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raggaraddy · 4 years ago

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Mouthy

Prompt: You say to Yandere BTS "Oh my god! Just shut up!"

A/N: Couldn't sleep, so I wrote this laying in bed. I hope it's not some sleep-deprived nonsense ^-^

Trigger warning: Yandere themes, violence, emotional manipulation, choking, non-con, D/s themes, examples of a bad D/s dynamic.

Alpha! Namjoon

"Oh my god! Just shut up!" You scream it through your bedroom doorway. Storming to the railing of the stairs, you lean over and scream again. "Shut up!"

The sea of people on the ground floor go quiet. Only the music dares to keep making a sound in the background. You skulk back to your room, slamming the door loudly behind you. You had had a long, disappointing day. You were tired and grumpy, and moody and sad. But the dozens of uninvited pack members couldn't care less as their party raged on into the night.

Not allowing you enough time to even climb back into bed, Namjoon storms after you to address your outburst.

"Y/n, go downstairs right now and apologize." He orders.

"No." you mope. Feeling it's a wildly unfair request. All these people are in your house making so much noise when you're trying to sleep. How is it you that's in the wrong?

"Do you think I am asking you? I'm telling you. Get downstairs now." He says sternly. His strict tone making you even more emotional. You just wanted him to be on your side for this.

"But- But I," you sniffle, with tears in your eyes.

"No," Namjoon cuts you off. "I've asked you all afternoon what's wrong. And you wouldn't tell me. So right at this moment, I don't want to hear it. You have been disrespectful to me and my people. So you are going to put some more clothes on and cover-up, and you will go out there and apologize to every single person." He growls, leaving no room to argue. "And you will do it sincerely, or I will give you something to cry about."

King! Seokjin

You didn't say it to his face. You would never be that stupid. But still, you clearly weren't smart enough. While gossiping to a friend, someone you thought was a confidant, you're complaining about a seemingly endless, boring meeting you had to serve today.

"And I just wanted to tell all of them; Oh my god! Just shut up!" You laugh.

But hours later it's no longer a laughing matter.

"How did you enjoy serving me today, Princess?" Jin asks his tone giving nothing away of what he already knows.

"I enjoyed it. Thank you, your Majesty" You politely smile, thinking his question to be a kindness.

"I often find these meetings so dull. Many of the Lords do like to ramble on. Sometimes I would enjoy telling all of them to just shut up." He speaks the words so purposefully that you know at once you've been exposed.

"My Lord, I-"

"If you are smart you will not say another word." He speaks softly, with a grin on his face. "I want to thank you, Y/n. I have an endless supply of other people I can hurt. Each one of them is freely at my disposal, but you are my favourite toy." He fills the space in front of you. "However, I am a man of my word. I swore to you that you will be unharmed if you are obedient, and I would not dare to break this vow. Of course, I have sorely missed playing with my beloved little dol, though."

Towering over you he sets off your instinct to get to your knees and grovel, begging his forgiveness for your carelessness. But that would only be a wasted effort.

"So thank you, Princess, for giving me the possibility to hear your pretty cries of pain again. I will make sure to use this opportunity to its fullest."

Assassin! Yoongi

He had been in a hyper mood for 2 days straight. His energy and enthusiastic interaction was something you always craved, but you had never dealt with it this long before and you were losing your sanity and your composure.

"Oh my god! Just shut up!" You shout at him as your last nerve snaps.

"Okay, Y/n." He gives little to no reaction. "Remember you said this in a month from now when you're begging me to speak to you."

But it didn't take a month. In two weeks you were in tears apologizing. He left you free to roam the house, but he revoked all communication from you. The only times he gave you any attention, was when he forcibly made you stop doing something he didn't like. Or when he wanted you for sex. But still, he wouldn't utter a single word, only bending you over to take what he wanted.

After 5 weeks, just as you thought you'd never hear his voice again, he finally broke his silence. Only to break your heart.

"Listening to you these past few weeks, I realise how much you talk. It's time you take your own advice and shut up. Y/n, I don't want to hear a sound out of you until I say. 5 weeks was easy enough for me. So let's start with that, and then I'll see if I want to hear from you yet."

Vampire! Hoseok

Hoseok was always so animated. Normally it didn't bother you, but he was talking and reacting through yet another movie and you were sick of it. It might have been because you were PMSing or maybe because Hoseok had forgotten to feed you all day, but when he yelled at the TV, you yelled at him.

"Oh my god! Just shut up!" And right away you were teeming with regret.

"I'm sorry baby. Am I being too loud?" He laughs with an unexpectedly harmless reply. Playfully but roughly slapping his hand on your thigh. "I'll keep it down."

You're not dumb enough to think that your eruption would go unanswered. So you sit tensely, anxiously waiting to see how he will repay you.

"Baby," he whispers in your ear, after sitting in silence for 20 minutes. "You know I have very strong hearing right?" You nod nervously. Chewing your lip. "Well, your breathing is too loud and very distracting. I can hardly hear the movie. Can you please fix that?"

You know this is going to lead to something horrible, but you have no choice but to do as he says. For the next 10 minutes, you're completely distracted trying to inhale and exhale as softly and shallowly as possible.

"Hmm baby, it's really too much. I can't concentrate on the film." He stands, pulling his belt off. "Here let me help you."

He wraps his belt around your neck, pulling and setting it so tight that it's biting into your skin. Your throat constricting, barely letting you breathe.

As you wheeze and splutter and cough, he holds the end like a leash. Sitting back on the couch, he turns his focus back to the movie without letting you loosen the strap or get away. Your whole body is shaking, your eyes starting to roll back as you struggle to inhale. The belt is cruelly not tight enough to have you pass out though. Only allowing you to sit in your suffering. The sound of your gasping filling the room.

"Ahh, there you go baby. That's much better. Don't worry, it's just while we're watching movies. And there's only two more left in the trilogy."

Playboy! Jimin

He was telling you over and over how sorry he was. How he didn't mean to kiss that girl. That he was drinking. And that she kissed him. It was every excuse and lie he had spouted 100 times before.

"Oh my god! Just shut up!" You yelled at him. And for a moment it worked. He sat in stunned silence. But as you got off the bed to leave, taking your car keys with you, he chased after you.

"Where are you going?"

"Out Jimin. I need some time alone to think." You scowl.

But he refuses, blocking the door. Holding his arms to either side to barricade you in.

"No, you can't leave! I said I'm sorry."

"Fuck off Jimin, your apologies mean nothing." You say shoving him.

He doesn't accept that. With a roar, he grabs your shoulders throwing you down onto the bed. Quickly straddling you, using far too much force to keep you pinned beneath him. Tearing off the pillowcases, he makes some shoddy but effective restraints. Tying you to the bars on the headboard.

Ignoring your screams and how you struggle he starts to kiss down your neck, pulling at your clothes, rubbing his hands down your body.

"I'm gonna make you feel good Y/n. I'll show you that I only want you, then you'll have to forgive me." He says sounding desperate and unhinged.

You cry and yell for him to stop, trying to buck him off you, but his hand covers your mouth, his other successfully tearing down your panties from under your dress.

"Don't fight me, Angel. Just let me in. And I'll prove I love you the most."

Dom! Taehyung

Finally, Taehyung had agreed to spend some time with you in a social environment. He and you went out to a movie and dinner with some of your friends. They were vanilla friends though, so as an exception, for the day he loosened a lot of the restrictions and formalities you normally had in place.

You, however, you were getting a little too relaxed. While you joked with you're friends, you started to speak to him the same manner. As you and he were playfully arguing about trivia facts you realized you were losing the debate.

"Oh my god! Just shut up!" You joke. But in the company of your friends or not, Taehyung was not about to let you disrespect him. Even in jest.

"Is that how you should talk to me girl?" He asks loudly and in front of everyone, bringing the group conversation to a grinding halt.

His change in tone and his use of the possessive pet name, right away have you back in your place.

"No," you whisper. The sting of embarrassment hot upon your cheeks.

"No, what?" He pushes it.

You can't stand to look up. All of the attention is on the two of you. And even in your peripheral, you can see your friends looking at you judgementally, wide-eyed and in shock.

And he was making it worse by having you use his title around them.

"No, Sir." you surrender, your head hung low.

"Shouldn't you also apologise to the other people at the table? For interrupting our night with your rudeness." He keeps piling on one shame after the other. Stretching out the ordeal.

"No, it's fine." One of your friends tries to laugh off the awkwardness and speed the discussion away from this point. "She doesn't have to."

"Y/n," He prompts you, disregarding what your friend had said.

Thoroughly humiliated, you can't imagine how you are going to repair these relationships or explain this treatment away.

"I'm sorry for interrupting the night with my rudeness." you swallow heavily, hands shaking.

"Good girl. Now mind your mouth. Before you make me embarrass you further."

Mafia! Jungkook

"Oh my god! Just shut up!" you say in a hushed voice. More of a prayer said to yourself than an actual demand you expected Jungkook to hear.

"What did you just say to me?" he lowers the phone, gawking at you.

You really didn't mean to, it just slipped out. He was talking on the phone, going into too graphic detail about how he and his men dealt with a threat recently. You couldn't handle the gruesome details he was recanting anymore and the words just fell out.

"What did you just say? Did you just tell me to shut up?" He repeats again through your nonreply. His tongue running through the inside of his cheek, his jaw and muscles tensing. His voice jumping rapidly from stunned to aggressive.

You're at home alone with him, so you weren't paying much mind to what you were saying. But this afternoon he's been dealing with work. And right now he isn't Kookie, no the person in front of you is Jeon Jungkook. The temperamental Mafia head, who would as likely hit you as he would speak to you.

"I'm sorry," you squeak.

"You're sorry?" He scoffs, slamming the phone down. "If you had said it and meant it, that would be one thing. I could respect that. But you really just can't control your stupid little mouth can you."

"I-" you start a defence, or more a plea for mercy.

"Shut the fuck up!" He growls leaning forward in his seat making you flinch back. Darting his hand out he grabs you by the hair, pulling you back to where you were. "Don't flinch. I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm gonna help you." He smiles.

You wriggle in his clutches, mewling the same trifle apologies under your breath.

"Shhh, my brainless little Kitten. I'm gonna give you a gift." He smirks. "For your own safety, you don't need to talk for the rest of the day. I just need you to come when I call. Sit on my lap when I tell you. And purr for me like a good little pussy." Grabbing your arm harshly, he yanks you off your chair and onto the ground. "There you go, where you belong." He laughs. "You think you can remember to do all that? I know you can. Otherwise, I'll buy you a kat collar to remind you how my Kitten should behave."

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sannieboy · 4 years ago

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the kinds of kisses i think the boyz would like most

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i know i know i know, i never update. especially with writing works. but, i suddenly got inspired bc thrill ride and they all look phenomenal, and decided to write about my boyz and what sort of kisses they would like. so, i hope you enjoy my blatantly obvious touch-starved self and her writing :D

if you do end up enjoying this, maybe consider checking out my masterlist for similarly sappy pieces of writing

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（＾＿＾）☆

sangyeon: a kiss given after being swept off of your feet

sangyeon gives the big sweetheart vibes. he’s a romantic, he’s strong, he’s gonna sweep you off of your feet. his favourite part about kissing you as he’s holding you from falling is the sweet noise of surprise that escapes your lips before he captures them in his own, followed by the way you can’t help but smile into his kiss. there’s just something so sweet and homey about sangyeon. sangyeon feels like dancing with your significant other in the lounge to your favourite songs, stepping on each others feet in the process, but there is nothing but smiles and eyes filled with adoration. sangyeon wants to do that with you; he wants to twirl you around the house and dip you in his arms, looking at you with warmth in his eyes before pressing his lips so sweetly against yours, sharing with you all of the love his being is capable of producing.

jacob: a kiss pressed to the crown of your head

anything relating to jacob bae instantly entails warmth and comfort; and i feel that a loving kiss pressed to the crown of your head conveys exactly that. these sorts of kisses often happen as you stand, swaying back and forth embraced in each other’s arms. he’ll kiss the crown of your head softly and slowly, lips gentle and full of love. jacob loves giving these kisses to you, mostly because he adores being the recipient of them. he finds that a kiss to the top of his head manages to fill his whole being with a sense of home and surety, so he gives them to you in hopes that they give you the same, tingly feeling (they do). so please, give this man a kiss on the top of his head, it’ll make his whole day.

younghoon: kisses shared in a stairwell, creating an artificial height equality

when i think of younghoon, i think of his playfulness, his soft and gentle nature, and how much of a hopeless romantic he is. younghoon is a cheesy man; he’ll never admit to it though. but you can see it in the way that his ears will turn a rosy red whenever you give him a kiss as you stand on the stairs above him, allowing you to hold his face and kiss him from above. younghoon relishes in the way it feels to look up at your face instead of down, and how nice it feels when you hold his face so tenderly in your hands. moments like these make younghoon feel as if he’s been cast in a sappy romcom, one that he would pretend to cringe at but would secretly make his sweet heart flutter. kisses like these make him glad that you’ll indulge him in the cheesy little moments he so deeply adores. kissing you like this makes him fall in love with you all over again.

hyunjae: kisses shared whilst you’re sitting on his lap

hyunjae lives for having you perched upon his lap, and will take absolutely any opportunity to have you there. watching a movie together? pillows litter the other couches, and he insists that you MusT sit on his lap because there’s NO room anywhere else. walking past him as he’s sitting? you’re always yanked down onto his lap. so it makes sense that his favourite kisses would happen in his favourite spot to have you. hyunjae loves having your body weight and warmth on him, he likes feeling how real you are, and how you are really his to embrace and love. these kisses can range from needy and rough, to slow and sanguine; more often the latter. hyunjae is a romantic lover, although he tends to keep that part of himself hidden. but it’s not hard to tell that he is one from the way he kisses you when you’re settled on his thighs :D

juyeon: pulling away from a kiss, whispering confessions of love against your lips, before reconnecting them

juyeon is spontaneous. sometimes, he is a quiet, more reserved lover. whereas other days, he wants to do nothing but smother you with love and affection. whenever he’s smiley and happy and just full of love for you, he likes to kiss you softly yet deeply, lips moulding against yours as he sways back and forth. he tends to pull away early, enjoying the way you chase after his lips, and rest his forehead against your own, whisper a sweet confession of love before reconnecting your lips. juyeon likes feeling the way your lips curve upwards as you kiss, and the way you push yourself further into his being. juyeon loves that even though he doesn’t show you affection all of the time, that though these kisses, he can make sure you know just how hard he has fallen for you, and that sometimes, you’ll do the same to him.

kevin: small, quick kisses littered across your face

kevin moon is a playful man, and that is present in both the way he loves his friends and family, and in the way that he loves you. even though he’s constantly joking around and making everyone around him light up with laughter, he still wants to make sure you know how much you mean to him. smothering you in quick, little pecks makes kevin feel as if he’s covering every part of you with his love. when you’re both snuggling in bed and he starts pressing kisses all across your face, you giggle at the ticklish nature of his lips’ feathery touch; but you can feel flowers of warmth blooming wherever his kisses land, his warm, passionate love for you seeping from his lips onto your skin.

chanhee: slow, draw out kisses in which neither of you want to let go

chanhee is a man of quiet passion. he has a lot of emotions, but the way in which he shows them is more discreet. now don’t get me wrong, chanhee loves a passionate, steamy make out session, hands in hair and bodies pressed close, but he prefers to show his love through a different sort of kiss. chanhee adores kissing you whilst holding you close to him, his arms hanging daintily around your waist, bodies pressed tenderly against one another. like this, he’ll press his lips against yours softly, slowly, yet wholly. with kisses like this, where your lips move in tandem languidly, chanhee feels as if he’s showing you the utmost sincere affection and love he has for you, and that he feels yours for him too. kisses like these make chanhee feel so warm and loved, taking immense pleasure of the feeling of your fingers toying with the hair that rests at the nape of his neck whilst his hands wander the expanse of you back, your waist, and sometimes coming up to cup your jaw as he kisses you with his whole being.

changmin: a small, hesitant kiss, proceeded immediately by a passionate, hungry kiss

ji changmin is a cheeky man; a trickster, if you will. he’s a very playful and lighthearted person, these personality traits translating into his relationship with you. whenever he goes to kiss you, he’ll hold your chin softly before sweetly pressing his lips against yours, nothing but the warm feeling of lips against lips. these kisses are quick and leave you wanting more, he knows this because of the way you chase after his lips once he’s pulled away. he’ll giggle at your desperation before holding your face more securely and truly connecting your lips together; full of ardour that his innocent kisses simply lack. changmin likes to catch you off guard, whether that’s by giving you a spook or by surprising you with a passionate kiss proceeding a soft and airy kiss. he revels in the way that you take a second to process what’s happening before you reciprocate his affection. changmin loves the reactions you make when you’re caught by surprise. he thinks that you are devastatingly cute, and finds that he doesn’t want to stop kissing you.

haknyeon: morning kisses before either of you have opened your eyes

haknyeon treasures the moments of solitude he spends with you, the fragments of time in which he feels as if there is no one in the world but you, him, and the feeling of the sun streaming through the window. waking up in bed next to you is one of these times. haknyeon loves to love all of the parts of you that you feel insecure about, such as the drool-stained face, tousled bed hair and groggy expression that you wear just upon waking up. the way he kisses you groggily when you’re both half asleep is filled with such raw, unadulterated affection and hearth-like tenderness; the feeling of your lips and his melding together under the eyes of the rising sun fills you with a tingly warmth, kisses sharing unspoken confessions of love.

sunwoo: tracing your lips with his finger before tilting your chin up for a kiss

sunwoo, much like a few of the other members, is a hidden romantic. sometimes he acts as if he doesn’t like being showered with affection; typically in the physical sense, but he truly loves the feeling of being loved up by you. he loves giving you these kinds of kisses, because they usually only happen in a more intimate, romantic setting where the two of you are alone. sunwoo loves tracing his finger around your lips, adoring the soft warmth of them. he hopes that you can feel his love for you in the tenderness of his thumb brushing against your bottom lip, and in the way he looks at you before he connects your lips; eyes becoming doe-like with affection. these kisses are so so special to sweet sunwoo, and he hopes that you hold them as close to your heart as he does :)

eric: hugging you close before passionately kissing you on the lips

eric is a man filled with passion that just bursts at the seams of his being, and this passion transfers over to the way he loves you. eric always wants to show you the fierce love he holds for you, whether that be through his words, or through his actions. he often uses these types of kisses as a greeting and a goodbye to you. it’ll happen when eric stumbles through the door, having just returned from practise. he finds you, wherever you are, pulls you into a tight hug that lets you feel his heartbeat against your own body, chins buried in each others neck. he’ll then pull back, just a smidge, and smash his lips onto yours, communicating the passionate adoration he holds for you through a sweet kiss.

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i’m sad and lonely :D

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blissedoutphil · 3 years ago

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Tops Only Part 2

Dan’s favourite actor just opened a new bar right by the street near his apartment, and he couldn’t wait to check it out. One problem though, it was for Tops only, and Dan wasn’t one.

1389 words of Top!Phil, bottom!dan, AU where everyone’s born with a Type (top/bottom/switch)

There's a tiny part in here that was inspired by the Weenie Hut Jr episode of Spongebob. gotta love that classic

~Part 1~

or read on ao3!

“Thought you were gonna unstan him now.”

Dan rolled his eyes at Anthony’s remark, then went back to scrolling his tumblr. His post about how unfair Phil was with the bar had gained traction, and it was largely supported by his fellow Type. Though there were some Tops who grumbled about how people were taking things too seriously or tried to explain that it wasn’t unfair. Dan blocked those accounts. What do they know about unfair treatment?

Dan had asked Anthony to help with his plan B tonight: Perhaps they could let him in if he came with a Top. It would definitely irritate him if they allowed this, but at least he would be let in. Anthony easily agreed to try it out, so here they were waiting in line. He was a friend Dan didn’t deserve, always willing to indulge in Dan’s fanboying.

Dan had waited a couple of weeks, walking past the bar everyday but from across the road instead. He'd observed the different bouncers, trying to work out their schedules as he didn’t want to cross paths with the same one from his original attempt.

They stepped up to the new bouncer, who easily let Anthony through after they flashed their ID. But he held out a hand in front of Dan when Dan tried to quickly follow Anthony.

“Oh, I’m with him,” Dan reasoned.

“Still no can do buddy,” the bouncer stepped between him and Anthony.

“It’s okay I can take care of him,” Anthony spoke to the bouncer casually.

Inside, Dan hated the statement. He can take care of himself, thank you very much. But that’s just how the world worked and treated Types - Tops protect and care for their Bottoms. He understood where Anthony was playing at, so he played along and nodded with wide pleading eyes.

“Sorry,” the bouncer shook his head.

Dan frowned, but at least this bouncer was polite. Unfortunately though, he’d judged the guy too soon.

“I think you’d be better off in a Bottoms Only Bar,” the bouncer then suggested lightheartedly.

"Bottoms only?!" Dan repeated in surprise and seethed, “are you fucking kidding me?”

The bouncer shrugged unapologetically, swiftly moving on to the next person. Anthony shot Dan an apologetic look before he entered. Dan had prepared for this outcome, instructing Anthony to enter without him if he couldn’t so that he can bring back updates on what goes on inside that makes it so unacceptable for Dan to be let in.

Dan made his way back home begrudgingly, imagining himself opening a Bottoms Only Bar. See how Phil would like being excluded like this.

He sighed as he reached his door, shaking his head at his own thoughts. Why would Phil care about Dan’s made up Bottoms Only bar, he doesn’t even know who Dan is.

Dan entered his apartment and sprawled on his sofa, opting to scroll the internet while he waited for Anthony. The security at Phil’s bar was good, he read quite a number of fans’ posts on how they tried to sneak in not just through the bouncers but through any possible back doors. So far, nobody has had any luck still.

Anthony finally returned past 1am, startling Dan out of his accidental nap when he knocked on Dan’s door. Dan narrowed his eyes at Anthony when he opened the door.

“You didn’t need to be there that long,” Dan grumbled.

“Dude, it was...” Anthony was clearly very pumped up and tipsy after a good night out but he quietened, not wanting to make Dan feel bad about being unable to enter.

“Just tell me,” Dan groaned, slumping back on his sofa.

So Anthony related the events of his night. How there were Bottom waiters enticing the guests while serving their dessert and drinks. Giving them a show and dancing with the Tops, even getting sexual with those who gave extra tips.

“Did you like… get it on with a waiter or what?” Dan said judgmentally.

Anthony shrugged playfully, “The opportunity presented itself…”

Dan fake retched at Anthony’s confession, and got a playful punch on his shoulder in return.

It was clear from what Anthony told him that the bar really was catered for Tops only. That still didn’t satisfy Dan, though.

“He could’ve made an all-inclusive bar,” he pouted.

Anthony sighed empathically but he countered softly, “Well, it’s Phil’s way of finally expressing his Type I guess.”

“By capitalising on it and alienating a big part of his fanbase?” Dan spat.

“You really should unstan him if it bothers you, this is getting unhealthy.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Dan stuck his tongue out at Anthony.

“I saw him there,” Anthony admitted in a small voice.

“What?” Dan perked up instantly, “What was he doing? Did you get any pictures?!”

“I didn’t, but I think he’s there most nights. He made a short appearance and thanked everyone for coming and supporting him. Played around with some of the Bottoms for a bit.”

Dan scoffed, but deep down he felt a bout of envy. He wondered how those Bottoms got the job.

“Trust me Dan, you wouldn’t enjoy it there anyway. You’re not missing out on anything,” Anthony tried to comfort him.

“I guess. Thanks for getting the inside scoop,” Dan joked half-heartedly, getting up from the couch.

“I’ve prepared the guest room,” he yawned as he headed towards his own room.

He’d heard enough. Maybe Anthony was right, there was no reason to let some celebrity affect him this much. He decided to sleep his negativity off, abruptly leaving Anthony in the lounge. His friend had stayed over enough times to know to make himself comfortable in Dan’s home anyway.

Of course, unstanning someone Dan had adored for years was easier said than done. A few days later, he was back on his bullshit. He’d tried searching for any information online on how to get a job in Phil’s bar, but there was nothing at all. He frowned, he of all people should’ve seen information about it. How the hell did he miss any job ads or casting calls or auditions or whatever?

Dan sighed as he walked past the bar from across the road after work again. He could’ve been working in there right now. Seeing Phil every night. Maybe dancing with him. Instead he was stuck in some boring office admin job.

The queue to enter never wavered despite it being almost a month since opening already. And despite knowing almost everything there was to know about the bar, Dan still longed to step inside and see it for himself.

He visited Anthony for lunch the next day. And to drop Plan C on his friend.

“Are you insane?!” Anthony said incredulously upon hearing Plan C.

“C’monnn, everyone says we look freakishly alike anyway!” Dan persuaded.

“And what happens if they find out you’re using my ID? Will you pay the fine for me? Bail me out of jail?” Anthony stared at him disbelievingly.

“Don’t be so dramatic!”

“Oh I’m the dramatic one here? It’s just a bar Dan, let it go.”

Dan fell silent. He knew Anthony was right, there was no point in arguing. He sagged against his chair in defeat.

Perhaps Anthony felt guilty for dismissing his idea like that because after their lunch, Anthony sat Dan down on his couch and turned on one of Dan’s favourite movies that Phil starred in. It was telling that Anthony was trying to cheer Dan up because he would never watch that movie on his own accord.

“How long are you gonna be all mopey like this?” Anthony sighed after the movie ended and Dan was still being quiet.

“How come... I didn’t at least know they were hiring waiters or something?" Dan spoke wistfully.

Anthony gave a long suffering sigh before saying, “Maybe that could be your Plan D if C doesn’t work out.”

Dan looked up at his friend in surprise, finding Anthony’s hand outstretched towards him with his ID in hand.

“Really?” Dan said in an unsure but hopeful tone.

“Take it before I change my mind,” Anthony huffed.

“Thank you!” Dan leapt up to land in Anthony’s lap and crush him in a tight hug, “I owe you one.”

“Just don’t do anything stupid to get yourself caught,” Anthony chuckled, returning the hug.

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~Part 1~

This chapter's kinda short but dw next one's gonna be longer! Sorry no sign of Phil (yet) but hope yall enjoyed some danthony this chapter :) I'm enjoying projecting fan behaviour onto Dan lol

There will be either 4 or 5 parts for this fic, idk we'll see! lmk what you think so far~

#My fic #Tops Only #phan #Phanfic #phan fic #Dan and Phil #stereo

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byakuyasdarling · 4 years ago

Note

2 and 8 for the domestic life asks? ^^

Thank you so much for the ask ^//v//^ I hope you’re having an amazing day <33

All under the cut :D

2. What’s the wedding like? Who attends? (Domestic Life)

I detailed a lot about their wedding in this post [here]! But I’ll insert some paragraphs here form that post to summarise :)

“Byakuya would prefer to keep things small and rather private, however, it appears he’s going to get the opposite of what he would like. His family and S/I seem to want a large wedding (because you know, this is kinda massive for the Togami family, especially considering how famous they are. S/I’s Ultimate would also put her in the position to garner fame too). S/I is MASSIVE on family, and invites all members of her very large family too.”

Not only both of their families will attend (Byakuya doesn’t have many family members there as his exhiled half-siblings don’t count to him as “they lost their right to the Togami name.” — so, most of his family would come from his mother’s side), but S/I has an extensive guest list of friends she loves and cherishes that will also be there. Easily over 150 people in total. Much to Byakuya’s dismay, she wants to share her special day with everyone — and I mean EVERYONE.

To be fair, this is the one thing Byakuya could never really have direct control over — he easily recognised this is in his family’s interest too, so he won’t be too argumentative over it. He loves S/I so dearly as well, he’s inclined to give her what she wants since she has been excited for her wedding ever since she was a little girl (a rhetoric she tells him all the way up until the wedding day). The honeymoon is where Byakuya will be pleased though; he finally gets all that privacy he wanted with her.

“It’s all very lavish. Definitely held in one of those really fancy venues with the high glass ceilings. Lots of white, black, and gold with a hint of wine red regarding the colour theme for the wedding”

8. How do they celebrate holidays? (Domestic Life)

Valentines Day:

Very much just a day they have to themselves. S/I implores him not to get her anything on the day (as they’re both very aware it’s just a day for companies to capitalise off — Byakuya is more aware of that than anyone), but he always buys her a bouquet of roses, especially because he knows red roses are her favourite. He’ll take her out for dinner too! S/I is thankful for all of his efforts; she tends to cry a little bit since she really doesn’t have anything for him in return. He doesn’t ever say it directly, but for him: the gift of tangible happiness she has always given to him is more than anything he could ever ask for — he really didn’t know the feeling before her.

Easter:

Byakuya never celebrated Easter until he was with S/I. Assuming they take a flight back to S/I’s family together for the Easter holidays, they get to celebrate the joys of Easter together. S/I gets all the egg hunts ready for all her little cousins at her grandmother’s house. Family members too old for the hunt will give each other bags of chocolate goodies :) S/I helps her grandmother put up all the Easter decorations around her house and helps her with Easter breakfast (Eggs Benedict!).

Byakuya is very much on the sidelines for all of this and doesn’t talk to her family too much (especially her father. The two clash a lot — Byakuya tends to be very aggressive towards him knowing everything he knows about S/I). He is happy for S/I though. He loves seeing the pretty smile on her face when she’s genuinely happy (even though he doesn’t vocalise that).

Halloween:

Growing up in Australia (which is not very big on Halloween, my area is so dry on that holiday), S/I never really cared for it. She went trick-or-treating once in Grade 4, but that’s about it. Byakuya just sees the holiday as another opportunity to fork money from people’s pockets (as the business man does). Suffice it to say, they don’t dress up (Byakuya would despise that), and they don’t go out for any parties or anything. They are invited by close friends to parties, but Byakuya really despises them and prefers to be alone with her for the the night; so she decides not to go.

They stay in and watch horror movies though! Byakuya manages to recover a packet of Minties for her; he has to police them though otherwise she’ll eat the whole packet in one sitting (one thing she definitely misses about Australia is the Minties). Poor S/I gets so scared though, she clings to his arm a lot — he does secretly enjoy that a lot; he’ll always let her lie on his chest and rub her back a little to comfort her though (despite the fact he does tease her a bit about it).

Christmas:

🎶it’s the most wonderful time of the year🎶

S/I LOVES Christmas with all her heart. Everything about it: the carols, the decorations, the gifts, the family spirit, nothing is bad on Christmas Day!!

It’s the time when Byakuya’s mother’s side of the family gets to meet the very extensive family of S/I’s. S/I’s family is flown down to Europe in Byakuya’s mother’s manor to spend the next two weeks celebrating.

S/I’s grandmother brings all her Christmas decorations to fill their accomodation — S/I is ecstatic to set all the special decorations up (I really can’t imagine that there’s going to be a year where we won’t be setting them up together. I’ve been doing it ever since I was a little — I mourn for the day I’ll be setting them up by myself and hosting Christmas instead). Anyway, Byakuya watches her set up the trees happily. There’s a lot of times he’ll just walk up and hug her from behind while staring at her handiwork. If she asks what he’s doing he’ll just gently hum and give her a kiss. Christmas makes up a lot more of his positive memories: he’s a bit more detached from his grumpy self around this time.

God forbid if anyone from S/I’d family is driving because every time they see a roundabout with a Christmas tree in the middle, they’ll drive around it as much as possible before while singing “O’ Christmas Tree” and try and beat their previous record. Obviously they’ll stop if there’s too many cars (our family record is 27 laps if you’re wondering). Byakuya finds this VERY obnoxious.

Again, family breakfast! Eggs Benedict! Cooked by S/I and her grandmother; they also make the pudding! They have awesome lunches and get the evening to themselves.

S/I always makes something special for Byakuya, while she is swarmed by gifts he bought for her. He pays attention and takes note of the things she expresses interest in and buys ALL OF IT for her. Even though the things she makes for Byakuya may seem a lot smaller in comparison; he adores all her gifts. He has all the money in the world, but he can’t buy the things she makes for him: they’re one-of-a-kind.

Byakuya loves Christmas evening with her. He gets exhausted (ironically) catching up with all of S/I’s family activities, he is in such a good mood by the end of it though (mainly because of how happy she has been though). They’ll put on some Michael Bublé Christmas songs and cuddle up and read for the rest of the day. He gives a lot of affection that day; it’s one of those very rare times of the year he’s detached enough from his own ego and family expectations that he allows himself to openly express all the love he feels for her (a lot of it usually being bottled up — grumpy man <<333).

———————————————————————

Ahhh, I’m so sorry this is so long! I just love talking about them, and I love talking about Christmas! (So naturally, that section is very long). Thank you so much for the ask, I promise next time I won’t ramble as much, ahaha <33

Have a great day 💙💙

#Freya Answers | 🎶#ship tag: book lovers ♡#just for clarification: S/I does not have an Australian accent like all of the shows portray us as having LMAO #only like — 5% of us actually speak like that and they’re all boomers lol #Andreagami

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lazywriter7 · 5 years ago

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Cap-Ironman Rec Week - What-If Wednesday

It’s time to rec some Steve/Tony AUs for @cap-ironman‘s What If Wednesday! If you loved these stories half as much as I did, please shower the authors with kudos and comments <3

Underground by Margo_Kim:

Five years ago, Thor's Chitauri army decimated the Earth. Now what's left of humanity lives in bases under the Earth's surface, safe from the toxic atmosphere. Tony likes to think that humanity's adapted pretty well. After all, they have movie nights and dances; they're doing better than could be expected. But when he learns that the little world of safety and stability they've carved out is about to be slowly but surely destroyed, the New York Underground is left with only two options--fight or flight. Tony knows which one he wants. If only Steve weren't on the exact opposite side. Meanwhile, Natasha wants whatever option will save Clint, Pepper wants whatever option will save the base, Maria Hill wants whatever option will save everybody, and nobody's exactly sure who Loki's trying to save, but everyone's hoping it's more than just himself.

~ Apocalypse!AU. This fic reads like a movie, with all of the dramatic tension, an excellent ensemble cast, beautiful Steve/Tony moments and a breathtaking climax that’s everything you could ever want from a story like this. (With bonus phenomenal Loki moments, if that’s your kind of thing ;) )

ceaselessly into the past by shepherd:

Edge of Tomorrow/Live.Die.Repeat AU, following the movie. After earth is invaded by the Chitauri, Tony Stark is forcefully drafted into the military for a suicide mission. It ends up with him being inexplicably caught in a time loop that always seems to end with him dying horrifically. And, of course, the day was a Thursday- he had never gotten the hang of Thursdays.

~ Movie AUs/fusions are the Best Thing, especially if they’re half as well written as this one! I hadn’t watched the movie before reading the fic, and goddamn if it didn’t stun me with it’s excellent character-driven writing. Even after watching the movie, I can attest that none of it feels forced, but like Steve and Tony were meant to live, die and fall in love in this manner <3

Pulse and Beat series by sineala:

Cassino, Italy, December 1943. Special Agent Tony Stark, former Marvels adventurer, is sent to investigate a Cosmic Cube found by the Invaders -- and it's the perfect opportunity for him to rekindle his secret romance with Steve Rogers. But when Hydra attempts to steal the Cube, an inadvertent wish for help leads to the appearance of a Tony from the future of another world: Director Stark of SHIELD. This Tony is a man with a lot on his mind. He refuses to tell them anything about the future, but he seems to know much more than he should about Captain America. And something's happened that's clearly killing him inside, but he's not talking. When Director Stark's failed attempt to return home leads to the unexpected appearance of another visitor from his universe, all the lies come undone. Now there are two wars to fight, and the second one could ruin all of them.

~ If you’re thinking that no one needs to be told to read Sineala’s fics - well let me just say that this is one of my absolute favourite of their works and it hasn’t gotten nearly as much acclaim as it deserves! A fantastic canon-divergence Noir/616 crossover AU for the ages, with a sprinkling of 616 Civil War fix-it to really get you going.

strays by theappleppielifestyle:

Tony will take whatever he can get from Steve, which is pathetic, because he’s not even really friends with him.

Or, the highschool!AU where Pepper is Tony's much-needed therapist, Darcy is his parter in crime, Bruce needs to go through puberty, Clint shows up to school with bruises and Steve just wants everyone to get through this intact.

~ Highschool AUs are my secret Kryptonite - there’s just something about the emotional vulnerability of characters that age that get me sniffling. Again, no one needs to be told to read theappleppielifestyle‘s fics, but this is another one of those soft, sweet, poignant reads that deserves all of the attention in the world.

The Idiot Box by Margo_Kim:

Stephanie Rogers isn't happy to be in the 21st century, but she's even less thrilled to be on a team with Antonia Stark who seems as spoiled and self-centered as people come. She and Tony do their best to ignore each other, until their mutual insomnia causes them to bond over the new American pastime: late night television watching.

~ this author’s AU’s are just *chef’s kiss*. Featuring cis!female Steph and Tony, with some touching dynamics and laugh-out-loud moments, this is an MCU fic written pre-Avengers, which is a bit of a lovely rarity all by itself.

I’ve got you under my skin by sirona:

Five times Beijing 2008 Olympics Gold Medalist Tony Stark thinks it's going to be no more difficult a job to get ready for London 2012, than what he has just achieved. That is, of course, before Coach Fury comes to visit, and offers him a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a part of something much bigger than himself. Swimming AU.

~ No AU reclist is complete without a Sports!AU :D The characters here read as authentic to their canon selves, even as they’re participating in competitive sports rather than beating up bad guys - Tony’s arc in particular is really heartwarming <3

Look here, look back, look ahead by marinarusalka:

September, 1941: Returning from a mission as Iron Man, Tony Stark crash-lands in the Carpathian Mountains and is rescued by Captain America. The two heroes team up to investigate Nazi activity at a mysterious castle. But Captain America is keeping secrets that could destroy their new partnership before it has a chance to begin.

~ Some lovely, lovely IM Noir canon divergence AU <3 It also comes bundled with identity porn, and Noir verse is just such a delightful verse to soak in that you all should really go read this at once.

And finally a self-rec or two-

Even Though We Know Love’s Landscape:

But at the core, he’s the same brand of poor little rich guy that dot the shadowed corners of every charity gala, every award function. Sure, maybe it comes in a ‘genius billionaire playboy philanthropist’ package… but his mettle is common iron. A drop of sea water, a dash of air, and he’d rust right through.

She, on the other hand, is made of better stuff.

In which Tony compares people to weird things, Steph recites poetry and two dorks fall in love.

~ AU with cis!female Steve, with all the team living in the Tower and a bunch of feels, fluff and poetry thrown in for good measure :D

Swing City:

“Of all the places you could go to on holiday, you had to pick the one where everything can possibly kill you.”

“I’m here on exchange, actually.” Steve returned primly. "And I’m pretty sure nothing can kill me in a gallery.”

“That’s the tragic bit. You’re in a gallery.” Sam’s tone was impressively flat, even for him. “You’re in Australia. Go hiking in the bush with the poisonous snakes. Surfing with the murderous jellyfish.”

Spoiler alert: Tony's in Australia too. And he's a swing dancer.

~ Is this a kind-of college!AU+Dancer!AU set in Australia, with Steve still as Cap? Yes, yes it is. I had a rollicking good time writing it, plus all of Steve’s Man Out of Time feels, so you’ll get no apologies from this quarter :D

#capimrecweek #stony #stevetony #fic recs #steve rogers #tony stark #mcu stony #marvel 616 #marvel noir #canon divergence #alternate universe

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piracytheorist · 5 years ago

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Allen & Colin interview (pt.1) summary and tidbits

Because I know y’all are curious ;)

I’m not mentioning everything, because a) it’s in a foreign language for me and I miss stuff, b) I’m not sure what impact it has other than them simply mentioning that stuff in the interview and c) I’m just your average fan with her biases and preferences, some things draw my attention, some don’t. But it was an interesting insight into Colin’s inspirations and work ethic, so I’ll try to mention as much as possible. Also because c’mon it’s Colin and we all want a bit.

If you can and can afford it, I’d suggest supporting Allen on patreon. The work he’s offering is very important, especially in the times we’re currently experiencing.

In the intro, which was recorded after the interview, Allen says: “In this interview, Colin talks about his early life, growing up, having such a wonderful big brother to look up to... Maybe he doesn't say that. You'll have to wait and see.”

There's a lot of laughs in the beginning, as they start getting into the motion of brother interviewing brother. The room they were recording used to be Colin's old bedroom, and Allen asked him where his bed used to be, and almost immediately said "I'm pretty sure the listeners are loving this right now." Hahaha we are.

Colin kept a bit to himself when he was a teenager. He drew a lot and played the guitar, he was introverted when he got into the whole theater thing.

Real artistic, so, he wasn't sure if he wanted to be a musician or an artist, but when he started theater he eventually realized it was theater he wanted above all. Dude. If only we all were so widely talented and had so many opportunities to choose from XD

Honorable detailed mention: Allen mentions how amazed he was by Colin's talent. He remembers one time he was looking after Colin (he said it was about six months after Colin had started learning guitar, and iirc that was when he was 11) and he (Allen) had also recently started, and was trying hard to learn some chords. He heard some Led Zeppelin from Colin's room and was like "Oh he's listening to Led Zeppelin," then he went to his room and he realized it was actually Colin, playing Stairway to Heaven. And he still remembers! What a proud bro, we stan.

Colin learned a lot of music by ear. It was more practical than technical stuff that he worked on. He's very humble about his guitar playing, too.

They talked a bit about playing music with emotion and how sometimes people who concentrate a lot on technique don't use any emotion, and as a musician myself I've seen this a lot, where people focus too much on teaching technique that the result comes off completely emotionless. Though, I mean, I'm trained in classical music, and that's heavily based on building technique, so I can’t say you shouldn’t work on technique, but there are many ways of playing music and so many genres, and there is a healthy balance between technique and emotion, and depending on the style you're playing technique can be applied (or is needed) accordingly.

Colin talked about how he had piano lessons when he was young, and he remembers how the place where he had lessons creeped him out (he laughed at that), so that along with the heavy focus on technique discouraged him, but he wishes he was able to play it.

Don’t we all

He remembers Michael Jackson being one of his first inspirations for music. He remembers Thriller was the first vinyl he got, though the very first music that he bought was a cassette from Huey Lewis and the News - after he had his communion. Gotta say I appreciate the attention to detail XD

Colin: I used to listen to Michael Jackson non-stop. Allen: You did.

I can picture Allen nodding as he said that XD

The first concert he went to was of Jackson's Bad (I think), when he was seven! It was Allen's first concert too.

Their dad used to listen to a lot of Rory Gallagher, Led Zeppelin and Pearl Jam and those became Colin's favourite music to play. Especially Rory Gallagher. He and their mom also used to play in bands, and there was a lot of music in the house in general and Colin said all that contributed to his inclination in music.

He said how once he was an adult, Helen was his biggest supporter in what he did. WE STAN. That meant a lot to him, especially when as a starting actor there'd be times he wouldn't have a job for a long time, but the support from Helen and the rest of his family in general meant a lot to him.

Then they talked about people who used to tell him that he was lucky to have the band (The Enemies) as a job, but how that wasn't luck, it was based on work he did for years before he could go out on stage with them. And again, can confirm, there's a lot of work put behind any decent and above musical performance, it can be as hard as any job, especially when you have to pack up and go to a different place, set up, rehearse, perform, pack it all up and come home late. It's just that the crowd sees only the entertainment part it gets, and doesn't know the work behind it, so a lot of time they don't appreciate it as such.

It's just... I feel that, a lot, you know? Yes, music is fun and we love it, but performing it for a crowd ain't no game.

Colin compared that to acting, with how people see the end result as a snapshot of the entire work behind it, same way we don't see a lot of the work behind professions we don't know about - Colin mentioned an electrician, for example.

I think he’d shared this story before or something about it, but he talked about his very first touch with theater; he’d gone to the youth theater to meet with his friends - just to meet them, and they were rehearsing a play but one actor was missing, so they asked him to read in for him that day. At first Colin was like “No way” but eventually they convinced him.

That first experience made him realize he could pretend to be anyone he wanted to be and it gave him a newfound confidence. At the time he wasn't playing the guitar publicly, only in his room, and playing in the theater gave him the confidence he didn't have with the guitar at the time, because in the theater he was putting his character out there, not himself.

I think it's interesting how he talks about acting; he mentioned "putting on a skin". And I think, seeing the variety of characters he has portrayed, and how invested you can feel he is during filming, and then seeing him... "collected" in cons and interviews, and not very active in social media... I think "putting on a skin" fits perfectly the way he does it. And I think it's part of why I love his acting, and why his characters feel so different from each other; it's full-on becoming and feeling like another person, not simply acting like one.

His theater group went to the Olivier Theatre in London (for a competition, if I got that right), and they got a standing ovation for their play, and it was then that Colin thought that he could really invest and make a living out of acting. He was about 15-16 at the time.

Again, standing ovation => confidence goes through the roof, can confirm.

It was there that his group won an award, and it was Colin who received that from Anthony Minghella, the director of The English Patient, and Allen said that Minghella said Colin was amazing. a) bruh can you imagine and b) what a proud brother!

Colin said how he was already interested in animation and special effects, and the whole act of making a movie, so even as an actor he still likes wandering around sets and getting to see how they're all made and built, even sets he's not part of. Again he talked about how much is done behind the scenes that the audience never gets to see.

Even from his experience in the Olivier Theatre, Colin already had the ideology that in drama, it was about the group, the team, and not about himself, and he's followed that to the present. He talked about how acting is just one part of a production, and it takes hard work from many people of different professions working together to get to that.

Like, he's so conscious and so respectful of what is behind the scenes of a production and how important everyone is... and like, I feel that says a lot about the humility we see of him, the way he treats his job as any other job, and the way a lot of his co-workers talk with such respect about him. Like, when you respect everything, from the basis to every little cogwheel that make a film and always take the opportunity to learn anything you can from your co-workers...

I love him so much.

He mentioned how his grandmother was a big influence for him too, back in the fourties she’d gone to London to study producing, so he says subconsciously there was always an influence towards drama in his family.

"You can't complain about having a disillusioned bunch of teenagers or kids causing trouble if you're not willing to invest [in their future], to help them realize [their potential]." He said that as part of how that one evening in the youth theater changed his life, and how having the chance to have a safe space to express himself, that being the theater, played such an important part in his life and the lives of pretty much everyone who had taken part in it. And how things like that, giving children the chance to explore hobbies and things they like, can have such a positive impact on their lives and futures.

So that’s for the first part! I hope it was all clear :D

#Colin O'Donoghue #Allen & Colin interview

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gumnut-logic · 5 years ago

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One Wednesday Night

balter (v.) - to dance artlessly, without particular grace or skill but usually with enjoyment. (from these wonderful prompts)

Just a random fluffy scene that got a little out of control. I claim no sanity.

Spoilers & Warnings: Fluff, alcohol, 3924 words.

Many thanks to @scribbles97 for the read through and for putting up with my crazy.

I hope you enjoy it :D

Everyone knew Virgil was the musical soul in the family. He played, wrote and occasionally bled music. It was a constant in their home and the few times it was missing due to illness or absence, it was painful.

The man could sing if he wanted to, but that was a rare thing. He could dance with the grace of any ballroom dancer, his rhythm and style even outshining his eldest brother, Mr Lady-swooner himself.

Music was part of Virgil’s soul.

So, what happened late one Wednesday night after one too many rescues and ten too many drinks was quite surprising to them all.

The Tracy brothers weren’t big drinkers. They couldn’t afford to be due to their occupation. Both Scott and Virgil had been known to down a late night sniff of whisky on occasion. John had his boutique beers, but honestly, he wasn’t home very often to drink them, and space and alcohol was never a good combination.

Gordon fancied an odd cocktail from time to time and had the liquor stash to back it up, but most of the bottles were dusty and a couple well past their expiry dates. They just didn’t have the time or the opportunity to really let rip.

But it was Wednesday. The last rescue of five had been an avalanche and they always sucked. The boys had congregated in the living room…and it was a living room, not a damned comms room because International Rescue was down for a good forty-eight hours, Grandma’s orders.

They were all exhausted, but none wanted to sleep. They wouldn’t admit it, but there was fear in what they might find behind closed eyelids after such a shitty day, so they just sat together.

At first it was quiet. One or two words, fragmented debrief, until Virgil put an end to it and demanded John come home. Now!

Fifteen minutes later, the middle brother, just as exhausted as the rest, slunk into the living room and made a seat his own.

But there was little talking, each caught up in their own thoughts.

“Screw this.” Gordon jumped to his feet. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” And he disappeared around the corner.

Scott didn’t pay much attention, his eyes on John, assessing his condition and fast coming to the conclusion that his brother hadn’t slept in at least the last twenty-four hours judging by the bags under his eyes.

“John, have you eaten.”

Turquoise darted in his direction. “Have you?”

A blink and Scott realised he hadn’t. He had been too occupied keeping track of tired brothers. “No.” Honestly, he wasn’t hungry.

“Then you understand.”

A glare in his brother’s direction. John just turned away.

Scott’s lips thinned, but then his attention was taken by Alan, who was slowly tipping sideways on his couch, eyelids drooping. “Alan, you should go to bed.”

“Don’t wanna. Wanna stay with you guys.” His head landed on the couch cushion and two seconds later he was snoring.

Scott sighed.

“I have cake. I have popcorn. I have drinks.” Hurricane Gordon slammed into the sunken lounge and a pile of popcorn, chips, a rather large cake and a bucket of candy landed with him. The whole mess was dumped on the table and the aquanaut disappeared again.

Scott just stared at the pile of food.

“Well, that’s the healthy option.” Virgil’s voice was pure sarcasm.

“Do you really care?” Honestly, Virg.

“Not really, but the principle is there.”

Scott rolled his eyes. Just in time for Gordon to reappear with half his alcohol stash, several of John’s beers and whisky. Glorious, golden whisky.

Now that was a very good idea.

What happened after the appearance of the alcohol involved a movie Scott didn’t pay much attention to, far too much carbohydrate…c’mon, caramel popcorn, yes…and a lot of alcohol.

After all, they were down for forty-eight hours guaranteed and how often did that happen? This was an opportunity for them to focus on themselves and despite their exhaustion, there was finally a little relaxation in front of…the Enterprise?

“Who gave John the remote?!”

“I did.” The feminine AI’s voice danced through the room in amusement.

“Eos! That’s cheating!”

She giggled. “I thought Gordon was cheating when he stuck it in his drink.”

Scott turned to his aquanaut brother who was dressing the sleeping Alan’s hair with popcorn. “Gordon!”

“What?!” The cocktail in his hand had an umbrella and a remote control garnishing it.

“You drowned the remote.”

“Huh?” He looked at his drink. “Oh.” And he pulled it out of the concoction and started licking it clean.

“Augh.”

A blur of red plaid and Virgil snatched the gadget from Gordon’s fingers and flicked it into the nearest pot plant.

Gordon appeared forlorn for its absence for a whole second before turning to his drink and sculling it all in one go.

“Gordon!” This time it was Virgil yelling his name.

The aquanaut had blue curacao for lipstick. “What?!” It was a direct echo of his same exasperated response moments earlier.

“Take it easy.”

“I don’t want to take it easy. I’m having fun.” With that he grabbed a bottle and dumped something red into the same glass with the blue, resulting in a rather unpleasant purple.

Scott groaned.

Which only earned him an assessing stare from Virgil.

A sigh. “Relax, Virgil. We’re home, we’re safe. Let your hair down a little.”

He was going to regret those words later.

The stare turned into a glare, but moments later, Gordon was ribbing Virgil about drinking and somehow he got under the engineer’s skin because there was a drinking contest.

Unfortunately for Gordon, swimmer’s physique or not, apparently Virgil was more brawn and could simply just absorb the stuff.

Gordon ended up snoozing in a sea of popcorn beside Alan.

John started giggling.

Scott raised an eyebrow at the small pyramid of empty beer bottles beside his space brother.

“How many have you had?”

“It’s a tetrahedron. Work it out.” John placed a single bottle at the top of the pyramid and smirked at Scott.

This was definitely a very bad idea.

His own whisky glass was only half empty. He needed to fix that.

It was warm going down.

Gordon started snoring, loudly.

“Okay, that’s it. Time for bed.”

“Don’t wanna go to bed.” Virgil put on the soppiest puppy dog face Scott had ever seen.

John cracked up laughing.

Oh god. “No, bed, now.”

“Okay.” And Virgil stood up.

And took a quick step to the left, then the right, before managing to stabilise himself somewhat upright, but listing slightly to one side.

It was that moment that the movie playing on the holoprojector burst into music.

Music? What the hell were they watching. He stared up into a haze of rebooted retro nineteen fifties and a song about a car and lightning.

“Ooh, I like this one.”

What?

And Virgil was suddenly dancing. Well, it could be considered dancing in some circles, but it mostly consisted of a lot of poorly coordinated butt wiggling and a lot of horizon pointing arms.

The jumping on the couch was really not called for.

“Virg?”

But his brother was lost to the music and dancing his heart and his coordination all out.

“C’mon, Scott, get up and boogie!”

Of course, Virgil was loud enough to wake Gordon, who took one look at Virgil and fell off the couch.

There was far too much butt wiggling happening.

“Virg, come down from there.”

He was completely ignored.

Scott needed more alcohol.

The bottle of golden oblivion smiled at him.

Screw it.

He wasn’t quite sure what happened next, but the result was a broken lamp and Gordon on the floor laughing hard enough to break a rib.

“Eos, play Jailhouse Rock.” John managed that between giggles. Scott idly noticed that the tetrahedron had become modern art and was attempting to defy the laws of physics.

It failed with a smash and rolling of bottles two minutes later.

And Virgil was still dancing.

Classic Elvis Presley at full volume, enough to wake up every lifeform in the caldera.

The butt wiggling had morphed into hip waggling and some kind of leg shaking that threatened to faceplant his brother on the floor.

“Virg, please get off the couch.”

“I am having fun, Scott.” Each word was enunciated clearly as if the man was having trouble putting the syllables together. “Letting my hair down.” A grin and Virgil shoved his fingers into his hair and completely messed it up until it was sticking out in all directions. Suddenly a hand was almost in Scott’s face. “Join me?”

There was something in his brother’s deep brown eyes, something beyond the alcoholic haze, something desperate, something…sad.

Scott never could refuse a brother his help. So, a moment later, he found himself standing on the couch as Virgil shifted his dance moves into something that involved some shoulder rolling and a goofy grin.

Scott found himself grinning in return.

John said something half drowned out by the music and the room was suddenly filled with an old dance favourite from his teens.

Virgil actually let off a laugh and moved into a sloppy dance routine from their childhood.

Scott couldn’t help himself and at some point, he just let go.

-o-o-o-

Alan woke from one of the weirdest dreams of his life. It involved music and Thunderbird Three dancing to a beat, her arms waving about.

It took him a moment to work out exactly why.

The dream was saner than reality. Scott and Virgil were standing on one of the couches…dancing.

Alan blinked the sleep out of his eyes. Was that the Macarena? It was hard to tell. Virgil was so uncoordinated, he could have been servicing Two in his sleep for all Alan could discern. Scott was smoother, but he was leaning at a teetering angle.

Frantic eyes located his two other brothers.

John was sitting on the floor beside a pile of empty beer bottles. He had a dob of cake frosting on one eyebrow.

That left Gordon.

The strawberry blond was sitting on the floor in front of Alan’s couch.

“Gords? What’s going on?”

Gordon turned around and a soft smile curved his lips. “Big bros are letting their hair down.” The music suddenly paused and Gordon sat up straighter. “Eos, Dance Party 2054.”

More music erupted from the overhead speakers and vibrated the glass walls.

Alan found himself bopping to the beat.

Virgil climbed up off the couch and onto the hardwood floor, apparently so he could really let loose. His plaid shirt was undone and swirling around him as he moved.

Scott tripped over the top of the couch and almost faceplanted on that same hardwood, but he saved himself the bruises with those half-sharp reflexes of his. A moment later he was up boogying with his brother.

It was an odd sight.

“Are they okay?”

Gordon’s voice was quiet. “No, but they will be.”

“What about John?”

Gordon shrugged as they both eyed the slouched astronaut. “Not sure he has it in him, fresh down from Five. He’s safer on the floor.”

“What about you?”

Gordon snorted. “I’m good.” He chucked down the remains of his drink before turning to face his little brother. “Wanna dance?”

Alan’s eyes widened. “How are you?” His eyes bounced to the empty bottles on the table, the stained glasses and limp umbrellas.

“What? Do you really think I can’t outlast Virg? The man is a drinking wimp. Only took two good ones to get him dancing with the fairies. Letting him win was the hard part.”

“Win what?”

A snort. “Virg thinks he can drink me under the table. He’s small fry.” The aquanaut stumbled to his feet and Alan eyed him. Gordon had definitely had a few. “You aren’t allowed to kill brain cells. However, you can have fun, dear little brother.” He held out his hand. “May I have this dance?”

He blamed sleep fog for the automatic yes that found him up and out of the sunken lounge, careening around the room laughing his ass off.

-o-o-o-

“John, what is happening?”

The astronaut blinked dopily. Maybe he had had one too many, but with each one, the voices faded just that little bit more. Calls for help he was desperate to answer.

And the silences that followed.

“They’re dancing, Eos.” It was obvious really.

“I’ve never seen them act like this before.”

“Doesn’t happen very often.” If ever. What was Scott trying to do with their father’s chair? “Eos, could you please close the doors to the balcony.” Gravity did suck after all.

He took another swig of Swedish beer as the giant glass doors slid smoothly closed.

“Can you access the room lighting?”

“One moment. I have control, John.”

“Good. Reference the 1970s disco movement and see if you can replicate any of the lighting involved.”

“FAB.”

A few moments later and the room’s lighting went nuts. The holoprojector flickered and shone dancing rainbows on the rafters. The atmosphere changed radically as the whole room pulsed and flickered in beat with the music.

Virgil froze for a whole five seconds in the middle of the room, staring up at the glass ceiling before bursting into a massive grin and throwing himself into a full on fit of dancing to the song that was screaming out of the speakers.

Scott was pirouetting with his father’s chair in great rotating circles.

Gordon was attempting some kind of retro-breakdancing. Though at this point, the only thing that was going to be broken was pot plants.

Alan had a grin on his face and was the most coordinated of them all, jiggling along to the beat with a grin on his face.

Another figure appeared in the entrance to the room. It took John’s entire remaining intellect to realise that it was Grandma.

Something stirred in the back of John’s head, something about getting in trouble, but he had no coordination to connect the dots so gave up. Besides, the Grandma figure was only standing in the doorway watching.

“What is the purpose of all this activity?” Eos’ voice was ever curious.

“It’s fun, Eos. An attempt at stress relief.” To wash the pain away.

-o-o-o-

Virgil was vaguely aware that he was being ridiculous, but he was beyond caring. The music pulsed through him and lifted him up. He just let it all go and rode the beat.

He was too exhausted to care about anything.

Except his brothers.

He always cared about his brothers.

Scott was astride their father’s chair and was riding it across the room in a completely undignified manner. Gordon was laughing his ass off at the sight and Alan was beside him in that. Even John was grinning as the eldest coasted past.

Virgil spun and let the air stream around him.

Round and round and round.

Oh dear, too round.

He staggered to a halt, but the world kept going. He stumbled.

A hand caught him. “Take it easy, honey.”

The blur turned into his grandmother in her dressing gown.

“Grandma!” He drew her in to a massive hug. “I love you, Grandma.”

Her tiny arms hugged him back. “Virgil, you’re drunk.”

“No, no, I’m dancing. Wanna dance, Grandma?”

She was looking up at him with concern on her face.

“Smile, Grandma. You need to be happy.”

He needed to be happy.

She reached up and touched his face, her hand cupping his cheek.

He closed his eyes and leant into her palm as the beat throbbed around him.

-o-o-o-

The sight of his grandmother sobered Scott immediately. The chair beneath him drifted a few more feet before he brought it to a halt.

Grandma caught Virgil as he stumbled and they were hugging. Something about that simple gesture clenched his heart.

He clambered off the chair and staggered awkwardly. Okay, maybe he had a few too many. He forced himself upright, kicking some spine into his vertebrae and made his way over to his grandmother.

Virgil was all plaid and gentle eyes as she cupped his cheek.

“Grandma?” Scott’s voice wavered with his step.

Eyes as blue as his own turned towards him. “Scotty, you need to sit down before you fall down.”

He frowned. He had a chair a moment ago. He looked around.

A hand caught his cheek and drew his gaze back to his grandmother and those blue eyes.

A red arm wrapped around him and drew him in. “Scott, you are my big brother.” The statement was declared with so much love as he was pulled sideways into Virgil.

They almost fell in a heap. It was Grandma who steadied them.

“You boys need to go to bed.” A concerned frown and she called out to the ceiling. “Eos, kill the light show and the music.”

The silence that fell was so sudden, Scott almost fell with it.

Virgil stumbled and Scott held him upright.

An almighty crash off to their left and Gordon upended one of the large pot plants near the glass doors. Potting mix scattered across the floor. Gordon rolled over and sat up covered in the stuff. “Who turned off the music?”

Grandma straightened. “It is time for bed, young man.”

The dopey aquanaut looked up at his grandmother and squinted. “Grandma, is that you?”

She ignored him. “Alan, come here, sweety.”

Alan, who was yawning fit to break his jaw, wandered over as bidden.

“Yes, Grandma?”

She snaked an arm around his waist and drew him in. “Time for bed, Allie.”

Virgil reached out an arm to snag his littlest brother, but suddenly Gordon was in his way and he got an arm full of fish instead.

Virgil did not seem to mind. “Gordo! My wingman, my copilot, my fish in a barrel.” Red plaid squeezed tight. “Love you, bro.”

Scott blinked. That was three. Where was the other one?

A glance at the lounge found John sprawled on the floor up against one of the lounges, fast asleep.

“Oi, Johnny!”

Scott jumped at Virgil’s yell and so did John. Bleary turquoise peered in their direction.

“Get over here, little brother, group hug!”

Wha-? Scott’s head was so foggy.

But John was stumbling to his feet. Something told him this was a dangerous thing. As the astronaut wobbled over, Scott moved to help him, but found himself snagged by cast iron red plaid.

Fortunately, Alan picked up on his fellow spaceman’s difficulties and hurried over to give him a hand. A few moments of wobbly astronaut and John was standing with them.

Virgil immediately reached for him. “Johnny!”

Unfortunately, he didn’t let go of either Gordon or Scott when he did and, damn, Virgil was strong. They ended up in a huddle, Alan and Grandma awkwardly caught up with them.

“I love you guys.” Virgil’s voice was muffled up against John’s shirt. Scott had caught Grandma and Gordon had grabbed Alan. Virgil had his face mushed into John’s shoulder.

John looked like he had stuck a finger in an electrical socket and didn’t know why his hair was on fire.

“We love you, too, Virgil.” It was Gordon’s voice, muffled by Alan’s hair.

Something lodged in Scott’s throat and he found himself hugging the pieces of brother and grandmother he could reach.

Apparently, it was something they all needed, because they stayed there holding each other for a full minute.

Just long enough for Virgil to fall asleep against John’s shoulder and let off a snore. It took Gordon and Scott to catch him to prevent them all from falling in a heap.

The group hug dissolved and the focus became getting certain brothers to their bedrooms. Grandma hovered and helped where she could. Scott took Virgil, while Gordon switched to helping Alan with John.

The family went their separate ways.

Grandma followed Scott up to Virgil’s rooms. The engineer faded in and out, declaring his love for any and all brothers several times on the way up. But by the time they made it to Virgil’s room, the engineer was getting heavy.

“C’mon, Virg, not much further.” Scott was ever so glad of that as his head was still trying to swim against the current.

Letting him gently down on his bed, the man immediately curled up into a ball, fully dressed and obviously not caring. Scott undid green shoelaces, dumped boots on the floor with a clatter and yanked the covers up and over his already snoring little brother.

A hand smoothed crazed hair back into its more familiar style and Scott unfolded from the bed.

A glass of water appeared on the bedside table and he turned to find his grandmother looking at him fondly. He blinked. He had forgotten she was there.

She held out a hand and as he took it, he was drawn into a quiet hug. She was ever so little up against his bulk. “C’mon, Scotty, let’s get you to bed.”

“I’m okay, Grandma. I need to check on the others.”

She sighed, but let go a single nod.

As they left Virgil’s rooms, she didn’t leave his side.

A visit to John’s room found him in bed, but the wrong way around, his feet on the pillow, his head hanging off the end. It took some prodding and yanking, but Scott re-orientated him. A quick check of the gravity support systems in his clothing were functioning properly – the alcohol probably wasn’t helping. Grandma materialised with another glass of water which was placed on John’s bedside table.

Quietly. “Eos, are you monitoring, John’s systems?”

“Of course. He is well, Commander. Do not concern yourself. I will watch him.”

Scott’s eyes closed without permission and he had to force them open again. “Thank you, Eos.”

The AI didn’t answer.

Grandma took his arm and led him from the room.

A check on Alan found him on the floor, but that was nothing unusual. Gordon had probably dumped him there. The kid preferred the rug to his bed and Scott meant to talk to him about it, but…life.

Gordon had fallen asleep in the corridor outside his room.

Scott rolled his eyes. He wouldn’t be surprised if the brat had done that on purpose. After all the entire night’s fracas was obviously engineered by the aquanaut. A fond sigh of exasperation and he pulled his little brother into his arms and dragged him into his rooms.

Dragging fish was considerably easier than dragging two hundred pounds of engineer.

Scott threw Gordon onto his bed and covered him up. Fingers brushed hair off his face.

Scott sighed again and had to prevent himself from curling up beside his brother.

“C’mon, Scotty, your turn.”

Scott mumbled something even he didn’t fully comprehend and let his grandmother lead him out of his brother’s rooms. One of the aquariums blurped at him as he walked past.

And finally, he was in his own rooms and his own bed. Grandma handed him a glass of water. He guzzled it before burying his face in his pillow.

He opened his eyes as a hand brushed through his hair. “We love you, Scotty. Don’t you ever forget that.”

He blinked slowly and managed a smile up at his grandmother, but her fingers caressed the side of his face, forcing his eyes to close again and he drifted off.

His dreams were kind.

And full of loving family.

-o-o-o-

FIN.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #Virgil Tracy #Scott Tracy #Alan Tracy #Gordon Tracy #John Tracy #Grandma Tracy #Sally Tracy #fluff

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katefiction · 4 years ago

Text

Cora, Chapter 8: Princess in the Tower

by katefiction (Maria) / 2013

St. Michael’s Church, London

December 2165

Pine cones and orange is my favourite smell. The way it gets right up your nose as if forcing you to acknowledge that it’s Christmas time. I breathe it in fully, revelling in my favourite time of year.

‘Could this get any duller?’ Annie says, shifting uncomfortably in the pew.

‘Shh’

‘Seriously, there aren’t even any cute guys to look at’ she huffs.

‘It’s a charity carol concert Annie, not an opportunity to pick up men!’ I whisper.

‘You wouldn’t be saying that if you weren’t cozied up to Nicky’

I blush.

I had told Annie what Louisa had said, how she’d made me doubt Nicholas’ integrity.

Annie had told me straight, ‘it seems like you’re just looking for an excuse to break up with him’

‘That’s not true!’ I protested. ‘Why would she say it?’

‘Because she hates you?…’ Annie said unhelpfully.

I hadn’t asked Nicholas about it, I didn’t want to cause a rift between him and Jonathan. The more I thought about it, the more I began to think Annie was right. Nicholas was a good man who treated me well and cared about me. Why would I want to ruin that?

The choir arrives at the front of the large church, and the orchestra warms up, filling the huge space with music.

‘Do I have to sing?’ Annie mumbles under her breath.

‘Yes or at least pretend’ I laugh.

Nicholas and his family are on the other side of the aisle; he catches me laughing and flashes me a smile.

I smile back awkwardly.

We are asked to rise and all hold up our song sheets to sing O Little Town of Bethlehem.

I had gone for a black A-line dress tonight with netting underneath which I immediately regret as Annie starts to tease me.

‘That netting is invading my personal space’ she says as we get to the second verse.

“The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight”

I giggle, ‘get on with the song!’

She is clearly bored, but as she is always in America for Christmas, I force her to spend time with me whenever she’s in the country.

She begins looking around the church, presumably for a guy to flirt with.

“We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell”

‘Um Cora’ she says, turning around.

‘What now?’

‘Ben’s here’

“O come to us, abide with us Our Lord Emmanuel”

The carol comes to a rousing end and I spin around, hitting Annie with my skirt.

I see him immediately on one of the back pews. He is wearing a long dark coat with a scarf wrapped around his neck, which he’s pulling at. On his face is a one, or possibly two day layer of stubble.

I turn back around before he catches me staring as we launch into Away in a Manger.

Had he seen me?

‘Go talk to him’

‘No’

‘Don’t be so petulant!’

‘What is he even doing here?’ I say, more to myself.

The people on the front row turn and give us the evil eye.

‘Sorry’ I mouth.

Annie hushes her volume, ‘maybe he was feeling festive?’ she shrugs.

I give her the side eye, and as I do, find Nicholas looking directly at me. He gives me a curt nod and turns to look at Ben.

Crap.

We are given an interval to rest our voices. I try not to look over to Ben as I’m aware of Nicholas’ eyes fixed on me, but from the corner of my eye, I see him wonder to the back of the church by himself.

‘Hey you’ I say to Nick as I approach him. ‘Having a good time?’

‘Naturally, you?’

‘Yes yes’ I say, smoothing my dress down.

He pulls me to one side, away from Jonathan and Louisa, who are giving a bored Annie the schedule for their wedding.

‘If you want to go and talk to him, now’s the time’

I burn red, am I that obvious?

‘Don’t be silly…’

‘It’s fine…I’m fine with it, I trust you’. He says it so sweetly but for a moment I’m annoyed that he’s speaking to me like a child.

‘I’ll be five minutes, ten tops’ I say.

He nods and lets me hurry off to where I saw Ben heading, my heels clattering on the stone floor.

I find him in one of the alcoves with his back to the entrance, staring up at the carved wooden ceiling, presumably admiring the architecture. I watch him for a minute, not wanting to disturb his moment.

‘Are you going to say something?’ he says, his voice making me jump.

‘Oh…you knew I was there?’

‘I could hear your horse shoes coming a mile off’, he says, still with his back to me.

‘They’re not…’ I begin, but think better of it. ‘How are you?’

He turns around finally, his dark eyes fixing on me, ‘good, and you?’

‘Good good, happy birthday…for last month’ I say awkwardly.

He smirks at me, ‘happy birthday for last January’

I can’t help but roll my eyes at his nerdy joke. ‘So what brings you here?’

‘My cousin’s a member of the choir. And you?’

‘Nicholas’ family go every year, he invited me’

Ben stuffs his hands in his pocket defensively, ‘ah yes, good old Nicholas’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

The conversation turns unpleasant in a split second.

‘He swooped right in there didn’t he?’

My blood begins to boil. ‘I hardly call a year after we broke up “swooping”’

‘He was still there in the shadows waiting for his moment’

It’s only at this moment after all this time grieving, that I realise how angry I am at him.

‘Don’t be so ridiculous Ben’

‘Speaking of ridiculous, nice dress’. He reaches out and fluffs the netting up.

‘Stop trying to change the subject, it doesn’t work anymore’

‘Doesn’t it?’

I suddenly realise how close he’s standing to me. And the fact that no one else is around.

‘I don’t think you know how pissed off I am with you’

‘Why?!’ he says incredulously.

‘For not having the balls to stick around!’ I say too loudly. ‘I thought we had something…and you gave it up over a stupid tennis match that you didn’t even win’

He laughs as he backs away from me.

‘And why do you think I didn’t win Cora?!’

I’m too angry to take that as a compliment.

‘Well you got over it this year didn’t you?’

‘You can talk’

We stand there in silence, our chests heaving.

‘Does he make you happy?’

I don’t know what to say. He doesn’t make me unhappy.

‘He understands my life’

Ben moves closer again, ‘that’s not what I asked you’

‘He won’t walk out or get scared away…’

‘I didn’t get scared away, you pushed me out’

‘You called it off, not me!’

‘You will never admit you were in the wrong will you?’

‘Because I wasn’t’ I say stubbornly, trying to ignore his honey and wood scent that I love so much.

He sighs, as if defeated.

Fight for me. Please fight for me.

‘I hope he makes you happy Cora’

The music starts up again, telling us that we are to return to our seats.

He signals for me to walk out first, knowing that we can’t be seen together.

I do, and I don’t turn back.

Christmas

‘A royal flush!’ Dad laughs as he pulls out the novelty toilet paper that I’ve bought him for Christmas. Each piece has his face printed on it. ‘Thank you darling…I think’

It had been tradition for years for our family to buy each other joke presents at Christmas. This year was no exception.

Dad always bought me some novelty Christmas-wear, and this year I was proudly sporting some cosy reindeer slippers.

The rest of the family buzz around the Christmas tree, exchanging comedy gifts and laughing with each other.

‘Any gifts from Nicholas?’ Dad asks, trying to be casual.

‘I told him not to bother’ I say quietly, trying not to catch the attention of the rest.

‘Well that’s a shame, perhaps he’ll have something for you anyway’ he looks around the room like he always does when he’s hiding something.

‘Like what?’

‘Oh I don’t know, a ring maybe?’

‘Daddy! Don’t be stupid!’ I shout, prompting strange looks from around the room.

‘Ignore her’ Dad says to everyone, and they dutifully get back to their business.

‘He is not going to give me a ring’ I whisper.

He was talking about marriage just last month.

‘Wouldn’t you like that? Surely every girl would like a big diamond given to them by a nice man’

‘First of all, I hate diamonds, and secondly, even if I did want that, I wouldn’t be telling my father!’

Dad laughs conspiratorially.

‘What? What’s so funny?’ I say, getting increasingly agitated.

‘Let’s just say me and Nicholas have had words’ he pushes on of the baubles on the tree, making in swing and shimmer in the light.

‘Daddy, please don’t say…has he asked you…for permission?’

Rather than beating fast, my heart feels like it’s slowing down. Dad’s expression turns to concern.

‘I thought that’s what you wanted?’ he says.

Sometimes he can be so naïve.

‘To get married one day…yes, but…’

‘Not to Nicholas?’

‘Dad, shh!’

‘Sorry’ he whispers. ‘I just can’t see why you wouldn’t want to marry him, he’s charming, kind, affable, and he’d be great with the public…’

‘Are you sure you don’t want to marry him?’ I say sarcastically.

He tuts at my joke.

‘I didn’t say I didn’t want to marry him, but don’t you think it’s too soon?’

For all my worries, I can’t see Nicholas proposing this soon. He’s far too sensible.

‘Perhaps. But your mother and I got engaged after nine months’

‘And look where that got you!’ I scoff.

‘We had many good years Cora’

‘But I don’t just want years, I want a good life, to grow old with someone who I can have fun with’

Dad leans in, ‘Don’t you think it’s time you let Benjamin go sweetheart?’

‘That’s not what I meant’ I say, my heart quickening.

‘I know you were crazy for him, but he’s not here, and Nicholas is. It’s not fair to keep comparing them’

‘I’m not’ I keep my eyes focussed on one of the baubles.

‘You will never be happy if you don’t accept it, trust me’

‘I have accepted it’ I lie.

I just miss him so much, I want to scream.

Dad puts one arm around me and I snuggle momentarily into his round chest.

‘I just want you to be happy’ he whispers.

‘So do I’ I say back.

The Boxing Day shoot was always my least favourite part of the festive season. I was no shooter, but Dad forced me to come along every year anyway to ‘spend time with the family’.

I’d much rather be spending time with a mince pie and a Christmas movie.

It is freezing on the Sandringham Estate, with the open spaces allowing the wind to bite nastily at my ears and fingertips. I stand with my gun hanging limply in my hand, watching as Dad expertly aims at his target. I’m so bored I could cry.

‘MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!’ comes a booming voice behind me.

I turn around to see Nicholas, Jonathan and their parents striding towards us, all clad in their finest shooting gear.

Nick beams at me as he approaches. God knows what my expression must look like.

‘What are you doing here?!’ I ask as we exchange kisses.

‘Your father thought you might like some company’ he says, giving a curt bow and handshake to Dad who is greeting everyone. ‘He called us last night’

‘That’s all a bit sudden’ I say nervously, recalling my conversation with Dad yesterday.

Nicholas rubs his hands together for warmth, ‘yes well, he wanted a chance to congratulate Jonathan and Louisa on the wedding, seeing as he can’t make it next week’

Of course he did.

‘That’s…nice’ I say.

‘Aren’t you happy to see me?’ he says with a smile.

I press my hand against his chest, ‘yes of course Nick’

It is the truth, Nicholas was great company and I was glad to see him.

My good mood is cut short in a second, when from the corner of my eye; I see a blonde ponytail swinging in the distance.

Louisa and her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire walk purposefully in our direction.

‘They’re here too?!’ I say, probably quite rudely.

‘Is that a problem?’ Nicholas looks a little annoyed.

‘No…it’s just, Dad rarely invites anyone to this shoot…’

Why on God’s earth would he invite Louisa?Was he trying to ruin my Christmas?

‘It is her wedding too’ he says sensibly. ‘And he’s known the Devonshires for years’

‘I suppose’

‘Right Cora, Nicholas’ Dad calls, ‘let’s not mess about, get involved’

Nicholas takes my hand in his and leads me to where the rest of the party are shooting. He curls his arms around me and helps me point my gun to the sky, ‘just like old times hey?’

I giggle because I don’t know what else to say. It did remind me of the day Nicholas had asked me out. When he was the only man in my life. When things were so much easier.

I wish I could get back to that.

I look over to Dad who looks very pleased that his plan to cheer me up has worked. He gives me a small wink. I wink back, if only to please him.

Later in the afternoon, I retreat to the small cabin on the grounds where eggnog and warm snacks have been laid out for us to enjoy.

I take a sip of the eggnog, closing my eyes and enjoying its warm silky texture on my throat.

‘Is there anything else to drink?’ comes her squeaky, grating voice.

I don’t even want to open my eyes. But I have to.

‘There’s mulled wine’ I point, not bothering to offer to pour it for her.

Louisa shrugs and heads for the wine.

As much as I want to walk out and ignore her, the princess in me (and my father’s voice in my head) stops me.

‘So, you must be getting excited for the wedding’ I say.

‘There’s still a lot to do, working out where all the members of Jonathan’s family are going to sleep for one’

I nod, pretending to be interested.

‘Still, you’ll learn all about that soon enough’ she smiles sarcastically.

Does she know Nicholas had asked Dad for permission?

‘Not for a long time yet’ I smile back.

‘Are you sure about that?’

‘Yes…why?’

She runs her perfectly manicured finger over the rim of her glass, ‘I just wouldn’t be surprised if Nicholas chose our wedding day to pop the question’

‘Oh grow up Louisa’ I say, beginning to lose my temper.

She doesn’t flinch, but stays frustratingly calm, the smile fixed to her face, ‘you don’t know him at all do you?’

‘What is your problem with us?! Do you fancy him or something?’ I know it is out of line, but I can’t help it.

‘Oh please’ she laughs. ‘Nicholas is a pale imitation of Jonathan and he knows it’

‘That’s ridiculous’

‘Why do you think he’s so competitive with him, he’s constantly trying to live up to his big brother’

I clutch my glass tightly.

‘Don’t talk about him like that’

‘And now he has to live up to your ex too’, she sticks her bottom lip out tauntingly.

‘You don’t know anything about us’

Louisa steps towards me, ‘I’ve known those boys for years, I know how they work’

‘If they’re so bad, why are you marrying Jonathan?’

‘I’m at his level, you are not. Nicholas will eat you up and spit you out’

As I’m about to respond, to tell her how much I trust Nicholas, he walks in, a look of suspicion on his face.

‘Everything ok ladies?’

‘Fine’ I say quickly. ‘I was just telling Louisa how much I’m looking forward to the wedding next week’

He puts an arm around my shoulder, ‘it’s going to be a great day’

A look passes between them, not of passion like I thought, but of warning.

‘It should be fun’ Louisa says, placing down her glass and moving towards the door.

‘I can’t wait’, I say grimacing at her.

She leaves the cabin, pulling the door shut behind her.

‘Are you sure everything is ok’, Nicholas asks as soon as she leaves.

‘Yes…she was talking crap, that’s all’

‘About?’

‘About you. About us’ I look at the floor, wishing I hadn’t just admitted that.

‘What did she say?’, his eyes darken.

‘Just that you aren’t who I think you are, that you’ll “eat me up and spit me out”’

‘You don’t believe her?’

I hesitate, ‘no of course not, but I do wonder why she has it in for you’

‘She’s never liked me…and she’s deathly jealous of you’, he bends to my level, ‘that’s all it is’

I can’t help myself, I have to ask him, ‘Nick…you’re not trying to live up to my ex are you? Because you know you don’t need to!’

He curls his lips, like he’s insulted, disgusted even. ‘No Cora, I’m not’

‘Oh, well good’ I say, slightly taken aback.

‘Anyway’ he says, softening, ‘I came in here to talk to you about an environmental project my father’s starting…’

Nicholas proceeds to tell me all about his father’s new project involving home grown food on British land.

‘…so I was thinking with your background managing the estates as well as other things, you’d get involved?’

I had hundreds of requests for my patronage a year, and even more now that I’m the Princess of Wales. I chose them all carefully and made sure I was passionate about each of them. I can’t say this one was getting the blood pumping.

‘I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to work together just yet’

‘Why not?’, he looks crestfallen.

‘Because people will accuse me of favouring your cause for other reasons’

‘That didn’t matter to you when you were working with Ben’s Trust’ he says resentfully.

I flinch. The truth was I never worked with Ben’s Trust. Ben told me all about it of course, but my involvement with the Trust was nothing more than an excuse when I had to explain to Nicholas why I was inviting him to the Highland Fling.

‘That was different’ I lie. ‘And I’m not working with them now’

‘Please just consider it, ok?’ he says stroking my arm.

‘I will’ I lie again.

‘We’ll be spending the rest of our lives working together, might as well start now’ he says, thoroughly ending the discussion.

I want to argue my point but I don’t have the energy.

Instead I follow him out of the cabin, thinking about the fact that he spoken about marriage twice now before he’s even said he loves me.

Dunrobin Castle, Scotland

New Year’s Eve

Louisa has gone all out with the decoration of the castle for her wedding. The bannisters on the staircases are wrapped in holly and twinkling lights. Swathes of red and gold fabric drape from the ceilings and a band plays festive music in the foyer.

I have to give it to her, it’s magical. And the same can be said for Louisa herself. For as much as I don’t want to admit it, she looks beautiful.

As she and Jonathan walk back up the aisle, I admire her gown. Made from the finest lace and skimming gently over her slim figure, it frames her shoulders to highlight her doll-like face. She looks like elegance personified.

Shame the personality doesn’t match.

Nicholas walks behind them as best man, with the maid of honour, the ‘chocolate and orange’ Louisa-clone, Martha.

He grins at me brightly, for once seeming happy to be in his brother’s shadow. I return the gesture, glad to see him so relaxed.

It feels like a long wait for the evening reception to start. I sit with Jenny and our friends in the parlour watching the sun set through the glass doors.

‘Your wedding will be so much better than this’ Jenny says conspiratorially.

I laugh at her sudden bluntness, ‘this is pretty good, you have to admit’

‘Yes but your reception will be in a palace, that trumps a castle every time’

‘Oh I don’t know, I love it at Balmoral’

‘You won’t be able to travel from London for the wedding all the way to Balmoral for the reception…’

‘Why are we even talking about this?!’ I say, realising how much I don’t want to talk about my imaginary wedding.

‘Come on Cora, everyone knows you and Nicholas will be next’.

Jenny had changed her mind once again when I told her I was with Nicholas. Apparently we are perfect for each other after all.

Before I can affectionately tell her to shut up, the wedding planner hushes the room to make an announcement.

‘All those asked to partake in the official photographs are to report to the main hall in twenty minutes’ she says sternly.

I give Jenny my most despairing look.

‘Off you go’ she teases.

As much as I’d protested and as much I knew Louisa probably had, Nicholas insisted that I be in some of the official photographs. I was his girlfriend and date after all.

I leave reluctantly, making my way up the grand staircase to the east tower, where a round dressing room had been allocated for me to and Nicholas to get ready in.

Turning the little brass key that I’d been given, I enter the room and reach for my comb and hairspray that I’d left on the dresser. I smile at the sight of the vintage lace and silk emerald green dress that my mother had leant me hanging on the mirror.

Beside the mirror is the only window in the room. From way up here in the tower, I feel like I can see the whole galaxy. It’s beautiful.

I slip out of my day dress and put the evening gown on, as per Louisa’s strict instructions. My hair is another matter. After being in an up do all day, it has begun to sag. I take the bobby pins out, deciding to attempt to re-do it.

Clutching twenty of them in my hand while attempting to reposition my hair, they tumble from my grasp, scattering all over the floor.

‘Oh crap’ I mumble to myself, kneeling on the floor to retrieve them. ‘Where’s Annie when you need her?’

Under the dresser, I spot Nicholas’ bag hidden in the shadows.

Maybe it’s what Louisa said, maybe it’s my own doubt, but my curiosity overcomes me.

I unzip the main section of the bag and see nothing but Nicholas’ clothes. Patting my hand on top of them, I suddenly feel something suspiciously cube-like in shape.

It can’t be.

I carefully take out his shirt and unwrap it.

There in the middle is a black box.

Shit.

I shouldn’t open it, just like I shouldn’t have opened the bag in the first place. But I do.

The diamond dazzles me. It’s huge, bigger than any ring I’ve ever seen. Bigger than Louisa’s. I pull it out of the box and place it against my ring finger. It engulfs my whole hand.

He can’t seriously be doing this tonight. On his brother’s wedding day.

My heart is racing with panic.

I’m pulled out of my shock by the sound of laughter down stairs. I look at my watch, my twenty minutes is almost up.

My hair still hangs down in loose curls. I have no time to fix it now. I put the ring exactly how I found it and hurry out of the room, locking the door behind me.

When I get to the hall, everyone is waiting.

‘Sorry’ I say to Nicholas as I find my place beside him.

‘What were you doing up there?’

‘Oh just sorting my hair out…but I still made it on time!’ I joke.

‘Everyone knows when Louisa says twenty minutes, she means fifteen’ he says irritably.

He must just be nervous.

‘Oh I’m sorry’

‘Shouldn’t your hair be in some sort of style?’ he says, eying my loose tresses.

‘Sorry, style expert’ I say, trying to lighten him up.

Our conversation is interrupted by the wedding planner and the photographer shepherding us all into place for a group shot. I watch as Nicholas wrings his hands together.

I can’t let him go through with this.

As the reception gets underway, I pull Nicholas to one side, ‘can we talk?’

We go outside onto the grounds, the same place that Ben and I went on the night of the Highland Fling.

‘What’s the matter’ he says, holding himself to keep warm.

I don’t know where to start.

‘Nick, I think I know what you’re going to do tonight, and I can’t let you do it…’ I begin.

‘What am I going to do’ he looks confused.

I take a deep breath, ‘I found the ring’

He stays still, the cold air not even leaving his mouth. ‘You went through my things?’

‘No…well yes, but I knew what you were planning’

I just didn’t want to believe it.

‘Well that’s the surprise ruined’ he says bluntly.

‘Nick, I wanted to tell you not to do it’

‘Don’t call me Nick’

‘What?’ I say startled by the change of subject.

‘Don’t call me Nick. I hate it’ he says, looking past me.

‘Since when?!’

‘Since always’

‘Why are you only telling me now?’

‘How do you tell the girl you’re chasing that you hate the nickname she’s given you?’

‘Oh’

I feel deflated and confused at his sudden change of character. When I stopped things between us at the Highland Fling, he was so gracious, but this time, it couldn’t be more different.

‘I just think it’s a bit soon to be thinking about marriage’ I continue where I left off.

‘But it will happen eventually, why not do it now?’

‘Because I don’t want to’ I say, getting frustrated.

‘You don’t want to do it now, or you don’t want to marry me at all?’

‘I-’

‘Because you know I’m right for this Cora. Your Dad loves me; I get the rules, the traditions…’

What about “I love you”?

Ben never said it either.

He carries on, not letting me speak, ‘Ben Evans isn’t going to understand your future like I do’

‘This isn’t about him!’

‘Really? You know he probably just used you to promote that Trust of his?’

‘I WAS NEVER WORKING FOR HIS TRUST!’ I yell.

Nicholas is taken aback, by me losing my temper or by what I’ve just told him, I don’t know.

Suddenly he is calm and collected again, ‘how about we go and enjoy the party and talk about it later?’

‘Fine’ I nod, ‘give me five minutes’

He heads inside, leaving me in the cold. I’m confused and frustrated. A whirl of information is spinning in my head.

Why did he take it so badly?

Why does he keep bringing up that damn Trust?!

My mind hurtles back to the night of the Highland Fling:

“‘So how do you and Cora know each other?’, Nicholas asks.

I butt in before Ben can speak, ‘like I told you, we met at Wimbledon and I might be getting involved in Ben’s Trust’”

And then propels forward to the newspaper article that revealed mine and Ben’s relationship to the world:

“Sources reveal to us that the pair began dating last year after Cora began working with Evans’ charitable trust, the Marion and James Evans Tennis Trust.”

My breath catches in my throat. I’ve been so stupid.

I run back inside, my heels clattering on the floor. Nicholas is by the grand staircase still heading towards the hall for the reception, where the other two hundred guests are.

‘NICHOLAS!’ I shout, not caring who hears me.

He turns to me, ‘great, we can go in together…’

‘It was you wasn’t it?’ I say, panting from my sprint.

‘I’m sorry?’

I step closer to him, fury building, ‘you sold the story about Ben and I to the paper’

He laughs coldly, ‘don’t be silly, Cora, now come on, the party’s started’ . He grabs my arm but I snatch it away.

‘I was never working for Ben’s Trust, Nicholas’

‘This again?’

‘I told you I was going to work with Ben because I needed an excuse, you were the only person I told that to, and it just so happens that was how The Sun said we became close’

Nicholas stands there in silence.

‘I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid, I should’ve realised it was you’ I say shaking my head. ‘But how did you know we were even together?’

Finally his façade cracks, the charming man I thought I knew disappears, ‘you think I couldn’t see it at the Fling? You were all over each other’

‘But why would you want to ruin things for me?! If you hadn’t have sold that story, we would still be together!’

‘Don’t be so naïve! You and him were never going to work, I just quickened it up for you’

I want to punch him, slap him, anything.

‘You don’t know that’

‘Don’t tell me that you broke up because your affair was revealed’ he says smugly.

He is right.

‘What did you do it for? Do you even like me or want to be with me?’

‘Life isn’t a fairy tale, we will work well together, I’ll be a great consort for you, and in time we’ll learn to love each other’

That’s why he didn’t want to get intimate with me. He doesn’t even like me.

‘You’re ridiculous’ I whisper.

‘Look, whatever you think of me now, you’ll see I’m right eventually. All the complications that come with your life don’t suit a relationship like yours and Ben’s. Just look at your father and mother, and all the other failed marriages in your family. If we were to marry me, you know we’d never divorce’

I believe him. We would have the perfect royal marriage. On the outside at least.

It’s not like I have a better offer.

‘Just think about it’ he says. ‘Come and find me later’

He wonders off to the reception like all he’s done wrong is left the lid off the toothpaste.

I can’t face all those people, so I head up the staircase to my dressing room in the tower. When I get up there, I slam the door shut and lock it.

I should be angrier, Nicholas has ruined everything. But in my heart, I know he didn’t. I ruined everything.

I close my eyes to think when there is a sudden tapping on the window. I ignore the noise and try to un-jumble my thoughts. The tapping continues, louder this time.

I walk towards the window hesitantly. It’s dark outside, but as I get closer I see something that makes me scream for my life. A man’s face is looking right at me.

I back away from the window, ready to run to my protection officers who are waiting in the hallway outside.

‘Your royal highness, are you ok?’ one of then says at the door.

But the man begins to shout through the window, ‘Cora! It’s ok, it’s me! It’s just me!’

I step forward, and he continues, ‘open the window!’. It’s only then that I recognise his dark eyes.

My heart leaps.

I pull the old iron window wide open, and Ben climbs inside.

‘What the hell are doing here?!’ I whisper and then shout through the door, ‘I’m fine, just a spider!’

‘Nice to see you too!’

‘Ben, are you crazy, how did you even get up here?’, I stick my head out of the window and look down at the dizzying drop below.

‘It’s was pretty easy, I climbed out of one of the lower floor windows and up the ledges on the outside’

‘You’re insane!’ I say despairingly.

‘I know’

I can’t quite take in that he is standing here in front of me, clad in his best dinner suit, that’s marked with dirt from the castle walls.

‘How…why…?’ I can’t even express all the questions I have.

‘Why don’t you sit down’ he says, and I comply as my legs are like jelly.

‘Your father called me this morning. He said that he thought that Nicholas might be proposing to you tonight’ he looks down at my hand to see if I’m wearing a ring. ‘He said that despite the fact that he likes Nicholas, he hasn’t seen you happy since we were together…’

I want to cry, I can’t believe Dad called him.

‘He thought that we should talk before you agreed to anything. So I got here as fast as I could. The security had no problem letting me in, Wimbledon champ and all that. I saw you heading this way, but there were too many people around to go knocking on all the doors, so I thought I’d just go from the outside and peep through the windows’

I’m too stunned even to call him a peeping Tom.

‘I should’ve known the princess would be in the highest bloody tower’

‘But why did you come at all? I thought you were over us’

He tuts, ‘because I love you’

He loves me. It sounds so beautiful coming off his tongue.

‘We’re not engaged’

‘I figured that much out’ he laughs.

‘Ben…he was the one who leaked the story about us’ I immediately regret telling him.

‘He did what?!’ he eyes widen in anger. ‘That fucking little toe rag! I told you he was no good! Where is he?…’ he pounces at the door, but I jump up and block his way.

‘Don’t be stupid!’

‘He can’t do this to you and get away with it!’

I’m suddenly furious. At Ben. At Nicholas. At myself.

‘I’m not a damsel in distress! You can’t just climb up a tower to come and save me!’

‘I’m not…’

‘You left!’ I realise I’m shouting, ‘You left me, you can’t just waltz in here and tell me you love me and expect me to fall into your arms. If you really loved me, why didn’t you tell me months ago, why did you let me believe it was over?’

Ben is shouting now too, ‘because you were with him! I wasn’t going to ruin things for you without knowing how you felt’

‘You must’ve known how much I love you!’ I push him backwards.

He stops for a moment. This wasn’t how I had imagined myself telling him that.

‘I hoped, I didn’t know’ he says.

‘Nicholas thinks I should marry him because we won’t have the complication of loving each other. He thinks it’d be a perfect royal marriage’

‘And what do you think?’

‘That he’s right, it would be easier’

‘Is that what you want?’ he steps towards me, ‘an easy life with no arguments, no one to tell you when you’re wrong, when you’re being an idiot?’

‘I-’

And then he’s kissing me, one hand is through my hair, the other is clutching at my skirt. We back up against the door, his lips are on my face and my neck.

‘God, I’ve missed you’ he mumbles.

I grab his face and bring it back to mine, kissing him as deeply as I can, before pushing him off me.

‘I was scared of losing you’ I say suddenly. ‘That’s why I didn’t want anyone to know about us, I was never ashamed of you’

He stays quiet, letting me speak.

‘I saw my parents break up, and I’ve always thought it was the press that got in the way, I didn’t want that for us’

‘You couldn’t have hidden me away forever’

‘I know, but I thought the less people that knew, the better chance we’d have’

He runs his hand through my hair, ‘it doesn’t work like that, Cora’

‘I’m sorry…I was wrong’

‘I’m sorry too … and thank you for finally admitting to being wrong’ he can’t help but tease me, even now. ‘So what now?’

‘Now, I think I need to sort this all out myself’

In the process of falling in love, being heartbroken, then being with a man who never really wanted me to be myself, I’d lost who I was.

The old me would cringe at how weak I’ve been. I didn’t need any man to save me, not even Ben. I needed to act like the Queen I would one day become.

‘I just need some time, if you can be patient’

‘I’ve waited this long, I can wait a bit longer’. He kisses me on the cheek and goes to leave – through the door this time. ‘Oh, you look incredible by the way’

I blush despite myself, brushing down my dress and messed hair, ‘thank you’

Now alone again, I gather my belongings and text Jenny, and ask one of my protection officers to put everything in the car.

When I get to the entrance of the hall, the noise is overwhelming. Music is blaring and the guests are taking part in a Scottish jig. Apart from Nicholas, who is standing against the wall watching Jonathan with a disgusted look of envy on his face. I recall the conversation we’d had on our first date about how competitive the brothers were, and then conversations with Louisa, who kept hinting at something to me.

It’s only now that I realise why Nicholas had pursued me so hard. It wasn’t the money or the status he was after – he had both of those. His motivation was purely his life-long competition with his brother. After all, what could top marrying a duchess? Marrying a princess.

He catches my eye and I beckon him over to just outside the hall. I feel more in control and more calm than I have in months.

‘Have you had time to think?’ he says, a hint of desperation clear in his voice.

‘I’m afraid you won’t get the chance to upstage your brother tonight’ I say. ‘See, your offer was good, I’m not getting any younger and the chance to be guaranteed a life-long marriage is tempting…’

‘Great, maybe in a few mon-’

I put my hand up to stop him, ‘please don’t interrupt me. It is tempting, if the sight of my future husband didn’t make me want to vomit over his perfect suede shoes. I would rather spend the rest of my life alone than spend it with you’

I smile at him sweetly. Princesses don’t punch.

‘You will never speak to me or any of my family again, do you understand?’

He looks at me but doesn’t say a word.

I turn to leave, but turn back around for a moment ‘oh and Nick, maybe next time do some research before you buy the ring, because I fucking despise diamonds’

Maybe my language isn’t very princess-like, but it’s Cora through and through.

January 29th, 2166

I’m twenty-eight today. And I’m by myself.

Sitting in my apartment in Clarence House, I open the birthday cards given to me by my family and friends. I’d spent the past month alone, getting myself together, working hard, and trying not to call Ben.

I had told Dad and Mum everything that had happened. Dad suggested we lock Nicholas in the Tower of London and Mum proclaimed that she never did like him. We’d also sat together and talked for hours about their divorce. And about how to have a relationship in the spotlight.

They had both assured me that the good times were worth all the hassle that came afterwards. I was still scared, of course I was, but I realised taking a risk would be worth it. It was ok if it failed, I would be ok.

I prop up my cards on the side table next to the picture I have of King William and Queen Catherine. I put it up there to remind myself that they took a chance once too.

A knock comes at the door and I hurry over to open it, fixing my hair as I go.

‘Hello’ he says.

‘Hello’

I haven’t seen him in a month, but it feels like forever.

‘Happy birthday’ Ben says, clutching something rectangular in his arms.

‘You didn’t get me a present did you?’

He laughs that deep beautiful laugh, ‘no, not quite’

He places the packet down on the counter and unwraps it.

‘Lemon drizzle cake!’ I say happily.

‘I hope it doesn’t upset you, you know, being your tradition with your granddad and everything. I just thought you’d like to continue it…with me maybe’

‘I love it Ben’ I say, trying not to be a total idiot and start crying.

I go to kiss him on the cheek, but he turns his head purposefully and catches my lips with his. It’s like we haven’t been apart.

‘And I love you’ I add.

‘You’re alright too I suppose’ he says.

I slap him on the shoulder, ‘don’t be mean’

‘Ok ok, I love you, despite the fact that you drive me absolutely insane’

‘Good’

‘Good’ he mimics.

He cuts a slice of the cake and gives it to me, one slice of many more to come, I can only hope.

‘I’m sorry I don’t have an extravagant gift for you’ he says, stuffing the cake into his mouth.

‘I have everything I want’ I smile.

‘Look at you with the cheesy lines!’ he laughs.

‘Shut up!’ I say, burying my head in his shoulder.

He wraps his arm around my waist, keeping me there, ‘so you weren’t expecting a diamond?’, he raises his eyebrows tauntingly.

‘No I wasn’t, I would throw it back at you’, despite my attitude, I don’t move from his side, and he doesn’t let me.

‘Quite the model princesses aren’t you? Princess Cora, Rejecter of Diamonds, Potty Mouthed Queen of the People’

‘You better get used to it, princesses aren’t all what they’re cracked up to be’ I snigger.

‘Don’t I know it’

As it turns out, Ben never did give me a diamond ring.

Because on Boxing Day the following year, he gave me an emerald one.

#katefiction #royal fanfiction

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eldritchsurveys · 5 years ago

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888.

5k Survey XV

701. What is your favorite mixed drink? >> Sazerac, Dark and Stormy, Bloody María, and probably some others that I’m forgetting just because I haven’t had the opportunity to make or order a mixed drink in ages. 702. When answering these questions are you often pulled in different directions, as if committing to one answer eliminates the possibility for all others? >> I feel like I only partially understand what you mean. Not well enough to answer this question. 703. Chicken Marsala, Pasta Primavera, Veal Cutlet Parmesan or Linguini with Clam Sauce? >> No thanks. 704. If you were alone in your friend’s house/room/apartment would you look in their drawers and notebooks? >> Probably not. 705. What would you really like to do but you don’t because you are afraid of getting caught? >> I can’t think of anything right now.

706. Of the following, which word best describes you: responsible, spontaneous, tactful, uninhibited: >> I guess the one most likely to describe me on a given day is “responsible”. 707. Which band would you most likely check out? - The Smiths (indi-pop 80’s-90’s), The Lords of Acid (acid/house/dance 90’s), Front 242 (80’s-90’s industrial/dance) >> I kind of like The Smiths (I like solo Morrissey more). I’ve listened to a bit of Front 242 back in the day, and I remember Lords of Acid but I’m not interested in listening to them right now. 708. How can one put an end to procrastination, as a bad habit? >> I think that would depend on why someone is procrastinating, because finding the root of the habit is the first step in figuring out what to do about it. Trying to blunt-force treat procrastination itself generally doesn’t work out well for most people (or, at best, works temporarily but at great stress to the person). 709. What feature would you want on your car that is not currently offered? >> --- 710. What kind of poetry speaks to you? >> The kind I can comprehend. 711. What is your favorite store that is open 24 hours? >> I don’t have a favourite store, let alone one with that specific criterion. 712. Do you find that sleep is just so much sleepier when you are supposed to be doing something else? >> I don’t find myself in that situation often enough to say. 713. Do you also find that the books you chose are so much more luscious when you have a stack of actual assignments that you Should be reading? >> --- 714. If you have had the chance to compare the original 5000 Question Survey to this edited version, what is your opinion? >> I haven’t had the chance to do that. 715. What’s the most creative answer you can think of for ‘what is black and white and red all over’? >> I don’t have a particularly creative answer to it. I’ve always heard “a newspaper” as the answer to this riddle. 716. Why do people slow down on the highway when they pass a cop car pulling someone else over? >> Either to rubberneck or out of sudden awareness of their own speeding. 717. Are they afraid that the cop will STOP pulling over whoever he is pulling over and pull them over instead? >> I mean, maybe. I don’t know, I’ve never been in this situation so I can’t imagine what it’s like. 718. It’s daddy’s birthday. What do you get him? >> --- 719. What’s your 5,000 question survey nickname? Look at the word next to the 2nd letter of your first name A anything but B bubalicious C captivating D deadly E erotic F funky G greasy H heaps of I indie J jelly K kinetic L lasher M Mr. (or Mrs.) N neglected O ogre-like P parading Q quacking R Rico S stinky T the one and only U uber V Velcro W wishing for X x-tra Y yearning for Z zoobalee Now take the first letter of your last name. A aardvarks B baboo C creme pie D drag queen E eggbert F flex G god H hell I Isabelle J juice K kisses L lightning M mannish boys N nice O octopi P porcupines Q q-bert R rainbows S suave T tushy U underwear V valor W weenie X xtc Y yohimbe Z zipper Put the two words together for your nickname. >> Ogre-like drag queen. 720. You know that shaky feeling that you get when it’s all coming to a climax, and everyone involved is breaking into the good kind of cold sweat, working as individuals and at the same time as a single force of energy, and it all meshes together, and for a brief moment, you’re holding your breath and tingling all over, and after it’s done you’re on an explosive and dizzying high for the rest of the night? What does that feeling come from? >> *withering stare* 721. How many of your teachers can you imagine drinking or doing drugs on the weekends? >> --- 722. Do you like Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass? >> I haven’t read either one. 723. Write a question and answer it here. >> No. 724. Who is your favorite playwright? >> I don’t have one. 725. What movie has come out recently that you couldn’t have less interest in? >> I don’t know what’s come out recently. There’s been a few movies that have been released to on-demand, I think, but I don’t think I’ve seen any of them. And I certainly don’t remember what they are right now. 726. What would the worst movie ever be about? >> --- 727. Do you like truffles? >> I like some things with truffles in them, or truffle oil, or whatever. Do you like Turkish delight? >> I don’t know. 728. Can you tell the difference between a transvestite and a real woman? >> I don’t go around trying to clock trans people. Period. 729. What’s funnier, plants or fire extinguishers? >> What. 730. For question 720 did you write down sex? >> I was pretty sure that’s how I was expected to answer, and I didn’t feel like playing along. You pervert, I was thinking of musical theater. >> Yeah, I was also pretty sure that I was expected to think of sex and it would turn out that you were describing something completely different. I’ve encountered this situation before, lol. 731. Which is better, leopard print or plaid? >> Plaid. 732. What would you consider ordinary? >> *shrug* 733. What is out of the ordinary? >> *extraordinary shrug* 734. Do you ever watch COPS? >> No. 735. Is there always room for j - e - l - l - o? >> Sigh. 736. If you had your own TV show, what kind of show would you make it? >> I don’t want a tv show, though. 737. Do you know how heavy things like airplanes stay in the air? >> I don’t know how it works offhand, no. I could always look it up if I needed that information. 738. When do you act the most dramatic? >> I’m not sure. 739. Are you one of those people who have, “see photo id,” written on the back of their credit cards? >> No, but Sparrow is. I don’t think I did anything to my card, actually -- didn’t sign it, didn’t write anything. 740. It’s mom’s birthday. What do you get her? >> --- 741. What celebrity has pretty much disappeared leaving you wondering 'where are they now’? >> I haven’t wondered that about anyone. 742. Would you get angry if you and your girl/boyfriend saw the preview for a movie and talked about seeing it together and then they saw it with one of their friends while you were busy? >> No. I would be disappointed and feel a bit betrayed if they had expressed interest in seeing it with me beforehand and then seemingly just... changed their mind without even telling me. Sad, but not angry. I’d definitely ask them about it afterwards, to find out what their thought process was.

743. How many people do you think will finish this whooooooole survey? >> Might just be me and Elizabeth (Elisabeth?). I’m not even sure I finished it any of the other times I tried to take it. I might have, but it would have been a long fuckin time ago. 744. Have you ever written a message, sealed it in a bottle and thrown it into a river/lake ocean? >> No. That’s just littering at this point. 745. If you haven’t would you want to? >> ^ 746. If you ever did what would you write? >> --- 747. What do you wish you could always be protected from? >> Abuse and alienation. Little too late for that, though. 748. What small thing annoys you so much it should be a crime? >> Loudness should be a fucking crime. I don’t even care anymore. 749. Would you rather watch a video of fish in a tank, or the Yule log on TV? >> I like the Yule log, it’s pretty. 750. Is it better to be loved or feared? >> I wouldn’t know. I haven’t had much of either.

#surveys #survey #5000 question survey

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just--another--daydreamer · 6 years ago

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Scott Lang - Fluff ABC

Scott Lang x gender neutral reader

Fandom: Ant-Man (movies) Requested (by anon): Please can you do the fluff alphabet with Scott Lang?

Requests are closed!

A - Attractive (what they find attractive)

Scott really likes your hair. It doesn’t matter if it’s long or short, he likes running his fingers through it at any opportunity he gets

B - Baby (do they want a family?)

Scott already has Cassie and she is his everything, his priority. But if you wanted another child living with you two all the time, not like Cassie who only comes over to visit a few times a week, he’d probably agree to it

C - Cuddle (how they cuddle)

He likes cuddling on the couch. Sometimes with Cassie sitting between you both like a small family sandwich

D - Dates (what dates with them are like)

When Scott’s not currently forced to stay home for three years, he likes taking you out to restaurants or the cinema to classic dates

E - Everything (you are my…)

Second chance. Scott didn’t only get a second chance at life and with his new job as Ant-Man, but he also got a new second chance with love

F - Feelings (when they realise that they love you)

Scott and you had probably been friends for a while, when he realized it. Well, he didn’t realize it all by himself, he needed a little help from Cassie asking him if he was in love with you

G - Gentle (are they gentle?)

Yes. Scott isn’t only gentle to Cassie, but also with you

H - Hand/hold (how do they hold you? Do they hold hands?)

Scott loves showing you off to people, even when he does it subtly by only holding your hand in public. He wants everyone to know that you two belong together

I - Impression (first impression)

You first met Scott on a walk through the park. Cassie was hiding from Scott. You found her and agreed to look for her dad with her. When you finally found Scott, he was impressed about how good you and Cassie were getting along.

Your first impression was that only a good and nice dad would play hide and seek in the park with his daughter

J - Joker (do they pull pranks?)

Scott pulls a lot of pranks. Him and Cassie joke around all the time, and sometimes Scott likes pulling pranks on Cassie or you

K - Kisses (how they kiss)

Scott enjoys forehead kisses. He likes being both on the receiving or giving side

L - Little things (what little things they love)

Lazy evenings with you and Cassie. Playing something like a board game and watching a movie after while eating pizza and drinking really unhealthy sugary drinks, so none of you can sleep because of all the sugar

M - Memory (favourite memory together)

Probably the day Scott and you told Cassie that you were finally moving in with him, and that you’d be a new addition to the family. She immediately started referring to you as her new parent, what made Scott and you so happy

N - Nickel (do they spoil?)

Yes, Scott likes spoiling both on you and Cassie

O - Orange (what colour reminds them of you)

All colours. Scott doesn’t need a specific colour that reminds him of a loved one

P - Pet names (what pet names they use)

Scott is really creative with pet names. He tries them out all the time, invents new ones and watches you react to them

He won’t mind you using them on him

Q - Questions (what are the questions they’re always asking?)

Is it okay if I bring Cassie?

R - Remember (their favourite memory of each other)

First meeting, first date, first kiss… Scott remembers all of your firsts

Yours probably has something to do with that, too

S - Sad (how they cheer themselves/others up)

Scott often talks to Cassie when he has something on his mind. She can always cheer him up

When it comes to you, Scott either tries to make you laugh by joking around with you, or he starts being very gentle. Making you a tea or coffee or hot chocolate and letting you cuddle him

T - Talking (what they love to talk about)

Cassie, the Avengers, ‘Cap’. But mostly Cassie. When he’s not around you, but with other people, he likes talking about you. Only positive things, of course

U - Universe (a metaphor) (e.g. he was the universe, ever-changing and mysterious)

Scott likes comparing himself to ants. When you tell him that this is only because he’s ‘Ant-Man’, he says that it’s because he’s good working in a team

V - Very (thoughts about each other)

Scott thinks that you are kind and caring. You care about him and Cassie and he always knows that there’s someone waiting for him when he gets home

W – Wedding (Do they want to get married?)

Yes, Scott definitely wants to get married again

X - Xylophone (what’s their song?)

Something fun that he can dance to with you and Cassie

Y - You (the ___ to my ___)

You are the stars to his night sky

Z - Zebra (what pet they want to have)

He already has his ants, so he doesn’t really need more A dog.

Tag lists (open):

General Tag list: @potatobuck

Gender Neutral tag list: @spnfanboy777

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treasureboys · 6 years ago

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take #2

who?: treasure 13’s kim junkyu

genre: ☀️

type: bullet point

treasure map

actor! AU

this movie sucks but junkyu doesn’t

a/n: this is a cute prompt from @dailyau , creds to them!!

disclaimer: pictures used do not belong to me and credit goes to their original owners

this is purely a work of fiction

DO NOT READ IF TRIGGERING

“no,” you shake your head firmly. “I’m not spending coin on this stupid movie.”

“PLEASE___! IT’s tHE BEsT ROMCOM THIS SUMMER!” your friends beg

you sigh, glancing back at the trailer

It was so typical and cliché! As if any dude in real life was like that!

your friends practically swooned when the male lead came on screen again

and while he was attractive, you wish his character had been more developed so you could appreciate it too

now he was just the popular boy-next-door who fell for his quirky nerdy new neighbour

it sounded like a bad fan-fiction

but your friends were adamant that this was the perfect weekend midnight show

so...10 minutes later, you were seated inside the nearly empty theatre

there was only another group of friends and a few couples watching the late show

Just as the movie was about to begin, a young man strolled in and sat in the seat next to you

he looked very suspicious in that mask and cap get up

but, you decided not to question and focus on the movie

maybe it would be worth giving up some hours of sleep

IF the movie could even keep you awake😔

“a-are you kidding me?” you mumbled through a mouthful of popcorn. “he’s a horrid guy! let him go girl.”

“Sh!” your friends hissed. “He’s the lead for a reason.”

“Yeah, b-but why do they always have to be bad boys or perfect prince charming with a side of asshole.” you complained.

perhaps you misheard, but the man beside you seemed to be stifling chuckles

“ugh you’ll understand soon,” your friends groaned

but you didn’t

Even as they gushed about how perfect the movie was, you couldn’t find it entertaining

it was...typical

ok maybe the little twist at the end was cute

but you felt it was very one-dimensional

8 different movies with the same plot had been forced down your throat

“i-it’s so underwhelming...I expected a lot from XXX director ,” you muttered to yourself

“which part of it?”

you jumped at the suddenness of the question which definitely wasn’t from your friends

it was from the masked man next to you

“I-I...I just find it predictable and nothing new. Especially the part when she-“

you have a lot to say about it

he doesn’t say anything, only nods and tries to hide a smile behind his mask

“Nothing against the actors or anything. Maybe...maybe I just wanted more development.” you sigh. “I wanted to love it.”

“You a screenwriter? Director?” He asks

“Well...I just write for fun, sometimes. My cousin is a director though! She’s actually under the same company as XXX director and screenwriter.” you reveal.

He hums in reply, brow quirked with curiosity

The movie ends before you know it and you nearly dash out of the theatre

“It was...mediocre. B-better than expected maybe.” you try to be as understanding and non-judgmental as you can

“See! I knew it would grow on you!” your friends giggle

They leave for 2 seconds to throw away their empty popcorn bins

you spot the same dude that you sat next to

wow his face is much clearer in the light

he...he kind of looks like someone

it is that striking gaze

w-where have you seen that gaze before?

but before you can wreck your brain, he simply waves goodbye and is ushered away by a middle-aged man

strange

you never got a chance to catch his name

“are you sure about this?” you questioned your cousin again

she rolled her eyes. “Yes, don’t worry about it. If my boss has an issue with me using my lunch break to hang out with my favourite cousin then he can take it up with me.”

you sigh. “I know, just worried y’know. One of your projects just got chosen for production, there’s so much to be done!”

She smiled. “Then can’t we make it a spa day to relax and unwind?”

you shot her a flat look. “No.”

both of you crossed the road in the direction of your beloved stew restaurant

“I’m so glad this is opposite the office.” your cousin declared. “So many workers and talents come here to eat lunch. Let’s hope we get a good spot.”

it’s a lucky day because you guys do get a nice booth

“So tell me,” you probe after ordering the classic kimchi-stew. “How’s the new project coming about?”

“Good, good. Sooo much work I can barely take a break but...it’s so nice to be busy like this,” she speaks from her heart, dreamy-eyed

“Oh! Actually, that’s the main lead over there!” She points to a table with a couple of boys sitting at it

probably with production crew and managers

“That’s Choi Hyunsuk, our protagonist and...our antagonist Kim Junkyu.”

Kim Junkyu?

why does he look so familiar?

“It’s so funny. Junkyu usually gets the role of prince charming, but he auditioned for the role of the villain.” she giggled

always a prince charming? a boy-next-door character?

Hyunsuk notices your cousin and gives a friendly wave.

He then excuses himself and walks over to your table

This causes Junkyu to turn around for a glance

And a glance is all you need

those damn familiar eye

it’s him

the man who sat next to you in the cinema

the actor

oh my god

your mind goes blank and your face turns 15 different shades of scarlet

your head turns so fast your neck hurts

but Junkyu is already making his way over with a mischievous grin

“Junkyu! Hyunsuk! Guys, this is my cousin ___.” your cousin introduces, completely oblivious

“um hi,” you mumble, clasping your chopsticks so tight they might crack

“I’m Hyunsuk,” beams the blonde. “Your cousin talks a lot about you.”

again, you can’t stop the pink glow

“I’m Junkyu.”

ohoNoNOOHNO

“h-hi.”

you cannot even look at him, much less look him in the eye

there’s not an ounce of courage left in you

“haha i think it’s just strange for ___ to see y’all act in such roles. Junkyu’s usually the boy-next-door. What made you change your mind?” your cousin attempts to diffuse the situation

“Oh that,” You can practically hear the smirk in his voice. “Well, let’s just say someone offered me a very useful piece of advice on...versatility.”

it’s been a week since that mortifying incident and today

well, you’re terrified that it’ll happen again

reason being, you’re back at your cousins office

but today, you’re here just for 15 minutes at most

She forgot her inhaler at your place and since you’d rather be safe than sorry, you decided to drop it off

“____ darling! Thank you!” your cousin sings as she marches across the building lobby

you notice that her hair is out of place and there’s lint on her blazer

“ooh we’re actually on one of the sets right now, would you like to come watch?” she suggests

“ I-“

“Come on! It’ll be fun. Everyone is having a short break now.”

And zoom, you’re rolling past a dozen buildings and sets on one of the most prestigious film houses

once on set, your cousin pretty much introduces you to the whole crew

you swear you spot Junkyu somewhere in the flurry of faces

“um woah are you okay? why’s your face so red?” your cousin places a hand on your forehead

!!!

“um haha i guess i just need to cool down.”

she nods. “There’s a vending machine just outside on the left.”

you quickly excuse yourself and seize the moment to calm down

Junkyu takes this opportunity to slip outside as well

“Hey,”

shocked, your finger slips and the code for your beverage is wrong

“Sorry about that,” Junkyu apologises, blushing

“You wanted this right?” He collects your favourite soda from the machine

and handing you the change

“Y-yeah. H-how did you-“

“I uh noticed that day.”

that day

now it’s your face getting hot

“I’m...I’m really sorry for bashing your acting and your character! It’s not that you’re bad at acting, it was just a very stiff role but I’m still so sorry! I really-“

He signals for you to stop, chuckling

“Hey, if it wasn’t for your comments, I wouldn’t have challenged my versatility as an actor. So...thank you.”

THUD THUD THUD

there’s short silence where you exchange sodas and pop the lid open

And then you both take a slow sip

“How about a take 2?” you suggest bravely, holding out a hand

please take it, please take it

Junkyu examines it with a small, amused smirk

...before clasping it

“Sure, I’m Junkyu.” :D

#yg treasure box #yg treasure box scenarios #ygtb scenarios #kim junkyu #treasure 13 #treasure 13 scenarios #treasure #yg

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tiabryantprofessionalenhancement · 6 years ago

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My 8 tips on how to regain your motivation and creativity.

Now this post is a bit different to my usual (and dare I say it, boring) posts I’ve done, but during my freelance year, I’ve had a fair bit of free time to say the least. Although I’ve got a part-time job alongside freelancing, I’ve found myself with a lot of spare time, feeling unenergetic, unmotivated and in a big time creative block. Although I do, of course, have some days where I just want to lounge around in bed all day and not do anything, I’ve tried to overcome it through these 8 tips.

1. Move. It’s as simple as that, just move! I’ve found that if I utilise my body just a little bit, I feel so much more energised and motivated. It can be as simple as doing a few stretches in the morning, going for a walk, or smashing a workout at home or in the gym, but no matter what you do, move! I’ve also recently found it motivating to write down how I feel after I exercise, then on days when I feel sluggish and don’t want to do anything, I look at the notes and remind myself how I’ll feel after.

2. Create a to-do list. Sometimes creating a list of things to do can seem daunting because you worry about not completing all the tasks. But by setting yourself a number of small tasks (or goals to make them sound less intimidating) and then ticking them off can be so uplifting. This has helped with my anxiety so much, it really helps you feel more organised and gives you a purpose throughout the day. If I don’t complete tasks I tell myself ‘it’s okay, I can complete it tomorrow’, and then I move on and don’t let it dwell on me.

3. Take your camera everywhere. Okay, so this may not apply to everyone, but taking a camera or some kind of photo-making device is a great way to get out of a creative block, there doesn’t need to have any meaning or purpose behind taking a picture. This advice was given to me from one of my best friends (thanks Georgia!) and it has helped me so much to get out of my creative rut!

4. Listen to some music or a podcast. Spotify will always be my best friend. I use it for the majority of my day, I love listening to music and podcasts. Listening to an album or a playlist (usually) makes me feel a lot more motivated to do things. It’s only been the past month or so that I’ve started listening to podcasts more regularly, my favourites are Happy Place (Fearne Cotton), The Adam Buxton Show and The James Smith Podcast. I also enjoy listening to the H3 podcast when I’m in the mood to listen to some comedic rambling. This may sound a bit bizarre, but I love falling asleep listening to The Ricky Gervais show (or the XFM radio podcast). It gives me something to concentrate on so my mind doesn’t drift and I start stressing about things.

5. Remind yourself why. Simply looking through images or work that you have created to remind yourself why you invested in this course/career/opportunity is such a good way to regain motivation to be creative again. I’ll often scroll through my photography instagram or flick through albums on my laptop and list reasons why I like an image, and sometimes what could I do to improve it - looking at things constructively can be a helpful tool when looking for motivation.

6. Surround yourself with creativity. Alongside looking at my own images, I’ll also look at other people for motivation. I follow a lot of design accounts on instagram, and although I’m not a graphic designer, it does inspire me to be more creative. Being around people who are creative too is a good way to bounce idea off each other - I recently took a trip to Barcelona (which I’ll write about soon!) to see my best friend who’s also a photographer. We went to a tonne of beautiful and inspiring places and between us we probably took way over a thousand photos which we shared with each other.

7. Ask for help. Now, I’m one for keeping my feelings and emotions to myself, not wanting to burden anyone else with how I’m feeling, but talking it out can be so uplifting! Whether its a friend, a colleague, a partner or a professional, it’s always okay to ask for help. I tweeted a couple weeks ago about feeling so exhausted and unmotivated I was feeling and how it was starting to get me down and one friend suggested I looked into the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which in short, is a type of depression that comes and goes in a seasonal pattern, and is usually linked to a reduced exposure to sunlight (vitamin D). I haven’t ‘self diagnosed’ myself, but understanding the symptoms and putting measures in place to ensure I do get more vitamin D has really made a difference to how I’ve been feeling.

8. Have things to look forward to. Having things to look forward to can really make a difference - whether it’s big or small. My boyfriend lives in London, so I only see him roughly twice a month, but I always look forward to seeing him and I get excited to plan what we’re going to do, whether it’s a walk down the canal, or a movie day in bed. I’ve just returned from seeing one of my best friends who’s out in Barcelona studying so that was a huge thing to look forward to, and now in a week I’m going to be seeing my other bestie who’s living it out in The Netherlands, so it’s safe to say I’ve had my fair few things to get excited about! Booking in freelance jobs has also been something that I look forward to , I love to plan things, so organising where I need to be and what I need to do is something that I enjoy. But sometimes, something as simple as making arrangements to meet a friend for a coffee or making your favourite food for dinner can be just as exciting and help you to make it through the day.

I hope for those who stuck around to finish reading this blog post, you taken something away from this and if you’re stuck in a rut, maybe one or two of these things can help you out!

Thanks for reading!

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howlingmoonrise · 6 years ago

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Dear Yuletide Author

thank you for signing up for yuletide, i hope you have fun!

i’ve put all my letters in one place so you don’t have to juggle links around, feel free to send me an anon (is that allowed?) if you’re in doubt as to whether i’d like a certain trope or not! (and so sorry about all the ranting oops)

things i like in general:

pining. TONS of pining. ALL the pining! i have a lot more fun reading about idiots in love that aren’t together yet than if they’re already in an established relationship

i’m good with either gen or romance if you’re not comfortable with shippy stuff! what really works for me is the relationship itself, platonic or not, the development of it, and the interactions/feelings regarding the other. when it comes to the characters i’ve picked, for me it makes sense for them to develop trust and fondness/affection for the other before they get into any sort of relationship so gen is all good!

i’m veeeeeery fond of enemies/rivals-to-friends-to-lovers, and bickering pairs overall (as you can see by all my choices in characters lmfao) since they’re so much fun and provide such an opportunity for character and relationship development :D

continuing from above, nothing kills me as much as characters that bicker all the time but in the end they rely on the other and go to each other before they go to anyone else

conceptual AUs are fine! by this i mean stuff like soulmate AUs, AUs where they met differently from canon, i’m-your-next-door-neighbour-and-i-had-to-break-into-your-flat-to-get-my-cat-back AUs, canon divergence, that kind of thing - AUs like that are super fun!

fun tropes (sorry, these are a bit romance-heavy): fake dating, “accidentally got roped into x thing and shenanigans are happening”, What Do You Mean We’re Not Dating?, “oh no there’s only one bed”, misunderstood confessions, trope subversion in general is also GREAT

i REALLY like the canon and characters for all the fandoms i picked, so sticking at least to their characterisations and the overall “tone” of canon are a huge plus!! “missing scenes” and “what if” canon-divergent situations are excellent but like i said, i also like conceptual AUs so don’t be afraid to mix up the scenario a bit if you enjoy it, because i do too!

things i don’t like a lot in general:

kidfics. unless it’s petshop of horrors - where Chris and the pets are an exception - next gen and stuff are a pass for me

far into the future fics in general, actually - what really does it for me is the development, so if we skip ahead to much later on i feel like we end up missing it all

i usually don’t like most angst stuff since it feels a bit gratuitous to me when it comes to most fandoms and characters. the one exception for this is psoh (see below if you’re picking this fandom) or when it’s introspection fic. as a result of this, i’d pass on most content with major character death, sexual abuse, self-harm, the like, though of course there are always exceptions to the rule and you’re free to write as you wish!

hard AUs are a bit ehhh to me - by this i mean world-heavy stuff like harry potter AUs, where the focus ends up more on the setting than the characters more often than not. i’d also pass on high school AUs (gsnk being the obvious exception) and ABO.

i heavily dislike things involving cheating/infidelity, and genderbending is a bit ehhhh for me

script-based or roleplay fic is not really my preferred format, i really enjoy prose instead of nearly all dialogue!

if you’re going for nsfw:

kinks: moderate sadism/masochism, bondage, choking/breathplay, xenophilia and tentacles (which only make sense here for like... 1.5 fandoms lmfao), moderate degradation, edging

squicks: scat, vomit, praise kink, daddy or baby kink, vore, forced feminization, pet play, gore

PETSHOP OF HORRORS

i’m usually not partial to angst AT ALL but psoh is the one fandom where i don’t mind it if you wanna go ahead - psoh is RIPE for angst. we got two people with abandonment and inadequacy issues: leon who decided to leave his whole life behind to chase someone who gave him life and left him after thinking that he didn’t care for him at all, and d who is supremely fucked up by his upbringing and had to push leon off the ark to continue his family’s mission and let drop one (1) single tear that he was not supposed to cry over a human.

THAT BEING SAID, i also!!!! love slice of life shit for them!!!!!!!! GODS i love how much they bicker but then they turn around and the other is the person they rely on the most and who they trust above all others and how they keep roping each other into ridiculous shenanigans. neither of them are particularly communicative with a few rare exceptions, so there’s also a lot of room for introspection there on both sides, which i LOVE. my son leon in particular is also super underestimated when it comes to his intelligence and tolerance for gay shit both in canon and fandom, and he performs ridiculous leaps of logic and instinct that somehow turn out to be right but that are super ???? for everyone else involved, and that’s always fun to see. hell, just another missing scene where leon brings d some cake and they banter fondly over tea is A++++ to me!!

nsfw???? bring it!!! this is the fandom amongst these three where you’re free to go super dark and kinky if you wanna, or if you wanna write tender loving reunion sex where d cries a little while leon cherishes every bit of him that’s also excellent!

psoh is the most excellent genre triangle where i’d be super happy to receive anything on the slice-of-life/angst/smut corners! (also, slash is 3249823% acceptable if you couldn’t tell by my ranting)

GEKKAN SHOUJO NOZAKI-KUN

yuzuki seo is my absolute favourite character on the series and i love her and how ridiculous she is! waka is also gr9, and i really love that little sadist streak he has going like when he kept teasing seo with his “confessions”, that was probably one of my favourite chapters!

for gnsk either canon-verse or a conceptual AU would be excellent - if you’re going AU, i’m very fond of those where seo is a siren/mermaid and possibly man-eating (because those are the best kind amirite??) canon-wise i LOVE their interactions and how waka keeps accidentally getting taken on lowkey dates while resolutely defending they’re not even friends and even more accidentally retributing those with thoughtful gifts and the like haha

another thing i love is when waka is capable of looking past appearances to see seo, like in the chapter where they gave her the “lorelei” makeover and no one recognized her but him. i also love how stupidly happy seo is whenever she sees waka, it’s so cute!!

HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE

the thing i like the most in hmc are the characters’ flaws! i love the ghibli movie, don’t get me wrong, but they took away the bits i liked the most - sophie’s stubbornness and nosiness and temper and howl’s cowardice and vanity and his silver-tongue whenever he tries to slither around sophie, and all their banter and arguing.

there’s nothing quite like their stupid arguments where sophie pretends she didn’t mess around with things she shouldn’t and howl is torn between being amused and exasperated at her expense - even better if he’s trying to do something good sneakily behind her back so he won’t be accused of being a good person before he finds another excuse to justify it.

for this fandom i’d really prefer it if it were from anywhere from the beginning of the first book to before their marriage (i haven’t read the sequels and prefer non-established relationship anyway), but a conceptual AU would also be pretty nice! hmc in particular is very good for trope subverting, which i’m extremely fond of! for example, take a soulmate AU with the first words written on the skin thing: we could mess it up a bit since calcifer was in possession of howl’s heart and as such his first words would be on sophie instead of howl’s - cue shenanigans while sophie wonders how someone can have a soulmate bond with a sentient fire with no words of his own, howl panics internally about sophie not returning his mark, and so on!

another thing i love about the book is the writing style and that incredible sense of humour in the writing, so something lighthearted and in the spirit of canon would be great!

#howl rambles a lot #yuletide #yuletide 2018 #dear yuletide author

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