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stealingpotatoes · 4 years

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I am OBSESSED with your Desmond lives AU!! I want Shaun and Rebecca to be able to give Desmond all the hugs, I want Desmond to be able to choose to be an Assassin, to be able to help save the world again. Also, I am very curious about how you would resurrect Desmond, because I’ve had similar thoughts on such an AU, but I currently stick it near the end of Valhalla with the stuff that happens there. If you ever feel like expanding on it, I'd be super excited to see more!!!

first of all, AH THANK YOU!!! Yes those are ALL points that are very important to the Des Lives AU! Second of all, thank you so much for this ask in general!!! I was hoping someone would send an ask like this so I’d get an excuse to talk abt the AU more lmao XD!! I made this AU back in March last year, so there’s no Valhalla stuff in it, and it’s set right after/ during the Odyssey DLCs.

The long story short for my Desmond Rez (rezmond, if you will) is “shroud of eden, abstergo, and some Isu bullshit”. The long story long, however, is uh- you know what? I’m going to use this opportunity to explain the vague story I worked out last year -- but dw, I WILL get to the full ressurection explanation I thought through. However... I’m gonna have to tell the story in smaller parts because I’m lazy and can’t be bothered to write the whole thing out right now. So rez comes later and not in this post.

also uh-- before we start: I’m going to apologise for like… everything about the way I wrote this. It’s sort-of half fic, half that-way-your-friends-colloquially-tell-stories-that-you-can’t-keep-up-with. Mainly the latter. If you can make sense of this babbling, well done.

Anyways, without further ado, welcome to:

POTES TRIES TO EXPLAIN HER DESMOND (SORTA) LIVES AU: PART ONE

On the 21st of December 2012, Desmond Miles dies.

It’s not for nothing -- his sacrifice saves the entire world from a solar flare -- but he is dead. big ripz. The Assassins, his family, do not manage to recover his body. Abstergo gets it first. The Assassins hold a funeral as best they can. They mourn (all in their own ways), they keep fighting (for his memory), and they try to move on (they can’t).

On the 21st of December 2012, Desmond Miles died -- so when he shows up in a city in October 2018, almost 6 years later, it’s a bit of a shock for everyone. What’s even more of a shock is the fact he’s glowing like an Isu and has some abilities he DEFINITELY didn’t have when he died.

So Desmond wakes up in the middle of some city in he doesn’t know where (yeah ok i just never really worked out where the secret lab would be), with 1. no idea of how he got there and 2. no idea why his arms are glowing like that. He doesn’t get much time to think about it because then there’re a load of Abstergo goons with guns surrounding him. Des may have no idea what’s happening, but he knows one thing: when u see an Abstergo, it’s on sight. So he’s fighting them -- which is admittedly not fun or easy when you’re in the middle of a road and only have your fists as weapons. It’s not going well and then someone definitely manages to shoot Desmond which is very bad -- but then Des feels some very weird (but not unfamiliar) feeling and when he looks up from the bullet wound, every one of the Abstergos are on the floor???? He doesn’t think to check if they’re dead, just legs it out of there lmao.

Elsewhere, in an Assassin safehouse in an undisclosed location (can you tell I just didn’t think about the geography of anything), Mr Shaun Hastings is chilling on a balcony after a mission well done. Good for him. Then Rebecca Crane (queen ilu) yells “Shaun?” from inside.

“Rebecca?”

“Come inside. Now.”

Shaun immediately does so because he assumes it’s important or they’re under threat. “What happened? Have we been compromised?”

Rebecca doesn’t answer.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Shaun says, mostly joking and with a little smirk -- though Becs looks spooked.

“Desmond’s alive.”

Shaun’s not smirking anymore. “What?”

“Desmond’s... he’s alive.”

“What are you talking about? Are you high?” he’s totally about to look at her eyes to see if they’re all dilated and druggy.

“No Shaun, I mean it!” Becs harshly shoves her tablet into his hands.

Shaun doesn’t really know what he’s expecting to see when he looks down at the screen. What he’s not really expecting to see is Desmond Miles, who’s been dead for six years, fighting a load of Abstergo people -- while lined in Isu markings (also he’s not wearing a shirt forgot got to mention). ??? But wtf??!?! Desmond’s dead. That’s...

“It’s security camera footage from [the city]... About two hours ago.” Rebecca then swipes through more footage with shaky hands and explains that Des very violently burst out of an Abstergo facility in the city with glowing eyes and light leaking out of him (almost like an Apple of Eden). Then the glowing eyes and shining lights shuts off abruptly and Des is standing in the middle of the road looking very confused at his precursor-ass arms and chest. But Shaun is barely listening to what she’s saying and barely even looking at the screen.

“Where did you get this?” Shaun asks with a hollow voice, not looking up.

“The Initiates.” (bc who else)

Shaun looks at it again, then at Rebecca, and he’s mildly aware of the fact he’s slightly tearing up; “That’s fake. That can’t be him. He’s dead, Becs. We both saw the…” They both saw the autopsy footage the ac4 researcher got from Abstergo -- or at least, tried to watch it; they shut it off as soon as Shaun ran to the bathroom to throw up and Rebecca quickly joined him. They spent the rest of that night crying and drinking way too much.

“He died.” Shaun concludes firmly.

And so Becs is all like “yeah but what if he didn’t?? We need to find him. We need to investigate this.” There’s a determination in her eyes and Shaun knows he’s not going to be able to convince her to drop this -- not that he would. Desmond might be alive, and there is no way they’re going to leave him again.

They’re both standing there in pure shock and confusion, not saying anything.

Rebecca’s comm device lights up and starts buzzing, snapping them out of their general ????-ness. Becs goes to her desk to grab it, glances at the caller id and then shows it to Shaun. It’s William Miles.

The two of them share a Look. They know what he’s calling about -- what else would it be? There’s a stilted moment of neither of them doing anything before Rebecca finally accepts the call. “William?”

“How quickly can you and Shaun get to [city]?” William sounds shaken -- probably the same way Rebecca and Shaun are -- which is a very weird way to hear the Mentor of the Brotherhood sound. He’s seen the footage, hasn’t he?

“In a few hours,” Rebecca replies.

“Good. You need to get there as soon as possible.”

Everyone’s silent for a few moments.

“Is this about Desmond?” Rebecca asks. Dumb question.

There’s a pause. “You’ll be briefed on the ground.” And then he hangs up before Shaun or Rebecca can yell at him.

This is all moving very fast. Shaun and Rebecca share another look. Guess they’re going to [city]. ???

Fast forward several hours and Rebecca and Shaun are in The City [might just have to make the city london bc it’s the one city i actually know well -- however for plot reasons we’ll see later, a swiss city might be better… moving on!]. They get to an assassin base and meet up with Galina Voronina and 2 local assassins. Idk if you’ve read the comics, but to sum things up quickly, Galina and her team were investigating and then ended Project Phoenix -- so Galina now really wants to find out if the whole Desmond thing has anything to do with that.

Galina also wants to help Shaun and Rebecca get their friend back. They’re her friends, but equally she just lost one of her teammates to Abstergo (while ending Phoenix like 2 months ago, in the comics) and is uh- idk how to say it but she wants to help Shaun & Becs who have a chance to get their lost teammate back.

What follows is cool gang-gang trying to track down any trace of Desmond. You’d think it wouldn’t be hard to find a person who literally glows, but Desmond’s had centuries of Assassin training and knows how to hide lol.. which is making the Assassins’ job harder lol.

What’s making it even harder is the Assassins know they have to be quick because they know Abstergo is gonna be looking for Desmond too -- and they have way more resources and stuff. That being said, they’re also currently dealing with the fact one of their building and a decent amount of their guards just got absolutely mullered by weird-glowing-desmond.

The third issue with their entire thing is that they have no idea what they’re going to find when they find Desmond -- or if he even is Desmond. Is he going to be the man they knew but with weird powers? an Abstergo isu-clone? evil? they don’t know, and so they know they’ve got to be wary with him.

The Assassin gang spend some time (a couple of days at the very most) trying to track Desmond down. Rebecca is using all the tech she can get her hacker mitts on to find a trace of him and equally throw Abstergo off Des’ trail.

Soon enough, they get a solid lead -- don’t ask for the specifics, i don’t know them. But they get a lead, and it winds them up in an abandoned apartment building or also abandoned building site or something (a building in the city where there aren’t any people, basically).

Galina scans the place with Eagle Vision and she’s like “There is something very strange about this place.” (someone?) But she doesn’t see a person-shape anywhere. The 5 of them are hopeful but somewhat on edge.

They go about searching for any sign of Desmond. Galina’s pretty sure her Eagle Vision is just… Messing Up A Lot lol. Like something’s trying to heck with it. So she’s not quite sure it’s working correctly when a load of red figures appear somewhere below them.

She becomes a lot more sure when the red figures come into sight and START SHOOTING AT THEM! IT’S ABSTERGO!! CRAP! they found them!!

The assassins get down and a really cool fight scene w them vs the Abstergos in the building/ building site starts playing out. Woo Shaun and Rebecca electro-hidden-blade moments!! The fight splits the squad up and Shaun and Rebecca are away from Galina & the others -- but they dispatch the Abstergo guards near them.

They’re about to radio in that they’re all okay/ check if Galina & co are also good when they hear a slightly-too-loud footstep. They whip around to see an Abstergo guard aiming right at them, too far for either of them to get him before he shoots them. crap crap crap.

They would have been shot -- if someone hadn’t come up behind the Abstergo guard and snapped his neck (ouch).

The Abstergo drops to the ground, revealing the person who saved them and… Shaun and Rebecca stare in shock.

They’re both looking at Desmond Miles.

Desmond Miles, who is very much alive (and wearing a hoodie that is 100% stolen). And… with a load of glowing yellow lines on his face. But it’s Desmond -- it’s Desmond for sure. Holy shit.

Desmond doesn’t seem so shocked, only relieved to see them. Then his expression turns into serious confusion;

“What the fuck is happening?”

///

ok sorry leaving it there for now! hope you enjoyed what is here will continue soon

#desmond (sorta) lives au #desmond miles #rebecca crane #shaun hastings #galina voronina #william miles #Assassin's Creed #THANK YOU FOR THIS ASK i saw it this morning and have spent the day wanting to write this down but being in lessons /:#i know it's a complete mess however you'll have to excuse me i got excited #you opened a can of worms darling anon #I know I just used it as an excuse to Go Off but uh... sorry lol #asscreed #potes wrotes #sort of #thanks for the ask!#the night that the sun came up

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hadtochangemyurlquick · 4 years

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here’s 5.7k of the unsinkable 8 during the zombie apocalypse. good for fans of leatin and goodfoe. it’s super unedited and i’m mainly just posting it for fun cause i finished it today. some references to world war z the book for fun, and i used the zombies from that too.

A flash of blonde and Dot’s gun went up, pointed directly at the head of whatever made their way toward her. She had two bullets left, six cigarettes, and the last mini of hard liquor she raided from the motel back in Aquilla.

She’d have to get it in one shot, which would be hard sitting down, with her back to it, half delirious.

She grunted as she pulled herself around, her leg still out in the makeshift splint. The zed crept closer, not going at the usual hobbling pace. It definitely had caught her scent though, maybe it was down a few limbs already.

She cocked her gun, flicking off the safety, keeping her finger off the trigger. She’d wait until she could see the whites of its eyes. Get it in one shot.

The blonde head crept closer and she finally tucked her gun over the rocks, making eye contact with it for the first time.

“Shelby Goodkind?”

“Dot Campbell?”

Shelby stared at her, lowering her own gun and Dot let out a breath of relief.

“Dottie, oh my god, I thought you were one of ‘em.” She put away her gun, Dot doing the same and she ran over. “It’s so good to see ya, what’s wrong?” She looked at the leg, her face paling.

“Ankles broken,” Dottie muttered. “Was gonna treat myself to one last drink,” she gestured at the bottle.

“Oh lord,” Shelby said. “Well that’s no good, I got a place not to far from here I’ve been camping out in. Some first aid stuff too.”

“I can’t give you anything back for it,” Dot said.

“We both know two people are more likely to make it,” Shelby said.

She looked sunburned and hollowed out, a little hungrier than the last time Dot saw her, headed with her family to that military base. She was alone, and desperate, everyone was. Because here was how it went in Texas. You could trust a stranger as far as you could throw ‘em, but you needed people to live. So if you had people, you lived. And Dot was people, or as close to people as Shelby was willing to get. She musta lost a lot to lower her standards so far.

“Alright,” Dot said. “We’re gonna have to go slow and you’re gonna have to carry a lot of shit.”

“No problem,” Shelby beamed.

Back at the camp, an old rusting trailer with some battery Shelby told her she was saving for a rainy day, Shelby re-splinted her, fed and watered her, and they pooled their resources. Twenty-six cigs now, which might get ‘em a few hours in a safe car north, if they wanted it. Or it might get ‘em some food, or a get out of jail free card, depending on the hunger of the people hunting ‘em.

It was late at night when Dot realized she hadn’t even asked yet.

“Family’s gone then?”

“Yeah,” Shelby said. “You?”

“My dad died before this shit show,” Dot said.

“Lucky,” Shelby said. She took a swig from the mini, and passed it over to Dot. “What’s your plan?”

“I heard there was a safer spot near San Antonio,” Dot said. “Running water and shit.”

Shelby shook her head, “Gone, three weeks ago. Heard it on the radio.”

Dot nodded, “What about you?”

“Radio said Hawaii’s better,” Shelby said. “There’s an operation ferrying people there on the west coast. It’s a thousand cigs per person. But there’s work by the dock if you’re willing to do it.”

“Work for you?” Dot asked.

Shelby’s jaw tightened, “I’ll do what I have to do. Lord forgive me.”

Dot sighed, “Sounds like we go west then.”

They hung around in the trailer for three days, pushing the limits of what was safe, and stumbled on to a new place in the area at daybreak on the fourth day. Dot’s ankle wasn’t broken, with the inflatable cast Shelby had in a week or so she’d be something regarding useful, and as long as she didn’t push herself she’d be more than fine.

Spending time with Shelby Goodkind was another story. For one thing, despite the zombie apocalypse, complete destruction of their lives and modern society, the death of her family and everyone in their town, Shelby was still good and kind. She’d clutch at the cross around her neck every time they’d pass a body, and would never touch one, even the ones that were recent and obviously not stripped clean. It made Dot kinda mad, she found five cigs just walking, and she wondered how many Shelby passed off being squeamish.

But Shelby also wasn’t squeamish, wasn’t afraid to take down a zed with a kitchen knife, and with that same hand wipe the gore off Dot all gentle. She called her Dottie, gave her the last blanket, and always volunteered for the first shift so Dot could watch the sunrise. Dot hadn’t been cared for in a long while, hadn’t been around people in even longer. She decided she might love it.

But Shelby was a magnet, always had been, she talked about god’s light long enough that she got Dot believing it all fell on her. It wasn’t a real surprise when she showed up with a stray.

“What the fuck,” Dot said. “Did you kidnap a child?”

“I did not kidnap a child,” Shelby said, picking the girl up with some difficulty and lifting her onto the backseat of the broken down minivan they were holed up in.

“I sent you out to get sunscreen,” Dot said. “How did you come back with a child?”

“She’s our age,” Shelby said. “I think. And listen, I found her barricaded in a utility closet with a bad fever, I knew we had some tablets but I didn’t wanna leave her.”

“Like bite fever?” Dot asked. “We don’t have enough bullets to—”

“No,” Shelby shook her head, “Look,” she gently unwrapped a bandage around the girl’s arm, revealing a bad slice. “It’s infected. Not a bite. We’re okay.”

Dot sighed and nodded. The girl’d probably try and rob ‘em blind but if they watched her hands and got away fast enough they should be fine. They’d be fine.

“You’re more trouble than you’re worth,” Dot muttered. Shelby smiled, all sweet and gentle and bright and Dot rolled her eyes.

The girl took the tablets, they washed and changed the bandages, after about fourteen hours she blinked awake, unfortunately while Dot was on watch.

“Who—who are you?”

“Dot Campbell,” she said.

The girl stared at her.

“My friend saved your ass,” Dot said. “Shelby.”

“Um,” the girl inched back, “Why? Where am I?”

“We’re on the twenty-two, not from from the ten-eighty,” Dot told her. “You got a nasty infection there, got any cigs?”

“No, I don’t smoke.”

Dot blinked at her. “Alright then.”

“My friends will be looking for me,” the girl said. “I should get back to them.” She didn’t have an accent, Dot realized, not even a thin one like her own.

“Shelby found you around Mr. K’s, we can draw you a map if you’d like,” Dot said. “Where you from?”

“Austin,” the girl lied, badly.

“Alright then,” Dot said again. “Well we’ll draw you a map in the mornin and you can leave a day break. It ain’t far.”

“Thank you,” the girl said. “For helping me.”

“Shelby’s idea,” Dot said. Neither of ‘em slept the whole time, the girl smart enough to keep an eye out, and Dot’s whole job to watch out. She woke Shelby up when she was supposed to and easily muddled into a slumber.

A nice thing, about the zombie apocalypse, was Dot had gotten a lot better at sleeping. She used to stay up for hours thinking ‘bout how she’d pay the bills, how much her dad’s meds cost, whether he was coughing more that night than he did most nights, but now she hit whatever soft looking rock she decided to call a pillow and conked out until Shelby woke her. Shelby, on the other hand, barely slept a wink, shooting up at the slightest sign of trouble, even when Dot was on watch. Too much time on her own, Dot’d guess.

Before Shelby Mateo wandered with Dot. He was quiet and sweet and she had took care of him as best she could. Shelby didn’t have nobody before Dot. Just her dead parents, and if Dot remembered eighth grade soccer well enough, a couple of dead siblings too.

So Dot pretty much conked out and missed the way the girl and Shelby giggled all night. But even she wasn’t blind to their bond when she woke, the way the girls smiled easily at one another, laughed with each other, kept up with each other.

“Dottie,” Shelby said. “Martha,” so that was the stranger’s name “said you told her we could draw her a map but Mr. K’s ain’t far, we might as well take her.”

Dot grunted, she didn’t wanna waste a day but it wasn’t like Mr. K’s would take all day and they might as well see if they could find any more cigs. She hadn’t met any non-smokers in a long while. Apocalypse sorta took the fun out of being straight-edge, if Dot had to guess.

Dot took the back, a metal bat out and ready, and Shelby and Martha took the front. Shelby had a makeshift spear made, good for longer range, but worse up close, and she gave Martha the other bat they had. To borrow, Dot had emphasized.

One of the other things that never got old about the apocalypse, was walking up a highway. Walking straight up that middle line, knowing no one would dare drive a car ‘round there. It felt like the world was yours and empty, like you were finding it, rebuilding it, building it. It was as close to a cowboy as she had felt since her daddy let her ride on his back. It was as close to free as she had ever felt.

They got back to Mr. K’s and Dot saw the approaching figures first, aiming her rifle right at ‘em, safety off and gun cocked, but her finger off the trigger. It was Shelby’s hunting rifle, actually, but she had handed it to Dot first chance she had, looking kinda pale. She had Dot’s old handgun now, useless with this kinda range.

“Live ones?” Shelby asked.

“Can’t tell,” Dot said. “Just kinda standing there.”

“They could be waiting for me,” Martha said. Dot glanced at her, hoping the girl wasn’t actually as naive as she seemed. She probably was.

They walked as close as they dared, before Martha was able to confirm that yes it was her friends.

She ran at ‘em and one of ‘em collided with her, slamming her into a hug. There were two more, just kinda watching Dot and Shelby.

“We should go,” Dot said. “We did what we said.”

“Dottie,” Shelby said.

Dot sighed and the two of ‘em trudged up to the happy pair, reuniting like they had been separated for years, decades, instead of a few hours. It was a miracle they were reunited at all, Mateo said he’d meet her back at the camp in an hour and she had to bash his head in six months later with a sledge hammer.

“Who’re your friends, Martha?” One of the other people asked. It was four girls counting Martha, lucky, none of ‘em white, but they all looked around the same age as Dot and Shelby.

“This is Shelby,” Martha grinned, “And Dot.”

Dot nodded at them.

“I am just so pleased to make your acquaintance,” Shelby smiled, holding out her hand to the girl who still had an arm wrapped around Martha.

“This is Toni,” Martha said, squeezing the girl’s side when she didn’t take Shelby’s hand. “And Rachel and Nora.”

“Ah,” Shelby smiled, “Toni your sister right?”

Martha nodded, Toni glared. “Yeah it’s great to meet you or whatever. There a reason you kidnapped Martha?”

“I saw her passed out and worried she was alone,” Shelby explained. “I knew we had some tablets back at the camp but—”

“What do you want?” Rachel asked. “We got about six hundred if that’s—” Martha from Austin, Dot’s ass. Money hadn’t meant shit in Texas for awhile. These kids were from up north, probably pretty far up north too. Maine or some shit. Delaware.

“Got any cigs?” Dot asked.

“Yes,” Nora said. “We have a couple packs.”

“Great,” Dot held out her hands and two packs were dropped into them. Nora didn’t make eye contact the entire time, her hands fidgeting with anything. She was covered in scabs and scars, picking at her own skin probably.

“Where y’all headed?” Shelby asked.

“None of your business,” Toni said.

“Apparently the San Antonio Zone relocated to Tyler,” Martha said. “We heard some people talking about it last week.”

“Y’all got a radio?” Dot asked.

Martha shook her head.

“If you had one you’d know that that’s what they’re pulling now, telling people to go to Tyler, they shoot you as soon as you step foot in Athens.”

“So where are you guys headed?” Rachel demanded.

“West,” Shelby said. “Radio says they’re ferrying clean folks to Hawaii. It’s an island so.”

“Clean how?” Rachel asked, taking a step forward and lifting her jaw.

Dot sighed.

Shelby’s eyes widened, “Clean as in not infected, I mean.”

“Chill,” Rachel smiled, all thin, “I was kidding.”

“Great,” Dot said. “Not that this hasn’t been fun, but we should be going.”

“Wait,” Martha said. “It’s just, we might as well go west too. And we might as well go west together.”

“Marty,” Toni grabbed her by her uninjured arm, “I wanna talk to you for a moment.”

They got into a whispered argument for a few minutes. Rachel joined and it escalated but Martha came out on top, smiling as she approached them.

“We might as well go together,” she repeated.

Shelby’s smile was just as wide, “We would be alighted to have you.”

The new girls were a nightmare. Rachel and Nora, sisters as Dot would learn, hated one another. And by hated Dot meant, had a complicated relationship of love without trust or mutual respect. Nora didn’t trust Rachel, Rachel didn’t respect Nora, and they were constantly going at one another. Toni had some sorta toxic jealousy thing going on, despising Shelby because she was monopolizing Martha. She also tended to fly into these rages, making her wander off for long periods that had Dot itching to grab her gun and demanding the girl strip to check for bites. Mateo’s dad used to do the same thing, wander off to check his bite.

Shelby also was wholly focused on two things now: Martha, and Toni’s hate. Dot ambled along behind all of ‘em, keeping the sisters from killing each other, Toni’s voice down, and everyone else alive.

The worst part was it took Dot nearly three days before she caught sight of it.

“You have one hand,” Dot glared at Rachel. Rachel slung the pack over her shoulder.

“You’re just noticing that now?” Rachel asked. “I must be getting better with it.”

“The fuck happened?” Dot said.

“My hand got bit,” Rachel shrugged. “Cut it off before it spread, didn’t even know it would work.”

Dot whistled, low and quiet, like they were all used to being.

“I cut it off,” Nora corrected, sullenly.

Rachel rolled her eyes.

“I’m still quicker on the draw than you,” Rachel said, the words clunky in her mouth.

Dot set her jaw, “So y’all are sticking with the story that you’re from Austin?”

“We’re from New York,” Nora said. Rachel glared at her. “What? You think some group would waste three days on four teenage girls?”

“New York?” Dot asked. “Everyone knows it’s safer up north, why the hell are you down here?”

“You hear about Yonkers?” Rachel asked.

Dot shook her head.

“It was the last op the US military set up before they fell apart. We’d made it out by then but we watched it happen on the news. Someone in a group we had still had a phone and the whole thing was live streamed. All of the death. The group were supposed to go to some military bases up in Canada but we wanted a wide open space with plenty of guns.”

“Texas,” Dot said.

Rachel nodded.

“Stupid,” Dot told her. “You probably came for San Antonio too.”

Rachel sighed, “Nobody was gonna survive those Canadian winters without a base, and we weren’t sure we were gonna get one. Rather get bit than freeze.”

“How’d you meet Toni and Martha?” Dot asked.

“Toni and I got into a fistfight over some Takis,” Rachel said.

Dot nodded, “Fuego?”

“Fuego.”

And yeah they were a nightmare but quicker than Dot wanted they became her nightmare. Still though, she dragged Shelby away from Martha and Toni’s sides, and muttered, “we can still go. Ditch if you want. Whenever. We don’t know ‘em.”

Shelby, in high school, woulda been scandalized, muttered some bible passage at her. This Shelby was a little more grown and only looked at her all serious.

“You knew what I was when you picked me up,” she said. “And I knew what Martha was. We’ll face our consequences, I reckon.”

Dot nodded.

Walking all day, everyday, wasn’t easy stuff. Especially since they had to strip as many bodies as they could find. Nora figured it out pretty quick, mumbling something to Rachel who recruited Toni to storm over to Dot.

“You don’t smoke them, but you’re hoarding them,” Rachel said. “Why?”

Dot kept her easy pace. “These things are currency now, the value’ll only go up over time.”

“Currency for what?” Toni asked. “What are you trying to buy?”

“You think a ferry to Hawaii is free?” Dot asked. “I’m saving for all of us.”

“Dottie,” Shelby walked over, Martha sticking by Nora, “What’s up?”

“How much?” Toni asked. “Really, how much?”

“A hundred each,” Dot said, too quickly.

“Try again,” Rachel said.

“Dot,” Shelby got between them, looking at Dot. “Thou shalt not lie, right? Tell ‘em the truth.” Dot glared at her and Shelby turned back around to Rachel. “It’s five hundred each. We got about a hundred now, so no one’s going to Hawaii.”

“What if there aren’t enough?” Toni asked. “Who decides then?”

“We’ll draw straws,” Shelby said.

It was as easy a solution as anything but the tenseness started building up, Rachel and Toni viewing Dot with more suspicion. It’d fade, over time, Dot knew. Or they’d all die.

The worst it got, was actually Shelby’s doing, the easy peace maker of it all. They hadn’t bothered building a fire, despite how cold and exposed it got in Texas at night, but they huddled together between three cars they found abandoned along the highway that they pushed into a triangle. Someone got to the seat cushions of all three first, so there was nothing comfortable to lie their heads on. It was easy for Dot though, the asphalt as soft as anything to her now.

They stayed up later than they should’ve talking. Trading stories about their old life that all of them knew weren’t doing any good. Toni played basketball, was pretty good at it too. Rachel had a skill for swimming she’d never have again. Nora did quiz bowl, surprising no one. Dot talked about metal, fishing with her dad, what types of pills sold for what. Martha was a dancer, and a vegetarian once. It was something that made ‘em all crack up. When humans become man eating beasts, and once upon a time there were jokes online about vegans. Shelby talked about the yearbook, mission trips, Andrew.

But then cause Shelby started it by prattling on about Andrew Toni got it in her head to talk about Regan and Shelby was talking about Leviticus.

The next morning, Rachel quietly pulled Dot aside and told her to take all the cigarettes and head out. That they could make their own way west. Dot didn’t ask for an invitation to go with her.

They split off at the twenty-five, Dot and Shelby heading for the forty, Toni, Martha, Rachel, and Nora heading for the sixty.

Shelby was heartbroken for a few days, apologetic too, and grateful. Dot didn’t let her have any of that, only said, “It’s cause we’re from the same town. We might be the only ones from there left.”

They trudged on.

In Arizona Dot found the love of her life, her soulmate, Fatin Jadmani. In a completely straight way too. Fatin matched her tit for tat, spoke a language Dot hadn’t realized she’d been born knowing. Her girlfriend was an anxious woman named Leah, who Shelby got on with. Dot had worried, upon bringing the two back to camp, that Shelby would chase ‘em away again, but she hadn’t. Just smiled at the two of them, easily offering up a couple granola bars.

Whenever tenseness came about Fatin just laughed, and Leah rolled her eyes. It wasn’t perfect, Dot knew, there was too much hate for that, but it would last ‘em long enough. The four of ‘em just worked in this great lovely way.

Only problem was their destination.

“We barely managed to get out of LA,” Leah mumbled, she hugged her legs, her head leaning on Fatin’s shoulder.

“LA?” Shelby asked. “That’s where we’re headed.”

“What the fuck?” Fatin glared at Dot, “Dorthy I thought you had more sense than that.”

“There’s some military guys ferrying people to Hawaii,” Dot said.

“Where’d you hear that, the radio?” Fatin asked. She sighed at their nods, “They’re broadcasting out to whoever will hear it, but there is no ferry to Hawaii. The entire thing is just selling and shipping as many girls out as possible. We have no idea where though.”

“So when you say you barely made it out,” Dot said.

Fatin’s face was grim.

“We have to warn ‘em,” Shelby said.

“Warn who?” Dot asked.

“Toni and the others! They don’t know!” Shelby stood up. “I’ll plot out the course now and we’ll start out fresh tomorrow. We aren’t leaving ‘em to—to—we aren’t leaving ‘em.” She stormed off and Dot watched her go.

“She wants to go towards LA to help some motherfuckers who kicked you out of their group?” Fatin asked.

“Yeah,” Dot said.

“Are you gonna go with her?” Leah asked.

“I knew what she was when I picked her up,” Dot said.

“What do you wanna do?” Leah asked Fatin.

Fatin pressed her cheek to Leah’s head, “I don’t know if I can risk you.” Fatin looked at Dot, “Are you gonna be stupid?”

“No,” Dot said.

“Then we’ll come,” Fatin sighed. “Leah that okay?” Leah nodded.

Neither of ‘em were as good at offing zed as Shelby and Dot. Fatin was decent at finding stuff though, scoping stuff, and Leah had endurance none of the rest of ‘em could match. She was like a zed sometimes, just kept going, could keep going, until her knees wore down to dust and then she’d crawl, crawl until her fingers wore down to nubs and then she’d inch, inch until something put her out of her misery. It terrified Fatin and Shelby, but Dot couldn’t help being impressed.

So Dot ambled after Shelby toward Bethlehem on the forty but they were gonna leap back on the interstate and hopefully head ‘em off. Hopefully Martha, Toni, Rachel, and Nora’d be alive, and they’d find ‘em. And if they didn’t find ‘em, hopefully they’d be dead. And Shelby stopped sleeping about a day or two into trek. Would just keep staring at the maps and keeping watch, and taking inventory and thumbing around her necklace.

When Dot woke up on the third day of their walk, Shelby’s hair was much shorter and Fatin looked real scared. Shelby kept walking and walking and, in a fit of rage that matched Toni’s, launched her necklace off the highway. She looked like she regretted it after but they had no choice but to keep going.

They passed an arm and it looked like Rachel’s.

Shelby walked faster. Leah had that glint in her eye. Fatin took Dot’s hand and looked very very scared.

After two more days Shelby said fuck it, and found a car with some gas in it and told 'em to get in.

Dot stood in front, “Shelby,” Shelby glared at her, “This’ll attract every body in the fucking country. The sound, the smell, I’m not just talking about the dead ones neither.”

Shelby swallowed hard, “You gonna stay behind then?”

“Shelby,” Dot said. “If you leave me here I’ll get caught up in the hoard. That what you want?”

“Get in the damn car, Dottie!” Shelby said.

“If we get to ‘em in time, but there’s a fucking hoard following us, we won’t have anywhere to go but on,” Dot said. “Fucking think!”

“I am thinking,” Shelby spat back. She shoved Dot, “I’m thinking about Toni, and Martha walking from Minnesota to Texas only to die in California. I’m thinking about Nora and Rachel watching Yonkers fall and then getting shipped off to who knows where. That’s what I’m thinking.”

“Shelby we can make it,” Leah said.

“No we can’t!” Shelby said. “I’ve done the math, I keep looking at these maps, there’s no way we’ll make it in time without a mode of transportation. No car and they die.”

“Then what the fuck are we going there?” Dot asked. “If it’s too late—”

“It is not too late!” Shelby said, her throat was all closed and choked sounding. “I can save ‘em! Jesus fuckin Christ we have to help ‘em!”

“Shelby,” Dot said, she put a hand on her shoulder. “We can’t take a car, and we can’t make it by foot,” Shelby’s face crumpled. “They’re gone, alright? We should be planning our next move.”

“No,” Leah said. She shook her head, “We have to help them.”

“You don’t even know ‘em,” Dot said.

“I’m not letting four innocent girls go through what I nearly went through,” Leah said.

“I’m with Leah,” Fatin said. “We’ll take the car and play it by ear.”

“Play the-hoard-that-will-start-coming-after-us-the-second-we-turn-on-the-engine by ear?” Dot asked.

“Let’s vote,” Shelby said. “All in favor of going?”

Fatin, Leah, and Shelby all raised their hands.

“C’mon,” Dot begged. She looked at Fatin, “You told me not to be stupid!”

“So don’t be stupid,” Fatin said. “Get in the car.”

Dot sighed, wanted to punch something, wanted to cry, was too tired to do either, got in the car.

The car attracted so many fucking zed, they wouldn’t be able to stop, and they had to hope there was enough in the fucking tank to get them to wherever the four were. Dot watched the dead bodies creep closer, at their slow hobbling, relentless pace. Fatin drove, Shelby used her pike to spear any who got too close, Dot watched the maps and steadily got herself into a panic.

They were gonna die trying to save the asses of some girls they spent a couple days with.

This was not what Shelby was when Dot picked her up, this was not what she was. Shelby had gone behind Dot’s back and fucking grown as a person, hadn’t she? How the fuck was Dot gonna get away from her? She’d have to pack Fatin in a suitcase and then Leah too and that would mean entirely abandoning Shelby to be on her lonesome oh god.

Dot was stuck, wasn’t she.

As they kept driving Shelby had to keep spearing zed. It started off as one or two, but as the hours wore on they were leaning on five, six, a steady growing mass ambling behind ‘em.

If that had really been Rachel’s arm, they were probably dead. All of ‘em. Or maybe in the mass behind ‘em. And if they weren’t, they’d hear the car coming and head for the hills, assuming it meant a hoard was close behind. Which it was.

This was such a fucking terrible idea.

“So what, we just wait for a sign to say welcome to LA and then give up? We won’t find ‘em like this,” Dot said.

“Shut up!” Shelby said, she speared another.

“At least check you ain’t offing one of ours,” Dot said. “They could all be zed, for all we know.”

“I said shut up,” Shelby turned to glare at her and a zed slammed against the door. She speared it and Dot’s mouth clamped shut. “We just gotta keep going,” she said. “We’ll be fine, we just gotta keep moving.”

“You’re crazy,” Dot said.

Shelby didn’t have anything to say to that.

It was worse at nightfall, with visibility down, and they just had to keep going, to hope their car wasn’t stripped when they went over the bumps of mutilated corpses still hungry for a last meal.

“We’re almost to LA,” Shelby said. “We got nearly a hundred cigs, we might be able to bribe someone if they jump us.”

Leah snorted.

They were driving through an empty enough part of Nevada though, less corpses hurling themselves off the road and towards them. Still the ever growing mass behind ‘em now, maybe fifty, seventy five, but about twenty out.

“I gotta piss,” Dot said.

“Hurry,” Fatin said.

Dot stumbled out, no one noticing her grabbing her pack. The zed would follow the car, she’d make a clean break. She’d survive.

She was only seven minutes south, judging by the north star Shelby taught her to find when someone’s hand grabbed her. She pulled out her hand gun, jamming it into the head and flicking the safety off.

“Dot! Jesus Christ!”

The girl was wide-eyed, tan, hollowed out, empty and desperate. Reminded her of the empty pill bottles around her house after her dad died.

“Toni?”

Toni nodded, “Why are you here? Fuck that I don’t give a shit, you got water?” Dot handed it to her and Toni downed it. “The other’s are close, c’mon.” She stumbled as she got up, clearly dizzy, and Dot grabbed her forearm.

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you guys,” Dot said.

“Don’t tell me it’s you in the fucking car,” Toni said. “We’ve been running from that thing for ages.”

“I fucking told Shelby,” Dot said.

“Shelby?” Toni asked, she was almost too exhausted to sound disgusted, but she managed it.

“Listen, LA isn’t safe, we found out. They’re not taking kids to Hawaii, they’re taking them.”

Toni went pale, “Fuck.” She even sounded choked now. “Shelby’s having a fucking aneurysm worrying about you so I don’t even think she’s that fucking homophobic. I’ll get everyone back to the car, you tell ‘em I’m coming.”

Toni nodded, stumbling towards the street and Dot walked back to the direction Toni pointed to before she left. Rachel, Nora, and Martha were all in various points of disarray. Exhausted, dehydrated, starving, aching and bleeding. Dot had to half carry, half drag Nora with Martha and Rachel had to get a stick to lean on as they stumbled toward the street.

“We got like ten minutes,” Fatin said. “People are gonna have to double buckle, and before anyone else makes a decision, we’re going north.”

Dot strapped everyone in and found herself sitting next to Shelby who met her eyes in a hundred yard stare.

“You took your pack.”

“Yeah.”

“But you came back.”

“Yeah.”

“Fine.”

They started on again. Dot saw Toni keep sneaking glances at Shelby and Shelby kept sneaking ‘em back.

They weren’t far from Mt. Tobin when the two finally stopped dancing around each other.

Dot convinced everyone to ditch the car near LA, walking as quickly as they could once they did, knowing it’d take awhile to ditch the hoard too. Dot watched Toni talk to Shelby in low tones, Shelby full of apologies and panics and Toni keeping her cool longer than Dot had ever seen it.

Martha took to Fatin quickly, everyone did, and Nora and Leah spent long hours walking beside each other mumbling about books or something. Not anything Dot gave two shits about.

Rachel ambled along with Dot most of the time. Whenever Fatin and Leah were all over each other and Dot didn’t feel like third wheeling. Rachel was always listening to the radio and as time passed it became clear that the two of them were the most capable of keeping everyone alive. And not in a more knowledgable way. Because Nora knew what plants were edible, and Shelby was a better shot. Or in an emotional way, because Fatin and Martha handled that. But in a planning sorta way. Because Dot knew how to get them to point B, while Rachel was working on point E.

“We should go to Washington,” Rachel muttered on one of the late nights they spent keeping watch while they poured over maps. “We might be able to find a boat to Victoria.”

“Victoria?” Rachel pointed her out.

“It’s a Canadian island. Canada lasted a little longer than we did, Victoria might not be in such a bad way.”

“Less guns in Canada,” Dot said. “And there might not be a boat that’ll take us there. Plus, we don’t know the currency.”

“We’re eight teenage girls,” Rachel pointed out. “We stick around so close to Cali, we’re asking for trouble. We need to put an ocean between us and whatever the fuck they’re doing there.”

Dot sighed. So they’d go to Washington.

On the way they’d probably run into another group who’d tell them Washington was overrun but there was something decent in Wisconsin. Half way to Wisconsin someone would tell ‘em their information was bad and they need to get south where there were guns and space. They’d almost be in Georgia when someone would tell ‘em there was some real government up in New York again.

They’d follow pipe dream to pipe dream to pipe dream. They’d probably die young.

Toni curled around Shelby, holding Martha’s hand. Fatin and Leah held on for dear life. Rachel didn’t take her eyes off Nora. Dot watched them all.

Yeah they’d probably die young. Better than dying alone.

#gus writes #the wilds #the wilds fanfic #goodfoe fanfic #shoni #leatin fanfic #leatin #dot campbell #leah rilke #fatin jadmani #shelby goodkind #toni shalifoe #rachel reid #nora reid #martha blackburn #the unsinkable 8 #the unsinkable eight

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justmickeyfornow · 4 years

Text

A Smile for Hire

“I'm sorry Ms. But you just don't have enough experience to work at my shop.” the owner said, standing behind the counter and putting down Kara’s resume, flipping it around for her.

Kara was desperate. Desperate was an understatement of how desperate for a job she was.

“B-But what I lack in experience I make up for in my social skills.” she explained, “I'm the friendliest walking thing you'll ever meet. I make kittens look like devils and puppies like monsters. I'm so friendly that there's an urban dictionary word in my name that means extremely friendly." she continued before frowning, "But please don't look that up."

“There’s just nothing I can do. I don’t have the spare time to train you nor do I have enough employees to do that.”

Kara deflated, normally she would plead her case for the next hour or so being annoyingly persistent until someone hires her. But she has had the same conversation with the same type of owners of several coffee shops, restaurants, pizza parlors (that one she had to walk out of there herself before the interview because she knew she wouldn’t be able to resist eating the place down to bankruptcy) and many other places.

Just as Kara was about to take her resume and leave, the door of the coffy shop opened and normally she wouldn’t have noticed something like that, but the scared expression of the owner tipped her off.

A woman with expensive looking sunglasses clad over her eyes walked in. Her hair was in a neat high ponytail and her expression was very much annoyed. She gave them a look, as she walked, though Kara wasn’t sure where she was looking with her sunglasses covering her eyes, and marched on high heels to a secluded table.

Kara looked back at the man who seemed to be contemplating his life choices of whether or not he should go there and take her order.

Kara sported a bright smile on, “Listen. If I can take that woman's order and get her in a better mood, would you give me the job?”

He gawked at her, “You do realize who that is? That's Lena Luthor. If she's in a bad mood, there's no talking to her until she's had her espresso. If you go anywhere near her, she’ll bite your head off, no matter how friendly you are.”

“What did I just say about the kittens and the puppies? What did I just say? I’m not just friendly. Friendliest than the word friendly.”

“Lena Luthor does not like friendly.” He muttered under his breath. But out loud he said, "Fine. You get her to order a full meal without lashing out at you and get her to smile then the job's yours.

Kara fist bumped the air, “Yes!”

She quickly took off her coat, straitened down her black jeans and button down shirt and put on her best smile.

As soon as Kara reached her table, Lena spoke without looking up from the tablet she was reading from, "Let's start with my double shot espresso. And then I'll decide on what I'll have for lunch."

Oof, didn’t even spare me a glance. Tough crowd. Kara thought hesitantly. She was beginning to think that this was going to be harder than she thought. How was she going to use her friendliest smile when the lady won’t even look at her.

“Umm, yeah coming right up. A-anything else I could get you to brighten your d-”

“Yes. You talk too much. Get me another waitress.”

Kara was taken back by that, “Well, that wasn’t very nice. I barely said two words to you.” she mumbled under her breath.

This was much much more challenging than she thought it would be.

She shook away her negative thoughts and tried again, “I know I’m supposed to be serving you and not the other way around but could you maybe possibly do me a favor and smile?” Kara almost begged.

That guaranteed a look from the woman, and Kara was not ready to meet deep green eyes such as hers. “Excuse me?” she sounded offended

And Kara immediately realized how that sounded, “Oh no no. Not in the 'give me a smile, sweetheart' kind of way that men usually shout at women. At all. I respect women. I worship women. Women are the future. I'm surprised there hasn't been a woman president yet! I once told a woman to punch me in the face because I was in love with her.” That got a thoughtful look to be put on Kara’s face, “Though, maybe I was in love with the idea of her. I’m not too sure anymor-”

“I get it! Then what did you mean?”

Kara blushed, just now seeing that maybe she did talk too much, “I'm trying to get a job here and I kinda maybe sorta have a deal with the owner over there who's eyeing me that I could get you to order something without you sticking the fork in my eye. So, do you maybe think that's possible.”

A perfectly lined eyebrow raised up in question, “I don't know. That fork is awfully tempting.”

Kara smirked at that, because she clearly dug that hole for herself, but she could play this game, “Well, if you'll let me read you our lunch menu I’m sure you could find something else that might tempt you.”

Kara felt the woman rake her eyes up and down her body, before reciprocating an equally flirty smirk, “Maybe I already have.”

Kara’s eyebrows went up, “Wow, I feel extremely objectified right now but somehow I'm not complaining. It could be because you're really pretty and I'm a gay mess.”

The woman chuckled and Kara decided she loved the sound of it. And with a quick side glance, the small chuckle seemed to earn a shocked gasp from the owner over there.

“You seemed so sure of yourself when you were ready to read me the lunch menu.”

“That's because food is easy.”

The woman sat back in her chair comfortably, “Well, then. How about you order for me?”

“You'd risk that? A stranger ordering your food for you?”

“You're no stranger. I know more about you than I know about that man behind the counter whose cafe I’ve been coming over everyday for the past year.”

“How so?”

“Your name is Kara Danvers. You are currently looking for a job. You're gay- Oh, forgive me. You're a gay mess. And you have a charming personality.”

Kara sported a dopey grin, “You think I'm charming?”

The woman ignored the question with a smile, “You also graduated from National City University. With a degree in Applied Linguistics and a minor in Journalism.”

Okay, now Kara was confused, “Wait, how'd you know that? And how did you know my name, I'm not wearing a name tag.”

"Your resume was on the counter when I walked in and your name was on top in all capital letters. Would've been impossible to miss."

"Not to the owner apparently. He's called me Kieran twice in the 3 minutes of our conversation."

The woman smirked playfully, "Kieran suits you actually. It goes well with your hair."

Kara chuckled, bowing down dramatically, "Then, it is settled m'lady. I shall change my name to Kieran."

The brunette giggled at that and Kara again noticed from the corner of her eye the owner gawking. Must be a rarity then. It's a shame too, this woman had the most beautiful laugh.

"I hate to press you, but I do need to take your order at some point or I don't think I'll be hired."

"Oh yes, right. I'll just have the Caesar salad with the dressing on the side and the avocado toast."

"Right away."

Just when Kara was about to leave, she felt a soft hand grip her wrist. She looked back to find the woman looking hesitantly at her.

“I hope this isn't too forward, but I'm actually in the market looking for a new assistant. Is that something you would-" she paused, "-be interested in. I would understand if you have your eyes set on this place but I can assure you the job I'm offering would come with countless benefits and-”

“Yes!” Kara shrieked

“Oh, are you- are you sure?”

“The question is, are you sure you wanna hire me?! I have no experience being someone's assistant!”

“Well, technically you'd be my second assistant. Sort of like-”

“I will gladly be whatever you want me to be!”

The woman blushed profusely, “Oh, well that’s unnecessary. You will get a job description of what is expected of you obviously.”

“Again! Whatever you want me to be!” Kara exclaimed, “I’ll be a foot stool if you want me to!” she then paused, “But not in like a sexual way or anything. Unless you...”

“No!”

#Supercorp donation commissions #sorry this took so long #life!#this is really just a bunch of dialogue i put together #Don't know if there was a story in there #it was inspired by a wlw story that a friend was talking about #i have no idea what show/movie/thing it is from #i think it was portuguese or dutch or something of the sort #to be honest i wasn't really listening #i was just writing a supercorp in my head about it while my friend was talking #it's a nasty habit #but it happens a lot #supercorp #supercorp fanfiction #supercorp fiction #supercorp ficlet #My writing

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doobler · 3 years

Text

Surprised

"So. Uh. What do you like to do in your spare time?"

Greg watched the android settle in the chair across from his desk. Aileron certainly was a specimen. His eyes were bright, wide with wonder, his lips full and bowed, his smile contagious. He looked around like he was experiencing life for the very first time. He probably was, now that Greg thought about it.

"I like to be your companion!" Aileron gushed.

Greg let out a little groan and deflated in his seat. Great. Dr.Kurusu had essentially just given him a human-shaped dog that was, undeniably, built to be a sex toy. Greg knew; Aileron was built like a Greek god, his synthetic muscles twisting under his sheer shirt, his legs in sharp relief against his terribly tight jeans. He was also barefoot. Odd.

Aileron's face shifted. He looked crestfallen. Twiddling his thumbs, he spoke again, but softly.

"I like... Fixing things? Like mechanic work?"

Greg perked up again.

"Yeah?" He smiled. "Do you have any examples?"

"Well, Dr.Kurusu had offered me a vehicle, so I wouldn't be totally dependant on you," Aileron's expression lit up. "So I asked for a motorcyle. She's a 2020 Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC. Bit old but still running. Her KPG is decent but I think I can tweak her enough to really max it out. I'm eager to break her in and maybe try to bring her top speed up by 10kph or so."

"Did you name her?" Greg's heart fluttered.

"Yeah, her name's Rosie."

Aileron's base personality seemed to be programmed; eager, a little air-headed, easily excitable. His genuine passion for fixing this one bike, however, felt real. Dr.Kurusu was a veritable genius. She knew how to code, how to program. There was no doubt in Greg's mind that a lot of what Aileron did and said was of his own volition, not Dr.Kurusu. Greg inhaled, held his breath, then exhaled for a long moment. He pushed back his chair, slapped his knees, and stood with a grin.

"Lemme show you around Castle Tech., Aileron."

+++

The tour felt different from when Greg usually ran them. He was used to leading around a flock, usually of either young college kids and high schoolers eager to soon join the world of technology or representatives from both sister and enemy companies. His speeches were quite rehearsed, using the same corny one-liners while standing in the exact same spots every time. He loved inspiring the youth and loathed the conniving scowls of businessmen but, every time, the tour was the same.

This one was intimate.

Greg had Aileron's full attention and Aileron had both of Greg's eyes on him and him alone. He spoke quietly now, not booming to a group of people with short attention spans. His shoulders brushed against Aileron's and the android asked questions no one ever had before.

"How many times do you fail before a product is deemed 'good'?" Aileron asked as they peered into one of many labs.

"Well, it depends," Greg watched him casually, fists in his pockets. "Some things come easy; like glasses that automatically adjust to any level of light in any given environment or, I dunno, a toaster with the works. Some are harder. It took four months just for us to decide if we wanted a tablet pen to come in black or silver."

"Why not both?" Aileron asked.

"That's what I said!" Greg laughed. "But we've got a lot of bright minds here and we don't always agree or get along."

"What makes you choose what charities you donate to?"

Greg slowed his pace, watching as Aileron walked and stared and absorbed everything in the building's foyer. He reached into the massive fountain, pulling out a dollar coin.

"Uhm. I usually like to think about the impact we'll leave," Greg hovered over him, watching him root around the water without a care. "That's why we partner up with local orphanages a lot. Children are our future and... They deserve to have a decent childhood, no matter how rich or poor, privileged or stranded they may be."

"Do you want kids?"

Aileron's dark eyes seemed endless. Greg couldn't even see his own reflection in them but he swore Aileron could peer into his very soul. Greg reached out, against his better judgment, and took one of his hands. Aileron's palm and fingertips were squishy, like the toe beans on a cat. He was also a little warm; not enough to simulate human body heat but enough that he wasn't uncomfortably cold.

"I did when I was young," Greg's voice was whisper-soft. "I've been alone for a long time. I've sort of... Abandoned the idea of being a father. I just... Want someone to share my life with."

"A wife?" Aileron spoke gently. ".... A husband?"

Greg nodded the second time.

"Well until then, I'll keep you company," Aileron smiled, though a hint of melancholy lingered at the corners of his lips. "Dr.Kurusu said you've never had a partner and I thought that was terribly sad."

"... Was it your idea....? To... Be a companion for me?"

"Sorta," Aileron beamed, squeezing Greg's hand. "I was gonna be a companion droid no matter what. Before I fully came online, I heard your name a lot. I know you and the doctor do a lot of business together. She'd gripe a lot about how sad and lonely you looked at company functions and, I dunno. I came online and I had this need to be there for you, when no one else would."

Greg's lips hung slightly open. His soul felt bared. Before he could even croak out a response, one of his assistants toddled up.

"Mr.Castle, we've been calling you for 20 minutes," She pleaded. "You have a meeting in 5, on the 12th floor."

"Uh. Yeah, yeah, I'll. Be there-- Miss Lillian?" Greg caught Aileron's wrist and urged him to stand. "Can you... Take this fine gentleman to our garage? Let him have free roam, he can uh. He can touch or see anything he wants, okay? When he's had his fill, send him back to my office."

"Uh-- o-oh, of course, sir," Lillian adjusted her glasses and, in a fit of nervousness, curtsied. "Right this way, Mr....?"

"Aileron," The droid smiled. "Nice to meet you!"

The pair left and what warmth in Greg's stomach lingered turned cold. He kneaded at his eyes and rushed to the elevator. He already knew he wouldn't be able to focus. All he could think about were those dark eyes and those pretty lips.

#my oc #oc #aileron #greg castle #tiny fic #eeeheehehee

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ranger-jedi-knight · 5 years

Text

This Unusual Love: Dexter’s Turn

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23365357/chapters/55982161

Ok, so this is salt cause I’m bitter bout Apple. So ya, characters MAY be OOC but whatevs. Also, so in this, me n my friend were talkin bout this fic I’d write n we’d thought it’d be fun if Raven actually had brown hair like her father. So ye, Raven has brown hair(but with small purple high lights). Finally, this was inspired by virgil-is-a-cutie and thyladyanput on Tumblr talking about different salt ideas. I hope you enjoy it!!

All Raven wanted to do was decorate the float for Thronecoming.

But NO!

Apple just had to come up to her and try once more. She kept saying everyone was at risk if she didn’t sign. How her Happily Ever After was in RISK. It didn’t help that every time Dexter thought about talking to Raven he’d get glared at by Apple. Hell, even Daring was chill with Dexter talking to who he wanted.

Though Raven had to admit it looked like he only did that since he was seriously questioning his destiny with how Apple was acting. Not that she could blame him. With every day that passed since the failure of Legacy Day, she’s gotten worse about it. Everyone could see how different Apple was. She kept going on about how unfair it was. How she needed Raven to sign to become the new Evil Queen to poison her. How she just wants her Happily Ever After.

And they could see how she kept harassing Raven.

“How can you be so selfish, Raven!? If you don’t sign the Book of Legends, everything is ruined! No one gets their Happily Ever After!” Apple yelled and all the students present watched the fight warily. They didn’t know what to do. Dexter wanted to go to Raven but Daring was holding him back, wary that something may happen to him if he went over there.

“Selfish!? Is it really that selfish to NOT want to be evil!? To not want to be put into the mirror realm with the Evil Queen!? I DON’T want to be like my mother! Why can’t you understand that!?” Raven shouted back turning to walk to the lake they were near. “Oh wait, I know. You’re too selfish thinking about your own Happily Ever After to care about anyone else.”

With that, Raven stalked over to the lake and went up to a small outcropping and sat down. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs and watched the lake. It was clear, allowing everyone to watch the Neverland Mermaids and their children swim around. They glanced up at her quite a few times as they swam. Once they stayed looking at her she looked around and found Apple standing behind her. Hiding among the trees, Raven could just barely make out her sorta friend Blondie. “What do you want? I just want to be alone,” she asked standing up slowly to face Apple.

“I’m not done talking to you, Raven. You need to sign the Book of Legends. You’re destined to become the next Evil Queen. It’s just a matter of time. You know it,” Apple said cooly and Raven didn’t like the look in Apple’s eyes.

“Apple, how could you say that? You’re Snow’s daughter,” Raven said and Apple tilted her head with a sneer.

“It’s true though. Faybelle thinks only of herself. She’s the daughter of the Evil Fairy. She’s following her nature. You will too. But apparently, you need to make it difficult. Why can’t you just sign the damn book? Why can’t you let me have my Happily Ever After!?” Apple demanded stepping closer to Raven who looked at her shocked and scared.

“You don’t need an Evil Queen or a damn book to give you your Happily Ever After, Apple! Why do you want to follow that anyways!? Briar would never see any of us again. She’d sleep for 100 years with her family and staff. She’d have to make new friends. Marry a man she doesn’t even know. Do you truly want that for your friend!?” Raven demanded and Apple looked shocked at that.

“She’d get her Happily Ever After. I don’t see the problem with it,” she answered back coldly and Raven gasped.

“That’s a horrible thing to say. The other Royal’s even understand Briar’s worry about it. How could you not!?”

“How can you keep thinking about yourself!? Principal Grimm has said that terrible things can happen to everyone if you don’t sign the Book of Legends!” Apple shouted angrily before pushing Raven harshly. Raven gasped as she stumbled back towards the edge. She could only scream as her foot missed the edge and she fell down into the water below. Nearby shouts could be heard and Apple turned to watch as they ran to the edge’s of the lake and watched as the mermaids pulled a struggling Raven down.

“Raven!” Dexter shouted giving his glasses to Cedar before jumping into the water after her. Daring and Darling were quick to follow, knowing he’d need help getting Raven away from the deadly mermaids. Blondie snarled at Apple, glad she was doing the live stream. She heard rustling and Apple could only pale when she saw Milton and Giles behind her.

“You are in deep trouble, Miss White,” Milton said tersely.

“She’s not breathing!” Dexter shouted and Giles ran down while making sure they can get Raven to the hospital.

“I can’t even look at you, Apple. I don’t even know who you are anymore,” Blondie whispered before walking down to the others. She could only watch numbly as Giles took over CPR for Darling. Raven coughed out the water harshly but her eyes didn’t open. Soon, Raven was in the hospital with the Charming siblings, Giles, Blondie, and her parents the Good King and Evil Queen. Mira was seething when the doctor told them the news. Her husband did what he could to calm her, but nothing was working well.

Blondie went into the hall and held up her tablet to start the live stream to tell everyone when Dexter left the room in tears with his siblings walking him outside. Blondie only sighed when she held the tablet up and started the live stream. “Hello everyone. Blondie Locks reporting outside Raven Queen’s hospital room. The doctor has just informed us that Raven is in a coma. He nor his coworkers know if or when Raven will wake up. If you don’t know, earlier today, Apple White viciously attacked Raven Queen by pushing her into the Neverland Mermaid’s lake when she decided not to sign the Book of Legends. With permission from her parents and the hospital, I’ll be setting up a continuous live stream of Raven’s recovery. I’ll keep everyone up to date on any updates about Raven’s health,” Blondie said before ending the live stream and walking into the room once more to hear Raven’s parents arguing on a mirror pad. When she got closer she saw that it was Apple’s mom, Snow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(⋟_⋞)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks.

It’s been two weeks.

Dexter could hardly believe it.

Two weeks and the doctors still don’t know how to wake Raven. The school has been abuzz with gossiping. Apple was exspelled from school and Daring told her he wanted nothing to do with her. People couldn’t believe Apple did that to sweet Raven.

They started calling her Evil White.

Evil White.

It fit her.

She changed.

Dexter could barely handle being in the same room as people talking about her. He stayed in Raven’s room primarily, accompanied by Daring or Darling, along with Maddie or Cerise. The others came by occasionally to give their well wishes.

But the most shocking thing?

Snow let Mira out of the mirror dimension.

Once Mira was out, she quickly took care of the book, making sure no one had to follow their destiny for their Happily Ever After. If they wanted it, they’d get it now. Except for Apple.

She wouldn’t get her Happily Ever After. No one wanted to be around her after what she did. After making sure she wouldn’t get her Happily Ever After, Mira willingly went back into the mirror dimension but made sure everyone knew that if she got out, she’ll be going after Apple.

Just thinking about it had Dexter sneering.

He shook his head free of all those thoughts and simply help Raven’s hand in both of his. Their combined hands rested against his chin as he looked at Raven sadly. He startled when Daring put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Want any water, Dex?” he asked and Dexter didn’t answer at first.

He shook his head after a bit but then hesitantly started nodding it. “Actually, some water sounds good,” he replied and Daring gave his shoulder a pat before leaving to get them both some water. Dexter just looked at Raven’s face briefly before looking at their hands. “I’m so sorry, Raven. You didn’t deserve this. You just wanted to be able to be yourself, to make your own choices. But Apple wouldn’t let you. I-I should have intervened. If I had, maybe-just maybe you wouldn’t be here. You’d be safe hanging with your best friends,” he said quietly and finally looked at Raven’s peaceful face once more. “You shouldn’t have to put anyone else’s happiness before your own,” he whispered so quietly that it was hard for he himself to hear. He then moved his hands closer to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to Raven’s fingers before setting her hand down onto her bed.

As he got up to head out, those beautiful purple eyes he adored opened. “D-dex?” Raven asked hoarsely and Dexter could only look shocked.

“Raven? You’re awake?” he asked softly shocked. Raven just looked shocked as she nodded slowly. They heard a clatter and turned to see Daring standing in the doorway shocked, two plastic cups on the ground with water all over.

“Doctor! Raven’s awake!” he yelled out and a doctor came running in with a nurse. It was safe to say that everyone was shocked to learn that Dexter’s kiss woke Raven up. Dexter was blushing when he explained what happened and held Raven’s hand. They shared a smile as the doctor did a check up and Daring sat down next to Dexter.

Ok so here it is!! I hope you enjoyed it!! And remember, the next two chaps are the same as this one just for different ships. Until next time!!!! -Love Willa<3<3<3

#fanfic #This Unusual Love #TUL #chap 1 #raven queen #dexter charming #apple white #blondie lockes #ever after high #eah #salt #apple salt #attacks #idk what else to tag

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roronoasanjii · 4 years

Text

I thought it was a shame to just leave this in a folder and never do anything with it so here’s an old Critical Role fic idea I came up with. It’s only written like notes but I still really like it.

Hope you enjoy!

Caleb is in the witness protection scheme. He killed his parents when he was younger (thirteen) and they sent him away and changed his name to protect him after he spent a couple of years in a mental health facility. He came out the other side of it feeling better than he did, but still majorly suffering from depression.

Caleb is an orphan, through his own doing, and none of his family wanted anything to do with him so he is now in foster care.

He has a deep British-German mix accent.

He attends the same high school as the gang, having being enrolled there when he left the mental health facility and came to live at the group home. He struggled to make friends out of fear of anyone knowing who he was, but he comes to be friends with a guy called Mollymauk in his classes who then further introduces him to the rest of the gang.

Caleb hasn't been fostered when we first meet him, he's still in a group home which he hates, and the gang notice this so they try as much as possible to keep Caleb away from there by inviting him out, or round to their houses.

At some point Caleb is fostered and the gang immediately notice that he seems different; he's barely said anything to any of them since they arrived at school. Molly is sent over to talk because they're not stupid; they know that Caleb seems to be at his calmest around Molly.

Caleb tells Molly what's happening and he offers reassurance, telling Caleb that at least this means he's going to get out of the group home

Caleb is fostered by a woman called Veth. At first glance, it's obvious that this woman is overly keen about the prospect of having a child, despite the fact that Caleb is anything but, now seventeen.

Caleb notices how out of touch with society Veth is, but not from her own doing. People look at her and judge heavily for reasons that he can't fathom, but it happens quite regularly.

He hears crying one night and tiptoes down the stairs to hear Veth talking in the kitchen quietly to herself. Caleb overhears her talking about a son and a husband, which he realises are the missing pieces in this house that should be there but aren't. It's also pretty clear that she's been on her own until she fostered Caleb.

Caleb isn't stupid. He sees the link between the clearly grieving broken mother who needs a replacement for the child she lost and him. Caleb believes there's nothing more to it which doesn't help him feel more at home, instead doing the exact opposite because he doesn't know who she wants him to be.

Veth tries her hardest and makes sure to try and allow Caleb to feel safe in the house, but he still struggles with the balance of it all and the sheer amount of changes in his life of late. Upon noticing this, Veth asks him if he's okay and manages to wriggle out of him the fact that he overheard her in the kitchen. She puts two and two together and correctly guesses that he thinks he's a replacement.

His accent slips, falling away in his fear.

"Luke was my child, and I love him... But you are not Luke."

Caleb feels like this is it, this is the moment when he gets sent back to the group home again, he's blown it already because he dared to even compare himself to Veth’s own flesh and blood son. Caleb kicks himself for being so stupid, but Veth isn't finished.

"I fostered you because you are a kind young man with a bright future ahead of him that just needed someone in his life who cared. You're not a replacement and you were never meant to be one. I don't want you to be Luke; I just want you to be Caleb."

Caleb nods and accepts a hug from Veth when she offers him one. She has noticed the change in accent.

"Is that German?"

"Yes." He clears his throat. "I'm uh, I'm German. My parents moved here when I was very young."

"So why where you doing that accent?"

"I think we're both a little scared of what people would say to us. I learnt quickly that children are unkind, the others at school would tease me and call me horrible names, and then my parents… passed away and I went into the system. No one wanted to foster some weird German kid, and I hated myself so I changed my accent trying to make myself a different person. I wanted to be anyone else but me, but I couldn't.”

Veth strokes a hand down his cheek and smiles.

"Like I said, I just want you to be Caleb. You can speak however you like here."

"It's just, strange, you know, after all this time."

"Well whatever you come to decide, it will sound lovely either way."

The two become closer after this.

Veth and Caleb do something together that he really ends up enjoying. Veth comments that it's the first time she's seen him smile, which only makes Caleb smile more, because it's true, he truly had a good time. But that only just makes Caleb head worse because now the thoughts come back about how he doesn't deserve to be happy because of what he did.

He starts to isolate himself which scares Veth, and he barely talks to her. She becomes more and more worried about him until she calls his social worker to ask for advice.

When Caleb returns home from school to see his social worker's car parked outside he immediately becomes panicked. Going inside confirms the sight of his social worker and that's when he immediately feels betrayed. He thought things were going well with Veth and he was seriously trying his hardest to make it all work but now she's abandoning him just like everyone else.

Caleb runs off, unaware of the actual reasoning behind the visit and Veth panics. Her and the social worker rush to try and find him, which Veth eventually does. He's covered in mud and soaked through when she comes across him, curled up under a tree and sobbing. She pulls him into a huge hug and she fusses about how he's silly for running away and how he could have gotten hurt, or pneumonia, or worse and Caleb feels so much guilt in that moment because he remembers their conversation about Luke.

Veth lost her husband and child in a way that left her feeling useless because how they died was out of her control. There's nothing she could have done to save them because she wasn't even there when it happened, she found out afterwards when they had already passed.

Caleb connects the dots to realise that a lot of Veth's responses to things he does probably stem from never wanting to lose someone ever again if she has a way of preventing it. So when he walks home in the dark, if anything happened to him she would always know that she could very easily have gone and picked him up if she'd known, or when he runs off without any warning that anything could happen to him and she wouldn't know before it was too late, exactly like Luke and her husband.

Veth tells him that there is nothing that would ever make her give him up. Ever. Caleb nods, feeling a little better, but ultimately knowing that if she knew the truth, she would get rid of him in a heartbeat. He makes a pact with himself to stop unintentionally giving Veth a heart attack by accepting her offers on things such as lifts because it clearly gives her peace of mind.

At one point the gang notice bandages or bracelets, or just a slip of Caleb’s sleeves that reveal scars on his arms. They immediately presume the worse and panic. They try talking to him about it which doesn't go well at all. Caleb leaves the school and walks all the way home in the rain in his big brown coat and scarf that Veth bought him - his most treasured possessions along with the books that she has gotten him too.

When Veth gets home she knows something is wrong and asks if Caleb wants to talk about it. Caleb declines but Veth sorta’ doubles down saying that she really needs to know because she's worried. In a moment of bravery, Caleb pulls up his sleeve to reveal the scars on his arm and rope marks on his wrist.

Caleb tells her that he didn't do this but then nicely asks her to not ask any more questions than that, which she reluctantly agrees. She then takes out her tablet and starts tapping away. When Caleb asks what she's doing, Veth is looking for ways in which he can cover them up because she can see how much they upset Caleb to look at. Caleb is overcome with a feeling of love due to how just genuinely lovely she is. He thinks he doesn't deserve her.

Veth tells Caleb, who's in his room feeling shitty, that she has a surprise for him. Caleb is curious as Veth pushes open the door a little more to reveal, a cat. Apparently Veth adopted her for Caleb, hoping she might help him when he's feeling down or upset.

Caleb falls head over fucking heels in love with this cat immediately, naming her Frumpkin for no particular reason other than he can. The two become practically inseparable.

On the anniversary of the murders there is a news report which plays on TV, Caleb is at somebody's house when it does and he just immediately panics because he hears everything and it makes him feel sick to the point where he sprints to the bathroom and pukes heavily and violently, breaking down in sobs. Molly comes to the bathroom to check on him and they talk, Caleb doesn't admit anything and Molly doesn't push him to, admitting that this can stay between them and the others don't have to know so they don't start questioning him.

Caleb goes home, stating not feeling well as his reason for leaving early. He walks back, which Veth once again tells him off for, pointing out that its black dark outside and anything could've happened to him. She rants at him in a mother-henning way for a couple of minutes before taking a breath and pulling him into a hug. That's when Caleb breaks down in apologies, begging Veth not to get rid of him.

Veth cements the fact that she will never do that, but states that she thinks it's time that he tells her what's really going on in that head of his. Caleb tells her that he can't, but as she progressively looks more and more hurt by feeling like a bad parent and shut out by him, Caleb eventually caves.

"My name was Bren Aldric Ermendrud."

Caleb tells her about how they put him in a mental health facility for a few years, and the older woman helped him. This woman asked Caleb what he was in for and in his absolute lowest state, tells her the truth of what happened, admitting that he was groomed to do it by a man named Trent Ikithon who lied to him about so many things. The woman, being the first and only person he has ever opened to about it, tells Caleb that he was only young when it happened, and that it wasn’t his fault. Yes he may have committed the act, but he wasn't in the right headspace, and was made to do it by an adult. This led to Caleb feeling a little better for the first time and her encouragement for him to accept therapy didn't fall on deaf ears with Caleb doing exactly that meaning that he ended up being discharged early.

Caleb tells Veth everything and feels sick once again after doing so, not able to look her in the eye. There is silence in the living room of the house for a painful amount of time before Veth just smushes him into an absolutely enormous hug and tells him firmly that the woman in the facility was right, it wasn't his fault, and that the true blame lies in the hands of Trent.

Veth puts two and two together with the scars, which Caleb admits is true, Trent did that to him. She asks him what he’d like to be called, and he states that he still wishes to be known as Caleb

After this, the two only become stronger, their bond growing as does their protectiveness of one-another.

Caleb and Molly's relationship grows too as they become strong friends, Molly looking out for him on days when he really needed a friend. All is going well until Caleb arrives at school one morning to a tense, horrible atmosphere.

There are a lot of tearful looking eyes and sad faces. Caleb, confused and worried finds the gang to ask what's going over. He notices Molly's older brother, Caduceus from the year above.

"What happened?"

Jester deflates as she sighs, wordlessly pulls him into a hug. As he pulls away, Caleb notices the ostentatious missing member of their group.

"Where's Molly?"

Caduceus scrubs a shaky hand down his chin, clearing his throat.

"He uh… he died. Last night."

Caleb's breath catches in his throat as his hand flies to his mouth, shaking his head as tears come to his eyes.

"No…"

Caduceus pulls him close and hugs him, getting emotional himself.

"Everything was normal and ordinary until it wasn't. Molly coughed up blood, Mom took him to the hospital… and an hour later he was dead... just like that." Caduceus takes a breath to compose himself, clearing his throat once again. "Our Aunt is planning a memorial service, you guys are all invited. You don't have to do speeches and all that if you don't want to but the choice is yours. You know Molly; he would've loved all this fuss. No doubt he would have applauded the pageantry of it all."

"Oh." Caleb opens his satchel and takes out the large notebook Veth bought him. From the mess of papers and coursework handouts in the back he flicks through them until he arrives at a purple coloured sheet. "Here."

Caduceus takes the piece of paper, unfolding it.

"It's Molly's favourite poem, he uh, he wrote it out for me in English class because he said I was uncultured for having never experienced Yeats."

"Thanks, this is perfect for the memorial. Are you sure you don't want to keep this?"

"If you want it you can have it. If not, you can give it back to me at the end of the service, I don't mind which."

Caleb is unsurprisingly quiet after Molly's death. Veth looks after him, so does Frumpkin, the ginger tabby having become accustomed to lying across Caleb's shoulders, tail hanging down over his chest.

As if she knew of his sadness, Frumpkin made sure to stay close, never leaving Caleb's sight when she felt he might need her.

The gang all attend the memorial. It is held in the local park Molly loved. A thin layer of snow had fallen that morning providing a beautiful backdrop. Beside the purple flower beds, a large tree branch had been stabbed into the ground, Molly's eccentric coat draped over it, blowing gently in the wind.

Caleb doesn't make a speech and he feels like a traitor for not being able to man enough to do it, but he feels a hand reach close and take hold of his own with a gentle squeeze. Beau. She had been a godsend in the past week or so since Molly's death.

Despite the fact that they famously didn't really seem to ever get on at high school, Beau had gone above and beyond to make sure he was okay, offering him someone to talk to, and being there for him when he just needed to let it all out.

After the memorial, Caleb struggles with both the finality of saying goodbye to Molly and the sight of the flames from the barbecue set up to serve food, the scent causing him to gag a little as he walks off through the park to the tree Molly used to read beside. Caduceus follows him over.

"You doing okay, Mr. Caleb?"

"Why do you call me that?"

"I don't know. You've always been quite an enigma so it seemed fitting, plus, I know irritates you so there's that too." Caduceus answered with a smirk before offering a soft smile. "Molly wouldn't want you to be crying. Try and think about all the good times rather than the bad, that's how he'd want you to remember him."

"I know it is, it's just…"

"It's hard I know, but you're not alone in this, you have people who care about you, myself included. Don't think that you can't talk."

"Thanks, Cad."

He nods, clapping Caleb on the shoulder.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Caduceus reaches into his pocket and hands the contents to Caleb.

"What's this?"

"A letter from Molly and his tarot cards, he wanted you to have them. He was always talking about you being a little lost, maybe they just might help. I don't know... Molly was into this bullshit more than I was.” Caduceus smirks before walking back over to the other guests.

Caleb takes a breath before opening the small folded piece of paper clearly from a hospital notepad. Clearing his throat he begins to read.

'Hey Cay,

I'm stuck in here puking my guts up and something tells me that it's not looking good for me. Fucking cards.

I haven't got much paper so be prepared for tiny handwriting, I'm sure you'll manage.

Anyway, the first thing I wanna say is, you're cute, and if I wasn't slowly internally bleeding to death then there's no doubt I wouldn't have tried wooing you eventually.

Second, stop being so afraid of everything and live your fucking life dude. It's feeling more and more like you're gonna' have to live it for the both of us so get out there and do shit. Kiss a girl, kiss a boy, tell Veth how much she means to you, get yourself adopted, accept more invites from the gang, get some therapy for that old noggin of yours, I don't know, just promise me you'll not block everyone out. That's what worries me most about potentially dying, you not going to the others for help because I'm not there anymore to come to you. Please, don't be alone.

I hope someday we'll meet each other again.

Take care of my brother for me.

Love,

Molly x'

Emotionally wrecked after the memorial and reading Molly's letter, Caleb actually calls Veth to get a lift home for once rather than just walking. Weirdly though, he doesn't get an answer, the phone just ringing and ringing. Finding that strange, Caleb grabs a ride from Fjord and Jester.

When he walks in, the light is on in the kitchen and Veth is sitting at the table holding a bag of peas to her face, one arm huddled proactively to her chest.

Caleb enters to see her covered in bruises, anger flaring immediately.

"Who did this?" He asks low and furious.

"Caleb, I'm fine."

"You're not fine, you're hurt. Someone did this to you and you need to tell me who that person is."

“It's just a bump."

“It's more than a bump! People treat you like you're below them and I hate it. They stare, they judge, they whisper shit, it's vile! You shouldn't have to deal with that.”

“That's my concern, not yours.”

“Why are you so calm about this, someone nearly broke your fucking arm. Get mad about this, get angry.”

“And what would that achieve?”

“I don't know, more than just sitting around waiting for the next person to hurt you.” He shouts before scrubbing a hand down his face, keeping his hand over his mouth as he shakes. “I didn't mean that. I'm sorry, I shouted and I didn't mean to… I'm sorry, I'm sorry.” His weak tone whimpers as he drops down to one of the seats around the table and cries.

“Caleb, it's okay.”

“It's not okay. Nothing is okay, everything's just shit and it makes me so angry sometimes, and it scares me. I don't want to be that person.”

Veth stands up from the table and walks round to Caleb, wrapping her good arm around him in a hug, gently resting her chin on the top of his head.

“What you are, is a sweet boy who cares about everyone and never wants to see anyone he loves hurt. That is a blessing not a curse. You have a big heart, Caleb, and that's a beautiful thing.”

After this point, Caleb stands up for Veth a lot more in situations where people are being awful towards her.

When one of Veth's brothers, Morrell visits, he patronisingly talks about how it's good that she now has Caleb to look after her.

"You know, Nottie, if you feel safer having Caleb protecting you, maybe you could start doing more, rather than just alternating between work and being in the house all day."

"I think there's a bit of misconception here. Caleb and I have a very special relationship. It is that of a parent and a child, regardless of the fact that he isn't technically mine. But I am the parent in this situation. It's my job to protect him. He's my boy, and I keep him safe. I want him to thrive, and get better at school, and grow into the wonderful young man I know he's going to be, because he can achieve great things.’ She takes a breath. ‘When I fostered him he was a scared little boy who was afraid to speak up out of fear of being hurt, and tried to act invisible in case one wrong move landed him back at the group home. As we have gotten more comfortable, he has gotten more comfortable and come out of his shell. It's my job to protect him, because I love him, and I am his parent. It is not his job to protect me."

Morrell nods.

"I'll admit; I had the wrong idea about the two of you. Caleb sounds like a good kid."

"He is." Veth nods. "He's going to be a great man someday."

"He will."

"Does he know that you think of him as a son?"

Veth shakes her head.

"Maybe you should let him know, it might make him feel a little better, especially after everything that's happened recently, he needs you more than ever."

"I'll talk to him."

Before she has the chance to do so, Caleb’s world gets shattered once again.

Caleb is looking around the house for Frumpkin. Unable to find him he goes outside to hear a pained meow from just beyond the driveway. There lies Frumpkin, who has clearly been hit by a car that hasn’t even stopped to check to see if she was okay.

Caleb panics at this point, bundling Frumpkin into his arms and grabbing his phone. He knows Veth is at work so he calls Fjord and Jester instead begging for their help. Jester stays on the phone with him to try and reassure him and keep him calm while the two of them drive over, pick Caleb up, and take him to the vets where they try and save her.

Long story short, the vets won’t operate on Frumpkin unless they are paid upfront for the medical costs, its company policy no matter how much they want to help the cat. The amount of money they would need is beyond substantial, and it’s money that a fucking orphaned foster kid like Caleb just doesn’t have, and he knows Veth doesn’t have it either so he refuses to ask, knowing that she’s already done too much for him anyway by just having to deal with his shit in the first place.

While Caleb is being comforted by Jester, Fjord discreetly calls Veth from Caleb’s phone (which he got Jester to sneakily swipe), and tells her what is happening. She rushes down to the vets to find Caleb in the back room of the vets sitting on top of the doctor’s table with Frumpkin curled up on his lap, hugging her gently.

Hating to see her boy so broken, she goes back to the vets in the lobby and begs them to accept a smaller down payment, even saying they can charge interest on the other payments too if they have to. The head vet, who seems to be the owner agrees and Veth partially pays.

A confused Caleb is practically dragged kicking and screaming from the backroom, desperate to be with Frumpkin, and Veth manages to get him calmed down, telling him that they’re going to try and save Frumpkin.

"What? But… how?"

"I paid them."

Caleb looks torn.

"No, you shouldn’t… you shouldn’t have done that, you don’t have the money and I can’t ask you to do that for me. It’s just a cat, I can get another one."

But Veth knows that’s not true. Caleb is too infatuated with that cat to ever think that way, he’s just trying to not take up space, something he has a history of being very good at.

"Frumpkin is your friend, and there is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep her with us. Fuck the money, I can think of no better use for it then saving family."

Caleb looks stunned in that moment, wide eyed and astonished as he wordlessly wraps his arms tight around Veth.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

The vets manage to save Frumpkin and if he wasn’t already, Caleb becomes even more protective of her, making sure she’s okay after all her surgeries. When they’re allowed to take her home, Caleb is soft and kind with her, not letting her out of his sight.

On a lovely sunny day, Caleb decides that Frumpkin needs some fresh air. With the stitches gone and her feeling a lot better, they take a walk together slowly round the neighbourhood. Veth wasn't home when they left but there was a note from her on the counter saying that she would be back soon.

As they walk past the church, Caleb notices Veth knelt down beside a small grave in the graveyard with a book open on her lap. He debates on whether to just keep walking and let her have her privacy, but ultimately decides that she might someone with her.

As he approaches, Veth notices the two of them and smiles.

The grave is marked:

‘In loving memory of Luke Brenatto’

Caleb notices the lack of her husband's name.

"If it's none of my business just tell me to shut up, but why isn't your husband’s name on here too?"

Veth looks a little confused at first before she understands why Caleb would think the way he does.

"When Luke and Yeza were involved in that accident, neither were expected to live. It took a long time for the paramedics to arrive and even longer to get them out. Luke… he didn't make it, but they managed to get Yeza stabilised. The man I spoke to in that hospital wasn't my husband. He was cold as if a part of him had died with Luke, and it probably had. Yeza packed up and left after Luke's funeral and I've never heard from him since."

"That's awful."

"People deal with loss in different ways. Some grieve a little, some grieve a lot, and some just never get over it at all. Yeza was one of those people." Veth turns to look at the gravesite which has fresh flowers beside it as well as a weathered toy bear and various tealights in brightly coloured holders. "Every so often I come out here and I read to him. I know that probably sounds weird but it helps."

Caleb shakes his head.

"No, it doesn't sound weird at all, I'm sure Luke loves it, wherever he is."

The social worker visits go well every time until the all-important one approaches, the meeting about what Caleb is going to do once he turns eighteen and becomes a ward of the state, free to leave the system and live on his own independently.

Caleb truthfully admits that he doesn't know what he's going to do, and that he hasn't put much thought into it. This is when Veth offers him another option. She wants to adopt him.

Caleb doesn't know how to react and looks terrified, mostly out of fear of her changing her mind, which leads to Veth once again reiterating the point that she loves him as her own and would never ever give him up. Caleb is her son through and through, and that she wants to make it official.

Caleb accepts and the paperwork is completed for the adoption to become official.

#critical role #caleb widogast #nott the brave #mollymauk tealeaf #caduceus clay

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alottanothing · 4 years

Text

Left to Ruin Chapter Six

Summary: Kahmurnah makes a decision that affects more than just his brother’s happiness. Nouke struggles with the life she finds forced upon she and her family.

Previous Chapters

Word Count: 5209

Warnings: none

Tag List: @xmxisxforxmaybe, @r-ahh-mi, @theultraviolencefan, @hah0106, @rami-malek-trash, @diasimar, @sherlollydramoine, @flipper-kisses, @ivy-miranda-2390, @txmel, @sunkissedmikky, @concentratedsassandcandy, @babyalienfairy, @edteche2 (Let me know if I missed you, or if you would like to be added to the tag list)

A/N: This one sorta jumps backward a bit—stora a “meanwhile at the palace” while Ahk and Meren are venturing. Hopefully that’s not confusing. Also, thank you once again for the love you’ve been showing this story! It’s such a great feeling knowing others are enjoying something I’ve poured so much into. I wanna give you all hugs! 🤗🤗 Once again as a disclaimer, I am not an ancient Egyptian expert and google only knows so much. So yeah, I took so historical liberties while writing this to make my life easier, but tried to keep it as “authentic” as possible. Keep in mind that Nouke and Ahk are the same age, so at the beginning of this she’s 13 years old.

The first few days after the prince left were the hardest. Nouke was angry; angry she'd convinced Ahk not to ask his father whether or not she could accompany him. The likeliness of the pharaoh allowing a servant girl to join the princes' adventure was slim, but she’d snuffed out the flame of hope before it could even spark. Which meant it was her fault she missed him so bad.

After two weeks, the days began to feel less empty. The atmosphere of the capital was calm; no sense of impending doom lingered without the wise ruler Merenkahre there to guide them. The queen was keeping Kahmunrah in check; or at least that was the word around the palace according to the servants. With Akhmenrah away, Nouke’s gossip all came from the women she worked with. They loved to talk, and Nouke found their stories both intriguing and ridiculous but listening to the drama helped the hours go by faster.

Her day to day routine was the same as it had been since she’d begun her life of servitude; the only change was the amount of work she took on. Nouke encumbered herself with more work than a girl of thirteen was expected to do, she liked the distraction and how often her work bled into the evenings. Evenings were the hardest to endure with her friend away; the garden just wasn’t the same without his warmth.

Her world no longer held the same spark with Ahk away, but Nouke was glad for the routine she found with her responsibilities. Life was dull, but pleasant; at least for a time.

The sun was still high in the sky the day two brutish men ambushed her while she was hanging linens to dry. Instinctively, Nouke kicked and shouted, trying to squirm her way out of their strong grasp; her heart pounded against the walls of her chest, startled. They were not usual palace guards who had seized her, she could tell by the armor they wore. The pieces they wore were shoddy and not the golden regalia of palace guards. The men who carried her were dressed like mercenaries: Kahmunrah’s hired compatriots.

Nouke knew very little about Ahk’s older brother. He had a reputation among most of the servants as being needlessly cruel, and from how Ahkmenrah spoke of him, she knew that the eldest prince wanted nothing to do with any of his siblings. Her friend had spoken many times about wishing Kah would act like a brother to him—share a kinship. Nouke never understood why anyone would want such a man to be their sibling.

“What have I done?” Nouke spit out, a little more harshly than she intended. “Where are you taking me?”

Her captors met her with a stone-faced silence that caused a trickle of fear to seep into her. In a flash, her mind searched through all the chores she had tended to, desperately trying to recall one she may have missed or done wrong—Am I being punished?

Without Ahk to keep her up to date on royal happenings, Nouke knew only that the pharaoh had left his eldest son in command, with the queen watching over his every move. But the queen was away too, hosting a week-long festival for the goddess Isis near the temple at the opposite end of the city; a fact Nouke was privy to only because of her mother’s closeness with the queen.

With Shepseheret away, the only person left to bark commands was Kahmunrah. Nouke had purposely avoided the displeasure of his company, but the gnawing in her stomach told her that was about to change.

Gaining no answer from the men who drug her through the halls like a woven sack of perishables, Nouke’s fight faded, knowing her best option was submission; she had no other choice but to keep her mouth shut and obey. Even so, she kept her resolve steady; her emotional strength was the one thing she could flaunt. It gave her a way to fight back without physicality: a way to show whoever had summoned her that she would not easily be broken.

Nouke’s captors brought her through the towering doors of the throne room and stopped several paces back from where Kahmunrah sat radiating a suffocating air of lordliness. The eldest son of the pharaoh Merenkahre had adorned himself with surplus raiment; jewels sparkled off of his wide collar, bracers, belt, and rings. He was wrapped in a golden cape, decorated with the fur of a mighty beast as though to further sell the lie. Kah wore everything except the one thing that truly made him the ruler he thought himself to be—the crown.

Nouke decided quickly that there wasn’t even the smallest fraction of the man before her that reminded her of his younger brother. Everything she needed to know about Kahmunrah was there in his cold eyes and smug expression. She couldn’t help but frown at him, her eyes narrowing skeptically—how could the man before her hold any relation to her sweet prince?

Surrounding the wannabe king was a group of men who’s attire was significantly less lavish, but they collectively held a mein of power that was blatantly domineering. Their eyes weren’t as cold as Kahmunrah’s, but they looked down upon her as though the very sight of someone of her class was detestable. As for Kah, he had hardly glanced her way. He’d given her an inferior side-eye with an added sneer and nothing more. He found her presence irritating, but Nouke couldn’t help but feel the same way about him.

Just as Nouke began weighing the likelihood of making a churlish remark without reprimand, the throne room doors swung open again as two more sets of Kahmunrah’s men entered. One pair had a hold of her father, who like she had been, was kicking and trying to wrangle free. The other two had her mother, and the fear she found on her mother’s face was enough to strike a crack in her resolve.

“I am a soldier in the pharaoh's army! I demand to know what is the meaning of all of this!” her father, Ramentukah said through bared teeth, addressing the false king.

Kahmunrah remained pompously relaxed on his throne, looking down on them as though they were insects he wanted nothing more than to crush beneath his feet. He said nothing for a long while, purposely letting Ramentukah’s question hang in the air between them as a reminder they were in no place to make demands of a member of the royal house.

His cold eyes leered as the smug simper faded into a firm line, morphing into a look of disgust. Finally, he stood, and when he spoke, his tone was condemning and dark.

“It has come to my attention, that my brother’s prized tablet has gone missing from its temple. It is also my understanding that you—” Kahmunrah shifted his gaze to Nouke’s father. “Ramentukah, were the last soldier to stand guard at the temple doors.”

Nouke’s mouth popped open, and her narrowed eyed glare zeroed in on the eldest prince, shocked that her loyal father would even be accused of such a crime. The pharaoh Merenkahre and the Queen had always treated her family kindly. It was even the pharaoh who had given her father the opportunity to better himself by becoming a soldier instead of living his life as a farmer. Nouke knew without a doubt her father would never do anything to sully what he had achieved—especially by stealing the princes’ tablet.

Nouke’s mother even gave Kah a look of disbelief, shaking her head, not giving in to the accusation.

Nevertheless, Ramentukah bowed respectfully. “Your Grace, I assure you I, nor my family have no involvement with this crime.”

Kah’s sneer grew more repulsed, taking her father’s denial as a challenge.

“I owe all that I have become to the pharaoh—your father. Why would I do anything to slight he or his kin? I have been a loyal, obedient soldier for many years. My wife and daughter, loyal, hard-working servants—friends to her majesty the queen and the prince. Why would I partake in a crime that would jeopardize those relationships?" Ramentukah kept his head bowed as he spoke, to show that he meant no offense, but his tone was steady and full of conviction.

Despite all the words of logic and her father's obvious obedience, Nouke could see from the look of his callous features, that the eldest prince was still unconvinced.

“Why indeed?” he quipped with a shrug. “Yet, to me, your story seems highly suspect.”

Kahmunrah paused to think, rubbing the point of his chin until a flash of wickedness gleamed in his dark eyes.

“A crime of this caliber surely had accomplices…” his serpentine eyes moved to Maketaten and Nouke.

Suddenly, a knot twisted into Nouke’s stomach, and her throat grew tight as her heart pounded loud enough and quick enough she was certain everyone in the throne room could hear it. The anticipation and the speculation were causing her breaths to fall short as she watched Ahkmenrah’s evil brother work in his mind how best to destroy them.

“Involvement with a thief demands a punishment equal to the severity of the culprit,” Kah grinned fiendishly. “Execution—all three of you.”

Nouke stared blankly, vision tunneling, emotions rearing to an eerie calm despite the dreadful sentence; she was frozen. Her mother, however, broke into loud sobs and quiet pleas while her father tried to reason.

“Your majesty, it was me that stood guard. If someone must be punished, let it be me. I beg of you—mercy for my family. Let Anubis judge only my soul.”

Tears were fighting to spill from Nouke’s eyes as she listened to her father plead; his willingness to die to spare them enough to make her stomach churn sickly in her gut. She wanted to scream, to fight—to fling her fists at Kahmunrah’s smug face. But doing so would surely make things worse, so she stayed quiet, drowning, and frozen in her emotion.

Kahmunrah stood, savoring every moment as her father and mother continued to beg for their lives and the life of their daughter. She could see the glint of honest joy reflect in his eyes as her parents groveled at his feet. Nouke hated him.

Just before guards could be called to take them away, the men standing behind the false king spoke up, looking displeased.

“Enough, Kahmunrah!” an older man spoke robustly. “You’ve had your fun—you know only the queen holds the power to sanction such punishment while the Pharaoh is away.”

The frown that took hold of Kah’s lips was significant enough to shake the earth; he turned to the man who had spoken and Nouke could hear the irritation his face held.

“The queen. Is not. Here.”

“And need we remind you. You are the discarded prince of the pharaoh; you hold no more power than we,” the same man said sternly. “Our pharaoh gave you command out of pity, not thanks, I assure you.”

All at once, the throne room was hotter than the desert sun as Kahmunrah’s anger boiled over. He shouted and argued, cursing the men who advised him, filling the nearly empty hall with malevolent words that were as sharp as knives.

While he screamed, Nouke wanted nothing more than to run to her mother and father, but each of them were still restrained. A single tear slid down her cheek, breaching her composure, finding that it was not for herself, or her parents but for Ahkmenrah. What would he think when he returned and learned of her family’s persecution? Would he believe the rumor? Would he be glad Kah had sentenced them to death on account? Nouke shook her head—her friend would never be so cruel. He would be brokenhearted by the whole situation and the thought of his warmth being consumed with sadness almost sent another tear down her cheek.

Ahkmenrah would know neither she nor her family was involved in such lunacy; the only anger he may hold would be on account of his brother destroying innocent lives.

An entire lifetime could have passed before Kahmunrah relented his arguing. The irritation heavily creased onto his brow lent a glimmer of hope. Had he turned to address them with delight and malice in his eyes, Nouke knew they would be killed for sure. That annoyance lingered—lips pursed tight as he toppled back into his throne, eyeing them.

“My advisors feel that the lack of evidence dictates a different form of punishment.” He said boredly. “The first involves the three of you being locked away in a cell, where you will await trial until the tablet is found, and evidence to your involvement may be denied. If you are innocent, you may return to your duties as usual. If found guilty—execution.”

“And the second?” Ramentukah asked, voice steady.

“Banishment—effective immediately," Kah stated, just as boredly. “You will be removed from the palace grounds ensuring you will escape execution, but you will be stripped of titles and privileges you currently hold.”

Ramentukah glanced to his wife and daughter looking beaten and betrayed. He had always been proud of the ranks he’d earned and the placement he’d gained for his family; a life in the palace—even as servants—was better than a life on the streets.

“Make your decision, soldier, or it will be made for you!” Kah shouted, growing impatient.

Ramentukah glanced toward his wife and daughter, sighing out of relief, or defeat, Nouke couldn’t tell.

“Banishment, my lord. Give us banishment so that I may see my daughter grow, and so I may continue to love my wife with all my heart.”

The sentiment was lost on Kahmunrah, and his annoyance grew having been denied the prospect of executing them in the future.

“So be it,” he sneered. “And I will warn you. If any of you are discovered on palace soil again, I will personally see to it that you are given a swift execution.

With an errant wave, he instructed his men, “Remove them.”

Just as quickly as before, the men holding her by the arms pulled her through the corridors of the palace. They were given only moments to collect their things from their rudimentary quarters before being hastily escorted through the palace with weapons held behind their backs.

Nouke’s tears began to fall in earnest, in quiet streams unable to hold them at bay any longer. Her nerves were frayed—emotions a chaotic jumble in her head. Some of those tears spilled in relief: relief that she and her parents would live to see another day. And some fell as the realization she would never see her sweet prince again finally settled.

Her heart felt like a stone in her chest with that thought, and she wondered if he would miss her as much as she would miss him.

***

Nouke had never seen the capital of Waset first hand until the day her family was cast out of the palace. Most of her life was sheltered behind sturdy walls, venturing beyond them only when she and the prince would make use of their secret passageway in the West Garden. Even then, they had never dared to stray too far, at most seeing the city from a distance.

The city streets were loud and dirty and teeming with people from all walks of life. For a moment, it sparked her sense of adventure seeing sights she had only ever heard about from the merchants who came to sell their goods to the palace. Still, Nouke never strayed too far from her parents as they fell in line with the flow of foot traffic. It seemed like they walked for hours, and her feet hurt when they finally took refuge in an inn close to the city's center.

That first night, and every night thereafter for several months she and her family stayed within the musty walls of that inn. Much of her time was spent alone in their single room while her mother and father took odd jobs to save money to purchase land with the hope to one-day farm.

Those days were the hardest. The small space was drab and dark compared to the bright, beautiful halls Nouke was used to—they seemed to mirror the sorrow she felt. Most of all she missed her friend.

Before long, Nouke said farewell to the drab walls of the inn, and home became a plot of land on the far end of the city. The high walls, golden statues, and towering columns she was used to became a structure of modest means; a dwelling constructed of mud and bricks with enough land to plant on.

Ramentukah wasted no time in teaching Nouke and his wife how to best till the soil, calling upon teachings he’d learned in his youth. The work was hard, grueling in the desert heat, but Nouke caught on quickly. When harvest time came, her father showed them how best to bushel and bundle their crop to sell at the market, and after two bountiful harvests, their farm grew even more.

Her father hired hands to help them and even bought livestock to ensure more lucrative income. Nouke was glad for the routine of it all: the early mornings, long hours in the field, trips to the market, then early to bed for it all to begin once more come the dawn. It left her with little time to dwell on things she’d been forced to leave behind—especially the prince she would never see again.

But she did see the prince again; two times from afar and each time more heartbreaking than the last.

The first time she saw him, Nouke had been in the market square with her father, trying to sell bushels of produce from their latest harvest out of the back of a cart. Usually, she enjoyed the clamor and the fresh faces she saw in the busy streets of Waset. They were colorful people she liked to imagine were adventurers with significant means and a head full of stories to tell her, even though most were simple common farmers like she and her father; simple people trying to make enough coin to keep food on the table. Still, the game helped the hours pass while she sat with her father, munching on the pieces of their harvest that were less likely to sell.

That morning, however, Nouke awoke with a peculiar melancholy lingering in the pit of her stomach. It was a feeling that dulled the world around her; a sadness she couldn’t quite place and all she wanted to do was stay on the farm where her usual chores offered enough distraction to steal away the poignant ache. Not even her game of making up grand tales for all the merchants could deter what she felt. Her mind instead wandered, and without really meaning to, she counted the month’s her family had been living in exile. A frown weighed on her lips, inducing more ruefulness to stir in her gut, realizing it was easier to count the years.

Two years as a commoner were not so terrible. There was a sort of freedom in their banishment but also uncertainty too. Those who worked in the palace were promised shelter and at least one meal in exchange for servitude. Nothing was promised as a farmer except longer working hours in the desert sun.

Two years.

Two years of a lifetime under that sun and dirt under her fingernails. Two years of a lifetime praying the gods gave them bountiful crop. Two years of a lifetime away from her friend.

Nouke's frown plunged deeper, and a sigh escaped her lips. She missed her kind prince.

Just as she turned to beg her father to go back to the farm, craving the meticulous distraction that awaited her, a commotion stopped her words before they could fall past her downturned lips, drawing her attention elsewhere.

The market was always a symphony of indistinct chatter as the merchants swindled customers: chickens clucking in their cages and children screaming as they ran wildly about. All of it had become a familiar thrum Nouke was used to. The crash of drums split that normal wiring with an echoing beat Nouke easily plucked from the typical chaos. In rhythm with the drumming fell a softer sound of marching, growing louder moment by moment as the source approached.

Curiosity swelled in her stomach, devouring the melancholy ache that had plagued her all morning, and she stood on the edge of the cart, eyes darting around in search of the exciting new sound. Drums and the accompaniment of marching could only mean one thing, a parade, a royal parade.

The last time such sounds resonated throughout the city center were the day the pharaoh and the prince returned after years away. Nouke missed that one, stuck at home working in the fields with her father and the boys they employed to help. Another parade so soon could only mean one thing; her friend now wore the crown.

She wasn’t going to let herself miss another chance to see Ahk. Nouke jumped from her father’s cart and pushed her way through the gathering crowd until she found a stoop that gave her an unhindered view of the approaching procession. Her heart was beating out a rhythm much too quick to keep in time with the methodical pulse of the drums ringing in the air; hope began to surge through her, that in her mind she knew would only make that ruefulness she felt earlier return worse than ever.

When she finally saw him, her fervent heart almost stopped completely; he was ethereal from a distance.

Ahkmenrah rode proudly in his golden chariot pulled by white stallions. His gilded raiment shimmered in the sun’s light, glittering jewels on his wesekh and belt, with a crown on his head. Her prince had become a Pharaoh—one step further from her reach. Even so, Nouke couldn’t keep from calling out to him; she wanted to let him know that, despite all that had befallen her; she was okay. She wanted to tell him how proud she was of him and that no matter the paths they tread she would always be his friend. However, amidst all the commotion, Ahk never so much as glanced in her direction.

The smile slowly faded as Nouke watched him come and go, feeling a heaviness in her heart that she’d not endured since the day she and her family were banished from the palace.

***

After four years of plowing, harvesting, and haggling at the market, Nouke’s life had never felt more normal. The youth she’d spent in the palace seemed more akin to a dream the longer time went on. She would always cherish those memories with the entirety of her heart, even if they did often make her heart feel heavy. Her time to play in the palace gardens had ended, but she never wanted to forget her friend.

The closest thing she had to that mystical garden of her childhood was the Waset city square. It was open and teeming with life, both greenery, and people. She would sit under the shade of the manicured palms or on the edge of the large fountain, reveling in the life she held. A part of her was glad for the exile wrongly given to her family. Her entire world would have been cooped up in high palace walls forever serving and never seeing.

Nouke thought seldom of her past life whenever she could spend a day at the city's center. However, when she ventured to the roof of their modest farmhouse, Nouke always let her mind wander while her eyes looked to the horizon, seeing the palace sparkling in the distance. Especially then thoughts of her youth began to tug relentlessly on her heartstrings. She’d spent countless evenings among the nest of makeshift cushions and mats she’d acquired over the years with tears in her eyes as she looked to the ever-present reminder of the friend she was forced to leave behind.

***

It had been the talk of everyone for over a week in the capital; the pharaoh would soon take a bride. The excitement was tangible from the market square all the way to the docks along the Nile, especially when the nobles began to arrive to join in on the festivities at the palace.

That week was long for Nouke. Every merchant and customer seemed more animated with the prospect of citywide celebration, but Nouke could not bring herself to share the collective elation. Nevertheless, she put on a smile anytime someone came to her and her father’s cart to make a sale speaking of the upcoming union, then her face would fall back into its perpetual frown.

Her heart ached more than she cared to admit, and though she knew it wasn’t her place to harbor such unfathomable anguish about her sweet prince marrying another; the idea ate at her every moment. Never so much as the moment, she saw him again.

Sleep never came to her the night before the pharaoh was to take his queen; she spent every hour tossing and turning, envying her soundly sleeping parents on the opposite side of the room. Nouke felt like grieving, but she was too stubborn to let herself shed any more tears over a life she knew could never be hers. Sadness, however, was almost worse without the release of tears.

Before the sun breached the horizon, Nouke ventured up to her nest atop their home, resting against a stack of sacks and the quarter wall that lined the roof. She looked to the stars in the sky, watching them fade as the sun’s light consumed them. It took her most of the early morning to work up the nerve to let her sight find the palace on the horizon, knowing what torment it would bring her already laden heart. For a moment, she thought maybe her time in those far-off walls was only a dream: her golden childhood a glittering illusion her spirited mind cooked up. Nouke hoped it wasn’t merely a dream—she didn’t want Ahk to be only a dream.

Nouke lingered on her rooftop hideaway much of the morning, too disheartened to worry about the chores she was ignoring. She spent those hours mulling over the want to gather in the city square with the hope to catch a glimpse of the pharaoh and his queen. She wasn’t sure her heart could take that. Yet, the notion of seeing Ahk again was too intriguing to let pass by.

Nouke, against her better judgment, left for the city center just as the sun reached the middle of the sky, hoping she hadn’t missed the parade. Much of her walk she spent promising herself not to shout his name to stir the hope that he would see her; she would watch along with everyone else with no thought of ever becoming more than she was.

The crowd was already beginning to gather when Nouke reached the largest part of the city's center, finding every face alight with smiles; joy her heart was too heavy to properly hold. Quickly, she perched herself on the wide edge of the fountain, standing, before anyone else had thought to do so. Others joined her on the platform, pushing and shoving until she stood shoulder to shoulder with strangers. Nouke envied them all of their ignorance; they were there to see their king and marvel—she was there to catch a final glimpse of the life she had lost.

Before long, drums filled the air with a familiar rhythm, and with each nearing beat, the communal exuberance stirred. Nouke’s heart began to beat faster, nervous knots growing in her stomach. The louder the drums became, the more Nouke questioned why she had talked herself into enduring such heartache. Still hope swelled in her breast and she yearned to shove through the sea of people, stopping before her pharaoh’s golden chariot to beg he take her back to the palace.

Nouke wanted to feel the warmth of his kindness one more time, even if all she would ever be to him was a servant. However, she knew her place was to do and say nothing to him; he was the ruler of an empire, and she was the daughter of a suspected thief. Their paths were destined to remain forever divided.

Cheering and clapping pulled Nouke out of her rueful thoughts when the parade was upon them. The pharaoh Ahkmenrah and his Queen Setshepsut rode by slowly, hand in hand with smiles on their faces. Nouke couldn’t help but offer a soft smile seeing Ahk’s little sister Set, grown into a beautiful young woman. The prince had always been protective of his youngest sister; how perfect it was that she became his queen. He could be happy with her, and that gave Nouke a sliver of solace.

As they passed, Nouke uttered no words or shed no tears despite the emotions writhing inside of her. It was crushing to realize she would never again know him, but she tightened her jaw with stubborn disapproval of her own feelings. There was no sense in them.

“He’s so handsome,” the stranger next to her thought aloud.

Nouke nodded.

“Yes,” the stranger's friend rebuked unenthusiastically. “But I bet he’s nasty. The handsome ones always are.”

“No,” Nouke said before she could stop herself. “You’re wrong. He’s the kindest person I’ve ever met.”

The two women cast her a skeptical glance, “And how is it, you know that?”

“My family used to work in the palace,” she confessed without missing a beat, eyes still locked on the king and queen as they rode further away. “He and I grew up together. He was my friend…”

Nouke’s voice trailed off as memories she cherished rushed to fill her mind. It wasn’t until Ahk and his queen were swallowed by the sea of people that she finally blinked back to reality. Both strangers were staring at her as though she’d spoken utter nonsense, and Nouke wondered what had possessed her to come to Ahk’s defense; though she was glad she had nonetheless.

With a sigh, Nouke left the throng of people before the sound of the drums faded completely. The image of Ahkmenrah and his queen was cumbersome in her mind as she strode through the empty streets. She knew her heart would never truly forget him, but if she could push as many of those memories out of her mind, maybe life would be easier—less painful. If she willed herself to lock him away, to forget everything about her friend that made her feel whole, then perhaps she could find peace.

And for a while, she did.

Next Chapter-> Chapter Seven: What We Lost

#Ahkmenrah #Ahkmenrah x Original Character #Ahkmenrah Fanfiction #NATM #NATM Fanfiction #Left to Ruin #Rami Malek Character #Rami Malek Character Fanfiction #Rami Malek Fanfiction #Rami Malek

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bananxjin · 4 years

Text

Trophy Wife || 2

↦ Coworker!Seokjin x Reader

↦ WC: 8,282

↦ Drama || Angst || Fluff || Slow Burn

↦ Trigger Warnings: Light depictions of smut, drinking

↦ Summary: You thought you knew what you wanted -- You were sure you knew what you wanted. You thought the be-all and end-all was a loving, domestic marriage with your fiance, Touru Kim; the love of your life, the future father of your children, and the man of your dreams, but things happen. Events begin to unfold, and the relationship falls apart. You see the true colors of your husband-to-be, and you realize that maybe he’s not what you built him up to be. With everything laid out in front of you, you knew the be-all and end-all was a loving, domestic marriage.

Just not with Touru.

✨ Masterlist ✨

It became easy to separate your work life from your personal life. You were starting to build some solid relationships with your coworkers. Seulgi and Irene all but begged you to go to happy hour with them sometime, and Namjoon had become a bit of an older brother to you. Not in a way where he looks out for you (Although he does that as well), but more so like when he’s not busy being customer service manager, he’s giving you shit and cracking jokes. It was in some way a relief to you. A relief from the stress you knew you’d have to go home to. A relief that you were actually able to get along with your coworkers. Work became a safe and happy environment for you.

Even Seokjin -- with his cringey dad jokes and doing dorky little dances anytime a good song would come on -- Had started to grow on you. Oh, were you thankful for Seokjin. Even though most of your job came to you easily, there were still thing’s you had a hard time learning and projects you knew you wouldn’t get through on your own, and that’s where Seokjin became somewhat of a blessing, always finding the time and patience to help you where he could.

You quickly learned Seulgi was the last person to go to because although she was a wonderful manager, she had her ways about her. Particularly being like that mother that says, “If I find it, I’m going to beat your ass when I get home.”

Kyla was the first person you’d like to ask, but Kyla was in her final year of high school, so all too often, you’d end up being scheduled to work with Seokjin instead. You were hesitant to ask for his help. Of course you were hesitant. Something about him didn’t sit right with you to begin with, and his very presence in your life left a mark on your relationship. Once you got past all of that though, you found that Seokjin was actually a very nice, very genuine man.

He didn’t act any sort of way that made you uncomfortable. He wasn’t rude when you’d make mistakes, and oh boy did you make mistakes. He was just… Seokjin. So plainly and unabashedly Seokjin. He made small talk with you, asking about your home life and your parents, things like that. You were pretty vague when it came to your family, but he didn’t pry, instead telling you, “I understand, you don’t have to explain yourself.” With that dumb smile he always offered you.

Then he started telling you stories of his friends. Like how he and his old college roommates, Yoongi and Hobi took a road trip, and somehow they ended up leaving Hobi at the truck stop, and they didn’t even realize it until he called them yelling about how they’d left him behind! Or how he knew Namjoon from undergrad, and he actually helped Seokjin get this job. “He really ended up saving my ass, too.” Seokjin breathed as he stacked the last two boxes of whatever you’d been hauling onto the highest shelf.

“I’m working on my masters right now, and my job at uni ended up falling through, so I was like… Legitimately fucked for a minute.” He laughed. “But we ran in similar social circles, and we started talking. He told me how our store needed a new mens lead, and now…” He raised his arms before letting them fall back at his sides, “Here I am!” He giggled.

You smiled, “That’s great, honestly! I’m so happy for you!" You beamed, “But wow, mens lead. And yet you’re always so quick to help Kyla and me in other departments. I don’t know, it seems like you’d be too busy for that.”

He shrugged, “I mean it’s mostly on Tuesdays and Sundays I’m super busy, but you really don’t have to worry about that. We’re coworkers, and I’m more than happy to help where I’m needed!” He explained, a big smile and his one dimple poking through. The works, really. “Don’t ever be afraid to ask me for help.”

Something about that -- His look, the sincerity in his voice, and the fact that you’d quickly realized you two were alone in the stockroom -- The very thing causing tension between you and Touru. It made your heart leap. You caught yourself smiling, and all too quickly were you ready to jump back into work mode.

“Well, I’ve got other things to do now, but thanks again!” And with that, you’d dashed off.

Now here you were. Still in the midst of an argument with your fiance, and after giving Seokjin the cold shoulder for, what? Two weeks now? You’d probably just lost one of your best friends as well.

It was with heavy feet that you carried yourself down the stairwell and into the family living area. It was a beautiful Sunday morning. Natural sunlight flooded your house. You hoped that would help set the mood a little bit. Dressed in your lilac silk robe and white lingerie underneath, you were ready to do anything to end this extended feud with Touru.

Not that getting fucked by Touru was a bad thing, but you hated ending arguments this way. You felt like you were giving up. Not only would he deem himself right, but he was also getting rewarded for it, so what does that leave for you? You tried not to think too much about it. It’s whatever, right? It’s not like arguments ended this way very often, so engaging in this ‘fuck and forget’ thing isn’t inherently bad. Right?

You leaned your body weight into the archway leading into the living room, gazing at your fiance with docile bedroom eyes, just waiting for him to look up from his tablet. You knew he was busy getting numbers ready for the end of the third quarter and all, but you knew -- Rather, you hoped in this special circumstance, he’d make some time for you.

“Oh, Touru…” You called out in a soft, sensual tone. You didn’t quite break his focus, but you did catch his attention. The hard lines in his face softened at your beckon call. He lifted his head the slightest bit in curiosity, letting out of a soft “Hm?” but his eyes never strayed from his screen.

Your fingers fiddled with the loose knot holding your robe together as you flirted with the idea of being a tease or just letting him have it all. “I know these last two weeks have been kind of rough on us, and I'm sorry. I was sorta hoping I could make it up to you?”

He’d allow his gaze to slowly trail up your body just as the knot had come undone. The white lace underwear a stark contrast against your skin glowing underneath the sunlight, and the bra while sexy remained just modest enough to cover what was really important.

You couldn’t help but feel small under his gaze, longing to take back what’s always been his. He laid his tablet on the glass coffee table as he rose to his feet. He managed to unravel his tie in the few steps it took for him to hold you in his arms again. It felt good having his lips on yours, and his warm hands grasping at your waist, pulling your body against his.

“I’ve missed you.” He murmured against your lips, “I’ve missed you so much. I’m sorry things haven’t been easy lately, but I think we’ll be able to make up for our lost time this morning.” He kissed down your jaw and the side of your neck. You couldn’t help the smile when the soft timbre of his voice tickled your skin.

And yet, something felt out of place.

You forced yourself to focus on him. The hickey he was sucking into the hollow of your throat, or the way his fingers grasped at the back of your knee to pull it around his waist, pinning you against the archway in a submissive manner…

But your mind was elsewhere.

He hoisted you up, wrapping your legs securely around his waist as he carried you to the bedroom, whispering something about how good he’s going to make you feel, but you barely heard him. You choked on your own voice as his teeth grazed the new bruise blossoming in your skin. You thread your fingers through his blond hair, willing yourself not to speak for fear of what you might say.

Your back hit the mattress, the robe fell away from your skin as his warm lips descended down your chest and tummy. Soft whispers of ‘I love you’ over and over like he was reciting a mantra to you and only you, but your heart wasn’t in it this time. You screwed your eyes shut, willing yourself into the moment, but all you could see were lips. Those pink, pillow soft lips stretched into that million dollar smile.

You forced your eyes open, but they were soon falling shut once again as lips descended unto the one place you needed him most. Your voice betrayed you, moaning out in a raspy tone like you hadn’t used it in months. Your toes curled in, fingers finding Touru’s hair again.

Yes, this was it. Your body was finally starting to relax. This was exactly what you needed, and it felt good. It felt so good to have your fiance back. “Touru, Touru please…”

You wondered if his dimple was visible when he was going down on you like this. Even if it’s not, you’ll get to see it in his bright smile when he comes back up. Big smile on his face and covered in a thin sheen of sweat and your essence. Until you remembered...

Touru doesn’t have any dimples.

You didn’t get to orgasm. Although, Touru doesn’t need to know that.

Touru…

How unfair of you. To lay there and let him pleasure you to your heart's desire while you think about another man. It’s not even like you wanted him to be there! And you tried! You tried really hard to force his image out of your head, but he’s so intrusive! Everything about him from his broad shoulders to his stupid laugh. Sure he’s attractive, but he’s so full of himself. Not to mention, he’s not the man you’re in love with.

With Touru snoozing beside you, you’d decide you were safe to slip back into your robe and escape to the bathroom to clean yourself up, and maybe cry a little bit. You couldn’t figure it out, you’d barely even spoken to the man after his little ‘play money’ comment. Or calling your fiance a rich daddy’s boy. He’s so disrespectful and has no consideration for how you feel, and yet…

You gripped the edges of the sink as the tears began to flow. Maybe all of this was just because part of you was still mad at Touru. He had started the fight after all, and over Seokjin no less. Maybe subconsciously, you felt guilty for silently admitting to Touru he’s right to dislike your coworker when you knew Seokjin was a fairly decent guy. Certainly not someone Touru needed to worry about.

You took a few deep breaths to calm yourself down. Whatever this was, it was a one time thing, you reminded yourself. You made quick work of cleaning your face, going the extra mile to ensure there were no traces of tears or guilt.

You tiptoed into the room to find Touru already awake and sitting up on the bed reading something on his phone. Smiling, you crawled over the bed on your knees and wrapped your arms around his bare shoulders, “Hey you,” you giggled, pressing your lips into his neck. “Whatcha reading?”

He hummed, “Just texting my dad. They’re planning for a company dinner in the next couple weeks. Apparently there’s an independent loan service just out of town who’s about to go under.” He explained in a monotone voice, “Dad’s making reservations now, and we’ll discuss buying their company and taking their workers under our wing.”

“So you’re gonna be busier than ever when all of this comes to a head?”

“Pretty much.” He sighed, nudging you off him so he could stand into a stretch. He started picking his clothes up off the floor. “I’ll be the one making preparations to introduce new people into our systems, setting them up for training, maybe outsourcing them where we need them more.” He went on as if he’s explained it one hundred other times. It was rare Kim Co. Loans bought out other companies, but once it happened, it meant yours and Touru’s life had to be put on hold. It was something you fully expected — Anytime it came to the company or his family, you were expected to adapt your everyday life around them.

“Do you know when all this is gonna start?” You asked casually, “You know we're supposed to go look at like, three different venues in November, right?”

“I know.” He sighed like he’s heard it all before. “I just… If we find another one we really like, I don’t want to lose it again.”

You felt bad bringing it up again, but you’ll never forget how brokenhearted you felt having your dream wedding brutally ripped away from you. You were so excited, with Touru’s approval, you were able to reserve your wedding date for what was supposed to be this year at a botanical garden in the countryside. You began planning decorations, wedding colors, bridesmaids dresses -- Everything centered around having your perfect wedding at the botanical gardens. You’d finally be the flower fairy you’d always dreamed of being.

Then April, Touru’s little sister found out where the wedding was being held. She went mental on her older brother telling him how stuffy it’d be in the middle of summer and how sick she’d get spending even just a couple of hours in a “plant infested biome”, and if her brother’s fiancee insisted on having the wedding there, then she wouldn’t be attending. Needless to say, Touru cancelled the reservation almost immediately, and without even consulting you.

“Don’t worry,” Touru reassured you, kneeling down so he could cup your cheeks in his hands, “The Botanical Gardens wedding just wasn’t meant to be.” He whispered, “But that just means that the place we do end up getting married at will be the perfect place. It’s going to be magical, and you’re going to be so happy, you won’t even remember why you were upset about that place.”

Although you could feel tears of anger welling up behind your eyes, you willed yourself not to cry. You pulled your lips into a tight smile and nodded stiffly, “You’re right.” You sniffled. “It doesn’t really matter where we get married. At the end of the day, as long as I’m with you, I’ll be happy.” You whispered. He smiled, “And I’ll be happy with you.” He whispered as he pulled you closer to press a soft kiss to your lips.

That was all that mattered. As long as you get to marry the love of your life, you should be happy.

Right?

It was a surprisingly slow night. For the customers, at least.

But not for Irene who had made it her mission to convince you to cover an overnight shift. She briefly mentioned it when you walked in for your shift, but you were polite in turning her down. “Ah, I don’t think I can.” You told her, “I have to be home to make dinner for my fiance of an evening, and I don’t think he’d be too happy if I was here working instead.” Which wasn’t a lie. If anything, it’s an understatement, you thought to yourself.

Irene scrunched her nose a bit, “Oh, you wouldn’t need to be here until ten O’clock, sweetie!” She laughed, “That’s plenty of time to get dinner and everything out of the way, isn’t it?”

You really felt bad having to turn the shift down, but you knew how Touru would feel if you took it. You smiled sweetly, “I’m really sorry, Irene. I don’t think I can…”

She sighed, clearly disappointed, but accepted her loss. “It’s fine! I’ll figure something out!”

A couple hours later, as you were rushing out of the Women’s dressing room, arms full of folded shirts, Irene approached you again. “Hey, (Y/n)! Got a minute?”

“Uh…” You came to an abrupt stop as she just appeared in front of you from seemingly out of nowhere. “Uhm, I guess I do.”

Irene giggled, “Great! Hey, do you think you’d be interested in covering a night shift for me next month? I know it’s not hours that you usually work, but you’ll basically be doing the same thing, except you’ll be moving new items onto the floor, and some of our older stock into clearance.” She explained, “It’d mean a lot to me, (Y/n). I wouldn’t usually ask you, but one of our overnight associates just went into labor, and she’s not gonna be back for a few weeks, and you’re the only other associate I can ask.”

The only one? What about Seokjin? You cleared your throat as she spoke. Seeming to take the hint, Irene moved so you could run the shirts back to their proper places, but she followed behind you, awaiting your answer with baited breath. “I know, Irene. We just discussed this when I came in, but I already said-”

“Oh, right. Right. You can’t come in because of your fiance, I forgot.” She mumbled while tapping her chin. “I think I wrote that down somewhere, but… Oh, shoot. I must’ve left my notes back in my office.” She sighed, let her hands fall to her sides. “You’re sure there’s no way you can cover? You’ll be making extra money after all!”

You frowned when she told you exactly how much extra you’d make, and that was per hour! Couldn’t she tell she was putting you in a tight spot, or would you really have to spell it out for her? “I’m really sorry, Irene. My answer is still no.”

She tried again during your break, but as soon as you saw her approaching you, you dialed Touru’s number. Luckily he picked up on the second ring. “Hey, baby! How’s work going?”

You knew better than to call him at work, and even got scolded as a result, but you weren’t sure what else to do. You could see the way she rolled her eyes out of the corner of your eye, but she ended up walking away.

Irene was hunting you down by the time you got back on the floor, and once she found you, it was all over but the crying.

“How many times are you going to ask me?” You demanded. Clearly annoyed at how she was handling this situation. Truthfully, you wanted the extra money -- Who wouldn’t? And really, you wouldn’t mind working the extra hours either. But everytime you even started to consider the idea, there was always that little bug of a reminder in the back of your mind, reigning you in, pulling you back. “No!” It yelled. “If you agree to take the night shift, it’ll just start another fight. It’s not worth it.”

Irene frowned, “Please, (Y/n)! It’s just this one shift, and it’ll give me enough time to find a temp to replace Misty while she’s out.” She begged. “You’re literally the last person I can ask. What can I do? I’m willing to offer you anything within reason if you’ll do this for me.”

You sighed, considering her offer. “Are you able to move any of my other shifts around?” You asked.

“Yes! Is that something you’d be interested in?”

You thought about it for a second. Touru’s father had already scheduled that expensive dinner, and it was way out of town, and Touru insisted you go with him even though you had an early shift the next morning.

You peaked a glance at her and oh god, of course she’s giving you sad puppy eyes.

“The last weekend of November. I want that whole weekend off. Friday through Sunday.” You bargained, crossing your arms over your chest. “That’s the only way I can do it.”

And just like that, her face lit up like a christmas tree. All smiles and clasping her hands together, acrylic nails making a scraping sound as they clashed against one another. “Yes! Yes, that’ll work! You’ve got yourself a deal!” She exclaimed, absolutely tickled with excitement. She bounced on her toes and clapped her hands together before pulling you into a tight embrace.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, (Y/n)! You don’t even know how much this means to me!” She giggled. You cringed at the thought of having to explain this to Touru, but this could actually be a good thing! Maybe the two of you could enjoy your weekend together after all!

“It’s no problem at all, Irene.” You said, clearing your throat as she pulled away from you. “I’m glad we could come to an agreement.”

She gave you another bright smile before turning to walk away from you. “Thanks again, (Y/n)! I’ll be sure to let Jin know as well!”

...Huh?

“What? Wait, why do you need to let Seokjin know? Irene!” But she’d already walked away from you.

You stood there, dumbfounded and staring off at the empty space in front of you.

Well it’s not like it’ll just be you and Seokjin! There’s other overnight associates, you reasoned with yourself. It’s a big enough store! And if we're gonna be putting things out all night, then we won’t have time to bother each other! It’ll be fine.

“Hey, (Y/n)!”

Speak of the devil.

“Are you very busy right now?” Seokjin chirped over the radio. You were almost surprised when you’d heard your name in his voice. It’d been a couple days since you’d snubbed him for the comments he made regarding your relationship. Several hours since you’d fantasized about him while your future husband was fucking you into the mattress.

The two of you hadn’t spoken much until now, outside of when you had no choice be it involving customers or general topics regarding work. You’d managed to stay annoyed with him (Whether he knew it or not) up until this weekend, when you couldn’t stop thinking about him.

Suddenly, something changed. Even now, when you felt like you should be upset or annoyed with him at the very least, his voice still managed to do something to you. Something you couldn’t quite pinpoint, and may have even been a little scared to find out.

Taking a slow, deep breath and pressing the button on your mic, “It's not too bad. Do you need some help?”

“I do, actually! Do you mind meeting me in the Men’s dressing room?”

You decided to just forget about the night shift for now as you made your way over to the Men’s department. Foot traffic had slowed down significantly about an hour ago. With only you and Seokjin on softline tonight and your side more or less being tidied up, you were just walking around looking for extra work for yourself, straightening shelves as needed, hoping to help a customer or two if they needed it.

A little further ahead, and you soon found a man’s back retreating into the confines of the Men’s dressing room. A man with fluffy dark hair, and broad shoulders that you knew by now you’d recognize anywhere. You wondered if he saw you coming, and what he had waiting for you.

Of course, when you followed close behind, you found the last thing you were expecting to see. “Oh my god, where… Who…”

“It was all in one room.” Seokjin replied, a tight smile etched into his face. Sat before you on the floor of the dressing room was a mountain; a literal mountain of clothing that stood at damn near the same height as your waist. You fell back on your heels, letting your butt hit the wall behind you. It wasn’t even the workload that put you off, you’d probably have all the folding and re-hanging done within an hour give or take, but the fact that you’d be confined to this little space with a man you were clearly attracted to…

Would it be rude of you to tell him you could do it by yourself? Seokjin sighed, breaking you out of your reverie, “Well I guess we should get to work.” He said, falling to his knees. “If you think this is too much, you don’t have to help! I just figured…” He chuckled a bit, losing the right words to say, “I don’t know, but don’t feel obligated is what I’m getting at.”

“No! I said I would!” You responded a bit louder than you’d intended. You fell to your knees on the other side of the clothing pile and began sorting through what you could, folding what looked like it deserved to be folded, and setting aside the items that needed to be hung.

“Thank you.” He said softly. His eyes met yours as he shot you with That Smile. That same fucking smile he used on your first day. Your breath hitched, but you smiled back anyway. Something definitely felt off about him tonight. He was quiet, maybe even a little detached from the situation. He always has something to say; moments like this were never quiet with him. Something about it just didn’t feel right, and despite your presumptuous opinions of him, seeing him like this made you feel bad.

“Did you sleep well last night?” He asked, voice breaking the heavy silence. You hummed, “Well enough, I think.” You reached for another pair of jeans, but your hand retreated too quickly when your fingertips just barely brushed his. You didn’t miss how his eyes caught yours for just a second before focusing back on his task. Did he look sad just then?

“My… Uh. I mean, Touru and I finally resolved some of our problems last night. I think.”

“Touru’s your boyfriend, right?”

“Listen,” He sighed, letting the jeans he’d been trying to fold for the last two minutes fall lazily into his lap, “I’ve been thinking about what I said that one day. About your problems. Your fight with your fiance that I clearly knew nothing about.” He laughed humorlessly. Oh god, he’s really gonna confront you about this, huh?

“Fiance, actually.”

“Fiance. My bad.” He chuckled, seeming to relax a little bit. “That’s good! I know it can be really stressful not getting along with the one you’re in love with, but those problems are always temporary thankfully.” You nodded along, hoping you didn’t look as uncomfortable as you felt.

“I just wanted to apologize.” He finally said. “I know this probably sounds like it’s coming completely out of left field, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how hurt you looked and sounded when you left, and you had every right. I was kind of a jerk with the way I responded.”

You busied yourself with folding as he continued to talk. You didn’t dare look up for fear he was staring at you, but instead focused your gaze on your hands, praying he couldn’t tell they were trembling. “I meant to say something sooner, but I didn’t really know how to bring it up, and I was kind of scared I’d make it worse, but…” He sighed again, composing himself. “I figured it’d be better to just go ahead and say I’m sorry. You don’t have to forgive me immediately, or at all if you don’t want to, but…”

You finally snuck a glance at him. Surprised to have met your gaze, he quickly averted his towards the empty changing room beside him. His cheeks tinged a light shade of pink. You had to bite your lip to keep yourself from smiling at how awkward you two were acting.

“I want you to know I’d like to be your friend someday, (Y/n). Like an actual friend. You can talk to me normally and confide in me when you need to, and I know now I need to have a softer approach with your feelings and I’ll remember that next time. I just hope I didn’t leave a bad first impression, and-”

“Seokjin.” You called out, your stupid fat grin hurting your face from how cute his apology was. His head shot up, big brown eyes wide with curiosity and worry. Big brown eyes that melted any residue of anger or annoyance left in your system. God he’s so goofy looking, but he’s really sweet as he can be, isn’t he? The genuine remorse in his voice, the way his eyes trembled with worry that maybe you’d never like him.

“Seokjin, everything’s okay. I forgive you! You don’t have to apologize or keep explaining yourself to me.” You cleared your throat, this time you’d been the one to look away from him. Oh god, your anxiety was catching up to you. What if Kyla told him? What if he was acting like this because of what you said? No, that doesn’t seem right at all. Seokjin is nothing like the character you had in mind. He’s just genuinely like this.

“I should be apologizing to you as well, actually.” You spoke up after a moment of silence.

“(Y/n)...”

“I think I just got scared.” You admitted to him. “I don’t like opening up to a lot of people, especially not when it comes to my problems with Touru. People suddenly become relationship experts when it comes to other people's lives, but…” You took a deep breath, “I guess what I'm trying to say is I appreciate your apology, and I appreciate you not trying to fix my problems for me. And I’m sorry for storming out the way I did. And if you felt like I’ve treated you any differently this last week, then I’m sorry about that, too.”

Seokjin stared at you silently for a long moment. Then he burst out into a fit of laughter, “You didn’t offend me! You have no reason to apologize!” He choked out. You smiled awkwardly, but before long, his infectious laughter had you joining in as you too, quickly realized the situation. “God, look at us! Two idiots who’ve been agonizing over something that wasn’t even that big of a deal.” He continued, trying to catch his breath. You smiled, “I don’t want us to have problems, Seokjin. I mean it when I say I enjoy your company, and I really enjoy working with you.” You explained shyly, “If the offer is still open, then I’d be happy if we could go back to being friends.”

Seokjin had a child-like look of wonder cross his face for a moment as if that was the last thing he’d expected you to say. You were worried for a moment that you came across the wrong way, but a wondrous look was quickly replaced with a smile. “I always considered you my friend, (Y/n). I’m just glad we’re finally on the same page now.” He laughed. Of course he never stopped liking you. He was never mad at you, he was just waiting for you to not be mad at him. Seokjin wasn’t a bad guy, you just needed to take the time to get to know him for who he was.

Although making friends these last few years hasn’t been that easy. The only two people you’d really hung out with anymore was your best friend, Dahyun and her girlfriend, Chae. They tried looping you into their friend group awhile back, and it was nice seeing those girls when you tagged along with the lot of them. Unfortunately though, it felt like you’d been so busy with planning your wedding, you rarely even got to see your friends anymore. Just another reason why you loved this job as much as you did.

After falling into a comfortable routine with Seokjin for a bit, he’d finally spoken up again. “By the way, (Y/n)...” You looked up curiously.

“You don’t have to keep calling me Seokjin.” He said with a wink,

“Just Jin is fine.”

You and Dahyun finally had a match in your schedules that week and agreed to meet up at the bar. It felt like the two of you didn’t get to hang out as much recently. Although with Tourus father's company helping this small business get back on their feet, you were hoping this meant you’d have a little more time for yourself.

“Hm. Just seems to me like everytime you guys try to move forward with the wedding, something comes up, and suddenly he has to put it off.” Dahyun said, casually watching the swirling liquid in her martini glass, “I don’t know. I think he has his own dream wedding in mind, but he’s just building up to it so it doesn’t seem like he had to ruin… Your dream wedding. Know what I mean?”

You wouldn’t really say he intended on ruining your dream wedding, but you definitely wouldn’t put it past him to push his idea of the perfect wedding instead. “I don’t really think that’s the case, Dahyun.” You sighed, “Touru wouldn’t be that selfish; he wants to see me happy, too. We just… Have to come to a compromise. That’s all.”

Dahyun rolled her eyes. “The wedding is supposed to be about the bride. He’s gonna get his way about everything else in the relationship! I just don’t understand why-”

“Well, technically it wasn’t him this time! His sister said-”

“Fuck his sister!” Dahyun shouted, slamming her glass down and nearly busting the bottom. “God! I can’t stand her! She’s such a bitch! I’m telling you, I know she was trying to set Touru up with that fucking friend of hers last year.” She insists through clenched teeth. “Touru wouldn’t cheat on me, he loves me too much…” Your own voice sounded meak in your ears. You were perfectly confident that your relationship was strong, still it didn’t feel good to think that his own sister of all people would try to replace you.

“I know April and I haven’t always seen eye to eye, but she can be really nice sometimes…” Dahyun raised a brow at you, “She can be nice sometimes.” She echoed. You nodded. Still unconvinced, Dahyun crossed her arms across her chest, perfectly manicured nails dramatically curled around her biceps as she leaned back into her barstool. “Enlighten me then. When was the last time she showed even a small act of kindness towards you?” She asked.

You sighed, “Dahyun, please don’t start this-”

“No, seriously. Something small. The bar is so low at this point.” She retorted, “Even something as small as a compliment. Sending a ‘Happy holidays’ text. Anything.” She continued, reaching out to pick her drink up again, touching the rim to her ruby lips, “I’ll wait.”

Before you could form a response, you jumped at feeling someone clap you on the shoulder. “(Y/n)! Fancy meeting you here!”

You knew that voice. Of course you knew that fucking voice. The man with fluffy black hair, his hand still grasping your shoulder, looked over at the girl beside you. “Who’s your friend?”

“I’d like to ask the same thing!” Dahyun said, a shit-eating grin smeared across her face. She offered her hand to your coworker, “I’m Dahyun, (Y/n)’s best friend. It’s nice to meet you!”

“Awe, how sweet! I’m Jin!” He replied, shaking her hand, “(Y/n) and I work together!” He said, finally releasing your shoulder and taking the barstool on the other side of you before promptly ordering his drink.

“Oh, I forgot you were a working woman now!” Dahyun laughed. You could clearly see Jin’s mouth moving, crescent eyed smiles as his eyes shifted between you to your best friend and back again, but you couldn’t hear what he’d said. You turned back to the bar and idly swirled your drink, quietly sulking over the fact that you were now a party of three instead of a party of two.

Was it really so bad? Dahyun would never rat you out to Touru about Jin showing up here. She wouldn’t have anything to rat out anyway, you reminded yourself. It’s just sheer coincidence that he showed up while you were here. Even so, this was supposed to be a girls night out for the two of you. What right did he have just barging in? “So what brings you here tonight, Jin?” Dahyun asked cheerfully.

Jin shrugged, “I was actually supposed to meet my date here, but she flaked on me. I saw (Y/n) over here and figured I might join you guys for a drink or two.” Jin responded, nudging you with his elbow.

Jin was supposed to be on a date?

“Awe, so you’re not here to swoop (Y/n) off her feet.” Dahyun giggled, catching you off guard. You sputtered mid-drink, hastily scrambling for a napkin, “Dahyun! That’s completely inappropriate!” You scolded her. Jin had been laughing beside you and seemed to pay you no mind, “He’s my coworker!”

“She’s actually a tough nut to crack!” Jin chimed in once he could catch his breath. “Oh believe me, I know! You should hear us go back and forth about-”

You turned and grabbed her bicep, giving Jin a full view of the back of your head, “Hey. Can we not do this right now?” You asked seriously. “Chill out, (Y/n)! We’re just joking around.” She rolled her eyes and nudged your hand off her arm. Jin hadn’t even given her joke a second thought as he put in his order with the bartender.

The night went on like that for quite some time. Jin and Dahyun making merciless jokes about you, Jin talking about your guys’ work -- Although he tried to drag you into the conversation once or twice, your responses were short and sweet. After a while Dahyun started telling him some story from your guys’ college days, you just tuned them out until their conversation ended up meshing with the rest of the background noise.

You ordered another drink with your attention barely focused on your phone in front of you, and you decided to unlock it. Your mind was in a haze, and you couldn’t really keep your focus on anything other than your own bad mood.

You smirked to yourself as you opened your chat thread with Touru.

Last message sent over an hour ago saying, “I understand. I love you!” With a heart emoji. You frowned.

Touru often used to tell you you’re selfish. He’d mostly say it during arguments, but he wouldn’t let you forget it. You remember when you were still in college, he said, “It’s like you live in your head so often, you don’t even see how you’re making other people feel!” Or something along those lines.

He even had the nerve to ask if you cared about him or his feelings, and that one really hurt. Wasn’t that how he convinced you to drop out of nursing school? You couldn’t remember. Or you didn’t want to.

Jin’s squeaky laugh broke you out of your thoughts. You cast a glance over at him for a minute, but he’d already been looking at you. He kept smiling like he was waiting for you to say something. Did he ask you a question?

Maybe Touru was right about you, but who cares. You rolled your eyes at Jin and called the bartender back over. You didn’t know what it was; you didn’t want to dampen the mood, really! The least he could’ve done though, was ask if the two of you were okay with it.

You scrolled mindlessly through your texts, completely skipping over Touru’s “Don’t talk to any guys, and call me if Dahyun starts acting stupid.” spiel. You didn’t want to hear it again. Nights like this, you couldn’t stand Touru’s overprotective bullshit. God forbid you go out with your friends. Actually take some time to enjoy yourself.

You hesitated, your unfocused vision just staring at the wall of text before you finally decided to delete it altogether. You couldn’t take it. You swore if you had to see it one more time, you’d probably just start in on him.

Yeah. You know how to start shit, but you never win, your insecurities berated you.

You’re too much of a sap, always giving into him way too easily. That’s why you let him fuck you senseless last time. Just so you could keep pretending you have a perfect relationship.

“Oh my gosh, you’d love my girlfriend then! Her name’s Chae, and she’s constantly playing that game, too! You guys may have even been on the same server once or twice!” Dahyun’s laugh felt like a wakeup call, dragging you out of your lonely little pity party. You dropped your phone, screen down on the bar. By now, you were nursing your forth margarita, and you were feeling out of sorts. You peaked a glance at Jin. He said something to the bartender, but you couldn’t hear him. He must’ve felt your eyes on him when he turned, shooting you with that adorable dimple smile of his.

You snarled your nose and scoffed at him and turned back to Dahyun, about to tell her you were ready to go, but something stopped you. Her face was scrunched up in concern. You swallowed, trying to rein in some sobriety. You placed a comforting hand on her arm, “Hey. Is everything okay?”

It took her a minute, but she nodded a slow nod, never looking up at you. “Uh. I’m not sure actually. I think something came up with Chaeyoung.” She mumbled. Your eyes widened, “Woah, is she alright?”

“Yeah, but… I’m gonna go check on her.” She quickly got up and started gathering her things. “Just in case. Don’t worry about tonight, okay? I’ll put this all on my tab, yeah?”

“Wait, I can go with you!” You replied, jumping out of your seat a little too quickly. Suddenly, the world felt like it was tilting off its axis, and you could feel yourself stumbling back, but your shoulders just barely grazed someone's chest before you felt them catch you.

“Hey, maybe you should sit back down.” Jin said, trying to lure you into your seat. “I won’t sit back down! Dahyun, is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine, but I really need to go. Jin-”

“I can get her home, it’s fine.”

The world felt like it was spinning a little too quickly. What on earth was going on? “(Y/n) I’m really sorry! I promise I’ll make it up to you!” Dahyun said quickly, pulling you into a tight embrace which felt like it lasted an eternity. You blatantly refused to hug her back, instead opting to keep your arms tight against your waist, and your hands balled up into fists. “Just…” You breathed, trying not to let your frustration get the better of you. “Just let me know when you get there. And let me know if she’s okay?”

Dahyun smiled, “Of course I will.” She quickly waved goodbye to you both and hurried out of the bar. “C’mon. I think I should be getting you home as well.” Jin said, ushering you towards the door.

You pouted all the way back to your place, just barely uttering directions when Jin asked for them. It was weird, you were angry; you knew you were angry, but over what, you weren’t sure. You’d long since forgotten about Jin interrupting your outing with Dahyun. Having him there was probably more fun than you had anticipated. Not that you’d know, you spent most of your night drowning yourself in sadness and alcohol.

Your first night out in months, and you completely ruined it. Way to go, (Y/n).

“That’s the house up there, but… Can you just drop me off here?” You asked solemnly. “Here?” You could feel Jin giving you a funny look, but you just nodded at his question. It was less than a block away, but you knew better than to let Jin pull up right in front of the house. Even as drunk as you were, you only knew how Touru would react if he saw another man dropping you off instead of your friend.

You unbuckle your seatbelt and reach for the door handle, but Jin’s hand grasped your wrist first, mumbling a small “Hey,” Before you could escape. You stopped, turning just a little bit to show you were willing to listen.

“Sorry, I-” He quickly released your wrist and took a deep breath, “I just wanted to say I had a lot of fun hanging out with you and your friend tonight, and… I’m sorry if you felt like I butted in on your guys’ night.”

His voice sounded so small by the end that you had to check on him just to make sure he hadn’t started crying.

Well, now you felt guilty. “Hey,” You placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry if I seemed a little rude tonight. I just missed Dahyun was all; we haven’t seen each other since I started working, but I promise we had a lot of fun with you, too!”

Jin smiled at you. “I may have a confession to make as well.”

You raised your eyebrows at him. “I… I didn’t actually have a date tonight.” He sighed, “I go to that bar pretty often actually to drink and just be around other people, but when I saw you, I thought…”

You took in a deep breath, you weren’t sure how to respond to that. Part of you really just couldn’t wrap your mind around it -- Kim Seokjin, comedic king and pun connoisseur was lonely?

“Well…” You sighed, “I won’t tell anybody, but for future reference, you don’t have to make something up just so you’ll have somebody to drink with.” You explained softly, “Just a simple, ‘Hey, can I sit with you guys?’ oughta do the trick.” you wink at him. His cheeks began to flush as he giggled, but you couldn’t tell if it was from the alcohol or something else. You could tell your own face was warm. It’d also just occurred to you that your hair is probably sticking to your forehead, and your makeup was probably a little on the runny side, but Jin didn’t seem to care. Or if he did, he certainly wasn’t going to say anything about it. Always the gentleman, you thought to yourself.

Hesitantly, you reach out for his hand resting on the gearshift. You covered it with your own and thumbed over his knuckles, “I’ll see you later, okay Jin?” He offered you a silent nod and a small smile. “Goodnight, (Y/n).”

Your hand retracted as you finally got out of the car, and walked the rest of the way to your house. Jin sat there silently, watching you. Making sure nobody bothered you and you got inside safely.

He could just barely make out your silhouette as you walked by the window when a second, taller figure appeared. He stared -- Openly gawked as they pulled you into them and you looked up, clearly expecting a kiss which the taller figure happily provided. “Must be Touru…” Jin partially mumbled, partially slurred to himself. Something settled into the pit of his stomach as he watched for a moment longer. He could tell how giddy you were by the way you’re clearly bouncing on your toes, and the taller figure -- Touru, wrapped his arms around your waist and dipped his face into the crook of your neck.

He could feel his dick twitching as his thoughts began to linger. Imagining those were his hands on your hips instead of Tourus. Wondering how soft your skin probably felt, or the taste of your lips after drowning several margaritas. Fuck, you looked so good tonight. So pretty, and he couldn’t stop staring at you. You’d even caught him a few times, but you didn’t seem to think anything of it. Or you just didn’t care.

He wondered if he ever crossed your mind. If you ever felt a rush when the two of you would touch. He knew damn well the feeling of your hand on his did something to him tonight. Something he wasn’t expecting. It couldn’t have had that strong of an effect on him though, could it? Obviously it was, otherwise he wouldn’t still be sitting here just a few feet from your house like some creep, feeling mesmerized by your touch.

As if needing a reminder of where he was, he quickly realized Touru had pulled your shirt over your head at some point, and his hands were cupping your breasts. You seemed to enjoy it as your hands grazed his stomach, teasing the lining of his pants.

Jin belched and finally drew his eyes away from the scene, almost in disgust. “Fuckin’ weirdo. She’s not even into you.” He berated himself. Deciding it’s pretty late and he’d already seen more than enough, he turned the key in the ignition and the car rumbled to life. It isn’t until he’s already shifted into drive and turned back onto the main street that he’s realized…

He’s definitely jealous of your fiance.

#hey there!!#I've never bore witness to a posting schedule???#so here's chapter 2!!#bts x reader #bts #kim seokjin #seokjin x reader #jin x reader #magicshopnet #non-idol au #retail au #slow burn

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ptw30 · 4 years

Note

Hunk tries to teach Shiro how to cook, Shiro owes Hunk Cooking equipment.

Sorry this took so long. I originally planned to have this up for Shiro’s birthday but…life. :) Thanks for prompting!

Fic: Cupcakes and Camaraderie

Relationships: Hunk & Shiro, past Shiro/Adam

Author’s Notes: Shiro is still the Black Paladin here…cuz.

Shiro flipped on the light in the mess hall kitchen and cracked his knuckles. Making a few cupcakes shouldn’t be too hard, right? With some whipped cream and what did Adam always put on top? Graham cracker crumbles?

Whatever it was, Shiro was positive he could figure out, and since Iverson was off grounds for a few days to oversee the launch proceedings, Shiro could take all the time he wanted in the Galaxy Garrison mess.

Finding the pans proved more difficult than he thought, and did he really need to use the mixer? Maybe he could conscript the blender. Just what was the difference between a tablespoon and teaspoon? Did anyone really know?

Okay, on his tablet, he found a recipe for “easy red velvet cupcakes with vanilla icing.” Easy. It was in the title. He could totally do this.

Less than ten minutes later, Shiro found himself wiping off an egg, flour, and water mixture from his nose. Maybe he couldn’t do this. He was seventy-five percent sure the batter shouldn’t be gray-green.

“What!” a new voice screeched, causing Shiro to whirl toward the doorway. “You-You did not just destroy my kitchen!”

Shiro paused from demanding, your kitchen, but it wasn’t like Shiro knew the garrison chefs well. Then again, Shiro didn’t remember ever seeing this cadet or officer before. Dark hair, an orange wrap, and a yellow-accented Galaxy Garrison uniform – what rank did that dictate? – he seemed out of sorts, standing in the doorway, glaring Shiro down.

Shiro dropped his tablespoon – or was it a teaspoon – on instinct and raised both hands. “Look, I didn’t think anyone would notice. I was just trying to – ”

“ – paint every single surface of this place in batter, if you can even call it that!” The man stalked forward, keen eyes glaring down at the green concoction as if it personally offended him. Then he looked up at Shiro – and froze. “S-Shiro?”

“Uh…yes?” He didn’t think he’d met this person before, but ever since the Kerberos mission announcement, so many people knew his name. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember…have we met?”

“…not yet, I don’t think.” The man straightened his shoulders and rubbed the back of his hair. “I…guess that wormhole wasn’t as harmless as we thought.”

“Wormhole?” Shiro echoed.

Before he could ask the person more, the yellow-clad officer replied, “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure Allura and Pidge – um, some people I know are working on it. Anyway.” He seemed happier all of sudden, scrubbing his hands together and smirking at Shiro. “What’cha trying to do here? Don’t tell me. Muffins.”

Shiro smiled with a slight wince. “Not quite.”

“Brownies?”

“Getting warmer…sorta.”

The man huffed loudly. “Please tell me you weren’t trying to make cupcakes. You have pepper in this!”

Shiro glanced away. “I couldn’t find the salt.”

“No, nope. Uh-huh. This cannot happen.” He pointed a sharp finger at a stool near the counter. “You sit over there while I clean up the mess and make a proper set of cupcakes.”

“Can’t I help –”

“No!” The officer sucked a quick breath, offered a gentle smile, and patted Shiro twice on the shoulder. “I mean, thanks for the offer, but why don’t you watch me work for a sec and tell me why you were trying to make some cupcakes? I’m Hunk, by the way.”

“Shiro.” Shiro took his designated seat and plopped his chin upon his fist. “Had a craving. My…uh, ex used to make them for me, but…he’s now my ex, so…”

Hunk began to measure out the ingredients – eggs, milk, butter, flour, salt, and vanilla – and nodded along. “Hard after something like that. What happened…uh, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“I’m, uh.” Shiro looked away, unsure why he felt comfortable explaining to Hunk this situation. It wasn’t like the entire garrison hadn’t been gossiping about it for the last week. “I was chosen for the Kerberos mission.”

“Oh, right! I’d heard that. Congrats, man! That’s awesome. Not sure why that means you have an ex. Isn’t he happy for you? Proud?”

“He didn’t want me to go. And I’m going, so…”

Hunk glanced around the room – looking for what, Shiro couldn’t tell – before reaching for a larger bowl with high walls to pour his current mixture into. “I’m sorry to hear that. Relationships can be hard. My girlfriend and I, we’re positioned on different sides of the…world. It’s hard to send a transmission to her sometimes, let alone actually see her. But she hangs in there, y’know? Good times, bad times. That’s how I know it’s forever.”

Shiro glanced away. “…I thought it was going to be forever. I’ve known Adam since…well, our first year at the garrison. We were flight partners, and then – y’know.”

“And I’m sure in some universe, you guys are still together, but in this one – you chose the stars and Adam chose to leave. That’s actually, really mature. You both decided what you could live with and what you couldn’t, and then you moved on and found someone who wants the same thing as you.”

Shiro blinked and sat up straighter, a knot in his chest unfurling. “No one – No one has ever put it like that before. Even Commander Holt said I should try to patch things up.”

“Can’t speak for Holt but it sounds like you and Adam want different things. And that’s okay.” Hunk hooked the larger bowl up to the mixer, and a high-pitched whirling added a soundtrack to their conversation. “Better to figure that out now than after you’re married.”

“Yeah, yeah. I guess so.” He couldn’t deny he would miss Adam, though, couldn’t deny he already did.

“But y’know, might not be a bad idea to at least try to clear the air,” Hunk offered, separating the cupcake wrappers in the tin. “Maybe apologize that things didn’t work out, not that you’re taking the mission.”

Shiro leaned back on his hand and watched as Hunk poured the batter precisely into each cup, wiping the edge of the bowl with a napkin. “Maybe. It’s still a few months away. What about you? You said your girlfriend lives elsewhere? Are you looking to close the distance?”

Hunk nodded. “Yeah, one day, but it’s kinda important the work we’re doing, my team and me. Shay understands.”

“Hm. Sounds nice.”

“It is, but not everyone has what we have. And not everyone finds it as quickly, either – or at all.” Hunk slid the tray into the oven and started the timer. “But when you do – when you find people who love you for who you are, not who they want you to be – you hold onto them.”

Shiro smiled as Hunk handed him the spoon to lick. “Sound advice.”

“Eh. I have a good team leader who knows his stuff.”

As soon as Shiro finished the spoon, he joined Hunk in cleaning up the thrown batter, despite Hunk’s disapproval. Hunk told Shiro he liked his kitchen a certain way, but Shiro wasn’t about to let someone else clean up his mess without any help.

As they worked, Shiro spoke about the mission, about Keith, about his days at the Galaxy Garrison, and Hunk talked about Shay, about his friends, and about meeting new people and learning new recipes.

The oven dinged not long after they wiped down the last surface, and soon Shiro was humming around a delicious set of red velvet cupcakes. They were the best he’d ever had, and he made sure to tell Hunk such.

Hunk blushed and took a bite of his own mini cake. “Hey, y’know, it might not seem like it now, but it sounds like you have lots of people who care about you, man. If you ever want them to bake you cupcakes, you just say the word. I’m sure they would.”

Shiro laughed, though it was hollow. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And maybe – you might want to tell Admiral Sanda or Commander Holt that when they start training on the Mecha Flex Exofighters, they should work with their best pilots, not cadets? That’s just…conducive to saving the world, y’know? Training the best rather than the youngest.”

Halfway through his second cupcake – screw his pre-mission diet – Shiro mumbled, “What’s an exofighter? I haven’t heard of those before – or flown them.”

Hunk winked. “Just trust me, all right? Mention it to Sam. Oh, and do the world a favor, Shiro. Stay out of the kitchen or only use it with adult supervision.”

Shiro would have glared, but he was too preoccupied with the cupcakes. He would do as many sessions at the gym as needed to finish off yet another two or three.

“Shiro? One more thing,” Hunk added just before he exited the room. “Happy Birthday – and many more.”

Shiro snorted. He didn’t know how many more there would be, but he was determined to enjoy the rest of this one. Hey, there was still a good half dozen left. Maybe he’d take a few to Keith and Matt.

One Mission, Many Wormholes, and Two Birthdays Later

The door to mess hall slid open, and Shiro looked left, then right, before stepping inside. Immediately, the lights flipped on, and Shiro barely held in his screech.

“Hunk,” he managed once he breathed again. “You don’t have to guard the kitchen every year.”

Hunk lifted a tray of expertly decorated and undeniably delicious cupcakes. A few sported little Black Lions while the rest had the head of Voltron. “Yes, yes I do. Trust me on that. Now come on. Get your first cupcake before the rest of the garrison arrives.”

Shiro raised an eyebrow as he selected his cupcake, finger sweep around the edge of the icing. “The rest of the garrison…?”

In less than ten minutes time, the mess hall upon the Atlas was packed with the various teams, including Admiral Allura with her ship crew, Commander Adam West with his MFE Squadron, Prince Lotor with his Sincline generals, and of course, Shiro with his paladins. Black rumbled in the back of his mind, and as he sat among his teams, Shiro smiled and snatched another cupcake or three.

Eventually, he collapsed to the corner of the hall, eyes roaming over the people he held nearest and dearest to his heart. Hunk came to sit next to him and smirked at the wrappers on the table next to Shiro.

“Having a good day?”

“Yeah, yeah. Y’know, Hunk, someone once told me that if I ever wanted cupcakes, all I had to do is ask the people around me.”

Hunk blinked and then shrugged. “Well, y’know, I’m more than happy to –”

“But there’s something special about coming down to a set of cupcakes already made just for me.” He clasped Hunk on the shoulder and smiled. “Thanks, Hunk. It is nice to have people here who love me for who I am, not who they want me to be.”

Hunk smiled. “It is a nice feeling. And my kitchen stays intact. I like that.”

“That’s best for all parties involved,” Shiro laughed.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t be able to form Voltron without its head.”

Shiro let out a quick laugh, which Hunk shared, and decided to assume Hunk was joking. Still, he’d stay out of the kitchen, just to make sure.

The End

#shiro #hunk #shiro's birthday #prompt #thehawkeyefan #answered #voltron #gen rhys #ptw30 pens #vld

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sparklingpax · 4 years

Text

Tales From Iacon - Part 3: Understanding

A/N:

-Part 1, Part 2

-I also have a wattpad where I’m posting updates as well as other stories! (user is @/kunixjiro)

-Lol so after an actual eternity I finally resolved this,,,sorta,,,,sorry for the wait ^^’’

-Sorry if this is badly written (and for any typos, mistakes, weird phrasings, etc)

-This one’s long too O//O’’ oops....^^’’

-Please forgive me for constantly making up bots to fill roles I need in stories lolo I,,,I promise I’ll figure out a better way to do that,,,,, :’D

-Oh, and apologies if anyone was ooc >//<

-And yes I cut it off before the encounter because I’m mean >:D and because it’s not done being edited but I really really really wanted to post the next part of this story tonight so anyway, here we are ^^’’

-Ahhh....and with that, I guess, enjoy!!! <3

///

Weeks had passed since Orion and Megatronus had parted.

Megatronus had fought more battles at the rink. Since then, a familiar ache had set into his bones, making him wonder why every fight seemed duller than the last. Yet, for the crowds that surrounded him most nights, he put on his best show. Judging by the sounds of their cheers, he had done a good job at that.

Though, at his spark, their cheers felt distant and faded.

Why was it such a big deal, that the archivist did not wish to see you fight?

When he was alone, the thought came to bother him, to almost taunt him for being so…dramatic. For a moment, he’d justify himself, but Megatronus quickly came to see that Orion had come with only good intentions.

What I lacked was understanding, a grand flaw I have yet to fix, it seems.

Parts of him wished he could forget about Orion…but most of him wished only to see his friend again—to say to him it was all ok. The last thing he’d wanted was to scare his friend away…and he’d done just that.

All of him wondered…could Orion ever forgive him for being so childish?

///

Orion Pax had continued his work and studies. He spent his days working around the building, organizing, and filing one thing after another. At night, the young archivist studied until he couldn’t keep his optics open any longer. He worked tirelessly at his projects, writing papers with much fervor.

Yet deep down, he felt an emptiness. Sadness and guilt continued to weigh on his spark.

Orion wished more and more with each passing day, that he had kept silent. Had Megatronus been angry at him, he wouldn’t have minded…but the rejection that shone so clearly in his gaze…

Orion could scarcely bear the thought as it came to distract him every now and then. Still, the young bot kept a small hope alive in his spark.

Primus willing—he thought, setting down a box of old files—I’ll see him soon. Maybe then, I can fix things…I only hope that time has done its work.

Almost without thinking, Orion moved towards a window, to gaze absent-mindedly at the stars dotting the sky—sparkling from afar, mildly, elegantly. He had realized only in these past weeks that Megatronus was someone special to him…

A friend I…do not wish to lose if I can help it.

///

“Orion, are you in here?”

The young bot looked up from his holopad, hearing a voice from outside the door, abruptly torn from a riveting story about—

“Yes, Alpha Trion,” he left his desk and made his way to the door. It was quite odd that his teacher should come by at such an hour, but all the same, Orion offered no argument.

He stepped outside to find his mentor already slowly walking down the hall. Before he could inquire about anything, Alpha Trion lifted an arm to silence him, not even turning to do so.

“Walk with me, my student.”

Without a word, Orion followed the master archivist, quickening his pace until he had come up beside him.

In silence, they walked for a few minutes. Then, as if sensing Orion’s curiosity, Alpha Trion chuckled softly. His optics sparkled with gentleness, serenity, and boundless wisdom.

Orion had always thought that—even from the first moment he’d laid eyes on his mentor, when he arrived at the door to Iacon.

“Orion, my student,” he began, “I am sorry to have interrupted your recreational free time.” To that, Orion gave a polite smile.

“It was no trouble at all, master.”

Alpha Trion hummed to himself and nodded. “I just wanted to let you know that I notice you have been working hard. Therefore, I wish to allow you a break.”

The surge of excitement was quickly deflated once Orion quickly remembered that such free time was not of much use to him…as he no longer had anyone to meet…and nowhere to go, really.

Sure, it was nice to read—which was usually what Orion enjoyed doing when he had the time. But since he’d met Megatronus, the prospect of hanging out with him was far more exciting than any of the tales spun in his books.

His friend was much like a tale unto himself….

“However, you cannot really use that time for much, right?”

Orion’s spark skipped a beat at his mentor’s words. He halted, staring at the floor. His teacher continued on a few steps before he, too, stopped.

That’s right…and I have only…myself to thank for that…

As if hearing his thoughts, Alpha Trion turned to him and drew close, placing one servo on the young scholar’s shoulder. His eyes shone with something wistful…something Orion couldn’t really put into words.

“Young spark, listen to me.”

“I am.”

“The details of the situation are beyond my knowledge, but I only wish to say one thing. I sense that you know this, but you must fix whatever has happened between you and your friend. I know not his name, nor what caused the evident rift in your relationship. However, I do understand…”

A pure sadness—some kind of deep regret—passed over his gaze, shimmering faintly.

“I understand what it means to lose a friend, to wish only that you’d done or not done one thing or another. To wish you’d not let it all happen…that you could go back in time and do it all over.”

He stared to his right. Following his gaze, Orion set his optics on the gorgeous mural hanging on the wall. In silence, he studied the painting—an artist’s depiction of the Thirteen Primes, all in harmonious glory and power. Not moving his eyes either, Alpha Trion spoke once more.

“Eventually, time comes and takes from us. So, cherish what is meant to last for the moment, and replenish whatever you can. I believe you know in your spark…how to make things right. You have given it time, Orion. Do not let such a precious thing as friends slip through your servos like sand.…for no matter who they are, if they bring you joy…”

“Such a bot is…a true friend….”

“And now, there is understanding. Trust that he…has gained his.”

Leaving Orion to stare ahead, speechless, Alpha Trion gave his student one last pat on the shoulder, then turned and continued down the halls, disappearing round the bend.

///

Tap, tap, tap, tap!!

Light footfalls sounded on the dirty, metal floors, quickly drawing closer to Megatronus’s quarters. He only barely heard them as he sat alone in his room.

His eyes were closed, head against the wall and tilted towards the ceiling.

No real thoughts swam around in his mind.

“Megatronus, sir!”

The shrill voice reached his audio receptors, jolting him out of this blank state. He growled to himself, wishing he had not been disturbed. Then, with a sigh, he rose from the berth and unlocked the door to peek out into the halls.

“There you are! I—I have a message from—uh, from…” the young, thin-framed, brightly colored bot shuffled around his brown bag for a moment. At last, he pulled out a thin screen—a message tablet. As the bot entered something into his delivery log, Megatronus folded his arms, interested.

Who would be trying to contact me…who would use a message tablet…?

“It doesn’t say who it’s from, but the order here says it’s urgent—so here you go, sir.”

The bot carefully handed the gladiator the thin, glowing object. Megatronus nodded his thanks and took a step back into his room.

“Uh—uhm, sir…”

The delivery bot stammered quietly, causing Megatronus to stop look up.

Now what?

“Do you need something?” He asked as politely as he could.

The thin-framed mech gripped the strap of his delivery bag and looked away for a moment before nodding.

“I, uh…I just thought—well, I wanted to let you know th-that—um…”

He shook his head harshly, worrying that Megatronus was starting to become annoyed.

“I’ve…listened to a lot of your discussions—your speeches—and, um….” He took a deep breath, then looked up to Megatronus, admiration sparkling brightly in the depths of his optics. “You’re a hero to me, sir. I—I want to let you know that…wherever you take your fight for freedom…I, for one, am right behind you…” he bowed his head a little. “As a delivery bot, with my weak, thin frame, I’m—I’m no good in any of the professions I wish I could enter, anyway…but your speeches about—y’know, equality and all…I just get so inspired!”

Megatronus was taken completely aback by this, yet pleased to know he had one more ally in his campaign. Feeling pride in himself and joy knowing he could help this bot, he reached out and placed a firm servo on the smaller mech’s shoulder.

“You are worth as much as you wish yourself to be, young bot. And your capability is also, only defined by you.” He smiled warmly. “What is your name?”

The delivery bot looked so happy it seemed as if he’d burst.

“Mikro, sir!”

Megatronus laughed softly. “Thank you for your kind words, support, and,” he held up the message tablet with a grin, “This.” They shared a quiet laugh. After a moment, the gladiator continued. “Always remember this, Mikro. All bots have a spark in them, and that is the only deciding factor of their worth.”

With that, he nodded a goodbye and stepped back into his room, closing the door.

What a nice, young soul.

He set the tablet down on a table and touched it, hoping to see who had sent the—

“Megatronus, hello.”

Orion’s face appeared on the screen, accompanied by his soft, level voice.

Megatronus was greatly surprised. He felt a twinge of anger, but it was outweighed by a strange joy at seeing and hearing his friend after these long, empty weeks…

“I am recording this from my room, and I will send it by an acquaintance of mine as soon as possible. I hope this reaches you well,” On the screen, Orion looked away, seeming nervous. “I will be at the entrance to Kaon city tomorrow. If…you are willing to meet with me…I have something to tell you—to show you—something that would not mean as much were I to share it over this screen. I apologize if I have inconvenienced you. May Primus be with you in all you do, Megatronus.”

Click!

Megatronus stared at the blank screen, seeing his own face reflected in the black glass. He sighed, gently setting the tablet face down. He laid on his berth, staring at the ceiling, thinking.

Finally, he reached a decision.

“See you tomorrow, then, Orion.”

....

I wanna just apologize again if there was any weird wording, spacing, typos, etc because I’m falling asleep/my head hurts/my stomach also hurts as I’m editing this :P ,,,,it’s 2 am,,,,,but for the sake of finally posting it because I’ve wanted to for so long, I’m trying my best! I’ll read through it tomorrow and probably fix some stuff lol

Oh an dw I’m not abandoning the other fic I’m writing, just updating this one cuz it’s been a while....^^’’

ANyway, thanks so much for reading!!! <3

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subakuryu · 4 years

Text

In honor of the canonical birthday for Yark's main villain for Team Prototype - Ezskar (Dec 24), I had drawn the traditional sketch yesterday of my character Nido being briefed on a future project of Ezskar's. And I also felt compelled to write a lil something to accompany the picture, which turned out to go way, WAY further than I had intended. So enjoy this currently untitled brainspew.

Oh... And the digital sketch came way before the pencil sketch that was originally an attempt to work on a grumpy expression... which then became a full body sketch that required full made up context for the annoyed expression. And now it's sorta woven into this crack story that I finished some minutes ago before the 24th ends.

Again... Enjoy the madness below!

____(Start)_____

*Phew-!*

A needlix exhales in relief as he pulls himself up off the floor from beneath a block of pipes, gears and wires galore. Now on his feet, his arms sit akimbo as he assesses his handiwork - a cantankerous engine had landed itself in his corner of the station two days ago, and rightly so with the mileage on Techkanis-9 it had tallied up for well over a decade. Satisfied, he steps up on the front bumper and grabs the hood to lock it down in place.

"Well... I think that's about as much as ya need from me this mornin, eh clunker?" he grins, punctuating with a couple knocks on the hood. "S'bout time you retired, but your owners... Well they're bout as stubborn as I am" he chuckles.

Taking a moment to straighten a slouch and undoing stiffness in his neck with a crunch that'd make a chiropractor blush, he stares up at the clock above his workbench. 11:17.

"Ah... Good timin'" he mused aloud.

Lunchtime! Scanning his workspace, he stoops down to pick up the rest of his tools and proceeds to wipe them down with a towel and put them in their place one by one. He was buffing a wrench when a familiar rhythm came through the garage door.

*Tok Tok t-Tok tok*

His eyebrows sunk, while his pupils came up to meet them in a bonafide scowl. If the wall he was staring at had wallpaper, it'd peel.

"Ah... Good timin'" he repeats coated with equal parts annoyance and resignation.

A nostril whistles as he takes a deep breath and a louder knock returns to fill in that gap of silence.

"Yeah I'll be right there. Gimme a moment," he announces plainly exercising restraint on his grumpiness as he tosses a dirtied rag onto the bench and makes his way to the garage door panel.

A magnetic key hangs attached to the controls as he thumbs the button to raise the sliding door and up it rises with a hum.

Slowly the brighter light of the hall begins to flood in from beneath the metal curtain, and a shadow starts to print onto the workshop floor. Just as the door clears 3 feet, a bulbous, spiky silhouette streaks in from underneath and launches at the needlix - maw open and *hungry*!

"Wha-!" the needlix barely gets out through clenched teeth before his arms reach out to grapple the chitinous assailant as his weight rocked back onto his tail - his legs losing purchase of the floor. His left shoulder and head checked against the wall, his spiny headset dislodged askew.

Eyes wide in shock at all that had transpired in a blink of an eye, the needlix's mind sprinted to catch up with the situation after a few ragged breaths. Familiar gurgling noises arose from the form wriggling in his stranglehold.

"...h-hey, Chompski..." he manages to sputter as he frees one arm to realign his headset.

"rrrRrRRRrRghh~"

"Yeah? Can y'not though?" he pleads with nervous laughter while patting the overgrown mutant clam.

The semi-sentient appendage seems to click apologetically as it begins to withdraw in a rising motion allowing the needlix's boots to reunite with the floor.

With Chompski clearing his line of sight, it unveils a grinning silhouette half-ducked underneath the partially open entry, the emerald green glow of a synthetic swirl-eyed lense making for an easy focal point of attention. Unnervingly so.

"Ezskar," the needlix flatly addressed the imp of an employer.

"As expected of a pro muck warfare player! Impeccable reflexes, Nido!" the shadow sung through his smile as he gave a polite golf clap. "I'd apologize about the 'forced entry' but IT decided to wake up as I got close. I'd blame the fact that it positively reeks of productivity in here. And by productivity, I mean stale coffee" he snickers, gesturing with a hand as if he was whiffing a fine fragrance.

"RrrRrwryyyeargh!" vocalized Chompski as it wriggled in seeming agreement, before all of a sudden it froze in place - its eyeless gaze staring at Nido's right side.

Both Ezskar and Nido pause in anxious silence and in unison traced the line to Nido's right hand, still clutching a newly buffed wrench despite the short altercation.

Marveling at that detail, Nido absentmindedly brings the wrench in front of him to stare at it in disbelief, which Chompski follows with uncanny, locked-on precision. Nido now noticing this, starts slowly waving the wrench around. Still entranced.

Nido blinks, and looks to Ezskar who returns the gaze with a furrowed brow. Nido's tail tip begins to sway, a wicked grin steadily twists onto his cheeks showing rows of sharp crooked teeth, as his eyebrows near float up to the ceiling with diabolical delight.

"N-Ni... Don't you dare," Ezskar's composure flounders. "If you like your pay, you better stay as smart as you usually are" he threatens all the while tugging on his prodigal tether to wrestle it back under his control.

Nido takes another deep breath through what was probably the smuggest his face ever contorted in his lifetime as the metaphorical devil horns receded back into his skull.

"Hahhhh... I guess I do like my pay," he smirks as he tucks his right hand behind his back. "Well? What can I do for ya, Ezskar?"

Ezskar let's go of his tail as he straightens his attire and sweeps back his hair. "Ehem... The new project. The one I left a voicemail about this morning?"

"This morning?" Nido scratches his head as he gazes up at the ceiling for his memories. He ruminates for a moment before realizing he could just check his cell logs. Pulling the unit from his vest, he finds a call from Ezskar... At 3:49AM.

"...Ah. This morning," Nido mutters as he vaguely remembers being interrupted during his morning ritual of downing multiple pots of coffee to function for the rest of the day.

"I missed it. Sorry bout that."

"I'll let it slide," Ezskar dismisses with a wave of his arm producing a tablet in hand which he begins fanning himself with. He strolls up to the inner garage door control panel and restarts opening the door.

"I'm here with a lot more details about it all since I left the message anyway..."

Ezskar turns on the makeshift fan, and takes a moment to peruse the screen, before tossing it at Nido.

"Alleyoop!"

Nido catches it with his left hand and begins taking a look.

Ezskar chuckles as he starts heading out the now gaping garage entrance. "There's a lot to discuss, so let's walk n talk to the mess hall, hmm? It is lunchtime afterall."

Nido doesn't answer but absentmindedly follows Ezskar out. Pulling his inner garage panel key out with his teeth and deftly dropping it into an open vest pocket, he lumbers out into the hall hunched over the plans, his eyes already taking in and considering the logistics of a new large scale multi-layered containment field with lots of bells and whistles. His body on autopilot, he fumbles with his wrench toting right hand to get the garage door closed while he's already planning on how to approach and lead this new project.

"And you want this done... In a month? I may 'reek of productivity,' Ezskar, but I think you've whiffed those fumes too deeply," Nido states with skepticism plastered on his grizzly mug - his lower jaw waggling as if he was discreetly cleaning his teeth.

"I'm willing to haggle, Nido. I got big plans. BIIIG plans! And you're going to help me. That I can assure you..." Ezskar smirked tossing quick glance back before facing forward again. "And...! I'll be sure to pay you very, very well!" Ezskar rubs his fingers together signing the many dollar signs of to be expected.

Nido's chin waggles again for a few moments before he speaks again.

"So you're gonna pay me very well for this new containment project, huh? How much are we talkin?" he says in a very probing manner.

"Hmmmm... I think maybe even triple your current pay? ...yes, triple. If you do as good a job I expect you to do," Ezskar muses aloud.

Nido snorts a bit. "Triple my pay you say?" he inquires louder.

At this point, the two are just now reaching the entrance to the mess hall as Ezskar turns around to address Nido.

"Triple guaranteed! So long as you make this project run on schedule" Ezskar states as he holds a suction-cupped hand out. "Deal?"

Nido locks eyes with Ezskar for a moment as he hands over the tablet into the open palm, but not letting go of the unit.

"Deal," Nido says with an overly warm, beaming smile.

An inexplicable chill runs down Ezskar's spine about that answer. "Wonderful," he utters cautiously. "You can let go of the tablet now, Nido."

"Oh! I will, but before I do..."

Ezskar's brow furrows as he reiterates what was said, "Before you do...?"

Nido's grin grows wider - reminiscent of a grin Ezskar saw back at the workshop. Nido leans closer to Ezskar's height looking past Ezskar's right shoulder.

Ezskar for a moment is about to push the question stepping back to look at Nido's face when his eyes catch a gleam past Nido's leaning right shoulder.

Behind his back... a wrench waves threateningly and Ezskar's eyes widen in sheer terror.

"N-no. NO. NIDO DON'T Y--"

"Chompskiii!" Nido calls as he let's go of the tablet and winds up for a pitch...

Chompski at full attention locks-on already yanking Ezskar around at the wild flailing motions...

"NIDO. NIDO STOP. I WILL F..."

"FETCH!!!" Nido bellows with a wild look in his eye

And in a blur, Nido's right hand is empty while a flash of pink streaks into the mess hall as a commotion erupts.

For a moment, Nido takes in the chaos that has begun past the swinging doors, before giving a satisfied huff as he starts strolling back to his workshop, blueprints and schematics in mind.

"Down payment received! The month starts now!"

---(END)----

Now... Barring the smiling betrayal at the mess hall which all started because the wrench and Chompski wanted to stay relevant for story continuity sake, I feel like I'm satisfied with the characterization I've got goin for Nido. I'm also wondering if this version of Ezskar that my brain produced feels on brand with him being a proper villain.

Bless his mutant, quasisentient tail!

#subakuryu #needlix #nido #suba #Ezskar #TeamPrototypeOC #RIPYark #Chompski #nidoguan

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ohhellnowhy · 4 years

Text

Happy Birthday, Sammy.

In honour of Sam Winchester’s birthday, I decided to write some smut for him. Thought I’d start off my blog with a lil present. Plz be nice, it’s only my first smut, and constructive criticism and comments are always welcomed! Go for a request if you want one. I’ve got a couple more posts planned but if y’all request something I’m more likely to write!

Please reblog with credit and don’t repost without my permission onto other sites. The AO3 post: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23993437

Sam x Reader: smut, swearing, slightly Dom!Sam, restraints.

I woke up slightly groggily next to Sam. It was crazy sometimes, how he was so warm, despite me being on the other side of the bed and barely touching him. But what was a little strange was waking up next to him. Usually, Sam would’ve been up and out for his run by now, maybe even back by the time I’d awoken, but Sam, Dean and I had been out for a relatively taxing hunt and drove back to the bunker more or less immediately after getting the job done. So Sam was particularly sleepy today and wouldn’t go on a run until later.

Glancing at the time, I saw it was 09:03. A strange time for me to be up and Sam not to be. Then the realisation dawned. Today was May 2nd; Sam’s birthday. I figured my subconscious must have made me wake up earlier so I could put my plans into action. Oh, and boy, did I have plans.

Part 1: Birthday wake-up blowjob.

Smirking almost evilly, I slowly peeled back the covers from the both of us and positioned myself just next to his crotch. I then palmed his cock through his boxers, noticing the morning wood that was slightly growing beforehand, whilst slowly edging the underwear down. Sam groaned above me, but not waking up yet. Once the boxers were down enough, I started softly stroking him enough for him to get harder, but only slowly so he wouldn’t wake up before the best bit. Sam was still making some happy noises, now a little bit louder and complimented by a little bit of squirming.

It was the perfect time to engulf his cock with my mouth, and Sam shot awake with a deep groan. “Ah, SHIT, (Y/N). That’s a wonderful wake up call.” I looked back up at him and hollowed my cheeks, sucking with earnest. I bobbed my head up and down his length, drawing stifled groans from the glorious, messy man above me. I flicked my tongue over the head of his dick, making him thrust up into my mouth which consequently made me gag. Trying to suppress the reflex, I took him down further into my throat. “Oh, God, (Y/N), I’m gonna-” With the obvious statement he was making, I cupped his balls and circled his cock with my tongue, swallowing around him as he came. Once I swallowed all his cum, I sat back up to give him a quick peck on the lips.

“Happy Birthday, Sammy.” Once he got his breath together, he actually formulated a coherent response. “Oh, yeah. I sorta forgot about that.”

“How do you forget your own birthday?” I questioned, looking at him incredulously. “Well, we never really celebrated birthdays.” He shrugged. “I guess there always seemed to be more important things to focus on.”

“And that attitude is why I’m making your birthdays more important to you. They’re good milestones and an excuse to have fun. Remember Dean’s birthday this year? Wasn’t it fun to just get away from hunting a little bit and enjoy quality time?” He sighed. admitting defeat. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” We then sat and just held each other for a bit, talking about just whatever we wanted for an hour or two. “Thank you for the wake up by the way. We need to have morning sex more often.”

“I totally agree with you. We don’t do it nearly enough - barely ever.” With that, he captured my lips with his, tenderly and sloppily making out. He started to grab my ass, trying to pull my shorts down but I cut him off. “Nuh-uh. We’ve got other plans today. Why don’t you go for your run first?” He whined, trying to give me the puppy dog eyes but I resisted. “Nope. You want me to get you anything from the kitchen before you go out?” Sam sighed, knowing that once I knew for certain I was going to do something, I wasn’t ever giving up. “Can I get an apple and a bottle of water please?”

“Sure thing.” I smirked, getting out of bed and walking to the kitchen to retrieve the requested items. Dean was also in the kitchen, cleaning up the dishes from breakfast. “Hey, Dean, Sam’s off out for his run - we’ve got to start now.” With that, he strode out of the kitchen to get Jack and Cas for the preparation. I grabbed the apple and a bottle of water from the fridge - Sam always had cold bottles of water kept in the fridge for quickness - and met Sam on his way out. “Thanks, Babe.” He said, giving me a quick kiss before heading out.

It was time for Part 2: Just a Small Birthday Party

Once the rest were assembled in the kitchen, I set out tasks. “Dean and Cas - you’re in charge of the decorations. We need some in here and around the map room. Jack - we’re gonna do the cake. Decorations are in my old room. Go.”

Dean and Cas scurried off, realising they were time limited. Jack got the ingredients out and measured them whilst I got the utensils and the like out and started preparing. Jack was watching my baking intently, clearly wanting to learn something as interesting and delicious as this. I narrated what I was doing, with reasons as to why with my limited knowledge. I wasn’t the best baker in the world, but every now and then I did something that surprised the Winchesters. Soon, the cake was in the oven, and Dean and Cas were already pretty much finished in all the rooms. Jack and I cleaned up the baking mess (complete with licking the spare batter off the spoons and whisks) and started preparing the decorations for the cake and making other foods. Dean was cooking gourmet burgers and homemade chips - he actually had quite the affinity for cooking and had more time to perfect it once they’d moved into the bunker.

Just as Jack and I were about to decorate the cake, Cas came rushing in to tell us he heard one of the garage doors closing, meaning Sam must be back. I told Cas to take over what I was doing with Jack whilst I distracted Sam for just a little while longer until we were ready. Coming into our shared bedroom to see Sam stripping out of his workout clothes, I tempted him with the prospect of us showering together and another blowjob. He took the bait and we very much enjoyed the bunker’s long-lasting hot water and stable water pressure.

Once we were cleaned up, I noticed Dean had shot me a text saying they were ready. “Hey, Sam, I think Dean’s cooking those nice burgers we get from the butcher’s - you up for food?” Hearing his stomach grumble, he shot me a look that said it all.

A little nervous, Sam and I wandered towards the kitchen. Turning on the lights, which he seemed confused at as to why they were off, Jack, Cas and Dean stood up to shout “SURPRISE!” along with me behind him. Jack and Dean joking pulled some party poppers as Sam took in some decorations. A banner that stated “Happy Birthday!” In a surprisingly nice, simple colour was strung above the table, with a few more obnoxiously stereotypical balloons in one corner and some presents wrapped near them. “Aw, thanks guys! You didn’t have to do this for me.” Dean spoke first, joking that his little brother was “-getting older by the minute so they had to stave off the grumpiness as long as possible.” He also revealed the burgers he was cooking with an assortment of sides and fillings available. We all served up our lunches and cracked open a beer each.

As we ate lunch, we talked about all sorts; Dean’s surprisingly good cooking, Cas eating on a rare occasion, retelling old stories and teasing at embarrassing moments - we were all content and having a good time. Jack and I dumped the dishes in the sink to tend to later as we brought out the cake and Jack lit all the candles for us. He cut the lights as I carried the cake to the table and decided not to sing happy birthday as only Dean and I knew the song and it would only be awkward otherwise. “Make a wish!” I said as Sam blew out his candles, Cas then questioning these strange human customs moments later. Sam cut some cake for us all and the others appreciated my baking skills.

“Okay, time for presents!” Dean announced, taking the whole pile of gifts and dumping them on the table just as Cas cleaned the rest of the plates away. The first was from Cas - neatly wrapped were some old lore books that, somehow, the Winchesters had never got their hands on before yet Castiel somehow did. Jack had gotten Sam a plaid shirt and a big photo album with a few old photos he got from Dean and some more recent ones that had been taken on various occasions - but there was still lots of room for more. I gave Sam a box of chocolates and a couple of fiction books Sam had been meaning to read for a long time but he had just never got round to. Finally came Dean’s gift; a pair of Lycra shorts and other pretentious but cheap workout clothing that were just utterly ridiculous. But then in all seriousness Dean handed Sam a box that, once unwrapped, revealed a new tablet. Sam was particularly ecstatic with this gift, but then he profusely thanked us all again for the presents. Jack went on with washing the dishes (with angel powers) whilst Dean and Cas cleared up some rubbish from the unwrapping.

I helped Sam carry the presents to his room. As he bent over to put the new shirt in one of his drawers, I came up behind him and snaked my arms around his waist and propped my head up on his shoulder. “Ya know, those chocolates and the books weren’t the only presents you’re receiving from me today.” He turned around to face me and smirked knowingly. “Oh? And what would be the other present?”

“Let me show you.”

I grabbed a bag hidden in the wardrobe, and dashed off to the bathroom to change.

The last part - Part 3: Amazing Birthday Sex.

Sam’s POV

Waiting in anticipation, I thought I knew what to expect but I also didn’t. I presumed it was birthday sex or some variation thereof, but whatever twist (Y/N) was putting on it I couldn’t tell. I was snapped out of my thoughts by a text I’d just received - from Dean. It read:

Me, Cas and Jack are off to a hunt in Washington - leaving you two to have some alone time. It should be a pretty simple hunt, but we’ll be about 3 days. I’ll only call if it’s desperate. Stay safe and have fun, birthday brother ;)

I sent back a quick, thankful reply as I realised (Y/N) had planned all of this. The sly, stunning dog had planned this all out and roped the rest of them in aswell. Not that I was complaining, simply noticing the effort (Y/N) had put into this. God, she was amazing; on every single level.

Speaking of the devil, she sauntered in at that point, looking absolutely delicious on every level. She wore a red, lacy matching set of lingerie that made me almost drool at the sight of her. Her cleavage displayed perfectly and teasingly as it was framed by her bra, and the completely lace panties accentuating her figure in the best possible way. “Like what you see?” She said tauntingly, one hip cocked out sassily. “Oh, fuck yeah.” I replied, striding purposefully over and crashing my lips into hers, holding her face in my hands.

She pulled away and said: “Hang on. I’ve got something else for you.” (Y/N) told me to sit on the edge of the bed, hold out my hands and close my eyes. I then felt her sat on the bead, nearer to the headrest but then lent forward to place two objects in my hands. Before I could try to assess what they were by touch alone, she said I could open my eyes. I immediately looked down to see a pair of leather-lined handcuffs and a long, silk rectangle of fabric. It was obvious what they were for. “You want me to use these on you?”

“You can do whatever you want with them. The control’s all on you, birthday boy.”

I groaned at all the filthy thoughts running a millions miles an hour through my head and almost leapt on (Y/N) to kiss her. I positioned her to lay beneath me, her starting to unfasten the buttons on my shirt. Bringing up her wrists to the headboard, I scolded her gently. “Ah, ah ah.” I stopped her, fastening her hands together with the handcuffs, attaching them to the headboard so she was stuck in one position.

“The control’s all on me, little girl.”

She let out a shaky breath at this.

We both knew it was going to be one hell of a night.

#sam winchester #sam winchester x reader #sam winchester x reader smut #dean winchester #castiel #jack kline #dom!sam #handcuffs #happy birthday sam winchester #smut #why i am like this #whyyyy

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