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eggrestes · 3 years

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ladrien fic recs!

there are SO MANY amazing ladrien fics i cant possibly cover them all but here are a few!

(all the ratings used are ao3 ratings)

((this is a very long post!))

FLUFF

Of Ivy and Sunlight by cyanise [ T, 1509 words, 1/1 ]

When Adrien takes to wandering the streets of Paris in ungodly hours, Ladybug has no choice but to keep an eye on him. Still, things are bound to get a little out of hand between two overloaded teenagers with a lot of love and not enough self-control.

a lovely post-chat blanc fic :’) it has a great flow and is just soft and so sweet and it’s just perfect. gosh i cannot really say more other than read it!!! also almost all of their other stuff is also ladrien so do check it out!

This can't be happening by PlaPla [ T, 6,467 words, 1/2 ]

Ladybug is unsure whether accompanying Adrien to a gala as his not-date is the best or worst thing that has ever happened to her. But when their table mates turn out to be none other than her long time friends Alya and Nino and with Adrien acting weirder and weirder she finds herself with bigger worries than an unrequited crush.

a djwifi/ladrien double date? hit me up! i love identity shenanigans, ball dancing, ladrien, and djwifi and this is a perfect mix for me. i know it’s incomplete but it doesn’t end in a cliff-hanger really, the part 2 is just a promise of more so it doesn’t feel incomplete! PlaPla also has a short oneshot of ladrien going for a motorcycle ride.

Falling again by emsylcatac [ M, 4,506 words, 2 Works ]

They had been dancing around each other for a while now, and while fifteen year old Adrien would have been ecstatic at the idea of dating Ladybug in secret, twenty-two year old Adrien knew better. But Ladybug wasn’t making it easy. It was like… she, too, was falling for him. And that surprisingly enough, she didn’t mind.

* * *

Or Adrien trying (and failing) to keep things professional between him and Ladybug when the two of them partner up for a mission. Older AU

things are a little steamy~ here (don’t worry, it’s only implied it’s very mild and closer to a T rating than the M) but it’s a great mature take on their dynamics! emsy has more ladrien one-shots in her collection of one-shots!

i'd love to go on a date with you by sae_what [ G, 6,480 words, 1/1 ]

Once it had been falsely announced throughout Paris that Adrien and Ladybug are in a relationship, Ladybug pays him a visit to turn him down gently.

Only, she doesn’t. And instead, she has a formal dinner date. With Adrien. At 8 pm. Tonight.

LADYBUG IN A SUIT!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaa. okay but for real it’s so sweet and also??? they are on a date!!! a rooftop date!! (too man exclamation marks oops)

Always Welcome by chatonne-rousse [ T, 1,683 words, 1/1 ]

Ladybug knows that Adrien's window is always open for her to swing by and stop in, whether for video games or a chat or, like tonight, for soft kisses and sweet nothings.

He loves these visits. His girlfriend is always welcome. Always. (Especially for kisses.)

Written for Ladrien June, day 8: bluebell eyes.

established relationship, pre-reveal ladrien. there is something very home-y about this fic and it’s all about the comfort and quiet that i adore about it!

Five Times Gabriel Agreste Caught Ladybug in His Son’s Bedroom (and the One Time He Caught Chat Noir) by agrestenoir [ T, 1,923 words, 1/1]

Gabriel Agreste keeps finding Ladybug in his son's bedroom. As a super villain and father, this will not stand.

this crack fic is... honestly so hilarious. it’s all through gabrie-i-am-trying-to-parent-and-failing-a-lot-agreste’s POV so it is so much ridiculous!

an uncurtain discovery by Missnoodles [ T, 4,684 words, 1/1 ]

When he returns from school on Wednesday afternoon, Adrien discovers the darkness in his own home. He struggles to come to terms with it. To his utter mortification and delight, Ladybug is nearby to rescue him.

(He does not discover that his father is supervillain. That will happen on a different Wednesday.)

Adrien is being a cat and gets tangled in the curtains on his window and it’s utterly ridiculous. all the bug and the cat tendencies make it funnier and adrien’s inner monologue is just a cherry on top!

secret valentine by a_miiraculer [ T, 12,245 words, 1/1 ]

this is the moment that we will come alive brace yourself for love sweet love, secret love

If Adrien had known that getting himself stuck in a tree would end like this, he would've gotten himself stuck sooner.

A drabble series.

i just,,,, don’t have words for how much i love it! it’s ridiculous, it’s cute, it’s funny, it’s whole-some and just ladrien. the writer also has a M rated multi-chapter ladrien kissing (no the M is very much real here) and a heroic adrien and ladybug one-shot too!

Those Benevolent Stars by peachcitt [ G, 23,696 words, 3/3 ]

“Will you come back?”

She looked up at the deep blue sky, as if she could somehow find the answer there. “I shouldn’t,” she said, shaking her head and looking back at him. But the stars were still there, caught in her eyes, and Adrien persisted.

“But will you?”

adrien meets his soulmate, a thief who calls herself ladybug. he falls for her, but she seems determined to maintain a space between them.

oh my god this au.... just no words!! it’s poetry and it’s tender and it’s about the yearning and just!!! perfect :’). Her current ongoing ladrien june fic is also akin to this (and the fic i linked before it) so do check it out too! (literally check out all of their works it’s so beautiful)

Flowers on the Window Sill by LNC [ G, 2,144 words, 1/1 ]

The first time Ladybug saw him, really saw him, the universe stopped.

this fic feels like poetry and it’s so lovely. LNC is always short and direct but it always hits right in the feels while also being hilarious. Her other ladrien works are just as good and i highly recommend going through them because it fulfills all of the ladrien needs (along with Reiaji)

whatever a sun will always sing is you by komorebirei [ T, 32,980 words, 37/37 ]

“I didn't think you'd actually... do anything," Adrien admitted, cheeks prickling with warmth. "I-I mean, I never expected... I didn't know you watched my interviews.” That definitely wasn’t how he'd imagined confessing to Ladybug.

“Of course I do!” Ladybug squeaked. “Uhh, that is…” She looked down at her hands, nervously turning her yo-yo over, over and over. “Maybe you’re not the only one with a crush.”

(After an unexpected confession, Ladybug and Adrien start dating in secret. A progressive character- and relationship-study quilted from drabbles, with the intention of digging treasure out of the cove that is Ladrien. Written using kashimalin-fanfiction's kiss writing prompts from Tumblr.)

it does such an excellent job at exploring this dynamic along with the characters. it’s such a sweet fic, each chapter short and fun!

ANGST

whose woods these are (I think I know.) by Reiaji [ T, 105,000 words, 25/25 ]

Four years after his future turns to cinders, Adrien is a servant in the house he was meant to inherit. Disowned by his father and abused by his stepmother, his days are filled with drudgery until he meets a masked huntress in the forest behind his father's chateau.

As his friendship with Ladybug turns to first love, he dreams of a future spent at her side.

Then, on the eve of the Princess's masquerade, he meets his guardian—and is granted a wish.

[Ladrien Cinderella AU]

Warnings: Child abuse, Graphic depiction of violence

this is absolutely gorgeous. it has so many troupes and so many amazing character arc and great build up and everything just flows so well. it left me in awe for weeks and i just. want to experience reading it for the first time again. look at this gorgeous art inspired by this! {and you have to read leonard bernstein too because LETTERS and LADRIEN and YEARNING}

i would do it again (oh, a thousand times) by bugabisous [ T, 2,266 words, 1/1 ]

Knowing you can bring someone back doesn’t mean you’re free of the pain of seeing them disappear before your eyes. He can’t imagine he’ll be able to look at her directly without replaying every horrifying moment when he felt her slip away in a puff of smoke.

When it happens once again, he already knows he’ll be trying again. He just can’t give up.

it expands on adrien’s feelings in the episode desperada (my beloved <3) and it is just ouch. such great angst, such great potential. the kind of tragedy that it offers is unusual for ml (it gets only rivaled by chat blanc tbh). to rival this angst bugabisous also has a fluffy one-shot :)

when the world gets too heavy (put it on my back) by Taliax [ T, 4,720 words, 1/1 ]

Chat Noir isn't allowed to cry over his father. But even when he's just Adrien, Ladybug won't abandon him.

Hawkmoth reveal hurt/comfort + Ladrien

the plagg and adrien bond written is just perfect, and oh this hits right in the feels :’) it hurts all in the right way. tali also has so many other ladrien works in all genres too

By Your Side by omniousunflower [ T, 4,361 words, 1/1 ]

(Angry and alone, Adrien waits on top of the Eiffel Tower for his lady.)

“So, how did my kitty get stranded up here?” Ladybug asks.

Groaning, Adrien pulls his knees toward his chest and presses his face against them. “Because he’s stupid and impulsive.”

“Chasing pigeons, then?”

“No.” Shame burns in Adrien’s veins, white-hot now that Ladybug is here to witness his stupidity. “I threw my Miraculous, and Plagg wouldn’t get it for me.”

post-hawkmoth defeat, and adrien is not doing well at all. i am cheating because it is post reveal, pre relationship but it’s still ladrien. this fic is a roller coater of emotions, starting from a slightly crack scenario to a cute, awkward, hopeful ending. More Than You Know is another of sunny’s angsty ladrien work!

Breaking The Rules (AKA The Ladrien Fistfight) by ThisKwamiNeeds_aNap [ T, 8,714 words, 1/1 ]

Marinette may or may not be dying, but she’s still going to do her best to fix every single problem in the world. She’s not expecting Adrien to be the one who tries to stop her. (Takes place immediately after Kwami Buster)

Warnings: panic attack, broken bones, PTSD. please read the tags!

*slaps this fic* this fic can fit in so much angst. it just?? left me in PAIN oof. it says ‘ladrien fistfight’ on the lid but nooo there is marinette is just having a freak out and it’s all so much??!! and it’s not just marinette there is adrien too and chloe and alya and- wow it’s amazing. love it so much it fills up my angst needs :’)

so that’s it for now! my personal commentary isn’t impressive nor does it do justice to the fic but i still hope you read a few of these!! happy reading!!

#ladren #fic rec #ml fic rec #miraculous ladybug #i know i dont do the fics justice but. oh well #lovesquare #ladrien #obviously check out the writers other workd too but this is ladrien so i am trying to give it a bit more emphasis #also i am so sorry i couldnt include more lesser known writers but unfortunatley they dont have ladrien uRGH anyway maybe sometime later!#i spend a lot of time on thi n got lazy so plz be considerate #also add recs if u want even self-promo is cool duh

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alexiessan · 4 years

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Never alone - Chapter Twenty Four - Soulmate AU - The End

AO3

Previous - Here

Master List

Last chapter! Thanks to everyone who followed this story!

After Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sanscœur got arrested, Emilie Agreste was brought to the hospital. She has been in a coma for a few years now, with no sign of waking up, and the doctors weren’t very optimistic about her.

Emilie Agreste would probably never wake up.

Adrien has been very sad when he got the news, but he had the time to grieve her mother years ago when his father has lied about her death. While he missed her every day, he had learned to move on. Still, knowing that she was alive, brought hope to the young model. He didn’t care about the doctors’ prognostics, nothing could crush his hopes.

Thankfully, Adrien has been declared innocent in the whole Hawkmoth debacle. He and Ladybug had revealed to the police that the young Agreste has been Chat Noir all along. The information didn’t make it to the news, thankfully.

Paris celebrated that night and would celebrate for a whole week, finally happy to be free of Hawkmoth. People allowed themselves to cry, to scream, to let their emotions free.

That night, Marinette cried in the arms of her soulmate, not stopping even when he carried her to his bedroom, the short girl in his arm clinging to him like a koala.

Life, without having to fight Akumas, was weird. Marinette had gotten so used to miss classes or a few hours of sleep because of attacks that she was nervous as if waiting for something to happen.

But nothing happened. Her shoulders were free of the burden of Paris’ safety.

She no longer needed to be Ladybug.

The Miraculous on her ears felt so heavy now.

It’s at the end of April, after a month and a half of peace, that the fashion designer decided to take off the earrings.

“I think we both need a rest,” she said to Tikki, a sad smile on her lips. “I need to heal from Hawkmoth, to detach myself from Ladybug, and I can’t do that with you around.” She winced. “No offense.”

Tikki laughed. “None taken, Marinette! I totally understand. It will be nice for me to be with the other Kwamis for a while,” she smiled, floating up to Marinette’s face to nuzzle her cheek. “And it’s not like we’re saying goodbye. You’re the guardian now, so we can see each other whenever we want!” She settled on her chosen’s shoulder. “But you’re right. We both need a break. So…” she fell silent for a few seconds. “See you soon, I guess!”

Marinette laughed, placing a kiss on the Kwami’s head.

“See you soon, Tikki.”

And she took the earrings off, placing them in the Miraculous Box.

It was like a weight has been lifted off her shoulder. Marinette hadn’t felt so light in years.

She almost jumped when she felt arms circle around her from behind. Sighing happily, she leaned back so she could be closer to Damian.

“How are you feeling,” he asked, placing a kiss on her neck.

“Good,” she breathed, turning around to face him. “I feel really good.”

She pulled him closer and kissed him.

Adrien was moving away. He had told his friends that he would live with his aunt and his cousin in London.

“I mean, I’m eighteen, so I could live by myself but…” he played with his fingers, embarrassed. Nino looked at him with a warm smile, encouraging him. “But, as much as I don’t want to admit it, I’ve had a golden childhood, you know? People did everything for me, from cleaning my room to cooking the meals. I can’t live by myself yet, so I’m moving in with my aunt. Then, I’ll learn everything I need to take care of myself.”

Alya laughed.

“Try not to give food poisoning to your family!”

Adrien gasped, falsely offended. “How dare you?!”

Adrien and Alya laughed while the others just shook their head in exasperation.

The young Agreste turned to Damian. “I heard you’re leaving soon?”

Damian nodded, unconsciously bringing Marinette closer to him. “Next week.”

Alya groaned. “Finally. I won’t have to see you anymore.”

The youngest Wayne smirked. “Sorry to break the news, Césaire, but I’ll be back in August as I’ll study here.”

The look on Alya’s face made everyone laugh.

Even though she knew that she would see him in a few weeks, saying goodbye to Damian at the airport brought tears to her eyes.

She hugged Dick first, who hugged her back so tightly that she couldn’t breathe for a few seconds.

“I’ll miss you so much.”

“Aw, you’ll see me soon, I promise,” the oldest of the Wayne siblings winked.

“I know, but it won’t be the same.”

Richard ruffled her hair with a smile. “I’m only a phone call away if you need anything. And when I say anything, I mean it, ok? Don’t hesitate. That’s what siblings are for, after all!”

She almost cried at that, but he gently pushed her towards Damian, giving them privacy in their goodbye.

Marinette let out a sob.

“I’m sorry. I swear I won’t always be this sensitive,” she said, embarrassed with the amount of tears she had shed lately. She had cried earlier when she said goodbye to Cloud and Alfred the cat too.

The green-eyed boy took her hand in his, pulling her closer to him. He kissed her forehead.

“I understand. Take time to allow yourself to feel, alright? Then, you’ll be okay in no time.”

She nodded. “You’re right.”

She cupped his cheek in her hand. “God, I hate seeing you go.”

He leaned in her touch. “I know. But you’ll see me in a few weeks for Prom.”

“I can’t wait,” she said and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.

With the Baccalauréat coming and all the studying she had to do, time passed more quickly than she has expected.

In no time, she was in Gotham with the help of Kaalki, in her prom dress with Damian’s family in their manor.

Her boyfriend rolled his eyes as his father and brothers insisted to take a lot of pictures. Marinette didn’t mind. She was just happy to see Damian again.

She was happy to see his siblings too, of course.

Prom was exactly how she imagined it. It was such a shame there was no such thing in France.

The look on Damian’s classmates’ faces was hilarious. They obviously couldn’t believe that Damian Wayne was there, and with a date!

Their faces were even funnier when they saw him dance with her or when he tried to discretely kiss her.

Which was discreet at all, what with everyone watching them like a hawk.

It was a very nice night, one Marinette wished wouldn’t end, but alas, in the end, she had to go back to Paris.

While it was only one in the morning in Gotham, it was already seven in Paris, and she would have only three hours of sleep before having to get up to meet Alya and Chloé for a study session.

And, ok, maybe she got back at eight in the end because she couldn’t detach her lips from Damian’s.

Marinette and Damian passed their own tests easily, saying goodbye to their high school life.

The Eurasian girl was disappointed that she didn’t get to go to Damian’s graduation — she loved how it was such a big event in the US — but Jason sent her all the pictures they had taken, so it made up for her absence.

They didn’t get to see each other much during the summer. Just a trip here and there to Gotham thanks to Kaalki. Damian had to figure out a lot of things about Robin not being in Gotham for at least three years — five years if he decided to get a master degree — and all the paperwork needed for an American student studying in France.

Plus, his friend Jon was forcing him to spend time with it as it would be a long time before they would get to see each other.

Marinette has been accepted into the Fashion University of her choice and had immediately filled all the paperwork needed to finalize the registration.

Her summer has been busy with helping her parents in the bakery and going on a trip with Claude, Allan, and Allegra, and then on another trip with the original class from middle school. Even Lila was there and was actually pleasant.

All in all, August was there, and Damian and Marinette had finally moved in the Wayne’s penthouse. They had redecorated to make it their place and were exhausted after two weeks of painting and Ikea trips.

They were cuddling on the couch, Titus, Cloud, and Alfred the cat sleeping in a pile at their feet.

The couple was exhausted, but happy and ready for the next step in their life.

Marinette turned slightly so she could face her boyfriend. She smiled at him as he raised an eyebrow at her, and kiss him softly.

“Hey, I love you, you know?”

Damian kissed her cheek.

“Yeah, I know,” he said, bringing her closer. “I love you, too.”

Tag List:

@bigpicklebananatree @animegirlweeb @crazylittlemunchkin @northernbluetongue @cutechip @justafanwarrior @iloontjeboontje @resignedcatservant @maribat-is-lifeblood @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @toodaloo-kangaroo @mikantsume @dast218 @amayakans @zestyzealot @lunarwolfspn @corabeth11 @marinettepotterandplagg @olynix @aestheticnpoetic @hot-neighbour-nextdoor @thehufflepuffranger-blog @k-poplunardreams @tis-i-beanbandit @bluesimani @laurcad123 @notmycupoftea26

#maribat #daminette #maridami #damian x marinette #ml x dc #mlb x dc #miraculous x dc

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the-and-sign-anon · 4 years

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Christmas Date

Pairing: Michael x reader

Summary: Fake dating, holidays, happy family, mutual pining, pretty much everything I want for Christmas but won’t get. I spent so many hours on this and it is completely self-indulgent, but maybe y’all will like it too.

Word count: 4,339

Masterlist

“I’m so screwed.”

“Hello to you, too.”

Michael tossed you your apron as you came around the counter to continue your shift. Balthazar had left a few minutes after you started your break, bidding you farewell for the holidays and leaving with his scarf thrown dramatically over his shoulder. Your best friend now stood with you, restocking cups and testing the sharpie he wrote names with.

“Normally I’d laugh, but this is serious. I’m going home for the holidays and spending two weeks with my family.”

“Aw, how terrible.” When the sharpie turned out to be dead, he tossed it to you and you threw it in the trash. “I thought you liked your family.”

“I do, but there’s a problem. I don’t have a boyfriend.”

You took a rosy-cheeked girl’s order and Michael started making it while she paid and took a seat in the corner.

“What’s so bad about that?”

“I told my mom I did.”

“Y/N!”

“What?” You called the girl’s name when her drink was finished and took the next order from a smiling couple and another from the older mailman you served nearly every day.

“Look, I was going to tell her I’m still single, but when she asked what I was doing for Thanksgiving and why I couldn’t come home for the holiday, I just panicked and lied.”

“So your mom has spent the last month thinking you have a boyfriend when you don’t?”

“Pretty much, yeah. And now that I’m coming home, she insisted that I bring him to meet her.”

You brought the couple their drinks while Michael passed the mailman his drink over the counter. While you moved the pastries around in the display to steal a few donut holes, Michael spoke up again.

“If you need a fake boyfriend for the holidays, why not ask someone to help you? Or say that you broke up?”

“I can’t expect someone to come stay with me and my family for two weeks and pretend that we’re dating. And if I say we just broke up, she’ll spend the entire time trying to comfort me or set me up with more of the guys back home.”

“Why don’t I do it then?”

The donut hole you’d tossed in the air hit your face as you stared at him. Why would Michael of all people be willing to be your pretend boyfriend? You weren’t upset by the idea; you’d always thought he was cute and you knew each other better than anyone, but it didn’t make sense to you.

“You- what?”

“I don’t have any plans for the holiday break. I can help you out and pretend to be your boyfriend for two weeks.”

“I thought you were visiting your brothers and dad?”

“I was, but plans changed. Gabriel and Lucifer have some friends they’re going to London with and Raphael left to study abroad in Brazil two months ago.”

“What about your dad? And your aunt? Wasn’t she supposed to be there too? You haven’t seen her in years.”

You wiped down the counter and cleared the table the couple had been at, then came back and looked at your best friend for an answer.

“She has a place in Atlantic City now, so my dad wants to fly out to visit. He said I could do whatever I wanted for the holidays. I thought about flying out to join them, but I know they have a lot of catching up to do and I don’t need to hear my dad’s same stories for the hundredth time.”

“You don’t love hearing about the time he had a book signing and some minor celebrity we’ve never heard of elsewhere came? Or about how popular his cat blog is?”

You both laughed at that. Over the last two years you’d been friends with Michael, you’d met his dad a dozen times and heard the same stories every time. Chuck Shurley was a weird guy, but you thought he was endlessly entertaining. Michael was more tolerant of his odd father than the rest of his brothers, which only made your interactions with his family even funnier.

“So… you’d really do this for me? Come home with me and be my boyfriend so I can get my mom off my back?”

“Sure. I’d do anything to help you out. And I’d love to finally meet your sister. Claire sounds a lot like Gabriel.”

“Oh, you’ll love her. She’s a terror, unless that’s changed in the last seven months.”

_______________

You spent the following three days and flight home going over what Michael would need to know for the trip. He already knew most of the important details about your family despite never having met any of them, and you didn’t need to lie very much about your relationship to pretend you were dating. All you really had to lie about was when you started dating and why you didn’t talk about him to your family.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

“I’m certain, Y/N. Besides, even if I wasn’t, it’s too late to turn back now. Are you ready?”

You nodded softly and when you knocked on the door, Michael took your other hand in his. Your sister opened the door with her blonde hair tucked under a gray beanie and a wide smile on her face. She launched herself into your arms and dragged you both inside as your mom shouted a greeting from the kitchen.

“Y/N! You’re finally home! What took you so long?”

“Uh… I’m a broke college student?”

You took off your boots as Michael chuckled at your comment and Claire seemed to notice him for the first time. She looked him over; you knew she was sizing him up while he put his own boots beside yours and locked his arm with yours as you led him to the kitchen.

“So you’re the guy my sister can’t come visit for?”

“Claire; not funny!”

She snickered anyways, grabbing a cookie from the stack beside empty glasses waiting for milk. Michael, to his credit, took it well and laughed right back. You handed him the milk from the fridge and he poured a glass for each of you while you greeted your mom.

“Hi mom! It’s good to see you.”

Jody turned around and gave you a big hug. You really did love your mom and if you weren’t so busy at college, you’d come home to visit more often. Her excited smile at the sight of Michael only made you feel worse about lying to her.

“Hey sweetheart. I’m glad you made it home safe.” She glanced over to Michael and Claire, who were stacking up cookies to see how many Claire could fit in her mouth. “And you must be Michael, who I’ve heard so little about.”

She handed her spatula to you so you could finish unloading the last tray of fresh chocolate chip cookies and turn off the oven while she gave Michael a hug.

“I’m sorry about that, really. I don’t tell my family much about what I do to avoid the endless teasing from my brothers, so Y/N and I agreed to keep things sort of quiet until we were sure we really have something.”

Claire made a sappy sweet face, then gagged when you caught her eye. Jody ignored her youngest daughter’s teasing and waved off the explanation.

“It’s fine. I’m just happy I get to meet you now. We all are.”

Michael glanced at you with a questioning look, but you just shook your head in confusion.

“”Mom, what do you mean, ‘we’?”

That’s when you heard the door open again and more voices filled the space. You turned to look out to the living room and saw John and Mary Winchester along with their sons Sam and Dean, your other sister Alex, Donna Hanscum (who you had considered an aunt for years), and Bobby Singer. You’d grown up with Sam and Dean visiting every few months when their parents were on long jobs, Bobby was a sort of father figure to you, and your sister had been going to college on the other side of the country and working constantly, so you hadn’t seen her in nearly a year.

You kept Michael as close as you could the whole night. You caught up with the Winchesters, laughing at Dean’s stories about working as a mechanic with a friend of his and giving Sam a sympathetic pat on the shoulder as he described the stress of going to law school. You made vague plans to meet up with him and his girlfriend Jessica soon. Your sisters dragged Michael off eventually and all you could do was look at him sympathetically before he was gone. Bobby and Donna gladly filled your attention while he was gone and before you knew it, you were having dinner and Michael was back by your side.

Michael did a good job of answering the probing questions of your family and not getting distracted by Claire and Dean’s teasing and goofy faces. You couldn’t stop smiling the whole night. You didn’t stop to consider how natural it felt to hold his hand, or sit close together. What actually got your attention was how easily you could tell stories together, taking turns and filling in details as you described your first two years of college.

“So, we’ve been talking all night, but we haven’t heard the story of how you actually met. Y/N has been pretty vague about everything when it concerns you.” Mary just had to ask about it.

“Well, it was nothing particularly special. We both started working at the cafe within a few weeks of each other. My aunt owned a cafe of her own for several years, so I already had a lot of experience, which is why I was assigned to train Y/N when she started.”

“I was lucky I learned from him instead of Balthazar; Michael was out sick about a week after I started and Bal tried to convince me that every drink had three shots of cinnamon in it. When that didn’t work, he tried to see how much he could draw on me while I was focused on helping customers or restocking.” You passed the story back and forth as if you’d told it a hundred times.

“Honestly, I was the lucky one. As soon as she came in for her first shift looking completely confused and stressed, I knew she would be one of my favorite people. I’m so used to being the stressed out one that it’s nice to have someone to look after and help relax.”

Your stomach fluttered a little at his words. He’d never told you that he liked taking care of you before. Michael was always considerate and sweet, and sure; there had been more than one occasion when you were sleep deprived and studying at two in the morning so he took away your laptop and books to make you sleep. But you didn’t know he liked to do that; you figured it was just a responsibility he felt he had as your best friend.

You were so quickly lost in thought that you only focused again when he took your hand in his and smiled softly as he finished the story. When you glanced at him, he could see you were getting sleepy and distracted.

“And I think that’s all the sappy stories from the lovebirds tonight. Y/N, why don’t you show Michael to the guest room across the hall and you can both get some sleep?” Your mom didn’t even need to see you to know how you were feeling. Michael couldn’t help but hope he could get that good at reading you someday.

“Yeah, that sounds good. Come on.”

Everyone bid you goodnight and started talking a little more softly as Michael gently tugged you up off the couch and gestured with his free hand for you to lead the way. You did so, showing him the tidy guest room where your sisters had dropped his bag hours before. Your own room was just across the hall. You figured he would want to go straight to sleep, but Michael had you come with him and sit on the edge of the bed next to him.

“How are you feeling? You weren’t overwhelmed or anything, right? And I didn’t do anything to make you uncomfortable?”

“No, not at all. I wanted to ask if you were uncomfortable. I honestly didn’t know so many people were coming. I thought it would just be my mom and sisters.”

You were nearly falling asleep talking, so Michael motioned for you to move and you both got comfortable leaning against the headboard with your head on his shoulder.

“I think it went well. Better than I expected. And I didn’t mind the extra company. Everyone was really sweet and welcoming.”

“That’s good.” You glanced up at him in the dim light from the Christmas lights on the house drifting through the window. “Can I ask what my sisters dragged you off to talk about?”

He laughed softly, his shoulders jostling a little, then let you nestle your head back into a comfortable position again.

“They wanted to make sure I was doing everything I could to make you happy. Your sisters really care about you.”

“They didn’t say anything bad?”

“Well, Claire threatened to leave my body gift-wrapped in a ditch for Christmas if I hurt you, but that was it.”

“Yeah… that’s my sister.”

__________________

You kept talking, but you couldn’t tell when you both drifted off. When you woke up, you were still in your jeans and sweater with your head on Michael’s chest and his arms wrapped tightly around you. He was still fast asleep with a gentle smile on his face. You almost didn’t want to get up; to break this pure moment when you could just be with him.

A week ago, you never thought you could curl up together and talk until you fell asleep. Sure, you’d always wanted to, but you figured it was just wishful thinking. The realization that this could only happen during this holiday season made you almost wish you hadn’t asked Michael to do this at all. He was doing something no one should have to do for their best friend and it was killing you knowing that his best friend was all you were.

You carefully escaped his arms and slipped across the hall to your room to grab a new outfit and change after a quick shower. You found your mom in the kitchen making coffee and pancakes. When she saw you, she smiled and flipped a pancake while you grabbed a mug of your own.

“Good morning, sweetheart. How did you sleep?”

“Great.” You couldn’t force yourself to sound happy as you said it, knowing that it was completely true.

“You don’t sound like it. What happened?”

“It’s nothing mom, don’t worry.”

Claire came bounding into the kitchen with a mischievous smile on her face.

“Hey, Y/N. I saw you didn’t make it back to your room last night.”

“Claire!” You looked over to your mom, “Nothing happened; we were talking for a little while and we both fell asleep before we knew it.”

Your mom held up her hands and chuckled.

“I have nothing to say. If you say you didn’t do anything, I believe you. Now come help with breakfast.”

You spent the morning making breakfast, setting the table, and waking up Alex to join you all. Michael came wandering out to the kitchen while you were looking through the fridge. You lifted your head when he came in and smiled softly, then called to your mom.

“Morning, Mike. Mom; we’re out of orange juice.”

“Why don’t you and Michael run to the store and get some then?”

You looked back to your companion in his gray t-shirt and black lounge pants. His hair was messy and he still looked just a little bit asleep, but he nodded and went to grab his and your boots. You grabbed a jacket for each of you and your wallet, then met him at the door.

“We’ll be back soon!”

You closed the door behind you and Michael took your hand again as you carefully moved down the ice covered driveway. Things continued that way all week. By Christmas Eve, you swore you were dying. You couldn’t stand being like this with Michael without him knowing how it affected you. You tried to act normal during dinner and the reading of a Christmas story for the year. Around nine in the evening, your mom and Mary brought out the hot chocolate and the conversation turned back to the two of you again.

“We’re all glad you come this week, Michael. It’s been great to meet you and you obviously make Y/N very happy.” Bobby sat back with his mug across from you and Michael. He seemed less grumpy than usual and the effort he was making to be kind to Michael warmed your heart.

“Thank you, sir. I try.” The arm he had wrapped around you pulled you a little closer and you nearly started to cry.

Within a few minutes, you found a way out of the room and went outside. You’d forgotten your shoes and coat, but you had to get out of there. The door closed softly behind you and your breath left white clouds in the air. If you hadn’t been so distressed, you would have loved the street lined with Christmas lights of every color and the faint sound of movies playing inside. By the time the door opened again, your hands were shaking and you could feel the snow soaking through your socks and the bottom few inches of your pants.

“Hey. What are you doing out here?”

“Admiring the snow?” Your excuse sounded more like a question and you knew she would be upset by your response.

“I noticed you didn’t seem very happy tonight. Is there something wrong?”

Claire was by your side then, wrapped in her coat and plopping a knit hat on your head. She knew you’d come out here for a reason and she didn’t want to force you back inside or try to smother you, so she didn’t.

“I think I’m in love with Michael…” You didn’t know any other way to say it.

“Well, that’s a good thing. Right? You seem pretty happy together and he’s obviously crazy about you.”

“We actually aren’t together.” You took a deep breath as you felt her shocked stare on you. “I told mom a month ago that I had a boyfriend and I forgot about it until she wanted to meet him this week. I panicked and when I mentioned it at work, Michael offered to help.”

“Wow.”

“I know, I know. I’m a terrible person and an even worse daughter. I just feel so awful that I dragged Michael into this and then realized I love him.”

Claire could have made a snarky comment or made fun of you, but she just wrapped an arm around you and rubbed your arm to warm you up. You leaned your head on her shoulder and sighed again, watching the puff of warm air dissipate.

“I meant ‘wow’ as in ‘wow, how blind are you?’ Y/N. I could have told you the minute you walked in together that you love him and, like I said, he’s obviously crazy about you too. Just tell him. You don’t have to tell mom and the others about the lie if you don’t want to, but he needs to know that it isn’t a lie for you anymore.”

“ I kind of hate it when you actually give really good advice.”

“Try not to sound too shocked. I give great advice all the time.”

The door opened a third time and Claire glanced back before stepping away, giving you an encouraging look, and going back inside. Michael came closer and draped a coat over your shoulders before setting your boots in front of you on the porch.

“Hey.”

He held your hand again as he helped you slip your wet, cold feet into the boots.

“Can I ask what’s wrong?”

“I… I came to a realization this past week. Something that could very easily ruin everything.”

When you looked up from shoving your hands into the pockets of what you realized was Michael’s coat, you caught sight of the shocked expression on his face. He almost looked scared too.

“You figured it out?” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “I knew I should have tried harder to hide it. I just- I really liked getting to be your boyfriend and hold your hand and help you and your family make meals and decorate the tree and-” He cut himself off and took a deep breath. “I got too comfortable with the idea of being with you like I’ve wanted to for so long and I’m so sorry if I made you uncomfortable or upset. I can leave tomorrow if you want me to and-”

“Michael; stop. What are you talking about?”

If he looked nervous before, he was downright terrified now.

“You don’t know? Then what did you realize?”

“I was going to say that I realized I’m in love with you and that if you didn’t feel the same way, I’d help you leave tomorrow and explain everything to my family alone.” You took a second to think, then reached out for his hand again. “Were you trying to tell me the same thing?”

“Yeah…”

“Boy are we stupid.”

Despite the cold and the dark, you both burst into laughter. You couldn’t believe you’d both convinced yourselves that it was best to split up to avoid upsetting each other. When you caught your breath, he wrapped you in his arms and pulled you close. You shuffled closer in your soaking wet boots and leaned in. He kissed your forehead and cupped your cheek in his much warmer hand.

“Now that we have all that figured out, how about we go back inside? We can tell your family or we can just go right to sleep, but either way you need to get warmed up.”

You went back inside together and went straight to your room to dry off your feet and change into warmer clothes. Michael waited outside your door. When Claire walked by, she smirked at him and quietly started talking.

“You finally told each other?”

“Yes, Claire. Thank you for making me be honest with her. Now go to bed.”

“You may be my brother-in-law someday, but that doesn’t mean you can tell me what to do.” She stuck her tongue out at him and moved down the hall to her room.

A few minutes later, you came out in thick gray sweats, fuzzy socks, and a cozy sweatshirt. Michael couldn’t help the bright smile that crossed his face as he recognized the sweatshirt as one of his.

“When did you find the time to steal that from me?”

“Do you remember midterms, when you fell asleep reading at three in the morning?”

He shook his head fondly at you and pulled you close again.

“You’re never getting it back, by the way. I hope you know that.”

“I couldn’t expect anything else from you dear. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

You kissed his cheek, hugged him one more time, then went to bed. He spent half the night awake thinking about you and smiling like a fool, but he couldn’t help it. He’d never had a better Christmas.

________________

After a lengthy discussion, you and Michael decided to tell your respective families about your relationship at the same time; from the airport right before your flight so they wouldn’t have time to yell at you. You didn’t want to upset your mom on Christmas, so you’d spent the rest of your trip the way it started. You were just as comfortable and affectionate the whole time and the only difference was the smirks and proud looks Claire sent you both.

“Hey, mom. Yeah, we’re about to get on the plane.”

“Hey dad! I’m glad you had a nice holiday. You too, boys. All of you better be safe.”

“I miss you too, but we’ll be back soon. I just had one more thing to tell you.”

“Hi Aunt Amara; it’s good to hear your voice. I had a bit of news I wanted to share with all of you at once.”

You looked at each other and silently encouraged the conversations.

“Michael and I have only actually been together since Christmas Eve; I lied about having a boyfriend so you wouldn’t be upset and he agreed to pretend to be my boyfriend for the holidays before we realized we actually love each other. Love you, see you soon, bye!”

You immediately hung up and watched Michael finish his explanation.

“-yes, Lucifer, I’m actually dating her now. If you want proof, just get back here and visit me.” He looked at you and rolled his eyes over his brother’s comments. “Thank Aunt Amara; at least someone believes me. I will talk to you all later, we have to go.”

“I love you all! We’ll talk soon!” He smiled fondly at you as the voices of his family members drifted through the phone returning the sentiment.

“Love you all; goodbye!”

He hung up and you both went to board the plane back to your college town.

“I think that went well. But I totally should have ratted out Claire for her involvement. That would have been fun.”

“Well, there’s always Easter; you can get her in trouble then.”

“What would I do without you, Mike?”

“Keep lying to your mom about nonexistent boyfriends.”

You smacked his arm as you sat down, then rested your head on his shoulder.

“Don’t judge the lies; that’s what got us together.”

“True.”

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halfgclden · 4 years

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Cards for Sorrow... | Abel&Gabriele

Date: October 30th, 2020

Summary: A page delivers a message. A plan is made.

It took a lot of Abel's strength to not immediately tell Gabriele everything that had happened that night when they saw him, but they restrained themself, if only for Rory's sake. However, once them and their cousin parted ways for the evening, Abel was back at the tarot reading tent, and, once through the queue, they sat in front of Gab and placed their hands face down on the table. "I have a problem, and I think you might be helpful in solving it. At least interested in it."

The night was nearing the end and Gabriele was starting to feel the strain of continually reading cards for the citizens of New Athens. Still, he smiled when Abel sat before him, not noticing the strain on their face. He shuffled his deck as they spoke. "Awesome. I can't promise tarot will give you answers to your problem, but we can definitely uncover some signs and guidance. Want to tell me more about it?"

Abel shook their head. "No, not tarot. Ag, I should've explained that better." They moved past lamenting the fact that they had not been clear in their first statement in order to be clear in the next one. "It's a ghost problem." They watched as Gabriele shuffled the cards. "Have you ever dealt with a possession?"

His hand slipped mid shuffle and one card fell face-up to the table— the Page of Pentacles. Gabriele frowned at the card, then at Abel, blinking for a few moments. A slight chill travelled through his body. "No, I haven't," he said. "But I believe I'm meant to be helping you with whatever is going on. Can you tell me more?"

Abel looked from the card on the table to Gabriele’s face, and their lips twitched upward involuntarily, reminded of Jacob. “Ah,” they sighed when he admitted that he had no experience, but had to admit that their spirits were slightly lifted (no pun intended) to know that someone would be helping them. “It’s Major. Being possessed. By... There’s one main ghost, but I believe there’s more, stuffed in there, and loud, and violent.”

Another chill moved down his spine and a small weight settled in his stomach; Gabriele's frown deepened as Abel explained. "Major," he mumbled, then he pressed a hand to his chin as his worry grew. "Do you know when this happened?" he asked. "Is he still in there? I only spoke to him once and I felt something strange, but he told me it was because he had a near death experience." Had he really missed something this drastic?

Abel shook their head again. "Nee. I had a dream about it, I believe, a few weeks ago, but I didn't know what it meant until I saw him." They frowned deeply under their mask. "I believe he's still in there. I silenced the ghosts, and he still spoke, and he seemed dazed. The ghost is not that good of an actor. He regained control after a few moments, then ran off again." Abel cleared their throat. "This was after the near death experience."

The more he learned, the more sure Gabriele was that this was exactly what he'd been looking for all this time. "Okay," he said quietly. He was partially relieved that he hadn't overlooked a possession, but it was still disturbing to know there was one at all. "I had a vision, too, about two months ago. I'm sure this is related." He glanced around the room, then picked up the card, folding it back into his deck. "Do you know who the ghost is?"

Abel nodded now, not taking their eyes off of Gab. "I doubt two visions about the same event are not connected." They ran their tongue over their teeth and sighed. "I think that it's the one that died on the quest in February. Lucien?"

Gabriele made a disconcerted noise. "I see..." He closed his eyes, rubbed his brow. "It was a violent death, yes? Sometimes ghosts have a hard time moving on when they are suddenly killed. But I'm surprised I didn't see anything between then and when... this happened." He shuddered, disturbed anew at the idea.

Abel nodded once more. “Violent, jarring, and now he’s been brought back.” They curled their hand into a fist on the table. “Ya, well... I don’t know. If it was his body, I could turn a blind eye, but now I have to get him out of there.” They sighed and leaned back in their chair. “Every time I’ve encountered him, I’ve been missing my spear, or else I would have reaped him on the spot.”

Gabriele nodded in agreement, up until Abel mentioned their spear. His face grew a little guarded and he leaned forward. “Are you sure that won’t also hurt Major?” he asked. He drummed his fingers on the table as he thought about it. “I’d like to help you, but I want to... try to make sure the host has minimal damage done to him.”

Abel set their jaw, pushing their headband up so that they could look at Gabriele with both eyes. "I'm not sure," they admitted, "but Major is in a worse pain right now. I don't know how... lucid he is, but having someone else in charge of you while you watch? A fate worse than death."

"Porca troia..." Gabriele mumbled as a wave of nausea rolled over him. "I hope for his sake that he's not lucid at all. I can't imagine what it must be— Well, I think I can, but whatever I'm picturing must be tamer than reality." He frowned again, fighting the urge to do a reading for himself for where he should even begin. "He doesn't deserve to spend the final weeks of his life like this. Let's try to make sure he comes out of this still living. Do you know where he's gone off to?"

Abel let Gabriele roll the thought over in his mind and shook their head. "No, but I know who brought him back from the dead. Do you know Jordan? He's a child of Hecate, and I saw him in my dream." They sighed. "He's a brother of my friend. Known to be reclusive, but not this demented."

Gabriele pressed his fingers to his temple and rubbed small circles there. "In my vision, I saw... A bird, coming back to life. Maybe he's done this before on a small scale." He was quiet again for a few moments. "I have heard of Jordan, but I don't believe we've spoken. I can't understand why he'd do this, unless he knew Lucien."

Abel set their jaw once more, a wave of anger at their inability to do anything thus far shooting through them. "Because he could? Do people not just test out their power to see if they can do things? Have you seen Jurassic Park?"

Despite the seriousness of this conversation, Gabriele smiled just a little. "I have not," he said, shaking his head. "You could be right. But I suppose I like to believe people are slightly more... forgivable? Regardless, we should try to figure out what spell he did."

Abel dragged their fingertips along the table, wishing there was some splinter to pick at. "I do not wish to give people the benefit of the doubt when they do horrific things. Can't stand the heat, don't attempt necromancy." They frowned again. "How will we figure that out? I can ask him."

Gabriele nodded in understanding, not wishing to argue the philosophy of this when there were more pressing issues. “Only if you believe that he will speak on it willingly.” He snapped his fingers. “I was hoping to talk to the children of Hecate for some personal research, maybe I can discover something that way.”

Abel shrugged one shoulder. "If I ask him directly and present him with the facts, I can gauge by his reaction what the best course of action would be. Maybe you can figure out the spell, and then I can speak with my father to decide what the necessary punishment is."

Gabriele didn't comment on the subject of punishment— he would happily let that be Abel's domain unless his goddess asked him to do otherwise. Letting the comment glide past him, he instead focused in on how he could get into the Hecate cabin. "I believe I've seen Jordan at the library, so I can approach him there."

Abel picked uselessly at the table again and nodded. "Sure. Let me know what information you glean from him, and I'll follow up, I suppose."

"Can I have your phone number?" he asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He had to admit, he thought they'd be exchanging information under different circumstances, but he could accept this.

Abel reached out as though to take Gab's phone, but didn't want a mishap with technology to turn this conversation (even more) sour. They recited it to him instead, then drummed their fingers on the table. "If I don't answer right away, don't be afraid to send a smoke signal or whisper my name into a hollowed out tree."

Gabriele, once again, was amused despite the seriousness of the situation. He also wasn’t sure if Abel meant it (their abilities were strange so Gabriele was willing to accept anything) or if it was a joke. This just made it funnier. “Noted,” he said with a small hum as he saved Abel as a contact. “If you need to reach me, I’m almost always on Instagram. No magical forms of contact for me, unfortunately.”

"Just the magic of technology," Abel sighed and pushed their chair back so that they could stand. "Your cards are lovely, by the way," they said once they'd made sure that they had everything. "I meant to say that earlier, but the other subject seemed a bit more pressing.”

“Oh,” Gabriele looked down at his deck and smiled. “Grazie. Yes, this was definitely more pressing. I will reach out to you very soon as soon as I learn more. And... I appreciate you coming to me. I think we can both help each other a great deal to save our friend.”

Abel felt that it would be in poor taste to point out that they weren't really friends with Major and were just doing this because it felt like the right thing to do, so they nodded. "I appreciate the help. You were the first person I thought of." Knowing that there were undoubtedly more people lined up for a reading from Gab, they took a step back into the shadows, held up a hand, and disappeared.

#c: abel #c: abelgabriele #cards for sorrow

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mistydacat · 4 years

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Cursed || A Felinette Story || Chapter 1

Who would've thought that a seemingly ordinary Thursday afternoon, a letter would arrive in the mail that would change their life?

Marinette sure didn't.

So she was surprised when her parents called her down from her room, claiming that a letter had arrived in the mail for her.

At first, she was confused. It couldn't be from any of her friends; they could just text her. Who would send her a letter?

It must be something super important. Marinette thought to herself. People were only sent letters these days if it was an invitation to some sort of fancy event. Though, she supposed schools sent out letters sometimes as well.

Marinette tried to rack her brain for anything she could have done that would have been worth sending a letter home for, but came up with nothing. Maybe Lila had come up with another lie to get her into trouble again? However, she hadn't been in school for a while, so that didn't make sense.

But one look at her parents' faces destroyed that theory, much to her relief. They were smiling at her.

So now, she was back to confused. Instead of further dwelling on it and jumping to conclusions, like she usually did, Marinette decided to just ask.

"A letter? Who is it from?"

"Do you know that art school that's not too far from here? Lycée D'Arts en Hausse?" Her mother asked.

"Yeah?" Marinette responded, unsure of where this was going.

Her dad handed her the letter with her name printed on it. A similar envelope lay on the counter, opened. She could just make out her parents' names on it from where she was standing.

She opened up hers and began reading.

Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng,

We, Lycée D'Arts en Hausse's talent scouts, have found the exceptional work you have done as a designer. We have seen the world-renowned rock star, Jagged Stone's new album cover, and the Pigeon Feather hat you skillfully created for a recent Gabriel fashion show. We have unanimously agreed that your talent is something we would happily accept at this school.

Attached to this letter is a pamphlet that features some of the many things Lycee D'Arts en Hausse offers to its design students.

If you think that this school is fit for you, you can send an email to [email protected] so we can book you an interview and start the school transferring process.

Sincerely,

Lycée D'Arts en Hausse

Marinette jaw dropped.

"No way," she breathed out, looking wide-eyed at her parents.

"It's your choice if you go or not, of course. I know you'll probably miss your friends, but you can always meet up with them on weekends and after school. You could even arrange to spend your lunch hour with them if you'd really like to," her mother said, offering her a comforting smile.

"This could be an excellent opportunity for you to get a head start in the fashion industry." Her father butted in.

Marinette, still in shock, could only nod at her parents. She was still trying to process what was happening.

She weighed the pros and cons. On the plus side, her dad was right, this would be a great opportunity. She could go to class with other young designers like her and have a professional teacher. She would probably learn things that she wouldn't have been able to teach herself!

But, on the downside, she was moving to a new school. At her new school, she could get away from Chloe and Lila, although they don't really bother her as much as they used to. She didn't know anyone there, and, unlike what would happen if she transferred at the beginning of the year, she would be the only new student. People had already established their friend groups. What if no one wanted to talk to her? Or worse, what if there was someone ever more awful than Chloe and Lila? What would she do then?

"Marinette?"

Marinette blinked back into reality, created by her parents' worried faces.

"Sorry, I'm just... taking it all in, I guess."

Their expressions relaxed. "You can take a few days to think it over if you'd like. This is a big decision." Her mother comforted.

"Thanks, Maman. Thanks, Papa." She kissed both her parents' cheeks. "I love you both so much."

"We love you too, sweetie." Her mother smiled.

»»————- ⚜ ————-««

Marinette went up to her room. She felt that she needed to ask Tikki for her opinion, then she would video call Alya and ask for her advice.

"I'm so happy for you, Marinette!" Tikki beamed.

"Do you think I should go?" Marinette asked her.

"It would be a pretty significant change for you, but not necessarily a bad one! Think of all the new experiences you'll go through!" The kwami of creation cheered.

Marinette sighed. "I don't know. I guess I'm just..."

"Nervous?" Tikki finished for her.

She nodded.

"You have to go through changes in your life, Marinette. It's inevitable. But it makes you a stronger person." Tikki assured her.

"You're right." The young designer smiled at her. "I'm still gonna call Alya and ask for her opinion, though."

Tikki nodded. "Go ahead!"

Marinette unlocked her phone and texted Alya.

ThatOneDesigner: Hey, I need to talk to you about this super important thing.

Alya responded quickly.

ThatOneLadyblogger:???

ThatOneLadyblogger: What is it??????

ThatOneDesigner: Can I call you?

ThatOneDesigner: Sure.

Marinette hit the call button and watched as Alya's face filled the screen after she accepted.

"Hey girl, what's up?" Asked Alya.

"So... I don't know how to say this, but..." Marinette started.

"But what?"

"There's this super awesome arts school that liked my work and offered me a spot there in design!" She blurted out quickly.

Alya gasped. "Oh my gosh, Girl! That's so awesome! I'm super excited for you! Did you respond to them yet? Do you know when you're gonna start? I'm soo jealous! Oh my gosh, tell me everything!"

Marinette smiled at her best friend's reaction. How could she ever have thought she would react otherwise?

She quickly filled Alya in on all the details she knew of.

"-So, I called you to ask for your opinion." Marinette finished.

"Girl, there is no way I am letting you pass up this opportunity! Do you really have a reason not to go?" Alya told her.

Marinette pursed her lips. "Well, I was scared of what you'd think. I didn't want it to seem like I was abandoning you."

Alya let out a fake gasp. "How dare you think so lowly of me!" She yelled dramatically, striking a classic 'woe-is-me' pose. "What kind of best friend would I be if I wasn't extremely over-supportive of you going to this school? Marinette, you should be ashamed! Ashamed, I tell you!"

Both girls simultaneously burst into a fit of giggles, which then erupted into roaring laughter. They didn't stop until they were struggling to breathe, tears forming in the corners of their eyes.

Things always seemed a hundred times funnier when they came out of the mouths of your best friends.

"You know what would totally be awesome?" Alya began after (mostly) recovering from their laugh attack. "You should definitely introduce me, Nino, and Adrien to any new friends you make at your school. That way, we could have one giant friend group! Also, I'll need to run a background check and approve of all your new friends. I don't want you to befriend anyone that could potentially hurt you."

Marinette laughed. "Alya, I don't even know if I'll make any new friends."

"There is no way anyone could meet you and not instantly want to be your best friend. Literally, our whole class loves you, except Chloe, but I don't think she loves anybody. You'll make tons of new friends."

"Alya, you know what? I think I'm gonna go."

Alya squealed. "I knew I could convince you! But you have to call us every day and have lunch with us at least once a week. Also, if you're not busy, we have to meet up on weekends."

Marinette rolled her eyes playfully. "Obviously. Those are all given."

"I can't believe you're gonna go to a fancy art school!"

"Why do I feel like you're more excited about this than I am?" Marinette teased.

"That's because I am. Overly-supportive best friend, remember?"

Marinette laughed again. Talking to Alya had really hyped her up for the move.

"I've gotta go help my mom with some stuff. See you tomorrow?"

Marinette nodded, giving her friend a little wave. "Bye!"

"Byeeee!" Alya blew a kiss at the screen, then hung up.

»»————- ⚜ ————-««

The next few days went by rather quickly. Marinette had come home from school on Friday and told her parents that she had made her decision. The next thing she did was send an email to the school telling them that she was interested in enrolling. They sent their response back rather quickly and scheduled an appointment for her, which she attended a few days later.

They mostly just gave her a tour of the building and introduced her to some potential teachers. She met the principal, Mme. Ambroise, who had seemed to be a very kind woman who genuinely cared for each one of her students.

A week later was her last day at her current school, Collège Françoise Dupont, and boy was it emotional.

Her classmates gathered around her, offering their goodbyes and wishing her good luck. Some have even brought gifts. Rose had handed her friendship bracelet with her name on it, and a quick glance showed that the entire girl squad had one as well.

Mylene, Rose, Juleka, and Ivan had also gotten Luka to help them make her a song that she downloaded and vowed to listen to on her first day. Nino had also made a few remixes of it, so she had a variety.

Nathanial had drawn a portrait of her as a half-phoenix, to represent rebirth and starting over.

Alya had gotten her a set of brand new charcoal pencils, and Adrien had gotten her the prettiest sketchbook she had ever seen. It had the Eiffel Tower on it, which he said was because he had heard her say it inspired her. He and Alya had thought that since she would be starting at a new school, she should have some new supplies to really start off fresh.

The gifts really touched her heart, and when it was time to hug everyone and say their last goodbyes, half the class was almost in tears.

»»————- ⚜ ————-««

Marinette was very tempted to collapse onto her bed the second she got home and contemplate her entire life, but she needed to get her things ready for the next day.

She emptied her backpack of all the workbooks and papers from her old school, but then she decided to dump everything else out so she could clean her bag. There were a lot of crumpled up papers and even if you stray pencils.

Once she was done, she put in her pencil case and a few other supplies, along with the new sketchbook and pencils she had gotten.

When Marinette was done, she realized how much spare time she had since she didn't have any homework to do, and decided to clean her room. Tomorrow was a new beginning, why not start off with a tidy bedroom?

She cleaned up and put away some stray fabrics, yarn, and thread. She also took the time to hang up the art Nathanial had given her.

Marinette stared at her walls, hesitating. Should she take the pictures of Adrien down?

This was supposed to be the start of a new era for her, right? Adrien didn't seem to have returned any of her affections, so maybe she should move on?

No, what was she thinking!? Just because she was moving to a new school doesn't mean she was giving up!

But at the same time, what if she met someone else? Adrien was clearly uninterested, maybe she was thinking these thoughts because she had already partially moved on. She had even gotten over her stutter.

Marinette's hand hovered over one of the pictures, then she shook her head. She would just wait and see if her feelings changed the next time she saw him.

»»————- ⚜ ————-««

Marinette spent the rest of her day helping her parents in the bakery and working on a leather skirt. She didn't usually work with leather, as it was one of the more finicky materials to sew, so she was getting some practice in.

Marinette went to sleep early that night, grateful that Hawkmoth had decided not to release an akuma that night. She hoped that maybe tomorrow she'd actually get to school on time. »»————- ⚜ ————-««

Cursed Masterlist

Read it on Wattpad

Read it on AO3

mistydacat Masterlist

#felinette #miraculous ladybug fanfic #miraculous ladybug

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adhdalistair · 5 years

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ok i decided i’m going to put my reactions to good omens in six separate read more text posts, one for each ep

here’s the first here we go wee woo wee woo

i’m already tickled pink with the opening being text pulled directly from the book. it solifies the Hitchhiker’s Guide feel right away

“I play an ineffable game of my own devising” GOD IS A WOMAN

black eve black eve black adam and black eve

aziraphale’s sword is a lil dinky shortsword u fucking. lol

RIGHT AWAY michael sheen establishes Aziraphale’s mannerisms perfectly holy shit

the dialogue so far is just. lifted. from the books. and I love that. I also love that I can tell that. and I’m smiling bc the line that made me sure of it is “flamed like anything”

l can’t breathe laughing at that lil lion pawing at Adam

wait what the fuck who does Nick Offerman play. what the fuck. how did I miss that in all the pre-release stuff

terry’s name is listed first that’s 😭😭😭

felt my blood race at the first Queen notes im emotional

“uh, hi guys!” god I love Crowley so much

all this dialogue just! pulled! I’m so happy!!!!

“mobile phone network” ok so it is modern to the 2010s. nice

SHUT UP I already knew Aziraphale loved sushi bc it’s one of the things Crowley teases him with in the book but to see it is another thing entirely lmfao. will we get to see his antique snuff boxes too

“why do you consume that” mr. hamm already distinguishing himself from other versions of Gabriel by asserting that eating food is gross

“it’s a miracle he hasn’t spotted you yet”

OH RIGHT NICK IS THE ATTACHE lol

god yes the chattering order. god i love sister mary. why is this woman looking down on mary for asking questions she’s supposed to be Chatty that’s her JOB lol. I don’t know if the leadership retreat part is in this series but I hope it is bc I love sister mary’s transformation

“we believe that fathers just complicate the process for everybody” aw man without the narrative commentary, that line’s not as funny

“but by people being fundamentally people” god I really do love this book. like that’s really the takeaway at the end. there’s good and evil, sure, but then there’s just. human beings.

god YES THE WINK PART I’m just. so pleased at how much is just a straight adaptation

years later and the name Warlock is still so fucking hilarious to me I’m losing my mind

“call Aziraphale” “calling Aziraphale” klasdjfljk;;ljkadkl; the story being modern now has so many good advantages. asshole didn’t even say goodbye when hanging up.

OK GOOD THEY KEPT THE SECRET AGENT ASPECT. I was afraid with the rumors of a headquarters here on earth that it wouldn’t have quite the same tone. and GOD the background line of all the other secret agents im losing my mind

NO HE DIDN’T SAY THE SNUFFBOX LINE I’M GONNA CRY

kl;asdjk;lfjlkjkladsjkljk Aziraphale goes to the Edinburgh Festival

“get the behind me foul fiend. after you” i’m losing my gotdamn mind

fuck i’m pre-typing this but i’m so fucking excited for the dolphin brain / infinity bird conversation

“no Steven Soundheim first nights in eternity” I’M SDJLKSLDKJ

idk who plays Hastur but he’s like knockoff Simon Pegg

I take back what I said about the casting. it’s not what I pictured (brown Crowley and chubby Aziraphale forever) but they’re doing such a fantastic job with the characters

shut the FUCK UP with this mary poppins cosplay az i’m gonna kadslkjksdflk. wait. SIKE ITS CROWLEY THATS EVEN FUNNIER

nanny crowley is just. so much. like i know it’s in the book but i’m losing my fucking mind. all of this is just so good

beelzebub has a good design

EXCUSE ME WHO IS THE ANGEL ON A HOVERBOARD IN THE BACKGROUND HERE

DO NOT LICK THE WALL

why are hastur and ligur wearing a toad and an iguana. what is that

“dumbasaur” “why can’t we have my party in an escape room?” WARLOCK

“writing a rude word on a description of a dinosaur” he’s using a highlighter, Az. idk how much damage that’s gonna do

WHOA jesus christ crowley just suggesting “hey you could kill him.” az isn’t gonna go for that. that’s the paladin’s dilemma

az’s magic show is even funnier with all the kids on their phones

pepper being black is A+++

adam doesn’t feel quite right yet but i’ve only seen him speak three lines so far so

BUPPY

i can't wait for people to be like "the good omen kids are just knockoff stranger things" and for everyone to dogpile them with receipts of a book that was written more than 20 years ago

“i know what you smell like” kljkjlkjkl;kljsdjkl

ok first episode reactions: it’s perfect. it’s absolutely perfect. i’m sure i wrote some gripes up there (that scene where crowley was like u could murder the kid was kinda weird) but beyond that it’s absolutely perfect

#red #good omens

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cheeseeatingtrashmonster · 6 years

Text

Plans

LadyNoir July day 30: Reveal/Courage. Thanks @lovesquare-squad :)

< Previous | Next >

Read the whole month on AO3

The Dupain-Cheng family found Adrien standing over a pot of soup on the stove, clutching fistfulls of his hair and hyperventilating.

"Adrien?" Marinette said, pulling him away from the stove. He flinched away from her touch. "What? What's wrong?"

"I have to go," he whispered. "I have to."

"You're not going anywhere until you calm down," Sabine said, guiding Adrien to the couch. He tried to pull away from her, too, but she kept a firm hand on him until he was sitting.

"Adrien? What do you need right now?" Marinette asked.

He handed her his phone, and she wasn't sure what to do at first. Adrien had his eyes closed and was focusing on his breathing, so she unlocked it (how far she'd come from the days of stealing it and not knowing the code, to now, when he had shown her the code and handed it to her willingly!). The phone app was open, so she looked through his recent calls. There was a number with no name from less than ten minutes before. She pushed "call" and hoped for answers.

"Adrien, did you have questions?"

"It's Marinette," she said. "Who is this?"

"Marinette? It's Nathalie. Adrien hung up on me a minute ago."

"What did you say to him?"

Nathalie explained, and the longer she talked, the more Marinette felt like her head was going to explode. She reached out at some point and grabbed Adrien's hand, holding onto him like a lifeline.

"Okay," Marinette said. "We'll call you back."

"Wait, Marinette-"

Marinette hung up and placed the phone on the coffee table in front of her.

"We have to tell Gorilla," Marinette said, turning to Adrien.

"You have to tell Tom and Sabine," Tom said, his eyebrows so tightly scrunched together it looked like it hurt. "What's going on?"

"Everyone needs to calm down," Sabine said, setting a tray with four mugs down on the table. "So we're all going to sit here and drink tea until things seem a little easier to talk about, okay?"

She handed out mugs and Marinette was reminded why she admired her mother so much. The mug seemed to ground Adrien, and the silence gave Marinette time to not only process Nathalie's discovery, but to guess at what Adrien might be feeling right now.

"We should tell them," Marinette said, nodding to her parents. "About..." She brushed her thumb over Adrien's miraculous and then tucked her hair behind her ear, tapping her earring.

Adrien nodded. "It's your family, your choice."

"Mama, Papa," Marinette said, turning to them before she could lose her nerve. "I'm Ladybug. Adrien is Chat Noir."

Her parents exchanged a look.

"We suspected as much," Sabine said. "Thank you for telling us."

"I... what? You suspected?"

"We never asked because we figured there was too much risk with Hawkmoth still at large," Tom said. "And when he was defeated, we figured you'd tell us when you were ready." He put one large hand on Marinette's back. "We're very proud of you. Both of you. Being superheroes is a job we can't even understand, and you still exceeded every expectation we could have for you as yourselves. We love you both."

Marinette turned to Adrien, who was smirking behind the mug of tea at his lips. "They suspected,” she said.

"I mean, Gorilla knew, too. We should have suspected them suspecting."

"Is that all?" Tom asked.

"Did my father seriously just ask me 'is that all' to me coming out as a superhero?" Marinette asked Adrien, putting her mug down to gesture wildly.

"He did," Adrien said. The feeling of unreality that had settled into his bones was making this funnier than it should be.

"I think what he meant is," Sabine cut in, "why reveal now? And what was that phone call?"

"Nathalie has a lead on my mom," Adrien said.

"What?" Sabine half rose from her chair. "What does that mean? Where is she? Is she okay?"

"She hasn't found her," Adrien said. "She found, and I quote, 'a lead on Emilie's essence'. She said it would be nearly impossible to find her without a miraculous holder or two with her. It's going to take a few months to a year though."

"Are there others?" Tom asked. "You shouldn't have to leave school for this. Or could Nathalie be trusted with one?"

"There are others," Marinette said. She exchanged a look with Adrien. "But one is our age, and the other is too old to transform."

"We need to speak to Fu," Adrien said. "We need to speak to Fu, and Gorilla, and the school, and get more details from Nathalie, and-"

"Adrien," Sabine said, putting a hand on his arm. "One thing at a time. Let me get a notebook and a pen and we'll write down everything that needs to get done so nothing is forgotten, okay?"

He sighed and nodded, sagging into the couch. Marinette leaned against him, smiling a little.

"This is a good thing, right, Kitty?"

"I think so," Adrien said. "I hope so."

"Okay," Sabine said. "I started a list of people we need to talk to. Gorilla, the school, Nathalie, and 'Fu'?"

"Master Fu," Marinette explained. "He's one of the miraculous holders. He kind of runs things right now."

"Okay, he's on the list. Anyone else?"

"My father," Adrien said. "Maybe put him towards the bottom of the list."

"We're forgetting something," Marinette said, getting up to pace. "Can we add 'get Marinette her memories back' to that list, please?"

"Yes, good idea," Adrien said.

"Excuse me?" Tom said. "Where are your memories?"

"I gave them up the first time I figured out that Adrien was Chat," Marinette said, still pacing.

"What do you mean 'the first time'?" Sabine asked.

"I can't really tell you much, because I don't remember," she said.

"Who has your memories?" Sabine asked.

"Master Fu."

Tom and Sabine exchanged a look. They had figured that there would be a learning curve when the kids told them about their superhero lives, but this was a lot at once. Missing memories, missing Emilie Agreste, some mysterious man running things and keeping people's memories?

"Marinette, your phone's been going off," Tikki said, popping out of her purse by the door.

Tom shrieked and tried to climb on the coffee table.

"Dad, stop! It's just Tikki!" Marinette said, scooping Tikki into her hands. "She's my kwami. She turns me into Ladybug."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Dupain!" Tikki said, flying a little closer.

"It's- that's- you’re-?"

"Where's Plagg? Plagg, get out here and introduce yourself," Tikki said, spinning in a circle to look for him.

"I'm sleeping," Plagg said.

"You always say that," Tikki said.

"Because I'm always sleeping."

Adrien poked Plagg out of his shirt to make introductions. Once the parents were better acquainted with the kwamis, Marinette sat next to Adrien again, watching her father fetch cheese and cookies.

"Was that what we forgot? Introducing the kwamis?" he asked.

"I don't think so," Marinette said.

Adrien's phone began ringing. He cringed and picked it up, but the name on the screen made him smile.

"Hey," Adrien said. "No idea. What kind of colors? Huh, cool. No, I'll ask him. We only saw dark purple, so that's probably a good thing, I think? Yeah, I'll ask. Say hi for me."

He hung up and turned to Marinette.

"Felix and Bridgette say hi. Felix says his butterflies are different colors, like pink and yellow and-"

"Bridgette and Felix!" Marinette shouted, jumping to her feet. "That's who we forgot!"

"Who are Bridgette and Felix?" Sabine asked, writing them down on her list.

Marinette was pacing again. "Us but older."

"Time travel?" Sabine whispered to Tom.

"I hope not?"

"They're the previous Ladybug and Chat Noir," Adrien supplied.

A plan formed in Marinette's head. A backup plan formed behind that.

"Okay, first thing's first," Marinette said to Adrien, hands landing on her hips. "You call Gorilla, and I'll go get my memories back."

"But you'll have a headache for days," Adrien said, grabbing her wrist before she could run off. "And we probably don't need those memories just this second."

"Okay," she said, reshuffling the first few steps of her plan. "Do we have enough soup to invite everyone we need to dinner?"

Over dinner with the Gorilla and Master Fu, they discussed the plan. Everyone agreed that Nathalie "I Helped Hawkmoth Of My Own Free Will For Years" Sancoeur was not to be trusted with her own miraculous. Everyone except Adrien agreed that Adrien and/or Marinette missing months of school was out of the question. When dinner ended, they had a video conference with Bridgette and Felix.

"We're still just getting started," Bridgette said. "This would be the ideal time to do something like this."

"We're just getting started because our wedding is in a week, dear." Felix shook his head. "We couldn't spend a year on this. Taking on this group of magicians has already set our lives back. And I understand that your mother has been missing for a while, Chat, but we have a whole city to look out for here."

"If Ms. Sancoeur is using the methods I believe she is using," Master Fu said, "She might be able to get by without you most of the time. Maybe you could work with her for a week at a time, and be home for the rest of the time?"

"We could possibly take a few long weekends every month or so to collaborate with her, if she doesn't need us full time," Felix conceded. "But after the wedding. I don't mean to brag, but I have a very talented suit designer and I will be stunning."

"Flatterer," Bridgette said. "You're all invited, of course, now that the kids have told you about the miraculouses and us."

"We'll get back to you on that," Sabine said.

"Lovely to see you again, as always, Stuart," Bridgette said.

"Who is Stuart?" Tom asked, looking around the group.

"Me," the Gorilla said. "She's the only one that calls me that these days."

The call ended and Marinette nodded in satisfaction.

"So we can call Nathalie in the morning and let her know," she said.

"What about Gabriel?" Gorilla asked. "Want me to talk to him?"

"I don't want him involved," Adrien said, crossing his arms. "This is how he turned to manipulation and general evil, so he doesn't get a say this time. He knew Nathalie had other methods, she said so herself, and he chose to become a terrorist instead. He doesn't get to know. If we get her back... if we get answers... then he can know."

"Your father was Hawkmoth?" Tom said. "No wonder you were worried about the influence he was on you."

“Papa!"

"Well, I think being Chat Noir means you're exactly the right kind of person. You were given power and did the right thing with it," Master Fu said.

Tom nodded in agreement. "That's all I was saying."

Adrien and the Gorilla went home and Marinette made up her mind about her memories.

"I need them. I need to know that there's nothing in there that can help. I can handle a headache and needing to sleep more for a few days. Better to get it over with before school anyway, right?"

"Of course," Master Fu said. "Would you like one of your parents to come with you? I would feel better about you leaving afterwards with one of them than alone like last time."

Sabine accompanied them to Master Fu's shop. Marinette sat on the mat as before, and Master Fu brought out a glowing jar. It looked like fireflies of different colors and sizes floating around.

"Those are my memories?" she asked.

"Yes. It shouldn't take long, they simply need to be put back in about the right spot and they'll sort themselves out."

"Okay. I'm ready," Marinette said.

"Can I hold her hand?" Sabine asked, sitting next to her.

"Yes, it's encouraged."

Sabine watched Master Fu work, tapping at Marinette's scalp and dropping different powders in her hair and around her as he worked. He never touched the jar, but Sabine noticed that the number of points of light decreased as he worked. When he was finished, Marinette slumped forward onto the mat. Sabine ran a hand over her back and Marinette turned to face her.

"What do you remember, sweetie?"

"I'm never having strawberry ice cream again," she said.

"You know, somehow," Sabine said, helping Marinette to her feet, "that's one of the most normal out-of-context things you've said all day."

Master Fu bid them goodnight and Marinette told the story of getting awful ice cream while they walked home.

/*****/

The next morning Adrien explained the plan to Nathalie.

"I was hoping to see you," Nathalie said. "But you're right, this is a better plan. Perhaps over school holidays you can see my work. Magic is in your blood, you'd take to it quickly."

Adrien hadn't considered the possibility of Nathalie missing him.

"We aren't telling Father," Adrien said. "Not until there's something to tell."

"That's your choice," she said. "I only want what's best for you."

Adrien sighed. "If you say so."

She had a long way to go to prove that to him.

/*****/

"I thought we agreed that this isn't the time to do this," Adrien whispered, standing over Marinette with his arms crossed. She was lying in the middle of her floor, having fallen down the stairs from her loft and not being strong enough to move herself any farther.

"I had to know," she said. "Things are happening and I want to help."

"You helped yesterday," Adrien said, reaching down to pick her up. He carried her to the chaise, settling next to her so she could curl her head into his chest to block out the light. "You got everyone around us to help, remembered that Felix and Bridgette could go instead of us, you helped me calm down-"

"No, I didn't," she said. "My mom did that."

"You were there, and hearing your voice helped," he said, brushing her hair away from her face.

"You flinched," she said. "I upset you."

"You didn't," he said. "I don't remember flinching, but I do remember your voice and you sitting next to me and calling Nathalie. You didn't have to... punish yourself with a three day headache over that."

"That's not why I did this," she said, turning her head to squint up at him. "I hate the feeling of missing something I should know. I rely on my mind to keep us safe, as Ladybug and as Marinette. The crises were over, I thought I had a few more days of just enjoying things before I had to do this, but then another crisis fell in our lap."

"We have one, shared lap?"

"Yes, right now, with the light from the window stabbing me in the eye, we have one collective lap. My point is, I couldn't put it off."

Adrien leaned down to kiss her, the gentlest kiss they had ever shared.

"Okay," he said. "I understand. You stay here, I'm going to cover the window and then bring you some lunch and we can watch a movie."

"A princess movie," Marinette said, putting a pillow over her face as Adrien stood.

"A princess movie," he agreed.

"There's something else we need to not put off," she said. "We need backup."

/*****/

"So, I'm in charge of training these two?" Rena asked, jerking her thumb over her shoulder to where Carapace was trying to spin his shield on his palm and Queen Bee was fixing her hair in the reflection of a shop window.

"I'll be here to help now, and Ladybug will help when she's back on her feet," Chat Noir said, "but for now, you're in charge."

"Nice. Do they know..." Rena trailed off.

"Nope, and we're keeping it that way for a while," Chat Noir said. "It'll be us three in on the identity secrets until they prove they can keep this to themselves."

Rena nodded. She cracked her knuckles and grinned.

"I can think of so many ways to do this. Training will be fun! For me."

"That's my girl," Chat said, fist bumping her. "LB sends her love and says not to go too hard on them."

"Hey, they don't have to face akumas," Rena said. "It's only fair they experience trial by fire somehow or other."

/*****/

It took almost a year.

In that time, Bridgette and Felix married. Adrien managed to sweet-talk his father into letting them take the jet to the wedding, and then sweet-talk Marinette's parents and the Gorilla into using it. They hadn't realized it would be a very small ceremony, under thirty people in attendance. One of their friends officiated and there was one maid of honor and one best man. Once they were sure they were coming, Adrien and Marinette were made a groomsman and bridesmaid. It was a lovely night.

"It's like seeing a slice of what our future could be," Adrien said while they danced.

"I've imagined so many futures for us," Marinette said. "One like this would be nice though."

In that time, Marinette and Adrien went through another year of school. He continued to tutor her in math, and she convinced him to drop a few after school activities to spend more time with her, Alya, and Nino. Adrien also started his part time job at the bakery and Tom declared him the fastest study he’d seen in the kitchen.

In that time, the five superheroes of Paris grew closer, and eventually Nino and Chloe were let in on the secret identities.

In that time, Adrien visited Nathalie three times, and while he didn't believe her that her motives were entirely selfless, he did start to believe she cared about him. Adrien spent New Years Eve and Day with Nathalie, watching her weave magic together, building it like a sand castle in her hotel room in Japan.

“This is the part you help with,” Nathalie said, motioning for Chat Noir to sit on the floor next to her. “Reach into the center of the spell with the hand not containing your miraculous and say the incantation I had you memorize. Focus on the concept of lost things.”

He did as she said, and the whole thing shrunk down to wrap around his hand like a glove. The warm color and icy sensation were at odds, but in the way dissonant notes fit into a piano piece.

“Excellent. Felix would be annoyed and jealous to see you do that on the first try. Now, slip it off your hand and place it in the box with her umbrella.”

The prop from her movie sat in a cardboard box. Adrien had asked why cardboard and been told it was because that was what she had found that was big enough to hold the umbrella.

“Good,” Nathalie said when he closed the top of the box. “We’ll do part two tomorrow. Now, detransform and put your hand on the top of the box.”

He did, and was overcome with memories of his mother. Making cupcakes for Gabriel’s birthday, yelling for her in the middle of the night after a nightmare, helping her pick out pictures for their Christmas cards, watching a movie on a rainy afternoon, hearing her and Gabriel fight.

“You can feel her, right?” Nathalie said.

“She’s actually out there somewhere,” Adrien said, astonished at how sure he was.

“She is. I don’t know more than that, but she is.”

They sat quietly, both close enough to the box to feel as if Emilie were almost there with them.

“I did it for her,” Nathalie said. “I’m doing this now for her. It was never about helping your father, or getting her back for you. It was always for her. Or, for me. I loved her, too.”

It was the first time he actually believed her.

Nearly a year of waiting ended with a phone call in the middle of the night.

"We found her," Nathalie said instead of a greeting. "We're airlifting her to the nearest hospital as soon as we can. But Adrien, she's responsive. I never expected... Can you get here? She's been asking about you. And about your father."

"Where are you?" Adrien asked. He threw a robe over his pajamas and went to knock on the Gorilla's bedroom door.

"Antarctica, if you'll believe it. I don't know when we'll be able to move her from the hospital, so I think it's best if you come to us."

"Okay, send me the details. We'll be there as soon as we can."

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dreamin-of-somewhere-else · 7 years

Text

The Novaks: The One With The Two Men At The Diner

The Novaks Masterlist

Characters: Castiel, Michael, Lucifer, Raphael, Gabriel x sister!reader

Words: 3000+

Warnings: Swearing, mean comments, hints at violence, otherwise not that bad.

A/N: Soooooo, I’ve been watching so much Shameless this past week, it’s crazy. (SPN forever though!) I said it inspired the last fic, but maybe it inspired this one as well. This is pretty different and it’s an AU! The angels are humans.

Also, I’m thinking about making more parts of this, if you like it. So if you want more, let me know - and your request is my demand. I’ll tell you more about it later, if it follows through. Also, I tagged less people in this one since I didn’t know who’d want to read this. But, I still included all of the SPN (Sisfic) Taglist since it’s not only for Winchester!sister fics. Although, feel free to ignore as always! Hopefully I didn’t bother anyone.

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Your family is just a little bit different from the average. A few more kids, and few less parents. Okay, well, no parents and six siblings. It’s a long story, but you get by surprisingly well.

Sometimes at least.

Oldest in the family (except for your absent dad who no one has seen in years) is Michael. Kind of a douchebag, he definitely thinks he knows it all. Self-claimed leader of the family. He’s 22 and the one that brings home the most money through his work at the local car repair garage as a mechanic — and therefore, he’s not someone you would want to mess with. Well, that and his slight anger issues. It isn’t confirmed that he has them, but if anyone could get mad, it’s Michael. All of you other siblings have respect for him. He can definitely be intimidating, and to be honest — you’re kind of scared of him. Everyone except for the second to oldest sibling in the family…

Which is Lucifer. He’s often the only one who stands up to Michael, and the two of them can fight like nobody else. Lucifer — or Luci as you like to call him to his dismay — is one sarcastic bastard that the rest of you kind of avoid or are constantly annoyed at. Like his older brother, Lucifer can get really furious, and everyone in the family know this. He’s the wildcard, amazingly manipulative and often gets in trouble. Luci is also winning the game of who gets arrested the most — which is quite a lot of times, especially since he’s only 21 years old.

Next up is Gabriel, or Gabe, who thinks he’s the funniest guy on the planet. He’s 20 years old and seemingly always present, trying to talk to you about nothing, especially when you’re doing something important. He’s also so good at convincing that you don’t even know what you’re agreeing to in the end. Definitely a prankster, which gets him in trouble at times, but you can’t say he doesn’t come up with some of the most creative solutions to them.

Balthazar is the fourth one. Hard to keep track of yet? Balt is 19 and pretty much Gabriel’s sidekick, maybe not always by choice. He thinks he’s above Gabriel’s pranks though, that’s what he says officially, at least. They rarely do, but when they fight, they can freeze each other out for a good week — no problem. Balthazar is sarcastic as well (seems to be a family trait) and pretty damn smart.

Then there’s Castiel although you always call him Cas. He’s 18 and can be pretty quiet — calm — and sometimes quite awkward around other people. He’s different in his own, amazing way. If anyone could space out for an hour, it’s Cas. He’s very book smart, with a spectacular memory, but not street smart at all. Although calm, he can get fiercely overprotective of you, and sometimes he can even be sassy. You love those times, because there’s nothing funnier than sassy Cas.

And then finally, it was you. Youngest of six siblings and the only girl. You’re 17, about to be 18, and there’s less than a year between you and Cas. Your relationship with your brothers varies, but you and Cas always had each other’s backs. You two are the second dynamic duo of the family.

Looks wise, you siblings aren’t all that alike. The only parent either of you share is your father, which left you as half siblings. That’s why you’re all close in age as well.

Your dad had never been in the picture, at least not for you, who are the youngest. You don’t have a clear memory of him either, although you remember Michael telling you once that ’of course he’s coming back, (Y/N)’, when you had asked. Michael is the one that had been closest with your dad — from what you had gathered growing up — and some part of him still believes that he’ll walk through the door again. But to you, your dad’s just the person who gave you your genes and last name.

You Novaks don’t exactly have a great reputation either. ’The kids with the weird-ass names.’ You are scapegoats, and if one of you got in trouble, all of you’re all blamed. People call you names — one of them is ”the crazy sextuplets” or some shit like that, since the age difference between you is so small.

You’re not liked. You don’t have a lot of money. But you get by. You always do, somehow. It’s a rocky and crazy ride, but you get forward. And that’s what matters, right?

”Are you lost in thought again, (Y/N)?”

”What?” You ask, brought back to the moment as your eyes shot to Castiel walking besides you.

It’s fall and getting colder by each day that passes. Today, it’s almost at the point where your breath comes out as a misty cloud in front of your face as you speak. The trees are getting barer and barer, the ground more and more decorated with yellow, red and brown.

Castiel’s ocean blue eyes are eyeing you carefully, a small smile on his face.

”I thought so.” He snickers.

”Hey, if anyone can space out it’s you, dear Cas.” You retort, pointing a finger at his chest.

”I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Castiel shrugs it off, looking innocent as you pass the gate and walk up the stairs to the small porch of your worn house.

You roll your eyes at that, but the conversation is lost as you walk through the front door.

”What the hell, Gabe? I’m gonna kill you!”

Balthazar’s angry shout is what greets you as you enter the house. Castiel and you share a look just as Gabriel comes running down the stairs, taking three steps at once, Balthazar hot in his tracks.

”It’s just a prank!” Gabriel shouts back as he runs, a little breathless but grinning largely.

”It’s not funny, that’s what it is,” the younger brother retorts as he continues on chasing the laughing Gabriel, even as he opens the backdoor and runs outside.

You and Castiel don’t even comment it. It’s the usual. You just take off your jackets and shoes, and drop off your bags on the floor.

”Are you working tonight?” Castiel then asks over his shoulder, as he walks further into the house.

”Cas, when I’m a not working?” You reply a little bitterly.

”You work too much.”

”Maybe,” you shrug, beginning to walk up the stairs. ”But we’re still behind on the electricity bill, aren’t we?”

A little over one hour later you’re at the diner you work at. Well, dinner and bar, it’s some sort of mix between the two. Although some nights are better than others, you don’t like this job. It’s not because of the place itself or your boss — it’s the people who came here. Hell, the people who live in this part of the town.

And although you’ve only been here for 20 minutes, you already know it’s going to be one of the worse work shifts.

”Hey, girl!”

You slowly turn around, facing the table with the pair of middle aged men. You know who they are, they don’t come here all that often, but they live in the area. Walt and Roy, you think. You’re unsure if they recognize you.

You walk over. ”Yeah?” You ask, tone light in contrast to theirs.

”We’ll have two more beers,” one of them speak up. The man has tattoos, a beard and is wearing a trucker cap. ”Also, four dollars each? I don’t think so. More like two.”

You swallow. ”That’s how much they cost. Sorry.”

”Who are you?” The other then asks, and you don’t like the change of subject. This man squints his cold eyes at you, eyeing you from head to toe.

You don’t answer, instead you focus on writing down the two beers on your small note pad, pretending to not have heard the question.

”You’re one of those Novak kids, aren’t you?” He finally decides, scoffing before he takes a last sip out of his current glass of beer, emptying it. ”How many are you anyways? 11? 15? Like rats or something.”

His friend scoffed. ”I think a Novak kid stole my wife’s bike the other day.”

You frown, biting the inside of your cheek and hating how he just assumed that without any sort of evidence. It’s just fine to blame it all on you, isn’t it?

”I don’t think so,” you disagree, although you keep yourself calm. Both of them are taller and broader than you, and although you know how to fight — kudos to your brothers — you can’t take on them both at the same time.

”I do,” the same man responds, voice angry. ”I know how you can make it up to me though,” he then continues on as his eyes darken and a disturbing smile spreads on his face. ”Come and meet me outside later in the alley, huh?”

”No.” You shake your head.

”Fine, bitch.” He scoffs, obviously angry to be turned down, his tone venomous. ”I don’t want no Novak anyways, you guys are just pieces of shits.”

At his words, you feel tears burning in your eyes. Not wanting them to see, you whip around and storm out of there. You continue into the kitchen where you run into Rufus, the owner of the diner.

”(Y/N)?” He asks, frowning, but doesn’t get further.

”Sorry, Rufus, but I can’t.” You respond quickly, eyes wild, trying to keep yourself together.

You take off your apron while you keep moving, placing it on a countertop as you pass, and walk out into the cold night.

When you arrive back at your house 30 minutes later, you feel frozen to the core. You’re chattering teeth, chills creep up and down your back and wrapping your arms as closely as you can around yourself doesn’t help.

All the time you were walking, you couldn’t keep your mind off what had happened. You hate this. The way people treat you; it’s tiring and you’re exhausted.

When you close the door behind you, you don’t bother to call out a ’hello’ or even ask if anybody’s home. Someone always is, and that someone would have heard the door closing.

As you angrily kick off your shoes, someone approaches you, silhouette stark against the yellow lightning coming from the kitchen.

”(Y/N)?”

”Mike.”

”Your shift isn’t supposed to end for two hours.” Michael states, squinting his eyes at you suspiciously.

”I know,” you answer simply as you try to push past your oldest brother to the stairs so that you could just go to your room. ”Is Cas home?” You then ask, switching the subject.

”No, he’s out tutoring that Fitzgerald kid.” Michael grabs your wrist as you pass him, forcing you to a stop. ”The question is why you’re home.”

His expression morphs into that one he wears when he’s about to scold you. There’s really no doubt that Michael loves being the authority of the family.

”Okay, if you really wanna know, there was some asses at the diner and I didn’t want to be there anymore.” You rant, eyebrows knitting on your forehead.

You see Michael’s jaw clench, even in the poor lightning.

”We need that money, (Y/N).” His gaze bores into you.

”Don’t you think I know that? Now, let me go!” You try to pull your arm towards yourself but he holds on.

”I don’t think you do.” Michael shakes his head.

”Let me go!” You argue, not wanting to talk about this with him at all. You just wish Cas would come home soon, and until then, you would just sit in your room.

”What’s going on?” A new voice chimes in and both yours and Michael’s head shoot to the source of the sound.

It’s Gabriel, and he looks from you to Michael and then back to you, unsure.

”He won’t let me go.” You say, glaring at Michael, who glares back.

Gabriel sighs, strides over and pushes Michael away from you, who reluctantly lets him, still keeping his icy stare on you.

As soon as his grip’s gone, you bolt up the stairs. You clearly hear the thuds of footfalls behind you, following you, but you don’t care. Instead, you rush into your room and throw yourself on the bed, clutching your pillow and squeezing it as hard as you can, trying to let off some steam at least. Poor pillow.

You’re left alone for a little while, before there’s a knock on the door. You stay silent, but it opens nevertheless — just as always — to reveal Gabriel and Balthazar, the former obviously having gone to get his sidekick.

Within a few seconds you found your self surrounded by your big brothers, one sitting on either side of you on your bed.

Balthazar wraps his arm around your shoulders. ”So what has lil sis’ feeling like this?”

”It’s nothing,” you answer, looking away.

”If it was nothing you wouldn’t be trying to kill your pillow.” Gabriel’s eyes rest on the pillow in your arms, and you glare at him, letting it go.

”Fine, there were some assholes at the diner. Talked some major shit about our family, then proceeded to accuse us of stealing some bike and then he tried to get me to ’meet him outside in the alley’ to make up for it.” You sigh.

”Shit,” Balthazar mutters to himself, hugging you closer at the same time.

To your right, Gabriel only seems to clench his fists tighter and tighter.

”Then I rushed out, and now I don’t know if I have a job anymore. Michael’s gonna kill me.”

”Don’t worry about Mike,” Balthazar reassures you. ”He’ll come around, and if he don’t we’ll handle it.”

”Really?” You ask, looking into his eyes.

”Do I need to pinky promise you?”

You roll your eyes, but smile.

”But, I think we need to get some revenge.” Gabriel speaks up. ”And then you can talk to your boss as well, while we’re there—”

He never gets to finish his sentence because someone else interrupts him.

Standing leaning against the door frame — arms casually crossed over his chest — is Lucifer.

”Anyone we need to beat up?” He asks, raising one eyebrow.

”Yes,” Gabriel responds, and you know that there’s no stopping them now.

”Lovely,” Lucifer nods, smirking in a way that only he can. ’The Luci-grin' as you call it.

”Come on then,” Balthazar states as he and Gabriel grab one of your hands each and pull you up from the bed.

Together you return to the first floor where Michael spends most of his time. Lucifer takes the lead and walks into the kitchen where he finds said brother.

”Brother, we’re going to restore our family’s and our sister’s honor. Wanna come with?” He offers, gesturing with his hands.

”What are you proposing, Lucifer?” Michael asks, rising an eyebrow. ”Explain.”

”(Y/N), tell him.” Lucifer orders, without taking his eyes off Michael. ”Tell him what they said.”

You sigh, not really wanting to, but then you tell him, quoting the men by their exact words. In the end you also added that you’re going to talk to Rufus once you get back to the diner, see what damage has been done and if you get to keep your job after the rage quit, basically, as further encouragement for Michael to come with — but it’s not need, your big brother is already mad enough.

Despite your differences, there’s one thing your brothers and you can agree on: nobody messes with a Novak.

”I’m in.” Michael clenches his jaw along with his fists — just like Gabriel had done — as he nods, standing up from his chair at the dining table. ”Let’s go.”

”Great,” Lucifer smirks and goes to grab two baseball bats from a basket under the stairs, originating from the time when Michael and he had played the sport.

He keeps one for himself and tosses the other one to Balthazar, who catches it effortlessly.

Just as the whole party moves towards the front door, Castiel enters the house, blue eyes going round as saucers when he sees his siblings; angry with two bats, on the move.

Gabriel is the first one to speak up.

”Hey, little bro! Right on time, we were just leaving.” He says, and with that, everyone starts moving again, walking past the youngest brother and out the door.

”What’s going on?” Castiel then asks you, looking confused as he wraps his hand around your forearm.

”I’ll tell you on the way,” you respond and walk out the door to keep up with the rest of the family.

He follows you outside, once again out in the cold evening. It’s even darker and colder outside now, but you aren’t thinking of it as much this time since your walking along with your five older brothers and not alone.

Soon you’re back at the diner, walking inside as a group. The two men are still there, laughing loudly over cigarettes, drunker than before. You don’t even have to tell your brothers, they can see it on your face that these are the two they came looking for.

”Wait—” you utter just as Lucifer takes the lead, about to walk up to them.

”We’re just gonna talk,” he assures, bat resting on his shoulder. Before you can answer, he along with Michael, Gabriel and Balthazar start moving again.

And although you don’t exactly want the two scumbags dead, the looks of fear on their faces as they spotted the gang of young men approaching them were priceless. You wish you could’ve taped it and watch it on replay, over and over again.

Castiel lingers by your side, and you share a look as you do ever so often.

”I’m going to talk to Rufus,” you tell him, and he nods, following you as you make your way over to the owner of the diner, a man in his fifties.

”(Y/N), what happened?” Are Rufus’s first words when he catches sight of you, confusion in his ebony eyes.

You explain the situation without going into too much detail.

”I’m sorry, I completely understand if you don’t want me working here anymore…” you finish, voice small.

A hand touches your shoulder, giving it a light squeeze, and you know it’s Castiel.

”Don’t worry, girl, I ain’t letting you go. I have a non-tolerance for that type of bullshit crap in my diner anyway. I would throw the sorry excuses of men out of here, if it wasn’t already taken care of.” He says, referring to the commotion that’s now moved outside of the building.

A smile spreads on your face, relief settling in. ”Thank, Rufus.”

”No problem. But next time, talk to me first and I’ll handle it. There’s a lot of pigs around here, and if your brothers gotta beat them up every time, they’ll be regulars.”

A small chuckle escapes your mouth. ”Yeah, you’re probably right.”

”I’m always right,” he smiles, white teeth a contrast against his deep skin tone.

You laugh again. ”So, I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

”I’m not expecting any less,” he responds, and that settled it.

”Great,” you smile, before turning around to Castiel, who’s smiling too.

You hold up your hand, and he gives you a high five. You had thought that that might have been it, but instead you got to keep your job and Rufus had proven to be someone you could trust at least to some extent, which is definitely a win-win.

You and Castiel walk through the now calm and empty diner, and out the door, the small bell ringing as you did. Outside, your brothers are waiting, faces lightly tinted pink from the light of the red neon sign on the diner’s facade.

There’s no sign of the men, and your siblings look sort of unfazed, like nothing’s happened.

When you join them, Balthazar leans closer to you.

”Not dead, but severely humiliated. Probably won’t come back,” he informs you, contently.

”Thanks for having my back, guys.” You smile, looking from one brother to the other. ”I mean it.”

”No problem, lil sis.” Gabriel ruffles your hair. ”Our pleasure.”

Tell me what you thought! Should I write more? If enough people think so, I will. I already have some ideas how to do this, so yeah :)

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writinginthenebula · 7 years

Text

By the hand of his God

Warning! This is very heavy, it has self inflicting torture, over loaded religion and much angst. Not recommended to anyone with triggers related to those subjects. VERY HEAVY.

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Every now and then, Fred wouldn’t leave his room.

Normally, those days were quiet ones. Weird, considering Fred was never one to talk a lot, or loud at all. But days without him seemed a little bit greyer.

Usually, those days would have his bedroom’s door locked. Not many knew what happened inside that room, but a few had a good idea, and they hoped their suspicions were wrong. But honestly, it depended.

It depended on the day, obviously, but it also varied in seasons.

The season when the door was locked more usually was winter. The less, spring. Every morning, Arin would wake up alone, and if he left his room and saw the door closed, his mood would be brought down immediately.

And he could only imagine what was happening and when Fred would get out again.

Those days, he was quiet. Quiet, not bright. He would talk soft, and give even Chad’s most depressed days the impression that they were nothing more than him bitching out. The bright persona would become dim, like the sun behind clouds of rain.

Henry would become upset to see his uncle like that. Ben would do all he could to cheer up his brother. William would normally take him out, Tris would try to wear funnier clothes, Rigel would talk to him about the stars. All of them had their fare share of way to help, but no matter what, Arin’s gaze always wondered to the stairs.

He wanted to know what was wrong. He wanted to gaze inside and help. But he needed to give Fred his privacy. But it hurt. It hurt a lot.

Inside the room, however, the days would vary.

Sometimes, it was the date of an important saint. Fred would recluse to his room, opening his closet and setting up his altar, before he would lay down all the corn seeds on the floor and kneel on them, the pain sending tears to his eyes.

He would remove his glasses, put them aside, and purify himself with his tears and a chaplet prayer. After he was done with the purification, he would stand and remove the corn seeds that stuck to his naked knees. He would remove the seeds and leave them to use later, before he kneeled again, now on fluffy pillows, and continued his prayers. He would pray for his friends, for his colleagues, he would pray for the wars and the hungry, for young, women, men and old. Then, he would hesitate, and pray for his parents, wherever they were. He would pray for his diseased family, for Gabriel, and then he would pray for Arman.

Praying for him was the hardest, Fred had to lean until his nose was touching the ground to have courage to do it. His heart bled out as he whispered his prayer, holding the chaplet so tight the marbles almost dug on his skin like the seeds of corn would.

After that, he lifted his body, and lit up a candle. He would watch it burn slowly, not moving, praying to he lord inside his head. After that was done, he would stand and go to his bed, to work or read a book, while he waited three hours to go by to repeat the same ritual.

Those were the good days. The days when Fred was proud of himself, days that would pass and make him content. The days when he would wake up next to Arin in the next morning, with the man deeply asleep, with the sun shining on his face without stirring his sleep.

But there were the bad days as well. Days where he couldn’t handle it.

Days when he had sinned so much he couldn’t handle not punishing himself for it.

On bad days, Arin would wake up alone just like in any good day. He would be confused, yes, and that made Fred almost stop believing in life itself. What was life about if not to make the one you love happy? If he couldn’t do that, what was his life for?

Yet, he left. He walked inside his room and locked it, leaving Arman outside, confused and alone. On bad days, he would remove the picture of his parents from his closet and stare at it. He would remember his mother’s words of hatred, his father’s painful grabs. He would remember how it felt to not have food for days, to be slapped and thrown and then respectfully having to sit down by the table with his parents and a few friends from church, who would bring their respectful son with no bruises under his white shirt, with no tuffs of hair removed from pulling, nicely hidden away by a good gel.

The tears that left his eyes those days were tears of hatred, and he made sure to sin a lot more wishing for their death before he would move on to his punishment.

Those days, he didn’t go too far. He would choose a saint of his liking, and pray for them kneeled on the corn, as usual. He would cry harder those days, because tears of pain mixed with tears of hatred. The words continuously stayed in his mind on propose, slapping him harder and harder until he was done with the chaplet.

Then, he would stand up and change the corn without removing the stuck ones, before kneeling down again. He would remain there as he read the passages of the bible he had separated for that exact occasion, out loud, listening to his own broken voice as he spoke, reminding himself of his suffering and how it was all worth it.

Once done, he would stand, and pray one last time before cleaning himself up and placing the bible and the chaplet away. He would live the rest of the day locked away, without food or water the entire day, working or reading, his mind in peace.

Those days, he would wake up the next morning without Arin, but would have his head clean and calm. He would make Arin breakfast and leave it on his bed before he would leave to work.

But even after that, there were also the horrible days.

Days that even Fred was ashamed to have.

Days where nothing worked.

Days where the corn dug too light, the tears weren’t thick enough to clean him, and prayers never seemed to reach anywhere.

Days where he could see his father and his father in front of him. Days when he felt little, when he felt so so small. Days when he would hear Gabriel’s screams of despair and he would scream back, but in silence, as strengths of the universe held him in place as the boys held him that day.

Days when his sins corrupted him so much he scratched his neck in search of a rope, or tried to find a hammer and nails to perforate his skin. Days when the sound of the door closing was enough to make him collapse on the floor, crying enough to soak the carpet, and his hand would reach under his bed.

Those days, God wasn’t watching. God was ashamed. His face, turned away. Those days, Jesus and Mary left him to his privacy. The saints pretended not to notice. Those days, with the devil nuzzling on his neck like a lover in their deepest desire, whispering to his ear like a slut in a club, and he was always so close to giving in. He had already given in.

His devil had a sweet voice, the most beautiful smile, and a hair that shone like the sun. And he was sleeping just outside, with the sun made by God showed his true form. But it wasn’t his fault. It was Fred’s. He was weak. He was impure and dirty and wrong.

Arin had nothing to do with his mistakes.

Those days, Fred would kneel up, and remove all his clothing. He would close his eyes, and feel the burning of hell around his skin, enveloping his body like a warm embrace in the cold air. He would let himself feel it, for a while, until all his tears had dried, the apparatus already on his hand.

When the burning reached his mind, he would scream, and his hand would move on its own.

The whip, with ten ends and three hooks in each end would come clashing with his white skin, irregular and massacring. He would hear his father’s screams and scream some more on his own, his mother’s voice and he would cry.

And after there were more than fifty slashes of open flesh on his back, dripping the thickness of his blood as he purified himself, he would see like a dream God watching him. Whispering at him. Holding him like a desperate child, and he would feel in peace.

Those days, he would pass out. He would fall, face first on the carpet, and leave his back dropping blood until he woke up again.

He would have no courage to clean himself. He would stand, tired and in pain, and walk out of his room, head low, whip on his hand.

Before he could make it outside, a hand reached for his chin and lifted his face, making him stare at the sight of the son of God himself, with the most worried brown eyes, the most beautiful golden hair, the softest hand. And he wouldn’t cry, because he wasn’t ashamed. He was pure now, and now he was deserved.

Trembling lips would touch his and his eyes would close in pure bliss, feeling the warmth and the purity of the touch, and he would know that God was looking after him again.

“Come on Freddie. Lets get you cleaned up”

And how it felt amazing, to be cleaned by the hand of his God.

#fred #arin #angst #torture #self inflicting torture #religion #heavy religion aspects

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royalbratprince · 7 years

Text

20 SOME followers I’d like to know better

Tagged by: @sage-fire , somewhere around 182 million years ago (thank you!) Tagging: Oh hell. Uh. ...............Hey, look, IF YOU WANT TO DO THIS THEN CONSIDER YOURSELF TAGGED AND TAG ME BACK SO I CAN SEE, OKAY?! I suck at the tagging. ...And doing things in a timely manner, but I just remembered it was Monday and I’m trying to be less. ...Absent.

Name/Nickname: Orin, but you may know me as The Angst Fairy, Prince of Angst, or Dirty Old Punk. ...I think there was another angst-related one in there somewhere, but. ..........Welp. Gender: Whatever/Gender-Meh/Decepticon (seriously, I just... forever shrugging; call me what you like, I won’t be offended and it won’t be wrong) Height: I still don’t know, okay. Smol but fierce. Hogwarts House: I don’t know, the uh... t-the cool one..? Favorite Animal: All of them. Haven’t met any that I really dislike, so. Hours of Sleep: ...I try for 6, alright. Dogs or Cats: Both. ...Maybe not in the same body, but that’s a discussion for science. Number of Blankets: Currently, three. Because I finally found a blanket that works because New England sucks in the winter but not being crushed under layers is nice. Dream Trip: The Cup Noodle museum in Japan while Chris Parson is also there because I want to see his child-like joy. Dream Job: To get paid for what I’m already doing more reliably. ...Alternately, stunt driving. ...This becomes funnier when you understand that I do not have a driver’s license for very important reasons. BUT maybe that’s because stunt driving is the better option, right? Time: 10:00 PM because that’s when I’m finally queuing this. Birthday: December 22. A long time ago. .........Holy shit that’s in a few weeks. Favorite Bands: There’s no way in hell I could possibly list all of them. A lot of them. From the origins of rock to random little things I’m thrown now. Rockabilly, do-wop, both UK and New York punk, New Wave, hard rock, glam, hair metal, ‘80s ballad assholes, electronica; I like a lot of things and too many bands. Please do not ask me about my playlists. Favorite Solo Artist: Gonna steal Atreyu’s answer because... actually they’re mine too, so: Michael Jackson, Prince, David Bowie. ...And also Peter Gabriel. Trent Reznor. The music chaos god Neil Cicierega. ...I get the feeling if I continue I will go on forever, so those folks. Song stuck In My Head: ...Right now, “The End” by Planet Funk. Give it ten minutes, it’ll be something else. Last Movie I Watched: ...Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade last weekend. Again. Because bitches love Indy.

Last Show I watched: Crap, uh. ......Um. TV. It was... recent. ............I think Modern Family..? Can you tell how often or how much attention I pay to TV? When did I create my Blog: Back in March. ...What can I say, I gave in. What do I post/Reblog: Right now nothing, but when I’m not swamped with every other thing going on, RPs, drabbles, excruciatingly painful gif sets, and mostly polyship roadtrip support. I mean, I gotta.

Last thing I Googled: ...the lyrics to “Wild Bird Flock to Me” (Peter Murphy) because I didn’t want to interrupt what was already playing to listen to one specific part. Why I chose My URL: ...I mean. (No, I don’t honestly think Noctis is, or ever was, a brat. But I will always call him that, because it amuses me. ...Writing smut, though? 100000000% brat.) Original intent: RP blog for my very, very loud brat. And sometimes drabble dump. I mean I’m mostly successful when I’m not buried under exhausting offline things, so... score?

Other Blogs: Other active RP blogs: @stonecoldmeme (Prompto), @calamitysshatteredson (Sephiroth); art blog: @shinythingsbyorindrake ; personal blog can be found with digging

Following: 109 Followers: 148 (how... even) Lucky number: 13 Favorite Instrument: Guitar, probably. I’m biased because that’s what I play. ...But drums are fun too. What am I wearing: ..................Fuzzy zebra pants and a Garfield shirt. .........Don’t judge me. ...Fuzzy blue socks, too. I like to be warm. Nationality: So recently my father delved into his side of the family’s history and discovered that while he’d been told his entire life that they were Irish, they were actually Scottish, and it hasn’t stopped amusing me since. Alternately my mother’s side of the family is, I quote, “mostly French, I guess”, which amuses me for another reason. I don’t know, I’m just pale as fuck man. Favorite Song: I could never choose one. I couldn’t choose ten, apparently. Last Book I Read: Re-reading It by Stephen King. Well, I was. I tend to read when I travel and... not as much when I don’t. If you don’t count fan fiction. Top Three Fictional Universes I’d Like to Join: I’m going to get stared at so hard if I say FFXV but. Like. ..........Bad shit’s happening and everything is on fire, but at least it feels like there’s some hop eon Eos. *cough* Uh... Star Trek. ...Pre-reboot stuff. I’m old, kids. That said, Next Generation and Voyager were my jam so. Medium-old. And finally... uh... Tron. Because I am a giant nerd and Tron: Legacy is my aesthetic. Also jfc will someone please send a fucking light submarine out and HELP MY BOY. But in the end Disney brought the franchise back just to brutally murder it in front of everyone so I get to be bitter for the rest of my life.

#OOC #long post #Munday stuff #I done got tagged #((I FINALLY DID THE THING))#lookitmequeue

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fandomsissues · 7 years

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Discovery Trip - Chapter 1/3

Masterlist of Discovery Trip HERE

Fandom : Supernatural

Relationships : Sabriel, Destiel

Words : 6043

Summary : After Sam broke up with his girlfriend, Dean and Castiel decided to bring him with them to France, at Cas’ brother house.

Link AO3

Chapter one : Who knows

“Come with us dude, it’ll be nice !” Dean said once more, taking another sip of his beer.

The bar was full on this Friday night. Dean, Cas and Sam were having their weekly beers - shots for Cas. Sam’s holidays were about to start but he had no plans yet. Dean didn’t want his brother to be all alone here when him and Cas would be at Cas’s brother Gabriel in France. Cas had already asked Gabe and he didn’t mind having one more person in his house.

“I don’t want to ruin your french romantic trip, guys. And I’ll still have to work for next year” replied Sam once again.

“C’mon Sam. What don’t you understand in the word ‘holidays’ ? You won’t bother us. In fact I would feel much better knowing you’re breathing some fresh air.” Dean was pissed. Since his little brother broke up with his girlfriend -he would never forgive this Jess for that- he got used to locking himself in his room and spent all his time studying, hoping that it would make him forget about the world around him. Dean could see despair in Sam’s eyes, and it made him remember the look Sam had after their mother died. It was his big bro role to help him to get better.

“Sam, I insist,” Cas started, leaving no time for Dean to argue with his brother. “You won’t interfere in any way with our plans. Gabriel doesn’t mind having you home and I’m pretty sure he will be glad to meet you.” Sam still seemed to be sullen. Cas sighed. “At least if you don’t do it for yourself do it for me.”

The two Winchesters seemed blindsided by the unexpected sentence.

“Dean won’t be able to get you out of his head and I definitely need him to be fully concentrated on me for what I’ve planned.” Cas took another shot, grinning. He saw the look Sam gave him. He had won. And Dean was undressing him with his eyes. Double-win.

“Well… if you put it like that…” Sam surrendered.

Dean asked two more beers and one more shot to celebrate their victory, giving a small squeeze on Cas’ tight as a ‘thank you’.

***

“Cas, I’m not feeling well” said Dean with despair as they got closer and closer to their plane. “I don’t think I can make it. I’ll take a boat, anything.”

Cas kissed his forehead, giving him a small smile.

“Your medics will be effective soon, Dean. Sing some Metalica meanwhile.”

Sam was doing the best he could to hold back his laughs. His brother in an airport had always been the best show ever. As he put his suitcase on the carrousel he saw that Cas was in the same state as himself, doing his best to help his boyfriend but yet wanting to laugh to how ridiculous the big boy sounded.

A few minutes later, the drugs had fully taken over Dean. It would have been even funnier if only he didn’t start flirting with every living things around, what didn’t please Cas. Sam and Castiel had had to bear Dean to his seat and lock him down to make sure he wouldn’t do anything stupid or dangerous.

The flight was long and exhausting, especially with a drugged-Dean. Luckily the food was good and Dean was between them, so he couldn’t run away. After hours of “no Dean, we can’t jump down to swim with the fish”, “no Dean, a gang bang is not worth considering” and “Dean, if you do that I quit”, the older Winchester fell asleep.

“Since when does your brother live in France, Cas ?” asked Sam, totally unoccupied now.

“Well… Gabriel always loved France. He asked us every year to go on holidays there when he was younger and when we finally did we had to tear him off the ground when we eventually had to leave.” Cas took a deep breath with nostalgia. “There had been an incident during his studies, a few years ago. He had got fired. That destroyed him. He decided to leave the next day and came to France to run his own business. It worked for him. But even if he gots all the ressources needed, he is lonely. Not very sociable.” Cas sighed and looked at Sam upon Dean’s head. “He keeps claiming is happy but he isn’t. I’m confident he needs someone in his life. Someone to hold him. He’s never been very self-confident deep down.”

Sam had never seen Cas this worried. He never really realized how much his brother meant to him, at least this one. He knew that Cas had more brothers but he never talked about them.

They spent the rest of the flight quiet, laughing when Dean snored loudly.

***

“I’m still on drugs, right ?” asked Dean, his jaw falling down.

But he was clean. The big black car with a private driver was here for them. Cas didn’t seem that surprised and he was the first one to give his suitcase to the driver and enter the car. Sam and Dean followed his lead a few seconds later. The driver remained silent, driving them to their destination.

“I am sorry my brother didn’t come in person. I hoped he would have,” Cas apologized.

“Cas… You never told me your brother was this rich.” Dean answered, amazed by the leather on the seat, the bottles of soda and packs of candies hidden in some hidden boxes in the doors.

“In fact… He is not even as rich as our parents. This is almost cheap compared to what we’ve seen growing up. I assume this…”, he pointed out the whole car, “is just a way for him to show that he could do it too. Our father never really believed that he would be able to go from rags to riches on his own.”

“Wait wait wait… You told me your family was kind of rich but you never said THAT rich” said Dean, a bit dizzy after all this revelations. “What else didn’t you tell me ?”

Sam would have loved to make himself as small as possible, but instead he took some pop corns and started watching the he-didn’t-know-why kind of fight.

“It would have been irrelevant, Dean. Do you really imagine me coming to you to say ‘hey, you know what ? Remember my stupid family ? There’re fucking rich !’ ” Cas started to get pissed - he usually never swore. Seeing -and hearing- it, Dean took his hand in a soothing squeeze.

“It’s ok Cas, it’s just that… I’m not used to it. You know I’m not comfortable when it comes to money.”

“It’s ok Dean.” Cas smiled and squeezed back. They stared at each other for some long minutes. “I know…” whispered Cas, leaning to press his forehead against Dean’s.

Sam looked at them and couldn’t decide if he was glad to see them this happy after months of hesitation -Dean afraid to be a mistake in Cas’ life and Cas having to manage with an homophobic family-, or if he was sad thinking that he might never find someone who’ll fit him that much. He really thought Jess would be the one for him, even planned to ask her hand, but then he found her in their bed with his -ex- best friend Brady. The vision of them both together had been the death of him. He didn’t even say anything, he just came to his brother’s flat and stayed there. He never heard from Jess or Brady again after that, but a few days later they started showing themselves all around the campus.

“Get out of your thoughts Sam, we’re there.” Dean’s voice cut Sam out. He got out of the car and froze before the gigantic villa.

“Finally ! ‘Thought you’ll never come !”

A guy came to them. With the brightest smirk of all times and golden hair, he was one of the most beautiful guy Sam had seen in his life - wait, since when did he check people out ?

“Gabriel, I’m glad to see you” said Cas with a big smile, letting his brother hug him even though he wasn’t the hugging-type. Cas turned to face Dean and Sam. “Dean, Sam, let me introduce you my brother Gabriel. Gabriel, here’s Dean my boyfriend and Sam his brother.”

“Glad to meet you guys. I’ll show you your rooms, you three look like zombies.”

Sam made a face at the comment but followed the group. This was the biggest house -villa- he’d seen in his entire life. The entrance was as big as Dean et Cas’ flat. There were way too much shoes on the many shelves for one life and he was sure he’d never seen that much jackets in the same place before.

“The kitchen is on the left and the living room on the right” said Gabriel nonchalantly.

“He always dreamt of an open kitchen” whispered Cas to the Winchesters, smiling at his brother.

“Then in this corridor here you got my office on the left and at the end the gym.”

“You got a gym ?” asked Sam, “in your own house ?”

Gabriel smirked. “It’s cleaner and I don’t have to deal with people I don’t care about.”

Gabriel then took them upstairs and showed them their rooms. Dean and Cas had the first on the right and Sam the first on the left. The rooms were the same, with a king size bed, modern furniture and a bathroom with two sinks, a tub-jacuzzi and a shower.

“I asked the maid to make sure you’ll get everything you need, but if you still miss something I’ll be downstairs in my office.” As fast as he finished his sentence, Gabriel ran in the stairs.

“Well… I guess we’d rather sleep” said Cas, heading to his room, taking Dean’s hand to pull him in too.

Sam went back in his room, closing the door. He had never slept in a room this big before. He unpacked his stuff. Dean and Cas had planned to stay here for two weeks, maybe more. Apparently Gabriel didn’t care about having them here. He was quite a brain-twister to Sam. The guy he just met seemed to be like Tony Stark, the rich playboy in his too big mansion and he’d been surprised that there were no party or girls in the house. He felt like he knew him a bit since Cas talked about him in the plane, and that made him uncomfortable. But why would he feel like this because of a guy he didn’t know before and whom he will probably never hear about again in the future ?

Half an hour after, Sam was laying on his bed, looking at the ceiling. He was tired, he really did, but he couldn’t just close his eyes and sleep. Once again he was over-thinking.

What if Jess didn’t cheat on me ?

What if I don’t get my exams ?

What if I could never be a lawyer ?

What if I end up alone ?

By midnight his throat was too dry, he had no choice but to go downstairs to drink. In fact Sam had seen a bottle of water on his bedside table, but he couldn’t help his legs going downstairs.

He managed to find the switch. The light revealed what he could compare to the Great Hall of Hogwarts, scale-speaking. The ceiling was way higher than what he thought he’d seen in the first place, the furniture was mainly made of steel, of wood, or painted in white. The whole place was welcoming. The kitchen looked like the one from a restaurant. Sam tried to figure out where the glasses could be when he heard music coming from the corridor. He followed it, not really knowing what he was doing, and found himself at the entrance of Gabriel’s office. It looked like the living room with a huge light wooden desk facing the entrance, and behind him a huge patio door leading to the garden. It was about 1 a.m. and Sam could only see a steamy shape of the forest thanks to the stars’ light.

Gabriel seemed to finally notice him, lying his eyes on Sam.

“What can I do for you, Sammy ?” asked Gabriel with a great smile.

Sam usually didn’t like being called Sammy, but this surname in Gabriel’s mouth sounded great.

“I… I was looking for a glass of water but I couldn’t guess where the glasses were. Your kitchen’s huge” mumbled Sam to refrain from smiling like an idiot as he felt he was dangerously about to ever since Gabe smiled to him.

“Arf. Yes. I’ve always enjoyed cooking and… Well…”, he looked at Sam with a bored look while heading to the kitchen, “I could afford it so I thought ‘you’ll have to do something with your money one day’. Here you go” finished Gabriel while offering a glass of water to Sam. “I know it could sound presumptuous. Sorry.”

“Why do you apologize ?” ask Sam, “It’s not like you stole your money. What do you do by the way ?”

Gabriel took a glass for himself. “At first I was in pure trade. I got hired by a company in Paris. I quickly got promoted and then one thing led to the other… I made a lot of money. I’m kind of a patron now. I help some startup companies with money and advises in exchange for stocks. I guess it works good for me” concluded Gabriel.

“More than good I’d say” said Sam, thoughtful. He wished he could have this sort of career.

“And how is it going for you Sammy ?”

“Well… I study to become a lawyer.” Sam stopped and laughed seeing the look Gabe gave him, the what-about-you-telling-me-more kind of look. “I’ve been a bit overwhelmed these days so Dean insisted for me to come with them. I hope it doesn’t bother you…”

Gabriel laughed weakly. “It doesn’t make the slightest difference to me, be sure of that.” He let his now empty glass in the sink. “If you’re hungry feel free to rummage through all the cupboards. The dishes are all gathered here and the drinks are up there.” He then got back to his office. Before he left, he turned around to face Sam. “Glad to know you, Sam.” Before Sam had the time to answer he closed to door of his office. Gabriel stayed for a while leaning against the door, his eyes closed, convincing himself that Sam wasn’t attractive at all, and when he saw that he had just received a message from the older Novak brother Micheal, he stopped thinking about the Winchester.

Just after Gabe left him, Sam got back to his room. He laid on his bed, closed his eyes, and finally fell asleep thinking about his host.

***

“Good morning sunshine !”

What… This voice ? ‘Must be dreaming…

“I said wake up Gigantor !”

Why would a dream insult me ?

“Don’t make me do this, please.”

Make what ?

Sam didn’t have the time to figure out what was happening before someone threw his blanket away. He opened his eyes widely and saw Gabriel opening the window.

“Wait…” started Sam, “did you just call me Gigantor ?”

“Not my fault if your as tall as the Eiffel Tower” laughed Gabriel. “Now move your ass from that bed, Cas and Dean are having breakfast. Seems like you’re heading to Versailles today.”

“I don’t even know a single word in French” mumbled Sam.

Gabriel sat on the bed, a serious look on his face. “Ok there’re a few things : ‘hello’ is ‘bonjour’, ‘please’ is ’s’il-te-plaît’, ‘thanks’ is ‘merci’ and ‘shit’ is ‘merde’. If you need any intelligence call me.” Gabriel winked at him. Sam felt like it was the best day of his life. “Maintenant viens avec moi chéri, je meurs de faim et vu les bruits de ton estomac, toi aussi” said Gabriel, pushing the giant outside of his room.

“I didn’t get a single word, Gabe.” When Sam realized he just called Gabriel ‘Gabe’ it was too late. He waited for Gabriel’s reaction but nothing came except a smile. It could have been worst.

The breakfast table was much more like a Valhalla buffet. It was all sugar, fat and starch and Sam realized how much his stomach was sore. He managed to find some fruits and enjoyed the lively meal.

“Gabriel”, started Cas uncertainly, “did you get Micheal’s message ?”

The mood suddenly switched.

“Yes” answered Gabriel, in a rush to speak of something else.

“What message ?” asked Dean, worriedly. He wasn’t very fond of the Novak family. He knew that Castiel -and apparently Gabriel- were too open minded for them, reason why he had been pushed aside. On the other hand, Micheal, the older brother, had always been daddy’s favorite. He worked in his father’s company and was on tracks to a promising career. Dean had just seen him once at the beginning of his relationship with Cas, and he still wasn’t able to forget the despising gaze Micheal gave him.

“Micheal has the honor to announce us that he is getting married” read Cas, repelled by every word he had pronounced.

They finished to eat quietly and quickly and went back to their rooms to get ready for the trip to Versailles, leaving Gabriel alone at the house since he claimed he already knew the castle by heart. Sam wasn’t this excited about the idea of visiting a castle for a whole day, but the moment he got there he felt purely amazed. He didn’t know much about architecture but he could easily figure out that this was a master piece. He first followed Dean and Cas though the many rooms but when they headed to the garden he left the couple behind to explore.

“I never thought a castle and garden could be this… interesting. I really wasn’t expecting this. To be honest, I thought it would be boring as fuck, but this was just amazing. I finally get why so many people are obsessed with it” said Sam, as he laid on the couch in Gabriel’s office.

Dean and Castiel had jumped in the pool -yes, there was a pool too- as soon as they had got back home, but Sam had staid inside. He had bumped into Gabriel as he tried to decide which cereal to eat. The Novak invited him in his office so he could tell him how their day had been. Gabriel was glad to have an happy-Sammy with him. It changed him from his usual loneliness.

Maybe having some people home isn’t the worst idea ever… Especially when one of them is Sam Winchester…

Gabriel coughed as the idea ran through is head.

“Everything’s alright ?” asked Sam with -maybe- a little too much concern.

“Yes, yes…” said Gabriel, taking a sip of water. “It’s your enthusiasm, I’m not use to it, it’s taking over me.”

Maybe Sam was smiling too much at his comment, maybe he was a bit too happy that he, Gabriel Novak, made him smile this way. Who knows. A knock on the patio door made them startle. It was Dean, still soaked with water.

“Guys, stop staring at each other like idiots and come with us, the water’s hot !” said Dean, more demanding than offering.

It was clear for the two boys that they had no choice. The both went upstairs and Sam waited until Gabriel entered his room -the last one, at the end of the corridor- to enter his own. He quickly put his swimming trunks on, picked up a towel and walked downstairs to jump in the promise water. Gabriel went out of his own room just a few second after him and stared at Sam’s back like it was the most mouth-watering candy he’d ever seen. Maybe it was. Who knows.

The four guys in the pool was a total mess. First it was Winchesters against Novaks, then Dean and Castiel made an alliance forcing Sam and Gabriel to work against them together, and finally everyone betrayed everyone and soon there was more water on the ground than in the pool. It had almost been three hours since they got in when they decided to go downtown to get pizzas, Gabriel having decided that they’d have all the time needed to have some snails and other “pure French food” once they would be in Paris. Gabriel won the game of being ready first - when he toured the boys around the house he hadn’t mentioned that he had a bathroom and a dressing room in his office.

Gabriel led the boys to his garage and Dean almost fainted before the -never- too many cars. As a passionated mechanic his first passion after Castiel was cars. He could talk about it for days. When he saw that Gabriel was heading them to a Tesla S, he immediately decided that he was his favorite brother in law ever.

“Brother in law ? We’re not even married yet.” said Cas, trying to stay as placid as possible tough he felt his cheeks blushing.

Dean turned white as he realized he just thought out loud.

“Glad to know I’m your favorite though !” laughed Gabriel as he jumped into the car.

Dean and Castiel took the backseats, leaving the passenger seat, next to Gabriel, to Sam. Cars were not really his jam but he had to admit that this one was particularly comfortable and pretty. He’d never been in an electrical car before, and it was weird for him to see that they were going forwards even though there were no sounds nor vibrations of any kind while they made the quick ride.

“Here we go boys !” declared Gabriel as he parked the car on a half full parking. “This is not Jean-François Piège’s restaurant but they make awesome pizzas and pastas.”

They headed inside. It was clear that the staff already knew Gabriel.

“Monsieur Novak, quel plaisir de vous revoir ! Et accompagné, pour une fois !” said a girl behind the counter in the entrance. The look she gave to Gabriel didn’t really please Sam.

“Bonjour Madame Patel,” replied Gabriel with a perfect accent, “ce sera pour une table de quatre s’il-vous-plaît.”

“Bien sûr, suivez moi” said the girl before leading them in a quieter place, aside the main room. “Installez vous, je vous en prie. Je vous apporte les cartes dans un instant.” she added before going back to the entrance.

“She’s bringing us the menu” said Gabriel as he waved sit down to the others.

The girl came back quickly, and the Winchester brothers got confronted to a big problem : they didn’t get one single word in French. Castiel laughed at how cute Dean looked trying to figure out what all these strange words could be, and he took the responsibility to translate for him.

“Wait. You speak French ?” asked Dean with surprise.

« Have you seen my family ? Of course I speak French. We had to learn everything that looked fancy to our parents" said Cas shrugging.

Dean had his own boyfriend-translator, but Sam on the other hand was still wondering what a “viande bovine française” could possibly be. He shivered as he felt a soft hand on his own.

“Come here Gigantor, I’ll translate for you” said Gabriel with a soothing smile and an incredibly soft voice.

Sam let Gabriel translate every dish on the menu, and even after he had made his choice he let Gabriel continue so he could hear his voice longer. After a few minutes the waitress came back.

“Vous avez choisi ?” asked her.

“Ce sera des carbonara pour moi et une pizza carnivore pour mon mari” said Cas with a huge smile knowing that Dean wouldn’t understand. But Gabriel did, and the look he gave Castiel made his brother lose all sense of phlegm and laugh.

“Mon ami prendra des lasagnes et je vous prendrai une pizzaiolo, merci” finished Gabriel, trying not to laugh too hard seeing Castiel’s face and the two understanding faces of the Winchesters.

“Et pour les boissons ?” asked the waitress again.

“What do you wanna drink, boys ?” translated Gabriel.

After a short concertation they ordered a bottle of red wine.

The meal was delicious, the dishes as much as the desserts. They ordered another bottle of wine, so the conversation became more and more opened. Gabriel didn’t drink that much so he was sure he could drive the three others back home. It wouldn’t be a lie to say that Castiel and the Winchesters were a bit tipsy. Well, more than a bit. Dean and Cas were both quite eager to be be alone, and Gabriel and Sam knew what they were about to do when they saw them running to their room.

“Good news for you : you won’t leave early tomorrow !” laughed Gabriel, not seeing the insistent look Sam gave him. Not Sam : the alcohol. But maybe Sam too. A bit. Who knows.

“Want another glass of wine before sleeping ?” asked Gabriel while taking a bottle and two glasses. He had only drunk one glass at the restaurant. He usually wasn’t this responsible. He didn’t wait for Sam to answer and gave him a glass anyway. Sam opened his eyes wide as he tasted the best wine he’d ever tasted.

“That’s… delicious !” Sam didn’t really know which words to use to describe it.

“Yup. ‘Thought it’ll be a good one” said Gabriel, drinking slowly.

“Wait…” Sam blocked as he read the label on the bottle. “It’s… It’s a Saint-Émilion 1990.”

“Yep. As good as it should be.”

Sam was confused. It wasn’t the type of bottle you open in your kitchen by midnight. His thoughts were interrupted as Gabriel refilled his glass.

“So tell me Sammy-boy… What went wrong that Dean and Cas forced you to come with them ?” asked Gabriel.

“My girlfriend cheated on me with my best friend.” Sam didn’t actually meant to say the truth, but speaking to Gabe was easy, so he let the wall he had built in his head fall down and let his heart speak for itself. “It was a Friday night. I remember very well, I had just finished my exams. I knew Brady and Jessica had seen each other a few times, but as a dumbass I thought they were studying, not…” Sam drank a bit before going on, and the understanding look Gabriel gave him warmed his heart. “Anyway. I came back home -cause we lived together- and when I opened the door I heard some… noises from the bedroom if you know what I mean. So I went straight there, not really knowing what I’ll see, and then I saw Jess riding Brady like she had never done with me.”

“Damn…” said Gabriel with concern as he emptied the bottle before opening another.

“Yes… Brady saw me and he didn’t even try to pretend… Anything. He just smiled at me while my girlfriend was coming on him. I left immediately and I went to Dean and Cas’ flat. Not really the best day of my life.” Sam whispered the last words, lost in his thoughts. He couldn’t help but think about what Castiel said to him in the plane about Gabriel. Right now he really wanted to know what happened for him to run away to France. It was confession time, right ? And the alcool had ripped every buffer he might have anyway. “What happened that you got expelled from university and came to live here the next day ?”

Gabriel gritted his teeth. It wasn’t his best memory, but the puppy look Sam gave him was the key to the padlock of his jaw.

“I had a boyfriend. At first it was great and everything but… Well… He always wanted more. And I thought I loved him and everything and I didn’t want to loose him so I gave him everything he wanted ’til he went too far. I tried to… you know… say no to him but… well… it didn’t please him. I had to defend myself.” Gabriel fled Sam’s eyes, fearing a judgmental look, but the only thing he felt was a soothing squeeze on his hand. “We both got hurt in the fight. Unfortunately his family was a hundred percent behind him and mine had left me the second they knew I was gay. He went to the headmaster to complain with a big cheque in his pocket and the second after I was expelled. I called my parents for help but they didn’t answer, so I packed my things and left. I came to France because it was the only place that I remembered which felt like home, even if I had just been there for a few weeks before. I discovered that my awesome father had blocked all my bank accounts when I went to the airport. Castiel helped me. He ran after me and when he figured out that I wouldn’t come back he gave me enough money to live for a few weeks and wished me good luck. He’d always been my number one support.”

Sam couldn’t help the forward thrust that made him hug Gabriel. It felt good having him in his arms and feeling him leaning to rest his head on his chest. Gabriel didn’t even remember the last time someone hugged him this way, with an infinite concern and an obvious will to make him feel better. He hugged Sam back, surrounding Sam with his arms as Sam’s surrounded his waist. They remained like this for what felt like eternity, resting against one another’s chest as their heartbeats seemed to synchronize. They both enjoyed the moment until they felt that they couldn’t keep their eyes open anymore. They both headed upstairs, not really paying attention to their uncommon proximity in the large stairs. Gabriel opened Sam’s door and wished him a good night. He couldn’t help his hand to squeeze Sam’s arm one more time, and when Sam finally closed his door Gabriel was way too overthinking to sleep. He got back to his office and managed to put his many files into order until he felt down on his couch as the sun was showing up.

***

“Why on earth are you sleeping here, Gabriel ?”

Cas’ voice made Gabriel jump on his feet with surprise.

“Why are you in my office anyway ?” asked Gabriel as he passed a hand on his sore back.

“Dean and Sam were wondering where you could possibly be and I didn’t mind entering your personal space. But you didn’t answer my question : why are you here ? I thought we had talked about this. If you do want to feel better you have to mind having a healthier lifestyle. That,” he pointed the couch and Gabriel’s zombie-face, “is not what I call healthy. So tell me what happened. You know I can hear anything.”

“Why are you this concerned about me…” mumbled Gabriel with a grumpy tone.

“Because you’re not concerned about yourself and someone has to. So tell me.”

Gabriel had no way out. If he managed to leave his office -Cas being in front of the door- he knew his brother would pursue him and he didn’t want him to make a fuss in front of the Winchesters.

“I couldn’t sleep because I was overthinking so I came here to work a bit and then I fell asleep. Cross my heart.” Gabriel knew that his brother knew he wasn’t telling him everything. He could see the spark in his eyes.

“Ok…” Castiel turned around to go back to the kitchen, but he stopped a second before leaving. “I saw you with Sam yesterday. He’s someone good. If you want to talk about it I’m here.” Castiel eventually left, leaving Gabriel alone with his thoughts, not knowing if he should smile or run.

The day’s destination for the three tourists was Paris. Dean was the most enthusiastic of the three, running in every directions, asking some translations to Cas and trying to speak a few words in the most ridiculous yet cute way. Sam on the other hand had been at first impress by the city, but he quickly got tired of running everywhere. At the end of the day Cas and Dean decided to stay in town in the greatest hotel Cas found -he refused to let Dean pay a single thing- but Sam refused to stay with them, pleading that he preferred going back home. Cas wanted to argue but Dean stopped him, thanking his brother for letting him and his boyfriend alone, knowing that Sam truly didn’t mind going back to Gabriel’s house.

Back in the villa, Sam took some stuff to eat and started to look at the many shelves in the living room which were bending under the weight of hundreds of books. Lost in his contemplation he didn’t notice Gabriel, who was looking intensely at him.

“I thought you guys wanted to stay in Paris tonight” said Gabriel.

Sam jumped, not expecting Gabriel to be here, wondering since how long he was staring.

“Dean and Cas staid. I was too tired to visit Paris one more day. And they didn’t need me by their side” finished Sam, laughing softly.

Damn… Thought Gabriel as he heard Sam’s laugh, feeling shivers on his back.

“I hope it doesn’t bother you, you know… Having me wandering here” asked Sam with hesitation.

“Why the hell do you think your presence doesn’t please me ?” Gabriel froze as he realized what his sentence could possibly mean. Of course he liked having the Winchester around, it felt reassuring to know that he wasn’t far away, and the hug from yesterday night had been the best thing that happened in his life for months. Yet he didn’t know how to feel about it. Sam was tall and handsome and clever and everything but Gabriel had some serious trust issues. And nothing had proved him yet that he was also interested in male, what was one of his biggest problem with all this frigging kind-of-relationship-or-he-didn’t-know-what thing. And he didn’t even know if ‘relationship’ was the word to use. He was just desperate, all alone in a villa he ordered only to prove his parents he could have a big one too, but the reality was : he hated this house. It was too big, too empty. There were five rooms upstairs but he spent most of his time surviving in his office. Castiel and the two Winchester brothers had been his very first guests here. Of course he had tried to follow Castiel advise, which was to find someone with whom he felt good, but he never found someone like that. Well, until he laid his eyes on this giant who showed up at the entrance of his office to ask for a glass of water.

“Gabriel ? You’re ok man ?” Gabe heard Sam’s voice calling him and he realized that he’d been lost in his thoughts for a while

“Would you like to come with me to Bretagne ? I got some stuff to do for work in Brest, but then I could make you visit the city” asked Gabriel without really realizing what he was doing, but it was too late to pull out the invitation.

Sam first thought he had miss-heard. There was no way that Gabe invited him to come with him to Bretagne where there would possibly be only the two of them and… “Sure, it would be great !” Sam heard himself say, wondering if he was still alone in his head or if someone just took the control of his mouth.

“Great…” Gabriel replied, not knowing why his stomach was flipping that much. “But we gotta leave like in three hours, it’ll be ok for you ?”

“Sure, I haven’t unpacked much things” Sam replied, feeling both awkward and restless about the whole situation.

“Don’t mind bearing your suitcase outside, Antony will put them in the car for us.”

They both stood in the living room, not really knowing what to do.

“Maybe I should tell Dean and Cas that we’re going to Brest together while you pack your stuff,” managed to say Gabriel, tearing himself off Sam’s eyes, pretending that his phone was in his office even though he perfectly knew it was in his pocket.

Chapter 2

#Discovery Trip #supernatural #spn #sam winchester #gabriel #dean winchester #castiel #au #fanfiction #sabriel #destiel

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