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#a huge crush. a crush so bad that even though its been a little less than two days... im all heart eyes
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BASCH KISSER??? :D
AHSJAHSJQHS
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Maybe just a little!!! (I say as if I haven't been giggling and kicking my legs all day thinking about kissing him)
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ominous-horse-noises · 4 months
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im ab to be annoying ab dimension20 fhjy but im genuinely loving the character arcs for the bad kids this season?
kristen going from self-annihilatingly stupid to trying to build a genuine bridge with the man who not only wielded the religion that traumatised her (bobby dawn), but also was trying to ruin her life, just bc she thought a grieving father ought to be comforted in some way? her genuine distress at being unable to revivify buddy even though the two had only had negative interactions, or her biting her tongue in front of her parents so she could better look after her little siblings? grappling with the fact that she still, on some level, expected practising religion to be easy and convenient for her as a holdover from an entire childhood spent being a Chosen One, and finally putting her nose to the grindstone and committing to working her ass off for a deity that couldn't even benefit her for a hot minute? making an effort to be cordial with tracker's new gf and letting go of that codependency? the kristen applebees from ep20 would NOT do all the same stupid shit as ep1 and i love that.
fabian being humbled by the narrative again and again has been an absolute treat for his character. the whole ivy/mazey situation was great: freshman/sophomore year fabian would've gone for ivy no sweat, i mean her character seemed pretty similar to pre-redemption aelwyn and he had a huge crush on her then. but this time, when he realised he'd hurt a genuinely great person, and intentionally swallowed his pride to make it up to mazey, even though it required him being 'uncool' with the whole twister thing. his general arc of learning that earnestness and humility doesn't make him less of a man felt like a natural extension of fabian defining his own version of masculinity- sure, a 'maximum legend', but also someone deeply involved in the arts, and someone who is less afraid of saying sorry and being vulnerable in front of someone he likes
fig. fig fig fig. what a woman. its been absolutely fascinating watching build her sense of identity over these three seasons. at her core, fig is a character that loves so deeply. in freshman, she was terrified of the depth of her own devotion, so she tried to distance herself emotionally from everyone. in sophomore, she built herself around that love for other people. in junior year, fig's arc has been learning she can do both: that she's defined by her love for others, but not solely by it. ik emily wanted to retire the character before this season but i think fig's paladin arc was the best capstone to her journey possible.
gorgug's arc has been about establishing clear boundaries for himself and i love it. im aware there's been some Discourse ab the mango soda scene but to me that was pretty easily chalked up to teenage insecurity. a big part of gorgug's arc was trying to believe in himself when everyone around him told him he was too dumb to follow his passion- imagine struggling in an area that you have no natural aptitude for, and someone comes along and also trounces you in the one area you thought you were the best in. i'd be petty and reactive too (gorgug follows up calling her a freak with the fact that she beat the shit out of him, so its clearly him just still smarting from a bruised ego and not actual malice). in general, i've really like gorgug learning to put his foot down and say enough is enough without completely losing his gentleness.
adaine hasnt had an obvious arc, but considering she addressed most of her baggage in the first two seasons, i'm not surprised. i would've liked to see the other bad kids address her 'teenage adult' behaviour, but her self-awareness about it and relying on fabian to pull in clutch for the oracool stuff still felt like she'd learned to rely on her friends at least + her reaching out to aelwyn and the two of them healing from their parents together has been rewarding it its own right.
riz is perfect and has learned nothing. his neuroticism is part of his natural swag
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My problem with Bat/ Bat ships isn't that they exist, it's how many people like them.
Wait! Hear me out. I swear I have a reason.
I'm good at ignoring ships that squick me, so I do. I also want to make it very clear I am not I am not hating on individuums who ship Bat/ Bat.
But to me, how much people ship them is kind of indicative of how little we value adopted children in our society. People say they aren't "really related" so it's fine.
Because you just don't see that level of engagement with ships involving biologically related family.
And it's that attitude shining through more than the shipping itself I dislike.
"Fiction isn't reality" no, it isn't, write the darkest thing you want. Explore fucked up concepts. That doesn't make you a bad person. It's completely normal.
However oftentimes Fiction is often still a reflection of reality. From reading, we can learn about our society (or other societies, if we venture beyond our own culture.) It says something, whether the author meant for it to mean something or not.
We understand where you're coming from and agree that adopted children/siblings are real family and shouldn't be valued less. We also agree that fiction mirrors reality which mirrors fiction, although that process is much more complex than many people claim.
However, 1) not every family is your typical nuclear family. Everybody defines their family and their relationships with its members in their own way. Some people call all adults that are close to them uncles and aunts, regardless of any actual biological connection. Someone could have been raised by their biological parents, but don't claim them as parents because of personal reasons and even view other adults who filled the parental roles better as their actual parents. Someone could have a biological sibling that is much older than them, grow up without them in their life and due to that think of them as more of a cool friend than a sibling. (All examples are taken from our own personal experiences.)
It's especially apparent in cases of found family, which batfamily certainly is. Tim and Jason haven't met until Jason was 18 and Tim was 16. Both were adopted by the same man, but they didn't know each other. Does that automatically makes them brothers? Even though without the adoption papers they would be total strangers? If Jason's death invalidated the adoption papers does it mean he and Bruce stopped thinking of each other as parent and child? Bruce and Dick have an age difference between 10 to 20 years and viewed each other more as brothers, partners and mentor/mentee at first. Bruce and Tim for a long time also thought of each other as mentor/mentee, especially since Tim still had a living father. That was also the case of Dick and Damian. Tim had a crush on Cass in the comics at the beginning of their friendship. Jason and Dick were technically brothers before Jason's death, but they weren't close at all and only met a few times. Barbara is a mother/sister figure to Cass even when she was dating Cass' adopted brother Dick. We don't think Jason and Cass even met once in post-crisis comics, despite technically being siblings. (Sorry we're only mentioning that one era, we aren't as knowledgeable about new52 and rebirth.)
The recent push to make the batfamily a nuclear family in our opinion does a huge disservice to the characters and their interesting and complicated relationships that can't fit neatly into boxes labeled "sibling" or "parent".
2) some people think of batfamily as a family AND still ship them at the same time. Yes, some claim they aren't "really related", but there's another side that absolutely views them as related and wants to explore what happens when two brothers or a father and son fall in love.
3) there's actually a pretty big engagement with ships involving biologically related family. Wincest (ship between biological brothers Sam and Dean from Supernatural) is the 15th most popular ship on AO3 of all time. We still remember how prominent the fandom discourse about shipping the Weasley twins from Harry Potter was. In almost every fandom, there're at least a few incest ships. Are they more popular than adopted sibling incest ships? We don't know, but if anyone wants to measure it in some way, we'd love to find out.
Edit: 4) as people have rightfully pointed out in the comments and reblogs, a lot of fics are AUs where one or both characters weren't even adopted and met in different circumstances. You can see that in a lot of fandoms, people will imagine close friends or even strangers as biological family and vice versa: write biological or adopted family as just friends or even strangers.
We're looking forward to hearing what other people think about this topic!
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avatarmerida · 8 months
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Alright babes, here’s the thrilling conclusion the huntlow memory story I’ve been working on where basically Hunter was in season one but Willow lost her memories of him in Understanding Willow. Hope someone likes it 💚💛
Part 1 Part 2
———
Hunter’s photos could be sorted into three categories: 1. him trying to figure out how the camera worked (with a collection of blurry or terribly out of focus objects), 2. photos of Flapjack and 3. Photos he had clearly been roped into taking.
As Willow scrolled through his collection, it was like she could see him physically easing into the idea of friendship over time. There were several montages of Luz or Gus taking his scroll and posing for selfie as he lectured about something behind them, unaware of the shenanigans. Group photos where his frown became less and less aggressive and soon enough he was even looking at the camera with the rest of them. He began to lean in to help get everyone in frame and even a few of them had him trying out a pose of his own. She couldn’t help but notice there were a lot of photos of just the two of them: in the library, the botanical gardens or at the owl house.
And she just couldn’t get over the way he looked at her.
It was as though he was in disbelief that she had taken the time to document spending time with him. His eyes locked on her with a soft look of wonder in each photo, engulfing her in rays of gratitude and delightful confusion. It was like he was starstruck.
Maybe even enamored.
“Okay here hold it up,” Willow heard herself say. She looked down and saw she had stumbled upon a video. She focused and saw Hunter trying to steady his scroll, showing him and Willow sitting underneath a huge tree. She instantly recognized this tree, it was her favorite place to go when she needed to focus or clear her head. She had never brought anyone there, not even Gus. But she had clearly trusted Hunter with the knowledge of its location, and that spoke volumes.
The camera shifted down to just her and she laughed. “Nooo, you gotta get in here too, silly!” She insisted as she went to wrap her arms around his neck to bring him back into frame. His face instantly turned red as the camera became shaky and Willow noticed a flower crown resting atop his head, its state implying they had been there for a while.
“Okay, now smile!” She instructed as a wide smile appeared across her face, it appeared so naturally as though it was returning after not being away very long. Hunter followed suit but only after his eyes turned down to see her, he shook his head ever so slightly as though he was in total awe of her. She opened one eye, as though she suspected it, and raised her brow at him as she scrunched her nose. “You need to look at the camera, you dork!” She reached over and turned his face forward but it was like his eyes didn’t know how to leave her and something in her eyes suggested she knew that.
“Woah,” she said to herself. It was weird seeing herself like that, like she was a whole different person Willow was observing from afar. She knew she had a bit of a crush on Hunter from bits and pieces of context clues she had found but this… this was uncharted territory. She knew exactly what she was doing here; flirting in a way she had only day dreamed about, with a natural, effortless dialogue. She thought it would take her years to be the bold one in that type of situation but no, they were fun and silly and comfortable. If she could only go back in time and tell them how to stay that way.
But if her suspicions were correct, then it was out of their hands anyway.
Who could ever see them like this and think this was something bad? That this goofy, nervous boy wanted anything but wonderful things for her? Even now, Amity rolled her eyes at the mention of his name which suggested to Willow that she had made little effort to know who he truly was from the get go.
“Any luck?” he asked from beside her as he turned the page in his book. He had brought nearly every book ever written about memory loss and had been reading them cover to cover for any suggestion on how to restore her memories. He had hoped that looking through his scroll of photos and videos of them would spark something and as enjoyable as seeing these things was, it didn’t connect any dots for Willow. She felt closer to Hunter, to who she was and who they had been together, but it was nothing she could attest to on her own. But that didn’t stop her from playing the video over and over.
“It’s really cute, but not familiar,” she admitted sadly. She had reread their conversations on her scroll and tried to map out what she could recall from the days he had been removed from but there was nothing so detailed that it felt like it was really hers. He had pulled memories for her of them spending time together, still feeling regretful of not reintroducing himself sooner and paranoid she would doubt their former connection. But as compelling as the evidence was, it didn’t answer questions that only her past self held the answers to.
“Maybe I could let you into my mind,” he said. “So I could show you things you’re still missing in their entirety. I mean, they wouldn't be totally perfect and they're hard to sort and there’s alot about the coven I can’t show you… unless you’ve reconsidered your stance on-.”
She cut him off by placing her finger over his lips.
“I'm not joining the Emperor’s Coven,” she said sweetly before booping his nose. The boldness of the girl in the videos seemed to be effortlessly resurfacing as she kept finding herself present in a well-worn dynamic.She could feel Hunter smile beneath her fingertips and his eyes lingered on her for a moment the way she was growing re-accustomed to before he turned away to look at his book hoping to get ahead of his oncoming blush.
“Worth a shot,” he said with a shrug
“I appreciate the offer, but having someone in your mind is kinda scary,” she said. “I mean, one wrong move and there’s fire everywhere. You’re sweet, but I couldn’t let you do that for me; it might put your memories at risk too.”
“I trust you with my memories,” he said. He said it so naturally and it made Willow’s heart leap. Woah, she thought for a second time. She knew exactly why she had developed a crush on him, in fact she was still developing it. He was a lot like her. They both needed a place where they didn't have to prove that they belonged, where they weren’t trying to stand out or lay low and they had that together. He knew she had memories of him that weren't perfect. He cared more about her having what was rightfully hers than having her think highly of him. Hunter had told her he could be snobby and selfish, but she had yet to see these traits in him.
“I uh… thanks,” she blushed in response as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before handing him back his scroll. “It’s too bad I wasn’t keeping a diary then, I guess I must have stopped for awhile. I searched everywhere in my room, all my usual hiding spots, but I didn’t find anything.”
Hunter’s ears perked up as he quickly flipped through his scroll, searching for something. When he found what he was looking for, he moved closer to her to show her a zoomed in photo of them sitting in her room. “Look! Right there, that green book! Does it look familiar?”
Willow squinted. “Hmm, no? It looks like a notebook I’d pick out but I don’t have one like that.”
“But you did! I remember you writing in it alot! One time I said something I didn’t realize was a joke and you grabbed that book to write it down in.” Hunter was delighted to have a lead. “I don’t know what else you’d have transcribed but it could offer us something!”
“Wait, you were in my room?” she asked with a raised eyebrow, knowing her fathers’ would surely have a policy about that once they saw the way she looked at this tall, dashing boy.
“Oh yeah,” he said, cleaning his throat.
“And my dads were okay with that?”
“You, uh, miiight’ve helped me sneak in a few times,” he confessed somewhat nervously.
“Really?”
“Yeah we’d just uh… hang out, and stuff,” he said softly as though there was more to it. Or at least, he felt there was more to it. “But, anyway the diary!”
“Right, the diary.” Willow repeated getting back on track.
“We find the diary, we find more things you’re missing!”
“It’s a great idea but I’ve cleaned my room and my locker plenty of times and I haven’t seen any sign of that book,” she sighed. “I’m not sure where else it could be.”
Hunter tried to say the next part as carefully as he could, knowing things were still delicate. “Has the youngest Blight been to your house recently?”
---
It felt like lifetimes since Willow had been at the Blight estate.
When Amity answered the door, she was a bundle of nerves. Willow knew that she was serious about making things right between them but that she also knew that she wasn’t sure how to do that. Willow knew that not knowing things made Amity nervous, and this was uncharted territory, (literally off her predetermined path). They both knew this road would be complicated but when Willow had asked to come over Amity took it as a sign that she hadn’t messed things up yet.
“Hey, Willow!” Amity greeted her, her nerves mixing with her genuine excitement as her voice tried to decide the right octave to jump to.
“Hi!” Willow greeted her. Before, they’d call each other silly nicknames or be all a buzz about the activities they had planned. This was somewhere between overly formal and overly informal but it didn’t feel quite normal.
“Hello!” said Amity, searching for something else to say before they entered a never ending loop of exchanging greetings. “So uh, what can I do for you? Not that you need a reason to come over! It just seems… like yooooou did.”
“Yeah, actually,” Willow chuckled awkwardly. “We, uh-.”
“‘We?’” repeated Amity and her eyes darted behind Willow to notice Hunter for the first time. He stood behind Willow in full guard dog mode, standing tall as though a sixth sense anticipated danger. “Oh, you brought him.”
“Amity…” Willow warned.
“I know, I know sorry,” Amity said with a sigh.
Suddenly, something in Willow’s mind felt full, like something about Amity’s tone made it spring forth. It didn’t bring sound or pictures but a familiar feeling. Willow couldn’t quite place what it was trying to tell her but she knew enough to not dismiss it as she continued.
“We were talking and I was wondering did I maybe leave my diary here?” Willow asked.
“Oh, d-diary?’ Amity’s voice shook. “I… I forgot you kept a diary! Haha, uh…”
Willow immediately knew something was off. Diaries had been something important to them both. One summer at the fair they had decided to pool their prize tickets from games to get a better prize and they had fallen in love with a diary. It was purple (for Amity) with vines and flowers (for Willow). Amity was becoming busier with private lessons and the girls used their cherished book to write letters to each other. Every other night, one of them would read what the other had written and then respond. They had lost touch a few pages short of it being filled, but Willow knew that if their friendship meant as much as Amity claimed, a diary was no shock.
“Yeah, uh Hunter mentioned he saw me with one when we would hang out and we wanted to see if reading it helped me with the memories I’m still missing,” Willow explained.
“Right! Yeah! T-that would be… really helpful now, huh?” Amity chuckled.
“Amity, do you know anything about it?” Willow asked carefully, feeling certain she did. But she knew there was a reason she was being indirect and Amity knew her oldest friend sensed her hesitance and knew it was rooted in something shameful.
But Amity couldn’t admit that Boscha had stolen it from her bag during lunch. Because even though she had been against it, and even though she had even said so out loud it didn’t undo the fact that she hadn’t switched it out for any other book when she had the chance. She had been too cowardly to stand up to Boscha so instead of returning it to Willow or hiding it, the best Amity managed to to was make sure it was “accidentally” destroyed before Boscha could find anything blackmail worthy. She had meant to make it unreadable, but in her moment of panic she did not cast the proper protection spell and so when Bosha opened the book, it burst into flames.
So while Boscha was not granted access to Willow’s secrets, this still did not undo the fact that Amity did not confess the whereabouts of the diary to Willow and now it was lost forever. Amity had assumed it was another thing forgotten and decided to accept that rather than try to right her wrong, knowing that forgiveness was not guaranteed.
Things had still been tense between them when the instance occurred so Amity thought she had time to find a solution or at least a way to word things so they sounded positive in some way. But she had found neither and she knew how that looked now. It didn’t matter that she had no way of knowing how important it would end up being, it was just another way she had let Willow down when helping her would have been such a simple thing for someone who cared about her.
Amity knew that even at their worst, Willow would guard her secrets with her life. Amity didn’t deserve her.
“No, I don’t sorry.” Amity lied, her eyes wide and sorrowful and Willow somehow knew they held something lost in translation.
Willow sighed, and though Hunter did not know Amity well enough to know there was something she was not saying, he knew Willow well enough to know she did. And he could tell there was more than just a diary on the line. Cautiously, he reached out to take her hand but at the last minute felt the gesture was too strong and instead linked their pinkies together to show he was there. He may not understand exactly what had shifted, and he didn’t know what he could do, but he knew he was there for her.
“Well then,” Willow tried again, doing all she could to steady her voice as she struggled to remain professional. “Was there anything else you remember? I mean, Luz said you got separated for awhile so you saw some things she didn’t, was there anything from around that time? Anything with Hunter?”
“Um, ya know it was all just happening so fast and I can’t really remember if he was-.”
“Because if you were close enough to my memory to erase it, you must have been close enough to have seen it.” Willow pleaded with wide eyes.
“Willow, do we have to do this now? I just-.”
“Amity why is Hunter the only person missing from my memories?” Willow asked directly, and Hunter felt her grip on his finger tighten, like his presence heightened her strength.
“I thought we told you, it was-.”
“No, Luz told me,” said Willow. “She told me you got separated and when she found you, you were trying to put out a fire. But she didn’t know how it started and you never told her. You never told me because I didn’t know to ask, but you can’t say you have no idea when you were the only one there.”
Willow inhaled, 1,2,3 and then exhaled 1,2,3.
“Can you at least tell me what the memory was?” Willow asked, and Amity knew she could not deny her again. She knew there was so much hiding and riding on that request. She could not hide behind good intentions now, because they were no longer doing anyone any good.
Amity sighed. “It wasn’t about Hunter,” she admitted with solace. “It was about me.”
“Of course it was,” Willow scoffed, rolling her eyes. “It always is.”
“No, not like that!” Said Amity. “We, I mean it kind of is, but… look; I know what I did was wrong and I’m sorry-.”
“Funny, I think I’d remember you apologizing for erasing all the memories of someone I cared about,” said Willow. “Unless you just erased that part too.”
Amity had seen Willow upset before, she had seen her annoyed and sad and angry and confused but this was an emotion she had only seen in the inner Willow: she was furious.
“Willow, please,” Amity pleaded. “Let me explain!”
Willow said nothing and Amity quickly pressed on.
“It was an accident, I- we were looking for things I needed to fix and when Luz got distracted I found a memory of you and Hunter,” she said. “A lot of memories with you and Hunter, actually. And you did look happy with him and I felt sad that I had missed that because we used to tell each other everything and now we don’t.”
“Well whose fault is that?” Said Hunter, crossing his arms.
“Er, stay out of this!”
“Amity,” said Willow, her voice stern and serious. “This affects him too. Besides, he’s right.”
“Fine,” she took a deep breath as she continued. “I saw a memory of you and Hunter… talking about me.”
Hunter’s eyes widened; he instantly knew the conversation she was referring to.
“You were telling him how we used to be close and how you didn’t understand what had happened. You were telling him how you still cared about me even though I treated you awful. H-how you still worried about me and you felt stupid because the way I acted made you feel like our friendship was never real. And I hated that I made you feel that way and I… I got carried away and I wanted it gone and it all happened so fast but when I erased that memory, instead of erasing the memories of those feelings I erased the memories involving Hunter.”
“You could have just apologized when you got back,” said Willow. “You didn’t have to try and control me.”
“I know that knowing the reason doesn’t erase the fact that you felt that way,” said Amity. “And I don’t know what came over me and I’m so, so sorry-.”
“Are you sorry though?” Willow basically spat. “Or are you just sorry that you got caught in a lie? Amity… how am I supposed to believe you? How can I believe anything you say?”
“I know I have a lot to make up for but I-.”
“-never told me,” finished Willow. “You just… let me think that you were trying when this whole time you were fine with me missing something that was obviously important to me if it meant you looked slightly better. If you really cared about me and about fixing things between us you wouldn’t try to trick me like that. I mean, if you weren’t trying to get close to Luz, would you have ever tried to fix things between us? Or was it just something you had to do to get what you really wanted?”
“Willow, you know that’s not-.”
“Do I know?” The plant witch spat. Hunter looked around and saw the vines inching closer as she became more enraged. “You keep telling me what I know and telling me you’re sorry but what have you done to actually show me?”
Her eyes turned greener and began to glow and this was the anger Hunter remembered. Willow didn’t get angry often but she felt all her emotions so strongly that they always found a way to make themselves known. He remembered discussing Amity brought out more pain than anger, but every so often a small pocket of positivity snuck in with a pleasant or silly memory. But sadness lingering long enough without explanation bubbled up into more eventually.
Amity didn’t have a rebuttal. She couldn’t repeat another empty apology. For once, she had to listen.
“You can blame your parents a-and Boscha for not standing by me but how many times did you go out of your way to find me on your own just to bring me down?”
“Willow, I didn’t want to! I-I had to!”
“You had to?!” Wilows’s voice was becoming more distorted as she let the rage consume her. “Really? So every time you stopped me on my way to school to make fun of my abomination and remind me how pathetic I was, who was that for? There was no one else around, no one to see you do it. So why bother to find me unless you really believed it?”
Amity did not have an answer. She had done it to convince herself, to make herself believe that it was how things had to be. But she knew Willow was right.
“Admit it, a part of you believed it, that I was a pathetic, scared half-a-witch. And a part of you still does.”
Amity’s eyes filled with tears. She knew she had no right to cry, she was not the victim here, but she couldn’t help it.
Hunter could see the trees behind them begin to shift, as though the entire forest was coming to aid her. He knew stopping her before the emotions could process could lead to an earthquake but he remained on guard in case he needed to remove her at a moment’s notice. As much as he wanted to chime in and add how strong and smart and capable Willow was, he could see this was not the time for his voice to echo. She needed to do this herself, what he needed to do was stand by her side and made sure she was heard. She didn’t need him, but he knew she wanted him there and that was more than reason enough to stay.
“Willow, I’m sorry.” Amity said for what felt the hundredth time; Willow felt it sounded too natural in her voice.
“Well, that doesn’t fix anything, does it? Willow replied. “It doesn’t undo the fact that you erased my memories of someone who you knew liked me and cared about me and you did nothing to try and fix it. You just… did what you always do.”
Willow didn;t have to elaborate, Amity knew what she meant. She acted selfishly. She took away something with no explanation. She thought ignoring something would make it hurt less. All these things did was temporarily distance Amity from the pressing consequences of her actions and allow her conscience to breathe. But Amity had created her own crushing weight and Willow’s words had every right to drown her.
“It was an accident.”
“But telling him to leave me alone wasn’t,” said Willow regaining control. “What, did you think if I had less friends I’d be more likely to forgive you sooner?”
“Are you seriously gonna let a-a boy come between us?”
“The only one standing between us being friends again is you,” said Willow, turning away from her, she leaned against Hunter as she felt lightheaded. He would normally love to add something snarky, but he knew this moment was Willow’s. He wasn’t here to tear Amity down or add his voice to the chorus of her disdain, he was there to support Willow. “Come find me when your apology is more than just talk.”
-
“I’m sorry we didn’t find your diary,” said Hunter quietly when they reached her front door. They had walked home in silence. Flying would have been quicker and easier but they both needed a longer time in the fresh air to decompress. Hunter knew Willow had been holding in alot and felt the ground was the safer option to do so in. “I’m sorry I made you go through all that. I mean, I know I didn’t make you do anything but I still feel like I should-.”
“Did we ever fight?”
“What?”
“Did we ever argue?” she rephrased. “I mean, I know all that just now was pretty… intense but I know how I get when I’m upset sometimes so did I ever-.”
“We did,” said Hunter quickly. “Not alot, a few times. We had disagreements. I told you, I could be kind of a jerk and you would call me out on it and I didn’t always like it. But I deserved it.”
“We fought and you didn’t totally hate me after, right?” Willow asked softly, her eyes on the ground.
“What? No, of course not!” He said. “Why would you say that?”
“I just… urgh!” Willow exclaimed as a thorny vine dashed along her feet. “I know what she did was wrong and mean but I… I still want her to try. I’m not ready to forgive her but I… I still don’t want to totally lose her. Is that dumb?”
“No,” he said softly. “No, not at all. I know Blight isn’t all bad, she’s just… going through something probably.”
“Kinda like what you were going through?”
“Uh… yeah?” he said, uncertain. He felt like it was very unlikely that someone else was going through what he was. “But Amity is smart, she’ll figure out how to make things right eventually. This kind of stuff doesn’t always come natural for people like us. It’s… hard to unlearn things sometimes.”
Her smile became stronger and more real. “Thanks Hunter,” she said softly. “Sorry I got you roped up in all this crazy.”
“I’ve gotten you involved in much worse,” he chuckled and then he saw the inquisitive look on her face. “Which we will talk more about later, heh.”
“Looking forward to it,” she said. Hunter saw her eyes glance at the door and something in the back of his mind dared to hope she was looking for a reason not to go inside just yet.
“Ya know, In all the times Blight and that Bo-sha girl tried to bring you down, you never sunk to their level. You never threw the first punch, you never went out of your way like they did. You were always on defense, just not always for yourself.”
“Gus told you all that?”
“Well, not exactly,” he said. “I mean, he told me you and Amity weren’t on the best terms before you told me more about what happened but I’ve seen it.
“When? I thought you didn’t go to Hexside.”
“I didn’t but one time I ran into you guys at the market…”
“Accidentally or on purpose?”
“I said it was a coincidence but I miiight’ve been waiting around where I thought you’d show up,” he admitted. “You had to get supplies for a school project and I said I could escort you even though I didn’t really need to. It was just an excuse.”
“I see.”
“To spend time with you.”
“Okay?”
“Because I really liked you.” He said it as though it was just an important detail for the context of the story and not something that made her knees feel weak.
“Got it,” she said with a smile as she bit her lip, allowing him to continue.
“Anyway,” he went on, trying not to focus too much on the way she was looking at him. “We were walking, just… hanging out- I think I’m using that phrase correctly- when we ran into Bobcat-.”
“Boscha,” Willow corrected.
“-right, Boscha,” he reacted like the word was sour milk. Willow found it charming how he never said her name right, and she couldn’t tell if it was on purpose. “Like, I literally ran into her because we were talking and I was looking at you and it wasn’t a fatal collision but when she saw you she just started saying these awful things to you. You weren't even the one who bumped into her!”
“Eh.” Willow shrugged, not surprised.
“And I pointed that out to her but she didn’t care and you rolled your eyes and she kept talking and ya know I didn’t wanna pull rank but I had to say something I mean she clearly didn’t know what she was talking about.”
“Clearly.”
“And when I told her she shouldn’t speak to you like that, she started coming after me,” said Hunter. “She started making fun of my voice and the gap in my teeth, which is nothing new. But when she started targeting me, you decided she needed to be quiet and you… defended me, which was something new.”
“Well, it’s like you said she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
“Yeah, but… when it was you being mocked you were brave and above it. You were strong and calm and didn’t stoop down to her level
“I mean, I wouldn’t say I was ‘above it’,” she admitted. “It does get to me when she constantly says those things about me.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything until it was about me?”
“Because I don’t want the people I care about to feel that way,” she said simply. She didn’t need to remember the specific instance to know that.
“You put yourself in harm’s way to protect others, that’s noble,” Hunter said simply. “Even more, you don’t let the cruelty of others make you cruel. I can’t imagine a greater strength.”
“Wow, have you always said such sweet things to me?” Willow blushed.
“Oh, uh, I-I don’t know,” said Hunter, suddenly shy. “It’s not on purpose. Gus said I do talk to you differently, but I didn’t mean to-.”
“No, no it’s a good thing,” she assured him. “From the way Luz described you, I thought you’d be snarky and sarcastic all the time. But you’re not, at least not with me.”
“Yeah well, I guess you don’t give me a reason to be,” he shrugged. Even now with his future uncertain and his past blurry, just being near Willow made him feel… lighter. Maybe absence made the heart grow fonder but he didnt’ know how that was possible; he had never been more fond of anyone. “But Willow I … I can’t tell you how happy I am to be back, to have you back to… talk to you again, I meant. But I… I don’t want to be the reason you and Amity are on bad terms.”
“Hunter, Amity and I had our issues long before I met you.”
“I know, I know but… I remember that conversation she mentioned. And I know how much your friendship meant to you. I know that knowing you makes me feel safe and seen and I think that’s what Amity needs. I mean, I could hardly handle not being your friend for a few weeks, I can’t imagine how hard it was for Amity doing it for years.”
“Do you think,” Willow started. “That if my memories about you hadn’t been erased and we kept being friends and spending time together that by now we might be…”
“What?”
“…more than friends?”
“Like… best friends?”
“Not exactly,” she said with a smile. “I mean something more… serious.”
“Like…” he gulped, suddenly forgetting what words were. “Advanced friends?”
She smiled. “Yeah?” she said with a giggle, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“W-w-why do you ask?”
“Well, do you remember the other day…” Willow started gently. “When I came and found you and we were talking?”
“Yeah,” said Hunter. “Of course.”
“And um… then when I got mad and I… kissed you?”
“Yeah, yeah I-I really uh remember that, heh.”
“I um… we’ll I know you said you were fine with it even though it was kind of impulsive but I was just wondering if…”
“If… what?”
She fiddled with her braid. “Um… if…”
They spoke at the same time
“Have we kissed before?”
“Did you want to kiss again?”
They both looked at each other and blushed as they processed what the other had said.
“Um… n-no, we haven’t,” said Hunter, answering her question first and hoping she wouldn’t think him terribly forward for his. “No, that one time was the first time.”
“Oh,” she said, and Hunter swore she sounded disappointed. He didn’t know what to make of that. Did that make things better or worse? Was she let down that in all the time she had known him before he hadn’t had the guts to make a move or was she let down that it wasn’t everything it should have been?
“There was… this one time though,” he admitted, rubbing his neck with his hand as he tried to play it off as an afterthought and not an often revisited memory. “When I thought we might, I mean I guess I didn’t really realize what was happening at the moment and I uh…”
Willow raised her eyebrows and he took that as a sign to backtrack, hopefully an explanation would help him understand the situation better too.
“Okay, well Gus wanted to do some research for an illusion presentation he had and in order to recreate a scene he had to see it first,” began Hunter. “It was up a mountain and there was a rare flower that grew nearby that you wanted to see as well so I offered to escort you both because I knew a shortcut from a mission I had been on. Long story short, we ran into some weird mountain animals and in the chaos you lost your hair clip helping me get away. You said it was no big deal but I know that wasn’t true so I went back later and found it. In hindsight I should’ve waited until the morning but I rushed over to return it to you because it was my fault you lost it in the first place. Also in hindsight I should have messaged you that I was coming but instead I kind of just teleported outside your window.”
“Something tells me it wasn’t the first time,” Willow teased. The tips of Hunter’s ears turned crimson as he went to continue, confirming Willow’s suspicion.
“You seemed surprised to see me and I thought it was just because it was so late and you were tired but you looked at me… different. You said it really wasn’t a big deal, and I shouldn’t have gone back by myself when it was so dark out but you seemed happy that I did so I don’t really know? I mean, it’s your lucky hair clip and it looks nice on you so of course I wanted you to have it back. I mean, I’d do anything for you.”
Willow felt like all the air left her lungs, the way he said it like it was an undisputed fact. Even though she knew it wasn’t possible, she felt herself transported back to her room that night feeling utterly starstruck to see her modest knight in a patched cape return her treasure to her. Her heart twisted and leapt the same way she somehow knew it did that night as Hunter continued to be none the wiser and he went on.
“Then you hugged me really tight and I was a little worried because I ran most of the way and thought I might smell but when you pulled away y-you… didn’t let go right away and it was like you were waiting for something.”
“So what did you do?” Asked Willow, captivated by her own history.
“I put your clip in your hair for you,” Hunter said with a gulp as Willow lured him closer with a similar energy. “And I must’ve been dehydrated or something because everything felt like it was in slow motion.”
Willow chuckled, understanding more by the second the real reason for the sensation. “And then?”
“And then uh w-when I went to move my hand you took it and you said I was sweet, which you’re the only person to ever call me that and you’ve called me that before but every time you did it still felt odd but I didn’t mind and I thought that…”
Hunter continued to ramble which told Willow there was something else in the moment that he didn’t know how to articulate. Something he still wasn’t certain of and didn’t understand how to explain without having her account to confirm or deny it. She knew he didn’t want to tell her outright in case he was mistaken about her feelings during the moment but Willow was certain she knew what she was thinking in this forgotten life.
Because she was thinking it again now.
“Well you are sweet,” she said softly as his words started to fizzle and a smile tugged at his lips as though she had just played his favorite song. “So… what happened after that?”
“Oh uh well heh I-I didn’t realize Gus was still over until he walked back into the room eating a snack and I guess from his point of view we were… fairly close and he said ‘are you two gonna kiss?’ And…I kinda teleported back outside because I didn’t know what the right thing to say was.”
“Oh.” Willow said with a giggle.
“Yeah,” he said with a nervous sigh. “So I mean, I don’t know but like if you were to ask Gus he might mention that time but he wasn’t there for the whole thing and I-I mean it’s not like I came there to- n-not that I wouldn’t want to! But just so you have the whole story, ya know? But… yeah.”
“I see,” said Willow. Something she was re-learning about Hunter is that the way he felt about something could be seen in the details he gave. The more he cared, the more thorough he was. She supposed that wasn’t totally unusual but the way he could focus on the smallest thing so long as it was somehow connected to something he cared about made her feel warm. He paid attention and held the things he noticed close to his heart. He held the things she said and the way she said them. She knew he wanted to have all the answers for her.
“It’s just I know the way I remember things might not be the same way you would remember them,” he went on, looking down at his hands as he twiddled his thumbs. “So I mean I want to try and be as objective as possible because I don’t want my perspective to influence yours in case it was all in my head.”
She had no concrete evidence to prove it, but she knew in her heart that it wasn’t. It was exactly the kind of scenario that made her secretly giddy when she saw it in cheesy rom coms.
“Well… you answered my question, so can I answer yours?”
“My question? What did I-oh.” It suddenly caught up with him, what he had thought she was asking and what he had ended up asking her in turn. What he revealed he had hoped she had been implying. If she didn’t regret it enough to repeat herself. If she-
“Yes.” She said it simply and brightly, with confidence.
“Y-yes?”
“Yes.” She confirmed again with a nod. She couldn’t remember everything they had said where they went together or when or but she could feel the how. How she felt when she caught him staring at her out of the corner of her eye or the pride she felt when she saw the way his face softened she said his name like it was a spell only she knew how to cast. “I do.”
“I… heh, uh…”
“I mean, unless you didn’t want to-.”
“No! No, I want to!” He said, hoping to avoid any misunderstanding. He cleared his throat, trying to save face. “I-I would like to very much.”
Willow knew she could trust this feeling she had that told her to bring him close and keep him there. This desire to take his hand and hold it as tight as she could. This impulse she had to cover his face in kisses every time he smiled was not a trick her mind was playing on her.
Her mind may have forgotten Hunter, but her heart couldn’t seem to. Small yellow flowers sprouted along her hair as she couldn’t help but smile at the nervous yet delighted way Hunter fidgeted.
“I- I just want to be sure that you’re sure,” he went on. “Because I don't want you to think that just because I thought… I mean, after everything that happened today too and I… wait, you’re not mad again are you?”
“I mean I’m… processing a lot right now, I guess? I feel kind of overwhelmed and tired but I don’t feel mad,” she assured him. “I promise you that’s not the reason.”
Hunter had been sure it was a moment Willow would not want to bring up. That she’d be embarrassed or disgusted but knowing she felt the opposite, that in fact she felt the same he did didn’t seem real. Like he had unknowingly tricked her.
“Willow, I…” Hunter started, suddenly overly aware of how close she was standing to him. How she seemed to be inching closer. She wanted to be close to him. “I want you to think of me… I want you to think that I’m…” he struggled to find an elegant way to say this, because the simple way was just too simple. It sounded childish and incredible and insecure, but it was true. “I want you to like me.”
She smiled. Simple was more than enough for her, because it was a shared simplicity. “I do like you.”
“I guess I’m just worried that I’ll do something to change that.” He said. “I guess I’m just worried that you like me now because you don’t know all the things about me that you knew before and I uh…”
“It’s okay to have secrets,” she assured him, sensing his struggle.
“Yeah but …” he sighed, this felt like it would never get less complicated. “I know things about you from before that I don’t know if you’d want me to know now and now I get to decide what you know about me and it doesn't seem fair.”
“Hunter, I think you miiight be overthinking this,” Willow said with a smile. She didn’t really mind, she liked being something her thought alot about.
“I know,” he sighed. “It’s just… I don’t want to only tell you things that I think will make you like me but I’m worried that if I tell you everything that I might say it wrong or in the wrong order and it’ll change things or-.”
He was cut off by Willow taking his hands in hers.
“Hunter, is there something you want to tell me?”
Truthfully, Hunter didn’t want anyone to know, especially her.
He took a deep breath, working his way up to his concern. “You know how you said… you think that you had a crush on me before…”
“Oh, uh yeah…” she said with a blush and a deep breath. She felt giddy and nervous and warm at the way him trying to talk her out of her former feelings made them settle in like a dove in a freshly made nest. “I mean… I kinda have a crush on you now.”
His face turned beet red as he uttered his response before he had a chance to truly relish in her confession. “B-but you shouldn’t!”
“D-do you not want me to?” She said, fear creeping in that the romance was one-sided.
“No! No, I-I do!” He said quickly. “But… I’m not someone you should like… like that.”
She frowned. “Does this have something to do with what Amity said?”
“No, it’s not that…”
“Is it because you’re the golden guard?”
“Not really, it’s more-.”
“Is it because you don’t feel the same way about-.”
“I’m a grimwalker!” He exclaimed, not wanting her to finish. His hands quickly covered his mouth as he watched his words wash over her. He waited for disgust, shock, betrayal to take over. Instead she looked at him with wide, waiting eyes and said:
“Okay?”
“I mean I’m… ya know… do you know what a grimwalker is?”
“I mean, kind of,” she said with a shrug. “But that’s what you are, not who you are.”
“I-I’m a clone of someone who hunted witches who probably helped Belos hurt people. I’m a liar. How can you be okay with that?”
“Who says that’s who you are?”
“Everyone! It’s just a fact I mean the books all say-.”
“Everyone used to say I was a half-a-witch,” interrupted Willow. “Even when I believed it, you didn’tdn’t because that’s what everyone else said, would you let me
“Well, that’s who you’re supposed to be, it's not who you are,” Willow said simply. She knew better than most how the two differed.
“It doesn’t… I mean, i-it doesn’t bother you?”
Willow simply shook her head. Hunter had been certain she would take the opportunity to cut her losses, despite her determined nature he wouldn’t blame her. After all he had done to change to show her and everyone he changed to change into someone worth being, this made feel pushed back and stuck. But the warmth of gaze was a helping hand that easily pulled him from his mental quicksand. Whether she saw through him or the true him Hunter did not know, but he knew he could not fool her twice. Even under the mask or as Caleb she knew better, she still knew him.
“Ya know, it took me awhile but I’ve accepted that I probably won’t get my original memories back,” said Willow gently. “But do you know why I don’t feel sad about that anymore?”
Hunter shook his head as she reached out and placed her hand beneath his chin and cupped his cheek. He knew she didn’t remember how often she had done this before, how it miraculously managed to calm him.
“Because I know I’ll get to make new memories,” she said. “And I want you to be a part of as many as possible.”
He had read that grimawalkers were cold, unfeeling creatures. That they couldn’t feel compassion or love. That their memories often mixed with their source until they reached the age the person they were based on was when they passed. All Hunter could think about was how he was never meant to be his own person, how there was always a path of some sort that he was chained to.
But maybe he could pick a new path.
“I want that too.” he whispered.
Her arms moved down to wrap around his waist as she pulled him into a hug. She hugged him the same way she used to, even knowing what she knew now she still wanted him close. He rested his chin atop her head and tried to process how she still wanted to be a part of his path, she wanted to remember him.
She still wanted him.
The books all said he couldn’t feel this way, that he shouldn’t be able to feel this way.
But the books didn’t know Willow Park.
So when he pulled away to look at her, he forgot what the books, what his uncle and everyone else said he was or should be. When he brushed a loose hair from her face, she looked at him the way she had that day at her window and there was no reason now to not follow through. So when he leaned down to kiss her, he forgot for a moment all that was waiting for him at a home he could not return to or how much more difficult things would get once they left this little bubble. Because he was someone Willow Park wanted to remember, and he intended to do everything in his power to be a good memory.
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kiwibongos · 4 months
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im writing Something for a little fic and i was putting stuff in my notes for later on and it really just made me realize like how fucked up hajime is after all the Horrors. like, emotionally. him rediscovering emotions entirely. (maybe someone has talked abt this before, i just wanna store this here)
because when he's less of a hollow shell, all there is is grief and guilt in his brain. but then as time goes on, he slowly rediscovers what it means to be human, and learns these feelings again one by one. and it has to be such an agonizing process too ? and when they do happen, theyre all extremely overwhelming, out of the blue, and most likely even caused by really small things. my dude will eat a stale piece of bread or even smell expired dairy products, suddenly relearn disgust and feel ABSOLUTELY nauseous and just hurl over lmaoo
but for as for more serious topics, like properly feeling anger again, it'd be ticked off by little shit, bc he doesn't wanna lose control like that cause the frustration doubles. it'd get bad when he makes a mistake too. he'd freak the hell out, because izuru was the embodiment of perfection, of every talent cultivated into one single brain, so he *cant* mess up, but its too much for him to handle cause he's so used to being under that obligation and expectation, but now that he's losing his stability over all that, when he messes up just *slightly*, he feels ashamed and tries to fix it as fast as possible, whether or not its a big deal. itd definitely be really hard to get out of the mindset that, even though hes not izuru anymore, he has to be perfect. to him, he has to stay that way. cause if he fails at all, then he can't protect his friends anymore. does that make sense. the pressure would be literally crushing
also shock/surprise/excitement. everything was predictable and boring to him as izuru, so obviously all of that is still a huge issue that still lingers within him after the simulation, so he'd probably overcome that first and be caught off guard a lot bc, well, he's learning to be hajime again, he's not *exactly* the op superhuman genius anymore (in my head at least. cause when two minds practically mash together weirdly it creates a horrible hit-or-miss concoction lol) so even basic things become brand new to him, and hes fascinated and curious by everyone and everything. not like hes never seen it before, but its like hes experiencing it for the first time, even if its just mundane tasks in life, new methods and alternatives to things, etc. he's generally a very observant guy, and would also pick up on little traits and habits from all his friends. i have the feeling people would rub off on him extremely easily
love, serenity and happiness itself would be extremely hard to tackle and learn, or even notice? i think of so many scenarios of how this could happen. cause like sure he can feel joy, he can be glad, proud, relieved, and smile because his friends are there. but he's still yet to experience what happiness truly is, what it means to him, and it's not something he can do alone. so it just takes a while for that big boom to happen. perhaps its up to interpretation how it happens, go for it idc i have alot of scenarios stirring up in my brain, but overall, i think him actually bursting with happiness and feeling genuine peace within himself, and realize hes grateful for the life he has, and the future he got to choose, would probably be caused in the process of moving to jabberwock island. just seeing all his friends on the boat and knowing they've made it this far, and theyre going to be starting a new life on this island, and that theyre safe, would be enough to just like hit him. like Ough. and thats when he actually consciously realizes that he's happy, when every other waking moment, there's been some kind of empty pit in his stomach eating at him for so long
on top of all of this, he cant really control his emotions very well, either. thats also another massive con to all of it, and a downside of relearning these things because of how strongly they came swinging back. its alot to handle. even if theres so much knowledge packed in his brain, one little thing like that could be enough to make him bluescreen. so he ends up just going on autopilot or stuffing all of it away, just to make the bad stuff stop. (it becomes a very unhealthy habit that bites him in the ass later. everyone is mad at him for not taking care of himself. hajime is then swaddled into a blanket with a kiss on the forehead)
anyway theres probably more to add and id get into the nitty gritty of specific shit but i had to impulsively dump this here so might as well put up the basics. makes me so excited to work on this fic more, even if its in a more somber, different context, i just love to think about hajime and how he works through his emotions and picking up his old traits. yknow, being himself. but at the same time he isn't doing it alone. let my boy be happy. let him find himself again and move on from izuru
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asfateentertwines · 1 year
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Neteyam is gay. Like, no doubts about it, man is a homosexual.
That takes him a long time to admit though; his entire identity surrounded being the oldest and a warrior, it wasn't until he reached the Metkayina that he finally had a moment to breath and realize why Ao'nung was so distracting to him
It's like he can finally breathe, not even for the sake of questioning his sexuality and more so cause he finally feels like a piece of the puzzle clicked together
Homie has identity issues galore
It takes Jake back a bit to realize Neteyam is gay though, in part due to internalized earth stuff but also just because he has to admit that Neteyam is a teenager and still feels teenager things in a war
It's him realizing Neteyam only grew up in war, that its already been his childhood
Spider is demiromantic, bisexual, and trans. He has almost zero preference towards gender romantically or physically but feelings take a minute for him to develop. However, when they do, he falls hard
I love trans!Spider but don't use it all the time cause it's a process to work in canon
However, FTM Spider was sort of a clumsy coming out
Na'vi are intersex, it's very fluid, even if some still believe there should be some version of a binary
So no one quite understand why the humans are so strict on their genders or why it's such a big deal for Spider than he is a he and not a she.
He just sort of breaks down with Lo'ak and Kiri who panic and try to fix things. He thinks it's a big thing and no one really gives a shit, he's still the little stray human, but some of the older teens and stuff realize how much he cares and make an effort to make him feel good about it
He worries it'll make him more of a freak but he has a gaggle of siblings, and later friends, who reassure him that they couldn't particularly care less
His coming out is what triggers Kiri's
Kiri is an asexual lesbian who uses she/they pronouns
Unlike the romantic preferences, being asexual is a little bigger of a deal but Neytiri specifically will shut down anyone who gives her baby any shit
Being ace is a bigger thing because there is so much emphasis on intimacy and seeing one another, however, Kiri very passionately proves to anyone that she doesn't need sex to connect with anyone.
Lo'ak has actively gotten into fights to help when people start shit with them
Kiri didn't really have a sexuality crisis though
They just kind of knew, something her brothers are endlessly jealous of
Tsireya is her first crush though
Lo'ak is the one who gets it bad but Kiri admittedly fell hard for her
She was gorgeous and sweet, cared about the environment around them in a way no one their age ever seems to
Plus she stands up for her and Kiri wanted to show her what she sees so bad it made her stomach curl
But she stepped back for Lo'ak, as bittersweet as it was, she felt so good just enjoying the innocent feeling
It just felt good to have normal teenage feelings in the midst of a war
Lo'ak is bisexual, however, he would tell you he is Tsireyasexual
He is one track minded
The most loyal partner ever tho
Like, if you're his person, he is honed in
Being bi was never really a huge thing for him but he was the last one of all the teenagers to come out
He just forgot
He was sitting with Tsireya while everyone hung out and Tsireya pointed out a cute guy to him and they took in the view together while everyone kind of just ??? this is new?
It wasn't, homie really just forgot to tell people
It was a given to him
Funnily enough, he has the same taste as Kiri
Tsireya is not the first girl they both liked
While he is bi, he does lean mostly towards girls
He's a sucker for pretty
It's bad, Tsireya flutters her lashes at him and he'll do damn near anything
A simp (TM)
Tuk is too young rn to really care but when she's older, I think she's pan
People her age are much fewer and she just likes friends
Her first crush is Rotxo's little sister cause she keeps following him to hang out when Tuk is a preteen
She's hella obvious and all of the older ones think it's hilarious to tease her, she's worse than Lo'ak when he first saw Tsireya
She's bringing her shells and little flowers, trying to show off in games and dress pretty
Tsireya and Neteyam take mercy and help her get her act together but nothing comes of it
Once it starts tho she's a hopeless romantic
She has a new crush every other week of her early teen years but never gets to be a better flirt
She's a mini Lo'ak that way
He tries to coach her and says she didn't get it from him but it's obvious
Ao'nung is demi. He leans towards men physically but he is almost as bad as Neteyam in terms of thinking himself responsible for everyone
Tonowari tries desperately to break him of that mindset and Ronal is constantly trying to take pressure off of him but it's just in his nature
So he, like Neteyam, doesn't think about relationships much
He has, however, been a hopeless romantic with a laundry list of brief crushes over the years
He falls hard for Neteyam though when he arrives
Mainly because he finally feels seen, he's a big one on emotional connections
No one at home understands the pressure on him so when Neteyam shows up, shepherding siblings and standing as his fathers right hand, he doesn't know what to do
He tries to cover it up, worried still for the safety of his clan, and scare them off
A little selfish part of him was afraid of the feelings and wanted them gone
Clearly that doesn't work but, once they realize they both like one another, it doesn't take him long to latch on
He and Neteyam become close rapidly and fall into a relationship fast once things are started (a genuine surprise to literally everyone)
A very devoted partner; he learned from his Dad and takes being a good partner seriously
it took him a really long time to feel confident in himself so once he and Neteyam are together, he's devoted to becoming a strong partner to demonstrate a strong relationship to his partner
Metkayina are extremely family based and he will not let them down
Tsireya is pan
She has so much love in her she doesn't know what to do with it
Falls hard and fast, Ao'nung has spent years trying to keep her from falling for everyone who she connects just a little bit with
Actually did have a crush on Kiri too, though she had one on Lo'ak at the same time
Might by poly but she never investigates it
She's very spiritual and spends a lot of time with the ancestors so her partner needs to care too
Like she makes Lo'ak ask the ancestors for their blessing when she accepts his courting
He was scared shitless and got teasingly (?) threatened by her deceased uncle
She cares deeply about helping others to the point of being naive - she has gotten hurt before because of it so she needs some reassurances in relationships
Lo'ak is not her first relationship but he is the first really healthy one
She's prone to trying to fix people honestly, she doesn't get what she puts in a lot
However, when she does, she's a little angel
Gifts, cooking, help; whatever she can do to show her love she'll do
Wants to be Tsahik so she's terrified Neteyam will take the job
He lets her happily, preferring to be a line of defense for his people regardless
Rotxo has no clue what he is
He just knows he likes Spider
He's a giant softie
Like gentle giant himbo vibes but fiercely protective of his family
Very proud of his home and his heritage
He has two moms so sexuality wasn't really a big deal growing up, however, he just didn't really care
He just likes who he likes
He had a bigass crush on Ao'nung for a bit but later realized it was just a deep platonic love
Unlike most of the crew, he doesn't fall easily
Like he has had maybe 2 crushes his entire life
So falling for Spider is a shock
But he's just happy to find his feelings returned
He's a big provider type, likes giving gifts and taking care of his friends
He has a lot of issues about feeling useful and needed; he grew up in Ao'nungs shadow and so feels like he needs to fight to be seen
Hence part of how he and Spider bonded
While very gentle, he's very passionate about being a warrior once he finally feels like he has a reason to be
Does a lot of soul searching after the Sullys come
He still has a lot to learn about himself but feels much more at peace now that he doesn't feel like just Ao'nungs best friend
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gramarye · 3 months
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speaking of my list of ygo by treatment of its female characters so far. its so insanely long well. sorry.
sevens : really good marvelous awesome. women are treated as equals in my honest onion and everyone rocks. i <3 yugioh sevens. i love you romin i love you rayne (WEIRDO!) i love you princess g i love you atachi mimi i love you asana i love you tiger etcetcetc I LOVE YOU YUGIOH SEVENS
gx: it's not Great with what it does with asuka and rei but it's somehow still less offensive than all of the other ygos below it in this list. asuka gets to be pretty cool and again, even tho there's several episodes about her being courted at least they let her come out on top whenever guys are trying to get to her and they never do weird sexual shit with her in a way that is as obvious as in the other yugiohs. YES THE BAR IS THAT LOW I THINK! SAD! and she gets as much as spotlight as say, chazz, kenzan, sho, or the likes. if you disagree btw you were not watching yugioh gx and should try to pay attention to women again. asuka is a really good fleshed character by gx standards. rei is also pretty fun, i love her, she has her little moments and she's Not limited to her love shtick, she has really fun beef and duel with chazz for example and has a neat role in s3 and all that. ALL THINGS CONSIDERED: ITS PRETTY NICE! they did an ok job! its very hobbyani and shounen but its not offensive w/ the women!
5d's: like.. it started off really good then they just kind of forget about aki. i will never let them live down the "benchwarmer" thing and guess what. THEY WON'T LET ME EITHER BECAUSE THEY MADE MERCH OF HER WITH THAT TITLE LIKE A YEAR AGO OR SO !!!! sherry is pretty cool though and oh i love carly. carly is good i just wish they didn't kinda ... roll back her progress with jack , it's like they had to make him hate her again for the haha funnies and because he couldn't be nice now in the 2nd half. idk. ruka is fine i just think its hilarious she has a kuriboh with huge ass girl eyelashes i will attach it to the bottom of this post. made sure we know this is a #GIRL kuriboh
DM: its like . okay. anzu doesn't do much i am sorry. i love her it's just that they let her have a few duels and that is it. the #og cheerleader. I LIKE HER! i just think they should let her do more. she has really good scenes outside dueling though and is very integral to the friend group and everything though so :) yayyyy anzu. mai is really good but remember when they. okay this is anime specific BUT I AM TALKING ABOUT THE ANIME SO !!! but remember when they kept her in a coma in like marik's special hell world for literally like 50 episodes. like. it was so fucking dire fifty whole episodes. Bad. AND THEN THEY MADE HER GET POSSESSED LITERALLY IN THE NEXT ARC? VILE. rebecca etc are all fine they werent there for super long but i like them. all in all it was OK wish there was more fleshing out. 5d's still did it better and had more memorable women more in the spotlight i fear. but 4 is not a bad ranking here DM is like alright not too offensive
zexal: ok its like... i don't think tori not dueling in itself is a Crime but it's sad they don't let her when she expresses in the anime wanting to duel . why not let her !!!! plus it'd tie really nicely with rio who i think rocks, but i do NOT understand why they had to have rio duel tetsuo who her only tie to was him having a crush on her when she was besties with kotori and it wouldve been a nice way to tie up their friendship and tori's desire to duel..anyway. CATHY AND ANNA ARE NICE its just that i feel like. anna rocks sooo hard but her whole character is wrapped up in her thing with yuma. they should've come up with another plot for her after i think taht would've been nice but it's not that big of a deal it's still pretty cool. train girl forever. also yuma's sister is cool <3 i think this is kind of a tie with DM actually . also they make at least one weird sexualizing skirt length joke with kotori so um. HOP OFF MY 13 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER AND STOP BEING WEIRD
vrains: AUTHORS NOTE I HAVENT FINISHED VRAINS YET but ive seen a good amount and my vrains oomfies concur with these ratings. blue angel gets into a coma within 10 episodes and is really good at getting her ass beat unfortunately. ghost gal is pretty cool but shes also out there getting her ass beat i think she only wins once like its so fucking dire out here they will NOT let these women win like they just take one L after the other. and theres really no other women there. um. its just kind of an L overall they just don't let the 2 cool women do anything. like gx only really had asuka and rei but at least they let them be cool and fun i DON'T SEE THAT HERE... love them both though. also shoutout to soulburner's npc girlfriend i think shes funny and im glad she exists
arc-v: literally im sorry i havent finished arc-v either but ALL MY ARC-V OOMFIES WHO ADORE THE SHOW CONCUR. IT'S SO BAD. ruri and rin are like barely characters. serena is cool yuzu is cool until she isn't and THEY HAVE HER LOSE TO AN ADULT MAN USING BDSM MONSTERS AND IMPLY BEING SEXUALLY GRATIFIED BY IT? ITS REALLY BAD. THAT EPISODE ALONE WAS SO BAD IT TOOK IT DOWN 50000 SPOTS IN THE LIST AND I HEARD IT ONLY GETS WORSE. LIKE ACTUALLY CRIMINALLY BAD. MADE ME GENUINELY UPSET. also asuka is there and shes kind of a girlboss until they kill her like really badly and in a humiliating manner. like. Okay. they build it up soo much just to let you down so terribly with the girls.
undecided: go rush its still ongoing but i have watched all 115 episodes so far or whatever and it was like based and epic and poggers in season 1 but um the treatment of the girlies has been going downhill. i have a lot of opinions. i dont know what to say about it. it just declined a lot for the most part. yuamu girlboss though they're kind of making some progress again. i need to give it a rewatch when it's done airing to sort my feelings on it.
addendum btw here is the #girl kuriboh ruka has in 5d's. kind of a slay
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elfelt-valentine · 6 months
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Hi! 3, 6, 9 and 12 (TF) and 8 and 15 for Ambulon please
Aecho Hi!!!!!
Transformers
3...which scene I would like to erase from the universe and why.
Auuughgh I'm not even gonna try and think too much but like half the deaths and deaths fake outs in mtmte are grating me, I think if i sat down and actually tried to tell you i wouldn't come up with anything concrete or really worse erasing. Despite how much criticism i give to tf media there's barely anything that makes me mad enough to erase it from existence.
6...which is my favorite platonic or familial relationship in this world.
Charlie and Bumblebee is the biggest comfort to me!! I can't just keep talking abt idw1 LMAO their friendship is so wonderful and I hope we get to see them interact again at least briefly.
9...which characters I think should have interacted more in canon.
Oh man. It'd take another list. I think i would've loved to see Shockwave and Ambulon and combicons in general interact. Would've loved a little more into Shockwave working on the combiners and flashback on the combicons even if vaguely.
Amb got some daddy issues i know he does /j
12...what attracted me into checking it out.
It's actually been with me my whole life i was a HUGE transformers kid with the first two live action movies and tfp, i just kind of fell off when i started using internet much more. I had a HUGE crush on Bumblebee, esp Animated one, even wrote Ded Moroz a letter asking for an animated bumblebee toy. With a drawing. With me and Bee.
I didn't get the toy though and my parents never indulged me cuz they weren't big fans of me being into "boys" things so fucking jokes on them now.
Though if i had to say why i got so much into it recently (its going to be exactly a year since tomorrow. LMAO) its cuz I've had a passing interest in rewatching tfp and then i kind of got Really into starbee and found out about idw1, watched the live action Bumblebee, got Transformers devastation on my laptop, started reading a Lot of starbee fanfiction and eventually started reading idw1 and watching tfa, which became an actual rabbit hole for me. And here I am........
Ambulon
8...if I'm most interested in fics about them that focus on fluff, angst, humor, smut or actual plot?
I'll be real I mostly read fanfiction for smut cuz when it comes to anything non-shippy I'm very picky and particular w the way my favs are characterized and how things are written, but smut is somehow much less commitment to me lmao. Especially w Ambulon I'm very territorial w him.
So yea most fic I've read w him was smut.
I don't mind non-smut/ship fic recommendations I'm just bad at finding fic like that I would like lmao. Which is very funny to me cuz most stuff I write isn't really about shipping.
15...how I wish their story would go/would have gone.
He shouldn't have died like that, my entire Ambulon blog is a fix-it fanfiction. He's such a low stakes character from like. Narrative stand point, that his death is a tool for other characters "development". I don't really like how much his character was warped and twisted in general cuz Jro cannot be consistent w Ambulon for the life of him. But also I get it, y'know? His death was stupid but also not like, getting rid of another bg character is that much of a deal, even though it's insane how much personality and story he was given as a one-off character lmao.
I love the angst around his death though he makes a good story ghost.
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absolutelyfizzing · 3 years
Text
unwanted feelings
james potter x reader
description - You'd had a crush on James Potter for years and when he kisses Lily Evans in front of you, you are heart broken. Later you find that he didn't actually feel as you expected and he explains himself.
warnings - some angst, unsure reader, fem pronouns, self doubt, negative self talk, not eating for a day cause reader is avoiding someone
word count - 2800
A/N - so this one isn't my best work by far but i wrote it so looks like its getting posted. i don't know why all of my reader inserts lately are so fem and sort of bubbly, i guess it's sort of what i'm aiming for for myself right now but i'm sorry if it maybe isn't coming off as relatable.
MASTERLIST
Your throat tightened in anxiety as you watched James zoom around the pitch. He was reckless when he was playing quidditch and it was one of the things that made him great at the game and an excellent captain. It was also the thing that nearly gave you a heart attack every time you watched him play. You went to every one of his games and you always wore something of his with his colors when you were in the stands. You were stood up on your seat and a slightly bored looking Remus sat to your right, reading from a book you didn't recognize. You'd thought that Sirius playing would be enough to keep him interested but sports was just not something he enjoyed watching. You were usually that way as well but whenever James was playing, suddenly you were the most intent spectator in the stands.
You were more worried than you should have been. More worried than what was appropriate for a friend to be. That's what you were, friends. That had been reinforced many times by the shaggy haired boy and you tried desperately to get it through your head before you embarrassed yourself one of these days. Sometimes though, you just couldn't help it.
Really you might have thought he reciprocated if you didn't know any better. You often got comments on what an attractive couple you guys were but each time it was quickly corrected by James. Normally along the lines of 'Oh god no, we are just friends. Purely platonic' , sometimes followed by a shudder or a gag even. It upset you every time to no end but you played along. You rarely, if ever, contributed to the shooting down of any feelings but that was never noticed by the man you had feelings for.
You'd had a crush on him since you were probably in your second year and now you were coming to the middle of your seventh. There were a million times that you almost said something but every time there was a reminder that you were not the one he had eyes for. It usually took the shape of disgust at the thought of dating you or commentary as he pined over the Evans girl who you felt you could never compete with. How could you when she was just perfect. You saw her to the left of you as she stood in the stands as well and your hands shook with insecurity before looking back toward the game. Your heart raced nearly as quickly as James did around the pitch and you prayed that the snitch would be caught soon so that you could get rid of the stress surrounding you. You felt a hand on your right shoulder and you looked over to find Remus had stood and was looking at you caringly.
"Are you alright, Y/N?" He asked softly and you tried your very best to soften your gaze and calm your stance so you appeared less concerned with someone that you shouldn't have that much interest in in the first place.
"Of course I am. When am I not?" You smiled before looking out at the pitch.
"When youre watching the guy you're in love with play a dangerous game that you don't like." He stated simply in response to the question you meant to be rhetorical and your eyes widened.
"I don't know what youre talking about." You nearly whispered and Remus smiled.
"I'm not gonna tell anyone Y/N but its not exactly subtle. It probably doesn't help that I know the look on your face because it's how I feel too watching Sirius play." He was still smirking but your anxiety was far from eased.
"Oh god, does he know?" You asked scaredly, terrified that the answer would be yes and you would have to stop spending time with him.
"Shockingly, no." You sighed out in relief but Remus continued. "You should tell him though or else he might end up moving on."
"What do you mean? There's nothing for him to move on from. Everyone knows he's in love with Evans and he has made it pretty clear that he is opposed to being anything more than a friendly relationship with me." You choked out, struggling with the words leaving your lips but knowing them to be true.
"I mean he has a minor crush on Evans but it's nothing compared to the annoyingly huge crush he has on you. He's probably just overcompensating for the fact that he's insecure and doesn't want you to reject him."
"Why are you telling me this?" You asked sincerely. You were friends with Remus as you were with the rest of the marauders but it was nothing compared to the friendship they held within their group. You knew Remus was more loyal to James than to you so you couldn't understand why, if it was true, Remus would be telling you at all.
"Because he is trying desperately to move on seeing as he is under the impression that you aren't into him and I'd hate to see him throw something away that could be really good for him." Remus smiled gently and you looked at him gratefully.
"I really appreciate you telling me and all but I just don't think I can believe you. I can't even count how many times he has made a big show of not liking me. I love him too much to ruin what we have and I know that if I confessed and it went bad that I would lose him all together. I would rather have him in my life in a way that hurts than not have him in it at all." You stated sadly and Remus sighed but nodded in understanding.
"I get it but just know that I'm being honest and pretty soon he is going to give up on it. I just want to see you both happy but if its too big of a leap, I understand. That's exactly the excuse he tells the rest of us too."
Suddenly cheers erupted from the stands, cutting your conversation with Remus off as everyone ran to rush the pitch. The snitch had been caught and gryffindor won. You were excited for James but you were also a little terrified to walk onto the pitch to see him with the now conflicted thoughts running through your head. Your thoughts were stopped by the image in front of you which was causing the whole crowd to cheer. James had pulled Lily Evans into a kiss in his excitement and your heart stopped. You felt nausea rise in your throat and Remus caught your eye with a sympathetic look. You didn't look at him for longer than a second and you ran off the pitch with tears streaming down your face. You found your way up to your dorm, pushing yourself to get there quickly before the common room filled with students celebrating their victory. James was always one to love attention so he would be getting crazy after the game which he did just about every time they won.
When you made it to your bed, you hurried under the covers, throwing the shirt you were wearing which belonged to James onto the floor. You felt your heart clench at the despair you felt. You wanted to be upset at Remus for getting your hopes up but you knew he was sincere in his want to help. Still you felt that you would probably not be able to face James in the weeks to come. Maybe, given a little time, you could be around him and not be upset at the world for taking away your chance with him. As you laid in your bed, you stared at the ceiling. You felt tears streaming down your face and you grew angry at yourself. He didn't owe you anything, he wasn't into you. That wasn't his fault and it was so unfair of you to expect anything more from him when your feelings were not his responsibility.
You weren't sure how long you laid there but you could hear the party start and end in the common room. It must have been late. Sleep wouldnt come though, you could just feel your heart continue to break and you were stuck in a loop of self pity. You made the decision that the following days would be spent away from James if you could at all help it. That was probably what he wanted anyway and it was the only way that you would get over the pain you were feeling. At some point your roomates entered your dorm and sleep overtook you for a few restless hours.
When you woke up, the sun was barely on the rise. You hurried up and got dressed and ready. You were planning on getting to breakfast early to avoid running into any of the marauders. You found your plans were not going how you wanted when you entered the great hall to find a head of red hair next to a mop of black. Your throat tightened and you quickly moved to turn and head out of the great hall. You heard a familiar voice call your name but you rushed out before you could give it too much thought. You knew that if you let him try to convince you, you would end up having a very upsetting breakfast with your best friend and his new lover. You would rather avoid breakfast.
Throughout the day, avoiding James was proving to be harder than you had thought it would be. You had many of your classes with him and you even sat next to him in a few. He was insistently trying to get you to open up about why you were suddenly so closed off to him but you remained shut off, reassuring him that nothing was wrong and you were just a little tired from the game the day before. You avoided lunch for the same reason as you had avoided breakfast and you felt yourself starting to get a bit lightheaded. Your afternoon was spent avoiding James but soon he was preoccupied with Lily anyway.
You were hid in a corner of the library when a cough alerted you of someone's presence. You looked up to find the very eyes you hadn't wanted to see.
You pushed it down with a gulp and smiled a bit at him, trying desperately to keep the tears at bay but they were growing harder to hold back after keeping everything pent up all day. It probably didn't help that you were hungry and therefor a bit more emotional. You could feel the tears sitting in your eyes, waiting for something to go wrong so they had an excuse to escape you.
"I don't know what I did wrong." He mumbled while looking at the floor in front of you and you took a deep breath.
"There's nothing wrong James, I promise. It's just been a long day." You smiled and your heart picked up speed.
"Since when did we lie to each other?" He questioned and your heart stopped. You were left unsure how to respond.
"Since the truth would cause more damage than good." You spoke honestly. At this he looked up at you and your eyes met. A tear left you and James immediately moved to comfort you but you tried to move away, standing quickly to evade him. You regretted it as spots filled your vision, the lack of food catching up to you. You know that you turned a bit green for a moment because James looked slightly scared.
"Y/N I dont know whats wrong but you look like you should be getting to the hospital wing. You don't look well."
Before you could answer you felt your vision blacken and your legs give out before your consciousness left you completely.
When you woke up, you knew you were in the hospital wing. It smelled sterile and the bed was stiff underneath you. When you started to wake madam pomfrey came to check on you.
"You can't go around with an empty stomach like that again, do you hear me?" She scolded, though her eyes were soft. You nodded solemnly. "I was alerted that you hadn't been to the great hall to eat all day, you have to know that isn't good for you. I'm gonna have a prefect watch out for you the next couple days to make sure you're eating at meal times. Understood?" She asked again and once more you nodded before leaning back and sighing. You looked at your surroundings and were surprised to see the black haired boy next to your bed fast asleep. Your heart took off again and you felt trapped by your environment. As anxiety swirled around in your chest, James had woken up a bit.
"You're awake." James sighed, laced with relief. You still wouldn't make eye contact with him.  You felt the bed dip as he sat on it and you looked up to watch him put his head in his hands as he leaned over. You felt guilt fill your chest more than it already had from hating that you felt any claim over the man in front of you. You knew you were in the wrong and the last thing you wanted was to cause him any pain. "Remus talked to me." He almost whispered.
At that moment, you wished you could have apparated to anywhere else in the world. You looked back down at your lap and tears were once again brought to your eyes. You felt betrayal that Remus would reveal your feelings to James.
"I'm sorry." You apologized and you fiddled with your fingers.
"Why are you the one apologizing, I'm the one whos behaved poorly." He assures and you shake your head.
"That's not fair to yourself. You're allowed to want to be with whomever you want and my feelings should have no effect on that. You've made it clear for years that you weren't interested in me and it is my fault that I couldn't take a hint. I'm so sorry." You gushed out and tears started to fall from your eyes. You felt James get up from your bed and you prepared him to leave but instead you felt arms wrap around you and a kiss came to your head.
"Y/N I have had feelings for you for years. I was just always too scared for myself to even consider that you might feel the same." He whispered out but you felt only a different kind of pain. Even though he had now admitted his feelings, he was still dating Lily. Not you. Almost as if he could hear your thoughts he spoke quietly. "I broke it off with Evans." You pulled away immediately.
"What? Why would you do that?" You asked quickly and before he had a chance to answer you feared the worst. "Oh god is it because of me? James please dont let my feelings have any bearing on who you want to date, I can't stand the thought of being the reason you broke up. Even if we do have feelings for each other, you deserve a chance with Lily if that's what you want."
"It was mutual, actually. She understood that I had feelings for you and she said she had a crush on someone else. It just seemed like I had kissed her a bit rashly on the quidditch pitch and we agreed that we shouldn't have gotten together in the first place. It was only a day anyway." He reassured as he explained himself and you calmed a bit.
"So what does this mean." You got out, almost inaudibly.
"It means that, if you'll have me, I'd like to take you out on a date." He stated as if it were the simplest thing in the world and you almost couldn't believe your ears. Before you were even thinking you were nodding quickly, causing spots to once again fill your vision and James grabbed your shoulders to stabilize you before you both laughed. He pulled you by your shoulders toward him and he caught your lips in a kiss that somehow expressed all of the years of repressed feelings. When he pulled away he smiled at you and sat back on your bed. He spent the rest of the day with you in the hospital wing talking about all of the places he was going to take you in the coming weeks.
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chericarlisle · 3 years
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You asked for Carlisle Cullen requests and I am here to deliver❤️ can I ask for a fic where the reader finally confesses to Carlisle they are in love with him? Preferably fluffy with some kisses 😌, I would also prefer the reader not be a doctor or nurse if possible! Thank you so much!
𝐌𝐲 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐞 || 𝐜.𝐜
𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: carlisle cullen x human reader
(𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝)
𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 2k
𝐚/𝐧: i hope you enjoy this! i tried to think of a way to get the two to meet, but have it still correlate! so the reader will be Alice’s friend :) thank you for requesting <3 please know that the reader is NOT a minor!!!
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For the years that you had attended Forks High, you had grown close to a certain Cullen daughter, Alice. Her personality was that of a pink rose and its symbolism. She was more than one could want in a best friend, and between her amazing advice or sense of fashion, there was never a dull moment. 
Unlike a majority of the students, Alice was genuine and welcoming, causing the two of you to grow close as friends. It made you feel like high school wasn’t so bad after all.
As you talked more and more with Alice, you often wondered why the rest of her family was so reserved. They rarely interacted with any one else who didn’t share the last name ‘Cullen’. Alice, though, was the exception, having branched out to you.
 It seemed that being friends with Alice was something that was a package deal because on occasion, she’d bring along her boyfriend Jasper. You didn’t question their family dynamic as Alice had already explained in simplest terms who they were. It was a much better definition than what Jessica had told you and the rest at that table on the first day. Looking back, it was more petty gossip than it was useful information.
For the first summer, you didn’t see much of Alice and rather texted her much more. You’d invite her over, but it appeared that they were on a long family vacation that summer. It was then that you truly realized that you knew nothing about Alice, let alone the Cullens, aside from what you had been told at school. 
There was something that constantly affected Alice’s decision making, along with her siblings, but you didn’t yet know that factor, and you wouldn’t for a while. Instead, you let your mind consume the harsh option that Alice wasn’t exactly the person you thought she was. Maybe she really was just like the rest of the Forks High students. 
Fortunately, your fears were consoled that next school year.
After much consideration, Alice eventually invited you over to her house where you officially met the rest of the Cullens. Edward, Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper acted so much differently than they did at school in the way that they even acted at all. Normally, they would just go through the school day rarely interacting with any one or anything else but themselves. It made you curious as to why they weren’t like this at school. They seemed to be such lovely people so why would they be so monotonous for eight grueling hours of the day. 
You were able to see where they got those characterful values from. Well, more so who.
Dr. Carlisle Cullen, their adoptive father who looked too young to be a father at all and was so perfect that he must’ve been a hallucination. 
Since that moment three years ago, you’d gone over almost every other weekend to do whatever extravagant thing Alice had planned for you. She hadn’t had a real friend in so long that she wanted to make up for all the missed time. 
Over the course of time, the man, who you knew only as Dr. Cullen, had caught your eye. His compassionate mannerism and old fashioned style was something that just seemed to make you fall head over heels. At the mere sight of Dr. Cullen, the heat of your cheeks would make itself known and you wanted nothing more than to slap some sense into yourself. Whenever he spoke, you shamefully latched onto every word, his voice ever so comforting. The small smile resting on his lips whenever he spoke to you added even more charm and there was no hope left for you. This man made you swoon and you were so embarrassed over the fact that he was the adoptive father of your best friend. 
High school graduation arrived in no time and along with it a huge family secret. A family secret that wasn’t yours, but once again, relating to the Cullens. 
The family revealed it at a dinner, which was a rare occasion, considering that you hadn’t ever really seen them eat. You came over to their house like any other visit, except this time, the inviting smell of a freshly cooked dinner greeted you at the door. 
The lovely dinner and charming smiles were all just the calm before the storm. Playful conversation ceased and suddenly Carlisle was speaking on behalf of everyone at the table. In a matter of seconds, it went from ‘casual family dinner' to ‘game show questionnaire' that was borderline an interrogation with the lack of feedback you were receiving. None of the Cullens, not even Alice, would confirm or deny any inquiries that left your mouth, leaving you to your own judgment. It was almost like your speculation was crucial to ending the slew of questions. 
Eventually, you drew up the conclusion that they were vampires. You said this with such lighthearted intent that you were waiting for the big joke until you scanned the tables and saw their emotionless expressions.
All that you could really remember was falling from your dinner chair with Carlisle, who was sitting right beside you, catching your fall before you became close friends with the hardwood floor. 
Needless to say, it took a moment to process this information, but you still continued on with Alice and her family. They were still the same Cullens you had known since the beginning and a small sliver of their real life wasn’t going to change who they were to you.
A couple of months later, you were spending the night with Alice for the weekend. She wanted to go visit Seattle for the day and do some holiday shopping. You readily agreed, remembering that you had to get some gifts for your own family. Shopping with Alice was always an experience, but an entertaining time nonetheless.
You had gotten there Friday night as both you and Alice planned to leave the next morning. There was no point in leaving now as the stores had been closed for at least a couple of hours. 
Walking in the living room, you saw Emmett and Rosalie thoroughly invested in a comedy on tv. You had invited Rosalie to go shopping, but long hours with Alice in a store was not an activity for the less patient and she knew this. Edward was apparently missing from the scene, but Jasper, who was standing afar, greeted you and said that he was out with Bella. Jasper had finally loosened up around you, and after the family’s confession, you understood why he looked so uncomfortable all the time. The willpower these people had astonished you. 
Alice had disappeared after letting you in and it wasn’t until she returned with Dr. Cullen in tow, that you truly noticed she was gone. You bashfully greeted the doctor to which he returned with his signature smile that could make you melt. 
“I know this is bad timing, (y/n),” Alice walked to stand beside you, “But I have to go hunt, as do my siblings. You’ll stay here with Carlisle. He doesn’t need to go with us right now and we can't leave you alone.” By the end, the petite vampire was smirking and you jokingly scowled at her little plan. She knew of your silly crush on Carlisle and would relentlessly tease you about it, as a best friend would. 
Before you could even answer, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and Alice were out of the room without so much as a peep. You shook your head at Alice’s sneakiness, forgetting for a second that a certain someone was left with you.
“How about I make you some dinner, (y/n)?” 
The way he said your name was something you could never handle. It just rolled off his tongue like any other word would, but with the hint of his accent, it sounded so lovely.
“I don’t mean to be a nuisance. Dr. Cullen.” 
Already flustered with the whole situation, the last thing you wanted was to bother Dr. Cullen any more than you thought you’d already done. 
As if he could read minds, the blonde stopped in his tracks to face you. “Please, call me Carlisle and you are never an inconvenience, (y/n). Besides, I’ve already hunted so I’m more than happy to be here with you.” 
Carlisle, being kind as usual, shouldn’t have said such words because your brain was currently going into a frenzy as his thoughtfulness. If it was possible, your heart must’ve been beating faster than what would be considered healthy for someone actively working out. 
You weren’t able to find the words, but instead able to offer what you hoped was an endearing grin.
In the kitchen, Carlisle searched the desolate fridge in hopes of finding some food. The kitchen and its appliances were more of decor than they ever were useful. 
After a minute or two, Carlisle closed the freezer door of the fridge, a pack of steak in his hand. 
“It seems steak will have to do tonight.” 
You shot him a pleased look. “You can’t go wrong with steak.” Famous last words.
While you insisted on cooking your own food, Carlisle returned the same persistence and eventually you gave in. 
The two of you carried on a conversation while he cooked. Talking with him seemed so natural that for a moment, you weren’t nervous about talking to this man.
Carlisle plated the steak and brought it before you, an excited look painted on your face. He sat down beside you and eagerly waited to see how the steak turned out. At first, you felt a bit bad that he wasn’t going to eat anything, especially after all the trouble he had gone through.
“Carlisle, are you sure you’re fine? It just feels so wrong eating in front of you like this!” 
He chuckled, quickly placing his hand on your own to reassure you. “I’m fine, truly. I just hope it’s edible.” 
You grabbed the steak knife, jokingly rolling your eyes at his statement. Upon cutting into the steak, an unpleasant rush of cow blood came out revealing that the steak was far from even being rare. 
Immediately your plate was being scooped up and brought to the kitchen counter where you joined Carlisle. 
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, it’s been some time since I’ve cooked anything and it seems that I haven’t caught up with modern cooking principles.” Carlisle looked a bit sheepish at the moment and you couldn’t help the giggle that slipped from your lips. You weren't sure if it was the unintentional term of endearment or his adorable attempt at cooking. Either way, Carlisle was relieved to see that you weren’t upset, but rather enjoying this moment. 
You stepped up beside Carlisle at the stovetop, shoulders touching as you reached across for the seasonings. “Here, we should probably season the steak a bit and clean off the pan.” 
As you continued to do your own thing and guide Carlisle in cooking, he carefully took each word of your advice.
“See, you did everything right, Carlisle. It was just the heat and time that threw off the doneness of the steak, a bit.” Your words ended with a small twinkle as you turned to face the man who’d been so intently watching. He seemed to be so entranced at the moment… and by you. 
It was like time was frozen and everything moved in slow motion, something you’d only see in a cheesy movie scene, except you were living it. Suddenly, life sped up and Carlisle’s cold hand was cupping your face and bringing you in for a kiss. You were happy that this was how you’d “confess” your love to Carlisle because words weren’t exactly your strong spot given the circumstances.
You two stayed lip locked for the longest moment in time, just pure bliss. It seemed like the kiss would never end until the smell of burnt oil hit your nose. Carlisle could feel you smiling against his lips and you began to peep out a small laugh. 
“I think we overcooked this one a little too much.”
a/n: i’m sorry if this is cringe-worthy, i wrote this at 12:30 am. i swear it will get better lol i just need to stop writing at ungodly hours of the night--
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babyboibucky · 4 years
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Salt, Sugar and Viruses
Pairing: Office!Bucky Barnes x Reader
Summary: You’ve been secretly making coffee for Bucky at the office.
Word Count: 1,962
Warnings: Two idiots just doing idiot things
A/N: This was done in a haste so I kinda hate it lol but I can’t get this story out of my head and thanks to @bitchassbucky for pushing me to write a full fic of this 🥰 luv u 🥺
MAIN MASTERLIST
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"You have a crush on Barnes' grumpy ass?!" Sam choked out.
You angrily hushed him and frantically looked around the pantry to make sure that your secret was still safe. Fortunately, only you, Sam and Nat were inside having your respective afternoon breaks.
"What? He's nice. And cute." you told Sam as you stirred your coffee, smiling to yourself at the thought of your office crush, Bucky.
"How'd you even meet him, he works all the way at the IT department." Sam asked.
Nat snorted recalling the encounters she witnessed for the past few months. Some of which were unintentional but most of them? You had carefully planned out just so you could come up with an excuse to request for Bucky's assistance.
"She might have gotten viruses in her computer once...or twice. Or thrice." Nat teased.
The first time you met Bucky was when most of your files suddenly got corrupted. It was hella embarrassing because you didn't know shit about how computers worked and well, you've been illegally downloading torrents since the office's internet connection was a gift from the internet gods. Without a doubt, your computer was a nest for viruses.
Bucky showed up in your floor that morning and you almost sunk into your seat from shame. You'd heard the IT Department complain about everybody else in the office messing up their computer systems. When you turned around, Bucky greeted you with a charming smile and soft hello. You could still remember how he felt when he stayed behind you as you sat on your chair, bending over to take your mouse in his hand.
God, he smelled so good you almost turned your head to nuzzle your face into his neck.
He was very soft-spoken you realized; Bucky was kind enough to walk you through the process and to be honest, you couldn't recall a damn thing he said. Something about firewalls? And shields? Whatever, you didn't really listen. You just stared at Bucky as he explained everything, solving your problem in less than fifteen minutes.
Since then, your crush for Bucky grew bigger. You'd entered the elevator together a couple of times, shared small conversations that made your heart flutter. When those little moments didn't seem enough, you started your devious plan to fuck up your computer a bit. By the third time Bucky fixed your computer, he was already comfortable enough to tease you for being a "virus magnet".
"Hello? Young lady, come back to earth." Sam snapped his finger right in front of your face, interrupting your thoughts.
You clicked your tongue at him and swatted his hand away. "If you ever tell this to anyone, Wilson. You are dead." you warned, poinitng a finger at him.
Sam rolled his eyes, "It's so unfair how he's kind to you. Last time I requested for his assistance he got all smug and grumpy at me." he complained.
Nat shook her head in amusment, "That's because you've been downloading porn. You know the IT department can access our browser histories, right?"
You choked on your coffe, "WHAT?!"
Nat narrowed her eyes at you, "You been up to no good for you to react like that?"
You faceplamed, "I've been stalking his Facebook account."
Sam chortled, "What are you, in high school? Jesus, calm down. You're gonna be fine. Why don't you just tell him you like him?"
You made a face, "I'm not Nat to have the guts to do that."
Nat hummed, bringing her mug to the sink to wash it. "Why don't you start by making him coffee?"
"I don't know how he likes his coffee."
You received a pointed look from both your friends. You groaned in defeat, "Okay, fine. I know how Bucky likes his coffee."
Nat smirked, "Stalker."
-
Bucky always arrived in the office half an hour before nine in the morning. This gives him time to settle into his cubicle, buy a sandwich at the stall downstairs and to make himself a cup of coffee. It was his daily routine and upon going back to his desk after buying his breakfast sandwich, Bucky was surprised to see a cup of newly brewed coffee on his desk.
He looked around but there were no signs of anyone. There wasn't even a note of some sort. Carefully, he brought the cup to his face and inhaled its scent. Shrugging, he took a tiny sip.
-
"How's the little secret admirer doing?" Nat asked, grabbing a chair and sitting down beside you.
You deadpanned, "I've been leaving him his coffee for an entire week now and nothing's happened yet."
Nat frowned, "Are you kidding me? Why would you expect for something to happen when you haven't been leaving any clues?" she said.
"I'm shy, okay?! Maybe I should hide somewhere, check for his reaction. See whether I have a chance." you shrugged.
It was stupid of you to leave the coffee on Bucky's desk. You never stayed to wait for him. You just left it there without a note or anything that would even give him a clue about you and your little crush on him. You knew the reason why, of course. You were afraid of rejection. Sometimes, you'd feel like you have a chance with him since he was always so kind and warm to you. Not to mention, everyone in the office knows him to be grumpy but around you, he was totally the opposite of that.
But then again, maybe he was just nice to you because you were nice to him too.
-
One morning after leaving Bucky his coffee, you finally decided to leave him a note. You ran back to your cubicle to get a post-it and a pen. Before you could even walk around your desk, you spotted Bucky headed over to the pantry, the cup of coffee in his hand.
"Fuck, okay. Maybe I should just directly ask him out?" you thought to yourself.
You quickly followed Bucky into the pantry and almost whined when you saw that Sam was inside as well. You widened your eyes at him, signalling for him to leave but Sam was preoccupied on observing Bucky who seemed to be in a bad mood.
"Rough morning?" Sam just had to ask as you awkwardly stood by the doorway, finding the right timing to butt in.
Bucky's forehead creased as he let out a huff, "Rough weeks, actually." he answered.
You opened your mouth to say something comforting, wanting to lift Bucky's spirits up but he turned around and glanced at you and then back to Sam.
"Does anyone hate me in this office?" Bucky asked.
You and Sam exchanged looks, both of utter confusion before shaking your heads in unison. "Why'd you ask?" Sam asked.
Bucky lifted the cup of coffee that you made, "Someone's been making me coffee." he stated.
You cleared your throat, "...is it bad?" you asked.
Bucky made a face, "Terrible actually."
Ouch.
"I mean, the first time I saw it I was actually flattered. And then I took a sip and it's just...salty." Bucky said, pouring the coffee into the sink before throwing it into the bin.
Sam's head snapped towards your direction, his face almost red from biting back a laugh. Your face heated up at the realization that you've been putting salt into Bucky's coffee instead of sugar. All this time. You wanted to disappear right then and there. And Sam had to be the one to witness your huge failure.
"I thought it was a mistake since the next day, there was another coffee on my desk. I tried it out and it's still salty. It lasted a week, you guys. And I was dumb enough to keep on tasting it in hopes that it might have been a genuine mistake. But now I'm starting to think that someone hates me that much to fuck my coffee up." Bucky explained, face scrunched up into a mixture of irritation and curiosity.
Sam failed to stifle his laughter and exploded, "Funniest shit I've ever heard." he told Bucky before standing up and making his way to the door where you stood.
Your face was red and if the salt and sugar mishap was already humiliating enough, Sam decided to make things even worse for you.
"You really need to check the labels before pouring shit into his coffee." and with that, Sam gave your shoulder a squeeze before leaving the pantry.
Closing your eyes, you took a deep breath and tried to calm yourself. When you opened them, Bucky was staring at you with an expression you couldn't paint.
"Did you...were you the one leaving me coffee?" he asked.
You secretly pinched yourself in the arm to check whether you were just dreaming. Fuck, you hoped you were having a nightmare but the pain that you felt made it clear that you totally fucked up.
You nodded in embarrassment.
"You hate me that much?" Bucky asked in disbelief, as if he was offended that out of all people, it had to be you.
You quickly shook your head, "No, God no! I just...it's because I..." you stammered, trying to find the courage to spit out the words you've been dying to tell Bucky.
Bucky tilted his head, "Because you...?" he urged.
Your hands balled into fists as you let out another deep breath. Bucky probably hates you right now, but whatever. This was your only chance and to hell, you were going to confess.
"Because I like you?"
You didn't think that Bucky's confused look could even turn more...well, confused. But he was looking at you incredulously as though you've grown a second head, or a third head.
"You like me so you decided to put salt in my coffee?" he asked again.
You honestly didn't know who sounded even more stupid now, you or Bucky. Because if he still didn't understand what was going on, he was dense as fuck.
"No!" you explained. "I wanted to make you a decent cup of coffee but I guess I was too careless and didn't realize that I've been putting in salt instead of sugar." you said.
Bucky didn't say anything after that. He just stared at you, but he didn't seem confused anymore. If any, he looked like he was processing the entire situation.
"You like me." he stated again.
Will your embarrassment ever end?!
"Yes, Bucky. And I messed up my chance and you know what? I'm just going to show myself out and leave you alone." you told him and forced a fake grin before attempting to walk out.
A hand gripped your wrist, pulling you back into the pantry. This time, Bucky was the one who looked embarrassed.
"I might have...done something pretty stupid too." he said, avoiding your gaze as he rubbed the back of his neck.
You eyed him suspiciously, "What do you mean?"
"I uhh...I did something to your computer...the day before you requested for my assistance for the first time." Bucky admitted shyly.
It was your turn to get muddled at Bucky's confession. "But why?" you asked.
Bucky offered a shy smile, "Because I've been seeing you around the building and thought you were cute."
And then everything clicked. It was a light bulb moment for the both of you.
"Oh. Ohhh okay. I see." you said before suddenly breaking into laughter.
Bucky joined you and scratched his head, "I guess we're both idiots." he said, placing his hands inside his pockets as he stared at you.
"This went...way more interesting than I thought." you said with a nod.
There was a pause before you decided to speak up, "So, do you want coffee?"
Bucky beamed at you as he nodded, "As long as you'll use sugar this time."
-
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Text
Part Nine. Minecraft Dating 101
warnings: swearing, mostly super freaking fluffy but some oopsies at the end (which is the barely-there angst that i mentioned before!!), pet names?? if that bothers you??? (like...... one or both of them might use baby.........) word count: 5.3k (not including pictures)
behind the screen (irl dream x f!reader) series masterlist ultimate masterlist
A/N: HEHEH SORRY ITS SO LONG SORRY hope you guys like it!!!! hope it lives up to your standards of minecraft dates lol also thank you guys all for all your suggestions!!! i loved all of them so much!!!! i would have added every idea except this was already 5k words so its much less “flirting” and more so “oh gosh im so nervous what am i supposed to do” from both of them so hehe i think thats more endearing anyway
**********
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The familiar sound of a FaceTime call connecting rang in Y/n's ears and she held her phone up to her face. "Hi, Karl," she sighed.
"Y/N!!" he said with a cackle. "ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR DATE?!"
"Shut up, I'm doing this for you."
"I already gave you the tour though so really you could back out. You're choosing to stay." His voice was teasing and giddy. "Why's that, hmm?"
Heat rose instantly to Y/n's face. "Because I'm a woman of my word?"
"OkaAaAyy," he sang. "Or because you liiiiikeee himmm."
"Shhhut up, Karl. No, I don't."
"Suuuure."
"Is this why you called me?"
He giggled. "Yeah, but—"
Y/n disconnected the call and set her phone down with a small laugh and a shake of her head.
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With her stream started and her chat greeted, the donation limit raised to $100 (both because she didn't want to be flooded with questions on the date and because she didn't want people to donate their hard-earned money), Y/n logged onto Dream's SMP and found the voice call Dream was in, George's name right under his.
After she clicked it to join, a small gasp emitted from her headphones before she heard Dream mutter something. "Get out, get out, leave."
George's voice was normal. "But I wanna—"
"GEORGE!" Dream yelled, making Y/n giggle.
"Fine!" George yelled back. "Have fun you two," he sang like Karl did before a sound from Discord told them that he left.
It was silent for a second before, "Hi."
"Hi." She giggled. "What was that about?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing. Just some last minute, uh, setting up."
She hummed, amused at the sound of his frantic voice.
"So, um... are you ready for our date?"
"I don't even know where you are. I'm still in my house."
"Knock, knock," he said with a laugh. Y/n turned to see green peeking through the cutouts on her oak door and she laughed.
She ran to the door and opened it for him, revealing Dream in a slightly altered version of his Minecraft skin. He looked the same, except the white blob appeared to be wearing a necktie of some sort. "You look ridiculous," she admitted with a smile. "Wait, is this a fancy date? Should I change my skin?"
"It's not fancy, I just wanted to look my best for the prettiest girl in the world."
"Ohmygosh," she muttered to herself, hoping that writing off his charming words and actions as annoying would make her face not heat up as much. So far, it hadn't worked. Two minutes in and she was already blushing like a schoolgirl whose crush asked her to play tag at recess. "So, I'm not underdressed?"
"No, you're always perfect."
She didn't comment, opting for an eye-roll instead. Truthfully, she wanted to flirt back with him, try to make his heart beat fast like hers already was, but she was worried her words wouldn't come off joking and that the true intention would be obvious, that he'd be able to breeze right past the jovial tone and hear the sincerity in her words. Wait, true intention? What was her true intention? Her true intention should obviously be to just joke around and have some fun, but deep down she knew the motivation for teasing him came from somewhere different, somewhere more meaningful.
She wanted to tease him because she wanted to be the one to make him blush, to make him trip over his words and not know what to do with his hands.
Why? Well, she was still figuring that out.
"If you're ready, follow me, ma'am."
"Where are you taking me?" she asked as she followed his character down prime path.
"Hmmm..." he mused. "A secret, obviously."
"Obviously," she scoffed. She noticed that he was several blocks ahead of her and she smiled to herself. "Hey, Dream?"
"Hm?" he asked, spinning to face her as he ran backward.
"I don't know how many dates you've been on, but usually people walk together. You know, gives them an excuse to maybe hold hands or at least enjoy each other's company?" She made sure her voice had just the right balance of teasing and seriousness, curious as to how he would respond.
"I, uh... oh."
"Unless you want me to just meet you there. I mean, you're practically running away from me."
"I'm just excited!" he excused, stopping briefly so she could catch up with him.
"But look at how many beautiful things there around us to look at while we get to where we're going!" she told him. "Well, maybe not that," she said with a laugh as she punched her fist towards Tommy's dirt house. "But other things."
Dream laughed and continued to walk next to her like she requested, pausing if he ever got too far ahead. "How can I look at all those when the most beautiful thing is walking right next to me?"
She's never rolled her eyes so hard in her life. "Shut up," she mumbled as she punched him.
"OW! BUG!"
"That was supposed to be a pat on the arm but Minecraft only has one level of hitting and it's a punch. Sorry."
Dream wheezed briefly before containing his laughter. "This way," he instructed, getting off the path and starting into the woods.
"Oh, really you're trying to kill me. That's why you didn't want me to wear anything nice. Didn't want me to ruin any of my fancy stuff."
"Foiled my plans," he joked lightly. "Okay but really, um, I was thinking—well, so you already have a house but I was thinking we could build one together. Or build something, I don't know. But you're really good at building and I know you really enjoy it so I thought maybe you could show—like, teach me and then later I'll teach you something and then we can have a little picnic dinner."
Y/n smiled at her nervousness. "Hey, that actually sounds really fun!"
"What? What do you mean actually?" He laughed. "What, did you expect me to plan something boring?"
She laughed over his dramatic pouting. "No, but I mean, I didn't know what to expect," she said shyly. "I do have to say, though, I'm not sure what you plan on teaching me. I'm pretty much a master at all possible Minecraft skills, so..."
"Oh, really?" he taunted. "Everything?"
"Mhm," she hummed, her confidence wavering at his smooth voice.
"We'll see about that..."
"Unless you mean you're gonna teach me how to code Minecraft. That's a Minecraft skill I will admit I know nothing about."
"No, no, nothing like that," he said with a laugh.
"Good, save the programming talk for later."
"For laaater, hmmm?" he sang flirtatiously.
"Oh my gosh," she said through a laugh. "You would think that's what I meant."
"Hey, you're the one that said you think it's cute when I talk about coding. Maybe you're into that."
"I was saying it's sweet hearing you talk about stuff you like, you nerd. Why did you immediately think—what, is your idea of dirty talk talking about... like... computer viruses?"
"WhAT?"
"Hey girl, lemme clean out your motherboard," she mocked in a deep voice. "You overclock my processor. Lemme program your, uh—uh...hAHA, nevermind, ew, no."
"BUG?! WHAAAT? What is wrong with you?" His gasps for breath between wheezes made her laugh with him. "Don't ever talk like that again, pleASE."
"I won't, I won't, I'm sorry. Oh my gosh."
"Is that your idea of flirting? You are bad!"
"No, no, no!" She laughed. "I was making fun of you. No, I'm actually really good."
She couldn't stop giggling to herself for a few minutes, embarrassed but also proud of the reaction she got from Dream. She loved hearing him laugh as if he would never stop, it made her heart so happy to hear, especially when she was the one who caused it.
Though she feared her horrible pickup lines, if you could even call them that, were already clipped, ready to be used against her for the rest of her life. Worth it. Probably.
They approached a cleared-out area in the woods and Dream stopped and turned to Y/n. "So, we're here. What should we build?"
"Oh, so now I have to plan? Wow, you are so underprepared," she joked.
"What, no! I originally... I wanted to build a, like, a house together because I didn't— I forgot you made your—your house already and—but since you already have one—"
"We can still build a house," she interrupted with a soft voice. Him fumbling over his words was very endearing but also very confusing. How serious was he taking this bit? Or was he... actually nervous? She was actually nervous but she had reasons to be: a huge live audience to entertain and not ignore, and the weird staticky, itchy feeling in her tummy every time Dream spoke to her. Both valid reasons to be nervous. What was his excuse?
"Really? You wanna build a home together?"
Heat rose to her cheeks at his wording and she hummed. "Mhm. You can be my secret lover I hide in my vacation home. Like a second life kinda deal."
He scoffed. "Oh, now I'm just your side piece, Bug?"
"Nah, you're my main bitch, baby. I just wanna hide you away to keep you for myself because I'm selfish."
There was silence on his end for a few moments, making Y/n's face practically catch fire as she thought about her words. Why did she say that?? How can he flirt all the time but as soon as she says something: dead silence.
"Well.... shhhhhit," he finally mumbled definitively.
"You wanted me to flirt with you, Dream. You literally asked me too!" She laughed, trying to cover up her embarrassment. It had been less than 20 minutes and she already made a fool of herself.
"I did, I did, I just—wow. Come on, that was... I didn't expect you to go from never flirting to calling me baby!"
"Too much?" she bit her lip as she waited for him to explain if it was a good or bad thing.
He paused again. "....no."
She laughed loudly, pulling her hoodie collar up to her face in an attempt to rid herself of the giddiness and heat on her face. Like anyone could see anyway.
"So, a house?"
"A house."
"What kind of house do you think we should build together, Dream?"
"Maybe...." he thought as he ran around the area. "Maybe, like, a log cabin? Since we're in a forest. It's fitting..."
"Very true, very true..." she thought. "I was thinking a castle was more suited for you, king, but a cabin works too."
"Bug!" he yelled, laughter bubbling up in his voice. "What is wrong with you?"
"What?" she said defensively, giggling.
"You're a handful today," he groaned under his breath and she smiled. Though his words said one thing, Y/n could tell he was enjoying her energy.
"So, a dinky, old cabin, or what?"
"Whatever you want to build," he sighed.
"You always this agreeable?"
"Only to you."
"Well, I honestly don't have much practice with building cabins and since I want to show off my skills, I mean, that's the whole point of this, right? For me to impress you with my skills?"
Dream laughed so she continued.
"I think we should build a treehouse."
"A treehouse?"
"Mhm. What do you think? I make a pretty bomb treehouse."
"That sounds awesome!" he agreed. "Oh, and it could go from, like, one tree to another and, like, connect with a bridge! Like, the living room on one and the bedroom on another."
"Yeah, exactly! Okay, it's settled."
"What do we need? What do you want me to do?"
"I'm thinking.... we use cobblestone?"
Dead silent. Literally no noise until a few moments later, ".......Bug. This might be a deal-breaker."
"I'm joooking! You think I'd build something out of cobblestone? Who am I, Tommy? No, what's your favorite wood?"
"Dark oak."
"GOOD. Me too. So.... we need dark oak. Or, wait! Okay, hear me out."
"I'm hearing..." Dream prompted as he pressed A and D on his keyboard back and forth, earning a giggle from Y/n. He character was bouncing left and right is excitement.
"Dark oak planks..." she started.
"Mhm."
"Stone bricks..."
"Go on."
"And green wool for accents."
"Well, now you're just pandering."
"No!" she laughed. "Not, like, lime wool. Green wool. It's close to you but not as... obnoxiously blinding."
"I trust your vision. I'll go get materials."
"Perfect, you're the best, Dweam."
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled before laughing. "You pick out a tree you think would be best for the main part."
40 minutes later, they were nowhere near being done. Y/n had shown him how to make a good house layout after he placed the floor in the shape of a square. She had yelled at him for it first, of course. They also had the frame of the walls and one bridge but nothing on the other side of said bridge. Not wanting the stream to last six hours since this was only the first part of the date, Y/n made a suggestion.
"What if...."
"What if what?" Dream asked, pausing to look at her character, who had stopped fixing his mistakes. "Did I mess something up?"
"No, I was just thinking. What if we make this the whole house and do a little garden on the other side of the bridge? Or like a little cute thing."
"A little cute thing?" Dream laughed.
"You know, like a thing," she said, knowing she hadn't clarified anything. "I forgot this is only date one, you can't read my mind yet."
"Oh, so there are gonna be future dates? I thought this was just to pay off your debt?"
She paused, playing with her hoodie strings between her left hand. "Well, I guess we'll see."
Dream laughed. "So, what little cute thing did you want to make?"
"We could put a bench facing the sunset and have some potted flowers and hang lanterns and stuff."
"Oh, like a romantic spot?"
"I guess if you wanna think of it like that."
"Sounds cute," he said. "So, we have to change the layout in here then?"
"Nah, I mean, we can just not add a kitchen, we obviously don't need one anyway."
"True. Then all we need is to put our bed down, right?"
"Beds," Y/n corrected.
"Well, when they're together it looks like one big bed."
"Who said we're putting out beds together?"
"Buuuuggg..." he whined. "Come on... lemme put my bed next to yours."
She giggled again. What was with all the giggling, sheesh. "No. There's plenty of space, put it somewhere else." She placed her white bed down in the corner and went across the bridge to bring her idea to life, or, to Minecraft.
It only took about ten minutes and she finished when Dream spoke again. "I think I'm done."
"I am too! Let's take one final look around." She went back inside and immediately noticed his bed right next to hers. She stared at his character and he laughed.
"Whaaat?" he asked shyly and she just sighed, letting it happen. They took a look around and agreed that it was basically the best treehouse in the entire universe, both in Minecraft and real life.
"Bug, you're so good at building," Dream complimented as he ran around the house. "What's your favorite part?"
"Ummm...." She looked around before deciding on the bridge. "I like how you made the bridge. And I like the little touches you added to it. It's nice."
"Thanks! I think the 'little cute thing' you did is the best part."
"Shut up, I can't stand you," she scoffed. "But thanks."
"Hey, Bug?" Dream asked, leading her back into the house. He faced the two beds placed together and she prepared herself for the worst joke of all time. "Is this where all the programming talk happens?"
"I knew it! I knew you were gonna say that! Shut up!" She punched Dream as he laughed loudly and she couldn't stop smiling. "You're such a nerd. You're so annoying."
"OH! I have an idea, wait here."
***
It had been a solid eight and a half minutes of Y/n waiting for Dream and he showed no signs of returning. He was silent too, so she resorted to saying random things to get him to crack.
"When will my husband return from war?" she joked, her voice laced with sadness and longing.
There was a small suppressed laugh from his mic, but still no words.
"Sometimes I think I can still hear him laughing at me."
He must have gotten reeeaaalll close to his mic, because his next words, the first ones he had spoken in almost ten minutes, were whispered but she felt like he was in her ear. "I'll be home soon, baby."
Once again, she was so glad her chat couldn't see her because she literally shivered and her face was so warm she felt like she was glowing.
For the first time all stream, her eyes betrayed her and she looked at her chat as she pulled her hoodie collar up to her face.
user18: BUGSY BEIN REEEAL QUIET
user4: i think i just passed out
user11: wHAT ON EARTH DREAM ADKXKH
user7: BUGSY ON GOD BE REAL WITH US WTF IS GOING ON RN
user2: hey bestie i cant do this rn
user9: they can't talk to each other like that and say they're just friends pleASE
Also for the first time all stream, someone dared to donate at her limit (which, again, was ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS).
karakatara donated $100 I had to donate bc I just HAD to tell you how cute you and dream are! honestly my favorite couple ever and I was just wondering how long you've been dating??? love you and your videos!!!!!
It was $100. She had to answer it. Meaning, she had to use words after Dream said that like that and she wasn't sure that was physically possible right now.
"Aren't you going to answer?" Dream taunted.
"Wha—what, are you—you stream watching, you weirdo?" she forced out. "Why?"
"I wanted to read your chat, they're really funny."
"I haven't been reading it."
"What, why? They've been so funny this whole time."
"I've been too scared to."
"Too scared? Of what?"
Of the jokes that she wanted to be real? Of seeing something so cute only to break her heart when she remembers it's all a joke? Of seeing someone hate her for being so close to Dream? Many things.
"Of seeing something... that boosts your ego."
"What? Oh, come on. Hey, answer the dono. Someone gave you their hard earned money for that."
"Yeah, wait, chat, I had the limit that high so you DON'T donate! Why on earth would you—"
"You're avoiding the question."
"We aren't actually dating! Not actually a couple!" she said with a laugh, though something in her heart was very much against laughing at that fact. "Obviously not."
"Well, it's only the first date, so, we'll see I guess, but..."
"I cannot stand you. Thank you so much for the dono, though, Karakatara. You're insane for... yeah. Thank you so much." She turned her attention back to Dream. "Actually though are you ever coming back?"
"Yeah, what, I'm almost there. I see the you staring out the window. ."
When he got inside, he dropped a blue cornflower for Y/n and stepped back. "Okay, now, give that to me."
She followed, not understanding. "For you, Dream." She dropped the flower.
"Aw, Bug! That's so kind! Aw! Thank you! Here's a flower for you, too!" He dropped her a red poppy and then put two item frames on the wall above their beds. He put the blue cornflower above his bed and she followed by putting the red one above hers. "Now that's my favorite part of the house."
"You didn't want to use the real ones? What, did you lose my flower or something?"
"Hell no!" he defended loudly. "No, I just don't want someone to steal that one. It's in my enderchest for safe-keeping."
He said it so casually like it was no big deal, but her heart soared. She too had his flower in her enderchest.
"This," she said dramatically with a sigh, "is now a treehome."
***
"I already told you I'm the best PVP player out there."
"Bug, honey, I've seen you play Bedwars. You're trash."
"Hey!" Hehe, honey. Shut up brain.
"But that's okay! I'm here to teach you."
Y/n's character stood across a makeshift battlefield from Dream's, an axe in hand and armor that was definitely donated by DreamXD on her body. "This is kinda sexist of you. Assuming I know how to name a cute house but not fight."
"Oh no, that's not—crap. Bug, I'm only basing this off of your streams, which I watch all the time—"
Once again, he said something so casual and yet it still made her heart skip three beats and once again, she grabbed the collar of her hoodie and pulled it up to hide her face. This thing had to be stretched by now from how often it was yanked on in this stream alone.
"—and don't get me wrong, you're great! But you're also good at a lot of stuff and—"
"Dream!" she giggled out. "I'm teasing. I admit you're much better than me."
"I wouldn't say much better but... it's the only thing I could possibly teach you anything about because you're just so good at Minecraft." His tone was sarcastic at this point but she knew he was meaning what he said.
"Whatever. Come on, Dream, show me how it's done."
He actually had a lot of very useful tips that Y/n otherwise would have never thought about. I guess when you tryhard Minecraft, she thought, you learn a thing or two about pvp. It was a complete joke, but she still kept it to herself.
"I could basically beat anyone now," she said confidently.
"Yeah, basically. Except maybe Technoblade."
"Nah, even him."
"Let's see how good you really are. To the death."
"What?" She laughed. "You're gonna try to kill me on our date?"
"Yeah, scared?" Seconds later, a creeper exploded near Dream and he screeched, jumping back. Y/n lost it. She laughed loudly, clutching her stomach.
"Dr-Dream!" She laughed. "What the hell was that?"
"It scared me!" he argued. "Here, I'll protect you," he offered, running past her and killing a skeleton that was shooting towards her.
"I don't need protecting, especially from you! Besides, if you're trying to kill me, you'd let the mobs get me."
"No," he decided. "No one's allowed to kill my Bug."
She was literally going to explode. "Wh—"
"Only I get to."
"Dream!" she scoffed, running to kill the skeleton first. She succeeded and he pouted.
"Hey—I did more damage than you, you just had the final hit."
"Really? Cause to me it looks like I'm your knight in shining armor."
"Nuh-uh," he spat.
"Dream. F5 right now, you're covered in arrows."
There was a pause. "Oh whatever." He hit her once and that's all it took for them to start fighting, throwing jokes and taunts at each other the whole time, eventually resulting in a satisfying win for her.
Dream was slain by Bugsy
"WHAT?! HOW?"
<Tubbo> i thogt you were on a date <Ranboo> well definitley not anymore <Ranboo> is that canon <JackManifoldTV> WOMEN
"What was that about you being better than me?" Y/n teased.
"Oh, come ON! I still had damage from the skeleton, and besides, I taught you everything you know!"
"That just makes you a very good teacher, Dream," she said sincerely and he paused, probably expecting her to insult him instead of compliment him.
"Yeah, suck up now that you've murdered me."
***
They were finally at their final stop, three hours into the stream. Not too bad on time, though this was probably the longest Minecraft date in the history of Minecraft dates. Also the best, but maybe Y/n was biased.
There was a huge tree, obviously built instead of naturally generated, with lanterns hanging down and lighting areas of the dark world around them. Under that was a checkered pattern of carpet, a single chest in the center with a potted plant sitting next to it.
"The carpet is supposed to look like a, uh, what's it called... picnic blanket?" Dream explained as they approached the scene, clearly not happy with how it turned out. "It looks weird. Nothing compared to the treehouse you built."
"We built," she corrected. "And this looks awesome, Dream," Y/n complimented. "It's is also my favorite colors."
"Yeah, I had some help from Karl on that one."
She leaned back in her chair in real life and pressed her hands to her face. Oh, it was so unfair how cute he was when he was shy like this. She glanced at chat, which only made her face go from the temperature of molten lava to basically the sun. She was going to explode.
She hummed, a little giggle coming out as well. "That's cute."
She sat (crouched) on the picnic blanket (piece of carpet) while Dream put a disc in the jukebox off to the side.
"Is that a Tommy disc?" she giggled and Dream laughed.
"No, no, no, don't worry. There shouldn't be any continuations of wars interrupting our date."
"Shouldn't be," she emphasized, noticing someone approaching them from the distance.
Dream was about to speak when Quackity reached them and quickly joined the voice channel.
"Oh no," Dream sighed. "We've come so far."
"AYYEEE WHAT'S GOING ON, MAN?!" Quackity yelled in his Mexican Dream voice, his voice bubbling with laughter. "IS THIS A DATE OR SOMETHING, MAN?"
"Quackity, go AWAY!" Dream ordered, punching the character who had stripped to his underwear. "YOU'RE INDECENT! THERE IS A LADY HERE!"
Y/n laughed, enjoying the scene of fancy Dream hitting naked Quackity away from their picnic dinner.
"I'm your waiter, I'm your waiter!" Quackity said in his normal voice, still laughing. "DREAM! WILL YOU STO— QUIT HITTING ME!"
This had turned chaotic very quickly.
"We don't need a waiter," Dream informed him.
"Then I'm the singing gram you ordered." He started singing a song and Dream groaned. "HEY THERE DELILAH WHAT'S IT LIKE IN NEW YORK CITY—"
"No! You're being a clout chaser, go away!"
"I'm honestly impressed we made it this far without anyone coming into the voice channel," Y/n admitted.
"I paid them," Dream joked.
"You did not!" Karl's voice suddenly came through and Y/n laughed. "We were all just being polite and staying away but we're getting bored! We've been so patient!"
"Yeah, hurry up! We wanna play!!!" Sapnap whined. "Dream, it's not fair for you to steal Bugsy from us for so long."
"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed with a laugh as Dream laughed along.
"Just ten minutes! Ten more minutes!" Dream bargained but none of them would have it. "Just so I can say goodbye!"
"No!" George insisted. "Right now!"
"Look, wait, wait, hold on—"
<Sapnap joined the game> <GeorgeNotFound joined the game> <KarlJacobs joined the game>
"—hold ON!" Dream begged, watching as the three boys ran and joined Quackity by the picnic blanket.
Y/n could not stop laughing at all the avatars around them. The date had been so peaceful and cute but all good things must come to a chaotic end.
"Wait, come on, Karl, Karl, Karl," Dream said quickly. "Come here. Bug, just a sec, please. Stay right there."
"Okay," she agreed, curious to see his plan.
Karl followed him and of course Sapnap couldn't help but also join them.
"Okay," Dream whispered loudly, clearly wanting everyone to hear his offer. He crouched and the other two copied. "Just give me ten minutes—"
"Ten?" Sapnap asked loudly.
"Shhh!!! Yes, ten minutes, to say goodbye and, you know, end the date."
There was a long, thick pause. "What exactly are your intentions with Bugsy Games," Karl asked seriously, matching Dream's whisper.
"Well, I wanna make sure she gets home safe, you know, so I'm gonna drop her off and, I don't know, see if maybe.... maybe she'll give me a hug?"
Karl and Sapnap both gasped dramatically and Y/n giggled, sparing a glance at her chat who were all freaking out.
"What the hell?" Quackity said while laughing. He and George were still standing near Y/n so they were just watching the goons with her.
"Bugsy is not that kind of girl!" Sapnap protested. "You think she's just gonna give you a hug?"
"Sapnap! Do you not know how to whisper???"
George let a loud laugh slip before slapping his hand over his mouth, which his mic picked up.
"Okay, Dream, wait, so you're gonna try to... hug her?" Karl clarified. "She won't even let me hug her. Good luck."
"Well, I'm not going to force her into anything but, I don't know, she said something about holding my hand earlier so I just thought maybe there's a possibility—"
"WHAT?" Karl yelled before going back to the whisper. "Okay, okay, don't panic, but that's huge. Dadnap, a word?"
He and Sapnap broke off from Dream and formed their own huddle, except their whispers were incoherent mumblings that weren't even English.
"Oh my gosh," Y/n groaned loudly, an unmistakable laugh behind her words.
"Okay," Sapnap said, rejoining Dream. "We'll give you five minutes but if you take any longer, we're barging in and killing you."
"Yes, sir!" Dream said. "Thank you, sirs."
"Mhm. Okay, break!"
They all uncrouched in sync before Dream ran back to Y/n.
"How did it go?" she asked as if she didn't hear the entire conversation.
"Bad news," he started. "Your dad's want you home."
"Shame, I was quite enjoying my time."
Dream slowly turned towards the boys as if to glare at them for ending the date before turning back to her. "Then, maybe, I don't know, we could do this again sometime?"
"I.... think I'd like that," she said slowly, trying to tease him.
He giggled and told her he was going to drop her off at her house, even though when the date was over, they were all probably gonna mess around together anyway so there was no point in them leaving the group. But it was the thought that counted.
He ended up taking her back to the treehouse, which warmed her heart. She also noticed when they faced each other at front of the door, she could see the four other boys watching them.
"Goodnight, my sweet Bug," he said poshly.
"Goodnight, Dream." He turned away but she stopped him. "Wait!" She moved to his side and made a loud, MUAH, sound before stepping back in front of him. "A kiss on the cheek," she clarified, not wanting him to think she gave him a real kiss.
"Cute," he said under his breath, almost like he didn't mean to say it out loud. "Night night." He turned away and ran down to the others, screaming the whole way. "GUYS, DID YOU SEE THAT? BUG GAVE ME A KISS ON THE CHEEK!! OMG DID YOU SEE, DID YOU SEE?"
Chat was gonna have a field day with that. Actually, with a lot of things that had happened. Oh, she could see the clips and edits now.... oh boy.
**********
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940 notes · View notes
andypantsx3 · 3 years
Note
shoto and 'when i find out who is responsible for this...' IM A SUCKER FOR OVERPROTECTIVE SHO LMAO
This one was one of my faves to write, I really hope you like it!
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Damage | Todoroki/Reader
Prompt: “When I find out who is responsible for this...” Word Count: 1600 words Tags/Warnings: SFW, ye olde quirk accident trope Notes: Special thanks again to my lady love @bobawithpomegranate for beta-ing me!! Also, for anyone who hasn’t suffered a corporate job: KPIs = key performance indicators, which are a set of business metrics used to measure success in certain areas.
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The first sign that something was wrong should have been in line for security. 
Ayako—your favorite member of the Todoroki Agency security team—was waving a detector wand over your clothes when she asked casually, “How’s it going?”
Any other morning, your response was something along the lines of, “Oh, it’s going. How are you?” This morning, however, you blurted, “Good! Except that I bumped someone on the train and spent ten minutes trying to get a coffee stain out of this shirt, and I feel a little sick when I think about leading the KPIs review because Shouto’s property damage numbers are up again which doesn’t look great, so I skipped breakfast but honestly I’m super hungry right now, that was a bad choice, and—”
You cut yourself off, utterly bewildered. Ayako looked similarly nonplussed, raising a slim brow. 
“Uh, nevermind. I’ll just be going,” you said, and hared off to the rest of the security checkpoints before she could give commentary.
So you might have known that something was wrong even before you let yourself into Shouto’s manager’s office, armed with your monthly spreadsheets and performance slide decks. But you hadn’t given it more thought since then, a move which proved to be a complete mistake.
Shouto was already there, lounging in the set of chairs in front of his manager’s desk, looking less like a hero waiting for a meeting and more like some airbrushed ad for his dark turtleneck or his close-fit grey slacks. Your heart shot into your throat at the sight of him, like it usually did, and you had to remind yourself to relax.
Though he was unbearably handsome to the point of distraction, Shouto was relatively easy to get along with, something that should have made you calmer in his presence. He was straightforward, possessed of very little ego, thoughtful, and a very linear and strategic thinker—you’d worked extremely well with him the past couple of years, and Shouto, though he had less to do with the daily operations of the agency, had helped push your promotion last year to Director of Public Relations. It should have added up to an easy and uncomplicated work partnership, but his personality only made your unfortunate crush on him even worse.
He was so horribly, horribly perfect. And you were an awful little metrics gremlin, called in to roast him over the open flame of public opinion once a month. Really not something Shouto might be interested in.
“Y/N,” he said, looking up from his phone and fixing you with an intent look. Your heart stuttered under those heterochromatic eyes.
“Hi, Shouto,” you said, setting down your bag and digging out your laptop for something to take your attention off of him. “How are you?”
“I’m well,” he answered in his deep tone. “How are you?”
And that was it. The damning question that sent it all to hell.
“My heart feels like it could explode any second, and I feel kind of faint, weirdly weak, and incredibly distracted,” you answered, naming the symptoms of his very presence.
There was a beat of silence. You froze, crouched over your bag, laptop halfway out of it. Then it hit you what had just been said, and you slapped a hand over your mouth in horror. 
Shouto was up out of his chair in the blink of an eye, kneeling in front of you with cool fingers on your face, angling it towards him.
“You’re not well?” he asked, those eyes locking on you with an alarming intensity.
His attention only made things worse. “I feel like I might pass out,” you said, cringing even as the words left your mouth.
Fuck, what the hell were you saying? You were making it sound like you were some Victorian maiden, ready to swoon in the mere company of a gentleman. And why were you saying this shit? You’d worked with him for years and you’d never let slip the effect he had on you—what was wrong with you this morning?
You thought back to the coffee incident on the train this morning, the way the girl whose drink you had spilled had startled, the way she had weirdly apologized to you even as you were in the midst of your own apology.
A sense of foreboding settled over you. 
Oh.
Oh fuck.
“I think I’ve been hit with a quirk,” you blabbed.
Shouto’s features shuttered, a hard look you’d never really seen before entering his eye. He went over to his manager’s desk, dialing a number on her office phone, and then he was talking in low tones, asking someone from medical to come up to her office immediately.
Then he was back at your side, easing you carefully to the floor like you actually were in danger of passing out, and not just a huge idiot with an incredibly fat crush that made you say the world’s most ridiculous things.
“When I find out who’s responsible for this,” he uttered, low and dangerous, “they might never be able to use a quirk again.”
For some reason, the threat warmed you, even as it sent a little shiver down your spine. Was it weird to find him hot when he was angry?
You clamped your mouth firmly shut, lest you tell him exactly what illness prevailed you, but your silence was all for naught.
Because when one of the medical staff made it up to the office, pressing a quirk testing strip to your skin, she pronounced, “A truth quirk.”
Shouto caught your hand before it could smack into your forehead, looking surprised that he had done so. And then even more surprised at the pronouncement.
“A truth quirk,” he echoed, looking down at you curiously. His fingers were gentle where they held your wrist.
You squirmed uncomfortably under his scrutiny.
“But then, you’re still not well,” he said. He looked up at the medical staffer. “She’s feeling faint, and having problems with her heart.”
“She’s fine,” the staffer confirmed, holding up a scanner with your vital readings. They were embarrassingly perfect—incredibly, perfectly, damnably normal.
You could have died. You literally could have died.
Shouto looked down at you with a little wrinkle on his perfect brow, obviously wondering how you could admit symptoms like that given a truth quirk, only for there to be no physical sign of them. You tried to hold down the truth, but another question from him doomed you.
“But how?” he asked, clearly concerned, cool fingers smoothing over your cheekbone.
“I have an insanely huge crush on you,” you blurted. Then you unleashed a string of colorful swears, flushing so hot you thought you might catch fire.
Those heterochromatic eyes went a little round at the edges.
The medical staffer looked like she was trying very hard not to laugh as she bade a quick farewell. She was out the door before you could catch her sleeve and hold her like a shield against Shouto’s incredibly penetrating stare.
“I’m. Um. You know, sorry and everything,” you added. “I won’t let it interfere with work. I mean, I haven’t, any of the past couple years—fuck, oh my god, I just said that—”
Shouto was watching your mouth like he couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of it.
“Say it again,” he said.
You paused, staring at him. “What?”
“Tell me how you’re feeling.”
“My heart feels like it could explode any second, and I feel kind of faint, weirdly weak, and incredibly distracted,” you answered obediently.
“Because of me,” he said, like it was a wonder.
You gave him an annoyed look. Obviously because of him, who the fuck else did he think wielded that combination of attractiveness and straightforward appeal like an S-class quirk of its own?
Shouto choked on a laugh, and you realized with some horror that you’d said all of that out loud. 
Damn the fucking truth quirk.
“I don’t know,” Shouto said, sounding amused. “I think I rather like it. When I find out who is responsible for this, I might have to thank them instead.”
This stopped you short.
He what now?
“I’m sorry, what?”
Something a little like a smirk curled the corner of Shouto’s mouth. “It is generally gratifying to know one’s feelings are returned, wouldn’t you agree?”
“I wouldn’t know—” you started, feeling annoyed with him again. Then you choked when the implication of his words sank in.
Shouto’s fingers slid down to cup your chin, and suddenly it felt like every nerve ending in your body was concentrated there, the touch magnified a thousand-fold into an all-consuming sensation. 
“Would you like me to kiss you?” he asked lightly, looking smug.
“Oh my god yes—” The answer was out of your mouth before he’d even finished the question.
Shouto laughed, and then he was leaning in. You could feel the smile still on his mouth when it met yours. Shouto’s kiss was careful and attentive, but you could sense something deeper beneath, the same kind of restrained sort of passion that underlaid his quirk. Having that kind of controlled intensity turned on you was something you could have never prepared for.
The kiss became deeper and more heated, and Shouto was just easing you backwards again, still pressed firmly to you, when the door opened and his manager blew in.
“This is a fucking office,” she said, stepping over the two of you like you were a grimy puddle in the street. “Now hurry the fuck up, we have KPIs to review. Shouto—don’t think this will derail me from your property damage numbers increasing.”
Shouto huffed into your mouth, slumping against you.
You couldn’t do anything but laugh.
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hellhound-whisperer · 2 years
Text
Rumor Mill - Part Three
Pairing | Dean Winchester x reader
Warnings | smut, alcohol, unprotected sex
Prompt | “You come here often?” “Well, I work here. So I think I would have to say ‘yes.’”
Word Count | 1.8k
A/N | So this was actually the first part I wrote, and then decided I would make it a little series because I liked the idea too much to just have this. I think I caught anything that would seem odd following two parts, but feedback always weclome!
Part One | Part Two
 You sighed when you saw him walk in. Not that you weren’t happy to see your favorite regular (that you had a huge crush on), but you were hoping for an early night. The bar had been quiet, and the last few nights were beginning to take their toll. You had two kick out one regular for starting a fight with another, and had to deal with a very pushy hunter so far this week, and you were over it. But then in walked Dean.
He headed straight to the open seat in front of you, that adorable smile on his lips the entire way.
“You come here often?” he said, sitting down.
“Well, I work here. So I think I would have to say yes,” you said, already grabbing a glass with one hand and his usual whiskey bottle with the other.
“Make it a double, sweetheart.”
You gave him a sad smile, pouring his drink before setting it in front of him. He downed it, pushing it back to you, and you filled it, little more than a single, less than a double, seeing that he wasn’t going anywhere soon.
“What’s the trouble, Dean?”
“Oh, you know…usual. Ghosts, werewolves, vampires…” he trailed off, sipping his drink this time, for which you were grateful. When Dean finished a double in one gulp, it was usually a bad hunt.
“Don’t I know it. What was it this time?”
“First one, spirit with a grudge. Did not go quietly,” he added, finger tapping his glass absentmindedly.
“Shit, you and Sam okay?”
“We’ll live. Can’t say the same for everyone, but that’s the job, right?”
You could hear the sadness in his voice, and despite you having heard the worst of the worst from hunters over the years, your heart broke a little. You only knew him a bit; knew he lived in that infamous building in Lebanon, having driven him home once, but from what you’d gathered, even for a hunter, he lived a hard life. He didn’t share too many personal details though, other than a few interesting tales.
You appreciated that at first, since being a bartender in a place that catered to hunters, some drastically overshared and you wish you knew less than you did. Dean was different though, you wanted to know him better than anyone you’d met in a long while.
“That’s what they tell me,” you responded, not being an actual hunter yourself, “but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck sometimes.”
“You don’t know the half of it, sweetheart.” He finished the glass, pushing it your way again.
You poured him another, little less than a single this time, knowing he wouldn’t comment, if he even noticed. You caught another guy tipping his pint in your direction, looking for a refill.
“Give me a sec,” you told Dean, who nodded in response.
You filled the guy’s beer, smiling at him as you handed it back, him being another hunter that came through somewhat often. You looked down towards Dean again, still looking down at his drink. You poked your head through the back door, telling Scotty to put together a basket of nachos before you walked back over.
“So where is the giant from the beanstalk?” You got the laugh you were aiming for, and he looked up.
“Sleeping. Guy his size, just can’t hang,” Dean smiled brightly at you, and you knew the whiskey was having the desired effect. You were glad you threw in that order of nachos.
“Being short has its benefits,” you replied, curtseying to acknowledge your own lack of height.
Dean smirked, “Bein’ you has plenty of benefits, I’m sure.”
You laughed loudly at that, thinking how few benefits a woman owning a bar in nowhere Kansas would have. Getting hit on all the time, sure. Enjoying it? Pretty rarely.
You heard the bell ding behind you, and you turned to grab your gift to Dean. “For you, my treat.”
He gave you that smile again, saying thanks and started to eat. Dean and you bantered back and forth for the rest of the evening, the other patrons leaving one by one. Before you noticed the time, the place was empty, apart from you, Scotty in the kitchen, and Dean. Scotty walked out, and you told him he could head out, you’d close up.
Dean took a look behind him, noticing for the first time that you two were alone.
Getting up, he asked, “Sorry Y/N, I’ll get outta here. What do I owe ya?”
“Call it an even 40, but have one with me before you head out? It’s been a long week.”
Dean threw three bills on the bar in front of you, and sat back down.
“Long week, huh?”
You gave him a half-smile, pouring yourself a double vodka, and him a double whiskey. “Not an easy week, though I doubt it compares to yours. But it's nice to have good company, so thank you,” you said, raising your glass in his direction.
He did the same, taking a long pull from his drink. “Always lookin’ to please you, sweetheart.”
A chill ran through you, thinking about what Dean pleasing you might involve. Sure, you’d thought about it late at night, alone, but him being in front of you, you couldn’t stop those fleeting thoughts. Ever the hunter, he noticed the shiver.
“Cold?” he asked, already shrugging out of his jacket before you could reply, handing it to you across the bar.
You accepted it with a shy smile, not willing to tell him why you really shivered. Wrapping it around your shoulders, you inhaled his scent - whiskey, gun oil, and leather. Luckily this time, his jacket hid your reaction.
“Thanks.”
The two of you continued to sip your drinks quietly after that, until they were just about done. He rose again, at the same time that you started pouring yourself another. He sat back down, but waved his hand over his glass.
“Another one and you’ll have to drive me home again,” he chided. “But please, don’t stop on my account.”
You downed this one, gathering your courage. You weren’t normally the one to make the first move, especially with a regular hunter at your bar, but it really had been a long week, and you’d been imagining this with him since he’d walked in the first time. It was time to see if he lived up to what you'd been imagining.
“So, you want to please me?” Your eyebrow went up, to emphasize your point.
He looked up quickly, catching your gaze.
“Since I met you.”
Letting your small vodka buzz take the lead, you hoisted yourself to sit on the bar, swinging your legs around to bring you face to face with Dean, still sitting on the bar top. You shook off his coat, laying it nicely beside you. He stood so his eyes were level with yours, searching your Y/E/C eyes with his beautiful green ones. “You’re sure?”
Your hands cupped his face, moving your forehead to rest against his. “Very.”
Dean’s lips crashed into yours, both of you kissing like you were the last two people on Earth. His hands moved upwards, tangling themselves in your hair, tugging gently.
You responded by moving your hands down his back, pulling him close, and hooked your legs around his waist. He lifted you off the bar, never breaking the kiss, and turned, setting you on the table closest to you both. You broke the kiss, using the time to pull your shirt over your head, tossing it to the side. Dean tilted your head to the side, placing soft kisses down your neck, heading south.
You let his lips worship you, thoroughly enjoying every touch. He reached around, unclasping your bra, and instantly began to play with your hard nubs, licking and sucking as you threw your head back with a loud moan.
“God sweetheart, you are so fucking gorgeous,” you felt his voice murmur against your skin, moaning louder in appreciation. Your legs pulled him closer, feeling his hard length against your thigh. You kicked your sneakers off behind him, and he took the hint. He moved to kneel between your legs, unbuttoning your jeans. You lifted your hips so he could shimmy them out of the way, your already wet core hidden then only by your panties. You heard him growl softly, making you even wetter.
“So. Fucking. Gorgeous. Y/N,” he repeated, moving your panties to the side, licking a line up through your folds before burying his face between your legs. He hummed, and the vibration made you wetter than you already were.
“Fuck, Dean…I want you inside me,” you begged, not willing to wait any longer to feel him. "Please…"
Dean rose, kicking his boots off as he unbuttoned his pants, pushing them down with his boxers to free his cock. You looked greedily at him, tongue running across your bottom lip as he rubbed his tip against your pussy, coating himself in your wetness.
He pushed his head to your opening, and your legs pulled him further into you. Feeling his cock stretch you, you shrieked in pleasure, and he stilled, hovering over you. His eyes searched yours.
Catching your breath, you looked into his gaze, hands coming up to grip his forearms. “So good…” you begged again, “Fuck me.”
With your permission, he started thrusting into you, hard, not holding back. His cock hit you in exactly the right place every time, and in record time, you felt the coil in your belly tighten.
“I’m so close, Dean…” you managed to whisper in between thrusts. You caught his gaze, nails digging into his forearms. “Right there baby!” you yelled, feeling yourself tighten around his cock.
He leaned down so his lips were next to your ear, somehow not missing a beat. “Cum for me sweetheart,” he growled.
The coil in your belly snapped at his command, and your arms reached up to pull him in closer. He almost collapsed on top of you, thrusting his own release deep inside. You both slowly caught your breaths, entwined as you came down from your highs. As he recuperated, he raised his strong chest off you, looking into your eyes with wonder. His hand moved to tuck your hair behind your ear, thumb brushing over your cheek.
“Seriously Y/N/N. You look so beautiful like this,” he panted, his fingers continuing to brush lightly against your skin.
You huffed, “Not so bad yourself.” You gave him a sweet smile, fingertips brushing over the marks you left on his strong forearms.
Dean gave you that signature smile, pulling his softening cock out of you. You sighed at the loss of contact, and he winked at you, starting to pull his boxers and jeans back on.
“Same time next week?”
“Definitely, but we’ll go to my place. I’d like to see what you can do with more time and a bed.”
“Oh sweetheart, you have no idea.”
You winked back to him, “That’s what I’m counting on.”
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mypoisonedvine · 4 years
Text
Seeing Red | bodyguard!Bucky Barnes x reader (part 7)
(part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4) (part 5) (part 6)
series summary: bucky used to brag that he didn’t have a celebrity crush, or really care about famous people at all, which is what made him the perfect person to start working for a celebrity like yourself.  except, of course, it’s just his luck that he’d fall for you.  
word count: 2.5k
warnings: um just implied smut and fluff and a reference to bdsm I guess?? but it's pretty chill overall
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y/n.y/l/n okay first of all, it takes an act of god to get a picture of this guy smiling, but it’s always worth it.  he really changed everything for me and I can’t thank him enough for that.  so happy ❤️ 
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caroldanvers 😍😍😍
flowercrowny/n oh my god this is so sweet i’m gonna cry
1 HOUR AGO
He smiled as he stared down at the post you’d made, remembering how much effort you’d put into finding the perfect picture (in your opinion; he thought he looked kinda dopey in it) as well as writing and re-writing your caption.
The speed at which your post gained likes and comments was inconceivable to him; even more impressive was the speed at which gossip rags were picking up the story.  Sure enough, his phone’s alerts to new headlines about you were not only going off like crazy, but had started to include news about himself as well.  
Y/N Y/L/N Shocks With Romantic Instagram Post, Confirms Dating Rumors
You’ll Never Guess Which Hollywood Starlet Is Dating Her Driver
Who is James Barnes?  Everything We Know About Y/N Y/L/N’s New Beau
Skimming one of the articles, he was impressed at how much information they’d managed to get without actually getting anything from you or him.  Born in Brooklyn, disabled Army veteran, worked a list of odd jobs before becoming your driver and bodyguard.  ‘No social media presence, prefers to keep a low profile’ one of them said; you can say that again, Bucky chuckled to himself when he read it.
He found another from People and didn’t particularly appreciate that it spent half the time going through all your past exes and rumored partners (turned out ‘rumored’ is a fancy word for ‘a bunch of fans deluded themselves so hard that it somehow turned into news without any proof necessary’).  But he still smiled when he got to the part that was actually about you and him.
‘The relationship is pretty new but they’re so happy together,’  a source close to the couple reported.  
Close indeed; that statement came from your publicist, who he’d never even meet.  
‘He’s a very private guy and she’s got this huge following, so they’re sort of an odd couple in that way, but she knows her fans are respectful and will let them have their own life outside of the spotlight.’ 
Bucky wasn’t sure that the respectfulness of fans was such a given here, but he hoped you were right.  To be fair, they’d been very sweet on your original post insofar. 
However, when he scrolled to the bottom of the celebrity magazine articles and realized they had their own comments section, he discovered that they were a little less forgiving than the ones on your Instagram.  
Is this the best she thinks she can do?  So sad tbh :(
a military guy…. yikes, she could get any guy she wants and she goes for a murderer. 
He looks like a hobo that found a coupon for a free haircut lol
I don’t buy it, I know she’ll always love Pietro!
Pietro being your former co-star that so many of your fans were convinced was actually your soulmate.  From what he’d heard from you, those speculations had made things so uncomfortable between the two of you that it killed your friendship.  Those were nothing, though, compared to the comments about someone you actually had dated.
she’s obviously not over sam… they were so good together
He’d better watch out for her ex, he still likes tweets about her and they have so much chemistry
Wait, she’s not still with Sam Wilson??  I could’ve sworn they’d been dating for, like, five years.
You were scrolling through your phone with a smile as you walked past where he was sitting on the couch, and he just couldn’t help himself from asking even though he knew it wasn’t the best idea.  “Do I need to worry about this Sam thing?” he blurted out, trying to play it cool and not sound too anxious.  “People are really obsessed with you two…”
“Sam and I…” you sighed, staring off into space for a second.  He made himself anxious imagining what you were thinking about in that moment.  “I haven’t talked to him in… years?  I think it’s just because our relationship was so public that people are still talking about it.  And it had a lot of gossip material— we did a movie together, people thought it was sweet that we got together during production, it was great promotion for the picture… and from the outside, we made a lot of sense for each other.  But he has his own problems.  I loved him, but… he wasn’t ever going to be a one-girl kinda guy.”
“But you’re not just any one girl.  You’re… you know, you,” he emphasized.
“You’ve been reading too many headlines,” you shook your head as you sat down beside him.  “Please don’t turn into one of those guys who thinks of me as a celebrity first.  Before that—” you pointed to your own name where it was bolded on his screen in the trending topics page of Twitter— “was popping up on movie posters and in gossip magazines, it was just my name.  And I’m not perfect.  Not even close.”
Bucky sighed and wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into him and holding you tightly.  “And before I knew you were famous, or rich, or incredibly talented, I was totally obsessed with you just for who you are.”
“You’re too fucking amazing,” you sighed as you held his face and gave him a gentle kiss— the kind of kiss that instantly melted his heart and banished his worries.  When you pulled back and looked up at him with a smile, it was like everything else just… faded away.  “Don’t read the comments, okay?  None of them matter.”
He smiled and brushed his thumb over your cheek, overwhelmed by not only the softness of your skin but of your spirit as well.  In all his life he’d never been handled so… gently, with so much care.  “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me,” he mumbled, not even really realizing he’d said it aloud until you gave him a beaming smile.
“I can’t believe you’re my boyfriend,” you giggled pridefully.
“Seriously?  I can… very easily believe it,” he scoffed.
“I just mean… you’re so…” you searched for the words.  “You’re actually good to me, that’s the thing.  I’m not used to that.”
“You deserve the world,” he assured.  “I’m just gonna keep trying to give you as much of it as I can find.”
He watched his hand trail over your face, down your neck and to your chest where he played with the hem of your t-shirt.
"It's odd to know there are millions of people who are jealous of me,” he admitted quietly, remembering some aggressive comments from some very angry dudes who had apparently also watched your nude scene a few too many times.
"Do you like it?  Do you like how it feels to know you're making them angry every time you touch me?"
"Couldn't care less," he refuted.  "Nobody else matters when I'm touchin' you."
“Do you maybe wanna… touch me a little more about it?” you smirked, opening your legs slightly in invitation.
“Always.”
//
Bucky had, thankfully, not let the newfound fame get to his head.  In fact, he had demanded that the two of you hunker down in the house, since he feared that going out would lead to being recognized.  What he apparently hadn’t anticipated was that that might not be enough.
“Will you get that?” you requested when the gate buzzed, too wrapped up in the book you were reading to answer the intercom.
He hopped up and held down the button to communicate with the gate speaker.  “Who is it?” he asked.
“I’ve got a delivery from Anjappar Chettinad on 23rd?”
Bucky didn’t even reply before hitting the green button and granting access to the driveway.  BEEP BEEP BEEP! you heard the gate signal its opening, and the car pulling around up to the door.  Bucky didn’t open it until there was a knock, greeting the delivery guy with a smile and the necessary cash.
“I’ve got a lamb korma, hyderabadi mutton dum biryani and an order of— woah,” the man suddenly stopped, staring at Bucky’s face.  “Are you—?’
“Hungry?  Yes,” he frowned.
“You’re the guy dating— holy shit, congrats man,” he beamed, smacking Bucky on the shoulder pridefully before leaning in with a mischievous smirk.  “Say, is she a freak or what?”
“She is,” you piped up from the couch, making both men turn their heads; but one was chuckling while the other looked mortified.  “You better not have forgotten my paneer pakora or I’m gonna chain you up and whip you.”
“Uh, I— no, I got it right here,” he promised weakly, handing the bag over to Bucky and starting to dash away before Bucky grabbed his arm, making the smaller man whimper fearfully.
“You forgot the money,” Bucky reminded him gruffly, stuffing the bills into the driver’s front pocket.
Finally, he let go, and the delivery man instantly pulled away, rubbing his arm and looking a bit like a kicked puppy as he went back to his car and drove away.
“You didn’t need to scare him that bad,” Bucky chuckled.
“I could say the same to you!  Grabbing somebody with the metal arm like that will put the fear of God into them pretty fast.”
“I didn’t mean to grab him that hard,” he admitted, examining the prosthetic hand as he came back to the couch with the bag of food, handing it to you while he focused on watching his motorized fingers curl and uncurl.  “I think I need to get this thing recalibrated… it’s been bugging out lately.”
“I dunno, it was working just fine last night,” you smiled, remembering how delightfully cool those fingers felt inside you.
Bucky seemed to miss it entirely, though, as he stared off into space.  “I can’t believe I got… recognized.”
“You’re a star,” you winked.  “And not just with random delivery drivers.  I’ve had a lot of press requests, everybody wants to be the first one to get nice pictures of us together— we’ve had a dozen event invites as a couple.”
“Seriously?!” he scoffed, snapping back to reality slightly enough 
“Yeah, and look what came in same-day mail this morning!”  You leaned over to shuffle through the mail on the side table before finding and handing him a letter in a gold-embossed envelope, watching him read what you knew was inside.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association extends an invitation to Y/N Y/L/N and James Barnes to the annual Grant Banquet in support of the Young Artists Fund.
“It seems like a good first event for us,” you explained.  “Relatively small and low stakes, it’s for a good cause…”
“Are you sure I’m ready to be, you know… seen?  By people?” 
You scoffed, hardly believing how insecure he could be sometimes.  “You look great, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Will I have to talk to anybody other than you?” he asked, grimacing as if that were a form of brutal torture.
“Probably,” you admitted.
His frown deepened.  “What if I say the wrong thing?”
“I’m not that worried about you,” you smirked.  “You’re a lot better at this stuff than you think you are.”
“I don’t have anything to wear…”
You smirked, a little too proud of yourself, when you remembered the email your publicist had forwarded to you just this morning.  “Hugo Boss will pay you $1500 to wear one of their suits on the carpet.”
“They’ll pay me to wear free clothes?” he repeated with wide eyes.
“Yeah, that’s one of the cooler things about fame,” you laughed.  “I make a grand every time I wear this watch outside!”
“I guess I should send them my measurements then…” he trailed off.  “Any chance I can get in on that watch deal?”
“No, but you can make $50 by getting papped at Jamba Juice.”
He paused for a moment, scratching the back of his neck as he thought.  “Is the smoothie comped?”
“I don’t know.  Do you want me to ask?”
“...kinda…” he admitted with a shy smile.  
“Well, I will, and I’ll RSVP to this invite saying we’ll be there next week,” you decided as you started to open up the food, but Bucky stopped you by reaching for your hands.
“Are we really doing this?” he asked.
“If you want to,” you mitigated.
“Of course I do.  I guess I have to accept that you’re actually willing to be seen with me,” he chuckled.  “It’s just sort of hard to believe.”
You leaned in and kissed him; it was meant to be a casual, reassuring peck but he held you closer and you melted into him, moaning softly at his touch as you started to climb into his lap.
“The food’s gonna get cold,” he reminded you with a mumble against your lips.
Unfortunately, your literal hunger was a bit too strong to ignore, even with the growing intensity of a metaphorical hunger for Bucky.  “Alright,” you relented, getting off of him and returning your attention to the meal on the table.  “Just know that I really, really want to be seen together, in public, just in case anybody missed the news about us already.  I’m not embarrassed by you or afraid you’re going to do something dumb.  I…”
One of those words that can’t be unsaid started to bubble up in your throat and you coughed, banishing the thought.
“I really like you.  I think we have something special.”
He smiled gently, giving you one more kiss on the cheek.  “I think so, too.”
//
Since this was slightly less of a big deal than a premiere or press tour, you had managed to convince your styling team to let you dress yourself, which was why he was laying on the bed and talking to you through the bathroom door while you put on your gown.
“Do you want me to hire a new driver?” you prompted him, voice muffled slightly as he imagined your head covered in the fabric, trying to navigate through the dress.  “I don’t want you to feel… I don’t know, like a servant?”
“A servant?  You’re still paying me,” he reminded you.  “You are still paying me, right?”
“Yes,” you laughed, “but still, I would hate it if you felt like staff.  You’re my boyfriend!”
(His heart still fluttered every time you said it.)
“No new driver,” he decided.  “I can drive just fine, and considering how things went between us… let’s not open the door for anybody else,” he smirked, making you laugh in that way you did when he made a stupid joke but you still liked it somehow.
“Okay, sure, but what about being my bodyguard?  Is that too weird?” you continued.
“God no,” he scoffed, “if anything I’m gonna be better at my job than ever.  As your boyfriend, keeping you safe is my job, but since keeping you safe was already my job… it’s, like, doubled-up now.”
He lost his train of thought when you opened the door.
“How do I look?” you asked as you stepped in and gave him a spin in your new dress.  Your whole body was draped in red silk, with the exception of your back which was almost entirely exposed, as if it were begging him to run his fingers down your spine.
“Like everything I ever wanted,” he blurted out before he could stop himself.
And it was so odd that you questioned his desire to drive you, because those moments where he could steer with one hand and rest the other on your thigh, when he could catch a glimpse of you looking out the window at the city rolling by, when he got to listen to you ramble about something to kill the time during a drive; those were his favorite moments, and he wouldn’t trade them for anything.
After a relatively brief trip, you arrived at the venue, and all of a sudden he was doing what he’d fantasized about more than he’d like to admit: escorting you down a red carpet.  It was almost overwhelming— yelling, chattering, reporters speaking into camera, flashes going off in every direction—
“Hey,” you whispered, bringing your hand up to his cheek and instantly taking all his attention.
“Hey,” he returned.
“Just follow my lead,” you instructed.
“That was the plan.”
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chaoticpuff17 · 3 years
Text
When the Chips are Down
part 14
masterlist
Happy Mother’s Day, my darlings!--- Chaotic puff
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It had been an incredibly bad day for Namjoon. Taehyung had been stabbed. Iyla had run away, and he had an increasingly irritable, very pregnant wife at home that was going to crucify him if anything happened to her little sister. Taehyung would be fine, and Iyla would be apprehended and brought back home, but neither of those things were going to mollify his wife. Y/N was nothing if not protective when it came to her little sister. 
All in all, he was very close to snapping and shooting someone out of sheer spite when his phone rang again, the caller ID informing him it was Jungkook. His blood ran cold. Jungkook was the one keeping an eye on Y/N, and he knew better than to call when Namjoon was busy with something as important as this unless it was something of equal or greater importance. 
“What happened?” he demanded, answering his phone earning himself a concerned look from Hoseok. There was a jumbled and panicked stream of words from Jungkook, but Namjoon picked out the important bits, Y/N and baby. Y/N was having the baby. “I’ll be right there.” he promised, cursing under his breath. “Call Jin and have him get everything together. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” 
“What’s wrong?” Hoseok asked, eyeing the other man warily. It was unusual to see Namjoon looking so shocked. 
“Y/N’s in labor.” 
---
Jungkook was in a frenzy. He knew nothing about babies let alone birthing babies, and seeing Y/N in pain was making him nauseous. Luckily, Miss In and the maids seemed to know exactly what to do. They’d lept into action as soon as he’d told them what was happening. Miss In made a phone call to Jin who apparently would assemble the medical staff, and the maid, Miran or at least that’s what he thought Y/N had called her, ushered both him and Y/N to the back of the house where a birthing suite had been prepared for just this occasion.
He’d been swiftly kicked out of the room so that Miran could get Y/N into the delivery gown which gave him time to call his hyung and tell him what was happening. Namjoon had already had a stressful day, but there was no way he would want to be away from Y/N while she was in labor. 
“It’s going to be okay, noona.” he smiled shakily, watching her pace back and forth with her hands braced against her lower back. “Hyung is going to be home soon.” 
“Did they find Iyla?” she asked, looking at him briefly as she turned in her pacing. 
The younger man flushed knowing full well he didn’t have an answer for her let alone the answer she wanted. “I don’t know.” 
“I’m going to kill him.” she hissed bracing herself against the bed as she was hit with a contraction. 
“He’ll be here soon.” 
“I’m going to kill him.” she repeated with a groan as she began pacing again. 
Jungkook smiled. At least her fighting spirit was still burning brightly, and soon enough he’d have a little niece to play with, one who was hopefully less grumpy than Yoongi’s baby. Yoonho tended to get fussy when anyone other than his parents held him which was a huge deterrent when trying to be an uncle especially to a bunch of men who didn’t have a whole lot of experience with kids. But if this little girl was anything like her mother, they were going to get along famously. 
“Do you know what you’re going to call her?” he asked as she turned to cross the room again. 
“I have a few ideas, but I’m waiting to see her before I pick one.” she smiled softly. “I could take one look at her and decide I don’t like any of the names I picked out.” 
“I’m going to be her favorite uncle!” 
“Probably.” she nodded. There were five other options, but Jungkook was like her little brother. It felt natural to think of Jungkook being the favorite uncle. “Just don’t get her into too much trouble okay?” 
“No promises.” his nose scrunched up in a mischievous grin just as Namjoon came barreling into the room looking every bit the frazzled father to be. 
---
Namjoon had never been more exhausted or excited in his life. It had already been a long stressful day between Taehyung’s stabbing and Iyla’s attempt to escape, but their baby was finally on the way. But even with all the excitement, there was lingering worry as well. Even with all the medical personnel wandering about and Jin’s reassurances that everything was fine, he couldn’t stop the panic that shot through him every time Y/N hissed in pain. Logically, he knew that child birth was painful, but he hated to see her in pain, and it only seemed to get worse the longer her labor progressed.
It had been a long labor, nearly twenty hours and still going. Jin assured him that since it was her first time, a prolonged labor wasn’t unusual, but that didn’t make it any less worrying. Ever since he’d brought her home, she’d shied away from his touch as much as possible, but twenty hours in and she was exhausted and slumped against his chest, her hair mussed and a little sweaty.
“How many centimeters?” She whimpered looking up at him pleadingly.
“Still five, jagiya.” He whispered pressing a kiss to her forehead and bracing them both as she was hit with another contraction. They weren’t regular yet, and the nurses said they weren’t very strong yet either, but to Y/N and Namjoon they seemed horrible. He was sure that both of his hands were going to be bruised by the end of this, but his pain was nothing compared to hers.
He had thought that the baby would be here by now, but she’d progressed slowly and had been stalled at five centimeters for what seemed like ages.
“It can’t still be five.” She groaned leaning further back into his chest. “It was five an hour ago, and the hour before that.”
“I know, jagi. I’m sorry. Just a little longer.” He promised shifting them back so that they were a little more reclined on the hospital bed. “Try to get some rest, jagi.”
“This is your fault.” She hissed.
“I know, jagi.” He cooed soothingly. This wasn’t the first time she’d said it. “Get some rest.”
“I can’t.” She groaned, burying her face into his shoulder.
“I know you’re not feeling great now, but just think, we’ll have our baby soon.”
She groaned again, rubbing a hand across her belly. “No. She’s never coming out. She hates me.”
“Our baby doesn’t hate you.” He chuckled, pressing another kiss to her forehead. “She’s just taking her time.”
“Tell her to hurry up.” She grumbled shifting again as she couldn’t get comfortable.
“I’ll try.”
Rest had been a rarity throughout the ordeal. Y/N was in constant discomfort, and Namjoon was at a loss of how to help.
Namjoon didn’t move an inch until Y/N had drifted into a fitful slumber. He eased her back onto the pillows and got up to stretch and to get himself some coffee. This was going to go on for a while yet if her earlier progress was anything to go by.
“Jin,” He sighed walking over to where his friend was also grabbing some caffeine. “Is it supposed to take this long?”
“She’s stalled. First time labor can take a while, but it’s going to be a long one even for a first time mother.” He sighed giving his friend a tired smile. “I should have known your kid would be difficult.” Jin teased lightly bumping Namjoon’s shoulder.
“Is there anything we can do?”
“Not for the moment.” Jin shook his head tiredly. “She and the baby are fine, just tired, and she’s still in latent labor. The best we can do is keep her comfortable and hope things get moving soon. If she or the baby is in distress, we’ll intervene. Is she sleeping?”
“For now.” Namjoon sighed flopping down into a chair exhausted. It had been a long day.
“You should get some rest too.” Namjoon was going to argue, but Jin cut him off. “You’re no good to her if you’re dead on your feet. I’ll have them set up a cot for you in her room.” Jin cut him off again as he was about to open his mouth. “Don’t you dare interrupt her rest. She needs every minute she can get. You’ll take the cot.”
“But…”
“She’ll be three feet away. Take the cot, or I’ll send you up to your room.” he threatened.
Y/N had never been more exhausted in her entire life. She was tired. She was cranky, and she didn’t have the one person she actually wanted with her. It didn’t help that the labor seemed to stretch on for eons. The gynecologist, a kind if not stern woman that she wanted nothing more than to rip the throat out of, assured her that things would start moving again soon, but she said that every time she came to check in. The labor and delivery nurses that had been summoned were far more honest. They explained that first time moms could be in labor for sixteen to twenty hours, but it had been twenty hours, and she still wasn’t even close to having her baby in her arms.
The epidural helped, but contractions still hurt. Everything ached really, and she had to grudgingly admit that even if he wasn’t who she wanted with her, Namjoon was a fairly good birth partner. He put up with her whining and crushing his hands. He fetched ice chips and rubbed her shoulders. Namjoon had held her hand and kept her calm when they’d given her the partial epidural. She was fine with needles usually, but there was something about a needle that large being inserted into her spine that made her extremely nervous.
Miss In had been more than ready to usher her away to a birth suite that had been prepared in the depths of the mansion that she hadn’t even known about. Namjoon had been summoned home in a panic and immediately brought to her side in the suite. It had to be the nicest hospital type room she had ever been in, and she had been studying to be a nurse before Namjoon had thrown her life off course. She did clinicals though, and they never brought her to the VIP wing of the hospital. The hospital she did clinicals at wasn’t even fancy enough to have a VIP wing.
Namjoon’s position had its advantages. It was nice to have such a comfortable room when she was in so much discomfort. There were even real pillows instead of the thin pathetic ones that normally occupied hospital rooms, and normal pillows were so much more comfortable. Even the hospital gown she’d been forced into was more comfortable than the normal ones. It was made of a soft material that didn’t irritate her skin and allowed her to keep her modesty even though there were monitors hooked up to her belly. Every comfort was appreciated when labor stretched on so long.
It took another thirteen horrible hours for Y/N to be fully dilated, and as much as both she and Namjoon hoped that it would all be over after thirty-three hours of labor, but their baby was a stubborn one who was refusing to drop so that Y/N could finally start pushing. If Namjoon had thought the last thirty-three hours were bad, he had another thing coming.
By the time the baby was crowning, another three long painful hours had passed, and both parents were exhausted.
There had been screaming, crying, cursing. Y/N had threatened his life at more than one point. He couldn’t blame her for that after the labor she’d been through. No one could blame her.
“You have to push, jagi.” Namjoon encouraged holding his poor exhausted wife up as the doctors waited for the next contraction to come.
“I want Mark.” she sobbed, exhausted and sweaty against his chest. 
“I know, jagi.” he whispered, soothingly even though the words cut him like a knife. 
“Where is he?” she whimpered. “He promised.”
He hated seeing her in so much distress, and he knew he couldn’t blame her for anything she said right now. She was in so much pain and exhausted, but he hated hearing her call out for another man. He hated it with every fiber of his being.  
“You’re alright, jagi. I’m right here.” he winced slightly as she squeezed his hands. “You’re doing so well.”
“I’m so tired.” She slurred, her head lolled back against his shoulder.
“I know, jagi, but the baby’s almost here.” He cooed feeling her tense up again as the next contraction hit.
Namjoon did his part keeping her braced as she did the real work hunching forward with a scream as the next contraction ripped through her. There was nothing else he could do for her at the moment.
“And we have the head.” The OB, Dr. Yang if Namjoon remembered correctly but there were a lot of doctors milling around, announced cheerily seemingly unaffected by his wife’s pain.
“Almost done.” He hushed as Y/N flopped back against him again. “Just a little more.” He promised even though he didn’t know if he should be relieved or worried that she was no longer screaming profanities at him. There had been a solid two hours of that once the contractions had gotten bad. Even with the partial epidural, she’d been in a great amount of pain.
A few more pushes and their baby was born. A strong little warbling cry filled the room much to the relief of both parents.
“Congratulations!” The doctor beamed showing them the red scrunched up face of their baby. “You have a healthy little girl.”
“She’s beautiful.” She sighed smiling through her exhaustion as she stared at the face of her little girl.
“What should we call her?” Namjoon asked, running a gentle hand up and down her arms.
“Nara. Her name is Nara.” Y/N smiled tiredly.
“We need to check her over, and we still have the placenta to deliver. We’ll bring her right back though. Okay, mom?” The doctor smiled, looking incredibly relieved that the ordeal that had been this delivery was almost over. 
Y/N whined reaching out shakily for the baby as she was whisked away from her, but one of the nurses urged her to stay in bed. Even Namjoon knew she was too weak to get up quite yet. She looked like she was going to pass out from exhaustion at any moment. 
“Don’t worry, jagi.” Namjoon shushed, gently shifting out from behind her settling her gently against the pillows. “I’ll go with her. I’ll make sure she’s alright.”
Namjoon was more than a little curious to take a better look at his daughter. He had hoped for a boy, an heir, but he couldn’t find it in himself to be disappointed. He had a little princess. After thirty-seven hours of waiting, he had Nara. His Nara.
The doctor checked her over and cleaned her up before handing him the little girl. He was amazed as he stared down at her. She stared up at him with dark eyes, and the tiniest bit of hair stuck out from under the little hat the doctor had put her in, and she was the most perfect thing that Namjoon had ever seen, tiny and perfect and his. Namjoon was half convinced that he was going to break her if he moved to quickly or shifted the wrong way, but there was something indescribable about having this tiny perfect being in his arms and knowing she was his that he had helped make her even if it came with the crippling fear of dropping her.
Namjoon knew immediately that he would do anything for her. She’d have nothing but the best, and nothing would ever harm her. She’d be the most spoiled little girl there ever was just as it should be for his little princess.
“Y/N?” He heard Jin’s panicked voice from across the room. “Y/N!”
Namjoon immediately whipped around searching for Y/N among the doctors and nurses that were now buzzing around her bed.
“Jagi?” He asked, approaching her bed and seeing a concerning amount of red on the sheets before Jin ushered him away. “Y/N?” He called again more frantically as he struggled as much as he could against Jin while he had Nara in his arms. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong with her?” he demanded as Jin pushed him further back.
“She’s bleeding... a lot.” Jin explained in a rush. “She tore, and it looks like she might be hemorrhaging.”
“Hemorrhaging?” Namjoon panicked once more trying to move forward to get back to her side.  
“We’re going to do all we can, but we can’t work with you hovering over us. Besides, you have the baby to think of.”
“But…”
“I will tell you as soon as I have something to tell you, but you need to let us work.” Jin urged casting a concerned glance back at the bed.  “Take Nara outside. I’ll tell you more when I know more.”
“Jin...”
“We’re prepared. We have blood ready to transfuse, and the equipment we need. If things get bad we’ll move her to the clinic.” he promised.
“She can’t die, hyung. I just got her back.” Namjoon growled, staring at the doctors buzzing around her. “She can’t. I need her. The baby needs her.”
“She won’t.” Jin assured even though there was a grim set to his mouth that told Namjoon that the situation wasn’t good despite his assurances.
“I can’t… I can’t lose her.”
“Go. Take care of your daughter. We’ll take care of Y/N.” Jin pushed him out the door only for them both to freeze as the sound of one long drawn out ‘beeeeeep’ filled the room. 
part 15
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