#i love rarepairs but somehow i feel i will regret this | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

not0a0mundane · 2 years ago

Text

Made a fill for @cake-shop-rarepair-bingo you can find it on ao3 with the link Innocent like a flower (Serpent Beneath) - Mun404 - Star Wars - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own] or under read more.

Prompt: Theather/Cabaret Au (Macbeth Au) Fandom: Star Wars Relationships: Qui-Gon Jinn/Darth Maul Rating: T Content Warnings: Child Abuse mention/reference Summary: Qui-gon hears about a propercy and decides to tell it to his ambitious husband.

"I can't remember the last time we had such awful weather on such a victorious day." Obi-wan heard his old friend say. They were walking away from the battlefield, having tended to the wounded and dead, they were left without a goal until it was time to return home. Obi-wan was about to ask for a way to Forres when he spied some figures in the distance.

"What,, who are those people?" Three figures were walking towards them, they bore the resemblance of an old bearded man, a young bald man and a beautiful young woman. But something about them was unreal, an eerie feeling that almost raised the hairs on his neck.

"Are you living?" The words left Obi-wan's mouth before he could consider them, and in return, the figure of the woman smiled with faint mischief in her eyes.

"Speak please, if you're able." Qui-Gon's voice sounded next to him. The taller man stood a few steps away and looked at the figures with a curious eye. Of course, his friend would find something interesting about three strangers approaching them unannounced. Then the strangers spoke.

"Hail Jinn, Lord of Glamis."

"Hail Jinn, Lord of Cawdor."

"Hail Jinn, who will be King."

The figures spoke clearly, one after the other as if they shared one breath. Obi-wan looked at Qui-gon, hoping that his eyes showed the amazement he felt. It wasn't every day someone claimed to know your future, and that it would have anything good. And yet, it seemed that Qui-gon didn't share his sentiment, as his friend's face had gone almost as pale as the sky above them.

Obi-wan turned towards the figures, asking why they seemed to share their tale with only one of them. He regretted asking as soon as he felt the strange and somehow human but yet not, figures looking at him.

"Hail, Lesser than Jinn but so much greater."

"Hail, Not so happy yet much happier."

"Hail, Who shall get kings yet be none."

The creatures had once more spoken in strange unison, Obi-wan almost faltered back from their sight but tried to bravely stand his ground. For a moment the creatures stood still, observing the reaction of the men. Qui-gon must have come out of his shock, as he tried to take a step towards them, asking them to tell him more about his future, and as he did so they disappeared For a moment they both looked at the spot where the figures had stood.

"Where did they go?" "Into the air." Came Qui-gon's simple answer, as if that answered everything.

"Did that happen? Or rather, will it happen?" Obi-wan whispered, trying to gain an understanding of what had transpired before them. "It must have been a dream, we must have eaten a root that takes the mind prisoner." He said finally, deciding that such a fantasy could only be the work of an ill mind.

He turns to Qui-gon, expecting the older man to have come to the same conclusion, but once again, his friend takes a fairy tale more seriously than reality. Obi-wan could only imagine how Qui-gon's husband would indulge in his nonsense. Once again did Obi-wan thank the Force, that it had brought him Satine.

///

Qui-gon hadn't even made it two steps into his house before the door behind him closed and his husband was in his arms again. Soft lips pressed kisses all over his face, tickling him with their feather softness.

"Great Glamis." A kiss pressed between his brows.

"Worthy Cawdor." A whisper of a kiss against his lips.

"Greater than both by what you will be." Finally, his love looks into his eyes, and as always the warmth of his husband's eyes made Qui-gon melt.

"My dearest love, how I've missed you" Qui-gon whispered as he took Maul's face in his hands and finally kissed him back.

He had spent all too much time away from his husband, and while the letter he sent explained their future luck it did not hurt to explain it again in person.

////

"The King comes to visit us in a day, he shall dine and celebrate with us," Qui-gon told Maul as they were getting ready for bed. He could see how his husband's posture stiffened up. The King's visits were one that both were unable to stomach, but the title as Thane of Cawdor was one they both appreciated. Maul's father might never have been a good parent, but a kind King he was.

"And must he leave? Must he see the light of day again?" Maul's soft voice flew through the room, piercing straight through him, voicing thoughts he hadn't dared to consider.

"Your face, my dearest lord, is an open book and once you learn the language you may learn of the strangest matters," Maul explained when he saw Qui-Gon's expression.

"My father, the King, our guest, will be provided for and so will we." His husband explained plainly as if he was discussing the meals they would provide for the feast. "We shall bear welcome, in our eyes, our gestures and words." A slight smile sent his way.

"We will speak further about this." Was all that Qui-gon could say, he knew that the power the Weird Sisters spoke about was just in reach but treason like that was not something to contemplate lightly.

"Don't fear husband, leave it all to me," Maul said as he slid up behind him in their bed. Qui-gon sighed but turned around and cradled Maul in his arms, kissing his head.

///

Kenobi sat next to Lord Maul, he never cared much for the younger Zabrak but he'd rather not start a fight with his friend's husband. Nothing good would come from enraging the spouse of one's host.

"My dear husband tells me that you were there when you heard of the prophecy." Maul's soft voice rang next to him, too quiet for anybody else to hear but not for him. He should have known that Qui-gon would share the supposed prophecy with his husband. His friend was always quick to believe tall tales and stories of some supposed future. But dreams were they always, and only that.

"Yes, I heard it." He answered plainly, he knew that Maul was a sneaky one, the unloved son of a kind King who despite all still held a place at court. Why would he ask of dreams, of hallucinations cast by the lack of sleep and exhaustion from battle if not for his own gain?

"And you didn't ask to hear of your own future?" Maul's voice rang quietly with mocking mirth. Obi-wan took a long sip from his glass of mead, the drink was strong and would let him survive the interaction without injury to both parties.

"If you must know, the tall tale of the future was just that. A made-up instance by the tired mind." He said as he stood up from the chair. It was rude to bit farewell like that to one's host, but Obi-wan was beyond caring when it came to Maul. His friend and everyone around them might not see it, but nothing could come out of dealing with the Zabrak.

////

Maul took a deep breath, the dagger clutched in his hands. The guards were snoring softly a few steps away and the night was cold. There would be no one to hear his crime. Then, a sound tore through the silent night, a gurgling sound that was extinguished almost as soon as it began. If Maul hadn't been standing so close then he'd have thought his ears had betrayed him.

Quickly he went into the tent, closing the flaps behind himself. Between him and the King's bed was a single, almost see-through, sheet. It was meant to be an example of wealth, the fabric was decorated with golden embroidery. Now it was decorated with blood stains. He could see a shadow behind the sheet, one that turned to stare at him too.

In one smooth move, they moved towards each other, Maul pushed the sheet away with one hand while keeping the dagger up and ready in his other one. The strange silhouette towered over him, and for a single moment, he could not recognize the person Maul was holding a knife up to. After a moment his eyes adjusted to the light in the King's bed-chamber, and saw that staring down at him were his husband's eyes. His familiar face was splattered with blood.

Maul let his eyes wander down, the simple nightshirt his husband wore was covered with fresh blood. Taking a breath he pulled the knife down and saw how Qui-gon breathed in immediately. He moved away from his beloved and with heavy feet walked towards the King's bed.

His feet knocked softly against the raised carpet, and Maul instinctively took his shoes off to not let mud trace on the carpet. He remembered his father's, the King's, words. His rebukes and lessons marked themselves with welts and bruises on his skin.

A thin, blood-soaked sheet covered the King's face. Maul pulled it aside and was met with the horrified open-eyed expression of his father, his King's. He took a deep breath and turned towards Qui-gon.

"Why?" He asked, voice almost inaudible to his own eyes. Qui-gon looked at him with a confused expression so Maul continued. "He was your King." A harsh whisper that made his husband flinch away from him. A moment passes between them, the silence stretching like an ocean between them.

"He was your father," Qui-gon says as if that was any explanation. As if that gave him the right to take away the murder from him. "So? I was his son but he never treated me like one." Maul said with a mirthless laugh.

Before his legs gave up on him, Maul sat down on the bed. Taking a deep breath he tried to think of their next move. The King was dead, with no heir in sight, the throne would be theirs for the taking. With a last sigh, Maul stood up and looked up at Qui-gon with a determined spirit.

"We shall mark the two sleeping guards with the blood, and give them the dagger as if they have done the crime themselves." He says and looks up into Qui-Gon's eyes.

"It will be received as if they have done it." His husband's face lits up with a small reassuring smile, and Maul starts to hope that maybe they will get away with this. "Who dares receive it otherwise? As we shall make our grief and anger clamour upon his death." He agrees smiling.

#star wars #Qui-gon Jinn #Darth Maul #prompt fill #fanfiction #fanfic #star wars fic #Mun fanfic

3 notes · View notes

yourlazykitkat · 4 years ago

Text

MCYTER RAREPAIR MASTERLIST 28/10/20

Okay so, there are some amazing fanfics out there on ao3 for rarepairs that don’t get nearly as much clout and readership as they deserve. I wanted to compile a list for them as well as people who are interested in trying new ships but don’t know where to start. This list will be updated and will take in suggestions. If you have more rarepairs, drop them in notes and I’ll look through them. If you aren’t interested, feel free to scroll pass but please read “Bring Pluto Back” and have a nice day! If you don’t see your fic here, please don’t devalue yourselves- they probably didn’t fulfill my (emphasis on the my- it’s a subjective list) criteria of word count, layout and completion.

sapnotfound/georgenap

could you imagine that? if we were gay? could you imagine? by orphan_account

notes: absolutely amazing. It’s a long-ish read but I love every word of it. easily one of my favourite georgenap fics. one of the inspirations for half a heart.

illicit affairs by rosegoldblood

notes: hunger games au which I’m absolutely obsessed with. There’s the inevitable angsty ending but the author makes it so sweet (bittersweet) I love it.

it’s him, stonernap by unrequited_heartbreak

notes: the birth of stonernap, ya’ll it’s kinda beautiful.

Do You See What I See? by amooniesong

notes: adorable twist to enchroma glasses. the pining is immaculate

After that Stream by FourWings

notes: not for eveyone, has nfsw elements which are written lovely in an sfw setting.

Not Now, Not Ever by Anonymous

notes: it’s just extreme cute, warning: you may feel the irresistible need to bang georgenap’s heads together so they finally kiss.

Sea-Shaken by Turtle_ier

notes: sucker for fantasy/fairytale aus. this one is the little mermaid inspired.

breath slowly, i'm here to catch you by athasa

notes: sick fic supremacy

dear regret by dweamnap

notes: angst. unrequited love. fricking god everything this author writes makes me wanna kinda cry.

heart been broke so many times, i don't know what to believe by orphan_account

notes: more georgenap angst. this time requited but dammit why can’t they be happy.

just pull the covers up by dweamnap

notes: warning: cheating/infidelity. not usually my cup of tea but frick it hurts so much.

and you’re gonna be happy by gogylvcr

notes: dream’s pov, unrequited love while georgenap are happy.

dreamnap

Bring Back Pluto by Turtle_ier

notes: okay this is literally s-tier. even if you don’t like dreamnap, read it. the writing is just gorgeous and i can’t simp enough. easy one of the best romantic dream team fics that the fandom has to offer. i could analyse this fic for hours.

Press Play by Anonymous

notes: one of the og dreamnap fic, still just a beautiful as when i first read it. omg god, it’s such a refreshing change of pace.

hidden in the sand by dweamnap

notes: warning: cheating and terminal illness. sapnap is an asshole but guys the angst here is so good that my heart hurt for like an hour after I read it.

Untouchable by Turtle_ier

notes: i really love how dream is simping here and sapnap’s like: get on my level and then we’ll talk.

claws / san marcos by warzoneurchin

notes: another one of the ogs, it’s just- ahhhhh so good and sweet.

do you like the freckles on my face? by khrusopoiia

notes: sapnap being a simp and i just love it. the pining is immaculate.

“I hate the rain.” by unrequited_heartbreak

notes: kinda unrequited love but they’re both trying and honestly, all they’re problems would be solved if they did OT3.

rotten by dweamnap

notes: hanahaki au, another og. guys the ending kills me each time.

oh, i miss when we first met (take me out baby) by eunwol

notes: more unrequited love, this time they’re all cowards.

Houston by FutureHeart

notes: airport fic and sapnap is rushing to find his hubby.

chu! chu! chu! by jardindefaerie

notes: god this author is trying to revive dreamnap and i love them for it, go give them some support.

karlnap

Somehow, you’re there by ColourSpaz

notes: the incredible, tier-3 successor of stonernap.

my boy’s got his own ringtone by Sydthesciencekid

notes: they are such a married couple, it’s sickening but more please/

3 Missed Calls by kincore

notes: short but beautifully written. more introspection than plot.

one sweet summer (between you and me) by HeckoHackoHappy

notes: cute, little summer camp fic which should have had a happy ending but noooo

fundywastaken

some say we should take a rest (i think i'd rather be dead) by thedreamsteam

notes: short but adorable sleepy dream who wants cuddles

we have not touched the stars (nor are we forgiven) by Donkey

notes: short but it’s so beautifully written. i’m a sucker for purple prose.

Ethereal. by AllAccordingToPan

notes: wedding fic. aaaah it’s so cute.

spifl

Sweet Smiles by dontrollthedice

notes: it’s so fricking cute, more spifl pls.

Lessons in Meal Prep and War by dontrollthedice

notes: food and nightmares and a boy who’s kinda in love with you.

For a Dance? by Being_Delirious

notes: bit cautious on the bad/dream but spifl are just so adorable.

490 notes · View notes

vannahfanfics · 3 years ago

Text

Bleeding Love

Category: Romantic Fluff

Fandom: Haikyuu!!

Characters: Morisuke Yaku, Yū Nishinoya

Here is my story for the Haikyuu!! RarePair Exchange! Enjoy some angsty yet sweet YakuNoya! :)

Vannah’s song pick: “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis

Morisuke Yaku had overwhelming respect for Yū Nishinoya. Anyone who watched their interactions on the court could attest to that; you had to be blind not to notice. As a fellow libero, he commended Yū’s tenacity and humility and compassion for his teammates. What a lot of people didn’t know, however, was how great of friends they were off the court. When they shed the mantle of libero and changed out of their uniforms, they were just two high school boys—having fun with movie nights, arcade trips, videogame sessions, and very overzealous karaoke competitions. Only their closest friends observed that aspect of their relationship, even though it wasn’t something they necessarily kept secret.

There was only one thing that no one knew about Morisuke when it came to the Karasuno libero, however, and it was that he had an absolutely massive crush on him.

It had started off as just pure admiration, honestly. How could Morisuke not be totally impressed by him? The first time he’d ever met Yū on the court, witnessing his humility and desire for improvement, he’d been intrigued. How many people walked up to someone they’d just played against and declared that they’d be better than them one day? It was amusing and, even better, exciting. It wasn’t often that Morisuke felt challenged by someone, but he did that day.

And it made his blood sing.

The encounter made Morisuke dive headlong into his training, and during their joint training in Tokyo, he’d found himself practicing with Yū. The Karasuno libero was a calm force of nature on the court, but off, he honestly was a giant goofball. Morisuke found himself drawn to him though, invigorated by the endless energy Yū seemed to radiate, and left the training camp both with a renewed sense of determination as well as Yū’s contact information.

And it just took off from there. Occasional hangouts turned into weekly meet-ups, and casual friendship turned into something deeper, until Morisuke felt the undeniable tugs at his heartstrings every time he clapped eyes on the painfully radiant young man. So many times did Morisuke find himself uplifted by Yū’s great big smile, his wonderful laugh, his endless energy—but it hurt, too. Every day not asking Yū to be his made his heart clench a little further until it felt like a super-tight knot in his chest. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think, he could only lament about what a chickenshit he was and wallow in the fact that he would come to regret it someday.

An outsider would probably call him dramatic, tell him just to just get over it and confess already. And Morisuke had considered it several times. But each time he’d open his mouth, the words would dry up on his tongue. He’d envision Yū recoiling in disgust, or laughing it off as a joke, or even the dreaded “I don’t feel the same, but we can still be friends!” and the panic would take hold of him with cold, icy fingers.

So he never said anything. He let the wound fester, let the knife stay in his heart while he bled out his love in silence. He just watched, waited, suffered, and time marched inevitably onward with everyone none the wiser to the fact that Morisuke was dying drop by drop by excruciating drop.

After graduation, Morisuke moved on with his professional volleyball career. Yū moved on to his third year, and though Morisuke was terribly busy playing for the local team and working on a contract with the Russian Volleyball Super League, they still kept well in touch. Yū was just a hop, skip, and a jump away, after all. Another year passed before they knew it, the same as ever—Yū smiling, Morisuke suffering. Somehow, he managed to delude himself that things would always be this way, and even though it was painful, at least he would have Yū around.

Then, while paying a visit to his alma mater, he found out that his world was about to come crashing down around him.

“Eh? Yū’s going traveling?” Morisuke blinked, unable to help the way his mouth fell open in shock.

“That’s right!” Lev quipped as he dropped the last volleyball into the container. Having finished up practice for the day, the team was now cleaning up the gym. Though the first-years did most of the grunt work, Lev still liked to be helpful. “I was talking to Shouyou about the third-years’ plans, and he told me that he’s gonna start traveling the world instead of going to college. I think he leaves the day after Karasuno’s graduation.”

“I… see.”

Morisuke reached out to place his hand against the wall, gripped with the sudden sensation that the world was spinning. Karasuno’s graduation was in a few days—why hadn’t Yū told him? He’d always talked about traveling after he finished high school, but surely he would have told Morisuke that he’d made solid plans. Maybe he just hadn’t had a chance to mention it in the last few weeks. After all, Morisuke had been especially busy these days, and so had Yū with all the preparations for graduating. Morisuke was supposed to be on the other side of the country doing dealings with the Russian Volleyball Super League starting the day of Karasuno’s graduation. Maybe Yū just didn’t want to make Morisuke feel like he had to rearrange his schedule to see him off?

But besides all that—what was Morisuke going to do? How was he going to manage with him being so far away? He’d always been right there, close enough for it to be okay, close enough for all the suffering in silence to be worth it. When Yū was gone, though, what then?

What then would Morisuke have to keep him going?

“Morisuke-senpai, are you okay?”

Morisuke blinked a few times, drawn back to reality by Lev’s voice. The tall Russian boy leaned down to peer into his face, silver eyebrows cinched in concern. “You’re awfully pale, and you’ve broken out into a sweat. Are you sick, senpai?”

“Yes. I don’t feel well,” Morisuke groaned, putting a hand over his face. It definitely wasn’t a lie; the world was still spinning around him a little, making his belly swirl with nausea. “I should get home… Sorry, I know I was supposed to critique you today, but I’m just not up to it.”

“No worries!” Lev chirped and waved his hands in a dismissive gesture. “Go home, get some rest, feel better. You can always come by again sometime!”

Though Lev didn’t mean anything by it, Morisuke felt his heart twist. That’s right. He would be stuck here, and Yū would go far, far away, leaving him behind.

Morisuke tottered out to his car, collapsing in the driver’s seat. Rather than start up the car, he pulled back the seat and just laid there, closing his eyes to help with the vertigo-like sensation. He then scrunched up his eyes when he felt bitter tears well up in the corners of his eyes, and he used the heels of his palms to scrub at them angrily. What had he been expecting? How could he have deluded himself like this? He should have always known that it couldn’t have gone on like this forever, that someday Yū would leave for some reason or another, because why would he stay when Morisuke had given him no reason to?

He should have always known that he only had enough blood to give, that one day it would run dry and leave him cold and empty and heartbroken. He’d bled it all out now, wasted it all in this goddamned silent compromise with himself—and now it was too late.

Or was it?

~~~~~~~~~~

This is nuts, he thought to himself as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other on the threshold of the door. The doorbell taunted him, and though his fingers itched to ring it, he hadn’t yet. It was ass o’clock in the morning, after all; the sun hadn’t even come up, but he was about to wake someone up in his state of mania.

But if anyone knew when Yū’s plane was leaving later on that morning, it would be Asahi Azumane.

Before he could change his mind, Morisuke slammed a fist down on the doorbell. His heart immediately sank down in his feet with the echo of the chime through the house, a cold dose of the reality that he was really about to do this. He’d rescheduled his meeting with the Russians—maybe at the expense of his future career—all for this moment, which may not even yield anything useful. And even then, he didn’t know what he would do if it did! He wasted his few precious seconds to make an escape on debating whether or not to do so, and then the door slowly opened to reveal a very tired and confused Asahi.

The tall brunet squinted at him before rubbing an eye tiredly with the heel of his palm.

“Morisuke Yaku?” he said in sleepy realization, then yawned loudly. “Sorry, I—it’s early, is something the matter?” He was trying to be polite, but Morisuke could tell that he was reeling with the question of what Morisuke would be doing on his doorstep before the sun had even come up. Morisuke couldn’t blame him, and he shrunk in on himself with mortification at how inconsiderate he was being—but the guy was awake now, so he might as well get on with it.

“Asahi, do you know anything about Yū’s flight today?”

“Flight?” he echoed. He stared at Morisuke in confusion for a few seconds, his sleep-addled mind struggling to process the strange question arising from the already strange encounter. His eyes lit up when it finally dawned on him, and his eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Oh! Right, he’s flying out of Sendai Airport at 7 a.m. I think he said his first stop was Hawaii so he could take a beach vacation.”

Morisuke hadn’t expected much, so he couldn’t help but stare dumbfoundedly at Asahi, who had literally given him all the information he needed in a matter of a few sentences. While he did so, Asahi reached up to scratch at his messy brown hair, which was still piled atop his head in a loose bun that was mussed from sleep.

“None of us are going to see him off. He insisted, so we had a party last night instead… Are you thinking about going to say good-bye? I don’t know if that’s—”

“Thanks for the information! I gotta go!” Morisuke interrupted. He promptly spun on his heel and left Asahi just as dazed as before in the threshold of his door. The brunet was still staring at him with a slightly agape mouth as he peeled out of the driveway in his car, beelining for Sendai Airport. There was no time to think about what he was doing, or what would happen if things went wrong; he was just overwhelmed with the great need to get there.

Sweat bloomed on his forehead as he glanced at the clock, which read 6:10 a.m. I can make it! he tried to convince himself, his foot falling more heavily on the gas pedal. The roar of his car’s engine did little to drown out the beating of his heart in his ears, and he was so focused on getting to the airport on time that he didn’t even consider the most essential question:

What the hell was he going to say?

~~~~~~~~~~

Morisuke’s breaths came in little pants as he ran across the parking lot and into the lobby of the airport. He looked around wildly for anything that could be useful—though a listing of all the outgoing flights would be preferable, the first thing he spotted was a customer service kiosk. He sprinted for it; thankfully, no one was currently looking for assistance, so he slammed right into the counter and startled the poor girl who was in charge of working that morning. The clock read 6:30 a.m.; the flight would be boarding soon, and then Yū would be gone.

“Excuse me! Can you tell me which flights are outgoing to Hawaii at 7 a.m.?” he cried, nearly screaming at the girl in agitation. She gave him a concerned look before turning to her computer, rapidly typing on the keyboard while side-eyeing him.

“Let’s see… There’s only one flight to Hawaii at that time, boarding at Terminal 7.”

“Thank you!” As much a whirlwind as his mind, Morisuke was then gone, leaving the confused attendant in the dust. He tore across the airport in search of Terminal 7; hearing his frantic footsteps pounding on the tile, the other airport-goers gave him a wide berth and inquisitive stares. Arms pumping at his sides, he dashed past the cafés and specialty stores and convenience shops and coffee booths; his gaze bounced from sign to sign, reading them off in his head. His heart leaped up into his throat when he finally spotted the sign for Terminal 7, just as a pleasant male voice announced that the flight to Hawaii was now boarding.

Morisuke could see the terminal at the end of the hall. Scores of people stood up at the announcement, forming a single-file line to scan their plane tickets at the desk. Morisuke’s heart then plummeted down into his feet; with such a crowd, how could he hope to spot Yū? There was precious little time, so he did the first thing that came to mind—he vaulted over the back row of lobby seats to then climb into one, making the businessman passed out in the next one over jolt awake. He started cursing Morisuke out, then realized that this was in fact his flight and scrambled out of the chair to hurry into line. Meanwhile, none the wiser to the disgruntled man, Morisuke scanned the line for Yū.

Just when he was beginning to think that he may have missed him, he spotted Yū standing behind a very boisterous pair of teenagers who were filling their cellphone galleries up with a million selfies. Yū sported a pair of sunglasses, a pair of bermuda shorts, and a classic blue Hawaiian-patterned shirt. He had a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and a snapback turned backwards on his head, letting the little tufts of blond hair in his bangs hang out of the small opening in the front. He seemed totally unaware of Morisuke’s arrival, just chewing on some gum while he shuffled forward in line.

Morisuke opened his mouth to shout his name—and then he froze.

What am I doing?! he thought in horror. I’m such a selfish jerk! I can’t do this to him right now, when he’s about to fly out and start the rest of his life! He slowly slipped down from the chair, putting his face in his hands. Just springing this on him, with no time for him to consider anything—I can’t. I can’t do that to him. This isn’t right.

He wanted to. Oh, God, how he wanted to. He wanted to keep bleeding, keep gushing all this love, but he couldn’t do that at the expense of Yū’s feelings. He’d rather bleed himself dry than hurt the one person who meant the world to him.

Even if now that person would be a world away.

“Morisuke?”

Morisuke jumped as he was suddenly addressed. He whipped his hands away from his face and there Yū was, standing in front of him. Morisuke kept looking between him and the slowly dwindling line, unable to process for several moments that he was no longer there.

“Morisuke, what are you doing here?” Yū pressed, holding up his cellphone to show a text conversation. “I just happened to check my phone before boarding, and Asahi told me you stopped by this house this morning to ask about my flight—I thought you were supposed to be meeting with the Russian Volleyball Super League? Why are you here? What’s going on?”

If the universe was going to give Morisuke a sign to go for it, then this was damn sure it.

“I didn’t come here to see you off!” Morisuke interrupted. “At least, not totally. I’m here to tell you something important.” He took a deep breath, then stepped forward, fists balled up at his sides as he looked Yū right in the eyes. For the first time, he didn’t feel afraid; he didn’t worry about what Yū was going to say. Because he finally realized that it didn’t matter. What happened next didn’t matter. He just wanted him to know.

“I love you.”

The blood that Morisuke thought had dried up started to gush forth again. He felt it fill him up, fill him to the brim with warmth. It made him melt from the inside out, and as a sweet smile bloomed on his lips, he relaxed one of his hands to reach out and grab Yū’s.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner. I was scared of what you might say or do, and I convinced myself that I would be okay if I could just be close to you… And when I found out that you were leaving, I realized that I was going to lose you. And it made me crazy,” he laughed, a blush rising to his cheeks. “Crazy enough to chase you down to this airport and confess to you like in some cheesy romance drama.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty crazy,” Yū chuckled. His voice was quiet, contemplative.

“I don’t want to keep you here,” Morisuke added hastily. “I know that traveling the world is your dream. I just… I don’t know, really,” he admitted with another shy, awkward laugh. “I actually was about to turn around and go home—”

“Well, I’m glad I saw you first,” Yū said quickly, and the seriousness in his voice made Morisuke freeze. Yū squeezed his hand firmly, then stepped forward; the distance between them was now way too close, way too close for just a friendship. Morisuke’s heart stuttered in his chest.

With a sweet smile, Yū continued, “I feel the same way. I have for a long time, and I wanted to say something too… But I was more scared of losing what we had. The idea of not having you around…”

“‘S painful.” Morisuke thought he would feel more profound, or maybe jump for joy now that Yū had reciprocated his feelings, but he just felt… at peace. He felt like he and Yū were sharing a wavelength, that their hearts and souls were melding.

“Yeah,” Yū hummed, tipping his head to the side slightly as he regarded Morisuke with a look of pure contentment. In the background, the attendants were doing the last calls for boarding, but Yū didn’t look like he was in any rush to leave. “I’m glad you came,” he said next, quietly but full of feeling.

“Me too.”

They just continued to hold each other’s hands and stare into one another’s eyes. It just felt right, to sit there and absorb all the things they couldn’t voice in words. Finally, Yū looked behind him and said disappointedly, “I really have to go… This is the final call.”

When he looked back, Morisuke was smiling warmly.

“I’ll be okay,” he told him, and he meant it. Because looking at Yū now, he realized that it didn’t matter how many miles were between them. Even oceans apart, they could still find a way to be close now. Morisuke didn’t have to bleed his love anymore.

“Okay,” Yū said. He walked backwards, still holding Morisuke’s hand to stretch out their arms. He held on for as long as he could, until their fingers finally slipped apart. “I’ll call you as soon as I land, okay? And then we can talk about everything.”

“Okay,” Morisuke smiled. It was so strange. He thought he would feel so many things. And he did feel, but—he just felt full, like his body was swollen to the brim with happiness. It just made him feel oddly tranquil, like everything was going to work out all right even though Yū was rushing to the plane. “Okay,” he whispered to himself as Yū vanished into the hall with one last wave.

Just as he was beginning to consider that maybe he should have kissed him or something, Yū came sprinting back out. He flung his duffel bag aside and literally sprang at Morisuke from six feet away. Morisuke managed to catch him by the middle, and Yū locked his legs around his waist as he smashed his lips against Morisuke’s in a feverish, desperate, passionate kiss. Morisuke responded in kind, totally ignorant to the claps and cheers resounding around the airport terminal.

And their hearts beat as one, bleeding love for each other with every pump. Because it didn’t matter how much they bled. As long as they had each other, it was a fountain that would never stop flowing.

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

#yakunoya #noyayaku #yaku x nishinoya #nishinoya x yaku #yaku morisuke #morisuke yaku #nishinoya yu #yu nishinoya #haikyuu #haikyuu!!

16 notes · View notes

sometimesiwrite · 4 years ago

Text

The Way It Is

Prompt: Fake Dating

Pairing: Lambert & Essi Other Characters: Julian (Jaskier), Eskel/Geralt

Rating: Teen Content Warnings: No Archive Warnings; platonic/queerplatonic dynamics; pressure to engage sexually; coarse language; alcohol/intoxication; modern AU.

Summary: When Essi and Lambert are setup on a blind date, they don’t expect to get along as well as they do. However, when they decide to keep their relationship platonic and non-romantic, they realize they might face some uncomfortable pressure. For the sake of simplicity, they decide to tell people they’re dating, but is it sustainable?

@witcher-rarepair-summer-bingo

Essi fidgeted with the bent corner of her cafe menu, looking around at the various styles of local artworks hanging on the walls. She was early by about ten minutes, but that didn’t stop her from checking the pearlescent dial of her watch every thirty seconds. Finally, the bell above the door tinkled and a man walked in. Essi could tell from the way he was looking around that he was there to meet someone—her. The only other people sitting alone in the cafe were working on laptops and tablets; no one else waiting for a date. And this man was most certainly looking for one.

He was handsome in a ruffled sort of way, though he’d clearly put in a bit of effort. His black casual dress shirt and slim light-wash jeans fit his lean frame impeccably, and a subtle quantity of mousse was clearly doing its best to tame his short, scruffy brown hair. Even his bristly beard appeared to have been trimmed recently. Though there was nothing particularly remarkable about his clothing, there was something striking about the way he carried himself, a devil-may-care sort of presence that Essi appreciated. For a blind date, she thought, it certainly could be worse. Allegedly, they knew each other, at least based on his abruptly out-of-the-blue text, and the closer she looked, the more her memory of him crystalized.

A loud ping! emitted from Essi’s phone and the man looked up from his own cellular device, clearly having just texted.

“Uh, Essi? Essi Daven, right?” He took a step towards her and leaned in, pointing to his phone screen.

“Yes,” Essi stood to shake his hand, “hi.”

“Nice to see you again. Lambert.”

They sat down awkwardly, both struggling to find the will for smalltalk.

“So…” Lambert had become keenly interested in a black-and-white digital photograph behind Essi’s shoulder.

“Listen,” Essi could feel the words start to tumble out of her mouth, and it was too late to do anything about it. Lambert raised an eyebrow, “I don’t really know how to say this, so I’m just going to be honest and probably regret it later: I don’t really do this. Dating. I find it strange and uncomfortable and if I’m perfectly honest I think I’d rather die.” She didn’t cringe apologetically, which would have been the expected behaviour to accompany an outpouring of disinterest. Instead she stared at him, wide-eyed, lips slightly pursed as a muscle in her neck twitched, waiting for his response.

Lambert laughed. Genuinely laughed—a joyful release of tension and dread, “Oh, thank Fuck!” Essi blinked in pleasant surprise and watched as Lambert began to relax.

“Excuse me?” Her startlingly blue eyes widened in amusement.

“No, no, I just mean—I would absolutely and one-hundred percent, without a doubt, rather die in a hole than date,” Lambert slotted the edge of the menu under his fingernails and let his eyes wander a little more freely around the cafe.

“So then… why?”

Hm. Direct, frank, amusing lack of filter… the memories were starting to come back from what limited, heavily inebriated, time they’d spent together.

There was something about the straightforwardness of this endearingly odd woman that made Lambert feel infinitely more comfortable. Usually, any kind of interaction with the potential of building mutual interest made him feel like he was playing a game he didn’t know the rules to. The signals, the code words that never meant what they said: having sex on the first date means you’re a slut; not having sex on the third date means you’re a prude; grabbing coffee means this; having dinner means that; if they your arm but don’t invite you up, it means that they’re actually a KGB operative and need to give you the launch codes for a super secret missile...

Fuck that, we have words for a reason. Say what you mean and don’t waste my time. For that reason alone, Essi was already scoring quite well in Lambert’s books.

He shrugged, “You somehow remembered me from the KM Christmas party almost six months ago, and still asked for my number. I figure that at least deserves a coffee and a conversation.”

Essi was bewildered, “I didn’t ask for your number, you texted me.”

Lambert shook his head, “Impossible. No offense, but I absolutely guarantee you I did not.” He produced their short text exchange and scrolled to the top of their conversation:

Hi, is this Lambert? From the KM Christmas party?

You might not remember me, we got talking about

the political situation in Kashmir after about…

Too many drinks. Eeep!

Anyway, I’d love to get a coffee sometime, if

you’re interested.

Sorry, this is Essi Daven.

You called me Goldilocks at one point and

seemed amused XD

Hope you’re well!

Essi snatched Lambert’s phone, shocked and slightly outraged as she reached for her own device, opening her thread with Lambert. The text at the top was not from her, but from the man across from her:

Yeah, hi, this is

Lambert-from-the-KM-Christmas-party.

As it happens, I remember you and our

conversation quite well. Not many folks

happily get into drunken political discussions

You know what, I wouldn’t mind grabbing a

coffee.

Let me know if you’re free in the next couple

weeks!

Lambert gestured emphatically at Essi’s phone screen, “In what world is this an acceptable way to ask someone out?! I wouldn’t have said yes to that!”

“I don’t know,” Essi fired back, “It was straightforward! I found it charming, okay? Is that a crime?”

“No, but I have some serious concerns about your taste in men.”

“Like you’re in such a fine position to judge after the hollow, paltry invitation you accepted—which I absolutely did not write, by the way. I want to make that perfectly clear.”

“Alright, alright, cool your jets, we’ve got bigger fish to fry.” Lambert narrowed his eyes as he passed Essi’s phone back to her, “You didn't fire the first shot, so who texted me from your phone and cleared the history?”

Essi nibbled the inside of her cheek, “I can think of a few.”

“Okay, next question,” Lambert pocketed his phone, “who added you to my contacts before you texted. Because we did not exchange numbers six months ago, but your name was already there when I received it.”

Essi shrugged, “Who has access to your phone?”

“I dunno. Really just Eskel and Geralt and neither of them would—”

“Geralt.”

“Why him?”

Essi’s bright blue eyes turned steely and murderous, “Julian… They’re working together.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me that Geralt the-last-thing-I-need Rivia and Julian Alfred these-aren't-my-pants Pankratz think we're so helplessly undateable that they decided to secretly set us up?”

“Eskel doesn’t know me that well; he wouldn’t try to set you up with someone he hadn’t vetted. Who did you talk to first when you got that text from me?”

Lambert’s eyes widened, “Holy shit, they’re working together.”

Essi nodded, a flood of embarrassment warming her cheeks. “Sorry to waste your time. You’re very nice but, um, I should just…” she got up to leave.

“Wh-hey, hold up. I mean, if you wanna go, go, that's fine, but there's something you might want to know first.”

Essi tossed her yellow bangs out of her eyes, “Oh? What's that?”

“This,” Lambert produced an Amex credit card from his breast pocket, “is Geralt's.” The cheeky glint in his eyes was a very convincing argument.

“Fine then. Coffee and a conversation.”

The coffee was hot and decent, and the conversation meandered through the usual topics of music, movies, and television, but also dipped into deeper waters as they grew more comfortable with each other’s company. Of course, it didn’t hurt that neither of them had any stakes in the outcome of this “date”. It made it easier to be frank and open, which in turn led to them quickly enjoying their time together. So much so that coffee turned into lunch, which turned into a long walk in the pleasant weather, which finally landed them outside Essi’s apartment, just around dinner time.

“I have to say, this was actually a pleasant encounter,” she said, turning to face him with a characteristic toss of her bangs.

“Yeah, who’d’ve thought two people forced together by meddling friends would actually find it enjoyable?”

“In light of that,” Essi squared her shoulders and found Lambert’s hazel-brown eyes, “I think it’s fair to say I want to see you again.”

He cringed regretfully and scratched the back of his head, “Ahh, yeah, so… I don’t know if that’s really--”

“Oh, relax,” Essi smirked with a casual touch to Lambert’s forearm. “I don't mean like that. I just mean--you're interesting and fun and, well I don't have many close friends and I feel like we connected well today.”

“Well…”

“I'll make it even simpler: I absolutely, one-hundred percent, am not interested in dating you.”

“Easy there, you know I love it when people get all straightforward with me.”

“I mean it, I just want to be friends,” she toyed back, trying her best to look sultry. It kind of worked.

Lambert bit his lower lip in mock arousal, “Mmm, oh yeah...”

She swayed her shoulders forward and back, doing her best to emulate the seductive actresses and models of the 1950s, “I want to Netflix and chill with a documentary about Soviet propaganda.”

Her last comment prompted a playfully stern look from her companion, “Careful now, you’re wading into actual turn-on territory.”

“You're such a weirdo,” Essi chuckled, giving him an endeared shove. “Seriously, though, would you like to do this again? Friends?”

He nodded sincerely, “Yeah, I think I'd really like that. Just one problem, though.”

“If we claim not to be interested in each other but keep hanging out we’ll never hear the end of it?”

“Bingo.”

Essi hummed thoughtfully and nibbled the inside of her bottom lip, “Well… we could always… pretend?”

***

“Sounds like you two are hitting it off. I’m glad. I know Essi’s been feeling a little isolated between work and being new to the city.” Geralt closed the fridge with his foot and headed towards the sofa, popcorn in one hand, three beers in the other. “I’ll take my card back, by the way.”

Lambert reluctantly handed the Amex back in exchange for a beer and perched on the arm of the sofa. “She’s really something. We’re, uh—yeah, hitting it off is a good word.”

And hitting it off, they were. The last ten days since their first “date” had been more enjoyable than all the dates he’d had in the last year combined. Essi was a fantastic companion: sharp, witty, kind, took no bullshit… They had done absolutely nothing but hang out, and no one had pried them for many details about the nature of their relationship. As far as their friend group was concerned, they were simply dating in the way that most adults dated. This also meant more time to themselves without unwanted interruptions (namely Julian barging in with his spare key to gossip about whatever fires were currently alight on twitter). The first night Lambert had been over, it took Julian all of five minutes to “grab something from the fridge” before parting with a knowing wink.

To her credit and imagination, Essi had expertly fielded her cousin’s initial barrage of questions when she first announced their “involvement.” It wasn’t that she didn’t like her cousin, Essi adored Julian, but she was also the first to admit that the man had no boundaries. What he lacked in that arena, he certainly made up for with opinions, which he was always more than happy to bestow on his younger cousin—usually dating advice, almost always unsolicited. Lambert had a much easier time convincing his side that he and Essi were taking it easy to see where things went. Between Eskel being a consummate gentleman and Geralt having his own Delicate Sensibilities, neither of them had demanded any details.

“As long as you’re both happy and everything’s healthy, that’s all that matters,” Geralt’s partner reiterated, reaching into the bowl on Geralt’s lap.

“Jesus, Eskel, you sound like my Nonna.”

“That's no way to talk to your father,” Geralt smirked into his hand of popcorn

“You're no better,” Lambert took a swig from his beer, lips popping as he lowered the bottle. “I swear, you've turned into a couple of mother hens since you two got together. Quit fussing and watch the game.”

Geralt put his arm around Eskel’s shoulders, “We have gotten a little soft haven’t we?”

Eskel huffed out a laugh, “Probably. Hey, Lambert, don't fuck it up or I'll kick your ass into next week.”

“Thank you. See? Was that so hard?”

“Eh,” Eskel shrugged, helping himself to another handful of popcorn, “I stand by my original statement. Geralt agrees.”

“It's true,” he said between mouthfuls. “Essi’s a good woman. Smart, talented, kind, attractive.”

Eskel cleared his throat.

“Eskel, she is, it's just a statement of fact it doesn't mean that she doesn’t have other…”

“I know it doesn't but I still think you could bear to be a little more…”

“Funny thing,” Lambert interrupted, “I still can’t figure out how this smart, talented, kind, attractive woman’s number programmed itself into my phone. Because I may have been drunk the night we first met, but I have never in my life forgotten a successful number grab. Fess up, fellas. Who was it?”

Eskel’s eyes widened, “Geralt, you didn’t.”

“I… may have… helped Julian gain access to Lambert’s phone.”

“Unbelievable. The betrayal,” Lambert shook his head, eyes still on the game. “If only there was some way to square things up…”

“You charged everything to my company card, didn’t you?”

“First two dates and a fresh pair of pants. Thanks, bud.” Geralt accepted a pat on the back as Eskel began gently but sternly berating him.

Lambert shook his head, smirking as he took another swig of beer, leaving the two lovebirds to bicker amongst themselves. His hip pocket buzzed and he checked his phone: Essi.

Next Wednesday? Pizza and a movie? Still can't believe you haven't seen Ocean’s Eleven.

Yeah, okay, fine. Jeez :P 7:30 my place? I'll provide beverages.

If by ‘beverages’ you mean watery beer…

Fuck off, I'll get the good stuff. Unless you prefer Arbor Mist or some shit.

*gasps* I am offended! (but also it's delicious)

*sigh* do you want me to get you some?

*turtles into hoodie* ...peach or cherry pls?

Haha okay, fine, I'll get a bottle. Can't promise I won't judge you forever, though ;)

It's okay, I deserve it. g2g, see you tomorrow! xox

***

Lambert groaned contentedly, massaging his stomach as he sprawled back on his aging brown sofa, long legs resting habitually on the coffee table. The now-empty pizza box lay abandoned on the far edge, accompanied by four empty beer bottles, and a nearly-empty, unfavourably warm Peach Arbor Mist. The toilet flushed and Essi emerged. Her dark gold hair had long ago been pulled into a messy bun, but her indigo skinny jeans had been replaced by soft-looking grey leggings.

Lambert shook his head in amusement as she settled back next to him on the couch, "I still can't believe you brought your own lounge pants"

"That's because I'm a genius," she quipped, crossing her legs and adjusting the height of her waistband. "Besides, when else will I have the opportunity to actually be comfortable during a date?"

"You took your bra off, too, didn't you?" Lambert asked without missing a beat, eyes never leaving the screen.

"Yup!" Essi confirmed, her sparkling blue eyes glinting with joy as she raised her glass to her lips.

The movie continued as the new friends settled into comfortable silence, their food-drowsy, alcohol-fuzzy states lulling them into a new level of comfortability around each other. Legs fell asleep, positions were adjusted, and shoulders leaned on as the two sought maximum comfort for minimum effort. Soon, an arm was around Essi's shoulder as she settled her cheek on a comfortable spot on Lambert's chest.

"You good?" Lambert asked, only half-irritated at her seemingly endless search for the perfect angle.

"I'm sorry, I thought I'd found a good spot, but..." A few more adjustments of her head and Lambert couldn't take it anymore.

"Jesus, woman, here. Get up for a sec."

Essi sat up as Lambert rearranged himself into a sort of semi-recline with one foot on the floor so his other leg could make room for the tiny pain-in-the-ass that was taking up the rest of the couch space. At his invitation, she wriggled up to the crook of his arm and quickly settled in. Lambert hadn't really thought about what they were doing. Not when Essi had harmlessly leaned against his arm; not when their weight settled into each other; not when Lambert had put his arm around her; not even as he was rearranging to get to where they were now. It had all just... happened. Now, though, with Essi lying still, Lambert felt the weight and warmth of her body shifting gently against his, and it dawned on him that this had the potential to be, well, weird.

But the strange thing was, it didn't feel weird. He'd fucking cuddled before, but there was always a sense of holding back, a tension in his body, being on the lookout for signals from the other person to move onto the Next Step. But now, he actually felt comfortable. There wasn't anything that was supposed to happen after this. Nobody was asking anything of him, no one sending signals he could pick up on but never read properly, no sinking feelings of dread as the other person moved in for a kiss that always felt too soon. Essi was just there, breathing, content. And Lambert was relaxed.

The woman half-on top of him gave a twitch as the credits started to roll, and Lambert let out a private laugh, "Hey, Sleeping Beauty, show's over."

Essi inhaled heavily through her nose and lifted herself up, "Hmmm?"

"Movie's over."

"Did I fall asleep? I'm sorry!" she sat and rubbed her eyes, taking a sip of water to rinse the stale taste from her mouth.

"Eh, only a little." Lambert exited Netflix and tossed the remote back on to the table. "Thought you might wanna start heading home before it gets too late."

Essi nodded in response as she grabbed the pizza box and brought it to the kitchen trash, leaving Lambert to bring the empties.

"You going to finish this atrocity of a beverage?" Lambert waggled the near-empty wine bottle at Essi as he passed on his way to the sink. She merely scowled and shook her head, letting him pour it down the drain 'where it belonged anyway'.

Essi gathered her things and met Lambert by his front door, checking her pockets for her phone and keys one last time before putting her shoes on.

"You okay to walk? Want me to come with?"

It was only 10:30 on a weeknight, and she appreciated the gesture all the same, but it was fine to walk. "Thanks, though. And thank you for tonight. I really needed to get out of the house. I hope, um..."

She trailed off, not sure how to ask. She didn't have the same physical boundaries that most others seemed to have. She was affectionate—often overly so, and it had led to more than a few misunderstandings in the past. She didn't want Lambert to feel as though she had ulterior motives when the simple fact of the matter was that she hadn't really been thinking. Between the instant relief of not actually being on a date and Lambert's easy manner all evening, she'd forgotten that most friendships didn’t generally involve that much physical contact. Would Lambert be confused now? Thinking they were onto something more than friendship? Had he been wanting more? Had she pushed past a point of no return and doomed their friendship?

She inhaled, "Were you comfortable tonight?"

For a split second, Lambert flailed, wondering whether he’d made her uncomfortable. Fuck, she'd seemed comfortable, if anything it felt like he’d been following her lead but maybe...

"I—yeah. That was, I enjoyed that. Were... were you not—?"

Essi smiled and Lambert relaxed again, "No, I was. I wanted to ask in case, that's all. Boundaries and all that. I'll text you when I'm home."

Lambert opened the door and waved her off toward the elevator, "'Kay. 'Night!"

The door clicked shut.

Okay, alright. Fine. Did they cuddle? Yes. Did he enjoy it? Fuck yes. He absolutely didn’t care what anyone might think about how he chose to enjoy his time with other people. However, this didn’t stop him from acknowledging that he was in uncharted friendship territory. More than anything, he was worried about how Essi really felt. Of course, she had no reason not to be honest with him. But the last thing he wanted to do was play fast and loose with someone’s emotions, especially not a friend, and definitely not one as close as Essi. Time would tell. As Lambert’s head hit the pillow, the memory of her warmth and weight settled over him again, and he slept soundly for the first time in months.

***

“Yes Poppet, but have you slept together yet? Honestly, you’ve been dating for almost three weeks now, what could you possibly be waiting for?”

Oh, I don’t know, hell to freeze over? You to mind your own business? Whichever comes first…

“I mean, you clearly adore one another, I’ve never seen you happier. What’s there to lose?’”

Essi scoffed.

Julian placed his hands on her shoulders, “I know it’s been a while for you, but I think you can afford to let yourself go a little, have some fun, hm? Besides, it’s better to find out sooner rather than later if you’re sexually incompatible.”

She took a deep breath, “That’s a very good point, Julian, I’ll think about that.” The dating act was starting to wear a little thin, but it was worth not having to explain to anyone that they weren’t doing exactly what it looked like they were doing.

Julian took time to give his cousin a scrutinizing look, “Well, by the look of things it won’t be long anyway. If you spend all of your time together as tangled up as you were the other night when I came over, it’ll happen sooner rather than later. Just trust your gut, and when in doubt, a little hint never goes awry.”

Needless to say, Essi more or less ignored her cousin’s advice.

As the weeks stretched on, it became evident that they were quickly becoming what most people would consider to be more than friends. The first time they pulled the covers back and climbed into bed, each on their half of the mattress, they were aware that yet another boundary of friendship had been pushed a little farther into the grey zone. But, they woke up the next morning feeling happy, content, and refreshed, and surely there was nothing wrong with two people sharing a comfortable bed. Essi had woken up with crust in her eyes and her nightgown bunched around her waist. Lambert had woken up with morning wood and his hair a mess. Neither of them cared. People wake up in the morning, big deal.

Still, it didn’t stop the questioning that oscillated in the background of Lambert’s mind. Was he unknowingly leading Essi on by allowing her so much closeness without a clearly defined relationship? She’d made her own disinterest clear enough on their first “date”, but feelings change over time. What she’d told him three weeks ago might not be true anymore…

And then there was that soft warm tingle in the middle of his chest every time she lay her head in his lap, every time he ran his fingers through her hair. He knew he wasn't in love. Not that he was an expert, but what was all that "when you know, you know" bullshit if he couldn’t trust his own feelings? He loved her, sure, but more like a... not a sister, that would be weird. He didn't know what like. Whatever. Fuck it. Eskel had said it best three weeks ago: “As long as you're happy and everything’s healthy, that’s all that matters.” Yeah, sure. We’ll stick with that.

As far as Lambert and Essi were concerned, it was what it was, and whatever it was was working… wasn’t it?

***

"Fuckin' finally!"

The door to Essi's apartment clicked closed as the tenant wilted against it, emitting an exhausted groan, "Two. Hours. It took me two hours to get home!" She toed off her penny loafers and abandoned her purse and jacket in a pile by the front door, ignoring the hook three inches to her left. She flopped heavily onto her living room carpet.

"I see you found my spare key," she added, not at all surprised that Lambert had managed to let himself in.

"Yeah, you should probably put that in a less obvious spot," he answered, crossing to the door to hang her things up. "So, I see it's a lying on the floor kind of evening. Can I interest you in a drink to start? Vodka pairs well with the general vibe of Done-With-This-Shit, or we also have tequila if you feel like shouting out the window after a couple shots. Alternatively, there's gin if you want to cry later."

Essi smiled with her eyes closed, feeling her body slowly relaxing into the spongy throw rug underneath her, "You know me so well."

"Vodka?"

"Vodka. Euch, I need to vacuum!," Essi peeled herself to a seated position as clinks and clatters began in the kitchen. She hopped in the shower to rinse the day off, and after a few minutes, there was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Yeeees?" she called, playfully.

"Drink delivery!" Lambert hollered back, "you want this now or later?"

"Why are you so good to me?"

There was a draught of cool air as Lambert opened the bathroom door, "Because you only marginally annoy me. Here," he passed his hand between the shower wall and the opaque fish-scale-patterned curtain. "What's on the docket for tonight?"

Essi groaned, "I don't know, I'm sorry. I used all my brain cells trying not to murder people on the streetcar."

"Okay," Lambert sat on the lidded toilet, "here's the thing. I kinda maybe figured that might be the case so I kinda maybe picked up a few things to make dinner."

A shampoo-piled head poked out from behind the curtain, "You're kidding."

"Nuh-uh."

"I love you."

Lambert chuckled, "Yeah, you're alright. Come on, hurry up, this bathroom's a fuckin’ sauna, and I don’t want the croutons to get soggy." Essi burbled an answer about conditioner and almost done, and Lambert took that as his cue to leave.

Dinner was simple: pan fried Salmon with crispy skin (delicate and buttery on the inside); wax beans in butter (tender and not overcooked); grilled brussels sprouts (just beginning to brown on the edges); and a fresh caesar salad. Everything done to perfection. Full, content, and ready to take their relaxation to the next step they settled themselves on Essi’s blue-grey sectional to begin the arduous task of deciding what to watch.

This was proving particularly difficult with the addition of Essi's caveat that whatever they chose not be "too plot-heavy" which so far had included Masterchef, an interior design show, and program about shepherding in the Orkneys.

"Sweetheart, you gotta give me some slack here. I thought I was on track with the sheep!"

"I know, I'm sorry!" Essi muffled into his shirt sleeve. "I do like animals..." She gasped loudly. "BLUE PLANET."

Lambert stopped the endless scrolling and pushed play as the soothing voice of David Attenborough filled the small living room.

"Hey! Why'd you pause it?"

Lambert was standing up, "If we're going to do this, then we're doing it right. Hang on."

Essi slumped on the sofa as the microwave kicked on. In a few minutes, there was popcorn in their laps and half a bottle of vodka on the table with an ice bucket and lemon wedges in a bowl. Lambert read off his phone screen.

"We will take a drink when:

-David says 'Extraordinary' -David uses a clear understatement such as 'But then again, living in an active volcano is not without its risks' -An animal is being eaten -An animal is mating -There is sped up footage of a plant growing."

"Oh no," Essi lamented, chewing her popcorn ungracefully, "I'm going to get so drunk."

"You got it, Goldilocks. Fill up."

And with that, they were off, taking it slow with their vodka twists, but nonetheless feeling the warm buzz start to tingle under their skin. The box of microwave popcorn was empty by halfway through, and the remains of Essi's exhaustion had almost dispersed entirely.

"Ooh! Understatement! Drink!!"

By ten o’clock, pink-cheeked and feeling boisterous, they had finished with their favourite parts of Blue Planet, or at least the ones they had patience for, and had moved on to Planet Earth II.

“Holy fuck, that’s a lot of snakes—Go, you little fucker! Go!”

The drama on the screen had caused the two to separate from one another while Lambert invested himself in the success of the small lizard. Once the baby Galapagos Iguana had made it to safety, they were once again able to recline without Essi risking an elbow to the face.

She bundled against him, scooting farther between his legs where he leaned in the corner of the sectional. He gathered her hair and draped it over her left shoulder so it wouldn't get caught in his buttons—they'd learned that the hard way. It was still damp, cool to the touch, and smelled like verbena sea salt shampoo. He felt a pulse of affection ripple through him as her weight resettled. He loved that feeling. It had taken some time to get used to it. But now it was high on his list of favourite things. He was happy. And it was healthy. And that really was all that mattered.

Right?

Eskel’s words turned themselves around again in his mind as he wrapped his arm around the front of Essi’s shoulders. He let himself indulge in the texture of her cotton knit nightshirt under his fingers. He relished in the peace of mind at being able to just be there with someone who meant something to him and made absolutely no demands. He let himself relax.

Essi felt a kiss land on the top of her head with a playful, "Muwah!"

She giggled quietly, "Thank you!" Then, upon further thought… Did he want to kiss her? Her mind did a double take as she tried to get on top of the ball.

It wasn’t impossible. They were close after all, and she wasn’t opposed to the idea. She’d recently found herself in a balancing act of realizing she could, in theory, have a deeper kind of feeling for Lambert. Only if, for whatever reason, it turned out he felt the same way. These weren’t the helpless uncontrollable feelings of ride-or-die infatuation; they were malleable, translatable, general feelings of affection and fondness that belonged in any number of different relationships and dynamics.

No sense risking it, she thought. They'd found a liminal space of comfort and safety that she'd never experienced with anyone else before, and if the options were between being a little confused and ruining everything, the choice was an easy one. Then again, if Lambert was developing feelings for her, she didn’t want to miss an opportunity. Shit. Her cheeks burned as she felt the question rise closer to her lips.

"Lambert?" she sat up abruptly and turned to her friend who was still moulded into the corner of the couch, watching the mating rituals of exotic birds with bewildered skepticism.

He jolted at Essi’s sudden movement, "Hello, yes."

Her bright blue eyes were now slightly unfocused, "Do you—? Nevermind." She lay back against him, suddenly skittish..

"Mm, nah, try again," he said, sluggishly. "What’s up, buttercup?"

She swayed a little when she sat up, "Are you happy with what we are?"

Lambert blinked, caught slightly off-guard. The question was easy enough to answer, "Yeah! I mean I don’t know what the fuck we are, but I’m feeling pretty good about it. Shit, why? Are you not? I can be less… whatever. Or… more?" It wasn’t like he was repulsed by the idea of anything else happening between them—in theory it was a possibility. In practice, however...

Essi put an emphatic hand on Lambert’s knee, her glassy eyes going wide, "Do you want more?"

"What? No! I dunno, I—maybe. I haven’t really thought about it. I mean…” Lambert searched Essi’s face for any clue that might help him know how to proceed, “I don’t not want anything else. Fuck, I don’t know! I’m used to doing things the other way around. You know the drill: uncomfortable date, smoosh faces together, have sex, hope feelings fall out. Lather-rinse-repeat. I dunno, do we have to… But what if we try something and...? I don’t wanna lose this."

Essi leaned in close and whispered, “I have an idea.”

"Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?"

"We should kiss."

Lambert nearly swallowed an ice cube, "What?!"

"Just once. Quickly. Just... in case."

"You want me, Lambert, to kiss you, Essi Daven, on the lips."

She nodded sincerely, "For science."

There was a brief pause during which Essi felt the beginnings of panic brewing in her stomach, but by the time she'd finished grappling with potential consequences, Lambert was filling their glasses.

"Alright. Fine. My friend wants me to kiss her for science? Fuck it. I'll drink to that."

They downed their drinks and squared up, knee to knee on the edge of the sofa as they each prepared for their best form—or as good as they could offer given the circumstances. They counted down, 3-2-1...

The kiss was quick, over as soon as it had begun, and both friends pulled away with questioning looks. Inconclusive. They tried again for a little longer, still returning with the same quizzical expressions. They went in for a third time, committing more thoroughly, and for a brief moment it seemed they might have found the semblance of a spark. But it didn’t build. It felt… fine? But no different than if they were lying together on the sofa. It was just another thing they were doing. They each tried to find the right word for what they were feeling, but were soon distracted by the oddness of it all.

Essi started to giggle. Less than a second later, Lambert joined her, and they both pulled away, thoroughly satisfied that their experiment had yielded a strong No on the subject of More. There was a dull thud as Essi slid from the couch and onto the floor, still holding her drink in one hand and laughing hysterically.

Lambert sighed and shook his head, "I think it’s time we got you to bed."

Headaches and dry mouths greeted the two friends the next morning when they blinked awake. Essi’s hair was a cotton-candy mess, having still been slightly damp when Lambert put her to bed. The brunet himself didn’t look much different from his usual scruffy state as he gathered Essi up in an armful of duvet and squeezed tight.

“Gods, Lambert, I still need to breathe,” Essi chuckled, pressing her back into his chest.

“You’ll get over it,” he teased and self-indulgently nuzzled even closer. “You feeling alright? I mean, aside from the hangover. About last night?”

“Oh no,” Essi groaned, “I’m so sorry, Lambert. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s just—you kissed my head and then that got me wondering about whether you might want something else, and then I didn’t really know what was happening and—”

“Hey, easy on the rambling, okay, I’m running on limited brain cells, here. Look,” Lambert sat up to find those big blue eyes, now shining brightly, “I have no idea what the fuck this is that we’ve got going on, but I like it fine just the way it is.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. And we can keep talking about that. Just, you know, maybe next time something’s on your mind, don’t wait ‘til we’re wasted at 2am?”

“Okay, deal. Can we go get bacon now?”

Lambert chuckled, “Yeah, alright, fine. Make me put pants on, I see how it is.”

Their conversation continued over strong coffee and eggs benedicts. Between their check-in that morning and everything that had happened the previous night, it was well-established that they were perfectly happy where they were. Rather, the main topic of conversation was their growing desire to level with their friends about the nature of their relationship. Eskel and Geralt, they both agreed, would be the easiest—Lambert could tell them that evening. Julian and Essi’s friends on the other hand would be a little more difficult.

Telling Julian together would be best, Essi thought. He was bound to have questions, and if both she and Lambert were there to answer them definitively and explain that no, they didn’t have secret feelings for one another; and yes, they really were just friends and not at all interested in exploring the relationship further thank you very much. Exactly when this discussion with Julian would occur still wasn’t clear. Realistically, they could pick any time, but they decided to wait until Lambert could tell the Old Men. At least then they were assured some less invasive support.

Their reaction was easy enough to predict: Eskel reassuringly repeated his standby “As long as you’re both happy with things…” and twirled a forkful of pasta; Geralt tilted his head thoughtfully and said, “That sounds very nice. I’m happy for you.” Lambert had expected mild disapproval, concern that they were deviating too far from the norm and into a complex dynamic that would be too messy to manage. Instead, Geralt simply said it ‘sounded very nice.’ Lambert smiled into the open refrigerator on his way to get a beer.

The following weekend was Julian’s birthday, and, as per their annual tradition, the group all gathered on Friday evening at the birthday boy’s favourite restaurant—Vegelbud’s. The two decided to tell him the week after his birthday so as not to detract from his Big 3-0. Just one more week, and it would all be in the open. Easy breasy.

The afternoon of the dinner, Eskel and Geralt received a group text: Haven’t told Julian the details yet. Keep the beans to yourselves please (I’m looking at you, @Eskel).

“Why me?” Eskel turned to Geralt over his paperwork, looking a little hurt.

Geralt chuckled, “You have a slight tendency to overshare when you want to be supportive.”

“I do?” He turned on the bar stool to follow his partner on the way upstairs.

“It’s not a bad thing, but…” Geralt sighed, “Lambert has always needed to feel in control of situations like this. He doesn’t want one of us bringing this up before he’s ready to talk about it, especially in a public place, you know how he gets when he feels cornered. And Julian is Essi’s cousin…”

Eskel raised a hand, “You’re right, you’re right. All points taken. Are you showering?”

Geralt smirked as he headed for the stairs, “Come on then.”

Four hours later and halfway through dinner, everything had gone swimmingly. The food had been expectedly delicious, the company and conversation excellent, and so far no one had felt the need to bring up Essi and Lambert’s relationship on any level. That is until Julian got a few drinks under his belt, and decided it was time to document the occasion. Geralt and Eskel were the first victims.

“Aww just look at you two! So in love, so vivacious and full of adoration,” Julian held up his phone as Geralt touched the side of his head to Eskel’s. Beep-Chk! A perfect image of a happy couple was captured and posted to Instagram (#julianturns30 #dinneratvagelbuds #dinnerout #cutiesofinstagram #favoriteotp #gaycouplesofinstagram #livelaughlove…). There were a few more photos of the three of them together, the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake with the candle in it, a group shot taken by the waiter. It was all so close to being over, Essi could practically taste the refuge of the streetcar.

"Come on, lovebirds, show us a smooch!" Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. Essi’s stomach lurched and she felt her cheeks start to warm. Lambert’s hand landed gently on her knee under the table, his fingers pressing firmly into her leg as she desperately tried to think of something to say.

"Oh, um..."

Across the table, Geralt and Eskel shared a wordless communication: de-escalate, distract, redirect.

“You’ll want to eat that cheesecake before it gets warm” Geralt offered. “I hear it’s so light it’ll disintegrate in a heartbeat.” Eskel nodded in encouragement, taking a bite of his own.

“I know, I know,” Julian shrugged, “Just a quick one. Say Cheese!”

"Not right now, Julian," Essi tilted her head, her eyes flashing a little.

"Oh come on, Poppet! I know you don't like PDA, it's just one little picture--"

“Don’t call me Poppet.”

Eskel cleared his throat loudly, "Doesn't seem they're that keen on it. Maybe let's try for one another time."

"It's past your one-month-a-versary, let everyone see how in love you are."

"Julian," Geralt growled, "leave it."

Julian covered his mouth in alarm, "I’m so sorry, have you not used that word yet? I didn’t mean anything by it, I just want the world to see how happy my beautiful cousin is!"

“Really Julian, it’s not necessary we—” Essi’s fingernails were starting to dig into Lambert’s palm from the sheer effort of maintaining composure. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to cry or disappear, and with neither of those being an option, it seemed the only possible escape was for them to kiss. They’d done it before. No big deal. It would feel off, but they’d just go back to her place and drink about it after.

“Essi, what’s the matter with you, it’s just one little picture, and we all know you’re not camera-shy. On three, ready? One, two…”

"For fuck's sake we're not dating!"

The table all silently turned their attention to Essi whose cheeks had been turning progressively redder.

“What?” Her cousin laughed incredulously.

“We’re not a couple, Julian. We’re friends. We have been from the beginning, but we didn’t want to tell you because we knew you wouldn’t fucking leave us alone until you could boast about having set us up.”

Lambert shared a brief look with Eskel before lowering his eyes to the tablecloth, his hand still firmly clutched in Essi’s.

Julian gaped, “So, it was all… the cuddling, the laughing, that time I came over and you were asleep on the couch, that was all… a ruse?”

“No, Julian, that was real. I told you, we’re friends.”

“That’s not friends! Since when have friends watched a movie half-on-top of each other?”

“Two people can enjoy each other's company lying flat, Julian,” Eskel’s rich voice interjected across the table and the discussion ground to a halt.

Geralt shrugged with his tea at his lips, “It is the twenty-first century after all.”

Julian’s cornflower blue eyes flitted back and forth between the two friends, utterly bewildered. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well what with your complete and utter invasion of privacy for the sake of hooking us up, we didn’t necessarily trust you to believe us,” Essi answered curtly, her hand shaking slightly.

“Poppet, you could have just told me—”

“Stop. Calling me that. And I did tell you, Julian!” she exploded. “I told you the first day I moved here. The first. Day. I said, ‘Julian, I think I want to take a break from dating until I’ve been settled for a year.’ And what did you do? Conspired with my well-meaning former mentor to hook me up with someone I had one good conversation with at a Christmas party. And do you know what? We are happy. But we’re happy in our own way. And maybe our boundaries with each other seem a little strange to you, but we’re not fooling ourselves. We don’t want to kiss each other, we don’t want to have sex, and we don’t want a relationship. And even though it’s absolutely none of your damn business, I’ll tell you anyway: we’ve talked about it. All of it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I don’t think I want to be here anymore.”

The chair legs scraped against the floor of the restaurant as Essi stood to leave, throwing her purse over her shoulder as she went. Lambert looked hesitantly around the table, “I should probably, you know…” He gestured after Essi with his thumb. Eskel gave Lambert the go ahead and he quickly stood to follow his friend out of the restaurant, leaving a very stunned Julian with the other two. He found her perched on the parking barrier in the small lot to the left of the front doors. He called to her and she looked up. Eyes shining, mascara running...

“Ah shit, you know I’m no good with this kind of thing.”

“I’m sorry, Lambert, I just—” she blew her nose, “—he just wouldn’t stop and I didn’t know what to do or say, and it all just came pouring out. I didn’t want it to. The whole time I was begging myself to stop, but I just couldn’t, it’s been bottled up for so long and-and—but it’s his birthday, and—oh, he must feel so awful! I didn’t want to make him feel bad, but—and with Eskel and Geralt there too! They must think I’m horrible! I’m so sorry, Lambert, I didn’t want it to be like this, I wanted to have him over and sit him down and be patient, and instead I’ve just made a complete mess of things. And on his birthday! It’s his birthday, oh God, this is the worst thing I could have done.” Essi choked back bitter tears as she tried desperately to stem the flow with her soggy tissue, “Are you upset with me, Lambert? If you are, I understand. Maybe we should take a break of some kind, you know. Not see each other for a while and—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it right there. Look, I’m probably not going to say any of the right stuff here, but I am absolutely not upset with you. You got that? And for what it’s worth, I don’t think us taking a break from spending time together is going to do anything. Unless you’re looking to punish yourself by taking away a nice thing which, okay. But the fact that you’re willing to ditch me instead of Arbor Mist says something about our friendship I’m not too pleased with.”

Essi turned her wide, pleading, bloodshot eyes to Lambert who cracked a smile, “Jesus, I’m kidding! You adorable fucking mess, c’mere.” He pulled his petite friend into a hug and rested his chin on the top of her head until she quieted down. Neither of them was quite sure how much time had gone by, but Essi found herself wishing it had been long enough for everyone to have gone home so she didn’t have to face whatever aftermath she’d left behind.

Meanwhile, Eskel and Geralt had settled the bill and offered to give Julian a lift back to their place for a night cap, not wanting to leave the evening on such an unsettled note. Essi needed space, and whatever company she needed, Lambert was clearly capable of providing. It was for the best, they suggested, and dissuaded Julian from trying to call her.

“Best to sleep on things,” Geralt said, tucking his card back into his wallet and giving the waiter a nod in gratitude. “We can meet for coffee this weekend and sort this out. For now, just let her cool down.”

Eskel clapped Julian encouragingly on the shoulder as they made their way into the damp summer night air. As they turned into the parking lot, they came face-to-face with Essi and Lambert who had clearly just turned to come back inside. Both cousins looked like they had seen better days: Essi’s eyes were puffy and red, her cheeks blotchy and streaked with inky makeup stains; Julian was perhaps less dishevelled, but the dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced, his boyish features now dejectedly weighted down with remorse and hurt.

“Juian, I’m so sorry, I didn’t—”

Essi’s cousin raised his hand, “Don’t. Please don’t. Essi, I am so, so sorry. I never meant to push you like that, I didn't realize... you both have been so happy this last month and—"

"It's okay, really, we can talk about this all another time. I'm just so sorry I ruined your birthday. We wanted to sit down with you and talk properly but..." Essi's tears welled up again, and Julian smiled weakly.

"But we both did what we always do?"

She sniffed, nodding emphatically with a tearful, "Yeah.” Julian pulled his cousin into a fond embrace while the other three clumped together to watch the reconciliation.

“Oh! Here,” Essi reached into her purse and pulled out a small, neatly-wrapped box. “Happy birthday!”

Julian opened his gift without a second thought, his face brightening instantly. The box contained a set of premium ultra-light guitar strings and a pair of concert tickets. The perfect gift. Overwhelmed with gratitude, and the atmosphere having been recovered, Julian suggested they all attend brunch together that Sunday morning, his treat by way of apology. Geralt offered to split the bill as a peace offering for his part in the initial setup, and the five made a date.

A fresh start, a promise of spending time together with fewer secrets and, Julian conceded, a few more boundaries.

#witcher rarepair summer bingo #wrsb #Platonic #queerplatonic #no romo #Geralt/Eskel #Essbert #Gereskel #Jaskier #Julian Alfred Pankratz #alcohol #drunkenness #Essi & Lambert #Essi Daven #Lambert

17 notes · View notes

electricbluebutterflies · 3 years ago

Text

Ao3 Fic Meme

Tagged by the lovely @mearcatsreturns, who may regret this.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

156. And considering a Decent number of those are prompt-fic compilations...

2. What is your total AO3 word count?

458,912. Somehow this is both higher and lower than I would’ve expected.

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

Oh god. Um. Here’s the whole mess in list form:

The 100 (TV) (61)

Timeless (TV 2016) (24)

Les Misérables - All Media Types (11)

Jessica Jones (TV) (10)

Star Wars - All Media Types (6)

Star Wars Sequel Trilogy (5)

Revolution (TV) (5)

The Gifted (TV 2017) (5)

Pacific Rim (Movies) (5)

The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types (3)

Shadowhunters (TV) (3)

Suicide Squad (Movies 2016 2021) (2)

The Umbrella Academy (TV) (2)

Westworld (TV) (2)

DC Extended Universe (2)

Vikings (TV) (2)

Downton Abbey (1)

The Flash (TV 2014) (1)

Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo (1)

The Old Guard (Movie 2020) (1)

Mad Max Series (Movies) (1)

Les Misérables (2012) (1)

Firefly (TV 2002) (1)

A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin (1)

The Magicians (TV) (1)

Avatar: The Last Airbender (1)

Dune (2021) (1)

Orphan Black (TV) (1)

Teen Wolf (TV) (1)

iZombie (TV) (1)

Shadow and Bone (TV) (1)

There are a handful of cross-tags going on, but... wow I’ve done more than I ever offhand remember having done, and I have FULLY blocked some of those eras from my mind.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Some of these I can explain, some of these I absolutely cannot.

Just Wanna Feel Something (Anything Is Better) - the one and only iZombie fic I ever wrote, I promptly stopped watching that show because I only have so much time in this life and it was not a priority, and... this fic Very Consistently does well despite having been posted in early 2015.

find me in the shallows - first Kabby prompt-comp, of course this one is high.

and i’ll use you as a warning sign - first Garcy prompt-comp, same deal.

curiosity (be the end of me) - aka what happened after, due to circumstances that if I remember right involved familial miscommunication, I saw The Force Awakens in theaters twice in approximately twenty-four hours and proceeded to ship a relative rarepair based on level of pretty and what I believed was a level of plausibility. and then I wrote shower sex for them because why. not.

chocolate means i love you - another part of the above Star Wars era / fever-dream, but this one is not smut.

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

Yes, the emails make me happy and I do respond to... generally everything now, but I haven’t always been the best in the past.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I hate angst, I generally write more fluff / fix-it, but... that said, your hands you’re accounted for was wild t100 season 6 speculation that ended up being FRIGHTFULLY close to what actually went down, and I believe that’s the only time in recent years my writing has gone There content-wise.

7. Do you write crossovers?

Nope. I do occasionally think about it, but... the fandoms I play with, especially more recently, don’t have a lot of overlap as far as other people interested (who are NOT people I love who I’ve dragged into all my shinies), so...

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not recently / not since I was a babybug on ffnet ~13 years ago. And even that I don’t remember. What I do know is that I have mentally blocked the whole Les Mis era because for what I was writing at that time, I was the only person who did NOT get death threats. Fuck that fandom.

9. Do you write smut? If you do, what kind of smut do you write?

Yes. I usually go for sweet / not too graphic because that’s my interest and comfort levels, and there are multiple ships I’ve been writing for a While that I HAVEN’T done smut for, but... sometimes the mood hits, and other times intimacies are a means to a different end for various babes, so...

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of.

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

I don’t think so?

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

I’m skipping this. It changes way too frequently / generally it’s whatever I’m using to deal with my life at a given time. I do have consistent babes that I’ve continued writing for over good lengths of time, cancellations, and my interpretations evolving, but... cannot say just one favorite.

13. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Um... either Harry Potter or Twilight. TRY to guess roughly how old I am and what era I discovered online fandom, lol.

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

I’m gonna do a top-SEVERAL here because I am me and I have different reasons to love different things, so... in rough chronological order from oldest to newest...:

Don We Now Our Day Of Peril, aka the t100 Christmas pageant AU, and yes it is somehow more of a hot disaster than it sounds and also involved less personal experiences than one would expect from my fic. My writing roots (pre-fanfic) are in disaster comedy and I do not write it enough.

find yourself an oblivious man, aka the fic that brought me back after I almost quit fandom altogether. Maybe not my best writing, but represents a very specific moment in my life, so.

open your eyes (it’s time to leave me) - the entire “same light” ‘verse could get a mention, honestly, but that one lingers as a representation of my emotional state at the time in the best-worst way and I am still amazed I managed to create something that good in that era. (Also, that was about the point in that fandom where I met some fabulous people, and I think y’all latched on after a DIFFERENT fic around the same time but it still deserves mention.)

never listen but i see it with my eyes closed - I am writing longform fic, which I do not successfully do like EVER, for the ship that saved my tail this year, but also not because it has turned into this deep-dive exploration of the headspace of the most conflicted / morally-darkest character I’ve ever written, and I love it and it’s eaten my life.

Not tagging anybody but this is open-ended for anyone who wants to do it.

#ebf tag memes

6 notes · View notes

selenuntius · 3 years ago

Text

To the love that never was.

Mutual pining is one of my favourite tropes. There are so many variations you can make of it. It could be crack, where the characters consistently misread each other’s intentions in hilarious ways. It could be sweet, where after some adorable misunderstanding, they get together. Or it could be melancholic, where they lose their chance amidst doubt, fear, or even societal norms.

I’m currently facing such a dilemma now, writing for Liang Yanyan/A-Tou, a truly rarepair from the Thousand Faces side story. They’re very much canon, but I still managed to make it mutual pining where A-Tou doubts her feelings towards Liang Yanyan, and doubts Liang Yanyan’s feelings to her. I’m coming upon the last scene, where I’m faced with two options:

1. I let it A-Tou profess her feelings for Liang Yanyan, and they get together, or

2. I let the scene play out like in canon. A-Tou goes and takes the shower, and she thinks she shouldn’t tell Liang Yanyan.

I want to see lesbians be happy as much as the next person, but the first feels too good to be true.

Storytime.

I have a friend from high school who I was really close to. I still am, in fact. We talk a lot, at least once a week, every day when we’re both not busy. This is three years after graduation, and we went to different continents for university.

I think I truly loved her, in the romantic sense. During high school she always had boyfriends, and when she broke up with her last not too long after graduation, she immediately got a new one at her university. It was around that time when she was talking to me about her relationship woes, and I asked, “as an analogy”, what she would do if I asked her out in high school.

“As an analogy.”

It really wasn’t. I only found out how much I liked her after we graduated and stopped spending as much time together, even when we talked every day over the internet. There was just something different about not being able to see each other. I think, at some point in those long conversations where she talked about her feelings for other people, I just lost it and said that on pure impulse after having the thought bounce around my brain like a goddamn DVD logo for days on end. I remembering shaking as I typed it out and hit send.

She wasn’t weirded out or anything though. Quite the opposite, as we danced around talking in ifs and maybes, she hesitantly told me that what she felt for me was more than just friendship. I couldn’t tell her the same. It was too real and too raw for me.

During those days, I really wanted to date her. I was even jealous of her boyfriend and regretted not applying to go to the same university at her. How perfect our story would be! Two gal pals, both experiencing their gay awakening in university, afraid to profess their feelings despite everyone around them clearly seeing the attraction, then finally getting together! A true college love story.

Life didn’t work like that.

It’s been quite a while now and dating has been the least of my concerns. I don’t have the same passionate and pure love I had for her now as I did then.

This year we brought it up again somehow. It was over a call so I don’t have the messages to look back at, but we both admitted that we would’ve been more than willing to date each other. I think she even said she thinks she would’ve dated me in high school if she had ever been single for long enough.

I can’t help but think of the what ifs. What if she actually wasn’t constantly dating men during high school. What if we had really gone to the same university. What if I had the courage to tell her in 2018 that it wasn’t an analogy and I meant it...

It’s fine now. We closed the topic that day by both agreeing long-distance doesn’t work, a subtle mutual rejection.

And so every time I write mutual pining, which is not very often because I don’t write very often, there will be a moment when I struggle between giving them the love that I never got to have and forcing my regrets upon them.

(btw I know I just spent 500 words being sentimental about a girl I love and how much I wish I could’ve dated her but no homo; I’m still not gay :D)

1 note · View note

tickle-bugs · 4 years ago

Note

incentive + directors cut my beloved <3

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

Fic link: Incentive

Okay so this one was...something. I was so excited to get assigned you for Femslash Feb but also so nervous??? I tell you EVERYTHING how was I supposed to keep this from you for a MONTH??

....somehow I did, though.

I think if I have any regrets about this fic, it's how rushed it is and the fact that I committed to good place curses instead of Real World Curses. Pacing-wise, there's a lot more that I wanted to hash out with Eleanor's feelings but I was so unbelievably swamped at the time so I didn't get to develop it how I wanted to :( I'm still not great at writing Eleanor's POV but it's a learning curve! I'm learning! It does help when your bestie (that's you) is incredible at writing Eleanor so you can study the sacred texts :)

The curses were just me being indecisive and I couldn't ask you for your opinion like I usually do, so I made a choice. A decision, even.

I am really proud of my Simone, though. I feel like I'm very close to getting her voice down! I really like her dialogue in this one.

“How about…neuron?” Eleanor’s knees hit the back of the couch–couch? How’d they cross the room so fast?–and she fell with an oomf. Simone climbed on top of her, settling her weight firmly across Eleanor’s thighs.

“Perfect.” Simone grinned down at her, fingers poised.

Oh man. Oh man.

“Where are you ticklish? I’m sure I’ll figure it out myself, but you could give me a few hints.” Simone swooped her fingers in, just barely skimming Eleanor’s t-shirt, and she squealed, hiding her face behind her hands. She’d imagined this for months, hypothesized what that word would sound like falling from Simone’s smirking lips, but nothing could ever compare to this.

^ Top ten bits that cause gay panic.

“S-Sim–”

“Sound it out, you can do it. Si-mone.” She vibrated her fingers into the divots between Eleanor’s ribs.

“Stop!”

“I’m barely even touching you!” Simone laughed, trailing her fingers up and down her ribcage like a xylophone. Eleanor shimmied in place, elbows pressed firmly to her sides, but she couldn’t block out Simone’s accursed fingers.

^ Another fav bit.

“T-Tickles!” A strange gurgling noise escaped from Eleanor’s throat and her next bout of laughter turned deeper, more desperate.

Of course I HAD to put the gurgle in.

“This doesn’t have to be a one time thing. My door is always open.” Simone leaned forward, little by little, until they were nose to nose. She tilted her head, eyes flicking down to Eleanor’s lips, as if asking for permission. Oh. Eleanor quickly kissed her before she could squander the opportunity.

So the smoothie was pineapple. Nice.

^ I always love sneaking in little things like this. Simone loves bright colors and sweet fruit and Eleanor gets that in her life once they start dating <3 Elmone is definitely a rarepair but it's such a good one!!! I wish more people were into it.

You and I talked about a sequel for this already and had the exact same thought. So sexy of us.

So yeah! There's the director's cut. <3

#director's commentary #peachytickles

2 notes · View notes

al-perthe · 4 years ago

Text

Lucio Upright/Reversed Theories

SPOILERS/SPECULATION BELOW THE CUT:

Is it too early for this, since we haven’t seen Book XIX yet? Is making ending theories frowned upon and I’m not aware? IDK

Everyone's discussing it, so I think they absolutely have to address it (otherwise it's going to be chalked up to a really bad writing decision), and this is ultimately the big turning point, where despite little changes in the dialogue here or there to hint at it, Judgment is ultimately where your ending... begins.

And it's here that Lucio and MC will cross paths with Muriel, and be reminded of what Lucio did. But what's more, I think Asra will likely be accompanying him (what's going to lead to them crossing paths, I'm not sure, I'm only on Book XIV of Lucio's route but I have seen a few scattered spoilers here or there). I know they briefly touched on what happened to Julian in Book XVIII (The Moon), so Book XIX (The Sun) might go more in depth into that, but I think the stuff with Muriel is ultimately going to be what’s tackled at the very end

So here's the thing. My original thought was that it might be just Muriel here, and that depending on the ending you got, Lucio would try to apologize and acknowledge what he did, even though Muriel (understandably) doesn't forgive him (UE), or would not want to acknowledge it and this would be where he runs away from Vesuvia with MC (RE). And that was ultimately where my thoughts on it had ended.

But here's where it gets interesting, especially now that Asra's theoretically here, and I think it actually would give us an expanded look on if Lucio has changed or not (again, bear in mind this is coming from the perspective of someone who hasn't seen the three most recent books for Lucio).

I think in both routes, Lucio (and by extension MC) will be faced with what he did to Muriel, and Lucio will apologize. And in both situations, Muriel will not forgive him. I think Asra may even speak up as well - he's grateful that his parents are back, but that still doesn't change the fact that (a) he grew up orphaned as a result of Lucio's actions and (b) Lucio traumatized his closest friend by forcing him to kill people.

But it's the ending that you're on that will determine how Lucio reacts.

In the Upright, he accepts what Muriel (and potentially Asra) say to him. That yes, what he did hurt them, and he regrets it and he's sorry... but at the same time, he agrees that they're correct in that they don't owe him forgiveness, and he understands their reasons behind it. But Lucio is still going to work on himself, work on saving the city, to be someone MC deserves by their side, and for now he just wants them all to work together to stop this threat. And Asra and Muriel agree, Morga will probably show up along the way to fight alongside her son rather than save his ass, commence boss fight.

In the Reversed, he rejects what Muriel said about not forgiving him - what do you mean you don't forgive me, I've changed, I'm trying to be the hero this city needs! And now Asra speaks up about how he also can't forgive what Lucio did, probably with a lot more vitriol. And then MC argues back, something along the lines of 'your parents wouldn't even be here right now if it wasn't for Lucio', but Asra's firmly still on Muriel's side. Maybe some more arguing/bickering, before Lucio declares that he's a great warrior, MC's the *best* magician in the city, and they're absolutely capable of handling the Devil without their help. Spoilers: they're not. They both put up a good fight, but MC goes down, Lucio fights tooth and nail to protect them, clearly also on the brink of defeat... but Morga steps in, once again saving her son (and by extension, MC), and gives him enough of a window to escape with MC as they pass out.

In the Reversed epilogue, MC wakes up still recovering from the battle but alive, much to Lucio's relief. Morga's fate will likely be left unknown, but I think it'd be interesting if somehow Lucio knows she's still alive in Vesuvia, or at the very least he speculates that's the case (we'll get to why later). Maybe he even goes back into exaggerating how he really has come a long way, because he was able to fight off any assailant that came his way while getting MC out of there! But they're together, they're alive, they're out of Vesuvia, and they'll go find a new city to make their own.

Some people have speculated that in the Upright Ending, Lucio and MC would depart from Vesuvia. Others think he would technically still be Count, with MC now at his side, and Nadia could return to Prakra. I've even seen speculation that Lucio would accept death and part with MC or they’d both pass on together, but I highly doubt that one because the endings all seem to be in agreement that ultimately you and your LI are still together, whether the circumstances are happy or not (could that change? Potentially). But I think the Upright epilogue would be Lucio staying in Vesuvia, but stepping down as Count. HOWEVER, he is still going to take responsibility in helping improve the city. Nadia's in charge now, but if she needs him to help map out some aqueducts, deliver food to the hungry, assist with labor in rebuilding homes and buildings... he'll do it. Some people still frown upon him for his actions in his past, others are supportive of him working to make things better. And, okay, maybe he'll occasionally grumble about missing his fancy wardrobe, the parties in his honor, and personal chefs to cook whatever exquisite cuisine he's craving. But he lived without that stuff in the past, and more importantly - at the end of the day, he can come home to his beloved MC, and that's worth more to him than any palace or title. Though Asra's still not happy about Lucio, he remains friends with MC. Morga is content to depart the city knowing that her son seems to finally have his shit together. How will Mercedes, Melchior, and Camio adapt to life in the shop? You tell me.

What I like about my Reversed idea is that it still gives us Lucio just putting up the facade of being a hero, still having the mindset of "me and MC against the world" (as seen in what is likely his Reversed confession), Morga still having to save her son, Lucio once again running away from his oopsies, the MC technically being 'corrupted' by Lucio, and Asra once again being a complex character by having a little bit of a darker side show. Yes, he loves MC, but they love Lucio now, so why shouldn't he double down on taking sides with his closest friend? (note: no discourse about romantic vs platonic love and one shouldn't take priority over the other please)

What I like about my Upright idea is I feel like it holds Lucio accountable - he doesn't get to rule and make decisions for the city anymore, but he can't just run away and leave it behind. Nadia is once again going to be a good countess for the city! Morga gets some closure! Though it's rougher, Asra and MC are still friends! Maybe he even makes an offhand comment about how Muriel had to help a servant girl from the palace who got lost in the forest looking for her cat, but now she goes and exchanges veggies with him for eggs or will just come by to visit and he seems a little happier lately (smug_asra.png) and this sentence is too long but dude my rarepair just became canon???

In one ending, Morga stays and Lucio leaves, Vesuvia's fate is unknown, and a friendship is ruined. In the other, Lucio stays and Morga leaves, Vesuvia's fate looks bright, and a friendship remains.

But no matter what, you and Lucio still have each other.

#the arcana #the arcana theories #the arcana predictions #the arcana spoilers #lucio route #lucio morgasson #montag morgasson #lucio x mc #lucio x apprentice #count lucio

19 notes · View notes

be-dazzled · 5 years ago

Text

FT Rare Pairs Day 2: Distance

Rare Pair Week Day 2: Distance Title: Talking to the Moon Pairing: Mirajane Strauss x Erza Scarlet Dedicated to: @aconstellationofmemories

Mirajane pulled on the lever at the farthest back of the house. The access hatch opened and a wooden stairs fell out of its mouth. She climbed them up without caution, accustomed to stepping on the old wooden planks out of habit. It was dark up in the attic and Mira used the light through the small window and the cracks between the walls to navigate her way through the ghastly, damp-smelling, cramped room. She was headed somewhere else, at the other end of the room where she dragged a folding ladder under what seemed to be just an unsuspicious part of the ceiling. She climbed onto the fourth step and pushed the false door into the rooftop of her rundown house. Mira stepped onto the surface, balanced herself on the squeaky roof-floor and looked for her usual spot, the special spot that afforded her the unobstructed view of the heavenly lantern. She sat herself on her spot, pulling her legs against her chest and stared up at the beautiful moon. In a few minutes, Lisanna would have noticed her absence. She would worry herself and search the house for the oldest Strauss. She'd often find her in her spot at the roof and Mirajane was sure, it was going to be the first place she'd look for her. Before she ran out of time, Mira wanted to savor every bit of seconds she could be alone with her thoughts, in the darkness of the night, under the ethereal shine of the moon above her.

Mirajane often found herself doing the same thing, every night, whether the moon was high up in the darkened sky or hiding behind the cruel clouds. Every night she would seek her spot on the rooftop to think about her. Where was she? How was she doing? Was she alright? When would she be coming back home? To her. When was Erza coming back home to her? Mira asked herself these questions every time Erza was away for a mission; sometimes, for far too long. She pulled her knees tightly against her chest. The cold breeze was being a little too cruel tonight. Unforgiving. Tonight that she was feeling the most vulnerable.

Mira stared up at the moon once more, wondering if Erza was thinking of her too the way she was thinking about her, wherever her latest mission took her.

"Hey, Erza." She talked into the night. "Come back soon, alright?" The skin on her arms lent her warmth as she buried her trembling lips against her own flesh. "I really miss you." came her muffled confession.

Mira wasn't sure when it started or how it even happened. But she swore she could hear Erza's voice calling to her, blending with the low howl of the breeze that slapped on her skin. It was stupid, she knew. Erza was on the other side of Fiore. But Mira found comfort in knowing that maybe she was looking up into the same sky, staring at the same moon as she was, on Erza's own side of the world. That maybe, just like the take-over mage, Erza descended into madness and talked to the moon as if she was talking to Mirajane herself.

"I really miss you." This time, she buried her face between her arms and cried silently with the moon as her only witness.

The false door creaked open and spit out a shock of hair with same color as Mira's, only shorter.

"There you are, Mira-nee."

Mira shifted in her spot, hiding entirely from the youngest Strauss. She didn't want her to worry so she wiped her tears with her hands and composed herself before Mira faced Lisanna. She turned to her with a bright smile, albeit forced, and somehow convinced the youngest Strauss that she wasn't bawling her eyes just now.

"You shouldn't be out here! It's… so… cowd." Lisanna's teeth involuntarily chattering while she hid the rest of her body under the roof-floor, leaving only her head popping above it.

Mira pulled herself up and walked back up to the pushed-open hatch, looking down at her younger sister quivering in the cold. Taking pity on the youngest Strauss, Mira told her she was just behind her. Lisanna disappeared below the roof giving Mira the room to climb inside after her. Her time alone had diminished each passing day and she was growing dismayed. One day she couldn't any more escape. Mira threw one wistful look at the orb of the night that seemed to have taken pity on her.

"Tomorrow again, old friend." She said before disappearing underneath the roof after Lisanna.

Unlike Mirajane, her old friend didn't sleep. It remained steadfast in the dead of the night, lending light to the redhead guarding post as her comrades found their own places on the clearing in the forest. Erza crossed her arms against her chest, fighting the sleepiness that was inviting her for what her brain said was a short rest. She knew better. The moment she'd close her eyes, Erza would be awake in the following morning, regretting the decision of obeying her brain. She lectured on the importance of discipline and she wasn't about to let neither Natsu nor Gray have something over her to bite her back in the ass. So, Erza was just thankful she had that silver moon up above to keep her company.

Her old friend.

Erza stare up the sky, brown eyes struggling to keep themselves open. But the moon, her old friend, was rather beautiful tonight – full but somehow its light dimmed into dull silver. Beautiful, nevertheless. The silver glow reminded her of long, lush silver hair, strands of bangs clipped on top of her forehead. Her mind drifted to the barmaid behind the counter back at the guild. She must be asleep now, soundly and comfortably. Erza caught herself smiling, brown eyes still adoring the old friend watching over her and her comrades who were snoring in their deep slumber behind her. Erza, however, wasn't really looking at the moon. But in her slow descend to madness, or perhaps if she could have only been honest to herself, her gradual submission to loneliness, she was seeing in her mind the take-over mage, staring up at the same moon at her own side of the world.

"Do you ever think if me too? The way I think of you," She asked aloud, directing the question to that old, silent friend who only glowed in response, "Mira?"

The sound of her name alone made her heart skipped a beat. But along that elating feeling was a painful blow that shattered her heart into pieces – hundreds, millions of pieces – knowing that she could never have her. That reality stung the back of Erza's brown eyes and constricted her throat. Why she had to torture herself thinking about her, of both the good and the pain that her love for the take-over mage caused her, Erza would and could never understand. She never tried to fight it. She basked in that love and she faced it head on but Mirajane wasn't willing to. That she understood – tried to, forced herself to understand.

Mirajane wanted to please people, to be on their good side, to only talk well of her. Erza didn't care about those things but she cared so much for what Mira wanted – too much that she'd own up her pain alone if that would make her, at least, be at peace. Because she knew Mira wasn't happy. They both were miserable. Mira, however, clearly told her that the love that they have for each other wasn't right. That it wasn't normal. That it wasn't easy to understand for some. Erza was angry back then when the take over mage posited her reasons – excuses – on why they couldn't answer to that love. But she wasn't angry now. She was just missing her, the demon her heart stubbornly longed for.

Not to be any more of an inconvenience for Mira, the Requip mage resolved to understand her and chose to love Mirajane in silence. Even if it hurts. She'd endure so long as she could still yearn for her in distance.

She let one tear to escape but that's it all she was going to allow. At least, she had to appear strong not to pass the burden to the woman she loved. Erza would hold her head high, if that's what it takes, so Mira wouldn't blame herself for being that one thing that was standing in their way.

"I love you." Erza told the moon, in the hopes that maybe it could carry her message to that person at the other side – wishing that Mira might be at the other side. "I love you so much, demon."

It took a month or so for Erza and her team to come home. Mira bounced at the news, ecstatic to see the face she had been badly missing. Erza approached her first before she could even pass around the counter to meet her but only to give the head waitress the accomplishment report about the job Team Natsu did. Without so much of a smile, without so much of a glance, the Requip lumbered to the table where her group gathered. She was smiling, about what Natsu said and what Lucy complained about. She didn't want Mira to catch her staring but Erza would steal a few longing glances at the take-over mage who busied herself wiping the bar counter. There was no use, anyway. Even if they were in the same building, in the same room, even if they were standing right in front of each other, there wasn't any much difference as if they were at either ends of the world.

Because that's how it fucking felt.

---

Writer’s Corner: For someone who claims she doesn’t write angst... oh well, apparently I do for crackships. All hail to my two Queens. Let me know what you think, alright?

Tag: @ftguildevents @fairytail-rarepairs

#erza x mirajane #erza x mira #be-dazzled #ftguildevents #rare pairs week #erza scarlet #mirajane strauss #in another life

28 notes · View notes

doyelikehaggis · 5 years ago

Text

Rowing the Rarepair Rowboat: Joe West x Martin Stein (The Flash)

Requested by @light-miracles

Hearing the name was the first thing that tipped Joe off. When Barry said it while talking about Firestorm, he thought surely not.

Surely it's a different Martin Stein, somehow. He can't quite tell if he was hoping he was right or not, but he convinced himself he was, that it's all just a big coincidence.

But here he is, and there's Martin. Standing across from him in the Cortex of S.T.A.R. Labs. Despite it being well over a decade or so, he knows immediately that it's him.

Martin shifts slightly, eyes down, focused on nothing particularly interesting as the team talks away, unaware that neither of them are in their little bubble.

He saw him, Joe knows. They looked right at each other the second he walked into the room. He watched Martin's eyes widen behind those same glasses, the look of utter bewilderment on his face. And in came Barry and Iris and the rest of the team, going straight into introductions and figuring out a game plan.

Joe thinks it's a good thing; it gives him time to wrap his head around this properly, think through what to say when he gets the chance. But no matter what runs through his mind, nothing feels right. Nothing eases the twisting, churning mixture of feelings he's got going on inside of him right now.

"Joe?" Barry asks at last, snapping him out of his daze, dragging his eyes over to meet his slightly concerned gaze. "Does that sound okay?"

In all truth, Joe has no idea what the hell Barry just said. His eyes dart off to the left.

"Uh, what? Sorry, didn't catch that last part."

Martin's eyes flick to him for the second time since he walked in.

"I asked if you could stay here with Stein, make sure everything's okay here while we head out to catch the Meta," Barry repeats gently, and Joe's aware that he's gonna get a few questions about this later.

For now, he nods. "Yeah, yeah, of course. Just be back soon, alright? There's only so long I can stay away before Singh comes back to revoke captain from me."

Barry laughs at that. He promises, and he, Cisco, and Ralph head out while Caitlin and Iris relocate to the lab in the back of the room to go over what they have so far on one of their other cases.

Leaving just him and Martin. Alone again.

Martin clears his throat and Joe lifts an eyebrow an inch, watching him, waiting with this annoying little flutter in his chest.

"So..." Martin starts uncertaintly, but he's looking at him, right in his eyes. "It's been quite a long time, hasn't it?"

Joe makes a quiet noise at that, half a snort, half a chuckle. "I guess forty-six years is a long time, yeah, you could say that."

Martin falters, as if he thought maybe he wouldn't remember. Or at least wouldn't know how long in exact numbers.

He draws in a deep breath, then nods.

"Things have certainly..." he lifts a hand to gesture at him, letting it fall back to his side a second later, "...changed. I hear you're a detective now."

"Well, I was majoring in law when we met, that shouldn't be all that surprising," Joe points out.

Martin smiles. It almost feels forced. Sad.

"It's not. I'm happy for you," he says, sincere. "And rather proud. Working part-time out of a lab? I thought you once said that science just 'wasn't your thing'."

"Oh, it's still not." Joe shakes his head, making a face as he glances around. "I'm just here to help out with the arrests and legal side of things, and because of Iris."

He stops after he says it. It hadn't really processed in his mind before it left his mouth. Martin's still wearing that smile, nodding now. He's got that look in his eyes; he always used to get it before, when he was trying to hide something.

"Yes. Iris. Your daughter. She's rather lovely. And a lot like you, from what I've seen."

"Well..." Joe shrugs. "I did raise her alone from the age of eleven. Guess some things just sort of stuck."

There's a flicker of surprise in Martin's expression. He doesn't comment on it, doesn't ask. Joe's admittedly a little relieved. Telling him about Francine just isn't a conversation they need to be having right now.

"I imagine you're incredibly proud of her," Martin says. "You should be. She's been nothing but kind to me since I got here. Very intelligent. Would make an excellent detective as well."

"Yeah, that's what she said when she wanted to sign up. I talked her out of it."

Martin nods, as if that makes complete sense to him. There's a glint in his eyes.

"You did say you'd never let your child go through the same tedious process as you did," he says. "It's good to see not everything is different now."

Joe hums in the back of his throat. He swallows and waves a hand vaguely at him.

"And--hey, I heard you have a kid, too. A daughter? Caitlin talks a lot about her. They went to some college together, I think?"

Martin nods again, though looks a little thrown. "Yes. They did. Lily is rather fond of her."

"And... her mother sounds lovely."

Caitlin's mentioned her a couple times as well from what he can remember of the snippets of casual conversation. Just little things about going with Lily for family dinners.

The comment definitely catches Martin by surprise. Joe doesn't really know what he's expecting, but he hates that a little part of him is waiting with so much anticipation and dread, already regretting saying it at all.

"Yes," Martin says again, then shakes his head, clearing his throat. "Yes, she is rather extraordinary. A brilliant mother, too."

That same part of Joe sinks. It's just a little stab in his chest, nothing too painful, but still enough.

He presses his lips into what he can muster of a smile. "That's good. I'm happy for the two of you."

Something seems to register. Martin rubs at his jaw with his left hand. It's an old habit, a nervous tick he used to have and apparently still does, and that's why it takes Joe a moment to notice the lack of a ring.

His eyes widen a touch in realization before Martin even speaks. He wasn't going to say anything about it himself; like he said, things have changed since they knew each other. For all he knew, feelings and a whole lot more could have as well.

"Clarissa and I are no longer together," Martin tells him. He pauses, lifts his eyes to meet his. "We divorced a few years back. After I told her the truth."

The truth. "Oh," Joe says slowly.

"It was for the best," Martin says, shrugging. "I loved her more than anything, but..."

"But you weren't being honest with yourself," Joe fills in the blanks.

Martin stares at him. "Precisely."

They both know, the unspoken thing between them, desperately calling out for one of them to just acknowledge it.

Rehearsing possible lines in his head hasn't done him any good. It's like there's this giant elephant just sitting in the corner of the room and they're both supposed to pretend it's not there. But Joe's never really been all that great at ignoring things.

"I feel like I should be apologizing," he says, chuckling nervously.

Martin's brow furrows. "For what?"

Joe tilts his head and softens his voice. "You know what. All of it. I just..." He sighs, shaking his head now, trying to find the right words to explain.

"You weren't the one who ended things between us, Joe," Martin says quietly. "If anything, I should be the sorry one."

"No, I shouldn't have pushed you like I did," he says. "I got too caught up in it all. I thought that everything would magically be perfect after college."

"You can't blame yourself for liking the idea of a perfect world or wanting to get a little lost in a romance."

Joe just shakes his head again, pressing his lips together, a knot pulling tight in his stomach.

"I was the one who pushed you away, remember?" Martin points out, stepping closer. His hands are moving as he talks, palms up, like he always used to do. "I shouldn't have, I know that now, but I got scared."

"Of course you were scared," Joe scoffs, gesturing around them. "The world was terrifying back then--still is! Our entire relationship was against the law and every second day there was some news story about people like us dying."

Even just remembering it makes him sick to his stomach. The fear that was instilled in him. In Martin. They always tried to push it away, focus on the good between them. But it was harder, and the secrecy didn't help.

Martin stops in front of him. The look on his face is so familiar, it reminds him that not everything has changed. The way he's looking at him. A small comfort settles in his chest.

"That's why I had thought that what I was doing for the best. Ending things for both our sakes before it even really started. But--"

Martin shakes his head, his mouth stretching up into that smile. His shoulder sink and he sighs.

"I still regret it," he says. "To this very day. I thought that that day was the last I would ever see you, and I've spent forty-six years since wishing it had gone differently. I never wanted to lose you from my life."

Joe's biting his cheek so hard he worries it might bleed. He breathes slowly, his eyes stinging, and he blinks, glancing away from him.

"Yeah, that was the part I hated the most," he says, his voice tight and straining to his own ears. The pain is finally sinking back in after being ignored for all those years, and it's a lot heavier than he thought it would be.

"I really did love you, you know," Martin says softly.

Joe nods, biting harder. He meets his gaze again, and it's taking everything in him.

"I know," he tells him, sincere. He never doubted it, not really. "I loved you, too."

Neither of them knows what to say now. It's like they've torn the barely healed skin off of an old wound, ripping it open to bleed out all over again. The elephant is gone.

"Hey, dad?"

Joe's eyes widen and he quickly blinks, looking over at Caitlin's makeshift lab to see Iris peering out out of the doorway. It was easy to forget they were only separated by two panes of glass with no actual door.

"Yeah, baby?" he asks, hoping that she didn't notice.

"Would you be able to do a coffee run for us?" she asks, and smiles widely. "Please?"

Relief sinks in. She seems blissfully unaware of anything that just happened, her attention clearly caught up in the work.

He chuckles, and nods. "Yeah, sure. But, uh..."

He glances at Martin, uncertain. Martin smiles back at him and shrugs.

"I'll come with you. I doubt anyone's going to attack me in the middle of a coffee shop."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, we've seen stranger," Joe says, and Iris agreez.

Martin's smile widens. "I'll have to take my chances then. Believe me, I need some fresh air, as lovely as this place is."

"Great!" Iris says. "Oh, and could you maybe throw in a croissant or something? Cait's hungry and threatened to eat me."

"Hey! You're the one who said that!"

Joe shakes his head at them, rolling his eyes. He gestures to the entrance and starts walking, Martin going with him.

"Be back soon!" Iris calls to them.

35 notes · View notes

phantomchick · 5 years ago

Text

Tony Stark Fic Recs

Burning Candles - by kerravon Hurt/comfort, exhaustion, concussions, hurt tony, steve is a bro, nick fury being morally shady, the avengers! Summary: A few months have passed since the Avengers fought the Chitauri, and the team is coming together, except for Tony, who seems to be coming apart. At first, Steve assumes that he's just being irresponsible and annoying, but then JARVIS clues him in.

Fifth Time Lucky - by Arkada oneshot, fluff, this fic is short, sweet and a lot of fun. Well worth the read. Summary: Tony Stark has five soulmates, but he gave up on finding any of them a long time ago.

Hide A Heart Of War - by RayShippouUchiha Tony Centric 2 chapter fic. Flower soul mark au. EXCELLENT ANGST. Lots of feels, there’s also a slow burn romance in the background. Rhodey is a good bro. Loving all the descriptions of the soulmarks. Summary: “You’ve got war in your heart boy,” Howard sneers, “don’t ever try and pretend to be anything but what you are.” Tony feels the familiar burn of a flower mark being etched into his skin but he doesn’t look, doesn’t try and check to see what it is. Instead he keeps his eyes on Howard and his hands cupped around his bleeding mouth and nose.

The (Not So) Great Pretender - by RayShippouUchiha Complete, secret identities, tony/bucky which i don’t usually ship but hey this author really makes it worth it. Oblivious Avengers. Hilarious but also angsty? Summary: Basically no one believes Tony when he tells them he’s Iron Man so he’s just... reluctantly keeping his secret identity going? It’s super funny.

To Victor Goes the Spoils - by tisfan Tony Stark/Victor von Doom, 10 chapters, complete, secret identities. Summary: In which Doom finds himself at a super hero masked ball... and gaining the attentions of the handsome and charming Tony Stark...Just one dance... just one kiss... before Doom unleashes his evil plot. Backstory: I accidentally stumbled on this doom x iron man fic so i thought i’d read it for laughs but then the fic itself was really good and I was suckered into shipping it. Now I’m in rarepair hell. The end.

Iron Man Yes, Tony Stark...Not Recommended - by lilsmartass Gen. Complete. 9 chapters. Angst, lots of angst. Hurt/comfort. Unintentional bullying. Rhodey is the captain of the tony stark defence squad. AND HE WILL HAVE HIS REVENGE. Summary: Clint and Steve have both seen Natasha’s report on Tony and expect him to be a certain way. With Pepper now out of the picture, Bruce in India and Thor is Asgard they have no one to show them just how wrong first impressions can be.

That Which Kills Us - by Ironlawyer Ultimates!verse, steve/tony, oneshot, internalised homophobia, Tony is not a good patient. Summary: Sometimes Tony hates being alive as much as he hates dying. Trying to juggle duties to The Ultimates and a terminal illness isn’t exactly easy. Throw in an irate Steve Rogers and things just get too damn complicated.

Doomed To Failure - by DobbyRocksSocks Oneshot, excellent content, i read this fic and then i had to sit in my chair and be like ‘whoa’ for a while. This au is very well done! Summary: Everyone is born with their soulmate on one wrist, and their mortal enemy on the other. What do you do when it's the same person?

Say Goodbye to Yesterday - by melonbutterfly 4 chapter fic, complete, time loop, team building, alien invasion. time travel is a trope i keel over for this you must learn. Summary: The day after the invasion Tony wakes up and his tower is intact again; everything is exactly the way it was before this whole mess went down.

Don't Bet Against the House - by AlexTheShipper 2 chapter fic, complete, protective Jarvis, team dynamics, fluff Summary: In which jokes about the arc reactor are not taken lightly, not by JARVIS who will never again sit trapped in his servers as someone attempts to kill Sir.

From A to Z - by Rachel500 26 chapter fic.Complete. Very very good, *sips fruit juice out of my champaigne glass* a classic of the genre! I’m a sucker for time travel as a trope, pair that with fixing the disaster that was the mcu chronology? BUDDY I’M SOLD.\ Summary: “OK, hypothetically, you get sent back in time one year. Does that make a difference?” Strange asked. “Two? Three? Could you live through the worst experience of your life again to preserve enough of the timeline to continue? Could you stand aside and let someone you love live through a bad experience in their life?” “OK. I get it. Bad idea.” Tony smirked at Strange to cover for his unease. “So. Plan B?” Strange grinned but there was a serious glint in his eyes. “How about we make it plan Z?”

Acceptable Risk Is Not - by izumi2 Super bamf tony, oneshot, Maria Hill redemption arc. Captain america the winter soldier. Not steve friendly but this can be blamed on the plot of the movie making zero sense with hindsight. Summary: what if someone considered an alternate solution to the data drop? THIS IS ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVOURITE FICS FOR REASONS SO PLEASE TRY IT.

The Course of Reason - by Infie Oneshot, aftermath of captain america civil war, Carol Danvers is a relateable ho whom I stan, the saltiest of all possible responses to that film. YESSSS. This is it. The fic that finally knocked me over the edge onto the civil war team iron man side of the fence. BEHOLD. It’s greatness. Summary: The UN has asked Tony to discuss their options with the Fugitive Avengers. It does not go the way they expect it to.

Uncompromising Principles - by Kizmet 19 chapter fic, it’s completed and it’s very well done, legal drama, Tony/Pepper, Steve is... a good person who made mistakes, he’s trying anyway, i can’t say more without spoilers, but it’s A Ride, like you’ll read this and it’ll make you have Feelings and Thoughts and it’s very clever in how it goes about making those Feelings and Thoughts happen. Captain America: civil war aftermath fic. Summary: After leaving Siberia Captain America begins his plans to overturn the Accords. But not all is as it seems.Not compliant with the end of "Civil War".

To intervene - by apathyinreverie Currently at 15 chapters, ongoing, a lot of fun, tony stark has a heart, tony and rhodey, civil war team iron man, mutant kind, pro accords. Summary: The one where Rhodey stages an intervention after the whole Ultron fiasco.

Veni, Vidi, Amavi - by Maedlin Treat yo’self. It’s a Time travel fic. ONE OF THE BEST: Bamf Tony Stark, Bamf Jarvis, Palladium Poisoning, Complete, 26 chapter fic, but you’ll wish it was longer by the time you’re done. (Luckily there’s an ongoing sequel series to enjoy!) THIS FIC IS SUPREMELY GOOD! And HEAVY on the Jarvis love! DO YOURSELVES A FAVOUR AND TRY IT SERIOUSLY YOU WON’T REGRET READING THIS. Highest of recs goes to this. Summary: (We came, we saw, we loved.) Tony's not the hero type. To suggest otherwise would be outlandish and fantastic, clearly. Yet somehow, he's the one that's responsible for saving the universe. Now, he's a decade in the past. He's just revealed to the world he's Iron Man. Tony finds himself facing dozens of old problems, and as time passes the ripple effect of his presence generates ever more new issues. All the while, the impending threat of Thanos looms ever-closer.

With One More Try (Can We Start Again) - by Infinite_Monkeys 5 Chapter fic, and it’s Completed. Time travel fix it, not strictly tony stark-centric but still a firm fave, A masterpiece. Definitely in my top 5 time travel fics and i’ve read a LOT so that’s saying something! Contains: That Good Loki Content. Summary: Loki's attempt to conquer Earth has, to his great dismay, succeeded spectacularly. When Thanos sends him to collect the Time Stone, he strikes a deal with the Stone's keeper: He'll be sent back to the beginning of the invasion, and this time, armed with knowledge about his opponents, he can lose properly. Or: a time loop fic in which Loki does increasingly desperate things to try and get the Avengers to defeat him already.

(Science) Bros before (HYDRA) Hoes - by Kizmet Tony is the captain of the Bruce Banner defence squad, Legal Shenanigans, It’s marked as Ongoing but what’s there is satisfying enough on its own I promise, basically a huge callout for Johannesburg, Hulk deserves a hug. Summary: The Hulk isn’t taken from the planet after AoU, there’s no one conveniently out of reach to take the fall for Johannesburg… A choice is going to have to be made: Wanda or the Hulk.

A Larger Matter - by TheSovereigntyofReality Oneshot. Consequences! The ‘Steve’s blood’ scene in the agent carter tv show always pissed me off so this fic was uh Cathartic shall we say, but honestly you can read it and have it make perfect sense even without having seen the show, Howard Stark, teenaged Tony, Team Stark. Woohoo. Summary: When Peggy Carter tipped out Steve's blood, she had no idea the hornet's nest she just kicked.

Who in their Right Mind... - by AnonEhouse Crackfic, Oneshot Summary: Dum-E saves the universe

Catching Butterflies - by GremlinSR Ongoing, 6 chapters and counting, very very good content, like you wouldn’t think so from the summary which is a little bland but it’s actually very very good. Believe me when I tell you: It contains The Good Stuff. Time Travel fix it, Bamf Tony Stark, Bamf yet confused T’Challa. Summary: Tony snaps his fingers...and wakes up five days before the events that led to the death of JARVIS and the creation of Ultron. He decides he won't let the future he lived come to pass, no matter how thoroughly he has to destroy the timeline.

The War is Far From Over Now - by Dont_call_me_Carrie Ongoing, 40 dhapters and counting, this fic is clearly the author’s baby and they put so much work into it so watching it grow is a pleasure. Protective Jarvis, Protective Stark Industries Employees who like their boss. Rhodey is a good Bro, Awesome Pepper Potts. Fix it via Accidental World Domination. Summary: In which Tony does not, in fact, intend to take over the world.... unfortunately, everyone else missed that particular memo.

Can I Quote You On This? - by Wix Oneshot, Mcu critical, Avengers Critical, salty, extremely salty. Uncovering Plot Holes is easy when the road’s full of them. Summary: Christine was sent in to just do a puff piece about the Avengers. What she uncovers instead is so much more interesting.

Strong Enough to Bend - by Kizmet Oneshot, salt and shade, tony stark & steve rogers, the author has Opinions about mcu steve so if that’s not your thing i wouldn’t rec it, not steve friendly? Summary: Steve ‘watches’ the videos on Tony Stark that Shield provides him with

Take that Away and What are You? - by Kizmet Oneshot, kidnapping, bamf tony stark, not steve friendly, I love this fic Summary: Tony and Steve get kidnapped. Since Tony’s wearing a tux, Steve figures it’s all up to him to get them out of this mess. Steve never really thought much about the conditions under which Tony built the Mach I.

Facing the devil (and the deep, blue sea) - by petroltogo Oneshot, au, not steve friendly, steve isn’t a good person in this fic, but it’s juicy, soulmate au, soulmarks Summary: Alternate title: No obvious truth Post-CACW: In an alternate universe where everyone has the name of their soulmate and the name of their greatest enemy written on their wrists, recently captured ex-Avenger Steve Rogers receives an unexpected visitor two days before the start of his trial. [The trick is figuring out which name is tied to which fate.] [The trick is realising you’ll never know.]

Asking Why - by Kizmet Oneshot. the relief and catharsis of logic. Nat, Hill, Cho, Rhodey and Pepper sit Tony down to talk about what led to the creation of Ultron. Scapegoating is stupid: The Fanfic edition. Summary: Applying analytical techniques in the aftermath of Ultron

#Tony Stark Fic Rec List #tony stark #fic recs #tony stark fic recs #Iron Man #Fic Rec List #Tony Stark has a heart fic recs #Iron Man fic recs #Avengers #Civil War Team Iron Man fics #warning i am very much pro civil war team iron man so some of these fic skew that way #i tagged for it #but as the marvel fandom can be pretty vicious #i'd like to say once and for all don't send me anon hate for reccing the fics that pick a side #don't like don't read #these are just fics I happen to like PERSONALLY

40 notes · View notes

chibikinesis · 5 years ago

Text

some surrender/redemption!ending Sean/Jacob ideas because my shit brain just can’t let that shit go, son. Body wasn’t even cold and my brain was like ‘kay now so how can your rarepair-ass ship still possibly work after all that?

Borrows from my idea that Sean’s taken to wandering/drifting for a while maybe because he’s just sort of struggling to acclimate himself back into society, let alone everyone’s lives, and he’s just sort of lost. He struggles with the needs to be self-sufficient and the need to talk about it, but feels like a bother when he tries to talk to those he’s close to. He hopes maybe something will spark along the way. (I guess Michel has confirmed that part about Sean taking to wandering again so that’s cool)

Also borrows literally everything from this list of my headcanons about Jacob and Sarah’s lives after fifteen years.

This starts out like... a super lite fic and will probably end in bullet points/drivel but it’s... what I’ve got for now. This got longer than I thought <<; ♥

It’s sometime in the winter when Sean finally stumbles upon the town they’re living in. He stops at a store there to buy a few more supplies, and he sees a young woman, around Daniel’s age, who seems vaguely familiar to him. She has long,wavy, brunette hair and a beauty mark under her left eye. She calls out to, he assumes, a friend of hers, a few displays across the way, where he sees a head poking up.

“I’ve gotta’ go, my brother’s leaving! See you tomorrow, okay?” She turns on her heel, arm extended to wave them goodbye, and calls out to, he assumes, her brother. “Jake, wait up!”

Sean looks and is taken aback by another familiar-looking face, with more tidy facial hair than he remembered, a few more creases, and a somewhat different hairstyle, and some glasses that feel new somehow, but he stands, stupefied, for too long to act. He’s not entirely sure he wanted to anyway. The girl and her brother head out the door, and Sean wonders if he made a mistake in not acting. He’s not entirely sure if it’s actually them, or if it’s just his mind is so desperate for a connection that it’s looking for things that aren’t really there. But he proceeds through the checkout and makes his way towards the door, a bit disoriented and distracted by it all.

So disoriented, in fact, that he crashes into another incoming patron as he exits - muttering a couple profanities before apologizing profusely. The customer apologizes as well, and bends down to help Sean pick up his things from the cold concrete.

“Wait a minute... Sean? Is that you?”

The voice draws him back to reality and he looks up to see the same man from before looking him square in the eye. The man has suddenly forgotten why he was coming back into the store in the first place. He looks hopeful, but he’s also second-guessing on the off-chance that he got it wrong. He hopes he hasn’t, but he backpedals a bit anyway. “S-Sean Diaz?”

Maybe he wasn’t imagining things after all. “Holy shit...Jacob?”

The man releases a pent up air in his lungs in the form of a breathy laugh and a big grin. “It is you!”

It’s only a moment before Sarah gets out of the car and comes to investigate. The two barrage him with questions, and end up inviting him back to their house. “Are you in town for a few days? Do you have anywhere to stay yet? Why don’t you come have dinner? You’re more than welcome to crash with us for a bit.”

Jake is asking half out of the urge to catch up and spend some time with and old friend (and to pay him back for helping them out all those years ago), and half out of his sense that Sean’s just... not okay. Jake also has a vague sense that he’d probably just sleep in his car otherwise - and it was too damn cold for that.

Sean reluctantly accepts.

He gets in his car and Jake leads him to their home. They’ve made a nice little life here. Their place is small, but it’s cute and cozy and very lived-in. It’s comforting to Sean.

He and Sarah cook a nice meal for the three of them. They all share some photos - Sarah pulling out her phone to flip through, and suggesting he look at Jake’s album. It helps Sean to feel less empty for a little while, but as the evening winds down, he’s left thinking of all the time he missed out on with Daniel and his family. All of the stories and moments he didn’t get to be a part of. All of those voids that’ll never be filled. It feels selfish of him, and he doesn’t like feeling this way, but he can’t really help it either. He grows quiet and pensive.

It’s starting to get late and Sarah retires to bed. Jake offers to take the couch so that Sean can have a bed to sleep in, but Sean of course denies. Jake’s not the least bit surprised, so he smiles to himself, and goes to fetch some blankets and a pillow for him.

He comes back with those, and an old-looking envelope. He lays the blankets on the couch next to Sean and looks a bit sheepish as he fidgets with the crinkled old edges. “Another reason I was glad you came back here tonight was... I had something I wanted to give you.”

Sean looks a bit dumbfounded as Jake extends it to him.

“I know you never gave this to me with any intention of me having to pay you back, but... I wanted to. There’s a bit of interest in there, too. Or maybe just call it accounting for inflation. I saved it back... damn, probably eleven years ago or so. Just on the off-chance that I... might finally see you again.”

“You didn’t have to-”

“I-I know, Sean, I... I wanted to. Because you did so much for me and Sarah without even realizing it. And I want to be able to do more. That’s why I opened our home to you. You’re welcome here... anytime. And I mean that. You can stay here as long as you need, or even just want.” He offers a warm, sincere smile, but it falls to something that feels more bittersweet. “And... forgive me for assuming, but you seem... downtrodden-”

“- I’m a fuckin’ mess, Jacob.” Sean scoffs quietly. He’s not angry with Jake for assuming - he’s more upset that it’s so obvious.

“I want to help you with that, too. If... if you’ll let me.”

“You don’t owe me shit-”

“- I owe you my life, Sean.” There’s a new intensity in his tone as he cuts off Sean’s sentence, but it’s not malicious. Jacob’s eyes grow misty and his expression shifts between three or four different emotions. He draws a shaky breath, trying to keep his composure. “Because if you and Daniel hadn’t come into the picture... if things hadn’t happened the way they did, and if we didn’t get them out of Haven Point... if anything had happened to Sarah, I can honestly say that... we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. Because I’d probably be in some makeshift grave back in Humboldt somewhere. And I still think about that so often.”

Sean’s surprised by his bluntness, and he’s not sure what to say. There’s an awkward silence on Jacob’s part as he struggles to find the words, but he continues on anyway.

"I feel like... maybe you’re having trouble readjusting, or re-acclimating since you got out, if you will, but I also feel like... you’re not really telling anyone about it, either. You don’t have to do this alone, Sean. You don’t have to be the strong one anymore.” Jacob beams warmth and sincerity. “Talk to me. Even the stuff you’re not proud of for feeling. Our minds let us think some pretty shitty things when we’re in that kinda’ mental shape, I get it. And I promise I won’t judge you for it. But you need to talk to someone about it. Even if it’s not me. And if it is me, it doesn’t have to be tonight. But please. Don’t keep harboring it.”

There’s a long silence as Sean considers it, and Jake grows anxious he said too much, or the wrong thing, or-

“Goodness, that got really heavy, really quick. I’m sorry, Sean-”

“Don’t be. I think I... needed to hear that from someone other than myself.” He concedes. “Seemed like you needed to get that off your chest, anyway.”

“I think you might be right.” Jake laughs. “I mean it, though. I know you’re the type to try to shoulder everything on your own, but... you don’t have to. Remember that. And if you need anything we’re able to provide, don’t ever hesitate to ask.”

Sean nods, and Jake can tell it’s coming from a place of appreciation and honesty. “Thank you, Jake.”

“Anytime.” He smiles. “But if I’m being honest, I don’t see myself sleeping too well after that, so, uh... you want some coffee?”

“I would love some, actually.”

They sit on the couch and chat over their hot drinks, and Sean flips through Jake’s album of photos, for about an hour before he starts to open the flood gates. They’re both surprised by it, but Jake offers his undivided attention, with only a few affirming and encouraging words as he lay everything out on the table.

His feelings of anger and bitterness over everything. That he spent almost as many years in prison as he’d gotten to live his normal life. His feelings of both jealousy and happiness that Daniel got to live the normal life Sean wished he could have. His loneliness, and how he hated being out here solo. Feeling like the lone wolf. His lamenting all those years he missed, regretting he couldn’t be there. Lamenting everything he missed out on. His feelings of being so out of touch with reality and having trouble doing anything but meandering and just sort of existing in this changed world. His immense distaste for the way his perception of time is so skewed now -

And as it all boils over and the tears start streaming down Sean’s face, Jake puts his mug aside and grabs the box of tissues from the coffee table. He scoots closer and rubs Sean’s back to ease his nerves, and continues to offer soft-spoken encouragement. They’re not sure how long they sit there and talk, but when Sean mutters a small I don’t want to be alone right now, Jake knows this is where he’s stationed for the night.

Sarah finds them in the morning, Sean lying at one end of the couch with his head on the pillow and one of the blankets draped over him, and her brother at the opposite end, sitting upright with Sean’s legs flung carelessly over his lap, arms folded across his chest, and his head fallen back against the plush backing of the piece of furniture. Neither one had bothered to change into pajamas, and their half-empty mugs had long since grown cold. All she can do is smile and presume it had turned into another late-night therapy session.

They wake up to the smell of breakfast being cooked, and a fresh pot of coffee, each of them with headaches, for different reasons. Jake gets them some aspirin and they all share breakfast and chat some more. He and Sarah both make sure to get Sean’s contact info, and even Daniel’s. Jake reinforces all of his points from their talk the night prior - they’re fully preparing to say their goodbyes when Sean’s car won’t start because plot reasons asdasdf

That’s right about the time he wishes hed paid more attention in Esteban’s garage. But anyway, he ends up staying with them for a few more days while he waits for a friend of theirs to come look at it for him.

"Or you can take it to the shop in town, but either way it’ll probably be a few days.” Jake explains. “But you’re welcome to -”

“Stay here!” Sarah interjects enthusiastically.

Sean’s a bit surprised, but Jake smiles back at him and shrugs. “I’m certainly not opposed. It’d be nice to spend some more normal time with you after such a heavy night.”

~ This is where stuff lost momentum, but I have a few more ideas like:

They probably talk a bit more about Sean’s feelings now that he’s had a chance to vent them and is more able to discuss them in a stable manner, and how he can better cope with them.

Sarah borrows Jake’s car on his day off so he and Sean end up wandering the town for a bit, probably getting lunch, and maybe checking out a winter market not terribly unlike the one in Beaver Creek.

Sean definitely having an “Oh no, he’s still cute” moment in those few days. And suddenly feeling a bit more self-conscious. At least it’s winter and he can pass the beard off as practical and warm.

Jake remembering his feelings from all those years ago back in Haven Point: wait a second, are these just misplaced feelings of affection because he’s one of the first people to show me such human decency or is this an actual crush? I don’t know. But oh shit I think it’s coming back, whatever it was. Oh shit, it is.

"You should come back in a few months when the weather’s decent and we can actually go do something. Camping would be fun.” Jake suggests.

After a few months of regular correspondence, Sean finds himself in a better headspace. He still struggles with a lot, but he’s doing considerably better. He has good days and bad ones, but he’s getting better at keeping in contact with everyone in general. But especially Daniel. And it feels good.

When he finally comes back in the spring for a visit, this much is apparent just by looking at him. Jake and Sarah are both so glad to see it.

“See, Jake? Told you there's still a face under that beard!” Sarah teases.

Her giving Sean a much-needed hair cut to match his tidier facial hair before they leave.

Daniel and Chris showing up to surprise them. Group camping trip!

Sean and Sarah and Chris all sitting and drawing at some battered old picnic table.

Jake definitely taking his camera along and taking a lot of photos. Including one very nice one of Sean that he got while they were hiking, when he was actually smiling, and the sun was streaming through the trees just-so. THIS KILLS THE MAN.

One of them getting hurt on the trail and the other patching them up.

All 3 kids definitely catching onto something there and quietly chattering amongst themselves about it.

They go on a hike on their own and find a nice spot to chill for a bit and just shoot the shit. Sean coos about going back to Arizona, to Away for a little while.

“It sounds really nice.” Jake smiles as he tries to imagine it.

“Next time you have some time off, maybe you could... come with me, if you want. I’m sure mom would be excited to see you again, too.” Jake’s cheeks darken and Sean realizes his err, and he knows there’s been too much of a pause for an addition to seem plausible, but he tries for it anyway. “- a-and Sarah Lee, if she wants to.”

Probably accidental hand or shoulder touch or something because I’m a trope-y ass bitch.

#seacob #sean diaz #jacob hackerman #sarah lee hackerman #life is strange 2 spoilers #life is strange 2 #lis2 spoilers #lis2

31 notes · View notes

rubyleaf · 5 years ago

Text

Look at that, more Carole & Tuesday! This time, Angela and Katy because, yes, rarepair, but they have potential. Don’t believe me? Allow me to convince you.

“By the way,” Angela asks Katy one night as they sit together watching an old movie. “Why did you come back to be my manager?”

Katy looks up, the movie temporarily forgotten. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I fired you.” Angela adjusts herself on the couch. “For something you didn’t do. So why?”

Katy thinks back.

---

“So that’s what happened,” Katy says into the phone, unsure what to think.

On the other end of the line is Dahlia. Not Angela; of course someone as cool and famous wouldn’t bother getting back to her personally. Then again it wasn’t Angela who hired her in the first place. She just fired her.

“And you’ll keep being her manager for the time being?” Katy repeats the explanation. Deep down she’s a little disappointed. Even if it all ended in a mess, she still got to be close to her idol, at least for a little bit.

“Yes,” Dahlia answers. “For now. But probably not forever. And when that time comes, I’ll enlist your help again.”

“I see,” says Katy. “Thank you.”

She doesn’t have the courage to ask if Angela is happy with any of this.

---

Katy doesn’t expect to hear back from Dahlia at all. Not even when she hears of Angela’s sole parent and manager ending up in the hospital, in critical condition. Not that she cares about the job. She has seen Angela’s face on the news: tired, sad, afraid, not a celebrity but a normal teenage girl, uprooted, terrified for the life of her only family. How can she care about a management job when all she worries about if Angela?

Although, part of her thinks, if she were her manager, at least she could be there for her. Comfort her, somehow. Even if she has no idea if Angela would let her.

Then the call arrives. First, that Dahlia is dead. Second, that they left behind all the paperwork to make Katy Angela’s manager again, if she’ll take the job. And if she’d still like to do it?

It’s a no-brainer.

---

For days and days she tries to speak to Angela in the hospital. For days she calls her name, talks to her about the world outside, asks if she can hear her. No response. Angela Carpenter, the same girl who looked dazzling and happy mere weeks ago, is a shadow of herself.

It’s almost enough to make her give up. But just when she seriously considers quitting, Angela speaks.

“I can’t sing anymore.”

Katy turns around. Relief washes over her, joy to hear her speak again. It’s quickly replaced by surprise, worry, heartbreaking sympathy.

She doesn’t expect Angela to say anything else. She doesn’t expect her to open up. Why should she? Angela is Angela, and Katy is just a fan. Just a face in the crowd, accidentally promoted to her manager.

But Angela does speak. She pours her heart out, tears streaming down her face, and Katy doesn’t know what to say. She never knew someone who’s loved by so many people, someone so beautiful and radiant, could feel so alone in the world.

“You’re not alone,” she tries. “All your fans are out there waiting for you.”

It physically feels like she said the wrong thing. Angela sinks back into the pillows. “They’ll forget about me,” she says. “They don’t really care. Give it a bit of time, and I’ll be forgotten.”

Katy wishes she could hug her, but she doesn’t feel like that is her place.

---

Mother has been broadcast out into the world. And Katy sits in the crowd, shamelessly sobbing with joy.

On the stage Angela is finally smiling again, pulling Carole and Tuesday into a group hug. Katy feels like a giant weight has fallen off her shoulders. She’s so glad these two are here. Without them, Angela might never have recovered the way she did.

Then the girls pull away, and Angela steps off the stage. Briefly her eyes meet with Katy’s. Katy looks down. She wonders what will happen now. Will Angela talk to her? What will she say? Despite their heart-to-heart at the hospital, she’s still a manager hired against her will. Will Angela fire her again?

A shadow falls on her. Katy lifts her gaze, afraid of what she will find.

Angela’s expression is hard to read. Their gazes meet again, then they both look away. There’s an awkward silence.

“Aren’t you coming to the stage?”

Katy jumps in her seat. Out of all the things Angela could’ve said, she didn’t expect that one at all. “Huh?”

“It’s crammed with celebrities.” Angela points over her shoulder. “If you want any autographs, you should use your chance.”

Still sniffling, Katy shakes her head. “It’s fine,” she says. “I’d just look stupid right now.”

Another pause. Angela doesn’t sit down beside her, but she makes no signs of leaving either.

“...You need a tissue?”

A sob shakes her that turns into a laugh. “Don’t mind me,” she says. “I’m just so happy you’re doing okay again...”

And suddenly Katy is crying again. Before her Angela remains standing, suddenly looking very doubtful and very small.

---

It’s almost morning by the time they head back to Angela’s place. They haven’t spoken much since, though Katy has talked quite a bit with Carole and Tuesday. She’s still a little intimidated by their stardom, but they’re both so sweet that she almost forgets about it when she speaks to them. They’re good girls. Exactly what Angela needs right now.

Angela herself, meanwhile, she still doesn’t understand.

The cab stops in front of Angela’s house. Angela begins to step out, then stops when she finds Katy not moving.

“What’s wrong?”

“Huh? Oh, well, there’s no reason for me to get off here, right?” Katy smiles sheepishly. “I’ll just head on to my place.”

Angela drops her gaze.

“...You’re not staying at mine?”

She sounds...disappointed. Why is she disappointed? Katy is just her manager, of course she won’t invite herself.

“It’s just, the house is so empty.” Angela wraps her arms around herself, as if cold. “Can’t you at least stay for tonight?”

Katy nearly trips over herself scrambling out of the car. Her heart drums in her ears as she follows Angela into the villa. Their footsteps echo off the walls. The house is gigantic and completely deserted.

“You can sleep wherever,” Angela says. “I can get you one of the guest rooms or something.”

But Katy shakes her head. “I’ll just sleep on the couch.”

Angela’s face falls.

---

When she wakes up in the afternoon, Katy finds Angela sitting on her bed in her pajamas, watching an old movie she recognizes at once.

“Whoa!” she bursts out before she can control herself. “Is that Kill Bill?”

Angela turns around, pausing the movie. “You know it?”

“Yeah! I love action movies,” Katy gushes. “I didn’t know you knew it!”

For the first time in any of their interactions, a slight smile crosses Angela’s face. “I like action stuff too,” she says. “Especially martial arts stuff. You know how I watch pro wrestling?”

Katy nods excitedly. “Of course! I read the interview,” she answers. Angela’s smile falters, and Katy adds, “I checked it out after that, but I still prefer action movies.”

Angela smiles again. She pats the spot beside her on the bed. “Wanna keep watching together?”

Carefully, cautiously, Katy sits down. At first she feels out of place, but as the movie continues, she quickly forgets about everything around her. For a few precious hours she and Angela aren’t a star and a manager; they’re just two girls in their pajamas sitting on the bed, laughing and gasping and cheering at all the same scenes.

“Wow, I wonder what people would say if they knew I watch this stuff,” Angela says when the movie is over. “It’s so wild.”

“But so fun!” Katy answers.

They both burst into laughter. “Let’s watch another one,” says Angela. Suddenly her expression turns wistful. “I’ve never really done that before,” she mutters. “Watching movies with someone.”

Katy smiles. Again she has to fight off the urge to hug her. “It’s been some time for me too.”

“This is like a girls’ movie night,” Angela remarks and sounds surprised at her own words: how normal they are, maybe. “Wait, don’t they normally have food? We should order some food.”

“Maybe popcorn,” Katy jokes.

“Great idea! And something solid, too.” Angela has already pulled out her phone. “What do you say about pizza?”

---

After that day, staying over becomes a regular occurrence for Katy.

There are, after all, plenty of movies to watch and rewatch, and it doesn’t look like they’ll run out anytime soon. Sometimes it ends with them staying up all night and struggling to stay awake at work the next day, but neither of them has any regrets. Sometimes Carole and Tuesday join them too. But most of the time it’s just the two of them, enjoying their girls’ night in and having the time of their lives.

“Hey,” Angela says one evening in between installments of The Fast and the Furious, “don’t people also...do other things at sleepovers?” She looks awkward about her own question. “Like makeup and painting nails, and all that stuff?”

Katy blinks in surprise. “Well, yeah,” she says. “But you’re a model, so...I don’t know...”

“That’s work,” Angela says dismissively, sounding slightly disappointed again. “This is different. And I don’t see you ever wearing much makeup.”

Katy looks down. “Well...”

“Care to try some of mine?”

She nearly jumps off the bed. “What?” she splutters. “But—No way—But yours is so expensive!”

“It also dries up before I can use all of it. I don’t mind.”

“But...” Katy curls up where she sits. “But I’m so plain...Ow?”

Angela has flicked a finger against her forehead. “Relax,” she says. “Would you like to try it? Aside from all that not-pretty-enough-to-pull-it-off crap?”

Katy’s insides feel warm. “Yeah...thank you.”

Excited like a preteen girl at her first sleepover, Angela rummages through her drawers, whipping out palettes of eyeshadow, eyeliners, lipsticks, and an endless assortment of nail polish. She purses her lips, as if trying to determine which colors would suit Katy. Finally she picks out a shade of red that’s more flashy than the entirety of Katy’s wardrobe.

“Hold still,” she says.

And Katy does. Angela sits before her, breathtakingly close, cupping her face and holding it in place. Her fingers are soft. Her hand is warm. Katy can see every single detail of her face, her bright eyes, the long lashes, the smooth skin and the full, soft-looking lips. How she wishes she could touch those lips. How she wishes she...

Have their faces always been this close?

Angela’s breath tickles her face. It smells faintly of mint. Katy closes her eyes, tries not to think about it as those slender, flawless hands work their way across her face, her lips, her eyelids, her lashes, her cheeks.

Her hands are shaking.

Finally Angela pulls away, and Katy tentatively opens her eyes. She turns towards the mirror and barely recognizes herself. The magic of Angela’s hands has transformed her into a girl she has never seen before...one that radiates glamour and confidence, one that’s almost cool enough to deserve her place at Angela’s side.

Angela smirks appraisingly, proud of her work. “Now you do mine,” she says.

Katy nearly has a heart attack, but she complies. She has no idea what she’s doing. So she just goes with the color she has always associated with Angela: vivid purple, like her eyes, like the aura that seems to surround her wherever she goes.

Her hands are still shaking. It takes all her willpower to keep them steady enough to not mess up the makeup, but she must, it’s so expensive. Angela holds expertly still under her hands, a celebrity at work, though the corners of her mouth twitch whenever Katy’s fingertips accidentally brush her cheek.

Finally she’s done, and Katy can breathe again.

Jumping in front of the mirror, Angela inspects herself, her eyes widening as she turns this way and that. Katy wonders if she has gone overboard with the lip gloss or the touch of glitter on her cheekbones. But Angela’s face lights up, and she turns back towards her beaming.

“Now let’s take a picture like this!”

They huddle close together for the selfie. Well, Angela does, whereas Katy is still busy keeping her feelings in check. She’s so beautiful, and so close. And she’s here. Right beside her. So close the warmth of her body seeps into Katy’s skin.

If she had even an inch of spine, she might turn her head now and kiss her. She knows she wants to. Every part of her body and mind wants to kiss her. Not the idol Angela, but the girl sitting beside her in her PJs, warm and enchanting and smiling from ear to ear.

But she’s still just her manager, and so she restrains herself.

---

“...Katy?”

Katy snaps out of her thoughts. Right, the question. Why she came back, or maybe the real question would be why she stayed.

“Well,” she says. “Dahlia explained everything, and then—”

“Not that, stupid.” Angela nudges her in the ribs, not meeting her gaze. “I mean, why did you want to? I never even really apologized for firing you.”

“What? Oh no, that’s okay!” Katy lifts up her hands. “It was a misunderstanding, and it’s nice that you cared so much about your rivals. And, well, I didn’t think someone like you would bother to apologize in person anyway, so I assumed—”

“Katy. Cut that out.”

She closes her mouth. Suddenly Angela looks angry.

“You’re still treating me like some kind of idol,” she says. “Just quit it, okay? I’m just Angela.” She crosses her arms. “And if you can’t get that into your head, I’m firing you for real.”

Something about her tone tells Katy she means it.

“Sorry,” she bursts out, suddenly feeling like crying. “It’s just...it’s not like I don’t see you as a friend or anything. But you...you’re so cool, and so beautiful, and so mature, and you’re just...you’re so perfect.” Her voice cracks. “How can I feel like an equal next to someone like that? I’d just feel arrogant!”

Something in Angela’s expression softens and melts away.

“Can’t you at least try?”

Leaning forward, she buries her face in Katy’s shoulder, her voice as choked up as Katy herself feels. “I’m so tired of just being the person people look up to,” she says. “It’s so stupid. We’re both just girls.” She drapes an arm over Katy’s body. “So what if I’m famous? I don’t want you to look up to me. I want you to be the girl I watch action movies and have sleepovers with...the friend I never had when everybody else did that stuff.” She shifts closer. “So can’t you just try to treat me like a normal friend?” She swallows. “For me?”

Katy’s defenses shatter.

With a muffled sob she pulls Angela in, hugging her so close she almost sits in her lap. “You have no idea how much I wanted to do that,” she says. “It’s just...I was so scared...”

Angela pulls away just enough to look her in the eyes. Their faces are inches away from each other. They both look a little messy, but Angela is still beautiful.

Not the celebrity, Katy thinks again. Just Angela. Her friend.

“Hey,” she says, suddenly feeling brave, “can I do something else I’ve been really wanting to do?” She swallows hard. “Something really selfish?”

Angela’s smile is encouragement enough.

Katy takes a deep breath and kisses her.

It’s just supposed to be a brief, careful kiss. But Angela responds. Cupping her face like she did that night, she deepens the kiss until they both pull apart again, blushing and breathless.

On the screen the movie continues, unheeded.

On the couch, two girls form the silent decision to not go anywhere else tonight.

#oh my god how did this get so out of hand #carole & tuesday #angela/katy #angela carpenter #katy kimura #me and my writings #headcanons

12 notes · View notes

naruto-rarepair-bingo · 5 years ago

Text

Masterlist for Mobile

includes all three boards; some fills my appear under multiple boards; content warnings not included, so follow links at your own risk

Board A

meet cute: #254: THE MEET CUTE by blsofchaos (nejigaa), First Meeting by blsofchaos (hashitobi), All of my stumbling phrases by toughluckbuddy (jiraoro), Square-up by writhingbeneathyou (madagai), Out of The Comfort Zone by malakia215 (hinakarin)

enemies to friends to lovers: artwork by perelka-l (itama/unnamed uchiha), denouements, and other ways you ended by mouseymightymarvellous (hakusaku), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (izuita)

best friends turned lovers: Tea and Sympathy by fantasticblazepoetry (gaigenanko)

history: Love is the fear of falling by fantasticblazepoetry (izumimada)

hurt/comfort: Presence of Mind by screamingStarmie (hashitobi), Shadows of the Past by crystallized-shadow (hashimadatobi), These Healing Hands by writhingbeneathyou (hashimadatobi), The Unexpected by malakia215 (ankorin), Proper Care by kalira9 (hashimadatobi), The Box by saengak (aomei), A Piece Of Home by fuckyeahobinaru (obinaru), Your regrets hound your demons by fantasticblazepoetry (itakonan)

village or clan swap/change: Who is the lamb and who is the knife by toughluckbuddy (sakuhina), Village Swap by blsofchaos (nejigaa), Beginnings Are What We Make Of Them by raendown (kagatobi)

gods and goddesses: This is the Road to Ruin by an-actual-ocean (mitotouka), Like a Bird Set Free by WrithingBeneathYou (tobiizu), Transcendence by raendown (tobiizu)

shack fic/cave fic: Marking Time (To Make You Mine) by raendown (madakaka), Uncommon Care by kalira9 (zabuhaku)

pining: A Year Gone By by raendown (sakuhina), Breaking the Guard by writhingbeneathyou (madagai), The Gift that Will Bring Me Back to You by malakia215 (kisahina), Lifeline by fuckyeahobinaru (obinaru), What friends are for by fantasticblazepoetry (minaoro)

bodyswap: A Mile In Your Shoes by raendown (hashimito), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (tobiita)

first meeting/last meeting: But somehow through the storm I couldn't get to you by toughluckbuddy (obikurenai), The Only Thing Stopping Me is You by crystallized-shadow (kagatobi)

generation swap: Building Konoha by kalira9 (sakuoro), Heart Under Attack by crystallized-shadow (madakaka)

free space: Shed A Light by WrithingBeneathYou (hashitobi), Please, Not Near the Soup by h0ehinata (shiita), Hunger by fuckyeahobinaru (obinaru), Patient love by fantasticblazepoetry (leesasu)

high seas: A Visit by imadethisblogcuzmymomfollowed (mikokushi), Booty by kalira9 (kisasaku), The Witch by the sea by fantasticblazepoetry (hashimadamito), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (meikawa)

fairy tale: East of the Sun, West of the Moon by screamingStarmie (tobimina)

hot springs: The kindest of kisses breaks the hardest of hearts by toughluckbuddy (hashikaku), Hot Springs by blsofchaos (hashitobi)

crossover/fusion: for reasons wretched and divine by screamingStarmie (kagatobi), Welcome to Neighborhood 12358W by hypereuni (kakuhida), hanged skies and drowned oceans by mouseymightymarvellous (shikasaku), Deliverance by writhingbeneathyou (hashitobi), Scars by fuckyeahobinaru (obinaru), Weight of the heart by fantasticblazepoetry (sakuoro)

neighbors: n/a

friendship/family: artwork by perelka-l (fugaminakushimiko), Acculturation by WrithingBeneathYou (hashitobi), Who will win? by malakia215 (mikokushi), Pack Unbound by kalira9 (sakuoro), The Art of Moving On by fantasticblazepoetry (minamiko)

magical realism: artwork by kinchansattemptatfanart (minaita), Arsony Just Might Lead to a Boyfriend by screamingStarmie (hashimadatobi), Basking and Brooding by kalira9 (oromina), Cheerful Magic by fantasticblazepoetry (inosakuhina), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (kawaizu)

jutsu accident: Want me to love you in moderation (well, don't you know I wish I could) by toughluckbuddy (izuiru), Jutsu Accident by blsofchaos (hashitobi), The Ruins of Our Lives by saengak (kakarin), Squid Tempura by writhingbeneathyou (tobiizu), A Fluffy Handful by fuckyeahobinaru (obinaru), Jutsu gone right by fantasticblazepoetry (irutobi), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (chosaku)

post-apocalypse/dystopian: Holding my hand in the pale gloom by toughluckbuddy (kagatobi), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (itahana)

time travel: Long Story by kalira9 (madakaka), every fire is a lesson learned by blackkatmagic (sakukonan), Some feelings, they can travel too by toughluckbuddy (nejishi), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (fugamito)

anbu: Happiness is an extremely uneventful subject by toughluckbuddy (shinogaa), Comfort and Care by kalira9 (kakayamasaku), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (ankorin)

animalistic traits: No Patience for Pleasantries by writhingbeneathyou (madatobiizu), Winter Warmth by kalira9 (sakuoro), Thrill of the hunt by fantasticblazepoetry (madatobiizu), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (shinokibahina)

Board B

animal summons: Pack Unbound by kalira9 (sakuoro), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (hashimito)

weather/seasons: Hitchhiker From Hell by writing-escapes (kakuhida), Winter Warmth by kalira9 (sakuoro), Once Upon a Season by xxsurvivalistxx (kankuneji), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (kakaobishizune)

photography: Some feelings, they can travel too by toughluckbuddy (nejishi), A Piece Of Home by fuckyeahobinaru (obinaru)

scifi: Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (fugaminakushimiko)

fake/pretend relationship: I can feel my heart (it's falling like the stars) by definitelynotaminion (izuita)

marriage: Balance by kalira9 (hashimito), Wedding tears by fantasticblazepoetry (meitsuna)

accidental child acquisition: The Unplanned Surprises of Life by xxsurvivalistxx (shikanaru), Lone Cub by kalira9 (sakuoro), The aches of empty spaces and new beginnings by fantasticblazepoetry (orohiza), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (izumito)

obito: But somehow through the storm I couldn't get to you by toughluckbuddy (obikurenai), A Fluffy Handful by fuckyeahobinaru (obinaru)

itachi: The Haimaru Incentive by xxsurvivalistxx (itahana), Your childhood trauma is not my childhood trauma by fantasticblazepoetry (itaizumishihina)

solarpunk/steampunk/cyberpunk: don't wait (we are the miracles) by definitelynotaminion (sakuinosainarushika), Grind My Gears by something-like-air (tobiizu), A cyborg and an android walk into a repair shop by fantasticblazepoetry (obikonan), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (hirubiwa)

sakura: Who is the lamb and who is the knife by toughluckbuddy (sakuhina), Caught by sparkswithyou (irusaku), Insomnolence by xxsurvivalistxx (gaasaku), The Beginning of Something Really Excellent by something-like-air (temasaku),Cheerful Magic by fantasticblazepoetry (inosakuhina)

childhood friends/enemies: Building Konoha by kalira9 (sakuoro), Always by something-like-air (shiita)

free space: artwork by angededesespoir (sakumo/dai), Sign Here, Please by hypereuni (kakuhida), Want me to love you in moderation (well, don't you know I wish I could) by toughluckbuddy (izuiru), Arsony Just Might Lead to a Boyfriend by screamingStarmie (hashimadatobi), Clarity by sparkswithyou (raisaku), The Drama of Mito and the (Not-)Skewered Noodle Cat by kalira9 (hashimitoizu), Futile Questions by xxsurvivalistxx (tenzo/shisui), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (ebisu/asuma)

genma: Dark Before Dawn by sparkswithyou (kakashi/genma/shikamaru), Kitsune No Tenshi by xxsurvivalistxx (genma/shizune), The Same Desert Twice by something-like-air (genmabaki), Tea and Sympathy by fantasticblazepoetry (gaigenanko)

shikamaru: a sigh inside the dark by definitelynotaminion (shikasainaru, shikasasu), Exhibiting Mannerisms by xxsurvivalistxx (shikanaru), Waiting by something-like-air (shikasau)

social media: Appearances and Personas by xxsurvivalistxx (kakamei)

injured: artwork by angededesespoir (shikaku/choza), Uncommon Care by kalira9 (zabuhaku), Cognitive Dissonance by xxsurvivalistxx (kakashi/kitou), Rarepair KakaHana by cherryblossomshadow (kakahana), The Box by saengak (aomei), Scars by fuckyeahobinaru (obinaru), Hazards of the job by fantasticblazepoetry (madatobiizu), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (shikaten)

shino: Happiness is an extremely uneventful subject by toughluckbuddy (shinogaa), Simple Acceptance by xxsurvivalistxx (shinoten)

arranged marriage: A Little Far for Me to Reach by something-like-air (mikokushi), The kindest of kisses breaks the hardest of hearts by toughluckbuddy (hashikaku), Welcome to Neighborhood 12358W by hypereuni (kakuhida), Arrangements and Abandonments by kalira9 (hashimito), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (hashimitoizu)

ultra-rare: artwork by angededesespoir (hiruko/orochimaru), Bugs in the Dirt by imadethisblogcuzmymomfollowed (sakura/fuu), it's only been a moment (a lifetime) by definitelynotaminion (kawasaku), Home by sparkswithyou (raidou/aoba), Comfort and Care by kalira9 (kakayamasaku), Old Pergament by fantasticblazepoetry (oromito)

tobirama: artwork by liina-me (tobiizu), Presence of Mind by screamingStarmie (hashitobi), And I Will Come Out to Meet You by something-like-air (tobimito), Holding my hand in the pale gloom by toughluckbuddy (kagatobi), Proper Care by kalira9 (hashimadatobi), Jutsu gone right by fantasticblazepoetry (irutobi)

tsunade: Different shades of kindness by fantasticblazepoetry (danorotsu)

temari: n/a

celebrities: All of my stumbling phrases by toughluckbuddy (jiraoro), Tenten's Secret Love Seal by something-like-air (karin/tenten)

missing-nin/akatsuki: artwork by sojalecithin (kakakonan), truth, coming out of her grief to save mankind by definitelynotaminion (kushikonan), To the end by ubeetlebum (obidei), Booty by kalira9 (kisasaku), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (meikonan)

Board C

anbu: Made Faces by imadethisblogcuzmymomfollowed (konarin), Comfort and Care by kalira9 (kakayamasaku)

pets: Rarepair KakaHana by cherryblossomshadow (kakahana)

superheros/villains: Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (tobiizu)

hidan: n/a

hinata: Who is the lamb and who is the knife by toughluckbuddy (sakuhina), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (hinaten)

frenemies: n/a

konan: artwork by sojalecithin (kakakonan), Your regrets hound your demons by fantasticblazepoetry (itakonan)

marriage of convenience: Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (hashimitoizu)

ino: Cheerful Magic by fantasticblazepoetry (inosakuhina)

only one bed: for reasons wretched and divine by screamingStarmie (kagatobi), Locked Out by kalira9 (orotsuna), Hitchhiker From Hell by writing-escapes (kakuhida), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (shisui/kurenai)

gaara: Happiness is an extremely uneventful subject by toughluckbuddy(shinogaa)

cops/criminals: Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (zabuhaku)

free space: the taste of iron on her lips by imadethisblogcuzmymomfollowed (sakuhina)

shisui: Some feelings, they can travel too by toughluckbuddy (nejishi), Together by kalira9 (kakashisui)

university: Drum Sticks and Ding Dongs byimadethisblogcuzmymomfollowed (juusui), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (tobiizu)

minato: East of the Sun, West of the Moon by screamingStarmie (tobimina),What friends are for by fantasticblazepoetry (minaoro)

izuna: Messenger by kalira9 (hashimitoizu), Want me to love you in moderation (well, don't you know I wish I could) by toughluckbuddy (izuiru), Thrill of the huntby fantasticblazepoetry (madatobiizu)

western: n/a

mei: The Box by saengak (aomei), Wedding tears by fantasticblazepoetry(meitsuna)

randomizer: artwork by angededesespoir (shikaku/choza), Long Story by kalira9 (madakaka), All of my stumbling phrases by toughluckbuddy (jiraoro),Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (madatobiizu)

fate/soulmates: But somehow through the storm I couldn't get to you by toughluckbuddy (obikurenai), Welcome to Neighborhood 12358W by hypereuni (kakuhida), Arrangements and Abandonments by kalira9 (hashimito)

deidara: n/a

kakuzu: Sign Here, Please by hypereuni (kakuhida), The kindest of kisses breaks the hardest of hearts by toughluckbuddy (hashikaku)

kagami: Holding my hand in the pale gloom by toughluckbuddy (kagatobi)

sick fic: Delirium by writing-escapes (kisahida), Lone Cub by kalira9 (sakuoro),Old Pergament by fantasticblazepoetry (oromito), Rare Pair Bingo 2019 Collection by spiraling (hayate/yugao)

#mobile masterlist #all 3 boards #rarepairbingo2019 #naruto events #masterlist

13 notes · View notes