#i would also like to point out she managed to start this fire the SECOND she put her eggs on the stove
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butteredfrogs · 1 year ago
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ember had a close call when cooking her eggs on toast this morning. luckily she managed to put out the fire by hitting it repeatedly with her spatula??? i mean hey if it works!
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medusagorgongirl1 · 5 months ago
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Alright so I fucking love any of the Robins interacting with the rouge gallery. Like Poison Ivy just fucking sighing at Dick's plant related jokes because it's been 4 fucking years when will he get new material and Two face just loving the irony of fucking with Jason because he's the second Robin, but one that has been on fucking tumble dry in head is Tim and Cat Woman, not Tim as stray or any form of relation outside mask, just Cat woman and Robin
And like maybe Batman and Robin are at this museum because Bruce knew that she would stir up shit soon because there's a shit ton of jewels on display and like Selina is actively picking up this big fucking ruby unaware that Batman and Robin are about to make their debut with a lecture but Tim!Robin yells with the most indignant voice Bruce had ever heard
"YOU CANT STEAL THAT"
and like the entire illusion of mystique is loss and Batman is just baffled because what the fuck Tim
and like Selina is also fucking baffled because, what?
And like Tim is like floundering because how the fuck does he explain without showing his hand, but then he just says fuck it, and he starts striding towards Cat Woman, lecture ready
"You can't steal that, Drake industries funded the stealing of that 7 years ago from the country of Morroco, it was important to an ancient civilization there and the local museums were desperate for it"
He spit this all out rapid fire continuing his stride towards Catwoman and taking a breath before continuing "BUT, Drake industries is under new management and the current acting CEO is working to return influential artifacts stolen from their cultures", he finished this while reaching Catwoman and plucking the ruby from her dumbfounded hand and placing it back on display, before proceeding to point at four other artifacts and finishing off lamely with "those too"
He then walked back over to stand at Batman's side. He may have baffled Batman beyond belief, but hey, he gained Catwomans respect
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mywritersmind · 2 months ago
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Can you write some fake dating with lando pretty please🥹
HATE ME - LN4
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listen up : no warnings!! hope you enjoy bc i got stuck on this so bad😘 lando x popstar!reader
word count : 1886
⋆。‧˚⋆
“Y/n!” A reporter yells at me as I walk up the paddock, “Y/n! What are you doing?”
I slow down and laugh a bit, “Looking for my boyfriend!”
“What’s your thoughts with him coming off a win, think he can swing it?” I roll my eyes playfully.
“I certainly think he can! America has been great to him before.” They laugh, knowing I'm not just talking about his win but also myself.
“How about your upcoming album!?” A woman asks, my mood already improving, “Any details you can share?”
I’m about to respond when I feel arms wrap around my waist, “Hi pretty.” He says in my ear but just loud enough to be heard.
I smile and brush my hand against his arm, “Lan!”
He looks up at the reporters, pointing to them, “You lot back off! She’s my good luck charm this weekend!”
We walk away, I glance up to Lando’s face to see him smiling. I can’t help but be surprised for the millionth time, he’s a damn good actor.
The second we get inside, doors shut and nobody around, Lando drops his hands off me. “Hi Pretty.” I mock his accent as he rolls his eyes.
My fake boyfriend strides across the room, grabbing his water bottle. He's in a Mclaren shirt and jeans, his curls perfect and defined.
“You really need to stop swerving my lips when we’re in public.” I plop down on the couch and try to tune him out, it doesn’t work. “People are starting to notice.”
I text my manager back as he complains, “I’ve never shown any PDA with my ex’s. You’re not special, Norris.”
I ignore the way his bicep moves when he pushes off the couch, “Well I have.”
“You don’t think regular couples settle on my side for this? I didn’t think you were thirsting for me that much.”
He scoffs and I know I got him there, “I’m just saying! It’s not normal.”
“Of course you’d think that, all you and your ex’s did was make out in public!” His manager walks in just then before he can respond.
Point, Y/n.
“Will you two keep it down?” He groans, “Just because you argue like an old married couple, doesn’t mean it fits your roles! Lando, it’s media time.”
“Talk about me.” I mumble as he walks out.
“Can I announce our breakup?” He eyes me before shutting the door. I breathe out, just trying to get through this weekend.
⋆。‧˚⋆
P1 in qualifying, great. I act all happy and actually kiss him this time. I don’t agree with the majority of what he says but even my manager told me I need to do a tiny bit more.
Lando and I’s… agreement, is complicated and completely necessary for our careers. I’m rising to fame and he’s falling in the dumps with all his media scares.
After a mini scandal broke about me, Lando and I met. We were drunk and totally out of depth. He told the paparazzi outside the bar that we were dating and I had kissed him like I believed it.
Everything went up in flames but through the fire our teams decided to come up with this whole fake dating thing. I make him look good, the unproblematic, pretty, popstar. He added an edge to me and brought quite a few new fans.
But most of all, after his lie to the public was splashed over every media surface, the picture of my lips against his, I couldn’t just back out. He would have looked like a player (because he was one) and I would have been labeled a slut.
So now i’m at the paddock every weekend, planning my own shows and sporting him in the crowd. My fans eat it up though, he’s hot, rich and british.
Lando doesn’t listen to his brain before his mouth opens and once when someone asked what he thought about my performance he replied with, “She’s insane and beautiful and way too talented to be my girlfriend.” That sealed it for everyone.
He kisses my cheek, winking. He’s not all bad, even though I can’t really stand him it’s not like he’s disrespectful or rude to me.
Lando gets pulled away for media and I find myself watching his interview with Alexandra, Charles’ girlfriend. We’re not watching our ‘boyfriends’ at all, gossiping about the celebrities that are coming this weekend.
⋆。˚⋆
LANDOS POV
The reporter is saying things but I’m distracted. My eyes keep wandering past the man in front of me and going to my ‘girlfriend’.
She’s talking to Alex, flipping his hair over her shoulder and grinning. She never smiles like that with me.
I answer another question but it’s half assed and I don’t really care. I watch her jaw move as she talks, how she jumps up and down when she’s talking about something she loves, she crosses her ankles and pinches the bridge of her nose.
I’m suddenly feeling very left out of the conversation and don’t realize the reporter is repeating my name, “Lando?” I rip my eyes away from her a he looks to what I was looking at.
He’s smiling when he turns back to me, “Distracted… Sorry.” I scratch the back of my back, looking down and smiling as the man laughs.
⋆。‧˚⋆
Y/NS POV
What is he playing at? I’ve been tagged in a million clips of Lando’s interview. The way he looked at me- fuck! He’s so confusing I hate him.
This weekend has felt forever long and it’s not even over. Lando and I go to a little house party, weird for the day before a race but none of the guys seem bothered by it.
In fact, everyone’s having fun. It’s like watching impending doom, knowing they’re all about to mess with each other on the track.
Lando obviously isn’t drinking and since he’s driving, I down a glass with Alex and Lily as soon as I step in the door.
Someone has rented an airbnb and it’s gorgeous. Not too big, but a nice fire in the back and a huge living room.
“I’m gonna go talk to Carlos.” Lando’s hand drifts off me as he walks away. I barely even realized his touch, I'm getting too comfortable with it.
“Girl!” Rebecca, Carlos’ girlfriend, says to me, “I’ve never seen Lando this in love!” The only people who know Lando and I aren’t actually together is Alex, Lily, Alexandra, possibly Charles, Oscar, and Carlos.
Lily and Alex sip their drinks beside me as I blink, pausing for too long. I laugh and smile, “You’re sweet.”
“I’m serious!” She continues, “Those eyes, it’s unmistakable!” Something about it makes me sad. Because Lando doesn’t actually like me at all? Or because whenever I get a glimpse of that look, it’s always in public?
Lily changes the subject with remarkable speed, Alex hands me another drink and I sigh a thank you.
The night goes on, it’s slow and nice to have a simple sort of get together instead of how Lando likes to party.
Speaking of, my fake boyfriend dances up to me as I laugh out of embarrassment, he takes my hand and pulls me outside. I look back to Alexandra who just shrugs and watches me leave.
I smile at Lily who’s sitting on Alex’s lap. I sit next to Lando around the fire, I'm getting tired and a bit tipsy. I rest my head on his shoulder as everyone talks.
I can’t think about why he brought me over here. It’s not like I’m contributing to the conversation in a big way.
“What!? Lily was my idol before I got into F1!” I agree with her, she claims I didn’t like her but I was following her for months!
“You were so intimidating!” She shakes her head.
“You are intimidating.” Lando speaks up as I eye him. Lily’s eyes flicks down to my hand then my face then back to my hand.
I give her a confused look before glancing at my hand, Lando’s fingers are stretched over it, spinning my own ring around my middle finger.
I avoid Lily’s eyes as I look up at Lando, “Excuse me?”
“You are!” he argues, “The first time we met I was scared shitless.” I shake my head and finish my drink, my body warm and buzzing.
Charles and Carlos both laugh as Carlos speaks, “Fuck I remember that! At that club? He had like five shots to hype himself up.”
The firelight shines on Lando’s face as his cheeks go pink, “Worked a bit too well.” I find a small smile on my face. I never knew that.
People slowly start leaving, Alex and Lily leave us outside to help cleanup. His hand leaves mine, I rest my arms under my head, leaning on his chair as he looks down at me.
“Saw you talking to Franco…” He slyly mentions.
“What now, Norris, you jealous?” His jaw ticks.
“Just saying it’s not a good look for my girlfriend to be flirting with someone on the grid. Or anyone at all.”
“Sounds pretty jealous to me!” I hum as he shakes his head, “Gonna win tomorrow?” I ask.
“Maybe.” He shrugs.
“For me?” I am definitely not in my head correctly.
He bites back a smirk, keeping eye contact, “What do I get if I win?”
He's teasing me and I like it far too much, “What do you want?”
I almost miss it. I would have if I didn’t keep eye contact. But something appears on Lando’s face… something familiar and that I thought was fake.
That fucking look.
Except now we’re away from everybody else, I’m the only one who can see his face and it makes me feel sick. He’s got a soft smile on, brushing my hair out of my face, his touch burning me.
I sit up straight, “I hate you.”
“No you don’t.” He smirks, clearly amused.
“You hate me!” I’m confused and angry and that damn smile isn’t helping.
He gives an airy laugh before his smile dims, his tongue running over his teeth before his eyes flick back up to mine, “No I don’t.”
I frown, “You’re supposed to!”
He shakes his head, “Why would I hate you?”
I groan, putting my face in my hands, “Because you’re in this mess because of me! I wrote a song about you.” I see his blink, the pause in his emotion as if he’s trying to figure me out. “And i’m angry! Because I didn’t want this and I didn’t want you!” I vent, “So you can’t like me now because I’ll feel bad!”
He blinks, once, twice, “Okay. I hate you.” He says it with zero emotion.
“For as good an actor as you are… that didn’t sound very convincing.” I pout and he laughs.
“I’m not a good actor, love.” I suddenly feel sobered.
“Hate me, Lando. That would make this a lot easier.” I’m mad at him. I can’t do this with him looking at me like that.
He tilts his head a bit, his jaw moving, a curl perfectly in his face. He says it with ease and a newfound softness in his voice, “How could I ever hate you?”
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mayon3sa · 5 months ago
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🗯️700 Days of you
SYNOPSIS: Part 2 for the infamous Bakugou texts
DISCLAIMER: Guys English isn't really my first language, though i understand it well i had my friend read over and give me feedback on what i should've changed and added I'm sorry if this is a let down but i tried really hard, i hope you guys enjoy any feedback is greatly appreciated, also I'm so sorry it took almost a week i kept scraping so many ideas sorry , ending was kinda rushed as well sorryyyy :((( <3
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You've known Bakugou Katsuki for roughly 700 days, which is since you were 14. It's not like you knew him well, you just always saw him around your middle school, neighborhood, and at your parents' jobs. The first time you caught a glimpse of Bakugo was on the first day of middle school, the same year you would be leaving for high school. There wasn't anything special about that day, but what made you cherish that day was that he looked back at you as well.
The very first time you got to catch a glimpse of who Bakugou was as a person was through a school project. There aren't enough words in any dictionary to express your gratitude towards Aizawa for pairing you guys together. That day, you managed to get his number and meet up with him at a cafe. Looking back at that memory, you start to cry, not from sadness but embarrassment.
"Hey Bakugou, over here, I got some food for us," were the first words you had spoken to him directly. It seemed foolish to think about his response; would it be "Thank you so much, I love you, let's get married"? Not really. Maybe you had started reading too many romance mangas with Sero. "I don’t like anything that’s not spicy," he said bluntly, getting straight to the point. You would be lying if you said you weren't feeling as if he would explode any second.
"Oh, well, I can always ask for something else."
"There’s no need for that, let's just get started with the project."
"Oh, right. So, I was thinking..." As the afternoon soon turned into nighttime, you both had a pretty decent outline. Bakugou wasn’t bad, at least you didn’t think so. He was the type of person to get straight to the point of whatever he needed to communicate. Although he had trouble wrapping his head around the idea of teamwork, he was still there with you, giving you his views on your research and fixing the paper you had made.
When the night approached, you had both parted ways. That day, you could proudly say that Bakugou wasn’t as entitled as everyone made him out to be; he was smart. It came as a shock to you - getting used to his yelling was hard, but seeing him care for a school project and be somewhat smarter than you was even more surprising.
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The second time you caught a glimpse of Bakugou was when you were at work. Not that you wished to be a stalker, but that's what it seemed like at the moment. As he walked through the door, both of you were stunned to see each other. Although you wished you could crawl into a hole and die in that moment, you still had to stay professional.
"Hello, welcome to Mitsumu’s Fashion headquarters. What can I help you with today?" This was the most embarrassing moment in your life. He just stood there staring at you before he spoke up, "Yeah, I’m just gonna go to my mom’s office. She told me to stop by to help her with a photoshoot." "Oh yeah. I’m supposed to be there. We can start the shoot in a few minutes. Just waiting for the next receptionist to clock in."
20 minutes went by, along with 20 minutes of your anxiety catching up to you, fearing what was to come. The shoot went by pretty smoothly in your opinion. Well, at least Bakugou posing in different outfits went well. The only thing that went south was when the other crew members whispered about you. It was as if you weren’t there.
‘She’s such a screw-up, why can’t they just fire her already i’m getting kind of annoyed having her around’ was a sentence that caught you in a trance, amongst the ‘ugh not her’ and the ‘she’s so weird’ hearing that sentence was enough to make you stop dead in your tracks. 
Words hurt. They seemed to cut deeper with every passing day at work. But then you realized that perhaps not all words hurt equally. It was Bakugou who made you believe in that last sentence.
“You two over there near the lights, you’re not discreet at hiding your gossip, instead of focusing on a teenager at your grown age you should maybe focus on doing your job, see that light over there go fix it. It’s your job. She’s doing hers quite fine, Such shame the person you seem to talk about put you both in shame”
He looked at you, and you looked at him. In that moment you knew that deep down the angry Katsuki Bakugou everyone was so afraid of was a mask to hide how he felt. You realized at that moment that Bakugou wasn’t a bad person at all, he just had issues, just like everyone else, And part of you understood that it was okay that he did that. Because by the end of that day, you could say, Katsuki Bakugou was a kind person.
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In your eyes, Katuski was the kindest person you could think of if you get to know him that is, and although kind isn’t a word people use when describing him, It was what you thought of him, and you certainly loved viewing him as such.
Katsuki Bakugou, who stayed sleepless nights with you in a cafe reading romance novels and hearing you rant about your favorite character
Katsuki Bakugou, who always glanced at you when sparring because you would cough more normally than what your drawbacks usually are
Katsuki Bakugou, who when you have no money pays for your food and orders more to disguise it as an eating competition saying he would win and ends up giving you his food because he claimed he didn’t like it, even though it’s his favorite
Katsuki Bakugou, Who hated physical touch but would let you cling to him whenever you got excited, scared, or sometimes needed a shoulder to cry on
Katsuki Bakugou, Who isn’t good at comforting people but tries to show support in different ways and when he’s cornered for being soft will always reply with ‘I’m just telling the truth’
That was the Bakugou you knew, or at least you thought you did. But you couldn’t recognize who stood in front of you.
Bakugo Katsuki, who now stood in front of you saying words you wish you could cancel out “We were never friends, I only let you stick around out of pity”. Maybe this was the kind of person you tried seeing in someone. But not everything goes how we want it to go, do we? In the end, it was you seeking comfort in someone else when they probably didn’t want you around.
Maybe 700 days of thinking you knew Bakugou were probably reduced to 1, the one being today. You had concluded the person you once thought was kind was just a character you decided to make in your head.
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“What’s up with you, you looked like you got run over” How you wish you could smack your best friend right now, “Shindo you think you’re so funny, could you at least pretend to care, you assface” Yo Shindo, the only person you could say has seen through you, not just physically but emotionally as well.
Shindo just never seemed to leave you alone, having met you at recess one random day in kindergarten. He had spotted you and just followed you around wherever you went. You hit him multiple times with rocks hoping he would leave you alone “You can’t keep hitting me with rocks that’s mean, and I’m older than you” were the first words he had told you.
“I don’t care if you’re older just leave me alone” “No” “ Why not” “Because” “Because?” “Just Because” From that day on Yo Shindo followed you everywhere and you listened to whatever he had to say. At this moment, you wish you had thrown a tree trunk at him when you were younger.
“Get up let’s go get ice cream, you’re even making ME depressed, I don’t know what happened at UA, you don’t have to talk about it just come with me to get ice cream”
“How did you get in my house in the first place”
“I broke in”
“You’re lying, no you didn’t Yo”
“I’m kidding your mom let me in”
Hanging out with Shindo was always a way to decompress however you felt in situations. Being separated from Shindo at the start of High School was always hard to get used to. Not having him come visit you during lunch always felt so strange to you, half of your life seeing him come to your door with two bento boxes just disappear into thin air, leaving you lonely almost every day.
“Shindo is there any way I could transfer to Shiketsu” 
“Not that I know of, why?”
“At school, there was this guy I started getting close with, I liked him a lot. Maybe as friends, as more, I can't tell my feelings apart but I know one thing. We started getting closer and getting to know each other, I thought he was a great guy, he would do things that just made me feel loved, not necessarily romantically loved but I felt seen with him”
“It was that comfortable feeling I get when I'm with you. If that makes sense, I thought he felt the same way since he also opened up to me. He texted me yesterday saying he didn’t want to be friends with me anymore, I thought it was a joke Shindo, i even went to the company to look for answers, I found him in the middle of a shoot and I was hoping he would tell me  it was a joke but in the end, he told me‘ We were never friends, I only let you stick around out of pity’.” That sentence alone was enough to let Shindo know how you were feeling and as if on instinct he was quick to hold you against his chest as you explained how you felt
“It’s stupid to think he would feel something about me, I feel stupid Shindo I loved him a lot. Whenever I was with him I felt seen, those moments with him made me feel that someone other than you loved me, I feel so stupid, I’m so stupid to think that the boy I fell in love with never existed, it was all just what I wanted to believe Shindo”
“He never cared for me”
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It had been weeks since you told Shindo about what happened. Things weren't going great, but they had taken a turn for the better. After school, Shindo would pick you up and bring snacks. Sometimes, he would take you to the library after school.
Your occasional hangouts became more frequent, and Shindo started dropping you off at school in the mornings in addition to picking you up. You began to notice a positive change in yourself, and you were proud to say that you were feeling a lot better. You weren't the only one who noticed this shift; your classmates noticed it too.
"Y/N, you seem happier, especially since that guy started dropping you off and picking you up. Are you guys dating?" Mina was quick to ask you as you showed up to class one day.
"You mean Shindo? Oh, we’re just childhood friends. He started helping me train and with my school work," you replied.
"You guys are always together. It’s almost impossible to hang out without you having plans with him," Midoriya added.
"Sorry, guys. We’ve just been catching up," you tried to clear up any rumors that might have caused any miscommunication.
Everyone had their eyes on you, watching as you spoke so highly about your 'best friend'. Especially Katsuki; he watched as you smiled, recalling all of your memories with him.
It left a sour taste in his mouth watching as you talked highly about someone else. He was never one to express his emotions well, but with you, it felt easy to try and express how he felt. He knew from the moment he stayed up with you in a library reading ‘A Silent Voice’ that he was developing feelings for you.
He was never one to indulge in emotions, but having those deep talks with you every night made him feel dumb for trying to deny his feelings.
He never confronted his emotions straight away, no matter how much Katsuki tried to adjust; he just couldn’t accept the fact that he was growing in love with you. 'Falling in love' seemed like a terrible way to describe their way of loving someone else. But again, who is he to construe about love?
Not that he purposely wished for it to be that way. Katsuki wanted nothing more than to have done things differently back then.
As time passed, he couldn't get the image of you crying out of his mind. It pained him to see you that way. It wasn't just because he liked you, but also because he knew he was the cause of your sadness. The guilt consumed him, and the thought of you moving on only added to his pain. He couldn't help but feel like a fool for what he had done to you.
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Katsuki was familiar with you. He knew about your favorite romance manga, your parents' connection to his, your love for fashion, your passion for romantic comedies, your favorite subject, and your usual order at the café where you both spent countless nights. He knew you well.
Katsuki knew all your fears - spiders, carnivals, clowns, open spaces, failure, and his mom when she yelled at your co-workers. He noticed all your symptoms and sometimes felt like both of your hearts were connected. He felt crazy saying it out loud, but those moments when you both trained together, you suddenly felt everything he could think of - dizziness, nausea, chest pain, shaking, and trembling. One thing that always stuck with him was whenever you felt anxious, you would bite your fingernails. Once, he took your hands and tried to stop you from doing that, and he noticed how quickly your heartbeat calmed down and started matching his instead.
"If anyone asked him why he was so in tune with knowing you on a general level, he would say out of courtesy. But if he was asked on a deeper level, he would say his heart was calm whenever you were with him, and he yearned for that feeling and you."
He always heard from his mom that love is the most powerful thing someone can experience, in friendships, relationships, or just emotional connections with someone. He believed the majority of what his mom claimed with thoughts of his own. Love is strong, but is it strong enough to make a person?
Certainly not he thought to himself as he watched you and Shindo laugh and push each other at the carnival.
He was tired of pretending he didn’t love you, but he was also tired of not knowing how to talk to you after developing feelings for you. He messed things up, and he knows it. 
It hurts to be something he so desperately wish he wasn’t, a uncommunicative person, but it hurts more than anything being nothing without you
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You were gone, no one knew where you had gone they just knew you weren’t at your dorm
The only things left behind were boxes of letters and a blanket he had got you when you were sick. Everyone was distressed, teachers all around the dorms most reassuring students others talking with Nezu on finding out where you were
And all katsuki could do was hope he wouldn’t rip the letter you had wrote to him through his tears and frustration from how tight he held the letter to his heart, hoping some way you could feel how his heart was beating and in hopes of you coming back
Katsuki
Tho the smartest yet dumbest person i know,
If you’re reading this it probably means i left, well kidnapped in other terms, i’ve known for a while i would be taken, i had a gut feeling about this a long time ago so just in case i die, or don’t make it back alive i wanted to write something for you.
There’s so many things i wish i would’ve told you before i left, but sometimes not everything goes the way we wish for them to go, I Know you Bakugou, you’re probably mad i left, or you’re probably pretending to not care, maybe even wondering where i am, if you still care that is, you’ve always been the type of person to think about things too often.
That’s not the real reason i’m writing this letter for you, there’s so much i want to say but i’m afraid there won’t be enough time to do so, so i’ll say it in this letter
Katsuki Bakugou, I am in love with you, i have been from the 700 days of knowing you, but words aren’t  enough to describe how i feel, i left a box under your bed, every reason why i fell in love with you is written in all of them. If i do end up being alive i want to say it to your face
But if i am dead, i want you to know you’re the first person i’ve ever truly loved in this life and hopefully i can love you the same way in my next one
And with that i ask one last thing from you, you’re a person who hates changes but please, if anything does end up going wrong i want you to pursue your dreams for bring number one, i’ll always be cheering you on
So for now this is my last goodbye Katsuki, Thank you for making me feel so at home, i still
think about what happened between us everyday but i hope the best for you in life, even if i’m not there
I love you, thank you for being my friend
Y/N
You were such a dumbass. How could he not love you, when you constantly ran through his mind, he tried to keep his emotions in touch but just as he opened the box you left him he was met with notes and items that reminded him of you. What hurt him even more was reading through all the notes you had wrote for him
One particular note had shifted his emotions complete
‘Hey katsuki, remember that time i kept freaking out over my school grades and you comforted me saying it would all be okay? I still think about that moment and how you held me close to your chest and we layed in bed, in that moment when i looked up at you i saw the reflection of my LED lights in your face and all i could think about was you, i wanted to kiss at that moment from how pretty your eyes looked’
In that moment Bakugo Katsuki knew that what he felt for you wasn’t some simple puppy crush, he craved you he knew that whatever he tried convincing himself wasn’t true at the moment
Not when he was clutching your hairpins and notes close to his chest wishing the burning sensation in his heart would stop
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Weeks had gone by, You had been found by the pro heroes and all he could think about was how he wishes he was the one saving you instead. But atlas he was glad you were safe
When he had gotten word you were found but your condition was critical he wanted nothing more than to just run out of the dorms and find you, but he knew he would’ve been stopped by the teacher. So he waited, he visited the hospital you were staying at everyday, constantly asking when they would be taking visitors 
Everyday he was met with the same answer ‘no’ ‘not yet we’ll let you know when she’s ready’. It was killing him not knowing whether he would get the chance to clear up his mistakes and confess to you.
But all of those thoughts suddenly vanished as he waited for the nurses to let him in
You had no memory whatsoever on when you had been rescued, according to the nurses you had woken up 6 days after being rescued by the heroes, and according to one of the nurses there was a boy who constantly kept looking for you, surely it was Shindo, the nurses had said they would bring him to your room
Shock wasn’t enough to describe how you were feeling at the moment, Staring at the guy you least expected in front of you was surely not on your bucket list at all, you were going to speak first until he beat you to it
“I have a lot to say to you so just listen to what i have to say first”
“Back then, i didn’t really know how to deal with the sudden shift in my heart, watching you smile and do things we would normally do, felt so different one random day, I don’t know when it started but watching the way your eyes would shine made my heart tighten, i knew that whatever was happening to my emotions wouldn’t go well on my part”
“So i distanced myself, i never meant any of the words i said at all, i was a asshole for saying that to you, i’m not expecting forgiveness straight away, but watching you get so close to someone else made me feel uneasy, not in a possessive way, but in a way that makes me remember everything you were doing with him you had done all of that with me”
“And when i realized my feelings and had everything sorted out, i was waiting to confront you but i waited too long and you had been kidnapped, When i read your letter i knew that if i were to get you back i would tell you as soon as i could, i didn’t wanna risk you leaving without hearing what i have to say”
“I’m in love with you, I grew in love with you and your stupid smile, your stupid rants, I love you like i’ve never loved anyone before. You’re the only person that has made me smile and I yearn for that feeling and I crave you most importantly. Before i met you i didn’t understand the true meaning of what love is but being with you made me realize it’s okay to not have everything figured out and just enjoy the present” he had finished off
“You’re an asshole”
“I know that”
“You made me cry”
“I know that”
“But at the end of the day it’s you i would rather spend all the time with arguing and clearing every mistake with katsuki, I love you and i hope we can both learn more about each other”
Though he didn’t kiss you in that moment he did pull you in a hug that warms your heart. Every day you’re thankful you got to know Katsuki 700 days of knowing him made your heart warm at the thought of getting to say you had feelings for Katsuki. Things would certainly be tough from that moment on but if it was with Katsuki it was definitely worth it in your eyes.
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A/N: That letter part was heavily ib the galaxy is endless on ao3 ugh i love it sm
Taglist @makaylaislovely @emmab3mma @probablylia0 @socialkid @captainshindo @yourfriendlyweeaboo @st4rf0rlife @juliii @b2mmyy @sangwooswife @sunnydaychai @peyingbills @lemon-lav @tsumuus @itzjustj-1000 @whosmarjj @lovra974 @yourmajestyqueena @scarasw1f3 @tranquilcosmos @antriimx @siraxealot
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rumplereids · 5 months ago
Note
hii!! i’ve read some of your docs and they are just awesome !!
i wanted to ask you if you could write a fic (paring Spencer x fem!Reader) about the BAU chasing the unsub and they manage to catch him, tough he did fire some shots that didn’t hurt anyone except reader but reader doesn’t realise it until she starts to feel dizzy and feels her shirt wet only to find a gun wound on her side, spencer is really worried etc etc.. you know an hurt/comfort !! :3
sorry for my bad english 😞😞
take your time !! :33
tags: spencer reid x fem!reader. hurt/comfort. reader gets shot. blood. reader using sexual jokes as a coping mechanism. a/n: unedited! set around season 12, bcos i just rewatched the s11 finale lol. i also took some creative liberties but i hope u still like this :) masterlist. requests are open !
There’s something Spencer always did before the team goes out to take down an unsub.
First, in the car, in the calm before a probable storm, he would take two fingers into the collar of your bulletproof vest. He’d tug on the back, checking the tightness of the straps while confined in the SUV’s backseat. And then, the same hand would run down your back. A comforting gesture that grounds him more than he’d admit. And lastly, he’d take your hand in his. Squeeze it three times in a silent ‘I love you’. He’ll wait for you to squeeze back, and your eyes would meet for a second, words unneeded as your gaze tells each other to take care.
It’s a routine done even before you officially got together. Tonight was different.
You were on the way back to the station after re-interviewing a witness with Rossi. You’re sat on the passenger seat, notepad in hand, attempting to arrange your thoughts on the case. A ringtone coming from the car speaker distracts you from your musings. Rossi reaches over to accept the call.
“Yeah, Hotch?”
“We found him. Garcia sent the location to your cells. You’re 20 minutes away from the address, but do not engage. Keep your distance and wait for the rest of us.” Hotch drops the call after you reply with an “On it, boss.” You flip a switch on the console, turning on the sirens.
“I still hate how loud these things are,” you make a passing comment.
Rossi spares you a glance, a bemused look in his eyes, “I haven’t gotten used to it either.”
You turn to reach for your vest behind the passenger seat. After putting it on, you triple check the straps. And then, you unholster your standard issue pistol, thumb on the catch, before you check your mag.
Rossi’s turning the corner while you holster your gun, reaching over, you turn off the siren. Based on the profile, this unsub will not hesitate to draw guns if met with law enforcement. Best not give him a heads up. A few blocks ahead, you see the bright neon sign of the motel the unsub is hiding in. Rossi shifts the SUV into a slow crawl. He stops a block away, a safe distance that still gave you a good vantage point of the motel. You keep a lookout, Rossi putting on his vest while your eyes pass over each entrance, exit, and window on the two-storey building. You notice movement on the first floor. A shadow behind a curtain on the second floor.
You’re starting to get antsy when the rest of the team, and the local cops arrive. You quickly open your door, walking toward where Hotch, Tara, and Spencer were huddled by the trunk of a precinct car.
“Are you attempting to negotiate?” Rossi asks from your side. Spencer’s eyes meet yours from where he’s hunched over a map. Embedding the floorplan into his mind. You watch his eyes rake over your body twice. Eyes running to each strap on your vest. Your heart warms at the gesture.
“He has hostages,” Hotch’s voice breaks your eye contact with Spencer. The sheriff walks toward your team, a megaphone in hand. Hotch thanks the sheriff, turns on the speaker, and begins to call out for the unsub.
“Bryan Masen! FBI! Come out with your hands above your head!”
You see the shadow shift on the second floor. And then, a loud bang. Bryan Masen has an assault rifle, shooting out of the windows of the motel lobby, while a second unsub shoots their own rifle from the second floor. In all the chaos of gunshots and screams, your mind rotates through three things; Is Spencer okay? A partner wasn’t in the profile. My ribs hurt. Is Spencer okay? A partner wasn’t in the profile. My ribs hurt. Where’s Spenc—
The following silence was deafening.
And then, a group of uniforms led by Hotch and JJ move in on the motel. You begin to stand, intending to join the second group of uniforms with Luke and Rossi. Subconsciously, your hand presses against your side. It’s warm. And wet. You take one step forward. Hear Spencer call out your name. And then, it all turns black.
Spencer’s hands won’t stop shaking. He stares at it. The red on his palms. It’s drying, and all he can do is stare blankly at it. His knee jerks. It won’t stop. He feels a hand on his shoulder. Heavy. Comforting. Unwanted. He hears Luke ask him if he needed anything. He can’t hear his own reply. Hunched over his bloodied hands, he sees the boots peeking between his fingers. Black. Leather. Heeled. JJ tries to get him to wash his hands. He feels hands guide him to a sink. That same hand on his shoulder leaving when smaller hands take his in their own. The water is cold between his fingers. The hand scrubbing his knuckles is warm. He can’t afford to look away. Can’t risk his eyes closing for more than a blink. He needed to be distracted by something. Knowing that if mind was preoccupied by any other menial thing, he won’t be forced to see your body falling onto the sandy ground. Over and over. The scream in his throat. The thud. The frantic hands. Red, red, red. Pale lips and eyes closed. Over and over.
He has half a mind to stop JJ from cleaning his hands. But then, the faucet turns off. Paper towels are pressed into his hands, and JJ guides him back to where the rest of the team are waiting. Their silence tells him that there hasn’t been anything new. He falls into a chair. Numbers. Statistics. That can help him focus on something else.
The number of GSWs treated per biennium increased from 1,349 in 1996-1997 to 1,484 in 2014-2015, with a 59% increase occurring from 2010-2011 to 2014-2015. Overall mortality was 14.6%—
An unfamiliar name calls out your name.
He stands before anyone else can react. Like a wolf descending on a prey, he begins a barrage of questions; “Where is she? Is she okay? Is she ali—”
“She alive and well. The shrapnel missed any major arteries, and we were able to take every fragment out. Major bruising around her ribs. She’s currently sedated, but you can come and see her.”
Spencer bites back an attempt to snap, wanting to raise his voice and demand that they bring him to her already. But he doubts you’d let him get away with such a behavior. And so he silently follows after the doctor, fists pressed against his sides, thumb popping a knuckle.
When he enters your room, it’s dimly lit. But he can see your face, and the bruise on your cheek from when you fell unconscious. His eyes take you in, every inch of you. The hair pulled behind your ears. The medical gown covering pallor skin. The tube connected to the crook of your elbow. He reaches a hand out, smoothing your hair, before taking a deep breath in. He remembers your comment about the smell of hospitals.
“I’ll stay with her,” he mumbles. Two fingers pushing down the collar of your hospital gown. You don’t like it when your clothes bunch up around your neck. His fingers subconsciously move to trace the side of your throat. Moving to feel the beat of your pulse beneath his fingertips.
“I’ll bring your bags back in an hour,” he nods once to acknowledge JJ’s words.
“Thank you,” he coughs away the lump in his throat. You’re alive. You’ll be awake in a few hours. You can go home by the end of the week. He forces himself to feel optimistic.
“Get some rest if you can, Reid,” Hotch speaks from where he’s standing nearest to the door.
He nods, opting not to say anything. Unable to make promises.
Your eyes are heavy when you come to. You can feel the crust on your lids. The cool of the AC against your cheek. Slowly, you open your eyes. There’s a painting of a grassy field on the wall in front of you. You turn your head. Spencer has his socked feet up on the armchair. Curling into himself to fit better. He has his focus on your copy of Pride and Prejudice. You can tell it’s yours by the sticky tabs peeking between the pages.
“Spence?” your voice is throaty and hoarse. Struggling to crawl out. He still hears it, anyway.
“Oh, baby,” he drops your book on the chair, moving to sit by your side. His forehead presses against yours, his hands cup your jaw. Spencer presses a kiss on the apple of your cheek.
“You scared me,” he confesses with a whisper.
“I’m okay now,” you bring a hand into his hair. He moves his kisses down to your jaw.
“I was so afraid of losing you.”
You take his kisses as he freely gives them. He hides his face into your neck, kissing where it meets your shoulder. You move your hand down to scratch where his hair ends before his nape. “You could never get rid of me,” you say with a small smile. He presses a kiss where your neck meets your ear.
Right hand on your cheek, left hand going down to grip the flesh below your scapula. Slender thumb and finger pinching the softness behind your armpit. He breathes in the scent of you. Your hand starts to massage the muscle where his neck and shoulder meet. You know that he feels heavy there whenever he gets stressed out. You want to crack a joke at how tense he is, but keep it in and choose to give him comfort instead.
“I love you,” his lips whisper against your skin.
You sigh, the sound making him look up to meet your eyes.
“I was so scared too,” it was your turn to confess.
“You’re okay. We’re both okay,” he moves his hands to take yours into his. You squeeze his hands thrice.
“I asked Hotch to give me time off while you’re on medical leave.”
“You did?”
He squeezes your hand back. Three times like you both always have, and always will.
“I also had to call your family,”
He watches you grimace, “How did they take it?” He gives you a slight wince of a smile.
You let out a sigh, “I’ll call them in a bit.”
“Your mom is taking a flight to Washington,” he informs you.
“That sucks. We won’t have the house to ourselves for at least a month.”
He raises a brow at you, “Why would it matter? You’re not allowed any strenuous activity for three.”
You give Spencer a little pout, chastised that he easily called you out, “That’s just mean.”
He gives you a withering look, “Behave.” He gives you one more kiss on the cheek, moving to stand from your bed. He has to tell the team you’re awake. Taking your phone from the end table, he begins to draft a text.
“I still have my hands, you know.”
He turns to you, caught off guard. Disbelief painting his features.
“You did not just say that,” he says.
You stick a tongue out.
“Stop it. You’re injured,” he says with a slight reprimand.
“So? That didn’t stop us when your knee got shot.”
His mouth falls open, “I can’t believe you.”
“Three months is just a recommendation. You would know.”
You grin at the blush that takes over his face.
taglist: @i-live-in-spite @khxna please feel free to send an ask to be added to my general taglist!
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carmenized-onions · 8 months ago
Text
Do the Thing! | Toilet Repair
logline; Today's itinerary: Fix the toilet, catch up with Syd, try not to cry when everyone asks you where you've been.
series history; Previous Chapter
portion; 7.1k+ (this shit got away from me man, idk what to say)
possible allergies; Negative self-talk (It's the Bear, babe, everyone's sad). I did no research on plumbing and am truly making it the fuck up-- I know for a fact I'm not using any word correctly and I simply will not be fixing it. Reader eats meat!! Specifically pork!! Your 'name' is 100% just Tony now.
pairing; Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto & Fem Reader (No pronouns, but 'handywoman' and 'Miss' are said. Plus a chest reference).
you ever start writing and you just cannot seem to find an end so you keep going forever? yeah.
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“I think my name is just Tony now.”
You sip your overpriced orange juice. You really have to fucking savour it, now a days. That’s like 25 cents a sip, and Syd’s treating you to this breakfast outing, so it’s not even your own wallet on the line here.
“You lose all sense of identity, in a restaurant.” Syd straightens her back, mocking her very own mechanical movements of whenever she steps in a kitchen. “I am Chef.”
This diner isn’t more than two blocks down from The Bear. It was probably your second favourite spot in this neighbourhood. Probably still is. Sitting in the back corner booth (your favourite) with Syd is nice but distracting. She’s been updating you on everything since the catering scene and her botched credit, and you’re absorbing all of it, you swear, it’s just hard to not remember why this was your favourite booth.
Not because it’s seats are the least worn in, not because it’s got the right amount of sun through the window without blinding you, but because of the company you kept here. You’re trying to not notice your own name carved into the table. Especially since it’s not your handiwork.
You laugh at Syd’s joke on time, thank God. No awkward pause. “Yeah, you fuckin’ are. Head, right?”
She nods. “It’s cool. It’s like, vomit-worthy stressful but also…”
“You wish you were dead when you’re there, but you’d rather be dead than do anything else?”
“Yessir.” She nods again, digging further into her pancakes. “I really fucking owe you, by the way.”
“You’re paying me off through breakfast.” You wave her off. “Plus, I was available and it was like maaayybe 5 minutes of manual labour, it’s nothing.”
“Y’know what?” She hums, “I think actually, you owe me.”
“Yeah?” You grin.” Please, let me clear my debts, Syd?”
She smiles, pointing her fork at you. “You owe me the fuckin’ Beef background I’ve apparently not unlocked. Everyone was talking about you after.”
“Good things?”
“Vague things. Shit made me even more curious.”
You laugh. No shit they’d be vague. What can they say? “When my dad was running the repairmen gig, Cicero or Fak would call him in—”
“Oh fuck.” She snaps her fingers, seemingly in realization. “Your dad’s the connection!”
“The connection?”
“Fak said he had a connection for our fire safety test shit, and then said he didn’t—”
“Ah.” You nod knowingly. “Dad cut the cord on his business phone when it transferred to me, didn’t really keep people updated. Whoops.”
She nods, taking another bite of her pancakes, speaking mid-chew. “You could’ve saved our asses way faster, and I’ll-I'll never forgive you, but continue.”
Snickering, you continue, “Well, they’d call my dad in, and then my dad would call me in as his like, like his fuckin’ Sous of Repairs. And shit broke all the time at the Beef, as I’m sure you’re well aware, so I hung out around Mikey and everyone a lot.”
“Ah. N’ then…”
“He fuckin’ died.” You laugh, because there’s no way to say it smooth, so you might as well say it bad. You stretch out your arms and lean back in the booth. “I kinda took a step back, after that, so we didn’t manage to crossover ‘til now. S’ironic that you’re the one that brought me back instead of an oldie, honestly.”
She desperately wants to ask more about Mike, but she can tell now is not the time, so she just lets it lie and moves on. “You stopped being an EMT to take up the handyman shit, then?”
“Yessir.” You nod, finishing your straggling home fries. “Just kinda made sense to trade off, and I didn’t want to see the family bizz die. Do I have to occasionally pick up shifts bartending to make rent during slow months? Yes. But I also don’t watch people die anymore, so that’s a win.”
“In a way, you’re watching people die still, just slowly.”
You bite down hard to stifle any semblance of a smile or laughter, deadpanning, just to see her squirm in awkwardness for a moment. It works with flying colours, of course it does. It’s Syd. She’s still Syd. You speak at the same time.
“Cause of the alcohol?” “Cause—Cause of the alcohol.”
You both break into laughter, she throws her napkin at you. “Can’t stand you, oh my god. Let’s go clock in.”
She pays your bill before you can try to sneak your card in, which feels all too familiar, and you’re off.
Off to fix an exploded toilet.
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“How the fuck do you fix an exploded toilet?”
Your hands rub over your face, lifting your safety goggles for a second. Too fucking foggy. Too fucking sweaty. Plumbing never really was your biggest strength. You’re staring at the bane of your existence, and it’s the latrine. How far we fall.
“You good, Cousin?” You hear from behind. You don’t need to turn to know it’s Richie in the doorway. It’s a fair question, you’re sitting criss-cross in front of a toilet, head in hands.
“Yeah, Cousin, I’m good.” Your words are muffled by your hands. Fully not cousins. For the record. You would argue you're not even that close, but he'd slap you upside the head. You turn to look at him over your shoulder. “Can you like, get me a pen and note pad? I need to like, strategize an attack.”
“It’s not that bad, Cousin—” “It’s that bad.” “Just tape the—” “Fuck off with the tape!”
You click your teeth, staring at the gurgling porcelain before you— At least it’s clean, it’s just fucked. “I shut the valve and it didn’t do shit. I think I have to remove it entirely so I can see what’s going on with the underground pipe.”
“Heard.” Richie and you both know that his hotfix handiwork has absolutely contributed to this penultimate mess you’re in now, but you’re both letting that go quietly for now. “You charge by hour or service?”
“Service flat rate and then after two hours it’s by hour.”
He hums, knocking his fist on the doorway a few times before walking away. “Pen and pad, Chef.”
“Not a Chef!”
“Term of Respect, Chef!”
You tap your leg incessantly, groaning like you’ve got an 80-year-old body as you stand to your feet. Richie’s grown a lot. He wears suits now. Hasn’t even poked at you for vanishing. Though you have a feeling it’s coming. If not from him, from someone.
You step out into the hall, leaned against the wall with your arms crossed as you wait for your pen and pad. And now you just have more time and a better view to take in how much has changed.
Gutted. A few walls gone. Makes sense, you told Mikey he was getting a mold problem. He never listened. Seats are new. The booths are the all-around style ones now. Ritzy. It’s too good for this neighbourhood. Is that a good thing? Yeah, right? Despite the fact that The Bear should feel out of place, you feel out of place being in it. Could you afford to eat here? Could the people who work here afford to eat here? Syd said she’s not getting paid for the next few months, so at the very least, the Head Chef can’t.
“Strange?” Tina sidles up to you on the wall, wiping her hands on her apron. Completely knocking you out of your dissociative fugue state.
“Yeah.” You nod, a little too quickly, that felt judgey, you correct, uncrossing your arms. “It’s daunting, I think; to see it all at once rather than slowly built in. Like, I know objectively this is very cool, but—”
Tina hums with understanding. “Feels gutted?”
“Was gutted.” You nod. “Doesn’t mean I don’t like it, it’s just, I dunno. Adjustment period, all that.”
“I needed a second too, but Jeff is good. Change has been good.” You nod like you know who Jeff is. “Carmen, I mean.” Your nod is now significantly more understanding. She smiles, you’re a little surprised to see Tina’s got a lot more insight than she used to. She pulled the thought of Carmen right out of your subconscious before you even detected it for yourself. “He’s good. You’ll see.”
You nod. You know the good she means is not Michelin Star Good. You already know that. He’s Mikey good. Person good. You clear your throat. “How’s Louis?”
“Good. Y’know, he’s getting to that age, getting in trouble. S’been a while since he’s had a good influence.” She nudges you. There it is. There’s the poke. The ‘where have you been?’ The ‘it’s been a year’. The— “Y’know, Chef didn’t come to the funeral neither.”
That one you didn’t expect, your head swivels to her hard. “Carmen didn’t go?”
His brother didn’t go? Oh, who the fuck are you to judge...
She nods, practically with her whole body, she looks more amused than anything. But like, mom amused. The worst amused. “You’re both the sensitive type.”
You cock your head at her, raising a brow. Smirking slightly. “Wow, Tina, I thought you changed too but you still talk your shit, eh?”
“I’m not talking shit!” She laughs, hands up in defence. “I’m just saying, you’re alike.” You hope that the laughter makes her forget the topic but it doesn’t.
“Where have you been?” She softens. She’s not asking to be mean, she’s asking out of concern. Why does that make it feel worse?
You tuck your hands in your pockets and retrain your eyes on hers, even if it feels bad. “Thought time and distance would heal all wounds.”
“Did they?”
Before you can answer, “Pen delivery, cousin!” Richie returns, triumphantly, with a pen and pad held high in the sky. He makes you jump for it. You elbow him in the gut, not hard. “Fuck off, Rich…” He keels over enough for you to grab it. “Thank you, chef.”
You turn back to Tina, who you now realize has spent half her smoke break on you. She nods to you, and then the bathroom door. “I’ll let you get back to it.” You nod in return. When she turns to walk away, you grab her shoulder.
“Tina.” She turns again. You should say something. Something vulnerable and thankful. Words of affirmation are not your thing. But maybe they could be, “If you end up with a dead plate—” Or maybe not.
She grins, and part of you is concerned by this, but she waves you off, giggling like she knows something you don’t. Already walking off. “You’re gonna be taken care of, Terry, don’t worry.”
This is a bad new nickname scheme. The fridge guy is just gonna end up being called ‘fridge guy’ if you take all his names.
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It’s maybe three hours later. 11 am ish. You’ve finally put the toilet back in place, the pipes fixed underground— Which is a huge win of progress, the problem is, it’s just seemed to open the toilet’s ability to have other problems that need to be addressed. There’s a strong chance you’ll be here until you die. And even after that, this stupid toilet will still be gurgling, outliving you.
But you seriously have to eat something, so you scrub yourself clean, set your safety equipment down, and head out of the bathroom for a much-needed stretch of the legs— And to hopefully get a plate from Tina.
On your way to the kitchen, you’re stopped and walked backwards to a booth in the corner by Richie. “Hey, Miss, happy to serve you today, my name’s Richard but you can call me Richie, how’re you doin’ this fine morning?”
They’ve yet to open front of house, so you play along, taking your seat with a laugh. “I’m doing perfect, Richie, how are you?”
He nudges the air . “Ey, better now that you’re here, ah? Can I get a drink started for you?”
“Really gonna practice your set on me?”
He shrugs, still smiling. “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”
You hum, then rub your temples, the headache is setting in— Not cause of him, just been a tough morning. “Just your coldest fuckin’ glass of water, Rich.”
“Right away, Cousin.” He slips off into the kitchen.
When the door swings open again, it’s not Richie coming with your ice water, but Carmen— It’s your first time seeing him since the walk-in. When you came in this morning with Syd, it was Nat that gave you the quick briefing on the schedule and goals for today.
“Tony.” He hums, corners of his mouth just slightly upturned. The nickname has stuck. Goddamn. He sets the water down in front of you, along with a plate— Covered by a cloche—Or the silver lid thing, whatever.
“Carmy.” You only mean to mimic his tone, but then cringe. “Is Carmy fine?”
He pauses mid slide into the booth, sitting across from you. He seemed all cool and collected and is now suddenly extremely caught off guard. Already sweaty. “Y-yeah, I’m better, thank you—”
“No, I meant—” It is so difficult to hold back laughter. You deserve an Oscar.
You’re not doing great to be fair but like, still, Oscar worthy attempt.
“I meant like, like is the nickname okay?”
The horrors just keep piling on his face, and you can’t help but feel guilty. No shit he feels like he’s starting on a lower playing field here. You knew his dead brother, you know his Head Chef, your first time meeting him was at quite possibly his lowest moment and biggest mistake— Of which you had to coax him out of, and now he’s misunderstanding every innocent question you have for a inquiry into his psyche.
He clears his throat for objectively too long of a time. “Carmy is fine. Tony is fine?”
“I’m doing okay, yeah.”
Thank God, he laughs, awkward sure but objectively amused.
You nod down to the covered plate, smiling, “Fuck is this?”
He leans forward in his seat to get a hand over the lid. “I, uh. Made you a thing. As thanks or like, an— an apology.”
Ah. That’s why Tina was laughing about you getting taken care of.
He lifts the lid, and what is revealed, if you weren’t careful, would be enough to make you cry. Thankfully, the shock registers as uproarious laughter, one that Carmen cannot help but join.
“What the fuck?”
Pork brisket sandwich. Something that Mikey made for you, specifically. Because you said one time you were more of a pork fan than beef and he absolutely lost it. In a cute way, though. Said ‘Oh, I’ll make you fuckin’ pork, alright?’ You’re not sure if he won or lost the argument, because you did find it better.
“I, uh, we had some cuts left over that we weren’t gonna be able to fuckin’ use, and uh, Tina showed me this, this recipe card, last night.” He slides over the very same brisket recipe Mikey had written down. Little doodles of angry faces and Xs over pigs in the margins.
“He was so fuckin’ mad.” You snort, looking at it. “All I fuckin’ said was I had a preference!”
“In The Beef!”
“He asked!” You quickly defend, through laughter. “And it tastes fucking good. All he did was prove my fuckin’ point— And spent hours doing it. Were you here overnight for this, slowcooking?”
He shakes his head, though there’s a hesitation in it— So you’re not privy to completely believe him. He sniffs, swiping at his nose “I, uh, just came in early. Had to fix some shit anyways.”
He’s staring at the sandwich, then occasionally you, expectantly. You look at him with equal expectance.
“Well?” You start.
“Well?” He astutely adds.
You nod down at the dish. “Do the thing.”
“The thing?”
You pick up one half of the sandwich, but you’ve got no plans of eating until he satisfies this craving first.
“The thing Syd does where she explains why she’s proud of her dish and why I should care. I know it’s Mikey’s, but you clearly made changes.”
“Oh. Uh…” He was both expecting and not expecting this soap box. “So, followed the rub to a T— Well, with a salt bed, this time. Put it on brioche instead of the old shit. And I uh, added uhm—” He snaps his fingers, staring at the sandwich in your hand. “Added pickled red onion, for acid and sweet, and garlic confit. I’m—I’m happy with my spin on it.”
You whistle as a form of praise, he flushes with a glow of pride and is desperately trying to not show it. He’s proud because it’s curated, personal. Ah, he is Mikey good. You nod and take a bite, trying to control your reaction. Worst part about having Artists as friends (especially chefs): They fucking stare so hard when you’re taking in their work. And they’re over analyzing every micro expression. He’s no different.
Fuck. It’s fucking good. Is it bad that it’s better than anything Mikey ever made? Nah, that’s how he’d want it.
“Ah fuck, that sucks—” Is the first thing you say, and his face falls, “Expensive food is worth it.” Right back up. Easy to please. “It’s really good, Chef. Thank you. Did you try it yet?”
He shakes his head, so you push the plate with the other half of the sandwich— It’s brisket, anyways. You’ll be full by the end of this one. Portions generous. He looks momentarily hesitant, which is cute, but inevitably leans forward and takes the sandwich. He nods with each chew.
He hums when he finishes chewing, pointing emphatically at you, though his voice is neutral. “You don’t like something, though.”
“What?”
“What’s wrong with it?” He stares at into the cross section of his bite. “Chewy? Texture?”
“There’s nothing wrong with it.” You’re quick to deny.
He shakes his head, hand over his mouth to hide the sauce on his mouth. “M’not gonna be hurt.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the dish, Carmen.” You take another bite to prove your point. Also you’re hungry. Two things can be true.
He zones in on the emphasis immediately. “It’s the plate, isn’t it? I told Syd—”
“Your tables aren’t bolted.” You interrupt, swiftly. Mouth semi-full.
“Huh?”
You put your sandwich down and swallow, taking your time with it. “Your booth tables.”
You knock on the pristine wood with the joints of your left hand. You swivel your body to look under the table, he follows suit, meeting you there. His left leg has been violently shaking, but he’s thought you wouldn’t notice it until now.
You put a hand on his knee to stop the shaking. He bristles, slightly, but you’re not even doing it on purpose. Your focus isn’t on him. It was making the table imperceptibly shift— Which, of course, you clocked. You tap your foot to the bottom of the table leg. No screws. “They aren’t bolted down.”
You lift yourself back up, moving your hand back to yourself in tandem. He stares at it for a little longer. How you noticed that, he will never know. Repairmen are a different breed…
“I just thought it was a weird choice. Nothing wrong with it, per say. Maybe you wanna test different layouts.” You shrug, taking another bite.
“The booths aren’t bolted either.” He adds, lifting his head up above the table, finally. “I don’t— we’re not gonna fuck with the layout, I don’t think.”
“Should get Fak on that, then.”
“Fak’s big-timing us.” You cock your brow, mid chew. He explains. “He’s focusing on hosting, f'now.”
You nod, swallowing, hand in front of your mouth so you can lick the sauce off your upper lip in non-humiliated peace. “This another job for me, then?”
“If you’ll take it.”
“If your fuckin’ toilet doesn’t kill me, I will.”
“How’s that going?”
You shake your hand so-so. “Ask me in two to three hours how it’s going.”
“Heard.” He sighs, leaning back in the booth. The stress is too apparent not to ask.
“How’s the second day open going?”
“I’m not in a fuckin’ freezer, so that’s a win.” Oh-ho, he’s acknowledging it. You were very comfortable forgetting that moment for his sake. “Thanks, uh, f’ that.”
You shake your head, shrugging off the thanks. You lift your last few bites of the sandwich to him. “You’re good. You’ve gifted me brisket. You relax since?”
“Not really.” He replies bluntly, taking a deep inhale. He pulls at his face from the top down, with both hands. Oof. Bad sign. “I think I’ll be good by tomorrow. Gonna get off early, tonight.”
“You don’t seem happy about that.”
“Ask me in two t’ three days if I’m happy about it.”
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Back to work and this is taking so much fucking longer than it needs to take. Why is there tape there? Fucking Richie. Fucking Fak. Fucking Mikey. Godssake. Pipes are fixed. Water pressure is fixed. What the fuck is still wrong with it? What the fuck is wrong with you? Everyone is going to hate you if you can’t fix this. You’ve been here for like 5 hours and you can’t figure out what’s fucking wrong here? You’re nothing. You’re—
The toilet does you the favour of knocking you out of your episode by spraying you in the fucking face, soaking through the top of your jumpsuit. With a groan, you unzip the upper half and tie the wet sleeves around your waist. “Son-of-a-bitch.”
Maybe you just need a change in task for a second. Also, a new t-shirt, because your tank did not survive the waterworks either. This room isn’t the thing you need right now. You slip down the hall to the kitchen. “Who needs a coffee? Or water?”
There’s a chorus of orders, all of which sound like you’ve just asked ‘who wants a gift from God?’, which, you might as well have. This is what you like about being a handyman. The relief you bring. You just need a smidge of praise to get through the rest of this job. You’ve got this.
The small, but serviceable coffee machine in very back of the kitchen calls your name, but Richie sticks his arm out, blocking you from walking past expo up front.
“Hol’ up, Cousin, you look like a fuckin’ wet dog.”
“Well, what ‘ya gonna do about it?” You retort, despite the retort not honestly making any sense, you put your hands on your hips. “Do you want a fuckin’ coffee or not?”
He rolls his eyes, falling back onto the balls of his feet before walking off. “Ey, Sug, are those shirts still in the basement—”
You’ve won for now. You scrub your hands clean before getting to work. This is good. Oooh, Marcus has fresh coffee beans (that he’s willing to share!)— This is easy. You can already fix most broken things, but a machine that actually fucking works? Baby, you can make that sing.
Plus, the bartending gigs you’ve done don’t make you a barista by any means, but they certainly don’t hurt. Oooh, Marcus has syrups! Fuck it. Steamed and frothed milk. That toilet has you on your ass, you need to go above and beyond here. Make each cup personal. You need a win in the form of admiration.
You gather a tray of coffees (and a water for Sweeps, who is too fucking sweaty for a hot drink right now, so fair), all varying in milks, sugars, syrups, intensity. “Coffee run, I hand ‘em out, don’t just take! Corner!”
Ebra, to no one’s shock, likes his coffee black— But, and he’ll tell no one this, you just know it on instinct— He likes it a little too watery. “Good.” Who are you to judge? He likes what he likes.
Tina would take hers black for simplicity, if you let her, but of course you don’t. 2 sugars, foamed milk, chocolate and cinnamon syrup. “Too good to me.” It’s too worth it, when she says it like that and slaps your cheek. Balm of the soul.
Marcus, who watched you make these, did opt to let his imagination run too wild and added one of every syrup to his own cup, wanting to experiment with you. It doesn’t taste good. You switch it for a spiced coffee when he’s not looking. He’s silently very thankful.
After handing out a few more to the new cooks, you come up to Syd. “Take this one, take this one.” Then whisper, so no one knows you are displaying supreme favouritism. “It’s the one oat milk latte I made.”
She turns to you from her station, then darts looks over her shoulder like she’s making an under the table deal before grabbing it from you. She takes a delighted sip, eyes rolling just slightly in the relief of caffeine, she nods. “Fire, Chef.” Ah. This will get you through the day alone.
It also gets you through the willpower it takes to ignore Fak running by you to steal a coffee off your tray. Out of the corner of your eye, you point to the one meant for him— As if you didn’t make it for him, c’mon…
“How’s bathroom?” Syd asks, taking another long sip.
I’m going to fucking explode, not unlike your drainage pipe. “Needed a thinking break, but I’ve made a lot of progress. How’s kitchen?”
“Made a lot of progress. Auto-piloting through this prep.” She looks down at her cutting board, cracking back to it. “Latte helps, a lot, thank you. You should join for family, if you’re still here for it. Unless you don’t want more brisket.”
Fuck. She doesn’t think you’re so slow that you’re gonna be here until family, does she? “Yeah, maybe.” You look around, three coffees still on the tray. “...Where’s Carmen?”
She grimaces. Uh oh. The tension she glossed over at breakfast is still definitely there. She nods her head to the back door. “Smoke break. Or temper tantrum. I don’t fuckin’ know. Don’t tell him I said that.” You laugh, nodding. “You think a coffee would help—” “Please.”
“Corner!” Yells Richie, returning to you. He silently flicks out a shirt for you, holding it up proudly, ‘THE BERF’ stares back at you. You give it a solid five seconds to process before you say anything.
“Collector’s item...” You nod, tone sarcastically impressed. You pivot your shoulder for him to throw it over, hands too busy.
“That’s what I fuckin’ said!” He throws it over your shoulder. “No one fuckin’ listens, these days.”
You bite back laughter and nod, handing him his coffee. Hot. Dark. Two sugars. And, to his delighted surprise, a touch of cinnamon syrup. “Oh, fuck, missed your twists, Chip.”
You wince at what was a long-forgotten nickname, and so does Richie. Funny how remembering origins can do that to you. He’d just said it so instinctively, really. “My bad—”
“Chip is good.” You interrupt, rolling your shoulders back. And it is good, really. “It’s kinda—It’s kinda comforting.” It’s nice to not forget. He nods, and you give each other the ‘we are still so fucked, eh?’ smile before lovingly bumping shoulders as he returns to expo and you head to the back alley.
Carmen’s squatting, cigarette in one hand, creating a halo of smoke around him, and his phone in the other. He snaps out of his mental fog when the door opens, slipping his phone into the pocket of his apron like he’s got a secret to hide.
You hesitate at the doorway, maybe this is not the moment. “Sorry, Chef, I just wanted to offer a coffee? If you need air alone—”
“No, no, I’m good—” He’s quick to correct, then even quicker to correct himself. “I— I’ll take a coffee, I mean. You can stay, s’fine.”
He reaches for it when you sit next to him, but you pull the tray back to hand him the correct one. “Sorry, I—I like, did a thing, for yours. I dunno how you take your coffee, so I thought I’d do it weird.”
He takes the cup, eying it curiously. “Do it weird?”
“Do it like, like a Chef. Can’t make anything fuckin’ simple. The lot of you.”
He hums, amused, staring at the cup, then looks at you expectantly. “Well?”
“Well?”
“Do the thing.”
You snort, shaking your head. “Oh, fuck off.”
“C’mon, tell me why I should care.” He teases.
“Ah, fuck.” You sniff, oh to have your own words turned on you. Looking at the coffee in his hands, “I figured you’d like strong black coffee, but like, complex. So, it’s got like, cardamom and lavender n’ maple syrup. Shout out Marcus.” He smiles. “And then, I know I did just say black coffee but I wanted the aesthetic so I spooned foamed milk on top and sprinkled on some dried lavender.” You take your own cup in hand, putting the tray down. “If you hate it, we’ll trade.”
He pays close attention to your explanation. Man, his eye contact is simultaneously so soft and so scary. He takes a sip. Let’s it sit in his mouth for a second. “Excellent, Chef.”
Oh, if Syd’s ‘Fire’ could get you through the day, Carmen’s ‘Excellent’ will get you through the week to spare. You hide the way you beam by drinking your own coffee.
“How’re you doing?” It’s far too obvious that he’s had something heavy on his head all day, but you’re not going to say the quiet part loud, yet.
He takes a long time to respond. “I, uh…” And when he does, it’s weak. “I’m alright, yeah. I’m alright.”
You nod repeatedly, digesting the huge lie. “Ask me how I’m doing.”
He squints. “…How’re you—”
“Fuckin’ terrible, Carm.” You cut him off, putting your cup down next to him, standing up. You speak emphatically, gesturing with your whole body.
“I’m at my wits, Chef. Completely out of my depth. I fix the main pipe, I fix the water pressure, I triple check the tank, I fuckin’ power cycle the valve— I’m absolutely at a loss as to why it’s still gurgling— Why it shot water straight at my tits— Close your eyes, if you care, by the way.”
With barely any warning you peel off your tank top, you’ve got a bra, it’s fine. It’s very cute that he still looks away. You slip the new shirt over your head as you speak, muffling the words.
“—I’m wearing a shirt that says Berf, and the only way I can feel any semblance of not being utterly useless is by making coffees so good everyone has to praise me for them. And now I’m telling the fucking owner, my boss for the day all this.”
He nods, slowly. There is perhaps, not a single person in his life that has ever been this forthright. Someone he hasn’t had to over-analyze or dig into to figure out what’s actually going on. It is refreshing, terrifying, and for some reason, removing your walls have completely shattered his.
“So.” You lower your head to his level where he sits. “How are you doing, Chef?”
He takes a long sip of his coffee. Stews on the question before he spills his guts, calmly. “I’m sitting outside of the restaurant I started that I own, and my brother should be here, but he’s not and— And I was locked in a fuckin’ freezer on my opening night, which was my own fuckin’ fault— And the tape is wrong and the painting is stupid and that new hire did meth so now we’re down one.” He takes a deep breath.
“And we have Heinz instead of Frenchies, and it’s fine. That’s the fucked part— It’s fine. The ship did not sink without me— It went fine. Better, maybe. My problems aren’t fuckin’ problems. I’m just making it worse for myself— everyone. And I know Syd is mad at me, and I know my— My girlfriend? Is mad at me, and I know that I’m gonna break up with her tonight because I’m not meant to be— that.” He says the last part fast, more to himself than you, really. And then he finally looks back up at you.
“And I’m telling all of this to the person who saved me from hypothermia and a fuckin’—Fuckin’ meltdown, who probably thinks— knows that I’m a psycho.”
You take a beat before nodding, sitting next to him again, arms crossed. Silent. Contemplative. “I have thoughts.”
He nods, taking a drag. “Don’t pull punches.”
“Well, to start most honestly, we must remember, I love Syd. So, I’m not gonna mince about her.”
“Heard.”
You recall everything Sydney had told you at breakfast. The recap of how she got to this point. “Syd isn’t mad at you, she’s disappointed and distrustful.”
He grimaces. “That sounds worse.”
“It is.”
“Oh.”
“But in a way you can fix.”
“How?”
“Handle shit different. Actually show up to shit and make calls. Manage your priorities by urgency— Not by favourites. If I broke my fuckin’ arm and your ‘girlfriend’ had a runny nose, who are you taking to the hospital?”
“You can’t take yourself?”
“Bitch?”
“Kidding. Heard. What else?”
“You’re not gonna tell her I said this because she would rather die than tell someone she wants something.” You lean closer to him, peeking over your shoulder to make sure no one’s secretly come from the kitchen. You knock into his knees.
He takes another drag, short, choked. “Sure.”
“You were kind of a bitch about the menu.”
“The chaos menu? She said—”
“She fucking lied. She lied when she said it was fine, Carm, it does not take a psychic to read Syd’s mind.” You interrupt, taking a sip of your coffee. “She was so excited to get to build a menu, especially with—” you, “—a partner, and then you completely ditched her. And then you just made your own! Total control freak shit! Cut her out of the fun part of being head chef completely! You get to invent masterpieces and she picks out the best cheap plate? Fuck is that?”
He nods contemplatively, poking his inner cheek. “Yeah, that, that makes sense. That’s shitty.” He turns his gaze from looking ahead to face you, hand over the bottom half of his face. “What else?”
“You’re reactive.”
“No shit.”
“How long do you think you were locked in the walk-in for?”
He swallows, thinking. “Like… an hour?”
“It had been 23 minutes.”
“Oh.”
“You catastrophize, it’s a fancy therapy word,” You cannot help but be impressed by this white man writing down the word in his phone for later. “It means, basically, when something bad happens you blow it completely out of proportion into something it isn’t. Your opening night was definitely a bummer from being in a freezer— But be honest with yourself, would you have let yourself have a good night if you weren’t in there?”
“…No.”
“No. Which is also bad. Which brings me to my key point.”
He tenses up, preparing for you to rip into him further.
“You’re doing a good job, Carmy.”
He immediately swivels back to you, almost dropping his phone. Knee knocking into yours. “Fuck off.”
“I will not.”
“You just said I was a catastrophe.”
“Fully not what I said.”
“I read between the lines.”
“Carmen.”
You take a breath, putting your arms on your knees, bent over. “The restaurant is beautiful, your cooks are talented and they’re prepared— So prepared that they can handle 23 minutes without you. That’s a good thing. You’re threaded into The Bear— The ship didn’t sink, not because you weren’t there, but because you had been. Everyone had the tools they needed to succeed, even with Heinz, a Mid painting, and torn tape. And listen—” You take one last sip of your coffee. “You need to check your ego if you think you’re the first man I’ve coaxed through a panic attack while doing a repair.”
He laughs, half-heartedly. He scratches his nose. “Heard. Yeah, thank you, Chef.”
“I don’t know shit about the meth thing though, I really couldn’t tell you.” You smile when this coaxes a better laugh out of him. You’re considering a career in stand up exclusively for him because it feels like such a reward to hear it.
“And the girl?” He asks. Amusement tinging but leaving his voice.
You click your teeth, shrugging your shoulders at him. “Based purely on your hesitation to say girlfriend, I’d say yeah, probably not ready for a relationship.” You reach your hand out to his shoulder when he flops his head down. “But, just asking, is this your first relationship?”
He thinks for too long before nodding slightly. “First one.”
“First restaurant too?”
He nods again.
“Yeah.” You pat his shoulder before letting it go, opting to hold your cooling cup. “I know you’re a Michelin star fuckin’ big deal but like, me personally, I can’t name a thing I got perfect the first time I did it.”
There’s something in his eyes, when you say that. Something wistful, nostalgic, hurt? No. Something different.
“It’s not that I didn’t do perfect—”
“You’ll do better next time.”
He wrings his hands together between his knees. “Yeah.”
“You’re gonna be fine, Carm.”
“You’re good at that.” He sniffs, head down, scratching his nose.
“At what? Self-help?”
He exhales what just barely sounds like a laugh. “Kinda. S’just, when you say it, you say it in a way where I actually believe it.”
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You’re getting the fuck out of here before they open for dinner. You’re not letting anyone down tonight motherfucker. The Berf shall prevail. Maybe a win here will feel like a win for Carmen, too.
You run the sink to wash your hands, as you’ve done before here— But since fixing the pipes and the pressure… Something’s… different. You pause your scrubbing, listening closely.
When the sink is running, the gurgling flow of water from the toilet stops. Huh. You stop and start the faucet a few times to verify this. Yeah. You stare for a long moment before connecting the dots, then punch the sink in realization.
“Fucking Mikey!”
“What’d he do this time?”
You twist around. Ah, other sibling. Natalie. Clipboard in hand, business ready. You take a beat before remembering to smile, nodding to the sink behind you. “He connected the tank flow to the toilet and the sink with one wire.”
She tilts her head, squinting. “Why would he do that?”
“I suspect to save water?” You spin around, kneeling down to look behind the sink. “I think the idea was to have the sink not function when the toilet is flushing. But, it uh, well, did the reverse, kinda. Toilet doesn’t function when the sink isn’t running.”
“Oh.”
“So uh,” You shut the valve under the sink. “Your water bill should go down a little after this, since it won’t be running into what is an essentially a second trap pipe.”
“Oh!” Did she get what you said? No. But she doesn't need to. She heard ‘bill should go down’ and that’s really all she needed. “Thank you!”
“Not a problem. S’my job.” You stand, shutting off the valve to the toilet as well. As you kneel down to work again, you feel her gaze burning into your back. You don’t turn to face her. “You have questions.”
“Oh, ah… Am I so obvious—?”
“Yes.” You’re too quick to answer, unbolting the wires where it attaches to the toilet and the ground. You sniff with a panicked, “Ah, uh, it’s endearing.”
She’s quiet, for a moment. She doesn’t ask you what she actually wants to ask you, and you know that. “Well, I’ll need to exchange info for your invoice.”
“Ah, don’t worry ‘bout that, your brother already covered it.” You stand once more, before going to the sink to undo it’s valve, you fish through the deep pocket of your jumpsuit, pulling out a crumpled business card and handing it to her.
“But it’s good to have my info on hand, for sure. It’s ah… Kinda old.” Kinda is an understatement. Your dad’s name is still on it, scribbled out in pen and replaced with yours. The dead business line is also scribbled out in exchange for your personal cell.
“It’s uh… I usually only work for friends and family, these days, so I’ve kinda stopped trying to keep up appearances.”
She smiles at it. Thank God, she finds it charming and not sloppy. She tucks it into the clasp of her clipboard. “That’s fine, we are friends and family.”
All you can do is nod, pivoting to the sink. There's a beat of peace.
“Didn’t see you at the funeral.”
Ah. There it is. For a Bear, she sure knows how to poke one. You stutter in unscrewing the bolt.
“Would’ve been nice to meet you, then.”
You clear your throat, it's strangled. “Yeah, I think I was trying to avoid introductions, honestly. Grief comes in different ways, eh?”
“Does it?”
“Mine does.” You swallow, unbolting the wire. With it free, you can just yank it out of the wall. God, forgive your brain, but Mikey was right, she does like to fight. Too bad you don’t.
She just hums in reply, watching you pull the wire from the wall. “You’re a real lifesaver.”
Fuck. Fuck. Lifesaver? Is she fucking with you?
“That toilet sprayed me right in the face, yesterday. And you saved Carmen.” There’s an amused lilt to her voice. She’s not fucking with you. “There’s something about a handywoman that Fak cannot match.”
You can hear a faint ‘Hey!’ through the walls. You laugh through an exhale.
“Again, s’my job. I do my best. Did uh, what was it, Terry come by for the walk-in? I wasn’t looking when I was there.”
You sort through your tools, deciding caulking the holes closed is probably the best option.
“He came over basically overnight to fix it, bless him, still don’t know his name.”
You laugh, it’s a little strangled. So Carmen did stay overnight. He must’ve. You smooth out the caulk with your thumb and a palette knife. Blending it into the grout as best as you can. “Good. Good.”
You dust yourself off. Standing. “Well. That’s uh. That’s my job done. Carmen asked me about—”
“Bolting down the booths?” She nods, checking the time on her watch. There’s not enough time before lunch to do it now. Plus you don’t have the screws. “You’re free to come by in the morning tomorrow—”
“But?” You interrupt, throwing your tool bag over your shoulder.
“But?”
“You said free like you’ve got a preference, what do you prefer?”
She chuckles, slightly. There is something about you that feels familiar. “If you could come after close tonight around 12, that would be nice—”
“It’s done. I’ll be there.”
“Lifesaver. I'll give you the code.”
Fuck.
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Always gotta give the reader/mc some sort of mysterious background that even you don't have all the info on. Always.
Hehehehe, again, we're slowing this burn so much. Strangers to Friends to lovers but they're both so comfortable in friends it's hard to move !!
Forewarning, btw, if you've already sunk 10k worth of words into your brain for me (thank you!! I hope you've enjoyed!!), I've never written smut before and I feel like I probably will not build up the courage to do so by the end of this series, but I could prove myself wrong, I dunno. But warning in case that's your thing!! I might blue ball you babe!!
Pretty please tell me your thoughts or I'll eat my Berf shirt. Collector's value!! Thrown away!!
Next Part
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storiesforallfandoms · 2 months ago
Text
important business ~ roman godfrey;hemlock grove
word count: 2362
request?: no
description: she goes to visit him at work, and he decides her visit requires his undivided attention
pairing: roman godfrey x female!reader
warnings: swearing, use of y/n, smut (unprotected p in v, oral f receiving, finger fucking, kind of voyeurism?, praise, multiple orgasms)
masterlist (one, two, three)
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The sound of stilettos against the tile floors made Roman’s secretary’s ears perk up. There was only one woman who ever came to the Godfrey Institute.
(Y/N) Godfrey was already smiling as she came around the corner. It would look like a friendly smile to anyone else, it’d be friendly to the Institute employees even, if she wasn’t married to the owner of the company. (Y/N) was nice enough, but she had an intimidation to her as well. And Roman loved her so much that he would fire anyone who so much as upset her even a little.
(Y/N) leaned against the desk. “Hey Anne. Is Roman in? I got a text from him asking me to come by the office.”
“He’s in his office on a phone call,” the secretary, Anne, responded. “I can page him to let him know you’re here.”
“No bother. I’ll see myself in.”
Anyone else would be stopped immediately. No one else was allowed to interrupt Roman under any circumstances. But Anne already knew how this was gonna go. Asking to page Roman was only a formality at this point; a rouse of professionalism on both of their parts.
(Y/N) let herself into Roman’s office. He was sat forward, leaning against his desk with the phone in one hand, pressed against his ear. He glanced up as (Y/N) shut the door behind her. His face gave nothing away, but she knew it was his eyes to look at. They lit up the moment she walked into the room.
“Let me call you back, Paul,” Roman said into the phone. “My wife just got here.”
He hung up before hearing the response. (Y/N) raised a playful eyebrow. “I don’t think he’s going to appreciate you cutting him off like that.”
Roman waved away her comment. “Paul is an idiot who doesn’t know jack shit. Listening to him talk makes my brain melt, so I’ll take whatever excuse there is to not talk to him.”
“So, is that why you texted me? To be an excuse?”
“Of course not.”
Roman extended his arms, gesturing for (Y/N) to come closer. She smiled and crossed the room to him. He turned his desk chair to face (Y/N) as she moved around his desk. Roman wasted no time in pulling her onto his lap, moving her legs to straddle him. She was wearing a deep red dress that was knee length and tight to her body. It rode up her thighs as she sat on Roman’s lap, giving him access to cup her ass cheeks.
Roman’s lips found their way to her neck. Her eyes fluttered at the feeling of his soft lips kissing every inch of her neck. He found her sweet spot at the base of her neck, and began to suck at the sensitive skin. (Y/N) let out a moan. She quickly covered her mouth and pushed away from Roman as she remembered herself.
“Rom, we can’t!” she said. “We’re in your office. What if someone walks in?”
“Fuck ‘em. It’s my company. If they have an issue with me fucking my wife, they can start looking for a new job.”
(Y/N) wanted to be firm. It was definitely a bad idea to have sex in Roman’s office, in a building full of his employees who could walk in at any second. But also, it was incredibly hot to see how nonchalant he was being about wanting to fuck her in his office, as well as the general idea of fucking Roman in his office, was turning her on.
He picked her up suddenly, causing her to exclaim in surprise. He kicked the chair away from the desk and shoved anything in his way onto the floor. He placed (Y/N) onto the desk, shoving her dress up so it was bunched around her hips, completely exposing her lower half to him.
(Y/N) and Roman held eye contact as Roman lowered himself to his knees. She watched as he reached out to the intercom that had managed to stay on his desk. He clicked the speaker button and said, “Anne, cancel whatever I have scheduled for the next hour. Anyone comes looking form, I’m busy.”
Anne’s response came almost immediately, “Yes, Mr. Godfrey.”
“She definitely knows what’s happening now,” (Y/N) said.
“I’ll give her a big fat bonus for Christmas.”
Roman hooked a finger into her panties and pulled them to the side. She shivered as his hot breath hit her core. She was about to tell him not to tease her, but it seemed Roman didn’t intend on leaving her waiting for long. He dove into her like a starved man. His tongue immediately dove into her already wet pussy, darting in and out at a pace that was driving her crazy already. (Y/N) gripped Roman’s hair, still a little slick from the hair gel he had put in that morning.
He ran his tongue from her hole up to her clit. He wrapped his lips around the sensitive nub and began to slowly swirl his tongue around it. (Y/N)’s back arched in pleasure. She was biting her lip to try and stifle her moans. She nearly whimpered when he pulled away.
“Don’t you dare muffle those noises,” he told her. “I want the entire building to hear how good I make you feel.”
As if to punctuate his demand, he slipped a finger into her. (Y/N) gasped at the feeling. Roman smirked, satisfied with the noise. He went back to wrapping his lips around her clit while he fucked his finger in and out of her. It was nearly impossible to muffle herself now. To really make sure he got his request, Roman added a second finger and curled them to touch the spongey spot inside (Y/N).
She threw her head back and cried out Roman’s name so loud he was sure the entire floor could hear her. He smirked against her.
The lewd squishing sounds of Roman finger fucking her mixed with her moans filled the room. All of (Y/N)’s concerns about being heard or caught had disappeared completely. All she could think about was Roman; Roman’s tongue on her clit, Roman’s fingers inside of her, how badly she wanted to feel Roman’s dick stretching her out and fucking her ruthlessly.
“Roman,” she moaned. Her fingers curled tighter against his hair, grabbing at the roots and tugging harshly against his dark locks. Roman moaned into her at the feeling. “F-Fuck, I feel so close already.”
“Cum on my fingers then, baby,” he said. “That’s a good girl, let yourself go.”
Her orgasm ripped through her suddenly. She writhed against Roman’s lips, moaning and panting, Roman’s name slipping from her lips. He lapped at her, letting her ride out her high against his face.
When Roman pulled his fingers from her, she actually whimpered at the loss of contact. He stood from the floor, standing over her. He kept eye contact with her as he brought his two fingers to his mouth and sucked them between his lips. The dull ache of post-orgasm between her legs turned into an ache of desire as she watched him suck his fingers clean of her juices. His mouth and chin were still glistening with her.
He pulled her in for a kiss, and she could even taste herself on his lips. It was taking everything in her power not to rip Roman’s pants off right then and there.
As if reading her mind, Roman pulled away and started to unbuckle his belt. “Turn around and bend over the desk. Take your panties off, too, but leave the dress on.”
(Y/N) quickly did as he demanded. She slid her soaked panties down her legs and tossed them aside onto the office floor. She turned so her back was to Roman and bent herself over his desk, presenting herself to him. She heard the rustling of clothes as he undid his pants and pulled them down. Her heart was pounding with anticipation. She jumped when she felt one of his hands against her hip, then moaned upon feeling the hot head of his cock swiping through her folds. They hardly needed any further lubrication when she was already so wet.
He pushed into her at an agonizingly slow pace. She could feel every inch of him as she stretched out around him, until finally he was completely filling her. (Y/N) moaned at the feeling. Roman reached for one of her hands, intertwining their fingers together. It was a moment of sweetness before she knew what was to come.
Roman gave her just enough time to adjust to being stretched around him before he was ruthlessly pounding into her. The sound of his fingers inside of her had been replaced skin slapping against skin every time he thrusted inwards. With one hand, (Y/N) was still gripping onto Roman’s hand, while the other one was holding onto his desk for support. Not that she thought the desk was going to give much support since it felt like it was about to fall apart at any moment.
Through the haze of lust, (Y/N) managed to giggle at the thought. It was replaced quickly by a gasp when Roman’s other hand found its way to her hair and roughly pulled her off of the desk.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, still roughly fucking into her.
“I-I was thinking about if w-we broke your desk,” she admitted. “It sounds and feels like it may just collapse from under me.”
Roman chuckled at the thought as well. “I guess I’ll just have to get a new, better built desk that can handle just how rough I like to fuck my wife.”
He pushed her back down so that her chest was pressed against the desk again. He put his hand between her shoulder blades, holding her into place. He looked down to watch himself pull out then disappear completely into her. Her ass jiggled every time his pelvic bone met her there. She felt so good, so warm and wet wrapped around him, fitting perfectly around his cock.
There were many things Roman loved about his wife, and one of the top things was how it felt like she was made for him.
The sounds she was making was music to his ears. The feeling of her wrapped around him was heavenly. He never wanted to stop fucking her. If he had a choice - and didn’t have a company to run - he’d spend his days home with her, fucking her in every room of their house, on every surface, until they were both worn.
Roman felt his high creeping up on him. He brushed (Y/N)’s hair off of her face so he could see her. She was positively fucked out, her eyes glazing over with haze and her mouth just hanging open.
“Do you think you can give me one more, baby?” he asked her. “I’m getting close. I want us to cum together.”
She lazily nodded her head. He chuckled. “Do you think you can do it, or do you want my help?”
“No,” she said. “I can do it.”
The hand that wasn’t still holding Roman’s reached between her legs to start rubbing circles into her clit. She could feel him as she pressed on her clit, almost like she was tightening around him. It wasn’t going to take much to make her cum again, but she still quickened her pace so that Roman wasn’t waiting long. Next thing she knew, pressure was building up in her stomach again.
“I’m close,” she breathed.
“Hold on, baby, I’ll tell you when.”
Roman took hold of her hip with one hand, never letting go of her other hand, and thrusted harder. (Y/N) was crying out in pleasure at the feeling of him abusing her g-spot. Through gritted teeth he told her, “Now.”
They let go at the same time, (Y/N) pulsing around him as he coated her walls. He buried himself completely inside of her, making sure not a single drop was wasted. (Y/N) laid her head against the hard wood of Roman’s desk, trying to regulate her breathing.
It wasn’t long before Roman, begrudgingly, had to slip himself from her. He helped her to stand up from the table, although her legs were still shaky. He took her into his arms and brought her to the couch he had in his office so they could both sit down. (Y/N) settled back into Roman’s arms and rested against his chest.
“So this is why you texted me,” she said after a few moments of silence. “So we could fuck in your office.”
His chest vibrated as he laughed. “Can a man not ask to see his wife just because he wants to see her?”
“He can, but the second I walked through the door you were all over me.”
“Can you blame me when you walk in wearing this - “ He pulled at the hem of her dress, which she had almost forgot she was wearing. “ - looking so fucking sexy?”
She giggled as she snuggled further into his chest. “I guess it is partially my fault. Especially when my plan was to walk in here and get your attention dressed like this.”
“You always have my attention. This definitely helped though.”
They both laughed. Roman kissed the top of (Y/N)’s head. She moved so she was facing him and could kiss his lips.
“How much time do you think we have?” she asked him. “Since you asked Anne to clear your schedule for an hour.”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure. It definitely hasn’t been a full hour.”
“Well, let’s use the rest of that time wisely.”
Before he could ask what she meant, (Y/N) was moving to the floor to kneel between Roman’s legs. He smiled, putting his hands behind his head as he watched her pull his still unbuttoned pants down again.
Oh yeah, I am the luckiest son of a bitch in the world.
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goldsbitch · 11 months ago
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Just don't talk
summary: Enemies to lovers on steroids. Lando can't stand Y/N, the first female driver in F1. He also can't stand not having her with her clothes on.
warnings: please don't be offended by weak ass feminism debate, swear words, minors do not interact, just generally don't take this one too seriously, smut (that's what we came for)
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He radiated stupidity. Reckless, annoying, careless and just plain stupid. Blood boiled hard and fast in Y/N when he entered the room. Cocky smile, as if he was the shit. And those poor fans did not even realize, because his PR managers worked around the clock to stop the scandals getting out and to remain his bubbly, down-to-earth image he seemed to hold in general public. Now, she never doubted his driving genius. It was honest respect on that part. No, this was about everything else. Even the way he grew his "so called" beard annoyed her.
She radiated arrogance. Being the first female driver on the grid had everyone looking differently at her, as it would be the opposite if she was just another rookie driver. He could not stand that. It felt strangely misogynistic. But what sent him to levels of annoyance he had not discovered prior to meeting her, was how she did absolutely nothing about this. Danced around as if she did not see it. But Lando could see through her, she was a calculating bitch that knew exactly what was happening.
It's not like either of them got it wrong really. Lando had his personality that did not correlate with the desired persona the public wanted him to maintain. For as long as he remembered, he had to be a grown up, missing his young adult experiences completely. Sometimes, it just got the better of him. Lando was not exactly proud of that or anything. Y/N was indeed calculating. But it would be hard to argue that she could have chosen not to do that - yet, the world was simply not ready for any kind of female driver to enter the grid. She had to be smarter than an average rookie. There is a possibility that this was all just in her head, but it was hard to prove it at this point.
They avoided talking to each other like they would avoid the plague. Lando felt like all the years of media training lead to the moments where they shared the interview room. Their disenchantment with each other was not exactly a known thing, they were deceitful enough to do keep it between themselves. Well, the more observant drivers and members of their team were well aware of the truth. There was not a single member of the close inner circle that would dare to speak about how when these two had to share the pre race interviews, it would be the driest interview of them all. Frankly, drivers dreaded that. Daniel would be the one to try and break the ice. George found it mildly amusing. Max could not give two shits about them.
And to the luck of everyone involved, there was Lando, set next to Alex Albon, who was sat next to Y/N. He sighed heavily before taking hold of the microphone.
First interviewer asked about the lasted updates on Y/N Aston Martin car. The second one went to Lando, with a request to address the bad strategy the team had on the last Grand Prix, which he answered very diplomatically.
Third interviewer asked Y/N on whether the talks have started regarding her contract for the upcoming season.
"Yes, we are talking about that. I love racing and I'm planning on staying here," she laughed lightly. "I want to be here to...possibly to inspire and attract young girls, same as those like Fernando was a role model to both Alex and Lando. The female audience of F1 is growing and that is absolutely amazing. And perhaps now will the female fans have an opportunity to cheer for one of their own."
"May I have a question?" Lando entered the chat. His tone was indicating fire being lit within him and him intending to spread it wide. The game was on. Y/N tensed up. Alex smiled nervously.
Both Lando and Y/N shot a look at the interview moderator, who was prepared for many scenarios, but not this one exactly. Once Lando received an unsure nod, he continued. "We both know the numbers, we sit on similar meetings. The percentage of female audience is now nearing almost half, is that correct?"
"Well, we are nowhere near that - more like 30-40%"
"Right. And this trend has started prior to you joining the grid, right?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"Are you saying that the female viewers did not have anyone to connect with before that?"
"I'd be brave enough to assume so. Where are you heading?"
Alex wanted to stop them, he shot looks to multiple people who had the power to end this. Members present from both teams woke up from their slow mundane afternoon. But the conversation was too fast for anyone to interrupt.
"So, what was the motivation of the female viewers to watch F1? Why were they watching?"
"Um, well the sport is fascinating and can capture one. The quality of our media teams has risen greatly, social media and-"
"Yes. So are you saying that young boys and teenagers were watching this for a different reason that girls and any other genders?"
"Like I was saying, it might be hard to connect. Young boys and teenagers can relate and even imagine themselves as the future F1 driver."
"So why do, in your opinion, little girls and female teenagers watch races? Are you saying that prior to your start, their reasons were less valid? Less noble? Does miss misogyny over here think that female audience is now validated due to her representation in the sport?"
The room went silent. Y/N took a deep breath and without missing a beat she replied.
"I'm sorry, there must have been something foul in your cornflakes this morning. After all, even in these progressive times, some of the people involved did not get the memo about the way how to interact with the fanbase in a healthy manner. It must be hard hard to think straight and not draw over-the-top conclusions when one's mind is stuck in an endless cycle of "Hello, gorgeous" and "Sure, I'll text you back.""
Alarmed looks were shared accros the room. Alex tried to laugh it off. The moderator ended the discussion. The pair kept staring at each other, until their prompted their exits orchestrated by their team.
//
Asshole. Obnoxious idiot. She wanted to slap him. The social media was on fire, this topic clearly resonating among fans. It was clear the opinions were divided and this was just not good to have on your track record. She was mad at herself as well. Got caught up like a fly to a spiderweb. He won this one. She'll just have to beat him during the race or shoot him in the leg at the next opportunity.
"Stay true to your beliefs" was the caption under his newly posted photo. Smiling as ever. Some photographer with under-appreciated talent managing to capture him in the perfect light. Total thirst trap. Her PR team was figuring out how to salvage this, but everyone knew Lando stuck a good one this time.
But that was not the opinion of the McLaren media team, who really did work their butts off the last few months. This was not good, as his haters were currently busy pointing out holes in his argument, making Y/N the hero they wanted to have. PR team picked the photo of him they had in store in order to play it safe and nonchalantly. Lando got a big threatening talk right after the press conference. McLaren was not letting the word misogyny be connected to their brand. He defended himself for a while, but at the end agreed to avoid bringing these subjects to light prior to the knowledge of the team. In his eyes, she won. He got her free attention. The nickname miss misogyny was not going to stick. The only thing this brough him was a headache and built up anger.
She was bursting with anger and was not about to leave it in for herself. "You can stick this bullshit up you ass, Lando."
"Don't assume I like the same things you do," was his immediate response.
Confidentiality. That was the only thing she believed he could uphold. Both of them had too much to loose.
//
They were bad for each other. Bringing out the worst traits, putting others in discomfort and creating drama out of nowhere. But the once the night covered the daily routines and worries, the truth would start crawling out. Once the chequered flag got packed up after a race, it was time for a parade of red flags to begin.
It was suppose to be a one time mistake. Party that go out of hand. Club bathroom sex that was better than they'd be willing to admit. They never spoke of it. Nobody knew.
Like magnets they circled towards each other on the quiet nights on the road. Always her place, never his. As if she'd make the effort to come toward him. Like he would ever let her invade his private safe space. It worked for them, transforming the anger into rough bites and hickeys. Lando enjoyed leaving them on her, just at the line where he knew she'd have to think about how to cover them up and made sure she never made any mark on him. Hate fucking, that's what that was.
Once again, his hot breath cut through the crispy Monaco night air coming from the opened window of her bedroom. He had her handcuffed to the bed side and legs wrapped around his toned torso. He was driving her crazy, not letting her stay on top this time, robbing her of the pleasure of watching him submit to her moves and direction. He watched attentively, making sure he changed his tempo whenever she was about to climax. She was not one to enjoy delayed gradification, not when this obnoxious idiot was watching her and having fun with it. One thing he had to admit was that she was fucking hot, mainly in the way how she able to carry herself around. From the first moment he had the misfortune to see her in person, it had been the one thought unable to leave his mind. What did she look like when she was just about to come? Was she the one to make any sounds? Did she like it rough or soft? Would she be able to dominate him? During the day, he let his frustrations out verbally, during the night he thrusted into her as if there was no tomorrow. Like a drug addict getting his hit. She was even more mad at him when he was fucking her. Because it was just so good. They had the same rhythm and their bodies spoke in a language no one would have understood anyway. So she just surrendered. It drove her crazy, not being on the top. He licked and bit her nipples and did forbidden things - like stopped fucking her out of nowhere and buried his head in her waist, slowly twisting his tongue around her clit. When he felt like she adjusted to that, he continued back with thrusting in her. He moved so fast that she started get dizzy from the motion, the heavenly kind of dizzy. Lando watched her like and animal would observe his prey. Not often did he manage to get completely under his control, but tonight was one of the precious days he'd be recalling in the shower days after. He delayed his own orgasm for as long as he could, but there was a point where he just gave in and released him into the condom. There was always a hint of disappointment in the joyous moment. His darkest wish was to have her walk the day after with his cum dripping out of her. She was his little work slut, his nemesis, his Vegas girl.
Y/N never wanted to cuddle afterwards. She appreciated that Lando always swiftly got up and left without a word. Because what if he had spoken, what if the oxytocin started flowing in and she'd loose her guard and get herself in even bigger of a mess than this little game was. She was the first female driver. There were things she had to prove to the world. Fucking one of the other drivers was not one of them.
p2
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bingiessm · 9 months ago
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WARNING, LONG POST
Hello, welcome to the Bridgerton Season 3 trailer over-analysis corner. I am bingiessm--a film student that needs an outlet right now and wants to practice some film analysis--and am here to bring forth the FIRE/FLAME/CANDLE motif that was all over this trailer and I feel will be a HUGE motif throughout this season for Penelope and Colin (Polin).
So within the Polin context, let's look at each shot where a flame of a candle or lack thereof could represent their romantic interest in one another--and in particular the understanding/recognition of it.
This show is going all out putting candles EVERYWHERE--yes it was actual lighting in regency era, but you don't have to have it in the shot. That is a CHOICE. Also a choice to have it lit or not.
Also, "I burn for you" anyone?
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FIRST SHOT: somewhat obvious but considering the context of both the mirror as well as other future shots within this trailer, this flame represents the feelings Penelope has for Colin, that she is well aware of and has held for a long while.
I also just have an inkling that she is seeing herself differently in this moment (feeling something for the first time possibly)--the way Nicola looks feels shocked/contemplative, but not scared as if it might be Whistledown-related.
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SECOND SHOT: they are outside, talking about Penelope being a "lost cause." WHY IS THERE AN UNLIT CANDLE IN A MARKET STALL, if not to represent some unrealized feelings on Colin's part? It is also on his side of the frame. This is similar to this next one, both of which I believe are earlier in the season, as this is the start of him "helping" her.
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THIRD SHOT: Once again, right there on Colin's side of the frame, YOU DID NOT NEED THIS IN THE FOREGROUND. It was a CHOICE to put a candle there again. They could have not had it, yes the shot would have had less depth and this does give a better sense of the space, placing them in a corner of the room instead of in an open space--but they didn't need to make it another CANDLE.
Colin has not fully recognized his feelings for Penelope yet, though they have always been there, and these two shots demonstrate that lack of understanding/feeling, but one that is soon to come with an unlit candle.
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FOURTH SHOT: this, in the timing of the trailer, does come before the third, but RIGHT THERE IS A MIRROR AND CANDLES. It is on Penelope's side of the frame, but Colin, the mirror, and candles are what is in focus. She might be center frame, but we are drawn to the light as well as the contrast in Colin's outfit. This could arguably be Penelope's perspective, her burning feelings as he compliments her--also her future (we all want that mirror scene).
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FIFTH SHOT: a HUGE TURNING POINT--a small flame, barely noticeable suddenly burning brighter as we focus on Colin in the background. This is so clearly him realizing his feelings for Penelope. It is also at the midpoint/turning point of the trailer when there is a big tonal shift. There is no more talk of Colin helping Penelope, but a larger focus on his perspective of her (all the gazing), the idea of romance, as well as mention of Debling--his rival. It will be a turning point for Colin when Debling--an actual suitor vying for Penelope's hand--comes into the picture. EDIT: Also going to add in, the candle is in a lantern--though that might have been easier to manage filming-wise--which could also represent him still holding back, especially with Debling in the picture.
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SIXTH SHOT: This comes right after we hear Debling say "You look especially beautiful tonight, Miss Featherington." One of the many examples of Colin staring at the two of them, being jealous/worried. But right behind him? Oh, more candles. That they totally didn't need to have in the frame. Also, it doesn't look so much like a candle, but they are placed so close to one another that it looks like more of a flame. The lack of focus adds to this.
THEN WE GET TO THIS FINAL SEQUENCE--which imo is a FANTASY SEQUENCE
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SEVENTH SHOT: Colin is coming from the darkness, with an unseen flame flickering directly behind him (small ember that he can't see).
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EIGHTH SHOT: Penelope, also coming out of the dark, but with another flame on (what in this sequence is) her side of the frame. Though it is somewhat hidden behind these bars--some rough patches/guarded emotions? (probably depends on what point this is in the series).
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NINTH SHOT: Penelope, already in the light of these fires, Colin entering with the large burning flame in the background covered by some growth.
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TENTH SHOT: Penelope, lit by these fires, breathing heavily. A very clear close-up with so much blur to focus just on her face.
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ELEVENTH SHOT: Colin, with a flickering/burning flame literally right behind him, lit by these other fires, staring right at Penelope.
So this whole sequence, in my opinion, is a dream sequence. But, in terms of this flame representation, this is Colin realizing he has feelings for Penelope. We see the flickering from the unseen light behind him in the seventh shot build and become the flame right behind him in the eleventh. It feels so obviously representative of the season. (The fog also seems to lift for him in this sequence, he comes out of the fog to Penelope--I could say more about this sequence and why I do think it is Colin's dream, mostly due to costuming and lighting and the fog as well) ______________________
And thus comes to a close my analysis/evidence of the FLAME/FIRE motif between Polin. I am cutting myself off here because this is a lot and I have an actual film shoot to plan. Thank you if you actually read all this. I love film analysis and Bridgerton is so fun and a stress reliever for me, so this was fun for me to write out.
Anyway, if any more of this fire/flame stuff comes up I might add on later.
TLDR: they are using fire and candles to represent the burning love between these two.
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tonguetiedraven · 1 month ago
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Rin was wrong about the Kyoto arc and most of you are too
But like Rin, you don't have to hold onto your assumptions.
With the slight resurgence in aoex popularity, I'm seeing a new rise in some fundamental misunderstandings about the characters and plot. I've been asked a lot of questions about a few certain characters over the years, and I've noticed that the base of the misunderstandings people tend to have with everyone originates in the Kyoto Arc.
What am I calling the Kyoto arc? Everything that happens in the second season of the anime and everything that happens after chapter 13 in the manga . (The point when the anime said let's go off and do our own wild thing and forget about the story and characters Kato is making! It'll be fun and totally not still be causing long lasting chaos over a decade later) and up to chapter 35. It's a 20 chapter arc, roughly. And honestly I think most of the manga exclusive Kraken arc should be included in the Kyoto arc because it is a direct continuation of Rin and Yukio's story line there, but I digress and we will get to that!
I am going to assume that you, the reader of this lengthy essay (I'm wordy and won't apologize for it, lol), are aware enough of the manga and Blue Exorcist to know that every episode in the first season of the anime after episode 16 is NOT CANON and does a poor job of depicting all the characters involved from Angel to Yukio. (There is no character with a Z, lol. So Yukio wins that role.) No one comes out looking correct in that. I know some people will argue that Rin is fine, but no. He is not similar to his canon hot headed, impulsive, loud, often violent/aggressive, and past avoiding self who would never have let his twin pull a gun on Kuro and would never have let Yukio leave after that without a fight. Sorry guys, they nuked him too. Just in a more pathetic victim way so people let it slide because he obviously needs to be protected from all the other meanies.
I am also going to assume you know character names. You can google them if you get confused  ദ്ദി ( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ )
Anyway, back on topic. I'm going to go heavily into the start of this arc and more broad as it goes on. The initial area is where most of the misconceptions start and they kind of carry through from then on meaning the entire rest of the arc and arcs there are a few flaws in the understanding of character motivations and reasons and some just basic plot stuff.
In chapter 13 of the manga, we get this tremendous clip
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Just before this moment the exwires have found out that their classmate is not a human and is powerful.
You'll notice Shima leaning against the railing there. That's because he has a cracked rib and probably a concussion. Konekomaru is now sporting a broken arm, and Ryuuji got strangled out enough to be choking on blood. Shiemi was hypnotized and controlled and carried around like a possession by a demon king who tried to eat her eyes and kept taunting about making her his bride all while she was unable to move or do anything. There is not enough written about the truly terrifying kind of assault that is for the youngest member of their group, and that's without the tangle of a relationship Amaimon and Shiemi have in it.
It is vital that everyone take a second to think about that. Izumo and Takara were not there. They stayed in the camp. They didn't pursue Amaimon, Shiemi, or Rin. They chose not to fight or try to help. The Kyoto Trio did (because Ryuuji/Bon is impulsive and ran after Rin and Shiemi to help and the others followed him) and it took all of thirty seconds for the Demon King Amaimon to knock them all out without even really putting any effort into his attack.
They manage to get out of the forest and back to the pictured bridge with Yukio leading them out while the forest catches dramatically on blue fire. (Remember that the Kyoto trio grew up hearing about how much the blue flames of Satan destroyed their home and killed their family members. Their entire life was irrevocably changed because of blue flames.) And Rin and Amaimon are wildly fucking shit up. They even yeeted Mephisto who is a much higher ranking king.
All that leads to the Paladin appearing, Arthur Angel, who orders the exwires to be interrogated and checked by medics. (Honestly a step up for True Cross. They almost never remember medics.)
The Paladin appears and then Mephisto appears, and he has Rin in tow. Rin who is entirely feral and tries to lunge for the exwires. The traumatized exwires see Rin try and attack them with an entirely demonic face. They do not know anything about his story or Shirou or even ow he got here, but they can easily see that he's tied to Satan because of the flames and now he clearly wants to hurt. Hurt them.
Now in Rin's defense, he's not in his right mind. Mephisto sheaths the sword and the demonic part is forced to retreat and Rin passes out until he's slapped awake. At that point he's the Rin we know again (the exwires still have no idea what the hell is going on) and Angel takes him into custody. Rin looks over and sees his friends bloodied and bruised and sees Ryuuji with blood on his mouth staring with an unreadable expression.
It leads to this shot:
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Question for the group: Who is Ryuuji asking this to?
Not Rin, that's for sure. It's Mephisto, in my opinion. Ryuuji is asking, quite understandably, why the hell the child of Satan was put in a class of ordinary students and why none of them were told about it. They just had a Demon King attack their class of exwires all of which were struggling against a simple moth and had to reseal it instead of exorcising it. A Demon King that attacked them because he wanted to do something to the son of Satan and they had no extra protection against that. Enough so that four of them are injured or traumatized.
(Also, if you get strangled do not yell and IMMEDIATELY seek medical help. There are a lot of terrible conditions and long lasting effects that can occur with strangulation.)
So at this point everyone is made to split ways. The exwires will get a small update from Yukio, and Rin will get put on trial for his life. Neither party knows what the other is aware of, and as far as we can tell, Rin does not remember that he tried very hard to lunge at and attack the exwires.
That does not mean that Rin did not lunge for and try to attack them. Not remembering trauma you caused someone else does not erase that trauma.
There is also this moment, and you best believe I am also here to defend Shiemi because she deserves it.
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Go girl. You're so right. There's nothing funny about any of this. Not your abduction, not how assaulting that entire thing was, and not the fact that he was feral and that you're feeling like a lot of this is your fault. (And it was not her fault.)
Rin's defense in most bad situations is laughter and ignoring whatever the uncomfortable thing is. This rubs everyone around him the wrong way almost every time. And that's their right. I also truly think he doesn't know what he just did and doesn't remember much past drawing the sword and he's scared, and he's able to tell the vibes are bad and he's in trouble, but doesn't really get why/how. He is a bit (a lot) of an idiot and we love him for that.
Another vital thing to understand about Rin is that he sees the demonic and violent parts of himself as someone else. He is not that demon. He is not the guy that tore apart the forest, everyone is wrong. He didn't lunge after his friends, someone else did that. He isn't out of control of his flames, that isn't him. That demon with the flames and frightening strength and burning anger isn't him. They've got it all wrong. He's just Rin.
That is a big part of Rin's story. Rin accepting that he is all those things. He is the human and he is the demon and he is all the things that comes with both of those things. He is right and wrong and kind and cruel and caring and callous and gentle and dangerous. He is Yuri and Satan and Shirou's son, and he is complicated and trying his best and slowly learning to accept what he is and isn't.
Anyway, they split ways for a shitty night. Rin's is unquestionably shittier, but again, the rest of the exwires don't get told what the hell happened.
Anime only fans will already be noticing differences, but wait, there's a lot more that was missed/ skipped over.
The Kyoto trio are all at the hospital for the next few days and get a call about the temple having been attacked. Shima's dad and Ryuuji's dad were said to have been hurt in it.
This is the second hint we get that Ryuuji is not on good terms with his dad, and the mere mention of Kyoto visibly upsets him. That'll be important a little later.
Rin goes back to class with the girls but is pulled out by Yukio for his own individual classes with Shura before anyone can say anything. The cram teacher then explains the following:
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The entirety of their school is giving them instructions on what to do if Rin goes wild because the exorcist and teachers all think he will go feral again.
Rin does not know they're getting this instruction.
We then see what Yukio told them is basically: Yeah, my twin has flames. I don't because I was too weak. I get tested daily for it. The koma (a nickname for Kurikara because you can't exactly go around calling a stolen sword by its name or people will catch on) sword sealed him. I don't know why we were allowed to live when True Cross has a very loud 'no Satan or Satan offspring allowed' policy. Kay, thanks, byyyeeeeee.
So no one is happy and no one really knows anything. Just Yukio who has always known everything and had the biggest emotional, responsible, and mental burden of everything about his brother. He was left holding the bag again. Responsible for a class he's the same age as, mourning his father whose death he doesn't know the full story of, responsible for killing his own brother if he goes feral, now ostracized even more by a community of exorcist he already didn't blend in with, and now made to bear all this. Yukio is a king for holding out for so damn many arcs without showing how bad his mental health was getting with all that stress.
At this point we see Ryuuji is placing the guilt for Konekomaru and Shima being injured on his own shoulders (Konekomaru tells him it was his fault that they were injured) and Shiemi is realizing that Rin became her friend as he was revealed and that she was never as much of a support or friend to either of them as she thought.
Meanwhile Izumo who, and I cannot stress this enough, did NOTHING in the fight and was not part of most of this and has at this point made NO effort to be friends with anyone past cleaning a shirt Rin loaned her, is judging all of them visibly.
A brief interlude of Toudou being a creep and Rin showing he cannot follow orders from absolutely anyone and making Yukio and Shura frustrated at how unpredictable and manageable he is, and we're now given the mission to go to Kyoto and help there.
Ryuuji is just so blatantly shocked and not okay with the assignment to his home. Like I genuinely don't think we have a shot of Ryuuji looking more shook and shit gets wild in this manga.
Ryuuji does not want to go back to Kyoto. He left on terrible terms with his parents and swore he would not return until he had his meisters and rank. He defied his parents in even going to the cram school and now he's being forced to return a bit busted up and long before he was ready. If you do not have a bad family dynamic, you can't really get how devastating this is, but try and imagine it. It's a tremendous source of stress and frustration for Ryuuji, and the main thing he's dealing with through this arc. He has a lot of history with his father ignoring and denying him and trying to control him, and it is not a healthy dynamic. THAT is what drives Ryuuji in this arc. Kyoto, the temple, and his father. It is NOT Rin. Rin is at the bottom of his list of things to be thinking about right now.
This is essentially Ryuuji's arc, and it is, quite simply, not about Rin for him. Rin becomes a part of it, but not until later. At the moment, it is Kyoto and the shame and frustration and resentment about that which is driving him forward.
Shiemi is melting under her own self loathing at this point. She is hating herself and has never been confident and always been prone to thinking poorly of herself, and shown she is unaware of when relationships are abusive with how severely Izumo bullied her and continues to bully her.
(And I could write another essay on how fucking misogynistic it is that everyone flocks to team Izumo when she's slightly nice to Rin and blatantly ignores the Shiemi abuse because well Shiemi is annoying anyway. Check yourself and ask why you feel that way if you do. Why is violence and cruelty okay against Shiemi? Why is it forgivable in her case but not in others?)
We all board a train to Kyoto and see each other for the first time. Rin has zero ability to ever read a room (we love him for it even if he will occasionally kill us with second hand embarrassment) and is acting like he didn't try to kill them on their last interaction and like everything is normal and there isn't a big and awkward elephant in the room taking up most of the train space.
THIS GOES DOWN DIFFERENTLY IN THE MANGA THAN THE ANIME. The manga stretches this scene out to give three characters very important breathing room while the anime cuts this far shorter and mixes up the dialogue some, muddying the motives.
Rin, not reading the room, sees Shiemi and calls out happily to her. Shiemi utterly freezes and can't decide how she should respond or what she should say. She has, as far as we know, never had a friend outside of her family and the twins. She doesn't know how to interact with them and she is drowning in guilt of failing them as a friend. A lot of that is because Rin said she wasn't his friend to the Kyoto Trio and because Izumo is always telling her she's failing as a friend and saying she doesn't like her. Izumo is a bully at this point. I will not back down on that point and will continue to reiterate it. You do her incredible arc a disservice to pretend otherwise.
That leads us to the confrontation:
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Ryuuji does not show any sign of anger until Rin talks about Kyoto. Then it's instant grouchy face Grouchy face and grouchy boy until one of the other two interject and then he swallows all that Kyoto frustration right back down and stomps off to sit behind Rin with Konekomaru -- who has been given a talk by their superiors on what to do if their classmates loses his shit and goes feral on them and who lost his entire temple and family to the Blue Night -- voicing his worry about Rin losing control of his flames on a tiny train where there is no where to go.
Rin visibly deflates and sinks back on his chair Izumo, the drama queen who would deny being one, enters and sees. Now Izumo has conflicting reasons for her next act. She has been ostracized and bully quite a lot in her younger life, and that is part of why she is now an ice queen. She sees Rin and wants to help him feel better and is no more in the know of what the others are actually dealing with than Rin, and I dare say that was her first and primary motive.
However Izumo cannot allow herself to do something solely out of kindness to help someone. That is a weakness she will not allow herself and dangerous. Kindness and helping gets you hurt or killed by stronger parties and she has sworn off that in all cases but Paku. (No one quite knows what magic Noriko Paku possesses, but man does she, lol.)
So Izumo sits next to Rin and waits until after the debriefing about why they're here (meaning Ryuuji is now even more upset because yep, it's absolutely his temple and their miasma and their secrets and their weaknesses being discusses and revealed and flaunted) and they chat a little about the fact that lots of people have demon blood (*cough* FORESHADOWING *cough*) and then, after getting flustered about Rin complementing her and thanking her and getting buddy-buddy enough to use a nickname, she goes cruel and decisive and makes a pointed jab at Ryuuji, who takes it in stride for a moment, and then Shiemi, who visibly deflates thinking even less of herself and that Ryuuji does not take in stride.
Izumo did a kind thing in sitting with Rin, however, the others did not do a cruel thing by not sitting with him. They simply chose to give themselves a little space from a situation they were still struggling with. The cruelest one in the moment before she spoke was probably Konekomaru, and even he wasn't talking to Rin. He was nervous and scared and talking to his friends about Rin. None of them owed Rin anything. They did not owe him their time or space or attention. They are allowed to recover from their trauma and physical injuries while not having him constantly shove his over-excited puppy-energy self in their faces constantly and make everything all the more difficult for them while they try and reconcile that guy with the feral monster that wanted to take a chunk out of them and who was not in control of the flames they've grown up terrified of.
We see the story mainly through Rin's perspective, all the more so if you're an anime only, but that does not mean Rin is always an honest and reliable narrator. He is unaware he tried to hurt them and unaware of their own trauma. He can't imagine any of their actions and reactions aren't centering around him at this moment because Rin too is going through a lot of trauma and stress of his own that they don't know about.
What I find over and over again in this story is that people excuse any poor or selfish or cruel act of Rin's because of trauma and not being perfect, but they will not excuse it in any one else. This makes for a frustrating unfairness in expectations, and frankly, turns the story boring. If no one but Rin can make mistakes, or you choose only to see other's mistakes and not Rin's, you are robbing the characters and Rin of their complexity and growth.
Izumo was kind in sitting next to Rin, and she was purposefully cruel at the exact same time. This is who Izumo is. Kind and cruel for quite a long time. Brave and selfish. Confident and self conscious. Guarded while slowly falling in love and denying it every step of the way.
So the train ride immediately goes to shit and they get loud with Ryuuji calling her out (reminder, she can call them coward all day long but she did not leave the circle and didn't fight and has not stepped forward once in any of their missions to work as a group or fight until she had to)
And Shure (in the manga) wakes up and makes them sit in a different car of the train with bariyons on their laps as punishment. Konekomaru continues to stress, Ryuuji tells him to chill, Shiemi continues to hate herself, and Izumo continues to be purposefully cruel.
The bariyons get aggressive and one pins Shiemi to the ground. Rin does Rin and burns it without warning, freaking everyone out because wow! Blue flames are just suddenly everywhere. Ryuuji interferes because again, his temple was devastated by Blue flames and he has no reason to think they can behave differently and he is nothing if not determined to protect and help his team at all times.
Shiemi realizes Rin still has control of them and tells everyone to relax, and they do.
The flames are put out and Rin immediately attacks Ryuuji.
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Rin demands trust and honestly, I could understand if he was unaware that he'd caused mayhem in the forest and tried to lunge for them, but if he was aware then he has to be smoking those flames of his because there is no reason to trust him at this point. He's lied (he didn't have a choice but they don't know that and reasons do not negate that a lie happened and we are now in the lies arc) and he has shown he is dangerous and that Demon Kings kind of follow him and will attack indiscriminatingly. (It's not like they know Amaimon is not allowed to kill them.)
Rin knows he won't hurt them and thinks that should be enough. No one else knows that they can believe this at this point. Ryuuji explains that Blue Flames have killed a lot of his people and that he can't trust someone who endanger his family. It is once again Kyoto he is thinking about and Kyoto he is worried about. They are on a train to Kyoto where Blue Flames destroyed a lot and now they're bringing the one guy with Blue Flames there and he keeps flaming up so it seems like what little he still has there is going to be devoured by flames.
Rin says basically, sorry that happened but it has NOTHING to do with me. This is a naïve thing to say and while technically right, is missing the point of what Ryuuji said. I can't trust you because you haven't shown me I can trust those deadly flames with you and they have absolutely devastated my home before.
The fight amps up more -- and again, Rin was the aggressor. They're both hot headed but he's the one that grabbed Ryuuji, not the other way around, and in a fairly close way to how Amaimon had grabbed Ryuuji and that can't be helping things. The fight gets louder and Konekomaru bravely intervenes and grabs both of their arms and tells them to stop. A bariyon choses that moment to cause chaos and try to kill Ryuuji and Shura has had enough and kills it but kindly doesn't kill the exwires for interrupting her nap twice over and the conversation is left entirely unresolved.
And for the next long stretch, they will not have that conversation resolved. They get back, Ryuuji is immediately accosted by his powerhouse of a mom, Torako Suguro who is pissed, and finds out that his dad has been absent and that things are going south fast in Kyoto.
From this moment on, Ryuuji will have one goal and that is to find his dad and save what few temple members he can. He wants to reunite his temple--that has always been his goal--and his dad's failure to lead and potential at being the traitor in their midst is causing what few of his sect are left to fracture even more. He is around Rin a few times in the next chapter, but his mind is never on Rin or their drama. He is wholly focused on Kyoto and the drama here.
This is where a lot of people misunderstand him. He is not avoiding Rin, he simply has a much bigger priority, as he should. This is his family and this temple is everything to him. We find out that Tatsuma has thrown their reputation in the mud and that he has caused a lot of their sect to abandon the temple, and that he has fought Ryuuji's hopes and goals every step of the way, and that he was the first to laugh at Ryuuji (which we know is an immensely traumatic memory for him) and that Tatsuma is actively working to avoid Ryuuji, and that he was at the Keep during the break in, and that several members of the Sect absolutely think Tatsuma is the traitor.
And if he isn't the traitor, then he is still failing them and running away from his duties. What's worse, we see a few of the sect (Mamushi specifically) even place some of the blame of the failure on Ryuuji.
Rin is seen working with the Kyoto trio on some kind of chore after they arrive, and actively being ignored and mistreated by the teachers. They absolutely deserve ire for the way they treat Rin like he's already gone feral and refuse to let him help.
Rin is being ostracized and thinks everything happening here is about him. He thinks the others are ignoring him and that they're upset about him. They're largely just... Not. Izumo and Shiemi are put on helping the large volume of patients and from what we see, Izumo doesn't chat with Rin again after the bus.
Shiemi sees this as a way to not let people down (she thinks she let everyone down in the forest. That it was her fault and she isn't good enough or strong enough or just enough to be their friends. Probably partly because the one friend she thinks she has is a bully.) and dives hard into work. She still doesn't know what to say to Rin and freezes up a lot.
That leads to a fantastic scene in chapter 18 with Izumo and Shiemi in the garden and Shiemi positively sobbing about being a useless friend and not being strong enough to help like she wants and Izumo telling her she's really strong and able to talk about friends and her emotions without getting embarrassed and that she's stubborn and strong as a weed and Shiemi, who has clearly not gotten enough praise in her life just glows and determines to be as strong and stubborn as a weed.
It's a vitally important moment for both these girls. Izumo is kind and doesn't turn it cruel and sees how strong Shiemi is and helps Shiemi see herself as strong too. Izumo has done a lot to break Shiemi down but she is also, arguably, the one that did the most to build her back up too.
She dives back into her work to the point she inspires Rin to try harder on his own training because he is lazy and she isn't, and he admires that.
At this point Shima has decided that to keep going on his own path in the laziest way he can manage that ignoring Rin was too much work so they're just going back to before and acting like nothing ever happened. Rin is drunk and insults him in this with the list.
Rin confronts Konekomaru later and finds out what happened to Konekomaru's family and Konekomaru begs Rin to leave Ryuuji alone because he is dealing with a lot of stress. Rin (correctly for once) realizes that Konekomaru will absolutely be his friend if he can show that his flames aren't a danger. If he puts in the work to get control of those, he can be friends. Rin goes off determined to do that.
Ryuuji and Shiemi are now the only two who haven't had their Rin moment, and they firmly busy in their own stuff. Rin still thinks they're avoiding him because they're mad at him and blaming him for the Blue Night stuff and they're simply not. At no point does he ever really seem to get that he's assuming stuff incorrectly about all this either.
Ryuuji does some not at all stealthy spying and follows Juuzou to the Keep to find most of the staff unconscious and gets himself in the middle of the theft of the Impure King's last eye. Mamushi betrays them to Toudou and states that it is because of Tatsuma that she is. That he has failed them as a leader and conspired with Mephisto by giving away the sacred relic of their temple (Kurikara) and letting the son of Satan have it.
She is not entirely wrong, and she is not entirely right. She is very wrong about Toudou, but they both escape to cause more havoc elsewhere and leave Ryuuji to finally catch up to Tatsuma.
We have been building for several chapters at this point that Ryuuji and Tatsuma do not have a great relationship. There is a lot of frustration and confusion and hurt in it. A lot of history and pain and Ryuuji is trying to get his dad to tell him anything. To deny the allegations if they're not true and do something to help with the fact that one of their members just left.
Tatsuma refuses to. We later learn why and it sucks, but it doesn't lesson the hurt in this moment. Being unable to explain something does not mean that your actions, justified or not, did not and do not hurt someone.
Ryuuji, seeing his dad turn his back on him without even a hint of an explanation to all the terrible accusations and all the pain and trauma around them, pleading for some kind of explanation to anything, plays the only card he has left.
His father has already all but disowned him for the cram school, so he returns that. He warns that if Tatsuma leaves now and like this, he might as well not bother to come back because Ryuuji will no longer (can no longer) consider him his father.
Rin, who has kind of snuck into this dramatic meeting, overhears this and has a violent trauma induced reaction.
Now, Rin has trauma and it is entirely understandable why hearing those words would make him react dramatically. That does not excuse the violence he reacts with. You enduring trauma and having triggers and painful emotions does not give you the right to inflict violence on someone else.
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And inflict violence Rin very much does. Once again flaming up some too, not at all in control.
This was not Rin's fight to get in the middle of. I will die on the hill that others do not get to determine what a child can and cannot do in their own parent and child relationship. Others can offer opinions and advice, but they do not get to order or dictate the relationship. They are not part of it and cannot possibly know what it is actually like. This is the same sort of mentality that tells people who have had to make the immensely difficult choice to go no contact with a parent that they should try and make up because it's hard to be a parent like it's easy to be a child and under the parent's control and guidance. Ryuuji has a lot of reasons to have made that ultimatum, and while we will learn a lot more about why Tatsuma has failed as a parent and leader, the reason does not absolve or eliminate the failures. He has failed Ryuuji multiple times and at this moment, tied by a cruel fate, he has to fail and hurt him again.
He did not have to choose to do it this way though, and do not forget that.
And Rin knows nothing about their relationship. He is putting his own reactions and motivations on Ryuuji who does not have them.
Rin is in the wrong in this moment. I will not back down from that either. Rin hurt his friend and revealed himself, and in the next panels defied Shura and continued to try and fight Ryuuji and make him understand that you can't disown your father because you can't take that back--
And it is in this fight that Ryuuji is first made aware that when Rin talks about his dad, he has not been talking about Satan. Rin was raised by someone else. They still don't learn the real story yet, we're not really told when or if they do get the full story about Shirou, but you can see him realize something happened to whoever raised the twins, and it was bad.
Rin gets knocked out and arrested and Ryuuji is sent to ice his swollen face and he will have the injuries Rin inflicted on him here through the entire rest of the arc.
And I am now over 5k words so I'll try and wrap this up some. I'm going to have to post the Yukio half on another post xD
Rin gets a letter that tells him that Tatsuma and Shirou were in cahoots about the sword (look, Mamushi was partially correct) but that the sword did not have Karura in it like it was supposed to. He also finds out that Tatsuma wants him to kill the Impure King. Mephisto then shows up and locks him away giving him a death sentence. Yukio has to leave with that knowledge to try and stop the rising Impure King before he infects and kills all of Japan.
Tatsuma goes and shows that he had made a pact with Karura and that the Suguro line has always guarded the secret that the Impure King was kept sealed under the temple by Karura. That were he to be reunited with his eyes, he would rise again. Toudou wants to get Karura so he did all of this to get Tatsuma to reveal Karura.
Tatsuma is stabbed through the back of the throat and Karura mostly devoured, and the Impure King is rising and reforming and going to poison everyone.
Shura gives the letter to Ryuuji and Kurikara and offers the camouflage ponchos to go break Rin out if they want, and Ryuuji and Shiemi are the only two who do not hesitate for even a moment to go and rescue him.
The jail freezes them and gives nonviolent Shiemi a moment to shine. She confronts her own self doubts and goes to find Rin and coaxes him back out, showing she knows he won't be a danger to her by embracing him and his flames. She realizes that her fears and self loathing caused her to only think about her own emotions, and not how he was feeling (something Rin could also very much stand to do) and she immediately switches to comforting and encouraging him.
Rin busts the prison with style, Konekomaru says he's ready to be friends, Shima and Izumo state they're only here on Shura's orders, and
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Rin still doesn't get it. He still has no idea what Ryuuji is dealing with or why he's upset about any of it. He has spent this entire arc trying to find his dad and trying to help the sect, and failing every step of the way. He has tried to help everyone around him in any way he can and show that he can be depended upon and trusted.
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Rin has never opened up to any of them. Rin demands that they lean on him and listen to his advice and accept him entirely, and gives them nothing in return for that vulnerability and openness. He doesn't talk about his own life or emotions or thoughts. He keeps conversations light and easy and doesn't even tell them that he was raised by a guy that's now dead. He shoves himself in conversations and dynamics that don't concern him all the while demanding trust, and then will not let them in in return.
Ryuuji is seeing that so clearly now and it is hurting. How can you trust a guy who won't trust you back? How can you trust someone you thought was one thing who never showed you who they really are and still won't be open and real with you? Who has enough power at every moment to level half the world and is emotional and stupid and impulsive and won't be real with you?
Rin has been under a death sentence and told he had to keep his heritage a secret, but even outside of that, he really doesn't talk about himself. He doesn't open up to his friends like he expects them to open up to him. Neither brother is good at expressing themselves (and a lot of that is because they weren't raised to be that way. Shirou did his best but had a lot of limitations too.)
He demands they trust him wholeheartedly but will not trust them in return. Or he hasn't shown in any way that he does trust them.
This arc, at its core, is about lies and how those and trauma can and do make relationships messy. How even ancestral drama can go down the line and get us caught in cycles of it. But it also shows that we can do the work to get past them, and that it's messy and painful and loud and not always easy to see what's right and wrong while we do it, but we can get past it and move on together. We can make terrible mistakes and seek forgiveness and understanding and sympathy or empathy and try to do better. We can laugh in a field of disease and trust entirely on someone because we know we can even if the world is falling down around us and it doesn't make sense.
Neither Rin nor any of the exwires or Yukio are a villain in this arc. Even Mamushi and her cruel words and betrayal are not a villain in this arc. Everyone acts kindly and selfishly or in fright or confusion or in motives that are entirely misunderstood. They're all dragging their own emotional baggage with them and they're all getting tangled up and not listening, but they still strive on and strive to understand and talk it out when they can, because they care about each other and getting it right.
To act like it's as simple as "The exwires bullied Rin!" is naïve and robs Kato's story of so much richness and deprives the later arcs of so much character value she built starting here. Kato does a beautiful job of building all of her characters and giving them rich personalities and motivations and flaws and she shows us them through Rin sometimes, but she also gives them a lot of time without him at the forefront. She gives him flaws too, and a lot of wrongs, and that's why he's such a powerful and alive protagonist for our series.
You're free to dislike who you like and love who you like, but I do so encourage anyone who thinks the exwires were villains in this arc to really dive into the manga. Read through all the scenes and ask yourself why did Kato show that? Why is this character thinking that? Why did the character react that way? Kato gives us so much richness to dive into and to see so many people not do that and to take such quick and often incorrect or fragmented interpretations of the events is heart breaking and honestly robbing those people of a really good story.
Rin was wrong in assuming that everyone hated him and assuming that it was as simple as trust. He was wrong to try and force things and to try and force his own interpretations on others. It was only once he started to listen and hear what they themselves were saying that things got better. Now some of this is just the mess of the anime between season one and the start of season two, but a lot is just misinterpretation by the fandom. It can happen to anyone, but that does not mean it suddenly becomes factual because of that.
It's been at least six thousand words and I don't know if this came across as clearly as I wanted it to, but I hope it encourages those who haven't to dive in deeper. It's a rich arc with so many fascinating moving parts in it. I've barely brushed on Tatsuma, Juuzou, Mamushi, and Mephisto in this and their plots are all entirely interesting and add so much! Expect a Yukio and Izumo and possibly Shiemi follow up at some point, lol. Probably just as long though I'll try to be more concise.
If you read this far, thank you! You deserve to crash with the rest of the exwires in Toraya on a nice futon.
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leclercsluvs · 7 months ago
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CL16/DR3 | Already Over | smau
part 8 | masterlist
an: i'm thinking this is only going to be like 1 more part. i have no clue what else to make happen tbh, dates/timestamps aren't important, pleas ignore them pairing: charles leclerc x fem!reader, daniel ricciardo x fem!reader
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charles_leclerc
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liked by pierregasly, maxverstappen1 and 3.189.461 others charles_leclerc wish we could go back in time ❤️ tagged: yourusername
danielricciardo watch it.
maxverstappen1 you're doing everything huh?
charles_leclerc ofc i am. i love her. yourbff fuck off. you had your chance and you fucked up big time. yourfriend not you doing all this AFTER she's moved on. stop fucking with her head dude. pierregasly don't listen to them mate, show her how much you love her! yoursister pierre shut the fuck up, or i will make sure you are not able to drive next weekend <3
tayslover it rubs me the wrong way that he's posting like this while she's in a relationship. also i really need her to be on top of her game when she tours with THE queen.
y/nsfclklore not you putting one above the other 🤨 swiftesversion because taytay is above everyone 💁‍♀️ softy/n/n nahhh they're literally friends??? why put them against each other
yourusername
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liked by taylorswift, landonorris and 3.156.442 others yourusername had a fantastic time the first night of the eras tour! thank you to everyone who cheered loudly for me, i appreciate all the support 🥹 tagged: taylorswift
danielricciardo looked gorgeous, sad i couldn't be there tonight
yourbff girlll you're shining!! we'll meet you at the next stop!! ❤️
yourusername no way!! who's "we"?? 🤨 yourfriend don't worry it doesn't involve your stupid ex yourbff it does involve someone else tho 👀 maxverstappen1 i wonder who
y/nswrld can't wait to see you soon!
taylorswift you were amazing! glad i decided to bring you with me
yourusername thank you so much for the opportunity! <3
danielricciardo
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liked by yourusername, maxverstappen1 and 4.009.877 others danielricciardo stay hydrated folks! tagged: yourusername
yourusername you really had to include that first pic? 😭
danielricciardo ofc, i gotta get the message out there yourusername blocked.
landonorris you went and didn't invite me? kinda rude
danielricciardo sorry there wasn't space on the plane 🤷 yourbff do you have a private plane? landonorris yeah, why? yourfriend then we'll invite you the next time!
yourusername
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liked by charles_leclerc, yourbff & 4.132.806 others yourusername this has been an amazing time! thank you so much for all the love!
danielricciardo you were amazing! loved seeing you do what you love
yourusername so happy you were able to be there! ❤️ yourbff 🤮 danielricciardo you were the one to bring me? 🤨 yourbff doesn't mean you have to be this cute yourusername aww you called us cute
charles_leclerc you looked gorgeous!
nvrris.ae did she cover 'hopelessly devoted to you' every night? or just the nights daniel was there?
scfty/n every night! but she did seem to sing it with more passion and with a bigger smile on her face whenever her friends or daniel was in the crowd nvrris.ae that's really cute honestly
charles_leclerc
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liked by carlossainz55, maxverstappen1 & 4.283.800 others charles_leclerc i was told to wait with making this statement until the whole situation had died down a little, but going to see yourusername live in sydney, i realized i'm done waiting. i love this woman with all my heart. i will do anything to win back your trust. i would stand in the rain for hours watching you do what you love, i would quit racing, i would go through fire and ice, and of course my pr manager is fired. i am truly and incredibly sorry for what i put you through, and i understand if you are never going to fully forgive me. i miss you, and i love you. and i hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me at some point. i know you're currently in a relationship, and i'm not asking you to drop that. i just want a second chance. i want a fresh start if you think that would be possible. i hope from the bottom of my heart, that we can start over. i already told you exactly what happened over text, and i talked with everyone in the team, they are more than willing to also tell the story from their perspective. tagged: yourusername
leclrcs this is honestly the cutest little statement ever
scuderia.sf get heeer
danielricciardo watch out.
charles_leclerc i understand the two of you are in a relationship, and i'm not going to fight you, i simply just want forgiveness. i'm not interested in breaking the two of you up
yoursister are you being fr right now??? she's over you. you didn't have to make a public statement or anything at all???
charles_leclerc as i stated, i'm not expecting her to forgive me right now, right this second. i'm expecting it's going to take time, and i'm gonna giver her all the time she needs. yoursister you better sleep with one eye open.
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danielricciardo
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liked by yourusername, yourbff & 3.458.124 others danielricciardo cool date idea: ask your girlfriend what she wants for dinner and then buy her favorite snacks too tagged: yourusername
yourusername best date to ever exist
yourbff wow what about that time i made you a homecooked meal? yourusername you almost burned down my house??? yourbff um i thought we agreed to not bring that up yourusername no you agreed with yourself to never bring that up, i never agreed.
landonorris and i wasn't invited because???
danielricciardo i didn't know we dated? yourusername care to explain yourself? landonorris yeah care to explain yourself? danielricciardo woah hold on how many people am i dating???
mayasheart aww this is such a cute idea! hold on i'm writing it down
-
part 9
tag list: @exotic-iris13 @callsignwidow @destinyg237 @lanadelray1989
181 notes · View notes
littlestarbigsky · 16 days ago
Text
i took a poll like a week ago on which wip i should finish and this is what the collective decided :)
first of all, this is much longer than i thought it would be lol but also ngl i almost wrote this as chetcherrycola but fear not cherrycola is alive and well in this one🫡 (looking back she’s hardly in it at all lol but trust she is there‼️)
… soda has appendicitis :p
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“where’s your brother?” darry asked ponyboy as he slumped down at the kitchen counter, pulling a piece of toast onto a plate from the platter in the middle of the counter and starting to butter it.
pony pointed to their room, “still in bed. think he’s getting sick, he was burning like a furnace all last night.”
one side of darry’s mouth pulled back and he hummed, “i’ll go check on him. i cut up some of the fruit, you should have some of it before you go.”
“fine,” pony rolled his eyes, taking the serving spoon and putting some of the strawberries onto his plate next to his toast.
“pepsi-cola, it’s almost 7, time to rise and shine!” darry called, wiping his hands on the dish towel thrown over his shoulder and pushing the bedroom door open with his hip.
the room felt stiflingly hot, whether or not that had to do with soda potentially being sick or with the temperature outside finally starting to warm up again, darry wasn’t sure. either way, soda had the covers pulled up over his head.
“soda, c’mon…” darry yanked the sheet back, and his heart dropped clean into his stomach.
soda was laying on his side, drenched in sweat and as pale as the sheet he was tangled up in. his eyes were squeezed shut from the pain and he was desperately clutching his stomach. darry could hear his breath hitching in his throat, his asthmatic lungs trying to compensate for the crying. he flinched as darry pulled the sheet back and looked up at him with the most desperate and terrified eyes darry had ever seen.
“soda…” darry dropped to his knees next to the bed and brushed some of the hair off of soda’s sweaty forehead. “baby, what’s the matter?”
“i don’t know,” soda gasped, and even that seemed like it took far too much effort for comfort. he let out a strangled sounding sob and curled in on himself even tighter.
“hey hey kiddo, look at me, please,” darry grabbed soda’s face and almost had to pull his hands back when he felt the fever. “jesus christmas, pepsi, you’re on fire.”
“please,” soda pleaded, and it broke darry’s heart clean in two. “i don’t know what’s happening, dar, please, it hurts…”
“i know, i know, it’s okay,” darry was already standing up to get his boots on and round up ponyboy to take soda to the hospital. “just hang on for a second, we’re gonna get you help.”
he sprinted from the room to his own, grabbing the first pair of shoes he could find and racing to get them on.
“pony!” he roared, and pony hurried into his room, still with the blanket over his shoulders but at least in his day clothes. “go get my keys and start the truck, we’re taking soda to the hospital.”
“what? what’s wrong with him? can we even afford a hospital?” pony asked, his words slurring slightly with sleepiness.
“ask me that once we get soda help, alright?” darry huffed, finishing tying his boots and sprinting past pony and into their room to get soda.
he grabbed a blanket to wrap soda up in and got to lifting him into his arms. it was no easy task, it seemed like moving soda even the littlest bit was excruciating, but after a few minutes and many muttered apologies, darry managed to maneuver him up and into his arms. he could feel soda shaking and sobbing as he sprinted to the truck.
ponyboy had the truck running and was in the passenger seat, waiting for darry as he laid soda across the front seat with his head in pony’s lap.
“darry, his fever-”
“i know! darry cried, putting the truck in gear, slamming his foot down, and effectively launching them down their street.
pony tried his best to hold soda still as darry took turns too fast and had to stop abruptly, but the vibrations of the truck combined with tulsa’s far from perfect roads made for lots of bumping. pony ran his fingers through sofa’s sweaty hair, holding him close and trying his best to keep him calm, but the tears didn’t stop, and darry could feel them in his own eyes, too.
“soda,” pony pleaded, his voice high and breaking. “soda can you try to take a deep breath? please, you’re gonna start wheezin, and then you won’t be able to tell anyone what’s wrong.”
darry could feel his throat going tight from trying not to cry, he could hear the tears in pony’s terrified voice and the wheeze in soda’s lungs and he just put his foot down to get there faster.
the second darry had pulled up outside of the emergency room, ponyboy sprinted in to tell someone what was happening as darry hopped out of the truck and tried to gently get soda back into his arms. it was harder now that he was in the truck as opposed to in his bed, but it seemed like soda was in so much pain that it really didn’t matter what darry did to try to keep him comfortable.
he sprinted through the door, meeting three nurses who were already wheeling a gurney towards the door. it was mayhem when darry set him down, one nurse immediately starting to tie a band around his arm so they could start an iv as soon as they could, one had a clipboard and was taking his vitals and shaking her head every time she wrote down a number, and the last one was shuffling around to get them moving in the right direction.
“honey, can you tell us what’s hurting you?” the nurse with the clipboard asked as they started to wheel him back through the big metal doors.
“my stomach!” soda wailed, and all three of them exchanged solemn looks.
“you’re the parent or guardian?” one of them asked darry.
he couldn’t answer at first, he was so dazed and confused that he could only sputter out, “he’s my brother.”
the nurse asked again, seeming to understand the jumble his head was in, “are you the guardian, honey?”
darry just nodded numbly, and followed them back through the maze of hallways and sterile smelling rooms until they stopped and wheeled him into a room. they gave him an iv and started the pain meds, but soda was so worked up and panicked that they had to start giving him oxygen.
darry sat in the corner next to soda’s head, brushing his hair back and trying to keep him calm and comfortable while the team worked on his little brother. he was distantly aware that somewhere in the fray, they had lost ponyboy, but darry had long since realized that pony dealt with things better when he was alone. and he was a smart kid; he would either stay in the waiting room or be resourceful enough to find their room. either way, darry didn’t need to worry about pony, not when soda was still sobbing as the nurses tried to get his pain under control while they ruled out all kinds of terrible conditions.
it wasn’t until an hour later when soda let out a truly horrible scream of pain, despite being pumped full of pain medicine, that the doctors and nurses seemed to come to any sort of conclusion.
the doctor pulled darry aside and said quickly, “soda most likely has appendicitis, and with how much pain he’s in, we think his appendix may have already ruptured. the best treatment option at the moment is to give him an emergency appendectomy.”
“do it,” darry barely let the doctor finish before the words were tumbling out of his mouth. “please, just… help him.”
“we’d like to take him now, we just need you to sign this as his guardian,” the doctor nodded, handing him a clipboard and a pen. darry quickly found the signature page and scribbled down his name. they started wheeling soda back to the operating room, and darry jogged to catch up to them.
“darry?” soda whimpered, and darry ran up next to him and grabbed his hand. “darry, what’s happening?”
darry felt something drop in his stomach, “it’s your appendix, baby, they need to take it out.”
“but that’s a surgery!” soda cried, his breath picking up. “we can’t afford that!”
“shh, don’t you dare worry about that, honey, i just want you to get better,” darry leaned down and pressed a kiss to soda’s forehead.
they made it into an operating room and started to get soda prepped. after checking with him one final time, they pushed the medicine to put him to sleep through his iv.
soda squeezed his eyes shut, “that feels funny…”
“you’re gonna be okay, baby, you’re gonna wake up and feel so much better,” darry whispered to soda, smoothing his hair back. “me and pony are gonna be right there when you wake up. i love you so much, sodapop, you know that, don’t you?”
soda nodded weakly, the anesthesia already starting to work, “love you, dar, and pony, too. i can’t feel anything… ‘s nice…”
“just sleep, baby, it’s okay now,” darry felt a tear slip down his cheek as soda closed his eyes.
“pony?” darry called into the near-empty waiting room as he pushed the doors open. it wasn’t more than five seconds before pony had catapulted himself into his arms. “hey, kiddo, it’s okay.”
“what happened? what’s wrong with soda?” pony cried, clinging to darry. “they said he’s in surgery! what’s going on?”
“honey, how did you know he was in surgery?” darry pushed pony back to hold him at arms length.
“i told him,” a voice behind them answered, and darry whipped around to see cherry standing in her hospital uniform, wringing her hands nervously. “i overheard the page.”
darry could hear the anxiety in her voice. he could see her red-rimmed eyes and shaking shoulders. cherry wasn’t just some soc from the west side, she was his girlfriend. she loved him. she was just as worried about soda as they were.
“c’mere,” darry held out an arm to her and she fell into him. “it’s gonna be okay.”
“what’s wrong with him? why’s he in surgery?” pony asked, still anxious and obviously scared, but a little less frantic.
“the doctor said it’s his appendix,” darry held both of them close as he tried to explain, doing his best to keep his voice even.
cherry gulped, “oh, god.”
“but he’s gonna be okay, right?” pony pulled back from the hug and wiped the tears from his cheeks.
darry squeezed cherry again before letting her go in an attempt to put off answering the question. he straightened up and took a deep breath before saying, “i… we don’t know yet. the doctors are confident and the procedure is straightforward, but if his appendix ruptured already, there could be infections… we just don’t know yet.”
pony bit the inside of his cheek and nodded, keeping his head down and not looking at either of them.
darry could feel the telltale lump rising in his throat and he realized that he was about to cry, too, the delayed panic and fear finally catching up with him.
“pony,” darry’s voice was hoarse and crackling. “do you wanna go back to his room? i can show you where it is…”
pony nodded quickly, accepting the arm darry threw over his shoulder.
darry turned around and met cherry’s bloodshot eyes, “you’re on the clock, aren’t you?”
“i’m done in forty-five minutes,” she shrugged. “i’ll meet you back there when he’s out.”
darry started to walk with pony, pushed the huge set of double doors open and fell into step with his brother, winding through the hallways of the hospital and finally turning back into the room. with the bed gone, the room seemed massive. it sure hadn’t felt that big with all the people crammed in it twenty minutes ago.
pony started to sink down onto the floor, darry helped keep him on his feet long enough to get them over to the vinyl covered couch in the corner of the room. pony curled up against darry, shaking and crying. he couldn’t even blame ponyboy for being so scared, because truthfully, soda was never the one who scared them whenever he was sick. pony had always been the one to need hospitals and doctors, but soda, if he ever got sick, was able to bounce back after a day or two in bed. aside from small asthma scares every now and again, darry couldn’t think of a time where pony would have ever seen soda sick at all.
he lost track of how long they were there, his baby brother clinging to him like a lifeline and more scared than he had been in a long time, but the sun had risen and was high in the sky by the time the doctor pushed the door open. pony’s head shot up to look at him and darry could feel his heart speeding up, pounding in his throat.
the doctor looked up from his clipboard, taking in the brothers for a moment before his face relaxed into a smile, “everything went perfectly, we have soda in recovery right now.”
pony fell into darry’s shoulder, his hand flying over his mouth.
darry hugged pony to him, still looking up at the doctor, “can we see him?”
the doctor nodded, “you can come with me.”
they hopped up from the couch, pony clutching darry’s arm so hard his fingers started to go numb, and weaved through the maze of hallways behind the doctor. when they found the room, soda was still asleep, his pajamas discarded in favor of a hospital gown. the cannulas were still in place to give him oxygen, but darry found a knot loosening in his chest listening to the monitors beeping, a steady cadence that reminded him that their brother was okay. if nothing else, his heart was still beating.
darry walked over slowly and sat down in the straight-backed chair next to him, grabbing soda’s hand and squeezing it softly, checking the pulse-ox monitor on his finger. pony walked around to the other side, sitting down next to soda on the bed.
“soda…” pony sniffled.
“shh,” darry hushed gently. “let him sleep, kiddo. he needs the rest to get better.”
he reached up and instinctually pressed the back of his hand to soda’s forehead. his fever had gone down, whatever medicine darry had signed off on was working. soda’s eyes began to flutter open. darry sat up quickly, perching on the very end of his chair.
he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before looking over, following the feeling of whoever was holding his hand, “hey dar…”
darry couldn’t help the smile that broke across his face, “hi, baby. have a good sleep?”
“mmm,” he hummed, not really leaning one way or the other. “feels funny, my head’s all spinny.”
“yeah, they’ve got you pretty hopped up on pain meds, kiddo,” darry leaned forward and brushed soda’s hair out of his eyes.
soda slowly turned to look at ponyboy, “hey, honey.”
pony didn’t seem to be able to keep himself together, a few tears slipped down his cheeks as he pulled soda’s hand up to his face. soda opened up his fingers to hold pony’s cheek in his hand, his thumb brushing away the tears. he gestured next to him and scooted over on the bed, hissing slightly as he moved. pony looked worried for a second, but happily laid down next to soda, his head resting on his brother’s shoulder.
“careful, pepsi, don’t wanna tear those stitches… you feeling alright? comfortable?” darry asked quickly, the euphoria of soda being alright beginning to wear off.
“‘m tired, darry,” he was exhausted. darry could hear in his voice, even if his goofy smile was firmly back in place.
“you can sleep, we’ll be here when you wake up,” darry sighed as soda threw an arm around pony. “cherry might be in soon, too.”
“really?” soda smiled, his eyes already drooping. “she’s gonna be so mad at me… she probably worried herself sick…”
“you’ll be fine, kiddo, i think she’ll understand. just rest, you need it.”
darry smiled, squeezing soda’s hand and smiling at his two baby brothers, both of them already almost asleep.
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tgmsunmontue · 3 months ago
Text
Peer reviewed
3k Hangster (one-shot). Mature (to explicit maybe?)
Secretly married Hangster in an academic environment. Outsider POV then Hangster back and forth with a 5+1 feel (“feel” because it’s a 9+1). This was inspired by one of the academics I manage/work with who came into my office and declared “I haven’t spoken to him in three years and I’m not about to start now!” and I just sat there and went… why are you so proud of being apparently incapable of being baseline professional with a colleague?
…            …            …
FIRST TIME
                “Oh my god! Have you heard what’s happening down in the engineering staff offices?”
                “They haven't set fire to the place again have they?”
                “That was one time. But no, two of our new staff have arrived and it sounds like they’ve about to have a brawl in the corridor.”
                “Seriously?”
                “Yeah! Want to go walk past under the premise of getting a coffee?”
                “Definitely.”
                Jane and Sarah stand and watch. Professor Bradshaw and Professor Seresin are standing almost nose-to-nose, nostrils flaring, eyes flashing in anger and any second one of them is just going to push the other, and the other is then going to be justified in taking a swing. Sarah can see it all playing out in her minds’ eye and she wonders exactly what has set them off. She wonders if this would be a new record for HR, for people to get fired before they even officially start. Because physical altercations are definitely a firable offense, she knows because it’s happened before.
                And they’ve put so much work in finding these professors. They had met them both when they came for their interviews, about a week apart. She’d had to shmooze and try to sell the University and location just as much as the job. Their school might not have big student numbers, but their research is world class and both Seresin and Bradshaw bring a lot to the table in terms of research capabilities and student supervision and mentorship. Now if they could just get along with each other.
                Then Professor Seresin says something under his breath, too quiet for anyone else to hear, but Professor Bradshaw goes bright red, shoves Professor Seresin and stalks off, so it can’t have been anything good.
                Okay then.
                Maybe they shouldn’t have placed the new guys in offices side-by-side thinking they might get on with one another.
…            …            …
                “Do you feel better for a nap?”
                “Fuck you… but yes. And I’m sorry I lost my temper. I was just tired and –”
                “Hungry and stressed and jetlagged. Yeah babe, I know. Thanks for taking over…”
                “You’re welcome. Although I think everyone assumes we hate each other.”
                “Oh. That’s…”
                “Well, we weren’t going to advertise the fact we’re married.”
                “No. But… to have everyone think we hate each other?”
                “What? It’ll just be like when we started dating… everyone getting sick of our shit and wanting to bang out heads together.”
                “Jake… we were post-docs then. We’re professionals now.”
                “Speak for yourself. I plan on pretending we’re holding a grudge about who got the better office.”
                “Jake, you got the better office.”
                “And you can hold a grudge better than anyone I know. So it works perfectly. Also you’re going to spend more time in the workshop or lab and I spend more time in the front of fucking screen running models so it makes sense that I get the nicer office…”
                “You didn’t raise either of those points when we were fighting earlier…”
                “Well, I knew telling you I wanted to fuck you on my brand new desk would shut you up.”
                “You’re lucky I love you.”
---------------------------
SECOND TIME
                It’s a networking event, mainly aimed at making industry partners aware of what research is currently being undertaken and what potential opportunities there are for collaboration. She’s done her best with the program, to ensure Bradley and Jake can avoid each other. Bradley presented first and Jake is almost last. They’re both on a first name basis with her now after the months of working together, she’s helped them both with different aspects of moving to another country however she notes that they still refer to each other by last names. They’re the only ones to still do that.
                On top of that Bradley seems to be trying to maybe kill Jake with the power of his mind, staring at him with heated intensity like his mere presence is an affront to Bradley somehow. She’s noticed his temper gets worse when he’s tired or his blood sugar dips low and has taken to stocking a bowl of candy on her desk, which Bradley seems to take from every afternoon. Maybe she should go and ensure he’s eaten.
…            …            …
                “You’re so good for me baby… way to make a boring work event far more interesting. Thinking about this inside of you all night while you walked around looking so good in your suit. Fuck…”
---------------------------
THIRD TIME
                It’s meant to be a social activity, just a friendly game of badminton or table tennis. Except apparently Bradley and Jake are competitive at even the most benign of social interactions and are currently trying to kill each other using ping pong balls. Other staff are backing away with either fear or simple self-preservation, not wanting to be caught in the cross-fire of whatever this has turned into. The taunts they’re throwing back and forth are a little too barbed to be considered friendly, but not barbed enough to be nasty. Either way, no one seems to be having much fun.
…            …            …
                “Pretty sure we’re not meant to be using the disabled bathroom for sex.”
                “Not my fucking fault you’re so hot I can’t control myself.”
---------------------------
FORTH TIME
                The annual school strategy meeting happens and they just need to keep Bradley and Jake on opposite sides of the room. Her and Jane have got this down to a fine art now, although the idea of trying to keep the two of them in the same room for an entire workday is stretching even their abilities. Fortunately the program leaders for both Jake and Bradley seem to be happy to assist in keeping them separated but also in expediating the material by arranging for half of it to be discussed at a later point. Considering some of the arguing that has already happened it’s a very good thing they don’t have to compete for funding internally.
…            …            …
                “Okay, definitely a benefit of everyone thinking we can’t stand each other, making meetings shorter.”
                “Don’t you feel a little bad that we’re deceiving them?”
                “Did you not hear what I just said?”
---------------------------
FIFTH TIME
                “Professor Bradshaw.”
                “Seresin. What can I help you with?”
                The lack of title is definitely deliberate and if there were guns involved the safety would be off, or the hammer would be getting cocked… Instead Jake is looking amused more than anything else, although there’s a slight hue of pink high on his cheeks which bely his potential anger at the disrespect. It’s not often they’re both in the administration office at the same time, and they’re both gritting their teeth and grimacing. She cannot believe that they’re apparently incapable of being more civil to one another.
                “Just found your phone in the break room and thought I’d bring it up to the office. And here you are…”
                “And here I am…”
                Jake is indeed holding a phone out, pinched between his thumb and forefinger like he might catch something from it. Bradley reaches out a hand to take it and like it’s almost slow motion the phone tumbles from Jake’s fingers just as Bradley is about to take it and it hits the floor.
                “Oops. Sorry. Butter fingers,” Jake says, but he’s smirking and even Sarah is annoyed on Bradley’s behalf. That was clearly deliberate. Bradley is bending to retrieve his phone, rolling his eyes and muttering thanks under his breath, which Sarah decides is far more polite than she’d be.
                “Oh, my pleasure.”
…            …            …
                Jake pushes Bradley up against his office door, locking it and grinning like an idiot as he presses kisses along the curve of Bradley’s jaw.
                “God, you’re such an asshole.”
                “Yeah, but I wanted to see you bend over in those jeans again. Damn Bradley…” Jake says, and he runs a hand over Bradley’s ass again, very appreciative of said ass.
                “Workplace harassment.”
                “You like being harassed by me at work.”
                “Yeah, what do you think that says about my mental state?”
                “That you love me?”
---------------------------
SIXTH TIME
                “Professor Bradshaw won’t be in today. And probably not tomorrow.”
                “Um,” Sarah blinks. “Is he…” Alive? She’s a little scared to ask.
                “He’s got some type of stomach flu, puking and feverish. I said I’d take his classes for him.”
                “That’s… nice of you.”
                “Hmm. I always like it when people owe me favors.”
                Huh. She smiles and nods and decides to send Bradley a message to check in and maybe suggest he doesn’t eat any food that Jake brings him. Just in case.
…            …            …
                “You’re the best.”
                “And you’re adorable.”
                “I’m miserable.”
                “And very adorable with it.”
                “Did you know that Sarah thinks you’re poisoning me?”
                “What? Since when?”
                “She sent me a message saying to be careful about taking anything from you, just in case.”
                Jake rolls his eyes and presses a quick kiss to Bradley’s forehead.
                “If I catch this from you, then you can worry about me poisoning you. But not before then.”
                “Love you too babe.”
---------------------------
SEVENTH TIME
                “I’m really sorry Bradley, it’s just with how late notice it is we can’t find another room anywhere close by. I’ve asked that if another room is made available you’re moved to it immediately.”
                “It’s fine. Really. I don’t mind sharing a room. I promise.”
                “What’s wrong?” Jake asks, coming into the office, and he’s looking at Bradley with narrowed eyes and even when Bradley smiles at Jake all he gets in response is a frown and Bradley simply rolls his eyes, like he finds Jake’s action endearing somehow rather than grossly unprofessional.
                “There weren’t any more rooms available, so I’ve had to place you in the same room. Separate beds though!”
                “I’d rather share with someone I know than a complete stranger,” Bradley says.
                “So I have to put up with him farting and snoring in my room?”
                “Excuse you! Like I don’t have to put up with the same from you!”
                “I’m really sorry Jake, it’s just –”
                “It’s fine. Sorry. Didn’t mean to make you feel bad. It’s not within your control. Bradshaw and I can play nice for a few days I’m sure. Can’t we Bradshaw?”
                “Well, we can certainly try.”
                “That’s the spirit!”
                “We can even share a ride to the airport, seeing as we live in the same apartment building.”
                “Who knows, we might come back best friends.”
                “I think people will just be impressed we both come back alive and don’t kill each other.”
                They walk away in the same direction and Sarah bites a knuckle and looks across at Jane.
                “You know, I think they’re starting to mature. That was almost a civil conversation. They only looked like they wanted to hit each other about half the time…”
…            …            …
                “Yes, hi, we’re here to check in. A room for Jake Seresin and Bradley Bradshaw.”
                “Oh! We’ve actually had a cancellation. There’s another room available. Your assistant was very adamant that if there was a cancellation we moved you to separate rooms.”
                “It’s fine. We’d prefer to share.”
---------------------------
EIGHTH TIME
                “Hi. Can you tell me where to find Professor Seresin’s office?”
                “Aren’t you one of Professor Bradshaw’s students?”
                “Yeah, but he said I’d be best to talk to Professor Seresin, because he knows more.”
                “Really? Hmm. Well, their offices are side by side, so if you’d been looking at the name plates on the doors you would have noticed you had to walk past Professor Seresin’s office to get here.”
                “Oh. Okay then. Thank you.”
                Sarah turns to Jane, eyes wide and disbelieving look on her face.
                “Do you think they’re thawing toward one another?”
                “Who knows? Maybe that conference they both went to forced them to get on?
                Later, when they’re walking back to the office from their lunch break Jake and Bradley are arguing in the corridor and Sarah lets out a sigh and shrugs. Things had been looking so promising.
…            …            …
                “No Bradley, I stand by what I told the student. I do have a better understanding of the measurement and applications for sensors. I build the fucking circuits and run models out my ears before I even reach the build stage.”
                “Yeah, I know you do, but it’s a final year capstone project. Not a Masters or PhD. You’re overthinking it and making it far bigger than it needs to be. You overwhelmed him with your enthusiasm. I wasn’t telling you no, I was just needing you to dial it down.”
                “Oh.”
                “Yeah. I know. Lucky I love you.”
---------------------------
NINTH TIME
                “Oh, they definitely looked like they’d been pushing each other around.”
                “Seriously? At least they’re smart enough to never do it where there are witnesses. Otherwise it would be an HR nightmare. Do you think there’s maybe something more there though?”
                “What do you mean?”
                “Well… I got the receipt for the hotel where they stayed, and they ended up staying in the same room. By choice. I know there was an extra room because I phoned up the morning they were meant to be checking in, and there had been a cancellation. But they decided not to use it.”
                “Okay. That is odd.”
                “Plus there was one time I got mail for Jake Seresin-Bradshaw. Do you think they’ve gone and joined forces for some type of research?”
                “More likely gone halves on a subscription of some type. Those things are like, ridiculously expensive. Their research kind of overlaps right? It’s why they knew each other… didn’t they do their undergraduate degrees at the same University?”
…            …            …
                “A love bite Bradley? Really?”
                “Yep. Now you match about half your first-year students.”
                “You’re such an asshole.”
                “Mmm. I do work very hard at it.”
---------------------------
TENTH TIME
                “Jake. Fantastic presentation. Just wondering if I could maybe interest you in a drink?”
                Sarah doesn’t give the person asking much of a chance. Jake is always so very calm and aloof at these types of events, perfectly pleasant and professional for the most part. Except when it comes to Bradley, although it’s been a couple of years now and their banter back-and-forth could almost be classified as friendly.
                “A drink to talk about a potential professional partnership?” Jake asks, smile bland and not reaching his eyes.
                “Well, no,” their voice drops lower. “More a potential personal relationship…?”
                “I think my husband might have something to say about that, and also I'm not at all interested.”
                What the actual fuck Sarah thinks to herself. Since when has Jake been married? And to declare it quite loudly in a room full means there’s no back tracking.
                “Oh. Sorry. I didn’t realize you were… unavailable. You’ve never mentioned a husband before.”
                “No, I haven’t. But we have been married for coming up to five years.”
                Five years!!! Sarah thinks to herself.
                “You called?” Bradley asks, voice dry and Sarah cannot fucking believe it.
                “Hi. Yes. I did. Ready to go home?”
                “Ready when you are.”
                Sarah needs to reassess every time she remembers them interacting, because they’re still looking at each other, but now that she knows they’re married it puts a whole different lens on why that level of intensity might be there in the gaze they’re sharing.
                Oh.
                They’ve been eye-fucking each other.
                During meetings, events, social get togethers… when they’ve been pushing each other around.
                Oh.
                Right.
                Good for them.
…            …            …
                “What made you decide to declare our matrimonial state tonight?” Bradley asks, and it’s a struggle to talk, Jake’s mouth on his neck sucking, biting and kissing. His fingers have already undone the buttons of Bradley’s shirt and pushed it off, now working on his belt.
                “Novelty had worn off. I want the novelty of being able to hold your hand, or kiss you if I want to or…”
                “Or simply say we’re married?”
                “Yeah. That too.”
THE END
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alotofpockets · 1 year ago
Text
Spilled coffee | Natasha Romanoff
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Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Reader
Prompts: "Here, let me help." & "Take my jacket."
Warnings: Bad work environment, and a slightly suggestive ending.
A/n: A special thank you to @catasha for helping me with the direction of this fic 💗
Masterlist | Marvel masterlist | Words: 2.7k
Whoever made it so that you would be in charge of getting the staff coffee before the Monday morning meeting with the big bosses, was currently your worst enemy. The line at the coffee shop was long, and moving slowly. You were looking at your watch every five seconds, knowing that you were going to be screwed if you were late to the meeting. 
Finally it was your turn, “Hi, sorry, I have a big order.” The barista shrugs, “I’ll be here all day anyways, what can I get for you?” You read out all the orders from the note in your phone, and she starts working on them right away. You thank her and with five minutes on the clock, you exit the coffee shop, two trays filled with coffee cups in your hands. 
Out of nowhere someone's body runs into your side, it takes all of your focus to keep the coffees in your hand from spilling. You manage to successfully keep the eight cups upright without spilling a drop, however that couldn’t be said about the person that ran into you. Their coffee dripped from your shoulder down the sleeve of your blazer. The thickness of the blazer luckily prevents the hot liquid from touching your skin. 
You look up to apologize to the stranger. You hadn’t seen them coming, so it might have been your fault, despite the fact that you were the one covered in the spilled coffee. “Watch where you’re going.” He nearly shouts your way before rushing off, the now empty cup thrown on the floor. You shake your head at the angry stranger, as you look around for somewhere to place your trays. 
“Here, let me help.” The voice is coming from behind you. A woman approaches you with napkins in her hand, she must have seen what happened. She takes the trays from your hands, and gives you the napkins in exchange. “Thank you.” You smile at the stranger, her kindness a stark contrast to that of your previous stranger encounter. “Which direction are you headed in?” She asks as you throw away the napkins, and the empty cup that the man had dropped, into a nearby trash can. “The offices in that direction.” You point in the direction of your office building. “Oh, me too. Can I walk with you?” The woman intrigued you, so you told her, “Yes, of course, I am kind of in a rush though.” She smiles and hands you back only one of the trays, carrying the other one for you. “All good, we can talk on the way.” 
The walk was short, you hoped to spend more time with the beautiful stranger, but you also knew that if you were going to be any later than you already were, you would most likely get fired. You arrive in front of your office building, seeing your reflection in the glass makes you sigh loudly, “My boss is going to actually kill me.” Without a second thought the woman places down the tray she was holding on the steps to the building. “Take my jacket.” She was already taking off the jacket before you could decline her offer. Just as you put on her jacket, you’re buzzed into the building. “I’m sorry, I have to head in right away. Thank you so much, and it was really nice to meet you…” - “Natasha.” She fills in. “Y/n.” You say with a smile before rushing in with the two trays of coffee. 
You rush up the stairs, careful not to spill the coffee, as you quickly make your way to the meeting room. The meeting had already started when you walked in. All eyes were on you, “I’m sorry there was a long line.” Your boss sends you a stern look, “Don’t let this happen again.” You nod, and take your place amongst your coworkers. 
It wasn’t until your lunch break, that you realized you had no way to give Natasha back her jacket. Besides knowing her first name, and that she worked in the same general direction, you didn’t know much about her. You sit down at your desk for the first time this morning, opening up your laptop to start working on one of the cases you were assisting on. 
When you felt like you had gotten a lot of work done, you decided to take a short break, stretch your legs and get a snack. You pocket your wallet and phone, and decide to take a small stroll around the building. The weather was nice out, so it was nice that you were able to take a moment to enjoy it. At the small corner store down the block, you head in and grab a few snacks. As you take out your wallet something falls out of your pocket, you reach down to grab it realizing it’s a business card holder. You pocket it quickly so you can pay, and not hold up the line. 
Once you’re outside, you take the business card holder out of the pockets again, hoping that it would maybe give you a clue as to where to find Natasha. The case was engraved with the letters NR, you open the case and pull out one of the cards. You freeze when you read the card.
Natasha RomanoffCEO, Romanoff Resolute Law
The woman that helped you was the CEO of one of the biggest competitors of the law firm you work at. She had walked you to your office, so she definitely knew you worked for the competitor as well. So, you decide to call the number at the bottom of the card nonetheless. 
“Romanoff Resolute Law, this is Laura speaking, how may I help you today?” You pocket the business cards again, and continue your walk back to your office. “Hi Laura, I’m y/n, is there any way you can transfer me to Natasha? I have some items that I need to return to her.” Laura asks to put you on hold for one moment. You’re almost back at your office when she gets back to you. “Thank you for holding, I’m transferring you now. Have a good day.” You thank her and wish her a good day as well. “Hi y/n, glad to hear that your boss hasn’t killed you.” Natasha jokes on the other side of the phone. You laugh, “Yeah, you’re a total lifesaver, thank you. So, since I was in such a rush this morning, I totally forgot to ask for a way to return your jacket. Luckily I found your business cards in your jacket pocket. So, yeah, I was wondering how I could give you your jacket back.” Natasha smiles at the idea of your face when you saw where she worked. “Well, I’m really glad you found a way to contact me. Would you be down for dinner tonight?” Your heart started beating faster at the thought of having dinner with the beautiful woman. “I don’t usually go out for dinner with the competition but I guess I could make an exception for you.” You joke back with her. “Great, well let me give you my personal number so you can text me when you’re done, and I will pick you up at your office.” 
When you were nearing the end of your workday, you were excited to meet up with Natasha. The woman intrigued you, and no matter if this dinner was just a dinner or a date, you knew that you wanted to get to know her better. You were about to text her when someone knocked on your door, “I need you to go over this case, and have it on my desk by tomorrow morning at 9am, with your notes, and possible strategies to take.” You grunt when your boss is out of the door again before you can even object. Not that objecting would help, you had tried many times, saying that it was unreasonable to let you stay late to do the work. 
Y/n: Hey Natasha, I have to stay later to finish up some work. Maybe we can reschedule? 
Natasha: Hi, not a problem at all, I still have some work to do as well. Text me when you’re done and we can see if we can still grab a bite then?
Y/n: Sounds good, I’ll let you know.
An hour and a half later, you have finally finished all the notes on the case and had two different strategies prepared. You shoot Natasha a quick text to see if she’s still down, and you get an answer almost immediately, telling you that she will meet you in front of your office in ten minutes.
“I know a great place around the corner, want to go there?” She asks after you have greeted each other. “Honestly, I’m starving, so I’m down for anything.” Natasha guides you to the restaurant, it wasn’t anything like you were expecting in this part of town, but you loved it. The restaurant had a homey, and warm feeling. One of the waitresses heads in your direction, “Hey Natasha, it’s good to have you back. Table for two tonight?” Natasha smiles in her direction, “Yes please.” The woman leads you to a table near the window and hands you both a menu. “Thank you, Morgan.”
“So, on a first name basis with the staff, that’s impressive.” You start the conversation back up. “Yeah, I’ve spent quite some long nights at the office here for a quick bite. They have the best food around, in my opinion.” She points out her favorite menu items, and you decide to go for one of them. The two of you order, and fall into conversation easily.
Natasha is the first to ask you about your work. “So, what kind of work do you do for the firm?” You set your glass back down before you answer. “I’m an associate attorney.” Her brows furrow, “What is an associate attorney doing getting coffee for the office?” You shrug, “The secretary quit a week ago, and they haven’t found a replacement yet. Somehow I was assigned to pick up those tasks.” Natasha shakes her head, “That’s horrible, you have your own work to do. They can’t expect you to pick up the secretaries' work as well.” It was nice to finally hear someone being on your side. “Yeah, I’ve been telling them that too but they just won’t listen. Honestly, I get so frustrated by them. I’m working my ass off, even performing tasks outside of my job description, and still I’m the only one not getting promoted.” Natasha listens to you rant about your frustrations, having started out in smaller first herself, she recognized the behavior you were talking about all too well. “Come work for me.”
You freeze at her words. “What?” Maybe you hadn’t heard her correctly. “I mean it, you deserve a better work environment. I’ve been where you’re at, sexist bosses, and all. I believe that I have created a better environment over the years, and we’re always looking for passionate and hard working people. Come work for me.” You cannot believe that she is actually offering you a job right now. “You’re actually being serious?” You ask, still a bit weary. “I am. I would hire you on the spot but I don’t have the right paperwork with me.” She sends you a cheeky smile. You laugh, “I cannot believe a spilled coffee led to a job offer at one of the top law firms in the city.” 
“You’re interested then?” Natasha asks after thanking Morgan for bringing out the food. “Yes, yes I am.” You confirm. “I know today has been a long day but if you want I can give you a tour of the office, see if you’d actually like it, and talk about what we can offer if you decide to sign.” You agree to the offer. But first you enjoy the delicious food, and get to know Natasha better. 
At Romanoff Resolute Law Natasha shows you around the office space, while she tells you a bit about the people that work there. You can instantly tell that she knows these employees as people, and not just as people that work for her, and it gives you a good feeling. “So, that’s it.” She says as the two of you enter her office once more. “Great, so where do I sign.” Natasha laughs, “Don’t you want to hear about salary, and benefits before you sign?” She jokes back. Natasha told you that she could offer you a position as an associate attorney for the time being, with a higher income that you were currently getting, just to get to know the company a bit more, and that if things went well you would be promoted to senior associate attorney in no time. She had listed all the benefits, and honestly it was an offer that you simply couldn’t refuse, even if you were wanting too, which wasn’t the case. 
“There’s one more thing.” Natasha says, once she has written down everything you had just discussed. “I hope that you coming to work for me, doesn’t mean that I can’t ask you on a second date because I would really like to take you on a second date.” You smile at the way she has worded her sentence. “I would really like a second date as well.” 
Four months later, you are thoroughly enjoying working for Romanoff Resolute Law, the work environment was great. Everyone looked out for one another, and you all worked together to get extra work done instead of piling it on the desk of one person. Things with Natasha had been going good as well, after a couple of dates she had asked you to be her girlfriend. Your work environment was so great, that the rest of the employees were simply happy for the both of you. None of the employees assumed you were going to get better treatment since you were in a relationship with your boss, which showed how good of a boss Natasha was to all of them, giving her employees the confidence that they were always treated fairly. 
Laura walked up to your desk, “Natasha wants to see you in her office once you have a moment.” You smile and thank her for letting you know. A little over five minutes later you knock on Natasha’s door. “Y/n, hi, come in.” She smiles and points at one of the chairs for you to take a seat in. You and Natasha had always kept a professional relationship on the workfloor, both agreeing that that was the healthiest way for both your relationship and the company. “I know we’ve already spoken about it in private, but for legal reasons, I want to ask you in a professional setting as well. How are you enjoying your time here?” You tell her that you have loved working for the company, and about how you had found your love for the job again. Natasha listens to you with a smile on her face, so happy that she was able to provide you with a healthy working environment. 
“That’s very good to hear. I want to let you know that we are very happy with your work as well. You’ve shown great progress with the clients and your knowledge of the company, therefore I would like to officially offer you the senior associate attorney position.” Your jaw dropped, of course Natasha had mentioned that if things went well, the promotion would be a possibility, but you had not expected it to be so soon. “Thank you so much, you don’t know how much this means to me.” Natasha nods knowingly, “I’ll have Laura bring you the papers later today. Congratulations, y/n, I know you will continue to make me, and the company, very proud.” 
You stand up, feeling like you’re on cloud nine, you are finally able to accomplish your career goal of climbing up the corporate ladder. Before you open the door to leave Natasha’s office, she comes to stand by your side. “Let’s celebrate tonight, I want to show you just how proud I am of you.” She whispers into your ear, her voice low and lustfull. Her words leave you flustered, as she opens her office door to send you on your merry way. 
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my-little-delusions · 4 months ago
Text
Alone ~ Theseus Scamander x Reader Pt. 1/?
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Pairings: Theseus x Reader, Newt x Reader (Platonic), Leta x Theseus, Leta x Newt, Dumbledore x Reader (platonic)
Summary: You've known Theseus since your 3rd year at Hogwarts. Both the Scamander brothers were two of the very few people who had managed to worm their way into your heart. You and Theseus used to stay up all night and sneak out to look at the moon, not the stars, but the moon, together. The two of you were the best of friends. It wasn't very long until Theseus had stolen your heart. Both of you became Aurors very quickly after graduating and made a great pair... in the work force. As Theseus grew closer to Leta Lestrange, you decided to let go of any last hopes you had that he would love you back. You gave him tips on asking her out, made him apologize to her when they got into fights, and helped arrange the proposal. Theseus turns to you after Leta's death for comfort, digging up old feelings, wounds, and secrets. How will the two of you navigate the loneliness of this war together?
Warnings: Angst, ends in fluff tho dw, death, depression, smut?(idk yet, probably), talk of self-harm, in this I made Theseus and Leta not really thatttt in love because I am a girls girl and the thought of reader "swooping in" right after Leta's passing makes me kind of sick. Also the 3rd movie takes place 5 years after the 2nd movie, but I am going to shorten that to 1 year after the 2nd movie for plot's sake.
"I love you"
Leta says, before pointing her wand at Grindelwald.
In that moment, time stretches, everything slows, each second dragging out in agonizing clarity. My head whips to look at Theseus. A defeated expression laid across his face.
The room is a maelstrom of blue fire. Flames whip around the room like flashes of light lashing at me. I can just barely make out the figures of my friends.
Grindelwald deflects Leta's attack. Shocking her. She continues to blast Grindelwald as the fire begins to swirl into one giant whirlpool in the mild of the room.
"NOOO" I scream, my voice a desperate cry swallowed by the roaring flames.
"GO!" Leta shouts, ".. go" she says with even more resolve, as she shakes under the force of her wand, directly deflecting Grindelwald's attack.
Whips of flames lash out at Theseus, who fights, desperately, to reach Leta, deflecting the flames one at a time, barely having time to finish deflecting one before another comes at him. I wince as one of the flames grazes me, searing my skin. Drawing my wand, I begin to counter some of the flames coming for Theseus as well. My eyes darting between Theseus and Leta, my heart pounding in my skull. All I can hear is my own heavy exasperated breathing
Leta’s figure starts to waiver, slowly being consumed by Grindelwald’s inferno. Newt clings to Theseus, his face contorted in anguish as he struggles to reach Leta, but it's too late.
I grab onto the pair and disapparate us out of the colosseum.
However, relief has not come yet, as Grindelwald's flames continue to shoot out. All of us constantly on our toes to dodge the flames.
"Theseus!" I shout, grabbing onto the stunned man and pulling him out of the way of the flames. Grabbing onto his shoulders I turn him towards me. He is in shock. His eyes red and glassed with tears, vacant. "We have to keep moving, AGHH" I say, yelping in pain as I go to shake Theseus out of it and tug at the burn wound on my arm, the pain setting in. My sudden exclamation seems to snap him out of it. Glancing quickly at the wound on my arm, and then locking eyes with me, he gives me a firm nod before tugging me out of the way of more flames.
When we do finally make it out of harm's way, a giant fire demon comes blasting out of the ground.
Only with the help of an alchemist do we have any hope of our own or the cities' survival. Our own flames burst out of the ground in the circle formed by us. Creating a wall to trap the beast, however, it slips past the barrier.
I watch, mortified.
It's headed for the city.
I scrunch my sleeves up a bit, prepared to go chasing after it, when a hand grabs onto my arm, holding me back.
It's Newt.
"Wait. Y/N. Look." He says, gazing up wondrously at the sky, a familiar sparkle of amazement in his eyes. One Newt Scamander wore quite regularly.
I look up at the sky to see orange flames diverging from the wall, following the Grindelwald beast. It starts to consume it, less and less blue remains visible, the beast visibly struggling as it begins to descend to the ground, its wings flailing in the air while it lets out a pained cry. And then it crashes.
Silence falls over the battlefield.
Everyone is okay. Except for Queenie, who we lost to Grindelwald's reign, and Leta...
Leta.
"Y/N! Y/n!" Theseus calls, his voice cutting through the silence. He races over to me, stumbling a bit over the rocks and dirt. Once he reaches me, he engulfs me in a hug that makes me feel swallowed by him.
"Oh my god, Theseus! I'm so sorry.. Leta-" My voice trembling as I grip onto him tightly, securing the hug,
"I'm so glad you're okay, y/n," He says to me, cutting me off in a hoarse whisper. My eyebrows twist in confused, I open my mouth to speak again, heartbroken for him and his loss, but he continues, "I don't know what I would do if I lost you."
He pulls me closer, I can feel his emotions, a mixture of desperation and relief, through the tightness of his grasp. I can barely breathe under his hold. I open my mouth to speak again, but the words catch in my throat. Instead, I let myself settle into his embrace, feeling his tears drop down onto my shoulder.
~~~~~
*Time Skip*
~~~~~
“To a job well done,” Theseus says, a broad smile on his face.
“To us,” you reply, your eyes meeting his with a warm glow. You both took a sip of your drinks, savoring the rich, mellow flavors.
“We did good,” Theseus states, leaning back into his chair, sat across from me, with a contented sigh. “I can’t remember the last time we had such a clear-cut success.”
"I'm just glad we got out of there alive," I laugh breathily, a grin plastering my face,
"Well of course we did, I dare say we've always made a pretty good team," Theseus winks at me, setting his glass down on my desk and leaning forward, resting his elbows on the edge of the flat wooden surface.
My heart flutters at the sight of him. His blue eyes. Chiseled jaw and cheek bones. And his curled wisps of hair, falling down in front of it face, disheveled the earlier battle.
"Pretty good?" I smirk at him, setting my glass down as well, "Is that all? I thought we were quite exceptional."
"I suppose we were Y/N, yes." He tries to hide his smile, throwing a quick glance around the office, "Only because of you though, you were stunning." I giggle, trying hard to hide the flush on my face, "How did you know so much about Werewolfs anyway?"
I pause, raising my eyebrow a bit in confusion, "My year with Newt? Remember?"
"Oh.." Theseus shifts awkwardly, his eyes flickering around the room again, "Yeah. Right. That." He sits up straight from his leaned position, adjusting his suit.
"Yeah.." I say, peering at him quizzically, "That."
"Hey!" He says, a bit too loudly, throwing a smile on his face, his eyes lighting up, "What do you say we go get some real drink? I'm tired of looking at work anyway," He rolls his eyes dramatically, "I need at least a week away from this place after the months we've had,"
He pops out of his seat and walks around the desk to me. With a little twist of his wrist and a bow, he holds his hand out to me, as if asking me to dance.
"M'lady?" He says,
I giggle, partially laughing at him, but mostly because of how nervous he makes me.
I take his hand, and follow him out of my office.
---------
"I DID NOT" Theseus yells, grinning from ear to ear. Realizing how loud he's being, he shrinks down a bit, his cheeks flushing bright pink from his embarrassment. Luckily, no one in the bar seems to mind, to entranced in their own affairs.
"Yes, you did!" I screech, giggling, "I SAW you with my own two eyes, don't even bother to hide it,"
"I don't know what you're talking about," He huffs, rolling his eyes
I sigh and relax into my chair, a soft smile on my face as I stare at him, admiring him.
Both of us are sat in the middle of the bar, on two large and luscious red velveted chairs. Between us is a low square coffee table, sat just below our knees, that is adorned with gold lining and decoration.
The warm, pinkish, glow emitting from the candles and stained-glass lamp above us only further illuminates his cheek bones and jaw, the way it tightens as his mind wanders. Even through the smile on his face, you can still see the reminisce of anger, distress, in his features.
"I don't know how I ever made do that year without you," He says, his voice deepens a bit, sincerely.
"Oh please," I shrug it off playfully, "You had Leta, and if I remember correctly, you two were all over each other when I left," I force a small laugh at the statement,
"Y/N." He says, a serious looking cresting over his features, he leans in towards me. He pauses a moment, taking exhaling deeply, "Me and Leta... we ended our engagement."
The air feels like it is sucked out of my lungs momentarily, "What.."
"6 months before her death," He casts his eyes down at his feet, "Right after I stopped getting letters from you,"
My mouth goes dry.
"But... but why? How could you let that happen?"
He sighs, dropping his head down, now almost curled over in his chair, "I had to let her go. She left me... because of you." He heart plumets, "Because of my feelings.. for you."
My heart begins to race a million miles per hour. My eyes widen. I can believe what I'm hearing.
Theseus gazes up at me, waiting for me to say something, but when I open my mouth to speak, I close it again immediately. After all of these years, I have rehearsed over and over again in my head what I would say if I told Theseus how I felt. On occasion, what I would say.. what I would do, if I ever found out that he felt the same way. Yet, I'm frozen.
Realizing I won't respond, he continues, "Y/N.." His voice sounds pleading, "I have loved you since Hogwarts. I have always loved you. And my feelings have only grown with every passing day," My heart flutters, "I didn't know how to tell you... so I didn't"
"B-but, you loved Leta," I say, "You loved Leta."
No matter what I do, I can't seem to put the pieces together in my head. It's also too unbelievable.
"I thought I did. She was attractive, sweet and smart.. and got along with Newt," He says softly, remembering the woman he lost, "But I confused romantic feelings with loving her as a friend. Once her and I had dated a few months, I began to wonder if I had made a mistake," He pauses, taking a deep slow breath, "By then, you had started talking about leaving for America with Newt for Dumbledore, and not long after that you were gone. I realized that you weren't going to be mine... so I tried to make it work with Leta," A bittersweet smile graces his features, "She saw right through me," He chuckles, "Confronted me about my feelings for you after I- well. After I stopped getting letters from you, I-" He hesitates, sitting up and clearing his throat a bit, "The point is, she confronted me. I had to admit to it. She told me she also had feelings for Newt. And that was the end of our engagement."
We both sit there in silence for a little while.
After all these years, he's always loved me.
He's always loved me back.
"Do you.. do you still love me?" I ask, bravely "Still."
My heart is pounding its way out of my chest. All I can do is fiddle with my hands as I anxiously wait for his confirmation.
His eyes soften as they lock with mine, "I will never stop loving you,"
I could have melted right there.
"Oh my lord, you dense oaf" I laugh, tossing the tiniest decorative pillow I have ever seen, from behind me, at him. He laughs, blocking it, causing it to bounce off his arm and land on the floor next to us. "You know, for being head of the British Auror Office, you are concerningly clueless," I say, "I have been helplessly in love with you since our 5th year,"
He laughs lightly, "Merlin... I wish I had known that a lot sooner,"
"Would have saved us a lot of heartache," I sigh, relaxing back into my chair and casting my gaze down to my lap.
"Hey, Y/N?" He says, "Can I kiss you?"
I've never smiled as big as I did right then. Butterflies in my stomach and blush dusting my cheeks, I nod eagerly.
He stands up from his seat and makes his way over to me. I stand up to meet him.
There he is.
Standing in front of me. Our noses brushing lightly against each other and our breaths mixing. Both of us are grinning like lovesick teenagers.
Being this close to him, getting to gaze into his magical blue eyes, getting to admire every detail on his face, makes me almost not even feel it needed to kiss him. Almost.
His hand finds its way to my waist, right above my hip. His grip is firm and yet careful.
Somehow, both slowly and with the urgency of a man who would die without it, he pulls me in and locks his lips with mine.
They're soft and warm, yet strong and assertive. I feel as though I am getting the life kissed out of me.
My body goes limp a bit as I lean into him, from my chest down to my toes, I am flushed against him.
He only pulls me in closer, kissing me with even more passion.
Only when I need air, in fact, a bit after that, do I pull away.
Both of us are breathing heavy, eyes darting from each other's eyes to each other's lips.
"I can't believe I didn't do that sooner," He says,
I break out into a smile and kiss him again. Both of us grinning against each other's lips.
"Oi! You two! Break it up! I don't care who you are! No one is getting down and dirty inside of my bar." The bartender yells at us,
We both pull away from each other, faces flushed, adjusting our clothes (and for one of us, ourselves) before going to escape from the peering eyes of those around us in the bar.
I sit back in my seat, to find that I have sat on something rather odd.
Standing up again, I turn to look at my seat.
"What is it, love?" Theseus asks, coming up behind me,
There on my seat, is the tiny decorative pillow that the two of us had cast away to the floor moments ago. On top of it, a small scroll of paper is displaying itself.
"It's Newt."
Stay Tuned for Pt. 2!!
(I love little outro songs <3)
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spookychick78 · 2 years ago
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OG Michael Myers One Shot
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A little continuation of the parking garage one shot as requested by the lovely @slasherhoe87​ 🖤🔪
also, its becoming glaringly obvious how much of a Myers simp I am with how much shit I’ve written about this man.
OG!Michael Myers X AFAB!Reader
Warnings: (Y’all knew this was coming) NSFW, Knife play, blood play, choking
Word Count: 3,697
In the following weeks, (Y/n) couldn't stop thinking of the man in the mask. She found herself searching for him around every corner, down every alley way and through every window. It hadn't taken her long to put it together that whoever he was had been the one causing that undeniable feeling of being watched, but why? He had left her with so many questions and now close to a month since it had happened, she wondered if she would ever get answers.
She put her car in park and exited into the cool night air. The parking garage that had so often than not made her uneasy had begun to excite her every time she came home. Though, that night her excitement had started to fade. He was never there and honestly, she wondered if maybe he had been a figment of her imagination after all. She hurried towards the little room with the elevators and as she opened the door she turned and gave the empty lot one more lingering glance. Nothing.
Michael scoffed as he watched her. She wasn't quite as adept as he was at finding her obsession, though he found her efforts amusing. How funny it was that he had become her obsession, he thought to himself. He took note of her constantly wandering eyes that almost always fell in his direction, unaware that he was indeed there, hidden in the shadows. She had been close several times, but it had become a game to him and one Michael was inevitably better at than she was. He had more patience. Usually. However, it was wearing thin. He too hadn't been able to forget the night he had shown himself to her. It had undoubtedly been a mistake to touch her. The feeling of her skin against his hand, though the exchange was mere seconds, had ignited a desire within him he didn't know he was capable of possessing. Michael couldn't deny himself much longer, he wanted to know her and more than just by the surface level knowledge he'd managed to obtain by just watching. Observing from a distance no longer satisfied him, he wanted more. He wondered if she would be frightened when she finally found what she was looking for. Part of him hoped she would be, fear had looked so delicious on her and he hadn't even been the one to cause it, not entirely. He wanted that pleasure, but he wouldn't end her life. Perhaps he would bring her to the brink of death or perhaps he'd let those carnal thoughts guide him elsewhere. He had never given into them before, he wasn't even sure he had ever had them until he saw her. It was maddening not to know what exactly it was about her that had lured him in so completely. Maybe it was how petite she was in comparison to him, Michael did enjoy feeling larger than life. He knew if he was to wrap his hands around her throat they would all but engulf her. His frame pressed against her's could minimize her being so entirely that she would practically disappear from existence within his arms. Or maybe it was the challenge that excited him to the point of discomfort within his coveralls. He would have to exercise restraint like he never had before in order for her to survive being so entangled with him, because in reality he could end her life in seconds if he didn't. Her fate and possible demise would be in his hands the moment they met her skin once more. The entirety of their proverbial 'moon dance' would cascade along that ever thinning line between life and death. He wondered if she had any idea of the fire she was playing with, head canted to the side as he watched her eyes scan the empty garage in search of him once again.
She let out a frustrated sigh and let the door swing shut behind her. She pressed the button for the elevator, just once this time. She intended to waste as much time as humanly possible just in case he appeared. The doors began to separate, filling the room with their high pitched squeaking and she decided to give up on her search for the night. She slipped inside the cabin and reluctantly pressed the button for her floor. She leaned her back against the wall as she watched the doors close in on each other. Before each end could meet, they creaked to a halt. A hand had come between them, it retracted once the doors began to move outward. They were slower than ever as they reopened and she impatiently craned her neck to catch a glimpse of whom she would be sharing the brief ride upwards with, but found no one was there. She furrowed her brows and took a step forward. Before she could look out the doors, she was pushed back against the wall with a hand around her throat. After the initial shock had worn off, she looked up to see the white mask with the blackest holes looking down on her once again. He held her in place as the doors squeaked shut. After he was certain they were closed, he released his grip on her. (Y/n)'s chest heaved up and down as she struggled to catch the breath he'd knocked out of her.
"It's you," she panted.
She wasn't quite sure if it was fear or unbridled excitement she was feeling, but she surmised it was a dangerous, possibly deadly combination of the two that made her quickly reach her hand past him and lock the elevator. She quickly drew her arm back in and pressed herself back against the wall.
Michael slowly turned his head to see what she had done, moderately impressed by the confidence she had just displayed by assuming he wouldn't kill her. He returned his gaze to her and smirked behind his mask when he saw that subtle hint of fear hidden within her eyes. So she wasn't totally confident, but curious enough to trust him. He would have reminded her that it was curiosity that killed the cat, but he wasn't going to grant her the pleasure of hearing his voice, yet. She would have to be the one to end the silence between them if she had the courage to do so.
She had so many questions, but each of them seemed so nonsensical given the fact that he had never uttered a single word to her. She was almost certain he wouldn't answer any of them, but she had to say something. After waiting so long for this moment, it only seemed wrong to waste it.
"Who," she started, but stopped and rethought the first words she wanted to say, "why did you save me from that man? Why did you kill him but not me?"
Michael tilted his head. Would she have preferred he hadn't? It wasn't necessarily that he had saved her, he wasn't even sure that was the right word. Saving her for himself maybe, that would have been a better way to describe it. Someone had merely threatened to take her before he could and Michael wasn't one to share. She would soon learn that, if he hadn't made it clear enough for her before, he was about to. She waited so patiently for a response, her (e/c) eyes seemingly trying to decipher his features behind the mask without physically removing it. Her curiosity made her appear so innocent as she gazed up at him, inadvertently fueling his desire to take that innocence for himself. Though he had to admit, he found it somewhat endearing that she was so entranced by him she didn't even realize the position she could have possibly put herself in, were he not so obsessed with her in his own regard. He brought his hand up to her cheek as he had done before, but this time he let his fingertips explore the softness of her skin. She was truly delicate, he thought to himself as he let them wander down to her lips. She parted them for him. He raised his eyebrows behind his mask as he traced her bottom lip, just barely allowing himself inside her mouth, and felt moisture coat the top of his fingers. He brought his hand up to study his own skin that had been wet by her, the sight of that alone brought an urge to taste her to the surface.
"Who are you?" She asked as she watched his silent observation.
His eyes shot back to her. She had asked that once before, only now he was more willing to oblige her with an answer, to some degree. It was purely based on his own desire, but it might satisfy her questions for the time being. He brought both hands to the back of his mask and slowly peeled the rubber off of himself. He kept his head down and observed what was for the majority of the world his face in his own hands, but for her and only her, he would show himself as he truly was. He knelt down and gently set it aside before towering above her again. As he lifted his head, he told himself he was only doing it because he needed to if he was going to do what he was about to do, that was all. Though even Michael knew there was a part of him that felt she was deserving, even if he couldn't explain why.
(Y/n)'s face started to heat up when she realized the man behind the mask was undoubtedly handsome. He was much younger than she had expected he would be, it seemed he wasn't far off from her age. He had dark curls that framed his near perfectly structured face, the only imperfection being the scar that ran through one of his eyes. His jaw was clenched as though he was somewhat nervous under her gaze, but that subtle movement of his muscles accentuated his prominent jawline further. His brows were knit together in an almost disapproving way over his expressionless eyes, one blue, one milky white and his mouth kept tightly shut as she studied him. Each feature had such a unique and unexplainable draw that she found herself wanting to touch him, to further inspect the ever so silent and stoic man before her. Her hand wandered up, but before she could touch him, he flinched and those disapproving brows furrowed tighter than before. She held her hand in place midair as she watched him contemplate the interaction. He blinked his eyes as he studied her hand, then turned his gaze to meet her's, granting her passage to continue. She slowly reached forward and let her fingertips touch his cheek first, then steadily rested her palm over him to hold the side of his face in her hand. His eyes flickered shut and his brows relaxed at the strange new sensation. She was warm against his cool skin and he found himself resting in her touch, his head fell slightly to the side to give in further. She watched, fascinated by the way he seemed to relish in the minimal contact as if he had been starved a lifetime for it. He finally opened his eyes and took her hand in his to bring it to his lips. He didn't kiss her fingers, he simply brushed them over his skin, unsure of what exactly it was he wanted to do. Her skin was so soft.
"Won't you tell me your name?" She said softly.
Needy, he thought to himself as he began to kiss her fingers. He told himself he'd only tell her so he could hear how it sounded coming from her mouth.
"Michael," he whispered back.
"Michael," she repeated gently.
It sounded better than he'd expected in her breathy, distracted tone and it fanned those flames she'd lit within him further. Her fingers were no longer satisfying him, he needed to explore her further. He wanted her to say his name again against his lips. He dropped her hand and reached both of his forward to cup her face as he pressed his body against her's and engulfed her lips in a kiss so hungry it made her knees weak. As she melted into it she couldn't help but notice the desperation he had for her pressed up against the top of her thigh. She wasn't sure how much he would allow her to do, but as if he had read her mind, he took her arms and draped them over his shoulders in one swift movement before his hands returned to her face. She took some liberty and tangled her fingers in the curls that hung just above the back of his neck. As she tugged on his hair, Michael pressed harder against her and paid no mind to the moan that escaped his lips. He had been absolutely right, restraining himself was going to be a challenge, one more difficult than he'd expected. He wanted so badly to hear her say his name again, but this time he wanted her to cry it out. He needed to regain some control, because she had more than he realized she would with the way her fingers sent chills down his spine every time she pulled on his locks. Then she shifted against him, rubbing him so that it made him ache in such a devastatingly good way. His hand instinctively flew to her throat and wrapped itself around it in a tight embrace. She let out a gasp and he smirked against her kiss, it was the power shift he needed to know he was still in control no matter what she did or what he wanted her to do to him. He broke away from her, hand still tightly wound around her neck to keep her in place against the wall. He watched a smiled spread across her face as he struggled to catch his uneven breath. He wasn't sure what he liked more, to see her frightened or to see her look so proud of what she was doing to him. Her pride reignited that challenge he so adored, it made him want to force her to unravel, to bring her to the brink of death, but in a different way. He would make her beg for mercy and after he was done with her, she would beg for more. A smile of his own spread across his face as he reached his free hand into his pocket to retrieve his knife. When he revealed it to her he delighted in the way her smile fell and fear flickered in her eyes. He brought it down to the bottom of her dress and removed his hand from her throat to pull the material taut before he took the blade and sliced the fabric upwards. The sound of it ripping bounced off of the elevator's walls and combined with her accelerated breath, Michael was entranced. He finally reached the top and let the knife continue it's ascent upwards until the blade rested underneath her chin. She craned her neck up with it and looked at him with that same hint of excitement he'd seen in her when he first entered. She watched his grip tighten on the knife's handle until his knuckles turned pale as if he was fighting the urge to plunge it into her. She hesitantly brought her hands up to his and guided the knife to the side of her neck. If he was going to kill her he would have by now and by this point she was just as eager as he was to continue this dance, so her next words came perhaps a little too easy.
"I trust you, Michael," she breathed as she guided his knife down the side of her neck.
His was captivated by the sight of her blood dripping out from under his blade and down to her shoulder. His pupils became overblown as his desire reached its boiling point. He cast the knife aside and grabbed her by her shoulders to flip her around. He ripped her dress from her body and quickly did away with the rest of the cloth so that no part of her was hidden. He grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulled her back against him and craned her neck back so he could drag his tongue up towards the cut she had allowed him to give her. He collected her blood in his mouth then focused his attention on the wound, sucking with such brutality she could already feel the bruise he would leave forming under his lips. Once he had cleaned her with his tongue, he pushed her forward so that her cheek was pressed against the wall. The sound of his zipper being pulled down filled her ears and in turn, filled her with such a buzzing excitement she could barely wait the few seconds it took for him to free himself. Finally, she felt him line himself up at her entrance and without warning, he invaded her with one firm thrust that shook her to her core. Pain intermingled with a burning and intense pleasure unlike any she had felt before. He hung his head over her shoulder and the sound of his uneven breath filled her ear as he began to set a brutal and unforgiving pace. She struggled to keep her balance as he rocked into her and he seemed to take note. He wrapped an arm around her and rested his other hand against the wall, steadying the both of them as he continued his pursuit to leave her in shambles. At the same time, he himself was overwhelmed by the pleasure her tightly wound body was granting him. Sensations crept upwards from where their bodies met and into his core, tangling together inside of him like knots on the verge of snapping. His hand against the wall balled into a fist, tightening in tandem with those knots as he pushed himself inside of her with more force than before. Her head fell back against him and a cry ripped from her throat, along with a slew of praises. It was then he got what he wanted.
"Michael," she cried out as her face contorted into an expression that could only be described as pained bliss.
He was almost too much for her to take, his size combined with the intensity of his movements made her burn in a way she hadn't before. That searing sensation made her shake in his grip as he pummeled the sweet spot nestled deep inside of her. She desperately needed something to cling to as she neared the edge. She wasn't sure her legs would hold. Her hand flew back in search of his shoulder, but she barely had a sense of direction at that point.
"Michael," she keened once more as she clutched at the blue cloth of his coveralls tightly.
Without warning, he ceased his movements and removed himself from her, causing her to whine from the sudden empty feeling he'd so cruelly left her with. He flipped her around and swiftly hoisted her up so her legs could wrap around his waist. He lowered her back onto him and once he was certain she wouldn't fall, he let his hands find the back of her head so he could force her lips to his again. His fingers tangled in her hair as he attempted to keep her lips on his, but at the pace he was going, it was anything but neat. Still, she returned his sloppy kisses with the utmost enthusiasm as she felt herself approaching her climax. She reached behind her head and guided his hand in between their bodies to a spot he hadn't yet discovered. She placed his calloused fingers over her clit and guided them in little circles. It didn't take long for him to get the hang of it, but still, he followed her lead. With each circle their fingers drew together he could feel her body tightening around him more so than he thought possible. Before long, she broke their kiss and he watched her head fall back, mouth agape as her body fluttered around him. Somewhere between the way she looked, the sound of his name falling from her lips like a prayer and the trembling of her body around his, Michael came completely and utterly undone. His head fell into the crevice between her shoulder and neck as his body all but collapsed into her. It was a concerted effort to maintain his hold on her, but he did and he made sure his grip was tight around her thighs.
"(Y/n)," she heard him breath into her ear before he spilled into her.
She didn't even stop to think about the fact that she hadn't once told him her name, all she could focus on was the way his breath felt on her skin, the burn of fresh bruises on her thighs and how wonderful it felt to have been undeniably marked by him. Michael would never admit it out loud, but in a way, she had claimed him for her own as well. Though his movements had ceased, he didn't want to leave her warmth. He breathed in her scent and pressed his lips to her shoulder as she draped her arms around his neck. There was no doubt she was in shambles, just as he had intended, but he feared he was in a far worse state than he had been in before. When he lifted his head up to look at her once more, that only worsened it. Her face was flushed, her hair disheveled and her eyes were glassy as she smiled lazily at him. He felt his chest tighten in a strange way as she leaned in to press a chaste kiss to his lips, gentle as rain. Obsessed was now an understatement.
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