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x0401x · 4 years ago

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Jeweler Richard Fanbook Short Story #12

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Suit Story

If you went through Ginza’s Main Street from 7-chome to 1-chome, the change in the city’s atmosphere would shock you. Bulgari, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Chanel. Felt like you could play shiritori with these high-class brand names. It was a fun neighborhood to stroll around during Christmas season, as all the stores would come up with elaborate plans for the decorative lights, but it was currently autumn. The store most closely related to me in these vicinities was the long-established stationery store where I went to buy stationery. It was, however...

“Please raise your arms a little more.”

“All right.”

“Pull your chin back a bit. Yeah, that’s great.”

“Haah. Is this really right?”

“Of course. Might be hard, but please do relax.”

For whatever reason, I was across the street from the stationery store, practically in front of it, on the second floor of a branded men’s fashion store originally from England. On the walls of this mysterious-gentleman-themed space, which housed a bar counter and even a huge aquarium, there were clusters of business suits, pants and waistcoats with basting threads attached to them in conspicuous spots.

It was a place for taking measurements for custom-made stuff.

I couldn’t get over the feeling that this was some kind of mistake. Wasn’t this the stationery store? The place where you could buy vanilla-colored envelopes for 30 yen each? Or illustrated writing paper with seasonal vibes, or pens.

“Seigi, you are too nervous.”

“Nakata-san is such an imp, but so are you.”

Leaning against the bar counter, Richard shrugged his shoulders, indicating possibility.

Today was Thursday. Having been called by Richard, who said he wanted to ask me to do some odd job, I went over to the front of Etranger, and then we came to this store in the green jaguar. Just when I thought he was gonna make me hang with him for shopping, the man on the driver seat hastily took out his phone, showing me a video letter from my dad, Nakata-san.

“Seigi, congrats on your graduation. I wanted to go suit shopping with you, but I’m in Jakarta, so I’ll be borrowing Richard-san’s assistance for that. Seems like people are getting them custom-made lately. Make sure to buy a good one. Well, see ya.”

Richard had watched over me in the passenger seat as my eyes got wet, but the tears drew back in when we stepped into the store.

While talking lightheartedly about the difference between English and Italian suits, the young clerk, who wasn’t all too apart from me in age, smoothly took my body measurements with a measuring tape and showed me countless textures.

“You can also choose the lining. What should we do about the pockets?”

When I started getting dizzy, said man, who was like a page of suits, began giving me suggestions from behind. I had nowhere to run. I was really going to have my suit made here. As I picked a charcoal-gray suit with blue lining, Richard quickly told me that tanzanite cuffs would look very nice in it. Of course, I was thinking the exact same thing.

By the moment that the Onii-san finished the measuring and disappeared into the back of the store to take notes, I heaved a deep sigh. “This kinda stuff’s been happening a lot lately. All I ever do is receive.”

When I said that, Richard laughed, giggles ringing up his throat.

Richard had two types of smiles, and whenever he raised his voice while laughing, if I refused to back down, he’d often give me a word of advice of some sort. When it was a silent smile, I’d feel like he was telling me in some way to “reflect about myself”, which would make me a bit anxious, but I liked both.

Walking up next to me as I stood in front of the mirror, Richard grinned. “It is no longer guaranteed that your body will grow out of your clothes. Isn’t it fun to sometimes purchase slightly larger clothes and try to wait for your body’s growth?”

“Feeling like this talk doesn’t have the ‘sleep well and drink milk’ kinda nuance to it.”

The reply was a smile. How strange. Richard’s face was right at my left side, but the smile in the mirror was looking directly at me. Clad in a double-button slender silhouette suit, his figure was perfect no matter from what angle I looked at it, like an extraordinarily fine jewel, so my own figure as I tensed up beside him appeared even weirder.

“Hey, Richard, I kinda have the feeling that suits are like the base metals of jewelry.”

“Are you referring to the foundation parts of rings, earrings and such?”

I nodded. The base metal was the metal part that formed the foundation for attaching gemstones to jewelry. In stores, people would often memorize the materials and call them by their names, such as gold base metal or platinum base metal.

It was a part that never played the leading role in Etranger, which handled accessories with gemstones on them. But it’d be hard to wear jewelry on the body without it, and it was also a part that allowed people to express their particularities regarding the materials, durability and design. Whether they would be prominent or not depended on the basis. Erm, this was probably what a jeweler from Kyoto that I was acquainted with would say. The contrary was also possible.

“Gotta psyche myself up. If I don’t become someone that won’t lose to this suit, I’d feel bad.”

“This is my personal opinion, but there is nothing more tiring to look at than a jewelry in which the gem and base metal are at rivalry with one another. What you should emphasize is the harmony. Just because you use the finest high-grade eggs and milk as ingredients, it does not mean you will create the best pudding – is that not the same thing?”

“Ah...”

When I replied that, indeed, high-end ingredients were often strongly in demand, the beautiful man nodded with an “exactly as you say”. By the looks of it, those were the sweets that he was into lately. I hadn’t been able to take time some for it at all due to being busy, but I decided to make pudding again one of these days and offer to him. Despite having a wallet that enabled him to eat as many high-grade desserts as he wanted, Richard would always be delighted anew no matter how many of them I made, which made me believe that, as one would expect, he had a talent for pleasing people. I was grateful for his existence.

“Both suits and jewelry are goods that exist for the sake of their owners. The initiative is clear from the start. You must handling it skillful and comfortably, not fight against it. That is why it is custom-made.”

“So you’re also ‘skillfully handling’ the clothes you’re wearing right now?”

“Evidently. Enough that I do not know anymore at what point it ends and I begin.” With that said, Richard sleekly patted his suit. I wanted to try saying that too someday.

We exchanged glances not through the mirror but directly.

When the clerk Onii-san came back, the measuring recommenced. I got kind of embarrassed as he praised me, saying I was well-relaxed.

“Seigi-kun, good work! Wow, that suit looks really great on you.”

“Thanks, Tanimoto-san. Uh, this print on your furisode, could it be—”

“I was told it’s a modern type of print, but yep, it’s kinda like...”

“It looks like a bismuth crystal!”

With a face that said, “I know, right”, a dandy crease formed under her eyes, which were just a bit more on-the-mark than usual. Her bob-cut hair was the same as always, her cream-colored hakama paired with a yellow-green and dark blue furisode, which bore a mysterious geometric pattern print. On top of being cute, it was unique. She said it was rented, but I got emotional upon finding out there was a furisode that was so much like her.

As for me, I was wearing a double-button English suit that fit my body extremely well. It was a little embarrassing, but the creatures called college boys were more or less the same kind of individuals as myself, so they weren’t too mindful of their male friends’ clothes. Only one of them, who had found employment in the apparel industry, said that “the suit Nakata’s wearing is so nice”.

It was the graduation ceremony of Kasaba University. We gathered in the excessively large auditorium for all but an instant, and once we had our diplomas in hand, it was the beginning of a rapid shooting party, where we took pictures with our preferred friends in spaces near the auditorium. Tanimoto-san came running over to the spot near the central library, where we had decided to meet up.

“Seigi-kun, really, congrats. Things might get hard from now on, but if it’s you, everything will definitely be okay.”

“Thank you. I’ll do my best. I don’t think I’m that big of a deal, though...”

“That’s not true. I know very well how awesome you are.”

I played around a little and bowed my head, also congratulating Tanimoto-san for her graduation, she laughed with a “huhuhu”, looking happy.

She had passed in teaching and she would officially be a middle school science teacher starting this April. She fulfilled the dream that she had told me about when we were in our second year of undergrad. So cool. She had laughed when I said I wanted to take her classes if it were ever possible, but now I knew her video communication address, so it might be that I could actually get to attend her lectures at least once. Even if I were no longer living in Japan.

“Tanimoto-san, the school you’re assigned to is...”

“In Okayama Prefecture. It’s famous for the Katsuta Group of vicarya fossils. Compared to you, it’s next-door.”

In a few days, my address would change from Japan to Sri Lanka. I was going to be a jeweler apprentice. I had been told that I would often have to move around in rough dress, so sure enough, I was going to dedicate myself to wearing formal stuff for the time being. It was a bit of a waste, but Nakata-san and Richard had probably given me a chance to wear this kind of thing because they knew about that.

I could hear a voice in the distance calling, “Shouko~”. It was apparently a friend of Tanimoto-san’s. She waved at them in response.

“Seigi-kun, y’know... I think I was very lucky to meet you in this university. Literally thank you. Thanks to you, university was always fun.”

“Those are all my lines. But Tanimoto-san, I only ever gave you trouble.”

“If you’re gonna say that, same goes for me. I feel like you’ve granted me many opportunities. Seriously, thank you.”

When she smiled, saying she was going to do her best, she looked really cute. Neither of us had any familiarity with Okayama, but surely, she would actively pave the way with her own strength no matter where she was. And on her days off, she would go out to the Katsuta Group to dig up fossils.

“From now on too, if there’s anything I can help you with, I want you to tell me. I’ll do anything. If you run into any weirdo, I’ll get on a plane and come give them a beating.”

“Me too; if anyone ever messes up with you, Seigi-kun, I’ll take my crack hammer and go finish them off. Look forward to it. Ah, Aki told me that a sniper rifle suits me better, apparently?”

“I-I wonder.”

After that, we talked for a while, seated on an inconspicuous bench, and when it was finally time, she told me to at least take care of my body, offering me her hand. I nodded and squeezed it back. Her hand was small but very strong.

“Take care of your body, at the very least. May the blessings of the stones fall upon you.”

“Thank you. You too.”

We bowed deeply, taking pictures with each other while we were at it, and once we were done with the commemorative photoshoot, in which the two of us kept a moderate distance from one another, we parted ways. Students here and there were hugging intensely and wailing, but neither she nor I were that type, and I didn’t think this would be farewell for a lifetime. We would definitely get to see each other from now on too.

However, this was our last time seeing each other while we were students. After the handshake, my angel waved her hand with a “see you”, even more brightly than an actual angel.

Later on, having finished looking around for the friends that I could call friends and going on a tour to tell them “thank you for everything until now”, lastly, I sent a brief text. Not to Richard. To Nakata-san and Hiromi.

“I was able to graduate from university without problems. Thank you very much, truly. I will be in your care from now on too.”

Rather than a greeting, it turned into a notice to announce my renewed determination. The stylish suit indeed gave off an extraordinary feeling of fittingness, but I couldn’t think I was fully used to it. Obviously. It finished being made just a while ago. It would start from here. If it would take on my shape the more I wore it, then I would make sure to wear it steadily to my own liking.

What mattered was the harmony, he had said.

While smoothly stroking the suit, which I still couldn’t deem as anything other than formal wear, as if I were stroking my favorite gemstone, I seared the contrast of cherry blossom petals against the blue sky into my eyes.

#housekishou richard shi no nazo kantei #housekishou richard #jeweler richard #the case files of jeweler richard #nakata seigi #richard ranashinghe de vulpian #richard ranashinha de vulpian #tanimoto shouko #richard #tsujimura nanako #yukihiro utako #novel #jr short story collection #my translation

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ziggyzagreus · 4 years ago

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Active Listening

[Pairing: Charon/Hermes - Fandom: Hades (Video Game)]

[Rating: No Rating Applied]

[Important Tags: Fluff, Getting Together (Kinda), Hermes is Nervous and I love him for that]

[Fic Type: SFW Drabble]

[AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28365528 ]

[Summary: Hermes contemplates the growth of companionship between himself and his Professional Business Associate.]

[Note: This was inspired by replies to a post by @deathonholiday where people were just basically sharing their Charon/Hermes headcanons soooo here we go, lol.]

~~~

Hermes did not know at which point he started being able to understand Charon. Or rather, when something had shifted significantly enough for his own mind to slow down adequately for the boatman to worm his way inside, for that somehow soothing voice contrary to the audible sound it had to sound in the Olympian god’s mind and respond to his own ramblings. It certainly had taken a long time, for the messenger additionally could not recall hearing the low drawls of Charon’s scraping voice for the first while of their association.

A shift in character, perhaps it had taken, or something much more interpersonal, between the two of them rather than Hermes’ attention alone.

At the start of it all, quick trips down to the Underworld often left Hermes more wound up than usual, a strange unease always settling over him when things got darker and more claustrophobic. Sometimes the upper regions were quite alright, nice even, but despite the expanse of Elysium and all its chill air, there was a sense of unwelcome that made Hermes’ pulse antsy. A pressure, like the feeling of watchful eyes on his back – even if it were just innocent shades, Hermes felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing up practically the entire trip down. So, he’d search for the boatman, quite literally dashing in to dump his wares and the soul identifications on the polished albeit ancient boat, prattle off on their uses and what messages to be delivered, and be on his way.

Charon would always watch him as well, burning violet gaze just visible under the brim of his wide boater hat, and Hermes would use an old salesmanship trick – staring right at the bridge of the nose, well, should the individual possess one, which Charon did not – to finish his delivery in record time. Charon would nod, weight leaning heavily on the oar, and that same searing gaze would bore into the back of the Olympian as he darted off to leave this wretched place behind.

Those hollow eyes, teeming with a deep energy, were always on him, and initially they had carried that same feeling of watchful unease that Hermes shivered off once finding his way back home.

Then, it came that Charon would begin meeting Hermes closer and closer to the surface; how the boatman came to expect his arrival was unbeknownst to the messenger god, but he appreciated the gesture all the same. It was as if Charon could tell how jumpy Hermes got, the way he couldn’t even hover still and the slight tremor to his rapid speech. The boatman awaited his arrival closer to the surface, and in his company, Hermes found himself speaking more, the tiniest bit more slowly, and biding their time. The more at ease he became, the easier it was to fall to his dispositional pattern of chatter.

Hermes filled most silences. In Olympus he was well known for it, rather rudely to be perfectly square, and especially now when the only companion in this dreary place seemed to have no words of his own. Figuring he was mute, with little to no intention to speak, Hermes had no issue prattling on about anything and everything.

Eventually, Hermes felt sorry, too, for being so fleeting in the past; and now, he allowed the realization of a sort of warm safety from being in the presence of the Chthonic minor god, aware that nothing dare cross the planks of his Narrowboat lest they be lost shades with little will stored in their spirits. Nothing could truly come to harm Hermes down here, and so, relaxation came to follow with the pleasure of Charon’s company.

Of course, though, as time went on, he wondered if the boatman even understood a word he spoke while they were together.

He received nods, and Charon followed directions, but that seemed to be the extent of it all. He never uttered even a sound in return, and while Hermes was often the one to interrupt things, a strange thought occurred that he himself wished to be interrupted, if only for once. Prompting place for it, asking questions, and waiting a beat for a response all seemed futile. Plus, Hermes himself often answered the question allowed, or rushed off to speak before he could stop himself.

And so, it came to pass in such a shock when one day, Charon spoke.

Hermes adjusted the strap of his bag, keeping what wares inside from tumbling out, and skidded to a halt at the ledge in Elysium where Charon often arrived to pick him up and spare him from a solitary trek down through Asphodel or Tartarus.

To the god’s surprise, the boat was already there at a standstill, its proprietor waiting to the side calmly, dark aura instead the most welcoming feature of the Underworld as far as Hermes was concerned. One of Charon’s arms crossed his chest, slender hand hidden within the folds of billowing robes, and that same penetrating violet gaze fixated as if he knew precisely where the god would appear.

Hermes opened his mouth to speak, a grin tugging at his lips, already sucking in a breath for the tumultuous expulsion of words sure to come: stories of where he’d been and the functions of the goods he had to deliver to his dear associate. But the words fell flat when Charon instead drew his hand out into view, a palm-sized bottle of golden nectar held delicately in his grasp.

“Charon, chap, is this…? Erm, well, of course I know what it is, but are you gifting this to me?”

And for the first time, Charon spoke. He had a voice like no other; and while to many that would be derogatory, speaking volumes of negativity towards the scratching, garbled whispers like a foul blizzard wind or the gargling of shards of something broken – to Hermes, it sounded simply, cozy and clear in his mind. It sounded as much the comfort and safety he felt in the boatman’s presence, and that was… Striking.

“Indeed, something simple, but a gift for you, nonetheless. Should you desire to take it.”

Hermes’ mind felt fuzzy, something blooming from his chest, warm and light like the comings-on of the wines from Dionysus’ feasts, but this was delightful. A new, exciting thrill shot through the messenger and caused his feathered heels to lift an additional foot or so off the ground where he hovered. He stared, at a loss for words, at the nectar in Charon’s hand.

“How can I hear you so clearly?” He instead asked, words dumping out slowly, at least for the pace of the quick-tongued god.

“You at long last cared to listen. Perhaps you are comfortable… in my presence. Take it, I insist, good Hermes.”

Without further hesitation, Hermes reached for the nectar and held the delicate glass close, admiring the subtle craftsmanship forged likely from fires here in hell itself. “I… thank you. I – oh, I didn’t exactly bring anything special for you, nothing aside from the usual wares and the few soul identifications but – oh, next time, next time I will, alright Charon? We are business partners for sure, there’s no doubt about that now, alright? Considering you’ve put up with me for this long, and you’ve followed everything I’ve said! Why, you’ve understood it all, haven’t you? I am terribly sorry for doubting so, I suppose I should have – I should have listened closer last time…”

“You are forgiven, for neither of us were ready. Now, shall we depart?” Charon gestured to the boat that awaited them.

A jolt of glee shot through Hermes, and for the first time since his work began, an excitement to venture into the Underworld met him. It was startling, surely, for when the fear had dissipated as companionship with Charon grew, for once… Well, this would be rather enjoyable.

“Certainly! Let’s get right to it, friend! And do I have stories to tell you, now there was this incident that I faced up on the surface when acquiring the name of that fellow right there…”

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scarjarbinks · 4 years ago

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(1) The Fool’s Journey: A Star Wars Story

Episode One A Clown, And That's All

Spires of apartments, each ubiquitous in their design, flowed like crude circuits along an ancient motherboard. Following tight alleys in the way a hawk-bat would delicately chase the scent of granite slugs, Vrina—a mauve Mikkian who favored a headdress to obscure his head-tendrils—navigated the dank streets as if guided by intimate knowledge of the sprawling maze.

With his presence masked by way of heel-toe footfall and springing steps, he successfully traversed the ground level of Coruscant without much interference—save, perhaps, the preference of avoiding detritus that would penetrate his worn leather boots.

A cramped alleyway, its stones glossy from fallen humidity, spat the wanderer into the shoulder of a well-traveled intersection. In less time it would take to light a death stick, Vrina arrived at the entrance of Gil's Gab as an intruder of a group that had converged on top of him. He was polite in the way most strangers are: a brief nod or a disingenuous smile. Two Human women and an Iridonian male were already under the influence of some unidentifiable and ostensibly trendy drug.

They kept their wits about them as they spoke with the Trandoshan bouncer. He grumbled in Basic, "Invite only tonight."

With confidence stemming from the ether, the emboldened Iridonian raised his chest and lifted his chin. "I'm—we're friends with Wegil."

"Old myth that all Zabraks know each other." The stiff guardian severed the conversation without another thought.

Vrina broke from the group while the two women fruitlessly argued with their companion. The Trandoshan peered down to the heretofore silent man. "Good evening," the Mikkian bowed his head but maintained eye contact. "I actually do know Wegil, but I'm not too sure how much you believe me after that guy. Do you, erm, have a list?" He searched the bouncer's attire. No tablet, just a DL-44.

"Name?"

"Uh, Vrina Hon. Impressive that you can remember all of those names without, y'know, a list."

"Smarter than most of my kind. Speaking," his eyes reduced by a fraction. "Why is a Mikkian so far from home?"

Vrina crossed his arms and cocked a hip. He was not offended by the amount of venom that laced the bouncer's tone. Most transients would pose the same question for a Trandoshan who appears to have been conned into a low-paying job. "I'm here to perform comedy."

A concave of seedy individuals, each imbibing and shouting. The Mikkian traversed with soft steps through Gil's claustrophobic aisles. Though he recognized very few patrons, some were, of course, impossible to ignore due to their status. Such entities dealt with business practices he would rather steer clear from, yet a pull of his excited consciousness understood when to bow as a show of respect and when to simply ignore them.

Vrina passed the stage where he was to perform and waved at the Ithorian drummer—a talented fellow by the name of Bup Nolot who rattled away upon two snares and three cymbals of various sizes. He appeared too-focused to respond, perhaps intent on keeping a steady rhythm or altogether refused to associate himself with a glorified jester.

The backstage was a small respite from the bombardment of intermingling dialects and languages, though it was only an inch-thick drape that separated him from the rest of the club. He did not expect to be alone. Vrina was meant to open for a favored comedienne dubbed Real by the regulars of Gil's and her absence meant he would potentially have to fill her time slot.

A knock on the wall behind him. With his eyes still glued to the audience, Vrina greeted Wegil with a click of the tongue. "Looks like I'm the headliner."

A copper-hued Zabrak approached the Mikkian from behind. He joined Vrina in scanning the sea of flushed faces and spitting lips. "Do you have enough material?" The low-scratch of his voice collided with the amount of noise that polluted the club.

"Eh, well," the comedian took in a sharp breath and crossed his arms. "Let's just hope that they don't remember the first five jokes from last week. Anybody I have to worry about?"

Wegil frowned. "In what way?"

"You know. Pirates, ganglords, politicians. Anybody notable?"

"Only you would rope a politician in with pirates. Since you mentioned it, sure." The Zabrak leaned to the left and gestured a nod outward. It was as if a beacon shone from the center of the crescent-shaped bar: an antsy male Human nursed eight ounces of scarlet liquid with hunched shoulders. He kept his head down, uninterested in those who took residence next to him yet kept a subtle conversation with the barkeep.

Vrina shook his head. "I have a feeling he wasn't invited."

"He's certainly found his way in here, though. He hasn't said a single word to anyone other than the bartender, one of his own kind. I would prefer not to deal with any acts of speciesism tonight. You and Bup are the only two who can see the entire club wall-to-wall."

The Mikkian thought back to the drummer's intense focus and exhaled. "So you'll pay me for my services of doing twice the work as a comedian and taking on an additional role as a spy." He sucked on his teeth, head bobbing while mentally creating an addendum to the first half of his set.

Wegil clasped Vrina on the shoulder and forced eye contact. "I'm not paying you extra for the simple task of paying attention. If anything or anybody suspicious worms their way in…" The club owner paused and drew his head away. "Try to work in a joke about me. I won't take it personally."

"You're acting as if that wasn't half of my set. Right, understood, but what about covering for Real?"

With a sniff, the Zabrak pulled away and nodded twice. Soon, the Mikkian was once again left alone and felt the weight of the near future pressing into his skin like the heat of too-many suns orbiting a desert planet.

Vrina did not have much time to prepare for the amount of improvisation thrusted upon him. The emcee of the night, a stocky Rodian, hyped those who were listening into an enthusiastic applause. After a lengthy introduction presented in choppy Basic, he introduced the Mikkian. As they exchanged the microphone, the reptilian whispered a few words of encouragement: "If you are not funny, I will take over. No problem." He backed away with two thumbs up.

The initial warm-up dragged on as expected with very few individuals chuckling and pulling the attention of their friends to the stage. With more eyes on him, he began to feel at ease. "Everyone's heard the buzz around the eff-ess-ess, right?" He pursed his lips and made eye contact with as many who cared to pay attention. "A federation of only six systems. What an arbitrary number! How are we supposed to check if that's even correct when they won't give up who the systems are?"

For the first time all night, the Human at the bar spun his stool to face the comedian. Though the lights had been dimmed, he could make out a few key features: jet black hair and a matching beard. The Mikkian did not hesitate to continue. "If they were really trying to be intimidating, they might as well have said six-hundred. Sixteen would instill more terror for a terrorist organization!"

A quarter of the audience responded with a lukewarm chuckle—Bup's drumline accompaniment made sure the comedian's jokes never truly fell flat. A figure entered his field of vision to the right. One passive glance drank in the sight of Wegil who did not seem to find any of the Mikkian's jokes humorous in the least.

It was time for his improvisation muscles to be flexed. "Well, you want to keep the numbers small, I guess. Zipping around in taxis would be more cost efficient than buying fuel." A tight grin appeared on the Human's face. Vrina prevented himself from paying too much attention to him. "No need for a base of operations either, really. Just rent a hotel room or, perhaps, meet at a club."

A movement in the back caught Vrina's attention. The Human exited from the bar to the bathroom, pushing his way past a drunk Twi'lek who gestured unkindly to the man. The energy of the room became dense and the once idle chatter fell away to usher in silence. It was as if he had captured the attention of every single patron.

His throat closed, but he knew that, as a comedian, there could never be dead air. "Everybody here knows our lovely host, Wegil, yeah? Let's be honest, of everyone on-planet, he would be the one to house the eff-ess-ess. Watered down coolers to keep them drunk and drain them off their coffer, ill-tempered Trandoshans to keep an eye on their credit pouch." Vrina began to wonder how much of his material was rooted in truth. The Zabrak unwound from his position backstage and navigated through the back. "Safest place in all of… All of—"

A pressure settled into Vrina's skull and he promptly returned the microphone to its stand as Wegil approached the bathroom with a drawn blaster, one bouncer trailing behind him. The Mikkian hurriedly waved a good-bye to Bup as the audience began to boo them both. His lungs inflated as he twisted through the narrow tunnel behind the stage and was forced to stop by way of another Trandoshan bouncer.

"You need to finish your, what is it, comedy," the hulking figure encroached on Vrina's personal space. "If you can even call it that. Wegil's already sent the credits to your account, so I'd recommend—"

A blast shook the lobby and a wave of truncated screams pinched the Trandoshan's focus. With the bouncer's lowered guard, Vrina slipped through what little space the corridor offered and sprinted toward the stage-left exit. If his movements were deft enough, he could remain under the cover of darkness for long enough to join the growing crowd of patrons that also attempted escape.

Rubble could be made out from within the thick plume of smoke that emanated from the bathroom. Vrina slowed to a stop and examined the situation. Two bodies writhed on the ground and another was motionless. He took stock of who was left in the club: half of the patrons, the remaining bouncers… The bartender was already gone.

As the smoke began to clear, Vrina approached the center of the lobby and squinted at the bodies on the ground. A familiar skull-shape, horned and round. He debated whether he should usher the Zabrak out to safety or—

Vrina was lifted from the ground by a pair of scaly, calloused hands. The Trandoshan heaved the comedian forward and watched as he rolled over a table and barreled into several chairs. Broken glass stuck to the Mikkian's simple outfit, a few shards hid in exposed skin.

"He infiltrated our place of business," the bulky reptilian guard sneered and stepped forward. Vrina attempted to straighten himself to a seated position. Two more bouncers slunk in from the corners of the club and approached the Mikkian as well. "And staged an attack!"

"I—what? Me?" Vrina rotated his torso to face the other Trandoshans and experienced a sharp pain in his ribcage. "Ah, dosh." He seethed and grabbed his side. "H-how could I have set off an explosive if I was up on the stage?"

The main Trandoshan signaled the others to stop. He looked down at the pathetic Mikkian with racing eyes.

"Also, whoever did that is doing all of you a favor. Now, listen to me," he exhaled as the guards began to close in once again. "You are all much too talented of warriors to be stuck in here all day catering drunkards. What have you been doing all this time? What's your motivation?"

There was a moment of hesitation, though his gaze never fell away from Vrina. For a moment, there appeared to be a modicum of empathy that flashed in the Trandoshan's eyes. "We've been waiting to tear someone apart."

The Mikkian flinched and swung both palms to defend himself. A gasp from the Trandoshan as a gust of wind knocked him off of his feet. Vrina's brow furrowed but there was very little time for him to ruminate as the remaining bouncers enclosed him with clawed hands outstretched.

Several bleats of a small caliber blaster sounded from the debris-laden corner of the club. Either bouncer roared when struck in their armor, another in his arm. With their luck pressed, they each drew their heavy blasters and scattered to find cover from upturned tables. Vrina spent this time erecting himself to his feet and so did the once-fallen Trandoshan.

Now careful of his enemy, the bouncer kept his distance with two fists balled and ready for use. Vrina blinked and did the same, though both palms were flat and directed in the same fashion as before. No matter how many times he mentally willed himself to throw wind, nothing as exciting occurred. He began to doubt that it had ever taken place—a trick of the eyes, an anomaly of a pressure shift within the building.

While he was distracted processing the anomaly, the firefight behind him resulted in the dropping of both guards. A bright voice shouted: "Duck!"

Without a second thought, Vrina shrunk to the floor and watched as the second of two red bolts struck the remaining bouncer in the center of his forehead.

For a one brief moment, the Mikkian considered snatching the DL-44 from the Trandoshan's holster to take charge of the situation, to feel as if he were not helpless. The same voice called to him with an edge that convinced Vrina the scenario was not quite over. "Are you armed?"

"N-no."

"Well, why not?"

Vrina turned to face the same Human he had been instructed to spy on earlier. Almond-shaped eyes and well-groomed, about the same height and body type as he was, though somewhat more muscular. "So I should, erm, get a blaster?"

The man rolled his eyes and turned the heel of his weapon toward the comedian. It was a feeble blaster with slender design, uniform in color, but did not seem to reflect a sheen. A perfect weapon to conceal. "I assume a Jedi would know how to use one of these."

"A—" The device was shoved in his hand and the mysterious man excused himself to fetch the much more powerful DL-44 from the fell bouncer.

"It's probably a good thing they didn't know how to handle one of these, huh?" Sucking his teeth, the man looked down the unmodified sights and nodded. "I mean, I barely know how to use one of these, sure, but they were just awful."

Vrina straightened his wrist after acclimating to the surprising weight of the small blaster. "What exactly did you just call me?"

The man threw a humored side-eye at the Mikkian. "C'mon. It'd be nice to have someone who knows what they're doing by my side."

"But… I'm—oh, dosh." He watched the Human step away while offering a tight hand signal that meant nothing to the comedian.

Kept crouched and insecure, Vrina trailed behind the Human with the blaster limp and pointed to the floor. In the many patrons' effort to escape, they had made quite a mess: shattered cups and plates, food tracked under heel, abandoned death stick cartridges. The unconscious form of Wegil caused the Mikkian to pause his trail.

"Do you know him?" The Human kept his weapon pointed to the only way in or out. An expectation of being ambushed was palpable. "You have to let me know now if this is someone worth saving. Like, now."

The truth bit at Vrina's tongue. He wanted to be honest and admit that he knew very little about the Zabrak, but the fear that he would be tracked down by a vengeful conduit of illicit affairs forced his hand. "Yeah, he's worth it." The man gave him a signal to fetch the club owner.

Calling out in just above a hushed voice, "I'm surprised we haven't run into the see-ess-eff."

"Right." Vrina heaved Wegil up and balanced him on his feet. "I-find-it-surprising…" He growled while ushering the unconscious body to the door. "How-heavy-people…" A moment to catch his breath. "Actually are."

The man ignored his sentiment. "We have one shot. I'm really going to need you to muster all the strength you have." He slipped a rod-shaped comlink from his jacket pocket. A pleasant chirp sounded when he began to transmit. "Rokkna-1, critical mission failure. Resort to plan-B, but with the pick-up coordinates of Plan-A."

A woman sighed as a response. "Always with the plan-B. Copy, Rokkna-2."

The individual identified as Rokkna-1 turned to Vrina and flashed a grin. "Don't worry, the mission failure wasn't exclusively, entirely your fault."

"I didn't think it was. Wait, was it?"

"Ready up your friend."

With a shake of the head, the Mikkian stood Wegil upright and braced him. "Where are we going? What's happening?"

The whirring of an incoming shuttle paired with sirens that belonged to that of the Coruscant Security Force. "You'll be back in time for breakfast. On five."

Vrina's heart rattled in his chest. Under his breath, "Dosh."

The feminine voice called in, but the sound was muffled while the comlink was tucked in the man's jacket pocket. "Clear, Rokkna-1."

"Nevermind—FIVE!" The Human set off through the front door with large strides. His shoulder checked the door and swung it open with enough force to allow his new companion the chance to exit the building's threshold and into the dark street.

A shuttle with seamless and bulbous edges hovered several feet above ground, its ramp already dropped and open for entrance. The bearded man hopped on board with an effortless bound but fell to his knees and spun to help the Mikkian and Zabrak aboard.

The excited but passive ambiance of each street in the intersection was interrupted by the aggressive whine of hidden speeders. Rokkna-1 demanded the Zabrak first and Vrina agreed, shoving the body onto the ramp with one final expression of strength.

With the CSF seconds away, the transport shuttle began lifting away from the ground. The pilot spoke through the comlink, but there was too much distance for the Mikkian to make out any one word. The Human disappeared inside of the hull for a handful of seconds. Vrina's chest seized as if a deadly poison had finally taken hold of him.

With the ramp now several feet above his head, he could just barely jump to grab on. His feet kicked the air, his fingers without a decent grip. The first round of blue bolts swept by him but missed by mere inches.

"Hold on, friend!" Rokkna-1 returned with a silver can in his right hand. He activated the device and rolled it off the ramp while extending an arm to lift Vrina onboard.

As soon as it struck the ground, the canister popped and began to spray a viscous white smoke to obscure the underside of the ship; flashes of blue looked like lightning trapped in dense clouds. Once the Mikkian had been pulled in and was comfortable enough, the ramp inhaled and sealed with a pressurized click.

#starwars #starwarsfanfic #starwarsfanfiction #fanfiction #kazuda xiono #kazuda #tamara ryvora #starwarsrebels #starwarsfallenorder #star wars rebels #star wars fan fiction #star wars fanfic #star wars fanfiction #star wars fallen order #star wars resistance #starwarsclonewars #star wars clone wars

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positivelyominous · 5 years ago

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Nazareth, Galilee - Approximately 9 Months BC

“Where IS he?”

The streets of Nazareth were growing dark, and the local thoroughfare was dwindling. The Principality Cadfael was leaning against the mouth of an alley, her eyes combing the homeward public agitatedly.

Tonight was a big one. Very big. Cadfael was under quite a lot of pressure, as the heavenly envoy to earth, to make sure things went smoothly in the mortal realm. It was essential that she did not muck this up. Unfortunately, there were complications. There were always complications, here.

“Who’re you looking for?”

Cadfael turned to see Azruba’al leaning back stiffly to rest against the opposite side of the alley, glancing curiously into the street.

“What are you doing here?” hissed the angel.

“What do you think I’m doing here?” replied the demon dryly, “Really, Cadfael, at this point it–“

“It’s Cad-vile.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s Cad-vile now. My name. I changed it.”

Azruba’al’s rosy eyes widened.

“Changed it? Changed it? You can’t change your name! It’s–“

“A Holy Gift, yes, I know,” Cadfael waved a hand, “But that’s the beauty part. I haven’t changed the name itself; it just sounds different. I haven’t snubbed anything.”

“But how can– how can you just change the pronunciation?” argued Azruba’al, “It is -well, metaphorically- written in stone.”

“It’s not written in stone. Nobody mentions me on murals or anything.”

“I said metaphorically.”

“Well,” Cadfael drew herself up smugly, “You remember the Confusion of Tongues, yeah?”

“Yes…” muttered Azruba’al, frowning.

“Right. Well. Whole new kinds of talking popped up. All sorts of words and pronunciations. Like finds like, strikes out to build their own kingdoms where it’s easier to communicate instead of trying to understand each other, and some of’em pop off to an island and– BAM! Brittonic.”

The angel was grinning widely by now. The demon did not look impressed.

“And?”

“Cadfael becomes Cad-vile!”

“That’s cheating,” said Azruba’al, pettishly, “Angels aren’t supposed to cheat!”

“No it isn’t,” Cadfael argued, “it was The Lord who had it all happen in the first place, right? He was the one who split’em all up, so obviously, He must approve of Brittonic and Sinitic and Semitic and all of them, right?”

Azruba’al’s mouth twisted up.

“I… Suppose so,” she relented, at length, “But it doesn’t sound very angelic.”

Cadfael was about to argue, but the recollection of her current duty quickly changed her plans.

“Look. You need to get out of here,” she said, seriously, glancing back into the street.

Azruba’al pouted, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t respect your choice–“

“No, no, it’s not about that. You need to go. Now. There’s something happening.”

“Something happening?”

“Yeah. Something big. Extremely big– huuugely big.”

“It’s not another flood, is it?” said Azruba’al, warily, “It was promised–“

“No, it’s a pleasant thing this time,” said Cadfael, before amending, “I mean, nominally pleasant. In theory. Probably. We’ll see how it goes. But look– the point is, the point is it’s so big that they’re sending down an Archangel.”

The capital A buzzed in the air, almost tangible. Azruba’al stiffened.

“I’m meant to be keeping things running smoothly,” continued Cadfael, “So I’m gonna have to meet with him. If you’re in the area when he shows up, it’s not going to be pretty.”

Azruba’al was staring at Cadfael silently, eyes wider than ever.

“Why do you care?” she asked, trying to sound haughty and failing, then trying to say something else and failing that, too.

Cadfael found she wasn’t quite sure how to respond, either.

“You know me,” she said, at last, “’m an angel. Being of pure love, and all that.”

And Azruba’al was… well, she wasn’t a friend, exactly. But she was the only other constant otherworldly entity on the planet. It could get rather lonely, here. Cadfael was beginning to expect the demon’s odd visits, and besides, she suspected any replacement sent up would be a lot worse than fussy and pompous.

“And it’s not worth it, anyway,” she finished, with a small sigh, “You won’t be able to sabotage what’s coming. You’d have to wait until after to really think about doing anything demonic…”

There was a pause. Azruba’al was gazing at her navel and fidgeting.

“…Yes, yes… Can’t fiddle with anything that hasn’t been created yet,” she mumbled, at last.

She glanced up, then, and there was an odd look in her eyes.

“I shall take my leave of this place, then,” she announced, “But know you this; I shall return, and when I do, there shall be mischief.”

Cadfael gave a small snort as the demon disappeared. That was another thing– she was funny. Entertaining. Cadfael always had a bit of a laugh when Azruba’al came around.

⧗

“Cadfael!”

The angel winced. It was barely minutes after the demon had disappeared, and there was no mistaking that jovial, booming voice. Phew.

The Archangel Gabriel was striding towards her, dressed in flowing linen robes and beaming all over his handsome, rectangular face. It was very clearly his first time in a mortal body. The way he swung his arms, the way he bobbed just bit too high when he took a step. The way he cut a path through the locals moving the other way; a juggernaut fixed in a straight line, heedless to the shoulders he brushed roughly past. Any curses or scowls directed at him were met with bright, righteous eyes, and quickly deflected.

Cadfael stifled a groan and hurried towards him.

“Greetings, Gabriel,” she said, “Let’s get off the street.”

“Right! Right. Ha! Streets? What will they think of next?”

Gabriel accompanied Cadfael close to the buildings, marching beside her.

“There are so many kinds of walking!” he commented, glancing at Cadfael’s hips, and then back out at the streets, “Humans are so disorganized.”

“It comes with having a flesh body,” said Cadfael, “You’ll get used to it.”

“Of course I will,” said Gabriel, “So, where is this Mariam of Nazareth?”

“We’re headed to her now.” Cadfael pointed to a modest building farther down the road, “I’ve been hanging around the area. She’s a nice girl. Very pious. Betrothed to a strapping young gent named Joseph at the moment, actually, but I expect the details will be sorted, erm, holily.”

Gabriel wasn’t listening. He’d sped up, zeroing in on the dwelling place they were fast approaching. Cadfael jogged after him, growing a little anxious.

“Right, okay, Gabriel– when you get in there, right, you’ve got to be delicate, with this, okay? Gentle. This isn’t visiting Daniel in his dreams and helping him sort out a few visions. You’re in the flesh, now, and there are rules -well- etiquettes, like–“

Too late. Gabriel was already slipping -well, barging, really- into the building Cadfael had indicated. Cadfael broke into a run and followed him inside.

The first thing Cadfael heard was a shriek, which was quickly swallowed by Gabriel’s sonorous voice.

“Greetings, you who are so highly favoured! The Lord is with you!”

Cadfael dashed into the room to find Gabriel standing grandly in the middle, arms akimbo, his back pair of wings half-extended. They’d torn right through his upper garment, which was hanging off him in tatters. He glowed. Behind him, Cadfael could make out the trembling figure of a young woman sitting at a small table, clutching a Holy Book to her chest like a shield.

“Blessed are you among all women!” Gabriel continued, blithely.

“W-who are you?” squeaked Mariam, pressing her back tightly into her chair as if in the vain hope of phasing through it to safety.

“Gabriel!” hissed Cadfael, resisting giving the Archangel a punch to the wing, “You’re scaring her! You have to be gentle about this, it’s a lot to take in!”

A real heaven of a lot to believe, in fact, though Gabriel’s glimmering back-wings were probably proof enough that this wasn’t some scam artist.

“Oh! Right, uh, Be Not Afraid, a-ha!” chuckled Gabriel, patting the air patronizingly to show he meant no harm, “I’ve got great tidings of gladness for you, okay?”

Cadfael monitored Mariam’s face carefully as Gabriel went on to explain her great honour. Thankfully, Mariam seemed to be calming down, somewhat. The initial shock of a man bursting into her room was fading, and now her expression was hovering between confusion and wonder.

All told, she took the news rather well, and managed to recuperate enough grace to respond humbly to the sudden barrage of information. Cadfael couldn’t help but feel rather proud of her. Humans. What couldn’t they get used to?

“Oh! Ha, almost forgot,” Gabriel added, as he turned to leave, “Go to your relative Elizabeth and congratulate her on her pregnancy. She’s six months along so you’d better get to it! God be with you!”

And before Cadfael could protest, Gabriel dissolved into a glittering stream of light and ascended, leaving the Principality to stand awkwardly in the doorway.

“Er, yeah. Congratulations, Mary,” Cadfael mumbled, “Take care.”

Her exit was far less divine, with a wave and a shuffle out into the darkened street, but perhaps a normal conclusion to the meeting would benefit the startled Madonna.

#I Fell Asleep (Cadfael)#Bearing Apples (Azruba’al)#Why it’s Gabriel (Gabriel)

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odinsonsobsessed · 6 years ago

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Talk Loki To Me • Part Five

Businessman by day, someone else entirely by night… An AU where Tom Hiddleston isn’t a famous film actor. He’s just a normal guy, your roommate of two years. The two of you are really close and you think you know everything about him, until you discover his secret… He’s a popular erotic audio star, taking on the persona of Loki, a god hellbent on making you cum. And when you accidentally discover this secret of his, everything begins to change.

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston/Reader || Word Count: 1.1k || Rated M (18+)

Series Masterlist

You were sure Tom could tell how nervous and hesitant you were, but he kept you pretty calm and relaxed. He carried on like normal, telling you about his day, the shenanigans that went on in the office. He asked about your day, too. It wasn't long after you sat down at the table that your worries faded away. The two glasses of wine you had helped, too.

Dinner was absolutely amazing, as always. After the two of you had cleaned up, you went to get changed into something more comfortable. Tom had asked you to meet him in his room, so you lingered in the doorway, hesitant.

“So I… I'm not going to listen to this on my own?” You played with the hem of your top nervously. You honestly thought you’d be able to listen to it in the comfort of your own room, without him, but apparently he had other plans.

Tom looked at up at you from his laptop and laughed, getting up to come and stand in front of you at the door. “Nope. We’re doing this together. It'll be easier that way. Would you rather go to your room?”

You shook your head, “Why can’t we just do this in the living room?” You mumbled, causing Tom to smirk.

“You're uncomfortable. Do you want to back out?”

“N-No!... I mean…” You huffed in embarrassment, “I'll be fine. I'm a big girl. I keep my promises.”

“Come on, then.” He grabbed your hand and tugged you over to the bed. “You can use the headphones if you need to.” He stifled a laugh and you glared at him as you got comfortable on the bed, resting next to him against the headboard.

“Look, this is a little awkward for me, okay? It's not every day you have to listen to your roommate do… this.” You gestured to the audio equipment he had scattered around his room.

He dropped his smile, a hint of it still lingering. “Okay, you're right.” A laugh he was holding back escaped and he covered his mouth until he could compose myself. “I'm sorry… Please, by all means, use the headphones.” He teased, handed them to you. You stuck out your tongue at him before you put them on, plugging them into the jack.

“Ready?” His muffled voice asked you and you took a couple of deep breaths before nodding.

He pressed play and Loki's confident voice flooded into your ears. Your cheeks heated as he spoke and you refused to look at Tom while you listened. “Well well well, what do we have here?” He chuckled. “My most loyal pet, sitting here on your knees all pretty for me. So well behaved… However, I still have to punish you, for what you did earlier...” His tone turned harsh, and you couldn't help how aroused it made you feel. The more you listened, the wetter you became.

God, you were getting so turned on by this audio and you wished desperately that you were alone and not sitting exactly two inches from him. You were embarrassed, you were horny, and you just wanted to get off by the end of it. It didn't help that sometimes your arms would brush together when one of you shifted, or that his hand rested on the bed close to your knee. God, you wouldn't be able to get to your room and away from him fast enough.

You tugged the headphones off when it stopped and Tom looked at you expectantly, “Well?”

“It um… It was great.” You flashed him a nervous smile and looked away.

His face dropped, “That's it? Just ‘it was great’? Was there anything you'd change? Was it too much?”

“Well…” You looked down a the headphones, playing with the foam around the piece that goes over your ear.

You looked up when Tom suddenly put his hand on your knee. He was so eager for you to continue, “Yes? Go on!” God, how was this so easy for him? You could probably fry up some pancakes on your face right now!

You swallowed, clenching your fists as you tried to ignore the heat of his touch that shot up your leg. He was counting on you, so you tried to push your nervousness aside and go for it. “It was really good. I don't think I'd really change anything, but maybe… erm… There was this one part that I'd probably add something to it, maybe? Nothing too major. It's about a minute and a half in…” You tore your gaze away from him and pointed at the screen, at the timeline of the audio file. “Right there.”

You handed him the headphones and thankfully, he took his hand off of your knee so he could put them on to listen to it. You talked it over with him afterward, going over a couple of ideas that he had. It was really awkward at first, but you pushed it aside to help him, and it got easier. He didn't tease you or make a big deal out of it like you thought he might. Tom seemed really appreciative of your feedback and thanked you for it as he typed in some notes in a document for later. He was so serious about it… dedicated. Somehow that made him even more attractive to you. You found yourself staring at him as he focused on his computer screen as he made his notes and when he listened intently when you explained what you thought.

Sometimes he'd rest his hand really close or start to smirk when something sounded good, you were starting to think he smelled really good and… You really needed to leave.

When the two of you were finished, you said your good nights. Just when you got off of the bed, he called for you. When you turned around, to look at him, there a smirk planted on his face. “Try not to be too loud in there.” He said with a wink.

Your cheeks reddened and you picked up one of his pillows and threw it at him. He caught it, laughing loudly as you quickly left the room.

As the weeks drew on, you felt yourself more and more captivated by Tom. You were beginning to notice little things about him that drove you nuts. His constant adjusting of glasses, his fidgeting habits where he'd touch his thighs or his chest, the way he'd run his hand through his hair, how tight his pants always seemed to fit, how long those damn fingers were… the list went on. God, how had you never noticed these things before? You felt this undeniable tension building and you weren't sure what to do about it. What could you do about it? You were best friends and didn't want to make things weird if you initiated something that he had absolutely no interest in. You were beginning to want him, you wanted to know what it was like to touch him, to be touched by him. More than just a platonic cuddle in your bed. You wanted more. And it was driving you crazy.

@fandom-and-feminism @fadingcoast @igotloki @mrshiddleston-uk @nikkalia @manager-of-mischief @spidey-bites @kcd15 @dangertoozmanykids101 @xxloki81xx @starletah @msunnsstuff @hiddlesbatchsworld @redfoxwritesstuff @just-the-hiddles @heart-shaped-hell @thatweirdwalangpake @loki-and-hiddles @kitsuneharo12 @thathedonistgirl @littlefrogstuff @maximeshepard-beavakarian @iris-suoh @devilbat @furstinnajoelle @exbandragirl @hiddlestonstansworld @sabine-leo @fire-in-her-veinz @sinder3llaizzy @midnight-queen-1 @bananasbreadd @lady-loki-ren @melsmontanabear @blatantly-lokean

If your tag is in bold, it means I could not tag you for some reason!

Taglist is OPEN!

#talk loki to me #tom hiddleston/reader #tom hiddleston x reader #loki #tom hiddleston

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vannahfanfics · 6 years ago

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7. Fireflies. I need me some gaara in my life. Give my child some happiness! You're the best!

Here it is! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to attend my own funeral because I died writing these beautiful smol beans ~sobs~

Glowing

“Heyyyy! Gaaraaaaaaaa~!”

Gaara looked up with slightly narrowed eyes as someone excitedly called for him. Since he and his siblings had successfully rescued the Leaf ninja from some pretty gruesome fates at the hands of Orochimaru’s monstrous henchmen, they had been staying in the Leaf village. The village had yet to completely recover from the snake-like man’s previous attack during the Chunin exams, and upon seeing all the destruction still yet to be amended, the three of them had made the collective decision to remain there and assist in the reconstruction efforts. They had been central in causing all that grief and chaos, after all- especially him, so it was a pretty important matter. Gaara was trying very hard to turn his life around and make himself a better person, and he thought righting the wrong he had committed at the lowest point of his life was a pretty good way to do that. Some of the villagers still looked at him apprehensively and avoided him, of course, and he tried not to let it get to him.

It was easier to do with people like Rock Lee.

The taijutsu master grinned down at him from the third-floor window of Konoha Hospital, his teeth flashing in the sun as he grinned absurdly and waved his hand frantically to get his attention. Gaara turned off the road and walked down the path toward the hospital, intending to check himself in and go visit him, but Lee had other ideas; he literally jumped from the third-floor window to land unceremoniously in the bushes lining the hospital walls. Gaara just stared in mild concern at the wriggling green leaves. He knew Lee was tough enough to survive a jump like that, especially landing in the cushiony embrace of the bushes, but sometimes he just couldn’t follow the excitable boy’s thought processes. Lee was all-smiles as he clambered out of the hedges, twigs sticking out of his bowl cut and clinging to his green jumpsuit. “Hello, Gaara! I am glad I caught you passing by! I have not yet had the chance to see how you were recovering after your fight with Kimimaro!” he announced as he bounced happily over to him.

“Oh. I’m doing well. I didn’t really get that hurt in the battle,” Gaara answered awkwardly and looked himself up and down. Thanks to his sand armor he had escaped relatively unscathed; Lee was the one who had been beaten up, really. On top of that, he had still been recovering from the injuries he had sustained from Gaara during the Chunin exams. He tried not to think about that. “What about you? Are you well?” How foolish. Of course he’s doing well; he just jumped out of a window, he immediately thought with a hot rush of mortification. Gaara had yet to pin down the intricacies of social interaction. Thankfully, Lee didn’t miss a beat.

“I am wonderful! I am in the prime of my youth, after all!” he crowed, quite unnecessarily Gaara thought but not unexpectedly, really, and threw his arms in the air as his eyes went ablaze with passion. “Everyone else is recovering as well! Neji and Choji’s surgeries went great, and Kiba and Naruto are both awake as well!” At the mention of the boisterous, blonde-haired ninja’s name, Gaara’s mouth drew into a taut line and he cast his head down.

Naruto Uzumaki. He was a strange boy, a boy so like him it was frightening. It was Naruto who had made Gaara see that the path he was on was the wrong one. He owed him a lot. And yet, he hadn’t said a word to him since that day…

“Is… Naruto still in the hospital?”

“Oh, yes. His fight with Sasuke left him with quite a lot of injuries. He has decided to leave on a training mission as soon as he is healed!” Lee reported, then looked up at the sky with quivering lips and eyes swimming with tears as he gripped his fist tightly. “Such determination and dedication to a friend! Naruto is truly remarkable!”

“Yes… He is…” Gaara mumbled in agreement. His face felt kind of hot. He’s leaving, then…

“Why do you ask? Would you like to see him?” At that prompting, Gaara jumped and began to sputter some excuses, embarrassed. Lee didn’t really listen to his answer, though. “Come with me! Let us go see Naruto together~!” he chimed and grabbed him by his red sash to literally drag him into the hospital. Gaara was so in shock he was able to little but force his feet to move as Lee carted him around the hospital and deposited him in front of the door to Naruto’s room. At first he just stared blankly, unable to cope with so much happening in so little time, so Lee took the initiative to throw the door open and shove Gaara inside. “Naruto! I have brought you a visitor!” he cheered in delight. Meanwhile, Gaara’s face was flushing the color of his hair, and he was pretty sure his brain had been reduced to jelly because all he could do was gawk pitifully at the bandage-wrapped boy sitting in the hospital bed staring out the window. As he saw Naruto’s head turn, he inhaled sharply and ducked behind Lee, peering around his shoulder with wide eyes. “Huh? Why are you hiding, Gaara?”

“Gaara?” Naruto blinked and leaned forward to catch sight of the redhead huddling awkwardly behind Lee. Gaara’s shoulders hunched up to his ears as he short-circuited. No! I can’t do this! He thought wildly as he looked everywhere but at Naruto. As his eyeballs rolled around in his head they still managed to land on him, though, and found him smiling kindly. “Shikamaru told me all about how you guys came and saved everybody. Thanks.” Gaara’s pink cheeks continued to burn as he finally forced himself to look at him.

“Oh… It was… Nothing…”

“It was not ‘nothing’ at all! You should have seen the way he dealt with Kimimaro, Naruto! It was quite spectacular indeed!” Lee crowed. Gaara smiled weakly, glad that Lee was singing his praises and appreciated his efforts. It made him happy that he could move past the awful things he did and look at him in such a way. If he can… Maybe Naruto will, too… He took a small breath and slowly stepped out from behind Lee, holding his head up a little bit as his fingers twitched awkwardly.

“I… Wanted to see… If you were well,” he told Naruto slowly. The blue-eyed boy blinked a few times, then grinned broadly, so broadly that his eyes and nose scrunched up. He looks really glad that I asked! Gaara thought with a flutter of hope.

“Yeah, o’course! It’ll take more than this to take me down! Just wait ‘n see, I’ll be up and at ‘em again in no time!” Naruto’s boundless energy and optimism soothed Gaara somewhat, and he felt himself relax a little. He hadn’t reacted with anger, so that was at least something.

“That’s good.” He felt his lips curling into a small smile. He then jumped as Naruto threw back the covers and jumped out of the bed to scamper over to him. Gaara stiffened like a board as Naruto literally looked him up and down, bobbing and weaving to inspect him at all angles, then brought his face close to his own with squinting eyes.

“You’re different.”

“I am?” he squeaked in alarm. It was true, he was, but the entire situation still had him sparking like fulgurite in the sand. After a second, he realized what Naruto meant, and he nodded eagerly. “I-I am. Y-You see, Naruto, I, uh…” he trailed off, his gaze falling to his feet as he struggled to form the words. He knew Naruto would appreciate it most if he just came right out and said it. I want him to know the truth… “After we fought, I realized that I could be different… I wanted… to be like you,” he muttered as he flushed slightly, and looked up to meet his curious gaze. “Life is… different for me now, and I was… I was wondering if… we could be friends.” His voice grew quieter and quieter as he went on, until it was nothing more than a whisper. As he finished, Naruto’s eyes went wide as moons, and he just stared at him for a second. Gaara internally panicked, thinking that perhaps Naruto wanted no such thing.

However, the boy gave him his happiest, most friendly smile.

“Of course, Gaara! I’ll be your friend! Your very first friend!” he agreed adamantly and nodded his head up and down. Lee jumped over to give him an identical grin and a thumbs-up.

“I will be your second friend, because two friends is much better than one, yes?” Gaara looked between the two of them, then smiled shyly and nodded with a pink hue to his cheeks. Friends… I have friends… He felt an unfamiliar feeling bubbling up inside him that made him feel warm, fuzzy, content. Is this… What it feels like to be happy? He glanced up again to find that the room was filling with gold, spilling in from the window as the sun outside set. It cast Naruto and Lee in its brilliance, highlight the sheer joy on their faces, and then washed over Gaara, making him feel even warmer. Yes, it must be.

“Hey, the sun is setting,” Lee remarked as he looked over his shoulder. Naruto followed suit, and then looked back at Gaara with a devilish grin.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea.”

A few seconds later Gaara was watching with extreme concern as Naruto hung from the frame of the window, his legs kicking and his tongue sticking out as he judged the distance to the ground.

“Erm… Naruto… Why don’t we just go out the front door?”

“Because I’m not allowed to leave, duh!” he barked back as his sandals scraped the outside of the wall. Before Gaara could comment, the boy dropped down to the ground and landed in the bushes with a frightened aaack! Gaara watched with a frown as he thrashed around in the quivering leaves, then crawled out from underneath the hedges, wheezing and covered in the green plant growth. He stood up and brushed himself off with a weary sigh, then called up to him impatiently. “Hurry up! We don’t have a lot of time!” Gaara had no idea what they were rushing for, but he obediently climbed out of the window and dropped down to the ground, landing quite more gracefully than the pair of leaf ninja. He had left his gourd at the hotel, otherwise he would have used his sand to glide down. As he stepped out of the bushes, brushes the little leaves out of his clothes, Naruto grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him into a run. “C’mon, c’mon, we gotta hurry!”

“O-okay!” he squawked as he stumbled after him. Once again, all he could do was struggle to keep up as the pair of Leaf ninja bustled him along the streets of Konoha, laughing and hooting excitedly. Their shadows were stretched and distorted in the setting sun, playfully bobbing along beneath them as they weaved around shopping stalls and small crowds, jumping about and startling the vendors and shoppers and earning frustrated yells in response. Lee and Naruto just laughed it off, continuous to raucously race through the town until they arrived to a lush, green wood. The golden sunlight of the sunset vanished beneath the shade of the green, and the scent of dust and the market was replaced by loamy earth and forest must. The tall grass whipped at Gaara’s legs and the tree branches plucked at his hair, while the moisture condensed on his face. Just as the golden ball dipped below the horizon and left the world in cool shade, they burst out of the undergrowth into a clearing, where a canvas of stars instead of a blanket of leaves lie above their heads. “What are we-?”

“Shh!” Naruto hissed and put a finger to his lips. Gaara obediently pressed his own together despite his acute befuddlement. “Just wait a second. They’ll be out soon.” “They”? Who? Naruto and Lee kept looking at the clearing’s edge excitedly, bristling with anticipation, while Gaara wondered who they could be waiting on. Turns out it wasn’t a who at all.

Gaara stared in amazement as little flickering lights began to drift out of the trees. The little white balls drifted along the breeze, shambling along the current as they blinked softly. It seemed like the stars themselves had descended to the ground to dance, circling the three young boys in a silent waltz just above the grass. Gaara crouched down and cupped his hands as once of them drifted close, his blueish eyes reflecting the soft glow as he gazed at it in absolute wonder.

“What are they?” he whispered, afraid his breath may startle it away. The little light hovered in his hands, casting his face in that soft white brilliance. He didn’t move as Naruto and Lee leaned over his shoulders.

“They’re called fireflies.”

“You do not have them in the desert, right, Gaara?” He shhok his head slowly, weighing every movement carefully to avoid startling the little creature. As it settled on his hands, he could discern that it was a little bug with a blinking bulb on its tail end. It tickled his palm as it scurried around, and then it fluttered its tiny wings and flew off to join the rest of its sparkling brethren in their moonlight dance. Gaara’s eyes followed it, almost saddened to see it depart.

“They’re beautiful…”

“I knew you’d love ‘em!” Naruto snickered as he stretched out in the grass. A torrent of the fireflies rushed into the air as he laid down, rising above him in a swirling, glittering cloud. He exhaled deeply as he put his hands behind his head. “Sometimes I just like to come out here and watch ‘em fly around, y’know? Makes me forget the stressful things.”

“Indeed! Plus they are simply marvelous to look at!” Lee agreed as he flopped down in a similar fashion. Gaara noticed that there was a significant amount of space between them. “Come on, Gaara!” Lee insisted and patted the ground. With that similar feeling swelling in his chest again, Gaara nodded and laid down on his back between them. At first, feeling the grass was a bit odd since he was not used to it, but soon he found it comforting. As he stared up at the clouds drifting across the starry night sky, and the fireflies flitting about in the air between that sky and them, he did feel at ease. He smiled as one of them landed in his bright red hair, and then giggled. “I am very glad you are having a good time!” Lee beamed at him. The brightness of his smile could rival the moon.

“You said it! You know what, we should get ramen after this!” Naruto agreed with a nod of his head and his eyes scrunched up in joy. Gaara was exceptionally happy, surrounded by the strange bugs and beside his two very first friends, until he realized something.

“… I have to go home soon.”

“Oh. Yeah, that is kinda a bummer, isn’t it?” Naruto frowned and scratched his cheek.

“Not to worry!” Lee interjected, and Gaara looked at him. “It does not matter how far apart we are! We are always friends! That is a fact!”

“Yeah! And besides, you can come visit. And we can go visit you! I’m sure there’s lotsa cool stuff in the desert you can show us!” Naruto chimed in. Gaara swiveled his head to look at both of them again, smiling brightly, and then laughed.

“Yes, you’re right. I’ll remember that.” He smiled in contentment and laid his head back, watching the little glowing lights flit about while his own happiness glowed within. Not only had he made friends, but some good ones.

That was something he could hold on to forever, along with the memory of the fireflies in the night, carrying all the wonder and beauty of a future untold, and the promise of a friendship to last a lifetime…

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to perusemy Tableof Contents!

#naruto #friendship #naruto uzumaki #rock lee #gaara #gaara of the sand #konoha #fireflies #cutesy #fluff #best boys #i'm not crying you're crying #fanfic #fanfiction #oneshot #oneshot collection #drabbles #request

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queenofcats17 · 6 years ago

Text

The Fine Art of Self-Deprecation 2

@insane-control-room proposed another story where Johan comes to visit Esther after the events of this story. So the saga continues.

Here’s part 1

And here’s Johan’s initial reaction to meeting dear Freckle.

It had been a few months since Esther’s little foray into another dimension. She hadn’t told Joey about what she’d seen. He had to focus on becoming a better person, not figuring out how to access other dimensions. Things were...getting better. They weren’t perfect, but everyone was slowly healing. It was a process. More than anything, Esther was happy to have her brother back. She’d missed him so much, especially since their parents had died. She recognized that her brother wasn’t the little boy she’d once known, but she was still happy to have him back. Her children were still getting used to him, but Isaac definitely took to him better than Rachel.

At the moment, Joey and Esther were sitting on the couch in Esther’s home. Her husband, Robert, was out with the children getting groceries. This left Esther and Joey alone, allowing them to talk. They’d been avoiding actually talking for a while now. But after everything that had happened in the past year or so...They needed to talk.

“It’s good to have you back,” Esther said. They’d been sitting on the couch for nearly an hour now, avoiding looking at each other.

“Did you miss me?” Joey asked with a small smile.

“Of course. We all did.” She reached out and took his hand.

“Never seemed like you’d miss me,” Joey muttered bitterly. Esther sighed heavily, squeezing Joey’s hand.

“I know that’s how you felt. But Ma and Pa always loved you.” She said. “They were just worried about you. Animation wasn’t even an industry back when we were kids. And making a living as an artist has always been hard.”

“That’s...fair,” Joey admitted. “It just...” He paused, his lips twisting in irritation and frustration.

“I know. You felt like none of us believed in you.” Esther finished. “Believe me, I know.” Joey hunched his shoulders at the memory of the confrontation the two of them had had in his office the day Esther had visited.

“You don’t have to say it like that.” He grumbled.

“You said it enough times to Ma and Pa that I heard about it.”

“I didn’t say it that much.”

“Sure.”

“Come on, you’re making me sound like a brat!”

“You were a brat.” Esther folded her arms.

“Well, you were always a stuck up know it all!” Joey fired back.

“You take that back!” Esther demanded, jumping to her feet.

“Make me!” Joey yelled, doing the same.

This resulted in the two of them screaming at each other, all the built-up tension exploding as they yelled out all their feelings. Although, most of their insults were more than a little petty. They hadn’t seen each other properly since they’d been kids, and it seemed their relationship hadn’t moved past that point.

“Your mustache is stupid!”

“At least I don’t have grey hairs!”

“Some of us didn’t get to have their age frozen in demonic ink for nearly 20 years!”

Suddenly, Joey stopped. He was staring at the window. The big bay window in the living room that overlooked the front lawn. Well, that normally overlooked the front lawn. Now, it was black. For a moment, Esther was confused. Then she followed his gaze.

“What on Earth?” She stepped away from her brother, getting up to go over to the window. She stood in front of it, seeing her disheveled reflection in the blackness. Tilting her head to the side, she reached out and touched it. Her fingers found only cold glass. She could see ones and zeroes in the darkness, standing out starkly in green. It was like...Like watching the code on a computer.

Suddenly, the surface began to ripple. Instinctively, Esther took a step back, just in time to see something, or someone, fall through.

“What the-?” Joey started to ask, only to be interrupted by Esther.

“Johan?”

Johan looked up from where he’d fallen flat on his face. His glasses were a bit askew, but for the most part, he looked fine.

“Erm, hello.” He managed to get to his feet. “I’m sorry to drop in on you like this so suddenly. But..well...It’s been a few days and I was worried and I-”

“Wait, wait.” Esther stopped him. “A few days?”

“Yes. It’s been a few days.” Johan repeated. “Why?”

“Johan, it’s been nearly two months.”

“Oh...” Johan’s face fell. “Well...I suppose...I guess time works differently when...Well, you know.”

“I’m still happy to see you.” She smiled and went in to hug him. Only to pass right through him. To her surprise, she saw ones and zeroes instead of a flesh and blood person. Joey shrieked, stumbling back as he saw his sister pass right through the other man. Esther pulled back with a frown.

“Sorry.” Johan smiled apologetically. “It’s a bit of a tradeoff. I can either have a physical form or sanity.”

“And you chose sanity.” She concluded. Johan nodded.

“Well, regardless, it’s good to see you.” Esther smiled softly. “I was worried about you.”

“Thank you.” Johan smiled shyly, a blush coloring his cheeks.

“Um, excuse me?” It was then that Joey’s voice reminded the two of them that they weren’t alone. Esther turned back to look at her brother. He was standing where she’d left him, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

“Right.” Esther took a step back. “Jojo, this is Johan. Johan, this is my brother.”

“Don’t call me that in front of him!” Joey hissed. “Who is this guy?!”

“He’s you from a different dimension,” Esther said.

“Me from...” Joey blinked. Normally, he was the one telling people ridiculous things. It felt strange to be on the other side of it. He looked over at Johan again. His heart skipped a bit. Now that he gave the other man a proper look, he really was handsome.

“Hello.” Johan smiled shyly, raising one hand to wave. Joey felt the heat rising in his cheeks.

“Well, erm.” He cleared his throat. “I suppose the world is strange and unknowable sometimes.” He stuck his head out. “Joseph Drew, nice to meet you.”

“Johan Ramirez. It’s nice to meet you too.” He tried to shake Joey’s hand, but their hands passed through each other.

“Ah, right.” Joey smiled sheepishly, withdrawing his hand. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright, really,” Johan reassured him. Esther smiled to herself, hands on her hips. Johan glanced toward her, and she noticed the helpless look in his eyes.

“Is something wrong?” She asked.

“Oh, um, it’s nothing,” Johan said quickly, his cheeks turning a bit red.

“Johan.” Esther folded her arms, shifting into her patented ‘mom’ voice. Even grown men crumbled under her gaze. And so Johan did.

“It’s just...” His eyes flicked to Joey and he lowered his voice. “You didn’t tell me he’d be this handsome!”

“Pardon?” Esther looked at him blankly.

“Look at him!” Johan gestured to Joey. “He’s gorgeous!” Joey blushed, hunching his shoulders a bit.

“Truly, sir, you are too kind.”

“Him?” Esther pointed at her brother. “Him? You think he’s gorgeous?”

“Don’t sound so surprised!” Joey sputtered. “A lot of people find me handsome!” Esther kept staring blankly at Joey before turning back to Johan.

“Him?”

“Esther!”

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.” Esther laughed. “It’s just weird having people be attracted to my little brother. He’s still a dorky little kid in my head.” Joey glowered at her, eyes narrowed. But he had to salvage this somehow. Clearing his throat, he addressed Johan,

“So, you’re me from another dimension?”

“Oh! Yes.” Johan nodded.

“Then, did you...” Joey hesitated, finding the words difficult to say. Thankfully, he didn’t have to say anything. Johan’s face fell, his gaze dropping to the floor as his whole body seemed to deflate a bit.

“Yes. I did.”

“Ah.” Joey smiled wearily. “I’d sort of hoped other versions of me hadn’t made the same mistakes.”

“I’d hoped the same thing,” Johan admitted. “But, well, it seems like all of us go down the same path sooner or later.” Joey was quiet for a moment, staring at Johan with an unreadable expression on his face. He was handsome, Johan thought. Freckles dotted his skin like stars in the sky, dancing over the bridge of his nose, lingering in the hollow of his neck. His hair was black, but it wasn’t the deep blue-black that Johan saw in his own reflection. Joey’s hair was a dusty black, intermingled with hints of brown.

Johan could see the resemblance between this Joey and Esther. They had the same high cheekbones, the same strong nose. Both of their bodies were thin and willowy but belied a quiet sense of strength. Both siblings had lines around their mouths and eyes, lines that crinkled when they smiled and made them seem warm and approachable.

“MOM!” The quiet moment was interrupted by the front door opening and Esther’s children sprinting inside.

“Hey! Don’t run in the house!” Robert’s voice came from outside. Johan instinctively tensed up as the children came into the living room. Almost immediately upon seeing Johan, Rachel stopped in her tracks. Isaac ran into her, stumbling back.

“Why’d you...stop...” Isaac started to ask, before trailing off as he saw Johan. “...Um...Hi...?”

“Hello.” Johan waved nervously.

“Who’s he?” Rachel demanded, turning to her mother with her hands on her hips. She was an average looking child in nearly every way. Her hair was brown, her eyes were brown, she was neither thin nor fat, neither short nor tall. Her shirt and skirt were rumpled and her hair was in messy braids. But Johan couldn’t help but be a little intimidated by the look in her eyes. She was certainly a fierce one. But then again, she was 14 and felt she had something to prove.

“This is Johan, he’s a friend of mine,” Esther said, gesturing to Johan. “He just wanted to stop by and say hello.” Rachel narrowed her eyes at Johan. Behind her, Isaac peeked out curiously. He was smaller than his sister in height but considerably stockier. His hair was dark, similar to Joey’s, and it flopped over his big brown eyes.

“I like your glasses.” He said quietly. He looked rather fascinated by Johan.

“Oh, thank you.” Johan smiled at him.

“You’re really tall,” Rachel announced. Johan couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yes, I am.” He replied.

“Do you think he’s taller than Mr. Polk?” Isaac asked. “I didn’t think anyone was taller than Mr. Polk.”

“That’s true.” Rachel nodded solemnly.

“They know Norman?” Johan looked over at Esther and Joey.

“Of course we know Mr. Polk.” Rachel said before her mother or uncle could explain.

“We know everyone from the studio,” Isaac added. “Well, most everyone.”

“It’s kind of funny how many people around here are connected to the studio.” Rachel started to count on her fingers. “Mom’s Joey’s sister, Mr. Foster is Mr. Henry’s foster son, Miss Nancy is Mr. Lawrence’s sister, Mister Chris is Mr. Cohen’s cousin..” She kept counting on her fingers, listing off a bunch of different people in her life who were evidently connected to the studio.

“I tried to keep them away from it.” Esther’s gaze softened as she looked at her children. “I wanted to pay my reparations to Joey’s employees in secret.”

“But Rachel’s really nosy,” Isaac smirked behind his sister.

“I am not!” Rachel stamped her foot indignantly.

“Are too.”

“You wanted to know what Mom was hiding too!”

“What are you two yelling about?” Robert asked, entering the house with arms full of grocery bags. He was a rather nondescript looking man. Average height, a little stocky, grey-haired.

“Isaac called me nosy!” Rachel yelled, pointing at her brother.

“She is!” Isaac protested. Robert sighed, only to look up and see Johan. He frowned slightly, glancing at Esther.

“This is Johan. He’s a friend.” She explained.

“I see.” Robert nodded. He didn’t entirely understand who this man was, but he was pretty sure Johan was probably involved in some kind of dark magic.

“Kids, could you help me with the groceries?” He asked. “I think your mother and Uncle Joey want to talk to their friend by themselves.”

“But I want to know who he is!” Rachel protested.

“Sweetheart, you don’t need to know everything,” Esther said.

“I know that.” Rachel hunched her shoulders.

“Come on.” Robert gently dragged Rachel away, Isaac taking his free hand. Esther sighed heavily.

“She just doesn’t know when to quit.” She folded her arms, hunching her shoulders a bit. Joey pursed his lips, moving closer and putting an arm around her in an effort to comfort her.

“You’re afraid she’ll end up like him,” Johan said. Esther and Joey both looked abruptly up at Johan.

“Yes...How did you know that?” Esther asked.

“I mean, it’s not hard to figure out.” Johan smiled slightly apologetically. “A common thread among us Joey’s is the fact that most of us don’t know when to give up.”

“It’s true.” Joey echoed Johan’s sheepish smile.

“I suppose it is.” Esther conceded, her gaze drifting back toward the door. “I just don’t know what to do. She’s so singleminded. I’m afraid she won’t understand how dangerous her attitude is until it’s too late.”

“We’ll figure something out.” Joey tried to reassure her. Esther just sighed again, collapsing onto the couch and beginning to massage her temples.

“Should I...?” Johan pointed back to the window. “I...I don’t want to intrude.”

“I think she needs a little time, yeah.” Joey nodded, his attention on his sister. “It was nice meeting you, Johan.” He glanced back at the taller man, smiling softly. “I’d love to see you again. This, uh, might not be my house, but I say you’re welcome here anytime.”

“It is mine and I agree.” Esther murmured from the couch. “Come back anytime you like.”

“Thank you.” Johan’s smile was enough to make Joey’s heart skip a beat. The taller man nodded and turned to the window, giggling to himself before disappearing back into a line of code. Joey then returned to the couch to try and cheer up his sister.

A few hours later, Johan appeared once more. Joey and Esther were taking turns reading from a trashy romance novel Esther had bought years ago to cheer each other up. She’d bought it purely to have a reason to talk to Robert, not to actually read it, but it was still fun to drag out and read out loud every so often. Most romance novels Esther read were at least slightly well written and had premises that made sense. This one...well...It was a wonder it had gotten published in the first place.

“Stop! Stop!” Joey was howling as Esther read the sex scene. “This is awful! How the Hell was this published?!”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Esther giggled, lowering the book. It felt good to be spending time with him like this. She’d missed him. Suddenly, there was a thud from the window. The siblings turned to find Johan falling to the floor again. Only this time, he looked absolutely distraught.

“Johan?” Esther put the book down. “What’s wrong?”

“I-I’m sorry.” Johan sobbed, still in a crumpled heap on the ground. “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t stay away. I-I tried but I w-wanted to s-see you again.”

“We just saw each other an hour ago.” Esther hurried over to kneel before him. “Johan, what happened?”

“N-No.” Johan looked up, revealing his tear-stained face. “It’s b-been a year and a-a half for me.” He sniffed loudly. “I-I’m sorry. I m-missed you both. I had t-to see you again.”

“Hey, it’s alright.” She tried to touch him again, but her hand went through him once more. This time, though, something was different. As her hand passed through his code, she suddenly saw...things. A Bendy cutout with terrifying eyes holding a sign saying, “Wandering is a terrible sin”. A Tommy gun.

“What the-?” She jerked her hand back.

“What’s wrong?” Joey got up from the couch as well. “What happened?”

“I just...” Esther trailed off, staring into the space where she’d seen the cutout.

“...It’s nothing.” She finally said, shaking her head and kneeling beside Johan. “Are you alright?” Johan just shook his head, his lip quivering.

“It’s okay, sweetheart.” Esther’s voice was gentle and comforting. “You don’t need to apologize for anything. You’re welcome here any time. We both told you that.”

“You’re not alone.” Joey knelt beside both of them as well. He’d been told that ever since he’d been forced to confront his actions. He wasn’t alone. He had to confront what he’d done, but he wasn’t alone in his road to redemption. So this Joey shouldn’t be either.

“Do you mean it?” Johan asked quietly.

“We do.” Esther and Joey said together. Johan stared tentatively at them for a moment or two before shakily smiling.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Esther reached out to touch his shoulder, but pulled back once she remembered.

“Sorry.” Johan managed to pull himself into a sitting position.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Esther assured him. “Although, I am curious why we can’t touch you.”

“I’m a glitch.” Johan began to explain. “If bugged code touches another segment of code, that code will temporarily be erroneous until it is replaced where it should be.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Esther admitted. She could work a computer, sure, but she didn’t understand the nature of coding. Joey just sort of frowned into the distance, mouth opening and closing as he tried to wrap his head around this.

“I...” Johan stopped talking, getting very still and looking past her.

“Johan?” Despite her better judgment, Esther reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. As expected, her hand passed through his body. But what she saw this time chilled her to her very core. Johan, covered in ink, in the form of the Ink Demon.

“Nevermind.” Johan cleared his throat and shook his head.

“Esther? Are you alright?” Joey asked, noticing Esther’s expression. Johan’s gaze was drawn to her as well, her face a mask of horror.

“What’s wrong?” His brow furrowed in concern.

“I...What was that?” She whispered.

“What are you talking about?” Joey grabbed her hand, trying to ground her.

“When I touched him before, I just saw a creepy cutout and a gun,” Esther said, staring at Johan. “That was...Oh, sweetheart.” She looked like she wanted to enfold him in her arms and just keep him there. “What on Earth happened? How did you become that demon?” Johan’s face went pale, or at least as pale as it could conceivably go.

“You...Saw it?” He asked slowly.

“I did?” Esther faltered a bit at his reaction. “Was I...not supposed to?” Johan scrambled back a bit, starting to rock back and forth as he mumbled to himself.

“No no no no. That’s not supposed to happen.” He murmured.

“Johan, it’s alright,” Esther said. “I was just startled. You don’t need to feel bad.”

“No one else is supposed to see it!” His gaze snapped up to her, eyes wide and frantic. “I did this to myself! No one else is supposed to share my burden!”

“It’s alright, really.” Esther insisted. “I only saw it for a minute. I’m fine!”

“It’s not alright!”

Joey was utterly lost by this point. Esther and Johan were arguing about something he hadn’t seen and didn’t understand and he was rather confused. So he edged back a little, especially after Johan abruptly went silent. The other man’s form was starting to glitch, and suddenly Esther and Joey could hear his voice in their minds.

"OH GOD THEY KNOis that a chickeARGH MY HEAD IS KILLIall around me are familSHUT UP SHUT UP SHUarscenic contains traces of acetone right, so i canUSELESS NOTHI-"

“What. The. Fuck?” Joey whispered.

“Johan, darling, you need to take a deep breath.” Esther tried to regain some kind of control of the situation. “I think you’re starting to lose control a little.” She didn’t get a verbal response, but she and Joey were assaulted by another wave of semi-coherent and completely nonsensical thought.

It took quite a bit to finally calm Johan down. But Esther was patient and Joey was pretty desensitized to crazy shit by this point.

“I’m sorry,” Johan mumbled once he’d calmed himself.

“It’s okay,” Esther said. “This is all a learning experience.” She smiled wearily. “I’m still glad you visited.”

“It’s interesting to meet another Joey.” Joey agreed. “Especially one as handsome as you.” He winked, leaning on his hand. Esther rolled her eyes and swatted at his shoulder. Johan stared blankly at him for a moment, then giggled, his face turning red.

“I-I should be going.” He got up, clearing his throat. “I’ve imposed on you for long enough.”

“Come back whenever you like, handsome~” Joey said in a sing-song voice.

“Jojo!”

“What? He’s into it!”

Johan quickly exited through the window, smiling to himself as he went.

#bendy and the ink machine #fanfiction #johan ramirez #joey drew #esther drew #esther klein #freckle drew #robert klein #rachel klein #isaac klein

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lostinfic · 7 years ago

Note

Treat, please. Will x Holly. "You're wearing my sweater." + Game Night.

Game Night. 1 / 2

Pairing: Will Burton (The Escape Artist) x Holly Shawcross(True Love)

Rating:Teen

Word count: 1.5k

Summary: Will and Holly are part of a group of friends whomeet every week to play board games. Although there is more than friendship growing between them, their pasts prevent them from acting on their feelings.

A/N: I also wrote a fem!Will x Holly version of thisprompt: Sweater Weather

Some details might escape you if you haven’t seen the shows, but I think you can still enjoy the story.

○ Trick or treat prompts

○ All my autumn fics

Available on Ao3

🍂

“You don’t have to do that,” Will said as Holly washed the glasses used by their friends.

“It’s no bother.”

He cleared the table and threw away empty bags of crisps and pretzels.

“How was your week?”

She interpreted his question as a sign that he didn’t mind her staying after the others had left.

Holly worked part time at an immigration center, teaching English to newcomers. As Will wiped crumbs off the table, she told him about a teenage Somalian refugee who drew comic strips of his journey to England. She’d put him in contact with a gallery where she’d once exhibited her own work.

“Did you paint anything new this week?” Will asked.

“Yeah. Christmas cards. I need to stock up my online shop in time for Cyber Monday.”

“But you loved painting Autumn stuff.”

“I know, I really did.” She pouted.

She washed another glass, and Will sided up to her with a towel to dry it.

“I nearly drank my paint water again this week.”

“I told you to stop using that mug.” He bumped her with his shoulder.

“But I love it!” She bumped him back with her hip.

He shook his head fondly.

She asked about his own week, she remembered he had a meeting with a new client yesterday. He lost his smile.

“The man’s a serial drunk driver and he’s killed someone because of it, and I swear his breath smelled of gin when we met.”

“Jesus. Did he drive to the appointment?”

“Thank God, no. His solicitor got him to start the 12-Step Program.”

“That’s good. There’s hope.”

He nodded, his lips in a tight smile.

“You must think I’m naive,” Holly said.

“No, no, but he’s probably only doing it to get a reduced sentence.” Belatedly, he added, “But I think it’s great that you still have faith in people.”

“I have to. Don’t you?”

He didn’t answer. He had seen too much in his career. That lost puppy look in his eyes tugged at her heartstrings.

She had to believe people could make amends and change, otherwise there was no hope for her after what she’d done. And what he’d done.

She wondered if he knew that she’d slept with one of her students, the way she knew he’d killed his wife’s murderer, by unearthing five-year old headlines on Google. They’d both moved elsewhere, to Cambridge, to put it all behind, so she never brought up the subject, never asked him if he really did it. Who they were now was all that mattered.

“I think some people can become better persons,” he finally admitted.

She touched his arm lightly, a shy show of support, and he surprised her by putting his hand over hers. His thumb brushed across her knuckles, and her arm goose-pimpled from the contact.

She loved these moments, when it was just the two of them and they talked about more personal things, unlike when the others were around.

Will and Holly were part of a group of eight friends who played board games every week. Lately, when the game was at Will’s, she made sure to arrive a little early and found some excuse to stay after the others had left.

Will had joined the group six months ago (one of their members had a baby and couldn’t come to their weekly games anymore so he introduced Will as his replacement). Maybe it was a professional quirk, Holly was a teacher after all, but she immediately took him under her wing, explaining the rules and the inside jokes, and going out of her way to include him in the group. She was only being nice, but somewhere along the way being nice turned into being infatuated.

Jamie’s arrival from his football practice interrupted their moment. They jumped apart and quickly finished cleaning up the kitchen.

Will saw her to the door. The temperature had dropped significantly, and Holly was only wearing a thin raincoat.

“It’s alright,” she said, “the bus stop’s only two blocks away.”

“I don’t want you to catch something, I need you to win the next game. Here.” He removed his grey jumper and offered it to her.

Holly walked to the bus stop with her nose under the collar. Unlike her who shopped at charity shops, Will had the means to buy high quality clothes and this jumper was no exception, a blend of cashmere and wool as far as she could tell. She rubbed her cheek against it. His cologne lingered between the stitches, warm and woodsy, and with the smell of rain in the air, it reminded her of the forest in autumn.

She wore his sweater all week. It kept her warm when she painted or read with the windows open. She became so used to it that she still had it on when they met at Patrick’s house for the next game night. Will didn’t notice however. Even if it was half past seven, he’d obviously come straight from court and his brain was still occupied by work. His hair was messy as if he’d tugged on it.

He sat down next to her without a salutation, and pulled a pre-packaged cheese sandwich and a green apple out of his coat pockets.

Every other week, they played Dungeons & Dragons. Patrick— a stocky, dark-skinned accountant who’d initiated the game nights with his sister Sabrina— recapped their latest quest. Everyone organized their dice, figurines and character sheets on the dining room table. Everyone except Will who was munching absentmindedly on his stale sandwich.

“Will?” Patrick repeated.

He blinked out of his thoughts and looked around as if he’d forgotten where he was. “Uh?”

“That weapon you found at the cave, was it a knife or a sword?”

“In the game,” Jasna, another player, specified.

“Yeah, sorry, erm…” He looked through his notes and answered them.

“Long day?” Holly whispered to him.

“Aye.”

“Relax.” She leaned well into his personal space and loosened his tie.

He didn’t say a word, only turned his torso towards her, offering better access. She hadn’t planned on taking it all off, but now her fingers worked at the knot. The silky material glided under his collar and wrapped around her fist.

“You’re free from work now.”

As he took his tie from her hands, his fingers deliberately brushed against hers.

“Are you wearing my jumper?”

“Have been since I got here.” She chuckled. “Sorry, I’ll give it back to you.”

“There’s no rush.”

Holly’s character was a Wizard and Will’s a Rogue. Because they always sat next to each other, they often separated from the rest of the gang to conduct their own mission. They made a good team. Will was a great strategist, always a step ahead of everyone, even the Dungeon Master. He would lean towards Holly, and whisper to her their next move. Her own strength was thinking outside the box, using her character’s spells in creative ways.

“Holly, you can’t use the Glyph of Warding that way,” Patrick said.

Will put on his glasses and looked through the Player’s Handbook. “Objection.”

Patrick groaned.

Will recited the description of the spell, “You inscribe a glyph that harms other creatures, either upon a surface or within an object that can be closed to conceal the glyph. Did you not say just 10 minutes ago that Mordenkainen closed the portal? Accordingly…”

“Why are you always defending her and not us?” Sabrina asked.

And that was the thing, wasn’t it? Holly’s weakness. It’s why she’d had an affair with a married man, an underage student and an older woman who called her her Muse. If they made her feel just a little special… But he was a widower, a single father and a workaholic, but she could feel it, like the pull of the undercurrent before a big wave. She was wary of that pull now— three years of therapy had taught her that at least—, but the more she resisted it, the more delicious it was. And really, it didn’t help that he wore such tight jeans.

Sometimes, she drew their D&D characters together.

“Holly, here’s what I’ll do, if Modenkainen is still in this plane, you can use the glyph on his portal.” Patrick rolled a pair of twenty-side die. “And you got it. Damn it.”

Holly and Will high-fived.

The game continued as they ate junk food, drank cider and generally drove Patrick crazy with their antics. “You can’t drug the elves to get in the castle!”

“What was the point of going all the way to Yesterhill to get these pastries, then?”

“I didn’t make you go there. By the way, Jerome, did you hide your tail?”

“Yeah, I shoved it up me arsehole.”

The whole table burst out laughing.

By the end of the night, they’d reigned in their hilarity enough to defeat a dragon and a horde of banshees.

“Same time next week,” Jasna said as she put on her coat. “It will be Halloween, so you’d all better dress up. Just kidding.”

Much to Holly’s surprise, Will offered her a ride home even though her flat wasn’t on his way.

Street lights glistened on the rain-sleek pavement and the wind carried dead leaves across the road. The full moon shone a warm, benevolent yellow over the river Cam.

Although they were silent, the car was brimming with some kind of energy. Will nearly missed a red light even if his eyes were trained on the road, Holly kept squirming on her seat, and they repeatedly snuck glances at each other. He missed the exit for her neighborhood, and they had to drive a while longer. She didn’t mind. She wanted him to keep driving. All night. Anywhere, out of town. They’d talk of nothing and everything.

He stopped in front of her building and killed the engine. She unbuckled her seat belt but didn’t leave the car. She didn’t want to have to wait a whole week before seeing him again.

“So…” he said.

“We’re here.”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks for the ride.”

“Not at all. Oh! I have something for you.”

He reached for something on the back seat and handed her a paper bag. She unwrapped a set of mugs labelled “paint water” and “not paint water”.

“I saw them in a craft store window. Thought of you.” He tugged on his earlobe, watching her reaction. “Do you like them?”

Holly didn’t know what to say. It made her so happy that he’d thought of her. She cradled the mugs to her chest and nodded. She remembered something Karen had once said, that she wanted someone who would love “all her nerdy little things”. Holly had found that someone.

She tentatively leaned over the gear stick to kiss his cheek, but he turned his head at the same time and her lips landed right on the corner of his mouth. They both laughed nervously.

“Sorry.”

“It’s all right.”

“I should give you back your jumper.”

She took off her scarf and raincoat. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach when she gripped the hem of the sweater; she caught the hem of her tank top as well and pulled it all up over her head.

Will’s eyes widened when he saw her bra. Her chest heaved with quick breaths.

“Holly…” He swallowed thickly. “You’ll get cold.”

And she did, for his rejection was like a bucket of iced water to the face.

“Right.” She hastily put her raincoat back on and rushed outside the car with a mumbled goodbye.

Part 2

#lots-o-huggindoctor #meanwhileinpetesworld #Teninch fic #Will x Holly #Lostinfic writes stuff #autumn prompts #fluff and angst #I guess they're both geeks #because they're playing Dungeons & Dragons #game night fic

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bisexual-in-every-gender · 4 years ago

Text

survey

Alphabetti Spaghetti (1/3)

And we will fall in love with shooting stars. - A

Have you ever seen an Aardvark? Yes, in the zoo.

Were you ever abandoned in a public place as a child? Where? By accident. My parents were swimming and I got stuck in a public toilet and they had so much fun they didn’t notice me missing. xD

What accent do you have? A German one. Because, well, I am German. A slight Berliner dialect in German.

Is there someone in your family addicted to something? What is it? My dad stopped smoking, so no, I don’t think so.

Have you ever been under general anaesthetic? What were you having done? Yes, I had a surgery on my ears.

How do you show the ones you love affection? Words of affirmation and LOADS of cuddles. Also gifts.

Are you more passive or aggressive? Passive.

Do you like the band Aha!? No, not really

Do you know anyone called Aidan? What are they like? Nope.

Ever heard of the band Ajax? Nope.

Do you know anyone called Akash? No.

Do the sound of fire alarms scare you? They don’t scare me but they’re super loud and it hurts my ears.

Do you live in America? If so, which state? If visited, where’d you go? No, I live in China. I’d love to go to Miami one day. And L.A.

Have you ever had an ant infestation in your house? No, nothing that serious.

Aora - did I spell that correctly? Aorta?

Do you have a preference in Apple? What type do you prefer? Erm, the fruit? I do like red apples best.

Are you an Aquarian? Is anyone in your family/your partner/best friend? I am not but both my nan and my wife are

Have you ever worn any type of armor? Which type? No.

Do you use the word ass a lot? No.

Have you or your family had an attorney? What for? Nope.

Is your car/family’s car an automatic gear or manual? My dad has a manual.

Are you interested in aviation, piloting and aircrafts? Nope.

What was the last award you recieved for? English, methinks.

Axl Rose - like or dislike? I don’t have an opinion as I never smelled it.

Do you like air being spelt ayre or ayer in rap or hiphop or is it nasty? I have no idea what we’re talking about.

Is the sky outside Azure? If not, what shade is it? It’s sort of grayish.

Belle amour (we’ve been here before). - B Do you call anyone baby? Is it sweet or an overrated name for affection? I call my wife “babe”. Don’t think it’s overrated.

Bby - does this shortened version bug you? It doesn’t bug me, but I wouldn’t use it. --> same

Do you know what BC in terms of time stands for? Not... really?

BDf - For or against? What is that???

Do you prefer beach breaks, city breaks or winter breaks? Why? I like the beach, so I guess.. that?

Do you spell out boyfriend properly or put bf in texts/online? I spell it out.

Do you know what bg is short for? nope

Do you know anyone with the last name Bhays? No.

Have you ever been bird watching? What did you see? Nah.

Do you like Bjork? I like exactly one song of her (”Army of me”), aside from that, I find her quite tedious

What does this read: bk 2moz miss u lyk fk. I don’t care.

Do you like BMWs? No idea what they look like. I’m useless when it comes to cars.

What is the nearest book to you called? How many times have you read it? It’s a law book as I’m at work. I never read it.

BnQ - gone there? What did you buy? What’s with all the weird shorthand/abbreviations?? ---> seriously!

Are you more brainy or brave? Brainy I’d say

Did you like the BSBs (Backstreet Boys) as a kid? How about now? No and no.

Burgers, Hot Dogs or Salads at a Barbecue? Burgers.

Do you have a Byro? Yes

Cold eyes and filthy lies all leave me petrified. - C Do you have a Cactus (Cacti)? Nope. We had one called Karl-Heinz but we killed him by overwatering him.

Do you know what a CCTV is? Yes.

How many CDs are in the room you are currently in? Zero.

What’s your favourite cereal brand? Rice Krispies

Do you like children’s TV shows still? Which one(s)? I like what I grew up with, especially Sponge Bob Squarepants

Cinnamon - Yum or Yuck? Yum.

Do you know anyone with the initials and or name CJ? YES! Colleen Jean.

Have you ever met a self professed clairvoyant? What did they do/say? Nah.

Do you watch CNN News? What’s your prefered news channel/show? No. I actually just read “The Guardian”

How many cousins do you have? 2

Do you still draw with crayons? When was the last time you did? Drew what? No.

Do you know what a CSS feed is? What is it? Can’t be bothered to look it up.

Do you like cycling/biking? What type of bike do you have? I have a bike but never learned how to ride it. My wife wants to teach me soon.

Do you really like it, is it is it wicked. - D What is the most dangerous animal you’ve petted/held? A scorpion.

Do you like Death Metal? If so, which band(s)? I like some metal but I don’t think I like Death Metal much.

Did you ever keep a diary/journal? I had a diary when I was younger.

Do you prefer small, medium, large or no dogs? LARGE!

Do you know what DP stands for in porn? Yes, haha

Have you ever dressed up as a celebrity for a party/Halloween? No.

DS or Wii? Why? DS.

Does dust make you sneeze or cough? sneeze

How many DVDs do you have all together? Over 40

Do you dye your hair regularly, sometimes or never? I sometimes dye it. Like to give it some time to breathe inbetween.

Every love lies sometimes … - E What’s something you refuse to eat? Peas, gerkins

Don’t you think the word ebb is so pretty? No.

Do you like Chocolate Eclairs? YES!

Ever tried edible paper? As a kid. Never quite got the appeal.

Eevee - pretty name or too Pokemon-y? I just think Pokemon.

Do you sometimes mix up the spellings/meanings of affection and defection? No...

Do you have a big ego, low self esteem or somewhere in between? Low self-esteem for the most part.

What Element does your starsign fall under? Air apparently

Do you show your emotions easily and freely or hide them? I wish I could hide them more but I’m terrible at it.

What is your favourite form of entertainment? reading, swimming, theatre, musicals, Netflix, languages

What will they write on your epitaph? Hopefully only good things.

Estimate/guess what number we are on now? Nah.

Do you know basic social etiquette? Yes.

Does your country use the Euro, Great British Pound, Dollar or other? "My” country as in where I’m from: Euro. The country I currently reside in: “other”

Do you still get excited on Christmas Eve? Aww, yeah.

What animal/creature that is extinct do you wish wasn’t? Giant sloths!

What colour eyes do your parents have? My mom has green eyes, my dad has blue eyes.

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daysswithyou · 8 years ago

Text

Never losing you - Part II

Gif credit: jaechicken

Author’s note: Part II is right down below, hope you enjoy! :)

part i

II.

For a moment, you were simply too shocked to say anything as a dull ache came from deep within your chest, causing you to take shallow, shaky breaths as you shuddered despite the warmth that enveloped you.

When he’d left, you thought that was the end.

When he’d left, you thought you’ll never have to see him again.

When he’d left, you tried to move on.

And you did.

So why was life so cruel now, playing tricks with your heart 10 years later? He had not crossed your mind once since 10 years ago but seeing his photo again, sparked off thousands of memories within you.

As they say, you’d never ever forget your first love and he was the first for many things for you.

He was your first crush.

The first time you met him, it was during Physical Education lessons in your final year of high school. You were running tracks around the field when your eyes narrowed upon him. His lanky figure made him stand out amongst the jocks and his Mohawk hairstyle made him seem another head taller than the rest.

As if he wasn’t already tall enough.

But what really drew you in was his smile. When the sun rays shone on his face and he broke out into a huge grin that showed off his neat rows of pearly whites, you found yourself inexplicably drawn to this beautiful man.

From that day on, you kept a silent eye on him till graduation.

Always there, but never having enough guts to speak to him.

Needless to say, you graduated without saying anything to him for the entire year and you figured that was the end of your little crush, a little secret that you’ll carry with you to your grave.

Little did you know that every time you turned away, someone would be watching you like a guardian angel.

He was your first date.

Moving to a college rather far from home to pursue your passion, you never expected to see anyone from your old high school there. So when you spotted the familiar Mohawk hairstyle, lanky figure with tortoise shell glasses, to say you were stunned would be an understatement. Through the crowd of a thousand people, you both somehow miraculously made eye contact and he flashed you the same toothy grin that you loved so much whilst nodding his head a little in your direction. Against your wishes, your cheeks felt extremely hot that entire day.

Having a secret passion in music, you took up a degree in events management and you enjoyed your classes and life went on pretty normally for you. You had found out from another friend that said crush was doing Political Science and naturally, you found it weird when you kept seeing him around your campus grounds when the Political Science faculty was literally at the other end of the college grounds. You figured it was just you, but you caught him staring at you a couple of times. Were your eyes playing tricks on you? Or was it real? Whatever the case was, you couldn’t shake off the feeling of having a pair of eyes on your back whenever he was around.

September 15th

It was just another ordinary day for you and you left the café with your usual cup of coffee in hand. Just as you were about to turn the corner, a tall figure stood right in front of you, blocking your way. Looking up, you found yourself face to face with someone familiar: Jae.

“Hi there, Y/N, right?”

Tongue-tied, all you could do was nod.

“Phew I’m glad I managed to catch you…” Trailing off, he left his sentence hanging in the air and you continued to stare at him, your eyes egging him to carry on. Noticing your gaze on him, he quickly regained his composure.

“Erm, so I take Political Science and I heard you do events management and I’m actually doing a paper on that so I was hoping to get your help on it?”

It was rude to laugh but you couldn’t help the giggle that escaped your lips. How can an event management major possibly help with a Political Science paper? Also, you were sure event management was not a topic under Political Science. Jae definitely had another agenda, and it was plain for all to see.

“I suck at this don’t I?” Jae sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as he peeked at you from beneath his glasses, a light pink of embarrassment dusting his cheeks.

“Well… I wouldn’t say that you suck…but next time why don’t you just tell me what you want straight? Is this your way of asking a girl out on a date?”

As a grin split across his lips, Jae nodded his head tentatively.

Now it was your turn to turn red as you tried to fight back the smile that was threatening to show on your face but that didn’t escape Jae’s eyes.

“Is that a yes Y/N?”

“Yes, sure, I’d love to go on a date with you.”

“6pm tonight here Y/N?”

Perhaps you might have nodded your head a little too vigorously but this time, Jae didn’t hold back and showed his immense joy by gracing you with that huge grin that you loved so much.

Suffice to say, after that date, many more came and 3 months later, he asked you to be his as the first snow fell.

He was the first guy you had skinship with.

Even though you were officially together, treating Jae like your boyfriend still felt a little awkward. You blamed it on your inexperience – you never had any semblance of a love life till Jae waltzed into your life 3 months ago. You didn’t know how to act like a girlfriend; when was it alright to start holding hands? Should you be kissing already? Was it ok to hug him goodbye from now on? A million thoughts whizzed through your head and you started to wonder if you were good enough for him. You began to feel like a fool for not even knowing the basics on how to be a girlfriend. Swimming so deep in your thoughts, you hadn’t even noticed Jae was in front of you till he placed a hand on your shoulder, causing you to jump.

“What’s wrong Y/N? You seem so dazed today.”

“Nothing Jae, it’s fine. Let’s go.”

You turned to leave but he pulled you back to face him.

“Y/N, I can read you like an open book. Something’s bothering you, tell me what’s wrong.”

You hesitated, unsure if you should let him know of your insecurities. Finally, you relented.

“Jae, am I good enough as a girlfriend?”

Jae was obviously dumbfounded, judging by the way his eyebrows furrowed and his lips turned into a frown. He opened his mouth to reply but you cut him off.

“This seems so stupid, I know, but I just feel like I’m not good enough at showering you with affection. Other girls seem so natural when it comes to skinskip, but I cannot, for the life of me, work up to guts to hold your hand, or hug you or – ”

Your sentence was abruptly cut off as you found yourself pressed against Jae’s chest, the deep rumble of his chest and clear laughter mixing together in your ear to form a beautiful melody.

“Babe I can’t believe you’re worrying about that – I can’t even – oh gosh how adorable can you be?” Peering up to look at him, you found Jae shaking his head at you as he gazed at you lovingly.

“What… it’s a valid concern… people do couple things together and I don’t even know how to act like one, it makes me feel bad…” Your eyes then dropped to the floor.

“Babe, listen to me.” Placing a gentle finger under your chin, he tilted your head up till he was holding your steady gaze.

“I didn’t ask you to be my girlfriend just to do couple things with you – I asked you to be mine because I love you, and I genuinely want to treasure you. It’s alright even if we don’t hold hands now, or kiss. I didn’t do these things because I wanted to wait till you were ready; I didn’t want to rush things and risk scaring you away. You might start to think I only want to get into your pants, which is absolutely not true for the record. Besides, if you’re ever shy, I can take the lead. Heh.”

“Thanks Jae, you’re the best…”

Wrapping your arms around his torso as he placed his chin on top of your head, he held you silently for a few seconds before placing a soft kiss on your head.

Ever since that day, kisses and hugs became a frequent thing and Jae seemed to love it more and more as time passed.

He was your first kiss.

For your first anniversary, Jae had insisted on taking you to the beach and as always, he never disappoints. Jae spared every effort into making you feel like a princess that day – candlelit dinner, roses on the beach and of course, your favourite, a song for you as he serenaded you with his guitar. As the golden sun dipped beyond the horizon, both of you walked along the beach, hand in hand, as he talked about the new song that he was writing about now. You listened to him with revere; listening to his voice was your favourite thing in this world.

Just then, a wave of courage washed over you and you stopped in your tracks, causing Jae to turn around.

“Something wrong babe?”

“Nothing” was all you said as you took 2 bold steps towards him before sealing your lips together. Overcoming his initial shock, Jae’s hands found their way into your soft brown locks as he deepened the kiss. Finally breaking apart, you found your voice again.

“Thank you so much for everything Jae, I thank my lucky stars every day to have you with me all this while.”

“Me too babe, but what was that all about?”

“I just wanted to… say I love you in another way today.”

“Just for today? Awww” He then gave you those puppy eyes as you smacked his chest.

“Greedy! It just ended and you’re asking for more?”

“Well, a man can have a little hope right?” He then swooped in to steal another quick kiss before taking off down the length of the beach, leaving you to chase after him.

Jae stole so many more kisses after that day, not like you minded anyways.

He was the first man you had shared a bed with.

In your final year of college, both of you had finally saved enough to move out of the college dorms to rent an apartment together. You kept yourself busy that whole day, unpacking and finally settling into the new house with Jae.

But when night fell, did you then realise what was going to happen.

You were going to share a bed with Jae.

Sure, you’ve hugged him before, kissed him before but sharing a bed with him was like a whole new world altogether. You were uncertain about the whole idea but that night, when he pulled you into his chest, wrapping a protective arm around you with his cheeks pressed against your temple, everything felt so right that you drifted right off to sleep.

On nights when you couldn’t sleep, he would always be there to talk to you until tiredness took over.

On nights when nightmares paid you a visit, his safe arms were always there to hold you till sweet sleep found you again.

On cold nights, his body would be your second blanket, giving you more than just warmth, but comfort as well.

You don’t regret renting the house together, or sharing a bed with him daily.

Because waking up next to him every morning was a blessing.

He was also your first heartbreak.

Opening your apartment door, you didn’t even have time to put down your books before Jae picked you up and spun you round and round in the air.

“Jae what’s going on!”

“I got it! I got it!”

“Got what?”

“I got accepted into JYP! Babe I’m gonna be able to become a singer now!”

“That’s great Jae! Erm… how about I go get groceries to make some dinner? Then we can celebrate and talk about it more.”

“Thanks babe, I’m gonna call the family to let them know about this.”

“You do that Jae.”

He gave you a quick kiss before turning to bound off into the living room, already busy punching numbers into his cell phone as you quietly slipped outside.

Walking along the pavement, staring at your brown boots that stood out amongst the orange autumn leaves, you tried your best to stop the few tears slipping down your face.

You were angry.

But what for? You couldn’t even answer that question, which only added to the frustration you were feeling.

You’d knew all along; late nights staying up to have life conversations meant that you heard on more than one occasion about his real dream: to be a singer. You knew how much he loved music, loved singing, loved playing the guitar, loved playing for an audience. Now that he was going to be able to do all of that, why weren’t you happy for him? Shouldn’t love be about wishing the best for the other party, no matter the circumstances? So why is it now that you found bitterness residing within you, and not happiness for him?

Perhaps you were angry at him. For not telling you about the audition, for not giving you some warning beforehand that he might leave.

Or maybe you were just angry at fate: for giving you such a wonderful partner but ultimately, taking him away from you.

Jae was an idealist; he would do anything later on to convince you that the both of you could still work out somehow, despite the objection, despite the rules.

But you were a realist; and you knew deep down in your heart that no matter what he said, this is where your stories end.

The rest was simply too painful to think about; how you broke up with him, how he had left and when you finally returned to the present, you found that your cheeks had already been stained wet and you rushed to wipe them off your face before anyone else could see.

He was supposed to be a thing of a past, something you should have forgotten a long time ago.

But 10 years on; tonight, you finally found out that he had never really left. He was simply a faded movie of the past, always playing, but never demanding for attention. How silly of you, to think that you could possibly forget your first love. As you struggled through the rest of the night with thoughts of him, you finally managed to get through that pile of documents and hopefully remembering enough to not mess up tomorrow.

You fell asleep that night, hoping to get a break from thoughts of him but he still managed to have a hold on you, memories of your time together playing throughout the night.

#day6 jae #park jaehyung #day6 writings #day6 scenarios #day6 imagines #day6 #kim wonpil #park sungjin #kang younghyung #brian kang #yoon dowoon #part 3 will be up as soon as possible!#thank you for reading :)

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worryinglyinnocent · 8 years ago

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Fic: The Most Beautiful Mistake (2/?)

Summary: Belle French and ‘Rumpel’ Gold have been best friends for a long time, ever since Belle first walked into Gold’s yarn shop. One stormy night, one bottle of wine, and a couple of heartfelt confessions later, and their relationship will never be the same again.

Rated: NC-17 overall, this chapter is M.

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[One] [AO3]

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Two

Morning came too soon. Gold woke up to a painfully full bladder and a sour taste in his mouth from the wine the previous evening, remembering that he’d forgotten to brush his teeth. The weak sunlight was creeping around the edges of the blinds into the bedroom, dimly illuminating the bed and reminding him just what he’d done the night before, if Belle’s arm sprawled across his chest and her legs entwined with his weren’t enough to hammer home the point. He’d told himself that it had been a mistake at the time, but he’d been so addled with lust that he hadn’t listened to the sensible part of his brain and now, well, now this had happened. What had he done?

He gingerly extricated himself from Belle’s loose hold on him, slipping out of bed carefully so as not to wake her. Part of him really didn’t want to be there when she woke up and realised what had happened, but he knew that was the coward talking. He’d made a complete mess of things and he was going to have to face up to it. There could be no running away from this one. Of all the terrible things to have to face up to, it had to be this, a situation entirely of his own making because he was weak and pathetic and couldn’t keep his cock away from Belle and in his pants where it belonged. Having relieved himself and brushed his teeth, coherent thought became a little clearer, and with clarity came pain and crushing realisation.

He was nothing short of a monster. Belle had been in such a state, so sad, and what had he done? He’d taken advantage of her emotional vulnerability for his own selfish ends. Some desperate little part of his brain piped up, telling him that it wasn’t his fault, that Belle had initiated it all, and he pressed it down, splashing cold water into his face to try and shock him back into reality. It didn’t matter what Belle had done, it didn’t matter that Belle had kissed him first. He shouldn’t have taken it any further because he knew that was not what Belle wanted really. She was overwrought, stressed, doubting herself. She couldn’t be held responsible for any rash decisions she made in that state, and he sure as hell shouldn’t have been encouraging her in the shameless way he had done. Belle had looked to him for comfort and security, and that was what he should have provided. He should have held her and dried her tears like all the other times she had looked to him for support. He should have tucked her up in his bed to sleep on her tumultuous thoughts and spent the night on the sofa. He should have…

It didn’t matter what he should have done, because he hadn’t done any of it. Instead he’d slept with his best friend and now he was going to have to deal with the fallout from that. Gold sighed, looking at his face in the mirror. He couldn’t put it off any longer, he was going to have to leave the bathroom at some point, so he grabbed his bathrobe off the back of the door and returned to the bedroom. Belle had stirred a little since he’d left, turning over onto her stomach, her arm still stretched out as if she was reaching across the bed for him, but she was still sound asleep. Should he wake her? No, let her stay undisturbed for as long as she needed; she’d cried a lot last night and it would have taken it out of her. Besides, she probably wouldn’t appreciate coming face to face with him after what had happened and being forced to confront it head on the moment she woke. Gold hovered in the doorway, unsure of his next move. It seemed incredibly perverse to make her breakfast after what had happened and he didn’t want to force her to stay in the screaming awkwardness that would no doubt ensue when she woke. She would probably want to get as far away from him as possible as quickly as possible and he would be certain to let her. He wanted to be there when she woke, to hold himself accountable for his terrible decisions, but getting back into bed with her was impossible, despite the selfish voice telling him that this was it and these few precious minutes would be his last chance to hold Belle close and feel the warmth of her skin against his. Gold shook his head. Belle wasn’t his to touch and hold. She had never been his. She’d said that she no longer wanted to marry Gaston, but that did not in any way mean that she wanted to marry him, or that she had any feelings towards him in that way at all.

But she’d been so eager last night, his brain kept telling him. She’d kissed him and undressed him and he liked to think that she’d enjoyed herself. All the same, he couldn’t help but wonder. It would be incredibly unfair to Belle and a terrible slander against her character to claim that she had only kissed him because he happened to be there at the time she needed him, and that she would have done the same to any man she’d happened to be with at the time she started to have doubts about her relationship with Gaston. Belle was not like that, not at all. The fact remained, though, that up until that moment they had been dear friends, and maybe in her state…

He shook his head. He could not blame Belle for any of this, it wasn’t her fault. He should have shut her down gently, told her that he loved her so much but she really didn’t know what she was doing and she’d regret it in the morning, and left it at that. Sure, his own heart would be breaking, but Belle’s would be protected.

There was no time to think about his next move any more. Belle stirred into full wakefulness, her hand brushing across the sheets and her brow furrowing when she found the bed beside her empty. She blinked a couple of times and sat up, looking around the room and finally seeing Gold hovering in the doorway. She gave him a sleepy smile.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.” What else could he say? What else was there to say? Where the hell did they go from here?

Suddenly Belle grimaced, screwing her face up and pressing a hand to the side of her head.

“Oh god,” she mumbled. “That was a bad idea. Too much wine.”

Gold’s stomach jolted uncomfortably. She’d been drunk and vulnerable and he’d had sex with her. What kind of a predator was he? How could he even look her in the eye after the way he’d treated her?

“I’m so sorry,” he said. Ha, as if sorry could make up for it. “It won’t happen again, I swear.”

As if that was going to be any consolation. Empty words, when even now his brain was remembering how beautiful she had looked panting in the aftermath of her orgasm and how wonderful her pleasure had tasted on his tongue.

“Oh.” Belle bit her bottom lip, drawing the covers up over her breasts as she looked at him, consciousness dawning. Yes, now she saw him for what he really was, the man she’d trusted as her best friend who’d turned out not to be so trustworthy after all. “Oh.”

“I’m so sorry,” Gold repeated, but he knew that the more you said something, the more it lost its meaning until it was simply hollow. “I’ll, erm, I’ll get you something for your head.”

He went into the kitchen, cringing at the empty wine bottle and glasses on the table still there from last night, but he didn’t clear them up, needing the evidence, the reminder of what he’d done. There was an unopened bottle of water in the fridge and he rummaged in the medicine drawer for a new blister pack of Tylenol. He wouldn’t blame her for being wary of anything he gave her, best to show her that his intentions now, at least, were honourable, and that he was trying to make amends for his behaviour, and try to win her trust again.

Belle drew her knees up to her chest beneath the covers, hugging them close and wondering what on earth she ought to do now. When she had woken, still pleasantly sated from the night before and expecting to find Gold in her arms, she had been surprised to find him gone from the bed, but not necessarily alarmed by his absence. The body had needs to attend to after all. But when she had seen him standing there in the doorway, curled up on himself as if he was trying to put as much distance between them as possible, his face ghastly pale and stricken, she knew that something had gone terribly wrong. For a brief moment she hadn’t connected his mood this morning with what they had done the previous evening and she’d thought that perhaps something terrible and unrelated had happened, maybe he’d received bad news about Neal, but that thought was quickly dismissed. He would have told her straight away if there was a problem with Neal, he wouldn’t have waited for her to wake up naturally. And he wouldn’t have looked at her as if she was going to bite him.

She had bitten him last night, hadn’t she? She remembered her teeth catching his lip when she’d kissed him so frantically.

I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again. I’m so sorry.

Something inside Belle’s gut twisted. He regretted what they had done last night, and he was telling her in no uncertain terms that it was a one-off deal, that he was sorry but really it would never, could never, happen again. And really, could she blame him? She’d jumped her best friend, a man who’d shown no romantic or sexual intentions towards her at all during the eight years of their acquaintance, and now she was expecting him to want to form a relationship with her? She must be deranged.

He said that he would be lucky to marry you, a voice in the back of her head said. He went down on you, you sat on his face for crying out loud. He told you that you were delicious and beautiful and…

Her stomach churned. He was her friend. Of course he was going to tell her those things to make her feel better. What friend wouldn’t? If she’d gone to Ruby or Ariel or any one of her other female friends they would have said the same thing to reassure her and boost her confidence. The difference being, she wouldn’t have gone on to kiss them senseless and sleep with them. She knew that it had been a mistake to confess her feelings to Gold. She’d been attracted to him for so long, since practically the first moment they met and she had seen him working at the spinning wheel, but time had made it obvious that he did not feel the same way about her at all. She’d waited for him, tried so hard to tease his true feelings out of him, but in the end, she had given up, knowing that she couldn’t make him feel things that weren’t there.

She shouldn’t have brought the wine. She knew that she couldn’t hold her wine, and Gold knew it too. That was probably why he’d humoured her, knowing that she was being silly and tipsy. But then she’d let it go too far, and swept him along in her wake, and now, well, he was no doubt feeling ill-used and here she was, still sitting in his bed reminding him of what she’d made him do in the name of friendship and consolation.

He had a good time too! The voice in the back of her head was whiny and persistent. As much as Belle wanted to think something along the lines of ‘he’s a hot-blooded man and he had a ridiculous horny woman practically dry-humping him, of course he was going to react to that’, she knew that really, that wasn’t true. Gold had never dated in all the time she’d known him. She’d never seen him in the company of another woman, or another man for that matter. He wasn’t the type to just shag anything that he happened to come into contact with, not like Gaston’s friend Keith who seemed to have spread chlamydia around most of the Rabbit Hole’s patrons. But if it had been so long – it was at least twelve years since his wife had left him – then he really couldn’t be blamed for his cock reacting to her in the way it had. And since she’d been so persistent, well, he’d just gone along with what she’d wanted, because he was her friend and he had never denied her anything that made her happy, no matter what the personal cost might be. But this was more than wool and wine and the natural gestures that came with friendship. This was something far bigger. She’d crossed a line; she’d misread his signals and thought that he wanted something that he obviously didn’t, and she’d taken something she wasn’t entitled to.

There was a soft knock at the bedroom door.

“Belle?”

“Erm, yes, I’m decent.” Well, she wasn’t at all, she was still completely naked, but there was nothing pertinent on show as she wrapped the sheet around her a little tighter to spare his blushes.

Gold came in, holding out a bottle of water and a pack of Tylenol. Even after the spectacle she’d made of herself yesterday, he was still so good and caring and it made Belle want to cry all over again.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I…”

“You have nothing to apologise for,” Rumpel said. “You’ve done nothing to be ashamed of.” His hand hovered above hers where he’d passed her the pills, but then he withdrew it as if he had been stung. The action bit her hard, and Belle took a deep breath. God, she’d ruined everything, and yet he still said that she hadn’t done anything wrong. She really didn’t deserve him. He crossed his arms over his chest tightly, hugging himself.

“I’ll let you get dressed in peace,” he said. “You’re welcome to take a shower if you’d like. You know where I keep the spare towels.” The faintest whisper of a smile ghosted across his lips for a split second before it was gone, his face returning to its grave aspect. “I’ll leave you alone.”

He disappeared from the room again, leaving Belle with her water and her thoughts. A shower was tempting, to try and wash away her terrible decisions, but she couldn’t impose on Gold any longer, she’d already taken advantage of his kindness far too much. A small part of her wanted to keep the scent of him lingering on her skin for a while longer, to keep a small part of him with her for an hour or so more in the aftermath of her ruining their friendship. Besides, it was clear that he was uncomfortable in her presence at the moment and she wouldn’t force it on him. Reluctantly, she got out of bed and started searching for her clothes on the floor, pulling them on quickly as the final wonderful memories of last night started to fade away.

She had known that it was a rash decision, that she was still technically engaged to Gaston, that Gold was her friend and nothing more. Maybe it was the wine loosening her inhibitions or maybe she’d just had a fit of madness, but she had not expected the morning after to hurt as badly as it did. She’d made a mistake, she knew that. It had been such a wonderful, beautiful mistake at the time, but like all mistakes, it had consequences, more far-reaching than she could ever have fathomed when she had first made the decision to kiss him and throw caution to the wind.

When she came into the living room, she found Gold standing by the window, looking out over the grey morning. A tree branch had been torn loose in the howling gale last night and was hanging precariously outside the window, blowing violently in the strong winds that remained from the storm. In a way it was the perfect analogy for their friendship. Blown about in the storm and now hanging from a thread, damaged beyond repair.

“Rumpel?” she hedged. He turned and gave a wan smile on seeing her ready to leave. Ordinarily on the days after she’d spent the night during a storm, they would go to Granny’s for baconana waffles and they’d spend a pleasant, relaxed morning together. It felt laughable to suggest that now. Gold clearly wanted her out of the apartment as soon as possible.

“I think it would be best if we didn’t see each other again for a while,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

The words cut Belle like a knife, although she could well understand why he had said them. If their friendship was ever going to recover from the wild curveball that she had thrown at it, then naturally he would need some space to process what had happened and, hopefully with time, forgive her. She couldn’t blame him for not being able to continue as they were before right now. With her own feelings so jumbled, she knew that logically she needed time as well, as much as she wanted to launch straight into trying to make things better, it would not work if even she did not know what she wanted.

But oh God, she was going to miss him so much.

“Yes,” she agreed. “Yes, I think that’s the best way.”

The silence in the room between them was so awkward, and it pained Belle because they’d never had awkward silences before. She had to leave, it was her very presence that was making everything so weird. She pulled her boots and raincoat back on and grabbed her purse from the sofa where she’d left it the evening before.

“Goodbye, Rumpel,” she said softly.

“Goodbye, Belle.”

Locking the shop door behind her as she left, Belle rested her forehead against the glass. It felt like a final barrier between herself and her best friend. Everything would be different between them now. Even if they managed to take time and eventually salvage their friendship from the rubble it was currently in, then it would never been the same again. She had seen to that. The memory of their night together would always been indelibly printed in her mind, and the knowledge that Gold meant so much more to her than she did to him would always be painful. But it shouldn’t be unbearable. She had been living with that knowledge for so long now that it was like a second skin to her. Nothing was ever unbearable, but at the same time there was really no use in her standing here looking into the place that she had exiled herself from. It was a Sunday and the shop would not be open all day; she’d look ridiculous standing here any longer.

Coming back from Gold’s the morning after a storm was never a walk of shame. The rest of the town were used to seeing her like that and whilst many people could not understand the friendship that the two misfits shared, they accepted it and there would be nothing strange in her current dishevelled appearance. Walking home from Gold’s with tears streaming down her face, however, that was a different matter. She quickly wiped her eyes on her sleeve, fishing for a tissue and blowing her nose to try and make herself look a little respectable. It was only two streets after all, she could make it without any comment.

“Hey Belle!”

Or perhaps not. She glanced over to the diner to see Ruby outside, righting chairs and tables and picnic benches where they had been overturned in the storm. Her friend waved happily, and Belle mustered the energy to smile and wave back. Ruby was her closest friend after Rumpel and as astute as they came, she really couldn’t afford to give her any cause for concern.

“Baconana waffles like usual?” she asked. Belle shook her head.

“Not today, Ruby. Thanks for the offer though.”

“Aw, really? I can get you extra bacon on the house, you know.”

In spite of her grim mood, Belle laughed. “No, I’m good thanks.”

“All right, suit yourself. No Gold this morning?”

“No. He’s got… things to do.” Like forgetting his best friend pounced on him unexpectedly.

“Ok. Well, I’ll see you around then. Got to get these set to rights or Granny will be coming after me with a frying pan.”

It was a running joke between them, but this time Belle couldn’t bring herself to show any mirth, and she continued on to her own home, the apartment she shared with Gaston. Letting herself in and looking around, she realised just how wrong it felt to be here. Her words to Gold last night could not have been truer. She did not want to marry Gaston. At the same time though, the entire point of her walking away from Gold was to give them some breathing space and let things get back to the way they were before. If she left Gaston now, after spending the night with Gold, then she didn’t know what kind of message that would send him. Certainly she wanted more. She had always wanted more with Gold, even before she had met Gaston. But to break off her engagement so soon after what had happened between them, it would give him the wrong impression, perhaps make him feel that he ought to jump into something that he wasn’t ready for, something that, given his manner this morning, he might not even want. The last thing that she wanted to do was make him feel in any way obliged to her. They might be able to salvage their friendship, but if they began a relationship on the wrong footing then that would be even worse. They’d never recover from that.

Belle sighed, kicking off her boots and hanging up her coat, and she went to take a shower, to wash away her grief and start life afresh. She could live with Gaston for another couple of months or so, and act when things were no longer so fresh and she’d had time to think clearly. Everything would be all right in the end. She hoped.

#rumbelle fic #rumbelle #woobie!rum #Belle French #angst #Fic: The Most Beautiful Mistake

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athyrabunlord · 8 years ago

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Modern Fairytale

Summary: You felt it was love at first sight, akin to those fateful meetings described in fairytales. A/N: AU romantic and hopefully realistic sort of oneshot filled with cute sweet moments. Yes, this is the oneshot I mentioned some time ago. I’m just glad it’s finished x.x Ship: YouxRiko Words: 8,591

“The Sagami Bay sure is pretty…”

Watanabe You sighed to herself as she leaned back in her seat and gazed out of the window for the umpteenth time. When she first moved to Kamakura, she made it a priority to find the perfect place to chill an afternoon away. She was captivated by the city’s countless historical sites of course, but her inner Uchiura spirit still demanded a decent view of the sea.

And so, after quite a bit of searching, she was able to locate this small cafe by the bay. There was a comfy little couch situated by the window, allowing the viewer to appreciate the scenery as they enjoyed their afternoon beverage. Smiling, You took out a small sketchbook and began to draw from memory the places she had visited today before coming here. Her doctor did advise her to just follow her heart and avoid any situation that might cause her stress. Therefore, she tried not to put too much effort into her hobby, though the remnant of her professional sense still surfaced from time to time.

Ah, what would the shop owner think if she told the kind lady that she used to be a diver for the national team?

Shaking her head, You ignored the phantom prick at the back of her mind and focused on her sketch. Under her doctor’s recommendation, she travelled around Japan for sightseeing, anything that would not stress her mind and body. Not long after she began her journey, she fell for Kamakura’s ancient aura and settled then and there. The next step to help her recuperation was to decide on a hobby that would help her relax.

Well, what did she love best besides the sea? Designing and drawing! Now that she’s found the ideal place, she was able to sketch several pages daily, each one filled to the edge with details and creativity that kept her brain whirring. Perhaps, eventually, she’ll aim to become a freelance designer?

She paused and stared rather sheepishly at the Buddha statue she just doodled. She should really stop adding stylish accessories or one of these days, the divine presence above would punish her for real.

Just as she thought of that, something suddenly vibrated against her buttocks!

Her yelp garnered curious glances from the few patrons in the shop, so she waved her hand apologetically at them before scooting to the edge of the sofa seat. What was that just now? She dug under the seat cushion and soon found a cellphone stuck within the fold. The person who was sitting here must have forgotten it or it had fallen out of their pocket.

Either way, someone was calling the phone rather desperately as it kept on ringing. Seeing the unknown number, You deduced that the owner must be calling from a public phone and decided to answer it.

“H-Hello? Um, y-you’ve found my phone?” A clearly panicking female voice let out a shaky sigh. “Oh, I’m sorry for being so rude. You see, I have lost my phone and-”

Taking pity on the woman, You chuckled amiably. “It’s okay! I’m sitting at the sofa seat beside the window, at White Lily. You were sitting here, weren’t you?”

“Yes, I was there until I had to leave for a meeting… it was only now that I realized I don’t have my phone with me,” the woman laughed coyly, and You could practically feel her embarrassment. She was sure that the other woman must be blushing.

“Haha, things just happen sometimes. Don’t worry miss, I’m still at the coffee shop. I’ll wait here.”

“E-Eh? But I’m at Shinjuku and the next train won’t be here for another hour, so that’s more than two hours before I can make it back...”

“That’s okay, I don’t have plans for the day.” Or any other day really, You thought a little sadly. “Oh, unless you’d prefer that I just leave the phone with the shop owner-?”

“I’ll come!” The woman said hastily, her voice softening a moment later in mortification. “Erm, I mean, I’d like to thank you in person. If you hadn’t found my phone, there’s a chance that no one would’ve found and picked it up before the battery runs out.”

“That’s decided then! I’ll wait here for you, okay?”

“Thank you very much, um…”

“Watanabe You! Nice to meet you- well, technically we haven’t met, heh.”

The woman giggled softly, and You decided she was becoming fond of her voice. It was velvety with the kind of feminine grace that the former diver could never hope to achieve.

“My name is Sakurauchi Riko. I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’m very sorry about all of this and I promise I’ll make up for it.”

You found herself wearing the biggest grin after the call ended. Finally, she had something to look forward to! Though she was grateful for her peaceful ‘time off’, so to speak, she was worried that the uneventful daily happenings might make her restless down the road. She’s been a very active person throughout her life, so she needed excitement once a while to keep her spirit going.

She glanced at her reflection in the window and hastily fixed her messy bangs, for she tended to wear a cap to hide the bird’s nest she called her hair. In spite of her cute quirks, Sakurauchi Riko seemed to carry herself with dignity so You wanted to be presentable at least.

Once she was sure that her appearance was acceptable, she resumed sketching with zest. However, as time went by, she realized that she’s been doodling profiles of various women that might fit Riko’s voice. She imagined Riko to be around her age if not older, based on her mannerism. Riko probably had hair longer than hers, though it could be either wavy or straight.

Before she knew it, the sun was already making its descent and she had drawn many variations of the imaginary Sakurauchi Riko. Much to her chagrin, now that she reviewed her work, she had even doodled some bunnies on the side as if to characterize the woman.

She looked up quickly when she heard the door chime. There had been other patrons while she was drawing, but she barely glanced at any of them then, for her instincts knew it wasn’t the mysterious caller.

This time, though, she gazed attentively at the beautiful woman who just entered the shop. She was taller than You imagined or, rather, everything else about this stranger exceeded her expectations. She had cascading burgundy hair that reached her mid-back as well as a pair of amber eyes reminiscent of a shy cat.

After giving the shop a quick glance, the woman turned towards the seat by the window with slight hesitation.

Then she smiled.

“Hello. I’m Sakurauchi Riko, the one who lost the phone… you must be Watanabe You-san?”

You felt it was love at first sight, akin to those fateful meetings described in fairytales.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

“Oh! Sorry about that!”

“Mou, w-we’ve held hands before, it’s okay. Go ahead.”

Chuckling, You rubbed the back of her head and shyly squeezed Riko’s hand before taking the eraser. Riko smiled to herself, knowing that her cheeks probably matched You’s flushed ones as well. She shifted a bit so that she was sitting closer to the blue-eyed woman, which prompted the latter to grin and playfully deposit the eraser in her lap once she was done using it.

Riko felt so giddy that it was almost surreal. Surrounded by beautiful nature and accompanied by a fellow artist, she’s experienced and became addicted to the flavor of bliss. Here at the Kamakura Central Park, they’ve located a cool and shady spot under a particular tree and, soon, they fell into a comfortable sketching trance.

After receiving her lost phone, Riko had treated You to dinner for her kindness. To both women’s pleasant surprise, they chatted for a long time as if they were old friends and all that formality was quickly behind them. As they had similar hobbies, they had met up a few more times since then at the cafe and consequently had dinners together too. When Riko first suggested to go on a sketching trip, You had offhandedly replied “it’s a date then!”, which caused them to fluster. While neither commented on the topic, Riko was certain of their mutual attraction and even more so when You began to initiate more skinship after that.

Being the chivalrous and observant person she was, You would lightly touch her back when crossing streets and always made sure she was between the road and Riko as they walked down the sidewalk. In return, Riko would muster the courage to hold You’s hand or even boldly poke her soft cheeks at times.

“Ah, you’ve added a hat again, You-chan.”

“Hehe, you caught me!”

You saluted but made no move to erase the chic fedora she drew for the statue. Riko shook her head in exasperated fondness and simply admired her date’s creativity. While it might appear odd or even jarring at first glance, such sketches were actually refreshing and filled with personality, unlike her own detailed but very plain drawing.

She considered herself an introvert who preferred to enjoy peace and quiet rather than head out for parties. After graduating college, her friend circle had greatly dwindled and she only corresponded with the few remaining acquaintances once a while. It wasn’t as if she didn’t try, she simply lost confidence when people declined meet-ups or didn’t respond at all, which made her worried that she was intruding on their lives.

Therefore, she couldn’t believe she was able to get along with someone like You so well. Her heart fluttered every time the blue-eyed woman smiled at her - it was bright like the blue sky, encompassing and uplifting. It had been her source of inspiration since their chance meeting and she eagerly looked forward spending more time with You.

She didn’t recall ever being so enamoured with something or someone before. The closest instance she could think of was her infatuation with her viola, which steadily grew stronger over time until the instrument had become a vital part of herself. While she wasn’t certain exactly what she wanted, she knew that she wanted to know more about You.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t notice that she’s been staring blankly at her sketch until You scooted closer, their shoulders almost touching. “Is everything okay, Riko-chan?”

“Ah yes, I was just, um, thinking about this song. Remember I’m learning how to play the kokyuu?” She hastily came up with half-truth. As a professional viola player, she’s interested in trying out other string instruments. Perhaps it was Kamakura’s atmosphere, or the matsuri she’s attended, she thought of trying out the traditional Japanese string instrument.

She’ll always be thankful for this impulsive decision, for it led her to inadvertently forget her cell phone when she rushed back to Shinjuku to meet with her colleagues.

“I see… oh! That reminds me,” You peered at her like an enthusiastic puppy. “I want to watch you play! I’ve been thinking about it ever since you told me you’re a violist and-”

As fate would have it, a sudden breeze blew her sketchbook several pages and revealed various doodles of Riko playing a viola. A deep blush quickly blossomed on You’s cheeks as she snapped her sketchbook shut. “Ahaha, hope you don’t think I’m creepy…”

Riko blinked, feeling the heat rushing to her own cheeks. “Not at all. In fact, I’m rather pleased you’d want to watch me play. Violas aren’t popular after all. They don’t shine like the violin and they don’t have the staple presence like a cello.” Kind of like me. “So it makes me happy to hear that you’re interested in violas.”

“Eh, then I have a confession to make. It’s not the viola but rather, you, I’m interested in-? Urk,” You plunked her face against her sketchbook though it wasn’t enough to hide her red face. “Forget it! I didn’t say anything!”

“Oh, You-chan,” Riko affectionately reached over to caress her date’s cottony hair. “I promise I’ll show you next time. Hmm, we can go to my studio in Tokyo?”

“Really? Awesome! A second date then~” Seemingly energized and placated, You grinned up at her with those beautiful blue eyes brimming with pure joy.

“Mhmm, a second date.” An odd sensation tugged at her heart strings then and she felt compelled to do something to relieve this tension between them. Realizing how close they were, she hastily turned to her backpack and took out her bento box. “Um, since neither of us are drawing anyway, let’s eat lunch?”

“Sure, I’m getting hungry anyway. The mind can’t work on an empty stomach!”

Their light-hearted picnic diffused that inexplicable tension somewhat, and Riko felt like herself again. She was very impressed by You’s homemade curry and would even deem it to be the best she had ever tasted. On the other hand, You unapologetically wolfed down several of Riko’s sandwiches and cheekily requested that she should make more next time.

“In that case, a third date?” Riko bashfully glanced at You, who promptly saluted. The former chuckled fondly as she poured cups of green tea from the canteen she brought and handed one to her companion.

“Riko-chan’s good at brewing tea too~”

“Mou, enough with the flattery.”

“But I’m just saying the truth? If only my tummy can speak, it’ll tell you how satisfied it is!”

“T-Then mine can speak for hours about how delicious your curry is!”

“Daww! Okay, in return for those amazing sandwiches, I’ll make some of my best omelette yakisoba next time too!”

Both satiated with the meal as well as their arrangements, the two artists returned to their sketching mode. However, unlike earlier, Riko was unable to reach that content peace as her mind whirred with endless possibilities of their future dates. Already, she was listing the dishes she was good at making and debating whether it would fit You’s preference or not. Before she knew it, her sketchbook was filled with doodles of a puppy wearing a captain’s hat.

“Ehehe, so that’s how you see me, Riko-chan?”

Yelping, she shut her book and pouted reproachfully at the grinning woman. “No peeking!”

“But you’ve always shown me your sketches…”

“T-That’s because, they were drawings of scenery and still life…” Riko trailed off, realizing that those random doodles were the first to ever grace those pages of rigid illustrations that lacked the liveliness she sought. Between her intricate drawing of the park and the cartoonish puppy, she definitely preferred the latter.

“Oh, hold still for a sec…”

Riko’s eyes widened as You gingerly picked off a leaf that must have drifted to the top of her head. Her hand lingered a little, pausing beside her cheek before it was hastily withdrawn. Their gazes met and, once again, Riko felt that strange spark between them. She was distinctly aware of her thundering heartbeats as she subconsciously closed her eyes.

Nothing happened, however, so after a few moments, Riko peeked at the other woman and discovered that her eyes were also closed. Combined with those reddened ears, You appeared utterly adorable.

Endeared, Riko couldn’t help but giggle. You’s cheeks darkened and her eyes snapped open. “W-What? What’s so funny?”

“You really are cute…”

“Huh, why’re you saying that all of a sudden,” You averted her blue eyes and her voice dropped to a whisper. “Besides, w-why didn’t you… um…”

At this, Riko felt her face heat up as well. “I- I thought y-you were going to- I mean, you took that leaf off my hair and…”

“Oh, but when you looked at me like that, I thought…”

They blinked and stared at each other for a moment before bursting into quiet giggles. That peculiar spark was still here, but Riko no longer felt nervous and allowed her instincts to take over. As if reaching a wordless agreement, they leaned in at the same time their eyes fluttered close.

Their first kiss was chaste and sweet with love. It was so innocently romantic that Riko felt like it was a scene from those fairytales.

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“Here’s your hot cocoa~!”

“Thanks, You-chan.”

Feeling extra playful, You pecked the unsuspecting Riko’s cheek as the latter accepted the steaming beverage. Just as she was about to flee, the taller woman grasped her shirt and pressed her lips against hers. Before she could react, Riko sauntered away like a victorious cat.

Chuckling, You hurried after her girlfriend and hugged her from behind, mindful of the hot drinks they carried. After a bit of snuggling and a few more kisses, they settled comfortably on the sofa. You unreservedly gazed at Riko up and down, pleased at the sight of her girlfriend dressed in her clothes.

How could someone look so appealing no matter what they wear? It was just a simple button-up shirt and sweatpants You dug out from her drawers, yet they appeared rather sensual with the way the fabric fit to Riko’s form.

You resisted the urge to grin with pride. Gah, who could blame her to be so giddy? This beautiful woman was her girlfriend, within arm’s reach in her humble abode.

She was thankful for the sudden rain when they were strolling through the park where they first kissed, as they tended to do once a week. By the time they made it to You’s place, they were quivering and utterly drenched. You was adamant in letting Riko shower first, claiming she would just wipe herself with a towel as she waited. Truthfully, she was not ready to take a bath with her girlfriend just yet, worried she might not be able to control her desires.

After they were both warmed up from the shower and clad in clean clothes, You suggested that Riko stay overnight since the terrible rain wasn’t letting up. Riko, though hesitant at first, agreed and appeared to be intrigued by everything in You’s home. As she sipped at her drink, her alluring amber eyes were sweeping over the few books, ornaments and photoframes that decorated the sparse living room.

Meanwhile, You couldn’t stop staring at her pretty girlfriend. Her lustrous burgundy hair was loosely tied into a sidetail that draped over her left shoulder, revealing the creamy neck that made You subconsciously lick her parched lips. With Riko seated so close, all You’s senses were filled with her scent, the warmth of her body, and her enticing lips ripe for the taking. Those brief kisses earlier in the kitchenette were far from enough.

Sheepish, she shook her head and took a slow sip of her cocoa. This was why she forced herself to decline in showering with Riko. Who knew what she might do? Frankly, she was worried about these frequent fantasies about her girlfriend, so much that she missed those innocent days when they could peacefully spend time together without her mind wandering. Sure, they had been a couple for some time now, but that only made You more fretful.

She didn’t want to screw up their relationship. She adored Riko dearly and refused to let this primal side of herself ruin the incredible connection they shared!

“Hehe, I like this side of You-chan too.”

“Huh?! W-What side?” She squeaked, frantic that her girlfriend read her inner thoughts.

Riko tilted her head, puzzled by her reaction, before chuckling. “I mean your glasses, silly. You look cute in them too.”

Since she was at home, she naturally took off her contacts and donned those black-framed glasses, not realizing Riko had never seen her wearing them before even though she knew of her bad eyesight. She fidgeted nervously under those warm amber eyes and placed her cup aside.

“Cute? Nah, I’m all about being ikemen,” she lowered her voice to what was hopefully a husky tenor and sent her girlfriend a roguish grin.

Riko merely giggled.

“Really? Not good enough huh?”

“You’re You-chan. I like you no matter what you do,” Riko smiled softly but blushed a moment later and tried to appear nonchalant by sipping her drink.

“Gah, com’ere you!” You gently extracted the cup from her protesting hands before enveloping her in a big hug. They stayed in this comfy embrace for a while, enjoying each other’s presence to heart’s content. It was amazing how this simple gesture was able to assuage any turbulence in one’s mind.

No words could ever replicate the effect of feeling your beloved’s warmth.

She recalled the day she watched Riko play the viola in the studio, of how the musician shined brilliantly with her instrument. Riko truly loved music, You could feel it, and that resonated arduously within her soul. She remembered how passionate she once was with diving, yet due to her condition, she was unable to speak in great details about it to Riko.

She wanted Riko to experience the same joy she had for the sea too.

As if sensing the air of melancholy, Riko shifted in You’s lap and brushed away the latter’s bangs before smooching her forehead. “What are you thinking about, You-chan?”

“Hmmm, nothing much,” You blissfully closed her eyes and smiled when Riko peppered her face with more kisses. “Okay, I was just thinking about how pretty you are when you’re in your musician mode.”

“What, I’m not pretty otherwise?”

“No! That’s not what I meant!” You hastily opened her eyes only to find Riko giggling in mirth. “Geez, you tease. You know what I was trying to get at… you seem to be a different person? You have that um, cool, sexy aura going on.”

“Cool? S-Sexy? That’s not what I was expecting.”

“Like, you seem to enter a whole new realm. You look confident and peaceful and, well, really happy?”

Riko’s cheeks darkened as she mumbled something. When You didn’t catch her words, she lightly flicked the former’s forehead in reprimand. “I said, I-I only think of you nowadays whenever I play the viola. That helps me concentrate and perform better…”

You’s chest was filled with warmth and fluff, as well as pride for being able to affect her girlfriend so positively. “I’m so honored, milady~” She giggled blithely against the crook of Riko’s neck, her nose nuzzling playfully until the latter squirmed.

“You’re tickling me,” she chided as she pinched You’s cheeks, stopping her.

“Sowwy,” she grinned unapologetically. “Riko-chan smells too good, I can’t help myself~”

“Should I remind you this is from your body lotion and shampoo?”

“Nope, it’s not that kind of aroma. I’m talking about Riko-chan’s own scent.”

“W-What? That sounds rather… improper,” Riko blushed and disentangled from You’s arms. She brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear and leaned over to the coffee table to retrieve her drink again. You could only gaze at her with a fond smile, mesmerized by her girlfriend’s graceful movements.

“Mou, stop staring…”

“Like I said, I can’t help it. You’ve completely captivated me, Riko-chan.” Though blushing, You said unabashedly as she meant every single word. Her heart had fallen for Riko since they first met, and this emotion only grew stronger as time went by.

Riko didn’t respond for a moment. Then, as if making up her mind about something, she tugged the scrunchie off of her sidetail before returning to You’s side. Smiling, she rested her forehead against You’s and gingerly cupped her cheek, caressing it with her thumb. “No, You-chan, I don’t think you understand how much you have captivated me.”

“Then show me?” You whispered with a slight tremor in her voice.

Riko kissed her then, so full of tenderness that she forgot how to breathe. All that guilt and worry of her inner fantasies melted away, leaving only the desire to show her girlfriend how much she adored her.

You interlaced their fingers, noting how nervous Riko was as well through the slight tremor of her hand. Wishing to reassure her, You chastely pressed her lips against Riko’s knuckles and hugged her close. They fumbled with each other’s clothes, clueless but eager, and kissed away any lingering hesitation. There was no need to fear, for they will explore this new phase of their relationship together.

Under the dim lighting and the comforts of her home, You discovered lovemaking to be every bit as dreamy as fairytales portrayed.

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“You-chan, are you awake?”

“Hmmm, nope.”

Riko tucked You’s head under her chin, smiling when her lover snuggled rather childishly into their embrace. She drew whimsical circles on You’s naked back, pleased by how the latter shivered under her touch. As if in retaliation, You sleepily licked Riko’s clavicles which brought out a mortifying gasp.

“Mou! You’re definitely awake...”

Pretending to be miffed, Riko extracted herself from You’s arms and adamantly ignored the latter’s whines. Once she was properly dressed, she carefully opened the blinds and smiled at the breathtaking sight that greeted her.

Uchiura was a quaint and beautiful little town, and she was saddened that their one-week vacation here was coming to an end.

The bed behind her rustled and soon warm arms slipped around her waist.

“Aaah~ can’t wait to be back at Kamakura, right, Riko-chan?”

Unable to answer truthfully, she merely nodded and played with You’s hands. After a moment’s hesitation, she began tentatively. “About your headac-”

“Yosh! Let’s make this last day the most fun one!”

Riko almost stopped You when the latter skipped away to the kitchenette of their rented room, yet the timid part of herself gripped her body. Swallowing down her words of concern, Riko sat down at the table in contemplative silence while You cheerfully prepared their breakfast.

When You had first suggested this trip to Uchiura, Riko was beyond happy that the former diver was ready to show more of her world. After all, You never fully explained why she decided to take time off and would change the topic whenever Riko inquired of her past. Thus, Riko was thrilled in exploring the town that You grew up and, for the most part, You was accommodating and took Riko to shrines, aquariums and even rented a cruiser while sharing various childhood memories.

However, the blue-eyed woman seemed keen in avoiding certain places, as if worried to run into anyone who might recognize her. Riko wasn’t too bothered by all this secrecy at first, for she was absorbed in anything that You showed her. For one, You taught her how to swim efficiently in the sea and how to make the snorkeling experience fun. Riko’s knowledge of swimming was basic and she had only ever been to the pool, thus she found You’s industrious methods to be fascinating. They swam with the fish, splashed water at each other and got touchy at seclusive parts of the beach a few times, relishing in such intimacy together.

Everything felt like a dream come true until the first night they returned to their lodging. Riko found You half-crouched in front of the sink, holding her head with a grimace. After taking a few painkillers, You seemed to have recovered from her headache. Riko let the matter drop but kept a careful watch on her girlfriend since then.

Their little vacation had resumed smoothly, though Riko noticed similar episodes when You thought she wasn��t looking. Whenever she brought up the subject, You would either close off or light-heartedly change the topic. Riko hoped she was only being paranoid, but everything about this was unsettling.

Just what was You not telling her?

Restless, Riko stood up from her seat, startling her girlfriend who was in the middle of pouring coffee into mugs.

“Riko-chan, what’s wrong-?”

She slammed her hand against the wall beside You’s head, cornering the shorter woman and forcing the latter to peer up with wide eyes. Riko was so ready to interrogate her then, those words already at the tip of her tongue, but that flicker of pure confusion in those blue eyes stopped her.

Perhaps, You just wanted this trip to be memorable and as perfect as possible?

Her resolve wanned and she fell prey to those cute puppy eyes. She tilted You’s chin and kissed her rather roughly as if to express her displeasure.

“Heh… you’re rather bold today,” You said hoarsely, the curve of her lips rather beguiling. “Maybe we shouldn’t leave the room so early-?”

“I don’t mind, You-chan, but you’re right with what you said earlier,” Riko fought down the temptation and merely embraced her girlfriend with everything she had, pained by her inability to help her beloved. “Let’s make this last day at Uchiura the best one ever.”

And it was. Rather than the beach, they headed for Awashima, a small island a short boat ride away from Uchiura, and dined at the top floor of a five-star hotel. Awed by the breathtaking view already, Riko was then brought to the Awashima Shrine where she enjoyed a different but just as incredible view of the sea. They spent the afternoon in a languid and content sort of sketching spree.

Truly, with the spectacular fireworks and peaceful stargazing afterwards, it was as if nothing was ever amiss and they were in paradise.

By the time they returned to Kamakura the next day, it was already evening and they were exhausted in a happy daze. After dropping the luggage to the side, You flopped onto the couch and pulled her girlfriend on top of her. Between a few languid kisses here and there, both were fine with just cuddling and resting within the comforts of You’s place.

The sense of familiarity almost lulled Riko to sleep when she felt You tense beneath her. Opening her eyes, she found You gritting her teeth and rubbing her temple. The magic from their trip dissipated, and apprehension filled Riko’s heart again.

“Headache again?” She murmured as if not to startle her girlfriend. As she reached for You’s head, her hand was gently but firmly pushed away as the latter sat up. “You-chan?”

“Haha, I probably didn’t have enough caffeine today.”

You only drank coffee from time to time, so this couldn’t be the reason. Riko knew she would be rather busy once she returned to Tokyo tomorrow, as this one-week vacation barely got approved

It was now or never.

“How frequent are your headaches, You-chan?”

Riko caught You flinching even though the latter laughed it off. “Must be the summer heat and all. It’s only recently that it’s happened, like I told you before. Now that we’re back here at Kamakura, it’ll go away eventually.”

Faced with such an earnest and almost pleading expression, Riko so wanted to believe her words and just let it be. She wasn’t the type to push someone if they showed discontent and she tended to shy away from any confrontation. For the sake You’s health, however, she knew that she needed to get to the bottom of this.

“Is.. there something you’re not telling me, You-chan?”

Blue eyes hardened. “What makes you think that?”

Gulping, Riko realized her wording didn’t sound good and fought against her instincts to back down. “Y-You seem to avoid talking about it, which I u-understand to an extent but, I’m just worried.”

The tension deflated from You’s shoulders. “I’m sorry, Riko-chan. I know you mean good but can we please just drop it?

And Riko almost agreed then and there. Almost. “Maybe you should go see a doctor-”

“No!”

She cringed, dumbfounded by such a hostile tone from someone who had been nothing but easygoing. She was about to apologize when You grimaced and covered her eyes. Determined, she reached for You’s hand.

“See, You-chan, we should go-”

Her hand was practically slapped away. “I already said no! T-This will pass, I promise. Just, s-stop, okay?”

It was You’s desperate, almost frantic tone that made Riko freeze in place. She wanted to stop, seeing how much this conversation pained her girlfriend, yet a part of her was frustrated and even a bit resentful. Didn’t You trust her enough? Was she not dependable? She didn’t want to invade You’s privacy. She was only trying to help, especially since she turned a blind eye to this problem during the vacation. The way You reacted just meant there must be something she was hiding.

Riko thought she knew You, but she didn’t, and that hurt more than she allowed herself to admit.

Taking a deep, controlled breath, Riko began slowly and attempted to reach for the other woman again. “I’m sorry, You-chan, but I really believe that you should-”

“How many times do I have to say it? No means no! Why don’t you just leave me alone?”

Akin to a cornered animal, You glared at her with distress rolling off her in waves. Stunned and hurt, Riko could only recall all those instances where her friends turned her down and brushed away her attempts at trying. Any smidgen of bitterness was washed away by a hollow sensation of fear and rejection.

Scared of making it worse.

Scared of losing everything.

How she wanted to simply pull You into a hug and protect her somehow, but she was too scared. Her arm dropped limply to her side and she turned away, unable to look at You anymore.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered so quietly that she wasn’t sure if You heard her. When she heard no response, she bit her lips to ensure no sobs would escape as she left the now cold home.

Riko discovered heartbreak to be just as devastating as when the illusion of fairytales ended.

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“I’m bakayou…”

You chuckled wistfully to herself, shivering a little from the breezy night air. She was only wearing a shirt and capri pants when usually, she would have added a few more layers due to her weakness to the coldness at night. Summer or not, she felt so dead inside because she couldn’t bring herself to care, not anymore.

She aimlessly strolled through the Kamakura Central Park, finding the rays from the setting sun comforting within this labyrinth of memories. Everywhere she looked, she was reminded of her time here with Riko. The ache in her chest worsened and she rubbed her throbbing temples.

Regret at lashing out at her.

Even in that moment of emotional turmoil, You knew that Riko was simply concerned about her well-being. She never told the violist the reason she retired from diving, so how else would she have known?

Alas, You was merely human and succumbed to her fear. She had awful experiences with her former teammates from the swim team, even her coach, whenever she tried sharing her thoughts and feelings about her surgery and everything that happened afterwards. Since then, she tended to keep her emotions bottled up inside, deeming it pointless for she would just get invalidated or ridiculed anyway.

She was terrified of the same thing happening with Riko, but ended up shutting her out and ruining everything anyway.

“And I hurt her...”

She dug into her pocket for her phone, deliberating for the umpteenth time whether to call Riko or not. They hadn’t contacted each other since that episode and, while it hadn’t even been a week yet, You already felt like dying. She was unable to compose a decent text message and she always seized up whenever she attempted to call Riko.

Riko could be busy catching up, as the orchestra had an upcoming performance, or she no longer wanted anything to do with the person who was so vicious to her.

You swallowed painfully. She knew she must take the first step if she wanted to make this right. Dignity or pride be damned, this was her fault after all. Her legs soon brought her to the tree where they first kissed, for she hoped to be emboldened by their memories so she could finally make that dreaded phone call.

To her shock, the woman of her dreams was there too. Riko appeared to be deep in thoughts as she gazed at the tree, and flinched when she noticed You’s arrival. The consequent silence was unfamiliar to them, and so was the tension.

You dug through her useless brain for some sort of greeting while her eyes were trained on Riko’s form, afraid she might vanish if she blinked. What was she doing here, when she should be in Tokyo? Did she seem thinner? Has she been sleeping properly?

Before she could even open her mouth, Riko broke the silence in a timid tone, asking her the exact same things she just wondered. You was dumbfounded, for she did not expect her girlfriend to still care about her after what happened. Perhaps it was time to take the leap of faith. There was nothing wrong with exposing the vulnerable part of herself, not with someone who truly loved her.

She needed to face her own demons.

Since You didn’t respond, Riko lowered her eyes and excused herself. You snapped out of her daze and hurriedly closed their distance. Her hand closed around Riko’s wrist, tightly at first to ensure the latter would not leave, and carefully loosened her grip when she turned around.

“I missed you.” You blurted, embarrassed by how pitiful her voice sounded.

Several thunderous heartbeats later, Riko gave her a fragile smile and gingerly interlaced their fingers. “I missed you too.”

Relieved, You squeezed her hand and murmured. “There are many things I want to tell you, Riko-chan. Will you… listen to me?”

The taller woman nodded and led them towards the tree, where they sat down and leaned against the sturdy trunk. If it weren’t for the palpable tension and the darkening sky, it almost felt like their first date. You smiled wryly and drew strength from Riko’s warm hand.

She clumsily but full-heartedly apologized for her outburst first and, upon Riko’s acceptance, she began her story. It was nothing dramatic, at least not from her perspective, for it could have happened to anybody in her situation.

Due to her deteriorating eyesight, she took a break from diving and underwent a seemingly successful surgery. While she suffered darkness for a few weeks before she was able to take off her bandages, she was confident to return to what she loved doing without any aftermath.

Alas, she wasn’t as invincible as she believed herself to be. A terrible fear seized her every time she stood at the edge of the diving board. She could not pinpoint the exact reason, but the possibilities of having to return to the hospital or undergoing another operation and possible bout of darkness petrified her. As much as she yearned to relish in the triumph of a high jump again, the fear always rendered her immobile. Being the stubborn person she was, she ignored her doctor’s advice and kept trying, enduring the ridicule and even pity from any spectator.

Any attempt ended with her walking away from the plank in shame.

The last time she got anywhere near a swimming pool, she forced herself to make that jump in spite of her rigid muscles. Such reckless maneuver had only caused her to become hospitalized again.

“My doctor and psychiatrist suggested that I go travelling, to take the time off indefinitely to relax, and maybe discover what else I enjoy in life other than diving,” You weakly smiled at her speechless girlfriend. “That’s when I met you, Riko-chan.”

She determinedly ignored the prickling pain in her head and continued. “Those headaches are probably from stress, unwanted memories, or aftereffects of the surgery. I thought my… fear was only associated with diving, so I was surprised that it happened during and after our swimming trips in Uchiura. Perhaps it wasn’t from swimming but from guilt. My friends there and my family know all about my dream since I was little, so I couldn’t bring myself to tell them that I can’t dive anymore. I’ve lied to them that I’ve fully recovered. No one knew my full secret, until now.”

Riko tightened her grip on You’s hand. “These headaches, are they serious? Shouldn’t you return for check up...” She trailed off uncertainly, as if remembered what happened the last time she suggested that.

You gave her a small and reassuring smile. “Well, I am supposed to return for check ups, yes. I was told that it might be necessary for me to have another surgery-” She gingerly stopped Riko before she could freak out. “But I didn’t want to. And that was why I snapped at you. Again, I’m so sorry.”

Riko shook her head, her quiet voice still laced in concern. “It’s okay, now that I understand, You-chan. I’m just glad y-you’ve opened up to me.”

“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Riko-chan. I was so scared of losing you that I didn’t want anything to ruin it… which I almost did by shutting you out. It’s not fair for me to do that. It’s not my place to decide for you. So, yeah,” You looked up into the sky, weary yet also felt like a weight had finally lifted off of her shoulders. “I-I’ve told you everything now.”

It’s up to you to decide if you still want to stay with someone as pathetic as me. You thought sadly.

“Remember what you’ve told me, You-chan?” Familiar scent filled her senses as Riko wrapped her arms around her. “You like how confident and happy I am whenever I play the viola. It’ll always be true - it’s thanks to you that I’m able to hold my head high and believe in myself. You’ve brought colors to my life.”

It took a moment for You to realize that Riko was crying.

“My bandmates or even other colleagues I’m not familiar with commented that I seem like a different person. They said I look happy, confident, and perhaps even shining,” she let out a choked chuckle. “See how positively you’ve affected me, You-chan? They noticed my change so acutely that they encouraged me to return here, to resolve whatever has been troubling me. I can’t play the viola properly, not without you.”

Tears silently trickled down You’s cheeks as she returned the embrace just as emotionally.

“You’ve become my world, You-chan. I w-want to be part of yours too, the good and the bad. We’ll get through this together, okay?”

She clung onto the woman who meant the world to her too. “I love you Riko-chan, I love you so much.”

You learned that she could not do everything alone, that she must believe in the power of their love if they wanted to persevere and overcome the trials in their path, just like the obstacles in fairytales.

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“You’ve reached Watanabe You’s voicemail~! Please leave your name and your number after the tone and I’ll get back to ya asap! Ready? Yousorou~! -beep-”

“... the performance was well-received. Our conductor and concertmaster were commended by the critiques, but for some reason they deferred the spotlight to me. Can you believe it? A mere violist like me, and out of ten violists too. I wish you could’ve been there to tell me how I did, then again, you would just praise me, wouldn’t you?”

Riko paused and swallowed any tremors in her voice before continuing in a relatively cheerful tone. “Anyway, our orchestra has been invited for a performance overseas and… I’ve decided to participate. Our leader has been kind, being aware of my situation, and told me that I could stay and continue my kokyuu studies if I wish. But that’s not what I’ve promised you, ne, You-chan?”

The jarring beep callously cut her off, signifying the end of the voicemail. She stared at the black screen of her phone for a moment and decided to put it away instead of continuing with her voicemail.

“I promised you that I’d put my life before yours, that you’d live vicariously through mine, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

She smiled painfully at the prone figure on the bed, lulled by the stable beeping of the heart monitor as she played with her beloved’s cool hand. You has always had a lower body temperature, so she hoped that she could warm her up this way.

And perhaps, that would help You wake up.

Sighing, Riko closed her eyes and rested her cheek against You’s unmoving hand. The operation was successful in removing the blood clots in You’s brain, and the surgeon seemed confident that she would make a full recovery too.

But that had been two weeks ago and You was still in a coma.

After their heart to heart conversation, Riko accompanied You to all the sessions she had with her doctor. While the process had been difficult and arguments did spark, they were always able to reach a truce. When the blood clots were discovered, You and Riko had a long discussion and ultimately decided to take the surgery.

You made Riko promise to continue on with living to her fullest no matter what happened.

Between her job and visiting the comatose woman in the hospital, Riko was exhausted but more determined than ever, strengthened by the torturous waiting and wondering. Her section leader and other colleagues were aware of this and gave her the space she needed, which she was very grateful for. Now that the concert was over, she had to decide whether to stay or go overseas.

Of course she would rather stay here with You, but she also respected You’s wish and the agreement they had. It wasn’t as if her trip abroad was permanent, and she had become acquainted with You’s childhood friends, who would keep her updated of You’s progress.

Nevertheless, she still wanted to be by You’s side when the latter regained consciousness.

Tirelessly, she left voicemails entailing her daily happenings, as if those messages would reach the comatose woman. It was the only way she could hear You’s voice, hoping to arrive at a decision through that familiar, energetic voice.

“Remember how we first met? You waited for me that day at the cafe, when you didn’t have to. So this is nothing, You-chan, I’ll always wait for you. I’m only gone temporarily - I’ll be back before you know it.”

Riko bit her lips when she realized she had subconsciously repeated the exact words You said before she entered the surgery room.

“I’ll be back before you know it! Then, we’ll go sailing on a proper boat since we couldn’t do it the last time we were at Uchiura. Look forward to it!”

“Yeah, you jerk, I really am looking forward to it so you better hurry up and take me there,” Riko choked from the memory and fell silent. She glanced at the open sketchbook on the bedside table, smiling nostalgically at her girlfriend’s characteristic style.

“There are so much of your world that you haven’t shown me yet, just as how I still haven’t shown you mine. So, please, wake up?”

Like the countless times in the past two weeks, her plea fell upon deaf ears. Overcome by emotions, she leaned close and gave You a soft kiss upon her forehead.

When she settled back down at her seat, she noticed odd spikes and waves from the heart monitor and EEG monitor. Taken aback, she immediately turned her attention back to You, whose eyes slowly opened and blinked.

Those blue orbs were just as brilliant and beautiful as she remembered. Though filled with confusion, there was a flicker of recognition in You’s gaze. She hastily reached for the emergency button but she never once broke eye contact.

‘Thank you for waiting for me’, You’s eyes seemed to say.

Riko learned that miracles truly can happen, just as how fairytales illustrated them.

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“The Sagami Bay sure is pretty…”

You hummed thoughtfully as she sketched out the scenery, adding as many boats around the bay as she pleased. She may have doodled a submarine and a pirate ship too, though she probably would have to discard them in the final draft. With the peaceful ambience at White Lily, the comfortable couch by the window and the soothing aroma of coffee, she was able to churn out pages and pages for her storybook.

Ah yes, she wrote and illustrated for children’s books nowadays. Should she tell the cafe shop owner that she worked as a freelance illustrator and designer now?

Blue eyes glanced at her reflection on the glass, noting her casual attire and her trademark cap. She dressed the same way as when she first came to Kamakura, didn’t she? Well, her messy hair was long enough that she had to tie it into a tuff of a low ponytail, and she had her black-framed glasses on.

Things had definitely changed, for the better too.

Chuckling, she placed the sketchbook onto the table and dug out another one from her backpack. It was slightly worn around the edges and the pages were crinkly as opposed to the crisp texture of unused paper. She whimsically flipped through the sketchbook, giggling at the various versions of Sakurauchi Riko, the different angles of the sceneries at the park, statues with contemporary accessories, and even drawings of the sea and shrines in Uchiura.

So many memories, each priceless and romantic, filled this simple sketchbook over the years.

Smiling, she turned her attention back to the incomplete one, her thumb fondly brushing over the title she inscribed onto the cover. You & Riko - a Modern Fairytale.

She couldn’t wait to finish this particular storybook and show it to her beloved.

The phone vibrated inside her pocket, pulling her out of her nostalgic trance. Her heart pounded with excitement as she eagerly answered the call.

“Ohayousorou!”

“Mou, You-chan, it’s already the afternoon…”

“It can be the morning whenever you want, Riko-chan, you just have to make it!”

The familiar giggle was like music to her ears. “Are you implying that you want some sandwiches for brunch later?”

“Maybe? It’s been so long since I’ve had them, I’m so jealous of your bandmates!”

“You do know that I’ve only ever made them for you?”

“Oh right,” You pulled down her cap in slight embarrassment even though Riko couldn’t see her reddened ears. “Wait, you said brunch later… you’re already at the airport? I thought you’re not coming back until later the night?”

“Silly You-chan, I’m not at the airport.”

The door chimed and instinctively, You stood up to greet the newcomer who had warm amber eyes, lustrous burgundy hair and the beautiful smile she loved so much. Though appearing sheepish, Riko radiated with sheer joy too.

“Surprise-?”

You closed their distance in a few quick steps, pulling the startled woman in a big hug and spun her around. They laughed and interlaced their fingers, the rings on their fourth fingers gleaming beautifully under the sun.

A gentle breeze brushed against the open storybook on the table, flipping it to a page with an illustration that matched the two women’s silhouettes, and a small passage scribbled beneath it.

Even if you think you’re a damsel in distress, a princess waiting for the prince to rescue you from your tower, you can still be someone else’s knight in shiny armor.

You meet someone, get to know them, experience the butterfly flutters as well as heated desires, overcome obstacles and resolve problems together. While not everything is as perfect as fairytales of storybooks, a happy ending is indeed possible.

Does that not count as a fairytale in its own right?

#athyra writes #Youriko #rikoyou #COMPLETE oneshot #omfg #that's an accomplishment right there #shitty writing tho #*cries #saccharine fluff moments #hetare you #purty riko #they embarrass me sometimes #hopefully realistic bits #research was done in several aspects for this oneshot #I'm exhausted D'X #kamakura and white lily are sorta easter eggs for SIF players lmao

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