#The other one I'll eventually work on more but I'll probably never answer asks for it unless someone specifically asks for it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sameschmidtdiffname · 1 year ago

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Sweet Delights

Peeta Mellark x AFAB!Reader

Summery: It's a slow work day in District 12. With rain pouring down outside, who can blame you for wanting to indulge a little? Everything's fine so long as no one walks in... right?

Tags: Pre-established relationship, no use of y/n, pet names, reader has AFAB body/female pronouns, switch!Peeta, switch!Reader, edging, female fingering, teasing, count down, orgasm denial, blow job, face fucking, public sex, someone walks in, dirty talk, Peeta's a freak but he's sweet about it, praise kink if you squint, mentions of eating out, cum swallowing, cursing, post-Mockingjay but that's not really relevant, no reader orgasm this time around. Once again, I'm probably forgetting something.

Notes: I have to say, I did not expect Peeta to win the poll! And not to worry for everyone else, I'll get to all those characters eventually. (Derek girlies, I see you and I love you.) Thank you for your support on the last one, I hope you like this one too! Bon ABBA teeth.

•°《▪︎♡▪︎》°•

Peeta loves surprises.

Giving them, receiving them. If it's unexpected, Peeta is practically bouncing off his chair to figure out what to do with it.

It made everyday life sweeter. Slipping a note into his apron pocket when he wasn't looking for him to discover, finding a million more hidden in my apron. Little drawings hidden amongst everyday things, like the wildflowes Peeta likes to draw and place next to my powders and perfumes. But best of all surprises were the little pastries we would make when the days were slow and the other was watching the front of the bakery. Usually using scraps, because Peeta detests wasting food, but always delicious nonetheless.

The best innocent surprise, I should say.

Today was an especially slow day. Rain pounding down in District 12, making the roads thick with mud. It's a blessing for the hot ovens that fight against the cold seeping through the front windows. Although they're helping me more than Peeta, who's up front perched at the counter, insistent as always that someone needs to be watching the shop. "We won't hear the bell over the rain," he'd said.

I knew better than that. There were tells when Peeta wanted a surprise. He'd never just ask for something, always fearing rejection. Of course the minute I opened my mouth he was ready to do whatever I had even intrusively dreamed of so long as it meant love and praise. But to ask for himself? It's a whole different matter. So when he is insistent I work alone in the back, I understand that this is his own silent way of asking for some sort of surprise. And with the way his broad shoulders look in that pale yellow knit sweater, who am I to deny him?

I'm not one to deny him anything, quite frankly.

The best surprises of all are when we sneak up behind the other, always starting so innocently. Maybe while one of us is baking, maybe while one of us is simply dressing. With the quick slip of a hand, it doesn't take long before the other is panting and begging for release. Not that we always give it to each other.

Peeta liked sneaking up on me in private. Usually when I was in the back baking.

"What are you working on?" He'd usually ask.

"Custom order," I may answer with a smile. He liked my smiles, always said so.

"What are the details?" He'd ask. He'd put his hands on my lower back, rubbing soft enough to not disturb me while still working out some knots.

Then I'd prattle off details. This one is for so-and-so down on whatever-street-or-corner, they'd like a cake.

"For the Harvest Festival?" He'd ask. I'd nod, still focused on my task. "How many orders do we have for the Festival?"

"A good bit, it's our busiest time," I'd always say with a bright, soft tone to my voice. He'd chuckle, placing a small kiss on the back of my neck and pressing his hips against mine from behind, usually revealing his hard on.

"So, how many orders this year?" He'd ask. His hands would work at a knot, his breath hot on my neck, and his hips would roll ever so slowly against mine, taking his time to build both of us up.

"Ah, I think- I think 12?" I'd say, trying to focus on both him and whatever I was making. Cake. Right. Stir.

"12?" He'd ask. His cock would be deliciously hard, grinding against my clothed cunt just a bit harder as his hands would return to my hips, steadying me against him. "That's pretty good."

"Double digits," I'd say brightly, my voice breathy as I struggle more to focus. Cake. Stir. Hands, not hips.

But I'd always do hips instead, leaning back and tilting my head ever so slightly so he can see my enjoyment.

"You need to stir," Peeta would gently guide in my ear. My back would press against his front, his chin now resting on my shoulder.

"I know," I'd say softly. I didn't know shit.

He'd chuckle, one hand slipping to my front to cup one of my breasts.

"Need to get those orders out," he'd remind me. "You always seem so stressed about being on time."

"One of us has to be," I'd say. His hand on my hip would find the band of my pants, slipping past them and teasing me, sliding his fingers against my wet folds.

"Pick up the whisk," he'd instruct. My hands would shake as they obeyed, moving from being splayed across the marble counter to resume my task.

"Stir slowly," he'd say. His large fingers would slip over my entrance, coating himself in the thick lube now dripping from me. "You want to make sure the texture's correct."

It took such mental energy to balance the two things. Especially when he would finally sink in his middle finger, always going knuckle deep and twirling it around inside of me, making sure to leave no spot untouched. His other hand would pinch and pull at my breast, giving special care to make his fingers replicate the feeling of his soft lips wrapped around my sensitive nipples.

"What's the next order?" He'd ask. I could feel myself dripping down his hand, and I knew he loved this. Peeta would do whatever he could to make sure I was wet, even when he wouldn't go any further than simple teasing. I think he liked the idea of me always being ready. Not that he would assume. He always started out slow, and if I ever said no it was never a big deal. He'd simply continue talking to me and go on with his day perfectly fine. But if I was willing, he'd always massage or do whatever until he could feel my arousal himself. I think it's why he likes eating out best. Especially when I'd talk him through it, usually promising to cum down his throat while tugging his soft blond hair. His eyes would grow wide and soft at that, his whimpers increasing as he'd fuck me quicker with his tongue, grinding himself against whatever. It was a beautiful mess he'd turn himself into, desperate and begging silently as he clutched my hips.

"The what?" I'd ask breathlessly. I was tight around him, focused on how slow and sweet he was pumping in and out, twirling and wiggling his finger inside of me. His other hand slipping under my shirt, and his lips sucking gently at my neck, careful not to leave bruises.

"The orders, sweetheart," he'd gently remind me. "What's the next one?"

My lips would part, eyes fluttering shut as I tried to remember. His middle finger would pump out and then pump back in with the addition of his pointer finger, tearing a soft moan from my throat.

"Shh," he'd gently whisper. "We're at work."

He liked this little game. Ramping me up, forcing me to behave a certain way so to not tip off customers. If Peeta wouldn't immediately be arrested for it, something tells me he'd simply fuck me in the front room, bent over the register counter during business hours and just act like it's a normal thing. Such a sweet boy.

"I- ah- need to look at the book," I'd say. He'd roll my nipple between his two fingers, his other two fingers pumping slightly faster as his lips suck at the spot just under my ear.

"You have such a good memory though," he'd say. "You can remember. Just think."

That's a lie. I have a horrible memory and we both know it. But if I say I can't, he'll pull away. Sweet and gentle, he'll go get the book and place a million kisses on my cheek before leaving me to my work and dizziness.

Next order. Next order. That's easy. It's a tart with cream on top. Cream. God, I'd like his cock in my mouth right now.

"Next order. Come on, pretty girl. I know you know it," he'd softly encourage.

"I know it," I'd moan, my head tilted back and resting on his shoulder, fucking his fingers instead of working on the cake. He feels so good, so warm and protecting. Simply smelling the traces of dill and cinnamon baked into his skin made my mind shut off, my eyes growing tired from the feeling of safety.

"I know you know it," he'd say so sweetly. "You're smart, pretty. And you've got a delicious cunt I'd love to fuck over and over if I could," he'd say softly, placing warm kisses on my neck between each point. I was panting openly now, squeezing my eyes shut as I tried desperately to remember who ordered what.

His fingers curled inside of me, making rapid 'come hither' motions fast enough to steal a soft, sudden cry fron my lips. Peetas mouth found mine, swallowing my moans and giving me some of his own.

"I may have to count down, sweet girl," he'd warn me. His fingers had found my g spot, hitting and rubbing it at rapid speed. The cuff of his sweater is soaked from me, his hand sticky and coated. I shake my head quickly, moaning and gripping the counter as best I could to keep myself standing.

"I can remember," I whimpered. Peeta laughed softly.

"I know you can, sweet girl. But look at you, you're a total mess." His voice is sweet and kind, his eyes taking in my current state. "I can't have you all dumb back here during work hours."

He's sweet but he's cruel. God, he's cruel!

"I think there's berries in it," I stammered.

"Ten," he's start patiently, his teeth tugging at my earlobe.

"N-no, wait! There's- There's berries and there's..." I'm completely making this up. I have no clue what's next.

"Nine," he continued, knowing this.

"That's not fair, you started low on purpose!" I whined.

"Eight." He wouldn't argue. I was right.

"It's got- got cottage cheese frosting." I'm so close, so awfully close. I can feel myself clenching around him rapidly, my pussy swallowing his fingers quicker and quicker as I climbed closer towards the edge.

"Seven." Oh, God. This motherfucker.

"Six. Come on, good girl. You can do this," he'd encourage sweetly, kissing my cheek and trailing to my collarbone with said kisses.

"They wanted flowers on the top. Violets, I remember that!" That detail is actually true, surprisingly. The candy violets were always easy to remember because I loved them so much.

"Five." His other hand kneeded my breast, admiring the soft flesh and running his thumb over my stiff, aching nipple repeatedly. "Four."

"You're speeding up," I whined. "This isn't fair."

He let out a soft 'aw,' apologizing and speeding his hands to bring me closer to the edge.

"If you can come before one, I'll fuck you right here," he promised. "You can come before one, can't you?"

I nodded stupidly, moaning and panting as I sped up my hips, slamming down on his hand repeatedly. Cake details be damned, this is my mission now.

"Three." I'm so impossibly close.

"Two."

"Wait a minute, slow down-"

"One."

With one final, cruel, hard thrust of his hand he slips away, leaving me to almost crumple to the ground and opening my eyes to blink stupidly, trying to process what just happened.

"You okay?" He asked softly, his dry hand cupping my cheek and looking at me carefully with his sweet, hazel eyes.

A long, soft whine escaped me, batting my lashes as I lean against him and whisper as many 'please's as I can, pressing a dozen kisses all over him. He laughed softly, returning the kisses with whispered 'I love you's.

"Let me go get that book," he'd said. And that was that until that evening when he made up for it like he always did.

Now I was carefully removing a tiny apple pie made from leftovers meant specifically for Peeta. The rain was as bad as ever as I entered the front room, Peeta leaning on the palm of his hand while he struggled not to doze off. His long lashes flutter softly, his lips pressing against each other and his jaw a bit tight.

"Hi sleepyhead," I whisper, sneaking up behind him. He started a little, turning to look at me with the sweetest smile he has.

"Hi," he says cheerily, his voice just a touch gravely. His eyes glance down to the small treat in my hands, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "Is that for me?"

"Of course it is," I say, placing it in front of him. "Figured you could use something to warm you up. It's freezing up here."

He chuckles. "It's not that cold," he says as he picks up the fork I'd placed next to the tiny pie and began scooping some up.

"Liar," I teased. "You're shivering."

He shifts in his seat slightly. "Not from that," he says, a small blush growing on his cheeks. He takes the first bite, then another, smiling and leaning his head against my shoulder.

"Thank you, dear," he says softly. He leans in for a kiss to which I happily oblige, cupping his jaw with my left hand. His lips taste sweet, the sticky apple and cinnamon tasting delicious on him. I swipe my tongue across his lips, stealing a soft moan from him as he allows my tongue access to his mouth, melting in my hands. His hand dropped the fork, accidently missing the pan and instead hitting the counter, but neither of us care. His hand comes up to the back of my neck, pulling me closer to silently ask me for more.

My other hand trails down to his lap, finding one of his hands already there, palming his stiff, clothed cock through his pants.

"Is this what you were doing when I came up?" I ask softly, pulling away from the kiss only a bit. He chases me, biting at my bottom lip to drag me back to him. That's a yes, then.

My tongue explores his warm mouth, tasting him while my hand traces the outline of his dick, pressing and flicking against the tip. He whines, bucking softly into my hand, desperate for more.

"Can you stay quiet?" I ask him, pulling away again. This time my hand on the back of his neck grabs his golden locks, holding him still as I look into his eyes. His cheeks are red as well as his lips, kiss swollen and damp. His breathing is heavy, his eyes blown out. Barely touched and already a beautiful mess.

"Huh?" He asks, his voice higher than usual as he tries to focus. His hand grasping my wrist, making sure to keep my hand where he can buck against it.

"If I asked you to, would you stay quiet?" I repeat gently, teasing him with kisses by leaning forward and pulling away. We both liked this.

"Yes," he said quickly. "Anything."

"Anything?" I ask, raising my brows.

"Anything."

Alright.

I press a quick, admittedly sloppy kiss to his lips once more before dropping to my knees and slipping under the counter. His brows furrow in confusion before he realizes what I'm doing.

"You can't!" He whispers frantically. "What if someone walks in?"

"That's why I asked if you could stay quiet," I say patiently. "Can you?"

He bites his lip, obviously unsure. His eyes dart between me and the shop door, thinking.

"We can wait," I offer genuinely. This seems to be the deciding factor.

"I'll be quiet," he promises eagerly. "I've got a pie I can shove in my mouth if I can't, right?" He jokes, his smile crooked and eager as his hands work quickly to begin freeing himself. He's excited alright.

"Right," I say, taking his hands away and undoing the buttons on his pants myself. "Just keep watch of the shop, alright sweet boy?" He nods, placing his arms on the counter and trying to resume his position.

I slip his cock from the confines of his clothes, pressing a soft wet kiss to the underside along a thick vein. A quiet whine escapes him, his hand covering his mouth. I'm not truly worried about him being quiet, no one is going to come in here during such bad weather. It's just an edge to help work him into a frenzy, knowing full well he never stays quiet. I'd thought I was vocal when we started our relationship, but Peeta easily takes the cake.

His cock is warm, half hard against my lips that trail his veins. My tongue slides from his tip to his base, barely any pressure on his skin. Grazing always works best to start out with. When I reach his base I lap at his skin, blowing soft, cold air against the wet spots to make him squirm in his chair. I focus on his base for a while, sucking, licking, blowing. Ever so gently I even bite just the tiniest bit, enough for him to notice the edges of my teeth along his red, pulsing cock. His voice is soft, panting quietly.

My tongue trails slowly up his cock, exploring different ridges and spots that make him whimper quietly, working my way back to his tip which is soaked with thick, warm precum. I wrap my lips around him, swiping the moisture away with my tongue in one round sweep. I relish in the cry it tears from his throat, the dozen little apologies he whimpers immediately after. His hand covers his mouth, and the other trails down to gently cup the back of my head. I smile around him, swirling my spit around his tip as I suck gently, pressing my tongue against the underside of his dick.

His fingers play with my hair, unintentionally tugging it and apologizing as he does. I simply squeeze his thighs and begin lowering myself, taking him until his tip hits the back of my throat, taking deep, even breaths to fight off the gags that threaten to escape me.

It's when my nose buries in his soft, curly hair at his base that the bell of the front door rings.

"Hi!" Peeta says a little too quickly, a little too brightly. "Welcome to Mellarks Bakery. How may we- I help you today?"

I'm frozen, his hand gripping my hair out of anxiety. If I pull away, we'll be done. If I stay here, Peeta may very well have to make good on his promise.

Although, acting has never been a challenge for him, has it?

The customer is describing a custom tart she wants made, then pulling out a long list and prattling about this, that, and the other thing. Her accent clearly shows her as a Capitol transfer, and these orders always take forever given that they still have a hard time releasing the concept of not over indulging. But this time I don't plan on complaining.

My tongue begins to move slowly, rubbing carefully along the bottom of his cock while I watch his face carefully. He's smiling at the woman who's still going down the list, his eyes glancing at me to confirm this is what we're doing. With a small nod from me, his hand casually covers his mouth once more and he resumes focus on the woman, his other hand now guiding my head slowly, carefully.

He pulls me to the tip of his dick, working me back and forth slowly on just that spot. My tongue works quickly, my lips wrapping around him tightly to help create proper suction around him while I suck.

"Do you have pumpkin?" The woman asks.

"W- what?" Peeta asks, clearing his throat. "Oh, pumpkin. I'll admit I'm running a little low, it's been a popular request since we don't grow them locally. I've requested more but I don't know if they'll be in in time, so if you want something that uses it you'll have to get it-" his voice cracks as I deepthroat him again, swallowing around him quickly before returning myself to his tip. He clears his throat. "You'll have to reserve it right now," he finishes. I can see him quickly scoop up some of the pie, shoving it in his mouth and trying to hide his blush. It's lucky for us how oblivious Capitol born citizens are.

His hand guides me faster, focusing on fucking his tip near the back of my throat since we both know full well how hitting the back of my throat isn't an option. We can't risk any noise gagging may cause since it may not be covered up by the soft music playing on the shop speakers, a gift from Beetee for the reopening.

His pace is fast, faster than it should be. He's close, smiling at the woman and acting as though everything is normal. His large vein throbs, precum spilling out of him with each new thrust into my mouth. My hand reaches to press two digits against the soft spot behind his balls, a sensitive spot that makes him cry and squirm.

His jaw tightens as I do this, his eyes darting down daggers quickly. I can hear coins on the counter, Peeta accepting the list and opening the register. With the loud 'clank' springing forth from the older device, he takes the chance to slam my face down fully on his cock, his fingers making the coins loudly shift around as he gives the customer her change. Tears spring to my eyes from the sudden force, swallowing around him as I focus on my breathing to recover. He promises the woman he'll do what he can and wishes her a good day, and she coos sweetly. She reaches across the counter, patting his cheek and calling him a sweet boy before turning and walking out of the bakery, the bell chiming at her exit.

Peeta looks down at me, smiling brightly. "Hi," he says with a newfound excitement.

I moan around his cock. He gets it.

"You okay?" He asks, his hands moving to cup my cheeks. I make an affirming noise, trying to smile. "I wasn't too rough, was I?" He asks, his thumbs swiping away the small tears dangling from my bottom lashes. I shake my head, swallowing around him. He moans softly, his grip tightening.

"Yeah, I kinda forgot you like it when I am, don't you?" He asks, beginning to slowly pump his dick in and out of the back of my throat. I moan happily, taking him as easily as I can.

"You know how hard it was not coming down your throat with that lady in here?" He asks. "I had to edge myself so that it wouldn't become known how much I like fucking your throat."

My cunt throbs at his words, his closeness making him willing to be more rough. He starts fucking my face in earnest, tearing noises from both of our throats as he loses himself.

"Can't do that again," he pants. "Next time I'm just taking you. I don't care who walks in." He's moaning openly now, his cock abusing me. I can feel him throbbing, twitching. There's enough precum it's all I can do to focus on swallowing and breathing.

"Show this whole District how much I love you," he babbles. "I'll eat you out on this fucking counter, I don't give a fuck."

I press my heel against my clit, grinding into it to relieve some friction as my hands steady my body against his thighs. The chair underneath of him creeks horribly. If anyone walked in now, I don't even think we'd have a small second to hide what we're doing.

"I love your fucking pussy," he rambles, his eyes beginning to flutter shut. "Love your fucking mouth. You take me so well. So eagerly."

I moan around him, spit dribbling from my mouth, hair stuck to my face. His balls slam against my chin, his wet curls pressing against my nose as he face fucks me like a rabid animal.

"I'm gonna cum down your throat," he announces. "Then you're gonna cum down mine. Again," thrust. "And again," thrust. "Until we don't even have to make dinner from how full we'll be." Goddamn, he's close.

His hands are rough, gripping my face. "Rub your tongue harder," he commands. I do, putting as much pressure as I can on his throbbing vein. He moans loudly, leaning forward and clutching my head.

"I'm coming," he pants, his voice high and tired. "Fuck, I'm coming-!"

His warm, thick load shoots down my throat, filling my mouth so much I cant breathe if I want to swallow it all.

"Such a sweet girl," he praises. "So sweet and good, eager to make me cum." His face is pressed against the cool counter, his chest heaving as he recovers his breath. His thumbs stroke my cheeks at different paces, small whimpers escaping him as I milk him dry with my mouth, making sure not a drop is left behind. When he's fully softened, I place a small kiss on his tip before tucking him back in, rebuttoning his clothes and patting his thighs one more time.

It takes a moment for me to rise, my joints stiff and my mind scrambled from the abuse it had just suffered. I stumble a little as I stand, Peeta's weak arms collecting my body and bringing me into a warm embrace.

"You're wonderful," he whispers, resting his head against my chest. I chuckle softly, placing a soft kiss on the top of his messy hair.

"So are you," I say.

He looks up at me, flushed and smiling at me with the most wonderful, lazy look on his face.

"Your turn," he says, finding a new wave of surprising strength and placing me on the counter.

"Peeta, we're still open," I giggle, batting his hands away.

"I know," he says. "Did you think I was joking?"

He stares at me, smiling and eager as he begins to part my legs.

This is going to be a long night.

•《♡》•

Whoever gets second place on the poll is who I'm writing next. Feel free to send in requests for characters/scenarios! See you next time, you degenerates <3

Masterlist

#josh hutcherson #peeta mellark x reader #peeta mellark smut #the hunger games peeta #peeta mellark #thg peeta #peeta x reader #peeta x you #peeta x y/n #peeta smut #josh hutcherson fanfic #josh hutcherson x reader #jhutch

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dootznbootz · 1 year ago

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Odysseus was afraid the entire year on Aeaea in the Odyssey.

Content warnings: Rape, Sexual Coercion, Sexual assault, Sex Work, power dynamics, this will also be long as fuck as I talk too much. This is NOT a "Circe the Goddess Hate Post". I call her out but that's it. I tried to keep this neutral but still making a point (Let me know if I gotta put more)

Lots of lovely folks on here have written great essays on what Calypso did to Odysseus as it's soooo blatantly obvious there. It literally states how he cried every day and how he flinched from Calypso, very straightforward on how he was explicitly raped.

But I've noticed that a lot of people are always iffy about Circe's situation (understandably so, it's not so in your face.) She's usually always mentioned in the "Odysseus never cheated! He was raped!" posts but then the evidence is only ever given against Calypso, and then mentioning how you can't say no or disobey the orders of an immortal and how it was in exchange for freeing his men.

WHICH IS ALL CORRECT!!! But!!!

There ARE immortal/mortal couples who genuinely love each other. Dionysus and Ariadne, and Eros and Psyche are examples. Apollo and Hyacinthus. Psyche indeed becomes immortal eventually and in some versions, both Hyacinthus and Ariadne do too. But even while mortal themselves, their immortal lovers still remained respectful and loving towards them and definitely doted on them. There are definitely power dynamics at play here but there's some nuance.

Odysseus and Circe's relationship, however, is very different. We all know he slept with her at the very least once. And that was in exchange for his men being returned to humans. That was the only time it was explicitly stated. With Calypso, it tells you every night he was enchanted and slept beside her. It was the narrator speaking but Odysseus is the narrator now and it's his story. If you think he lied, this probably won't change your mind anyway.

But even if it was a one-time thing, (which isn't the only interpretation and I will have points that talk about others) then why did he stay a year? What was he doing?

I'm doing a deep dive into the year he spent on Aeaea based on evidence in Book 10 and then the beginning of Book 12. Step by step, and honestly I'm writing this for Tumblr, not as a thesis so I will be a bit more casual but still using sources. To me, it's very obvious that he was uncomfortable throughout the text simply based on the language that is used. But it's very subtle and not an outright statement of "He's been crying every day."

BTW, just so we're clear, this is not a "Circe is the root of all evil, etc." type of post.

This isn't meant to villainize her. She's an immortal being and in mythology that changes things. Everybody is morally gray. I genuinely think if we were to ask her feelings on it, she'd probably be like "Oh, yeah! Turned his men into pigs! Strange little man he was." I don't think she gave a flying fuck.

I just simply get pissed tf off when people think Odysseus was fine. It honestly disturbs me how often I'll go on other websites YouTube and see everyone call him a whore and a womanizer. It's sexism at its finest because 1.) "MaN AlwAyS wAnTs sEx" and 2.) women can't rape/coerce. THIS IS SIMPLY TO LOOK INTO HIS FEELINGS ABOUT IT.

This is also only for Homer's Odyssey, using different translations. If you want to discuss this, (I'd be happy to! Just be nice!) DON'T BRING UP ANY OTHER WORKS.

With all that out of the way, come yell with me 🤗

I've read multiple translations, as I know there's going to be bias depending on who's translating. And having done so, each one has basically the same situations described the same so that's nice for consistency. Also, there are some parts in the story that are vague and that we'll never have answers to.

Odysseus first simply sees the smoke from her chimney and then sends his men in, after drawing lots Eurylochus leads half of the men to check out the house. I mentioned here vaguely how the 2 immortals he sleeps with are both introduced while singing and weaving, which could be seen as an enchantment (which to me is most likely. They both possess magic and are goddesses). So I'm just gonna move past that. Just take a peek and come back or just know that enchantment was likely.

Next, I'll see people often joke on Tumblr about how

"Odysseus says that Polites is his best friend yet only mentions him once!"

I think Odysseus mentions his best friend, the one to jubilantly go in first, to show WHY he would go through with this. How much these comrades mean to him. That's his best friend, and there are approximately 20 others who are now pigs as well. Could you knowingly leave one of your best friends to live a life like that knowing you could've done something?

[...]Circe—and deep inside they heard her singing, lifting her spellbinding voice as she glided back and forth at her great immortal loom, her enchanting web a shimmering glory only goddesses can weave. Polites, captain of armies, took command, the closest, most devoted man I had: ‘Friends, there’s someone inside, plying a great loom, and how she sings—enthralling! The whole house is echoing to her song. Goddess or woman—let’s call out to her now!’ So he urged and the men called out and hailed her. She opened her gleaming doors at once and stepped forth, inviting them all in, and in they went, all innocence.

(Fagles, Book 10)

In the Odyssey, it's never mentioned why she turns people into animals. I think they were turned into pigs because, throughout the Iliad and Odyssey, Odysseus is often associated with boars. His men are associated with him, therefore: 🐖 Piggy. From what we know, the lads were just eating her food. With how much Xenia and hospitality are a large part of the story, they probably thought they were safe. They were GUESTS. This is especially welcome after the Cyclops and the Laestrygonians. And it literally says "All innocence". They were simply naive.

Then Eurylochus runs back, so terrified that he couldn't speak at first. He then begs Odysseus to just leave the men behind. Odysseus has shown that he does TRY to save his men when it is truly not reckless to do so.

But I shot back, ‘Eurylochus, stay right here, eating, drinking, safe by the black ship. I must be off. Necessity drives me on.’

(Fagles, Book 10)

Then the famous warning from Hermes. I've seen folks bring this up when talking about this. YES, he is literally commanded by Hermes to not refuse her if he wants his men back in basically every translation. It sounds like Circe was warned as well. When? We don't know, but it sounds like Hermes didn't pick "sides" here.

Strange that he was still like, "Sleep with each other" to both, because he could've been like, "Circe, there's this guy named Odysseus. When he comes to this island, change his men back." But who knows, maybe it was Circe's idea from the beginning and Hermes went along with it. Just food for thought.

Now here’s your plan of action, step by step. The moment Circe strikes with her long thin wand, you draw your sharp sword sheathed at your hip and rush her fast as if to run her through! She’ll cower in fear and coax you to her bed— but don’t refuse the goddess’ bed, not then, not if she’s to release your friends and treat you well yourself. But have her swear the binding oath of the blessed gods she’ll never plot some new intrigue to harm you, once you lie there naked— never unman you, strip away your courage!’

(Fagles, Book 10)

But that doesn't explain why he was there for a year afterward! Nor if he himself was okay with it, which is what I'm trying to delve into as he wasn't.

Also the knife thing? She's still immortal. It was meant to startle her. Her dad is Helios. Odysseus would've been toast, literally.

Also note this exchange wasn't a "Yippee! Hermes says I'm going to get laid!".

...just approaching the halls of Circe, my heart a heaving storm at every step, paused at her doors, the nymph with lovely braids— I stood and shouted to her there. She heard my voice, she opened the gleaming doors at once and stepped forth, inviting me in, and in I went, all anguish now …

(Fagles, Book 10)

Another translation by Ian Johnston, (they all say the same thing essentially but trying to make a point.)

I continued on to Circe’s home. As I moved on, my heart was turning over many gloomy thoughts. After I had walked up to the gateway of fair-haired Circe’s house, I just stood there and gave a shout. The goddess heard my voice. She came out at once, opened her bright doors, and invited me inside. I entered, heart full of misgivings.

HE👏WAS👏SCARED! The tone is solemn and suspenseful. He was just told that without Hermes' help with the root, he wouldn't be able to survive and bring back his men. Circe was dangerous.

He made her swear not to harm him.

Straightaway she began to swear the oath that I required—never, she’d never do me harm—and when she’d finished, then, at last, I mounted Circe’s gorgeous bed …

(Fagles, Book 10)

Please note that she NEVER promised that to his men. His comrades did NOT have moli in their systems. He had no way of truly ensuring their safety in any way from Circe.

He then refuses to eat or speak, literally "lost in grim forebodings". If he "just got laid", then why isn't he happy? Not many men can say that a goddess CHOSE to have sex with them. He did it to get his men turned back. It was an exchange. I don't think Circe is "Evil" so maybe it slipped her mind. Or yes, she could've thought, "Hey, I got what I wanted. He's handsome enough. Homer never shuts up about how hot this guy is He hasn't brought up the pigs yet. I'll just let this play out. Maybe HE forgot. I don't have to do anything." We don't know. But Odysseus probably felt like he got deceived.

"Hey, I did my part of the deal. I slept with you. Now do yours."

She pressed me to eat. I had no taste for food. I just sat there, mind wandering, far away … lost in grim forebodings. As soon as Circe saw me, huddled, not touching my food, immersed in sorrow, she sidled near with a coaxing, winged word: ‘Odysseus, why just sit there, struck dumb, eating your heart out, not touching food or drink? Suspect me of still more treachery? Nothing to fear. Haven’t I just sworn my solemn, binding oath?’

So she asked, but I protested, ‘Circe— how could any man in his right mind endure the taste of food and drink before he’d freed his comrades-in-arms and looked them in the eyes? If you, you really want me to eat and drink, set them free, all my beloved comrades— let me feast my eyes.’ So I demanded.

(Fagles, Book 10)

He doesn't trust her despite what she had told him that he should when they sleep together. He has figured out that while she will not hurt him, his men were not a part of that oath, the men he was trying to protect in the first place.

She is then moved by how they rejoice when they see one another again. While turning people into animals for funsies isn't cool and coercion is fucked up, I think she comes to see this group as not quite friends but I think she did find them entertaining in a way.

This is very strange but I've seen some folks say that since Odysseus was pissed at Eurylochus for still not believing him about Circe is proof that "Oh he was trying to defend her!". Which??? Uh, Eurylochus was literally questioning his leadership as a whole. Calling him reckless and shit. He is captain and he's the King, he can't let that shit slide. The text literally says "Mutinous". Also if I had to sleep with someone I did not want to especially if it was to save my friends and I got called names afterward I'd get fucking pissed too.

Only Eurylochus tried to hold my shipmates back, his mutinous outburst aimed at one and all: ‘Poor fools, where are we running now? Why are we tempting fate?— why stumble blindly down to Circe’s halls? She’ll turn us all into pigs or wolves or lions made to guard that palace of hers—by force, I tell you— just as the Cyclops trapped our comrades in his lair with hotheaded Odysseus right beside them all— thanks to this man’s rashness they died too!

They stay a year. Again it's never stated that Odysseus slept with her that whole time. You could interpret that. (Honestly, I feel Circe would get bored with him? She's a goddess, she's got more important matters than mortal men. And she definitely doesn't love him.)

His men DO have to bring it up that "Odysseus has forgotten his native land." Maybe they thought they could sneak out without her knowing??? I am fucking REACHING but hold on as Telemachus did because he knew Nestor would well, be Nestor and try to coax him with "Have a meal with us! Let me tell you about how badass I used to be in my youth." But to sneak away from a goddess? Without her permission? That won't end too well. Aeolus in the beginning kicked out Odysseus when he tried to ask for another bag of wind. If she didn't want him around, she could literally boot him out. While she didn't force him to stay like Calypso did, she didn't "release" him either.

We don't know if they've been asking for a long time. Odysseus does say to Circe that they have been begging him nonstop, but he could also be saying that to try and convince her. He's good at persuasion. I think while he knew he could rely on her for food, shelter, and good advice, he still didn't feel...SAFE with her. I think he was possibly avoiding her personally.

I think HOW he asks her to leave is important to know as well.

...but I went up to that luxurious bed of Circe’s, hugged her by the knees and the goddess heard my winging supplication: ‘Circe, now make good a promise you gave me once— it’s time to help me home. My heart longs to be home, my comrades’ hearts as well. They wear me down, pleading with me whenever you’re away.’

(Fagles, Book 10)

Throughout all of Homer's works, the characters grasp another's knees when they are desperate and are literally at the other person's mercy. Priam did when begging Achilles for Hector's body back. The man who literally killed his son and was defiling his body by dragging it around. Leodes grabs Odysseus' knees to beg for his life before Ody kills him. If he saw her as a friend, and not a captor, WHY DID HE FEEL THE NEED TO BEG IN ORDER TO LEAVE?! No one, who is in a healthy relationship, has to BEG for permission to leave. Or to "Break up", if you interpret them as still sleeping together.

And even Circe acknowledges that he is there against his will!

‘Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, old campaigner, stay on no more in my house against your will.

(Fagles, Book 10)

[...]Odysseus, man of many resources, scion of Zeus, son of Laertes, don’t stay here a moment longer against your will

(A.S. Kline, Book 10)

This is probably another reach that you can ignore but the whole "they wear me down", could be trying to appease her. "Look, you're REALLY cool, it's actually my crew that wants to leave hahahah please don't kill them"

I mentioned before how Telemachus snuck away from Nestor but that was simply out of necessity because he needed to go home now. Not rest for the night. NOW. Nestor is just everyone's grandpa. Menelaus kind of talked more but Telemachus is very straight up in "Please I have to go now" and Menelaus immediately got things ready for him. He never has to beg and clasp his knees. Telemachus was never afraid. Menelaus is a fun uncle and Helen is your cool auntie.

Back to Circe! She tells him instructions for the underworld, they were in her bedroom. But that might've been the only way to speak with her. As even Penelope is usually away from the suitors when they are in her halls, Circe may have done the same. The text never states she played hostess physically. If she was hosting in the halls during the day, why did Odysseus wait until night to talk to her? He could've just asked her while she was on her throne in front of everyone. (He did so with the Phaeacians)

Or maybe he went alone because she only swore an oath to not harm him and so he didn't want his men near if she decided she didn't want to let them go. I could be missing something here so feel free to say something. Idk if this was a pride thing on how "I don't want others to see me beg".

She has info he needs in order to go home as well. She tells him to go to the Underworld.

She gave him new fine clothes and put on pretty clothes herself but that doesn't mean they had sex. Nausicaa gave him nice clothes as well but he never slept with her.

Then he leaves. Immediately. Not even doing a headcount as he didn't realize one of his men had died. (That was negligence on his part but he wanted out) He booked it, to the UNDERWORLD BY THE WAY. Circe even had to sneak the animals he needed for the sacrifice. Odysseus even basically said "She's a goddess. She can do things mortals can't" at the end of the book. And it almost feels...Numb? Solemn? Neutral? Gives a "It is what it is" vibe.

But Circe got to the dark hull before us, tethered a ram and black ewe close by— slipping past unseen. Who can glimpse a god who wants to be invisible gliding here and there?

(Fagles, Book 10)

She��d slipped past us with ease, for who can see a god move back and forth, if she has no desire to be observed?

(Johnston, Book 10)

She's a goddess. She has magic. She can do whatever the fuck she wants.

NOW ON TO BOOK 12!!! That was long! GET A SNACK AND WATER! LUCKILY THIS'LL BE SHORTER!

In Book 11, Odysseus swears, upon all his loved ones in Ithaca, to Elpenor that he'd give him a proper burial as he's been "unwept, unburied". So in Book 12, he sails back to Aeaea to fulfill his promise.

But you know what's funny to me?

He didn't tell Circe he was there.

He didn't even go to greet Circe himself. He sent his men to go get Elpenor's body.

The biggest clue that he didn't love/trust her is that if she was his "Affair partner" then why not go see her for "one last night together"?

SHE came out herself and pulled him aside to know what happened and then gave more advice.

I dispatched some men to Circe’s halls to bring the dead Elpenor’s body. [...]

Nor did our coming back from Death escape Circe— she hurried toward us, decked in rich regalia, handmaids following close with trays of bread and meats galore and glinting ruddy wine. [...]

But Circe, taking me by the hand, drew me away from all my shipmates there and sat me down and lying beside me probed me for details

(Fagles, Book 12)

In every translation, it talks about how he sits, and she lounges/lies down. That's not sex 🙃 In some translations, it even says he tried to be with his shipmates but she pulled him away!

So we lay down and slept beside our ship’s stern cables. But Circe took me by the hand and led me away, some distance from the crew. She made me sit, while she stretched out beside me on the ground.

(Johnston, Book 12)

Then, she gives advice about the sirens, Charybdis, Scylla, and her father's Cattle. He tries to ask if he could save all his men. She scolds him for even thinking he could try. He again books it out of there.

I think we all know it wasn't "love". But I think a lot of people think Odysseus was willing and happy with whatever this was. "Friends with Benefits", if you will. I guess you could see it that way but I will say that makes me feel itchy with the whole power dynamic and fear. I don't think folks who have that arrangement have to beg on their knees to ask if they can leave though.

I mean the entirety of Book 10 gives me the vibes of "Laughing uncomfortably because you don't want to upset the other person". To just grin and bear it.

A lot of this was just putting the text here and picking it apart step by step. What you do with this is up to you. It's rambling while banging pots and pans together.

Maybe you see him as drugged the entire year and still sleeping together, as the moli "wore off". Even then, just because her magic can't affect him, there are plenty of natural concoctions that can be created that can affect mortals.

Maybe you see the entire year as sex work in exchange for shelter and food.

Maybe he was just alongside his men the whole time under her roof and was avoiding her after the exchange. After he got asked by his men to finally leave, he would start to walk up to that room only to freeze and turn around, thinking "One more day won't hurt. Should wait until I know she's in a sympathetic mood".

I beg of you, however, PLEASE understand that there was fear and coercion throughout his entirety on Aeaea. He wasn't staying to get laid. While there is so much going on and too many things that are left vague to really know exactly what happened, it is consistent that he was scared/numb. Lots of people go through with things they don't really want to do just to appease others. There are plenty of situations of sexual trauma where one person goes through something and the other has no idea the other person isn't okay. ESPECIALLY WHEN SOMEONE CAN HARM THE PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT AT ANY MOMENT!

Sexual trauma is a very complicated thing and while he was scared, he definitely wasn't as traumatized by her as he was by Calypso. Calypso was a torturous hell while Circe was a year of walking on eggshells, as he did still receive help from her and she even apparently taught him a special knot. Not comparable but I still think Circe should be acknowledged. As even Odysseus acknowledges Circe when talking about how Calypso held him captive, as @leynaeithnea and @akaittou have reminded me. Leynaeithnea's addition:

A. S Kline translation of the Odyssey, book 9 Calypso, the lovely goddess, kept me there in her echoing caves, because she wished me for her husband, and in the same way Circe, the Aeaean witch, detained me in her palace, longing to make me hers: but they failed to move my heart. she held him back from leaving - one way or another - he did not want to, she LITERALLY compares Circe with Calypso, - yes he uses a stronger word for Calypso (here "kept" vs "detained") than for Circe, but it is still not willingly that he stayed.

He would not have brought up Circe alongside Calypso if her affections had "wanted". It's wild because I read the Odyssey and kept thinking "Y'all are calling the sex slave a cheater? The guy who slept with a goddess to get his men back? The ultimate simp apparently doesn't love his wife??"

Things I'm adding that shouldn't affect the argument as it is not in the Odyssey but I want to mention as it's a "fun fact": Odysseus' dad was an Argonaut. Laertes probably met Circe as well, (or knew of her) with the whole purifying thing and maybe Odysseus heard his dad tell stories of her. Later myths also have Circe with the habit of turning her crushes (or their lovers) into something with Scylla and Picus.

In conclusion, Yeah, he was afraid of her. At least to an extent. And don't pull the whole "Ancient men didn't get raped". Male victims exist and deserve compassion for what was done to them and women are capable of sexual abuse. If you think otherwise, you are not a true feminist and Fuck you. I said in the beginning this'll be casual and I don't wanna write a fancy ending. You can still think Circe is neat but you have to know that this was fucked up.

If you think a lot of this is bullshit or wanna give more context or wish to yell with me but still know he wasn't alright on Aeaea, cool. If you want to point out mistakes or something I should keep in mind with interpretations then feel free to say so but give text evidence. If you try and bring up the Telegony and/or Madeline Miller's Circe, fuck clean off. This is Homer. If you call Odysseus a whore and not the malewife he canonically is I'll start biting. 😤

#feel free to add thoughts! just be nice #Was a bit afraid to post this but now I don't care lol #I'm a tired bitch #Youtube and idiots on tumblr got me acting up.#This may be too thorough but idc.#idk why the colors get weird #I don't know how other people can see all these things lined up together and not see how he was not okay.#like I said you can still like circe the goddess but know this was wrong!#might make private sometime but fuck it #Circe the goddess is “fine”. Circe the book is not #It sounds like it does her dirty anyways. Odyssey Circe would take book Circe out back and beat the absolute shit outta her.#if you bring up the tele-GONE-y then BEGONE yourself #odysseus #the odyssey #odyssey #circe #tagamemnon #tw rape #tw sa #tw sex assault #crying shaking throwing up #greek mythology #anti madeline miller #anti circe #Mad rambles #anti-madeline miller #essay #save me morally gray circe

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tales-of-wocdes · 5 days ago

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Twins find mc hiding inside a cupboard.

Mc: i saw a dream where the bad people found me and took me back to the dark place.

Later all the custodians and protectors try to coax all the kids out of the cupboard because now all of them got scared

"Kids, come out. See, both Sandor and me are here. No one is taking you away." Lexia said, gesturing to the second protector hovering nearby.

"No." Came the snappish answer from Azha. "It's scary."

"Even with us all here?" Alessa asked gently, kneeling next to the cupboard. "You know, Lexia and Sandor are really strong, even if it does not always show."

Atru's blank face peered out of the cupboard, perhaps estimating how true those words were, before a hand pulled him back in.

Havard stepped forwards next, and knelt. "Come out. Please. The orphanage has sturdy walls and more Protectors guarding them. We are in Firgrat. It would be very hard for anyone to get to you here."

This time MC peeked out. The child said nothing, staring at Havard silently. Then slowly withdrawing back in, eyes almost accusingly flashing. "Very hard, not impossible." MC never said the words but clearly thought them.

Of course, the cupboard probably would not stop anyone capable of breaking into the orphanage, but the children probably did not consider that.

The four adults present glanced at each other... The door opened.

"What is all this ruckus about?" Custodian Ethel had arrived.

Havard explained the situation to the older woman, while Lexia tried luring the kids out with a cookie.

To everyone's surprise. It did not work. Though three hands reached for the cookie, the children did not come out.

"Give! We need provisions." Azha stated.

"I'll give you the cookie, if you come out." Lexia said, smiling wickedly. "Come on." She waved the cookie. "It's fresh."

The hands kept grasping, but Lexia held the cookie out of reach.

"You'r mean! We are never coming out!" Azha shouted, as it became obvious they could not reach the cookie.

Unfortunately for the children, Ethel was now all caught up. She marched to stand in front of the cupboard.

"All of you, out. Now." She said, voice firm.

Nothing happened.

"I will count to ten." Ethel warned, voice stern.

The twins broke first on four. They crawled out, looking afraid and scared. Well Azha did, Atru remained blank faced, but was clutching Azha's hand. Their fears were eased as Alessa hugged them, whispering something soothing.

MC was a tougher, peeking out once or twice. Or possibly they did not know how to count to ten yet.

"Nine. Last chance." Ethel said, and MC peeked out again, eyes meeting Ethel's.

A short staring match ensued.

MC lost, and soon crawled out, stood up and squirmed a bit under Ethel's gaze that was still on them.

The older woman patted MC on the head. "There is no need to hide, child. You are in a room full of people who will stand between you and whoever tries to take you." She said, and glanced at Havard and Lexia.

Havard was there in an instant. "MC, please tell us if you get scared. I promise, no one is taking you away." He said, kneeling in front of MC.

Lexia soon followed. "Yeah, we swore. Remember?" She asked, smiling.

Eventually MC nodded, after a lot of staring.

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

I am sure Havard could get MC out... but my brain just went to that one scene in Dragon Age Origins in Redcliffe village where you get asked to look for a kid and he hides in the closet, and Wynne just tells them to get out.

#tales of wocdes #the silver protector #interactive fiction #wip #twine game #twine wip #fantasy #interactive novel #writing #twine story #snippet

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auclairedetoru · 3 months ago

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Alrightyy, hii :3

May I request Levi with a reader who basically grew up around him? Like they were a child when Erwin found them and basically dropped them to Levi's care when he was busy. They have no home or parents and they have been a subject of experiments because of an ability connected to their blood (in my story it's healing but can be anything)

Reader is a 17 yro Survey Corp member but higher up than Eren and the other cadets since they started earlier.

(I'm very sorry if this is way too specific, I'm lowkey just requesting this for oc story purposes <33)

So sorry this is late, life happens lol 😭

tried my best to interpret it as close to your vision as possible. I've never written a reader/oc with powerful abilities, but it was fun to imagine it all and put it into words. I hope you like it 🤍

WARNING!! Spoilers to Levi's story in the OVA.

Levi never thought he'd take someone under his wing after what happened to Furlan and Isabel. He might not have expressed it but constantly losing people he cares about hurts him a lot, that's why he refuses to form any kind of relationship with anyone, too afraid they'll end up dead as well.

But now thanks to Erwin he's stuck with this grumpy kid who is in a very rough shape and whose frown gets deeper every time he looks at them. He was told that they had some sort of powers and that he's the perfect candidate for training them. Levi scoffed when he heard that but eventually agreed to do it.

He was instructed to take them into a random office and get them to talk about what happened to them wherever Erwin found them and then explain what the plan for them is. Time is very precious to Levi though and he has a lot of work he still hasn't finished so he's hoping he'll be done with them in a matter of minutes and send them on their way.

“What's your name again?”

Yeah, he remembers their name, it was the first thing Erwin told him about them, but he had to get them to talk somehow.

They glare at him and look away, their arms tightly crossed across their chest to show that they do not like being here and whatever it is he has planned. Levi sighs with a roll of his eyes. He doesn't like to deal with adults, let alone a kid who probably just became a teen and is starting to develop that shitty teenagers attitude.

“The longer you take to answer the longer you have to sit in this room with me and we both don't want that. So I'll ask again, what's your name?”

That got them to answer him with a mumble of their name. It's nothing major, but it's a step closer to making progress with them and ending this meeting quickly. Levi's not liking being stuck in this situation either and he wants to get it over and done with as fast as possible. He can already feel a headache creeping up on him at the thought of the mountain of paperwork waiting for him in his office. He could've gone through half of them by now.

“Where did you come from?”

“I don't know,” they shrug their shoulders, still refusing to look at him. He raises an eyebrow, where on earth did Erwin find this one? In the underground again? He hopes not. He doesn't want a constant reminder of that god awfully place.

“What do you mean you don't know?”

The kid huffs in frustration, “All I remember is being in the lab, is this what you wanted to know? Can I go now?”

A lab? What lab? He looks down at the paper Erwin gave him with information about them. It only mentions their name, age, physical description, and possible history. There's no mention of a lab or anything similar.

“What were you doing in the lab?”

They scoff and roll their eyes, “I don't know, they wanted to extract my healing abilities or something like that. I might not know how to read and write, but I do know that it's not possible. They wouldn't listen to me, though.”

Levi quickly writes down everything they said to report it back to Erwin, he has a feeling this has nothing to do with the underground, but a more bigger problem.

“what do your healing abilities do exactly?”

“I don't want to talk about it.”

“Guess we'll be spending the night here, then.”

Levi doesn't spare them a glance as they throw their head back and groan. He's starting to understand why Erwin brought them here instead of taking them anywhere else. The survey corps could benefit greatly from their abilities, especially during expeditions. Training them will be the hard part, they're very stubborn, but he already has a plan on how to tackle that.

“my blood can heal injuries quickly, the worse the wound is the more blood is needed, but more like a few drops, not a lot. Those greedy bastards at the labs forgot I needed it to survive and got mad when I got sick from them extracting from me every single day without feeding me properly.” the kid scoffs as they remember those stupid blurry faces of the "doctors" yelling at them for passing out. It's not like they could control how their body reacted to literal torture.

“Humans can be very shitty,” Levi mumbles and looks back up at them after he finishes writing down all that they said, “that's why your first training lessons will be in hand to hand combat, you'll also be attending classes to learn how to write and read.”

Their face morphs into a shocked expression, their eyes following him frantically as he stands up and collects his papers, “what? No! I don't want to do all that, I want to leave!”

Levi stares down at them, his expression neutral yet intimidating making them gulp slightly, “you have two choices, either wake up bright and early tomorrow to start your training, or leave and try to fend for yourself, however don't expect those shitty doctors not to find you again.”

Safe to say those last words scared them more than he intended because they immediately get up and follow him wherever he's planning on taking them, as long as they don't go back to those scary experiments and tests.

A couple of years later...

“Captain! There you are!”

Levi turns slightly to look at the smiling 17 year old. A lot of changes have happened in the last few years. Y/n is now a different person than the one he first met. They're a lot more relaxed, a lot more happy. They tell him that it's because of their "very awesome and strong captain" but Levi thinks it's their determination to change that got them to where they are now.

“you're done with training for the day?” he asks them as they walk side by side.

“yep!”, they nod their head, “but Hange told me they need me for the experiments they're gonna do with Eren later today, just in case something goes wrong.”

Levi nods and looks ahead, “make sure four eyes doesn't go crazy with the experiments, the more they go overboard the more they'll use your blood and their stupid brain won't remind them that you're not a never ending fountain of healing.”

The young soldier nods, “will do. Plus, I need to take care of myself for the expedition next month, a lot of people rely on me during those.”

There's a moment of silence between them as they walk inside the building. Their relationship has developed into one where they could both stay silent for hours without it getting awkward or uncomfortable, and they both quite like that. Y/n did turn out to be the talkative type, like they're making up for the years they were practically mute, but they mostly rambled with the other soldiers they befriended, with him however, just his presence made them happy.

“Captain ?”

Levi hums to let them know he's listening.

“If Furlan and Isabel were still... Alive, would I get along with them?”

He pauses and looks over at them. He only talked about those two once, and it happened years ago to help them open up and continue training. He didn't think they'd still remember that talk or ask him about them.

“Maybe with Isabel. You're both a pain in my ass and love animals.”

Y/n nods and continues walking. They want to know more about Levi's past, about his life in the underground, about how he got to his position as a captain at the survey corps. They want to ask the people who knew him before them but at the same time they want to hear it coming from the source itself.

He is actually a huge inspiration for them and they look up to him a lot. He is very skillful and smart and they hoped to become like him one day, maybe not humanity's strongest soldier, but something close to that. Levi isn't just a mentor to them, but something much closer. According to their friends who have families, older brothers protect their younger siblings and teach them how to defend themselves, and that's exactly what the captain does to them, so in their heart he is their older brother.

Y/n bites the bottom of their lips as they look over at him nervously. Levi can sense their stare and he can tell they want to ask something else but are too nervous to do so. He sighs as the slowly approaches his office, “spill it out already, brat.”

“I didn't say anything!”

“But I know you want to say something,” he glances at them from the corner of his eyes, “so hurry up, my time is precious.”

Y/n looks down at their shoes to avoid looking at his intimidating eyes, what they're about to request is something very simple, but they're afraid he'd say no.

“...can I nap in your office?”

Levi scoffs. This habit started years ago and it's one of the things that made him gain their trust. They would nap on the uncomfortable sofa he has in his office while he gets work done. He should've never let them do it in the first place but it all happened by accident and now it became a regular occurrence. He planned on stopping it as soon as it started but then Erwin told him to do it and suddenly he didn't feel like doing it anymore.

He has that in common with y/n, being told to do something they were already planning on doing makes them not want to do it anymore. Now that he thinks about it, Hange and Erwin have mentioned on several occasions that spending so much time with him has turned y/n into a mini version of him. Apparently they have the same stare, same speech, same techniques, they even drink tea the same way he does. He never paid attention to those details, but maybe they were right.

“will that get you to leave me alone and not talk my head off?”

Seeing how they excitedly nodded, Levi sighs and opens the door to let them in. They run straight to the sofa where a pillow and blanket are already waiting for them, just like last time, and the time before that.

He would never admit this, not even to himself, but if you look deep down in his heart, you'd find y/n sleeping on a much more comfortable sofa, in a place where they're protected from any harm, whether it's humans or titans. He cares about them at a level he never felt before. Is this how it feels to care about family? Maybe. He never cared about Kenny like this, but it feels close to how he feels about his mother.

Sometimes he likes to imagine what life would be like if titans didn't exist and he never experienced any traumatic events that turned him into the person he is today. It's not always the same thing, but in every version, y/n is standing next to him, being the annoying brat they are, and he couldn't have them any other way.

Levi doesn't believe in religion, yet each day he prays and hopes that nothing will harm them or take them away from him as it has with others he once cared about. Losing them would be his last straw, it would be the last stab to his heart that kills him.

He looks over at their sleeping form from his seat behind his desk, and in that moment he promises to protect them with all his might, even if it hurts others in the process.

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ghost-proofbaby · 2 years ago

Text

twenty four hours (modern!eddie munson x fem!reader)

HOUR SEVEN

in which you come to a few realizations while remembering the very first night you'd met eddie. a phone call with steve leaves you with more questions than answers.

→ tropes: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, slow burn

→ warnings: strong language, eventual smut, heavier angst this chapter but all will be well soon, two uses of y/n, upside down does not exist, minors dni

→ word count: 4.4k+

→ a/n: shorter chapter today but the focus here is the memory! finally making some progress haha. also trying out something new with formatting/the summary situation. if i hate it, i'll probably change it. <3 also, italicized portion is a memory.

masterlist.

spotify playlist.

◁ previous part, next part▷

7:00 ────��────────────── 24:00

DINGUS: [image attachment]

DINGUS: y/n just texted me this. we’re not getting an update this hour.

BIRDIE: what the hell happened?

DINGUS: she hasn’t said yet, as you can see in the photo, robs.

ARGYLE 😎: what do we THINK happened?

BIRDIE: my best bet is fighting?

ARGYLE 😎: lover’s quarrel? Makes sense.

BIRDIE: i’m adding nance back into the chat

BIRDIE added NANCE to the groupchat.

BIRDIE: @NANCE explain what you meant earlier please. we’re having a code red. the bad kind.

DINGUS: there’s a good kind of code red?

NANCE: Oh God, what happened?

DINGUS: y/n texted me saying she fucked up, and we’re assuming either she’s finally murdered eddie, or they’re fighting again.

NANCE: I can call Eddie, if you guys want?

JOHNNY: So does this mean we’re all $500 richer?

BIRDIE: @JOHNNY if you still think this is about the money, you’re a fucking idiot

—

HOUR SEVEN - 10:00 PM

There had been a time in your life where you believed you didn’t hold a single mean bone in your body. A time where you were soft-spoken, a time where you overflowed with kindness and dotted out compliments to random strangers. There was once a version of you in this lifetime that worked so fervently to be the type of person people liked and enjoyed the company of. You always swore to always treat others with the same grace as you would prefer to receive as well.

A year ago, that version of you had been sidetracked.

You stare at the wooden frame of Eddie’s door with blank eyes. He wasn’t going to open it any time soon. You’d tried knocking multiple times, calling out to him in a soft voice, begging and pleading and begging and pleading. His response continued to be silence.

“All I’ve ever done is hurt you.”

With the haze clearing, in the midst of the aftermath and sour clarity, you wish you would have corrected him. Eddie and you had surely hurt each other countless times, but it is not all he’s ever done.

You can remember the better moments clearly now. The time you’d tripped walking up the steps of one of the bars on Main Street, and Eddie had been the only person in your friend group to stop completely, reflectively reaching out to catch you from embarrassing yourself. The night of your birthday, in which he hadn’t come to the party due to “work” as Steve had explained, but had sent a card along with your friends that contained a gift card to your favorite coffee shop. You hadn’t even realized he knew your favorite coffee shop, and you’d come to find out that he didn’t even ask a single one of your mutual friends for it. You’d brushed it off as a lucky guess. And there was the time you’d forgotten your wallet during a brunch with the group, and he hadn’t hesitated to pick up your bill with his own. He didn’t even give Robin the chance to argue; he’d simply snatched your bill from across the table when you’d paled as you dug through your bag, and didn’t say a word about you paying him back.

Small moments. Glimpses of kindness, bandages on wounds that you’d been ignoring to keep up a war between the two of you that you’d always assumed he’d started.

Eddie Munson wasn’t the enemy, and the first night you two met was never a red herring; it was a glimpse into who he actually was. A clear look past the armor he hadn’t formed yet when it came to you.

—

A YEAR AGO

“They’re going to love you!” Robin insists as she continues to shove you from behind through the entrance of the bar. Steve is ahead of you, guiding you through the rough crowd to the table the rest of the group had already snagged.

You turn your head over your shoulder, reaching up and grabbing the hand that Robin rested on you, “You don't know that. What if they hate me? What if they think I’m the worst person they’ve ever met?”

Even as you wore a smile, there was a truth to the fear in your words. You were petrified that these strangers, strangers who meant so much to your only friends on campus, would turn their noses to you. There was nothing Robin or Steve could do to extinguish the fear. It was already a terrible knot in the pit of your stomach, tying and untying itself like a nuisance as Steve started to wave at a brunette who had been scanning the bar as if waiting for someone.

She’s pretty. Wavy hair barely brushing her shoulders, sharp features accentuated in the shadows of the busy location. The moment her blue eyes locked on Steve, all the concentration on her face faded to be replaced with an excited smile.

She returns the wave, and the boys surrounding her at the table all glance in your direction.

You’re still half-hidden behind Steve as the three of you approach the group. Robin bounds out from behind you, scooping the woman you assumed was the famous Nancy into a barrelling hug. Your eyes flickered to the boy sat to Nancy’s right, shaggy hair flopping against his forehead and smile creases exposed as he nods to Steve and holds up his drink in greeting. Beside him, another man sits, long and shiny hair flowing over an outrageous Hawaiian print shirt and topped off with a baseball cap that looked to be the merchandise of a pizza shop. His smile is welcoming – something comforting in the relaxation of it.

You’re almost completely captivated by the warmth that bled from the group when Steve and Robin are suddenly taking their seats. Robin sits beside Nancy, while Steve takes the seat across from the man with long hair.

The only seat left open was between Steve and a man who’s back was turned to you.

His hair is in a loose bun, unraveling against the nape of his neck. You could see each and every defined curl. His broad shoulders stiffen beneath a leather jacket and denim vest, and his ring-clad hand cradles a short glass of something dark, something fizzy.

“Alright, everyone!” Steve announces, turning and beckoning you to take this seat. Your stomach twists again, realizing you’d be sitting beside a stranger. One who had yet to even spare you a glance, “This is Y/N.”

There’s rounds of greetings and introductions as you brush shoulders with the stranger to take your seat, and try as you might to keep up, all you can focus on is not looking at him.

You’re guess was correct – the pretty girl that Robin had hugged was Nancy. The boy with floppy hair at her side was Jonathan, and the man with long hair told you his name is Argyle. His tone of casualty matches the comfort of his smile as he holds a hand out to you across the table, both your elbow and his brushing against empty baskets once filled with bar food as you shake.

Finally, you turn to look at the stranger beside you, Steve reaching around to clasp his shoulder.

“And mister oh-so-welcoming here is Eddie.”

Eddie. He finally turns to look at you, with doleful eyes and a tight-lipped grin, and you almost forget how to breathe.

He was intimidating. All broodish glances and stand-offish energy. But then Argyle cracks a joke, and suddenly, it all fades. The air in the room crackles frantically as you watch him chuckle slowly at first, until he finally descends into cackles with Steve and Jonathan alike.

That’s when the first vine sprouts.

The second one does when the conversation becomes overwhelming, and you find yourself lost amongst the sea of new friends. They’re nothing but friendly, trying to learn more about you but easily falling into well-established inside jokes at times. When you descend into silence as you watch them recount a story of a time that Argyle snuck them into his job after hours, you suddenly feel Eddie lean in closer to you.

“I think they tell this story every time they get drunk,” he whispers, tilting his head so that the words only reach your ears, “I’ve probably heard it a hundred times by now.”

You bite back a smile, “Just tonight, or the entire time you’ve known them?”

“Both.”

You have to fight hard to swallow down giggles, Eddie hiding his with a sip of his drink. A waiter who had taken your order nearly ten minutes ago arrives with your own drink. An amaretto sour.

“I’m Eddie, by the way,” he says as you taste the drink. Its citrus bursts across your tongue and you nod.

“So Steve mentioned.”

“Yeah, but I felt bad for not introducing myself,” he shrugs. You were facing him fully now, no longer trying to stick vehemently to Steve’s side. “I didn’t want to seem like a dick, just… had a long week.”

You knew all about long weeks.

“I get it,” you assure him, “Are you in school, too?”

“Night classes,” he supplies with a wave of his hand, “Midterms are a bitch, especially after working all day.”

“Tell me about it. I think I’m about ten seconds away from getting fired at my current gig,” you joke, and Eddie laughs. It occurs to you that you’d probably do just about anything to hear his laugh more, and already begin to conjure up terrible jokes to pull that sound from him once more. It’s even more comforting than Argyle’s friendly cadence, than Steve’s elbow knocking yours to remind you he’s still there.

“Why would you think that?” Eddie’s nose scrunches, more curls falling against his cheek. Your drink is immediately forgotten.

“He caught me talking shit,” another laugh falls from Eddie’s lips at your deadpan, more reserved than the previous but just as melodic, “I give it a week. He was already looking for a reason to send me to the chopping block. Says I talk too much to customers.”

“Is that even possible?”

“Apparently.”

For a moment, in the smoky bar, it’s just you and Eddie. All knotting nerves have been replaced by the weight of the vines that surge higher and higher in your chest, growing at impossible rates. They don’t strangle you like your fears of the night had; their weight is a comforting hold, something solid to reach out for in the unfamiliar territory of new socialization. Without the mask of intimidation, Eddie feels like an old friend.

You assume that everyone else is distracted by their own conversation, but Robin catches the way you lean into him as the two of you joke. She nudges Nancy subtly, and they both share a look when Eddie blushes at you being impressed as he tells you that his battle vest is hand-sewn.

Your vines are not as hidden as you assume they are, certainly not when the first bud of hopefulness begins to grow.

“So how long have you known Steve?” you ask him quietly, still under the guise of the two of you having created your own small bubble of a moment.

Eddie downs the last of his Jack & Coke, something you caught onto by smelling it on his breath when he had gotten particularly close to you during conversation, “Too long. We all met in high school, actually.”

“Oh, don’t tell me that,” you groan, and your forehead dramatically falls into his shoulder without second-thought. He stiffens beneath the connection, “I’m infiltrating a friend group that’s stood the test of times? I’m doomed.”

You nearly lift your head from his still stiff shoulder, afraid to make him uncomfortable, when he brings a hesitant hand to pat your back jokingly, “There, there. I think you’re fitting in fine.”

“Just fine? Ouch,” you finally lift your head as you had planned to, just as Eddie had begun to relax into your touch. His hand doesn’t fall too far from your back, resting on the back of your chair. His shy grin is impossibly charming, “You could have just said I’m crashing and burning, you know?”

The night carries on like that, you and Eddie lost in private conversations only to be occasionally dragged back in on whatever debate the group is having. It’s a spring reaction; once one or both of you have given your two cents, you return to one another, finding solitude in joking and Eddie updating you on the group’s ‘lore’, as he puts it. Steve shoots several glances in your direction, always prepared to offer comfort in what should be an overwhelming situation, but he never has to. Every time he glances at you, Eddie is already taking the lead of entertaining you, qualming all your anxieties into non-existence.

Your vines decorate with buds of hope. Every laugh you pull from Eddie, every fleeting touch that passes between the two of you, every new inside joke he decides to make with you rather than indulging in ones set in stone already with old friends - they all whisper of new friendship. They whisper in potential, in new beginnings and coming home after long weeks.

By the time Nancy announces she has to go to the restroom and invites you and Robin, you’re in full bloom. You’re convinced that Eddie is a friend. And you can see it in his eyes – he’s convinced of it too, looking nervous when you stand and agree to go with Nancy. He looks like a child about to lose their social crutch, and it has potential to be devastating.

It’s almost enough to make you ignore your bladder, but you need to pee, and you need to socialize with more than just Eddie tonight.

You’re not sure what happens at the table during your trip to the bathroom. But something surely does happen as you giggle with the girls under the humming lights of the restroom, as you all stand in the mirror side by side and fiddle with your hair and makeup and Robin makes a comment about how terribly cliche the moment is. Nancy slaps her on the arm, mutters something about the importance of girls bonding, and when you return to the table, you see it immediately – Eddie’s mask of indifference has returned.

His cheeks are flushed, and all the boys are sharing nervous glances between one another as you all sit down again.

There’s no more fleeting touches. You sip on your now watered down drink, and you try and pull Eddie out from wherever he’s ventured in your absence, but it’s no use. A conversation was had while you girls had been in the restroom, and it left Eddie in his head, out of reach. The buds of hopefulness quiver on their vines, and you try to reassure yourself that it’s nothing personal. It’s nothing personal when he clearly holds back any laughs at your jokes you lean into his space to whisper to only him, it’s nothing personal when his arm never rests on the back of your chair again, it’s nothing personal when he won’t meet your eyes the rest of the night.

It’s nothing personal, but it’s sorely disappointing.

You end the night, everyone splitting up, Eddie heading off towards his motorcycle. He hadn’t even mentioned driving a motorcycle during the night, and you curse the way you watch him straddle the seat as he secures his helmet over his tied-back hair. You desperately wish to know what was said while you were in the bathroom, what had happened to make him retreat so far from you after spending the entirety of the night tending to the greenery that had grown attached to your ribcage.

“You like him, don’t you?” Robin teases at your side, bumping shoulders.

Something aches in you. The thrill of meeting someone new, of getting along, of finding them cute and endearing, is beyond your grasp.

He didn’t even say goodbye.

“I did,” you whisper softly. A reverberation of past-tense, an exhale of worry.

You did. But he didn’t even say goodbye.

—

Eddie still hasn’t opened the door. But to his defense, you haven’t tried knocking again.

That ache from that night, the feeling of a delicate rush of possibility taunting you from a distance, still remains. Even amongst now rotted vines, even as petals fall from your hopeful buds. It never really went away. With each group hangout that followed, it echoed louder and louder, demanding to be heard and demanding to be felt as Eddie grew colder. You were an idiot the first few times; you’d still gravitated to him, falling right into his orbit and begging for his attention. You’d still seek him out in every room, craving to find the warmth that had once sparked in his eyes only to find them averted from you entirely. And when you couldn’t take the hint, when you wouldn’t leave him alone when Steve and Robin left you to your own devices at the hangouts, he became mean.

You took it as a joke at first, but six months ago, something inside of you finally wisened up – it wasn’t a joke. Eddie Munson hated you. Somehow, he hated you, and yet he also swore to protect you. He hated you, and yet he would still pay for you without you asking him to. He hated you, and yet he still remembered your birthday. He hated you, and yet, he still knew your favorite coffee shop.

He hated you and yet.

You stand, unable to take your racing thoughts anymore, moving to pound on the door again, “Eddie. Open the door.”

You’re not asking anymore.

You don’t care for answers any more. In this moment, you truly believe you could let it all be water under the bridge. Right this second, if you looked into honey brown eyes and goddamn dimples, you’d forgive him.

“Eddie,” your voice cracks, and you scorn yourself.

All I ever do is hurt you.

Even in locking himself away, he’s hurting you. Putting that distance, choosing to not work this out like adults, is hurting you.

“Can you- I don’t know, at least let me know that… that…” you trail off, huffing in frustration and finally smacking a flat palm against wood, watching the door shake on its hinges from your force, “Just let me know you’re alive, Jesus Christ, Eddie. We still have to take the stupid fucking photo for this hour, and we-”

Mid-tirade, the door swings open to reveal Eddie. He doesn’t look irritated, he doesn’t look mad. He looks tired.

The war between you two has weighed heavy on him, too. He doesn’t look like the same person you met a year ago. The battles raged, the fights lost, the victories celebrated through bloody teeth – they all show on the shadows of his face, a clear mirror image to your own.

“Take the photo,” he says in monotone, hardly leaving the door cracked enough to catch a proper glimpse of him.

“What?”

“The photo. Take it. For the chat, so you can get your money when it’s all over.”

You’re stunned for a second. The money hadn’t even crossed your mind; you had just been rambling, hoping to find the right thing to say to get him to unlock the barrier between you two.

Who the fuck even cares about the money anymore?

You do. You’re supposed to. And so is he.

You sigh and pull your phone from your back pocket, and turn your back to him before lifting the camera to capture the two of you. The door creaks open an inch more.

There’s no fun pose. There’s no smiles. There’s nothing. It’s even more lifeless than the first photo taken. You can’t stand to look at it longer than necessary as you send it off to the group.

Just as you turn around to face him again, to try and talk to him, the door shuts again. You can hear the soft click of a lock. The ache is heard, the ache is felt, as you refuse to look back at the wood that still separates you physically, at the emotions that separate you mentally.

You don’t really know why you do it. But you walk out to the living room, deciding against sitting outside the door any longer and continuing to make yourself miserable. Your feet carry you straight to the sliding door of his balcony, and you press outside into the cooler night air, shutting the door behind you.

What happened when I was in the bathroom that night?

The thought haunts you, a new ghost that had been lingering and gathering dust since that night. You never asked anyone, certainly not Eddie, and refuse to overthink it until now. But after tonight, after practically reliving your first encounter with Eddie all over again, the deja vu and the curiosity are winning over.

You dial Steve’s number.

“Hell-”

“Why do me and Eddie hate each other?” you blurt out, cutting off Steve’s greeting.

“I- What?” Steve’s confused, understandably so, “How should I know? I don’t keep a list of every time you rant about him to me.”

“What about him?”

“Okay, you know I love you, but I’m not a mind-read-”

“What about a list of every time he rants about me?”

Silence buzzes through the line, and you glance up at the night sky. It’s a cloudy black. The city pollution hides most of the stars, and from Eddie’s balcony, you can’t locate the moon.

“I also don’t have one of those.”

“Why not? Because, Jesus Christ, Harrington, I have questions-”

“Because he doesn’t rant about you. Especially not to me, but Nancy says he never talks about you usually either,” Steve explains in an even tone, still not sure how his answer should be helping you. You are the one, afterall, with Eddie right now.

Even if he is locked away in his room right now, refusing to speak to you.

“That makes no sense,” you sigh, exasperation creeping its way into your bones, “I rant about him all the time. I’ve bitched to you and Robin more times than I can count about him. He should be doing the same.”

Steve says your name softly, “Why are you asking me this?”

You laugh humorlessly and shake your head, even knowing Steve can’t see you, “It’s stupid. Forget it,” It’s not stupid to you, and you can’t forget it, but this doesn’t concern Steve, “Can I ask you one last question, though?”

“Shoot, babydoll,” you can’t help but grin at that nickname. Steve pulls it out at random, every time he’s trying to make you feel bad. He knows that neither of you can take it seriously.

“Um, that night you introduced me to everyone,” you begin, stepping up to wrap your free hand around the iron railing of Eddie’s balcony, letting the cold seep into your palm, “At the bar, you know?”

“Right…” he encourages, “What about it?”

“Me and Eddie got along,” you spit it out, letting it tear from your chest and score your throat on its way out, “We… we were getting along at first, and then I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, he…. He…”

He was gone. The Eddie I’d first met had vanished. Where’d he go? Why’d he go?

“Shit, your memory is way better than mine,” Steve chuckles, sounding nervous, “But, I mean, I kind of remember that. You two getting along, at least. Guess that’s why we all were really confused when you started hating each other. But I’m still not understanding the question - are you asking if I remember the night? Or if he’s ever talked about it? I was a jock, you’re gonna have to spell it out for my pea brain.”

“Stop insinuating you’re stupid,” you scold on instinct, scowl settling along your features as you lean onto the railing and glance down. It’s only two stories, but the ground feels impossibly far as you ask, “What happened when all us girls went to the bathroom? When we came back, he acted differently. Did he mention hating me that night? Did I leave a bad first impression? Was it all just a joke to hi-”

“Woah, woah, woah. Slow down. One question, remember?” you’re sure Steve can hear the panting in your breath over the line, the way your chest heaves in the memory, “I’ve gotta be honest - I don’t remember. I know that’s probably not the answer you’re looking for, and I don’t know what’s going on with you two right now, but I was already well on my way to drunk. I think Jonathan and Argyle poked some fun at Eddie, maybe teased him about something, but I really can’t recall what it was about. Maybe his hair? Who knows?”

The answer isn’t helpful. It’s only more confusing, more hurtful.

He stopped joking with you because someone made fun of his hair? You lost access to the warmth buried beneath his surface because his friends teased him?

“Okay,” you sound defeated. You feel defeated – defeated by the weight of still feeling like an outsider, defeated by the barrier of some measly wooden door, defeated by the hurt in Eddie’s eyes as you admitted that he only ever hurts you, “Okay, thanks, Steve.”

You hang up before either of you say goodbye. When you pull your phone down from your cheek and ear, you see your phone still open to the photo of Eddie and you that you’d sent to the group.

You were wrong. There wasn’t only nothing. Your face may have been void of all emotions, but now looking at it, you can see Eddie’s isn’t.

He’s looking at you and not the camera during the shot, face crestfallen, eyes nearly teary as the corners of his mouth tucked downward.

He’s looking at you with regret, with sadness. He’s looking at you as if he can see the vines he’d planted in you, all rotted and dusting away, and he’s mourning them just as you had.

It’s bullshit, or your imagination, or your innate need for Eddie to bleed the same way as you have over your entire situation with each other. You lock your phone and don’t bother to look at the photo again as you enter the living room, as you toss your phone onto the loveseat, as you curl up on the couch and don’t even bother to go to ask for a pillow or blanket. He probably wouldn’t answer the door, anyway.

You don’t say goodnight to Eddie, just as he never said goodbye to you the first night, and wonder if he notices the absence of your salutation.

taglist: @catherinnn @haylaansmi @gaysludge @paprikaquinn @manda-panda-monium @audhd-dragonaut @amira0303 @blushingquincy @hellkaisersangel @eddieslittlewh0re @ajkamins @prettyboy200 @munsonzzgf @blue-eyed-lion @digwhatudug @madaboutjoe @wickedslashdivine @sweet-villain @somespicystuff @big-ope-vibes @jadequeen88 @sylviin @emma77645 @notbeforelong @lolalanaie @lo-siento-ama @happy-and-alone @micheledawn1975 @aysheashea @moon-huny @munsonswrld @bambipowerblueaddition @averagestudent03 @bakugouswh0r3 @mattefic @mxcheese @bietchz @nativity-in-black @tlclick73 @stezzil @vngelis @coley0823 @folklorebau @luvmunson86 @theherothesavior @keene200213 @hargrovesswifee @m-chmcl-rmnc @cherrymedicine13 @iunaelumen777

taglist is now closed.

#eddie munson #twenty four hours #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson fic #eddie munson x y/n #feels so short of a chapter haha #angsty babes

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minik0u · 3 months ago

Text

A New Dawn 𓈒ㅤׂ 𝜗𝜚 | Chapter one

🍮 Various!MyStreet X Reader

When you move in with your best friend Kawaii~Chan and two new roommates, out of convenience to move out of your brother's apartment.

This fanfic will follow the events of season one of mystreet but quite differently! The characters will be the same but with a few headcanon's sprinkled in! some characters will go through different arcs that they didn't go through season one *cough* laurance and garroth learning not to be creeps towards aphmau *cough*

I really hope yall enjoy my passion project!

WC: 7,000k

“Wow, this place is amazing!”

You could not help but agree with Kawaii~Chan this is certainly the nicest place you ever lived in.

“I know, right? It’s so big and nice looking.” You smile complimenting the exterior of the house. It looked newly built ( it probably was ) The house had two stories and was made out of brick.

Oh, and the grass was so green too!

“I’m glad you guys like it so much!” Aphmau smiled, admiring the new house she purchased with the help of her friends.

Katlyn looks at the house skeptically “Are you sure we can even afford this place?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Aphmau replies immediately.

“What do you even do for a living?”

“Uh well-” aphmau stumbles on her words “It's a night job..”

Aphmau notices how Katlyn looked at her and tries to clarify. “I don’t want word getting around on where exactly I work… it’s a part of my contract.”

But Aphmau's vague answer doesn’t seem to satisfy Katlyn’s curiosity “That’s weird? Never heard of that before.”

“Trust me the whole job is weird.”

Both you and Kawaii~Chan look at each other, raising your eyebrows at the strange situation.

“Weird, how?” Kawaii~Chan asks.

You knew how nosy your best friend was. If she doesn't know the answer to something, she’ll ask millions of questions or unintentionally annoy them till she finds out.

“No comment..” Aphmau leaves the conversation at that.

“Wahhhh! You can't trust us?!”

Aphmau sighs, “Kawaii~Chan! You're the one who was snapping pictures of me and Aaron on the side! Of course, I don't trust you! But I'll live with you.”

“Aww, poo…” kawaii~chan pouts.

Katelyn chuckles “Heh, fine, keep it a secret. We live with you now, so we'll find out eventually.”

“B-but, Katelyn~Sama! Kawaii~Chan wants to know now!” Kawaii~Chan wines.

“Patience, Kawaii~Chan. Let's play Aphmau's game. If she's keeping it a secret, then this is gonna be good.” Katelyn gets one last snarky remark before walking inside the new house.

Aphmau looks baffled at Katelyn’s statement. “Uh.... okay...What did she mean by that?”

“I’m sure she’s just playing around?” You suggest but honestly, you had no idea what she meant by that either...

Granted, you didn’t know Katelyn that well.. heck you didn’t even know Aphmau that well either.. Your first time meeting her was last week to talk about the whole rent situation.

The only reason why you moved in with them was because Kawaii~Chan so kindly suggested you to aphmau as their fourth roommate knowing how desperately you wanted to move out of your brother's apartment.

It’s not that you hated your brother.. quite the opposite you adored him. But he’s already in the stage of his life where he has a child and a fiancé, you just didn’t wanna feel like you were freeloading off of them.

Kawaii~Chan nods in agreement with your suggestion “Oooh, you know Katelyn~Sama... she just likes to get in a snarky remark.”

“Anywho, Aphmau~Senpai! You should have the biggest room! Katelyn~Sama, Y/N-Chan, and Kawaii~Chan all agreed before we came out here, that since Aphmau~Senpai is paying more on rent, you should get the biggest room!” Kawaii~Chan explains excitedly.

Aphmau looks at Kawaii~Chan in surprise “Uh, what? No, no. Kawaii~Chan, I-I'm fine with whatever!”

“Nono you deserve it! You did all the work to find the house and you’d even let me live with you, without even knowing me well.. the least you deserve Is the biggest room,” you added, you wanted Aphmau to know that her having the biggest room is just a gift of gratitude from all of you for her for setting all of this up.

Aphmau looked genuinely touched by your words, and she placed a hand on your shoulder. Her eyes gleamed with gratitude, and her words were soft and sincere. “Thank you, Y/N, seriously. I appreciate your offer, but I truly don’t mind which room I end up getting. Plus, you’re a pretty cool person to hang out with, so I don’t mind you living with me.”

You smile at Aphmau, appreciating her kind words.

Kawaii~Chan lightly pushes Aphmau towards the house. “Now, go on and pick! Kawaii~Chan is going to be here to get her stuff down!”

Then Kawaii~Chan goes into the van and gestures for you to follow.. and you do.

Aphmau gives you and Kawaii~Chan one final grateful smile, before grabbing her stuff and heading inside the house. While you help Kawaii~Chan get the boxes out of the van.

You smile at Kawaii~Chan, taking out your first box from the van. “I can’t believe we’re living together! I’m so excited.. this is the first time I’m living without one of my siblings.”

Kawaii~Chan returns your smile, as she puts a box onto the ground too. “It’s such a huge upgrade from your old place.”

“I know! It was so cramped living with my brother and his fiancé.. it was nice— don’t get me wrong but I felt out of place. Y’know?” You explain trying not to come off as ungrateful towards your brother for even lending you his space.

Kawaii~Chan nods in understanding, her expression soft and empathetic. “Having personal space is one of the best things about moving out. But kawaii~Chan is sure your brother and his fiancé appreciated having Y/N~Chan around.” She chuckled, picking up another box. “Although, Kawaii~Chan is sure they needed some privacy too—”

Kawaii~Chan winked at you, giggling to herself.

You roll your eyes at your best friend, not wanting to think about the implications of her joke. “Though, I’m sure they never do with their son running around.”

“Oh yeah, kids can be quite the barrier when it comes to that.” Kawaii~Chan laughed in agreement, taking one of your last boxes out of the van.

While you pull one of your many paintings out of the van.

Kawaii~Chan smirked teasingly and glanced at the painting in your hand. “Ooh, is that another painting? Can Kawaii~Chan see?”

You hand Kawaii~Chan the painting, “Sure even though I’m sure, I’ve already shown you it before.”

Kawaii~Chan carefully takes the painting from you and inspects it closely. The expression on her face lights up as she looks at the art, and lets out a quiet ‘whoa’.

“Geez, Kawaii~Chan swears, how is your art always so good?! Like, Kawaii~Chan is pretty sure you’ve definitely shown her this painting, but no matter how many times she sees it, it never fails to impress her.”

You blush at your best friend's compliment. “you say that every time.”

Kawaii~Chan laughs in return and continues to admire the painting for a few more seconds, before handing it back to you. “Of course Kawaii~Chan does! She is not lying when she says you have a talent. Kawaii~Chan is serious, if you opened an art shop, you’d be rich in seconds.”

“It’s just a hobby.. y’know that! Plus I’d be way too shy to ever do something like that.”

Kawaii~Chan nods, knowing exactly how introverted you can be. You know she can't help but feel a bit worried about it since you have such a difficult time making friends or even socializing properly.

“Kawaii~Chan knows. But still, she wishes you were more confident. It would be so good for you if you put yourself out there a bit more, and maybe get yourself a man in the process?”

You scoff at your friend “Nana.. men don’t even notice me.”

Kawaii~Chan rolls her eyes, and gently punches your shoulder. “Men are just blind and have no taste, that’s the problem. You’re perfect! Well… except for you being a social recluse, that's a problem. But honestly, you’re a catch! Any guy would be lucky to have you.”

“Nana, that's really sweet..” you smile, getting the last of your paintings out of the van.

“Wanna check the house with me?” You ask

Kawaii~Chan shakes her head no, probably because she has a few more boxes to take out of the van. “You go ahead, Kawaii~Chan still needs to take care of a few things.”

“Kawaii~Chan, come to find you when she’s done here, so try not to get lost, okay?” She chuckled while wiping some sweat off her forehead.

“no promises!” You tease grabbing your boxes and paintings before heading inside the house.

⋆˙⟡♡

You place everything down in your room. It wasn't the biggest but it was more than enough to hold all your stuff.

You open your biggest box named “room decorations.”

It was mostly fake plants, posters, and tiny anime figures...

You had a massive collecting problem..

And that brings a dent in your wallet with your librarian salary...

You wouldn’t be able to set up any of your figures today because your desk and all your bigger items wouldn’t be here till later this evening...

You sigh just deciding to decorate your room with posters till then...

You pulled out a few of them from the box, most of them were posters from your favorite game series, Animal Crossing, Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy..

You weren’t the biggest gamer.. You’ve always been more into books rather than games but you quickly got into those franchises once your sister introduced you to them.

Since your sister introduced you to games you in return begged her to read some books that you thought maybe she would love.

She agreed.. Even if it took a while, she ended up loving it.

Ever since then it’s been a tradition between the two of you to recommend each other video games or books.

You smile at the memory fondly.. reminding yourself to text your sister later about the move.

Suddenly you hear Katlyn’s crazy laugh running down stairs as Aphmau chases her.

You walk out your room to figure out what’s happening to only see Katelyn nowhere in sight and aphmau trying to catch her breath by the stairs .

You walk down the steps and you hear

Aphmau mutters “Geez, Katelyn, get back here! I- I swear, Katelyn, I just- ugh-”

You were about to ask Aphmau what happened exactly, only to be shocked by Kawaii~Chan's voice.. you didn’t see her in the kitchen.

“Aphmau~Senpai! Y/N-Chan let's go introduce ourselves to the neighbors! Come on!”

Aphmau lets out a groan, looking at Kawaii~Chan with slight irritation. Her jet, black hair is messy, and she looks out of breath and extremely annoyed.

“Y-yeah, sure, we can introduce ourselves.”

Aphmau sighs in defeat, before a small smile appears on her face. “But we’ll have to be quick, I think I need a mini break after all that.”

“But do we have something to give them?” You ask

Kawaii~Chan picks up a fruit bowl from the counter.

“Here, Kawaii~Chan has a fruit bowl. She only has one, so we can only meet one neighbor.”

“Uh, alright. I guess that's better than nothing. Come on, let's go.” Aphmau says before just leaving through the front door expecting yall the follow along.

⋆˙⟡♡

Aphmau points at a house

“Let's go over there.”

You look at many houses, they all look the same but slightly different but you guess that’s just how all suburban neighborhoods look.

“this whole neighborhood looks really nice!” Kawaii~Chan exclaims looking around in child-like wonder.

You smile at your friend's excitement and nod in agreement, “Every house here is so fancy..”

Aphmau nods, glancing at the houses she passes by, “Yeah… it looks better than what I expected. I guess we just picked the good side of the neighborhood, huh?”

Once you were at the front door, Aphmau stopped in front of it, and turned towards you and Kawaii~Chan.

“Alright… So who's going to ring the doorbell?”

Both you and Kawaii~Chan look at aphmau shaking your head no..

Aphmau does it with a sigh, The door opens behind her, and she turns to see a guy with black hair and green eyes at the door.

“Well well well. I didn't know cute girls were delivering pizza these days.” Your neighbor flirts with yall with a smile.. but it came off as more dorky than anything else.

“Are you serious? You live here, Brendan?” Aphmau sighs.

“You know this guy?”

You meant to say that softly towards aphmau but it was accidentally loud enough that everyone heard.

Brendan turns his head towards you, before turning back to Aphmau with a look that clearly says 'is she with you?’

Aphmau crosses her arms.

“Yeah… this is Brendan, he's a friend of mine and he’s also an idiot.”

Brendan rolls his eyes, clearly not amused by her statement. “Oh c’mon, don’t be rude, Aph. At least I’m a charming idiot.”

“Hahaha, um, no, anyway we actually just, uh, moved next door. Kawaii~Chan and Y—“

“BRENDAN~KUN! LONG TIME NO SEE!” Kawaii~Chan interrupts Aphmau, seemingly happy to see this guy.

“K-K-K-K-K-KAWAII~CHAN! I DIDN'T THINK Y-YOU WOULD BE—”

Then he faints..

You and Aphmau both jump a bit in surprise, not exactly expecting Brendan to suddenly just… fall on the ground. Aphmau quickly shakes off the shock, and crouches down next to him.

“Oh jeez, he just… fainted.”

Aphmau lets out a small huff, glancing at Kawaii~Chan.

You all turn when you hear noise and look across the street.

There was another moving van by the house across from you

“Huh? Uh, someone's moving in right across from us. The same day we are? What a coincidence! Come on, we should go say hi.” Aphmau suggest

“Maybe we should bring the unconscious man into his house first?” You look at the unconscious man on his own doorstep.

Aphmau looks down at Brendan’s still unconscious body, and her expression shows a hint of disbelief. “You’re right… We should probably get him in his house. I would hate for him to wake up on the ground, that can’t be comfortable.”

She stands up, and turns to you and Kawaii~Chan. “Can you guys help me out here? I’m way too weak to carry him on my own.”

You and Kawaii~Chan nod, and go over to Brendan’s body, each grabbing one of his arms and hoisting him up from the ground. You try your best to carry him into his house, though he’s pretty heavy.

You got him onto his couch .. and you caught your breath. This was definitely the most athletic thing you did all year.

“I hope he’s okay.. I’ve never seen someone just faint like that”

“Yeah, I hope so too. But knowing Brendan, he’ll probably be okay in a few hours? He’s a lot tougher than he looks… which is kind of sad.” Aphmau walks out of Brendan's house then turns to you.

Aphmau waves at you and Kawaii~Chan to follow her. “Come on, we can check on him later. Right now we have new neighbors to greet.”

⋆˙⟡♡

“Hey there, new neighbors. My name is Aphmau, and this is— Garroth?! Dante?! Laurence?! Uh—”

Aphmau looks at the mystery men in shock.

You're just shocked you’ve never seen such beautiful men before..

Well you have but only in movies, not in real life.

The first guy you laid eyes on, had the most striking appearance in your opinion.. He had medium-length, dark brown hair, and a captivating shade of blue or green you couldn't exactly tell.. but it really matched his tan skin!

Oh! And he was stylish too, wearing a sorta dark academia type of outfit.

The guy in the middle was a total hottie too!

He had a very noble appearance. Like he’d be a knight or as a prince in a fantasy novel? Maybe even both.

He had short neatly kept blonde hair that compliments his strong facial features. His eyes are very striking blue, and he was tall and muscular..

The last guy was cute too!

He had a more approachable appearance, He has longer dark blue hair but it looked more dyed then your roommate's more natural blue. That didn’t mean you hated his hair, you loved it actually! It reminded you of the emo hair you’d seen on tumbler.

His whole vibe just screamed “I’m in a band.”

Especially since he had so many piercings. You noticed a lip piercing, an eyebrow piercing, and from what you can see a few ear piercings also.

You blush a little.. shaming yourself for looking at these men like eye candy..

Your twenty-four for Irene sake!

Pull yourself together!

“Yo!” The guy with the dark academia vibe said to aphmau.

“Wow.. Do you guys just know everybody in this neighborhood?” You ask Kawaii~Chan but she just shrugs her shoulders without giving any clear answer.

“Hey, Kawaii~Chan. Let me ask you, do you think I'm handsome?” The guy with blue hair ask

“Huh? Why do you ask such a question?”

“Hm, just trying to prove a point.”

“Well, Kawaii~Chan thinks Dante~Kun is cute, but... she can't see her shipping you with Aphmau~Senpai or anything like that.”

“W-What!?” Dante looked shocked by Kawaii~Chan words and the other men just laughed.

“Told you he was no threat.” The brunette man gloats.

“D-don't you start with me!” Dante argues

Kawaii~Chan chuckles awkwardly “Speaking of shipping, uh, Kawaii~Chan has to go set up her... uh, never mind! Be back, and don't follow me! Especially you, Aphmau~Senpai!”

“Uh, well, that was weird.” Aphmau glances back at the road where Kawaii~Chan went down, a bit confused.

Aphmau turns back to the boys, and crosses her arms, giving them a bit of a frown. “So, why are you guys all here? This isn’t exactly where any of you live.”

“Now now, we can explain... you see, since you were moving, we... uh, decided to move as well! And uh... this place just so happened to catch our eyes, and uh... so we moved here! W-we had no idea you were moving here as well!” The man with brown hair rambles, refusing to make eye contact with Aphmau.

“Laurance, look me in the eyes. Are you lying to me?” Aphmau asks Laurance.

“Lie? To you? Pft, No, never! I mean, you know what, G-Garroth can answer that. GARROTH!” Laurance runs into the house, leaving Aphmau to walk up to Garroth with you in hand.

“Garroth.”

“Garroth, did you guys find out I was moving here, and decide to move here as well?” Aphmau ask again

“Y-Ye-NO! Dante was the one who moved us here because he was um... he set up the viewing this morning! YEAH! THAT'S IT! GO... TALK TO HIM!”

Garroth runs into the house too, just leaving you, Aphmau, and Dante..

“I— Garroth, Garroth! Ugh! Oh my gosh, rgh! I swear, these guys are just—” aphmau takes a breath “Fine. You know what, I will go talk to Dante. Dante!”

Dante walks over to you and aphmau with a smile, “Why hello there Aphmau” then looks at you “oh! And her very cute friend”

You blush at his compliment, not used to people, noticing you at all.

Aphmau scowls when Dante starts to turn his attention towards you, giving him a glare.

“Oh no you don’t. You’re not getting distracted. I’m not done talking to you. You’re going to give me a straight answer, right now, mister. “

Aphmau taps her foot on the ground with impatience.

Dante flinches, and holds his hands up in surrender, a nervous smile on his face.

“Okay, okay! Jeez, you’re intimidating when you want to be, you know that?”

Aphmau rolls her eyes, “Yes, I do know that. Now. No more distractions. Did you all move here because you knew I was moving here?”

“I did... you know why? Because I wanted to be next to the two most beautiful girls in the world.”

Dante blows kisses specifically looking at you and you feel like your heart is going to explode.

Aphmau rolls her eyes once again, becoming annoyed by Dante’s flirty tendencies. She glances over at you, and huffs a bit.

“Dante, stop it. You’re embarrassing Y/N…”

Dante chuckles, and shrugs his shoulders. “ Aww, come on. I’m just complimenting her. Plus look at her. She’s cute when she’s blushing, don’t you think?”

Aphmau’s expression deadpans, not amused by his words. “I see you’re being as persistent as usual. You know I'm not happy about this, right? I mean, you all just decided to move here, with no warning or anything, just because I’M here.”

“What can I say? I love looking at beautiful things.”

“Anyway I’m ordering pizza tonight, I’d love to see everyone there.” Then Dante looks at you with a smile “Especially you cutie! But seriously it's just going to be a nice housewarming party and a treaty for you not to kill me aph.”

Aphmau sighs, and pinches the bridge of her nose.

“Oh my gosh… Alright, alright. We’ll come, but keep your hands to yourself, got it? You can’t just flirt with Y/N. Or me, for that matter.”

Dante pouts a bit, and lets out an exaggerated sigh. “I can’t even flirt? Not even a little?”

Aphmau gives him a look, and crosses her arms.

“No. Absolutely not.”

Dante pouts a bit more, clearly not happy by the fact he can’t flirt. Before putting on his signature smirk.

“Aw, you’re no fun, you know that?”

Aphmau rolls her eyes yet again

“Yeah, and you’re a pain.”

With that you and Aphmau walked off back to your guys house..

Aphmau walks along with you, holding your hand as she gently rubbed her thumb against it.

“I’m so sorry about Dante. He can be so… annoying at times.”

“Nono it’s fine.. I’m just flustered..”

Aphmau nods her head, and gently squeezes your hand. “Yeah, I get that. Dante, and hell all the boys really, can be pretty flirtatious. They don’t know when to back off sometimes.”

“I’m sure most of them are only flirty with you though.. I mean you are very pretty” you suggest

Aphmau flushes a bit

“Oh, stop. You’re just saying that. And besides, I don’t think I’m that pretty… They don’t flirt because they think I’m pretty. It’s just because I’m a girl.”

After Aphmau words yall just silently walked the rest of the way home hand in hand.

⋆˙⟡♡

You ask Kawaii~Chan to help you pick out your outfit for tonight at Dante’s house.

She excitedly helped you, being more than happy to assist with anything to do with fashion. You and Kawaii~Chan sat on your floor with a few different outfits spread all across the carpet.

You wanted to find the most perfect outfit to wear to Dante’s housewarming party to make a good first impression.

You cringe about how silent you were earlier when you first met him.. He probably thinks you are so weird.

“So have you picked an outfit yet, Y/N~Chan?” Kawaii~Chan asks, her words break you out of your train of thought..

You liked all the outfits on the carpet but you didn’t think any of them were good enough.

“I don’t know which to choose.. I don’t want to make a bad first impression”

Kawaii~Chan picks up an outfit, and holds it up for you to see. It was a simple white dress with matching shoes and hairpins.

“You’re overthinking it, Y/N~Chan. Even if you wear your PJs to that party, kawaii~Chan guarantees the boys are just gonna think you’re as cute as always.”

“Nana, I’ve just never hung out with anybody besides you.. I’m just a little nervous”

Kawaii~Chan smiles, and sets the outfit back on the floor. She grabs your hands, and squeezes them gently. “Don’t worry, Y/N~Chan. It’s going to be fine, she promises . The boys are really nice. They won’t think anything bad of you! Besides, kawaii~Chan will be there the whole time!”

“you will?” You ask

Kawaii~Chan nods.

“Of course she will! You’re her best friend, kawaii~Chan wouldn’t just leave you by yourself.”

The two of you continued to go through your boxes, laughing to each other as you searched through the mountains of clothing.

“You have so many clothes, Y/N~Chan! Have you ever even worn half of these?” Kawaii-Chan picks up another piece of clothing.. and after inspecting it, she seems not to like it, she then throws it to the side of your room.

“Not all of them.. most of it is my sister's old clothes she didn’t want anymore..”

Kawaii Chan nods her head, a smile on her face.

“Makes sense. kawaii~Chan has a bunch of clothes she doesn't wear anymore too. But kawaii~Chan don’t think she has nearly as much as you do.”

Kawaii~Chan starts to go through a box in the back, pausing as she pulls out something.

“Oh~! What’s this?”

Kawaii~Chan holds up a black and white dress, and looks at it with a curious expression.

“Have you ever worn this, Y/N~Chan?”

“A few times.. I use to be obsessed with stripes back in highschool”

Kawaii~Chan laughs, holding the outfit up to you.

“kawaii~Chan can see why you look so cute in stripes. You should wear this tonight!”

“Really?” You replied

Kawaii~Chan nods her head, a big smile on her face.

“You look adorable in it! Try it on, go on!”

You go into your closet and put on your old dress.. With a few accessories you added. A red beret with some funky tights and a long brown boot!

You thought it gave tumblr girl vibes.

You walk out the closet and you hear your best friend clap her hands together and grins as she sees the finished outfit. She let out a small squeal.

“Cute! Adorable! You look amazing, Y/N~Chan!”

“I.. I do?” You questioned.

Kawaii~Chan nods her head again, her grin only growing.

“Definitely! You look super pretty!”

“I bet everyone love your outfit too, Nana” you says softly

Kawaii~Chan grins once again, and twirls around in her own dress.

“You think so? kawaii~Chan did try to look her cutest tonight.”

You loved, Kawaii~Chan style. It's so unique.

“and you did a great job!”

You hear a scream from down stairs. It definitely sounds like Katelyn.

“Hurry up! I’m ready to go eat, I'm starving!”

Kawaii~Chan giggles at Katelyn’s demand.

“Oh boy, Kawaii~Chan guessing someone’s getting a bit impatient.”

Kawaii~Chan grabs your hand, and leads you down the stairs.

⋆˙⟡♡

When you finished walking downstairs you saw Katelyn was wearing a red tank top with black shorts, and casual sneakers. Aphmau on the other hand, was wearing a black long sleeve crop top, and matching leggings with a pair of black combat boots. Both of them turn to look at the two.

“Oh, you guys look cute. Ready to go?” Aphmau compliments, gesturing towards the door.

Both you and Kawaii~Chan nod your heads, then the four of you leave outside to walk to the house next to yours.

When you get there aphmau knocks on the door.. The group waits for only a few minutes before Dante throws the door open, the same signature smirk on his face.

“There you all are! I thought you would never get here!”

Dante ushers you all inside, seemingly excited to spend time with you all.

When you're all inside the house you see Laurance and Garroth casually playing Mario kart. Once they noticed your presence they looked over their couch and smiled after seeing everyone but especially Aphmau.

Laurence and Garroth pause their game and get up from the couch, quickly moving over to greet the group of girls.

“Hey, you guys made it!” Garroth greets you all warmly

Laurence slings his arm around Aphmau’s shoulders, and smirks a bit. “It took you all forever to get here, we were starting to think you all were ditching us.”

“Nono, just some people took forever to get ready…” Katelyn says, looking at you and Kawaii~Chan.

Both you and Kawaii~Chan roll your eyes at Katelyn’s comment, giving her a look. The guys chuckle a bit, and Dante pipes up with a smirk.

“Well I think both of you look great. You took just the perfect amount of time to get ready!”

“oh um thank you?” You responded sorta hiding behind Kawaii~Chan.

Dante looks over at you, “Wait, now that I think about it, I never caught your name. Mind giving it to me, beautiful?”

“Y/N..”

Dante smirks and nods his head.

“That's a pretty name, Y/N. It definitely fits someone as cute as you.”

Dante notices Aphmau’s look, and just smirks at her, trying to get under her skin. Laurence seems to notice all this, and gently taps Dante on the shoulder.

“Dude, knock it off. You’re gonna piss her off again.”

Laurence turns to look at you, and gives you a smile. “Hey, I don’t think we ever properly met this morning. I’m Laurence.”

He gives you a small smile, and extends his hand out for you to shake.

And you accept it by shaking his hand..

It surprise you how firm his grip was

“it’s nice to meet you..”

Laurence gently lets go of your hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Y/N. Hopefully we’ll be able to make your first real hang out with us guys a good one.”

You nod in agreement..

Hopefully you do have a fun night tonight

laurance pushes garroth forward probably for him to introduce himself also.

Garroth gives you a quick, awkward smile

“Oh, um, hi. I’m Garroth. It’s nice to meet you, Y/N.”

“Same..”

Now that formalities were out the way Garroth asked the whole group a question “Since we’re all here, you guys wanna play Mario Kart?”

Kawaii~Chan smiles a bit, and gently pat you on the back. You two loved playing games together even if you both weren’t the best at it.

“Hell yeah. We’re totally gonna kick all three of your asses.” Aphmau started competitively.

Dante looks at all the girls, a smug expression on his face.

“Ha, as if that’s ever gonna happen! I know none of you can out race me.”

Laurence rolls his eyes at Dante’s comment, obviously disagreeing.

“Please, Dante. You get last in every match, there’s no chance you can beat any of us.”

“It’s true, bro. You almost always lose.” Garroth laughs, agreeing with Laurence.

“Oh whatever, all of you guys are just jealous of my Mario Kart skills. I could totally kick all of your asses if I wasn’t so nice and let you guys win.”

⋆˙⟡♡

You and Kawaii~Chan cuddle on the couch with a blanket. Next to you was Dante and at the end of the couch was Katelyn.

While Laurance, Garroth, and Aphmau sit on the floor with the Wii remotes.

“I’m not that good at mario kart..” you tell Kawaii~Chan.

Dante turns to look at you, and jokingly rolls his eyes.

“You'll be just fine. Trust me, the game is easy as crap. All you have to do is not crash, which really isn’t very hard!”

“but everyone says you suck at this game?” You questioned.

Dante looks at you with a fake offended look on his face, before laughing.

“First of all, rude. Secondly, that is not true! They’re all liars, don’t listen to them! I’m a Mario Kart legend!”

Aphmau throws a pillow at Dante.

“Dante, we all know damn well that you can’t race in Mario Kart to save your life.”

Laurence and Garroth burst out laughing, Dante just looked at them all with a pout, annoyed that they were all ganging up on him.

⋆˙⟡♡

You played Mario Kart for at least an hour, the game consists of constant screaming and yelling.

And occasionally Aphmau would flip off one of the guys if they beat her in a race and they typically didn’t..

She was like really good

Everyone had their main and there own playing style

Dante only played as Mairo because he said “Playing as the main character will get me plot armor” He explained to you and kawaii-Chan that’s the way to get first place..

But he constantly got last place.

Kawaii~Chan just played princess peach because she’s pink and cute. She didn’t really care about winning the game; she was there for the vibes.

Aphmau played Rosalina, and absolutely killed it.. the lowest she got was second place but consistently kicked everyone’s asses

And since she’s so competitive she wouldn’t let it go that she was in fact Mario Kart legend and Dante’s wasn't.

Katelyn played toad, she was also extremely competitive but not as bad as the rest but she constantly threw the green shells at laurance to piss him off.

laurance played Luigi, you were surprised on how competitive he was he seemed so laid back but no he constantly looked like he was one Banana peel slip away from throwing the controller across the room.

Garroth played Bowser, for the most part he was chill and actually gave you a few pointers on what you should do during the game. He was very helpful.

and you played Daisy cause you felt like she was underrated.

Though you feel like you didn’t do your girl justice cause you constantly got last place.. and often not even finishing the course.

Though you still had a good time playing with the others and watching them all get riled up over a simple video game.

Once the pizza came ( That Laurance very kindly paid for. ) Everyone started eating in their own groups.. Laurance and Garroth stay close to Aphmau eating on the couch, while Katelyn and kawaii Chan chat sitting at the table.

So that left you and Dante eating pizza together on the kitchen counter.

You sat on top of the counter criss-cross while Dante just stood.

You looked around the house realizing how furnished the house was already.

They had pictures on their walls, their tv set up, already built their couch and kitchen table and chairs..

It looked lived in versus your house it was still so empty in comparison.

“Your house is very furnished for only being here for less than a day.”

Dante looks at you and shrugs, taking a bite from his pizza.

“Eh, Laurence and I like things to be organized and clean, and I guess we also like our furniture, ya know? We might have just moved in, but all my stuff is from my apartment before that, and Laurence had most of his stuff from home before too.”

“What about the other guy?” You ask

“Garroth? Hah, you have no idea. That guy’s so damn picky with all his stuff and how things look. He was practically nitpicking everything Laurence and I were bringing in while we were moving everything in.” Dante rambles.

“I would’ve never guessed that he seems very chill? If not a little awkward.”

“Yeah, he’s a good bro, but when it comes to his stuff and his looks, he’s the total opposite. You should’ve seen his face when he saw a single scratch on one of his desks. He damn near freaked out! It was hilarious.” Dante snickers as he takes another slice of pizza.

You laugh “you all seem to know each other so well.”

“Well, we've all been friends since high school. The three of us just clicked, and became super good friends. The guys even let me move in the house with them when my old apartment got too expensive.” Dante chuckles a bit, taking a bite of his pizza slice.

“they seem like good friends”

Dante nods, setting his other pizza down.

“They’re the best friends I could ask for.” He takes a sip from his soda. “Hey, I realized I never asked, but how are you friends with the girls? I’ve never seen you around before…”

“Uh.. I know of aphmau and Katelyn through Kawaii~Chan.. she’s my best friend” you clarified

Dante looks surprised for a moment, but then smiles a little. “Oh, okay. So you and Kawaii~Chan have known each other for a while, I’m guessing?”

“Since college.. My sister was her dorm mate my freshman year and I would often crash there cause I hated my roommates.. Me and Kawaii~Chan got pretty close from there even after she graduated we still stayed in contact.” You explained

Dante nods his head, “Ah, I see.. I didn’t know you had any siblings.. Is she still in college, or is she out too?”

“Oh she’s my triplet.. She’s off living in New York with her best friend Ava” you stated

Dante raises an eyebrow at that, looking a bit amazed by your words. “Triplet, huh? Man, is it true that people who are triplets get some kind of weird triplet connection thing?”

You giggle “That be cool but no”

Dante chuckles a bit at that.

“ Damn, that’s a shame. I was hoping you could read each other's minds or something. That would’ve been cool as hell.”

“Sorry, it’s not as cool as you imagined. Total let down.” You joked, acting hurt by his words.

“You’re not a let down, I swear. I think you’re plenty cool, especially for a girl who supposedly sucks at Mario Kart.” Dante smirks at you, and leans in a bit.

“I got last place every round..” you lean in

Dante chuckles a little, and gently pats your head.

“Yeah you did, and honestly, it was hilarious. You do not have the skills to become a professional Mario Kart player, sweetheart.”

You place a hand on your chest acting wounded “Aww man.. my dreams of being a professional Mario kart player are crushed..”

Dante laughs again, amused by your response.

“Yeah, I’m so sorry to break it to you, but it wasn’t looking good for you. I’ll start a go fund me for you.”

“thanks, I need it desperately”

You look over at the other boys and Aphmau and they look downright obsessed with her.

They were truly in a whole other world with her..heart eyes and all.

“Wow.. those two are really into aphmau they have been hogging up her attention all night” you blurted, not meaning to say it out loud.

You place your hand on your face in embarrassment but Dante looks over in the there direction, and smirks a bit.

“You’re just noticing that now? It’s pretty damn obvious that those guys are in love with her. They keep fighting each other over her attention, and honestly, it’s pretty funny to watch.”

“Do you think she’s into them?” You ask curiously.

Dante shrugs, and looks back over at them.

“Honestly, who knows. She seems a little oblivious to their flirting most of the time. I honestly doubt she likes either of them, but with those two dumbasses fighting over her every chance they get, we might never know for sure.”

You hum in response leaving the conversation at that.

Dante pulls out a blunt and light it, gesturing to you if you want to try it but you simply shake your head no.

“oh.. I don’t smoke.”

Dante takes a puff from the blunt, and nods his head. “Ah, okay, that’s cool.”

He blows the smoke out into the air, and turns a bit to face you

“I’m guessing you probably don’t drink too, do you?”

“nope” you answer immediately.

Dante chuckles a bit, probably not finding it surprising.

“Damn, you’re pretty straight edge. So I’m guessing you don’t go to many parties then, huh?”

“never been too one”

Dante nearly chokes at your response, honestly looking stunned.

“Wait, seriously?! Goddamn, you really are straight edge. You’ve never been to a single party? At all?”

you shrug your shoulders “it’s not my scene..”

Dante nods his head, and takes another small puff from the blunt. “I get what you’re saying, but damn, never going to a single party ever seems a little excessive. Like, you should at least go to one, live a little ya know?”

You shake your head in disagreement “I’m very much living my life at home”

Dante smirks a bit, leaning forward so he’s facing you more.

“And what kind of life is that, huh? Never having any fun, never going to a single party? That’s a pretty dull life, sweetheart.”

“maybe for you.. I quite enjoy my life, it's peaceful” you counter his response.

“Peaceful? What, do you sit at home, watch tv all day, and knit or something?” Dante huffs a bit, and shakes his head.

You don’t look Dante in the eyes anymore, looking anywhere but him.

Dante bursts out laughing.

“Are you telling me you’re really like, little miss perfect? You actually sit at home and knit or something dumb like that?”

“It's not dumb..”

Dante snickers, and takes another puff from his blunt. He thought this was the funniest thing he ever heard.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, you’re right, it’s not dumb, it’s hilarious.”

Dante looks behind you and then taps a bit on your leg.

“Hey, hey, look at that. I think the girls are about to head out.”

You turn around and you see the girls getting their stuff to head out, so you get off the counter.

“Oh really? It feels like we just got here”

Dante nods in agreement “Yeah, I know what you mean. Time really does fly by when everyone’s talking, huh?”

“mhm, it really dose”

Dante looks back over at the other specifically garroth and laurance.

“Yeah. The guys are gonna be pretty bummed that they won’t get to drool over aphmau much longer.”

Dante jokes taking a final puff from the blunt.

“Well I’m sure they’ll see her soon. We are neighbors after all..” you say before turning to leave but turn back because you forgot to say something.

“Dante.. I had a lot of fun tonight talking to you”

Dante’s eyes widened a little at your comment, “Yeah, I had a ton of fun chatting to you too. You’re pretty cool.”

“Well.. see you later?”

Dante smiles at you one last time then nods his head.

#aphmau #aphmau x reader #laurance x reader #laurance zvahl #laurance zvahl x reader #garroth ro'meave #mystreet garroth #garroth x reader #garroth ro’meave x reader #zane ro'meave #zane ro’meave x reader #kawaii chan #aphmau laurance #laurmau #laurance x aphmau #garroth x aphmau

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tsukimefuku · 11 months ago

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Let me die

I've been obsessed with a bit for a fic I want to write, so I just decided to put it here. Nanami fluff and some angst ahead, be careful.

Disclaimer: NO ONE DIES, it’s just a conversation in a bar where y/n requests something.

This is part of my "Jujutsu Partners Canon Divergence AU". A sequence of short stories and random drabbles for a fic I'll eventually write (eventually). To see the ever-growing list of one-shots, please visit my masterlist :)

Disclaimer: they’re NOT written and posted in chronological order of events. To see where this story fits in the timeline, please check the masterlist mentioned above.

You had just finished a mission that left a pretty bad taste in your mouth. You were forced to choose between two people to save, and one of them was your friend. Was.

The glare she had as she embraced her beloved's dead body made you sure that she would never forgive you for saving her instead of him. You chose to save her for egotistical reasons, you knew that. You knew (or thought you knew) that his death would not weigh on your shoulders as much hers would. However, you just didn't account in your egotistical equation how much his death would weigh on her, and how much more suffering you bestowed upon her by choosing to let him die in exchange for her life.

"Nanami, I need to drink." you said on the phone. "I had a horrible day. I'd like some company."

"We can meet at the bar by your house at 7PM." He promptly replied.

You and Nanami had grown close during the course of the last few months. He was assigned to you as your informal mentor until you were promoted from a grade 2 to a grade 1 sorcerer. There was some history before you went to work for Jujutsu High. Both of you met when he was on a mission that led to him eventually saving your life, and your gratitude eventually started to become something more. Sometimes, you wondered if he felt as close to you as you felt to him. These night drinks were turning into a regular thing, and you usually let your mouth say things you couldn't think to say out loud if it weren't for a few beers in, and Nanami being the person you were talking to.

***

After a while, when you spend so much time around somebody, you tend to pick up on their mannerisms, like their brows frowning, the way their mouths twitch when they feel mad, or how they are dead silent because they're drowning in unsaid things.

"What is it?" Nanami asked, out of the blue, surprising you. Both had already been drinking for a while, and you specifically were 4 beers down in misery. "I can hear your thinking from the other side of the table."

“I have a request for you.” You answered.

He took another sip of his drink, and said, unfazed, "What request?"

He inquired like he already knew you wanted to ask something from him, even before you knew you would.

"If you’re ever faced with a situation where you have to choose between saving my life or someone else, don’t choose me." you said. Nanami lifted his gaze to meet yours, and seemed surprised.

You continued. "Please, don’t make me live with the fact that me being alive is because someone died in my place and I had no choice over that. Don’t assign me that guilt.”

It would be something harsh to say to anybody, but you knew Nanami. You knew him well enough to be sure he'd not take that as an accusation of sorts. That's why you chose to tell him this kind of "if this ever happens" desire before telling anybody else. Shoko would probably chastise you for such a request, given you were prone to overthinking and martyrdom, and Gojo would never listen to that in the first place, simply doing whatever he felt like.

Nanami went silent for a while, mulling over what you asked him to do. Different from you, someone that had a little trouble controlling your emotions and how they impact your words and actions, Nanami was the man that you used to call in your head as nerves of steel. You had never seen him lose his composure. Ever.

He started talking, his face lightly flushed from alcohol. “There are two sides for this. You assume I’d be willing to live with the guilt of not saving you when I could have done so."

You were not expecting that answer. He was the most dutiful sorcerer you had ever met — hell, he was the most dutiful person you knew. If there was one thing Nanami was known for, it was not letting his emotions interfere with his judgement when making a decision. You never thought he could ever feel guilty if you died in a situation where you gave him permission to let you die.

"You'd feel guilty?" You questioned.

"Yes." He replied. "Your request would make me live with a guilt I don’t want, either."

"My request of letting me die, with my authorization, to save somebody else?" You inquired.

"Yes." He replied, looking down on his glass.

You were both silent for a moment.

"I can't accept your request, because you’re assigning me your guilt just as much." He took another sip from his now almost empty glass of whiskey. "I don't think I could bring myself to let you die, even if you asked me to.”

That pulled on your heart strings. Hard. You were instantly flooded with all the memories of the time you two spent together working, or simply chatting like this. All the times you had a silent but deep understanding of each other. Could he be...?

"I never pegged you for someone with any dose of egoism of not letting someone go when they'd rather die." You responded.

"Not letting you die." He answered. His answer made you fluster, ever so slightly, and you reclined yourself in your chair, trying to hide your face in the bar's dark ambiance.

“Would you ever curse me for that?” You asked. "Curse me for dying to save somebody else?"

“No, I wouldn't.” He replied. "That's who you are, and that is something about you that I respect, even if I don't understand it."

You chuckled softly, trying not to get too emotional. The alcohol was not helping. “Well, I might just have to curse you, then.” you responded, smiling.

“To curse me for saving you, you'd have to be alive.” He bottomed his drink. "I can live with that.”

#jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu nanami #nanami kento #jjk nanami #jjk fanfic #nanami x reader #nanami x you

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numnue · 2 years ago

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hc that andrew is really good at jeopardy and whenever it's just him and neil sitting in the dorm living room - and eventually their own living room later on - he'll just sit and answer each one word-for-word while neil watches, amazed

maybe neil is also super good (idk man i just think he holds on to useless info since he'll never know when he might need it) and they compete to see who can get the most points between the two

whenever neil beats andrew he just gives him the most smug smirk that andrew has to kiss off his face (and it has nothing to do with the fact that the smirk maybe makes andrews knees weak and ears hot, and maybe he lets him win sometimes just to see the easy confidence that neil takes on, maybe)

and one day the foxes are there to witness the back-and-forth between them and they're like "you guys should go on the show" and i just know that andrew would think that winning jeopardy would be the funniest thing ever and neil would like that it showed his new freedom in that he could go on live tv with no risk.

so they apply and get on the show (idk how that works) and immediately act like they don't know each other, they're just contestants to each other. and quickly they start trash-talking each other, i mean come on, and the host probably mentions that they're both professional exy players and have been on teams together in the past, so they probably trash talk each other about that even more

and it gets to the point where the old (or maybe new idk) minyard-josten rivalry hashtag starts trending again and at this point they're not publicly out so everybody believes they just really hate each other

anyways, andrew eventually wins (IM SRY BUT I JUST THINK HE'D BE BETTER BECAUSE OF HIS MEMORY) and they ask what he's going to do with the prize money and he turns to neil and is like "i'll probably take my husband on vacation, but i wouldn't know where he'd want to go" and neil smiles at him and is like "anywhere is fine as long as i'm with you" and thats how they come out to the public

"minyard-josten marriage?!" trends for a month after that

#THIS GOT SO LONG IM SORRY #anyways why do i kind of want to write a fic based off of this now #aftg #aftg headcanon #andreil #andreil headcanon #neil josten #andrew minyard #all for the game #andrew minyard headcanon #aftg fandom #aftg andreil #tfc #trk #tkm

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thoughtfulchaos773 · 7 months ago

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Syd and Carmy- Communication 3

Part one Part two

First off. This scene was written by Chris Storer and directed by Joana Calo, our favorite duo (the creators of the table scene). Calo and Storer: do me a favor if the ship isn't real, don't even add shit like that in a scene...you know what I'm talking about. Don't have it where Carmy is taking her in and appreciating what the fuck he's seeing. And Carmy, the loser- notices Sydney as soon as she tries to sneak in. He doesn't even finish saying the word 'exactly' to Marcus before his eyes take her in.

But wait, this conversation is about legacy and how something starts somewhere, and they take these parts and take them somewhere- over and over again. I love that he points out these people would find each other.

Like a family tree.

Carmy and Sydney combine families to create a wholeness- something that's good.

Sydney starting a new legacy! My Shipper Heart: In some meta, Sydney often connected symbolism of life, fertility, rebirth, and nurturing. Chris Storer, these two are made for fanfiction, not a dish- a heart-shaped dish that Carmy just happens to give her- and this beautiful tree above her head- a symbolism for the tree he wants to build starts with the girl who ate his signature dish where he took the rebellion against abuse, rejection and sent a string of fate to start a legacy. What are you doing to me? Carmy literally presents his heart to Sydney.

Okay back to the scene:

He takes in Sydney and tells her "good morning," as if inviting her in. She comes from a meeting with Shapiro that should feel like good news, but she seems burdened. Since she first met with Shapiro, she enters, seeming distant but polite.

He says "no, no" as if to say, "Don't be ridiculous. You never interrupt." He's the one who invited her into the office.

He takes a moment to pause after saying "no," whispers "no," and looks at her...

Also, to note, he's coming from Al-Anon this morning. He has a clearer perspective than the last 7 episodes of that season. 'You look nice'—so simple but as the season's theme. Paying attention, Carmy sees her every day or close to it, and it's Carmy noticing something is different. Could it also be Carmy prompting her to say where she's been? There's room for that conversation.

But Sydney passes it quickly with a quick "Oh, thanks." A little surprised and also not having time for it right now. She focuses on their conversation- which could be a foreshadowing of what Carmy will do in the end.

I pointed this out before- Wednesday reference- 3x04- another episode Storer wrote.

Flashback

Carmy and Sydney are having the same day of the week they are trying to get through? The same day used to track time?

Excuse me-Writer/Director Chris--

But I'll move on...

You know what else I noticed about this scene- Carmy was staring at her the whole time as she took off her bow and said I'm just trying to get through Wednesday. He takes a second when she asks him his answer for legacy.

This is probably the most self-aware Carmy has been- does he realize he's passing panic and anxiety on to Sydney? Probably not yet at this point.

But also how Sydney is always the one to stop his anxiety and panic-driven ways, but for her to set a boundary where she's not his babysitter, eventually, he has to do the work to stop himself from panicking. But it's another sign of a legacy starting with them.

He looks at her a bit more than Marcus. He says with everything and everybody- he has to be square with Claire and Chef David. He needs to let go of the bad things from his past and the abuse he has held on to for so long.

The camera remains on Sydney as she considers his answer to legacy. She nods with understanding, unspoken communication we talked about- Carmy knows what he has to do. He wants to rid himself of the bad but needs help (therapy), so he's not taking it out on Sydney or any of his staff. How will he care for himself, love, and be there for Sydney? One of their relationship's central conflicts is Carmy showing up, the right way for Sydney to start their legacy and filter out the bad things he's carried onto The Bear.

I think that part of the conversation was considering Sydney, filtering out the bad to make it good.

It's still possible for Sydney to start and keep her legacy at The Bear. At the end of season 3, the panic attack is her realizing she doesn't want to leave.

Sidebar: Marcus. Marcus. His legacy-because being an awesome emergency contact is a bittersweet answer- shows some guilt about not picking up the call about his mom...

Grief. Grief is always the theme that sticks with the show. Despite its lingering presence, let's hope for more good days to outweigh the bad. Let's hope the Bear ends with a good legacy.

#the bear meta #the bear spoilers #sydcarmy #carmy x sydney #the bear fx

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melanieph321 · 1 year ago

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Ruben Dias x Reader - Remember You and Me Part 2/8

I have so much planned for this story, y'all ain't ready. 🤭

Summary - After a traffic accident reader is left with no memory of her life with Ruben, who desperately tries to get her to remember him.

Enjoy!

It was this or staying at the hospital. Your family and the doctors gave you no other choice.

"Memories are triggered by familiarites like taste and different smells." They said. Since you remembered everything about your life up until the age of nineteen there was no point in going home with your partners, you needed to remember who you were now, who you were before the accident. Which would be who you were with Ruben.

"Is this your house?" Your head tilted with the tall roof.

"It's our house." He smiled. "Come, let me show you around."

He was kind and patient Ruben. You were his wife but he was a stranger to you, still there was somthing, a familiarity to him. It was hard to explain beyond words, but deep down inside you knew that you trusted him completely, as if your feelings were ahead of your mind.

"Over there is our bedroom but I'll be sleeping in the guest room until, well....."

You were upstairs. Ruben had taken you through the house room by room. It all looked knewly renovated, untouched. Things were costum made and imported from countries you had never heard of.

"Ruben, what exactly do you do for a living?"

He chuckled at the question, but did not seem offended. "I'm a professional footballer."

"Oh?" Not the answer you expected. You saw Ruben more as the lawyer type or maybe a diplomat. He looked stiff in the shoulders, too stiff to be playing a sport at a professional level. Were footballers really as tall as he was? He must be above average then.

"And me..." You stuttered. "What do I do for a living?"

"Well, before the accident you were studying to become a scientist. You were doing your research at the University of Manchester."

"A what now?" You frowned. A scientist, how? You barely graduated from high school back home in the Netherlands, how could this be?

"Well you worked hard and earned a scholarship. That's why you came to live in England, in Manchester." Ruben explained.

"And that's where we met, here in Manchester?"

"Yes, but it's a long story actually." Ruben looked to want to changed the subject. "Let's get you something to eat, I've cooked dinner."

Dinner didn't stop you. You had so many questions about your life before the accident and Ruben was probably the person that knew most about it.

"I don't understand..." You wiped your mouth with a napkin. Dinner was lovely. Ruben could really cook.

"What?" He asked, watching you from where you sat across from him.

"If I'm just a graduate student and you're a professional footballer, how come you let me stay in this big house with you?"

Ruben's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you're the one paying for everything, aren't you?" God knows what the electrical bills were like in this house. No way the income of a graduate student could contribute paying for it.

Ruben nodded his head, coming to terms with what you meant. "Yes, I pay for everything. I actually have no problems with it."

"You don't, why?"

He paused, his eyes locking with yours. "Because you are my wife and I love you."

The words seemed to enter straight through your heart. Leaving your chest heaving up and down as you tried to catch your breath. "I..."

"You don't have to say it back." He said, his expression serious. " I just need you to know."

You nodded. "But you want me to say it back, no?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "When the time is right you will."

You went to bed with those words echoing in your head. "When the time was right...."

Eventually you'd get your memory back. When the time was right things like living in a luxury home too big for just two people, would be normal to you. As well as sleeping in a costum made silk pajamas. But for now it all felt very strange to you and quite out of place. Question was, is this really what you had wanted for your life?

#fanfiction #football imagine #ruben dias #man city #manchester city #ruben dias x reader #ruben dias imagine #footballer imagine #footballer x reader #football angst

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a-reader-and-a-writer-for-all · 1 month ago

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hey so I know someone who gets anxiety the moment someone expresses anger as an instinctual reaction would probably be best suited for Tim and Dick cuz of their temperaments. Jason isn’t an angry guy, but he is prone to expressing himself angrily quite easily. But how do you think Jason would deal with. Having a s/o who has playful banter with him and they can argue and it won’t get angry. They can handle dangerous situations. S/o’s trying to reasonably sort things out. But as soon as he ever starts getting angry at something, s/o stiffens and looks uncomfortable and mentally shut down?

Hi! Thank you for the ask! 💞 To answer this, I'll try to stick with the format you provided above (using S/O, "they" pronouns, etc).

While I do agree Dick or Tim are the obvious choices for a S/O like this, I do think that Jason would step up to the situation and, given a little time to learn, he would handle it well (let's not even touch on how Damien would react to this situation 😂):

Jason and his S/O get along great....most of the time. It's not easy dating a former Robin-turned dead guy-turned resurrected guy-turned mob boss-turned vigilante. But somehow, they make it work.

When small arguments do come up, voices may get raised slightly but it remains more of a sarcastic back-and-forth rather than a full-out fight, something Jason doesn't even realize is the case.

However, that calm style of arguing doesn't carry over to when Jason has discussions with his family. More often than not, Jason ends up screaming at at least one of the Batfamily when they get together. His approach to vigilantism still conflicts with Bruce's and there is still tension there around his death. But Jason usually visits his family by himself so it's not a problem...until it is.

One night, S/O goes with Jason to see his family. Everyone is down in the Batcave chatting when a recent criminal escape is brought up. Predictably, this devolves into a fight about how Bruce's way of handling criminals ends up with them back on the street.

Eventually, Jason gets fed up with the same old fight so he goes to leave...only to finally realize his S/O is nowhere to be found. After a quick search, he finds them in the kitchen with Alfred drinking a cup of hot tea. His S/O tells Jason that they didn't want to interfere in the Bat-dynamics and gave them all space. Jason buys this and they both go home.

It isn't until the next time he's on the phone with Dick that he realizes something is wrong. His S/O is watching tv on the couch as he takes his call in the other room. As the call goes on, things get more heated until Jason ends up hanging up and throwing the phone across the room with a yell. He storms out of the room but freezes as he notices S/O on the couch, curled into a ball yet tenser than he has ever seen them. But what really scares him is the vacant, wide-eyed look on their face as they stare at the floor.

Cautiously, Jason approaches them and sits on the couch next to them. Slowly, he places his hand on their knee. S/O finches but their glazed stare never wavers. Growing more concerned, Jason slides off the couch to kneel before them and tries to get them to look at him. When they still don't move, he places his hands on their face and tries to tilt their head towards him. It's only then that they cower back, emotion finally returning to their face. Only this time as they stare at Jason, it is fear etched into their expression.

They have never looked at Jason like that. Even when he told them everything he had done in the past, and that kills him he could have done something to make them scared of him. Softly, he asks what's wrong. For a minute, S/O doesn't say anything. Then, in a whisper Jason almost can't make out, they say, "I don't like when people get angry." Jason assures them he isn't angry at them, but they only repeat, "I don't like when people get angry."

That time, it clicks. Jason grew up with enough shitty people around to understand this isn't about him yelling at Dick on the phone. It's about something deeper, older. However, that doesn't mean he can't try his best to not let it affect things moving forward. In a calm, soothing voice, he asks if he can touch S/O. When they nod, he pulls them gently into his lap and promises that, moving forward, he'll try not to get angry when they are around. They nod into his chest and the two of them cuddle on the couch for a long time.

From then on, Jason tries to make a conscious effort to keep his anger in check when his S/O is around. He still messes up from time to time, but he does get better. And while there are moments when S/O has another reaction like they did that night, they can see how much Jason is trying and how he immediately shifts into caregiver mode the moment he realizes what's happening.

#thanks!#friend ask #hc #hcs #jason todd #red hood #batman #hurt/comfort #hurt & comfort #emotional hurt/comfort

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tree-obsession · 10 months ago

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Aventurine, the Waste Land, the black hole, and luck- analysis on aventurine's possible fate

possible spoilers for 2.1 trailblaze mission

possible tws for suicide/suicidal idealization, mentions of slavery, and a massacre

ok there is. a lot to unpack for this mission but I would like to focus on the references to The Waste Land (by T.S. Elliot, fucking amazing poem btw) that were in Aventurine's parts?

First of all the achievements- the "Sibyl, what do you wish for?" and "She answers, I wish to die" or something like that. That is the very first thing in the poem we see- to put a long story short, it's a reference to how there was this oracle named Sibyl in Greek Mythology, blessed to live forever by Apollo. Apollo got angry after she refused to have sex with him and cursed her so that while she would live forever, her body would slowly waste away, eventually becoming dust kept in a jar. A couple of boys one day come up to this prison jar and ask her "Sibyl, what do you wish for?" and then she answers that she wants to die. This could be a reference to Aventurine, who is always so lucky but at that moment truly didn't wish to be lucky, and really did want to die. Yet he was stuck, unable to live- considering he is something of a "chosen" of Gaiathra Triclops, she could be the one who cursed him, in disguise of a "blessing" of good luck.

second, the maze scene. there were two references here, both from the fifth(fourth? it's been a hot minute since I read this poem, the details aren't all clear) part of the poem. it talks about a deserted waste land, where rain never falls, there is only lightning and rocks/sand. this matches up with descriptions of sigonia, as a desert planet that's referred to as "the unclaimed desolation", and also some of those lines are directly said in the white text that floated around the maze(which i'll be referring to as floating text from now on). the second reference was also in the floating text, which talks about how "there is another presence/person beside us", or something very similar. I don't have the direct quotation, but this is also a direct reference- within the poem, there are two travelers in this "waste land", and the narrator mentions feeling a presence that wasn't truly there. According to Elliot himself, his inspiration for this part of the poem was from an account of an Antarctic journey, where the person who wrote the account said he and his men were so out of it due to exhaustion they had begun to hallucinate another presence who wasn't actually there. this is probably referencing how mini-aventurine and present-aventurine both exist, and have existed, but the future-aventurine technically does not exist yet and literally is just popping up, clearly not "real" in the physical sense but definitely there. within the poem, there are a lot of speculations between scholars about why Eliiot decided to add this hallucinated dude in but one popular theory is that it's Christ, in disguise, which is really interesting considering The Family's Christian imagery. something to watch out for when Aventurine returns to the story (he def isn't dead, but as to when he's returning... :( i can't get my hopes up) or if anyone else analyzes this more deeply.

now, why the waste land? it's universally considered a pretty depressing poem, about how the world after World War I was torn apart and collapsing in on itself, and portrays a lot of characters who aren't living life to their fullest at all. it references many famous texts and literary works, pointing at literature as an amalgamation of all other literature and also acting as a metaphor for how everything builds off each other, so one thing collapsing could result in everything collapsing. there are a lot of references to different religions as well. perhaps the best way to put it is that Elliot was portraying a world under threat of total collapse, and asks the reader if there is anything humanity can do to save it, or if we must simply salvage what we can. the ending also implies peace is a far-off, perhaps unreachable thing since everything is so discordant. but you get the idea at this point- the poem is about decay and rotting over time. I don't have the greatest grasp on either this poem or aventurine's psyche, but the 2.1 quest revealed a lot- he is an incredibly lucky person who is in a lot of bad situations but gets out every time, and has never lost a bet (despite his life otherwise being absolutely terrible). the waste land itself could simply be sigonia, and then perhaps aventurine himself is a representation of the characters within the poem. practically all scholars agree that in this poem, all the female characters coalesce into one character, and the male characters do so too, and then there is one uniting character between the "male" and "female"- tiresias, who according to Elliot has "foreseen and foresuffered all". he is described as the most important figure in the poem by Elliot himself. Tiresias is an androgynous figure, but is referred to with he/his. he also is the only one to say "I" in the poem, and despite the fact he is blind he can see all, even the future- in mythology, he was a prophet like the Sibyl. "what Tiresias sees is, in fact, the substance of the poem", as Elliot says- in other words, what he sees seems to be the closest thing to the truth you will get.

now obviously that's pretty valuable, considering literally everyone is lying in penacony (in the livestream they said the entire guest list is filled with question marks in place of names, implying everyone's identities there were fake- other than Sparkle's, but she's a Masked Fool and will trick people just for the hell of it, so not exactly the best ally). however (this is where speculation starts) I think this could be possibly very subtle foreshadowing for Aven's return! and I know this may sound delusional but. it's established he's not dead. his stone is out, but that's quite possibly because he's next to a fricking black hole and also Acheron possibly had "freed" him, in some sense? that conversation he had with her obviously changed a lot of things for him as a character, and she said she could break the harmony's bonds on him... also, clearly if he wasn't dead while waking up next to a black hole, that's certainly a surefire way to tell his luck hasn't run out yet. the entire mission was spent establishing his luck is perfect, given by the goddess of his planet, and will never fail him. this is like near emanator-level shit- obviously not quite in terms of any special power, but he was specifically chosen by this goddess, was born on a special day, and due to sheer luck is the last one standing of his clan (apparently). literally everything was set up against him and he's only still alive due to a literal goddess-given power, which is absolutely nuts and almost overpowered if it weren't for the fact that he also seems to be in many scenarios where luck and gambling is the only way to get out at all. the massacre, the enslavement, killing his old master, the weird warlord thing that got brought up, penacony... his luck is purely for getting out of bad situations, it seems.

that was kind of a tangent. anyway! the whole mission was establishing how good his luck was. he got into this situation where the only solution is to walk into a black hole and see the other side of penacony- that is a classic example of "there is an extremely, extremely narrow chance of getting out alive". acheron did it, or something similar, so clearly it's possible- but luck and chance would be the only way. this is the cycle of his life- he's in an absolutely shitty situation, but he will get out due to luck. imo it's a terrible idea writing-wise to keep him explicitly alive up to the very end and going into a situation- alive- which he can survive in due to his luck, right after giving him fulfilling conversation with both acheron and his past self and seeing the uplifting note from Ratio... just to offscreen him, or kill him for some reason related to this "other side of penacony". it wouldn't line up with all that we know about him now. granted, I can't imagine it'll be pleasant and his mental state will be even worse at the end of it... but he'll be alive, and he's made it through a lot of hellish situations. he might not like his luck all the time, and it can be either a blessing or a curse given the scenario, but he's kind of stuck with it- until he withers away, just like Sibyl. Death does seem to be inevitable, but as of right now it's not knocking on his door.

tldr: for now, our boy isn't dead and his luck might be a curse to him but it's clearly going to keep him alive for quite a bit longer :)

tysm for reading and have a nice day!

#honkai star rail #hsr #aventurine #hsr spoilers #my fav poem and my fav character #whoo!!!#acheron #(mentioned)#hsr theory #honkai star rail theory #kakavasha #my beloved <<<333 #i wanted to squish mini-aventurine's cheeks SO BADLY whenever he came onscreen

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reds-skull · 2 months ago

Text

Bringer of Demise - Chapter 2

[FIRST PART] [AO3]

I'll be honest, I wasn't that confident with the first chapter (probably because it's been a while since I sat down to write something) but I like this one much more. The angst is definitely helping lol

Here's chapter 2: Like a House Fire

“Simon-” Soap jumps as the door slams behind him. Ghost grunts, walking further into his room to sit at the desk, reports now laying forgotten. Not that they need them anymore, with Novikov’s arrival.

Soap takes a sit in front of him, the bed creaking when he leans forward to look in Ghost’s dark eyes. “Talk to me, mo chridhe.”

Ghost slides the mask off his face, and throws it on the desk with so much force some papers fly and land behind it. Soap waits as he stares at the wall for a minute or two, lost in whatever dreadful memory the Doctor brought forward.

“Novikov was the one that tested me. When they brought me back from Mexico.” he starts, voice carefully monotone. “Went through regular shit at first. How long I can use Limbo before I have to stop. What happens if someone shoots at it from the outside. See if sound travels, if comms work.”

Soap holds his tongue, ignores the questions that float to his mind about the process. It’s more important for him to listen to Simon.

“Didn’t really have a problem with those. Expected them, really.” Simon shakes his head, bitterness bleeding into his voice, “it started going wrong when Shepherd came into the picture.”

At the mention of that name, Soap’s jaw clenches. General fucking Shepherd, the man behind Graves’ leash. Ran like a coward after his dog died, still off grid even after Laswell got the go-ahead from CIA to start a search for him. Soap remembers the few meetings he was in, how Shepherd would address Ghost. Spoke to him as if Limbo wasn’t tearing itself apart because of his orders.

Ghost never told him much about the bawbag, Soap never asking. Felt wrong, with how little he willingly gives Ghost about his own past.

“What did he do?” he asks, a little hesitant to hear the answer.

“Novikov wasn’t pushing me hard enough, according to him. Because he was afraid of what my powers would do to me or to others, or for a different reason, I didn’t bother finding out. Don’t know if the Doc tried to resist. It doesn’t matter.” Simon lets out a mirthless laugh, “you know the rest.”

Soap nods. “Ye think… he will do it again? Push ye to…”

“I’m not worried about me, Johnny.” He leans closer to Soap, and it dawns on him that Simon’s not as angry as he is terrified, “there’s nothing new Novikov can tell me to use Limbo on that would break it like last time. But you… they never found your limits, have they?”

“... You know they didn’t need to.”

“I don’t think that ever satisfied Novikov, or the higher-ups.” Soap frowns, Simon’s voice lowering to an almost whisper, “I think they were just as tied up in red tape as you.”

He doesn’t respond to that. He doesn’t think he needs to, they both know Simon is right.

Soap’s memories of that time period are… muddy at best. And it wasn’t because of the shot he received to the head, the day he died.

In the weeks following it, Soap felt like everyone that knew what happened there was walking on eggshells around him. Not many knew, they tried to sweep it under the rug immediately to avoid an international incident, but those that did…

When Soap refused to use his powers on field, his Captain was irritated. Said he’d go to the higher-ups, get him written for insubordination.

The very next day, the Captain took him to the side and asked him to tell him. Fuck the higher-ups when it comes to his own personal curiosity, eh?

Soap refused, obviously. The Captain let it go, eventually, but Soap always wondered if he was trying to send him into impossible situations to see just how much destruction he can survive.

“I’m not going to let him do anything to you, love.” Simon’s voice makes him refocus on the present, “Novikov tells you to jump, you ask me how high.”

Soap scoffs fondly, the anger that has bubbled up in his chest subsiding, “they’re gonna write ye up, LT.”

“Don’t care. They won’t boot me out anyway.” he answers smugly, scarred lips quirking up in a way that makes Soap want to explode the rest of the world, if only to keep him safe.

He returns the smile, “sound awfully certain of yerself. Should I ask Price if the power went to yer head?”

Simon huffs, “just the facts, Johnny. Not only I’m legally dead, they wouldn’t want someone like me strolling around civvies in case I go off and send a couple hundred to Limbo.”

“Sometimes I forget just how much off yer heid you are, Simon Riley.”

“Takes one to know one, and all that.” Simon moves to get up, when something pulls at his leg.

A few dark hands started petting at their boots, so gently they didn’t notice. Soap smiles, leaning down to return the favor with his left hand.

“Look, we made yer friends worried.” the hands wrap around his fingers, chasing the little white flames.

Simon shakes his boot, loosening the residents of the void’s hands, “you know that’s not how that works.”

“Well, they react to our emotions, you never know!” he turns back to the hands, “don’t listen to him, he’s just grouchy ‘cause I’m not holdin’ his hand.”

He’s happy to continue playing with Simon’s “friends” until a shrill sound cuts through the air. Soap watches Simon grab his phone from his pocket.

“It’s Rudy.” he taps his phone and sits down next to Soap, “Rodolfo?”

“Fantasma. Is Soap with you?” Rudy greets, voice hurried.

Soap takes Simon’s wrist and brings the phone closer, “aye, what’s wrong?”

“All of our revenants were woken up by our Reapers, I… I assume it happened to yours as well.”

Christ, must be later than midnight in Mexico right now. Getting dragged into your Reaper’s realm in the middle of sleeping… can’t be fun.

“Affirm.” Ghost says, “I assume yours asked about Fate and Lumity?”

“Yes.” there’s someone talking in the background, and Soap realizes it’s Alejandro, giving out orders, “some of our revenants chose Fate. We’re in the process of reprimanding them, but… It’s more important that I tell you what we gathered.”

Simon and Soap share a look. Anything would be helpful at this point.

Rudy continues, “the ones that chose Fate didn’t give us much. Apparently their Reaper just left, only saying they chose right. It is mine that explained the most.”

“You did say your Reaper was chatty…” Simon mutters.

“It is.” Rudy sighs, “my Reaper didn’t get mad when I chose you. It said it was expecting it.”

Rudy’s Reaper… Reaper of Matter… is on Lumity’s side?

“The Reapers are… in a state of disorder.” he pauses, mulling over the words. “... My Reaper said this hasn’t happened since before the age of revenants.”

“Did it say what’s Fate’s goal in all this?” Simon asks.

“No. I don’t think it knows.” Rudy begins talking in Spanish to someone on the other side, far too fast for Soap to understand. “-Jabón y Fantasma?”

They can hear some rustling before Alejandro’s voice comes through, “Hermanos! You landed us in a real shitshow this time around, eh?”

Soap smiles sheepishly, “good teh hear ye, Ale. Sorry about the mess.”

“All good. Well- for now.” Alejandro hums, “I have a feeling that is due to change at any point.”

“Ye said it…”

Rudy turns the phone back to him, as he says, “whatever it is, you can call us. We’ll continue to update you.”

“Appreciated, hermano,” Ghost answers, “same goes for us.”

“Don’t be strangers. We’ll talk later.” Ghost and Soap say their goodbyes as Rudy hangs up.

So the Reapers themselves don’t quite know what Fate is planning… he didn’t think it was possible, but Soap is even more unsettled. Reapers are volatile as it is, though before they could’ve trusted them to not meddle in their “boring human affairs”.

A Reaper even Reapers can’t foresee… how can they prepare against something like that?

Soap eventually returned to his own barrack, long after daylight faded. Sleep evaded him for most of the night, burning moths fluttering around his cot as he tosses and turns, flames occasionally charring his blanket.

When morning finally comes, he finds himself in the revenant training grounds along with Ghost. Anxiousness drips down his spine as they wait for the Doctor and his assistants.

Ghost knocks their boots together, and Soap calms. He’s not going through this alone, unlike any other revenant.

He begins to hope Novikov has simply forgotten about them when the man is late. Unfortunately, he doesn’t. Almost 20 minutes after the tests were supposed to start, the man comes hurrying down the training grounds, the papers in his hands miraculously not flying away in the gentle breeze.

“Sergeant! Lieutenant! I apologize for the delay.” Novikov calls when he gets close enough, somewhat out of breath, “yesterday’s incident had us sifting through reports all night, as you can imagine.”

The Doctor pauses to take another deep breath, and flips through the folder he brought, “as I’m sure you understand, this will not be a standard revenant test. I will not be redoing your basic tests, Lieutenant. As for you, Sergeant…”

Novikov turns his bespectacled grey eyes to him, and gives him a small smile, “I understand that I will not be able to test your limits here, but the records of the Verdansk incident are enough.”

Soap’s back straightens, and he can’t help but growl, “ye know about it?!”

He can count on two hands the amount of living people that know the whole truth behind his Reaping, and about half of them are in the 141.

“Laswell has allowed me access to the files. I’ve known about the incident beforehand, of course, theorized Konchar had-”

“Don’t ye dare say that fuckin’ name.” he snarls, flames flickering within his clenched fists. It doesn’t stop the stream of blurry memories, of melting skin beneath his fingertips-

Soap forcibly exhales, coercing his flames to die down.

Novikov doesn’t seem offended by the interruption. On the contrary, he looks… intrigued.

“I’d like to test the difference between your hands, to start. I have only been made aware of the changes in flame color, and the markings, of course.”

Soap glances at Ghost, who gives him a nod.

“What do ye need me to do, Doctor?”

“This is most intriguing… the flesh of your left hand is cooler than your right, but the flames are considerably warmer…”

Soap feels the ground between his fingers crumble to ash. So far, The tests are quite… boring, if he’s honest.

He’s had his own morbid fascination with his own powers, for a while. Wondering how it compares to other explosive compounds, trying to run the numbers to find the closest approximate. He thought, if he could find an equation, he could control his powers better.

Soap gave up on it soon after. Didn’t have enough data to work with, and generating more meant using his powers, and well…

Novikov lifts his pen, “very good, Sergeant.” steamin’ Jesus, he’s not 5, is he gonna give him a sticker next? “Now, Lieutenant, remove any clothing on your right arm, if you will.”

Ghost, who up until now stood motionless in his best imitation of a statue, stares at Novikov for a long moment, before slowly removing his glove and tucking it into his belt. He steps closer to Soap, rolling his sleeve to reveal pale, scarred skin.

“Now, with your left arm of course, I want you to attempt to explode the Lieutenant’s arm.”

Soap notices the assistant with the heat-sensitive camera aim it at Ghost, “it’s not gonna do anything to him, Doc.”

“Then there shouldn’t be any problem demonstrating it.” Novikov doesn’t look up from his papers. Bawbag.

Ghost offers him his arm silently. Soap knows it won’t do anything to him, they bear marks to prove it.

Soap takes the arm. White flames wrap harmlessly around it. He focuses his powers to his left hand, the air around them distorting.

It feels fundamentally wrong to try and hurt Simon. His breathing picks up, fingers twitching as the flames climb higher and higher.

“-it’s as if they’re trying to reach equilibrium. The flesh cools the flames, the flames heat it in return-”

Ghost doesn’t react, not that Soap can see with his vision tunneling on their joined limbs. The fire burns, searing, scorching, mutilating-

“-You may stop now, Sergeant-”

He can’t hurt him, how could he ever dare hurt him? Why isn’t anyone stopping this?

Like a bystander watching a house fire, Soap is helpless in front of the flames. He can almost smell the bubbling flesh from here, the melting of everything in the face of unending ruin-

“-ohnny. Enough.”

Soap jumps, the world rushing back to his senses. He turns his head shakily, to see Novikov’s gaze boring into him.

“Ah’m not- I can’t-” he mumbles, words barely forming on his lips, “Ghost-”

“You’re alright, Johnny.” Ghost’s smooth voice is steady as ever, but his eyes betray him, “it’s over.”

Novikov affirms, “We got all we needed, Sergeant.”

Ghost lifts his hand towards him, and Soap barely suppresses a flinch as it trails down his bicep. “You’re alright.” he repeats.

Soap nods, feeling like a bampot all at once. Of course Ghost is fine. They already knew this, he told Novikov as much not 10 minutes ago.

Stupid, stupid, fucking stupid. Soap grits his teeth, “what’s next, Doctor?”

Novikov takes a while to answer, and Soap avoids Ghost’s perceptive gaze as they wait, “I have received approval for Limbo, Lieutenant. I’d like to see the changes it went through first-hand.”

“... Understood. We will need to put some distance between us.” Ghost grunts.

The Doctor waves his hand, “naturally. You’re familiar with your limits, I’ll leave it to your judgement.”

Soap feels Ghost urge him to move, and they begin walking.

“Johnny-”

“Aye.” Soap huffs, “sorry, LT.”

“What for?” Ghost hums, “you did nothing wrong.”

He doesn’t answer to that. If Ghost didn’t see his fuck-up, he’d rather not bring it up.

“If you need to stop at any point-”

Maybe he’s easier to read than he thought, “Ah’m solid, Simon.”

“You froze there. Don’t think you can hide it.” or maybe Ghost knows him too well by now.

They come to a stop, facing one another. Soap bites the inside of his cheek, “I’m- I’ll be fine as long as Ah don’t have to repeat that.”

“You won’t.” Ghost assures him, “ready for Limbo?”

If there’s a place to find peace of mind, it’s the void, “aye. Been a while since we paid our friends a visit, hm?”

Ghost chuckles, “only you’d call them that.” He raises his voice, shouting to Novikov, “Limbo out in five!”

The Doctor gives them a thumbs-up, so Ghost closes his eyes.

Entering Limbo never got less jarring. Soap gets used to it faster if he expects it, but the shift from the colorful, lively world to the still void is an odd one.

Still, once he gets accustomed to it, he can’t help but smile. As weird as it is to say, he missed this place.

Limbo’s victims are docile, chasing after bright moths with no sense of urgency. Like shooting stars, they paint the dark skies of Limbo with radiant yellows and oranges.

This might be the only good thing Soap’s powers have ever done.

He catches Ghost staring at him, his eyes a glowing white, “what?” he asks with a small grin.

“Better?”

“Aye.”

“Sergeant!” Novikov shouts, though it sounds muffled as it enters Limbo from the other side, “try to explode something!”

Soap frowns, “is he talkin’ about yer friends?”

Ghost mutters, clearly unhappy with the disturbance, “don’t know.”

“What do you want ‘im to test it on?!” Ghost shouts back.

“Any material will do! I assume you’re standing on something, correct?”

Soap looks down, at the solid black ground. “What is this made of, anyway?”

The way Ghost hums back tells him ‘fuck if I know’. He crouches down, placing both hands on it. The texture is almost like a glass pane, except his fingers can’t get a grip on it no matter how much he tries.

Before he can hesitate, Soap flexes his fingers.

Nothing happens.

“Huh.” he tilts his head, “suppose it makes sense.”

“How so?” Ghost kneels beside him, sliding a finger over the undamaged surface.

“My powers have to come into contact with a material to explode.” Soap shrugs, getting back on his feet, “void’s made of nothing, no?”

“Hm.” Ghost casts another look around Limbo, and blinks.

Soap catches himself before his knees buckle from the rush of color and noise back into the world. Ghost hooks an arm under his shoulder as a precaution, but he assures him he’s stable.

“Absolutely outstanding! This is the first time you couldn’t explode something, is that correct, Sergeant?” Novikov half-jogs to them.

“Uh… Aye?”

The Doctor’s eyes gleam with wonder, “Incredible! If only there were more Revenants of Destruction in this base, I would be able to test if this is a result of a relation between your Reapers, or a consequence of your powers mixing… Alas, this is not the purpose of my visit.”

Novikov’s assistants are absorbed with the testing equipment they brought, some looking like set pieces of a low budget sci-fi movie to Soap. He’d love to nick one to take apart, but the shite’s probably so delicate even his fingertips would burn and destroy them.

“Now, for the next test, I’d like you to-” a shrill noise cuts Novikov off, and Ghost pulls out his phone.

Soap pouts when Ghost answers. Why does no one ever call him?

“Affirm. We’ll be there in fifteen.” Ghost ends the call, “we need to go to a meeting with Laswell.”

Novikov’s eyes dim, “ah, I see… I suppose we can continue this afterwards.”

“You’re invited too, Doctor.” Ghost grunts, making both Soap and Novikov swing around in surprise.

When Laswell finally shows up on screen, she seems different from what Soap remembered.

Dark eye bags, pale, hair more grey in some places. He almost didn’t recognize her, and looking around the room tells him the rest of the team thinks the same.

The rest, except Price, “how are you, Kate?”

Laswell sighs, more hair falling off her tight bun. “Let’s get to work, John.”

As she brings up several images on screen, Price reports in their mind, “someone attacked Laswell and her wife in their home two months ago. She got off with minor injuries, but her wife… her concussion was severe enough that she barely talks most days.”

“Did they catch the fucker that did it?” Soap thinks back. If they didn’t, he’d gladly volunteer to put the bastard six feet under. He owes Laswell that much.

Price stops him from continuing to plan a revenge, “Kate killed him, son. She’s trained for field work, an everyday burglar doesn’t stand a chance against her. Now focus up.”

Soap huffs, “yes sir.”

“-we found signs of Shepherd’s work around Urzikstan. Supposedly, he’s working with one of the resistance groups there.” blurry satellite images pop up on screen, convoys and remote buildings hidden between green hills.

Gaz frowns, “either he suddenly grew a moral compass, or there’s a catch.”

Laswell nods, “it’s possible it’s a false lead, but with recent clashes between Urzik forces and the Russians, I’d like you to personally investigate it.”

“We’ll get it done, Laswell.” Price says, his authoritative voice on full blast.

“No one I trust more than you.” Laswell smiles, in a way Soap has never seen. “Now, obviously as you all are grounded, I wouldn’t just send you on what could potentially lead to nothing…”

She begins talking to Novikov, “we’re working on tracking the missing revenants Graves and Shepherd trafficked.”

The Doctor nods, adjusting the frankly huge glasses on his nose bridge, “many of them belong to rarer kinds of Reapers. If they were to fall into the wrong hands…”

“We can’t allow that to happen.” Ghost finishes sternly.

“Commander Karim has been working to find them, but there’s so much she can do while also fending off Russians.” the screen switches to a compilation of names and passport photos, each listing both a date of birth and Reaping. “This is your official reason to be sent to Urzikstan, boys. Whatever intel Graves has left behind him regarding the revenants’ location, we need it.”

“When are we up?” Price asks.

“1600.”

Gaz whistles, “brass’ knickers are all twisted up, huh.”

“Miss Laswell, if I may.” Novikov pipes up, “I have yet to finish the renewed revenant test of Sergeant MacTavish and Lieutenant Ghost. I will not be able to give you an accurate recommendation before that.”

The fuck’s he talking about?

“I understand, Doctor, but it’s out of my control.” Laswell exhales, “this is why I invited you to this meeting. Based on what you do know, what is your verdict?”

The entire room swivels to stare at the Doctor. Novikov scrambles to flip through the papers in his hands, before speaking with an air of defeat.

“Considering my current understanding of Lumity, and the state of Sergeant MacTavish and Lieutenant Ghost… I recommend that until further testing, they should be separated as much as possible on field, if their powers are to be used.”

… What?

#call of duty modern warfare 2 #cod mw2 #cod ghost #cod soap #cod gaz #cod price #john soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #kyle gaz garrick #john price #kate laswell #stanislav novikov #revenant au #call of duty fic #call of duty fanfic #call of duty modern warfare #cod fic #cod fanfic #ghostsoap #soapghost #ghoap #soap love you got so much repressed trauma its unreal <3 #you dont know how fun it is to finally write his perspective on what happened in part 1 and before #part 1 didnt really dive into what happened to soap bc it was a mystery most of the fic... but now... >:)#first chapter felt a little slow for me but this pace feels better #part 1's pace was really fast and i have slowed down since but i still like to be quick #which is weird when i think about it bc i can ramble for hours on the lore of this #anyway the last part wouldve been expected if you read novikov's side story but ohh boy how will the boys react to that...#also found out about novikov's self-consistency principle today and its completely unrelated to the fic but its an interesting take on time #-paradoxes and the fact i had to separate this sentence into two tags tells me i need to shut up lol

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