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celestial-robots · 1 year ago

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Finding Equinox

A Sun & Moon X Reader Story

Chapter Four: In Opposition

First | Previous

Word Count: 6125

Summary: You never expected to get so attached to an animatronic—or pair of animatronics, whichever was more correct. But now that you are, might as well try to help Sun and Moon out, right? Sun’s happy to hear that, but Moon’s going to be a bit more difficult to deal with.

Author’s Note: Welp. New chapter, I guess. Only two weeks after posting the last one. I’ve been fueled by all the FNAF news that started up the day after I got back into the fandom XD But I’m happy I’m getting back into this, hopefully these chapters can come out with some regularity now that I’ve started writing again :)

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The next day, you woke up extra late and spent most of your time before work looking up information about the Pizzaplex’s daycare on the Internet. You didn’t expect to find much. With how successful Fazbear Entertainment was, despite having a literal ton of bad rumors about them, you figured they were pretty good at covering things up. But hey, it was worth a shot.

You started with the most unreliable narrator: the official YouTube channel for the local Mega Pizzaplex. Because of course it had an official YouTube channel. Of course it did. You opened up YouTube in an incognito window—because if you didn’t, YouTube would start recommending corporate channels to you—and found the channel. From there, you searched for “daycare.”

With YouTube being what it was, the results brought up anything including the word “daycare” even once. But the first three videos were the only ones with “daycare” in their titles: The Superstar Daycare is Now Open for Business at Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex! The Superstar Daycare is Temporarily Closed at Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex Introducing Lock-In Nights at the Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex Superstar Daycare!

Whoever ran this YouTube channel was not good at titling videos.

You opened all three videos in different tabs and looked at the dates they were posted. According to these, the daycare was opened about three years ago, with special Lock-In Nights becoming a thing a couple months later. The Daycare was “temporarily” closed nine months ago. Interesting.

Settling down in a more comfortable position in your desk chair, you opened up the notebook you’d found to write stuff down in. It was a sketchbook with a cool, space-themed cover that you bought for an art class but hadn’t even gotten close to filling up. Might as well use it for this. You grabbed a pencil and started watching the videos in the order they were released.

They turned out to be short, three-to-five-minute animations done in the same style as the candy ads all over the daycare area. In fact, most of the videos were advertising the Sunnydrop and Moondrop candies. Even the one about the Lock-In Nights, which was supposed to be an ad for a different service, spent about half the runtime reminding the viewers that the Sunnydrops and Moondrops were “perfect for kids of all ages!” Which you highly doubted, but that wasn’t important.

What was important was what the videos said about Sun and Moon. Most of it confirmed what Sun said last night; Sun was supposed to take care of the kids and play with them most of the time, and Moon was supposed to look after them during the two scheduled Naptimes (at 9am and 3pm). They seemed to be pretty much in charge of all daycare activities, with no mention of any human staff. Then again, maybe the human staff just couldn’t fit into an attention-grabbing three-to-five-minute time frame.

Then there were the Lock-In Nights. They were advertised as “sleepovers at the Mega Pizzaplex!” where the kids could spend all night hanging out with their favorite animatronic characters! Clearly, they were no longer running, or you would have heard about it. But when they did run, they took place from Saturday nights to Sunday mornings, with the main sleeping area being in the daycare but leaving the kids (mostly) free to wander the Pizzaplex. As Sun said, Moon seemed to be in charge of these, with the video taking great care to explain how he would keep the kids safe. In fact, that came up a lot in the Naptime segment of the last video, too. Moon keeping children safe. Was that his job? Or...was it supposed to be, at least?

The video about the daycare closing didn’t offer much information. In fact, it was frustratingly vague. It reminded you of all the news Fazbear put out a month ago saying the Pizzaplex would be closed for “maintenance” reasons. Which you were starting to doubt. Fazbear’s main way of ignoring incidents must be dancing around the subject.

With that, you turned to your second-best source of information: looking for lawsuits against Fazbear Entertainment. They were known for their suits, most of which were based around accidents. Yet, despite hearing a lot about Fazbear getting sued, there was hardly any news coverage of the suing. Or at least, reliable news coverage that wasn’t biased towards the company. This would have to take some digging. Digging that you, unfortunately, didn’t have time for due to your late waking.

But just before it was time to leave for your shift, you found something that might be helpful. After carefully phrasing your search request, you found a small, seemingly legitimate article about complaints at the Mega Pizzaplex. There was a long, detailed list of subjects, but you quickly found the section featured around the daycare. The complaints started out small—mostly parents talking about how scary the Daycare Attendant was, particularly the Naptime Attendant. Yeah, that made sense. But then it became more concerning. Kids with scrapes and bruises, parents with more serious injuries...and then came the missing persons reports. You’d heard about people going missing in the Pizzaplex’s vicinity, but you’d always sort of doubted their legitimacy. Mostly because you lived within an hour’s drive of the place and seen nothing. But...well, it was different reading the multiple reported disappearances.

The list had links to other articles, but you didn’t have time to check them out. You bookmarked the webpage and quickly scanned the list of daycare complaints one more time. Most of them were about Moon, either directly or because something happened during Naptime or a Lock-In Night, but there were a few talking about Sun as well. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t surprised to see those. Sun was so nice. But...well, he was a little touchy-grabby. Maybe he got carried away a few times.

You could ask him about that later.

The Pizzaplex was even more empty tonight than it was last night. Thursdays must not be that busy. Your FazWatch didn’t ping! the moment you clocked in, which lent more credence to that theory. Well, if you weren’t going to be immediately slammed with tasks, maybe you had time to stop by the daycare and talk to Sun. You began hurrying across the front lobby.

“Oh hey! New kid!”

You stopped immediately, silently cursing the fact that you waited even a little bit to put on your headphones. Now you had to go through small talk when you had plans. Your first task of the night was steadily approaching! You didn’t have time for interruptions! But it was too late. You pulled up your emergency face mask to hide your scowl, and turned around. “Oh, uh...hey. Sorry, what was your name again?”

“Seth. Don’t worry about it.” It was the same security guard from last night, the man with auburn hair. He gave you a friendly smile. “In a hurry, huh?”

“Haha, yeah. You know...got those tasks...and stuff.”

“Yeah, I do. You know, I was on general staff duty at a different Fazbear location before I got transferred here,” Seth said casually.

“Oh really?” You replied politely, while mentally scrambling for a way out of this conversation.

“Yeah, nothing this big, but it was a decently sized place. I worked my way up to supervisor, and then got an offer for security here. I worked at a firm before this, you know. So when the last head of security quit, they called me up and offered me the position. Came with more pay, so I said, ‘well of course!’”

“That’s cool.” You began slowly inching your way towards the distant stairs, hoping that Seth would notice your eagerness to leave and let you go.

He did not. You were trapped for another three minutes as he asked you about your past jobs and your college courses, in turn regaling you with experiences he had working for Fazbear Entertainment. Until, finally: ping! “New task added!”

“Oh.” You looked down at your watch, then back up at Seth. “Sorry, man, I, uh...I really should go. Don’t want this to pile up.”

“Right, right.” Seth nodded. “Gotta be hard with your injury. You know, my offer still stands to help you out with any tasks you can’t do. I work from nine to six every night, so I’ll always be here.”

“Good to know.” You started to step backwards. “I’ll...just go take care of this, then.” You spun around and began to walk away.

“Oh, by the way,” Seth said. “I know you’re new here, but you should really stay out of the daycare area.”

You stopped in your tracks and turned back around. “Really? Uh, why would you say that?” Did he know you were heading there?

“I have access to the security cameras on here.” Seth raised his arm, showing off his FazWatch. “You had to reset the daycare generators on Tuesday, right? I couldn’t catch all of what happened cause the stupid things don’t have night vision, but I saw your fall.”

“...ah.” Right. Security cameras. That made sense. Anything you did in this place was probably captured on video. Including going into the daycare playplace to meet up with Sun. There wasn’t anything wrong with that, was there? Why did you feel weirdly guilty?

“It was logged as an incident by the software so I had to review it,” Seth explained. “But yeah. You should avoid the daycare. It’s closed for a reason. As you probably figured out on Tuesday.”

“So...uh, even staff isn’t supposed to go in there?” you asked, trying to sound casual and not give away your increasing heartbeat. “But the doors let me in. On Tuesday, I mean.”

“Well, I guess there’s nothing stopping you,” Seth said. “If your security level lets you in, then you could technically waltz right in. As the company likes to say, ‘we are free of liability, do as you wish.’” He chuckled lightheartedly, then his expression fell into something more serious. “But really, though. Be careful. It’d suck for something to happen to a kid like you.”

You refrained from telling him that you weren’t a child. “Thanks. I’ll...keep that in mind.” You raised a hand in goodbye and turned around again. “See you later, then.”

Unfortunately, you were not able to go see Sun before your midnight break. There weren’t a lot of tasks, but there were enough to keep coming in a steady stream. You finally cleared up the list at 11:50, cleaning up a mess in Mazercise. And by that point, you decided “fuck it” and immediately made for the daycare, regardless of any new tasks that might show up in the ten minutes before your break.

You pulled open the door to the playplace, calling out as you did so. “Sun? It’s me! I’m here!”

Sun was busy fiddling with one of the toy barrel stacks, but the moment he heard your voice, his head spun around—followed shortly by the rest of his body—and he ran on over. “Friend! It’s good to see you again! I’ve spent all day making sure the daycare is clean and tidy, see? Isn’t it nice?” He held his arms out in a ta-da gesture.

“Uh—yeah. Looks great.” In reality, the daycare was just as dusty and abandoned as ever. But the toy barrels were orderly, and that seemed to be what Sun meant. “Hey, uh...I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh? A-are you sure you wouldn’t rather do some fun activities?” Sun’s voice had a desperate tinge to it. “Like the first time you were here? We can play until dawn! We can color together—”

“I’d love to, bud, really. We can do that later, but right now I want to talk to you about something important.”

“Well...alright.” Sun straightened, putting his hands behind his back. Like he was making sure you knew he was paying attention. You could hear a slight jingling. He was probably playing with his ribbons.

“Okay. I guess I’ll start with the most...potentially worrying part,” you said. “Did you know Moon can free roam around the Pizzaplex?”

“He can WHAT?!”

“Jesus!” You took a step back. When Sun yelled, he really yelled. “Yeah, I saw him twice last night.”

“Oh no. Oh no no no!” Sun’s entire body shook slightly, metal rattling. “This is bad! I knew he moved around during the recharge period, but I thought it was just around the daycare! I didn’t know he could leave! I’m so so sorry, friend! Oh no, oh no, who knows what he’s been up to? who knows how many people—I-I swear I had no idea!”

“Whoa, whoa, calm down, Sun! Breathe! Or—well, you can’t breathe, but...” You glanced around the daycare. “Do something grounding, like—I don’t know, count how many overhead lights there are.”

“One hundred and eight.”

You blinked. “What?”

“There are one hundred and eight overhead lights in the daycare area,” Sun repeated matter-of-factly. “Twelve rows of nine. Not all of them are visible from the ground, but they’re all there.”

“Whoa. Okay, then.” You said slowly. “Was that programmed into you?”

“Oh no, I counted them!” Sun explained.

“Right now?”

“No, of course not, friend. I counted them before, a lot of times actually. I also know how many tiles there are on the ground, in total and in each color, how many bars make up the play structures, the number of bricks in the castle towers, the number of balls in the ball pit—”

“Okay, I get it.” You nodded quickly. God, how much free time did Sun have? Well... actually... you knew exactly how much free time he had. “But anyway, back to Moon. Don’t worry, he didn’t try anything. I just talked at him for a couple minutes until he went away. I guess he was coming back here.”

Sun paused. “I’m not detecting any more injuries,” he said slowly. His posture wilted. “Oh, I’m so glad, friend. If something happened to you—if Moon did something—I don’t know what I’d do.”

You nodded slowly. “Well, this brings me to another, uh...important matter. I want to help you.”

Sun’s face rotated. “Help me what?”

“Help you get the daycare open again,” you explained further.

“Oh. Oh!” Sun leaned down and grabbed your shoulders. “Really?!”

“Really really,” you confirmed. “But it’s not going to be easy. Because, well...that means we need to help Moon.”

Sun tensed. He let go of your shoulders and leaned back. “Right. They did close it because of those...incidents,” he said slowly. “Friend, are you... What you said yesterday, about how Moon might have a glitch. Are you sure about that?”

“I am...ninety percent sure,” you said, being seventy percent sure. “I looked up some stuff online. Not a lot of it was helpful, but I noticed that things suddenly started getting serious all of a sudden. That wouldn’t happen for no reason. A glitch could be an explanation.”

A moment passed. Then Sun nodded. “Alright. If you’re sure. I-I hope that’s true. If it is... I’ll help.”

“Heh. That’s great, Sun. Thank you so much.” You pulled your backpack off, reaching inside to pull out your space-themed notebook and a pencil. “If that’s the case, I need to start with asking you some questions.”

“Alrighty.” Sun plopped down on the ground, folding his legs under him and putting his hands in his lap. He looked up at you with wide, white eyes. “Ask away, then!”

You opened your notebook up to a blank page, tapping the pencil on the edge. “Okay. So, when did the daycare close?”

“Oh, it was a while ago. If my internal clock is still functioning correctly, I’d say it was about...nine months, eight days, and eighteen hours ago when I first heard about it closing.”

“Alright. Thanks. That matches up with what I found out on my own.” You nodded. “And...what about the lights? You mentioned something about a protocol, or something?”

“Heh.” Sun tapped his fingers together. “Yes, the Lights-On Protocol. That started on that same day. I was really confused about it, because nobody told me when the daycare closed that all the lights were going to be staying on. But it was for the better! I-if Moon was going to be—we should keep the lights on! Lights on in the Daycare!”

“Lights on,” you repeated absentmindedly. “What was it like before the Lights-On Protocol?”

“Oh, before that, the lights in the whole Pizzaplex went out at midnight when everything closed! They would turn on at six once the night shift ended. Except for during Lock-In Nights. We wanted the kids to be able to have a good night’s sleep, so the lights would be out at eight and on at eight. In the Daycare, at least. They would still be on in other areas.”

“That makes sense.” You nodded, writing this down. “Um...okay, so you’re not allowed to leave the daycare area—or...well, really just this area.” You gestured around at the playplace. “Because the Daycare is much bigger than just this. Did they change your permissions when they closed the daycare?”

Sun hesitated. “Well... not right away.”

You tilted your head, sensing a story in those words. “Alright.” You lowered yourself to the ground so the two of you were sitting across from each other, just like last night. “Why not?”

“Um...you see, they didn’t tell me that the daycare was going to be closed,” Sun said carefully, fidgeting nervously. “So, that first day, when nobody showed up to drop off their kids—not even the usual families!—I thought it was a...a weird coincidence. Maybe they were all busy! Even...even the security person. But then, two days passed, and I couldn’t wait around anymore. So I went out to ask about what happened. I talked to a few people before the head technician showed up and—and explained the whole situation. In a very...loud...way.” Sun looked down. “But it’s fine, I shouldn’t have been out there anyway, I probably should have waited. They would have told me eventually.”

You glared down at your notebook. Something told you there’d been no plan to tell Sun anything. “So, then they changed your permissions?”

“Exactly. The head technician took me down to Parts and Service, and...and removed the free-roaming protocols. It was very...strange.” Sun said that word very carefully, as if it was a substitute for another word he didn’t want to say. “Then we came back here, and I’ve been here ever since.”

“You’ve been here...for nine months,” you said, mostly to yourself. “Holy fucking shit.”

“Friend, that language is not—”

“No, I know, sorry, I’m just...I’m just realizing something.” You set your notebook down on your lap. “You’ve been in here. Not leaving, not even able to leave because of your programming...for nine months. Without anyone coming in.”

Sun nodded.

You paused. “I’m going to apologize ahead of time for the language, but—Are you. Fucking. Shitting my pants right now?”

“Um... putting the language aside... no?” Sun said, his permanent smile almost visibly confused.

“It’s an expression, Sun, it just means that this is—this is freaking unbelievable.” Your eyes widened. “Wait a minute. Wai-wai-wuh-wah-wait. The Lights-On Protocol has been active for these nine months. So, Moon has only come out for those five minutes every hour each night, right?”

“Right?” Sun was still confused, but went along with what you were saying.

“That’s only from midnight to six. That’s five minutes per six hours, meaning—meaning Moon has only been able to exist for freaking—screw it, for fucking thirty minutes per day?!”

“Yes, that’s how math works, friend,” Sun said.

You leaned back, processing this. Sure, Moon might have tried to kill you, or at least bring you bodily harm, but you’re not sure he deserved that. Sun definitely didn’t. “So, you have all the time in the world, but you’re trapped in this tiny-ass space, and Moon is able to roam the whole Pizzaplex, but only for thirty minutes per day. That’s...Sun, do you know how fucked up that is? Why didn’t they just power you off if they were going to shut down the daycare?!”

“I don’t know,” Sun admitted. “But—but it’s probably like asking ‘why didn’t they just put you in a coma while you’re not doing your job,’ right?”

“But—” You started to point out that you were a person with a life outside of work, while Sun and Moon were an animatronic actually owned by the company, but then you stopped. For some reason, you felt uncomfortable saying it, even if it was true. “Maybe it is. I-I don’t know. Sun, do you have a rest mode or something? That you could have just gone into? Like falling asleep?”

“Hmm. Well, sort of,” Sun said slowly. “We have a timer on our rest mode, only lasting one hour. It’s so that we never leave the kids unattended for too long. And once we come out of rest mode, we can’t use it again for another twelve hours.”

“I—okay, that makes sense in theory, but—jeez.” You imagined only being able to sleep for one hour every half a day. The idea was sort of appealing at first, but the longer you thought about it, the more horrifying it became. You shook your head. Maybe Fazbear didn’t know how alive their robots were. Maybe this all made sense from a corporate perspective. But from where you were, this whole situation was impractical at best and messed up at worst. You took a deep breath, then moved on to your next question. “Okay. Um...so. When did Moon start acting weird?”

“Oh. Um...” Sun paused. “I mean, he was always a little weird.”

“You know what I mean, though, right?” you said gently.

Sun nodded. “You mean...the incidents. I think the first one was a year ago. Or at least, that was the first time I heard the complaints.”

“A year ago.” You picked up your pencil again and wrote this down. “Did anything else happen around that time? Anything? Even the smallest thing could be important.”

“Well, I think we got some new staff members! I didn’t really talk to them much except to say hi and welcome them to the company.”

“New staff.” You weren’t sure if that was noteworthy, but you wrote it down anyway. “Nothing else?”

“Um...they did move that old arcade game to our room,” Sun said slowly.

“An arcade game?” You asked, intrigued.

“Balloon World!” Sun said excitedly. “I don’t know why they put it there—I think maybe they just ran out of places to put it—but it’s there! And they haven’t taken it out! I have the high score now!”

“...huh.” That seemed a little random, but again, you weren’t sure how related it was. Still, you made a note of it. “Can I...see the game?”

Sun paused. “Well...it’s in our room.”

“Yeah, you said that.” You looked up at him. “Do you not want me to go in your room?”

“W-well—you’re not banned from there! I don’t think you could be banned from there, since your permissions still say you’re a technician. But—but it’s hard to get up there. The door outside is hidden and they set up some security measures that are hard to get through—and I can’t bring you up there through the balcony! Taking people on a flying trip has been strictly forbidden for a while! So—so you can’t really get up there, anyway, really, i-it’s not worth looking—”

“Sun, if you don’t want me to go in your room, I’m not gonna go in your room,” you said patiently. “It’s your space, you can decide who can come in.” You paused. “I mean, unless there’s an emergency or something. But under normal circumstances, I’m not going to go in there unless you say I can.”

“Oh.” Sun still looked tense, with his shoulders somewhat hunched. “Well...if you really, really want to, it’s alright.”

“It’s fine.” You shrugged. “Up to you.”

“O...kay, friend.” His shoulders relaxed a little, joints drooping downward. “Th-thank you.”

“No problem.” You closed your notebook and checked your FazWatch. It was now 12:10am. No new tasks had appeared while you were talking to Sun. Your stomach growled.

“Friend, are you hungry?” Sun said, apparently having heard that. “You should remember to eat!”

You laughed. “I know, I know. Hey, question. Are there rules about eating in the daycare?”

“No.” Sun gasped, clapping his hands together as his smile seemed to grow. “Are we going to have a pizza party?!”

“I was just thinking about getting a sandwich or something from one of the restaurants, but pizza does sound pretty good right now.” You grinned. “Alright. Give me a few minutes to run over to the nearest restaurant and get some pizza. I’ll be right back.”

Luckily, since the Pizzaplex was closed, the kitchens had no other customers to slow you down. Even so, it took a full twenty minutes for you to power-walk over to the closest pizzeria, grab a pizza and some Fizzy Faz, and power-walk back to the daycare. Sun watched you approach through the glass windows and ran over to open the doors for you. “Pizza delivery!” you shouted.

“Wow! Just in time for dinner!” Sun said, giggling. “What excellent service! You deserve a thousand-percent tip!”

You couldn’t help but chuckle as well. “Hey, um, I’m gonna have to set this down on the desk. Is that okay?”

“Yes, that should be fine. We don’t want to put food on the floor! That’s not clean at all!”

“Great.” You used your hoodie sleeve to wipe some dust off a section of the desk, then set the pizza box down. “The STAFF bots wouldn’t let me use any of the plates—kept waving me away from the station. So we’ll have to hold the slices in napkins.” You awkwardly hopped onto the desk, wincing as the twisting movement aggravated your injury. But there were no chairs in the daycare, so you had to sit on its surface. “I probably should’ve asked you what toppings you wanted,” you said, opening the box. “Sorry, I forgot.”

Sun paused. “Um...friend?”

“What?” You looked at Sun. Stared for a couple seconds. Then the pieces clicked in your mind. You reached up and smacked your forehead. “I’m an idiot.”

“No you’re not!” Sun hurried to say. “You just made a little mistake! And it’s fine, really. I can still be part of the pizza party!” He reached into the pizza box and picked up one of the slices, smushing it into his smile and smearing cheese and sauce all over his face. “Mmm, see? I love eating food! It’s something I do every day!”

You burst into laughter. “Sun! Ah, you’re great, dude.” You reached into your backpack, taking out the cans of Fizzy Faz and a stack of napkins. “I love the commitment to the bit, but you’re getting it all over your face. Here.” You held out the napkins.

“Oh. Thank you!” Sun took the napkins, putting the smushed pizza slice back into the box. “You’re right, got to keep things clean. Clean up, clean up.”

As he wiped his face, you grabbed one of the Fizzy Faz cans and opened it, pulling off the tab and putting it in your pocket. Ah, the refreshing taste of fake grape flavoring. Honestly Fizzy Faz tasted pretty good, but there was probably a million grams of sugar in each can. Fazbear pizza was also alright. Not the best quality pizza you’d ever had, but smothered in cheese and with a nice crust. You devoured a whole slice before Sun was finished cleaning. “Mmmm, pizza,” you said. “This combination of cheese and tomato is very pleasing to my hyu-man taste buds, and certainly not my antenna.”

“Hmm? What are you talking about, friend?” Sun asked.

“Ah, don’t mind me, it’s just a bit from this video online.” You shrugged. “You reminded me of it earlier. Thought it was funny.”

“Really? Do you watch a lot of videos online? On the—the world wide web?”

You smile. “Yes, I watch a lot of videos on the Interwebs. Play a lot of video games, too. Did you know that Fazbear has inspired a series of horror games?”

Sun’s face tilted. “Like—games you play to be scared on purpose, right? What are the games about?”

“Well, on the surface, you just have to survive five nights while... uh... animatronics try to...kill you,” you said awkwardly. “But there’s really this hidden lore! It’s really interesting! Like, it’s all about these five kids who... uh... died...in a Freddy’s restaurant...” You trail off.

Sun’s white-eyed gaze was piercing. “That doesn’t sound very nice.” His voice was very quiet.

“Well, Fazbear always said that the games were completely made-up,” you said slowly. Though, based on your own recent experiences, you were wondering just how much was imagined in those games. “Uh...but I like other games, too.”

“Oh really?! What’s your favorite? I’d love to talk about that!” Sun hurriedly said, his sudden enthusiasm clearly an attempt to change the subject. But hey, it was a subject change you welcomed. This one was making you uneasy.

You spent the next little while telling Sun all about the video games you played. He listened intently, occasionally asking clarifying questions. Before you knew it, you’d finished half the pizza and two cans of Fizzy Faz, and the time on your phone read 12:53.

“Oh...oh shit!” You jumped off the desk. “Ah, fuck!” That second cry was a response to the pain brought about by the sudden change in position.

“Friend! Are you alright?!” Sun grabbed your shoulders, staring at you. “O-okay, nothing’s—you’re not hurt, that’s good.”

“Yeah, no more than I was already.” You pressed a hand to your ribs, immediately yanking it away when (surprise, surprise) the pressure just made it hurt more. “Sun, it’s almost one o’clock. The lights are going to go out in two minutes.” You double-checked the time. “Shit! One minute, it just changed!”

“Oh no!” Sun started, suddenly yanking his hands away from you. “Friend, I-I know you said you want to help Moon, but—but you’re—you should leave the daycare!”

“Way ahead of you, bud.” Sure, you wanted to help with the possible-Moon-glitch situation, but ideally, you would help from a safe location. You started to run towards the doors, but had to stop when your ribs flared in protest. Before you could say anything, Sun ran forward, scooping you up like a sack of four. A second later, he deposited you on the other side of the wooden door. “Thanks,” you breathed. “H-hey, my shift tomorrow is all night shift, twelve to six—”

“Yes, yes, very good!” Sun nodded frantically. “I’ll see you then!” And then he closed the doors.

You checked the time again. Still 12:54. You turned around and walked as quickly as possible away from the daycare door. But...you didn’t leave the Daycare entirely. Instead, you stopped when you were a good ten or more feet away from the door, and turned around to face it. You took out your flashlight and braced yourself.

The instant the lights went out, you switched the flashlight on and aimed the beam at the daycare door. Your eyes darted to the glass walls, looking for movement beyond them. Nothing. But you didn’t move.

Then the daycare doors creaked open. Out reached a slender, metal hand, followed by a large, circular face with red eyes. Moon stared at you. He waved. “It’s past your bedtime,” he said.

“Again, I am an adult who works here,” you said, keeping your voice as calm as possible. “Besides, the thing about sleeping is that you need a regular schedule. Even if you sleep at the worst times, if it’s regular, then you’ll get a restful sleep.”

Moon’s head tilted as he leaned further out the door. “Is yours?”

You blinked. “Is my what?”

“Sleep schedule. Regular.”

“Oh.” That made sense. But... “Why do you care?”

Moon said nothing. His face rotated a full 360 degrees.

You decided to keep talking, to keep him busy. “Well, it was, but this new work schedule is gonna mess with that. My shifts are at three different times over five days. That’s going to suck. But like, what are you gonna do? I need a job. For moooneyyy. Money can be exchanged for goods and services. I bought some extra-strength melatonin recently, hopefully that’ll help.”

“Moondrop,” Moon suddenly said.

“What?” You were confused for a second, then you remembered. “Are you seriously advertising those sketchy candies to me? Is that in your programming or something? Or did you just say it because the thought of taking stuff to fall asleep reminded you of them?”

“Moondrop.” You could’ve sworn Moon’s grin was a bit more smug than usual.

“Great.” You took a deep breath. “Well. Anyway. I need to tell you something. The same thing I told Sun earlier. I want to help get the daycare reopened.” You paused to gauge Moon’s reaction. But unlike with Sun, whose body language was easy to read, Moon’s was a bit more difficult. Also, most of his body was hidden behind the door. “But in order to do that, you need to stop causing incidents.” Another deep breath. “I really don’t think you were always like this. I looked up some stuff online, and you just sort of...suddenly changed one day. Is it really a glitch? Or did something happen? Either way, I’m...I’m sure I can help.”

“You can’t.”

You instinctively took a step backwards at the harsh growl. “I mean, I’m no programmer. I did take, like, one programming class in college that I did pretty good in, but I’m sure that whatever the hell’s going on in your robot brain is a lot more complicated than ‘Hello World.’ So, yeah, I guess you’re right, I can’t help directly. But I want to do something. You and Sun have been stuck here for way too long. I’m sure you’re really upset about the Lights-On Protocol. If we can—can, uh...” You weren’t sure how to phrase this without sounding rude, something you definitely didn’t want to sound like to the tall, dangerous animatronic. “If you can—if whatever’s happened with you can...stop happening...then we can eventually get it reversed, and everything can go back to normal. I don’t know if you can do anything about your...situation. But if you can, I’d appreciate it if you helped me help you. Sun would appreciate it, too.”

Moon had been bouncing the whole time you talked, almost absentmindedly. As soon as you mentioned Sun, he immediately stopped. “Sun...?” he asked.

“Yeah, Sun wants to help, too.” You nodded.

Moon laughed darkly. “Sun hates me.”

“Wh...what?” You asked, surprised.

“Hates me,” Moon repeated.

You...weren’t expecting this. But you couldn’t pin down why. What was so strange about this? Then you realized this was the first time Moon had...referred to himself in your brief conversations. Unprompted, at least. You weren’t sure if your asking about the free-roam permissions counted. And he’d never mentioned Sun before. “Well...I do think he’s scared of you,” you said slowly. “I told you that last night. It’s a scary situation, to have your body taken over any time the lights go too dark. I mean, I think you’d understand that. You’re in the same situation. You’re not scared of him, though. Are you?”

Moon laughs again. “Not scary.”

“Yeah, I thought you’d say that. I mean, personally, there’s going to be an inherently scary thing about any animatronic to some people. But Sun’s one of the least intimidating. Besides the height. Seriously, it had to have costed more to make you two so tall. But we’re getting sidetracked. The point is, I want to help, and Sun wants to help, regardless of what you think his opinion of you is. But it’s going to be hard to do that if you won’t—won’t reach out. So. Is it a glitch? Is that why the incidents started?”

Moon said nothing in response. His red eyes stared at you for what felt like ages, as you stood there and tried not to be intimidated. Then, he said it again: “You can’t.” And disappeared back into the daycare, closing the door behind him.

You stayed there for a while more. Then the lights came on again, and your FazWatch ping!ed. You were still on the clock, after all. So you slowly headed out to do your assigned tasks. You didn’t see Moon again the rest of the night.

#fnaf security breach #fnaf sun #fnaf moon #fnaf daycare attendant #x reader #y/n #sundrop #moondrop #findingequinoxfic

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mothboyhalo · 11 months ago

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Personal shit please let me know if I need to tag anything I’ll do my best!

I just got through my next stages of exams and shit and once again waiting on results. Nervous not going to lie cause my situation is shit. On the bright side the new doctor whose handling my case is extremely kind and the staff were really supportive so my anxiety was soothed! It’s was a little jarring cause what I had done today was extremely painful and traumatic if I’m being honest but hey what can ya do am I right?

Honestly I’m trying to stay positive and everything hoping my results are promising but as of today I’m officially on my first month on cancer treatment so it’s getting treated lmao. I won’t lie I’ve almost cried a couple times today but overall I’m ok like I have a good support system and I’m taking everything step by step.

I just kind of need to jott down what’s happening in a kind of therapeutic manner and I’ve felt safe here since coming back. I’ll probably post some more fan art since I have fewer shifts these next two weeks (my poor manager panicked cause I did a big dumb and just forwarded the appointments confirmations to get days off basically saying what’s happening without being explicit about it) I’m a strong person or at least like to think I am and all that.

Sorry again if you see this and I know it really different from my usual post but yeah.

#tired slug mumbling #tw cancer #tw medical

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lawonderlandwriter · 2 years ago

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Everything we know about the Jon Snow Show

Facts:

~ News about a Jon Snow spinoff was first broken by James Hibbered of The Hollywood Reporter, then subsequently confirmed by Emilia Clarke, and finally by George RR Martin himself.

~ The working title for the show is Snow (though this could definitely change, ex: GRRM wanted the ill fated show about the Long Night to be called The Long Night but the HBO official title was Blood Moon).

~ The writing / producing team for Snow is a crew put together by Kit Harington and the idea for the series was created by Kit.

~ Kit’s writing / producing crew visited GRRM in Santa Fe and are working with him / his writing and consulting team to “hammer out the show.”

~ Snow is not yet greenlit by HBO (that they’ve announced, at least), but is in the “script” stage of development, which includes an approved outline and treatment, notes, and multiple script drafts (though whether for a pilot or a whole season is unknown).

~ Lastly, goes without saying, HBO will be the network behind Snow.

Reasonable Assumptions:

~ Friend of Kit Harington and co-executive producer of the limited series Gunpowder, Daniel West, will likely be involved with the show.

~ Tandem news, Snow will likely be a limited series (West’s page on his agent’s website was briefly updated with an item for an unnamed limited series with HBO but it has since been deleted) (and not to toot my own horn but I had already long predicted that it would be a limited series so, yay me).

~ Brienne of Tarth actor Gwendoline Christie could be involved, as she has said she would love to play the character again and gave a “maybe” when asked point blank if she’d be involved in the Jon Snow spinoff.

~ Lastly, could be something but could be nothing, but House of the Dragon co-showrunner, Miguel Sapochnik recently left the series after only being involved for a single season. With Sapochnik also being a friend of Kit Harington and Kit being an admirer of his work, it’s entirely possible he’s been poached by Kit for Snow.

Unhinged Dot Connecting:

(The tinfoil hat is screwed on tight for this section and the shipper goggles are ON so take all these predictions with a grain of salt). Keep reading line included cuz this gets LONG.

~ We know Kit personally told Emilia about the Jon Snow spinoff. They’ve talked about this show together. Granted, it could have just been in the casual context, “Hey, I’m thinking about pitching a Jon Snow spinoff to GRRM, what do you think?” But arguably, it also could have been a lot more. For all we know / have been told, this is something Kit and Emilia have come up with together. Based on their individual thoughts of the final season and their desires for their characters’ endgames, it makes sense that they would ruminate on the S8 ending together and then come to the logical conclusion most of us had in response to watching that dumpster fire: it’s bullshit and it should be re-done.

That Emilia was THE former cast member to officially confirm that the spinoff was real after the THR leak feels significant. Also, George’s Not-A-Blog was posted the same day that Emilia’s BBC interview came out (Gwen Christie’s Newsweek article also came out this same day, but was more framed from the perspective of it already being confirmed and just asking Gwen if she’d be involved, whereas Emilia’s was asking if it was true or not). All 3 confirmations of the show from people being previously involved in GOT coming out on the same day and exactly one week after the Hibbered article. I mean, I know I’ve got my tinfoil hat screwed on tight here but it really feels as if this was all... planned.

~ Though she initially demurred in the BBC interview and said she was “done” playing Daenerys, Emilia has since backtracked. At the DIFLondon event, she was asked about playing Dany again in a sequel and allegedly said it would be “difficult” because she’s dead and “We don’t know where her body is.” She allegedly dropped the old “could come back as a white walker” chestnut. And she said she wants Dany to be with Jon, for them to work through their issues in family therapy (lol), and said that Dany is ultimately a hopeful character.

So all her talk about Dany being dead, to me, is very reminiscent of Kit’s “I’m dead” routine following the GOT Season 5 finale. She absolutely knows that characters can come back from the dead in the ASOIAF universe which is probably why, after saying it’d be difficult to play her again with Dany being dead, she added “we don’t know where her body is” as an additional obstacle to her coming back to the character.

But, of course, as we’ve all theorized about a thousand times, at the end of GOT, it very much seemed as if they were hinting at Drogon flying toward Volantis, where there’s a temple of the lord of light with red priests who could bring Dany back.

Now, do I think D&D purposefully set up Drogon’s location to hint at Dany coming back for potential future spinoffs? Not really. I mean, it’s entirely possible they thought they could come back to the franchise a few years later but it’s also possible HBO asked them to leave that all ambiguous for the purpose of potential spinoffs, with or without their involvement (like Showtime did with the original Dexter series - the writers were forbidden from killing off Dexter).

~ According to Maisie Williams, Kit was allegedly told back in Season 3 that he was going to be the one to kill the Night King.

This is such an odd rumor considering the character of the Night King doesn’t exist in the books and didn’t even appear in the show series until Season 4 (though Maisie could have gotten the seasons wrong). But, so far as canonical ASOIAF, Kit being told his could have been genuine. D&D learned from George the final fates of all the major characters around the time Season 3 was airing. So if George had told them Jon was involved / helped with stopping the White Walkers, they could have offhandedly passed that information on to Kit.

With House of the Dragon now shining a beacon on the Prince That Was Promised prophecy that D&D completely abandoned in Season 8, this could become a central plot point for Snow, especially if they’re going to rehash the White Walker plot with the old, “but they weren’t really defeated” trope.

At the end of GOT, Arya is headed west of Westeros and has Aegon’s prophecy-inscribed dagger with her, which could definitely prompt a return of Maisie Williams to the character in the spin-off.

Now, this absolutely does not mean that Dany can’t also be TPTWP. And according to the prophecy from the books about waking dragons from stone and Maester Aemon realizing it could be someone male or female, it actually makes more sense for it to be Dany. Going back to HOTD, with the Dance of Dragons ending with Rhaenyra being killed by her usurping male relative, it feels reasonable that they’d be setting up a Targaryen woman to be the savior of Westeros, not a man.

At the very least, if Emilia is indeed coming back as a resurrected Daenerys, we can safely say this would be Dany’s redemption. There is NO WAY Emilia would agree to come back to the character if Kit’s grand spinoff idea was to turn her into the Night Queen or another kind of “big bad” for the show. If Dany comes back, she will be redeemed, she will be a hero, and she and Jon will be given another shot at love (true, they could die again in the end, but they’d likely die together as heroes).

~ Speaking on House of the Dragon again, this is a show that they are rushing. There’s such a huge time skip in the middle of the show that they had to cast multiple actors to play the same characters to show them when they were young vs when they got older. And this isn’t an issue of waiting for actors to grow up so they can do sex scenes à la Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams. The younger versions of the characters cast were adult actors too. And there is certainly enough material on the Dance of Dragons to last a series at least as long as Game of Thrones. However, HOTD is being planned as only a three or four season show.

Now, why on earth would HBO (and GRRM for that matter, as he was always in favor of having more seasons of GOT to flesh out the story more) only order a show for three or four seasons, when there is certainly enough material to run for at least as long as GOT did?

Well, if they are going to tie in the Jon Snow spinoff show with HOTD (and especially if the spinoff contains a Daenerys resurrection / redemption), it makes a whole lot of sense that they’d want to premiere Snow as HOTD is ending. Season 1 is already half way finished airing, which means it’s only got two or three to go. If Snow rides on the coattails of HOTD and follows directly after its run, we could get the spinoff on screen by as early as 2024.

(As far as production and writing timelines for House of the Dragon, this could logistically make sense. Though Fire and Blood, the book on which HOTD is based, came out in 2018, and the series was ordered by HBO around October 2019, writing for the series only began around January 2020. George stated that Snow has been development almost as long as the possible shows for Ten Thousand Ships, 9 Voyages, and The Hedge Knight. And though those three potential spinoffs weren’t announced / leaked until early 2021, they’d have to have been in development / talks much earlier than that before news of their development finally got out).

Other silly tidbits:

~ When a fan explained to Kit the finer points of fandom shipping and that they believed Jon and Daenerys were “The Song of Ice and Fire,” he called it “brilliant” and said he “totally agreed.”

If HOTD was in the writing stage then and Snow was in very early development, Kit could definitely have been agreeing because he knew he was already creating a limited series spinoff based on that exact idea and had insights from GRRM about the true ending to ASOIAF.

~ When Kit was asked whether or not he’d become a father in Season 8 (before the table read when he found out Jon and Dany’s ultimate fates in the show series) he certainly seemed fond of the idea. And, as has been relentlessly pointed out, the GOT 7x07 commentary with David Benioff, Dan Weiss, Kit Harington, and Lena Heady (not to mention the numerous references to “children” throughout Season 7) definitely seemed to hint that this would be the case for Season 8, and realistically could have been a planned plot scrapped by D&D in favor of Mad Queen Dany. But if it’s part of Dany and Jon’s book fates and is a plot favored by Kit, we could finally get a Targling at the end of Snow if Dany is indeed resurrected.

But what do you guys think? I’ve already predicted that Kit’s growing out the beard in preparation for beginning filming Snow, though it hasn’t been announced that the show is going to series yet. I doubt they would officially announce it before filming begins because it is such big news and HBO wouldn’t want paps trying to get photos of the set and spoil parts of the plot. Though if we get short-haired Emilia soon or blonde Emilia, I think we’ll be able to say with confidence that it’s happening.

#Jon Snow spinoff #Jon Snow Show #Kit Harington #Emilia Clarke #George RR Martin #my harebrained predictions and dot-connecting #I'm going to continue to remain hopeful for Snow #hopeful for Snow and hopeful for TWOW to fucking finally come out

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no-reply95 · 3 years ago

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Jealous Guys

Something I’ve been thinking about for a while now is the different ways jealousy manifested for John and Paul over the course of their friendship.

I’m going to look at John and Paul in turn and have a look at some of the key ways jealousy appeared, before, during and after the Beatles period. This will be a looooong post so if you want to go on deep dive keep reading below.

John

Jealousy was something that John acknowledged as a big part of his personality, as far as I’m aware, he only acknowledged his jealousy publicly in terms of his relationship with Yoko but I believe jealousy was a feature of all of John’s major relationships. John’s first real partnership was with Pete Shotton, his childhood best friend, and Pete has outlined how John’s jealousy and possessiveness was a feature in their friendship with them falling out when Pete first started showing interest in girls and with John acting out when Pete started to spend more time with other friends, instead of him, here Pete recounts John’s reflection on this period of their friendship:

“Years later John confessed to having felt acutely jealous throughout that interlude: “I was scared shitless I’d lost you after our fight in science class, when you starting playing with David Jones. I really thought I’d gone too far with you that time.“

Pete Shotton, John Lennon: In My Life , 1983

Pete’s recollections establish a pattern in John’s life of acting out due to a fear of abandonment and losing those who are closest to him so it’s not surprising that once John had formed a strong bond with Paul that would stir similar fears in him.

Below I’ve categorised the groups of people that were the focus of John’s jealousy and have picked one person from each group as an example:

Family - Jim McCartney

Paul’s family was and continues to be a big part of his life. From the outset of their friendship, John was made aware of how important Jim was to Paul and vice versa. John and Paul had to skip school to hang out together because Jim wouldn’t have John in their house initially and John confessed his resentment of Jim’s influence over Paul’s life. It appears that after some time John grew tired of having to contend with Jim for the position of the most important person in Paul’s life, and this culminated in John giving Paul a pseudo ultimatum as John discussed in 1971:

“But Paul would always give in to his dad. His dad told him to get a job, he fucking dropped the group and started working on the fucking lorries, saying, "I need a steady career." We couldn't believe it… “So I told him on the phone, "Either come or you're out." So he had to make a decision between me and his dad then, and in the end he chose me”

St. Regis Hotel interview, Sept. 5, 1971

Friends - Mal Evans

Throughout the active years of the band it was typical of them to refer to each other as their best friends and, given the lives they led, I think the simple fact that no one else could understand what it was like to be a Beatle would have meant they all shared a special bond. However, they all had friendships outside of the band and this was something that could cause issues for John when it came to Paul.

According to Tune In, Mal initially became friends with Paul during the band's initial shows at the Cavern Club then, after a suggestion from George, Mal became a part of the Beatles entourage thereafter. Mal had friendships with all the Beatles, as part of their inner circle, but from his comments it appears John took umbrage with the closeness of Mal’s friendship with Paul:

“Paul would suddenly come in with this circle saying, “This is Magical Mystery Tour, will you write that bit?” And I was choked that he’d arranged it all with Mal anyway, for a kickoff, and had all this idea going”

St. Regis Hotel interview, Sept. 5, 1971

Mal also comes up when John discusses his recollections of the writing of Eleanor Rigby:

“So rather than ask me, “John, do these lyrics—” Because by that period, he didn’t want to say that – to me. Okay? So what he would say was, “Hey, you guys, finish off the lyrics,”... “ Now, I sat there with Mal Evans, a road manager who was a telephone installer, and Neil Aspinall, who was a not-completed student accountant who became our road manager. And I was insulted and hurt that he’d thrown it out in the air”...” There might be a version that they contributed, but there isn’t a line in there that they put in.“

Playboy interview, David Sheff 1980

John’s discomfort with the closeness of Paul’s relationship with Mal was something that wasn’t lost on Mal’s wife Lil:

“He was always at their beck and call. He was a nice fella to have around, so much so that it could provoke little jealousies within the band. When I met Yoko years after Mal died, she said John had told her he’d been very jealous at one point of Mal’s relationship with Paul.”

Lil Evans interview with Ray Connolly, 2005

Love interests - Linda McCartney

Throughout their friendship both John and Paul had quite a few love interests, which (to varying degrees) prompted jealousy between them.

Although John displayed jealousy of a few of Paul’s love interests this was no more apparent than with Paul’s first wife Linda McCartney, which is confirmed by both John’s words and actions regarding Linda and her partnership with Paul:

“"Then Klein informed Lennon that McCartney had secretly been increasing his stake in Northern Songs. ‘John flew into a rage,’ recalled Apple executive Peter Brown. ‘At one point I thought he was really going to hit Paul, but he managed to calm himself down.’ One unconfirmed report of this meeting had Lennon leaping towards Linda McCartney, his fists raised in her face"

Peter Doggett, You Never Give Me Your Money

"Int: When did you first meet her [Linda]? John: The first time I saw her was after that press conference to announce Apple in America. We were just going back to the airport and she was in the car with us. I didn't think she was particularly attractive, I wondered what he was bothering having her in the car for. A bit too tweedy, you know. But she sat in the car and took photographs and that was it. And the next minute she's married him."

St. Regis Hotel interview, Sept. 5, 1971

“I was reading your letter and wondering what middle aged cranky Beatle fan wrote it... "What the hell—it’s Linda! . . . Linda— if you don’t care what I say—shut up!—let Paul write—or whatever.”

"Of course, the money angle is important—to all of us—especially after all the petty shit that came from your insane family/in laws—and GOD HELP YOU OUT, PAUL—see you in two years—I reckon you’ll be out then"

Draft letter from John Lennon to Linda McCartney, circa 1971

"The presumption is a) the Beatles would get together again or are even thinking about it and b) if they got together, John and Yoko split, Paul and Linda split"

John (with Yoko) talks to John Fielding on Weekend World, 1973

"John often speculated on why Paul and Linda remained married while, at the same time, resenting their evident happiness, to the extent that he had Green do a tarot reading to ensure him that Paul and Linda were really secretly miserable and were going to divorce within a year"

According to Fred Seaman and John Green, source

Paul

Of course jealousy wasn't a one-way street in the Lennon-McCartney relationship. Unlike with John, for Paul I'm focusing more on the key people I believe his jealousy, regarding John, was directed to:

Stuart Sutcliffe

John met Stu at Art College and struck up a really close friendship with him. At the point that John met Stu, John had already become friends with Paul so Paul felt threatened when Stu entered the picture:

"When he [Stu] came into the band, around Christmas of 1959, we were a little jealous of him; it was something I didn’t deal with very well. We were always slightly jealous of John’s other friendships.

When Stuart came in, it felt as if he was taking the position away from George and me. We had to take a bit of a back seat."

Paul McCartney, Anthology 2000

"Paul was saying something about Stu’s girl – he was jealous because she was a great girl, and Stu hit him, on stage. And Stu wasn’t a violent guy at all."

John Lennon, 1967 Anthology 2000

"I looked up to Stu. I depended on him to tell me the truth. Stu would tell me if something was good and I’d believe him. We were awful to him sometimes. Especially Paul, always picking on him. I used to explain afterwards that we didn’t dislike him, really."

John Lennon, The Beatles Hunter Davies 1968

Yoko Ono

Of all the relationships I've already discussed, the relationship and jealousy displayed from Paul towards Yoko is probably the most widely discussed in Beatles historiography and general discourse. From the official start of Yoko's relationship with John in 1968 it was clear that Paul resented her presence in John's life and her proximity to the band:

"He even sent them [John and Yoko] a hate letter once, unsigned, typed. I brought it in with the morning mail. Paul put most of his fan mail in a big basket and let it sit for weeks, but John and Yoko opened every piece. When they got to the anonymous note, they looked puzzled, looking at each other with genuine pain in their eyes. ‘You and your Jap tart think you’re hot shit’, it said."

Francie Schwartz, Body Count 1972

"Cause she’s [Yoko] very much to do with it from John’s angle, that’s the thing, you know. And I – the thing is that I – there’s— Again, like, there’s always only two answers. One is to fight it, and fight her, and try and get The Beatles back to four people without Yoko, and sort of ask her to sit down at the board meetings. Or else, the other thing is to just realize that she’s there, you know. And he’s not gonna sort of – split with her, just for our sakes."

Paul McCartney, Let It Be Sessions, 1969

"I told John on the phone the other day that at the beginning of last year I was annoyed with him. I was jealous because of Yoko, and afraid about the break-up of a great musical partnership. It’s taken me a year to realise that they were in love. Just like Linda and me."

Paul McCartney, interview with Ray Connolly, 1970

What are the similarities and differences in the way jealousy manifested for John and Paul?

I think it's obvious but bears repeating that both John and Paul displayed jealousy towards other people who they felt would threaten their relationship so that's central to all the instances I have flagged, Jim, Mal, Linda, Stu, Yoko all posed real or imagined threats to John and Paul's partnership.

However, you'll note that I included more sources to display John's jealousy regarding Paul and that I categorised John's jealousy targets whereas I only pulled out two key individuals for Paul, this isn't to say that John was more jealous than Paul was, as jealousy isn't something you can quantify, but to highlight my opinion that Paul's jealousy regarding John was more targeted than John's jealousy regarding Paul. I think what stands out to me is that, I think generally Stu and Yoko are held up as the prime examples of Paul's jealousy of other people getting close to John, as far as we know, Paul never had significant issues with other people who formed close relationships with John like Pete Shotton, Cynthia Lennon, Magic Alex etc., why was that? I think that Paul was more threatened when he felt that John was replacing him so by bringing Stu into the band (even though he wasn't a musician) and Yoko into the studio (one instance where Paul was especially hurt was when John gave Paul's line in The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill to Yoko to sing), Paul perhaps felt that his place as John's primary collaborator was in jeopardy and that he could lose a partnership that had become central to his self-worth as a person - that, I believe, was when his jealousy was most likely to rise to the fore. John, on the other hand, had a much wider range of targets when it came to jealousy regarding Paul, why was John jealous of Linda? Linda wasn't trying to replace John as Paul's collaborator, if anything she wanted the Lennon-McCartney partnership to be stronger. Why was John jealous of Mal? Mal wasn't a musician, Mal was a huge fan of the band and constantly worked to fulfil their requests, so why was John so threatened by his friendship with Paul? For me, John's jealousy regarding Paul was more than just a fear of directly being replaced, I believe John's jealousy was fundamentally triggered by a fear of abandonment. I think the childhood trauma John experienced, of being left by both his parents, meant that whenever any of his close friendships and relationships were threatened, or he felt that someone close to him may leave him, he would act out. John fell out with his childhood best friend Pete when he got a girlfriend, John hit Cynthia when he saw her dancing with Stu, John was rude to several of Paul's love interests and ultimately John never fully accepted Paul's relationship with Linda because, although he could see that she could offer Paul the family life he always wanted, John didn't want Linda to take Paul away and give him a family that meant that Paul would no longer be able to prioritise John in his life as he had in the past.

Ultimately, we'll never know all the ways that jealousy factored into John and Paul's relationship with each other and those around them, as I'm sure it impacted several relationships in more complex ways than I can articulate (i.e. I suspect jealousy played a part in Paul's initial resentment of Brian but they grew closer over time so maybe Paul's jealousy lessened over time or Brian became less of a threat?). I do think it's important to consider that jealousy was present on both sides and was likely a factor in the breakdown of John and Paul's relationship, the breakdown of the Beatles and was a continued factor in disrupting reconciliations between John and Paul into the 70s and 1980.

#the beatles #john lennon #paul mccartney #john and paul #paul and linda #john and yoko #jealous guy #linda mccartney #yoko ono #stuart sutcliffe #mal evans #jim mccartney #brian epstein #long post #thoughts

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mingying · 3 years ago

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[spoilers] hosplay season 2 ep3 - ikjun/songhwa

I am on cloud nine.

When I posted my theories about ep 1 two weeks ago, never would I have expected such a huge development to happen 2 episodes after! This episode is what I will describe as Songhwa’s preliminary realisation, and the catalyst for this is told through the perspectives of two people in this episode.

TL;DR: This is a sign that Ikjun and Songhwa are now positively moving in the direction of endgame!!!

cr: _fever_pitch @ twitter

This scene made me smile so hard! While Songhwa may have asked Ikjun for dinner because she wanted to ask him about DLL, the fact that she initiated it by literally using Ikjun’s iconic “let’s eat” line, speaks a lot. I love the way Ikjun’s face lighted up in an instant when he realised it’s Songhwa.

What I realised also is that he even invited Junwan to eat with them in the cafeteria - maybe he didn’t want to burden Songhwa since they would be alone? Or maybe he was just trying to protect his own heart, we cannot be too sure but definitely, Ikjun-ah, best boi you, best boi.

The next scene that comes is definitely one scene that highlights their dynamics as work partners. Other than the fact that Ikjun knew Songhwa was worried over something and asked her to just speak up just by looking at her stirring her food, it seems that Ikjun/Songhwa approach things in a somewhat similar wavelength.

Ikjun points out at once that “we can help them”, to which Songhwa confirms saying that she already told them they could.

When Ikjun says that it doesn’t matter if the patients do it in a different hospital in Seoul because DLL can still provide financial support - Songhwa replies “I told them that”.

And when Songhwa said DLL will contact Yulje, because the other university hospitals aren’t willing to take the case, Ikjun agreed and said “good”.

Ugh, I absolutely love their rapport here. It shows understanding and compatibility between two friends who clearly share the same opinions about certain things and I love that they’re working together for DLL.

Ms Songhwa saying this line just shows that she values and trusts Ikjun’s judgement. Just as how she whole heartedly believed him when he told her that a “Villain” is someone who works hard to pay bills (BUAHAHA I can’t wait for her to realise the truth and strangle Ikjun).

Ma’am, why do you look like him as he is leaving like he is your entire world?

Coughs. Moving on!

Heo Seonbin~~ Just like how long have you observed your Professor and her best friend that you’re able to form this sort of conclusion that he always makes her laugh and that he will ‘totally’ do it for her if she asks?

Of course, this whole fake dating thing didn’t materialise because Songhwa isn’t the type to go for that - plus she respects Ikjun’s feelings, I’m sure, so she wouldn’t want to put him in that sort of confusing situation after knowing how he feels for her.

But I have a strong feeling that this scene is strategically placed for a reason and that is to nudge Songhwa towards the realisation that other people are seeing something special between them despite her insistence many times that they’re just friends. And who is the best to tell her that other than Seonbin, who is practically the closest friend that she has at this point that isn’t part of her gang.

In the previous episode, I posted a theory from a kfan that Ikjun was the one who asked for Seokmin’s favour to scrub in the Violinist’s surgery to ease Songhwa’s burden, and that the strawberry cake Seonbin brought for Songhwa towards the end of the ep, was actually bought by Ikjun. This theory remains as a theory until proven otherwise but I live for the fact that SilverDragon may be the ones playing cupid for their Professor this season. I mean, Songhwa did play cupid for them in S1, right?

Kekeke, now, onto my favourite scene of the episode. Kyuhyung’s cameo as Gyeongjin’s brother! I still cannot believe we got this scene handed to us on a silver platter but dude, it’s a complete parallel to IkSong and I absolutely LIVE for Songhwa’s expressions during Hanyang’s (I’ll just call him that) story telling.

Songhwa drank her coffee twice - girlie probably felt so called out that she was flustered and had to busy her hands with something. That’s human tendency, anyway. And we know from EP 1 that her rejection didn’t address Ikjun’s confession in its entirety. So for Hanyang to say “my answer didn’t make sense,” could very well be what Songhwa had in the back of her mind after her rejection, or what she will now realise moving forward.

“As a man and a woman, not just friends.”

A foreshadow, I hope? Because I am betting that this entire scene will play out in Songhwa’s mind over and over again. He is the catalyst she needs at this point of time to realise that the risk is worth taking.

The best line ever. It’s so simple yet so profound. So realistic, too. Because we know exactly who it is that is capable of making Songhwa feel happy. It’s the one person that always makes her laugh. And what more do you need, honestly?

What struck me, as I’ve mentioned on Twitter, is that the scene could have just ended after Hanyang said this line - that being with his gf makes him happy/great. But instead, we got a follow up question from him in that he quite literally ASKED her straight up, if she had someone like that in her life too.

And...guess who showed up at that very moment? Casually, without any hint of jealousy or envy but just decided to stick a straw into his nose?

cr: milly_v_v @ twitter

And made her laugh...without fail again?

I’m not crying, I swear.

My mind is officially at ease, because it seems that IkSong is definitely now headed towards the right direction. ShinLee really wasn’t joking when he put triple Rainbows during the drive in the tunnel. Triple Rainbow...for three episodes? Kekeke.

I’m thinking that Songhwa may still need one or two more eps to sort out her feelings, but by Ep 6 I’m guessing she will finally take the first step towards a relationship with Ikjun. But hey, I’m always prepared to be surprised in the best ways possible (like this entire scene in Ep3) by ShinLee.

#hospital playlist season 2 #iksong #my otp #lee ikjun x chae songhwa #lee ikjun #chae songhwa #hospital playlist #spoilers

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motherjoel · 4 years ago

Text

hostile (spencer reid x fem!reader)

summary: after months of trying to get pregnant and a miscarriage, you finally succeed. will you get the chance to tell spencer this time?

a/n: this is my first oneshot in a veryyyy long time so im sorry if im a little rusty! trying to get back into it :) also i know very little about pregnancy so forgive me! (i got the hostile uterus part from greys anatomy lmao)

wc: 2.3k

warnings/includes: lotsa fluff, angst if you squint, criminal minds stuff, pregnancy, miscarriage

“Spence, were you even listening in there? I have a hostile uterus. Not only am I feeling incredibly hostile right now, but my uterus?” you yelled as Spencer guided you to your car.

“All I’m suggesting is that we keep trying, Y/N. And I’ve already done plenty of research on adoption and surrogacy, did you know that 140,000 children are adopted by American families each year?” he asked, opening the passengers side door for you and running around to hop in the driver's seat. “And there's always in vitro fertilization,” he suggested as he reached to shut his door and start the car.

“Of course you wanna keep trying Spence, all you have to do is stick it in and thrust,” you huffed as he winced at your harsh wording, grabbing your hand over the center console. “I’m the one taking hormone shots in my ass and drinking less than 5 cups of coffee a day,” you complained about your attempts at increasing fertility. “Who knew a miscarriage would be the thing to get me to cut down on caffeine.”

Spencer was silent as he drove back to your shared apartment, both of your minds on your struggles to get pregnant in the past year. You thought back to your miscarriage and the impact it had on you both- it had only been a few months since you and Spencer became official. It was new, and this pregnancy was unplanned to say the least. Not telling Spencer about it was the only solution you could think of at the time- until it was too late.

You remembered the feeling in your chest, your entire body running cold after being tackled by an unsub. You hadn’t told anyone of your pregnancy, not even Spencer, but as the blood ran down your legs it was pretty clear what had just happened. Derek dragged the unsub away in handcuffs as you sat in the open back of the ambulance, a paramedic wrapping your wrist. You barely remembered JJ’s look of pity or Rossi’s concerned gaze. The only thing you remembered was the pale face of your boyfriend as you had been lying on the ground moments before trying to hide the blood. He eventually made his way over to sit next to you after a few minutes of stunned silence.

“Hey, Spence,” you whispered as he sat next to you, the paramedic finishing up and walking away.

“How long?” He looked at your stomach, fidgeting with his hands in his lap.

“Three, um, three months,” you fiddled with the bandage on your wrist.

“And you didn’t… you didn’t think to tell me?” he asked, eyes welling up as he finally made eye contact.

“I’m so sorry Spencer, I just, we never talked about kids before and we haven’t been together for too long… I just needed time. To think.”

He nodded and swallowed thickly before softy taking your hand in his, running his finger over the fabric of your bandage.

“You never have to hide something like this from me, y/n. We’re in this together and... not to be um, too forward, but I love you,” he confessed. You knew you loved him, but neither of you had dared say it. “I love you now and I always will, so you can trust me with this kind of thing.”

Since that day, the two of you had only gotten closer. Now, a year into your marriage, you were actively trying. And after months of trying to no avail, a trip to the obstetrician was called for- the obstetrician who called your uterus hostile, which was likely the reason for your first miscarriage. You could barely fall asleep for a few weeks after your obstetrician appointment, which made this early morning case call all the more difficult. The two of you dragged yourselves out of bed and began your morning routine of getting dressed and making coffee, moving in sync with each other as you prepared for the day. It was a quick drive into the office and before you knew it you were sitting in a room full of your coworkers looking at pictures of human remains.

“Four men killed in Ohio in the past month, each left with a note written in the same handwriting,” Penelope says as you all look at the case file. You normally had an iron stomach- in the BAU, queasiness wasn’t an option. But for the first time in your career, your face turned green at the pictures of dead bodies.

“It says here that they are all men in long-term relationships?” Emily asks.

“Correction: Were in long-term relationships. Right before they died, it was reported that they left their girlfriends,” Garcia explained.

“That’s important for the victimology, but there has to be something more to set off the unsub,” Spencer commented.

“Yeah, I bet that there was a common reason for them leaving,” you suggested, closing the case file and averting your gaze from the pictures.

“We’ll discuss more on the jet. Wheels up in twenty,” said Hotch.

You all gathered your things and began to leave for the jet, Spencer walking in stride with you.

“You know what, Spence, I’m actually gonna run across the street and grab some tampons before we go, I think i'm gonna need em,” you said. “Go on ahead without me.”

“Are you sure? I can just come with you,” he offered.

“No, no, go brainstorm with the team. I’ll be right there,” you smiled at him as you parted ways. You were going to the convenience store across the street, but it wasn’t for tampons. Your stomach fluttered as the bell jingled at the entrance. The aisle for pregnancy tests was easy to find, and you were on the jet five minutes later.

“Hey, did you find the, um…” Spencer trailed off as you sat down next to him on the jet. He wasn’t one of those men who got weird about menstruation, but you knew he was avoiding the word “tampon” to save you any embarrassment .

“Yup, I’m good,” you smiled and focused on the team who had now gathered around to further discuss the case.

“So, is there any link between the men yet? There has to be a reason that they were all killed soon after leaving their girlfriends,” JJ mused. You thought back to your past fears and your current situation and something suddenly clicked in your brain.

“Wait…” you picked up the case file. “What if… what if they were pregnant?” you asked, looking up to see furrowed brows. “I mean, the handwriting is feminine, so maybe the unsub is a woman who’s getting revenge on men leaving their pregnant girlfriends?” you concluded.

“I’ll call Garcia. We land in 30, keep looking over the files,” Hotch said before you all sat back down in your respective seats, the outside of your thigh pressed against Spencer’s.

You were trying to think of a good time to take the pregnancy test- you couldn’t do it on the jet, it would be really hard to hide on a plane full of profilers. You decided that the best time to take it would be back at the hotel, but after working for hours you found it hard to focus with the pregnancy test in your bag. Excusing yourself to the bathroom in the local precinct, you snuck the test with you. You locked the door behind you and took the test, trying to control your breathing as you waited for the results. As you waited, you got a text from Morgan telling you that there was new information. The moment you finished reading his text, your alarm beeped. Taking a deep breath, you dared a glance at the stick. With shaky hands, you picked up the test and bit your lip to hold back your yelp of joy at the tiny little +. Shoving the test into your bag, you rushed back to the rest of the team to continue working on the case. You would tell Spencer this time, but you decided it would be best to catch a serial killer first.

Garcia confirmed through the phone that all of the girlfriends were pregnant and shared the same obstetrician who was a single mother with a young child. This seemed to be the perfect profile for an unsub killing men who walked out on their families, but something seemed off to you. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but something was bugging you about the case. You were on the way to Shelby Meyerson’s, the obstetricians house, with Morgan and Spencer when Garcia called.

“Whats up baby girl,” Morgan answered, one hand on the wheel.

“So I’ve been doing some digging and it turns out that Shelby actually has a boyfriend, Andrew. Recent social media posts show that they started dating a little over a month ago, and it looks like Andrew grew up without a father” she said.

“Right before the killings started,” you looked at Spencer from the back seat.

“Garcia, send his address,” Spencer spoke into the speaker.

“Already on it my loves,” Garcia replied, and you could hear the clacking of her keyboard as she hit send. You looked at the address in your phone.

“Morgan, that's right down the street from where we are right now,” you pointed out. The three of you didn’t waste any time getting there. You hopped out of the car and approached the door, hand instinctively resting on your gun.

“FBI, open up,” you said, rapping on the door. You waited for a moment, but when nobody answered, Derek took matters into his own hands. Within seconds, the door had been kicked down and the three of you spread out around the house, Morgan going upstairs and Spencer going into the basement as you canvassed the ground floor. You took notice of a cup of tea on a coffee table, still warm. Once you cleared the area, you made your way into the basement, gun drawn. Your heart dropped at the sight before you- a man you recognized as missing tied to the radiator in the corner of the room, and your unsub restraining your husband with a gun to his head. You kept your gun pointed at the unsub as you heard Morgan come down the stairs behind you.

“Don’t move!” The unsub, Andrew, yelled. You raised your hands when he pointed his gun at you, dropping your weapon to gain trust.

“Andrew, there’s no way to get out of this, just let him go so we can talk,” you tried to soothe him, his grip on Spencer only tightening.

“No, no, you don’t understand. These men deserve to die for leaving their children, they-they’re terrible people, I’m giving them what they deserve,” he argued, becoming frantic.

“Andrew, if you hurt that agent, you’re just as bad as the men you kill,” you began, taking small steps toward Spencer. “He’s my husband and…” you started, locking eyes with Spencer. “And I’m pregnant with his child,” you confessed. Spencer's eyes went wide, shock overtaking the previous expression of fear. You continued to speak. “If you kill him, you make him leave his child. I know you don’t want that, I know you don’t want someone else to go through what you went through,” you bargained. Thankfully, you seemed to get through to him, as he dropped his gun and collapsed to the ground, his grip on Spencer loosening as Derek moved in to cuff him.

You immediately ran to your husband, throwing your arms around his midsection as he wrapped himself around you, kissing the top of your head and whispering reassurances to you.

“I was so scared,” you said into his chest, your voice muffled by his kevlar vest. He put his hands on the side of your face and wiped your stray tears, his own falling as he started to smile.

“Were you serious? Are… are we pregnant?” he asked, his hopeful smile spreading wide as ever. You bit your lip and nodded, squealing with joy as he picked you up and twirled you around, not even noticing the rest of the BAU had arrived at the scene.

“Hey, be careful with Y/N! She’s carrying my god child,” Derek smirked as Spencer set you down, his arms still wrapped around your waist.

“Hold on, why does Morgan get to be the godfather?” Rossi questioned, putting on a mock italian accent, making you all laugh.

“That’s not important, what's important is that we're gonna have a baby genius running around,” JJ smiled as she walked over to hug you both, which turned into a group hug between the entire BAU. You all broke up the hug when Morgan's phone began to ring.

“Yes, baby girl everyone's safe. Actually… Pretty boy and pretty girl have some big news,” he said, putting Garcia on speaker.

“What! Tell me right now, I can't handle this!” she begged. You and Spencer smiled at each other before you began to speak.

“You’re gonna be an aunt,” you said excitedly, receiving the loudest gasp through the phone.

“You mean… you… Spencer… you guys… oh my GOD!” she began to ramble about her excitement as you all laughed, Derek taking the phone off speaker to calm her down.

“Our kid is gonna be so loved,” you smiled, grabbing his hands and standing on your toes to press a kiss on his cheek.

“We got really lucky,” he blushed, pulling you back into another hug, the world around you frozen in that moment.

just ask if you wanna be on my taglist! <3

taglist: @rigatonireid, @aworldoffandoms, @moonshinerbynight, @averyhotchner, @s1utformgg

#spencer reid #Criminal Minds Spencer Reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid angst #Spencer Reid/OC #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid x oc #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid/reader #spencer reid/you #Criminal Minds #Criminal Minds Fanfiction #Criminal Minds Reid

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derekmorganscrocs · 4 years ago

Text

Last Summer: Ace x Reader (OneShot)

Here’s an adorable Ace gif for you because I love him.

Word Count: 2, 064

Summary: You and Ace are best friends but it turns into something more.

Quick Note: This is the first thing I’ve written that I’ve fully finished and am posting so I’m like freakin our right now. Also this isn’t my usual style but I’m super happy with how it turned out and I hope you (anyone who reads this) likes it! I’m considering a series but I also have several other things in the works, so it might not be soon. Anyways, let’s get this show on the road!

Ace and Y/n. Best friends since they could walk. Inseparable through elementary, middle, and high school. Where do we start?

To be honest, there’s not a lot to explain. You and Ace kind of just... were. It made sense. Best friends, always had the other’s back. You both work at the Claw, you’re both a little burnt out and worn down, but still clever and funny. Everything always made sense.

You always joke, laugh, and do stupid shit together. You’ve bailed him out of trouble more times than you can count. He’s done the same for you. He’s your favourite person, you’re his.

And you’ve been in love with each other forever. Except neither one of you can tell that the other loves you back. So we’re at a roadblock.

You got weird when Ace dated Laura back in the day.

Ace got weird when you dated James, the biker dude in high school.

You got weird when Ace started crushing on Bess.

Ace got weird when you mentioned that Ryan Hudson was hot in a douchebag kind of way.

Summer was different though. Had you known it’d be your last summer before you spotted Dead Lucy, saw Tiffany Hudson’s ghost, were introduced to the spirit world, and started doing seances and rituals every other day, you may have appreciated it more. But oh well, right?

Not right. The start of summer was when you started realizing you couldn’t go on the way you were, but that you also couldn’t live without Ace. So how do you confess? You don’t.

A couple weeks go by before you start to notice the way Ace looks at you, how he always stands just a little closer than anyone else does. How he puts himself between you and the guys that ogle you as the two of you walk to the pier. The way his jaw clenches when someone cute hits on you. His hand always right beside yours, and you wonder if he gets the urge to grab your hand like you do his.

And by the end of June, you’re this weird something. Not just friends, you’ve both seen the way the other stares. But it’s unspoken. You don’t know if you can bring yourself to tell him. He doesn’t know if he can bear the risk of losing you.

Don’t get it twisted, despite the buried feelings you and Ace are the best pair of best friends anyone in Horseshoe Bay has ever seen. Constantly laughing and cracking jokes, seeing who can get more tips in a day. Ace is always the one you turn to, you’re the one Ace turns to. For pretty much anything.

When July rolls around, you both get more time off. The fourth comes quickly, and you make plans to watch the fireworks from the roof of the claw. Upon climbing up at sunset, you decide to just hang out for a few hours until it’s actually time for the fireworks. You talk and joke, and you and Ace carve your initials into one of the shingles. Laying against the shingles, he only carves an A, and you ask if you’ll ever find out what his last name is.

“Maybe when you take it.”

Those are the five words that change everything. He looks up from his knife, startled at his own words. You’re frozen in place as the sky finally reaches its full darkness. And the first boom grabs your attention. You look over in the direction of the beach, and see red sparkles in the sky. Turning back, Ace is sitting up now, both of you still shell-shocked at his joke. Was it a joke?

His knife is long gone, tucked safely in his pocket, and he grabs your face and kisses you. You kiss him back, obviously. He kisses you passionately, slowly but strongly, and fireworks erupt. Both metaphorically and literally. You both end up laying side by side on the roof, kissing and watching the fireworks. It’s the best night ever.

But it’s never made official. There’s still no blurted out confessions, and it never happens again. His eyes still dart to your lips when you speak to him, you still imagine his arms around your waist, and you both still stare longingly at the other whenever their back is turned.

Until August rolls around, a month filled with storms and fog. And death. Ryan Hudson and his goons pull up for dinner. You and Ace serve them when all the others bail, make jokes about insufferable rich people and stare at each other’s mouths, both trying to not get caught as you wish you could just have what you want.

Then the lights go out. Screaming outside from Nancy, and Tiffany Hudson is dead. You and Ace are pretty much free to go, alibis confirmed. The next day Nancy comes to you with evidence that Tiffany Hudson was killed by Lucy Sable. Dead Lucy. Oh god.

The case unfolds and you’re wrapped up in a supernatural mystery. All the while trying to figure out your very natural mystery. What the hell is going on between you and Ace? It’s normal but not, and you don’t want to lose him, but you can feel the drift starting. It’s so uncertain. For once in your life, nothing makes sense.

You cover well though. Burying your feelings is a lot easier than it should be, and you and Ace still joke and pull stupid shit all the time. George and Bess are tired of being caught in the crossfire of your pranks, Nancy would be, but the only time she’s actually noticed anything is when you shot her with a nerf gun because Ace dodged. Nick, the guy from the garage, makes his way into your crew, and takes immense amusement from you and Ace. It’s fine. Great, even.

Then in September, after Tiffany Hudson’s funeral, you go to the Claw to talk to Ace. But he’s beyond talking. He’s got his tongue in Laura Tandy’s throat. And you knew she was back in town, hell, that’s what pushed you to finally talk to Ace. Only you’re too late. You’ve wasted the summer, your summer, being afraid of losing him. Just to lose him anyways.

So you spend a miserable month pretending you’re fine and fake gagging every time him and Laura have their backs turned on you. You bitch to Bess, who’s all too keen on the drama. Nancy’s so wrapped up in the paranormal and her own love life that she’s barely bothered to notice that you’re drowning. George on the other hand... she’s supportive. Well as supportive as George can be. Mostly threatening Laura and saying she’ll fire Ace if you want her to. But you can’t do that. He may only be a dishwasher at the Claw, but he loves it. He loves being part of the team.

And then you walk in on Laura asking Ace to go to Paris with her. You nearly lose it, but manage to keep it together, hiding around the corner with a hand clamped over your mouth as tears threaten to finally spill free. When they’re out of sight, you call Bess, then George, then Nancy, all to no avail. And so you’re hyperventilating and alone, sitting on the front porch of the Claw when Nick swoops in to save you.

Of course it was Nick. The only one who doesn’t know about the whole mess with Ace. So he makes you explain and watches in horror as you refuse to let tears fall and successfully convince yourself to just not be sad. Over the next few days he turns into a brotherly figure, managing to help you realize that feelings are okay to have.

So the garage is your new hangout, and you don’t realize that Ace is actually missing you. Because the only one he wants to ask about going to France was you. Nick sends you back to work on the fourth day, you don’t want to go but he forces you. He says ‘mixing shitty Caesars is the best remedy for any amount of pain.’ It’s the first time he’d seen you laugh in a while. Actually, the first time you’d laughed in a while.

The first person you see when you walk in the diner, of course, was Ace. Sitting at the bar, staring into the wall’s soul. You manage a quiet ‘hey’, and when he turns to see you looking mostly back to normal, he nearly tackles you into a hug. He manages to restrain himself though, not sure what to do. You two never fight. Is this even a fight? How do you make up from a not-fight-fight? Instead he asks you to sit with him. You do, reluctantly, but only because he insists and you can never say no to him.

“Say the word and I’ll stay. Say you want me here and I won’t go.”

And there he goes, changing everything again. You freeze, just like on the Fourth of July, and stare at him in shock. This time though, he isn’t surprised, it’s just you who’s shell-shocked. It takes you a while to understand that he is actually saying what he’s saying, and you kind of just stare at him for a minute. Then you make your decision.

“I can’t tell you what to do. You need to make this call on your own.”

And then, you mix Caesars. And more Caesars, and more Caesars. The restaurant could be supplied for a week if it weren’t a festival day. You would’ve kept going, but what’s left in the bottom of the vodka bottle looked pretty delicious, so you down it instead. Still mostly sober, but tipsy enough to manage a smile, you patted George on the back and said goodbye before heading to the garage.

Nick makes you crash on his couch in the loft, and after a power nap and a glass of water you’re back to completely sober. Good as new. The only thing that’s missing is... your phone. You left it at the Claw earlier. Which means you have to go back. And probably see Ace again.

So back you go. You get the phone without running into anyone, but pause at the sound of voices in the dining area. Frozen in the kitchen, you watch as Ace tells Laura he’s staying. That he has a ‘purpose here. And a person.’ She tells him to miss her, which gives you mixed vibes, and leaves.

“Ace?”

“Jesus! Oh, Y/n! You’re-you’re here. Oh that’s great, you saw that. How much did you hear?”

“That you have a purpose here. And a person.”

A smile finally appears on your lips, and he reciprocates. You walk into the dining room, toward Ace. He watches your every move intently, as if he’s entranced with you. He is, because he hasn’t seen you smile since Laura came to town. And even though he’s been playing it happy, he’s been miserable. He loves Laura, he really does, but it’s more of the ‘maybe in another world’ kind of relationship.

You and Ace. That’s the ‘perfectly perfect, made for each other, soulmates, in any world’ type of relationship. Best friends to something more, with ups and down. Real. Not some whisk you off to Paris and live in a movie. Horseshoe Bay’s ugly, scary, haunted, real life.

Sitting on a barstool, back to the kitchen, you lean against the bar and look at Ace. You think about what to say. There’s so many things you could do. That you want to do.

Slap him.

Kiss him.

Throw him off the roof.

Hug him until he has to peel you off of him.

Throw a bottle at his head.

Jump into his arms, wrap your legs around his waist and stay there forever.

Stick Lucy on him to suck out his soul.

Kiss him until you run out of air.

Maybe you’ll say something instead. There’s lots of things you could say, but you’re not sure how many of them are true.

Did he really betray you by seeing Laura?

Are you grateful for this because you met Nick and gained a brother?

What would’ve happened if Laura never showed?

Are we still us?

Instead, you decide to go with something you know is the truth.

“I’m your person.”

And he smiles like he’s won the lottery.

Tags: @vexfulfun

#ace x reader #ace nancy drew #nancy drew cw #nancy drew #nancy drew fic #ace nancy drew x reader

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janetbrown711 · 4 years ago

Note

🥺 Writing ask abt eah with apple and darling "You're not a machine or- or some thing, you're a person, and I'm sorry anyone ever made you feel otherwise"

Apple was getting ready to go home for a party- a birthday party to be more specific. Her birthday party if you really wanted to go into detail.

It was May, the beginning of summer. Not that summer truly meant much in Ever After High- it was a year-round school after all, but it did mean a little bit of time would be allotted for students to spend some time at home and relax.

However, Apple was not relaxed- not in the slightest. It was only a little while ago Darling had broken her curse and they realized they were each other’s destined true loves. It had only been a few weeks since they started dating officially and now Apple was going to have to go home and see her mother for the first time outside of video calls since the Dragon Games. Not only that- Her mother was planning on hosting a giant birthday gala for her- and she let her invite her entire class as well as half of Ever After just for fun.

Sure, this meant she was able to continue to hang out with her friends and be herself for at least the night, which she’d enjoy, but it also meant things could easily slip- especially if someone thought they could get something out of outing her to her mother. Darling tried to assure her no one would be that cruel, but Apple feared otherwise. Goodness knows Ever After High has no shortage of mischievous students. Kitty, Duchess, and Faybelle to name a few.

And goodness knows her mother wasn’t exactly the understanding type either.

At least her friends would be there... and Darling. Darling usually made everything feel a lot better. Though... perhaps tonight that wouldn’t be best. She had to act like nothing happened- that she wasn’t gay. Oh god... this was going to be a long break.

“Got everything packed?” Raven asked, a trunk of clothes levitating in dark purple magic next to her. Apple sighed and rubbed her forehead.

“Yep,” She faked energy and enthusiasm. “All ready to go to my mom’s.” Raven cringed.

“I know it’s gonna suck, but hey, we’ll at least be here for the night. That’s something, right?” Raven placed a hand on her shoulder.

“It... is,” Apple said. “But you know how it is. She’s all ‘follow your destiny- be popular- be pretty or else’ and blah.”

“I kinda know the feeling, yeah...” Raven sighed. “But hey, technically you do have destiny on your side. True loves kiss and all that.”

“True,” Apple chuckled a little, going to the window and whistling for birds, who quickly went to her trunk of clothes and lifting it for her. “But...”

“I know, not that easy,” Raven admitted. “Not everyone is blessed with parents who were already destined to be evil so they really don’t care if your bi or not.”

Apple snorted. “Yeah.”

“You got this. And remember- if anything should happen, Briar, Darling, and I are totally willing to take you in for a spell,” Raven reassured. This did very little to comfort Apple, though she appreciated the effort.

“Thanks,” She decided to say, though the thought that she could possibly be kicked out of her own home scared her more than when Raven decided not to sign the Storybook of Legends- which was why she was determined to keep her secret, no matter what.

“Well- my dad’s waiting for me. I’ll see you at the party,” Raven said, checking her mirror phone.

“I’ll walk with you,” Apple said. Raven nodded, and together they made their way down the many, many flights of stairs. The girls didn’t say much, as Raven was busy texting, while Apple was doing her best to practice her happy face before they finally reached the bottom, where Darling and Maddie were waiting for them.

“Apple! Raven! There you two are,” Maddie beamed at them, and Raven chuckled.

“Hey Apple,” Darling smiled giving her girlfriend a peck on the cheek. Apple smiled.

“Hey,” She said, before scanning around.

“Relax, the limo is outside, we’ve one last moment to ourselves,” Darling said, holding her hands.

“We’re literally right here,” Raven rolled her eyes playfully.

“Oh hush,” Apple rolled her eyes.

Maddie gasped. “You kiss Darling with that mouth?” she giggled.

“Whatever. I’ll see you two at the party,” Apple snickered, and Raven and Maddie took their cue and headed out.

“You ready?” Darling asked, pulling Apple away from the stairs.

“Not in the slightest,” She admitted with a pathetic laugh.

“Hey, it’ll be okay. I’ll be right beside you the whole night if needed,” Darling said, tucking a loose strand of Apple’s hair behind her ear.

“That’s what I’m afraid of... I want to be with you so bad, but if she were to find out...” Apple didn’t need to finish the thought. She sighed.

“I know,” Darling sighed. “Just- know no matter what I’m on your side, and what we have is very, very real, and she can’t take it away from us, okay?” Darling asked, Apple nodded, leaning and the princesses shared a quick but passionate kiss.

“I know. I’ll see you tonight,” She said, giving her a hug, which Darling quickly returned.

“Should anything happen, just call for me and I’ll be there in a heartbeat,” She promised.

“My knight in shining armor,” Apple smiled at her.

“You know it,” Darling winked and teased. Apple gave her another quick hug before forcing herself to let go and go to her ride.

Not to Apple’s surprise in the slightest, her mother wasn’t there to pick her up, just the usual dwarf or two. The birds dropped off her luggage in the trunk of the limo and Apple took her seat. Once they started going, she immediately slumped and tried not to think as her mirror phone blew up with texts from Briar and her other friends in support and details about how great this party was going to be.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity of being driven, she finally arrived at her castle, and walked right inside, the dwarves taking care of her luggage for her.

Not to her surprise once again, her mother wasn’t there to greet her. Instead, there was a table with some flowers and a single slice of apple pie (long cold by now) waiting for her, with a note that read:

“So happy you’re here my little apple dumpling. So sorry I couldn’t be there to greet you, but I’m very busy planning tonight’s party.

Hugs and Kisses,

-Mummy”

Darling hated when her mother babied her, but she wasn’t ready to face her quite yet, so she took her mother’s absence as a mercy more than the blatant neglect it was. Apple took the pie, tossed it in the nearest garbage, before stopping by the kitchen, grabbing an apple, and heading off to her room to pass the hours away until the party.

No place like home alright.

Her phone was still blowing up from texts from Briar, but Apple figured she’d just wait until Briar passed out to try and answer them all- goodness knows that girl sends 50 texts that could easily have just been four, though she said it “preserved the tone that way”. She loved Briar, but she could be a lot at times.

Apple sighed as she entered her room and flopped onto her overly fluffy bed and pondered if her mom kept any poisoned apples around so she could just skip this whole mess and wake up whenever Darling would be able to get past her mother’s guards and they could just run away into the sunset. Or if she could jump out her window and Darling could be there to catch her...

A girl could dream.

Eventually, she just decided to scroll social media to pass the time, making sure to like any and posts wishing her a happy birthday, though deciding not to comment. Sure it was highly unusual, but she simply did not have the energy today.

She was probably on her mirror phone for hours, when there was a knock at her door. Apple took in a deep breath, putting on her happy face, before opening and finding out her mother was on the other side.

“Apple darling, how was the ride home?” She asked, not waiting for Apple to invite her in.

“It was great mom,” She said, closing the door behind her.

“Good, good,” Her mother nodded to herself, before turning and looking her up and down. “Are you wearing that to the party?”

“No, Lizzie Hearts actually designed me this dress I’ve been dying to wear-”

“Oh, that’s good. Can’t have you turning another year older in that old thing,” She said, gesturing to her dress. Apple only nodded.

“You excited for tonight? I’ve spent all week planning for you,” Snow grinned, going to her tablet and tapping a few things.

“Yep! Totally hexcited,” Apple gave a thumbs up.

“You going to start on your hair soon?” Snow asked, not looking up.

“Yep yep,” It was getting harder for her to be enthusiastic.

“Good,” Snow nodded, turning off the device and looking back to Apple, thinking a moment before smiling.

“You’re growing up so fast my little apple, darling,” She said. “Time really flies when you’re away at that school.”

“I guess, yeah. Though- it’s almost hard to tell with all those tests,” Apple joked. Snow laughed.

“Professor Rumplestilskin keeps you busy?” The queen said.

“He’s just like you described,” Apple confirmed. Snow chuckled.

“Older I bet, though. Goodness knows that old miser has probably only gotten worse with age, unlike some people,” She grinned. Apple nodded once more, not really knowing how to respond.

Snow White paused. “Something on your mind, my little dumpling?”

“Nope! I’m absolutely perfect,” Apple internally panicked, quickly putting on a cheesy smile.

“Good, but do know if anything’s wrong, don’t be afraid to tell me, alright? One of the dwarves can handle it,” Snow patted her head.

“I know, mom,” Apple really hated it when she babied her.

“Right,” The queen nodded to herself. “Well then- I’ll let you get ready now. I really do hope you’ll like this party- All of Ever After is coming in your honor,” She said, beginning to exit.

“Yipee,” Apple said halfheartedly.

“Hate to go, but a few things need to be finalized. Hugs and kisses darling, see you later” Her mother blew a kiss as she headed out.

Once her mother was out of earshot, Apple flopped onto her bed, grabbed a pillow, smushed it against her face, and groaned.

This was going to be a long, long night.

.o0o.

Despite everything, Darling was glad to be home. Sure, her parents didn’t exactly know about the fact she was the white knight and she had to constantly make sure Daring didn’t accidentally spill the beans, but other than that her family was fun to be around- which was more than she could say for other families in Ever After. After all, her parents knew she was gay practically from the moment she was born- as a girl “prince charming” practically set it up from the beginning.

What they didn’t know was that she was dating Apple, meaning that Daring had failed and wasn’t Apple’s destined Prince Charming, but that she was instead. That was a secret she didn’t have to worry about Daring sharing because despite him realizing his destiny was likely with Rosabella, he was still deeply embarrassed by the whole thing.

Still, it was an unspoken agreement between the Charming siblings not to speak a word of what happened at the dragon games- not until Apple was ready to tell her mother anyway.

But despite all this, she was still happy to be home, as it meant she could return to her familiar backyard and practice sword fighting with her brothers in their favorite hang-out spot, where their father used to make them practice “saving damsels in distress”. It was a nice little spot that the siblings spent years building and crafting to perfection, with chairs, hammocks, some of Dexter’s favorite books, swords and dummies for practice, and a few mirrors to suit Daring’s vanity, as well as an elaborate bell system that reached back to the castle in case their parents needed them but didn’t want to go searching.

However, the one downside of the nook was that there was terrible cell reception.

“Darling, you have got to relax and stop stressing about Apple, the party isn’t for several hours, take a mirror and nap on the hammock. I know it works like a charm for me,” said Daring, admiring himself as he advised his baby sister. Darling rolled her eyes.

“Honestly, I’m surprised you aren’t panicking as much as I am. I swear you and Rosabella have been texting constantly ever since the whole ‘winter in summer’ fiasco,” Darling pointed out, deciding to somewhat take his advice and sit in the hammock.

“I took his phone while we were in the car, it was driving me insane,” Dexter patted his pocket. Darling snorted.

“Don’t encourage him, it was rude,” Daring shot his brother a glare.

“Alright, calm down you two,” Darling rolled her eyes. “though- if you want we can settle this the old-fashioned way.”

“Uh-uh. No sword fighting- not today anyway. Mom said we have to stay ‘clean and pristine’ for the party tonight,” Dexter said.

“Lame,” Darling groaned, refreshing her mirror phone once more, but not getting any better results than the fifty times she tried before.

“Darling, you seriously need to relax. Apple’s dealt with her mother her whole life, she’ll be okay for a few days,” Dexter said.

“Easy for you to say,” Darling rolled her eyes, trying again but still getting nothing.

“Yeah bro, don’t underestimate this whole thing. You know how the Queen can be,” Daring pointed out.

“Okay, you got me,” Dexter huffed, putting a bookmark in and closing his book. “I’m just trying to get you to relax.”

“You know what’d relax me? A good sword fight,” Darling’s eyes shone mischievously.

“I’m not gonna fight you- I always lose and always end up bleeding somehow,” Dexter shook his head. “Plus- mom said no fighting.”

“Daring?” She turned to her eldest brother.

“No can do Darling. Gotta stay handsome for the party, keeps away the suspicion,” He pulled out his mirror once more, checking out his own reflection again.

“You guys are so lame,” Darling groaned.

“What time even is the party, anyway?” Dexter asked.

“I think the palace doors open at 5, but that’s if you’re insanely early and-”

“-And everyone knows it’s best to be fashionably late as opposed to early,” Daring interrupted her.

“I’m gonna go get ready,” Darling decided, swiftly getting off the hammock.

“Isn’t it a little early to be getting ready? It’s only 3,” Dexter pointed out.

“Mom’s probably going to make me scrub the dirt from my nails like- 50 times before the party so we’ll see how long this takes,” She sighed. “The plights of being a girl.”

“You say that like Daring isn’t right there,” Dexter snarked.

“He makes a good point, Darling. I should be getting ready too,” He said, putting away his mirror.

“Dex, you coming then?” Darling asked. Dexter sighed, putting his book away.

“I guess so,” He said, and the Charming Siblings left their nook to head back into the castle.

After that it was hours of priming and preening, Darling barely had the time to check her phone as the handmaids chatted her ears off about gossip she couldn’t have cared less about, which was made worse when her mother came in and started talking about gossip amongst the royals about who was dating who and fashion trends or whatever. Darling was hardly paying attention, having never cared about these types of things.

It wasn’t like she disliked getting dressed up and doing her hair and painting her nails and such, it was just- when the maids and her mother did it, they hardly ever asked her what she wanted and Darling could never really get a word in on such matters. Hell- the most her mother had probably ever listened to her was when she came out, and when she begged her to let her go to Ever After High and stop being homeschooled. Other than that, she was pretty sure nothing got through, as her mom had a clear preference for Dex, and her dad had a preference for Daring.

Whatever, she had her own way to cope. If she could just get her phone...

“Aaaand, done. Oh now don’t you just look gorgeous,” One of the maids said, placing the final touch on her dress. Darling snapped back in the moment, taking a second to admire the dress they put her in, nodding briefly in approval, quickly walking over to check her phone.

No texts from Apple.

She was probably just getting ready too, Darling had nothing to worry about.

“So...? What do you think?” Her mother asked.

“It’s a lovely dress, thanks mom,” Darling said, not really looking at her, sending Apple a quick text.

“You teens and your mirror phones,” Mrs. Charming rolled her eyes. “I’m going to go looking for your brothers. Don’t mess up that hair.”

“Got it,” Darling still didn’t look up. Her mother sighed before leaving. Darling then thanked the handmaids for their service, then went down to the foyer to wait for everyone.

Apple still hadn’t replied to any of her messages. Darling shouldn’t have been surprised- it was her party and knowing the queen, she was probably keeping her busy or having her change a million times. She should just... attempt to relax. They’d be at the party soon enough, and Darling could give Apple her gift and keep her safe and happy and loved.

The gift Darling had gotten her was separate from the “family present” her parents had made for Apple. It was a necklace and a pretty simple one at that. It was gold, and had the engraving of an apple on the front, but on the back, there was a little rainbow. Darling hoped it was subtle enough and that no one would ask any questions, but she really wanted it to be special to her.

Darling had fallen for many girls throughout the years, but it was easy to say she cared about Apple the most.

Eventually, the rest of her family came down the stairs and it was time to go.

“You ready?” Dexter asked. Darling shook her head.

“I’m a Charming, I shouldn’t be this nervous,” She hugged her arms.

“It’ll be okay. You’re a lot tougher than you think- Apple too,” Dexter reassured. That did help a little.

“Thanks, Dex,” She said.

“No problem. Let’s just go and try to have a good time,” Dexter said, clearly trying to hype himself up too.

“That can’t be too hard, right?” Darling joked a little, stepping into the carriage.

“I hope not,” Dexter said, following suit, and the Charming Family was off.

.o0o.

Apparently, it could be that hard.

Once they arrived, Darling was greeted at the door by some gruff-looking dwarves who grabbed the family’s present out of Dexter’s hands (Darling kept her gift in her purse) and they were formally announced to the party room before being asked to quickly move aside for other guests. Say what you would about Snow White, but she sure knew how to get things done quickly and efficiently. Darling then went to go and try and greet Apple, but more dwarves said she couldn’t greet the princess until later. She briefly made eye contact with her girlfriend, who sent her a silent distress call she wished she could answer, but alas, she had to wait and try to party with everyone else.

Of course, it was nice to mingle with her fellow classmates, but they literally just got off of campus just a few hours ago, so outside of complementing everyone’s outfits, dancing a bit, and taking a few photos, there wasn’t much they could do. Piper and Briar did their best to keep things lively, but something about Apple being forced to sit on a throne the whole time away from everyone else really sucked the energy out of the kids, who wanted nothing more than to mingle with her.

However, after an hour or so, Snow White allowed for the festivities to “officially begin” and Apple was allowed down, though she was quickly overwhelmed by hugs from her friends, which made Darling chuckle as she waited patiently for her turn.

“You looked like you were going to die of misery if you had to sit there a moment longer,” Darling said as she hugged her.

“You have no idea. My mother says adding cushions to a throne looks unprofessional so that’s just solid metal baby,” Apple joked tiredly.

“You’re doing great, Apple. You got this,” Darling whispered. Apple hugged her tighter.

“I know she means well, but sometimes I seriously want to strangle her,” Apple joked.

“I know the feeling,” Darling sympathized as she let go so no one would be suspicious. Apple then continued hugging and catching up with other guests, while Darling waited steadily for her to finish. Apple finished, and swiftly- though subtly- returned to her girlfriend’s side.

“So... wanna dance?” Apple offered.

“Oh you know I’m a dreadful dancer, that’s not fair,” Darling shook her head as Apple grabbed her hand and dragged her to the dance floor.

“The way I remember you totally beat Chase in that dance-off,” Apple pointed out.

“Everyone knows Chase is just about the worst dancer ever after, and we won only because he slipped and fell off the board,” Darling rolled her eyes, but it was too late, as Apple had already gotten her near the center and began to dance.

“C’mon, it’s fun,” Apple said, her eyes shining under the party lights. Darling sighed in defeat and awkwardly began to dance with her. Apple chuckled a little bit, but reassured her that she was doing great, and soon enough, she loosened up enough to the point that she was actually having a good time. Though of course, this became easier when she saw Apple was having a good time. Perhaps she had been worrying for nothing. Perhaps everything was going to be alright- they’d find ways to reach each other and take care and know they were loved and everything was okay and was going to be okay.

After an hour or so, once again, the dancing was called to a brief pause, as Apple was dragged off to open her presents while the rest of the party continued, though Snow White did allow Briar, Raven, and Darling to join her. She went to her seat and began unwrapping box after box of presents, each more elaborate and fancy than the last, and Snow White hovered nearby making comments about them, thanking the families who gave them. Books, jewelry, dresses, tea sets, and all sorts of things were unwrapped one by one, only to be quickly taken away by dwarves, and Darling felt a twinge of guilt for getting her something so minimalistic and small.

However, after the last one was taken away, Darling took the small box out of her purse and handed it to Apple.

“A... personal gift? That’s highly unusual,” Snow White commented, and Darling internally panicked.

“I think it’s a sweet signifier of a good friendship,” Briar commented nonchalantly, though a bit on the nose. Apple smiled at Darling sweetly before opening it and gasping.

“Darling, it’s beautiful,” She said, admiring the engraving.

“Rather small isn’t it?” Snow raised an eyebrow.

“I paid for it myself,” Darling said, trying her best not to give the queen a dirty look. Apple then flipping it over and touched the engraving of the rainbow with her fingers slowly.

“Oh Darling, it’s absolutely beautiful,” She said softly.

“A... rainbow?” Snow raised an eyebrow, and Apple quickly turned it over.

“What’s suspicious about a rainbow? Rainbows are pretty,” Raven tried to defend it, and Darling realized she probably just made the biggest mistake of her life.

“Rainbows can mean a great number of things,” The queen said, looking at Darling.

“Rainbows are also just... pretty,” Raven continued to try, but she wasn’t as good as Briar.

Snow White thought to herself a moment, before ordering for the festivities to continue and for the cakes to be brought out and to begin serving it to the guests. However, after saying that, she turned back to Apple.

“Apple, darling? A word,” She ordered, walking out of the ballroom.

“Oh god- Apple, I’m so, so, so sorry-”

“No, Darling. Don’t be,” Apple stood. “I... I think I can handle this.”

Raven and Briar exchanged a look.

“Are you sure, Apple?” Raven asked.

“I... I think so. Briar, keep the guests entertained. I don’t want anyone to stop partying for my sake, okay?” She asked.

“If that’s what you want,” She nodded, before hugging her. “Just be safe.”

“I will,” Apple hugged her quickly.

“What about us?” Raven asked.

“If your mother so much as raises a finger-” Darling started, but Apple stopped her.

“I... I think I can handle this. She’s my mother, right? I’ve dealt with her before. I-i have facts and destiny on my side,” Apple said, trying to hide her nervousness.

“Okay... if you want to handle this alone, we’ll let you. But- if you need help, but say the word, alright? Raven and I can be there in a flash,” Darling said. Apple smiled a little, before frowning.

“I have to go... I’m sorry- she’ll get mad,” Apple turned away.

“Good luck,” Raven said.

Good luck. Right.

Apple took a deep breath before exiting out into the hallway.

.o0o.

She wouldn’t admit it, but her heart was pounding in her chest. She was terrified to confront her mother, but she had years of pretending everything was fine under her belt in preparation for this very moment. She entered the hallway to find her mother pacing ever so anxiously in her long and elegant white dress with her usual red cape. However, once Apple entered the scene, her mother’s pacing stopped.

“Why did that girl give you a present?” Her mother asked.

“Because I’m important to her and she wanted a way to show that to me,” Apple replied matter-of-factly.

“Important to her how?” Snow raised an eyebrow. Apple got a bad feeling in her stomach. She didn’t want to say- she didn’t have to-

But well...

“Important to her how, Apple?” The queen demanded.

“W-well... you know how I got poisoned at the Dragon Games?” Apple said.

“By the Raven girl, I presume?” Snow raised an eyebrow.

“Mostly her mom, but kinda- that’s not important. What’s important is that it was the apple- like from our story,” She explained. “You know- the ‘true love’s kiss will break the spell’ apple?”

“Apple, I know my own story,” She gave her a look. Apple tried her best not to crack under it.

“Well, I was poisoned and in a coma, and Daring tried to kiss me and- well... it didn’t... work,” Apple said.

“What? What do you mean Daring didn’t work? He’s supposed to be your destined prince, how can this be?” Snow demanded.

“I-i don’t know- well... I do kinda know...” Apple whispered.

“I demand an explanation,” Snow ordered.

“Well- after Daring’s kiss failed everyone was kinda just gonna give up, but Darling was there, and she had this crazy idea, a-and... wellllll...” Apple didn’t finish.

Snow White paused.

“You mean to tell me that... princess broke your little curse?” She asked, seething with hatred.

“Y-yes,” Apple nodded.

The queen paused again.

“And what happened after?” She said coldly.

“W-well for awhile nobody would tell me what happened out of fear of how I’d react, until Darling eventually told be during the whole ‘snow in summer’ fiasco and well- then we... started... dating..?” Apple said that last part quieter than the rest.

“This is absolutely ridiculous- do you seriously expect me to believe all this?” Snow crossed her arms. Apple blinked.

“Mom- it’s the truth,” She stated. Her mother laughed.

“That’s impossible. The Storybook of Legends would never say such a thing,” She said. “The girl must’ve simply done CPR, gotten the piece dislodged from your throat or something.”

“Mom, that’s not what happened- you know how the curse works, ‘true loves kiss’. Darling Charming is my true love,” Apple argued, getting angry now.

“Don’t you dare address your queen with that tone,” Snow snapped. “The amount of disrespect you’ve had today is outrageous. First the complaining, then the lack of focus, then the lies? I am your mother, but I am also your queen, and I expect the utmost respect, is that understood?”

“Mom, for the last time, I’m not lying! I’m in love and am dating Darling Charming. She broke the curse and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life,” Apple asserted, tears now threatening to spill.

“What absolute ludicrous. I will not take such blasphemy. Such a relationship is impossible. Go to your room until you’re ready to tell me the truth,” She commanded.

“N-... No.” Apple put her foot down.

The queen paused.

“No...?” She asked, her eye twitching.

“No. I’ve already told you the truth, so I’m not going anywhere,” Apple glared at her.

“No daughter of mine would speak to me with such blatant disrespect,” Snow White was aghast.

“Mom, whether or not you like it, me and Darling are destined for each other, and there is nothing you can do to change that. Even Principal Grimm agrees with me- Principal Grimm!” Apple exclaimed.

“Do not raise your voice at me, young lady.” The queen threatened.

“Then listen, for goodness sake,” Apple threw her hands in the air. “I’ve told you nothing but the truth, and you refuse to believe me! Why? For some- stupid outdated idea?”

“I’ve had enough of this attitude- go to your room. Now.” Snow ordered again.

Apple didn’t move.

“I won’t ask again, Apple. Go. To. Your. Room,” She stepped forward, causing Apple to take a step back.

“G-go ask Principal Grimm if you don’t believe me,” Apple said, trying her best not to crack. Snow slowly walked towards her daughter, until Apple was backed against a wall. The queen grabbed her face.

“There are hundreds of street orphans far more worthy of your destiny than you are. Do not forget this.” She quickly let go, before walking away, while Apple stood there, dumbstruck.

Eventually, her knees gave in, and she collapsed into sobs, and Darling burst through the door, and Darling immediately wrapped her in a tight embrace.

“It’s okay Apple, it’s alright, I’m right here,” Darling did her best to soothe.

“She doesn’t believe me- sh-she said- sh-she s-sa-said-”

“It’s okay, Apple. I know... she’s wrong. She doesn’t believe you,” Darling tried with all of her might to squeeze the sadness out of her, but nothing was working.

“Sh-she said hundreds of o-orphans are f-far more worthy,” Apple hiccupped, and Darling’s heart broke.

“Apple, she had no right to say that. You aren’t some... machine, you’re a human person. She had no right to ever treat you or make you feel that way,” Darling soothed, but Apple continued to cry, which she couldn’t blame her for.

This sucked.

“I love you Apple, you know that, right?” She asked. Apple nodded her head.

Good. At least she knew that...

“If you need somewhere to stay, I’m sure my parents or Briar’s or even Raven’s wouldn’t mind, okay?” Darling said. Apple nodded again. Darling kissed the top of her head.

This really, really sucked.

“It’s gonna be okay, Apple...” She practically whispered.

“Y-you promise?” Apple looked up at her weakly. Darling wiped some of the tears from her eyes.

“I promise... maybe not today, or even tomorrow, but I promise, someday it’s gonna be okay, alright?” She asked softly. Apple nodded slowly.

“Okay...” Apple rested her head on Darling’s shoulder.

“Do you wanna go anywhere?” Darling asked. Apple shook her head.

“I wanna stay here... with you,” She said hoarsely. Darling nodded her head.

“I can do that,” She said, stroking her face softly, wiping more tears away.

And she meant it. She’d stay right there until Apple felt better, no matter how long it took. Apple knew it, Darling knew it. And despite everything, that did make Apple feel a little bit better.

She was loved. Perhaps not by her mother, but if she didn’t love her, that was her mistake.

Her mother was wrong.

What she and Darling had was love, and nothing could change that.

#my fics #ever after high #dappling #darling charming #apple white #eah #snow white #snow white eah #long post #tw homophobia #tw abuse #the charming siblings #dexter charming #daring charming #tw abusive parents #homophobia

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littlemisslipbalm · 4 years ago

Text

“I am not going to join your band” Part 2

aka “I don’t know if I can join your band”

Part 2 is here with Mitch being a good best friend and slightly over protective + Harry jamming with you ;)

Word Count: 4.8k | Warnings: crying, makeouts, swearing - otherwise its pure HS1 album FLUFF

agh my Tumblr is being so complicated - I was finally about to post this and then the page quit on me and deleted the draft but we are here again so hopeful it works!! PLEASE give me feedback - I love to know what y’all think and let me know if anyone wants a part 3!

Part 1!

Later in the Day

It was nearing the end of the official workday, the day when you had played for the entire crew that was working on Harry’s album. The stress of the day and the work you had done with Harry and Mitch on the song had made you more tired than you had ever been after any previous day in the studio.

“Y/N, would you mind staying late tonight? I want to keep working on the song from earlier and I want your input since it’s your tune after all.”

You sat on an empty couch and looked up at Harry. “But Mitch is my ride?” you asked. “Oh...I mean I already assumed he was staying, but I can go check with him?” Harry gave a quick wink and then turned on his heel, quickly disappearing from your sight.

Of course, right then, Mitch walked through the opposite door, looking down at his phone. He glanced up and saw you, then he slowly switched his course to sit beside you.

You leaned your head on his shoulder, the sweater he wore today was soft with black and dark purple stripes. You had given it to him for Christmas this past year. He usually only wore it for special occasions so you had been a bit surprised to see it on him today.

“You look tired,” Mitch said as he reached around to your shoulder and gave you a light pet.

“Harry wants us to stay and work on the piece I played earlier,” was all you responded, ignoring his previous statement.

Mitch stiffened up, slightly, and rustled his body, making you lift your head from his shoulder and look at him inquisitively. “I can’t stay late tonight,” was all he said, his face unreadable and his eyes not willing to meet yours.

“Mitch, what’s up?” your eyes filled with concern, “Are you feeling alright? Do you think you’ve caught a cold?”

Mitch’s eyes flashed around the room, making sure the two of you wouldn’t be overheard. Then he turned to you, moving one leg to rest underneath him, the other hanging off the couch.

He whispered, “I’m going on a date with Sarah tonight.”

“Oh.” You didn’t know what else to say.

You still loved Mitch and he had found Sarah. Admittedly, they were perfect together, and you had never seen him smile so much with anyone else besides you - and Harry, now.

And you knew, you knew the way he looked at Sarah was never the way he looked at you. Maybe you had never had anything to compare it with before or maybe all this time you had been deluding yourself, but Mitch never looked passionately at you, with the fire of admirance and love in his eyes - it seemed to be reserved only for Sarah.

Sarah was wonderful, you and her got along well, and she put up with Mitch’s idiosyncrasies. If anyone was taking Mitch away from you, you guessed you had to be lucky it was Sarah. Still, you couldn’t help the lump in your throat that you had when Mitch told you his news.

“Well,” you looked away from Mitch’s gleaming eyes, “I’ll just ask Harry if he can give me a lift home when we’re done here. Enjoy your date, Mitch. You deserve to be happy.”

Mitch noticed the look on your face and he felt horrible. You were his best friend so he had wanted to tell you about how excited he was for this. It had been so hard for him to finally ask Sarah out rather than just hanging out with her in a group. He only had been able to do it with the help of Harry, who had kept encouraging him to go for it everyday. But Mitch knew how you felt about him. He liked to pretend he didn’t notice, he liked to think everything you did for him was just best friend stuff, but at the end of the day he knew it wasn’t. The look on your face just now confirmed that.

He wanted to say ‘I’m sorry’ but he wasn’t sure that would actually help the situation.

So he said, “Thanks, Y/N…” and you thought that was it, but then he continued, “You know what, you deserve to be happy, too. I know Harry’s been asking you to join the band and I know you’ve been saying no, but maybe, reconsider. This is our chance to do something with our lives, bigger than we ever could have hoped. C’mon, we say we’re happy living these boring, quiet lives, but I’ve known you your whole life. I’ve been with you when you were in high school, laying on the roof of my car, looking up at the stars, saying, ‘Ya’wanna’know my wildest dream, Mitch? My wildest dream is to get the fuck outta here and make a name for myself. Be somebody. Not be some forgotten name in this town’s tiny cemetery with a headstone that reads: ‘She lived a happy, boring, uneventful life here and now she’s fucking dead’.”

Silence.

Mitch wasn’t one to go on a tangent, more of a wise word interjected here and there man. Random thoughts sometimes, but a paragraph worth of words, almost never.

“That was a little hyperbolic of me,” was your only response.

Mitch looked at you, obviously not satisfied at your response. You sighed. “I’ll think about it,” you resigned.

Mitch said, “Good,” and ruffled the hair on top of your head before exiting the room.

You sat back and ran your hands over your face, it was hot in the room, the air feeling like you were swimming and couldn’t get to the surface. You let out a loud huff and closed your eyes.

“Mitch not staying?” Your eyes flashed open.

Harry stood just inside the doorway of the room. “I’m assuming you found him first and he told you he couldn’t stay.”

“How do you figure that?”

You sat up and looked at Harry, his arms were crossed over his chest, pushing his biceps up, making them look more prominent. He then moved quickly to sit in the wheely chair across from the couch. He sat in it and swiveled around, scooting closer to you and looking directly in your eyes.

“From the look on your face, you seem upset. And when I went to look for him, I couldn’t find him and then got held up on my way back to you. So, he must’ve found you first.”

You sighed again. You really didn’t think talking about it would make you feel better, but Harry obviously could tell there was something wrong and he wasn’t the kind of guy to just ignore it.

“Yeah,” you balked at the eye contact Harry was trying to maintain and looked at your pair of feet between the two of you.

Harry was wearing some black old skool vans, you were wearing checkered ones that looked a bit more worn in. “You have big feet,” you continued, trying to change the course of discussion, you suspected where it was going.

“Y/N,” Harry rested a hand on your knee, pleading for you to be serious, and you flashed your eyes back to his face.

“You’re in love with him, yeah?”

Harry’s tone was serious, but he asked it softly, scared that you might take offense to the intrusive question. The question echoed in your mind, bouncing off the walls repeating itself. Then tears welled up in your eyes, you couldn’t stop them and finally you couldn’t stop from blinking either.

The tears slid down your face, “I-I, uh, know he’s falling for Sarah.” You sniffled, but continued, “And I’m happy for him, I really am, all I’ve ever wanted for him is to be happy. He’s...my best friend, but I had always hoped that he’d want to be happy with me…”

You couldn’t stand this rush of emotion and the fact that you were now sobbing in front of Harry. You sank onto the back of the couch, leaning forward and covering your face again.

Harry looked on as you fell apart in front of him. It pained him to see you like this. He had liked getting to know your infectious spirit over the past weeks. It was quiet, but it was there below the surface, just asking to be let out.

He reached out and took your hands from your face. You looked up, eyes puffy and red already, as he cradled your face in one hand and held yours in the other.

“Hey, shhh, Darling, don’t cry please,” he whispered. His thumb ran over your cheek, swiping quickly away at the tears leaving your eyes.

You tried to stop, but you couldn’t.

“Oh, Darling, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.” Harry muttered after a few more minutes passed of your weeping and his attempts at trying to comfort you.

“‘S not your fault, really,” you choked out, still trying to take deep breaths and get yourself under control.

After one more deep breath, you felt the tears stopping their flow, and your watery eyes looking into Harry’s intense stare.

“I was ready to cry the minute Mitch told me he was going on a date with Sarah tonight. I was trying to calm myself down when you came in. You probably could’ve said ‘want some dinner?’ and I would’ve started sobbing about how Mitch’s favorite meal is dinner.” You weakly laughed and Harry’s lips quirked up slightly, still feeling terrible for you.

He ran a hand softly over your hair, “Do ya’ want some? Some dinner?” voice still staying low, yet taking on a lighter tone.

His voice helped soothe you out of your sadness. It was melodic even when he spoke, his accent could make anything sound good.

He starts to go on about how there’s probably some food left that would be good, but you cut him off, “Harry, I’m not really hungry.”

“Oh...well,” he sat silent for a moment, “What always helps me when I’m sad is pouring those emotions into my work. Write some of my favorite stuff like that.”

You began to smile for the first time, almost all day, “I’d like that.” Your voice cracked a bit, your throat was definitely sore from the sobs that you kept emitting while you had cried over Mitch.

“Alright, let’s get in there, then,” Harry jerked his head to the studio behind him and fixed his grasp in your hand. He pulled you to your feet and into the next room.

The two of you set to work, you on the piano and him on the guitar. You talked about the chord progressions and how it sounded, but otherwise you didn’t speak much.

You appreciated Harry for sticking with you in your rough time, for being there for you.

“Wait, play that again..” Harry heard you had tweaked the sound of the melody. You played it on the piano - “I like that, do you think you can play it on the guitar?”

“Yeah, I guess,” you rose from the piano stool and took the guitar from Harry. You shut your eyes and tried to picture the chords in your mind, you had never been as good at guitar. Mitch had taught you a little bit and you’d strummed a bit more these past few weeks, but it was definitely a challenge for you.

You opened your eyes after a minute and placed your fingers on the first chord and jumped into the progression.

“Keep playing that,” Harry said. Then, he began to sing, “Sweet Creature…” he looked straight at you.

You didn’t notice as you focused on keeping the progression the same and keeping the tempo Harry had liked from earlier.

“Had another talk about where it’s going wrong,” at these words you looked up from the guitar. Your playing cut off and your eyes met Harry’s.

He licked his lips and looked expectantly at you. “That was amazing, Harry!”

His brows knit together, he thought you had gotten upset from the words. He thought it was so obvious he was singing about you, but you simply complimented his art, oblivious to him drawing from you and Mitch and himself.

“Yeah, that was pretty good, I’ll write it down, but do you want to work on something else for now, don’t want to overwork this one. I’ll probably figure out the rest of lyrics on my own.” Harry said quickly, wanting to move forward, slightly embarrassed.

You nodded, but you were confused that Harry wanted to move one when you were making so much progress.

“We should probably get going,” Harry said after checking his phone for the time.

You knew it was late, but it hadn’t bothered you. Staying late, working on songs with just Harry, it had helped to take your mind off of Mitch and Sarah. This was the beginning of a new chapter for you. One where you weren’t going to pine over Mitch.

You nodded and began to gather your things scattered around the studio.

Harry and you had eventually ended up laying on the floor, heads towards each other, staring at the ceiling. The first few hours had been productive, honestly, you’d worked through some kinks in various songs in progress. But after hour three, the exhaustion was getting to both of you and the creative juices had run out.

You laid there, together, Harry strumming his guitar idly as you talked about nothing in particular, that is, until Harry saw the time.

“So…” you started after you had settled into Harry’s car.

Harry glanced at you, ready to drive off, but wanting to know what you had to say first.

“I’ve been thinking about your offer for me, for me to play keys on tour.” You expected Harry to say something, but he looked at you waiting for you to continue.

“I,” you stopped, taking a deep breath and sighing heavily, “It would be a great opportunity, I just don’t know yet- I don’t know if I can join your band.” You looked down at your hands, you felt silly, still not giving Harry a real answer, when he continued to ask you to join.

“Nothing has to be decided right now...it’s better than ‘I’m not going to join your band’ - it’s not a ‘no’ - and I can work with that.”

You laughed, slightly relieved at his response, and rested your head on your palm, your arm situated on the car door windowsill, a sparkle appearing in your eyes as you looked over at Harry.

After this, he drove you to your apartment, and you sat listening to the soothing songs of Harry’s playlist emit from the speakers. You spoke only when Harry needed directions back to your home.

“‘Ere we are,” Harry said as you pulled up to the front of your apartment. You noticed his voice got deeper and slower the later it got in the day.

You didn’t know how to get out and leave.

Like you did, of course, but usually when Mitch gave you a ride home you would give him a hug, but this wasn’t Mitch, it was Harry. You felt weird not doing anything to say a meaningful goodbye, especially after what Harry had done for you tonight - distracting you from your sadness and channeling it elsewhere.

Maybe Harry noticed your fidgeting because he grabbed your hand and gave it a squeeze. “Hope ya’ have a nice night, yeah?” Then he gave you one of his smiles that could make world peace possible.

“Thank you...for everything, really means a lot,” you gave his much larger hand a squeeze back.

“Ouch! Trynna kill me?” Harry yanked your clasped hands up as if he’d just been burned. He teased you and you both burst into a hearty laugh despite your sleepiness.

“Goodnight, Harry!” You sang as you pulled away from his grasp and exited the car. You gave him a little twirl and dance once you were out of the car. He then watched you practically dance into your apartment building, only driving off once you were safely inside.

If there was one thing you had learned over the past month, it was that you could trust Harry and he’d be there for you. It was nice to know you had someone you could rely on beside Mitch.

One week later

You rolled your eyes at Harry, “Oh my god,” dragging out the words. He was teasing you in the studio, chasing after you in order to pick you up and swing you around.

He had been being silly all day, constantly calling you in between takes, running around, making jokes. He was in a good mood today. You didn’t know why.

After last week's breath through with what Harry called Sweet Creature, the album work had gotten a lot easier. Things flowed much quicker and everyone’s moods were brightened by it. But, you didn’t think it constituted the way Harry was being today.

Lunchtime rolled around in the middle of a meeting in the soundboard room, you noticed instantly that Harry’s mood had changed.

He was hunched over the tech, fiddling with various buttons - even after the technicians insisted he let them deal with it, he couldn’t be stopped. “Just need to…” he mumbled to himself and then trailed off.

You all sat there in slight confusion because you had thought he had called everyone into the room for some specific reason. However, after a few moments of his inattention to everyone, you realized he had forgotten he had called the meeting.

“Hey, Harry, it’s lunchtime,” Adam said after people had to become restless with inaction.

“Oh? We can talk about the song later then, I guess,” Harry said, barely moving his attention away from his work.

People filed out, but you stayed put, only moving to Harry’s side when the room had emptied.

“What’re you doing?” He didn’t even bother with a response or a glance thrown your way. “You were so happy earlier, what happened?”

“Just want it to be perfect…” Harry finally spoke up, his voice coming out muffled but he still wasn’t paying attention to you.

He waved you off when you tried to get him to explain more, but eventually you grew annoyed. You puffed out an angry sigh and stalked out of the room with a gruff “Fine.”

Harry never joined you for lunch and your annoyance changed back to concern. Not only were you technically third-wheeling with Mitch and Sarah, but you knew Harry skipping lunch was a sign of him overworking himself. You excused yourself from the new couple and went to search for Harry, it was an hour into lunch now.

You finally found him in a back room, it mainly stored broken instruments and other random crap someone had forgotten to get rid of or fix.

“Harry,” you breathed out, thankful to find him.

He looked up from where he sat on the ground. You now noticed he wasn’t just sitting there. He had been crying, his eyes how yours had been just a week ago, bloodshot and filled with pain.

“What if it’s not good enough? What if...what if I’m not good enough?”

You rushed to Harry at the sound of his voice cracking. His voice filled with confusion, anxiety, and pain. His self-doubt pulled at your heartstrings. How could someone so wonderful not see that they were so talented and loved.

“Hey now,” you crouched down next to him and pulled him into your chest.

“Do not ever. And I mean ever,” you pushed his head back to force him to meet your eyes, “let anyone - including yourself- tell you you’re not good enough, Harry Styles. Because you are more than enough and this album, it’s gonna be amazing and people are going to love it. I just know it.”

You sat with him while his tears rolled down his beautiful face. Just one week ago, he had been there when you were at a low moment and now you were there for him.

“How’d you know to come find me?” Harry asked after a few minutes of shaky deep breaths attempting to calm himself back down.

You rubbed your hand across his broad back in circular motions. “Didn’t. But it’s an hour into lunch and if you’re late it’s never more than thirty minutes and if you plan to eat in the studio and work, you grab it first thing and go back. I noticed you were off in your head in the soundboard room earlier, so I thought I’d check around for you,” you said like it was the most logical thing in the world to know Harry’s exact habits.

Then you added, “I was concerned about you.”

Harry raised his head and you brushed his hair from his face once more. His green eyes appeared a darker shade in this moment, the room was dimly lit and his tears had tired him out. You liked touching his hair, it was soft and lush, your fingers combing easily through the locks.

You returned his stare and his eyes seemed to search yours. “I’m very thankful you’re in my life, Y/N,” was all he said after the silent stare.

“I’m very thankful for you, too,” you started sincerely, and then decided to poke some fun at him, attempting to lighten the heavy feeling in the room, “Even if you pester me constantly and are always incessantly talking my ear off…”

Harry’s face twisted into a smug smirk and threw his arms around you, “Oh, is that how you want to play it?”

He pulled you to him in a hug and then yanked the two of you back with a weird thrash of his body, you couldn’t contain the squeal that left your mouth. His movements caused you two to end up laying on the ground with Harry on his back and you right on top of him.

“Look at what you’ve done,” you said, mock exasperated, your faces extremely close together as you laid against one another.

As much as you didn’t like being yanked around, you were happy that Harry was moving past his self-doubt and feeling like his usual happy self.

“Looks great from where I’m at,” he stated proudly, his smirk now a wide grin, “How ‘bout you? How’s your view?” Harry’s words set your heartbeat racing.

Your noses could have touched if you let your neck relax a few millimeters. And his hands were around your waist holding you tightly, while yours were on his chest. You didn’t realize how warm he was until this moment. Had he always been this warm? Or was it the crying? Or the small room? Your mind raced alongside your heartbeat. Everything inside you was practically burning from your current position.

“It’s quite lovely,” you admitted. Your neck was starting to hurt from holding it up at this odd angle, so you decided to relax it. Now your nose was touching Harry’s. His skin brushing soft up against yours. You didn’t miss when Harry’s breath hitched at the contact. His arms encircled your body more and gripped you more tightly. Then you felt him begin to sit up and your legs fell around his body.

When you were fully upright, you were straddling him, your bodies closer than you thought possible in this position. Your chest was so tight to his you could feel your breasts aching from the pressure. It was silent, just Harry’s and your breathing filling the space. The air was thick to breathe. This tension you didn’t realize existed between you and Harry had become unmistakably clear in the past few minutes. Friends do not do whatever was going on right here, but you were okay with that. Harry’s nose matched up with yours again in this shifted position, his eyes trained on yours.

You parted your lips, wanted to say something to break the tension, but the movement caused Harry’s gaze to flicker down to your pink lips. They looked so sweet to him and you knew the look he gave you when he renewed eye contact. You fluttered your eyelids closed and one of Harry’s hands slipped up to brush at your cheek and tilt your head. Then, his lips fell onto yours.

They were soft, yet tasted a bit salty from stray tears around his mouth. You smiled, pressing back into his mouth eager to feel more warmth in your contact with him. He slipped his tongue into your open mouth, licking into you softly. Your body pressed down onto him and he shuddered from the movement. One hand traveled down to your hip to grip you in place as your kissing continued.

“Eager little girl, hmm?” Harry teasingly said, pulling away after the second time you practically rolled your hips over his during your makeout session.

You took one of your hands that was gripping the base of his neck and patted him lightly on the cheek, “Hey!” you giggled at his feigned look of shock.

You started to tell him to watch his mouth, but then the door opened, and Mitch’s figure appeared. He took in the sight in front of him. His childhood best friend straddling his new best friend on the ground of a glorified trash can of a room.

He shook his head and raised his brows at you both. “Lunch is over, neither of you were answering your phones. Should have known I would walk in on something like this.” Your jaw was dropped in disbelief. “I’ll leave you two to, um, finish up,” Mitch closed the door and walked away.

“We can talk about this later,” you said quickly and swung one leg from around Harry, fumbling to make yourself look more presentable and less like you had just had what was turning into a hot and heavy makeout session with the boss, technically. Then you ran after Mitch. He hadn’t gotten far, his long legs not meaning much when he didn’t really choose to utilize them.

“Mitch!” You grabbed his shoulder and he kind of shrugged you off.

He looked down at you, silent. Normally, you weren’t fazed by his silence, but right now you needed him to speak, you could tell walking in on you and Harry had been unpleasant for him even if what you had been doing wasn’t x-rated.

“Wait up, c’mon, talk to me, please,” you begged him.

He sighed and leaned against the hallway’s wall. His body slumped there and he crossed his arms over his chest. “Y/N, what the hell are you doing? I said ‘think about joining his band, not his harem.’”

“Ok, he doesn’t-” you started, but Mitch continued, cutting you off. “Like, I don’t get how you think it’s a good idea to be sleeping with Harry.” His voice was hushed, but his tone was angry. It was like he was whisper-shouting at you.

“Mitch, first of all, I am not sleeping with Harry. That was the first time, anything like that had ever happened between us. Second, I told him to wait so I could talk to you first about it, so if you’re really uncomfortable with it, I won’t kiss him again.”

It had only been a week since Mitch had started dating Sarah and loving him for your entire life wasn’t going to go away in seven days, even if it felt good to kiss Harry, you wouldn’t do anything that might hurt Mitch.

And Mitch knew that, and he also knew he couldn’t be with Sarah and tell you not to be with someone you were interested in. Harry and you could be a good thing for you, but if all it was was a coping mechanism for you to get over Mitch that wouldn’t be fair to Harry, who was also Mitch’s friend. He just wished he’d never opened that door now. Ignored it and kept walking, let someone else find you and Harry.

“You don’t need my permission,” Mitch responded.

“What?”

“Saying you wouldn’t be with him based on my opinion means you would change how you feel just because of me. You shouldn’t base your choices off of someone else.”

“I just meant, because you're my best friend and you're close with Harry, I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable with either of us.”

“Y/N, if you want my blessing, you’ve got it. Just make sure both of you are there for the right reasons.”

You smiled at Mitch, who still looked off put by the entire situation. You reached out to him and he pushed off the wall to meet your hug halfway. His substantial body enveloped you like a dark cocoon, Mitch had dressed head to toe in black today.

This was new territory for both of you, finding yourself people who might just be perfect for you. It was daunting, but you were excited.

—

Thanks again!! Part 3 is up!

#harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles x reader #harry styles fluff #harry styles x you #harry styles x y/n #harry styles fan fic #harry styles fanfic #harry styles angst #harry styles imagine #i am not going to join your band #mitch do be lowkey angry at the end #but his vibe is so chill you can barely tell #also he got to speak!!#yay #mitch x reader #mitch rowland x reader

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shinjukuspiritcommittee · 4 years ago

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Sunrise With You Too

I’m unoriginal and this is two weeks later than when I wanted to post it. I got in the habit of procrastinating when there are things I really wanna be doing. Also please forgive my lack of creativity but this is the addendum to the first sunrise with you but with a smaller roster this time around to just try and lessen the workload when it comes to projects like this and there have also been characters I’ve been drawn to as of late. Regardless I hope you all enjoy my sappy renditions of these small snippets!

~~~

Sunrise with You (Peace)

~With the endless game finally at an end, and the past behind you everything felt… fresh. Everyone in your life was no longer bound by the rules of any game and could live as they wanted. Even the wall that closed you all in no longer stood in your way. Weirdly enough you couldn’t sleep so you had stayed awake staying off at the night horizon. The Tokyo skyline seemed to go on forever with no boundaries to hold you. Just what did lie out there in the world? It was all so exciting. But then, the door to the roof opened and you turned to find…

Sunrise with You (part 2)

Yasuyori

~“There you are, Summoner.” Yasuyori calls out to you as he stands to attention by your side. “A lovely night, isn’t it?” You agreed with him and asked if Yasuyori came to get some air too. “Yeah. I was also curious where you ran off to once your friends had all claimed you wandered off on your own.” So he was looking for you. “Y-Yes…” The therian admitted bashfully. The blush becoming readily apparent through his fur. “I just wanted to spend a bit more time together. That’s all…” What did he mean by that exactly? It felt as though he wanted to say more but stopped himself ahead of time. “Let’s not… focus on those sorts of topics.” You and Yasuyori were engaged in small talk for quite some time. Yasuyori just seemed relieved all the fighting can be over and done with and you were glad that cycle was over and done with.

~“I’m just glad we can go where we want now. Uh…” Yasuyori averted his gaze away from you and fixated on the ground below. “This isn’t exactly easy for me to say but… once I graduate I plan to take some time to travel.” Is that why he’s been fidgety? “You noticed…” He seemed disheartened that you saw him in a more vulnerable light. His expression was more solemn when he turned to face you as a result. With a deep breath he continued, “I… I want to know what a life without conflict was like. What was it for all those going on outside these walls? What was happening after all this time? I want to understand that better.” You definitely thought it was a valiant effort and made note of all those excited to leave the city. You did have some concern about Yasuyori leaving so suddenly. He seemed taken aback by this. “I-It’s not like I won’t come back! I’ve still got to make sure that fool Ashigara keeps himself in check after all. And…” He blushed and scratched himself nervously. “Y-You’d still…” The Therian gave a low growl and looked back to the ground. “Nothing. You’re still you…” You took a moment to process what he was trying to say before asking something of him. A… promise of sorts. “Y-Yes? No matter the request I’ll do my best to fulfill it while I’m still here!” You took his hand in both of yours with the intent of making a promise to him.

~At first Yasuyori was speechless. When he finally spoke up “That’s… that’s a ring!” He brought the ring to eye level to confirm that it indeed was a ring. “You… this isn’t some stunt you’re trying to pull on me, right? T-This isn’t some cheap ploy to make me stay, right!?” After freaking out for another moment he got a grip over himself and sighed. “No, of course not. That’s not you.” You asked Yasuyori that when you graduate, that he’ll come back for you and you both can experience the world together. Maybe even show you all the things he’s learned while he was gone. With the ring now on his finger his hands interlocked with yours and the two of you stared into each others eyes as the sun began to rise… “I swear on my heart that I will come back for you and more. I also promise to call often and take proper care of myself. I…” He hesitated, gulping his words before continuing. “I promise once I come back to officially make you mine. Just as you’ve promised me. I-I love you.”

Ziz

~“Oh thank goodness. This is where you were.” You were surprised to see Ziz and asked what she was doing here. “I was only concerned about where you had wandered off to. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” You told her it was fine- you were just shocked. “Oh! I didn’t mean to startle.” You once again reaffirmed everything was fine. You asked if she wanted to spend some time watching the sky together and just… talking. You could really use some company, you figured. “Oh, I’d love to! It’s a shame I didn’t prepare any snacks beforehand…” You and Ziz spent a moment together just resting on the roof top under the gaze of the stars at peace with yourselves…

~You and Ziz spent that time in relative silence. You weren’t quite sure how to break the ice with each her so asking how she was feeling was the best you could come up with. “Oh, I’m fine. Thank you for asking. Is everything alright with you?” Aside from being tired after feeling a heavy burden lifted from your shoulders, you were… unsure. You opened up a bit about not knowing what was gonna come next. “I see… you wouldn’t be the only one.” Ziz admits. “You may not want to hear it, but I’ve always worried about today. There’s simply so much out there I don’t understand. It does scare me knowing I won’t be able to protect those I care about from all the dangers from within Tokyo- let alone outside…” You expressed concern for Ziz now with her concerns and finally realizing the size of the world you knew against the world you didn’t know. It was intimidating. You proposed that maybe there was a way to face each day somehow. “W-What?”

~You held out your ring to Ziz and claimed you always want to be side by side. She gasped unsure of what to say. “B-But…!” Ziz stammered. “I’m your- This isn’t-! Oh goodness…” You made a comment about how cute she was when flustered. “I-It’s not polite to tease your teachers like this!” You both laughed together as it turned to daybreak. “Oh… the sunrise is especially beautiful today…” Ziz commented. You agreed and said how glad you were to see this with her. “You know… what you asked isn’t such a bad thought. We could watch plenty more sunrises together… side by side like we are now.” The two of you inched closer and closer to one another until finally your head was resting on her shoulder. “I’ll consider what you’ve asked me today. There’s still so much I want to see and experience. When I have you I feel I can do those things. I just hope you can look out for me all the times I can be rather careless… okay?”

Shennong

~Shennong let out a sigh as he was relieved to find you. “I figured you’d have a hard time sleeping…” Surprised and concerned, you asked Shennong if he had spent a long time looking for you. “Of course not. I was just making sure you kept yourself out of trouble for at least one night.” The bull gave a chuckle as he scratched the back of his head. You denied being a troublemaker while bashfully chuckling with him. “You really expect me to believe that? You’re always the one in everyone else’s problems by choice or chance- you really can’t help yourself.” Your school’s doctor cooed and doted on you in that teasing manner as you tried to deny being as much of a troublemaker as he was painting you out to be.

~It was then Shennong realized something was off about you. “Hey, you’re not sick or anything right? Nothing out of the ordinary?” You felt perfectly normal. In fact, you felt even better with him around to keep you company. “I see… that’s good.” He winked. “I can’t have you getting ill on me now. Or… well, that doesn’t matter.” Suddenly he looked gloomy. As if he was recalling something unwelcome. You said his name out of concern. That snapped him out of his stupor and he laughed awkwardly again. “Concerned for me, are you? You’ll make me blush if you keep doing that.” You took his hand in yours and told him not to hide things on his mind from you. “You’re really sweet… I… don’t want you running off again and putting yourself in more danger. I need you to stay healthy, otherwise… I wouldn’t know what I’d do with myself to let you get hurt again…” You squeezed Shennong’s fuzzy hand as you offered one way he could keep you safe. “Huh?” Without hesitating any longer you showed Shennong the ring.

~“Ah!” He was stunned. “Wait a second here!” Do you have any idea how serious this is!? You’ve made plenty of dumb jokes before but something like this…! This isn’t a game!” You agreed and replied that it wasn’t a game to you. You’ve never been more serious before about anything until now. Shennong makes you feel… safe. After a moment to collect himself, Shennong sighs. “What am I going to do with you?” Rather than just take the ring from you the bull pulls you in for a hug and your eyes lock as light shines over the roof thanks to the sun. “I hope you know what you’re getting into. I can be quite stubborn and overprotective…” You both smile at each other.

Gyumao

~“Ah, there you are my esteemed partner! What are you doing up here? The celebrations are still going on downstairs!” Gyumao claimed with joy as he immediately approached you while on the roof. You said you just wanted to take a break and came out for some air and noticed how nice the stars were tonight. Gyumao looked up right alongside you. “They certainly are a lovely thing. It’s important to slow down and enjoy the smaller things- I’m glad you remembered something as important as that. Mind if I join you?” You told him you would appreciate the company and the two of you shared thoughts about the future.

~“So… that’s it, hmm?” The Therian sighed suddenly. “Once tomorrow comes it’s back to work for me… actually scratch that- It’ll be more than work. It’ll be full on duty to ensure Public Relations with the outside businesses go smoothly, ensuring that the company expansion is well tempered and all sorts of other things. Nothing we can’t handle, right?” You asked him what he meant by that. “Well, I’m going to need my business partner after all. I do depend on you…” He stopped as he realized this was his chance. “Say, what were your plans for the future again?” You told him you were open to a lot of different possibilities so you weren’t quite sure yourself. Gyumao laughed. “An open ended answer for an open ended person!” His laughter quickly shifted to a more serious and passionate tone however. He looked at you with a gentle expression of yearning. You noticed this. “If you don’t mind, I have a… proposition for you.” Oh?

~Gyumao presented a ring box as he got down on one knee. He opened the box to reveal an engraved ring. “I… I would like to ask you to be more than my business partner one day. Of course, that’s only if-” You stopped him right there. As your answer you revealed your ring for him. The bull was taken aback at first, but quickly got onto his feet and was grinning from ear to ear. “That’s my partner for you! I swear I’ll never know what you’ll do next!” The two of you slipped the rings onto each others’ fingers. “A perfect fit…” He sighed with relief. Gyumao wrapped an arm around your shoulder and gave you a wink as the sun began to rise. “When the time comes you and I will spend the rest of our lives together. I swear with all that time you’ll be happier than you’ve ever thought possible. I just know thinking about spending a lifetime with you… that gets me all sorts of excited. Let’s reach greater heights of happiness than ever before!”

Benten

~“So this is where you ran off to.” Benten teased. “What are you even doing out so late? I thought you said you were too tired from all the fighting.” You just told her you couldn’t sleep and wanted some air. What about her? She pulled her weight the last couple of days and then some after putting on a show for everyone. “I, uh… look don’t sweat the small stuff, kay? I wanted to take some selfies under the stars! Yeah, some night sky pics for my medias! That’s all!” You tried to raise the argument it was dark but you immediately stopped once you realized she was glaring right at you. You felt as though her gaze was going to burn a hole right through you so you stepped out of her way and let her do her thing.

~You tried to shift topics in the meantime while she fussed over getting the perfect selfie to start the next stage in her life. You asked what she wanted to do now since the walls are down. “I’m taking my internet fame to the next level. Duh!” Benten said confidently. “I’m thinking of doing a world tour or something when I finally graduate. I’ll be amassing followers if I do that, yeah?” It was always about followers with her, wasn’t it? “You say it like it’s a bad thing. There’s plenty of career potential being an online celeb! I figured a… a normie like yourself wouldn’t understand.” A… normie? Benten blushed. “Ugh, geez. Don’t go asking me things like that! It’s way too cu- wah… waaaah! Not cute! Definitely wasn’t about to say that!” She suddenly snapped defiantly. “I’ll become an internet star! You’ll see!” You had no doubt about that since she already won you over a long time ago. “Wh-What…!?” You presented your ring for her and said you hope to be her Number 1 follower. Benten was speechless for a moment before she couldn’t hold it back and started snickering.

~“ARE YOU SERIOUS?” She belted out through laughter. “Geez, what kind of cringey soaps have you been watching lately? Totally going in the cringe comps later!” She guffawed even harder, making you incredibly red in the face and a bit frustrated you weren’t being taken seriously. Benten just laughed in your face after expressing your feelings. However her tune quickly changed when she noticed your tears forming thanks to the rising sun. “You’re…” She became red herself and a look of shame washed over her expression. It was then she realized something. “Uh, hey! I think I found the perfect spot for that picture!” Benten awkwardly took a place next to you and locked your arm with hers. She held the camera of her phone out while using the dawn’s light as her light source. You were a bit confused. “I just… don’t ever wanna be forgotten. And I also don’t wanna forget all the times we had together. It would suck if I forgot the person I lo- ah, hmmm…” She faked a cough. “The person I stan.” You were just confused about her sporadic behavior. “Look, I just… don’t wanna let you go. Not yet anyway…” She seemed upset about saying something a bit cliché but held her tongue back. “Just promise you won’t forget either. Otherwise I’ll make you remember…” She took the photo when you promised not to.

Typhon

~“There you are, my master~!” Typhon greeted you gleefully. “What’s a cutie like you doing so far out from the rest of the party huh?” He wrapped an arm around you as you asked why he left the party so soon. “Well the cutest one in the room went off somewhere, duh! Glad I found you.” The shark therian winked. “You’re the life of the party!” You blushed at all his compliments noting that they were more frequent than any other instance. “Well…” Typhon blushed and scratched the back of his head. “You are the ‘hero’ of Tokyo after all. Can’t let the good you did go unrewarded…” You and Typhon laughed a bit about calling you a hero.

~You asked him if he had any plans now that you all were no longer locked within the confines of the city. “Hmm, maybe take a vacation?” He suggested. “I’ll level with ya, I haven’t thought that far ahead. Sure it’s exciting but… I like the idea of just finding a partner and just settling down. Then again, the world must be full of beautiful babes so I’ve got time~.” You were a little disheartened he would treat love so casually. You felt it was something that he really should stop messing around with. “I-I know… It’s not easy to find your soulmate ya know. Things like that take time and effort.” You pondered aloud that maybe your soulmates were with you right from the start. “Hmm, what do you mean by that?” You admitted that you had been worried for a while that he might disappear so suddenly again. The thought of losing him scared you for some reason. “R-Really!? Master, I’m sorry for worrying you all the time like that!” Suddenly Typhon pulled you into a tight embrace. You were shocked as he pressed you into his large frame. “See, I’m here now! You don’t gotta cry about me anymore! I-I’m not going anywhere anytime soon!” You gasped saying you couldn’t breathe despite how elated you were to be hugged by him. “Ah- Sorry!” He loosened his grip enough so you two can look at each other. You noticed the distraught look over Typhon’s face and apologized for making him feel that way. “N-No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I should never have scared you like that.” You both processed each others apologies before slipping into conjoined laughter. “Of course we wouldn’t leave each other for so long!” He was right, but… you had to get the burning question off your chest.

~You presented Typhon with a ring that really didn’t seem like it’d fit on his finger, but suggested it’d make for a great necklace one day. “Is… Is this why you were asking all that stuff before?” Typhon’s face turned deep red as he stared at your smaller hands with the ring. “You know I can’t say no, Master!” Typhon’s smiled gently. This time Typhon knelt down and delicately placed his hand on your back as he whispered. “For a long time, I knew we were soulmates. I was just too afraid to admit you were the one…”

Tetsuya

~“Seriously, this is how you’re spending your last night as a free bird?” Tetsuya scoffed as he came up to you and stared down at the city. He got comfortable and leaned against the edge which made you a bit nervous about two things. Tetsuya has rarely been the one to initiate conversation and you’re often the one striking it up. “Everyone was making a fuss over you, so they sent me to look for you. I figured you’d be doing something out there like stargazing.” There wasn’t anything wrong with wanting to gaze at the stars in the night sky you elaborate. You also made a bit of a remark about how he’s looking down all the time which seemed to have irked him. “Cheeky tonight, aren’t you?” Tetsuya grumbled and took a deep breath. It was always awkward to try and talk to him after getting on his bad side, but still something was bothering you. Tetsuya seemed… despondent almost.

~So in order to try and get him to open up a bit you asked if he had any plans at all now that the city was freed. “Well, I was hoping to sleep in since I’ve got my shift tomorrow night. I was lucky enough to get tonight off-” You denied that those were real plans. “The hell are you talking about? Of course they are.” Sure, but no aspirations for the future? The whole world is out there and he’s gonna act like nothing’s different? “For folks like you, yeah. Things are different.” He said while still staring at the city. “For someone like me the red light district is where I belong. Trying to fantasize about a future that can’t come true is just cruel.” You countered that it was more cruel to deny a dream outright because it seemed impossible. You instinctively moved closer until you were side by side with Tetsuya. You looked down at the city and commented on how the street lights way down there were almost like the stars in the sky in there own way. He sighed and actively looked away from you. “Do you always gotta come up with some corny shit to say?” Silently, you put a hand to his back and asked him what his dream would be. He can be as extravagant or as absurd as he wants. There was no need to hold back. “Whatever I want, huh?” His voice quivered. He coughed to readjust his voice. “Fine. I want…” Tetsuya pondered for a moment about what he would want.

~“A big mansion and a lotta cash. That way I could live the easy life and never have to lift a finger ever again unless I wanted to.” You admitted that was something easier said than done, but also pressed to hear more about this fantasy. “You’re just actively trying to annoy me today, aren’t you? Okay then.” Tetsuya turns to face you face you finally with a scowl on his face. “I wouldn’t be all alone in that mansion. I… I’d need butlers and maids to weight on my every whim of course.” You both laughed. “And… someone to share it with.” Tetsuya sighed. “There, ya happy?” You told him you were very happy when you scooted next to him and wrapped your arms around his. “H-Hey!” You told him there was one dream you had ever since coming to Tokyo. It was to find someone to be with to fend off the loneliness. “H-Hold on!” Tetsuya shot up. “What the hell are you even talking about right now!?” It was time when you decided the jig was up and revealed the ring. It wasn’t meant to be anything serious right away, but a promise for right now to have each other’s backs. “T-This isn’t just some off color partnership… this is…” Tetsuya glared at you as his face burned bright red in the rising light of the sun. “You’re a real piece of work, ya know?” You said that you wanted to be the one he would share his riches with. “You… You could have anyone… so why…?” Rather than reject you any longer, all Tetsuya wanted to do was wonder why. Why would you choose someone as garish as him? All you said was that you cared about him, and no amount of circumstances was gonna change that.

Tadatomo

~At first you were convinced you were imagining someone coming to check on you, but then you noticed a familiar sensation of being watched. You laughed and called out to Tadatomo to stop hiding. From beside you, he spoke “You’re noticing me a lot more now. Good.” You jumped a bit as how suddenly he appeared besides you. “Of course I’ll come to your side. Just say the word and I’ll be right here.” You asked if that meant all the time or when he wasn’t busy seeking revenge. “Ah… right. Forgive me, I’ve lied to you once again… The culprits responsible are still out there. I can’t simply leave it be. However…” He stopped mid sentence and you tried to get him to talk about it again. “I’ve… had a change of heart as of late.”

~A… change of heart? “I refuse to give up my pursuit of them. What they did to my father and old master is unforgivable and a disgrace to my family as a whole. I intend to make them suffer a slow and cruel death through and through and I still look forward to the day I can relish in their agony.” Tadatomo grinned almost devilishly as he no doubt fantasized about one day gutting the people responsible. Nervously, you asked what’s changed. “Well… I thought about it more and… I don’t want them doing something like this to anyone ever again. My time with you and the other warriors helped me realize that I still have a sense of justice…” You really asked him if you inspired him that much? “In a sense.” You were still a little lost but you understood that he was no longer seeking retribution for himself, but rather to protect the weak. You really admired him for that…

~Tadatomo realized how long the two of you had been standing outside. He apologized. “I must be off.” You stopped him before he could melt back into the shadows and asked him for something important. “I’ll do anything for you, you’re aware of that.” You asked him to come back in one piece. Revenge or not, he was still someone who won you over in the end. You place in his hand the ring you were entrusted with. You asked Tadatomo to swear to come back alive, no matter if he accomplishes his goals or not. If you had lost him… “Please, don’t cry for my sake…” The therian took the ring and placed it on his finger, then grabbed your hands. When the sunlight finally reached the roof you could see the smile across Tadatomo’s face and the tears that were brimmed on his eyes. He took notice of your forlorn expression as well. “I promise to return here. Though it pains me to leave now, I swear to you I will come back. I won’t let my… my love down ever again.”

#yasuyori #ziz #Shennong #gyumao #benten #typhon #tetsuya #tadatomo #fan written endings #tokyo afterschool summoners #housamo #Headcanon #HC #sfw #fluffy #romantic

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samwilsonshandsandass · 3 years ago

Text

A Thank You To The Wilsons'

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x the Wilsons’

Summary: Bucky wants to thank the Wilsons’ for everything, and finds something special for them.

Warnings: none

Word count: about 1.7K

Bucky was happy. But he also had one worry. He worried about how to show his thanks to the Wilsons’ for everything they did for him.

To Sam, who just had to know about even the small and especially gruesome details of his past, who despite his initial skepticism of his person, trusted others and Bucky himself enough to help him. The first person he could always turn to with just about anything, even when Bucky had ignored him and Sam still tried and tried and tried. How he had really put the ‘tough’ in ‘tough love’ and knew that was exactly what he needed.

To Sarah, who not only accepted him from the start despite probably knowing who he was but also reminded him of who he once had been and would have stayed of the universe or whatever higher power had allowed him to. She didn’t even shy away from putting him in his place. And then, some time after school had started again, she had allowed him to pick up AJ and Cass from school. She had taken him with her and had him meet all the teachers and the principal.

To AJ and Cass, who immediately accepted him. The first time he visited, they looked appropriately weirded out by their mom flirting with someone and were suspiciously looking at this more-or-less stranger on their family’s boat. They had known not to touch the shield, let alone play with it, but what were they supposed to do when Uncle Sam just left it laying around? But Bucky didn’t tattle on them. That was the first time they thought about giving him a kind of honorific. Then, when school started again, after some weeks they asked their mom if Bucky could pick them up. He could. That was also the time, they started using him as their personal jungle gym.

Then, Bucky turned up at the cook out. With a store-bought cake, but the gesture was what counted and frankly, Cass said to AJ, he probably couldn’t cook more than an egg. Well, that not only would, but would have, to change should Bucky not leave Delacroix right the next day. And then, Bucky announced he’d like to move in, if they’d let him and if Sam learned to share.

In the fall, Bucky finally, officially, moved in with the guest room made into his permanent room. He learned sailing, fishing, preparing the seafood for selling. He learned which kids needed some more food when coming to the soup kitchen.

One night, when Sarah came into the kitchen, exhausted from a day’s work, the stress of trying to revive a failing business in a post-Blip world.

“Usually, I love what I have. And what I do. But there are days I just want to sleep” She mumbled, sitting down and rubbing her face.

Bucky sat down across the corner from her. “Just in general, or did something happen today?”

“The bank that told us they could help us. You know the one where my big brother made a fool of himself? They just called and told us how they’re so very sorry but they couldn’t help us now.”

Bucky went quiet after that and only hugged her tight.

---

The next day, after he had brought Cass and AJ to school, he drove to the bank. He asked for the exact employee that had Sam made a fool of himself and Sarah so exhausted.

---

Another day later, Sarah had to take an important call right in the middle of the family breakfast. Just as Bucky, and today also Sam, were ready to take the boys to school, she came back into the room and announced: “We got the loan! And the conditions are even better than what they first offered us!”

There was a quick Wilson-Barnes hugging pile, although Sam had to run one or two red lights to get the boys to class on time. Every few minutes during the car ride, Sam looked at Bucky from the corner of his eye. Bucky seemed deep in thought.

In the evening they all celebrated and AJ and Cass were allowed to stay up longer than usual, even for a Friday night.

The next morning, Bucky heard clattering in the kitchen. Earlier than he thought he would. ‘Maybe it’s Sarah and the sleeping rhythm of a mom never changes back.” He slipped down to the kitchen with the intention to surprise her.

“You’re not getting any closer!” Sam growled as he spun around with a batter dripping spatula in hand.

“I thought you were Sarah!” Bucky exclaimed, more shook than he thought he should have been.

“Did my hair get that long?” Sam stroked his head.

“What are you doing there?” Bucky nodded to the spatula that now dripped a yellow-y batter on the floor.

“Pancake batter.”

“This early?”

“The perfect batter needs patience, time and passion!” Sam was indignant.

“But you’re letting me have coffee, right?”

“Because you asked” Sam did that half-smile of his.

As Bucky was finishing his coffee, the other three Wilsons’ came down.

“Pancakes!” AJ called out.

“Pancakes!” Sam confirmed.

“Pancakes!” Cass yelled, coming down after his brother.

“That’s a useful big brother” Sarah smiled.

“You, too.”

“So, what do we all want? One serving of pancakes with berries and chocolate syrup-“

“Yes!” Cass grinned.

“-one serving of pancakes with jam in between each one-“

“That’s me!” That came from AJ.

“-one serving of pancakes with berries, chocolate syrup and jam on the side, specifically to be used for dipping. Gross” Sam chuckled.

“You keep telling yourself that” Sarah retorted.

“And Bucky?”

There was a chorus of three voices, all going “Ohhhhh!”

“Huh? What about me?” Bucky looked like what Sarah would later describe as ‘the confused puppy’ look.

“What do you want with your pancakes?”

“Uhm, uh…”

“There areplums in this kitchen” Sam grinned at Bucky.

“Could I get them with plums and berries and chocolate syrup in between?” With each word after ‘plums’ Bucky got quieter and redder.

“I think I got that.”

One serving after the other, Sam carefully and lovingly made the pancakes, and only after everyone was already tucking in, did Sam get some pancakes for himself. Bucky couldn’t help but notice how there was only one dollop of jam on the uppermost of his pancakes.

The breakfast and weekend went down peacefully. Playing in the backyard with the boys, the shield being used as an over-glorified frisbee, trying to teach Bucky some more cooking. Through all of it, Bucky was quieter than usual. Especially Sarah and Sam continued to shoot him looks, wondering what was up with him.

During the next weeks, everything went back to normal. Bucky brought the boys to school and picked them up, sometimes with Sarah, sometimes with Sam. The boat began to shine in new splendor without glossing over its history to the family and the community. The boys complained about school work, raved about other things that happened and brought up one or two school mates who very visibly sidled up to them just because now their uncle had somehow been accepted as a national symbol. Although Bucky had no reason to be proud of them, after all he didn’t have a hand in raising them, he still was.

During Christmas Break, Sarah approached him.

“Buck, could you and maybe Sam, watch the boys for the day?”

“Yeah, of course! Did something come up? Can I help?”

“That’s sweet of you, but it’s just wash day for me.”

“Hey, I can do the laundry! I’ve gotten better at it!” Bucky responded eagerly.

“No, no, it’s-“ Sarah chuckled quietly. “It’s my hair. It needs quite the pampering now, especially after the last weeks.”

Bucky’s eyes went wide.

“Buck? You okay?” Sarah seemed worried.

“Yep. Yeah. Just had a thought. Don’t worry about it” He reassured her.

She nodded. Bucky gathered Sam and the boys and when they went out, Sarah went up to the bathroom. Bucky had a moment to look at the back of her head. During the day, the playing and getting the lunch, he looked at the three Wilsons’. He really looked at them and especially their hair. Their hair that was so very different from his own.

At home, dinner made by Sam was a quiet affair on Bucky’s part. AJ and Cass retold everything that had happened, from Sam faceplanting, Bucky getting them all the food they wanted to Sam and Bucky chasing them around and then the other way round.

After all the Wilsons’ were asleep, Bucky started researching. He looked up everything he could. Quite some time later, he ordered four things and went to sleep himself.

Three days later, AJ and Cass were in school, Sarah was on the boat and Sam had been called away for some promotional thing but according to him this time it was something even Sam Wilson, and not only the symbol of Cap, stood behind.

Bucky arranged the four single parcels on the kitchen table, wrapping them in paper and ribbons. He sat down and tapped his foot anxiously. He didn’t stop until Sam came in with the boys and Sarah.

AJ was first to ask. “Uncle Bucky? What is that?”

“it’s, uh… a little something. To say thank you.”

“For what?” Sarah cocked her head.

“Uhm, uh. For… well, everything.”

“Well, what is it? Cass implored.

“Go on, open them!” Bucky pushed the two smaller parcels to AJ and Cass, the middle one to Sam and the biggest one to Sarah.

“Is that really?” Sarah looked at Bucky, then down again at the fabric peeking out from her half-opened package.

“Bucky, are these bonnets?!” Sam looked at him in disbelief.

Bucky rubbed his neck. “Yeah. I, uh. Just thought it’d be a nice way of thanking you all. Something that’s not just something superficial, that actually is of use for all of you.”

“Thank you, Bucky. Thank you so much” Sarah whispered and trailed her fingers over her long bonnet.

“You’re very, very welcome” He grinned.

The boys had already put their bonnets on and hugged Bucky’s waist. Sarah hugged him on his other side and Sam put his left arm around his nephews and the right one around Bucky’s shoulders.

“We’re never letting you go now, you know that, right?” Sam said.

“You’re also not getting rid of me, you know that, right?” Bucky retorted.

#my things #my writing #bucky barnes x sam wilson #bucky barnes x sarah wilson #bucky barnes x the wilsons #sam wilson x bucky barnes #sarah wilson x bucky barnes #sambucky #winterfalcon #sarahbucky #buckysarah #marvel #fanfiction #marvel fanfiction

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morningfears · 4 years ago

Text

Just Right

Rating: PG | Fluffy af!

Summary: “I found a ring today.” and “I’m not moving, your lap is too comfortable.” With tattoo artist!Ash request by Anon.

Word Count: 1.6k (kind of a drabble?)

The tattoo shop was finally closed, the door locked and the main room quiet, after a long day of clients. The shop’s staff had long disappeared, all eager to leave work behind for the night, leaving Ashton sat in his office alone. The hum of the overhead lights and the scratch of his pencil against paper filled the silence that had fallen over the shop and for the first time since unlocking the door at ten that morning, he felt like he could focus on the design he’d been working on.

It was a simple concept and should have been an even simpler design but he’d been stuck for days, unable to get it to turn out the way he’d imagined. It was as if his hands had a mind of their own and he’d grown frustrated. The trashcan beside his desk was filled with crumpled pieces of paper, each a discarded attempt at the design, and the cup full of pencils he kept on the corner of the desk was rapidly emptying but no matter how hard he worked, nothing seemed right.

It had to be perfect, he would accept no less for this particular piece, and he just couldn’t get there.

Ashton had planned on giving himself enough time to work for an hour after closing before leaving to meet you for dinner. It was written in bright green ink on his desk calendar and programmed into his phone, just so the shop assistant wouldn’t accidentally schedule a client for him, and he’d been looking forward to it all day. You’d both been exceptionally busy, new clients and projects piling up, so it was a relief that you’d finally be getting some time to yourselves. However, as the hour dwindled he lost himself in his work and seemed to be making greater progress than he had since starting nearly a week ago.

His eyes ached and his head pounded, the strain of the day settling in, but he didn’t dare slow down as he didn’t want to interrupt his progress. Instead, he focused on finally finishing. He was so wrapped up in his work that he didn’t hear the sound of his cellphone vibrating against his desk, nor did he hear the sound of the back door opening or your shoes hitting the tile floor.

You stood in the doorway of his office for a long moment, arms folded over your chest and a fond smile on your lips, to watch him work. His eyebrows furrowed and his tongue darted out to wet his lips as he shaded in the drawing. His hands were covered in graphite, stained from the work he’d done, and you smiled at the sight. Seeing him at work, watching as he drew or tattooed, was one of your favorite sights and you always considered yourself lucky to be able to witness it so regularly.

You remained unnoticed for far longer than you thought you would but the scent of Thai food finally overwhelmed Ashton enough that he lifted his head and blinked in surprise to see you standing in the doorway. He looked confused, but happy to see you, until realization hit him.

“Fuck, I missed dinner, didn’t I?” He frowned, dropping his pencil and reaching to rub his eyes before he caught sight of the mess on his hands and grimaced.

“Technically, no. I’ve got dinner right here.” You held up a plastic bag filled with your usual orders before you stepped into his office and crossed the room to place it onto his desk.

“I’m sorry, doll. I’ve been stuck on this drawing for so long and I finally got it to start looking the way I wanted.” He reached out for you and, despite the stains on his hands, you took his hand and let him pull you to stand between his legs. “Hi.”

“Hi,” you laughed, giggling as his hands found your hips. “Don’t worry about it. The restaurant was crowded, anyway. People were waiting for tables so I figured it’d be nicer to eat here where we don’t have to rush. Can I see what you’re working on?”

Ashton reached around you, quickly piling a few pieces of paper on top of the sheet he’d been drawing on, before he grinned at you. “Nope. Not yet. Don’t want you to see this one until it’s finished.” He did that, every now and then, and though you hated not being able to see the progress he made, you respected his desire to keep his work private until he was ready. So, with a pout, you nodded and reached behind you to grab the bag of food.

“Oh, alright. Well, if I can’t see your work, you can at least take a few minutes to have dinner with me.”

Ashton laughed as he released you from his grasp and watched as you wandered around his office, grabbing the utensils you’d left stashed in a cabinet for nights like this. You often ended up here, having dinner with him at his desk after work, and though you appreciated the nights that saw you both dressed up and hitting the town, you treasured any moment you got him to yourself.

As you moved about the office, gathering utensils and two drinks from the mini fridge in the corner, Ashton watched you with a fond smile of his own. You were so good to him, even when he did something stupid like forget the dinner date you’d been planning all week, and he loved you more than he ever thought himself capable of.

Without thinking about it, he announced, “I found a ring today.”

It was no secret that Ashton was going to propose. You’d talked about marriage at length, confirmed that marriage was in the cards for you both, and knew that you were both ready. He’d been searching for a ring, one that was exactly what you wanted, and it seemed that he’d finally found one.

“I thought you spent the day at the shop,” you hummed as you returned to the desk and allowed Ashton to pull you down onto his lap.

“I left to get lunch for everyone. Found a shop I hadn’t tried before.” He took the box of noodles from you and pressed a kiss to your temple as a ‘thank you’ when he opened it to find his favorite dish inside.

“So, I should stay away from your sock drawer, then?”

“I’ll show it to you, if you want. That way I can make sure you like it before I propose,” he joked before he took a bite of noodles.

“Mm, I think I’d prefer to be surprised. I’m sure it’s going to be perfect, you picked it out.”

“Hey, I’m the cheesy one.” He laughed, nudging your side with his elbow, before he nodded. “Thank you for the vote of confidence. I appreciate it. The boys approve.”

“I’m glad. You figure out who’s going to be the best man yet or are you just going to toss their names into a hat and leave it to chance?” You grinned at him, your question ending in a laugh as his own face fell and he released a groan.

“Can I just have three best men?”

“Your three best men are, like, most of our wedding guests, babe. Gotta make some decisions.” You reached out to pat his shoulder and he laughed as he nodded in agreement.

The pair of you had already started planning your wedding, including the guest list, and had settled on a small affair with close friends and family. You knew that he would end up choosing one of the boys sooner or later and you were in no hurry, you weren’t even officially engaged yet, so you let him remain undecided for the time being.

You moved on to a different topic, opting to catch up on what you’d missed in one another’s lives, as you finished eating. You sat comfortably on his lap, content to remain there until it was time to head home, and Ashton noticed as you both placed your empty containers onto the desk.

“I wanted to finish this up before we head home. Do you want to go ahead or wait here?”

“I’m not moving,” you mumbled, turning to place your head in the crook of his neck, “your lap is too comfortable. Can you draw with me here?”

It was, by no means, a comfortable position to draw in but it was possible. And you hadn’t had much time to just be together in recent days so Ashton nodded. “Sure, doll. Just promise you won’t look?”

He rarely made you promise not to look at his work so you nodded, content to keep your head buried against his neck where you could smell the cologne on his skin. “Promise. I’m just gonna close my eyes. If I fall asleep, just wake me up whenever you’re ready to go.”

He knew that you would be asleep in minutes, you hadn’t slept much lately, but that was alright. It’d keep you from looking and ruining the surprise. He was waiting for the right moment to propose, that much you knew, but what you didn’t know was that he was that he was working on a print for you. You were opposed to the idea of a tattoo for a significant other, you firmly believed it was bad luck, but you loved his art so he wanted to give you something special. It wouldn’t be inked onto your skin but it would be permanent enough, framed and hopefully displayed in your future home, and that was enough.

Everything finally felt just right and Ashton was proud to finally know what love really was.

____________________________________________________

Author’s Note: I love the idea that there’s complete communication about something as big as a proposal. Like, a surprise is nice, but knowing that it’s coming and being open about it is important, I think. I don’t know. Anyway, I’m. still working on drabbles, promise. I haven’t written Ash in so long, I missed my boy.

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