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yannowhatigiveup · 3 years

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My One And Only - Chapter 12

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We’re finally onto the long chapters! Yay! We��re also catching up to where I currently am spin the story so frequent updates will be a thing of the past, sorry. Oh and before you read this chapter I gotta say something,

|| TW: This chapter does cover some topics that may be sensitive to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised ||

Rose was probably the one who gave Lila Marinette’s phone number since Lila asked sOo NicELy and Rose was too kind. So kind that she’s oblivious to the fact her kindness is hurting others.

•~•

Marinette then looked for something to put in her hair. She decided to put her hair into a ponytail tied with a long, dark red, silk ribbon. She finished her outfit and she realised she had plenty of time left before school started. Marinette noticed a notification for a message, rolling her eyes as she saw who it was from, Lila. Marinette took a deep breath before going to read it. 'It can't be that bad, right?'

Wrong.

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Lie-la: I said that I would take everything from you and i am a woman of my word but...I'm kinda bored. This is taking far too long. You should go kill yourself, it's not like anyone would care anyway. Go to the top of News tower and jump, no one will care. I surely won't. You don't deserve happiness. Just cross to the other side. Jump. No one will care. No one ever did. They're all fake, I'm just doing a favour for you. Jump. Kill yourself. No one loves you, no one cares. Jump, jump and fall to your miserable death. On News tower at 6:30, jump. You'll be able to get a good view of the world before you die. Not like I care. Jump. Kill yourself. You're a burden, everyone hates you. Just jump, die. Bleed, bleed out and die. Jump. Die. Kill yourself. Don't forget to leave a note. HAH! Who am I kidding? No one will read it anyway. Just kill yourself already.

Marinette only needed to read it once. She had a blank expression on her face, she wasn't going to give in to emotion, even though she wanted to. Tikki, noticing the change in emotion, flew over to Marinette. She caught a glimpse of her owner's screen before gasping and going to hug her.

"Thanks, I really needed that Tikki" Marinette sniffed before gathering herself. "Come on, I don't wanna be late!" She exclaimed, plastering a smile on her face. Tikki was unsure but went in Marinette's bag anyway. Marinette ran down the stairs, grabbing a croissant and said bye to her parents. She then sprinted to school, ignoring all the 'hello's on the way to the locker room. Alya, realised this and easily became suspicious.

"Hey Girl!" She said as Marinette approached. "You feeling good?"

"Yeah, I'm fine"

Alya and Nino looked at each other, confused, then Alya looked to Chloe who only shrugged her shoulders. Obviously there was something wrong. Then Alya got an idea. She pulled her phone out and texted the only person she knew Marinette would open up to. Damian.

Me: Hey can you check on Mari today?

Damian-boi: Why? Is something wrong?

Me: I think so but she isn't opening up

Damian-boi: I'll invite her over

Then, when Alya was putting her phone away, she saw Mari look at her phone and smile. 'He'll find out what's wrong'. Nino and Chloe also noticed that Marinette had smiled for the first time that day, she only had a blank expression, tired even.

"Did you send her a message or?" Chloe asked confused.

Alya shook her head. "I didn't but I'm sure Mari now has something to look forward to later"

Chloe looked at Nino, wanting answers. He shrugged his shoulders. Either way, they were glad that their friend had a burst of happiness. But she deserved so much more.

~~~

Damian was sitting on a seat by one of his hotel room's window, reading a book from the bookshelf provided. Though, it was merely a distraction. He sighed while putting the book down, he wanted to ask Marinette on a date he just couldn't figure out how. 'Why is this so difficult?' Then a message popped up on his phone.

Césaire: Hey can you check up on Mari today?

'Is Angel ok?'

Me: Why? Is there something wrong?

Césaire: I think so but she isn't opening up

'I'll talk to her later'

Me: I'll invite her over

He sent a message to Marinette then he put his phone down, to say he was slightly concerned would be an understatement. True he had only known Marinette for a few days, but he was willing to do anything to make sure she was happy and safe. Damian knew Marinette would do the same. He wanted to come up with a plan to make her happy. And that's what he did. But he did look up the Parisian heroes first, eying Ladybug closely. 'She looks very similar to Angel, wait a damn minute...'

~~~

The bell went and Marinette headed towards Miss Bustier's classroom with Alya, Chloe and Nino not far behind. Since Marinette was quite far ahead of them, Lila managed to sneak a comment in without Marinette's friends hearing.

"I spoke the truth earlier, you are better off dead" Lie-la sneered.

Marinette flinched slightly, Lila saw this and was convinced the Marinette had heard her. She put a clueless and innocent expression on her face but on the inside, she felt victorious. Marinette on the other hand, felt horrible and absolutely gutted on the inside but had a blank expression on her face. She wanted to break down and cry right there, but she couldn't. If she would, Hawkmoth would akumatize her and there would be no stopping the villain she would become. As she thought down, she remembered that she would be going to Damian's later which was something to look forward too.

Alya had noticed that Marinette seemed even more down than when she first came in school. "Girl, you ok?"

Marinette shot as sad smile at Alya. "Just Lila being Lila" Mari muttered to her best friend. Alya had a mix of sadness and anger towards that liar, she obviously said something to make her best friends sad. Alya still had time before Miss Bustier arrived so she shuffled to get up, only to sit back down again after Marinette had shook her head. "It's nothing serious, I don't want more backlash"

Alya sighed. "Fine but after school I will confront her". Marinette knew there was no way to get convince her best friend otherwise. 'I just have to last till the end of the day' Marinette thought to herself.

Her thought was easier said than done, Lila had managed to say some hurtful comments every time Marinette was in view without any of her friends noticing. The school day went slower than a garden snail, much to the bluenette's dismay. She wanted to get out of there, away from Lila and just break down. Lila had never managed to get this far into her skin, she swore she could feel the words stabbing her heart. It hurt. Just as the school bell went, indicating that school was over, Marinette got up and tired to leave the classroom as fast as possible. She was so close to the school doors, she thought she would be able to leave without seeing Lila. That thought was interrupted by something cold, incredibly cold, running down her back.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry Marinette!" The liar apologized though, Marinette knew that Lila had done this on purpose. 'It's 4°C, why else would she have an ice cold drink?'

"Lila what the hell!" Alya shouted gaining many, including Lila's, attention.

"I-I didn't m-mean I-it" she stammered, crocodile tears forming in her eyes.

"Alya stop shouting at Lila! It was an accident!" Rose's stern voice echoed.

Marinette ignored the conversation, or argument, that followed. She was ice cold and needed to change. Right now, the only place she wanted to be at was Damian's. She reached her parents bakery, ran up the stairs and grabbed anything that had long sleeves. She wore a rosewood over sized, turtleneck jumper with over the knee boots. By now she was warmer but not as warm as she needed to be, though she really didn't care. Lila knows where the bakery is so Marinette didn't feel safe at that moment. The bluenette then rushed downstairs, her parents weren't around 'Probably packing for their flight tonight'. Her sprinting had slowed to a casual walk as she approached the hotel doors, her face blank and expressionless. Marinette got in the lift, pressed a button and got out when she reached his floor. She stopped in front of his hotel door and took a deep breath before knocking.

~~~

Damian closed his laptop. He had done some research on the Parisian superheroes, Ladybug specifically. He made a mental note about how similar both Angel and Ladybug were before he heard a knock at the door. 'Angel probably'. He went over and opened the door to see a frail looking Marinette, she never looked like that. That made Damian suspicious and worried. "Come in Habibti" He gestured for her to sit on the settee in his room and instead of replying, she gave him a sad smile and walked in. 'Whoever hurt her, be prepared to face my wrath'. As she sat on the couch, Damian locked the door and sat next to her. He noticed how she was avoiding eye contact so he placed his hand under her cheek, turning her head to face himself so she couldn't break eye contact. A pink blush lightly dusted her cheeks. "Angel" he began. "I am no good with emotions, I'm sure you know that by now. But that does not mean I can't tell when you're hurting. Please, tell me what is wrong"

The worried tone in his voice and the true concern in his eyes made the walls in her mind crumble. She began to speak up in a shaky voice. "W-well...today Lila kept saying things and this morning she..." her voice trailed off as she reached for her phone, opening the conversation which had that message and handed it to Damian. The hand used to reach for the phone was the hand that was cupping Marinette's cheek, she inwardly frowned but she watched as Damian read the message.

Damian face was neutral when Marinette first gave him her phone but it quickly changed. She watched as his face went from expressionless to visible anger, though, it looked like he was holding back from revealing anymore emotion. So she looked at his eyes, the eyes were the key to every soul and in his eyes she saw his true emotions. He was absolutely livid. His eyes were pools of rage. "I'll skin that fucking harlot alive" Damian snarled.

He widened his eyes in realisation to what he said and gently put the phone on the coffee table. He turned to Marinette and opened his arms for her. She needed much more than a hug in Damian's opinion, but in Marinette's, Damian was all she needed. She jumped into his arms straight away, burying her face in his chest while letting her tears flow. Seeing her so miserable made his heart break. One of his hands rubbed circles on her back while the other stroked through her hair, he also murmured comforting words into her ear. He'd deal with Rossi another time, right now he needed to focus on Marinette but he'd be damned he'd let Lila get away with hurting her.

Soon, the bluenette's tears turned into quiet, steady breathing. Marinette felt a lot better now, each comforting word from Damian had erased the meaning of each snarky comment from Lila. Anything and everything Lila had sad meant nothing to Marinette anymore, being in Damian's arms was the only thing that mattered.

"Thank you" she whispered, her face still buried in his chest.

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat, Habibti" Marinette hid her blush. Damian hummed to himself, as if he were thinking if something.

"What is it?" She asked, pulling away from the hug.

"Why don't you and I go for a walk? Just the two of us" The bluenette didn't hesitate.

"I'd like that"

~~~

The walk was like a breath of fresh air. Damian took her to a nearby cafe to get some hot cocoa for takeaway and they strolled the streets of Paris. Their saunter lead them passed the Louvre, passed the Seine and ended on the Eiffel Tower, on the highest floor a civilian could go. The two looked over Paris, leaning forward on the banister, the sun setting beautifully. Damian looked at Marinette, she was still staring at the city's silhouette in awe. Without thinking, Damian's hand reached for the ribbon in Marinette's hair, tugging at it slightly to let her hair down. The bluenette squeaked in surprise, the red ribbon once in hair hair was now wrapped around Damian's finger.

Damian didn't think that Marinette could get even more beautiful than she already is but he stood corrected while watching Marinette's hair flow beautifully in the wind. Not only that but the way the sunset's light landed on her, how it reflected in her eyes, made her so bewitching, so captivating. 'God...you can't turn back now Wayne' He collected every piece of confidence he had in him and spoke up. "Angel, can I ask you a question?"

"Well you just did, didn't you?" She giggled as he playfully rolled his eyes at her. "Sure what do you want to ask?" Marinette looked at him, her bluebell eyes seeming more spellbinding then he had ever seen them. He couldn't trust his voice, he would only mess up. He stared at her intensely, his right hand moved to hold her cheek. She didn't pull away, she leaned into his touch while blushing ever so slightly.

'May I kiss you?'

Marinette's eyes widened in surprise, her blush now being much more visible. She looked as if she had heard the question pass through his lips though he hadn't said anything at all. It's almost as if they communicated, telepathically. Marinette nodded, answering the unasked question. Damian slowly pulled her face closer to his, they both closed their eyes as Damian pressed his lips against Marinette's. They were just as soft as he suspected. The bluenette wrapped her arms around Damian's neck, the one on her face was now in her hair and the other was wrapped around Marinette's waist, pulling her closer to his body. The kiss wasn't passionate. It was soft, tranquil and tender. And Marinette liked it. She liked him. No, scratch that. She loved him. And he loved her back.

The two only pulled away when their need for oxygen became greater than the desire for each other. When they did they make eye contact, their eyes both reflected each other's feelings. Love. Marinette stepped closer and snuggled her face into Damian's muscular chest, like how she did earlier but this one felt much more heartfelt, filled with more affection. She hummed, closing her eyes with her arms still wrapped around his neck while his were wrapped around her waist.

"So I guess this is where I ask you on a second date or-" he paused hoping that Marinette would choose the option he was about to give her. "I ask to court you"

She giggled. "I wasn't aware that this is a date but I'm not complaining". She then looked up at his face and smiled. "And I would be much more than happy to court you"

He smiled back. 'Damn her smile is contagious' "So do I have the privilege of being your boyfriend now?" Damian smirked at her.

"Well If that's the case, then I have the honor of being your girlfriend" she hummed.

Hearing that made him feel guilty. He hadn't told her his last name, and she respected that. "Damian Wayne" he mumbled.

She looked slightly confused and tilted her head.

"I don't want to keep secrets from you so I am telling you now" he breathed in. "My name is Damian Wayne. I apologize, I should've told you sooner I-"

Her eyes widened in surprise and understanding. "No need to apologize I understand"

"So this doesn't change anything between us?"

She giggled while she put her head back on his chest. "Why would it?"

Damian let out a sigh of relief. He would've leaned in to kiss her again if he didn't notice an object heading straight for her at incredible speed. His left hand went out to grab it, which he did with ease. Marinette pulled away from the hug to see what Damian had caught. It looked like something from an akumatized villain. He sighed. "I guess it would be best to get out of the villain's way"

She looked at the object in his hand, then back at him. Without thinking, she blurted out "Remember would you said about secrets?"

"What about it?"

She stepped back and muttered a few words then there was a blinding red light, he had to close his eyes for a second. When he opened them, he was face to face with the spotted hero herself. The hair once flowing in the air was now back in the pigtails the hero is seen with all the time. 'Angel is Ladybug, I was right' Though he did have his suspicions, it still surprised him nonetheless. She smiled at him.

"Y-"

She cut him off with a chaste kiss on the lips which lasted longer than she anticipated, though she had to go on her tip toes which Damian found amusing. She also managed to take the object out of his hand. "I promise to explain everything later. I'll meet you back at the hotel when I'm finished, alright?"

"God, you really are an Angel". The blush on her face was very noticeable. She smiled at him before using her yo-yo to bring her to the akumatized victim. He watched as her silhouette jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Once she was out of sight, Damian looked back at the sunset. He chuckled to himself. "I guess when you bumped into me the other day, you gave me some of your Lady Luck".

———

Taglist: @little-bluestar, @miracleofadisaster, @frieddonutsweets, @jjmjjktth, @genderfluidmoma, @starlit-dreaming, @icerosecrystal, @lolieg, @kashlyn, @mochegato, @eggadoodle, @walkingthroughonautopilot

#daminette #damian x marinette #marinette x damian #maribat #maridami #damianette #mlb x dc #ml x dc #lila did a bad

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havethetimeofyourstyles · 3 years

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Chapter Three.

a/n: get ready for the yearning in this chapter! also please make sure to reblog to share and leave feedback — it really helps writers continue wanting to post and continue writing.

SERIES MASTERLIST | word count: 8.2k

come talk to me about wtsgd! i’d love to know your thoughts!

April 30, 2017

Luci woke up to loud knocking on her front door, too loud for eight in the morning when she wanted to sleep in. She thought she was dreaming, like someone was knocking directly onto her head, telling her to wake up. But the knocking increased, making her scream into her pillow, getting out of bed. Her pink soft house slippers that Ren made sure she brought so she wouldn’t get her new floors dirty with her outside shoes padded on the wooden floor and towards the entrance, opening the door.

Once she opened her door, her parents and Nathan were behind it, smiling as they waved their hands into a jazz-like movement.

“Lulu!”

“My Lucky!”

“Ana!”

Her family charged through her doorway, bringing her into their arms for a family group hug. Luci was wide awake and smiling at the sight and presence of her family. They all eventually let her go to give her individual hugs to have their own moment because they just missed her that much.

They made their way out of the front entrance and hallway, walking more into her apartment as Ren and Beatrice looked around in awe of how much natural light that was provided. She gave her parents a tour before they all settled into the living room where they had a cup of coffee in to-go cups and ate breakfast sandwiches.

Luci then told them the events that happened yesterday, minus her unexpected hangout with Harry, and they were furious. All at once, their hearts broke but were quick to ignite with anger.

“How could she do that?!” Ren had an angry expression on his face, and it was one that she and Nathan had always been afraid of ever since they were younger; it was rare to see their father angry since he was much softer as it would take a lot for him to get him to that state.

She shrugged her shoulders. “People favor power over fairness these days, or else they’d lose their biggest stars.” Nathan scoffed from the sofa chair next to the couch, but didn’t say anything more.

It was the harsh truth of showbiz that almost everyone knew—it was a fact; Broadway and Hollywood don’t play fair, it’s obvious they want the best of the best, and if that’s passing up a new talent that could take them to the moon over the seniority of actors who’ve been in the industry for much longer, they’ll take that opportunity. And Luci knew that when she signed up for this.

Beatrice told Luci that she was sorry this was happening, and they all agreed that whenever her time to perform on stage comes, they’d be there. Luci smiled at her lap, appreciating their support. The Suki family talked for another hour and a half, catching up on the month that passed when they weren’t all together, before they took the subway to the hotel they were staying at to catch their flight out of New York. Luci said her goodbyes to them in front of the hotel, apologizing that they had to come out here for nothing, but they brushed it off, saying that they would do it again just to see her.

She watched them get into an Uber, waving at her family as they took off down the streets of Manhattan. She took the subway back to Brooklyn as she wrote down a list of what she wanted to do today; find more decorations, clean, eat pizza, and crack a bottle of wine because she damn well needed it.

It was almost eleven a.m. when she got back to her apartment and decided to get ready for the day. Her throat felt incredibly dry, so she hydrated herself, gulping the liquid down her throat until she heard a knock on her door. Luci furrowed her brows, wondering if it was Nathan or Beatrice behind that door, asking if they’d left their wallet or phone since they were the more forgetful ones in the family, but when she looked around her living room, she didn’t find anything.

A knock on the door was heard and Luci sighed, walking over to open it as she didn’t expect the person behind it.

“Samuel?”

“Hey, babe.” A smug smile was present on his face, but a scowl was present on hers, rolling her eyes at the pet name.

“What are you doing here—no, how do you even know where I live?” Luci placed her hand on her hip, a wrinkle in between her eyebrows.

“Not gonna let me in?” He gave her an amusing smile, and she rolled her eyes, huffing before moving to the side and letting him in. He walked into the main part of the apartment, looking around.

Luci crossed her arms, trailing behind him. “So, are you gonna answer my question?”

“I got your address when you texted me to come over that one night, remember?”

She mentally cursed herself. Her relationship with Samuel had done a complete one-eighty. After the afterparty on opening night, things were very weird between them after she denied his request to have sex with him in the bathroom of the longue. He had avoided her unless it was work related, but even then, he kept the conversation and words to a minimum, adding attitude and rudeness. If she thought things were weird then, it got even weirder the night leading up to when Daisy took her spotlight on stage last night.

During rehearsals, he’d flirt with Daisy sometimes even kiss her up. Daisy would give Luci a snarky look every time his face was in her neck, biting her skin, and that was when Luci found out the real reason why Daisy despised her. All because of Samuel. All because of a man. The bitter looks didn’t bother Luci and it wasn’t like she was jealous, but it simply confused her because one day he wanted to fuck her and was sweet to her but when she said no, he was rude and would fuck someone else—there was no real type of closure. He probably took her into the bathroom after she left, Luci thought.

So, she didn’t really care for him anymore because after all, he was just a someone to fuck; all she cared about was why he decided to show up at her apartment unannounced and uninvited.

“That was a very weak moment for me.” Luci rebutted mockingly; Samuel scoffed and smirked cockily. He leaned against her countertops, and she hated that she still found him attractive because anyone with eyes knew very clearly that he was a very sexy guy, and the worst part was that he knew it too—he knew it very well. “So, tell me what the fuck you’re doing here?”

“I’m here to tell you that you’re probably not going to perform anytime soon…” he said in a mocking tone, a fake pout on his face as he gave her puppy-dog eyes.

She scoffed, shaking her head lightly. “Aww, did Daisy tell you to come all the way here and tell me that?”

“And if she did?”

“It’s cute that you’re a messenger now. It suits you since you have all this time to waste, like you did mine.” She breathed out a laugh, making him roll his eyes, and it only brought satisfaction to hurt his huge ego. “Well, how about you tell your little Daisy to stop sending people to tell me things because if she had the balls, then she would tell me herself. Plus, you’re wasting your time here to tell me one little thing that doesn’t affect me.” Luci dramatically gasped. “I’m really living in both of your minds rent-free, aren't I?”

Samuel inhaled heavily, biting back his words as if Luci had offended him, but it would only make sense that he felt that way because of his feelings for Daisy. He headed towards the door with Luci hot on his tail as a way to push him out faster than he came in.

“Well, I’ll see you Luci—not on stage, but yeah, I’ll see you.” She wasn’t going to lie, but those few words took a dig at her heart; luckily, she’s an actor, so she was able to mask her pain and anger, giving him a scornful smile as she opened the door. Samuel chuckled, not amusingly but in a way that made him think that she was an outright bitch.

Harry’s door suddenly opened, making him stop in his tracks as he witnessed the interaction happening because it definitely looked like this guy was just leaving her place. Luci’s head turned towards him as her eyes widened slightly; Harry had a weird look on his face, looking back and forth between her and Samuel.

“Hey, Harry.” Luci broke his train of thought and Harry looked directly at her, smiling slightly.

“Hi, Luci.” She suddenly felt a wave of nerves wash through her, butterflies erupting in her stomach once he said her name, thinking that he was by far the best person to say it.

She felt antsy, fiddling with fingers as she started bouncing on the balls of her feet—a habit that she did when she started to feel nervous. Samuel could see straight through her, catching all the signs when she was a bit anxious and he had a feeling that it had something to do with her neighbor.

Samuel brisked past her, giving her a kiss on the cheek to mess with both of them; Luci’s eyes widened, pulling her face back but it was too late as his lips had already connected with her skin.

“See you, Luci.” Instead of the cocky smirk he had when he arrived, he had a loving and kind smile as he left because he wasn’t the only actor in the room.

Once Samuel rounded the corner, Luci looked at Harry and there was a crease in between his brows.

“I-I, uh, that’s not-”

“No worries. You don’t need to explain to me, honestly.” Harry walked out into the hallway, locking his door before giving her a toothless grin and walking down the hall.

Luci’s mouth was slightly ajar as she watched him. She closed her door and placed her forehead against it quite harshly, letting out a frustrated groan.

After much sulking, she decided to get on with her day, hoping she can be as productive as she hoped to be. But the thought of if Harry liked her—even as a person or ‘friend,’ if she could call herself that—lingered around in her head; and she doesn’t know why what he thought of her had so much of an affect on her, but it did. Maybe it was because she had a sort of infatuation with her neighbor, or that she couldn’t stop thinking about him and what he was doing across the hall. Whatever it was, she only hoped that he liked her too.

May 13, 2017

Quite early, Luci received a phone call from Tal.

Her phone was buzzing rapidly on her brown wooden nightstand; and in her sleep, she was trying to determine if she had set an alarm the previous night. When she thought she did, she let her phone snooze for ten minutes. But it was certainly not an alarm because just a few seconds after the buzzing stopped, it had started again.

Grumpy as usual in the morning, she groaned, propping her elbows on her mattress as she pried her eyes open and picked up her phone. When she saw Tal as the caller ID, her brows furrowed in confusion.

“Hello?”

“Luci? Luci? Hi, can you hear me?” The gauging sound of the city was heard on the other end of the call, and she could just imagine Tal placing one hand to her ear as she walked through the bustling streets.

“Yeah, I can. Hi.” Luci’s voice increased, becoming more audible for Tal.

“Great! So, I’m glad you answered. I know things have been a bit weird lately ever since, y’know…” she said, referring to when Daisy had stolen her spotlight. “But I want to let you know that you’re performing tonight. I’m saying this in a calm manner because I know you know the shit in the show, so I’m not worried about it. But I need you to play Kim tonight.”

Luci’s breath hitched in her throat as her eyes widened. She was completely speechless and she felt like she was dreaming. But first thing’s first, she needed to know why Tal’s statement at the end was demanding and slightly panicked.

“What happened to Daisy?” She wondered, sitting up fully on the gray wrinkled sheets from her slumber.

Tal sighed deeply, perceptible through the chaos of the outside. “Last night, she partied a bit too hard. She’s just getting back to her place, according to Samuel, and she was high off her ass. I don’t need that today, or ever. So, I figured this would be the perfect time for you to step in.”

“And why me? Why not Wendy?” Luci referred to the understudy for Kim.

“Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t stick up for you when I should’ve. Daisy has always been…intimidating to me, which is crazy because I run the show, but I should’ve been more stern with her. So, with Daisy out of the picture for today, I want you to perform tonight.”

Tal genuinely felt guilty that she wasn’t being the stage director that she should’ve been. She let Daisy control some of the show when it should’ve been her to direct everyone. Tal loved her job, she did, but every time she had Daisy as one of the lead characters, she almost dreaded work. She didn’t want to be one of those people who dreaded work because although theatre is stressful at times, it’s also fun and her passion.

“Okay…” Luci couldn’t hold it in any longer. “I’ll perform tonight.”

Tal let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank god. Okay, perfect. Thank you so much, Luci. I’ll see you at five.” \

“I’ll be there. Bye, Tal.”

Luci hung up the phone and sat on her bed for what felt like forever, simply gazing into the sheets as she couldn’t believe what had happened. Luci was going to perform tonight; her dream was finally coming true.

When the realization hit her, the corners of her lips turned up into a bright and excited smile. She laughed and screamed and squealed into her pillow, doing a little mini dance on her bed. Looking at the time, it was nearing eight so she had plenty of time to start her pre-show morning routine. But the first thing that she needed to do was to text her family.

I’M PERFORMING TONIGHT!

Instantly, she got responses from them.

Nathan: REALLY?! I get off work at four, I could take a last minute flight.

Luci hearted her brother’s message.

Pa: Luci, I’m so happy for you! Your mother is still asleep but I’ll wake her up and tell her the news. We’ll see what we could do to make it to the show.

She thanked them, texting that she hoped to see them tonight, but would understand if they couldn’t make it since it was last minute.

Hopping out of bed, she washed up and changed into her workout clothes to go on a walk and grab a smoothie. It was such a beautiful day out that there were more people out on the streets in the morning than usual as they were basking in the bright sun and lovely weather.

Once she got back home, she made her favorite breakfast—a bacon, egg, and cheese on a bagel with cream cheese; and rehearsed some of the more emotional and dramatic lines, taking notes on which parts needed more depth of emotion.

The day had gone by relatively fast as she showered, tidied, and packed her belongings; and it was already 3:45, so she headed out the door.

As Luci was locking up and about to walk down the hall, she looked at Harry’s door. She hadn’t talked to him in about two weeks, since the time he opened his door to Samuel kissing her cheek. She had sort of missed him, and she felt like the event with Samuel had put up a wall; she felt like he was avoiding her.

Thinking back to their conversation at the diner, she remembered that he told her he would be there when it was her time to perform, and she didn’t want to not inform him on that because she had a feeling that he would be disappointed hadn’t he known.

Bravely, she stood in front of his door and knocked, hoping that he was home because she didn’t have his number to tell him. Luci waited one minute before she knocked again and waited another minute before sighing. Just as she was two feet down the hall, his door suddenly opened, making her turn around quickly. Harry looked out into the hall without taking a step out of his apartment and saw Luci with a tote bag on her shoulder, wearing leggings, a vintage tee with Stevie Nicks printed on it, and a beige cardigan.

“Luci?”

She turned around. “Harry, hi. Uh, how are you?” Her attitude had visibly changed and brightened as she was ecstatic to see that he answered the door. His hair was wet, separating the strands of hair into slightly thicker chunks as water droplets lingered at the tips; which explained why he didn’t answer the door right away.

“Good, good. How are you?”

“Good—great, actually. I-I’m actually performing tonight and I wanted to tell you that in case you wanted to watch the show.” She suppressed a wide smile, linking his hands together to refrain herself from jumping up and down in excitement.

Harry raised his brows before the corners of his lips turned upward. “Really?” She nodded. “Luci, that’s amazing!” He exclaimed.

“Yeah, I’m really excited. I was just called this morning that I was performing tonight, so I’m heading to the theatre right now.”

“I’m so happy for you. But I, uh, have plans already tonight. I’m sorry,” he said sympathetically. Luci couldn’t deny the ache in her chest when he said that, but she completely understood as it was a last minute decision for her to perform.

“Oh, no worries. Maybe another time whenever I get to perform again. I’ll let you know?”

“Yeah, please do.” He nodded. There was a bit of silence after as there was nothing left to say. “Well, uh, good luck out there.”

“Thank you.” She smiled. “Maybe we could get some coffee or a smoothie. There’s this really good smoothie place down the street-”

“Brooklyn’s Smoothies?” He asked; Luci nodded. “That’s my go-to smoothie place. But yeah, I’m down for that. Just let me know when.”

Now, she had another thing she could be excited about: her second hangout with Harry.

“Great!” She headed towards the hall before she walked back towards him, pulling her phone out. “Here, put your number in—only if you want to.” He chuckled, grabbing her phone as he quickly put his number and name into his phone before handing it back to her. “I’ll text you. Bye, Harry!” She waved as she walked towards the end of the hall; Harry waved back before walking back into his apartment and closing the door.

Once she was on the subway, she found Harry’s contact, which he named himself ‘Harry (neighbor)’ as if he thought she was going to forget who he was. But it was quite the opposite as he seemed to invade most of her mind as she mindlessly thought about him. She almost always curses herself for being so nervous around him, but that was because he somewhat intimidated her; and that said a lot because she’s very confident in her own skin and rarely finds anyone intimidating. But there was just something about him that made her nervous, and that thought slightly scared her.

Hi, Harry! It’s Luci, here’s my number.

She placed her phone face down on her thigh that was relentlessly bouncing before she hit send. Before sending it, she looked over the text, practically overthinking a simple greeting that didn’t need any more thinking. A few minutes later as she was transferring trains and sitting on the blue bench, her phone vibrated. She picked up her phone as the screen lit up; Harry’s message appeared on the screen.

Hiiii, thank you. Good luck tonight x

Luci smiled crazily at her phone, putting her chin to her chest as she hid her smile from the many people on the subway with her. She thanked him, and decided to start another conversation after the show so she could tell him how the show went, which was an excuse to text him again. She locked her phone and turned the volume up higher as G Luné played through her Airpods.

Her cheeks had started to hurt due to the fact that she couldn’t stop smiling, like it was genuinely difficult for her stop. A surge of happiness and relief had washed over her that she felt the happiness line on her chart increase. With a little over two months of living in New York, she had felt like her career was going nowhere when that was the entire reason why she moved there; the whole situation with Daisy had made her life plateaued as her happiness line wasn’t moving upwards. But tonight, it was skyrocketing.

T-minus five minutes until showtime, and Luci was bouncing on the balls of her feet. She started humming and whistling to get her mind off the perturbation that ran along the linings and spaces of her body; it didn’t help that everyone was literally running around, passing by one another through the dark corridor.

Obviously, everyone knew that it was Luci’s first night performing, so they tried keeping everything light and easy for her, which she appreciated. Once she walked through the doors of backstage, she was immediately greeted with warm and excited smiles—the complete opposite as the last time she walked through the door. Nina squealed and hugged her as they both jumped around in elation; Luci truly missed the first friend she’d ever made on Broadway, and they promised each other that they’d hangout more often outside the theatre.

After Luci had her hair and makeup done, changed into her costume, and was mic'd up, she was standing on the side of the stage where she could hear the crowd settling into their seats as they talked amongst themselves. Peter, who was playing Chris tonight, stood beside her, rolling his neck in circles and moving his jaw around. She was glad to know that Samuel wasn’t performing tonight because god only knows what he would say to her, only to get inside of her head right before the show.

She heard the technical and stage crew speak into their headsets, asking if everyone was ready as they counted down from ten. The lights went out, the curtains were pulled to the side, and Luci’s mind went blank as ‘Kim’ took over, completely owning this character because it was fucking showtime.

After two hours of pouring emotion to give her best act while the spotlight was on her, shining brighter than ever before so she couldn’t see the audience below her, watching intently, her first performance was successfully over.

She’d earned a majority of standing ovations and was called for another curtain call, where she ran back on stage to overwhelmingly smile brightly, waved, bowed, and blew kisses to the crowd who were whistling and cheering for her wonderful performance. This amazing and exhilarating feeling was something she anticipated, and it did not disappoint; it was a feeling that she wanted to feel every other night. She loved the praise, the cheers, and the claps that were thrown at her so fast that she could cry at how hard the impact was.

When she left the stage and headed over to the dressing room, her cast members cheered for her as Luci clapped all around the room for everyone’s hard work tonight as well. They all took pictures with one another to share this memorable moment; Luci told everyone to send her the pictures because she wanted to get them framed for her apartment because this moment was definitely frame-worthy.

When it was time to leave, they all took off their costume and hung it on its rightful rack, and changed into their own clothes before walking out into the lobby where the audience could meet and greet some of the cast. Cheers erupted in the lobby once the cast walked through the doors, and they all smiled, mouthing ‘thank you’ and bowing their heads in appreciation.

Luci walked through the crowd as they stopped her to tell her that she did an amazing performance; she was grateful and said thank you to everyone she came across. She weaved through the crowd, trying to find Nathan or anyone she could share this moment with; and she was lucky that Nathan was tall because she spotted him instantly.

When she finally reached him, she was somewhat surprised to see their parents with him because they didn’t mention they were coming tonight, just that they had to see what they could do in order to make it.

Beatrice was the first one to hug her. “Oh, my Lucky Star. I’m so proud of you!” She hugged Luci tight, swaying to the side. Once her mother let go, she hugged her dad who had the proudest and biggest smile on his face.

“Lulu, you did amazing up there.” She smiled into Ren’s shoulder, feeling herself tear up from the positive reaction of her performance.

Nathan was patiently waiting for his hug; and Luci pulled away from her father, giving him a smile before hugging her brother.

“Ana, you’re so talented.” He squeezed her, patting her back as she always found the action comforting since she was a little girl. Beatrice was taking photos of her kids, tears glossing her eyes at her greatest accomplishments.

“Thank you for coming. I know you’re tired from work, but thank you for being here anyways.” She could tell that Nathan had just put a long coat over his navy blue scrubs, meaning that he had flown to New York straight from work.

“No worries. We wouldn’t miss this for anything, honestly.”

Luci pulled away, smiling as she faced her family. She thanked her parents for coming, still surprised, and they said the same thing Nathan did: that they wouldn’t miss it for the world.

They took pictures amongst each other, taking a family selfie before Ren had just asked someone nearby to take a proper photo of them.

“Excuse me? Do you mind taking a picture of us?” The man turned around, making Luci softly gasp. Tonight was just full of surprises because Harry was the one who turned around and nodded, grabbing her mother’s phone to take a picture of her family.

Harry looked dashingly handsome; he wore black trousers, a baby pink shirt with a black coat over. He held a bouquet of flowers in his arms as he took the picture; and for the life of Luci, she couldn’t dare to stop smiling at him instead of the camera.

Ren was the first to walk over to him and thanked him, but Harry didn’t walk away, he simply stayed put until Luci walked over towards him. Her parents and brother were looking at each other warily, wondering how Luci knew the man who took their picture.

“You’re here.” She smiled so brightly as if the spotlight was glued onto her.

Harry blushed, looking down at his feet before looking back up. “Yeah, I told you I would be here when you were going to perform, right?” Something that she hadn’t witnessed yet until now, that took her by surprise, was the dimple that indented his left cheek, more so than his right cheek. He looked absolutely adorable when he smiled, on top of being handsome; Harry was simply a beautiful man.

“You did tell me that, I remember.” She couldn’t stop the giddy grin that felt like it was permanently placed on her face because she couldn’t believe that he was here.

“Oh, these are for you. You did an amazing job—the crowd loved you.” He handed her the mixed bouquet of pink peonies, baby pink roses, white lillies, and baby’s breath wrapped in brown paper. Luci smiled down at the bouquet, admiring how pretty the colors and how well the different flowers looked together. She wondered if Harry picked these out himself; if he individually picked every single flower that was in the bouquet.

Feeling her face heat up, she unexpectedly leaned in for a hug; and this time, he was ready as he opened his arms and hugged her. He squeezed her tighter than he did when she was crying in his arms, making her heart flutter in her chest. Luci had completely forgotten that her family was behind her until she pulled away. Her eyes slightly widened, knowing that they were most likely enjoying the show that was happening off-stage of her hugging a man they didn’t know.

“Thank you so much for coming, Harry. It means a lot to me.” He simply nodded. Luci slightly turned her body, presenting herself to her family. “Uh, Harry, this is my family. And this is Harry; he’s my neighbor.”

Beatrice brows raised, and Luci gave her a knowing look that told her not to say anything weird.

“Hi, I’m Beatrice, Luci’s mom.” She shook his hand.

“Hello, I’m Harry. Nice to meet you.” Beatrice turned towards Luci with wide eyes once she heard his accented voice, and she chuckled at her mother’s reaction.

Ren and Nathan introduced themselves, and they all made conversation quite easily. It was a side that Luci’s never seen of Harry—quite talkative. She wondered if she was the problem as to why he wasn’t so talkative. But she figured that almost everyone wanted to impress and get along with their friend’s parents.

Once they were finished talking amongst themselves, Beatrice whispered into Ren’s ear and then Nathan’s; and Luci wondered what they could be so secretive about that they couldn’t say it out loud.

Suddenly, Nathan said, “Well, we’ll see you soon, Ana.” He gave her a quick hug as Luci furrowed her brows, confused.

“Oh, I thought we could get dinner or something.” It was like her parents didn’t even consider her suggestion as they were hugging her goodbye.

“I have to get back to Boston, work tomorrow, y’know?” Nathan excuses; Luci nodded, understanding before turning her head towards her parents, seeing which excuse they’ll use since tomorrow was Sunday.

“Uh, we have a flight to catch—red-eye.” Beatrice spoke up, a little white lie slipping so easily on her tongue. Luci looked at Ren, finding him nodding, warily looking at his wife.

She could tell, inside and out, that her parents weren’t being truthful because she knew that they’d want to spend every minute with her while they were in the city so they wouldn’t get a red-eye flight on her opening night. Plus, Beatrice had been eyeing her and Harry ever since he introduced himself, so she knew that her family acting weird and how they suddenly had to leave was most likely them wanting Luci to hangout with Harry.

“Plus, don’t you have an afterparty to go to?” Ren asked.

“I mean, yeah, but I could always skip it-”

“Now, why would you do that? It’s your opening night; people are gonna be wondering where you are!” Ren did make a point, making Luci mentally agreeing.

Luci didn’t bother asking any more questions, and decided to let them leave, although she was a bit sad that they had to leave again. They said another round of goodbyes and hugged each other tightly; they planned to come to New York again so they could properly hang out, and Luci said that she’ll see what she could do with going back home to visit. Of course, they didn’t forget to say goodbye to Harry; Ren and Nathan shaking his hand as Beatrice gave him a hug. Luci watched them interact as if he was an old boyfriend or a new boyfriend that they happened to like and adore so much.

She waved to them as they headed outside the Broadway Theatre doors, and then she was left with Harry. He shyly smiled at her, and Luci hugged the bouquet of flowers tightly to her chest.

“Uh, would you like to go to the afterparty with me?” She asked.

Luci watched as Harry considered the invitation in his head. There were two options that he was debating from: go home and have a boring night in, or go to an afterparty with his insanely beautiful neighbor that he was slowly but surely taking a liking to. He realized that wasn’t such a difficult decision after all, so he chose the latter.

“I’d love to.”

The entire cast settled into the same lounge that held their very first afterparty. The lounge apparently didn’t mind since everyone contributed to buying lots of alcohol, so they obviously wouldn’t pass up the opportunity of business.

Luci introduced Harry to the cast who decided to show up, and she was happy that they were very friendly and welcoming to him because the last thing she wanted was awkward tension between her neighbor and coworkers. She wished Nina had gone to the after party because Luci knew that she would get excited about the neighbor she’s crushing on.

Luci and Harry decided to pace themselves with the drinks as they didn’t take the shots that were given to them at the same time as the rest; instead, they nursed and sipped their drinks. They were towards the end of the circle, in their own world as they talked to one another. Luci was happy they were getting to know each other better, but she figured that was the help and magic of what alcohol did. They told each other childhood stories that made each other laugh, increasing the buzz going on inside their heads.

Harry had an additional glow to him when he was tipsy, and Luci thought it was the cutest thing ever. He was very touchy—placing a hand on her arm, shoulder, or knee at any given moment—and his laugh was contagious as it was loud and he threw his head back. It was a side that pleasantly took her by surprise, and she hoped that as they continued talking and hanging out, this side of him comes out more when they’re sober and comfortable with one another.

“Can I ask why your brother calls you Ana?” He wondered, asking at the same time Luci was taking a sip of her drink.

She nodded. “Yeah. So, Nathan is five years older than I am, and my mom and dad said when he was five, he still had a hard time speaking, like he’d babble and seem to talk gibberish. Anyways, when I was born, my parents were trying to get him to say my name, but couldn’t pick up on the first part of it; he started out with ‘An,’ but eventually picked up ‘Ana.’ And since then, it just seemed to stick—he’s the only one who calls me that and would personally get offended if someone else called me that.” She ended with a chuckle and a sip of her shot.

“What’s your full name?”

“Luciana Ivy Suki.” She said slow and a bit sultry, which she hadn’t meant to. The dark light and booze didn’t help that she felt a bit sexy.

Harry smirked slightly. “Luciana.” He stated as if he was testing how it sounded and felt on the tongue. Luci felt a chill run down her body, making her skin prickle from the goosebumps.

If she was starting to melt from the sound of her nickname from his lips, the sound of her full name had completely liquified her.

After an hour, the two moved to the bar, completely forgetting that they were with the cast. Luci suggested getting more drinks for them, and Harry told her that he’d come with. He said something along the lines of “don’t want to miss a moment hanging out with you,” and Luci swore that her heart was becoming a butterfly’s nest as it sank down to her stomach and made her smile.

“It’s genuinely insane how talented you are, like I was nearly crying by the end of the show!” He complimented, sipping on a Pomegranate Paloma through a thin black straw. Harry was genuinely so amazed as he watched Luci act, alas he was near the rear mezzanine, which was towards the back, he was still blown away by the entire production, especially Luci’s talents.

“That’s so sweet. Thank you, Harry.” She smiled down at her Royal Manhattan, swirling the drink around in its glass. She was used to taking compliments about her acting and talent, but when Harry complimented her, it made her insides jittery and her face heat up; she felt so honored that Harry was praising her for her talents.

“Now, can I ask…I thought you had plans tonight. What happened to that?” She wondered.

Harry blushed, nervously chuckling. “Uh, I canceled them.”

Her eyes widened. “W-Was it anything serious?”

“It was a date that my friend, Jeff, set me up with but I wasn’t all that interested in the first place.

She pouted. “Harry, I feel bad.”

“Don’t be. I wanted to be here.” She smiled at that, looking at the contents inside of her glass.

“I’m really glad you’re here.” She reciprocated the thought, clinking her glass with his as they both sipped their drinks.

After another hour, the cast was lessening one by one, calling it a night as they said their goodbyes to Luci and Harry. She hadn’t realized how quickly time had gone by until the bartender of the lounge had told them that they were closing in a few minutes. Luci looked at her phone as the time read 12:55 a.m., which her and Harry laughed about because they were both in shock about the night being so late already. So, they left the lounge, not before generously tipping the bartender $40 each and gathered their belongings; Luci made sure to not forget the beautiful flowers Harry gave her.

Neither of them felt like they were sober enough to get on the subway themselves, knowing they would probably get on the wrong one or fall asleep and end up somewhere else. So, they decided on an Uber, seeming as that was the most responsible and safest option there was.

Luci got inside the black Honda, saying ‘hi’ to their driver. The entire ride back to Brooklyn was quiet, only the soft breaths they both exhaled and the pounding of their hearts. Harry felt himself getting sleepier, and unexpectedly resting his head against Luci’s shoulder. She tensed up at first, not expecting the action, but she welcomed it, placing her head on top of his. They both watched the city through the car window as it disappeared from their sight once they were in Brooklyn.

Once they were in front of their apartment complex, Harry offered her his arm and she looped her arm through his, leaning into his side as he guided her to the elevator. He leaned against the corner of the elevator with Luci pressed up against his side with her arms still around his, and he looked down to see her eyes closed. He softly smiled, moving the strand of hair that had fallen in the middle of her face to the side.

The loud Ding! of the elevator seemed to wake Luci up as she startled awake, making Harry chuckle. They walked down the hall and towards their door; Harry occasionally had to tell Luci to keep quiet as she was singing ‘Wannabe’ by the Spice Girls, but Harry couldn’t help but join in.

When they got to their doors, as usual, they unlocked and opened it; but they didn’t immediately go inside their apartments. Instead, they turned around to face each other; both of their eyes droopy from the slight buzz that was still in their system.

Luci smiled before leaning in to hug him. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders as his arms went around her waist. The hug was sweet and warm as it definitely fed to the touchy-feely side of their buzz.

When they pulled away, Luci leaned up to boldly plant a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you for being here, Harry. Shall we hang out next week?” Harry nodded, not trusting his voice to say anything as his heart erupted into flames. She gave him a smile as he was frozen from the chaste kiss; and Luci walked into her apartment, waving at him before she closed the door.

Harry was out in the hallway, stunned as he blushed from the small kiss she had left on his cheek; and it was something he was going to be dreaming of until he wakes up, only to think about it over and over again.

Harry was cooking breakfast when he heard relentless knocking on his front door. He peeked his head out from the kitchen to look at the door, like that would tell him who was behind it, as he was whisking some eggs in a white glass bowl. Setting the bowl down, he walked over to the door and opened it.

To his surprise, Luci was behind it as tears streamed down her face with her phone in her hand; she was in her soft blue pajama pants with a black hoodie over, and despite her recent state, Harry thought she looked absolutely adorable and cuddly. But he pushed that thought to the side; immediately, Harry was concerned. His eyes widened and his protective side turned on, thinking he was going to lose his shit on whoever caused this poor girl to cry.

“I-I’m sorry. I just…” she hiccupped, and Harry took her into his arms. He was slightly confused about what had happened during the six hours he’d last seen her—when they were coming home from the lounge. He still couldn’t get that kiss out of his head; in fact, it was difficult for him to sleep because he kept reiterating it in his head.

He pulled her into his apartment, closing the door as he sat her down on his brown leather couch. She cried into his shoulder as she passed him her phone that was unlocked on an article. He grabbed it, not letting go of her while he rubbed her arm.

The article read on the bright screen read:

Miss Saigon or Miss No-BE GONE!

Just twelve hours ago, I went to see the show ‘Miss Saigon; for the second time. The first time I went to see it was last month when Broadway star royalty, Ms. Daisy Beck, was playing the role of ‘Kim.’ With its amazing cast, production set, and story-telling, I knew I needed to see the play again.

My hopes and dreams were crushed when I didn’t see Ms. Beck on stage, but instead, a newbie Broadway actress known as Luciana Suki. Before writing this review, I did some research on her to my very best ability because she’s practically a nobody in this business, and found out that she had been in several commercials since she was a child (great another child actor) and has been on Off-Broadway, which definitely explains the acting! At least give a man a warning before I decide to put up with a shit-show of a performance. I couldn’t even stay for the entire show because it was completely horrifying to see injustice served to Kim and a downgrade from Daisy Beck.

I tried, I really tried; but I left during intermission. Luciana Suki is not meant to be playing the part of Kim—almost everyone agrees. There was no connection, no emotion to the character, and it was a poorly done job in Luciana’s part and the casting.

It’s Daisy Beck or no production. Simple as that, or else, the show will lose its audience and precious money that they wasted on paying Luciana Suki.

Harry sighed, balling his hands up into fists as he locked her phone and set it aside. How could anybody be so cruel? He understood the importance of critics to the theatre, but to outright insult and humiliate someone wasn’t even critical—it’s being straight up rude.

Once Luci was ready and had somewhat calmed down, she pulled away from Harry’s embrace, looking at him. Poor Luci’s eyes were swollen and her eyes were red from the crying, and she was a sniffling mess. Harry quickly grabbed her a few tissues to dry her tears, and she blew her nose into the soft cotton paper, not really caring how unattractive she thought it was.

“That article was written by Adam West—the most important critic in Broadway.” She wiped the snot under her nose. “H-He practically just ruined my career and any chances I have on Broadway ever again.” Luci sobbed as it was difficult for her to accept the fact that she may never act ever again because of a senior journalist. Her chest hurt and her eyes started to become sore from the amount of times she squeezed them shut, freeing her tears.

“No, come here.” Harry’s heart ached for her, and he couldn’t imagine what she must be going through when that article was directly made towards her. He pulled her in for another hug, and she softly cried against his chest, staining his white t-shirt with her tears, but he couldn’t care less. “You’re insanely talented—critics or no critics—no one could deny your talent. What he said was unprofessional and poorly written, and that’s coming from an English major and a teacher. Now, I’m sure that you know you’re extremely gifted and you’ve worked hard to get to where you are. So, don’t let him get to you because almost everyone loved your performance last night.”

Harry reassured her quite well that Luci had calmed down; it helped that the vibrations from his chest to her ear as he talked had soothed her—it was quite relaxing. She pulled away again, looking at him through glassy eyes as another tear threatened to fall. He placed his palms against her cheeks, taking his thumbs and running it across her skin to wipe her tears away.

“Would you like some French Toast? Heard it’s a comfort-food, but I may be wrong. Maybe I’m being biased because I think my recipe is good.” He tried lightening up her mood, and it’d definitely worked because she breathed out a chuckle and nodded.

“I’m not intruding, right?” He shook his head. “No significant other to get mad at me and throw me out?” She slyly asked as she had been wondering if he had someone. Plus, she was still wondering about the red-hair woman who frantically left his apartment.

“Nope.”

“The…red-haired girl. You’re not with her?”

Harry smirked as he definitely indulged into the slightly jealous feeling that Luci was portraying. “No, we’re not dating. She’s just a friend.” He chuckled. “What about you? Someone I should be worried about?” He stirred the topic towards her as curiosity also got the best of him.

“Nope.” She answered the same way he did. “Do you make out with all of your friends? Noticed her lipstick was a bit smeared off.” Luci knew later on that she would regret opening her mouth and spewing out those particular choice of words. Her tone also seemed a bit jealous, and she had no right to be, but her crush on Harry was quickly increasing.

“I mean, some of them; when the time comes.” He somewhat joked.

“Would you make out with me?” Luci spat out, but quickly slapped her palm against her mouth, eyes widening. Her mind was speaking for herself as she’d been dreaming of the way Harry’s pink lips felt against her mouth and other places she wouldn’t dare speak aloud. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why-”

“Yeah, I would,” he responded honestly. This was the most honest and straight-forward he’d ever been, which only occurs every few months, so it was time to close that window again and wait for it to open. But he also couldn’t deny his attraction to her, like it was difficult to not be so enticed with her. He felt at complete ease with her, and it felt incredibly easy to talk to Luci and be open. “So, the French Toast?” He changed the subject, walking over to the kitchen, leaving Luci glued to her seat on the couch.

Astonished by his words, she was extra shocked that he was so quick to move on from his response. But she was glad to know that he would want to kiss her, maybe, some time in the future; but the thought made her giddy because she undeniably wanted to kiss him too.

come talk to me about your favorite moments and scenes, and your thoughts and feelings! thank you for reading <3 next chapter will be posted next saturday!

#harry styles fanfiction #harry styles au #harry styles angst #harry styles smut #harry styles fluff #harry styles x ofc #harry styles ff #harry styles fanfic #harry styles series #harry styles writing #teacher!harry #boyfriend!harry #actress!oc

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ironwoodprotectionsquad · 3 years

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How would have a hypothetical "Ironwood redemption arc" have gone in your opinion?

That is a....complicated question anon. Because the way initially Volume 7 set up things James didn’t really need to be redeemed in any sense. Is leaving behind citizens in Mantel a good thing? Of course not. But James didn’t just leave everyone for giggles and shit or because he hated Mantel. He was in the middle of evacuating Mantel when he found out Salem was coming and was massively triggered and his trauma induced flight response kicked in. He was scared, more scared then we had ever seen him before, all he could think to do was run with what they had as fast as possible, and the question on whether that was the best choice is an interesting moral dilemma but not something either side would need a redemption arc for. Both RWBY and James where justified in their beliefs on both sides but at the time technically by defying James and actively trying to stop him that put RWBY more in the wrong.

The issue is the writers said they wanted a complex moral dilemma in volume 7 but then too many people agreed with James so they decided to backpedal and make James a monster rather then continue the compelling and complex moral dilemma they created. The way V7 was set up neither side was necessarily in need of redemption. They could have learned to work together better and James could learn that sometimes it’s worth it to take risks to save more lives and RWBY could have learned sometimes they can’t save everyone but that doesn’t make them bad people, it just means the bad guys are that, bad people who are willing to kill innocent people and sometimes they cause too much damage for them to save everyone but it’s not their fault or the fault of anyone trying to save those people when not everyone is saved. Sometimes they can do everything right and the bad guys still win.

But okay I know that’s not technically the ask but it’s hard for me because if I had my way so much of volume 8 would not have even happened so theirs nothing James would needed to have been redeemed for. Sure he might have learned that sometimes it is worth it to risk everything to save everyone but that’s not a redemption thing that’s a learning and maybe kind of recovering from severe trauma deal. For at least everything RWBY was willing to condemn him for (remember they told everyone James was untrustworthy when all he’d done that they where aware of was try and escape Salem with everyone on Atlas and leave those he couldn’t evacuate behind. Really James could argue at that point that he had a plan and no one else offered a better plan that was viable and he would be right. No one tried to come up with a doable plan and just threw a hissy fit when they told James to come up with something better and he couldn’t. This man is going through a major PTSD induced panic attack and is being triggered to hell and back all he can probably think to do is run he’s not in a mental state to come up with something better but it’s what everyone is demanding of him and are getting pissed when he can’t. But okay to make things simpler I’ll look at Volume 8 James in his complete OOC nonsense for a moment and work with that, but even so for a redemption arc to work their needs to be some major changes to the volume. (Beneath the link because I have a lot to say lolz)

So one issue I have with the idea of having to redeem James is that no one ever tries to reach out to James and give any sort of viable option to save everyone, they just tell him he has to save everyone and throws a hissy fit when he says he can’t. For this all to work instead we need to see the girls trying to reach him and talk to him and beg to stop for a moment and let them think and come up with something but James refuses insisting they have no time and can’t wait to come up with something or everyone will die.

In this version James would not kill Sleet, shoot down the SDC ships or threaten to bomb Mantel. Instead he arrests the council and tells them once they’re safe from Salem they can do with him whatever they please as long as everyone is safe. After Oscar blows up the whale James tells the team he has a bomb ready to drop on Salem when she starts t reform but the team realizes that dropping the bomb would likely kill civilians close to said bomb but in James’s mind it’s what has to be done to buy them time to escape but everyone refuses to go along with James’s plan.

I’m torn on James hacking Penny because I think it would violate her autonomy in a way I feel like James wouldn’t want to do but at the same time if he’s really set on doing whatever needs to be done to save the many he might do that so I guess the hacking Penny thing is a little up in the air for me. If we want to push James further into darker morally gray he would hack her but if we want to keep him from going to far he wouldn’t. If he does hack her his justification would be he needs the staff to save people and Penny is the only way he can get the staff. (Regardless Penny would not be turned human because that is BS).

When Ruby sends the SDC ships Grimm would instead tear them down and James would recuse to send ships to help because in his mind it would be a pointless waste and he can’t lost what few ships he has left to protect Atlas as it’s fleeing Salem so the Grimm destroy the ships meant to evacuate people.

After Atlas falls have him survive and be desperately trying to find any survivors and completely falling apart as he slowly realizes no one survived and everyone is dead. Have him break and when he’s found by the ace ops and Qrow he’s inconsolable.

Qrow wants to blame James for everything that went wrong and James just doesn’t care anymore, he’s broken and just wishes he had died as well because it’s what he deserved in his mind. All he had done every morally questionable thing he had done to save everyone only wound up killing them all. Have him loath himself and tell Qrow to just kill him and get it over with, have that be what finally snaps Qrow out of his anger and make him realize he also abandoned James and that at least some of this maybe could have been stopped if he’d actually been supporting. James the whole time. Have them both apologize to each other and accept that they both made mistakes and they both failed. Have them all make their way to Vacuo with James swearing to do better and do so.

When they reach Vacuo Winter and co not trust James and want to arrest or even kill him and have Qrow and the ace ops defend him and tell them they can trust him and that they are also to blame for Atlas and that they can’t just throw all t he blame on James, have James apologize for the things that crossed the line that he did, have him tell everyone about his semblance so they understand what happened so they can hold him accountable and catch him before he gets to far in the future.

Have James be in the streets doing whatever he can to help people, have him push himself to his limit trying to keep going as long as he can before completely crashing. Have him doubt and second guess himself every time he makes a decision wondering if he’s making the same mistakes again but Qrow is their to assure him he’s not.

But even this scenario isn’t really ideal I think it would be so much more interesting if it’s RWBY that needs to be “redeemed” for lack of better words. This would bring a lot of changes to volume 8 but I think it’s some needed changes. The girls have been just doing whatever they feel like the entire series and not really ever facing any consequences. Have that finally catch up to them. We would cut the whole James shooting Sleep, trying to bomb Mantel and him hacking Penny nonsense. Instead have James arrest the council explaining that he has no choice and they can do what they see fit to him once they’ve escaped Salem and everyone is safe. Have him when Oscar blows up the Whale have him try and reach out to them and tell them that they bought Mantel time and when the girls send the SDC ships have Grimm attack the ships instead and James is trying to help defend them but he also lost a lot of ships and firepower in the attack and he can only watch helplessly as the ships that would have continued evacuations get destroyed along with the few ships he had left. Have the girls think he intentionally let this happen and refuse to speak to him. Except for Penny who is torn on what to do but everyone is telling her not to trust James but she doesn’t know what to think anymore.

Meanwhile James is in Atlas trying to figure out what to do, he doesn’t want to leave people behind but with no ships left to evacuate and the girls refusing to speak to him so he can’t use the staff he doesn’t know what to do. Qrow escapes and goes to confront James because he’s broken about Clover dying (Qrow doesn’t side with Tyrian in this version) and wants someone to blame he can actually do something about and while fighting James is trying to reach to Qrow who has a breakdown and hates himself for Clover dying and hates his semblance and thinks he’s a curse and James has to remind him he’s not a curse and it’s not his fault and Qrow asks if the same applies to him but James just can’t respond because he does blame himself for how things have gotten and the girls not trusting him and Qrow realizing that it’s his fault because he didn’t stand up for James and he apologizes for letting the girls lie to him for so long and not saying anything. Have James apologize for not trusting others more to help and come up with ideas and trying to do it all on his own.

After this they try and contact the team again but the girls all think Qrow is being manipulated by James and refuse to listen and do their plan of tricking James and arresting him only this time Qrow is also arrested again. The whole portals thing can happen same as in the show with the show actually showing a lot of people died and didn’t make it through and James again survives because of Mettle and Qrow survives because he turns into a bird and flies away but comes back trying to find any survivors and finds James. After realizing their are no survivors they decide to go to Vacuo because that’s where Salem will go next and they find what remains of the survivors. Winter and co are exhausted trying to keep everyone safe on their own and they’ve lost a chunk of the few that made it through the portals.

When Ruby and co make it back from their vacation I mean the island they expect to find people thanking them in Vacuo but instead they’re met with anger. People who lost loved ones who would have survived with James’s plan, people who now have nothing and Vacuo is straining for enough resources and people are dying slowly because their just isn’t enough to sustain everyone.

I know the show would never go this route I just think it would have been interesting and then facing some consequences for their actions is long overdue at this point. I have a more realistic au I want to eventually do but that’s all in a different post.

So long story short, I just do not think James should have ever even gotten to the point of needing to be redeemed with our so called Hero’s RIGHT THEIR. They should have reached out to him and stopped him from spiraling out of control but CRWBY knew that if anyone reached out he might not have spiraled but the girls couldn’t have been the sole hero’s of the story and we can’t have that so they did....volume 8 instead not realizing the girls could have been the hero’s and James not screwed over if they actually tried to write a good and compelling story but just decided it was too much work.

Sorry this is long and rambling but I don’t have a computer right now and I don’t know when I’ll have it so I’m doing this on mobil (also app crashed and I lost my first draft of this so I may have lost some stuff that was in the original version rip)

#RWDE #rwby critical #rwby rewrite #james ironwood #ironwood protection squad #pro james ironwood #pro ironwood #general ironwood #general dadmiral #dadmiral ironwood

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doorsclosingslowly · 3 years

Text

This Is the Time of Our Great Undoing

“Do you think Kaz could fuck someone in a full-body bondage suit?” Jesper whispers, more to distract Inej from what’s on the screen than anything else, but still—the idea won’t leave Kaz alone.

5.8k | modern AU | Kaz[/&]Jesper, part of a polycule

content note: despite the premise this is about cuddling, gambling addiction and existing during climate change

It starts the way most things used to start: with all of them piled onto ancient couches on the fifth floor of an otherwise empty building on the edge of Amsterdam, also called the Slat. These days, it’s harder and harder to get everyone together. Nina and Matthias are both in Rotterdam now, doing associate degrees that Kaz doesn’t care about. Wylan’s got room and board and a plan for the future and a social worker, and she already disapproves of Jesper as a bad influence so it’s not worth it, generally, for Wylan to come back to his old squat and hang out with the whole gang of ex- and current reprobates.

And Inej—fuck, Kaz wishes she was just a little less righteous, less concerned with how the world’s going to shit. She’s faced off against more cops now than he has, probably. Water cannons and charging horses and riot shields. She knows criminals all over the country, Europe, probably the world—but they’re the kind of criminals with morals and worthless targets, with bandanas and badly sewn patches, who will talk about Federici and sea levels and the Invisible Committee and use value if you don’t leave quickly enough. The kind that live on trees, as Inej’s going to do in a few days. The kind that don’t make any money. The kind that have even less of a chance of making it out of a job alive and free than Kaz does—and with the enemies she’s talking about, politicians, banks, Shell, he doesn’t even know if he’ll be able to extort her out of jail next time.

For now, though, they’re all together in the big room, watching some ancient movie on the massive 8k screen with mood lighting, etc, the works, that’s in the Slat courtesy of some MediaMarkt manager desperate enough to save her marriage to bribe Kaz into silence, but not so desperate she wouldn’t fuck two other women in the breakroom.

It’s impossible to know whose fault it is that they’re currently watching Pulp Fiction.

Kaz is inclined to blame Jesper, because most things are his fault in some way or another, and he’s supplying the login data for an old uni flatmate’s streaming accounts, which is where they found that film, front and centre, paid to rent until tomorrow. Who even pays for films? If that’s the calibre of people they send to university these days, it’s no wonder the planet’s going to the dogs. Jesper, though, swears he wanted to watch some goofy horror flick, so he’s splitting the blame with Nina and Matthias: Matthias, for growing up in a cult and having never heard of what’s apparently a film classic and mentioning that to Nina, who of course cooed over her boyfriend and insisted on it, even though actually none of them have watched it before either so it’s not like it’s an important cinematic milestone. Or just not b horror, crime, some weird arthouse thing with complicated morality… It’s weird and has crime but there is nothing to figure out, so Kaz is bored. It’s Inej’s fault, because instead of vetoing it she said yes, just because she has a heart-shaped soft spot for Nina. Wylan could have done his oh I’m still an innocent barely-two-years not a minor this looks bloody thing, and Kaz might not even have mocked him this time if he'd insisted on Jesper’s pick instead just so he could hide in Jesper’s arms for the most minor decapitations.

Jesper’s been talking through the whole film. Kaz got used to that a long time ago: the landing and failing of small non-sequitur jokes like rain against the window, whispered to Wylan who’s cuddled into his side on the left, or to Inej who’s burrowing under Jesper’s outstretched right arm. Sometimes Jesper thinks a quip will land better with Nina, so he shouts it over to the futon where she and Matthias are always just shy of engaging in heavy petting, and the really mean and bleak jokes he saves for when he’s made eye contact with Kaz.

Now, though: in this scene Mr Motorcycle and the gang boss are captured in a pawnshop and dragged into the basement, and Gang Boss gets raped. Inej’s hand is white-knuckled on Jesper’s arm, and Jesper’s talking non-stop. He’s talking about the flooding, and asking whether Inej thinks Doggerland will happen again but here, soon, you can never know when the scientists are so wrong about the speed of climate change, and apparently it all flooded in a day because something broke off Norway, and then he abruptly pivots to some demo where he bashed in a shop window and got new shoes, and then if she’s got dates for more street fights because then he’s in but please, don’t trick me into another book club, I don’t care about why the cops are bad I already know I just want to hit them—not topics Kaz would have chosen, exactly, but he’s rooted in his red leather armchair off to the side, not even able to hold her for comfort, not like Jes does now, and why didn’t they think to look up the content beforehand, why did they assume it was tame just because it’s an old film—and then, long after it’s over, Jesper idly asks, “Do you think Kaz could fuck someone in a full-body bondage suit?”

Wylan groans. Kaz wishes a sound existed that could express his own current emotion.

“You saw the guy, right?” Jesper turns over to Wylan, while still stroking Inej’s hair. “There was no skin on him. All leather. And that’s the trigger, so—might solve all our problems. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before!”

“I don’t see a huge difference,” Nina snipes. “Kaz is already in all-black, with gloves. Though I guess, that hood would hide his atrocious haircut…”

“Stop being so mean to Kaz, Jesper,” Matthias mumbles. “Although he does deserve it.”

Kaz downs his entire glass of vodka. When he tops his drink up for the second time—he exed the first refill right in the kitchen—he brings the bottle and some maracuja juice over and refills Jesper’s, too, because Jesper’s been anxiously glancing over at him, every moment he thinks Kaz has turned his head away, since he shot his stupid mouth off and actually, it’s—Kaz isn’t thinking about it now but it just might—maybe it could work—well, he fills up the glass to stop Jesper from worrying himself into yet another mental crisis and also so he can bend over Jesper’s ear and whisper lovingly, “I’m going to make the leather for the suit out of your skin.”

“We should look for an Ed Gein film next!” Jesper laughs, much more brightly than the joke warrants, and Kaz refuses to interpret the look on his face.

By the time Kaz gets back to the Slat, on a day roughly three months later, it’s long past two in the morning. He’s in a foul mood: of course Haskell won’t even reimburse him for the taxi he had to take because he missed the last metro. Of course he just told Kaz to take a night bus. Haskell won’t even apologize for the last minute details he wants included in his casino’s tax returns. The old man’s not even mentally capable of understanding the extra work he caused. Yes, Kaz is good at filing taxes creatively, exactly tailored for the business to pay nothing whatsoever and meticulous enough to never arouse any suspicion, but that takes work. Things have to balance. Haskell thinks Kaz just has to press a button, and that he’s paying Kaz so he doesn’t have to press the button himself, and that it’s only worth it because he doesn’t want to sully his mind with ‘the Spreadsheet Program’. Which is also why he’s loaning Kaz out to a friend of his, which he just remembered to mention today, for that guy’s mattress store slash money laundering business, so that’s even more work for nowhere near enough money.

Sometimes, Kaz amuses himself with the idea of sneaking in small ‘mistakes’. Enough for even the stupidest tax official to unravel the whole sordid scheme and land Haskell in prison for tax fraud, whereupon he’ll also be discovered to be involved with drug smuggling, blackmail, murder, … none of which will ever trace back to Kaz. But the one time he was livid enough to try, nothing happened. He’ll never manage to plunge the true depths of stupidity of an average bureaucrat, apparently, and is thus doomed to failure.

And anyway, it’s good regular money for little work. Usually. He can’t really complain. Especially not to his friends, because three are going legit, Inej will just rant about the uselessness of defrauding the Belastingdienst for a few measly million euros a year when the world’s being set on fire every day, and Jesper’ll tell him to quit, again, because they live in a squat after all. It’s not like they’re paying rent. Jesper’s never heard of forethought, or gratitude. He doesn’t know how many of his bills Kaz has paid off.

Kaz’s leg aches after the climb to the third story. Two more to go. As usual, right at this point he remembers the joke Jesper made eight months ago about fooling someone into installing a stair lift, and as usual, he dismisses it in disgust after two more steps. Stomps harder on the next flight of stairs, with grim satisfaction at the shooting pains in his knee. He doesn’t need help. He doesn’t need to move to a house with a working lift, and he doesn’t need a stair lift, either. Fuck you, Jesper. I’m the actual functional adult with a job in this household. I don’t need a stair lift.

That’s what he would throw at Jesper’s head, but it’s nearly three o’clock, and Jesper’s probably out. Over at Wylan’s, if he knows what’s good for him, but given how evasive he’s been all week, how manic… Inej’s still camping high up in some forest to save the frogs or something, but no news there is supposed to be good news. If the cops had chucked her off a tree house, it would have been on tv. About everything else, he can worry after he’s slept.

He doesn’t bother with the lights in his room. The streetlight coming in through his open curtains is more than enough, and anyway, he found the empty tenement he turned into the Slat five years ago, fully moved down here three years ago when he met Jesper, and he knows every single thing in his room by heart. The antique dresser he made Jesper and Matthias carry up with the threat of cutting off a finger for every scratch it received is next to the door, the place where he leaves his gloves and wallet and phone and cane. The coat rack beside it, where the hangers for his suit are, then the hamper, and at the foot of his bed the long black linen nightgown that Jesper’s never, ever allowed to see, and—

There’s a black shape on top of his bedcovers, Kaz realizes when he’s pulled on his nightgown.

Kaz takes his cane back. He hasn’t made any new enemies recently as far as he’s aware—none who know his name—but he was careless, brutal, desperate when he was a lone kid getting by on the streets, and those victims had gangs, families, business partners. Just because no-one’s ever traced little Kazzie the bastard rabid dog back to the Slat-that-wasn’t-then doesn’t mean a thing. The fact that the friends he started collecting press-ganged him into doing more behind-the-scenes embezzlement and fewer turf wars because ‘they’re watching us, they have all our faces and fingers and DNA on file and cameras everywhere and did you hear about that informer having kids with the activist he spied on?’ or the more pragmatic, ‘If you don’t stop fucking up your leg on purpose I’m going to send you to a kink party you fucking masochist’…

None of it means safety, not really, and Kaz is glad he’s alone now. They’ve all moved on, and even Jes… well, if he’d been here tonight then the whole squat would be trashed because Jesper doesn’t come quietly. And now, if he comes back to find Kaz gone or his throat slit… Jesper’s going to fucking collapse. He’s been one phone call away from going hysteric all week. Who knows, though—he has Wylan now, and maybe it’ll be the push he needed, the path none of them could ever find, to get his life back on a solid track.

All of that is presupposing that Kaz loses, of course.

And he does not intend to.

The weird black ninja on Kaz’ bed hasn’t reacted yet. They’re curled into a foetal position and they’re snuffling, quietly, because they’re asleep.

Not even assassins dressed up as b movie henchmen expect the toll taken by Per Haskell’s technical naïveté and utter disrespect for Kaz’ work-life balance, apparently. He got back home so late he missed his own murder. Well, then. Kaz hasn’t tortured anyone in two years and he may be out of practice, but the films he’s been forced to watch in the meantime have, if anything, made him more creative. He’ll teach them not to underestimate the brutality of Kaz Brekker, even when he’s moved up a few rungs in the ladder of Amsterdam’s underworld and landed a desk job.

He’ll—but Kaz hasn’t had to stalk silently towards his prey in two years, either. He’s underestimated the extent to which his lame leg’s gotten worse.

Also, someone’s pulled a box out from under his bed.

Kaz stumbles, and in the split-second before he catches himself on the edge of the mattress he wonders—will they have a gun? I can still bash them in the head before they fire, I haven’t gone that soft—and then the would-be assassin stretches out their lanky body as they wake up.

With their arms raised over their head, Kaz can see the bright white light of the street lanterns outside reflect off the gleaming black PVC fabric they’re wearing. Sleek and skin-tight, no ornamentation except a few steel buttons glinting at the crotch, and a full-cover leather hood over their face adorned with one-euro-sized rivets at the jaw, the forehead, the bridge of the nose, the large buckle around the neck. More buckles, at the back of the head and hanging off the right side at eye-height. The open silver zipper at the mouth reflects the streetlight, too, as does the padlock that hangs off it.

Oh no. Kaz knows that mask. Not even shoving it all the way back to the furthest corner under his bed allowed him to forget the way it looks.

Oh no.

Jesper yawns loudly. “Morning, boss. Evening. One of those. I thought you were finishing work early?”

“Haskell had some last-minute revisions to his tax returns.” Kaz sighs. “Don’t cook tomorrow. I’ll be out late for the whole next week—don’t expect me before three am. New client. I need to create a whole year’s documentations from scratch.”

“Just fuck him over, boss. He doesn’t appreciate you, and you don’t need the money. We live in a fucking squat.”

Sweet, financially illiterate nuisance Jesper, who probably doesn’t even know what that awful mistake he’s dressed in right now cost. The thing he’s dressed in. Which was hidden under Kaz’ bed. In Kaz’ room. Which they are inside right now. “You broke into my room,” Kaz rasps. “Again.”

“You know, Kaz,” Jesper replies with poorly feigned innocence, ”this thing is a little big for you. Fits me pretty well, though.”

“I told you I don’t keep cash under my bed. I told you that, the last time you tried to steal from me to pay off your gambling debts. I like my room organized as it is, and so I don’t keep any money here. Not under the bed, not in the wardrobe. And you won’t find any of my actual caches, because I’m smarter than you.”

“You’ve lied to me before.”

“You’ve stolen from me before. Remember last year? Remember you made Inej cry? I though you were clean. I thought you promised Wylan, when you asked him out, that you were done gambling. Maybe we all had too much trust in you.”

Jesper pulls his PVC-clad shoulders up to his en-leathered ears: a ridiculous sight, and Kaz doesn’t know what’s worse. That a bondage sex slave could actually look this dejected and humiliated and alone, or that Jesper does. He’s almost ready to call off the assault. It took a while to figure out, but as usual Inej was probably right, because she’s been researching and discussing the mental health industrial complex in general, and the traumatizing nature of modern life, with her comrades. Even though Kaz is neither the kind of person to touch people with kid gloves, and nor does he like thinking of Jesper as someone who needs that kind of handling—when Jesper’s in a shame spiral this deep then any criticism will drive him even deeper into the arms of the next casino. So the adrenaline and dopamine can wipe out everything else, or to feed his self-loathing even more by being exactly the person he’s terrified people think he is—Jes couldn’t quite explain it himself during the Intervention, except that everything is too much sometimes, even more too much and faster than usual.

He’s a pitiful creature. Kaz almost has pity. Then, though—

“It’s not working, boss. I know why you’re reminding me I fucking relapsed, again, and tried to steal from my best friend, again, and that I’m going to beg you to lie to Wy, again, but I still haven’t forgotten I’m wearing a bondage suit that you’ve been keeping under your bed for—two months now, is it?”

It’s just one month, actually. The manufacture and shipping took six whole weeks.

Two can play that game. Kaz might be very slightly embarrassed, but Jesper’s relapsed into the combination of addiction, theft and deceit that destroyed his life three years ago, and nearly did so again, two-and-a-half years ago and one year ago. “Careful. I haven’t even yet agreed to lie to Wylan, Jesper. About your problem. That you promised you’d tell him about.”

“Also, I notice it fits me, not Inej. Not Nina. Not Matthias. Not even Haskell, I bet. Me. Almost like it was made for me.”

Kaz ignores his insinuations. The answer’s obvious, anyway: yes, he did take clothes from the main washing pile in Jesper’s room and measured them. Yes, he used the measurements when he ordered a bondage suit. Yes, that’s creepy. Yes, a decent person would have asked. No, he’s not sorry. Jesper knew who Kaz was when he moved in with him. And it’s not like Kaz is the one who’s really at fault here. If Jesper just stopped gambling, he’d never have found out.

“Even attempted theft is illegal, Jesper. Completed robbery is worse. I cover my tracks, but you… you should be careful what you say now. They’re still looking for whoever robbed that jeweller last year.”

“Inej’s gonna cut off your head if you try. It’s like you never read her hoodies. All cats are beautiful, et cetera, Kaz. Thirteen-twelve. Keep up.”

Sometimes, the only thing that keeps Kaz from tossing Jesper out of the Slat is that Inej hates landlords and landlord-adjacents just as much as the pigs. If only he’d known back when he let the drunk penniless fancy uni boy who jumped into a fight to defend Kaz from some thugs—a fight Kaz would have won regardless—if only he’d known, before he let Jesper crash on his floor for a night or two, where all of this would end. “I’ll never mention anything about tonight again if you don’t either. Forget it. It was a bad idea. A failed plan. That’s all.”

“Without even trying it?”

“I will zip your mouth shut,” Kaz rasps. “I’ll lock it. I’ll throw the key into the harbour. Fuck you.”

Jesper, though, somehow got even mouthier when he put the bondage suit on. Less respectful. This isn’t how it’s supposed to go. “Come on, Kaz,” he wheedles. “I put it on, right? So I’m fine with it, if you’re worried. Aren’t you curious? If our places had been reversed—well, if you’d found it in my room you’d have murdered me, so we’re not exactly identical, but still. Come on, sit down next to me. This is—PVC right? Good job choosing me. Inej would hate it. So much plastic.”

“It’s less like skin than leather.”

“Not complaining, Kaz. I have some juice with a straw over there to keep me hydrated in case I sweat like a pig, but I haven’t, yet. I can probably camp out in this for a few more hours.” He tries a patented Jesper I’m flirting in an over the top way to make you laugh which is my flirting style for when I’m genuinely worried about the reaction because this way I can pass off exasperation and mockery as the response I intended look, probably with fluttering eyes, but since Kaz can barely make them out through those open zippers and the rest of his face is a complete mystery, it falls flat. It looks ridiculous, though, so it also works, and Jesper has the nerve of complaining about Kaz’ eight-dimensional chess plans. He’s worse. He’s worse, and animated by Jesper’s ridiculous, familiar movements the bondage suit doesn’t look like a pathetic attempt anymore. Not like the desperation of an emotional cripple. It just looks like Jesper, with an extra layer on his skin. Jesper, probably making a duckface, purring, “Don’t you think I’m sexy?”

Kaz looks away. “Are you serious right now?”

“Of course,” Jesper replies instantly, as if there was never any reason to doubt him. As if he doesn’t blame Kaz for doubting, simultaneously. As if Kaz is allowed to try. To fail. To fuck up, risk hurting him. There is a reason why Kaz never even considered someone else for the suit. “Come on, get on the bed.”

“We have to talk with Inej first. And with Wylan.”

“One-track mind,” Jesper replies, and just like that Kaz is ready to murder him again. “We’re not fucking. We’re not doing more than normal, except maybe touch. We don’t even know yet whether this helps you. I’m not risking it. We’ll just try touching, and if you think it’s triggering, we stop. We’ve got all the time in the world to work up to more. Until this city sinks into the ocean and the grid collapses from heat, which might be tomorrow, so. Or the fascists win.”

“You’ve been listening to Inej.”

“I do try to keep up.”

“Well, stop. Or listen more carefully, until the end, when she gets to the doomerism is the opiate of the masses part.”

“Just get on the bed, Kaz.”

Kaz puts his bent good knee onto the mattress and pulls himself over to Jesper. The fabric of his linen smock rubs against his heated skin: not like corpses, not like that, not like Jordie and he won’t even think about him or this will be over but—it just feels like his own familiar coarse age-softened nightgown that Jesper hasn’t even made fun of yet, his thin nightgown that in a second will be one of only two layers between him and Jesper.

He rolls over so he can sit down next to Jesper, at first. Daringly, he leans an arm against his best—well, they’ll figure that out later.

“Okay?” Jesper asks. He has to crane his head a lot to look through the thin eye slits of his bondage mask at Kaz’ face, and even then he’s probably mostly seeing the gleaming teeth of the eyehole zippers. And still he leans forward forty-five degrees and twists his torso and neck so he can look up into Kaz’ face, carefully keeping the arm that’s touching Kaz as motionless as possible, because he’s being careful with Kaz. Kaz has told him a thousand times he hates being coddled. He’s not a poor little abused dog, he’s a vicious murderer who destroyed his leg and his ability to be close to people while he was murdering, that’s all he ever told Jesper. That lie. And yet—even if he’s only fooling himself because this scene is so patently ridiculous, and the psych ward he got sent to once for the crime of rough sleeping while underage would stamp every single thing about what they’re doing as deeply unhealthy, and he can’t see Jesper’s soft concerned expression under the hood… Whatever it is, Kaz feels warm all over. He feels good. Safe.

Jesper can tell, apparently. “Want to touch my chest? Or climb into my lap?”

Kaz moves over, carefully smoothing down his nightgown before he sits down on Jesper, angled so he can lean with his left arm pressed against Jesper’s chest. It’s safer, somehow, than giving him the back, but perhaps someday…

Jesper loosely wraps his arms around Kaz. They’re just there, barely touching, the hands lax on top of Kaz’ right knee. You can leave at any time, they say, I’ll let go as soon as you’re uncomfortable, and Kaz would have known that regardless. Jesper’s never usually this still, unless he’s lost in concentration: and Kaz, who’s seen how gambling can destroy someone’s life, how it is currently destroying someone’s life, would still bet everything he has ever owned that Jesper’s concentrating on every single aspect of Kaz’ body language right now.

It’s not necessary, though. Those hands are gleaming black PVC. They don’t look or feel anything like Kaz’ memories.

He drops his own naked right hand onto Jesper’s gloved one. Joins them. Anchors Jesper. “How much do you owe this time, Jes?”

A beat. Jesper’s face drops down towards Kaz’ lap. Trying to hide his shame, and he’s forgotten that he’s wearing a full bondage mask, that Kaz can barely make out his eyes through the slits of the zippers. If he’s trying to deny everything, Kaz will just beat it out of him. He’s done it before. A year ago, when it was bad, but Jesper promised he got it under control. But Jesper’s promises were never worth much, not for this. If they were, they’d never have met.

“Four grand.”

“To?”

“Tom Geels. One of Big Bol’s old friends—”

“So he put you up to—”

“I was already playing when he walked up to me, Kaz,” Jesper grinds out. Aware that he could save himself from at least a little of Kaz’ disappointment by casting Bollinger as the tempter. Simultaneously aware that Kaz promised to feed Bollinger to a marine propeller last year if he ever took Jesper gambling again. Noble, to try and save Bollinger’s life—or to save Kaz from committing another murder—not that either of them deserves his loyalty. “I’ll pay you back, Kaz. I’ll have the money. Give me—give me half a year, Da’s still sending me—sending me rent money, Christ, he’s—I’ll save it. No, you’ll get it straight as soon as I get it, and in six months, you’re paid back in full. I promise.”

“We’ll figure it out. I have some jobs I could use you on. Nothing big. Intimidation, mostly. Some breaking, some entering. Boring stuff, not even worth mentioning to Wylan I should think.”

“Thank you.” Jesper’s forgotten all his restraint. He’s kissing Kaz’ forehead, or rather kissing the inside of his mask that’s pressed against Kaz’ forehead. He’s wrapped Kaz tightly in his long bondage arms too, painfully twisting Kaz’ shoulder and elbow and wrist because Kaz is still holding onto his hand. It’s that welcome pain, and the texture of the bondage suit that Kaz still isn’t completely used to, that keeps him from breaking Jesper’s nose. Keeps him—he isn’t back in the North Sea. He isn’t with Jordie. He should be, but he isn’t, and even if it comes…

Inej taught him about grounding. None of them trust the system as far as they can throw it, so she didn’t send him to a shrink when they started dating, unlike he feared, but—she said they helped her, those grounding exercises she found on the internet, and so Kaz has been diligently practicing breathing techniques and focusing his awareness on details of the present moment. Five things he can see: well, it’s dark, but the way what little streetlight gets through reflects off the folds of the suit on Jesper’s bowed stomach is quite interesting. His own knees. His hand, still clutching Jesper’s. The cane, on the floor. The floor. Five things he can hear: early morning traffic, Jesper’s breath, Jesper trying not to sob out loud in relief or shame or a mixture of both, the rustling of fabric, the squeaking of fabric. Five things he can feel: The old ache of his leg, always. Jesper’s hand. Jesper’s thighs. The hard buttons at the flap over Jesper’s crotch, digging into his side.

Somehow, Jesper’s noticed his shift in focus. At least he’s stopped crying now. “You know, you could have just asked how big I am if you wanted a suit with a dick pouch,” he teases in a voice that almost manages to sound happy. “I wouldn’t even have been suspicious.”

“Just because you have no boundaries, Jes, doesn’t mean I have to sink down to meet you at your level.”

Jesper takes a big breath. To forestall the whole Who bought this bondage suit argument Kaz elbows him in the stomach, hard. Once Jesper’s done coughing—a wriggling movement against Kaz’ side that he’s never even felt before—he mumbles something else, though. “I texted Da my new number. He called last week. Wanted to know how I was doing,” and oh. That makes sense. That’s what did it. “Apparently I’m graduating in seven months, according to that fake schedule you made me so I could keep my lies straight. He wants to come to the graduation. He asked me whether I have a job lined up.”

“I could hire somebody to fake you a degree,” Kaz offers. This should be Inej’s job. She shouldn’t be off somewhere, saving grasshoppers. She should be here. She’s the one who tried to talk Jesper into coming clean to his father, last year. All Kaz knows, all he has ever done, is to keep digging, and it’s worked for him. So far. “It’s all the rage now I hear. Cheap, too. No-one will find out. Just don’t become a politician in Germany.”

Jesper sighs. The air kisses the back of Kaz’ neck. “I don’t even care anymore. I could have a degree, or not, it all doesn’t matter. Universities are a scam to regulate economic class relations anyway. I don’t know that I can keep lying forever, or get a job, just so I don’t have to tell Da I betrayed him. Because nothing matters anyway. We’re collectively throwing the future down the drain. It’s not like anyone needs another mechanical engineer when we hit four degrees. I don’t know what we need. I just know everything I know is pointless.”

“I’m sure Inej can hook you up, if you want to blow up a coal power plant.”

“But what about you, then? What would you do?”

“I could have you kidnapped,” Kaz says. That’s not what Jesper meant. Kaz refuses to think about what Jesper meant. “Fake your death. Colm will be so relieved when they find you that he won’t even care you failed all your studies so you could become a live-in human blow-up doll.”

“That’ll only keep Da happy for a year at most and you know it.”

“Well, then Colm’s just going to have to get used to it. Get used to you, like we did. Real, annoying, good-for-nothing directionless screw-up Jesper.”

Jesper rubs his leathered cheek against the crown of Kaz’ head. “Fuck you. Thanks.”

Kaz runs his fingers over the squeaky PVC on Jesper’s forearms, steeling himself before he whispers idly against Jesper’s neck, “If Inej’s right about the warming and the sea level over the next decades, it won’t just be refugees from the south we’re letting drown, people it’s easy to lock out. Maybe you’re right about the Doggerland thing, and we all get flooded.” He swallows. The words are high up in his throat, trying to spew out. “Then it won’t just be one stupid child with a stupid family going out boating in the North Sea when there’s a storm coming. Not just that one kid thrown out of a sinking boat nearly drowning and clinging to his brother’s corpse. Your blow-up doll skills will be in high demand if everyone else gets triggered by skin contact too.”

Jesper, miraculously, reveals a talent Kaz didn’t even know he possessed: he shuts up. He ghosts his gloved hands over Kaz’ shoulders, and then he starts carding his fingers through Kaz’ hair. Kaz can feel the static electricity building up, the crackles and the safety, and then he realizes his eyes have drifted shut. He realizes he doesn’t know how long Jesper’s been petting him.

“Take off your hood,” he mumbles.

“Kaz?”

“Take it off. Scuttle over so your head’s on the pillow.”

Jesper obeys, like Kaz always knew he would. He looks up at Kaz with something that might be confusion but might also be—trust and deep joy and more, something Kaz can’t quite admit anymore now he’s in his bed, and Kaz puts his head down on his chest. His legs will still fit, and this way, he has the squeaky PVC right where he needs it. Squeaky, rhythmically rising warm dry plastic under him. The exact opposite of a waterlogged corpse.

“I don’t have time to call you an ambulance when you get into a bondage suit erotic asphyxiation incident, just so you know. I have a full schedule for today, remember. I’ll be at Haskell’s until after midnight. I have to break Bollinger’s thumbs. My alarm is at seven. Turn it off and I’ll send you to Colm in bite-sized pieces,” Kaz rasps, and then, with a movement that no-one would call timid if they wanted to keep their tongue attached, wraps his arms around Jesper. “You’ve kept me awake for two hours, so be a good pillow. If I kick you off the bed while I’m dozing, remember. This is your fault.”

#jesper fahey #kaz brekker #kaz x jesper #dimtraces makes things #shadow and bone #shadow & bone

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yehet-about-it · 4 years

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I Like Me Better | 07 - The Housewarming

~ A Wayv Social Media AU Series ~

< Prev || Series Masterlist || Next >

Synopsis: You’ve just moved into a new apartment with your best friend Yangyang, but you’re immediately faced with a problem: your incredibly noisy upstairs neighbour Xiao Dejun, or to friends, Xiaojun. You spend the first few weeks of your acquaintance hating his guts, but after a sincere apology and a fascinating revelation about his passions and motivations you slowly begin to see past his cold exterior to discover the real him. What will happen as you get closer to this troubled boy and how will those closest to you react?

Themes and Warnings: Swearing, references to drinking/alcohol.

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Word Count: 1.4k

You downed the rest of your drink as you sat on the sofa, watching your friends completing a series of ridiculous dares, including your brother giving an embarrassed looking Winwin a less than scintillating lapdance. You sighed as the deliberately loud music pounded in your head, looking down at your phone. As much fun as you were having, your mind kept drifting to Kun and how he still wasn’t here. It wasn’t that you were overly attached to him, but you’d known him for a long time and he’d been so supportive in helping you find the apartment and with the whole moving process, so celebrating without him there felt somewhat hollow. You also didn’t want him overworking himself. He was incredibly passionate about his work and you knew how much he loved it but sometimes he stayed through the night working and you worried about him. Part of you was also a little mad he was prioritising work over you, but that could be forgiven, eventually. Hopefully he’d be done with work soon and save you from your brother who was now twerking per request of Yangyang who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying Jungwoo’s incredibly embarrassing display of dance skills.

You were snapped out of your thoughts when you heard your brother yelling your name as the next person to do a truth or dare. “Huh?” you questioned, not yet realising you had been chosen to have a turn. “Come on y/n, stop looking so miserable! Truth or dare?” yelled Renjun, giggling next to your brother. Miserable huh? You’d show them. “Hmm, truth!” you declared, feeling a little bolder as the drink you’d just downed started to kick in. Truth was always the riskier option with these guys because they had the uncanny ability of being able to tease you about just about anything, whereas their dares were generally quite tame. “Hmm…” Jungwoo made a show of thinking about his question. “Would you, or would you not, hook up with your neighbour upstairs?” he said with a smirk. Your eyes widened at his question. The absolute cheek of your brother. “What?! Dejun? Why would I want to do that?!” You squeaked. Even though he was relatively attractive, the thought had never crossed your mind, you choosing rather to be preoccupied with holding a grudge against him for his loud music that kept you awake most nights. “You did say he was sort of handsome…” Winwin piped up. You snapped your head to look at him with a scowl. “So? He’s still an asshole,” you said. “You don’t like bad boys then?” Jungwoo said, a smug look plastered across his face. You raised an eyebrow. What kind of question was that? “I don’t know? It’s not like I have a type! Anyway, we agreed – no follow-up questions!” you said, very much done with the topic. “Haha, fiiiine, whatever, now your turn” your brother said, thankfully not pushing you on the matter. “Okay… Winwin…”

You continued on playing the game for a while longer before the group dispersed and you found yourself nonchalantly clearing away various bottles and cans that had been left lying around. You were brushing a can off of a table into your trash bag at the back of the lounge as Yangyang popped up over the back of the couch, clearly about to say something, when you heard shuffling out in the corridor. You had left the front door open for any late arrivals, that mainly consisting of Kun, so you could occasionally hear movement from out in the stairwell down your hall. Since you had had perhaps one too many drinks, your mind instantly went to your absent friend. “Kun!” you exclaimed, rushing towards the door, leaving Yangyang to slouch back down on the couch, the terrible joke he was about to spring on you left unsaid.

You got to the door, trash bag still in hand, only to find three young men arriving on your landing. “Kun?” you called out, before realising the three men were not your dear friend. They looked at you in surprise as you burst through the open door having expected to only find one handsome young man. As you looked them over left to right, you realised one of them was Lucas, the friend of your rude upstairs neighbour, along with two other men you hadn’t seen before. “Oh” you said, disappointed that yet again it wasn’t Kun at your door. Lucas smirked as he saw you emerge into the stairwell. “Sorry… I thought you were someone else” you said, blush rising in your cheeks. “Haha well sorry to disappoint you” Lucas said with a cheeky smile. “Y/n right?” You gulped, nervous to actually talk to Lucas in person for the first time, despite the alcohol in your system. “Uhh yeah! And you would be Lucas?” He nodded. “You having a party or something? “Uh yeah, just a little housewarming thing… You’re going to see Dejun?” you asked. You mentally facepalmed. ‘Why else would they be here?!’ you thought. “Mhm” Lucas hummed in affirmation, nodding. Then he looked at toward the man on his left, who was looking back at him with a curious smirk. “Oh, this is Ten and Hendery” he said gesturing to the men either side of him. “We’re all friends with Dejun,” he explained. “O-oh, nice to meet you, I’m y/n, me and my friend just moved in a couple of weeks ago” you said, shifting on the spot, not noticing the footsteps steadily making their way up the stairs towards you. “So you’re the neighbour we’ve heard so much about?” said the boy to the right of him, apparently called Hendery. “You have?” you questioned, bewildered as to what they might know about you. Clearly those boys had been gossipping, not unlike yourself. You were somewhat saved however, as the person you had been waiting for appeared on your landing.

As Hendery opened his mouth to say something, you noticed your friend as he drew closer to you and your face lit up, excited and thankful he was here. “Kun!” “Hey cute stuff,” Kun smiled softly walking towards you, affectionately wrapping one arm around you before turning to face the three men on your landing. “And who might this be?” he said calmly, smiling at the boys. “Hey” you started, smiling up at him, then turning to the three mysterious men on the landing. “This is Lucas, Ten and Hendery, they’re all friends with Dejun, the neighbour upstairs”. “Ah, cool, pleased to meet you, I’m Kun” he said pleasantly, but almost ingenuinely, you thought, stretching out his arm to shake all of their hands. After shaking hands, an almost awkward silence ensued, and not being comfortable with such instances, you stirred the courage to speak up again. “Well, we should probably get back to the party, everyone’s been waiting for you Kun…” “Ah sure,” he said, giving your shoulder a squeeze. Awkward tension seemed to arise as you waited for a response from the surprisingly attractive group of men gathered on your landing. “Sure, well have a good night y/n” Lucas spoke, alleviating the silence and giving you a nod, before shifting slightly, signalling to the others it was time to move on. “Uhuh. You too,” you hummed as they turned to make their way up the next flight of stairs to Dejun’s flat.

When they were almost out of sight, Kun’s arm fell from your shoulder to his side as you turned to face him. “You’re late” you said half teasingly, half genuinely irritated, giving him a pouty look. “I know I’m sorry…” he said, pouting back at you. “Work things, you know…” You nodded in understanding. You were a little annoyed, but Kun’s work was important so you found it in yourself to let it go. “Shall we?” Kun continued, holding his hand out as to usher you back inside your apartment. You smiled brightly, glad he was finally here and made your way back into your apartment. “Interesting friends…” he uttered as you led him through the entrance corridor to your party. You shrugged stopping in your tracks to turn behind to look at him. “Oh, I just met them. Actually I thought they were you when I heard them coming up the stairs, I mean, that’s why I went to the door…” you admitted. Kun looked at you and chuckled affectionately. “Well, you were close, I’m here now” he said. “You are,” you said, grinning before taking Kun’s hands in yours and dragging him towards the open area between your living room and kitchen where most of the party seemed to be happening.

“HEY GUYS!! KUN’S HERE!”

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Taglist: @i-can-do-this-all-daaaaayyy @strayteezjinnie @yukine-smx @crybabybomin @lolibaaae @nizhonimoon

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baku-no-alt · 4 years

Text

sriracha sauce | 11

bakugou x reader; in which Bakugou and some other students from UA are doing a work -study abroad in NYC. also Bakugou is nice to you for once

cw: violence, a tiny bit of body horror, angst

a/n: thank you thank you thank you if you’ve been waiting for this and you’re still here reading

You can feel Katsuki’s stare rip through your soul from across the room. You tear your eyes away from him, but the image of his unnaturally bent fingers is seared into your memory. You feel some bile rise in your throat, and squeeze your eyes shut and force it back down.

When you open your eyes again, you focus on the object in front of you - the stone in the center of the room. Mentally, you filter through all of the languages you’d studied in the past, but the carvings on the stone don’t resemble anything you’ve ever seen before. And, yet-

“Oi. Let her go,” Katuski repeats himself, and your heart cracks at the weakness in his voice. You almost can’t bring yourself to glance in his direction, but your head snaps over to him when you hear him groaning. One of the villains in the room, a large man with leathery wings protruding from his shoulders, is putting pressure on Katsuki’s fingers.

“Stop, please.” Your voice is garbled and your control over your quirk wavers as the intensity of the situation rises.

The man, however, doesn’t stop. He gives a small flap of his leathery wings and starts pulling at some of Katsuki’s fingers. Sparks shoot out of his palms, but he isn’t able to produce anything more powerful than that. You can tell he’s trying to hide his reaction, but his expression betrays him as it contorts in pain.

“Stop!” you scream, and you feel the familiar rumble of your ultimate move in your bones. The power of your voice surprises even you, and the winged villain staggers a few steps away from Katsuki. Relief floods through you, and you return your attention to the stone, having finally realized that you do recognize the language written on it.

Well, sort of.

Some of the markings start to unjumble themselves in your mind, and you’re grasping at straws for any semblance of what they mean.

“So we can make you use your power?” The villain grins, and your stomach turns.

The fact that Katsuki was never the target of the attack is now crystal clear. He was the bait.

“You want to know what it says,” you say to the villain who first spoke to you. What language are you speaking? Estonian? Latvian? Your words have a bright staccato lilt, and your r’s roll gracefully off your tongue.

“Don’t,” Katsuki grunts, in Japanese. You throw him a quick, reproachful look before returning your attention back to the villain.

“If I translate it, you’ll let us go?”

“If you translate it, we won’t kill you.” A woman steps forward - she’s speaking Spanish, a language you’re already somewhat familiar with, so your quirk doesn’t have to work as hard. You’re grateful - the constant switching is wearing you out. Her long, dark hair hangs in loose curls and she has two full sleeves of tattoos trailing up her arms. She runs a finger along her left arm, and the pen tattooed there seems to float off of her arm and takes shape.

She hands it to you. You notice weapons tattooed on her arms as well.

“What happens when I do?” you ask her cautiously. You step forward towards the stone, run your hand along the markings etched into it.

Everyone is silent.

“You don’t know what it does?” you ask, looking around at the group of villains in front of you. You start to feel uneasy - who are these people?

The (possibly?) Estonian man swallows thickly. “Translate it, or we’ll break your friend’s arms, too.”

You turn your focus back to the stone, unsure of where to begin. You can hint at some of its meaning - there’s something about a journey, and a bond. But everything else seems to be just beyond your mind’s reach.

“What are they saying to you?” Katsuki groans from the corner.

“Shut up,” someone in the room says in Greek.

You shut your eyes briefly and purse your lips together - it’s too much, all of these different languages. A headache begins to form.

“I need more time than this, I have no idea what it says,” you say. It’s true - the language hasn’t been spoken to you, so you’re having a hard time using your quirk to understand it.

“You don’t have more time,” the woman says curtly. She nods to the winged villain.

To your horror, he steps towards Katsuki again and grabs a hold of his hand. You try to run to him, but the woman conjures a knife from her arm and holds it in front of you.

You shake your head violently. “No - I just need more time, don’t hurt him,” you plead. You scan your eyes frantically over the stone, trying your best to glean any meaning, but it means nothing to you.

Katsuki grunts as the villain starts crushing his fingers. “Stop,” you whine breathlessly, but your voice doesn’t have the power it did the first time.

“Use your Quirk, and I’ll stop,” the winged villain says calmly in - Finnish? You can’t tell, it’s one of those Scandanavian languages.

“Don’t worry about me,” Katsuki’s speaking Japanese and your head starts to pound.

“Stop, stop talking,” you whimper, bringing your hands to your forehead. It’s too much.

“Más,” dice la mujer and you grind your teeth, willing your ultimate move to show up anytime now but you’re coming up empty and your heart rate skyrockets and you can feel the blood pulsing at your temples.

Katsuki tries his best to stay quiet but you can hear him suck in a breath as the villain puts more pressure on his broken fingers, one by one. You look away from him, the sight of his mangled hands making your stomach turn.

“Randmed,” says the Estonian villain and you freeze because it takes you a few seconds to realize he’s talking about Katsuki.

You hear the snap and immediately you’re lightheaded. Katsuki moans in pain and bends forward, trying to cradle the wrist that had just been broken. He lets out a painful sob.

Thought and understanding leave you, and you scream.

And you are devastating.

The scream rocks the room; windows shatter, people are losing their balance, including the woman - who drops her knife. You draw in a gasping breath, filling your lungs with as much air as you possibly can, and scream again, and you know you’re not speaking a language but you feel like you are - one of rage and pain and fear.

The crack splits the stone and cleaves it in two, and it falls to the floor.

While everyone is stunned, you grab the knife from the floor and run to Katsuki, who thankfully doesn’t seem as fazed as everyone else. You help him out of his chair and race through the door, grabbing him by his upper arm to avoid his injuries.

You rip the door open and race through the hallway, glancing behind you every few seconds to check on Katsuki.

“I’m fine,” he assures you when he notices, but you know he’s not.

You whip your head around, looking for the elevator or a flight of stairs. You were hoping for the elevator - 37 flights would be a rough climb down.

Shouts are coming from behind you, but they’re either too far away or you’re too exhausted to understand what they’re saying. You start to panic when it’s taking too long to find the elevator, but then you spot it as you’re running past another hallway.

You drag Katsuki in the direction of the elevator and hit the button as hard as you can to call it - and thank god it’s still on the same floor from when you arrived. The doors open and you help Katsuki in, watching the villains entering the hallway from the corner of your eye.

You smash the close door button but the doors won’t budge. Just your luck - it must be one of those fake buttons.

“I’ll handle this,” Katsuki says quietly.

“You can’t,” you whisper back, “you’re hurt.”

But the villains are approaching, and you have no choice. You take a few steps back and let yourself hit the back wall of the elevator. The doors are starting to close, but you know it’s not fast enough. Katsuki winces as he raises his arm, some sparks popping off of his hands.

When the villains arrive at the door, he lets off an explosion that sends them flying backwards, and you instinctively raise your arms up to cover your face. A fire alarm goes off, the elevator shakes and you’re momentarily deaf from the explosion.

Then you feel the burn and realize that his quirk also backfired.

Your forearms are covered in burn wounds, some places seared several layers deep into the skin. Everything is happening in slow motion; a look of horror flashes across Katsuki’s face when he sees you, and then he’s at your side as you sink to the floor. Tears are springing from your eyes and you can vaguely register him apologizing to you in Japanese, but your quirk isn’t working so you can’t understand anything else.

He’s frantically looking around, losing all of his composure. “Stop talking,” you say weakly, squeezing your eyes shut, You can’t understand him. You can’t understand anything.

You feel the elevator start to move. Then the world goes dark.

—

masterlist

@shareyourfandomfaves, @ha-tep, @reyna-avila-ramirez-alreanaldo, @ayeputita, @lookslikeleese, @alinakaisato, @loxbbg, @micheladakenzo, @bnhaismylife, @aurorahoneybuns, @anything-and-everything-here69, @overkill-is-underrated, @sizzlingbarbarianglitter, @squeaky-ducky, @hallothankmas, @thenezuko, @icythotsenpai, @kageyamasbabygorl, @your-typical-giggle, @tpsice283

#bakugou x reader #bakugo x reader #katsuki bakugou x reader #katsuki bakugo x reader #bnha bakugou #bnha katsuki bakugou #mha bakugou #mha x reader #bnha x reader #mha fanfiction #bnha fanfiction #bakugou fanfiction

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jaskiers-sweetkiss · 4 years

Text

Not So Bad

Pairings: Avengers!Reader x Daniel Sousa, Steve x Bucky (mentioned briefly)

Summary: What happens when Tony and Natasha don’t die in the final battle with Thanos? Steve’s boyfriend has been returned from the dust and all his friends are alive and well. He has very little to gain from going back in time and everything to lose, so you volunteer to return the stones. Everything was going swimmingly until a Pym Particle malfunction left you stranded in 1949 with little hope of return. You seek out Howard Stark, hoping he’ll be able to come up with a solution to get you back. However, the longer you remain stranded, the more you start to realize maybe the past isn’t so bad after all.

Word Count: 2.6K

Warnings: mild swearing, slight fear of needles/experimentation.

A/N: Rewatching Agent Carter and the new season of Agents of SHIELD have me on a high Sousa high but I’ve noticed there aren’t many Sousa x Reader fics on this site so I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. Let me know if I should write a part 2!

Sequel

___

“Shit,” you gasped, frantically hitting the device on your wrist. “Shit shit shit shit.”

You were standing in a supply closet though you were supposed to be standing in Tony’s yard, surrounded by the rest of the Avengers team as you celebrate the defeat of Thanos and saving the world one more time. The party was also doubling as Steve’s retirement party; he was finally passing the shield and title of Captain America to Sam and settling down with Bucky. Your travels to return the Infinity Stones had left you famished and you were craving a slice of celebratory cake but there you were, stuck in a 1940s supply closet.

“Damn you, Scott Lang,” you cursed under your breath once you realized the device wouldn’t be sending you back to the present (or is it technically the future?) anytime soon.

You let your back slide down the wall, resting on the floor as you wracked your brain for a solution. Lord knows you weren’t qualified to tinker with the device, all this time travel stuff hurt your head when you thought about it too much. The only people who knew what they were doing were Scott and Tony and they were still in the present, probably slicing into that delicious cake right now…

Your stomach rumbled and you groaned. “Damn you, Stark.”

Then it hit you.

“Oh my gosh! Stark!” You shouted your epiphany before remembering where you were and slapping a hand over your own mouth, only removing it once you were sure no one had heard you.

At least you had your solution. Find Howard Stark, fix the device, return to the present (future?), eat some food.

Your stomach rumbled again. Maybe food should be higher on your to-do list.

___

You were kinda surprised when you didn’t cry upon learning that Howard Stark’s jet had just left for Los Angeles. You were stranded in Camp Lehigh, 74 years into the past, and your one shot at getting back just flew across the country.

Alright, new objective: find Peggy Carter, surely she could get you to LA. Of course, you’d have to find a way to convince her to help you without destroying the timeline. You’ll also have to figure out how to get Howard’s help without telling him you’re a time-traveler and without giving him the ability to recreate the device. Holy shit you were never going to get home.

You were so caught up in your own mind that you weren’t paying attention to where you were going until you were abruptly knocked over.

“Oh my gosh, are you alright?” A concerned voice rang out above you and you looked up to see a hand reaching out to help you up. A hand that was attached to an extremely attractive dark-haired man.

You took the hand, allowing the man to help you off the floor as you apologized, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying any attention!”

“That’s alright, I wasn’t either.” He said, head tilted down in embarrassment.

The pair of you lingered awkwardly, neither showing any intention of carrying on your separate ways. Finally, the man broke the silence.

“Um, can I help you at all?” He asked, cheeks flushing slightly as he met your eyes for the first time.

“Uh, yeah, actually.” You responded, your voice suddenly becoming inexplicably quiet. “I’m looking for Howard Stark?”

No, you idiot! You cursed yourself, you know where Howard is! You’re looking for Peggy Carter.

“You just missed him.” The man gave you a sad chuckle. “His plane just took off for LA.”

“Shit.” You cursed, trying to channel your frustrations into accurately faking a reaction to bad news you had already received. It wasn’t until you saw the look on the man’s face that you remembered where, or rather when, you were. “Aw hell, don’t tell me you’re one of those guys who thinks it’s inappropriate for women to curse?”

Wow, y/n you’re really nailing it with the first impressions here.

“N-not at all,” The man’s eyes were blown wide as he stumbled to explain himself. “I’d be damned if I thought women weren’t fit to do anything a man could. You just don’t hear many women cursing around here, is all.”

You peered at him curiously, head tilted slightly as you did so. He wasn’t at all what you had expected from the time period.

“Any chance you could direct me to Agent Carter’s office?” You finally spoke, changing the subject, needing to get back on mission. “If Stark forgot my meeting then I’ll have to find a way to LA, I figure Agent Carter’s my best bet.”

You knew making up an appointment with Stark was going to bite you in the ass later when he didn’t know who you were but you decided you’d cross that bridge when you came to it. Right now, you needed to get to Stark as quickly as possible and this seemed like the best way to do it.

“Oh, I was actually headed there myself. I’ll walk you.” The man offered and you smiled gratefully, following him down the hallway, past your supply closet before finally reaching a door that said “Director Peggy Carter.”

“After you,” the man said kindly, holding the door open for you and you stepped into the office.

You’d seen pictures of Peggy Carter. Of course you had, nobody made it through the World War II section of their history class without seeing at least one picture of Peggy Carter, and well, you worked with Steve so you’d seen plenty of other pictures as well. But Carter was much more stunning in person and no picture could capture the way she held a room.

“Daniel, it’s good to see you,” You assumed she was greeting the man now stood beside you as you never got his name. “Who’s this?”

“Oh, uh…” Daniel trailed off, seeming to only just realize he hadn’t gotten your name either.

“Y/N Y/L/N,” you answered, saving the man from fumbling any longer.

“Are you new to base, Agent Y/L/N?” Carter asked, looking at you as if she was trying to remember you but was coming up blank.

“Oh, I’m not an agent,” you corrected before you could stop yourself. You were on a secure SHIELD base and you just told the director that you weren’t an agent, it sounded suspicious even to you.

“Then what are you doing on my base?” She asked, tone direct but not harsh.

“I was supposed to be meeting Mr. Stark for an, uh, appointment?” Your hesitation to commit to your flimsy cover was clearly interpreted as something else as Carter’s gaze became stern.

“An ‘appointment’?” Her lips pursed as she repeated your excuse and you winced. “Well Miss Y/L/N, Howard Stark is no longer here, in fact, he’s no longer in this state and I have no intention of letting one of his women running around my base.”

Oh my god.

You couldn’t help the flush that erupted under your skin at the implication.

“Oh, no, ma’am.” You began to correct her before you could become any more embarrassed. “It’s a strictly professional appointment. He wanted to, uh, run some tests?”

This time your embarrassment saved your poor excuse of a cover story. You really needed to actually come up with something rather than making it up as you went, you were going to get caught.

“Tests for what?” You could tell this was her own curiosities shining through, as everyone in the room knew it was none of their business what Stark was going to “test” you for, but well, you could exactly plead the fifth now. Especially not when Peggy Carter though you were a call girl.

“It’s uh, it’s a bit personal ma’am,” you said softly, hoping to dissuade her from pressing further but she just raised her eyebrows as if to say “go on.” You glanced at the man on your left, really not wanting to say this in front of more people than necessary. Carter seemed to notice your reluctance and pursed her lips once more,

“Miss Y/L/N, Agent Sousa is the head of our West Coast division and your best chance at getting to Los Angeles. Whatever you have to say, you say to both of us.”

You sighed, wondering if what you were about to do was worth it but you couldn’t think of any other reasonable excuse so you started talking.

“Well, ma’am, I sorta... levitate.” You practically whispered the last word, as if it was deeply offensive.

It wasn’t a lie per se, you could levitate but you could do much more than just that. You could fly and you could also turn invisible but you decided to leave all that out, sticking with an ability that could be perceived as an anomaly. Something that would greatly interest a man like Howard Stark.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not quite sure how, ma’am.” You played into the anomaly angle, hoping they’d buy it. “It just happens sometimes and I can’t control it.”

“Daniel, Miss Y/L/N will be joining you on your flight to LA,” Carter informed the man and he readily nodded. It seemed you had a convincing cover after all. You made a mental note to thank Nat for all those espionage classes when you get back home.

___

“I’m just going to take a blood sample and then you’re free to go,” Howard said and you winced. You weren’t a fan of needles, especially when it came to learning about your abilities; you had gone through enough of that in your life already, but here you were subjecting yourself to the experiments once again. You had to keep reminding yourself that it was for the mission.

To his credit, Daniel Sousa had not left your side since you met at Camp Lehigh. At first, it had been cumbersome, as you were unable to ask Howard for help with your actual problem. But now you were thankful for his presence, it had become something of a comfort through all your stress and anxieties over your current situation.

It seemed as though Sousa could sense your discomfort, reaching out a hand as Howard prepped the needle. You took it gladly, squeezing tight enough for the man to groan slightly and catch Howard’s attention.

You thought you heard him mutter “cute” and you blushed slightly before he stuck you with the needle and all your attention went back to squeezing the life out of Sousa’s hand, clenching your eyes shut in a failed attempt to pretend none of this was real.

You let out a breath you hadn’t realized you were holding when Howard removed the needle, though it took you a few moments longer to let go of Sousa’s hand, almost having forgotten you were holding it in the first place. You muttered a quiet apology when you saw him massaging his hand but he merely smiled at you as if to say you had nothing to be sorry about.

“That’s all I need from you today Miss Y/L/N,” Howard spoke cheerfully, pulling off his gloves and jotting something down on a clipboard. “If you don’t mind, though, I’d like to have you come back tomorrow for a few more tests.”

You shuddered at the idea but nodded anyway but Sousa ran a hand down half his face in what you weren’t sure was tiredness or frustration.

“Stark, it’s four a.m.,” He sighed as if he was used to Stark’s night-owl tendencies. “Surely you don’t expect her to be back here in a few hours after you already forced her to pull an all-nighter for your tests.”

You couldn’t stop your heart from swelling at the man’s words. It had been a long time since you had felt so seen by another person and though you could take care of yourself, it was nice to have someone stick up for you.

“Well, what do you know, it is.” Stark mused thoughtfully, “I never can keep track of time when my mind’s on a project.” He trailed off then as he thought. The silence was a bit alarming, Howard had barely stopped talking long enough to breathe since you had arrived.

“Very well, Miss Y/L/N, take tomorrow- or I suppose, today- off and come back the next day. I should have your blood sample analyzed by then too, which’ll give us something more to go off of.”

You nodded, equal parts relieved and anxious. You were thankful for a test-free day however that meant it would be another twenty-four hours until you could talk to Stark about fixing his son’s time travel device. But for the time being you let Sousa drive you back to his place where he insisted on making up the sofa bed for you without any help.

Your heart warmed as you watched the man do everything in his power to make sure you were comfortable. You had known each other for less than a day but already he had opened up his home to you. You couldn’t help the flutter in your stomach as you watched him limp around the house gathering bedding and anything else you might need while repeatedly shooting down your offers to help out. It felt nice to be taken care of for once.

“I’ll talk to Rose tomorrow about getting you some other clothes,” you didn’t know who Rose was but you knew Daniel Sousa, head of the West Coast division of SHIELD, didn’t need to be concerning himself with getting some rando new clothes and yet there he was, already making plans to do just that. “But for now, I hope these work.” He looked away shyly as he offered some of his own clothing up to you.

You muttered a shy “thank you” of your own as you accepted the T-shirt and pair of sweatpants.

“Bathroom’s right down the hall, towels are in the closet if you want to shower.” He said, rubbing the back of his neck as he nodded in the direction of the bathroom.

“Thank you, Agent Sousa.” You said sincerely.

“You’re staying in my house, I think you can call me Daniel.” He corrected with a small smile.

“Alright then, thank you, Daniel.”

You padded down the hall to the bathroom, borrowed clothing clutched in your arms. It felt nice to step under the warm water. While it would only be a few seconds for your team, returning the Infinity Stones had taken quite a bit of time and though your mission was far from over, you were grateful for a moment to relax. You left the bathroom feeling, and smelling, like a whole new person. You weren’t sure, but you thought you saw Daniel’s face redden when you reentered the living room in his clothes before he ducked his head, hiding his face from your view.

“Do you need anything else Miss Y/L/N?” Daniel asked as you gingerly sat on the edge of the sofa bed.

“I’m staying in your house, I think you can call me Y/N.” You grinned as you parroted back his words from earlier and he laughed warmly.

“Well, try and get as much sleep as you can, Y/N, and we’ll worry about everything else once we’re rested.” He smiled reassuringly, as though sensing how lost you felt though not knowing just how lost you truly were. “I’ll be at the end of the hall if you need anything.”

You nodded with an appreciative smile before exchanging quiet goodnights. You watched Daniel make his way down the hall to his bedroom and close the door before you laid down yourself. The sofa bed was surprisingly comfortable and you suddenly realized how truly exhausted you were. As you laid in the dark on a stranger’s bed in a stranger’s home in a strange time you thought back through the events of the last twenty-four hours and your stomach erupted into butterflies again when your thoughts landed on a certain handsome, dark-haired agent.

The last thought you had before drifting off to sleep was ‘maybe the past isn’t so bad.’

#daniel sousa #daniel sousa x reader #sousa x reader #avengers!reader #avengers #mcu #shield #post endgame #slight stucky #endgame rewrite #peggy carter #howard stark #rose roberts #1940s #avengers endgame #agent carter

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woah-were-halfway-there · 4 years

Note

Can you write a little fluffy piece of you and Auston in present time with being separated because of covid and all

Here you are my dear! It turned out longer than anticipated but oh welllll

Word count: 1.7k

Quarantine sucks, to put it simply. Places are closed, events have been cancelled, everyone is expected to stay home unless it’s essential to leave, and to make it all worse, you and Auston are spending it in different countries.

A week after the NHL announced the suspension of the remainder of the season, Auston flew back to Scottsdale. Seeing as this was before things got too intense, you still had to work and insisted that he go without you. Your office had plans to shut down by the end of that week as a precaution for the pandemic. After that, you knew you would be off for at least two weeks, so the plan was for you to fly to Scottsdale to be with your boyfriend then; but that never happened.

The severity of the situation got real bad real fast, and you were no longer able to travel. Therefore, you ended up having to stay in Toronto alone.

Auston remembers getting the text saying you had cancelled your flight as if it just happened yesterday. He had just woken up, that three-hour time difference between the two cities not helping the situation at all, and was quick in calling you to ask why.

“Aus, you should see the news,” you explained to him. “It’s a whole mess out there, and it only seems to be getting worse. Places are closing down, people are buying ridiculous amounts of toilet paper, and the government is advising that people don’t travel. Trudeau is closing the border, babe. I want to be there with you; I really do. I miss you so much already, but I don’t think I should leave Toronto just yet. Surely, this won’t take too long to blow over, and I’ll be there sooner than we both know it.”

Clearly, that was a bold assumption for you to make because over two weeks have gone by, and the two of you are still separated.

Auston still cannot get over the fact that you got stuck, and alone of all things. He hasn’t stopped beating himself up over it either. In Toronto, you don’t have a roommate to hang out with, seeing as it’s just you and Auston that live in your unit, and that alone only has made him feel so much worse about everything.

With social distancing, you can’t just go over to Mitch and Steph’s like you usually would either. Although it’s gotten to the point where the two have invited you to just stay with them until this all blows over, you keep saying no out of fear that you may have come in contact with the virus and could pass it on to them. That just wouldn’t be fair.

So, all that you really can do now is suck it up and try to make the most out of your isolation, even though it’s really hard sometimes. And god, do you miss your people. Without there being much to do other than the odd thing for work; all you’ve done is clean the condo, get groceries when you need them, watch a lot of Netflix, talk with Steph all while trolling Mitch in the comments on his Twitch streams, and of course, FaceTime you boyfriend as much as possible.

Regardless of how hard you’ve tried, you just haven’t been able to develop a routine you feel motivated enough to stick to. It’s a depressing time. So, the fact that you’re flopped on your bed, staring at the ceiling, with a half-empty bottle of wine resting next to you on the bedside table, and Champagne Supernova blaring from your Bluetooth speaker late on a Friday night; really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. You’re in quarantine; you’re allowed to mope.

Completely and utterly bored with your current situation, you roll over onto your side to grab your phone and wine from the table. Ignoring the empty wine glass that was there too, you settle on taking a swig right from the bottle and smiling sadly at the adorable picture of you and Auston that’s set as your lock screen. The image was from last summer when the two of you were on vacation with his family and just makes you feel so warm and fuzzy on the inside, even though it makes you long for how easy times were before all of this.

Great, another wave of depression.

Shaking your head clear of the intruding thoughts that decided to creep into your mind, you unlock your phone and start scrolling through social media… again. After opening Twitter and quickly getting bored with the content on there, you move to Instagram to see what the people and celebrities you follow are up too on there, only to be met by a picture posted by your boyfriend as soon as the app loads.

“No, why!?” You groan and flop onto your back again dramatically. You’re lucky the bottle of wine you’re holding is almost gone, or else it probably would have spilt everywhere with your dramatics, which you’re aware of, but really couldn’t care less about. After a moment of just laying there in silence, you eventually sit back up to take another sip of wine before setting it on the table and unlocking your phone, so you can really take in this new picture.

Everything about the picture feels like a direct attack. Not only is the scenery stunning with the beautiful Arizona sunset in the background, the image also consists of Auston looking fine as hell, shirtless, wearing one of the many snapbacks he owns to keep his hair out of his face, all while supposedly ‘discovering portrait mode.’ Honestly, how dare he?

You just can’t seem to look away. It’s such a good picture and man does it make you miss him even more. Without giving it a second thought, you close out of the app and open FaceTime, suddenly overcome by an intense feeling of neediness.

Luckily for you, it doesn’t take long for him to answer the call.

“Hey, babe,” he greets before taking a sip of water and plopping down onto his couch. He’s still shirtless, wearing the same snapback, and the sun is still clearly setting out the large windows behind him, which makes it clear that this is a very new picture you just experienced, and you’re unsure if that makes you feel better or worse. “What’s up?”

“I miss you,” you pout and let out a sigh. “So much. And then you had to go and post that on Instagram, which was just rude on your part in complete honesty.”

“Sorry,” he chuckles and shakes his head while you roll your eyes at him. “I miss you too. How was your day?”

“Kind of not great,” you tell him honestly. “I’ve been feeling pretty down.”

“Ah, so that’s why I can hear Oasis playing.”

“They’re on my sad girl hours playlist, alright? What do you want from me?”

“I know they are,” he laughs again, but it isn’t long until his expression grows serious. “And nothing, other than for you to talk to me about what’s bugging you. What’s going on?”

Damn, he knows you well and is so good at easing into these types of conversations.

“It’s just,” you start and take a deep breath in hopes the tears you already feel pricking your eyes don’t decide to overflow. “I miss you, and our friends, and how life was before all of this. I know it’s only been two weeks, but Aus, I feel so alone. And don’t you dare try to blame yourself for that, ok? You’ve done so much for me already even though you’re so far away and honestly, just talking with you helps a lot. It reminds me that I’m not alone. That there’s a lot of people out there who love and care about me, it just sucks so bad being stuck here and it’s messing with my mental health quite a bit.”

“I know, babe, I know,” he soothes and lets out a sigh. “I want nothing more than to be with you right now. Whether that be here or there, I wouldn’t care. I just miss you so much, and I’m so sorry you’re feeling the way that you do. I know that me telling you all of this may not mean much seeing as I’m in a different freaking country, but I mean it. I love you and am always here to talk if you want to.”

Now you’re crying.

“I love you a whole lot.”

“Oh, no, please don’t cry, I-,” he apologizes, but you just shake your head.

“No, it’s ok,” you tell him and use the sleeve of his Maple Leafs sweater you’re wearing to wipe away the tears that broke free. “It feels good to let it all out, you know? Thank you for making me feel comfortable enough to do that.”

“Of course, anytime,” he assures you softly. “I’m always here. And I hope you know that as soon as we’re out of this, you’re not leaving my side. If you thought you could get sick of me before, just wait until we’re back in the same place together.”

“I could never get sick of you, Aus,” you chuckle and shake your head at how dramatic he’s being.

“If quarantine has made me realize anything, it’s never to take the time I get with you for granted ever again,” he explains, making your heart swell with affection. “I mean it.”

“I know,” you reply and smile at him. “The feeling’s mutual. I can’t wait to see you in person again.”

“Me neither. Going to hold on to you a little tighter, that’s for sure.”

He goes on to ask about the positives of your day, and you spend the next little bit telling him all you’ve accomplished in your free time and asking him about his day. After a while of chatting with your boyfriend, you eventually crawl into bed while remaining on the call, and attempt to watch an episode of Ozark together.

You end up falling asleep while on FaceTime, and Auston can’t help but smile at the peaceful image of you sleeping on his phone screen. Knowing he should probably start getting ready for bed soon too, Auston quietly reminds you that he loves you and hangs up before sending you a sweet text to wake up to and forcing himself to think about how all of this will be over soon and he’ll be back with you in no time.

#nhl imagines #nhl fanfiction #auston matthews #nhl imagine #auston matthews fanfiction #nhl writing #auston matthews imagine #hockey imagines #nhl headcanon #auston matthews imagines #hockey fanfiction #nhl rpf #hockey rpf #toronto maple leafs imagine #1-s

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brucewaynehastoomanykids · 4 years

Text

I'm not who you think I am

Azarath metrion zinthos...

Aza--

The Titans alarm blared through the tower, distributing Raven's meditation session. She mentally groaned today was not the day to be dealing with villains.

For the last few weeks, it seemed like the world was out to get her. Between dealing with her own emotions, her father, Garfield and Jaime arguing over petty things that they would more likely forget about later, and Kori breathing down everyone's necks, she was bound to lose it at any point.

The only person in the tower that really didn't seem to give her any trouble was Damian. I mean, they were a couple after all, and even if they weren't, it wouldn't be anything new. However, in this case, Damian would always be the person she'd go to when she needed a break from everything and vice versa, but he had been gone for a little over a week on some, what Raven liked to call, 'Batman business', and wasn't expecting to be back for another few days. Sure, they had phone calls and video chats, but they would always come short because of something happening and one of them having to leave, leaving them barely any time to talk.

Raven ran down to the main area of the tower where her teammates were waiting. "What's the emergency?" She asked as she walked down the small flight of stairs.

"The Fearsome Five is causing a ruckus in the city." Kori began, leading the team out the door. "I've received reports of destruction, robbery, anything you could possibly think of, really."

"You know with Rob gone this ain't gonna be an even fight." Garfield said.

"We've taken The Fearsome Five down before without Damian." Raven said with a slight snap in her voice.

"Yeah, I know." He whined. "But it's a lot faster when he's here."

"Well, he's not." Now she was really snapping at him. Though she didn't really mean to. She was just frustrated with everything going on and, if she were honest, she desperately missed Damian and wanted him home. She muttered a quiet apology and walked ahead of her team.

The city was a mess. Buildings were crumbling on both ends of the street, some even catching on fire, bank alarms were ringing, children were crying and clinging to their mothers who were trying to find their way out of the ruckus. The entire scene made Raven sick. It reminded her of the destruction of Azarath, just to a minor degree. How someone could do something like this was beyond her.

The culprits in question emerged from the smoke and ash holding backs of money in each of their hands.

Jinx looked at the four, counting silently to herself before smirking, "Where's the pretty boy?"

Raven wasn't very appreciative of the cocky tone that came from the sorceress before her but still answered her calmly, "He's away. It's just us."

"What a shame. Just my luck, right?"

She threw an energy blast at the team and all hell broke loose. Starfire seized after both Shimmer and Mammoth, Blue Beatle came for Psimon, and Beast Boy after Gizmo, leaving Raven to deal with Jinx, blocking her attack with a shield of her own energy magic.

Both sides struggled for a while. Blast after blast and hit after hit, neither side seemed to be slowing down any time soon.

Raven was growing angrier at her fight. Jinx had been making snarky comments and taunts since the fight started and it was starting to drive her nuts.

"Is it true what they say?" Jinx as the two finally clashed, "That the little crystal on your head has your dad trapped?"

The question threw Raven off guard, causing her to weaken herself and giving Jinx the upper hand on pinning her to the ground.

"If it is true..." the sorceress began, leaning down towards the empath's face, "then I wonder what happens if I do this..."

She touched the small stone, sending a shock of magic through her fingers and into it. Raven's eyes went wide. She could feel herself losing all sanity she had left. All the anger and frustration she had built up until this point was about to make itself known. Her vision went from black to white, to red in a matter of seconds before she had completely blacked out.

Raven awoke in a cell. Her wrists were chained with cuffs that halted her magic. She recognized the cell from her visits to Damian's home: this was a cell in the Batcave. For a moment, she wondered how she had got there before bits and pieces came back to her. She remembered screaming of citizens and the yells of her friends trying to stop her. She remembered nearly killing everyone in sight and destroying nearby buildings and roads. Then she remembered a plane: the Batwing coming into Jump City.

"I must have fought Batman himself..." then, she realized, "Oh no... I must've fought Damian, too..."

She begins to think the worst at that point. She had feared for a while that Damian was only with her for research reasons because he didn't trust her. Because of this, she refused to ever look into his emotions. She couldn't bear the thought of finding out it was the truth. Thought, if that is, in fact, true, she'd definitely find out about it now.

She heard some yelling going on upstairs. She recognized the voices to be Bruce and Dick. It was difficult from where she was, but she tried to listen in on what they were saying.

"...ruce, aren't you being a little rash?"

Dick, she decided.

"She's a chaotic monster, Dick, she has to be restrained somehow."

Bruce...

"Look, all I'm saying is that we don't know what happened. This could be one huge misunder--"

"What misunderstanding, Dick?! You were there, you saw what she did, for God's sake, Dick, she tried to kill us!"

"You don't see the Titans every day, Bruce. I've seen this girl every day since she arrived and trust me she is anything but a monster. The only reason you--... Did you hear that?"

"Came from the roof."

"Wait is that..."

"She's getting away! Still think she's good, Dick?"

"Shut it."

There was running before silence filled the air.

"What was--" Raven began, but was cut off by a familiar voice.

"A distraction."

Raven snapped her head around to see Damian holding a pair of keys in his hand.

"Distracting him with his own holo-tech. Grayson's idea, actually. Still, we should hurry, my father is no fool." He unlocked the door and got the cuffs off Raven, who only looked down at her freed wrists in confusion. She snapped out of her trance when she saw Damian reach for her hand, leading her to a nearby motorbike that he was obviously planning to use as a getaway vehicle.

"What about your dad? Won't he come looking for us?"

"Grayson said he had a plan for convincing him to reconsider his wishes. Is it a good plan is still in question, but it's the only plan we have."

"Whatever you say..."

They were silent the whole way back to the tower, leaving the Empath to her thoughts. She mentally scolded herself for allowing Jinx to get that close to her but was madder at the fact that she caved into her advances so easily. She knew she was stronger than that, and wondered why she would have allowed herself to be overtaken by a low leveled witch. It was then she decided that Bruce was right, that she was too monstrous to be a hero.

The couple finally reached the doors of the tower. Raven put a hand on Damian's shoulder, stopping him from going inside.

"Wait, Damian..." she hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I wasn't sure you'd actually save me... thank you."

The boy wonder scoffed slightly. "You should know by now that I do not care what anyone else thinks. I will always back you up."

"You didn't let me finish... I think your father is right."

"What?"

She crossed her arms and gave him a serious look. "Damian, half the city is destroyed because of me. Hell, I tried to kill people I care about... besides, it's not like you probably trust me anyway. You've always been skeptical of people, even your friends, and family. And especially people who have done something like this." She flung a hand out, pointing at the city where reconstruction was still happening. "And not just that..."

"Then what else?"

"If I may be so blunt: you're not exactly the most hideous person in the world, and it doesn't help you share the blood of the biggest billionaire out there... you could've had anyone. You could have had someone better than me--someone more heroic than me... so why me? Why trust me? Why love me?"

He was silent for a moment. Shocked at what came out of the girl he loved so dearly. Truth be told, he loved everything about her. Even her faults. After a moment, he finally was able to respond, "Because you are the only one I want. You always have been... is that really so hard for you to believe?"

"Damian, listen..." She put both of her hands on his shoulders, looking him in the eye as she spoke. "I'm not who you think I am... I'm a demon who has her own demons. Ones you can't possibly imagine. And I don't want to hurt you because of those demons."

Damian smiled a rare but genuine smile. "And I pray one day you will allow me to meet them. But until then, I'm just pleased to stay by your side. You have already proven to me that you are trustworthy, Raven, time and time again. I know you believe that your outward appearance and your family history makes you a horrible being, but trust me, it doesn't... I think I'm a pretty good example of that. And even with recent events, I know this isn't fully your fault. I've already been in contact with Koriand'r, she told me everything. Besides, as you said, you, yourself, have demons."

Raven couldn't say anything. She only looked at him pleadingly to just leave her and live an at least semi-safer life, but he only continued to smile, saying, "You cannot convince me otherwise, beloved."

She sighed in defeat. "I figured as much... though I should warn you that there may come a day you regret that decision."

"Highly doubtful."

"What?"

"You heard me. You should know I could never regret you. Not for a moment."

Raven smiled, seeing as though there was no point in arguing with him. "You should probably go help Dick."

"Sadly, yes. You should get inside. I'm sure everyone is worried." He said, walking towards his bike. "I'll return shortly." And with that, he drove off.

Raven let out a sigh before turning a heal to walk into the tower, smiling slightly to herself.

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keelywolfe · 4 years

Text

FIC: A Pressing Engagement ch2 (Not baon AU)

Summary: Brotherly bonding, by way of felonies.

Tags: Spicyhoney, Fluff and Angst, Dating, Developing Relationship, Humor

Chapter 1

~~*~~

Read it on AO3

Read it here!

~~*~~

“Brother,” Blue sighed as he pulled his car up to curb two houses down from the Fell brother’s home. “I’ve known you for a long time.”

Stretch gave him a sideways look. “we’re brothers, i was literally there when you were born.”

Blue ignored that. “And I know we’ve discussed that shortcutting around is rude, but in this situation, I feel as though you could simply pop into Edge’s garage, look for the ring, and we can be back home in time for the new Napstaton special.”

“oh, that’d be too easy for my life,” Stretch grumbled as he pulled a dark knit ski mask over his skull, drawing it down over his face for maximum espionage. The last thing he needed was his white-ass noggin out there bobbing around like a second moon. “i can’t shortcut in. red rigged up some kinda anti-teleportation field around their house, ever since sans stashed all that nitrogen-frozen shaving cream in red’s room.” He tried to flash Blue a grin before he remembered the damn mask. “can’t blame him even if it was funny as hell. i doubt his room has been that clean before or since.”

“Yes, I remember that. Edge wasn’t as amused.”

“that’s ‘cause his sense of humor is atrophied from disuse, we’re working on it. so if shortcuts are out, we gotta be discreet. which is why you should’ve changed when i asked!" Stretch said accusingly. He glared at Blue's bright pink She-Ra t-shirt, showcasing Catra and Adora in a loving embrace. The sentiment was appreciated, the color, not so much, his bro was gonna stand out like an adorably affectionate beacon.

“My apologies for not owning any cat burglar gear, I missed out on auditioning for the remake of Ocean’s 11. Really, brother, we’re breaking into one garage, not a casino vault.” Blue sighed again and turned off the car. “I really don’t think this is a good idea.”

“none of this was a good idea, but here i am.” Should’ve known it was a mistake the second he walked into the jewelry store, could’ve wasted a lot less time if he’d probed Edge for marriage opinions before he opened his wallet. But there wasn’t time (heh) for him to work out his own version of ‘Back to the Future’, so they were gonna have to stick with heist movie.

Stretch got out of the car and skulked closer, inspecting their surroundings, Blue following reluctantly behind. The sidewalks were empty, everyone else was sensibly inside watching their preferred nighttime entertainment since it was dark except for the bright streetlamps positioned evenly down the length of the block.

Stretch paused outside the ring of light by the Fell home, summoning a small, sharpened bone. At his elbow, Blue asked worriedly, “What are you doing?”

“i’m gonna break the streetlamp so no one can see us.”

Blue grabbed his hand, hissing, “You are not! I did not sign on for destruction of property! Unscrew the bulb and we can tighten it again when we leave!”

Okay, to be fair that was a much better idea, even if it took a lot more concentration and a quick mental ‘righty tighty, lefty loosey’. With a little effort, Stretch managed to coax the oversized bulb loose and the light went abruptly dark. Perfect.

The two of them crept closer to the house and if Blue was humming the ‘mission impossible’ theme song under his breath, Stretch couldn’t exactly gripe at him. He’d had it blaring nonstop in the back of his head since they’d left the apartments. They paused by the well-trimmed shrubs that ran alongside the garage while Stretch considered the plan.

Opening the main garage door was out. Even if Stretch could clip the house alarm, there was no way one of the Fell brothers wouldn’t hear that grinding its way open. Reconnaissance was supposed to happen before the damned heist, every movie Stretch ever saw taught him that, but they were working in a time crunch and wasn’t it a shame that the only room in the Fell house that he knew with any real detail was Edge’s bedroom. Also the shower, but neither of those options were real useful right now.

He looked around, squinting through the dimness, hell, they should’ve done this before he killed the streetlight. To his relief, he could see the outline of window in the shadows, up high on garage wall. He gestured to it, whispering to Blue, “give me up boost up.”

Blue gulped visibly and reached out, the faintest glow rising in his fingers. There was a soft ting as his magic enveloped Stretch’s soul, lifting him off his feet and towards the window. Or more like sending him on an increasingly wobbly flight through the air, limbs dangling as he slowly rose. Stretch bit back a squawk as the grip on his soul twisted him nearly sideways, then hastily overcompensated in the other direction to almost send him careening into the building.

“careful!” Stretch whispered furiously, biting back a curse as he shoved away from the wall. “seriously, what have you been learning with all that training you do!”

“I’m terribly sorry, Alphys never covered breaking and entering!” Blue hissed. Sweat was visibly standing out on his skull, glimmering in the moonlight. Another minute of unstable and slightly painful antigravity later and Stretch was hovering outside the window.

His black hoodie was a better choice for more than the color. Its pockets zipped securely shut, holding his tiny collection of burglary tools safe and sound. If Stretch’d been wearing this one earlier, none of this would be happening and wasn’t hindsight a nosy bitch. He dug out his tools, flicking on a penlight to inspect what the paranoid goblin had going for home security. There was an alarm, to be expected, but it looked like a simple wire job. All Stretch needed was five minutes and a pair of wire snips and he’d be inside.

“Oh!” his brother’s voice suddenly carried through the quiet, too loud and verging on a panicked cheer, “Good evening, Mrs. Gerson!”

Stretch’s head whipped around to see an elderly turtle Monster gradually walking up to Blue, cane in hand and waving with dreamy slowness. He couldn’t hear what she said to Blue, but his brother’s voice came loud and clear, “Yes, working on my stretching exercises! I do them for a few minutes every day. Trying to hurry up with it today, it’s later than I thought!”

Not exactly what he’d call discreet, yeah, but Stretch sure as hell got the message.

Frantically, Stretch got to work on the wires, clipping and twisting them into a messy sort of bypass. There was no time to be tidy, not while he was dangling here like a bargain basement Spider-man as Blue tried to keep Mrs. Doubtfire distracted over there. A muffled grunt escaped as Stretch suddenly listed to one side, hanging horizontally in the air. Another twist sent him face-first into the wall and Stretch tried to brace himself against the siding, biting off a yelp as he was dragged noisily upward.

“Whoops,” Blue called in a loud, nervous chuckle, hopefully covering the rattle of bones whacking into the side of a damn wall, “I think I still need to hold that stretch for another couple of minutes.” From this angle, Stretch had no idea what Mrs. Gerson was making of the washboard sound of him lurching up and down the siding like mysterious jug band traveling through the night, “Goodness, not sure how much longer I manage!”

Whatever calisthenics Blue was doing finally bent him in a direction that was close enough to the window for him to reach. Stretch grabbed on, hauling himself upright and holding on frantically with one hand as he clipped the last wire. He shoved up the windowpane, wincing as it screeched ominously the way windows only did in the middle of the damn night when someone was trying to sneak through it. He didn’t wait for Blue to try breaking out in song to cover it up, diving through the narrow panel and nearly tumbled straight to the concrete floor as his brother’s magic released, barely managing to catch himself and drop clumsily to his feet.

Okay, that went well.

Damn good thing he was breaking into Edge’s garage; the entire thing was pin-neat, no suspicious stack of paint cans to knock over or a pile of trash bags to fall into. Only tools on the wall, a clean workbench, and the pristine shape of his car precisely in its place, gleaming metallic cherry-red beneath the narrow beam of the penlight.

Now all Stretch had to do was get into it. A slim jim tool was out, for several reasons. One, despite watching several youtube videos on his way over, Stretch was not confident he could do it, two, it might damage Edge’s car and that was right out.

There was also the small matter that Stretch didn’t have a slim jim, so that left trying to hack into Edge’s Onstar account to wirelessly unlock it.

That he could probably manage and he spent a long, sweaty ten minutes on his phone, wrangling through firewalls and password detectors, searching and fruitlessly guessing, getting more frantic by the second as he silently cursed paranoid fucking Fells and it was only when despair was setting in that it occurred to him to try the door.

It opened easily under his tentative touch and the amount and variety of swearing that went through his mind right then would have sent Blue sprinting to the nearest grocery store for their entire stock of soap.

Okay, no more time for distractions, the finish line was in sight. Stretch crawled inside, penlight flashing as he searched frantically through the interior.

Not that there was much to see, Edge kept his car painfully clean. Even the mats were glossy black, not a speck of dust on the control panel, no stray fries or pennies caught in-between the seats. His panic was hitting all new highs when the light caught on dark velvet wedged in between the passenger seat and the door.

It must’ve fallen when he got out and Stretch picked it up, his knees watery-weak with relief as he opened it to look at the rings which, stupid, what was he afraid he got the wrong velvet box?

Time to get out of here, rescue Blue from Granny Mcgee and get the fuck out for the celebratory fist bump, and he barely had time to even think it when the overhead light came on at the same moment a much harsher blue magic than his brother’s took hold of his soul and slammed him painfully into the garage door. It knocked the breath out of him and Stretch hung there, wheezing, the box clutched tightly in his fingers as the last voice he wanted to hear echoed coldly through the garage.

“Stop struggling.”

Fearfully, Stretch lifted his head to see Edge strolling in through the doorway and it was honestly impressive how imposing he could be in a pair of silk pajamas and slippers.

“I’m afraid you’ve chosen the wrong car to steal, thief, I’m rather fond of it, I—” Edge stopped, his eye sockets narrowing and Stretch cringed as he reached out and roughly tore the ski mask off. His sockets widened in disbelief. “Stretch?”

“um. hey.” Stretch waved feebly with his empty hand.

“What the hell are you doing,” Edge sputtered out, cold anger melting into clear upset, “I could have hurt you!”

Yeah and sweat was running down his tailbone just thinking about it. Good thing it was Edge and not Red who found him, the gremlin might’ve dusted first and felt a micron of guilt later.

Stretch waggled his feet in the empty air. “um. gonna let me down?”

Edge’s gaze narrowed. “I’ll consider it. What are you doing here and if I hear the words shaving cream, I’ll—"

“no! no, nothing like that,” Stretch blurted in automatic denial and regretted it immediately. Shit, mistake, probably should’ve let Edge believe it was a prank of some sort, let him get mad and yell. He would’ve gotten over it eventually and they could’ve gotten back to their non-dates and twice weekly sexytimes with the occasional overnight thrown in for extra flavor. Except, Stretch didn’t like it when Edge was mad at him and not just mad, he would’ve been disappointed, even hurt, because any prank that involved his car was taking it up to a level of cruel. Edge’s car was his baby and Stretch wouldn’t do that to him, never never ever.

Didn’t matter, he’d sort of lost his chance to go with prank when he denied it was one, so there was nothing left but some version of the truth. Stretch took a deep breath and went with the basics, “i left something in your car, is all. didn’t want to bug you to get it, not after begging off on you. stupid, i know.”

“Very stupid,” Edge agreed, “considering that we have motion sensors in the garage.”

Of course he fucking did. “yeah, um, sorry.” Now that a portion of the truth was out there, time for a distraction. Hanging on the wall like a modern art installation probably wasn’t giving off the sexiest vibes, but Stretch gave it a shot, calling up what he hoped passed for an enticing smile, running his tongue lightly across his teeth, “’m feeling a lot better now, though, could head upstairs if you want, make up for a little lost time…?”

Edge raised a silencing hand and Stretch reluctantly obeyed, ah, fuck, he was too late, Edge was thinking about it, shit, and proved it by saying, slowly, “Let me see if I understand. You left something in my car and decided you needed to break into my home, bypass the alarm, pick the locks, and skulk through my garage to get it instead of simply asking me?" Edge crossed his arms over his chest and the intensity of his glare went up a notch, "No."

"no?" Stretch parroted, confused.

"No, that goes beyond the bounds of suspending my disbelief, so you're lying." Edge’s sockets narrowed and Stretch flinched from the true anger he could see there, "I do not like liars or thieves, so show me what you took."

His grip tightened around the velvet box. “but i don’t—”

“Show me,” Edge barked out.

Humiliating tears started welling, fuck, this wasn’t the time for it, all his earlier disappointment rising back up chokingly painful in his soul as Stretch whispered brokenly, "please don't make me."

Edge’s grip on his soul wavered, sending him sliding down an inch as that anger faded into bewilderment, "What…you broke into my garage, why are you—just show me!"

Miserably, Stretch held out the velvet box, let Edge snatch it away. From his continued confusion, he still didn't get it, not until he popped it open. The bands gleamed garishly in the overhead lights, carbon tungsten because the salesman assured him that it was extremely durable, with a twined color strip woven through the black metal of orange and red. Their colors joined together the way Stretch had hoped, stupidly, that their lives would.

Dawning realization as Edge looked from the rings to Stretch and back, again, and once more for good measure.

"Oh," Edge said blankly.

"yeah,” Stretch said, tiredly. “can you put me down now?"

Hastily, he did. "Stretch--" Edge began, all awkward gentleness now, the ring box still open in his hand like a mockery of Stretch’s hopeful daydreams and wasn’t that just typical of his life?

And Stretch just couldn’t. He couldn’t listen to the pity he could already see in Edge’s eye lights, he couldn’t, not right now with what felt like his entire soul choking in his throat. Red’s little shortcut blocker worked for going in, but not out and now that Edge didn’t have him pinned, Stretch was fucking gone. Stumbling out onto the sidewalk outside and almost went to his knees right where Blue was still chatting awkwardly with Mrs. Gerson.

“we need to go,” Stretch blurted. “right now!” And when Blue didn’t move fast enough, Stretch grabbed him around the waist and yanked him off his feet. Let someone else get dragged around for a change tonight, Stretch was sick of it, felt bruised inside and out as he dashed over to the car.

“Oof, bro-oth-er!” Blue yelped as he was all but bowled into the driver’s seat while Stretch scrambled over to the passenger side “What on earth is going on?!”

“go!” Stretch pleaded, “just go, i’ll explain at home.”

Blue probably would’ve put up more of a fight, sure as hell would with any other brotherly manhandling, but he caught sight of tears starting to boil down Stretch’s cheek bones and instead fumbled for his keys. “All right, we’re going.”

The engine started and he began to pull away…right into a massive cage of bones grinding up around the car from the ground, chunks of asphalt falling from the jagged tips. Directly in front of them was Edge, both hands flung out and his roused magic surrounding him in a fiery aura. His crimson eye lights blazed as he forcibly held them back in a glorious depiction of viciously controlled power even while he was still in those damn silk pajamas and slippers.

Really, it was damned impressive. He was fucking gorgeous and Stretch hated himself for noticing, for even thinking it.

“Turn off the car,” Edge said, loudly, and Blue did, sitting mutely as Edge let his magic fade. He walked over the passenger side and opened the door, leaning in as he said evenly, “I think we need to talk, don’t you?”

Stretch buried his face into his hands and wondered if he could get away with a ‘fuck, no.’

He dared to look out and from the expression on Edge’s face, fleeing was only gonna lead to a wild hunt through the city and Blue already said he didn’t want any property damage.

Might as well get it over with. Stretch nodded and impatiently wiped his face on his sleeves as he got out of the car. He couldn’t even be insulted when Edge firmly grabbed his elbow and held on, leading him towards the house despite the way Stretch’s sneakers dragged through the crumbled remains of the road.

Mrs. Gerson smiled and nodded as they walked past, waving as she croaked out, “Have a good night, boys!”

“Thank you, Mrs. Gerson,” they said in unison, Edge crisply polite and Stretch a dismal mutter.

Edge unlocked the front door, pushing Stretch through it and he didn’t look up, not at Red who was on sofa, sitting up from his slouch with a genuinely startled, “what the fuck…?” and not at Edge, who ignored his brother to guide him up the stairs to his bedroom.

He closed the door and firmly set Stretch in the desk chair while Edge sat across from him on the bed.

“All right,” Edge said. He held out the ring box, blessedly closed, hiding the contents that Stretch was pretty sure he never wanted to see again; he’d rather toss them in the trash than try to return them at this point, “Now. Start from the beginning.”

tbc

Read Chapter 3

#spicyhoney #papcest #keelywolfe #underfell #underswap #underfell papyrus #underswap papyrus

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bssaz97 · 4 years

Note

Hey can we get a sequel to the happy room where after much arguing and childish temper tantrums jaune caves in and starts liking the room much the everyone’s delight thank you for reading this have a awesome day

The Happy Place 2

Jaune: “Let me go you traitors! I will not be forced against my will!” *wiggles against his restraints*

Ruby: “Jaune this is for your own good.” *finishes duct-tapping him to the comfort chair*

Jaune: “You can’t just force me to like this place!”

Yang: “Sorry but you really have a choice in the matter now.” *finishes tapping up a controller in his grasp*

Nora: “Here Jaune-Jaune, you even get a gaming cup!” *Pulls out a large plastic cup that’s reminiscent of a sippy cup*

Jaune: “Ok now that’s just degrading!”

Weiss: “If you continue to act like a child Arc, then we will start treating you like a child!” *sticks a pacifier in his mouth*

Jaune: *spits it out* “I’m not a baby! I’m-!”

Ren: *places hand on Jaune’s head*

Jaune: “Fine. Do what you guys want.”

Yang: “Wait a second! You could’ve done that the whole time!” *glares at Ren*

Weiss: “Why didn’t you do that before?!”

Ren: “I can’t use my semblance on something that’s running away.”

Weiss/Yang: “.....Ohhh.”

Ruby: “Sorry Vomit Boy. But since you’ve refused to stay in the room by choice, we’re gonna have to make it mandatory.”

Jaune: “There is no true choice in the world. Only actions and outcomes. Either way what’s the point. We’re all gonna die in the end.”

Oscar: “WOW. He really needs this room more than I thought.”

RWBYNR: “We know.” *deadpans*

Ruby: “Ok Jaune. We’re gonna leave you in here so just sit and relax.” *turns on the screen that has a gaming menu opened with multiple games added on the playlist*

Jaune: “Ok.”

-The Next Day-

Jaune: *left and right* “Ok. Time to go.”

Slowly Jaune creeps by both teams dorms and does his best to keep quiet. They may have caught him yesterday, but they won’t succeed today. He’s secretly memorized each one of his friends sleeping patterns and plans that if he leaves to train before they notice him then they won’t proceed to follow him. Jaune hasn’t done this tactic since Mistral but he knows it’s full proof as he knows no one took notice that he did such a thing while one their journey. He begins to make it down the when he froze when he felt someone tapping on his shoulder.

Jaune: *slowly turns to look behind him*

Behind Jaune was Ruby, Nora, Ren and Blake, giving him the most tired glares he’s ever seen.

Jaune: *whispered* “Umm... Hi, you guys up to go grab a glass of water too?”

Ren: “You grab water with your weapon and armor on?” *points out*

Jaune: “Umm... Maybe.”

Ruby: “You sure you’re not gonna go train in the middle of the night and wake up with barely enough sleep to function tomorrow morning, Vomit Boy?”

Jaune: ‘Curses, I didn’t count on Ruby knowing my secrets! Then again I suppose having my girlfriend finding out I’m sneaking out to go train in the middle of the night isn’t as bad as how most of these situations goes to others. At least I hope not. Never mind that Jaune, you need to think of an excuse to why you’re out here before they try to foil the plan!.’ *thinks to himself*

Jaune: “Well... It makes me feel powerful enough to scare away the night ghouls.”

RBRN: 🤨

Jaune: ‘...Night ghouls. That was your best excuse? It’s was the best I could think of in the time I had! Good gods man, you couldn’t have thought of oh I don’t know any other plausible explanation to explain why you have your freaking armor on in the middle of the night! Hey I don’t see you thinking about anything at the moment, why don’t you try to fix this! Fine I will!’ *mentally arguing with himself*

Jaune: “Sorry that was a bad attempt at a joke. What I meant to say was that I wanted to have my armor on so that no Atlesian guards would catch me in my pajamas. Gotta save some dignity you know?”

Blake: “Wow. That sounds like a great explanation.” *says with a sarcastic tone*

Jaune: “Thank you.” *didn’t notice the sarcasm*

Blake: “But! There’s one flaw in your story.” *points at him with her index finger*

Jaune: “What ever could that be.” *starts getting nervous under her glare*

Blake: “Our rooms have a filtered water dispenser. So why would you ever need to go get water from outside of your room?”

Jaune: ....

RBRN: ....

Jaune: “....YOU’RE NEVER GETTING ME ALIVE!” *starts sprinting down the hall*

Ruby: “Nora.”

Nora: “I got ‘em.” *hold up one of her emptied grenade canister and throws it down the hall in a perfect spiral*

*Ting!*

Jaune: “AGH! MY LEG!”

Nora: “Touchdown!” *raises both arms in the air*

-The Next, Next Day-

Jaune: ‘Ok so the plan last night didn’t work, but that’s no issue you’re not used to seeing. You’ve been through worse situations before and you’ve overcome them... most of the time... ok sometimes. But that’s besides the point. You are an Arc, and Arc’s do not give up remember what your dear old dad said!’

////Flashback////

Papa Arc: “Remember son, if you’re ever in a situation where you are forced to slow down on being a great huntsman... listen to them. Because being a huntsman is bad and you should never try to run away from home and be something you’re not meant to be. Trust me son, it’ll be better for you in the long run. Now run along and play while I go and earn bread for the family. See you in two months son! Also don’t touch great-great grandfather’s sword!”

////Flashback End////

Jaune: 😐

Jaune: “I’m starting to think I have more issues than I originally thought. Anyway, you are a Arc and Arc’s don’t surrender easily! The others are out on missions right now, so there’s nobody around to force me to into that room of lies and deceit.”

Penny: “Salutations friend of Ruby’s!” *says from behind him*

Jaune: “Gah! Where’d you come from!” *jumps in place to turn around*

Penny: “Oh my apologies Friend of Ruby, it was never my intention to startle you. I was just hoping to surprise you with my presence.”

Jaune: “‘sigh’ That’s alright Penny. So what did Ironwood or Winter send you?”

Penny: “Nope. I have actually been issued a special secret assignment from Friend-Ruby to watch over you.” 😊

Jaune: “...Is it still a ‘secret’ mission if you tell me about it?”

Penny: “Silly Friend of Ruby, my mission is to keep it a secret from General Ironwood.” *she says then whispers to him the last part*

Jaune: “Hmm. I guess that makes sense.”

Penny: “I’m pleased that you agree Friend of Ruby.”

Jaune: “Also why are you calling me ‘Friend of Ruby’? Not that there’s anything wrong with that but why not call me by my name?”

Penny: “Oh that’s simple Friend of Ruby, it’s because I have yet to learn your name!”

Jaune: “Really? Ruby never told you my name?”

Penny: “That is correct. Although in Friend-Ruby’s defense I have yet to properly interact with anyone else in your teams.” *her smile never ceasing*

Jaune: ‘Huh. Now that I think about it, none of us has really ever gotten the chance to get to know Penny as well Ruby did.’

Jaune: “Well my name’s Jaune Arc.” *offers to shake hands*

Penny: “Splendid! I’m happy to meet you Friend-Jaune!” *shakes his hand rapidly and enthusiastically*

Jaune: *rubs his sore hand* “‘hiss!’ You don’t need to call me-you know what never mind, it’s probably going to be easier on both of us if I don’t question it.”

Penny: “Very well then, let us be on our way!”

Jaune: “Where are we going?”

Penny: “We are going to be visiting your designated room of happiness. That is what Friend-Ruby asked me to accomplish while she was away.”

Jaune: “Um, actually why don’t we go do something else that’s fun! Like... going to train, I don’t think I ever had the opportunity to spar with you ever so I want to see how I would fair against Mantle’s hero.”

Penny: “‘gasp!’ That sounds like a splendid idea! Let’s- Oh wait! Friend-Ruby instructed me to not allow you near the training room while she was away so I’m afraid that’s going to be impossible to do.”

Jaune: ‘Crap! I should’ve known that Ruby would go ahead and ask Penny to keep me away from the training room. What am I going to do now..... wait a minute.’

Jaune: “Wait so Ruby said that we can’t go to the training room to spar right?”

Penny: “Correct.” *nods*

Jaune: “What about sparring somewhere else then? Someplace that’s not the training room?”

Penny: “Hmm. Friend-Ruby didn’t specify anything about sparring outside of the training room.”

Jaune: “Well there we go then, why don’t we go spar somewhere else that’s not the training room then!” *smiles with exaggerated enthusiasm*

Penny: “Well... I don’t see anything wrong about that then. Come along New Friend-Jaune! We must make haste!”

Penny activates her rocket thrusters then grabs onto Jaune, wrapping her arms under his armpits and carries him along with her to search for a place to spar.

Jaune: “Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait Penny!”

*Twenty Minutes Later*

After finding a suitable place to spar, Penny initiated her landing procedure and softly settles Jaune down onto the ground then lands herself onto the ground.

Penny: “What an exhilarating flight! Although I do apologize Friend-Jaune about the several evasive maneuvers during our way here. I was searching in multiple areas to see which would be suitable for our sparring match. I hope it was no problem.”

Jaune: *wiping any vomit residue with his forearm* “‘bleh’ That’s ok... as long as we’re here.”

Penny: “So shall we begin Friend-Jaune?”

Jaune: “You know what, maybe we should wait a minute or so before we start. You know, warm up and stuff.” *says while crouching down so to calm his stomach*

Penny: “Is this how you ‘warm up’, Friend-Jaune?” *says while copying Jaune’s crouching form*

Jaune: “Sure, why not.” *nods*

Penny: “Friend-Jaune, is it alright if ask you a ‘personal’ question?”

Jaune: “Go ahead. We have time.”

Penny: “Do you dislike being happy?” *tilts her head in a innocent manner*

Jaune: “....What?”

Penny: “I do not mean to offend Friend-Jaune. I’m just curious about your view upon the matter.”

Jaune: “Do I dislike being happy? No, of course not. Who in their right mind say ‘no’ to that?”

Penny: “Well, would you like for me to explain my view on the matter?”

Jaune: “Uhhh... sure, go ahead.” *being confused where this conversation was going*

Penny: “Well from what I’ve observed for awhile now there are two significant results to happiness. The first benefit of being happy is that it is a vital part of maintaining one’s proper mental/emotional health and usually leads to a longer life.”

Jaune: ‘Oh boy here we go. This is probably why Ruby asked Penny to watch me.’

Penny: “The secondary benefit to being happy is the most fulfilling I believe! It is a fulfilling emotion or feeling that one gets after doing something good for themselves or others.”

Jaune: “Yep. That sounds about right.”

Penny: “Which brings us back to my previous question. I was confused as to why someone like yourself seems to avoid the fulfillment of happiness when it has been so easily presented in front of you by your teammates and friends. If I were given such a thoughtful gift then I think my Aura core would self destruct from excitement!”

Jaune: “Please tell me that’s an exaggeration.” *says worriedly*

Jaune: ‘Otherwise I gotta tell Ruby to never plan any birthday parties for you at the risk of accidentally blowing you up.’

Penny: “Have no fear Friend-Jaune! My core is made out of a very strong alloy so it will not self destruct.”

Jaune: “Ok good.” *sighs in relief*

Penny: “So Friend-Jaune, when the others showed you the room did you not feel surprised or happy?”

Jaune: “Well I was surprised that’s for sure...”

Penny: “But not happy?”

Jaune: “...I guess not.” *bows head a little bit*

Penny: “Friend-Jaune, is it ok if I ask another question?”

Jaune: “Sure Penny.”

Penny: “Does Ruby or your friends make you happy?”

Jaune: “Of course they do! I wouldn’t know what to do without them. But lately they’ve been trying to force me to go into that room expecting that I’ll be happier just by going there. It feels like whenever I go in there the others think there’s something wrong with me, you know?”

Penny: “Do you think there’s something wrong with you Friend-Jaune?” *asks while tilting her head*

Jaune: “I mean... I’ve been getting better at controlling my emotions. Well I think I am anyway.” *sits down on the snow covered ground*

Penny: “I can detect a bit of uncertainty in your voice Friend-Jaune.” *sits down with him*

Jaune: “...Probably cause there is. Penny do you think everyone is entitled to their own happiness?”

Penny: “Hmmm... well as long as no one is harmed or killed in the process then I don’t see why not.”

Jaune: “I used to think that too, but lately as everything with this fight against Salem has been going on I can’t help but wonder, there are others that have fought and died so that I have the right to be happy, but do I really deserve it? So far I don’t think I have done anything extraordinary or worthy of being happy. Sometimes I wonder why they even bother trying to cheer me up with something that will never last.”

Penny: “Have you considered perhaps it’s not so much of you deserving the happiness but more of your friends wanting to see you be happy and in a good state of mind?”

Jaune: “...I still don’t see the big deal in all this effort though.”

Penny: “Well in my experience of having friends, I’ve determined that making others happy doesn’t always have to be logical.“

Jaune: “Yeah but why give me a room all to myself? That’s just like saying ‘We want you to be happy so don’t feel the need to worry about us, as long as you’re happy!’ It just feels wrong. Like I’m the only one that deserves to be happy in their minds. They’ve done so much more than me if we’re talking about good deeds and they’ve gone through so much more than me.”

Penny: “So you don’t want to go into room because it will feel like it’s exclusively for you?”

Jaune: “Pretty much...”

Penny: “...Does it make you feel excluded from your friends?”

Jaune: “...Yeah.”

Penny: “Well why not tell them that?”

Jaune: “Because they’ve already spent so much effort in making the room. I just...don’t want to let them down.”

Penny: “Well maybe you should ask yourself what makes you happy Friend-Jaune.”

Jaune: “...Thanks Penny, I will. You know you’re actually good at talking to other people. If you weren’t set on being a huntress I’d make you my therapist.”

Penny: “Thank you Friend-Jaune. Now would you like to begin our sparring now or would you rather have me take you back to Atlas?”

Jaune: “We should probably get back, don’t want Ironwood or Winter worried about you.”

Penny: “There’s no need to worry about that. I’ve temporarily disabled their ability to track me before arriving here.”

Jaune: “....And you’re sure that was a good idea?”

Penny: “Why of course Friend-Jaune. They won’t panic if I’m gone for only a few hours.”

Jaune/Penny: ......

Jaune: “We should probably go now.”

Penny: “Yes that be a wise decision.”

*The Next, Next, Next Day*

Jaune stood before team RWBY and his own in front of the dubbed “Happy Room,” as he asked to speak to all of them to discuss about the last few days.

Jaune: “Ok, now I’m sure many of you are wondering why I asked you all to come here. I know things have been pretty hectic for us all in regards to this issue so I’ll be straight to the point.... I have a problem accepting being happy.”

Weiss: “No.” *says in sarcastic tone*

Ruby: *shushes her*

Jaune: “But I’m not here to talk about that bottomless barrel. What I want to talk about is about how we’re going to do about the room situation. I know you all mean well and I do appreciate the effort made to making this place for me...but the truth is I don’t think the way this arrangement is right now is gonna work out for any of us.”

Everyone tensed up at the last part of what Jaune said.

Ruby: “Jaune-.”

Jaune: “Ruby please I just need to say what i need to say.”

Ruby: “...Ok.”

Jaune: *breathes in* “So back to what I was saying before. I don’t think the way this arrangement is right now is gonna work out for any of us...which is why I have an idea that might help fix the problem.”

RWBYNOR: 🤨

Jaune: “I spent a good part of yesterday thinking about this and I think for the benefit of all of us, we should share the room.”

RWBYNOR: O_O

Nora: “Huh?”

Jaune: “I know you all care about me being happier and more relaxed but I also care about your happiness too. Which is why I’ve been so hesitant to actually use the room because I don’t want to exclude any of the time I spend with you all and that’s why I think it would be to everyone’s benefit if this room was used for everyone’s enjoyment. So what do you all think?”

RWBY and NOR think about Jaune’s offer, then huddle up where they all muttered amongst themselves about how everyone felt about it. Once they had finished conversing they separated and Ruby walked forward looking at Jaune.

Ruby: “So if we accept this resolution of yours, will you promise start using the room?”

Jaune: “I will promise as an Arc.” *he nods*

Ruby: *smiles* “Then I personally don’t see why we can’t give this a shot.”

Jaune: “Great to hear. Also sorry that I’ve been giving you all a hard time.”

Yang: “We’ll forgive you as long as you start using the room.”

Jaune: “Of course.”

Ruby: “Also.” *raises a finger*

Jaune: “Hmm?”

Ruby: “...If you give me a hug.” *blushes while opening her arms*

For the past few days things had been tense between the two of them so Ruby greatly missed the warmth his aura/person provided for her.

Jaune: “Sure thing Crater Face.” *envelops her in a hug, lifting her off the ground*

Ruby: ^//_//^

BYN: “Aww.”

*Some Days Later*

RWBY and JNPR by now have fully adjusted to being regular visitors of the ‘Happy Room.’ Despite having mixed feelings towards the place at the start, Jaune found himself enjoying the the time he gets to spend with Ruby, his and her teams while there.

Ruby: “So enjoying the room now?” *said while sitting on his lap while sharing a comic book*

Jaune: “*chuckles* Yep. But it’s definitely better spent while with company.” *pats her head*

Ruby: “Good to know” *snuggles into his chest*

-Fin-

@thelastdragneel6417 hope you and everyone else enjoy this one. Probably gonna finish off this story as a two shot, but I had a blast writing it.

#rwby #anonymous asks #the happy place #jaune arc #ruby rose #penny polendina #rwby lancaster #lancaster #yang xiao long #lie ren #nora valkyrie #blake belladona #weiss schnee #oscar pine

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always5hineee · 4 years

Text

Hell and Back- Chapter 12: Sour (Trials 17-18)

Word count: 1605

Chapter warnings: Mild themes

-----

"You're next, Kai." Suho reminded him as Chanyeol tried to keep from shivering at the glue sliding down his neck and upper chest.

"I know."

"That's why he wants to go so quickly." Kris laughed. "He's getting antsy."

"I just think Chanyeol's being a baby." Kai explained, the other boy too busy wallowing in his own discomfort to complain at the jab. "Anyway, click my name, what's the trial?"

"Calm down, calm down," Y/N held up her hand. "Just wait a second-" She did as he asked, clicking through the apps as he moved to stand behind her, leaning over her shoulder to observe the screen. Picking his name, she watched it load up. Reading it aloud in a low voice, he said,

"Put lemon juice in your eyes." He said with a stare.

"That doesn't sound too bad," Y/N started, earning her a slight elbow in the side from Tao. "What?" He tilted his head towards Kai, drawing her attention to his face. He had completely zoned out, staring through the screen as he assumedly contemplated the challenge.

"Oh... why is he so... out of it? I mean, it might sting, but-" She asked in a hush.

"He's had problems with his eyes forever." Tao explained, trying to keep his voice down as well. "He's had eyelid surgeries, complications with it, I'm pretty sure his vision isn't that great either, I know he has glasses."

"Glasses? Why haven't I ever seen him with-"

"He prefers contacts." Tao continued. "It's strange how the trials have been lining up on occasion, though. I can't assume these are all accidents."

"There's not much we can do..."

"Hey, Kai," Xiumin walked over, lightly trying to tap him out of his trance, "You don't have to do it if you don't want to. You can drop out."

"Yeah," Y/N tried to support him, covering up her earlier comment. "The fee is gonna be six f-" As she started to say that, she realized that she was wrong. "Um... actually, it's $700?" Kyungsoo took the worst to this information, immediately moving over between her and Kai to look at the screen.

"What? Why? Why did the rate change? What happened to the $50 margin?"

"Hey, man, she doesn't know," Kris pushed him lightly. "None of us know."

"It's fine, we have bottled lemon juice at the dorms." Kai cut in.

"It's not a big deal, Kai," Sehun started to say, reaching out to try and comfort him. "We can always finish the trials on our-"

"I said it's fine!" Kai shouted at him, batting his hand away with a strong flick of his wrist, surprising the boy. "It's fine. Let's just go." Silently, Kai shut the car door, basically forcing everyone to get in under threat of his anger. Kris seemed a bit annoyed, but willing to drive back to the dorms. As they did this, she recalled what Luhan had mentioned about the trials becoming tedious. He wasn't wrong, but what else was there to do?

Pulling back in, Kai was then the first out of the car. He walked into the dorms far ahead of the rest of the group, not allowing any time for them to catch up. By the time they had all collectively gathered in the dorms again, he was already rummaging through the fridge.

"Kai, we don't-" Suho tried to slow him down, but he was already gripping the tiny, yellow patterned plastic bottle.

"Shut up." Unscrewing the cap, he moved his left hand to force open his eyelids.

"Kai!"

"I said to shut up-" he tried to ignore Suho again, but the man finally grabbed his wrist.

"Kai. All I was going to say was to take your contacts out first." He paused.

"...Yeah, okay." As much as he hated to admit it, Suho was 100% correct on that front. The acidity shouldn't damage the lenses, but it would make the effects last ten times as long. Pulling the plastic container out of his pocket- had he ben carrying that around the whole time? Regardless, he easily slipped the lenses out of his eyes and into their container. Y/N watched, noting that he was clearly skilled at it. It must have been years of practice. How had she never noticed? Maybe she'd never really taken a good look at his eyes.

Once he was done, he slid the container back into his pocket, picking up the bottle of lemon juice a second time. She turned away as he lifted up to his eyes, moving to go grab a towel and put it under the tap so that he could wash it out after. As she turned the handle on the left side of the sink, she heard his voice yell out in pain. It wasn't so much of a scream as it was just an elongated surprised shout. He was clearly in pain, but she didn't know what else she could do.

When she finally brought herself to walk back over to him, he was leaning over, on the verge of kneeling to the ground. Still, he was standing, even if it wasn't straight up. His hands were pressed over his eyes, trying to relieve the pain even just by that little means of weight. Gently pushing through the circle of boys and taking his wrist, she removed his grip and placed the warm, damp towel over his eyes. He took it gratefully, liquid streaming down his face- although she wasn't sure if it was the juice or newfound tears. Swallowing hard, he finally grabbed her arm, pulling her hand back, still covering his eyes.

"Just start the next trial, I'll be fine."

"We should wait and make sure-"

"No, really. Just go." Not wanting to go against his wishes, especially in his state, she sighed, moving to look at the phone.

"The next restricted power is... Kris."

"So, flight? Has he been restricted before?" Kyungsoo asked. They were already having trouble keeping all the trials straight, mentally at least.

"Nope." Kris mentioned. "Not that we've needed it regardless. Plus, there's basically no connection with the restrictions. It's probably just random." Kyunsoo didn't like that idea at all, but had no reason to start an argument with Kris.

"It's Luhan's turn." Suho said, looking to him, "If that's alright." The boy seemed hesitant, but nodded.

"Yeah, that's fine... Let's just get this over with." Pressing his name, he had no interest in seeing it himself, waiting for her to read it out. Swallowing in an awkward type of fear, she said,

"The dropout fee it... it jumped to $1,000." This unsettled everyone, even Kris, to some extent. The other jump had been minimal. An increase in fifty... This, though, this was an extra 200, assuming she accounted for the hundred dollar rate of change.

"What..." He looked worried. "What's the challenge?"

"Um... to bite your tongue." His features contorted in distaste. Technically, the trial didn't specify how hard, or a need to draw blood and pain, but... at this point, it was beginning to become insinuated. Sticking it out with a slight bit of hesitation, he pressed his teeth down slowly, eyes squinting slightly. He increased the pressure by fractions of an inch, until finally he was forced to release his grip, breathing in deeply.

"That's not going to work." Kyungsoo said. "If you do it slowly, your survival instinct will keep you from biting hard enough. Just do it quickly." Looking up with wide eyes, his gaze seemed to ask, do I have to? He didn't want any of them to suggest his dropping out, but... He wasn't sure he was as strong as the rest of them. Still, he opened his mouth, sticking his tongue out again and biting down with a quick snap. Looking at his face intently, the rest of the group waited to see what had happened after his yelp of pain.

Even in his swiftness, he hadn't bitten hard enough. There was no blood, likely just a bit of soreness. His own instincts were getting quite in the way. Sighing, he looked around.

"I don't know what else to try, I..." At this, Sehun seemed to come to attention, something a bit out of character for him. With no probable cause, he said,

"Hold on, let me see your tongue again?"

"Huh?"

"Stick out your tongue." Confused, Luhan did as he asked, extending his tongue for Sehun to look at. He took more interest in what was behind the man, though. With no warning, Luhan was promptly kicked in the back of his right knee, sending him sprawling, and his jaw crashing down onto his still adjacent tongue. Quickly clapping a hand to his mouth in agony, the man who had given him the blow, not surprisingly Kyungsoo, moved to his side quickly to look at his face.

"Here, let me see," he said gently, silently apologizing. No one would blame him, he had to do it. Tnederly removing his hand, there was blood dripping down his chin, only splattering as he coughed. It was leaking down his throat as well. Thankfully, he was only bleeding in two spots- where his canines had met his flesh. "Sehun, could you grab him a glass of water?" The boy nodded wordlessly, a bit ashamed to have been involved in tricking Luhan. Still, it had worked- the trial had been a success.

"This is sick." Luhan managed to cough out, trying to wipe the metallic, disgusting fluid away from his lips.

"I wouldn't get to wound up yet." Suho warned grimly. "That was only eighteen."

Go to Chapter 13

#exo #exo x reader #exo fanfiction #exo fanfic #suho #sehun #chen #chanyeol #lay #kyungsoo #kai #xiumin #kris #luhan #tao #baekhyun #x reader #kpop #Kpop x reader #Kpop fanfiction #Kpop fanfic #trials

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evak-fic-rec-turtleanon · 5 years

Text

Evak Fics - Co-Workers

A list for coworkers/colleagues. Includes fics where they are not exactly colleagues or coworkers but related to them working together in a way.

No Flirting in the Science Lab by smilexdarling (728 words) - Isak and Even fall in love at school, but this time, they're the teachers.

sweet creature by Skamtrash (1k words) - Along the lines of "We’re both baristas and sometimes I have trouble reaching for things and I show up to work one day to find a personalized stool with hearts and my name on it i hATE YOU but also thanks"

Pumpkin King by i_once_wrote_a_dream (1.7k words) - Isak grins, and taps the crown. “You’re the dumbest king I’ve ever met.” They work on a pumpkin patch.

White Elephant by HazyCosmicJive (1.8k words) - Vilde turns the office Secret Santa into a White Elephant Secret Santa.

stuck on you (what did i do?) by itjustkindahappened (1.8k words) - a teacher AU with zero teaching and a lot of crushing.

settle down by allyasavedtheday: Chapter 21 Model Au (2.5k words) - Isak was not prepared for a partner at this photoshoot. Chapter 35 Model Au Part 2 (1.9k words) - Prompt fill for where they’re doing like a couples photoshoot or something with Mikael and now they can’t stop kissing each other and everyone’s too endeared to be frustrated with them

in sickness and in health by wyoheartsmusic (2k words) - Emma is crushing on her teacher until she finds out he's very much in love with his husband. So this is in Emma's pov.

love doctor by princevaltersen (2.3k words) - “Looking through Tinder and rating guys in the paediatric unit is definitely something that you shouldn’t be doing at work.” Doctor au.

Email from Somewhere by wyoheartsmusic (2.4k words) - Isak gets an email from no one. He asks Even for help.

Did you hear oxygen and magnesium got together? OMg by sugarbeat24 (2.5k words) - Isak and Even are chemistry partners. Fluff and chemistry jokes ensue. They are not co-workers but this is cute.

Colleagues? - SKAM Fic Week Day 5 by glbertblythes (2.6k words) - Isak and Even have been work colleagues for three years - a couple for two - and they like to call the office their "second home" for multiple reasons.

It Only Takes a Taste (When You Know It's Good) by shakespeareandsunshine (2.8k words) - It would be bad enough if it was just some mystery coworker stealing meals from the office fridge. Then Isak could hate their anonymous ass in peace. But no, Isak has a very good idea who the culprit is. And seeing the villain in the breakroom every day, smiling at Isak like he has nothing to apologize for was testing Isak's very limited patience. And also probably his self-control, although for an entirely different reason.

I Don't Date Cops by jinglebin (2.9k words) - Isak gets a new colleague and he's instantly smitten. Until said collegue tells him he doesn't date cops. b99 au

just a little bit out of my limit by theyellowcurtains (3k words) - Isak is pissed about where he got placed for work experience, that is until he meets his fine ass supervisor.

Pictures of You by MacksDramaticShenanigans (3.2k words) - The au where Even is a photographer and Isak is his infuriatingly gorgeous model

Can't We Be Sweethearts? by HazyCosmicJive (3.3k words) - in which Isak and Even work at a summer carnival together

EVEN by LiliMane (3.5k words) - A friends with benefits or kinda of an enemies with benefits type of situation. 'Whatever. People come and go. Sometimes they don't come at all. Sometimes they only send you money. And the ones that come don't stay too long. But that's how it is and there's nothing I can do about it. Not that I want to do anything about it.'

Adrian and Markus by ufologies (3.9k words) - Isak and Even go undercover on a case that unexpectedly ends up bringing them closer together.

i bet my life on you by janesargnt (4.8k words) - “Ok, so it’s settled then,” said Elias, getting to his feet. “If Bech Nӕsheim loses, he has to give Valtersen his car. If Valtersen loses, he has to go on a date in said car.” B99 au.

from my lips my sin is purged by slvtherxn (4.8k words) - After Even's last relationship with his coworker ended quite messily, his boss has forbidden him from dating any more of her employees. It takes him ten seconds alone with his new trainee before he decides to date him in secret.

Fuck Tha Police by MacksDramaticShenanigans (5.2k words) - “This,” Eskild said, spinning the photograph around so everyone could see it, “is a picture of the latest piece of vandalism from our favorite little street punk.” he finished with a heavy sigh. They are both cops.

Thank You for Flying Norwegian Air! by orphan_account (5.4k words) - Isak and Even are both flight attendants who definitely don't have feelings for each other.

Don't worry, I've got you by everything_else (5.7k words) - Isak gets a job at a coffee shop.

18 Secret Santa Horror Stories That'll Turn Anyone Into A Grinch by GayaIsANerd (6.1k words) - Some secret Santa, some unfortunate google results, a whole lot of complaining and a heart full of gratitude. They work for a website that is like a Norwegian Buzzfeed but different.

i tried to be strong but i lost it (i knew it was wrong, i’m beyond it) by orphan_account (6.3k words) - Even has a thing for his intern, Isak has a thing for his boss, they're both a bit clueless and their friends just want them to get their shit together.

Crying Over Spilt Milk by MacksDramaticShenanigans (8.4k words) - The boys get their hands on Isak’s resume; Isak gets his hands on Even. Coffee shop.

my heart held a ledger by cynical_optimist, strangetowns (8.6k words) - A hitmen AU, wherein Isak and Even hate their jobs but love each other. This 'verse is now on permanent hiatus but it can still be enjoyed as a standalone oneshot.

Unclassified by bri_ness (9.7k words) - "Separate fiction from fact, romances from tragedies, the stories you want to experience from the ones you’d rather ignore." Isak and Even flirt in a library while having some deep thoughts about cataloging.

Merry Kiss My Ass (under the mistletoe) by TheGirlNoOneKnows5 (9.8k words) - Working in retail during the holiday season is a nightmare. Especially when Isak has to work right alongside his just friend and not at all crush, Even. Among freaky customers, secret santa presents and constant reminders of his one night of passion with Even, Isak doesnt know if he'll make it to the new year. If only he could figure out who was behind all the random mistletoes he keeps finding...

Is This What You Wanted? by cuteandtwisted (9.9k words) - Isak is filthy rich and Even is a hardworking male model who just got signed to his father's agency. Even gets an awful offer from Isak: one night with him in exchange for money, and begins to despise him. Little does he know that everything he thinks he knows about Isak is wrong.

sweeter than wine, softer than a summer's night by dewdrops (12k words) - Isak and Even work at an amusement park.

Valtersen's Anatomy by evak1isak (12k words) - Isak Valtersen, a nurse intern, happens to fall in love with one of the new interns, Even Bech Næsheim, from the mental health team.

when your heart is bleeding, i'm coming to get you by cosetties (13k words) - Isak doesn't exactly expect his hookup from last week to be the love advice columnist at the school newspaper he's working at. He also doesn't expect to fall even harder for him than he already has, which is a shame, really, since Even's crushing on someone else.

Ground Me by Bellakitse (13k words) - In which despite his father helping with rent, Isak still needs money and therefore a job. Isak gets a job at a cafe and meets a barista who's beauty blows Isak away.

i broke the world for us by cuteandtwisted (16k words) - Isak is 'heartless', young, busy, addicted to work, and incapable of committing. And Even is a repairman who fixes things around the office, who sees right through his smokescreen, and who might end up 'fixing' Isak's cold heart.

turn my blue heart to red by allyasavedtheday (16k words) - “Did I scare you?” Even asks teasingly, waggling his eyebrows as he leans casually against the counter beside Isak. “Never,” Isak scoffs, sending a fierce scowl in Jonas’ direction when he catches him smirking at them both. Jonas is under the ridiculous impression he and Even have a crush on each other which is not true. Doctor au.

I Just Want You For My Own by Twinklylightseverywhere (19k words) - Even loves the holidays, really. He loves spending time with his friends and family, drinking hot chocolate by the fire, exchanging gifts, the like. You know what he doesn’t love about Christmas time? Working in a fucking Post Office.

Taste by MermaidsandMermen (SophiaSoames) (21k words) - Isak Valtersen doesn't do feelings. He doesn't do relationships. He's a good boss, and he knows his shit. Then that asshat Naesheim swans in like he owns the bloody place and Isak's carefully managed world starts to fall apart. He's impulsive and stupid and childish and probably the last person in the world who should be allowed to run the Food and Beverage department at the Radisson Blu, however many brilliant ideas he has and seems to manage to miraculously pull off. It's a match made in hell. Enemies to lovers.

Dear Friend by bri_ness (26k words) - Isak and Even work together in a failing video store, and they cannot stand each other. Isak and Even both signed up for the Love Letters dating service, and they’re both falling for their anonymous pen pal.

is it gravity, or are we falling in love? by mels (28k words) - Isak works at a coffee shop. There's two things he loves about the morning shift: 1, how beautiful the city is when it's sleeping and 2, avoiding the hot guy who he happens to have a crush on. Until one faithful day, he has no choice but to work with his crush.

A Fucking Bet by Crazyheart (32k words) - Isak and Even are just friends. They make a bet and decide to fuck only five times and then go back to being friends again. Isak hopes that he might be able to fuck his crush out of his system, once and for all. Who knows what Even’s motives are. They work at KB

We Don't Need to Whisper by staylucky (34k words) - Isak Valtersen is a new teacher at Bekkulaget with an embarrassing crush on the Head of Upper Juniors, Even Bech Naesheim. His mentor, Christoffer, is constantly winding him up and Isak's beginning to doubt if teaching is for him.

(WIP) Magic Eight Ball by folerdetdufoler (35k words) - Last update Dec 2019. His cubicle is in the bullpen, but at the edge, across from the offices along one wall. When the Chief makes his announcements Isak stands near the middle, leaning against someone else’s cube, reading emails on his phone instead of paying attention. This time, though, the Chief is introducing some new hires to the office: a sports editor, a city editor, and a marketing head. When Isak looks up to finally acknowledge the new team members, he gets a good look at the guy who is going to make his life a living hell.

Blind by evak1isak (44k words) - Isak has sex in a dark room with a random stranger, but he only hears his voice. He hears that voice again: it's his new boss', one of Norway's richest men.

(WIP) Medically Speaking by Ms_Tassimo (44k words) - Last update Aug 2019. Working as a hospital porter was not how Even Bech Næsheim saw his life ending up. But here he was; mopping up sick after a stupid mistake. However, the hot doctor with the nice smell? That just about makes up for it. Too bad Dr Valtersen seems like a bit of an asshole with a hell of a chip on his shoulder.

I'll Be Coming Home, Wait For Me by dahlstrom (47k words) - The diner AU. Even and Yousef open a 1950s American-style restaurant together - Even is the creative genius in the kitchen, Yousef keeps the trains running on time, and Isak, Chris B, and Magnus are all along for the ride. Falling in love over food while Elvis serenades from the jukebox. Welcome to the Throwback Diner.

such a beautiful mess by skambition (48k words) - Isak works at Kaffebrenneriet to save up some money for a trip with his friends. Normally, working there is chill. Until Isak starts to work together with Even, an arrogant hipster with horrible taste in music, that keeps using the phrase 'sex hair' and is not only judgemental and stupid, but also so hot that Isak sometimes can't breathe around him.

On call by MinilocIsland (49k words) - Isak knows what he's meant to do in life - surgery. And he can't wait to show everyone that he's good at it. That is, if he'll ever get a goddamn chance. Not getting hindered by ridiculous, charming guys whose main advantage in the operating room simply is the length of their legs. Or - a hospital AU, with both Isak and Even as intern physicians.

Around the Corner (My Very Personal Christmas Shopper) by Crazyheart (51k words) - Isak (22) works in a record shop for Jonas. Isak’s best colleague and friend is Eva, who works in the shop, too. Isak is still in the closet. He says things as he thinks, though. Doesn't like snowglobes. Even (24) comes and asks for a job. The two get off on the wrong foot, although Isak finds Even irritatingly attractive. Additionally, Isak has just gotten a personal Christmas gift shopper.

Masquerade by Sabeley (53k words) - Isak and Even were best friends before one botched mission tore them apart. When they are assigned to go undercover as newlyweds at an oceanside resort where couples are going missing, can they put their differences aside for long enough to solve the case? And can they fix what’s broken between them before it’s too late?

(WIP) and it falls just where it needs to be by mmxii (53k words) - Last update Aug 2018. An au where isak works at a campsite and there’s suddenly a new guy joining their team. featuring a completely chill isak, a suspiciously quiet cat, and a three-year-old asking way too many difficult questions.

Caught in the Crossfire by CrochetingWords (65k words) - AU where Isak and Sana are partners working for the Oslo police department. Even used to work for the Oslo PD and is now Oslo's most well known private detective assisting the department in cases while also blogging about them. Isak is not impressed when he shows up on one of his crime scenes, because what other reason is there to publicly blog about your cases than being fame hungry.

(WIP) a careful hypothesis of the heart by StMisery (87k words) - 12/13 chapters posted. Isak and Even don't start out on the best of terms. Isak had been waiting nearly a year for the position of researcher to open up again. If he got it, he'd be working his dream job within one of the best biotechnology companies in the world. He applied for the position, heart in his throat, only to be passed over for the new recruit. When he discovered the new hire was also the son of the CEO, well, that was an unforgivable offense.

You Don't Even Know Me! by cuteandtwisted (101k words) - The one in which Isak and Even are interns who got off the wrong foot and don't like each other at all (except that they do).

#evak fic rec #skam fic rec #coworkers #colleauges #office au #let me know what fics i'm missing please

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