#could I be writing new Frozen fanfic chapters at last?

[renegadewangs]

[succubitxch]

Wreak Havoc - The boys fic

---------------------------------------------------- TW: Mentions of blood, Ilustration can be disturbing to some, contains blood in the background.

This is just a snipped of the part of the chapter that inspired my first illustration for my 'The boys' fic. This is an Butcher x Oc and Frenchie x Oc. English is not my first language, so there could be grammar mistakes.

Murder Party - 1

' Butcher swallowed dryly, leading down the aisle to the only door that had a dim light coming out of the little window space. Room 02. If Frenchie was right, that was her. The beeping of the card made the red light of the door turn to green, opening it with a slow push, his body stiffening, staring inside warily. M.M stayed out with Hughie, that seemed on edge, both observing the insides.   The room was white, all padded on the inside, no window or opening other than the bars into the door where the humming was echoing thought. A cushion was on the floor, ripped and with blood stains; with no covers, no pillows, thin as paper. It really looked like something took directly off an asylum.    In the center of the room, under the dim light, a feminine figure was on the ground, her covered knees on the floor. She stretched her back, a straitjacket squeezing her arms glued to her torso, making her whole body stiff. Her head was bent back, the long blond hair with a washed out pink tone on the ends touching the floor. Her eyes were closed, the soft humming suddenly stopped, the pale lips pressed together.  “I don’t reckon any of you…” Her weak voice barely scraped through the silence, sing-song yet sharp enough to cut, “New guards? Seeking a bit of fun?” Her lips twisted into a wide grin as her eyes flicked open, locking onto them with an unsettling intensity. “Fair warning: I bite. And not the fun kind, either.”

That probably explained some of the blood stains on the floor. The girl was nuts and probably dangerous. Was she really Daniel's daughter? For the names she had written on the walls, yes.   “We ain’t guards, luv’…” Butcher took a step ahead, his thick British accent appearing between his rough voice, still unsure of what he was dealing with.     And the more that he stepped inside, the more he could see the padded walls from the dim light. There were multiple drawings made of markers, butterflies, a fake window, and days counted in sticks on the walls next to the cushion. Until they weren’t.   Older and new stains of dark red started to mark the walls, scribbles of writing, like a storm had passed there, while getting darker and more confusing. Butcher tried to keep his poker face, even if a cold shiver ran through his entire body, making the hair on the back of his neck raise. That was fucked up.   She hummed in agreement, her back rolling to the normal position like a flower blooming, stretching out her spine as she got into her bare feet, the cracking noises from her joints echoing through the room. Some strands of the messy blonde falling over the thin face, but the blue spheres studied each one of them from head to toe, icy, like she was frozen in time.  “Doc said Yoga relaxed the anxiety, but trying without any hands is… messy. Are you real? The ones I saw last week weren’t.” The blonde mumbled, stepping closer to them carefully, eyes wide as if she was expecting them to disappear in any second. '

I have the fanfic in AO3, but will post it in here soon, still trying to tidy up all my socials <3

[monk-of-figaro]

Last Line Challenge

I was blown away that @moogleterra tagged me for this!

Rules - In a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or however many as you like.)

Here's a recent line for the Sabin fanfic I've been working on:

Bracing himself for the attack, his eyes met hers and silently begged for a flicker of recognition or humanity.

Titillating! Who is attacking Sabin? Why don't they seem to recognize him? What happens if the attack lands? Will this line survive my next round of brutal edits? Are my edits actually brutal? Can one claim to use brutal edits if the story has ballooned into this many words and chapters?

Only by the grace of the Triad will we get answers!

I'm going to tag some people who have written FF6 fanfics that I really loved. This is more of a, Hey, you have no idea who I am but I loved that FF6 story you wrote and I have written (or will write) a post about the specific story and what I loved about it!, and less of a, Hey, I'm a total stranger who is roping you into something you may not want to participate in and if you don't block me I'll spam you constantly with things!

Also, in tracking down some of these Tumblr accounts, I'm pleased to see that literally everyone in this list seems to be genuinely awesome, FF6 fandom aside.

Tagging: @azurefishnets, @white-aster, @chacusha, @corpsebrigadier, @flunnebunne (who I just learned is also a Slayers fan and now I risk going down another obsessive fandom rabbit hole), @frozen-fountain, @ladylaguna, @siverwrites, @laughingpinecone, @artandsomethingcreated, and @wsancho (who hasn't written anything as far as I'm aware but probably could and should)

[humanitys-strongest-bamf]

happy new year kat! ✨ I'm here to ask you some fun questions from the writer goal ask list ☺️

💖 What is your primary writing goal for this year?

🥸 Does anyone in IRL know you write fanfic or original fiction? If not, do you plan on telling anyone this year?

💥Is there a chapter, scene, or WIP you're most excited to write? Share a snippet or tell us about it!

hello!! happy new year!! :3 i hope you're having a good holiday 🥰

send me some writer asks!

💖 what is your primary writing goal for this year?

probably to write and publish this mafia fic! i have some key scenes plotted/written out so hopefully i can actually churn out this fic at some point in time i do have a few other WIPs but i'm hesitant to set a goal for those until i get this mafia fic done uwu

🥸 does anyone in irl know you write fanfic or original fiction? if not, do you plan on telling anyone this year?

yea i'm pretty open about it LMAO i used to not be, and then i kinda realized that if they're gonna be judgey about it, i dont really want them in my life, and just got sick of keeping up a facade for irls. not everyone knows that i write smut tho lololol

💥is there a chapter, scene, or wip you're most excited to write? share a snippet or tell us about it!

*digs thru mafia fic to find something that doesn't give away spoilers* here's a lil scene that made me 💦 while writing it

“Care to explain yourself?” Levi finally broke the silence as he frowned at you. In truth, he knew why you were there and who you worked for, but he wanted to hear it from you. Although he knew that the information that Eld had dug up on you was undoubtedly true, there was a small part of him that hoped for a simpler explanation. “Explain what?” you scolded, looking directly into his silvery eyes. “I think you’re the one that needs to do the explaining. Why the hell are you chasing me around?” “Why the hell did you feel the need to run?” he retorted. You fell silent, knowing that Levi had a point. You didn’t have a good way to explain why you had to run without revealing the truth. You were trying to leave the vicinity after sneaking the toxin into Dimo’s drink. You could have simply told Levi that you had to leave, but the fact that you broke out into a sprint to get away from him meant that you were purposefully trying to get away. Levi was clouding your judgment. On any other day, you’d talk your way out of the situation, only resorting to running in life or death situations.  He scoffed upon seeing that you couldn’t come up with a good response, taking a step back before leaning forward towards you again. You shivered as you felt his lips brush up against your ear. “I know you poisoned Dimo Reeves’ drink,” he whispered into your ear and you felt your blood run cold upon realizing that he knew what you were there for all along. “Needless to say, your little assassination attempt didn’t go as planned.” You opened your mouth with your mind going at a million miles an hour to try to come up with a way to deny his accusations, although they were undoubtedly true. “You’re from [reader's organization that I don't have a name for yet], aren’t you?” he asked without giving you a chance to respond.  You were frozen in shock as you listened to Levi list off your first and last name and your position as an assassin for [reader's organization]. “Don’t ask me how I know,” he mumbled before stepping back so that he could look into your eyes directly again, “but I do.” You were much too aware of how he felt against you right now. That, plus the anxiety creeping into your body from realizing that he knew who you were all along, made it next to impossible for you to think.

spoiler alert, the next chapter opens up with him interrogating you by eating you out and not letting you finish until you confess (✿◡‿◡)

[lelitachay]

Hi It's me! For the fanfic thing I choose 7 & 25

Hi! Thanks for the ask!

7. How many ideas: I'd say I have 3 ideas lurking around.

- Søsken, of course. It doesn't leave my head lol. I also have a post Søsken idea but I guess that could be considered a different fic since it's a "what happens after" kind of fic. I'd like to give Elsa the opportunity to take her demons to court and find justice for the things that happened to her.

- "Tree of Life" the canon Frozen story I was talking about in the previous ask.

- "Alliances" it's a fic I started here on Tumblr I think I posted two chapters but to be honest I never developed the story deeply. At this point I don't think I'd continue it, at least not until I know what happens in Frozen 3 and 4.

25. Have I ever upset myself: Mmm, interesting question. I've got to be honest, something really upsetting happened in real life that made writing a few chapters quite difficult. I planned out and started writing about Elsa suffering sepsis over a year ago. Around that time one of my friends got terrible news about the health of her son. Last January, after months of treatment, when the family finally thought he was going to make it, he got infected with a bacteria inside the hospital. Three days after finding out about the bacteria, the infection got into his bloodstream and spread. Sadly, he was young and weak, so he couldn't make it. It was a tremendous shock to all of us and we had a difficult time coping. Writing about Elsa suffering sepsis after Toto was gone felt like I was mocking myself. I had a difficult time finding the will to sit down and write. Until one morning I realised I could give Elsa the happy ending Toto couldn't have and I think that helped. Sitting down and write helped me cope in a way and turned out to be therapeutic. I still think it was one of the hardest coincidences I have ever experienced. So, to your question, the original idea I had wouldn't have affected me so bad if life hadn't thrown me in the same scenario a few months after coming up with the idea.

My friend is doing a lot better now, but we are still trying to find ways to help her. It's strange to think we have no say in how life goes sometimes.

[graciousdragon]

The time I wrote gay fanfiction for an English project and got an A

I saw a video earlier today that reminded me of something that happened to me a few years ago, and I figured now was as good a time as any to share it. I know this is the fake story website but please trust me when I say that this is an entirely true story. This title is also 100% accurate, surprisingly, so let me elaborate

This happened when I was in 8th grade, which for context was about 4 years ago when I’m writing this. One of the books we were assigned to read in my English class that year was The Call of the Wild by Jack London. For a brief summary if you weren’t forced to read it (or you were and you forgot what it was about, which is understandable), the book is about this Saint Bernard named Buck who lives a cushy life with his wealthy owner until he is kidnapped and sold off to be a sled dog during the gold rush, where he learns to obey the humans and follow his primal instincts, eventually becoming the leader of the sled dog pack and then becoming fully wild. From what I remember, our class was assigned three projects pertaining to the book; one somewhere in the middle of the book where we had to design a poster for the fight between Buck and Spitz, one at the very end that was just your standard essay about the theme of the book or something like that, and one in-between those that I will be talking about here.

The Call of the Wild is a relatively short book at only 7 chapters. Leading up to this project, we read through every chapter except for the last one. Instead of reading the last chapter right away, we were given a project where we all had to individually write our own conclusion to the book without reading the actual last chapter. I was mildly peeved, because I just wanted to finish the book, but I figured it might be fun. If i remember correctly, there weren’t really any restrictions for what we could or couldn’t do, aside from it obviously needing to be a continuation of the book using the same characters. In the document we were given that explained the project there were some suggestions for things we could include in our chapter, one of which was bringing back previous characters who had died. My favorite character in the book was Sol-leks, a husky on Buck’s sled team with only one eye, and he got killed at the end of chapter 5 when his new incompetent owners lead him over frozen water that breaks under them and causes them to drown. I decided to bring back Sol-leks for my chapter.

Now is where that title comes in. I truly wish I could go back to my 8th grade self and figure out what the hell caused me to take this route with my chapter, because on reflection I cannot figure it out. For whatever reason, likely just for shits and giggles, I decided it would be fun to imply romantic feelings between Buck and Sol-leks. That’s right everyone, in 8th grade I wrote a gay romance subplot between two of the dogs in The Call of the Wild for a graded English assignment. It wasn’t a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it thing either, I had an entire paragraph in there dedicated to how the two spent a lot of time together and got to know each other well and had a special bond that I flat-out said was more than friendship. And I submitted it like that. Where I live, its kind of a roulette of guessing whether someone is homophobic or not, so I wasn’t sure if I might get in trouble for my gay dog story, but I knew if any teacher or faculty member tried to give me shit for it then I would 100% be going to bat for my little Buck x Sol-leks fanfic. Fortunately, I never got in any trouble, and my teacher gave me an A. (if i remember correctly it was a 96 or 97% out of 100) I believe the teacher may have also left comments on it when she graded it, but I don’t remember what they were if there were any. Which leads me to the sad part of this story.

I can’t find the original writing.

I don’t have it saved anywhere, and my school email account I wrote it with is long gone now. Even when I still had access to it, for some reason I was unable to find it in my Google Drive. I couldn’t even find the instruction document or the grading rubric. Not having access to this writing piece is truly one of the worst regrets of my life. I would give almost anything to have it back. I’m genuinely sad I don’t have it anymore. Fortunately, I still remember how it went, so I’ll give you all an abridged version of it here.

For context, in the chapter before this, Buck’s new owner John Thornton had made a bet with a man named Matthewson in a bar that Buck could pull a 1,000 pound sled for 100 yards. Buck succeeded and Thornton won the bet, but Matthewson offered a large sum to buy Buck that Thornton refused.

My chapter began with Buck, Thornton, and Thornton’s other dogs traveling through a wooded area when Buck heard a familiar whimpering. Buck followed the sound to find Sol-leks, cold and alone in the forest. My explanation for how he survived was that he was able to get out of the water and got lost in the woods. Thornton took Sol-leks in to nurse him back to health like he had with Buck, noticing that Sol-leks was one of the other dogs on Buck’s team when Thornton first found him. Over this time when Sol-leks was recovering he and Buck became very close, which is where that previously mentioned paragraph insinuating that they were falling in love comes in. When Sol-leks was healthy again, he joined Thornton’s sled dog team and they continued traveling. However, one night while they were camped outside, Matthewson tracked them down and, still bitter about losing the bet and not being able to buy Buck, planned to steal Buck instead. Buck was captured by Matthewson, but before he could get away, Sol-leks realized he was there trying to steal Buck and attacked him. Buck got free and watched for a moment, thankful that Sol-leks cared so much for him that he would put himself in harm’s way to save him, before Buck joined in on the fight. I don’t remember if they killed Matthewson or just drove him away, but they were able to continue their journey together.

And that’s how it ended. For the most part this story really only exists in my memories, but there are fortunately two things to prove this thing was real and not just a weird fever dream I had that got confused with reality. First is the memories from my friends who also went to middle school with me and remember doing the project themselves. The other one is this page in my sketchbook from 8th grade, in which I drew my own designs of Buck and Sol-leks. The drawing on the bottom was directly based on a scene in my story.

(For some reason its not letting me put the picture in this post, I’m going to post this as-is and reblog it with the picture)

Will I ever revisit this idea again? Maybe. If I have the time someday and the urge strikes me I won’t rule out the potential of me doing something with it. Do I think Buck x Sol-leks is a good ship? I don’t know. I haven’t read the original book in years, so maybe if I went back and read it with fresh eyes I would think differently. Sorry if there are any die-hard The Call of the Wild fans out there who were just scarred by my potentially horrid misinterpretations of these characters.

Also, the song I associated with the ship was The Sharpest Lives by My Chemical Romance.

[oven-thermometer]

Camp Ningyo Chapter 5

a/n: omg heyyyyy guys apologies my life fell apart after uploading my last chapter but i wanted to start writing my shitty gay fanfic again sooooo. This chapter is rlly short just to get me into the swing of things again but I swear ill try my best to write some more soon :)

warnings: none

w/c: 1.1k

Read on ao3 instead

Masterlist

Right after the strange human boy ran off, he was amused. After one day he was annoyed. After three, he was concerned. Overthinking fueled his anxiety as every possible horrible outcome flooded his mind. Had he told someone? Although the siren was confident he wouldn’t do something like that. Was he maybe in trouble? But surely he had weighed the risks of sneaking off every day and would’ve come to see him. Did he scare him off? That last question gave him pause. With all his might he couldn’t come up with a reason why it wouldn’t be true. He didn’t know the first thing about what humans considered frightening, and he didn’t pretend to. All he knew was how to trap their idiotic little minds in cages of songs and madness. 

But after seeing the human boy’s face again as the siren sat silently on that plush surface, all of those odd worries melted away. He couldn’t explain it, but this boy brought the most perplexing sense of calm over him – one that made his guard fall even after years of careful cultivation of anxiety and dread.

Kirishima’s throat felt dry. His eye’s widened in disbelief. Thoughts rushed in his head a million miles a minute but none of them ever made their way to the surface. He could only stand, frozen. No explanation for why the siren he had befriended was sitting on his bed with way too many legs and way too few scales.

Ashido, with perfect timing as always, stretched her arms and smiled, “He’s really cute, I’m surprised you didn’t tell us about him earlier.”

The afore mentioned boy remained silent, although his eyebrow twitched upwards in annoyance at this pink haired girl’s comment. Were these really his friends? He sighed and crossed his arms, only then meeting the redhead’s eyes.  A crimson blush took over Kirishima’s face. He swallowed, and quietly asked the others for a moment alone with the new visitor. 

“So, are you gonna say anything to me? Why are you here?” Kirishima sat on the bed next to him. The scratchy surface of Kirishima’s blanket made the siren shift uncomfortably, but he remained silent. Another sigh heaved it’s way out of Kirishima, “Can you even speak?” 

The words left his mouth before he could stop them – he immediately wanted to rip them from the air because of their harshness. He never expected the boy to talk, but he did feel he deserved some answers. He spoke again quickly, “Sorry, I-“

“Hurts..to speak…” a tiny voice seemed to crawl on it’s knees out of the other boys mouth. It was scratchy and deep, but it was there. 

Kirishima only nodded after a few moments – not in understanding, because how could he, but in silent pity. His mind was still struggling to wrap around all of this. How was he even going to broach the subject? Why was the siren sitting here exactly, looking all too human?

“Thought something…happened…”, Kirishima jumped slightly at his words – did he say all that out loud?  He swallowed the lump sitting stubbornly in his throat. 

“You thought something happened to me? Why?” The boy shifted again. Why was the feeling of this damn blanket so annoying to him?  “You…ran off. Didn’t come…back.. got worried.” he coughed slightly, obviously still straining to continue speaking. 

Kirishima hung his head in mock shame. He knew he’d have to face this eventually, but he thought it would be on his own terms at least. He chuckled softly to himself at that. He really was pathetic.  When he raised his head to look at the boy next to him, he found the perfect vermillion eyes staring back at him. He swallowed again.

“I’m gonna be honest with you. I don’t really know why I ran off myself. I’m, sorry.”, the words stung the inside of his mouth. He hated lying. He knew exactly why he ran away. He was a coward for not telling him, and he curled in on himsel-

“Did I scare…you?”, his voice was so unsure. He could feel the uncertainty titter-totering around behind those words. Uncertainty if he should even be asking that question.

But Kirishima was quick to reassure him, “No no!” he laughed, “Um, no. If anything I know it wasn’t because I was scared of you.”

Those vermillion eyes and sculpted features stared at him with a frown and one brow raised – clearly not believing him. 

“I’m serious! If I was scared of you, would I have agreed to be in here with you, alone?”, he smiled. And the boy almost did too – almost. He quickly regained control of his features and finally drew his eyes to the floor again.

A loud bang on the door interrupted the silence that promptly fell. The old wooden door moaned under the strain of the forceful knocks and Kirishima rushed to open it. As soon as he did, Kaminari’s worried face greeted him.

“Dude! You have to get him out of here, Miss Mitsuki is coming!”, Kaminari whisper-shouted. Cold panic slid down Kirishima’s spine. “What? Why!?” Kirishima sub-consciously closed the door a little – attempting to hide the teenager still sitting on the bed behind him. “I don’t know dude, she just said she wanted to talk to you in the bunk room! We managed to stall her telling her you were getting dressed but she’ll be back any second!”

The hushed panic piqued the siren’s interest. He stood from the bed silently, his legs wobbling. He leaned his head over Kirishima’s shoulder to hear better but as soon as the redhead noticed, he spoke quickly to the boy on the other side of the door and shut it just as quickly. Annoyance pricked the back of the siren’s neck. What were they hiding? He didn’t like this anymore.

Kirishima turned to face him, using his hands to push him over to the nearby window. It looked out over the surrounding forest and was covered only by a tired, white curtain. Kirishima’s eyes went wide as the siren stopped him and adorned a look that could kill – and probably has.

Kirishima held onto the boy’s shoulders and stared into his eyes. He spoke quietly, “Listen, if you don’t climb out of this window and leave right now someone is going to see you. We won’t be able to lie that you’re in our class or that you’re from around here. She knows everyone so she wouldn’t believe us.”

The blond boy swallowed a lump in his own throat. His frown deepened.

“I will come find you again, I promise…But you need to go.” Kirishima’s words seeped with concern laced with rushed panic. 

The siren tsked, anger rising from him like hot air as he clumsily clambered out of the window. He mumbled to himself, curses strung along as he made his way through the dense forest. He didn’t turn around to see Kirishima’s relieved sigh, or how he looked after him to make sure he was safe. Dammit.

[sakascal]

Thank you for the tag @bl0ndwave. I hope you'll find this interesting. I doubt I can find 10 people to tag who haven't been tagged yet, but I can at least attempt to answer the questions.

Last song: At the time of starting this (I'm listening to some kind of music most of the time, the style varies) Providence by Poor Man's Poison

Favourite colour: I have a huge issue declaring my favourite anything. But my go-to colours are: purple, deep blue and deep red, silver and black.

Last book: I always have multiple things I am reading. I just finished Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake as an audiobook and started A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske. I have a three, no four longer fanfics I'm reading currently and there are a number of shorter ones I finish in between, on top of the ones I'm reading beta-reading (and what I write myself). Let's see if I can make an entirely incomplete list 😆

Sugar And Spice by ladydragona, SylWritesStuff

Light in the Darkness by ArtisticRising

Anatomy 101 by gingerhaole

Season's Greetings from Tadfield by Dragonfire42

recently read: Tomfoolery and other ways to say It by DoonaRose

almost finished the podfic of Old Vines written by sevdrag read by Literarion

(Entirely incomplete as I've said, doesn't include any of the stuff I'm beta-reading, my own WIPs or 99% of the shorter fics and I really have no clue what I read last... probably my own WIP because I was working on it earlier)

Last movie: Last new (to me) movies were Ghostbusters - Frozen Empire and A Quiet Place (I have kids! We finally managed to carve out some time to watch those over Christmas!) and last weekend we watch Lord of the Rings with our daughter (proper geek parenting 😁).

Last TV show: Started episode 8 of Arcane season 2 with hubby earlier (couldn't finish it, though) and I am still catching up on Doctor Who, last saw season 13, episode 2.

Sweet/spicy/savoury: (not sure what this is referring to but) all of the above?

Last thing I searched online: I think I was last searching for issues people might be having with reloading lead into the Kuru Toga mechanical pencil my daughter has (one that auto-rotates the lead) because it just wouldn't pull in the new lead... I hate it when the easy stuff that you shouldn't be able to do wrong doesn't work for some reason. Still haven't figured out what the problem is and am trying to find ways to solve it.

Current obsession: Good Omens. There I did it, one short answer in the whole thing! 😂

Looking forward to: Posting two of the fics I've been working on for some time. One is quite long and will be posted (all at once as per the rules of the Big Small Bang) in February, at least if the deadline stays this time.  😄 And the other one (four chapters) is only waiting for the last read through of the last chapter by my lovely beta readers and will start posting on the.... 17th I think. I'm not sure. I should probably check. Yes, January 17th 😄 (for the GO Reference Library Discord Server Gift Exchange).

I guess, I'll break the tag-chain because most people I can think of have already been tagged. Anyone who reads this and wants to do it, please go ahead. If you could make sure I see it (by making Tumblr notify me for example) that'd be great.  😊 

Ten people i’d like to know better

Thanks for the tag @hermiola

last song: one of the songs I loved most lately is 'In The Modern World' by Fontaines D.C.

favourite colour: blue

last book: that is not fanfic? 😂 The last book I've read is Persuasion (and yes, it was my first time). I'm currently reading Emma and a very Italian book written by the same awesome author who tagged me for this game (@hermiola 💜)

last movie: I can't tell you the last 'new' movie I watched at the cinema because I'm a bit ashamed (it's a Xmas movie made by two Italian youtubers, but what don't we do for our kids?). Last movie I watched on my couch, though, is Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (and yes, I don't feel fine about it 🤣)

last TV show: I'm watching THERE SHE GOES for the first time and I've just re-watched Around the world in 80 days. I'm also currently re-watching Scrubs and Staged with my husband (his first time, he's loving it 😂). Last 'new' show I've watched and finished is probably Dead Boy Detectives, though. Oh, I'm also currently re-watching Good Omens. Like constantly, always.

sweet/spicy/savoury: savoury

last thing i searched online: holiday vacation destinations for next summer (because the kids, again, you know 😃)

current obsession: Good Omens-Good Omens-Good Omens-Good Omens-Good Omens-Good Omens-Good Omens-Good Omens-Good Omens-Good Omens-Good Omens-Good Omens-Good Omens-Good Omens-Good Omens. Probably, also the whole M+D world (so, Staged too, apparently) 😂

looking forward to: those fu**ing pictures of Michael and David with dyed hair.

ten people i’d like to know better: (no pressure tags 🤩)

@anatomic-girl @ineffablerainstorm @somewhere-in-wales @captainblou @firephoenix2305 @phoen1xr0se @sunrisesinthesuburbs @bellisima-writes @yokohamama @missunderstoodlyrics

[ironstrange1991]

The Point Of No Return (Part 5)

A fanfic slightly inspired by the play The Phantom of the Opera

+18 Smut (just a bit this time) / Angst (a lot)

Pairing: Sinister!Strange x Fem!Reader / Doctor!Strange x Fem!Reader

Synopsis: In the last but one chapter of this series the reader confronts the consequences of her actions driven by blind love and the true face of Sinister Strange is revealed.

Word Count: 4,600k

Warnings: Dark themes! Psychological manipulation, Mentions of injuries and blood, Deception, Stockholm syndrome(?), Sexual content (P in V)

A/N: I had a hard time writing this chapter and I had to convince myself many times not to change the course already laid out for the story, but anyone who knows the original inspiration for this fic knows where this is all going to end up. Hope you like it ;)

No more talk of darkness,

Forget these wide-eyed fears;

I'm here, nothing can harm you,

My words will warm and calm you.

Let me be your freedom,

Let daylight dry your tears;

I'm here, with you, beside you,

To guard you and to guide you.

You walked through the purple magic portal and looked back just in time to see it closing and a second later you were alone in your apartment. You felt confused and a little dizzy, but you were awake and fully aware of everything that had happened.

You took a shower and opted to wear comfortable clothes, and although you knew you needed to contact the police to retrieve your car and documents, in addition to calling work to explain what happened, you had no idea how to do it. How would you explain the fact that you were gone for two days? Not wanting to think about it too much, you decided to spend the day at home, ate a frozen lasagna and threw yourself on the couch leaving the TV on, imitating false company.

Your mind was far, far away. Your now rested body seemed to respond to the thoughts that invaded your mind, the memory of the way Stephen had touched you that night, the way he looked at you, his words, his softness.

You pressed one thigh against the other feeling the heat and wetness between your legs rise. You stared at your left hand hoping that at any moment you could see the purple magic ring that was there, but it didn't. You could only feel it, a bond that bound you to Stephen even though you were in different universes.

You were too far in your own mind to hear the doorbell the first time it rang. The second time you got up lazily and walked to the door opening it and then you were completely paralyzed.

Stephen was surprised to see you safe and sound. He didn't know why exactly he'd tried to look for you there since the police had already said you weren't home, but now he was glad he did. He felt an inexplicable feeling as he looked at you, the memories of the dream he had in the morning making him uncomfortably guilty.

“Hi, I don't know if you know me, I'm...”

“Doctor Stephen Strange” You managed to find your voice, but your heart was beating so fast in your chest that you could hear it pounding in your ears.

“Can I…?” He asked. He wore dark jeans and a gray shirt with a sweater over it. He looked like a completely normal person.

You opened the door wider for him to pass and closed it behind you.

Stephen looked around at your small apartment and he couldn't explain it, but he could feel the same feeling there, the same residue of dark magic that he had felt at the crime scene the day before.

You could never have imagined that someday Doctor Stephen Strange would be in your apartment, but there he was and every feeling you had for him was raging inside your chest with a new feeling that said you shouldn't go near him, that just by talking to him or even by being at the same place as him you were cheating on your Stephen.

“I don't know if you remember, but we saw each other at the record store a few weeks ago.”

He smiles at you, not a smirk, but a wide, beautiful smile.

You nodded “You bought U2's Achtung Baby. It's their best album.”

He looked surprised and amused “Right? Until the end of the world, One, Acrobat…”

You smiled sitting down and asked him to sit down “I'm surprised they still sell CDs these days.”

“Some people have a hard time letting go of the past. Old people I mean, me included.”

You smiled and lowered your head facing your hands, you felt your body acting strangely, that fire again starting to consume you. Whatever magic Stephen had used on you didn't seem to differentiate between the two of them.

Stephen could feel it too, although he didn't know exactly what he was feeling and took it as a result of the lewd and inopportune dream he had with you, he could feel a force pulling him towards you, his body responding to you in all inappropriate ways. He cleared his throat.

“Why are you here?” You asked before he could speak. Your voice seemed to purr at him. You were even more beautiful than he remembered.

“Your car was found abandoned two blocks from your therapist's office, all your belongings were on the floor, there was blood inside the car and two men dead. The chief of police asked for my help when he saw the situation of the bodies. The deaths were not... natural so to speak. As you know, I work...”

“Yes, I know” You interrupted him. “I know who you are and what you do. You and your Avengers friends.”

He shook his head “They're not my friends, I just happen to work with them sometimes.” He clasped his hands in front of his body, you could feel them trembling and involuntarily bit your lower lip remembering what those fingers were able to do to you. You stood up feeling an uncomfortable heat.

“I'm trying to understand what happened. You disappeared on Friday night. The police were here yesterday and they couldn't find you. I imagine you know who or what did that. I need you to tell me.”

You ran your hand over your head touching where the wound was before “I don't remember” You lied.

He narrowed his eyes and you knew he knew you were lying.

“Whatever happened, you can tell me. I don't work for the police, they don't need to know everything. As far as I know the two dead guys weren't exactly good people.”

You nodded, your body shaking, the memory of those men coming back to your mind, their voices, the touch of their hands. “They followed me and attacked me, one of them pushed me I hit my head on the bumper, they threw me in the back seat of my car and that's all I remember.”

Stephen nodded “Can you remember anything that looked... how can I say, unnatural?

You denied staying silent and he shook his head, clearly intrigued and doubting everything you said.

He sighed visibly frustrated, but he smiled politely “May I use your bathroom?”

You nodded in surprise “Of course, it's upstairs on the left.” He smiled at you.

You felt confused, your body worked against you, your legs were weak, your face was hot and you couldn't think. You knew you shouldn't talk about the other Stephen to this Stephen, but you didn't know exactly why. Anyway, all that rationality seemed so unimportant when all you really wanted at that moment was to be fucked by whatever Stephen Strange it was.

Stephen used the moment alone and moved his fingers opening the Eye of Agamotto. He could feel dark magic all over the place, but now he could see it. Like ramifications of a black and dark purple energy. It was all over the place, but mostly in your bedroom. There the energy was very strong and he could see exactly where it was coming from. Your bed.

Whoever or what did that to the two men was after you and Stephen needed to find out why.

He walked down the stairs, surprising himself with the way that magic was entangled into your body. He needed you to speak, but for that he needed to use another approach, this time less subtle.

You were startled when he approached you looking at you with a serious expression as if he saw beyond what you could see.

“Your apartment is filled with dark magic, the same magic I found in the alley where the two individuals were killed. Now I don't know if you're telling the truth or not, but I strongly advise you not to hide anything from me because whatever did that is after you and won't stop until it gets what it wants.”

You swallowed your saliva but didn't respond.

“I can help you” He softened the tone of his voice and looked directly into your eyes 

“Whatever this is, I can keep you safe, but I need you to tell me everything you know.”

He touched your hand sending a streak of electricity through your body, you wondered if he could feel it too.

“I...” You couldn't formulate the words, you felt intoxicated by his presence “I don't know what's going on.”

You approached him, your body seemed to have a mind of its own, your hand touched his face. He held his breath, surprised, but didn't pull away.

 “Can you feel this too?”

Stephen doubted that what he was feeling was just a result of the dream he had about you, in fact he was starting to wonder if the dream was caused by some kind of spell.

“Tell me what's going on. I can help you.”  He asked.

You took his hand and placed it against your chest, he could feel your heart pounding “No you cant”

You threw yourself into his arms and kissed him, your hands moving down his chest.

Stephen returned the kiss, sticking his tongue in your mouth and he could feel his cock extremely hard and all he wanted was to put you on all fours and fuck you like he's never fucked any woman, but his instincts screamed that something was wrong with you and summoning all the willpower he didn't even know he had he grabbed your wrists and pushed you away.

“Stop it!”

You widened your eyes as if you had woken up from some spell and walked away in embarrassment.

“Oh my god, I'm sorry.”

He ran a hand through his hair nervously and only then noticed the thin line of purple magic around your ring finger. He could swear it wasn’t there before.

He grabbed your hand pulling it closer and moved his other hand, golden magic pouring out of his fingers, but just as his magic was about to touch your hand, a beam of purple magic hit him back and he took a step back.

He widened his eyes at you “I've never seen anything like this before.”

You did not answer.

He shook his head “I need to seek answers, ask other sorcerers, I can help you.“

He held your hand. “Come with me to Kamar Taj, you’ll be safe there.”

You sighed pulling your hand “You don't understand, I can't run away from him. I do not want to.”

Stephen raised an eyebrow “Who is he? What is he?”

You closed your eyes trying to hold back the tears.

“[Y/N] If you don't tell me who he is, how can I be able to protect you.”

You shook your head, the memory of the night with Stephen still fresh in your mind, his eyes filled with tears as he told you he loved you. You didn't doubt his love no matter how sick it was. So much love, so much desire, so much lust between the two of you, so many secrets.

“You can't protect me because I don't need your protection. He would never hurt me.”

You almost whispered.

“[Y/N]...”

“Don't speak my name as if you know me. You do not know me. He does. I am not in danger and I don’t need to be saved.”

He stared at you confused “Whatever you did, it's not too late, we can fix it, I can fix it.”

“I've made my decision” You stared at the tread of purple magic on your finger.

Stephen took a step towards you, but you took a step back “Please, leave.”

He shook his head. “No matter what you say, I'm not going to stop until I find out what's going on and I'm going to get to him one way or another, whoever he is and whether you like it or not.”

“Leave” You didn't look back at him.

You heard the door slam and knew he was gone.

Your heart was pounding in your chest and tears streamed down your face.

...

The masters of Kamar Taj didn't stand a chance against so much hatred, so much fury unleashed with such cruelty. All shields were down, all magic was overcome, there was no defense against the dark powers of the Darkhold.

When Stephen arrived it was already too late. Bells rang indicating the attack, smoke rising from the rubble of the destroyed courtyard. Masters dead on the floor.

Stephen ran through the halls looking for answers, but all he found was despair and people looking at him with fear.

Master Hamir was kneeling beside the now lifeless Sorcerer Supreme's body.

Stephen dropped to his knees beside Wong's body, tears streaming down his eyes.

He took Wong's hand in his now trembling hand. Master Hamir stared at him with eyes wide with fear.

“Who did this?” Stephen asked but his voice was little more than a whisper.

It was Sara who answered, the master slowly walked towards him seeming to fear him as if he were a monster.

“You Doctor Strange. It was you.”

He shook his head, not understanding.

“He went through all our barriers and attacked us from the inside out. We didn't stand a chance.”

Stephen still had Wong's hand firmly in his “How is this possible?”

The master shook her head “The Sorcerer Supreme warned us about the dangers of the multiverse countless times. It's a door that can be opened from both sides”

Stephen got up “Just tell me at once what happened here.”

“He killed Wong and said it was a warning for you. That you must stay away from her.” She shook her head confused “I don't know who he was talking about”

Stephen closed his eyes trying to control the hate and fury dominating him. Suddenly everything started to make sense. The way you first looked at him in the record store as if you knew him and feared him. The death of the two individuals who tried to hurt you in the alley that night and why you had disappeared, why no one could find you. The dream he had, the evil presence in your apartment that seemed to be watching him as he spoke to you. The attack on Kamar Taj being the last piece on the board, the right blow, a threat and a reprimand for getting involved between you and him. He... another Stephen Strange.

That's what he was in the end, wasn't it? Another version of him? A evil twin from another universe?

That's why his friend was dead. Because he trusted the man who entered the Kamar Taj with the sole intention of shedding blood.

A monster wearing the best and most unfathomable of masks decided to do only harm, to hurt anyone who stood in the way of him and his priceless prize. You.

Stephen took his hands covering his mouth in complete desperation.

“Master Strange... what shall we do? If he comes back... we can't fight him.”

Stephen clenched his fists and gritted his teeth “I'm going to kill him. He will pay for what he did.”

...

He watched you turning in bed lost in a stormy dream, the hate still consuming him. The memory of that cheap version of him putting his hands around your body, his lips on your lips.

How dare he share the triumph that was rightfully his? Insolent and arrogant, that smaller, weaker version of Doctor Strange had just had a taste of his power and what he could do if he ever got in his way again. Now there was only one last lesson left and this one you needed to learn alone.

You woke up with the feeling of his hands running along your side body, you were wearing only a thin nightgown and he moved his hand down to your thigh turning it and baring your ass squeezing it. He placed his index finger on your lips to sign you to be silent and you sat on the bed completely unaware of all the terror that man had caused.

“Stephen I waited for you” You whispered, your heart racing in your chest.

He turned his back on you “I was watching you. I'm always with you even though you can't see me.” He shook his head, his voice a lower tone, tired and raspy “What I saw today broke my heart into pieces.”

His voice broke with the weight of his pain.

You got up and hurried to explain yourself “I’m sorry, Stephen, please forgive me. I asked him to leave, he doesn't know anything. I was true to our secret. I was faithful to you.”

Stephen turned, a fury in his eyes like you've never seen before. He slapped your face with the back of his hand so hard your legs gave out and you fell to the floor. You tasted blood in your mouth.

“Damned lying traitor! I gave you all my love, I promised you my life, I shared my soul with you and how do you repay me? Throwing yourself into the arms of that lesser version of myself like a fucking whore.”

Your eyes filled with tears, your hand on the cheek he hit so hard. Your heart was broken, how could he hurt you when all you offered him was love?

He came towards you and took you by the arm pulling you to your feet shaking you with every word he shouted “I've done nothing but love and worship you. You made me soft, but no more. You will contemplate the result of your actions, you will see what they have caused, and you will accept the guilt that is yours.”

He released you, the damn book slipping from his waist, red magic filling the darkness of your room, spheres of magic hovering in the air and scenes of death and destruction unfolding before you.

“You left me no other option” He said menacingly “He needed to learn his lesson and now he knows what I can do and what I can still do if he comes between us again.”

You put your hand to your mouth in complete horror. All the enchantment melting away in the midst of cold and cruel truth.

“Why? How could you do that?”

He stared at you with frightening eyes filled with immeasurable hatred.

‘’Oh kitten, you did it. You caused my fury. I'll leave you to think about what you've done and then you will come back to me…” He pointed to himself  “your husband. You're mine, I will make sure that you remember that”

He left you alone in the darkened room, tears streaming down your face, an immeasurable pain breaking your chest.

You fell to the ground surrendering to pain and fear, your entire body shaking and the night hours merged into darkness and you were lost in your own thoughts, the tears drying on your face as you contemplated all your fears.

You got up with difficulty, without thinking about what you were doing you just walked out of your apartment and walked the streets, wandering while curious eyes stared at you, but you didn't pay them any attention. Your eyes shed tears, but you didn't pay attention to them either. You were lost, no one could help you, your world had crumbled before your eyes and all you had left was the truth and the truth could set you free or bind you forever.

You stopped in front of the Sanctum's door and before you could knock it opened for you. There was no darkness or destruction inside, just the man you've always been hopelessly in love with.

He looked at you sadly, he looked scared, but there was a fire in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

“I'm not safe and I need your help but I don't believe you can help me. I was there, in his world of eternal night. A world where all light succumbs to darkness, but there was also love, or at least I thought it was love. He promised he loved me and I gave myself to him freely because I love him, because... because I've always loved you.”

Stephen walked up to you and touched your face “What he calls love is nothing but obsession. He claimed you as his, but you are not to blame for the atrocities he has committed. He deceived you, he bewitched you.”

You closed your eyes, your face drooping at the touch of his hand “I'm sorry.”

“You're safe here with me. No one will find you here.”

You were too scared to notice how much your body was shaking and even to notice that your lip was bleeding. Stephen reached out to you and opened a portal to another room in the Sanctum. You kept muttering that everything was your fault and that you should have seen from the start that something was wrong, but he didn't listen to you, he made you sit on the couch and made a move to walk away but you held his arm "Please don't leave me. I know he'll get me if I'm alone, I don't want to be alone."

Stephen sighed worried about you and wiggled his fingers and a first aid kit materialized in his hand. He wiped the blood from your lip and moved his fingers towards your mouth using magic to heal your wound. He took a pill in his hands and materialized a glass of water and handed it to you.

"Here, you'll calm down and get some sleep."

You widened your eyes "No, I don't want to sleep. He will catch me in my dreams, he always come to me in dreams and the things he says, the things he did to me there, the things he made me do. .."

He made the things disappear and looked at you with concern. Stephen knew you were on the verge of a nervous breakdown, too scared to talk about anything and there was so much he needed to ask you, but at that moment he just wanted to calm you down, he wanted to make you feel safe next to him .

"His world is full of malice and darkness..."

He touched your face interrupting what you were saying and you cringed at his touch and it broke his heart to understand that you were afraid of him. He would never hurt you, he would never hit you, he was not a monster.

"No more talk of darkness. You need to rest and I'm here right by your side, no one will hurt you as long as I am with you."

You gave in to a silent cry and he pulled you into his arms letting you cry on his shoulder. You felt scared, but most of all you felt betrayed. Stephen promised he loved you, but how could he love you and treat you like that? And how could you keep loving him when you were so afraid of him?

Stephen touched your hair caressing it and feeling when your crying gradually stopped. There were so many feelings there, he barely knew you and yet he felt like he loved you and you loved him somehow, you had say it and you both couldn't run away from that feeling even if you wanted to.

He touched your chin making you look at him, your eyes red, your lip swollen, the blood boiled in his veins at the thought that that monster had hit you, you looked so fragile in his arms and against all common sense, giving in to desire and to the affection that seemed to come from the whole situation he pulled you to his lips and kissed you.

You sighed in his arms, allowing yourself to lose yourself in his kiss, so sweet and so shy. He wanted you for himself, you just needed to say the word and he would make you his.

"Stephen..."

He sighed waiting for whatever you would ask of him "I love you. I've always loved you and I know it doesn't make sense, you don't even know me, but I know you and I've always loved you from a far. For so long I pictured myself coming here and confessing my love to you It's pathetic and it's ridiculous I know but I can't help it and I'm sorry It's all my fault It was my stupid love for you that brought him to me and everything he did, those terrible things... he insisted that I see it and it's my fault."

He shook his head "Y/N, none of this is your fault and I don't think it's pathetic that you love me, I don't know how or why, I barely know you but I feel like I love you too. Sometimes things just need to happen."

You pulled him to your lips and your life never made more sense than it did at that moment. "Then save me from him. Claim me and promise me he'll never come near me again."

Stephen kissed you passionately and you didn't know what you were doing, but you clung to him as if you needed him to breathe. You swung your legs over his legs and your hands rushed to try to free him from his robes. He sighed, your lips still glued to his. You unbuckled his belt, his hands rushed to lift the fabric of the nightgown you wore. You freed him from inside his pants and lifted yourself up enough to fit him inside you. You both moaned loudly, that fire again taking over you, the tread of purple magic glowing on your finger as you rocked on his cock, his hands firmly on your ass, your hands cupping his face and you kissed him again.

Stephen could feel your body calling out to him, the dark magic working in him, your soul tied to his. You didn't speak, your lips didn’t detach away from him, you moved so violently on top of him fucking him with desperate need. He tugged at the strap of your nightgown baring your breast and taking it in his hand, his lips detaching from yours kissing your shoulder with open mouth kisses, devouring you, claiming you.

You moaned loudly, increasing the rhythm of your movements even more, your hands resting on his chest, swinging in his lap, getting the maximum amount of friction to relieve the pain in your aching core. You tilted your head back surrendering to the enormity of those sensations, he was close and so were you, your bodies trembling, sweaty and bound by dark magic, but also with right and pure love.

…

Through the power of the Darkhold, Sinister Strange watched the greatest act of betrayal you could perform. Tears streamed down his face as he watched your body surrender to the other him, the sweet noises you made, your sweet kisses now were given to him.  He watched the two of you climax and swear love and a life together, the same life you promised to him.

He gave his love to you, made your dreams come true and now how have you repaid him? You denied him and betrayed him.

How could he have been so blind? That Stephen was destined to love you the moment Sinister Strange cast the spell binding your soul not just to him, but to any variant of him in the multiverse. He lost you the moment he thought he had won you.

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, sadness giving way to hatred and a thirst for revenge.

"Now it will be war against you both"

Part 6 (The Final part) already posted. Read it HERE

Leave a comment if you liked it. Interact! I will love to read all of your comments and opinions. It inspires me to keep writing ;)

MASTERLIST

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[desolateice]

asked by @youandthemountains on my other account. Figured I’d answer it here since it’s all fic related. For the fanfic writer emoji ask : 🛒⛔🍦🧐🦅🤩 🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc. Food. When I first started writing fan fic I wanted to be able to keep my files separate in an easy way and wanted a clear line between what was my original work and what wasn't. So ever single fanfic I've written has a food related title and that food generally makes an appearance in the fic. There's also sometimes mixed in with the cute fluff and romance is a dash of horror and a big scoopful of angst. A lot of the CK ones are about lonliness and friendship and the bonds we have with people and loss. Lots of loss. Life sucker punched me within the last year which is why I think CK and TKK sunk their claws in and I haven't escaped yet. Also a love for the mundane and rest. Which I'm like 70% sure the friend I'm going to chat with this weekend will yell at me to do. 😅 If we're adding original work to the mix I'd say flowers and cooking and books and magic. A love for plants and just kindness. I just like the idea of how a small act of kindness can have a massive ripple effect. Also as I look back over my writing uh we've got trauma and more loss and trying to figure one's self out. ⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?  (Shoves all my original works under a rug including my thesis) uh no? Yes? A long long time ago I thought about writing an HP fic and just gave up after like a page. But it never got posted. I like chatting about fic ideas I have no plan to write on discord. Because it's a chance to just get that plot bunny out of my head. I have notes for a one offs called Konpeito Cocktail and Spicy California Roll that are continuations but just...E rated that I don't think I'll actually publish because it just feels weird to publish a continuation of something that's relatively sweet and wholesome and just jump fic ratings to something that's not....💀 Also I'm not really sure I'm up for jumping to E. Which is one of the reasons Root Beer Floats and Green Tea is M. (The other reason is that I feel like the people who usually go for E rated fics would not want to wait a couple hundred chapters to get to that E rating) So ones people have seen no. Ones hidden away on my drive and in my files...yes. 🍦 What's the sweetest fic you've created so far? ah...um... great question. California Roll? Frozen fish stick that wants and needs to cuddle for warmth. Dozens of ruined sweaters. Konpeito? Daniel's maybe my favorite curious explorer in that one with lots of love. Root Beer Floats and Green Tea? The wingmen Cobras and their relationships with Johnny. Johnny and Laura. The cobras and Daniel in New York. There was more than one bed but they're still going to share. Johnny and his bonsai. Mr. Miyagi secretly teaching Johnny and taking him in and kind of unofficially officially adopting him.  Laura and Lucille being BFF's. The Cobras and Jessica. Johnny suffering through a tea ceremony while Kumiko and Daniel are just very sweet to him but he's so confused. Chozen's massive crush on Johnny. Lavender cookies. Welcome to the family sweaters.  Fairygodmother Dutch. Daniel making sure Johnny doesn't burn in the sun. Pride and Prejudice. Every sweet ever made at the Brown's house. Cobras that share your bed even if it upsets whoever else is supposed to be in your bed and learning to just live with it. Found Family that shows up. Bouquets and the meaning behind flowers. Cooking for the people you love. Spending every last cent on the person you've got a crush on.  Laura adopting the cobras, and Daniel. Laura and her heart to hearts. Polaroids.  I could go on. 🧐 Do you spend much time researching for your stories? So much. Way too much. Because Root Beer Floats and Green tea is set from the first movie onward I've researched Japanese fashion in the 80's, Okinawan fashion trends in the 80's, make up from the 80's, expensive chocolate brands from the 80's, more recipes then anyone should ever research for one story. Movie's from the 80's that were showing at the specific times and dates. Broadway musicals that were shown during that time. What hotels and restaurants and chains existed during that time. Book publishing releases (Made a whoops with Howl's Moving Castle later on, fixed it with the librarian giving him a advanced copy) Music from those specific years. Travel routes, road trip routes. Mapping and maps so I knew how far away the guys were and how long road trips were. Camping and camping rules for specific parks, which places you can camp at. A lot of deep dives into places I haven't been and things in that area and whether they existed back then or not. Food in those places. Festivals, cross-referenced if they existed back then, travel itineraries. Lots of Italian, Mexican, Japanese and Okinawan stuff. For Konpeito I did a lot of planet research and definition and linguistics research. Also what kids books existed back then and mall food research for the 80s and some more fashion. For California Roll I researched some marine stuff and a lot of different lore around the world and then lots of mapping. I really wanted Johnny to swim home but there was no way. There weren't any direct rivers from one end of the continent to the other. Not that I could easily find on the maps I was looking at. 🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants? Mix. I apparently do something called garden pathing. So I usually have an idea of what scenes I want to do and include and then go back and fill in the path between the big lots through the garden. Often I'll leave myself little [brackets like this and say something like add in plot point and whatever notes I have] in that bracket and then move on to whatever is pulling me to write. Then later me has to go back in and fill those out. Normally it's fine but oh boy Root Beer Floats and green tea I had to take out some of my path stepping stones because otherwise you'd never get the end of this fic. 🤩 Who is your favorite character to write? It depends on the scene and the fic. Generally I want to say Johnny. For Konpeito it's Daniel hands down with a second for Ali. I love them lovingly bullying Johnny about being a black belt and not caring about it. Like yes yes very strong we've got bigger things to worry about. For California Roll I loved writing Daniel and Lucille and Judy was a fun addition. Johnny was fun to write there too but he's a frozen fish stick with a broken heart 90% of the time just out there being a menace to sweaters. For Root Beer Floats and Green Tea it's really hard. I love Johnny and Daniel. I love their relationship with Mr. Miyagi and everyone. But I think the Cobras steal the spotlight whenever I least expect it.  From the the emoji’s ask here.

[fireemblems24]

VW Chapter 19

Onto Verdant Wind now, in what I suspect will look suspiciously like SS's chapter.

Spoilers for up to Chapter 19 for all routes except SS (ch 18) possibly below.

Pre-Battle

So I'm betting this is the "defeat Hubert" chapter? But the question is, for real this time or no?

Yep, you're fighting the Death Knight and Hubert . . . again . . . Who's left after this, just Edelgard?

LAMO, funny how Claude opens nearly the exact same way Seteth did.

Oh, I get to ask about the citizens this time? Picking that answer 100%. The vibe is so different from CF where invading is an exciting thing. At least for Caspar. Maybe I'm misremembering others.

You know what? That would be an interesting post if I ever had the time for it. To go through the script somewhere and list every time citizens/commoners are mentioned throughout the game and just see if different routes vibe differently.

YIKES - Edelgard's using her citizens as a shield to protect her? That's . . . that's something. I guess she's living up to her claim during that Lonato chapter.

I still hope we find Rhea again though. I'm super curious to hear her story.

Battle

When Claude says - no route enemy, target enemy commanders - I ignore him.

So . . . Byleth wolloped the Death Knight for most of his HP and he only had like 16 left. And I wanted to give him the most lolz death possible, so I had . . . Marianne . . . kill him - with an iron lance. Frozen Lance FTW.

Having Claude attack Hubert for that sweet, sweet unique dialogue.

LAMO he called Hubert a lapdog. Hubert tried to be edgy, and Claude was just having none of it.

But why does Hubert give you a Goddess Icon when he dies? That will never not be funny to me.

Post-Battle

DEDUE. What a way to return to the game after a two week separation than to see my lovely Dedue again.

Except this is VW Dedue and Dimitri is dead, and he's just living for vengeance now, which Dimitri would hate.

Ok, so is there any fanfics out there of a post-Grondor VW or SS Dedue meeting ghost Dimitri or something? I think I want that pain. Those two seeing each other again, Dedue realizing Dimitri's still dead, Dimitri blaming himself for Dedue living for vengeance and nothing else, and then Dimitri fades away again before either get to confess their feelings.

On second thought. I don't want that fic. I want AM back. Or a VW fic where Dimitri survives and reunites with Dedue for real.

Dedue the real MVP, and now he's off on his own. What happens to Dedue after this? Do you ever see him again?

LAMO. Claude wants a new ruling system too. Edelgard really never bothered talking to him, hunh.

No. Claude. No. We do NOT need one powerful ruler leading all of Fodlan. Divide the power, don't centralize it. One all-powerful ruler is a horrible, horrible idea.

I'm totally picking "I should be that ruler." Because it makes no sense whatsoever, because who wants to put a rando mercenary on the throne? Claude's probably the right pick, but I can't resist.

Claude was upset with me lamo.

It better not be Byleth in charge at the end. Oh, God, please don't tell me all the routes don't end with an all-powerful Byleth ruling everything while Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude just roll over.

Pre-Battle

These chapter pictures are kinda cool looking. They remind me of folk art or what you'd see in an illustrated book on Nordic mythology. I like it.

Oh, no, it's that same lame response from Byleth about not wanting to kill Edelgard. But why though? Byleth doesn't even KNOW Edelgard here?

I hope Claude gets annoyed with me for whining about some girl I talked to like twice who's currently destroying the continent. I hope this trite doesn't show up in AM too. It made sense for SS, but VW?????

That's fair from Claude. Sure, we won't kill if we don't have to, but she has to be willing to work with someone else which doesn't seem like her strong suite.

Time to go kill Edelgard again. I hope I can keep Dedue alive this time too. Last time was easier because my units are better. I could just send Sylvain and Ferdinand anywhere, surrounded by enemies, and they don't care. This group, not so much :(

Battle

Claude just called Edelgard our "bashful little Emperor." She'd be livid.

The plan is to get Felix to kill Edelgard to get vengeance for Dimitri. The problem is that Felix is a dancer and doesn't have a lot of strength. Let's see if he can pull this off.

But first, Edelgard and Claude dialogue.

Lol, Claude promising to finish the job for Claude. I'm liking his more laid back tone more than I did before.

Edelgard really refuses to work with Claude, hunh. He asked her twice now, she even acknowledged that Claude's after the same thing but still refuses to work with him because he got a C in history class I guess.

It's funny hearing Edelgard tell someone they lack self awareness.

No unique dialogue for Felix and Edelgard though :(

So, this is how it went down in my head. Felix kept quiet and standoffish, not bothering to know the Golden Deer better, just staying in the training room day and night, focusing on nothing but the blade. But then he never used it on the battlefield and only danced, never really seeing combat. So when they were storming the castle and seeing Felix advance towards the throne room, they all expected he'd dance. But he walks by Claude, walks by the rest and advances on Edelgard, saying he'll cut through, not even realizing that's what Dimitri used to say. But Claude remembers. And he watches Felix's cold eyes and a single-minded focus on taking Edelgard down. And he does.

Then Felix leaves without saying a word, exchanging one quick, understanding glance with Dedue, who always knew that, despite their very different ways of going about it, that they were the two who loved Dimitri the most.

Ok, I'm finished now. Someone take this keyboard away from me. I haven't gotten to write in two weeks now.

Post Battle

Wait, this is the same cut scene??? Why the fuck is Edelgard calling Byleth her teacher? I don't even know her?

This scene makes no sense here. It was good in SS, but wtf Edelgard, why are you so hung up on Byleth when you don't even know them?? God, I'm not looking forward to seeing this again in AM.

Edelgard really be a simp, hunh.

So how confused was everyone that played VW or AM first and saw Edelgard, who you don't know at all, get all weepy over Byleth for no real reason?

Leonie MVP. Not surprised, girl put in the work.

No, we beat her because of Felix, not because of Byleth. Byleth was on chest duty.

Oh, the letter is here too. This really is the exact same as SS again. Poor Claude. He really deserved better. Dedue and Hubert have bigger roles in VW than Claude does for crying out loud.

If it's the same group as Monica and Tomas, I'm not that worried about them. They weren't exactly . . . threatening.

Rhea, though, she's back!

Oh, at least this is a bit different with him asking about the children of the goddess. He could wait a second and let poor Rhea step outside in the sunlight again first though.

So the guy named Nemesis wasn't a hero after all. I'm shocked. Totally shocked I tell you.

Can I take a wild guess that Rhea, Flayn, and Seteth are "the children of the Goddess?" And the Goddess is Sothis obviously. That's why they wanted Flayn's blood, because it's fancy blood.

Claude's a globalist lol. Hey, at least he acknowledged Duscur - unlike someone . . .

Next Chapter

Shamballa sounds like a place in Fullmetal Alchemist

At least they addressed why they never bombed the monastery.

Still doesn't explain why they haven't dropped one on Dimitri yet though.

Rhea is coming!!! I know I won't get to use her as a unit though :(

This is still the exact same as SS though :(

[courtney-deserved-better]

whats ur writing schedule/process like! not in a “write faster” way, but i think once you mentioned writing in script form? and i like the way you wrote ur most recent fic! just curious bc ur works are just really good :)

this is a great question!!

if its not slippery slopes, ill usually get an idea for something and periodically jot down notes when they come to me until I feel like i have enough information to start writing (or if im just motivated), that's what i did for my horror challenge rewrite. and for stuff that's like... rewrites of an episode that aren't as character-focused as slippery slopes, i usually read the episode transcripts and try to replicate that total drama style with my own writing

for shorter oneshots, i usually just get a vague idea and run with it until i find a good ending spot, then i go back and clean it up a bit so the structure works

slippery slopes is an... interesting cycle. chapters are getting long enough that i cant just write them in one sitting any more (i think ch5 was the last chapter i did that for) and instead ill agonize over the beginning (always the hardest part to write for me) but once i get going with that i usually finish the chapter within a few days. then i reread the previous chapter to make sure it flows ok (and there aren't any contradictions) and then ill give myself a break where i dont do anything total drama related before coming back to edit and post. though before I do all that I type up notes and rough dialogue bits

and then once i post it it's like... a weight off my chest? like ive been purged or something?? idk its a weird sensation but im just like i Physically Cannot Write Anything For This Right Now and i don't start on the next chapter until that goes away. and then i either start the beginning and do nothing for a week before going back and finishing the chapter or i go into a manic state and write nonstop for a few days. right now i haven't reached a point where im ready to begin writing chapter 10 but i have a lot of notes for it.

(also as soon as i finish posting a chapter i try not to go on my laptop for like 12 hours so i don't obsessively refresh my email for comments. i love reading comments so much holy shit. please comment guys it makes fic authors feel so happy we will love you for it)

as for scripts: i am working on being a writer professionally, but specifically a playwright. writing in a script format comes more naturally to me than writing prose. funnily enough, i started posting fanfic just to practice my prose (and fix stuff in cobra kai that i didnt like) but things sort of... ended up here? idk man but im enjoying it.

right, so because writing in a script format is easier when im really struggling with a section in a fic ill usually scrap whatever i had and write it like a script, then translate that into prose. i was very excited to write the family videos for chapter 9 of slippery slopes, but i was Having Issues, so i redid it as a script and then rewrote that as prose. ill put the script version under the cut if you're interested in that.

but thank you so much for the question!! i do think my writing process is a bit unconventional but hey i think things are turning out well! if you have any more questions feel free to send them in!!

ok here is the last scene of ch 9 of slippery slopes in script format:

[SIERRA]

MOM: Hi honey! Omigosh this is so exciting! I bet you’re having such a great time! Especially since Chris is there! Is Chris watching this? Hi Chris! You know, I loooved you on that ice skating show. Your hair was fantastic! Well, it always is, haha. Do you really make your own hair gel? I’ve been trying to perfect the recipe but you’re just so hard to track down! Oh, you’re such a funny guy! I laughed sooo hard when you made all those jokes about marrying Chef.

Chef: hey!

Chris: ok just for the record, I wasn’t joking, we are married, Sierra tell your mom we’re married

Sierra: …can we just turn it off please

[COURTNEY]

DAD: Courtney, sayang, I know you’ve been going through a lot right now—

MOM: So you’d BETTER make it count. You’ve made it this far before, I want to see you getting all the way to the finale this time. And winning it. Enough moping about those hideous, good-for-nothing slackers! That’s what you get for hanging around freaks like them. You’re doing this for the million, now get the million. Is that clear?

ZARINA: And kick ass!

DAD: Zarina!

Video cuts out.

Alejandro: courtney you good?

Courtney: no, she’s right. Mama didn’t raise no quitter

Alejandro: [knows she’s still upset about duncan and gwen]

[ALEJANDRO]

MOM: Hola, Alejandro. We hope you are doing well, especially in such unsavory conditions. I’m glad to see you’ve made it to the final four— we expected nothing less, of course.

DAD: You have been utilizing your skills quite well. Though I wish you hadn’t been so… blatant about it. You’ll have to work twice as hard once this is over to convince people you’re trustworthy. But surely you were aware of that going into this… odd endeavor. That’s just politics. Reputation is everything.

JOSE: [snorts] Oh, and what a reputation you have, Al. I could easily compile hours of footage of your failures, but I, unlike you, do not waste my time on the frivolities of reality television. Though you always have been lacking in taste. Especially with that bratty girlfriend of yours— oh, my mistake, aren’t you dating the whiny weakling? It’s so hard to keep track! [laughs]

Alejandro: callate!

MOM: I’m sure Alejandro is just working an angle on them.

DAD: Whatever the case is, do not disappoint us.

[NOAH]

MOM: Hi Noah, I’m sorry, I don’t have time to record a full video, but I’m proud of you! Here are your sisters!

ISWARI: A million dollars? A million [bleep] dollars? Win it, Noah! Win it!

RUTH: Dude!! This is crazy! I know you can do this— good luck! Ark misses you! [holds up Ark who barks]

MARA: Are you insane? Why aren’t you dating Alejandro already?

Noah: shut up, mara, just because you can’t keep a boyfriend—

ANYA: Don’t let ‘em trick you! No mercy! Crush their skulls if you have to— no, wait, you’re not strong enough for that. We’ll get there!

LIYA: I say this as your sister, someone who loves you but is constantly annoyed by you— for someone who is quite literally a genius, you sure can be an idiot sometimes.

BALLARI: Okay, I literally have no idea how you’ve made it this far without an athletic bone in your body— are we sure you aren’t adopted? I’m kidding

ABS: You’re stubborn as hell when it comes to me, so you better be stubborn as hell when it comes to winning! And when you do win, get me a frozen yogurt machine, will you? I promise I won’t make you rock climb again!

JAEL: If you lose this, I’ll kill you with this racket. And then use your guts to make myself a new racket. So don’t fuck it up. Again.

Noah: [frozen, ashamed]

Sierra: well that was a mess

Courtney: ok show of hands, who felt better after hearing that? [no one raises hands]

Chris: yeah I was expecting this to be a lot more heartwarming…

Chef: chris just look at them. If they had stable home lives they wouldn’t be doing reality tv

Alejandro: can we please stop talking about this. Also aren’t you supposed to be flying the plane

Chef: oh fuck

Chris: yeah sure. I think im gonna call my mom

Everyone: …

Noah: ok so that was really shitty. Why dont we all go to first class and try and ignore our problems

Everyone: yeah ok sounds good

***

Courtney: so that sucked

Alejandro: at least your dad seems ok

Courtney: true. What are your guys dads like

Noah and Sierra: bold of you to assume I know my dad. Jinx

***

Alejandro: that last girl… you mentioned a sister who does tennis and hates you

Noah: yep

Alejandro: why?

Noah: none of your business. but… it is pretty justified

[samsaintjames]

okay so: fic recs

So this is gonna be really long and rambling (I'm sure), but we start with the basics.

If you're only ever going to read one and only one fanfic in your entire life you have to read Increments of Longing. It's a Jaina Proudmoore/Sylvanas Windrunner fanfic, but it's AU enough and so well written, that you probably do not actually need to know anything about Warcraft or World of Warcraft and the respective lore and backstory to enjoy it. Just look at it like a very good fantasy novel about an arranged marriage. [...]“But you would tell me what you want?” Sylvanas asked in a voice that was far too controlled to be truly nonchalant."[...] I could not even tell you why, but this line there from the second chapter? It gives me feels (and I could not even tell you what exactly I'm feeling, but yeah).

Anyway, read it (I've read it twice now)!

Okay, from the same author I also whole-heartedly recommend you search the mountain. Which is another Jaina/Sylvanas story, again AU, with Jaina being Drust. You do not necessarily need background info - there even is a map of Kul Tiras included - but you'd probably benefit from it. Particularly the early chapters, when you get to know Arthur, made me laugh and giggle quite a bit, even though the story itself is - since it's about the Drust and a civil war - a bit of a horror story/military fiction crossover I'd say. Good read.

And my kinda guilty pleasure (also from the same author) is no end in sight. It's a story about Suramar (and healing). And when I started playing WoW towards the end of Legion, shortly before the Argus patch, I absolutely fell in love with that region/city and the Nightborne - probably because I wasn't stuck on the repetitive content of it for forever lol. So this story about Thalyssra and Jaina and the other Nightborne NPCs is awesome. I was actually considering to also write about Jaina/Thalyssra, simply because just imagine the insane magic those two could do when working together (I mean they kinda do in Nazjatar), but knowing me, this will probably never get past the conception stage.

Inevitability is also absolutely amazing (it's another - you probably guessed it - Jaina/Sylvanas AU, with both of them being professors - considering I've been working in academics for the last 15 years that's kinda my jam). And I have a lot of thoughts about it, which for the sake of not boring people to death I'm gonna abbreviate (but well I'm ready to talk people to death if they are interested). One: I'd love to meet this Sylvanas. Two: I'd never have the guts to talk to her, but I'd totally want her to take me home lol (and I'm not even sure I'm gay). Three: life at universities around here is very different from - I'm assuming - the US.

(Also if you're into AUs, go check Fearless - which features witches and ghosts and is fun.)

Okay, so now we're coming to how I actually fell into the whole Jaina/Sylvanas thing. It's because of Daugthers of Sea and Snow. Which is a Frozen/WoW crossover featuring Jaina/Elsa I found by looking through Frozen Fanfics when I was bored around the time Frozen 2 came out and then completely forgot - it was still work in progress then; I found the still open tab in my browser like four to three weeks ago, saw it was finished now and devoured the whole thing. And while I was there, I looked at the other things that author had written - and that's how I stumbled upon Jaina/Sylvanas, like two years late. Which is probably kinda ironic, since I played BFA a lot (mythic raiding beginning with Uldir), loving the Storyline in Kul Tiras and being absolutely enamoured with Jaina especially after her Warbringers vid (I still sometimes humm the song) - and liked Sylvanas since Warcraft III. Sometimes life is weird.

So and after that I jumped down this particular rabbit hole while doing a thrilling backflip. There is an assortment of other stories that I very much enjoyed.

A Touch of Arcane - the first fix of political marriage AU for Jaina and Sylvanas that I got (I think it was actually the first Jaina/Sylvanas fic I read period). And boy did I get hooked to that.

Along the same lines but different are Worth the Trouble and Two Rooms.

If you're into AUs for that pairring, you'll find a lot of intereseting ones from the Author katofthenorth. The one about diving is really cute.

Stories not yet finished that I thoroughly enjoyed so far (most of them political marriage AUs - lol I'm a sucker for those okay, it's not my fault!):

Ink and Honor is amazing. I came for Jaina/Sylvanas, but I love the Thalyssra/Vereesa storyline just as much - it's sooooo cute, like even Genn ships them ^^.

threads of silk.

climb the walls.

Measure of the world. They aren't married (yet, it's a possibility though I'd guess and I haven't even reached the end of the so far posted chapters yet, but enjoyable read nonetheless).

The Lighthouse. Amazing AU, I love the idea - and it's not political marriage! I cannot wait for the next chapters.

I've dug too many holes into this thawing ground. This story gave me a lot of feels too.

Honorary mentions for stories that I'm assuming might never be finished, but are amazing reads.

Shot in the Dark. Fuck that is awesome! Secret agents and spies - okay technically snipers, but it's the feeling that counts, right? (and Tyrande in a suit is a nice bonus).

Trust in Me. Sylvanas as Jainas bodyguard AU.

Okay so... I still have like 250 tabs or something ridiculous open in my browser (that's not overstating it, it's fact, in fact I might be understating it at this point and it could already be 300) and I haven't obviously read all the amazing Jaina/Sylvanas fanfics out there yet, particularly short ones or one shots or series might have gotten lost, since I usually filter for high wordcounts only. So, if anyone feels stuff is missing, it does not mean I didn't like it, it could be I've just not read it yet.

And now for something completely different.

I want to point towards one of the coolest crossover stories/series I've ever read: Felicitas. Which is an Arrow/Highlander/Raven crossover that imagines Felicity as an ancient immortal. And it's just soooooo good, I've been following it for years. (That being said, I never watched Arrow past season 2 and I probably never will considering what I know about how the story of the show continues, I've been burned once with Bering and Wells, I'm not going there again. But that's totally fine, because Felicitas also only goes as far as Season 2.)

And then there's still waters and quiet men. I'm not even sure what to say about it. The sheer lunacy and the insane escalation present in this story should not have amused me as much as it did I think, but I remember laughing tears when reading this, because while it's actually really sad that some people might find this kind of behaviour of male characters in fiction normal, it was abso-fucking-lutely hilarious in my opinion. (That said, I've probably only read it halfway, but still, it's hilarious! Well if you have the same maybe weird sense of humor I have anyway.)

New Beginnings is a FemShep/Liara crossover with Stargate SG-1. So it's combining my favourite TV show with my favourite Videogame of all time. And it's brilliant.

So yeah that's my fic recs for the time being. If you just want a tl;dr, go read Increments of Longing. (I just cannot stress enough how amazing that story is.)

I'm only tagging Jaina/Sylvanas since most fics are about them.

[alpacaparkaseok]

Where you should be

9. Kairos

Genre: Hobi x oc

Warnings: this series contains stalking, blackmail, and similar stressful/fear inducing situations. Also unrequited love, which is perhaps the most terrifying of all.

Word Count: 3.2k

a/n: this is the final installment of Where you should be. I originally only planned for this story to have about 8 chapters, so yeah. I’m sorry if this came as a shock to some of you. I have loved getting to meet new people while writing this series; Hobi stans are literal sunshines. Hobi is one of my biases, so I was happy to get to write him a series. The world needs more Hobi fanfics. Thank you for reading, for reblogging, for interacting with me! Please enjoy and thank you for stopping in!

Kairos (n.) a propitious moment for decision or action; the ‘right time’

The bus station in Busan is crowded with people waiting to board the bus to head back to Seoul by the time I arrive there. Pulling my hood down low I begin to haul my bags to the taxi area, already exhausted.

While I wait in the growing line, I pull my phone out to start looking at hotels I can stay the night at. Hopefully Pdogg got my demo for Puma and will give me some feedback.

I get closer to the front of the line, hoping that a taxi will free up soon. I really just need a bed right now. Today has been too much.

Wincing as I see all the missed calls and texts from Hobi, I decide to text him as soon as I get settled into a hotel room. He deserves an explanation.

I’m watching the next taxi pull up into a vacant spot a black car swerves into the taxi lane, stopping right where the taxi was supposed to park. Honking and cursing ensues, people who were already frustrated after a long day of travel growing angry.

All of those angry voices are hushed the moment the driver’s door opens and a familiar face appears.

Hoseok’s eyes are on mine as he closes the door and strides up the steps toward me, ignoring the people that are staring at him. I blink at him, wondering if I’ve fallen asleep and this is all just a dream. This feels like something I would dream about; it’s too good to be true.

Only when the weight of my duffel bag is removed as Hoseok takes it off my hands do I realize that this may actually be real.

“Get in the car.”

His voice is gruff as the speaks, his eyes aflame with barely concealed anger. Shrinking in on myself, I pull my hood down even lower.

He knows I can’t make a scene here.

Hoseok waits until I start walking to begin walking as well, trailing behind me like a lurking predator and closing the door behind me when I sit down.

People’s phones are flashing as he puts my bags in the trunk, and he gives a polite wave before hopping back into the driver’s seat.

The kind smile he wore for the public as he waved is dropped as soon as he starts the car again, and he begins to speed out of the bus station. My heart is pounding out of my chest, the street lamps we pass under making me close my eyes as I can hardly keep up with them anymore.

I refuse to speak first, and it would appear that Hobi doesn’t plan on doing it either. Instead he drives and drives until we’re pulling into a hotel parking lot and he’s hopping out, grabbing my things for me.

“Stay here,” he orders, giving me a look that details just how he’ll murder me if I bail. “I’ll grab us a couple of rooms.”

It’s the fact that he specifies that we’ll be getting two rooms that has me freaking out. He disappears into the hotel, leaving me with my thoughts.

Scrolling through the texts I’ve been ignoring, I begin to realize just how much I screwed up.

Someone tapping on the window makes me jump, and I look up to see Hoseok waiting for me. Clambering out of the car, my face flushes as I’m sure that he saw that I was reading his messages.

I want to ask him how he knew where to find me, but one look at his solemn expression has me closing my mouth before I can ask the question. I follow him through a back entrance in the hotel, watching his feet as they ascend the stairs.

“Let me just drop your things off in your room,” he says when we come to a stop outside of a hotel room. Swiping the card, he waits for me to enter and then marches inside. Turning on his heel, he goes to leave, not even looking at me.

“Wait!” I scramble to stop him, planting myself between him and the door. “What...how did you…?”

He’s staring holes into the space just above my head, but I refuse to shrink away from him. Slowly, those eyes slide down to meet mine.

I feel like I’ve been thrown into hell with that gaze.

“October 15th.”

I blink at him. “What?”

Hoseok sighs, his nostrils flaring. “You couldn’t wait it out, Ha-rin?” I flinch at the way he says my name. “I’ve been killing myself over trying to get us together and happy, but it’s never enough! And then you go and let some psychopath get up in your head, and just bail! You bailed before I could even wake up!”

His anger stokes my fire, and I stand up taller. “I didn’t just bail, Hoseok. You- you could have died! And you’re angry about that freaking me out? I saw what the stakes were and I stepped away. But you don’t -” I shove at his chest, “even - let - me - leave!”

Grabbing my wrists in his hands, he holds them above my head as he backs me back against the door. Leaning down so we’re eye-level, Hoseok’s eyes rake over my features like hot coals.

“What, you think the stakes are too high? You think this is because we’re together?” He laughs quietly, shaking his head. “Don’t flatter yourself. This is not the first time I’ve received death threats. It won't be the last time, either. This is my life,” Hoseok growls out, “so if the stakes are too high for you then you should have said so.”

Suddenly my anger dissolves as his words sink in. “No,” I whisper, desperately trying to backtrack. “T-that’s not-”

“Then what?” Hoseok demands, his grip on my wrists lightening a little but still keeping me frozen in place. “Because when I woke up in an empty bed, with nothing but a note saying ‘I’m sorry’ I kind of got the idea that you maybe didn’t want this. Was I wrong?” He hisses out the words, making me close my eyes against them.

I take a deep breath, shuddering at this new side of Hoseok. I think there’s a reason why I’ve never seen him angry before.

I think there’s a reason why he keeps that side of him on a very tight leash.

“You...Jihun said you’d be better off, and…” hearing myself speak I realize just how stupid this was. “I didn’t want you to get hurt, Hobi.” His eyes clear a bit and he seems to come back to his senses, releasing my wrists.

“And you couldn’t just tell me that?” He asks quietly, the bite in his voice long gone. Now, he looks exhausted.

I look down at my feet, feeling completely embarrassed. “No…? But, if you’re so mad at me, why are you even here right now?”

Hoseok looks at me like I’ve just grown a second head. “Rin-ah,” I let out a sigh of relief at the way he says my name. “This is what people do when they love each other. I wasn’t just going to cut my losses and move on with my life. Did you really think I would?”

I shrug. “Maybe?”

He reaches out to me but hesitates. “I...I’m sorry for being so angry. That was uncalled for.” I shake my head, but he continues. “But you need to talk to me, not take a bus to Busan. When you left after last night’s scare, I thought that you changed your mind about me. I thought that I lost you again.”

Now that I’m finally able to see if from his side, I groan, burying my face in my hands. “I...I’m so stupid.”

Hobi gives a startled laugh, pulling me into his arms. I go willingly, melting into his embrace. “I mean…”

Smacking his shoulder, we both laugh. Hobi detaches himself from me, running and jumping on the bed. I glare at him, walking over and shoving him to the side.

“Scoot,” I demand, squealing when he just pulls me onto the bed, laughing as I nearly bounce off of it. Wriggling around, trying to scoot away before he can get a hold of me, I laugh as his arms lock around my waist, pulling me in to lay beside him.

“Make me.”

I gasp at his brazenness, burying my face in a pillow. “How did you even know where to find me?”

“Oh, well it wasn’t that hard actually. Especially once Pdogg told me that you passed Puma off to him and told him that you’d be working remotely for a while. Busan is one of the farthest places you can go, and I know you. You’d go as far as you could without leaving the country.”

“So you drove.”

“I drove.”

“And you nearly killed a taxi driver while you were at it!”

Hobi groans, also collapsing atop the pillows. “I know, how embarrassing. Bang PD is gonna kill me.”

“I mean, what was going through your head? You sure gave those people a show. I bet you’re all over Twitter right now.”

“Correction,” he quips. “We’re all over Twitter right now. And I don’t know what I was thinking. I just saw you and I’d had an entire car ride to think about everything. I was angry, sure. But more...insecure? Yeah, more insecure than anything.”

I frown, sitting up on my elbows and fiddling with the pillow case. “Insecure? Why were you feeling insecure?”

He shrugs, staring up at the ceiling. “Like I said earlier...this kind of stuff, while not frequent, happens all the time. The threats, I mean. It’s just a part of my life, and I thought that you would have known that. So while a part of me knew that Jihun had gotten inside your head,” I shudder at the mere mention of the man, “I couldn’t help but think that you didn’t think that I was worth the trouble. So when I saw you clear down here, thinking that you could just leave me after everything we’ve been through...it hit hard. And so I wanted to make you see that I’d come all this way. That I am worth it.”

My heart splits in two at Hobi’s confession, and I snuggle in close to him. “I’m so sorry, Hobi. I didn’t even think about what you were feeling.”

He lets out a long sigh. “How are we even functioning after the past twenty-four hours?”

I laugh, shaking my head in disbelief. “I have no idea. Can we just go to sleep now?”

Hobi jumps up to turn off the lights, making me chuckle. “Yes. I would love nothing more.”

Then I remember the extra room he got. “Wait, are you going to the other room?”

He tilts his head to the side. “Other room?”

“Y’know, the second room? You mentioned that you were getting two.”

Hobi’s eyes light up with remembrance before he’s turning off the final light and finding his way to me in the dark. “Oooh, that. I was lying. I only got us one room.”

“What?”

Hobi’s giggle makes me smile. “I needed to keep you on your toes!”

♟

October 15th 2020

Puma turns out to be a hit. I get to start writing lyrics to more tracks after it hits the radio waves, Pdogg offering to be my mentor.

What we don’t tell Bang PD is that Hobi tends to be the one that spends the most time with me inside the studio.

Jihun is arrested, as well as his other friends that had a hand in threatening us.

I get new locks on my door.

And through it all, I learn about the boy that has taught me more about love than years of living in this world ever did.

Hoseok still ends up on the top floor of the building quite often, locked in that room at the end of the hallway and dancing for nobody. He once told me sometime in July or August that sometimes, he just wants to dance. It’s become his career, but sometimes he goes back to the young boy that just wanted to learn and hone his passion.

Sometimes I visit him up there, when we catch a break between the endless producing and performing. Amidst the pandemic and the aftermath of the chaos Jihun wrought, we order some takeout and eat on the floor.

Those are my favorite moments. Sitting with him with my back against the wall, stealing food from his plate as we swap stories or vent our frustrations.

I’ve learned that I can’t always take away his stress and struggles. He’s sometimes quiet, sulking about not being on tour and feeling so distant from what he’s come to expect from life. Those are the moments when I beg him to order dessert and I stay a little longer until the clouds in his eyes have broken up a little.

For the past few weeks, however, Hobi and I have hardly been able to see each other. Bang PD found out about our little relationship once Hobi’s trip to Busan hit the social media apps, some very interesting photos of the two of us getting into the same car clueing him in on our relationship. He has hardly been accommodating, holding my contract over my head every chance he gets. I swear, if I look at Hobi for more than two seconds at a time Bang PD is threatening to enforce the rules of my contract. 

I swear, if I hear him say ‘you signed and agreed to this!’ one more time, I’ll quit.

He’s been keeping me busy with TXT’s new album coming at the end of October, and Hobi is swimming in promotions and final tweaks to their album.

I think he’s out with the boys filming something today. It’s quiet as I head up to the top floor, carrying my lunch with me. I enter the practice room, hoping to see Hoseok’s familiar face but find it empty. Sighing, I head over to my usual corner and sit down, beginning to eat.

I nearly choke on my rice when the door swings open less than ten minutes later, Hobi striding in with a happy smile.

“I thought I’d find you up here,” he states proudly, plopping down beside me.

“Don’t you have promos today?” I ask around my food, batting his hand away when he tries to grab some of my food.

“Oh, yeah. We’re finished though.”

“Really? That was fast.”

Hoseok smiles, nodding absentmindedly. “You haven’t looked at the news, have you?”

I pull my phone out. “...no? Why? Did you do something crazy?”

He laughs. “Maybe. I’ll let you be the judge of that.” I give him a quizzical look, immediately pulling up my news app. I scroll around for a little while.

“I’m not seeing…” I gasp as an article pops up. “What?”

BTS now owns 33.33% of Bighit Entertainment - what this means for the future of Bighit and K-pop

“You...you freaking own part of Bighit?!”

Hobi laughs, scooting closer. “Well, kind of. With the other guys. Together we own one third. Kind of cool, right?”

I look at him, utterly shocked. “How long have you known about this?”

He shrugs. “Let’s see...today is October 15th…” he starts counting on his fingers, but my mind is elsewhere.

“Wait. That’s what you said, back in April.”

He blinks at me. “Said what?”

“When you came to Busan! You said something about October 15th...was this it?”

With his heart-shaped smile, Hobi laughs. “Yeah, this was it. Remember how I kept telling you that we wouldn’t have to hide forever? You wonder why Bang PD hasn’t made us break up when he found out about us?”

I stare at the man beside me, my mind going a million miles an hour. “What are you saying?”

Hobi stands up, pulling me up with him. “Come on.” He leads me out the door, taking me to the elevator. “We own a chunk of the company down, so technically, if I were to, say, get all the boys on board with the idea of us, we could possibly convince the CEO of said company to shift a few things around on your contract.”

The doors of the elevator open, Hobi tugging me inside. He punches some buttons, but I keep staring at him like he just offered to fly me to the moon.

“So anyway, that’s where I’ve been the past week or so. Negotiating some terms with Bang PD and convincing the boys to back me up. Now today is the big day.”

The doors open up, revealing us to be on Bang PD’s floor. Pulling me along like an excited school-boy, Hobi throws open the door to find Bang PD sitting behind his desk. He hardly looks up at us, simply pushing a packet across the desk closer to us. Hobi grabs it, extending it to me.

“Here. Your new contract. It’s mainly the same as before except now…” Hobi takes this time to get a little embarrassed, a faint blush dusting his cheeks. “Now, we don’t have to worry about hiding. Not anymore.”

My eyes are glued to his face, still in shock at the sudden turn of events. “You...you did all of this?”

Hobi nods, chewing the inside of his cheek. “Yes. Of course I did.” He laughs to himself. “You have this strange idea of where you should be. You thought that you had to stay away from me even when I was practically throwing myself at your feet,” I cringe at the memory, “and then you thought you should move to Busan just to keep me safe.”

Hobi glances at Bang PD who’s pretending that he can’t hear us. Taking a pen from the desk, Hobi pulls me back out into the hallway. When he sees that it’s bustling with activity, he leads me to the stairwell beside the elevator.

“I think what I’m trying to say is that...that you should be here. With me. Through it all, we should be together. Because we love each other, don’t we? And we’re a mess and we’ve put each other through too much heartache to be good, but I love you. And I think that maybe part of love is walking away when it’s to save the other, but love is also running after each other and never giving up. So that’s what I’ve been doing. Running after this,” he holds up the contract, shaking it in the air with disdain. “Because you deserve to choose for once. You deserve to be where you want to be. I just really, really hope it’s with me. Because if it isn’t...then that just made this whole speech so much cringier.”

By the time he finishes, I’ve already made my decision. In fact, I think I made my decision nearly two years ago.

“In what world would I not choose you?” I ask incredulously. “Hoseok, is this real? No more hiding?”

Hobi smiles in relief. “It’s real. I have it in writing.”

I grab the contract, chuckling. “Does it say something in the fine print about loving you forever or else you’ll sue me?”

Hobi stands beside me, planting a kiss on my temple. “Of course it does, I have to protect my heart somehow.”

I extend my hand out to him, looking into the face that I’ve come to love so dearly. I’m not sure if I deserve him, still. I’m afraid that I’ve put him through too much pain.

How can one still love so fully even after having their heart broken over and over again by the same person?

Perhaps it’s time I learn to forgive myself the way that he’s forgiven me.

I think I would like that. A fresh start, by Hoseok’s side.

“Pen, please.”

Fin.

--

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taglist: @taylorroe3​ @dreamcatcherjiah @diorhoba @eusticenatalie @ddaeng-i-need-help

[myaekingheart]

20 [Fanfic Writer] Questions Game

Thank you so much for tagging me, @lemony-snickers! This is tons of fun, I love answering these kinds of big questionnaires 😂💕 Also putting mine under a cut because there’s a lot of questions and I like to ramble. 

Also gonna go ahead and just tag whoever wants to do this! 😅💕

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

As of August 27, 2021, I have a total of 77 works on my AO3! 

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

Funny enough, I was just looking at this, specifically, earlier today and kind of laughing about it. Right now, my total word count across all my works is 1,148,941 😬 

3. How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

Apparently 12, but some of them I don’t really consider “big” in my fandom repertoire. Naruto is my greatest fandom with a total of 60 fics so far, followed by The Chronicles of Narnia and Rise of the Guardians. The rest are ones I either did crossover fics with or just did one-off little pieces with--The Incredibles, Tangled, Brave, How to Train Your Dragon, Arthurian Mythology, Disney Princesses, Fairy Tales and Related Fandoms, Back to the Future, and Frozen. 

4. What are your Top Five fics by kudos?

The Scarecrow and The Bell (Naruto) - 470 kudos The Day Kakashi’s Mask Slipped (Naruto) - 139 kudos Sunflowers (Naruto) - 92 kudos Sakumo the House Husband (Naruto) - 81 kudos Someone to Lean On (Naruto) - 67 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I always try to respond to comments, because I like to acknowledge when people respond to my work. I cherish comments like nobody’s business, especially when they’re kind and reactionary. I just really love seeing/hearing what people think of the way a story is progressing, or what they thought of a one-shot. Comments keep me going especially when it comes to longfic so I want to be able to let readers know that I do in fact see their comments, that I’m acknowledging what they’re saying, and that I appreciate them. Plus, it can be kind of fun to tease upcoming events in a fic through responses to people’s comments, too. Because I’m mean. 

6. What fic have you written with the angstiest ending?

Definitely Hothouse (Rise of the Guardians/The Incredibles; Jack Frost x Violet Parr; American Horror Story AU). This was the first multi-chaptered fic I ever wrote to completion and I honestly cringe when I remember it exists both because it’s so poorly organized (and full of nasty plot holes) and because I just went ham on the gore factor. It definitely has a really bittersweet and heartbreaking ending to it, too. 

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I think I’ll definitely have to say Temptation. The story itself was kind of a ride, and it’s only the first installment in a series, but it follows the plot of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe but remixed due to the presence of an original character, but the ending is still roughly the same as the original: they defeat the evil, the Pevensies are all crowned kings and queens, happy days. Reading the last few paragraphs of the last chapter honestly still gets me all up in my feelings. 

8. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I used to be more of a crossover writer due to one of my main ships being a crossover ship. They weren’t super crazy, though, because they were both CGI-animated films. The craziest crossover I’ve ever written is an in-progress/unfinished multichapter piece, Kakashi, Enchanted, that sees our favorite Copy Ninja get kamui’d into the Disney princess dimension and has to help the likes of Snow White, Cinderella, and Rapunzel on his journey to find a way back to his own world. It’s a super weird premise but definitely one of my more lighthearted works and fun to revisit when I need to decompress. 

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I don’t think I’ve ever received hate so much as I’ve received criticism. The closest I ever got to hate on a fic, I think, was someone left an overly personal and mentally disturbed comment on a chapter of my main fic that made me convinced they needed to seek therapy and deal with their own personal issues rather than take it out on a fanfic about animated ninjas. 

10. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Maybe 👀 I’m super vanilla when it comes to smut, though. I think the wildest thing I’ve ever written in smut is breeding kink. 

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of, and I hope I never will. 

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet! I had someone ask to translate a one-shot of mine in Russian but I never got a response back when I laid out my terms and conditions. 

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have not! I used to do paragraph-style roleplay which was kind of like cowriting fanfiction but writing is so personal and sacred to me that I don’t know if I could ever actually cowrite a fic with someone. I like brainstorming with other people, but writing for me is more of a deeply personal and independent endeavour. 

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Oh god, this is a tricky question because it depends on fandom. I absolutely love New Dream (Rapunzel x Eugene, Tangled) and have for the past ten years, and my love for them as only grown since watching Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. I don’t write or even really read a ton of fanfiction for them, though. I’m also still highly dedicated to my favorite crossover crackship, Frostfield (Jack Frost x Violet Parr, Rise of the Guardians/The Incredibles) and to this day, if you search for that ship on AO3, I am the sole provider of every single fic about them so far. I’m not as active with them as I used to be, but they got me through some really rough times back in the day and still mean so much to me. A lot of my favorite ships across fandoms, though, are honestly canon x OC ships of mine because I am a self-indulgent bitch who needs to project. So Peter Pevensie x Eilonwy (The Chronicles of Narnia) and Kakashi Hatake x Rei Natsuki (Naruto) are really important to me and I’ve poured so much of myself specifically into their stories. I think it’s safe to say Kakashi and Rei is my all-time favorite ship across all fandoms, though, just because of how much their story means to me. The Scarecrow and The Bell is my magnum opus, my pride and joy, and I’m sure it will be my biggest fandom footprint of my entire life. I’ve dedicated the past three years to this story and these characters and I intend to continue doing it until it no longer brings me joy (which I hope it always will). There’s just so much I could say about this story and Kakashi and Rei’s relationship but I don’t think we have enough time or space in this post for that 😅 Just know that they mean the world to me and I will always hold them in the highest regard as a beautifully messy, flawed, passionate, soulmate-y ship that I love with all of my heart 🥺

EDIT: I also feel obligated to tack on some of my absolute favorite Naruto ships because I may not have written for all of them (yet) but they still make me unbelievably happy or I find them really compelling and enjoy the idea of exploring them: 

Naruhina is precious happy sunshine and The Last honestly felt like a wonderful Disney princess movie to me, it was so cute and the romance was so on-point, Naruhina just makes me so incredibly happy and I love them with all my heart. 

MinaKushi also gets me all up in my feels and I adore them with every fiber of my being. Their romance also gave me Disney princess movie vibes which I love, their story is just so damn sweet as is their character dynamic and I am still so heartbroken that they never got to be a happy family with Naruto because you know what? It’s what they deserved!

SasuSaku is so compelling to me and I really feel like we were cheated out of seeing their relationship develop and evolve postwar in the same way The Last did for Naruhina. They’re my favorite angst ship and while I don’t think they were written that well in canon, I love the possibility and potential of them together and am excited to explore them more in-depth in my own writing. 

NejiTen is just too cute, I really love the way Neji and Tenten’s personalities compliment each other? I don’t have much else to say about them except that I really love them together and think they have so much untapped potential that I also can’t wait to explore in more depth in my own writing. 

15. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Paper Hearts and Impromptu Bookmarks, probably. I love the premise of this story a lot and I have so many interesting ideas for it but at the same time, it also feels kind of cheap and cringey to me, in a way? It takes all of these ideas I probably would have had if I had been into Naruto when I was a kid and kind of compiles them all into one big story. Kakashi and Aiko’s relationship and story is still really important to me and I want to continue it someday but for right now, I just haven’t had the motivation or desire to write any more of it. I think I’m just so overwhelmingly preoccupied with writing Kakashi and Rei’s story that I can’t imagine writing any other Kakashi x OC fics right now. 

16. What are your writing strengths?

I want to say that I’m really good at capturing complex emotion? I don’t know, I write a lot of angst and mental upheaval in my fics which can be really difficult to try and capture, but I think I do a decent enough job of it? And just writing difficult subjects in general. I think it’s really important to address difficult topics such as mental illness and relationship difficulties and everything but I also want to try and write those topics in a way that is both authentic to the experience while also still tasteful. I don’t want to drive readers away with heavy subject matter but rather present a situation that feels real and authentic while also still being digestible. I may not be doing a very good job of that during the current arc of my fic that I’m working on, but I’m trying haha

EDIT 2: I also want to add onto this to say that I’m really proud of my organizational techniques for writing longfic. It’s not necessarily a strength in terms of the prose itself but it’s something that’s taken me years to really get a grasp on and find a method that works perfectly for me and so far, it’s been extremely helpful and beneficial to me. I don’t know where I would be now as a writer without these essential tools in my pocket. 

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I feel like I do a really bad job of the “show, don’t tell” thing. It can be really hard to balance descriptive prose with straightforward writing that moves things along. I don’t want to dwell on mental dialogue to the point where you lose track of what’s going on, but I also don’t want my stuff to read like “Character A did xyz. Character B said abc. They went to 123″, whatever. Another thing I struggle with is sentence variation. I always fall into the same patterns when I’m writing prose and I get really self-conscious about it because I don’t want to sound repetitive or disrupt the flow of the writing. One of my favorite things about prose is focusing on the cadence of the words, I think it’s one of the most beautiful things about writing in general, but it can just be really difficult to get a good grip on that. I’ve been told in the past that I apparently have a really good grasp/control of the language or whatever but sometimes I just find that really hard to believe when I look at my work with such scrutiny. I think one of my biggest pet peeves with my own writing, too, is feeling like I start all of my sentences the same five different ways. I’ll read other people’s works and they’ll write sentences like “Glass-blue water lapped against the shores of a deserted beach as a lonely woman gazed off into the distance” and I can just never figure out how to realistically write sentences that start like that in the context of my prose and it drives me fucking crazy, like I’m definitely jealous  😅

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I’ve never really thought much about it before, but I think there are pros and cons! For bilingual/multilingual readers, I think it can be a really enriching reading experience because they know what’s being said in both languages. For people who only know one language, however, unless a translation is provided, I feel like it can be really alienating. I think the best use of that for both worlds is using it as a means for miscommunication humor. Other than that, I think it can be a slippery slope that depends on what kind of reader you are and how it’s written. 

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The Chronicles of Narnia! My very first fanfiction was a Narnia fanfic that I barely remember except that it laid the basis for Temptation and my Narnia fanfic series as a whole. I never posted this first iteration anyway, but I remember it was 2008/2009 and I wrote a solid 80 pages (which was wild for me at the time) and had gotten halfway through remixing the events of Prince Caspian when my computer crashed and I lost absolutely everything. I’m still heartbroken that it’s gone forever, not because I’d want to go back and read it necessarily (since I’m sure it was actually hot garbage) but at least for nostalgia’s sake. Either way, like I said, this long-lost fic laid the basis for the very first fanfiction I ever posted, the first published (and never finished) iteration of Temptation back in 2011 on deviantART and the since-defunct Figment. I fell out of the fandom around 2012/2013 and left the story alone for a while before ultimately deciding to completely redux and rewrite the story when the fixation swung back around again between 2016 and 2018. 

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Despite the fact that it’s still in-progress, definitely The Scarecrow and The Bell. This fic just genuinely means so damn much to me and I will cherish it for the rest of my life because of how much it’s given me, how much love and passion and time and even parts of myself that I have poured into this, and also just how expansive of a story this is. Not only does it touch on some very dark and heavy topics, but I’ve also created so much of my own characters and meta for this story that it’s almost an entire universe in and of itself. I’ve just contributed so much additional world-building and created so many new OCs to fill important roles in this story and in Rei’s life, and they’ve all become so deeply important to me as they’ve developed further over the years. I’ve come up with so many interesting ideas for everyone and their lives, which are all slowly becoming so rich and varied. Not to mention that it’s my most popular fic to date as well as my longest fic at 632k and counting. I’ve really just genuinely poured so much of my heart and soul into this story, it’s my absolute favorite thing I’ve ever done and I really mean it when I say that I will cherish it for the rest of my life. 

[henrycavell]

homecoming part 2

summary: Syverson has been medically discharged from the army after a suicide attempt. He’d been able to hide his deteriorating mental health for years from the men around him, but now he has to face it head on. Hopefully not alone.

word count: 1,899

pairing: Syverson x OFC warnings: none

authors note: this is another slow/kind of boring chapter!! sorry, i don’t want to make these chapters very long because i know when i read fanfics i prefer shorter chapters soooo, but i promise next chapter is gonna be sad and probably hurt your feelings <3

taglist;  @littlefreya​ @mary-ann84​ @wondersofdreaming​ @forthebrokenheartedthings​ @geralt-of-baevia​ @asylummara​ @dearlybelovedluke​ @promptandpros​ @mansaaay​ @daddys-littlewhitegirl​ @vacant-writings​ ​ @80scavill​ @kaatelyyynn

PART 1 | PART 2

So the first meeting with Syverson could've gone better. Penelope had better first impressions with Aika than the with the former captain, but she was determined to turn things around. Returning to his home the next weekend, Penelope knocked before letting herself in, multiple grocery bags hanging from her arms. "Hey!" Her voice echoed quietly in the hall, the only response she was given besides the sound of Aika's nails hitting the wooden floors as she came running down the stairs. Making a mental note to schedule her an appointment with the groomers', Penelope brought the groceries into the kitchen, setting them down on the table. 

Syverson's pick-up hadn't been in the drive today, but Penelope didn't think on it too much. Beginning to take the groceries out of the first bag, Aika went running up to the back door, placing her paw up near the door knob and whining. "Need out, girl?" Penelope asked, setting down the coffee she held in her hands. Before letting Aika run free in the backyard, Penelope checked to make sure the gate was secure and then disappeared back inside to continue putting up all the groceries she'd bought. Every few minutes, Penelope would raise her head to look out the window to make sure Aika was still in sight. She couldn't help but feel on edge, she was still in a complete stranger's home and it was even worse when she knew he was out. 

Her gaze moved around the kitchen, noticing a thin layer of dust on the window sills and in the back edges of the counters. The floors looked like they could've used a decent mopping and there was a small pile of dishes in the sink too. Checking on Aika once more, Penelope moved to open the back door and decided to leave it open, allowing the dog to decide when she wanted to come back in. Placing her phone on the kitchen table, Penelope played her favorite band as she moved around the kitchen, starting with wiping down the counters and sweeping, before making her way to other rooms in the house. 

♫ We get colder As we grow older We will walk So much slower ♫

Making her way down the stairs after cleaning in every room upstairs, Penelope held a basket of dirty clothes on her hip with the intention of taking them to the laundry. Aika sat at the foot of the step, with her leash in her mouth, her head cocking to the side when the two made eye contact. "What's up, Aika?" Penelope asked, stepping off the last step before reaching down to take the leash from the dog. "You wanna go on a walk, huh?" Dropping the basket by her feet, Penelope knelt and clipped the leash to the dog's collar, holding it tightly in her hand as she opened the front door. "Okay girl, c'mon!"

Syverson had been gone most of that morning and afternoon to a psych appointment. He hated Friday mornings for that exact reason, twice a month a doctor sat across from him and tried picking his brain apart. And then by the end of the appointment, usually his meds were switched around, doses were changed. It was all such a big headache. Shutting the door behind him, he let himself slump against it, his shoulders drooping as he waited to hear the sound of Aika's paws hitting the floor.

Except he didn't. And the air around him had a slight scent of lemons to it. Pulling his brow together, Syverson stood up straight again and looked down seeing a laundry basket that he surely hadn't left there. "Aika?" No answer. Even though he was telling himself not to panic, Syverson could feel his heart start to pound heavy in his chest. Moving through the house, he stepped into the kitchen and saw things had been moved around, the dishes had been washed and new things sat on the counter like a fresh loaf of bread and a new box of cereal.

"Penelope?"

Still no answer. Sliding the back door open, Syverson stepped out onto the porch and called once more for his dog before his hands started to shake. Panic ran through every vein as he turned on his heel and returned back into the kitchen. If he could've just paused, taken a deep breath and just thought logically for just a second, he would've realized there was nothing to worry about. That it was obvious the volunteer from the VA had been here, that Aika's collar was missing from next to the front door, that they were just on a walk. But the only thought running through his head was that Aika was gone. Just gone.

Just breathe, he told himself, forcing his feet to carry him into the living room where he sank down on the couch. He let his head fall back, staring up at the ceiling as he took in deep breaths through his nose, trying to focus on how his chest would rise and fall. Closing his eyes, Sy told himself to wait, to try and relax before he spiraled out of control.

Penelope had only taken Aika for a short walk around the block. It had only been about ten minutes after Syverson arrived back home that they came in through the front door. The door shut behind Penelope and Syverson rocketed up off of the couch in the living room, no longer able to listen to the voice in his head trying to calm him down. Penelope unlatched the leash off of Aika’s collar, and the second she was free, she darted straight up to Syverson, whose entire body was tense and rigid. She licked his hand, but he didn't respond, instead, glaring a hole into the side of Penelope's head, waiting for her to give him her attention. When her eyes lifted to meet his, he launched straight into screaming. "You don't take my dog anywhere!" He stepped forward, backing Penelope up against the door. Aika whined, laying down in the floor on her belly, hiding her eyes behind her paws.

Caught off guard, Penelope pressed her back up against the door, lifting her hands up by instinct, her eyes widening in fear as Syverson seemed to grow in size, bulking up on her. "What’s the matter? I just took her for a walk-"

"I don't care!" Syverson shouted, feeling like his face was on fire, sure that it was blistering red. He didn't trust Aika with anyone, certainly not a weak looking thing like Penelope. Syverson only knew Aika to listen to him and he didn't even want to think about half of the horrible scenarios running through his mind had she broken loose from the girl. Aika was more than just a dog to him. Hell, Aika was the only thing keeping him alive, especially on his bad days. His hands tightened into fists by his sides, veins popping out and running up his arm. Penelope could feel her heart hit her stomach, watching the anger on the man's face as his chest swelled. "Get out," he growled.

"W-what?" Penelope frowned, pulling her brow together as she looked down at his fists. She could feel her heart in her throat, wondering briefly to herself if he was the type to hit a woman. His fist alone seemed like it was the size of her head and she didn't really want to think too hard on how it might feel to be hit by a man his size. Aika was getting back to her feet, coming up behind Sy's legs, nudging her head against his knees in an attempt to comfort him, hoping it would help him to cool down.

"Get. Out." His voice had lowered now, though Penelope could still hear the exasperation in his voice. The man took a step back, his hand reaching down to scratch behind Aika's ears, trying his damnedest to get himself under control. Penelope felt frozen, her feet glued to the floor as she felt hot, burning tears in her eyes. For the last few hours she had worked hard around his home, nearly finished with everything besides his laundry. "Don't make me tell you again, girl!" Syverson stepped back towards her, feeling his anger spike once more. The sharp gaze he gave her was enough to startle her into jumping forward, slinging the front door open.

He slammed the door closed behind her and she heard the locks falling into place. Her hands were trembling as she looked over her shoulder towards the front door, slowly moving off of the porch. This time, Penelope had no intention of coming back. There had been plenty of times where she found herself in arguments or uncomfortable situations with other veterans she helped, but never had she felt directly threatened. Penelope kept her head down as she hurried to her car, not taking a second glance back.

That evening, Penelope had been quick to submit a report on Syverson, detailing his sizable outburst and how she had felt threatened. One of her counselors had asked if she felt comfortable continuing to see the former captain and she had answered no. 

"I'm sorry this happened," he sighed, closing Syverson's file and pointing towards the door, seeing Penelope out. "I'll have you a new client on Monday morning." 

It didn't feel good giving up on someone, but she told herself that she had to put herself first, her safety first. Penelope had never found herself in a situation with a man where she felt in danger, but now when she closed her eyes, her brain was just sending her into what if circumstances, the image of his tightened fists and clenched jaw permanently etched into her mind. Penelope just nodded, trying to keep her head held up as she left the counselor's office.

Out in the hall, she was having a hard time shaking this sinking feeling she had, like guilt was already beginning to eat her alive and she had only made her decision mere moments ago. Heading out into the lobby, Penelope stopped by the front desk, leaning her elbow against it and letting out a heavy sigh. The receptionist, a girl named Katherine, looked up at her and gave a confused look. "You alright? Ready to sign out, girly?" At the same time, a psychiatrist came walking up to the desk to check back in from their lunch hour. 

"Not really-" Penelope sighed, hearing her phone ding in her pocket, but for the moment, she ignored it. "When do you get off today? Wanna go get drinks?" she asked, picking up the pen to scribble her name on the sign-out sheet. 

Outside, the sun was already beginning to hide behind the horizon and storm clouds were rolling in. There was a heavy scent in the air, like the smell right before it rains. Penelope had been disappointed to hear that Katherine was pulling a double shift as she sank into the driver seat of her car. It seemed like she was heading to the bar alone.

Ding! Her phone went off a second time, reminding her of the message she had ignored only a few minutes prior. Her eyebrows raised slightly when she saw the the name that popped up on the small screen.

𝚃𝚎𝚡𝚝: 𝟽:𝟸𝟹𝚙𝚖 𝚂𝚢𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚛.