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captn-trex · 4 months ago

Text

playing pretend

Rex x F!Reader / Bi!Reader

word count: 4.2k

description: Rex is a good friend of yours, and any good friend would teach you how to flirt, right?

warnings: reader is bisexual, a few suggestive lines of dialogue/sexual innuendo, friends to lovers, that's it I think

a/n: I really went back and forth on whether to make the reader bi or not lmao. I suppose it could get less reads because of it but eh. at the end of the day I write for my own enjoyment, so here it is

You drummed your fingers unrhythmically on the table, watching your ‘target’, so to speak, from across the bar. You pursed your lips, brows drawn together in concentration as your mind worked something up.

“Are you-”

“I’m finding it” You cut off the clone Captain, holding your hand up as you continued watching the woman at the bar.

She was honestly gorgeous, you couldn't have possibly missed her when she walked in. Her hair falling to her jaw and hanging over her forehead and into her eyes, those big blue eyes…

Okay. Maybe you were getting a little ahead of yourself, you didn't even know the woman. But you wanted to know her, and that was enough.

“Nothing is going to happen if you just keep staring, you know” Rex informed you with a teasing grin, and you directed a lazy scowl in his direction.

“I'm aware, just give me a minute” You turned back to watch the woman once more.

She was now on her tiptoes, leaning over the bar a little to talk to the bartender, and you gulped, looking back to Rex. His expression was nothing short of amused, watching you fawn over this mystery woman and not having the guts to go and speak to her.

“You're really not helping right now” You grumbled, and he just grinned back at you, shrugging.

“I know, it's funnier just to watch”

“Some friend you are” You rolled your eyes, but there was no real animosity behind it.

You and Rex had been friends for a number of years, with you working as an engineer in the heart of the Republic. You didn't get to see him very often anymore, especially not with the war stretching the GAR so thin, so you cherished these moments you did get with him. You felt sort of bad, having gone to the bar to catch up with him and now having your eyes glued to someone else.

“I can't understand what the fuss is all about” Rex admitted as he took a swig of his drink.

“What? You must be joking” You laughed, “She's probably the most stunning person I've ever seen”

Rex scrunched his nose a little, a shrug in his shoulders, “Eh, not my type”

You blew out a long breath, shaking your head disapprovingly, “You're missing out then”

“Seems you'll be missing out too” He replied quickly, amusement dancing in his eyes.

You nudged his shoulder a little, “Once again, not helping”

You let your eyes wander back to the woman in question, who was somehow still alone, and now holding a drink. She was stood leaning her back against the bar, her eyes scanning the room as she swirled her drink with the straw provided.

You sighed, but it wasn't a dreamy sigh of admiration, it was shallow and exasperated. Rex frowned a little, the heavy breath audible even over the loud volume of the bar. He bit into his cheek a little before he spoke.

“What's actually stopping you from going over?” He asked, the sincerity in his voice surprising you.

You turned to look at him again, and found the look he was giving you to be all too inviting. You shifted in your seat a little, looking down to your lap and musing on how it was exactly that kind of look, from his eyes specifically, that made you so nervous to go and speak to the woman.

You had always secretly harboured some more-than-friendly feelings for the Captain, and had tried to make that known. After a while of trying, you presumed he was deliberately ignoring your advances in the hopes that you'd stop, so you did. Though it didn't stop the way your heart raced when his amber eyes met yours with such an intensity as they just had.

Truthfully, it was the complicated feelings that you had for the Captain that had shaken your confidence, and you found yourself unable to even try. Especially with him sat right there.

It was particularly odd. In every other aspect of your life, you were reasonably confident, or at least sure of yourself and your abilities. However when it came to the realm of romance, you had no such luck.

You couldn't tell Rex that it was your ridiculous crush on him that made you feel this way, you know he would blame himself and just keep apologising for ever shaking your self-worth. Though, it wasn't his fault, it was you.

You, ever the romantic, that loved far more easily and deeply than apparently anyone else.

“I'm just no good at… flirting, and… all that stuff” You admitted, your voice a little quieter than it had been the moment before.

Rex studied you carefully, his eyes scanning your suddenly nervous demeanour.

“That's bullshit”

Your gaze snapped back to him, your expression almost scandalised, “What?”

“You're so outgoing, there's no way” He argued, but you just shook your head at him.

“It's not just about being outgoing” You countered.

“Then what is it about?” He crossed his arms, leaning forward so that his elbows rested against the table.

You laughed airily, “I'm not sure, why don't you tell me?”

“You want flirting advice from me?” Rex smirked a little, one eyebrow lifted as his eyes bored into you.

“No, I-” You rolled your eyes once again, then came to a stop, “I guess that's not a bad idea actually”

Rex was a little bemused, you could see that much plain as day on his features. He bit into his lip a little, watching you with concentrated eyes for a moment.

“Alright, I'll give it a shot” He conceded, and you gave him a small grin.

“Okay then, where do we begin Master Rex?" You asked with a slight air of teasing.

“Please don't call me that” He huffed, shaking his head, “But I don't know, what's your usual approach?”

You should know. You couldn't stop yourself thinking it.

“Uh…” You thought for a moment. What was your usual approach? “I guess I try a compliment, and then if that lands, I… try and work whatever response they give into some kinda… story, a tidbit, an explanation, that sort of thing. To get talking or whatever”

“Right” Rex frowned for just a second before his expression returned to neutral. You almost thought you'd imagined it. “And that doesn't work?”

You huffed, “Well obviously not, if it hasn't got me anywhere yet”

Rex hummed thoughtfully, giving you an odd sort of look that you really couldn't place.

“What is it?” You asked. You were open enough with him that you could ask freely and you knew he'd give you an honest answer.

“Nothing” He dismissed it.

At least, you thought he'd give you an honest answer.

“Okay, why don't you try flirting with me and we can see where it's going wrong” He suggested, his regular demeanour returning.

You gave him your best disgusted look, “Flirt with you? No thanks”

He just rolled his eyes, “It's just pretend, come on”

“Pretend or not, it's still you” You pointed out, desperately trying to contest the way your body was reacting to the thought of actually flirting with Rex. Or more accurately, Rex flirting with you.

“Oh please, you should be so lucky” He pushed at your side a little, his face pulled into a teasing smile.

Oh, how right he was.

“Come on, humour me” He urged.

You sighed aggressively, giving in, “Fine”

The task was a lot easier said than done. What could you say to Rex that could go under the radar enough that he wouldn't realise you were actually interested in him? Your mind drew a blank.

But those eyes… the ones that drew you in like nothing else, they were just watching you, same as ever. Could you really compliment his eyes? Or would that be too much? Had you complimented his eyes all those moons ago when you had tried to gain his attention? You couldn't remember.

“Say Rex” You gave your best over-the-top voice, accompanying it with a sickly sweet smile, “Did you know, you have the most wonderful brown eyes?”

Rex chuckled at your ridiculousness, “Stop fooling around, come on, do it properly”

“Hey! How do you know that wasn't me doing it properly?” You acted offended, but Rex just gave you a pointed look and you huffed, “Fine, fine”

You knew what Rex was like, always too eager to help, so you put your ego aside for a moment and just gave in to letting him help you do this. You took a deep breath before beginning, mustering up a little courage.

“You know Rex…” You began, your tone regular with an extra hint of wonder, and leaning ever so slightly towards him, “I've never met anyone with eyes quite as beautiful as yours”

It was said in such earnest, almost wistfully, that Rex actually seemed a little startled. He quickly recovered though, and leant in a fraction himself, continuing the simulation.

“That right?” He hummed, looking at you down his nose a little, “You can't have met very many people in your life then”

You frowned, though your lips indicated a small smirk, “Don't sell yourself short Captain, It's true!” You insisted, “They're very captivating. Some might say they were brown, though I might say they were more amber than anything, and-” You leaned in even closer, your eyes narrowing a fraction as they looked into his, “That's right, there's a little bit of gold in there too”

Rex was thoroughly captivated. He wondered how you could say you were bad at flirting when you had him absolutely wrapped around your finger in only two lines. Not only was it your words, but it was everything else too. Everything about you. Your presence enveloping him, your face so close to his, your eyes searching his so deeply, inspecting him in a way that made him feel alive rather than scrutinised. It was enough to make him weak in the knees, so he was thankful for being sat down.

“I think you're just saying that” He spoke lowly, giving you a chance to back down, to take it back.

You shook your head resolutely, your smirk blooming, “I'm not a liar if that's what you're accusing me of”

“I wasn't-” Rex's voice was taken from him at the feel of your hand resting atop his thigh. He had armour on, of course, but had he known you were going to do that, he would have dressed down in civvies this evening. Even the light weight of your hand, the knowledge that it was there, was all that was needed to send his heart into overdrive.

“What was that, Captain?” You teased.

He gave you a look of warning, though it wasn't anywhere near as serious as he was pretending.

“Loth-cat got your tongue?” You purred, your eyes flicking down to his lips and back up again.

Rex was being driven insane. He tried to remind himself that you were just pretending, in a little game that he had suggested, no less, but that was doing little to quell the desire he felt for you.

“You know, if that loth-cat could be so kind as to give it back, I'm sure we could find another use for it” You spoke quietly, your gaze intense as you said the most daring line yet.

Your heart was pounding in your chest, the alcohol in your system having loosened your lips, but your nerves were far from durasteel. You realised how close you had really got to him then, your leg pressed into his as your hand rested on his thigh, your mouth maybe an inch from his.

Rex spoke your name in a low tone. It sounded breathless, but like some sort of warning nonetheless. You maintained your composure as you drew away from him, as if to act like nothing was wrong, like you hadn't crossed a line.

“So, how'd I do?” You asked nonchalantly. You could feel your cheeks burning, so far from feeling calm and relaxed like you tried to appear.

Rex took a moment to come back to himself. He had been so completely lost in the moment, and though he kept trying to remind himself, he had forgotten it was supposedly all to help you learn how to flirt. His heart ached a little at the full realisation of that fact.

“Uh-” Rex cleared his throat, “Yeah, that was good”

“Any pointers?”

“Nope” Rex said, a little too quickly, and looked towards the bar, “You should get going if you want to catch her alone”

You brows drew together in confusion for a second, then you followed his line of sight to the woman, who still stood at the bar. Suddenly the prospect didn't seem as exciting.

“Right, yeah” You struggled to get a smile back onto your face, and you were sure it must've looked more like a grimace. “Wish me luck” You added, slinking out from the booth you both inhabited.

You didn't wait for his reply, you were honestly too mortified by the whole ordeal. Maker, what were you thinking? At least now speaking to this woman wouldn't be the scariest thing you did this evening.

Rex watched you walk up to the woman with the utmost confidence and begin talking to her as if it was the easiest thing in the world. He couldn't help the twist of jealousy in his gut as she seemed to respond to your advances, and the two of you settled into a conversation. Though soon enough, the woman looked towards him and pointed, which made you turn and look at him. He had no idea what was going on, but luckily you trudged back to the table to let him know shortly thereafter.

“She wasn't into girls” You grumbled, slouching back into the booth.

“Ah, I'm sorry about that” Rex said as honestly as he could. He meant it, in certain ways. He couldn't imagine what it would feel like to be rejected for that reason, so he did feel for you, but he would be lying to say he was sad that you stopped flirting with someone else.

Rex desperately wanted all of your attention on him again, the way he did just minutes ago. You were almost as close as you had been before, your knee almost touching his, but it wasn't enough.

“Eh, it's fine. She was nice about it at least” You shrugged. “She was pretty interested in you though” You added with a small smirk, looking over at Rex to gauge his reaction.

“Oh” He seemed a little surprised, “Really?”

You nodded, “I think she wanted you to go over”

“Uh…” Rex frowned a little, his eyes flicking towards the woman and back to you, “I'm good. It's like I said, not my type”

“If you say so” You rolled your eyes a little, “What even is your type then?”

Rex gave you a weary look, a small smile blooming, “I'm gonna keep that to myself”

“Why? You have a thing for Wookiees or something?” You teased with a grin.

Then it was Rex's turn to roll his eyes, “I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer”

“I'm going to believe it until you give me a different answer” You crossed your arms, a smirk taunting him.

Rex just watched you for a moment, weighing in his mind how bad it would really be to just come out and confess to the way he truly felt about you. In some ways, even if you didn’t feel the same way, it would feel better to just get it off his chest. Then he could maybe stop thinking about you when it served him well not to. Like in the middle of missions. That was really quite irritating.

He settled on, “I think my type is women who don’t want me”

“Yeah, you and me both” You laughed, and Rex just gave an apologetic look which you ignored, “But something tells me you're lying”

“Lying about what?”

“That women don’t want you” You said as if it was obvious.

Rex gave you a strange look, “It's really that hard to believe?”

“Yeah, I mean-” You hesitated, and you couldn't help but think it would've been less obvious to just say it confidently, “You're a nice guy, and you're good looking, what's not to like, right?”

“I'm good looking?” Rex repeated, one of his eyebrows raised.

“Alright, I said it once, don't make me say it again” You rolled your eyes to brush off the question, “Anyway, who's this girl that doesn't like you back then?”

Rex huffed, looking away from you and tracing his finger around the top of his cup, “No one, you wouldn't know her”

Your heart sunk a little, despite Rex's assertion that this woman didn't return his affections.

“Alright well why are you under the impression that she doesn’t like you?” You asked, leaning forwards onto your elbows.

“Um…” Rex tried to think of a good reason, “I'm not sure, we're good friends so it's kinda tough”

“Well have you ever actually expressed that kind of interest in her?”

Rex cast a glance over at you, “No, not exactly”

You let out a short disbelieving laugh, “Well why not? How can you expect her to know you like her if you don't even show it”

Hearing those words coming straight from your mouth only drove home how stupid he was coming to realise his actions had been.

“I'm not sure, I don’t know what I could say at this point” He shrugged, looking back into his almost empty cup.

You rolled your eyes once more, “You could just tell her you like her”

“It's not that easy” Rex sighed. It was strangely therapeutic to actually talk about it, but it was definitely a little strange to be talking to you about it.

“Why not?”

Rex didn't reply, and you watched him with interest as he chewed on his bottom lip, his finger tracing his cup again. He looked particularly deep in thought.

“Okay well, what could you say then?” You changed your approach.

“I don't know” Rex huffed and looked up at you with some kind of thoughtful expression, “Maybe you could help”

You frowned a little, “But I don't know her…?”

“Right, but…” Rex paused, “If it was you, and someone was trying to show you that they liked you, what would be good to say, or do”

“Um…” You took a moment to look away and think.

Rex took note of the look of concentration on your face and his heart swelled a little, touched that you were taking this so seriously.

“I suppose… Maybe you'd want to get a little more physically intimate with them? you can kinda test the waters that way” You said, “Nothing crazy, just some quick touches, gets them thinking about it you know? If they respond positively to that then maybe try some more lingering touches”

“Ok, got it” He said assuredly, and, following your instructions, reached over and pushed some of your hair off of your face and behind your ear.

He could hear your breath catch in your throat, and fought to keep the smirk from his face. Your eyes widened a little, and he silently took great satisfaction in it. It seemed that you had responded positively to it, which boded well, according to you.

“What then?” Rex asked, keeping his tone light and acting clueless.

“Um, then…” You began slightly nervously, “I suppose you could give them some little compliments every now and then, or observations you make about them, to show you pay attention to the small things”

“You give really good advice, you know that?” Rex asserted, leaning his head into his hand and looking at you intently.

You were absolutely frozen. Was he meaning to do this? Or was it somehow just coincidence that he seemed to be following your instructions.

“Go on” He urged, moving his leg so that his knee rested against yours, “What after that?”

You took a shallow breath, “Maybe you could… try to spend some more time with them just one-on-one, or just try to be around them more. You know, give them your full attention. If you're friends already that shouldn't be too hard”

“Okay, I can do that” Rex said in reply.

He slung his arm over the back of the booth, now facing you and locking you into his gaze. It was electrifying, and the concentrated and adoring look in his eyes was something you could definitely get used to.

“What next?” He reminded you to continue.

“Uh, I- I'm not sure, maybe something will happen in that time” You shrugged, finding it hard to maintain eye contact with him.

Rex hummed thoughtfully, and placed his hand gently on your knee, lightly tracing his thumb over your skin, “What might happen?”

There was no way this was coincidence.

“Whatever you want” You murmured without giving it much prior thought, causing Rex's eyebrows to raise.

“Is that right?” He asked in a low voice, almost asking for confirmation that you understood it was you that he was interested in, that he was getting you to help in winning over yourself.

You nodded, not speaking for fear that it would just be an undignified squeak.

“Well, if that's the case…” He spoke with a smirk.

He then slowly slid his hand up your outer thigh, his eyes still locked with yours, and he pulled you towards him and onto his lap so that you were straddling his legs. Your breath had been stolen from you, and you let your hands rest against Rex’s chest as you looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Is this okay?” He asked quietly, his hands resting on your hips as he made sure.

“More than” You confirmed breathlessly, and his lips quirked into a half-smile, half-smirk.

“Good” He whispered, brushing his nose against yours, “Because I think this is a little overdue”

The feel of his lips against yours far superseded anything you had ever imagined, and it was something that you had thought about a lot. Though now, with it actually happening, your mind was empty, drained of thoughts and letting him take over everything.

His lips captured yours with a passion that had been long held back, and it was clear that he was done being secretive about it. He needed you to know just how long he had wanted this, how much he desired you. His hands held you hips firmly, fighting the urge to pull you into him further as you snaked your hand around his neck and deepened the kiss. You ran your fingernails gently down the back of his neck, and he shivered in response, his grip on you tightening.

When you pulled back, you rested your forehead against his to regain the breath that had been so fervidly taken from you. When you opened your eyes and met his, you both started to laugh. It was almost too good to be true, and equally baffling that it was happening, after being just friends for so many years.

Rex grinned at you, shrugging a shoulder, “Like I said, a bit overdue”

“I'd say more than a bit” You argued with a wide smile.

Rex chuckled, “I mean, I have been waiting years, so yeah. More than a bit”

You rolled your eyes affectionately, pushing his shoulder a little, “Why didn't you say anything?”

“Why didn’t you?” He challenged.

You pursed your lips, “Hm. Touché”

“Doesn't matter now” Rex said in a murmur, and brought his lips to yours once more.

This kiss was much more reserved. Ardent but quick, an evident deep affection being shared. You missed the feeling of it immediately, chasing after his lips when he pulled away.

“Hey now, no need to be so eager” Rex chuckled teasingly.

You gave him a mock frown and a small irritated whine, and he laughed again.

“All in good time Mesh'la” He spoke smoothly, one hand coming to rest against your cheek, “Why don't we get out of here? We could even test out some of those other uses for my tongue”

Your eyes widened, remembering your earlier words, and then a small victorious smirk wound its way onto your face, “I think that sounds like a good idea”

#trex writings #clones #tcw #clone troopers #501st battalion #captain rex x reader #the clone wars #star wars #captain rex #clone captain rex #captain rex x you #rex x reader #clone trooper #clone wars #star wars the clone wars #sw tcw #star wars clone wars #divider by saradika

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strangelysamantha · 4 months ago

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heart to heart ❀

steve harrington x fem!reader.

warnings: mention of being drugged, but otherwise pure fluff.

words: 987.

summary: at the starcourt mall bathroom, you and steve have a heart to heart.

request? no

a/n: it won’t let me insert links anymore and i’m very upset about it. but i’m happy to be writing again so i guess i have that going for me! can’t wait to produce a bunch of stranger things content.

my masterlist

—————————————-

you lay on the floor of the bathroom, your back slouched against the wall. your head wasn’t spinning as bad so that was good, but now the spiral to sobriety made your mind rush with thoughts. the starcourt mall had harsh lights, and you struggled to stick with any thoughts, overwhelmed by the torture you had barely escaped from. steve harrington was quiet in the stall next to you. a groan emitting from your lips. “are you okay steve?” you find the courage to question. you were nervous to break the silence, but if you had to endure it any longer you would explode. he hesitates, “yeah, i think uh,” he waits, “i think im alright.” you nod, although he’s unable to acknowledge it. “how about you? are you okay over there?” you stay quiet, unsure how to answer. “hello?” there’s worry in his voice, and he doesn’t wait to slide under the stall door to comfort you.

you grimace at him, “do you realize how gross the bathroom floor is?” you crack a smile, amused. he shrugs, “after all that fighting today, i already needed to wash the uniform, what difference will it make?” the two of you break out into laughter, “maybe it’s not fully out of our system yet.” this makes you laugh even harder. you take a moment to catch your breath. “steve?” he hums in response, “i’m glad i was with you in the battle against the russians.” he makes eye contact with you, “true, i’m pretty badass aren’t i?” you bite your lip nervously, “yes but you did deal with alot though.” he looks away, “i just want you to know im here for you. i mean what else can we go through that’s going to top breaking into a hidden russian lair?”

“i hope nothing… but this town is crawling with bad people. you can’t ever be safe.” his demeanor hurts, the pitiful comment causes your heart to sting. “yeah that’s what scares me.” you admit. “we’ll get through it together okay? we’re a good team.” you nod at his reassuring words, “let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.” you collect your thoughts, “it’s funny to think that just last week we scooped ice cream for a living, and then we almost died.” steve smirks, “it’s quite the story to tell though.”

“don’t you miss high school? the only worry we had was about homework due dates, and trying not to fall asleep during lectures?” he reminisces, “it was easier, but time moves forward, and you get hardships thrown your way. i don’t know where i’ll be in a few years.” he continues, “it’s hard to think about the future, when the present is not enjoyable.” “i know, we should be out having fun, not worried about our hometown being invaded.” saying the words made the situation real, and the idea of your future was unimaginable. “do you still love nancy?” you question. he sighs, “yes, and no.” he thinks about it, you can tell by his face. “i miss what we had, the love was real, but time passed. we both grew into ourselves; there’s no point in ruining that growth.” his stance caught you by surprise, but you appreciated his honesty. “i had a first love too. it was different; it was a love that consumed me, but i lost who i was in the process. it’s hard to go back to someone when you know it didn’t work out for a reason.” he silently agrees, “have you moved on?” he asks. “yes, and no.” you giggle, “i’ve moved on, but sometimes i long for it. it was safe, predictable, but i know in my heart that things will work out for me.” steve’s eyes lock with yours.

you can’t read what he’s feeling, you’re filled with nerves. “i like you steve.” his lips curved, “you do?” you laugh slightly, “of course i do steve. you saved my life today. you make working at scoops ahoy fun. you’re playful, and witty. you treat me with so much kindness. and maybe i’m misreading this thing between us.” you back peddled slightly, worried you might have overstepped. “i like you too, today you brought out a side of me, one i hadn’t seen in awhile. you gave me hope, a reason.” you stomach fills with butterflies as his gaze lingers over you. you scooch forward, placing your hand over his. “steve, i really-.” unfortunately dustin and erica barge into the bathroom, before he rolls his eyes. “okay… what the hell?” steve and you glance at each other before returning your eyes to dustin. together you both emit into hysterical laughter at dustin’s comment. “get up we have to go.” he urges you up and rushes you to the door, erica’s face is stern and her hand is on her hip as she impatiently waited for you two to stand up. the four of you leave the bathroom, determined to escape the mall. you stay back, letting erica and dustin lead the way. you glance over at steve, your hand instinctively reaching for his as the nerves wash over you. he happily holds it, he looks over to you, his teeth bright. “you make me really happy.” he squeezes your hand. “you make me really happy too steve.” he chuckles slightly. “maybe after we escape, i can take you on a date?” a rose tint lifted to your cheeks as shyness crept up. “yes please.” the two of you continue to hold hands as you hurriedly tried to blend in with the crowd of people leaving the theater; however you see men in all black, guarding the exit. dustin tells you guys to abort and to turn around, and you frantically run to the lower level. fear was instilled inside you, however; with steve by your side you felt confident that you would make it to your guys first date.

🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

#steve fluff #steve x reader #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington story #steve harrington x reader fluff #fluff #fanfic #steve fanfic #stranger things steve #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fluff #stranger things

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neiptune · 5 months ago

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best case scenario

cw: 1.6k wc, female reader, friends with benefits, angst, hurt no comfort, you will not find any joy here my friends your girl is going through it and is trying to heal lmfao

Suna is staring at you.

It happens frequently as of late, the feeling of his eyes on you always teasing your spine with a telltale shudder while you pretend to occupy yourself with something entirely different. The thing is, you need things to ground you when you’re with Suna. After you’ve been with him or right before you’re about to be. Distractions to keep you sane, to prevent your heart from freeing itself from your chest cavity.

These quiet moments are not rare anymore, his sorcerous gaze a distraction too dangerous unless he speaks, voice like an enchantment freeing you from the quiescent bubble you intentionally lock yourself in. Today, the bubble is his rubik’s cube. You try very hard to remember at least part of the instructions you once looked up on the internet: think of each face as a layer, start by making a cross, don’t forget to pay attention to the color of the side center pieces, arrange the corner pieces-

“Twist the bottom layer so that one of the white corners is directly under the spot where it’s supposed to go on the top layer”, Suna’s voice is calm yet you sense the amusement it’s coated in. The snark. Ugh.

“Shut up” you grumble, stubbornly doing anything but following his instructions. The white corner piece is where it belongs but turned wrong and you have no idea how to fix that.

“Sure. I always like it better when you’re in charge anyway” he murmurs, too close. Like a cat, his chin suddenly rests on your shoulder and infuriatingly soft hair tickles your cheek as he presses a kiss behind your ear.

“I’m trying to focus here” your hold grows rigid, fingers moving layers of the cube randomly.

“And I’m just watching” he coos, voice a gentle murmur against your skin.

“You’re sabotaging. First by staring, now with this”.

“Should’ve been less pretty if you didn’t want me to stare”.

You shut your eyes for a second, let a deep breath fill your lungs with oxygen and your heart with little sparks of hope, crimson and golden and oh so fickle.

He doesn’t need to say these things. You’ve been sleeping together for enough time for him to know you’ll gladly welcome him back into your bed, day and night, no additional convincing needed. Why does he bother?

Suna is like one of those beautifully crafted russian tea dolls, only backwards. He starts as the smallest figure, blunt and perpetually unbothered, seemingly uninterested in anyone or anything. Then, if he feels safe enough to allow layers to be carefully exposed, the figure starts getting bigger: each crevice comes to light and contains way more than what one would expect from someone so stoic.

He’s a dog person, doesn’t like his morning coffee to be too hot, rewatches his favorite movies when he needs a good cry, sucks with plants, can’t get on a plane without taking an anxiolytic first. More than anything, Suna’s affection is hard to earn but runs deep. He loves his family, adores his friends. He’s in love with someone who isn’t you.

Suna is a one night stand enjoyer and doesn’t disdain dates or conversations that stretch out for days on dating apps. Worst case scenario, he’s entertained. Good case scenario, he also gets a good fuck out of it. Best case scenario, he finds relief and a friend. You suppose you’re his best case scenario.

It’s not like it was entirely unanticipated. He’s good looking, charming in his own stoic way, polite. First, it was attraction. Then, it was nothing but the cruel irony of a fate that came as doom. You just kept texting each other, taste and humor matching curiously, memes exchanged in the middle of the night and laughter muffled in pillows until he just had to ask for your number and smoothly text if he could come over one more time. Two times. A million times too many. For months, until Suna started sleeping in at your apartment and you started to fix breakfast for the both of you, until you walked his dog together, until you accidentally met one of his ex schoolmates and he introduced you calmly, by your name and as a friend. Until sleeping together wasn’t the only motive to see each other anymore, nights spent on his couch watching movies and afternoons devoted to driving around the city, exploring new bakeries and vinyl record stores.

Suna’s been honest since the beginning. Not when you started hooking up, rather when you became friends. I’m in love with someone I’m unable to forget. That’s alright, you replied. You were friends who were attracted to each other, simple as that: nothing was supposed to change.

And then, because life is a never ending sequence of sadistic developments, you ended up falling for him. Not only that: you started harboring hope, which is even worse than desire or delusion. Hope doesn’t keep you grounded. It makes you hang on every word Suna says, each unnecessary compliment, the way he sometimes takes you by the hand while strolling around shops, that one time he got so drunk you had to collect him from a bar. Then he fell asleep in your bed, arms around your body keeping you pressed against him all night. He was drunk enough to giggle (a rare occurrence), to ask you a question your mind still conjures word by word on nights you feel like you’re about to go insane, brain delirious with fabricated scenarios that could never be real. They couldn’t, right?

If we end up falling in love at last, will you stay and never leave?

For the longest time you refused to allow your heart to believe there could be some hidden meaning behind all those criptic words and uncharacteristic gestures. But then treacherous hope infiltrated your thoughts and the throb in your chest, arrangement now seemingly exclusive, dating apps no longer on his phone, ex schoolmates crowding his apartment and chatting with you like old friends. It must’ve meant something. It must mean something. And you’re sure you’ll end up going crazy if you don’t take a goddamn shot.

“Wanna do something tomorrow? There’s a new cafe I wanted to take you to”.

Suna nods, cheek pressed to your bare shoulder.

“Sure, sounds good”.

“It’s a date, then?”.

“Yeah, I don’t have anything else planned. We can spend the day exploring”.

You pause your ministrations for a moment, then attentively place the cube on his nightstand once more.

“Can it be a real date?”.

You feel it before he can speak. It’s in the way he stiffens against your body, embedded all over his features as he straightens up to stare back. It’s in his parted lips, in the regret tucked into the corners of his mouth.

Suna just says your name and it’s mortifying, humiliating.

“It’s okay” you take a shaky breath, nod once “forget about it. I’m so stupid”.

“No” he’s quick to interrupt “let’s talk about it”.

“Why? I already got my answer”.

“I didn’t say anything yet”.

You finally look at him, heart sinking to your stomach. It’s not like you’ve known Suna for years but you’ve known him long enough to recognize that stare, the watchfulness in his tone. You’ve already heard him turn down other women before.

“Let me say something first” you attempt to swallow the lump in your throat “I like you, Rin. I like you way more than I should and that's on me but I was starting to believe that, I don’t know, you liked me back”.

He takes your hands in his and holds them tight, conflict laced into his upset features.

“I do like you. I like you a lot”.

You smile a sad smile.

“Just not enough to date me?”.

“I would fucking love to date you. I’d be the luckiest man on earth. If I could decide to fall in love with you, if that choice belonged to me, I wouldn’t waste a single other second”.

“But you don’t see that ever happening so why waste your time, right?”.

Suna’s hold on your hands grows stronger, brows furrowed in anguish.

“I wouldn’t ever let you date someone who’s in love with someone else. You deserve so much better than that”.

As you pull your hands free from his grasp, you dazedly wonder how many times a heart can break and if it’s truly shattered if the person causing that agony doesn’t even seem to hear a sound so clear. The pain is unbearable, it makes you petty and it makes you cruel. You hope she’ll never want him. You beg that a gut-wrenching void swallows him whole. You pray that he’ll have to spend the rest of his life torturing himself, thinking about what could’ve been over and over again.

She’s not here, I am. She doesn’t want you, I do. She didn’t even remember your birthday, I memorized it a year go. Fuck you. Fuckyoufuckyoufuckyou.

Suna tries to stop you from leaving, runs nervous hands through his disheveled hair. He doesn’t want to lose you as a friend, you’re important to him, he’s sorry. He doesn’t know what to do, wishes something could make this right.

“I would’ve made you happy” you aggressively wipe the tears running down your cheeks, humiliation still burning in the pit of your stomach.

“I would’ve wanted it to be you” he doesn’t cry, he never cries. You’re sure he’s going to miss you for a week or two, then he’ll easily fall back into his usual routine, download his apps once more, find other women to fill his time with. His friends are going to stop asking about you, your name won’t be mentioned over beer and board games anymore. His absence is always going to weigh more in your life, just as his presence.

“Good luck, Suna” his last name sounds weird, so weird the sound makes him flinch.

It’ll pass.

#suna x reader #suna x you #suna rintaro x reader #suna rintaro x you #haikyuu x reader

126 notes · View notes

juustokaku · 4 months ago

Text

Confidentiality - Chapter 5. - yandere!ATEEZ OT8 x f!reader

Introduction: Joining a peer support group for mentally ill was a good idea for the last two times you were there. Then it's only natural for the third time to go well too, right?

Pairings: yandere!Hongjoong x reader, yandere!Seonghwa x reader, yandere!Yunho x reader, yandere!Yeosang x reader, yandere!San x reader, yandere!Mingi x reader, yandere!Wooyoung x reader, yandere!Jongho x reader

T/W: This story will include talk about mental health struggles such as body dysmorphia, paranoid thoughts and more. Possessive and obsessive behavior, stalking. Dark themes are to be expected.

A/N: Forgive me; this chapter is absolute shit! Publishing this makes me feel very ashamed and disappointed in myself. I hate this so much, but it's probably the best what I can do right now. I hope I didn't let you down and hope you won't lose your interest for this story because of this chapter. Also, this chapter has only Mingi (finally), Jongho, and the stalker, whoever that might be. I swear the story won't be about Jongho all the time although he's been in a lot of chapters, since he is important at the beginning. I hope I'm not wasting your time with this, and that at least someone will find this enjoyable :,) Thank you for reading!

Word count: 4 641

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“Is this really necessary?”

“Just take my hand. How do you think the stalker is going to notice we’re in a relationship otherwise?”

At Jongho’s question, you began to ponder. The stalker would notice anyway that there was something supposedly between you and Jongho, so why did you have to hold hands with him?

Nonetheless, you grabbed Jongho’s warm hand, intertwining your fingers together. It was supposed to look romantic and make everyone think you were two lovebirds flying on cloud 9, but it looked most likely awkward. That’d work too, you supposed. After all, the first stages of relationships sometimes felt embarrassing.

“Fake relationship, remember.”

Jongho scoffed, “Do you think I’d be in a real relationship with you?”

That hurt. You had been rejected before by romantic and platonic interests, but none of them had talked to you like you were a repulsive, filthy animal looming in the sewers.

“No...”

He just glanced at you as you gave your dejected reply. It was clearly not in his interest to make you feel loved, but it was probably better for him to be brutally honest, than fool you into thinking the act of being a couple wasn’t just pretending.

“I hope the performance won’t be a waste of our time,” Jongho murmured.

It had been his idea to go together to a Valentine’s Day event the city had arranged. What could be more romantic than holding hands and watching awful music performances by unknown wannabe artists while freezing to death?

The stage in front of you was decorated with red paper hearts and white balloons in a bad taste, being a shameful insult to art. Maybe it was supposed to get people on festive mood yet it only gave everyone who looked at it a headache. You were already feeling anxious to have so many people around you in the audience, but you had to endure it; Jongho had demanded you to stay with him for your own safety. The moment you’d leave his sight, the stalker could strike.

Just then, you saw a familiar person step on the stage with overflowing confidence.

“Is that... Mingi?” you murmured in shock, more to yourself than Jongho.

The man holding your hand couldn’t answer to you. Jongho was usually so calm and collected, so it amused you greatly to see him, lips parted and eyes wide, trying to make sense out of the sight in front of him.

“Mingus Dingus in the house! Fix on!”

A couple people from the crowd cheered at his arrival. The rest of the audience, at least 70 people, were whispering to each other and wondering who Mingi was.

“Apparently, this poor excuse of a city doesn’t have enough money to use on events anymore.”

“Yeah. I have no idea who this is. Possibly some homeless man, that they found from the streets and promised to give dinner money to if he performed.”

You heard a couple men next to you talk poorly about Mingi, which made your heart ache. Mingi didn’t seem like a bad person, completely opposite actually. He was passionate about his music and had both courage and energy to keep doing what he loved. That was admirable.

Tensing up as the music started playing, you squeezed Jongho’s hand tighter without even noticing. This performance would turn out to be a catastrophe, a total fiasco, and a hit on your already fragile mental health. You couldn’t handle seeing people fail, it just made you want to bury yourself so you would never have to see something like that again.

But as Mingi opened his mouth and his self-written lyrics started flowing out, you found yourself flabbergasted. Even impressed.

“Sent it off in the wind, every photo, every piece of my heart...”

Jongho seemed to listen to Mingi’s performance as well with perked up ears.

“It was tough for me to see a single letter, so I sent it all away...”

Mingi’s voice made you feel all kinds of things. It was impossible to pinpoint the exact names for them, but the emotions in his voice and the lyrics hit you deep in the heart. It was something unexplainable.

You watched the performance and the way Mingi’s eyes shined with flames of passion that could not be put out. It was something that nobody could fake; only people who truly loved what they were doing would be able to captivate like that. It was so vulnerable, like he was opening up to everyone who listened.

Unfortunately, a lot of people didn’t bother to listen. They were leaving little by little, and by the end of the song, only about 30 people were still listening to what Mingi wanted to express through his music.

“Come on, Y/N. Let’s leave.”

Before you could control your reactions, you answered Jongho firmly, “No. I want to listen.”

You would have never dared to speak like that to anyone, let alone to Jongho, but Mingi’s song had woken up both your emotions and loyalty to him as his new fan.

It went unnoticed by you how Jongho’s expression darkened at your refusal. His grip tightened on your hand but all you cared about in that moment was Mingi.

As the performance continued, the rest of the audience left as well. It even made you angry. Of course, people had the right to leave if a performance didn’t interest them, but how could they be so deaf to the art Mingi had created?

It was the most freezing day of February, but you couldn’t care less about your shivering body or the cold wind that almost pushed you down. It was like even the wind didn’t care about Mingi’s songs and wanted to push you away from the stage. The way his performance set the stage on fire warmed your body and soul in the cold.

At last, the performance ended. Mingi had given his whole soul to it, to reach people’s ears and hearts, but you were the only one whose heart he had successfully won over.

Only two people, you and Jongho, had stayed the whole time. As the last chords of the song played, you stared at Mingi in awe, head empty and heart full. He looked at the audience he had left, and despite the lack of people, bowed deep and respectfully. He was thankful that he hadn’t been left completely alone, to perform for the emptiness.

“Fix off.”

Jongho tried to hold onto your hand tightly, but you ripped it away from his grip to applaud Mingi. Your lonely yet sincere claps reached Mingi’s ears, and he casted a smile for you. Then he left the stage.

“Y/N, don’t-”

You didn’t care about Jongho’s demand. Only thing you needed to do now was to run to Mingi and tell him how much his performance meant for you. How amazing he was. How he had managed to touch your heart. Unlike usually, you weren’t interested in the possibility of embarrassing yourself.

Your hurried steps reached Mingi fast, although the headwind was slightly slowing you down. He was facing another direction, head turned downwards.

“Mingi! Your performance was amazing! I never could have guessed you were that talented,” you spoke, sounding a bit too excited.

Hopefully Mingi wouldn’t think of you as some deranged fan.

But you hadn’t expected to see tears on his face as he turned around to look into your eyes.

“Don’t lie to me. I know no-one liked it.”

Speechless, you looked at Mingi’s heartbreaking expression. Warm tears were glistening in his eyes and streaming down his face. Lips pressed in a tight line, he looked somehow offended at your comment, trying to hold onto his dignity.

“I don’t know what I was thinking, coming here. I have no talent.”

You frowned at Mingi’s words, “Do you think I would have stayed here and rushed to compliment you, if I hadn’t liked your performance?”

Jongho had walked up to you silently and was standing next to you, hands in the pockets of his jacket. The look on his face directed at you was even colder than the air, as he listened you praise Mingi.

“I would have left with the other people if your performance hadn’t been good.”

At your words, even more tears welled up in Mingi’s eyes. He looked away from you, probably feeling embarrassed to show such vulnerability in front of you and Jongho.

“I just want you to know that your lyrics, songs and voice impressed me. They made me feel... things,” you rambled on before starting to realize you were way too passionate.

A hopeful expression crossed Mingi’s face, before disappearing like he was afraid to get his hopes up and heart broken, “What kind of things?”

You were getting shy under Mingi and Jongho’s eyes. It was too late to act coy now; you had already revealed your overwhelming emotions Mingi’s songs had managed to bring up to the surface.

On top of everything, you could relate to him. He worked so hard to be seen and appreciated, but got only ridiculing snorts and ignorance as a response. Some people were born to be insignificant in others’ eyes while the rest were born lucky to be acknowledged. To be seen wasn’t something to take for granted.

“I could relate to your songs. The emotions you showed in your performance uncovered something in me that I have tried to forget.”

It was almost a magical moment to see Mingi’s eyes sparkle. Could have been the tears that made it look like his eyes shined, but there was more to it. All of his dreams had been accomplished when he heard that his songs finally managed to reach someone’s ears. That he had been seen at last.

“Thank you! Thank you so much! I will never forget what you said!” Mingi suddenly grabbed both of your hands in his, holding tightly to them like you were his salvation.

“That’s enough,” Jongho ripped your hands forcefully out of the taller man’s grip.

Sure, Jongho had to act like you were a couple, but was it really fair to treat Mingi like that? You had already lost your confidence that had emerged from nowhere before, so you had no courage to say anything. You had to remember, Jongho was still a man and much stronger than you; it would be hard to fight back if he decided he had had enough of your attitude.

“I can hold her hands if I want to. What are you, her boyfriend?”

“In fact, I am. So, keep your hands to yourself,” Jongho warned Mingi.

Mingi looked suddenly devastated, which surprised you. His mouth was agape, trying to say something. He didn’t manage to let anything past his lips other than his silent breathing. He was left behind as Jongho led you away.

Later on, you arrived at a park. To your luck, the park still had people wandering around although the sky was already turning dark. Although Jongho had promised to protect you, you didn’t want to be left alone with any man after the sun had set. String lights set to hang from the leafless trees lit up your way as you walked hand in hand with him.

“Look at that! An ice rink!” you gasped, pointing at an ice rink in the park, not being able to hide your excitement. You hadn’t been ice skating since forever.

Jongho gave you a judging side-eye, “Too expensive. Let’s go drink hot chocolate.”

You had no courage to fight back his idea, so you let him lead you to a stall selling all kinds of drinks and treats. To be honest, you felt like this was actually romantic and fit the Valentine’s Day although you were spending it with a fake boyfriend. With a man who had implied he would never date you.

“Two hot chocolates. Sizes small and large,” Jongho said to the man keeping the stall.

Well honestly, he was more like a boy. He looked the age of 17 and extremely bored. You couldn’t blame him since he had been holding the stall probably for hours already, trying to earn some pathetic amount of pocket money.

You dug for your wallet, prepared to pay for the small sized drink, since Jongho most likely had ordered the large one for himself. He could have at least asked which size you wanted; the small one would not be enough to quench your thirst.

“I’ll pay,” Jongho said and pushed a carton mug full of hot chocolate into your hands.

The fact that he promised to pay surprised you already, but you noticed that the mug he had given you was the size large.

“Thank you...” you mumbled, looking up in Jongho’s eyes.

His blank stare made you uncomfortable. Why did he never smile at you? It wasn’t very convincing to never crack a smile at you, when you were supposed to act like a couple in love.

You two found a bench to sit on under a tree. It was a beautiful spot, the perfect place for you to sit next to each other, huddle for warmth and share tender kisses – that was if you two had been actually dating. There was just one problem: the bench was covered in thick layer of snow after last night’s storm.

“Are you really suggesting this spot? I’d look like I had wet myself after sitting on that.”

“You can sit on my lap. That way your ass won’t get wet.”

Jongho’s proposal made your eyes widen. He was truly shameless.

And finally, it happened. He smiled at you – although it was a mischievous one, it was the first smile you had ever seen on his face. The emotionless man was forgotten as you watched how his cheeks, slightly red because of the cold air, rounded out and made him look like a teddy bear.

“You’re always so closed off, trying to hide your emotions,” Jongho said.

Look who’s talking. He wasn’t exactly the most open person in the world either.

“I’m not closed off. Both you and Mingi saw how emotional I got over his songs.”

Ever so slightly, Jongho’s expression darkened. His smile was long gone and he sighed in frustration.

“I’m musical too, you know? I may not rap as well as Mingi but I can sing.”

“Really? Prove it,” you challenged him.

“No. You don’t deserve to hear my singing,” Jongho took a sip of his drink.

“Fine. Then I’ll assume Mingi is better.”

It was a risky game to play with Jongho. His reaction could be anything, but you couldn’t stop yourself before teasing him. You were getting way too comfortable. You knew it was dangerous, but you had been craving to have a friend for so long. Now that someone was actually willingly wasting their time on you, it felt like a chance to a new start.

“I’ll sing for you one day but first, I want to give you something.”

You raised a brow at Jongho’s statement, and your heartbeat quickened as he pulled something out of his bag.

Could it be a Valentine’s Day gift? Maybe a flower or a heart-shaped chocolate box?

But it had been a mistake to let your guard slightly down around Jongho. He proved to you right at that moment that he shouldn’t have been trusted. That you should have run away and hid from him when you had the chance.

The object in his hand was unrecognizable in the dark at first. You could only see the gleam of the yard lights reflected on the object, making you finally realize what it was.

Jongho tossed his hot chocolate cup away, symbolizing how all of his sweet gestures had been a skillful play thrown away as well, just like your whole relationship. Now his other hand was completely free to use, while the other one held a pocket knife.

You wanted to scream or try to convince him to spare your life, but you were speechless. Only thing you managed to do was take a few, shaky steps away from him, the monster in front of you.

He didn’t let you get further away as he followed you with a gleam in his eyes that screamed insanity.

“Do you fear death or me?” Jongho asked calmy.

You glanced at the park. It was like everyone had suddenly disappeared. There was no savior for you if Jongho attacked. You would lose your life alone in the darkness before anyone could have come to your rescue.

“A-Aren’t they the same thing?”

Jongho shook his head with a chuckle, “Death sets you free. I will never do that.”

His words rang in your ears for a split second before you dashed. Time was running out.

“Y/N! Stop!”

You didn’t even hear Jongho’s shout. No matter how loud he could have screamed at you, there was no chance you’d stop. You had to run out of the park and reach other people before Jongho could catch you and brutally pierce and cut your body, until you were unrecognizable to the police. Maybe even Yunho would be the one to find you. Yunho who wasn’t the stalker despite all your baseless suspicions.

But one of the worst things, that was possible in that moment, happened. The ground under your feet was on ice and betrayed you ultimately. Your heart almost stopped as you lost your balance.

Your cry of pain echoed in the park as your head smashed onto the ground, although your back had received the worst impact of falling on ice. It hurt like hell, but even in all your suffering, you couldn’t think of anything else than about the fact that this was the end. You had tried to trust other people and this was the result. In your intense pain and on the brink of unconsciousness, you didn’t even notice as Jongho got on his knees next to you on the ground.

Tears ran down your cheeks, but you couldn’t even beg for your life. It was futile.

Last thing your mind registered before fainting was Jongho’s warm hand petting your head.

It felt like you had been unconscious for eternity when in reality it had been only 20 minutes or so. When you finally opened your eyes, you found your surroundings familiar. The person next to you was familiar as well.

“You fainted.”

No words left your lips, but your eyes told everything. You were terrified and confused.

“I brought you here after you lost your consciousness.”

You glanced at the room. It was your own apartment, everything in their own places, but it still seemed so wrong and unsafe, because of the man in front of you. The couch you found comfortable every other day, felt way too stiff in that moment, making the pain in your back worse.

“That doesn’t explain why I’m alive. What do you want from me?” you managed to utter out, but the wavering in your voice didn’t go unnoticed.

Jongho turned his face away with a guilty look. It was clear he regretted something.

“It was all just a really bad joke. I didn’t mean to scare you that much.”

The mix of anger and relief felt odd; you didn’t know whether to scream at him or cry in happiness that you didn’t get murdered. But you were too scared of him to show any reactions. Even if it had been just a joke, only a deranged person would scare others like that for their own entertainment.

That’s why you forced yourself to forgive him.

“...I forgive you” you gritted through your teeth.

“I didn’t apologize though.”

Your anger only flared up at Jongho’s arrogant response. First, he had seemed guilty for scaring you to death, but any ounce of regret you thought he had, was out of the window. Soon, Jongho would be out of the window as well; you didn’t want to see his remorseless face at that moment.

“Get out of my house.”

You had turned to look away from him, because you were afraid, you’d lash out at him.

Jongho looked even slightly hurt at your words. The frown on his face was an indication of his growing agitation and refusal to leave that easily.

“Do you want me to say sorry then?”

“No,” you murmured, “It’s too late for that.”

“Exactly. And I’m not sorry anyways,” Jongho scoffed, “I had to see how you’d react if the stalker was about to kill you. Think of it as practice. It was for your own good.”

Taking in a deep breath, you tried to stay calm. It could be dangerous to anger the man even more, although you were the only one who had the right to be angry at that moment. And God, you were furious.

“For my own good? I got a concussion and nearly broke my back!”

“If you don’t appreciate me looking out for you, we can end this fake relationship.”

Looking out for you? You couldn’t believe the audacity that man had.

“Then let’s end this.”

Jongho seemed to be stunned by your words – as stunned as a man that stoic and cold could be. You even felt a sense of glee at the tiny look of panic on his face.

“No. I wasn’t serious. I just felt irritated because you don’t see how I want to protect you.”

But you didn’t fall for that. You had no intention to be a victim of his manipulation.

As you attempted to stand up from the couch, you whimpered in agony. The pain on your back was unbearable, but you were more concerned about the piercing headache, feeling like your head was being squished by a hydraulic press.

“Let me-” Jongho started, getting up and trying to help you.

“Don’t touch me.”

You stepped away from him, feeling afraid once again. Could you be blamed for that, when just a half an hour ago you feared for your life because of that man? Even though it had been supposedly a joke, you couldn’t shake off the sense of panic at Jongho walking closer.

“I’m sorry.”

“Get out,” you sighed, “Please.”

The bright lights in your apartment hurt your head even more, and you barely stayed on your feet. Although your eyes were getting blurry, you managed to see Jongho’s sad face and him walking towards your front door.

The apartment was silent as you sat down again, rubbing your temples and trying to ease the pain. The heavy tension hadn’t left although Jongho had. You didn’t know how to meet him again at the therapy session in a few days.

That Valentine’s Day had seemed successful at first, and you had enjoyed Mingi’s performance despite the heartbreak you felt at seeing his anguish. Even conversing with Jongho had been nice until his poor attempt of a joke. What was supposed to be a day of friendship and romance – even fake kind – ended up in being horrifying.

You really needed rest, some way to forget the headache for a while, so you fell asleep on the couch. Maybe the dizziness and Jongho’s “joke” would be just distant memories after a good nap, although you doubted that you’d ever forget Jongho’s face as he had creeped closer to you at the park.

It might have been 30 minutes or so when the sound of a doorbell woke you up. If it was Jongho, you wouldn’t even open the door, not prepared to hear his excuses.

Reluctantly, you dragged yourself to the door, wincing in pain every step you took. One look from the peephole revealed, that instead of Jongho, there was a man with flowers. He looked serious and exhausted but his silly little cap made him look less scary.

“Flowers for miss Y/N L/N,” the man forced a smile on his face as you opened the door.

Your heart fluttered. Someone had remembered you and sent you flowers. It could have been your family who sent the beautiful, bright yellow roses, since they wanted to remind you that they loved you despite all of the things they had done to you.

Or maybe it could have been from the stalker.

Nonetheless, you had to accept the roses, no matter how much their thorns could hurt you. They could prickle you with longing or draw blood from your fingers with promises of terror, but your curiosity got the best of you.

You set the roses down on your dinner table when you noticed that they had a little letter tied to them with a pink ribbon.

“Your pathetic boyfriend didn’t even give you a gift. Look what I brought.”

Your blood ran cold. It was no doubt of who had sent you this. Still, you wanted to believe it could have been Mingi instead, even though he didn’t even know where you lived. Anything but the indisputable truth that the sender was indeed the stalker.

But it wasn’t the end of your shock. You wanted to cry when you noticed another thing as well – a pink envelope that had come with the rose, inviting you to open it. There were heart stickers on it, one of them being a shiny teddy bear holding a heart. The envelope wanted to cast a spell on you and make you so scared yet curious, that you couldn’t stop yourself from seeing what it contained.

And it definitely succeeded in that, although you tried your best to ignore it, to leave it unopened for the sake of your own sanity.

Seven pieces of paper were revealed to be inside of it.

You hated these envelopes so much. You despised the drawings, pictures and letters you had to see because you were just too curious to stay in blissful ignorance.

Six out of seven of the pieces of paper had drawings on them. They were drawings of parts of a human body. Two pieces of arms, two of legs, one torso and one head. It had been clearly one whole drawing, one whole body of a woman, before having been cut into six pieces. The head even had a pout on it and hair similarly styled as yours.

Confused about the drawing, you prepped yourself to take a look at the 7th piece of paper. The drawing was definitely a threat, there was no doubt of that, but you craved to understand it deeper. Although the whole thing made you feel nauseous, you needed to know what kind of and level of peril you were in – and to do that, you had to bite the bullet.

There were words on the paper, written by a hand, whose writing style you recognized.

“I’ll cut off your arms if you try to fight back,” the first sentence said.

“I’ll cut off your legs if you try to escape,” the second sentence informed.

“I’ll cut off your head if your eyes wander on or lips kiss someone else.”

After you had read the final threat on the paper, you leaned on your chair, everything seemed to have slowed down. Your heartbeat was lazy and quiet, not overwhelmingly loud like in other moments of fear like this. It was so silent both in your head and the apartment, except for the rustling somewhere close. Right now, you needed Jongho. You didn’t have anyone else; only he could help, protect, and save you. He was the only person that wanted to hear your cries and see what he could do to stop you from hurting. Cursing yourself for kicking him out of your apartment, you wondered if he’d even agree to help you anymore. Maybe he’d still hug you and find the stalker to beat him up, and maybe, hopefully, he’d know where the quiet, almost inconspicuous, rustling noise in your apartment was coming from.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<- Chapter 4.

Chapter 6. ->

Masterlist

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Taglist: @devilzliaison

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yanderes-galore · 1 month ago

Note

Can I please request a yandere alphabet for Dabi from BNHA?

I can try, sure! I just hope I can write Dabi properly like I have in the past—

Yandere Alphabet - Dabi

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Manipulation, Possessive behavior, Marking/Branding, Blood, Violence, Rough affection, Trauma, Arson/Burning people, Murder, Unhealthy one-sided relationship, Sadism, Stalking, Kidnapping, Isolation, Forced relationship.

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

Dabi isn't the best when it comes to love and affection. He never really got it in his childhood and now, with a broken mental state, most likely doesn't have a healthy view on it. To him, loving his obsession may be the same as playing with a toy.

While not incapable of feelings, He certainly doesn't vent them well. His form of love is showing the power he has, of being rough and showing that you have no one but him. It's a mix between wanting you to recognize him and also him wanting to feel in control.

Which usually results in rough kissing, bruising holds, biting, and maybe even burning if it means he gets to keep you to himself.

Safe to say Dabi gets intense as he feels it gets the point across.

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

Knowing Dabi, messy. He is fully willing to cause carnage towards innocents if it benefits him in some way. If someone was close to you, like family, friends, a lover...

They'll quickly be burned by Dabi if he feels they're in the way of him having you.

He might leave them alone if you distance yourself... but no promises.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

I can see Dabi mocking his obsession to see their reaction. You could be a hero, a civilian, maybe even a villain or something else entirely.... Dabi may just find enjoyment in messing with you.

In terms of how you'd be treated after being abducted... Dabi's "love" is rough. He likes to mark his obsession and break them down. He wants them to be his own personal toy and pet.

In a twisted way, he feels this gives him the attention he craves from you. Forcing it is the method he's found works best.

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

Definitely. Dabi is a yandere that enjoys control. He likes to manipulate you, scare you, and make you completely reliant on him.

He always gets a say on what you do.

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

Dabi isn't vulnerable. If he was, it's no doubt during a breakdown, and I feel he'd be more volatile than anything. He likes to feel in control with you.

But who knows, maybe he'll be soft if he's pushed enough. That's a big 'maybe' though.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

Amused. For the most part he's just amused since he knows you're weaker than him. He'll toy with you, let you get it all out of your system.

Although, if you get too unruly, he'll remind you who you belong to.

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

Yes and he might enjoy it. Normally most yanderes find this distressing or annoying. Dabi, on the other hand, finds amusement in it.

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

When it comes to Dabi, there's a few options. But the worst one? Well, that's hard to pick. Dabi would burn people in front of you, he would burn you to brand you...

He tends to like using fire, so I wouldn't be surprised if one day he catches you trying to escape...

Then just decides to give you a burn scar or two to remind you that you're his.

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

I don't think he thinks much of the future in general. He prefers just focusing on what's going on in front of him. Currently that happens to be you being his.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

Yes and he definitely lashes out. He isn't really one to hide his anger even if he's usually aloof or stoic. One can always tell when he's in a mood.

Not much can quell his anger except you. Even then... You'll need to put in some work if you plan to have some innocents spared from his flames.

Kisses: How do they act around or with their darling?

Stoic, Aloof, Focused, Crude, Volatile, Manipulative, Possessive, Sadistic, Observing, Controlling... Honestly, it could just keep going on.

There's some small moments where he's merciful which is good.

Love letters: How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

He doesn't court in the traditional sense. He probably gets curious, ends up stalking you, and even gets irritated he's so fixated on you. You're distracting... but enjoyable.

He could watch you for months, maybe even manufacture meetings to meet you. Although, after that he'll make his move.

Then you'll be all his, locked away, just for him to toy with.

Mask: Are their true colors drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

Not really. He seems to "care" more but it isn't much different.

Naughty: How would they punish their darling?

Burning. He likes to give you burns to show you that you did something wrong by defying him. The alternative is him harming other people if they got on his nerves enough...

But it's all up to you and your behavior, right?

Oppression: How many rights would they take away from their darling?

Similar answer to D, all of them if it means he gets your attention.

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

I imagine he has moderate patience. He can be patient, but he has a limit.

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

Depends on how attached. Although, I can see him snapping if someone took you away from him. The only way you're leaving him is with help.

He'll burn them before they get too close.

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

No and he definitely would not let you go.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

Definitely his childhood trauma that decided to morph into a twisted desire for attention.

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

He'll either mock you or leave you be. He isn't sure how to deal with this kind of thing properly.

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

He still technically cares about you, he just can't properly show it, which leads to your unhealthy relationship. This does not justify his decisions at all, of course.

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

I assume getting him distracted by a hero. But good luck with that.

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

Unfortunately, yes he would.

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

Not a worship yandere, but since he likes to be controlling, he would go to great lengths to keep you in his grasp.

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

Months I feel is accurate. Maybe closer to a year.

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

I wouldn't be surprised if he did.

#yandere my hero academia #yandere mha #yandere boku no hero academia #yandere bnha #yandere dabi #yandere dabi x reader

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sunny44 · 4 months ago

Text

Chapter 2 (Love is in Mallorca)

Pairing: Carlos Sainz x Fem!Reader

Warning: none

Summary: Y/n goes to Mallorca intending to leave her life behind, at least for a while. Then she meets a mysterious guy who makes this trip, to say the least, unforgettable.

Previous chapter

The next day, I woke up to the soft sunlight streaming into the hotel room. It was almost noon.

There was something calming about being in a new place, far from any obligations, where the only sounds I heard were those of seagulls and the distant murmur of the sea. But the truth was, even surrounded by beauty, I couldn’t stop thinking about the previous night.

I didn’t know anything about the man I met at the bar. He was just a casual encounter, someone who helped me when I needed it most, showing me a rare kindness. What intrigued me was the feeling that he knew exactly how to make me feel comfortable, as if he had experience dealing with awkward situations. But for some reason, he chose not to say much about himself.

I got up slowly, the memory of walking through the streets of Mallorca still fresh in my mind. I had promised myself not to get my hopes up, but part of me was eager to see him again. I took a quick shower, slipped into a light summer dress, and decided to explore more of the city before our possible reunion.

The streets of Mallorca were busier during the day. The outdoor markets were full of colors, smells, and sounds that filled all my senses. I passed stalls of fruit, hanging peppers, and local crafts, appreciating the vibrant simplicity of the place. I decided to get lost in the narrow streets, without any particular destination, just letting my feet guide me.

After a while, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was a message.

“Hey, want to take a walk on the beach?”

My heart skipped a little when I saw it was him. He hadn’t forgotten. I replied quickly, saying I’d be ready in a few minutes. I was excited, but there was also a small sense of nervousness growing inside me. A walk on the beach? That seemed a bit more intimate than a simple night exploring the city.

When I arrived at the meeting point, he was already there, wearing sunglasses and looking relaxed, as if life here was always slow, unhurried.

“Punctual,” he commented with a small smile when he saw me.

“I tried not to be late.” I smiled back, trying to hide how curious I was about him.

The beach wasn’t crowded, which was a pleasant surprise. We walked barefoot on the sand, while the sea gently lapped at our feet. The warm breeze played with my hair, and the salty smell of the water brought a peace I didn’t know I needed until I was there, with him, without having to worry about anything.

“How did you find this place?” I asked, looking around. The beach was more secluded than the tourist areas.

He shrugged, seeming amused by my curiosity.

“I have my secrets. I like to come here when I want some peace, away from the crowds.” He paused, looking at me. “I think you needed that too.”

“Yes, I did. Thank you for last night… and for today, you’ve really made this trip much better.”

“No need to thank me. You’re also making my time here much more enjoyable,” he replied with a genuine smile. “I needed the company too.”

We continued walking in silence for a while, until he suddenly stopped and looked out at the horizon.

“What brought you to Mallorca?” he asked, this time with genuine curiosity, as if he was finally ready to know more about me.

I hesitated. It wasn’t a hard question, but the answer made me feel vulnerable.

“I guess I needed to escape. Escape from a routine that didn’t feel like mine, from a cycle of relationships that never ended well, and come to a place where I don’t have to be myself… And you?”

He looked at me for a moment, as if deciding how much of an answer he could give.

“Something similar, maybe. Life can be... a bit intense sometimes. I needed a break too, something far from what I know. A chance to just be normal.”

That vague answer only made me more curious. Who was he? And why did I feel like there was so much more behind that casual smile and relaxed demeanor? Something about him made me feel comfortable, but at the same time, I knew he was hiding behind a wall.

“I saw you at the bar last night, and you looked… lost,” he continued, breaking the silence. “I kept wondering what made you be there alone, trying to order a drink without much luck.”

“Oh, that…” I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. “I think I was just frustrated that no matter how hard I try, Spanish always seems to slip away from me.”

He laughed too, that light laugh that seemed so natural.

“It takes time. But I think you did well, all things considered.”

The conversation flowed with surprising ease. With each new exchange, I felt more comfortable with him. Still, there was a part of me that knew something was being left out. Maybe it was just my imagination, but the way he spoke about his own life, without many details, made it seem like he had something to hide.

After a while, we reached a part of the beach where there were rocks and a small cove. He sat on one of the rocks, looking out at the sea, and I sat next to him, the sun shining above us.

“I really like it here,” he said after a long silence.

“So do I,” I agreed, feeling a strange connection to the place. “It feels like time passes differently here.”

“Maybe because you don’t have to be who people expect you to be here.”

His words hit me with an unexpected truth. I didn’t know who he was, but for the first time in a long while, I didn’t feel the need to prove anything to anyone.

The sun began to slowly set on the horizon, and we sat there in silence, watching the natural spectacle. His closeness beside me, the sound of the waves gently crashing on the shore, all of it made me feel a peace I hadn’t experienced in a long time.

When we finally got up to leave, he offered me a ride back to the hotel. I accepted, knowing that the day had been special, but still wondering who he really was.

As he dropped me off at the entrance of the hotel, he smiled again, that smile that held secrets.

“Maybe tomorrow I can show you an even more special place.”

I smiled back, curious and intrigued.

“Maybe.”

He waved and drove off, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the certainty that something about him remained a mystery.

Bonus scene!

Yourusername Instagram stories

“Beach day”

Next chapter

Tag list: @lieslostinsilence @iloveallmyboys

@r4zberrygirl @hoya122 @sid-is-gr8

@marvel-ous-miss-maisie @barcelonaloverf1life

@willowsnook @barcelonaloverf1life

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obsolescent · 1 year ago

Note

You’re gonna hate seeing my name every time you open this app from how much I do and will resquest you 😭

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGJG8npPb/

Here me out. This but^

Single mother y/n with a kid and ghost just came back from a mission and needed to buy something for his small house and sees y/n struggling to pick some heavy things up while her kid keeps laughing and saying everything like the girl in the video. i have so many other requests I’d love to because you’re writing is probably my favorite /srs. hope you have a nice end of the month. Love ya 🩷

The Necessity of Saints

Part Two (NSFW)

Pairing: Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley x SingleMom!Reader

Author's Notes: Ough, I had fun writing this out. Love these prompts so much, you don't understand! I will never tire of requests I promise, they fill me with so much motivation and I'm so happy I'm one of your favorites, that means so much to me!! I hope you enjoy this and hope you’re having the best month!! I am not opposed to writing a spicier second part to this, just let me know ♡ Once again I am thinking about Simon showing off his muscles and being happy to help someone in need.

Content warnings: Feminine reader, reader uses she/her pronouns and uses mom, your daughter is named Rhea.

“Good Lord, why does wood have to be so HEAVY,” you grunt out, trying unsuccessfully to pull the wooden beam out of the pile. Your kid stands off to the side, stifling her giggles with her hand, finding much enjoyment in your predicament. You stand up and stretch your limbs, getting ready for another go at it. You take a deep breath, bending with your knees, and begin pulling again, with more force behind it.

Sweating dripping off your brow, you continue to tug at the piece of wood, pleading with it to just MOVE. “Can someone help my mama?” Your kid finally yells out, causing you to whirl towards her with a panicked look on your face. “Rhea!” You hiss, seeing your phone in her hands, recording your ordeal. “Please, someone, my mama won’t ask for help and she needs it!” Rhea exclaims, drawing out the end of ‘please’.

“Stop filming me struggling, dammit!” You try to contain your own laughter, hurrying back to continue pulling, hoping to finally get it to move before anyone hears your daughter’s yelling, not wanting an encounter with a random stranger. Rhea continues to hoot and holler, hoping to garner attention to you both. Your face now red from a mixture of stifled laughter, exertion, and embarrassment.

“What’s all this, then?” A gravelly voice booms out, halting yours and your daughter's movements. You both turn towards the voice, finding a large, tall man, standing off to the side, hands on his hips. His brown eyes glitter with what looks to be amusement, probably been watching quietly for a while. Your ears burn, straightening up and wiping your hands off on your shirt.

“I’m so sorry to bother your shopping, please ignore my–” “My mama won’t ask for help and she needs it! Please help her!” Your daughter cuts you off. You put your hands over your face, groaning. “Is that all?” He asks, raising a blond eyebrow at your kid. She nods, finally putting the phone down after succeeding in her mission.

“Alright then, let’s have at it,” British accent now noticeable after the initial shock, he walks over to the wood you’re standing in front of, easily lifting a beam into his arms. “How many?” He asks, looking towards you. You stand there in shock, at how easily he was able to lift it, to his bulging muscles now able to be seen through his shirt.

“J-just that one, sir. I need it cut into three 6-inch pieces, though,” You stutter out, realizing your gaze had been on him for too long. That glint in his eyes doesn’t go away, you assume he noticed the staring. “To the wood-cutting area, then?” He turns, walking off in the direction of the wood-cutting services. You and your daughter share a look before scurrying after him.

Once you arrive, you tell the associate what you want, and they begin the process. The three of you stand off to the side while they cut, looking over at the man, you begin speaking. “I really appreciate what you did for us, thank you…?” “Simon,” He offers his name, you giving your own and your daughter’s. “Thank you, Simon. Is there anything I can do to repay you for helping?” You ask, reaching for your bag. “Don’t worry about it,” He grunts out, walking forward to grab the pieces they’ve finished with, loading them onto a cart.

Once they’re done, he wheels the cart towards the checkout, paying for the wood. “Oh! Sir, you don’t have to–""Don’t worry about it, love,” He says again, adding ‘love’ to the end of this one, causing your cheeks to redden. Once the transaction is complete, he pulls the cart outside. “The car park is pretty big, you can pull your car up to the entrance, I’ll load it.” He says, You nod, you and Rhea walk quickly to your car, getting inside and buckling in.

You pull your car around to the front of the store, opening the trunk. He begins loading the wood inside, making quick work of the now smaller pieces. Once done, he comes around to your side of the car. You roll your window down, going to thank him again, when he holds his hand up. “Could’ve hurt yourself. Just ask for help next time, yeah? Don’t have to do everything alone,” He says, causing your mouth to fall open, like he read your mind. “But, if you’re privy to certain help, you can always give me a ring,” He hands over a card with a number on it, with his full name, ‘Simon Riley’.

“Thank you, Simon. I’ll be sure to let you know,” You say, bashfully. He smirks, “Have a lovely day, you two,” He says, before walking back inside the store. You roll your window up, pulling away from the entrance. You’re driving for a bit, both silent, before Rhea finally speaks up, “He was really cute, and nice. You should text him.” You sputter. “Rhea! I have no idea who he even is–""Get to know him! He was, like, totally checking you out, and so were you,” She says, looking over at your blushing face. “I don’t know…” You trail off. You hadn’t done much dating in a very long time. Not having much time for it between your daughter and work. Now that Rhea is a teenager, maybe you could have some time to find a relationship?

Seemingly reading your mind (ya’ll gotta stop doing that), she adds, “I’m old enough to watch myself, go have some fun!” You roll your eyes, a smile forming on your face. Maybe he wouldn’t be against seeing you under different circumstances?

Arriving home and maneuvering the now much easier to handle wooden pieces, you set them in a pile inside the garage, for your upcoming project. Once inside and settled in, you pull out the card and contemplate what you’ll say. You add his number to your contacts and pull up a message screen for him. You let him know it’s you and add,

‘I would really like to get to know you more, if you’re not opposed?’

A few minutes later, he responds.

‘Not at all opposed, love. Just let me know what time is best for you x’

#o fics #simon ghost riley x reader #simon riley imagine #simon ghost riley imagine #simon riley x reader #simon ghost riley #simon riley #simon riley x you #simon ghost riley x you #ghost x reader #simon ghost x reader #call of duty x reader #call of duty x you #ghost cod #simon riley fluff #simon ghost riley fluff

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yuoimia · 2 years ago

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FLY ME TO THE MOON

summary: you ask them to fly you to the moon.

characters: aether, albedo, alhaitham, ayato, baizhu, childe, cyno, diluc, heizou, itto, kaeya, kaveh, kazuha, thoma, tighnari, wanderer, xiao, zhongli.

cw: gn! reader, not proofread.

stares blankly - aether, heizou, zhongli, albedo.

bombarding them with odd questions never ceases to render them completely speechless, despite the countless times you have. their intelligence flies out the nearest window. and this particular one, asked so nonchalantly, so casually, like an enquiry about the weather, a generous minute is needed to recover. to blink away the confusion, and sneakily observe you. do you seem serious? or are they just the victim of your usual dosage of self-indulgent teasing? sometimes distinguishing the difference is harder than the question itself.

“hey, could you please fly me to the moon?”

“…”

hands you some cheese - childe, cyno, itto, diluc

thinks they’re very funny. absolutely hilarious. they can’t even hide the muffled sniggers as they look into your face of disbelief, cheese dangling in your hand where it was placed. cheese? of all possible answers, you were given a block of cheese. and their face, an annoyingly smug grin plastered onto it, almost makes you want to shove the piece of cheese right into their mouth. you were expecting some romantic answer, complimented with some cute gestures, but no. all you received was some smelly piece of camembert.

“cheese?”

“yes, camembert.”

“…do you get it? well, it’s because-“

“the couch looks nice, doesn’t it?”

“how about we watch it together instead?” - kaveh, kazuha, thoma, baizhu

smiles whilst answering. kind as ever, they’re willing to do the next closest thing. if they can’t fly you to the moon, they dearly hope watching it with you will be just as enjoyable.

when you explain it was just a joke, that you weren’t serious about being flown to the moon, they softly laugh and reply with something along the lines of just wanting you to be happy. your happiness is their happiness, they will always try their best for you. so sometimes, it makes you wonder how someone could be so infinitely loving and beautiful.

“keep on dreaming” - wanderer, xiao

meanies who understand the joke but takes it seriously (to purposely rile you up ??) in all honesty, they would 100% take you to the moon and back a thousand times if they could. they tend hide the depths of their love under sentences that have double-sided meanings. all dreams must come to an end, don’t they? something (or someone) will have to wake you up. they know they can’t fly you to the moon, but that doesn’t stop them from doing something just as miraculously sweet.

“what a crazy mind you have” - al haitham, tighnari, ayato, kaeya

secretly amused. despite having a disapproving tone in their voice, their face and mannerisms tells a different story. your creativity with these questions get his mind thinking into overdrive, as he tries to come up with a reply just as smooth and unforeseen. but today, they settle with a comment on your thought process. (affectionately and jokingly, of course.)

“i was thinking… could you fly me to the moon?”

“what a crazy mind you have.”

“so that’s a no?”

“when you do find a way to fly to the moon, tell me.”

he does want to fly you to the moon <3

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queer-whatchamacallit · 7 months ago

Text

(SPOILERS) Most of my initial thoughts about season 3 were extremely positive (because I love this show, by god, I love this show), but as I look at it more, I can see what it’s missing, and I can see why people are upset by it

I’m going to look at where The Bear focuses on the past (flashbacks, where characters revert and become their younger, less healthy selves, or where characters’ actions are thoroughly influenced by past trauma), the present (the state things are in, stagnation) and the future (positive change, potential)

Season 1 is primarily focused on the present. The staff slowly learns and changes for the better, but overall they still have 300k hanging over their heads, and there’s only so much that can change under those conditions. There’s pieces here and there that show how Carmy is influenced by his past, both his fucked up family and his time in fucked up kitchens, but he tries his hardest to bottle that up, so we don’t always see a lot. Season 1 is focused on the state of things in the restaurant, seemingly how it is and always will be to some extent. That’s until they find the tomato cans and hope for the future bursts in.

Season 2 focuses on that future. It focuses on change and rebuilding and how everyone is improving themselves. There’s no real focus on how things are because they’re completely changing what that is. There are pieces from the past here too. Claire is some bridge between past and future, tied to his family and who he’s been as well as the type of person he could be (one who lets himself have amusement and enjoyment). Everything and everyone changes until the very end, where Carmy’s stagnation, fear of that positive future, and romanticization of his past self bite him in the ass.

While season 1 is the present and season 2 is the future, there are traces of the other times these seasons.

Season 3 is almost entirely focused on the past. There are entire episodes focused on Carmy’s life at highend restaurants, Tina finding The Beef, and the Ever funeral ties together all these people that changed Carmy. These are beautiful, phenomenal moments, but there isn’t enough time given to the new order of things at the restaurant. There isn’t enough connective tissue. We get one episode that’s entirely focused on how the restaurant is running, but they tried to pack so much in through montages of failures that I don’t feel the stakes of any of them.

I wanted so so much more from Marcus’ story. Carmy’s grief was shown subtly through little moments of running the restaurant, but because they barely showed the restaurant, they barely showed Marcus. I really enjoy the moments we did get (conversations with Carm and with Syd), but it got completely lost when I feel like that should have been a centerpiece. The Bear is a show built on grief (it feels like most characters we meet have suffered a loss somewhat recently), but when another loss is suffered by a main character, it’s set aside for pretty flashbacks.

Carmy was so thoroughly gripped by his past this season that he fully tries to recreate the highend kitchens he used to work for. He is distant and dangerously fast-paced, but he is an excellent chef that creates meals with the best possible option for it.

He’s clearly not sleeping. Through the entire season, he feels as single-minded and self-destructive as he gets during his meltdown points (1x08 and 2x10).

I feel like someone should have stopped him. It feels out character that no one at least tried to. When Carmy’s working on the next day’s menu and shooting down everything Syd suggests, I was waiting for her to bring up “vibrant collaboration dude.” When Carmy was spraying out the alley, I was expecting Cicero to say something like, “Kid, I feel you may not have known this, but you are still on a fuckin budget. Your Orwellian butter can’t possibly be worth what we’re paying for it.” I was waiting the whole season for Sugar to just say, “Go home and get some sleep, Bear.”

If that review was as bad as Carmy’s, “motherfucker” made it out to be and if Cicero shuts down the restaurant, it will have felt preventable.

Sugar having the baby is the only real progression toward the future, and she doesn’t even get a name.

Everything shown of the past is phenomenal and gorgeous and heartbreaking, but there is so little progress made on the path we expected to and were hoping to be going down. I think you can make a season out of the present or the future, but the past doesn’t work quite as well. It has a lot of good, but it’s missing a lot of good too.

#the bear #the bear fx #carmy berzatto #carmen berzatto #marcus brooks #sydney adamu #sugar berzatto #natalie berzatto #tina marrero #the bear meta #the bear s3 #the bear spoilers #season 3 #critique

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weird-is-life · 1 year ago

Note

If you feel inspired could we mere mortals have some insecure remus thinking his crush would never like him, maybe he thinks they're into sirius or james but literally everyone else thinks he's stupid or blind because it's obvious they're embarrassingly smitten and absolutely infatuated with him. remus lupin just deserves unconditional love ❤

Hiii lovely, I am so so so sorry, this took me so long😭 I hope you will like this, tho. Warnings: pet words, too much affection, fluff (1.1k) and yes, Remus deserves all the love in the world🥺

"You're staring," James nudges Remus to his shoulder, looking amused towards the other side of the Great Hall.

"What...- Did you say something?" Remus asks, eyes averting from your figure for a few seconds.

"I said," he chuckles," that you are staring and it's quite obvious, may I add."

"Oh." There's no point in denying, that he likes you and that he is hopelessly in love with you to James, because James knows how big Remus's crush is on you. Too bad, Remus thinks, that you like his best mate Sirius and not him.

Suddenly Sirius appears at the table, sitting down next to them, "Moony, what got you so red, huh?" he joins James to tease him. Remus just ignores him, stirring absent-mindlessly the food on his plate.

"Don't look so grim, Remus. We were just joking," James pats him on the shoulder. "But I don't know why you won't ask her out, she likes you."

"Jamie, I know you are trying to make me feel better, but please don't," he sighs," we all know she likes Sirius, and I respect that."

"What? Moony, don't be stupid," Sirius groans in frustration over how blind his best friend is," we may flirt sometimes, but that's just that, nothing more. She very clearly likes you."

"That's just simply not true, is it? What would she like about me? I'm me and she is well, y/n," he says rather calmly," there's no chance she likes me like that." With that Remus gets up and leaves, his breakfast remaining untouched.

Of course, James and Sirius can't have Remus being this self-conscious and miserable, so they decide right there to make a party tonight and invite you. They are hoping, that it will be enough to get you two idiots to make a move.

Later that day, you come to the party, all dressed up in your prettiest dress just for one person, Remus. But as you scan the room, you can't find him anywhere.

As the party goes by and he doesn't appear to be coming, you excuse yourself from your friends, lying about not feeling well.

And as you step out of the Gryffindor common room with a frown on your face, you stumble right into something or rather someone, nearly falling on the ground. Luckily, they are quick to react and save you from falling embarrassingly on your ass.

"Easy there, sweetheart, don't want you to hurt yourself," you recognise Remus, without even looking at him. His voice and scent familiar to you.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to run into you like that," you say sheepishly, cheeks flushed as your mind registers the pet name.

"It's okay," he smiles at you, altough it falters a little before he asks" are you leaving the party already?"

"I was on my way out, yeah...."

"I-is the party not enjoyable?"

"Not really, my friend wasn't here, i only came, because i thought he'd be here" you say and you can see, how Remus's smile drops.

Remus didn't know, you were seeing somebody."Oh," he says and then hesitantly adds, "but i-it's definitely his loss."

"I think so too," you say, biting back a smile at Remus's not knowing, "are you just now joining the party?"

His cheeks go pink a bit, " ahh, yes. I was planning on being here on time, but I seemed to have lost a track of time in the library."

"Well, from my side, you didn't miss out on anything yet, the party has really just started."

"Then you should stay, too." Remus tells you, he hopes, that you can see, he wants you to stay.

"I should?" you tease.

"Yes, I'd lo...-like for you to stay," he shyly admits.

"I would love to, but-"

Remus's interrupts you before you even get a chance to finish, " oh, I understand. You probably want to go look for your friend."

"Not at all,"you smile sweetly at him,"I was about to say, that I'd love to stay, but only if you get me some better drink, than the disgusting beer there." He looks at you, clearly confused.

"B-but what about your friend?" he doesn't want to overstep, if you already have a date for tonight.

"Remus....," you whine and put your face in your hands, "I don't understand how can you be so so smart and at the same time be this oblivious idiot."

"What do you mean?" he frowns.

"Fuck, okay," you sigh," I like you Remus. I wasn't waiting for some other guy, I was waiting for you."

His mouth is wide open, Remus thinks that he might be dreaming, because this can't be real, there is just no way. " I- what? Y-you like me?"

"Yes, I've liked you since like forever," you nervously mumble.

"But why?"

"Why?" you look confused at him.

"Well yeah, I'm just me, boring guy that spends all of his time with books or with his 2 mates. Sirius is definitely much more better, much more fun," he shakes his head, he thinks he isn't good enough for you.

"Are you serious? I'm not interested in Sirius, I'm interested in you," you poke his chest," you make me laugh, you are always up for explaining me something when i don't understand it. You are kind and most importantly you have a good heart," you blurt it all out, " I don't want Sirius, I want you, only you Remus."

He looks stunned, at loss for words for a moment, but when he finally catches up to what is happening, he bashfully confesses to you, "that's good, because I really really like you, too. So much, that i might pass out if i don't get to kiss you right now"

"Can you just kiss me then already, Rem? Please?" You impatiently tell him. He doesn't waste any time, his soft lips are kissing you, making you dizzy in a matter of second. It is a sweet but short kiss, that has you chasing his lips for more as soon as his pulls away. Remus chuckles at that, "I will definitely kiss you some more, sweetheart. I just need to get you that drink you wanted and tell you all the lovely things I think about you."

"Fine, but only if I get to tell you as well."

"But you already did," he protests, he doesn't think his heart can take any more fond words.

"That wasn't enough, I need to tell you all of it. Especially how handsome you are," you kiss his cheek and drag him towards the party with a huge grin.

The whole night you and Remus basically take turns at being sickeningly affectionate with your words about each other, as James and Sirius watch you two in horror and delight. They are glad to see Remus receiving all the love, that he very much deserves, but they are not so looking forward to witnessing these endearments all the time from now on.

Although, they won't mind it that much, if it keeps Remus this happy and content.

#remus lupin x reader #remus lupin x fem!reader #remus lupin fluff #remus lupin imagine #remus lupin fanfiction #remus lupin x y/n #remus lupin

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the-banana-0verlord · 1 year ago

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how are you ? hii ^^, I would like to request for the third year boys I think they are rook, leona, vile, malleus, lilia and trey well with a fem mc who is very bad at studies because she had never attended a school before so this is her Taking classes for the first time and taking exams, that's why she works hard even though she failed several times, she never gives up~ one of her favorite phrases is "if I fail 99 times, I'll continue once more, maybe the 100th will be the winner" hehe <33

again, i apologize for the request taking so long 😅

How the third years would react to a Reader who is bad at studies

Notes: Gn reader, i totally forgot idia existed 💀 Either that or it was a conscious decision.

🦁🦁🦁

🦁Leona Kingscholar 🦁

🦁Studies were never a problem for him. He always passed his exams with flying scores without even trying. 🦁So since everything came to him so naturally, it was hard for him to imagine someone not having the same easyness as he did. 🦁You were at the opposite ends of the spectrum: He didn't care about school yet excelled at it, while you were still optimistic when your scores barely passed the passing note. 🦁You made him care again. He helped you with your studies and you got progressively better. 🦁And it's not just your studies who got better, his also. Because of you, he put effort in what he had to do. Under all his grumpiness, he thanks you for it.

👑👑👑

👑Vil Schoenheit👑

👑Sure, you weren't all that good, but you tried, and in Vil's book, that's more than anyone could do. 👑Also, he's not one to pass the opportunity to help someone become their best selves. 👑So he helps you. The time passed with you is enjoyable thanks to your cheerful personnality. 👑He also enjoys teaching you. Why don't you come around to Pomefiore so he can teach you makeup?

♦♦♦

♦Cater Diamond ♦

♦Of course he'll help you, that's what an upperclassman does! ♦But to be truly honest, most of the "study times" are just you hanging out. ♦But when you actually study, he's not half-bad as a tutor. ♦He's not the best, but at least you can see your grades get a little better.

🏹🏹🏹

🏹Rook Hunt 🏹

🏹What wonderful ardor and persistance you have! Oh, how it makes his heart flutter! 🏹A hunt for a good grade is a hunt all the same, and you have the qualities of the best huntsman. 🏹You never seem to catch your prey, though, so he'll just ahve to give you un coup de pouce. 🏹Not all minds work the same, so maybe yours just works differently than the norm of teachings. 🏹You'll be studying school and he'll be studying you.

♣♣♣

♣Trey Clover ♣

♣He's pretty used to tutoring since the underclassmen in his dorm usually go to him for help or advice. ♣He was willing to help from the start, but your positive attitude motivated him more than the complains of the others he tutored spouted every second. ♣He's in the science club, so that's covered, and cooking always help with mathematics. ♣Yeah perfect teacher 10/10.

🐲🐲🐲

🐲Malleus Draconia 🐲

🐲You're asking him, Malleus Draconia, to help you study? 🐲He should be offended, but he finds it so intriguing and amusing he'll indulge you accept your request. 🐲I mean, there is no one better to learn from than from the best.(He's a very terrible teacher though) 🐲Your positive attitude is also refreshing from the gloomy and terrified faces of his daily life.

🦇🦇🦇

🦇Lilia Vanrouge 🦇

🦇Don't ask him for potion making, but he'll be perfect for teaching history. After all, he was there when it happened. 🦇...Except he wasn't. When XXX thing went down, he was hammered with his friend Jerry on the other side of the continent. 🦇He's still kinda helpful with the big lines, but don't really expect much. 🦇That or he'll put you through Silver and Sebek's training regiment. Don't know which is worse.

***

Hope you enjoyed!

Have a good day/night!

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #leona kingscholar #leona kingscholar x reader #vil schoenheit x reader #vil schoenheit #cater diamond #cater diamond x reader #rook hunt #rook hunt x reader #trey clover #trey clover x reader #malleus draconia #malleus draconia x reader #lilia vanrouge #lilia vanrouge x reader #bananawrites

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holdmymallowsweet · 5 months ago

Text

What are you doing here? 03

Ominis Gaunt x f!MC Word count: 5278, properly tagged on AO3

Chapter summary: Bridges are easier burnt than repaired, and Ominis knows this better than most. Thoughts of the new fifth year still refuse to leave his mind, and it’s time to decide whether he wants to do something about them.

a/n: Part 2 of the pre- library chapters, they really turned out much longer than planned, but I hope they’re still enjoyable.

Chapter 02 || Masterlist || Chapter 04

Chapter 03 - Wheels within wheels

Ominis stood in the Undercroft once again, breathing a sigh of relief. He’d been coming here every chance he got since their argument a few days ago, half expecting to find a certain someone already there, but she never was.

Neither was Sebastian.

There had been a somewhat frosty tension between the two of them in the last few days, and even less conversation than what had become usual for them since the start of term.

Sebastian had evidently decided that it would be best to give Ominis some time to get over the betrayal. Whenever they didn’t have classes together, Sebastian would be either in the library or he would just disappear. Ominis suspected he was sneaking out of the castle, probably with her, but he couldn’t be sure.

Sebastian wouldn’t mention her anymore, a development that he should have been grateful for, but for some reason was not.

Ominis wandered over to one of the old, battered tables and leaned against it, pocketing his wand. Slowly breathing in the cool, dusty air, finding comfort in the silence, away from the noise of the always busy castle.

Perhaps she was too scared to come back.

He knew he’d been out of line, shouting at her, threatening her, taking all of his pent up anger and frustration out on her, but she was a stranger and he didn’t want her here. That’s where he arrived every time he mulled over their confrontation in his mind, which happened much more often than he felt comfortable admitting, even to himself.

The familiar metallic clanking of the gate made him tense up. He hastily reached for his wand.

Merlin help her if she-

He recognised the footsteps. It was Sebastian. When he noticed Ominis he hesitated for a second, probably debating whether he should leave or stay. “Hello, Ominis. Are you alone?”

Ominis scoffed. “I’m not the one who started bringing girls here, Sebastian.”

“You know it’s not like that.”

Sebastian crossed the room and hopped up to sit on the table, next to where Ominis leaned back again. It creaked under his weight, and Ominis winced at the noise. “Do I?”

“I told you,” Sebastian drawled with a hint of amused irritation, “she’s my friend.”

Ominis knew bringing it up again would likely result in another argument, but he was still bitter, and not eager to let Sebastian think he’d gotten away with anything. “Where’d you leave your ‘friend’ then? Outside, until you made sure I wasn’t here?” It was needlessly ungenerous.

“Why can’t you try to get along with her?”

“You know why. And am I to believe the resentment isn’t mutual? I imagine she complains about me at every opportunity.” It had been a frequent thought since their argument, and each time he wondered if Sebastian bothered defending him at all. Ominis wasn’t sure what compelled him to bring it up now- it did make him a tad nervous. Would having it confirmed make it better? Or worse?

Sebastian leaned closer. “See, that’s where you’re wrong,” he said smugly, “she hasn’t mentioned you at all. Other than when she apologised.”

Apologised?

The words took a moment to sink in.

When? And for what, precisely?

Ominis shifted his weight uneasily. “What are you talking about?”

“She told me after… you know, our fight the other day. That she was sorry about how things turned out, that she didn’t mean to upset you. She was really worried about you and me falling out over it,” Sebastian explained. “She kept asking about how to make things right, I told her not to worry about it.”

Ominis felt something creeping up inside his chest. Something that felt an awful lot like guilt. “I… I didn’t know. You didn’t tell me.”

“I didn’t think you’d want to hear it. Did you really threaten to get her expelled?”

Ominis turned his head, to make sure his friend didn’t miss the annoyed look on his face. “Of course not- I threatened to get her in trouble with Black, but nothing as serious as that.”

“Well, she seems to think that means ‘expelled’,” Sebastian explained, still with an air of smug amusement that was starting to pull his nerves.

“Would you please let her know it doesn’t?” Ominis snapped. Merlin, no wonder she hadn’t shown up in the Undercroft again if she thought her days at Hogwarts were numbered if she did.

…but shouldn’t he be glad for it? Wasn’t this what he’d wanted?

“Calm down, I told her not to worry. I know you better than that, although I still don’t know what exactly she’s done to get on your bad side- you didn’t seem to like her even before,” Sebastian said.

Ominis had the strange sensation of being sized up, so he did his best to keep his features impassive.

“What sort of ‘trouble’ did you have in mind, then?”

“Nothing. It was an empty threat. I meant to leave it to her imagination, I wouldn’t have if I’d known that’s how she’d take it.” Ominis frowned. Truthfully, he’d always known that she really hadn’t done anything wrong. He knew Sebastian well enough to guess that it would have been his idea to show her the Undercroft and not tell her anything about it until they were standing in it, and what was she supposed to do then? Run away and obliviate herself?

She probably didn’t even know that spell existed.

Ominis really wished she hadn’t lied about it afterwards, but he should have guessed it was Sebastian who’d put her up to that too. She was merely trying to be a good friend, to not betray his trust, and he couldn’t very well blame her for choosing to stay loyal to Sebastian.

She was a Hufflepuff, after all.

Both of them stayed silent for a while. Ominis was fidgeting with his wand, endlessly turning it over between his fingers, trying to sort out his thoughts.

“She was curious about you, you know.” Sebastian’s voice gently broke the silence.

Ominis cocked his head to the side. “Curious?”

“It was written all over her face when we talked about you.”

…it was?

He tried to remember what Sebastian had told her about him, ignoring the little jolt in his chest. It had vexed him to think that she’d paid him no mind at all, but her being curious was not necessarily a good thing. There were a million things about him to be curious about, few of which he liked to discuss and none of which were her business.

“That’s another reason why I brought her here. To tell her about you. I thought that would make it easier.”

“Make what easier?”

Sebastian groaned. “Merlin’s beard, Ominis. I don’t know why, but you’ve had something against her from the very start- I thought if I could get her to like you first, it would be easier for the two of you to get along.”

Fingers flying up to the bridge of his nose again, Ominis didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, as it finally made sense. “So that was your grand plan? Impress her by showing off your secret hideout, and then tell her it was really mine, so she’d… what, want to be my friend?”

“Well…” Sebastian cleared his throat, suddenly sheepish. “More or less.”

Ominis did let out a dry laugh at that. It was a thought he’d always been too scared to dwell on, let alone voice, but he always suspected that he was the reason Sebastian didn’t have any other close friends.

Sebastian paused, and Ominis knew, instinctively, that he was looking at him, waiting for another reaction. When he didn’t get one, he kept talking. “I really was hoping we could all be friends, you know. Eventually. The three of us.”

Ominis’ heart ached.

He hadn’t ever expected to make another friend, nor had he ever spared a thought for whether he needed or wanted one. There was a ‘three of them’, as far as he was concerned, and it didn’t involve her.

No reason to believe she felt any different. She could make friends just by walking into a room, and it was hard to imagine why she’d choose his company over any of theirs. “I’m not sure about that,” he said softly. “What about Anne?”

“Anne would love her.” Sebastian sighed, doing something else that caused the table to groan under his weight again. “You could give it a try, at least? She’s rather forgiving, you know. If you just apologised-”

“If I apologised? She was the one who lied to me,” Ominis replied haughtily.

Sebastian paused. He leaned forward, until their shoulders were touching. “About what?”

Ominis hesitated. “You. The Undercroft. She tried to pretend that she happened to find it by accident.”

“Did she really?”

“Yes.”

Sebastian let out a small chuckle. ”I knew she couldn’t keep it a secret when you burst in to shout at me, but it’s good to know she tried, at least,” he said affectionately.

“She didn’t tell you?”

“No, she just apologised.”

Ominis rolled his eyes in a dramatic display of disapproval. Sebastian showing his obvious fondness for the girl still hurt, although perhaps not as much as it did a week ago.

“See, I told you she could be trusted.”

“I’m still not convinced.”

“You will be.” Sebastian said confidently. “Trust me.”

“We’ll see.” Nothing had been resolved, not really, but the talk had done their friendship some good, at least. Ominis straightened up. His backside was starting to hurt from where he’d leaned against the table’s edge, and for the first time in days, he was actually hungry. “Did you have dinner yet?”

An olive branch, disguised as a casual question, thrown over his shoulder as he made to leave.

Sebastian didn’t answer, but when he jumped off the table to follow Ominis, it was with a spring in his step.

As much as Ominis hated to admit it, it seemed as if Sebastian was right.

Another week went by, and still there was no sign that she ever told anyone else of the Undercroft’s existence. By now, Ominis was fairly certain she never even went back there herself. He’d continued to linger near the entrance, anxiously waiting for someone to enter or to hear someone mention the strange room hidden behind the piece of furniture under the stairs next to Hecat’s classroom.

No one ever did. So he tried to move on, put her out of his mind. It was impossible. Ever since his talk with Sebastian, Ominis hesitated to go to the Undercroft by himself, not knowing what to do if she were to come in- how to face her again, after the last time. Sebastian’s words kept echoing in his mind-

“...she apologised… she was sorry… she was worried…

…she was curious about you, you know.”

Ominis didn’t know what to make of it. Sebastian had a tendency towards bending and exaggerating the truth when it suited his needs, but even if he’d been entirely truthful for once- her apologies were given to Sebastian, not him. And for Merlin’s sake, he still had his pride. He wouldn’t be the one to grovel before her begging for forgiveness, when she seemed perfectly content to go on as if nothing had happened.

So instead, he tried to make peace with the situation as it was. His friendship with Sebastian still didn’t feel the way it was supposed to, but it had been tentatively repaired. Ominis would just have to accept that from now on, it was something he’d have to share.

But having the resolve to move on and let go was one thing. Putting it into practice was much more difficult. When he didn’t know where to go or what to do with himself, now that he didn’t have a single thing left that was truly his, that remained of the few years in his life when he’d been truly happy.

When he still couldn’t go a single day without constantly being reminded of her.

They shared most of their classes- not just Potions and Herbology, as she’d seemed to think.

Had she noticed since? And their Professors were still as eager to give her the chance to prove herself, so there was sparsely a lesson where he didn’t have to put up with hearing her voice.

…at least it was pleasant to listen to.

Even now, as he was sitting in the alcove by the water in the Transfiguration Courtyard, he remembered it was her who repaired the broken statue there. He shifted in his uncomfortable position, already regretting his decision not to go to the library instead. It was one of the last warm autumn days, so he thought he’d make the most of it by taking his assigned reading outside. But the stone floor in the shade was chillier than expected, and he could hardly concentrate on what he was reading- making it halfway through the page, his mind started churning again, and he’d lost track of where he was.

And he felt an increasing need to use the bathroom.

For the third time in the last hour, he had the urge to just call it a day. But their homework load had become gruelling, now that they were in their O.W.L. year, and though he usually managed to scrape by with passable grades in his worst subjects, this year he was cutting it close. Herbology was bad, Potions was worse and Sharp would have his head if he couldn’t at least deliver passable results in his written homework.

He shifted his weight again. Then he gave up, cursing under his breath as he threw his book back into his bag and stood up on aching legs to follow nature’s call.

Ominis warily went for the bathroom in Griffindor tower, despite its reputation, hoping it might be deserted at least.

Thankfully, it was.

Usually he couldn’t even visit the bathroom without running into boy talk of how she was ‘easy on the eyes’, whatever in Merlin's name that meant.

He wondered if Sebastian agreed- he had started to notice girls sometime in their fourth year, sneakily avoiding the subject when Anne was with them, but at night in their dormitory the two of them had their own fair share of boy talk. It had always been rather one sided- Ominis was hardly going to notice or care about which girl was starting to fill out which part of her uniform, but they’d always felt like normal and harmless enough conversations.

Now he found himself wishing he could go back to when he’d be lying in his bed, without a care in the world, giggling in his sheets as Sebastian told him about how much of a blessing it was that Lenora Everleigh had started wearing trousers. He’d jokingly threaten to tell Anne and Sebastian would act scandalised and betrayed, until they both fell asleep.

Sebastian never mentioned how the new fifth-year looked in her trousers, and Ominis wasn’t going to let her worm her way even more into their friendship by asking. All Ominis knew about her appearance was that she was often seen returning to the castle with dirty robes and random bits of greenery stuck in her messy hair.

Wiping his still wet hands on his robes as he emerged from the bathroom, he contemplated where to go to finish his reading. The library perhaps- or he’d make an exception for once and go to the Undercroft again. Perhaps he-

It took him a second to realise that she’d walked straight past him.

He’d started to recognise the pattern of her footsteps.

Since when?

They were rapidly fading in the distance. He made a split second decision.

Ominis didn’t know why he followed her. Her steps seemed eager, upbeat, purposeful. She was up to something- perhaps he wanted to figure out what it was, by himself for once, instead of hearing about it afterwards from the whispering corridors.

She was headed for the Defence Against the Dark Arts Tower. Then straight towards the Undercroft’s entrance. Ominis’ heart beat faster, he was at once triumphant and disappointed. So he’d been right about her all along. He’d been right and Sebastian had been wrong. She wasn’t even-

“Hello Zenobia, I found all your Gobstones.”

…What?

Oh.

“Really? I didn’t think it was possible! How ever did you do it?”

“Common sense and basic magic,” she answered dryly.

Ominis huffed a quick laugh. Slinking back against the wall, sinking to the floor, hopefully out of sight, burying his face in both hands.

What was he doing? Why had he followed her?

He’d rarely ever felt so foolish.

Ominis listened to the rest of their conversation with a wistful feeling washing over him every time he heard her voice. She sounded so proud of herself. So animated. So genuinely kind, even with the occasional cheeky comment.

The way their conversation went, he gathered she wasn’t about to be a big fan of Gobstones, or at least the potential stink that came with it. Then he wondered what games she might like playing instead, what she did for fun, if she ever had any free time.

Duelling.

Obviously, but surely there must be something else too.

Getting in trouble. Gallivanting across the Scottish highlands.

Quidditch maybe.

She seemed like the type, but if she wasn’t familiar with Gobstones, it was unlikely that she’d know much about Quidditch, and thanks to Black, she’d have to wait until next year to try it out.

That had been another thing that made Ominis uncomfortable around her, her obvious muggle upbringing. It occasionally made him feel sick, reprehensible for treating her the way he did. A way that random passer-bys in the halls were expecting of him, a way his vile, cruel family would approve of. The Gaunts would be more than proud of him for not wanting to associate with ‘such filth’. The thought made him hate himself, until he managed to shove it deeper into the recesses of his mind.

A part of him was defiantly arguing that he had every right to dislike someone, regardless of their blood status.

Yet another part, an initially small one that seemed to grow with every passing day, wasn’t even sure if he did dislike her anymore.

Eventually she left, taking off again to do something else, but Ominis remained in the same spot for a long time after. Feeling the rays of the evening sun slowly shift through the window, the warmth spreading over his face and disappearing again.

One of the castle’s cats came by at some point, rubbing affectionately against his legs and allowing him to pet its fluffy fur until it suddenly took off, perhaps chasing dust mice, or actual mice. Ominis couldn’t hear any, but then his hearing wasn’t quite as good as a cat’s. And then he realised, with a bout of annoyance, that even the cats were beginning to remind him of her.

He eventually made it back to the Slytherin common room in time for curfew, lest he landed himself in detention alongside Sebastian for snapping at a prefect.

“Ominis, over here,” Sebastian called him. Moving slowly towards his friend near the fireplace, careful not to trip over stacks of books strewn about, he was almost run over by Grace, half sobbing, half laughing as she found Nerida at the opposite side of the room.

He found himself a place on the sofa next to Sebastian.

“Where have you been?”

“Just needed some fresh air.” Ominis muttered in response. He could do without the teasing he’d undoubtedly get if Sebastian knew what he’d really been doing. “What’s going on over there?” he inquired, eager to change the subject.

“Where?”

Ominis gestured towards Pinch-Smedley.

“Oh, that? She’s over the moon because she finally found someone to get her that astronomy thing from the lake. Just wrote to her parents about it.”

“Someone?” Ominis asked, but he had a feeling he already knew.

“Take a guess.” Sebastian said with an undertone, seemingly reading his mind.

“How could she possibly have time for all this?”

“You’re asking me?”

“I’d have thought if anyone knew, it would be her best friend,” Ominis said, slightly resentful, and very much hoping Sebastian would deny it.

“So? I’m her friend, not her mother, and no one could possibly keep up with everything she’s up to. Besides-” Sebastian paused, pointedly and very audibly flapping the pages of his book, “I have matters of my own to attend to.”

The silence, shortly followed by the sound of another page turn, told Ominis his friend was not eager to continue the conversation. But he wasn’t obligated to comply. “So is this what she does for fun? Solving everyone else’s problems?”

The question earned him a loud, annoyed exhale. “You know, if you’re that curious, you could ask her yourself. I know you don’t like her much, but she doesn’t bite.”

“I’m not that curious,” Ominis mumbled defensively, absentmindedly fidgeting with one of the cushions. He listened quietly to Sebastian flicking through the pages of his book and Grace’s soft sniffles and laughs among the general chatter.

“How did she do it?” he said softly, to no one in particular, inadvertently mirroring Zenobia’s question from before.

“Hm?” Sebastian answered vaguely.

Ominis tried to imagine what it must be like, diving into the depths of the lake. The water would be freezing cold, even at this time of the year. According to the other Slytherins, it was murky too, the sunlight barely making it below the surface. He’d have to take their word for it, of course, but he’d always imagined it quite eerie. It might look fascinating, perhaps even oddly romantic through their common room window, but he couldn’t fathom what it would be like to actually dive into it.

And for what, for Grace Pinch-Smedley? They weren’t friends. Ominis was sure he never heard them talk to each other before. Smalltalk about schoolwork, perhaps. But certainly nothing that would indicate feelings deep enough to be worth drowning oneself for.

Drowning?

“She could have died.”

Sebastian stopped mid page-flick, letting Ominis know he had his full attention again. “I didn’t think you’d care,” Sebastian teased.

Ominis’ eyes narrowed dangerously. “Did you? So just because I’m not fawning over her like everyone else, I don’t care if she lives or dies?”

“Ominis, I didn’t- what’s gotten into you lately? I don’t even mention her anymore, because it only upset you when I did, and now you’re suddenly interested?”

“Forget it, I’m going to bed,” Ominis snapped, irritated beyond belief because he couldn’t even deny it.

“Fine,” Sebastian drawled, more than willing to lay the conversation to rest.

Ominis got up, tired and with an all too familiar throbbing pain in his skull, hoping once again that this might finally be the end of it, but knowing better all the same.

She quickly earned a reputation for being the one to turn to if one needed something done, whatever it was.

Retrieving bewitched books under the librarian’s suspicious eyes, solving mysteries behind never before been there portraits, slamming winged keys into cabinets. Quite forcefully too, the first time she’d done it near him, he’d almost dropped his wand.

She’d run up and down the Defence Against the Dark Arts tower several times a day, Merlin knew why, but it happened so frequently that Ominis was now starting to recognise her footsteps even from a distance. And he’d feel anxious on days when he didn’t.

What surprised him most was that she seemed perfectly content being on her own. Once, he would have expected her to end up as the centre of a drove of friends and admirers, like a lantern swarmed by moths, but she was on her own more often than not.

Then he discovered that disapproving of her antics was not his unique privilege.

“Sallow’s in detention because of you. Not a very good friend, are you.”

Ominis’ mouth was open, he caught himself before he realised that he’d been about to defend her. Pointlessly so, as it didn’t seem to bother her. She’d ignored the boy’s teasing as resolutely as she’d ignored Ominis when he made his own snide remarks to her, more than a month ago now.

Again, he tried to tell himself to let it go, not to concern himself with her- until he overheard her agree to save Duncan Hobhouse’s deservedly sordid reputation and had to exercise an absurd amount of self-control not to walk over and drag her away.

He would have liked to pretend that he didn’t know why he suddenly cared, why he felt uneasy every time she walked past him, or why he perked up whenever someone mentioned her name. At some point, in the weeks that had gone by since their confrontation, his view of her had started to shift.

Slowly but surely, the lingering resentment he’d felt towards her had lessened until it was gone completely, replaced instead by a sort of wistful emptiness. Perhaps Ominis did regret shouting at her more than he cared to admit, perhaps Sebastian’s suggestion of them being friends didn’t seem so unappealing after all now, but Ominis had a feeling that he’d rather thoroughly burnt that particular bridge.

She still ignored him, as she had ever since their unfortunate encounter outside of the Undercroft, never spoke to him when she passed by, only giving away her presence with the sound of her footsteps and her scent.

Passing by the stained glass windows, the afternoon sun flooding through, warming his face and small specks of dust tickling his nose, he didn’t know where he was going, only that he’d like to find a way to take his mind off the crushing loneliness that once again kept him company.

Everyone in fifth year had seemed to settle into a new routine, getting used to their classes being more challenging, their professors being more demanding, the OWLs already looming over everyone’s head even though it was still early in the year.

Most of his classmates busied themselves with schoolwork in an effort not to fall behind, a few of the more daring ones taking their quills and parchment with them to the three broomsticks, knowing fully well that they weren’t likely to get any work done. Sebastian was dutifully serving yet another detention with Madam Scribner, and his Hufflepuff friend had disappeared after running through the Defence tower yet again.

Ominis should have made an effort in getting his assignments done himself. They had an essay for Herbology due the next day, which he hadn’t even started to write.

He wondered if she was getting any work done.

Involuntarily, Ominis imagined sitting next to her in the library, her scent getting slightly stronger as she leaned over to him, hushed questions about schoolwork being occasionally disrupted by quick, teasing jokes or a sarcastic remark, followed by comfortable stretches of silence being only disturbed by the sound of her scratching quill and the turning of a book’s pages.

His heart ached just a bit. She probably studied with Sebastian like this, every once in a while, at least. She’d probably drop everything else and come running if Sebastian asked her to the library.

Would she do it for Ominis?

Doubtful. And he wondered why he even cared, but he did.

He leaned against the window, resting his temple against the cool window pane. He listened to the sound of his own breath, felt it as it was fogging up the glass, the sun still streaming across his face. It had gotten colder over the past week. It was almost time for Mr. Moon to take out the pumpkins. Ominis traced the outlines of the window’s intricate framework, his mind a mess yet again.

So was his heart.

Ominis wasn’t quite sure what he wanted himself, only that he couldn’t go on like this. He needed… something. Comfort. Someone to keep him company.

Sebastian?

Perhaps.

Her?

He exhaled deeply, fogging up the glass again.

Would she come to him, if he asked her? Would he want her to?

What was he hoping to gain from it, if she did? A friend? A distraction?

If he did… he wasn’t even sure he did. But if he wanted to, how would he go about it?

With Sebastian and Anne, it just sort of happened. Joking and teasing and laughing, at the table in the great hall, in their common room, and he’d been caught in the middle of it until it felt natural.

Perhaps it could be like that, eventually. It could be a chance to grow closer with Sebastian again, if he could understand what his friend saw in her.

Perhaps he could.

If she’d be willing to give him just a bit of her time.

He dropped his bag, rummaging around in it until he found a spare scrap of parchment, his inkwell, half tipping it over in the process but he didn’t care. Writing with his own hand, not his enchanted quill, and not bothering to look over it afterwards- he knew if he did, he’d burn it on the spot.

It wasn’t perfect, there was every chance he’d live to regret it, but he had to do something.

This was a start.

Standing in it, Ominis remembered why he’d never cared much for the Hogwarts owlery. The unpleasant smell was overwhelming, and it was near impossible for him to avoid stepping into owl droppings. He winced as he felt the crunching of tiny bones under his foot, as he stepped on the skeletal remains of… something.

The next time he wanted to send a letter, he’d go to the Hogsmeade post office again, convenience be damned.

Still, the hard part was done. Fastening letters to owls had always been a bit nerve wracking for him, given the way he’d have to glide his fingers through the feathers to find its legs. He couldn’t help being more touchy than other wizards, and he was never quite sure if or when it would bother the bird, the only give away being a sharp beak nipping at his arm that he literally couldn’t see coming.

He only hoped he’d never be careless enough to try and send a letter with his sleeves rolled up.

There wasn’t much else he could do about it, handling creatures required one to be able to pick up nonverbal cues, body language- something he’d never be able to do. Unlike humans, animals couldn’t simply tell him what they wanted.

Most of them, anyways.

He carefully made his way down the winding steps, concentrating entirely too hard on how annoying he found the whole process of sending letters by owl, because otherwise he’d think too much about how he’d just made an absolute fool of himself. He’d wanted to take the letter back the second the bird had taken flight, fighting a wave of panic and shame that made him consider hexing it out of the air- he’d never have done it, it wasn’t the owl’s fault, after all, but still.

Finally stepping outside, he took a deep breath, his first in several minutes that thankfully did not smell of owl droppings. It did little to calm his nerves, but what was done was done. Either she’d show up or she wouldn’t, and if she did not, that would be the end of it, once and for all, he’d make sure of it.

But it was still there, and he tried to hold onto it as he hurried down the stairs leading back to the castle.

Hope.

more a/n: Unfortunately, the Scriptorium is where hope goes to die, so there’s more angst ahead, but after that I promise this fic will finally have some fluffy, flirty bits again. “Did you really threaten to get her expelled?”- based on a true story, I genuinely thought he did, until I replayed that part for the fic and realised that he… didn’t. Whoops. Regarding the whole Undercroft situation, I truly believe Sebastian meant no harm, even if he probably went about it the wrong way. Sebastian really does talk up Ominis the second he and Mc walk into the Undercroft, he genuinely loves him and he’s trying so hard to get Mc to understand. So I feel like Sebastian's heart was in the right place, even if his brain wasn’t. And Ominis being shockingly well informed about Mc’s whereabouts and little side quests is definitely canon, he has so many lines throughout the whole game that show this (“Don’t get too cocky because you beat Sebastian” “There is such a thing as trying to hard” “Well done at Summoner’s court/Broom trials/Crossed wands” “Glad you fixed the bells” “Ferdinand is so annoying” etc.) and while they’re super judgy and snarky in the beginning, by the end he’s just complimenting Mc. Which is super cute and also the observation that sparked this entire fic. Big thanks to everyone still reading this, and please let me know your thoughts, I’d really appreciate it ❤️And as usual, feel free to point out grammar or spelling mistakes (nicely), I promise I won't bite.

#hogwarts legacy fanfiction #ominis gaunt #hogwarts legacy mc #ominis x mc #ominis gaunt x mc #hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy fandom #mallow tries to write #WAYDH

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