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uaxreaders · 5 years ago

Note

I’m new to tumblr but i really like your writing. I was wondering if you could do “I- I can’t hear! I can’t hear anything!” i hope i’m asking on the right spot 😅

Thank you for your request!

Character: Katsuki Bakugou

Quirk: pulling the moisture from the air and being able to control it.

The morning had started off with a call alerting th agency to a possible villain hideout discovered in an apartment complex that was being renovated. Ground Zero and I were the two sent to check it out in case it turned out to be a legit threat. Sure enough er spotted a semi large group of villains hanging around the complex. Being as the villains seemed like lower level thugs we thought we could handle it on our own so we didn’t bother calling for backup. Little did we know just how wrong we would be.

With a loud boom and a burst of light the villain in front of us was tossed into the crumbling apartment wall. “Nice one babe!” I cheered as another villain made his way over to me. I focused on pulling a majority of the moisture from the air pulling it to me before pushing it full force at the villain. The force from the water sent him flying backwards. Bakugou looked to me with a look of pride plastered on his features.

The two of us continued our way farther into the building encountering ten or so more mid level villains. One after one they were taken down with very little effort. This seems like it was any other mission and Bakugou and I would be out in time for lunch. I went ahead up the next floor leaving Bakugou to take care of the last guy on the floor below. I let out a gasp when I came face to face with someone I thought was long gone.

There in front of me stood Hero Killer: Stain but with upgraded weapons. Although Bakugou and I weren’t around for his original attacks we had heard about the commotion from our classmates. We had heard just how hard the fight was and what he put Iida through. Shigaraki stepped outside from the shadows joining his colleague. This whole thing had been merely a set up.

The next thing I knew I was struggling in the arms of the villain named Dabi as he dragged me towards the others. Bakugou came running upstairs his cocky grin falling when he saw me struggling against Dabi. I pulled the moisture from the air but struggled to get my arms to move enough for it to hit anyone. “Let her go.” Bakugou growled aiming his gauntlet towards the LOV. “Not so fast you hit us, you hit her.” Shigaraki pointed out.

“What do you want?” I spat thrashing against my captor. Dabi made no sign of moving, in fact it seemed like he was purposely keeping me in one spot. “What we’ve always wanted. For Ground Zero to come join us. Where he belongs.” Dabi said grinning his terrifying grin.

Bakugou scoffed rolling his eyes. “Not a chance!” He yelled back. Dabi began to cause a small flame on his hand releasing one of my arms from his grasp. He pressed the hand to my shoulder burning my skin. With a loud painful scream I focused my energy into barading him with the moisture from the air. Dabi was sent backwards to where the others were standing.

Bakugou lifted his gauntlets ready to attack. It was then I noticed the sound proof plugs that were in the villains ears as well as the smiles that adorned their faces when Bakugo was ready to fire. “Ground Zero wait!” I tried to warn but it was too late. Bakugou fired causing a large explosion. The noise that followed his attack was unlike any I’ve heard from Bakugou’s attacks.

All I saw was a bright white light followed by a loud ringing filling my ears. I blinked a few times and the blinding light was replaced by black dust. The villains no longer stood where they had been having made their escape. I moved my hands to feel around my surroundings I was laying on the floor some fallen rubble surrounding me. My injuries seemed to just consist of small cuts and bruises.

A frantic Bakugou appeared crouching in front of me. He discarded his gauntlet to the ground waving his hand in front of my face. I could see his mouth moving but still couldn’t hear a word he was saying. I blinked a few times my hands coming up to my ears. When my hands returned to my face they both had blood coviering the fingertips.

Bakugou’s eyes were filled with worry as he kept trying to talk to me. The combination of shock and pain was making my head spin. The sudden dizziness made my eyes drop before finally closing. I could feel my body being lifted off the ground into my fiancé’s familiar arms. The last thing I felt was him holding me close before I slipped into darkness.

*Bakugou’s pov*

I paced around the hospital waiting room my heart beating rapidly in my chest. I was still dressed in my dust covered hero costume that had a small blood stain just on the shoulder where (Y/n)’s head had been resting. I was practically seething towards my own stupidity. How could I have fallen for such an obvious trap? Because of me my girl was now in a hospital operating room.

“Bakugou? Bakugou! Bro what happened?” Kirishima asked as he came running into the room. “We went to check out a villain hideout and it turned out to be a trap. I went to fire an explosion at them and the next thing I know there was this huge explosion.” I explained not bringing my eyes up to meet my best friends worried gaze.

“Isn’t that what usually happens? You’ve never accidentally hurt someone with your quirk before?” He asked still confused. “It wasn’t just my explanation. It surrounded us, like they placed bombs in the walls or something.” I growled back angrily. “That’s exactly what happened.

The police have found at least 15 stun bombs and two real bombs hidden inside the walls of the floor you were on.” Deku explained appearing with Uraraka behind him. “How is she?” Pink cheeks asked setting some flowers down on the table. “I don’t know these assholes won’t tell me shit!” I barked towards the reception desk. The man sitting there rolled his eyes going back to his magazine. “I’m sure she’ll be ok!” Kirishima smiled his toothy grin except I could see the nervousness behind it.

I returned my glance back to the small blood stain that was barely visible on the black of my costume. Her confused pain riddled face returned to my memory. The way the blood spilled down from her ears and onto her neck. Her lack of responses to my questions, it was all too much I needed air. “Out of my way extras.” I grumbled pushing past them.

I made my way through a hallway till I found a door that read roof entry. Since no one was looking I made my way up to the roof. Once I was out of sight I felt my breathing getting more and more rapid. My heartbeat sped up and I clutched at my chest. Warm tears began to fill my eyes threatening to fall.

“Bro I’m sure she’ll be ok. You got her here really fast.” Kirishima spoke from behind me making me jump and harshly rub the tears away. “What do you want shitty hair?” I barked not facing him. “It’s ok to be sad man. I mean you love her, it’s ok if you wanna cry.” He continued.

I listened to his words thinking carefully about that word. I do love her, I loved her more than anything but here she was in the hospital because of me. She might be deaf because of my recklessness. She was going to be heartbroken when she woke up. She’d never get to hear her favorite songs again, listen to her favorite movies, I’d no longer be able to whisper I love you’s in her ear making her giggle.

The thoughts that circled my mind broke my heart even further. This was all my fault. I collapsed to my knees on the ground letting the panic attack wash over me. As I struggled to breathe through sobs I felt Kirishima place a comforting hand on my shoulder. “This is all my fucking fault!” I screamed out in a voice riddled with pain.

“I did this! Not Dabi or Stain or Shigaraki! Me! It’s my fucking fault she’s in a hospital bed! If I had thought things through like that damn nerd she’d be ok!” I choked out angrily.

“Don’t talk like that! (Y/n) would smack you for even thinking it! Keep talkin like that I’ll do it for her.” Kirishima said a bit of humor behind the last part. I let out a small snort shaking my head. “I’d kill you.” I laughed rubbing the tears away from my face.

After a few minutes to catch my breath I stood up nodding a silent thank you to my friend. “Not a word of this to anyone shitty hair.” I spoke leaning on the railing. “My lips are sealed Bakubro!” He said grinning. I felt a little better after letting it all out but there was something lingering on my mind. I knew deep down it was just an insecurity but I had to ask.

“What if she hates me after this?” I asked in a barely audible voice. Kirishima looked taken back by my words. He was struggling to find a way to tell me I’m stupid without getting his ass kicked. It might be stupid but I had to get this out. I took a deep breath before continuing.

“It won’t happen all at once. At first she’ll tell me it’s not my fault, that her and I will learn to cope. But then slowly she’ll start to resent me. Eventually she won’t be able to see the man she loves anymore. I’ll just be the guy that took away her hearing.”

“Bakugou she could never hate or resent you. For whatever reason that girl in there looks at you like your her everything. I doubt she’ll ever see this as your fault. Besides you heard Deku it was the villains who planted those bombs.” He said trying to reassure me. It was no use I couldn’t get her face out of my head.

The door clicking open made us spin around quickly seeing Uraraka. “The doctor’s looking for you Bakugou.” She said a worried smile on her face. I nodded looking towards Kirishima one last time before following her out. The three of us made our way back to the waiting room where several more classmates had joined Deku. The doctor stood speaking briefly with Deku before seeing me.

“Ah Mr. Bakugou, Miss (Y/L/n) just got out of surgery and is being transferred to a room as we speak.” She informed me. “How is she?” I asked crossing my arms over my chest. The doctor frowned gesturing towards a seat. “Why don’t you have a seat?” She asked. I narrowed my eyes at the woman to say I wasn’t fucking moving.

“I’m afraid (Y/n) is suffering from Noise-Induced Hearing Loss. NIHL usually happens over time by exposure to loud noises but can also be caused by extremely loud bursts of sound. Such as gunshots or explosions, which can rupture the eardrum or damage the bones in the middle ear. In her case it was a bit of both as the explosion sped the process up damaging both her ears. The bones in her middle ears were severely damaged beyond repair and from the looks of it she will suffer from permanent hearing loss.

The exposure to the explosion may also cause her to experience some tinnitus, which is a ringing, or a buzzing in the ears or head. In her case the Tinnitus should subside over time, but she might experience it occasionally throughout her life” she explained. It was true, I had caused my fiancé to go deaf. She would never hear again because of me. My breathing was quickening again and the sounds of the outside world began to drown out.

“What about hearing aids those won’t work?” Asked a tear covered Uraraka. The doctor shook her head. “The damage was too extensive.” He explained. “I’ll go check to see if she’s able to have visitors yet.” The doctor continued excusing herself. All of my friends turned to eye me.

“I’ll be back.” I mumbled walking off from the group. They tried calling after me and I’d assume Kirishima tried to follow but was stopped by Mina. I made my way up the staircase and down a hallway. Any nurses and doctors I passed eyed my visitor badge shocked. I could hear them whispering reasons why I could be there since I didn’t look hurt, little did they know I was dying inside.

I passed by a big window the belonged to the nursery. A man was standing there with tears eyes looking at one of the girls. I couldn’t help but feel my heart break a little bit knowing (Y/n) would never get to hear our future baby laugh or cry. “Which one is yours?” The man asked looking away from the window briefly. I looked towards the man confused.

“Oh uh none of them my fiancé is in the emergency room. I got lost wandering around.” I mumbled. He nodded returning his gaze to the baby. “Will she be alright?” He asked. “She’ll live she’ll just be deaf for the rest of her life.” I said angry towards myself.

He turned back to me looking me up and down. “At least she’s alive. I know it hurts knowing she’ll never be the same. That this is all so scary. I’m sure you’ve convinced yourself she’s leaving you the minute she’s conscious but if you truly love each other that’s not that case. Now is not the time for you to break down and hate yourself.

You need to keep your chin up and go back in there and be her rock. If you can’t swallow your anger for yourself do it for her. She needs you now more than ever. The next few months will make her life hell. Surely a hero like yourself can make that easier on her.”

I was shocked by his words blinking a few times. But he was completely right. “You’re right. Thank you.” I mumbled checking to make sure none of my friends had followed me. “Congratulations sir.” I said stepping closer to the glass.

“Thank you. My wife was diagnosed with cancer very early in our relationship. We sat down and had a talk about whether or not we would stay together. She gave me a week to think about it and I almost agreed with her on ending things. Instead I stayed with her and here we are 12 years later.

This is baby number 3 and I couldn’t be happier. Sure the cancer is still there and we don’t know if she’ll ever get into remission or not. But we know to enjoy the time we have because she’s alive now. That’s what matters.” He smiled. His speech brought a smile to my face imagining (Y/n) and I 12 years from now.

I reached out shaking the man’s hand gratefully. “Thank you! I’ve gotta go!” I exclaimed quickly making my way to the gift shop. I purchased the biggest bouquet they had, several balloons, a stuffed Pomeranian, and a cute little notebook. Once I was done with my shopping I made my way back to the lobby where the doctor was talking with the receptionist.

“She should just waking up from the anesthesia so she might be a little foggy still but you’re welcome to go see her.” The doctor informed me. I nodded towards her snatching a couple pens off the reception desk. Before the receptionist could protest the doctor waved him off so I made my way into her room. I couldn’t help the small sink of my heart upon seeing her like this. Despite being injured and groggy she still looked so beautiful.

A man in scrubs was checking her machines and writing things on his clipboard. (Y/n) has her head down looking over a piece of paper. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she struggled to blink them away. Noticing my presence the nurse smiled sympathetically before stepping out of the room. When (Y/n)’s eyes met mine they almost seemed to brighten. “Katsuki! You’re here!” She said a weak smile on her face.

I wanted so badly to go on and on about how much I love her and happy I was that she was ok but it would be to no use. So instead I settled for a nod setting her presents on a side table keeping ahold of the notebook and pens. More tears began to fall down her perfect cheeks. “I-I can’t hear! I can’t hear anything!” She choked out in broken sobs.

I frowned coming to stand by her side. The first thing I did was wrap my arms around her shaking form. She clung to my shirt crying mumbling incoherent sentences about all the things she couldn’t do. Her angry fists bunched up parts of my costume as I let her hurt as much as she needed. When she had settled down some I pulled away nudging for her to move over sitting next to her on the bed.

First I used a tissue to clean off her face before softly kissing her lips a couple times. I set the notebook between the two of us. I tried to come up with the words to say how sorry I am but nothing came. She placed a hand over my hand that held a pen. “Suki say something please.” She whispered so I began to scribble down how I felt.

(Y/n), I’m so sorry. I should have thought things through. I should have listened to you and waited. If I hadn’t been so arrogant none of this shit would be happening.

“Katsuki Bakugou don’t you talk like that none of this is your fault!”

I know the villains planted bombs but still I wish more than anything I could take it back or switch places with you. I’d give anything to be in your place instead.

“I know baby. You’re still my hero don’t forget that.”

I may not be able to take your place but I’m going to do anything and everything in my power to make your life easier and as close to how it was before. We can take a sign language class together, and I’ll look into deaf heroes. I’m sure that nerd knows of a few. Maybe they have tips on how to train.

“I love you so much Suki.”

I love you too. So fucking much. This whole thing has me thinking.

“Oh no that can be dangerous.”

Haha dumb ass. But I’m serious.

“Ok what are you thinking about?”

How much time I wasted not telling you how I felt or not telling you how beautiful you are. I should have been telling you that shit every day but I didn’t. Instead I called you dumb ass or shitty woman. You deserve to remember being called beautiful. That’s gonna change now. I’ll write it and sign it every single day.

“Oh Katsuki!”

After reading that message she threw her arms around my neck holding me close. I pulled her body towards mine not wanting to let go. The two of us stayed like that till we both drifted off to sleep. I was gonna make sure she never regretted staying with me. If she still saw me as a hero that’s who I was gonna be.

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alescheionned · 6 years ago

Text

The Demon I Once Knew

Disclaimer Bendy and the Ink Machine belongs to TheMeatly games Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi

I couldn’t have done this without my lovely beta @karenusia

Chapter One: Moving Pictures

A group of teens walks down the street. Three boys and one girl, two of the boys are talking about dueling. One short tricolored haired boy and a tall blond this being Yugi and Joey. While the brunette haired girl Tea and ivory hair colored Ryou talk about studying. Wanting to get their homework all done so that they could enjoy the weekend. It’s no long till they reach their destination the game shop.

Yugi opens the door to the shop. The lights are off which is unusual for this time of day.

“Grandpa I’m home,” Yugi says expecting to at least a hear response from the backroom.

No response. They headed upstairs to the home thinking that Solomon must have gone up to get something. They enter the living room and see a surprising sight. Solomon and Ms. Muto are sitting on the couch both with a worrisome and puzzled look upon their faces. In Ms.Muto’s hand is a piece of paper, it’s yellow with age.

“ What’s wrong?” Yugi questions worry clear in his voice.

It’s silent as Ms.Muto hands Yugi the letter the paper crinkles as Yugi takes it and reads it aloud.

“Dear Henry,

It seems like a lifetime since we worked on cartoons together

30 years really slips away, doesn’t it?

If you’re back in town come visit the old workshop

There’s something I need to show you.

Your best pal. Joey Drew.”

Yugi finishes reading it and his hand clenches the paper so tightly it crinkles in his tight grip as he shakes. For a moment he feels like he can’t breathe.

“He… went…didn’t …he ?” He asks shakenly.

Ms.Muto and Solomon just nod their heads. The confirmation being all Yugi needs as he takes off for his room. Bewildered Joey, Tea, and Ryou try to go after him shocked at the sudden action. Concern for their friend overriding any thought about what the letter meant to cause such a reaction.

“Leave him be.”

They were stopped by Solomon’s words.

“But he seemed really upset about the letter, shouldn’t we make sure he’s okay?” Tea asks concern clearly in her voice.

Even in all the time, she’s known Yugi he had never been this upset. To just take off, he hadn’t even done that after his duel with Kaiba on top of Pegasus’ castle. Sure tears and such but never just shutting down like that.

“ Yeah, I’ve never seen my little buddy like this just what about that letter made him so upset!” Joey exclaims in his usual exaggeration.

“Yes, I’ve never seen Yugi act like that before. Please, we’re just really worried.” Ryou says as he glances up towards the stairs then back to everyone.

Joey, Tea, and Ryou also have another important question in mind as Tea speaks up again asking.

“ Also who’s Henry?”

“Henry is-” Solomon starts to say but its cut off.

“Yugi’s father.”

By Mrs.Muto who had been quiet this whole time. She sighs her face bearing a downcast look.

“Henry, my dear brother, has always been the traveler even before his studio days which is why none of you have ever seen him.”

“But Yugi has never said anything about his father.” Tea interjects

“Yugi has his reasons that I don’t question as I respect his wishes. But if you have questions I can try my best to answer them.”

The three sit down when Ms.Muto finishes, their minds abuzz with questions as they hope to get the answers they seek.

---

Meanwhile, upstairs Yugi sits upon his bed his legs curled up to his chest as he holds the letter tightly. Yami sensing his distress appears out of the puzzle. Worry clearly written across his faces as he sits down on the edge of the bed.

“Yugi..” Yami is lost at the look Yugi has, he seemed so lost, his eyes usually so bright and focused are now cloudy and distant. Yugi looks at him the cloudy look fading into one of worry and fear.

“What has you so upset your so rattled by a simple letter. Please tell me what’s wrong?”

Yugi takes a deep breath bracing himself to speak.

“I never talk about my own past for several reasons, the main reason being Joey Drew. The owner of the studio which is where Henry went,” Yugi glances over to his desk eyes catching a flash of white something long forgotten yet still held close by. Yami tries to follow his gaze yet Yugi looks away from it as fast he saw it. He closes his eyes tightly wishing he hadn’t looked.

“Yugi who is Henry to you that him heading to this studio has you so shaken?

“Henry is my father and I have to go after him. As much as I told myself I would never go back there Henry is worth it.”

Yugi gets up off the bed grabbing his backpack throwing some clothes in zipping it up and throwing it over his shoulder. He grabs his deck of the desk sliding it into the box on his belt.

“Yugi I respect that you do not want to speak more on the matter, yet I need to know exactly why Henry would need you to go after him?”

“ Because I am the only one that knows the studio and with Henry’s luck he’s already got himself in trouble.”

---

Back downstairs Ms.Muto patiently waits for them to ask her their questions. It’s not long till Joey bolsters out the first one.

“ How come Yuge never talks about Henry?”

Ms.Muto knew that question would be asked but she didn’t think this one would be the first one out of the gate. It takes her a moment to figure out the right words.

“I’m sorry Joey but as much I wish I knew the answer that is one I do not have. Yugi has his reasons.”

They except the answer, while unsatisfactory it’s still an answer. Maybe they can get Yugi to tell them himself. Other questions are still buzzing as Tea takes the chance to asks the next question.

“What’s this workshop that Henry went to?”

“Joey Drew Studios™ Henry worked there for a long time until one day he quit.”

Ms.Muto can remember going there once a few days after Henry had been hired, it was a quick visit along with Solomon just to see the place. Henry never did talk about his days at work after a while, before he would talk about his co-workers and how the cartoons were coming along. He’d call her once a week. Lost in thought she is startled at the next question.

“Why did he quit? Ryou asks

“He quit because of-,” She’s cut off suddenly

“Joey Drew.”

Everyone looks over the stairs Yugi stands at the last step the letter held tightly in one hand the other grips his bag strap. He takes the last step then sits down on the couch.

“I’m going after Henry and no one’s gonna talk me out of it,” Yugi says with determination even when he hates the thought of heading anywhere near that studio. After going through everything to save his Grandpa nothing is going to stop him from finding Henry.

“How are you even going to get to the studio?!” Joey exclaims clearly still worried about his best bud as he looks to the paper that started this.

“ I have a plan,” Yugi says

“Which is?”

“I’m going to offer Kaiba a deal.”

“Kaiba?! After everything he put us through?!”

“I forgave him for what he did and it’s my only choice. He is the only one that can get me to the studio fast enough.”

“Then if your gonna go after Henry we’re coming with ya.”

“Guys I couldn’t let you go with me, I don’t want to risk putting you all in danger again.”

“Yugi your not going to talk us out this you know.” Teas says knowingly that there no point in arguing. Yugi sighs giving in.

“Guys alright let’s go.

---

They head to Kaiba Corp and enter the lobby. They are surprised when they hear a voice call out to them.

“Hey, guys!”

They see Mokuba running up to them. They are surprised that he would be in the lobby. Considering that it would be expected that Mokuba would spend most of his time with Kaiba.

“What are you doing here?” He asks.

“I want to speak with Kaiba. It’s very important. ”Yugi says.

“You want to speak with my big brother? Why? What is so important?”

“I need to go to Joey Drew Studios™.”

“Come on.” Mokuba gestures them to follow him to the elevator. It is not long till they arrive at the top floor. What does take time is reaching Kaiba’s office.

“Mokuba why did you let the nerd squad in?” Kaiba says annoyance clear in his voice as he looks to the group with disdain. He wonders just why Mouba would think they were worth his time.

Mokuba sees Kaiba’s look and knows what he must be thinking, why on earth did he even entertain the idea of having anything to do with the nerd squad.

“Well, it’s about Joey Drew Studios.”

“What? That old place Pegasus talked about? As far as I’m concerned I could care less.”

Kaiba goes back to looking at his screen finding the conversation over, he does not notice Yugi ‘s reaction to his words.

“Kaiba I came here to offer a deal and I’m not leaving till you hear me out.”

“Fine, I’ll be the judge if it was worth my time.”

“How about we settle this with a duel? If you win you get my title. But if I win you take us to the studio.”

“I accept your deal Yugi.” Kaiba gets up and leads them out of his office.

---

Kaiba tosses Yugi what looks to be an improved version of the duel disk they used at duelist kingdom. The design is sleek unlike the old model being round and bulky. The sides are folded in as it looks to be where the cards go when in play. Yugi wonders about how different a duel with these is going to be compared to last time.

“I wasn’t planning on releasing these just yet but what better time than now.”

They both head to their sides and call out

“Let’s duel!”

---

The last move is called out by Yami and Kaiba’s life points plummet down to zero. Yami changes back with Yugi. Kaiba has a look of anger clearly across his face, yet he prides himself on keeping his promises.

“How do you even know about the studio? No one has been there in quite some time.” He asks irritated

Yugi hands him the letter. He reads it over his expression never changing.

“Alright, who’s this Henry person that you find it so important that you would bother me?”

“My father and if going by his luck he’s already got himself in trouble.”

“So it seems to run in the family,” Kaiba says mockingly as he leads them out of the room.

They follow Kaiba to the roof where the helicopter is waiting. They board the copter. Yugi settles in next to a window he gazes out the clouds slowly going by. He notices Yami appear yet he does not turn away from the window.

“I understand that you wanted to duel on your own, yet with your emotional state I felt it best if I dueled Kaiba.”

“Thank you.”

Yugi even with that seems detached and distant, lost in his thoughts no true direction just whirls of worry. He is startled when he feels a touch on his arm until he realizes it is Yami. The touch feels comforting and is exactly what he needs right now as he slowly relaxes.

The ride is a few hours in. Everyone had fallen asleep from the long ride, well everyone except Yugi and Kaiba.

“Kaiba how exactly did you know about the studio?” Yugi asks breaking the silence.

“Before Pegasus decided to try to take over Kaiba Corp. It was during a meeting about getting the holograms set up. He started to go on about a similar project, something about bringing toons to life by Joey Drew. He kept going on and on about Drew. I passed his nonsense of on the fool having too many of his wine spritzers.”

“I should have guessed with his obsession about toons. It would be no wonder that he would have had something to do with the studio.”

“He did more than just have an interest in the studio, he spent a large chunk of money to finance the place. I found out by accident when trying to get everything in order after the mess I was left with.”

“Mr.Drew has never paid back so much as a dime of his debt.”

“He never paid anyone, he was only ever worried about getting everyone in his pocket. He was a man of great ambitions.”

They feel the copter started to descend and land. Everyone jolts awake from the landing. They rush to look out the window and they are surprised at what they see. The studio stands dilapidated from years upon years of neglect, boards all over the place and others look like they are about ready to fall off. The signs have seen better days the lettering now faded and scratched up. Still with the damage, one can read JOEY DREW STUDIOS™.

Yugi looks at the place with clear discomfort at being near the place while the others look around with curiosity and confusion.

“Let’s just get this over with, I don’t want to spend any more time in this dump than I have to,” Kaiba says as the briskly walks pass everyone to stand next to Yugi.

Yugi reaches out and opens the door the hinges creak from years of neglect

.“Alright, Henry where are you?”

#Yu-Gi-Oh #Bendy and the Ink Machine #yami yugi #yugi mutou #Henry Stein #fanfiction #Joey Wheeler #seto kaiba #myfic #myart #The Demon I Once Knew #anything for this will be under The Demon I Once Knew tag #Tea Gardner #ryou bakura #ms.muto

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dodosinsane · 6 years ago

Text

Cheer up Florence Nightingale

Pt 1

Dared. As in the past. Daring. I was never afraid.

Night. I run , all sweaty. Footsteps. Somebody reeking of alcohol . A corner. Black corner.

I always wake up to the same dream. Panting. Sweating. But always stuck in the same place. Not daring. Not moving. Stiff.

I always wake up to the same dream, or how to put it .. nightmare. Or maybe not. A bad reality.

"Cheer up Florence Nightingale"

And so i get up. I am Flor , a twenty year old girl , Flor. I have a disorder. A few.

First: i am very repetitive. I like to call this a mental disorder so i can justify myself for always doing the same things.

Second : i am forgetful. I called this a trauma of something i dont really remember, you know , forgetful.

I have no memory of some past events. I dont remember half of my senior year of highschool.

Third: I dream of situations that never happened. In a repetitive way.

Fourth: i have no talents. Zero.

So i say , cheer up Florence Nightingale. Who is she and why i call myself that way? She was a war nurse in 17-th century. She was also called The lady with the lamp. When i was little and when my father used to came from the war , he would always try to do things for our home late at nights , like fix a chair , the grass outside , the roof. So sometimes at night i would flash a light and try to help him , so i was the lady with the lamp. He would tuck me to bed and tell me that Florence used to stay up all night long and try to heal the wounded solders , that she was daring and capable of everything. Just like me.

"How do you know"-i used to ask "How do you know she was daring , you never met her ? "

He would just laugh it off , but then again he would be so trusting and innocent back then, he also thought i was capable of anything. He never met me now , 20 years old , a loser.

I didnt get to become a nurse. I didnt get to become anything. I filled out tons of applications, jobs , trainings , everything.

Name: Flor Davison

Gender: Female

College : None

Other languages: None

Computer skills : average

Special talents: none

Dreams: a lot , but not that you would be interested in.

I get up to do the same things i did yesterday. Eat , watch tv , go search for jobs, eat, have basic interactions with my mother, text one single friend i got that studies abroad, sleep.

I did the same today.

I got up and went to buy a newspaper. I saw something on the yellow pages , an assistant at a first aid center. They didnt have an email address just a phone number , so i called them.

They didnt ask for much except height , weight , gender and age.

-1.67, 54, female, 20.

-Your parameters fill the criteria , so you can come tomorrow for the final screening.

That was a first. So i patiently waited for tomorrow.

I brushed my teeth, fixed my hair, put on clothes and went.

-hello im Flor , we spoke on the phone?

-Yes, im Grace yes, so you were the first to call and we were sort of in a hurry so we didnt have time for an official screening an interviews. You were lucky ,i guess..

She had short hair and big glasses , round and thick , like the ones you would have made fun of if you were in highschool. Small and a little chubby . Her face showed a few wrinkles ,she was 35 maybe? She looked unfocused and easily frightened , a nerd.

-So umm this is the room , the supplies are all here , if something is broken you have to report it . You dont have troubles with watching blood huh? I hope not ,the last girl was troublesome honestly, too weak at heart.

-Unm, Its an assistant right ? I will keep notes and timetables?

She looked confused.

-No its more like a -she paused and went to the desk to take a newspaper. -That idiot Jersey. I clearly told him not to do that anymore. There we go wasting time again.

She looked at me like she was doomed .

-Sweetie look, you are supposed to help the teacher on giving lectures , you see he gets easily distracted and has tons of other things to do . So there are different classes . First aid, blood sampling , medicines , how to treat a wound. You know. But since i said the professor is easily distracted , he cant talk while performing , he can only do one thing at a time , and thats what your job is . He talks you act , he acts you talk. But no pressure , if you want to leave its okay we are used to it , no biggies.

-Its not that, its more that i dont know what to do or say, im have 0 information.

-Oh yeah sure, stupid of me. Here. -she disappeared and came back after a few minutes with a handbook and two Cd-s

-So you can read these and watch the videos here. Its a recorded class. Its what you are going to do today. So the salary has 4 zeros just in case you were wondering.

Four zeros was a big thing for me , a first thing actually. Would i die to try it out. Whatever. Of course i would say yes.

I took everything in my hands. She smiled and said that my first class was at 2 pm. It gave me 4 hours to prepare. It would be a blood collecting and processing . How hard can it be? I went home and played the videos. There was a young man , more than a professor explaining. He looked cheerful but concentrated. Black hair. I couldnt see his face because he was performing but i saw the girl . She had red hair and blue eyes. Such a pretty combination. I memorized a few words. Three ways of collecting blood , needle , skin , pinch. Great , i got this.

When i arrived the professor was already there. He didnt even look at me but said to bring him the tools.

I went to the supply shelf to get them but they weren't there.

-whats taking you so long ? -he asked with a not so patient kind of voice.

-They arent here.

-what?

-They arent here , they should be in the supply room.

I ran there and searched for the tools but they weren't there. Grace wasnt in her office . Instead i find a note that said "back at four". Great .

I went to class to let the professor know.

-Are you dense? -he shouted

-Excuse me?

-The first thing they tell you when you come here is to report if something is missing and you cant even do that.

-Um im sorry but im new here and umm...

-and ? I should cut you some slack ?

The damned ignorant was getting on my nerves.

-no its my first day and probably the things went missing when the last girl was here , how was i supposed to know. As i said im new.

-You have been saying that you are new for the past week.

He still didnt turn his head to look at me.

-well if you would look at me you would know that its my first day .

He turned his head and his brown eyes stared at me. Confused and dreamy.

-Who are you?

-I am Flor , the new girl.

-Well Flor todays class is canceled .

-Umm what should i do now?

-call the students , what else?

He turned his head and started writing his notebook. I didnt have his attention anymore so i went to Graces office and started to make calls. She came at exactly four pm and by the look of it she already knew the class was off. She handed me a list of a few things i should do and sat in her chair ignoring me.

Clean. Rooms , supplies , print sheets , prepare for the next class which was tomorrow at 11. The building wasnt small, but it looked dead. Not a lot of people. It was two floors and white painted. It looked like a school but it smelled like a hospital. After seven i started seeing people and hearing noises amd Grace would lead them to a door that i didnt have access to. Not that i cared.

I didnt see the professor anymore. Come to think of it , he looked so young , maybe 26 but he had a tired and pale skin and not so strong arms.

Grace told me my shift ended at 10 but if i had finished i could leave a little early. So i left at 9 and went home.

I told the news to mom. I told her i was an assistant. She didnt ask anything else but she seemed pleased.

I texted Brianne. I feel asleep

Cheer up Florence Nightingale.

1 note · View note

isolavirtuosa · 7 years ago

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Unlikely Office Romances 21-22

[fanfiction] Gundam Wing, 1x2x1

Basically Duo is a jerk and Heero is an awkward nerd.

Previous Parts

21-22 under the cut

- 21 -

“So you’re really sleeping with Yuy?” Trowa asked as we watched Heero and Cathy talking across the room.

“I wish,” I said.

“Oh, you’re taking it slow.”

“Like turtles. Do turtles even fuck? How the hell do turtles fuck?”

“They don’t, Duo. The female lays eggs and the male fertilizes them.”

“You’re lying!”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, shit. Good,” I said, breathing out a sigh of relief. “Wait. You admitted to that too easily.”

“Did I?”

“Dammit, Barton.”

He nudged my knee with his.

“I missed you,” I finally confessed. “Way to get yourself kidnapped, though. Lame.”

“You did it first.”

“Exactly. Copying me. How unoriginal.”

“At least I didn’t get my partner shot.”

“Hey, the night is young.”

“Did you just imply that I was going to get my sister shot? That’s a shitty thing to say, L2 trash.”

“I don’t wanna hear it from an L3 bitch.”

“Um, I think your boyfriend is trying to kill me with his eyes. Damn. Haven’t seen that look in a while.”

“Yeah, uh. Yeah,” I said, trying not to be turned on by Heero looking murderous. I was starting to understand what our relationship had been lacking up until now. “Hey, you won’t believe what he said to me. He thinks that you’re madly in love with me.”

“I can see that.”

I turned to Trowa, eyes searching.

His expression was the same as always, an easy-going mask that never gave anything away. It certainly didn’t give away that he was about to pinch my butt as I got up to pick the lock.

I turned to him, scandalized.

“You have a subpar ass,” Trowa informed me.

“There’s nothing subpar about it!” I said, wiggling my hips as I walked over to the door.

Heero’s expression transformed into his usual ‘Maxwell is an idiot’ look, while Cathy looked intrigued.

“I wonder how in synch we were without actually discussing the plan out loud,” I mused, easily undoing the lock. “Damn, that wasn’t even a challenge. Anyway, our explosion should be just about… now…”

There was a nice satisfying boom that rocked the entire building as Minerva was blown to smithereens.

“Pretty in synch,” Trowa said, followed by a second boom.

“So you boys haven’t discussed this so-called plan?” Cathy asked.

“I mean, me and Heero had that like deeper-level, Quatre-space-heart Zero System connection going on,” I said. “But we didn’t actually verbalize anything, no.”

“Got any knives for me to throw?”

“We can work on that,” I said, pressing myself flat to the wall next to the door.

Heero took up next to me, while Trowa and Cathy stayed in front of the door, looking prisoner-y.

The commotion with the guards outside was coming to an end.

I winked at Heero and threw the door open. “Fucking amateurs,” I said, catching one of the idiot’s trigger finger and making him fire at the other guard.

“No killing,” Heero said, sliding between my legs and taking the guard out at the knees.

“How did you even do that?” I grumbled, knocking my guard unconscious and stealing his gun.

He just looked at me.

I swooned a little.

We locked the guards in the cell.

Heero offered his gun to Cathy, but she shook her head.

“Knives.”

“Does this base have a kitchen?” Heero asked Trowa, handing him the gun.

“Judging by the slop they serve, I’d say no.”

“Sorry, Cath, you might have to sit this one out,” I said, taking point.

We had a couple of skirmishes with errant terrorists that weren’t so hard to take care of, but then Aaron Easton came at us in a motherfucking tank.

“You blew up my gundams!” he screamed through the speaker.

“He has gotten seriously unhinged,” I said, shaking my head. “Makes ya sloppy.”

“He is protected by the impenetrable armor of a tank, so I don’t know that that’s going to play in our favor,” Trowa mused.

“Where did Cathy go?” I asked, suddenly noting her absence.

Trowa let out a long-suffering sigh. “She can take care of herself.”

“Well, yeah, but you know, terrorists, guns… motherfucking tanks.”

“What are we going to do about that?”

“I suggest running,” Heero said, already moving.

“When does Heero Yuy run?!” I cried, following him.

“Motherfucking tank, Duo.”

I shouldn’t have been laughing at such an inopportune time, but my boy occasionally had a sense of humor.

We left the smoky hangar for the safety of the base, only to have Aaron drive through the wall and follow us.

“Boys versus tank, who will win?” I asked, enjoying the sprint.

“We need a bomb,” Trowa mused.

“How are we just gonna make a bomb?” I said. “Do you think bombs just get made out of thin air?”

“You’re the king of homemade bombs, so yes, that is what I think.”

We turned a corner and ran into an armed contingent.

“Tank!” I yelled at them, but they didn’t seem impressed. They were definitely not going to survive this.

“Knives!” Cathy responded cheerfully, taking out two of the five men from behind.

That left one each for the three of us, which was nothing, except Heero didn’t want to leave them to get run over by the tank, so we lost valuable time dragging their unconscious bodies to safety.

“You having a soul now is very inconvenient,” I informed him.

He glared at me.

“I miss when you were afraid of me,” I said with sigh. “And your glasses! How can you even see without your adorable, dorkified glasses?”

“I’m farsighted.”

“Hope you don’t need to… see anything close up!” I concluded, unable to come up with anything clever while running from a tank. My lungs were getting tired, and sure the walls of the base were slowing the thing down, but it just kept coming.

I hadn’t felt this good in a long time.

Maybe that said something about me, because there was at least a seventy-six percent probability that we were going to die.

Of course, when you had Heero Yuy on your side, probability didn’t really matter.

“Did he just…?” was all I could say, staring as Heero ran at the tank and jumped up to the hatch.

Easton maneuvered the tank’s gun towards us in threat, so Heero reached over, muscles straining as he bent the metal, rendering the gun useless.

Trowa and I gaped. Well, I gaped, and Trowa’s eyes went all buggy.

“What the hell did those scientists put in his Wheaties?” I muttered.

“I forgot how unrealistically strong he is,” Trowa muttered back.

“I mean, it must be a defective tank.”

“Obviously.”

“We should probably move out of its way anyway though,” I said. “Just in case.”

We both leapt out of the way of the lumbering tank, missing the exact moment when Heero wrenched the hatch open and pulled Aaron out.

Hilde stared at me over her computer. “That did not happen,” she stated flatly.

“What part of our very factual account are you questioning?!” I demanded.

“Everything starting from the part where Heero took on a tank and won.”

“Hil, you do not even know half the freaky shit J did to Heero.”

Trowa nodded his support.

Hilde looked between us skeptically. “He was still recovering from his gunshot wounds.”

“Look at the pictures!” I said, waving the file in front of her face and pointing at the pictures of the bent-up tank gun.

“It crashed into something,” Hilde said. “Or Heero used something stronger to bend it like that.”

“Stronger than a motherfucking tank?!” I cried.

“The only thing stronger than a tank is Heero Yuy,” Trowa said solemnly.

“I cannot believe you two,” Hilde muttered. “Une will never accept this report, and I’m gonna have to rewrite it.”

“We can’t do anything but report the truth,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

Hilde rolled her eyes. “So what happened after Heero single-handedly defeated the tank and brought Aaron Easton to justice?”

“The motherfucker shot him,” Trowa said, doing a perfect impression of me that I resented.

“I really thought that Heero had reached god status…” I sighed. “Of course, he punched Aaron in the face even with a gunshot wound to the arm, so yeah, he must be at least a demigod.”

“Duo was too dumbstruck to move, so I disarmed Aaron and made Heero sit down and put some pressure on his bleeding arm,” Trowa explained.

“I was not-” I started irritably, then just let it slide. Trowa had been pretty cool, jumping up on the tank with a circus flip and spin kicking the gun out of Aaron’s hand. “I stole the space shuttle.”

“Um, maybe you should keep that out of the report,” Hilde suggested.

“What?! Is stealing from terrorists a crime now?!”

“I think people might start to wonder about how good you are at hotwiring space-worthy vehicles.”

“It was a very necessary part of our escape.”

“I can’t believe this report,” Hilde said, tossing it over our computers and back onto my desk.

“I can’t help what you believe or don’t believe.”

“And all this homoerotic gundam co-piloting!” she cried, throwing her hands in the air.

“I was there, and I can assure you that the homoeroticism was real,” Trowa said.

“Yeah?” I asked, waggling my eyebrows. “You think me and Heero are homoerotic?”

“All your ‘sharing a mind’ and what-have-you Zero System nonsense,” Hilde muttered.

“Gay,” Trowa said, shaking his head.

“Speaking of lover boy,” Hilde said, and suddenly everyone in the office was standing up and saluting.

Heero, standing in the doorway, turned around abruptly and left.

“Was that overkill?” Sally asked, looking amused.

“I’ll go see what he needed,” I said, trying not to grin stupidly as I slipped out after him. “Hold the elevator!”

Heero hesitated, and the doors started to shut.

I dashed forward, and they slammed on my hand. “Ow…” I muttered, pushing the doors open. “Hey.”

“Hello…” he said, not meeting my eyes

“You didn’t tell me you were coming back to work today,” I said, invading his personal space.

“I’m coming back to work today.”

“How’s your arm?” I asked, tracing my hand lightly over his bicep and feeling the thick bandage. I settled my hand on his shoulder, pulling him towards me.

The folder he was holding dropped to the floor. “Uh. Oh. Fine.”

I let go and picked up his folder. It was his mission report. “You want me to take this to Sally?”

“Yes,” he said, seeming to relax a little. As an afterthought, he added, “Thank you.”

I leaned against the opposite wall, trying not to be so predatory. “You wanna come over tonight?”

He nodded.

I felt my face melt into a smile. “Okay. Come over after you feed the rats.”

“They’re hamsters.”

“Yeah, yeah, Gray and Brown, hamsters not rats.”

Heero stared at me.

“What?” I asked, scratching my nose.

He shook his head. “I’ll see you tonight.”

The door opened and he exited the elevator abruptly.

“Wear something sexy,” I suggested before the doors closed.

He ignored me, of course, and showed up to my apartment in his mom jeans and a Gundam 00 t-shirt.

“Why do you dress like a teenage shut-in?” I asked, standing in the doorway and staring out at him.

“Shut up,” he replied, elbowing his way inside.

“Oh, good, you’re still feisty,” I said. I closed and locked the door before following him to the living room. “The way you were running away scared from the agents, I thought you’d lost your edge.”

“I didn’t run away,” he said, giving me a sour look. “And I certainly wasn’t scared.”

“Then…?”

Heero was sulking.

“Why are you so…?” I muttered, my mind filling in the word ‘adorable’. “…moody?”

“Sally and Wufei asked me to be an agent.”

“Whaaaaaat?”

“Of course I said no.”

“Why of course? Why wouldn’t you…” I trailed off, because I already knew.

“I like being a scientist,” he said quietly. “It’s the life I chose for myself. I don’t want to go… back. That’s not who I am.”

“It is kind of who you are though.”

He frowned at me.

“Heero, you defeated a motherfucking tank. Come on.”

“That wasn’t… bad. But I don’t want to be an agent.”

“Did you see Aaron’s face when you dragged him outta the tank?”

“Right before he shot me?”

“Damn, I think he’s shot you more than I have now.”

Heero had the smallest smile. He sat on the couch, and I padded over to sit next to him. “Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” I answered, feeling myself starting to stupidly glow. We hadn’t seen much of each other since we’d gotten back, what with the investigation, brief imprisonment, psych evaluations, and what have you. “You don’t like being the center of attention, hm?”

“Obviously.”

“Well, I’ve got a plan to distract everyone from your heroics,” I offered.

“It’ll have to be something pretty spectacular,” he said. “I defeated a tank bare-handed.”

I grinned. “That was super hot, too. But yeah, I’ve got just the thing.”

He waited patiently for me to spit it out.

“I think I’m gonna quit the Preventers!” I declared cheerfully.

- 22 -

Duo lay his head on my lap, staring up at the ceiling as he spoke.

I touched his hair hesitantly.

He gave me a reassuring smile.

I ran my fingers through it the way I wanted to, and started massaging his scalp gently.

“I’ve just become a total asshole,” he said tiredly.

“A little bit,” I agreed.

He head-butted my stomach.

I stared at him.

“It’s because I’m not happy,” he finally said.

I nodded. I was beginning to understand that. I stroked his hair carefully, watching how he stretched and arched when it felt good, nestling his cheek against my thigh.

“How’s your hand?” he asked, abruptly changing the subject.

“Fine,” I said, thumbing his ear with my shot hand. “The doctor said it’s healing up well.”

“It still hurts though, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t mind it.”

“Oh my god, I’ve just realized that you’re a masochist. It explains so much.”

I flicked his ear.

Duo scrunched up his nose.

“I’m not a masochist,” I said. “Probably.”

Duo grinned. “You wanna find out?”

“Maybe,” I said, not looking at him.

He patted my knee and didn’t push it.

“You’ve been very… controlled since we came back,” I observed.

“I told you, I realized what an asshole I’ve been.”

“That’s never stopped you before.”

“I like the sass, but it cuts, Heero, it cuts.”

“Sit up.”

He stared up at me.

“Sit up,” I repeated.

He did so, shifting so he could face me. “I kinda like when you order me around.”

“Are you really going to leave the Preventers?” I asked, trying to redirect him back to the topic at hand.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Where would you go?”

“I don’t know.”

“I want to…” I started, trailing off uncertainly.

“I hope you’re going to say you want to come with me.”

I could feel my cheeks going involuntarily red.

Duo didn’t laugh. He caught my face in his hands, breathing out, “Fuck, Heero, I wanna buy curtains with you.”

I stared at him.

“It was this whole thing… about settling down… and you know…” he trailed off. “Trowa would get it!”

I frowned.

“I don’t know how I feel about this whole jealousy streak of yours,” he said, smushing my cheeks.

“What are you doing?” I asked, which came out garbled due to Duo’s distorting of my face.

“I’m having a very important conversation with you,” he said, continuing to make it impossible for me to speak clearly. “Look, whatever we both do from now… let’s do it together. And have sex. I mean really, can we screw already?”

I removed his hands from my cheeks. “How can I say no to such a romantic proposal?”

“I’m gonna take your sarcasm as a yes.”

“It wasn’t a no.”

“Hot damn!” Duo said, jumping up from the couch and tossing his shirt over his shoulder.

“I didn’t mean right this second…” I muttered, eyes lingering on Duo Maxwell’s very solid six-pack.

“Too bad, this is happening!” Duo said, throwing his pants off.

“You are very adept at clothing removal…” I observed, looking at the tiny black boxers he was wearing.

“Dr. Yuy, is that lust in your eyes or are you just happy to see me?”

“…what…?”

Duo laughed, and my eyes finally dragged up his body to meet his eyes. “We don’t have to do anything,” he said, pulling me to my feet. “Or, you know, we could.”

I pulled him down closer by the back of his neck, pressing our lips together.

There was a faint tremor running through Duo’s body, and I knew he was struggling to hold himself back.

I appreciated it.

I also wanted to make him come undone.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I finally mumbled into his neck.

“Okay, then don’t,” he said, seeming completely unconcerned.

“I’m not… good at this.”

“You’re a fast learner.”

“I’m nervous.”

“Ah, there it is,” he said, kissing the top of my head.

I suddenly felt small in his arms.

“Let’s just do whatever we’re both comfortable with, yeah?”

“…yeah…”

“So would you be comfortable with me undressing you?”

“…no.”

Duo sighed. “Okay,” he said, rocking me side-to-side for a moment. The motion was soothing. “I feel like I may have been a little overzealous with the getting naked thing.”

“No,” I said, letting my hand glide over his shoulder blades. “I like it.”

Duo’s body stiffened, and I realized that he was surprised. “See, you go from little shy boy to sexual predator in like the span of a minute, and it’s very confusing.”

“It’s confusing for me, too,” I offered, pushing him on the couch.

He grinned.

“I’m always holding back,” I said quietly.

Duo held his hand out to me.

I took it, and he led me to his lap.

“I never hold back,” he said, peppering my face with kisses.

“You’ve been holding back a lot…”

“What, by not boning you the second we started dating?” he hummed into my neck. “Yeah, that’s true. I’m pretty impressive.”

I caught his face in my hands, tilting it up to face me. “I want to make it up to you.”

Duo’s smile was soft as our mouths met slowly, lingeringly, longingly.

I tried to let go.

“You’re tense,” Duo murmured against my ear. His warm breath made me shiver, and my reaction made him inhale sharply. “Okay, I’m just going to lay this out and you say yes or no.”

I waited.

“I’m going to unzip your pants and blow you. That is the plan. Yes or no?”

I stared at him.

His lower lip came out in a pout. “Jesus, Yuy, it’s a yes or no question. Relieve me of my suffering and give me an answer either way.”

“…yes…?” I said.

“How do you complicate a yes or no question?!”

“Yes,” I said, trying to sound more sure.

Duo pressed his forehead to mine. “Do you feel like I’m pressuring you? Because I really want to suck your dick. Like, really, really want to suck your dick. But if-”

I was standing up and unzipping my pants. I did feel complicated about it, but sometimes you just needed to follow your feelings.

The way Duo stared at my penis made me immediately regret following my feelings.

“Why the hell are you amused?!” I snapped, struggling to zip myself back up.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s just so cute!” he said, trying to get me to stop.

I wanted to dig a hole and bury myself in it. My eyes darted around the room for a shovel.

“Come on, Heero, I didn’t mean anything by it,” Duo complained, reaching for me.

I inched backwards, still looking for an escape.

“I was expecting something… different, I dunno, but I like it!” he declared.

I stared at him, mortified.

“Well, I guess what they say about Asian guys is tr-”

“Just stop talking!” I cried, throwing my hands over my face, the only way I could hide.

Duo went quiet.

I peeked out at him between my fingers.

“Open mouth, insert foot?” he offered. He looked like he wanted to devour me.

“I feel inadequate,” I said flatly, still peering at him from behind my hands.

“Heero, you could never be inadequate,” he said, shaking his head. “You are the opposite of inadequate. You are… potent.”

“Potent?”

“I couldn’t think of another word. I’m not a dictionary.”

“One might go for the obvious, ‘adequate’.”

Duo smiled. “Heero. Stop. Come here.” He definitely wanted to devour me.

“I’m embarrassed.”

“I can see that,” he said, taking a cautious stop towards me. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about, though. You wanna see mine?”

“How will that help the situation?!”

“I dunno, the whole ‘you show me yours, I’ll show you mine’ deal.”

I did want to see it. There was this bulge at the front of his boxers, and my eyes were suddenly glued to it. I covered my eyes again.

Duo laughed, but it was warm, not mocking. “Heero, shit. Stop. Please. You are so cute, and it’s weird.”

“Why is it weird?” I asked, still not looking.

“Because a man who bends metal with his bare hands shouldn’t be this freaking adorable.”

“That’s not a compliment.”

“No, it definitely is. I could not be complimenting you any harder.”

“If the recipient doesn’t take it as one, then it isn’t.”

“Well, what part do you object to?”

“I don’t want to be cute to you. I’m not a small animal.”

“You’re not just cute, if that makes you feel differently.”

“What else am I?” I asked, not really wanting to hear the answer. I’d never had these kinds of issues with Professor Leonard. Marie. Being with her had been easy. It was an arrangement. We talked about forensics. We had sex. Then it was over. But this thing with Duo… It wasn’t an equation that I could understand. It terrified me, it thrilled me.

Duo took my hands and carefully pulled them from my face. “You’re smart. And nerdy. And absolutely sexy. So very, very sexy. And a creep.”

I stared at him.

He grinned.

I bit my lip.

His eyes darkened.

I stopped, trying to look less vulnerable. I was letting myself feel inferior for no good reason.

“If you want to stop, please say so now, because I’m about to lose it,” he said, letting go of my hands and letting them fall to my sides.

As much as I tried to push him away, Duo kept snapping back to me like a rubber band. I did trust him. He could be a complete asshole, but I trusted him, and I knew that he cared about me. It was in the way he looked at me, in the tone of voice he used around me. It was my own expressions reflected back at me. This wasn’t a game to him, not anymore anyway.

I didn’t have to hide anything from him. I could be me, whatever that meant, whoever that was.

I wanted to find out.

#gundam wing #fanfiction #1x2x1 #1x2 #unlikely office romances isola

5 notes · View notes

hangonimevolving · 6 years ago

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Sewing Table Refurb: The Backstory

I’ve got a little less than an hour to spend today, updating all you lovely people about a project I’ve had going on for some weeks now.

So, I sew sometimes. I would like to sew more than I currently do, and I’ve decided that this is the year it’s gonna happen. I believe I have talked about sewing on this blog before, namely with regards to various reupholstering and quilting projects I’ve taken on in the past. I think I’ve even introduced you to two of The Girls - - i.e my sewing machines. I’ve got a 1964 vintage Sears/Kenmore sewing machine that I purchased off of Craigslist back in Boston for $60, which included a beautiful midcentury solid wood cabinet that conceals the machine when not in use (talked about it here and here).

It had its original midcentury-era drawer pulls when I first purchased it, but I switched them out to more updated knob pulls back in 2007 because I was being anal-retentive and wanted the hardware to be brushed nickel, to match other crap in our condo.

I also have a substantially more modern, and in “like new” condition (but actual age, maybe 20 years old) Husqvarna Viking serger (discussed here). I remember feeling like a frigging rock start for scooping it up at $100.

Last year, during a giant Slipcovering Bonanza undertaken by me and my mom to guard my ginormous, beautiful double-sectional West Elm sofa from my destructive children and cat, my old Kenmore started giving me a little bit of grief.... my mother convinced me that I owed it to myself to buy a new sewing machine, if I was serious about continuing this hobby. She said all the right things about how I deserved a newer machine with a few more features and a little less of the wheezing and attitude of an older machine. I took the bait, and bought myself this Gorgeous Lady: a Janome HD 3000.

I’m incredibly pleased with this machine. I paid under $500 for it on Amazon, and this included a bunch of “free gifts” and accessories like a bunch of special presser feet, extra bobbin set, and some other doodads.

I love the machine. But. (there’s always a but, isn’t there?).... I am a brat. After sewing on my old-school Kenmore machine in the built-in cabinet for so many years, I got accustomed to having my needle plate sitting flush with the tabletop while I sew. To those of you who have no idea what the #$%^ I’m talking about - -the short version of the story is, I missed the ergonomics of how my old vintage machine was set up. Here is a graphic that might explain:

(I stole that image from someone on Pinterest, but I’ve left their handle name up there in case someone wants to go search for it)

Here’s another image that might allow a non-sewing person to understand what my problem was. This is also from IKEAhackers on Pinterest.... in summary, see how this machine has been set INTO the table a bit, instead of just having its base sitting on top? This allows you to work fabric through the machine’s needle without having to hunch your shoulders.

Anyways. Thus far, I had been working on my new Janome machine either at the dining table or on my desk in our home office, or sometimes, on top of my old Kenmore machine’s cabinet with the hinged tabletop still shut. All of these setups were making my shoulders and neck pissed off at me, but there wasn’t much I could do about it unless and until I was ready to start thinking about coming up with a proper furniture solution.

Somehow, about a month ago, I got a little fed up with my shoulders and back muscles hurting, and after my second round of Botox injections in my levator scapulae muscles in as many years, I decided I really ought to do what they say in my MMA classes... “protect ya neck.” It was time to find a sewing table with a drop-in shelf that would allow my machine to sit with its needle plate flush to the work surface.

Naturally, my first thought was to buy a table that was ready made for this purpose. So I perused the interwebz.

I found a number of tables like this and this and this. And these are perfectly fine options.... for someone else. NO judgment if you own and love one of these tables. But they weren’t for me. They either looked too flimsy, too particle board-y, too not my style, or too expensive for me. As I said before, I am a spoiled, spoiled brat, who lucked out and got a wonderful vintage machine in an almost MORE wonderful solid wood cabinet many years ago, and it happens to be EXACTLY from my dream design era of the midcentury modern years. So I was totally ruined on any kind of commercially-available table that was out there to be purchased.

It was time for me to do things MY way. And we all know what way that is. The way that starts out exciting, unique, and very cheap, but then snowballs into some giant, physically-involved and exhausting project that in the end costs more than one of those readymade tables would cost. HAHAHA :) I am so extra, as the youngsters say.

So off I went! I spent hours and hours on the internet trying to brainstorm ideas, educating myself on what it would take to buy a nice solid wood console table or desk, and DIY a cutout and drop-shelf for my machine. I did a daylong “research” trip to some big box home furnishing discount stores in my area, to see if I could find an inexpensive but solid wood table that I could modify. But I came up empty-handed - -nothing was my style, in my price range, or - -a dagger - - easily modifiable. Bummer.

Stop #2 on my sewing table option train was to spend hours on Pinterest reading with great curiosity how there’s a whole world of sewing people out there who have successfully, and relatively easily, converted this one particular table from IKEA into a sewing table: the IKEA Ingo dining table. A woman at the blog Blue Dinosaurs was the pioneer of this conversion, and since then, many (she speculates thousands) of others have followed her awesome tutorials. I considered this briefly, but was always put off by the dimensions of this Ingo table, which, sadly, would be too wide and cumbersome in the sewing space I have in my home (our guest room, which also houses a queen sized bed, two side tables, and a long 6-drawer dresser, as well as my old Kenmore cabinet and the serger table).

Then, I sat and thought about it: hmm, if I was willing to entertain the idea of converting a table, but I didn’t want to do a dining table....what kind of table would be the easiest to convert into a sewing table? Duh, maybe a SEWING table. Now one might wonder why I didn't think of this earlier. I didn’t immediately think about finding a vintage sewing table because I was stuck on the notion that the cutout for a vintage machine wouldn’t fit my newer machine precisely. But I realized, if I was willing to learn how to cut into a solid tabletop, I could probably teach myself to modify and elongate an existing cutout even more easily. SO! I was newly energized. This time, I took to the app Letgo, which is the newfangled and more mobile device-friendly version of Craigslist. It also happens to be relatively popular in my area. It only took a few days for me to stumble upon a BEAUTY, listed for $55. I contacted the seller, she replied within hours, and by 10 am the next morning, I was in possession of My New Baby:

Ain’t she GORGEOUS! Look at those amazing drawer pulls! Look at those GAMS! I was smitten. It was love at first sight.

Okay, warning: I’m about to nerd out for a second. If you have no interest whatsoever in sewing machine history, please feel free to stop reading here, and stay tuned for my next installment of the Great Sewing Table Refurb!

Nerd time: She’s a vintage Singer sewing cabinet. I happened to meet the seller and her mom (the former owner of the table), and talk with them awhile. The seller didn’t sew herself, but she tried to sell me a box of accessories that went with the original machine that was housed in this cabinet, including a shitload of switchable stitch discs. I declined because I knew they would serve precisely zero purpose at all to me, with a brand-new modern machine of a different brand - - but I was fascinated, looking through the box of stitch discs and interesting accoutrement. She also showed me - and I could just KICK MYSELF that I didn’t take photos of it, or even ask her to give/sell it to me!!! - the original catalog and manual for this cabinet and the machine that went with it. I’ve been haunted ever since that I didn’t note down the information, but here is what I do remember and have been able to piece together.

This table housed a vintage Singer sewing machine. I have been able to deduce that it was likely either a 401a, 500 Slant-O-Matic, 503 Slant-O-Matic (the “Rocketeer!!!") or possibly a 513 Stylist. I think I recall seeing the date 1957 or 1958 on the catalogs and manuals she showed me, which would mean it couldn’t have been the Stylist, which only was released in the late 60′s-early 70′s. Also, the fact that she had a box full of stitch discs that she was trying to sell me corroborates the fact that it may not have been a 513 Stylist, because the Stylist didn’t use removable stitch discs, I don’t believe (but I could be wrong?) - - so I’m super excited b/c that means this is a true MCM (midcentury modern) piece of furniture. I distinctly remember that the catalog showed several cabinet models, including the well-known Singer “Copenhagen” cabinet, which was produced from about 1957 for a few years, and was almost identical to this table, except it had different cabinet hardware and a stabilizing cross-beam on the right legs. However. The only exact photos online of my particular cabinet all have 513 Stylists mounted in them. Hmm. This may mean NOTHING to anyone out there, but if you know anything about antique sewing machines, this is all sorta interesting. Dude. Sewing machine history is VERY INTERESTING. I’ve been learning a lot through getting to know my new love interest.

History buffs, or those willing to hang in there with me: check out these pics!

Original hang tag off of a Copenhagen cabinet, published 1961. Also, helpfully for my purposes, listed the precise materials used in the construction of the cabinet (walnut wood and walnut wood veneer)

Helpful screenshots from the encyclopedic website of the International Sewing Machine Collectors Society (ISMACS).

This is all evidence that my cabinet dates between 1957-1962 or so. However, I found a few images online at auction sites like this one that give me reason to feel some doubt, that perhaps my table is newer, and originally held a Singer Stylist??? Hmm.

But ACK! I just found another one, and this table is housing a Singer 306/306K, which ISMACS tells me dates to 1954-62, so overlapping the 401/500....

So, yeah. I dunno. Now. Does it even matter what frigging model of machine this table once held, or when it was built? Does it even matter if it truly dates to the midcentury modern era?! I love the styling, and its going to fit my needs. I know. That’s all that should matter. But I am A NERD, and nerds die hard. Nerds love nothing more to do than nerding out. So this has given me something new to nerd out about for awhile, and its been delightful.

And... since I’m still, specifically, a liberal arts research nerd at heart, here are some screenshots and a link to an awesome article on the importance of the Singer Sewing Machine company to the history of American (and world) furniture production. Read it here!

Teaser screenshots:

Alright. Laters, people! This is just the first part of my long-winded refurb story, and I look forward to bringing you the rest soon!

#sewing #upcycling and repurposing #vintagesewingmachines #midcenturymodern

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