#at least i have most of my stuff recorded already just gotta edit it and i don't think I'll get an earache | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fiddlepickdouglas · 4 years ago

Text

Viva Las Vegas, Pt. 15 - Net Zero Change

Summary: Sunset Curve Alive AU, Willex, what’s the truth?, 2.9k

@trevor-wilson-covington is the bestie who makes these lovely edits, we stan supportive friends

WARNINGS: death mention, swearing

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14

Alex, Reggie, Flynn and Kyle all sat at a table inside the record store while Willie took care of closing procedures, currently sweeping up around them. Flynn sipped on her soda, eyeing everyone else with a mix of piqued interest and uncertainty.

“I can let you guys stay and talk for about another half hour, but then I’ve gotta kick you out,” Kyle told the three at the table.

“Thanks,” Alex said. “We really appreciate you being so understanding.”

“Not at all,” Kyle said casually. “And Willie’s in the clear, so long as he never pulls a stunt like that again.”

“Thanks for covering for me, man,” Willie said repentantly at Kyle’s rightfully miffed tone.

“I also covered the cost for that jacket, so you owe me for that.”

Alex looked at him, still unable to wrap what had just happened around his head. Climbing somewhere high and screaming felt like an ideal thing to do right then. He wasn’t angry - at least, he didn’t think so - but he still felt like a bottle of Coke that someone had just shaken and dropped a Mento into. His punching bag was already being worn down enough, but since he didn’t have his drums at home it had been a lifesaver recently.

There was Willie, right in front of him, like a miracle. He was so wonderfully unaware of everything, and there was no doubt he hadn’t forgotten Alex. It brought a strange sense of euphoria that battled everything else that had kept his mind dark for so long. He’d used to imagine running into Willie, even for a while after Caleb said he was gone, and thought he’d be the one to catch Willie off guard and rush toward him with joy. Mostly, he’d wanted to knock Willie off his board as slight payback for that one time, but also because it would’ve been satisfying to surprise him for once.

Kyle had gotten up from the table and joined Willie in closing up the store.

“So, you guys all know each other, huh?” he asked.

“Yeah!�� Flynn exclaimed. “And I’d like to think that it’s all thanks to me,” she added smugly.

“How so?” Reggie asked in curiosity.

“I helped Willie get into Julie’s concert in Vegas,” she said. “And I’m the reason you two stuck around here.”

Alex looked at her in surprise. Without Flynn, he imagined going with Willie to the Stratosphere or anything else that night wouldn’t have happened. He owed her a serious favor; he wasn’t going to forget that.

“Are you sure you don’t have, like, magic powers or something?” Reggie asked.

Flynn only smiled and quietly sipped her soda again, keeping the mystique for herself.

As Willie disappeared into the kitchen to clean there, Alex looked at Reggie.

“So, do you have as many questions as I do?” he asked.

“Yeah, man,” Reggie said, peeking back toward the kitchen door. “I mean, does Caleb not know?”

“For someone out of the loop,” Flynn butted in. “What’s going on?”

Alex shifted uncomfortably in his seat and took in a deep breath. “So you know how we got signed?”

Flynn nodded. “Uh huh. And congratulations, by the way.”

Alex merely shrugged in acknowledgement.

“Well, the guy who owns the label used to be Willie’s caretaker.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that,” Reggie muttered. Alex suddenly felt a little guilty for missing that detail when talking with the guys.

“Yeah, sorry I forgot to mention it,” he apologized. “Anyway, the day that we signed on, Caleb personally told me that Willie had died in a fire.”

Flynn stared in disbelief.

“Wow,” she said. “That’s fishy.”

“No kidding,” Reggie commented. “But why would he do that? Caleb’s been nothing but good to us.”

“You guys should be careful. He was Willie’s guardian? If his story is that far off, I’d watch out.”

Peering over toward the kitchen, Alex couldn’t get a view of Willie at all. He was dying to hear his side of things.

“I guess we’ll have to see. Flynn, how are you getting home?”

“Oh, I was just gonna take the bus.”

“With your equipment?” he said, already worried. It was a lot for her to be lugging around, whether she could carry it alone or not. “Flynn, let us get you a taxi.”

She looked at him, and he expected her to protest and say she could handle herself. To his surprise, she simply huffed.

“You’re right. It’s getting late.”

“Yeah, and one of us could go with you to make sure you get home safe.”

“I’ll go,” Reggie volunteered. He glanced at Alex and it was clear he was giving him an opportunity.

“Thanks Reggie,” Flynn said. “You guys have gotta keep me updated with everything going on, though. I smell drama. A lot of it.” She finished the last few gulps of her soda and stood up to grab her gear.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, man,” Reggie murmured to Alex, patting him as he rose to help her out.

“See you.”

As he watched them make their way outside, Alex sighed.

“So, Vegas, huh?” Kyle said as he reentered the room, making him jump.

“Uh, yeah,” Alex replied warily. This guy seemed fairly nice, but he could never be too careful about how much he told strangers. He watched him dust the shelves, trying to relax in his seat.

“Willie doesn’t talk about it much, so I’m kinda surprised he had such a reaction tonight. I got the idea he hated the place.”

Puzzled, Alex didn’t respond immediately. He wondered what could’ve happened.

“Well, I’m sure he has his reasons. But when I met him we had a pretty good time.”

“Hmm,” was all that Kyle said as he looked into space thoughtfully before moving on to locking things up.

Alex realized then that he was the only customer left in the store and he’d simply let his friends leave him. His head was certainly not on straight. The time was nearly midnight, and the options of transportation and his experiences with them only dialed up his anxiety. Busses were just weird because everyone could watch him, taxis were expensive and he’d given most of his cash to Reggie, and the chances of having Bobby pick him up were very low.

“Hey,” Willie was standing over him, skateboard in hand. Alex looked up, startled once again, but the feeling of Willie’s hand on his shoulder softened it.

“Hey.”

“Where did Reggie go?”

“Oh,” Alex started. “He’s making sure Flynn gets home safe.”

Nodding, Willie glanced outside.

“What about you?”

Alex rose with a sigh.

“I’ll figure something out.”

They left the store and slowly walked to the corner. Willie still gripped his board as he gazed up at the red hand on the opposite side of the street.

“Do you...wanna walk with me to my place?” he asked Alex. “‘Cuz you look like you want to talk. Then we can find you a way home.”

Sticking his tongue in his cheek, Alex eyed him thoughtfully. It was almost like they hadn’t just spent four months apart - Willie could read him like a book.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

Unfortunately, that made him stuff his hands deeper into the pockets of his jacket. He’d let himself take Willie’s hand before and have high hopes because he’d let himself ignore reality back then. Even when the guy who he admittedly still had a crush on was back from the dead, Alex didn’t want to tempt fate again. As they both crossed the street, he felt himself hunch inward just as he had earlier with Reggie.

“So, I’m guessing it’s a little weird to see me, since you thought I was a goner and everything,” Willie started nervously.

“Dead,” Alex said, looking at him seriously. “You were dead.”

Willie slowed his pace and sucked in a breath.

“Yeah.”

For a few yards they didn’t speak. Something ate at Alex’s insides, and he couldn’t put a finger on it. Change had always been his worst enemy, but this was a good change. Willie was alive, then he was dead, and now he was back. It should’ve been like net zero change, cancelled out like math. He should be fine about this, right? Why was he not fine?

“Alex, are you...are you mad?” Willie dared to ask.

He paused in his tracks, arms slacking against his sides. Looking over at Willie, then down at the sidewalk again, he nodded.

“Yeah, actually.” Immediately the eating feeling worsened. “I don’t know why that is, but you’re right. I am kinda mad.”

Willie furrowed his brow, but remained quiet for a minute as they continued walking.

“Are you mad at me?” he wondered aloud, finally.

“Maybe?” Alex said, feeling the temperature in his veins rise the more he went on. “That sounds silly, I know, because it wasn’t you who lied to me and put me through absolute agony for weeks on end. You were just the person I thought was dead and so every time I thought about you, it hurt. I don’t even know why it hurt so much. It’s not supposed to hurt when you’re still practically a stranger to me. All I know is that we kind of liked each other and then I thought I’d never find out anything else. I mean, we only knew each other for one day. One fucking day. That was it!”

Alex saw Wilie flinch at the unexpected use of language. A little too late, he realized he should’ve been more gentle. While it was true that he needed to finally release more than just self-pity, it wasn’t worth making Willie miserable for it.

“Wow,” Willie murmured. It already sounded more wounded than Alex could bear.

“That was harsh; I shouldn’t have blown up like that.”

He looked over at Willie to be sure he hadn’t done too much damage already.

“I can’t imagine how awful that was,” Willie said simply.

The pressure that had heated up his veins rapidly began to cool down as Alex realized he was handling this all wrong. He’d momentarily lost control and already saw its potential for harm.

“It’s not you I’m mad at. It’s Caleb.”

“That makes two of us,” Willie told him. “You want to know what really happened?”

“I want to know everything.”

They continued walking along as Willie seemed to try summing up the past few months properly in his mind.

“I don’t know exactly where to start,” he said.

“Well, why don’t you start where we left off?” Alex suggested. It was only fitting that one of them was walking the other home, just like they’d been doing the last time they’d seen each other. There was a funny sense of poetry to it.

“Okay,” Willie began. “I guess what really started it was when we were up on the Stratosphere, remember?”

“Uh huh.”

“I told you that I have amnesia because I had a memory come back.”

“Right, about your dad.”

“You remember this really well,” Willie commented. Alex bowed his head, feeling his lip curl the tiniest bit. “Anyway, I started drawing the things I remembered. And I mean, I drew every detail I could. Even though back then it was just the one about my dad and then the first time that I ran away from Caleb - ”

“Wait, what?” Alex blurted.

Willie cocked his head to the side as he tried to keep the narrative easy to follow.

“Oh yeah that was weird, I had this dream where everything was backwards and it happened like every night and it took me forever to figure out that it was a memory. Anyway, the reason I have amnesia right now? I was trying to run from Caleb because he was a total a-hole and then I got hit in the head!”

Alex looked at his casual expression with mild horror.

“That’s a lot to process,” he said slowly.

“Yeah, I guess he was putting on a face after that, because he didn’t really get nasty until right before I left him for good.”

By the time Willie finished dishing everything to Alex, they had been standing by his front door for a solid ten minutes. Alex could only stand there and let everything turn over in his mind like a taffy pull. Moreover, a pit of dread was forming in his stomach at the same time as a spark of joy grew in his chest.

“So...Harrison Ford?” he said.

Willie smiled. “Much cooler than Han Solo.”

“I still can’t believe you were literally planning to skate your way here. Even I would’ve ruled that out after a minute.”

Lifting a hand defensively, Willie opened his mouth but couldn’t find words.

“I - I will never live that down,” he chuckled.

Alex chuckled in turn. “No.”

For a moment he just looked at Willie. It was the first time that night where his vision wasn’t clouded with questions or overwrought with mixed emotions. This time, it was just as he’d seen him that first moment when they’d sat across from each other at the diner. That was ages ago, but it didn’t seem to have dimmed or faded one bit in Alex’s memory. Here, he was just Willie. It was so nice to see that again.

“What made you come to LA?” he asked. He shuffled his feet awkwardly.

“You did.” Willie looked right into his eyes as he said it.

The words were plain and honest. Something swelled in Alex’s chest as he heard them. If anyone else had said that - the guys, Julie, even his sister Abby - he would’ve doubted it a little. That was the awful thing with his anxiety is that it immediately twisted everyone’s words into betrayal. Not Willie’s, though.

“Why me?”

Willie got thoughtful, eyes unfocused for a moment.

“I don’t know. I’d do anything for you,” he said, gazing back up at Alex again.

Alex shifted his weight.

“Because I helped you start regaining memories, right?”

It made sense that if he’d been in that position, the person who’d been with him in those moments would mean a great deal to him, too.

“No,” Willie said. “Just ‘cuz. I still like you.”

Alex blinked and his mind emptied of all thought - a feat he’d never imagined occurring. Soon he found himself caught looking into those brown eyes, and instead of wanting to throw in a line, he wished he could plant himself there and spread roots. If it were up to him, he had no desire to go back home and he would just stay happy where he was.

It took a while to realize that he’d slowly begun to lean forward, lips parted as he gazed down at Willie’s mouth. Their noses were just barely not touching, and they hung in the balance waiting for the other to cross that threshold. Willie looked vaguely hypnotized, if not a little indecisive. His thoughts finally caught up to his actions, and once Alex saw what he was doing he turned away.

Dammit, how could you mess that up, Alex? he berated himself. He was already so out of focus and not thinking about the consequences of his actions; he couldn’t go around treating Willie like something else to dump his turmoil upon. Clearing his throat, he straightened his posture. Willie nervously ran a hand through his hair, visibly confused.

“So....” Alex began awkwardly. “You have your own place?”

Willie nodded, not looking him in the eyes anymore.

“Yeah, it’s kinda nice,” he said plainly. “You’ll have to check it out one of these days. You could see Sheldon, too.”

“Yes,” Alex said quickly. “Yes, I would totally be down to come see you and Sheldon. That would be great.”

He hated that the natural cadence in his voice was so sarcastic sometimes. Right now, it didn’t sound genuine at all and he desperately wanted to convey how much he meant every word.

“Bet you’re sort of busy with the band and school and all, though,” Willie said, clearly a little despondent. Alex really wanted to go back and fix the moment they’d had before. He wasn’t making it any better.

“Well, I’m free all next Saturday. You’re not working, are you?”

“I can arrange things with Kyle to get covered. I’m usually on his good side and he doesn’t stay mad for long, so I’m not worried.”

“That’s good.” A pause. “So it’s okay if I come on Saturday?”

“Sure, sure,” Willie rushed to say. “I’m totally down for that. Uh...I just remembered that we’ve gotta get you back home. Did you know how you were gonna do that?”

“Uh yeah, I was gonna just catch the bus,” Alex said, entirely impromptu. After embarrassing himself so badly with Willie, he could override any fears about using public transportation. All he wanted to do was lift his hood over his head and pull the strings so it closed over his face.

“Got it,” Willie replied.

“But I’ll be excited to see you next Saturday,” Alex added. He saw Willie’s eyes light up a little and it made him smile in relief as he began stepping away from Willie’s door. Biting his lip in his usual cute manner, Willie nodded at him.

“See you then.”

Alex exhaled in excitement as he made his way up the steps to the street, barely able to take his eyes off Willie. Only when he couldn’t see him anymore did he force himself to turn away.

#julie and the phantoms #jatp #fanfic #jatp fanfic #sunset curve #alive au #willex #willie #alex mercer #luke patterson #reggie peters #bobby wilson #julie molina #flynn taylor #viva las vegas #net zero change #fiddlepickdouglas

11 notes · View notes

ennui-gt · 3 years ago

Text

Here it is. A Piece Of Borrower Content Written Entirely In Stream Of Consciousness:

AN: so this is incomplete and very…needs revisions to the timeline to incorporate some things I added later! It’s the original universe that Mira’s from! I edited it like Slightly to just change Ross’s name to Ross (if u see Max anywhere that’s his old one I just felt like changing it so that’s just him but different. Anyway) Everything's under the readmore tab, cheers!

The Library Fairy:

Basic Plot (Chrono, comic starts from human perspective abt the ‘legend of the library fairy’ ig maybe. Nothing here is permanent cept the characterization)

Part A

1- Mira is borrower currently chillin in a college library

2- She lives off of the cafe on the second floor nd reads lots and lots of stuff about everything when the upper floors close (lower floor open 24/7 but upper floors r vacant p much after 12:00 AM)

3- she starts getting increasingly curious about human stuff cos she’s literate nd books r pry neat

4- it starts one night when she spots an unattended notebook and a half eaten blueberry muffin, nd it’s 12:30 so nobody’s coming back in atm (it’s the 80s so no laptops for the plebians quite yet)

5- so she goes ‘welp’ nd takes part of the muffin, then sees the work on the page and goes ‘hmmmm this is incorrect’ so she helps our and leaves notes here n there to point the kid in the right direction and puts down some book refs for further study bcos at this point she’s been there for 2 years and she knows where most things are

6- she stays behind to see if the human comes back for it, hidden in a hidey hole near the desk

7- human comes in, sees notebook, practically melts w relief nd stuffs it in his bag

8- next day human comes back nd leaves nother notebook and a cookie, along w a hidden camera

9- Mira goes ‘o boy, this a trap, innit’

10- Mira then decides ‘eh whatever I haven’t had contact w anyone in years now so I might as well’

11- she steals the camera film nd leaves a lil scrap of paper saying ‘nice try ;)’ on it

12- student comes back, sees paper, goes ‘dammit’, then leaves note addressed to the ‘library fairy’ and another cookie, as well as more of their work for her to help with

13- bout a decade goes by and now the “Library Fairy” is an urban myth, it’s currently 2003 so she’s also wound up on the school’s unofficial Wikipedia page under ‘local cryptids’

14- most library employees know of her but they don’t go looking out of fear stemming from superstitions bout her, somehow the legend grew from ‘can’t be photographed’ to ‘a student once saw her and died that day’

15- there’s now a small shrine devoted to her where ppl bring offerings hoping to get good grades in return, sometimes they will leave papers for her to proofread nd stuff

16- new prof (named Alexei) finds online article thinks he Knows What’s Up bcos he had a borrower friend as a kid, but they left when borrower’s fam found out about them knowing each other

17- he leaves note wedged in one of her secret entrances behind outlet, asking if she can meet w him at some point

18- Mira, already In it, goes ‘Okay. Alright. This has gone on for long enough. Time to go and never return’ but ofc she’s curious as all hell and like she decides she will at least honor the guy’s request for a convo b4 she goes, but on her terms and w/o speaking face 2 face

19- they Talk in the library after hours, bcos he paid off the janitor to let him stay after hours nd most of the student employees recognize him as a prof nd leave him alone

20- they talk again for every subsequent night

21- she uhhhh finally decides to reveal herself nd prays that her hunch was right nd he won’t try to grab her or anything

22- he doesn’t but she’s nervous so she winds up gettin caught in her own climbing rope like idiot, is now dangling from ceiling in tangled mess

23- he stifles chuckle nd she says smthn sarcastic

24- he moves closer and offers to untangle her

25- she’s like ‘please’

26- so he do, but her grip on the rope slips nd he has to catch her

26- so now she’s in his hand and he just sets her down and now he’s a bumbling embarrassed mess bcos he said he wasn’t going to hold her and he just did and o dear pls forgib him

28- nd she’s like ‘dude u just saved my life it’s fine ur fine chill’

29- internally she’s going HOLY FUCK AAAAAAA but externally, her human’s already worked up enough as it is so she’s gotta b the level headed one

29.5- after a while they both kinda get used to each other more, he gets tenure, they celebrate, some more stuff happens, Aleksei got married (not to Mira, Mira hasn’t actually rly thought about being in a relationship w anyone cos she’s laser focused on gaining as much knowledge as possible)

30- eventually Alexei’s like ‘hey so I’m dean of faculty for the biotech branch now uhhhh would u like actual job teaching students? Cos, uh, you can do it remotely thru online lectures n stuff, no in person interaction, and I uh was just kinda wondering—‘

31- she’s like ‘yes. Yes!!! LET ME HELP PEOPLE OFFICIALLY KINDA’

32- so now she’s a professor, and has revealed her Secret a few times here n there to a number of the faculty, nd she has recorded her own findings in a personal journal

33- ‘humans will treat u like a human if they think ur human first. The kids call it ‘catfishing’’

34- enter Ross, an mall goth who accidentally tripped headfirst into a premed program

35- Mira’s favorite field of study is bio so naturally she’s his prof for a majority of his classes

36- being the good boy that he is, he now knows Mira’s secret. There is an Entire Chapter on him finding out and legit just continuing their conversation as if everything was normal bcos he thought that was how he was supposed to handle the situation

37- then she says ‘u can ask questions, u know’ he’s like OH THANK FUCK CAUSE I HAVE SEVEN HUNDRED OF THOSE

38- and now he kinda knows what to look for in terms of ‘do borrowers live here check yes or no’

39-in his apartment, the answer is yes and he mistakenly kinda stumbles upon the mom one night when he wakes up in the middle of the night for Snack and opts to pretend like its not happening. Unfortunately the thing she was trying 2 borrow (piece of crumb cake for Son Boy’s birthday) is the thing he wants 2 eat so he’s like “uh. ‘Scuse me, ma’am.” and he peels back the saran wrap on the other side of the plate, takes piece, nd then leaves some there for her

40-so now the woman is like ‘welp guess it time 2 Leave’

.1- she and husband Talk

.2-they decide it best 2 go

.3-theyre Packing

.4-lil bab Ellie confused

.5-hawk attacke

.6-cut to Ross

41- Ross also happens to work at a bar and he goes outside for a break

43- he finds smal child—smol smal—on the sidewalk and said child is missing an arm, nd has lost a lot of blood, so he’s uhhhhh Losing It highkey

43.5-parents r nowhere 2 b seen, but the hawk is nearby and circling. Ross gets an idea of what just happened

44- he up and leaves work, thankfully his apartment is above the shop so he jumps up the fire escape w the child and

45- he make tourniquet

46- he calls Mira nd asks her 2 come over to ASAP. he’s A Mess at this point

47- it is Very touch and go, kid needs blood, Mira is the only viable donor so she’s just gotta pray that the blood type is fine and won’t kill him

48- and then eventually they manage 2 stave infection thru antibiotics properly dosed to his size, Mira does Math and Prays basically

49- ‘bout a month in, kid wakes up

50- kid doesn’t rember much since he’s only 3

51- hes v scared of Ross at first but over time he gets used 2 the human

52- kid (elliot) starts 2 call Ross ‘dad’ after a while

53- Ross: *internal screaming but in a good way*

54- the end kinda for now

Part 2

A- New Borrowers In The Building

—three of em. paranoid dad, mom, nd daughter that’s Elliot’s age so he’s pumped

B- Elliot offers them a place 2 stay briefly

C- he knows by now bout like, how borrowers don’t typically interact w humans and Auntie Mira’s a bit of a weird case so he just doesn’t tell em bout his dad being the human

D- the kid finds out first nd doesn’t tell the parents, but they figure it out later kinda and think that it’s a ‘o god he’s being kept as a pet’ sitch so they’re >:| abt it

E- they move out and try to take Elliot w them (by force bcos they think he’s brainwashed) but he escapes and makes it to Ross, who’s like “uhhhhhh”

F- and the mom come out the hole near the counter n starts yelling at Ross, who is…kinda used to it since Mira brings in ppl who need help from time 2 time and they typically don’t react well when they’re lucid enough to understand what’s going on. He’s just not used to being questioned about his own kid

G- so they’re like “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING WITH HIM”

H- and he’s like “r…raising him???”

I- and Ellie steps up and he’s like “this is my dad. I decided he was my dad when I was three. He’s being a good parent”

J- and Ross is like “yeah what he said. I’m a good parent.”

K- Ross is riding that high til the end of fucking time but like back to the story at hand

L- this is when the husband comes out nd is like “lissen. wifey. ily but that is a very big human and he hasn’t grabbed us yet so let’s count our blessings and gtfo”

M- but she’s like “uh no we stay until I’m sure Elliot is Safe and fucking Sound”

N- so they stay for dinner nd stick around a little longer.

O- Val (the kid) gets closer 2 Elliot and also Ross a bit

P- Mira shows once or twice, first time she shows up they’re like “oh god it’s the crazy doctor lady this all makes sense now�� (bcos Mira does check up on as many borrower families as possible in her free time so word has got around by now Of her, and the number by which to contact her in case her services r needed)

Q- After a month or so, then they decide to leave bcos they’re like “look we get that ur son is ur son and he only has one arm and in our profession that is kind of a death sentence but we can’t have our kid getting used to dealing w humans who know about our existence” so they go and leave on a kind of sour note bcos Ellie can do anything he wants to do just as well as any other borrower Thank You Very Much and Ross is ready to fite anyone who thinks otherwise

R- Elliot starts trying 2 b more independent, basically from now on he’s like ‘I can do everything my Damn Self Thanks’

S- but uh he does it to a point where he’s going out of the way to endanger himself

T- so they get into a fite about it and ross Yells and Elliot is like ‘kthxbye’

U- and the boi just. Fuckin bolts. Runs Away. Ross is a Mess, he starts smoking again (he quit cold turkey the day he took Elliot in) to curb the depression, he’s jus. Not doin good, worried that his son is dead and the last time they talked it’d ended badly

V- FREEDOM!!!1! Except Ellie doesn’t kno how to take care of himself so it’s a rough month or so and then he runs into some other borrowers livin in their own town in the wild ig, chillin, being hella independent, and he’s like “uh yes ofc I will join u, I was w my dad for a while but.........” he neither confirms nor denies that his dad’s dead but everyone kinda just assumes.

Part 3

W-anyway a year goes by and then the borrower group gets hit hard w some kind of sickness ig. Elliot gets it too he’s basically incapacitated n drifting in and out of lucidity. So. They contact the weird crazy doctor lady who hangs around humans, a.k.a. Mira, and she’s like “oh. fuck. I know this kid.” bcos she does, u kno, and she jus treats em all for their ailment and shows them how to make antibiotic poultice thing in case smthn like it happens again. Mold. Penicillin is basically what it is

X-she and Elliot hav a Chat (Mira basically yells at him a lot) once he’s fixed up and he decides he’s gonna visit his dad but he makes it very clear that he is a Grown Up (he’s not, he’s literally sixteen), and he is living on his own now

Y- he agrees to stay for a week tho since he misses his home a lot tbh and Ross is just. Over the fucking moon to know he’s ALIVE, he’s not gonna fuck up their relationship by insisting that he stay. Or like, by keeping him ofc he would never

Z- unfortunately the borrower community put two and two together and figured out his dad’s human so they have his stuff packed up when he gets back w mira, who’s ready to go the fuck off on them

End 1:

-Ellie is living at Ross’s place atm and hopeful about the future basically. He eventually will go off on his own but he’ll keep in contact w his dad and stuff

Part C.5

55- few yrs later

56- elliot is Adult now he does adult borrower stuff

57- he moves out

58- finds nice borrower gf (her name’s Tess)

59- doesn’t tell her about his dad being human but talks about his dad a LOT

60- so when she asks to meet said father he’s just like “uh. Maybe we don’t do that actually”

61- and she’s like “y tho”

62- and he’s like “bcos”

63- anyway she decides to look into it cos she knows he goes to see his dad nd keep in touch but his dad is allegedly “a recluse who lives in the big scary human’s walls to avoid other ppl”

64- which is. Not true in the slightest tbqh he’s def not an introvert he’s just a workaholic and he Is the big scary human

65- anywho they run into Val and her wife and she’s like “how’s Ross been?” And Elliot is acting Very Suspish so she, being Smart, calls it immediately and is like “oh shit u haven’t told her yet have u”

66- Tess: “told me what”

67- Val: “El’s dad is a human, bro.”

68- Tess: “I’m sorry?”

69- this results in a Big Fight and they separate for like, a month. Elliot blames Val bcos he’s being irrational and doesn’t wanna admit to the fact that lying to his girlfriend for over a year was Real Bad Actually, but over time he’s like ‘yeah it’s my fault sry for snapping at u’ cos he works thru his emotions n stuff

70- Eventually gf comes back cos she’s like “ok so. I understand why you lied to me about your dad. It was a dick move but I do get it and I still care about you a lot. I would like. To meet him.”

80- this is a lie she does not want to meet him she is doing this bcos she does not want to lose Elliot and that outweighs the fear of his dad

81- so they go to meet him but she’s just kinda. Behind the wall at first like “that’s a crazy big human this is crazy ur crazy it’s time to gO”

82- Val is also there bcos she hasn’t seen Ross in a while

83- they eventually coax her out of hiding

84- and by that I mean Val picks her up and drags her out into the open by force bcos she basically freezes up the second she catches sight of Ross and Val’s like “u didn’t come all this way for nothing, bich”

85- they have a Painfully Awkward First Meeting, Tess is trying her best but oh god he’s just too fucking. Larg. Ellie ur dad too big

86- tbh tho the ice kinda breaks after Ellie and Ross get into a fight over smthn stupid (im thinking Elliot grumbles bout Ross’s hair being unruly and he’s worried that mira’s using it like a personal storage system again and Ross is like “I’ve been keeping better track of that actually” and then like a little line of paper clips and a few hand-bound notebooks tied together w some string fall out of his fucking mane and he’s like “I can explain”

87- “dad you can’t keep letting her use your hair like a fucking NEST”

88- Tess is laughing now cos god damn this was not what she was expecting

89- that’s it the end it ends w Tess laughing at them being idiots good times r had by all

Uhhhh that’s it so far. I have More but it’s kinda jumbled rn and I need to fit stuff in places. Anyway.

#was gonna make this into a comic lawl #if I like actually manage to get off my ass over the coming weeks I probably will be able to do that! but yeah #also this was once posted b4 and I deleted it but it’s back now say hellow #Library Fairy #oc: Mira #oc: Ross #oc: Elliot #oc: Tess #oc: Val #oc: Alexei #anyway yeah here it is behold #the uhhhhh most slice of life thing I have ever created

6 notes · View notes

prettywarriors · 4 years ago

Text

Fate The Winx Commentary

Good morning internet! Today is the drop of Winx: Riverdale edition! I sure hope you're ready for my aggressive and unnecessary commentary, because it is coming for you either way!

The netflix landing page lets us know:

Fate The Winx Saga

6 episodes, 48-53 minutes each

"Genres: Fantasy TV Shows, Teen TV Shows, Italian TV Shows"

"This show is: Emotional"

As mentioned elsewhere, my Winx knowledge is limited, so I will be coming into this fairly fresh and will try to be unbiased. As I have seen trailers, the keyword here is Try.

Episode 1

'To the Waters and the Wild'

CW: Animal Death, Swears, Implied Child Death, Blood, Implied Teen Sex, Burns, Weed, Fatphobia, Whatever the term pussie falls under

Episode 1 TL;DR: We meet everyone, learn their dynamics, have the basics of the magic system beat into us, meet our monsters, and name drop Harry Potter. Standard first episode stuff.

I do want it on record before we start that I got about halfway into the first season of Riverdale, and the first season of Netflix Sabrina. They were, well, bland and boring imo? I did get through a few seasons of Teen Wolf, but that's because it was capable of Fun and Jokes. My current expectations are a few unintentionally funny lines, maybe some almost decent magic effects, and because it's 2021, one whole gay character (I did hear one of the boys (there are boys?) is bi, but also an asshole so I'm hoping for some wlw)

TV-MA LANGUAGE AND SMOKING OH FUCKING BOY Almost full moon (waxing) in opening shot- I Will be tracking moon inconsistencies if it keeps showing up that is a pet peeve but hey look a bunch of sheep That's a good start (it's ominous though. don't hurt the sheep) Swears count: Feckin' 2 Mystical portal barrier. Oh yeah s5 of the magicians is on netflix now WELP THOSE ARE SHEEP GUTS RIGHT OUT THE GATE HUH For CW it's up a tree, and the dripping blood is a good warning of what's about to be seen :( oh and then the man who was looking for the sheep dies offscreen save for a spray of blood. THIS ISN'T YOUR CHILD'S WINX CLUB it seems to say. I assume. How much blood was in the original winx because this is already at least a full cup. (Also the monster noises for whatever was chasing the man (werewolf it was a werewolf trailers are bad guys) were not very good)

Opening credit scene is 5-6 different blooming elemental wings. They're pretty, but it's unclear if the last one is secret 6th member wings (because the second to last ones are fire which is the main character's element right?) so maybe we'll get a late 6th addition? (I am in I.T. please give me the most relatable character you cowards)

KIDS IN THE CORNER BY AMBER VAN DAY PLAYING I like where they shot this but that might just be european woods pretty. The opening location was nice and mossy save for the sheep blood Fancy big stone school establishing shots (it's nice, and huge) and we land on a red head who seems less than pleased to be here Courtyard shot of... whatever the name of the replacment plant girl is, holding a tray of various potted plants for an older man (father? first day of school send off maybe?) Aisha(?) walks by, not talking to anyone, Stella(?) is taking Magical!Selfies with at least 3 other girls, Musa(?) has a suitcase and headphones and smiles at a passing girl Oh boy a boy with a pocketknife doing little tricks with it! Nothing says edgy like an actual knife edge. Gonna take this moment to point out I have some level of face blindness and while the girls all look fairly different from one another, if there is more than one tall blonde white boy as I fear there may be, I WILL NOT be able to tell them apart. Not through maliciousness, just general incompetence, so anything I say about the boy characters (I want to say they're the knights to the girl's faeries? is that right? this whole thing smacks of gender) should be taken with a heap of salt I've come to accept tv just. displaying text messages on screen as a storytelling method. It's never my favorite but it just Is a modern story element. Also Bloom needs to meet stella at the alfea gates Alfea I presume is the school- does the name mean something? It sure feels like the word elf and therefore fae but I don't feel like googling anything this early in Oh look two more blondish tall white boys. Pocketknife was wearing something else i think, one guy has a brown jacket and pink shirt (bad combo), the other looks old even by tv highschool/college standards and his jacket has a jock vibe. Jock jacket also has an earring? Is this the bi character who is an asshole? From this one second of him, only in profile, I will assume yes, he is an asshole I like Bloom's backpack Pink shirt looks at Bloom from across the quad. I am already tired of this romance Cool he walks up to someone he has identified as lost, and is 'impressed with [her] confidence in the face of complete ignorance' COMING OUT OF THE GATE WITH A NEGG HUH PINKY He even states he wasn't offering help Then Why Are You Talking To Her Jackass Subs are going with the fairy spelling, and Bloom confirms she is a fairy and we confirm this is College. Unless this is a european thing where they call schools different things. I think that's just for public and private? And maybe just england? I'm American all they teach us is 1492-ww1 over and over for like. 10 years sorry Rest of the World 'What Realm are you from?' 'California' Speaking of ameri-centric, I'm gonna Guess that original Winx, the italian cartoon, didn't have their main character be from cali usa? I am presuming this is a side effect of making this property for a more global distribution than I'm guessing winx was originally conceived as back in the early 00s The Otherworld. I assume this is the fairy realm and whatnot? And the magic school. Seems to be located behind a magical barrier in the earth realm?? If that's right it seems weird if basically everyone who goes to the school is from the otherworld Pinky doubles down on his rudeness but in a Fun and Cute way because :/ and the Specialist hall is Very Pretty, oh and there's a fairy hall. Are specialists the boy...things? magi knights? bros of the blade? guys who wear those 'here come a special boy' sneakers from that one comic? Stella sees this conversation which is great because they drop the term mansplain. why would otherworlders know that term even??? Edgey(?) sees Pinky and they hug it out Stella knows Americans are the type to wander off so I guess there's a lot of inter-world connections?

Miss Dowling- is this teacher going to be like the pedo in riverdale who got *checks notes* killed off by one of multiple serial killers later on? Dowling is the headmistress, gotta keep the otherworld a secret from earthers, time and place for portal making. all standard fantasy stuff so far, nothing to make this stand out Stella has a gateway ring, and frankly isn't too nice? all the backgrounders clothing is Bland and very normal 7 realms of the otherworld, Solaria is where Alfea is, i like magic globe Incase you forgot this was a modern tale, people update their insta stories here. 'I was kindof bummed I didn't see a single pair of wings' YOU AND ME BOTH BLOOM 'We had wings in the past, transformation was lost, tinkerbell was an air fairy' This is either a cop out for your glittery cowardice, or a set up for the main girls re-finding transformation magic later. I did like the Tink bit Bloom is a fire fairy and the subtext of this conversation is that bloom's magic did Something bad. I hope it was burn down her old school's gym a la buffy movie I like miss Dowling but in the I wouldn't Be Surprised if you turned out to be Evil way, and I guess Alfea is a very privileged upper crust school. What types of college do normal fairies go to then huh? damn privileged fairies 'our students have gone on to do amazing things like re-discover long lost magics' We Get It. You will give me Wings, but Only If I'm Patient Dowling throws a jab at Bloom about power control, but I like her necklace so It's Fine

Bloom video calls her parents while unpacking in the dorm, which may have come pre-fit with a heck ton of board games? Love it. Or new plant girl brought them along with her many plants Stella has a fancy mirror and lots of jewelry and fashion photos and makeup, Musa has a laptop and apparently not much else, gotta get those establishing personalities down I guess 'Ladies of the Flies honey don't be sexist' Bloom's dad for feminist of the year (these jokes are bad but i guess we can call it a dad joke as justification) Asiha gives Bloom a look and saves her from the call with her parents- yay friendship step one achieved Blooms parents think she's in the alps because magic secrets and what not Aisha asks bloom if she's never read harry potter and I guess Bloom is a potterhead (that's the term right?). Is this self awareness that all magical school fantasy series have the same basic bricks? Bloom is a ravenclaw sometimes slytherin, Aisha is a Gryffindor Stella is changing because she's the fashion one and has a fun pastel rainbow skirt, and uses magic to make a real aggressive lamp. She's also a mentor (maybe older than the others by a bit?) I am assuming Stella here is something along the lines of a diplomats daughter the way she talks about appearances. She better get down and dirty later on to show her growth about how some things are more important than looks yada yada Fairy magic powered by strong emotions, i am waiting for bloom's backstory to be movie x-men rogue style tragedy Terra! Which. Of course is the Plant Fairy's name. Stella is a little mean to her about the plants and she takes it with a smile and some subtle snark back using classic literature Oh that's fun Terra points out the name-plant thing, and name drops her cousin Flora. That's. The one they replaced with Terra right? Terra's dad works in the greenhouse at the school which explains earlier (and her mum is named rose) Stella is indeed a second year and Musa's eyes change for. Lie detecting magic? and loves her headphones (Overstimulation?) Aisha wants somewhere to swim and we cut to a 'pond' by specialist training. Assuming she wants to sim because she's a water fairy, why Don't they have a pool? also this pond looks. Unpleasant for swimming

Girl specialist! Does that mean we have boy fairies? Boys. Fighting. Talking about girls. All gingers are nuts. Thanks edgelord AMAZING SHAGS THOUGH 'I didn't realize your hand was a red-head' it's not truly edge if we don't talk about sex every 10 minutes Subtitles earlier only said boy 1 boy 2 but now pinky or edgy is Riv Edgy smokes weed, and pinky is a big brother figure to him, and the head? of the special boys doesn't like edgy. Me neither older guy Bit of swordplay, more girls, every specialist has black training outfits, very military Pinky is Sky who is son of Guy of Place. an important lad. without context this is meaningless to me There's a giggly boy who laughs at the idea of a war in the future and gets a talking to. I suspect this boy will be re-occurring enough to die- he has those tertiary character elements with his intro and such (and he's black so I am prepared for your standard racist murder choices) Burned Ones exist outside the barrier, which makes me wonder if dead shepard was in the otherworld? There was nothing establishing that he was in any type of Other place but :/ Oh look edgey is having a smoke cross the barrier while we learn about the creatures that live beyond it. Time to find out these creatures no one young has ever seen are still kicking Specialist leader had to kill his own pa after a burned one got him. They also. Used a shotgun when trying to fight it. Do specialists even have powers or are they just good with weapons? Edgey finds the shepards corpse. Mostly blood 'it's been 16 years since the last sighting' 'Rosalind killed all the burned ones' ahh magical creature genocide hey when is abarat 4 coming out. and is rosalind hot?

School, gossip, Aisha and Musa are snarking at Tera for thinking the guy died of natural causes because we need to have these characters not actually like each other to make it stand out when they do Aisha talks about how she eats a lot and if she didn't swim she'd be massive and we cut to the plus sized tera looking uncomfortable are we really doing this? Tera points out that Musa was ignoring her earlier and it's all just uncomfortable and not great character conflict (but I thought I saw Musa holding an honest to god ipod? it's blue but it could be a phone case. Her hand is in the way) tera and dad interaction is nice, i'm also convinced they couldn't afford more than 3 magic adults

Girl with braids and metal in her hair! There were witches in winx right? Like 3 minor antagonist girls? I assume this is one of them. Because she has alternative fashion and is therefore evil /s Beatrix. Names in this series leave something to be desired (that something is subtly. I get it, they're carry overs from a series for a younger audience, she-ra had the same issue, but i can still poke fun) Swear count: Arsehole 2 Bollocks 1 Shit 1 She's a weird ass kissing with clearly ulterior motives

Bloom is Studying and her notebook is just FAIRY MAGIC POWER = EMOTIONS LOVE FEAR? HARTED? FIRE FAIRY CONTROL? in case you weren't paying attention Oh a flashback already to the magic triggering event? Her mother had pointed out she's an introvert, and past!Bloom doesn't Party. She goes Antiquing and is a Weird Loner (her 'basic bitch' of a mom's words) Swear count: Bitch 1 Bad daughter count: 1 Bad mother count: 1 Magic glowy eyes for Bloom: 1

Bloom Hates Parties and asks Pinky I mean Sky where she can be Away from People and he fears he'll be Mansplaing to her to. vague that it's dangerous outside instead of saying 'hey there's monsters and someone was just killed by possible one of them stay in the barrier' Stella wants to talk to Sky because they have History. I did hear there was a love triangle between these three. I am bored and everyone at this party is a nosey bitch who is watching their tense conversation. Also Something? Happens when Stella gets upset [mystical warbling] Random magic effects in the (very pretty) forest Bloom is trying to practice her magic on her own, and to do that she's gotta look at sad teen pics. And look, her burnt bedroom from her first power usage The fire magic is pretty good. I think fire is like. the opposite of water when it comes to cg where it almost always looks pretty good, while I swear i've seen the actual ocean look like a shitty render Magic out of control, bloom can't control her emotions, Aisha can stop her with water magic which makes some nice steam Bloom is angry at aisha for saving her. So far 3 of the 5 girls are abrasive at best remember when people made characters likeable? Swear count: Shit 1 (but it doubles as the literal meaning because of flooded toilets) Swear count: Bitch 1 Ass 1 Taking away your teen's door is. Really shitty. Not almost burn down your house worthy but damn cheerleader mom I do not understand sleep shirts with buttons. That seems painful if you lie the wrong way? Her mom was seriously burnt by first magic usage that's a backstory Shit count +1 Main character aspect time: dormant fairy blood line? awfully strong magic for that. baby who died day after it was born and now she's here? ...I was going to say changeling thanks aisha A Barbaric practice loving hints at long term world lore Hell is a bad word for kids!! Cutting to headmistress and her secret passage after finding out bloom is secret pureblood? this really is a harry potter thing

edgelord offers giggly some booze, and says pussies twice because he's Edgey and does peer pressure Tera calls him out and knows he's a sad nerd in disguise not a 'badass' and he says she's 'three people in disguise' because fatphobia shit +1 arehole +1 tera. chokes out edgelord with a vine because she's had enough of this shit. good for her edgelord is Riv, and he lived

OBLIGATORY GOOGLE SEARCH FOR THE TERM CHANGELING REMEMBER BELLA'S VAMPIRE GOOGLE GOD I LOVE TEEN FANTASY AND THEIR INSTANCE ON GOOGLING COMMON FANTASY TERMS OH hey the lamp bloom brought with her is the one she was fixing at home that's a nice touch Stella bonds with Bloom about homesickness, and the takes a selfie Musa is a mind fairy. So she. Is a telepath with purple eye magic? Oh there's types of 'connections' Memory, thought (others but i am cut off from the lore) Stella did Something to someone who Talked To Her Man last year and now lent Bloom her teleportation ring to send her some because miss mentor really cares more about her shitty man then helping the girls she's in charge of First World- earth Old Cemetery? Very Sexy. and bloom sweetie don't leave a mystical gateway open, and how will you explain to your parents how you're back so fast Wait she's only 16? SO this really is some european college where that's a funny way of saying High School Fire guilt, bad feelings about life shattering revelations, better connection with mother. I gotta say I have low expectations of this show carrying the family connection through the rest of this. That conversation felt more like a Hey We Made These Movements Onto Other Stuff Now

Lighting choices are interesting, with green, orange and purple for creepy warehouse. THE Creepy Warehouse where she would sleep without her parent's knowledge wow right that GIRL DROPS THE DAMN RING AT THE FIRST SIGN OF burned one looked more alien than werewolf-y here Decent Horror movie looks, and dude stole her ring. Rude. Saved by the headmistress, and tera/aisha/musa are here to great her Stella can't be here though because she has to greet a half naked freshly showered sky because life is suffering and producers insist people like to see teens half naked (who. Who?) shit +1 and she dumped him. pity part of one and using it to try to get your bone on. HEY A SONG I KNOW. IT'S WHATSITCALLED FROM THE BAYONETTA COMMERCIALS WAY BACK WHEN. in for the kill la roux. I do wish netflix would either commit to telling you what song was playing or didn't tell you at all

Riv offers Beatrix a hit from his joint because what Is a Bad Kid hasn't changed in like 70 years Blowing pot smoke into someone's mouth isn't as sexy as ya'll seem to think it is Musa has cute sleep socks with little pom poms, and I love Tera's floral jammies Tera offers a bluetooth speaker so they can listen to music together Musa also calls out Tera's fake happiness this is the good shit character interaction i live for Musa Empath Mind Fairy 'somber indie music'

If you kill a burned one in the human world Something? Extra bad happens? So the headmistress knows Bloom's a changeling, and ohhh that's the last time a burned one was spotted. Is Rosalind the famed Monster Slayer the birth mother of Bloom? Tera text flirts with Giggly who IS NAMED DANE and has a thing for. Sky? Riv? I told you these boys all look the same to me so if it's a half naked pic on fairy insta i'm out of context clues. Crymeariv is the insta name that answers that. Is this the slow burn enemies to lover mlm i can't finish this sentence i don't care riv is a dick Stella and Sky are in a bed and she doesn't seem to have a top on so Implied sexy times? MYSTERIOUS HOODED AND ROBED FIGURE CROSSES THROUGH THE BARRIAR AND SHOOTS THE BURNED ONE WITH LIGHTNING MAGIC OH IT'S beatrix

alt-J – Adeline as an ending song

#fate the winx saga #text #commentary #hey tumblr thanks for deleting all my text because I resized this window #we're off to a great start #fate episode 1

36 notes · View notes

violetwolfraven · 4 years ago

Text

Peace and Joy

@spot-king-of-brooklyn I’m your secret Santa! @newsies-secretsanta

You said your favorite ships are sprace and/or javid and you’re good with pretty much anything so I’m gonna write two separate vaguely holiday-related oneshots in the reincarnation AU. Don’t worry though nothing heavy, just fluff. No COVID because I’ve had enough of that dude and I say so. Enjoy! Happy Holidays!

Tw: referenced past period-typical homophobia.

...

Spot couldn’t remember being this happy... ever. Not in the early 1900s or in the early 2000s.

Well, the closest he could think of was 1902, when he and Race moved on from being newsies and from being leaders of their respective boroughs and rented that old apartment in Brooklyn together. But that had been muted by the need to be careful. They couldn’t be normal young people in love because they always had to hide.

And that was fine at the time because it was expected. It was them doing whatever it took to be together not knowing they’d ever get the chance to do it another way.

Now, in the bright, beautiful, forward-thinking 21st century, they could be safe. They could be in love without fear of the consequences. They could go out Christmas shopping together, and Spot didn’t know if that counted as a date, but it kind of felt like one as he watched his boyfriend bop a little to Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You as he looked around.

He ended up having to look away before he started blushing too hard. Even if he wasn’t the King of Brooklyn this time, he still had a bit of a reputation as a stone cold badass. For all he knew, one or more of their more mischievous friends could be spying on them right now. And besides, this thrift store probably had stuff he could get the few Brooklyn kids who’d come back, too.

He was still deciding if Hotshot would think it was funny if he got him a tank top that said ‘hot stuff’ on it. The others would find it funny, but Spot honestly wasn’t sure if it would make his former second uncomfortable.

“Hey, Spottie, ya think my little brother would like this?”

Spot turned back to see Race holding up a bright purple worm on a string, but a giant version of one. One that was big enough to be a scarf.

“Knowin’ your family,” he admitted, “I think any of ‘em would be happy to get one of those.”

It was true. Honestly, the most sensible Larkin brother was the second-oldest, Crutchie, but Spot could still see him proudly wearing a worm-on-a-string-scarf to school after winter break ended.

Besides him, Medda, Race’s mom, tended to embrace whatever unique fashion choice she could find. And Jack, of course, didn’t let being the oldest of four stop him from being a theatrical little shit who liked drawing attention to himself.

And Romeo was somehow even more eccentric than Race, so he would definitely like that thing.

Race grinned, “I’m gonna get Ro a worm scarf for Christmas.”

“Your family is ridiculous.”

“Thank you. So, what’re ya gettin’ for Denton?”

Oh, shit. Spot had completely forgotten about getting anything for Denton.

He really should get something for him. After all, the teacher hadn’t even known Spot when Jack asked if he could stay with him. All he’d needed to know was that Spot needed a place to hide from his terrible parents and couldn’t stay with the Larkins, mostly because Medda had a strict rule about her boys’ partners sleeping over unless it was absolutely necessary. (it was also because Spot couldn’t think of anyone he’d want to live with less than Jack Kelly, but Denton didn’t really need to know that, did he?)

So far, Spot’s parents hadn’t shown any signs of missing him, and Spot couldn’t decide if that hurt or not, but it barely mattered anymore.

Because Denton didn’t really have any rules beyond ‘do your homework’, ‘take a shower occassionally’, and ‘if you leave the house, let me know where you’re going.’ He helped Spot pick out a Halloween costume, let him spend Thanksgiving with Race, and gave him money for Christmas shopping. He was fine with Spot being gay and having a boyfriend, even if there was an added rule with that of ‘you can’t have the door closed if you’re alone in your room with Race.’

He gave Spot space, but also made it clear that he could come to him for anything he needed help with. He never hit him, never pushed when Spot wanted to be alone, never even raised his voice unless they were in an already-loud room and he needed to get his attention.

In short, in only a few months, he’d become the best adult Spot had ever had in his life. He wasn’t his father, but he was closest thing Spot had ever gotten to a dad.

The Denton they’d known in their last life had been kind of like that, too. He’d helped as best he could whenever one of the newsies got into trouble, always being there for anyone who needed him since Kath first introduced her new reporter friend to her newsie friends. Of course, Spot hadn’t been living with Denton then, so he’d never really thought about it.

“What do you even get a middle-aged man for Christmas?”

Race shrugged, “Power tools?”

The idea of getting Denton power tools was so ridiculous that they both laughed.

“Uh... he’s a writer,” Race pointed out, “So... fancy pens?”

“Fancy pens? We’re at a thrift store, Racer.”

“Well we don’t gotta stay here forever. There’s a Barnes and Noble across the street.”

He wasn’t wrong about that, but Spot wasn’t sure about the whole ‘fancy pen’ thing. It seemed a little generic.

“Yooooo! Spot, check this out for Jack!”

He was holding up a bright blue sketchbook that said ‘Sketchy Bitch’ on the cover.

“Oh yeah, ya definitely have to get that for Cowboy.”

Spotting (no pun intended) something else on the shelf behind him, Spot grinned.

He had the perfect thing to get for the man who’d taken him in.

...

“This is gonna be so fuckin’ awesome.”

Davey snorted, “You’re way too excited ‘bout this, Jackie.”

He loved his boyfriend, but he had a tendency to get overenthusiastic about things.

Well, he loved that about Jack, too. And he loved being able to call him his boyfriend, now. That they didn’t need to hide this time.

He and Sarah had both been a little worried about their parents’ reaction, but it had turned out to be for nothing. They’d each gotten a t-shirt with their respective pride flag for the first night of Hanukkah, and Jack and Kath were always welcome to come over as long as at least one parent was home.

Davey loved Jack just as much in this lifetime as he had in his first, but it was different, not having to hide it. It was good different, but definitely different. Being able to be who they were and be in love and knowing that it was generally frowned upon to be homophobic now, at least where they lived.

And being able to do random shit that was romantic and fun as hell, but not something would even occur to most people to do.

After a sleepy conversation once Crutchie, Race, and Romeo had fallen asleep watching White Christmas (which Davey appreciated for the choreography in the dance numbers) one time about how there weren’t really any Hanukkah movies, Jack had collaborated with Kath to write a lesbian Hanukkah musical romcom to post to YouTube.

Objectively, it wasn’t that great. It was good for a movie made by a bunch of high school juniors, but they couldn’t afford good cameras or microphones or anything. Plus, it was appealing to a very niche audience, so Davey doubted this movie would get more than twenty views.

Still, it meant a lot that Jack was so excited about it, that he was working so hard on props and editing in the lighting and music for it so Kath and Saz could play Jewish lesbians fake-dating at a holiday party who fall in love. It was cute.

“It ain’t gonna win any awards,” Jack admitted, “But I think we’s got somethin’ good here!”

“We do,” Davey agreed.

Was he actually talking about the romcom starring his sister and her girlfriend? Partially. It was a pretty good movie for something produced by teenagers.

But they had something good there that wasn’t on the screen of Jack’s laptop, too.

Jack seemed to share those thoughts, with the way he was smiling.

“What’s with the look, mi amor?”

Davey rolled his eyes as the other boy put his arm around his waist.

“Like you don’t know, love,” he chuckled, “Remember the last time we did somethin’ like this? And by ‘we’ I mean ‘you.’”

“Shh,” Jack shook his head, “Nope. We don’t talk about the latkes incident.”

“You mean when you almost burned down our tiny little kitchen trying to—“

“We don’t talk about it!”

Davey laughed. It was funny, how Jack couldn’t, in any lifetime, cook anything more complicated than like... chili or stew. While he could make something edible, he couldn’t make anything that was really considered good.

“Davey, love, luz de mi vida, it was literally over a hundred years ago, so stop. Bringin’. Up. The. Latkes. Incident!”

He punctuated the sentence by hitting Davey with one of his mom’s throw pillows.

“Okay, Jackie, I get it! Stop hitting me!”

“Fine,” Jack grinned, “I ain’t almost burned down a kitchen in over a century, babe. I thinks that’s a good record to have.”

“Most people never almost burn down a kitchen,” Davey pointed out, “I know I—wait, did you just call me ‘babe’?”

Jack was definitely not meeting his eyes to try to hide how he was blushing, “Uh... is that okay?”

Davey smirked. Jack didn’t get flustered that often, but it was adorable when he did.

And even if he had almost burned down their apartment, it had been cute back then, how he’d tried so hard to try to do something nice for Davey for the holiday season. It was cute now, too.

That was one thing that hadn’t changed through the decades, he guessed.

“It’s definitely okay, babe.”

...

“Spot, is this a... ‘Best Dad In The World’ mug?”

“...if you cry, I’m outta here.”

#newsies #newsies secret santa #btw i’m sorry i wrote in a nod to wormsies #i couldn’t help it #sprace #javid #javey #spot conlon #racetrack higgins #jack kelly #davey jacobs #reincarnation au #fluff #violet’s writing

45 notes · View notes

prurientpuddlejumper · 5 years ago

Text

Well This is Strange and Unexpected [Toshinori x Reader] [Part 2]

<- Part 1 | Part 3 ->

Summary: Toshinori struggles with your unfavorable opinion of his heroic alter-ego, but tries his hardest to impress you on a second date! Now… how do people date again?

4,537 words | SFW

“Wh-wh-what are you saying? You don’t like All Might?”

“I am just so tired of how everybody loves him! ‘I got the All Might special-edition action figure.’ ‘Well I got his autograph,’” you parrot in a mocking tone. “Whoop-de-friggen-doo. And he’s such an annoying showboat—like, I appreciate the crime he stops, but half the time he’s just striking a pose in front of news cameras shouting some dumb catchphrase. Go catch a bag guy and quit bragging about it! But you know what pisses me off most of all—all the swooning and fangirling. Why are so many women even into him?! All those beefy muscles are so ugly, he’s like an upside-down stack of potatoes! Who likes that?”

Toshinori is just staring, slack jawed, at you. Like you kicked his puppy.

“Sorry for going off like that, I shouldn’t tear apart something you obviously like.”

Is what you should have said.

Instead, you inhale, and, “Another thing! He’s not even edgy, or interesting—there’s no depth there, he’s just… all powerful and perfect? It’s so boring! All flash and no substance. If I was going to root for a hero, it’d be someone like Eraserhead. So dark and gruff, never putting himself in the spotlight, letting the work speak for itself.”

“I… I’ve gotta go.” He stands robotically and walks toward the door. Oh, shit. Your heart sinks.

“Wait!” you run after him and grab his arm. “I’m sorry. I was being mean. It’s just, All Might stuff is everywhere and it feels like I can’t escape it,” you laugh. “But if you’re a fan, that’s OK. I won’t make fun of him. I really am sorry.” He finally turns around to face you.

“I meant the phone call. I gotta go. Emergency.” He holds up the glowing screen.

“Oh.”

He smiles and pats you on the head. But he’s more subdued than he was a minute ago, and there’s a pain in his eyes when he looks at you that wasn’t there before. He probably did take it really personally when you insulted his hero. Idiot.

“Do you really think All Might is ugly?” he asks quietly, gathering his things by the door. “There’s nothing appealing about him at all?”

“Like I said, you’re my type.”

He lets out a quiet, almost melancholy breath of a laugh. He turns to you, and wraps his long arms around you, pulling you into a gentle embrace. It’s not a particularly passionate hug—his touch is so light, he’s barely making contact at all—but he’s tall enough to rest his chin on top of your head.

“You’re a strange one,” he whispers.

You close your eyes and breathe him in. He smells a lot like iron and convenience-store floor, actually, could be a lot more romantic. But you feel content so close to this scarecrow, with his soft bangs hanging down and brushing your skin. You almost let out a whine when he finally pulls away.

“So, will I see you again?” You ask, nervous about the answer. He couldn’t have been that serious about that All Might stuff, right? But if you chased him off, at this point, it might break your heart.

“Definitely.” A wide grin splits his whole face as he strikes a heroic pose. “My debating skills cannot be defeated! Next time, I’ll convince you All Might is the greatest hero!”

“Oh my god, get out of my house.”

****

Toshinori couldn’t believe it. Today of all days. First he wore himself out doing hero work in the morning. Then USJ was attacked and he pushed past his limit to rescue his students, nearly died, and once again reduced the amount of time he can remain in his muscle form. On top of all that, now, today of all days is when a couple of everyday bullies decide to hassle him.

He just had to go for a walk instead of getting a cab straight home. Had to stop to pick up medicine, even though it was already getting dark. Were such simple things really so hard for the number-one hero now?

He would laugh if it weren’t so pathetic.

It wasn’t like this had never happened before. Every once in awhile some delinquent singles him out, expecting a weak target, but even in his weak form, on a normal day, he would easily dodge and evade them, quickly diffusing the situation.

But today. Today he was done. He had already gone beyond what he had to give, and gone beyond that again, and he was out.

There were plenty of witnesses in the store, but nobody was going to stop to help, just pretending they couldn’t see. He was practically invisible in this form. Nobody cares what happens to some creepy, worn-down old man. It’s better this way, anyway. What kind of hero would he be if someone got hurt rescuing him?

This was really going to happen. He was really going to have his ass kicked by some random jerks. How had he fallen so low?

Then you appeared.

There was nothing he could do to stop you from putting yourself in danger: he could barely move. That kick caught him right in his weak spot, the old wound Nomu had already agitated earlier that day. A sickening, warm gurgling of fluids squished in his lungs, making each breath a battle against the encroaching darkness.

Run away. Just run away!

You obviously weren’t a hero, you didn’t have any training, that was clear in the way you carried yourself. But you were brave. Brave enough to piss those guys off. You just kept telling them off like you had no sense of self-preservation, until—he saw one of them about to throw a punch at you, and his nostrils flared in anger. He would have to—have to force himself to transform, no matter how it would hurt him, no matter how many people would see. He couldn’t let this happen—

Then you did something his pride would never have let him consider: you just started shrieking.

It worked. You saved yourself, and him, though it was even more humiliating than letting himself get beat up. There he was, suffocating on his own blood where anyone walking by could see what a helpless weakling he was… and now there was a girl bawling loudly on that same floor, drawing everyone’s attention to the intensely embarrassing scene.

Time to crawl into a hole and never show his face again?

He had to hand it to you though, you knew what you were doing. You forced all the silent spectators to admit they were paying attention—forced them to get involved. You had the heart of a hero, all right.

Everything after that seemed to happen so fast. Losing consciousness, learning that you had risked your well-being once again for him with your quirk. The shame he felt, seeing you suffering the same symptoms he was. Then suddenly, you were asking him out?

He was used to getting attention all the time in his muscle form, but in his true form, he was so invisible he could transform into All Might in public and nobody ever noticed. Like there was nobody standing there before All Might magically showed up.

His head swam dizzily when you said that he was your type. How could you be serious? But it seemed you were, even though he had been nothing but helpless. Even though you were coughing up blood because of him. What in the world were you seeing?

You were so boldly affectionate with him—though every time you did something unreserved, you started turning red and shaking, like you were acting with your heart before your head could talk you out of it. Even his hideous scar, and the frustrating health issues he doesn’t like to burden others with, you accepted without even a moment of disgust or fear. You reached out and touched it without thinking, and then blushed. It was so cute.

Being adored and praised as All Might was easy to brush off, but this? He had never had someone pressed against his body so affectionately as this drained husk. As the thing he was slowly becoming, permanently. There was at least one person who still saw him. He could get used to that feeling—that warmth in his chest.

Then his phone rang—that custom ringtone he recorded himself! For a moment, he thought you were putting it together: the blond hair, two long bangs, the eyes, the voice.

But no, instead he got an even bigger shock. You don’t like All Might?!

How can he go out with someone who doesn’t like All Might? He is All Might!

Obnoxious? Ugly?? SHE PREFERS AIZAWA?!?!

Nope. That’s it. That is more than he can take.

But then there you were, pulling at his arm with those puppy-dog eyes, apologizing. You didn’t mean anything against him. You just didn’t know. You couldn’t know. He can’t blame you for having an opinion about a public figure. Even he had to admit his public persona could be a little… much.

He checked the caller before dismissing it. It was Nezu, so it probably was important. Not exactly a lie. It’s a shame to leave early, but he didn’t want you to know how shaken he was.

To be honest, he’s been starting to resent All Might a little, himself. He used to be that brawny, handsome hero, but now… now it’s just a mask he puts on. A flashy act for the crowds, and they eat it up, while his real self is overlooked and treated like a punching bag. Of course he resents it, just a little.

It’s actually kind of tickling that you prefer him this way. Pretty soon, it’s all he’ll be.

But he is All Might, too! If you only knew him better, you would realize how awesome he is! After all, All Might is the same person you had a wonderful evening with, laughing and watching movies—the same person you wanted a second date with. Yes, he’s sure you would like all of him if you got to know him! He’ll win you over!

****

“Next time, I’ll convince you,” he said. Next time.

After 15 minutes, you get a text from Toshinori’s number. “Oh good, did he make it home safely?” you wonder.

It’s a short essay about All Might.

Ping!

Another text from Toshi. Also about All Might.

Ping!

Did you know crime rates fell by over 20 percent since All Might debuted?

Ping!

His confident demeanor isn’t just showboating, it’s about instilling confidence in—

Ping!

Look at this video of All Might rescuing puppies! PUPPIES!!

You shake your head and laugh, a warm smile on your face. Hero fanatics may be annoying, but Toshi is kind of adorable. It’s so wide-eyed and innocent how much he loves—

Ping! Ping! Ping!

Yeah, never mind, it’s annoying. You text back a single message:

lol.

You can practically hear his internal screaming from across town. You snicker. He was right, you are a little devious.

*********************************************

Toshinori was as busy as he said he’d be. After the flurry of texts, it was over a week before you heard from him again. You thought he might want to watch the U.A. Sports Festival together, since he was such a fan of hero stuff (and All Might would be involved this year—eye roll), but he said he had too much to do.

You wondered if that was true, or if he could hear your eyes rolling through the text message. Maybe your snarky response to his hero obsession had spoiled things, and he’d keep on making excuses until you took the hint.

But a day later, he called back (yes, called—who does that?) and apologized so vehemently, you knew he meant what he’d said all along. He was just busy. But he was going to have some free time over the next week, and wants to see you again!

He shows up at your door with a bouquet of pink, white, and periwinkle flowers in his hands, wearing an oversized blazer and tie. It’s like he’d watched an old Fred Astaire movie to figure out what people on dates are supposed to look like.

“Aww, Toshinori!” you clasp your hands under your chin. “What did I say about marriage? You’re not here to propose, are you?”

He looks down at himself, then at your casual attire. “I overdid it, huh?”

“You don’t do anything halfway, do you?”

“I’ve been told it’s a problem of mine,” he scratches the back of his head, giving a lopsided grin.

“No, it’s adorable!” You take the flowers, brushing your fingers against his, and bury your nose in the fragrant petals. You look up at him with a sultry, playful gaze. “Though… I might need to change into something more formal now, or it’ll look like I hired you.” A fountain of blood shoots from his mouth.

You drop the bouquet and throw your arm under his shoulder in case he falls, the other hand instinctively placing itself over his scar, the source of his affliction. He jumps back with surprising agility, as if evading an attack.

“Don’t,” he warns. “Don’t use your quirk on me again. I’m much better today—the bleeding is always going to happen, so don’t push yourself.”

You hold your hands up in surrender. “OK. I wasn’t going to. Probably. I definitely won’t now. It’s really a regular issue?”

He nods. “I’m sorry if it bothers you.”

“No, no, I was just curious.” You take his hand and lead him inside. He explains his condition, while you find a vase for the flowers. He takes off his jacket and tie, folding them over the arm of the couch. With just a white button-up, he immediately comes down to a more casual level, better matching your outfit. He throws his arms wide to ask, “What do you think?”

You think he looks slender and gorgeous, and just disheveled enough that you want to comb your fingers through his hair, and just dapper enough that you want to undo one more button.

“Perfect!” You throw finger guns at him, “Just a couple of slobs out for a date!”

****

Unfortunately, he has a reservation at a fancy restaurant. Very fancy. One of those places where the floors are marble and everyone wears black. Now you feel way under-dressed, and wish he’d warned you that’s why he was dressed so nice. You don’t even want to look at the prices on the menu.

You had hoped this date would be more exciting, considering the first one started with a brawl. That was a real ice-breaker. Here, the atmosphere is so quiet and formal, you’re almost afraid to speak, and a tense silence builds between you. Toshinori doesn’t seem to be having a great time either.

“You’re barely eating anything,” you note him lethargically picking at his plate. “Do you not like the food?”

“No, I just can’t eat much at once, so…”

“But the portions here are really big! Why would you want to come here?”

“It… seemed like the kind of place you’re supposed to go for a date!”

“Are you kidding?” you shout, half standing up from your seat, too loudly for the restaurant, whose more dignified customers glare and scoff. You sit back down and cover your face with your hand. And you just start laughing. A quiet chuckle at first, but soon you can’t even contain it, your shoulders wracking, and your head tossed back.

“Wh-what’s so funny?” Toshi looks scared.

“I hate it here!” you spurt out, still laughing. “This is the worst! It’s way too stuffy, and you can’t even eat the food.”

“I hate this place too! I just thought women like this sort of thing.”

You sputter and howl, slapping the table. “What are we even doing here?”

“We’re getting the bill!” He calls the waiter over, who is happy to shoo you ruffians out of the fine establishment.

****

Out in the fresh air and sunlight, you feel like you can finally talk to each other. He apologizes for being too old-fashioned, and, frankly, having no idea what he’s doing. You link arms, and decide to go for a stroll around the city, stopping at a street vendor for pork buns, which Toshi can eat one at a time at his own pace.

However, out in the city, All Might’s unsettling grin was inescapable, watching from every billboard and gift shop. It’s not long before Toshi starts on his favorite subject: prying into why you are the one person on earth who doesn’t adore him. You would be just as happy to let it go, but since he insists, you wind up in a heated back-and-forth.

“…and he’s always like ‘Detroit smash!’ ‘Texas smash!’ but it’s just a bunch of punches.”

“Th-that’s not true at all! Detroit Smash is when he punches downward to create a shockwave, and Texas Smash is when he punches so hard it blows villains away, and—”

“Yeah, that’s just a bunch of punches.”

Choking noises escape his throat. His entire world has been destroyed. Good job.

He hangs his head with a defeated sigh. “So, you really hate All Might.”

You squeeze his arm. It hurts to see him so down, even though it’s silly that he cares so much. “It’s not that I hate him. At the end of the day, I’m glad he’s running around saving lives. The problem is hero culture in general. There’s so much focus on their ‘brand,’ on their market value. I guess I can’t even blame individual heroes for grandstanding, considering their income depends on their popularity, but honestly—they’re public servants, the same as the police. Did you know the police are still responsible for stopping more crimes than heroes, when you take into account all the non-quirk-related crimes they handle, and the detective work used to locate villains in the first place? But you don’t see their faces all over posters, and commercials, and t-shirts!” You point your finger in a random direction, and it lands on a perfume ad in a store window with Uwabami’s face. Amazing, not All Might this time.

“And your hero All Might is the worst one, with that dumb flashy smile, and big inspiring speeches, like he’s gotta make sure everyone knows he’s the greatest.”

Toshinori has been listening silently this whole time, deep in thought. From the solemn frown he was wearing, it seemed some of what you said hit home. But at that last part, he raises his piercing blue eyes to yours.

“You’re wrong… All Might’s smile isn’t about his own ego. He smiles so that people in trouble know everything will be OK. So they don’t feel scared. As long as the hero is still smiling, you know he’s going to win in the end. Being the symbol of peace isn’t about him, it’s about giving the world hope!”

Your heart flutters. It’s not so much the words he said—you’d heard the same line a million times—but the fire in his voice as he said it. Naive as they may be, you can’t help but admire his convictions.

He catches the smile in your eyes, and gives you the biggest, doofiest, triumphant grin. You try to think of something cynical to say to burst that bubble of optimism. You can think of a few: People shouldn’t be symbols, they should be people. That smile is so forced; it’s obvious he’s hiding pain, and you’d rather face the honest truth, no matter how hard, than have hope that’s a lie.

Eh. Maybe you’d tell him later. Right now, you just want him to keep smiling.

“I know!” He rubs his hands together. “Come on, I’ve got something to show you—this way.”

“You cannot take me to a hero museum for a date!” you grimace.

He laughs, grabbing your hand and leading you, “Don’t worry, it’ll be good!”

****

The sun is orange in the sky over the ocean, painting the clouds with striking purple and yellow streaks reflected in the waves below. A warm breeze blows your hair back, ruffling Toshinori’s long bangs, and swaying the spiky parts like a field of barley.

“Wow,” you breathe, leaning over the railing of the boardwalk. He leans next to you.

“Better than the restaurant, huh?” he nudges you with his elbow.

“You could’ve at least chosen one of those fancy restaurants where the dishes are tiny, instead of a place you couldn’t eat!”

“Yeah, I really bungled this date thing,” he laughs, hand on his forehead.

How soft would his hair would feel if you twined your fingers through it right now, you wonder? The urge to grab him, and smash your lips against his coils inside you like a spring. But… you’re not sure if he would want that. He’s just so cute!

He offers his arm in a gentlemanly fashion, tipping his head at you. You take it, and stroll together down the steps into the sand and along the beach, the sounds of crashing waves and sea birds like music around you.

“You know, this whole beach used to be covered with trash until about three months ago.

“You know, this whole beach used to be covered with trash until about three months ago. This was never publicized, but it was cleaned up by an aspiring hero who was inspired by All Might. Not everything heroes do is for fame and glory. Sometimes it’s just about helping the community.”

“Then how did you find out about it?”

He blanches. “Huh?”

“If it was never publicized, then how do you know who did it?”

A bright red river ejects from his lips, and he doubles over, hacking. That’s one way to change the subject. You rub his back as he recovers, but instead of helping him relax, he grows rigid and more on-edge.

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t do it, if that’s what you’re thinking. You have no idea how much it hurts to see you in pain because of me. Promise me you won’t do it again.”

“I…” You almost swear you weren’t going to. That you won’t, ever again. But… “No. I wish I could tell you that, so you can relax around me and not worry, but I’m not going to make a promise I can’t keep. If you passed out again, or if you were suffering in unbearable agony, if… if you were dying… I would use my power, with or without your permission. There’s no way I could let you die, not if I can do something about it.”

“Young lady…” he purrs, stepping in closer, “I like your spirit, but… I don’t want you sacrificing yourself for me. I don’t want anybody else putting themselves through hell trying to be a hero for me.”

There’s a tug on your heart, and before you can stop yourself, you’re up on your toes, hands around his neck, your lips on his. He breathes in, frozen for an agonizing moment. You pull away, bright red, stammering apologies. Then his palm is cupping your jawline, thumb tracing tender circles over your hot cheek. He lowers his forehead, knocking it gently against yours, the side of your nose rubbing against his. His breath, so close, catching. Your eyes close. He angles his head, and kisses you back.

Eventually, you pull away, breathless. Your hands grip his narrow shoulders. “Listen. I appreciate you not wanting me to hurt myself for you. But you can trust me. If I decide to take some of your pain away, it’s because I decided to—get it?”

His face says he doesn’t. You pick up a seashell and toss it into the waves.

“Let me explain. The person this quirk is most dangerous to is its user. The hardest lesson to learn about it is how to say no.

“I was young when All Might debuted, and I loved him back then. His whole noble hero thing—always putting others first, always answering a cry for help, no matter how much danger he was in—I admired it. I wanted to be like that. And when other kids learned that my quirk could take away their scraped knees and bruised elbows, I was in high demand. I don’t think they meant to be selfish—they probably thought I was more resilient to pain as part of my quirk, but I just wanted to smile through it like that dumb bastard on TV. So I just kept taking, and smiling, until I was hooked up to machinery in a hospital bed for two weeks, barely hanging on.”

He grabs onto your hand and squeezes, almost so hard that it hurts. A pained look etches his face. “I’m sorry, I never meant for…”

“Calm down, it’s not like it’s your fault,” you laugh.

He flinches.

“I don’t blame All Might, either. It was my own stupid mistake. That’s how I learned you don’t emulate heroes! Noble sacrifice isn’t. That. Noble.” You poke his chest with your index finger to punctuate each word. “When you have something to offer the world, it’s important to know your limits, and to set boundaries. Because once people learn you’re willing to sacrifice yourself, they’ll take, and take until there’s nothing left.”

Toshinori touches his scar reflexively, fingers spreading protectively, pensively over the destroyed flesh. Then his hand clenches into a fist. “I understand… but still… if someone’s life is at risk, I can’t sit around and do nothing. Someone has to stand up and help, even if it’s dangerous. Someone has to be a hero, so everyone else can live happy lives!”

A smile spreads slowly across your lips. Partly a smile of admiration, from the vestiges of your youthful heart that still loves heroes… and partly the sly smile of a villain just before they dive into a victorious monologue.

“You’re right. That’s why I can’t do nothing if I see you in real trouble. If I decide to use my quirk to ease your pain, it’s not because you asked me to, or because I feel obligated. It’s because I want to. It’s because I weighed the risks, and decided. It hurts me to see you in pain, too, you know.”

His lower lip trembles. Before you know what’s happening, his hand is circling your waist, pulling your hips against his narrow ones, his mouth on yours. His lips are thin and chapped, but warm, making up for their lack of substance by softly giving way as you press against them, parting against yours. You let out a muffled moan. Your hands run over his back, exploring every jagged vertebrae and defined shoulder muscle hidden under his baggy dress shirt, finally coming to rest at the base of his neck, stroking the edge of that soft yellow hair you had longed to feel.

“Are you… using your quirk?” he pants.

“No.”

“Ah. Then this just feels really good.” He holds you tighter.

#Toshinori Yagi #toshinori x reader #all might x reader #bnha #all might #angst and fluff #toshi and reader are both huge dorks #my writing

307 notes · View notes

ashes-in-a-jar · 4 years ago

Text

Tma relisten Episodes 11-15

So this round already has two other posts out of it about Oliver because he Bae.

These have alot of ideas regarding entities changing around reality, controlling non victims to set the stage, and turning around what people love most to their worst fear. Also insane abilities of the crew to obtain hard to access info and evidence! And some more Jon sass. Enjoy!

11 dreamer

Wow this episode had alot. I made a separate post with a theory about Oliver's statement here and a realization regarding him and Jane Prentiss here. They are alot to unpack

Oliver is so. Freaking. Relatable! Learned economics and hated it. Nearly had a breakdown like him because of it. "going to stay with some of the few friends that had survived my year of stress-fuelled outbursts and constantly cancelled plans." yep. That.

Boyfriend Graham ey? You notebook eating Graham?? Wow that guy is full of surprises.

I love the dream sequences and their descriptions it's a really beautiful thing to try and picture.

Its interesting how he went from passive to desparate to passive again about death. He tries but can't help. I wonder when the dreams started to bother him so much he sought after the silence of point Nemo. Was it when they became so full of red because of the apocalypse coming closer? Hmmm

Another person named John. I guess that makes sense it's a common name. But I forgot how many people are fully named in this podcast. Hundreds of names to come up with! Jonny I'm quite impressed!

He worked with Jane Prentiss in the magic shop! I can't believe I forgot about that! Wow small avatar world indeed.

"It led me to a room, the label of which was still visible, and read “Archive”. I entered to see walls covered with shelves and cabinets stretching off into the distance. These shelves were coated in a sticky black tar, which I knew at that moment was the thickened, pulpy blood that pumped through each and every one of those veins." everything that has to do with the Fears I bet. Full of death and destruction and stolen from the veins to be out on display for the Eye's pleasure.

Yo Jon is scared of this he's seriously considering going to Elias for advice

" I had Tim look into it, as I don’t entirely trust the others not to have written it as a practical joke" wait. He trusts TIM? Not to do a practical joke? How. Why. Eh?

"died in the line of duty" fuck you Jonah.

Now Jon will get every new statement immediately when it's made. Perhaps this was Elias' intention all along. To scare him into making sure he does not miss any paranormal activity recorded by the institute.

12 first aid

I'm not immune to more Gerry badassery, hell yeah

And we get polish Martin which hell yeah! Even if Jon doesn't believe it. I'm sure he's repressing the fact that he's thoroughly impressed.

I think it's really interesting the effect entities have on people who are decidedly not their victims. Everyone leaving no questions so the entity can set the scene for the scare. Like with Gillespie how no one lived in the apartment building he was in etc. Alot of work into a handful of people being genuinely scared.

Gerry's burns stopped at the neck? How did he manage that. Also it's hilarious to imagine that he's like "yes burn all of me but please. not my goth makeup"

Zippo lighter with eye design!! And Jon has web design! They are brothers (joke but still really interesting)

Liquids were boiling around her and she didn't feel the heat. Also an interesting effect just for the scare.

Gerry got eye superpowers like Jon if he can function while injure and filled with painkillers.

“Yes. For you, better beholding than the lightless flame.” Gerry knew she'd be haunted by a Fear from that day on and realised that perhaps being watched would be easier for her specifically to deal with than the Desolation. I guess that's a way of assessing people. Which fear would least bother you.

Jon is already enamoured with Gerry you can tell. He can't wait to hear more from him. Just you wait Jon.

They really can access alot of information huh. CCTV Interviews files. Pretty impressive for a non-research team. They're so good at it they'd rather do that than actual archiving.

13 alone

The sound editing in this episode is not that great it was a bit to get used to.

We get a glimpse at the Lukases which is... Ugh

Jon is actually trying to be nice. Granted it's not working and she is a bit of a standoffish person herself who just went through a bad time but alot of her reactions are not his fault. He was trying to be considerate giving her space to record but he did stay when she asked.

She had already leaned into the Lonely before the incident it's interesting to see how some of these statements start with a person actually liking the aspect that later turns to fear. Same happens in lost johns' cave.

Evan Lukas sounds like an avatar of the exact opposite of the Lonely. At least to her. That's a really interesting effect from someone, especially a Lukas.

But maybe dying wasn't his family killing him but him not feeding his patron which he tried to leave. Really tragic.

She was in Martin's domain eyyy!

It's got a bit of buried aspects to it with the grave stuff and all.

"My fingers dug into the soft cemetery dirt as I looked around desperately for anything I could use to save myself, and my hand closed upon that heavy piece of headstone. It took all my self-control to keep a grip on that anchor, as I slowly dragged myself away from the edge of my lonely grave." The headstone was her anchor? But it said forgotten. I wonder how it helped her pull away. It probably had to go together with Evan's voice. Like the rib and the tape recorders having to work together! I just wonder what meaning the stone had for her.

"I’d be tempted to chalk this one up to a hallucination from stress and trauma, if it wasn’t for the fact... " God he does believe her heavens. He's not a skeptic!

This is when Jon's dreams start which... Good luck Jon.

14 piecemeal

Rentoul is terrifying sonofabitch and I would never want to meet him irl

I remembered them talking about how he was supposed to be a person who cursed alot and they couldn't do it because of sensor and I have to agree this could have been much better for the story. I tried imagining curses in some places.

LOL Jon reading this is funny. Trying to voice act the bad boy. Doesn't sound right on his voice.

With these kinds of statements happening alot where the person does something bad, the institute has to be in touch with police over them. The nda has to include that.

Hello Angela! I really wonder what her deal is. She scared the bid bully so she gotta have creepy vibes to the extreme.

Another lighter! Hmm do I have to start following the lighter motiff in this podcast. This one has a topless woman on it. Flesh lighter?

Salesa's also appearing that's cool! Noriega was probably looking for an artifact to reverse the curse. Didn't work tho since they left with the crate. The buried crate perhaps?

I'm wondering. Was this written? Because the statement sounds like he's talking. If so, Where's the recording?

Oh Jon your attitude towards Martin is so bad. He works so hard and it's not even in what he's good at, sorting and filing like he knows how to do from the library. God.

What's the deal with all the furniture gone? Did he think it'll help not get injured? He's not that smart if he thought that would help him.

15 lost Johns' cave

Ack a bad statement she was not a good person all around

Another example of the entities setting the stage by controlling others not to interfere with the victim's experience.

Also another example of the person liking the subject (cave exploration in this case. And the dark for that matter) only for it to turn against them.

Not much to say about this one other than its one of the scarier ones for sure. And her recording in the end is really the cherry on top. There is alot of discrepancy between what she believed happened and what actually did which shows how much the fear plays with and changes around reality. That's also how she manages to lie in a statement to Beholding. It wasn't a lie. It was her version of reality and she did not remember saying those awful words.

Taught me alot about cave diving and how much I will never do it in my life.

The Dark was mixed into this as well so it wasn't purely Buried.

Btw Where did she get the candles she was found with?

It feels like she made a choice. Didn't want to spend her last moments with her sister and then didn't want to die. She chose her sister to be taken over her. Her sister called for help and the candle coming closer might have been her! But she just shut her eyes.

How did Tim gain access to the recording?? Wow that's some prime evidence.

Martin is claustrophobic amongst other things huh? Live how Jon just dismisses this as an excuse not to work. At least he didn't push it.

#tma #the magnus archives #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #Tim stoker #Oliver banks #Tma hiatus liveblog #gerry keay

16 notes · View notes

xxgoblin-dumplingxx · 5 years ago

Text

In Tatters: Four

“Welcome Back to Chainmail Crop tops, Today’s Table Top Adventure is brought to you by Skillshare-” Your voice is cheerful, and it reminds Bucky off the ad breaks for Radio dramas. He catches Steve’s eye and snorts.

They’d practically begged to watch you record something. Usually, you worked in your apartment. In the second bedroom that served as studio space for most of the podcasts and youtube series, you did when you weren’t writing or editing for someone else. Currently, there were 6 people crowded around a card table in varying degrees of pajamas. You were, probably, the most comfortable in a sloth onesie that had little felt claws that flopped over your fingers.

Steve and Bucky weren’t quite sure what they expected, but it certainly wasn’t this, and they were enjoying it immensely. Like they’d enjoyed everything else that had gone on around them in the last few weeks. You’d forced a friend to watch CATS the movie with you. You’d reviewed a classic film. You did part of a video series breaking down Marxist theory using, of all things, Barbie Movies.

It was insanity. Utter insanity. But it was fun.

You made people laugh. You made them laugh. And by the time taping wrapped on that podcast, their sides had hurt from laughing so hard.

“Ugh,” you groan, flopping facefirst on the couch, cheek resting on your arm as an arm and a leg dangle off the cushions.

“What’s the matter, doll?” Bucky asked, padding over and lifting the hood of your sloth outfit back so he could see your face.

“My head hurts,” you tell him.

Bucky frowned and kissed your temple, going to get a glass of water and some Tylenol. Headaches, Bucky had learned, were the shorthand you used for a lot off discomfort that made other people uncomfortable when you talked about it. Depression. Anxiety. Whatever another way, your brain could twist itself into knots. He didn’t doubt your head hurt. It was a small room, and things could get loud. But he doubted that was the only wrong thing.

Steve tilted his head and watched you struggle to sit upright again to drink the water and take the pills Bucky handed you, ‘You hungry?” he asked, just generally. Bucky was always hungry. With you, it was hit or miss. When you shrug, and Bucky nods, he smiles a little, “I’ll order pizza,” he said, “Y/N looks too cozy to make her put on clothes.”

When you smile a little and lean against Bucky’s side, Steve feels his heart flutter. You don’t even flinch when his metal arm tightens gently around you and shifts you closer. And he knows it makes Bucky feel good when you don’t. He’d been worried about it, how you’d react when he took his gloves off. Or didn’t wear sleeves. But you hadn’t flinched, you’d laced your fingers through his the way you had before and kissed his cheek.

“Definitely too cozy to go outside,” Bucky said, snuggling you closer, relishing the way you fussed at him for tickling you.

Steve chuckled, and half turned, scrolling through his phone to find the app he used to order pizza. He liked apps. They meant he didn’t have to talk on the phone. At least not as much. And while he waited, he looked at the pictures that lined the shelf. One caught his eye. It was a group picture. You and a bunch of other people dressed for some sort of event. One that required matching purple t-shirts. A pretty girl was kissing your cheek, and it doesn’t escape his notice that she’s wearing a ring on the third finger of her left hand.

“Hey Y/N,” he said, picking it up and half turning, “What’s this from?”

You turn your head, and Steve watches several emotions flit across your face for a second. “Oh-” you say, taking a deep breath, “That’s from when I took my Fiance to California... We went to Disney for her birthday.”

“Fiance?” Bucky asked, not accusatory, just curious.

“Yeah- Passion,” you answer. “I- yeah. That ended badly.” You don’t really know how to talk about that. Getting your diagnosis as Bipolar. The cheating. The lying when she said she was breaking up with you because you were ‘just too much’ while it was really because she already had a new girlfriend. You hadn’t handled it well. At all.

“How badly?” Steve asked, sensing a story.

“Wound up in a psych ward for a couple days after I stopped taking my meds, badly,” you tell them, not looking at either one of them.

They both winced reflexively. Not in disapproval but at the tone of your voice. Like you’re waiting for them to be mad at you. Steve puts the picture back on the shelf carefully and comes to sit on your other side. They both want to ask. They want to know how things had gotten that bad. They knew about your medication. That you took it, and... thanks to google, more or less what it was for. They’d asked what you took. And looked it up. Not because they were judging you, bot out of concern for your safety, really. It was things they didn’t know were medications.

“Sorry,” you murmur, wrapping your arms around your knees.

“What for?” Bucky laughed, “We got 100 years of history together... there’s no way we’ve told you everything. And it’s not like you could just casually bring up being hospitalized after a bad break up.” He kissed your head, and he and Steve wrap their arms around you gently.

“It’s true,” Steve said, kissing your jaw, “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

You sigh, “I just don’t know where to start.”

“Wherever you want,” Steve answered, “We’ll catch up. We’re old, not slow.”

You nod and tilt your head back to look up at the ceiling. “I guess it started when I had that first manic phase. Like. No impulse control. Straight lost my shit for a minute and wound up on the psych ward because Pash thought I was gonna kill myself or something.”

They stay close, listening and Bucky makes a soft sympathetic noise, “I didn’t know what was happening... Stuff had happened before but. Not like this. It was scary. And getting a diagnosis was kind of a relief... It told me that there really was something wrong. And that it could be managed. And it was fine. Until it wasn’t.”

You break off and take a deep breath, “Look. Long Story Short, Pash had been done with my shit for a while... and she was looking for an out. It didn’t take very long for her to find one. So she cheated on me for a while and waited until she could reasonably tell me “I just can’t handle this” and leave without looking like “the bad guy.” You know you’re leaving some details out. The fights and stuff. The people you’d caught her cheating with after your meds had tanked your sex drive for a little bit. The money she’d stolen from you and gaslighted you into believing you’d spent. They don’t need to know that. And you don’t really want to talk about it.

Steve and Bucky exchange looks over your head. Suddenly a lot of things made sense. They’d been letting you set the pace of the relationship. The number of dates, the amount of time they spent with you. How much intimacy there was. And they’d felt like you were holding back. Hesitating. They’d thought it was reticence about being a “unicorn” of sorts again. But the piece about your last relationship and being cheated on made things make a lot more sense.

“Sweetheart,” Steve says softly, “I’m sorry.”

You shrug, “I mean. It’s been a year. She and this other girl are happy I guess. And that’s cool.”

“You deserve to be happy,” Bucky said, tilting your chin up carefully, “You believe that, don’t you?”

“Sometimes,” you answer, smiling a little, “Mostly when I’m with you two dorks.”

“Dorks?” Steve said, mock offended. “Who you callin’ a dork, ya nerd?”

You shrug, “I mean. I did film studies and art history in college... I basically majored in ‘nerd’. So... I’d say I’m a pretty good judge of dorks.”

“You’re running off at the mouth again, Darlin’,” Bucky rumbled, kissing down your neck softly.

Steve smirks when your breath hitches and watches fondly. Bucky’s always had a gift for finding buttons to push and it’s honestly a joy for him to watch as he handily chases your train of thought out of your head.

“Let us take care of you, huh?” Steve murmurs, kissing your temple.

You whimper in need and Steve grins, reaching for the buttons on your jammies, “So snuggly, Buck. So soft and cute.”

“She is,” he agrees, leaving your neck alone and letting Steve pull you against his chest. “But I gotta say Stevie,” he teased, grinning when your face heats, “getting all three of us in her little bed is gonna be a trick.”

“We’ll make it work,” Steve said, kissing you slowly, “We gotta. Because we gotta show our girl a good time.”

“How good a time?” you ask breathlessly.

“Baby,” Bucky drawls, throwing you over his shoulder, chuckling when you yelp in surprise, “You’re gonna see stars.”

tags:

@past-perfect-future-tense, @lookinsidemyhead, @rinkashirikitateku, @dumbubblegum

#stucky #stucky x reader #Steve Rogers #bucky barnes #fluff #smut #past relationship mentioned #mental illness #past trauma #hurt/comfort

119 notes · View notes

dvp95 · 5 years ago

Text

quiet on widow’s peak (3)

pairing: dan howell/phil lester, pj liguori/sophie newton/chris kendall rating: teen & up tags: paranormal investigator, youtuber phil lester, dan howell is not a youtuber, online friendship, slow burn, strangers to lovers, nonbinary character, trans character, background poly, phil does some buzzfeed unsolved shit and dan is a fan word count: 3.1k (this chapter), 9.5k (total) summary: Phil’s got a list of paranormal experiences a mile long that he likes to share with the world. Abandoned buildings, cemeteries, and ghost stories have always called his name, and a particular fan of his has a really, really good ghost story.

read this chapter on ao3 or here!

Interviews used to be Phil's least favourite part of this job. The research was always captivating, the filming was always fun, the editing was always challenging, but talking? To people? About things? Absolutely not.

He still doesn't love doing it, but he's long past the point of begging Martyn or Ian to pretend to be him on the phone.

The curtains in Phil's room are open for once, letting natural light in so he doesn't look as dark on the Skype screen. His eyes keep drifting to himself, distracting him as he tries to fix his hair or laments not getting out of his pyjamas. This is his fourth interview of the day, and he's starting to hate the process with a renewed fervour.

"Okay, thank you," he says, clicking out of the screen record window. "Can I message you here if I have any further questions, or would you prefer this to be your final statement?"

"Oh, um," the girl says, her eyes round with some kind of emotion that Phil can't be bothered to parse. "No, no, that's... that's all I saw. I don't have anything else. But you can still... message me, if you like."

Ah. Phil makes a face that he hopes reads as apologetic and not panicked. "No, I - sorry. Gay. Just interested in your ghost."

"Oh!" she says again, looking more puzzled than Phil thinks she has any right to after a forty minute conversation where he mostly just asked her clarifying questions that she kept dodging. She tucks some of her long hair behind her ear and shakes her head. "Sorry, that's just - you haven't said that online."

Phil isn't very good at knowing when people are lying to him, but now he's definitely suspicious of the half-assed testimony he'd gotten from this girl. He sighs. "Okay, you know who I am, then?"

"I mean, I looked you up when you messaged me about a video and all," she says. "Wanted to know if you were a creep or, like, legit."

Okay, that's fair enough. Phil supposes that if he were a girl in uni and a stranger asked to video chat, he'd also do a little digging first. He still doesn't quite believe her story, though - most of it matches what she'd written on Facebook, word for word, and she didn't go into detail on anything she claimed happened.

"Right, of course," says Phil, feeling awkward and exposed.

Her eyes are wide and blue and she can see into his room, into his life, and she's giving him this look like she thinks she knows something about him. He hates this feeling.

"That a secret, then?" she asks.

"No," Phil says. "It's just not relevant to my job. I don't have a lot of ghouls asking me out."

She doesn't laugh. Phil is getting more and more uncomfortable by the second, and he's wondering if it's worth it to hang up on a potential lead - no matter how dubious her claims - when she says, "Well, alright. I won't tell anyone anyway."

"Thanks," Phil says automatically. He doesn't particularly care if she does or not, but he does want this call to end as soon as possible. "And thanks for your time. Message me if you think of anything else you forgot to mention about the Wilkins place or if you know of someone who's seen something."

Before she can even respond, Phil hits end on the call and groans, resting his forehead on his thumbs for a moment.

Unsurprisingly, this is giving him a migraine. It doesn't take much to make the twinge of a headache turn to insistent throbbing, because Phil's body hates him and overreacts to everything.

Phil takes a couple of deep breaths before he comes out of hiding. He attaches the final screen recording to the email he's already got open and ready to send to Martyn. After a moment's thought, he CCs PJ and Sophie in and adds, Nobody sounds credible except the second person to me, so... it's not looking good lol, before hitting send.

He takes off his glasses and rubs at his eyes for a moment. Interviews are still draining for him, especially when they don't go as planned, and Phil's starting to get the impression that there's nothing to even find at the Wilkins place.

But. Phil pauses, considers his options. He hasn't interviewed everyone, has he.

Before he can talk himself out of it, Phil shoves his glasses unceremoniously back onto his face and opens Tumblr. Winnie hasn't said anything to him so far today, so Phil feels only a little like he's bothering them when he shoots off a quick, Hey! I just finished interviewing the sources you gave me and most of them aren't very promising. Would you consider letting me ask you some questions to round out the video?

me?????, Winnie replies almost immediately. i didnt even see anything?? like im happy to answer questions but idk how much use ill b in an INTERVIEW

I know! And you don't have to lmao so don't feel pressured or anything but you know so much more about the place than they do. Everyone claimed that they didn't know other people were having paranormal experiences.

oh bullshit, Winnie says. Phil is surprised into a huff of laughter.

There's a part of Phil, fuelled by anxiety and uncertainty, that worries Winnie is just pulling an elaborate joke on him. That part of him feels a little more at ease every time he actually talks to Winnie. They just seem... genuine. And maybe Martyn would disagree, would blame Phil's desperation to see the best in people, but there's a reason Phil doesn't tell Martyn everything.

Before Phil can agree with Winnie's colourful derision, his laptop beeps again. i look like an ogre rn but i can voice chat if you rly think itll help

It would!!, Phil assures them. The tender spot behind his eyes twinges again, serving as a reminder. Can I call in like an hour? I've got a headache from the screen lol

sure i really have nothing else going on today

So it's later in the day, late afternoon light still streaking through Phil's window, when Phil sits back down at his computer and adds the Skype username Winnie gave him. His head still hurts a bit, but it isn't all-consuming now that he's had another coffee and some painkillers. The padded headphones feel good to put over his ears, blocking out most of the typical noises from such a full house and a busy street, and Phil just sits in the blissful quiet for a moment before he sends a voice call request.

It gets picked up almost immediately, and Phil presses a smile into his palm before he says, "Hi! Can you hear me alright?"

There's a beat. Phil waits, in case Skype is lagging as usual, but he's opening his mouth to repeat himself by the time he gets a response.

"Yeah," says Winnie. "I can hear you."

Phil isn't really proud of himself for being surprised by Winnie's voice. It's just. He knows his viewer demographics, okay, and he has a rough grasp on Tumblr demographics, and the name - alright. It isn't his proudest moment, is his point, because he's expecting a much higher pitch for absolutely no good reason.

In addition to that, his brain automatically tries to classify Winnie's voice as very obviously masculine, and Phil has to push back against that.

"I can hear you, too," Phil says cheerfully, not allowing his anxieties to spill over into the conversation.

"That's good, probably," Winnie says. There's another beat of silence, and then a huff that might be laughter or a sigh comes through Phil's headphones. "Sorry, I - I'm not trying to be fucking weird, this is just surreal."

"Is it?" Phil hums. "But I haven't even asked you about ghosts yet."

A snort - definitely laughter, this time - follows, and Phil is so glad that he's able to put Winnie at ease even if his brain is betraying him. "That's true. I guess it's gotta get weirder from here."

"That's kind of, like, the subtitle of my whole channel," says Phil. After a moment, he frowns. "Subtitle? No. What's the thing, on the poster -"

"Tagline," says Winnie. They sound so amused and warm and, okay, they've got a nice voice. That's not gendered. Phil can think that. "You're thinking of a tagline, you buffoon."

"Tagline," Phil echoes gratefully.

"Don't you," Winnie starts, then stops abruptly. They don't finish the sentence, but Phil can kind of guess what they were going to say. There's the sound of some rustling, like Winnie is getting comfortable, before they change tacks. "Again, I didn't see any of this alleged ghostly activity with my own eyes, but I know the hot goss."

Phil opens the recording program out of habit, nodding even though Winnie can't see him. "That's still really useful at this point," he says encouragingly. He clicks a couple of buttons. "And, yes, I do have an English degree. Thank you for not asking."

Winnie laughs, the sound of it filling Phil's headphones and making it feel like they're in the room with him. It's warm, like everything else about their voice, and absolutely contagious.

"I didn't want you to think I was, like, a big stalker," Winnie says, and Phil can hear the grin in their voice.

"Eh, I know you watch my videos," says Phil. "So I figure you know some stuff about me. You probably know that I'm going to ask this, too, but - is it okay if I record our conversation? I don't need to include it in the video if you don't want me to, but it's still useful for me if I don't so I can, like, actually remember the things you told me."

"Yeah, sure," Winnie agrees easily. They hesitate, for a moment, and Phil waits for whatever the caveat will be. "Uh, can I still swear?"

The question surprises Phil into laughing. "Yeah, you're fine. I can bleep them out."

"Then I am all for it. Ask me the ghost questions, ghost man."

Phil presses record and glances down at his notebook, where he's scrawled some disjointed questions alongside his usual doodling. "Uh, okay. Yes. I am totally a professional."

"If you say so, mate," says Winnie.

"Hush. Okay." Phil finally gets his brain back on track and taps his pen against a question near the end of his list. "So, Winnie, you did all this research into the Wilkins place on your own downtime, but you mentioned that you've been hearing murmurs about it for a while, right?"

"Not that long, actually, I've only been hearing about it since term started," Winnie says, and Phil is struck by how comfortable they suddenly are now that there's a guideline. Or, maybe, now that there's a non-Phil audience. "Which I thought was pretty weird, since I'd been there a couple times since I moved here, and it's a spooky fucking place but nothing to write home about."

That's more or less exactly how Phil feels about the situation, except that he doesn't remember the Wilkins place to be scary at all. Maybe it's gotten worse in the years since, or maybe he's just got a higher threshold for empty, decrepit homes than Winnie does. Either way, he's not sure if he should be relieved or suspicious that their thoughts on it mirror his own so well. He starts a spiral in the corner of his page as he considers the answer.

"So, you never got the impression that it was haunted before?"

"I - can I be perfectly honest?" Winnie asks, and then doesn't wait for a response. "I don't get the impression that it's haunted now. I dunno if people are just making shit up or if they're doing too many drugs, but we all know that ghosts don't actually exist."

Phil snorts. He does have a fairly large number of skeptics who watch his videos to argue in the comments about logical explanations for his findings or to just enjoy watching him fail so much, but he hadn't really expected that from someone who sent him a sourced essay on the topic of ghosts.

He's recording right now, so he's not about to give away the fact that, yeah, he kind of does agree with Winnie on this one. Instead, he keeps his tone neutral and says, "You don't believe in ghosts."

"I don't believe in most things that can't be explained by science," Winnie says, so matter-of-fact that Phil has to smile.

"I don't really believe in science," Phil says, mild.

A beat. "Excuse me?"

"I said I don't believe in science," Phil repeats, doubling down on the joke so he can hear that incredulous pitch of Winnie's nice voice again. "I mean, isn't it all just as made-up as anything else? People just tell us stuff exists and we have to believe them?"

"We believe them," Winnie says slowly, "because it's a fact."

"How do I know that?" Phil asks. He knows how off track he's already gotten, and he decides to cut this part out before he sends the file to Martyn or his friends.

"Because you can. See it. With your eyes." The genuine bewilderment in Winnie's voice is very funny. "Like. What the fuck, Phil. If someone drops an apple and it hits the ground and they're like, 'oh that's gravity', how are you supposed to say, 'uh, no it ain't'?"

Phil leans back in his chair a bit, his spiral turning into an apple. "Because, what if that's just what the apple wanted to do? It's not like we know any of this for sure, Winnie."

"You're fucking with me," Winnie says, but they don't sound very certain.

"I am," Phil admits happily. "Do you remember the first incident that kicked off the Wilkins place rumours?"

"You," Winnie says, and then cackles. They lean away from their mic as they do, but the sound of it still makes Phil feel some secondhand giddiness. He wonders if their laugh has a volume limit, or if it's just going to keep getting louder the funnier Phil is. He is so tempted to put that to the test. "Fuck. You little fucker."

Phil hides his own giggle in the palm of his hand and clears his throat, trying to get back into the professional mindset he'd forced himself to be in for the four earlier interviews.

"Do you need me to repeat the question?" Phil asks. He can't resist teasing, just a bit.

"No, fuck off," Winnie chuckles. They take a deep breath and let it out on a hum, low and thoughtful. "So, there was this shindig during fresher's, which I obviously didn't go to because I'm not a fresher and I'm too old to go to shindigs, but people were talking about how the house was making weird noises. A girl I know - I linked you to her Reddit post - said she saw someone just standing outside the window watching them, but, like, is that really a supernatural occurrence in Rusholme?"

"It's not. And she hit on me as well, so I'm not sure her judgement is trustworthy."

"Sounds like her. Sorry. Anyway, nobody really thought 'ghosts' as much as they thought 'rats in the walls and a pervert on the street', but then - this one didn't get spoken about online. I don't even know how valid it is."

"Word of mouth is how most ghost stories get passed," says Phil. "I'm not going to hold you to citations on rumours."

Winnie huffs a laugh. It's soft, quiet, and Phil almost wishes he could say something ridiculous to make them cackle again. Unfortunately, he has a job to do.

"Fair enough. Well, some idiots spent the night there to see if anything weird would happen," Winnie says, and Phil feels a bit attacked, "and three separate dudes had sleep paralysis."

Phil hums and jots some messy notes down. "In the same night?"

"At the same time," Winnie corrects him. "The other idiots were trying to wake them up for a long time, apparently. They're convinced that the guys who fell asleep were just pulling a prank on them, and maybe they were, but that's when the ball really got rolling."

Out of everything Phil has heard today, this is the most compelling story so far. Maybe that's a good indicator of the Manchester students being full of it - maybe there truly is nothing to find in the Wilkins place - but it piques Phil's interest anyway.

"For someone who only believes in cold, hard science, you're good at telling ghost stories," Phil says.

"Thanks," Winnie says, sounding pleased with themselves. "Learned from the best."

Phil is suddenly very, very glad that this isn't a video call, because he can't stop himself from smiling like an idiot. "Oh, is that what they're calling me?"

Another cackle. Phil doesn't remember the last time he made someone laugh so much without tripping over his own clown feet.

"I never said I was talking about you."

"Uh huh."

"Oh, shut up," says Winnie, and Phil can still hear the laughter in their voice. "Don't you have a bunch of questions to ask or something?"

Phil does. He has a whole list of questions that he should be following. He chews on his pen and looks at the doodle-covered list of things he's meant to ask Winnie. His head still hurts - maybe the extra caffeine didn't help after all - and all he really wants to do is take a nap.

"Yeah," Phil says, reluctant. "I've just got, like, a migraine. Can I call you back another time? This was a really great start."

"Oh, yeah, sure," says Winnie. They've dropped their voice down to something soft, like they're worried that they'll make Phil's headache worse.

"I'm actually going up to check the place out this weekend." Phil isn't sure what makes him say that. He meets up with sources in person, sometimes, but usually only if they've seen something with their own eyes. He just feels comfortable talking to Winnie, far more than he'd felt talking to the other students he'd interviewed today.

Phil doesn't actually extend the invitation, and Winnie either doesn't pick up the hint or doesn't care to.

"That'll be good," they say, still soft. "Get some rest, Phil, you can call me back when your brain stops trying to drill a hole through your temple."

After Phil says goodbye and hangs up, he sits at his desk for a long moment. It feels too quiet, all of a sudden, his padded headphones blocking out all the ambient noise around him. It's good for his head, but Phil is still weirdly disappointed.

#phan #phanfiction #phanfic #dnp fic #words words words #quiet on widow's peak

32 notes · View notes

crispychrissy · 6 years ago

Text

Foreshadow - Part 2

Summary: Y/N and the Winchesters head off to find the pack of werewolves, but will she be able to save them before it’s too late? Characters: Y/N, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, other OCs Word Count: 4464 (whoops) Warnings: Angst, hookers?, violence, language, fluff, more angst A/N: Part two of three! This chapter is extra long and instead of breaking it up into a bunch of other parts, I wanted to push this fic baby out and let it grow. lol This was edited by the ever so lovely @dean-winchesters-bacon. Enjoy! Part 1 - Part 3

The drive to Idaho was awkward to say the least. Dean played through every tape he had, singing under his breath and keeping the volume low, before starting back at tape number one when he was finished. Y/N curled up in the back seat and tried to get some sleep, but it never came. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Sam and Dean being killed. They stopped a few times for gas and food, but Y/N rarely left the car besides to use the bathroom.

Finally, after a long and grueling fifteen-hour drive, they pulled into the parking lot of a run down motel that Sam had located before they left. There were two women hanging around outside the furthest motel room dressed in skimpy clothes and heavy makeup, and Y/N watched them eye the Impala curiously as it rumbled into the parking spot outside the check-in office.

The women began making their way over to where they were parked once Dean got out and ran into the office and Sam got out to stretch his legs, but when Y/N stepped out to stretch, they both rolled their eyes and returned to their original spot. Y/N was hardly the most beautiful woman in the world, and the fact that the two women assumed she was a prostitute that could seduce the Winchesters strangely filled her with a sense of pride.

“Bad news, kids,” Dean announced as he walked out of the office. “Only got one motel room, so we gotta share. It’s got two beds so Y/N you can pick if you want to bunk with one of us or if you want to sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag.”

Y/N sighed heavily and braced her arms on the hood of the car. “Can’t we just go to the shack I saw in my dream and get this over with? I’d rather not be an overused trope in a romance novel.”

Dean shook his head, tossing the key to the motel room at Sam. “It’s almost ten at night and I just spent the entire day driving. I need a shower and sleep. I’m not driving around all night to try and find a shack in the middle of the woods that may or may not exist. We handle this like any other hunt.” Dean opened the driver’s side door and slipped inside. “Tomorrow.”

Sam had already grabbed their bags from the trunk, and handed Y/N her duffel with a sympathetic smile. Dean was always rough around the edges, but dealing with psychics and his foreshadowed death? It was dredging up a lot of painful memories of what Sam had gone through, as well as reminding him of people they’d lost.

Dean moved the car down to an open spot in front of their room and rejoined Sam and Y/N as they walked down the sidewalk. Sam opened the door and both brothers began their motel routine. They each claimed a bed, checked out the bathroom, and salted the windows and door. Y/N watched in awe from where she was sitting at the table, understanding how close the brothers were. They were like a well-oiled machine, and it was mesmerizing to watch.

“So, what’ll it be?” Sam asked once everyone had showered and dressed in pajamas.

“I’ll sleep in your bed, Sam.” Y/N moved closer and pulled back the covers on the opposite side of the bed from where Sam was standing. “As much as I’d have preferred my own room, I don’t think sleeping on the floor would be comfortable, even with a sleeping bag.” She lowered her voice. “Tropes be damned.”

Having her back to Dean, she missed the look of hurt that flashed across his face before he schooled his reaction. “Yeah, okay. Me and Sammy will head to the morgue first thing, then go from there.”

“I think I should come with you. Just to see if I recognize anyone from my dream… they could have a werewolf working with the cops or something.” Y/N slipped under the covers and scooted as closed to the edge of the bed as she could. “You guys are experienced hunters, and I doubt you’d fall into a trap like this without them having someone on the inside.”

“Absolutely not,” Dean snapped. “You said you’re the linchpin in this, the only thing that can stop the vision from coming true. I’m not gambling with that. You’re gonna stay in the motel room and lock the door. It’s not open for discussion. Goodnight.”

Y/N turned and glared at the other bed, unable to make out any shapes in the darkness of the room. Most of the hunters she had dealt with in the past were cautious at first, but Dean was going beyond that. He was treating her like a child. Y/N grumbled under her breath and pulled the covers over her shoulders, turning so her back was to Dean. Sam shifted next to her and once there was soft snores coming from Dean, he finally spoke.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. I know Garth gave you the short version of our history, but there’s a lot more that even he doesn’t know. Dean doesn’t trust easily, it’s nothing personal.”

Y/N sighed and nodded, even though Sam couldn’t see it. “I get it, Sam. I do. Most hunters don’t believe a word I say. I got scars up and down my arms from silver blades. I just don’t understand why he can’t accept help.”

Sam chuckled softly. “From your mouth to Chuck’s ears.”

Y/N furrowed her brow. “Chuck?”

Sam snorted, and she could barely discern the smile on his face making dimples in his cheeks through the darkness. “That’s a much longer story. I’ll explain later, try and get some sleep.”

“Okay,” she replied softly, but she remembered something she wanted to tell him. “Oh, Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“I might have another dream,” she admitted quietly. “Sometimes I get follow up dreams after I have a vision and they can get pretty violent. If I start thrashing in my sleep or something, just…”

“Just… what?” he asked.

“Ineedyoutocuddleme,” Y/N said in one quick breath, her cheeks heating up. It was the only way her visions seemed to dissipate when she was stuck in one. An ex-boyfriend was the one to figure it out, and it made life a lot easier knowing someone could pull her out of a dream if it was a particularly bad one.

Sam was quiet at first, but he reached a hand out and brushed his fingers against hers before squeezing her hand. “Of course. Don’t worry about it.”

Y/N exhaled a long breath of relief and squeezed his hand back. “Thanks. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Sam replied, removing his hand and turning over on his back.

Neither one of them realized that Dean’s snoring had stopped.

***

The following morning, Y/N was woken up by a grumpy Dean pushing a cup of coffee into her hands. Both he and Sam were already dressed in suits, and she blinked the sleep from her eyes until the time on the nightstand clock became clear. It was a little after nine in the morning, and Y/N smiled when she realized she slept the entire night without having a dream.

“We’ll be back. You have both our numbers so if anything happens, just call us.” Sam grabbed his suit jacket and slipped it on. “If you don’t hear from us by this afternoon and we aren’t answering the phone, call–”

“Your angel friend Castiel, I know,” Y/N interjected before taking a sip of coffee, grimacing at the bitter taste. Of course it was black. “You guys go ahead, I’ll be here doing research. The faster we find out where this shack is, the more time we have to plan. I’ll be fine. Just try to snap some pictures of people you talk to.”

Sam slipped on a pair of glasses and tapped the frames, a smile curling his lips. “Got it covered. I’m gonna record the entire time we’re in there, you can look it over when we get back.”

Dean rolled his eyes and grabbed his brother by the arm, dragging him toward the door. “Come on, Clark Kent. We got work to do.”

When the door shut behind them, Y/N took another sip of coffee, groaning at the taste but savoring the caffeine. Finally slipping out of bed once the cup was empty, she stopped at her duffel bag, biting her lower lip. Wanting to be comfortable while she researched, she decided against changing her clothes and instead walked over and sat at the table, opening Sam’s laptop to a strange database with the name “Men of Letters” he’d told her about and diving right in.

The amount of information in the database sucked her in, and it wasn’t until she heard a key in the motel room door did she realize it was almost six in the evening. Lifting her sore eyes from the laptop, she watched as Sam and Dean shuffled in with bags of takeout, the name of the diner they passed on the way into town on the side.

Sam frowned when he saw her bloodshot eyes. “Have you been at the computer the entire time we were gone?”

Y/N blinked and rubbed her eyes. “Uhhh, maybe? There’s a lot of interesting stuff in here.” Her stomach grumbled loudly and she ducked her head, hungrily eyeing the takeout bags. “Food?”

Dean put the larger of the two bags on the table and dug around, removing a foil wrapped burger and a small container of fries. “You’re not a vegetarian or something are you?” When Y/N shook her head, Dean handed over the burger. “Bacon cheeseburger. Eat up, we need a lead and if you get one from the video, I’d rather chase it down before sundown.”

Sam slipped his glasses off his face and grabbed the USB cord from the box they came in, plugging it in and attaching it to the computer. “I’ll get the video up for you so you can watch it while you eat.”

A few clicks later, the surprisingly high quality video was playing in fast forward and Y/N was watching the screen intently, scanning each face that appeared. Sam and Dean bantered back and forth about the smaller details of the case as they ate, but it only took twenty minutes before a familiar face showed up on the video.

“Her,” Y/N said through a mouth of french fries, tapping the spacebar to freeze the video. “She’s one of the werewolves.”

Sam wiped his hands on a napkin and walked around the table. “Son of a bitch,” he muttered before looking at Dean. “It was the morgue secretary. Oh man, what was her name?”

“Leslie,” Dean mumbled through a bite of burger before swallowing. “She was kinda cute.”

“I knew it had to be her.” Sam clicked around, moving the video about fifteen minutes into the future. Leslie’s desk was in full view, and Y/N raised a brow at the decorations that covered it. “Look, her desk was covered in wolf stuff. Pen holders, paper weights… even her stapler was wolf-themed.”

“She could just be one of those nuts that collects stuff,” Dean countered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, then licking up the ketchup off that collected there. “You’re sure she’s who you saw?”

Y/N nodded, completely fascinated by Dean’s tongue when it licked his hand. “Uh, yeah. She wasn’t the leader chick, but she was one of the pack members. I didn’t recognize anyone else.”

“So they have a mole in the medical examiner's office,” Sam noted, sitting back down on the edge of the bed and spearing a fork into his salad. “So, you think she runs interference for the pack? Covers up the cause of deaths so they aren’t connected to each other?”

“Yeah, and then when they want to kill some hunters, Leslie tips off the local newspaper of a string of bodies being found with the same cause of death to attract attention.” Dean burped quietly and sat back in his chair. “Once the hunters show up to view the bodies, she tips off the pack and leads them into the trap.”

“But how?” Y/N asked. “Hunters are suspicious of everything, it’s in your nature. If something is too convenient, you guys are overly cautious.”

The brothers were silent for several long moments, trying to figure out what would draw a hunter out into a situation where they would be reckless. Y/N watched them think quietly, skimming through the last several minutes of the video until Sam was back out in the parking lot of the police station. No other faces were familiar, but Y/N wasn’t surprised. Having more than one person as a spy in a town this small would be awkward at best, having a much higher likelihood of being caught.

“I’ll pull some background on Leslie, see if I can figure out who she hangs out with and if she owns property in the area, it could give us a clue as to where this shack is,” Sam announced, closing the empty salad container and tossing it into the garbage can.

“I’m gonna shower and change, get ready for tonight. I’m guessing you’re going to find something. I can feel it.” Y/N stood from her chair and stretched, groaning in relief as her spine and shoulders popped. When she opened her eyes, Dean was staring at her, lips slightly parted and eyes dilated. When she met his eyes, he quickly looked away. “Right, shower time.”

The shower was delightful and surprisingly hot for the crappy motel they were at and after toweling off, Y/N pulled on a pair of comfortable jeans and a faded Marshall Tucker Band t-shirt she’d had since high school. She didn’t miss the impressed smile Dean gave her when he saw the t-shirt, and she was happy he was finally warming up to her.

Sam wasn’t able to find much on Leslie, except that she moved into town four months ago and was not living in any house or apartment in town. There was no property in her name, and even her financial history began only six months ago. After striking out on her, the three of them decided to relax for the evening to see what happens. If they didn’t get anywhere tonight, the brothers would head out in the morning to quietly ask around town about who Leslie hung out with and where they might think she was living.

It was just after the fourth episode of Dr. Sexy when Dean’s phone rang. It was a little past ten-thirty, and Dean held up his phone, showing Y/N and Sam that an unknown number was calling. Swiping the screen to answer, Dean tapped the speakerphone icon.

“Hello?”

There was rustling and rapid thumps in the background; whoever was calling was running. “Agent Nash?” a voice wheezed out.

“Yeah, who’s this?” Dean replied.

“It-it’s Leslie from the ME’s office!” The thumping stopped and more rustling came through the line along with heavy breathing. “I was on my way to my car after working late, and these men showed up! They kidnapped me but when they stopped the car, I ran. I need help!”

Dean raised his eyebrows in surprise, trying to keep his voice steady. “It’s okay, Leslie. I can help you, where are you? Did you see anything streets or landmarks you recognize?”

The thumping and rustling started up again and Leslie’s breath began to come out in short pants. “I saw… Willow Avenue a-a few minutes ago while I was running, it’s on the outside of town. I’m in the woods, I don’t–” Leslie’s words were cut off by a loud grunt and a thump, before a scream came through the line.

“Take her back to the cabin,” an unfamiliar male voice said. “Let’s teach this bitch a lesson.” A low laugh came from the man as the multiple footsteps got softer and softer before the line went dead.

Dean looked up at Sam and Y/N, who were just as shocked as he was. “What the hell was that? I thought you said she’s the wolf?”

“That’s it,” Sam whispered, looking up at Dean. “That’s how they’re doing it!”

“What?” Dean barked.

“What’s the one thing that will make a hunter drop everything and rush in without being totally prepared?” Sam asked.

Realization dawned on Dean’s face and he ran a hand through his hair. “An innocent life in danger.” Dean shook his head. “Son of a bitch.”

Y/N’s brows pinched together and she sat up from her spot on Sam’s bed. “Guys, in my dream, it wasn’t Leslie who was tied to the chair pretending to be the damsel in distress, it was the leader woman.”

“So wait, the future has already been altered?” Sam asked, sitting up.

“No,” Y/N murmured. “Well, I can’t know for sure if this is enough to change your fate. I still need to come with you, just to be sure. I don’t want to risk this not being enough and end up finding you two…” Y/N swallowed and looked down at her lap.

Sam placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly. “It’s okay. If you don’t think it’s enough we’ll bring you along. We don’t want to die as much as you don’t want us to.” Sam slipped off the bed and grabbed the duffel bag full of weapons from under his bed. “We’ll head out in five.”

The drive out to Willow Avenue was nerve wracking. Y/N’s plan was kept to herself, no matter how many times Dean asked on the way there. It took about twenty minutes for Sam to spot the run down shack in the darkness; there was a light coming from inside, likely to draw any hunters in that would come looking for Leslie. When Dean clicked off his headlights and came to a stop at the end of the gravel driveway, Y/N opened her door and handed a piece of paper off to Sam before bolting into the darkness of the woods.

Sam opened his mouth to yell her name, but Dean grabbed his arm, shaking his head and pressing a finger against his lips to stop Sam from saying anything. Sam nodded and unfolded the note, holding it out so Dean could read it at the same time.

I’ll be waiting. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you two. Wait until 11:34 before you head inside. Treat this like any other hunt.

Sam and Dean looked at each other and nodded before Sam slipped the paper into his pocket. Dean pulled out his phone and checked the time and GPS location on the map, showing it to his brother. They had two minutes to kill. Dean snorted at the voice in his head, hoping that after those two minutes he wouldn’t end up being the thing that got killed.

Sparing one last look at his phone, Dean opened his door. He pulled his pistol from his jacket and slipped his phone into the pocket, watching as Sam mirrored his movements. They both closed their doors quietly and made their way up the driveway, readying up at the front door.

Y/N was crouched in a heavily wooded area right next to the window where the majority of the werewolves were congregated, silently waiting for her cue. When the wolves heard the front door kicked open, they immediately moved around the room, getting into their positions with Leslie tied to the chair, flanked by the remaining pack on either side of her.

Y/N closed her eyes, running through the progression of her dream in her mind. When she heard the gunshot of Sam shooting the werewolf in the hallway, she slipped a bundle of powder wrapped in a thick blue cloth from the satchel around her shoulder, clutching it tightly in her hand. Using her free hand, she dug around in the bag for her silver knife and removed it, clutching it tightly in her fist.

Y/N waited until Leslie opened her mouth and screamed before she wiggled the knife under the windowsill and lifted the window open about six inches, using the scream to cover the noise of the squeaky window. It was in darker corner of the room, so thankfully none of the werewolves noticed it being opened.

The sound of splintering wood, followed by a loud crash made Y/N jump and lean closer, peering in through the window to see Sam and Dean with their pistols raised, glaring at the group of werewolves before them. Y/N heard a low chuckle from the same male werewolf they heard on the phone and watched silently as Leslie smirked and wiggled her wrists, freeing them from the ropes, before standing up. The same pack leader female werewolf Y/N saw from her dream stepped forward in front of Leslie and smiled.

“Gotcha.”

The second the word broke through the silence, Y/N sprung into action. Gripping the bag of powder, she brought it to her lips. “Displodo,” she whispered and watched as the bag began to glow orange, then red. Once it was almost white in color, Y/N threw the bag through the open window. It exploded a few seconds later, scattering a fine powder throughout the room, making everyone start coughing.

The sound of sizzling filled the air as the werewolves began screaming, their skin bubbling and steaming. The Winchesters coughed a few more times, but remained unharmed, readying for a fight once the powder dissipated. Y/N yanked open the window even more, allowing her to easily climb through, landing less than gracefully on the floor before she stood up. As quiet as she could, she readied her knife and walked forward, sinking it into the back of the werewolf closest to her, piercing his heart.

The dying shout from the werewolf she killed made the entire room burst into chaos. Y/N had two wolves rushing at her while Sam and Dean began shooting, trying to take out as many as they could. Y/N managed to duck out of the way of the werewolf that ended up killing Sam in her vision, before spinning around and burying her knife into his chest.

A shout from Dean drew Y/N’s attention and she watched as he fought with the lead werewolf. Sam was scurrying across the floor to grab his gun that had been knocked away, and thanks to the distraction, the remaining werewolf in front of her managed to land a heavy punch to her cheek, sending her stumbling backward, landing on her ass on the floor.

“Y/N!” Dean shouted, throwing punch after punch at the pack leader that was trying to bite him until there was space between them. Dean leaned back and kicked out, connecting with her chest and making her fly backward into the wall, which broke apart with the impact, sending her spilling into the room next door.

Dean scrambled across the small room, pulling his knife from the holster at the small of his back and throwing it at the werewolf advancing on Y/N, landing a direct hit into his back and heart. The large man grunted and slumped to the floor, and Y/N was lucky enough to roll out of the way to avoid being crushed by his body. Five rapid gunshots made Dean tense and look over just in time to see the remaining two werewolves near Sam sink to their knees before falling over dead. Sam collapsed onto his back, panting, but he had a smile on his face.

“Y’okay, Sammy?” Dean asked, helping Y/N to her feet.

“Yep, just need to catch my breath,” he replied. “That was intense.”

Y/N dusted herself off and managed to glance over Dean’s shoulder. The female pack leader stepped back through the hole in the wall she crashed through, yanking a piece of splintered wood from her shoulder. She raised her arm, and Y/N’s eyes went wide when she realized Dean’s gun was in her hand.

“No!” Y/N shouted, pushing Dean out of the way right as the werewolf pulled the trigger. A burning hot pain shot through her stomach and chest, and she sunk to the floor when her legs turned to jelly and gave out underneath her. The pain wasn’t like anything she’d ever felt before, and each labored breath she took in felt like her lungs were full of broken glass.

Straining to keep her eyes open, she watched Sam jump to his feet and fire, taking out the werewolf before both brothers rushed to Y/N’s side. Dean pulled off his flannel and pressed it hard against the two bullet wounds on her abdomen that were oozing blood, making her whimper.

“I know it hurts, but I gotta put pressure on it, okay, sweetheart?” Dean whispered, throwing his keys at Sam before the younger Winchester disappeared out of the door.

Y/N closed her eyes and nodded, trying to distract herself from the searing pain in her body. When she opened her eyes again and looked at Dean, his face was blurry and slowly being surrounded by a darkness that continued to fill more and more of her vision. Dean lifted her into his arms, making Y/N scream, before running through the house and back out to the car where Sam was already waiting.

Dean slipped into the back seat, cradling Y/N in his arms. “Go, Sam! Now!” Dean looked down at Y/N and brushed the hair out of her face, placing two fingers on her neck and cursing quietly when he could barely feel a pulse. “Hey! Stay with me, sweetheart, we’re gonna get you some help.”

Y/N smiled and with the remaining strength she had, lifted her hand, cupping Dean’s cheek and smearing blood onto his freckled skin. “S’okay, Dean. You and Sam are safe now.” Her hand slipped from his cheek and landed limply against his shoulder.

Dean tilted his head, eyes beginning to fill with tears that blurred his vision. When Y/N eyelids began to flutter and her eyes rolled back in her head, Dean pressed harder on her wounds and lightly shook her limp body, making her hand fall from where it was rested against his shoulder, landing against her unmoving chest with a soft thump.

“Y/N?” Dean whispered. “Y/N?!”

***

Forevers [CLOSED]: @katymacsupernatural @queen-of-deans-booty @your-modern-shakespeare @wheresthekillswitch @holyfuckloueh @growningupgeek @jensen-gal @mizzezm @there-must-be-a-lock @atc74 @pilaxia @supernatural-jackles @impala-dreamer @bambi95-blog @wonderfulworldofwinchester @batmmgray @brooke-supernatural16 @dwgrl1903 @hey-bxtch @kittenofdoomage @leanbeankeane @emoryhemsworth @xalgaliareptx @mhnfatima @bi-e-ne @speakinvain @pebblesz892 @lastactiontricia @kassablanca13 @mogaruke @tockettt @imagining-supernatural @wildefire @serienjunkiegirl @mrswhozeewhatsis @stars-and-seas @jaremish @ellen-reincarnated1967 @nyxveracity @andkatiethings @bamby0304 @deathtonormalcy56 @winchesterprincessbride @moonstar86 @missihart23 @mrs-meghan-winchester @miss-rebel-without-applause @dean-winchesters-bacon @researchandbones @wayward-angelgirl @bojabee @maddiepants

Dean/Jensen: @akshi8278 @adoptdontshoppets @focusonspn @spnwoman @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester @sandlee44 @spn--imagines @sadwaywardkid @roonyxx @blackcherrywhiskey @thefaithfulwriter

#foreshadow #part 2 #spn fanfic #dean x reader #dean winchester #sam winchester #psychic!reader #psychic #vision #werewolves #tomfoolery and trickery #and some witchcraft

155 notes · View notes

rayadraws · 6 years ago

Text

Shitty Teen Squad, babies and King suffers

This is the result of a brainstorming session between me, @criscura, @batneko and @zgirlly. Background is that Genos, Garou and Badd form an unlikely trio of friends - the Shitty Teen Squad. We have Genos as the mom friend slash feral gay, Garou as the vodka aunt friend and Badd as the... chaotic friend, slash mom friend slash recliner friend.

We ended up talking about various things including future children and poor King babysitting said children. While this isn’t explicit, there’s talk/jokes with adult themes, so please bear that in mind before diving in!

(~2k)

A vodka aunt is someone who 'takes others kids out for fun and brings them home loaded with sugar, cranky, and with a new noisy toy' - that’s definitely Garou. One time he takes Zenko to an amusement park. They’re gone all day and she comes home exhausted, very happy and with at least a dozen new curse words in her dictionary.

There are also a few honourary members of the Shitty Teen Squad -

Saitama - considered very uncool (except by Genos) but harmless. Tags along sometimes and has no idea what is going on at any given time.

Fubuki - would never admit to being one in the group, but someone needs to keep these idiots from killing themselves, so she sometimes hovers at the edge.

Mumen - When Mumen shows up, everyone is on their best behaviour all day. If Mumen slips up and says a (mild) swear everyone else is immediately like ”Gasp! Mumen Rider, how could you? Such language!”

A few years pass, and everyone is starting to settle down and starting families. As we have both Mumarou and Batarou fans in our discussion group, we intentionally kept things a bit vague - so go with whatever your preferred ship/parent combo is! But Saitama and Genos are first to have a child, with the others following perhaps a couple years or so later.

Badd is a rather... intense father. His baby girl is not only a princess, but the most amazing princess in the world. He’s an expert at doing her hair and picking out outfits and every time he meets up with the shitty squad, he forces them to look through all his latest photos of her. He and Genos take their kids to playdates, in matching outfits. So many photos...

Zenko, having learnt from the best, turns into a world class vodka aunt herself, taking the kids to outings and having lots of fun with them.

Tareo might not have a reputation as a cool kid among his peers, but to Saitama/Genos’ and Badd’s kid, he totally does. He loves to read to them, and help them identify bugs and birds they see.

Genos, being the first in the Shitty Teen Squad to have become a father, finds himself giving the others advice from time to time. As always, he refers to his journals, and before Badd’s baby is born he has a diaper change demonstration with Garou and Badd, who look on in silent horror - no one has seen Garou look that terrified before. There is much yelling and gesturing, until the demonstration is over, at which point they act as if nothing happened.

(They never talk about their new knowledge, but whenever they spot a distressed parent struggling in public, they offer their services)

After Badd’s baby is born, Genos finds himself receiving frantic phone calls at all hours of the day, including the middle of the night, such as Badd calling (yelling) about how you’ll know the bottle is the right temperature?! - a groggy, barely awake Genos just mutters ”just... listen to whatever your HUD says...”.

Badd’s daughter always looks like a princess, whereas Saitama’s and Genos’ child always has tousled hair and scraped knees and if you’re not sure where she is... she’s probably off climbing the tallest tree in the area.

At this point, the Shitty Teen Squad has more or less evolved into the Brooding Dad Squad. It’s not everyone who gets the honour of being allowed to babysit their kids, but one man does, and the kids absolutely love him - King!

At this point, the children are a little older, and they love visiting King not only because to them, his engine makes him sound like a purring cat, but also because he has the BEST video game collection. Having said that, Badd always makes King hide his collection of sexy anime girls before the children are allowed over:

"This is nasty!!" "It's art, the level of skill needed to make her stand like that is--" Badd, taking off the removable top: "SHE'S TOO HORNY MAN SHE'S GOTTA GO" "///////but--" "Listen the first thing kids do around dolls is strip them she's gotta go!”

King is nervous to have the kids over! But he does his best and it turns out putting them in front of a video game and handing them snacks is quite effective at keeping them still and happy.

The girls are also very interested in King’s merch, despite him doing his best to hide it. Sometimes they find the empty boxes the most interesting (a favourite game is putting King, as the princess, in his box castle and then coming to save him), but other times they are determined to find all his toys. It’s his engine that’s the problem, it goes off whenever the girls get closer to his hidden stash, like echolocation.

"Are all the pretty dress-up dolls in here?" "N--no!! There's--" "They have so many pretty dresses!! I like all the kitty ones!!" "NO, NO KITTIES--"

(The King engine also means it’s super fun to play hide and seek with him! You can never win with Genos, and Saitama tends to lose interest and wander off, or fall asleep in his hiding place...)

One day, as they play house, one of the kids asks King where babies come from, and poor King struggles to explain... after first shutting down and then taking so long to collect his thoughts that the child already lost interest and went to get pudding.

"Babies--are--love--when mommies--there's a bird I DON'T KNOW PLEASE THEY'RE JUST THERE ONE DAY" ”But I have two daddies?” ”LISTEN this is already complicated for me to explain ;;;;;”

At this point, King goes full possum and all but shuts down again until one of the girls poke him, with one of his anime girl figurines (as kids do, the first thing they do is always to undress every single doll, so it’s naturally naked).

When picked up to go home, their girl tells Saitama and Genos that ”King shut down, like Papa”. When they ask why, she tells them what they had asked him. Saitama, bless him, actually calls King later to apologize for the trouble.

(Badd on the other hand immediately blamed King (and his anime girls) for this question)

Said trouble is not yet over, it turns out - while playing with all the merch, Badd’s daughter put a figurine in her mouth and swallowed a part of it. It’s with extreme dread that King calls Badd that night...

”I don’t know how to tell you this but I really, really need that limited edition accessory back, Badd.”

(That whole evening is traumatizing for King - the kids have undressed every single figurine he owns and he has to painstakingly put them all together again.)

Another time when the kids visit they find a pair of scissors. King immediately gets up to remove them, but the older child is quick to tell him that they should play hairdresser - she does this lots at home.

”...with Sai?!”

On that note, the kids will happily tell King all sorts of things about their parents, whether he wants to hear it or not, including 'they like to wrestle really loudly when it's past my bedtime' and how Badd needs to buy a new bed every few months because they always break. Saitama’s kid helpfully supplies that ”Daddy smells like hot dog after. It’s a LOT of smoke!”.

Sometimes it's serious though.... Like one kid says that Daddy is in a laying-down mood again, or Pop has been going out and coming back with bloody knuckles... Other times it can be things like "Well papa likes to wear all clothes, and be pretty sometimes, and daddy uh....... doesn't. So. Yeah."

King does his best to listen to the kids like a responsible adult, down to taking their suggestions: ”Papa likes this kind of skirt, Uncle King!! I want to get it for his birthday!”

The child doesn’t mention that it’s really her preference to have lots of glitter and shimmer, not Genos’, but he loves his new sequin glitter unicorn shirt anyway. In fact, they dress up to match more than once, and the child loves to play with Genos’ hair and makeup stuff:

"PAPA WEAR THE PURPLE EYELINER" Genos: "It doesn't really go with-" Kiddo: "IT'S PURPLE." Saitama: "It sure is." :D

Speaking of things that are pretty, the girls end up falling in love with a particular anime girl in King’s collection - she’s got ombre hair, and pretty bows, and the biggest bow is also her hair.

The bad news: she's the hardest-to-win girl from an ecchi game

The good news: they're making an anime which will probably cut out all the sex

Medium news: since she's the hardest-to-win girl she's unlikely to be the main heroine of this adaptation.

Poor King is struggling to find the least thirsty merch of her that the girls can actually play with. Genos is put to the task of editing together a child-friendly edition of the show that the kids can watch. There’s.... not much left when he’s done.

King: "The... the plot is-" Genos: "There was a two-episode arc about the shy girl losing her bra on vacation somehow." King: "In the game, um, that's where you prove you're a nice guy." Genos: "Why did she only bring one bra on vacation, King." King: ....................

King uses his fame and clout to start commissioning SFW works of this character - sweating the entire time.

Despite himself, after spending so much time watching and editing clips from the show, Genos actually gets invested in the (barely there) plot. The next time King visits their apartment, he’s shocked to find a bit of merch with the shy girl. Genos’ argument is that he ”needed to protect her from perverts!”.

Carefully, King offers him:

”.........I do have the game, if you want to try it” ”.....yes.”

(For the record, Genos’ merch is a cast-off figurine, and he made sure to get her the bra variety pack, so she’s never out)

...King has no idea how this all started, he just wants to live and now he has Badd swinging his bat a bit too close for comfort, while Genos doesn’t say anything... for his eyes says it all (and what his eyes says is keep this away from the kids and also where can I find the latest episode?)

Saitama is chill about the whole thing - like, okay, it’s not for kids but he doesn’t think they’re old enough to understand. Ladies in historic paintings are nude too, right? Right. Best to hide it though, especially since it makes Genos upset.

The biggest prude of the group is actually Garou, who has quite possibly never seen a wild boob and was always so focused on his training - weird feelings? Go punch a sandbag. Hormones going wild? Sudden boner? Time to go run seven miles. To him, sex stuff is private and he’s very much a ”protect the children!” guy.

(Garou is not allowed to give any dating advice, seeing him being in a relationship is due entirely to his partner accepting his weirdly aggressive courting. Garou gives off that 'bringing dead animals as a gift like a cat' vibe, or happily showing off his collection of beaten thugs, as the case may be.)

#shitty teen squad #genos #saitama #saigenos #genosai #mumen rider #garou #headcanon #god this was so much fun XD

71 notes · View notes

sunshinevanfleet · 6 years ago

Text

summer ‘78

c h a p t e r o n e - a flyer in the wind

[disclaimer: none of the images in the banner/any graphics belong to me, all credits go to the respective owners; all i’ve done is edit the images. please excuse me in advance for any historical inaccuracies/discrepancies, i was not alive in the 1970′s. i’m doing my best to research, but i’m not checking every minuscule detail. all events and characters in this series are fictional, or used in a fictional manner.]

a/n: here’s the first chapter of my new series! you can find my series masterpost here! the tag for this series is svfs78! there are still no romantic pairings at the moment, but i’ll be sure to include them when the time comes! hope you lovelies enjoy!

word count: 1.6k

summary: y/n meets a charming stranger in her father’s record shop; little does she know, this is the catalyst for the wildest summer of her life.

warnings: swearing

You grumbled under your breath as you hurried down the street, late for work. If your dad knew you were late, you’d definitely be in hot water, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. With a string of swears, you brushed the sweat-slicked hair off of your forehead and tried to hurry your step even further. Around you, the streets of your little town were busy with bustling morning life.

The sun shone with a renewed vigor, the first official day of summer giving it a new life that it’d been starved of for the past few months. Floating above you, the summer sky sang with a cerulean haze, trembling in the heat of the late morning. Once again, you swept sweat from your brow, feeling the tickle of a single drop slip over the curve of your cheekbone and drip off the angle of your jaw. The heat was killing you already, and you dreaded being at work all day when you could take a few hours to drive to the coast and spend the weekend there. But, your father made it impossible.

As you shoved the key into the front lock of the shop, a piece of paper was lifted by the wind, and carried your way. You swatted at it, cursing as the fingers of your freehand crumpled around the yellowed and lightly water-damaged flyer. Quickly, you glimpsed the words on the front, reading GRETA VAN FLEET. In the back of your mind, you wondered what it was but pushed the thought away as you dropped it into the bin when you finally got inside. Whatever it was, you wouldn’t have time to check it out with your work schedule, even if you wanted to.

A sigh floated from your lips as you followed the opening procedures, not paying much attention as you straightened out shelves, cleaned up, and opened up the blinds of the front windows. You could think of a million different ways you’d rather be spending your summer, but you needed the extra money if you were ever going to get your own place. You were so close to being able to move some place nice, but you wanted to have some money to fall back on if you needed it.

As you settled in your seat behind the counter, listening to the dull riffs of a rock song playing in the background, you wondered what Jackie and Heather were up to. They were your best friends, and Jackie had been your coworker for a couple of years now. She wasn’t scheduled to work for a couple more hours, and you knew you’d be bored out of your mind until she finally showed up.

You knew Heather was still sleeping, probably curled up in her silk pajamas dreaming of fame and fortune. She was always up-to-date on everything to do with celebrity gossip, and somehow she’d weaseled her way into their circles. She’d met several celebrities that you knew of, and always offered to hook you up. At first, you thought she was joking, but then you saw the pictures.

Jackie was awake, likely getting ready for work despite the fact that she had several hours before her shift started. She was exponentially more responsible than you, but she had her moments, for sure. You couldn’t count the amount of times that you’d been called to pick her up from a party, drunk and stoned out of her mind.

The jingle of the bell on the front door interrupted your thoughts, and you glanced up to see a lone guy entering the store. His brown hair skirted his shoulders, and he offered a shy smile as he began to browse.

“Can I help you with anything?” you asked, peering at him over your book as he fingered through the records.

“Just lookin’ around,” he replied casually.

You offered a mere nod in response, but eyed him for a second. Something about him perplexed you; maybe it was the way he carried himself, his cool demeanor and slow, calculated movements. His hands flipped through the vinyls so carefully, almost like he was gathering the feel of every album as his fingers trailed over them. He walked slowly, sauntering around the room with some kind of unspoken purpose.

As he turned away from you, you returned to reading your book. You didn’t want him to catch you staring like some kind of creep. A few minutes later, he approached the counter with a couple of vinyls in his arms, letting them slide from his arms onto the counter as you rang him up.

The soft sound of his voice interrupted you, making your hand stutter as he handed you his money. “Come here often?” You heard the tease in his voice, but met his eyes just to be sure he was kidding.

You couldn’t help but laugh at the bogus line, something that would normally make you scoff. It was kind of endearing coming from him.

“Yeah, I work here,” you replied with a laugh. He grinned, obviously amused that he’d made you smile. “How ‘bout you?”

He shrugged. “Not really. It’s my first time,” he said, in an exaggerated whisper.

You rolled your eyes. “Not much here,” you shrugged. “What’re you here for? I know it can’t be a vacation.” You thought of your town, settled in the desert and as barren as the land surrounding it. You’d rather be anywhere in the world than stuck in your shitty little town.

“Oh definitely,” the guy replied. “I love dust in my eyes every time it gets windy.” He winked at you playfully, and you laughed.

“Seriously, though,” he continued. “I’m here for some work stuff. No biggie.”

“Must be a real bummer, forcing you to come here.” You wrinkled your nose as you stuffed his receipt into his bag, pushing it toward him.

“Nah, it’s a pretty bitchin’ job.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t believe it,” you chuckled.

“Guess you’ll just have to wait and see, then.”

“Guess I will.”

You watched as he smiled playfully at you and took his bag, headed for the door. Before he could leave, he turned back to face you. “What’d you say your name was again?”

You quirked an eyebrow at him. “I didn’t. But it’s Y/N.”

“All right… See ya, Y/N.”

“See ya…” you trailed.

“Jake.”

“See ya, Jake.”

You weren’t sure you ever would.

A couple hours later, Jackie showed up for her shift. Her shocks of white-blonde hair were wild, as usual, but her expression was bright. She practically danced in the door, her striped t-shirt tucked in half-heartedly and her mascara smeared. You could feel the excitement buzzing off of her as she joined you behind the counter, propping her feet on an empty box.

“What’s up with you?”

She grinned at you, bouncing at her seat. She was probably happy you’d finally entertained her energy, for once.

“So, I was talking to Heather last night, and this awesome band is in town for the weekend. I was thinking that we should go… Can you dig it?” She quirked an eyebrow at you, the words flying from her mouth at a hundred miles per hour. You sighed as you sat back, crossing your arms over your chest.

“No, way. You know I have to work late all weekend. What band is it, anyway?”

Jackie rolled her eyes at you, as if you were being the most obtuse person she’d ever met. With a sigh, she glanced out the window and pointed out one of the flyers. “It’s Greta Van Fleet. You haven’t seen all the flyers?”

“I’ve seen them, Jackie. Who are they?”

She groaned. “I know you’re joking…” When you said nothing, her face deepened into a frown.

Just as she opened her mouth to speak, the bell on the door jingled and you saw the face of Heather. It wasn’t uncommon for Heather to show up and hang out around the record shop, even though she technically wasn’t supposed to. But what your father didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

“Heather! Tell Y/N about the concert!”

Heather’s face brightened instantly, and she leaned on the counter when she reached the two of you. “Oh, yeah. You have to come. It’s gonna be far out,” Heather enthused. She brushed a long strand of dark hair out of her eyes, and continued. “We’re gonna crash the after party and everything.”

You rolled your eyes. “I have work. I don’t even know how you manage to get in all these after parties, anyway.”

“Her sister’s in Playboy,” Jackie butted in, as if that actually made any difference.

“Yeah, Lisa’s in Playboy. I’m practically famous.”

“Oh my god,” you huffed in exasperation, flipping to the next page of your book even though you hadn’t really been paying attention. “I don’t have time for this.”

“You seriously can’t come to the concert?” Heather pouted.

“No. My dad would kill me.”

“You’ve gotta start standing up for yourself. He can’t control you forever, you know.” Jackie said.

“I need this job, guys. How else am I ever gonna move out?” You glanced between them, but they were both silent. With a sigh, you shook your head and dropped your book onto the counter.

After a moment, Heather spoke up again. “At least come to the after party.”

“What?” you gawked at her.

“Oh, please! You need to get out! Your life is a total drag. You never do anything fun!”

“She’s right, Y/N,” added Jackie, her tone sheepish.

You groaned, frowning at the both of them.

“What time does it start?”

#svfs78 #queue are my special #greta van fleet imagine #greta van fleet fic #gvf imagine #gvf fic #jake kiszka imagine #josh kiszka imagine #sam kiszka imagine #danny wagner imagine #jake kiszka x reader #josh kiszka x reader #danny wagner x reader #sam kiszka x reader #my writing

58 notes · View notes

xmeetyoutherex · 6 years ago

Text

Dusty Records (c.h.) - Part One

Word count: 2.5K

Summary: Calum decides to go record shopping and in the end, he gets more than just a dusty record sitting on the shelves.

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to write this. I was busy with finals and all that. This is only part one and I honestly don’t know if there will only be two parts or not, so we’ll see. As always let me know what you think and come talk to me about. If all goes as planned the second part will be up by next Friday. I also made a playlist for this fic so check my masterlist for the link and to read my other stuff. Thanks for reading! (oh and if I tagged you it was because you showed interest in me writing a fic after reading the headcannon, let me know if you don’t want to be tagged or if you do) oh and i didn’t really edit this sooooo sorry:)

Margaret was collecting records and CDs that had just came in that needed to be shelved. They were all newly released albums such as Billie Eilish, Khalid, and some other big artists that she had never took the time to listen to. She worked at an old record shop in the poorer part of the city, better known as the south side. It was a cozy store. She got to know some of the customers very well because they were never really crowded, and it was usually always just regulars. Occasionally someone new would wonder through the doors, but that was usually the only time she ever saw them.

When Maggie first started working there her friend used to joke with her that she wouldn’t make any money because she as soon as she got her paycheck she would go and spend on the record she had been eyeing all week. Margaret had an unhealthily huge record collection living in her apartment. She had started when she was only ten years old and her dad had decided to give her his. He had R.E.M, Led zeppelin, Elton John, and so many more. All comprising of different styles of music that caused Margaret in turn to have no exact genre she loved most. She would always tell people she preferred rock and alternative, but if someone caught a glimpse of her collection, they probably wouldn’t believe her.

But her broad love for music made her perfect for running a record store having been raised on the idea of “appreciating music for what it is and not by the category it falls under.” She was always able to spark a conversation with anyone who came in and help them find the perfect album for what they were looking for. Her broad love for music was also very annoying to her close friends because her playlists in the car can go from soft pop music to heavy metal screamo music. If Maggie is being honest with herself, she finds her taste in music disgustingly broad.

Currently there were only a couple people browsing the sections and none of them appeared to need any help. While she was getting the new records ready to be put out, she was talking to her coworker who was also one of her closest friends. “I’m working every day this week, so no I can’t go on a double date with you.” Leah just scoffed at her.

“You’re just saying that because you already think he’s a dud.” Leah was currently sitting on the stool behind the register looking over at Maggie work.

Maggie could only laugh at her friends comment because it was partially true. She got off work at 6:00 pm, plenty of time to get ready and go on a date. “That may be true, but when are they not duds.” Maggie smirked downward at the records that still needed to be taken out of the boxes in front of her.

“Come on Mags,” Leah sighed, “life is not a cliché love song engraved on one of your records. You gotta go on the cringy dates to finally go on the noncringy dates.” Leah looked genuinely concerned for her friends love life. It was truly a tragic one. None of Maggie’s relationships lasted very long. The longest one she ever had was about four months. She honestly thought something was wrong with her. No one ever seemed to stay long, they all got bored and fast. She was ready to give up on love all together. Her friends used to get mad at her for how negative she was about love, but after she was cheated on for a second time, none them had it in them to argue with her anymore, well except Leah. She was only twenty- two and preparing herself to live a long lonely life. Like Leah said none of it is like the love songs engraved on one of her old dusty records, but she can help but think to herself that if it was love that she was supposed to feel shouldn’t be like one of those old dusty records.

Maggie looked Leah in the eyes and sighed. “I will go on all the cringy dates,” Leah began to smile at that, but Maggie cut her off by continuing with, “but I will choose the cringy person. Okay?”

Leah let out an annoyed huff, “fine,” and slouched back against the wall making sure the stool was close enough so she wouldn’t fall off. Maggie just smiled a small one as she looked back down at the record boxes and picked up the ones ready to be shelved.

……..

The boys had been on break for over a month and Calum had run out of things to do, to keep him occupied in his free time. Luke, Ash, and Michael were all spending their free time with there girlfriends and in Michael’s case his fiancé. Ashton had tried setting Calum up on a few blind dates, but for those to work Calum would have to show up to the date. So, as different way to pass the time Calum decided to ask Luke for ideas instead of Ashton. Luke proposed the idea of Calum going to record shop. Calum had never actually been to an actual record shop. He has bought ones online or gone to places like target to buy them, but never went to an actual record shop to hunt for the perfect record. But the issue was finding one. Luke’s girlfriend had sent him an address of one she used to go to all the time, but it was on the other side of town, the side of town he’s not too familiar with.

So, he set up his google maps on his phone and decided to take an hour trip across town. Calum decided to take Duke with him so the trip wasn’t as lonely. It would be a fun father son trip. Honestly Calum was excited to spend the day out with his dog.

……..

Before Calum got out of the car he put the windows down a little. It wasn’t very hot out, but he wanted to make sure Duke would be fine. He couldn’t be more than thirty minutes, but that was still long time for a dog to be in the car for that long.

“I promise I won’t be long,” Calum quickly pet duke’s head and closed his door and looked through the cracked window and continued with, “don’t get into to trouble, okay?” he then laughed a little to himself because people probably think he’s a little crazy talking to a dog.

Calum scanned the parking lot and noticed that there wasn’t that many cars. Only about four including his. Unless the staff of the store parks in the back, they must not get much business. He couldn’t help but wonder how a place like this can stay in business if no one is here, but then he reminds himself that most people are work eight to five jobs and it is ten in morning. so he makes his way to the doors and check to make sure they are open and the sign adorning the door tells him that they have been open since nine.

When he enters the door makes a little ding sound and when he looks up, he notices a bell attached to the top to alert the staff when someone enters the store. But when he looked around the store, he didn’t see anyone else. It could be because of the endless aisles and racks filled with CDs and records. It appeared endless. Calum began to roam the aisles, as he looked, he came across so many albums that he forgot even existed. Then he heard muffled talking form the next aisle.

Calum honestly forgot that there could possibly be other people in the store, considering there was basically no one in the parking lot and he hadn’t even seen a sales person asking him if he needed any help with anything. Ha decided to walk to the end of the row he was in and make his way into the row that he thought the talking was coming form. When he rounded the corner two people came into sight. One appeared to be a much older man, at least in his late sixties or early seventies, and the other was a young girl, not too young she looked about his age maybe a year or two younger, but that could be because she a sort of baby face to her. She was wearing skinny black ripped jeans, they were only ripped around the knee, and a black t-shirt that looked like a shirt one would buy from hot topic. She also had black vans on to match her black outfit. The thing that was drew Calum’s attention the most were the black bands tattooed around her upper arm and right below her elbow. It immediately reminded him of the same ones decorating Michael’s skin. Her hair was short just passing her shoulders and it had a slight purple tint to it indicating that she probably ha dyed it and the color was fading out.

Calum was pulled out of her thoughts by her voice speaking up again in response to the man standing in front of her. As she spoke Calum busied himself with looking at the records to his left. “If she’s starting a collection, I strongly recommend this album.” He looked up to see what album she was referring to and saw that it was Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, truly one of the best albums he had ever listened to himself. “You said she’s turning sixteen, right?”

The older man nodded his head, “Yeah, her mother told me she wanted to start a vinyl collection cause apparently it’s the cool thing these days.”

The girl let out a slight laugh but tried to stifle it so she could talk. “Well then if she’s doing it to be cool this is a great option. It an old album so it will get her a lot of points on the grunge front and if she ever decided to give it a spin on the player, she will fall in love with out a doubt.” She smiled up at the man as she spoke.

“Well, you look close to her age so I’m going to trust you on this.” The man clearly was joking with her at this point.

As she began to turn to turn to lead the man to the cash register Calum noticed her name tag said Margaret, and she was turning she spoke, “Okay, lets get you checked out then huh?” the older man only smiled at her and followed her to the front of the store.

Calum continued looking at the records, but he couldn’t get himself to focus on what was in front of him. Her smile was partially engraved in his mind already. He tried to focus on the Led Zeppelin albums, but then the bell that he heard when he entered the store was ringing again. He looked up for what was in front of him a realized that all he didn’t hear anyone talking anymore. Cal began walking in the direction in which Margaret had led the guy down when taking him to the cash register. On his way in that direction he mindlessly grabbed an album from one of the shelves.

He noticed Margaret was now sitting behind the register scrolling through her phone and there was also someone sitting next to her that he hadn’t seen when he walked in. It was another girl who looked to be the same age as Margaret, but she was wearing blue skinny jeans without a single rip in them and pair of pink tennis shoes to match the pink flowery shirt she was wearing. As Calum got closer they both looked up from their phones to look at him.

Margaret gave him a small smile with no teeth, and he noticed how her side swept bangs fell slightly in front of her right eye as she looked up. She immediately tucked her hair on the right side of her face behind her ear revealing multiple piercing on her ears. Once Calum was close enough she began talking, “What can I help you with.”

Calum simply held up the album he was holding and said, “Just this.” She began to laugh a little when she saw the album he was holding; it was same laugh he had heard her stifle earlier when talking to the older man about his granddaughter. He looked down at the what he was holding and noticed it was Taylor swift’s Fearless album and began to laugh himself.

Maggie wasn’t judging him for buying the album she just found It funny that this big guy in a leather jacket was buying an album she used to listen to religiously when she was in middle school. Mags couldn’t help but find it utterly adorable especially when he asked the question, “Is this one good?” the questioning look on his face made her slightly giggle again. She adverted her eyes to the register and began to ring him up.

When Maggie responded she couldn’t help the giggle that escaped with it, “It does have so great classics.” Leah really looked up from her phone to watch the event unfolding in front of her because she couldn’t believe her ears.

Calum was pleased with himself for getting her to laugh not only once but twice now. He tried to level his voice and sound as serious as he could when he said, “that’s why I picked it.” But Maggie and Leah could both hear the underlying amusement in his voice.

“Yeah, Okay.” Maggie’s smiled down at the register and read the price, “that will be sixteen dollars and ninety-nine cents.” She then held out her hand waiting for him to drop his credit card in it to which he did. She then proceeded to ask, “would like a bag?”

Calum took his credit card back and answered her question with a shake of the head. “No, I think I can manage.” He smiled at her then looked over at the other girl who had been looking at them for the last five minutes and smiled at her as well before saying, “Hope you both have a great day.” And turned around and left the store.

Once the bell had rung and the door had shut completely Leah looked at Maggie and exclaimed, “you never giggle.”

Maggie gave a look that could Leah refers to as her “what the fuck” look. “what does that even mean?”

Leah let out an annoyed huff. “It means, you don’t giggle. I have never seen a guy make you giggle, and he did.” Leah motioned toward the door of the shop when she referred to him. “and he is totally your type, and the way he was looking at you make me think you’re his.” When Maggie looked form the door back to Leah, she saw the obnoxious smirk Leah was wearing and couldn’t stop the annoyed words from leaving her mouth.

“In his dreams.”

tags: @lmao5sosimagines @snowflakegen @lynnskata @lvke-hemmings @notmyvalentyne @the5sosdumpster @calumisanactualangel @singt0mecalum @sweetcherrymike @irwnsrcses

#5 seconds of summer #5sos imagine #calum hood #calum hood fanfic #5sos #calum hood imagine #calum hood x reader #5sos one shot #5sos blurb #5sos fic #ashton irwin fanfiction #ashton irwin imagines #ashton imagine #ashton 5sos #ashton irwin #luke hemming imagines #luke hemmings #michael clifford imagine #michael clifford

66 notes · View notes