster & wasn't ever a normal kid to begin with . & that's really affected her in noticeable ways .#you can really see it in the issues she goes to the girl's school in excalibur . like she's very different from her peers & isn't good #with connecting w them ( unless it's her fist to their face ) . & same w the new mutants .#it's a mission & a need to get something done that brings her together w her peers & while that bond works & makes them friends .#w/o it . she has no common ground . unlike evo kitty who is an expert at finding common ground & is friends w people in her classes .#& helps even throw a party & is very social in general .#ANYWAYS .#death ment /#ask to tag /

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battinsxns · 5 years ago

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Little Robin

Thank you so much to @manontheflyingtrapeze for letting me use this head canon to write on! : “Headcanon that when Dick fist has Mar’i, he calls her his “little robin” as an endearment term, and the first time jason hears him calling her that, he’s naturally angry and goes all “planning to drag her into our shit life too?!””

You can also find me on ao3 under sam_writes!

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Mar’i was flying. So that was new.

“You sure this has never happened before,” Jason panted, “because she seems to be pretty freaking good at it.”

“Do you think I’d bring my daughter here if I thought she could fly away?” Dick huffed as they continued to chase after the toddler, giggling and squealing ahead of them.

Dick was going to have a heart attack. One minute he was on the couch with Mar’i at his feet with her arms raised to be picked up, and the next she was airborne. Sometimes, he wondered how his life got to the point where a flying baby was just something that happened to him.

Rounding another corner into the kitchen, the boys stopped. Mar’i was still in the air, which was a problem, but she was no longer leading them on a chase. Instead, she reached for the cookie jar Alfred had taken to hiding on top of the fridge. Finding her treasure, Mar’i squealed in delight and leaned down to bite the chocolate chip cookie, only to dip forward into a spin. She giggled as she spun in the air, one clumsy tumble after another.

Dick wasted no time in climbing onto the countertop, reaching for the light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, and swinging toward Mar’i. With a graceful jump he flew forward and wrapped his daughter safely within his arms as he landed them both onto the ground.

He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her downy forehead with a sigh. “Your mom is going to kill me. Oh, who am I kidding, she’ll find this hilarious.”

Jason leaned against the back of a chair, willing his heart rate to slow. “You and your fucking ground repellant family. This is why I never come over.”

“Is it bad that I’m proud of her? I mean, did you see her form? She’s a natural flying Grayson!” Dick laughed, tossing Mar’i lightly into the air as she giggled, cookie clenched tight in her tiny fist. “My little robin!”

Jason froze, body rigid. “Put her down, Dick.”

He turned, confused. “Jay, what -?”

Louder, tenser, again, “I said put her down.”

Carefully, Dick placed his daughter in her highchair, careful now to mind the straps in case she decided to fly again.

Jason stomped his way back toward the living room until Mar’i was no longer in hearing distance. Dick followed his brother wearily.

“Jay, what’s going on?”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Jason’s fist collided with his cheek. His head rocked back with the force behind the punch, and he took a step backward to lower himself into proper stance.

Dick raised his arms up to block Jason’s fists swinging toward him and swiped his leg at his brother’s knees, sending him to the ground. He pressed his knee against Jason’s hips, arms pining his wrists.

The hold was broken by the slamming of Jason’s head against his own as their positions were flipped. Another punch to the nose jarred Dick as he raised his arms defensively. He jabbed his knee against Jason’s ribs, and took the grunt of surprise to throw his own punches.

Between the green haze in Jason’s eyes and the trading of punches, Dick didn’t know how long it was until strong arms pulled Jason from him, and another set of hands pulled Dick up from the ground.

“What the hell is going on here?” The angry grumble of Batman’s tenor slipped into Bruce’s voice.

Jason lurched, shoulders held between Bruce’s elbows and head between his father’s hands, spat red onto the floor.

“You’re just as bad as him! All of you! Always ready to let your kids die for the fucking mission. Bet you can’t wait to dress her up in the little suit and send her off to fight all those killers on the street, huh Dickie?”

“Don’t you dare bring my daughter into this.” Dick’s heart was pounding. His voice dark and dangerous. He felt Alfred grip his wrist as he took a step forward. Jason gave him a bloody smile, with bitterness in his eyes.

“Isn’t that what you wanted to do? She’s a fucking baby. How long were you going to wait? Til she could type case files? Count off rounds?”

Dick shook of Alfred’s grips and lunged at Jason. Before he could punch him in the face like he wanted, Bruce was between them, a hand gripping each boy’s shoulder on a pressure point that had them both cringing.

“That is enough! Do you both understand me?” Bruce had shouted at them before, many times as they’d grown older, but it still froze them. Once a robin, always a robin.

“Might I request we all stop shouting? Masters Timothy and Damian are trying to distract the young miss, but I think it would be best not to set her off crying.” Alfred, ever the wisest among them all.

Bruce dragged them both to the couch, tossing them both down on opposite sides. His fists clenched, but he didn’t cross his arms, keeping himself ready to intervene again.

“Now do you two want to explain what happened here? I thought all you boys were finally getting along.”

Jason responded with an angry huff and clenched fists that escaped no one’s eye.

“Golden boy here is already talking about making Mar’i a mask, and you’re both so fucking brainwashed you don’t even see the problem with that.”

“What the hell are you talking about!” Dick threw up his arms, anger smoldering with the throbbing of his nose.

“Little robin? Is that ringing any damn bells for you?”

Alfred gave a small “oh dear” that echoed in the silent room.

Jason sneered at Dick’s frozen form. “What? Didn’t think I’d hear you praise her tumble and tell her what a good little robin she was gonna be?”

“It’s what my mom called me,” Dick whispered.

Jason’s face twisted and then fell blank and second later. When he spoke, his voice was small. “What?”

“My mom. When we practiced the trapeze, she said I flew. The first time I flipped she called my her little robin. It’s the last thing she said to me. ‘Ready to fly, my little robin?’.”

Jason scrubbed his unbruised right face with the palm of his hand. “You bastard,” he said to Bruce, “you absolute bastard.”

“Bruce? You never told them?”

Here he was, the Batman, flustered and as emotionally constipated as Dick remembered. “I… presumed you would have told them yourself. And… and Dick you yourself often called it a… symbol…”

Dick let out a small, exasperated chuckle. Soon It became full blown laughter. Jason joined in as well, until they were both clutching their stomachs and gasping for breath. Bruce just stood ever so still with flushed skin and averted eyes.

“Master Dick, if you would please sit still so I may tend to your wounds so you do not frighten away your child?” Dick looked up to see Alfred’s arched eyebrow, and suddenly the laughter left him as he felt once again like a reprimanded ten year old boy.

“Sorry, Alfie. At least we didn’t break anything this time?”

Alfred gave an unamused humm and did not spare any disinfectant on the cut on his cheek.

“Oww!”

“Well maybe this will teach you boys not to roughhouse indoors anymore, least of all around children.”

Dick felt shame stir in him. God, what kind of father was he? It was one thing to go out at night while she was safe asleep, and cover up his bruises in the morning, but to bring it so close to her? With her family, where she should be safe?

“Guess that explains why you hated me so much, huh,” Jason asked as he wiped his eyes. Though the words were said jokingly, Dick could hear the tension underlying them.

“I didn’t hate you, but yeah. You were my replacement, and you had Bruce’s attention and my mom’s nickname. It stung. I was a kid. But so were you.”

Dick paused as Alfred prodded his bruised nose, wincing. It wasn’t broken, but it was definitely going to be bruised and swollen for a while. Dick cursed, and just hoped he’d left make-up here to cover it up for Mar’i.

Jason sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“You know I’d want let her out there, right?” Dick closed his eyes. He took in a deep breath and tried to dispel images of his baby girl hurt from his mind. “I’d never want her hurt, or scared, and in this lifestyle there’s no going around that. I’m scared every time that Kory goes on a mission, and it breaks my heart to see her hurt. I’m scared every night I go out, because if I don’t make it back then what happens to Mar’i?

“But I am absolutely terrified that Mar’i one day is going to have to know about all of this, and that she’ll want to be a hero, and I won’t be able to stop her. Because it’s in her blood, isn’t it.”

He looked up at Bruce, eyes bright. “I mean, you never wanted me going out, but I kept doing it anyway until you decided to make us a team. But it wasn’t enough. I’ve broken bones and been shot and almost died so many times, and I still keep doing it. So what about her? I can’t protect her!”

Bruce knelt in front of his eldest son, strong hands on his shoulders. “Dick, look at me.” He lifted teary eyes to meet Bruce’s. “Mar’i is in the kitchen. She is with Damian and Tim. She is not even two years old. Whatever may happen in the future will happen then and not now. For now, just hold your daughter, do the best you can to keep her from this, and whatever happens as she gets older, she will have a family here to protect her.”

The sound of clapping broke the peaceful moment.

“Damn, Bruce,” Jason laughed. “I didn’t think you could find emotions. Thought all you did was yell and grunt.”

“Hm.”

Dick laughed and stood, stretching his back.

“Well, as fun as this has been, I better go get Mar’i before she starts flying again.”

“She what?”

#batman #robin #dick grayson #Jason todd #fic #fanfiction #listen I haven't written in months I tried my best #I just really loved this idea #mar'i grayson #ao3

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smokeybrand · 4 years ago

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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: The Devil is in the Details

I’ve been seeing a lot of chatter abut this Netflix movie, The Devil All the Time. It’s been getting mixed reviews but they skew mostly positive. What is really surprising is all of the buzz this thing has been getting. The word-of-mouth for this flick is mad profound. No less than six people that i know personally, have told me I'd love it. This thing was definitely on my list, Netflix has stepped their cinema game up considerably, but i have been distracted by other shows like The Boys, Raised By Wolves, and Ratched. The former two are weekly releases but i wanted to finish the latter completely before i took in any more new fare. Plus, Marebito is gnawing at me for a viewing. Still, i did finish Ratched and Marebito is an older title so i figure i might as check out this Netflix produced, Tom Holland vehicle for myself and see if the best Peter Parker can really step outside the MCU and impress, like his costar, Zendaya, does. Shout out to Zendaya on that Emmy win.

The Good

I love the direction of this film. It’s very controlled, very deliberate. This film started as a gook so there is already a story to be told, the trick is telling that story but in a way that not only represents the feel visually, but staying true to the tone of those pages. I’ve read this book years ago and never expected that it would get a film adaption but this one is pretty good at that. I credit this clearly to the deft touch of Antonia Gampos. He knows this story and he tells it well. Surprisingly, this is only his fifth directorial outing. Dude should be getting much more work after this though.

This is easily one of the most f*cked up stories ever captured on film. It feels like Silence of the Lambs in that sense but far more brutal and far less controlled. I remember the book being a great deal to finish, it’s just so goddamn cruel, and seeing that translated on film is just as brutal. I love it. I love when film challenges you like this one does. I love when there is real brutality displayed because humans can be brutal. I’m a card-carrying misanthrope so this narrative is par for the course for me.

This film is violently visceral. I mean there is gore galore but it’s never gratuitous. It’s almost always in service to the plot to prove how goddamn cruel the world within this narrative truly is. It can be shocking, it can be grotesque, it is definitely off-putting, but it’s never just for the sake of shock. I always respect when films show restraint with this kind of stuff. The gore is to accentuate not the other way around.

This cast is straight up lousy with talent. Jason Clarke, Sebastian Stan, Eliza Scanlen, Pokey LaFarge, Harry Meiling, and Haley Bennett, all turn in decent performances. It was dope seeing Mia Wasikowska in something new and Riley Keough can surprise when she has a role to chew on. They even incorporated the author of the original book, Donald Ray Pollock, as the narrator. I appreciate that nod.

Tom Holland didn’t disappoint. This dude is a real talent and seeing him in something completely different than the role that made him a star, Peter Parker, is f*cking jarring. It speaks to his range and a ridiculously bright future in this business ahead of him. His turn as Arvin Eugene Russell was staggeringly emotional. This performance, alone, should devastate any talk of type casting because kid can do it all. Seriously, there is level of barbaric malice that just infects the entirety of this the younger Russell’s life and Holland captures that underlying malice perfectly

Robert Pattinson keeps showing me why he’s one of the best in the business. The more he keeps turning in performances like Connie Nikas and Young, the more he distances himself from f*cking Edward. Reverend Preston Teagard is another one of those showings that proves Pattinson is a real actor and not some pretty face or, in the case of The Batman, a jaw for a cowl. It’s wild seeing BatPats as a fat-ass, sleazy ass, southern preacher with a disgustingly accurate drawl.

I would be remiss if i didn’t mention Bill Skarsgard as Willard Russell. Dude has been one of my favorite actors since his stint on Hemlock Grove, another Netflix property, and he’s been excellent in everything I've seen him since then. Mark in Assassination Nation, Pennywise in IT, Markel in Atomic Blonde; Dude was even part of the ill-fated X-Force in Deadpool, too, as Zeitgeist. Bill is riddled all over sh*t i enjoy and his take on the elder Russell is just another reason why.

The Bad

This thing kind of jumps all over the place with the narrative. You have to pay close attention because it does take place between two generations and several families. Everyone is interconnected, which lends itself to a novel but can be quite the burden to properly display on film. It can be a little much to keep up with everything but, if you can, if you take the time, it rewards you with an incredibly well constructed relationship tree.

It feels like a lot of this cast was wasted. There re so many great actors in this thing that only get a few minutes, a few scenes, to shine and it's a little bit of a waste. I'm not saying what they gave us wasn't excellent, i was just left wanting, just left longing for more. Seemed like a missed opportunity to me.

This thing is kind of a slog. It’s a little over two hours long and, while you watch it at your leisure, in your home, it’s still a rather large committed to demand from the common viewer, especially when there isn’t any real action to be had. I’m built for slow burn movies. I love atmosphere and purposeful film making like Alien, Blade Runner 2049, or The VVitch so this is right up my alley. Those films, however, are acquired tastes that not so many people in the general public have acquired.

As much as i can praise the overall narrative and how unapologetically adapted it’s been to film, this sh*t is not an easy watch. It is truly f*cked up and a real hard story to witness. While i, personally, believe the utter barbarism on display is riveting, I've sat through Irreversible and Raw a few times so my tolerance is pretty high to the horrid, i can see how people could be turned off by all of this f*cked up. This is a story of awful people caught in even worse circumstances. Every one who is even remotely decent, dies. There are no happy endings to be had here. This movie is an exercise in the worst of humanity so if you’re looking for a light-hearted romp to get your mind off the state of the world, this ain’t, bud.

The Verdict

I loved this film. It is an absolutely excellent picture from start to finish. The way it’s shot, the vision on hand, the adherence to the time period - all of it is masterfully guiding by the expert direction from Campos. Tom Holland turns in a brutally forceful performance that carries this film filled with one of the best casts I've seen in years. Seriously, this movie has an embarrassment of riches on hand and they use them to full effect, mostly. I enjoyed every second of this movie but i can honestly say, it ain’t for everyone. This is not a fun tale. This not a good time. This is one of those movies that leaves you disgusted with humanity and that might be way too much to ask of people, especially during this, the f*cking apocalypse in real life. If 2020 were a film, it would be The Devil All the Time. Sh*t’s that bleak and it asks a lot of your time to slum it in this sordid, bloodied, world. The performances and visuals are absolutely outstanding and the way the film has been crafted makes for great cinema but, f*ck, is it a monstrous watch. If you can stomach it, i give it the highest of recommendations but this thing can be excruciating to see.

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bakugou-jpg · 6 years ago

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Good morning /afternoon /evening! Can I get headcanons/scenario (however you feel like) for Todoroki's crush that actually likes Sero? How would he feel about it? I got the idea & just though "the most popular boy & not so popular boy. The one who get most attention & the one on background". Idk they are my faves including Aizawa & Kirishima:P

Sure thing, love! Hope you enjoy it and i’m so terribly sorry this took so long to make..I’m currently studying for final exams which is really important but so i wrote this to distract myself for a little while.

Todoroki Shouto & Sero Hanta

Words: 2482

Summary: Todoroki has a crush on someone who actually has a crush on Sero

Genre: Angst??

______________________________________________

Todoroki was not a man who expressed many emotions. Atleast, in the eyes of people that didn’t got to know him that well. Yes, there had been moments in his life where he showed a strong sense of anger such as in battle or against his father on multiple occasion but in class he was known to be rather quiet. He wasn’t known to be a guy who showed many emotions towards a different person. To have strong emotions towards someone else.

Todoroki was even sure himself he never really held strong emotions for someone else who wasn’t apart of his family. Sure, he deeply cared for his friends but he had never truly experienced what it meant to love someone that was beyond friendship or family love.

Once he joined UA, a lot of things had changed for him. His family drama started to cool down, his father finally realizing what his actions had caused in the past and trying to become better than that. Todoroki finally picked up the contact with his mother and everything at home looked as if it had a brighter future ahead.

He got friends, so many new and kind friends. Friends who were nice to him and didn’t look at him as ‘Endeavour’s son’ but as Shouto Todoroki. Friends who changed him and helped him find himself. Surely, he didn’t get along with everyone as well in his class, but there definitely was a group that he liked to hang out with and talk to.

There was someone in his class which he also took a liking towards, as friends at first of course. They weren’t exactly apart from his friend group which contained people such as Midoriya, Iida etc. but they hung out with Bakugou and his friends. Unlike the rest of the people in their friend group they were more..calm and reserved most of the time. (Y/n) was a listener, someone who found the wellbeing of others much more important than their own and was good at reading others they were friends with so were able to help them if they struggled with something and was always the one to notice quickly when something was wrong with them.

But that didn’t stop them from joining Kaminari and Sero with teasing the ash blonde from time to time.

Todoroki got paired up with them for a school project once for Modern Literature. Normally, in class, they were always outgoing like Kaminari and Sero. Well, not as much but they were different then than they were face to face, alone. They were calm and really nice and after that he and (Y/n) started talking more often.

Around the time that they found out about his past and home situation, their bond became stronger. They let him talk, not once daring to interrupt him when he was sharing his story and after that they didn’t even seem slightly furious or shocked which was something Todoroki had expected. They comforted him, praised him even for being such a good person.

After the two of them started hanging out more and talking more Todoroki found some sort of peace every time they were around him. They helped him look at things on the bright side rather than feeling like there was no escape from certain things, they helped him vent whenever he felt like it without feeling uncomfortable doing so.

Everytime they laughed at his blunt and surprisingly ill-mannered mouth on some moments, he’d notice how their eyes crinkled, how a very light dimple on their left cheek would appear, how they’d hold their stomach and how they’d throw their head back.

How their eyes held peace and worry everytime he was venting, how soft their hands were everytime they’d place them on top of his shoulder when he wasn’t feeling too well and how soft and comforting their voice was everytime they talked to him.

Todorki fell hard.

As if he tripped over his own feet, fell down a mountain and hit the hard surface of the ground only to get run over by a schoolbus and get launched into a wall afterwards. And as the cherry on top of the cake, a piece of rubble would break off the wall and fall on top of him. That’s how hard he had fallen for them.

At first he hadn’t quite figured out his feelings for them so he decided this had to be something he had to figure out on his own and after a weeks weeks he came to the conclusion that he really did like them. More than friends.

He wanted them to be the first thing to wake up to, them to be one he’d hold until late at night, to be the one who he’d propose to and who he’d grow old with and have kids with.

But they weren’t his.

Todoroki saw the way Sero looked at them, because he looked at them the exact same way when they were alone. He saw the way Sero’s face flushed whenever they’d put their head on his shoulder on Friday’s annual movie night. Todoroki knew the two of them were close and clicked well. Todoroki saw how Sero would take glances towards (Y/n) whenever he did something new and cool at training. He heard the constant teasing of his friends about them whenever they weren’t around.

And he saw the way (Y/n) looked at Sero.

Todoroki wasn’t exactly sure what Sero had that he didn’t, but he didn’t mind as much. He wanted them to be happy, sure, but it ate him from the inside out. Maybe he wasn’t good enough and that Sero had something he didn’t but he couldn’t figure out what. Were the two of them even as close as Todoroki and them were? It was something that kept him awake at night sometimes, maybe even to the point it slightly bothered him.

But Todoroki made mistakes too. He also didn’t see everything that happened behind closed doors. Which is something he realized when his classmate knocked on his dorm at 3 am with bags under his eyes.

“Eh, Hi? Can i ask you something or are you busy?”

The bi-coloured man blinked a few times and looked his classmate up and down. He seemed rather fidgety with his hand and nervous, which was unusual for Sero. Todorki rubbed his eye and sighed. “Well i was actually sleeping since it is 3 in the morning so you could say it is kind of inconvenient..” He said with a raspy morning voice, something which made Sero flinch slightly.

Todoroki stepped aside and held his door open. He yawned and nodded towards his room. “Come in” He said as Sero entered his room while silently thanking him and closed the door behind him.

Todoroki made his way to the dividers and carefully moved them to the side, letting the light that reflected from the moon into his room so he could look at Sero who was currently awkwardly standing in the middle of his room and wasn’t sure where to sit down.

“There’s a chair in front of the desk if you want to sit down” Todoroki said while sitting down on the ground in front of the glass doors. He let his eyes get used to the dim light and blinked a few times before settling his onto the stars in the sky.

Sero quickly looked to the desk chair before looking back to Todoroki and shaking his head. “Oh, no thanks i’m fine with sitting down on the ground too. You can use it yourself if you want to” He said while walking towards the window and sitting next to Todoroki, not too far away.

Todoroki nodded and looked at Sero from the corner of his eye who was now also looking at the nightsky. He looked back up at the sky and cleared his throat. “What did you wanna talk about?” He asked, something which startled the black haired male and immediately made his face flush a deep dark red colour.

Sero sat up straight and cleared his throat, turning his body so he was facing Todoroki, and swallowed. “W-well! You see, i uh, there’s this thing..And i hoped you could help me with that..Well, atleast if you want to of course, it’s not exactly a thing more like someone..I uh-”

“(Y/n)” Todoroki said in a questioning way, raising his eyebrow and leaning back with his arms supporting him. He tore his eyes away from the sky and settled them upon Sero who was frozen in his spot.

“I, uh..” Sero sighed, his eyes falling on the floor and nodded. He turned his body back towards the window and let himself fall back, his resting on his stomach. “Yea..” He muttered. Sero sucked in his lips and rubbed his face. “I’m lost, dude.. This is the first time i fell for someone this hard and that i came so close to where i currently am and now i don’t know what to do” He said while frowning a little.

Todoroki scrunched his eyebrows together and looked up at the sky again, not wanting to make Sero feel uncomfortable by looking at him too long. “Why did you fall for them? Was it a specific thing they did, or is it because you think they’re pretty ‘nice’?” He questioned.

Sero scoffed and shook his head. “I don’t just think they’re pretty 'nice’. I’m not that low, 'roki. They’re just..amazing, you know? In class and everytime we hang out we always laugh together, they have the same humor as me and they’re funny as hell. We always talk for hours about everything, sometimes till like 3 am about the most dumbest stuff and i never get bored with them. I can listen to them talk for hours without getting bored, their voice is so calm like how it is outside right before a thunderstorm, cozy and warm” He said with a soft smile, a soft faint pink hue spreading over his cheeks.

He chuckled and shook his head, arms resting over his eyes. “I love their face, their smile. They’re really cute. I don’t care that they might not think of themselves like instagram models etc, i’d pick them over any of those people and they’re so kind.. (Y/n) is the person who talks to me and stays up with me when i feel like shit. I’ve got those moments you know? When i don’t think i’m good enough to be a hero because of my quirk compared to other such as yours..And then they’re there for me. To comfort me, praise me and hold me- Dude, when i say i fell hard i mean i fell out of a plane and smashed into a spiky mountain and got hit by a race car afterwards kinda hard..You know what i mean?” Sero questioned, while looking at Todoroki for a moment before looking back to the ceiling.

Todoroki took a deep breath and sighed, his eyebrows relaxing again as he pressed his lips together. “I do” He said, his eyes falling down to his feet. He knew exactly what Sero meant, he knew exactly how he felt and how amazing they were.

Sero’s face fell and he sighed. “I get if you don’t want to, i really do man..just please, don’t tell them. I don’t want the bond that we currently have get destroyed because it gets awkward because of the fact i like them..” He muttered.

Todoroki felt conflicted at first. Sure, he could give Sero the worst advice so he’d screw it up and he’d have a chance himself but that wasn’t something for Todoroki to do and he was way better than that. Then there was the fact he liked the same person and now was supposed to give advice to him while he wanted the same thing as Sero wanted. But now he knew that there was a reason why Sero felt the way he did and that it was the exact same reason as his own.

“I’ll help you”

A small smile made its way onto Sero’s face and he sighed with relief. “Thank you, really..” He said under his breath. He folded his hands over chest and looked up the sky. “What now..? What do i do?”

Todoroki pushed himself off of the ground and stretched his arms. “Just be yourself and do it on your own way. If they like you, they like you for the person who you are and the decisions you make so i’m sure that it’ll work out. Just have a little more trust in yourself” He held out his hand to Sero and looked at his alarm clock. “C'mon, it’s getting late and i’m sure they won’t like someone who has bags under their eyes that are bigger than Bakugou’s outbursts” He said with a small grin.

Sero took Todoroki’s hand and got up, adjusting his shirt while chuckling a little at Todoroki’s reponse. “Yea, you’re right.. Once again, thank you and i’m sorry for waking you up so late at night..” Sero said while rubbing his neck while smiling awkwardly. He nodded to himself for a moment before he walked back towards the door to let himself out.

Todoroki sat down on the ground again and looked at his feet. He heard the door open and sighed, swallowing once before turning his head slightly. “I can see the way they look at you..Hurt them and i’ll freeze you like i did at the sports festival, without getting you out this time.”

Sero’s eyes widened and he froze on his spot for a few seconds. He gripped the door knob and his eyes softened, a small smile making his way onto his face as he nodded. “Thank you, Todoroki and i won’t don’t worry..'Night, roki”

And with that Sero left, leaving Todoroki by himself.

He put the dividers in front of the windows again and climbed back into his bed for the second time that night, his eyes settled onto the light of his alarm clock.

Todoroki wanted the same as Sero, he felt exactly the same, but they weren’t his. He was wrong when he thought Sero and them didn’t share such a deep as him and them..Because they did. Maybe he could hope that it wouldn’t work out between the two of them so he could maybe get a chance, but he pushed those selfish thoughts out of the way and closed his eyes.

And with that, Sero and (Y/n) grew closer. Todoroki’s dorm was right next to Sero’s and it wasn’t uncommon to hear laughter coming from the dorm next to him at night or to still hear some faint voices around 2 am. Todoroki saw how Sero would sit next to (Y/n) more often during dinner and heard the two of them do competitions with who had the lamest pick up lines. He saw how Sero would now, whenever (Y/n) laid their head on his shoulder, rest his own head on top of theirs, hold their hand and/or wrap his arm around them. How the two of them would 'coincidentally’ leave together somewhere during the movie.

Pressing the first button on the elevator, Todoroki leaned his head against the wall. It was around 2 am on a Saturday night and his throat felt dry and since they weren’t allowed sinks in their own dorm he had to go downstairs to get something to drink. He just woke up and he closed his eyes, waiting for the elevator doors to close when he heard a soft yelp.

“No, No, Wait- Fuck!”

Todoroki’s eyes snapped open and he saw a hand in between the elevator doors, stopping them from closing. The elevator doors opened again and he locked eyes with no one other than (Y/n). The moment the two of them locked eyes, (Y/n)’s eyes had widened as they quickly entered the elevator before it closed again. “Shouto..? Why are you awake, is something wrong?” They asked, putting their hand on his shoulder while examining his face.

Todoroki smiled a little and cleared his throat, his eyes travelling down to their neck and shoulders where there were a few small red and purple spots. They weren’t too dark or too much but they definitely were visible. He saw one sticking out of the collar of their shirt and assumed that there probably were quite a few more hiding under their clothes.

“I woke up thirsy, don’t worry..” He said as they sighed a bit relieved and removed their hands from his shoulder. They stepped back again and folded their hands together, looking at the elevator doors while pursing their lips.

There was a somewhat awkward silence for a moment before Todoroki cleared his throat, a small smirk dancing on his face. “Sero, huh?” He asked, (Y/n)’s face immediately heating up. Todoroki adverted his eyes from her and looked up at the screen that showed at which level they were.

They covered their face with their hand and sighed. “Yea..”

Todoroki nodded for a moment and sighed. “Does he treat you well?” He asked, looking at them and turning his body towards them. (Y/n) quickly nodded their head and smiled softly.

“Mhm..Hanta’s a really good guy, Shouto. He makes me really happy” They said, their (E/c) softening. The way their eyes softened was the exact same way Sero’s eyes softened when he looked at them. The exact same way how his eyes softened when he looked at them.

It hurt, knowing he couldn’t have them. He really didn’t like how much his chest ached because of it. The feeling as new and unfamiliar just like his feelings for them were. But those feelings were something he enjoyed, these new feelings were not something he enjoyed and wanted to hold onto.

Todoroki nodded once more and sighed. “Then i am happy for the two of you..” He said with a small smile, making (Y/n)’s face light up. They wrapped their arms around him and nuzzled their face into his shoulder, startling Todoroki slightly at first but it didn’t take long before the heterochromatic eyed male returned the favor.

He rubbed their back with his hand and smiled softly.

“Thank you, Sho” They muttered into his shirt.

Todoroki looked down at them and smiled, patting their back and tightening his arms around them. “No problem”

They weren’t his, they never were. But in the end all that mattered to Todoroki was that they were happy even if that was not with him but with someone else. For now, he’d have to slowly let go of the feelings he held for them but if they ever needed a shoulder to cry he’d be there.

He’d always be there.

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #mha #todoroki shouto #todoroki x reader #todoroki shout x reader #sero hanta #sero x reader #sero hanta x reader #fanfiction #anime

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imogens-temult · 5 years ago

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Have you watched “Jojo Rabbit”? Is it good? How was Scarlett?

I WROTE A WHOLE ASS ANSWER THEN PRESSED SOMETHING AND LOST IT, so i’ve just copied my letterboxd review. BUT, i will say, that it’s been 2 months since i’ve seen it, and i’m soooo impatiently waiting to get to see it again!! (it doesn’t come out here until january - but there’s a screening in two weeks and i cannot wait !!!!)

hilarious, yet heartbreaking. delightful and ridiculous. utterly absurd, but so profound. from belly laughs, to heart wrenching. you will laugh and laugh, until you're crying, it kicks you in the gut, but you want to thank them for it and then you're back laughing again, through your tears.

you read about this movie, and it sounds like it shouldn't work, like it really should not work, but then you SEE this movie, and every single thing suddenly makes total sense. i don't have a single bad word to say about it. taika waititi is literally a genius, and potentially the only person who could ever pull off a movie like this. i just LOVED every second.

this movie is as hilarious as you'd expect and hope from the trailers, and then some. i think i laughed for almost the entire one hundred and eight minutes of this movie, and CRIED for a chunk of those minutes also. there was a definite audible gasp moment or two. times where i forgot how to breathe. times where i couldn't catch my breath from laughing so hard. to times you could hear a pin drop. it's full of the most ridiculous humour, and some incredibly poignant moments, and it works so perfectly.

firstly, i need to talk about roman, who is the PERFECT casting for jojo. this kid has such a bright future ahead of him, he holds up in this movie so well, going through allllll the emotions he could possibly in this movie and making every single second of it totally believable. you want to protect him at all costs. thomasin was a revelation, another incredible young talent that blew me away, wouldn't be surprised if she gets some best supporting noms coming her way.

TAIKA WAITITI AS HITLER, is not something i ever thought i'd say, but he stole every scene he was in. hilarious doesn't cut it at this point, and the way he and roman bounced off eachother and worked together in scenes was pure genius.

the only thing i would have wanted different, is MORE sam rockwell and alfie allen. their scenes almost killed me off every time, so perfectly ridiculous, and just BATSHIT. sam's performance was just outstanding, especially in the latter part of the film. [when you see it you'll KNOW]

i always want to shy away from my tremendous praise of scarlett johansson, for fear of people just assuming it comes from bias, but her performance as rosie might be the most heartwarming, soft and lovable i've ever seen her. she shines so brightly in this movie. the range she brought to this was so impactful. the genuine heart and soul she gave to rosie is unrivaled, and her love for her son is enough to melt anyone's heart - and her and roman's mother/son chemistry was perfection, the casting was done impeccably well. also, so great to see her getting to have this kind of humour in a role, as well as the more touching scenes too. bubbly, and kind, and sweet, and ridiculously warm. i personally think she has a GREAT shot at getting best supporting noms for this too.

there's so much more i could say about how i feel but it's hard to explain the things going through my mind and my heart right now. the way the movie came to a close was utterly brilliant, jojo rabbit was every bit as funny as i'd hoped, with so much unexpected emotion and heart. the final scene left me crying with a massive smile on my face, and a feeling i can't quite explain. i need to see this movie A MILLION MORE TIMES - god damn the uk not getting it until january!!!

it's been two days, and i'm still aching from the laughter and gut punches. it's left me with a great feeling of joy, tinged with sadness and a deeper feeling that i can't quite explain, and an ache in the pit of my stomach that's been there since monday. i think this movie will stick with me for a long, long time.

#jojo rabbit #scarlett johansson #Anonymous #ask

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pomegranate-salad · 6 years ago

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Seeds of thought : DIE #2

Hey everyone ! So many works I need to be SOTing right now. I decided to prioritize this, because well, new comic, needs all the attention. Plus, everytime an issue gets sold out, we get a new cover from Stephanie Hans. I live for them now. Anyway, spoilers of course, enjoy my thoughts and opinion under the cut.

HINDSIGHT IS D20/D20

When I was a kid, I had this French comic in which they had a page that asked : “what happens after a movie ends ?” and there were a series of vignettes that answered that question in a proper humorous fashion. For example, one of these vignettes showed the last scene of a movie where a car of the heroic lovers drove in the middle of the road into the sunset onto their bright future. The next panel showed the two lovers in court, and the judge saying : “bright future or not, you crossed the lane line and I’m revoking your licence”.

When I was seven, as most things do when you’re seven, it blew my mind. Nevertheless, this silly comic highlighted the universal, unbreakable truth of all stories : when it’s over, it’s over. There’s no more. And even today, as fanfiction has become its own genre, as no comedy is complete without a fourth wall break, when you close a book, when you turn off the TV, nothing can happen anymore. There is what the story implies will or might happen next, but sooner or later, you reach the point where you exhaust whatever the story contains of foreseeing. Each story writes its own last will ; but whatever happens after that, the story is dead : it still exist, but it won’t move forward, it won’t go back, it won’t do anything at all because it has stopped being able to do anything with itself. The only way for more to happen is for the author to write more. But that inevitably means writing a different story.

And that’s why, as sad as I could have been to leave a story I loved behind, for me there was always a sort of relief that came with reaching the end of a story : the relief that came from complete stillness. Because there’s no more, there’s no more pain, there’s no more stress, there’s no more excitement even, there’s no more reason to be alarmed at all. No reason be involved at all. Only when we reach the end of a story, can we be free from it. Outside of the contraption of the story, the characters’ actions don’t exist. THEY don’t exist. And you definitely know where I’m going with this.

The genius of DIE is not to take us to an elaborate gritty deconstructive fantasy RPG world. The genius of DIE is to take us back to it. Back to the story that’s already ended. Yes, I know I said in my last SOT that I didn’t think the characters were over their first visit in DIE by any means. The story of Ash and the gang is not over (by the way, I’m just going to call him Ash and use he/him pronouns until we get more on this issue, if needed I’ll edit accordingly). But functionally, narratively, the story of DIE the world, DIE the tabletop campaign, is over. The heroes arrived, the heroes did some shit, the heroes left. The story welcomed them and then the story ended. More than that, the story ended and nothing came to replace it. Sol’s speech is not the only thing that happens when thoughts curl up. The entire DIE world the gang is now in is nothing but a giant curl up. A new story did not emerge from the same setup. Sol just dug up the corpse of the old one and smeared make-up all over it.

The return of the heroes in a fantasy world they once knew is not a ground-breaking idea in fantasy by any means – I mean, Narnia did it. But in the usual take on this plot, the trigger element to the world the heroes return to is their leaving the world, not their being there in the first place – or in Sol’s case, staying. The second Narnia book showed us a world in shambles because the heroes saved it then left it, not because the heroes saved themselves and one of them was left behind. And maybe what I’m about to say will be disproved by future issues, but I’m not under the impression that the characters were particularly anything to the world of DIE, least of all heroes. They seem to mostly have been there. Some parts they barely set foot in, and the way they talk about the supposed “big bad” of the first game, the main reason they came after him seems to have been that they prevented them from going home. As a setup, the world of DIE seems to have been a bit underexploited. But come to think of it, was it really that great a setup ? Ash’s narration goes back and forth on the issue. Sol’s imagined world is either described as brilliant or the exact kind of pretentious overwritten stuff you’d expect from that particular breed of teenager (Elves but written by William Gibson is complicated… But is it, Ash ? Is it really ?)

But all of that maybe-not-that-great world, all that hammered fantasy stuff, are rendered new and interesting in context. I’m not the first one to point out that this setting allows characters to offer perpetual commentary on their younger selves. My shots at teenage pretentiousness are fucking text. If nothing else, this is a genius move to deflect any and all criticism of the comic’s take on the RPG genre : if it’s overdone, if it’s overwritten, you’re not smart for pointing that out, that characters are way ahead of you. But more interestingly, this moves every single “big idea” of the “transported in a fantasy world” plot further up the road. The main example is the reality vs fantasy ethical debate. Think how many pages in how many books were dedicated to exploring the ethical ramifications of being in a fantasy world without knowing if what you did was “real” or not. Do you have to be ethical when you play a game ? Would Kant play Grand Theft Auto ? This is a massive debate. In DIE, it’s addressed in issue #2 on one page. But it would be a mistake to think DIE is selling this question short, or “getting it out of the way” : like often with Gillen, the form is the point. The underhandedness of this debate among the characters is what makes it interesting. Because it’s a debate they had before. This is something they decided on. They set rules. They built an ethics system. They also saw the limits of it. Because no matter how lawful good they decided to play that thing, there’s always one player to just do what they want, or there’s always not even that same player doing some stupid wordbinding spell because that’s just a throwaway romance secondary plot, and who hasn’t fucked with one of those before. All the time it would have taken the comic to establish the characters coming to terms with this debate, disagreeing, coming to a solution, is time that can be used to see this solution unfold in glorious consequences. And you know what ? I’m willing to bet that the characters weren’t even that bad the first time around. But they were there, and that’s really all consequences need. Another thing to think about ? Maybe the reason the characters came to having this debate was that at some point, they didn’t think they would ever go home. Maybe the world they moulded the first time around, was the world they thought they would spend their lives in. You’re welcome.

So does that mean DIE is going to leapfrog every single of these important questions to simply present us with the consequences of the characters’ choices ? Probably not. But every single decision and facet of this new story is going to come with its own asterisk : this isn’t the first time around. Everything is loaded. Nothing is ever innocent. This is the Monty Hall problem halfway through : one door has been opened, will you change your choice ? And for us, who didn’t get to see which doors our heroes picked in the first place, that’s going to be a hell of a ride.

WHAT I THOUGHT OF THE ISSUE

The idea of this section was for me to get a bit more personal about my thoughts, without feeling like I needed to make a big point. So let’s get personal : I do not like Ash. By which I don’t mean I think he’s badly written, I mean I don’t like him as a person. As in, we would not be friends. I already had that feeling when issue #1 came out, but I tried to be generous because we’d seen so little of everyone, but now we’re two issues in, let me confirm : I do not like Ash. I do not like his fake self-flagellation hiding some very real condescension, I do not like his teenage angst with a twenty years old aging flavour, I do not like that he’s introspective in the least interesting way possible, and for someone who boasts that he learned to “tell stories”, good god is he an annoying narrator. Yes part of it is intentional. And no, I do not particularly like any of the other characters either. And you have to take into account protagonist bias, meaning that the character you spend the more time with is the one you have the biggest chance to like, but also the biggest chance to hate instead of simply dislike. But hey, I never claimed to be the perfect reader. And for now, Ash is annoying the shit out of me. To me, he feels as if you’d taken Laura from Wicdiv, kept her just as laborious and self-hating, but removed all the parts that actually made her likeable. Which leads me to ask the question : can I be honest about the quality of an issue if I’m that bothered by who’s telling it ? The answer, as always, is that I can be honest with myself : I’m probably not as high on this issue as many people are. And the principal reason for that is definitely the main character and narration. Don’t get me wrong, this issue is a thrill : the scene with Sol is chilling – I think he might be my favourite character, actually – the combat scene is narratively masterful, the ending is a bit of cheap shot (I’m fairly certain I’ve seen this eyes plotpoint in several other stories) but god damn if it isn’t effective. Oh, and let’s take a moment to praise the art, Lord knows Stephanie Hans needs me, whose stick figures make the Monkey Christ lady look like Michelangelo, to praise her. But jokes aside, I want to give credit to how Hans resisted the appeal of painting the classic huge detailed fantasy world first chance she got. Instead, her vision of DIE is one of a weirdly deserted, bright yet gloom world, which fits the mood perfectly. To borrow from the issue, her use of colour looks like fantasy feels, without feeling the need to overbear on the raw emotions of this issue with more detailed pencils (Ash’s digression about Maria is also probably incidentally the most I’ve ever liked his narration). Best panels for me are of course the ones where you can see the sides of the DIE. Probably because it manages to feel so small and so huge at the same time. I’m a sucker for intimate fantasy.

So, this issue, minus Ash, is nothing I don’t love. But on the other hand, this issue doesn’t really exist without Ash. Try as I may, I cannot deny that part of the appeal of the issue comes from his narration and his personality. Yeah, he’s a whiny controlling drama queen, but I put up with an entire issue of Woden monologuing and this was one of the best things I’ve ever read, so you know what, I can put up with a little bullshit. I don’t think Ash has to be a good person, or even someone I like, for DIE to be good. I guess at this point my problem with him is that I don’t find him interestingly unlikeable, as was the case with Woden. Maybe it’s because unlike Woden, there are several people in my life who remind me a lot of Ash, and since they’re not necessarily assholes, they’re not people I have an excuse to outright avoid and thus with whom I’m much more familiar with. So who knows, maybe I’ll make peace with Ash. Comic’s still young. Meanwhile, my opinion on issue #2 is pretty much the same as for issue #1 : this is remarkable work, brilliant in some aspects, almost irritating in how proficient it is at doing its own thing, and maybe just a touch overconfident in its ability to walk the line between profound and navel-gazing. But when DIE keeps it simple, when it just wants to touch you instead of punching you in the gut, then it’s fucking unstoppable. If you’re not on the DIE train yet – well first, I admire and fear the way you powered through this post, but also, jump in, like now. You won’t regret it.

#diecomic #seeds of thought

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poeticandvaguelysweet · 6 years ago

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Prompt #235 - Collision

ANON: Owen and Maisie are involved in a car accident while driving home from school. Maisie is okay but Owen has a non life-threatening injury that requires medical attention. Maisie calls Claire from Owen's cell in a panic and Claire rushes to the hospital to be with them

ANON: "you look like an accident"

Thanks for still sending prompts in no matter the questionable content I produce and the slow rate in which I am doing it.

AO3

COLLISION

Maisie was talking, as she always did, buckled into the backseat of his truck after school. Her day had been filled with learning adventures and expeditions across the school grounds with her friends. She always had something to say or share with him, about her friends, her education, or something she had been holding in ready to tell them at the perfect time. When she was done, if there was time before reached their destination, she and Owen would sing along to the oldies station as the truck moved through the city traffic.

‘Oh, and Daddy look!’ It was like Claire and the ping of her phone. The second he heard the word, his head was turned. Over his shoulder, Owen saw the blue card in her hand, and the toothy grin pressed across her cheeks.

One second it was the two of them, his truck, the radio and her school art project. In the next, another car was occupying their space, bonnet rammed into the driver’s side door before Owen could realise what was happening. Her head hurt while her tummy flipped, their bodies moving in their seats as the car made a horrific noise. Owen grunted in the front seat, a swear searing past his lips as their quiet afternoon ritual was ruined.

Everything was still for a minute, the car silent, Owen unmoving as Maisie felt her heart hammer in her chest. She was trying to catch her breath, worried tears building in her eyes. It was the two of them, unmoving until voices registered in her ears, bodies invading their space as hands pulled the door open and hoisted Maisie out of the back seat.

‘Daddy?’ She was moving away from him, arms of a stranger around her middle as she watched the side of his face get further away. He wasn’t moving. Not making a single sound. Owen was hurt. She had distracted him in the car, made him look away from the road. ’Daddy!’ She kicked at the stranger holding her, trying to pull towards the car and away from the huddle of strangers.

The people were white noise to Maisie, their faces nothing but a blur in her eyes. The lady who sat with her on the curb of the road was sweet but uninteresting, Maisie’s eyes glued to Owen’s black truck, watching the steam bellow from the bonnet until the flash of red and blue alerted her to the ambulance. She broke free of her minder, a good samaritan just trying to get an emergency contact out of the quiet girl.

She climbed back up into the truck, seeing the passenger side door was open as Maisie perched herself on the seat only ever occupied by Claire. It felt smaller inside Owen’s big truck than what it had before, a bit crumpled like cardboard structures, never returning to their original shape. ‘Daddy?’ Her voice was quiet, eyes refusing to move from his bloodied face. She didn’t want to look. Didn’t want to see him like that but she couldn’t look away, wouldn’t. Her fingers reached out, touching the top of his hand, a small scratch sitting against his warm skin, red with blood but not as threatening as the cuts on his face. There was glass, she hadn’t noticed it earlier, shattered across his lap, a little sitting right by her knee, almost hiding under her school dress.

Owen jolted, the movement small but there nonetheless as his eyes snapped open and his gaze moved towards her. ‘Mais, what are you doing?’

‘I’m scared.’ She told him quietly, not realising the word had been twirling around in her head until the question had been asked. ‘Are you okay?’ She needed to know, insisted on not being fine herself until she knew the outcome of his wellbeing. ‘Why are you still in the car?’ She asked, someone had picked her up and removed her minutes after she felt the force of the other vehicle and the movement of Owen’s truck sliding across the asphalt in a way it shouldn’t.

‘I can’t move,' her eyes were wide, chocolate brown ready to melt in her distress. ‘It’s a precaution, just in case my spine is damaged.’ He really didn’t want to tell her that, but Owen had learnt with Maisie that it was better to be honest, give her all the facts, and allow her to make her own decisions. She nodded as Owen watched her out the corner of his eye. His young girl was trying to hold herself together. 'Can you see my phone, Mais? You need to call Claire.’ She scrambled, careful of the glass as she found the device and held it up. 'Good girl.’ He praised, smile tense as Maisie watched pain tremble across his face.

He didn’t have a passcode lock on his phone as Maisie swiped the screen and found Claire’s number like she always did when he had his hands full.

‘Hey, how was school pick-up?’ Claire answered, the sound of the DPG bullpen full of life behind her.

‘Mama?’ Claire’s voice was a comfort, soothing Maisie as she warbled despite trying to remain calm and grown up in a scary situation. Her tears fell, sob bubbling in her throat as the lights from the ambulance illuminated her face. Claire was asking rapid-fire questions on the other end, Owen hearing the sound of her voice and flurry of words. He hadn’t thought this far ahead. A paramedic appeared by his side, asking Owen questions, causing him to divide his attention between his daughter and his injuries. ‘We had an accident,’ she stuttered, ‘Dad … Daddy’s hurt his back.’

Owen groaned, his finger tapping Maisie’s knee. ‘No, don’t … Mais, don’t tell her that.’ She gave him wide and sorry eyes, fingers of one hand pulling at her lip. ‘Put her on loudspeaker.’ The girl clicked the button, letting Claire’s voice fill the crushed cabin of the car. ‘Hey babe,’ he tried for smooth. ‘I need you to meet us at the hospital.’

‘Are you okay? Is Maisie okay? What happened?’

‘Maisie looks fine. You okay, kid?’

She nodded, hand raising to her head. ‘I think I have a little bump.’ On the other end, Claire was breathing heavy, small noises shuffling through the speaker. She was collecting her things, moving as quickly as she could. He knew, without a doubt that she would get to the hospital before they did. Nothing would get in the way of Claire Dearing and her family’s safety.

‘I’m on my way,' he heard her say with a heavy sigh. ‘Please, just be okay.’

[…]

It had been the kind of beautiful spring day that woke him slowly, sun caressing his cheeks just as gently as his wife’s fingers. It had been so easy, the way he leant in and kissed her, his hands on her skin, their morning soft and slow as her fingers buried themselves in his flesh. He never wanted to leave that bed, not when he had Claire falling apart around him, trying to be quiet in fear of their ten-year-old overhearing. The warm light was perfect, hot on her skin as it ignited her freckles, setting each one to shine as bright as the sun.

He shouldn’t have gotten out of bed that morning. He should have stayed right there, wrapped his arms around Claire and coerced her into a sick day for the whole household.

The next time he saw her for that day, she was standing, long-faced at the end of his hospital bed their ten-year-old on her hip. She looked lifeless, worried sick, the glow from that morning gone from her skin. His hospital room was grey, just as stoic as her face as he blinked his eyes in the dull light. ‘Hey,’ he croaked, unsure as to when he had fallen asleep and how long he was out for. ‘How do I look?’

Her expression was tired, shoulders sagging. Owen would have told her it was the weight of Maisie. She shouldn’t have been carrying the girl, not just for her posture but for her health and the mental wellbeing of their daughter. ‘You look like an accident.’

Owen tried to chuckle, the word coming out as a cough and a sputter. ‘Well, turns out … I was involved in one.’ Claire rounded the bed, sitting with Maisie in a hospital chair, the girl moving until she was comfortable, watching Owen with sad eyes from her mother’s shoulder.

‘Your shoulder’s dislocated. You broke two ribs and punctured your lung in the process. There was some internal bleeding. What were you thinking?’ Her tone was scolding.

He rolled his eyes or did what he thought was rolling his eyes. ‘I didn’t do it on purpose Claire, and you know it.’ She had a habit of placing the blame when she was scared, not looking at the situation clearly enough to remain calm. Claire nodded, features softening as tears burned in her eyes. ‘I got distracted. It happens.’

‘You told me that truck would keep you safe.’ The truck was big; tall, wide and masculine. She had rolled her eyes when he purchased it, calling the Chevrolet ridiculous. She knew how stupid it sounded the second it was out of her mouth. No car was a safety guarantee. ‘You scared me, okay?’ Her voice wobbled, tear slipping down her cheek as Owen rolled his hand towards the edge of the bed. She reached for it, her fingers soft against his dry hands.

‘You okay, Mais?’ With a pounding headache, he looked towards his daughter, Claire’s hand squeezing him tightly, all her stressors washing through him and disappearing. The girl nodded. It had to be a good thing that she was there, not in a bed of her own but clinging to Claire’s side quiet and scared. ‘Hey, did you know everyone has one car accident in their lifetime. Just one. We’ve had ours. It’s never going to happen again.’ He shouldn’t have made that promise. There was no telling what the future held for him or her. Owen just hoped Maisie always made the right decisions.

Her mother or the woman she had thought was her mother had died in a car accident. The small detail escaping his notice until it was too late. No wonder she was scared, quiet and still, drawn into herself for fear of losing those she loved.

‘C’mere.’ Owen beckoned, raising his other arm, the shoulder sore and slow as Maisie slipped from Claire’s lap and into his hospital bed. Her mother was quiet with her warning, telling both father and daughter to be careful with their embrace.

Owen held in his hiss, trying to breathe through the pain as Maisie tucked herself under his chin. ‘What’s going to happen with the cabin?’

Rightfully, the cabin had been the last thing on his mind. 'It'll have to wait.’ He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing tight despite the pain he felt. Owen just wanted to hold her and kiss the top of her head. He was thankful to the universe for not letting his kid get hurt. ‘What’s important is that we’re all okay.’ She nodded under his chin, Owen’s eyes on Claire as she wiped the tears from her cheeks.

[…]

They had to go home without him. That was the hardest part for Claire. He was required to stay for a night or two, monitoring to ensure his injuries calmed. She knew it was for the best, but hated every second she spent away from him.

The apartment was cold without him. Empty and still it disrupted Claire's dreaming, filling her head with terrible thoughts. She couldn't close her eyes without seeing their day end differently. Owen lifeless and not breathing, his skin turning blue. With Maisie curled into her king-sized bed Claire had no option but to stare at the ceiling. She didn’t want to wake the girl who had gone to sleep reluctantly.

‘Mama?’ Maisie’s voice sounded in the darkness, streetlight flooding through the curtains. She had been with them long enough now to know the subtleties in their behaviour. With each passing day, Maisie got older and wiser, especially when it concerned her adoptive parents. She knew Claire was awake, without the use of visual aid. The sheets rustled when Claire turned towards the girl, wrapping her arms around Maisie’s middle. ‘It was my fault,’ the girl whimpered.

Claire tucked Maisie into her arms tighter. ‘What was your fault?’ She kissed the girl’s hair, sleepy and exhausted, hoping that if she anchored herself to Maisie sleep would follow.

‘The accident.’ She was awake, guilt seeping from her daughter’s body in buckets. ‘I … I had an art project for him, and I couldn’t wait until we got home.’ He turned his head, looked and went through the red light allowing the other car to t-bone them. Maisie sniffled, the sound turning into a small sob as Claire squeezed tighter. ‘What if he died?’ She whispered, sound low and hesitant.

What if.

‘You’re not going to be able to sleep, are you?’ Maisie shook her head. ‘Me either.’ She dropped another kiss to the top of Maisie's head before she got up, throwing the blankets to the side. ‘C’mon, let’s go see Dad.’ Turns out, Claire just needed the excuse to follow through with her desires.

Maisie sat on the edge of the bed, watching her mother with caution. ‘In our pyjamas?’ Claire nodded, grin wide in the dark.

‘Go get your slippers.’ It wasn’t just that Maisie fetched. She grabbed her favourite pillow from her bed, as well as the throw blanket from the end of Claire’s. Her mother had already taken a bag of home comforts to the hospital for Owen, but Maisie wanted to take a few of her own.

They walked the hospital hallways in their pyjamas, tired and unashamed, seeking out the man that solved all their problems. The night nurse stopped them, mouth poised open ready to remind them of the visiting hours. One look at their exhausted faces closed her mouth as she let them carry on to Owen’s door.

He was asleep, the room dark as Maisie shuffled in. She climbed onto his hospital bed, careful of his injuries. He grunted in his sleep, head rolling towards Maisie as Claire reached a hand into his hair, fingers sliding across his scalp. ‘Just us, go back to sleep.’ He did, with a kiss on the forehead, arm wrapping around Maisie without question.

Claire wasn’t going to risk climbing into his bed and although the hospital chairs were uncomfortable she knew it was better than tossing and turning in her empty bed. She wasn’t getting any sleep either way, but at least he was there.

Maisie had asked ‘what if’ but there was no room for that question in their lives anymore. She had nearly lost him too many times to count. It couldn’t happen again. Not even in makebelieve. She couldn’t protect him. But, she could live her life without the anticipation of his loss. It wasn’t going to happen again. Not after this scare.

#Clawen #Jurassic World #Claire Dearing #Owen Grady #Maisie Lockwood #fallen kingdom #despite the odds

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zaddyzimmermann · 7 years ago

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Hot Off The Press Pt. 2

OKAY SO I have to apologize for taking months to write, especially since it’s been sitting in my google docs folder waiting to be edit. There’s actually more but I have to finish it first lol. So there will be a part 3 and I PROMISE it won't take as long to post. Sorry for such a long wait I know a lot of you guys enjoyed this story.

Again take into consideration artistic license lol hope you guys enjoy

Pt. 1

***

Kent and Jack have a complicated past, but what people fail to realize is that no matter how things turned out when they were teenagers, it has no effect on them now. Their “feud” has been played up so much in the beginning of Jack’s career, it never died. It’s so far from the truth, that sometimes Kent and Jack read articles together on how much they hate each other and laugh about it. They agreed a long time ago that if they ever did start up a relationship again, there had to be no hostility existing between them. However, what they realized after growing up and Jack’s eventual spot on the Falconers is that they much rather be friends.

So no, they do not hate each other or have unrequited feelings on either side. Kent is the only person Jack can talk to about Eric, so when Kent isn’t overly supportive over Skype tonight, it hurts a little.

“Jack, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Kent looks upset, with no ounce of joy on his face. “Don’t you remember what happened with me--”

“Yes, but Eric is different. He would never do that.” Jack protests, hearing the irritation in his voice.

Kent’s face is still tight and he takes a few seconds to answer. “I beg to differ. I know who Eric Bittle is, Jack. He wrote an article about dangerous plays and referenced me, but not in a positive way.”

“Well, in his defense, you do rush the net a lot--” Jack’s input didn’t improve Kent’s mood, so he stops himself before he can continue.

“How do you know he’s not trying to get close to you so he can write an article on the Zimmermann name just like every other thirsty journalist looking for a big break?”

“That was a bit harsh.” Jack says in Eric’s defense. “He’s not that kind of presser, Kent. Thomas Caswell is that type of reporter.”

Kent runs a hand through his blonde hair that’s in need of a haircut. “Whatever, Zimms. If you want to risk your career like this, go ahead. I don’t trust him, and I don’t think you should either.”

“Bye.” Jack closes his laptop and tries to take deep breaths. If Kent isn’t supportive, the only people he could talk to is his parents, and they don’t really count. Jack doesn’t talk about his sex life with his parents.

He spends five minutes self-deprecating before opening up his laptop and looking up the article Kent was talking about. It’s one that Eric wrote a year ago, and overall it’s not even that bad. He doesn’t insult Kent in a rude manner, he just points out that there should be more rules put in place so players stop running into goalies. Eric has a point when he says, “Goalies are there to protect the puck; not barreling bodies with blades strapped to their feet.” Goalies often get hurt by skate blades that cut places that have gaps in the gear.

Reading the article makes Jack feel worse, but not about his decision to keep in touch with Eric. There is no way Kent would have such a grudge against Eric over one small reference in an article posted a year ago. Kent is hiding something.

***

A couple days later, with no word from Kent, Eric texts Jack that he’ll be in Boston for a couple days because the Bruins contacted him for a more permanent job. Which is good news if they work out and terrible news if things go south. After Kent’s reaction the other day, Jack has doubts and they aren’t even dating yet. Jack isn’t sure what they are.

With much more time on his hands, Jack gets to the small coffee shop twenty minutes early that Eric tells Jack to meet him at. He finishes his coffee before Eric shows up ten minutes late.

Seeing Eric in person again kind of wipes away a lot of doubts. He’s wearing a black blazer that fits him very nicely, and knowing full well what’s underneath it, Jack takes a few moments to control himself.

Also, Eric’s genuine, bright smile when he first sees Jack wipes away about the rest of his doubts. He doesn’t know why Kent is being complicated, but at the moment Jack doesn’t care. What Kent also fails to realize is that Eric is a sports reporter, and the two of them spotted having lunch together is extremely easy to cover up. Eric could be using him for a piece for all anyone knows.

“Jack.” Eric says a little breathlessly as he sits down across from him. His cheeks are flushed from the abnormal warm weather of May and possibly embarrassment for being late. “I’m so sorry I’m late, that’s so rude of me.”

“It’s okay.” Jack means it too. “I know you had that interview this morning with the Bruins.”

Jack feels Eric’s foot wrap around his ankle under the table. They were in a corner in the back, so no one would see it. So far, Jack hasn’t been bothered once. He has a feeling Eric chose this place for a reason.

“Oh lord did that take forever.” Eric laughs a bit nervously. “But from personal experience, that’s usually a good thing. Quick interviews mean you’re a bore and they aren’t interested. Also, she said, ‘We’ll definitely keep in touch’, and not ‘We’ll let you know’.”

Jack feels a small smile creep up onto his face. “Is that second option a bad sign?”

“Yes.” Eric sighs, resting his head in his hands. “I’ve gotten that a lot and it’s always been bad news that follows. However, the first means they are considering you.”

“Thanks for the tip.” Jack laughs. “The next time I apply for a job I’ll keep that in mind.”

Eric doesn’t say anything and just stares at Jack, which causes him to falter a bit. “Did I say something wrong?”

Eric begins to play with Jack’s foot under the table with a small smirk on his face. “No, Mr. Zimmermann. I was just admiring your laugh. It’s pretty fantastic, just in case you aren’t aware.”

The thing is, Jack doesn’t see him as a reporter right now. It’s not weird, because it’s easy to separate Eric’s job from his actual personality. Jack does not personally know a lot of presser, but they typically don’t have a personality like Eric’s. Jack doesn’t think anyone has a personality quite like Eric Bittle.

“You want me to order you something?” Jack asks, suddenly feeling rude. “Did you have a chance to have lunch?”

Eric blinks in surprise like he did in fact forget about having lunch. “Oh wow, I guess I didn’t. I was just so excited to see you I forgot to get something. I’ll be right back.” Eric slides out of his chair and Jack has no shame in admiring his ass as he walks towards the counter to order lunch. A buzzing in his pocket disrupts his staring, so he quickly pulls it out of his pocket to check.

Kenny: Sorry about the other night. I didn’t mean to be a dick.

I just worry about you.

Jack doesn’t know how to respond to that just yet, so he ignores it and saves it for later. Eric comes back a few minutes later with an iced drink that has whipped cream on the top and a small sandwich.

“So, Jack Zimmermann,” Eric starts before taking a bite. “What have you been up to? I notice you avoid talking about yourself whenever we skype.” Eric doesn’t point this out unkindly, just with curiosity.

“Um…” Jack has to think for a moment, because no one has genuinely wanted to know besides his parents. “I like photography. Parse made me an instagram, but I don’t really know how to use it.”

Eric smiles into his next bite, looking extremely endeared. The mention of Parse didn’t seem to phase him. “Photography, huh? An athlete, model and now an artist. What can’t he do?”

Jack’s face grows hot at the mention of being a model. “It was one shoot, I wouldn’t call myself a model.”

“One shoot.” Eric scoffs, but in an amused way. “Yeah, one shoot that absolutely killed ninety-eight percent of the population.”

Jack isn’t used to this type of praise so directly. Because of this, he directs the conversation to something else. It’s not like he doesn’t enjoy Eric talking about him that way, he’s just worried his skin tone will show how embarrassingly red he’s getting. So he decides to play fair. “Aren’t you a genius? You avoided that label the last time I mentioned it.”

Now Eric turns a bit red, so Jack counts that as deserved payback. “Like I said, it’s all relative. It’s an ivy so they don’t award scholarships, but they provided me with some nice financial aid when they sought me out for hockey which is kind of like a loophole if you ask me--”

“Hockey.” Jack blinks, a little surprised. It’s not like Eric doesn’t look capable, it’s just… Well, Eric doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would like the violence, judging by his stance involving more safety regulations in the sport.

Eric isn’t offended by Jack’s reaction, just amused. “Yes I know, shocking. However, being skilled at a sport only takes you so far in an ivy with ‘cutthroat academic scholars’, and with the threat of losing my spot on the team and possibly a big chunk of my financial aid for future years, a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do.”

Jack feels a slow smirk creep on his face. “So like any normal guy, you became Valedictorian.”

“Ha! They didn’t even see it coming.” Eric laughs before taking a sip of his drink. “Mostly everyone there was nice and supportive, but there are always a select few who think the world owes them something just because they have a high GPA.”

“Sometimes I wish I finished my junior year at Samwell.” Jack admits. “But when the Falconers sought me out I thought I would never get another opportunity quite like that one. Besides, it was relatively close to my friends and I didn’t want to go too far.”

Jack and Eric talk a little bit more, and suddenly Jack realizes this lunch together possesses all the traits of a date. Jack is still confused on where they stand with each other, but he also feels like, as always, he’s reading too much into something that might not even be there. However, it’s hard to think that when Eric keeps looking at him like that.

Jack makes an extremely risky move; he takes Eric back to his apartment. It’s mid-afternoon, so it’s not like Jack has any explicit plans. Eric seems genuinely interested in an apartment tour, and gushes about the kitchen for some reason. Jack will ask about that later. Maybe he likes to cook or something.

Eric jumps up onto the kitchen counter and glances around like he’s looking for something. And for what? Jack has no idea.

“So how often do you eat on this lovely surface?” Eric swings his legs back and forth, waiting in anticipation for Jack’s answer.

“Usually I just eat on the couch or use the table in the--”

Then Eric is pulling off his shirt and grabbing Jack’s tie to pull him closer. “Perfect.”

***

It’s been a few months of texting, skyping, then escalating to sexting and skype sex. Eric Bittle is certainly not his boyfriend, mostly because Jack was too afraid to ask. Eric is no one to ignore, and with his job involving interviews of multiple hockey players, Jack doesn’t expect him to just… well, to just not be with other people.

However, Jack wants them to be something more. He knows it’s an unappealing offer, especially since Jack is all the way in Providence and they only play the Penguins on average four times a year. It would be a long distance, closeted relationship. Besides, what they were doing now is fine for him. It’s not as much pressure, even if deep down he knows he wants Eric all to himself. Which is why Jack doesn’t clarify their relationship the next time they skype, or the time after that.

***

“So,” Eric says on the other side of the screen, absently chewing on a pen as he edits an article one of his colleges submitted. Apparently, he’s often asked to edit the more important pieces for grammar and spelling. He says it’s easier to spot mistakes when his eyes aren’t strained by a computer. “I have super super good news... and terrible news.”

This piques Jack’s interest a little, but not particularly in a good way. “What’s that?”

Eric puts down his pen and rests his head in his hand, a slow smile creeping up on his face. “I got a new job that’s more permanent.”

Now Jack’s interest is definitely piqued in a good way. “Oh yeah? Where?”

“Boston Bruins.” Eric’s smile is so bright, Jack can’t help to mimic it just a little. It seems almost too good to be true. Eric would be only about an hour away, so they could meet up in person instead of their online relationship which isn’t clarified as a relationship.

“Bad news.” Jack reminds Eric to tell him, which causes Eric’s smile to fade.

“Tom Caswell will be my boss. I know there was this big article on how he’s changed, and maybe I’ll give him a chance, but I seriously doubt that old bird has changed even a little bit. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

Jack just stares for a moment, not knowing how to respond. “How did he even get that job?”

Eric shrugs, looking disappointed and defeated. “Honestly? Because the stuff he writes sells and he’s always on television. He’s been in this field for over twenty years, and the Bruins social media platform has improved significantly since they hired him.”

“But… He assaulted you.” Jack says, incredulous. “How does that look good for their organization?”

Eric shrugs, like he’s already accepted his fate. That makes Jack frustrated a little, because Eric doesn’t deserve the harassment he’s probably going to get from Thomas.

“Listen, Jack. No one really knows who we are, much less what our track records are. If a hockey player punched me, that would have been different.” Eric doesn’t look at Jack anymore, he just draws something with his pen that Jack can’t see. “I can deal with him. I’ve been dealing with him from the beginning.”

“When would you start?” Jack asks, needing to change the subject.

“In a couple weeks.” Eric still doesn’t look at Jack, which kind of sets off an alarm bell in his mind. He wanted to change the subject so Eric wouldn’t be sad anymore, but Thomas must not be the sore subject that’s bothering him.

“Eric, what’s wrong?”

He pauses with his pen before slightly glancing up. “You don’t seem to want me in Boston.”

Jack frowns a little at that, because in a way that is true. However, it’s not true for the reason Eric probably thinks. “Of course I want you in Boston, but not if Thomas is just going to make you miserable.”

“I can deal with him, Jack--”

“I’m serious.” Jack cuts him off this time, which he typically never does. He loves listening to Eric go on rants or just when he speaks in general, but this is different. This is harassment. “Do you truly think he’s changed?”

Eric clears his throat before responding so softly, Jack almost doesn’t hear it. “No.”

“Maybe I could talk with the Falconer’s PR department--”

That didn’t seem to help the problem at all, because Eric’s head snaps up and he looks borderline angry. “No, Jack. I’m not using you to get a better job or a leg up, that’s not what this--” Eric gestures between both of them. “--is about. So absolutely not. Like I said, I can handle Thomas. If the Bruins are smart, they will keep into consideration what Thomas did to me. If they want to look good, they won’t let that happen again.”

“Okay. I trust you.” Jack means it this time, but he also can’t give up this perfect opportunity to ask, “But what exactly is this, Eric?”

Eric’s determined expression changes to one of shy happiness so fast, Jack nearly doesn’t keep up. “I don’t know, honey. That’s up to you. What do you want it to be?”

Jack wasn’t prepared for that response at all. He clears his throat a couple times to buy just a little time. “Well, um, I really like you. A lot. And… I’m not so good at this.” Jesus christ, he sounds like a thirteen year old.

“I really like you too, Jack Zimmermann. A lot. And I’m not good at this either, because I’ve never really had anything like this before.” Eric gives him an excited smile before saying, “So I think it’s better if we discuss this in person, yeah? Because I really wanna kiss you right now and it’s botherin’ me that I can’t.”

“Okay.” Jack lets out a breath he doesn’t realize he’s holding. “Okay, yeah. When are you getting here?”

“In one week.” Eric grins. “You think you can wait that long?”

“I can try.” Jack smiles back.

“Good, because I have no patience and at least one of us needs to have some self control. I’ll probably send you a super inappropriate snap later on. Talk to you soon, honey.”

“Okay, Eric.” Jack laughs before signing off. It’s been a long time since he’s been this happy during an off-season.

***

“I mean it has…” Jack observes Eric’s small apartment with skepticism. “...personality.” It actually looks like a death trap, but Jack doesn’t say that. He’ll probably sneak some people in here to fix up the place as a housewarming gift.

“It has a functioning kitchen and a window.” Eric argues. “So, not that bad.”

“Oh yeah, you still have to bake me one of those pies you go on and on about. For all I know, you could be lying to me.” Jack smirks when Eric gives him a horrified look.

“I’m going to ignore the fact you just said that in knowledge of your ignorance.” Eric huffs out before dumping a box onto the blue couch the owner left behind. A cloud of dust bloomed in its wake.

“I just have to clean it up a little.” Eric says more to himself than to Jack. “That’s all.”

“If anyone can do it, it’s probably you.” Jack places down another box on the small coffee table so he can wrap his arms around Eric’s waist. His head falls back against Jack’s shoulder as he wraps his own arms around Jack’s.

“You are quite the charmer, Mr. Zimmermann. I mean, besides your pie comment--”

“Will you be my boyfriend?” Jack suddenly blurts out, even though he planned on making it less awkward and immature.

Eric just laughs a little as he turns around in Jack’s arm. He glances up at him with a warm smile on his face. One that nearly causes Jack to melt right then and there. “My goodness, so formal. Of course I’ll be your boyfriend. I’d be an idiot not to.”

Eric initiates the kiss by wrapping his arms around Jack’s neck to pull him closer. It’s pretty innocent for a while until Eric wants more and slips his tongue into Jack’s mouth. Jack has to break away for a moment, because he did have something else important he needed to say. “I know it will suck being in the closet again, but it won’t be like this forever. I’m not giving you an empty promise. I want to come out, but when I’m ready.”

Eric reaches up to gently pat Jack’s cheek, and stares at him with complete adoration. “I don’t doubt you, Zimmermann. You are one of the most genuine guys I have ever met. I’m a journalist, so those are hard to come by. You are destined for great things.”

“You seem to have a lot of faith in me, eh Bittle?”

Eric pecks him on the lips before saying, “I always have, Jack.”

#omgcheckplease #omgcp #eric bitty bittle #eric bittle #jack zimmermann #zimbits #zimbits fic #hot off the press zimbits au

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