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thestarrynightslover · 4 years ago

Text

I'll Make It Okay for You - Part 1

Pairing: Harvey Specter x Reader

Word count: 3,666

Warnings: Discussion, yelling, some angst, mentions of drugs, and drug abuse.

Summary: What happens when (y/n) (y/l/n), Harvey’s secret crush and a junior partner at his firm, openly defies him in front of everyone?

You can find Part 2 here.

Disclaimer: I don’t own the show Suits, or its characters, also not associated with it in any way or know anyone involved with it.

A/N: So, this is my first Harvey Specter fic and I’m obviously quite unsure about it, lol. This might’ve ended up like one big mess, cause I tried to combine a bunch of Harveys I wanted to see. The perfect recipe for disaster, right? Anyways, I hope it doesn’t suck too bad and, please, feel free to give me feedback, cause I’m also here to learn!!

(y/n) = (your name) (y/l/n) = (your last name) (y/n/n) = (your nickname)

| masterlist |

You’d barely stepped out of the elevator when you were met by your secretary that morning. That couldn’t mean anything good.

“Morning, (y/n/n). You’ve got an emergency meeting with Jessica today. Gonna give you the schedule on the way there.” Lucy stated, leading you on the opposite way to Jessica’s office.

“Oh, I got the memo; company’s under attack again. She wants me on the frontlines this time. Louis is probably running around saying ‘We’re at war, people, war!!!’, or something like that. But why aren’t we headed towards the boss’ office?”

“Apparently, uh, she wants y’all to convey at Harvey’s office.” She said hesitantly, as if afraid of your reaction.

“Are you kidding me? It’s the first hour of the morning and she wants me to go see that smug face of his?” You pouted childishly.

“Smug and hot, you mean.” Lucy corrected you, getting an outraged look from you in response, as she usually would by saying anything positive about Specter.

“Shush,” You said, motioning for her to stop talking, “ one shall not praise Harvey Annoying Specter around me.” You stated full of obstination, but the younger woman just laughed you off and said:

“Well, here we are. I guess I’ll just have to send you an e-mail with your schedule, since, once again, we spent our schedule minutes of the day talking about “the enemy”.” She mocked with gestures and everything this time. That Lucy really was a piece of work, she timed the whole thing perfectly, in a way that you couldn’t even repudiate her insinuations because you were already standing in front of Specter’s office door.

Not long after you had entered and Jessica had officially started the strategy-meeting, though, all eyes in the room turned to you, as your phone started ringing in your back pocket. "Shit! I'm- I'm so sorry, guys, I guess I-"

"Can you please take your job seriously for once in your life, (y/l/n)?" You heard Harvey Pain-In-The-Ass Specter rudely remark, as you tried to swallow your embarrassment.

“Well, like I was trying to say, I’m sorry. Gonna turn it off right now, won’t happen again.” You said, directing your apologetic look to Jessica.

“You should just go ahead and answer it, could be something important.” She calmly told you.

“Especially now that you’ve already interrupted our work.” Specter chipped in again, which just gave you more fuel to answer the goddamn phone.

“Hello, yeah this is her.” You confirmed to the man on the phone, while taking a few steps towards the corner of the room. “What??? Are you sure? Oh my God! O- okay, just tell me which one and I’ll be there as soon as possible! Right, thank you.” Everyone’s eyes were on you, trying to understand what made you look so distressed. Except his, of course.

“Wait a second. Are you leaving right now?” He asked with a mix of annoyance and irritation in his voice.

“Yes, I am. I’m sorry, Jessica, but this is a family emergency. I have to go.”

“Well, I just hope you know that this doesn’t look good for you, (y/n).” She said, voice inexpressive.

“I do and, honestly? I couldn’t care less about that right now.” You firmly told her, while hoping your career wasn’t over by the next morning.

“I hope everything goes well for you and your family, (y/n). If you need anything, and I mean anything, just let me know.” Louis told you with that childish smile of his. Jesus, even in a moment like this, he tried to flirt with you.

“Thank you, Louis. That’s very kind.” You faked a tiny smile.

“Unbelievable.”

“What?” You asked, turning back to face Harvey.

“Your firm is under attack and you’re leaving because of some stupid family crap?” Was he even serious?

“Precisely. And I don’t really care what your thoughts are on it. Our priorities are clearly very different.” Who the hell did he think he was to say anything about your family’s issues?

“Well, that shouldn’t matter because, the minute you walk in here, through those elevators out there, you’re supposed to leave all things personal behind.”

“Oh, right. I’m so sorry that I’m not some heartless lawyer like you, who’s just in it for the petty fights in the name of money-making.” Shit. You needed to get the hell out of there before you said something else to make Specter wanna kick you out himself. So you did. Stormed out like there was no tomorrow, leaving nothing but the very shocked Donna, Jessica, Louis, Mike, and Rachel behind. Oh, yeah, and a very pissed-off Harvey Specter.

Okay, maybe you were a little too harsh, but given the place you needed to go, to do what you needed to do, you didn't care about Harvey, your job, or anything else.

---

It was much later on that same day, around dinner time, that you heard a soft knock on your door. But how could someone be at your door, if the doorman downstairs hadn't announced any visitors? Were you dreaming? Well, the day had been so tiring that that wasn't exactly impossible… Nonetheless, you made your way to the door, whilst holding your very needy three-year-old nephew in your arms. Not that you could blame Henry after the day he’d had.

Since you weren’t expecting anyone, it was reasonable to believe that, whoever it was, was going to be a surprise. But not in a million years would have you ever guessed that Harvey Specter was the one knocking at your door. Especially considering what had happened at the firm earlier. How did he even know your address?

“Hi, (y/l/n). I didn’t know you had a kid.” He stated with a bit of surprise of his own, pointing to the little boy you were carrying.

“No, uh, I don’t have any.” You managed to say, trying to control your shocked expression. “This is my nephew.” You clarified again, a little more at ease this time.

“My name’s Henry. What’s yours?” You heard your nephew ask with his cute child-voice.

“Harvey. It’s, uh, it’s very nice to meet you, Henry.” Harvey told the boy, holding out his hand for him to shake, as a sweet smile came to his lips.

“Is he your friend, auntie (y/n/n)?” Henry asked you hesitantly, before making a move. The Don’t Talk to Strangers Rule must’ve kicked in his mind.

Before answering him, you hesitated a little bit yourself, though. Was Harvey your friend? Obviously not, but if he came to your apartment in the middle of the night like this, it was probably because of something important. Work-related, of course. Which meant you’d have to let him in, so you settled for what would be the easiest classification for a three-year-old.

“Yeah, bud, he is my friend from work.” Hearing that, something in Specter’s eyes changed, you didn’t really know what, though.

“Well, then, can he come play with us?” He gave you such a cute look, that you almost said yes right on cue. But you obviously couldn’t.

“You’d have to ask him, but I’m sure he has a lot of other, more important, things to do now.” You tried to explain to the little boy, giving Harvey a look. But you didn’t get too far, as the lawyer quickly said:

“Of course I wanna go play with you! That is if your auntie’s okay with that…” Now he was mocking you, that was the only explanation.

“Can we play with him, then, auntie (y/n/n)? Please, please, please?” God, what horrible thing could’ve you possibly done to deserve this particular punishment?

“Um, I guess... If he really has nothing better to do-” Harvey didn’t even let you finish your sentence.

“I really don’t.” He said, shooting you and Henry a bright smile that you’d never seen before.

“Okay, then, come in. Please disregard the mess, I got this stuff to make dinner, but someone just won’t detach, right, mister?” You asked your nephew with fake annoyance in your voice, as you tickled his sides a little bit. He just laughed at you. Though what really caught your attention was the fact that Harvey, too, was chuckling lightly at the scene, as he started picking up your groceries’ bags from the floor. “What are you doing?”

“Helping you, what else?” You gave him a weird look because, well, it was a weird situation. Maybe he noticed your discomfort because he added: “You look tired, so I’ll help you by making dinner and putting the rest of these away.”

“You’re kidding, right?” There was no way in hell that the All-Mighty Harvey Specter was gonna get domestic for you, of all people. Since he didn’t bother to answer, you went on: “First of all, what was it that you really came here to do, hum? And, second, I don’t need your help with anything.” Normally you tried to be kind to everyone, but, then again, Specter wasn’t exactly your normal kind of guy.

“Well, first of all,” he started in a tone of mockery, “that was rude! Look at the example you’re setting for little Henry!” Oh God, as much as you hated to admit it, he was kinda right, because you had completely forgotten about the little boy still cradled in your arms. “Second, we can talk about the reason why I came here later,” after your nephew’s asleep, was implicit in his speech, “third, it looks like you do need some help. And, for your luck, I happen to be a very good cook when I want to.”

“But-” You could barely begin your sentence, as Harvey sharply cut you off:

“You see, buddy,” he started, motioning to Henry this time, “the quicker we get your auntie on board with the game plan, the quicker we’ll get to eat and go play together!” Son of a bitch! Using a child to get to you…

“Can we please, auntie? Please?” How could you not crack after that pleading?

“Fine, but I swear I’ll make you pay if we wake up with food poisoning tomorrow, Specter.” You told him playfully, trying to lighten the mood after all of your bluntness.

“Oh, trust me, (y/l/n), you won’t. This will be the best meal you and the young man here will ever have in your entire lives.” He said cockily, but without the usual arrogance level, if that even makes sense.

A few hours and a really great dinner later, you and Henry couldn’t help but snicker shamelessly at Harvey’s ridiculous faces, as the three of you played a game on your living room’s floor. Trying to catch your breath from your giggles, you glanced up at the clock and realized that it was way too late for your nephew to be out of bed like that. So you broke up the game, announcing:

“It’s bedtime for you, Mr. Henry.” You watched the faces of the pair turn into ones of pure disappointment, as they prepared to pout.

“Just a little longer, auntie (y/n/n)! please!” The little boy started.

“Yeah, auntie, just a little longer! Please?” This time it was the grown man, one of the toughest Wall Street lawyers.

“As moved as I am by your synchrony, guys, the answer is a big no. C’mon, bud, let’s go brush your teeth. And then straight to bed. So say bye to Harvey, and thank him for being so nice to us tonight.” He looked between you and Specter as if still hoping for a hail Mary of some sort.

“Bye, Harvey.” He sounded so sad, but then he smiled brightly again, as he repeated what you’d told him to say word by word: “And thank you for being so nice to us tonight.” Hearing that, both you and Harvey chuckled lightly at the young boy, who quickly added: “Will you come see us tomorrow too?”

“Uh, we’ll, uh, we’ll see about that, okay, little man?” He tried to let Henry down slowly but, watching the boy’s expression become a sad one instantly, he added: “It’s just because both your auntie and I have a lot of work ahead of us tomorrow, but I’ll do my best, okay?” That was definitely a side of Harvey you’d never seen before, he had even bent down to be on your nephew’s level.

“Okay.” Henry said quietly, seeming to be a little happier, too.

“Okay, then let’s just go upstairs already.” You took the boy’s hand to guide him towards the spare bedroom’s bathroom, all the while shooting Specter a look that told him to wait for you a little longer.

“I’ll wait for you down here.” He said, proving he understood what your eyes tried to transmit.

So you headed upstairs with your nephew and, after a good fifteen minutes of brushing Henry’s teeth, helping him into his PJs, and tucking him in, you finally managed to come back to the living room, where you found Harvey looking through some of your photos displayed on the sideboard. For a minute or two, you just watched him. It wasn’t that you liked what you saw or anything. It wasn’t. It was more like postponing the weird conversation you two were bound to have, because, after all that had happened in those few hours, the atmosphere was, at very least, a strange one. But, almost as if he’d felt your gaze on his back, the lawyer in him was switched on, and he interrupted your thoughts by saying:

“Ah, you’re back. Good, because we need to talk.” You just motioned for him to follow you into your home office. But both you and Harvey looked so informal to be in that kind of environment, that you just indicated the small couch on the wall opposite to your desk for you to take your seats in.

“So, uh, before you even say anything, I wanna thank you for being so kind tonight,” a small smile came to your lips, as you remembered, not only the evening but how your nephew had used almost those exact same words, already imitating you, a little earlier. Specter smiled too, you noticed. “and I also wanna apologize. If you came here to talk to me… I must’ve made you waste a lot of time, huh?” You tried with a half-smile this time, as embarrassment started taking over you.

“What? No, of course not! I'm pretty sure that I told you I didn't have anything better to do, didn't I?" He calmly asked with a smile.

"Yeah, but I'm not buying it. You're Harvey Specter, isn't that what you're always saying? And Harvey Specter always has something better to do, isn't that right?" You shot back in a mockery tone, regaining your confidence.

"Well, maybe. But, not today. So don't apologize, and don't thank me. I'm the one who should be thanking you, I had a really good time tonight." Okay, now you were shocked. He had a good time?

"Uh, okay, um, so... What was so urgent that you had to come here in the middle of the night?" You nervously ranted, while tugging your hair behind your ears. He just stared at you, so much so that you almost repeated your question.

"Um, yeah, about this morning… That's why I came here…" You were already guessing that that would come up eventually, but it was the topic of your conversation? "I know that you and I always had our differences, and maybe even some rivalry-"

"Some rivalry? Dude, I'm just a junior partner, and ever since I started on that firm you've been persecuting me-"

"I wouldn't say persecuting…"

"Oh, you wouldn't?"

"Not since you made junior partner anyways. Now it's just a healthy rivalry between work friends…" He tried to use what you’d told your nephew earlier.

"Oh, so you do admit you were persecuting me when I was an associate, huh?"

"Shit." He muttered quietly, as you watched him with a victory smile on your lips. "You know what? Hell yeah, I did persecute you when you were an associate." Hearing that blunt admission of guilt, you just couldn't find anything to say. “You wanna know why? I did that because, from the first time I saw you doing your job, I saw this very thing that I see now: you kicking ass, you think I wanted to admit this to you? I’ll answer it myself: no, I didn’t. The only reason why it happened is that you led me to it.” He blurted out, completely knocking you off your socks.

“So, um, you treated, you treat me like shit because, um, because I’m good?” You asked, still unsure of what to think about his confession.

“Well, that was part of it, sure. So, you see, I could understand it when you weren’t particularly thrilled at the perspective of working with me. But, this morning, you said that I’m a heartless guy who only cares about money… Is that really what you think of me?” This time he sounded genuinely sad? When Harvey said that he’d come to your apartment to talk about that morning, you thought he was gonna reprimand the shit out of you for disrespecting him ⎯ your sort of boss, a senior partner ⎯, but, apparently, he was asking about it on a more personal level. A level you’d never really thought played a part in your relationship with him.

“Oh, Harvey…”

“Be honest, please. I don’t want your pity. You don’t even know me all that well, so don’t try to minimize anything. I can take it.”

“That’s not what I was gonna do. And, trust me, you’re probably the last person in the world I’d pity.” You told him with a sly smile. “You’re right. I don’t know you all that well. Or, at least, I didn’t this morning. But I do know that you’re not heartless. Also, I was really out of line then, I’ve seen you fighting tooth and nail for a lot more than just money in that firm. You’re loyal to your firm and friends like no one else and, tonight, I watched you sitting on the floor and playing with a little boy. And, trust me, that meant more to him than you’d ever know, especially after today… Anyways, what I’m really trying to say is that I was so damn wrong and that I’m sorry. I’d gotten some pretty nerve-racking news beforehand, not that that’s an excuse but...” You told him, meaning every word and trying hard to show how much you regretted your previous actions.

“Wait, what news?”

“Ah, it’s nothing for you to worry about, really.” You tried to brush him off.

“Oh, c’mon! You said all those nice things about me, but when it comes to your life and your problems you still don’t trust me, isn’t that right?” His tone was sharply inexpressive, but his eyes showed he was actually hurt.

“What are you talking about? Oh my God, Harvey! I’ve relied on you for a number of cases that I really cared about! I let you in on my apartment! I let you spend an entire night around my nephew! Of course, I trust you!”

“Then what the hell is the problem? You think I’m not gonna give a damn about your family issues? Is that it? Because I am literally begging you to tell me about them!”

“I don’t wanna tell you because I don’t want you, or anyone else on the firm, to think that I’m some pathetic little girl who uses her family issues as an excuse to get out of a tough fight.” You confessed in a lower tone, slightly embarrassed, just hoping he would understand and stop poking. “Things are very different when you’re a woman, you know…”

“I would never think that about you. Family is important. Especially if it’s made of people like Henry…” He said, reassuring you, even though there was a hint of sadness in his voice. “Besides, you said you trust me, so you need to trust me when I say that I wouldn’t betray you by telling people about your problems. I’m not here as your boss, (y/n). I just wanna help you.” He sounded so sincere and, if you were being honest with yourself, you kinda really needed to vent.

“Okay, um, where to start? I have two sisters: Henry’s mother, Kat, and a fifteen-year-old, Lisa. I’m the older one of all three of us. Lisa’s sick, like very sick, so my parents, who are both retired, are with her at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, to try and get her better. In the meantime, Kat was supposed to go to college, as well as care for her son, between my parents and me, she wouldn’t even need to provide for them or anything. But, a while ago, she overdosed for the first time. That’s when we found out about her addiction. We’ve already tried a million different things but nothing works. So, my parents and I threatened to make her lose her parental rights over Henry, hoping that it’d be a wake-up call for her, but it backfired. She just took the boy and disappeared, then today I get that call, from the police department, saying that she was in custody for drug distribution and endangering the well-fare of a minor. They asked me to go pick my nephew and, maybe, get Kat a lawyer.” And, just like that, you’d told Harvey Specter, of all people, everything. Tears rolling down your cheeks and him pulling you into a hug.

If anyone had told you that that was how your night was gonna go, you would have definitely laughed them out of the room. But now, just sitting there, being held and caressed by Harvey, as you let your armor down, it was finally beginning to look like things were gonna be okay.

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pillage-and-lute · 4 years ago

Note

If you're still open to prompts or ideas what about Geralt with curly hair, not wavy I'm talking full curls that only get worse near the ends. (Badly) Straightening it so it's easier tie up and ignore feels like a Geralt thing to do but the one time he forgets Jaskier can't get over how it looks. Also fuck all those mean asks you've been getting I vibe with your schedule and fics, being patient with expectation is part of the fun and if anybody says different they're wrong

Hi Anon!

This is cute af.

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Geralt hadn’t realized that moving in with Jaskier would mean so little privacy.

Sure, the apartment was tiny and Jaskier was so casually absentminded it meant him drifting between rooms like a musical ghost. But somehow Geralt hadn’t expected it.

Really most of the time it wasn’t even bad, and Jaskier knew when Geralt really needed space. But still...

“Geralt,” Jaskier said through the door. “Are you on the toilet or in the shower?”

“Uh, no?”

“Can you let me in? I tried this face mask but it feels like it’s burning.”

Geralt sighed and opened the bathroom door.

Jaskier’s experiments with skin care, specifically face masks were often amusing, sometimes tasty (the cocoa and oatmeal homemade one), and sometimes disastrous. Jaskier was apparently slightly allergic to a large number of perfumes and dyes. At least once a month some cheap, two dollar facemask turned his face shiny and pink. He never gave them up though, keeping instead a careful list of the bad ones.

He’d convinced Geralt to try a couple, thankfully picking less vibrant colors, and they were rather nice.

This time, however, Jaskier bustled in gratefully and began to desperately scrub something obnoxiously purple off his face.

“I could feel it start to sting,” Jaskier said around the frantic face splashing. “It sounded so nice, lavender and peony with ‘calming cooling cucumber’.” Jaskier used his advertisement voice for the last part. It was a good voice, and it made him a fair amount of money, the only reason they could afford their apartment. Two grad students in a big city would generally be sharing a bedroom the side of a matchbox by now, and Geralt’s various bartending and bouncer jobs didn’t pick up that much money.

“How do I look?”

Jaskier had surfaced, face only slightly chemical-pink, with a hint of purple goop by his ear. Geralt removed it absentmindedly.

“How do you look?! Geralt, your hair is curly!”

“Yes?”

Did Jaskier really not know? He always straightened it, sure, it was just easier that way, but had Jaskier never seen....? Apparently not, because he was hurriedly unplugging Geralt’s straightener.

“Why would you hide this? Geralt it’s beautiful!” Jaskier was running his hands through the curls, short nails scratching nicely along his scalp.

“Oh but it could use a little work too,” Jaskier said, lifting a frizzy strand. “Dear heart it’s damaged all to hell, do you even use heat protectant spray?”

Heat protectant spray?

Jaskier snorted, although Geralt had said nothing aloud, his face must have said it all. Jaskier placed both hands on Geralt’s shoulders and sat him firmly down on top of the toilet lid.

“Stay,” he said. Then he disappeared.

Geralt huffed. Roach, the grumpy tabby he’d found behind a dumpster one night when he was moonlighting as a bouncer leapt up onto the counter and stared down at him judgmentally. He rolled his eyes at her. She blinked back at him, slowly.

You like when he fusses over you. He imagined her saying. It was the way cats look at you, like they know all about you and are actually staring straight through you.

I do not. He thought for her benefit.

She blinked at him again, quite judgmentally, then stood and turned a tight circle on the corner of the sink. She sat down again facing directly away from him, very clearly giving him a cold shoulder. Lie to yourself all you like.

Jaskier bustled back in with an armful of...stuff. “I don’t have all the things I’d really need for your hair of course,” he was saying. “There’s a little bit of wave to my hair, sure, but I don’t have full curls like you.”

Jaskier climbed up onto the counter corner, moving Roach gently to the floor. “Hello pretty girl.” He set his knees around Geralt, and began to pour something into his hand.

Geralt sniffed. “Is that sandalwood?”

“Very good, it’s a hair cream, good for restoring, I texted Triss and it should be okay for your hair.” He massaged it into Geralt’s head with strange scrunching motions that caught all of Geralt’s curls.

He’d rarely really thought of them as curls. He knew that’s what his hair was, of course, but he always straightened it and he had a three-in-one shampoo conditioner and body wash, which had been the cause of a conniption fit when Jaskier had first moved in.

Whatever Jaskier was doing felt good, though. Like a scalp massage.

“Mrrrhp.” said Roach. It sounded smug.

“Okay,” Jaskier said. “I’m gonna scrunch your hair with this.” He waved a washcloth. “To remove a little of the product and,” he checked his phone. “Define the curl.”

Jaskier set about playing with Geralt’s hair. He knew that wasn’t what the man was doing, but it felt like it. When Jaskier finally put down the washcloth he gave Geralt a quick spritz of something.

“Okay, I think I did it, take a look.”

Geralt was reluctant to stand from where he’d been bracketed by Jaskier’s knees, but he went to the mirror.

“It looks kind of...”

Weird. It looked weird. Geralt never just wore his curls and these weren’t even the horrible mess of having just woke up. They were actual curls.

“Sissy,” he said.

“Oh,” Jaskier looked put out. “I think they look very nice.”

Sitting on the edge of the tub, Roach blinked at Geralt judgementally.

“I’m not used to it,” Geralt said, tugging at a curl, which bounced. “But I guess it does look...nice.”

“I have an idea,” Jaskier said. He took a little packet of bobby pins that Geralt thought he recognized from the last time Yen had been over. There was some twisting and in the mirror he couldn’t really see what was going on. A couple little digs into his scalp and then...

“Voila,” Jaskier said.

It was a bun.

A man bun.

Except, man bun implied tiny and sort of inconsequential. This was quite a lot of hair and the curls looked good, adding texture.

It looked manly, for sure, but it felt secure. Geralt bobbled his head a little to check.

“I like it,” he said.

Jaskier beamed.

From the tub’s edge, Roach “mmmphrp”-ed approvingly.

#Geralt #jaskier #modern au #geralt x jaskier #geraskier #could be platonic ig #i think they wanna kiss tho #Roach #who is a cat #the witcher

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haikyuu-baes · 4 years ago

Note

I always get excited when i see new haikyuu blogs!!! good luck with the blog! could i request an scanerio/fic with single dad kuroo falling for babysitting y/n? thank you!!!!!

Pairing: dad!kuroo x reader

Genre: fluff; the slightest bit of angst towards the end

A/N: hi anon baby !!! i’m so so so sorry it took so long to write and you’ve been waiting so patiently thank you ;alsdfj i hope you enjoy this fic (it’s my very first one so exciting !) thank you thank you for requesting !! xoxo, dani

“Hey, thanks for coming so last minute.”

“Kuroo-san, it’s my job. You don’t need to apologize.”

‘Yeah, but you might have had plans today-”

“(Y/N)-SAN!!!”

Kuroo was interrupted by his daughter running towards the door. He warned her to slow down before she trips but couldn’t help but smile when he saw how excited she was to see you. You got a call from Kuroo this morning asking if you could come babysit his daughter, Hana, as he was called into the office on short notice. You didn’t mind; you’ve been babysitting Hana for nearly two years.

“Couldn’t be more exciting than anything we’ll be doing today. Isn’t that right, buggy?”

“Yeah!” Hana agreed, jumping into your open arms. “(Y/n)-san, (Y/n)-san, can we go to the park today?”

“We’ll see.”

“Sweetie, go finish your breakfast.” Kuroo said.

“Okay. (Y/n)-san, come eat with me!”

“I’ll be there in a second.” you said, turning back to Kuroo.

“I made breakfast for you too.” He said, suddenly.

“What? Kuroo-san, you didn’t have to.”

“I figured you didn’t eat yet.” He responded. “It was the least I could do for calling you last minute. Plus… She loves eating with you.”

You blushed slightly, flustered at the fact that he made breakfast with your company in mind. After exchanging a few more words and wishing him a good day at work, you finally shut the door as his car pulled away from the driveway. Stop it, (Y/n), it was just so you can keep Hana company, you thought. Making your way to the kitchen, you saw Hana sitting at the table eating her food and that there indeed was a plate of food for you too. Hana brightened up when she saw you.

“Your food is right here, (Y/n)-san! I helped Daddy make it.”

“You did?” you smiled at the thought of Kuroo cooking breakfast with his daughter.

“Yes! And Daddy also showed me how to make the coffee. He even bought your favorite milk!”

“Milk?”

“Yeah, the one you put in the coffee.” Hana got up from her seat to open the refrigerator and pointed to a small container of your favorite coffee creamer. You gasped, you probably only mentioned it once or twice in the time span that you knew him.

“He remembered?”

“Well, yeah.” Hana stated as if it was a matter of fact, going back to her seat. “Daddy always remembers everything about you. “

You stared at her wondering what that meant before shaking your head. Sitting down at the table, you listened to Hana tell you stories about making breakfast this morning and what she did with Kuroo the night before. Then the two of you decided on what to do for the day. Hana mentioned that Kuroo was going to take her to the park before getting called into work. As you talked, you couldn’t help but think about how great of a dad Kuroo was to Hana; always making sure she is happy. You could tell she was the number one person in his mind and heart.

Your work was surely easier thanks to him, too. He would make the cutest of lunches for her to take to school, always placing a little note with encouraging words, wishing her a good day and telling her how much he loved her.

He would also have a whole schedule for you to follow so Hana could enjoy her day to the fullest between kindergarten and after school classes (such as English because Kuroo was so proud about her baby speaking another language), because he always mentioned how important it was for a child to enjoy their childhood.

The thought made you smile and Hana looked at you curiously, a tiny smile on her lips.

After breakfast, you and Hana cleaned up while listening to music, laughing as Hana would sometimes pause to dance, her bright giggles filling the whole apartment as she provoked you to chase her.

She was adorable and so beautiful.

She looked a lot like Kuroo: long, pitch black hair bouncing around in pigtails, (that Kuroo had done, thank you very much), big golden eyes and delicate and elegant body, just like a little kitten.

“Well now, are you ready to go to the park?” You asked, placing a piece of hair behind your ear as you tried to catch your breath after chasing her just like she wanted.

Hana jumped excitedly, not tired at all after running all around the house. “Yes, (Y/n)-san! Let’s go!”

The two of you reached the park, Hana jumping for joy the entire time and talking your ear off. You didn’t mind. You couldn’t believe she was the same girl you met two years ago; when you first met Hana was painfully shy around you, hiding behind her father’s legs and barely talking to you during the whole day, until one day, after Kuroo left for work, you let out a soft sigh.

"That tie is horrible," you had said and were surprised when Hana giggled loudly from the couch where she was watching cartoons.

"I told Daddy the same thing, but he said that's one of his favorite ties," she said, covering her mouth with her little hands.

Needless to say, you both went to buy a new tie and get rid of that ugly one.

Since then, Hana has shown you how talkative and funny she can be. And you couldn't help but grow to love that lovely girl…

… perhaps not only her…

"Ah, (Y/n)-san! Are you also tired? Your face is getting red!" Hana said and you tried to call down your heart pounding against your ribs.

But now, she was laughing so carefree, dancing and then provoking you to chase her around the playground. And you gave in to her playful antics, running around playing some form of tag game, scooping her up in your arms every time you caught up to her, and relishing in her cheerful squeals and giggles when you twirled around and nuzzled your face into her neck. After a while of playing around, you sat down to take a short break. Opening the little bag of sliced fruits you brought for the trip, you and Hana shared a few slices before she went back to the playground. You watched her run around to her own little imagination for a few minutes before you heard your phone ringing.

It was Kuroo.

You didn’t know why you felt nervous to answer now. He’s called you multiple times before. But even though your heart was racing you were also excited to hear his voice so you answered the phone just as Hana was running back to you. .

“Hi, Kuroo-san!”

“Hey, (Y/n)-san. What are you two up to right now?”

“We’re at the park. We’ve been here for a bit so we might head back home- I mean, to the house soon”

“Oh, okay, fun! Is Hana there?”

“Yes, she’s right here!”

You quickly handed your phone to Hana and watched her walk off a couple feet while mentally slapping yourself. Why did you say that Y/n? This isn’t your home. And of course he’s going to want to talk to Hana, not you! You felt yourself becoming slightly pink in the face out of embarrassment and tried to calm down. Hana was running back to you.

“(Y/n)-saaaaan! Daddy wants to speak with you!”

You took the phone and heard Kuroo’s voice. “Hi, again.”

He laughed and you were so distracted by the sound you nearly forgot to respond. “Hi.”

“How are you doing?”

“Well, we’re doing pretty good. Hana has so much energy but she’s having fun and doing great.”

“That’s good to hear. But (Y/n)-san, I already talked with Hana. I want to know how you’re doing.”

“O-oh. I’m doing… good.” You stuttered, a bit surprised that he was asking about you personally. “I’ve been running around all day but Hana looks so happy, it’s worth being out of breath for a bit.”

“I don’t think I can tell you enough how grateful I am that you’re so good to Hana.”

“Of course. I love seeing her happy.”

“I’m serious. She’s extremely shy so she usually has a hard time opening up to people and making friends but the two of you became close so easily. She talks about you all the time and always looks forward to you coming over. She’s even started opening up a little more because of you. You’ve had such a positive impact on her; I really can’t thank you enough for that.”

Your heart swelled hearing the kind words, somehow falling even more in love with the little family. You knew you were being a big help by babysitting Hana, but you never expected to have such a big impact on her life. Thinking about it now, she also had a huge impact on your life. She taught you how to be more carefree and brings a lot of joy and laughter into your life. And Kuroo… Seeing him and how he treats Hana inspired you to be more caring and understanding towards other people. You were so lost in thought you nearly forgot Kuroo was on the other line again.

“I’m so glad to hear… She’s had a really big impact on me too.” You cleared your throat, trying not to become sentimental at the moment. “Um, how-how is work?”

Kuroo sighed. “It’s alright… Work is work. I’d rather be at the park with you two. But I am coming home early today so I’ll be there soon.”

“Oh, good! Okay, we’ll see you soon then.”

You hung up and felt giddy. You couldn’t help feeling just a bit special that he was interested in how you were doing. He actually cared how you were doing outside of babysitting. Maybe you have noticed your conversations were longer, he looked you in the eyes longer than usual, he seemed to always stall when he was leaving for work and when you were leaving the house, how you noticed him staring at you interact with Hana out of the corner of your eye, the creamer, the food he leaves out for you, the frequent phone calls… maybe something was there… You were pulled out of your thoughts when Hana came bounding over.

“(Y/n)-san!! I’m hungry now!”

“You’re hungry?” You asked, watching Hana nod her head enthusiastically. “Perfect. Your dad is coming home now. How about we make him some lunch?”

Hana eyes lit up. She loved cooking with you and could hardly contain her excitement as she practically skipped all the way back to the house and spewing out at all the different lunch ideas she had in mind.

The front door creaked open and the two of you heard the jangling of keys and shuffle of shoes being taken off. It was perfect timing. The macaroni and cheese had just finished and you were just plating Hana’s bowl.

“Hi, ladies.” Kuroo greeted with a soft smile.

“Daddy!” Hana beamed and Kuroo walked over to her and planted a kiss on her temples.

“What’s going on here?”

“We made you lunch!”

“Really?” Kuroo leaned down to look at Hana bowl as she explained what they created. “We went to the store and bought some ingredients, so none of this was from the box! And since you like spinach a lot we put some in also and it looks really pretty.”

“That looks really good, Hana. And you made that?”

“Yes! I stirred the macaroni but (Y/n)-san did most of it!”

Kuroo chuckled before turning to you as you placed down his own bowl of macaroni. You could feel him looking at you just a bit longer and felt your face warm up ever so slightly. You actually weren’t sure if you should pack up and go or stay to eat lunch. You didn’t want to intrude no matter how much you loved them.

You loved them. There was no other way to put it and you finally accepted it. You never wanted them to leave your life and if you could hold on to being with them just a bit longer every day then you were going to take it.

“(Y/n)-san! Sit next to me!” Hana said, bouncing in her chair as she waited for you to plate your own bowl.

“But what if I wanted (Y/n)-san to sit next to me?” Kuroo teased and you had to take a few seconds longer to get to the table to calm down the blush that spread across your face.

“Well, I asked first! So she has to sit with me!”

You sat down next to Hana and smiled at their playful banter before the three of you began eating. Kuroo listened as Hana told him about all the activities the two of you got up to this morning and how much fun making the macaroni was. Kuroo gave her all of his attention save for the little glances he gave you whenever Hana said something she was especially excited for, a soft smirk on his face each time and every time you felt like you could combust on the spot. Kuroo offered to do the dishes when you finished while you and Hana cleaned up the table. It felt very domestic and you could feel yourself becoming even more attached.

“Alright. I guess I should be going now.” You said when the kitchen was clean.

“No! Not yet.” Hana pleaded. “I don’t want you to leave yet!”

“Hana, I know you love it when (Y/n)-san comes over but what if she has plans?” Kuroo asked, placing his hands on his hips and you could hardly stop yourself from staring at his arms in his rolled up dress shirt.

“Well… Well, maybe she can come back after!” Hana asked, taking hold of your hand and hugging it to her neck in an effort to keep you from leaving. You were a little shocked. You knew Hana always became pouty whenever you left for the day but she’s never been this adamant about you staying. You could feel your heart break the more she tried to bargain with Kuroo. “Please, (Y/n)-san?”

“I don’t-”

“Hana…” Kuroo said in a quiet tone.

“But Daddy! I don’t want (Y/n)-san to leave! She’s so nice to me and takes care of me and I love her. I want her to stay here with us because Mommy didn’t.”

“Hana.” Kuroo said again. You were speechless. You didn’t know what to do. You never really knew about the mom but hearing Hana say what she said gave you an idea and you wanted to stay even more. You wanted to give her the love that her mother apparently never gave her.

“I don’t think (Y/n)-san can or wants to stay here...” Kuroo’s quiet voice brought you back to reality. He was right. You were just a babysitter and nothing more.

“But why not? You want her to stay with us too!”

It was Kuroo’s turn to be speechless. But Hana continued.

“You always talk about (Y/n)-san! And you always try to keep her home for a little longer. And you always say that she’s good at taking care of me and that she’d be a good mom and that you love her!”

Kuroo was a bright shade of red at this point. He tried to quiet Hana down. “And you always say you’re going to ask (Y/n)-san out but you never do!”

You could tell Kuroo was starting to feel embarrassed now. It was probably a lot for the little girl to unload her feelings of her mother, her feelings for you, and Kuroo’s apparent feelings for you as well. But even then, you felt a little more at ease now. You loved them. And now you’re seeing that they love you back. Maybe it wouldn’t be as complicated as it seemed. Maybe you didn’t have to hold on to the few hours each day that you saw them. You smiled.

“How about…” You started, both of them looked at you. “I stay for a little longer? And we can make that pie that you wanted to make... And your father and I can talk a little more about how much we love each other? Sounds good?”

Hana’s face broke out into the biggest smile and she ran back towards the kitchen cheering about how you were going to spend the rest of the day with them. Kuroo watched her run by before looking back at you and you can just tell he couldn’t grab hold of his emotions. You approached him.

“I’m sorry. I basically invited myself over without asking you…” You apologized, a little sheepish that you made the final decision. But then you looked up at him. “But… is it true? Hana’s been mentioning little things that made me believe it. I don’t want it to be wishful thinking…”

“(Y/n)-san…” Kuroo started, pulling you into a hug. “Hana’s not the only one who wants you to stay with us.”

#haikyuu!!#haikyuu imagines #haikyuu!! scenarios #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu!! x reader #kuroo x reader #kuroo x y/n #kuroo tetsuro x reader #dad!kuroo #dani writes #dani's things #request #anon

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bcdrawsandwrites · 4 years ago

Photo

Fandom: Psychonauts

Rating: T

Genre: Angst

Characters: Caligosto Loboto, Loboto’s parents

Warnings: Surgery, lobotomy, hallucinations, child abuse, EVERYTHING IS HORRIBLE AND NOTHING IS OKAY WITH THIS (but there’s nothing graphic)

Description: Just be still, and you'll be fine.

Beta Readers: @jaywings and Rocket (who I’m not sure is on Tumblr?)

Notes: who let me write Psychonauts fanfic. also some of the phrases in this fic were taken from this site.

---~~~---

“Scattering sparks of thought energy

Deliver me and carry me away”

“Here in my kingdom, I am your lord

I order you to cower and præy”

- The Mind Electric, by Tally Hall

---

Sometimes it was nice to just lay down in the park and watch the clouds float overhead.

He often had a lot of energy, both normal and... well... unnatural, but sometimes it was nice to relax, especially when he didn't feel like himself. His energy was ebbing, and there was something… something...

"Can you tell us another?"

He glanced up. Several of his usual playmates were standing around him, their faces lit up in interest. He grinned a wide, toothy grin.

"The boy babbled blatantly but was blessed with a brilliant brain!"

"Good!"

The compliment made his brow furrow. Normally they might cheer "cool!" or "awesome!" but he shrugged—he'd take it. It gave him a warm feeling inside, unlike the frequent chill of his own home. Plus, he couldn’t help but light up as he watched the smiles on his friends’ faces—some of them were still losing baby teeth, he noted, and the progression was fascinating. He knew what he could do to see more of those grins, too...

Without raising his head too much—it hurt a little, and he could see well enough from where he was—he glanced around to make sure his mother wasn't too close by. Luckily she was way off in the pavilion, talking to several other adults. Good; she wouldn't see, and neither would the other prying parents.

"How about this?" he asked, and with a tiny bit of concentration lifted a few rocks off the ground, spinning them in circles. Instead of cheering, however, the children backed away, their smiles fading.

"Look, he's trying to—!" one girl whispered frantically.

"Don't worry, he's fine for now."

He frowned, dropping the rocks. "O-oh, I'm sorry! I didn't think they would see..."

"That's okay. Can you tell us another?"

"Disappointed dogs don't do dangerous deeds." Wincing, he closed his eyes—there was a breeze that seemed to pass over his head only, running through his hair.

His scalp felt cold.

---

"Go on, Caligosto. Show the doctor how you can pick it up."

"Like this...?"

"No, the other way."

"But... mother doesn't like it when I do it that way."

"Do as you're told, Caligosto."

"...Okay..."

The fish swam all about the pond, but came closer to the surface when they realized he was watching from his usual spot on the shore. As they nearned him, he settled over the grass, staring down at his scaly friends. The fish seemed to like his company, and they wouldn't snitch to his parents if he did anything they wouldn't like.

On top of that, he felt a connection with them, almost like the sort of connection he could feel with people. They couldn't talk, and they didn't have facial expressions… but he could almost read them somehow, more and more as he continued visiting. Now he could sense what foods they wanted, or when they were scared of a nearby predator. It was nice to help them out.

It was also interesting to see the different kinds of teeth the fish had—some had sharp fangs, some had tiny flat teeth, and some had teeth in weird places, like their tongue or throat!

"Can you hear us?"

He would have jumped, but that would have scared the fish. As it was, he leaned forward, his eyes wide beneath their glasses. "Yes! I can hear you!" He could hardly contain his excitement. "I'd always thought I could hear you before, but never this clear! Do you think—"

"Good! Can you tell us another?"

He blinked. "Another what?"

"Another phrase."

Oh, right. In his excitement he'd nearly forgotten that he'd occasionally show off for the fish as well, though he'd never been sure if they could understand. "Friendly fish flip-flop fast when facing fearsome foes!"

"Very good!"

Giggling, he settled himself back down on the soft grass. "I'm glad you think so... my parents always tell me to be quiet."

Apparently, the fish had nothing to say to this, for they remained quiet, swimming just under the surface and watching him. So he kept watching them too, observing the light that reflected off their scales. But one creature caught his eye: a small turtle swimming in place. It was odd to see to begin with, but the paddling of its little feet seemed strangely frantic, its front legs moving in big sweeping arcs. It didn't speak, but he swore he could hear it—

Away, away—

---

"Is that... all he's capable of?"

"I'm afraid not."

"D—Father, are we done? I don't like it here..."

"Only speak when spoken to, Caligosto."

"Can we see anything else?"

"Yes."

"I-I don't want to—"

"Caligosto."

"Okay, okay! Let me—"

---

The seas were calm, and he had worked hard today as a navigator (or was he first mate? he couldn't quite remember, but that was okay), keeping a close eye on the compass and making sure they were staying on course. They were nearing the shore, but for now, he was taking a break, resting against a coil of rope with his eyes closed, enjoying the smell of the ocean air and the feeling of sunshine.

And also trying to forget his headache—he was pretty sure he bumped his head coming down from the crow's nest.

"You're doin' good today, mate! Squawk!"

He opened one eye, noting the parrot sitting just behind him. "Thanks, Crackers!"

Birds hadn’t been something that interested him too much at first; what kind of silly animal didn’t have teeth? That is, until he’d learned that birds have a weird organ that acted as their teeth. Fascinating!

The parrot cocked her head at him. "Do you know any more?"

Oh right, of course the parrot enjoyed those phrases. "The pretty parrot perched upon the putrid pirate's peacoat!"

Crackers gave a pleased chirp, ruffling her feathers.

Wincing, he found his headache was starting to get worse, like a bad toothache, and closed his eyes again. "Do you think we'll reach shore soon?"

We won't if you don't get out.

He opened his eyes. Crackers was gone.

---

"STOP! STOP! MAKE IT STOP!"

"What are you doing?!"

"I-I just did what you asked—"

"I didn't tell you to—!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Put him out, hurry—"

"We've seen enough, doctor. We'll schedule an appointment for your son next week."

"N-next week?!"

"Very well. He'll be there promptly."

---

The kids’ expressions had changed from bright smiles to tightly-drawn lips and wide eyes, and it made him shudder. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No, it's fine. Tell us another."

"The store..." He paused, concentrating. Strange, he didn't usually have trouble remembering these things, but it must have just been his headache. "The store clerk stood and... stared at me in stupor."

"I would too after what I've seen," one kid muttered, only to be shushed by another.

His heart gave a pained jolt. "Wh-what?"

"Nothing!"

He didn't like the way they were talking—it reminded him of... something else. Someone else. Another child stepped closer to him, looking down at him with a furrowed brow and frightened eyes. He felt the sudden urge to scoot away.

You're in danger.

---

"Wh...where am I supposed to go?"

"Just in through these doors."

"Okay... Why do I have to come back here to the doctor, though? I feel fine."

"Nevermind that. Do you remember what your father told you to do?"

"Yeah! The fun phrases. I know a million of those!"

"Good."

"Would you like to hear... w-wait, who are all these people watching? Wh... what are those?"

---

The fish were swimming in circles and starting to make him dizzy. He rested his head down in the cool grass, but it did little to help. "Oh... sorry. I'm not feeling so good. I should be going home..."

"You can go home soon. Tell us another first."

"Ugh... My mom... m-my... mother makes a... marvelous... meat... mincemeat pie." Recalling these phrases was starting to feel like what he imagined pulling teeth felt like, but a lot less fun. Was his mother missing him now? How long had he been gone? "I... really need to go home now."

"No you don't."

His eyes shot open, and he shivered as he stared down at the fish. "Wh... what did you... say?"

"Don't try to move. You'll be all right."

All of the fish watched him eagerly... but the turtle was still waving its front feet even more frantically.

---

"Don't worry about that."

"N-no! I know what those tools are—I've read my dad's books. You're gonna hurt me!"

"Nonsense. Just lay on the bed and you'll be fine."

"No, I don't want to! You can't make me!"

---

The ship heaved up and down with the swell of the waves. His insides rolled with it, and he remained lying on the coil of rope, waiting for his stomach to stop lurching and his head to stop aching.

"You stopped. Keep going."

"Ugh... The newt... nuzzled in a... n-narrow... nook."

"Good."

"No, it's not, Crackers! I don't feel good..."

"You're fine, squawk! Try to distract yourself."

"Okay..." Opening one eye, he raised a shaky hand, lifting the end of the rope and making it snake through the air, though it shuddered all the while. It was a lot more difficult than usual... Normally he could lift several objects at once, and delighted the crew by juggling them. He felt like he should be able to do other things too, but what?

---

"Oh mercy! He's going to kill someone!"

"Caligosto, if you don't stop this at once, I will call your father!"

"So call him! I want him here! Why didn't he come with me?!"

"Oh no, he's trying to light the chair on fire—"

"Go get the earmuffs, now."

"MOM! DAD! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"GET THEM NOW!"

---

The sun was covered in clouds, and the humid air brought a promise of rain. Why were the other kids still here? Surely their parents would have called them home by now. He wished they would. Surely his mom would have called him, too, wouldn't she?

"Tell us another," one girl asked urgently, taking a hesitant step forward.

His head was swimming. "I-I don't wanna..."

"Tell us now."

Focusing, he managed to force his mind to concentrate. "She sniffed... and s-smelled... the stirring storm."

"Good, tell us another," one fish bubbled from the water.

A sharp pain like a broken tooth filled his skull, his insides felt sick, and the rain was beginning to fall. "I... I can't..."

"Tell us, Caligosto."

"B... Bernie read a book... b-by the... ba—babbling brook." He wanted to wipe the rain from his face, but he felt too exhausted to move his arms. "C-can I go... home..."

"Squawk! We're not to shore yet. Give me another."

He stared up at the blurred vision of the bird. "Why...?"

"Do as you're told."

"Th-the... hummingbirds... hovered... a-and hummed in... heavenly..." His voice broke off into a choked sob. "I wanna... no... I wanna... go home..."

"Caligosto?"

---

"I WANT TO GO HOME!"

"Get it on him, get it on—"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"Where did he go?!"

"The monster's turned invisible!"

"I WANNA GO HOME!"

"There! Put it on right—there!"

"STOP, I WANNA—"

---

"...go home!"

He blinked.

"You are home, Cali," his mother said, beaming down at him with a wide, pearly-white grin.

"I am?" Blinking again, he looked around. Indeed, he was in front of his house, with his parents both standing on the front porch, as they had been when he'd left. On top of that, his head didn't hurt and he didn't feel sick. "I... I am!"

"You're all done with the doctors now," his father said, smiling. "We're so proud of you!"

"You... you are?" He stared open-mouthed; his father had never told him that before. "I'm all done?"

"Yes you are, dear." His mother knelt down, but he didn't come closer—something was making his hair stand on end. "Almost."

His stomach twisted.

"Just tell us another, son."

"N... no..."

The smile on his father's face faded. "Do as you're told, Caligosto."

"N-no... no, no..." He tried to shake his head, but couldn't. "I... I want to go home..."

The pain was coming back, spiking through his head, and he cried out.

"We're going to lose him—"

"No, just a little more."

"No," he sobbed. "No, no! Mom! Dad!"

The park was flooding. The fish were swirling around his head. Waves crashed over the boat.

He had to do something. Anything.

Focusing with everything he had left, he tried to think, tried to move something, tried to make something burn, tried to call for help—

Did—did you hear that?

Cali?

The agony peaked, and his vision turned orange.

---

"Ooooh... ugh..."

"Is this safe?"

"It's safe for us. The psilirium will keep him under control during the procedure."

"But can he still hear us?"

"Son, can you tell us one of your funny phrases?"

"Sure... grass grows greener in the graveyard."

"You see? He'll be fine."

---

There was no park.

There was no pond.

There was no ocean.

There were several doctors staring down at him, a great many more people seated in the theater behind them, and an empty feeling within him.

Something was gone. Something important.

"How do you feel, Caligosto?"

His brain was slow to work, and he could not form the words, but if he could have, he would have answered:

Like... a cavity.

#dr loboto #loboto #caligosto loboto #psychonauts #my art #my writing #fanfic #who let me in this fandom

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movedto-erodasghosts · 4 years ago

Text

the Holiday | timothée chalamet

chapter one: The Prince and the Pauper. (prince.)

↳ read Iris’ version here and a little bit of Timmy (Tom Holland fic)

I’ve had so much fun working on this Christmas series, hopefully people enjoy! This series will have 2 fics in 1, so there will be two story lines. I will be writing this Timmy version and @peeterparkr will be writing a Tom Holland version. This series is based off of the movie the Holiday, where two women with recently broken hearts decided to switch their homes over the holiday. Both of our fics will be reader insert, but for the sake of less confusion when writing about Nancy’s character I will use “Iris” and when she is writing mine she will use “Sophia”. Both fics are connected! read @peeterparkr‘s version to get the whole story!

story summary: Two women troubled with guy-problems, one who’s in love with love and one who doesn’t believe in it are both suffering from a broken heart, with little reasoning and nothing left to lose, they swap homes in each other's countries for the holidays, where they’ll meet a local guy who will probably change their destiny.

chapter summary: the heartbreak of an apathetic lover.

pairing: timothée chalamet x y/n

warnings: mentions of cheating

word count: ~7.1k

a/n: you do not have to read both, but it does make for the best experience to! please don’t feel pressured though :)

masterlist

Love was something that seemed so simple and straightforward. How could it not be? There were set guidelines for everything, rules to follow in any event. There were rules for love, rules for relationships too. Rules that were simply that, rules. Relationships didn’t have to be complicated, so long as the rules were followed. And it wasn’t like there were many rules, or that they were even complicated in themselves. Really, the biggest and most important rule was to simply not cheat, that's all. How hard could that be?

What are you supposed to do when rules are broken though? Sure, there are rules to follow if those rules are broken, but they never seemed to be rules you would need to know. So where did this put you now?

It didn’t feel so straightforward anymore though, it felt more like a whirlpool just washing away at you. Love might’ve been more complicated than you thought. Was it worth the complications? Honestly, you couldn’t say. Things never seemed to be too terribly complicated for you, it was simple enough to make most decisions. You found that people often made things far more complicated than what seemed necessary, too many feelings attached. Why did things need to have so many strings attached? Why couldn’t people just realize what was best and move on?

Then again, you were even sure you knew what was best anymore. It had seemed that you found love, that all the rules were being followed. Things seemed to be so simple, so orderly. So why did he have to go and break the rules? And what did that make everything mean?

Maybe love wasn’t even real. How could it be? If it was, why did Danny ever do that? It was a direct violation of the most basic rule, and it was just downright cruel.

Love, if it existed, wasn’t supposed to hurt. It was supposed to be supporting one another, working with each other to make life simpler. Love was meant to be just taking your partner in, sharing your interests with each other. It was removing stress and worry off the other’s shoulders.

What love wasn’t, was going behind one another’s backs. Betraying all of what you built. Love wasn’t breaking each other's hearts, and it was not breaking the rules.

Love also wasn’t meant to be a distraction, and yet you were letting it whisk your thoughts away all morning. How could you not? You couldn’t stop yourself from this non stop wondering if it was true. Had Danny really cheated on you? And if so, why? How did he expect you to react? Well, that you knew the answer to.

“Come on, y/n. What was I supposed to do? She’s new to the job, she needed some help from someone.”

“So, so what? She needed help getting laid?” You scoffed, “Don’t play that card on me. It’s not like there is much to figure out about a receptionist job.”

“I didn’t sleep with her, I swear.” It was completely unconvincing.

“On my life?”

“What?”

“Do you swear on my life?” You repeated. “If you’re so sure that you didn’t do it, swear on my life.”

You could see as his brain scrambled for answers, he was stuck in a corner.

“Y/n, come on. I’m not going to do that, I won’t swear on your life. That’s ridiculous.”

You rolled your eyes, “It’s not, it’s simple. If you could just do it then this would be over.”

“You’re being irrational.”

“I am not!” You tossed a pillow at him, “You broke the rule! You slept with her, and for what? Just so you could gaslight me about it?”

“I’m not gaslighting y—

“Oh, of course you aren’t.” You marched over to the closet, taking all of his things out. “Unbelievable, Danny. All you had to do was not cheat. It was that simple.”

“What’re you doing?” He watched you tossing everything on the bed. “Hey, don’t do this. C’mon, we can talk about this. We can work it out, right?”

“No!” You threw the last shirt. “No, Danny, we can’t. You had to go and throw it all away. You wanted her so bad, and well now you can have her.”

“It wasn’t even her! I mean, really. I just… can’t take it with you anymore. It’s always something, you know.” He sat on the bed, folding his things up as he expected them to be put back.

“Always something? Really? What does that mean?”

“Don’t act like you don’t see it. You can’t talk, you’re too busy with work. You can’t have dinner, you’re busy at the shop. You can’t just tell me how you feel instead of beating around the bush, your emotions are too sensitive to talk about apparently.”

You started walking away, “I’m not taking this from you.”

“Oh, of course not! That’s another thing,” he followed after, “it’s always about you. It’s about your schedule, your needs, your damn rules. It’d be a true miracle for me to have any input.”

“So that’s why you decided to sleep with her? Because you couldn’t work up the nerve to tell me you needed some alone time with me?” You turned around, arms crossed. “You know how much I care about the shop, and you should know that a lot of work goes into running it.”

“Maybe I just got tired of this never ending schedule built around your world.” Danny shrugged, “Was it really so bad of me to want some attention on me for once? I mean, come on!”

“It was horrible of you to break the ru—“ you stopped yourself, there was no way he would be winning the argument. “I just can’t believe you expect me to be okay with you cheating on me. You’re talking about it like, like I was supposed to expect this to be coming? Like I don’t have the right to be monumentally pissed at you right now?”

“You’re always at that damn bookstore,” he lamely fought. “I don’t know what to tell you. It’s not like we can’t work through this.”

But what made him think you wanted to work through it? Really, that was the last thing you wanted at the moment. And it wasn’t like he even deserved that much from you. He broke the rules.

He broke them, and blamed you for it. You couldn’t even see what you had done wrong, it didn’t make sense. Yes, you worked a lot, but being a shop owner is demanding. It requires a lot from you. Danny always tried convincing you to share the workload with Tom, who had been working in your shop from nearly the start. You completely trusted Tom, and yet there was this part of you that couldn’t just let him do that out of worry that things just wouldn’t be the same if it was him instead of you.

Even if you worked too much, that was no reason for Danny to do what he had done. It just didn’t make sense. Why were you even letting it eat away at you? That was the kind of thing you would typically consider to be a waste of time, so you were unsure as to why you were so caught up in it now.

“Y/n, hey,” Tom poked your side. “You okay? You’ve been putting the books up the wrong way.”

“Hmm?” You glanced at him before looking back to the books in front of you. “Shit…”

You hadn’t even noticed, not a single one of them.

He chuckled, reaching out to help you fix them. “You seem lost in the clouds today.”

“I know, sorry. It’s just… Danny and I had a fight last night and this morning. I guess I’m just trying to figure that out.”

His brows furrowed, “What was the fight about?”

You stacked up the books and let out a long and heavy sigh. Running a hand down your face, you chuckled, “He fucked his receptionist.”

Simple, straightforward.

“Oh wow,” Tom’s eyes widened. “Umm… did he…” he cleared his throat, “did he confess?”

“Indirectly.” You shook your head, “He blamed me for it. Said he needed some attention, and that I fail to give it to him. He told me I spend too much time here, and that I make everything about myself.” You started shoving the books back into place, Tom handing you a new one each time.

“So he thinks he’s justified?”

“Completely, and he expected me to just move on from it and maintain our relationship. I mean, how the hell do I just move on from that?” You looked at Tom.

He shrugged, pointing to the shelf, “Still not put up right.”

Looking over, you noticed they weren’t. Some books were placed upside down, or even backwards. It wasn’t like you to mess up something so minor or to get that lost in your own thoughts.

“Fuck…” you started taking them out again.

“Let me,” he stepped over, taking the books from your hands. “Go on about Danny, though.”

He didn’t need to tell you twice, “He’s made it all complicated. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I could’ve sworn to you a week ago that we loved one another. You know, we just… we seemed to work so well together. He didn’t seem to mind my busy schedule, it’s like that came out of nowhere. I just thought he was more understanding.”

“So he’s upset the balance?”

“More than that, he’s thrown me completely off trail. He broke the rule, Tom!” Your voice was louder than you realized, for once you had forgotten you were even in your shop.

“It sounds to me like he’s not worth the worry,” He put the last book in. “Don’t let him eat away at you like this, it’s not like you.”

“Exactly, so why does it bother me so much?” You pulled yourself up onto the counter.

“Well… you loved him. You’ve been together for so long—”

“We were together,” you corrected. “I kicked him out this morning.”

“Right, sorry.” He started placing clearance stickers on some books, “You were together for a long time, and it’s still so fresh to you.”

“That’s the thing, we were together for so long, and yet he still did that.” You jumped down, beginning to put away more books. “I just… I want to shake him off, pretend he never happened.”

It would be much easier to just ignore him, even if you knew it wouldn’t actually solve anything. Maybe it could, though. If he was never a part of your life, you would’ve never felt this pain.

“It’s just not so simple to move on from love like that. I wish it were, believe me, but it’s just not.”

“How could’ve that been love, though? I mean, isn’t love supposed to be this grand thing? Where you meet ‘the one’ and you care for one another deeply. You do whatever you can to help each other, to be there.” You scoffed, “There is nothing like that that exists.”

“Ouch,” Tom rested a hand over his heart, “does our friendship mean nothing to you? Would I not do those things for you?”

“It’s a completely different context, and I’ve known you for most of my life.”

“Okay, okay… but you shouldn’t just give up love because of this one bad experience. You know, I’m sure there are loads of other opportunities out there for you to see better examples of love.”

“Oh yeah? And how do you suggest I would find such ‘love’?” You raised a brow, he sounded so childish.

“I don’t know… I just think that love can happen anywhere, at any time. It’s not something that needs to be planned or to follow some schedule. It just… happens.” Tom smiled softly, “And love shouldn’t hurt, no, but sometimes it does. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth the pain. Don’t get me wrong, Danny’s absolutely not worth the pain himself. But I don’t want your image of love to be ruined from just one guy.”

Tom was right about one thing, Danny wasn’t worth the pain. But that pain wasn’t love, and your relationship with Danny apparently wasn’t either.

“It’s a fantasy, Tom.” You turned away, “I mean, maybe some people find love, but it has to be rare. Most people probably just settle out of being tired of looking.” You felt that was true. “Love doesn’t just come waltzing through the door.”

“Well, no,” he sighed. “But that doesn’t mean love isn’t out there. It has to be, you know? And finding love is just that much more precious, because it’s so much harder to come by, if that’s what you believe.”

It sounded like a fairytale to you, how could he believe in such a thing? Maybe he was right that love existed, but it wasn’t like everyone was finding it. In your mind, there was simply no way it could be as common as Tom seemed to believe.

“Aren’t you just the love expert, what with your relationship with Destiny?” You teased.

His relationship with Destiny didn’t seem to be one of love to you, not that it was really any of your business. You worried for Tom and didn’t want him to end up in the same boat as you, though you hadn’t seen it coming before. Destiny just seemed so disinterested in him, which you hated for him. You never really said that to him, as you felt that would be completely overstepping. Still, you had hinted the thought at him, because you felt like you couldn’t just let it happen. She seemed like trouble.

Maybe your experience with Danny only gave you a better ability to see when someone was going to hurt someone in a relationship. That, or you just didn’t like her from the beginning, as Tom claims. Destiny seemed nice enough but you weren’t sure how much she cared for him. That was between them, though.

“I’m not an expert,” Tom denied. “I just think that you could find love again.”

“I don’t think I ever really did, and I’m not sure that I ever want to. It seems to be more of a waste of time than anything else.” You were so set on that idea.

Tom couldn’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to believe in love, what was to hate about it? He understood that you were likely trying to process countless emotions, but there was something about how you pictured love that he could never fully understand. Your version of love seemed to be somewhat more of a business transaction rather than what he believed.

“So, how are you going to magically get over this?” He straightened up his pile of books.

“I should just… leave. Get away from here.” You started to fix a random display, “It’s what I need, a break. From him, from this, from everything.”

“You? Take a break?” He laughed, “Right, sure. Y/n, it would be a true miracle for you to take a break.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” You snapped.

You knew exactly what he meant. Anyone who talked to you for more than ten minutes knew what that meant, that didn’t mean you weren’t mad at him for pointing it out. Work was important to you, and you spent a lot of time in your shop. It took more to run it than people realized. Danny never understood.

“I just…” he shifted his gaze to his feet. “I just mean that… you’re a hard worker. A very… very hard worker.”

“Which is why I deserve a break!” You made your way back to the counter.

“You do deserve one,” he assured you. “I just meant it’s unlike you. But, you had planned to go on holiday with Danny, hadn’t you? You could still go.”

“Oh god,” you groaned. “I forgot about that. We were meant to come up with an entire plan for it, we had already put my flat up on Airbnb.” You were mentally beating yourself up for that one, suppose you’d have to take it down later. “We hadn’t even figured out where we wanted to go, we were so caught up in work. Well,” you scoffed, “I was caught up in work, and he was distracted with his receptionist.”

Tom offered a sympathetic smile, “You could still go on holiday. You said you wanted to just forget about it and that would be the perfect opportunity.”

He made a good point. It did seem to be the obvious answer to your problem. You could get away, clear your mind of Danny completely, and come back to move on with your life smoothly. Danny didn’t have to be a complication anymore, he didn’t even have to be a thought. Yet, at the same time, there was a part of you that felt like it wasn’t the best idea to just run away from your problems. But was it really running away?

“No one has reached out about the flat anyway,” you stated quietly. “Maybe it’s not such a good idea. Maybe that’s my sign to stay?” But were you even one to believe in signs? “I don’t know. I think I’ll just go to bed, do you mind locking up? You’ve got the keys, right?”

He jangled them in your direction, “Yep. See you tomorrow.”

You gave him a wave before making your way up to your house, just above your shop. Going on holiday seemed to be what you needed. Like he said, the perfect opportunity. It wasn’t like you though, he was right about that too. Maybe what you really needed was to create a new routine for yourself, one without Danny. To create a life for yourself where there was one less thing to focus on.

Opening your laptop, you went to check on your Airbnb account. No one had reached out still, which only pushed your thoughts more towards staying. After all, it was a possible sign to stay.

It felt ridiculous, to think anything like that was a sign. You didn’t listen to signs, you listened to facts, to what was right in front of you. The truth of it was that no one had reached out, you needed to just remove your home from the sight and continue on with your typical life. So you did, staring blankly at the screen after.

What was your typical life now? Were you supposed to just move on? If that was what you were really meant to do, you didn’t know if you could. You couldn’t lie, deep down you knew it hurt, and maybe that’s why you wanted to leave. But leaving would really do you no good, even if it was what you wanted to do. Instead, you would do what? Ignore them in a different way? Pretend it never happened, that Danny never existed.

Yes, that is what you would do. He didn’t deserve more of your time to be spent on him, he deserved to be forgotten. You didn’t know how you really could forget, especially as you sat surrounded by a life you built with him. How many trinkets around your living room were his? How many things did you get because that was what he wanted for his home? The pile of CDs in the corner were his own taste in music, most of which you could never really get into. Suddenly, everything around you felt wrong, like it wasn’t even your home at all.

Maybe you needed that holiday after all. You weren’t really sure what to do. Where would you go? Would you be able to leave the shop to Tom? Would it even really be worth the trip? What if it only stirred up some new form of emotions? You couldn’t go.

Your account popped up with a notification, someone was actually reaching out to you.

A woman named Iris messaged, “Hey, I was interested in your house! I don’t know if someone else rented it but I thought it was worth the shot. Is it still available? I’m sorry if it’s not. I just really liked your place! It’s okay if it’s not! Sorry! Thank you!”

Could be another sign, you thought. It still wasn’t something you really believed in though.

“Oh, sorry! I was renting it because I was planning to go on holiday with my boyfriend but plans changed. We broke up recently so I won’t be going anymore.” It was a fair enough explanation, though you weren’t sure that a stranger cared to know the reasoning.

“Oh, I’m sorry! why did you break up with him?” Or maybe she did care.

Another message came through quickly after the other. She felt as if she had overstepped, “I’m sorry you don’t have to answer that. I don’t know why I asked.”

You hadn’t really minded, a part of you wanted to completely vent to her. It wasn’t like you would ever meet her, so why did it really matter? Keeping to yourself was the wiser option, though, and it wasn’t like you had much to say about the situation.

“No, don’t worry! I guess it’s pretty complicated but long story short, he cheated on me.” Simple enough.

Iris’ reply caught you off guard, “Men are trash.”

She was right. Men are trash, and not worth anyone’s time. No use in crying over spilled milk, yet here you were with a shattered heart being held together by Paw Patrol band-aids.

“To say the least” you laughed to yourself.

God, were you really letting yourself sit in that pain? Furthermore, were you really letting yourself vent to a stranger on Airbnb of all things? You weren’t being yourself, not really. Not that you had been for a majority of the day though. Everything seemed off.

“I’m really sorry, I know how it feels. I was actually looking at your place to escape from a man myself. The love of my life, Chad, just got engaged.” An Iris fell in love with a Chad?

You couldn’t help but laugh again, at least someone else was going through some similar pain. His name was Chad, falling for a Chad was pain in itself. A part of you wanted to know more about Iris’ situation.

“Chad?” you wrote back.

“I know. It’s my fault for falling in love with a Chad. Lives up to his stupid name.” Though you had never spoken to this woman, you could hear the regret in her voice.

At least you hadn’t ended up with a Chad, but you weren’t sure that Danny was much better. “Well, I’m sorry that ‘Chad’ had to be the love of your life. It sounds like we both need to get away.”

You really had needed to get away, that was something you now knew.

“Definitely, but I’m gonna keep looking. I need to be at least 500 miles away from him.” She replied.

You couldn’t believe what you were about to say, and a part of you hoped that she would just sort of brush you off. Another part of you was hoping that she would reach out further. It did seem like a possibility, since she had reached out after it was removed.

“Maybe we could work something out?” You figured if you could at least commit to renting out your place that you would then commit to taking a holiday.

“Let’s switch lives like in The Parent Trap, although we’re not twins we’d be switching breakup lives.” You thought it could just be a joke, but it also seemed like an intriguing idea.

“Sounds interesting! Where are you from?” You asked, a bit hopeful.

This was not much like yourself, it seemed like such a crazy idea. You hadn’t traveled in a long time, and even then you had never traveled alone. Suddenly, it was all you could think of doing. It would mean escape, a new setting and a chance to give yourself a fresh start. You just hoped she lived far, far away.

She replied, “Astoria, Oregon. Pretty boring compared to London I guess.”

You gave it a quick Google, just to get an idea of what it was like. You hadn’t heard of it before, and it would put a pretty good distance between yourself and Danny. It was far, small, and unknown. The only things you really cared about.

“Not at all! All I care is that it’s far from here.” It was the perfect distance, really.

“Me too.” She replied.

You hesitated, unsure of what you were about to ask. “So, should we switch?”

“You’re serious? My place is nothing like yours.” So it was great then? Maybe the polar opposite of your current situation.

“Surely it’s not too horrible.”

“I have a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, living room. That's it. And I’m not near a romantic location like yours. I do have a dog, though.” She was only making it more and more appealing to you. You wanted to leave the “romance” and you couldn’t imagine why she would want to run towards it.

“That’s perfect, I want far away from romance.” You had, really. You were never a big fan of the romance part of it all anyway, it seemed overrated at this point.

“Well, this is your chance.”

You paused to think, was this really the choice you wanted to make? You had been thinking about it all day, but having it suddenly becoming a reality was different, overwhelming almost.

“Can I ask you one thing?” It was the most important question you had.

After a brief pause she responded, “Sure.”

“Are there any men in your town?”

“Honestly? Zero.”

So it really was turning out to be the perfect escape. “When can I come?”

“Tomorrow too soon?” She seemed just as eager as you to get away.

You considered it, would it be an irrational decision? You knew that if you declined you would likely never really break away. Besides, Iris seemed to need it just as much as you did, if not more because of Chad.

“Tomorrow’s perfect actually.” Had you really just sent that?

Apparently you had, as she replied, “wait wait wait but like are you for real?”

Maybe? “Absolutely, or would it be too crazy?”

It was completely insane, but you were going for it. Like you had said, you would likely never have to talk to this person again, why not make yourself seem crazy?

“It is but I’m down for it, but like, okay do you want pics of my home or something so you don’t think I’m a creepy old man who might kidnap you?” Not the response you were expecting.

Still, you decided to roll with it. “Umm, yes actually :) that would be great”

“Okay, wait, want my phone number so we’re not talking over air bnb?” she asked.

You nodded gently to yourself, “Yes, I feel like that might be better.”

It felt strange to be doing such a thing. You were talking to a complete stranger, from a completely different country, about switching homes. And switching the next day, no less.

You weren’t really sure how, but your conversation had somehow managed to become more personal as it went on. After texting for a bit longer, and seeing pictures of her house, you both had decided to give each other a call over facetime. It was nice, kind of, in it’s own strange way, to be talking to Iris about it all. Sure, she seemed to have more faith in love than you did, but she still could understand where you were coming from to at least some extent.

So, yes, maybe you were ranting to a complete stranger about how your boyfriend had cheated on you. To be fair, she was also ranting to you about how the “love of her life” just got engaged to someone else. He seemed like a dick, truly. It made you wonder why either of you were letting men like Chad and Danny hurt the both of you, and they still were hurting you, really. It didn’t seem fair. If there was such a thing as love, why did you have to love them?

Iris seemed to have a tender heart. She spoke so delicately about love, and you swore she seemed to still want it even after what she had just gone through. You couldn’t imagine, you wanted to run from love. You wanted to leave it behind and forget that it was ever a thing. Yet Iris seemed to want to hold it close, and to possibly find it again. It was interesting to you, how differently the both of you viewed it.

The call had been going for what felt like hours, and you seemed to be learning more about Iris than you had ever truly known about Danny. She was a writer, and surely a lovely one at that. Apparently, Chad took advantage of that, though, among other things. He seemed to only care about Iris to the extent that she was there at his own convenience. Your heart broke more, you thought, but this time for Iris. Because, no, you didn’t believe in love. But she did.

Iris had this idea of love that you couldn’t understand. It seemed too fake, like it was pulled out of a movie or book. Iris thought that love was complex, that it could be found and more than once. Her idea of love seemed so far from your own, and you couldn’t picture why. Why would she still believe in something like love after what happened with Chad?

Really, it didn’t matter much. Maybe it was your vastly different views, but talking with each other seemed so easy. It was almost as if you were just talking to an old friend.

“So how long were you with him?” Iris asked.

“About four years.” It was a waste of four years. “What about you? How long have you loved Chad?”

You couldn’t help but poke fun at his name. Chad.

“Oh god it does sound super stupid,” she groaned. “But… Three stupid and miserable years, it’s a low point.”

You chuckled, “No, it’s not stupid. But, I can imagine how it would be a low point.”

“But like you told me—He blamed it on you?”

“He did.” You let your head rest in your hand, “He said I worked too much, and that I didn’t give him enough attention.”

Iris rolled her eyes, once again tired of Danny, a man she had never even met. “Fuck him, honestly, you’re successful bet he was intimidated by your success.”

“Hmm, I doubt it. He just seemed… bored of me.” You reached for your glass of wine, “I mean, he was right about one thing. I do spend most of my time at work, but that doesn’t give him any right to do that.”

She sat on her couch, wine in hand. “No. it doesn’t. Why—Why are men—Like—No, never mind that’s my question,” she pursed her lips jokingly, “why are men?”

You laughed, “Why are men indeed.” You couldn’t help but grin, “More specifically, why is Chad?”

“Ugh, don’t even mention him.” Iris let her head fall back, “He’s an asshole, can you imagine just a week ago he wanted to sleep with me?”

Chad was an asshole, and so his name fit him well. It was still hard, almost impossible, to see what she ever saw in him. Iris seemed so soft, and kind. You could tell that, sadly, Chad had really hurt her.

You spoke truthfully, “What I really have trouble understanding is why you ever wanted to sleep with him. Maybe his personality, but he seems like such a wad.”

She paused to consider, and it then left you in your own thoughts about it. A Chad was never deserving of an Iris, so you couldn’t help but wonder why. You figured, though, that she was like you with Danny. She likely didn’t know that Chad was a jerk, how could’ve she? Though the signs seemed obvious to you, you weren’t the one living that experience.

“Look—I—I believe in love at first sight and I don’t know, I guess—I saw the fantasy, you know?” She seemed to be lost in thought almost, like it was just coming out in full truth. “Thought we could—I don’t know, he was charming.” Aren’t they always? “I guess I wanted that, you know the whole love story, and he made me believe he could give it to me and then he just never—He only wanted sex and I fell in love. Pathetic right?”

You didn’t think it was pathetic at all. If anything, it was sweet. She truly seemed to believe that love existed, and if that was the case then she was speaking from a place of vulnerability.

“No, I don’t think it’s pathetic…” you took a breath in, “I think… well, I’ve come to the conclusion that love isn’t worth any cost. Not really, especially since it doesn’t even seem real.” And it didn’t, how could it? “Love makes people get their hopes up. It makes us… give too much of ourselves to other people, when we don’t even know what our future with them looks like.” And that was what you thought of it. Love was a chore, a fairytale, a loss. “But I don’t think it’s pathetic that you wanted to believe in something that only seems to come from fairytales, I just think that’s what most people do.”

“Love is worth it, though.” You likely seemed heartless to Iris. “It’s men who are the problem.”

That was something you could agree on. “Suppose you got me there…”

“But you like really don’t believe in love?” she wondered. “Then why were you with Danny? Didn’t you love him?”

Well, Danny. Your relationship with Danny seemed like love, but you weren’t so sure anymore. It couldn’t have been love if it only led to him cheating on you, no. Love wasn’t meant to have those sorts of complications.

“You know, I thought I loved him, and I thought he loved me.” You stared blankly, “But, I guess he just… didn’t. And it just made me realize that, even if love is real, it comes so rarely that I don't believe I would ever find it.” Which hurt a bit to say out loud. “I just don’t think most people do.” Your eyes flickered back to Iris, “Why have you put so much into it if you were hurt?”

“I think… I dunno, love isn’t a one time thing.” She sounded like Tom, which wasn’t necessarily bad. “I think the problem is I suffered from unrequited love, but I think I… I dunno, I think we get chances, not me though,” she scoffed and you offered a small smile, “but it’s… I don’t know, I think I’ve always read about love and I’ve always wanted that, and love is complicated, that’s it, I don’t think you can easily-I mean I do believe in a sort of thing like love at first sight but I mean, I believe in second chances, but like not for everyone. I guess I… I think there is such a thing as love I’m just… super unlucky and maybe that sweet fantasy of any Julia Roberts’ romcom isn’t for me, I’m destined to be a side character who gets no… attention.”

It was disheartening to hear her saying that. You didn’t believe in things like that, and you were normally so quick to fight Tom about it, but it just hurt to hear her talking about it. Iris believed in this full on Shakesperian love, so hearing her say something so somber was odd. You thought it couldn’t be true, because she seemed to be the main character, really. Her disheveled hair, multitude of snacks, and her glass of wine. While it may not be the “picture perfect” main character, it was a real one. That was exactly what you pictured when it came to a main character, so what made her think otherwise?

“Oh, come on Iris, that’s not true.” You sat up in your bed, “I mean, if you do come here then you’ll have plenty of opportunity to live a Julia Roberts movie. People seem to find this place so thrilling… I don’t seem to know much about love, or to really be the one to talk to about it, though…” You paused, this conversation was starting to sound too familiar. “You know, you should talk to my friend, Tom, if you come. I think you’d get along well, he gushes on about love all the time.”

She really might make good friends with him, they seemed to hold some similar beliefs.

“It is thrilling. I mean, it’s near Notting Hill,” you could hear the excitement in her voice, “I just need Hugh Grant and that’s it but…” Yeah, but. It was another thing that was out of reach. “You might come here and hate on love with my brother, he hates everything related to it.”

It didn’t come as much of a surprise to hear that yet another man hated everything related to love. It wasn’t that you thought all men did, but it did seem to be something you noticed in quite a few. And, honestly, you didn’t blame them. You were right there with them.

“Really?” You smiled, “He sounds better than most men already.”

Iris let out a laugh, “He’s not.” Big surprise.

“Aren’t siblings meant to support one another?” You asked.

She scoffed, “You’d think that. But no, he’s a man.” That was a fair point. “I don’t know who’s worse men who hate love or men who pretend to love love. Your friend is probably the second one.”

You knew what she was saying. You had been with a man that pretended to love love, sort of at least. And Tom, well, he was nothing like Danny at all.

“No, I don’t think so,” You shook your head. “He seems to really believe in it, maybe more than you.” Though you weren’t sure how he could more than her. “He’s really sweet, typically… I mean, he is a man so he has his days,” you joked.

“Oh,” she closed her eyes, “so… Right, right, but you don’t believe in love and…” whatever she was saying, you didn’t understand. “Right, right, Perfect setup, see?” What did that mean? “This town is perfect for you, nothing that has to do with romance. It’s a great way to get away from everything romance.”

You were a bit confused by her reaction, but decided to shake it off. “Then I can’t wait to go, really. I mean, it seems perfect for you here, too. You can surround yourself with things to remember the ‘fantasy’ of love again,” because that’s what it was, a fantasy. “So, are we really switching tomorrow?”

The question of the night. It still didn’t seem real, like you were just going to wake up the next day and your life would go back to normal, or whatever the new normal was going to become. Yet here you were, planning to swap houses with a… stranger?

“You think there are any flights?” Iris questioned.

“I’m sure there have to be some,” you shrugged. “Should we check?”

“Definitely.”

“Wonderful.” More like terrifying. “How long are we doing this for?”

Another thing to worry about. Overall, it wasn’t that you had this sense of panic. You felt more excited than anything if you were being honest, but a part of you recognized how irresponsible this entire situation was. Nevertheless, you pulled your laptop closer to you.

“Uh, depends, holidays are coming soon…” she made another good point. “So, even though I have no interest in spending Christmas here, what’s your idea?”

You wanted to get away. You didn’t have much family, nor did you want to gain pity from them about Danny. The entire point of leaving was to escape the basic thought of him. Tom typically had takeout with you and Danny on Christmas Eve, but that was something you could do in the states on your own if you wanted.

“Nothing is really keeping me here for it, honestly,” you said plainly.

“I’m just-- you’re okay with dogs, right?” She adjusted her camera to put a small pug in the frame. “Because little Tommy here is going to miss me.”

You smiled brightly at the puppy, “I’d love to take care of… did you say…” you held in a laugh, it was a bit funny considering, “L-little Tommy?”

“Yeah, his name is Tom.” Iris came back into frame, “He’s the only male that matters.”

“Oh, I love that.” You grinned, “I would love to trade Tom’s with you.”

She chuckled, “As long as I don’t have to feed that one.”

“I do hope that you don’t have to, he seems somewhat capable of caring for himself,” you joked. “Oh, by the way. He’ll be running my shop for me while I’m away, sometimes he stays later for work so if you hear him downstairs don’t worry.”

You had nearly forgotten to even mention that, would’ve been quite the surprise. And, you had also nearly forgotten that you would have to eventually tell Tom about this situation. Which would happen pretty soon, if you were to leave so soon. He’d surely think you were crazy.

“I probably won’t notice, honestly…” she looked off camera, “Okay so here’s a flight, can you believe there’s actually one for tomorrow?”

You scrolled around, “I found one too, shockingly enough…” Suddenly, it was real again. It was back and forth between the reality of it, and just the idea. “Are we really going through with this?”

It was a crazy plan. There wasn’t even an actual plan in place, not really.

“I think we are.” Iris sounded just as nervous you did, which was comforting in some way.

The feeling of excitement for a new beginning was what you were trying to stay focused on.

Still, you were a bit hesitant. “Well, alright then…”

“On three then….”

Were you really going through with this? It was completely crazy. When you were talking to Tom before about needing a break, this wasn’t exactly what you imagined. You seemed so nervous, and yet you continued to go through with it. You figured that it must’ve been what you truly needed.

“One…” were you really counting down?

“Two…” that was a yes, apparently.

“Three!”

It was too late to go back. You bought the ticket, it was happening. You were officially going to the States for holiday, and at Christmas no less. A part of you felt this wave of relief, while another part of you was still feeling very conflicted. But it was done, that was it. You just swapped houses with a complete stranger.

read iris’ version here

next chapter

#timothee chalamet x reader #timothée chalamet x reader #tim chalamet x reader #tom holland x reader #christmas fic #timothée chalamet imagine #timothee chalamet imagine #timothée chalamet one shot #timothee chalamet oneshot #timothée chalamet x y/n #timothee chalamet x you #timothee chalamet x y/n #timothée chalamet x you #timothée chalamet #timothee chalamet #timmy chalamet #tim chalamet

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saltymiraculer · 4 years ago

Text

Ceremonial Kisses (Part 2 of 3)

Ahhhhh, thank you for all the support I’ve gotten on this fic! It is with great pleasure I present to you *trumpet noise* Part 2 of Ceremonial Kisses!

I apologize for the huge wait, and I’m really sorry about my update schedule in general.

Also, you might notice that around the middle of this chapter, the writing gets a little bit choppy, and I’m super sorry about that! My apartment just decided to evict anyone with a cat, and I’m under a lot of stress right now. Thankfully, it gets smoother towards the end!

Happy reading!

Part 1 | Part 3

-🌸-

After ten minutes of gorging themselves on the Chinese equivalents of Kit-Kats and Lays chips, they pulled up to a hotel.

“Whaf, wewen’t we goih to da cashale?“ Nino asked, his mouth stuffed with cookies. Marinette shot him a disgusted look. He swallowed and took a swig of soda. “Wait, weren’t we going to the castle?“

Marinette had been thinking the same thing. This couldn’t be an ancient Chinese palace–it looked like a hotel!

“My instructions have changed. I was informed you would be staying at the Overseas Suites instead.“ The driver (she still didn’t know his name) said, pulling up to the front of the hotel.

As soon as they stepped out, they remembered that time zones existed.

It was 5:00 PM there.

They were going to be up all night.

The driver handed Marinette a gold-embossed business card with a phone number written on it.

“Call me whenever you need a lift, miss Marinette.“ He stepped back into the car and drove off.

Marinette shrugged and stuffed the card in her pocket. “Well, that was weird. Let’s go inside now, it’s freezing.”

As soon as they walked inside, Bustier scurried up to them.

“Where were you? You had me worried sick!“

Before anyone could say anything, the chauffeur from earlier appeared.

“I am Marinette’s uncle, ma’am. I heard she was going to be staying in China for a week and I just had to see her. The school was informed that I would be picking her and her friends up.“

“Oh–well–you still should have told me where you were going!“

“But shouldn’t you have already known?“ Marinette asked sweetly. “I mean, you were informed of it, weren’t you?“

Ha. She had her there!

“W-well, yes, technically, I was…but it’s time to go to your rooms! Off you go, everybody!“

“Oh, wait, I’m sharing a room with Marinette, right?“ Alya asked.

“Yeah, I think so.“

“Shit. Guys, I’ve got to share a room with Adrien. Say your prayers, ‘cause I don’t know if I’ll make it out alive.“

Oh, right. I guess it’s time to explain.

Adrien had stayed with his “high road” approach, but not in the way that she had expected. He started treating Lila to lunch, buying her jewelry, asking her to school dances, the whole shebang.

But it was all so forced that nobody believed any of it, and one day, all the ‘affection’ had just stopped.

Lila milked it for all it was worth, blaming Marinette and Nino and Alya, and the president of some far-off African country, and Adrien...

Something changed.

His face was more gaunt and his cheeks were more hollow, and he barely ever talked to anyone, just shrugged them off and turned away.

He was, to put it frankly, terrifying.

Which was not good for Nino at all.

“Oh, I’m sorry, class, but Ivan will be sharing a room with Nino. Adrien and Nathaniel will be roommates.“

All three of them heaved a sigh.

“Okay, so I’m sleeping tonight, that’s a plus.“ Nino joked. “What are we doing for dinner?“

“Um, I think Bustier said there was food already in the rooms. There are kitchenettes and, like, boxes of pasta and stuff. The trip was sponsored by–“ Marinette suddenly froze. She was contemplating how to finish her sentence when Alya finished it for her.

“–By your family, right?“

“Yeah. It feels so weird to say that, like–me? A princess? I’d probably trip over my own dress.“

“I know what you mean, girl. Now, let’s go get some food.“

After scurrying back up to their respective rooms and scarfing down some fettuccine, they fell asleep almost immediately, despite it being only about 3:00 in Paris.

Which, in hindsight, was probably why they woke up at two in the morning and started eating Cheerios with chocolate milk.

“Marinette, it’s so early!“ Alya said, stretching her arms towards the ceiling. “What should we do until it’s time for the first tour?“

“Wanna play Uno?“

And play Uno they did, a six-round monstrosity that lasted five hours and many draw-four cards.

There was a knock on the door and they both whipped around. “Girls, are you awake yet?“ a muffled voice asked. “You have to be down in the lobby in ten minutes!”

Alya and Marinette looked at each other. “Shit!” they yelled, jumping up and grabbing clothes out of drawers. They took the elevator down to the lobby after getting dressed, only to face something that made them wish they hadn’t.

Lila.

“And since the princess was so touched by what I did for her, she told me that she’d grant me any favor!“

“So…what was the favor?“ Mylene asked, inching closer.

“I asked her to bring our class on this trip, of course! Because I love my friends–unlike some people.“ She tilted her head in Marinette and Alya’s direction.

“When did you get here? Were you eavesdropping on our conversation?“ Kim shouted.

A few of them turned pink and tried to turn away.

“No, but I’m sure we’ll hear plenty of other horrible things about ourselves from you guys on this trip.“ Marinette said.

“Oh, get over yourselves! Lila’s the one who got us here, and she can kick you out just as easily. Right, Lila?“

“Of course! Marinette, I really want to be friends, but after the way you’ve treated everyone, it’s only fair I had to do what I did!“

“Oh? And what exactly did you do?“ Alya challenged, putting her hands on her hips. Alix smirked and nudged Kim with her elbow.

“Let’s just say…some of the tours might not be for you.“ Sabrina interjected, swiping something on a familiar white tablet. Marinette’s eyes widened. “Did you steal Bustier’s tablet just so you could take us off the tours? You risked suspension for that?!”

“Well, Mari-nette, you should be surprised to know that some people are willing to take risks for their friends.“ Kim snapped over his shoulder, earning many a nod from Lila’s entourage.

“Kids!“ Bustier yelled, startling them all. “What are you doing with my tablet?“

“Um–uh_Marinette stole it and threw it to us!“ Lila replied nervously.

Everyone turned to Marinette. “Marinette, I expect better from you! You just earned yourself a week of detention when we get back to Paris.“ She whisked the tablet out of Sabrina’s arms before Marinette could protest, and turned around, taking a deep breath.

When she faced the class again, she had a smile back on her face.

“Okay! Today, we will be touring a replica of one of the ancient Chinese palaces. Please behave yourselves.“

She started walking out, and the class followed her, Alya and Marinette tagging behind. Nino joined them soon after.

“So, that was weird.“

“No kidding.“

Once they had stepped off the bus in front of the palace, everyone stopped. Of course, they had all done a bit of googling about the places they would visit, but seeing everything live and in person was taking it to a whole new level.

“Whoa,“ they whispered. Even Lila, who wanted nothing more than to break something, was dumbfounded by this wonder of architectural beauty.

Miss Bustier was the one to break the silence. Clearing her throat, she said “Well, shall we head inside?”

As they shuffled inside, Marinette secretly wished she had about eight more eyes so she could take in everything she was seeing. But she had to be on high alert, Lila and her crew were sure to pull something nasty.

“Ah, and this,“ Bustier gasped. “This is one of the things I was looking most forward to seeing.

“As you all know, the princess will be coronated soon, and this is exactly why I wanted to take you here. This is a replica of an ancient Chinese coronation hall, isn’t it breathtaking?“

Lila snapped out of her trance and elbowed Kim, whispering something in her ear that made both of them snicker.

“Hey, Marinette!“ he yelled, running up to her. “What are you doing?“ Marinette watched in horror as he pushed a porcelain vase off of a pedestal, backing away immediately so she was the only one in the area.

Everything seemed to go in slow-motion after that.

Everyone in the room turning to them.

Lila’s grin turning up towards her ears in an almost Grinch-like fashion.

Marinette diving to catch the delicate artifact and balancing it in one hand just before it smashed on the floor.

Security appearing to lecture them.

“Now, miss, what you did was punishable by law,“ one of them said. “And by nature I’ll have to ask you and your whole gang to leave, if you don’t want the royal family to press charges.“

“The-the royal family?“ Lila squeaked. Marinette sighed and stood up.

“I’m sorry, sir,“ she said, hanging her head.

“Wait just a second!“ Someone in the crowd yelled. “That guy in the red hoodie pushed it–I saw it with my own two eyes! The girl saved the vase!“

“Yeah, why don’t you go check the security cameras? I’m sure the girl was the one who stopped it from breaking!“

“No, no, I’m quite sure I saw Marinette push the vase.“ Bustier interrupted. “She’s quite the troublemaker, and it wouldn’t be inconceivable for that to happen.“

“I’m terribly sorry, miss, but only once we review the security footage can we make a decision.“

They left with a promise to return as soon as they were done, and everyone started at Marinette.

Nino was the first to speak.

“Alright, who’s gonna fess up? Marinette didn’t do it, I didn’t do it, Alya didn’t do it. So who did?“

Marinette saw the look on Lila’s face. There was no wriggling out of this one.

“Kim did it! I saw…he tried to warn Marinette about a huge bug, but she had this evil look on her face and moved out of the way…and Kim accidentally pushed the vase.“

“What?! That never happened.“ Nino said, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, I was there the whole time, and there weren’t any bugs.“ Alya said, leaning against a wall. “Give it up, Lila. The security guys’ll be back in a minute.“

“Actually, we’re already here.“ said a deep voice. “The boy’ll need to come with us.“

“Oh, please don’t!“ Bustier cried. “He’s only a kid, he didn’t know any better!“

-🌸-

“I’m sorry, miss, but the security footage suggests otherwise. Though, if you pay a fine, all charges will be dropped.“

“What’s the amount?“ She asked nervously, pulling out her checkbook and hoping euros would translate into whatever the Chinese currency was.

“794.71 yuan.”

“Do you take euros?“ Caline asked weakly. Nino glared at her, and several of her students looked dumbfounded.

“You didn’t bring Chinese money…on a trip to China?! Even Kim brought some!“

Kim suddenly looked scared. “I don’t have to give up my money, do I?”

She sighed. “No, you don’t. If anything, Marinette should be the one paying. How much is that in euros?“

“100, I believe. We do take euros, if you’ll follow me.“ She sighed and shrugged.

“Kids, please don’t push anything else over. I’ll be right back.“

-🌸-

As soon as Bustier hurried away after leading them outside, everyone glared at Marinette except Alya and Nino. Lila still didn’t understand why they had left her, Alya had just stormed up to her one day and yelled, but that was besides the point.

“Marinette, how could you blame this all on Kim? Now Miss Bustier has to pay eight hundred euros!“ Lila cried, earning Marinette a few glares.

She smirked inwardly. Now, if only she could have gotten Marinette arrested…

“Eight hundred yuan, Lila. It’s only a hundred euros, and besides, it would have cost much more if Marinette hadn’t caught the vase.“ Nino said, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, but she’s gonna call my mom. Do you know how long she’s gonna ground me for? Thirty years!“

“Marinette, what is wrong with you?“ Alix accused. “You seriously need an attitude adjustment. And I think I know just what we need to adjust.“ She whispered something into Lila’s ear and smirked.

“But hey, all disagreements aside, do you want a drink?“ Lila asked, shoving Marinette backwards. She stumbled a bit, and Nino and Alya tried to stop her, but she fell back into a large fountain and emerged a second later, sopping wet.

Her hair had come out of the bun, her makeup was running, and her clothes were soaked through.

Everything was going according to plan. “Oh, Marinette, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to…I was only trying to squish a mosquito!”

“Mosquito?“ Marinette seethed through gritted teeth. Her expression was terrifying.

Lila backed away, as did most of the class. “This was one-of-a-kind, Lila. You ruined it. Chloé should know!“

Everyone turned to Chloé for an answer to the nonexistent question. “I didn’t get her that shirt on purpose! My mom did!” She yelled, ducking into a bathroom. Lila shrugged.

“Marinette!“ Bustier screamed, appearing at just the right time. “What are you doing?!”

Lila interrupted Marinette before she could even speak. “Marinette was trying to push me into the fountain, but I dodged.“ She glanced to the side, where Nino was helping Marinette dry off with handfuls of paper towels. She frowned, then looked over at Alya.

Bad idea.

“Miss Bustier, I have a question. Why would Marinette, one of the most non-violent people we know, try to push Lila into a fountain? Especially after she was just proven innocent? Do you really think that she would compromise her innocence like that?“

Miss Bustier looked alarmed. Lila gritted her teeth–she would have to lay low for a while if she wanted anyone to believe that Marinette would do anything wrong.

They're such idiots, she thought to herself. I’ve got practically the whole class under my thumb.

“Lila? Are you coming? We’re going back to the hotel so nothing else gets damaged.“ She shot a pointed look at Marinette, who was dripping all over the floor.

“O-of course, Miss!“

They caught a bus back to their resort, and Lila was delighted to see that Nino’s efforts had come to no avail trying to distance Marinette from the older men who approached her from behind.

-🌸-

“Marinette, I can’t believe that little liar.“ Alya said, seething. “She must be getting cocky. Like a game of ‘catch me if you can.’ She’ll have to lay off you for a few days if she wants anything to be believable, though.“

Marinette was toweling off her hair, deep in thought.

“This isn’t like her. Normally, she would stop after the vase and lay off for the rest of the day, maybe badmouth me a little at dinner, but know when to quit.“

“Well, I think you should just bop her in the head with your yo-yo.“ Alya added.

“Agreed!“ Trixx squeaked.

“I don’t normally condone using the Miraculous for selfish purposes, but I’ll let this one slide. You know what to do, Marinette! Get those spots on!“

“Guys,“ Marinette sighed, tossing the towel onto her bed. “That’s not the point. I just want a peaceful few days before I have to deal with her again. Is that too much to ask?“

“Not at all, Marinette!“ Tikki said, nuzzling her cheek. “Just know that I’m always here if you need me!“

“Thanks,“ she whispered.

Two Glorious, Lila-free days later...

“So, Marinette, it’s your free day!” Tikki chirped, patting Marinette’s face. ��What do you want to do?”

“Sleep,“ she grumbled.

“No, silly! I mean after you visit your family!“

Marinette bolted upright. “What?!”

“You didn’t remember? You’re supposed to meet your biological parents today for brunch at 10.“

“And what time is it now?“ She asked, jumping out of bed to see if Alya was awake.

“5:30.“

“So I only have four hours to get ready?! That’s not nearly enough!“

“Marinette...? Why are you up so early...?“ Alya mumbled sleepily.

“I’m meeting my family!“ she squawked.

Alya sat up and put on her glasses. “Oh. Want me to help you get ready?“ she asked, walking over to the kitchenette for a glass of water.

“That would be great. Now, can you hurry up!?“

Alya took a long sip. “Calm down, Marinette. Do you want them to think you’re nervous all the time? You don’t want that in a princess. Take a deep breath.“ Marinette glared. Taking a deep breath, she focused on how tranquil she would be.

Her mom would probably be there. Wait–mom–not really her mom, but who she...used to think her mom was? Agh, now she was nervous again!

“So, Marinette, what do you want to wear? Something more traditional, or something that’s a little more...you?“ Alya asked, setting her empty cup down on the counter.

“I don’t want to offend them by just wearing, like, a nice blouse and jeans...but I don’t want to overdress. What do I do?“

Alya munched on a bagel thoughtfully. “Do you still have that qipao dress from a few months ago? The pretty pink one with cherry blossoms on it?“

Marinette nodded and pulled a blur of pink fabric out of her suitcase. She shut the bathroom door, and when she came out a second later, she thought that maybe she actually had a chance to make a good first impression.

On her mom.

Hoo boy.

-🌸-

When Marinette stepped out of the bathroom, Alya immediately started squealing. “Marinette, you look perfect!”

The outfit was simple, no more than a short-sleeved, a-line dress if not for the neckline, which resembled a traditional qipao, adorned with tiny embroidered flowers.

Marinette twirled around. “You like it? I was thinking of wearing those light pink heels. What do you think?”

“Do it.“

🌸 at brunch because op sucks 🌸

“Good morning, miss. Where are you headed today?“

Marinette glanced down at the little card in her hands. “The east dining room, please.”

The man at the desk raised his eyebrows so high they were in danger of disappearing into his curly grey hair. “Right this way, your Royal Highness.” he said, pointing her towards an entryway with a significantly fancier arch than the rest.

She walked down a seemingly endless hallway, wondering when she would get to eat, when the narrow room exploded into a dining room larger than her house.

“Ah, hello…Marinette.“ a peaceful voice greeted her. “I’ve been waiting for you!“

“Hi.“ was all she managed to squeak out. The lady in front of her was stunningly beautiful, with black hair that fell in a curtain down to her waist, wearing nearly the same dress as her, but in what looked like red silk.

“Sit, please!“ she said eagerly. “I’d love to get to know you.“

Marinette awkwardly positioned herself in ont of the high-backed chairs.“Okay.“

The lady sat on the chair opposite from her. “My name is Fei. I’m so sorry to have just...left you with my cousin for years, but I really do hope you can forgive me. This is all a bit hectic–trust me, I know–but I believe that if we can get along, this will go smoothly. What do you say?”

Fei had a warm smile, but there was a nervous undertone to her words. She had felt that way before, and a new feeling coursed through her body. Marinette moved forwards forwards and hugged her. “I’d like that.”

She seemed surprised at first, but hugged her back immediately but then let go almost as fast. “Look, I’m just ecsatic, about this, but if it’s uncomfortable calling me ‘mom’, or anything else, I need you to know that it’s okay. You can call me Fei, you can call me mom, you can call me māmā, anything you want. Okay?”

“Thank you.“ Marinette said, looking down. “It’s nice to know I have you. I think it’ll take a while for me to…adjust, but I’m so happy to know that you’re okay with that. Now, can we stop being so serious and eat?“

She beamed. “That sounds great, Marinette!”

After a few minutes of slightly awkward eating, Marinette cleared her throat. “So, other than the whole coronation thing, are there any other princess-y things I’ll have to do while I’m here?”

Fei choked on her water. “Actually…” she coughed. “I’m glad you asked. See, this is only day three of your 10-day trip. We need to get outfits, jewelry, speeches, everything prepared, and I don’t know if we’ll be able to do it all in time.”

Marinette was soeechless. This was unexpected.

“But that’s not all. I have to intruduce you to my mother, my husband, the whole royal family. “ She was sounding increasingly stressed with each sentence. “Everything has to be taken into account.“

“Hey, it’ll be okay!“ Marinette assured. “Things happen. They’ll sort themselves out. I promise.“

“I know. I have to be calm and levelheaded, or else my mom will take over. If that happens, you’ll end up naked at your coronation, or worse, if my husband takes responsibility, he’ll give it to my mom three days later. Do you know what I mean?“

Marinette nodded. “I know, but sometimes things will just happen. But other times, you have to work for them, you know? As long as you don’t give up on it, it will work out. I promise.”

“Hah–usually I’m the one giving the pep talks. Thank you, Marinette, I-I really needed that. How about you go and…meet up with some of your friends? No use in talking to a boring old lady any longer. Go on!“ she said, motioning towards the door.

Marinette turned back and smiled. “Um...bye, I guess!” she murmured, waving.

-🌸-

“So, Alya, when’s Mari getting back from breakfast with her peeps?” Nino asked as they walked down the street.

“I don’t know. I’ll text. If she replies, she’s free. If she doesn’t, she’s still the–“

“Hey guys, what’d I miss?“ Marinette asked, appearing in front of them. he screamed. “Where did you come from?“

“Brunch.“

“Marinette? You’re already done? We were about to go check out some of the tourist shops.“ Alya remarked, scrolling through something on her phone. Nino rolled his eyes.

“We were going to text you, but since you’re already here, what do you want to do?“ he questioned. Marinette fidgeted with her dress.

“Actually, that sounds fun. Which ones were you thinking?“

“Um, there’s actually one right there.“ Nino said, pointing around her to a shop with neon signs covering the whole window. “It looks fun.“

“So let’s go!“

They walked into the shop, the door jingling cheerfully behind them, and immediately things started catching their eyes. “Oh. My. God. Nino, are you seeing these?” Alya blurted. “They have Carapace merch. We’re world famous!”

Marinette was examining a bracelet with plastic rhinestones on it. “This looks like the bracelet from yesterday’s museum. Isn’t it pretty?” She dug through the bin. “Oh, they have other replicas, too? Awesome.”

Nino walked around, perusing the shelves, not really finding anything that sparked his interest. He picked up a trinket here and there, maybe checked a price tag, but wasn’t very interested. But then he saw it.

“An authentic OctoInk ‘I ain’t callin’ you a truther’ t-shirt? The printing block had an extra line, and only 47 of these were made!“

“Dude.“ Alya and Marinette whispered simultaneously.

“Um, how much is this shirt?“ Nino asked innocently, showing it to the girl at the register. She looked up uninterestedly, blowing a bubble with her gum.

“8 yuan.“ She scoffed. “Like that thing would sell for any more.“

“Hey, this is a nearly one-of-a-kind piece that–mmph!“

“Don’t tell her it’s supposed to be expensive!“ Alya hissed in his ear. “That’s the opposite of what you do!“

Wayzz poked him from his pocket. “She is not wrong, Nino. Purchase the shirt for eight yuan, if it makes you so happy.”

“I’ll take it.“ he said. Marinette put her bracelet on the register with an ‘eh, what the heck?‘ sort of expression. Alya placed a tiny glass turtle on the counter, and Nino felt a flush spreading over his face.

Alya smiled.

-🌸-

“So, Marinette, why did you get that bracelet?“ Alya asked once they had left the shop. “It looks pretty real, but you have way nicer jewelry at home. Like the necklace you wore this morning?“

“Yeah, but this one looks like the one from the museum. I know it seems silly, but it feels special.“ she said, twisting it around her wrist.

“Nah, I get it. And speaking of special, here comes a special little liar.“

Marinette’s head straightened immediately. “Aw, shit. And here I was thinking this would be a nice day.“

“Oh, hello, Marinette!“ Lila purred, snaking into the space between Nino and her. “I love your bracelet. It looks expensive…“ and with that, she sauntered away, all other interactive possibilities completely wasted.

“Well, that went better than I’d hoped.“ Nino chuckled.

“Ooh, Nino, there’s an art gallery! Want to check it out?“

“Sure thing, babe!“ He turned to Marinette. “Wanna come?“

“You can go without me, I’m going to get a bite to eat.“

“But–didn’t you just get back from–never mind.“ They walked into the gallery, chatting about who-knows-what.

Marinette spun around, and immediately someone on a blue bike yelled a split second before they knocked her over.

“Aaaack, my bike!” A male voice yelled. Marinette tried to open her eyes and stood up. A pale boy with bangs that hung over his eyes stared at her. “Sorry, I guess…”

Marinette stared back. “Okay?” she whispered. Maybe it wasn’t going to be a free day after all.

Just as she was about to ask for his name, her stomach growled like an angry Godzilla.

He chuckled.

“You wanna grab a bite? I know a place.“

“Sure. What’s your name?“

“Jianyu.“

“Marinette.“

He opened the door to a little sandwich restaurant and walked in, but let it swing shut behind him in Marinette’s face. Rude. Once they were seated and Marinette was starting to get a little annoyed at him–it was like he didn’t even notice her–he decided it was time to order.

Jianyu snapped at one of the waitresses to get her attention and whistled to get her to come over. She walked over with a pained expression on her face, then plastered on a smile.

“How may I help you today?“

“I’ll have pork dumplings and a Pepsi, the lady’ll have the chicken salad.“

“Actually, I was going to get–“ Marinette started.

“Sorry, sweetheart.“ he said, shoving the waitress away and turning back to her. “But why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself while she’s gone?“

I know that when I’m crowned princess, I’ll kick your scrawny ass, she thought. But she didn’t say that–in fact, she didn’t say anything, just got up from her chair and knocked Jianyu’s water glass down his front.

She swept out of the store before she could hear his cursing.

Yeah, that date was over.

And–being Marinette–as soon as she stormed out of the restaurant, she slammed into a cute girl with her wavy black hair in a ponytail, wearing leggings and a red hoodie.

“Oh, no, are you alright?“ she gasped, checking Marinette over for injuries.

“I’m fine.“ Marinette grumbled. She wasn’t in the mood to meet anyone else she bumped into, not if they were going to be like him.

“You don’t sound fine. I’m Chuntao.“

“Oh–um, I’m Marinette. Little tip, don’t go in there unless you like being catcalled.“

Chuntao frowned. “Hm. I think my brother told me he was going there for lunch–I wouldn’t put it past him to do that.“ She walked in and came out a second later, dragging Jianyu out by the ear.

“What do you have to say for yourself?“

“Marinette!“ he shouted. “I didn’t do anything! Back me up!“

“You called me ‘sweetheart’.“

“Mom’s gonna kick your ass,“ Chuntao growled, letting go of Jianyu’s ear. He scampered away, and she turned back to Marinette, rubbing her temples.

“I’m so sorry for him, but you seem like a really cool person. Can I get your number?“

“Y-yeah, totally!“ Marinette swapped phones with Chuntao, slightly dazed. She handed her phone back and waved.

“Thanks, Marinette! Text me later!“ She yelled, jogging away.

“See you…”

“So, who was that?“ Alya asked, appearing at her shoulder.

“Waugh! Alya! You know…maybe we should sit down first.“

-🌸-

“So…what if I’m gay?“

Alya and Nino simultaneously choked on their drinks.

Alya dabbed at her face with a napkin. “Marinette, darling, may I know the circumstances that have led you to entertain this line of inquiry? Because what the fuck?”

“Tell me all about her.” Nino said, resting his chin in his hands.

“Well, she saved me from a really sucky dude,“

“Hm. So she’s already a nice person.“ Alya remarked.

“And she’s super pretty,“

“So are you, honestly. But that’s off-topic.“

“And I haven’t had a real crush on a boy, like, ever,“

“And you went out with Kagami a few months ago, too. That settles it, Marinette! You are most definitely likely probably gay!“ Nino announced, raising his virgin Piña Colada in a toast.

Alya clinked her Shirley Temple against Marinette’s glass. “So, Marinette, it’s your free day. Only 48 hours until the coronation. How are you feeling?”

“Honestly, I d–“

“Hands in the air!“ an amplified voice screamed. “You’re under arrest!“

Tags: @professionalfangirl1738 @kuroko26 @k-poplunardreams @smolplantmum @heaven428 @briareris @dnsakina @purplesundaze @bloodydragon000 @mimika-28 @strawberrycheesecakebar @k-laconia-bug1@kristycocopop @abrx2002 @wannajointhecrabcult @mochegato @lozzybowe @ozwaltwashere @flufflepuffle296 @fandom-trapped-03 @nanakeid @hetalia-lover-is-here @futursworld @pale-lady-dreamer @susiej1118 @lostinthewrongfandom @fantasyfandommaiden @aestheticnpoetic @feliciakainzofspades @schrodingers25 @echpr

#ml salt #ml salt fic #marinette dupain cheng #marinette deserves better #alya sugar #nino sugar #lila salt #lila bashing #ish #adrien salt #adrien bashing #again ish #marinette the princess of china #chuntao song #miraculous salt #miraculous ladybug #class salt #the kwamis just kinda dont exist in this chapter #~gone~

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sanjuno · 4 years ago

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Meta Fic rides again

I'm a little stuck on how to word something in my Nano 2020 project so I decided to take a break by trying to read “Scum Villain’s Self Saving System” again and failed horribly because I got to the part when Binghe comes back and my interest died a quick and messy death for yet a third time. Someone write me a giant pile of gen-fic and LiuShen AUs to heal my heart.

Here, I’ll start us off:

Spite and Fury (or; PEDW is a hive of Scum and Villainy)

So bitter-old-man!Madara dies of old age after he passes his Epic Revenge Plot over into Obito’s keeping, and the Sage’s knockoff-brand cycle-of-transmigration peels Indra’s chakra out of Madara’s soul - which results in dying!Madara having a screaming ragefit that sends his spirit-and-chakra careening through the void between worlds

At which point shattered-and-fragmenting-more!Madara gets into an altercation with the System and since the System is a little bitch it tosses Madara into the worst possible Fate it can think of (see: PEDW)

Transmigration bullshit and Sharingan fuckery smash into each other in a gigantic clusterfuck of asspulls

Madara is missing bits because Indra’s imprint got ripped out

The Shen Jiu base soul is missing bits because torture and previous abuse of his character by the System

The resulting villain amalgamation is Not Pleased

Instead of landing in the divergence point chosen by the System - aka the Qi deviation fever shortly after Binghe arrives at Cang Qiong Sect – we instead have the jigsaw puzzle mashup of Mads-and-Jiu land in baby-slave Jiu’s body

The good news is Madara and Jiu stop fragmenting because they end up woven together - they’re stuck together as an almost-single person only with two different sets of memories

Character exploration is going to be an EVENT

Also the Madara part of them is really happy with the silky smooth hair

Also Yue “lets-Binghe-kill-him-because-he-thinks-Shen-Jiu-is-dead” Qi is cast is a much better light when compared to Senju “stabs-his-sworn-brother-in-the-back” Hashirama

So Mads-Jiu plays it close to canon for the first few years - the only real difference is that he tags his Jiejie with a tracking seal for after he escapes from slavery - he’s not leaving his ability to find her again up to chance or developing a reputation as a whoremonger if he can help it

When he gets bought by the Qiu is when Mads-Jiu starts being a manipulative little shit like we all know he is

Xanatos-pileup-or-bust!Mads-Jiu basically lets Yue Qi escape alone because he NEEDS Yue Qi to become Cang Qiong Sect Leader for his long-term plans to work properly

So Mads-Jiu warns Yue Qi that if he has to be CAREFUL because cultivating is dangerous and if Yue Qi comes back missing any pieces then Jiu will cut the EXACT SAME BITS OFF HIMSELF

And so Yue Qi is EXTREMELY safety conscious and the life eating sword drama is avoided entirely

Of course he’s also taking longer to reach his initial strength levels than in canon because he isn’t rushing

So there’s nothing like Yue Qi showing up early to trigger a plot divergence alert in the System

</mwahahaha>

Mads-Jiu is more pragmatic regarding Qiu Haitang’s so-called innocence this time around - and so he arranges for her to catch the Creeper Qiu bro abusing and assaulting Shen Jiu

Haitang is HORRIFIED AND DISGUSTED to see what her brother is doing to her fiancé and also TERRIFIED by the fact that he talks the entire time about how sweet it’s going to be when it’s HAITANG under him

The Qiu burn on schedule but Haitang kills her fair share - double Qi deviations FTW!

The system does not notice such a minor change in the background events - Jiu kills the Qiu, burns down their house, and Haitang survives the fire with vengeance raging in her heart

Mads-Jiu kills the demonic creeper that was hanging around because ew no and also keep your hands of Haitang

Again, it’s too close to canon for the System to notice - Jiu killed him in defense of a “childhood friend” so hahaha again

Instead of being used as a stalking horse by an evil master Mads-Jiu runs off with Haitang to track down and rescue his Jiejie

Shenanigans ensue

Afterwards Mads-Jiu “has an idea to help find Qi-ge” by asking around for him at the Immortal Alliance Conference

Of course there are more shenanigans and Yue Qi saves all three by claiming that they’re Cang Qiong disciples - so of course he drags all 3 of them back with him and wibbles at the current Sect Leader until he lets them all join

Still (mostly) following canon! Ha! So no “punishment” events get triggered in the System (which is mostly dormant because the Protagonist isn’t born yet XP)

Qiu Haitang was supposed to join a Sect! Jiejie got sold on schedule! Shen Jiu killed the Qiu and his “first master”! Yue pesters his Shizun into letting his sibling(s) join the Sect in an unorthodox fashion!

But the devil is in the details

And the devil’s name is Uchiha Madara

Jiejie ends up as Peak Lord for Talisman Peak because magic and seals saved her before

Haitang ends up Peak Lord for Hidden Peak because she refuses to be caught unawares by a dangerous secret ever again... also because she’s a mean sneaky bitch and owns it

Having more than one sibling for the Sect Leader to blatantly favour means less wholesale resentment directed at Mads-Jiu as well

However the Jiu part of them has memories from PIDW and also SVSSS - so he knows that shit is going to get horrible once Su Xiyan gets knocked up

Obviously the answer is to seduce all of his fellow peak lords into a glorious polyamorous clusterfuck so as to promote skinship and pack bonding and harmony among the sect leadership

(It worked for PIDW Binghe with his wives and SVSSS Shen Yuan with getting Bing-mei to chill his tits after all and nobody can trip you into bed quite like a shinobi)

And so Cang Qiong’s family aesthetics get rocked so hard that instead of panting after his Shizun baby disciple Binghe decides to seduce his peers...

... and his rivals

... and other sect’s disciples

... and the occasional demon

Mads-Jiu is really proud of his baby demon lord but makes sure not to single Binghe out - instead every Qing Jing disciple gets rewarded and punished at the same time

It promotes bonding! And teamwork!

And prevents the utter destruction of Mads-Jiu’s chrysanthemum via oversized demonic pillar!

There is totally going to be an extra where Mads-Jiu realizes that the average size of a male cultivators pillar is DANGEROUSLY EXCESSIVE

NOBODY NEEDS THAT MUCH PILLAR

Even HIS pillar hasn’t escaped the curse

BIGGER IS NOT BETTER!

How the fuck is he supposed to fight if he can’t even wear pants comfortably!?!?

(No wait come back Mu-shidi this shixiong is sorry it wasn’t mockery it was a perfectly reasonable tantrum that was a long time coming now stop sulking your dick is very pretty let shixiong make it up to you~)

And at some point there will be a wild Bing-ge who appears to cause trouble with a mirror that’s intended to temporarily transform people into the form of their last life - he aims it at the native Bingbing to get him out of the way so he can steal the “nice” Shizun

It would have been Pom time for Bingbing but Mads-Jiu pushes him out of the way

And cue giant explosion of dark Qi as a bonus expansion pack of Madara’s 10-tail Jinchuriki time with powers-and-memories gets downloaded into Mads-Jiu

Mads-Jiu the “Heavenly Demon Demi God” drops several mountains worth of flaming meteor rock on the invaders and then goes on a giant flaming skeleton rampage against Bing-ge

... Bing-ge has changed his mind he doesn’t want this Shizun take him back and oh gods the shrieking

How does he shriek so loud? Doesn’t he need to breathe?

... ok so Shizun breathes fire that’s good to know

Whelps time to bravely run away

And then the amassed sects need to figure out how to calm down the rampaging hell beast

The youngest Qing Jing disciple is brought out and told to cry for Shizun

Actually-a-broody-hen!Mads-Jiu whips around and starts fussing over his baby student

Because baby why are you crying stop it tell Shizun who hurt you and he will BURN THEM TO ASH

The last bit I have an idea for involves Mads-Jiu getting yanked though dimensions because Edo Tensei where he instantly twigs to what is going on and pushes the “righteous cultivator” skin to maximum strength

He shoves all the baby ninja behind him and keeps barrier spamming the zombie army - because ew no stay away from the children resentful corpses

Zetsu is included in the zombie army shall not pass smack down

Zombie!Tobirama is appalled because wut? Wasn’t this supposed to be Madara’s zombie? What is happening?

And I dunno something where he “notices” the resentful energy surrounding Danzo because stealing the eyes of the people you murdered is bad karma

So Mads-Jiu does a spirit thing and the ghosts of the Uchiha rips Danzo apart while screaming about his guilt in full view of the entire Village

And then Mads-Jiu goes home because filial little Bingbing came to get him and he’s not enjoying upending the shinobi social order nope not at all whom exactly do you take him for?

... Yes he’s done and ready to go back to his spouses now he’s sure the ninja have all learned better than to raise living corpses now anyway

The end

=/=

#Sanjuno's ficwork #fic I haven't written yet #Spite and Fury #PEDW is a hive of SCUM and VILLIANY #Madara and Jiu are sharing a body #System done fucked that revenge plot up #Villain Team Up cranked to 111 #sanjuno's metafic #NRT x SVSSS

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michaelmilligan · 4 years ago

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Destiel fix-it fic (post 15x19)

Okay so this is 1,8k of fix-it for that horrible shit we call an 'ending'. Yes, I am still not over the finale. No, I will not take criticism at this time. (I meant to work on a genderfluid Dean(na) fic which will likely have several parts, but this wouldn't leave my brain so here you go. No beta, just pure rage against the machine that churned out the finale.) (Also my first time adding a cut so if it doesn't work please tell me.)

Dean hadn't taken it well. Not that Sam could blame him. He himself was still struggling with everything that had happened. Chuck snapping everyone away, the fear and the desperation... But they won, and everyone was back. Well, everyone except Cas.

Dean had said “just us” and Sam had said the same and they had driven for a while and it had been good to be on the road, to finally be free. But at the end of the day, it wasn't just them, and that was good too. Great even. There were Jody and the girls. Eileen. Donna. Charlie and Stevie. Garth and his family. All these people they knew and loved, everyone they cared about. Everyone was safe. Everything was good.

Except for Cas.

It had taken a few days for it to really sink in for Sam that he was gone. After all, he hadn't been there when it had happened. Hell, Dean had never even really told him how it went down. But Dean's grief was undeniable, the way he drunk himself into oblivion, much like the last time they had lost Cas, when they had also lost their mom. Both losses had been temporary, but they hadn't known that at the time.

Now their mom was gone for good, up in Heaven and apparently happy. And Cas was gone too, probably in the Empty if he was dead. Sam missed him, of course he did. He was their best friend, the other father in their trio, however weird that sounded. Also Sam also missed Jack, not knowing if they would ever see him again, now that he was almighty and all that. But Sam handled it, he always handled it, and he had Eileen to keep him company, to hold him when he needed to cry.

Dean had noone, hadn't had anyone in years. Maybe he had never had anyone who would do that for him, and Sam was starting to worry about Dean's liver as well as his mental health. Not that any of them could be great in that department, but so far they had always been able to keep it together. Now Sam wasn't so sure.

As he walked into the kitchen, he half expected to find Dean slumped over, drooling onto the kitchen table with a half-full bottle of whiskey in his hand. Instead, the room was empty, no empty bottles in sight. Huh.

Sam set out in search for his brother, trying his room first but finding it just as empty. It took him several minutes before he ducked his head into the library, and finally saw Dean sitting at a table, several books open in front of him.

“Dean? What are you doing?”

Dean's shoulders tensed for a moment, but he didn't turn around.

“Research,” he said gruffly, sounding like he had woken up less than an hour ago.

“On what? You got a case?” Sam came into the room, looking over the books. He saw Enochian, an angel summoning spell, a dictionary... “What's this for?”

Dean pressed his lips into a thin line. “Cas,” he croaked out. “We've got to... there has to be a way.”

“Dean. I thought you said he was dead. You know we can't... There's no way to get him from the Empty.”

Dean gritted his teeth, looking like he was about to snap. “That dude almost got Lucifer out, but we can't get Cas back?” He sprang up, walking towards the nearest shelf just to stare at it.

“Dean. What even happened? How did... you never told me what happened,” Sam tried, hoping against hope that his brother wouldn't just clam up like every other goddamn time he tried to talk about something difficult.

“He... he just. Goddamnit, he said- He- he made a deal with the Empty and then-”

“Wait, what? The Empty was there? Why the hell would he make a-”

“No, I mean. Before. He made the deal to save Jack, back when... It agreed to take him instead of Jack, but only... only if... and he said...” Dean's shoulders were shaking as he leaned his forehead against the shelf. “He... he summoned it. The Empty. To take him away so it would take Billie too. And I... I couldn't do anything. There was... we had no weapons, nothing to fight the Empty, nothing to fight Billie and he...” Sam couldn't see his face, but he could hear the tears in his voice.

“Okay. Okay.” Sam let out a deep breath. It wasn't the first time one of them had sacrificed himself for the others. And like any other time, Dean couldn't let it go. Well, not that Sam had always been able to. “So you want to get him back. You think that's wise?”

Dean whirled to him, his eyes hard and full of tears. “What?”

“I'm just saying... Cas sacrificed himself to save you. And now you're going to endanger yourself to get him back, do you think that's really what he wants? And even if we had a way of getting to the Empty, who says that we're gonna be able to get Cas out, or that the Empty won't just snatch him again as soon as we're back on Earth?”

But Dean's face had completely shuttered closed. This was one of the times were no logical arguments would get through to him.

“I'll find a way,” he said, turning back to the shelf to sort through the books.

Sam sighed, and after watching his brother for a while, he left him to it, deciding to let him grieve in his own way.

It was about three days later when Sam heard a noise from the entrance. Frowning, he walked towards it, wondering if Dean had invited anyone. Eileen wasn't scheduled to come over, but maybe she had wanted to surprise him? He had told her not to come, didn't want her to see Dean like that, but then again when did she ever listen to him?

When he saw who was coming down the stairs from the entrance, Sam felt his eyes widen.

“Jack!”

The boy – God, whatever – smiled and raised his hand.

“Dean! Dean, Jack is here,” Sam called in the direction of the corrdor, then hurried over to him. He hesitated, not sure if you were supposed to hug the newly appointed God. But Jack was his son and he had missed him, so in the end he pulled him into a tight hug. Jack returned it, squeezing him and still smiling when they pulled apart.

Which was when Sam noticed the other figure coming down the stairs and he gasped. “Cas?” He looked at Jack, who just kept smiling, and Sam laughed and pulled Cas into a hug, too. Cas returned it, though a little more carefully than Jack, and his smile wasn't as bright. Maybe a little... shy? Embarrassed?

“Dean? Dean! It's- Dean, get your ass over here!” Sam called again, hardly believing their luck.

Dean jerked awake to a stiff neck and an aching back, hunched over on the library table, drool on a three-hundred year old book. He thought he'd heard Sam, calling for him, and he got up to walk out of the library in spite of his protesting body. “Sam?” he called as walked along the corridor, anxiety forming in his gut. What if something was wrong? What if they were under attack? What if the next big villain – whoever that might be after thee actual God – was here to get them? Or maybe just some regular monster, ready to tear them apart, taking them by surprise?

Dean pulled his gun and tread carefully, peering around each corner before rounding it. He heard voices from the entrance, and by the time he was almost at the door, he heard a laugh. It sounded like Sam... He still peeked around the door frame before getting in and saw Jack, just standing there, looking comfortable.

“Jack?” Dean made his way over to him quickly, not believing his eyes. “What are you- I thought you-”

“Dean!” Jack beamed at him and Dean couldn't not pull him into a hug.

“Hey, kiddo.”

“Hi.” Jack squeezed him tight.

When Dean looked towards Sam, he also saw... no. This wasn't possible, was it? Dean pulled back, eyes wide, just staring for a moment before he turned towards Jack. “You- how-”

“I know I said I'd be hands-off, but...” Jack shrugged, looking apologetic. “I didn't want to be.”

Dean let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding, his eyes going back to Cas. His eyes were prickling, and he suddenly noticed how Cas evaded his eyes, peering up at him from beneath his eyelashes almost shyly.

“Thank you,” Dean said to Jack, aware of the tremor in his voice, and then he rushed towards Cas.

“You goddamn- fucking moron,” he hissed as he wrapped him in the tightest hug he might have ever given anyone. “Stupid fucking dumbass.”

“Uh,” Cas made, sounding insecure. “Hello, Dean.”

Dean gripped him the shoulders when he pulled back, then put his hands on Cas' face. “You fucking- what does that even mean, huh? 'It's in the just saying it'. What the fuck. What the actual fuck!”

Cas squinted at him, opened his mouth, closed it again.

“You-” Dean cut himself off, running out of words, so he kissed Cas instead. It was a rough kiss, and long, and Cas seemed to have trouble keeping up, his hands coming up to claw at the flannel on Dean's back.

Dean was vaguely aware of a gasp behind him, but he was still laser-focused on Cas, glaring daggers at him.

“You maybe wanna re-think that?” He shoved him.

“Uh, I- I do?” Cas said, still looking terribly confused, and Dean couldn't help but kiss him again, just as roughly at first but getting softer over time until they were just breathing each other's air.

“You fucking asshole. You could have said something sooner! Before you got your ass dragged to the-” Dean stopped, feeling his face going through several emotions at once.

Cas squinted at him. “So could you.”

Dean stared at him, hearing Jack say “What's wrong, Sam?”, and yet he still couldn't have cared less.

“Goddamnit, you're right, we're both dumbasses.” When Cas opened his mouth, he added: “No, Cas, 'trusting' really doesn't cut it here.”

Cas huffed out a laugh – and wasn't that a sight for sore eyes. Dean kissed him again, hearing Jack in the background: “Wait, is this something new? I always thought they were just not very public about it.”

Dean grinned against Cas' lips, and Cas smiled back as Dean pulled him into another hug.

Meanwhile, Jack was still talking: “You know what, I think they need a minute. And I want to eat Crunch Cookie Crunch. Do you still have any?”

#Destiel #Supernatural fanfiction #Destiel fanfic #How do you even tag #Deancas #deancas fanfiction #Finale fix-it #After this Jack tells them that he doesn't want to be God #'I'm three Dean. Three! I'm not even legally allowed to drive yet'#And Dean goes 'You're also not allowed to drive because you legally don't exist... but yeah okay I get it'#They find a way for Jack to give up his God mojo to power Heaven directly #And Jack comes back home #They live happily ever after #Noone dies or fucks off into the sunset #The End #Except of course it's not an end it's just the beginning of the rest of their lives #Quiet domestic lives #Occasional hunts or helping younger/less experienced hunters #But all in all just two guys being gay married raising a son together with their brother and his wife #Eileen is awesome and teaches Jack all manner of dangerous shit #Claire and Eileen hang out and she becomes a cool aunt #Jack and Claire are siblings (TM)#Anyway this is already too many tags you get the gist

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koreanmadeingreece · 4 years ago

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Why, why, why (10)

University student!Yuta x reader

Genre: slight enemies to lovers au, a bit of angst, a lot of fluff, and several mixups

Summary: You just got into uni and decided to move in with your childhood friend!Taeyong at the city where you are going to study. As you’re about to start your new, adult life, you meet his friends, and you realize that not everyone likes you. Nakamoto Yuta in particular almost seems like he hates you.

A/N: In this fic, Jonghyun from NU’EST appears for a while (just to avoid confusion). Also we’re so close to the end guyyyyys!!!!

Warnings: Some making out hiiihihihiihihi (also I think some fu and shi words?)

Word count: 1.7K

Part 10/11 (I think) First / Previous / Next

Taglist: @melitadala @chxotickpoptrash @aiforyuu @fineapplehoe (let me know if you’d like to be tagged!) (also idk a friend informed me that my tags weren't working so I'm redoing all of them in all my posts sorry about thaaat)

During the next few days, you barely went to your classes. You didn’t want to see anyone. You didn’t even spend much time with Taeyong, as he reminded you of what had happened. You took a few days to yourself, just to let yourself calm down after the storm. After about a week, you were ready to come back in touch with the rest of the world.

On Monday, first thing in the morning, you stopped by the café where Jonghyun worked, and got your regular coffee. By some sort of miracle, there wasn’t much work, so he was able to steal a few minutes for you.

“Jonghyun,” you said.

“Yeah,” he replied, noticing how you got all serious.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For disappearing this week.”

“It’s okay. It happens. I just need you to be okay and to tell me if there’s anything I can do to help.” He was reassuring towards you, even though you had practically ghosted him all this time. Sure, you texted a few times, but you were never actually there.

“Can you be any more perfect than you already are?” you joked.

“Only when I’m with you.”

It was true that you were dating for almost three months and things had started to get more serious as time went by. For the next few weeks, you tried to spend more time with him, inviting him over to your house when you knew Taeyong wouldn’t be there. Thankfully for you, he had a busy schedule as a third year. Sometimes you knew he went out on purpose, just to leave the house for you. He was the perfect friend.

At the same time, you had started seeing Yuta less and less. You tried not to be home when you knew he’d be there but tried not to be entirely rude and saw him every now and then at uni or sometimes you stopped by when the guys were out. You kept your distance, to keep things from going the wrong way.

You knew that Yuta probably wondered why you stopped seeing him so suddenly. You trusted that it would be forgotten as time went by, and that you’d eventually find a way to casually coexist around each other without fighting or disrupting your well-being. Because that’s what it was, a disruption. Before you even came, he was fine, and you were too. Before you decided to get to know him, things were quiet. Sure, you fought sometimes, but nothing happened.

You had fucked up, and you knew it pretty well. Sometimes you’d see Yuta around uni, talking to his friends or heading to a class, and he’d steal glances from you. He’d slow down his walk to see if you’d talk to him, but you rarely did. You noticed how every time he waited for you, but you never gave him any attention. You hated to do this. You didn’t want to avoid him either. But, with the way things had turned out, you didn’t have any choice.

A few days later, you finished class earlier than usual and found Jonghyun at uni. His classes were over for the day, and you decided to spend some time together. You invited him over, as you knew Taeyong had at least one more class before he headed home. In that way, you’d spend about three hours alone and you’d have the house to yourselves. Both of you wanted some alone time, considering that your relationship was more stable than ever. Jonghyun was happy to follow you home. You opened the windows to get some light in and brought him a cup of his favorite tea. You sat for a while, discussing how your day was, when he decided to put some music on. It was a relaxing playlist with artists that both of you liked.

You sat next to each other on the couch, your legs on top of his lap. When his hands started caressing your legs, you knew it was time for more. In a quick movement, you climbed on top of him, spreading your legs on each of his sides. You placed your lips against his, slowly luring him into your mood.

“Wait, what about Taeyong?” he asked, as you were in the living room.

“His classes end at 8PM. Don’t worry about it.” You continued kissing him and started to grind on his crotch.

He was eager to respond, slowly starting to suck your neck. “I want you, Y/N.” You loved how his voice sounded when he whispered to you. You felt wanted, desired.

You didn’t waste any time and unbuttoned his shirt, seeing his bare body underneath you. You loved the sight of him desperately wanting you, panting from the excitement. You let him take off your shirt as well, and briefly got up to take off your pants as well, staying in your underwear. You sat on top of him again, somehow embarrassed by the way he was looking at you. He glided his hand from your chest to your stomach, admiring how you looked, then went lower, getting it inside your panties. You wanted him, and moaned his name as his body touched yours, his fingers inside you. His lips went from your neck to your chest, sucking your skin. You were ready, and you wanted him. For the next few seconds, all you wanted was him.

~ ☼ ~

Taeyong decided to skip his last class and head home early to rest. “Yuta, are you coming?”

“Sure.” And so, the guys headed home in Yuta’s car, since Taeyong asked him to help with some stuff he needed to carry. Yuta parked in front of the house and got out of the house to help Taeyong.

“I’ll bring the stuff. Can you go unlock the door for me?” Taeyong asked, giving Yuta the keys.

Yuta went ahead and unlocked the entrance door, then went up to your apartment. When he realized what was going on in the living room, it was too late.

~ ☼ ~

You moaned Jonghyun’s name, as his fingers worked magic inside you.

“Y/N are those-” Jonghyun had heard the keys on the door, but the damage was already done. Yuta had walked in, seeing you on top of Jonghyun, him sucking your breasts. He froze. He looked you dead in the eye for a second that seemed like eternity, and walked out of the door, closing it behind him. You immediately got up and put your clothes back on, leaving Jonghyun alone to get dressed too. You stormed out of your apartment, only taking your keys with you.

“Taeyong,” you said as you saw him at the entrance, “where’s Yuta?”

“Y/N what happened? I sent him to help me, and he came back running. He didn’t take his car. I think he left.”

“Fuck, Taeyong.” You went towards the street to find him, but he had already disappeared.

“Y/N, tell me.” Taeyong approached you.

“I screwed up. He saw us, Taeyong.”

“You mean, like, walked in on you?” he asked.

“Yeah. I thought you’d finish at 8. Fuck. I should have asked.”

“Whatever’s done is done now. Go to Jonghyun and I’ll find him, don’t worry,” Taeyong said, giving you his stuff. At that moment, you knew you’d have to give Jonghyun an explanation. You didn’t know what to say though. Why did you storm out? Why did Yuta run off and why did you chase him? Suddenly, it hit you. You were wrong all this time. Jonghyun wasn’t the one who you wanted to spend more time with. Jonghyun wasn’t the man you actually wanted.

You went back inside, determined to clear it all up. It was your fault for not seeing this earlier anyway. “Jonghyun, I need to talk to you.”

“I was wondering how long it’d take you. Apparently around three months.”

“What?” you asked, surprised.

“At first I didn’t know, I noticed it at the movie night, but I wasn’t sure.” He paused. “I brushed it off. I thought I was just misreading things. When you stormed out right now, that couldn’t be my misinterpretation.” He grabbed his jacket and headed to the door.

“I’m sorry,” you said.

“It was amazing while it lasted.”

“Yes, it was. You are perfect, Jonghyun, but I’m not the one you should be with.”

He smiled at you. “I know. I just would have appreciated it if you had told me sooner.” He was right, and he had every reason to hate you.

“I didn’t know myself.”

“More like you didn’t want to admit it.”

“Yeah, that too.” You paused. “I’m sorry. Again.”

“Yeah.” With that word, he left you alone in the living room. You hoped he’d called you names, cursed at you, but he didn’t. That was partly the reason you were more certain than ever about your choices. You weren’t madly in love with each other, and no matter how perfect your relationship was, you couldn’t have stayed together for much longer.

You grabbed your phone. You called him, but he wasn’t answering. You called Taeyong. “Where are you?”

“I went over to Yuta’s. He’s not here.”

“Fuck. I called him and he’s not answering either.”

“I know. I called him too. Don’t call him for a while, and maybe he’ll reach out to me. I’m coming back in a few minutes.”

Taeyong opened the door and found you crying on the couch, waiting for him. “I fucked up, Taeyong.”

“No, don’t cry. We’ll find him and we’ll settle it, okay?” he wrapped his arms around you.

“I’m a horrible person. And stupid. It was him I liked all along and I blew my chance.” You leaned on his shoulder and stayed like this until you calmed down.

The next morning found both of you sleeping together on your bed, just so you had company to get through the night. You opened your eyes, your head hurt from all the tears you shed the previous day, and you knew that Yuta would be in a similar state if not worse. You were determined to end this once and for all.

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bnhayyy · 3 years ago

Text

The Call (7)

Chapter Title: Realization

Wordcount: 5.7k

Fic Tag: Click

Ao3 Link: Click

Chapter Summary: Hanji gives the group a warning. Later, Mikasa and Annie have an eventful patrol.

Notes: I sat on this chapter for a bit so that I could use it as my submission for day two of @mikannieweek . I know that it’s technically a day early, but that won’t be stopping me. Also, than you again Celadon for the beta!

The weekend sped by in a blur. Another person disappeared, and although Mikasa channeled it into her motivation, she found that she couldn’t shut the rest of the world out completely. There were people who wouldn’t let her.

Mikasa and Annie patrolled separately. Mikasa on Saturday and Annie on Sunday, so that both slayers would have a day to get caught up on their homework. That turned into Mikasa patrolling alone on Monday as well when Annie reluctantly admitted that she hadn't been able to finish an art project due on Tuesday.

Despite insisting that Mikasa not neglect her classes in the name of slaying, Annie had looked distinctly embarrassed to admit that she was struggling in keeping up with one of her own courses. It was faint, but Mikasa had gotten good enough at reading the other slayer to know it was there. She hoped that she didn't feel too bad about it. It wasn't like Mikasa minded going on patrol by herself; for all that Annie's assistance lifted a weight from her back, it wasn't very long ago that she had patrolled by herself almost every night.

It was almost scary how easily they had fallen into a rhythm. How quickly Annie had become familiar, even a comforting, presence despite her initial distrust. Just how quickly she had started to trust her. It was a little overwhelming.

That brought up the other reason she didn't mind doing the Monday patrol alone. It gave her time to think .

Something had changed between her and Annie when she told her about that night. She wasn't certain exactly how or what, but there'd been a distinct shift. There was a weight in their shared glances that hadn't been there before. Or maybe it had, but was only now noticeable. Could the same thing be said of the sparks that danced over their skin when their hands touched? The looks that lingered, the silences that rang heavy with words unsaid?

Mikasa didn't know what was happening or what to do about it, but she was trying her hardest to figure it out.

She didn't know if she could manage by herself, but she didn't think she had another option in this case. Her expanded social life did nothing to change that. Going to Armin for issues like this simply wasn't an option. Jean was nice, but their friendship was also very new and untested. She wasn't comfortable going to him to discuss such complex, mysterious feelings. Sasha had dogged Mikasa persistently enough that she could honestly say that she was a little closer to her, close enough that she had sincerely considered talking to her for a little while. The trouble was that she didn't completely trust that she wouldn't tell Connie, who absolutely would tell Reiner, which would be disastrous on multiple levels.

A ridiculous part of her wanted to talk to Eren about it. It was a horrible idea. Discarding the fact that he wasn't real, she got the sense that he would be all but useless for things like this. Naturally, she had discarded the notion as soon as it had occurred to her.

That didn't stop it from lingering in the back of her mind.

Perhaps that was why he had been trailing after her all morning long. She thought about him, and so he was there.

At least it was easy to ignore him this morning. He had disappeared while she was in History, and although he had reappeared once she left, she knew that she would have plenty to distract her until it was time for American Literature.

One of Erwin's friends had asked everyone to meet them in the library for an "urgent matter". It had sounded like they meant business when Erwin called her. They had gone as far as to book one of the meeting rooms in the library.

However, when Mikasa strode into the room, Erwin's eccentric friend was nowhere to be seen. Behind her, Eren snorted and rolled his eyes. "That's Hanji, alright," he muttered.

Mikasa turned her attention to the people who were there. Sasha and Connie were both there, clustered in on either side of a visibly irritated Jean. They didn't say anything to Mikasa, the two of them too caught up in their conversation and their long-suffering third unable to hear her arrival over their spirited chatter. Armin sat a few spots down from them, caught somewhere between preemptively attentive and uncomfortable and out of place. He shot Mikasa a small smile, which she returned with a nod.

Finally, Erwin sat at the table, a bored-looking Levi lounging by his side.

"Your friend isn't here," Mikasa pointed out.

At least Erwin had the decency to look flustered. "I'm sure Hanji will be along in a moment," he said, tugging on his shirt collar.

Levi snorted. "Four-eyes runs on their own schedule," he said. "They'll be ready when they're ready."

Mikasa pursed her lips. "I don't have all day."

Levi waved his hand dismissively. "This is more important than your classes."

She saw Eren look at her and shake his head out of the corner of her eyes. However, he quickly fell out of her line of sight as she narrowed her eyes at the asshole Erwin had seen fit to call in. He just raised an impassive eyebrow at her, seemingly undaunted by being stared down by a slayer.

Before the interaction could go any further, the door to the meeting room opened again. Annie strode in with Reiner following a short distance behind her. She gave the room a quick once-over before looking at Mikasa, a frown on her lips.

"No Hanji?" she asked.

"No Hanji," Mikasa confirmed.

"Then why..." Annie trailed off almost as soon as she started speaking, gaze following Reiner as he carefully stalked around the edge of the meeting room. It seemed that he had noticed that Sasha and Connie were off in their own little world. Now, he held a finger up to his playfully smirking lips as he snuck up on them.

Once he was directly behind them, he waited for a few seconds, then reached out to drop the palm of his hand on top of Connie's head.

He was greeted by a high-pitched shriek, which got a scream from Sasha, which made Jean curse and drop lower in his chair.

Reiner laughed and jumped back to avoid being swatted at by Connie, who twisted around in his chair in his attempt to get him. "Asshole!" he cried. "Your hands are cold!"

"Just keeping you on your toes!" Reiner teased, unrepentant. Connie let out an undignified squawk and leaned forward to swat at his arm, which just sent Reiner into another round of laughter.

"If you could do that when he isn't close enough to deafen anyone, that would be appreciated," Jean growled.

At the same time, Levi looked at Erwin and informed him, "you're working with five-year-olds."

Erwin sighed. "Levi..."

In response, Levi jerked his head back at Connie, who was glowering at a still-laughing Reiner, and Sasha, who had slithered out of her chair and was now circling the edges of the room in what Mikasa could only assume was an attempt to sneak up on Reiner while he was distracted. "Five," he repeated. "Maybe eight, tops."

Annie looked like she didn't know what to make of everything. Mikasa couldn't say she blamed her. As Sasha slinked around Mikasa in her loop around the room, she couldn't decide if she should say something or just leave the girl to it.

Her mind was made up by Hanji kicking the door open and exclaiming in a sing-song voice, "We have a vengeance demon!"

Mikasa grabbed Sasha by her upper arm and dragged her down into the seat next to her as she sat down. Sasha let out a disappointed whine, but otherwise didn't protest. At the same time, Reiner finally settled down and took the now-open seat next to Jean, while Annie sat down in between Mikasa and Armin. Mikasa's gaze lingered on her for a few moments. However, before she could figure out exactly what she was looking at, her attention was drawn over to Levi.

"What makes you say that?" he asked, shooting Hanji an unimpressed look.

Hanji shuffled both of the heavy cases they were carrying to dangle from their left hand so that they could dig through the pocket of their jeans with their right. After a few seconds of digging, they let out a triumphant, "aha!" and pulled out a small, bright green crystal.

A small, glowing bright green crystal.

Mikasa squinted at the stone, a frown creeping across her face. Now that she was looking closely, it looked like the crystal was actually white around the edges. The color came from the unnatural glow emanating from the center. As she watched, a ripple of intensified color ran over it. It happened again a few seconds later.

Hanji seemed very pleased with themselves. However, when Mikasa took a look around, she noticed that everyone other than Erwin and Levi just seemed confused. Even Eren, who had moved to hover behind Reiner, wore a befuddled look on his face.

The silence that had fallen over the room was broken by Erwin clearing his throat. "A demonic presence detector, Hanji?" he asked.

"Reality-altering demons, specifically," Hanji said. "And it's a strong one, to get a reaction like this." They held the crystal a little higher and turned it over in their fingers, staring at it like it held a treasure trove of information. To them, it probably did.

"And how'd that lead you to a vengeance demon?" Levi asked, crossing his arms. "Last I checked, those things are rare, and there are plenty of reality-alterers."

Hanji clicked their tongue. "Oh Levi, ye of little faith."

Hanji pocketed the crystal, shifted one of their briefcases back into their other hand, and approached the table. They didn't bother sitting down before lifting their cases and all but dropping them on the table in their enthusiasm. One of them landed more loudly than the others.

Levi fixed the louder briefcase with a disapproving glower before turning his attention back to Hanji. "Hanji," he said.

"Yeah?"

"Is one of those cases full of rocks?"

Hanji shot him an overly wide grin. "Of course."

Levi looked like he was experiencing a unique, but not unexpected, brand of torment. "Are all of them glowing?"

Hanji laughed. "No - no - that would be-"

"Don't care," Levi interrupted. "Did you call this meeting to force us all to hear about the magic rocks?"

A series of concerned looks made their way across the table. None of them knew Hanji well yet, but there was no denying the sense that if Hanji got talking about something they were interested in, they were going to be there for a while. Mikasa honestly didn't know how she felt about that. She did have things to do, but if it was an interesting topic, she could also think of worse ways to spend her time.

Annie, on the other hand, looked about ready to bolt.

"No," Hanji said. Although they were mainly reassuring Levi, they did shoot a quick glance around the rest of the room, paired with a small smile. "I had the suitcase full of crystals with me for something else. We are here to talk about the vengeance demon."

Mikasa didn't think she imagined the collective sigh of relief.

"Hm." Levi leaned back in his chair, a vaguely disinterested look flitting back across his features. "Get on with it, then."

Mikasa couldn't help but frown at his demeanor. Was this what he was always like? Her gaze flickered over to Erwin. He looked focused and had a slight glint in his eyes, probably eager to get on with the meeting. More importantly, it was nothing that she hadn't seen at all. He seemed entirely unbothered by Levi's general attitude.

That didn't bode well.

Meanwhile, Hanji was undoing a series of locks to open the lighter briefcase. After a few seconds, they flung it open to reveal several folders. They immediately snatched the one at the top and pulled out a stack of papers.

A photograph was on the top of the stack. It was a little grainy, but not so much that it was impossible to make out the person in the picture. Hanji put it down in the center of the table and triumphantly said, "that's how I know we have a vengeance demon."

"You recognize the person in the picture?" Erwin asked. As he spoke, Annie grabbed the photo for a closer look. She stared down at it, expression unreadable.

"Ooooh yes," Hanji said. "One of the first things I did when I got here was set up a few cameras in highly congested areas, and other areas demons are likely to frequent. Well, I haven't been able to find our mystery killer yet - seriously, you were right, Erwin. They seem impulsive, but they must be meticulous about their actual hunting habits, to avoid places frequented by humans and demons-"

"Hanji," Erwin gently prompted.

"Right," Hanji said. "So, this guy popped up and started causing trouble a few years ago. We haven't been able to figure out his name yet, but he's definitely a vengeance demon."

"He looks normal," Annie said, passing the photo to Mikasa as she spoke.

Mikasa accepted the photo and frowned. The photo showed a scowling young man with sandy-blond hair styled into an undercut. He was largely nondescript. The picture didn't show his feet, but Mikasa could make out jeans, a jacket, and some sort of amulet dangling from his neck.

Annie was right. He looked like any other person.

"He would," Hanji said. "Vengeance demons used to be human themselves."

"That's possible?" Sasha asked as Mikasa passed her the picture.

"Of course," Hanji said. "It's true that most demons are born as humans, since witches still count as human and vampires are a subcategory of their own. But there are some types of demons that have human origins and vengeance demons are one of them. They come from a human who has been wronged and feel a powerful need for revenge. So much so that they attract the leader of the vengeance demons, who offers them immortality and the ability to help others enact vengeance in exchange for giving up their human life. Most don't see a reason to say no."

"He looks grumpy," Connie mumbled before passing the photo to Erwin, who glanced at it only briefly before handing it to Levi.

"The ability to help others enact vengeance," Armin slowly said. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"I'm glad you asked," Hanji said. "Vengeance demons grant wishes for people who feel they've been wronged. They approach them at an emotional weak point and get them talking about their problems. Then, if they can get someone to verbally express a wish..." Hanji leaned forward, then clapped their hands, making everyone but Levi and Erwin flinch. "Wish granted."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Jean said. He kept glancing at Connie, who was now in possession of the photo, and seemed to be struggling caught in a fight between his need to maintain his dignity and the urge to peer over his shoulder for a look at it. "If these people have been wronged, don't they deserve someone to mete out justice?"

"There's a lot more to it than that," Hanji said, their voice taking on a grave tone. "Vengeance demons are still demons. Unless the wish they're granting is already especially vindictive, they always add a slant to it that makes it cruel and unusual. It might not be the person making the wish who suffers, but someone will end up in a great deal of pain from the wish, often more than they actually deserve. And if only one person gets the brunt of it, that means you got off lucky."

"And if you didn't?" Sasha asked, a slight waver in her voice.

Hanji smiled grimly. "Like Levi said, vengeance demons are reality warpers. They can manifest demons, wipe people out of existence - the right wish can even spawn an entire alternate universe that the wish maker will be trapped in. And believe me when I say that these universes are always significantly worse than whatever situation they started in."

Jean looked like he might be sick. "Right," he said as he accepted the photo from Connie. "Don't make any wishes. Got it."

Mikasa shot a glance at Annie. Something in her expression was subtly distant. It made Mikasa wonder, had Annie ever dealt with the threat of a demon this powerful? Was she intimidated? It didn't sound like her, but it also wasn't completely outside the realm of possibility. The pull she felt toward her wasn't the same thing as actually knowing her. She couldn't even tell if that was distance in her expression or...

Sadness. Something about Annie looked sad right now.

Despite everything, it was kind of pretty.

Mikasa pushed the thought down and forced herself to focus on the question she should be asking. The only thing that mattered right now. "How do you kill a vengeance demon?" she asked.

"You don't," Hanji said. "But! Did you notice that amulet he's wearing? Every vengeance demon has one; a green gem with red speckles. It's their power source. And, luckily for us, pretty fragile. If you're able to break it, the vengeance demon will be turned back into a demon and the most recent wish they granted will be undone."

"Only the most recent?" Jean asked, still staring at the picture.

"Only the most recent," Hanji confirmed.

Jean hummed and passed the picture to Reiner. Behind his shoulder, Eren leaned forward to stare at it, a pensive expression falling across his face.

"Vengeance demons usually have a particular vendetta that they focus on," Erwin piped up. "Does this one?"

"That's where things get interesting," Hanji said. "All reports say that this demon has a thing for avenging lost loved ones. So either we have an awfully big coincidence on our hands, or..." Hanji trailed off, giving Erwin a long, meaningful look.

"You think he's been drawn in by the disappearances," Erwin summarized.

"Bingo!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Mikasa noticed Annie shift to look at Reiner, who was still inspecting the photo.

"He could also be after someone specific," Annie said.

Mikasa frowned. "You mean he might be seeking revenge on one person?" she asked. It sounded like a broad assumption, but she doubted that Annie would make a truly random guess. If the other slayer thought it was a theory worth considering, then Mikasa didn't want to dismiss it offhand.

"Yes," Annie said. "If vengeance demons are made from vengeful people, then it sounds like he's likely to have a grudge on someone."

"It's possible," Hanji said, "but unlikely. Vengeance demons are organized. They aren't supposed to seek vengeance on their own behalf, and one who does could end up in a lot of trouble." They paused, pursing their lips and shaking their head. "Even if it found the right loopholes, the demon would have to be really reckless to try something like that in the first place."

"Unlikely isn't the same as impossible," Eren murmured. Mikasa risked sending him a look, but he didn't respond, instead continuing to stare at the photo in Reiner's hand.

"Well, I'm sure we'll be able to handle whatever happens," Reiner said, passing the photo across the table to Armin.

"Think you might be being too optimistic?" Jean grumbled.

"Yes," Annie said.

At the same time, Reiner said, "nah."

He paused for a moment, shooting Annie a short glance, before continuing, "maybe vengeance demons are tough, but if you ask me, that guy doesn't look too smart. We'll be fine as long as we just don't make any wishes and destroy that necklace of his."

Annie cast him a long look. "There are a lot of people in this city who might want vengeance."

Reiner shrugged. "So we take care of him sooner rather than later. Now that we all know to look out of him, I'm sure it'll turn out fine. Especially since we have you and Mikasa."

"This is a serious situation, and we need to be careful not to let our guards down," Erwin cut in. "But Reiner is right. If you see the man in this picture, contact me, Hanji, or Levi as soon as possible, and no matter what, do not make any wishes." He slowly shifted his gaze down the table, making sure to make eye contact with every individual. He paused when he hit Mikasa.

"Is there anything else?" Mikasa asked. It was all Erwin was going to get from her. She'd listened carefully and understood what was going on. She didn't need a watcher to hold her hand through whatever came next.

Erwin looked over at Hanji, who shrugged. "Pretty much, yeah," they said.

Mikasa nodded, then looked down at her watch. She had American Literature in fifteen minutes. "I need to get going."

"Yeah," Hanji said. "You should probably all skitter on off to class or whatever it is you do." They waved their hand dismissively even as they pulled out a chair and finally sat down. A quick glance at Erwin and Levi revealed that neither of them looked like they were about to leave either.

Fine. Mikasa wasn't about to ignore a dismissal in favor of lingering around them.

She shrugged her bag back over her shoulder and got to her feet. No sooner had she done so than Sasha all but sprinted past her, babbling something about a forgotten roast. Mikasa couldn't help but pause and blink at the sight.

A groan echoed from across the table. "I warned you not to start cooking just before leaving!" Connie called.

"Conniiiiieee!" Sasha whined as she disappeared out the door and around the corner.

Connie flashed the group an apologetic look that was somewhat hindered by the smile playing at the corners of his lips. "I'd better go make sure she didn't burn her apartment down," he said. With that, he hurried off after his friend.

Annie scoffed. She and Armin were both rising to their feet. Mikasa only had to briefly shoot them a curious look for Annie to say, "we're going to go study in the library." She paused then, something fragile and hesitant showing in her eyes for half a second. "Would you like to...?"

Mikasa shook her head. "I need to get to American Literature," she said. She couldn't help but be surprised by just how reluctant she was to turn the offer down. Watching the hopeful look Armin had given her fade stung, but it was a discomfort that she had long grown used to. The way the fragile thing in Annie's gaze faltered and disappeared - that did something to her. It was what pushed her to hurriedly add, "I'll see you later though?"

Annie offered a small smile. "Yeah," she said. "Meet me in front of the graveyard at eight."

Mikasa nodded.

"Mikasa, what class do you have?" Jean asked from where he had moved to stand by the door.

"American Literature," she said.

"With Professor Stevenson?" Jean asked.

Mikasa nodded.

Jean grinned. "Cool; Reiner and I are going the same way. You should walk with us."

Reiner snorted. "Try not to flirt too hard, Jean."

Jean scowled. "Braun, if I was flirting, then believe me, I wouldn't include you in it."

Reiner held a hand over his heart. "Ouch," he said, although his ear-to-ear grin betrayed him. "Words hurt, Kirstein."

Jean scoffed and rolled his eyes before shifting his attention back to Mikasa. He looked like he was torn between whether to say something or wait for her to respond.

"Alright," Mikasa said, taking him out of his misery.

"Great!" Jean said. "That's-"

"He thanks you for gracing his humble self with your presence," Reiner said.

"Would it kill you to keep your thoughts to yourself?" Jean asked, shooting Reiner an entirely unimpressed look. However, despite the bite in his words, Mikasa failed to detect any malice.

It was interesting how different friendships could look on different people.

It was interesting how much she had forgotten about it during her years alone. Interesting how a little under two months of being around other people - not even always directly interacting with them, just being around them - was making her start to remember.

"It might," Reiner retorted.

Mikasa's lips twitched with the urge to smile or laugh. It was subtle enough that she doubted Jean or Reiner noticed, but she did, and that had to count for something.

The three of them left the room, Jean and Reiner continuing to talk while Mikasa walked in silence. She soon tuned it out and allowed it to wash over her. Or at least, she did until they had left the library and were halfway down the hallway that connected it to the English building, at which point Jean asked, "right, Mikasa?"

Mikasa blinked. "Huh?"

"Jojo's Bizarre Adventure," Jean said. "It's nonsensical, right?"

Mikasa blinked. She had absolutely no idea when the conversation had shifted to that topic. And more importantly... "I don't know what that is."

"It's an anime," Reiner said. "And it is not nonsensical if you watch it from the beginning."

"Who the hell would watch that stuff from the beginning?" Jean asked. "Doesn't it have a thousand episodes? And doesn't the beginning suck? Connie spent all of art class ranting about it last week."

"Not a thousand," Reiner countered. "And not everyone got to skip the first part."

"Are you implying that someone made you watch the first part?" Jean asked, incredulous. "Who on earth-"

Reiner hesitated. After a few seconds, he began to say something, only to quickly switch tracks when he saw someone approaching them. "Marco!" he cheerfully called.

"Hey, guys," Marco said. He paused by the side of the hallway, causing Jean and Reiner to step to the side as well. Mikasa paused out of curiosity, but not without an awareness of her need to get to class nagging at the back of her mind.

"What are you talking about?" Marco asked.

"Anime," Mikasa said.

"Oh!" Marco shot Mikasa a look of surprise. "I didn't know you were into that stuff."

"I'm not," she said, "but Jean and Reiner seem pretty interested in it."

Reiner sputtered while Jean began to blush.

"I-I'm not," he stammered. "I was just telling Reiner that Jojo is trash."

"Jojo's Bizarre Adventure?" Marco questioned. When Jean nodded, he added, "I actually really like that one. The first part is my favorite. It's not super popular, but I like the vampires and the poeticism of it."

Reiner chuckled while Jean groaned. "I'm surrounded by people with no taste," he grumbled.

"I mean, have you ever given it a chance, Jean?" Marco asked.

"No," Jean said, "but I've heard about it on the internet. Why would I-"

"If you haven't seen it yourself, you have no room to judge," Reiner remarked.

"Exactly," Marco said.

Jean looked like he was going to argue. Unfortunately, Mikasa didn't have the time to stick around and watch. She took a step back and said, "I need to get going."

That immediately got Jean's attention. "Are you sure?" he asked. "We can-"

"It's fine," Mikasa interrupted. "I just need to get to class."

Despite her abrupt departure, a warm, pleasant feeling lingered in her as she made her way to class.

The feeling faded when, about halfway through the class, her thoughts turned to Annie and that complicated knot of emotions resurfaced.

***

Mikasa thoughtfully shifted the sword from hand to hand. It wasn't particularly fancy or ornate, but it looked like it was well-made. She was surprised by how pleasant the weight was in her hands. Reiner was right, it felt like a weapon that would build a good momentum once she got going.

She and Annie had decided to try using the same weapons tonight, another step to avoid a repeat of anything like the Ymir incident. A quick glance at the other slayer revealed that she looked at ease with her weapon. She had a solid hold on the hilt, but didn't appear to be paying too much attention to it, which meant that it had to be a reflex.

Annie didn't seem to be paying much attention to anything tonight. A bored expression rested on her face as they walked through the graveyard. Her eyes did broad, slow sweeps of the area, never actually pausing on anything except for when they caught on-

Correction. Annie was paying attention to one thing tonight. Mikasa just didn't know what to make of the short yet lingering looks. She also didn't know why she kept glancing at Annie. By now, they had gone on enough patrols together that she knew that she didn't need to keep her eyes on her at all time. The sound of her gentle footsteps and feeling of her subtle warmth beside her should have been enough.

Yet she wanted to see her.

She supposed she could understand why. Annie had a unique beauty to her that was pleasant to look at. But that had nothing to do with slaying. Yes, the sword did enhance it to a degree, but the fact remained that Mikasa shouldn't be preoccupied with staring at her fellow slayer when there was work to be done.

What the hell was wrong with her?

Mikasa was snapped out of her thoughts by a deep growl splitting the air. She turned on her heel to find herself face-to-face with a large, orange, scaled demon. The demon swung at her with one great clawed hand, which she blocked with her sword while twisting out of its reach. The sword's blade struggled against the demon's scales. When she drew it back, she noticed that only a thin line of green blood had been left behind.

The demon hissed at her, fangs flaring out, and lashed at her again. Mikasa easily jumped back. It was tempting to rush in, but with an opponent like this, she wanted to find a weak point first.

A flash of blonde hair in the corner of her eye distracted her - or perhaps it triggered an epiphany. Even after the fact, she wouldn't be able to say which with absolute certainty.

Annie darted toward the demon. She feigned to the left, and when it moved to intercept, slashed her sword against the right side of the stomach. The demon let out a furious roar as green fluid began to spurt from its wound. Then, with surprising speed, it brought its hand down on Annie's chest and shoved , sending her stumbling back and tumbling to the cemetery ground.

That was the opening Mikasa needed. She rushed at the demon's back, aimed the tip of her sword at the demon's heart, and shoved with all her might.

The sword went straight through the demon's chest. It let out a throaty scream and thrashed for half a second before slumping forward. There it lingered for half a second before exploding in a hail of thick green goop.

Mikasa automatically staggered back and raised her arm to spare her face from the worst of the carnage.

Annie wasn't so lucky. When she lowered her arm, she saw the blonde sprawled on the ground, sputtering as she tried to use her sleeve to wipe demon guts off her face. Long strings of dark green slung to her hair while bright green blood ran down her neck in rivulets. When she pulled her hand back to reveal her disgruntled expression, Mikasa noticed the streaks of green that still clung to her jawline, cheeks, and forehead.

It was disgusting.

Yet, somehow, it was also beautiful.

With blood rushing through her veins and the world seemingly standing still around them, Mikasa held a hand out to Annie. She offered her a smile that she hoped came across as encouraging despite the odd way it pulled at her lips. "Good job," she said.

Annie scoffed as she took her hand and let Mikasa pull her back up. "That thing got a hit in," she said. "That's not what I'd call a good job."

"You gave me a window to kill it," Mikasa pointed out.

"I guess," Annie murmured.

"Aren't you the one who likes to talk about teamwork?" Mikasa asked, a teasing hint leaking into her voice. In her chest, her heart pounded harder than it had any right to. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Or maybe, maybe...

Annie scoffed and rolled her eyes. It was offset by the faint curl of her lips and the twinkle that burst to life in her eyes.

She was beautiful.

And suddenly, Mikasa realized what was going on between her and Annie. It was a revelation, great and terrifying, the recognition of the nature of the energy between them, the connection, the attraction.

Mikasa knew that she was being reckless. She knew that she might regret it. But in that moment, with her heart pounding in her chest, adrenaline rushing through her veins, and blood covering the both of them, she didn't care. Right now, all she could focus on was that Annie was there, the only girl in the world who could understand what she went through, and the heat and tension crackled between them like an electric coil. They were both there and they were both alive .

What were the odds of that happening?

How long would it stay that way?

At that moment, the answer was clear. Not long enough to wait.

"Annie," Mikasa said, grabbing her wrist and taking a step closer.

The other slayer turned toward her. She moved to say something, but as her eyes caught Mikasa's, Annie closed her mouth and shifted closer to her.

For a moment, they just stared at each other, caught in the moment and each other's eyes.

Then, before this moment of reckless bravery could wear out, Mikasa kissed her.

Annie tasted like blood. Somehow, she couldn't imagine anything else.

#mikannie #the call #mikasa ackerman #annie leonhart #annie leonhardt #snk fic #snk #attack on titan #my fic #my writing

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airi-p4 · 4 years ago

Text

Never have I ever - Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Well- The ending of chapter 1 felt mean, so wrote another chapter to give this fic a proper enclosure. There’s a little pinch of Adrien salt- you’ve been warned.

AO3 __________________________

Luka POV

The awkward silence of the shocking confessions breaks a minute later, when the doorbell rings. My mind comes back to earth as I see Marinette jump a little.

Adrien, it reminds me.

The buzzer makes me snap out of my short - too short- fantasy and I clumsily stand up to open the door.

“Hi, Adrien” I greet, trying to sound as natural as I can, even when, actually, I have a pit in my stomach.

“Hello, Luka. Sorry I’m late” he apologizes, moving his gaze over my shoulder to look inside.

“It’s ok- come in, we still have some food and drinks if you’re hungry” I nervously gesture to him to get inside. He shakes his head in negation.

“No, actually- I’m here just to pick Marinette up. We have to go now” At his words, Marinette stands up and meekly nods at her husband.

“Oh- Again?"

My tongue slips, dammit! but Adrien doesn’t seem to care much and just shows me a sad smile. "Yes… Family matters. You know my father…"

"Of course" I say, turning my head back to look at Marinette. She has a dark expression as she grabs her cardigan and bag to get ready to go. "It's a pity, though. I wish you could stay" My eyes are on Marinette while I say this.

“Yeah, me too…" Adrien sighs and I can tell he means it. The pit in my stomach worsens, guiltier. "Marinette, c’mon!” he rushes his wife.

When Marinette is almost ready to go, Adrien moves towards the elevator. "See you, Luka, everyone. Oh- and Happy Kitty Section debut Anniversary!"

“Bye Adrien” Kitty Section members wave at him from their chairs.

Marinette rushes to follow her husband, her high-heeled shoes doing its characteristic sound that must certainly be annoying the neighbors of the apartment below. She stops when she reaches the door where I'm standing and looks up at me.

“Thank you for inviting us- and for the dinner and- for everything. It was nice seeing you again. I had a great time”

I can clearly see in her expression how she really doesn't want to go. She sighs once and raises on her tip-toes to kiss my cheeks. Nothing special, just la bise- except it seems to last a little longer than usually should have (but that could be my imagination). We exchange a look and she shows me a sad smile before disappearing with Adrien through the elevator doors.

My heart beats faster and I sigh.

How am I supposed to recover from that now? I close the door and return to the table. The rest of the band members are also showing concern.

The fun is over.

“We’ll go too," Ivan says, one arm on his wife’s shoulder and the other holding the baby stroller. "Thank you for having us. It was great seeing you all again” Mylene adds with an honest smile.

“Sure. Take care of the baby” I open the door for them. “Of course. See you soon” Ivan says and they cross the door to the elevator. “Bye” I wave at them.

It's only Rose, Juleka and me now. An even deeper sigh leaves my mouth.

"You really had to do it, Juleka…" I mumble while I sit down and take another shot. I miserably rest my forehead on my hands.

“What are you going to do?” Rose asks.

“What can I do?” I laugh, ironically. “She could have meant anything. It doesn’t mean she feels like that right now, you know? Besides… she’s married. I can’t undo that"

“Don’t pretend you haven’t noticed what she meant. You must have noticed more than any of us”

I know that, dear sister but “Still-” I can’t seem to assimilate it.

“You could have said something- anything at the wedding and she would have turned to your side, you know?” Juleka mutters and it makes me snort.

“Oh, no, Juleka! You know that’s not true! She made her choice. I made mine. I have no claim on her- I never had it, and never will” I shrug, taking another shot to try to cope with my wretched feelings. “Nothing can be done”

“Maybe yes, maybe not...” Juleka teases under Rose’s encouraging humming.

“I don’t want to do this to Adrien. He’s my friend” I blurt out.

“That has nothing to do with him, Luka. It’s for Marinette to decide”

Maybe Juleka is right, “But that doesn’t change the fact I can’t do anything about it”, I tell them, and they can’t disagree or counterattack this time. They pat my back instead, supportive, and Juleka quietly apologizes for pushing it too far.

Tomorrow I’m going to feel horrible after drinking all that alcohol, but I certainly need it.

'What am I supposed to do? Why are you doing this to me, Marinette? I had already resigned a long time ago. Why now? So unfair...' I swallow another shot.

____________________________

The doorbell buzz awakes me. When did I fall asleep? When did I even arrive back at my apartment? My memories are blurry. The tour was so tiring, no wonder I'm exhausted. I stand up and, still numb, move to open the door.

Marinette.

I need to blink a few seconds to process what's happening. Am I dreaming? No, I don't think so. Why does she look even more surprised than me? Why are her eyes so red?

"Luka? Why are you here?" Her question confuses me.

"I live here? Shouldn't I be the one asking instead?"

Marinette squeaks at my answer band blushes in embarrassment. "Oh, right. Juleka said- you were coming back next week and-" she's rambling, just like old times…

"Wait- Juleka said what?" I sigh. My sister knows my schedule perfectly, why would she…? Oh, right. "She's gonna hear me"

"No, please!" Marinette begs me with sparkling eyes. "She only tried to help me! Don't get angry at her! Please…?"

Marinette really knows how to play her cards against me, huh. I guess I'll let it slip this time. Mostly, because there's something I'm more concerned about than that now.

"She helped you? What happened? Have you been crying?" She seems to be desperate. I haven't seen her like that since- she married Adrien maybe? The way she avoids my eyes indicates something serious may have happened. I'm more than worried now. More after her minute of silence.

"I- I ran away from home" she finally confesses, after a deep breath. "I have nowhere to go and Juleka told me I could stay here meanwhile since you were out on tour. She gave me her spare key. I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

"You escaped? Why? What happened?" I try to remain as calm as I can while I attempt to understand the situation.

Marinette avoids my eyes again and bits her lower lip.

"I- I asked Adrien for divorce" she responds in an automatic flat voice, after a hopeless sigh. "For the second time…"

I gasp. "What? Divorce…? Why…?" I can't hide my astonishment. She sighs again.

"I've fallen out of love, Luka. I don't love Adrien anymore. I'm not sure I ever did. That place- the Agreste's- it doesn't feel like home. It never did. "She explains. "You can imagine the fuss when I told them…" she says.

I know she's wrong- i can imagine Gabriel Agreste disowning her, doing the impossible to avoid a divorce- and yet still come short in imagination.

"I can't go back, Luka. They won't listen and I feel like a prisoner there. It’s suffocating. Please, can I- can I stay here tonight?" She asks, with a shy smile.

I don't need to think much to give her an answer. "No, you can't"

"What…?" She asks, as if for making sure she heard it correctly.

"You can't stay," I repeat.

She seems shocked. Well, I'm shocked too. What is she even thinking? Did she really think I would say yes?

"Please, Luka! I have nowhere else to go! Adrien is looking for me and I don't want to go back! I can't go back! Please!"

"No, Marinette. You can't stay here. You're a married woman- Adrien's wife, even if you really wanted to divorce. You can't stay here. Plus, I don't want to be involved. Imagine how worse the fuss would become if they find you here" I explain, and she seems to reflect.

My heart aches at her heartbroken and betrayed face. But, what else can I do? Marinette's happiness comes first, like always…*sigh*

"Besides" I continue after my inner thoughts, "fall out of love, you say? That could be a phase, Marinette. I've been a direct witness of the happiness in your eyes when you married Adrien. I'm sure you can make it work out in the end. Isn't that your speciality?" I try to smile, unsure of accomplishing it.

Marinette's eyes focus on mine in a determination that surprises me. "No, Luka. It's not a phase" she says. "I considered it too, for months. But it's not. Remember the drinking game at your place?"

'I knew I should have stopped that stupid game when I had the chance. I'm stupid'

I nod and she continues. "I meant every word of it"

It's my turn to open my mouth in a 'O'. I don't know how to respond.

"I regret choosing Adrien over you, Luka. There has always been that voice in my heart- that emptiness… and I think it was you. All this time- my missing piece to be 'happier'. I truly believe that is you" The more she talks the more my words get stuck in my throat.

"You don't know that, Marinette" I can finally manage to answer. "There's no guarantee it would have worked between us. You followed your heart, and there's no mistake in that. I think you shouldn't regret it. And I also think you should go back to Adrien and sort things out"

Why does she have to make it so hard for me? Can't she see how much it hurt me to let her go? And here I am repeating the same actions from the past...

"I see…" Marinette lowers her face. "So I'm too late, huh? You don't love me anymore… of course you wouldn't, after 10 years..."

How many times is she planning to surprise me today?

"Marinette, listen-"

"Marinette"

A new known voice interrupts me and Marinette jolts and trembles in fear.

Adrien.

"So here's where you hid every time you disappeared, huh?" His cold voice makes Marinette's face turn white he takes some steps closer and directs his speech to me next. "I didn't expect that from you, Luka. I thought we were friends!" He yells, and Marinette hides behind me. "You never stopped until you confused her! Forcing your feelings on her! I knew you had never stopped loving her. But she's my wife, dammit! Just accept your defeat and stay away from her!"

I almost forgot how jealousy has always been one of Adrien's biggest flaws. Somehow, I'm not surprised by his words. He's still the same he was ten years ago… This is so tiring to deal with...

"Adrien" I try to sound calm to counteract his wrath. "I think you're misunderstanding everything, as usual. Come in"

I open the door and Adrien and Marinette reluctantly follow me inside.

"Listen. First of all; Marinette has never spent any time with me recently, besides the last few minutes when she arrived. See? My suitcase and my flight ticket. I've just come back after months of touring. You can check it online if you don't believe me" 'but I think that, as my friend, you should already know that' I keep to myself.

Adrien's nose scrunches while examining my boarding pass. I continue.

"Secondly: I don't know where Marinette has been going, but I just suggested she should go back home. With you" he seems surprised at this. "I don't want to be mixed up with your problems, Adrien, no matter what my feelings are. It hurts me that you thought I would. Marriage is something that involves two people- only the two of you. Perhaps you should put more walls around it but" I know his father has been part of their problems, "but, in any case- just don't drag me in your issues, please. It's for you two to resolve them, not me."

Marinette looks embarrassed at my words, in guilt for her childish actions. It wasn't my intention to make her feel bad, but I'm speaking my honest feelings.

And I'm also protecting myself. I don't want to be hurt again by false hope. And if there really is the tiny possibility… it would go down the drain with a bad start like this. I'm being selfish in my own way.

"And third: I'm disappointed. I thought we were friends, Adrien. I thought I always made it clear how I was a friend to you- of yours. When have my feelings gotten in your way? As far as I'm concerned, they only helped you realize your own feelings, after your 'just a friend' self lies" Adrien's anger seems to have been replaced by shock. "And you come here and accuse me out of nowhere? This is not what a friend does, Adrien. I'm just an easy excuse for you, aren't I? You just don't want to face the problems, so you blame me instead for them. Stop using me to justify what you can't control. I know it's hard to be rejected- and to face some kind of problems, but you just have to, no matter how hard it is"

Adrien looks apologetic and Marinette seems to relax a little, looking at him in some sort of pity. I know they meant nothing bad, but they are acting like kids. I’m too tired for this.

"Just talk, listen to each other, come to an understanding- give in, if necessary- and accept each other's resolutions, even if they hurt. Like adults"

Once again, Adrien shoulders tense in embarrassment. But he soon calms down and composes himself.

"I'm so sorry, Luka. You're right. I have no right to get angry at you. I'm sorry for jumping in conclusions… I overreacted. I'm very sorry for what I said" I nod and Adrien understands I'm accepting his apology- even if there's also guilt in me because of my inner wishes. He moves to hold one of his wife's hands, but she rejects it. He insists holding her tighter next, and she finally gives in to listen. "Marinette. Let's sort this out, together. I promise I listen to what you have to say. I promise I won't let my father interfere with us anymore. Come back home, please?"

Adrien sounds sad and my heart can almost feel his pain. Marinette is not looking at him. Instead, she's partly hiding behind me, squeezing my shirt. She seems determined to stay and Adrien sighs.

"I'm sorry, Luka. Can I ask you to take care of her for now? She's so stubborn sometimes… I'll be back at home. I hope you come back soon. Bye, Luka, and thank you"

"Of course, Adrien. I'll send her home in a minute. See you later” I say, and Marinette gives me a betrayed painful look.

As if it wasn't painful for me…

Adrien crosses the door and leaves me alone with Marinette, who seems ready to confront me with a mix of anger and sadness.

"Why did you say that!? I told you I don't want to go back! I can't go back!" She yells in anger "I thought- I thought you meant it that evening, when you drank that shot! Why are you encouraging me to go to Adrien? I thought you still… I was ready to move on…with you"

If only she knew how long I wished for these words… And if she really means it- I can't let the chance go down the drain. I want to tell her I'm doing this for my own selfish reasons. Being Marinette, I'm sure she'll understand. I place my hands on her shoulders to catch her attention.

"Marinette" she jolts at her name being called. "Do you mean it? Because, it’s ok if you don’t but, if you really really do mean it- Is this how you plan to start something new? With rotten core and corrupted baggage from a previous relationship? A bad start would only lead to a worse ending. I haven't been in stand by just to ruin it before it even becomes real" Marinette keeps her eyes on mine, listening carefully. "You have to sort things out with Adrien, first. And" I continue "when you do, I'll be here for whatever you need me"

Her eyes get teary and a little sad, but she seems to start understanding. I keep explaining myself.

"Because- I don't want you to move to me just because it didn't work with Adrien and I'm the easiest choice for being in love with you. What I want never changed, Marinette. I want you to be happy. That's all"

Marinette remains quiet, reflecting and assimilating my words. I've never been good with them.

"But Luka…" she calls me "I've been thinking about this for months. I told you, remember? I want to be happier… with you" she says, staring at my eyes. I freeze, remembering how she drank that shot that evening. Her next words don't make it any better. "I've loved you before, years ago, and I still do. What if I'm too late when Adrien and his father finally allow me to divorce and go separate ways? There will probably be a trial, the press, the fuss- it could take so long…"

"Oh, Melody... I've loved you for more than 10 years, expecting nothing. Knowing I didn't stand a chance, accepting my place and respecting your boundaries. Always encouraging your happiness... Why do you think I never married or dated anyone for so long? Can't you see it? I can never stop loving you. So- what's another 10 years when there's a tiny bit of hope now?" I give her an honest reassuring smile and she blushes.

"Will you give me a chance, then?" She has hope in her eyes and her face comes closer. I fight the urge to kiss her, not wanting to ruin things before they even begin. Patience.

"Only if you still want so after you talk to Adrien and sort things out" I answer. She holds my shirt in her hands and I offer her a lovestruck smile I hadn't planned to show her. She grins back in hope and I melt. "I'll be here as long as you want me. In any way you need me. You owe me nothing. Just be honest to your heart and find your clarity"

Marinette nods happily and soon reaches to kiss me, but I turn my face just in time so she misses my lips and her kiss falls on the corner of them. She makes a disappointed grumpy sound, but I kiss her forehead instead, like in old times.

"Go back home, Marinette Agreste. I'll be here whenever you need me. Oh- and congratulations on your dress- I knew it would be a hit. I saw it in the onboard shopping catalog. You’re amazing"

"Thank you, Luka. I'll be going back" she says, taking a step behind and giving me my apartment's spare key she got from Juleka. "See you later" she smiles, before crossing the door.

"See you later" I answer. My love struck smile fixed in place as I see her disappear inside the elevator.

She does look happier and at peace with herself. I try to keep my feet on the ground, but I can't help it but hope: maybe I really do stand a chance this time.

Good thing I've always been patient.

________________

A pair of shot glasses and a half-empty bottle of gin and tonic rested on the table of Luka's apartment.

"Never have I ever wished to kiss you"

Two glasses get emptied and refilled.

"Never have I ever thought you would really wait another five years for me"

The previous action is repeated, between giggles.

"Never have I ever dreamed for you to love me back"

And again.

And suddenly, Marinette says:

"Never have I ever thought I could be happier than now"

Lips curl into wide smiles as the shot glasses remain untouched at the affirmation. Instead of drinking, the newlyweds kiss with sincere love.

They definitely couldn't be happier.

FIN

#my fic #fic: never have I ever #airipyon #airip4 #lukanette fic #lukanette endgame

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madlokilavender · 5 years ago

Text

I understand you

Pairing: Intrulogical

Content: fluff, unsympathetic sides (kinda?), sympathetic remus

this is a little sanders sides fic i felt an urge to write! i haven't written anything in quite a while so it might not be perfect, but i'm pretty proud of it!

Logan wasn't quite sure what to make of his situation.

Ever since Thomas had been introduced to Remus, the dirty duke had been extra clingy to Logan. He couldn't quite understand why, and for a while he saw him as a nuisance getting in the way of his work. Remus would constantly pop into his room, always in a different spot, be it from under his standing desk to suddenly showing up on his bed, thankfully still fully clothed. He would stand next to Logan, elbows resting on the desk with his face in his hands as he watched the logical side work with a wide grin on his face. Logan would try his best to ignore him, but usually eventually gave into Remus's unblinking gaze and asked him what he wanted. The duke would just say, "I just like watching you, it's fun!" Logan couldn't understand why, but had given up on trying to understand anything the duke said and just let him stay, so long as he didn't interfere with his work.

Until one day when Logan was tired of the other sides ignoring him and his advice, feeling particularly agitated and as if the other sides didn't want him around. He was back at his desk as usual, trying to focus but constantly thinking back to the events of that day. Thomas had returned from the wedding very depressed, seeking help from Patton and Roman. As usual, Patton was being very strict and basically telling Thomas that he needed to spend every moment of his life trying to help others. Roman wasn't as bad, but wasn't able to contribute much to the discussion as the moral side was consistently confusing him. Logan had tried to bring some sense to the conversation, but both Roman and Patton chose to ignore him, to the point where Janus had to impersonate Logan just so they would finally listen.

He was content that Thomas had finally learned his lesson about taking care of himself more, but he couldn't help feeling hurt that the other sides had been so adamant on not letting him speak his part. He wished the other sides could understand that he has Thomas's best interest in mind. At least he could count on Janus to help him.

As if on cue, Remus jumped out from behind the tall lamp in the corner, shouting boo and holding his hands up in a stereotypical scaring motion. Logan simply turned to him with a look of annoyance and exasperation. The duke stood for a second longer before dropping his arms and pouting, sad that his attempt to spook the logical side failed. Logan glared at him for a moment before turning back to his computer, typing out a schedule for Thomas to follow for his videos this week. Remus sauntered over to him, to his usual spot to watch him work. Logan was definitely not in the mood for this today.

"Remus, I do not want to deal with you right now, please leave," he spoke in a stern voice.

Remus gasped in faux offense, placing his hand on his chest and taking a step back.

"Logan, I'm surprised at you! You've never been one to kick me out, what's so different about today?"

The duke place his head in his hand as he spoke, tapping his fingers on his chin as if lost in thought. His eyes widened as he put the pieces together.

"Oh I get it! You're upset that princey and sunshine won't listen to you, right?"

Logan shut his eyes tight and grimaced, wishing he could just be alone right now.

"Logan you should know by now, those two are so stuck in their ways, of course they're not gonna give a fu-"

"Remus, please," Logan exclaimed suddenly, "I know that now. They do not care about what I have to say, and they do not care about me."

Logan leaned onto the desk hanging his head.

"They...they dislike me, I know they do. And I don't understand why I'm letting that fact affect me so much. This is certainly not the first time they've elected to ignore me, and I know it won't be the last. I just..."

Logan rested his elbows on the desk and set his face in his hands.

"I wish they'd let me help them. I wish they'd let me speak. I wish they would stop mocking me when I do get to speak."

He had no idea how the creative side was reacting to him, and he also had no idea why he was even saying all this to him. He just felt the need to tell someone, and at the moment he couldn't think of anyone else he felt comfortable talking to about this subject.

"I apologize, I know you don't care. I won't be upset if you decide to leave, I know this is likely uncomfortable for you."

There was silence for a few seconds before Logan finally raised his head to look at the duke. He had an expression that he couldn't quite read. Concern? Pity? The logical side was never experienced with reading emotions.

Remus turned his gaze to the ground as he tried to figure out what to say.

"Logan, I...I do understand how that feels. No one ever wants to listen to me either. Which I know sometimes I tend to talk about things they find too disturbing, but...I'm never allowed a say in anything! Roman is always in charge of anything creative, while I'm shunned into my own part of the imagination that no one ever wants to go to."

For the first time Logan had ever seen, Remus was flustered. He had acted this way when Thomas first met him, but that was all just a performance. This was genuine.

Remus looked back at Logan and let out an embarrassed laugh.

"Oh shoot I'm sorry, I made this about myself again, didn't I? My apologies, I tend to do that without realizing."

Logan sighed and stood up, straightening his tie.

"No, it's quite alright. It is...comforting to know that at least one other side understands my situation."

Remus wrung his hands together, eyes turned to the ground again.

"Well...even if those two don't like being around you...I do," Remus said in a soft voice.

Logan was taken aback by the duke's words and furrowed his eyebrows.

"You do?"

"Well yeah, of course," Remus chuckled, "why do you think I come here so often?"

It dawned on Logan just then how often Remus does just...appear in his room. Never really messing with him, just staying near him. It never occurred to him that he did that because he enjoyed his presence.

"Well I...I had assumed you just did that to aggravate me," Logan raised his hand in confusion.

The duke giggled, playfully swatting his hands at Logan.

"Oh sweetie, if I wanted to mess with you I have much more fun and effective ways of doing so!"

Remus pulled out his throwing star and stuck his tongue out, reminding Logan of when he struck his head with it. Not a fond memory, he didn't want to let the others know that it actually hurt quite a lot. He shuddered thinking about it.

"I suppose you're right, but...why would you enjoy my company?"

Remus let out an exasperated sigh, plopping down on the corner of the bed. He fiddled with his sash with a shy look on his face.

"Because...you're the only other side that doesn't treat me like trash. Everyone else says I'm evil and scary, even," his hands froze and his voice became quiet, "...even Janus. And I-I thought he was my friend."

Logan thought back to what Janus had said to Roman after laughing at his name. He hadn't realized that had such an effect on Remus. The logical side felt a wave of pity for the duke, and he gently sat down next to him on the bed.

"I'm sorry Remus, I wish I could have stopped him from saying that. You are not evil, and you can't help the things you say. You are representative of Thomas's intrusive thoughts after all, but that doesn't mean you should be treated in such a horrible way. We all have a purpose as sides, and we are all necessary for Thomas's well-being."

Remus smiled, a real genuine smile. Not like the smile he usually makes when bringing up inappropriate thoughts, this smile was warm and kind. He grabbed Logan's hand and held it firmly, catching Logan off guard. He didn't pull away though, somehow it felt...validating.

"Thanks nerdy wolverine, you're a pretty cool guy."

Logan felt a strange heat in his face. Was he blushing? He'd never blushed before. He awkwardly held the duke's hand in return.

"Uh, th-thank you Remus. I...to be honest, I also find your company enjoyable," he stammered, turning his face away to hide the redness.

They sat in silence for a bit, both starting to feel they could trust each other and find comfort in one another. Remus was the first to break the silence as he laid his head on the logical side's shoulder.

"Say Logan...would you like to come to my side of the imagination? We could dissect some dead animals, and I'd like to hear you explain how their organs work."

The other raised his head at the offer. He was never one to turn down learning, even learning about more morbid subjects interested him. He smiled and found himself resting his head on top of the duke's.

"Yes, I would very much like that."

Remus giggled and quickly jumped off the bed, spinning in place and offering his hand to Logan.

"Then off we go!"

Logan let out a small chuckle, finding Remus's energy endearing. He grabbed the duke's hand and stood with him as they prepared to sink out. Logan took another look at Remus, finding great comfort in his smile. As they left his room, he thought about how the others might react to him being with the duke. Would they be supportive? Or would they be disgusted?

He elected not to worry about it, as he had finally found someone he could be himself with. He wasn't going to let anyone's opinion of them affect him.

#intrulogical #sander sides #sanders sides remus #sanders sides logan #sanders sides fanfiction #intrulogical fanfiction

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onewfantaesy · 4 years ago

Note

Yes! Give me all of the old goodies! I want the good, the bad, and the cringe.

u asked for it!!! it’s terrible and horrible but if literally anyone wants me to go more into it i’d be so down to just starting writing shit for it. i’m straight up just gonna copy and paste it from the message i sent like literally 4 years ago also it’s long as hell so it’s almost all going under a readmore there were no line breaks i had to go put in every line break omfg

okay so this is both a bandfic sort of idea but it's also a high school sort of idea so just bear with me pls

so like,,,u know how taemin and kai went to the same arts high school??? what if,,,,and this is a big fun fanficy what if

but what if okay so taemin and kai are in one class yes because same school year if i remember correctly, then sehun and krystal are in the year below them i'm like pretty sure so they're also both in the same class just for fics sake lmao

and like,,,they're all just doing their school thing, and taemin and jongin sit sort of next to each other in their class, and by that i mean taemin sits in like the 3rd row by the window and jongin sits in the seat directly behind him so taemin's always turned around during breaks talking with him and playing like rock paper scissors and all that bullshit

and okay so lets just saaaaaay there was like an new reality-ish show, like that one show where taemin went to high school again with all those other idols and it was at an arts school, but like this show is for older idols to do other jobs and lmao this is why i don't wanna put it on tumblr or anything because it's so fanficy it's gross but it's so fun to imagine in my head and i wanna just headcanon it with someone who also likes the idea

but like so jaejoong ends up being taemin and kai's teacher for like a week or 2 for this show, and then fuck idk Rain is the teacher for sehun and krystal's class and when taemin finds out he's SO JEALOUS

"WHAT THE FUCK NO I LOVE HIM MAKE HIM SWITCH TO OUR CLASS"

"and get stuck with jaejoong, fat fucking chance lee taemin go dance to rising sun or some bullshit why don't you"

and also just because why not add more fanficy shit with something that's already so ridiculously fanficy and let's say taemin used to be fairly close with jaejoong before the whole ~lawsuit~ thing happened, and he used to maybe see him and the other dbsk members like once a week because he was close with them and they helped him with dancing, singing, etc whatever cute bonding shit

and then one day taemin went to go see them and jyj were just gone and taemin was so confused and changmin was upset and yunho was upset but just like "they left the band taemin they're gonna leave the company" and taemin's this lil freshly debuted kid and he just "but they didn't say goodbye?????"

and taemin's been so upset with jaejoong since that day because like he feels very hurt about them just leaving and not saying goodbye to him

so when jaejoong shows up as his teacher that morning, everyone in their class thought it was just a normal day, and there were cameras in the classroom but they also just assumed that it was something taemin or jongin related because idols in their class and all that so taemin's just turned around playing rock paper scissors with kai, and then the door opens and it's another camera and then a man walking in but it's right after the bell and no one's really looking so they just assume it's their teacher so everyone just "goodmorning teacher" in monotone voices because they have to, and jongin pushes taemin forward so he's facing forward and everyone just

"what's going on"

"taemin what is this!"

"jongin!! is this a new reality show??"

and taekai are just what the fuck because jaejoong is standing at the front of their class and that's definitely not their teacher where the hell is Mrs. Kim

and jaejoong explains that it's a new reality show, and he'll be their teacher for the next week or so, and everyone is kind of excited except for taemin and jongin who are like well SHIT because once their company gets a load of this, they're gonna be in a load of shit

and jongin just leans forward and whispers in taemin's ear "this is a load of barnacles" like that guy from spongebob, and taemin absolutely SNORTS so of course everyone and the cameras and jaejoong turn to him, and jongin immediately falls back into his seat and taemin tries to put on a straight face and jaejoong just

"taemin, jongin, is there something you'd like to share with the class?"

"no, nothing," taemin says, sending a very annoyed smile at jaejoong.

and then when jaejoong isn't looking (but a camera is still pointed at them), jongin leans back forward and just "we're good noodles" and taemin fucking SNORTS SO LOUDLY and slaps jongin away from him and jaejoong just

"taemin. stay after class, won't you?"

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH”

everyone immediately just is like lmao u know how high school students are when someone gets in trouble lmao and taemin just huffs, and when jaejoong turns back around, taemin turns quickly to hit jongin on the shoulder and turn back around before jaejoong can see it

and like, taemin and jongin quickly become so annoyed with all the cameras, and like they're honestly just trying to do their work at one point and taemin is slumped over his desk trying to do the work with the person who sits next to him, and he just turns to the cameraman and just

"can u get that thing out of my face pls i'm not a cast member on this show"

"but you're in the class!!!"

"i'm not the only one in this class!!"

taemin is so exasperated like man i'm trying to learn i didn't sign up for this shit and then during a break someone like

"oh u know those things we sign at the beginning of the year that say we can be on media and shit for the school?? this must file under that, we must be one of the classes where everyone's guardians signed yes"

and then at lunch, taemin and jongin go see if sehun and krystal have this same problem and they just walk up to the classroom because it's lunch time and usually the teachers all leave right away and taemin just pushes the door open so dramatically like

"sehunnie!! you'll never believe who our teacher is this week holy shit!!"

and he just runs smack into Rain and just

"oh my god"

looks up at him with these wide ass eyes and he's having such a fanboy moment he loves rain so much omg and jongin has to like hold onto him to hold him up because rain just

"oh, shinee. big fan"

and walks away and taemin practically fucking FAINTS

"BIG FAN!! HE SAID HE'S A BIG FAN!! OF ME!!!!"

"he said shinee u dipshit"

"I AM SHINEE!!! I'M GONNA SHIT MYSELF!!"

"who's your teacher though don't leave us hanging"

and the other three come over and taemin immediately sobers up and just "ugh that fuckhead jaejoong i can't fucking believe this you know who's gonna get in toruble for it?? US. un-fucking-believable"

"you know, you never had a mouth like that when i knew you. also, if i recall correctly, i asked you to stay after class"

and taemin turns and sees jaejoong and a camera and he just "shit" because dammit he hopes he didn't get caught cursing on camera and now he's gotta have some fake heart-to-heart with jaejoong and he's none too pleased and jaejoong pulls him aside but there's still a cameraman following them and taemin is so uncomfortable and just

"please i'm serious get that thing out of my face"

"taemin it's just for a couple minutes."

"what do you want?"

taemin is just so upset and like he's so on edge because at school he can be somewhat normal but no now he's got an idol teacher and cameras following him around and dammit he just wants to go eat his lunch

"i wanted to talk to you about what happened when i left"

"no, sorry, i'm not doing this"

taemin just cuts him off and walks away, but jaejoong follows him and just

"why not"

"because!! that's a personal thing, and if you're only gonna talk about it because you're being filmed, then you really don't care at all and i don't wanna hear it. now can i go eat my lunch please, i'm hungry"

and jaejoong just sighs and looks at taemin, and taemin's just this sad kid right now looking at him with these big eyes and he looks so upset and jaejoong just

"okay. go. but no more disturbing the class, got it?"

"that wasn't even my fault" taemin grumbles "jongin was the one saying shit not me"

"don't let it happen again" jaejoong warns him, but taemin just walks off and goes to look for his lil friends.

also!!! kwonho is his friend from school right?? that's the guy taemin sits next to in class lmao i just remembered that, and kwonho is part of their lil group and!!! probably also moonkyu!!! moonkyu can sit next to jongin lmao so that's like the general gist of it i'm sorry this is so long lmao but i've had this idea in my head for probably a year now and it flows a lot better in my head than in writing but yeah i just!!! really wanna talk about it

and also another part of this au deals with a manager and is like mm three or so days into jaejoong being their teacher and maybe fuck idk kang hodong is a lil first year class teacher who taekai barely realize is there until they hear him crashing down the hall on day 2 and everyone in the classrooms goes up against the windows to look outside and see what's going on only to find kang hodong leading a bunch of firsties down the hallway as some form of prank or lesson or no one really knows what's happening, but everyone wishes hodong was their teacher after that

and anyways a manager comes one day to pick taemin up for a schedule and taemin completely forgot about it so he's absorbed in the lesson that jaejoong is teaching, and so the manager has to go straight up to the classroom to collect taemin because he forgot to go down to the office to get picked up and the manager just knocks once and opens the door and just

"taemin, come on" because this happens rather often but then he sees who's teaching

and taemin "shit" and gathers up his things really quickly and just tries to get out of there without some sort of weird fight thing happening and just "sorry hyung sorry sorry i'm coming!!"

"what is going on"

"what?"

"why is HE in your classroom?? and cameras???"

"we're on a show hyung can we go please i'm gonna be late"

taemin's just got his backpack slung over his shoulder and he's so anxious to just leave because oh no this is the angry manager and he's getting that angry look and oh no "get in the hall"

and he just grips taemin's arm and shoves him outside and FUCK it kind of hurts and fuck everyone saw and the cameras saw and just fuck

"jongin, get out"

"what, i don't have a schedule today!" jongin is seriously like annoyed like no today is a day off until like 6 pm fuck that "jongin, NOW" and jongin is so freaked out and he just "sorry okay i'm coming"

and he gets his things and he's hurrying outside and he just "how long has this been goig on??"

"what??"

"how long have you two been on a show without telling anyone!!" he's getting so angry and taekai are so freaked out holy shit they didn't think it was that big of a deal

"hey, do you have permission to take jongin out of class?" jaejoong is like worried like is this even legal

"you stay out of this" the manager Does Not like jaejoong. not one bit. and the manager like gets so angry and he's yelling at taekai in the hall and another teacher hears it and peaks out to see what's going on and he like grills them for not telling anyone that they were on a show and that jaejoong was their teacher and blahblah

and he asks if sehun and krystal have been ont he show too and they both just "yeah" and he makes them go get them and so they hurry down the hall to their classroom and knock on the door and they're so nervous when rain looks at them like

"excuse me what the fuck you're interrupting my lesson"

and taemin just "um, we have to, um, a manager is here and, we sort of, have to have sehun and krystal come with us right now, now, like right now"

and he's so obviously extremely nervous and the other two immediately know which manager it is just by how nervous taemin is and they start packing their shit up and they all hear the manager yelling for them to hurry up, and rain just "you two stay in here. everyone stay in here, you two come with me, you're going back to class"

and taemin just pipes up as rain puts his arm around the two of them to guide them back to class and he just

"i actually have a schedule right now i'm actually supposed to be leaving"

"then kai will go back to class and you can call another manager"

"um actually, rain, sir, i go by jongin when i'm at school"

"then jongin will go back to class, and taemin can call another manager to come pick him up"

"yes sir, rain, sir, okay, yes"

and by now jaejoong and the manager are outside of the classroom arguing, and a cameraman is out recording the whole thing and then rain joins in like

"hey can we just let this one go back to class and let the other go to his schedule why do we have to fight and get the children involved"

and then the bell rings but it never fucking stops and after a moment of confusion, taemin and jongin just look at each other like

"holy shit holy SHIT is this real holy shit HOLY SHIT"

and all the classroom doors close and lock and the blinds on the windows get shut and jaejoong, rain, the manager, and the cameraman have no idea what's going on but taemin and kai run up to their classroom and start banging on the door and just

"HEY LET US IN LET US IN OMG OPEN THE DOOR"

but their classroom president just "sorry we can't open the door for anyone until the lockdown bell rings again or until the principal says over the intercom that lockdown is over"

"hey kids what's going on??" rain is so confused and the camera is going between the boys and the adults

and taemin just "WAS THERE A LOCKDOWN DRILL TODAY"

"what??"

"YOU'RE THE TEACHERS OMG WAS THERE SUPPOSED TO BE A LOCKDOWN DRILL TODAY YES OR NO"

"i don't know???"

"OH MY GOD YOU PEOPLE ARE USELESS"

taekai are just freaking out holy shit because if they're on lockdown that's like serious they never go on lockdown unless it's a drill and they go back to banging on the door begging for their classmates to let them back in but their classroom president keeps saying no despite the fact that many other people are saying they should let them in

and taemin just "JAEHYUN YOU PANSY SON OF A BITCH OPEN THE DOOR"

"WHY DON'T YOU GO HIDE IN THE BATHROOM, IDOL"

taemin just "THIS IS WHY I VOTED FOR [insert girl's name here] INSTEAD OF YOU"

and the girl just "wait taemin you really voted for me???"

"yeah you're WAY BETTER THAN THIS PANSY PIECE OF SHIT"

"WHY DON'T YOU TELL THAT TO THE BATHROOM YOU'RE GONNA GO HIDE IN"

“WHO DIED AND MADE YOU KING?”

"IM IN CHARGE WHEN THE TEACHER IS ABSENT"

"YPU ONLY WON FROM LIKE 3 VOTES NO ONE LIKES YPU"

and taemin and kai just scream a little bit out of frustration before kicking the door one last time but when they realize that the supposed adults in charge aren't doing anything they just

"fuck this we're hiding in the bathroom until this is over have fun ARGUING IN THE HALLWAY"

and they run down the hall to go hide in the bathroom and lock the door and then over the intercom the principal just

"there is a man trying to take our student idols without authorization. the proper law enforcement officers have been notified, but do not let any of your student idols go with a man who says he is here to pick them up. this is not a drill. teachers, lock your doors, and keep your students away from the windows." blahblahblah

and taemin and kai are int he bathroom just laughing out of both frustration and a little bit out of disbelief that the school is actually calling the cops on their manager and then someone in shinee calls taemin, probably key, and taemin ends up facetiming with them and the other four see that taemin and kai are int he bathroom at school and just

"what the hell taemin you're so late for this recording where are you???"

"so long story short, manager hyung got the whole school put on lockdown and me and jongin had to hide in the bathroom because our stupid pansy fuck of a class president wouldn't open the door for us to go back inside of our class"

"what the hell are you talking about"

so taemin and jongin explain the whole reality show thing with jaejoong being their teacher for a week and jinki probably just

"you're saying jaejoong was your teacher all week and you didn't tell anyone"

"basically yeah and then the manager u fucks sent to pick me up BLEW UP AT US and it was not pretty can you please tell the NOT ASSHOLE MANAGER that i'm going to be late because THE ASSHOLE MANAGER is probably in the process of being arrested ~~thank you~~ COME GET ME. I'M LITERALLY LOCKED IN A BATHROOM. THIS IS NOT FUN."

and idk other people they were supposed to be on the show with that are just lingering about are giggling at the misfortunes of the young idols and lmao idk the asshole manager probably gets fired literally all our lil high school idols babies get in trouble for not telling anyone they were being filmed at school for a tv show and taemin makes up with jaejoong yay happy ending i just wanna talk about this so bad

Tbh I mostly just enjoy the image of taemin and Kai being followed by a cameraman as they run through the halls in their school uniforms to the bathroom because their asshole class president won't let them in because of a technicality and just shouting "This is BULLSHIT" and scrambling to lock the door to the second floor boys bathroom

Also just taekai and their two other friends goofing off before class and forgetting a camera is there and they're talking about a new movie or something and taemin just

"IT! WAS! SO! KICK! ASS" and alternating between fists to punch the air in front of him and they all like re-enact scenes they liked or whatever

And they're just being dumb boys u know and then the teacher and jaejoong come in and they all immediately scramble to sit down in their seats and just It's a really funny contrast to what they act like as Exo/shinee u know

And then Kai just "wait when did you go see that movie??"

"I went with kwonho on Sunday"

"WHY WASNT I INVITED??"

And moonkyu just "OR ME??"

"I'm sorry but you knew going into this 4-person relationship that I would have to split my time up between the three of you"

"Taemin fuck off"

Taemin is just unphased and continues "and that sometimes one might get more attention than the other"

"You are the worst"

"Thank you I'm taking that as a compliment"

And just uwu the four of them being smart asses together

And taemin just shakes his head and closes his eyes and shrugs like "I am a busy busy man"

And Kai just scoffs like "hey busy man, did you finish the math homework?"

And he waves around the paper that has half of his homework done

And taemin just Pauses

"I am a busy busy man who forgot there was math homework"

And he leaps forward and takes a piece of paper of moonkyu and a pencil and just "lemme see lemme see lemme see!!"

Because they have math first and fuck he totally forgot and there's only 5 minutes before class starts

And moonkyu lets them copy his homework and then the class president comes over and just "Excuse me IDOLS are you CHEATING?"

And taemin just makes a face at him and goes back to it, but before anyone can really say anything about, another classmate comes over and just "Oh shove off asshole, you copied my history homework at lunch yesterday"

And everyone just snorts, and he goes shuffling off to his desk

Everyone hates the class president because right after he won he became a dick about it and everyone regretted voting for him

And the girl who ran against him just "I told you to vote for me"

And taemin turns to his friends and just "I told you to vote for her"

"Taemin shut up"

"Never trust a man who only wears glasses in class!!!"

Kwonho just Shoves taemin closer to the window

#taemin #kai #shinee #jaejoong #wantonewsbabies #this is literally from january 4 2017 don't judge me #what should i call this #lockdown au #shrug emoji

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ragewerthers · 5 years ago

Text

Lost Keys

Summary: Kuroo can’t seem to find his keys, but he has a sneaking suspicion that he knows someone who can help find them. However, they may need a little persuading.

A/n: This is a fic for my friend @ticklygiggles!!! She sent me the prompt:

‘Hello DEAR FRIEND, could I request 15. “I know you’re hiding my ____, and I know where.” with 'keys' and with KuroDai if possible? Many thaaaanks ‘

And it was so cute I instantly knew what I wanted to write for it! I hope that you enjoy it, my friend!!! :D It was a blast to write these two for you!

You can also read on AO3 at: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22208185

Enjoy! :D

Word Count: 2591

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

“Damn it… I know they’re here somewhere,” Kuroo mumbled under his breath, going through the same pile of papers he’d just been grading as he looked for his apartment keys. He was already running a little behind schedule for a faculty meeting and Daichi was going to be gone later in the day for his own teaching classes so he’d have to have them to get back into their apartment later on tonight. Sadly it seemed that the keys were nowhere to be found regardless of how long he’d been looking.

He swore he had left them on this desk, but so far he had searched almost every inch of his and Daichi’s apartment looking for the damn things! He had checked all the odd places they’d been found before.

The refrigerator in the kitchen.

The sofa cushions in the living room.

Hell he’d even snuck back into their bedroom where Daichi was still sleeping and checked all around their bed in case they had simply dropped out of his pocket when they undressed for bed!

Yet still they remained lost in the mist.

He had retreated back to the office for one more look, refusing to sound the alarm for help just yet. The last thing he wanted to do was alert Daichi to the fact that he had once again lost his keys. It was literally an everyday occurrence though he always promised Daichi that he knew where they were.

Obviously he didn’t.

It was generally dumb luck that led him to finding them over and over again, but apparently today his luck had finally run out.

“Missing something, Kuroo?” a deep voice rumbled from the hallway outside the room they used as their office. It sounded smug. Annoyingly smug.

Turning he saw that yes… Daichi definitely had a smug look on his far too handsome features this early morning and oh how it irked him. Honestly, how could a man with messy bed head, rumpled pajamas and morning stubble look so smug and cute at once?!

Absolutely unfair and uncalled for.

Putting on his most relaxed smile, Kuroo waved a dismissive hand. “Of course not! I’m a responsible 30 year old who knows exactly where they are. I’m just… making sure I have everything for the meeting,” he said with a flippant aire as he tried to sneakily let his eyes rove around the room in search of the shiny cat charm that was attached to his missing keys.

“Mmhmm. And that’s why I’ve heard you rustling around in here for the last… oh... twenty minutes?” Daichi asked, leaning against the door frame as his arms came up to cross over his broad chest. God, Daichi looked so sleep soft and cozy Kuroo just wanted to take him back to bed and forget this whole morning meeting nonsense.

Sadly, there was no getting out of this particular meeting and if he tried to talk Daichi into letting him stay longer the man would definitely figure out that he had lost his keys somewhere.

“That’s exactly why you’ve heard me rustling around, Sa’amura,” he murmured softly, hoping to distract the man with that particular nickname. “You know how prepared I like to be.”

“A prepared person would take the time to hang his keys on the key rack by the front door. The one that I put there specifically so that you would stop having this problem,” Daichi pointed out, giving a little shake of his head, completely immune to Kuroo’s teasing this morning. “Why can’t you just admit that I was right that you have a horrible habit of misplacing things and then let me help you? Is that so hard… kitten?”

Oh that smug bastard!

Kuroo’s cheeks instantly flushed up as he heard that endearment, swallowing a little thickly at the way Daichi had pitched his voice lower and smiled all the more smugly.

However… there was something about that smile that had been plastered on his partners lips all morning that was starting to send little red flags to his brain.

Why was Daichi so confident that his keys were misplaced? Kuroo literally could’ve sworn he’d placed them on the desk right before bed last night so that he knew where to find them.

And why was Daichi so keen on him admitting that he was wrong? So that he would be forced to use that silly looking key rack?

Never.

No. Something told him that he hadn’t been the one to misplace his keys.

Something told him that someone else had taken his keys.

“Kuroo? Kuroo why are you looking at me like that?” Daichi asked, his teasing expression morphing into one of slight concern as he moved away from the door frame.

Narrowing his eyes Kuroo’s own smile grew and he took a step forward.

“I know you’re hiding my keys, Daichi,” he purred, watching as the shorter man’s eyes widened a bit. “And I know where.”

“Kuroo? Kuroo you can’t seriously thin-AH!”

In a flash, Kuroo took off toward Daichi, but the man still had the quick reflexes from his sports days and dashed off back down the hall toward the living room. Trying desperately to get away from a cat in hot pursuit.

“Are you crazy?! I don’t have your keys!” Daichi cried out, cutting to the right to duck into their kitchen and put the table between them.

“Then why are you running from me, sweetheart?” Kuroo called after him, standing on the other side of the table and smiling dangerously at his husband. “It’s obviously because you have them on you, dearest. And why I can’t seem to find them this morning even though I know I put them on my desk last night. Now… come where and give me my keys or you are going to be one very sorry little crow!”

With that last little warning, he tore off around the side of the table, Daichi crying out as he tried to get to the sofa and get another piece of furniture between them.

“Who are you calling little?! Leave me alone, Kuroo! I don’t have your damn ke-NO!”

Just as Daichi was rounding the corner of the sofa, he felt himself instantly being tackled down into the cushions. He tried… he really, really did try to wriggle his way free, but Kuroo still had a decent amount of height and an absurd amount of momentum going for him. So it was only a matter of minutes before Daich was pinned down on their small couch, wrists pinned under his partners knees and looking even more rumpled from the mini wrestling match.

Honestly, it was a bit distracting at the moment with Daichi’s shirt riding up slightly to show off some of his tum, his breathing just a little heavier and his cheeks rosy. But Kuroo couldn’t get distracted now! He had a husband to punish!

“Like I said, Dai… if you didn’t have my keys you wouldn’t have run from me. You obviously are hiding them on you,” he said matter-of-factly.

Daichi rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he tried to pull his arms free of their trapped position under Kuroo’s knees. “You’re insane! I’m in pajamas! Where in the hell would I be hiding them?!” he argued and really, he had a good point.

Kuroo narrowed his eyes and refused to give up so easily. “Fine. Perhaps you don’t have them on you, but… I think you do know where they are. And I have ways of making you talk, Sa’amura,” he murmured, moving his fingertips against the sides of Daichi’s exposed tum.

Daichi instantly stilled, his eyes going wide as he shook his head.

“Kuroo… Kuroo listen to me. I have absolutely no ide-hehehahaha!” he tried to plead before breaking out into desperate giggles.

Kuroo couldn’t help smiling as he watched his husband already dissolving into a giggle fit, simply because he was fluttering his fingers gently against the man’s ticklish stomach. Oh he had loved finding out this little tidbit of information about his lover years ago and he had used it to his advantage many times.

Today would be no different.

“You know how to get this to stop, Daichi. Just tell me where my keys are and I won’t have to do this,” he cooed, letting his fingers scribble faster and closer, right to the center of the poor man’s stomach.

Daichi instantly arched up at the contact before laughing harder and trying to buck Kuroo off him.

“I… I dohohon’t know! I don’t know, Kuroohohoho! Plehehehase!” Daichi cackled, his neck already flushing up from Kuroo going after one of his worst spots. “Stahp! Stop ihihihit!”

Kuroo couldn’t help chuckling at his poor partner, basking in his adorable laughter as he continued to skitter his fingers all over his tum. It was definitely a lovely stomach to be sure and Kuroo always found himself drawn to it. For kisses, for soft touches and especially for tickles. However, there were also other lovely spots that could get equally wonderful reactions from the man. Seeing as he wasn’t keen to come clean about stealing his keys just yet, Kuroo decided to move on to some of those spots.

Moving his hands up he began to massage deep circles against Daichi’s lowest ribs, vibrating right underneath of them and the laughter instantly went wilder. Daichi’s legs kicked out behind him and if he hadn’t been prepared he definitely would’ve been throw off by the sudden increase in his partners squriming.

“N-not thahat! Not that, Tehehehetsu-ahahahagahahad!” Daichi was positively cackling now as he felt the horrible, nimble fingers hitting that particular spot. It always made him want to crawl out of his skin as the ticklish shocks felt like little zips of electricity running through his body.

“Give me what I want and I’ll stop, Daichi. I told you this. You just have to tell me where my keys are,” Kuroo cooed softly, his fingers slowly tickling higher and higher up Daichi’s ribs. Making sure to caress and wriggle into every dip the wanted the man to remember just how ticklish he was and who he was messing with.

With each press of Kuroos’ fingers against his poor ribs, Daichi could only squeak out little pleas of cries of laughter… until Kuroo decided to go in for the kill.

“Alright. Dai… you asked for this. I tried to play nice, but… you only have your own stubbornness to blame,” Kuroo said with a mock sigh of sympathy, pausing for a moment to let his words sink in.

As the tickling stopped, Daichi tried to catch his breath, intermittent giggles still escaping as he tried to figure out what his husband meant.

And then he felt it.

The soft press of Kuroo’s finger right against the centers of his armpits.

Daichi instantly started to thrash and fight his way to freedom.

“I don’t have them! I don’t have your keys! I don’t know where they are! I don’t, I don’t, I do-HAHAHAHGAHAHAD! NOT THE-HEHEHAHAHA!”

If Daichi was laughing before he was positively howling now. Kuroo wasted no time in listening to his lies. His fingers wriggled mercilessly against Daichi’s hypersensitive underarms, the poor former Captain going absolutely wild at the sensation.

He bucked, he kicked, he snorted and squeaked, but nothing would stop Kuroo from getting what he wanted.

“PLEHEHEHEASE! MERCHEHEHEY! MERCHEY KUROOHO-AHAHA!” Daichi begged, tears of laughter already escaping him as he tried to squeeze his arms closer to his sides to stop the attack, but he seemed incapable of saving himself. Kuroo knew just to move his fingers in the most maddening way to get him to go wild. His entire body felt like it was under attack, the ticklish sensations blocking out everything else as Kuroo scribbled his fingers quickly right into the center of his sensitive hollows.

Sadly, Kuroo must’ve hit just the right spot because as he let his fingers tweak just below his underarms, Daichi twitched so violently that he sent them both falling over the side of the sofa into a tangled heap on the floor.

It all happened so quickly that it took Kuroo a moment to realize just where he was, laying on the floor between the coffee table and the sofa, a panting, shaking and giggling Daichi laying over top of him.

“Oh my god, Daichi… Daichi are you okay, sweetheart?” Kuroo asked instantly, realizing that maybe… maybe he had gone a bit too far. He soothed his hand along Daichi’s back, the man squirming from being far too sensitive and as soft whine escaping him.

“Do-don’t tihihickle me… plehehease… I… I don’t know… where… where your kehehey’s are,” he giggled breathlessly, shifting his head slightly on Kuroo’s chest to look up at him with a flushed and tired expression, though a giggle induced smile still stayed on his lips.

Kuroo’s heart positively clenched at the sight and he brought his other hand up to cup his husbands rosy cheek, leaning up a bit to kiss his forehead. “Okay, love. Okay. I believe you. No more tickles,” he chuckled, watching as Daichi nodded and closed his eyes, settling back on Kuroo’s chest and trying to catch his breath.

As Daichi continued to calm from his attack, Kuroo continued the gentle soothing to his back, soon feeling Daichi’s breathing relax. He couldn’t help smiling a bit at how adorable Daichi had been when he’d been laughing like that, but his thoughts on that were momentarily lost as something caught his eyes under the sofa.

Turning his head he gasped as he caught sight of a silver cat charm attached to his keys.

They must’ve fallen out of the sofa when he searched the cushions earlier and landed on the floor!

Which meant… that he had literally almost tickled his partner to insanity for nothing.

Kuroo felt his face instantly heat up with shame and worry as he realized that this… this was not going to be easy to explain away.

“Oh… uh… look, Daichi! It… um… my keys were… under the sofa the whole time. Isn’t that funny?” he asked nervously, pausing a moment and feeling his tension grow as no answer was forthcoming.

“Daichi? Dai? Sawamura? Are… are you upset? I… I swear I didn’t know! I honestly thought you had them! I…,”

But his words were cut off by the soft snuffling sound coming from his husband.

Taking a moment to let the shame and fear ebb, Kuroo allowed himself to pay attention to the man still nestled against his chest and realized…

Daichi had fallen asleep.

Kuroo blinked owlishly a few times, but as he glanced down he realized that it was true. Daichi had literally nodded off on him after the intense tickles he’d gotten so early in the morning. The poor man’s cheeks were still flushed from laughter, his mouth slightly agape as he nuzzled against Kurro’s shirt and snuggled closer to him.

“Oh, Daichi,” Kuroo whispered softly, a warm, soft smile making its way onto his lips as he brought a hand up to soothe through his husbands short hair.

Glancing at the clock on the wall he realized that there was no absolutely no way he was making that faculty meeting. And honestly, he would be willing to miss ten of those meetings if it meant staying where he was to let Daichi get some much deserved rest.

He was definitely going to have to make it up to the poor man.

Perhaps… he’d start by using the key rack.

#kurodai #kuroo tetsurou #sawamura daichi #haikyuu #my fics #tickle fic #they're married in this one!#I just love them so much!#They are just too adorable!

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