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captain-huggy-bear · 2 days ago

Text

A Little Misunderstanding

Pairing: Quinn Hughes x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Lil' angsty at points, but ends sweet, lots of mutual pining and two idiots not realising the other is also in love with the other, meddling mothers (for the best this time)

Summary: Your parents assume that Quinn, the man you mention over the phone all the time, is in fact your boyfriend. He's very much not, but Quinn thinks its funny to pretend he is...until it gets a little too real and maybe some truths are told and feelings are aired.

Notes: Thank you to the anon who requested fake dating to lovers with Quinn, I had this idea which is a little different from the usual fake dating so I hope its okay and you still like it 😊

Tried to keep it ambiguous as to where the reader originated from so that us UK girlies can relate as well as anyone else not from Vancouver and/or Canada.

Reminder I typically use UK spellings because I'm English so...don't come at me if you wish I spelt it the US away. If I have to read US spellings all the time, you can handle the odd UK spelling

Totally happy to take requests/ideas/prompts at the moment in my ask box :)

Writing Masterlist

"When does your flight get in?" You balance your phone between your shoulder and ear, picking up a stray sock that had fallen out of your laundry basket as you attempt to tidy your apartment.

"7am your time, sweetheart, remember?" Your mother's voice rings clear down the line, familiar and warm. It's been a while since you saw either of your parents. You having moved all the way to Vancouver, more miles than you could count from your birthplace and hometown around two years ago. You were excited to have them finally able to come out and stay with you for a week, they'd never been to see you, and it had been a while since you'd been able to see your parents, not having time to fly to see them. While you were glad for the move to Vancouver, living in a completely different place away from your family wasn't always the easiest thing in the world. You so often felt like you were having to fend for yourself without much of a support network. Luckily you'd made some good friends in the time you'd been in Van.

"Quinn offered to come with me to pick you and dad up, we'll be there waiting for you so don't worry about getting an Uber." You dropped Quinn's name casually because that's what it was, he was just another part of your existence. Your friend, who admittedly you had a small crush on, but just your friend nonetheless. Just because you thought he was beautiful and wanted to kiss him didn't mean you were allowed to kiss him or that he'd even want to kiss you. He was a friend who happened to be a man and you both happened to be single. This had not changed for two years and wasn't likely to any time soon.

"Oh, Quinn'll be there?" Your mother's voice was suddenly more upbeat, excited. She'd been eager to meet Quinn for months now, you're not sure why she finally took an interest in one of your friends but you can't help but be glad. Quinn had become a massive part of your life, a support network you very much needed when you'd first come to a strange new place all by yourself. He was part of the fabric of your life now, and you knew he'd charm your parents without even thinking about it. It shouldn't matter to you that your parents like your friend, its not like Quinn was your boyfriend, but it did matter to you. You wanted them to like him as much as you did because you wanted him around for the foreseeable future.

"Yeah, I mentioned you were coming to visit the other day and his car is bigger than mine, so he offered to come along, he has to get up early most days anyway so he's not too bothered by it." It helped that Quinn had a couple of days off, but still you were thankful. He could have spent his rare enough free time doing something much more enjoyable than helping you pick your parents up from the airport.

"Your father and I look forward to meeting him, we've heard so much about him, darling!"

There's something about your mother's tone that makes you stop for a second suddenly feeling a little awkward about the whole thing. Maybe it's just how eager she is or maybe it's something else, but there's a little red flag waving in the back of your mind with some small print on that you just can't quite read yet.

"Right...um, look I'll see you tomorrow morning then? I gotta get everything ready for you guys."

"Of course, of course! We love you!"

"Love you too, mum."

"You're sure you don't mind?" You look over at Quinn from the passenger seat, the two of you look exhausted, big bags under your eyes and even bigger hoodies to hide in because a 5am wake up to get to the airport in time was just a little much for both of you. This early in the morning it's still dark and the streetlights do something to Quinn's face that makes him even more handsome than usual, even as he looks like he might fall back asleep at any minute. It doesn't help that his scruff has grown out or that his hair is in those perfect waves he always seems to get even when he's just taken his bucket off.

"I wouldn't have offered if I did, besides the amount of time we spend together isn't it about time I met your parents? You've met mine." He smiles over at you, cheeky, the sort of Quinn most people didn't see. It's silly that it makes your cheeks feel warm, he's just your friend. You shouldn't be flustered by him.

"Your parents are at as many of your games as possible, of course I've met them."

"So are you. Sue me for wanting to meet the parents of one of my best friends."

"I'm your best friend?" You lean your head back on the headrest, tilting slightly to grin at him all silly. Quinn can see it from the corner of his eye and as much as it's ridiculous, that little grin makes you even more beautiful than normal.

"One of." He rolls his eyes at you, partly because of your silliness and partly rolling his eyes at himself. You're his friend. He shouldn't feel this way about you, men can have female friends...he just can't seem to have you as a female friend without wanting to kiss you at any given opportunity. It's becoming difficult, even more so in the early morning when the low light level puts your face in stark contrast and your hoodie, one of his, makes you look so cozy and sweet.

"That's just your way of avoiding admitting how much you love me and need me in your life."

Quinn's cheeks flush bright red, so bright that even the low light can't hide it nor hide the way he bites back a smile at you, eyes fixed on the road and the last few miles to the airport.

"...Shut up."

The silence that fills the car is comfortable, the sort that comes about from spending so much time together. You have friends that aren't Quinn, of course you do, but Quinn had been your first friend in Vancouver. He'd shown you around and made time for you in his incredibly busy schedule. You were often the first person he saw when he came off a roadie and the last person to see him before he left for one. There were nights when you stayed round Quinn's after a game or vice versa. You spent so much time together that you simply coexisted, being around Quinn was as easy as breathing. You rarely argued or disagreed and when you did it was always resolved properly. You simply worked. There wasn't ever much to think about with Quinn. You could just...shut off.

"Thank you, though...seriously." You take a moment, thinking how to word your next few thoughts, your warning as the signs for the airport come into full view, "Just, my mum seems really eager to meet you so...just brace yourself."

"Eager?"

"You know when your parents are excited to meet a new partner?" You think back to the few times you'd introduced a boyfriend to your mum, the excitement that she exuded...it was starting to concern you that she was that excited to just meet your friend. Because that's all Quinn was. Your friend. Not your boyfriend. Your friend, you remind yourself, even as he looks so good smiling over at you with his beard. He'd let it grow out just enough that he looked rugged and mature.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, she's that sort of excited which is really weird...she normally doesn't' care that much about my friends. Just, sorry, if she's really weird about it?" It's awkward enough talking about, you and Quinn have always stayed firmly platonic, you didn't talk about the fact that people assumed you were dating or even the concept of it. Talking about it felt...it felt like you were opening the curtains up, letting him see in a little too far.

"You didn't tell her we were married or something, did you?"

"Quinn! Shut up!" He laughs so loud that you can't actually be that mad at him, not when he's grinning at you like that, not when he's been so stressed as of late about the performance of his team. Even if it's at your expense.

"What? Just checking! For all I know you could have told her we got married in Vegas during one of my games or something?"

"If I'm telling my mum I'm married to you, it'll be because I'm actually married to you, you idiot." You roll your eyes at him, arms crossing over your chest as you turn to look out the window.

"Oh, so you do want to marry me?" He's joking, but he's not...he's thought about it. There's not a day that Quinn hasn't thought about what it would be like to be yours and you be his, not since he met you...and then promptly managed to land himself so far into the friendzone that he was scared to crawl his way out lest he leave you behind in the process.

"...I hate you."

"No you don't." His voice is singsong in intonation and sweet and he's right because you love him and it hurts...god, it hurts how much you love someone you can't have. Someone you see every day, someone who is so deeply ingrained in your life that removing him would be like carving a hole into your own chest.

You just sit and glare at him, even as a heavy sort of sadness hits, as he pulls up into one of the parking bays for collecting passengers.

It's okay that he's just your friend, you remind yourself as you get out of the car. It's okay because he's the best friend you could ask for, he's here at 6.45 am in the morning to collect your parents from the airport, not because he was asked or because he had to, but because he wanted to. You can live with loving him in silence, so long as you always have him around.

"I think they're over this way, probably, near gate 1?" You're just getting your bearings, trying to figure out roughly where your parents will come out at after they find their things from baggage claim when you hear it.

"My baby!" The squeal of a middle aged woman who hasn't seen her daughter in far too long pierces the air. You barely have time to brace yourself for impact before your mother is wrapping you up in a gigantic hug and pressing as many kisses to your face as possible, you know without a doubt her signature mauve lipstick is smudged all across your skin.

Your father stands behind her, rolling his eyes in amusement but the smile he gives you is no less warm, "Hey there, princess."

"Hi, mum, hi, dad," You pull yourself free from your mother just long enough to get a long awaited hug from your father, big and warm and so familiar that you almost feel like crying. How long has it been since you last hugged your dad? Half a year? Nine months? Longer? You sometimes don't realise how much you miss something until you get it back.

When you turn back around your mother is already pulling Quinn into a hug that he accepts, if a tad awkwardly, his hands patting her on the back like he's not quite sure how hugs work.

She has his face in her hands before you can intervene, overly familiar and friendly as she grins up at him like he's made her day just by existing. "You must be Quinn, Y/N's boyfriend..."

"Oh, he's n-" You're pretty sure your eyes bug out of your head, startled by the suggestion because at no point in the last few years of living in Vancouver had you ever called Quinn your boyfriend. Ever.

You're cut off by Quinn who's grinning at you wickedly over the top of your mother's head like he's just been giving the greatest Christmas present he could ever ask for and in that moment you know...you know that he is going to make your life very difficult with this tiny piece of information.

"Yeah, hi, nice to meet, the boyfriend, that's me." God, he wishes it was true. There's nothing more he wants in that moment than to be able to say to your mom that you are 100% his girlfriend, but he can't...he can, however, enjoy the roleplaying while it lasts. He can't really stop himself, not when you look so aghast at your mother calling him your boyfriend, not when he can use this to tease you for at least the next 30 years. He grew up with 2 brothers, sue him for taking advantage of the situation.

"Quinn!"

"What? Am I not allowed to call myself your boyfriend anymore?" He sidles up to you, slipping out from your mother's grip to pull you into his side. His arm rests naturally over your shoulder, yours finding his waist, and it is natural...because you've done this a million times before. The kiss he presses to your hair is new though, different and as much as your mum clearly believes the ruse, you can see your father just looks amused. Something tells you he knows this is all an act, but he finds it enjoyable to watch. Typical. No support from him when you need it most. Dads.

"Oh, she's just grouchy in the mornings, has been ever since she was a baby!" Your mother looks at the two of you with such pride that you're certain her heart actually might break when she finds out Quinn isn't actually your boyfriend. You've never seen her look so happy with your choice in a man before and you're certain she won't be able to cope when you have to inevitably tell her that it was either a) a lie or b) that Quinn just wasn't the guy for you (another lie just to make your life more complicated).

"Mum!"

"Oh don't worry, I know just how grouchy my baby can be in the mornings." This time he presses a kiss to your cheek and when he does, you hiss lowly in his ear, 'I'm going to kill you.' and Quinn can't help but laugh at you, biting his lip at how much fun he's having riling you up.

"Here let me take your bags, Mrs Y/L/N," Quinn's bending down before your mother can even begin to protest, her carry on backpack being slung over his shoulder and pulling up the handle of her suitcase to wheel it behind him.

"Oh, you don't have to, Quinn!"

"I insist." He knows he's making it harder on you, can see the look you give him because he's just going to make your mother fall in love with him. But, even as he enjoys riling you up, he was also raised right and he's not letting your mother carry her own bags.

Your mother hangs back with you while your father and Quinn start walking ahead with the suitcases. She slips her arm through yours walking with you to keep up, as she does so she does a very bad attempt at whispering. The sort of whispering that means you know Quinn can hear every word and is probably enjoying it immensely.

"He's such a gentleman..."

"Yeah, a real gentleman." You mutter sarcastically, watching the way his shoulders rise and fall in a silent laugh that he's no doubt doing his best to swallow down.

"Don't be grumpy, he's just being sweet on you. You should be glad for such a loving boyfriend..." Your mother scolds you before raising her voice back to normal, Quinn and your father slowing down slightly to help keep the four of you together, "So, Quinn, my daughter tells me you're a hockey player?"

"Yeah, you talk about me, baby?" Quinn's grin is wide, and you can't help the warmth that fills your entire face because you can't actually deny it. You talk about Quinn all the time, he's your best friend and whenever your mother phones, you inevitably talk about him. Whether it was a game of his you went to or a coffee place you'd visited together or gala he'd invited you to. Maybe, you talked about him too much? Maybe, it was obvious in the way you talked about him that you loved him? Maybe that's why your mother had made such a large assumption about your relationship status. Maybe this was your fault, why wouldn't she assume you were dating?

"She talks about you all the time. Quinn this, Quinn that...did you know that Quinn did this today and broke this record?"

"Mum..." You groan out, looking to your dad for help but all he does is shrug his shoulders at you, amusement bright in his eyes. Even if he could do something you know he wouldn't because he's clearly enjoying your torture.

Quinn can't help it, the tables seem to reverse. You're embarrassed still, but now he is too, bright red in the face, ears flushed the colour of a fire engine and a hand rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. All because you talk about him to your parents...you talk about him when he's not around...he feels like a twelve year old, giddy because his crush smiled at him for the first time.

"I play for the NHL."

"Vancouver Canucks, wasn't it?" Your mother asks as the four of you step out into the cold Canadian air, her attention making Quinn squirm and you smile, enjoying the discomfort being swapped around for a moment.

"Yeah, I'm the captain of the team." He smiles at your mother awkwardly as he opens the boot of the car and starts to pile in the suitcases, organising them in just the right way that they fit without hassle.

Your father chimes in as he lifts his own suitcase into the back, Quinn helping him shove it back further, "That's impressive, I used to play field hockey myself, never got out of the amateur league but got a few bruises in my time. You had an injury recently right?"

You still remember phoning your mum to talk about it, at first worried and then over time growing more and more frustrated with how sullen Quinn was being. He'd grown restless from not being able to play hockey and you'd been his distraction, a distraction that had grown fed up with his moping no matter how much you loved him.

"I've had a few this year, most recently my hand." He raises his braced hand, the brace a point of annoyance to him at this point in time. He was itching to be done with it, but put up with it because it meant he could still play hockey at the moment.

"Oh, you shouldn't have been carrying my bag then, Quinn!" Your mother fusses over him, flapping about as if she might have a miracle cure for his hand injury.

"Honestly, it's fine! It looks worse than it is, I promise. I wouldn't get away with it otherwise, this one would kill me." He nods his head at you as he closes the boot, opening one of the backdoors for your mother to slide inside.

"Damn right I'd kill you, I cannot take more days of you moping that you can't play hockey and that you're bored despite my amazing company."

"You know I enjoyed spending time with you, sweetheart...but..."

"But, you can't live without hockey, yeah, I know..."

He follows you round to the passenger side door, opening it for you like a gentleman and letting you slide inside. You find yourself enjoying the attention even as you catch your mother's eye in the rear view mirror, a little smirk reaching her lips as she watches Quinn buckle you in. Something he does from time to time when he's feeling particularly sweet...because he was a good friend.

"So, Quinn, how did you meet our daughter? I'm not sure she ever mentioned it?"

The entire ride home is filled with your mother peppering Quinn with questions, encouraging him to talk more and more about your 'relationship'. Everything from when you first met to the first date you went on (which Quinn told her was the first time he took you ice skating, you were under the impression that that was a friendly family skate event and most certainly not a date).

The conversation lulls while you set your parents up in your spare bedroom, helping them settle themselves and showing them around your apartment. They hadn't ever seen it in person and they spent half the time cooing over your choices, the photos of family and friends on the wall, the ones of you and Quinn, as well as your mother checking your fridge and telling you to buy more vegetables.

It's as you're sitting down to a breakfast of pre-bought croissants and pain au chocolat that your mother restarts her question. This time even more invasive than the first.

"So Quinn, when did you know?"

"Mm? Know what?" Your best friend looks at your mother with furrowed brows, taking a sip of his orange juice and almost choking on it when she proceeds to clarify her question.

"When you loved my daughter."

There's a long beat of silence where your eyes stay fixated on your plate, watching your own hands intently as you spread Nutella inside your croissant, far too focused on that to be anything casual or calm. You're certain you're going to be sick because he doesn't love you but you love him and your poor mother is so oblivious and this...this is going too far, it feels like it's gone too far.

"Expected answer or honest answer?"

"Honest answer."

"The second week I knew her." Your head snaps up with a start only to find Quinn looking directly at you, green eyes crinkling softly at the corners. "She heard that I had been hurt on the ice the night before and she stormed round my apartment with a bunch of food, medicine and a blanket. Spent the whole day looking after me and making me watch 90s movies I hadn't watched growing up. No one outside my family had ever done that for me before...it made me realise that if I wasn't already in love, I would be pretty quick." You almost believe him, the way he looks at you, the way he speaks so softly. Almost.

You look down at your plate, tears welling in your eyes because you know he doesn't mean it. He's spinning a yarn for your mother and it hurts that he would go that far when you both know this is all some ruse he's decided to pull. You swallow hard and take a bite of your croissant, refusing to look at him for the rest of breakfast.

You won't meet his eyes until he goes to leave after breakfast, your parents hanging back so you can say goodbye to your 'boyfriend'.

"Mind if I come over after dinner? We could watch a movie with your parents?"

"Quinn..." You go to challenge him on his behaviour today, but the words won't come out.

"What?"

"Nothing...uh, sure, after dinner?"

"After dinner, baby."

You want to tell him off as he says it, as he presses a kiss to your cheek so your parents can see because you aren't his baby and he's hurting you. He's hurting you without realising it because you so desperately want to be his baby. But, you don't. You just watch him walk away down the corridor of your apartment building and out of sight before getting ready to show your parents around Vancouver for the day.

You try to put the whole thing out of your mind throughout the day, showing your parents the sights of Vancouver, including the arena...but it's hard when they keep bringing Quinn back up and asking about your feelings. They probe you for half the day and it's emotionally exhausting balancing the truth with the half-truth, even more so knowing that they're going to be just as disappointed as you are when they realise your relationship with Quinn is just a sham, a charade, a fake.

Eventually they seem to grow bored of talking about the topic, however, and dinner goes relatively smoothly, you taking them to a nice restaurant Quinn had shown you back in your first couple of months in Vancouver. Even that feels bittersweet though, filled with memories of the two of you dining together. You can't help but feel like the whole issue needs addressing as you get them back home and pop a film on ready for Quinn's arrival.

When he arrives he continues the act as if it isn't one, greeting you at the door with a kiss to the cheek and pulling you down onto the loveseat opposite your parents, curling one arm around your shoulders and urging you to lay against him, your cheek pressed into his chest. In some ways it's familiar, not an act, because you cuddle for movies all time, completely platonically of course, but both of you are touchy feely and it's always been part of your dynamic. In others though? The way he talks to you, the pet names, kisses to your hair, that is all new, all a way to show your parents he's the 'doting boyfriend', even though he's not your boyfriend at all.

Your parents lap it up, every now and then you catch them smiling at each other and then over to the two of you and you can't help but feel heavy with it. With this feeling of unrequited affection. You love Quinn, you've known that for a while now, but it was easy to be around him because you didn't need to address it. You could love him in silence and from afar...you had never considered how hard it would become when what you wanted most was being dangled in front of you like a carrot on a string.

Quinn has a similar dilemma going on in his own head. He's always known he loved you more than a friend, even when you barely knew each other...had he been braver he would have asked for your number for a date that first day, not so that he could show you around a new city as a 'friend'. But, he'd been a coward and since then he'd continued to be. He enjoyed every ounce of affection he got from you, every hug, every cuddle, ever time you held his arm at an event, all while feeling like that had to be enough...now he's had more? He's not sure it'll ever be enough, he's greedy for you. Greedy for your affection, your attention, greedy in the way he wants to keep kissing you, keeping calling you sweet names and greedy for the way you grow bashful. Greedy for more than just being your friend...he's given himself a taste of what life could be like and now he can't forget it.

It's halfway through the movie, your legs slung over Quinn's lap and his fingers carding through the ends of your hair when your parents stand with a groan from the other couch.

"Princess?" You lift your head to look at your father, who's stretching out his back after sitting for so long.

"Yeah, dad?"

"Your mother and I are getting a little tired...we're going to go to bed, if that's alright with you two?"

"Of course, don't let us keep you up." Quinn confirms your own thoughts as well, telling your parents it's not problem at all. It's all so...so domestic.

Your dad presses a kiss to the top of your head, as does your mother, before yourself and Quinn wish them goodnight. You wait until you see the door to the spare room start to close, not waiting for it to do so fully, before turning to Quinn. You pull out of his arms, the missing warmth of you an immediate loss to him, but it has him sitting up straight and taking you seriously.

Your face is sullen, sad, eyebrows pinched, mouth turned down into a frown and he's alarmed to see that your eyes are glassy like you might cry.

"Why on earth would you let my parents think we're dating? Why would you tell my mother you're in love with me?" You're certain you're going to cry, angry, frustrated and sad all in one. Lovesick because it hurts to hear him tell your mother he was in love with you when you know he's not.

"Why not?" He frowns at you, hands reaching out but you keep just out of reach as if touching him is the last thing you want. You've never shied away from Quinn's touch and he recoils, breathing a little heavier out of anxious worry that he's upset you, that he's fucked this up. Maybe you've been uncomfortable with his touch all day? Has he been making you uncomfortable all day? Is he one of those guys?

"Because we're not dating and you're not in love with me, Quinn. My mother is certain we're going to get married and I'll stop being an old spinster! You're getting her hopes up." The unspoken words lay heavy on your tongue, 'you're getting my hopes up', you want to say.

"Who said I didn't love you? Who said I didn't want to marry you?" The look he gives you isn't the cheeky one he's had all day, it's not joking or silly, it's dead serious. He scoots closer to you, but doesn't reach out for you this time. But, Quinn can't help but want to be close to you, to be drawn into your orbit, into your gravity.

"Quinn..."

"What?"

"You're being mean..." Your voice is filled with tears, wet, pathetic sounding and you choke back a sob as a tear falls down your cheek because he's being so mean...he can't dangle that in front of you, everything you've ever wanted, not when he doesn't actually mean it.

He realises in that moment that you don't believe him. You believe he's spent the entire morning and evening telling lies, saying that he loves you when he doesn't, that you're that important to him when you aren't. You believe he's being mean because you don't believe him, that the tears are because you think he's holding this thing, this idea out in front of you, only to snatch it away.

"Look, I said a lot today...but none of it was a lie." He can't help himself this time, hand coming up to cup your cheek, thumb wiping away that pesky tear that shouldn't have been there in the first place. It's the way you lean into his touch that brings him a sense of confidence, of relief, you wouldn't do that if you didn't want him touching you.

"I know our first date wasn't a date, just a stupid family skate I was too scared to ask you out to as more than just a friend. I wish it had been a date and I wish I had been brave enough from the start to tell you I didn't just want to be your friend."

"Quinn..."

"And I was telling the truth...when your mother asked me when I fell in love with you." He tugs you closer, until your legs are back over his lap and your practically sitting on top of him, arms wrapping around your lower back and pulling you closer. The way he stares up at you is nothing short of reverent.

"Q..."

"The second week we knew each other you came to look after me when no one else did...and I knew...I knew that I was going to love you and that I was stupid for not asking you out in the first place...but I was...I was too scared to say anything. I didn't want to lose my new friend...I thought..." He hesitates, tongue coming out to nervously brush against his bottom lip, capturing your attention like a magpie with a shiny button.

"You thought?" You're whispering, quiet as if to speak any louder might scare him, might disrupt this little bubble you've found yourself in.

"I thought having a tiny bit of you...any bit, was better than having none of you at all." Quinn confesses, shifting you on his lap as your legs fall either side of his hips until you're so close your noses brush.

"Is it?"

"It was...for a bit..." It's self-deprecating, sardonic, like he finds himself ridiculous, foolish.

"And now?"

"And now I've had a taste of what it's like to love you, to be able to kiss you and hold you...call you mine...and now I'm greedy and it's not enough...Baby, it'll never be enough."

"You...you love me?" It's like even after all of this, everything he's said, every tender touch, you still don't quite believe him. It's hard to believe that everything you've ever wanted is sat in the palm of your hand just waiting for you to capture it, to take it. That your feelings, the ones you believed were unrequited for two years, were actually returned all along.

"I love you...and...um, if...if you'll have me, maybe I could be your real boyfriend this time?" His face is bright red, so warm to the touch when you're fingers reach out to trace his cheeks that you're surprised he doesn't combust.

"I'd like that...I...I love you too,"

"So...I'm your boyfriend?" He says it like he doesn't quite believe it, the beauty mark on his cheek moving as he grins up at you giddy like a little kid getting his first bag of sweets.

"You're my boyfriend." You press a kiss to that beauty mark without overthinking it...because you can now, because now it's not a lie when you tell your parents he's your boyfriend, because now you're allowed to kiss him and hold him and tell him how much you love him.

"Fuck...that sounds good."

He can't help but just stare up at you from where you're straddling his lap. The healthy glow to your skin, the soft smile directed down at him, the way you seem to curl into him like you're not close enough even now. God, you're beautiful and you're his...you're finally his and he's yours and...and he can't comprehend that the thing he wanted to happen for so long has finally happened. What had he been scared of all this time? He could have been with you for two years, instead he'd squandered it out of fear...

"Quinn?" Your voice is soft, melodic, so so sweet that almost closes his eyes at the sound.

"Yeah, baby?"

"Kiss me?" You whisper as if it's shameful to ask, as if you've asked for something more sordid than a simple kiss...your first kiss together at that.

"Anything for my girl."

He's gentle in the way he cups your neck and jaw with one large hand, thumb pressing just below your jaw bone as he pulls you in. There's nothing rushed about the way Quinn presses your lips together, the smooth glide of his bottom lip against your top. Even the way his tongue brushes against your lip until you open up for him is slow, steady, adoring. You can't help the way you sigh into him, fingers gliding through dark chocolate strands, eyes closing shut with the sense of home, sense of relief that you find in him.

The two of you lose yourselves in each other, slow kisses, wandering hands, nothing too extreme, but a new found intimacy that you're finally allowed to indulge in before you curl back up together to watch the remainder of the movie. Watch being a loose term for what you're really doing.

"Did you know?" Your father turns his eyes away from the scene outside the spare bedroom, the way you're curled up in Quinn's arms like you were always supposed to be there. Neither of you realising that the spare bedroom door had never fully closed, both your parents eavesdropping like Samwise Gamgee.

"That they weren't actually together, dear?" Your mother looks sly and devious as she looks over at her husband. The face of the woman he loves, but also fears in equal measure.

"Yes."

"Of course I knew...but I figured they could both use a shove in the right direction, I mean, look at them?" Your parents both turn to watch the two of you, the way you curl up together on the couch is the epitome of young love. There's no real watching of a movie happening, instead Quinn's fingers are rubbing circles into your shoulder, while you look up at him lovingly from where you're curled against his chest. Every now and then he dips his head down to press a kiss against your forehead, and each time you giggle, face pressing briefly into his neck. The giddy feeling of a new, fresh love, making film watching the least of your interests.

"They just needed a little push." Both your parents smile at each other even as your father playfully scolds his wife, "You're a meddlesome woman."

"And you love me for it."

"Yes, yes I do."

Perhaps it took a bit of meddling, a fake misunderstanding, but that would be their little secret...at least for now. Your mother was rather looking forward to seeing you squirm in the future as you reveal the truth, that you hadn't actually been dating Quinn as long as you said. Yes, she certainly was happy to help, but she also was still your mother and lying to your mother was certainly not the done thing. A little squirming was good for you sometimes, but first, she'd let you enjoy the fresh bloom of love...and she'd go easy on you.

#huggy bear writes #quinn hughes x reader #quinn hughes/reader #quinn hughes #nhl imagine #nhl x reader

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mayapapaya33 · 2 days ago

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Well, I haven't read the origins comic yet, so I'll take your word for that. Some of the comic stuff is a bit wibbly on canon so I'm not sure if I do take it as campaign canon really, but I'll just go with it for the purposes of this conversation. (The fact that she never once mentions being run out of town by Yeza in the campaign makes that a little weird but sure ok. It also feels a little retconny to brush over her major fear that her family would reject her even if they DID know it was her under the curse, which was what was implied to be a big reason she stayed away in the campaign, in favor of it being because they DID chase her away based purely on what she looked like before she could say anything. It feels...strange. I'm not sure how I feel about it, I'll have to think about it. It just feels like after the fact justification of her staying away from them to me, but oh well. LET WOMEN BE FLAWED 2025! lol I am eventually going to get my hands on all of the origins comics, I just haven't done so yet.)

My point wasn't really a moral argument about Veth and Lilliana having done equally bad things in the world, obviously that's not true. I could have said It better, but I guess I just thought that was obvious and I was tired? lol, silly me. So to make it clearer: Veth is a hero who helped save the world, and Liliana fell in with a cult and did terrible things under the woefully misguided belief she was doing the right thing. I'm more saying I could see Veth turning out like Liliana if things went differently and their initial act of abandonment is fundamentally similar. Also, it's not just the hag thing btw, that was just the most obvious and memorable example I could reference and know everyone would know what I was talking about without writing a 5 page essay and hunting down obscure time stamps lol.

Another example was her stance in that discussion about justice and vengeance from ep 98 (26:26) with Caduceus. Cad basically said: Hey, going after criminals in the Empire sounds great if you can be smart about it, but if you're just doing it to make yourself feel better, I don't really see the point of that, so maybe don't because you'll probably restart the war if you aren't extremely careful. And Veth's response was very understandable from her characters pov, but makes me think that, yeah, in the right circumstances, she'll do what she wants, when she wants, and damn the consequences and it won't be about justice, it'll be about making herself feel good and she'll find the internal justification she needs to. "You can stand by -You can just watch bad people get away with it?" If the price of stopping one bad person is reigniting a WAR, um yeah, I can Veth. He's basically saying, don't cause more problems than you are going to fix by your actions, and interrogate your motivations and she wasn't having it. I think he might have gotten through to her in the end but I'm not sure because they "dissolved" using mouth sounds and hand waving into the next scene of Jester finding Marion.

There are many things that make me think this about her. Anger and desperation can cause people to make poor decisions. (I think you might have misconstrued the one bit where I was debating whether letting your family think you were dead and staying gone or just saying goodbye and abandoning them was actually worse or not, I personally vote dead being worse but I'm genuinely not sure, like I said. So, in that one aspect I think Veth's worse, but not for everything lol. The misguided hope left behind from what Liliana did might be worse.)

My point was that they both abandoned their families in order to solve a problem. Yes, Liliana left "voluntarily" right from the start in the sense that she wasn't kidnapped by goblins and transformed against her will, her "against her will change" was foisted upon her by a God Eater trapped in moon jail instead. She was essentially kidnapped by her own powers, she couldn't control them and needed to figure out what they were and how to deal with them. So yes, it was a choice for her to leave as you so aptly pointed out, just not quite as voluntary a choice as people keep presenting it as. I suppose it's more accurate for me to say it was Liliana's choice to leave, and Veth's choice to STAY gone (yes, even with the addition of the comic lore).

Don't you remember early campaign Imogen constantly having to be careful and worried about her telepathy? How it hurt her to be in large crowds? How her town DID treat her like garbage, like a pariah, "like an outright monster" even. It's not like Liliana left for fun. She was scared she was going to hurt someone if she didn't learn how to control herself, and worried that Imogen would develop those powers too. (That was her initial reasoning, and then things devolved of course). You said it yourself; The Grim Verity was taking too long, and she wanted to go home so she fell in with Ludinus and co because he promised answers and a solution.

Veth's initial separation from her family OBVIOUSLY wasn't her fault, and apparently in the comics she tried to go home and was run off for looking like a goblin. Well, that truly sucks for Comic Book Veth and she has my sympathy. There are still a variety of things she could have done, including once she befriended Caleb enough where she trusted him, have him go to Yeza in person and explain the curse and everything while she hid at the outskirts of town. She could have told Caleb a bunch of things only Veth would know to help convince Yeza, Etc.

At a certain point, Veth's Choice to stay away from her family was just as voluntary as Liliana's. She could have tried (or tried again if comics are canon) at any time, and she didn't. The problem wasn't solved so they "couldn't" go home and then events spiraled. Again, they aren't the same, I just think their situations parallel each other interestingly. Becoming "not a goblin" was not the only way for Veth to reunite with her family. It's perfectly understandable that she thought that it was considering all of her trauma and her shame and her fear, but that doesn't make it true. It was still an active choice that she made to not try to reunite with her family until she looked "normal" again, even once her circumstances had changed and she could have had help. She didn't try because she didn't want her family seeing her like that and because she was scared of what they would think. (Again, very understandable, but still a choice). What if Caleb couldn't find a way to change her back into a halfling? Would she never have gone home, continuing to look for a solution?

Liliana "couldn't" go home until she understood and could control her powers, a reasonable yet tragic decision, which then spiraled into it being that she "couldn't" go home until she helped "save" the world from the tyranny of the Gods, etc. Somewhat less reasonable I think you'll agree. How long does Veth's decision to not try (or not try again) to reunite with her family until she's no longer a goblin remain reasonable? One year? Five years? Ten years? It was a combination of luck and hard work that got her a new body as relatively fast as she did. Caleb and Essek meeting and becoming magic bffs might never have happened without Caleb's "I'm never going back to jail" moment in the Bright Queen's throne room for example lol.

More than all of that though, I'm not a huge fan of Veth's parenting while she IS present in Luc's life but seeing as Liliana hasn't really been present in Imogen's life for more than like a month, that's about where any parallels or comparisons stop lmfao. A lot of Veth's bad parenting once she's back in Luc's life is also due to the fact that Sam Riegel is a comedian first and an actor second so if he sees an opportunity to be funny, he'll pounce. Which unfortunately for poor Veth, does mean that if you look at her with a sober eye she comes across as a dreadful parent. Hilarious of course, but I did end up feeling bad for Yeza whenever I saw him futilely trying to be responsible whenever the M9 came trampling through their lives being bad influences. Honestly, she wonders why teenage Luc is like that! I learned it from watching you mom!

If the Good Moms of Critical Role ever learn about the shit Liliana's pulled it's on sight 😤

#critical role #the mighty nein #bells hells #critical role spoilers #veth brenatto #liliana temult #parallels #choices #yeza brenatto #luc brenatto #lol #veth is a hero #just wanted to make that clear #she's just also someone #I see going down a dark path #pretty easily if things were different

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bridgyrose · 1 day ago

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Something I do vastly enjoy about RWBY is that while it is willing to show villains as horrible people, it's also willing to show them as human and how most were failed by society at some point to end up on this path.

Salem was failed by the gods, not because they wouldn't bring Ozma back, but because they never really understood the grief that Salem was going through and thought making her immortal would help her understand the importance of death.

Tyrian, as far as we can tell, is mentally unstable and never ended up with the help he needed. So once he met someone who was willing to save him and indulge in his desires to kill, he latched right onto it.

Hazel was also a victim of his own grief, unaware of how his sister died beyond a training accident and blaming Ozpin for it. He managed to find Salem, tried to kill her and only fell further into the idea that Ozpin had to be stopped.

Cinder was abused for most if not all of her childhood, promised a way out if only she could hold on. But with nothing to really help her with the abuse and finally snapping, Rhodes hadn't even tried to understand her situation, only seeing her kill and seeing it as enough to arrest her. Eventually killing him and finding Salem, everything she's done has been in the name of power and freedom because she's terrified of going back to that situation.

Neo and Roman both ended up as criminals due to a lack of love. Roman was orphaned and Neo's parents treated her as something that was broken.

Even Adam was failed, only ever given reasons to give into his frustrations and anger, eventually using it as a weapon to try to put humans beneath faunus after losing himself to his anger.

At any point things could've been different for most of them. Someone to lean on, someone to help them, maybe there could've been other paths for them.

#rwby #adam taurus #cinder fall #salem #neopolitan #roman torchwick #hazel rainart

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the-crooked-library · 3 days ago

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My favourite part is how movie repeatedly shows us that Orlok is Ellen's true soulmate and in a way husband. From lilacs being the thread connecting them before Thomas even showed up, to the Ellen's dream about marrying Death in place of Thomas and being happy about it, to lock of Ellen's hair that smelled of lilacs for Orlok, to Ellen re-marrying Orlok and having a sweet sensual wedding night and mutual tender embrace in dying. The message was not even subtle.

Exactly, it’s not subtle at all! I personally think their belonging to each other becomes incredibly obvious when you consider the difference between the parts of the narrative that are decided for Ellen by other characters, vs the few times she gets to make a choice herself.

She has to devote herself to her husband - but she sends a lock of her perfumed hair with him to the Carpathians, in a locket that is never opened until it is in Orlok’s hands. She has to argue and rebuke the monster - but she comes close to him to do so, until they’re almost touching, even though she usually argues with people from across the room. She has to sacrifice herself and save the city - but she wears a wedding dress for it, undresses both herself and Orlok, indulges in a tender night with him; and she didn’t need to do any of that, considering that he wouldn’t have been able to resist her offered blood regardless.

What also gets me is that the same applies to Orlok, too. He is a vampire, a monster, a villain. He must be inhuman, he must haunt her, he must kill her loved ones, he must devour her - and he does do these things!.. Except that he also lingers over the smell of lilacs, he begs her to join him; and amidst all the carnage he causes, she remains intact. When he does drain her, he is reverent, tentative, and he kills himself for one more minute with her because she asks him to stay.

It is almost as if they know they’re in a story. Ellen definitely knows how it will end from the beginning, and I don’t really believe that Orlok cares, as long as they get to be together. They act out the overarching plot points just to allow themselves the stolen tenderness in between.

#nosferatu #nosferatu 2024 #nosferatu (2024)#ellen hutter #count orlok #ellenorlok #ellen x orlok #Nosferatu meta #gothic romance #gothic horror #vampire #vampire romance

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writingwisterias · 3 days ago

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How would the different eras of Leon act if he knows he shouldn’t be with the reader (ada wong typa shit) but he can’t escape from her like whenever something happens (like maybe she spotted arias’s wedding in vendetta ?) she is deff a part of it and he keeps running into the reader 🙏 i love your work btw you’re the reason why i keep refreshing the tag 💪💜

Hiii

I love this idea lmao and thank you! You are so sweet - I hope you have a great day <3

Warnings: None Fem! reader

RE2:

Post the events of the game let's say he sees you around the training grounds

After the events you both went through at a young age I think he finds it easier to blame you for letting him fall for Ada's tricks

It grows heated and hurts you that he treats you like that around the camp

Krasuer actually makes you sparing partners on purpose hoping that you would hone in your anger and focus on creating your skills

It doesn't work

RE4R:

He sees you as he's running around but almost plays it off as just a figment of his imagination

It would a similar reaction to Ada in the game but let's say he actually is hung up you and has feelings then he would slip up more

He'll expose these feelings more often than showing you he's angry.

I don't think however you would use this to your advantage but find it cute that he is struggling

He's almost drawn to be at your side more than he is to focus on the mission. Ashley's presence is a reminder of what he's meant to be doing

Infinite Darkness:

Grows frustrated at first, like how are you here again

At this point I think he'll just assume the universe thinks you are meant to be together

Again is more likely to draw in close and team up in a way where he's not just straight up being used

He's been there done that

Better at hiding his feelings but does slip up a few times

Damnation:

He's beginning to get used to it at this point, I don't think he would really get mad

I think again it's just surprising how you are always there as a thing in his life and he never seems to know you very well

Playful banter, enough to get through the mission

Kinda accepts what you do as he's just used to it at this point so there's no tension or arguments on that front

He assumes you are hear on orders for someone. Doesn't agree to it but if you don't stop him from doing his job he wont stop you doing yours

RE6:

He surprised you are here, like he just wasn't expecting you to be involved with this plot scheme or that it was that large you would have an interest in it

Smiles to himself every time you talk or do something to help him. He's smitten at this point.

The dynamic has shifted dramatically at this point, there is hidden feelings waiting to be exposed or spoken about.

But when do either of you have the time?

It's just forever left unspoken

It would be easier to deal with it like this but at the end of the day it's too obvious now

The final 'goodbye' is the hardest

Vendetta:

So I think he would actually get annoyed but because he's not in the right frame of mind to deal with the emotions that follow from seeing you

He would provide information for the others about you if you are involved.

When he actually sees you he's silent. Not really talking to you all that much.

After the mission though when he's starting to get in a better mindset I think he will attempt to reach out

Maybe for some stability after all you have been there through literally everything

It could progress romantically but I think that's just what you were both expecting at this point if it does happen.

Soulmates in a way

Death Island:

You are either currently fucking or have fucked recently

Lingering touches when he does see you, its playful and the other don't really know how to react

He's not surprised that you are somehow involved and will stick by your side during the fights just in case

You both meet up together of course

At this point you just accept each others company and allows it to develop in whatever way it does

If it works out then great. If not then until next time.

#~mads rambles #~mads~mail💌#leon kennedy #leon kennedy x reader #resident evil x reader #leon s kennedy x reader #leon scott kennedy #resident evil #resident evil fanfiction #leon kennedy x you

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loverslantern · 2 days ago

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The Hunter and The Witch~ Dean Winchester x f!reader

Description: To obtain a mystic gun capable of destroying the demon that killed their mother, the group must team up with John and face off against vampires.

Warnings: cannon violence and gore, John Winchester, arguing, girl kissing (not really a warning but), slightly jealous Dean??, reader being a nerd

Word Count: 8.5k

Dead Man's Blood

(Masterlist, Previous Chapter, Outfit Board)

The cafe is quiet except for the distant chatter of conversations that melt together, the clinks of glasses and dishes, the clacking of a keyboard, and the shuffling of paper. So, maybe quiet isn’t the right word. Nevertheless, the steady background noise is peaceful. It brings me back to the days when I’d linger in cafes to study for an upcoming exam in both high school and college. Though, I suppose, looking through various obituaries and news articles to find our next hunt isn’t that different. “Well, man,” Dean starts, folding his newspaper. “Not a decent lead in all of Nebraska. What’ve you got?”

I lean back in my seat, pushing away from the screen I’ve been looking out for God knows how long. “Nothing of note in Iowa, Kansas, or Missouri,” I announce, noting some of the states surrounding Nebraska. The various tabs open for each state are a little concerning. “Unless you count a woman in Iowa who managed to fall 10,000 feet from an airplane and survive.”

“Sounds more like ‘That’s Incredible’ than, uh, ‘Twilight Zone,’” Dean remarks.

“Yeah definitely weird but not that concerning,” I nod. It surely reeked of the supernatural because there was no human way to do that, but it also wasn’t a top-of-the-list concern when no one got hurt and it seemed like an isolated event.

“Hey, Sam, you know we could keep heading East. New York. Upstate. We could drop by and see Sarah again. Huh?” Dean suggests, smirking as he leans his elbows on the table. “Cool chick man, smokin’” he whistles. I shake my head, mentally grimacing. Yeah, she was attractive but to say it aloud and whistle about some girl your brother was clearly into? A little weird. “You two seemed pretty friendly. What do you say?”

“Yeah, I dunno, maybe someday,” he answers vaguely. “But in the meantime, we got a lot of work to do Dean, and you know that.”

“Yeah, alright,” Dean gives in.

“You get anything in the states you checked?” I ask Sam, knowing he had looked at Wyoming, Colorado, and South Dakota. More states that surround the state we currently reside in. “Yeah,” he exhales. “Uh, a man in Colorado. A local man named Daniel Elkins was found mauled in his home.”

“That’s certainly one way to go,” I mumble.

“Elkins?” Dean echos. “I know that name.”

“You do?” I ask.

“Doesn’t ring a bell,” Sam shakes his head.”Sounds like the police don’t know what to think,” he continues as his brother mumbles Elkins under his breath and pulls out their Dad’s journal. “At first they said it was some sort of bear attack and now, they’ve found some signs of robbery.”

“You know, sometimes it amazes me how the police solve anything,” I remark. Sure, if it’s supernatural related then they don’t have the upper hand of knowledge but seriously a bear attack and a robbery are two completely different things.

Dean hums absentmindedly in acknowledgment, flicking through the journal. “There, check it out,” he announces, flipping the book around for us to see. A phone number resides on the page right next to the name. “You think it’s the same Elkins?” Sam asks.

“It’s a Colorado area code,” Dean points out.

****

Sam kneels on the wooden porch, the flashlight illuminating his work with the lockpick. It’s not too long before the lock clicks, and the door creeps open with a turn and push.

“Looks like the maid didn’t come today,” Dean comments, looking over a table cluttered with books and papers. Otherwise, this room was pretty clean at least in terms of the crime. “Hey, there’s salt over here. Right beside the door,” Sam announces, lingering by the front door.

“You mean protection against demon salt or, ‘oops I spilled the popcorn’ salt?” Dean asks, his interest tuned into a journal he discovered on the desk.

My flashlight guides my eyes across the room. It didn’t happen in this room, it doesn’t seem like the perpetrator(s) came from the front door into the entryway. “It’s clearly a ring,” Sam clarifies. “You think this guy Elkins was a player?”

“Definitely,” he answers. I wander a little further into the house, the real mess lying in the next room over, the door knocked off its hinges. “That looks a hell of a lot like Dad’s,” Sam says. I look over my shoulder, and both boys are checking out the journal. “Yep, except this dates back to the 60s,” Dean responds.

I step into what looks to be an office, or what’s left of it. It’s pure destruction. If you told me a tornado came through this room I’d believe you. Broken and overturned furniture litter the floor, books and papers scattered about. I can barely see the floor, it's all covered. “Whoever this guy was, he put up a hell of a fight,” I comment as I carefully step further into the room, glass crunching beneath my shoe. Glass but no broken windows. “Whatever attacked him, it looks like there was more than one,” Sam adds, looking up at the ceiling. I follow his gaze to the broken sunroof, the source of the glass.

Where did the police get a bear attack from even if he did have scratch marks on him? Did they think it fell into the sunroof? I could understand the robbery considering the mess, but a bear? Seriously? I shake my head at the thought, walking over to the cleared-off desk. Whatever was atop it was on the floor now. “Do you think whoever or whatever did this was looking for something?” I ask, taking in the mess again. Some of it was from fighting, but the desk's open draws, which were barely hanging on, suggests it may be more. It could be an added motive. “Maybe,” Sam answers before his attention turns over to his brother who is crouched down and examining the floor. “You got something?” Sam asks.

“I dunno,” he answers. “Some scratches on the floor.”

“Death throes maybe?” Sam suggests, referring to the last moments before the end.

“Yeah, maybe,” Dean says, grabbing a nearby notebook. He opens a page, placing it over the scratches before using a pencil to scratch over it revealing the marks better. “Or maybe a message.” He peels up the paper, some blood soaked into the back, but the markings are clear. “Look familiar?” He asks, holding it up.

“Three letters, six digits,” Sam answers. “The location and combination of a post office box. It’s a mail drop.” The message was an incredible feat to manage before death took him under. To be able to scatch it out…it must be more than important.

“Just the way Dad does it,” Dean adds.

****

A simple letter rests in Sam’s hand. The letter was found in the post office box. “‘J.W.’” Sam reads off the envelope, “You think that's John Winchester?”

“I mean your Dad clearly knew the guy,” I offer, his number is inside the journal. “Maybe he even learned this way of communicating from him.”

“Should we open it?” Dean asks, something uncertain yet insistent in his voice. But, no one gets to answer the question on each of our minds when, instead, there is a knock on the driver-side window. Dean gasps and flinches, his arm raised in defense. “Dad?” he breathes, his fist lowering. The door beside me opens then, hazel eyes looking at me expectantly. I raise my eyebrows with a tight-lipped smile as I scooch over. He takes my seat, closing the door behind him. “Dad, what are you doing here?” Sam asks. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he answers simply. He looks the same as the last time we saw him, with messy dark hair similar to Sam’s cut and a ragged beard. “I read the news about Daniel, I got here as fast as I could. I saw you three at his place.”

“Why didn’t you come in Dad?” Sam questions, his voice soft as if he knows the answer.

“You know why. Because I had to make sure you weren’t followed…by anyone or anything,” John responds. He sounds more paranoid than anything. It sounds like a sad excuse to avoid speaking and seeing his kids again, but I keep those thoughts to myself. “Nice job of covering your tracks by the way,” he compliments. And it’s like being buttered up before the roast— before you’re put right back on the fire that eats at you until you forget your self-worth.

“Yeah, well, we learned from the best,” Dean answers with a proud smile on his face as his chest puffs out a little bit.

“Wait, you came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?” Sam points out.

“Yeah. He was... he was a good man. He taught me a hell of a lot about hunting,” he reveals. I guess I was somewhat right on my assumption. “Well, you never mentioned him to us,” Sam shrugs.

“We had a... we had kind of a falling out. I hadn't seen him in years,” he explains, gesturing towards the envelope. “I should look at that.” Sam hands it over easily, and his father wastes no time in opening it. “'If you're reading this, I'm already dead',” he reads, trailing off. “That son of a bitch.”

“What is it?” Dean asks.

“He had it the whole time,” he answers vaguely as if we know what he's talking about. “Has what?” I ask. “When you searched the place, did you, did you see a gun? An antique, a Colt revolver, did you see it?” He asks each question one right after the other almost frantically. “Uh, there was, there was an old case but it was empty,” Dean answers.

“They have it,” John announces.

“‘You mean whatever killed Elkins?” Dean asks. John opens the door, shifting to get out. “We gotta pick up the trail.” But before he can make it out of the vehicle Sam stops him, “Wait. ‘You want us to come with you?”

“If Elkins was telling the truth, we gotta find this gun,” he explains, doing that thing where he’s insanely unhelpful.

“The gun–why?” Sam pushes. “Because it's important, that's why,” he replies. I roll my eyes, for a guy who wasn’t very present he managed to be incredibly irritating. “Dad, we don't even know what these things are yet,” Sam reasons.

“They were what Daniel Elkins killed best: Vampires,” he reveals, finally being helpful. “Vampires? I thought there was no such thing,” Dean answers.

“You didn’t?” I ask, surprised.

“You did?” He throws right back with a just as surprised tone as mine.

“Yeah,” I say like it's obvious. “I took down a nest back in college.” It was the first and only time I had encountered a vampire let alone a vampiric hunt. Students started to go missing, seemingly picked off one by one, and like any school word had spread quickly. It was weird, yes, but with no bodies and only having gossip I had nothing to work with. No one saw anything, the picks were clean and concise. Well, that was until certain bodies did show up. Four out of nine bodies were found, two were located near or around campus grounds, and the others were left in the town that was a short drive from the school. I managed to pull some strings and cash in ‘I owe you’ to see the bodies firsthand. My initial thought was vampires but the thought was more of a joke than anything, I thought I was watching too much Buffy. But then some research made a joke no longer a joke. It was vampires and I had to kill them.

I can remember it still, the way the heads went flying and how blood caked my clothes. Buffy makes it look cleaner than what it is.

“You did?” John asks, his voice dripping in disbelief and sass. “Don’t sound so surprised,” I mumble, my distaste for him almost painfully clear in the curl of my lip. He has been here for less than five minutes and I’m already a little irritated. I’d like to think that I’m not a hateful person, that I don’t hold grudges or malice but when it comes to John Winchester suddenly I’m the biggest hater you’ve ever seen. “Well, I thought they were extinct. I thought Elkins and—“ he throws a glare at me. “And others had wiped them out. I was wrong.” “You were,” I agree, smiling a little at the slow turn of his head as he stares at me with daggers.

“Most vampire lore is crap,” he starts, his voice gruff, looking back at his boys. “A cross won't repel them, sunlight won't kill them, and neither will a stake to the heart. But the bloodlust, that part's true. They need fresh human blood to survive. They were once people, so you won't know it's a vampire until it's too late.”

“The way to kill them is decapitation,” I add. “Interestingly enough the story to get it right is a work of fiction, though, of course, you could argue that it was only presented that way and the author knew more than any normal person would. The final blow in Carmilla, written by some Irish guy, is her head being struck off. Before that was a stake through the heart but, it’s interesting that he would add the decapitation aspect especially when it’s the first ever Vampire novel so it’s not like he changed things to be different.”

“Are you done?” John remarks, unamused.

“Yeah, now I am,” I respond, equally unamused with him.

“Wake up! Come on,” a voice demands. I grumble something incoherent, my fingers softly curling into the warmth beneath my hand. The something beneath my hand rumbles with the “Mm-hmm,” that follows from its lips.

My eyes squint open, my hand resting on Dean's chest, fingers clutching his shirt, his arm resting around my waist. We didn’t fall asleep like this when John hated the very idea of us sharing a bed even though we’d done it before. I know John doesn’t trust me, even though I haven’t done anything to warrant such feelings. It’s more like he doesn’t trust who I am and he makes it known with every look and side comment. Yet, as much as he hated it, he didn’t want me in a separate room because it would “waste time and money.” So, we had slept back to back which felt so horribly unnatural.

I do not make a move to separate from him. He rubs his eyes and I want to bury my face into the pillow in a desperate attempt to grasp onto the remains of sleep but the sight of his messy short hair going every which way, and his eyes barely being held open from the sleep that clings to them keeps my attention. Even on interrupted sleep, he looks so good. “I picked up a police call,” John announces, the faint noise of radio static proving his statement.

“What happened?” Sam asks, his voice laced with sleep. Dean’s hand drops from his eyes going, instead, to my hand on his chest. He gives it a little squeeze and it would be so easy to just fall back into a sweet sleep with the butterflies that dance in my stomach. But, the harsh reality of, well, reality comes crashing back when John answers, “A couple called 911, ‘found a body in the street. Cops got there. Blood was missing. It's the vampires.”

“How do you know?” Sam asks logically. But, John is already halfway out the door forgoing explanations as he typically does. “Just follow me, okay?” he responds, shutting the door behind him.

“Huh, vampires,” Dean muses, his eyes still half open. “Gets funnier every time I hear it.”

****

The spin of red and blue lights shatters the atmosphere, a long cloth placed over a body in the middle of the road, yellow tape sanctioning off the area as cops work the scene, and a certain irritating Winchester talking to a cop as we are forced to wait by the Impala like kids waiting while their parent talks to an old friend and you just know you’re going to be waiting forever. “I don’t see why we couldn’t have gone over with him,” Sam complains, sulking slightly.

“Should’ve let us sleep,” I agree, mumbling. I don’t see the point in dragging us from bed just to put us on the back burner, but I guess that’s John for you.

“Oh, don’t tell me it’s already starting,” Dean responds. “What's starting?” he asks. But he doesn’t get his answer as their father approaches, Dean putting his focus there. “What have you got?” he asks his Dad.

“It was them alright,” John confirms. “Looks like they’re heading west. We’ll have to double back to get around that detour.”

“How can you be so sure?” Sam asks, arms crossed.

“Sam…” Dean warns.

“I just wanna know we're going in the right direction,” he snaps at his brother.

“We are,” John answers vaguely.

“How do you know?”

John hands something small to Dean, answering with “I found this.”

Dean cups the long and sharp tooth in the palm of his hand. “It’s a…” he tries to find the words, “a vampire fang.”

“It’s not necessarily a fang,” I correct. “An entire set of teeth that look just like that descends when they attack, covering the normal set of teeth.”

“Any more questions?” John asks, looking at Sam expectantly, a certain bite to his words. Sam remains quiet, his eyes flicking away—the kind of answer his father wants. No, an answer he expects. “Alright, let’s get out of here, we’re losing daylight,” John orders. He walks to his truck, a vehicle I suddenly love because he doesn’t have to be in the same car as us. “Hey, Dean why don’t you touch up your car before you get rust?” he throws back the comment, “I wouldn’t have given you the damn thing if I thought you were going to ruin it.”

I look at Dean with widened eyes. His face drops. Drops. My heart might as well drop with it. I dig my nails into my palms in an attempt to control my mouth, my teeth clenched painfully to hold in my own comment. I should make him apologize. I should do more than that but I know it will only make it worse for them and that is the last thing I want. Yet, saying nothing feels worse so the word slips out before I can reel it back in. “Asshole,” I grumble beneath my breath, opening the back door to the Impala.

“What’d you say?” John asks, seemingly having super hearing, pausing short of his truck. The stiffness in his shoulder is familiar, or similar. So, I duck into the car with an, “I didn’t say anything.” I expect him to say something or for him to make some sort of move. I see the unamused look on his face even as I close the door behind me, creating a barrier between us. I half expect him to drag me from the car and make me answer him. Dad said I never knew how to hold my tongue or when to stop. And maybe he was right.

*****

The Impala rolls down the road, following John’s truck. “Vampires nest in groups of eight to ten,” Dean reads from the passenger seat. “Smaller packs are sent to hunt for food. Victims are taken to the nest where the pack keeps them alive, bleeding them for days or weeks. I wonder if that’s what happened to that 911 couple.”

“I didn’t see the corpses well enough but it’s likely,” I answer, though I don’t know why John didn’t let us see the body or do any work.

“It’s probably what Dad's thinking. ‘Course it would be nice if he just told us what he thinks,” Sam grumbles, a certain furrow to his brow. “So it is starting,” Dean remarks.

“What?”

Well, this is my queue to keep my comments to myself and let them talk this out.

“Sam, we've been looking for Dad all year,” he explains. “Now we're not with him for more than a couple of hours and there's static already?”

“Hm. No. Look, I'm happy he's ok, alright?” he responds. “And I'm happy that we're all working together again.” “Well good.”

“It’s just the way he treats us like we’re children,” Sam adds, seemingly unable to help himself. But I’m here for the John bashing.

“Oh God,” Dean mumbles.

“He barks orders at us Dean, he expects us to follow 'em without question. He keeps us on some crap need-to-know deal.”

Sam’s not wrong. His vagueness is one of his worst traits which is saying something because he has a long list of horrible traits. He’s really the King of being as vague and unhelpful as possible for a reason I simply can’t discern. Maybe it makes him feel like he has some power or the upper hand.

“He does what he does for a reason,” Dean reasons. “What reason?” Sam pushes.

“Our job!” Dean snaps. “There's no time to argue, there's no margin for error, alright? That's just the way the old man runs things.” “I’d argue that leaving you guys in the dark can lead to more error,” I comment, accidentally saying my inside thoughts out loud. Luckily, I’m pretty much annoyed as Sam challenges his brother. “Yeah well maybe that worked when we were kids but not anymore, alright. Not after everything you and I have been through, Dean. I mean, are you telling me you're cool with just falling into line, and letting him run the whole show?”

A heavy silence fills the car as Dean stares at his brother like he’s trying to muster the right words. “If that’s what it takes.”

****

We drive for what feels like an eternity, though it must only have been a couple of hours, the sky falling to darkness. Dean is on the phone with his father, keeping in touch with him even as we follow after his car. “Yeah, Dad. Alright, got it,” he answers before hanging up. “Pull off at the next exit.”

“Why?” Sam asks with a certain edge or bite to his voice.

“Cause Dad thinks we’ve got the vampire’s trail,” Dean responds.

“How?”

“I don’t know; he didn’t say.”

Suddenly I’m pushed back into my seat as the Impala goes faster, fast enough to overtake Johns truck. The car swerves in front of it, my body jerking sideways and forward as the vehicle swerves again and slams to a stop. My heart stammers in my chest as I look out the window, John's truck nearly missing the side of the Impala. “What the frick, S–” I yell, my cursing cut off as Sam gets out of the car. “Oh crap here we go,” Dean mumbles, following him out of the vehicle. I sigh, rolling my eyes, as much as I expected an argument to break out this is a very dramatic and dangerous way to start it. Even so, I follow them out of the Impala as Dean calls out for his brother.

“What the hell was that?” John yells, stomping over to his son.

“We need to talk.”

John steps closer, getting face to face with him and I half expect him to grab Sam by the collar and shake some “sense” into him. “About what?”

“About everything. Where are we going, Dad? What's the big deal about this gun?”

“Sammy, come on, we can Q and A after we kill all the vampires,” Dean says.

“You’re brothers right, we don’t have time for this,” John adds. “Last time we saw you, you said it was too dangerous for us to be together. Now out of the blue, you need our help,” Sam yells. “Now obviously something big is going down, and we wanna know what!” “Get back in the car.” “No.” “I said get back in the damn car.” “Yeah. And I said no.”

“Okay, you made your point tough guy,” Dean tries again, hovering between his father and his brother. But, of course, his words are directed at his brother. “Look we're all tired, we can talk about this later. Sammy, I mean it, come on.” Dean grabs him, pushing him back toward the car. He gives in, allowing his brother to move him along even as he glares at his father, mumbling, “This is why I left in the first place.” “What’d you say?”

Sam steps forward, snapping back, “You heard me.”

“Yeah. You left. Your brother and me, we needed you. You walked away, Sam.”

“Sam…” Dean warns.

“You walked away!” John yells in his face.

“Come on, stop,” I urge, trying to push John back as Dean had tried with his brother. But he just shoves me off, forcing me back a couple of steps. “You're the one who said don't come back Dad, you closed that door, not me. You were just pissed off that you couldn't control me anymore!”

Dean jumps in the middle, forcing them apart. “Listen, stop it, stop it. Stop it!! That's enough!!” They don’t say another word; they just glare at each other over Dean’s head. “That means you too,” Dean adds, looking at his father. Despite the harsh words that linger in the air and the unspoken jabs that are begging to be said, they back off. Each step back into their vehicles. Dean sighs, the tension clear in his shoulders until he turns to me, brows furrowed as he half yells, “Are you okay?” The question is genuine despite how harsh they sound escaping his lips. There's a silence that falls between us; I don’t know why he asks me; it’s not like I was the one arguing. Perhaps it was because I stumbled back as his father shoved me or because he knows I do not like arguments. Either way, I nod silently, and he gives a single nod back, the stress soon returning to his face.

With the sun on our back and the tree line at our front, blocking us, I watch a beat-up Camaro pull up the old barn. A man in a t-shirt walks up to the car, shielding his eyes as he escorts the person inside and making a very good guess it’s likely they’re both vampires. “Son of a bitch,” Dean curses. “So they’re really not afraid of the sun?”

“Direct sunlight hurts like a nasty sunburn. The only way to kill ‘em is by beheading,” John answers and I roll my eyes at the repetition especially when half the information is something I already said. “And yeah, they sleep during the day—doesn’t mean they won’t wake up.”

“So I guess walking right in’s not our best option,” Dean remarks.

“Actually, that’s the plan,” John answers, immediately creeping from the treeline back to where the Impala and his truck are parked.

Weapons are handed out like candy on Halloween night, the machete's blade seeming to gleam as the sun hits it just right. Grasping the hilt reminds me of that day long ago, how my hand shook as I killed the first vampire. They look human, and the blood that falls is so human that it’s like killing one instead of a vampire. I had to remind myself they weren’t human and that they killed so many. Then, it was almost too easy.

“So, you really wanna know about this Colt?” John suddenly asks. “Yes sir,” Sam answers.

It's just “a story, a legend really. Well, I thought it was. Never really believed it until I read Daniel's letter,” he starts. “Back in 1835, when Halley's comet was overhead, the same night those men died at the Alamo. They say Samuel Colt made a gun. A special gun. He made it for a hunter, a man like us only on horseback. ‘Story goes he made thirteen bullets, and this hunter used the gun a half dozen times before he disappeared, the gun along with him. And somehow Daniel got his hands on it. They say... they say this gun can kill anything.”

Something unsettling settles in my gut, something I don’t want to discern. We aren’t in the nest, and yet it’s like the fight-or-flight instinct has kicked in. “Kill anything like supernatural anything?” Dean asks. The same thought eats at my mind but where concern hits me surprise hits him.

“Like the demon,” Sam connects, and I feel foolish. Maybe it’s a survival instinct, or maybe it’s selfishness that makes me worry more about a weapon that can kill me rather than a gun that can kill the yellow-eyed demon. I don’t think I’ve ever been afraid of dying, at least not totally, especially when what I am makes it incredibly difficult to kill me, to begin with. But now I’m aware of something that can. It won’t be like a bullet wound you can maybe heal from; there won’t be hope—just death. Gone in the blink of an eye with no goodbye or warning.

“Yeah, the demon. Ever since I picked up its trail I've been looking for a way to destroy that thing. Find the gun -- we may have it,” John answers.

I want to be happy for them. I’m trying to be happy. I’m trying to push the fear away because isn’t it an irrational one? But I am scared. What if I don’t get a goodbye? What if it winds up in the wrong hands and I’m at the other end of it? Technically, right now it is in the wrong hands if the vampires do have it. “No offense, I'm glad this is an opportunity to get the damn thing,” I start, my fear turning into anger. “But did you, oh, I don't know, plan on informing us about this before we go into the place that has this gun, or was it Sam that convinced you?” I’m not an idiot; I am aware of the possibility that this could’ve been left out for God knows how long. “I mean, this could literally kill me, like end-end me, and you were just gonna, what, not mention it? ‘Cause it would’ve been a great warning.”

He doesn’t answer, and I’m not sure if he’s going to acknowledge me, which is answer enough. I move to try to get in his way. “You know, somehow I find a new reason to dislike you, which is kind of impressive.” I know I’m being mean as if a jab could heal the panic in my veins.

“You should be grateful I haven’t sent your ass back home,” he bites.

“Yeah well, this ass saved your life back with the Daeva’s.”

“Y/N,” Dean says, carefully touching my arm. But I step out of his hold, my shoulders going up as if trying to un-feel the touch, which is weird because I never do that with him. “No, Dean, this is serious,” I reason, my voice higher in an attempt to be louder, though it never nears a yell. I don’t dare look at him, weary of the hurt that might pass over his face.

“Were you going to say something if Sam hadn’t called you out?” I ask him again. But, I’m sure I know the answer. He pauses for a beat too long, and I feel foolish again. I’m arguing with a guy who couldn’t care less about what happens to me. The anger simmers in my gut, bubbling down until it’s replaced by shame. “You know what? Never mind,” I give up. “Let’s just go kill the vampires.” I shake my head, walking away from the group towards the run-down barn.

I creep between the trees, careful of where I step so that I don’t make a sound, even though I’m outside the barn. I take a couple of deep breaths as I walk; I need to have a clear head. This isn’t the kind of hunt you can be careless on; one wrong move and it all goes up in flames. I clear my head of any leftover anger or negative emotions; I need to lead with focus, not emotions.

I move closer to the barn, finding a window that looks easy to get into without making so much noise. That is key. I lift myself onto the thin windowsill, cautious as to not let my legs or any body part slam into the wall. And with the knowledge that the boys are close behind, I move into the barn. I move silently, first observing the layout and the countless hammocks filled with vampires as well as the occasional vamp that rests on the floor.

Ever so slowly, I move forward, careful to step over the beer bottles as I move as quietly as a mouse. Inch by inch, I lurk towards a random vampire in a hammock. A lone vampire, or at least one that’s farthest away from the others, even if far isn’t far at all.

I stand over his sleeping figure like a predator ready to pounce on its unsuspecting prey. Ever so carefully, I lift my blade, hovering it above its neck. With one quick motion, I know I am a hypocrite. Blood drips down its neck in waves like a relentless ocean; its eyes shoot open as the blade is plunged deeper. Its mouth parts in an attempt at a screech it can’t possibly make as its head is severed from its body. It did not get to warn the others. It did not get to say goodbye.

I pull my blade from the mess; blood seeps into the fabric of the hammock and drips to the floor. I sense the Winchesters enter the barn as I pick my next target. The goal is to get as many asleep so that should they wake, it’d be a slightly easier fight. Again, I take my stance over a vampire when I hear the faint clink of a glass bottle knocking over. I hold incredibly still, so still, I feel like the narrator in “Tell-Tale Heart.”

By luck alone, the vampire beneath my gaze does not stir, nor do any others. I turn my head slowly to where the noise originated, seeing Dean and Sam at the other end of the barn near each other. I swallow roughly, focusing in on the task at hand. Again, I drive my blade into the pale neck of the resting creature, blood spraying onto my cheek. I move to the next, stalking forth with my raised blade when an unearthly roar breaks the silence. The vampire beneath my gaze shoots up, clutching my wrist before I can lay the blade onto it. The machete vanishes from my hand, appearing in my other. I swing the blade; the cut is uncoordinated and messy in my non-dominant hand, slashing off its hand. My wrist is free as the limb goes flying, a horrible screech coming from the vampire as it clutches its wrist, blood spurting from where the hand used to be, bone exposed to the air. Glass shatters somewhere overhead, and I switch the weapon back to my dominant hand, unable to get another swing in when I dodge the lunging vampire.

“Run!” John yells from the same direction as the broken glass. I sidestep just in time, narrowly avoiding a swing from a vampire lunging at me. More of them surge toward me, their snarls filling the air. Reluctantly, I turn and run. My heart pounds in my chest, the sound almost drowning out the thudding of their footsteps behind me. I race toward the back of the barn, but there’s no clear exit—just solid walls and shadows. I sprint toward one of the walls. My legs push forward harder, willing myself to pass through before I crash into it.

The world blurs for a heartbeat, and then I stumble forward, my feet skidding on the dirt outside. I glance back, breathless, at the wall I just passed through. A small smile tugs at the corner of my lips, I’m getting really good at the whole teleporting thing. But enough celebrating, I quickly round the outskirts of the barn and make my way up the hill to where the distinct figures of the Winchesters wait. A look of relief passes over Sam and Deans face at the sight of me but I can’t say the same for John. I know he doesn’t care if I get injured or die.

“They won't follow. They'll wait till tonight. Once a vampire has your scent, it's for life,” John informs, slightly out of breath. “Well, what the hell do we do now?” Dean asks.

I wipe the blood from my cheek with the back of my sleeve, glad that I decided to wear dark clothes today. “I’ll go back in there and finish it,” I answer.

“No, you’re not,” Dean declares, taking a single step toward me.

“Why not?” I ask. “I already killed two and—”

“You did?” John cuts me off, reflecting the same surprise he did before.

“No, my machete is just normally covered in blood.”

“You’re not goin’ back in,” Dean says firmly.

“Dean—”

“Not on my watch.” “Oh, come on. This is quicker than waiting until night and you can have your special gun sooner,” I reason, following him as he walks away.

“Not happening.”

“Don’t you want that gun?”

He stops short of the Impala's trunk, his expression firm as he faces me. “Not at the expense of your life.” His eyes are set on mine, a challenge burning behind his irises.

“I’m very capable of doing it myself,” I argue, my chin raised to meet his gaze head-on.

“I know you are,” he replies, his voice low and sure. “‘Doesn’t mean I’m lettin’ you go.”

“I don’t have to listen to you, you know,” I point out, the words sounding childish on my tongue. His brow arches, the faintest flicker of amusement crossing his face. He wets his lips, voice dropping lower, “I don’t see you goin’.”

The words hang heavy between us. He’s got me, and he knows it. I swallow hard, my pulse thrumming in my throat. His eyes drop briefly, flicking to the small space between us like he’s daring me to move. He tilts his head slightly, waiting, his confidence annoyingly attractive. His fingers brush my wrist, featherlight, trailing down the inside. It tickles my skin, my breath hitching slightly, loosening my hold on the machete. He doesn’t rush—his hand glides lower, steady, until he slides the weapon from my grasp as if he already knew my answer before I had the chance to utter it.

“We’ll need dead man’s blood,” I manage, my voice quieter than I intended. His eyes flick back to mine, dark and unreadable, the weapon now clasped firmly in his hand alongside his own. He nods, his lips parted slightly.

****

After splitting up from John and Sam—and some lying and distracting on our part— Dean and I managed to grab the dead man's blood from the local funeral home. Afterward, it took some extensive convincing, including arguing that it would be safer for me to act as bait instead of Dean to be where I am now.

Now, I lean over the car’s popped hood, peering at the engine while the Winchesters watch from somewhere in the trees. “Car trouble?” a woman's voice asks. I turn around to see a dark-haired woman with thin eyebrows and striking blue eyes standing with another girl lingering behind. It didn’t take them long to show up. “Let me give you a lift. I’ll take you back to my place,” she purrs.

I lean against the front of the Impala, tilting my head slightly as I eye her. “I’m sure you’d like that,” I respond, biting my bottom lip, purposefully teasing. She steps closer as expected, so close I can smell the lingering metallic scent of blood on her mouth as well as her strong perfume. She grabs my jaw roughly, her fingertips digging in as she holds my face firmly, forcing my head back an inch so that she can use our small height difference to her advantage. I let her do what she wants, I’m not afraid of her or the other vampire. I’m just here to get her close enough for a good shot. “Would you like that?” she asks, spinning my question.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not Buffy and you’re not Spike,” I smile teasingly.

Her smile deepens, turning a little wicked. “You know, I should kill you for what you did to them.”

And I know she’s talking about the two I killed and the third I hurt. “Will you?” I challenge. I’m sure she won’t, at least not now. They like to play with their food. So, just as expected her eyes trace down my face, the collum of my neck, and dip beneath my shirt. “We could have some fun first,” she answers, eyes tracing back up.

Her head tilts down, her hold on my face tightening as her lips brush mine. Her hand slips to the back of my head, grabbing a handful of hair and tugging. My lips part in a groan, my head harshly bent back, giving her the chance to crash her lips to mine. She kisses me roughly and fast, all teeth and tongue before pulling away and licking her lips as if savoring the taste. “Heard you had a boyfriend,” I remark. “You think he’d mind you–” She cuts me off with her lips, teeth clashing with mine. My hands grasp the Impala behind me, the cold metal digging into my palms contrasting with the heat of her mouth.

She gasps, an almost choking noise as she pulls away and I know the shot has been taken. My eyes fall to her chest, the arrowhead sticking out. “Dammit,” she curses. The Winchesters emerge from the trees, crossbows in hand and unreadable expressions on their faces. Her hands fall from my face as she steps back, my chest heaving a little as I try to catch my breath. “It barely even stings,” she claims.

“Give it time, sweetheart,” John answers. “That arrow’s soaked in dead man’s blood. It’s like poison to you, isn’t it?”

Real surprise passes over her features, a hand coming up to cradle where she’s been hit as she staggers backward, wavering before she collapses to the asphalt. “Load her up,” John directs, moving to the other vampire who’s also on the floor with an arrow through her. “I’ll take care of this one.”

I turn around, shutting the hood of the car just as I hear the familiar squelch of blood.

****

The campfire burns bright in the middle of the small clearing of woods. She's still unconscious, secured with a rope around her that she could tear easily the moment she awakens. “Toss this on the fire. Saffron, skunk's cabbage, and trillium. It'll block our scent and hers until we're ready,” John orders as he walks back into the clearing with his eldest son in tow.

Dean sniffs the bag contents and coughs, “Stuff stinks!”

“That’s the point. It has to be strong enough to cover your scent,” I smile while simultaneously feeling bad for finding his reaction to the ingredients funny. “You can dust your clothes with the ashes and they, hopefully, won't be able to detect you.” I move to him, willing to take the bag from his grimacing face.

“‘You sure they’ll come after ‘er?” Sam asks as I carefully separate and dump the ingredients into the fire.

“Yeah,” John answers. “Vampires mate for life—”

“Didn’t seem she cared about that with Y/N” Dean remarks, cutting off his father. I give him a pointed look. And he just responds with, “What? She was the one who looked real into you.” There's a certain edge to his voice that I can’t quite discern, something almost snarky.

“Well, one thing interpretations got right about vampires is how inherently sexual they are,” I explain. “I’m not sure why but I guess it makes sense considering how they take the blood is intimate.” Still, Dean doesn’t seem particularly satisfied with that answer.

“She means more to the leader than the gun,” John continues. “But the blood sickness is going to wear off soon, so you don't have a lot of time.” “A half-hour oughta do it,” Sam answers. “And then I want you out of the area as fast as you can,” John orders.

“But…”

“Well, Dad you can’t take care of them all yourself,” Dean cuts his brother off.

“I'll have her and the Colt,” John reasons.

“That’s hardly a lot of protection,” I point out.

“And if I remember you wanted to go in with less,” he bites back.

“I also have abilities that you don’t. I can stay with you, ‘make sure you get it safely.”

“‘Don’t need your protection,” he answers. I figure ego has some part of his decision so I drop it, if he doesn’t want backup then he doesn’t want it.

“But after. We're gonna meet up, right?” Sam asks. “Use the gun together. Right?” There's a long pause, the question hanging in the air for one too many seconds. “You're leaving again, aren't you? You still wanna go after the demon alone. You know, I don't get you. You can't treat us like this.”

“Like what?”

“Like children,” Sam answers firmly. “You are my children. I'm trying to keep you safe,” he reasons. I bite back my comment about how ironic that is coming from him as I walk a couple of steps away. “Dad, all due respect but, uh, that's a bunch of crap,” Dean says, all heads snapping to him. “Excuse me?”

I half expect him to back off, instead, he doubles down. “You know what Sammy and I have been hunting. Hell you sent us on a few hunting trips yourself. You can't be that worried about keeping us safe.” “It's not the same thing, Dean.” “Then what is it? Why do you want us out of the big fight?” “This demon? It's a bad son of a bitch. I can't make the same moves if I'm worried about keeping you alive.” “You mean you can't be as reckless.”

“Look... I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece.” The atmosphere seems to change, becoming a little heavier in the wake of his words. “Your mother's death ... it almost killed me. I can't watch my children die too. I won't.”

I’m sure there is some truth to his words but at the same time, he's been a horrible father to them, leaving them alone as mere kids to fend for themselves, forcing them into the hunting world at a young age, and even bringing them on hunts when they should’ve been worrying about school not their lives. “What happens if you die?” Dean points out. “Dad, what happens if you die, and we coulda done something about it? You know I’ve been thinking. I ...think maybe Sammy's right about this one. We should do this together.”

Sam nods.

“We're stronger as a family, Dad. We just are. You know it,” Dean argues. It may sound cheesy but it holds merit. “We're running out of time. You do your job and you get out of the area. That's an order.” His answer is unsurprising and yet the way Dean looks down and the way Sam clenches his jaw makes me want to deck John Winchester until he agrees.

****

We quickly follow after John, having already killed the vampires in the barn and freed the container of people they had. Of course, it’s against what we were directed to do but we aren’t exactly known for following rules, so there's that. We ditched the Impala some ways back, sticking to the trees with our crossbows as we approached John's truck and the group of vampires.

We arrive in time to see John get knocked to the ground, his plan going south immediately. He’s backhanded into the door of his truck just as one of many arrows flies through the air, hitting the other vampires that crowd around. We emerge from the trees and I switch my crossbow to my off-hand to unseathe my machete. I easily walk up to one and in one clean motion send their head flying, the body buckling to the floor.

Quickly I turn, my crossbow raised to shoot a vampire that was creeping up on Dean. “Don't!” someone yells. I pause, eyes landing on a vampire who looks like a rock band reject with his arm around Sam’s neck while Dean tries to lurk forward with a machete. “I'll break his neck. Put the blade down,” the man orders. Everything stands still for a moment as I drop both my weapons. Dean, however, pauses until the man tightens his hold on Sam’s neck and then the machete is dropped to the ground with a clink.

Suddenly, the man’s arm is forced from Sam’s neck. It shakes as it's pulled away by an invisible force, his face contorting with confusion as he loses the ability to control his limbs. My head tilts slightly as I control him, forcing his other arm to remain at its side so that Sam is free to stumble away, his brother immediately dragging him behind him. The knees of the man buckle, forcing him to kneel on the asphalt. “You people. Why can't you leave us alone? We have as much right to live as you do,” the man cries and I falter.

I falter. The one thing you’re never supposed to do in a fight. But, it doesn’t matter because his head is cleaned off his body before he can get up. John standing behind him, blood dripping from his machete. “Lutherrrr!!!!” the girl from before screams a horrible guttural scream that seems to reverberate in my ears. She’s dragged away by another vampire, fighting against their hold as she stares down John and her lover's body.

I stand over the little table in the motel room making sure I didn’t leave anything when John enters—the first we’ve seen him since last night. “So boys,” he starts immediately, the door closing behind him feeling like a death sentence.

“Yes sir,” Sam answers, both boys straightening out like soldiers.

“You ignored a direct order back there,” he starts.

“Yes sir,” Sam answers. “Yeah, but we saved your ass,” Dean intervenes, nervous looks thrown his way from Sam and I.

“You're right,” John, surprisingly, nods. “I am?”

“It scares the hell out of me. You two are all I've got. But I guess we are stronger as a family. So...we go after this damn thing. Together.” “Yes sir,” they say in unison.

“And I guess you can be there too,” he adds, looking over at me.

(Next Chapter)

Tag List: @jesllianaquilesrolonsworld @okayiamkassandra @fablesrose @ada--44 @bonkydarnes @star-yawnznn @crazyunsexycool @onlyangel-444 @seninjakitey @mystic-mara @mxltifxndom @stilesxreid @chaotic-luvrs @tiggytaylor @deanwasscaredbyacat @imaginexred @daisychaingirl @ugvvguggvvgu @yasmin12312 @squishytap

#supernatural #fanfiction #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester #the hunter and the witch #sam winchester #dean winchester x witch reader #slow burn #john winchester #supernatural season one #dean winchester jealous #dean winchester x f!reader #dean winchester x reader series #dean winchester x fem!reader #dean winchester x female!reader #dean winchester x f!reader series #john winchester as a warning #vampires

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cryptid-killjoy · 3 days ago

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Curly hair was down for the count!

He started screaming at the top of his lungs shrill like a girl. "ZOMBIE! ZOMBIEEEEEEEEEEE! OH GOD! Get it!" He was scrambling, flailing, trying to gain traction in a way that looked worse than a spooked cornered cat with nowhere to go. Bebop wasn't helping at all. He didn't come running to his aid like usual. What triggered him to open his eyes and focus a little was Bebop's voice saying, "Well, well, well, look what the Mother Ginger dragged in."

Then Jax finally noticed it wasn't a zombie that tackled him.

"ELLIE!" His face lit up like Christmas unlike the cautious way Mazzie had presented in Candy Land. "Ellie! You're here."

He pointed at Babyface too. He was smiling so big his eye was like slits and could barely be seen, so happy. He started hugging back.

When Bebop saw Babyface he stood up. Babyface started to smile. A genuine smile. It looked like he was coming in for a hug. Their whole damn family was dead. It was going to be okay this time.

Then he actually got the knuckle nudge. "Look at you actually living through this bullshit. Damn. There's a Beagle Holocaust out there and you're what I get?"

There was a time Babyface took it all and knew his place in the pack of Beagle Boys, but after everything he'd been through, he'd had about enough. The rest of the pack wasn't there to dogpile him if he barked back.

He took one glance to the air. He made up his mind and he charged his brother Beagle and started wailing on him. These two started a wrestling match that was a long time coming and long overdue. Every few jostles one would pin the other and say something snarky. While Bebop started with low blows like Wish it was you instead of Bouncer or insert name here type of jabs Babyface went in another direction when he finally got the upper hand. "Yeah, well while you're sitting here being a crybaby over who you didn't save, I was out there finding more Beagles. I was doing the footwork to start a new crew. I did what Ma Beagle told us to do not sit here on my ass doing nothing letting more of us die like you."

That one got Bebob too heated. He pulled a blade in anger. Babyface pulled his gun. They stared at each other and stared at each other.

Mazzie and Jax looked at each other. They both looked at Ellie. Everyone looked back and forth between each other and then suddenly both Beagles put their weapons down.

"Fine. Time." They'd say it simultaneously as if they both were counting down like it was a game. It was like they both knew if neither went for actually killing one another and they wouldn't because they were brothers that this was a Babyface won draw. He drew the weapon that caused the pause.

"Fine. Fuck." Bebop said sticking his blade in his back pocket. Then he'd start talking like nothing insane happened between them. "Who'd you find?"

"Black Arts. He's got some Beagle Babe with him. Calls her Nebby. Visited my Ma in prison, got some leads."

"Brandy? Zombies didn't take it over?"

"It's not in Nola, dope."

"Oh, right, right. Good thinking, little Beags." Then he rubbed the top of Babyface's hair as if he still wanted to infantilize him somehow even though he just got the drop on him not quite wanting to give up his position so clearly. He was the elder brother.

Mazzie looked over at Ellie as the drama unfoiled itself and then relaxed again. "So, everything's still the same."

Then she started grinning because at least if something was the same even though they knew nothing really was it was something to hold on to. Crazy as the boys being the boys was it; she didn't mind it being that something at all.

"Well, not everything." Jax blurted out.

Mazzie gave Jax a hard glare. She wasn't quite ready for all that, but then again why drag it out?

She waved them into the control room so they could start to understand what was different about Pleasure Island than before. They might not know it like the backs of their hands like Mazzie and Jax did, but they were going to start to understand this clearly the moment they got inside.

"Don't get your hands near them. Don't pet them or feed them."

"Pet or feed the donkeys?"

"No."

Then Mazzie pushed open the door as Babyface shook off his hair from Bebop rubbing it.

His cocky jaw fell wide open. His eyes were just the same. He couldn't decide if he wanted step backwards or run forwards. There inside the control room was the boat full of Beagles all chained to chairs including one of Mazzie and Jax's father's, Honest John.

An alive Gideon, the quietest one turned his head and said, "Oh 'ello there. I didn't expect guests. Do we needs more chains and brains or plates and sammiches? Which kinds of guests are you, dear?"

Then he threw a body part at the zombie Bouncer who started gobbling it down with no manners at all. Yes, Gideon was feeding the zombies.

This was only the beginning of the surprises inside.

“Yeah, but some half-pipes would be cool, some railings,” Ellie said, looking around. If it was themed like an amusement park, why couldn’t it have a skate park? “I’m sure the boys would love it.”

She knew that she was torn. And she knew that Babyface knew. And Mazzie, even if they hadn’t seen each other in a long time. It was a big decision - and she knew the clock was counting down. But for now - maybe just try to get through this night alive, and make sure that everyone else was as well.

She stayed back, out of the questioning that Mazzie was doing to Babyface, which proved that everyone here knew that she was on the fence. She kept her hand on the weapon, looking around for zombies, making sure there wasn’t anymore coming. Mazzie might be able to get the boys to stand down but no one controlled zombies.

But she looked back in time to see the punches to Babyface, and she couldn’t help giggling at that.

“I almost was,” Ellie admitted to Mazzie. “I was stuck inside of our base when everything went to Hell. The zombie virus in the air went away, thankfully, and then there was just the dancing. I duct taped myself to my skateboard and went to Babyface over in Halloweentown. I nearly wiped out so many times because my hips kept trying to hula-hoop or something, it was ridiculous.”

But then shes caught onto what Babyface had. Survivors. What were the chances - not many people knew about the island. Almost nobody knew about the island, actually. So how -

“Beagles?” She repeated, her eyes wide with disbelief. Of all the people - of course the Beagles would endure. There was so many of them, there was no way that all of them could be lost. "Like - Real-time Beagles?"

Big Time. Bouncer.

She put an arm around Babyface, hugging him close, rubbing up and down on his ribs. If there was any time to try to provide comfort, it was that moment, learning the absolute truth. At least he didn’t have to see them, though. Like how she had been pretty sure that she saw her parents shuffling about through Feral.

Her eyes followed up to the porch. Red hair. Looks like she was no longer the only Ginger in Feral.

“Son of a bitch,” She said, grinning. And then she started to run, flats hitting the pavement, going right up to Jax and tackling him down with a hug.

#jaxellie #mazziexellie #babyfacexellie #bebopxellie #gideonxellie

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lurkingshan · 2 days ago

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The other day in a conversation about I'll Turn Back This Time, @troubled-mind asked me about my favorite dramas that show the same couple falling in love multiple times, in different iterations.

So of course, I am now here with a list! Takes on the fantasy trope that ITBTT uses--an alternate universe and/or time travel mechanism that sets up the protagonist to fall in love with the same person, or different versions of the same person, more than once--is actually not super common in dramas, but there are a handful of shows that do something like this:

Triage

If you ask me what is the best QL with this trope, I don't even need to think about it: Triage is the answer. I love this show, and alongside its masterful suspense plot you get to watch these two try (and fail) to get the other to fall for them over and over again. It's a great time.

Someday or One Day

If you ask me what is the best drama with this trope, period, I have to hand it to Someday or One Day, a Taiwanese drama that is probably my favorite time travel alternate universe romance of all time. In this one you get multiple versions of the same characters falling in love with each other and traversing time and space to find each other. It's so good that a Korean production attempted to replicate its magic. An absolute must watch for people who love this trope!

Every You Every Me

Now we're getting into some with asterisks. In this show you get to watch the same two actors play multiple different pairs who fall in love with each other in different universes--kind of. I can't say more or I will spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet! It's not a perfect show by any means, but it's a lot of fun.

4 Minutes

This show is not a great example of this trope IMO, but it sort of gets at the experience, as you see a few different versions of the lead characters and their relationship through various narrative turns. I'm keeping it vague because saying much more would be spoilerific!

The Legend of the Blue Sea

A mermaid meets a conman, has a whirlwind romance, and then deletes his memory. But oops! They were already lovers in a previous life, her mermaid powers are not working quite as planned, and she can't stop herself from finding him again anyway. It's all a bit more complicated than that, but the point is you get to watch these two find each other and fall in love several times in multiple lifetimes. And damn did I love it every time.

Until We Meet Again

In this drama, the story is about two souls who meet again in another life after a tragic end in their first. So it kinda fits here, but their reincarnated souls go into new characters played by different actors, so the experience of watching it is a bit different. This one is less about time travel and choice as it is heavy on the red string of fate.

Extraordinary You

In this fantasy drama, our mains are side characters in a manwha who gain sentience and start trying to change their story together while an omnipotent writer keeps shuffling them back to where they think they belong and deleting their memories of each other. It's definitely a unique twist on this trope, and you get to watch them fight to remember and fall for each other and find a way to take control of their destiny over and over again.

In addition to narratives with a fantasy construct that resets or produces multiple iterations of the core relationship, I also thought about second chance romances where you get to see both the original and the second chance love story in full, giving you the experience of watching the same two people fall in love twice. Some noteworthy dramas in this category:

Lighter and Princess

This drama centers on two tech genius types who originally fell in love in college and started a company together before something went very wrong, resulting in his incarceration. The story picks up when he gets out of prison and sets out to reclaim his legacy, and you get to live both their first and second love stories in detail. One of my absolute favorites and permanently in the rewatch rotation.

We Best Love

This story is told in two parts, with the first focused on their original enemies to lovers romance in college, and the second their reunion after a confusing and closure-less break up. It's honestly kind of a mess but I love it so much anyway, in no small part due to the actors.

The End of the World With You

And now for something a little darker! This one is heavy on the toxic psychosexual vibe, and all the more fascinating for it. Two former lovers meet again at the end of the world, and we see what went wrong for them in college and watch them sort through the wreckage as adults and try to make something of the time they have left.

First Love: Hatsukoi

Two high school sweethearts get separated by life circumstances, and meet again twenty years later to realize they are still not over it. I was charmed by the teen love story in this one especially.

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo

Let me end on a note of excellence and take this opportunity to again implore everyone to watch this beautiful show. Both iterations of this relationship are compelling and complicated and full of deep feeling; it's one of the most satisfying second chance romances I have seen, and after everything they've been through, it's so rewarding to see these two get the chance to fall in love again.

#i will turn back this time #triage #someday or one day #let free the curse of taekwondo #every you every me #4 minutes #the legend of the blue sea #until we meet again #extraordinary you #lighter and princess #we best love #the end of the world with you #first love: hatsukoi #shan recommends #drama recs

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tarraxahum · 2 days ago

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This was gonna be a reply to a reply but I thought maybe I should just make my own post. Yes this is about Vi again.

It's no secret that "Vi should've fought for Zaun" and the expectation of her being Vander's prodigy and feeling like the plot dropped the ball on her in that regard and the betrayal at the fact that she's living comfortably in Piltover now are. Frequent sentiments in the fandom. Which I get, but also I feel that this line of expectations is. Diverging from who Vi actually is by the end and what she was realistically capable of.

Vi in season 2 is basically running on fumes and because she has no other options. It is a well known thing in irl activist spaces that to participate in any kind of fight for justice you need to take care of yourself, otherwise you won't have the energy to be any kind of useful to your community. Ekko also says this - "It's not enough to give people what they need to survive, you have to give them what they need to live". Vi has been surviving and not living in any shape or form for years, she's exhausted and broken in places. That's no mental state to fight for Zaun or make any kinda change. I think it's extremely realistic and human and hardly a flaw of writing or the character if by the end the only thing she was able to do was collapse into the safety and peace she was offered for the first time in forever (aka Caitlyn). It's clear that in her last scene she's still recovering mentally - Cait seems to be excited to have any sign of life (singing) from her at all, and the "Are you still in this fight?" question is very loaded. (But it's indicated that Vi is very much still in the fight, so? It's really anyone's guess what she'll do once she's healed and remembers how to live. And don't bring up LoL's Vi brutality thing, it's clear they're different characters).

I think in wanting to see Vi stand up for Zaun or be Vander's prodigy we often deny her the flaw of being a breakable human and forget just how much she's held together by duct tape. Just because she was full of this 'fuck Piltover' fire as a kid doesn't mean she is still capable of matching that energy. Sometimes after lots of trauma humans grow up into tired adults who just want to sit down and feel safe regardless of where it happens and how questionable it might look (re: living in Piltover). Not to mention, that even as a child Vi's main reason for fuming at the Topside was wanting safety for her family and herself. Well, now she's all out of family, she's estranged from the community of Zaun thanks to being in prison for 7 years and Silco changing the place so much, and the only person who's offering her safety and not more fighting (which she's exhausted and thoroughly burnt out from!) is Caitlyn, so. How is where she ended up any kind of surprising or a failure of her writing/character?

Yes, a lot of people wanted a revolutionary, no, Vi isn't one. Dare I say, never really was one. At her lowest, when she's got no one left to protect, she's not trying to fill in that void by taking on protecting Zaun and becoming a vigilante or something, no, she spirals. That is not something on her radar, that's not something she's visibly cut out to do, she cares so so much but on a smaller scale. Even the whole shimmer factory debacle was less about Zaun and more about her desire to hurt Silco personally for what he'd done to her family. If Jinx agreed to run away with her back at the tea party Vi would ditch the entirety of Zaun (potentially leaving it to Silco forever since he's still alive at that point) in a heartbeat to keep her sister and save Cait in one move. She puts on an enforcer uniform BECAUSE she cares for Jinx (through convincing herself that at the very least she should take her out of her misery herself rather than leaving it to people who don't care, yes) and Cait both.

Perhaps a hot take, but not becoming a leader despite being good at taking hits to the head and caring about people in general and being a daughter of one does not make Vi a badly written character or a bad person. It just makes her a person. And a character whose arc culminated in choosing herself. And choosing yourself sometimes means leaving the fight to others (perhaps temporarily, considering the final dialogue). And that's okay.

Arcane is tragedy about flawed people, not a feel-good story about a successful revolution and rich people paying for their crap, and it was never going to be. Ergo one of our main character isn't an upcoming hero in shining armor who was allegedly robbed of her potential. She's just a broken young woman who barely knows how to keep her own little life together and her biggest victory by the end is allowing herself to take a breath and live for once. Yes, while her home down there is still in shambles. Yes, that sounds selfish. For some people a bit of selfishness is the greatest thing they can ever learn for themselves.

#arcane #arcane s2 #vi #vi arcane #long post #I maybe very lazy at fandom participation these days but one thing you can expect of me #is getting miffed by someone's point about a character and making a mini-essay about her #not all stories are about successful changes and world injustices fixed!#sometimes they are about people falling apart at the seams and also folly of a man #while being set in unjust settings #I get it. The world we live right now - we want to see shit getting fixed and our blorbos being heroes #but this one is a tragedy. the injustice is a setting. not the villain.#also! just to point out! neither Jinx or Ekko should carry that burden either #but Jinx also chose to leave and find herself and wasn't ever really prepared to be a symbol in the first place #so both sisters are alike in that one #and Ekko? Ekko stepped into the role willingly and gradually - or so it seems at least #and more importantly he knows what he's fucking doing #if Vi lead the Zaun liberation she would not know how to do it I'm sorry to say.#it would be the shimmer factory debacle all over again.#and it would be mostly due to her what - CORRECT #due to her being extremely not in the mental state for taking on such responsibility!#'why couldn't Vi have stepped up and led Zaun' she would've ran herself into a grave. period.#whether anything would be achieved by that is a topic for a debate I guess.

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nualaofthefaerie · 19 hours ago

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I just read your melvik headcanons, and I love them! They're just *chef's kiss*

Do you perhaps have some skyce headcanons for us?👀

Skyce! - SFW/NSFW headcanons ( •ॢ◡-ॢ)-♡

A/N: I've been itching all over to actually do the Skyce headcanons but every time I get lost in giggling and kicking my feet like crazy so instead of actually doing it I sit down to doodle them. I have like 4 other asks asking for Skyce headcanons and @acedragontype asked me also, so let's actually do it this time. Season 1 Skyce ONLY (Same as the Melvik ones, I assume exclusivity) headcanons because for season 2...you'll see, I have been working on something for the past three weeks. If I finish it will be so worth the wait.

Melvik version

Also THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO FUCKs WITH MY SILLY CRACKSHIP!!!

SFW headcanons

When Viktor first sneaks Sky into the Academy there is a period of time where Jayce disapproves of her involvement, especially because he thinks she is giving him the cold shoulder. Sky's first impression of Jayce is that he is a genius, although quite eclectic. That rubs her wrong. Mix that with the fact she is shyer than Viktor and these two get off on the wrong foot purely due to a misunderstanding.

The idea to incorporate plants as test subjects was Sky's. She spends about thirty minutes rambling about the ways the boys could use a certain strain of carnivorous plants, which forces Jayce to realise he had been a fool for ever doubting Viktor's judgement in hiring her as opposed to any of the Piltover pupils. When Jayce sides with her and convinces Viktor, their relationship becomes better.

Jayce helps in the botanic garden when the forge is too suffocating. It's a big and bright space and he can still use his physical strength to think and tire himself out so he likes it. Sky ignores that he prefers to do that job in the same way he does his forgery work - half-naked. She also ignores that it makes her heart flutter, constantly trying to remind herself that getting involved with the big boss is not good for anyone's resume, but he makes it VERY difficult on her.

They are quite oblivious to how close they are becoming because each of them thinks they have a crush on a different person.

Sometimes their age difference shows up in unexpected ways even though she's just two years younger than him. She'd make a trendy reference and he'd look at her dumb while holding his chin in faux thought (he has no idea what she just said. He's too much of a nerd to know anything 'trendy').

Ximena Talis LOVES Sky Young because she learns every dish Ximena teaches her and she is full of warmth and enthusiasm. She notices they have a level of chemistry but doesn't really say anything. They move in sync and they don't even notice, so Ximena thinks that if it's meant to work it will. They are both good cooks.

At some point, Sky begins spending more time with Jayce than Viktor simply because his schedule is fuller.

Both of them are cinephiles. Sky is certainly more pretentious than Jayce. He loves to watch all sorts of movies, and she has a more 'refined' taste. When their crushes didn't pan out they kind of thought they'd go through it together so they sat down to watch the Piltover equivalent of 'Mean Girls' (Sky had never watched it), but she was so sad she fell asleep on his shoulder. Jayce picked her up, carried her to his bed and slept on the couch (he too begins to ignore how much it makes his heart flutter in almost a childish way).

They are also very competitive at board games and Twister. Viktor and Mel usually tap out but these two will go on until their muscles are sore. Sky has better flexibility, Jayce is bigger so he takes up more space. She does cheat. She'd blow air into his ear or jokingly whisper something sexual into his ear to win. He never says anything because he's too busy blushing (she doesn't realise it has an effect on him)

She is almost like a shadow in public. It didn't bother him, but when he realised he likes her close to him he starts looking for her and gets frustrated and grumpy when he can't find her.

She finds his tick of rubbing his neck quite attractive, he finds her pushing up her glasses cute.

Despite looking very sweet, they bicker a lot over things that definitely don't matter cause they find it makes them run hot (especially before they ever make any romantic moves).

The one time he took her to a gala with him (Mel and Viktor did not have the time) she spent her entire time promoting the Hexpartners project. It was also the time they almost kissed but Jayce recognized he was too drunk and he was far too upright to take advantage of drunk Sky even though she consented. He takes her home while she giggles and tells him about how much she likes how he does different things and proceeds to list the most minuscule details about his behaviour.

They have been in the opposite situation as well. He has been drunk murmuring sweet nothings into her ear. She tosses it off to him probably mistaking her for Mel. (do you notice a pattern with these two?)

By the time they kiss, they're like kettles about to explode. Their first kiss happened at Jayce's apartment, during one of their weekend evenings. He wanted to show her the prototype of a vase for the flowers they use that could essentially water itself using Hextech. 'To make your life easier, you know. You already don't sleep enough.' he'd say and proceed to explain in detail how it works. She'd be so moved over the fact he thought about her, it would be an instinctive action, more of a peck and she immediately tries to apologise but it's difficult to apologise when a man the size of a mountain is kissing your apologies away. He basically crushes her into his arms upon the realisation kissing Sky Young is no longer off-limits.

There is no little spoon in their relationship because Sky sleeps on top of Jayce.

NSFW headcanons (now watch me lose my fucking mind)

Aftercare: Jayce Talis is the best aftercare giver in the game. He can get quite out there when he wants to pleasure his partner and that's not lost on him, so he makes sure there's water and something sweet by his bedside so she doesn't lose consciousness.

Body part: Those arms and slightly crooked smile could drive Sky crazy. Jayce loses his mind when she isn't wearing her glasses cause then she's bating those big doe eyes at him. When they fuck glasses are off no matter what. Also he takes off that fucking bun. He can't stand it. He loves to watch her curls bounce on top of him.

Cum: They don't mean to be messy, they promise they don't, but they are. She is on the pill, and although she tries to convince him to wear a condom that man has a creampie kink, there's no way she can convince him of anything. And one thing about Jayce Talis - he can be painfully convincing when he sets his mind to.

Dirty secret: They pretend like crazy in front of Viktor. They feign unfamiliarity but the moment he isn't looking Jayce would either sneak a hand around her throat, without any pressure or squeezing, just to prove he can and watch her expression grow stiff and frustrated.

Experience: Relative experience, they know what they're doing. Sky has had Zaun partners who've been quite...rude and rough with her so she can't really figure out how when Jayce is rough it feels good. Jayce Talis fucked bitches his whole life, I'm tired of pretending he hasn't.

Favourite position: If you ask Sky she prefers to feel his weight on top of her until it's suffocating, but Jayce loves when she clings to him so he prefers fucking her standing, while she holds on for dear life to his neck.

Goofy: they can be goofy in that Sky would get freaked if she's just hanging midair, but if the fucking is post argument it's deadly serious. She'll touch him a bit more, he'll squeeze a bit harder, a game that has to be won.

Hair: Jayce Talis grooms himself once every two weeks. He doesn't like hair on his face because it's not 'presentable' but he doesn't mind a well-maintained happy trail. Sky Young certainly doesn't mind it. She used to shave but switched to wax once every three weeks when she moved to Piltover, so some hair can grow but it's often little and more reminiscent of fluff than actual hair. Hair doesn't bother either of them, they're adults.

Intimacy: I've said it once, I'll say it again, they run St. Valentine's like the Navy. So they are very intimate. He'd steal a kiss when no one's watching, she'd rub his hand if he's nervous. That extends to their sex life. He'd whisper her worries away, she'd hold him impossibly close.

Jack off: Sky is a small hour of the night-pleasing herself type girl. Even if it's in her own apartment, she tries to keep very quiet, especially if her mind trails to his smile or his hands or his chest, like she is ashamed of how lewd her thoughts can become when it comes to him. Jayce is a rare mastrubator to me. He is more of a sufferer. He'd let the images run through his mind but would grip his working tools and go in the forge unless it was during one of those nights when she falls asleep on his shoulder or just looks at him for a moment too long, then he has to rub one off in the closest private space to be able to breathe.

Kink: Jayce is a pleasure dom to Sky, so overstimulation is a main kink. Another main of his is creampies, he loves to watch his cum trail down her trembling legs. He also has an unhealthy oral fixation (both giving and receiving). He likes to role-play situations in which she holds all the power over him and lets her do what she wants. Sky is not dominant by any means but she learns she enjoys to top once in a while. With time she develops a certain bratiness to her - deny his orgasm, scratch his back a bit too hard, mock him a bit, all in the name of her head being thrown on the pillow and fucked stupid. Oh, also both of them are really into shower sex for some reason. Really into it - wet and licking water off her collarbones, it turns them on.

Location: Jayce's apartment. Sky's is too small, he's too cramped in there they can't move freely. But Jayce's apartment is a sanctuary for both of them and his bed is big enough to toss each other around.

Motivation: If they argue, like actually argue, fucking is close. If Sky's cheating at a game, fucking is close. If Jayce rests his head on her shoulder and begins to nibble on the skin while she works, fucking is close. She's not good at expressing her needs explicitly but if she hooks a leg around him while they watch something, chances are she'll straddle his waist and kiss him without saying anything. It's embarrassing, but he doesn't need her to say it. He'll always ask her if she's sure and then they're off to the races.

No: He'll never in a thousand years take advantage of her nativity even if it turns him on, even if he finds her oblivious passion for her subject super hot, he would never ever take advantage of her boundaries. So BDSM is a no. She can do with him whatever, he doesn't mind, but he could not handle seeing her in pain. Even when she's asking for his hand around her throat, he never squeezes too hard like he knows he can and has done before. Sky is very strict about public PDA. Small caresses are fine, when her office door is locked it's okay, but nothing that could jeopardize their careers, reputations or projects.

Oral: Both of them have a thing for receiving and giving oral. Jayce would beg to eat her out if he has to, just to feel his nose pressing against her clit while she tugs on his perfectly ordered hair, moaning and pleading. Sometimes he'd eat her out to soothe his own unrelated frustrations. But there is nothing Jayce Talis loves more than to force Sky to sit on his face - suffocate him, hands wrapped around her thighs, pulling her as close to him as possible, pressure his head between her thighs, it's a sweet way to die. In return, he loves watching her work her mouth on him. She's far too good at sucking him off, it almost makes him jealous thinking she had to acquire this technique somewhere. In the beginning, he wasn't with deep-throating her, but as time went on he got comfortable with it. Watching her gag as spit and precum run down her chin and those pleading doe eyes looking up is enough to make him cum in minutes. He can fuck her for hours, but if she puts her mouth on him he's a goner in minutes. Sky herself loves watching him eat her out messily, juices dripping down his chin, cheeks flushed as he always grips her as if she's a meal he can't afford to skip. She also learns to ride his face properly for her own gain as he tells her to. 'Don't worry about me' is their mantra when it comes to oral. It's a good day if her nose is pressed to the hairs on his pelvis, eyes rolled to the back of her head from the stretch on her throat. It's also a good day when she gets to tease him about how weak he is to her mouth. He'd cut himself or just run a loving hand on her cheek and she'd bite on his thumb or suck on it slowly just to prove she can and then let him go back to his duties. It's the only form of public teasing she is okay with but it's more than enough for him.

Pace: On special occasions, it's slow, deep and filled with loving confessions and giggling, but more often than not it's messy, fast and rough.

Quickie: Not big on quickies. They like to take their time, to taunt each other physically, to watch their eyes grow droopy from pleasure and overstimulation. If it's too much or they need fast relief they masturbate.

Risk: Not very big on risks. Jayce wouldn't mind if Sky didn't mind as much as she did, but he respects her wishes.

Stamina: That man is a bull. And you know what? Sky Young can handle going for seconds and thirds. They're both athletic and healthy. They match each other pretty well.

Toys: I don't see them being really into toys. More like they both have a clothes kink - her underwear in his pocket/or as a way to gratify himself, his tie to bind his hands to the bed frame or keeping her socks on when she wears those wool knee highs people wear inside the house during winter.

Unfair: To be fair he teases intentionally more than she does, but she is a bigger teaser unintentionally - she'd fix his cuffs without him having to ask, or grab his face when he wants to shave and do it for him, sway her hips, if it's really urgent she'd kiss his knuckles secretly to help him calm down before a speech (it riles him up). His teasing is more gently picking her chin here and there, a remark in her ear, those types of things. He'd leave himself looking a bit shabby to tease her about always making him look properly good.

Volume: Together they are very loud. He loves hearing her under him, it's like a reward for a job well done. During those times he's still more of a moaner and broken cries type of dude. (looks at s2 Jayce...he's a different story)

Wild card: She has shown to work with his shirt tugged in instead of hers without telling anyone (all of hers were dirty). It trickles into Sky Young role-playing as a councillor, wearing only Jayce's councillor coat while riding him into oblivion.

X-ray: As a friend said Jayce Talis packs a weapon we are not ready to discuss. Is it more girth or more length, god knows, but Sky Young will tell you she swears it gets to her stomach and she's not a short tiny little lady.

Yearning: Pretty normal I'd say, a few rounds like twice a week. Whenever, even though they always yearn for the touch of the other.

Zzz: Both of them are quick sleepers. They are more morning people than night owls. They fuck, they cuddle, giggle about something stupid and in 15 minutes they're both out.

A/N: You know my inbox is always open for Melvik and Skyce thoughts.

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shroomkore · 20 hours ago

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just realized that everyone who has the worst takes on nosferatu are basing all of their information on the idea that Ellen never wanted any of this and she's just an "innocent clueless poor girl" as if SHE wasn't the one who invoked a death entity and dreamt of all she knew as dead to her marriage with her true love, and was HAPPY about it and deep down truly had NO problem letting everyone die bc they all mistreated her and never once listened to her or anything, just treating her like a hysterical unruly child.

its like these people are completely missing the point that while she tries to cling to this childlike innocence society expects her to have well into adulthood where a woman must be subservient and quiet, she is DESPERATE to release her darkness, her urges, her humanity, but bc she is a woman (an autistic woman at that), its seen as something so dastardly. that's why she married thomas, she wanted to be seen as "correct" in her society and is essentially hoping that Thomas is the cure to all her ailments in life and everything will magically get better. and there is romance between them for sure, but thomas and ellen struggle a lot to see eye to eye. he still treats her as "burdened" and is more dismissive than anything, refuses to listen to her and just assumes things on top of having this mindset of "i need to do whats best for us and what'll make me successful" WHEN LITERALLY ALL SHE WANTS IS HIM AND HIS LOVE AND INTIMACY AND SEX. My husband made a wonderful comment about how it didn't matter that thomas didn't know what the contract orlok gave him said. the moment he chose his work over Ellen, he sold her away for that pouch of gold before knowing it.

ellen has a darkness inside her she keeps trying to fight, fighting her own mortality, her own nature. she keeps denying herself her true feelings and emotions, which Orlok wouldn't understand and be angry over this because "ew wtf why are you restraining your own wants and needs for the approvement of others" because purity culture tends to strip a human of all the things that make us human for the idea of "being closer to God and becoming more Holy". Which is idiocy in itself. thats why she's constantly trying to push orlok away and is tryin everything to let him know she "hates" him, because she's just fighing against herself and self sabotaging herself and he KNOWS this.

anyways if you think a woman isn't capable of having dark urges or doing anything "evil" or actually wanting "bad" things, you're weird af and kinda misogynistic tbh!

and before ANYONE comes for me, let me state this. Movies can have more than one interpretation and be correct in both or more. I fully embrace all interpretations of the movie, but if you try to tell me or other that only ONE is correct, you should step back and reflect on yourself to see why you think that other people having a different opinion is bad. Also, ✨️Law of Paradox✨️

ellen may be depicted as a damsel in distress, but that's because EVERYONE ELSE IS FORCING HER INTO THIS ROLE AND IGNORING HER COMPLETELY. SHE IS POWERFUL SPIRITUALLY.

as a CSA and childhood trauma survivor, i wish death upon all my abusers, rapists, and every instigator in my life who did nothing and/or told me to keep quiet about it to not "tear everything apart" and "ruin other peoples' lives", and i hope it is gruesome and brutal and it is painful the entire time, and i too would love to see their mangled corpses in my happiest moment when im marrying my soulmate who is not only everything ive dreamed of, but who also truly loves me and wants me in their life as i want them.

#nosferatu #nosferatu movie #nosferatu 2024 #nosferaturambles #shroomrambles #shroomkore #adding ellen to my kinlist as we speak #also if any of you guys actually saw lily talk about the film you'd shit and piss everywhere #she was perfect for that role #she understands ellen inside and out

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dgttwisted · 3 days ago

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Together

n2 squad aka Leona x Vil x Jamil idea inspired by @mellosdrawings

this drabble is crossing cannons aka not cannon cannon aka (don't think to hard on it i wrote this because i had a cute thought an wanted to wright it)

according to the schedule is which dorm takes care of Lilith an Grim which week. as per usual when Vil gets Lilith for a week he spoils the crap out of her. This week will be no exception however he had something a little different planned.

-the night before the new week-

"as you know this week our dorm will be in charge of Lilith's care"

"i know?"

"lucky you"

"well i wanted to do something special we have discussed having kids in the future an i thought all of us could try helping Lilith this week together as a unit"

"sure I'm in as far as kids go Lilith is no where near as hyperactive as Cheka is"

"hate to rain on your parade but that might not work well"

"why not?"

Jamil dramatically points at himself

"oh yea she's scared stiff of you"

"how could i forget she cried her eyes out when you ran into her at night during your stay at the dorm for practice"

"didn't you save her though? during the whole Styx rescue?"

"she was asleep the whole time i doubt she knows what happened unless someone told her I'm pretty sure she has no idea that, that occurred"

"worry not I'll butter her up so when you make your appearance she won't be as scared"

"we'll figure it out sense Vil is dead set on this being a team effort an all" Leona said in a rather dry sarcastic tone which earned him a pillow to the face from Vil.

--the beginning of said week--

Vil had only knocked on the door once before hearing the shuffling as the door swung open Lilith jumped into Vil's arms "VIL!!!!!!"

"my little star!" Vil scoops her up an swings her around

Leona had the biggest smirk on his face he just knows Vil spoils the crap out of her to get that reaction our of her.

"hi Leona...are you sleeping over to?"

"heh yea something like that"

"your not allowed to steal our bed like you did last time jerk!" the shrill voice of grim caused them both to look down at the displeased fur ball. "i'll set you on fire if you do"

"i'd like to see you try-"

"so Lilith not that i need it but i will be getting a little extra help this week watching over you"

"i don't see Rook an Epel"

"that's because its not them this time its Leona an someone else who is very special to me they will be coming over later"

"ok you're here so i know i'll have fun" Vil giving her little kisses on the cheek for that one, Lilith is Vil's trial daughter would have loved to adopt her but was informed it was out of the question.

while Leona an Vil where playing with Lilith they had Jamil sneak into the kitchen the plan is to hopefully bribe Lilith with food to forget her trauma....

Lilith was holding a little tea party she tied ribbons in Leona's hair who just let it happen because Lilith seemed to be having a good time.

"a splendid party like always Lilith!" whenever Lilith is happy she glows so it makes it very easy to tell if she is lying about liking something but she gets rather embarrassed when you point that out.

Jamil had a trey of sweets he only took two steps into the room when Lilith lifted up her head saw him an screamed. 'about what i expected' Jamil thought to himself right before a plastic cup smacked him in the face curtsy of a scared Lilith.

Vil scooped her up trying to calm her down but she was wailing "NO NO GET AWAY!!! MONSTER!!!!"

monster probably hurt him the worse but considering how he treated her while be Over blotted he expected that reaction. he placed the trey on the floor an left the room.

it took Vil quite some time before Lilith calmed down an when she did Leona scooped her up an fed her some sweets gave Vil the look of 'i got this one you get him' an Vil left to check on Jamil

"i apologize i knew she was scared of you but i didn't think it was still that bad"

"you have nothing to be sorry about....this is my own fault"

"i know you didn't mean to-"

"take it out on her? yea well when i over blotted i did! i swatted the rest away an tormented a toddler...."

"but you also saved her even if she doesn't know that you did"

"she won't ever know an that's fine...I'm normally better with kids you know? if we did this whole practice thing with any other kid i could have shown off how capable i am an-" Vil kissed Jamil on his cheek

"i know how capable you are"

Leona swaying Lilith about trying to get her in a sleepy mood but she seems to shaken up to sleep. "hay squirt want to hear a bedtime story?" Lilith nodded

"k..." shit guess he actually has to now "long ago...actually it wasn't that long ago probably a week ago a big bad guy with blue flames for hair kidnapped a princess an challenged 5 hero's to stop his evil plan an save the princess they had to split up in order to have a chance of beating him leaving many trials an tests along the way on of those hero's was yours truly an the other was Jamil" hearing his name even during the story made Lilith tremble a little but leona swung her around a bit before nuzzling her face making her giggle "how can a monster be a hero you might be asking yourself? monsters can learn to grow from there mistakes i to had moments of being a monster but i grew out of it" for the most part.

"anyway all the hero's including the monster agreed that we had to save the princess as well as stop him he made it real tough you know every time we made a big attack he kept holding the princess just out of reach so we couldn't save her but i guess it takes a monster to know a monster because the monster saved the princess dove over an grabbed her from the clutches of the bad guy"

"Jamil really do that?"

"yup saw him do it with my own eyes"

"...." she was still fuming "listen kid you don't gotta forgive him for what he did don't blame you if you don't, but i promise you he regrets hurting you an he is trying i promise"

"can i get a different bed time story?"

"nope, you're stuck with the one i gave you"

"Vil would have told me another one"

"I'm not Vil"

Lilith stuck her tunge out him an Leona repeated the motion back at her. "good night little herbivore" he tucks Lilith in an she is sound asleep in minutes.

next morning Jamil making breakfast in the kitchen his plan was just to make food an leave before Lilith woke up. he stopped when he heard a ruffling "grim is that you? you have to wait until Lilith gets her share before you eat it all-" he turned an froze when he saw Lilith peeking from behind the wall just staring at him. he turned away from her so she wouldn't have to look at his face.

he heard tiny foot steps he could tell she was standing right behind him. "thank you" his head went up but he didn't turn around he wasn't expecting that.

"thank you for saving me....Leona told me you saved me from a monster..." she then kicks the back of his leg "i still don't like you though" an she ran away to go get dressed into not P jays

Jamil left standing in the kitchen alone with his thoughts till Vil an Leona came by. "you didn't have to do that"

"what tell her the truth? well i did hopefully she'll throw less stuff at you now-" Jamil rested his head on Leona's shoulder in a very subtle way of saying thank you which Jamil was to shy to say. Leona an Vil hugged him close let him know he wasn't alone an they would figure this all out together.

"hay can i eat food now or do i have to wait till your done hugging an shit" that earned Grim a smack from Vil "you better not say such vile things around Lilith"

"ow! i'd never after all im her role model"

"yikes maybe we should have Lilith move dorms so she has better role models"

"I'm all for that, i say Pomefiore she would have much better role models including Vil"

grim blew out flames "NO SHE'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE"

"aw you do care about her"

"duh! She's my henchmen!"

the three of them laughed as they helped get Lilith an Grim ready for class today.

#lilith = yuu #twst #twst oc #jamil viper #vil schoenheit #leona kingscholar #n2 squad #the rest of the week was fine for the most part #Lilith still feels uncomfortable around Jamil but is trying #if you ask Rook who has been watching this threw the windows the whole time it went perfect

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blainehasregrets · 2 days ago

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Red and Blue in Glee

Of course red and blue is the Most obvious symbolism in the world, but this is something I think gives a lot of insight to the character’s motivations in Glee that not a lot of people point out!

Glee often used these two colors to show opposing forces, or when used together, a character being conflicted/in the middle of something. This concept is introduced in the Pilot, with Vocal Adrenaline performing in all blue during Rehab, while the New Directions are dressed in red during Don’t Stop Believing (and okay yes that’s a picture of Vocal Adrenaline from Theatricality, it was impossible to get a good screenshot of Rehab. Same thing.). And though I’m not sure it was always the case, I feel like blue was occasionally used to symbolize a sense of teamwork and “sameness” (as Vocal Adrenaline were a well oiled, well choreographed show choir machine in matching competition outfits) while red was meant to convey a sense of individuality (a small group of outcasts/underdogs coming together in different outfits that reflect each of their personalities).

And of course this isn’t like…a constant rule throughout the show either, because blue and red are just a striking combination in general, so of course sometimes its just used because it looks good together! Like they all pretty much wear red during Valentine's episodes just because it's Valentine's day lol and after all, red is just a part of McKinley’s school colors, and the football team and Cheerios aren’t exactly shining examples of individuality.

I explained a little here how blue and red could be used in cases whether the characters understand each other and if the character’s are on the same page or not, for example, here with Quinn and Rachel during I Feel Pretty/Unpretty.

An episode that uses this to aide the story visually is The Rhodes Not Taken. During Maybe This time, Rachel, in an outfit completely opposite of April’s to highlight the differences between them, performs the song against red and blue lights/curtains. While she initially believes Sandy's play is her chance to shine after being denied a solo in the New Directions, it's a decision she quickly regrets because of how miserable and isolating it is. Her conflicting thoughts continue to be illustrated both in the bowling scene with Finn where she wears a blue and red sailor collar t-shirt as Finn tries to convince her to come back to the club, and in the bathroom scene with April, where she is again their differences are highlighted.

Eventually, Rachel does end up going back to the New Directions, because she does value the group (and I think, despite popular opinion that Rachel is "the most selfish person in the show", she spends all of season 1 proving how much she cares about and wants the group to succeed) and she wants to find a place where she belongs. It's not even that Sandy was just an asshole director, she felt incredibly lonely. In Mattress, Rachel tries to comfort herself by telling herself it's lonely at the top and she has to expect to be disappointed, but it's obviously not something she actually wants for herself and it comes from a naive place that she still needs to unlearn. Rachel, along with the fact that she is incredibly ambitious, is also a person who needs people, and the end of this episode is her taking one more step towards realizing that as she joins the New Directions, dressed in blue during Somebody To Love. Both to contrast the pink of April's outfit with the New Directions dressed in black as her glorified backup dancers, and to show them coming together as a group of people who want the same thing.

In Preggers, Kurt wears a red sweater with a blue tank top and sweatband to tryout for the football team. It’s not that Kurt is necessarily conflicted about who he is, but in this episode he blends who he is (the Single Ladies dance), and who he thinks his dad wants him to be (Football player).

The most obvious example of the red and blue being used as a halfway point is in the Dalton uniform. Even though I could explain the reasons why Blaine (and Kurt) leaving Dalton was inevitable, but! -> 👔 Their ties tell you everything you need to know! “It makes no sense Blaine left his rich private school for his high school boyfriend” but the symbolism spells it out for you! Dalton, with its red and blue tie, is a temporary place for Kurt and Blaine.

In Duets, as Kurt makes the final decision of whether or not he should duet with Sam, he’s wearing a blue sweater since he ultimately decides to put the team’s needs above his own wants. Sam, on the other hand, after telling Finn he’s going through with the duet with Kurt, wears a blue shirt with a blue and red target on it. When he’s splattered with a red slushie that Quinn helps him clean up immediately after, it represents his new choice for a duet partner. So, besides the obvious meaning behind the target on Sam's shirt being used to show he'll be harassed if he duets with Kurt, the print takes on a new meaning as his character is now inbetween Kurt and Quinn. (Even their outfits! Kurt’s sweater is blue and Quinn’s cheerio uniform is red.)

Though I’m sure he would have gone through with the duet with Kurt had Kurt not “set him free” since Sam said himself he had no intention to back out, the slushie itself shows this is something beyond his control. Both because of interference from Finn and because of the societal pressures that are going to put a stop to this duet between him and Kurt. (also I just made that up right now)

He continues to wear red and blue plaid when he tries to convince Quinn to duet with him, and for most of their relationship, Sam wears blue because 1) it just looks nice next to Quinn’s red uniform 2) I personally felt they were never really on the same page in their relationship as early as Duets. This is evident when Sam points to a planet and says it’s Venus, the planet of love, which Quinn corrects to tell him it's Mars, planet of war.

In The Purple Piano Project, Blaine comes to school in bright red pants, and his first solo at McKinley as a student is backed up by the Cheerios in their bright red uniform. Blaine’s now officially a member of the New Directions, his red pants representing that new sense of individuality as he’s finally becoming a character of his own, rather than an almost representation of Dalton from season 2. (I also think his striped bow tie’s a nod to the Dalton tie, but obviously more “him”.)

Anyways, what's the point of this post? Though glee is not the most thought provoking show in the world for most people (unless you’re insane like me), I do think some level of effort was put into it, and maybe something like this could help give a better understanding to a character's thought process when it's conveyed visually through the color of their clothes. For instance, related to the above paragraph, I think there’s a misconception that Blaine’s character solely revolved around Kurt, as if that was a writing mistake. While it isn’t totally untrue that Blaine had many plots with Kurt (after all every character serves its purpose, and Blaine’s was to be Kurt’s boyfriend), I also believe that line of thinking misses the times Blaine is so obviously shown to be a character of his own, making decisions of his own. For instance, transferring to McKinley is something he chose to do and was set up in the very episode we met him when he tells Kurt he felt as if he ran away from his problems (and that itself is a consistent trait of Blaine's, he tends to run away from his problems) Similarly to how he says he's “100% gay” in Blame It On The Alcohol, that is something he alone decided, given he ends his previous conversation with Kurt earnestly telling him that Kurt can't control him (something that was also consistent with Kurt’s character) and that whatever happens (which in the end, it's him confidently declaring he's gay when Rachel kisses him sober), it's because he came to that conclusion solely on his own.

These things are reflected in the writing, the framing, and even sometimes the wardrobe. And so, when Blaine chooses to change schools to be with Kurt, when he’s wearing pants that symbolize his independence as a character of his own, I think the fact that his first choice of song to sing towards Kurt, It's Not Unusual whose lyrics are basically “if I see you with anyone else, I’ll DIE :)” tells us something about who his character is. Whether you want to take it at face value that Blaine is someone who’s incredibly driven by love, to the point of possessiveness (which we see in Dance With Somebody or New New York) and willing to transfer from a prestigious private school to a shitty public one, or to show he can be oblivious and often times picks a song with lyrics that are hilariously over the top or inappropriate for the situation (like When I Get You Alone. I love both interpretations and think both apply to his character) maybe it just means…that stuff is a part of his character and personality! Blaine being obsessed with Kurt and love to the point of changing schools for him (along with the fact that it’s something he had already stated he wanted to do) isn't a writing flaw, it's apart of his personality!

Finally, a couple more examples that I feel like don’t need explanations. Though you can always argue that all of these are simply because red and blue are just a visually pleasing color combination (I especially think the Born This Way screenshot was done more out of cohesion than anything, though Rachel is in between trying to figure out if she should have plastic surgery or not), I think you can still make the case that these are ways to show the character’s thoughts and emotions.

#glee #analysis #also that Klaine pic is so unbelievably purposeful…#this has been in my drafts nearly completed since october but I just couldn't bring myself to proofread it until now #one day...I will get into the lighting and color grading and how it reflected the story telling.......#blaine anderson #rachel berry #wardrobe

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consultingfujoshi · 1 hour ago

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REALLY GOOD ADDITION FROM @cowboyidiot. yes I think its fascinating how outie helena and irving are both very much following their own agendas, they both became severed because they have a mission and and point to prove and now we know irving is working with someone, likely both a heavy load of expectations placed on them to perform a certain way - and it's made doubly interesting by the fact that their innies are, whether they know it or not, actively working to undermine their respective agendas. helena is the heiress of lumon and has to deal with her innie taking every opportunity to put her company's reputation at risk. irving is very clearly working to infiltrate and take down lumon from the inside, and his innie has done little other than be lumon's biggest cheerleader since his creation three years ago. both of these characters appear to view their innies as an extension of their will, a means of furthering their ends, but both failed to account for the fact they've basically just created a whole new person with goals and desires of their own and they have ZERO control over what they do down there.

you're very right about the core self being essentially the same but shaped into something completely different by their experiences or lack thereof. irving said so himself, that he was shapeless when he arrived at lumon, and he took on the shape that was presented to him. the same goes for all the severed employees. that same self-righteous and determined attitude that helena eagan has, without the massively privileged and sheltered upbringing and training in the values of her family's company to shape it into a cold and corporate force, manifests in helly r as outright anarchism and refusal to bow to anyone's will but her own. and that same one-track minded craving for a sense of meaning and purpose that drives irving bailiff to deprive himself of sleep for years in the hopes of finding out more about what he's seen, without his lived experiences and understanding of the world around him, manifests in irving b as a perfect canvas for indoctrination into a cult-like dedication to the only form of community he can find down there.

both innies and outies are, at their core, the same bundle of personality, the same wants and desires. but it is history which shapes us, and as we are exposed to more and more experiences, our sense of who we are inevitably changes. so yes, I'm very excited to see if there's any more convergence between the innies and outies. we've definitely seen innie irv become disillusioned with lumon and start to act more like the cynical and determined man we now know exists on the outside. and in this episode, we saw the first cracks start to show for helena upon seeing that her innie has a kind of freedom she has never been allowed. what other changes are we going to see as they learn more about what their alternate selves have been up to?

I'm starting to think that maybe outie irving sees his innie in a similar way that helena does, ie. a tool he can use to further his own ends. he's clearly got a plan, and he chose to become severed to advance that plan somehow. is he going to be shocked or even angry to find out his innie has spent the last 3 years worshipping the company he's been trying to infiltrate from the outside? he literally created his innie for the purpose of bringing down lumon, and you're telling him he's actually the MDR hall monitor and lumon's biggest cheerleader?? will he freak out if he finds out he's been down there falling in love and getting his heart broken and wanting to LEAVE because of it instead of trying to find the testing floor hallway? innie irv's reaction to breaking out is like the total opposite of what his outie would have wanted if you ask me based on how he immediately goes to tell whoever he's working with that his innie got the "message" (saw the paintings) and that probably means to expect forward movement in whatever their plans are, and instead of pursuing it innie irv wants to leave the severed floor forever. what would outie irv's reaction be if dylan had let him walk out into that stairwell. would he have walked right back in like helena did on her first day?

#the parallels between characters are so juicy #id also add that dylans drive to care for and provide for his family on the outside #manifests as that obsession with perks and wanting to be recognised as the most valuable member of mdr on the inside #like it clicked for me when he asked that guy in the interview about benefits #his outie took the severed job because it was good for his family. his innie works so hard because that same worry of 'i need to be good #enough for everyone around me and to prove to myself that i can asecnd to any challenge put in front of me'#similar to irv without the sense of purpose a family gives him his innie is forced to fixate on the only purpose available to him #which is earning meaningless perks #and when he finds out theres more to him than that he cant be satisfied with finger traps anymore #mark is a little trickier but the other 3 at least have that clear like. 1-1 of #i can see how their core traits manifested in these very different ways #this show balances the idea of nature vs nurture very well and in a very interesting way #anyways yea excited to see how outie irv falling in love with essentially the same guy again is gonna change him #like it changed innie irv. how will their reactions be different #hes clearly trying some form of self reintergration already #will we see a total convergence? only time will tell #severance #severance spoilers #meta tag

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sufferu · 11 hours ago

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And that’s not all, folks! Because while I was working on that, I was ALSO working on…

BTZ II Ficlet: The Guy I Like

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Emilia hated to admit it, but she had almost skipped the dance entirely.

It wasn’t that she didn’t think that the dance would be lovely. Everyone had been working so hard, so that the entire night would be as wonderful as possible, and everything up to this point had been something out of a dream. Emilia herself had been front and center with the preparations, so she knew that everything was in place to make this dance one that everybody would remember for all the right reasons.

But she also knew that Subaru…

For the most part, Subaru had been helping out with the preparations in as many ways as he was allowed: preparing food, setting up decorations, organizing the itinerary, if it needed to be done he was there trying to make sure it got done well. At one point he had even tried to help the entertainers unload their materials, and had only just been stopped by Ricardo from accidentally diving headfirst into a large carton full of explosive fireworks. Several people had tried to tell him that there was no need, that he could just rest and let everyone else do all the work, but Subaru had insisted. And of course he had insisted on helping in any way he could: that was the type of boy Subaru had always been.

But that wasn’t all he had been doing: ever since Subaru had learned that there was a dance in the works, he had been PRACTICING. If the librarian was to be believed, he had almost exclusively borrowed books focused on dances for couples, the kinds of dances that one would use to court a prospective lover. And with both Julius’ little brother and the famous songstress Liliana acting as his instructors, he had apparently been steadily improving, bit by bit. Just in time for the formal dance that they would all be attending together.

Even if Wilhelm hadn’t overheard one of his talks with Joshua, it didn’t take a genius to understand what he was planning to do.

It wasn’t that Emilia hadn’t wanted him to learn how to dance, or that she wasn’t flattered by the assumed reason for his sudden interest in the subject — or even that she was entirely against the idea of taking his hand when he would come to ask her onto the dance floor. But the Subaru that she had danced with in the Mathers Estate that one glorious night was a different Subaru entirely, and…

Would it be fairer for her to say yes, or to say no? She wasn’t sure. The thought of that conversation, of that choice — it was tying her stomach into an unpleasant knot. She hated the idea of hurting Subaru, and she didn’t know which decision would hurt him more. She didn’t know, and she didn’t want to make the wrong choice. She…didn’t want to choose at all.

Not for the first time, she wished that things could be simple.

—Julius seemed to be enjoying himself. It was nice to watch him converse with his friends from afar. He was talking with Reinhard, currently. Emilia watched as his shoulders shook with laughter, his hand automatically rising to cover his mouth. She found it oddly charming, how he tried to cling to proper decorum just by habit alone. Ferris didn’t seem to find to charming, if the healer’s eye-roll was any indication. She doubted that Reinhard even noticed: it wasn’t the sort of thing that most people would take note of, after all.

Emilia wondered if someone would ask Julius to dance tonight. Somehow, that thought just made her feel worse.

Perhaps she should have avoided this part of the celebration after all.

“It’s a nice party, isn’t it?”

Emilia blinked. While she had been distracted, the one that she both longed and dreaded to confront had snuck up on her.

“The one and only!” he confirmed, at her surprised exclamation. His voice was so cheerful. It made her heart ache. “I couldn’t help it: seeing a beautiful woman all on her own at a party like this doesn’t make any sense, right?” He posed theatrically for emphasis, apparently completely ignorant to her internal dilemma. “She should have guys falling over themselves to ask her to dance with them!” he declared. “Any other scene just doesn’t make sense for such a wonderful heroine…”

“Ah…” Emilia pressed her lips together. “I don’t think…”

Part of her dearly wanted to accept his offer. She could do it so easily, too. She could reach out her hand, take his in hers, walk out onto the floor as one. It could be a wonderful, magical night, reminiscent of that one they had shared in a time that had never existed, where she and her new knight had celebrated hand-in-hand in a room full of people who loved them both. She — couldn’t have that same thing, she could never replace what she had lost, but it would be similar. If she closed her eyes, she could even pretend that it was the same.

But she would have to open her eyes eventually, and it just wouldn’t be…!

“You know,” Subaru pressed, a bit of his teasy attitude falling away, leaving room for a slightly more serious tone. “I think you’re supposed to ask the guy you like to dance, at an event like this.”

“A—Ah…” Emilia shifted nervously, feeling those old butterflies spring up in her belly, because for a moment she heard someone else teasingly asking her to dance, at a time that most of the rest of the world had long forgotten about. The butterflies grew claws, then, ones that stung and left aching, hurting grooves behind. “I guess you’re right,” she managed.

But that Subaru whom she had loved and the one who stood before her now were two different people. She knew that her forcing the latter onto the former just to suit her own desires would be…

But oh, how it hurt.

“So what’s keeping you?” he asked, voice light and playful. Emilia wilted slightly. “You were looking forward to it, right? Everyone’s been rushing like mad to make sure this party’s as good as it gets, and I know you were one of them. —But you haven’t even gone up to talk to him yet.”

Emilia inwardly winced. Subaru had noticed, then. She hadn’t wanted him to realize that she was avoiding him, she had just needed some time. Hastily, she moved to apologize. “I— I know I haven’t—” she stammered, but then she stopped. “—Ah?”

Something wasn’t…

“Huh?”

Something about how Subaru had said that…

“The guy you like,” Subaru repeated. His eyes weren’t on her anymore. He was looking at— “You haven’t gone up to talk to him once,” he added. “Don’t you want to dance with him tonight? You’ve worked so hard to get everything to this point, right? Shouldn’t you celebrate?”

“The guy I like…?” Emilia repeated, feeling slow.

“Yeah,” Subaru said, as patient as he always was. Emilia finally turned to see who he was looking at.

She had been watching Julius earlier. Subaru had seen, hadn’t he? But she really had to admit, now that he had drawn her attention back to him, that he really did look wonderful tonight. Anastasia had clearly made it a point to dress him up, and Emilia had to say that the Merchant Princess had done a spectacular job. Just looking at him when he looked like this sent her heart aflutter, no matter how much she prayed for it to be still.

“Ah.” Emilia breathed. “The guy I like…”

For a long moment, there was nothing for her to say. Subaru had caught her red-handed, after all.

“I’m not sure,” Emilia admitted, shifting nervously. “I mean…”

“What’s there to be unsure about?” Subaru asked. “You like him, don’t you?” And Emilia suddenly felt completely out of her depth, because she had expected that she would need to have a very different conversation with him tonight. “And I’m sure — I’m sure he likes you back. And— there’s nothing wrong with giving it a try, right?”

Nothing wrong with it… Emilia swallowed. Was that true? Could she say that?

“Don’t tell me you’re getting shy,” Subaru teased. “You’ve worked so hard to make all this happen, so shouldn’t you try and get what you want out of it?”

Emilia — hadn’t really thought about that. It sounded so plain when Subaru was the one to say it.

“What I want…?”

Part of her immediately cried out that she just wanted everything BACK. Her old Camp, her old knight, her old love — why couldn’t she just get back everything that she had loved and lost?

But that would mean—!

Subaru’s blood-spattered body, pained whimpers, lifeless eyes — to go back to how everything was before would mean that she would have to accept that as the price. No, no, that was unacceptable. She didn’t want to go back if that was the ticket she had to use in order to do so, she couldn’t.

But what else was there? Was it alright for her to turn away from it? Could she really just pretend that it had never happened? How would that be fair?

What was it that she wanted?

—Emilia suddenly felt the warmth of two sturdy hands, blissfully familiar, clasped around her own. She looked up at Subaru’s smiling face, her own eyes wide and round.

“I know that it’s been rough,” he told her gently. “I don’t know what you’ve been working so hard on, but — I know it’s been hard.” He rolled his shoulder. “You deserve a fairytale happy ending after all that, don’t you?”

“A fairytale happy ending,” Emilia echoed.

“Yeah.” Subaru’s eyes glinted playfully. “With a shining prince and a white horse and a bunch of talking animals.”

“Oh, you’re being silly again,” she laughed, but her mirth petered out sooner than she would have liked. There was a ball of guilt that had settled in her stomach that seemed to soak up such lightheartedness. Because Subaru was right here, wasn’t he? Why would she want anyone else? Why wouldn’t she want her wonderful knight? Even if things would never be the same between them, shouldn’t she…?

But she didn’t, did she? If things were never going to go back to how they were, then could she really force such an empty facsimile to take root in its place? The thought of such a charade somehow hurt more than the thought of just letting it go.

And Julius was…

“But…I don’t think—”

“Don’t think about it then.”

Emilia faltered.

“Everyone knows you earned it!” Subaru insisted. “Don’t think about it, just reach out and take it!” His hands were so warm. He was always so warm. What had she done to deserve such a wonderful…! “You can ask for forgiveness later if you mess up, but can’t you think of yourself just this one time?”

He was right there. He was right there, and yet so far away, because there were two Subarus in her memories and she loved them both so very much—!

But one of them was gone forever, wasn’t he? And the other one…deserved to come into his own.

And Julius was—!

“Emilia.”

Emilia stopped.

“You are — amazing,” Subaru said, his voice achingly sincere. Anyone who doesn’t see that is…” He shook his head. “I’m sure he sees it, too. Why wouldn’t he? You like him for a reason, don’t you?”

—She did have a reason.

At first, Emilia had appreciated Julius’ company simply because of their shared grief, with both of them having loved and lost the same person in a manner that nobody else could really sympathize with — not to the extent that the two of them could with one another. Then she had sought him out for more pleasant reasons, finding comfort in his dry sense of humor, soothingly calm presence, and the slightly dunderheaded nature that reminded her of — someone else, but not quite enough to take his place in her memory. And then at some point, she had started to see him with what felt like a different, newer pair of eyes, noticing all of the little things that she had never quite seen before. The way his shoulders hunched when he laughed, the slight dorkiness that distinguished his genuine grin from his politer, more businesslike smile, the mischievously playful shine that glinted in his eyes whenever he got an uncouth idea — sometimes she wondered if she was seeing him the way Subaru had seen him, back in the old timeline.

At first she had spent time with Julius alone, during those first few weeks when she was terrified of so much as staying in the same room as Subaru, for fear that his exposure to her would result in him getting hurt all over again. But it had been with Julius’ encouragement that she had eventually reconnected, and then most of her time spent with Julius had been time spent with Subaru as well. It had been awkward at first, but as she watched the two of them play so happily for hours each day, that awkwardness — and the sadness underlying it — had slowly but surely melted away. Because Subaru was right there, even if he wasn’t quite the same, and he and Julius were as friendly with one another as they had been before — and surely that meant that something was going right? It hadn’t taken long for her to properly join in with them after that.

Those hours spent with the two of them were some of the most treasured memories she had in this new timeline, but this Subaru was so clearly a different person from the one in her memories, and sometimes it hurt. There were days when she left with her heart full in her chest, and there were days when all she wanted to do was cry. But the latter grew fewer and fewer as time went on, thanks in no small part to Julius and how he so clearly UNDERSTOOD, in a way that nobody else really did. And then the former days grew more and more numerous, and the Subaru she knew now was characterized with boisterous confidence, and never-ending cheer, and insolent teases meant to goad Julius into getting up and playing “just one more game” with him over and over again until he was finally too exhausted to do anything but lie next to them in the grass.

And then eventually, alongside those treasured hours with him and Subaru both, Emilia found herself wanting to spend time with Julius alone — but not in the same way as before. Not as a grieving person would seek solace, but as a person who already had what they needed to be happy would seek “just a little bit more.” Emilia wasn’t really sure when it had started, but at a certain point she had realized…

“You’ve done — so much for me,” Subaru said, so very painfully sincere. “I couldn’t possibly ask for anything more.” As if he had not given her so much more, and so many times over. “And — that’s the kind of person you are to everyone, so I don’t think anyone here ever could, either.” That was the version of Emilia that Subaru saw. Emilia thought that such a person must be truly amazing, for him to speak of her in such a way.

…Perhaps he was right. Perhaps they had both done enough for one another that they could finally call it even. —And was it really fair, to keep denying herself based on her assumptions of what Subaru wanted for her? Was it fair to herself? Was it fair to Julius?

Was it even fair to Subaru himself?

“I think that you should focus on yourself for once, right?” Subaru insisted. “What is it that you want, Emilia?”

What was it that EMILIA wanted?

Emilia wanted sweet drinks in the morning, and sunny afternoons, and evenings spent reading fairytales with the people she loved. She wanted her friends by her side, either most days or every day for the rest of her life. She wanted the people she treasured to be happy. There were a lot of things that she wanted.

But what did she want from Subaru? What did she want from Julius? What did Emilia really, really want?

…Emilia knew what she wanted. She had known for a while, really, and now she turned to accept that desire with open arms. It hurt, it stung, it burned. But somehow, it also started to melt that weight that had settled in her stomach, like a block of ice thst had finally been placed in the warmth of the sun.

—Emilia knew what she wanted.

“Subaru?” Emilia asked.

Subaru was smiling at her. “Yeah?” he asked. His voice was rough, and casual, and playful, and within it she heard the echo of someone else. Someone she would never see again.

Emilia took a deep breath. “I love Julius,” she confessed.

Subaru didn’t look surprised by this statement at all. He was still smiling that warm smile that she loved so very much. “Yeah.”

Emilia swallowed, gripping his hand in hers, knowing well and good that this was — in a sense — her final goodbye. Her final goodbye to a boy who had never really existed, and who was never going to exist again.

“I love the way he laughs at silly things,” she said, and if someone were to ask, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to answer the question of which man she was talking about. “I love how much he loves fairytales, and old stories, and spending time reading them over and over again.” Those blissful days at the Karsten Library were the first to spring to mind — and then those sunny afternoons in the garden, and strolling through the capital, and all three of them sitting alone together in Subaru’s room. “I love how he always wants to help anyone and everyone, just because he thinks that it’s the right thing to do. I love how reliable he is: even when everything seems reeally hard, and nobody else has the strength to keep going, I know that I can trust him to…”

And just how many memories did she have of that? Could she even count them all?

Emilia knew what she wanted, and now it was time to reach out and take it.

“I want to see him smile,” she declared. “I want him by my side, as we build a future together. Even if he tells me that he’s not enough, that there’s someone else he thinks is better, that he doesn’t think he’s the one for me…” Emilia smiled, warm and bright. “I know that I want him next to me, always.”

That was what she wanted, most of all. Perhaps it was a silly, selfish thing to want. Perhaps Julius would protest again, no matter how much his eyes said otherwise, and say that he was not the right person for her. That there was someone else she should be looking at instead. But that someone else belonged to a different Emilia in a different time, and Julius was — for the Emilia of the now, Julius was the one she wanted, most of all.

—Ah, she’d always love Subaru, curse her beating heart. In a sense, all that she had just said she desired from Julius were also things that she desired from HIM, her very best friend. But…she could never love him like a lover again. Not really.

It was nice, that he was the kind of friend that would understand something like that. Really, what had she done to deserve having someone as wonderful as him in her life?

“I think that you should ask him to dance with you,” Subaru prodded. “I’ll bet that if you do, he’ll say yes.”

“Eh?” Emilia started. She hadn’t thought about— “Ask him to dance?”

“Why not?” Subaru shrugged, as cheerful and nonchalant as he always was. “We’re at a dance, aren’t we? Isn’t asking the guy you — the guy you like to dance with you — that’s what you’re supposed to do here, right?”

“Uh…”

That’s right. They were at a dance. For all that she had fretted about that fact coming to the event, she hadn’t even really thought about…

“I suppose so,” Emilia acquiesced. “But…”

Subaru didn’t hesitate. He never did. “Go on already, go!” he insisted, lightly pushing her shoulder and making her stumble in Julius’ direction. The purple-haired knight finally seemed to notice the two of them from across the room. He was standing with his friends, Ferris and Reinhard, the former of whom was rolling his eyes while the latter had an oddly alert look on his face. Emilia wondered if either of them noticed the way he kicked his foot slightly when he caught her eye and smiled, brushing his hair behind his ear with his hand in a clear attempt to maintain a sense of formality.

“You only live once, don’t you?” Subaru said. “Shouldn’t you try to live without any regrets?”

You only live once.

“I—” Emilia managed. “…Yeah.”

You only live once. Coming from Subaru’s mouth, that sentiment really did mean the world. For her to hear him say something like that…was a greater victory even possible?

“Yes, you’re right.”

Live without any regrets. Had that not been the point of all of this? Emilia had carried so many regrets with her, from that old timeline where Subaru had…but she had avoided it, had she not? Hadn’t she gone through these past three years — there had been a couple of hiccups, perhaps, but she didn’t have any real regrets, did she?

How could she have any regrets? Subaru had come out the other side safe and sound.

“Thank you, Subaru,” Emilia said, and she didn’t even know what it was that she was thanking him for. All she knew was that she meant it from the bottom of her heart. “You really are…”

Amazing. Wonderful. The most perfect friend that she could ever have made. Nothing she could say would have held a candle to how she truly felt in this moment, because Subaru was just that much of a blessing.

Regardless of her loss for words, Subaru seemed to understand. She finally smiled back, and then she finally let him go.

Julius watched her as she approached, his eyes soft and slightly sad, but growing more curious as she came closer and closer. When she was an appropriate distance, he bowed to her politely. “How may I assist you, Lady Emilia?” he asked.

Emilia felt so warm. Julius and Subaru were both so silly, weren’t they? She cleared her throat, and held out her hand.

“Subaru believes that I should ask you to dance with me,” she declared.

Ferris choked, his eyes widening in shock. Reinhard looked — like he had already been surprised, and was simply coming to terms with it. Had he been listening? Dunderhead.

Julius looked astounded. He quickly glanced over her shoulder to lock eyes with the boy who was still watching her from across the room. Emilia couldn’t see Subaru from this angle, but whatever Julius saw looking back at him was enough to smooth his features into a true, genuine smile, and he graciously accepted her hand.

“If Subaru really has handed you over to me,” he said teasingly. “Then I’d better live up to his expectations.”

Emilia laughed. Really, what had she done to deserve any of this?

“He let her go,” Reinhard said, astounded.

He didn’t need to say it: even if Reinhard had been the only one able to actually hear what they were saying, practically everyone had been watching their interaction with bated breath. Wilhelm himself had been readying himself to intervene at the first sign of trouble. He knew that Subaru had been trying to learn to dance for weeks, and while he had tried to gently discourage it — he had tried to justify it to himself by saying that knowing how to dance was a good skill to develop regardless, but the truth was that he simply hadn’t had the strength to squash such an innocent effort entirely. He sympathized with Subaru greatly, but knowing that him trying to force such feelings onto Emilia would only end—

But watching Emilia and Julius walking hand-in-hand onto the dance floor, smiling peacefully as Subaru watched patiently from afar, it looked like his fears had been misplaced.

“I thought for sure he was gonnya ask her to dance,” Ferris marveled. “I knyow Emilia was thinking that.”

Wilhelm knew that had been the plan. He had seen the moment that the plan changed. That moment when Subaru’s eyes had flitted between Emilia and Julius, when he had hesitated, and when he had appeared to finally acquiesce — in a manner that Wilhelm had assumed would be far above his years.

For Subaru to have made such a mature decision, to have followed through with it so completely, and to have done so all on his own…

“Didn’t know he’d have it in ‘em,” Ricardo was agreeing. “Was kinda preparing for him to start lashing out the moment he realized…but I guess there was nothing to worry about after all.”

Wilhelm suddenly felt overwhelmed by a surge of utter pride and adoration, because he knew good and well that his own youthful self never would have been able to do such a thing. But of course Subaru could, of all people, part of him scoffed. Subaru is a wonderful person. It was in moments like this when he truly understood just how correct that assessment really was.

“—Subaru-kyun’s gone,” Ferris said. Wilhelm started. “Guess that talk was all he had in him after all.”

“He’s—!” Reinhard suddenly looked alarmed. “Did anyone see where he went?” he asked. “He’s only been gone for a moment, right?”

“Oh, hush. He’s probably just off sulking somewhere.” Ferris sighed, rolling his eyes teasingly. “And he was doing so well, too…”

“If all he needs after that is a good sulk, I’d say let him!” Ricardo clapped Ferris on the shoulder. “I know if I had to do that for a lady I liked, I’d be off drinking ‘till the sun came up the next day.”

“You’d get over it by the next night,” Tivey retorted. “Everyone knows what you’re like with women, Captain…”

“Oh shush, you brat—”

“…I’m going to go and check on him,” Wilhelm decided. Ferris was right, in a roundabout way: even if Subaru had been mature enough to do something so astoundingly selfless, that did not necessarily mean that his beloved grandson had come out of it with his heart unscathed. “If she asks, tell Crusch-sama I’ve stepped out for a moment with my grandson, hm?”

That was the first time he had called Subaru such a thing out loud. Ferris, Ricardo, Reinhard, Tivey, and everyone else in earshot gave him near-identical-looking grins. Wilhelm rolled his eyes, and stepped out of the ballroom through the same back door that Subaru had probably used. The music and sounds of merriment were merely muffled when he shut the door, as opposed to being cut off entirely.

It really was such a lovely celebration. But he could give his compliments to the organizers later: right now, Wilhelm had something more important to take care of.

#my ficlets #julimilia #btz!julius #btz!emilia #btz!subaru #btz!wilhelm #back to zero if

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