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purrincess-chat · 4 years ago

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Cat’s Definitive Ranking of Every ML Episode as of 4/22/21

Are you guys ready for this? I did the thing. You’re all welcome. Don’t ever ask me for anything again. You can watch me get progressively more unhinged in real time.

Now, just to preface this, I did not give this too much thought. Most of these are just my gut feelings. I went through every episode and just made some snap judgments based off the lasting impressions I’ve been left with. These are my opinions. If you don’t like them, tough. And also I don’t care. Go spend 4 hours making your own damn ranking. And shut the hell up. Anyway, this is probably the longest post I’ve ever made, so I’m gonna put it all under a read more. Click on it if you have an hour to read it. Okay, here we go!

1. Origins II- Good starting point for our heroes. Good establishment of canon ships and character dynamics. Umbrella scene literally stole my wallet. Cannot emphasis enough that I am whipped for the umbrella scene. I wrote a whole ass AU just to say how whipped I am for the umbrella scene. In the Rain will play at my wedding. Jk. Weddings are for suckers. But dammit if I don’t want these kids to get married. 10/10

2. Origins I- Good introduction to lore. Good introduction to characters. Good establishment of status quoyo. Just good. 10/10

3. Simon Says- Listen, I am nothing if not a shipper at heart. This episode just sparks joy. And the whole series almost ended when Gabriel almost jumped off the roof. I was really rooting for this one. This was the episode where I saw Ladrien and went yes, ma’am, I’ll have one of those. 10/10

4. Evillustrator- Are you all surprised? Cat, the MC-skeptic ranked the pivotal MC episode so highly? Well, let me tell you all a thing, I started this fandom out a MC shipper because of this episode. Their first interaction is gold. I don’t deny that. I enjoy it. This is the MC dynamic I fell in love with. Yall toxic shippers ruined MC for me when you opened your mouths and spat in the face of Ladrien and baselessly declared MC the sin-ship. We all know it’s Ladrien. Stop kidding yourselves. Boy in leather catsuit? Please. Basic ass vanilla bitches. I’m getting off-topic. Solid episode 10/10. We love to see it.

5. Stormy Weather- Baby’s first Miraculous episode. It holds a special place in my heart. It’s a solid episode. Good establishment of what the show is. Fun villain. Good times. Fond memories. 10/10

6. Riposte- Listen, I know I’m an Adrinette stan, but hear me out: Ladrien. It’s just so good. And Kagami was compelling in this episode. It was just really solid. It’s my favorite s2 episode. If you ask me if I want to rewatch Riposte, the answer is always yes. 10/10. We stan.

7. Gorizilla- Okay, so this episode has some solid Adrinette in it, but the real reason it ranks so high is that fucking Ladrien trust fall. I stare at that scene for hours, you guys. HOURS. It is absolutely just *chefs kiss*. Sometimes when I need a pick-me-up, I just go watch gifs of that catch on loop. 10/10. Beautiful. Radiant. Carefree.

8. Gang of Secrets- I have been keeping most of my opinions to myself about s4 (mostly because I’ve backed way the hell out of this fandom), but GoS was pretty solid. Gotta say, it’s the first episode in a long time with this show that made me actually excited to see what happens next. Most other episodes I was like, okay, that was cute. The show is still meh overall. But GoS really got me like oh shit, is ML good again? 10/10 for making me feel things again.

9. Oblivio- Told you guys this one was probably rated higher than I thought. Oblivio is just really fun. There is good Adrinette. That “No wonder I fell in love with you” paired with the softest of Adrien smiles just sends me. And the kisses. The unquestionable trust. These two kids literally woke up together alone in an elevator with no memories and said welp, you’re my boyfriend/girlfriend obviously, I don’t make the rules. Honestly, how anyone could argue that these two dorks aren’t made for each other after that episode is beyond me. 9/10

10. Backwarder- Okay, I know I am weird and alone for this one, but I really liked this episode. It got a lot of shit for the constipation capsule thing at the end, but like who cares? We finally got some more backstory on Fu. He got a love-interest who is dope as hell. This episode is my favorite lucky charm use ever. Like that queen DID that. I like Backwarder, guys! Fuck off. 9/10.

11. Kwamibuster- We all know I am a Marinette-stan by this point, but our girl was SHINING this episode. This bitch said gimme all them and let me go whoop this bitch’s ass, and she DID. Hawkmoth could never. Multimouse is a gift, and Marinette is a boss ass queen. 9/10

12. Chat Blanc- Listen, this episode was very good. I enjoy the idea of my children being happy in another timeline somewhere very much. We got all 4 sides of the square in an episode. It’s just really solid. I know this is the fandom’s favorite, and everyone is gonna shit their pants because it didn’t make my top 10, but this is my list. So, I put it at number 12. It’s good. I like it. It just didn’t steal my wallet like other episodes did. Put the pitchforks down. It’s gonna be okay, you can still love it more than me. 8/10

13. New York Special- I know everyone felt some type of way about this special, but I wasn’t mad at it. My perception of it might be clouded because I watched it in Disney World where I was chilling and having a great time, but like this special really did somethings for me. The Adrinette was top tier. Tippy top tier. Even though they hurt us in the end, I am okay with it because it just means the children will grow and come out stronger. I don’t care if it’s not technically canon. Ask me if I give a fuck. I don’t. I had fun here. 8/10. Solid.

14. The Collector- This one might shock a lot of you, but let me paint you a scene. It’s the first episode of s2. We have just come off a 2 year hiatus. The fandom is thriving. We’re hungry for canon content. We have hopes and dreams and expectations. Everyone is going wild with theories. This episode confirmed something that was long since obvious (in my opinion) and ended the stupid arguments people had been having. It made Gabriel actually seem semi-competent. We got our first taste of how Chat/Adrien will react to his dad being Hawkmoth. We got a peek at their life. Adrien’s isolation and sadness. They were so close to figuring it out. The battle was epic. Like Collector really had them on the ropes there for a second. It’s a solid episode, yall. I’m not wrong. Hate me all you want, but this episode brought it. 8/10

15. Despair Bear- Is this episode up this high because of the Adrinette slow dance scene? YOU BET YOUR ASS IT IS. Okay, but fr though, shipping aside, this episode gave us hope that Chloe was actually gonna redeem herself. I mean, she didn’t but, we didn’t know that at the time. Seeing her run around trying to be nice was fun. And then she actually did something good, and we had a moment of okay, she’s capable. We’ll get there. We didn’t. But what a ride this episode was for making us think she would. 8/10

16. Startrain- Cat, you’re just ranking all the Adrinette episodes highest. And? What of it? Are you surprised? You clicked a blog that has simping for Adrinette in the description, and you’re surprised all my favorite episodes have Adrinette? I’m not wrong, you’re just an idiot. The Adrinette nap cuddles aside though, this was a pretty good episode. If you don’t think too hard about the whole space thing, we got a look at Max’s life, his mom is a driven, smart lady doing her best. Adrien rebels against papa for once. Alya stops a Lila scheme. Chloe gets to play the hero. Alya and Nino actually investigate like the heroes they are. Gabriel gets to realize what a dumbass bitch he is. I mean. Guys. Startrain is solid. 7.5/10

17. Sapotis- This one shot up in rank for me after GoS, but tbh it’s always been a solid episode. Alyanette sleepover? Check. Alya becoming a superhero? Check. It’s a fun episode. And looking back, it’s nicely called back to later in GoS. We love it. 7.5/10

18. Sandboy- Idk why I enjoy this episode as much as I do, but I do. Sandboy is a cute bean. I love his aesthetic. We also get hilarious looks at everyone’s nightmares. “Plagg, who turned you into a sock?” cracks me up cause like Adrien, bby, no XD And Chat Noir’s nightmare. I think it would have been interesting though if since Sandboy dusted the Agreste mansion, if we got a peek at Hawkmoth’s nightmares. It would have been a nice hint of plot to go along with Master Fu’s nightmare. Also Plagg giving the akuma the slip like the clever boy we know he is deep down? 7.5/10

19. Furious Fu- If you guys haven’t realized by now that I love Fu, idk what you’re doing. Pay attention. I know that some people don’t like him, but I’m just gonna say it, you’re wrong. Fu took care of the Miracle Box for over 100 years, and this episode kind of gives some insight to what the Order was like. Very strict. Lots of rules. And ya know what, Fu said fuck the police, I’m gonna befriend these little magical demigods, and fuck off! Like what an absolute legend. I was really happy to see him living his best life, and that he and Marianne got married because it’s what he deserves. We love to see it. 7.5/10

20. Gamer- People like to shit on Marinette in this episode, but like honestly, if I were in her shoes, I’d have probably done the same thing if I had the skill. Ain’t nothing wrong with a girl trying to spend time with the boy she likes. And Tom and Sabine being absolute shipping trash. I love them. And the awkward Adrinette. The introduction of the lucky charm that Adrien STILL carries. Wholesome. This was a good episode for their friendship, and we love to see it. 7.5/10

21. Christmaster- Okay, I know a lot of people hated this episode when it aired, but I thought it was really funny? Everyone skidding around in the ice rink was hilarious. If you don’t take this episode seriously, it’s really fun. Chris is pretty cute, and damn right Ladybug is the best kid in the world. Idk. This episode is fun. I’m not mad at it. Sue me. 7.5/10

22. Weredad- What? Another MC-heavy episode in Cat’s top 30? Listen, I don’t hate canon MC. The fans just annoy me. This episode was funny. The secondhand embarrassment and cringe was real. Plagg taunting Adrien because he knows the secret was great. Marinette being a self-saving queen was great. It’s a good episode. I like MC, you guys. I do. I swear! 7.5/10

23. Miraculer- This episode was interesting to me, and I think it’s still a good development episode. For one, Sabrina finally got her own akuma episode named after her. Secondly, because it’s a big step for Chloe, just not in the way we expected. It totally makes sense that Chloe can’t have her Miraculous back because literally everyone knows her identity. Can’t argue that logic. And she is the first person to ever refuse to become akumatized, so like mad respect. I know a lot of people had high hopes for redeemed Chloe (myself included), but I think watching a character fall from revering someone to hating them is also an interesting path. The friends to enemies arc as it were. Idk. I liked this episode. It was an opportunity for Chloe to grow, even if she didn’t in the end, but we’ll talk about that later. 7.5/10

24. Lady Wifi- I like Alya. I feel like I don’t say that much, and people make some assumptions because of MDCSP, but MDCSP is just a concept I wanted to explore. It doesn’t really reflect how I feel about any one character. Except maybe Lila. And Gabe. But every other spite fic I’ve written branching from Chameleon, the class has been fine. Alya has been fine. So, let it be known that I like Alya. Lady Wifi was a fun episode. Putting aside the fact that she thought Chloe was Ladybug for no reason, I like her akuma. I like the interactions we get with LadyNoir in this episode. After GoS, this episode gets a bit funnier. It’s solid. 7/10

25. Dark Cupid- I don’t have much to say about this one. LadyNoir. That’s it. That’s the tweet. Send it. 7/10

26. Volpina- So many things about this episode. It introduced a new antagonist who we didn’t exactly 100% know was going to be an antagonist at the time. This episode sparked a lot of fun fan theories for a while. Who was Lila? How was she going to shake things up? Not to mention this episode gave us a taste of plot and lore, and set up Marinette meeting Master Fu officially. Lots of intrigue sparked from this episode. And that LadyNoir door scene? OOOOOO 7/10

27. Hearthunter- One word: Adrigaminette. This episode was so cute for them! I loved seeing them all goofing and running around together. Adrien and Kagami being absolutely in love with Marinette when her hair is down. They both love her, I don’t make the rules. Not to mention, Marinette takes a big step by letting her friends be happy without her. Kagami not wanting to hurt Marinette. The drama!! Gabriel being a messy ass bitch to his friends. It loses points for the abomination of an akuma, but overall, I wasn’t too mad at it. Yet. 7/10

28. Glaciator- More MC in Cat’s top 30? It’s more likely than you think. Listen. Listen… Listen. MC is fine. This episode was the closest thing to fanfiction that we got. The balcony scene was really sweet. I was drinking the irony. We got introduced to Andre the icecream fraud. Andre the please just give me the flavor I asked for man. I could have done without Chat pouting, but the LadyNoir in the end was pretty good. I wish they’d done more with Ladybug’s feelings for Chat. Had her question herself a bit more after this one, but overall, it’s cute. 7/10

29. Zombizou- A lot of people started hating Mlle. Bustier after this episode, and like I can kind of see it, if I squint, but I did not draw that same conclusion from this episode. Mlle. Bustier just wants good things for all of her students. They’re 14 ffs, she just wants to be a good influence on all of her students and wants them all to be successful. But go off, I guess? Plus, this episode was basically just a spoof on zombie apocalypse movies. We got so many things. Julerose, Myvan, DJWifi. Chloe actually showing some depth and emotion. LadyNoir. We won this episode, babes. Sorry you didn’t get the memo. 7/10

30. Timetagger- Okay. This is the last episode in the ones that I’d venture to call “good.” Number 30. I enjoyed Timetagger. I know people have feelings about timey-wimey bullshit, and like I’m not gonna lie and say I’m thrilled with it either (I mean, I changed the rabbit’s power in MDCSP) but that being said, Timetagger was so sassy. Bunnix was cool as hell. We get to see that LB and CN are still doing the thing in the future. So many questions sparked from this episode. It was fun. Idk. I liked it. That’s all I got. 7/10

31. Malediktator- Okay, from this point on, less comments because this is the section that are more or less just meh to me. Like they’re fine. This episode was fine. Chloe was fine. Chat playing with the laser was cute. 6.5/10

32. Mayura- Adrien’s speech at the end. Nuff said 6.5/10

33. Ikari Gozen- Ryuko/Ryuuko. Gals being pals. 6.5/10

34. Reflekdoll- I talked about this earlier, but I don’t hate this episode. It’s not as bad as people make it out to be. Sue me. 6.5/10

35. Anansi- Nino is the goodest boy. Also I need more of the gang taking Adrien on adventures via Facetime. Stat. 6.5/10

36. Shanghai- This one is new, and tbh I still haven’t watched it with subs, but I had a good time. Fei was cute. The boy squad was cute. Adrien bonding with Great Uncle Cheng was cute. Hawkmoth getting literally dunked on was *chefs kiss* 6.5/10

37. Gigantitan- I love overly supportive, ride-or-die girl squad. 6.5/10

38. Party Crasher- Idk why this episode was funny to me. Kim is the purest bean. We don’t deserve him. 6.5/10

39. Desperada- This episode was an emotional roller coaster, and even though we all collectively hate Aspik’s stupid egghead, we love the Ladrien this episode provided us. 6/10

40. Oni-chan- Listen, I loved seeing Lila get a tiny bit of karma even if she made it up in the end. I loved Chat going off on her. I loved seeing her get outsmarted in the end. 6/10

41. Frightningale- My good lesbian Clara Nightingale. We stan. 6/10

42. Style Queen- I like Audrey in a “she’s the worst person I’ve ever met, I want to travel the world with her” kind of way. She’s funny to me. Idk. I love her firing everyone. She’s the one I love to hate. She’s the worst, but we love her for it. Plus this episode gave us Plagg’s adorable little Cataclysm that destroyed half the city. 6/10

43. Gamer 2.0- Chat confidently strutting in heels made this episode worth it. And we get to see the beginning of Marinette being overwhelmed. Plus it was the return of gamer!nette. 6/10

44. Troublemaker- I don’t hate this episode as much as the next person either. It was fine. Jagged is a manchild, but we love him for it. He’s a Marinette stan which like mood. The Adrinette at the end was cute. I wasn’t mad at it. Idk. It’s fine. 6/10

45. Reflekta- Where are all my Juleka stans at? I loved the LadyNoir banter in this ep. V. cute. 6/10

46. Dark Owl- This episode was fun. And it really shows their level of trust. Plus Plagg and Tikki interacted. 6/10

47. Timebreaker- Have I ever mentioned that I like Alix? I like Alix. 6/10

48. Silencer- I don’t hate this episode as much as you’d expect me to, and that is 100% because of the LadyNoir. 5.5/10

49. Prime Queen- Chat purrs. 5.5/10

50. Syren- I think the fish power-up is adorable. Ondine is a gem. Kim is a pure bean, but we been knew. 5.5/10

51. Befana- I like Gina, but this episode fell flat for me. Almost as flat as the animation. 5.5/10

52. Reverser- Another episode that everyone hates that I am actually fine with. This episode made me like Nathaniel more. Probably because I was previously indifferent toward him. Marc is cute too. 5.5/10

53. Mr. Pigeon- Marinette is one clever girl. And the Adrinette hand-touch. 5.5/10

54. Felix- Felix is a gremlin of chaos. A true chaotic neutral. He gives his uncle the finger, and I think that’s beautiful. 5.5/10

55. Truth- Bet you expected this episode to be higher. While I did enjoy watching toxic people’s world crumble, this episode still gets a meh from me dog. 5/10

56. Lies- The Adrigami was cute, and I respect Kagami as a character. The akuma could have been better tho. 5/10

57. Princess Fragrance- Not much to say here. 5/10

58. Copycat- 5/10

59. Bubbler- 5/10

60. Mime- 5/10

61. Animan- 5/10

62. Robostus- 5/10

63. Ladybug- This episode ranks this low purely because I don’t care about GabeNath, and I hate that Lila won something in the end. But Adrien saying I won’t hesitate, bitch! At the end was nice to see. 5/10

64. Catalyst- I know I ranked Mayura way higher, but Catalyst fell flat for me. Like it was fine. Wasn’t as into it though. 4.5/10

65. Puppeteer- One of my favorite lucky charm uses. 4.5/10

66. Pixelator- My favorite Cataclysm. 4.5/10

67. Horrificator- That almost-Adrinette kiss tho 4.5/10

68. Pharaoh- 4.5/10

69. Kung Food- 4.5/10

70. Rogercop- 4/10

71. Guitar Villain- 4/10

72. Dark Blade- 4/10

73. Bakerix- 4/10

74. Antibug- And now onto the bottom 10. To start us off, I will just say: UGH, this episode annoyed me. First of all, Sabrina didn’t even get her own episode. Chloe was a piece of shit. Idk why they made Ladybug the one in the wrong when Chloe was being obnoxious. Ugh. 3/10

75. Captain Hardrock- I’m gonna be honest. My apathy for this episode has grown into loathing. Toxic stans are 100% to blame. Birthday ruining, bitches. This is the reason I threw a breakup bash after Truth. Yall deserved it. 3/10

76. Christmas Special- I didn’t hate this episode as much as everyone, but it still wasn’t great. 2.5/10

77. Stormy Weather 2.0- This episode was really dumb. It didn’t need to exist. 2.0/10

78. Queen Wasp- Why did we give Chloe a Miraculous after this episode? 2/10

79. Animaestro- Did we really need a self-insert? Did we really? 2/10

80. Puppeteer 2.0- Listen, this episode would have made more sense in s1 or at the very latest early s2. Adrien gave a whole ass speech on how great Marinette is, then he turns around and is like idk if she likes me… Clean it up. 2/10

81. Miracle Queen- I could talk at length about how much I hate the ending of this episode and what they did with Chloe and Master Fu, but we’re just going to remain calm and give it a solid 1.5/10

82. Frozer- This episode made no goddamn sense. I call bullshit on so many things. Just ugh. 1/10

83. Chameleon- Surprisingly, even though this episode sparked many, many spite fics out of me, it’s not my least favorite because at least Ladybug semi-redeemed this episode. Still really dumb and ooc tho. 1/10

84. Feast- Okay, okay, okay, here we are. Bottom of the barrel. Cat’s most hated episode, and you wanna know why? You want to know why this episode fills me with the rage? Because we spent two fucking seasons building up all this mystery and lore and intrigue surrounding Fu’s big mistake, and they dropped the fucking ball! They did my mans so dirty! They could have really deepened his character, deepened the Order, deepened anything other than whatever fucking affair Gabriel and Nathalie have going on, but NO. They made it some stupid, bland-ass thing that got resolved magically in the end, then just ignored it for the rest of the season. I will never not be salty about how they did my boy Fu in this show. I’m happy he found his peace, but fuck if I’m not livid about how they did it. Whatever. Chat being done with Ladybug’s shit when they’re about to get eaten was funny I guess. .5/10

#cat speaks #cat spoils #episode ranking #long post #i'm tired now #i go to bed

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rxspbrrry · 3 years ago

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Zhongli, venti, and raiden for bingo?

anon is an archon enjoyer and that's totally justified <3

starting off with zhongli (aka hoyo's favourite child) well. *breathes* deepest character backstory. no one else comes close, not venti, not raiden, maybe not even traveller (but that's a story for another time when traveller's story is revealed more). boy has mr geo archon been through SOOO MUCH in his life and i think his descend from archonhood is deserved :( while he's not my favourite character, he's definitely extremely interesting and i would definitely read up on more morax lore if hoyo would give it to us!!!!!!!!

i'm quite conflicted about his popularity and ship dynamics, since 1. he's the geo archon so it's expected he'll get lots of screentime. and his character trailer was (still is) the most legendary of everyone else's so that really gained him a lot of fame, not to mention he's an insanely good support in the game rn. not complaining because the screentime and popularity he gets is made up for by his complex backstory ;)) and 2. his ships are actually quite cute if i look at them alone, but fandom really ruined his ships (ahem ahem tartali) for me so :")

VENTI BOY MY FAVOURITE ARCHON FR FR (at least, before hydro archon release, that is LOL) you already know how much i adore him!!! ohhh the urge to reach through the screen and hug him and rub his back and relief him of all his burdens and trauma :((((( HOYO THIS IS YOUR CALL TO DROP MORE VENTI LORE NOW PLS PLS PLS PLS I AM SO SICK OF INAZUMA I DON'T WANT TO SEE MORE RAIDEN THIGHS OR YAE MIKO PRANKS OR AYAKA I JUST WANT MONDSTADT SCREENTIME (tbh all mondstadt characters deserve more screen time, we only have like what 4 limited mondstadt 5*????)

was kinda hesitant on putting "wasted potential" but in venti's second rerun (irodori festival) i really wanted to see more "barbatos" venti but all we got was.. drunk venti. goddamnit hoyo.

raiden, oh raiden.... i'm gonna be super honest. she's my least favourite genshin character. /srs i really, really don't get the appeal and i hate hate!!!! how sexualised the genshin community made her </3 hoyoverse also rushed the inazuma arc + both her story quests which made it very, very difficult for me to get attached to her. see the first 2 acts of the inazuma quest is basically her trying to kill you but then all of a sudden the conflict in the 3rd archon quest is solved with some bullshit power of friendship within 2 hours. hooray. let's totally forget about how she killed kazuha's friend, nearly killed us more than once, nearly took thoma's vision away, and terrorised the whole of inazuma for her own desires. so yeah. hoyoverse's terrible writing combined with terrible fandom made me LOATHE raiden ei. i'm sorry but literally nothing, no amount of sob story can redeem her in my opinion because i cannot ignore all the terrible things she did.

for the "popular ships suck" part, i don't hate eimiko 😔 like yeah i get the appeal, friends 2 lovers, pink and purple colour scheme, super close yadayada, but it doesn't make me feel something towards their ship lol. i don't enjoy it as much as i enjoy kokosara, even though both ships are based off popular ship dynamics so </3

#r.chats #sorry i went wayyy too harsh with the raiden criticism LOOOL

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killian-whump · 4 years ago

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Salty asks #1 and #5 for OUAT

Okay! :D Thanks for sending me some :D

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

Ohh... I don’t really “get” Fr*zen Jewel. I mean, the characters never met in canon, and I can’t think of any way they would meet in canon, so... I don’t know. It just seems weird to me, I guess. I know it’s become a thing now, and I even enjoy it when it’s in an AU story. I don’t dislike it or anything. It’s just weird to me, I guess because my mind just would’ve never put them too together on its own, but someone’s mind out there DID and then a bunch of other people were like “YES” and that just confuses me XD

I also don’t get Sw*nfire. I mean, canon pretty much showed us a bunch of ways that Neal was a subpar boyfriend, purposely even juxtaposing him with Killian to show how Killian was more honorable and better boyfriend material... but I guess some people like going for the less palatable choice? Like, if someone offered them a five star Creme Brulee or a stepped-on Twinkie, I guess they’d just be like “I don’t know, man, the Creme Brulee is just too appetizing, I don’t really deserve something that good, I’ll just take the Twinkie.” And then he even died in canon, so it’s like “Could you step on the Twinkie again for me, tho” and I just don’t get it at all.

Okay! Next is.... #5!

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

YES. Okay, actually, the all caps response is due to another show’s fandom, an anime actually, where I RPed as my favorite character and was in a community with someone who was a great RPer and RPed the other half of the ship and OMG IT WAS SO FUN until the other RPer decided to take over the community from the secret anonymous owners (who just wanted to RP with everybody without everyone trying to “make points with the mods” so kept their identities secret) and send them hate mail and fake applications and all kinds of other shitty shit that ended up making it impossible to accept new members or even RUN the fucking place... and OH YEAH, the “super secret mods” were me and my freaking MOM, which was the other reason we wanted to keep it secret, so that wouldn’t make things weird, but ANYWAY this person was literally SUCH an asshole that they ruined their character for me for good and ISTG, like 20 years later I’m still like “Yeah, fuck those guys” about the pairing/characters.

ANYWAY, what were we talking about? Once?

Yeah, I have to admit that the fandom kinda ruined CS for me quite a bit. I still like it. It’s still my “OTP” for original recipe Killian... but the Jen-centric CSers who went on the attack for/about S7 just ruined Jen’s face for me. Like, literally her face, and a bunch of the best CS scenes, too, because they’d go attacking fans, or Colin, or Colin’s coworkers, or the show’s accounts or whoever with their CS/Jen icons and it got to the point where I’d see a Jen/CS icon and be like “Oh, for fuck’s sake” because most of the time it was one of those yahoos. Mind you, it’s gotten better since they quit their bullshit, but the negative connotations I have for certain things (Jen and the wedding mostly) still linger. I can still enjoy CS fanfics and fanart/scenes where I can separate Jen from Emma well enough to look past it... but it’s made it a lot harder for me to enjoy the ship.

Also, S6 in general was a sore spot for me, because I feel like Killian played second fiddle to Emma the whole season, and it wasn’t the equal-partners ship I got into in the first place. And the people who did all of the above shit were a lot of the same people who were very Emma-centric about the ship all along, and the same ones who had attacked people like me who were more Killian-centric and/or didn’t care for CS’s storylines in S6. I mean, I lost count of how many times CSers attacked me for not shipping them right, even though they’ve been my OUAT OTP the whole damn time. It blows my mind. Like, we ship the same damn thing, why are you attacking me and trying to “blacklist” me from the ship’s fandom? Freaking nutters, I tell you. Crazy people.

Anyway, SIDE NOTE: People do their faves a complete disservice when they use their face as an icon and run around getting into fights and attacking people. I mean, they’re literally just asking for people to associate their fave’s face with their own shitty behavior and that ain’t cool. I almost went from liking Lana to hating her during the whole CS vs SQ thing, just from the people who assumed that because I like Killian/Colin I had a vested interest in that war and came out swinging at me. Ship wars are stupid. Ship and let ship, I say, but if you’re going to start fights everywhere, at least don’t use your fave’s face for an icon.

#fandom #fandom drama #ships #searchingwardrobes #kw ask box

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teenitinygod · 5 years ago

Text

Hello, Hello, this is the person who did the last submit. Thank you for the offer but I don’t have a discord account, Idon'thaveanyfriendswhouseittowarrantmakingone.

Although, if you liked my previous submit, I thought you might be interested in hearing me out when it comes to mischaracterization since I didn’t go into detail in my previous submit since that’s a whole rant of its own. I’ll be taking inspiration from neutinya’s haikyuu mischaracterization post but give it a BSD twist. My intention isn’t to call specific people out, I’m simply going off what I’ve seen within the fandom. Which in turn leads to diluting or mischaracterizing a character until they’re nearly unrecognizable or portraying them in a bad light that they don’t deserve. There may be a few tw instances, so you’re free to edit this post as you see fit and add any necessary warnings.

So to begin with. Let’s get the big one out of the way real quick.

- Dazai -

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen Dazai being portrayed as nothing more than a twofaced lying bastard, I wouldn’t have to work anymore. Most of these support it by saying that he doesn’t actually trust the ADA since he didn’t tell them about his past and doesn’t inform them of every little thing. Basically, they portray him as being 100% an act who doesn’t care about anyone. And then berate him by saying that they refuse to take his mental health seriously until he’s shown to have a breakdown.

I believe anyone who has suffered from depression or any other kind of mental health issue has felt the need to act happy all the time when in public and then quiet down when they’re alone. That doesn’t make them a fake. They are under no obligation to tell every single thing going across their mind to their friend and that same logic applies to Dazai.

Moreover, we also have to take into consideration Dazai’s past. He simply can’t afford to make himself vulnerable. There’s literally a list of people out for his head. Additionally, of he were to tell everything to the ADA, he would be potentially dragging his new friends into his own mess and put them in unwarranted danger. Sure, the ADA already deals with a lot of dangerous stuff but I doubt he would purposely put them in harms way because of what he would consider his own selfishness.

Now in the terms of romance. A lot of people just mark him as the one who could never be faithful. I believe a romantic relationship with Dazai would be completely trust based. Ergo, a “love at first sight” scenario would definitely lead to it becoming nothing more than a one-time fling. To go off your last Dazai scenario, I actually do believe that if Dazai felt like he was getting too attached to someone, he might try to push them away out of utter self-loathing that he could never give them what they want. Essentially, fearing a scenario like that in No Longer Human where Yozo got together with Yoshiko and she ended up getting raped because of his involvement with her.

Atsushi isn’t just a crybaby. He’s brave simply because of the fact that he’s willing to do his best despite his fear. Moreover, his initial fear of being seen as a burden to the ADA is completely valid when you take into consideration his past treatment. A lot treat him as dull and boring character and go on about preferring his Beast counterpart. It’s fine to have a preference but I don’t think this is a reason to hate on him since the point of Beast was to elaborate on how alike Atsushi and Akutagawa are by putting them in the other’s shoes. And we see in even Beast, Atsushi is just the ultimate good boy cinnamonroll.

In romance, I keep seeing him being forced to portray the badboy roll and being just terrible to whoever is his partner within the story. Do people really think that he would so much as even consider berating his partner after all he’s been through?

- Kunikida -

He isn’t just some emotionless asshole. He cares. He’s just doesn’t show it in the most conventional way some are used to. Perhaps this is because the anime caused confusion by changing the time setting of the Azure Disciple event— But within the novel you can tell that he cares for and eventually starts to think highly of Dazai as the story progresses. He doesn’t express it since Dazai would tease him to the ends of the earth. But there were moments like in the embassy in which he mentally admired how talented he was. Or how elaborated that his way of knowing when something was wrong with Dazai was when he starts acting “normal”. As the novel put it, basically, weird is normal for Dazai while normal is weird. So when Dazai starts acting “normal” that’s his way of knowing that something is up.

In terms of romance… I swear I want to fight someone. The majority of Kunikida content I find usually involves him be pedophilic by having this thing for schoolgirls or just has whoever is his partner constant cry at him that he doesn’t love them since he doesn’t show his affection the conventional way. Then, the story goes on about how the partner keeps trying to change them. For starters. There is nothing wrong with having the thought of an ideal partner. Most of have twisted the idea of him having an ideal partner as him having this list of physical traits he wants them to have or some crap like that. Do people really think he’s that shallow? Having an ideal partner just means that you know what you want in a partner. Like how they treat you, if they’re neat and polite, etc. Moreover, we’ve seen time and time again that despite what he says, Kunikida is still willing to bend a little. Obviously he will hold his ground if you berate his ideals. But it’s possible to change his mind if you respect his ideals and offer alternatives and are willing to work with him.

- Chuuya -

Look. I don’t care what you ship. But Chuuya is way more than just that one guy who is constantly yelling about Dazai. He has every right to be portrayed as his own character without the need to involve Dazai around the line.

He may be angry when Dazai is involved but he’s the nicest grump you’ll ever see towards everyone else. In the spin-off novel, there’s a scene where he talks to Tsujimura, for example. He still kept this badass aura but spoke to her with the dignity and presence of a respectable mafia executive. Moreover, I noticed this why checking. Kyouko really did make sure he drank his respect-women dose every day since I noticed he never actually curses at female characters. With the Tsujimura scene, for example, he kept his usual rude speech but didn’t start to actually curse until Ango was brought up. With the battle against Yosano, he never pulled the “oh, you’re just a woman” crap when they appeared.

In the terms of romance. I swear I feel the need to break someone’s nico-nico-kneecaps for the outrageous amount of fics I find with Chuuya straight up raping his partner. Like, the man didn’t even want to fight against his sheep friends when they literally and figuratively stabbed in him in the back. It’s hard for me to imagine him as someone who wouldn’t treat his partner with the utmost respect in the world.

- Higuchi -

People seriously need to stop hating on her just ‘cause she’s “getting in the way of ships.” The gal clearly cares about Akutagawa and I don’t think it’s fair to hate on her just because of that. On that note, the whole idea of hating on female characters under the pretext of them getting in the way of ships seriously needs to stop. The fact that a female character cares for a guy, be it romantically or not, isn’t an excuse to antagonize them and treat them as an eyesore. She’s funny, she’s goofy, She’s just an ordinary lady who might be momentarily blinded by affection and get carried away. Which surely must happen to anyone who has experienced some kind of crush.

In the terms of romance. I haven’t read much fics with Higuchi as the main love interest. However, I have seen the AkutawagaxSomeoneElse types who just blatantly portray Higuchi as this terrible and wicked woman who is trying to ruin Akutagawa’s partner’s life. Sure, Higuchi may be heartbroken that she couldn’t be the chosen one but I doubt she would stoop as low as to ruin Akutagawa’s potential happiness. The most she would do is perhaps investigate if they’re a spy who intends to harm or use him.

- Yosano -

She’s a strong independent woman, enough said. I feel like a lot of people interpret her dislike for weak men as her either disliking physically weak men or disliking men altogether. Naturally, a strong woman would want and deserve someone who is equally as badass as them. So what I interpret her saying when she says she dislikes weak men is that she dislikes mentally weak men who bend over backwards easily and men who are so petty that they feel the need to look down on women just because of the fact that they’re a woman. The anime did her dirty by sexualizing her during her first introduction. We all know that one scene where she strips off her shirt before treating Tanizaki. Heck, I remember when I first saw that scene without knowing much about BSD I legit thought her healing ability involved her having sex with the guys. It was only until I read the manga some time later that I realized that wasn’t the case.

In the terms of romance. Again, she has every right to have someone as strong as herself. A badass would want someone who is just as badass standing as their partner. Moreover, I haven’t seen it to the degree as Higuchi’s case but I have seen the occasional hate on her under the pretext that she’s getting in the way of ships. To which I say again: We seriously need to stop antagonizing female characters who so much as exist in the same panel as a male character that’s involved in a popular fandom ship.

——–

Well then. Those were the most prominent ones that came to mind, so I surely left out some characters who have been mischaracterized just as badly.

Thank you for your time.

Ok quickly, our discord (dazai simps) is open to having you. We love new friends and meeting people, so an open invite is available. i couldn’t agree with you more- i hate how Dazai is portrayed sometimes, his emotions are complex and he’s not as simple as an angsty suicidal flirt. Especially went the reader comes into the picture and it turns into a “love at first sight” thing. They may be fictional characters but i care that the characters i write for are as close to accurate as i can

I’ll go deeper into this later but i agree

Also I love when you send me these, i love reading them and you’re so sweet <3

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partyinthemysterymachine · 5 years ago

Note

as a classic cats fan what did you think of the 2019 movie?

FOREWARD: i have full respect to those who enjoyed CATS 2019 and show their support and engage in that part of the fandom. rock on. very truly, honestly, sincerely, i hope you have a blast and create and share and have the best of times. welcome to the fandom, it’s great to have you here; thank you for joining us and i really, really do mean that from the bottom of my heart and soul. it really makes me happy that CATS has become something good for you like it is, and has been, for so many of us. i’m ecstatic to see the fandom expanding and i’m so very serious about that.

unfortunately this is the time to jump ship if you don’t want to hear any more complaints about it. thank you and ilu all and once again, welcome to the fold, i love that you’re joining us and y’all being here honey butters my toast xoxo

there was a 2019 movie?

runs hands down face

from the very first sneeze of an idea of doing a CATS movie went around being speculated in what.. 2012?? i have been against it because i knew it wouldn’t be done right. what i really wanted, really hoped for, what the fandom very honestly deserves and STILL does to this day and beyond is another honest, no dances cut, full on professionally shot video of the stage production again.

i’m still putting my hand to the cold glass and pulling my thin shawl around my shoulders as i gaze past the rain blurring the dreary world outside and sighing a tremendous, weary sigh because Hamilton is getting a full professionally-shot stage movie...... and CATS likely won’t ever.. and how cruel that is.

(not hatin on Hamilton, btw; im just old and bitter LOL i have zero hard feelings towards Hamilton and honestly good for them for getting that done, they deserve it)

so...... listen. i appreciate the thought and commitment to making a CATS movie. i think the biggest thing that busted my balls about it was the use and execution of the CGI cat people. ofc this is a big thing in a lot of opinions. but i’ve always been sitting here like.......

there are... decades of fanart. decades of productions and photos and costume design. but the fan. art. did anyone go in and look at it? artists have been drawing these characters a wide variety of ways, but when it boils down to the anthropomorphic take on it, i thought it was pretty damn clear how good it could look. i feel like they should have been diggin in the CATS art trenches all this time, all these years, and really taken all these artistic interpretations very seriously to heart.

it felt like a slap in the face when they overhauled nearly everyone’s design/look to the point where i don’t even know who i’m looking at. and listen, i’m here for redesigns, don’t get me wrong. i dug Jason Derulo’s Tugger design. i dug Idris Elba’s Macavity base idea because he was made a shorthair and clearly all source material says otherwise? and where’s the ginger, mate??

(NOTE: in the b’way revival the new Macavity costume is easily 99% black in contrast to the original design in which the costume was 95% red and orange. stark difference. “Macavity’s a ginger cat” contradicts the revival costume a bit since, again, it’s largely black. so in its defense, the costume’s red/orange accents are well placed and the black pays more tribute to the “very tall and thin” aspect he’s supposed to have. (the old costume was wild and hairy, it kinda puffed him out a bit, esp with the much fuller and taller wig.) the revival wig is more on par with main wigs, and it has that coppery color, the makeup is simplistic (as it needs to be added on to Plato) and the color use FOR base Plato brings out the red and etc etc etc. i like the revival costume; it didn’t go overboard on the reds and oranges, it was sleek and powerful, and oh my god you’ve got fingergless gloves with fucking fringe there is a MANE wiht FRINGE who designed that bc i gotta kiss em and offer a piece of my heart and soul)

everything felt muddled, disorganized, foreign, and god why did we do Jennyanydots that why please why are the cockroaches people please are you all ok in production? blink twice if you need help

oh yeah and the fat jokes. i think we were supposed to be getting over that but ok

very interesting thing with Macavity kidnapping the potentials. kinda dug that. fuck it up, Skimbleshanks

and speaking of fuckin Skimbleshanks you have no idea how much of my shit i lost when he started the tap number. i was over the MOON. GOOD shit, FUCK yeah, GO OFF and it was brilliant, absolutely beautiful

ALSO when i heard Judi Dench was gonna be in it i was really hopeful she’d finally play Grizabella. what a fucking treat that would’ve been. she was set to debut the role in the West End, then she tore her Achilles, so Elaine Page replaced her and the rest was history. i’ve really wanted to hear/see her Grizabella. :(

(and briefly on the topic of Grizabella i’m kinda not here for the trend of younger actresses in the role just hhhhhhhh kinda takes away and misplaces her whole vibe and story imo)

i just.. i didn’t understand some of the plot changes like how Macavity was up in everyone’s bs tryna force himself up to the Heavyside Layer, it was silly, and yeah i shouldn’t take CATS so seriously even with the longtime fan background but

gestures helplessly

y’all fr??

there were a lot of super questionable decisions across the board and all that has already been gone over by so many people a dozen billion times. on one hand, i’m glad CATS got some exposure. on the other, :( not like this

however, on a very good note (other than skimbleshanks bless him): let me tell you how EXCITED i was that they used the original Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer arrangement. what a fucking pleasant surprise. HELL yeah. i LOVE that arrangement and i’m tickled to pieces that it was chosen. good shit. good shit.

tbh as Serious and Bruh Calm Down this might all sound, it’s honestly no skin off my teeth. it’s a frustration, sure. i’m so very tired. i’m disappointed. i didn’t have any specific expectations about it, just a lot of hopes. maybe too many hopes.

being a longtime CATS fan i know as well or even better than other people what a fucking dumpster fire the show is LMAO it’s wild and it’s ridiculous and god it doesn’t make any sense, it has a plot and it has no plot and everything about it is so horny and it’s the greatest fucking thing to ever happen to me

i obviously have a lot of feelings and history with CATS, and 2019 did not “ruin” anything for me, it didn’t “taint” anything about it, despite everything i’ve complained about i don’t consider myself a purist. (ok. except about the revival choreography. some things are more sacred than the vatican.)

i don’t dig 2019 as a whole. i don’t want to completely disregard it. there are bits and pieces i did like and that i can appreciate. i wish it wasn’t done that way. i just wish we had gotten a true blue professionally shot, no dances cut, honest portrayal of the stage production.

but hey it is what it is. at the bottom of it all i’m just glad there are new people coming in and taking a look around. it’s nice to see a resurgence of the fandom. it feels really good to see more people here and loving it. i missed CATS and the CATS community. it feels so good to be home.

#ches writes #ches writes stuff #cats musical #cats the musical #anti cats 2019 #is that the tag? god i feel like such a dick tagging that lmfao #if there's another tag i need to add lmk pls #in which i barf words and do mostly complaining but also wholesome #frnkfucker69

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kegofglory · 6 years ago

Text

if risk leads to ruin, my heart would forgive me (1/1)

SOS, Captain Swan has taken over my brain.

Fandom: Once Upon A Time

Pairing: Killian Jones/Emma Swan

Summary: "He tells her all about what made him open a dog shelter, and how much he loves his job. She admires his passion, and finds that she could listen to his voice for the rest of her life if he’d let her."

OR, a story in which Emma and Killian become friends because their dogs become friends.

AO3

Emma never really considered herself an animal person. Probably because she never had a pet growing up, moving from foster homes to group homes, half her time spent wondering where she’d be living the next day. Pets are something she associates more with family, with a real home, something she was never privy to.

Then one day, Henry came home from school with a golden retriever at his side. She called local animal shelters, posted pictures of him online, did everything she could to find the poor guys home.

And nothing came of it.

She and Henry got a little attached, so they named him Duck (courtesy of Henry, who thought Duck Swan was a hilarious name) and he became a permanent fixture of their little family.

She takes Duck on a walk on the first nice day in April, and she revels in the feel of the sun on her skin after months of bundling up for freezing weather. She’s even humming quietly, a sense of peace coursing through her.

That is, until Duck lunges playfully at an unsuspecting Australian Shepherd dog. Emma’s eyes widen. “Shit,” she mutters, pulling on Duck’s leash. “Duck!”

There’s laughter beside her and she turns to see a man running toward his dog, Duck’s new pal, and he grabs his leash. There’s commotion as she and the stranger both shout at their own dogs, trying to tug them apart.

Emma laughs, though, when her dog lays in the grass, panting happily as the other dog nudges at him playfully.

She glances over at the stranger, and curses herself for almost immediately noticing that, god, he’s attractive. Like, unreal attractive, actually.

“It seems my Davy has taken quite a liking to your pup, love,” he says, and she laughs, raising an eyebrow at his lilting accent.

She shrugs nonchalantly. “It’s easy to do,” she says smugly, as if she were personally responsible for her dog’s adorable factor.

He grins at this, eyeing her carefully, and Emma does not miss the way his eyes slowly travel from her head to her toe. She shoots him a look, and he has the decency to look embarrassed.

“Killian Jones,” he says, extending his free hand as the dogs continue to roll around together.

She looks at his hand, then meets his eyes again, chuckling. “You named your dog Davy Jones?” she asks. “Like… the pirate?”

He chuckles, rolling his eyes good-naturedly.. “Of course I did. And you are?”

She extends her hand, shaking his easily. “Emma Swan.”

He nods at their dogs. “And this is…?”

She rolls her eyes. “That’s Duck.”

It takes him a minute, but a smile slowly takes over his whole face, and it’s almost blinding. Emma looks away, glances down at the dogs again, because she can’t quite meet his eyes when he’s smiling like that.

“Duck Swan?” he says finally, laughter in his tone.

She shrugs. “My son named him,” she says, and waits for him to flinch, to wince, to anything, at the mention of her son. He only beams at her. She doesn’t know which scenario is worse.

“He’s a smart lad,” he says, and she glances over at the dogs, keeping her focus on anything other than his kind eyes. It’s too disarming.

“Yes, I suppose,” she agrees, and sighs. “Speaking of, I have to pick him up from school, so, I guess I have to break up this play date,” she says, tugging lightly on the leash.

He shuffles a little closer to her, tugging on his own leash. “It was lovely to meet you, Emma,” he says quietly, and she smiles tightly up at him, nodding kindly before getting a hold of Duck and heading back to her car.

---///---

On Saturday, Henry wakes up well before eight in the morning, shaking his mother awake gently.

Emma squints one eye open, staring at her nine-year-old son. “Are you okay?” she asks sleepily.

He nods. “It’s really nice out,” he tells her.

She turns around, glancing up at her clock. Then she groans, stretching her legs out, before returning her attention to her son. “Yes?”

He grins. “Well, Duck really wants to go to the park,” he says innocently, but she gives him a look and his cheeks turn pink. “So do I.”

Emma hums. “Give me time to wake up, kid, and then we will go.”

He practically rushes back out of her room, and Emma laughs lightly, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

It takes her less than a half hour to drag herself out of bed, shower, and get herself somewhat presentable. Or at least, presentable enough for a walk through the park on a Saturday in Boston.

Henry’s going on and on about a story he has to work on for English class, and she does her best to keep up with his spiraling thoughts. He’s going on about recreating fairy tales, and she just takes the time to admire his passion and excitement. These qualities, she is sure, he inherited from his father. And seeing them in her son, the person she loves more than anyone on this planet, well, it makes her anger towards Neal fade quite a bit.

“Mom,” he says, cutting off his own thought. She glances down at her son, and he points to the guy sitting at the bench a few feet from them, who is smiling openly at her.

And, of course, it’s Killian. And Davy.

Oh, and a beautiful brunette.

Emma feels a pang in her chest that she doesn’t even really understand. She moves to head down a different path, one that doesn’t take them right past the bench, but Duck starts barking wildly, running straight to Davy. Henry, who has a tight hold on the leash, gets pulled violently to the bench.

Holding in her groan, she slowly walks toward the couple and their dog.

“Swan!” Killian calls, standing up and watching adoringly as the dogs tangle together.

Emma has to admit, looking at the dogs, that they are pretty adorable together. She lets a small laugh escape, shaking her head. “Wow, they love each other,” Emma observes.

“They’re best mates, of course,” Killian agrees, and then motions to the woman that is still sitting on the bench, watching the scene before her with interest. “This is my girlfriend, Milah,” he says.

She’s older, Emma thinks. Maybe ten years older than him. But she’s breathtakingly beautiful.

“Milah, this is Emma Swan. I met her here the other day when our dogs tackled each other,” he says, and Milah stays seated but smiles just the same.

Henry’s giggling at the way that the dogs are playing together, and Emma points in his direction. “This is my son, Henry,” she says, and Henry spares them a smile before joining the dogs in the grass, laughing as he rolls around with them. Emma can’t help it, she pulls out her phone and snaps a picture.

Emma tries not to look over at Milah again. Really, she does. But she seemingly has lost physical control of her body because she turns back and looks at Milah, who is watching her too. Her eyes are distant, her face guarded, so different from the openness and trust that Killian seems to wear on his face at all times.

She awkwardly smiles, and turns to see Killian watching the exchange thoughtfully.

“Lad,” Killian calls out to her son. “I heard you came up with the name Duck?” he asks.

Henry stands up, brushing the grass off his body, and nods, his face full of pride. “Yeah!”

“Brilliant,” Killian shouts, and Henry smiles wider, if that’s even possible. “This is Davy Jones. He has taken quite fondly to you it seems,” he says, crouching down so he’s at Henry’s height.

“Davy Jones,” Henry repeats, then chuckles, looking over at his mom with glee. “That’s awesome!” he shouts.

Even Milah laughs at this, the joy on Henry’s face too pure to deny.

“Thank you,” Killian says, shooting an I-Told-You-So look at Emma, who only rolls her eyes. “I thought it was quite clever as well.”

Emma rocks back on her heels, and she looks down at her watch. “Henry, why don’t you start trying to reign Duck in, okay? It’s about time for breakfast,” she calls.

Killian frowns slightly at her, but she pretends not to notice.

She also pretends not to notice the way his jeans look like they were tailored just for him, or how he somehow makes a plain black tee look like vogue, or how his crooked smile sends a shiver down her spine.

“It was nice meeting you, Emma,” Milah says, standing up to join Killian. Emma nods, then gives Killian a wave before practically dragging Henry and Duck down a different path.

“Killian is nice,” Henry says, his voice full of innocent kindness.

“Yeah, he is,” she agrees, shrugging as she ruffles Henry’s hair. “Now, Granny’s?” she asks.

All it takes is the thought of blueberry pancakes for Henry to forget the exchange completely.

---///---

Henry doesn’t forget for long enough, though, because he brings Killian and Davy up at Granny’s.

“Mom’s friend was there, and his dog was so awesome!” he’s saying around a mouthful of bacon. Emma grimaces, shaking her head at her son.

“Chew, swallow, then talk, kid,” she admonishes, and he smiles sheepishly at her.

“Yeah, alright, who’s mom’s friend?” Ruby cuts in, reaching over to take a piece of sausage off of Emma’s plate.

David grunts, looking all sorts of uncomfortable, and Mary Margaret giggles lightly.

The four (five when Henry comes along) of them try to meet for breakfast every weekend, and this weekend is no different. Ruby’s in the clothes she wore out the night before, while David and Mary Margaret look perfect and put together as always.

“Killian,” Henry supplies, as if they’ve all known Killian for years and just forgot.

Ruby raises an eyebrow, and when she reaches over to steal more food, Emma smacks at her hand. “Order your own sausage, Rubes!”

“Killian… weird name,” she comments. “Who is he?” she asks, completely disregarding Emma’s outburst and stealing a piece of bacon from David’s plate instead, who only scowls as he glances over at Ruby’s untouched bowl of fruit.

“I don’t know, some guy at the park,” Emma answers. “I’ve only met him one other time. Duck loves his dog.”

“Is he cute?”

Emma levels Ruby with a hard stare. “He’s not ugly.”

“Ooh, intrigue,” Ruby practically croons, and Henry’s face scrunches together with confusion. Emma glares at Ruby, who just shrugs.

“Ruby, didn’t you hear her? He’s a stranger from the park,” David cuts in, and Emma smiles at David, who has once again, for the thousandth time in their lives, saved her.

“Everyone is a stranger before they meet. They’ve met. They are no longer strangers.”

“Either way,” Emma says sternly before the conversation can spiral even more. “He was there with his very lovely girlfriend, so let’s all change the topic.”

Mary Margaret starts talking about their road trip plans a few months away, and Emma fights the urge to let out a sigh of relief at the change of conversation.

Emma tunes the conversation out, though, when she notices Henry staring across the room and fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. Emma follows his line of sight. A young girl, about his age, was seated in a booth with a grown man, likely her father.

“Who’s that?” Emma whispers, trying not to grab anyone else’s attention.

Henry’s cheeks redden in record time, and he shrugs, looking back down at his plate. “A girl from school,” he answers, and Emma laughs, leaning forward to place a kiss on her son’s head before returning to conversation with her friends.

---///---

The next time Emma sees Killian, it’s after a long overnight shift. She gets home at six in the morning, just in time to get Henry up and ready for school. After he gets on the bus, though, she tosses and turns in her bed for an hour before she gives up on getting sleep. She brews a pot of coffee and looks over at Duck, who’s laying on the couch, eyeing her intensely. She smiles, looking out her kitchen window outside. The sun is shining brightly through minimal clouds.

She jumps in the shower, gets ready, and pours coffee into her large insulated coffee cup before taking Duck to the park.

Emma usually rotates between a few different parks and trails to keep her walks with Duck interesting.

She doesn’t admit, not even to herself, that she keeps returning to Peter’s Park because that’s where she met Killian. She also doesn’t admit that she spent a little more time getting ready for an early morning walk than she normally does, just in case.

And it’s stupid, she knows, this weird flicker of hope she feels whenever her eyes meet his. He has a girlfriend. A girlfriend that is beautiful, and obviously very kind.

She’s not trying to get in the middle of that, she really isn’t. She just thinks that, you know, maybe she and Killian can be friends.

When she sees him, he’s laying on a blanket, Davy laying down next to him, his head resting on Killian’s stomach. Emma’s heart swells, and she forces that feeling down when she approaches him, Duck barking excitedly at Davy.

At the sound of Duck’s barking, Killian sits up and beams when he sees Emma nearing him. She waves easily, dropping the leash and grinning as Davy and Duck wrestle on the blanket, forcing Killian to stand up.

“Swan, you’re frequenting this park as much as me now!” he says, and there is nothing in his tone that would imply that he thinks it has anything to do with him, but she blushes anyways.

And she curses herself for it.

If he notices her reaction, he pretends not to because he just smiles widely at her, sitting back down on the grass, gesturing dramatically to the spot beside him.

She raises an eyebrow but sits down across from him, crossing her legs pretzel style.

“What brings you out on this fine Tuesday morning, Swan?”

He sits back, placing his hands in the grass behind him to support himself.

She shrugs, her eyes on the dogs as she responds. “I had to work night shift last night and I couldn’t fall asleep when I got home,” she tells him.

“Really? When’s the last time you slept?” he asks, concern in his tone.

She looks back at him, and his eyes are so curious. “I napped before work yesterday, so I’m fine,” she says, although the yawn that interrupts her sentence doesn’t quite sell the sentiment.

He laughs, shaking his head. “What do you do for a living?”

She watches as he leans forward, mimicking the way she’s seated, as his fingers pick at blades of grass.

“I’m a detective,” she says casually, waiting for the typical reaction she gets from men about her career choice--something between intimidation and distaste.

He only raises an eyebrow, though, and she pretends that doesn’t mean anything to her.

“Officer of the law? Wow. I could have guessed that,” he says, and she laughs genuinely at this, shaking her head.

“How so?”

He just gives her a half shrug. “You’re something of an open book,” he tells her, and the statement makes her heart race for some reason.

“What about you? Where do you work that you’re able to hang out at the park on a Tuesday morning?” she asks, desperately feeling the need to turn the interrogation around on him.

He smirks, and she feels like he’s looking right through her. “You ever been to Sea Dog’s Animal Rescue on Beacon Street?” he asks.

He looks surprised when his simple question elicits a laugh from her. “I had the weirdest experience there once, actually,” she says. “Do you work there?”

“I own it, actually. What kind of weird experience?” he asks, sounding offended.

She shakes her head. “When I found Duck, he had no collar, and I was trying to connect him to his possible owners. I walked into your shelter and talked to this guy… ahh,” she groans, trying to remember his name. “I don’t remember his name, actually, but I think he hit on me. And he kept calling me sheriff when I told him I was a cop.”

Killian groans. “I’d bet money that was Scarlet,” he says, rubbing a hand over his face. “He’s exhausting.”

She sighs, wondering when she got so good at making new friends. “How’d you meet Milah?” she asks, the question slipping from her mouth before she can stop it.

His smile fades into a look of intrigue, his eyes searching her face with profound sincerity. “It was complicated,” he finally says, his voice taking on a grave tone. “I met her through a friend of a friend. And she was married when I met her.”

He leans over, running his hand lovingly over Davy’s head, who is now laying down next to Duck, both exhausted from their own festivities.

“She was married to a real piece of work. He was terrible to her. And we remained friends until one day, she left him. She ran, actually. And she showed up at my doorstep, needing a place to stay. And the rest is history, I suppose,” he says, but there’s something under his tone that she can’t quite read.

“She seems great,” Emma says, her voice too bright to her own ears.

He nods in agreement, even though his eyes are distant. “She’s a force to be reckoned with.”

She smiles and lays down, looking up at him when she starts telling him about how Duck became a part of her family.

His eyes are kind and encouraging when she tells him about her life in the foster system, and she surprises herself when she tells him about David Nolan, who she met freshman year at Boston University. She tells him about how David made her feel important for the first time in her life, bringing her home to his mom’s on holidays, showing her what it’s like to be a part of a real family.

In turn, he tells her about his brother Liam, who lives in New York with his wife, and how he didn’t have much of a family unit outside of his brother either. He tells her all about what made him open a dog shelter, and how much he loves his job. She admires his passion, and finds that she could listen to his voice for the rest of her life if he’d let her.

As soon as that thought crosses her mind though, she sits up abruptly. “I better get home,” she says, looking at her watch. It’s already nearing eleven, meaning she’s been sitting in the grass with Killian for almost three hours. “I need to get some sleep before Henry gets home.”

She can feel his eyes watching her closely as she grabs her now empty coffee cup, gathering Duck’s leash in her other hand.

“See you around, Jones?”

She means for it to come out as a casual statement, but it sounds more like a nervous question. She stands up, shuffling a little awkwardly on her feet under the heat of his stare. Then he stands up, nodding. “Maybe we can have some dog play dates. Davy enjoys hanging out with Duck a lot, it seems,” he says, and she wonders if he’s really talking about Davy.

He scratches behind his ear nervously, and Emma finds the nervous tick to be incredibly endearing. “Can I have your number, Swan? It might be easier to coordinate walks in the park if I could contact you.”

She nods in affirmation, too afraid to speak as she takes his phone from him, quickly entering in her number.

He takes his phone from her and shoves it in his pocket, settling back into the grass and she and Duck head the opposite direction.

---///---

After that, she and Killian become friends. Or, friend-adjacent. They become park buddies, if anything.

It’s not weird.

At least, that what she’s telling Ruby one night at their favorite dive bar.

Ruby, however, isn’t convinced. She grabs Emma’s phone and opens up her text conversation with Killian.

“Emma Swan,” Ruby shouts, eyes widening as she looks at the texts.

Too exhausted to wrestle her phone back from her best friend, she simply takes another drink of her rum and diet.

“There’s nothing in those texts that warrants the scandalized face you’re pulling right now, Ruby, so cut the crap,” she says tersely.

Ruby chuckles. “It’s not what the messages say, it’s what’s behind those words,” she says cryptically before downing the rest of her tequila sunrise.

“Behind… the words?” Emma repeats slowly, staring at Ruby like she’s lost her mind. Which, perhaps, she has.

“You like him, Em. Why else would you be hanging out with him?”

“I can’t make new friends?” Emma asks, signaling to Mulan that they’re ready for another round of drinks. “We literally hang out like once a week, and all we do is walk our dogs. It’s not romantic, it’s not weird.”

“You can make new friends. But you’re like… keeping him secret. Why haven’t you brought him around, if you’re just friends? Unless… you’re afraid that we’ll all see how hopelessly in love you are if you bring him to one of our nights out.”

“This theory you’re working on?” Emma starts, turning to smile gratefully at their bartender when a new drink appears in front of her. “It’s heavily flawed. I don’t bring him out because there is no reason to… he’s busy. I have you guys. He’s just, like, my park friend.”

“You sound insane,” Ruby decides, setting Emma’s phone back on the bar counter. “But I’ll let it go. For now.”

“We can talk about why we’re really here,” Emma suggests, grinning wickedly.

Ruby furrows her brow in confusion. “We’re here because it’s a Saturday night and your son is at his father's house.”

“Weird how when Mary Margaret invited us over for a cookout you shot her down in seconds, swearing you had to hit up happy hour.”

Ruby scoffs. “I had a long day. Sue me for wanting a drink!” she shouts indignantly.

“Uh huh, and you couldn’t bring drinks to Mary Margaret’s?” she asks.

“What’s your point?” Ruby asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

Emma just turns, making a show of looking over at Mulan, the bartender that Ruby has had a crush on for over a year now.

Ruby chokes out a forced laugh. “That? I’ve been over that for forever, Em,” she argues, but Emma can hear the lie in her voice.

“You sound insane, but I’ll let it go for now,” Emma says, repeating Ruby’s words back to her. Ruby doesn’t mention Killian again after that.

---///---

Emma’s halfway out the door on Thursday evening when she decides to text Killian.

Headed to the park now. You up for a walk?

Are you dead set on the park?

She stares at the text, wondering what he means as she gets into her yellow bug, laughing when Duck immediately shoves his head out the window.

That’s normally where I do my dog walking, yes.

Fancy meeting us at The Jolly Roger?

That weird nautical themed bar by the docks?

She stares at the little animated dots that appear on the screen, heart pounding.

You wound me. This is my favorite bar in Boston. And it’s dog friendly.

Emma stares at Duck, who’s panting happily, and sighs, debating her options.

When she pulls up to The Jolly Roger, she has two realizations that stop her in her tracks. Duck sits patiently on the pavement, watching while his owner has a mental breakdown right in front of him.

Milah might be here.

This is the first time they’re hanging out somewhere other than the park.

Duck moves closer to her legs, licking at her jeans, and Emma sighs. “Fine,” she mumbles to her dog. “Let’s go.”

When she enters the bar, she finds it’s open and filled with natural lights from the tall windows everywhere. She looks around, and smiles when she sees Killian sitting at a round table, Davy laying on the floor under his chair. She raises an eyebrow to see that he’s not alone though. He’s actually surrounded by friends.

She stops and considers turning around and heading straight home, but he spots her first.

“Swan! Over here!” he calls, and she tries not to let her nerves show when all the unfamiliar faces turn toward her.

When she reaches the table, he motions to the empty stool beside him, and Duck howls with excitement, jumping on Davy.

Emma looks at Killian, who’s taking a sip of his beverage, cheeks tinted pink. “Swan! Meet my friends.”

Emma looks at the group surrounding her, two men and a woman, and she laughs when her eyes land on a familiar face.

“Don’t I know you?” he asks in his cockney accent.

Emma cocks her head to the side, considering the man. “I came in to your work like two years ago… you kept calling me sheriff,” she says.

“Emma, this is Will Scarlet. I’d like to apologize in advance for him,” Killian says, and Will shoots his friend a glare, smiling at Emma.

“I do remember you, Sheriff,” he says, sending her a wink. “How could I forget a face like yours?” he asks.

She raises an eyebrow in disbelief at him, and he grins.

Killian rolls his eyes. “This is Robin,” he says, pointing to the man next to Will who is watching the exchange with amusement. “And beside him is his wife, Regina.”

Emma looks at the couple, and smiles at the way that Robin’s fingers trace circles into her back absent-mindedly.

Emma just smiles, feeling a little awkward. “Hi, nice to meet you all,” she says, and then motions to the bar behind them. “I’m just going to go grab a drink.”

“No, love, let me. What will you have?” Killian asks, standing up and inching toward the bar before she can object.

“Rum and diet, please,” she says, and something flickers in his eyes before he nods and turns away.

“So, you’re the infamous Emma, huh?” Will asks, and Emma shrugs. “Killian talks about you all the time.”

Robin groans. “Please, Emma, ignore our friend. He’s a complete tosser and we only keep him around for our own amusement.”

Emma laughs. “Everyone has that one friend, huh?” she asks, and Robin laughs loudly in response. Regina smiles, surprise crossing her face.

“Sad but true,” Robin agrees. “You have one, too, then?”

She thinks of Ruby, her neurotic, mess of a best friend. “Yep. Definitely,” she says.

Killian slides back into his seat, arm brushing hers as he places her drink on the table. She can see the goosebumps rise on her forearm, and Killian seems a little affected, too, his gaze lingering on her for far too long.

“Where’s Milah?” she asks, and he straightens up, clearing his throat.

“She’s stuck at work tonight,” he says, but she doesn’t miss the matching expression that all of his friends are wearing: disapproval.

“You’re never free in the evening, Swan,” he observes, his voice lighter than before. “Where’s your boy?” She frowns. “He goes to this dad’s every other weekend, but I let him go a day early this week so they could go to the Red Sox game tonight,” she says before taking a sip of her drink.

Robin sends her a knowing look. “Shared custody never does get easier, huh?” he says, and Emma finds a small smile forming on her face.

“It truly does not,” she agrees.

Robin tells her about his son, Roland, and whips out his phone to show off pictures, which only prompts Emma to do the same. Killian watches it all with a content smile on his face, and she tries not to dissect the moment.

Emma finds herself falling into easy conversation with them all, enjoying the snarky banter with Will, the kind words from Robin, and by the end of the night, even Regina seems to be opening up a bit more to Emma, telling her about her work on the city council.

“Emma!?” she hears, and jumps, searching the bar for the face that matches that voice. She smiles when her eyes land on Graham, and craft beer in his hand as he approaches her.

She smiles politely at Killian and his friends before she jumps off the stool and gives Graham a quick hug.

“Hey stranger, tell me, please, what the day shift is like? I’ve nearly forgotten what the day looks like,” she jokes, and he winces, shaking his head.

“You’d think that having David as your boss would score you some perks, huh?” he asks, and Emma shakes her head.

“David? Playing favorites? Please, Humbert, he’s a man of honor and I’m offended you’d even imply such a thing.”

Graham chuckles, and Emma swears that his eyes land on someone behind her for far too long. She assumes it’s Killian.

“You’ll be back to days in a couple weeks, though. Aurora is coming back from maternity leave soon,” he says.

She rolls her eyes. “Two weeks is too far away,” she mumbles.

He only shakes his head. “What brings you here, Em? I’m here all the time and I’ve never seen you. Don’t you and Ruby like to frequent that god awful dive bar, what’s it called?” he looks up, racking his brain.

Emma scoffs. “It’s called The Rabbit Hole and it’s our safe haven so watch your mouth,” she threatens. “I came here to meet my friend,” she says, turning around to point at Killian, who’s sitting in his seat tensely.

Graham smiles warmly, though, and Killian seems to shake out of his weird mind state, standing up and shaking his hand.

“Killian, this is Graham Humbert, my partner when I'm on day shift,” she says before introducing him to the rest of the table.

Everyone exchanges kind words, and Graham says his goodbyes, heading back to his table where she spots a few familiar faces from the precinct.

She sends a wave to the table, not in the mood to socialize with the people from work that she doesn’t really care for.

When Emma settles back into her seat, Regina raises an eyebrow.

“When did you guys date?” she asks, and Killian practically chokes on the rum he’s drinking.

Emma shakes her head. “Ah, no, no, we never--” she stammers, shaking her head. “We didn’t date,” she finally says.

“Well, you’re aware he wants to, right? I mean, the guy was practically salivating at the mouth the whole time he was over here. It was honestly painful to watch.”

Emma grunts, feeling insanely uncomfortable. “Well, it’s not like that,” she says, shrugging.

Killian laughs, a little too loudly, and then sets his drink down. “Regina, let the lass drink in peace,” he scolds, and Regina shrugs, looking unapologetic.

“The Rabbit Hole, huh?” Will says, and Emma’s thankful for the new topic. “I love that place. I mean, it’s a dump, that’s for sure. But it’s my kind of place. These gits are always dragging me to hipster places like this,” he says, motioning to his surroundings, and both Killian and Robin voice their disagreement.

Emma laughs. “Yeah. My best friend and I love that place too,” she says.

The night continues on without incident, and when they’re ready to leave, Emma feels a tightness in her chest. She doesn’t want to go.

She nudges Duck, who has fallen asleep under the table, and smiles as she watches him stretch out peacefully.

She says her goodbyes to Killian’s friends, feeling oddly warm when they all sincerely tell her they can’t wait to do this again.

“You okay to drive, love?” Killian asks when they get outside. The night brought a slight chill in the air, but it feels good on her skin.

She nods, and he walks her to her car in silence. “Thanks for inviting me, Killian,” she says when they reach her bug.

He laughs, looking at her vehicle.

“Quite the vessel you captain there, Swan,” he says, his voice low, and she laughs.

“This is my baby,” she says defensively, and he smirks. His gaze is too dark, though, too intense. She opens her door, allowing Duck to climb into the passenger seat. “I’ll see you, Killian.”

He doesn’t respond though, just keeps his eyes trained on her.

“Tell Milah I said hi,” she says, and once again, at the mention of Milah he backs up, as if he realizes where he’s at, what he’s doing.

“Goodnight, Swan,” he says before she gets into her car and drives away.

---///---

I go back to day shift tomorrow. Wanna take one last morning walk?

It’s only seconds before Killian sends her a text back.

Meet you in fifteen.

She finds him waiting for her in the parking lot, Davy at his side. He doesn’t notice her arrive, leaning against a tree and staring into the distance.

“Why are you thinking so hard, mate?” she asks, imitating his accent playfully. He looks at her, but his expression doesn’t change. “Okay, what’s wrong?” she asks as they start walking the familiar trail.

“Nothing, love, just a long day,” he says.

“Killian,” she says firmly. “It’s nine in the morning.”

He sighs. “I didn’t sleep last night,” he tells her, whistling when Davy gets distracted by a butterfly. Emma would normally laugh at the dog’s attention span, but she’s consumed by Killian’s distress.

She stops, placing a hand on Killian’s forearm. He stops, looking down at her hand, and then he meets her eyes.

He looks pained and exhausted.

“Hey, come on. What’s going on with you?” she asks.

He sighs, nodding, and continues their walk down the path. “It’s Milah,” he says.

Emma fights the urge to cringe, because the last thing she wants to talk about is his relationship.

After that night at The Jolly Roger, she came to terms with the fact that she clearly has feelings for Killian that are more than platonic. She also came to the conclusion that she has to force those feelings down, for the sake of their friendship. So she’s kept it casual, texting him a little less, bringing up Milah a little more, and it’s been working.

“Is she alright?” Emma asks carefully.

“She’s fine,” he bites out, groaning. “We were up all night fighting,” he says.

“Over what?” she asks, frowning.

He groans, shaking his head. “I don’t even know anymore. Nothing, at first. Everything, by this morning,” he says vaguely.

Emma sighs. “Those kind of fights are never fun,” she agrees, thinking back to heated arguments with Neal and how quickly they would escalate. “But you guys will work through it, ya know? You love her,” she says, and she hopes her words sound more convincing than they feel.

He stumbles a bit when he takes his next step, but continues.

“Yeah,” he says, sounding a little resigned. He sighs, then, shaking his head. “It’s just… we want different things, you know. I’m ready to settle down here, to start a life. She wants adventure.”

She frowns, shocked at the confession. “Adventure?” she asks.

“Sometimes it feels like she thinks I’m supposed to always be the exciting younger man, like she’s always comparing me to her ex and wanting a shiny fun toy. But there comes a point where it feels like it’s time to build something strong, meant to last.”

“Yeah,” she says quietly. “Killian. I know you guys are in love, and I’m happy for you. But don’t forget that what you want matters too. You guys need to find a fair compromise,” she says. He nods, looking around like he wants the conversation to end. She leaves him with her last thought, hoping it doesn’t reveal too much. “You have so much more to offer than fun times, Jones. She should know that.”

She starts to tell him about how excited she is to switch to days and how she can’t wait to get Graham back as her partner. “I mean, listen, Sneezy is nice and all, but I literally have never gone through so much hand sanitizer in my life,” she says.

He cringes. “That’s disgusting,” he says. “How long were you and Graham partners before your switch to nights, love?” he asks, his eyes trained on Davy.

She shrugs, thinking back. “About two years,” she says. “We’ve been partners since he started at our precinct.”

“He seems like a good man,” he says, and he doesn’t sound unkind, but he also doesn’t sound quite like himself.

She brushes it off. “Anyways, it doesn’t matter. I’ll be on day shift for a week and then we’re headed to Cape Cod for the weekend,” she says, her voice raising with excitement. “It’s going to be the best. Henry’s been working on a road trip playlist for us all week.”

Her words bring out the first genuine smile she’s seen from Killian all morning. He chuckles. “Did Ruby end up asking Mulan to join?”

“Of course not. She’s being the biggest coward,” Emma grumbles.

“Okay, relax, lass. Matters of the heart are usually more complicated than they appear,” he says, and Emma rolls her eyes.

“Sometimes they’re not as difficult as we make them,” she says. “And besides, you don’t even know Ruby, you don’t get to take her side.”

Killian shakes his head. “That’s through no fault of my own. You’re the one that hides me from your friends like I’m something to be ashamed of.”

It’s not the first time he’s mentioned it. It’s about the tenth time since she met his friends a few weeks ago. She always has an excuse. But the reality is that Ruby was right from the start. She doesn’t want her friends to meet Killian because he means too much to her, and they will see that.

“Yeah, yeah,” she whines playfully, rolling her eyes. He frowns slightly, but Emma pretends not to notice before showing him pictures of the house they rented for the trip.

He doesn’t bring up her friends or Milah again for the rest of the morning.

Instead, he asks about Henry’s father.

Emma sighs deeply, trying to figure out where to start. “I met Neal my senior year of college,” she says, and Killian points to the bench, signaling for a little break. She nods, and they sit down, watching as Duck and Davy play in front of them.

“I fell in love with him so fast,” Emma recalls. “I mean, he was my first love. And David and Mary Margaret hated him, told me he was bad news, but I was naive. I found out I was pregnant the day of graduation. I told him and he ran,” she says, shaking her head at the memory. Killian places his hand on her knee, squeezing tightly.

“Bad form,” he hisses, and Emma laughs without humor.

“Truly bad form,” she agrees. “But, you know, he grew up. He came back around when Henry was one. I made him work for it, telling him he needed to prove that he was here for the long run. And eventually, he did prove it. And as much as he gets on my nerves, he has been a wonderful father to Henry.”

Killian nods. “You’re a wonderful mother, too, Swan,” he says.

She smiles. “He’s the best kid in the world,” Emma says. “He makes it easy.”

Killian looks at her with awe in his eyes, so she turns her head, staring down at her feet.

“Hey, can I ask you a favor?” she asks, desperate to get to lighter topics. He nods “Can you watch Duck when I’m out of town? If not, it’s no worries, I just figured--”

He cuts her off, laughing easily. “Relax, Swan, I’d love to hang out with Duck for the weekend.”

She smiles gratefully, and they stand up and continue down the trail, keeping their conversation on superficial topics for the rest of the morning.

---///---

“Rule number one of our road trip,” Ruby shouts as they gather around Emma’s bug. “I will not hear one more mention of Mulan. I am escaping my reality for three whole days, and I don’t want to get made fun of the entire time,” she says.

Henry laughs while Emma, David, and Mary Margaret collectively groan at her dramatics. David throws the last duffel bag into the bed of his truck.

“No one even wants to talk about Mulan anymore at this point. Your cowardice is honestly boring,” he says, and Emma’s jaw drops at the bold statement.

Ruby pouts, shoulders slumping.

“Yeah, what we really wanna do is ask about Killian,” Mary Margaret interjects, and Emma’s jaw drops even further.

Henry’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline, and Ruby grins victoriously. “What the hell!?” Emma complains, and David’s face somehow looks both annoyed and disgusted.

“I promise, that’s not what we want to talk about,” David says.

“He’s watching your dog for the weekend, Ems! That’s insane. Since when do you trust anyone with Duck?” Mary Margaret questions.

“I think it’s safe to say that leaving him with a man who opened his own dog shelter makes him a pretty good dog sitter,” Emma reasons.

Mary Margaret lets out a hum of disbelief.

“Can we hit the road or what?” she asks just before her phone chimes with a new message. Emma reads the message with the best poker face she can manage.

Hope your trip is fun, Swan. Sorry I’ve been so busy this week, but I can't wait to see you when you return.

She sends back a quick thanks before climbing into her car, smiling when Henry climbs into the passenger seat, forcing Ruby to climb into the back.

Emma doesn’t think about Killian for the rest of the drive, too distracted by Ruby’s constant antics and Henry’s playlist.

---///---

Emma wakes up on Saturday morning to a text from Killian. It’s a picture of Davy and Duck both sleeping in what she assumes is his bed.

Even though the dogs look adorable in the photo, her eyes are stuck on the king size bed, the black sheets, the grey comforter.

I miss Duck already :(

He misses you. So does Davy.

Emma wonders, not for the first time, if Davy is code for Killian. She doesn’t linger on the thought for too long, though.

The weekend away from Killian does her good. He sends her pictures of the dogs every so often, but other than that, they don’t communicate much. Emma starts to wonder if the fact that she needs a vacation from Killian is a bad sign. Perhaps forcing down her romantic feelings was doing more damage than she suspected.

She doesn’t want to lose Killian, but at the same time, she can’t just sit around and pine for a guy that’s taken. It’s a waste of time.

It’s also making her feel a little out of control.

On the last night in Cape Cod, Emma voices this to Mary Margaret over a glass of sangria. Ruby’s mumbling I-Told-You-So’s the entire time.

“I have advice,” Mary Margaret say, her words measured. “But it’s not advice you’re going to want to hear.”

Emma shrugs, gesturing for Mary Margaret to continue.

“You have to let it go,” she says. “Move on. You can’t torture yourself like this. He has to realize you have feelings for him, Em. You’re not exactly subtle. He’s leading you on.”

That is the last thing she expected from Mary Margaret. Ruby’s wearing a matching look of surprise on her face.

“He’s not leading me on, Mary Margaret. He knows that I know about Milah. He’s just being a good friend. It’s not his fault that I like him more than that,” she says.

Mary Margaret considers her words, nodding. “Yeah, okay. I’m sure he’s a great friend, Ems, but that doesn’t change the situation at all. Just, I’d put some distance between you guys. At least so you can sort out your feelings.”

Emma agrees with her, actually.

She does need to move on.

---///---

When they get home on Sunday, it’s only noon but she and Henry collapse on the couch in their family room, exhausted. She can feel her son staring at her, so she turns. “What is it, kid?” she asks.

“Are you okay, mom?” he asks, his voice small and concerned. She jumps up a little, reaching over to pull Henry closer to her, smiling softly when he rests his head on her shoulder.

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?” she asks.

He shrugs slightly. “You just seem… sad,” he tells her.

She frowns, her heart aching at his words. “No, kid, I’m okay. I’ve got you in my life, how can I be anything but happy?”

He laughs, and she presses a kiss to the top of his head before he gets up to take a shower.

She stares at her phone for what feels like forever before typing out a message to Killian.

I’m home.

Fantastic, love! Would you like to meet at the park to pick up your dog? I’m heading to work around two to help train the new volunteers.

Emma sighs, considering her options.

Henry and I are spending the day together, actually. I can come pick him up from your place now, though, if you’re home.

It takes him a bit longer to send a response, and when it comes, her heart thuds against her chest violently.

Of course. See you soon.

When Henry gets out of the shower, she asks if he wants to come with her to pick Duck up. He agrees, and when they get to Killian’s, her son seems to read the discomfort on her face.

Nine-year-old and still the smartest person she’s ever met.

“Do you want me to go get him?” Henry asks.

Emma chuckles, shaking her head. “No, let’s go,” she says, opening her car door. When they reach his apartment, she knocks lightly, realizing she’s never been to his place. She dropped Duck off to him at his place of work on Friday morning.

He swings the door open, wearing a large smile.

“Swan! Henry! How was the trip?” he asks, and Emma notices that he looks drained beyond belief. He’s still gorgeous, but his eyes look exhausted.

She wonders if asking him to watch Duck was too much.

“Really fun! Mom poured a margarita all over Ruby when she wouldn’t stop being dramatic and it was awesome!” Henry tells Killian. Killian’s eyes shoot to Emma, and she looks down at her son, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, we also went sailing and hung out at the beach. Why don’t you tell him about the normal things,” Emma suggests, laughing.

Henry shrugs innocently. “That was the best part, though,” he reasons.

Emma just rubs her hand over her face, and Killian’s chuckling with amusement.

Henry’s face lights up when Duck runs out into the hallway, jumping excitedly all over his family. Emma laughs, leaning down and petting Duck lovingly. She stands up and sees Killian watching them with something close to yearning in his expression. She wonders if her mind sees things that aren’t there.

This is why she needs distance.

He hands her Duck’s leash, smiling. “Have a good day with your boy, Swan,” he says softly.

She nods, smiling tightly. “I appreciate you taking him for the weekend. Hopefully it didn’t put you or Milah out,” she says.

He opens his mouth like he has something to say but he just shrugs. “It’s not a problem.”

With that, she sends him a small wave and rushes back down to her car, ready for a day out with her son.

---///---

She makes excuses for weeks when he tries to make plans with her. She feels guilty every time, but the space is helping her gain some much need perspective.

When she gets a text from Graham on Friday night asking her to meet him at The Jolly Roger, she says yes. Because, Mary Margaret’s right, Emma needs to move forward. And it’s not like it’s a date. He meets their coworkers at bars all the time.

When she arrives, he’s sitting alone at the bar, nursing a beer. Emma grins, slipping into the empty seat beside him.

They spend the evening chatting, joking around, and it’s easy. He’s one of her closest friends, so of course a night out with him is fun.

“Sheriff,” she hears, and turns to see Will and Robin sitting a few seats down from them.

She jumps, searching the room for Killian, but he’s nowhere to be found.

“Hey, guys. What’s up? Is Killian here, too?” she asks before she can help herself.

Scarlet smirks knowingly, but Robin smiles kindly at her. “No, he’s at home dealing with the Milah stuff.”

Emma raises an eyebrow, frowning. She didn’t realize they were still having issues. She exchanges pleasantries with them, but she can’t help the guilt that builds up in her stomach while they talk.

Killian’s going through serious stuff in his home life and she’s avoided every effort of his to hang out. He probably needed a friend. When she turns back to Graham, she finds her heart not quite in it anymore, and when she finishes her drink, she makes an excuse about being too tired to stay out. He nods, walking her out to her car and telling her he’ll see her at work next week.

When she gets home, she lays in bed for an hour before finally grabbing her phone from her nightstand and shooting a text to Killian without thinking.

Is everything okay?

His response comes faster than she expects.

I should be asking you that. You’ve been avoiding me, Swan.

I have not.

I’m actually quite perceptive, love. You’ve been avoiding me.

She sighs, sitting up in bed. She types and erases, over and over.

We’re all meeting at The Rabbit Hole tomorrow night around eight for Ruby’s birthday. You should come. Bring Milah, Will, Robin, and Regina if you want.

I’ll be there.

With that, Emma falls asleep, hoping that she doesn’t have a breakdown when she sees him the following day.

---///---

Emma takes a big sip from her rum and diet when the clock strikes nine. She looks at Ruby, who is already well on her way to drunk .

Killian had sent her a text to let her know he’d be late, but that he would be there.

“What?” Ruby finally asks after slamming down a shot of tequila.

“I invited Killian,” Emma says quietly.

Ruby grins widely. “Oh my god. Best birthday gift I could have ever asked for!” she practically screams. Emma groans.

“Please don’t be weird, Rubes,” she begs.

Completely ignoring her, she turns and screams to Mary Margaret, who is on the other side of the bar talking to David and Belle.

“Emma invited Killian!” she shouts.

Mary Margaret raises an eyebrow in response, and David wears the same pained expression he always does whenever Emma’s love life comes up.

“Would you chill?” Emma scolds, shaking her head. “Let’s do a shot, though,” Emma concedes, her nerves getting the best of her, and Ruby just giggles, turning to Mulan to order two tequila shots. Emma watches the way Mulan’s eyes linger on Ruby and she smirks to herself.

Emma’s eyes find Killian’s the moment she brings the shot to her lips. He grins mischievously as he takes in the scene before him, and she takes the shot quickly, wincing at the burn in her throat.

She looks to see that he brought Will and that’s all. No Milah.

Emma can’t help but feel a little relieved, motioning for him to come closer.

“Hi guys,” she says softly when they reach her. Ruby’s burning a hole into the side of Emma’s face, so she rolls her eyes and motions to her best friend.

“This is Ruby. It’s her thirtieth birthday so naturally she’s drunk by nine,” Emma explains, ignoring the scowl she receives in response. “Ruby, this is Killian and his friend Will Scarlet,” she says.

Ruby stares Killian down, inspecting him from head to toe, and Emma watches as he shrinks slightly under her stare.

“So, this is the Killian I’ve heard so much about,” she says, and she’s laying it on thick. Killian smirks slightly in response, and Emma rolls her eyes. “Not Ugly my ass, Emma,” she scoffs.

“This is the Will Scarlet of my friend group,” Emma explains quickly, tripping over her words slightly, and Killian barks out a laugh, while Will only shrugs.

“Pleasure to meet you, love,” Will says, winking at Ruby, who smiles back at him.

Emma grabs Killian’s arm, brushing past Ruby and leading him to the bar. “Drink?” she asks, and he laughs, taking her in. His eyes study her face, and for once, she keeps her eyes trained on his.

"Where’ve ya been, Swan?” he asks, softly. His voice sounds a little hurt, and she sighs.

“I’ve just been sorting some things out. I’m sorry I haven’t been around,” she says vaguely. He nods slowly, considering her.

He looks over at Mulan, who’s pouring shots for Will and Ruby. “Is that the notorious Mulan?” he asks quietly.

“Yup,” Emma says, popping the p . He chuckles, smiling kindly at Mulan when she reaches them, and he orders two rum and diets.

He hands her the new drink. “M’lady,” he says.

“Where’s Milah?” she asks.

He presses his lips together into a tight line, and she frowns at his change in demeanor.

“Killian, are you guys okay?” she asks softly.

He shakes his head after a moment. “We broke up,” he says.

She doesn’t feel the relief she imagined she’d feel. She feels guilty. And worried.

“When?” she asks.

He sighs. “When you were in Cape Cod.”

Emma gasps. “That was two weeks ago,” she says. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He levels her with a knowing look, and she cringes. It’s because she’s been avoiding him. How the hell could he tell her when she shut down every request to hang out since she got home from Cape Cod.

“Fuck, Killian, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

She thinks back to the day she came to pick up Duck. He asked to see her, and when she saw him at his apartment, he looked so different, so tired. She should have known something was going on.

“Yeah, love, I’m alright. It was for the best. She moved out that weekend, actually. We just weren’t right for each other,” he explains.

She sighs, placing her hand on the bar over his. “I should have been there for you. I’m sorry,” she says.

He shrugs. “Don’t worry about it, Swan,” he says, but his voice is distant. Then a devilish grin takes over his face. “What did Ruby mean when she said not ugly ?” he asks.

Emma grimaces, but figures he deserves a little pick me up. “When I first told Ruby about you, she asked if you were cute. I said you weren’t ugly,” she explains, and she can feel blood rushing to her cheeks at the memory.

He smirks. “You didn’t feel the need to mention that I’m actually devilishly handsome?” he asks, doing that absurd thing with his eyebrows that she hates.

And by hates, she means absolutely loves.

“And so modest,” Emma adds, but his smirk only grows deeper.

When Graham walks in with some people from the precinct, Killian stands up a bit straighter, eyeing Emma carefully. She simply sends Graham a little wave before returning her attention to Killian.

He nods to Graham. “Have you decided to take the leap with Humbert?” he asks, his voice tight.

Emma shakes her head. “What? No. Why would you think that?” she asks.

He smiles knowingly at her. “Will mentioned that he saw you out with him last night,” he says.

She raises an eyebrow. “Yeah. He’s my partner. We were just grabbing drinks as friends,” she explains.

He looks ready to say something else but gets interrupted by Mary Margaret and David.

“Em, are you going to introduce us to your friend?” Mary Margaret asks, and Emma nods, feeling her breathing even out when they break up the intense moment.

“Killian, this is Mary Margaret and David, my life savers and kindest people on Earth,” she says, and David laughs while Mary Margaret beams at Emma.

“I’ve heard a lot about you guys,” Killian says kindly, shaking their hands.

David stands up straight, crossing his arms over his chest, as he eyes Killian closely. Emma groans, shooting David a look while Mary Margaret only shakes her head good-naturedly.

“You’ve been a wonderful friend to Emma. I’m glad she has met you,” Mary Margaret says in an attempt to break the tension.

“She’s been the wonderful friend in this scenario, believe me,” Killian says, sincerity shining through every one of his words.

Mary Margaret wears a knowing look on her face that puts Emma on edge, so she turns to Ruby and starts talking to her and Will while Killian continues a conversation with Mary Margaret and David.

The night goes by easily enough, Emma doing one too many shots, officially buzzed by midnight. Killian’s standing in the corner with Will and Belle, laughing loudly at something Will is saying, and Emma is sitting at the bar next to Mary Margaret.

“Em,” Mary Margaret says quietly. “I take it back. He’s in love with you.”

Emma chokes violently on her drink, coughing roughly. “What!?” Emma almost sreams.

“Talking to him… it’s obvious,” she says, shrugging easily as she examines Emma’s face.

“I think that’s a bit extreme,” Emma says, setting her drink down once she’s recovered from her cough attack.

“Maybe,” Mary Margaret says, but when Emma turns back to glance at Killian, he’s already staring at her, eyes vulnerable, and Emma turns back around quickly. “Maybe not, though.”

As if he knows what’s going on, Killian leaves Belle and Will alone, sliding into the seat next to Emma without a word.

Mary Margaret excuses herself, and then it’s just the two of them.

Emma props her elbow up on the bar, resting her head in her hand as she stares at him. “So, you’ve finally met my friends. What do you think?” Emma asks.

He mimics her actions, resting his own head in his hand.

She always thought that Killian was so unguarded, so soft, her complete opposite. But if she thought he wore an open expression before, this is something completely different. It’s like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

“They’re as lovely as you said they were,” he says. “I like seeing you around them, in your natural habitat,” he tells her. She raises her eyes eyebrows in confusion, and he chuckles. “You’re beautiful,” he says softly.

She feels her body go rigid at the words.

Because, no, she’s not going to do this when he broke up with his girlfriend of several years less than a month ago.

She cares about him too much for that.

“Sorry, love,” he says, obviously realizing the way his words impacted her.

She shakes her head. “No, it’s fine. I just…”

He nods. “It’s okay,” he cuts her off. “You don’t have to explain yourself.”

She sighs, and she wants to explain herself, but perhaps under better circumstances, when she hasn’t been drinking for several hours.

“Want to join us at breakfast tomorrow?” she asks. “We always do breakfast at Granny’s on Sundays and I have a feeling we will all be needing some hangover food,” she adds, and he chuckles, affection all over his face.

“Of course love. Tell me when and where and I’ll be there.”

Emma smiles, and it’s only a half hour later that she calls a cab and heads home.

---///---

They fall into a pattern. They hang out a bit more than they did before, and they text everyday. He joins her friends at breakfast and on the weekends that Henry’s at Neal’s, she joins Killian and his friends for happy hour.

It’s not much different than before, except that she doesn’t feel guilty when her eyes catch on his for a moment too long anymore, and it happens a bit more than before.

Ruby tells her that they’re dating without the label, but Emma ignores the claim, explaining that they’ve never kissed and she has yet to tell him her feelings. And she doesn’t plan to.

It’s only been a month since Milah moved out. He’s still adjusting.

Will makes a comment at happy hour one night that cuts her, though.

After several shots of whiskey, Will turns to Emma, who isn’t doing much better than him. Killian and Robin are at the bar ordering another round, so he leans over the table and grunts.

“When will you put the lad out of his misery and kiss him or something?” he asks, words slurring together slightly.

She scoffs. “What?”

“Please. Milah treated Killian like the solution to her midlife crisis for years and it never seemed to matter to him until he met you. You must realize the guy is in love with you?”

She opens her mouth, shuts it, opens it again, struggling to find a response.

All she can manage is another “What!?”

He rolls his eyes. “Emma,” he says, his tone growing more sincere.

She pouts. “I liked him first. It’s not fair. Why do I have to make the move?”

At this, he looks confused, but before she can elaborate her drunk line of thought, Killian and Robin return with drinks for the table.

An hour later, Emma’s a bit too drunk to drive home, so Killian laughs, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as he leads her to his car.

The drive home is quiet, but comfortable.

Well, at least, he seems comfortable.

Emma, on the other hand, is on the verge of a mental breakdown as she replays her conversation with Scarlet in her head over and over.

“Are you happy now that you and Milah aren’t together?” she asks.

He clears his throat. “Uh, I’m happier than I was, yes.”

She nods, leaning back in her seat, trying to make sense of her jumbled thoughts.

“What made you realize you weren’t happy with her?” she pushes.

He shrugs, looking at her from the corner of his eyes. “I just… did, I guess,” he says.

She groans, shaking her head, clearly unhappy with his response.

He grunts. “Is there a specific answer you’re looking for, Emma?” he asks, confusion etched into his face when he turns to glance at her quickly.

She sighs. “No, I guess not,” she says. She doesn’t say anything else for the rest of the drive, and for some reason, she’s full of an anger that she can’t quite decipher.

When they get to his place, she realizes she has never been inside his apartment before, and her whole body feels warm when she enters. It’s large, open, and spotless.

“Neat freak,” she comments, taking it in.

He laughs. “You can have the bed, love. I’ll take the couch.”

She shakes her head. “No, that’s dumb. I’ll take the couch.”

He rolls his eyes. “I’m not taking no for an answer on this one, love. Come on,” he says, leading her through his apartment to his bedroom.

She stares at his bed, just as she remembers from the photo of their dogs, and stupidly says, “big.”

Her voice is small and enamored and a little breathless.

There’s a hitch in Killian's responding laugh, and she knows he’s thinking the same thing she is; the bed is big enough for the both of them.

He hands her a soft white t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, pointing her to his bathroom before he exits the room.

Emma takes her time changing into his clothes, reveling in the familiar smell of Killian when she puts them on. She stares at herself in the mirror and grabs his face cleanser, washing the makeup off her skin.

When she exits his bathroom, he’s digging through his closet. She watches him, taking in the sight of Killian in a black t-shirt and black mesh shorts.

“Whatcha doing?” she asks, and he jumps in surprise.

He laughs, and hands her a toothbrush that’s still in it’s packaging. “I was looking for this,” he says. She takes it from him gingerly, fully aware of the way he’s studying her in his clothing.

She smiles easily, enjoying the way his eyes linger on her. Heat spreads through her entire body, and, god, it’s so dumb. She’s in pajamas holding an orange toothbrush, and all she wants to do is kiss Killian Jones.

Instead, she goes back to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

When she comes back, his bedroom door is closed and there’s a glass of water and some advil on the nightstand.

She sighs, climbing into his bed. She allows herself to inhale his scent as she buries her head into his pillows.

Sleep doesn’t come easy, though, because all she can think about is Killian on the other side of the door.

She finally passes out, and it feels like only an hour later that she wakes up to the sound of Killian’s voice on the other side of the wall. It’s muffled, but she can make out bits and pieces.

She stands up, heading to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She runs her fingers through her hair, feeling strangely self conscious as she stares at her sleepy face in the mirror. When she looks at her watch, she realizes it’s only eight. She pads out into his bedroom, opening the door quietly and entering his living room.

He smiles at her from his seat at his kitchen table, coffee cup in front of him, while he holds his phone to his ear. She sits down on the couch, still warm from his body, and pulls the blanket he was using over her body as she sprawls out sleepily.

He gets up from his seat and moves around in the kitchen a bit before approaching her with a cup of coffee. She smiles, taking it from him gratefully. When she takes a sip, she’s surprised to find he knows exactly how she takes her coffee. One sugar and a splash of cream.

“Yeah, I understand, brother. Tell Elsa I’ll make a trip out soon,” he says. Whatever his brother says in response elicits a flustered laugh from Killian, and she raises an eyebrow in curiosity. She’s never known Killian to get flustered.

He bites out his goodbye, annoyance in his tone, before hanging up the phone.

Emma eyes him with open interest, and Killian takes notice quickly, sitting down at the opposite end of the couch, moving her legs so that they rest in his lap.

He rests his hand on top of her shins. “You feeling alright, Swan?” he asks.

She nods. “Not hungover at all. It’s a miracle,” she says. “Thanks for letting me crash here.”

He holds a hand up to stop her words. “No thanks necessary, Swan.”

She thinks back to the night before, to Will’s words, to her resulting anger. He’s watching her carefully, and she has a feeling he’s thinking back to her words in the car.

“Remember when I was avoiding you? After my road trip?”

Her words evoke a wounded expression from him, and it takes everything in her not to climb into his lap so that she can physically smooth out his features with her fingers.

“Yes, I recall that happening,” he says, his voice coarse.

She sets her coffee mug down on the glass table in front of her, clasping her fingers together nervously.

“I had to distance myself from you because I was coming to terms with the fact that I was in love with you,” she says, and she’s proud of herself for getting the words out, even if they’re shaky and unsure.

He cranes his neck to observe her, but she continues on.

“And it was really hard for me. I mean, I finally admitted my feelings for you were more than platonic the moment I walked into The Jolly Roger that first night and met your friends. And I struggled, Killian. I mean, I don’t do that. I don’t really fall for people. And it happened with you so naturally. And you were with Milah.”

She hears his sharp intake of breath, and he’s studying her so intensely that she’s sure he can see straight through her.

Her heart pounds against her ribcage.

“Anyways. It hurt too much. So I had to take a step back, and put myself first, I guess.”

He’s frowning, guilt all over his face, and that wasn’t her intention.

“Emma,” he breathes.

“I’m not trying to make you feel guilty,” she explains. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“You said you were in love with me,” he says.

It’s not what she expects.

She laughs. “I’m in love with you, Killian,” she confirms. “I’ve tried not to be, but the feelings don’t seem to be going anywhere.”

“Emma,” he repeats, and she’s surprised by how brave she feels. She doesn’t mind telling him how she feels, and it’s a completely new experience, just like everything else when it comes to her relationship with Killian Jones.

“Yeah?” she asks.

He breaks into a smile, laughing lightly. She pulls her legs from his lap, scooting closer to him, kneeling into the cushion beside him, as she examines his face.

“I’ve been trying to be straightforward with you for the last few weeks, I just, I didn’t have the courage,” he admits.

She sits back on her heels, allowing him to collect his thoughts.

He smiles sadly at her. “I was miserable for years, Emma. I just, I didn’t even realize it. Not until I met you, ” he says. His voice is heavy with emotion, and Emma’s heart twinges with the realization that Killian has been hurting for so long.

“Then one day, I met a beautiful woman who made fun of my dog’s name and glared at me when she caught me checking her out,” he says, his voice shaking with quiet laughter. She grins effortlessly, recalling their first meeting in the park.

“Emma, it’s like I was sleepwalking through my life, you know. Just going through the motions. You woke me up. And you were so perfect, that I was sure you could never feel for me the way that I felt for you. So, I pushed it down. Until it came to be too much. I never felt a fraction of what I feel for you when I was with Milah. And you were on your trip, and it became so clear.”

She smiles, and she can feel the tears in her eyes. “And then I started to ignore you,” Emma says.

He nods. “And then Will told me you were out with Graham,” he adds.

She groans. “So stupid,” she grumbles. “I should have just told you. But… I didn’t want to rush you after getting out of a relationship.”

He nods. “Emma, listen,” he says. His hand finds her face, and now she does climb into his lap, much to Killian’s surprise. She settles her legs on either side of him, and she leans forward, pressing her lips to his like she’s been wanting to for months.

Her fingers find the hair at the nape of his neck and he smiles against her lips, and it feels right and warm and like sweet relief.

She’s laughing when she pulls away. “I love you,” she says, her voice watery.

“I love you, Swan,” he says, his eyes meeting hers with a new intensity.

It feels so right, so natural, the way his hands trace up and down her body, the way he bites at her lips, the way she moans into his mouth. It’s like they’ve been doing this for ages.

She leans her forehead against his, sighing contently.

“You can thank Will Scarlet for giving me the courage to say something,” she says.

At this, he scoffs, pulling back slightly to study her face.

“I knew you guys had to have had an intense conversation last night while Robin and I were at the bar. What did that idiot say?” he asks, annoyance in his voice.

She laughs. “He told me to kiss you already,” she summarizes, and Killian grunts. Emma shrugs. “He wasn’t wrong.”

“A rare occurrence,” Killian concedes, then presses a kiss to her cheek. “What do you want to do today?”

She grins. “Wanna go pick up Duck and take the dogs for a walk at our park?” she asks.

He laughs, his face brighter than the sun. “Our park, huh?”

She grins. “I only started going their consistently in hopes of running into you.”

He laughs loudly, shaking his head. “I started going there every morning after the first time I met you,” he admits.

She shrugs. “So, it’s our park,” she decides, and she takes the kiss he pulls her into as agreement.

One year later to the date, Killian kneels down at the rock where he first met Emma, holding a rock of his own, and asks her to marry him. Duck jumps on top of them when she tackles him to the ground with excited kisses.

Ruby uses their wedding as an excuse to ask Mulan on a date. Finally.

#the spacing on this is so weird... even on AO3 but im honestly too tired to fix it #ANYWAYS #my fic #killian x emma #captain swan #once upon a time #ouat #cs ff #cs fic #cs ff au #emma swan #killian jones

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onewhoturns · 6 years ago

Text

Fireworks (3/4)

This is... the fluffiest. xD Hello and welcome to Jonas and Alex are dorks with each other. If you want to start from the beginning: Part 1, Part 2. Feel free to hit up my AO3 if you’re interested.

Fandom: Oxenfree Pairing: Alex/Jonas Chapter: 3/4 Characters: Alex, Jonas, Michael, Ren, (later) Nona, Clarissa Word count: 2568 Rating: T for language Summary: The one saving grace of that first kiss (apart from, well, it wasn’t a bad kiss) – the one thing she could point to as making the kiss sort of okay, morally – was that it was in a timeline where they were just friends. Well… okay, maybe the kiss might have changed that. A little? Or maybe it didn’t get a chance to, much, cause Alex was too busy shutting herself away and having a teensy tiny crisis over kissing her sometimes-stepbrother. And then, naturally, as always seemed to happen July 8th, it would be May 1st all over again. or: the First, the Fourth, the Fireworks.

If anyone had told her that approximately 14 months after whatever the hell happened on Edwards Island she’d - they’d all - be heading back to that cursed place, Alex wouldn’t have believed them. And as she watches her friends faces, as Michael hands the drive thru bag to Clarissa, and the fast food is doled out among them, she thinks that maybe there’s some fear under their smiles.

“Not to put too fine a point on it,” Clarissa is doing that thing where she wants to be a bitch but is just a hair past the line of ‘too nice’ to do it. She’s always so much nicer in the later half of the loops. When she exists. “But… is there any particular reason we’ve jammed five people in this car when Jonas is stuck driving alone?”

Michael hums a noise that is suspicious for its innocence, and Alex feels like everyone’s eyes turn to her. Michael is stopped at the turn out of the parking lot, shooting her a look over his shoulder that says well it had to happen sooner or later. And he’s right.

Alex sighs melodramatically. “Yeah okay fine, I’ll go be Jonas’s navigator.” She pops the door open and steps out, pulling her backpack from where it was wedged under the seat.

“Great! Finally getting my fries all to myself!” Ren seems overjoyed, and Alex’s eyes narrow at his mischievous grin, wondering just how much he knows. Jonas and Ren always get along a lot better in the timelines when Michael’s back. But well enough for him to mention the— um…? “Alex, if you don’t get moving you’ll be holding up traffic and we’ll get stopped and our glorious plans will never come to fruition.”

“...Not necessarily a bad thing…” she mutters, but closes the door and lets them drive off as Jonas’s truck pulls forward.

It’s a hand-me-down, well worn, and by now she’s familiar with it— how much the handle sticks, how she’s really gotta yank the passenger side door, the right spot to step on the running board to swing herself up into the front seat.

He looks surprised to see her, though he obviously knew she was getting in since he was the one who stopped for her. “Hey.”

“Hey.” She avoids his eyes, settling her pack between her feet as he pulls out of the lot, and digging in her paper bag for— “Yesss.” The box is popped and that perfect high sodium nugget is in her mouth immediately.

“Still think it’s weird you don’t use sauces. Not that I’m complaining--I mean, I’d rather not have ketchup smell soaking into the upholstery, but still.”

“Why on Earth would I mar the perfection of a well-fried nugget?” She gives him a pitying look, but he’s grinning, and she’s grinning, and everything is back to normal. And when he looks back to the road, she feels a little tug in her gut that could be anxiety but feels a lot less awful.

“You know that stuff is just fleshy bits all held together with meat glue-”

“Shushushushush!” Alex waves a finger at him. “Do not. Ruin this for me.”

He’s smirking, and it’s cute. Dammit, he’s cute. Since when is he cute?

“...Just for that, I’m taking a fry tax.”

“What?!” For all his shock and horror he can’t hide his smile and she’s already digging in his to-go bag. “If anything, I deserve a tax of your disgusting dry nuggets, for driving.”

“Jonas, seriously? A burger? How exactly did you plan on eating this while driving?”

He shrugs, “I dunno. Wait til we get there? I mean, it’s July, it’ll keep warm-ish.”

He’s kind of right, but it’s also kind of gross. Plus the sun will be down in the next hour and it’s already cooling down outside. “Hoo, bud, that is a str-etch.”

“Hey, give me a break, okay? I haven’t driven to the ferry before, how was I supposed to know it’s far enough that we’ll need provisions for the drive?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe Google?”

“Okay you know what? You’re the fry wench now. For that, you are the fry wench.”

She snorts, rolling her eyes. “Riiiight.”

“Nope, it’s a thing now. Fry me. Wench.”

There’s a vicious grin on her lips, spotting her secret weapon nestled in the cup holder. “Owo, what’s this?”

“Did you seriously just—” Jonas’s words stop as she lifts the cup. “Alex…” It’s a warning, but not one she plans to heed. Her fingers pop off the lid. “Don’t you dare.”

“Oh: I dare.” Her smirk is straight up evil as she brings the fry to the milkshake’s edge. “I am the dare-iest.” She snorts and repeats, “I am the dairy -est.”

“First you ruin my threaten to ruin my milkshake and now you’re punning about it?” He shakes his head disappointedly.

“The only fry sauce for me.”

Jonas lets out an audible hiss, wincing as she dunks the fry. “You’re a monster.”

“You’re a cretin with an unrefined palate,” she shoots back, exaggeratedly humming her enjoyment as she chows down on french fry and chocolate milkshake.

“Dry nuggets and soggy fries,” he tuts his tongue in disapproval.

“One day you will taste the majesty that I taste and you will be enlightened and choirs of angels will sing you to flavor heaven.”

He’s skeptical, but amused as he shoots her a look out the corner of his eye. “...Okay.” He catches the raise of her eyebrow and laughs. “Screw it, right? Why not now? Fry me, humble fry wench. Gimme that soggy fry.”

There’s a look of triumph, of complete and utter self-satisfaction, as Alex picks out the perfect fry for the job.

And then eats that one, and picks out another.

“Why don’t you just buy your own fr-” He stops cause she’s about to poke him in the chin with a milkshake-covered fry, so he just shoots her a side-eyed glance and eats it. She’s chomping down on her own (perfectly seasoned, no-sauce-needed) nuggets as she watches his brow furrow, watching the road before them - Michael’s tail lights - with a look of utter concentration.

“Hm?” She bats her eyelashes, about 90% sure she’s won this debate.

Jonas’s lips twist and she thinks he’s chewing his cheek before he finally speaks. “...It’s… okay.”

“Ha! It’s delicious, you lying liar.”

His tongue swipes out for just a second to catch the last grains of salt on his lip, and he’s giving her that begrudging amused look, and she suddenly remembers that kissing isn’t bad and-- oof-- where did that even come from?

“It’s… what’s the opposite of sub?”

She knows what he means, though the context is lacking. “Super?”

“It’s super-par? That doesn’t sound right.”

Finishing off her nuggets and licking her fingers clean, Alex preens; “Just super will do. Super duper, even,” and ignores his snorted response.

“...How much longer is this drive, anyway?”

“Like… thirty minutes?”

For the first time since she entered the car, there’s a moment of silence.

“Um…”

She’s suddenly holding her breath. There’s just a teeensy bit of terror that he’s gonna ask her some Big Loaded Question about their kiss. But when he finally brings himself to say something, it’s a lot more relevant.

“So. The island.”

Crap. She’d almost forgotten about that for a second. “Yeah… Why did Ren pick it?”

Jonas lets out a heavy breath. “Pretty sure it’s some BS about closure.”

Alex is definitely too comfortable with him, cause the bitter laugh is nervously bubbling from her throat before she thinks to stop it. “Pretty sure there’s no closure in a loop. Or-- well, like, I mean it’s a closed loop, but-- but it’s already happened? Or… something?” Ugh. So much for living in the moment. She makes a weak attempt to wipe the soles of her mostly clean beat-up high tops on the car’s rubber mats before pulling her legs onto the seat, criss-cross applesauce, just like elementary school. His annoyance at feet on the upholstery is minimal. This truck has seen much worse than a few pebbles and a bit of dirt.

“Well, yeah, but…” His fingers are drumming on the steering wheel. “...I mean, maybe he’s right. It was a year ago. It’s over.”

His free hand digs through the bag for his food, and unthinkingly grabs the spilled fry pieces and dips them in the uncapped shake before popping them in his mouth. There’s definitely an urge to point it out and crow about it, but Alex is no longer in the mood. It’s not over. It’s never over. Instead, since he seems intent on doing it, she unwraps the burger for him and holds her tongue from warning him how ridiculously stupid it is to try to eat a burger while driving. And when he reaches for it he has that same soft look on his face, and he maybe takes a little too long to take it from her hand, and she feels a tiny bit noodle-y as blood rushes to her cheeks.

The effect is lessened a bit as he inevitably drops shredded lettuce on his shirt, and there’s a cynical edge to her poorly hidden affectionate smirk. Of course she’d figure this out now. Too late. Too early. Too much of a wrench in the cycle of island-island-island. He’s… bent the spokes of her tire, or... something. Whatever it is, it’s just gonna make it harder to deal with the leaving.

She sighs, feeling like her lungs are being pressed of all their air. It’s not the first time she’s backhandedly grateful that she won’t remember it all at once. A twisted kind of blessing and curse all at once. She remembers too late to stop it, but still has to remember. It usually just ends up confusing. Or depressing.

Or both.

If she were looking at him she might see the way he glances over at her, the way he keeps glancing back and forth between her and the road, mildly irritated by the food in his hand, looking at her hand instead, before he finally settles on just finishing his burger as soon as possible. But she’s not, so all she sees is him taking massive bites.

She raises an eyebrow. “You good there, bucko? Don’t forget to breathe.”

He shoots her a vaguely irritated look, but his mouth is too full for a comeback. Which, okay, maybe that does lighten her mood just a bit. Alex does not stop stealing fries. She, of course, rationalizes this with the fact that they’re already getting cold, and cold fries are of no use to anyone. The only sign that he spots her continuous filching is the occasional side-eye she gets. But she just turns straight ahead, watches the back window of Michael’s sedan.

That’s one of the things she loves about Jonas’s car, no matter how… well-loved it is; it’s a solid foot or more taller than all the smaller cars on the road. And yes, that means it’s a pain in the ass to climb into, but once she’s in she’s so tall! She likes tall. Jonas is tall. She likes Jonas.

...Oh no, not this again.

He opened that whole can of worms and now… they’re just… flailing around on the asphalt of her heart, or… whatever worms do. The metaphor in her head is very promptly heading just about nowhere. The point is: she likes him. She really really likes him. But there’s A Lot happening-- the fact that she like likes anyone, for one, when she’s more used to friend crushes in the ‘you seem so cool I want to hang out with you’ way and not in the ‘okay yeah, actually, this kissing thing, not too bad, please hold me’ way.

She chews her lips, pulling her knees to her chest and making a noise like a hurnnngh cause she is very A Lot right now and -- hhh.

“We don’t have to go, you know.” Jonas is done with his food, with minimal spillage, and is watching her closely in quick glances.

“Hm? No, no, that’s-- it’s fine. It’s just an island.”

She hasn’t been back since that night. Maybe she should’ve. Maybe she could’ve learned something. Maybe-- and it was a slim-to-none chance, but maybe -- there was a clue there to ending this hopeless cycle.

“If it helps, I’m like 99.9% sure no one wants to fuck with any radios.”

Her smile is grateful but weak, cause now she’s not so sure that that’s it. Maybe they do need a radio. Maybe it’s time she gave the Sunken a piece of her mind, instead of running away and hiding and trying to live her life one 14-month dose at a time.

“And, y’know… um…” Jonas’s words are becoming more uncertain, more mumbled as he continues. “I’ll… be there, I guess. With you. If that even-- I mean, if that makes a difference.”

She’s not expecting the sudden jab of pain in her chest. Because-- well, it does and it doesn’t. For Alex, Jonas was always the one on the island. He was the one who believed her when no one else did, who stuck by her and occasionally scared the shit out of her, and sat by her side when she went God knows where with the ghosts in her head. But… that isn’t how it happened here. In this timeline.

Her breath is held for a half second before she puts her head against her knees and sighs. It can’t hurt. Whatever pain she’s due for, she’s due for it no matter what. So she flops her arm out, onto the cupholders, narrowly avoiding toppling the milkshake and instead just crunching down the now-empty to-go bag. She’s not looking at him. Not even when she flexes her fingers out, expectantly. But she can guess at his expression, when his fingers twine with hers. Soft.

She shifts her head sideways to glance at him when he turns her hand over, and feels her face going flush when he pulls the back of her hand to his lips. He’s watching the road, but he’s-- alright, it’s cheesy to say he’s glowing, but… well. His ears are pinker than the light of the setting sun and she suspects he’s trying to play it cool, but his lips are twitching.

“You are such a sucker.” Not that she isn’t blushing, too. But she can at least attempt to hide her face in the shadow of her knees.

“Shut up. I’m a romantic.”

She’s smiling at him, rolling her eyes. “Oh really. Since when?”

“I’ll have you know, it’s genetic.”

And okay so maybe it’s also a little contagious, cause he’s shooting her a look, and the sun is just at that really annoying height where it’s blasting orange light into everyone’s eyes, but it’s kinda beautiful. He’s kinda beautiful. And he’s very nearly grinning, and Michael’s words pop into her head-- “...he’s been in love with you for… like, ever?”

She doesn’t argue. Doesn’t even make an attempt at a comeback, especially since she knows it’s true. She just lets whatever’s doing little loop de lous in her stomach keep doing its thing, and she holds his hand and-- yeah, maybe it’s a little sweaty, but it’s July so what could she expect really. She just holds his hand. And they’ll figure the rest out later.

#oxenfree #oxenfree fic #my writing #jonalex #fireworks #half of this chapter is pure sugary bff fluff that goes nowhere #enjoy #alex/jonas

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josugayy · 8 years ago

Text

Craziness at Midnight [RvB]

Pairing: Blue Team X Fem!Blue!Reader Fandom: Red Vs Blue (RvB) Notes: Welcome to Hell, AKA Blood Gulch! Warnings: Language, Typical Reds and Blues

You would think, after spending years with this dysfunctional group called Red Team and Blue Team, you would get tired of things. But no. Everyday is a new adventure, whether someone liked it or not.

Take for instance, your arrival to Blood Gulch and Blue Team. Believe it or not, you were one of the first to arrive, yet Church and Tucker still insisted on calling you “Rookie.”

You were there during the time that Flowers was alive, or at least when you arrived, it was three hours before he died.

It was a bit traumatizing to witness on your first day, but while Flowers seemed like a nice and understanding guy, he looked like he had something else planned, something not good.

Not that you minded anymore, because he was long gone - and you were still stuck in this godforsaken Hell of a canyon. And if the canyon wasn’t bad enough, it was the people.

When looking back to the time before the arrival of Caboose, Church and Tucker liked to claim things were peaceful; which was complete and utter BS, because if anybody on Blue Team liked to bicker, it was those two. They always seemed to find little things to bother the other about, which was exactly why you stayed out of things.

It was hard, at first, staying out of their conflict when Tucker tried to flirt with you constantly and Church considered you the only other sane person here, although he grumbled about you never bothered to actually talk to him so he didn’t want to say much.

And it was true, you were being selfish. But did you care? No. You spent a lifetime training during your life to help the UNSC, only to be sent to the middle of absolute nowhere because your fiery temper caused a large fight. It wasn’t your fault this army was full of misogynist assholes!

But you supposed that knocking five guys out and mortally injuring another was a bit unnecessary...

Life seemed to consider that was alright, though, because it came back to bite you in the ass by Tucker finding your reason as a good excuse to say he liked woman with a hot (in both ways) temper.

And after Caboose came along? Things turned way more hectic. Caboose was quite the character, having what turned out to be O’Malley inside his head, and thus setting him free because everyone’s radio was on.

And figuring out who he was without O’Malley was entirely another story. On the plus side, you found you were relatively okay with kids, or at least as close to a five-year-old-in-a-man’s body could get.

You couldn’t exactly claim it was easy to take care of Caboose, it wasn’t like raising a kid, it was like having your kid be the same way every day, never growing up. It made things routine, but at the same time a tad frustrating because there were some things Caboose just couldn’t comprehend.

But, you found out the hard way you simply had to deal with it, for Tucker didn’t care and Church had a quicker temper than you. Thus, you managed to develop a sort of bond with Caboose, which brings you to now.

“Miss [Name]! Miss [Name]!” Caboose’s excited voice called out, waking you up from a nap. You sat up groggily, rubbing your eyes. What could be so important to wake you up for?

It was useless to fight Caboose off, however, because that could go one of two ways; Caboose disappointed or Caboose using his abnormal strength to get you up. You preferred neither, so you took out your [variation of blue] armor and opened your door just in time to see Caboose there.

“Hello!” He responded cheerfully.

“Yes, hi, Caboose. What is it?” He seemed to think for a few moments.

“Uh... oh! Right! Well, Church and Tucker are doing this thing and they want me to help, and they said you would make me cookies for it but I didn’t like Tucker’s tone so I thought I’d come to you.”

Lately, those two have been making all sorts of weird plans that have you concerned - not necessarily for them, but for yourself. There’s an unbelievably high chance of something blowing up in this canyon, and you wanted nothing to do with it.

“Thanks, Caboose. I’ll check it out, because those two haven’t talked to me.”

“Okay! But you’re still making cookies right?”

“Of course.”

“Oh. My. God. This whole thing was stupid from the start! I cannot believe you right now.”

“Ok, this? This wasn’t my fault. You were the one to forget the batteries, not me!”

“You literally ripped a hole in the sleeping bag!”

“So? We have more!”

“No, you dumbass, we have four. And now we’re short one!”

“What does it matter anyways? It’s only just gonna be the two of us?”

“Could you be any more dense? First, we asked Caboose to help, who will insist on coming because I’m his best fri- fr- you know what forget it. Plus, he literally just ran off calling for the rookie! She’ll end up coming along too!”

“Good! And maybe, since according to you this whole thing has been ruined, it can be just me and her!”

It wasn’t hard to find Church and Tucker; those two were arguing so loudly you wouldn’t be surprised if the Red Team heard them. But you were a bit cautious about whatever they were doing, and you were not willing to be left alone with Tucker.

“Are you kidding me? I’m not letting you alone with [Name]! She’s the only other person who’s sane here, and I will not have you turning her insane because you annoyed her past her limit.”

“Annoy? Woah man, I don’t annoy people. My flirting skills are just so great that all the ladies play hard to get!”

Seriously, just how long will these guys believe that no one hears their conversations? Considering how bored everyone gets, you and Caboose couldn’t have been the only ones to hear them.

“Hey! Second best married couple!” You yelled, making them stop abruptly.

“Second best?”

“Yeah! You ever heard those guys from Red Team? They argue twice as much as you guys do! I was walking the other day, and all those two do is stand around and bicker like some old married couple.”

“Isn’t that what we do? Stand around and talk all day?”

“Yeah, but ours is more consistent. All they do is argue while we come up with shitty plans.”

“Makes sense.”

“Well anyways,” You got back to the task at hand. “What the hell are you two up to?”

“Nothing!” They both rang out, obviously doing a bad job of keeping a secret from you.

“Oh, don’t give me that,” you complained. “I heard you two chatting about batteries and ripped sleeping bags. I also heard my name involved, and I’d like to know what I’m being forced into.”

“Well,” Church said after a thoughtful pause. “We’re looking for a way out.”

You almost thought he was joking. “ A way out?”

“Yeah.” Tucker responded. “We’re sick and tired of all this sun, and thought we could leave through the caves. It’s a hella lot cooler in there, and we haven’t looked at them enough to say there isn’t a path out of this closed off area.” “...Alright. I want in.”

“Huh?”

“You heard me. Look, everyone could use a break. Plus, that’s just the thing. We don’t know what’s out there, so who’s saying we won’t get killed? As one of the only capable people here (probably the only one actually), I have to make sure you don’t die.”

“Aw, how sweet-”

“Shut up Church. It’s that, and I don’t want whatever we find to kill me.”

“Oh. Well, we do have supplies for everyone here, considering we can’t leave Caboose here without the base blowing up-” A loud explosion towards the back of the base sounded. “Tucker did it!”

“As I was saying,” Church continued. “But we’ll need a way to leave without the Reds expecting anything. The last thing we need is even more idiots showing up.”

“Oh that’s easy,” Tucker scoffed. “Just make some scarecrows with our colors and helmets on them.”

“Yeah, but don’t make them too convincing. Some of us here are dumb enough to get them mixed up.”

“So...” Grif trailed off, getting more bored by the second as Simmons stared through his sniper rifle. “You find whatever it was that exploded?”

“Nah,” Simmons answered. “Probably another one of the Blues’ failed projects.”

“You sure? Usually they’d be yelling at each other.”

“Well, it looks like they’re just standing around and talking, so I’d say yeah. Nothing productive going on there.”

“Same here,” Grif mumbled under his breath.

“Well, I’m gonna... go downstairs and eat. Since nothing ‘productive’ is going on. This watch is stupid.”

“What? You can’t leave.”

“Why not?”

“Why not? Why not? Grif, literally all you do is nothing all day. Sarge would be pissed at you. The least you could do is bear this until Sarge calls us down for his new plan.”

“Simmons! Grif! Get down here ASAP!”

“Speaking of which...”

Meanwhile, in the back of the Blue base, everyone was “having fun” with arts and crafts. And by fun, you meant Caboose was having fun, Church was done with his, and you and Tucker were arguing over your scarecrow.

“Haven’t you ever thought about how perverse and rude that is?!”

“Well, we want this to fool the Reds, right? So they have to be accurate!”

Tucker was trying to convince you to use something to mimic your breast size for your scarecrow. This caused a lot of commotion, and thus why neither you nor Tucker had finished your scarecrows.

“...And, done!” Caboose called, satisfied with his coloring. He put down his blue crayon and Church helped him put the shirt on the scarecrow.

“Hey, you guys done with your spat?” Church turned to you both.

“You know what, forget this!” You threw down the extra helmet you had to the ground. “You want it accurate, make it yourself!”

“Maybe I will!”

“Fine!”

“I’ll be inside, packing my and Caboose’s bags. Caboose; orange juice or milk?”

“Orange juice, please!”

“Alright.” You nodded your head. “If you need me, I’ll be inside.”

There was a moment of silence as you walked inside, and Church seemed to be stunned at the relatively calm (at least for them) results. But after thinking about what he would do if he commented, he decided to leave it be and pack his own bag.

When everything was all said and done, the tension between you and Tucker managed to slip away (as it does for everyone), and you all gathered in the back of your base once again.

“Okay. So, Tucker, you and me are going to set up the scarecrows, while Rookie and Caboose are going to get Sheila to drive beside them as they head to the caves to shield them.”

“Right.” Tucker nodded.

“You got that, Caboose?” “Of course. Wait, what are we doing again?” A collective sigh sounded out.

Tucker and Church carefully picked up a scarecrow in each hand, and tried to use them as cover as Tucker placed two on the roof, and two facing towards the others (backs to the Red base).

Sheila drove slowly, with Caboose and you slowly moving beside her, and once you two got to the caves, Sheila started heading back.

However, halfway she turned a different direction, much to Church and Tucker’s confusion and frustration.

“Sheila!” Church quietly yelled. “What are you doing?!”

“I’m giving the illusion that I am mindlessly driving around,” Her monotone voice responded, but to the others it sounded a bit smug and teasing.

“But we need your cover!” Tucker said, growing more impatient by the second.

Sheila gave no response, but continued turning in different directions. After a couple of moments, she finally faced the caves and started heading that way. But she drove a little too quickly, and they had to jog with her.

Upon reaching the caves, you voiced your complaints. “What took you so long?” You hissed.

“Sheila was being a bit of a bitch,” Church answered. When Sheila turned to aim at Church after his statement, the three of you headed deeper in, where Caboose was staring at the ceiling.

“Caboose, what the hell are you doing?” Tucker asked.

“Finding the way.” He simply responded.

“The way?”

“Oh yeah, There are weird carvings on the ceiling of each area, so I look at them to find my special spot.”

“...” All of you were speechless at his sudden intelligence; his plan made perfect sense.

Caboose turned to his left and ran off. “Now let’s go find those star unicorns!” And there it goes.

“Well, that was weird.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Hey, what are the Blues doing?”

“Oh, same as usual. Standing around and talking. Look, it’s like they’re immobilized.”

“Are they?”

“Can’t really tell, they’re too far away. But since there’s nothing better to do in this place, I’m assuming that’s what they’re doing.”

“Ugh, I’m tired. How much longer is this?” You complained, feeling a bad ache in your feet.

“I can always carry you if you want,” Tucker suggested.

“And give you a chance to grope me? Nah.”

“Worth a shot.”

“Maybe we should take a break,” Church observed as Caboose grew more and more tired. “Caboose, how long will this take?”

“The next area. You can tell by the pretty lights.”

Everyone trudged into the place thankfully, and barely managed to open their sleeping bags before passing out. You had a relatively peaceful sleep until Caboose woke you up.

“Miss [Name]?”

“Ugh...”

“Miss [Name]?”

“What.”

“It’s cold.”

“No it’s not.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it is.”

“No, it’s not.”

“But my arms and legs are freezing!”

You sighed. Clearly, Caboose couldn’t understand sarcasm and denial.

“And what do you want me to do about it?”

“Well, I wanted to share with Church, but he looked scary in his sleep, and I don’t want to be with Tucker. He gropes people.”

“So you want me to share with you?”

“Yes.” Wow, Caboose does not know how to beat around the bush, does he?

“... You’re lucky I’m the only one willing to deal with you. C’mere.”

Tucker woke up, or just barely enough to understand you were about to cuddle with Caboose, and immediately complained. “Oh, so you’ll sleep with him?”

“It’s not like that and you know it! Besides, this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t ripped a sleeping bag in the first place.” That shut him up, but not Church.

“Are you seriously cuddling with Caboose?”

“What’sa matter? Jealous?”

He quickly turned away, and you heard a stern “no.”

“That’s what I thought.” You said, and gazed at the ceiling.

Caboose wasn’t kidding when he said the place had pretty lights. Right above your heads was a bunch of white lights that represented stars; not too bright to keep someone up, but just visible enough to remind someone of actual stars.

In all, you learned that there was night in Blood Gulch. It was just in the caves. And having to travel with the people you’ve been stuck with to see it? Wasn’t so bad. Or, you considered, it could be worse.

You would still never be used to the craziness that is in Blood Gulch, but you sure as heck would be able to look back on these days in interest, and appreciate moments like these.

Your canyon was full of mysteries, both in what environment it has and the people stationed here. But did that matter?

Not to life, who likes to screw you all over in weird ways.

--- Words: 2635

Not quite sure I got their characters right, but I had fun with this. Tell me if I’m missing any warnings and such, and feel free to request!

Thanks for reading!

#red vs blue #rvb #rvb x reader #red vs blue x reader #blue team #caboose x reader #tucker x reader #church x reader #leonard l church #lavernius tucker #michael j caboose #female reader #dexter grif #richard simmons #rvb fanfic #red vs blue fanfiction

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