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tarosin · 3 years ago

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the great adventures of y/n tommy jack tubbo and george

requested yes/no

part 5 of the great adventures series

summary: training for the military

warning: cursing

AN: really sorry about this tumblr won’t let me change/add paragraphs so could look very weird

the journey there was quick for you, you spent the trip asleep in the back of the car whilst the others were discussing what you were all about to do “How difficult do you think it’s going to be” “dude it’s a military assault course” you woke up halfway there to the noise of the radio playing “afternoon y/n”“afternoon sorry I fell asleep I’m not used to being woken up early in the morning, I blame you guys and ranboo”“y/n have you ever wanted to join the military” “I can't say I have no” “well you’re going to love what we’re doing” “what are we doing” “you’ll see!”

you stood picking up more rocks and handing them to tubbo whilst Tommy and George began to film the introduction to the vlog “were in the jungle” confused you turned to tubbo “psst tubbo what the fuck are we doing, why are we in a woods” before tubbo had time to answer Tommy already began to answer your question telling you that you’re all training for the military, not taking him seriously you started laughing as you all were walking it was only when you were handed a jumpsuit to cover your clothes you realised it wasn’t a joke, you would be lying if you said you were ready for this, after all, you spent your free time playing Minecraft you wasn’t exactly great at sports

you managed to put the jumpsuit on pretty quickly unlike Tommy who was quite clearly struggling to get it on over his trainers “come on sergeant simons were doing a military assault course and you’re struggling to put on the clothes”after struggling to put clothes on the five of you stood together getting photos whilst you all looked decent “me and my boys in the jungle” “This isn’t going to go well” “we’re going to destroy it” “NO”

you hadn’t even reached the course yet and you were already tripping up over rocks and sticks that were on the muddy trail “we’re walking to our deaths..y/n is already falling over” “Hey I didn’t sign up to do exercise” once you finally reached the start of the course you were met with a canon, a dog and a man in a yellow jumper you stood as a team listening to what you were about to do and how you were actually a team of six, you hoped he meant the dog was a team member but no turns out the canon was the sixth member

“We have to take the canon with us” “...and take it apart into six pieces at each obstacle and rebuild it ” you handed your phone to the Russ, not trusting yourself to keep it on you especially since you were already tripping up before reaching the assault course “thank you” “good luck” “huh” you didn’t have time to process what was said as Mr military began counting down from three, the five of you ran to the first obstacle tubbo dragging the canon Tommy climbed over the net first with tubbo following after “What happens if I fall” it was as though you and tubbo had read each other’s mind as you both responded with “you’ll die” “death” you climbed over next with a wheel “reckon I can slide down the net” “that will hurt y/n don’t do- and you’re already doing it” you slid down the net despite George telling you not to do so, it didn’t take too long for the others to get over, you all began reassembling the canon “can we talk about our feelings” “I feel like shit I jumped out of a plane not long ago now I feel like I’m doing PE all over again” “Y/N JUST HELP BUILD THE CANON” “I'M TRYING ODDLY ENOUGH I'M NOT BUILT FOR THE MILITARY”once the canon was built Tommy and tubbo ran off with it “who’s going to tell them we need to test it” once Mr military shouted they ran back “why do we have to do this” “it’s the fucking rules Tommy and life is full of them” “like taxes” “tax fraud” a few seconds later the five of you yelled “bang” neither of you saying it at the same time “it didn’t work” “yes it did now come on”

you all ran towards the next obstacle, a giant wall. you all quickly dismantled the canon, Tommy went over first and began bickering with Mr military about him not being his dad whilst you tubbo and jack struggled to pass over the heaviest part of the canon “lift and lift” “really George? I thought we could just throw it over and hope he catches it” “Please don’t do that” “I am very sorry George but I'm struggling here” you continued your struggling tubbo tried to help Tommy through his words “you’re strong bossman I believe in you” “by the way, you really picked the shortest people to do this” part of the canon landed with a thud “welp hope he’s not dead” you climbed over next again carrying the wheel “he’s not dead guys don’t worry” you laughed as George took his time getting over the wall “I'm poving” “GET OVER THE WALL” you all stood questioning what time you were on completely forgetting that you were supposed to reassemble the canon “This is going to be embarrassing” “you guys could be rebuilding the canon” you could have built and tested the canon quickly however Tommy George and tubbo began telling people to subscribe whilst you built the canon with jack “we’re so good at this” “heh maybe not” you all test-fired the canon and made your way to the next obstacle

you were sent to go over the rope first, this was extremely difficult for you, the rope kept swaying as you walked causing you to lose your balance on multiple occasions “step on the V” “I’m going to fall” you made it over after a couple of minutes, like tubbo you also felt a bit ill, you assumed it was because it was quite hot and a lot was going on “how you feeling y/n” “Honestly, I’m jealous of ranboo, he’s at home living his best life and I’m in the middle of the woods overheating and climbing but no it’s pretty funny watching the others” you laughed as you overheard tubbo talking about how they’re only three obstacles in and how he’s going to die “YOU GOT THIS TUBBO!” Tommy crossed next, like you, he took his time he was then followed by tubbo who was trying to speed run walking over the rope you waited for jack and George cheering them on whilst Tommy was asking around for water and complaining about wearing a gamer hoodie. at this point, everyone seemed unmotivated “3 2 1.. bang”

“oh lovely..tires” tubbo went through first with the heaviest part of the canon “ill help you tubbo” you following behind helping him carry it due to it being stupidly heavily “so how are you tubbo” “AAAAAAAAAAA” “aye me too bud” you and tubbo decided that from now you two were going to work as a pair so it would be easier for you both, over the past few weeks tubbo became one of your closest friends the pair of you even started trending on Twitter as you did an irl stream where you both went on a walk at the beach and met several fans. whilst you and tubbo were making your way through Tommy jack and George we’re trying to figure out who should take what. “there’s piss in this one” “what the fuck?!” the pair of you finally got out from the tires “good job you two” “thank you” you rested your head on tubbos shoulder trying to get your breath back “I don’t think I’m made for the military” a few moments later Tommy made it to the tire full of water and put his finger in it “PEE” “Tommy why-” you stood looking around at the scenery, the sound of Tommy yelling about crawling away from George and that he’s ‘touched the piss’ was enough the drag you away from your own thoughts, you watched the others struggling to get through the tires and was amazed at the fact tubbo went back in to help them. you tried to ignore Tommy and George being dramatic as you tried to figure out how many more obstacles you had to go but you got distracted by George “ill just eat you if you die” “Mr military I’d like some help right about now” you walked over to Tommy and helped him get out of the tires “thanks y/n” “welcome” “how you doing bossman you know I pulled through your part...what are you doing that’s George's water” Tommy decided to throw the bottle to you so you could have a drink as he remembered you’d not had a drink since you landed from jumping out of the plane “Thanks, Tommy” “YOU BOTH DRANK GEORGES WATER” “he can drink the piss” “what Tommy said” you laughed as you walked over to where jack was in the tires “ HI JACK” “Jesus christ you scared me, hi y/n” you stood waiting for everyone to finish “I know exactly what the slowest time was” “we’re going for a new record it’s fine” “of being the slowest?” “yeah” “you know what Mr military ill clart you” “you’ll what me” “I’m gonna just go over here” you walked over to where parts of the canon were and got ready to assemble it again whilst George began throwing water over jack and tubbo to bless them then did the same to Tommy, you hid behind a tree thinking he wouldn’t notice you, however, he did and within a minute you too had water poured on you “Thanks, I was thirsty” “oh we know” “The fuck is that supposed to mean” “HELP BUILD THE CANON PLEASE” like last time you all built the canon tested it and ran to the next obstacle

“can we just you know drag the already built canon under there with us” “absolutely not” “I tried” you all disassembled it again and like last time you and tubbo went first crawling under “I don’t want to alarm you all but it is soaking wet in here” “delightful” a few moments later you were both working well “tubbo I’m scared of the dark and it’s pitch black” “you’ve got this bossman we’re almost done” you calmed down quickly until Tommy decided to jump above the pair of you

“SORRY” “TOMMY I SWEAR TO GOD” “YOU DICK” you laughed slightly and tubbo checked up on you “you okay?” “I'm fine if you’re fine” “come on let’s finish this thing” the pair of you continued and finished relatively quickly tubbo got out first “NEVER AGAIN” “Sorry about that buddy” “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU” you helped push part of the canon out so tubbo could easily drag it out he then reached out so you could hold his hand and help pull you out “I've never been so happy to see the light” the pair of you sat on the floor waiting for the others to finish, you both made a bet on who was going to laugh first somehow you won as tubbo laughed at George and jack struggling to crawl through “YOU LAUGHED” “OH SHITTT” Russ came over to you both whilst recording so he could ask about how everything’s going “I’m covered in mud and the jumpsuit is wet, it isn’t a good day for the y/n community it was dark as hell in there “Tommy is a dick and tried to kill me and y/n” “I DIDN'T TRY TO KILL YOU BOTH” “I think he heard us” “WE ALL DID WERE NOT DEAF” “NO, BUT ACCORDING TO INSTAGRAM YOU'RE DEAD” you stared directly into the camera “sometimes it’s like I still hear jack talking to me” George and jack started complaining about how much further the is to go and how it was dirty and Tommy's response about being sorry it doesn’t fit their tory lifestyle made you burst out laughing “YOU LAUGHED” “tubbo my beloved you laughed ages ago you’ve already lost” “But we’re equal now” “no” the pair of you stood bickering to the point you didn’t realise the others had finished the obstacle and were shouting for you to test the canon “Y/N TUBBO WE NEED TO TEST THE CANON” the pair of you ran over “3 2 1 BANG”

“just going to warn you all you see that black cloud over there” “oh yay a storm is coming” you grabbed a wheel and followed behind jack across the wooden bridge “y/n he’s been splintered” “oh no poor George” “these are my gaming fingers” “no gaming for you I guess” “Stop talking about gaming dickheads” you spent a lot of time talking to George and jack whilst crossing over trying not to fall over you all even made a few plans to stream a laugh and the stream ends on jacks channel soon

you were all building the canon again whilst being informed you weren’t even halfway through and already 40 minutes in “high score” “well it’s definitely high” “Y/N??” “coming tubbo hang on my shoelace came undone” after tying your shoelace you grabbed a wheel and caught up to tubbo “if you go over tubbo ill pass it over to you and we can keep doing that” this method worked well for you both tubbo would climb over you would pass the wheel and middle part of the canon then climb over and repeat the process you heard Tommy in the background complaining about the fact he’s wearing jeans and jacks response “Yeah but I’m wearing jeans” “tubbo and y/n are almost done and you’re complaining about jeans” “jean boy pops off” “I'M WEARING JEANS AS WELL QUIT COMPLAINING” “Can we just go home and play smash bros” “Tommy this was your idea I didn’t even get on an option” “Sorry about that y/n but you get to spend time with me and gogy” “lucky me” you weren’t going to lie this was hard work and you were exhausted you felt like you could just fall asleep right where you were stood however tubbo wasn’t going to let that happen “I’m never going on an adventure with Tommy again” “me either” this of course was bullshit and you were both going on another adventure soon you stood watching your friends struggle to get over the obstacles you decided to offer your support and went to help jack and George using a similar method to that you used with tubbo “thanks y/n” “anytime” “y/n you could have helped me, tubbo pulled me over I could have been injured” “very sorry to hear that sergeant simons sucks to suck I guess” you all reassembled the canon tested it and ran to the next obstacle “I hate it here” “there’s a storm on the way” “Thanks, y/n for the input” “welcome George” you all noticed the net luckily you didn’t have to disassemble the canon this very well could be because you were running far behind and a storm was on its way. you watched as the others went through and joked about tubbo losing his shoe and Tommy getting stuck, this obstacle wasn’t made for you either as you kept getting caught on the net “I'VE BEEN CAUGHT AGAIN” jack lifted the net for you again so you could easily crawl through “thank you jack” you all then made it to the next obstacle Tommy crawled on the metal bars with you following after him whilst George used the monkey bars once you all made it across you had to walk across many metal planks used to form a bridge Tommy walked close behind you knowing you were extremely clumsy and didn't want you to fall “irl nettles” “The fuck are you on about Tommy I don’t think you’re following my advice about going outside” you all dissembled the canon as you got to the tires the only difference this time was you needed to climb over them “it’s rather windy” “there’s dirt in my eye” like before you and tubbo used the same method “look at them go” “I LIKE A DA BEE” “I'M SCARED OF BEES” “oh okay” “Why do they keep taking the plank” “I don’t know tubbo just takes it and y/n follows” you both finished rather quickly and neither of you got injured or fell “really good job you two” “thank you Mr military” you stood leaning on tubbo watching George pick up random rocks and put them into his pocket similar to what you had been doing the entire way around the course “I don’t think George or y/n have been outside before they keep picking things up like souvenirs” “Y/N GEORGE HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN THE RAIN BEFORE” both of you just stared at Tommy making him laugh you helped the others get across the tires and even helped prevent Tommy from falling a couple of times. unfortunately, you ended up twisting your ankle but tried to ignore it not wanting to ruin the vlog for anyone, not that you would have, however it was clear you were in pain as you had started limping. one at a time you all crossed the rope “This is me climbing I am climbing” you cheered everybody on and then it was your turn

unlike the others the rope kept shaking as you walked across mainly because you were scared of falling and in pain all whilst trying to rush, this was clearly your least favourite obstacle of the day “take your time y/n don’t fall” “thank you jack I'm trying my best I promise” once at the end of the rope, Tommy took the wheel off you and helped you get down and pulled you into a quick side hug “you’re doing great let’s go we’re almost done” you knew your friends wouldn’t make you continue if you really didn’t want to however you were nearly finished and was determined to finish. you all reassembled the canon and made your way to the next obstacle

“there’s no way we’re getting through that without twanging a rope” “good luck” you and tubbo made your way through the ropes trying not to hit them, this proved to be a pretty impossible task and you ended up twanging the ropes several times, this mixed with everyone else’s failure to cross without hitting the rope meant you all had to do 20 push-ups, after reassembling the canon twice as you all didn’t do it correctly the first time and testing it you all had to do the push-ups “I’m sure y/n and George only did 3” “sorry bossman”

you all were finally making your way to the last obstacle determined to finish “Big Russ can we go to McDonald's after this” “sure” the five of you cheered and ran the last obstacle quickly disassembling the canon, you led the way over the obstacle tubbo Tommy jack and George following behind you, despite tubbo losing his shoe and George going backwards the five of you quickly completed the obstacle and reassembled and tested the canon running over to the finishing line

you all finally completed it and waited for your result “45 minutes easily” “1 hour 11 minutes and 46 seconds” “no way that’s a world record” “well we tried” the five of you stood telling people to subscribe before ending the recording and making your way back to the car

the car ride back felt a lot longer than the way there. you were all exhausted

“how’s your ankle” “it’s not too bad it’ll probably hurt more tomorrow morning”

“I'm still not over Tommy trying to kill me and tubbo” “I didn’t try to kill you” “sure” the rest of the journey was chaos you all screamed along to the songs on the radio eventually you all got to McDonald's and spent the rest of the night enjoying each other’s company.

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delimeful · 3 years ago

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in sickness and in health (2)

this fic was patron picked to be published by a 24 hour poll! hope you enjoy! :)

warnings: fear, fairly bad illness, murder mentions, crying, remus saying some remus things

The next morning, after a few measly hours of sleep, Virgil poked his head out of one of the upper boltholes in his human’s bedroom and found him still in the same position, the sheets damp with sweat around him.

Another check in a couple hours later found much the same.

And another.

And then night had fallen, and still his human hadn’t moved, looked perhaps even worse than before. Even more galling, nobody else had come over to check on him.

It was to be expected, he knew. He’d seen the human collapse and sleep a day or two away after one of his week-long at-home work sessions; it was only natural that his many friends assumed this was the same sort of scenario.

Except it wasn’t. And now his stupid human was too unconscious to even contact anyone. Virgil dragged his hands over his face, bemoaning the situation and humans and even the world in general.

He peeked down over the ledge, studying what he could see of the burns. Another application couldn’t hurt. At the very least, his parents hadn’t raised him to leave a job half-done.

His human would wake up soon, he told himself sternly as he made the trek over to the nightstand. He paused, and shook his head. There was no point in avoiding using names anymore. He was literally risking his life to go tend to the human’s wounds— he was much more than attached, at this point.

Patton would wake up soon, he told himself as he unscrewed the ointment tube’s cap. It almost sounded a little more believable like that.

Unfortunately, it ended up being truer than he would have liked.

He was halfway done with the right hand when the general unease he wore around like a second skin suddenly spiked into outright fear. He went still, straining all his senses.

There— it was the silence that was setting him off. The constant backdrop of low, raspy breathing had suddenly gone completely quiet.

As if someone was holding their breath.

Slowly, Virgil turned to confirm what his instincts were already telling him, and met the gaze of a pair of huge brown eyes.

Despite himself, he went frozen. Knowing how large humans were was one thing, but being seen by one? It had never happened to him before, and he felt utterly pinned under the stare.

(His sleeves were rolled up. Could the human see the markings on his body? Other borrowers recognizing Virgil as a part of that group was bad enough, but a human-- A human could do so much worse.)

Patton let out a little whoosh of air, as though deciding that he didn’t have to hold his breath to avoid disturbing him anymore. “Um, hi.”

His voice, even at an almost-whisper, was crackly and rough, and it made Virgil jerk slightly, his mind desperately trying to convince his locked up body to bolt already.

Patton’s hand twitched a little in response to the motion, and Virgil went stone-still again. He was standing right next to the curve of the hand, had unwittingly practically done everything but climb into the human’s palm himself. In this position, he had no doubt that in a race between him and Patton’s reflexes, he would lose.

But the human hadn’t grabbed yet. The longer it stayed that way, the better.

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” Patton mumbled apologetically. His eyes were a little glazed over; he probably thought he was dreaming. Good for Future Virgil, bad for Present Virgil. “You takin’ care of me?”

Virgil let the silence stretch, and then nodded a little when it was clear Patton was waiting for an answer. There was no point in denying it; he’d been caught red-handed. Ointment-handed. Whatever.

“Thanks,” Patton replied, face scrunching up into a weak grin. “I guess a little first aid is just what I needed.”

Not even a raging fever could hold back the puns, it seemed. Virgil narrowly avoided snorting, a return jab about Patton being a big pain on the tip of his tongue.

Abruptly, though, the hand was curling around him, sending his pulse racing as his route of escape was cut off.

Horrific ways this could end ran through his mind one after another; The human was nearly out of his head with fever, all he had to do was misjudge his strength even a little and Virgil would snap—

Everything went still again. Virgil struggled to slow his breathing, gaze darting back and forth like a cornered mouse. Patton’s hand had curled around him, pressing just slightly on his arms without actually trying to lift him. He was just sort of... holding him.

“Y’okay?” Patton murmured, and his thumb (thankfully ointment-free) gently patted his shoulder. “It’s justa’ thank you hug.”

On cue, his almost-grip loosened, hand remaining half-cupped around him but open enough that he could easily step out. Testingly, he stepped forward once, twice, always watching Patton’s face like a hawk as he did.

Patton blinked slowly at him, apparently completely unfazed by Virgil performing the world’s slowest escape.

It wasn’t until he was nearly to the edge of the bed that Patton stirred, shuffling his shoulder a bit and turning his head a bit farther to keep watching him.

“Leavin’?” he asked, looking almost a little worried. Virgil couldn’t imagine why; if anyone had the right to be worried here, it was him.

Still, he was finally close enough to his hook that he could definitely make it if Patton even twitched wrong toward him, so he took a deep breath and nodded, waiting to see how the human would react.

“‘Kay, be safe,” Patton offered, his cheek smushed against his pillow. His eyes were already half-lidded, apparently already preparing to head back to sleep now that there weren’t any convenient borrowers around to scare the life out of.

It couldn’t be that easy. Could it?

Virgil kept checking over his shoulder as he grabbed his rope, but Patton’s attention had already strayed, and as he descended, the human’s breathing returned to that familiar, sleep-slow cadence.

He only barely managed to make it back into the walls before a hysterical laugh bubbled up from his chest. He slid down to a sitting position, trying to get his breathing under control. He’d been seen, he’d have to pack up everything he’d made and leave to face the treacherous elements again--

… Except. Except Patton hadn’t grabbed him. That was no promise of safety, but… really, he had barely seemed fazed at all by the presence of a tiny person in his space. Unnaturally so, for a human. Virgil knew well how a ravaging sickness could make anyone less than keen, leave their memory foggy. There was every possibility that that was the case here.

And if it was… Virgil didn’t have to move. He could observe Patton once he got better, stay discreet and make sure that his existence was dismissed as nothing more than a fever dream.

It was a risk, but… wasn’t every choice a borrower made risky?

(He was tired of leaving homes behind.)

---

There was one problem with his plan: it required Patton to get better.

Watching the human now, it seemed that he was intent on doing anything but that. Virgil scowled down at the bed from his check-in shelf, trying to shove down the worry at the sight of Patton twisting and turning in the sheets, iller than ever.

It seemed his moment of brief lucidity (if it could be called that) hadn’t lasted. He’d spent over a day in bed, only getting worse.

Virgil was getting well and truly worried.

(He didn’t know how long it took humans to recover, but he had an extensive frame of reference for how long it took humans to succumb to sickness.)

He’d taken to pacing indecisively back and forth at his latest check in, thousands of potential options and their terrible outcomes running through his head, when a low noise caught his ear.

Patton was crying, little hitching sobs that came out rough and crackly, blinking harshly as he stared up at the ceiling.

Virgil couldn’t tell why; it could’ve been a nightmare, physical pain, or just the helplessness of being so terribly sick. He gripped the edge of the shelf he was hiding on, biting his lip harshly.

If he called out, would it help? Would Patton listen? Would he remember, later?

Before he could try, the creak of bedsprings drew his eyes back to the human, who was twisting onto his side, reaching for the bedside table. Where his phone was.

“Yes,” Virgil whispered, watching the human strain to reach just a little further. “Come on, come on…”

Patton’s hand grabbed at the edge of the phone, so close to being able to finally get the help he needed— and it fell right through his fingers, his grip too weak to hang onto it.

It was as though their spirits plummeted right along with the phone, landing with a muffled thud on the bedroom floor. Patton let out another half-sigh, half-sob, and settled back onto the bed, exhausted from even that small expenditure of energy. Virgil’s lip began to bleed from how hard he was biting it.

Within moments, the room was quiet again, Patton returning to that hazy unconsciousness.

By then, Virgil had already made his choice.

(It was almost poetic. What better way to spit in the face of his upbringing than to save a human?)

He made his way through the walls in record time, finally able to use the pent up energy he’d accumulated from all that time helplessly watching.

Once he got to the floor, he paused for only a moment to listen to the rhythmic breathing above before darting over to the phone, lying in the shadow of the bed. He flipped it over and pressed the button, the screen lighting up with a picture of a cat.

“Isn’t he allergic?” Virgil muttered, and then shook his head, swiping through to the home screen. Luckily, Patton didn’t seem to have any locks, though Virgil hated to imagine how that trust could be abused.

He recognized the old phone shape on one of the icons easily enough, and squinted at the contact list for a long moment before finding the one with a tiny picture of someone he recognized: Patton’s loud friend, the one who came over for movie nights when they were both free (a rare occurrence).

“Roman”’s number was pressed immediately, and it was only as the phone began to ring that Virgil realized he had not thought this plan through.

The phone rang once, twice, and just as he thought it would ring out and he’d be able to think of a plan-- “Patton! Perfect timing!”

He jerked away from the tinny voice, casting a glance up at the bed where Patton laid. If this was enough to rouse him, even just enough to talk, this situation would resolve itself.

“...Patton? Hellooo?”

The human above didn’t even twitch at his friend’s call.

“Ooh, did you get a booty call from Daddy Dearest?” another voice asked, gleeful and a little bit fainter than the first.

“What-- it’s buttdial, I know you know how that sounds, Remus!” There was the sound of tussling for a moment, and then Roman’s voice piped back up, sounding strained. “Okay, Pat, call back later, I guess? Remus, lemme go--”

The line went dead.

Virgil smacked the screen harshly, cursing the fact that Patton’s friends were apparently prone to nonsense and not nearly as concerned as they should be about the situation, as little as they knew about it. He glanced up at his Human again, brow furrowed.

No speaking, no texts, no physical evidence. How could he get their attention without giving himself away?

He leaned forward and pressed the call button again.

“Uh… Patton?” There was a long pause, and then a nervous laugh. “Jeez, what is he up to?”

Virgil hung up, and called again.

“What the heckity heck--”

Virgil hung up, and called again.

“Patton, are you there?”

“Maybe there’s a serial killer in his house and he can’t pipe up or they’ll get to his windpipes!” the second voice, presumably “Remus”, chimed in.

“Shut up, that’s not it!” There was an uncertain pause. “Patton, that’s not it, right? C’mon, Padre, you’re freaking me out worse than the Outage Incident of ‘09.”

Virgil hung up, and called again, ignoring the phone’s buzzing as worried texts began to filter in.

“Something’s wrong. If his phone was accidentally calling me from his pocket, he’d be replying to my texts.”

Yes! Virgil held his breath, letting the thick silence hang in the air.

“Patton, are you there? Do you need help? Give me some sort of signal,” Roman pleaded, and Virgil leaned back, desperately searching his memory for a sign that would mean something to Roman.

There was something he’d overheard, lurking in nearby wall corridors during one of their sleepovers. Roman had been waxing poetic about effective storytelling.

“That’s the thing about repetition,” he’d said. “Like that saying! Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times? That’s a pattern. And patterns have meaning!”

Virgil had rolled his eyes at the time. The advice didn’t hold true for borrowers, who avoided patterns like the plague. One slip up was all it took to have to uproot his whole life or worse, after all.

Now, though, he latched onto the memory with both hands.

Two witnesses to this were two too many, but so long as they couldn’t prove anything… he pulled out his hook and carefully tapped the side of the phone, producing three distinct, dull clinks.

There was a clutter of alarmed arguing on the other end, and Virgil hurriedly smacked the red ‘end call’ button once more, his nerves frayed.

After a moment, more texts popped up.

Roman!!! ❤️👑✨: patton, i know you wouldnt pull a prank like this

Roman!!! ❤️👑✨: ur spare key is still under the kitten statue, right?

Roman!!! ❤️👑✨: im coming over

Virgil sank back on his heels, letting out a long sigh of relief. Thank goodness he knew how to read.

After another moment of shaky decompression, he hurried back into the walls, returning to his former vantage point on the shelf.

The phone lit up a few more times, the cheery ringtone of an attempted call still not quite enough to bring Patton back to awareness. Virgil resisted the urge to go climb up on a windowsill, knowing that it was far too risky, and he wouldn’t be able to recognize any human vehicles anyhow.

Finally, finally, there was the sound of a key rattling in the front door’s lock. Virgil ducked back behind a novelty bobblehead as voices spilled into the house, growing more alarmed once they reached the kitchen. Virgil remembered belatedly that the mess from Patton’s disastrous attempt to make cookies was still there.

“Patton!” Roman appeared at the doorway, eyes fixed on the bedridden form of his friend. He rushed over, pressing a wrist to his forehead. “You’re burning up…”

With some careful maneuvering, he managed to lift Patton from the bed in a bridal carry, calling for Remus to get the door.

And then they were gone, off to the human version of a sickbay.

Virgil sprawled back, letting all the tension leave him, his heart still racing from his part in it all.

Now, all he had to do was wait.

#sanders sides #sanders sides fic #borrowers #ts virgil #ts patton #ts roman #ts remus #g/t #isaih #in sickness and in health #my writing #writing #bthb #am i missing tags?

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moonbeambucky · 4 years ago

Text

Hey Neighbor (Epilogue)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader Word Count: 3498 Warnings: fluff

Summary: You had a plan and then life came along with one of its own. With your future almost derailed you worked hard to get yourself back on track and finally everything seemed to be going right… that is, until your new neighbor moved in.

A/N: This is it 🥺🥺 I’m so sad we’re at the end but I couldn’t be happier by all of your reactions, even when things weren’t at their best I loved hearing your screams. Now we can all cry together as we say goodbye. Thank you so much for reading their story. Btw I started a Patreon for those who would like to support me.

HEY NEIGHBOR PART 25 | HEY NEIGHBOR MASTERLIST

Breath fogs the window as you stare out of it, a grey haze has rolled over the city, the sky a sunless landscape of thick clouds and cold winds. It snowed the other day and what remains on the streets has become soot covered or murky slush. It’s nicer to stare at the white dusting on the branches of the trees below, taking in the soft peace of the afternoon.

The world has grown quieter over the past few weeks, your world at least. You can’t say the same for the hoards of people in Times Square, packed like sardines as they count down the hours for the ball to drop.

Graduation was behind you. Nearly two weeks ago you finally crossed that stage to receive your diploma. Technically the real one was still coming in the mail but it’s the symbolism that counted. All of your friends cheered as your name was called, tears of joy and relief welling up in your eyes as you did it– you finally did it!

Wanda hugged you tight afterwards, both of you letting your tears fall. She adjusted your graduation cap, decorated with a lightning bolt for Pietro. It was the first thing you did when you received your garments, to make sure a part of him was with you on such an important day. You left her arms for Peggy and Steve’s, then Sam, Natasha and Clint and then there was Bucky.

He grabbed his crutches, lifting himself up from the chair though you didn’t make him walk. A few steps closed the gap between you and you held him, your arms securing around him as a precaution as he balanced on one leg.

His smile was so beautiful as he murmured, “I’m so proud of you,” holding his gaze before you kissed tenderly, humming against his lips.

You’ve been dating ever since that day in the hospital and life couldn’t be better, especially since you and Bucky laid out some terms. From now on you would always be honest with each other, never holding back your feelings. You were a team who loved and respected each other to talk and more importantly listen.

Bucky managed well on crutches but there were still things he couldn’t do, taking for granted days he could have gone outside for a walk. Sure he had muscles, but his arms were killing him, especially on the days he had to go to the doctor for a checkup. He started physical therapy too, to keep up with strength and flexibility for the rest of his body.

It was exhausting but you were there to help him almost every step of the way. Showering was a pain though Bucky insisted on some independence, wrapping up his cast as he sat on a cold plastic chair that extended over the tub. It made him feel like he had aged 80 years but he got over it.

You did what you could to help him heal but the greatest comfort Bucky found was when you were cuddling together. He cherished those moments the most, when you held him, resting your head against his chest, or when his head was in your lap as he stretched across his couch, your fingers lazily combing through his hair.

It was the quiet moments together, crossing the threshold of intimacy in new ways. This was the slowest Bucky has ever gone since he was in middle school, swallowing a nervous gulp before asking if it was okay to hold a girl’s hand.

Life after had been a blur; his guard up, women in and out, no chance to settle, in and out, no connection, faces blend together, names are nothing more than letters on his phone for a good time, in and out. It was all noise, a constant buzzing in his head until you came into his life.

You’ve opened Bucky’s ears and the noise became sweet music. You’ve opened his heart, the melody it sings is a love song and he’s soaring. He doesn’t waste time on regrets, instead he spends each and every day getting to know you and love you in new ways.

You celebrated Thanksgiving together, with his parents coming to your apartment so Bucky didn’t have to travel. George brought most of the food over, it wasn’t barbecue but it was just as delicious. And this year you had the time to bake a pumpkin pie.

Your days were spent working at The September Foundation up until graduation. Elena hired you for Metro-General and you start there on the first Monday of the new year. Ideally, you’d like to still volunteer when you can and knowing Tony it’s something he fully supported. Things couldn’t be better.

“Doll, are you ready?”

Bucky’s voice pulled you away from the window and you climb off his bed and into his waiting arms. The basketball shorts he wears reveals his skinny left leg, paler than the other thanks to the dry flakiness he’s still working on remedying. He was in a cast for almost three months and just got it off a few days ago. You went with him, holding his hand as he beared weight on his weak muscle after so long.

He just finished the strengthening exercises he was supposed to do every day and now he needed to shower. You both did actually since tonight was Natasha and Clint’s annual New Year’s Eve party. You pull your shirt off, tossing it somewhere behind you and Bucky follows you to the bathroom. He can shower without his seat now but it doesn’t mean he didn’t want help and you happily obliged. The water ran cold by the time you actually finished and you really didn’t mind at all. Now that Bucky’s cast was off you were looking forward to getting even more physical again.

Though you showered at his place you finished getting ready at yours since you could. Living next door to your boyfriend was obviously convenient. You were able to be together and still have the space you needed. For now it worked though you can see yourself moving in together. A smile stretches across your face when you think of it, Bucky playing his music, no walls in between, a far cry from how things began.

You open your closet to find a dress that would work for the theme of this year’s party which they claimed was winter except they asked all their guests to wear either red or green. You bit your tongue, thinking that sounded more Christmas than winter but you didn’t argue, it wasn’t your party. You pulled out a crimson colored dress that had a beautiful lace overlay. The back was sheer and though it was a little short you felt it was seasonally appropriate with its long sleeves. You finished your hair and makeup, finishing off with gold chandelier earrings and peep-toe heels.

A rhythmic knock rapped at your door and you knew it was Bucky. Opening the door your jaw dropped. Maybe it was the fact that you had mostly seen him in shorts and sweatpants over the last three months, and not that he didn’t make those look good, but the outfit he was wearing now looked incredible. He looked sharp in a juniper green suit with a soft tartan design, a brighter green patterned tie stood out against his light shirt. His shoes were dark brown with a hint of mahogany that reflected in the light and even though he looked amazing you were surprised he didn’t opt for sneakers to be more comfortable with his leg.

“Fuck, you look beautiful,” he spoke first, biting his lip as he looked at you up and down.

He shaved since you left him and your hands went to cup the smooth skin of his cheek. “Not more beautiful than you.”

You pressed your lips to Bucky’s, deepening the kiss with your tongue which was probably a bad idea since it only increased your urge to rip Bucky’s suit off and take him right there. You forced yourself back from him, walking towards your couch to grab your bag.

Bucky followed you as quickly as he could considering walking still felt a little strange. His arms went around your waist pulling you closer to him as his lips began to kiss your cheek, trailing down your neck. You hummed in delight, exhaling stuttered breaths, almost losing yourself to his touch before you pulled yourself out of it.

“We can’t,” you stressed, reluctantly. “We’re gonna be late, come on.”

He sighed acceptingly, waiting for you to unplug your phone and grab your keys. Just before you were ready to leave his arms wrapped around your waist one more time and Bucky spoke before you could say anything.

“I love you, Y/N.”

The swell of your heart reached your lips as you gazed into Bucky’s eyes repeating the same words you’ve known and felt for so long. After another sweet kiss you locked up your place to take the long trip up one flight.

Clint greeted you at the door, his arms pulling you and Bucky into warm welcoming hugs. Unlike his guests, Clint was dressed in a white suit jacket, with black pants and a matching bow tie. He welcomed you into the apartment that was not filled with as many people as you expected.

There were familiar faces in your friends, including Sam who was able to take off this year. Right away Bucky teased him about his red suit calling him Elmo.

“Yeah whatever Kermit. And what about this one?” Sam teased, pointing at Steve. “That’s all you had?”

Steve blushed pink, feeling insecure about his outfit choice, a cozy forest green cable-knit sweater. “Like I’m supposed to have a fruit punch suit in my closet?”

“It’s cranberry and I look good,” Sam declared, smoothing his hands down the front of his jacket.

You let the boys continue to have fun as you said hello to Wanda and Peggy, both looking beautiful in their dresses. “Where’s Natasha?”

They shook their heads. “Haven’t seen her,” Wanda said, heading towards their marble island to grab a drink.

It was decorated with a row of mason jars, each filled a quarter of the way with coarse sugar mimicking crystal snow, with a candle in every other one and a chunk of bright red cranberries and sprays of cedar leaves sticking out of the others.

“But we just got here, so I dunno,” she finished.

You were looking around for familiar guests, surely the partners of her law firm would be coming again. An older woman sat on the couch talking to another unfamiliar face, the back of their heads glowing thanks to the curtain of twinkle lights that decorated the large walls of the living room. In the corner was their Christmas tree, a tall spruce decorated with frosted pine cone garland, matte red ornaments and thick burlap ribbon.

Clint brushed passed you, kneeling in front of the older woman who looked curiously familiar. Nervous energy was pouring off of him, from the way he kept chewing his nails to the constant tremble of his leg. He smiled as he passed you again standing near the door. With Natasha still not in sight you decided to do a little digging, by way of introducing yourself.

You walked over to the woman Clint had been speaking to, standing in front of her and the two people she was mid-conversation with. The man was big, his Santa-like belly was testing the buttons of his red shirt as it stretched across the material. His eyebrows were bushy and his brown hair was long in the front, looking a little messy as if it had been brushed through with only his fingers. He had a long beard that matched the color of his hair though it had a lot more grey in it.

The woman was beautiful. The emerald top she wore brought out the green flecks of her hazel eyes and her red lips drew you right into her beautiful smile. Her dark hair was braided with a crown, the rest of the locks falling onto her shoulders.

You caught their attention, extending your hand with a smile as you introduced yourself. The older woman spoke first, her voice as soft as a songbird as she told you her name, Edith, followed by the fact that she was Clint’s mother. Well, that explains it. You see the similarities now, the glasses she wore didn’t hide the fact that they shared the same eyes. Even her mouth was the same, thin lips that grew into the same beaming smile.

“I’m Melina,” the beautiful woman said with a Russian accent. “This is Alexei.” She pointed to the man who smiled at you. His grip was strong as he took your hand in his meaty paw. “We’re like family to Natalia,” he grinned proudly.

“It’s so nice to meet you all!” you said, sitting beside them to talk all while in the back of your mind your brain was working to put together why they were here. Sure it’s a holiday but family members have never come to Clint and Natasha’s for New Years before. In fact, Natasha doesn’t even have family. The only “family” you knew of would have to come from Russia to–

Holy shit.

You find an acceptable way out of the conversation, rushing over to Bucky and pulling him away from his conversation. Your hands are jittering with excited energy, eyes as wide as your mouth is open.

“Bucky, don’t you see what this is?!”

He looks confused for a moment before his attention is diverted. Bucky looks past you to another unfamiliar person that walked in. It’s a man with brown skin dressed in all black. A dark goatee framed his face and the straps of an eye patch secure comfortably around his hairless head. Though Bucky tried not to stare he couldn’t help but notice the veining of scars stretching out across his temple and cheek. He stands tall and silent with his arms clasped behind his back waiting.

Clint cleared his throat, a nervous smile settling on his face. “Now that everyone’s here I’d like to welcome you to… our wedding.”

Gasps of surprise fill the room with everyone rushing up towards Clint as he tries to field questions, hoping no one was truly mad at the abrupt announcement. “I knew it,” you whispered under your breath, gently slapping at Bucky’s arm.

The man in black walked towards the front of the living room, clearly the officiate who asked everyone to get settled as they were about to begin. Clint knocked once on his bedroom door, before taking his place beside the man who introduced himself as Nick.

A young woman with blonde hair slipped out of the door. She nodded to him, cracking a hint of a smile before she settled next to Melina. A moment later everyone’s eyes were drawn to the sound of the bedroom door creaking open again.

Natasha stepped out looking like a dream, in a floor length shimmering ivory gown that showed off her well sculpted shoulders with its high halter neckline, embellished with beautiful beading. She clutched a delicate bouquet of white roses and winter greens with cranberry sprigs woven throughout. Natasha walked up to Clint without fanfare, just the audible sighs of those around her admiring the back of her dress, dazzling and tasteful cut outs that showed off more of her toned body. The fabric cinched above the small of her back, a small train sweeping around her feet.

She handed her bouquet off to the blonde girl, her “sister” you presumed, remembering an old conversation with Clint. Brushing back a loose tendril from her face, Natasha smiled widely as she stared at Clint, bringing her hands forward to connect with his.

Nick began speaking and you took out your phone to capture a quick picture as the impromptu ceremony began. Bucky’s hand found yours, lacing your fingers together as you watched your friends exchange their vows.

Clint’s hands communicated his words in sync as he spoke them. “Natasha, what more can I say to the person that knows me better than I know myself. Because of you the sun shines a little brighter each day, flowers have a sweeter fragrance and my heart is filled with treasured memories. Even the not so great ones like that time in Budapest that I know we remember very differently.”

A chuckle simmers amongst the small crowd and Natasha dips her head down to laugh.

“Because of you my heart found a home, and like my stomach, it will never be empty...” Clint smiled, taking Natasha’s hands in his. “...because it will always be filled with your love, a love that I promise you I will never let go.”

Natasha sniffs, brushing aside a tear as she gathers her thoughts. “Clint, you’ve given me a second chance in life, you’ve shown me what friendship and love truly mean. I promise to trust and respect you and give you the best of myself. I promise to always fight for you, never against you, to be by your side through whatever life brings. I promise to make sure we always have snacks in the house and to clean up all the stains from your shirts when you drop food on them.”

Clint’s shoulders shrugged with acceptance as he chuckled under his breath, “It happens a lot.”

“Yes it does,” Natasha repeated, smiling wider. She exhaled a deep breath before continuing. “I promise to love you through the good times and bad and to choose our love every single day. You are my best friend, my soulmate and I'm the luckiest person on Earth to be able to call you mine.”

You felt Bucky press a kiss to your temple, leaning his head against you as the ceremony continued. When it was time Alexei dug into his pocket, pulling out the rings. With Nick’s concluding words Natasha wrapped her arms around Clint’s neck, and his held her waist; their love sealed with a kiss as everyone cheered in celebration.

They pulled back from each other, Clint resting his forehead against Natasha’s. He brought his hand up, bending his middle and ring finger into his palm. Natasha did the same, their fingertips touching as they signed “I love you” before turning to face their friends and family.

Edith was the first to hug the newly married couple who made their way through everyone until they got to you. Bucky and Clint hugged as he congratulated them. “I can’t believe this.”

“I can.” Natasha laughed, pressing her cheek to Bucky’s as they hugged. She moved to you and you wrapped your arms around her tightly. “We’ve been planning this wedding for so long it was never going to happen unless we did it this way.”

“It was perfect,” you said, pulling back from your hug with a huge smile. “Congratulations, I’m so happy for you both.”

As the night went on you formally met Yelena, the blonde who Natasha grew up with, and learned about her exciting work. You were in similar fields as she worked to free people of human trafficking, mostly young girls that were to be indoctrinated into radical terrorist groups for forced marriage or even espionage.

Her work was more hands-on as she physically raided underground bunkers or warehouses. It made you feel like you weren’t doing enough even though you knew that wasn’t true. All the years spent working towards your goal reaffirmed that, and in just a few days you’ll officially move into your office in Metro-General, across from Elena’s as you begin doing what you’ve always wanted to do, help people.

You’re lost in a comfortable stare as you look at the Christmas tree, realizing the countdown to midnight had begun.

Ten! Nine! Eight! ...

You turn around, looking for Bucky in the small room that was crowded with everyone standing so close together, huddled around the TV that showed the view from Times Square.

Seven! Six ...

The shimmering ball was descending and you were alone until….

Five! Four! ...

“Hey neighbor…” A voice called and you spun around relieved. Bucky smiled, bringing you close into his arms.

Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!

He leaned in, his lips hovering above yours, pausing as you spoke above the roar of cheers. “Have I ever told you how happy I am that you moved in here?” you purred.

“Every day. It’s like music to my ears.”

Bucky smiled tenderly, sealing the small gap between you, kissing you softly as he poured all the love from his heart out and into yours. Your hearts beat to the rhythm of your own symphony, a song that had a rocky beginning of notes that stretched high and low, but now it was a steady ballad you would continue to create together with your love.

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes au #bucky barnes fluff

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flippyspoon · 4 years ago

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Bring Me a Higher Love

Note: Knocked out a lil thing just now. I feel like everyone might not know that “straight” also used to mean sober back in the day lol. Important info. WEED/DRUG RELATED FYI.

The thing about popping into Family Video to stare at Steve Harrington is that lately, he’s almost always high. At least when Billy visits.

To be fair, it’s winter break. That means Robin is on vacation which apparently means she and Steve become huge stoners.

Billy gets high with them a couple times while they’re on a break, but the shit makes him so paranoid thinking the “Shadow” is coming again, it’s not even worth the panic for the few seconds of leaning against a wall close to Steve, feeling floaty and in love...not that Steve is aware of it.

Billy can’t help thinking Steve is especially cute when he’s high, and that’s saying something. But it’s frustrating that he can’t hold down a decent conversation. Which is a thought that surprises Billy. But Billy talks to Steve a lot. More than he talks to anyone else these days except Max and that’s a maybe. He goes home and lies in bed and replays the conversations over and over in his head. He thinks of Steve’s soft smiles and the way he fidgets, playing with his lips or twirling a lock of hair around a finger while they’re talking about whatever. The Mind Flayer. Movies. Basketball. The scary future. The Hawkins High teachers with the worst pit stains. They talk about everything.

Nowadays Billy replays Steve saying something ridiculous with that wide-eyed dopey expression he gets after he’s just smoked.

“Billy...do you think dogs fall in love for real like Lady and the Tramp?”

“Billy...do you think Elliott would have caught E.T. if he’d used Skittles instead of Reese’s Pieces?”

“Billy...you have pretty hair. It’s so goldie.”

He thinks about that last one a lot.

He’s always kind of hoping for more like that last one.

He gets it one day.

Steve and Robin are behind the counter, ostensibly rewinding videos, but they seem busier with whatever they’re laughing about. Something to do with the way Robin plays Duck Hunt.

But when Steve sees Billy, he stops. And he lights up, grinning like a complete maniac.

“Hey! Good you’re here! I wanted to see something!” Steve waves him over, glancing warily at Robin who only watches, leaning on her hand, as if Billy and Steve are her favorite TV show.

“What is it, Harrington?” Billy tries to sound impatient. Really, his heart is pounding.

“I want to see your eyelashes,” Steve said gravely. “Come here.”

Billy can’t stop chewing on his lip. He walks up and flinches a little at the way Steve lurches forward, practically climbing over the high counter between them to get closer to Billy and knocking several VHS tapes to the floor in the process.

“What the hell,” Billy mutters.

Steve speaks in whispers. “Just stay still. I want to see something.” He’s staring intensely at Billy and he leans on his elbows. And then his hands come up and ever so gently he cradles Billy’s face, his thumbs soft along Billy’s cheeks.

Surely, he can hear the thunder of Billy’s heart, but he doesn’t say anything about it. “Yeah,” Steve whispers. “They’re just like I remember. I was telling Robin. And she didn’t believe me. About your eyelashes. And like...how red your mouth is.”

Steve doesn’t specify what it is about Billy’s eyelashes that’s so enchanting.

Billy forgets to ask.

“Jesus Christ,” Robin says under her breath.

All Billy can manage to say is: “Oh.”

For a moment, they’re both frozen as they stare at each other and not even Robin’s quiet cackling breaks the spell.

Until the bell rings over the door as Mr. Clarke walks in, and then Steve yelps and reels back like someone has just jabbed him with a cattle prod, videos flying.

Billy all but runs home.

He thinks about Steve staring at him all weekend. He thinks about Steve waxing poetic about his lips and eyelashes and hair and the way Steve seems to forget he’s at work when Billy shows up and they get tied up in conversations and the way Billy makes him late coming back from his lunch and the way Steve always looks like he wants to say something important and then looks away.

On Monday, Robin goes back to school because winter break is over.

Steve is working the whole store by himself when Billy sums up his courage and walks in. It’s Monday evening, the slowest day of the week.

Steve is actually...working. Kramer vs Kramer is playing on the display TV as Steve dutifully boxes up tapes into Family Video branded cases.

But when the bell jingles over Billy’s head as he walks in, Steve lights up like always. “Hey! Thank God you’re here. I’m so bored. Come hang out.”

Billy walks around behind the counter, pushing through the little swing door and feeling like some kind of rebellious trespasser. But the place is empty anyway and Keith isn’t there to give him hell.

Billy leans on the counter and watches Steve. “You’re not high,” Billy declares.

“Oh!” Steve laughs, waving a dismissive hand. “Yeah. Shit. We went a little crazy. Robin was really stressed with school over the fall so we just kept getting blitzed over vacation. But now she’s all serious school Robin again. But it was just… I wasn’t…” He stops what he’s doing and blinks at Billy. “Sorry, was I totally annoying?”

“No.” Billy shrugs. “It was...amusing.” He can’t help but smile even as his stomach flutters because he knows exactly what he’s going to do.

Steve seems to interpret him a certain way because he blushes crimson. “Oh. Well. I say crazy shit when I’m high. Apparently. It doesn’t mean anything. I was just...all...high.”

He audibly swallows.

“Aw, that’s too bad.” Billy steps in closer, crowding Steve up against the counter. “You don’t like my eyelashes, Harrington? Or my red red lips?”

Steve looks like he’s about to have a heart attack and he fixes his gaze on the red lips in question. “Ah...well, um… They’re… Ya know. They’re fine.”

Billy would laugh but he’s too busy leaning in and kissing Steve who sucks in a breath and sways on his feet so that Billy has to clutch his arms and keep him from falling over as their mouths slide together and Billy’s tongue tastes Steve’s.

Steve tastes like Red Hots.

Which is absolutely perfect.

Red Hot Harrington.

“Oh...that is even better than I thought it would be,” Steve whispers when they finally part for some air. “And I thought it would be pretty awesome. Glad I’m straight for it.”

“Don’t think you’re very straight at all actually,” Billy says, and Steve’s chuckle turns to a sigh as Billy’s lips move down his throat.

#harringrove #harringrove ficlet #cw weed #cw drugs

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rudemaidenswrite · 4 years ago

Text

Can I Join You?

Part 2

BY: @pusantheamazonian

Fandom: Stranger Things Jim Hopper X Reader

Part 1

It's been a few days since the carnival ended and your brother has left for the next town. And you have not seen nor heard from Jim either. You knew it was just a fling that would never get off the ground. He has a teenager at home. That alone will cause more chaos than trying to get back into the dating scene. So in a weird angry habit, you decided to bake cookies when you got off work.

El’s curiosity is still high about Y/N. With a plan she hides in the bathroom after school with Max guarding the door. Sitting on the floor, the radius tuned to static, faucets running and a handkerchief over her eyes. Taking deep slow breaths she's able to focus and locate Y/N.

In the black nothingness Y/N appears, standing alone in a kitchen. Walking closer El is able to tell you're making cookies and singing along to the radio.

"Y/N?" El whispers but your sudden turn towards her threw off the connection. "Damnit!"

"You okay?" Max poke her head in.

"I'm fine." Grumbling El pulls the handkerchief down.

"Did you find her?" Max asks sitting next to El.

"Yes, she even looked at me like she heard me."

"Weird. So what now?"

"Time to see her."

Opening the door you're surprised to see Jane for several reasons.

1. It's a school night.

2. You didn't tell Jim where you live.

3. This was not how you expected to officially meet her.

"Jane what are you doing here?" Confused you are staring at a determined thirteen year old.

"Visiting. May come in?"

"Okay… does your father know you're here?" Absently you move to the side and let her in.

"Do you have any cookies?"

"Yeah, why don't you sit at the table. I'll get you some. Do you want some milk?" Pointing off to the side at the table. You instantly know that this child is smarter than she leads people to believe.

"Yes please."

You watch her sit at the table and wait for you. Jane stares at everything. Placing the milk and cookies in front of her you should probably know the real reason she's here.

"Jane-"

"El." She quickly interrupts while picking up a cookie.

"What?"

"I go by El."

"Ok El.” Sitting across from her you pick up your own cookie. “Do you want to tell me the real reason you hitchhiked 18 miles after school to my place?"

You watch her nervously curl inwards before responding.

"Dad and history class."

"Why don't we start with history class." You quickly pick option two.

El nods and pulls out her book and folder.

"There's a test next week and I don't understand anything." Handing you an outline. "Dad sucks at helping me with homework."

"Growth and Expansion is basically about the major changes in the U.S. during the 1800’s. So the Industrial Revolution, the changing role of government, and development of foreign policy." Moving to a chair closer you keep the outline handy.

As you go over the information with her you lose all complete track of time. You just happen to look at the clock to see the time.

"Shit!"

"What?" Frightened El looks for the danger.

"It's almost seven. We gotta get you home." You are up and out the chair. You need a plan.

"Why?"

"Why? El it's a school night and I bet you didn't tell your dad you were going to be home late." You're trying to process the carelessness of this child. Jim is in over his head.

"I did not."

"Well do you want me to call him so he can come get you or you want me to take you home?"

"Can you take me?" El pleads with her best frowny face.

"Yes but you'll have to give me directions."

"Okay." El packs her stuff up while you make her a snack baggie for tomorrow. That's filled with cookies and a separate bag for Jim.

In the car El stares out the window bobbing along to the music.

"So what is going on with your dad that you had to see me?" Reaching you turn the music down. Time to bite the bullet.

"He likes you but thinks that I don't understand the complications of dating a single parent. He is being chicken. Mike explained it to me."

"You've definitely thought about this." Well if that’s not a child being a wingman you don't know what is. She definitely cares about his happiness.

"It would be nice to see someone regularly at home. He works late and forgets the time."

"Well you'll just have to light a fire under his ass. In my experience single parents are the slowest moving people ever. Stubborn and grumpy." Chuckles you spare a glance.

"Your experience?"

"I was raised by a single dad too. Growing up it was just dad, my two older brothers and me." Reaching into your purse and pulling out your wallet. You open it to the pictures and hand it over.

"Mom?" El slowly flips through them.

"Don't know. She left one day, decided that she didn't want a family anymore." Shrugging it’s an odd thing that has always bugged you.

"Sorry."

"Don't be dad eventually remarried and I got an awesome new mom and a little brother." You motion for her to keep flipping.

"New mom?"

"Yes."

"Mama… is not well. Dad let's me visit every couple of weeks. She lives with Aunt Becky." Frowning, she puts your wallet back in your purse.

"It's nice that you visit her. I bet it makes her happy even if she can't show it."

"I hope so." She gives you a small hopeful smile.

El has you driving to the outskirts of Hawkins. Alongside a gravel road, turning onto a hidden dirt driveway. Pulling up you see the cabin setting on the hill. You also see Jim walking frustratedly to his truck.

"He beat you home."

"Shit." She whispers seeing him too.

Honking your horn, he turns around making eye contact. As you nod to the passenger seat. There's a wave of relief for a split second before he walks closer.

"Next time you need help with homework. Just tell me, it's dangerous to be walking alone." You make sure to say loudly once you both are out of the car. Hoping to dampen the punishment.

"Jane." Jim grumbles, angrily throwing his cigarette.

"See stubborn and grumpy. Just like I said." Nodding at him you give her a wink.

El laughs. "I like her." Jim sends El a furious look, which causes her to head directly inside. "Bye Y/N."

"Bye." Waving you watch her head up the hill before walking to Jim who has started pacing. "She's a firecracker but a good one."

"Thanks for bringing her home. Where did you find her?" Huffing he runs a hand through his hair, still trying to calm down.

"I opened my door and there she was. Don't know how she figured out where I lived."

"God… thanks again."

"No problem and here." Diverting his attention you hand him the bag.

"Cookies?"

"Yeah I was making some before El showed up. It's like the smell drew her in."

"I'm surprised."

"About what?" Confused, why would he be surprised? You're a decent person of course you brought her home.

"Jane's very standoffish, won't interact unless she likes you and knows you're a good person."

"Oh! Well that's a good thing, not wanting to be involved with bad people." Nodding that's understandable.

"She likes you, be prepared to see her randomly." Shaking his head in disbelief.

"That's okay we can talk about our feelings again."

"You talked about feelings?"

You watch him visibly pause. Apparently it never occurred to him that El would want to talk about feeling to someone else.

"Yeah like how she wants you to be happy because you want her to be happy. Also about how single dads are stubborn and grumpy all the time."

"That's what that comment was about? I'm not grumpy and stubborn all the time." Scoffing he straightens up.

"I doubt it, I know the grumpy and stubborn attitude pretty well." Teasing you mender back to your car. Leaving him to his own devices.

"How?"

"Like minds think alike. I was raised by a single father." Winking you climb into the driver’s seat.

In your comfiest pajamas and ready for bed, you're finishing up with brushing your teeth when there's a banging on the front door. It's almost 10pm, you didn't plan on anyone coming out. Looking out the peephole, you're surprised to see who it is.

"Jim? What are-" Opening the door you don't know what to say.

Cutoff, Jim's mouth is on yours. Hands hold you close as he backs into the nearest wall. Your hands find their way into his hair. Pressed closely, you can taste the lingering cigarette.

"You came all this way for a smooch?" Pulling away you can't help but to smile.

"....Yes?"

"Uh huh. You know I'm not buying that, right?" It's obvious to you that he had no set plan.

"I figured you would." Shrugging he keeps a flirty smile. "What would you say if I said that I had to see you tonight."

"I would say that you're probably crazy because I look like a goblin." Saying that you realize you should probably let go of him.

"No you don't. I'm the mess. I have no idea how to raise a teenage girl and I've been a grumpy father for years."

"If you say so.” Chuckling it's becoming clear how much El acts like him. “You know the police showing up late at night to my place is going to start gossip."

"Why don't we give them something to actually talk about?" In boldness he steals another kiss.

"Well I'm no expert on firearms but I do know that's not a gun in your pocket."

"And the cheesy wisecracks." With a defeated sigh he head falls into the crook of your neck.

"Don't expect anything less. I have my own repriatore of dad jokes." Pulling on his collar to redirect his attention. "If you're looking for a hint my bedroom is the door on the left." Nodding down the short hall.

Next thing you know, you're looking at the floor and his ass. It's a short trip, inside he shuts the bedroom door with his foot as he dumps you on the bed. Scooting upwards you pull him with you. There’s no way in hell you're letting him escape without something happen.

"Fuck. Do you have any idea how crazy you make me?" Mumbling he kisses his way down your throat. Stifling a whine, you're beginning to lose all coherent thought processes. Just his presence makes you feel all tingly.

"Do you know how hard it was not to kiss you outside the restaurant?" Delighted in this turn of events. You make your own little confession. Now is not the time for soft, slow romance. This is needy, rough lovin that you both so clearly need.

#jim hopper x reader #jim hopper #stranger things #eleven #jane hopper #max #reader insert #reader #single parents #dad bod #dad hopper #putting the moves on #cookies #fluff #cuteness

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youarejesting · 5 years ago

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Quarantine.19

[Masterlist] Pairing: BTS x reader Friends2Lovers But as slow as you can go until the anticipation kills us all… Genres: friendship, drama, romance SLOWEST OF BURNS BUT IT WILL BE BURNING AN ETERNAL FLAME!!! Rating: PG-13 and above Summary: Your brother works with a few BigHit dance teams and whilst having permission to accompany him at work the city shuts down banning anyone from stepping outside for a whole WEEK while they disinfect the streets. If you step outside you might get arrested, shot or poisoned by the chemicals they are emitting through the city. Words: 1.2k Announcement: This chapter is the beginning of self-discovery, I want Y/N to be able to thrive without the boys first. So though Y/N is depressed which who wouldn't be after hearing anyone say that about them, give it time and there will be growth and learning and just so much more. I don't want Y/N to be helpless without a man you know? I want all my readers to know how bad ass they are without a man first and instead of the girl absolutely starstruck by the boys, I want the reality that is misunderstandings and lies and disappointment before it grows into something beautiful and romantic because the good stuff doesn't come easy.

Just like the Quarantine, it isn't the easiest thing to handle and it brings on these feelings which are very human and natural to feel, stress, despair even depression. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel so stick to your path and walk it every grueling step of the way because you will eventually reach the other side and breathe the fresh air.

[Part 1] [Part 18] [Part 20] [Tag Yourself Here]

The boys felt sick. Never in their lives had they torn someone down as they did with you. It was all a lie, but they couldn’t tell you that. As much as it hurt them to hurt you, they would rather you hate them if it meant you were safe. None of the boys were ready for what was to follow. The supply center announced your disappearance late the next day. Having taken your bag and Walkie Talkie without a trace. However, no matter how many times they reached out, you didn’t answer.

Had you been hurt or killed? Their only solace came from the men walking the street because if they were still searching it meant they hadn’t found you yet. Taehyung used the walkie talkie every night before bed, he apologized profusely, wishing you would come back and telling you all about his day.

He missed you, greatly. Jimin was no better having barely eaten, blaming himself for you being in danger. The boys had to bring him his meals and even then they had to encourage him to eat.

A week had passed since they last heard from you and the food supplies had dropped not just for their building but for the rest of the area. Unfortunately with the men outside, they were unable to retrieve more foodstuff. Having multiple reports explaining what was happening the military confirmed they would send out a team, whenever they were next available to try to detain the gunmen. One evening the radio’s between the buildings started going off, someone had delivered supplies to three buildings at the end of the street.

Talk about supplies being delivered gained traction as it happened at least once every evening, to alternate buildings. The health center explained they had no clue who was taking the supplies and delivering them. Each night the deliveries came closer and closer to their building.

“Could it be Y/N?” Namjoon asked quietly tapping his fingers on the table, the name was a Taboo, it sent them all into a depressive spiral for hours. “Our building is next so we will find out tonight, we should wait in the lobby” Jungkook whispered

The group made their plan, taking their bedding and heading to the first floor. It was getting late, they stared out the glass walls for any sign of you. Each one hoping that their building was indeed next like Jungkook had said. Not meaning to doze off, they couldn’t help it when their bodies fell asleep, exhausted despite their efforts.

It wasn’t all for nothing there had been a delivery, in the garage elevator. They just needed the footage and then it would be clear if the Good Samaritan was you.

The end of the week brought with it the armed forces to take control of the situation. Why hadn’t they waited, the military might have been able to return you safely. The gunmen had left the area in peace, the men from the army taking it upon themselves to make food deliveries. But even they had to get back to work, outside of the city. When the military left the gunmen returned as did the second round of disinfectant gas through the city, the fog thickened once more.

You were walking supplies to the hospital, raising your fist to knock and leaving the wagon at the door. They took the delivery thanking you via you had made several deliveries to the hospital this week. They asked you if you needed anything and you declined, walking back to your new base. It wasn’t homely like your other one, you didn’t think you could make another base like it, not because of resources but because of emotion.

The people between the hospital and the supply center called you dead eyes when they thought you weren’t listening but you didn’t mind. You didn’t really feel much of anything, maybe it was truly better this way. You rounded the corner looking at the car you had written off, you had written an apology to mister Lee explaining what you had done and he seemed grateful to just be alive.

Climbing through the convenience store window you shut it quickly behind you pulling off your mask. It was quiet and had been so for days, a whole week had passed since you spoke to them. You didn’t refer to them by name and tried not to think about them often. Preferring to sit and read Korean magazines on the shelves slowly. You currently had an IOU list in the store using mister Lee’s credit card, but surprisingly you didn’t eat much apart from a packet of noodles once a day.

Laying in the small staff room out the back you got comfortable on the carpet, checking in on the radio as you did every morning. Just making sure everyone was safe in that area of town. As you laid there your back would click and clunk back into position while you waited for the darkness to take over. The fog was starting to lift a little making walking during the day that much more dangerous.

You heard the military was being called in for two days to perform routine patrols, planning to arrest the gunmen. The supply center had agreed to keep your identity anonymous, especially after seeing you have an epic meltdown. You had informed a young woman who worked there what had happened and she consoled you for hours after you woke from sedation. She refused them from telling any of the civilians who you were but you allowed her to explain it to the soldiers.

You stayed inside for the two days the cadets roamed the street, determining that the area was secure and deliveries were being made; you had no reason to leave.

These two days were hell, with nothing to distract you, your mind filled with their words. The mocking tone of Seokjin’s voice and the downright heart-piercing bitterness in Hoseok’s confession haunted you every waking moment, but what was worse was falling asleep and having them kiss you once more like everything was okay.

Their moans and wandering hands and how you felt so safe with them. This was your own personal hell because when you woke up, you almost expected to see them there with you, only to have reality rip you apart once more. The wounds were still fresh.

Returning to the supply center after a short break, you really didn’t sleep much having passed out once in the staff room two days prior. The soldiers urged you to return to your building saying they could protect you better if you were indoors safe.

Peeling an orange but not eating it, you sighed listening to them talk about leaving that evening to return back to their base. There wasn’t much they could do if they couldn’t find the gunmen. Handing the now peeled citrus fruit to the young woman who you had half confided in.

Your Korean had gotten so good you were proud, able to speak it, read and write it fairly quickly. When you are completely alone in Korea where everything you see and all the people they speak Korean well then you are bound to pick up the language quickly.

The cadets left late that night, leaving behind a four-man squad to keep the Health center protected. You sat alone in the convenience store turning on the radios, it was silent as usual, so there was no use leaving them on.

[Part 1] [Part 18] [Part 20] [Tag Yourself Here]

Tags: @bubbletae7 @lovemusicandotps @taetaebq @seveniefive @w0lfqu33n @anaiss97 @moccahobi @maddymal @lilacdreams-00 @lethargicalyssa @knjkitten @pieislife @bunnyboyenthusiast

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thetragicdeathofcommonsense · 5 years ago

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Taxi Driver

My taxi driver was a young black man.

I knew he was not American before he said a word. On the dashboard his license, encased in yellowed plastic, read Rashoud Umagradiah.

Or something unpronounceable like that.

He was smiling in the photo, bright white teeth against a coal black face.

I asked him where he was from and he said Nigeria. I wasn’t surprised. So far that week I had ridden in a dozen cabs in Las Vegas and half the drivers were from Nigeria. The others were also from countries in Africa, except for one driver who was from Brooklyn.

“You’re kind of the odd man out,” I had said to him.

“How’s that?”

“You’re a taxi driver from America who speaks English.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m a dying breed all right.”

The young black taxi driver had picked me up at the Bellagio Casino where I had left several hundred dollars of my money on the poker table. A flush on the river had beat my two pair, a suck out by an obnoxious guy from Omaha.

“How is it over there in Nigeria?” I asked my driver.

“Not as good as it is here,” he said with an accent thick as mud.

It was the same answer I get from every taxi driver who is in America from someplace else. Doesn’t matter where that other place is. If it was better there than in America, then they wouldn’t be in America.

He was taking me to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino where I was staying. I’ve made that same trip, and trips to and from other casinos throughout Vegas, hundreds of times over the years. Inside the casinos is nice. Outside it’s all concrete and flashing lights and unbearable heat and the slowest traffic signals on the planet. It’s the only place in America, other than New York City, where it can take 15 minutes to drive two blocks.

To kill time I always talk to taxi drivers. They are a captive audience. It’s easy to get them to talk. They’re as bored driving as I am being driven. I ask them about what it’s like where they are from. It’s an easy way to get a short history or geography lesson from someone with more intimate knowledge of the subject than a college professor. So many times what I hear from someone who lived in a particular country and still has family in that country is contrary to what I hear about that country on the news. Their assessment is much more on point than a CNN correspondent’s assessment.

I seldom ask them about the things that are happening in the city in which they are driving me. That’s not interesting or illuminating. The hotel concierge can give me that information. What the concierge can’t tell me is what the food lines are like in Somalia.

Still, that day, I wasn’t interested in hearing more about Nigeria from my seventh Nigerian taxi driver that week.

Two weeks earlier 64-year-old Stephen Paddock had fired more than 1,100 rounds from high powered rifles from his suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more who were attending a country music festival across the street from Mandalay Bay.

“So, were you working the night of the Mandalay Bay shooting?” I asked.

We were stopped at a traffic light on the Strip when I asked the question.

Rashoud turned and looked at me in the back seat.

“I was there when it happened.”

“Excuse me.”

“I was right there when the shooting started.”

I didn’t say anything, not sure if I had heard him right or not.

“I was stopped at the light next to the festival. I was the first cab in line. I thought it was fireworks from the festival. I rolled my window down and looked up but there were no fireworks. I didn’t know bullets were going right over the top of my cab.”

I didn’t say a word. Just waited.

“I didn’t know what was happening. Then all these people starting climbing over the wall from the festival and running across the Strip. The light changed but I couldn’t go because the street was filled with people. They were everywhere, and I still heard the fireworks.”

“Did you have any passengers?”

“No, it was just me. But then five people opened the back door and got into my cab. They were screaming for me to go, to get out of there. But I still couldn’t move. There were so many people running in the street.”

Rashoud looked at me in the rearview mirror. He had paused.

“Then that door opened,” he said slowly, pointing to the front passenger side door.

“A young man got into the cab. He was wearing a white shirt and it was covered in blood. He was not hysterical like the people in the back. He was very calm. I asked him if he was hurt and he said no, that it wasn’t his blood. I asked him whose blood it was and he said it was his friend’s blood. He said his friend had been shot in the stomach. I asked him where his friend was and he said his friend was still at the festival. He said his friend told him, “Save yourself. Go.’”

I had goosebumps on my arms. A few minutes ago I was standing in a cab line, upset about losing a big hand of poker, and now I was hearing a true-life story of epic proportions in the intimacy of a taxi.

“Then what happened?”

“The Strip cleared enough that I could drive through. I drove to Planet Hollywood and let them all out. Then I went back.”

“Excuse me?”

“I went back.”

“Why would you do that?”

“To get more people out of there.”

Rashoud drove back. By then there were only a few festival-goers left. He picked up a local woman and drove her to her house a few miles off the Strip. She told him about the pandemonium that broke out when the first people started falling from gunshots. On the way to her house dispatch called and ordered all the taxis in the city back to the taxi station. Police did not want any taxis on the road that the gunman might commandeer to make an escape.

“So I took my taxi in and then I went home.”

Rashoud said the next day the owner of the taxi company had all the drivers gather at the station. The owner talked a bit about what had happened and what to expect at work that day. Then he said, “Is Rashoud here?”

“I was scared to death. I had six people in my cab that night. You are only supposed to have a maximum of five people. I thought I was going to be fired.”

“What happened?”

“He called me up to the front of the room and said he had seen my cab on the news from the casino video camera footage. He said he had seen me save those six people and that he was very proud of me.”

Rashoud was quiet for a while. The Hard Rock was less than a block away.

“You know what I remember most?” he said.

“What?”

“When those people were in my cab, when they finally stopped screaming and yelling, it was so very quiet. It was so quiet I could hear their hearts beating.”

We pulled into the Hard Rock. I handed Rashoud the fare and a big tip. I started to open the door, stopped and turned to him.

“You know, you should be very proud. You’re not even from here. This isn’t your country or your people, and you risked your life to save them. That’s amazing.”

Rashoud dismissed the praise and simply said, “We are all humans.”

#taxi #shootings #humanity #las vegas #immigrants

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tintinwrites · 6 years ago

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c’est lui pour moi | Poe Dameron x Reader

Request: characters reuniting with someone whom they thought were dead and forehead kisses with poe! (Anon)

A/N: Here you go, anon! Please enjoy!

Rating: T

Warning: Naughty words. Injuries.

Word count: 1,707, apparently!!

Summary: You and Poe get caught up in an attack from the First Order, unsure if the other made it out alive.

GIF credit: No idea, but it’s not mine.

You woke up on the ground with a throbbing pain in your leg.

You could smell smoke, and opening your eyes had you discovering the light you could sense was from small, scattered fires.

Everything around you was in absolute ruins; what were once beautiful buildings were now broken walls sticking out of the ground, the rest of their material laying in large pieces as far as you could see.

It took you a moment to remember the blast.

Well, you didn't remember the blast itself so much as everything leading up to it.

The panic as the First Order ship loomed over the planet, the inhabitants of said planet running and screaming, knowing you needed to get to your ship and stop this, the feeling of Poe grabbing onto your hand:

Don't let go, kid, just run!

And you did run and you didn't let go, but so many people were running with you. One person tried to get ahead of the pack and rammed into you, and the force of it made your hand jerk out of Poe's.

You could still hear him yelling, see him trying to fight his way through the throng of people to get to you.

No! Y/N!

Then there was a loud noise and you were thrown back, and—

You woke up on the ground with a throbbing pain in your leg.

"Poe?" Your voice shook as you moved onto your hands and knees. "Poe?" You tried to stand and the pain in your leg intensified, so much that you fell back to the ground with a cry.

A glance down told you that there was a large, deep gash in your right thigh. It wasn't bleeding anymore which meant you must have been out for a while, and you were quite glad that whatever sliced you open didn't get an artery.

It still hurt like a bitch, though, and you were definitely going to need medical attention.

You would do that later. You quickly thought of a plan and it went as such: find Poe, get to your ship if it was still there, get to the Resistance base, then see a med droid about your injury.

"Poe! Mm...fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..." You whimpered and panted as you forced yourself to stand, grabbing onto a crumbling wall of a building to keep yourself up. "Poe!"

There were bodies almost everywhere, some buried under rubble and none of them seeming to be Poe. The further you managed to get, the more bodies were burned beyond recognition, and your heart was pounding so hard that you thought you might pass right back out.

You didn't see Poe, but that didn't mean he wasn't there.

Not to mention all these innocent people...

You closed your eyes and leaned heavily against a wall that felt sturdy enough.

Wherever Poe might have been, he would want you to go and get help rather than spend your time trying to find him.

You hated the idea of possibly leaving him there, but you pushed off the wall and slowly made your way in the direction of where you were sure the ships were.

Your new plan was to get to your ship, get to the Resistance base, see a med droid about your injury, and do everything you could to find Poe.

If there was still a Poe to find.

It had been a week since the mission.

A week since the attack from the First Order.

A week since Poe didn't get to you in time.

A week since he woke up in the med bay with no recollection of ever getting back to the base.

A week since he tried to get out of the bed even though everything hurt, saying he had to go back for you, being held down by nurses and friends who said she's dead, you can't go back, you're hurt, you have to rest before a med droid sedated him.

A week since he was sedated a second time because he'd woken right back up and fought to get out of the bed again.

Four days since he was released from the med bay with strict orders to rest in his quarters.

Two days since he was allowed to limp down to ship maintenance and see how broken his ship was even though they'd been working on it for days, and he cringed at the sight of your empty ship there.

And this particular day marked the second day he'd spent out in the hangar from dawn to dusk, sitting with BB-8 at his side, waiting for you to appear.

He knew you wouldn't at this point, knew that you were taken out that day, but felt that giving up made it real. Maybe if he kept waiting, you wouldn't be dead.

He wasn't sure he could take it if you were dead.

There were so many things he felt and didn't say because you were colleagues, and he felt like an idiot for following that rule when he broke so many rules. There wasn't even a rule against relationships between two pilots; he was just afraid of fucking up your friendship when he inevitably pissed you off enough to break up with him.

He should have told you. Now he couldn't tell you anything, like how bored he was in the med bay or how much he already missed you.

BB-8 gave a soft, sad beep, rolling back and forth slightly.

The sun was setting and you still weren't back.

"Okay, buddy. I'm gonna stay for a few more minutes." He watched the little droid roll back into the base, waiting until he was out of sight before he dropped his head into his hands.

You were really gone, weren't you?

He wasn't going to hear your sassy remarks when he got too egotistical over the comms. He wasn't going to trip over his own feet and drop whatever he was carrying because he was too busy admiring the way your eyes crinkled when you laughed.

Not that that happened at least four times since you joined the Resistance.

There were so many things about you that he hadn't appreciated enough. He let them all go to waste when he should have just soaked them in and told you how amazing you were.

He looked up at the sky, and he told you, and then he stood up with some effort and grunting, and he turned to half-limp his way back into the base.

As he was going in, an alarm started going off and everyone else started running out. He stumbled back in surprise, watching for a moment before he grabbed onto someone.

"Hey! What the hell is going on?"

"Incoming ship, Commander!" The young soldier said, quickly wriggling from his grip and running past him.

Hurt or not, he wasn't going to let his friends face whatever was coming alone. He moved as fast as he could to join them, though he didn't have a blaster at the ready like many of them.

He looked up at the sky again and saw nothing. It took a few moments, but a small, broken up ship came into view, heading for the hangar. "Whoa, don't shoot yet!" He held a hand up to keep everyone under control. "No one from the First Order is going to show up in a piece of junk like that."

Nor would they fly in such a way that had the ship nearly slamming to the ground upon arrival, skidding across the tarmac. The cockpit opened, stuttering for a moment when it reached halfway, then opened all the way.

And out climbed you.

Poe blinked a couple times until he was sure it was actually you. "Y/N?"

You, too, blinked a couple times before practically crying out in relief, "Poe!"

The two of you ran at quite possibly the slowest pace ever to each other, before Poe picked up in speed and wrapped his arms around you, lifting you up into the air despite his pain. You gave a yelp of surprise, then a whimper.

"Ow, fuck."

"I'm sorry!" He set you down in an instant, looking you over worriedly. "What did I do?"

"No, no, not you...uh..." You gestured to your leg, with a makeshift bandage around your thigh.

"Oh, shit. What happened? How'd you get back?"

"It's...a long story. Lots of walking and...ship-borrowing. You?"

"No idea."

You looked at each other, then one another's presence set in and you were hugging tightly. Poe had hurt his back on landing after the blast threw him and he knew it was going to hurt all over again in the morning, but he didn't care that much.

"I have so much I need to tell you." He kissed your forehead. Again, again, again, again; until you were laughing and crying and, fuck, maybe you felt a lot for him and that was why you wanted to find him so badly.

"Please tell me in the med bay. I've been taking care of this myself and I don't really know if I did a good job."

Poe, being stupid, picked you up and started walking very slowly towards the base. Everyone kind of stared until someone ran out with med droids and a grav stretcher behind them, which you were put on.

And maybe Poe leaned a bit on it. Maybe.

He laid down on the bed next to you as you were worked on, pushing you to tell him all that happened.

You told him how you woke up and couldn't find him, how you wandered around the planet until you found supplies, how you took the only ship you could get running, how you had to stop on several other planets for rest and to refuel the high-maintenance ship.

Both of you were amazed that you were on opposite sides of the blast, yet you were out of range enough to come out with fairly minor injuries.

Once you were finished with your story, you asked Poe what happened to him and he looked at you with a strange smile for a moment before finally responding with,

I woke up here and then I realized I'm in love with you.

#poe dameron imagine #poe dameron x reader #star wars imagine #poe dameron fic #POE'S SUCH A BABE #WE SHOULD ALL GET OUR OWN POE #did i put things into words well enough idek #did you feel

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cost-of-chaos · 6 years ago

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All you Need is Love (Chapter Two)

Roger Taylor x OC

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings: swearing, smut

Chapter One

“Rog! What’s taking you so long I told you I could bring the case down the stairs” I called up to the open door leading up to our apartment as I sat on the hood of his sporty red car.

My shouting caused even more unwanted attention from the strangers walking along the busy street. One sleazy git gave me a wolf whistle and a once over and I’d finally had enough waiting of the cold street for Roger to bring down a suitcase I really could have lifted myself.

“I’m coming down now! Don’t get your knickers in a twist love! Anyone would think you actually DO want to get away from me!” He shouted as I walked into the front door. After a quick search around our small apartment, I found him. I leant against the door as I watched him from afar and it slammed against the wall making him jump. I couldn’t help but let out a laugh of frustration at the scene in front of me.

“Rog.. what exactly are you doing with my bag?”

He looks at me, with a cheesy, toothy smile, “Ronnie! I don’t know what you mean?”

“My bag was all packed, zipped up and ready to go, and then you insisted you’d carry it down the stairs for me…. but here you are rezipping it up?”

“I wanted to pack you something to remember me by, you’re going for two weeks, after all, you might forget just how much you love me”

I closed the distance between us and straddled his thighs. I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my forehead against his, brown hair, mixing with blonde,

“I could never forget you Roger”

“You won’t find some posh American bloke making millions in the stock market and run off with him?”

“As if I would ever leave you and our one bedroom walkup?” I kissed his forehead, smiling at the preposterous thoughts going through my boys head. “Besides who would get custody Mitchy” I joked, as if on cue, he jumped onto the bed beside us and I climbed off of Rog’s lap to give him one last cuddle.

“I suppose I should get you to the airport now, I don’t want your mother to hate me more than she already does” He exclaimed dramatically as he picked up my suitcase and walking out of our flat.

“How could she blame you if I missed my flight?” I said, locking the door behind us.

“We both know it doesn't’ take much to find more ammunition to loathe her degenerate boyfriend”.

I laughed at his accuracy, “Yeah you’re right, let’s hope there isn’t any traffic!”

The drive to the airport was perhaps the slowest Roger had driven in his whole life, but it became ridiculous as I noticed an old lady, wheely bag in tow, actually go faster than us on the footpath. But I don’t think either of us minded having a few extra minutes in each others company. There wasn’t a single quiet moment for the whole drive. We talked about his tour and what I was going to be getting up to in the states, and how he was driving down to his mums tonight to drop of Mitch for cat sitting while we were away.

We finally come to a halt outside of the terminal and Roger turns the car off the sounds of led zeppelin comes to an abrupt halt. And we looked at each other hesitantly, I wrapped my arms around his neck and he hugged my waist tightly.

“I love you Veronica, have a safe flight and remember to call me from the airport when you land!”

“Of course I’ll call you, you’ll call me when you’re in Japan won’t you? I can’t believe I’m missing out on Japan goddammit!”

“I wouldn’t miss talking to you for the world, angel” With that I climbed out of the car, picked my case up from my feet and slowly walked towards to doors of the terminal. Behind me, I hear some sort of a commotion but ignore it for fear of looking back to Roger and becoming unnecessarily teary. Just as I made it through the big glass doors I felt a hand grab my forearm, causing me to turn around. It was Roger, holding out his fur coat. He gave me a hard kiss before handing me the coat and walking back outside to someone yelling about his illegal park.

“Excuse me, excuse me, pardon me” I made my way through the aisle of the plane, all the way to the back. As I made my way past three businessmen coughing up lungs and a crying baby before finding my cramped aisle seat, I began to really miss the luxury of travelling with Queen.

Flashback

I remember the first time we had travelled on a private plane like it was yesterday. It was a red eye on the way back home after a tour. On the way to the first concert, the boys were swarmed by fans for the whole flight asking for autographs and hoping to get a glimpse of the ‘rock stars’. It was the first time that it really sunk in how famous they were getting and although I was incredibly proud of them, the peace and quiet of being on a private plane was almost as amazing as the sheer luxury.

The executives and big wigs groups up at the back of the plane, deep in discussion while the rest of us slumped down on the big seats towards to front of the plane. Glasses of whiskey were poured all around and after a piss poor game of scrabble, Roger and I had found ourselves to be the only ones still awake.

“Hey Ronnie…”

“Uhuh” I said, not lifting my eyes from the book in front of me.

“You wanna have a little fun?” Alright, that got my attention.

My eyes widened at his proposal, but I didn’t give him the satisfaction of looking up at him, “We aren’t exactly in private darling, how ‘bout you keep it in your pants until we get home?”

He scooted closer to me so we were touching and he began brushing my hair with his fingertips, instantly relaxing me. “What are you reading?” He asked in a husky whisper, how could he be so sexy talking about literature? He nuzzled into my neck and kissed the sweet spot on my neck. I bit my lip and couldn’t resist leaning further towards him, he started sucking and even though it was sure to leave a mark I let out a moan and dropped my book on the floor.

“Love, wanna accompany me to the bathroom?” He whispers into my ear.

“But the guys!” I protest, pointing at our sleeping friends across from us.

"No, they won't hear us, hun, not if we’re quiet." He flashed a smile and stood up, reaching his hands towards out to mine to coax me into standing up.

I took his hands and we began the short walk to the bathroom, feeling incredibly naughty. We’d done things in bathrooms, his van and hell, even dressing rooms before but here? With such thin walls and a deathly silent airplane, it just felt scandalous which spurred me on even more.

He locked the door behind us and quickly closed any distance that was between us, kissing me with so much need and desire that I was already feeling a warmth grow inside me. I reached down to his crotch, groping him through his jeans. He let out a deep moan into my mouth and the kissing halted for a second, he tore his face away from mine and looked at me intently with eyes clouded with lust.

He cupped my ass and lifted me up so I was straddling his waist and he walked a few steps and sat me down onto the marble counter. He ripped open my silk buttoned up and licked his lips as he admired the sight before trailing sloppy kisses down my chest.

Before I knew it he was on his knees pulling my knickers down and pushing the hem of my skirt up before diving his head between my legs. He began to softly lick my core and I couldn’t help but to grind into his face and I let out a high pitched moan. His pace picked up with my moan of encouragement and I could feel myself already getting closer to the edge.

“Rog...baby...keep- keep going” I breathed out as I rested my head against the mirror behind me, he reached up and groped my breast and I looked down to watch him. It was a sight I doubt I will ever tire of, the sight of his messy blonde locks between my legs, the way he would look up every now and again to tease me further and to watch me start to unravel before his eyes.

Just as I felt myself about to go over the edge he stopped and looked up at me and I whimpered in protest.

“Wanna feel you come around my cock my love.” He said before standing up and wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt before kissing me again. His lips collided with mine harshly and I poked my tongue into his mouth needing to be closer to him, the taste of me on his tongue made me even wetter, I needed him inside of me now. I pulled his shirt off him in a similar fashion that he’d done to mine and made quick work of his belt before springing free his erect length, after stroking his throbbing member a few times we both knew what we wanted, I reached into his back pocket and grabbed a condom out of his wallet and gave it to him. He slid it on as I sucked on his neck, causing him to let out a quiet whimper.

He positioned himself at my entrance, and gently pushed himself inside of me, I grip his shoulders with my nails as he pulled out and thrust slowly again, but this time deeper, filling me up.

“Fuck Roger” I whispered into his ear, he chuckled and kissed my neck.

“Shh, angel, we don’t want anyone to hear us do we?” I shook my head but he increased his speed, and I had to bite my lip to suppress more moans, I really didn’t want this to be all the boys talked about for the next couple of days but the risk of it all was making this so much hotter.

He changed his angle slightly and began hitting my g spot in a rhythmic pattern and I had to bite down on his shoulder to stay quiet. After leaving me so close to the edge before, it wasn’t taking much to get me to the same point again.

“Yes Rog, keep going… keep going” Our kisses were becoming more and more sloppy by the second as we both were reaching out climaxes.

Just as I was reaching my peak, he brought his finger down, rubbing my clit in a circular motion while thrusting, he was now moaning a deep moan which was resembling a growl and I knew he was close too.

His thrusts started to get sloppier just as I released and I felt him twitch inside of me as my legs shook with the intensity of my orgasm. We rode our orgasms out with kisses fuelled with love instead of passion.

After a quick cleanup, I pulled up my knickers and buttoned up my dress as Roger also redressed, still panting slightly. He turned around to open the door but I held him back, I needed a for more seconds of alone time with my love. I looked up at his swollen lipstick stained lips, and I rubbed off the marks with my thumb. His angelic eyes were staring down at me with the same intensity they were just a few minutes ago and he grabbed my face with his two hands and gave me a gentle kiss.

“You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on.” He said after pulling back and tucking a strand of loose hair behind my ear. God, he was a smooth talker.

“You know just because that was amazing, doesn’t mean we’re going to do this all the time, this is a one-time thing, Mr Taylor!” I said, fully intending on keeping my word. However a few months later and we’d already become two-time members for the mile high club.

I blush with the memory as I’m brought back to reality by the stewardess walking down the aisle offering drinks. I ordered a gin and swigged it down quickly before opening my book to try to push aside the erotic memories swirling around my head. As the plane took off the ground I was already looking forward to seeing the wheels touch back down on the way back home.

“Oh finally Veronica, how did you manage to be the last person off the plane? For heaven's sake we’ve been here for hours, don’t you realize how busy we are with the wedding tomorrow?”

“Mum, I have no control over the order the bags come out at the baggage claim,” I said, while trying to smooth my hair into a bun, I really didn’t need any more ammunition for this woman.

“Hmm,” she said, with so much disdain I felt the hairs on the back on my neck rise up. I felt like I was twelve again. Was it too late to walk back through security and get on the next plane?

“Come on, let's go” Bea said, trying to diffuse the situation between me and mother. “You need to meet Thatcher Veronica! He’s a dream!” She said while pulling my arm to guide me out of the crowds.

“I still can’t believe you came over here for college and now you’re getting married! You’re my baby sister, it’s insane!”

“Yes, isn’t it wonderful, she doesn’t need any more education, she can finally be a wife, and a mother soon I should expect.” I looked over at Beatrice, surely mums lying, but I was faced with a broad, honest smile plastered on my sisters face.

“Thatcher makes enough money to support both of them, you know. He provides her a stable income, Veronica. You might think of looking for a decent man for yourself, instead of that drummer you’re ‘shacked up with’.” Mum continued on, distaste dripping from her words as she expressed her obvious displeasure with our her eldest daughter has turned out.

I looked towards Beatrice and back at mum, I didn’t want to cause any fights, I just wanted to get this whole dreaded thing over and done with. I decided to bite my tongue and slid into the car, sinking into the deep seats letting the fur jacket come up around my chin. As I watched the countryside pass us by the window I inhaled the scent of Roger lingering on the fur, desperately wishing it was him I was with. Only 2 more weeks...

tags: @perriwiinkle

#roger taylor #roger taylor fanfic #roger taylor imagine #ben hardy #ben hardy fanfic #ben hardy imagine #roger taylor x oc #roger taylor x reader #queen #queen imagines #borhap #bohemian rhapsody #bohemian rhapsody fanfic #bohemian rapsody movie #smut #romance #all you need is love #all you need is love fanfic

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itsmonkeypajamas · 6 years ago

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The Same Kind

Inspiration hits in the weirdest of ways. Remi and Roman (and Shepherd too), pre series. Like 16 years pre series

“You’re pregnant?” Roman whispered accusingly as soon as Remi walked in the door. He’d been waiting on the couch all afternoon, ever since he’d found the ultrasound picture while putting away the laundry.

“Quiet!” Remi stared at her brother. “How did – you went in my room?” she grabbed at the picture in Roman’s hands. Gently smoothing it out, she asked. “Shepherd doesn’t know, right?”

“Of course not,” Roman replied. “She’s gonna kill you.” His eyes were wide as he looked at his sister. Remi was staring at the ultrasound, not paying attention to him anymore. He couldn’t imagine his sister with a baby. She’d taken care of him, protected him his whole life. But a baby was something else. And he knew that Shepherd wouldn’t take the news well.

“I know,” Remi’s voice was wistful. She took a deep breath, forcing the emotion down. “I’ll deal with her later. And you – stay out of my room.” Remi shoved the ultrasound into her pocket before storming off to her bedroom.

She’d known it was stupid to keep the picture. It was risky – and Roman just proved it. If Shepherd had seen it instead…Roman was right. Shepherd was going to kill her when she found out. Babies meant love and caring and other people; all of which were weaknesses in Shepherd’s eyes. Remi usually agreed. Other people were unnecessary entanglements. Caring made you weak, more likely to back down, and give someone else the upper hand. It was easier to remain detached.

But then she’d met Adam, and he challenged her. He wasn’t like the other boys, most of whom seemed scared of Remi. They’d met in the gym. Remi had gotten there early, sneaking in to use their equipment. Adam hadn’t made any mention of the fact she wasn’t supposed to be there, but instead challenged her to lift weights. Whoever lost would buy breakfast. She lost, handedly, but was glad he didn’t try to pretend.

Their morning meetings became more and more frequent, and became less and less about training. For the first time, Remi had someone else in her life besides her brother – which of course meant that Shepherd hated him. As Shepherd’s rules and punishments about Adam became more extreme – Remi just found loopholes and got more creative about sneaking around.

Everything had been fine until a few weeks ago. Remi had been feeling nauseous and achy, and had originally passed it off as some virus. But while shopping one day, she saw the pregnancy tests and felt sick all over. She went back the next day, stealing the test and waiting an agonizing five minutes for the results. She’d only just gotten up the courage to go to the clinic for confirmation a few days ago, and that was when they did the ultrasound, showing her the first, grainy, black and white image of her child.

Remi nearly threw up when she realized it. She understood now why Shepherd always considered things like this weaknesses. Remi felt weak just thinking about it.

Taking one last look at the ultrasound picture, Remi tore it into pieces. She’d have to deal with it soon enough, but for now, she wanted it to be a secret.

-----

Remi managed to keep it a secret for a few more months, far longer than she’d originally expected. The winter months allowed Remi to dress in oversized jackets and bulky sweatshirts to hide her growing belly. Roman had been curious, pestering her about the baby and what was happening, especially at the beginning, but then began to help without expecting any answers in return.

For the most part, Remi continued on as if nothing was different. She went to school during the day, did chores and lessons at night. She avoided physical training as much as possible, fearing what would happen if a stray punch landed wrong during a fight, and so convinced Shepherd that she was focusing on language and science for now. For his part, Roman helped cover for her, saying that they’d sparred in the mornings before school, or whatever else he could think of to prevent Shepherd from getting too suspicious.

Sometimes, Remi herself could even allow herself to forget she was pregnant, but then the baby started kicking, and it became all too real. She couldn’t escape the worry of what would happen when the baby was born – a girl, she knew now. Roman was right – even if she could keep hiding the pregnancy from Shepherd, there was no way to hide a crying baby.

The ruse worked until spring, and a week of unseasonably warm weather made Remi’s oversized shirts look painfully out of place.

Shepherd suggested they go for a ‘run’ – an old army buddy was giving them access to the training ground used for recruits. She’d been growing increasingly frustrated at how the winter had slowed them down, keeping them inside, and Shepherd was certain that their skills were fading right as she needed them the most.

Remi protested as much as she could, but it was a lost cause. Shepherd wasn’t one for weakness, and if she pushed it too far, it would just wind up worse for her in the end.

The hour drive out to the base went far too quickly. Remi had spent the whole time trying to remember what these drills usually consisted of. Shepherd could be counted on adding her own twist to these ‘games’ but it was always a mix of speed, strength, and agility. None of which were easy anymore. Remi had kept up with parts of her training as much as she could, but even still – her reflexes where just as sharp, but her reactions were slow and clumsy. She’d likely fail as soon as she started – that is – assuming Shepherd was somehow blind and didn’t notice her belly the second she took off her jacket.

“What are you going to do?” Roman hissed as they walked behind Shepherd.

Remi bit her lip, trying to think of some last minute plan.

In the end, it didn’t matter. It seemed Shepherd had known all along.

Remi shed her jacket as they walked out to the course, waiting for the reaction. She could feel Shepherd’s eyes on her, but the older woman remained silent.

“One mile. Over the wall. Tires. Then crawl.” Shepherd’s voice was cool and flat as she gave the instructions. “There shouldn’t be a problem. Unless there’s something you want to tell me?” Shepherd stared at Remi, challenging her to speak up.

“No problems,” Remi said, gritting her teeth.

“Good. Loser will clean the house for the rest of the month.”

And with that, they were off.

Remi was surprised how fast she could still run, considering. She overtook Roman with half a mile left to go, and was at the climbing wall before she knew it. Remi struggled to find a foothold, but refused to give up. Roman caught up before she was halfway up. He glanced at her sympathetically, but climbed on. They both knew what would happen if he tried to help.

She made it awkwardly through the tire run, her slowest one yet. She stared at the muddy field ahead of her. Roman was near the end. It would be impossible to catch up now, but she was going to finish. She wasn’t going to give Shepherd the satisfaction of quitting. Bending over at an awkward angle, she forced her way through the pit, her head down and her bottom up, keeping her stomach off the ground.

At the end, Remi stood up next to Shepherd. Her body was muddy and scraped up, but she had done it. Roman stood across from her, looking worried about what was next.

Shepherd stared at Remi, her eyes dark. Without saying a word, she reached up, slapping Remi across the face.

Shepherd never mentioned the pregnancy. She’d coolly ask how Remi’s training was going, and made sure she did her chores as expected after the loss. Remi, for her part, stopped hiding her belly, but she was too nervous to mention the baby or what would be happening after it was born. In moments of hope, she would daydream about a future – holding her daughter in her arms, rocking her to sleep. She even bought an outfit with some money she had saved – a little onsie with birds across it. She hid the outfit in her backpack, stuffed in with her biology and calculus textbooks.

A little over a week later, it was time. Remi doubled over in pain one evening, screaming as she grabbed her stomach. Roman looked scared, but Shepherd calmly stated that they would go to the hospital shortly.

Early the next morning, just as the sun was starting to rise, Remi screamed and gave her final push as her daughter was born. Moments later, as she held her in her arms for the first time, Remi finally realized what had been missing in her life all this time. Love.

#blindspot #blindspot fanfic #remi #roman #shepherd #avery #pre series #teenagers #this was different for me #curious about the reaction #but it was good to write #was just watching the episode and got curious #remi and roman

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pitubea1910 · 7 years ago

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“Desperate to see you”

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Featuring: Harrison

Words: 2075

Warnings: angst but some fluff at the end.

Tags: @imabloodynerd

Request: -

Notes: Hope you like it! It just came out of nowhere since it is quite how I’m feeling now so there you go!

MASTERLIST

This was the first time you spent so much time apart. Usually it was just a couple of weeks but this time It had already been a month without him. A month you had spent alone in your house in Kingston. You missed Tom so much, his laugh, his kisses, his cuddles, everything. But he was all across the ocean in New York filming his Spiderman movie. You couldn’t he more proud of him but that didn’t make it easier.

“What’s wrong babe?” He asked while you two Facetimed. Usually there was no way to keep your mouth shut but that day you barely said a word.

“Mm? Nothing, I’m okay” you half smiled.

“(Y/N) if you don’t want to tell me you don’t have to but don’t lie to me” he asked you.

You bite your lip and looked away from the camera. He knew you way too well to trick him. You knew that. Still, you didn’t want him to know about your sadness. He had to be focused, not being worried about his needy girlfriend so you took a deep breath and faked a smile before looking back at the camera.

“Everything’s okay!” You said. “I was just thinking about some stuff I have to get done tomorrow. Sorry” you lied. “How are you? How’s the movie going?” You asked.

Then he started talking about the scenes he had been shooting, how he tried to do all the stunts even though it could be dangerous or tiring he just loved it. The rush, the adrenaline and everything. He was so excited talking about the shooting that you didn’t have to talk much. Before you noticed he was called back on set so you two said your goodbyes and hung up. It was 3 a.m. for you, so you just went to the bathroom and to bed straight away, praying you got some sleep.

The next few days were more of the same. Tom called you every time he had some time off between takes to catch up with you and if, for some reason, you weren't available, he would leave a text or a voicemail. He tried to sound cheerful but the truth was that he was worried about you. He had noticed the change in your attitude during the last few days, he had tried to make you talk about it but you kept on saying you were okay. He knew you were lying but being so far from there was nothing he could do.

“You okay?” Harrison asked him while they were going back to the hotel after another day of shooting. “You’ve been distracted today” he added.

“I’m fine…” Tom mumbled looking down at his phone. It was late in London so you were probably asleep but he had barely heard from you that day.

“Sure?” Harrison insisted. Tom sighed and looked at his friend.

“Something is wrong with (Y/N)” he finally said. “She’s been acting weird lately but she won’t tell me what’s wrong. She just keeps on saying that everything is okay, that she’s just tired”

“Maybe she is?” Hazz suggested.

“No. I know her better than that” Tom frowned. “I think this distance thing is starting to affect her” Harrison frowned and nodded.

“It is affecting you as well right?” He asked. Tom chuckled sadly.

“Yeah… Damm, I miss her so much Hazz” Tom said leaning his head against the seat.

“Why don’t you take a few days off?” He asked.

“I tried. They won’t let me at least for another month” Tom said.

“That sucks” Harrison mumbled.

“Tell me about it” Tom sighed.

His friend patted his leg not knowing what to say or do to make him feel any better.

On the other side of the world you were going insane. Even talking to Tom was becoming a torture knowing there was no way to reach to him, to touch him. You didn’t know what to do and you knew he just couldn’t come. His work wouldn’t allow it. You spent hours looking at flights to New York. You had to go there, you just couldn’t keep on telling him that everything was okay when you were breaking inside. The prices were crazy. Way too expensive. You did have the money but paying that amount would mean a lot of extra hours next month. Was it worth it?

Tom was going completely crazy. Even Harrison was worried about his best friend. He barely left his hotel room, just to film the movie. He wanted to do nothing, he would just stare at the phone loginly, waiting for your reply all the time, even when he knew it was 4 a.m. in London and you were completely asleep.

“Man, this has to stop” he finally told his friend during an afternoon they had off.

“What?” Tom said looking up from his phone where Harrison could ser a photo of you.

“You have to see her. You have to go to London even if it’s just for two days but you can’t keep on going like this” Harrison said.

Tom frowned and looked down at his phone, he hadn't heard from you since the previous evening and he knew you were still awake. He had been texting you but it was like those texts just got lost in the air, like you weren’t getting them. It was driving him crazy. What if something happened to you? He gulped and looked at Harrison.

“You’re right” he said getting up “I have to get on the next plane to England” he added grabbing his laptop.

“What?” Harrison frowned. As much as he agreed on this idea he knew It would have awful consequences if he just disappeared from a shooting. “Tom, wait. You can’t just leave” he said.

“What?” Tom asked looking up. “You’ve just told me to go!”

“And I want you to but you just can’t disappear! You’re Spiderman!” he tried to explain.

“I’m something more important: I’m what (Y/N) needs right now” he said. Harrison knew there was nothing he could do. He had seen that look on Tom's face before and he knew there was nothing he could say to change his friend's mind.

“Okay, I’ll call the director and make something up” Harrison said, earning a thankful look from Tom.

Meanwhile you were going insane trying to find a taxi that would tale you from JFK to Tom's hotel. You still couldn’t believe you had literally crossed the ocean to see him just for a few days but knowing you were in the same state as him and that you would be seeing him soon, made you feel better instantly. You hadn’t spoke yo him since yesterday and you were dying to but seeing him and seeing his face when you showed up at his door was more important.

Finally you managed to find a taxi and told the driver to take you to the hotel as fast as he could. As you were heading towards the city you turned on your phone just to find it with plenty of calls and messages from your boyfriend. Biting your lip you chuckled, he was probably climbing up the walls, trying to figure out why you weren’t answering.

It took you almost 30 minutes and almost 40$ to get to the hotel but after all there you were, standing in the middle of the hall, just minutes away from seeing Tom again. The problem was that you didn’t even know his room number. You took out your phone and was about to calle Harrison when you heard a familiar voice behind you.

“I know, I know it’s not the best time but-“ you turned around and saw Harrison talking on the phone. Perfect timing.

“Harrison!” You exclaimed.

He looked in your direction. The moment he realised it was really you, his eyes opened widely, he said something on the phone and hang up walking over you.

“What the fuck?” He said making you laugh. “You… you’re here!” He finally exclaimed happily before hugging you tight. “What are you doing here?”

“I needed to see Tom” you basically said. “I’ve been having a hard time lately with this distance thing and I just couldn’t keep on waiting” you smiled a little. “I’m crazy right?” You added with a blush.

“No. You’re perfect for him” he smiled widely before hugging you again. “You literally saved him” he chuckled. “Go. Room 412” he told you.

You took the keycard he was offering you as you wondered what he meant by saving Tom. But you didn’t have time to ask anything. Tom was just there. Immediately you sneaked into an elevator quickly and pressed the 4th floor button. It looked like the slowest elevator ever but finally you were out and soon you found the room. Suddenly you felt nervous out of nowhere. Yes, you had been waiting for this since he left England but what if coming without saying anything was a mistake?

Well, there wasn’t time to question your actions. Without thinking about it any further you slipped the card and opened the door. The first thing you saw was a suitcase on the floor full of clothes. You frowned and closed the door behind you, leaving your luggage by the door.

“What did the director said?” You heard Tom's voice coming out of the bathroom. “Am I screwed? Fired?” He asked. You smiled a little but said nothing. Why would he be fired though? “Harrison?”

And just then his curly hair showed up, looking at the room, expecting to see Harrison there. When he found the room empty he walked out of the bathroom. You bite your lip, trying not to laugh, as you took in the view. He was shirtless, wearing just a pair of grey sweatpants that were hanging low on his hips. Completely confused, he turned around, finally facing the door and finally seeing you there. He stopped on his tracks, staring at you speechless, like he had just seen a ghost.

It wasn’t possible, you just couldn’t be there, it made no sense at all. You were in England, working and studying your máster, there was no way you could be there in New York, standing in front of him with that innocent smile that used to drive him crazy.

“Surprise?” You finally said with a smile.

Then it hit him. It wasn’t a dream, he didn’t need help, you were there. He took the few steps necessary to get to you and then wrapped his arms around you as tight as he could, not saying a single word. You were there, he was holding you. For the first time in a long time you felt at home once again, like everything was right in the world and you were exactly where you were supposed to be.

“You’re here” he mumbled pulling away to look down at you.

You bite your lip and nodded still smiling. Suddenly, a smile appeared on his face, brighter than ever before and all he did was taking your face in his hands and crashing your lips together in a passionate and tender kiss. Your arms went immediately around his neck, to pull his hair and pull him closer to you. He bite your lip, sending a shiver down your spine and making you moan as you let his tongue invade your mouth. Eventually, your lungs cried for air so you forced yourself to pull away but he wouldn’t let you go. He placed his forehead against yours and sighed relieved.

“I love you so much” he whispered. You teared up a little when you heard those words and kissed him again briefly.

“And I love you” you replied. He smiled and hugged you tight, still afraid that this was just a dream. “I have a question” you asked rubbing his bare back. He hummed and kissed your shoulder before looking at you. “Where you going anywhere?”

He laughed and looked at the suitcase before picking you up and carrying you to bed where he put you down before laying down on your top.

“Let’s just say I was desperate to see you” he said taking in your features. You were about to talk but he shut you up with a kiss. “We can talk later. Now I need you”

And you weren’t going to say no to him.

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the-wheel-comes-full-circle · 7 years ago

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The snowball chapter 24

Hello, world's slowest updater back at ya again. Uni, work, and lacrosse have really been eating my time up so I'm really sorry and bless everyone who still reads this. I was feeling really unmotivated with this fic recently but this morning I happened to check someone's reblog of part 1 and they had the absolute sweetest tags and it really made me want to continue, so you have that amazing person to thank for the update (I cannot remember their url name tho so can't tag them, if you know this is you tho feel free to message me, you made my whole week!).

link to previous chapters X

@bluephoenix222 wanted to be tagged in any future updates (feel free to tell me to stop if you're not interested now tho xx).

That night Rhys and the others left Feyre and her sisters alone in Feyre's room so they had time to reconnect, while the others made last minute preparations for the Gala tomorrow night.

"So this is where you've been staying all these months?" Elain asked in awe as she took in the sprawl of what Rhys had initially called his "modest" guest room.

Feyre shrugged, "It's... a long story."

Elain laughed. "You've said that. Well looks like we have all night to talk so you may as well start with what happened with Tamlin."

Elain was still beaming at Feyre, clearly unaware of how awful things had become between her and Tamlin. Sighing, Feyre sat down on the bed and motioned for both Elain and Nesta to sit as she tried her best to quickly explain the last few months.

A silent look had passed between Feyre and Nesta as Feyre paused right before explaining the threats Hybern had made against Elain. A slight shake of Nesta's head told Feyre all she needed to know. Elain would remain unaware of just how much danger she had been in. Both sisters reassured Elain at this point that she was safe, but Hybern was not to be trusted, and if she ever saw him again she was to stay away.

Elain nodded solemnly at this, her face tight and pale, making Feyre wonder if her elder sister had already guessed that things were not as they seemed with Hybern.

"Feyre, why didn't you tell us about Tamlin?" Was all Elain said quietly.

Feyre was stunned, thinking Elain had been terrified of Hybern, not lingering on what Feyre had just told her about her terrible break up with Tamlin.

"I don't know." She said honestly. "You were both so far away, and I guess I thought I could handle it."

Elain nodded sadly but let the issue drop, despite her eyes showing she had guessed the truth. Feyre hadn't fully known if she could trust her sisters to come and help her.

"At least you have your new friends!" Elain burst out happily.

"I don't know what I would have done without them."

Elain glanced impishly at Nesta before nudging Feyre playfully in the ribs, "I'm sure Rhysand has been a great friend to you."

Feyre tried to shrug casually, but a furious red blush had already swept across her freckled cheeks making Elain giggle, and even Nesta cracked a small smile.

"Is this even your room? I hope we're not keeping Rhys from his own bed." Elain asked innocently, making Feyre swat her across the arm playfully.

"Yes, this is my room!" Feyre hissed.

"So I suppose this is your shirt then?" Nesta asked, holding up a clearly male, black t-shirt.

"Where did you get that?" Feyre blurted out, snatching it from Nesta's hands.

"Under one of the pillows." Nesta smiled at Elain, causing them both to collapse in a fit of giggles again.

"So. How serious are you two then? Have you... slept together?" Elain asked shyly at the last part.

Just when Feyre thought she couldn't blush any harder. "He sleeps in here sometimes but, it's not like that. There's been so much going on I haven't had much time to think about anything else."

"You're right. I'm sorry Feyre, these past few months must have been so hard on you." Elain said, placing her hand over Feyre's and giving it a squeeze.

"We'll have to go shopping for a dress for you tomorrow." Feyre said quickly, changing the subject.

"Elain's coming to the Gala?" Nesta asked surprised.

"Well, I don't see why not. Besides I don't want to leave her here all alone."

Elain squealed in delight. "How exciting! But I'll need a date, seeing as you two already have dates."

"No I don't." Said both Feyre and Nesta at the same time.

Elain looked between her sisters, clearly amused. "Of course Feyre will be going with Rhys. And Nes you'll be going with that tall, dark man that I saw before right?"

Nesta scoffed. "I don't know who you're talking about."

Elain turned to Feyre for help. "You know the one. He kept staring at Nesta and was hovering at her side the whole time we were downstairs."

Feyre felt Nesta turn murderous eyes on her as Nesta's face turned bright red as she dared Feyre to say his name. Cautiously Feyre lied and said, "Azriel?" to avoid Nesta's wrath.

"The quiet one? No, the other one. He has longer hair, wears it in a bun." Elain said confused.

Feyre sighed, unable to put it off any longer. "Cassian?"

"WHAT?" Nesta cried out. "That overgrown brute of an ape? Why would I go with him?"

Elain was staring open mouthed at her eldest sister, not able to sense where the animosity was coming from. "I'm so-sorry Nesta, I may have misread the situation. But from what I just saw, he seems very... interested in you."

Nesta laughed, a high pitched, almost staged laugh. "I wouldn't go anywhere with him if he were the last male on earth."

Just then a soft knock on the door had the three sisters on their feet. Feyre reacted quickest, reaching to open the door. When she pulled it open she was surprised to see Cassian, one hand nervously rubbing the back of his neck as he gave her a crooked grin.

"Hey, how you guys getting along up here?" He asked.

Feyre's confusion must have shown on her face as she slowly answered, "Fine, I guess. Is there something you wanted Cas?"

At that, Cassian's face turned red. "Actually I was wondering if I could talk to Nesta quickly."

Feyre quickly schooled her shocked face into a casual bored look as she motioned for Nesta. "It's for you."

Nesta got up silently and made her way into the hallway, back straight and head held high.

Immediately Feyre and Elain scrambled to the door to press their ears against it, struggling to make out what was being said.

"I can't hear anything." Elain whined.

"Neither." Feyre said just as the door started swinging inwards.

Feyre and Elain hit the bed as they reeled backwards.

"I knew you two were listening." Nesta said huffing as she sat down again.

"... Well. What did he want?" Elain asked sweetly.

Keeping her eyes averted from both of her sisters, Nesta said, "He said that Rhys wanted someone with us at all times at the Gala tomorrow night."

"Then what?" Feyre asked nervously.

"That's it. That was all he said. He just stared at me, expecting me to say something. So I told him that if that was the case, he could tell Azriel I'll see him tomorrow night."

Feyre groaned while Elain gaped at Nesta.

"Nesta! He was obviously trying to ask you if he could take you." Elain said.

"Well he should have asked me then, shouldn't he?" Nesta said standing again. "Now if you two don't mind I'd like to go to sleep now."

Feyre watched as Nesta started pulling blankets back so she could crawl into Feyre's bed. Elain immediately got in the other side and squished in so there was still room for Feyre to slide in.

"Do you want me to use your room Nesta?" Feyre asked softly.

"Of course not. That's why we left room for you." Elain answered for Nesta.

Smiling, Feyre climbed in next to Elain, resting her forehead against her shoulder.

Feyre had just been about to fall asleep, her body already numb and warm from her sister's body heat when she was jolted awake by a gentle knock on the door a few hours later.

Feyre glanced at her sleeping sisters before slipping out from beneath the covers and padding over to the door on bare feet.

"Rhys?" She asked blearily, opening the door.

Rhys beamed at her sleepy face as Feyre's eyes tried to adjust to the light difference.

"Just wanted to check in and see how Elain was doing."

"She's fine. I think we're all sleeping in here tonight though." Feyre said almost apologetically.

Rhys chuckled softly. "I guessed as much. And how are you doing." He said, his unnatural violet eyes softening as he glanced up and down her body, lingering on the black shirt Nesta had found and she had chosen to sleep in. "Is that my shirt?" He asked bemused.

Feyre tugged at the hem self consciously. "No." She said poking her tongue out at him.

Rhys laughed before tugging her towards him. His arms enveloped her and Feyre closed her eyes against his chest, breathing his scent in.

"I'm glad you've got both your sisters back." Rhys said after a few minutes.

"Thank you for letting us all stay here." Feyre mumbled against his shirt.

"Of course." Rhys said stroking her hair. "I'll let you go get some sleep now, we have a big day tomorrow." But when Rhys began to untangle himself from her, Feyre clung on, tilting her face up to his and claiming his lips with her own.

It didn't take much encouragement for Rhys to return her kiss, although he at first seemed reluctant. His fingers lightly skimmed Feyre's thighs, just beginning to reach under the hem of his shirt that she was wearing when Feyre gasped against his mouth. That gasp nearly broke all of Rhys's control as he backed Feyre gently into the closed door behind her.

With Rhys's body hard against hers and the wall Feyre made a quick decision. She roughly pushed a hand against his chest to force some space between them. Rhys backed off immediately, staring at her with curious eyes and his head cocked slightly to one side.

Slowly, Feyre reached down for Rhys's hands. She grasped both firmly, trying to convey the meaning she couldn't say aloud as she moved towards Rhys's room, dragging him behind her. But Feyre didn't need to say anything as Rhys read the hunger in her eyes that matched his own, as if he were reading her mind.

As Feyre reached the threshold of his room, Rhys slowed them down. A question in his eyes as he held Feyre's gaze. Feyre nodded her head, smiling at him wickedly before pulling them both into his room, making sure the door was locked behind them.

#the snowball #feysand #feyrhys #sjm #sarah j maas #sjmaas #fanfic #fic #au #acotar #acomaf #acowar #feyre #feyre archeron #rhys #rhysand #feyre x rhysand

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mittensmorgul · 8 years ago

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(1/?) Hey if I remember correctly, you were the one upset about the characterization Jensen ad-libbed in American Nightmare (the less than graceful journey over the railing) because Dean's this super-badass who can scale walls and beat up highly trained guards so he should be able to climb over a simple rail. I am here to try and help you see at least why I thought the characterization was fine, so maybe you will hate that part less. Okay, example one, when I was taking Calc 3 last year....

(2/?) we had this giant exam with all these complicated theories and terminology and honestly, most of what I learned is completely gone from my mind. But I remember going through this problem that took up a good page and when I finally got it back, I had gotten a couple points off because I had the wrong final answer. It turned out I had did everything right except for the fact that when I was doing some basic multiplication (3*3) and instead of saying the answer was 9, I legit wrote down 6...

(3/?) Another time I was playing tennis. I had been the game for 3 years now and I was on the top of the varsity team, and we were playing a simple game with some beginners, and one the beginner hits me the slowest/softest ball every created, even someone who's never picked up a racket should be able to hit it, but I miscalculated something along the way and completely missed the ball and my partner legit could not stop laughing at me the whole goddamn time...(4/?) Similar accidents have happened to me, where I am super skilled/trained at something and something little or trivial trips me up every once in a while. So I'm thinking Dean was the same way. Mr. Badass didn't wanna squeeze between the railing and trees like Sam(it was a tight fit) so he was like "I fuck with the devil on the daily, I can climb a fucking rail," and he tried, miscalculated something so simple and failed because that's what a lot of people tend to do....

(5/5) Anyway, I hoped this helped you understand my POV, because I completely understand why you would think it's out of character but for me, at least, I thought it was very human. If you are not the person who had a problem with it and I sent this to the completely wrong person.... well that's embarrassing... I guess you can add that to the list of example on this list. Anyway.... have an amazing day :)

Hey there! I... think this may have been sent to the wrong person, because I’m in no way “upset” with Jensen’s ridiculous fence scramble. I mean, I did make that post the other night that was 100% intended to be humorous, about questions I’d like to ask Jensen, and this was the last item on the list. The whole point of that post was that there’s SO MANY FUN QUESTIONS we could be asking the actors at cons that would allow them to give answers that would give us new insight into their characters by asking about recent canon, rather than putting them on the spot with impossible theoretical situations that they have no good answers for.

So, since you went to all the bother to explain why YOU can understand his acting choices there, that sort of defeats the point of wanting to know what made JENSEN choose to scramble over the fence that way.

(I’m sorry, but I can tell you’re probably young from the sorts of school-related comparisons you gave here, and I’m not trying to be mean or dismissive here. It’s just that this completely misses the point of my original post there, if that’s what you were trying to reply to here.)

I only put that specific item on the list because Jensen and Jared have talked about that particular scene at past cons, before the scene aired (I believe). They seemed to find it an entertaining topic of conversation. Just like Jensen talking about accidentally setting himself on fire filming the burning bible scene in 12.08. But the fence scene in 12.04 may have started as Jensen just being a goofball on set, but that’s the shot they decided to use in the episode, and a Big Deal was made of it.

So why did Dean, who we have MULTIPLE scenes over the years of him leaping “like a gazelle on the moon,” to quote myself from that original post, suddenly lose all grace?

We’ve speculated over it plenty amongst ourselves, which is great. I have reams of meta on that scene. WE know that Dean was “off his game” early in that episode. It’s framed as beginning within DAYS of Mary leaving the bunker in 12.03. He’s also just learned some unsettling news about Cas and his hunt for Lucifer, that Cas is working with Crowley and Lucifer is wearing Vince Vincente-- aka a washed up 80′s glam rocker that Dean was appalled by...

Obviously he was struggling with a lot of internal personal crap in that episode, lampshaded by his interactions with Beth the social worker lady and his texts to Mary. WE KNOW HE WASN’T DOING WELL, AND IT WAS AFFECTING HIS JUDGMENT AND PERFORMANCE.

In that sense, Dean scrambling over the fence was, as you said, PERFECTLY IN CHARACTER!!! I have never denied this. I am not in the least upset with his reaction here. He was distracted, upset over personal matters that the case that they were working on only seemed to drag closer to the surface rather than let him try and push down and ignore. It was incredibly well done, initially painting the MotW as THE SOCIAL WORKER INTENT ON UNCOVERING THOSE SORTS OF DEEP FAMILY TROUBLES, but in the end the monster WAS THE TOXIC AND SELF-ISOLATED FAMILY ITSELF!

I mean, I CAN SEE EXACTLY WHY IT WAS AN EXCELLENT ACTING CHOICE!

I just want to know if JENSEN sees it that way. I want to hear HIS reasoning for it. I want to hear him talk about it from “Dean’s POV,” as it were.

I just think hearing HIS answer to questions like this, questions that HE CAN ANSWER, questions that HE MIGHT ENJOY ANSWERING, and questions that might be FUN FOR AUDIENCES TO HEAR JENSEN TALK ABOUT, might lead to more actual insight into the character of Dean Winchester without Jensen feeling personally attacked, put on the spot, backed into a corner, or otherwise be unable to answer for whatever reason.

Not to mention, I don’t think there’s any potential to spawn weeks’ worth of inter-fandom squabbling and hate over asking questions along these lines.

That was the point of my post. It was supposed to be funny, and hopefully to make people think a little more carefully about the questions they put to the actors at cons.

There are definitely better ways to get the sort of character insight and open discussion that we would LOVE to have from Jensen, by avoiding subjects that we KNOW we’re never going to get a good answer on. It’s all a matter of what we ask, and how we ask it. Frankly, hearing his answer to questions like this will give us FAR more insight into what Jensen REALLY thinks matters to Dean, you know? Because just like Dean, if you ask a super-direct, ultra-personal, borderline accusatory question, he’s gonna clam up. Ask about something slightly silly but ultimately very deeply personally telling, and we might get a half-joking monologue, but damn it would be 10000% more insightful into how Dean thinks and feels than asking that pointed GOTCHA question.

The key is subtlety. That was my point.

(oh, and the fact that nobody should ever ask another goddamned prank question, because who the fuck cares anymore?)

#fandom problems #how to psych out dean winchester 101 #Anonymous

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preciousmetals0 · 5 years ago

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6.6 Million Job Cuts; Luckin Nuts; Zoom’s a Klutz

6.6 Million Job Cuts; Luckin Nuts; Zoom’s a Klutz:

Thanks, I Hate Record-Setting Years

Anyone else tired of records?

I’m not talking about vinyl. My vinyl collection is one of the few things keeping me sane during this quarantine (The White Album, Led Zeppelin IV, Ziggy Stardust, Dark Side of the Moon, Facelift, Paul’s Boutique, World Domination … it gets more eccentric as the list goes on).

No, I’m talking about economic records. We set quite a few of those lately … and not in a good way.

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that a record 6.6 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week. Furthermore, the previous week’s record was revised higher to 3.34 million unemployment claims.

Another record: The two-week total for U.S. unemployment claims comes to just shy of 10 million.

Less than a month ago, claims trickled in at their slowest pace in 50 years. Now this…

Tomorrow, we’ll get an initial look at the official U.S. employment numbers. But the March jobs report won’t show the worst of what’s going on. Economists predict that the U.S. shed 100,000 jobs last month — a bit higher than the ADP figures released on Wednesday, but far from the figures that weekly jobless claims show.

What that means is this: Wall Street has another month to stew in anticipation until we finally get real, hard data on COVID-19’s impact on the U.S. economy. On that front, economists project that the April report will show losses of 10 million jobs or more, with the unemployment rate spiking above 10%.

The Takeaway:

Yesterday, I called the market’s recent rally a head fake. I stand by that statement.

There’s a tenet in sentiment investing that says something like: When the market rallies in the face of overwhelming negativity, that’s a good thing.

You’ve heard the saying “climbing a wall of worry?” That’s what we’re talking about here … or are we?

You see, to truly climb a “wall of worry” investors need to know all the facts. All of the negativity and downside risks need to be priced into the market … into stock prices.

Right now, they aren’t. We don’t know the full extent of COVID-19’s impact on the U.S. economy — or any other economy for that matter.

And yet, the market rallied today in the face of 6.6 million jobless claims and the prospect of 10% unemployment. Wall Street acts as if we already saw the worst that COVID-19 can throw at us … as if Wall Street has all the facts.

Truth be told, if all the facts were known, this would be the time to buy.

But we’re still in the dark regarding a broad swath of the U.S. and global economies.

What I’m trying to say is that, unless you’re a day trader or a speculator, this relief rally is a sucker play. Stocks will fall further as more economic data is reported. We haven’t seen the worst and it will have a negative impact on the market as a whole.

Now is the time to keep your powder dry, hold until you see the whites of their eyes, sit on the sidelines or whatever idiom you prefer. A golden time for investors will come when this is all over, and you don’t want to jump the gun and miss out on real opportunities when they finally arise.

This too shall pass, and Great Stuff readers will be prepared to take full advantage of the new, post-COVID-19 market when it arrives.

Going: Let’s Make a Deal

If you’ve speculated on energy stocks lately, today was your day to make bank!

Behind door No. 3, we have President Trump tweeting the possibility of a truce between Saudi Arabia and Russia:

Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with President Putin of Russia, & I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!

That was all it took to send oil prices soaring 20%. Sector leader ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) jumped 8%, while Royal Dutch Shell PLC (OTC: RYDAF) spiked more than 12%.

The bottom line for the energy market is that someone in the industry needs to do something. We’re quickly running out of places to put the oil we’re producing, leading some analysts to project negative prices for “black gold.”

As with the rest of the market, don’t let this 20% spike lure you in.

Going: “Zoombombing”

From COVID-19 darling investment to pariah in two days? Sound impossible?

Not if you’re Zoom Video Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: ZM). The videoconferencing upstart saw a wellspring of users flooding to its platform amid the coronavirus quarantine. Today, the company announced that daily active users skyrocketed to more than 200 million from just 10 million in December.

That’s a truly massive increase in customers, and it’s one that ZM investors would typically cheer. “Would” is the keyword here. In the past week, Zoom:

However, as seen with Facebook, the general public tends to shake these things off rather quickly — if they’re even aware in the first place.

Additionally, Zoom took measures to quickly address these concerns. It stopped sharing data with Facebook, started work on a patch for Mac security and issued guidelines on how to avoid “zoombombing.”

The bottom line for investors here is that Zoom is quickly becoming the next verb for videoconferencing, just as “Skype me, bro!” was before it.

If the company can overcome these latest privacy issues, Zoom has massive potential. It could become the de facto solution in videoconferencing, which should last long after the quarantines are over.

Gone: Luckin Nuts

Misconduct? Fabricating transactions?

Someone’s had a bit too much caffeine. Luckin Coffee Inc. (Nasdaq: LK) is in hot water today, after it announced that it began to investigate “misconduct, including fabricating certain transactions” carried out in fiscal 2019.

The company appointed a special committee of independent directors, suspending Chief Operating Officer Jian Liu along with other staff implicated in the misconduct. In a statement, Luckin said:

As a result, investors should no longer rely upon the Company’s previous financial statements and earning releases for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and the two quarters starting April 1, 2019 and ended September 30, 2019, including the prior guidance on net revenues from products for the fourth quarter of 2019, and other communications relating to these consolidated financial statements.

That’s not just crazy, that’s Luckin nuts. You can basically throw out all of last year’s financial statements, earnings and guidance for the Chinese bean water boiler.

Combine this with the Chinese coronavirus quarantines, and it’s no wonder why LK stock is down more than 82% from its January peak. Bargain hunters beware, LK should eventually rebound, but there could be more downside in store before all this is over.

In this ever-changing world of kooky coffee conspiracies, there’s one thing I can always look forward to: your emails!

You Marco, I Polo … it’s Reader Feedback time again.

The Long Run

No rescue bill is goin to save America and its people unless and until the U.S lockdown for at least a month just like its friend India. America just needs to stop all commercial activities. its offices, malls, shopping centers and trading makers.

[…]

This is a long term investment that U.S needs to invest in right now … Just think beyond markets. Be human. Market was not there before you and will not be after you. Only thing that matters is us as a species. We can still act before it’s too late and give a better future and markets to our future generations.

— Abhinav D.

Abhinav, well said! Forgive me for keeping your email brief here, but I wholeheartedly agree with you.

Just last week, Great Stuff remarked that you can pass a spending bill worth however much you want — keeping some oil on the economy’s spinning gears — but that won’t rehire the 6.6 million people who are now jobless.

That said, the people who most need to hear your point won’t think they’re the problem. I tell you, the stubbornness that stay-at-home orders have inflamed in some people … why, it’s like an old man trying to return soup at a deli.

Short and Sweet

— Dairold W.

I see your point, and raise you this: 42.

Buy inverse ETFs.

— Louis L.

I must give due diligence where due diligence is due. You, sir, are cleary a tried-and-true Great Stuff reader! Why, we recommended an inverse exchange-traded fund (ETF) — the ProShares Short S&P 500 (NYSE: SH) — back on March 16. Kudos to you, Louis…

It’s a veritable hootenanny (that’s a technical term … in Kentucky, at least) of risk tolerance in these markets, and I should’ve known some Great Stuff readers are eager to bear the storm.

From early responders in yesterday’s Poll of the Week, roughly a quarter of you are picking gems from dirt in the beaten-down energy sector, with another 11.5% braving the biotech boom. (If any actual COVID-19 relief comes from the dozens of these biotech stocks turned overnight vaccine experts … some of you will have a field day!)

Yet, by and large, nearly half of you are bargain hunting in emerging tech trends. From 5G to the Internet of Things, I can’t blame your enthusiasm — trust me, faster connections can’t reach my neck of the woods soon enough!

Now, if long-term, high-growth tech trends are your thing, Ian King’s research in Automatic Fortunes could be perfect for you. Not only does Ian find the right tipping-point trends that should outlive the virus shenanigans, but he also pinpoints each trend’s standout leader.

It’s that simple and the 5G explosion is no different.

Click here to learn more about Ian King’s tech research!

Have you written in yet? What’s stopping you? Drop me a line at [email protected] and let me know how you’re doing out there in this crazy market.

That’s a wrap for today. But if you’re still craving more Great Stuff, you can check us out on social media: Facebook and Twitter.

Until next time, good trading!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Editor, Great Stuff

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