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solarwoniii · 2 years ago

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surprise ! sung hanbin

fem ! sub ! reader x boyfriend ! dom ! hanbin happy (extremely late) hanbin day !

synopsis ; hanbin comes home to your birthday surprise for him.

genre ; smut, fluff, . . . FILTH . . .

wc ; 2.4k

contains ; oh god ok sooooo, lingerie, thigh riding, orgasm denial, creampie, fingering, penetration, tummy bulge, pet names, heavy praise kink, degradation/slut shaming reader calls hanbin 'binnie,' dacryphilia, food play (hanbin eats cake off of reader's body), drunken sex, a tinyyy bit of hanbin manhandling reader, squirting, slight size kink, slight pain kink, lmk if i missed any !

a soft sigh pushed past hanbin's lips as he closed the front door behind him and leaned against the hardwood, staring at the ceiling in relief.

it'd been a long day, he had almost forgotten that today was in fact his birthday. he'd missed you like crazy, wanting nothing less than to come home and escape from all his problems in your warmth.

he hoped that he hadn't kept you awake too long. you'd been messaging him all night about a birthday surprise you were setting up for him. it was extremely well past midnight now and he was definitely extremely late for this.

he decided he would get you to bed for now and the two of you could spend time together in the morning. he didn't want to keep you up any longer than he already had.

hanbin slipped his jacket off, hanging it up and turning on the hallway light. he walked down the kitchen, smiling instantly when he found you, sat down, head laid on the table, eyes closed, soft snores escaping your slightly parted lips. the table had been set up with candles, cake and a bottle of champagne.

he sat himself down beside you, tucking your hair behind your ear to kiss your cheek. you quickly startled yourself back awake, sitting up straight and looking at him with wide eyes. it didn't take him long to realise you were wearing his favourite lingerie set.

"surprise!" you said quickly, "happy birthday."

he laughed, leaning over to cup the side of your face, lips meeting yours in a gentle kiss.

"thank you baby." he grinned, thumb caressing your cheek, "i'm sorry i'm so late. i tried getting home as early as i could."

"it's okay." you smiled at him, "let's have cake."

he tilted his head to the side and furrowed his eyebrows, "don't you wanna go to bed?"

"b-but i wanted to do all of this stuff with you! i even brought the stupid uno cards out."

hanbin paused as he thought for a moment before he smiled, taking your hand and kissing your fingertips.

"alright." he whispered, running his thumb over your knuckles and watching as you reached over for the lighter, clicking it open and lighting each of the candles for him.

a small chuckle escaped him as you quietly sang the 'happy birthday' song to him, clapping your hands along to the beat until it ended.

"make a wish!" you smiled with jazz hands. hanbin nods and lowers head with a grin, making his wish before blowing out all of the candles.

as the two of you ate cake together you talked about whatever came to mind, hanbin rested his head against your shoulder.

"you look so pretty tonight, baby." he smiled, pressing a gentle kiss onto your jaw. you giggle shyly, reaching over to run your fingers through his hair, pecking his temple.

he looked up at you, cupping the side of your face, bringing himself to kiss you, laughing at the way you got so easily flustered.

"i love you."

"mm, i love you too."

he drew himself close to kiss you again, confused when you pulled away halfway.

"you okay?" he asked concerningly, looking at you worriedly.

"it's your birthday," you whined, "i should do the work for once."

hanbin smiled, tilting his head to the side, "you want to fuck me?"

"yes! what's your problem?" you grumbled, "i can be dominant."

"mmm, really?" his voice low and cocky as he brought you close to him, fluttering gentle kisses down your jaw.

"m-hmm!" your voice shaky as his lips latched onto the skin of your collarbone, sucking a soft, reddening mark onto you.

"i find that a little hard to believe, baby." he whispered, looking back up to peck the tip of your nose, free hand snaking down between your thighs to get a feel of you over the fabric of your lingerie, "you're already all wet, my little baby can barely even handle a little kissing. how would you possibly dominate me?"

you bit down on your bottom lip as hanbin's middle finger circled your clothed clit. hanbin chuckled at you, kissing your forehead.

"you're so cute," he smiled, "come on, do you want a drink?"

"yes please." your eyelids heavy as you leaned into his chest, his hands finding your waist as he pulled you into his lap.

he brought the champagne bottle close, screwing the lid open, pouring a small amount into each glass to start the two of you off for the night. and with the click of your wineglasses, the two of you drank together into the late hours of the midnight.

it wasn't long before the entire bottle was almost finished, the two of you sat together drunken in lust. his eyes wandering your body biting his bottom lip as he held your waist, lifting you slightly so you were now kneeling over his lap. a small smirk came to his lips as he pressed and sucked gentle kisses and marks onto your exposed stomach and waist.

hanbin put his glass down to cup your face, kissing you tenderly. you whimpered against his lips as his fingers found your silk panties, pushing them over to the side as he guided his fingers to your clit. he rubbed the pad of his thumb over your sensitive nub, chuckling as you jolted at each of his movements.

his middle finger pushed itself into your hole, hanbin smiling as the singular digit was met with some resistance. a small whine left you as you buried your head in his shoulder, gripping onto the sleeve of his work blazer as he continued his ministration.

"does that feel good, baby?"

"m-mmhm."

hanbin smirked, looking over to the slices of cake on the table that had been left abandoned, due to the lustrous build-up between the two of you. without a word, he took his hand away from your core, making you look down in both confusion and disappointment.

"wh-what?"

"shh," he hushed you, taking his essence-covered digit to messily take some of the cake, wiping it across your exposed hip and sucking the excess off of his finger. his smirk only grew fonder as he licked and sucked the cake off of you, the taste of sweet frosting and your juices making him groan against your flesh.

his mouth latched off of your skin, watching as the mark he'd made began to pinken before his eyes. that would definitely remain there for the next few days, which you would usually complain about because of the size of it in such a big area. but it was his birthday, and he and you both knew damn well that you weren't allowed to complain today.

you shuddered as he continued to kiss his way up your sides, holding onto your breasts, thumbs running over your pebbled nipples through the silky fabric of your lingerie.

he pecked gentle kisses around your chest, hands moving to your back to loosen the ribbons which kept the top of the set intact. he untied the knot carefully, assisting you in slipping it off. he began to hickey the skin around your nipples, putting his hands on your hips and pulling you down against his thigh. you whimpered at the rough, slightly gritty feeling of his slack pants against your clit.

"come on, sweetheart." he said softly, "you said you wanted to do some work, right? i want you to ride my thigh."

"h..-hanbinnie," you choked out, moving your hips on his command, the need for him growing increasingly more and more as he now sucks on your nipples.

"that's it, good girl." he smiled at how compliant you always are, "how does that feel, hm?"

"s-so good." you said shakily, biting your bottom lip as tears begun to come to your eyes. he cooed at you, kissing your cheeks and wiping the droplets away with his thumbs.

"don't cry baby~," he smiled, "you're doing such a great job, you know that? my pretty girl always does so well for me."

"binnie, s-s' much."

"i know baby, you getting close?"

you nodded your head, gasping as he suddenly put his hands on your waist, fully putting your ministration to a stop before your climax could approach any faster. more tears danced down your cheeks at the sudden pause.

"wh-why did you . . ?" you choked. hanbin only chuckled at your helplessness, kissing your forehead in mock pity.

"i'm sorry baby. but wouldn't you rather cum on my cock?"

"but i was so close, and-and-" he was quick to hush you with gentle kisses all over your face, bringing you close as he reached his arm out to move some things out of the way to create tablespace, before carrying you and carefully laying you on the dining table, hand on the back of your head as he kissed you into another universe.

"you think you're ready for me sweetheart?" he smiled teasingly at you, as he held onto your waist, pulling your body against his bulging erection, making a whine leave you, throwing your head back with a shudder.

you eagerly nodded your head at the offer, feeling your mouth water as you watched him unbutton his slacks, pulling out his cock. you bit your bottom lip as his bulbous head circled your entrance.

"you think it'll fit, baby? should i prep you a little first?" he asked mockingly, tilting his head to the said as if he were truly serious. he held back his laugh, wanting to see how you would react as you almost immediately believed his satirical remark.

"no! p-please no, i can take it, i swear!" you said quickly.

hanbin chuckled, taking your hand and pecking your knuckles. you were just so cute and pathetic when you were needy.

"i was only messing with you, baby." he said softly, "you wanna take me like this?" he asked again, wanting to ensure that you wanted this, thumb now running over your fingers. you nodded, looking up at him with soft doe eyes. he continued to hold your hand, using his free one to rest on top of your thigh, caressing your skin as he carefully pushed his tip into you, groaning at how tight you were around him.

"fuck, baby. you're doing so well for me."

your breath got caught in your throat as you reached out your grabby hands to hold onto his blazer collar, scrunching up the fabric in your tight fist as you closed your eyes and blinked back tears of both pain and pleasure. a soft, breathy giggle escaped hanbin as he squeezed tight onto the hand of yours he was holding, bringing it the your other hand and rubbing the both of them.

"if you're having so much trouble fitting me in, you shouldn't clench so much, sweetheart."

"i c-can't help it!" you whined back, as he finally filled you to the hilt. you let out a small sigh of relief as he kissed your forehead and laughed.

"there. look so pretty all full of me." he whispered, looking down at the bulge forming in your lower stomach from the sheer size of his length, "do you need a moment to adjust?"

"mm, no. i can take it."

he smiled, "you sure? you look like you're having trouble."

"n-no..." you argue weakly back, although you knew you wouldn't have any trouble with a little pain. hanbin smirked as he quickly realised it himself.

"my baby likes it rough, hm?"

you quickly closed your eyes in embarrassment, trying to free your hands from his to cover your face from him, but to no avail, as his grip was too strong for you. a broken moan left you has he pulled and pushed himself out of you, tip slamming harshly against your hilt, in such a way that made your eyes roll back, "b-binnie . . !"

"feels good?"

you nodded, gulping and closing your eyes as he continued to fuck himself into you.

"come on baby, eyes open for me." he smiled.

"p-please, more-"

"only because you asked so nicely."

you almost screamed as he began to slam in and out of you at the pace of a ravenous beast, crying and shaking at the surge of pleasure you were feeling in the sudden symphonic pace.

"yeah, you like this?"

"y-yes! f-feels so goo-d, cock feels s-so good!" you babbled through your tears, mind racing blank as you just spoke, unknowing of the words that were leaving you. hanbin groaned at the sight of your pretty little tummy bulge, disappearing and reappearing with each unearthly thrust.

"god, fuck i'm getting close baby." he grunted, "gonna fill this pretty little pussy with all of my cum, yeah?"

the words he was saying to you only went through one ear and out the other as you began to feel the overstimulation crash over you, thighs trembling as they struggled to keep in place.

he grinned, "poor baby, all fucked out. can't take it all, can you?"

"i'm g-gonna-" your eyes flowing with tears as your sentence was cut off by your sudden orgasm, gushing around his cock as he continued his linguid thrusts.

"sh-shit baby, you squirted." he groaned, stilling himself as he released straight after you, filling you with his warm, pearlescent release, long, heavy sighs leaving both you and him as he leaned into your body, burying his head in your shoulder, kissing you wherever he could reach.

"god. you did such a good job, sweetheart."

he looked up at your tear-stained cheeks and heavy-lidded eyes, cupping your cheeks to deliver gentle kisses and pecks to your lips.

he pulled himself out carefully with a groan, watching as his cum began to almost immediately spill out of your hole.

"alright, let's get you cleaned up, yeah?" he said with smile, pecking your temple, sliding his arms beneath your body to be able to carry your upstairs and into the bathroom.

as he sat you down on the counter to get the bathtub running, your drowsy, worn out voice caught his attention.

"hanbinnie . . ?" you called his name. he smiled and looked back at you.

"yes baby?"

you reached your arms out for him, making grabbing motions with your hands with a small, sleepy pout. he let out a small laugh and came closer to you, putting his arms around you in a warm hug.

"i love you. happy birthday."

"you're so cute, baby." he giggled, "i love you too. thank you for doing this for me, i appreciate you so much."

a/n ; WROTE THAT LAST BIT AT 2 AM PLS EXCUSE HOW RUSHED IT IS . . . ALSO THIS IS NOT PRROFREAD I AM SORRY FOR REPEATING THE SAME WORDS LIKE 1000 TIMES IM SO TIRED IM SORRY HOPE U ENJOYED READING !!

my perm taglist ; @hunbun07 @metalchick529 @chewryy

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journey-to-the-attic · 1 year ago

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bold of you to assume we (or atleast i) dont want to read paragraphs about ik's and belphie's dynamic 😈😈

if you feel like writing that, i'd absolutely love to read about it!!! ^^

RIGHT YES this took me a hot minute but let's go!!!!

so the main points that this is all built around:

belphie is someone who is absolutely shit at understanding himself

ik is someone who has a knack for understanding anyone she talks to for long enough

belphie's first resort is usually to leave things to someone else, but easily asserts the things he wants

ik will actively pursue you if she thinks she can help, despite usually feeling guilty about requesting anything

they both have very simple views of very complicated things

building from point 1: this is not entirely belphie's fault - i've talked about this before, so i'll just paste the pertinent bits here:

belphie, as the youngest brother, has been detrimentally coddled in regards to these things, and has NO fucking idea how to properly deal with loss the others haven't tried to talk to him about his grief for lilith, nor about their experiences during the celestial war; when they all had to support each other after the fall, they comforted him, but never ever discussed the pain of it all it's like the doctor refusing to talk about your actual symptoms because they're afraid of making you uncomfortable, and instead just soothingly going "it's okay, just take some ibuprofen and see me in the morning"

belphie underestimates himself and, at the start of the year, is convinced that there's no way forward - 1. he feels he's left it too late, 2. he feels he's the only one still hung up on lilith's death, which only makes him more bitter, and 3. he thinks that the hatred and grief is just who he is now

now take ik, who finds him in the attic and takes worryingly little convincing to help him - even more concerningly, she decides to go through with it even upon finding out he was lying about his identity. this is a direct contradiction to his conviction that humanity is selfish and cruel - more than that, the more ik visits and chats with him, the more he remembers why he'd been so fascinated by humans as an angel

except it also reminds him of how much lilith loved humanity. belphie doesn't think he's capable of letting go - he doesn't think he's allowed to, and to him befriending a human and moving on is the same as betraying his sister's memory. so he represses any feelings of good-will and continues to nurse his hatred

i think it's important to note that belphie's hang-ups have always been self-destructive before this, but the more he lets his own grief fester, the more it threatens to burst. his threat to lucifer about destroying humanity is an early indicator of this, and it culminates in a moment of extreme emotional distress where it finally all implodes

so ik - in the wrong place and the wrong time (in the literal sense) - finds him in the middle of a nightmare, wakes him up, and gets murdered for her troubles

belphie shuts down immediately after, because to him this is a point of no return. he's already convinced himself that nothing can be done for him, and this is the proof. except then everyone else forgets what's happened, and, panicking, he goes along with it - out of fear of losing his family if he comes clean.

so: point 2 - consider that a big thing with ik is that she just doesn't get why belphie acts the way he does after killing her. she's been able to get into the heads of his brothers before him, and even now can somewhat rationalise them forgetting, but she has no idea why belphie - who first killed her and then acted like he'd forgotten about it - would suddenly seem so wracked with guilt upon finding him in the dreamscape

belphie does not think he is strong enough to move on. ik, somehow, intrinsically, already knows this is not true. this is why she's so bewildered by belphie telling her lilith's story. he's convinced this is some kind of damning evidence, but ik doesn't get how this explains anything. and because she doesn't understand, she seeks answers.

now take point 3 and 4. belphie does not attempt to seek forgiveness - he just sits in the cell solomon locks him in. he doesn't try to get out, he doesn't attempt to repent, and he doesn't want to, because as far as he's concerned there's nothing to be done

ik, on the other hand, is going to put her home back together by force if necessary, so she goes to find him. multiple times, she climbs up the tower stairs to rescue him from a waking nightmare - the same thing that killed her - because her family is still his family, and she knows too well what it's like when you go without.

belphie has been sitting stagnant for millennia on end, and now ik has decided that she is going to KICK him along until he figures out that he can stand on his own two feet and keep going. and it works, because for some reason digging demons out of emotional pits of their own creation is ik's specialty

and now point 5: ik and belphie fall quite easily into a typical sibling dynamic of the "i'll make fun of you constantly, but if anyone messes with you they're dead" kind. they never really sit down to talk out all the residual Baggage of everything, because neither of them are the type to overthink these things

but EVEN THEN. they may be simple-minded but the complication of the everything that led up to this means there's little hidden meanings even in the normalcy of their behaviour, and neither of them ever register it

for belphie it's "i'll never understand you. thank you for understanding me. i don't know what to say, so i'll tease you for tripping on your laces instead. i'd throw someone down a gorge if they made you cry. let's go shopping. i think i'll spend the rest of my life wondering if i can ever close the wound i tore in your soul."

for ik it's "i'll never forget what you did to me. i see you in my nightmares sometimes. thanks for waiting for me after school. quit making a show out of helping me reach the top shelf. sometimes i'm glad you regret things so much. can you help me with this homework? i think we're alright."

and for both of them it's "i like hanging out with you. sleep well. i'm glad we're home."

in conclusion,

i am crazy about things i made up entirely. perhaps i am cringe but i am free

#answering asks #valenrien #and also #anon asks #i meant to write this out like two days ago but i got Super Invested out of nowhere #in drawing this one thing of solomon and mephisto #idk if i'll get around to fully finishing it so like 75/25 whether i'll ever post it #but it's been very fun. i finish my work and then get to go 'hehehe time to go draw gay people'#for brief moments my youth was returned to me and i was fifteen years old #and drawing godzilla going on dates with various dinosaur and dragon ocs again #i haven't drawn godzilla in years. i used to be so good at it. i should draw him hanging out with ik #but anyway. in conclusion #belphie is a wounded animal in a beartrap and ik is the farmer's boy who loses a finger trying to prise it open #ik's unrelenting and fierce campaign for everyone she loves to just be NICE to themselves is almost frightening to belphie #who doesn't quite comprehend how she does it and doesn't feel he's quite earned forgiveness #except what ik's forgiveness forces him to confront is exactly what he deserves #!belphie

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motleyfam · 2 years ago

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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

You're super sweet! Alright, let's do this:

1. I Must Leave, Right Now, Immediately

Tim splits his pants at a charity gala. To say that he’s expecting merciless teasing from his brothers is an understatement. What he gets is… not that?

(This was my first fic for batfam and it was genuinely just really fun to write — especially the little plot twist!)

2. The Kids Aren't Alright

After being sent home early from patrol, Jason finds his concerningly ill neighbor attempting to haggle with an Uber driver.

(While this was not my first posted fic for batfam, it was my first fic idea for batfam, so of course it was a sickfic)

3. World’s Saddest Breakfast Club

Following a couple of Very Bad Weeks™ (which may or may not have involved being kidnapped and mildly tortured), Jason decides the best way to cheer himself up is to break into the Manor for a 3 a.m. snack. Turns out he isn’t the only one awake.

(This one was just really cozy and fun to write, and I liked that I got to include everyone)

4. 5 Times Tim Spends the Night at Wayne Manor + 1 Time He Comes Home

Tim is good at galas. No, scratch that—Tim is great at galas. He’s been attending them ever since the age of three, when his parents first stuffed him into his little Gymboree tuxedo and gave him a stern lecture about ‘sitting quietly’ and ‘speaking when spoken to.’ He knows all the rules: what to wear, how to stand, when to smile, what to say, what not to say. He knows how to come across as polite and intelligent and charming, and on absolutely any other day, he would be rocking this. --- Or, my take on a ‘Tim Joins the Family Early’ AU, told through a series of sleepovers—most of which are unplanned.

(This one is my baby, and also wildly self-indulgent. Tim's not having a good time, but dammit if there isn't comfort)

5. Ties That Bind

“It’s fine,” Dick says, stabbing at one of the little red roast potatoes with his fork. He drags it across his plate through the gravy, painting brown swirls on the china. “When is Bruce coming back?” Alfred sighs. “Master Bruce will be out rather late again this evening, I’m afraid.” “Figures,” Dick says flippantly, dragging the potato around to draw a five-point star. “He’s never home.” --- Dick's first few weeks at the Manor are rough.

(Short and sweet, but I liked how it turned out, and I liked getting to focus on baby Dick for a bit <3 )

#thank you so much for asking!

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maria021015 · 9 months ago

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“Okay, come on,” Zaida whispered to herself, her words muffled by the party blower she held clutched between her teeth as she bent over the cake she had made late last night with a lighter, transferring the flame to the large ‘1’ and ‘7’ candles she’d stuck in the top. When she was done, she picked up the cake from the hood of the Jeep where she’d propped it, and approached the entrance to the Stilinski house, twisting to push the doorbell with her elbow.

“Who the hell is visiting us at seven in the damn morni-” Zaida could hear Stiles complaining loudly on the other side of his front door from where she stood on the porch waiting for him to answer. As soon as he pulled the door open and saw her - party blower in her mouth sounding off, and cake in her hands with a bright twinkle in her eyes - he froze, and his face broke into a broad smile. “Zaida, what…? Is that a birthday cake?”

She started to answer but couldn’t exactly talk clearly with the party blower in her mouth, so Stiles reached out to pluck it from between her lips. “Happy Birthday!” She cheered and wiggled the cake excitedly.

“Oh, Zay, you really didn’t have to. My birthday was ages ago!” He chuckled and then his eyes landed on the cake in her hands. “What the hell is that?”

“It’s Chewbacca!” She grinned, and at his snicker, her face morphed into a frown. “Seriously, Stilinski? I go out of my way to bake and decorate you a cake from scratch, and your first reaction is to laugh at it.”

“I’m sorry! It’s just, it looks like a porcupine.” The boy struggled to compose himself.

“Blow out your freaking candles and let me in. Before I smash this cake into your face.” She narrowed her eyes at him, and he complied happily, blowing out the ‘17’ and stepping aside to allow her in.

“Honestly, I didn’t know if you’d even be up this early.” She admitted and put the cake down on the kitchen bench and rummaged through the cupboards to pull out two plates, two forks and a knife.

“I’ve been up since five-thirty researching deer-related road incidents.” He raised a questioning brow at her. “Cake for breakfast?”

“I once watched you down half a can of whipped cream for breakfast, so you’re gonna shut up and eat it.” She snarked and cut them both rather large slices. “Did you find anything like what happened last night?” She asked and carried both of their plates up the stairs towards his room.

“No!” He answered with a grin as he held his bedroom door open for her to pass through first.

“Why do you sound so excited about that?” Zaida picked up on his tone and set the slices down on his desk atop mounds of printed research.

“Because that just proves that something was supernatural about it!” He collapsed into his desk chair and shovelled a large forkful of chocolate cake into his mouth, then typed away furiously to bring up the public incident reports and articles he’d found.

“Stiles, I’m gonna leave for work. Make sure you take out the bins before-” Noah Stilinski called out to his son from the hallway and paused when he walked in to find both Stiles and Zaida staring back at him. “Are you eating cake?”

“Happy birthday?” Zaida smiled sheepishly with a half-shrug.

“Oh, happy birthday Zaida!” The man smiled kindly, but she shook her head.

“No, it’s for me,” Stiles explained.

“But your birthday was in April?” The Sheriff’s face twisted once again into a confused expression, and a moment later he decided he didn’t need to know. “What are you two kids doing?”

“Research,” Zaida answered simply.

“You know how many vehicle collisions last year involved deer? Two hundred and forty-seven thousand.” Stiles muttered as he hunched over his keyboard, staring at the screen at concerningly close proximity.

“Oh, God, please go to school…” The Sheriff tipped his head back into a groan.

“But that's crossing the road - this one last night came right down the middle.” Stiles continued and Zaida’s ears perked up at that fact. He was right. It was completely atypical behaviour.

“We know it was scared to death - literally - so maybe it was running from something,” Zaida suggested, leaning over his shoulder to take a gander at his research.

“I'm not gonna beg you.” Noah stepped further into the room, standing right behind them both.

“Okay, good. I'm impervious to your influence, anyway.” Stiles replied absent-mindedly.

“Would you consider a bribe?” His father offered hopefully.

“You couldn't meet my price.” The boy snorted.

“Extortion?” Sheriff shot right back and Zaida finally understood exactly where Stiles got it from.

“You got nothing on me.” Stiles shrugged and his father sighed and gripped the back of his chair, tugging him away from his computer as he continued to type, stretching impossibly far to retain contact with the keyboard. “Dad, what are you doing? Dad-”

Stiles yelped as he fell off his chair and hit the floor with a loud thud, leaving Zaida to laugh at him.

“Zaida, please make sure he’s ready and out of the house by quarter-to.” Noah turned to her, and she nodded at him.

“Sure thing, Sheriff.” The girl bid him goodbye with a salute.

“You traitor,” Stiles grumbled from his place on the carpet, his face smooshed into the floor.

“That’s for laughing at my Wookie cake.” She hummed and finished off her slice of cake.

Zaida caught a ride to school with Stiles that morning, considering Allison was taking Lydia due to her car being wrecked the previous night. She was happy to find that if she pretended everything was normal - and that her heart wasn’t going to beat out of her chest every time he looked at her for a little too long - for the most part, things would be exactly as they usually were. She was okay to settle for that at the moment, until she figured out what to do about the dilemma she was currently faced with. She’d always despised love triangles, and yet here she was crushing on her best friend who was in turn crushing on her other best friend. But her other alternative was to ignore him until her feelings went away, and she’d already tried that to no avail. Her ‘avoiding Stiles’ strategy was a clear bust. As soon as they walked into the Beacon Hills High building, Scott was there to greet them with a bright idea about how to get his tattoo back.

“You wanna ask Derek for help? Why? Why?” Stiles cried out dramatically in exasperation.

“He's got the triskele tattooed on his back, so, there has to be a way to do it without healing, right?” The werewolf reasoned, and Zaida couldn’t flaw his logic.

“Okay, yeah, but still - doesn't he have his hands a little full right now?” Stiles pointed out the missing posters pinned to the noticeboard in the hallway where Erica and Boyd’s faces looked back at them.

“Look, these are the applications for the career adviser. I need them sorted. And, whatever happened to the library while I was gone? I want it cleared up!” The sound of their old principal's voice echoing down the hall alerted them to his arrival now that Gerard was missing - according to Xander, his body was never found. They peered towards the office where he was pulling a giant broadsword from beneath the desk. “And what the hell is this?”

“Go, go, go…” Stiles urged them to hurry off.

“I’ll see you boys in English, I gotta swap out my books.” Zaida waved them goodbye and headed in the direction of her locker when a flash of red hair blurred across her peripheral vision and Lydia snatched her by the arm and dragged her to Allison’s locker. “Lydia, no!” She hissed but plastered an awkward smile on her face when Allison turned to face her.

“Hey,” The taller girl greeted, not having spoken to her the previous night with all the deer-related chaos.

“Hey,” Zaida repeated, not knowing what else to say until Lydia nudged her. “How was France?”

“It was good,” Allison nodded, seemingly happy the shorter brunette was talking to her. “How was your summer?”

“Shit, I was grounded. But I got a job at a local candy shop.” She shrugged.

“And apparently found a new sense of style that I, for one, am obsessed with! I was getting so sick of the jeans and cute top combo.” Lydia gripped her hips to take a better look at her skirt, then pulled off the hair elastic keeping her braid in place, unravelling the style to leave her hair out in loose waves. “Now it’s perfect.”

“Green suits you,” Allison commented with an appreciative nod, agreeing with the redhead. “It brings out your eyes.”

“Thanks,” Zaida smiled genuinely this time, feeling a bit more comfortable even though that arrow to the leg was still in the back of her mind. “Lydia went through my stuff before summer and threw out half of my black clothes and demanded I add more colour to my wardrobe. I hate to admit that she was right, but I do quite like the change.”

“Ooh, speaking of change…” Lydia hummed, getting distracted by the new students walking past. “Freshmen. Tons and tons of fresh men…”

“You mean fresh boys.” Allison corrected, mildly amused whilst Zaida wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Lydia, they're fourteen.”

“Eh, some are more mature than others.” The redhead shrugged.

“Lyds, I know more than half the guys in this town look like they’re on growth hormones, but if you’re not careful, you’re gonna catch a case.” Zaida shook her head in disapproval. Lydia might have changed a lot since they’d first met, but there were moments where she was still…well, the Lydia Martin.

“You know, it's okay to be single. Focus on yourself for a little while. Work on becoming a better person.” Allison chimed in.

“Allison, I love you. So, if you need to do that thing where we talk about me and pretend like we're not actually talking about you, it's totally fine.” Lydia chirped, calling out the brunette as she eyed two identical hunky guys clad in black leather jackets. “But I don't want a boyfriend. I want a distraction.”

“Brothers?” The huntress raised a plucked brow.

‘Twins.” The redhead smirked and leaned against the lockers, watching them as they passed.

“Wait and find out how old they are before you drag one into Coach’s office.” Zaida rolled her eyes at her friend. “Come on, I gotta go to my locker before we get to class.”

Walking into English a tad bit late, the first thing Zaida noticed when she took the free seat behind Stiles, was that Isaac was nowhere to be seen. Leaning forward in her seat, she hissed to get Stiles’ attention. “Pst, where’s Isaac?” She asked him, hoping he might have received some information via Scott, who was at the desk to the right of Stiles trying to avoid looking at Allison at the desk in front.

“I don’t know, nor do I care,” The boy rolled his eyes and Zaida huffed in annoyance. “And you shouldn’t care either. Or did you forget he cracked your head open on Scott’s kitchen bench?”

“Yeah, and Allison shot me with a crossbow, yet everyone seems fine with her.” Zaida pointed out the contrast between the two. “Isaac proved himself when he helped us, has she?”

“You know I agree with you about that, but Scott’s in love with her and he’s my best friend, so I can’t exactly publically shun her.” Stiles sighed.

“I’m not saying to shun her. I’m working on moving past it.” She shook her head. “I’m saying that if we can forgive her, we can forgive Isaac. He even apologised to Lydia.”

“Yeah, because he’s trying to get into your panties,” The boy shot back angrily.

“Okay, one, never say ‘panties’ again. Two, Isaac’s not trying to get into my…” She trailed off, not finding an acceptable word.

“Knickers? Undies? Tighty-whities? Do none of those tickle your fancy? Because ‘vagina’ still fits.” Stiles snarked and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Stop it! He’s not trying to get into my bed.” She settled on a word that didn’t make her flinch. “He’s just trying to do the right thing.”

“Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that.” The boy snorted and turned back to the front of the class, effectively cutting off that conversation as his frustration rose. Why she was so insistent on defending Derek’s beta, he didn't know, but he knew it bothered him. A resounding buzz filled the classroom and they all noticed their phone screens lighting up to a mass text message.

"The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway, leading to the uttermost ends of the earth, flowed sombre under an overcast sky, seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness." A thin young woman with dark hair and eyes to match read aloud from her phone and her heels clacked against the floor as she walked leisurely into the classroom and took her place by the desk. “This is the last line to the first book we are going to read. It is also the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off, everyone.”

The class complied, switching their devices off and tucking them away to turn their full attention to the new teacher. Not that long into the lesson, Scott was called to sign out at the request of Melissa, and that caught Zaida’s attention immediately. Melissa McCall was cool, but not the kind if letting-your-son-skip-school-for-fun type of cool. She wouldn’t call on him unless it was something incredibly important and, as the chances were, incredibly supernatural. Ms Blake stepped out to speak with him for a moment before he left and Zaida retreated into her head, searching for Isaac’s door in the corridor of her mind. When she found it, it took her quite a bit of restraint to not throw the door completely open. Instead, she simply lay her hand flat against it and peered through, feeling a wave of wooziness and dulled panic wash over her before the light inside went dark.

“Stiles!” She hissed his name once more, grabbing his attention. “Something’s wrong with Isaac-”

“You used your telempthy? You’re not supposed to be doing that!” Stiles’ eyes widened as he looked back at her in alarm. “What if something bad was happening and you felt it? The whole point of practising the blocks is to avoid something like that.”

“But something bad was happening,” She tried to refocus his attention. “I think he passed out and I don’t know why, but I could feel that something was wrong.”

“Scott’s going to handle it, okay?” He assured her. “It’s not like either of us can afford to skip class. My dad will kill me and Xander will ground you until Christmas. There’s nothing we can do.”

Zaida didn’t want to admit it, but the boy was right. They were entirely powerless at the moment, and Isaac was currently unreachable in his unconscious state. All they could do was wait to hear from Scott and hope that Isaac would be okay. “Besides, if Melissa called Scott, then Isaac’s already at the hospital, which means he’s going to be okay,” Stiles added in an attempt to allay her worries, and it did.

Towards the end of the class, Stiles began to lose focus. He always struggled to keep his attention on one thing for an extended period of time unless he was hyper fixating - and he certainly wasn’t that interested in Heart of Darkness. Instead, his eyes wandered to the floor, and then to the bandage wrapped around the ankle of the redhead sitting beside him. “Hey, Lydia - what is that? Is that from the accident?”

“No...Prada bit me.” She answered, and Zaida frowned at hearing that. She knew the redhead’s little pomeranian extremely well, and she was always perfectly behaved.

“Your dog?” Stiles peered at the injury closely.

“No, my designer handbag.” Lydia drawled sarcastically. “Yes, my dog.”

“Prada would never do that. She’s a lady through and through. I’ve never even seen her properly bite her food, she nibbles.” Zaida interjected.

“Okay, what if it's, like, the same thing as the deer? You know, like, how animals start acting weird right before an earthquake or something?” Stiles whispered conspirationaly.

“Meaning what? There's gonna be an earthquake?” Lydia rolled her eyes, not buying the connection.

“Or something. I just...maybe it means something's coming. Something bad.” The boy tried to reason, and whilst they may not have a lot of evidence, Zaida had to admit he could be onto something. Deer don’t just tear off headfirst into cars.

“It was a deer and a dog.” The redhead raised her brows. “What's that thing you say about threes? Once...twice-”

“Once is an accident, two is a coincidence, three is a pattern, and four is enough for a warrant.” Zaida perfectly recited the quote that she’d heard both Stiles and his father use. Then she paused when she realised her knee was bouncing, and her pulse had started to jump. Lifting up her hands, she saw she was starting to shake. “Guys, I think-”

Before she could finish speaking a loud thud and splat against the window beside the redhead caught their attention, making them all jump slightly in their seats at the surprise of it. They turned to see a bright red bloodstain as the black bird that had crashed straight into the window fell.

“Yeah, something’s definitely happening.” Stiles finished Zaida’s sentence, staring out as a flock of birds large enough to span almost their entire view of the sky were flying straight towards the school from the far treeline. They didn’t stop, or even slow, as they neared the building and crashed straight into the glass as they came. The wall of windows lining the left side of the classroom shattered one by one with a loud smash as more and more of them died upon impact, and some made it through the already blown-out windows, flapping noisily around the room in a panic.

“Get down, everyone! Get down! Down! Get down!” Ms Blake yelled out to them and took cover herself as the room was starting to fill with cawing black birds that continued to circle until they nose-dived to their deaths either into the floor, or desks, or walls.

The students all ducked, trying to avoid being pecked or stabbed by sharp beaks in the torrent of black feathers surrounding them. Zaida threw up her blocks as the fear started to take root within her. Stiles reached out and gripped her hand, tugging her to the floor with him as his other arm went out to pull Lydia along with them. He shielded them both with his body, taking the brunt of the crossfire. It seemed to go on forever when in reality it was over within a few minutes. When the last few birds stopped cawing and fluttering their wings, Stiles retreated, and they all looked around at the sea of bloodied carcasses and traumatised classmates.

“What’s that poem about ravens?” Zaida asked in a shaky voice, her legs trembling as Stiles helped her to her feet. "One for sorrow, two for joy..."

“I don’t think that applies to this amount.” The boy shook his head.

“Well…if you wanted more proof, Lyds, that’s number three.” The brunette gulped as a feathered body beside her twitched. “A definite pattern.”

#teen wolf #teen wolf fanfic #stiles stilinski #stiles #stiles x oc #teen wolf fanfiction #lydia martin #female oc #female original character #scott mccall #isaac lahey #allison argent

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avis-and-panda · 2 years ago

Text

To Be or Not to Be-Chapter One

To Be or Not to Be

(Or Something Like That)

Chapter one

The Storm Before the Calm… Wait What?

         It was July 2nd, a Sunday. It was around noon and Kirishima had sauntered downstairs just a few minutes earlier. Most of their class was already up and about, just because it was still the weekend didn’t mean you could slack off, but the late risers only woke up sometime around noon or later. For Kirishima, it was around mid-morning at that time.

         As soon as he got off the elevator, he made his way to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water, with the hopes of waking himself up a little more for his first-thing run. Just as he had finished filling his glass and was about to take a sip, Mina approached him with a cheerful pep in her step.

         “Hey! Going on a run?” Mina asked cheerfully, noticing his exercising attire and the water bottle he got out of the fridge.

         “Yeah! I figured I needed it to get me going for the day. Didn’t get much sleep last night.” Mina gave him a small knowing smile and nodded. But, as fast as it appeared, the smile was replaced with a grin.

“Mind if I join you? Oh! Unless you already planned to go with Bakugo?”

         Kirishima laughed. ‘Never one to keep the mood down’, he thought, still in peaceful drowsiness. Today would be a good day.

“Nah, that guy always goes on his runs crazy early – even earlier than me! And even if I invited him, he’d never agree. Always saying something like, ‘Don’t want you extras to slow me down’ or something.” Kirishima leaned from his place in the kitchen to see Bakugo eating lunch in the dining area.

“Ain’t that right Bakugo!”

“Fuck off!” Bakugo hollered back, glaring at their direction before going back to eating.

Kirishima laughed again and turned to Mina.

“So yeah, you can come! If you can keep up, that is.” Kirishima teased. She returned the tease with a devious grin.

“Don’t worry, I think I’ll be fine.”

The pair laughed and chatted as Kirishima finished his water and ate a small breakfast. When he was done, he started heading for the door, Mina following close behind.

“So, what’s the track today?”

“Just around the dorm building. I’ve been thinking about doing three laps this time, you know, to increase my endu—"

Kirishima was abruptly cut off by a loud whooshing and crackling noise coming from the common room. Everybody was immediately alarmed and jumped to their feet, ready for action as gusts of wind seemingly appeared out of nowhere and swirled around what appeared to be some sort of cloud with electricity crackling in it.

And it was all in the middle of the common room.

“What’s going on?!”

“Someone call Aizawa-sensei!”

“It appears to be a small storm?!”

Everybody started bracing themselves as the gusts of wind grew stronger, blowing objects around the room and breaking them.

“Get behind me!” Kirishima yelled as he activated his quirk. Mina complied and activated hers as well, acid forming around her body.

The “storm” grew bigger as a bright glow started forming in the middle of it. Suddenly, three figures fell from the cloud, as well as what seemed to be three bags of luggage. As soon as the figures hit the floor, the “storm”, which was then concluded to be some sort of portal, dissipated and the students could then clearly see who had just come through the portal.

Who were not only unconscious but also very, very bloody.

Of the figures who appeared, there were two boys and one girl. One boy was a brunette and was lying on his back, blood seeping from the back of his head and mouth, face flushed, and moaning from pain. The other boy had red hair and was holding the girl in a half embrace. His right arm was broken, blood flowing from his head and side, where there appeared to be a knife lodged in. Contrast to the other boy, he was concerningly pale, but the girl he was holding was even worse. She was so pale that one would question if she was even alive anymore. Blood flowed from several deep cuts down her arms and legs but what was most concerning was the large cut on her back which seemed to be where most of the blood came from. All three of them were wearing high school uniforms and appeared to be around their age.

The students immediately jumped to attend to the unconscious teenagers.

Yaoyorozu was the first to react and started barking orders to the others. After checking their pulses to make sure they were alive, they promptly started to stop the bleeding of the larger and more concerning wounds with whatever medical supplies Yaoyorozu made with her quirk.

As Kirishima and Mina approached them, Yaoyorozu instructed the former to attend to the red head while Mina helped the girl. Kirishima nodded and they made their way to the unconscious pair.

As Mina started to move the girl from the boy to attend to her wounds, the boy slowly regained consciousness. Kirishima immediately started talking to keep him awake.

“Hello? Can you hear me? You’re badly wounded. I need you to stay with me, okay?”

The boy squinted his eyes and seemed to be concentrating on something before they abruptly widened. He shoved Kirishima away and tore the girl from Mina’s grasp before he promptly started scooting away from them. He held the girl protectively, or as well as he could with one arm, and glared at them.

“Don’t…touch her…!” He practically growled, in a way that reminded Kirishima of Bakugo.

Kirishima slowly stood up and approached the weary boy who was still trying to move away.

“I’m not going to hurt you, I promise! I just want to help. If we don’t get those wounds cleaned up soon, they could be fatal.” Kirishima sent him a reassuring smile. The boy still glared at him, but he glanced at the girl for a moment before looking back up.

The boy was in pain, he could tell. He was still frightfully pale, but then he was sweating and slightly panting, which meant that he was probably overexerting himself just to stay conscious.

“We’re not going to hurt you…” Both boys looked over to see Midoriya walking over with a placating smile and tense eyebrows. “Please let us help!”

The boy narrowed his eyes at him before looking back at Kirishima and then the girl. Eventually, he nodded, and they started loading them both up on stretchers, courtesy of Yaoyorozu.

Kirishima looked around and saw that the other boy was already on a stretcher as well.

Seconds later, Aizawa, along with several other teachers, had come barging into the common room. Upon seeing the wounded teenagers, the teachers got to work and took them out of the students’ hands. After assessing the students and confirming that nobody else was injured, Aizawa made his way to take the wounded children to the hospital.

“I expect a full report by this evening.” He waited for several murmurs of affirmation before he finally left.

“That was scary. I hope they’re okay…” Murmured Uraraka off to the side.

“They’re in the care of sensei, now. I’m sure they’ll be fine, kero. I am curious about who they are though.” Asui replied, pressing her index finger to her chin in thought.

“They just came out of nowhere… Do you think they were attacked by villains?” asked Jirou with a shudder.

“There’s a high possibility they were…” Yaoyorozu looked down with a concerned frown, “For now, let’s just clear out of the area. The police need to inspect the scene.”

At that, everybody either retreated to their rooms or outside and left the police to deal with the mess.

Kirishima and Mina met eyes as they started moving out of the common room.

“I expect a full report by this evening.”

Kirishima sighed, ‘I guess we won’t be going on that run any time soon.’

Ever since the war ended, Uraraka had learned to expect the unexpected. Not keeping your guard up was how many heroes have fallen, after all. However, Uraraka had decidedly not expected three teenagers to fall out of a strange storm portal, bloodied and possibly dying.

Uraraka and Asui walked side by side on their way to the store. After handing the wounded teenagers to their teachers, they gave a small report to the police and were allowed to leave with instructions to write a full report later.

Uraraka couldn’t help but think about the wounded individuals from that afternoon. Who were they? Would they be okay? The girl, who had silver hair, lost a lot of blood. And the red headed boy, he reacted so aggressively when Kirishima tried to help them. They must have been attacked, but by whom? A villain? A—

“Ochako-chan, are you okay? You’ve been spacing out, kero.” Asui commented. Snapping out of her thoughts, Uraraka jumped.

“O-oh, have I? Sorry, I was just thinking about the… incident from earlier.” Uraraka scratched the back of her head in embarrassment as Asui pressed her index finger to her chin in thought.

“Me too, kero. It was certainly frightening.”

“Yeah…” Uraraka frowned. Asui placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and gave her a placating smile.

“They're fine. Sensei took them to the hospital. He wouldn’t let them die, kero.” Uraraka returned her smile with an appreciative one.

“Yeah.”

Six days later, July 8th, Saturday. Aizawa had called all of class 2-A to meet him that evening in the common room.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve called you here.” Uraraka, as well as several of the other students, murmured in affirmative and curiously looked around. Aizawa sighed tiredly.

“I don’t want to stall any longer, so I’ll cut to the chase.” The students quieted down and waited in anticipation.

“I’m sure you all remember that six days ago, three individuals appeared through a portal in the common room at noon, unconscious and injured. All three of them are alive and well. However, when we questioned them we came to realize some… interesting conclusions.”

The students murmured quietly in confusion.

“First of all, the three of them were indeed attacked, but not by villains. In fact, the perpetrators don’t even exist. At least not in our world.”

…Wait, what? Even more confused murmurs piped up.

“Not in our world?”

“What is he saying?”

“Wait… He doesn’t mean…”

Aizawa continued, not even batting an eye at the not so quiet murmurs.

“The portal the individuals fell through is a portal from another world. Meaning, the individuals themselves are from another world.”

         Several students, including Uraraka, went quiet in shock and disbelief. The door to the dorms opened and four figures walked inside, behind Aizawa.

“Someone sent them here against their will and now they’re stuck. Until we find a way to send them back or find a better solution, they will be staying in these dorms and attending UA generals department, so they stay out of the public and we can keep an eye on them. They will answer any questions you may have.” At this point, Aizawa looked up from his paper and gave all the teenagers in the room a pointed look. “It is advised they do not go out on their own or interact with anyone besides those who made initial contact with them. We don’t know the nature of what is happening so their presence is considered dangerous. If they do need something that the school can’t provide, go with them or get it for them.” With that last comment, he glared at the red-head in particular.

Aizawa stepped out of the way to reveal Yamada standing beside a girl and two boys. Six days ago, Uraraka wouldn’t have been able to tell you what they looked like beyond hair color, but seeing them then, she didn’t know how anyone’d miss them in a crowd. The girl was around average height and had long, wavy, silver hair and violet eyes. The boy to her left was quite tall, taller than most of the boys in the room, and had light brown hair and blue eyes. His hair was slightly long, but not long enough to reach past his neck. To his left was the other boy who had red hair and even darker red eyes. His hair was shorter than the other boy’s and in a basic style, except for the fact his bangs were longer over his right eye. They were all wearing the PE uniforms, except they had taken the jackets off and were then carrying them.

         “I’d like to introduce to you Elena Bell, Arlo Keen, and Nikolaus Brandt.” And with that, Aizawa turned around, apparently ready to leave.

         “Mic will lead you to your rooms. Get comfortable while you can.” The three of them thanked him as Yamada set three duffle bags, which appear to be their luggage, down beside them. Aizawa sharply turned, his eyes glowing red from his quirk.

“Behave.”

The three of them stiffened as well as some of the students. Aizawa turned and made his leave.

“…That doesn’t work on us.” The red head, Nikolaus, huffed in English, to the class’s surprise.

“I think he just does it to scare us, whether it serves as a real threat or not.” Said the brunette, Arlo, also in English. He let out a nervous laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Uh…”

Everybody turned to see Midoriya walking towards the three teenagers.

“Y-you’re really from another world?” He asked, visibly shaking. Whether it was from nerves, shock, or excitement, Uraraka couldn’t tell. It was probably a combination of all three.

“Yes!” Elena said cheerfully, Japanese this time. “I’m Elena Bell! Nice to meet you all.”

Elena bowed slightly in greeting as some of the students greeted her in turn. Midoriya was beaming and was about to say something when Todoroki put a hand on his shoulder and held him back.

“Wait, Midoriya. I’m sure you’ve got a lot of questions, but we should let them get settled before we start asking them all at once.” Todoroki spoke in a calm and monotonous voice, as if this wasn’t something worth freaking out over.

“Todoroki-kun is right! This situation is quite overwhelming!” Iida piped in enthusiastically. He then sharply turned to the three teenagers and deeply bowed.

“Welcome! Please, allow me to help you bring your luggage to your rooms!”

“Oh! That’s okay we’ve got it! Thanks though!” Arlo said as he waved his arms in front of him frantically.

“Nonsense! You just came from the hospital, it’s only polite to carry your luggage! And Bell-san’s arms are still covered in bandages!” Iida insisted, trying to reach for their bags.

“Really, it’s fine! You don’t have to bow so deeply either! And we really don’t mind answering any questions you have.” Elena said with a placating smile. Nikolaus smiled in amusement at the scene.

“Um…” Uraraka stepped forward, nervously playing with the hem of her shirt, “If you’re from another world… then does that mean you don’t have quirks where you’re from?”

Nikolaus looked away from his companions, who were too busy trying to placate the enthusiastic Iida to really notice who had spoken.

“Yeah, there’s no such thing as quirks where we come from.” Nikolaus replied, “But there's still some… paranormal qualities.”

“What do you mean?” Yaoyorozu asked.

“There’s no such thing as quirks… but there is a thing called magic.” Said Elena, having apparently left Arlo to deal with the insisting Iida.

“Magic?” Several students spoke at the same time.

“Yup!”

Suddenly, little wisps of air formed around Elena’s arms as she lifted them. She situated her hands and made it look like she was holding something as the wisps of air gathered in them and swirled into a little ball. All the while, her violet eyes glowed and a soft light emanated from the ball of air in her hands.

“I am what you’d call a witch.”

#mha #The first chapter!#Enjoy!

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eluxcastar · 2 years ago

Note

Pantalone x reader (male or gn) where reader returns from a particularly bloody and mentally exhausting mission late at night. Perhaps a little emotionally scarring

Reader is concerningly silent

Pantalone helps them bathe and carries to bed

Hurt/comfort fic where reader softly cries to sleep and pantalone can do nothing more than hold them tighter and closer

You're not used to losing people

── ୨୧：pantalone x reader

୨୧﹑synopsis :: you spent days out travelling near the edge of snezhnaya, delayed by trouble you encountered that has you home half a day after you were expected to be. by all official accounts the objective was completed and the mission was therefore a success, but you seem to return a different person than the one who waved Pantalone off with a warm smile and a kiss for good luck.

୨୧﹑genre :: angst

୨୧﹑content :: masc reader (could be read as gn), mentions of blood, use of petnames (darling), implied death, reader is at a bit of an emotional breaking point, pantalone is written to be soft, they're married because I said so

୨୧﹑words :: 2.7k

anon this is strangely so cute I love it. sad but still somewhat cute an idea yk (I had literally no idea what to call it until five seconds ago). our man pantaloon needs more love. I accidentally wrote clock instead of cloth in one part and the mental image of Pantalone trying to clean reader with a clock made me fucking die laughing this is so stupid

if you like this also go read this post as the two are similar in theme and story but with very little comfort to the hurt 👍

something about the evening seems...wrong, the sky grows darker, too dark for it to be your usual time. the moon suspiciously high, yet there's no sign of you to be found. you should know better than to make him worry, knowing that though your strength may carry you through battle, you're also not invincible. what happens if you reach your limit out there? how is he supposed to know if you're safe? what if you don't come home?

abruptly Pantalone's thoughts are interrupted, the door opening, and he knows nobody would be bold enough to waltz on in without knocking unless it was you come home from a long and tiring mission. he only heard earlier that you would be returning, "Some time in the early evening" he had been told and clearly that was a lie. it was likely no fault of yours, just some hold up along the way.

he hears your footsteps, knows you're there-- at least he thinks that's you. you've been awfully quiet, though you usually call out to him when you return home. you still manage to worry him. he can't see you tucked away in the entrance, only glimpses of you as you remove your coat. there's a moment where he swears he hears you suck your breath through your teeth, then the rustling of fabric and finally your footsteps again, abruptly followed by a loud thud.

now you're really worrying him.

it takes him seconds to decide he's no longer waiting on you, standing to walk to you and see what has happened. the moment he turns around, Pantalone can see you even from where he stands several feet away, the thud clearly caused by you falling flat on your face, leaving you struggling to get up though not for a lack of trying. just before he reaches you, you just give up and turn yourself over so you can sit for a moment. you barely get there before he's lifting you up from the floor like a life-size rag doll.

"You're injured. Why didn't you go see someone?" his concern translates to disappointment at some point, and though he wonders if it was too harsh, the blood you're covered in and the bandages that bind your hand tells him you need it just a little bit. why aren't you taking better care of yourself?

you try to speak, but find it impossible for your words to comply, caught in your throat and refusing to come out. he's not impressed with that either; you can see it in his face that he would've said something if you didn't look so, frankly speaking, pathetic.

you have to ask yourself if he can tell you're trying not to cry, the quivering of your lips and glassy eyes hard to hide. he cradles you so gently it almost tips you over the edge, so safe compared to the way you've spent the last few weeks feeling. nothing about the day leading up to now specifically makes you feel that way, and it feels so draining trying to hold it back, but overwhelmingly so being home just makes you so emotional. your wound doesn't hurt too badly, and it's not as if your fall was anything but tripping over your own feet in absent-mindedness. if it proved anything, it was that you definitely did something to your shoulder, coupled with the fact that grabbing the blade of a sword to stop it in its tracks had left a shallow mark across your palm, you were beginning to doubt your instincts again.

still, you cling to the fabric of his clothes tightly, finding comfort in these familiar things which you associate with your home. hearing his voice, the cool contrast of the rings he wears against your skin, the scent of home, even just being held in this way makes you want to close your eyes and settle.

then suddenly you're moving again, and he sits you down on the couch and kneels down to remove your shoes for you, "I'll take you to be seen by a doctor tomorrow, but for now let's get you cleaned up and in some nice fresh clothes." he stands and places a kiss gently to your forehead, "I'll come get you when the water is ready, don't push yourself, darling."

you dare not test his patience, so you wait, staring down at your hand covered in bloody bandages. your hand is shaking. most of that blood is yours, though your mind wanders seeing it, back to the several corpses you laid your hands on, the people whose bodies you beat with your fist begging and screaming at them to get up as they lay lifeless. your throat still hurts. you untuck the end of those bandages, unravelling them from around your hand until you see your skin and the awful gash across your palm. it looks awful, red and swelling, far worse than when you last saw it. you run your thumb across the wound, flinching at the tinge of pain that shoots down your arm.

"Tsk tsk, what is this?" from behind the couch comes a hand, taking you by the wrist and pulling your arm up, "You should've gone to get this looked at. Did you at least clean this properly?"

you stare up at Pantalone who adjusts his glasses. it's strange to feel his hands against yours, bare and slightly damp hands warm against your skin. remembering he asked a question you shake your head, and his eyes flicker back to you with a strange look.

"The bath is ready." he finally says, "Does it hurt when I carry you? What else are you hiding that you haven't tended to properly?"

"It's ok, you can carry me." you say, finally able to speak, though your words are quiet and rougher, than you'd like. you clear your throat and repeat "You can carry me." to him knowing his usual fixation on acting your best, even though you're also aware there's no way he expects that of you.

Pantalone purses his lips a moment, glad for you to finally say something, but still finding something to worry about in the fact it didn't tell him much, resigning himself to the fact that you'll simply have to show him once he helps you undress to take a bath. you watch as he walks around the couch, and raise your arm up to him, wrapping it around his neck when he leans down to scoop you back up off the couch and into his arms.

the way his hands touch you as he removes your shirt, letting you lean your head down rather than pull your arms off and he promptly tosses it aside. his hands return to your shoulders, running down your arms to observe your skin, noting that you had bruises but no other cuts or scrapes, save for a minor one on your side barely in need of a band-aid. it's slightly more awkward shimmying yourself out of your pants as you have to put your weight on your hand while trying to avoid pressing it too forcefully against anything. his observation continues, though he once again finds you to be in perfect condition.

it's the dried blood that sticks to your skin that he worries about, even knowing it likely isn't yours.

"I wasn't told there would be delays in your arrival, was it so bad that you weren't about to communicate your messages back to me?"

the water is warm, but not hot, shallower than you might've filled it but you suppose only having the water rise to your waist was in case you were keeping another nasty scar hidden under your clothes from him. that was in case. every bone in your body adores this man's care for you, the usually pompous banker with a clear soft spot for you.

he holds a cloth which he dips into the water, running it along your skin as he dabs at the stains taking extra care not to scrub too harshly. days of dirt and grime and a battles worth of blood and sweat washed away by the loving hands of the Regrator. he can tell by your reluctance to answer that it's not the time, and carries on in silence letting only the sounds of running water making its way to your ears. it's a calming silence, though you watch as the water surrounding you is slowly dyed by the blood that runs off your body.

it finally hits you just how bad things got, even when before you could in some way write it off like a nightmare and pretend it hadn't really happened. some metaphorical weight presses down on your emotions and you just break as your vision blurs, tears welling up in your eyes.

perhaps noticing your shaking or catching one of the few tears running down your cheeks, the cloth is immediately set aside as Pantalone places a hand to your back. you try desperately to wipe your tears away, but a wet hand isn't the best tool to dry your cheeks with and you only serve to make it worse. a part of you feels hopeless, like a failure to your own team as you know you let them down. you were supposed to be a fighter, a good one at that, husband of one of the Harbingers and somehow you still managed to lose two people.

you feel yourself back in that place, weary as you finally stand, your shoulder stinging, you assume from the initial fall. you clasp a hand over it and rub your thumb on the area, making it sting. you groan at the pain. one of the more medically verse teammates tends to one of the wounded. you walk toward the collapsed body of a fellow fatuu, seeing them unmoving and bleeding into the snow. you practically fall at her side, landing on your knees as you slightly let your feet give out and bring you down to her.

cautious at first, you shake her, trying to roll her over though it hurts you to do so. she remains unresponsive to any poke or prod at her, not even a groan or mumble, and she's so cold.

you're all cold, you tell yourself and try again to shake her awake, "Hey, get up..." but despite everything nothing works, barely able to roll her onto her back to see her face. her eyes are wide open, a look of shock frozen on her face that haunts you, it's enough to make you hesitate, like a harsh slap across the face. "Wake up!" you say again, the desperation building. you know she's not asleep but it doesn't even matter anymore, beginning to feel more and more like a child pounding their fist on the floor throwing a tantrum the less and less put together you become. "WAKE UP DAMNIT! Nobody said you could die like this!"

"Captain, stop!" without warning, you're grabbed from behind and yanked away, sending a throbbing pain shooting through you as their grip is rough on your shoulder "Calm down and look at her. She's gone." they say.

in the blink of an eye it all rushes back to the view of a bath tainted by that same blood, long black hairs tickle your neck as you are held tightly once again. it grounds you just enough to remember that you're safe in a bath, cared for by the man you love.

"I'm such a failure." you choke out those words through your sobs, echoing off the bathroom walls, "They needed me to lead them and I just got them killed. I couldn't even keep my composure when they needed me to pull them together..."

you curl into yourself, squeezing his arm in your hand, "You're not a failure, darling, but you're not used to losing people." his assurance helps, if only slightly, but something about feeling like even someone who seems to care for none understanding your reaction eases your heart a bit. it doesn't do anything to help the dying part, but he's never been good with sincere reassuring words, and he chokes thinking of what to say to you.

all Pantalone can do is hold you and rub your back to let you cry, finishing up quickly to get you out of there and back into his arms bundled up in a towel. just as you feel hopeless for being unable to live up to whatever outlandish expectations you had of yourself, Pantalone feels as if his comfort falls short as he can't stop your crying, though he shushes and assures you it doesn't seem to make it better.

when you reject his offer to go to see a doctor, saying you just want to sleep. he doesn't want to push too much, only asking that you agree to let him disinfect your hand, otherwise letting you dress yourself in fresh clothes he set out for you while he goes to tend to other things momentarily. at the very least, your tears stopped, for now you seem calm again.

he returns to find you've already tucked yourself away bundled up in the covers, brushing your bangs from your faces and leaning down to kiss your temple. "I'll be with you in just a moment, darling." he whispers to you, earning a noise of acknowledgement.

stepping away only to change his clothes and let his hair down, he sits back on the edge of the bed, though on his side. he removes his glasses, folding them and setting them down on the nightstand. it's an unusual silence knowing you're lying right there behind him. he's so used to you talking to him right up until he tells you to go to sleep, and yet you seem so exhausted and drained. you're not used to losing people. he has to remember that you're more emotional than he is, but he doesn't mind--likes it in fact--as it's usually a good thing. just...not now.

he sighs to himself, unable to help it. he hates this, seeing you so upset, so unlike yourself. he hates feeling so powerless watching you punish yourself for something you couldn't have changed, like some passive observer in your life. his words don't help, and there's little he can do to take away those memories or even fix your body.

there is one thing Pantalone can do, the thought of resigning himself to simply being a source of comfort, someone to support you so you can cry as much as you want. it's better to cry in somebody's arms, isn't it? he turns on his side to face you, who faces away from him. he's not sure why, you just happened to be comfortable there. feeling his hand against your side, you shuffle closer and allow him to wrap his arms around you, burying his face in the crook of your neck.

you let out another shaky breath, closing your eyes again. above all else you feel safe. given everything he's done for you, you can't ask for more, though even just being by his side is enough to put your anxiety to rest. still, it hurts. not even physically, but your heart won't stop aching, and unable to distract yourself you replay the sequence of events in your mind once more.

an ambush, the ensuing fight, a firm whack to the head which you still haven't discerned the source of, boots running and kicking up snow all around you as you watch through blurred vision, you manage to block a sword that swings down at you though in the stupidest way possible, you finally get your head straight and get up and fight more.

where did she die? more importantly when did she die? if you can just remember that maybe you would know what you did wrong, what to fix.

you become distracted again, knowing you're shaking and back to holding back your tears. what pulls you away most of all is Pantalone's voice, "Don't cry, darling, it's over now. You're home."

you grip his hand tightly, fingers intertwining with his. "Is it...is it ok if you talk to me more?" you ask quietly, "I think..."

"That's hardly a difficult request." he says, squeezing your hand in reassurance, "If it would help you fall asleep."

#♡ — ruu.#✎ — good old-fashioned lover boy.#✦ — scenarios.#✦ — angst.#pantalone #pantalone x reader #pantalone x male reader #genshin impact #genshin #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin x male reader

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integra1127grimmreaper · 3 years ago

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The Replacement - Part eleven

Negan Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Part 10

Warning: swearing and mention of death

Winter had come and gone and with it came the fear of the Whisperers possible return. Everyone was even more on guard at this time, training had become high priority and even more so was keeping to the rule of steering clear of Whisperer territory.

After having saved Judith during the snow storm, Negan had earned Michonne’s trust a bit, resulting in him being let out of his cell more while doing odd jobs around the community and eventfully he was allowed to move into the house with you.

“Good morning Beautiful-” Negan wraps his arms around you from behind while you were busy at the stove cooking breakfast.

“Morning” you flash him a faint smile as you continue on cooking.

“Hey, you ok?” Negan stares at you concerningly from across the breakfast table as you were eating.

“Yeah” you nod in responses. “Actually… No, I’m not.”

“So, what’s bothering you?” Negan directs all his concentration onto you.

“They’re doing field training today at Oceanside” you mumble out in answer.

“Good. At least they ain’t sitting on their asses where those Skin Freaks are concerned” Negan remarks in response.

“Yeah…” you sigh out heavily, eyes concentrated on the plate in front of you, “it’s just… I’m a little bummed that I couldn’t be there.”

“I know that it’s eating ya up that you can’t do what you had been hotwired to do for most of your life. But you have to also remember the risks now in attempting to do it.” Negan tries to reason with you.

Letting out a breath of defeat, you look up at him. “You’re right. Still doesn’t change how I feel though… but you’re right.”

It was late in the afternoon, you were busy upstairs doing some sewing when the sound of the front door opening and closing was heard.

“Hey. You’re home early…” you remark upon finding Negan exchanging his boots for a pair of comfortable slippers.

“I knocked off early… shits about to start kicking up in here soon and I got a feeling I need to lay low for a bit” Negan responds.

You stare at Negan in confusion, “what do you mean shits about to start?”

Negan heads for the kitchen to get himself a drink and starts rambling off.

“You know that Lydia kid, Alpha’s daughter. We were chatting for a bit and I noticed Gabriel and the rest of the Council going to the church for what looked like a meeting. Well the kid then informed me that they found a Whisperers mask washed up on the beach at Oceanside. Not long after that the Council exited the church looking like someone took a shit in their morning bowl of Choco pops. To top that off… Alexandria is now on ALERT, but no one is supposed to know.”

The colour drained from your face then after hearing Negan’s words. “They’re back?”

“Looks like it.” Negan sighs heavily in response, “that’s why I let Gabe know I plan on laying even lower than usual because you and I both know these people will unleash their fears and frustrations out on the ones that don’t truly belong here… and that would be the kid and me. Told her to watch her back too.”

You nod your head in agreement. “Good idea. I’ll see if I can’t talk Gabe into changing your duties for the time being, have you working with me indoors a bit instead.”

“Nah. No need to. I’ll just keep the old chatter box shut and my head down extra low” Negan reassures you.

Just when Negan and you thought things couldn’t get any worst… all hell broke out when a space satellite came crashing down and landed in the forest, causing a massive spread of fire.

Everyone came together and headed out to battle the forest fire, everyone except you of course. They worked hard until the next day and eventually the hard work paid off when they managed to finally extinguish the fire.

Everyone was relieved then and proud that they managed to beat the fire, but they had to do so at a huge risk. They had crossed over onto Whisperers territory to do it, the risk of having the Whisperers finding out weighing over their heads.

Not long after the fire had happened things started getting really heavy. Soon a huge swarm of Walkers were descending upon Alexandria from all directions, wave after multiple wave.

Everyone was working hard around the clock to ensure that they wouldn’t make it pass the gates and luckily for you it meant you were able to lend a hand too.

You weren’t able to really go out and fight with the others but you did lookout duty and if there were those that made it to the barriers, you were allowed to jump in and help clear them.

You couldn’t have been more ecstatic that you finally got to be of use again, Negan however was not so much. His fear of you getting overwhelmed by it all and ending up getting hurt, sick or bitten nagging him to no end.

The more Walkers that were being cleared, even more would soon be on the way with a next wave. It was day three of the Walker swarm and everyone was exhausted due to lack of sleep and having to battle Walkers one after the other.

You were up on the lookout post when you overheard Gabriel and Aaron arguing, you were about to brush it off when suddenly you hear Negan’s name being mentioned.

Wanting to know what it was about especially once you saw Negan walking up to them, you climb down and walk towards them to find out.

“You can fight” Gabriel point at Negan. “You are low on fighters” he points to Aaron then.

“Peanut Butter meet Jelly!” Gabriel points at the both of then and then finally ends at Aaron, “You’re taking him. End of discussion!”

Once Gabriel had left, Negan turns to Aaron and points towards his arm that had the mace attached to it. “So… that’s awesome. Looks good on ya… putting the old stump to use…”

“Negan!” you yell at him in reprimand as Aaron glared at him.

“Oh, shit. Sorry about that. Bad Negan!” Negan scolds himself out as a way of apologizing.

You shake your head at him. “Maybe I should go with you guys-”

“NO!” both men yell out at the same time.

“And why the fuck not?” you place your hands on your hips and raise your brow at them.

“Because it’s not safe with your condition and you know that” Aaron states.

“Exactly!” Negan remarks in agreement.

“Fine. Just be safe you two” you grumble out in displeasure and leave to head back to your post.

As you watched the two of them leave, you couldn’t help but worry for Negan. You knew that Aaron was definitely not happy with having to work with Negan and you feared that he might do something to harm him even.

So, you decided to remain up on the tower until they returned.

It was late in the evening and there was yet no sign of Negan and Aaron returning, and as the evening turned to night, your fear for Negan grew more so.

The next morning you were still up on the tower, half asleep when you saw two figures off in the distance. Realizing it was Negan and Aaron, you rush down to meet them.

“Hey. You guys ok?” you ask concerningly once noticing that Negan was supporting Aaron as they walked.

“Yeah, just got in a bit of trouble with some Hogweed” Negan explains to you.

“You both should go to the infirmary to get checked out” you order them.

“Nah. I’m fine, just need a shower to wash the shit off and maybe some calamine lotion or something for the itch” Negan shrugs it off. “Stumpy over here got it in the eyes and was blind for a bit.”

You got someone to take Aaron to be checked out and Negan and you went home to clean up and get some rest.

“I was worried something had happened to you” you speak out while applying lotion to the rush on Negan’s body from the Hogweed after you guys had taken a shower.

“Well I’m still alive… as ya see…” Negan smiles at you and softly mumbles, “almost wasn’t for a bit though because of Stumpy.”

“What do mean?” you look at him in shock.

“Dipshit made me fight Walkers with a broomstick. A fucking broomstick… can ya believe it!” Negan tells you.

“What?!” you stare at him in further shock at what you just heard.

“Yeah. Luckily I found my new buddy over there” Negan points towards the crowbar propped up against the wall.

“I can’t believe Aaron would do such dick move” you hiss out in anger at what he did. “I knew I should have gone with.”

“Hey” Negan cups your face, making you look into his eyes. “I’m ok. Don’t stress about it.”

“Ok. I’m glad you came back safe” you return his stare.

“I’m ok baby. I’m here and I’m ok…” Negan reassures you, tipping down to place a kiss on your lips. “I ain’t going nowhere, I promise…”

There were a few days of what seemed like peace and quiet around Alexandria, everyone was going about the normal day. Yet little did you know that this night would flip your calm world onto it’s back.

Negan was working late this evening, so right after dinner when he left to continue, you had decided to head to bed early to catch up on some reading while you waited for him.

It was starting to get pretty dark and Negan hadn’t come home yet and you were starting to get worried about where he could be taking so long to get home, when suddenly you heard loud rapid knocks at the front door.

Rushing downstairs to find out what was going on, you're greeted by a breathless and anxious looking Brandon.

“Hey, Brandon. What’s wrong?” you stare at him concerningly.

“It-it’s Negan-” Brandon manages to blurt out through his heavy breathing.

“What about him?” you continue to stare at him. “Brandon, where is Negan? Why isn’t he with you?” you ask, trying to look behind him if you could see Negan.

“They’re saying Negan killed the female Highwaymen and now they want to execute him for it!” Brandon explains.

“What?!” you stare at him in shock. “Where is he now?!”

“They locked him back in the cell” Brandon answers.

Rushing into the Infirmary, you found Daryl standing beside Lydia. “Daryl, what hell is going on? I tried to see Negan and they wouldn’t let me!”

“Y/N, I’ll get to you in a minute” Daryl brushes you off and that’s when you notice the state that Lydia was in.

“Oh my God! Lydia, are you ok?” you step closer to her as you take in her beaten-up state. “What happened?”

“Negan save my life” she tearfully whispered out, staring at Daryl and you.

Taking a seat beside Lydia, you pull her body into the side of yours to comfort her, “I’m so sorry this happened Hun.”

Dante soon enters back into the Infirmary to check on her and that’s when you turn your attention onto Daryl.

You step up to him then, “Daryl, could you please tell what happened? Who did this to Lydia?”

“From what I take, Gage and the two Highwaymen jumped her, Negan got involved to help and then Margo ended up slamming her head into the nearby wall, killing her instantly” Daryl informs you.

“So why are they demanding Negan’s head on a platter if he saved Lydia, and it clearly sounds like Margo’s death was accidental?” you demand of him.

“It’s complicated. It’s Negan…so it’s complicated” Daryl answers you.

“I’m going to take Lydia with me home for the night and I want to see Negan” you inform Daryl.

Daryl shakes his head at you, “you take Lydia… but can’t let ya see Negan. At least not until I’ve spoken to him.”

You were silently sitting on the steps along with Carol when Daryl finally came out from the basement.

You hastily get up from your seat, “you done talking to him?”

“Yeah, he gave me his side of what happened” Daryl replies.

“Ok. Can I see him now?” you ask Daryl and he nods at you.

You took a few steps away but suddenly stop. “Daryl. Do you know what’s going to happen to him?”

“Not sure yet. The Council will get together to decide what’ll be done about Negan” Daryl informs you.

“I want to be there during the meeting” you demand of Daryl.

“Not sure if they’ll let ya, so I can’t promise much” Daryl responds.

“I’m responsible for him, so I’m sure damn going to be there!” you state causing Daryl to take step back.

Daryl narrows his eyes as he looks towards Carol and then back at you again. “Ya best go and see him” Daryl tilts his head towards the basement. “Might be the last you’ll have for a while.”

“What, you come back for seconds?” Negan calls out when hear the basement door open thinking Daryl had returned.

“Negan-” you softly speak out.

“Baby?” he suddenly jumps up from the bed when he realises it’s you. Negan rushes up to the cell bars then when you step closer up to it.

“Hey there Sweetheart. How you holding up?” he softly smiles cupping your face through the bars.

“I’m worried about you-” you tearfully stare into his eyes.

“I’ll be fine…don’t worry about me” Negan tries to reassure you, knowing that stressing too much wouldn’t be good with your health.

“They want you executed Negan! How can I not worry!” you cry out in despair.

“It’s ok Sweetheart… everything’ll work out in the end” Negan continues to try and playdown the situation.

“The Council is going to have a meeting to decide what’s going to happen to you” you inform him. “Lydia told Daryl what happened and I’m sure he believes her. I’m pretty sure Gabriel, Laura and Siddiq will make a just decision, it’s the others I’m worried about though. So, I’m going to much sure that I’m there to say my part and get you the hell out of here.”

“Sweetheart, I don’t want you getting in the middle of this mess” Negan shakes his head at you.

“Too late. I was in the middle of it the moment we first kissed” you remark in response with a smile.

Negan silently stares at you then, bringing your face closer against the bars as possible, he presses his forehead against yours. “I love you Y/N” he states, capturing your lips in a kiss.

You pull away from the kiss, staring at Negan for a few seconds, shocked at what he just said and with a tearful smile, you respond back to him. “I love you Negan” pressing your lips to his in another kiss.

Daryl and you walked into the Council meeting then while Aaron was in mid-sentence.

“I get why people might think that Negan’s been redeemed. I’ve… I’ve wanted it myself. Hell, he…maybe he has changed. But a man like that, who’s done the things he’s done, killed the people he’s killed. Something inside him is broken. We need to face that fact.”

You were about to step up to them and say something but Siddiq then speaks up. “But killing him now... over this, undermines the civilisation we’ve built.”

“What about the people that never got to witness that civilisation because of him” Aaron argues in responds.

“What the hell are evening talking about! The Whisperers are attacking us!” Siddiq snaps in response.

“Ok. Let’s-” Gabriel tries to intervene.

“No, let me finish!” Siddiq gets up from his chair. “Look at what’s going on at Hilltop. We’re taking our eyes off the ball.”

“The Council wasn’t made for this. Deciding on a man’s life in the dead of night because people are carrying pitchforks and torches” Gabriel then responds after that.

Daryl then steps up to them, “Alright, look. If you can’t make a decision, then those people out there are gonna make one for ya.” You silently cringe at his words as fear for Negan’s life takes over you.

Gabriel then looks at him, “What did Michonne say?”

“She wants me to be her vote” Daryl answers him causing your eyes to snap towards him as he continues on. “Lydia said Negan saved her. So, he saved her. I’m a NO.”

“So were tied…” Aaron breaths out in disappointment causing you to stare daggers at him. “Gabriel. What do you say?”

“That's it! I’ve had enough of listening to your self-righteous ass talking Aaron!” you snap at him.

“Excuse me?” Aaron raises a brow at you.

“You heard me” you arching your brow in response. “None of us in this room can say that we haven’t done fucked up things in the start of this apocalypse. You people attacked and killed an entire base of people while they were sleeping! If you ask me, that was a coward move on your parts.”

“We had no other choice! Negan and The Saviors had to be stopped!” Aaron tries to defend their behaviour.

“That may be the truth, but I still believe you shouldn’t have done so without finding out more details about what you were getting yourselves into that night” you state in response.

“We knew enough to know he needed to be stopped. We lost many people to his hand!” Aaron snaps at you.

“And who’s fault was that? It was your own faults, because you forced Negan’s hand in having to retaliate against you guys for killing his people” you point out the facts to him.

“You weren’t here! You don’t know what really happened!” Aaron angerly growls at you.

“I’ve heard enough about what happened and why it happened” you remark in response.

“Why are you suddenly defending Negan so passionately? You’re supposed to be his guard not his lawyer!” Aaron sneers at you.

“That’s enough people!” Gabriel raises his voice in order to break up the argument, he then takes a deep breath, “I’m gonna take the night to clear my head and consider my vote and I suggest you all do the same.”

You were sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in your hands, staring at nothing while thoughts of what the Council’s decision on Negan was running around wild in your mind.

Your were then suddenly snapped out of your dark thoughts when there was a loud banging on your front door.

“Where is he?!” Aaron barks out at you.

“Where’s who?” you look at him in confusion.

“Negan! Where’s Negan?!” he comes up closer to you as if he wants to attack.

You take a step back, “you better back off or I’m going to take that iron hand of yours and shove it up your ass after beating you stupid with it” you warn him.

“Whoa! Relax you two” Gabriel places himself between the two of you then.

“Gabriel. What the hell is going on?” you ask him then.

“I went to speak to Negan and he’s not in his cell” Gabriel answers you. “Do you know where he is? Did you let him out?”

“What?!” you stare at him in shock. “Of course not! I didn’t let him out nor do I know where he went.”

“Aw! Come on!” Aaron snaps at your response. “It’s obvious she’s lying! Last night she was defending him to the death and now he’s escaped. She’s the one that let him out!”

“No, I didn’t! I told you, I don’t the fuck know where he is!” you yell back at him.

Lydia then comes up from behind you, “I did it. I let Negan out.”

The three of you stare at Lydia in surprise then as she makes her way out the house at heads towards the basement.

Part 12

tag list: @rockey258 @ultrasweetnephilim @twd-fanfics @starry-night-20 @dellsdeath @vaaalexandra @thatgirljayy @aleemendoza2425-blog

#twd negan #twdfanfic #twdlovestory #negan x reader #negan x y/n #The Walking Dead #Jeffrey Dean Morgan #negan #JDM

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skymaiden32 · 2 years ago

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Support

Thundertober/Inktober 2022 Day 14: Friend

He would always be her friend, even in her worst moments.

Continuity: TOS

Tagging: @dragonoffantasyandreality @thundergeek59 @janetm74 @katblu42 @liseylou (Please ask if you would like to be alerted when I update or write new stories)

Prompt list

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Aloysius Parker considered himself to be a very lucky man. After everything he’d gone through in his childhood and early adulthood, after countless scams and time spent behind bars, he’d finally been shown a hint of compassion in the sea of negativity he’d once had to face. He could finally start over and make an honest living. He had friends and a family who loved him just the way he was. Finally, he was home…

And he had one Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward to thank for all of it. She had always been there for him since the day he joined her employ, and had supported him whenever he had needed it. She was a guiding life in his life, and one of the strongest people he knew, and he was loyal to her.

But even the strongest people got sick sometimes. Her Ladyship had been feeling under the weather lately, and had made a few crucial mistakes on missions that would surely have ended in both of their covers being blown if Penelope wasn’t so concerningly good at lying and coming up with things on the spot.

Judging by all the coughing and sneezing coming from her Ladyship’s room, it was all coming out now. He knew what he had to do…

Quietly, he made his way down to the kitchen to make some warm chicken soup. His mother didn’t have a lot when he was growing up, but her recipe for the food was easy to make, delicious, and could make even the most violent colds disappear almost instantly. Once that was all done, he also grabbed his employer some cold medicine and a glass of water to wash everything down.

Once he reached the door to her room, he knocked gently. “M’lady?” He asked, unsure if she even wanted help. “H’I’ve brought you some soup h’and some medicine, h’if you want h’it.”

A few moments of silence passed by before he got a reply. “Come in, Parker. I am feeling a bit hungry…” Parker frowned. You could tell she was sick just from her voice alone. He turned the handle and stepped into the room, carefully so as not to spill the soup. He handed it off to her Ladyship, and was halfway out of the room, when the same voice stopped him. “Parker?” He turned around, eyebrows raised. “Will you stay with me? I need a friend right now…”

“H’of course, m’lady…” Parker smiled softly, and pulled up a chair. “Anything for you…”

“For now, you can just call me Penny…”

Parker may have been her butler and chauffeur, but he was her friend first and foremost. Yes, he considered himself very lucky indeed…

#thunderbirds #thunderbirds 1965 #thunderbirds fanfiction #thunderfam #aloysius parker #lady penelope creighton ward #thundertober 2022

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emiewritesthings · 4 years ago

Text

the story of our life (2) - jay halstead

jay halstead x fem!reader

part one

masterlist

series summary: in which jay finds an old video camera and him and y/n decide to document their life as it progresses

a/n: this is about a year too late, but i finally got around to writing a part two to this, i was overwhelmed by the support last time. hope you enjoy :)

31st december 2013

if there was one thing that y/n hated, it was making small talk with a bunch of her neighbours. she knew how mean that sounded, but it was the truth. it was the way they worded their questions to serve both as jabs for informations with a hint of an insult, whilst covering it up with the largest fake smile that they could muster up. it was something mrs franklin, the 45 year old, mother of 4 had gotten well practised at, as y/n had the displeasure of finding out.

"so, how's the job hunt going? i know after you dropped out of university it must have been quite a struggle to keep afloat? isn't that why you are still living here with your mom?" she sneered, as she sipped innocently on the cheap bottle of wine y/n's mom had personally assigned just for her consumption. y/n had to restrain herself from slapping the glass clean out of her hand as she remembered what her mother had instilled in her for the last week in preparation for this exact moment.

"oops, i think i hear my mom calling. enjoy your night, yeah?" she stay posed, as she flashed one more faux smile before striding away from the living room and into the kitchen where she grabbed whatever was closest and downed it as quick as she could, frowning at the permanent numbness that hollowed out her entire body.

her head was ringing from the chatter that filled the house, and that would most likely continue until the new year had been welcomed in. the laughter and smiles that were being thrown around didn't sit right with y/n, for what was another year if it was just going to be like the last two. her life had imploded in her hands leaving nothing but a body behind that had no choice but to survive.

"y/n!" someone called out from the other room, however before they had a chance to find her, y/n grabbed two beers from the fridge and shimmied out the back door. the sudden fan of cold december air on her face made her entire chest burn, but y/n liked it, at least it broke the monotony. even if it was just for a couple minutes.

avoiding eye contacts with everyone she passed, y/n found herself rounding her own house until she was stood in the driveway of the neighbouring one. a small smile etching itself on her face as her eyes were met with the old, rotten porch swing that was missing the woman that would be doing her crossword or simply sipping on a cup of coffee no matter the hour. a shiver ran down the woman's back, realising there would not be another moment that she got to see that again.

the house had stayed the same even after all these years, the same paint was chipping away and the wood door was still damaged from where a football had hit it repeatedly during the early years of their sons' lives. however unlike the busy chaos that had once been habituated in the abode, no lights could be seen, no life. just a dull darkness that highlighted how the house she once had known, the family, couldn't be any more different.

pushing past the knot in her stomach, y/n approached the gate to the back garden that was slightly ajar. as she investigated further, a small smile etched itself upon her lips as she was met with two white plastic garden chairs, in one sat pat halstead, whilst the other remained empty.

"well, well, i thought your mother would have chained you to your seat to stop you from pulling a fast one." pat teased, as his eyes strayed away from the dark sky to inspect the woman. patting the seat besides him, the twenty something year old collapsed down into it, before handing one of the cans over to the man, receiving a whispered 'thank you'.

"she got distracted by the mini quiches like an hour ago and i haven't seen her since. couldn't stay there much longer, celia and claire were debating whose husband was the biggest deadbeat." she sighed, as the pair clinked their cans together before they took a longing sip of the liquid, and slipped further down the slightly cracked plastic. her eyes were drawn upwards into the pre-midnight bleakness. however where the winter clouds usually suffocated it, there was a small breaking where two stars shone proudly above them.

"beautiful aren't they?" pat pointed out, clearly confirming y/n's thoughts that the two stars had been the same thing that had caught his interest when she first arrived. running a hand over the wiry beard he had grown over the last two years, his eyes began to water. "uh, sometimes i like to think it's liz and your old man up there, sure she would be chatting his ear off about you and your brother. as well as watching over our jay wherever he may be."

y/n was taken off guard by the older man's comments, but she tried to contain it. in the years she had known pat halstead, it was extremely rare that he voiced his honest opinion about anything. or at least one that wasn't followed by a sarcastic grumble or insult. but to talk about his wife and his son, as well as his best friend, with such emotion brought tears to y/n's eyes.

"you haven't heard from him have you?" she asked in a whisper, not knowing if she truly wanted the answer. the last communication she had with the youngest halstead had been throughout the last period of his mother's life until a little after the funeral, however after not receiving a reply once again and her life on a down spiral she surrendered.

"no, no i haven't," however y/n couldn't help notice that something didn't seem right. maybe it was the way that he shuffled in his chair, refusing to pull his eyes away from the sky to meet her own sad ones. however before she got the chance to confront him, he brought himself to his feet. "wait one moment, i have something for you." watching as he disappeared back into the house, y/n tried to figure out what was going on with him? maybe he wasn't sleeping again? it had been the same for months after the funeral, but she thought he was healing just slightly. she really hoped he had been.

a couple moments later, pat reemerged this time the thing he held in his hands had stolen every inch of y/n's focus. the metal lump that held a thousand memories was being cradled, similar to the way she had been holding it when he had handed it to pat. the sound of his wife's voice in the last clip was something that pat had severed for the last year and a half. it was the thing he would fall asleep to and the thing he would play when he woke up. his liz was still alive in the camera, she was still his liz.

"i thought- i thought you-." y/n couldn't muster up a single thought to vocalise as she was passed the camera. her eyes ran over each dint, scratch, stain that had been acquired over the years. every memory she severed had the image of the red flashing light in it, and yet the person in those videos was someone she no longer recognised.

"this is your life, and i know it feels like it's over, but you have so much to live for and if these videos don't show you that then i don't know what else will." in a rush of uncontrollable emotion, pat wrapped his arms around the daughter he never had and held her as she let out a quiet sob, unsure how to feel.

returning to their seats, pat held y/n's hand as they sat for what felt like days watching the sky deepen. as pat seemed to pray to the heavens that his liz was alright, y/n let her mind run ablaze with unresolved thoughts and emotions as she watched video after video.

it was moments before 2014 came along when her phone let out a painful shrill in search of attention. letting out a small groan, she pulled it from her back pocket, pausing the prom video to answer.

"hello?" she answered.

"y/n where are you? come on, the countdowns about to begin!" her mother yelled clearly unable to hear herself. sighing, looking over to pat who seemed to be hiding something in his eyes, she agreed before hanging up the phone.

"it's not too late for you to come with me you know..." she fluttered her eyes in a humorous attempt at convincing him. the deep chuckle that arose from pat's chest spoke enough for her to work out what was coming next.

"as much as i would love to chit chat with celia and clare over a mini quiche, i'm gonna have to decline." pushing herself off the chair, she leaned over to kiss his cheek softly, pulling away to see the small smile.

"happy new year, pat."

"happy new year, y/n."

the moment she reappeared in her house, she was pretty much been jostled around. somehow the camera that she had walked in with had disappeared from her gasp, and she had made her way to her mother's sight closest to the tv as the countdown clock appeared on the screen. the way her mother smiled at her was slightly unnerving, she knew the woman better than anyone in this world, and just like pat, she was hiding something.

"ten!" they began to chant.

"nine!"

"eight!"

"seven!" a drink was pushed into her hands, which she concerningly took without hesitation. she wasn't even sure who gave it her, but a drink was exactly what she needed right now.

"six!"

"five!"

"four!"

"three!"

"two!"

"one!" suddenly the tv screen was a picturesque screen of fireworks exploding around the country before the whole room erupted in a cheer.

"happy new year!" suddenly everyone was locking lips with their loved ones, friends and whoever was closest to them. however y/n tried to step back, and disappear into the crowd offering a couple of smiles until suddenly she hit something, or someone.

"shit, i'm sorry." she immediately gasped as the drink she was holding splashed against the dress she was wearing, however when she turned to look at her victim her mouth dried out.

there, stood in her living room was jay halstead, in the same uniform that she had last seen him stood in on her doorstep the day he left. what felt like the whole world silencing was actually just everyone in the room turning to look at the pair of them, smiling as they watched the reunion of the couple that never was. however they neither jay or y/n could pull there eyes away from their counterpart.

for a moment they were 17 again, teenagers that didn't know a thing about the world whilst experiencing it together. but this was different, for they were older now. jay's face was more mature, with stumble around his jaw that made him look more in his twenties. y/n's hair was much longer and ever so slightly darker, but jay remembered how the winter did that to her.

"hi." jay smiled, reaching forward to move stands of her hair behind her ears to avoid it from covering up those eyes that were far more fragmented than they had been before. but then again y/n saw the exact same distortion in his own, like half a heart that was on the edge of collapsing.

but at the sound of his voice, y/n fell face first into reality. she remembered every unanswered letter, the loss of hope when she laid in bed completely alone wondering if he was even still alive. she recalled the nights she would sleep on the hospital chair besides his dying mother praying to every god out there that he would be brought back in time to to say goodbye. but it didn't happen, she was left in a void and she didn't know if she would ever be able to get out.

"i-i need to go." she suddenly mumbled, quickly brushing past the army ranger and through the crowd. the awkward, confrontational silence that remained in the room was already enough to tip her over the edge, which only worsened when she saw the red flashing light. stood on the stairs filming the whole debacle was her little brother, who wasn't so little anymore. noticing the shift in mood, he awkwardly lowered it and offered her a sad smile, before she escaped out the door.

what are you doing, she thought, you finally get him back and you are trying to create distance between you two? that was just one of the many nags that bounced off each memory relaying in her mind. so this was what was wrong with pat, he must of known. he knew what was planned, and he said nothing. y/n couldn't blame him, there was no one in this city that would have predicted that she would just walk out like that, well maybe one but he had only just rejoined her life so she couldn't be sure.

her feet lead her to where her heart wanted to be, she cursed herself out for being so stupid as to wear a dress and not grab a jacket during her whole walk out. but the bite of the wind wore off the more blocks that passed until she reached the old creaky gate.

pushing against the metal, even in the pitch black she knew her way. the amount of times she had ended up late at night in this very place gave her that advantage. as she approached the engraved slab that she had helped pat pay for, a sob raked through her body.

"god i wish you could be here right now," crouching down, she leaned forward to run her cold fingertips over the 'ELIZABETH HALSTEAD' scripture. mrs halstead always knew what to say, in any situation. jay and y/n used to blame it on the abundance of dr phil episodes she had watched over the years. yet there was a depth to her words that made your problem feel shared rather than suffocating. "although i'm sure you would be cursing me out right about now for being such an idiot." she thought out loud, remembering what the woman had said when she had told her about the kiss she had shared with the older's son.

she had joked about how it took long enough and what she was going to wear to their wedding, neither of them considering the possibility that she wouldn't get chance for her theory to prosper.

"if that's true, then she must despise me right now." the sudden introduction to the deep voice nearly produced a scream from the woman that turned to see jay staring longingly at the gravestone. just as he brought his eyes to her's, she quickly turned back around, running her hands over her face wondering if he would disappear and all of this would have just been a dream. only it wasn't it was something much more chaotic, filled with resentment, love and the unknown.

"your mom loved you and will more than anything, i don't think she could despise you if she tired," she hummed through a sigh, as jay took a seat besides her. similar to how she had, he leaned forward to run his fingertips over the softened stone, muttering something that he hoped only his mother would hear.

"i really fucked up, y/n/n," hearing the crack rip through his voice, had y/n's head snapping over to him as his shoulders shook slightly as he wrestled with his sadness. "i wasn't here when she needed me most, i wasn't here when you needed me most. she was dying and i wasn't even there to tell her i loved her, what kind of son am i?" the torment that was present in jay's eyes as he turned to look at the only woman that was on the earth to love him ate at y/n's soul, as she found herself wrapping her arms around him, comforting him like he did after the death of her father.

"you a son that made his mother unconditionally proud. she never stopped telling one everyone at hospital about her boys." swiping tears away from under his eyes, ignorant to her own that burnt a trail down her skin.

"i'm not the same guy that left 5 years ago, what i've seen, what i've done-," jay let out a deep breath trying not to fall into the a box of memories he wish he could set alight and never have to face ever again. thankfully the feeling of y/n's fingers tracing nothing in particular against his back grounded him, reminding him that he had been reunited with his home, with his family, with his first and only love. "i got out of there, but that doesn't mean that the war in my mind isn't still on going."

y/n wished she had the answer, a solution, something to help him but she just didn't know what to say. instead she pulled him in tighter, feeling every tip in the think material of the uniform. a uniform that wasn't the jay she knew, but the jay that the army had created, but she knew underneath the camo was still the boy that held her when she feared the lightening outside, or the teenager that broke bryson ellis' nose after he spread rumours about their brief romantic encounter. he was her saviour, he always had been.

"your letters, i did get them. got each one of them in my bag, used to read them before i went to bed. i tried writing back, but i couldn't think of anything to say. i couldn't make anything better and i didn't want you to worry, but i realise that i only made everything worse. i'm just so sorry." pulling away, now it was jay's turn to hold her. in fact he pulled her so close that she was practically in his lap, embracing his body heat with open arms.

"everything's changed, jay," she mumbled, her forehead resting on his chest as she spoke softly. "your mom's gone, your dad's lost, and- and then you and me. last time we saw each other we kissed, we kissed. i- just, i don't know what's happening but i can't stop it." for a moment they both sat there, taking in just how much had changed since they had last been y/n and jay not y/n and jay.

with much care, jay placed his hands around her jay prompting her to look at him. the intense look in his eyes didn't falter for a minute, as he admired the swirls of colour in her's.

"i have been in love with you my entire life, and that is one thing that will never change." declaring his love for y/n y/l/n had always been something jay fantasised about, even as he was stood in a war zone, however never had he imagined it would be in a grave yard nearly an hour into the new year as they fought against the frost. but then again, he didn't care where he was in the world as long as he was by the side of his girl, his love, his y/n.

in a rash moment of euphoria, y/n grabbed his face and pushed his lips against his as if making her own statement to the universe. every ounce of her own soul fuelled itself into something so powerful that was out of the pair's hands. as jay moved his lips against her own, the meaning burnt their insides until they had no choice but to pull away to catch their breath.

with their foreheads touching, for the first time in what felt like 5 years a genuine grin was mirrored on the pairs lips.

"i'm in love with you too." y/n breathed out ruggedly, clearly catching jay by suprised as his eyes widened before the smile on his face got wider.

"wait really?" those had been the words he had wished to hear for every birthday since he was 11, now hearing them made everything a little more brighter. his heart was bumping so quickly, y/n could feel it against her own, yet she said nothing, too caught up in the moment.

"i think it was ignorant of me to think i wasn't years ago. you are it for me, jay halstead." she smiled leaning forward to press another kiss on his lips, this time though it felt as though she was putting the final period on the end of a chapter that neither of them wanted to experience again. for this was a new beginning, the beginning of the story of their lives, together.

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jaembby · 4 years ago

Text

christmas kisses

pairing: johnny suh x gener neutral!reader (featuring NCT 127)

genre: fluff, christmas party!au, suggestive

word count: 2.2k

desc: merry christmas!! to my readers, I bring you the gift of a johnny suh x y/n fluff! hope you enjoy the story and have a great christmas!! love you all <3

-----

“But Hyuck, are you sure I’m allowed to come?? I mean, it’s your friend group’s Christmas party... I wouldn’t want to be a burden.”

“Oh shush, the boys love you and you hang with us enough that we basically consider you to be in our group anyways. Besides, there will be some of the guys’ other friends there so you won’t be the only one... and Johnny’s definitely going to be there. Who knows what’ll happen,” your best friend, Haechan, said with a wink and a (very suspicious) smirk. It’s times like these where you regret telling Haechan about your very big crush on the one and only Johnny J Suh, especially when he brings you along to outings like this and makes it a little too obvious that he’s trying to get the two of you together.

“Fine, I’ll go,”

“Go shower while I get your outfit ready, smelly,” Haechan says before shoving you into your bathroom and going towards your bedroom to pick out something for you to wear.

Once you were ready, Hyuck drove you back to his place so he could change.

“Hurry up! The party starts in like 20 minutes!” You shout at Haechan, noticing how little time you have to arrive at Yuta’s house which is where the party’s being held.

“Excited are we? Can’t wait to see a certain someone?” Hyuck laughs as he walks out of his room with and grabs his car keys.

“Hey! You forced me to come to this thing! It’s rude to be late... not that you’d know what manners are,” you manage to say before your best friend shoves you out of his apartment, quickly following behind.

“Yeah yeah whatever,” he says as he gets into the driver’s seat of his car and passes you the aux cord.

The drive to Yuta’s was a quick one and you somehow managed to get to his place 10 minutes early. As you entered the house, you were greeted with the smell of cookies... probably Taeyong’s doing.

You wandered further into the house and were greeted with Yuta, Jaehyun, Doyoung and Jungwoo setting up a beer pong table and other games while Taeil, Winwin and Johnny got a bunch of Christmas movies ready for whenever the group of you decided to watch them. You turned to ask Haechan what you should do to help set up, only to find him missing.

You looked over to your left, towards the kitchen and saw your best friend and Mark already having a drinking competition with a flour-covered Taeyong attempting (but failing) to stop the two boys.

“Y/n!” you turned around at the sudden call of your name, seeing Taeil, Johnny and Winwin waving you over.

You walked over to the trio and greeted them before helping them pick between the new animated version of The Grinch or the traditional one. Personally, you thought the animated version was better because it was funnier and had a pretty good soundtrack, so when the boys asked you to pick between the two (because they couldn’t make up their minds), that’s the one you chose.

“See! I told you the new one’s better!” Johnny all but shouted as Taeil rolled his eyes, attempting to hide a smile.

“Yeah, okay.” The older male said before crossing out the traditional Grinch from the list of movies.

“I mean, we could watch both,” Winwin said, not seeing why Johnny and Taeil were arguing over which one when there’s plenty of time to watch both movies.

“If we’re not all passed out and drunk by the end of this, then yeah maybe there would be time to watch both,” Johnny noted, amused at the thought of what would happen if the group watched The Grinch while drunk off their heads. You giggled at the idea, too.

“What are you laughing at, missy/mister?” Johnny asked as he nudged your arm lightly.

“Oh, nothing,” you replied, your cheeks heating up slightly at the nickname.

“Okay, whatever you say,” He said before grabbing your hand and leading you towards the kitchen where Haechan and Mark were making stupid bets with each other, already slightly tipsy.

“Johnny, y/n, let’s see who can down their shot the fastest!” Mark spoke, passing shot glasses for Taeyong to fill.

“I don’t know if that’s a great idea, the party only just started-”

“shh,” you were cut off by Johnny, “come on, it’s just one shot,” he said as he grabbed his glass from Taeyong (who had now decided to watch over Mark and Haechan’s games and be the “judge” to make sure nothing ended badly) and passed another glass to you.

“Okay, ready? 3, 2, 1, drink.” at this, the four of you downed your shots with Johnny coming in first place, Haechan coming second and you coming third. Mark was disqualified as the majority of his drink missed his mouth, leaving a mess over the already sticky kitchen.

“Let’s play again!” Haechan announced, upset with having come second to Johnny. The four of you continued another few rounds until you and Johnny were just a bit tipsy and Haechan and Mark were barely able to walk straight.

“That’s enough, guys. Time to find something else to do,” Taeyong said, not wanting to clean more messes right at this moment.

“You five! Come play games with us!” a tipsy Jaehyun shouted as he stumbled into the kitchen before leading you all to where he and the others had set up games.

Jaeyhun had roped you into playing beer pong (you sat out and watched because you didn’t want to embarrass yourself) followed by a few games of truth or dare.

“y/n, truth or dare?” a pretty drunk Jungwoo had asked.

“truth,” you replied, knowing Jungwoo’s truths were usually not as bad as his dares... usually.

“Who out of this group would you let give you a hickey?” Shit. Everyone (who was still conscious) snapped their heads towards you as Jungwoo asked this, anticipating your answer. There’s only one person you’d let give you hickeys but if you say his name, the others will know. He probably doesn’t even like you back! It could ruin your whole friendship.

Then again, maybe you’re overthinking it. You only live once, so why not take a risk? The other boys are drunk as shit from all of the previous games anyway so they wouldn’t remember this in the morning. So, with the liquid courage in your system, you answered.

“Johnny,” You breathed, barely loud enough for the others to hear. A silence hung in the air for a few moments before Haechan decided it was time for him to pass out, falling dramatically in the process. By now, the guests had headed home which left only Haechan’s (which is now also yours) friend group and you, half of whom were unconscious, sprawled out across couches and the floor in the living room of Yuta’s house.

“I think we should clean up,” Taeyong said, noticing the rest of the boys dropping like flies and the mess that everyone had left around the house. Even when drunk (although not as wasted as others), Taeyong was sensible. Taeyong got up, followed by Doyoung, and headed to the kitchen to start cleaning the sticky mess of different alcoholic drinks spilled across counters, leaving you with a sleeping Haechan, Mark, Winwin, Yuta and Jungwoo, a concerningly drunk Jaehyun and Taeil and a surprisingly not too drunk Johnny, who was staring at you from your confession moments prior.

You decided that the awkward silence was too much for your tipsy brain (and so were Johnny’s stares) so you made up your mind to put on a movie for the drunk Jaehyun and Taeil, then sat them on the couch so that they can’t do anything stupid.

“Jaehyun, Taeil, let’s go watch a movie,” you said, grabbing both boys by the arm and pulling them up. You took them over to the couches that weren’t occupied and sat them down, taking a seat beside Taeil and playing whatever movie came on first.

You stayed like that with the two boys for about 10 minutes before Johnny decided to come in, too.

“Why wasn’t I invited, y/n?” He asked with a pout.

“I’m stopping these two from doing anything stupid,” you replied, scared that if you take your eyes off the screen to look at Johnny, you won't be able to look away from the handsome man.

He hummed at your answer and took a seat beside you, the four of you now quite squashed together on the couch.

“What do you say I take you up on your offer?” Johnny asks out of nowhere, leaving you confused.

“What offer?”

“This one,” Johnny turns towards you and places a gentle kiss to your neck before lightly sucking on the spot. If you were thinking clearly, you would’ve tensed up and become a shy mess, but you weren’t. You turned slightly to face the tall man beside you and craned your neck to give him more access when he started sucking harder, gently biting the skin before placing a soft wet kiss on the mark he’d just created.

When Johnny found your sweet spot, you couldn’t help but let a small whimper of pleasure escape your lips. Your eyes darted to the two drunk men on the other side of you, thankful that they had passed out, before focusing back on johnny and the love bites that he was leaving all over you.

“Please, Johnny,” you didn’t even know what you were begging for at this point. The only thing you knew was that you didn’t want Johnny to stop.

“You look so pretty, prince/ss. My marks all over your soft skin,” He hummed back before going to suck harshly on your sweet spot again.

“C’mere,” Johnny mumbled and grabbed your legs, pulling you into his lap.

Out of nowhere, Johnny stopped his attack on your neck and moved to attack your lips instead, cupping your face with one hand and your back with the other.

He let his tongue glide across your bottom lip, asking gently for permission. You obliged and let him in to explore your mouth while your tongues clashed and needily fought for dominance.

“Yo dude!” A voice came from behind the two of you. Mark, you realized, had just gained consciousness (although he looked like he was about to drop again any minute) and had witnessed you and Johnny’s little make-out session just now.

“Fuck this, I’m going to bed before you two start fucking.” The drunk boy said, jogging to a guest room in Yuta’s house.

“Maybe we should stop,” you suggested, worried about the others getting up and finding you two making out and worried about things going too far.

“We should probably clean up a bit, seeing as everyone else’s out cold and no one’s going to want to clean with a hangover tomorrow,” You suggested.

“Yeah, we probably should. Good thinking, doll,” Johnny said before pecking your lips as you moved to get up.

The two of you cleaned the mess of Yuta’s house and soon enough, apart from the drunk bodies of your friends, the house was (almost) back to the way it was before you arrived.

“A job well done I’d say, prince/ss,” Johnny announced proudly as he walked up behind you and placed a gentle kiss on your cheek (which made you blush but we won’t talk about that).

You hummed in agreement before letting out a yawn, feeling tired after a night of partying.

“Let’s get you to bed, baby,” Johnny said as he grabbed your hand, leading you towards a spare room in the house.

You would just stay in the room that Haechan usually stays in and Johnny would stay in the one next to it.

“Thanks for tonight,” you said quietly to Johnny.

“Pleasure’s all mine, baby,” he replied, admiring your flustered face.

The two of you stayed that way for a few moments, not daring to separate your gazes, hands held comfortably.

“One last kiss for tonight?” Johnny asked, noticing the mistletoe above your heads.

You hummed before leaning up towards the pretty boy’s face, your hands moving to the back of his neck while his moved to hold you close, one hand on your waist and one on the small of your back.

The kiss wasn’t as needy as the one you had previously shared. This one was gentle, loving, full of care. It was your lips meeting his soft ones in a way where nothing needed to be said, all of your feelings being displayed with each movement.

Even after pulling away, Johnny held you close and kept your gaze as you moved one hand to rest on his chest and the other resting on his upper arm.

“By the way, Haechan had already told me,” He said, snapping you out of your trance.

“About what?” you questioned.

“Your little crush,” He replied with a smirk, making you blush and look away.

“Don’t be embarrassed, it’s cute. I like you too, y/n. I thought I’d been making it too obvious,” Johnny laughed.

“Really?” you had no idea that he felt the same.

“Really,” he confirmed.

“Merry Christmas, y/n,”

“Merry Christmas, Johnny,”

“Goodnight, prince/ss,” Johnny pulled you closer to him and placed a lingering soft kiss to your forehead before returning to his own room as you went into yours, unable to stop the butterflies from flying around in your stomach and warmth spreading throughout your chest.

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alyasgf · 4 years ago

Text

Adrien’s Admirer- Adrinette April Day 6 -Anime!

Summary- Adrien Agreste has a secret admirer and its none other than Marinette Dupain Cheng.

Word Count

1650

Excerpt

Realizing how insane it’d look to carry all of these presents to Adrien at once and that all of them being from her might be weird, an idea struck.

“What if I hid them around for him to find from a secret admirer!” Marinette proposed excitedly. “It’d be perfect! I’d be able to see his adorable reactions without feeling embarrassed!”

AO3

The pedestal Marinette had put Adrien on in her younger years had been far too high. It seemed the more time she spent with him the dorkier and more human he became. First it had been the puns, then his concerningly large ladybug merchandise collection that he was extremely fond of, and now he’s a huge anime fan.

Marinette hadn’t meant to find his anime dvd collection. He had asked her to choose a movie while he grabbed snacks since they finished studying early enough that Nathalie had yet to come to kick her out. She had already gone through a few shelves when she found one that seemed to be hidden in a corner. As she looked closer she noticed the entire shelf was filled with volumes of anime, and the shelf beside it manga.

She couldn’t imagine why it was hidden. Was he ashamed? Adrien had been sheltered most his life and the way he acted, well Marinette was surprised she hadn’t realized sooner. Half his lines felt as though they were picked straight from an anime.

As she heard him approach the door she chose a random horror movie and went to sit down. This gave her a perfect idea.

As Adrien went to a closet collected blankets to sit on, Marinette began brainstorming for the perfect birthday present to incorporate her latest discovery.

————————————————————

By the time September 3 rolled around Marinette was slightly worried she’d gone too far this time. At first, she decided to just design a sweater with a few of the animes she remembered seeing in his collection. But she saw the cutest My Hero Academia beanie while at the shops and just had to remake it. Then came socks, pjs, and a ladybug mug she she happened to pass by.

But any friend would go out of their way to cater to a friends interests right?

“Absolutely not, Marinette.”

“Well thanks Alya.” Marinette huffed while packaging all of the gifts in her room the night before.

“Girl, I think its about time you told him! Its been years and not just anyone spends upwards of 40 hours working on gifts for a ‘friends’ niche interest.” Alya cooed at her from atop of her bed.

“Are you crazy? I just gained enough confidence to be his friend, confessing my love to him is a whole other level I can’t even begin to be ready for!” Realizing how insane it’d look to carry all of these presents to Adrien at once and that all of them being from her might be weird, an idea struck.

“What if I hid them around for him to find from a secret admirer!” Marinette proposed excitedly. “It’d be perfect! I’d be able to see his adorable reactions without feeling embarrassed!”

Alya sighed. “I guess it’s better than you panicking and never giving them to him.” She replied dejectedly.

“Thats the spirit.” Marinette said, taping the last perfectly wrapped gift and joining her friend on the bed. “Now since you’re here you’re obligated to help me plan this.”

“I’m not the one with his schedule memorized.” Alya complained, groaning. “What help am I?”

“Moral support!”

———————————————————

Adrien woke up the next morning to his usual. A lonely breakfast and a report of his schedule from Nathalie. He almost could have been fooled into thinking it was any other day.

“Your father sends his wishes Adrien.” Nathalie said as she walked out of the room.

One thing he could be excited by was school. There there’d hugs and birthday wishes and maybe even a sweet snack from a certain blue eyed girl.

————————

As expected, as he steeped out of the sleek black car (after receiving a small Ladybug action figure from the gorilla) he was practically toppled by Nino.

“Happy birthday bro!” He exclaimed, hugging him tightly.

Adrien smiled fondly at the boy. “Thanks Nino.” He said with a chuckle.

“Hopefully your old man will let me come over after school and I can give you your present then?.” Nino questioned hopeful.

“Sorry, I have fencing after school.” Adrien sighed.

“Can’t you just skip? It is your birthday after all.” Nino whined.

“You know how he is. The world could be ending but as long as I’m on time for my appointments he won’t care.” Adrien replied, walking along with Nino towards the front of the school.

As he approached he saw Alya and Marinette camping out by the entrance.

Once they were in hearing distance Adrien said, “Good news is he allowed me to spend lunch outside the house! I figured we could all spend it at the park.”

Marinette squealed excitedly as she ran to hug him, nearly squishing the pastry box she held in the process.

“What she means by that is happy birthday.” Alya laughed while she waited her turn to hug him.

“Happy birthday Adrien!” Marinette said with a slight blush as she handed him the box.

Inside was what looked to be 5 handmade passion fruit macarons, same as she had given him for the last 2 years. It still managed to warm his heart.

“Thanks guys.” He said hugging Alya and mouthing a thank you to Marinette. “If you have anything for me wait until lunch so it can almost be a real party?”

Everyone nodded in response. “Just us?” Nino asked.

“Preferably.” Adrien said sheepishly.

They all walked together to the lockers, chatting comfortably. Marinette seems a little anxious, for what reason Adrien couldn’t say.

He opened his locker and a small black box tumbled out. He caught it and looked at Nino questioningly.

“Wasn’t me.” He said shrugging. “Looks like a note fell out though.” He picked it up from the floor and handed it to Adrien.

“Happy birthday! Thank you for being a ray of sunshine for everyone.” Adrien read aloud smiling fondly. “It’s not signed?”

“Someone as a secret admirer.” Nino teased. “Now hurry up and open it I’m intrigued!”

“Okay okay.” Adrien said, his smile growing as he saw the contents. Inside was a sweater decorated with a Parasyte theme.

“I didn’t know you liked anime.” Nino said curiously.

“Eh never came up.” Adrien replied. He pulled the jacket over his head and looked down at it. Looking at it now he made a discovery. The jacket looked custom, and he only knew one person capable of such a feat.

“Nino I think Marinette made this!” Adrien exclaimed in a hushed tone. “Why wouldn’t she sign?”

“Maybe she wanted it to be anonymous?” Nino closed his locker and started heading to class.

“Should I tell her I know?” Adrien asked, following close behind.

“Nah she clearly wanted it to be secret, just keep it that way.”

—————-

Marinette was still giddy from that morning. The way Adriens eyes lit up when she handed him the pastry box was only matched by the smile that spread across his face when he pulled the present from his locker.

She decided to give the ladybug mug to him in person, figuring giving him an anime present may give away the identity of his secret admirer.

As she sat behind him in class she couldn’t help but sigh at how nicely the sweater fit him. She could definitely get used to seeing him in her designs.

Suddenly she felt a strong elbow in her side.

“Marinette!” Alya whispered aggressively. “Mademoiselle Bustier has called your name twice already!”

“Here!” Marinette blurted out immediately.

“Yes I’m aware you’re here Marinette. I asked if you could read the next section.”

She heard a small chuckle from Adrien and sheepishly decided to focus on how the jacket fit him another time.

—————————

Marinette had ran into a slight problem after lunch. She had already given Adrien his mug (he squealed in delight when he received it), left the beanie in his locker after lunch (he immediately shoved it on and hadn’t taken it off yet) and planned to hide the socks in his fencing bag after school, but she still had yet to give him the phs.

She ran over his schedule about a thousand times throughout the day and could think of no other opportunity that wouldn’t give away her identity as his secret admirer.

“Isn’t there any way you could leave it at his house?” Alya suggested.

“No his dad’s assistant might say something. I just don’t wanna risk it!” Marinette whined.

Then an idea struck.

“Actually Alya I just remembered something in his schedule that leaves a perfect time.” She fibbed.

——————

Adrien was on cloud nine. All of Marinette’s gifts were perfect. You could tell she put thought into them. She even left little notes with each one.

The beanie came with a note that said ‘Thank you for being the such an amazing friend’ and the socks he received during fencing came with a note that read ‘your smile brightens up my world.’ What a nice thing to say to a friend.

As he went up to his room after an extremely exciting day he opened his door to see a flash of red leave through his open window. He could recognize the sound of that string anywhere.

Ladybug had just been in his room!

He looked around to see if anything was different. On his bed he saw a perfectly wrapped gift. It was wrapped in lavender paper with a pink ribbon.

On top was a note. ‘My heart is forever yours’

Adrien’s heart stopped.

That’s Marinette’s handwriting. Marinette’s decorative paper. Marinette’s methodically wrapped gift.

Still in shock he opened it and it confirmed his suspicions. Inside were Death Note pjs.

Marinette had been anonymously giving him anime gifts all day.

Marinette was Ladybug. Ladybug was his secret admirer.

————————————

As they were leaping across building that evening Chat could tell Ladybug was in a good mood.

“Thanks for the gifts today, Marinette.” The blonde hero mentioned casually.

Ladybug effectively face planted into the ground.

Notes

A little late to the party but here nonetheless.

Also I didnt reread this before posting so if you see any mistakes,,, no you didnt :)

@adrinetteapril

#adrinette april #adrien x marinette fanfic #adrinette fanfic #adrien agreste #ml marinette #mlb marinette #adrien and marinette #marinette cheng #miraculous fic #miraculous fanfic #miraculous adrien #miraculous ladybug #miraculous lb #miraculous fanworks #ao3 fic #love square #love square fic

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olliepig · 4 years ago

Text

Centre Stage, ch 10

It’s taken a while thanks to real life thoroughly kicking my ass, but the next chapter is finally here! Massive thanks to my amazing beta and cheerleader @willow-salix, who, along with @misssquidtracy, @sugar-fiend, @inertplanetary and @chenria have all variously listened to me moaning and picked me up over the last few months.

As always, the whole thing is also on AO3 here.

**************

Tucking his phone into his pocket, Scott pushed himself away from the wall he’d been leaning against, letting his long legs quickly take him around the groups of tourists as he made his way back towards the entrance to the gardens of the Peterhof. The unplanned alone time while Cat was stuck in an overrunning rehearsal had been a rare treat that he’d made the most of, exploring almost every inch of the palace and its extensive grounds as he enjoyed the peace of solitude that was hard to find on the busy island.

Now, alerted to her imminent arrival, he glanced at his watch impatiently, calculating that, despite her lateness, they would still have a gloriously uninterrupted twenty hours together before she was due back at the theatre the following evening.

Her debut with the Mariinsky Ballet in St Petersburg was a big deal, and he’d lost count of the number of times she had told him about the history of the company and the honour of being asked to dance with them. Her excitement had been infectious and, despite it causing a raised eyebrow from his dad when he had asked for the time off rota to attend, he wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

He was ashamed to admit that he hadn’t officially told his father about her, despite them having been dating for close to eight months. He knew Jeff wasn’t stupid and was completely aware that he had a girlfriend, but something had always held him back from sitting down with him and bringing it up. The obvious time for that would have been right after his return from the Oort Cloud, but it had been such early days in their relationship that he hadn’t wanted to do anything that might put more pressure on it. As the weeks went on and they grew closer, it never seemed to be the right time and, with every passing week, it became harder and harder to admit that it had been going on the whole time.

Turning his collar up against the bitterly cold wind coming off the Baltic Sea, Scott made it to the entrance just in time to see a sleek black car pull in. A smile crept onto his lips as he caught sight of Cat peering out at the golden domes of the palace behind him, reminding him of her first arrival onto the island where he was completely ignored in favour of Two behind him. This time, however, he didn’t have to fight for her attention when she got out. She flew into his arms, catching his lips with hers in a fierce kiss before disentangling herself.

“Well, hello there,” Scott smiled as she grabbed her bag from the back of the car, slamming the door with a force that made him wince. “It’s nice of you to finally join me.”

“Oh shut it,” Cat grinned in response, taking the opportunity to snuggle back into him again. “It couldn’t be helped today and well you know it. Anyway, you know I’m worth the wait.”

“You sure are,” he agreed, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead as he tightened his arms around her, taking comfort from her presence. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” she murmured as she pulled back, taking him in properly for the first time, his pale skin and the dark circles under his eyes making her eyes widen in surprise. “Are you OK?” she asked, concern firing through her, “You look tired.” “I always look tired,” Scott countered, meeting her gaze briefly before quickly looking away, finding a passing bird very interesting as he saw the worry written on her face.

“OK then, smartarse,” Cat pressed, his lack of eye contact making her even more suspicious that something was amiss. “You look more tired than usual.”

“I’m OK, honestly,” Scott reassured her, finally looking at her properly, his eyes a studied calm that Cat didn’t fully trust. “It’s just been a busy week that’s all. You don’t need to worry.”

Cat nodded slightly, accepting his answer without further comment but making a mental note to keep an eye on him over their time together. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she knew him well enough to know when something wasn’t quite right and all her instincts were screaming at her, telling her that this was one of those times.

“Shall we?” Scott asked, effectively changing the subject as he gestured to the entrance before them.

“Lead on,” she declared as they set off. They navigated their way through the imposing gates and past the grand palace, following the path that Scott had discovered on his previous exploration that would take them into the lower gardens with their spectacular fountains.

Despite the significant difference in their height, they fell into a comfortable stride with each other, Cat matching Scott’s pace with ease as they made their way around the beautiful grounds. Her hand fitted perfectly in his and he found himself absentmindedly tracing circles on her soft skin with his thumb as they walked together, not feeling the need to talk as they simply enjoyed being in each other's company for the first time in several weeks.

Cat lost track of time as they wandered, marvelling at the multitude of little fountains and walkways that littered the Lower Gardens. Scott confidently led the way down paths covered by archways of carefully trained trees, their fresh Spring leaves rustling as they provided merciful shelter from the contrasting warmth of the sun and the coldness of the breeze.

Finally coming out into the open, they came to a halt underneath the rear aspect of the palace, taking in the full vista. The late afternoon sun made the golden statues in the fountains sparkle as the water droplets created rainbows in the breeze.

“It’s so beautiful,” Cat sighed wistfully. “It reminds me a lot of Versailles.”

“Funny you should say that,” Scott smiled. “Apparently, Peter the Great extended the original plans after he visited Versailles, so I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it looks so similar.”

“How on earth do you know that?” Cat asked, trying but failing to keep the incredulity out of her voice.

“Because I’m amazing?” Scott tried, batting his eyelashes at her and making her giggle.

“Well yeah, we know you are, but generally, even amazing people need to find stuff out for themselves somehow,” she pointed out, raising an eyebrow as she spoke.

“Aah, but I’m not just any person,” he reminded her.

“Also true, but you’re not known for your interest in Imperial Russian history either, so spill it,” Cat pressed playfully, giving him a nudge and fixing him with her best pleading stare.

“Not fair,” he complained, the effect ruined slightly by the smile playing on the corners of his lips. “You know I can’t resist when you look at me like that.”

“Who said anything about fair,” she laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck, batting her own eyelashes a few times for good measure.

“Fine,” he groaned, conceding defeat and wriggling out of her grasp to pull a guidebook out of his pocket. “I had to pass the time somehow when I was waiting for you, so I thought I’d try to learn a few things to impress you when you got here.”

“OK, that might be the cutest thing I’ve ever heard,” Cat murmured as she wrapped her arms around him again and buried her face in his shoulder, unsure what she’d done to be so lucky as to have someone as wonderful as him in her life.

Scott didn’t hesitate. Sliding a hand into her hair, he pulled her head back, meeting her lips with his own in a bruising kiss, the intensity of which took both of them by surprise. Pulling back, their eyes met briefly before Cat tightened her grip, burying her face in his shoulder once more as he cradled her head in his hand, holding her close against him, the outside world ceasing to exist.

For a long moment they remained there, cocooned in their own little world, until a sudden flash caught Scott’s eye, jolting him out of his reverie, his whole body stiffening at the first sign of a threat. Looking around he became aware that they had attracted quite the crowd, a number of whom were snapping pictures of them. Most concerningly was the woman he could see further behind the rest with what looked to him to be a telephoto lens on a professional camera. Immediately, he lost all sense of calm as his mind started working through all the options for getting them out of the situation.

Sensing his discomfort, Cat pulled back, looking up at him, taking in his troubled eyes before craning her head around to try and see what was upsetting him.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, only seeing groups of people milling around and flashing a smile at someone who seemed to be taking pictures of them.

“There’s a photographer over there,” Scott told her quietly, not wanting to make a scene and draw even more attention to them.

“OK,” Cat agreed warily, her smile fading as she took in his serious demeanour, unclear as to why he was suddenly so worried about being photographed when it had happened plenty of times in the past. “And this is a problem because…?”

“Because some of these pictures will end up in the press, and then we’ll have to decide whether to confirm or deny the speculation about our relationship,” Scott finished, suddenly unsure as to whether to keep her close or put some distance between them.

“Why do we have to do either?” Cat asked, looking up at him in confusion. “Can we not just let them talk and while they’re busy doing that, we can get on with our lives?”

“I mean, I guess that could be an option?” Scott mused uncertainly, his mind still whirling with the ramifications of them being pictured together as he reluctantly let go of her and dropped his arms to his sides.

Refusing to let anyone put an enforced distance between them, Cat discreetly slipped her hand into his and gave it a squeeze. She looked around, trying to decide on the best way to get them away from the situation that seemed to be making Scott so uncomfortable. Spotting a narrow path, she moved off, leading him away from the Grand Cascade and into a more secluded area in which she hoped they could talk more privately. Walking together quietly, she could feel him relaxing as the onlookers thinned out, allowing her the space to gather her thoughts before continuing the conversation.

The idea of making a private relationship public had always seemed absurd to her and wasn’t a subject she’d thought they would have to decide on so soon, despite the constant media interest in the love lives of the Tracy brothers and the fact that Selene had been erroneously linked with Scott only a few months before. While a few pictures of them together had made their way into the press already, they had just laughed about them and brushed them off, so she had no reason to think that any others wouldn’t be treated the same way. But Scott’s reaction, and their current conversation, suggested that she’d been mistaken about that and was going to have to think quickly.

“I’ll be honest, I hadn’t really given this a lot of thought yet,” Cat admitted, breaking the silence. “My instinct is to say nothing because it really isn’t any of their business, but I don’t know if that’ll make life harder in the long run.”

“Well, in my experience, when the press think that there’s a story, they’ll pick at it until it’s either confirmed or denied,” he replied with a sneer of disdain. “I don’t particularly like my private life being splashed across the papers, but if it comes to it, I don’t have any issues with putting a statement out confirming that we’re dating in the hopes that you’ll be left alone if we take away the mystery before it even arises.”

“Wow,” Cat breathed, her heart skipping a beat at the realisation that he was prepared to sacrifice some of his fiercely guarded privacy to shield her from the press. “I didn’t think you’d ever want to do that.”

“Of course I would; I love you,” Scott declared, stopping to pull her into him for a kiss, amazed that she could possibly think that he wouldn’t do anything to make sure that she was protected. “I don’t have any issues with telling the world if it means you’re not hounded for a story. I’m just worried that if we don’t say anything, you’ll end up being the prime target for them because you’re much more accessible than I am, so really, it’s your decision. We both need to be happy with what we do but I think it’s only right to be led by you here.”

“I just don’t know,” Cat sighed as they started walking again. “I don’t like the idea of having the press at my door, but if we say something, my concern is that my family will find out and start trying to find a way back into my life because of who you are.”

“Yeah, I can understand that, and given your previous experiences with them, I can’t say I’m surprised you’re worried about that,” Scott sympathised, giving her hand a squeeze of reassurance. “But just remember that if they do start bothering you, you’ve got my full support now and I’ll do everything I can to help in any way that you want.”

“Thank you,” Cat smiled gratefully as they came to a stop at a viewpoint looking out over the Baltic Sea. “You have no idea how much that means to me.”

“There's nothing you have to face on your own now, remember that,” Scott reassured her, tucking a stray lock of her hair behind her ear and smiling as she leant into his touch. “The way I see it, we have two options right now. We either put out a press release, confirm that we’re together before the speculation gets too much and deal with whatever consequences come our way from your family, or we say nothing, continue as we are and deal with whatever that brings us in terms of disruption if the press interest becomes too much for you.”

“Yeah,” she sighed, not particularly wanting to make a decision but knowing that she had to. Her privacy was important to her too and not just because of her family, so the thought of the world knowing about her still relatively new relationship made her deeply uncomfortable. Equally, the idea of potentially having the press at her theatre or worse, following her home, didn’t exactly fill her with joy either.

Snuggling into him against the bitingly cold wind, she took a moment just to enjoy the feeling of his arms around her, holding her close and reminding her that they were in this together, regardless of what they decided.

“Neither option sounds great, does it?” she admitted as the silence stretched between them, knowing that the decision was hers alone.

“Not really,” Scott agreed sadly, tightening his arms around her just a little bit more. “Trust me, I wish we didn’t have to deal with this sort of thing but unfortunately it seems to come with the territory.”

“I know,” she replied softly. “I guess I kinda knew we’d have to decide on this at some point. I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon. Or in Russia.”

“Yeah, I have to admit that this wasn’t top of my list of places I thought we’d be when we had to have this conversation,” Scott laughed.

“Right,” Cat declared, straightening up in a way that told Scott a decision had been made, causing him to release her from his arms. “I say that we just let the press stew. We’ve done perfectly well without confirming anything so far, and I sort of feel that as soon as you tell the world about something, you start to get expectations put on you about it and I don’t know about you, but I cannot be fucked dealing with that shit.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Scott smiled, leaning over to press a soft kiss on her head as they leant on a railing next to each other, looking out to sea.

“It’s a deal then,” Cat declared with an emphatic nod. “Let's get on with our lives and if people want to speculate, then that’s up to them. We don’t even know what’s going to happen if those pictures get published and obviously if the situation changes then we can revisit it, but I think for the moment at least, we’re better off not saying anything.”

“That sounds like an excellent plan,” he agreed, slinging an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close as she shivered slightly. “Shall we head back now?”

“Yeah,” Cat agreed readily. “It’s bloody freezing, isn’t it?”

“It really is,” he laughed, offering her his arm before leading the way back into the maze of pathways.

Walking quietly, Cat found that now the mood had lifted, she was much more aware of her surroundings. The part of the gardens by the sea was exquisite and she found herself dawdling, slowing Scott’s stride as she took in all the floral arrangements surrounding an ornate building that Scott informed her was in fact Peter the Great’s summer house, pointing out ones to him that particularly took her fancy.

A persistent chime coming from Scott’s wrist broke their conversation, taking her by surprise and his face, when she glanced up before he answered it, suggested that he was not the only one unhappy about the unwelcome intrusion into their day.

“What is it, John?” he answered smoothly, turning away from Cat as he did his best to hide his displeasure.

“I’m afraid we have a situation,” John informed him. “Four climbers trapped in the Southern Alps. Virgil and Gordon are coming to get you in Two.”

“Can’t they handle it themselves?” Scott asked. “I’m on leave and even if I wasn’t, I’m not exactly on the way.”

“I know and I’m sorry,” John sighed, his displeasure at the task that had befallen him apparent. “I’ve already checked, but Dad - “

“Gotcha,” Scott growled before John could finish. “I’ll be waiting when they get here.”

Cutting the call without even waiting for John’s response, Scott turned on his heel and began to stalk back towards the entrance to the gardens, leaving Cat to scurry along behind him.

Gone was the relaxed attitude of a few moments before and as Cat hurried to keep pace, she took in the firm set of his jaw and the way his eyebrows gathered together. She was at a loss as to his response to John’s call. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for leave to be cut short or cancelled at the last moment because of a rescue, and his reluctance to jump into action was very out of character.

The more she thought about it, the more she realised that John’s demeanour on the call had been strange too. It wasn’t the first time that he had called to report a rescue while Scott had technically been on leave but from what little she had seen, there seemed to be a tension there that she’d never been aware of in the past.

“Sorry about this,” Scott started as they reached the car park and found space large enough for Two to land, helped by the late hour and the fact that the majority of tourists had left for the day.

“You don’t need to apologise,” Cat reassured him, taking his hand in her own and giving it a squeeze as she scanned his face for clues. “It’s not the first time this has happened, and I very much doubt it’ll be the last.”

“I know,” Scott sighed, seeming to deflate a little as he stood. “It’s just really frustrating that’s all.”

“You sure that’s all that’s bothering you?” Cat pushed, no more convinced by Scott’s words than he was.

“I sure am,” Scott replied, the forced jollity in his tone grating with the tension radiating off him as he forced a smile.

“Fair enough,” Cat agreed, knowing better than to push him.

Getting Scott to talk was a delicate operation when he didn’t want to, and when he was still in the first phase of being angry or upset it was well-nigh impossible. Experience had taught her that giving him some time to process things by himself was essential and forcing the issue at this early stage would be counterproductive in the long run, making him defensive and less likely to talk even when he had calmed down, so she let it lie.

“How long do you think we’ve got before you’re picked up?” she asked, changing the subject as best she could. “Do you think we’ve got time for a walk around the Upper Gardens before they arrive?”

“I reckon so,” Scott smiled, feeling the tension easing just a little as he realised that there wasn’t any immediate need to leave. Even his usual form of transport would take a little time to get to him, and by his calculations, they should have almost an hour before he was needed. “Anyway, it’s not like we won’t see them coming.”

Cat smiled as they turned back into the gardens once more, glad that he seemed to be making the best of the situation, despite his initial reaction. Whatever was going on, she intended to get to the bottom of it, but for now, she was going to make damn sure that they enjoyed the last little bit of time they had before duty took him away again.

-x-

Letting the door swing shut behind her, Cat crossed the room and flopped onto the bed, letting her bag and keycard fall beside her as she sank slowly into the soft mattress. It wasn’t exactly the way she’d expected to return to the hotel when she’d left that morning, and she eyed the bottle of champagne that she’d ordered accusingly, as if it was responsible for her lack of company, her mind whirling as she tried to piece together the events that had brought her here.

It wasn’t the first time they had been forced to change plans because of a rescue, but it was the first time that Scott had seemed genuinely angry about it. There had always been a quiet acceptance that it was part and parcel of what he did and while it had been a blow, he had never seemed as angry as he had been when the call came through that afternoon. The way he’d cut John off and then cancelled the call without waiting for a reply had made her wonder whether there was something going on that she wasn’t privy to, and it was fast becoming a nagging doubt that her mind wouldn’t let go of.

All her instincts told her that something to do with his dad held the key to the mystery, but she had no idea what it could be. They had promised to be completely open and honest with each other and until now, Scott had never given any hint that there was anything that he was keeping from her so she hadn’t had any indication that something might be amiss.

As she started thinking back however, she realised that there had been a steady decline in the amount of times that he had mentioned Jeff over the past months, aside from brief updates about his health. When he was first back on Earth, a large portion of their conversations had focussed on how he was and Scott’s hopes for his recovery, but they had steadily lessened over time and now it seemed that he barely featured. It seemed to have happened so subtly in the six months since his rescue that she hadn’t even noticed it at the time, but given the afternoons’ events, she found herself wondering if it was more than just the natural waning of interest in a well discussed subject.

With a start, she realised that Scott never brought him up any more, and a sudden chill ran through her at the thought that when she asked after him, he had started giving the briefest of answers before rapidly changing the subject. Given his desperation to get their father home again and the risks they had all taken in doing so, it now struck her as strange that he was not the centre of more of their discussions. Aside from this, there was nothing to suggest that anything was amiss and Cat found herself desperately hoping that her instincts were incorrect, but no matter how she dressed it up, Scott’s reaction to John mentioning him seemed out of character and spoke of some underlying issue that she wasn’t aware of.

Unable to lie still any longer, she hauled herself up, pulling her phone out of her bag and dropping it on the bed before quickly tidying the rest of her belongings away in the wardrobe. It wasn’t in her nature to be fastidiously neat but she knew how much her messiness irritated him and, while Scott had never made her feel bad about it or like she had to change for him, she wanted to make sure he had a nice, tidy room to come back to when he returned.

Finding that the movement was calming her mind, she allowed herself a few moments to stretch out her legs which were beginning to protest a little after a full day of rehearsals followed by the long walk around the gardens of the Peterhof. She knew they would be absolutely fine in the morning regardless of what she did, but the familiar stretches soothed her and gave her the thinking space to decide what to do next.

Her stomach rumbling alerted her to a more immediate need to order some food. Dinner reservations had already been missed so she quickly grabbed the room service menu and ordered herself some pasta for a quick energy fix, trying to not feel too regretful of the beef stroganoff that she desperately wanted but knew would leave her too bloated and uncomfortable for her performance the next day.

She had no idea how long Scott was likely to be. Although she very much hoped it would be a simple rescue, she was thankful that at least he had another keycard to the hotel room from when he had dropped off his bags before they met so there was no need for her to stay up until he got back. With nothing to do but wait for both her dinner and her boyfriend, she grabbed her phone and perched herself on the small seat in the window, idly watching the cars go by as she scrolled through her contacts until she found the one she needed.

“Catriona, what a lovely surprise,” Penelope answered, her voice sounding strangely tinny through the phone speaker. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you.”

“Oh, charming,” Cat laughed. “Can’t a girl even give her best friend a call with no warning these days?”

“I just meant that I thought Scott was with you this weekend,” Penny huffed, though Cat could hear the smile in her voice.

“He is,” Cat confirmed. “Well, he was. He’s been called out on a rescue.”

“So you thought you’d call me to pass the time?” Penny queried.

“Something like that, yeah,” Cat agreed, finding herself annoyingly at a loss for words, her worry about the outcome suddenly outweighing her desire to ask Penny’s opinion.

“Well, you've caught me at a good time. I’m just on my way to dinner with the Swedish ambassador.”

“Ooh, that sounds fancy,” Cat cooed. “Are you in the car just now? And am I on speaker?”

“I certainly am, and yes, you are now,” Penny confirmed after a small pause, bracing herself for what she knew was coming.

“Hi, Parker,” yelled Cat, hoping that her friend had taken the phone far enough from her ear to avoid being deafened.

“Hello, Miss Catriona,” Parker replied without missing a beat, quite used to Cat’s tradition of greeting him as he was driving, one that had started when the girls were at school together.

“Now that you’ve got that out of the way,” Penny continued seamlessly, changing the phone back to its more private setting, “how are the rehearsals going?”

“Yeah, they’ve been fine, thanks,” Cat confirmed. “No matter how many lessons I got from John, my Russian is still pretty much non-existent but everyone speaks good English so it’s not been too bad.”

“Well, that’s good,” Penny replied. “And are you all set for tomorrow?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. The stage is massive though and the rake on it is more than anything I’ve ever danced on before so it’s a bit daunting. I don’t want to travel so far downstage during the fouette’s that I fall into the orchestra pit.”

“Yes, I can imagine that being a concern,” Penny soothed. “I’m sure you’ll be wonderful as always.”

“I hope so…” Cat tailed off, the weight of expectations for the following night weighing on her in a way that they hadn’t until now.

Admitting her fears made it feel like a lot to handle. Dancing Swan Lake with the company that it had originally been created on nearly 200 years before was scary enough, without the added stress of worrying about whatever was going on with Scott. She’d very much hoped for a relaxed evening that night, but it clearly wasn’t going to be on the cards.

“What’s wrong?” Penny asked when the silence stretched out between them. It wasn’t like Cat to sound so overwhelmed, and worry spiked through her.

“Nothing,” Cat sighed. “I just… Do you know if everything’s OK on the Island?”

“As far as I know,” Penny replied, her interest piqued. “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t really know. Scott just seemed really tired and he wasn’t at all happy about being called out, which is really unlike him,” Cat replied, the words tumbling out now that she had opened the dam.

“I’m sure he was just disappointed to have to leave you,” Penny soothed. “And as far as him being tired goes, he’s probably just been burning the candle at both ends again. You know what he’s like.”

“That’s what he said but I just don’t know,” Cat sighed, rubbing her face with her free hand. “Something just doesn’t seem quite right.”

“I could always ask Gordon or see if I can find anything for you if you’re worried?” Penny asked, keen to do whatever she could to help out.

“No, no it’s OK. I don’t want to go snooping.” Cat squeaked, instantly regretting her choice to involve her friend. “Scott’ll tell me when he’s ready if there’s anything going on. I shouldn’t have asked. Sorry.”

“OK, well it’s your decision,” Penny replied smoothly. “The offer is always there if you want.”

“Thanks, but I couldn't invade his privacy like that,” Cat declared, already feeling uneasy about involving Penny in something that she was now sure Scott would rather be kept private.

“Yes, it might not be very popular,” agreed Penny.

“Anyway, how’re you?” Cat asked, rapidly changing the subject now that she was convinced that there wasn’t anything obvious going on that she’d missed. “How was that thing you and Gordon went to the other week?”

“Oh, the Governor’s garden party? Yes, it was lovely,” Penny confirmed, a hint of frustration in her voice making Cat instantly wary, even before she elaborated on the event. “Gordon though… well, you can’t take that boy anywhere.”

“Uh oh, what did he do?” Cat asked, moving away from the window and settling herself in a chair, feeling the need to be comfortable while she dealt with whatever complaints were heading her way.

This wasn’t the first time that Gordon’s natural exuberance had caused Penny to air her grievances about his behaviour after an event, but if she was honest, Cat had only occasionally felt that they were justified. The few events of this type that she had been forced to attend had been painfully boring and very restrictive in what was acceptable and her sympathies almost always lay with the aquanaut. However, her loyalty to her friend ran deep and so she felt she needed to be there to support and help in any way she could.

“Well, firstly, he wandered off while I was talking to the Governor's wife and was nowhere to be seen,” Penny began, her clipped tone making Cat wince slightly, her anger apparent. “And then when I did find him, he was in a corner of the grounds, playing what looked like rounders with some of the children.”

“And this was bad because…?” Cat asked, genuinely unsure as to why Penny was so upset about it.

“Because everyone knew he was with me and it is not how one is supposed to behave at these sorts of things,” Penny huffed. “There were lots of very important people there and I heard a good number of them making comments about it. There were chaperones employed to occupy the children so there was no need for him to be involved.”

“OK, I understand why that might be a bit embarrassing, but it sounds exactly like something Gordon would do,” Cat countered, wanting to challenge her a little.

“He used to act like this as a child,” Penny grumbled, the anger still evident in her voice. “He should have grown up by now. Anyway, it wasn’t just that. I spoke to him about it and he apologised but then he disappeared again and I found him holding a platter of canapes and offering them to people. Apparently, a waitress had fallen and he was ‘just trying to help,’ but that’s what the staff were there for. It’s unheard of for a guest to behave in such a manner.”

Cat sighed. She could see where Penny was coming from and why Gordon’s actions would have been embarrassing to her at the time, but that didn’t mean that it was the disaster that she was making it out to be. Getting her to admit she was overreacting was a delicate task, but she had time on her hands and she felt like she owed it to Gordon to at least try.

“Admittedly I don’t know him as well as you do,” she began cautiously, picking her words carefully, “but again, that sounds like something that’s absolutely in character for him. I know for a fact that Scott would too if it had been him that was there.” “In normal circumstances, yes, helping someone who has fallen is admirable,” Penny agreed, a concession that Cat was surprised she had made so quickly. “But you know how stuffy these events are. I don’t like some of it any more than I’m sure Gordon does, but it’s what is expected and you need to play a part to fit in. My standing depends on it and I simply cannot be shown up like that by my guests.”

“I know,” soothed Cat. “But remember, all of the boys save people for a living so it’s basically instinct for them now. Gordon probably just saw someone in need and went to do whatever he could to help her.”

“I know, but I just need him to think a bit more about where we are and the image he’s projecting,” Penny sniffed, the anger slowly leaving her voice.

“I understand that, but just don’t go nagging him too much, OK?” Cat warned. “Just remember that it was his attitude of making the most of every opportunity and grabbing life with both hands that was one of the things that made you fall in love with him in the first place. I know you’re pissed off just now, but you can’t just expect him to turn that off when it doesn’t suit you.”

Silence stretched between the friends as Cat’s words hit home. Ordinarily, she would have tried to fill the gap, offering more advice or sympathy for how Penny was feeling but she was suddenly worn out. She’d lost track of the number of times she’d had conversations just like this one with Penny over the years, her boyfriends never quite living up to her exacting standards.

“I know,” Penny finally replied, her voice unnaturally quiet. “Anyway,” she added, sounding much more like herself, “his heart was in the right place and I suppose that’s the most important thing, not what everyone else thinks.” “I think you’re right there,” Cat agreed, her energy lifting now that Penny seemed to have accepted her words. “Nobody's perfect, but you’ve got a good one with a heart of gold and ultimately that’s who you fell in love with.”

“It certainly is,” Penny agreed. “Anyway, darling, I’m just about to arrive so I need to go.”

“No worries,” Cat smiled. “My dinner should be here soon anyway so I’d better head off too. Have a fun evening.”

“I’m not sure I’d call it fun but I’m sure it will be fine,” Penny laughed, the smile back in her voice again now that they were on more neutral topics. “Best of luck tomorrow, not that you’ll need it. Goodbye.”

“Byeeee,” Cat sang cheerily, hanging up the call as she crossed back to her perch in the window.

Looking down idly once more at the cars speeding past on the street below, Cat let her mind wander back over the conversation with Penny. It definitely didn’t seem to her like Gordon had made any massive mistakes, and even Penny herself had admitted that she didn’t always agree with the expected behaviour at the events she was so often called upon to attend.

Having been in attendance at some of these events herself in the past, she had first-hand experience of the rigidity of the class division between guests and staff. She had always found it laughable and so her sympathies were firmly with Gordon for acting as he had, especially in regard to the waitress. In any other circumstances, Penny would have been commending his behaviour, so she knew that her friend's anger had come from embarrassment caused by the situation rather than any real judgement on his actions.

Cat sighed, hoping that Penny would allow Gordon the time to mellow into the experience of attending high society events and not become too overbearing in her desire to help him fit in. Even though her concern always came from a place of generosity, Cat had found to her cost that it was sometimes misplaced and unwanted and she was well aware of how hard it could be not to get swept along with her, although she had a sneaking suspicion that Gordon might stand a better chance at avoiding it than most.

Quickly shrugging away unwelcome memories of her own painful experience of being on the receiving end of Penny’s help, she checked the time on her phone, wondering where her dinner was as her stomach let out another loud grumble of protest. No reassuring message from Scott telling her that he was on his way back was yet forthcoming either she noted, so she figured she probably had at least another hour or so before he was back too, depending on the complexity of the rescue.

She had to admit that she felt a little calmer than she had before now that she knew Penny wasn’t aware of anything that could be causing issues on the island. Aside from her obvious concern that Scott was unhappy, the fact that John seemed to share his anger had made her worry that her physical distance from the family meant that she had missed a more general issue and hadn’t been a support to him when he had needed her.

It was clear to her now that the issue was perhaps more limited to Scott and possibly John as she was sure that if Gordon was directly involved, then Penny would have known about it too. A little twinge of guilt spiked through her at the thought that she might have given Penny a hint of something that he might have rather be kept private but she shot it down quickly, reminding herself that she had only asked in the most general sense, not mentioning anything to do with her own suspicions as to the cause of his earlier anger.

A sharp knock at the door shook her out of her musings and sent her scurrying across the room to retrieve her dinner, having to stop herself from grabbing it from the bemused looking porter on the other side. Her stomach growled at the delicious smells radiating from the plate in front of her as she settled herself down at the small table and tucked in, but her troubled mind continued to whirl. All of her instincts were screaming at her that something was going on so, with a sigh, she grabbed her phone and scrolled through to find the number she needed. Placing it down, she drummed her fingers on the table as she listened to the rings until finally it was answered.

“Hiya Tippytoes!” sang the voice on the other end.

“Selene? Can I ask you something?”

#Scott Tracy #Catriona George #Penelope Creighton Ward #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction #thunderbirds 2015

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