#but the worst part is that my mom didn’t even eat the plants she had me grow!!!
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always-a-slut-4-ghouls · 1 year ago
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Basil (the herb) is a whore and you should know that before your second year with it in the flower bed
#emma posts#so is cilantro#my mom was like ‘oh you can have a few plants I want to use in the kitchen. right?’#and I was a teenager and my raised beds are on family property so I didn’t really have a choice#but. while the kale was pretty normal. THE CILANTRO AND ARUGULA WERE WHORES#whores I did NOT sign up for#I wanted the basil myself so dealing with that is annoying but whatever#but the worst part is that my mom didn’t even eat the plants she had me grow!!!#she ate ones I decided to grow because the family likes strawberries and raspberries#I need to get mint again#and sage#but ANYWAY#I did know that all of these plants were whores#i just wasn’t there when they first started sprouting#I’m going to be going home more often this month and my mom wants the yard looking good for my brothers graduation party#so today was my first garden day of the year#it was nice but my back hates me and I really should have worn gloves (I didn’t know where my mom put mine)#but I hope the plants do well while I’m gone#the basil should be fine. I’d be genuinely surprised if that hoard all died#but the new plants i added for it to look better. those I’ve never had myself#although I’ve wanted to#don’t think I have a green thumb. it’s maybe greenish but half the work is done by the dirt here#it’s just like ‘on it boss 👍’#I should move some catnip into my garden#the stuff in front of my parents house could use some seperating#my strawberries were little bitches last year though so I have to be extra careful this year#I like the variety I have and I don’t know what it’s called so if it dies I’m out of luck#it’s a really cool variety. it actually blooms twice a summer#I can’t keep plants alive inside very long though:(#except my current African violet that takes anything I throw at it
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stitchkiss · 2 years ago
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tell me a story about u
bestie you know more of my stories than anyone and you still want more?? i can’t believe you aren’t sick of them yet lmaoo. i’ll tell you a few from that liam-esque list i sent you a while back.
GATHER ROUND KIDS!! STORYTIME!!
story 1: idek when this was probably when i was like 13 but anyway we were gardening n shit and i was by all the tools takin a break bc i planted like 20 zucchini seeds (bad idea in hindsight all we ate that summer was zucchini) and i was tired. so i look down and there’s a garden hoe next to me and i’m getting flashbacks to my childhood when i watched tom and jerry obsessively and i think “huh. i wonder what would happen if i stepped on it” guess what happened. smacked me right in the face the second i stepped on it. blood went everywhere. face, clothes, tools, soil. brother is laughing. sister rushing for towels. mom making sure my nose wasn’t broken. dad wishing i was never born. my face messy with tears n blood n sweat. i consider this a win bc not only did i get to live out a childhood fantasy but i didn’t have to garden for the rest of the day!
story 2: i am. dumb. and impulsive. and i think movie magic applies to me. all this, but i’m 9 years old. we had just moved and a perk was that a golf cart came w the house. so when, for reasons i can’t remember, there was a dirt hill in my backyard i knew EXACTLY what to do with it bc i had just watched wreck it ralph AND played a mario kart tournament the night before so i know a ramp when i see one. see where im going w this? when i saw the dirt hill i got on the golf cart and fuckin floored it. the thing is, i didn’t know that the dirt wasn’t packed in, so it was too soft for the tires. i did not make it over. the cart tipped over and i fell out. it almost crushed me. the funniest part ab this is when my mom came over to check on me she was like “i saw you speed off and i KNEW what you were doing” i wasn’t allowed to try it again.
3. i had a goldfish named herbert. i won him at a festival when i was like 12 and he came in a plastic baggie like from finding nemo. so i brought him home and i quickly realized i had no place to put him bc he was my first (and only) fish. so i threw out these flowers my mom had in this really big vase and i put him in it instead. during this time i didnt have a phone bc i accidentally broke it a few days before when i was jump roping and had it in my pocket and it flew out. SO i didn’t know what to feed herbert bc no google and neither did anyone else and they didn’t want to help me raise my new son so i had to figure this out by myself. do you know what i fed him instead of fish food? ritz crackers. how tf was i supposed to know the salt from the crackers would kill him. the concept of “freshwater fish” eluded me at the time. i woke up the next day and he was floating at the top of the vase. but the worst part of this story? i was preparing a small, intimate funeral for herbert bc he deserved nothing less and i took him out of the vase and put him on a plate. then i left for like 5 minutes to make sure my brother and sister were going to be in attendance and to throw some rose petals in the toilet bc if i was gonna flush him it might as well be beautiful. but. when i went back to the kitchen to get herbert, my cat was eating him.
4. last story! my cousins and i are really close and we do this thing when all of us are available and we call it a version of guy’s grocery games based on who the judge is that night (we replace the g with our initial) where we each make food but change it up in a creative way. this time was pizza. i teamed up w one of my cousins and we decided to make a pizza based off the fast food chain raising canes. so we go to canes and order a bunch of chicken and fries and bread and we even got a cup full of canes sauce for $5 and we also bought a premade pizza dough. the pizza was DIVINE and i’d eat it again but be warned you need pepto bismal on hand if you eat it bc it’ll rly fuck up ur insides. but, even tho it was the best invention ever, we didn’t fucking win. what did we lose to, you ask? a ramen pizza. my brother and his gf made it w the recipe I SENT HIM!! but the thing is, this recipe called for soy sauce and my cousin is allergic to soy. my brother asked me for his allergy list in preparation and i forgot to put it on there. so my cousin was ab to take a bite when my brain connected the very very important dots and i smacked it out of his hand.
hope u enjoyed all that!!
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siempre-bucky · 2 years ago
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your pilot roommate confessing his feelings headcanons | pt. 2
Summary: how the tgm pilots would confess their feelings to their roommate.
in part two: Bob, Coyote, Payback | pt. 1
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BOB 
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"That's the last of them," Bob panted as he brought in the last plant from the patio 
Bob is a plant guy, he thought the greenery brought life to your shared place 
you thought they would've been fine in the rain storm, but it turned into being the worst storm of the year and Bob was adamant about bringing the delicate plants inside 
he looked so beautiful with his short hair slightly damp, dark green shirt littered with raindrops
you took the opportunity and eyed him up and down while he took off his glasses to clean them with the hem of his shirt
the two of you sat on opposite sides of the open window, breathing in the glorious smell of the rain and watching the lightning show outside beyond the blowing trees 
Bob was on his fourth beer while you were on your third 
he managed to sneak loving glances while you watched the storm, biting back his tipsy giggled 
after his fifth drink, he let out a giggle followed by a hiccup
you looked amused as he leaned back against the wall and covered his mouth with his hand 
"You good, Robby?" You giggled 
he shook his head and moved his hand 
"It's crazy," he marveled, looking out at the storm 
"The rain?" You were beyond confused at this point, Bob was always so put together 
"No!" He laughed, slapping his knee
you pressed your side to the wall and crossed your arms, watching 'drunk Bob' giggle like a mad man
"It's crazy that we've lived together for a year and I never told you…" 
you managed to get a couple of words in through his cackles "Tell me what?" 
His cackles died down to soft giggles, his breathing trying to regulate 
"That I've been in love with you since flight school." 
your stomach flipped and your heart damn near stopped
"Do you really mean that?" You asked cautiously as you moved to be closer to him 
he nodded, a red tint appearing on his cheeks 
Bob thinned his lips while he nodded and looked down at the blanket pooling in his lap, "liquid courage," he smiled shyly, motioning towards the empty bottles
you rose on your knees and sat directly in front of him
"I didn't think someone as perfect as you could love me too," you said with a tiny laugh in your tone
his head shot up to meet your loving gaze, his glasses low on the tip of his nose 
"Can I kiss you, Robby?" 
"Please," he whimpered before your lips covered his 
Coyote
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You didn't know that when you gained a roommate, you also gained a private chef 
you and Hangman had the luxury of a gourmet meal every evening by Javy 
saved on eating out every month… 
"You look happy," you chucked from the couch 
Javy emerged from the kitchen with a wide smile, clutching his phone and a piece of paper 
"My mom finally let me have my great grandpa's gumbo recipe," he beamed, waving the paper in the air 
"I can't wait to make it for you." 
for you
he always included Jake's name when he mentioned dinner plans…but he didn't this time 
you slumped in your seat and bit your lower lip to prevent the girlish squeal from coming out 
you were looking forward to it all week, and then you got the crushing text that their training was going to be late and you were better off buying dinner 
Javy bought all the ingredients and did the prep work….and he just so happened to leave the coveted recipe on the fridge
you were on the phone with his mom the entire time, getting her advice and making sure you didn’t mess up 
you could see where he got it from, the same passion when Javy talked about cooking exuded from his mom 
after it was all said and done she laughed in her motherly tone and told you “You know the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” 
you nearly dropped your phone into the boiling pot at her knowing words 
his mom taunted the two of you every time she visited, she knew about your feelings even before you did 
“What is that smell?” Javy gasped as he threw his duffle bag on the floor and nearly ran into the kitchen 
You were quick to shove a bowl to his chest, his proud brown eyes looking down at it 
“Is this?” 
you nodded and anxiously waited for him to try the meal you spent hours with his mother cooking 
at first, you couldn't get a read on him, his face remained stoic as he ate
then all of a sudden, his expression softened 
“I love you so much,” he whispered 
“What was that?” you asked 
“The gumbo, I love it so much,” he recovered quickly
“Oh,” you remarked, trying to hide your disappointment 
Jake entered the room just in time to soothe the awkwardness, praising the food and making conversation. 
you stayed quiet as you all stood in the kitchen, listening to Jake enthusiastically tell you the successes of the day's training. Javy barely looked at you, his eyes were trained on his food and you couldn’t bring yourself to look at him 
“I told her I loved her,” Javy mentioned to Jake while they cleaned
Jake grinned and slapped his friend on the shoulder, “When’s the wedding?” he beamed 
“I, uh, then said I was talking to the food.” 
he hit him harder, “Fix it. Now.” 
“I already fucked it up.” 
“No you didn’t,” you said suddenly, sliding in between the two men and placing your empty bowl in the sink
Javy grinned, looking to the floor bashfully, “Could we talk over dessert?” 
after midnight, you and Javy sat on the counter with a tub of ice cream between you, staring at the kitchen light you desperately needed to replace 
“I love you,” he said, breaking the silence, “you, not the ice cream.” 
he playfully nudged your shoulder 
you laughed and nudged him back, “I love you so much Javy. This ice cream is a close second though.” 
Javy scoffed and dotted your nose with the cold dessert 
Payback 
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“My living room’s a war zone,” you gasped as you came back to your apartment to see the living room filled with cardboard boxes, bubblewrap scattered across the  
Ruben just grinned as he filled his mile-high bookshelf with his record collection 
“Got the last of them shipped, they’re gonna good so good right here,” he marveled at his work 
you simply rolled your eyes and looked into one of the boxes, smiling fondly you took out a carefully wrapped record, “Remember this one?” you asked, getting his attention
he looked over and took the record in his hands, “This one’s my favorite,” he admitted softly, “you got this for me when we graduated high school…I wanted it for years.” 
Ruben walked to the record player and put it on, the soft jazz bringing a smile to his face 
he opened his arms and wiggled his hips, “Dance with me,” he chuckled 
sending him a laugh in return you put one of your hands in his while the other rested on his bicep 
“This reminds me of prom, still can’t believe no one asked us,” you scoffed, playfully rolling your eyes 
Ruben looked down bashfully
you instantly took notice of the sudden change, “What’s wrong?” 
“Nothing, I just—I just wish I would have asked you properly. I wanted you to be my real date and not because of some silly agreement we had.” 
heat ran up your neck, your breath hitching in your throat 
you leaned forward and put your head on his chest 
“Can I admit something?” 
“Y-yeah?” Ruben replied in the form of a question
“I was jealous when you asked Carrie to your Navy Ball… I wanted it to be me.” 
“I wanted it to be you too,” he replied instantly, “I was afraid if I asked, you would’ve figured out that I liked you. I wasn’t ready for you to know yet.” 
you pulled away and took a step back, fighting off a giddy smile
“While we were dancing,” he started, walking to the shelf and replacing the record, “all I could think about was dancing with you to this song…not her. I’ve been in love with you for a long time.” 
Ruben came closer and put his arms around your waist, your arms around his neck 
he swayed you side to side, your foreheads connected 
“I’m in love with you too, Ruben. I always have been.”
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idkthisisjustforfanfic · 4 years ago
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that makes four.
story page | talk to me + join the tag list
PART 1
Your feet dangled down from the stool, elbows on the granite counter when Jeff turned around. “Alright,” he said, lips in a thin smile when he revealed the plate of reheated lasagna that someone dropped off in the last few days. “Smells good.”
You looked up at him with an unimpressed stare. “It looks a little disgusting.”
“It’s vegan, I think.”
“Jesus,” you rolled your eyes. “You start one all natural skincare line and people think you only eat plant-based shit.”
He let out a small laugh, set the plate down and watched as you picked up the fork. One bite--mediocre. Not exactly hot enough, but after all Jeff had done for you the last few days, you didn’t have the heart to demand he put it in for another minute.
“So--do you think it went well?”
You laughed around the food in your mouth, picked up a paper napkin and let your head tilt to the side. “As good as a funeral could be.”
The lights in your kitchen were dim and the sun had already faded behind the trees, the house quiet after people finally filed out. Friends, extended family, strangers you’d never met had flocked to Los Angeles for the funeral of your famous father.
It’d been coming from a mile away. His health declined, an obvious result of the cocaine and the cigarettes and whatever else he’d ingested regularly in the 70s. A heart attack a year ago put him on a fast track to the afterlife, but he always joked that he’d probably end up in hell.
Being in the music industry ruined him, in a way--it ruined your parents’ marriage and it ruined a lot of the relationships your father had. Blow outs and big fights that left him exiled from a lot of social circles, sometimes never speaking to people again after one bad phone call. But it was never like that with Irv.
“Well, I’ve never seen my dad cry so hard,” Jeff smiled. “He really loved him.”
Another bite of the soggy noodles and fake cheese. “I know.”
A comfortable silence, the doors off the kitchen were open, a breeze from the backyard let the southern California warmth blow through the sheer curtains when you sipped at your left over wine.
Jeff was the closest thing you had to a sibling, his family was all you had left at this point. You were tossed in the bathtub with him and his siblings as a baby, shoved into family photos and tagged along for vacations.
Being closest in age to Jeff meant people always hoped it would be the two of you that would end up together. Happily ever after or having babies of your own. But when you saw Jeff wolf down a whole pizza at his bar mitzvah, any hope of a spark between the two of you had been permanently extinguished.
His older sister was the one who told you what it meant to have sex, and after your mom died, his mom helped you pick out a dress for your Sweet Sixteen.
She was the one who talked you off the ledge when you found out you were pregnant only a few years later, she was the one who threw you both baby showers and she was the one who helped you through your divorce only six months earlier.
So now that your dad was gone, too, you wondered where you fit into their family and what your definition of family even was.
Before the thought could cross your mind, the front door was pushed open and the sound of high pitched giggles floated in from the foyer.
CeCe’s tiny voice echoed down the hall. “Uncle Jeff?”
“Is that my CeCe?” He took a few steps forward and she ran straight into his legs, he hoisted her up onto his hip when Maeve rounded the corner with Tristan in tow.
“Hi honey,” you opened an arm so your ten-year-old could fit into the side of you. She leaned her head on her shoulder. “How was ice cream?”
The easiest ploy to get them out of the house while you hosted some kind of awkward afterparty.
“Fine,” she sighed. “But Tristan said that funerals are a selfish attempt by the living to hold on to someone after they’re dead.”
You blinked a few times and looked down at her, shocked by the words and apparently, her ability to understand them. You looked over at Tristan, arched eyebrows to communicate how displeased you were.
His eyes went wide when Jeff choked down a laugh. “I didn’t--I don’t know what you’re talking about Maeve.”
You kissed Maeve on the head. “Well, Tristan is wrong about a lot of things, trust me. But you two should go get ready for bed, it’s been a long day.”
You looked over at him again--younger by two years and easily one of the most important people in your life. You met him only a year after you started your business, he had a knack for brand management and eye for design that you couldn’t pass up. He was way too sarcastic and cynical to be your regular babysitter, but Jeff and his family were basically in the receiving line beside you.
Jeff let CeCe climb down and Maeve took her by the hand as they headed for the kitchen stairs to the second floor, leaving you alone at the island with two of your closest friends.
He waited until he heard the water turn on from their bathroom sink, then whispered in Tristan’s direction. “Great idea to say that to a ten-year-old and a six-year-old after their grandpa dies.”
Tristan rolled his eyes theatrically, “she asked why so many people came and why she’d never met any of them if they loved her grandpa so much.”
“Well, you can expect a bill for their therapy in a few years,” you laughed, forking more lasagna into your mouth.
Tristan made his way over to the fridge and pulled out the glass dish, helping himself to a piece when Jeff took a seat beside you. “How are you holding up?”
“Fine,” you glanced at him sideways, suspicious about any ulterior motive he might have.
“Okay, Y/N,” Jeff laughed, Tristan eyed you from over his shoulder like he didn’t believe you. “Let me try again. How are you feeling emotionally?”
You cleared your throat and swallowed the most recent bite of dinner. “Oh, you mean cause my husband left me six months ago and my dad just died and now I’m a single mom with two fiesty daughters who just inherited a giant house aaaaaand,” you drew out the word for dramatic effect. “I’m a business owner who barely gets any sleep?”
“That’s what I was getting at, yes,” Jeff nodded and fought a smirk.
“I’m alright,” you sighed. “Tired. Kind of freaked out about what the fuck is going on in my life, but, I’ll survive. I always survive."
You knew you would--in fact, you’d been waiting for this moment for the last few weeks. When Jeff’s mom called to tell you your dad needed to be put in hospice, you prepared. You talked to Maeve and CeCe and explained it all in a way they’d understand. His life on earth is over, but we can still talk to him and visit a pretty garden to remember him.
It was a lot to deal with only a few months after your high school sweetheart turned husband admitted he’d been having an affair and moved out, you saw on Facebook that he’d since bought a motorcycle and was spending most of his time at bars along the coast. That whole fiasco was harder to explain to your children.
And now suddenly everyone wanted to make sure you were okay. Frozen dinners, offers to drive your kids to and from their extracurriculars, a lot of attention was suddenly thrust onto you and your family, as if you hadn’t always hated that growing up.
But you knew the time would come when life would settle back down. Cousins and aunts and uncles would fly home, people would stop asking how you were doing post divorce. Dust would settle and the sun would set on this chapter and frankly, it couldn’t happen soon enough.
So here you were, the funeral was over, the dinner in his honor at Jeff’s parents, the media coverage was starting to die down and life could return to normal. Or, at least, a new normal.
Your dad had been a fixture in your life--weekly dinner dates with grandpa gave you a minute to yourself after working long days and answering endless phone calls. A glass of wine on the couch or even dinner with Tristan and Zoey was a nice escape from breaking up fights or figuring out how to reattach the head of a Barbie doll after someone shoved someone into a closet and tears and screaming ensued.
“You will definitely survive,” Jeff nodded.
Tristan came and sat, forked into the lasagna and made a face when he realized how bad it was. “Is this fake cheese?”
“Unfortunately,” you nodded.
Tristan made a face and then cleared his throat. “I, for one, think this is the start of a new chapter for you. New opportunities, new love,” he smirked.
A quick retort: “Yeah, that’s obviously the first priority right now.”
“He’s right, though,” Jeff said. “You have a fresh start, a totally new chapter.”
You nodded--they were right, but easing into a new chapter felt a lot better than trying to dive right in.
“Speaking of a fresh start, you know, changing things up,” Jeff forced a grin in your direction. “Can we actually talk for a second?”
You eyed him suspiciously, put your fork down to bow out from eating the world’s worst lasagna. “Yeah?”
“I have kind of a weird favor to ask. And--I know it’s kind of bad timing, with everything going on, but--just hear me out, okay?”
Instead of replying, you watched him, lifted your brows to encourage him to continue and tread carefully.
“So I have a client who isn’t from here, he bought a house but it’s in the middle of getting renovated. There’s kind of been a lot going on, it’s a long story.”
“Okay,” you nodded, unsure where he was going with it.
“He needs a place to stay, and I was wondering if maybe he could stay here for a little.”
“Here, like, here here?” You pointed to the floor of your kitchen, an elegant upgrade from the more modest house in Woodland Hills you’d occupied before the divorce.
Along with the death of your father came the inheritance of his Bel Air estate and all of the bedrooms, the four car garage, the manicured lawn and the pool out back. Some people thought you should sell it, use the cash to make trusts for the girls or save for college.
Selling it didn’t feel right, though. It was the house he worked so hard for, the house you called home for the later half of your teen years and the place you always came back to when things got hard. So instead of putting it on the market and closing that chapter, once again, you returned to the safe haven in the hills when you didn’t know where else to turn.
“Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but you have the room and it might be fun to have someone else around and--”
“I have two daughters, Jeff, I can’t just let a stranger live with us.”
“He’s not a stranger, Y/N, he’s my friend. We’re really close.”
“Who is he?” Tristan asked, waving his fork in the air to remind us that he was still present.
“Harry Styles.”
Tristan’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “The kid from the boyband?”
“No way,” you shook your head, dismissing it before you could even let his name register. “I’m not having a pop star boy band kid stay in my house.”
“Okay,” Jeff held up a hand to get Tristan to relax, then moved to point at you. “He’s 24, number one. He’s not a kid, he’s, like, only a few years younger than us.”
“Yes,” you nodded, “exactly. I don’t need a 24-year-old living with my daughters.”
“He’s not like that, though. He’s responsible and he’s a family friendly dude, and--”
“Then why can’t he live with you? Or with your parents?”
“I don’t have the room,” he said. “And my dad hates house guests.”
You rolled your eyes, it was obnoxious, but it was true. Irv hated having people stay over almost as much as he hated it when your dad beat him in golf.
Jeff took your silence as an opportunity to continue selling you on the idea. “He just finished his tour, he’s working on his second album. He’s probably going to be in the studio a lot, Y/N. Do you really think I would let some crazy party animal live with my nieces?”
Another eye roll from both you and Tristan.
“Is this like, just a few nights?” You asked.
“Like, two weeks. Tops.”
“Two weeks?!” You shook your head. “No--I can’t put them through that after all the shit that’s been going on this year. Why can’t he just stay in a hotel?”
“Cause that’s lonely and he’s a people person and--I don’t know, it might be good for you to have someone around.”
You rolled your eyes that, was it a jab at your new status as a single mom or new status as a fatherless daughter? Unsure.
Jeff stood from the counter and grabbed for his phone on the far end of the island. “Just think about it, okay? I’ve gotta run. A few weeks, built in babysitting, maybe--he’s great with kids.”
“I’ve already thought about it,” you told him, resting your chin in your hand and offering a sugary sweet smile. “No fucking way.”
“Mommy!” CeCe’s voice called from upstairs, you hoisted yourself up, ready to tuck them in and forget that Jeff had ever asked such a ludicrous question.
“I would owe you big time--it might be fun! You’ve got the room, he could be a positive male influence on the girls.” He wiggled his eyebrows at the end of his sentence--like that would really sway you.
“And I’m not that?” Tristan pulled his head back, offended.
“You’re the one who told them funerals are stupid,” Jeff said with a sarcastic smirk.
“And you’re the crazy one trying to let a stranger move in here like it’s an AirBnB,” you shot back at Jeff. “So maybe they do need a better male influence than both of you.”
“Mommy!” CeCe called again, more impatient this time.
“I’m coming!” You shouted. “You, let yourself out when you’re finished eating this terrible meal,” you pointed at Tristan and the lasagna. “And you,” you pointed at Jeff with a smirk. “Please never speak to me again.”
He was already heading for the door, keys in hand when he blew you a kiss. “Love you, see you soon!”
“Love you,” you called back, bounding up the stairs, mom mode activated.
**
A text message the next day when you were at work:
Jeff Azoff (1:43pm): 🙏😇🙏😇
You blew air from your lips, Zoey sat across from you at a conference table when you took a late lunch. She was the first friend you made when you started high school, your long time confidant aside from Tristan and Jeff and a sure bet to tell it like it is.
Now she regularly popped into the Luna offices and she loved nothing more than acting like she was a higher up at your business. She’d rather be doing that than admit she was a new mom with no clue what the next chapter of her life would look like. You had that in common.
Her two-month-old son, Benny, sat in a carrier on the ground, his eyelashes fluttered when Zoey put her feet up on the chair beside her.
“What’s the sigh for?”
“Jeff is being annoying.”
“What’d he do now?”
You looked over at her, nose deep in her phone when you took another bite of the burrito bowl she’d picked up for you. You didn’t know if it was worth it to explain it all. Zoey was excitable, never one to turn down an adventure and her aptly timed identity crisis that came with becoming a mom was sure to make her encourage bad decisions even more.
She looked up at you, suddenly aware of the wheels spinning in your mind.
“Spill it,” she instructed. She put her phone down and let out a breath, clasped her hands and waited for you to fill her in.
“He asked me to let a friend of his stay with us in my dad’s house.”
“Your house,” she corrected. “Deed’s in your name now.”
“My house,” you nodded. “And I feel weird about it.”
“Who’s the friend?”
“Some client of his,” you tried to wave it off as if the name didn’t matter.
It didn’t, really. You’d long been exposed to the rich and famous just because of the nature of your father’s work. He was one of the biggest managers in the music industry in partnership with Jeff’s dad, so you were no stranger to beautiful people with beautiful cars and beautiful homes. When Jeff took on the family business, you only grew more accustomed to it.
“So a celebrity?” she shimmied her shoulders in excitement. “Which one?”
“Harry Styles,” you said the name slowly, quietly, even though it was just the two of you in the second floor conference room and even though this was your office that you bought and you owned and you ran.
“He’s hot,” she nodded casually, less impressed than you’d expected.
“He’s also like twenty-something, so it's disgusting for you to say that.”
“Oh relax,” she dismissed your concern. “He could be your pool boy.”
Zoey--who also grew up in Southern California and spent plenty of time at your house as a kid--hadn’t yet grown so accustomed to the coming and going of celebrities. Her parents owned a florist shop in Santa Monica and in high school you had to tell her she could only come to a Britney Spears concert if she didn’t cry when you inevitably met her in the green room thanks to your dad.
“I have children,” you reminded her. “A ten-year-old who might as well be fifteen and a six-year-old who would think I literally bought her a human playmate.”
“But if he’s friends with Jeff I highly doubt he’s a serial killer,” she reasoned.
“Wow, you are completely missing the point.”
“What’s the point, then?”
“It’s weird--I can’t have a stranger move in with my kids.”
“Why not?”
“Because first their dad left us and now their grandpa died.”
“Sounds like they need a new man in their life.”
You ignored the similarity of her words with Jeff’s from the other night. “I just think it’s crazy.”
“Okay,” she sat up straight and suddenly looked like this was morphing into a business conversation. “How long?”
“Two weeks.”
“Oh my god,” she turned her palms towards the sky. “Just do it.”
“What? No!”
“It’s two weeks--it’ll take your mind off of all the shit that’s been going on, it’ll be a fun distraction for the girls. You have so much space in that house you will never even know he’s there. And you’re helping a friend.”
She wasn’t wrong: Harry could likely stay in the bedroom all the way on the other end of the hall from where the girls slept. Maeve was thrilled to get her own room in the move and CeCe would occasionally run into your room after a nightmare, so the space was a plus.
He’d have his own room, his own bathroom. Hell, he could even park in the extra garage and enter from the back of the house. Maybe you wouldn’t even notice he existed.
You sighed, tugged at your necklace when you met her gaze. “I just feel really protective over them right now. I feel like Luke ruined their sense of family and now with my dad gone--”
She stuck her tongue out in disgust at the sound of your ex’s name. “I get that--but they have you. They have Jeff and his family and they have me and Shawn and now Benny.”
You offered a small smile at her reassurance. She was right in a lot of ways. The Azoffs were as much a family to your daughters as they had been to you. Shelli and Irv were like grandparents, they offered to babysit plenty of times and they always managed to get the girls the most amazing birthday presents.
But something in you knew it wasn’t the same. You’d dreamed of giving your daughters the sense of family you never had: a mom and a dad who loved each other. One house, not two that had two different beds and sets of books or toys.
Luckily and unluckily, your ex hadn’t made a huge deal about custody. Visits here and there were outlined in your divorce papers, but at this point in time he didn’t seem the most interested in maintaining a relationship with his daughters, even though he promised way back when that he’d never leave.
Getting pregnant with him during college wasn’t planned, but he swore you’d make it work and you tied the knot only a few months before Maeve was born. Things were good at first, you always knew you’d have more than one--if only to combat your own only-child loneliness--and then CeCe came five years later when you felt a little more prepared.
“I don’t think it’s going to traumatize them, Y/N. I mean, the least you could do is meet the guy.”
You watched her for a minute, blew air from your nose in a huff before you picked up your phone.
Y/N L/N (1:56pm): Fine. I’ll meet him.
Three days later you pulled up to a cafe in Brentwood and took a deep breath in the parking lot. If he was creepy, you wouldn’t go for it. If you got even the slightest weird vibe from him, you’d ex-communicate Jeff and only go over to visit his parents with the girls when he wasn’t around.
You’d already been leaning towards just doing it, especially once Tristan got a glass of wine in you and reminded you what your dad would have said: he who helps is one who prospers.
A few sleepless nights left you staring at the ceiling and wondering if you were crazy. You just now had the chance to let life settle down and here you were, mourning the loss of your biggest supporter, trying to piece yourself back together post divorce, and considering letting a stranger move in? Grief really did do strange things to people.
But when you walked in and found them sitting at a table in the back, something clicked.
Your dad was already fond of your possible houseguest, which you only knew from overhearing previous conversations between him and Irv about how proud they were of Jeff for picking up the family business, and now it all made sense.
A small part of you--probably the stupidest part of you--wondered if there was something cosmic about it. Your dad was always one to let his artists stay in the house, if they weren’t creepy, of course. You grew up with bands rehearsing in the backyard and going to shows at the Troubadour before you were old enough to drive, and you turned out fine.
“Hi,” Harry stood, offered a hand and introduced himself after Jeff gave you a kiss on the cheek. “Harry, pleasure to meet you.” Polite, maybe a bit of a kiss ass. Your dad must have loved him.
“Y/N,” you nodded, sat down when Jeff tugged out a chair for you. “Thanks for--uh--meeting with me, I guess.”
“Thanks for maybe letting me stay at your house,” he offered a sheepish smile, held your gaze for a second when Jeff adjusted the sunglasses clipped to his shirt.
“I’m actually surprised you guys haven’t met before,” he said.
“I’ve been a little busy this year,” you reminded him with a nod. “But--nice to finally meet you.”
Harry nodded, a dimple in his left cheek ignited a tiny spark in your chest, but you pushed Zoey’s words out of your mind. Two weeks, it wasn’t a big deal. He’d be in and out and this would be a blip on the radar.
“We can order coffee or something, but Y/N, I’m assuming you have like, a whole interrogation mapped out?”
You pretended to laugh at Jeff’s joke, turned to Harry and offered a no-nonsense smile. “I have two children, I got divorced earlier this year and my dad just died. So I don’t need any drama or anything. This is temporary and I’m doing this to help out a friend. Jeff, that is, not you.”
He laughed at your clarification and nodded. “Right. This is just me living in your house. No drama. Short-term.”
“And obviously my children will be there, so no guests.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Okay I’m not that much older than you,” you said it quickly, offered a small smile when he looked a little scared.
“Sorry--no, I didn’t mean that in a rude way.”
“No ma’am,” you added a rule, pulling a laugh from both of them when you lifted another finger in the air to count them off. “No drugs or alcohol, unless it’s like a glass of wine at dinner or something,” you shrugged.
“Look,” Jeff leaned forward. “Y/N’s kids are great, she’s got a great skincare company and she’s a kickass human. And you need a place to stay, so don’t fuck this up.”
“You both have my word. No drugs, no alcohol, no guests, no ma’am,” he smirked in your direction. “I’ve lived alone for a while, so, it’ll be nice to have some roommates.”
You nodded slowly and watched him for a second. A hoodie with the name of the management firm your dad and Irv had started, a backwards baseball hat and simple Ray-Bans. You ignored the fluttering in your veins from just looking at him, your own words echoed against the walls of your skull: he’s also like twenty-something, so that’s disgusting.
This was his brand, you were sure. Something Jeff had worked hard on--the looks, the smile, the exact formula that management firms drooled over was playing out in front of you. You sipped your drink once the waiter delivered three cappuccinos. Two weeks, tops.
**
Los Angeles afternoons were meant for playing outside, which is what your daughters did best if they weren’t busy pulling each other’s hair. You had dinner on the stove--enough for five--and a knot of nerves in your stomach when the wheels of his fancy car crunched atop the gravel.
The girls ran to greet him and Jeff showed him around the house. Now, Harry sat across from you at the table, Maeve to his left with an unimpressed look on her face when you cleared your throat. “Okay, gratitude time.”
Jeff set his fork back down, a guilty look on his face to admit he’d forgotten about your pre-dinner ritual.
CeCe squirmed in her seat, let out a sigh when Maeve protested with a flutter of her eyelashes. “I don’t have anything to be thankful for,” she informed you.
“That feels a little hard to believe,” you nodded, losing patience for her attitude over the last few days. “CeCe, do you want to go?”
Your younger daughter looked up at you, scrunched her mouth and thought about it. “I don’t have anything either.”
You tried not to groan aloud. After the week you’d had and the sudden changes in your life, disciplining your daughters felt like the last thing you wanted to do, if only they’d just behave.
“I can go,” Harry lifted his hand sheepishly as if he was sitting in a classroom and not in your dining room, a dimple on his cheek when he smiled sheepishly.
“Take it away,” you motioned towards him.
“M’thankful for being here, having a place to stay--and what looks like it will be a delicious meal.” By now he had a bit of smug look on his face, maybe proud of the fact that he’d broken the ice and stepped up to the pre-dinner prompt.
“Mom’s cooking is a solid six out of ten on a good day,” Maeve looked over at him, her fork now in her hand as if she was ready to dig in.
“Okay,” you leaned in and caught her gaze. “Drop the attitude or go to your room.”
“I’m thankful for Emma,” she named her friend, her quick submission after she rolled her eyes told you she just wanted to eat and get this over with. “She warned me today that Hayley was wearing a shirt I wore last week so I think she’s copying me.”
“Okay,” you nodded, you’d accept anything at this point. “CeCe? Last chance.”
“I’m grateful for pudding.”
Harry let out a quiet laugh, you nodded and said: “Great. I’m thankful for you two,” you smiled at them, hopeful that this nightly tradition would hold some type of meaning, more than just eye rolls and pre-pubescent angst from Maeve.
Jeff looked over at the girls, “I’m thankful for my friend Harry getting to meet my other friends, CeCe and Maeve.”
“Aww,” Harry smiled, a hand clutched to his heart when he looked between them.
“Alright,” you were annoyed by how good your daughters were at turning on their charm for anyone but you. Jeff was often the fun uncle, just like your ex had been the fun dad, which left you forcing them to play this gratitude game every night after they finished their homework.
CeCe wasted no time digging into the spaghetti on her plate, leaving Jeff to ask Maeve: “so what are you going to do about Hayley?”
“I don’t know,” Maeve sighed. “She’ll die when she finds out that you’re sleeping over,” she pointed her fork at Harry.
“He’s not sleeping over,” you corrected. “He’s staying in one of the guest rooms, remember?” You’d already explained it a few times to them. A few weeks, he’s working on more music, he’ll be busy, he’s not here to play with you.
“Whatever,” Maeve said. “Maybe I’ll hold it over her.”
“Maeve,” you looked over, unsure what had gotten into her. “I thought we talked about this stuff with Hayley?”
“I know--but she just keeps annoying me,” Maeve explained.
“Dump pasta on her head,” CeCe suggested with a giggle.
“Don’t do that,” you looked at CeCe and poked her in the stomach.
“I personally am a big fan of that idea,” Jeff smiled over at CeCe. “But it’d probably be better to just forget about it. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
“Or the sincerest form of annoying,” she retorted.
Harry let out a laugh at that, caught your gaze when you wondered how soon it’d take him to get annoyed with your kids.
They were great--smart, funny, clever, definitely witty and sometimes dramatic. But they were good kids.
You remembered how tough it was to adapt to motherhood, even though they were your own. Something told you that Harry, no matter how short his stay would be, was not in the chapter of his life that entailed finding joy in playdates and pillow fights.
But he made it through dinner, quiet but friendly and as soon as Maeve was finished, she begged him to play squishball outside before sunset.
“Squishball?” his eyebrows dipped together. “Never heard of it.”
“It’s basically just baseball but with a softer bat and a foam ball cause mom doesn’t want us to break our skulls,” Maeve informed.
“I never said break your skulls,” you argued.
“But it’s what you meant,” she shrugged.
“I would love to play,” Harry laughed, unbelievably entertained by the back and forth he’d already witnessed. They yanked him outside and set up their tiny diamond, CeCe pulled on a tutu just for flair and you and Jeff were left to handle the aftermath of a family dinner.
Jeff put the final plate into the dishwasher after a little bit and offered a hesitant smile when he turned around. “So?”
“So what? It’s been like an hour and a half of him being here.”
Their laughter from outside was audible, CeCe shrieked when Maeve made contact with the bat and sent the ball soaring into the air. “The girls clearly love him.”
“Of course they do--they love anyone for the first two hours.”
“I think he’ll be good for you guys.”
You rolled your eyes, wiped the counter with the sponge when he continued.
“And you guys will be good for him.”
This got your attention. “How so?”
“He’s a people-person, never likes being on his own too much. Some structure and responsibility is good for him.”
“So I’m babysitting him?”
“Oh my god,” he laughed. “Relax, will you? This could be a mutually beneficial thing if you let it, that’s all I’m saying.”
You didn’t read too much into it, you figured Jeff was peppering you with reassurance only to calm your nerves or quell your concerns. When he was finished helping you clean, he hugged the girls goodbye and waved over his shoulder, leaving Harry alone in your house with you and your daughters and nothing but good intentions.
You left him downstairs at first, helped CeCe brush her hair and sat on the floor when Maeve picked out her clothes for the next day: hopefully Hayley doesn’t own this dress.
When you headed back downstairs an hour later, the girls were tucked in, the lights were off, and your usual plan would have been to check your work emails if it weren’t for the dimpled guy in your living room.
He stood at the bookcase, hands clasped behind his back when you found him.
“Hi, sorry--bedtime is always a--” you paused, not even knowing the right label. “A shit show. But thanks for playing with them earlier.”
He laughed, turned around and offered a smile. “No worries--they seem like great kids.”
“They are,” you assured. “Maeve’s been a bit snarky lately but I think that’s just the whole beginning of puberty thing.” You cringed a little when the words left your mouth, wondering if it was too much information for someone who likely had cooler things to do than talk about ten-year-olds and training bras.
But he smiled, shoved his hands in his pockets when you said: let me show you around.
He’d arrived at the worst time. Homework, dinner prep, CeCe crying because Maeve finished her homework first. You didn’t have the chance to give him a tour and you figured it would be better coming from you than from Jeff, that way you could remind him of all the rules.
You showed him the ground floor first. The library, the family room, the two offices and the three different remotes that all worked different TVs or speakers or lamps. He marveled at the pictures on the wall in your dad’s old office space, he was a legend, he told you.
He climbed the stairs behind you and whispered in response when you pointed out what was behind each door. Bathroom, Maeve’s room, CeCe’s room, guest room, another bathroom, master suite, guest room, his room.
You pushed the door open and stepped aside to let him in. Gray walls, a wooden four-post king-sized bed. Throw pillows you’d picked out when you moved in a few weeks ago, a dresser to the left. He looked around and nodded. “S’perfect.”
“Good,” you said, walking over to a small linen closet in his attached bath. “Towels are in here, should be soap and stuff in the shower--had our housekeeper stock it.”
“Thanks,” he nodded again.
“I don’t know where you parked, but there’s a garage in the back that my dad used to keep some of his sports cars in--there’s definitely room and that way you don’t have to leave yours out if it rains.”
Were you talking too much? You just wanted him to feel at home or at least welcomed.
“Amazing,” he said. “Thank you.”
A repetitive answer but it didn't stop you from rambling.
“Keurig’s on the counter--creamer in the fridge. Should be plenty of food but obviously feel free to stock what you like. Except like, weed.”
“Weed doesn’t go in the fridge...” he eyed you suspiciously, the same dimple appeared on his cheek and you rolled your eyes.
“I know--I know weed doesn’t go in the fridge.”
“Just the no drug policy,” he nodded.
“Right. Am I forgetting anything?”
He shifted his weight on his feet and shrugged his shoulders, a subtle shake of his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Okay,” you nodded, one final look around the room to make sure he had what he needed. His duffle bag was already in the corner, you’d told Jeff to put it upstairs and out of the way so CeCe and Maeve didn’t get nosy.
“I just have a question actually, if that’s alright.”
“Yeah?”
“When did you move in here?”
“Uh, beginning of August, so like, almost a month ago.”
He nodded, his eyes curious despite the fact that he didn’t ask more.
“We had to put my dad in hospice, I was looking for a place anyway after,” a quick motion over your shoulder to gesture to the girls. “My divorce, so--a lot of change, but it’s been nice to be home.”
He nodded thoughtfully, the quiet of the bedroom suddenly felt heavy. “S’a beautiful house.”
“Thank you,” you looked around the room again, if only to put your eyes somewhere other than his face. “I felt shitty about redecorating it at first, but--it was a little too much of a 70s bachelor pad.”
“Leave it to Walt,” he joked.
That piqued your interest. “Did you know my dad? Like, did you spend any time with him?”
He pushed his lips out in thought but shook his head when he sat down on the bed. “Not really--met him a few times at events with Jeff, but I never spent any quality time with him.”
You nodded--he was a busy guy, popular and well respected in his industry. “He was a good person, good grandfather, too.”
Harry smiled at that. “Always heard that Irv was the balls but your dad was the heart.”
You laughed, scrunched your nose at the saying you’d heard a hundred times. The two of them were partners in crime, two peas in a pod, yet they couldn’t be more different. He spoke again before you could reply, voice soft in the sleepy house.
“I mean, if you're his daughter he obviously did something right.”
He held your gaze just long enough for you to feel something, something you pushed out of your mind so quickly that your hand was on the door knob before he could even say goodnight.
Two weeks, tops.
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emeren · 4 years ago
Text
birthday boy - eren jaeger
shameless birthday fluff for the boy who deserves a happy ending and a happy birthday 
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pairing: eren jaeger x fem!reader 
word count: 2.1k 
content warnings: absolutely none, 100% fluff!
notes: i’m emerging from my request writing hole to post this lil one shot for my love’s birthday. i did not read over this so there may be errors or whatnot, but enjoy!
SUMMARY: reader shows eren what it means to have a good birthday.
eren had never been one for birthdays. 
he’d tried, he’d really tried to love them just as much as everyone else did. he could vividly remember all of the kids in his class bringing in donuts and ice cream and handing out little handmade invitations - invitations he never received. 
after two or three failed birthday parties thrown by carla - birthday parties that only armin and mikasa showed up to - eren had stopped trying. he insisted that he hated march 30th and that it was the worst day of the year. his mom always made a big deal out of it anyway, insisting on taking the three kids out for ice cream and a movie in celebration. 
eren would’ve never admitted it, as his pride was too strong, but he liked the small celebration his mom would throw. just him and his two best friends, building blanket forts and being allowed to watch one PG-13 movie for the special occasion. 
he remembered his tenth birthday being the last one that he even bothered acknowledging. that was the last birthday with his mom, the last birthday that didn’t go forgotten on grisha’s busy schedule. that was the last birthday that he went for ice cream and got to watch a PG-13 movie. 
as he got older, birthdays became less of a big deal to his peers. they weren’t large scale, festive events, but rather small group hangouts that involved getting drunk in a field. some sad, petty part of eren enjoyed watching everyone’s special day become exactly like his had always been: just another of 365. 
he didn’t remember telling you what day he was born. in fact, he was sure he hadn’t told you. it’d been a conversation topic he’d narrowly avoided in the past; lucky enough to have met you around april in order to skip over the awkward ‘oh, it’s my birthday’ chat. 
so he was confused. 
he was confused when he pulled his apartment door open, only to be met with your figure holding a carefully wrapped gift. hell, even eren didn’t realize that it was his birthday. he’d stood there in the doorway, gawking at you with a half-asleep look in his eyes. 
“what’s that for?” he’d asked incredulously, pointing at the gift. you laughed, the sound music to his ears as you slipped into his apartment. 
“happy birthday!” you squealed, setting it down and wrapping your arms around his slim figure. eren frowned for a moment, mind counting through the days of the calendar until they landed on march 30th. oh, i guess it is my birthday.
he hugged you back, eyes still warily focused on the gift. “who told you?” he’d questioned. 
you smiled up at him, placing a light kiss on his cheek. “i have my ways.” 
eren didn’t know what emotion it was that burned in his chest at your soft grin. he desperately wished for it to be annoyance, but it wasn’t, so he resorted to feigning it instead. 
“i’d rather we didn’t make a big deal about it,” he grumbled, slipping from your arms and walking towards his kitchen. he didn’t see the way you rolled your eyes or the way you mocked his voice, only turning around to see you approaching him with a bag he hadn’t previously noticed. 
“that’s alright, i was just going to make you some breakfast, if that’s okay?” eren normally would’ve protested any other special treatment on his birthday, but it wasn’t very unusual for you to cook him a meal. eren had a big stomach, and absolutely no skills in the kitchen. he resorted to shrugging, not wanting to show you the way your suggestion made his heart skip. 
and so he watched you. he watched you flit around the kitchen and make him his favorite breakfast (waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, extra side of bacon). your movements were so mesmerizing he’d nearly forgotten about this rotten day, the day that his younger self had declared the worst of the 365. 
“here, shithead. enjoy your meal,” you hummed playfully, sliding the plateful of food in his direction. eren flipped you off, too hungry to pick a fight as he dove into his meal. 
he tried to ignore the feeling of you staring as he scarfed down his waffle. he’d hoped you wouldn’t say anything else about his birthday. “do you wanna open your gift after we’re done eating?” you’d asked. 
eren paused his feast to look up at you, your eyes focused on your own plate as you waited for a response. he was apprehensive, but decided to take the bait nonetheless. “uh, sure.” 
eren could remember the best gift he’d ever gotten. it had been a handmade terrarium from armin and mikasa for his eighth birthday. they’d gone out in the woods behind their houses and rifled through the bushes and weeds to put together a jar filled with all sorts of creatures and plants. eren’s favorite had been the spider - whom he’d lovingly named peter - as he would catch flies and other small insects to feed to him. he’d been so excited about their cheaply made gift that nothing had ever come close to topping it (not that he ever got much in the ways of gifts, anyway).
as you sat him down on the couch, carefully placing an oblong box in his lap, he was unsure. he loved you, no doubt, but he didn’t know what on earth you could’ve gotten him. 
his previous confusion only grew when he opened the box to find a bundle of wildflowers. they were a mix of baby hues, soft and simple. he looked to you, brow raised in question. 
“flowers?” he’d asked, mind pondering all the possibilities. you laughed lightly in response, standing from your seat next to him. 
“c’mon,” you gestured for him, eyes scanning his bare chest. “go put a shirt on and come with me.” 
eren sighed, standing himself as he set the flowers on the couch. “listen. i love you, i really do. but i would just rather we don’t make a big deal out of today, alright?” 
he watched you roll your eyes, watched you fold your arms over your chest.
“i’m not making a big deal out of today,” you’d responded, a hint of annoyance in your voice. “just go put a shirt on. it’ll just be the two of us.” 
eren talked a lot of game regarding his self-proclaimed willpower, but he would never understand how easily he caved to you. thirty minutes later, he was sitting in the passenger seat of your car, eyes mindlessly gazing out the window with the bundle of flowers in his lap. 
you were playing his favorite music, humming along as your fingers tapped against the steering wheel. he’d just stared at you, admiring your beauty as you turned up a desolate road that he’d been too focused on you to recognize.
it wasn’t until the car stopped; surrounded by newly blooming flowers and freshly greening trees, did he piece together where he was.
“mom?” he’d breathed, eyes glancing out the window. you just smiled in response, unbuckling your seatbelt and getting out of the car. eren looked down at the bundle of flowers in his lap, wildflowers, his mom’s favorite. 
in that moment he felt like crying. sure, he’d cried on his birthday before, but this was different. it was a cry of appreciation, one that burned in his chest as you impatiently pulled his door open. he was quick to blink the tears away, putting up a front as he got out himself. 
his mom’s cemetery was atop a hill, located away from the city amongst the trees and wildlife. he remembered picking it for her because of how freeing it felt - it was more of a place for remembrance that mourning. he knew that was what his mom would’ve wanted. 
eren showed his appreciation by wrapping your hand in his, intertwining your fingers as the two of you approached his mom’s headstone. 
“what made you think of this?” he’d asked quietly, setting the bundle of flowers right beneath her name carved within the granite stone. he remained kneeled in front of it; long fingers coming up to trace the words. he’d been surprised by your answer. 
“i know you hate your birthday,” you’d started, watching the moment in front of you. “and i know your mom was the only person that ever tried to make you enjoy it. i hope it wasn’t insensitive of me to bring you here? i just thought maybe you’d want to spend the day here with her.” 
and there it was again: that burning within his chest. he pulled his fingers back from the cold stone, relieved you couldn’t see the mix of emotions on his face. it was on the contrary. he’d never had someone think of him this way, think of what he truly wanted to do. he smiled as he stood to face you. 
“thank you.” he’d said sincerely, wrapping his arms around you and kissing the crown of your head.
the two of you sat for hours, hands wrapped together as eren told stories about his mom and talked to her gravestone as if she were really there, too. he talked about his tenth birthday; how his mom had rented some barely scary movie, but how armin couldn’t sleep for weeks following their watch. he talked about the time mikasa had beaten up one of the popular kids for only excluding eren from his birthday party. before he knew it, he was wrapped up in stories upon stories. 
all too fast, the sun began to dip past the horizon. the two of you stood from the grass, pants slightly damp with mud but neither of you cared. eren leaned down, pressing his lips to the stone as a parting goodbye - something he’d started doing as a kid. 
as you drove away, eren felt content with how the day had gone. he watched the sunset from the window, face flushed and a small smile on his lips. he enjoyed the sweet moment, but couldn’t help the perverted thought that crossed his mind. he’d never had birthday sex before, and oh boy was he excited to try. 
the car stopped outside of his apartment, the two of you walking up to the door hand in hand. he grabbed his keys, about to unlock the handle when you stopped him. 
he loved when you looked at him like that. when your eyes were big and doe-like, filled with a mix of adoration and excitement. your hands carefully wrapped around his jaw, pulling his lips down to meet yours in a tender, warm kiss. 
he could feel his heart clench at the action, pulling away with a smile on his face. “what was that for?” 
“i just love you, ‘s’all.” you hummed in response, motioning for him to open the door. eren hated that you could make him blush, looking away with a playful roll of his eyes. 
he wasn’t expecting what waited for him behind the door. 
with the flick of the light switch, all of his friends popped up from around the apartment, yelling ‘surprise!’. his eyes widened in shock, a large banner that read off ‘happy birthday eren!’, but the words were all scrunched together at the end, the banner not large enough. 
“connie made that!” armin explained hurriedly, as if noticing the way eren’s eyes traced over the decoration. eren couldn’t help the burning in his chest as he looked at all of his closest friends. 
sasha, connie, jean, mikasa, armin, you. you, who had clearly planned this all. eren wasn’t ever very sappy, at least not since he was in high school. but the burning in his chest had become too much to bear, overwhelmed by all of the decorations and confetti, and thoughtfulness. 
he looked at you, tears in his eyes. he’d never had a big party before. he’d always wanted one, and here it was. “thank you.” 
“goddammit, this is what you get for taking him to the cemetery before his surprise party!” jean yelled, pointing at his friend. “i don’t think i’ve seen you cry since you were an annoying ass teenager!” 
“oh, shut the fuck up,” eren replied lightheartedly, embracing each of his friends. he wasn’t even embarrassed to cry. it’d been so long since he’d felt so loved. 
and so you all sat, eating ice cream and watching a horror movie. eren was in the middle, you curled up on his one side and armin on the other. as all of his friends enjoyed his birthday, squealing at the unnecessary gore, he couldn’t help but smile. 
maybe march 30th wasn’t the worst day, afterall.
<3 <3 <3 
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laurensprentiss · 3 years ago
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Jouska [Hotch x Reader]
Chapter 17:
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Warnings: None, really. Mentions of painkillers, more fluff. Emily Easter egg. HUGE plot twist at the end... this is the beginning of the end for these two. Sorry!
———
Virginian weather is notoriously unpredictable.
It’s why you get stuck in a downpour by the time you get back to your apartment. Hotch opens the car door for you and as you attempt to run inside, he pulls you in close by your arms, huddling close to you as the rain hits your skin.
You shriek over the sound of the thunder. “What are you doing?! It’s pouring down, let’s go!” You tell him, fighting to keep your eyes open.
“Do you remember the day we moved you back into your apartment?” He asks over the sound of rain. You pull away, attempting to go inside but he holds you close. “Do you remember?”
“Yeah, why?”
“It was raining like this on that day, too. Do you remember?”
You laugh. “Yes! Can we go inside now?”
His eyes soften. “I remember looking down at you from that window,” he points upstairs. “And thinking you were so beautiful. I knew even then that you were going to be a massive part of my life.”
You blink at him through the rain, heart warming at his sincere words.
He wipes the water from your cheeks and pulls you in for a kiss, and as soon as his lips touch yours, you forget all about the way your clothes stick to your skin and how uncomfortably cold you are. He ignites more than enough warmth within you. His kisses are slow, deliberate, and you can’t help but reach for his shoulders to keep you steady.
His forehead touches yours when he breaks the kiss.
“What was that for?” You ask.
Because I love you.
He shrugs. “What? I can’t kiss my girl?”
Your breath hitches.
His girl?
The tone in his voice makes your heart flutter. Makes it easy to see yourself falling even deeper for him, to see something worth having with him. You know in your soul that this moment, here and now, is one you’ll carry for the rest of your life.
———
He promises he’ll call you from work as he leaves, finding it impossible to tear himself away from you.
His forehead rests against yours and he holds you flush to him, arms around your waist when he mumbles, “I wish I didn’t have to work. But Barnes says he needs to discuss something with me.”
He’s still reeling from his earlier realisation, the prospect of telling you just how much he feels for you is terrifying and exhilarating in equal measures.
Because maybe, just maybe, you feel the same.
You interrupt his thoughts. “It’s okay, really! I have to go see Em anyway, she got discharged today so I thought I’d bring her some lunch.”
“Sure?”
“I’m sure.” You reply.
He hums, snaking his arms around your waist. “Tomorrow night,” He begins, kissing your neck. “I am going to take you on a real date.”
“Oh yeah?” You reply, wrapping your arms around his neck, carding your fingers through the hair on the back of his head.
“Mhm. 8pm.” He continues, travelling up towards your earlobe. “Flowers, nice restaurant, dinner, drinks. The works.”
“And why would you do that?” You chuckle.
Because he’s fast coming to realize that he can’t not tell you how he feels anymore.
He allows himself the grace of knowing that maybe you’ll need more time to reciprocate the extent of his feelings, but he’s okay with that. As long as he gets to say the words that have been heavy on his chest for a long time.
“Because you deserve nothing but the best. This feels special.” It feels like the beginning of the rest of his life, he thinks. “I wanna do this right.”
Your heart flutters. “Then let’s do this right.” You reply with a small smile.
You tilt his head to capture his lips between yours, his lips soft and warm, the two of you seemingly falling into a quick rhythm. His hands travel down your back to grab a handful of your ass as he deepens the kiss, his tongue licking into your mouth.
You already know where this is going with the telltale pool of warmth in your belly. He swallows your whimpers as you push him off you gently, the both of you panting a little for breath.
He chuckles breathlessly against your lips, eyes still closed. “I’m gonna go before-”
“-Yeah.”
The door is almost closed behind him before he pulls you back to him, planting another tender kiss against your lips before taking off.
You’re left bewildered, the ghost touch of his lips on yours still lingering. You giggle to yourself, hating the noise you just made but you can’t even find it in you to care.
You pack up lunch into a Tupperware, stop off at a french bakery to pick up some fresh bread and Emily’s favourite macarons before making the drive to Ambassador Prentiss’ estate.
You enter through the North entrance, bidding a quick hello to Tom, the on duty guard. You knock on Emily’s door, entering anyway when there’s no reply. There’s wincing coming from her bathroom so you drop the bags on the ottoman beside her bed and rush in to where she’s trying to adjust her sling.
“Here, let me help.” You pull the strap taught against her.
She sighs in relief. “Thanks. I just couldn’t reach it.”
“How do you feel?” You ask, leading her to sit on her bed. Her bruises are still angry and blue, but the split lip seems to be healing and her eye’s opening a little better now.
“Been better. The painkillers are wearing off though, stuff’s good.” She laments.
“Yeah, tell me about it.” You mutter, handing her a sandwich and some soup once she’s situated. Her face lights up when she sees the macarons you put on her vanity. “You take your other meds?”
“No.”
You look around her bedroom for the bottles when she motions over to her nightstand. “How about you? How do you feel?” She asks, taking the pills and some water from you.
“Still sore, I guess.” You take a seat opposite her on her bed, crossing your legs on her comforter. “These bruises aren’t going away though.” You peer at yourself through the mirror, tracing the handprints on your neck.
She watches you expectantly.
“...What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
She takes a bite of her sandwich with her good hand, and mumbles through her food, “I’m sorry, I guess I just don’t know why you’re traipsing through here acting like you didn't just sleep with your bodyguard.”
You flinch. “Lower your voice! If your mother hears, I swear to God…”
“She’s in the South wing - in her office. Spill.”
“Spill what? Where do I start?”
“Oh shut up, I can tell you’re dying to tell me! How did it happen?”
You concede and shuffle in closer, “Well. He dropped me off home and I guess we were both just waiting for the other to say something - but neither of us did.”
“So how did you end up-”
“Don’t interrupt.” She holds her hands up defensively. “He hugged me goodbye and left but I caught him as he was leaving in the hallway. I told him I didn’t want him to leave.”
She clutches her chest. “Then what?”
“I don’t know... next thing I know he’s kissing me and… well, you know the rest.” You tell her coyly.
She narrows her eyes. “How was he?”
“Honestly?” She nods excitedly. “Amazing.” You breathe. “Literally the best I’ve ever had, you don’t understand Em, his hands?”
Her eyes widen in glee. “Stop it!”
You continue talking while you eat lunch together, realising it’s the first time you’ve talked without a looming threat since she returned from Rome. You feel the lightest you’ve felt in a long time, hopeful even.
Your mind wanders to Hotch.
Being in his arms feels safe, it always has. From the day you met, he’s been by your side, been the person who had your back through the worst year of your life.
And now you had him.
You actually had him.
Emily notices the faraway, blissful look on your face. Thinks she hasn’t ever seen you like this. You were kidnapped almost a week ago and she almost died but you still look the happiest she’s seen you in years.
Her room telephone rings then, and when she sees the number, she rolls her eyes. “Yes Mother?” She asks bluntly. “No, Mother, I haven’t. We’re having lunch... Yes she’s here.” Your ears perk up. “... No, I haven’t asked her yet… Yes! Okay fine, I will. Goodbye.”
Your ears perk up, “What do you need to ask me?”
She sighs. “Well… Mother has an assignment in Rome. She’s flying out tomorrow morning - and I’m going with her.”
Your heart sinks. “Do you have to go? It’s so nice having you back, I thought maybe you’d stick around for a while.”
“I don’t have to go. But I want to.” She winces as she climbs on top of her bed again. “Since the accident, she’s been a lot less ‘Ambassador Prentiss’ and a lot more ‘Mom.’ I think she may want to make up for the last time and maybe it’ll be different now.”
“Hey.” You grab her hand to stop her picking her cuticles raw. “What happened in Rome? I was busy with school and everything but I remember things were never really the same after that.”
She sighs. “Another day. I promise. But I think I’d like to recuperate there, maybe travel for a couple of months before I figure out my next steps.” You see the hope in her eyes. “Mother and I would love it if you joined us - that’s what I needed to ask.”
“Wow.” You breathe. “That’s a lot to take in. I’m happy for you and your mom, I mean I’m sorry it took a near-death accident, but I’m happy for you.” She scoffs as you squeeze her hand. “And I’d love to come with you, I really would. I loved Italy as a child but - I think I have some things to work out here.”
She grins. “Yeah? Like what?”
“Like a date tomorrow night.”
“That’s amazing, love. I’m happy for you, you know? You deserve this.” She cradles your face. “But if you do change your mind, we’re flying out of this airfield at 9am.” She scribbles some details on a notepad and tucks the paper into your pocket. “Just in case.”
———
“Hey, sweetheart, sorry I didn’t call. Can you meet me at my place in an hour? I have some great news.” You peer at your phone, the screen obscured by the fast emerging sunlight after the earlier thunderstorm.
You place a hand over the screen to block some light out when a hand taps you on the shoulder.
It’s base instinct at this point, a year-long stalker will do that to you, but you gasp and drop your phone behind you. Before you’ve had a chance to retrieve it, a woman outstretches her hand with your phone in it.
“Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you,” the blonde explains defensively. You get a better look at her. She looks wide-eyed and a little skittish, but she seems nice enough.
“That’s alright - thanks.” You reply, taking your phone from her. “Do I know you?”
She wrings her hands nervously. “No, I don’t think so. But I know you, I saw you on the news and in the papers. I was wondering if we could talk.”
You pull your bag further up your shoulders. “What are you? A reporter or something?”
“No! No, no. I’m actually - you know Aaron right?”
You frown. “Yeah?”
She stumbles over her words like she’s unsure of what to say. She takes a moment and you can see the gears turning in her head as she formulates the words in her head.
“I’m Haley.”
———
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glassartpeasants · 4 years ago
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Like Father Like Son .2
Overhaul x F!Reader
Warnings: Angst, mentions of not eating, depression, mentions of needles, unhealthy/toxic relationships, child abuse, 
A/N: Ya’ll wanted a part two well here you go :) again thank you @yandereacademia for letting me use they’re headcanon to make this story! Also the original plot is changed for the stories sake.
~~~
 2 months after you talked to your son
You still didn’t have the motivation to move. Only to go to the bathroom and maybe, MAYBE eat. What was the point in it all? Everything that kept you going in life was ripped away from you by the man known as Overhaul. He took away Eri and he took away your son. Well he took away your used to be son. 
Once you found out that he was apart of Eri’s experiments you were distraught. The little boy you once knew was nothing but a monster walking in his father's shoes. And to think that this thing was from your own flesh and blood and doing such horrific things to a sweet innocent girl.  
Both men came in once and awhile to see if you had any side effects from the test drug that they had given you. Long term or short term they just made sure to check. They soon noticed that your condition was slowly decreasing by the lack of sleep, water, and food you had.
You were a shell of your former self. If you looked in the mirror you were sure you wouldn’t be able to recognize yourself. You looked like a ghost. It was disturbing to see your once happy exterior turn into husk of a human. 
The worst part of this nightmare was not knowing what they we’re doing to Eri. Where they still making the bullets? Did they finally stop hurting her? You unfortunately got your answer once you heard Mimic talking about how they we’re so close to making a million bullets.
They had started the horrific experiments when she was six. She was 15 now so knowing that for 9 year they continued hurting her made your stomach turn. All you wanted to do was escape out of this prison and run to her, tell her that your here and that everything will be okay. That you’ll protect her from the monsters that surround her. 
The thought of Eri made you tremble in guilt. If only you were strong enough to protect her. Strong enough to run, run and never look back. You would never have to see the monsters that plague your dreams everyday. Never have to see your own flesh and blood turn even more into a monster than he already was.
All of a sudden your bedroom door slammed open and out popped Overhaul standing in the doorway with hives all over his skin and anger in his eyes. His gloved hands curled into fists as he stomped his way over to your spot in the corner.
“Where the fuck is Eri?!” He had grabbed you by the arm and yanked you up to your feet where he looked at you with his gold orbs. His grip on your arm hurt and you could feel his fingers digging into your flesh.
“I don’t know what your talking about-” A painful hit to the cheek is what you were met with when you let those few words out.
“Don’t fucking lie! Where is she damnit!” His fingers dig deeper only causing you to writhe in pain and whimper.
“I-I really don’t know! I haven’t left this room in 2 weeks!” You try to calm him down by telling him the truth but it seems like that wasn’t enough for him.
“If you don’t tell me the truth right now you end up being a bloody puddle on the floor.” You were about to retort back but soon realized something. If he killed you, you wouldn’t have to live this lifestyle anymore. Eri escaped and seems like she hasn’t been caught. That means the only thing you wished for has come true. So what's the point in staying here longer when your surrounded by people who hate you.
“I. Don’t. Know.” With a growl, Overhaul ripped off his glove and right when he was about to kill you, Nemoto came running in to tell the boss ‘good news’.
“We’ve found Eri! Last saw her down 2nd street!” Your face contorted in horror before you were thrown to the ground as Kai ran towards Nemoto and out the door. 
Your body collapsed onto the carpeted floor before the sound of the door slamming shut made you whimper in fear. Your lifeless eyes scan around the room before a chuckle left your throat as tears of joy begin to roll down your cheeks.
“She escaped, I’m so happy...thank you...” Even in the dark room that you called your home, a little ray of happiness shined through the covered windows knowing Eri had escaped from this horrible place.
~~~
“They caught her again. She back at the compound. Overhaul told me to tell you.” You felt your soul break at the horrible news you were told. You knew something bad was gonna happen when you saw that your ‘son’ opened the door in the corner of your eye. 
Seeing him makes you wanna throw up. Your once sweet boy had turned into a monster just like his father. He even made him tell you the horrible news that Eri was captured again. You knew there was gonna be a punishment waiting for her. You just hoped it wasn’t to bad but knowing Overhaul you didn’t know what to expect. Tears escaped down your face, your face still blank. Empty.
The silence was suffocating for the both of you. You could feel your sons presence still at the door. He was watching you. Watching as your unmoving body had tears spilling from your eyes. Watching as your hope was crushed once again. You couldn’t take it anymore. You couldn’t take the pain and suffering that was this life. You just wanted to end it all. Maybe death would be your only escape. The only thing stopping you was Eri. You just wanted to make sure that before you even do something like that, you wanted her to be in a safe haven. But it seems like even she can’t have that.
He had no words to say. What could he say to you? You had fully disowned him and looked at him with disgust. Looked at him like he was someone unworthy of love. You would always give Overhaul that look. The look of pure hatred. And now he was also on the receiving end of that look. 
He hated it. Who were you to tell him what he couldn’t do? You weren’t there for him when-...oh..yeah...He remembered. He remembered the day where he ‘disowned’ you. He can still remember the look of pure heartbreak that shown through your eyes when he said those words. 
He also remembered the cries of heartbreak that he heard on the other side of the wall. It kept him up a lot. Nightmares had plagued his dreams ever since the day you had disowned him. Your words repeated inside of his mind. Over and over again. 
His nightmares were always the same. He’d be walking on some sort of street while it was raining. His feet making the puddles splash. His raincoat making pattering noises as the rain slipped off it. 
He’d walk past a house and turn his head to look at it. It was a beautiful house, the grass lush and green with flowers planted right next to the house. No paint was chipped. The roof tiles were in perfect condition, not a single one missing. 
Inside the window there was you. Holding a baby while singing to it. Rocking it gently back and forth. Singing the same song you use to sing to him when he was young. He remembered the tune so vividly but could not remember the words. Only the tune. 
He walked up to the window to look inside of it, there sat a man. He didn’t recognize him at all. At least not where he was standing. The rain blurred his vision as it pounded against the glass window. He watched as the man got up from his seat on the couch to walk over to you and press a kiss to your cheek. He could hear your entire conversation.
“She’s so cute. What do you think she’ll turn out to be like?”
“Whatever she wants to be. I’ll support her all the way through. Give her all the love she deserves.” You gave the baby girl a kiss on the head, causing the baby to make grabby hands at you.
“I’m sorry about your son. He was gone too early.” What? No he didn’t! He was right here! He begin banging on the windows, begging for your attention.
“I’m not dead! Mom! I’m right here! Please! I’m sorry!” Tears would show through his eyes he felt a burning pain in his hands. His hands were gone. They chipped away, only leaving him with stumps.
“He doesn’t matter. He was a monster. A monster undeserving of my love. I’d never love someone like him.”
Then he would wake up.
He snapped outta it before looking at you once again. Still in the same spot as always. Letting out a sigh he begin to talk.
“I’ll...I’ll get you your food-”
“I want nothing from you. Nothing from you is worth eating. I’d rather starve than take anything you give me. Now get the fuck out of my room you monster.” Letting out a shaky exhale, he slowly closed the door. Watching as you didn’t make a move to look at him. Just as he closed the door Overhaul had appeared before him.
“What was her reaction?”
“She cried.”
“Of course she would have. Know this (S/N), never let anyone get close to you. It only leads to heartbreak and pain. Plus it’s annoying. Do you understand me child?”
“Yes Overhaul.”
“Good. Now come along, Eri’s about to get tested.” Nodding his head, he followed his father, following exactly in his footsteps.
~~~
1 week later
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The sounds of pounding on the walls woke you up from your slumber as you carefully maneuver yourself to take a peek out into the hallway. Your eyes widened when you see Overhaul subordinates running fast as they can down the hall and away from what seems like the front door.
Worry fills your being as you begin to move your head all around seeing if Overhaul was anywhere before making a mad dash to Eri’s room. Your footsteps echoing off the walls as tears brim at your eyes at the thought of seeing Eri again. 
You went as fast as your week body could carry you. Feeling light headed from exercise since it’s been to long. But you would push through it. Push through it just to see Eri one more time.
“Eri?! Eri! Eri are where are you?!” You make it to her room before noticing that her door was already unlocked and opened. You wipe open the door before your met with an empty room. Your heart prayed for the best. Hoping that she had somehow escaped.
“Ma’am put your hands up!” You turn your head to see hero’s...
HERO’S!
You cried as you collapsed to your knees as you gave the best smile you could. Tears of joy spilled down your cheeks. You were saved. Saved from this nightmare that stole your life away.
“I don’t think she’s apart of this. Look at her, she looks so malnourished. Not to mention she seems happy to see us. Do you think that she was also a prisoner of Overhaul?”
“By the looks of her most likely. Get her to safety.”
“Wait! Please let me see Eri! Is she okay?! Please tell me she’s okay!”
“We’re going to get her ma’am don’t worry! We promise she’ll be okay!” A man came near you and gently took your hand while you slowly used your strength to get up.
“Let’s take her to safety.’
“Not yet! I wanna help!”
“Ma’am please-”
‘You said you're looking for Overhaul right?”
“Yes?”
“Well he has a son. His quirk is the same as him so you need to be careful. Overhaul has trained him to be just like him.”
“How do you know this?”
“He was my son before I disowned him. I don’t count him as a son. He was also part of the experiments that took place on Eri! Please arrest them all!” The hero’s looked shocked at your information but nodded their heads.
You were taken out of the compound where hero’s stood surrounding it. Most likely making sure that no one escaped through the front or back door. You could hear the sounds of the warfare inside the compound while you were outside.  You crossed your fingers, begging for the hero’s to win and for Eri to be safe. And for those two men to be under arrest.
~~~
You were driven to the hospital before you got to see the ending of the fight ( a few days later)
You sat in the hospital bed with an IV in your arm. Trying to get you a bit more hydrated. You let out a sigh before a knock came at your door.
“Come in.” You move your eyes to see the door slowly opening before A familiar face showed behind it.
“Eri!” You sat up quickly and outstretched your arms and she came running into them. Tears of joys started falling down both of your cheeks. You hug her with all the strength you have and begin petting her head before placing a kiss on the top of her head.
“I miss you so much (Y/N)...Overhaul...he told....he told me you died...”
“Well there’s no need to worry Eri. I’m here with you right now and that’s all the matters. Those monsters won’t hurt you ever again. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Y-your son...he got arrested too...”
“That monster is not my son. If I would have anyone as a child I would rather it be someone I’m proud to call my own. Someone who’s stronger than all the heros combined. Someone like you Eri.” Eri started to cry in your hold. Hugging you tightly. The smile on your face never leaving as you weave your fingers through her hair gently. 
“I missed you so much Eri. I’m so sorry that those monsters put you through that hell.”
“I missed you too. Promise you’ll never leave me?”
“I would never dream of it.”
“Miss (Y/N), I have some news about Overhaul and your son.” You felt Eri tense in your hold. Hugging you like the world would end if she let go of you.
“They were attacked on the bridge to Tartarus by the league of villains. They seemed to have some sort of feud before getting arrested because they’re attack was only towards them.”
“Well, what happened then?”
“Shigaraki Tomura, the Leader of the LoV, has taken both your sons, and Overhauls hands. They were lucky we got there i time or else they would have died of blood loss.” Your eyes widened at the nurses words before she spoke to you once more.
“Would you like to see them before they get put in solitary confinement? You only get this chance once for now.” Your breath hitched before you turn your attention towards Eri. You both look at one another before she spoke softly.
“You should go. Ask them if they’re finally happy. Ask them if it was worth it.” You sigh before turning your head to the nurse.
“Okay what time do I leave?”
“Right now.”
~~~
At Tartarus
You took a deep breath as you looked around the room. You were walked in with two guards as they brought you to the visiting area of the prison. Your heart felt like it was beating at 100 miles per hour. 
You sat at the table looking around while you waited for them to bring out your son. Your nails tapping against the surface of the table. Your mind drifted on what were the words to say. You didn’t know what to say. You were hyping yourself up the whole way here but now that you arrived all of your idea’s left your mind.
You heard the door opening and you turned your head to see your son walking towards you. They were right. The better look you got at him the more you realize that they’re was no longer a difference between Overhaul and your son. Right down to the golden eyes and the lack of limbs.
“You get 20 minutes.” He sat down across from you on the table. His eyes refusing to look into yours. 
“Look at me. I said look at me (S/N). I’m not going to ask again.” Your voice strict as your voice rings in his ears. He slowly lifted his head to look into yours. He saw someone he used to know. Your skin had started to glow again like it once did when he was young. Your eyes held emotion inside them instead of emptiness. You looked like his mother.
“Mom-”
“(Y/N)”
“...(Y/N), why...why are you here? I thought you would never want to see me or Overhaul again.”
“Was it worth it (S/N)? Was all the torture you put Eri through worth all this? Worth the 3 life sentences you have against you?” Your voice was harsh. Your words felt like fire against his heart. He knows he deserves everything your here to bring him. Every single thing.
“No...” You were taken aback by his honesty. He said it so quick with no hesitation. But you still had more questions that you had to ask.
“Why wasn’t it worth it? Is it because you got caught?” You put up a front of spikes that made his lip quiver. He knew crying would only lead to you thinking he was faking it. So he tried to hide it, but you could tell he was trying not to.
“Why wasn’t it worth it?”
“I lost everything that day. I lost my limbs, I lost my freedom, I lost any idea of ever living a normal life. And....”
“ANd what?” Tears started spilling down his face, landing on the table and forming a little puddle.
“And I lost you...I’m so sorry...please forgive me mother. I promise I’ll be better...please...” He finally broke down in tears in front of you. His whole body shaking as this was probably the first time he cried in years. 
“You’ve lost your chances. You lost them the day I found out you were apart of Eri’s experiments. You are undeserving of forgiveness. What can you even do that would make me even think about forgiving a monster like you?”
“I don’t know....”
“That’s what I thought. You aren’t my son, your nothing but a monster.” You stand up before waving an officer, signalling you were done.
“Please don’t go yet...”
“Goodbye (S/N), maybe someday, or in another life, I’ll be you mother again. Someday I would be proud to call you my son. But until then, your his son. Not mine.” You turn your back to him before walking out the visiting rooms doors never looking back.
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allthefilmsiveseenforfree · 3 years ago
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Old (2021)
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Oh you guys. You guyyyyyys. Buckle the fuck up, I am so pumped to tell you about this absolutely GONZO mummified deuce of a movie. Spoilers will be had in this one, because you need to know everything. 
Old is the latest from M. Night Shyamalan and like....I think we all know M. Night’s track record. For every Sixth Sense, we also get a Happening or a Village. In some ways, he’s the most exciting director working today because every new film is a 50/50 coin toss, and mama loves living on the edge. The gist of this latest roll of the dice is that a group of different families who have all come to stay at a remote luxury beach resort get invited to go to a secluded private beach for the day, and after they arrive they discover they can’t leave. That’s not great, but the bigger problem is that they seem to be aging rapidly - like 2 years older every hour or so. That’s a solid “how are we gonna get outta this one” bottle episode premise, and in the hands of a better writer, it could be a fun sci-fi romp. M. is NOT that writer. 
Some thoughts:
I should have known it would all go wrong from the terrible foreshadowing starting at the very beginning scene. The mom of our main family, Prisca (Vicky Krieps) says “You have such a beautiful voice, I can’t wait to hear it when you’re older.” The dad, Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal) says, “Don’t rush this moment, enjoy the present while you can.” BECAUSE THE CHARACTERS WON’T BE ABLE TO LATER, DO YOU GET IT? dO yOU GEt iT? Wife leaned over and said “look at all the ferns - the oldest plants!” That last one was probably her projecting, but the point stands: there is nothing subtle about Old. 
There’s a lot of just like, shouting out loud the things that are currently happening onscreen. “She’s having a seizure!” “People who go back the way we came black out!” “The rust has entered your bloodstream; it acts like poison!” That’s how you tell stories, right? Just having characters point out events that are occurring right in front of their stupid fucking faces with no other commentary or reflection? 
An additional element that feels woefully ignorant at best and malicious at worst is the inclusion of a black male character (Aaron Pierre) who 1) is a rapper 2) is named Mid-Sized Sedan [I’ll give you a moment to deal with that detail emotionally] 3) says the single line of dialogue “Damn.” at least 4 times and 4) suffers the bloodiest, most violent onscreen death at the hands of a racist white man who is revealed to have paranoid schizophrenia. There are other gruesome deaths onscreen, to be sure, but the worst are body horror nightmares that could never occur in the real world - a woman whose bones are breaking and setting in the wrong position nearly instantaneously until she resembles a horrifying spider creature, and the aforementioned rust-in-the-bloodstream trick that leads to a Jeff-Goldblum-in-The Fly-bubbling-skin infection kinda deal. But Mid-Sized Sedan just gets stabbed in the chest repeatedly, brutally, a bunch of times by a white guy who pleads fear for his life even though MSS posed no danger to him, and it all happens onscreen when so many other characters are offered the mercy of offscreen deaths. I’m not sure if M. is trying to throw some real-world horror in and he’s just shit at it, or if it really didn’t occur to him how malicious this inclusion feels in a fantasy narrative, and I don’t really care. If you have a black character in your story and they die, you better think really long and hard about how it happens and what it means and it’s clear no one did that here.
Nothing to do with the film itself, but it did tickle me that someone brought a tiny infant to my pretty packed screening. The baby was very chill, thank goodness, and as far as I know did not age up to a kindergartner during the course of the film.
There is a Very Good Dog, a Yorkie, present for the first part of the film, but unfortunately the dog dies. It occurs offscreen, and given the premise of what’s going on on this beach, it’s not a shock when it happens BUT STILL. 
The old age makeup, at least on Prisca is pretty great. Good job makeup department!
At one point, Guy gets attacked by another beachgoer, and his eyesight is failing so he has a hard time fighting back. But you are surrounded by sand, my dude, and you can still see blurry shapes. You’re not gonna throw some sand in the eyes until you’ve been stabbed like 10 times? Not gonna try to push him down, or sweep the fucking leg, or do anything but just keep raising your arms and getting stabbed while yelling “I’ll protect you!” I’ve seen stale tuna sandwiches with better defense mechanisms than you. 
Like most fantastical premises, there are only a certain number of ways this narrative can end that really make any sense. It reminds me quite a bit of 2019’s Brightburn which was like “what if Superman but evil?” Either everyone is gonna die, or someone is going to improbably survive and you better have a real neat explanation for how that’s possible. Oh M. Night, when will you realize that your explanations are never as clever as you think they are? There’s no “twist” here really, simply a reveal, and it’s the equivalent of eating one of those sugar-free, gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free snack cakes I broke down and ate out of desperation when I was on Weight Watchers. That shit is “food” in the same way that the climax is a “logical explanation for all this.” Big Pharma is luring sick people to the resort through targeted ads, then arranging these excursions to the wacky time beach in order to test how medicine they secretly slipped into the guests’ drinks works over decades of life. These sneaky medical breakthroughs are saving hundreds of thousands of people’s lives, we’re told, and the scientists offer a moment of silence for each fallen group of unwitting human lab rats after they inevitably die. Because if there’s one thing the world needs right now, it’s more distrust of pharmaceutical companies and the ethics of modern science! I can’t think of one possible reason we’d want to portray molecular biologists, immunologists, and virologists in a positive light right now, can you? When will those assholes get off their high horses and stop being universally trusted and beloved by everyone, am I right?? 
My saddest takeaway, tbh, is that this is a stacked international cast, with at least half the roles going to POC - this is the future liberals want, etc etc - and the result is THIS.
Did I Cry? Of course not.
Not all is terrible! It’s a beautiful movie to look at, because M. Night’s direction is never the problem, but combined with the script, the acting, and the absurd narrative leaps needed to make this story make even a little bit of sense, the whole thing turns into a mess. Unfortunately, getting Old with M. Night is less “leisurely retirement at a plush resort in Florida” and more “rancid can of Ensure and a poop-choked pair of Depends.”
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starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years ago
Text
HASO, “Can We Keep It.”
Sorry about the extended break. Hope you guys like this :)
First officer the Omen Lieutenant Simon waited at the entrance to the cargo bay watching the flaring red light blink continually before the airlock doors. A tone came with it loud and blaring repeatedly crawling its way into her head and making the space behind her eyes throb. She rubbed her head desperate or the sound to stop by knowing she just needed to wait  it out. Her family had always wondered why she chose a job that was so stressful, and so full of annoying and bothersome noises, but she wanted this and was willing to go through all manner of annoyances to make that dream come true.
If annoying noises were the worst thing about her job, then she should feel lucky.
The airlock door hissed open and the group of GA scientists and their accompanying human escort hurried into the cargo bay before the door shut behind them. 
She saluted to the Admiral who hurried onto the deck, “Sir, everything went well I trust.”
Her question was suddenly cut off when she noticed…. Something off.
Simon had never been all that great at reading people, she had trouble distinguishing tonal variation in people’s voices, and sometimes body language flew itself right over her head like a UFO, but this was obvious enough even SHE was able to pick it out.
“Did you gain weight?” She immediately chided herself for being so blunt. She had learned pretty early on that people didn’t like that sort of bluntness, but she had already stepped face first into it.
Admiral vir straightened himself out and quite obviously pulled his coat over his stomach, which was bulging quite obviously, “Bloating is a bitch, I tell you those space berries are really something.” 
“You are EATING random space plants!”
HE shuffled his feet, “Well not eating thm per say, anyway gas, you know that sort of thing. SHould probably head back to my quarters before I bother anyone with my issues.”
He went to walk past her and as he did, she thought he saw his coat twitch right above his stomach.
“What the Fuck was that.”
“Spasms, nothing to worry about.”
“Nothing to worry about! Admiral I should call Dr. Krill down right away.”
“NO NO! No need for that, I can walk just fine. Look, I will swing by the infirmary in a minute and get myself checked out, feeling totally fine. Nothing to see here.”
Simon went to open her mouth but he hurried past her and away, “Lord look at the time, so busy have so many things to do, paperwork, and and meetings and, and gotta call my mom before she freaks out and assumes I have died. Yep.”
Apparently she wasn’t the only one who thought he was acting weird, and she watched him go as the rest of the crew did the same, their heads cocked to the side, their mouths pulled down into a frown. NO one was really sure what was going on, and no one was really sure what they were supposed to do about it.
Simon turned her head to look over at the scientists who looked just as confused, although their leader looked somewhat annoyed about something.
He looked up at her wit an expression even SHE could tell was one of annoyance.
“Next time, we will not be allowing him on our expedition.”
She frowned, “Why is that?”
“Touching everything with his bare hands, marching through the bushes disturbing he wildlife, touching strange creatures, honestly he has no sense of scientific decorum, and if that planet had been even the slightest bit more dangerous, we might all be dead.”
“I will, have a talk with him.”
“Do what you must.” The little creature said, “I need to go lay down.”
He and his scientists walked off, some to the labs and others to do as their boss was doing. Simon was left standing rather confused and staring after them as they went.
She shook her head.
Sometimes she wondered how the Admiral had ever even become an Admiral, but she guessed clearly someone had thought he was qualified.
***
Adam Vir hurried down the hall desperately trying to keep unnoticed until finally shouldering open the door to his room and allowing it to hiss shut behind him. Then finally he leaned his back against the door and sat there as something writhed and churned against his skin. He felt it slither up the front of his chest before Jeffery snaked his way from the top of his jacket and out into open air. He opened his three segmented mouth, likely tasting the air kind of like a snake as he did Before turning his head to look around at the dark room.
Adam patted Jeffrey on the hed, “See, home sweet home.”
The snake-like alien slithered most of the way out of his jacket and went to curl around his upper arm and torso resting his head on top of Adam’s as he showed the creature around the room.
“This is where I sleep, and that over there.” he pointed “Is my dog waffles.”
In the time they had stepped into the room, and Jeffreyhad shown himself, the German Shepherd and poked her nose out from around the side of the bed eying Jeffery with some measure of concern.
Jeffery opened his mouth in her direction and Waffles scooted back just slightly looking to Adam with an expression of confusion and concern. She clearly wasn’t sure that she liked this at all.
Jeffery stretched close to her, his mouth still open holding himself up with great powerful muscles, likely more powerful than your average snake, which was saying something considering earth had plenty of constrictor species that could crush a man to death if they sochos.
Adam held out an encouraging hand, “It’s ok girl, its ok, he isn’t going to hurt you.”
Granted, he hadn’t actually thought this through, and if it didn’t go well, i was going to make his life a lot more difficult than he had originally intended.
He Knelt down on the floor and held out a hand to Waffles, who, as the good girl she was gave him her trust and moved forward, her nose twitching in the direction of the strange alien. 
Waffles had spent a good portion of her life around aliens, so she was used to coming into contact with new and strange creatures. Where other dogs might have barked, growled, or even attacked, she approached with cautious footsteps her head cocked curiously to the side.
Jeffrey, for his part, didn’t seem worried at all, and stretched forward to get a better look at the strange creature he could now sense before him. He closed his mouth after a bit and looked her over with his large green and yellow eye. She stretched her neck forward sniffing at him curiously. Tentatively she took one step forward and then another until she was sniffing the head of the space snake directly.
Her tail came up from where it had been hidden in between her legs and slowly began to wag back and forth.
She took another step forward and tentatively licked at the snake.
Jeffery reared back slightly surprised causing the dog to shrink back a little. For a moment he worried it was going to devolve into a fight, but then Jeffery lowered himself back down and allowed Waffles to lick him some more. He slithered from around Adam’s soldiers an onto the floor in a tight coil.
Waffles dropped her front half and stuck her butt in the air tail wagging playfully batting at the snake with one of her paws.
Jeffery reared up a little an playfully lunged at her.
Adam grinned. It was a lot like watching a cat and a dog fight and he sat back on the edge of his bed to watch the two of them play.
Waffles Lay down with Jeffrey in between her paws, mouth open tilting her head back and forth as if threatening to bite him, though he knew she never would. She played with him like that all the time and had never hurt him in the past.
It Was probably at that precise moment that Adam realized…. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to do. It’s not like there were regulations against stealing animals from unknown planets, though there probably should have been. He knew that what he had done was probably illegal in some way or another, though he hadn’t read the manual in long enough to figure that out. He knew for sure that Simon and krill were going to be pissed, and probably Sunny. They would likely turn the ship around and make him take Jeffery back home, but the thought of dumping him off in the forest and then just leaving left a huge pit in Adam’s stomach. 
He had already proven once that he wasn’t going to be able to leave Jeffery behind.
After bonding for the day, he had honestly intended to set jeffery back into the wild. He had even gone down to the nearest berry tree and set him down offering him some of the berries to eat in his cupped hand before turning away and walking off, but then he heard jeffery behind him, and turned around to find the snake following him, looking for all the world like he was sad to see his friend go.
Adam had tried to explain himself as much to make himself feel better as to explain the situation to jeffery, but he just couldn’t do it. Jeffery had looked so forlorn and sad, like he understood what was going on.
Then he had crawled over and wrapped himself around Adam’s leg looking up at him with a big sad eye.
Adam was a weak man.
He knew it 
Puppy eyes, or in this case, snake eye worked on him just a little too well, and he was unable to leave the creature where it should.
At any time, if jeffery had shown a hint of agitation, he would totally have gone back, but he had curled up under Adam’s shirt and rested there through the whole flight like it was nothing, and now here he was taking his new environment and friends in stride.
Adam sighed and rested his head in his hands.
Great, he had gone and adopted yet another alien.
He hadn’t done it in so long that it was bound to happen again, but he really had not intended for it to happen this time. This time it had been completely by accident.
Just then there was a knock at the door.
He nearly fell off the bed in shock and concern as he hurried over to the door. Waffles and Jeffrey had stopped playing as they curiously looked over towards him. He cracked the door halfway glancing out into the hall with a face of concern.
Adam was both surprised and nervous to see Ramirez standing there.
Behind him Jeffery slithered over looking ready to poke his head around the door to see who was knocking.
Adam tried to block him with his foot as he peered through the door.
“Sorry bro, really busy right now gotta go.”
Ramirez frowned and reached out a hand to block the door, “Dude, serious? Like you were acting weird just a few minutes ago and Krill sent me up here  to make sure you were okay.”
Adam gave a stiff smile as he attempted very hard to keep Jeffery back from the door, “Oh yeah, I am totally ok. Very cool, completely and utterly ok, no problems at all.” Jeffery, who had got annoyed at his attempt to block the door, now began to slither up his leg.
Ramirez frowned, “Are you sure you are ok?”
“Yeah Fine/”
He tried to Grab Jeffery but he slithered through, and around the doorway opening his mouth to smell the newcomer.
Naturally Ramirez freaked out almost immediately, “What the FU_” He reached down for his handgun, but before he could Adam lunged forward, grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled them both back into his room allowing the door to slam behind him.
He pinned Ramirez to the floor  as the other man struggled, “What te HELL!”
He claimed a hand over the other Man’s mouth, “Shut Up! Shut UP.”
Ramirez went quiet breathing hard as Adam Sat over him, a hand pressed to his mouth. Jeffer peered out from around his shoulder.
“Don’t scream, and I will take my hand away. Gt that?”
Ramirez nodded, and Adam pulled his hand back.
“What the hell is that!” Ramirez hissed
“This is Jeffery.”
“Jeffery?”
“Yeah…. I may have…. Rescued him from an alien planet.”
“Dude are you kidding me, for a second I thought you were being mind controlled or possessed by some sort of alien brain sucker.” He looked up at Jeffrey and waved a hand, “Waddup.” 
Jeffery opened his mouth again.
Ramirez pulled back a bit, “W-what’s it doing.”
Adam waved a hand, “Oh, I think that is just the way he smells people or something.”
He rolled off to the ide to allow Ramirez to sit up,and reaching out jeffery let Ramirez pat him on the head, “So cool,” he glanced over at Adam, “You know Simon and krill are going to be PISSED.”
He sighed, “I know, I know, but you should have seen the way he looked at me when I tried to leave. I couldn’t handle it….. I am a weak man.”
Ramirez shook his head, “Well now what…. Do you even know what it eats”
Adam paused, opened his mouth and then closed it, “Well I know he eats berries?”
“And did you bring any of those berries?”
“Well I uh…. May have forgotten in the moment.”
Ramirez paused, “Wait here for a second.” Adam watched him as he got up and left the room.
***
The rest of the crew would be very confused to watch Ramirez walk into the mess hall, int the walk in refrigerator and then appropriate a tub of strawberries, some raspberries, blueberries and blackberries before walking back out of the room without saying anything to anyone. He would get some very strange looks as he walked up the stairs towards the captain’s quarters and then vanish walking back into the room and setting the berries down on the floor.
The two of them sat cross legged across from each other and attempted to figure out what exactly it was that Jeffrey liked.
Adam still had no idea how he was going to hide this.
Jeffery was too curious for his own good , and someone was bound to find out eventually
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fumingspice · 4 years ago
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All The Things She Said
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Requests are open!
Part | 1 2 3
Pairing: Lana Winters x Reader
Summary: almost caught by Lana’s husband. Dinner with mom. Brief mentions of having a bad relationship with food. Slightly irritating ending but its okay because I hate me too
There had been many close encounters. Too many to be overly confident in the situation. Her husband coming home too early during particular heated make-out sessions. Teachers passing by in cars while you walked through towns outside of your own during dates.
Weeks flew by and the rollercoaster of a relationship you had with your teacher went up and down like the waves of the ocean that you could see from your bedroom window.
The worst had come on a sunny Friday. You had taken a hard tumble on your run outside of Lana's help and you stumbled your way to her front door for some help. She gasped when she saw you.
She offered her arm to do as you limped into a kitchen and helped you to sit on her counter.
"Gosh, Y/N. This isn't a good look," she muttered, grabbing the first aid kit from one of the drawers.
You chuckled through your pain. "You're just annoyed that you can't get me on my knees." Lana raised her eyebrow and tilted your chin down to see your eyes.
"I could, still."
You shook your head. You knew Lana would never touch you like that before you left high school, the promise she had kept this far. Lana dabbed your cut-up knees and shins with cotton balls dipped in alcohol. Blood had dripped down your legs and gathered and your socks. The brunette padded your knees and taped them with some medical tape she had found. They were pretty nasty gnashes after all.
Lana wiped blood from a smaller cut on your chin and dried it. It wasn't bleeding anymore. Your arms and palms were a different story.
You had unconsciously clenched your hands while you walked through Lana's house and upon opening them realised that blood had pooled.
"Oh, baby-" Lana started, stopping herself when she realised what had come out of her mouth. She went straight to cleaning your arms and applying bandages to your other injuries.
"Did you just call me 'baby'?"
"I'm sorry, I just wasn't thinking straight."
You cocked your head at her. "I didn't think there was ever a straight thought in your head, baby."
Lana stared at you with a shocked expression.
"Too much?" You asked. You answer was a kiss as Lana pulled your legs around her waist and carried you over to her couch.
Careful not to disturb any of your injuries, Lana knelt between your legs and her tongue beckoned entrance to your mouth.
Your hands found at each other’s closed as you shift your bodies to straddle her.
Lana stripped off your running top and threw in onto the couch while you worked at the buttons on her blouse, only to be interrupted by the sound of the turning lock at the front door.
You hissed a profanity as you got your shirt back on as quickly as you could and fetched a glass of water to seem less suspicious whilst Lana tidied herself up.
“Afternoon, Lana,” her husband muttered as he strod towards her, taking her by the waist and kissing her. It almost felt as though he knew to prove something to you. Like he wanted to show you that on paper Lana was his. You bit your tongue and turned away, a pang of annoyance coursed through you as you saw Lana's lips on another, even if you knew she didn't want it. Even if you knew that he was completely cold towards her.
Oliver glared at you. "Why are you over here this time, hm?" he asked. "Isn't it a little inappropriate to be in your teacher's house so often?"
You rolled your eyes hard to keep the absolute diva inside you at bay. You turned to him and gave a coy smile. "I'm here as a neighbour," you retorted. Your heart smiled at Lana's silent chuckle. "I fell outside, and Ms. Winters cleaned me up." You motioned to the pads on your knees which were almost beginning to bleed through.
Lana shook her head at you, blushing slightly at your tone. Oliver shrugged as if your answer was satisfactory enough for him.
"I also came over because my mom wanted to know if the both of you wanted to come for dinner tomorrow night," you said. Lana's eyebrow raised as if to ask when you would stop trying to grind at Oliver. You knew rightly that he left for New York in the morning.
Oliver hummed to himself. "I'm afraid I won't be able to come, but I'm sure Lana would feel more than comfortable by herself."
Lana stared at him. "What does that even mean?"
Oliver shrugged. "Well, you're very comfortable with your student and her mother as it is. You don't need me around anyways," he said, he gripped Lana's wrist hard for a moment and released again when she winced.
Oliver stalked out of the kitchen and you stayed where you were until you hear his office door close upstairs.
Lana breathed a sigh of relief and clasped her hands to her head as you approached her with open arms. Lana lent into your embrace. “That was far too close, Y/N,” she whispered, her fingers tight around your arms. “Maybe we should stop doing that for a little while.”
You pursed your lips. You had felt Lana growing more detached for a while, worried that someone would find out before you would make it known.
Lana pressed her lips against your neck softly, laying them up to your jawline. “I like you, Y/N,” she whispered softly. “I can’t let anything bad happen.”
You shook your head to get her to stop talking. “How about you just come around tomorrow? We can watch a movie before my mom comes back. A little movie date, hm?” You played with a lock of her hair and put your forehead against hers.
Saturday morning came quickly. Your mom was still at work.
8am.
Oliver would have been gone for two hours and you had another few hours before your mom came home in the late afternoon.
You were quick to change into something comfortable and grab something to eat. Your relationship with food had been rocky for a while. Somedays you found yourself comfortable with your eating; you were careful with what you consumed out of your enjoyment for en bon santé which your mother often beamed upon, simply happy that her daughter didn’t have a constant craving for junk food. Other days however, you often found yourself over-calculating the calories in your head. It was so often a game of numbers that you were determined to win. Spitting snacks into the bin without thinking.
Lana had noticed your behaviour straight away and walked you through old tips.
“Food is not your enemy, sweetheart,” she told you as she watched you throw a napkin into a bin. One of your dates, you had got boba and waffles together.
You shrugged it off, but Lana stopped you. “You don’t get out of talking about this, Y/N,” she said. You had walked through a park and sat in the roots of a massive oak tree. You were against the tree and Lana lay between your legs with her back against your stomach.
“It’s nothing, Lana,” you said. It was true, in fairness you hadn’t thought about it as much other than a way to have a few snacks without worrying about what you were eating.
Lana propped herself up on you. “Well, no matter what it is I’m here for you to talk, and I’m not going. I was a teenager once too; I remember the pressure. But-” The brunette took your face in her hand and planted you a kiss. “-for what it’s worth, I’m so fucking proud of you.”
A knock came at your side door, followed by its opening and Lana walking in through your kitchen as you had advised.
“Hey, sweetheart,” she cooed as you strode into her arms for a hug. She planted a kiss on your forehead then stood against the counter, watching you make breakfast.
Your excitement to see your soulmate had almost made you forget that you were standing with only a crop top and shorts on. Although Lana clearly didn’t mind. “What are you staring at?” You giggled with a plate of pancakes in hand, reaching in to give Lana a quick kiss on the lips.
Lana rolled here eyes at you playfully and took your outstretched hand. “Any movies you want to watch?” You asked, smiling at the gratification you got as you felt her lace her fingers through yours.
You used your hips to force your bedroom door open, letting go of Lana’s hand for a moment to walk in. You noticed she wasn’t moving.
“Y/N, I meant what I said when I don’t want to go further than kissing you before you left school,” she said quietly.
You chuckled. “You don’t know me as well as you think. I don’t have sex in my bed. I like it too much to ruin the sheets,” you replied. Lana still looked unconvinced. “I only brought you up because I want to cuddle. In my bed. If it makes you uncomfortable, we can go to the living room with a blanket. It’s up to you, baby.”
Lana thought it over for a minute before straightening up and following you to her bed. She lay down first, and you lay down on top of her with your head between her chest and shoulder, your arm and leg draped over her body slightly.
You had chosen to watch Nine-To-Five. Brilliant movie in your opinion. Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton. You used to watch it all the time with your mom after she left your father. It was one of those movies from the 80’s which always made you feel on top of the world after. Or maybe that was just Jane Fonda’s general influence.
You relaxed into Lana as you felt her hand lay down on your back, tracing swirling patterns in your skin that made your heartbeat at a hundred miles on hour.
You talked during the movie. Lana told you about anymore nightmares that Oliver had stirred up for her with the divorce that seemed to be going nowhere. She had even stopped wearing her necklace unless she knew that only you would see it.
Your mom came home a few hours later, after you had changed your clothes and went downstairs to look a little less inconspicuous. Your mother seemed to the think nothing of it, but for Lana it was a different story, and you could sense it in her.
“You better not be up to what I think you’re up to, Y/N,” your mom muttered when Lana excused herself to the bathroom during dinner, looking straight at you and taking a sip of her wine.
“Which would be...?”
Mom set her glass down hard. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. She’s your teacher.”
Your mother’s ability to clock almost every single little thing never failed to amaze you.
“I’m nineteen in two weeks.”
Your mom waved. “Oh yea, sure. You’re nineteen in two weeks, that changed everything,” she muttered, her voice heavy with sarcasm. “Are you crazy?”
You debated answering that, given that it would’ve been a “yes.”
“The only reason that I’m not absolutely swinging arms with her, nor is she on my hit list, is because I saw the necklace,” she said.
“What about them?”
Your mom glared. “What do you mean, ‘what about them?’” She had a way of repeating what you said in a humorous tone when you said something silly. “I know that she’s your soulmate, Y/N. It still goes that you’re a student and she’s your teacher. Please, for both of your sakes end it for collage before one or the both of you get into trouble, hm?”
Your mom left to clean her dishes and Lana returned, your mom’s words still haunting you.
At the end of the night, your mom hugged Lana goodbye, telling her she was welcome over anytime. When your mom was visibly distracted you walked Lana outside.
“You know I could hear the conversation with your mom, right?” She spoke. You had been hoping to avoid having a conversation about this. “I don’t necessarily think she’s wrong.”
You broke away from Lana’s eyes and trained them on the ground, trying to compartmentalise her words.
“Listen, so far we’re just casual. Let’s put this to rest before something bad happens, and then as soon as your finished school I’m going to take you on a date to the nicest restaurant in the state,” she said.
“Casual,” is what she called it. You nodded your head and muttered goodnight. Lana, although noticing your behaviour, replied back, and left to her own house again.
Your mom stood in the hall. “I’m impressed,” she said. “I honestly didn’t think you would do it.”
You shrugged. “I didn’t.”
After that night, school was less enjoyable. You had even went as far as lodging a request to move to another class. You had barely been able to bring yourself to look at Lana from the sheer embarrassment. The request, to your dismay was denied and you had to face the added humiliation of Lana knowing that you had tried to leave the class and failed.
“You could at least talk to me about it,” she said when she asked you to stay behind. “You’ve barely glanced at me in the last two weeks.”
You shrugged again.
You felt like you had nothing to stay. Still stung from “casual.”
It was clearly bothering Lana, and you knew that her ego was the only thing that was keeping her composure. You knew it clearly didn’t help when Manny, the quarterback on the football team gave you a massive promposal in the cafeteria.
It was a gimmick. You’d been best friends with Manny since you were a child and he often flirted with you jokingly in class. Lana didn’t know of the extent of your friendship with him and you knew it stung her with jealousy to see the handsome, popular, insanely talented football player giving you all the attention.
Even Manny’s boyfriend, who lived in Arizona, teased you about the joke flirting.
You turned around, noticing Lana’s eyes fall when you looked at her.
You accepted, and boy were you in for it with Lana now.
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mj-is-writing · 2 years ago
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happy (late) blorbo blursday! how are your characters with animals? do any of them have a favourite or any beloved pets? who's the best and who's the worst at handling them? :D
Most of them are good or indifferent with animals because I grew up with a million pets so it’s like. Just a part of life to have at least one dog around. And I wouldn’t know how to write someone who dislikes pets.
Cassian loves animals, but I did end up working in a few animal interactions specifically to mirror his relationships with the other characters, so it doesn’t seem like he likes animals much in the beginning. He does, he’s just also bad with them. He gets nervous because he likes them but they probably won’t like him. The end shows him as a catdad because I think that’s what he deserves.
Adelaine loves animals also, but due to her childhood, she was only able to interact with them in certain ways. She could have as many dogs as she liked, but they had to live in the Royal kennel. She got ponies regularly during her horse girl phase, but she could only see them if her riding coach was with her. She wasn’t supposed to play with the cats that were kept to eat the mice. She would be a werewolf kid and read zoology magazines in the school library in a modern AU, but she also had her experiences governed for her. So she doesn’t exactly know how to interact normally with, like, a normal pet. She never had to bathe or feed them or take them for walks as a kid, and it shows. So she ends up a plant mom, and she visits Cassian and sees his cat, and that’s good enough for her.
Aoife and Keeva both wanted pets growing up, but Aoife is allergic to dogs. Keeva is also very much not a cat person, and when Cassian came home with the cat, they just kind of… had to deal with it? They grow to care about the cat, but they didn’t particularly want it. It’s Cassian’s baby. Aoife still wishes for a pet, but she’s also content to watch her wife gardening and… it’s nice.
Minnie isn’t an animal person, and it kind of ties into her fear of being vulnerable; she’s not good with people, why would she be good with animals? They kinda freak her out a bit. I think she would be a dog person if she could work through her issues, though. Cassian, who grew up with a bunch of dogs, would probably be really good at helping teach Minnie to take care of them. He’d get her an older Golden Retriever and come over a lot to check on them. (This is a long winded way of saying “Minnie needs a therapy animal, and even Cassian, who had the emotional intelligence of a stick, can fucking tell.”)
I think out of all my OC’s, the one who is best with animals is probably Joshua; he has dog person energy, but I’ve decided that he maybe has a fish tank or something? And it originally started as something his mentor gave him to try and help provide some structure in his life (remembering to feed the fish, to change the water, etc.), but over time it also became a hobby he just really vibed with. I know that fish aren’t super hard to care for usually, he definitely could and probably does get larger pets later, but there’s just something special to him about introducing a new species to the tank, arranging the decor, and just… watching the fish swim.
And the worst is… hmmmmm okay the worst is Luca but only because Luca is, like, chronic only child who never had a pet. He was given endless attention as a kid, they have a bit of a rep now, trying to put a living thing in their care is just asking for trouble. He also has the self-preservation skills of a toddler. You could replace the trail mix he’s eating with literal rocks and he wouldn’t notice. And “self-absorbed guy who forgets to feed themself” is not the kind of person who is going to remember to walk a dog or change the cat litter. Also animals are just icky and they have better things to do. Luca would put a high-energy dog in a room with some food and newspapers and not check on it all day, and they wouldn’t even realize that that’s a problem. He thinks that’s just how to take care of a dog.
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darkficsyouneveraskedfor · 4 years ago
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One Night🌙6
Warnings: noncon sexual acts (to be warned later in series), nocturnal playtime, unwanted touching.
This is dark!Andy Barber and explicit. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.
Summary: One night changes your entire life.
for @kittykatlow​‘s 200 Follower Celebration
Note: I’m working on more drabbles and Eye of the Storm! But for now, enjoy some Andy.
Hope you enjoy it. Thank you. Love you guys!
Please leave some feedback, like and reblog <3
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Your appointment went as well as it could have. The doctor ran bloodwork and several other tests as Andy nodded knowingly as if to say ‘I told you so’, which he also did aloud several times after. The drive home was a reiteration of what you should, and more enthusiastically, what you shouldn’t do. 
It was really starting to feel like he believed you were an actual child. Your own father had never talked to you in such a way. You couldn’t say the same for your mother but even she could reel it in long enough that you didn’t feel like a complete moron. Andy just seemed to latch onto every mistake you made and sink his teeth in until he tasted blood.
And like the teenager he treated you as, when you got back to his house, you stormed up to the guest room and slammed the door. You fell onto the bed and screamed into the pillow. Oh yeah, that long lost adolescent rage returned. Then it all drained from every inch of you and you rolled over to stare at the ceiling.
You could hear Andy below. You listened to him moving around, the decisive click of his polished leather shoes. He climbed the stairs and you heard him stop outside your door. He sighed and retreated to his own room. Your day off an you’d spend it like this; raging at your new warden.
The knock on your door made you flinch. 
“Hey,” Andy’s voice sounded decisively through the door. “I’m going into the office for the rest of the day. I’ll be in around six.” He paused and the handle jiggled but didn’t turn. “You know where everything is.”
You didn’t answer him. You waited until he left, the footsteps on the staircase, the front door, the soft rollover of his car engine. You sat up and pulled out your phone. A single voicemail; your parents’ number.
“Hey, kiddo,” Your dad’s voice rose from the speaker. “Your mom wants to know when you’re getting the rest of your stuff.” A slight pause and a cough. “You know I don’t care and you take your time but if she asks, I told ya to come get it… Love you.” The line buzzed. “And your mom loves you too but she’s just as stubborn as you, you know? Well, anyway, uh, bye.” Another glaring silence. “Oh, and it’s still my house. I’ll be happy to see ya, kiddo.”
You saved the message and dropped your phone to bounce on the mattress. You put your head in your hands as you tried to resist the overhwelming swell of sadness that overcame you. You didn’t care about your stuff and you couldn’t bring it here. You wouldn’t. Sell it, toss it, you didn’t care.
You sat up and dropped your hands to the bed in defeat. You were such a fuck up.
🌙
You avoided Andy for a few days. You found excuses to stay in your room when you weren’t working and even spent a good deal of time in the backyard, weeding the overgrown garden. It didn’t matter. Autumn was close and most of the plants were dead. It must have been her job, or maybe a cherished hobby.
Aside from Andy’s prickly nature, she made it harder. That stranger; Laurie. You were an imposter in her place; usurping her as she laid in a hospital entirely unaware. You only knew what the press put out. He never said much about it. Did you really expect him to? All he ever spoke about was you, the baby, and everything you did wrong.
After a rather long day at work, made longer by your suddenly returned appetite and the smell of cinnamon and coffee, you returned to the house and found yourself back in the yard. You sat at the patio table and scrolled through your phone. 
Felicia wanted to meet up the next night. You hadn’t told her yet. If she took you for drinks, as she always did, she’d figure it out pretty quickly. Well, why were you hiding it? You wouldn’t be able to for much longer. You already felt a little bigger, wider at least. Would it be so bad to tell? To not be alone?
You swiped away her text and bit your thumbnail. You’d think about it and send your answer before you went to bed.
The screen door clattered and you sat up straight. You looked up as Andy emerged and strode across the deck. He had a beer in hand and placed it on the glass table as he neared the other side of the table. His tie was gone, his top button undone, and his sleeves were rolled to his elbows.
“Here you are,” He said as he pulled out a chair and sat. “How was work?”
You shrugged and turned over your phone. “It was work,” You sat back and crossed your arms. “Do I ask you? Is that the right thing to do?”
He chuckled and popped the cap of the beer and took a swig. “Well, it was an exciting day. Had a defendant attack the judge. Didn’t get very close but a they took him out,” He turned the bottle on the table. “He got me good on his way out, even if he missed my face.”
You let your arms fall to rest over your stomach. You didn’t know what to say. Did he want pity? Surely you couldn’t relate to his courthouse crusades.
“Well, that sounds… scary.” You offered.
“It happens. Not a lot but you can never predict people,” He took another gulp of beer. “What are you doing out here? It’s gonna rain soon.”
“Yeah?” You looked up at the grey clouds. “I never minded the rain much.”
He was quiet as he picked at the label of his bottle. His toe tapped and he pushed his shoulders back.
“Your mother came to see me,” He said gently. “Said something about tossing your stuff out on the lawn.”
“Shit,” You winced. “She shouldn’t have--”
“You haven’t talked to her?”
“And say what, exactly? She made her feelings about me pretty clear.” You played with the case of your phone as you turned it over. “My dad called me but… I don’t care about all that shit.”
“We can go get it. It’s not--”
You laughed and shook your head. “Why? You’re so eager to erase my former life, why would you care?” You threw your hand up and planted your elbow on the table. “It’s just books. A few stuffed animals. I never really could afford much of value. The poor pauper girl.”
“I never--”
You stood and slid your phone into your pocket. You still wore the plain black shirt and matching pants from work. Your fly was half undone to relieved the pressure and your shirt had caught in your waistband. You pulled the hem down and pushed in your chair.
“I’m hungry. I’m going to get changed and make something to eat.” You said.
You left him there and went inside. After slipping into some leggings and a loose tee, you swept into the kitchen and surveyed your options. Some linguine with chicken and spinach. That didn’t sound too bad.
You pulled out a chicken breast and the cutting board. You put the water on boil and heated the frying pan. You started to chop up the chicken into chunks as you heard the back door. Andy appeared and set his bottle down across from you as he stood on the other side of the island. It gave a hollow clink; empty, already.
“So, what are you making?” He leaned on the marble.
“Pasta,” You answered curtly. “You have any hot peppers? Hot sauce?” You opened the fridge. “I wouldn’t mind something spicy.”
“Check the door,” He said. “You must be past the nausea. You know, I always heard the cravings were the worst part. I never really considered pickles anything to drool over but---”
“Stop, please,” You interjected as you turned back with a jar of banana peppers. You could dice them up and mix them into the sauce. “It’s miserable. All of it.”
He sighed and stood straight. He rounded the counter and opened the cupboard. He added oil to the pan and it crackled. He put it back and turned to grab the spinach and rinsed it in the colander. He set it on the counter and turned back to watch you slice the chicken.
“You gonna keep this up?” He asked.
“What?” You set the knife down and dumped the chicken into the pan and washed your hands..
“You gotta try to meet me halfway,” He turned.
“Meet you halfway? Andy, christ,” You spat as you stirred the chicken and seared it. “How much more can I give you?”
“Bit of courtesy, maybe,” He said. “I’m trying here but you won’t even--”
“There you go again, speaking to me like a child. I am not a child. Let’s start there,” You pointed at him with the spatula. “You should know that.”
He considered you, his blue eyes drifted then returned to you. He gave a small smile. “I definitely know you’re not a child.”
“I’m serious.”
He nodded and exhaled. “Alright, I’ll try to ease off.”
You squinted at him. “I really wanna believe you will.”
He scoffed and brushed past you. He went to the fridge and grabbed another beer. He flipped the cap off and leaned against the door.
“I’m a lawyer. I can’t help it.” He shrugged. “But for the sake… of the baby, I’ll take my foot off the pedal. A little.”
“Cool,” You set the spatula down. “So you won’t mind if I go out tomorrow night. My friend Felicia wants to have dinner.”
“Dinner?” He repeated. You raised a brow. “Yeah, fine. That sounds like fun.”
“Great,” You smiled and grabbed the linguine noodles. “And you know, you’ll get a night to yourself. Win-win.”
🌙
You texted Felicia after dinner and for the first time in a while, you felt excited about something. So excited you found it hard to settle down. A bigger problem because you had an opening shift the next morning and you were already constantly exhausted.
You laid in bed and tossed and turned. You stared at the ceiling, then rolled over and stared at the window, then tried laying on your stomach until your leg fell asleep. It was at least an hour of endless turmoil, trying to force yourself to doze, before you just resigned to blinking into the dark.
You listened to the gentle spatter of rain. As always, Andy was right. It was really annoying. You sighed and peeked out the window as the rivulets streamed down the glass. The moonlight shone through the droplets in silver orbs. You turned onto your side and counted them, hoping it would coax you to sleep.
Then you heard it. At first, you were certain it was nothing. The wind, maybe. But it continued, steady, slowly mounting. The heavy breaths coated with sultry groans. You froze and craned your head to look over your shoulder as you listened. You’d left your bathroom door open without thinking and could hear a little too much through the one at the other end.
You dropped your head back to the pillow as the voice continued; deep and drawn out. It wasn’t hard to guess what was going on; what the only other person in the house was doing. Andy was only human after all. Well, you’d fucked him almost on sight. You were no saint. Yet it felt so wrong, hearing him like that. Worse that as you closed your eyes, you could only imagine him in the other room with his hand…
You pulled the duvet over your ear and pressed your head to the pillow. You felt a tickle between your thighs and squeezed them together. Ignore it, just listen to the rain. But his voice only got louder and louder until it finally peaked in a sharp grunt. Your lips parted and you shuddered. He was done, thank god.
It was silent for a few minutes, all but the gentle patter of rain. Then the bed groaned through the wall and soft footsteps. You were tense as you listened, moreso as you heard him near the other side of the bathroom door. 
Shit, he had to clean himself up and… 
The door opened and you heard his feet on the tile. He let out a growled and cranked the sink on. Your door was still wide open. It sounded as if he was right beside you as the water flowed and his breathing evened out. He turned off the faucet but lingered in the bathroom.
Then he stood in the door to your room. You could feel him there, looking at you. You were thankful your back was to him. Slowly, he crept closer and you felt him looming over you, just at the side of your bed. Your nerves were on fire, every hair on your body was on end.
The blanket moved just a little as he tugged at it. You made yourself stay still as he paused, waiting for you to react. He let out a long breath and yanked harder to dislodge the duvet from under you. You squeezed your eyes shut, terrified. You should say something, do something, tell him to fuck off!
He bared your leg and the cool air raised goosebumps along your skin. Your shorts offered little coverage and had ridden up your ass. He let the blanket rest on the other side of your leg and his fingertips grazed your calf and thigh. He touched your ass and pressed more firmly against it.
Then suddenly he recoiled. You heard him swallow and he pulled the blanket back over you. He turned and retreated into the bathroom, your door clicking closed behind him, the second which led into his own room. The silence was pierced by his muffled voice.
“Shit.”
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slowly-writing · 4 years ago
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Part of The Family: Civil War
Avengers x Kid!Reader
Part 1
Word Count: 5.2k
Requested by me: ...okay but hear me out. Part of the family, during Civil War.
A/N:  This is pretty angst, but I promise there’s a happy ending. I hope you all enjoy this, I loved diving back into this universe for a bit! I tried to stay as neutral as possible, but you can probably tell who’s side I was on. 
The mission in Logos was not one you wish to remember. It reminds you of the conversation you had with your mom after she got back from Sokovia. Missions like this one are the exact reason she doesn't want you in the field. The fact that you all made it out alive and relatively uninjured is practically a miracle. Sure you’ve got a few broken ribs and your mom for sure has a concussion she keeps denying, but you all walked away. You just want to relax, heal, and forget the whole thing happened.
The news, however, has other ideas. Every channel is playing the explosion on repeat. What is probably the worst moment of your life being played again and again for the world to see. The worst part is the blatant attack they’re throwing towards Wanda. The girl saved your life and the lives of countless others in that crowd. There were casualties and it was tragic, but the things they’re saying are absurd. You’re enhanced too, but you weren’t the one who wasn’t strong enough, so now she’s the monster.
You haven’t seen MJ since you got back, the swarm of paparazzi and news vans outside the tower is far too thick for either of you to break through, but you know she agrees with you, and something tells you you’re going to need that support pretty soon.
“People died and that’s on me,” you hear your father’s voice as you walk up to Wanda’s room.
“That’s on both of us,” she retorts and they both look down solemnly, feeling guilty.
“That’s on hydra. If you don’t want to put the blame where it really belongs, which as I said is on them, then fine. It’s on all of us. We’re a team. This isn’t on just any one of us, we were all there. We all could’ve done something different today and the outcome doesn’t fall on any single person, just like it wouldn’t have if we had done well,” you say firmly as you sit beside your dad on Wanda’s bed.
“This job...we try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn’t mean everybody. But if we can’t find a way to live with it then next time, maybe nobody gets saved,” your dad says and you nod in agreement. It’s the hardest part, the people you don’t save, but you have to focus on the good parts. If you don’t, the bad will eat you up until there’s no more good at all.
A knock on the door startles all three of you out of your thoughts. You glance up to see Clint standing in the doorway. The look on his face practically screams trouble, and you almost don’t want to know what he’s going to say. “Tony’s back,” he finally says, “and he brought a guest.”
“We know who it is?”
“The secretary of state,” he says stiffly before walking out.
“This…” you look between the two, “can’t be good.”
xxxxx
You glance around the table, your whole family glaring at the accords. At Ross. At each other. You can see the lines being drawn around you and it makes you want to run and hide like the scared kid you feel like at the moment.
Then the bickering starts. Calculations are being run, and people are making arguments. Your dad and Tony being the loudest among the group.
“We may not be perfect but the safest hands are still our own,” your dad argues and Tony’s disagreement is clear.
“If we don’t do this now, it’s gonna be done to us later. That’s the fact and it won’t be pretty,” he says and Wanda tenses.
“You’re saying they’ll come for me,” her voice is barely above a whisper and you speak up for the first time.
“They’ll come for both of us. You’re not the only one with powers that scare them and I don’t know about you but I don’t fancy being locked in a cell until I’m deemed useful,” you grit out and your mom is the next to speak up, but to your surprise it’s not to agree with you.
“Maybe Tony’s right,” she says and all the heads in the room snap towards her. All confused, and none more than you. “If we have one hand on the wheel we can still steer. If we take it off-”
“Aren’t you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?” Sam asks and she sighs.
“I’m just-I’m reading the terrain. We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win back their trust.”
“I’m sorry did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?” Tony teases and you glare at him.
“Oh I wanna take it back now,” she looks like she’s in pain, and you know the feeling.
“No no you can’t retract it,” as Tony proclaims his victory your dad is the first to leave the room and the team slowly scatters. You stay firmly planted in your seat, your eyes locked on the floor as the words they said sink in. Mainly those of your parents, and they make you sick. Not because of your own view, but of the fact that’s becoming clear. You’re all going to have to pick a side, and they’re not going to be on the same one.
xxxxx
Everyone seemed to be jetting off to different places around the world, having meetings in secret and not telling each other the details of them. You stayed home and tried to ignore it all. You even tried to go to school one day, but the stares and whispers made it impossible to even walk in the front doors. It was like the entire student body froze at the sight of you, so you stayed in the tower with Wanda who couldn’t bring herself to step outside, and occasionally MJ, but only when she could sneak away. Her parents didn’t want her to get mixed up in your mess and you couldn’t really blame them. Peter was always at home. There was no way he could get to the tower without his identity getting revealed and you had a sinking feeling Tony was only telling him one side of the story.
Over the next few weeks things only got messier. Your dad, trying to help, has become a war criminal. Your mom is in Vienna trying to fix everyone’s mess. And with your parents gone you and Wanda are locked in the tower, told by Tony you couldn’t leave for safety reasons. You still couldn’t figure out if he was trying to protect you or protect everyone else from you.  
“Mom, how is everyone?” you ask, propping the phone up so both you and Wanda could be seen on the small screen. You had just seen your dad get arrested on the news and to say you were nervous was an understatement.
“Everything’s going to be fine. Tony and your father are talking right now,” she says, walking towards the conference room, close enough for all three of you to hear their voices.
“I’d file the motion to have you, y/n, and Wanda reinstated-” Tony speaks first.
“What about y/n and Wanda?” Your dad’s voice joins in, and you realize he has no idea what’s happening with you.
“They’re fine, they’re confined to the tower. There’s worse ways to protect people,” Tony tries only to be cut off again.
“Protection? Is that how you see this? This is protection? This is internment Tony-” It’s your dad’s turn to get cut off
“She’s not a US citizen and y/n doesn’t even have a birth certificate. They don’t grant visas to weapons of mass destruction!” Tony screams.
“They’re kids! She’s my kid!” There’s a long silence where all you can hear is your heart beating in your ears. You see your mom look at you, heart break visible on her face, and you know it’s because of the tears pooling in your eyes.
“Girls,” your mom says gently, she’s walking away from the argument, but you can’t take any more.
“I’ve gotta go,” you quickly end the call, walking to the window and staring out at the city. That was the moment you lost all your trust in your family. It’s also the moment you pick a side. Sure, Tony and your dad both have valid arguments, and you haven’t quite decided who is right, but you refuse to fight for someone who just called you and your best friend ‘weapons of mass destruction’. Sure MJ once said it as a joke, but that was different. She never meant it. After all these years, you can’t believe that Tony does. You can’t believe that's what he thinks of you. After the way he’s been there for you and helped raise you, he still thinks of you as a weapon waiting to fall into the wrong hands, and you refuse to side with someone who thinks so little of you.
“We need to go,” you say suddenly.
“And where would you suggest we go?” Wanda asks as you tighten your hands into fists, trying to control the anger you feel bubbling up.
“Anywhere but here! You said it yourself. They’re going to come for us, and I don’t see anyone here trying to help. Staying here and doing nothing we’re sitting ducks. We both know this is gonna come to a fight. So we might as well make our way to them,” you tell here and there’s a long silence until you hear Clint's voice behind you.
“I think I can help with that.”
xxxxx
You watch everyone else pile out of the van and greet your dad, Sam, and who you assume to be Bucky. You take a deep breath before following, standing a bit behind Wanda as Clint talks to the group. Your dad’s eyes meeting yours as he steps away from Clint to meet you.
“I didn’t want it to come to this,” he says and you smile weakly.
“None of us did, and yet here we are. Mom’s not with us on this, is she?” He looks to the floor and you don’t need an answer, the sadness in his eyes is enough.
“We're outside the law on this one, if you do this, you’re a wanted woman,” he says and you nod.
“Ever since I found out about the serum, I promised to do what’s right. I’m not gonna let a little thing like the law stop me now,” he chuckles at your words until an alarm starts going off.
“Suit up,” he calls to the group and with that you all get ready, your dad being the first on the tarmac. You stay back in the shadows to listen while your dad and Tony go back and forth for a while, but your breath catches as your mom steps into the group.
“Steve, you know what’s about to happen. Do you really want to punch your way out of this one?” Before he can answer Tony’s yelling and all the sudden Peter is behind Tony with your dad’s shield in his hand. Tony starts yelling at Steve to give up and for a second you think he’s going to, until you hear Sam’s voice saying they found the quinjet. Then Clint shoots his hands free and you step forward.
“Dad!” you yell, and when he glances back you toss your shield to him. Your mom’s eyes widen as she realises you’re here, and you’re starting to realise how little either of your parents have paid attention to your whereabouts throughout this whole thing. Sure, you’re 17, but you’d think they’d pay a little attention to your wellbeing. But you shake it off. Now isn’t the time to mope, you’re gonna need all your energy to do what you have to do.
The fighting starts and you freeze, realizing how not ready you are for this, you see your mom take out Scott as Rhodey goes for your dad. You get your dad’s shield from where Scott dropped it and watch in horror as your dad throws a truck at your mom, literally. And then, as much as you don’t want to, you follow him towards the quinjet. You’ve made your decision and there’s no going back now.
Tony’s team cuts you off and the two sides line up. It’s all very dramatic and you lock your jaw, trying to stay calm.
“What do we do, dad?” you ask.
“We fight,” he says firmly.
“Well, this is gonna end well,” you hear your mom say from the other line and you silently agree.
Everyone starts running towards each other and you tighten your grip on your shield. You find yourself dodging the cars Wanda throws as you punch a literal king in the face. He comes back strong, the claws of his suit tearing into your arm. You use your shield to knock him back into Clint’s range, and he takes over. You spin around to see who’s alone and see your mother with her gaze locked on you. She runs towards you and you use her momentum against her. You flip her over your shoulder but she quickly recovers kicking the shield from your hands and landing a solid punch to your side.
“I don’t want to do this y/n,” she says and you catch her fist, once again flipping her but this time she lands on her feet.
“And you think I do?” you yell over the chaos and suddenly a red mist encases the foot that was aimed at your chest. Your head snaps to Wanda as she sends your mom flying into a nearby vehicle.
“You were pulling your punches,” she says before running off and you glare after her before turning to Peter and slicing his web with your shield.
“Peter, go home. You don’t understand what’s happening here,” you plead.
“Mr. Stark said you’d say that.” he says before sending more webs flying at you. He grabs you by the ankle, sending you into a luggage cart before chuckling, “he also said to go for your legs.”
He shoots your hands and you use the webs to send him against the same luggage cart. He crumples to the ground and you hesitate for a moment before running the other way.
“We gotta go now,” your dad says and you sigh.
“No, you gotta go. If we’re gonna win this, some of us aren’t getting out of here,” you say, running towards the fight in the middle of the tarmac.
“I’m not leaving here without you. Your my family,” his words break your heart, and you know to get him to leave you’ll have to break his.
“No I’m not. I’m just some kid you felt obligated to help. Hydra screwed with me, it’s not your job to clean it up. Bucky’s always been family. Get him out of here. Who knows, maybe they’ll go easy on me. I am a kid after all.”
“Y/n-” you cut your dad off.
“Steve, go. Bucky you and him need to get to the jet. Scott, you remember that thing you were telling me about on the plane ride here?” you ask and you can practically see the wheels turning in his head, “do that. And try not to split yourself in half. On his signal, everybody move.”
Scott soon grows to a ridiculous height and then all hell really breaks loose. Your only goal is making sure they get to the jet, and trying not to think about what’ll happen to you when they do.
After a bit more fighting you see the jet take off and the dust finally starts to settle. You glance around attempting to see who you can help, but instead you see police all with their eyes set on you and Wanda. You take a step back, trying to find somewhere to run, only to realize you’re surrounded. Slowly putting your hands in the air you kneel down, it’s easy to see you’ve lost and you don’t fight it as the shackles lock around your wrists. They’re hightech, clearly meant to withstand any enhanced ability and you see the same kind being put on Wanda. You glance over to your mom standing across the tarmac, you expect her to yell, tell them to let you go, at least have the decency to look upset. But she just watches as you’re shoved into the back of an armored van.
xxxxx
You look around the cell you’ve found yourself in. Your left wrist is shackled to the wall, apparently they don’t deem the two inch thick bulletproof cell wall enough to keep you restrained. After hours off pulling at the chains, your wrist becoming bloody and raw, you’ve given up on trying to get out of them. You’re still better off than Wanda, who is sitting across from you with a shock collar and a straight jacket. If you didn’t want to kill the people who put you here before, that image was enough to make the impulse arise.
You’re arranged in a circle, able to see the people around you, you may not have known all of them for long, but you know none of them deserve this. After the way you’ve been treated you’re starting to think nobody deserves this, you wouldn’t wish this on the worst Hydra had to offer. As you look at the faces around you, you can’t help but think of their families, how much Clint’s kids must miss him. How Scott’s daughter feels losing her father for a second time. It makes you wonder if your mom has even batted an eye. She sure didn’t seem to care that they carted you away in the first place. You start to wonder if she ever even cared at all, or if it was all some elaborate cover, maybe something set up by Fury to make you willing to work for them. They treated you like family to your face, but conspired against you behind closed doors. You’re reanalyzing every interaction you can remember when the door to the cell block opens.
Tony walks in in a sling and Clint starts clapping “the futurist gentlemen! The futurist is here! He sees all. He knows what’s best for you. Whether you like it or not.”
“Give me a break Barton. I had no idea they’d put you here,” he snaps back and you stand, walking towards the glass only to get yanked back by the chain around your wrist pulling against the wall.
“Well, you knew they’d put us somewhere, Tony,” you grit out. For a second his eyes soften before he’s speaking again.
“Yeah but not some supermax floating ocean pokey. This place is for maniacs this is a place for…” he trails off but Clint finishes for him.
“Criminals? Criminals Tony. Think that’s the word you’re looking for, right? That didn’t used to mean me. Or Sam, or Wanda. Or y/n, the girl YOU helped raise!” Clint yells before his voice drops low again, “but here we are.”
“Because you broke the law,” Tony says. As if that’s all this means. As if it’s all that simple. “I didn’t make you.”
“You better watch your back with this guy!” Clint says, slamming his fist into the cell wall as Tony starts walking around the circle, “there’s a chance he’s gonna break it.”
Tony walks, looking at all of you as if you’re animals in a zoo. He bickers with Scott and then Sam before stopping in front of you. You lock your jaw, ignoring the tears gathering in both of your eyes. “What do you need? Did they feed you yet?”
“Oh so now you’re the good cop? The caring uncle?” you snap, shaking the chain on your wrist, “does it look like we’re getting five star treatment here?”
“I just need to know where Steve went,” he says calmly, and you’ve never wanted to punch somebody more.
“You better go get a bad cop then. Cause I’m not giving up my father.”
“You see that? I just knocked the A out of their AV, we have about 30 seconds before they realize it’s not their equipment,” he says, messing with his watch. “Clearly I made a mistake, y/n. I was wrong.”
“Well that’s a first,” you quip.
“Cap is definitely off the reservation but he’s about to need all the help he can get.”
“Then get me out of here so I can help him,” you grit out, but he shakes his head.
“Y/n, you’ve known me for years. You know who I am,” he tries to argue.
“No I don’t. The Tony I knew never would’ve let them lock us up like this,” you say with a glare.
“I’m trying to help,” He says calmly and you contemplate your options for a minute. You clearly can’t help from in here, and Tony’s telling the truth, right? He has to be, he wouldn’t betray you again. Would he?
“I’ll tell you, but you have to promise he won’t end up in here.”
“I promise,” he says, and you take his word.
xxxxx
“Hey Clint,” you call softly, leaning back against the freezing wall of your cell. You ignore the way you’re shaking, and the way your lips feel cold, undoubtedly starting to turn blue. There may be a bed in here, but they made sure the chain would keep you away from it, not that you’d sleep anyway. You don’t trust them enough to let your guard down like that.
“Yeah, kid?” his voice is just as soft, and he sounds as exhausted as you feel.
“Do you think we’re ever getting out of here?” you hear the sharp intake of breath and everyone in the room is looking at you. Before he can answer the doors open once again. You look down, not ready for whatever is walking though, only to see two familiar sets of shoes stop in front of your cell. You stand quickly, trying to make your way to them but the jerking of the chains snap you back into reality as you stumble back towards the wall. You watch as your parents eyes move to the shackle on your red wrist, dried blood covering your forearm from where you tried to pull out of it.
“Get her out of there,” your dad says, his jaw clenched and Ross steps forward, begrudgingly putting a code into the keypad on the wall. Suddenly everyone’s cell doors slide open, a few guards move to take Wanda’s collar and straight jacket off while one unlocks the shackle on your wrist. As soon it’s off your mom steps forward, presumably to hug you but you flinch away, back slamming against the wall.
“Y/n, it’s okay,” she says, raising her hands slowly as if you’re an animal she doesn’t want to startle.
“Okay?” You snap, “what part of this is okay? The part where we were fighting each other in an airport 36 hours ago? Or the last 24 that I’ve spent in this cell? The chains around my wrist? The collar on Wanda’s neck? Maybe the fact that I haven’t been given food since before Germany. Or the fact that I’m sure I would have passed out from exhaustion by now if I weren’t so scared of what happened if I fell asleep. The part where they tried to torture me for your location? Have you ever been waterboarded before? Because I have, and let me tell you, it’s not fun,” you ask your dad before turning to your mom. “Maybe the part where I had to watch my family fall apart in front of my eyes, or the part where you watched them arrest me and did nothing,” angry tears are welling in your eye for what seems like the hundredth time in the last few days. “None of this is okay.”
There’s a silence in the room as everyone takes in what you’ve said. Your parents are looking around, waiting for someone to disagree with you, tell them you’re exaggerating what’s happened to you, but nobody does.
“You’re right. None of this is okay. What happened is not okay, but we’re leaving now. We’re going to get you all out of here, and we’re going to start making it better,” your mom says gently, her voice cracking. You let her take your hand now, wincing as her fingers brush against your wrist, “we’re going to make this okay.”
xxxxx
Apparently “getting out of here” did not mean going home. It meant cleaning up in the bathroom on the jet and going straight to capitol hill for a special hearing congress was holding to decide whether or not you should be pardoned. You were sitting outside with Wanda because apparently you were allowed to be held captive and tortured for war crimes, but you weren’t allowed to listen in on a congressional hearing until you were eighteen.
“Hey, are you okay?” you ask her, trying to break the silence. You almost regret asking as she starts to shake a bit.
“I will be,” is all she says, silently taking your hand and leaning into your side. You understand the feeling, and the need for comfort. So you sit silently, gripping her hand tightly as you try to relax. The two of you sit for a while longer until you see your parents exiting the meeting room, eyes set on you.
“They want to hear from you.”
“What?” your jaw drops at your mom’s words.
“They want the perspective of someone who knows the team, someone who can understand why we did what we did. They decided that was you,” your dad says and you nod, standing on shaky legs and walking into the courtroom. There’s cameras flashing everywhere and reporters yelling questions. You set your eyes to the front, your mom’s hand on your back pushing you forward until you reach the microphone. You carefully sit in front of it, crossing your hands on the desk to hide how hard they are shaking.
“Please state your name for the record,” the congressman says as the room quiets down.
“Y/n Romanoff-Rogers,” you say into the microphone, wincing at the feedback as you get too close.
“You are here today to speak on why you believe the actions taken after the Sokovia Accords were signed were rational, and why your team should be released from federal custody, free of any and all charges. You may proceed,” he says and you take a deep breath, trying not to think about how badly this could end for you if this goes south.
“I’ve seen the Avengers in a light that no one else truly has. You all get to see the badass superheroes-am I allowed to say badass in court?” you glance at your parents, your mom stifling a laugh as your dad rolls his eyes. “Anyway, you see them save lives. I get more than that. I got to see the side that took in a 12 year old girl, because she had nowhere else to go. They could’ve turned me away, sent me packing. Plenty of other foster homes did, six to be exact. But they took a chance on me and I got to see them as a family. My mom, who sat by my bed all night for the first few weeks that I lived with them, because I had nightmares when I was alone. Who tried as hard as she possibly could to keep me out of the field, even though I could pick up my motorcycle with one hand, because all she wanted was for me to be safe. My dad, who told awful jokes and teased me about the crushes I had. Who was gentle and kind despite being twice my size.
“I got to see the side of Wanda who was a scared teenager, just wanting to fit in like everyone else. Who wanted nothing more than to do right by her family and the people she loved. I got to see them all as people, not heroes. Everyone in that tower just wants to do what’s right and what’s best for everyone, and this time we couldn’t agree. A lot was on the line. Not just a failed mission, or a few injuries to deal with. It was the destruction of everything we’d all worked so hard for. It was jail time in a place I know I’ll be having nightmares about for years to come. The people we were dealing with had no problem sending people to a military black site. Had no problem sending two teenagers there, and torturing them to get what they wanted. And that scared us all, to the point where we were willing to lose everything we had to do what we believed was right. Maybe we were wrong, maybe we weren’t, but there’s no saying the people put in charge would have always been right either.
“Too many of the people on my team know what it’s like to have no say. To be used as a weapon in someone else’s agenda. There was no way any of us could let that happen again, even if it meant losing everything. We broke the law, yes, but historically laws haven't always been right. Mankind has done awful things that were perfectly fine in the eyes of the law. Locking my family away was legal. It doesn’t make any of it right.”
“Thank you, Miss Romanoff-Rogers,” the congressman says before the room is emptied for the voting, and you’re sent home to wait. It all seems very anticlimactic, but if you’re going back to prison, you’re not going to say no to one more night in your own bed first. The ride back to the tower is silent, everyone’s nerves are palpable but nobody is ready to talk about it. You step out of the van to a sea of photographers and people yelling your name, but one shout in particular stands out. You see MJ weaving her way through the crowd and grin as she slams into your arms. You hold her tight for a few moments, before pulling her away and ushering her inside.
“How are you?” she asks once you’re in the elevator, not caring that your family is listening in. You shake your head, letting out a long breath before answering.
“Tired. Stressed. Scared. Exhausted. Glad that you’re here,” you list off and she smiles.
“Considering you said two different versions of being tired, it sounds like the first thing on the agenda is a nap,” she says and you chuckle a bit, the rest of your family nodding in agreement.
“I’d say so. We’ve been awake for, what...two days?”
“Three,” Wanda corrects as you all step out into the common room.
“Yeah, a nap is definitely the move right now,” you grab MJ’s hand leading her towards your room.
“Leave the door open!” your dad calls after you as you flop onto the bed. You roll your eyes, but smile nonetheless. Nothing is back to normal yet. Nothing is fixed. It’s quite the opposite actually. You have relationships to mend, trust that needs to be earned back on both sides, a lot to talk about, and a lot of trauma that needs to be worked through, but laying here with MJ in your arms and your family all back on the same side, it seems like a step in the right direction. 
Tag list: @rvgrsbrns @rororo06 @prizmix-and-friends @worlds-in-words @im-salt-but-not-salty @5aftermidnight @riotmaximoff @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @stop-drop-and-drumroll
Series tag list: @hannahsairwas @niquey-salvatore @ibe-anne @lostlittlenerd @youarethereasonimsmiling @ohfuckno @marvelousmendess @jelly-fishy-babie @whattheheckisevengoingon
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darkpoisonouslove · 3 years ago
Text
The Light in You Is Shining in My Eyes
Summary: Robin is annoyed with the conditions of the nature hike she’s on when she falls through a hole in the ground to discover the domain of a nymph. The short encounter changes her life when she’s touched by Alice’s spirit and kindness.
Special credit to the guest stars of this fanfic - mosquitoes. They are playing a very important role in the lives of our leading ladies. XD
For @intothewickedwood​. I wish you all the best and many, many smiles!
The leaves rustling in the wind were drowned out by the laughter of large friend groups taking selfies and screaming children on family hikes but the cloud of mosquitoes surrounding Robin buzzed in her ears over all of that. Waving her hands to chase them away was like sticking them in the beast's mouth. Mosquito bites covered her like a map of her blood flow and the thin flannel shirt over her tank top only stuck to her skin with sweat to irritate her rather than protect her.
There was an unusual presence of mosquitoes at the spot where she was growing roots as if to taunt her. Killian had left her there to the annoying and hungry insects to follow up the fox tracks he'd spotted. Walking away was an option but the worst one. Having a phone on him didn't do much when Killian was a technological disaster so she had to wait around if she didn't want to lose him. Her mom would kill them both over the phone at the smallest mishap. Even the little pricks preying on her blood were preferable to never being let out of her room again, let alone Storybrooke.
A mosquito landed on her arm where she'd pushed the shirt off her shoulder. Robin got it before it could bite her smearing it over her skin. Her face twisted in disgust as her fingers brushed it away and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other as if that could help her escape.
She froze at a loud crack under her feet but to no avail. She plunged through the crumbling ground.
Great! Down the rabbit hole was the last thing she needed. Underground roots tugged at her hair and whipped at her hands when she raised them. There was no avoiding the hard soil under her weight or the sharp-edged stones poking her but she could protect her face and her glasses. Her heart pounded in her ears over her own screaming.
Her feet hit the ground to send the impact rattling up her bones. She was thrown forward, down into a pile of damp leaves. The smell of decay hit her from the heap of brown, yellow and red to give her a boost.
She pushed herself up on all fours. She was a breath away from a thick trunk in front of her. A few more inches and she would've face-planted into a tree. A very peculiar tree.
A woman's face was carved into it, though it could hardly be the work of a human hand or mind. Every line and curve was one with the tree bark as if shaped into it from the inside of the trunk rather than hacked into it with a blade. The woman's features were detailed despite the gentility with which they were imprinted in the tree and made her look ethereal. Like a work of art brought to life.
Robin squinted at the faint light trying to make out more before she lifted her head to look for the source. She'd fallen underground but all that was above her head was a thick net of intertwined tree branches that formed the ceiling of a tunnel. The light was coming from somewhere above, golden-white like a whisper of sun rays. It was far from bright or sufficient.
Robin pushed herself up to her knees to fish her phone out of her jeans' pocket. In the light of the screen a scratch on her hand caught her eye. She hadn't felt it through the rush of adrenaline but it wasn't the only one. She was covered in shallow slashes on her exposed skin and where her jeans and shirt had ripped. One of her bracelets had torn off as well from the fall but she ignored them. She could only have them tended to once she was back on the surface.
Focusing on her phone left her rolling her eyes at the different notifications from social media waiting for her before she'd even unlocked it. She'd told her so-called friends she was taking a hiatus on all her platforms while traveling to distance herself from the routine of Storybrooke. Yet her phone was still a receptacle for gossip that bored her to death and performative acts of friendship.
She swiped aside the notifications to get to the flashlight. It shined light into the endless darkness of the tunnel and Robin raised it towards the face in the tree.
"Hey! Stop that!" a loud voice sent her hurtling back, phone dropping in the pile of dead leaves while her heart pounded all around her in the black absence of her flashlight.
"What the bloody hell?" Robin groaned as a sturdy root poking from the ground stabbed her in the small of her back.
The tree bark stretched in front of her to shape the rest of the woman and fell back into a normal trunk when she phased out of it. "Oh, no, none of that in my park."
Robin shuffled backwards, mouth gaping open. "Wh-what are you?" her fingers dug in the ground, the pain rushing through them doing nothing to snap her out of... whatever this was. If she had to guess, she'd hit her head in the tree and had dreamed up everything after that. Either that or she'd breathed in something highly questionable rummaging around Killian's boat.
"What? What? What a rude question! I am not a what," the woman spoke fast, her diction and tone the embodiment of time if Robin had ever imagined what it would sound like. "My name is Alice and I'm a tree nymph and guardian of this park."
Robin had read about nymphs in a book her mom had borrowed from her sister. All she could recall was that they were nature spirits that lived in trees. That was true enough but she had no idea whether she should work on returning her heart back in her chest from her throat or yelling for help with all the might of her lungs.
"I-I'm sorry," she stuttered. She swallowed quickly under Alice's calm gaze. "You just startled me." She wasn't menacing but that didn't mean she wasn't dangerous.
"Well, you were shining that flashlight in my eyes."
Right. Her phone. She'd have to grope around for it since the leaves had swallowed its light. Or she'd broken it.
"You're familiar with phones?" Robin's eyebrows rose high on her forehead.
"Thousands of people come here every day and they all bring phones with them. It would be impossible to miss it. I'd have to turn away from the park. Were you looking at your phone when you missed the hole in the ground?"
"No." Robin patted her hands down on her jeans. She'd already destroyed those. She could leave all the dust on them to keep it away from her glasses and hair. "I was trying to get rid of a mosquito."
"You failed in that," Alice was staring at her like she could see not just the outside of her in the dark but also the inside. "There's still some of it left on your arm."
Robin's face contorted again at the proof of Alice's words as she swiped her fingers over her arm. "How did you-"
"I told you. I'm the guardian of this park. I'm connected to all life here. I felt that mosquito die as you squashed it," her voice quieted and a gleam of light reflected in the wetness in her eyes. It was deafening in the aura of strength she exuded. As if all life stopped to pay its respects to a little insect.
"I'm sorry," Robin fiddled with the loose ends of her shirt. She hadn't meant to do that. She hadn't meant to disturb her.
"Don't apologize to me. It's the mosquito you wronged but apologies won't bring back its life."
Robin frowned. "It was going to bite me."
"That's what mosquitoes do. Would you kill a person for eating food or drinking water?"
"But it's... different," Robin faltered under the power of Alice's resolve. She'd never raised her voice. It just echoed around them like it reached every inch of the park, like it was a part of it. "Mosquitoes aren't-"
"They aren't important? And what is important? Not the mosquitoes, not the bees, not the sea turtles, not the melting ice caps, not the rain forests, not the ozone layer, not Earth, not anything," her voice sped up with the anxious energy seeping into it. She wasn't angry. She was distressed.
Robin's mouth hung open as her eyes filled with tears at her loss for words. Someone who was one with nature was so shaken from the things that Robin closed her eyes to when she didn't have the power to change them singlehandedly. And Alice for all her understanding and care for life couldn't change them either.
"Robin," Killian's voice dropped from the hole like a lifeline to grab on to before she or Alice could break down. "Are you down there, lass?"
Robin looked up the hole she'd fallen through. There was nothing but darkness as all the twists and turns got in the way of the light coming in. "Yeah, I'm here, Killian," Robin yelled back, chest moving easier with the relief that he'd found her.
"I'll get you out of there. Do you think you'll be able to get out if I let down a rope for you?"
"Yes, that should work." There was no other plausible option even if neither of them knew how deep she'd fallen. Killian had tons of rope on his boat. The question was how quickly he'd be able to carry them over. It wasn't a short distance to the docks on the route they'd taken.
Robin turned back to Alice to find a question clearly etched on her face. "He's a close friend of my mom and aunt's. He instantly agreed to take me on his trip when I asked to join him." It was a miracle she'd convinced her mom to let her go.
Alice nodded. "Sounds good. But you won't be able to climb up like that. Your ankle's sprained. Can't you feel it?"
Robin stared at Alice's face. Her constant concern with all life around her should have carved deep lines in her skin but it only lit her eyes up like stars in the dark tunnel. Maybe she was the source of the dim light, though if it were her, there would have been a shine brighter than the sun above.
Robin tried her ankle at the reminder of the climb awaiting her. "Ow!" she whimpered at the charge of pain shooting through her. "You're right. I won't be climbing up that hole."
"Hold still," Alice knelt down next to her slowly as if to keep from scaring her.
In the proximity Robin's eyes caught on the material of Alice's dress. She'd assumed it was somehow her hair twisted and braided around her body due to the similar color but it was strands of dry grass instead. A summer coming to an end.
"I'll heal it," Alice startled her back to reality.
Robin opened her mouth to ask how but Alice was already rolling her jeans up. She locked her hands around the exposed skin to pour energy into it. A ring of waves closed around Robin's ankle, each washing away the pain and swelling little by little.
"How do you do that?" Robin gasped, her chest barely moving in the delicate balance of the magical process even if there was nothing fragile in Alice's concentration.
"Nymph magic."
"Whoa!"
"You don't believe me?" Alice looked up at her, eyes so blue she could have captured the whole ocean in them.
"I do. That's the thing." Robin could feel the magic working its... well, magic. And even if she couldn't, she'd believe whatever Alice told her. She was genuine in a striking way that didn't cancel out her gentleness. There wasn't the rawness of cynicism and jadedness Robin had seen in her mom and aunt and anyone else who used the truth to slap you in the face with it. Alice was just honest because it was her nature just as empathy and tenderness were. All that was left a mystery was what she wanted with Robin. For someone so genuine she sure wasn't easy to read.
"Why are you helping me?"
"I've always liked robins." Alice smiled, more to herself than to Robin. "Though, you're the most prickly one I've met."
"I'm not... I'm not prickly." At least she wasn't trying to be. "And I'm not a robin." All she could make fly were arrows.
"Humans are a part of nature, too. And all nature is beautiful and needs preservation." Alice looked up at the tree branches–or were they roots?–or what lay above them. "It pains me to see the direction in which the human race is driving the entire planet. It didn't use to be like that. People were one with nature. Now they're trying to escape from it and sacrifice it in the name of progress. When nature is progress, it is growth, it is life."
"How would you solve the problem then?" Robin had always been put off by the radical notions of exterminating humankind to let Earth heal. And leaving behind her environment hadn't worked for her on a personal level either.
"By being kinder and valuing the life of every person, every animal and every plant. By respecting nature and working with it, not against it. By giving it in return as much as you take from it. It is a powerful force but it is not unlimited, you know?" Alice's hands retreated from Robin's ankle and she buried them in the leaves around them. The perfect proof of her words. Her domain along with all nature above ground and even her outfit were cycling through different seasons to replenish their energy. "It needs tending to and someone to take care of it once in a while just as it takes care of everything and everyone."
Alice pulled her hand out of the fallen leaves with Robin's phone clasped in it. The flashlight was still on and blinded Robin as Alice handed it to her. She understood Alice's frustration from before.
"How old are you?" she asked, fingers curling around her phone desperately It was only Alice's face in front of her that kept her eyes away from the screen in pursuit of some clue to the answer.
"You really are a rude one, aren't you?" Alice teased, a grin from one ear to the other on her face. She probably didn't get a lot of company.
"Wow, that old, huh?" Robin chuckled. "Well, you do look spectacular for your age." She was a vision. Robin was lucky she hadn't hit her head and missed all of this. A dark and humid underground tunnel that was the home of the kindest soul she'd ever met.
"The light comes from the trees above," Alice explained when she noticed her staring at them. So those were roots then on the ceiling of the tunnel. "They spare some of theirs for me and my tree. Just enough to let me live," Alice smiled brightly even as she was starting to fade. Her energy came from the light and there wasn't that much of it as the sun must have started to set.
"Robin," Killian's voice reached her again. "I got the rope. Here you go."
Dirt fell from the hole as the rope skidded down before it unrolled in Robin's feet. There was even some length to spare as Robin scurried to turn off her flashlight and shove her phone back in her pocket to grab the rope.
"Thank you," she looked to Alice. "Looks like I have to go. At least if we want you to stay hidden." That had to be the reason why her tree was in the tunnel of roots with barely any light reaching it.
"Goodbye," Alice clasped her hands in front of her before raising one to wave stiffly.
Robin would abandon the rope and run into her arms to remain tangled in the tree roots if it wouldn't alert the world above to Alice's existence. She nodded and climbed into the hole.
"Take care, little robin. You can do more than you know," Alice's voice had the rope slipping in her sweaty palms.
Robin craned her neck back for a last peek but Alice was gone, retired to her tree. Her face was the only thing showing in the bark, her eyes staring upwards into the mellow glow of light coming from the roots of her park.
Robin pulled herself up, arms wailing as she climbed. She had to press her back to one end of the hole and her feet into the other to push herself up. She was an archer, not a body builder. Her back would be bruised from all the roots and stones poking it on her way up and she chaffed her palms on the rope.
She must have fallen into the very core of the Earth with how long it took her to make her way out The hole was cramped and claustrophobic and the only thing that kept her going was the certainty in the pit of her stomach that there would be no Alice to heal her if she plummeted back down. Nearly losing her glasses as she glanced down convinced her to train her gaze on the passage above her and light finally hit her eyes.
Killian grabbed her hand and then her arms to pull her out. All her muscles burned as she sprawled on the ground.
"Are you okay?" His concerned face blocked out the trees above her.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Robin heaved out while her senses adapted to the brightness and loud noises along with all the different smells.
A mosquito landed on the back of her hand. She winced at its bite but left it to its devices. It was only doing what was natural for mosquitoes.
"Here, you dropped your bracelet," Killian handed her the offensive thing in blue and white. It was from a girl she'd never liked and belonged in the trash. She'd worn it to keep up appearances because it'd mattered to her whether the people that were hardly her friends liked her or not. It'd mattered until she'd fallen down the rabbit hole.
Looking at her hand, the mosquito was gone to differ from the bracelets. They were the real parasites. Out of the twelve she still had on only one or two called smiles to her face. The rest were coming right off.
"Are you sure you're all right?" Killian asked as he watched her tug on them like she'd lost her mind.
"I'm fine," she repeated. Better than ever. The mist in her head was clearing to leave her with ideas. All the followers she had on her social platforms keeping up with her archery achievements would be the perfect audience for a new ecological lifestyle she wanted to start. That would be the meaningful thing she'd been looking for all along to expand her consciousness and her world. And she had only Alice to thank for opening her eyes. Thank goodness for phones and flashlights you could shine in a tree nymph's eyes.
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ka-writes · 3 years ago
Text
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Notes: I had already started on the second chapter before I posted the first one, so don’t expect updates every day... I also had to do a lot of googling for this chapter.
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Chapter 1 in case you missed it:
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Inspired by:
Humans are Space Velociraptors
By:FreshRoses_InMyGarden_NeedTheRain
Some kids come from storks, others come from crashed spaceships
By: mmmajora
Home Again, Home Again
By: teeth_eater
All works can be found on Ao3
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Warnings: Cussing, needles, character conflicts, intentional poisoning, poisoning, Jaws reference
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“Humans are [and text here]”
Chapter 2: What is this, an interview?
Tommy was now restrained to a chair six feet away from the weird scientist alien. He had a dark brown lab coat with a fuzzy yellow sweater underneath, matched with black pants and black leather boots. His gold rimmed Harry Potter glasses slipped down his nose bridge a bit before he pushed it up and shuffled through papers. He wore a red beanie with a big whiff of his curly chocolate hair. His skin was a weird translucent grayish color with blue speckles decorating it. He had deep brown eyes with an odd electric blue circle outlining the pupil.
His tongue licked his finger as he turned the page. This was a habit that most of the weird teachers and counselors did. It always annoyed Tommy. This time fear was also mixed into that annoyance. His saliva was tinted blue and he had sharp teeth which immediately reminded him of a shark.
“You have shark teeth.” Tommy stated absentmindedly. Clearly, this caught the scientist alien off guard.
“I have what?” The alien asked, confused.
“Shark teeth.. ya know like the weird fish creatures that eat people.” Tommy started rambling causing the shark-alien to become even more confused and slightly alarmed. “I mean I think they eat people. That’s what the shark movie showed… what was its name, Jaws I think? I dunno, my foster mom freaked out in the middle of it and we went home. That lady was weird.. She made us wear itchy clothes and take weird photos before she sent me back to the group home.”
“What?..” The shark-alien asked. Tommy jumped a bit. He forgot he was rambling to a stranger. Alien stranger at that.
“Doesn’t matter.. What's the first question bitch-boy?” Tommy liked the way the alien jumped at the randomly timed insults.
“Er- right.. First off, what’s your name?” The shark-alien asked after collecting himself.
“Tommy Innit. Yours bitch-boy?” Tommy replied.
“Wilbur Soot. Stop calling me bitch-boy!” Wilbur huffed.
“Next question, bitch-boy!” Tommy emphasized the name, getting an even angrier expression in return. Wilbur’s weird blue circle flashed red for a second which caught Tommy off guard.
Wilbur took a shaky breath before asking the next question. “How old are you?”
“Old enough! I am a big man!” Tommy stated. Yet another thing that pissed him off.
“Age?” Wilbur asked, clearly irritated.
“18.” Wilbur raised a brow, “14.” Tommy huffed. His age should only be his business not some alien-bitch who didn’t even have his file.
“If you keep lying, I may have to get the truth serum from the back.” Wilbur half-heartedly threatened. Tommy, the big man that he is, did not get scared at that statement, only slightly unsettled which clearly showed on his face.
“Now, do you have a family?” Tommy tensed at the question. It was a touchy question and was not one that was asked often especially with his reputation.
“I am a big man. I don’t need a family to be great.” Tommy stated, happy with the answer. The alien-bitch shifted awkwardly.
“Right… What is your diet?”
“Umm.. I dunno, whatever I can find. I am allergic to nuts though..” Wilbur nodded in understanding and wrote things down in his notepad.
“What plants are poisonous to you?” Wilbur asked without looking up from his notes.
“Ermm, poison Ivy, poison oak… uh I think parts of rhubarb, and most wild berries. I am not sure other than that.” Wilbur nodded while adding bits to his notes.
“What was the place you lived like?” This time Wilbur glanced up to look at Tommy. This was again another touchy subject… How many times would this alien bitch get into the sad background?
“Shitty.” Tommy snapped. That was the only response the bitch was gonna get.
“Right.. Do you have music on Earth?”
Tommy scoffed, “Of course we have music, dumbass!”
“Can you tell me about the animals there?” Wilbur asked, almost hopeful.. which was weird. What was he hoping for?
“Erm I guess..” Tommy mumbled, trying to figure out where to start, “There’s a bunch of animals. Mainly on land. My favorite would be the cow.”
“What’s that?” Curiosity stained Wilbur’s face. This got Tommy excited; he was practically beaming as he started talking.
“Well they are these big ruminants that make milk and have horns. There are a bunch of types too like the highland cow, which obviously is the most poggers one. They are a Scottish breed with really long hair. I met one once, on a field trip his name was Henry.” Tommy rambled on for the next two and a half hours, jumping from topic to topic and explaining anything that wasn’t personal. He usually ended those paths with short insults.
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Wilbur hated to stop the kids' detailed story, but two and a half celestial hours had already passed, and Dream would be coming to check soon. Luckily, he had a couple new poisons that could pass off as a research development. He had even managed to send the distressed signal and no doubt Phil would already be there with the SBI craft ready to fly at any given moment.
“Alright Tommy.” His voice dropped to a serious tone causing the kid to stop his story of how he got poisoned by mushrooms on a camping trip. “You’re gonna have to trust me just for a bit. I am going to get you off the ship at the next stop but in the meantime I need you to tell me how allergic you’re to nuts.” The kid immediately tensed at the question.
“I am mainly allergic to tree nuts.. almonds being the worst. After a few minutes I can’t breathe properly and I usually pass out. The doctor said if I don’t get it treated within 15 minutes, death is most likely.” He took a moment to go through the information. The kid most likely has an anaphylaxis reaction to tree nuts. Meaning either he would have to know the exact time of landing and exactly where Phil was or he needed another poison that was less severe.
“Alright, here is what we’re gonna do. I have a chemical mixture that is similar to that of rattlesnake venom. I also have a chemical substance that numbs any pain you may feel. Side effects would include being very very tired and delirious over the next few days. Along with being knocked out for a good ten hours. To put it simply I am gonna fake poison you, in order to get you off the ship. It’s your choice if you’re willing to do it.” Wilbur paused to study the kid still restrained in front of him. It was odd how relaxed the kid seemed to be in a situation like this. He had no urge as far as Wilbur was aware, to fight against anything that happened. His complaints only being those that touched on personal matters. It was unsettling to say the least, and intrigued Wilbur. He really wanted to unravel the life the kid had lived before this and how he was actually dealing with the situation.
There was a long pause before the kid spoke, “I wouldn’t mind getting away from the weird smiley bitch.. plus you seem nice and to know what you’re doing so sure. Poison me bitch.” He said the last sentence with an enthusiasm Wilbur wasn’t expecting. He took a moment to rethink his plan, which was interrupted by a knock at the door.
“Dream says you better have advanced in your stupid testing. Otherwise he’s gonna kick you off the ship at the next stop.” Stated the rather rude blazeling, Sapnap. The blazeling never liked Wilbur and made a point to argue against any advancements at meals. That led to Dream installing a new system of emails and Wilbur eating meals alone.
“Yea yea, it’s going!” He yelled through the metal door.
“Better be.” The blazeling snapped before making a non quiet track back to his quarters.
“Stupid blazeling.” Wilbur grumbled as he sorted through vials and picked up new needles and measured out the substances. “We are going to start with the anesthetic then move onto the poison.” He softly addressed Tommy.
Wilbur swiftly disinfected Tommy’s shoulder and gave the needle. He then gave the second needle. Immediately Tommy slumped over. Wilbur swiftly took off Tommy’s restraints and moved him on to the patient bed in the back corner of the room. After the transfer was done he clipped the body restraints around Tommy and waited for the alert signaling landing.
After about five minutes the light next to the door turned blue. He moved over to his seat and clipped on the safety belts. The light turned green and the ship shook momentarily before a thud could be felt. Quickly as Wilbur could, he emptied the needles into the waste bin and waited for his soon-to-be-ex-boss to arrive.
Dream stepped through the door and glanced around the room before heading to Wilbur for his report.
“Report.” The dreamon commanded.
“The subject's body would have gone through a painfully slow death and have multiple organ failures if I did not intervene. The chemical mixes used created a conflict in the patient’s body which resulted in the patient falling into exhaustion as they recovered.” He responded in a monotone tone. Dream looked over Tommy. He flinched back in disgust as Tommy grunted in his sleep.
“Is that all?” The dreamon questioned.
“No.” Wilbur swallowed down his panic, “This is the last testing I will be doing with this crew.” The dreamon scoffed.
“I am assuming you’re getting off at this planet?” Dream spit. Wilbur knew he absolutely hated when people left his crew as he saw it as a direct violation of his loyalty.
“Yes.” The phantom stated, keeping his even tone apparent. With that Dream stormed out cursing in Siestian. Somewhere in the mess of words he told Wilbur to get his things.
Without hesitation he grabbed his bag from his quarters, which was held in a small room that branches off the lab. He half sprinted down the short hallway and straight to the bed Tommy was on. He swiftly unrestrained the human and sat him up. He slipped on boots and gloves then tied a cloak around the kid. He pulled the hood up and carried him off of the closest exit. There were faint yells from Dream down the hallway and reassurances from the only two beings that put up with him. And with that Wilbur was off to find the only craft he had ever called home. The SBI ship.
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Chapter 2- End
Words~ 1774
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End Notes: ‘‘twas to lazy to reread... sorry for minor mistakes. Also suggestions are always appreciated!! Please reblog...
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Chapter 3:
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Wilbur:
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Text
Turned - Dewdrop Ghoul (Ghost)
I had a thought...what if when Ghoul bites a human, they turn into a Ghoul like a vampire? Lmao, I am sleep deprived😅
Also, I suck at giving titles to my work ughhhh sorry
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You were born into the ministry, being the child of a Clergy member, so you grew up around the Ghouls.
Still being a child, you loved playing with the Ghouls. You always played a little rough for most human children to handle, so it was like a match made in Hell when you met the Ghouls.
At first, your parents were more than a little hesitant to let you play with the Ghoul children. But when they saw how happy you were with them, they started to chill out about it.
The little Ghouls adored you, not really having much interaction with creatures outside their own kind. They always thought of humans as fragile and soft, but they were pleasantly surprised when they met you.
Compared to how the Ghouls played with each other, you were a bit mild, but they didn’t mind. Although, they were still told to keep their sharp claws retracted and their teeth off of you while you played. Though, sometimes they’d headbutt you, thankfully their horns hadn’t grown in just yet.
You loved all the Ghouls, but surprisingly, Dewdrop was your favorite to play with. You liked how he wasn’t really afraid to accidentally hurt you. There have many moments when some Clergy members were biting their nails nervously watching how rough you both played, afraid that the fire Ghoul would be too rough and seriously hurt you. 
You remembered one of Dew’s fellow Ghouls saying, “Oh man, there’s two of them.” Or something like that.
But he had never hurt you. Until today.
You and the Ghouls were play fighting as you guys usually did on the private playground of the abbey. All the Ghouls except Dewdrop had enough, starting to get a bit tired. But Dew seemed to have infinite stamina, which you appreciated since you were the same way.
Eventually, the Ghouls went inside the building, leaving you two outside being supervised by a couple Sisters of Sin. They weren’t doing a very good job though, as you and Dewdrop decided to sneak away from the Sisters.
You both giggled triumphantly as you rounded the corner of one of the halls of the ministry, both overjoyed that you were successful in avoiding the unwanted adult supervision.
You and Dewdrop tried to stifle your giggles as you heard the stomping footsteps of the Sisters trying to look to you both. “Those two are little menaces.” You heard, almost causing you to chortle but was stopped when Dew quickly placed his hand over your mouth.
As soon as you saw that the coast was clear, you decided to playfully bite Dew’s hand, causing him to mewl in pain. “Ow!” He whined.
You rolled your eyes. “Don’t be such a baby!” You teased, not knowing that you did actually bite too hard.
Dewdrop got angry really quick and started growling at you, showing his sharp teeth. “I’m gonna kill you!” He shouted, causing you to flinch.
Being a child, you didn’t really have a sense for danger and decided to goad him on. “Oh, really? Well, you’ll have to catch me first!” You giggled, starting to race down the empty halls.
Dewdrop immediately started chasing after you, his anger growing more fierce with every smug smirk you threw his way. Still, you were unaware he was actually mad. You just thought it was another game you two were playing.
As the seconds passed and sneaking some looks over your shoulder, you started to realize it wasn’t just a game. Dewdrop looked pissed. Seeing how his claws were out and his fangs peeking out through his little mask, you started to feel the panic set in.
You quickened your pace, not wanting to find out if your friend really wanted to kill you. He wouldn’t...right?
And in horror movie fashion, you managed to trip over your own feet and almost face-planted into the pristine marble flooring of the hallway. 
You didn’t even have time to turn around before you felt Dew’s smaller body crash on top of you, wrestling you into a position where you couldn’t move or fight back.
You heard a clinking sound and you looked to the side to see Dewdrop’s mask was discarded on the floor, and you feared the worst.
You heard Dew growl before you felt a sharp, stinging pain in your shoulder. Again, being a child, you thought you were dying and let out a loud scream that echoed through the halls. So loud in fact, you let almost everyone in the building know exactly where you were.
After what felt like forever to you, the fresh stinging pain went away and you felt your friend get off of you. You slowly sat up, still in pain.
You looked up to see Dewdrop towering over you, his mask neatly placed back over his face. You noticed the visible part of his face, his chin, was coated in a red liquid. You furrowed your brows, innocently asking yourself when did he have time to eat red jello?
Looking to where your aching pain was, you finally realized you were bleeding and that the red liquid that was dripping off of Dew’s chin was blood.
“You bit me?!” You shouted.
Dewdrop’s mouth curled into a wicked grin, showing off his now blood coated fangs. “Now you know how it feels.” He said spitefully, wiping some blood off with the back of his hand.
Both you and Dew jumped when you heard loud gasps, him turned around and you slightly leaning to the side to see past. 
It was the Sisters that were assigned to watch you, your mother, and Sister Imperator. Uh oh...
You were immediately taken to the infirmary by Sister with your worried mother by your side. Your wound really didn’t hurt that much when you arrived there, but you liked the attention that you received from the doctor and nurses.
In the end, you had to have a few stitches for the particularly deep teeth marks but other than that you were going to be fine. That’s what they assumed anyway.
You and your mother were about to exit the building until you heard your name being called out. You turned to see Dewdrop walking towards you, Sister Imperator keeping a firm hand on the back of the fire Ghoul’s neck. He was obviously not comfortable. 
Your mother quickly pushed you behind her, ready to protect you from the Ghoul.
“Someone wants to apologize.” Sister said, glaring down at the small Ghoul. “Dew.”
Dewdrop’s ears were pushed back and his tail was thrashing back and forth, but he stepped forward and sighed. “...I’m sorry I bit you.” He mumbled.
“Speak clearly.” Sister’s authoritative voice boomed.
Dewdrop flinched. “I’m sorry I bit you, Y/N.”
You giggled, making Dew’s eyes light up hopefully. “It’s okay. I forgive you. I’m that I bit you too.”
After that, you were taken home to get some well needed rest.
Trying to get comfortable with your shoulder wound was difficult since you usually laid on your side when you slept, and you also started to feel unusually finicky as the sun went down. Your mom just wrote it off as the adrenaline from getting hurt that day, but you still worried about how you felt.
By the time midnight rolled around, it was way past your bedtime, you still felt strange. Your heart was racing and you felt your wound itch severely, but you weren’t able to scratch it due to the heavy bandage covering it.
You thought about removing the bandage, but didn’t want to be yelled at. But it was so itchy. Suddenly, your eyes started it itch too.
You got up out of bed with a huff and went into your bathroom. Turning on the light burned your eyes. It was normal for your eyes to burn when you turned on lights after being in the dark for so long, but you felt that it was worse than usual. It felt like your eyes were more sensitive than normal.
You wanted to remove your bandage just to see how it looked, but you saw something else when you looked in the mirror.
You gasped, noticing your eyes weren’t their natural color. One of your eyes were almost a bright yellow color, and the other eye was slowly turning the same. Slowly devouring up the normal color of your iris.
You didn’t know what to do, so you screamed for your mom.
Your mom quickly ran into your bathroom, fearing that you were hurt. But she immediately noticed your almost multicolored eyes. Those were not the eyes of the child she had raised for eight years.
She quickly saw that you were crying, you were scared. You didn’t know what was happening to you.
Suddenly, you felt a horrible pain in your mouth and yelped. Your mother screamed and you followed her gaze to the floor, where you saw teeth. Your teeth.
You reached up to your mouth to feel for your teeth, not believing that you had actually lost them. But you pulled away when you felt your fingers sting, they were cut.
You looked back into the mirror to see that your previous teeth were pushed out by new sharp teeth, a couple being fangs. “Mommy, what’s happening to me?!”
Your parents did what the only thing they thought they could do. They put you in the backseat of their car and started driving to the abbey.
On the way, you started crying again. The pain from your mouth ending, only to be replaced by what felt like a migraine on two sides of your head.
Your mother was sat on the passenger’s side, looking back at you from time to time with tears in her eyes. She almost let out a sob when she saw two stubby bone-like growths coming out of your head.
Your father didn’t even have time to park before your mom brought you inside the building, immediately shouting for help.
Sister Imperator came out in a robe with a scowl on her face, but once she saw you and your parents, her face contorted into a worried gaze. “What happened?” She asked.
“She just started losing teeth and her eyes changed colors! And now she’s growing horns!” Your mother cried.
All the commotion caught the attention of the Ghouls, the loud noises waking them up due to their sensitive hearing. They all gathered and peeked around the corner, curiously looking at each other. They all started pushing each other to try and see what was happening, ultimately falling on top of each other and catching the attention of Sister.
“You all are supposed to be in bed!” Sister Imperator scolded.
“Y/N?” Dewdrop said. “What are you doing here?” He asked, completely ignoring Sister.
“Keep that thing away from my child! He did this to them!” Your mother yelled, making Dewdrop turn his head in confusion.
“Now, now. Everyone calm down.” A heavy Italian accented voice echoed the room. Sister Imperator sighed when she saw Papa Nihil come into the room, oxygen tank trailing behind him. “I’ll take it from here, Sister.”
The old man led you and your parents into his office, pulling out a huge dusty book from a shelf. “Can you explain what’s going on, Papa?” Your father asked.
“I believe I can.” Papa Nihil said as he opened the book, dust flying everywhere as he turned the pages. “I’ve read about this before, hearing rumors of this sort of thing.”
Your parents motioned him to continue.
“It’s only really been recorded once in this book, but according to this section here,” Papa placed a shaky finger on a passage of the page, “it says that if a Ghoul bites a human, they have a five percent possibility of turning into a Ghoul themselves.”
“Five percent?!” Your father laughed. “Then how come my child is turning into one of those creatures?”
“Lower your voice. I know you’re upset, but this was an accident. We train our Ghouls from birth to never bite without cause.”
“Well, now, because of your Ghoul, our child will never life a normal life!”
You started to cry, not because you truly understood what that meant, but because you never liked when your parents raised their voice.
“This is not the time for raised voices. Think of the child.” Papa’s voice softened.
After some more grown up talk, your parents and Papa Nihil decided that you were to live at the abbey for now. They had no idea what the change from human to ghoul would be like, so they’d rather be safe than sorry.
At first, you really didn’t want to leave your home. But your parents convinced you that it was for the best, and you trusted your parents. You also liked the idea of being able to hang around the Ghouls more.
You spent the next morning packing your things, getting ready to live in the abbey from now on, until they decided you were safe. Your mother cried as you packed, which made you sad. But you tried to be strong for her.
A Sister of Sin and Papa Nihil escorted you out of your house and to the abbey, Papa trying to get you excited to be living there. You always liked Papa, he was a funny old man.
All the Ghouls, Papas, Sisters of Sin, and Sister Imperator greeted you at the front gate of the building. They tried to make you feel as welcome as possible to help you transition into Clergy life.
Dewdrop seemed especially excited, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He was nervous to see you, not entirely sure if you turning into a Ghoul was his fault. He didn’t want you to hate him.
Upon seeing you, Dew quickly noticed your eyes. They were almost like his, but one of your eyes hadn’t fully changed colors. And your horns were coming in slowly, just like the rest of the Ghouls. But what really intrigued Dewdrop was your scent. He no idea why you smelled so good to him, it almost made him gravitate toward you immediately. But he was forced to stay in line with his fellow Ghouls.
For you, it was a bit weird seeing Dew again. You were still kind of scared that he’d bite you again, you also were starting to feel things that weren’t familiar to you either. It scared you.
But seeing Dewdrop’s warm smile made you feel hopeful for the future.
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I am so tired lol. I kinda feel like if a ghoul turns someone into another ghoul, they’d have like a type of sire bond. Like in vampire diaries only they wouldn’t be under the original ghoul’s control, but like in a romantic way they’d be bonded. But hey, that’s just a theory. A fiiiiiiilm theory...sorry.
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